I went to the wasp caves and started exploring for a bit, but ran out soon after. While the wasps do die in 2-3 hits, it´s pretty hard to hit them in complete darkness. I decided to quicktravel back to Bordertown to get some Predator Sight potions, but when I got there, I realized I have a level in elemental and divine magic now. Since I already had a scroll in my inventory, I read it and learned the Predator Sight spell. While I was at it, I also learned a few other spells. In any case, the caves will be allot easier now. I went back in and continued to explore. I gathered some larvae for that guy in the crypts and killed a bunch of wasps. I’ve also found a friendly goblin named Gruzz in the caves. He says he keeps the wasps away with smoke and gathers gems, since this used to be a mine. He is hiding from the war and he also mentioned that the goblin leader is a shaman who is looking for some special, magical gem. As I was leaving, he mentioned a lockbox in the goblin citadel and told me the combination for it. A few tunnels later, I have found the hive queen and defeated her with ease. At first I thought I might have to lead her back to a stack of gunpowder barrels, but as it turns out, she moves pretty slowly, so all it took is a few shots from my bow.

The forest is a dangerous place when there’s a bunch of giant wasps chasing you.

I took the queen’s stinger and brought it to Lilith as prove of her death. Lilith told me that the amulet is actually a key to a lockbox in the Underground Repository, the most secure bank in the world. I quicktraveled to Blackwater where the Repository should be located, but I couldn´t find it, so I decided to explore for a bit. I went and gave the larvae to the man in the crypt and he gave me some of his incinerating fluid. Then I went and found the sextant for the shipwrecked guy and he decided he could teach me cartography. While doing some more exploring, I stumbled into the last Burley Oak tree completely by accident and took an acorn with me. I have it to the shopkeeper in Blackwater to also complete this quest. I also managed to find the Tangletree Ossuary waypoint. Since I only have two waypoints left, I will try and find those now.

I quicktraveled back to Bordertown and started to explore in the southwest direction, towards where the map says Vera is. On my way through Baron´s Thicket, I had to kill a bunch of raptors, but since they give 110 experience each, I definitely didn´t mind. In the end I managed to find the waypoint, quicktraveled to Blackwater, spent the night at the inn and saved my game.

After some exploring of the crypts, I met a man named Hesham. He does the corpse incinerating in the crypts and is trying to find a way to speed up the process. For that, he needs some larvae so he asked me to get him some and I agreed. After some more exploring, past a room full of bats, I’ve found a secret passage that lead to some sort of study. In a desk, I’ve found the book for that shopkeeper I mentioned earlier. I´m getting low on arrows.

Even the cover gives that old school feeling.

I kept exploring, killing bats, slimes and even two walking corpses, and in the end, I’ve found the amulet I was looking for. The way out was easy and straightforward, so I quicktraveled back to Aridell and gave the book I’ve found to Abygail. I got 250 gold pieces for it.

Now, according to the note, I need to take the amulet to a woman named Lilith, who lives in the heart of Tangletree forest. Before that, I quicktraveled back to Bordertown and luckily, the blacksmith there had 250 arrows. I also bought a belt and Scout´s Sandals, which increase my cartography by two and now I´m poor again. While there, I also asked the Innkeeper about Lilith and he told me she lives near the lake, which narrows it down by allot. I also learned something revolutionary, most items stack. Until now, all the reagents and flasks I gathered took most of my inventory space, but not anymore.

I went south to find Lilith and encountered a talking tree on the way. It says that it´s a direct descendant of the first tree ever to be planted in this region. It wishes to help me on my quest, but only if I prove myself to be worthy. In northwest Crakamir there is an oasis of completely pure water. I need to bring a flask of it to the tree. Off course, I accepted the quest. A few minutes later, I´ve reached the lake and found Lilith´s home. She examined the amulet. She said that she can identify the amulet for me, but first I have to complete a task for her. As I am already aware, the forest is infested with giant wasps. There must be a hive queen somewhere, probably in the caves to the south, and I am to kill her in order to stop the infestation. Lilith would do it herself, but she is allergic to bee stings. What that has to do with wasps, I do not know.

Some day, when I’m rich, I’ll collect a bunch of game maps and start printing them on cloth.

