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.