Before I did this, however, I decided to try and get to Blackwater. It was a pretty long voyage, but I managed to reach it. I had to pay 100 gold pieces to gain access to the city, but since it’s for life, I decided it’s a good deal. I went and talked to the councilman who said that some mercenaries are planning to assassinate him and asked for my help on the matter. Since it’s probably good pay, I accepted. Next was the blacksmith who said he ordered some Divine Ore from father Michael to the east. The shipment got ambushed, so now the bandits have it. I off course, promised to return it. Vekkar at the shop of magicks asked me to get the acorn from the last of the Burley Oak trees in order to save the species from destruction. I also bought a level of divination at the temple and some skill increasing books at the tavern. At the house of pain, I’ve learned level one swords and at the magick guild, level one elemental magic. I quicktraveled back to Bordetown and saved the game.

Loading the game later today, i decided to make a detour and try to clear Grimmhold. After disposing some bats at the entrance, I´ve found a wounded soldier who was expecting reinforcements. The goblins broke the gate mechanism and are now infesting the lower levels where a way to open the gate is located. I promised to clear the goblins and open the way west again. Eventually, after fighting my way through a bunch of goblins and even killing a goblin warlord, I’ve found the control mechanism for the secondary flood gates, pushed the lever, and the gate at the ground floor opened. I´ve found the locket for the innkeeper in Bordertown, as well as the waypoint, fought my way through some wasps, which now die in 2-3 hits and quicktraveled back to Bordertown.

After getting the 200 gold pieces for the locked and restocking on arrows, i decided to try and deliver the ceramic crucible to the blacksmith in Blackwater. I couldn’t quicktravel because the thing was too heavy, so I made the long trek on foot. It wasn’t hard at all, since I’ve cleared the way earlier. After this, I quicktraveled back to Bordertown and decided to try and clear the swamp for the boatman. The swamp turned out to be extremely easy. The slimes were of the type that gives 35 experience points so they were dying in 1-2 hits. After killing about ten of them, i continued to explore south. I’ve encountered a sign saying there was a shortcut to Darkford to the west. It sounded suspicious so I explored it with caution. As i expected, I got ambushed by some thugs. After killing them, I inspected their camp and found Mary, the stranded woman´s husband. I went and told her the sad news. She did not take it well, but thanked me anyway and told me that there is a powerful sword to the west of Grimmhold in her father’s old home. She also gave me the combination for the chest containing it. Since it seemed like a quick thing to do, I went and took the sword. The house was overrun by goblins so i had to clear those to. I returned to Bordertown and saved my game. I think i will go kill the hive queen next.

This is an old school RPG similar to some roguelikes and even games like Avernum. As far as I know, the first two books are out for now, so I decided to try the first one. Since the game is really story driven, I decided to try and write a more detailed log of my gameplay this time. I hope it isn’t too detailed.

The graphics aren’t amazing, but they give that old school feeling.

I started with a ranger named Adam. Not sure if I built him correctly as i have no idea about the mechanics of the game. I started in a house in the woods. I got a dagger and a note from a chest. The note was signed by an initial „E“ and in there, it said that there are some supplies near a well and that i need to meet a man named Maddock in a nearby village of Aridell. I have no idea who Maddock or „E“ are. I got the supplies and started exploring the area.

I tried exploring a series of underground passages under a ruined village nearby, but i almost got myself killed. In hindsight, i should have gotten a melee weapon skill to. Eventually, after running out of arrows and potions, i was forced to run towards Aridell and try to avoid fighting on the way. When i got there, i spoke to Councilwoman Eleanor to try and find out who i really am, but i got nowhere. I did, however, find out that the area is being attacked by strange dwarf like cave dwellers called Orakur and this is the reason strange beasts roam the countryside. I also asked for Maddock and she told me where he is.

Next door was a temple where i was hoping to get healed, but it was way too expensive. Father Michael, the local priest, offered me a job which would get me no payment, but would increase my honor. I am to deliver a restoration potion to a sick man in the south. I decided to accept the quest since i would probably be exploring the area anyway. I took the potion and left the temple.

Next door to the temple was The Owl’s Roost Tavern. I tried to speak to a drunken man there, but he wouldn’t talk to me at first. Then i rented a room for 15 gold pieces, which was way cheaper than healing at the temple. After waking up, i spoke to the bartender about the guest and he told me he was a shipwrecked sailor named Garrett. I spoke to Garrett and he told me he lost everything, including his sextant, which was a priceless family heirloom. I decided to look for it during my travels.

I left the tavern and entered a nearby magick goods store. I spoke to the shopkeeper named Abygail and asked for work. She told me she was looking for a special book called „Secrets of Transference Circuits“. I decided to look for it on my travels. She also told me that goblins took over a nearby fortress.

Next up, I visited „The Wayward Blacksmithe“ and asked Farwick, the blacksmith work as well. He told me he used to live in Elderhollow, the ruined village i woke up in and left some precious metals in the wine cellar under his house. Among other things, there was a bar of Mithril which he would really like to recover. I accepted the quests and then did some bartering. I sold all of my excess gear and bought as many arrows as i could. They are quite expensive, sadly, going for 1 gold piece each, so i didn’t really stock up to much.

Finally, I’ve found Maddock’s home. After speaking to him, i realized he was just a courier. A masked man left a package for him and he simply passed it along to me. He knew nothing about the man or the packed. On the way out, I opened the wrong chest and „accidentally“ stole an armor piece from Maddock, so he attacked me. I didn’t kill him and just decided to outrun him. He is an old man who can barely walk anyway. I don’t feel particularly good about this, but it was really not my intention to steal anything.

The character sheet is nicely detailed, as it should be.

The recovered package contained 300 gold pieces and another note. The note explained how Adam is not my real name and also said that I am extremely important for the entire region and my memory was erased for safety reasons. If i am to pursue the truth behind all of this, I need to recover an amulet form the tomb of a man named Adler Keldam at Eversleep cemetery. The key to the crypt is in the possession of the cemetery director, Leurik, who lives a bit north of Aridell. Before all of this, I’m planning to complete some of the assignments I got in the village.

I went and recovered the bar of Mithril and advanced to level 2 in the meantime. The bar netted me a nice sum of 375 gold pieces and i acquired the skill to wear light armor by leveling up. I used the gold to buy the remaining arrows from the blacksmith and also bought some armor to better protect myself. After that i went and delivered the potion to the sick man to the south. When he heard the potion is from father Michael, he instantly destroyed it saying that it was him who made him sick in the first place. As it turns out, the man found out that father Michael was cooperating with the goblins in building a portal that would allow them easier deployment of their troops. The man intercepted a message from one of the goblin leaders, which caused Michael to poison him. Now he tried to use me to finish the job. He kept the original letter and now asked me to bring him to someone who could do something about it. The captain in Darkford might be interested in it.

I quicktraveled back to Aridell and spent the night there. In the morning, i went to the north and visited the cemetery director. He would only give me the key if I gave him 200 gold pieces, so i agreed.

I decided to try and get to Darkford as fast as possible, so i stopped exploring and just followed the road in the right direction. On the way there, i encountered a woman whose husband went on to Darkford to somehow repair their broken wagon. She was robbed by thieves while waiting there so she asked me to go and find her husband. I continued to the northwest and passed by a strange tower built on water. Moving on, I to was ambushed by some bandits. I was too weak to fight them, so i ran to the nearest town with them chasing me. The town is called Bordertown and the people there quickly and easily disposed of the bandits. I tried to find some work from the people here. A boatman asked me to kill some slimes in the marshes to the east, an alchemist asked me to fetch an item from Grimmhold from him, and a blacksmith asked me to deliver a heavy package to a town in the south. The package weighs too much, so i had to postpone this quest, but i do intend to do it later.

Bordertown was right next to Darkford. I had to threaten a guard to let me see the captain, but in the end, I delivered the letter. The captain, read it, and said he would let the chancellor know so he can start an investigation. This is about all I could do. I returned to Bordertown, sold some of my stuff and then quicktraveled back to Aridell. I’ve spent the night at the inn and then went back south to try and find that sextant.

After spending lots of time and arrows fighting thugs in the south, i decided to give up on the sextant for now and go advance the main quest. I already had the key, so all i needed to do is visit the crypt. This is where i saved my game and stopped playing.