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SOUTHEAST WILDERNESS
Marten's Bluff
To the Southeast Wilderness
I am at the 'Elevator' on the map of Marten's Bluff. I try to leave through the north door, but it closes on me. All I need to do leave the room through the south door, and come back to the north door so that it opens again.
I leave north through the front gate. I fight three Greater Seekers and three Stalker Seekers along the way. I then leave Marten's Bluff through the exit to the north.
I am now at the point marked "Marten's Bluff" on the south side of the map of the Swamp. I go north and kill some Souldrinkers and Tiger Mosquitoes. I then travel northwest and then east to the entrance to the Southeast Wilderness.
I arrive at the point marked "Swamp" on the map of the Southeast Wilderness. Some Rattkin Eliminators offer their 'protection' for about 4,000gp, but I'd just as soon kill them.
Terra advances to her 21st level. I take Draining Cloud, as it's distinctive to the Alchemy spellbook an option that I have not previously had in my repertoire.
Pyromancers
Here I run into a pair of Pyromancers and a Fire Elemental. Pyromancers love to crank out spells like Fire Bomb, Boiling Blood, Summon Elemental, and Nuclear Blast.
They're lower level than me, so Magic Screen is adequate protection.My intention is to scum-save them until I get a Robe of Enchant (L) for Chun-Li. I'll purchase a robe for her torso soon enough.
What is shown is the effort that nets me the Robes of Enchant (L) after several previous tries. I patiently take out the Fire Elemental and then the Major Air Elemental. I then rush them and take them out with physical attacks. Errol just uses his Dulcimer of Mending to undo any damage they did.
Chaos Drone
Note that there's a narrow pathway that runs north and east over the mountain. I keep going along it until I reach the other side. I fight three Gnashing Swallowers at the end of the trail. Here's an example of why this pathway is an ideal place to fight monsters. They can only approach me one or two at a time through the pathway, right into the waiting arms of my front 3 warriors.
At the bottom are some quarrels and arrows, as well as a Chaos Drone that a Bard can use to replicate the Pandemonium spell. Errol replaces his Siren's Wail with it.
Heart of the Sorceress
Now note that once the path goes up and then down the western side of the mountain, it branches off into another pathway that goes up the eastern side of the mountain. I follow this path upwards. At the top of the pathway is a large Temple, with 3 very easy Siges standing guard over the entrance.
Waiting inside of the Temple are the Sorceress Queen, 2 Death Lords, and 6 Cultists. The Sorceress Queen is fairly powerful in her own right, but the real threat in this battle are the Death Lords. They can hit for fairly powerful damage with their 2-handed swords. But their true danger is their spell casting, in particular Insanity and Death Cloud. This battle is to be won or lost (i.e. need to reload) on whether or not you can take out the Death Lords before they can inflict any real damage (e.g. Death Cloud insta-kills party members). A character who can cast Purify Air is a necessity before engaging in this battle.
Terra already has Chameleon in place. The point of this is so that my party can get closer to the monsters before combat starts. This way, I only have to spend 1 round running instead of 2 to close the distance on one of the Death Lords. This is a crucial point.
Now I move forward as fast as I can. I spend the first round casting spells. Rothgar casts Soul Shield, while Chun-Li casts Elemental Shield. These two spells, combined with Magic Screen, lessen the risk to the party. It does not completely erase the risk of a party member going Insane or a party member dying instantly because of Death Cloud, but it does reduce the risk substantially. Vi Domina casts Purify Air, and in this instance it helps clear out a Toxic Cloud that one of Death Lords casts at me.
I then spend the next round running up to one of the Death Lords, so that I can begin wearing it down with physical attacks.
Errol starts off with his newly-acquired Chaos Drone. The Pandemonium spell-effect pretty much takes the Sorceress Queen and the Cultists out of the battle, allowing me to concentrate on taking out the Death Lords first. Vi Domina, Rotghar and Chun-Li use a triple shot of Banish to weaken the Death Lords. The rest of the party attacks the Death Lord that is within reach.
I take out the first Death Lord with physical attacks, then walk up to the second Death Lord and kill it as well. Chun-Li blankets the Sorceress Queen and the Cultists with a Firestorm spell.
Once the Death Lords are gone, I have 'rounded third base' so to speak. And I managed to do it without either of them getting off a Death Cloud spell. I then mop up the Queen and the Cultists. Even the two Cultists who try to run away are doomed since they take damage from the Firestorm spell until they die.
The Queen leaves behind the Heart of the Sorceress, which is an ingredient for the powerful Vampire Chain. Each of the Death Lords leaves behind a Giant's Sword (+2 to hit, -2 damage, 9-33 damage, +5 Strength, +5% earth resistance, 30% knock unconscious), which only Mook characters can use. Simply the availability of this sword can make a Mook warrior-character worth building. But I had different plans anyway.
The Scythe
I go up the stairs on each side of the main chamber of the tunnel, to collect potions and other odds and ends. The stairs on the right has the Metal Belt. It's a component for the Invigorator Belt, which a Gadgeteer can use to replicate the Superman spell.
Just east of where I killed the Death Lords is a hallway leading downwards. At the bottom is The Scythe, and 3 other Mummies. Repeated casting of Banish suffice to obliterate the Mummies. My Warriors then easily chop down The Scythe.
This room has quite a few goodies, including a Plate Mail +3 (U), a Plate Mail +3 (L), and a Crusader Helm (+8 armor class, +10% divine resistance). There are two more that will become party of my inventory for the rest of the game.
Boomerang Shuriken (+2 to hit, 2-7 damage, 1% critical strike, always returns to thrower) - This becomes Ryu's throwing weapon for the rest of the game.
Fang (+2 to hit, +2 initiative, 10-24 damage, +10 Strength, 10% chance critical strike) - This will become my Zarax's primary weapon, especially when at some point I switch RFS-81 over to the left side and Zarax joins the front rank. One of the key points is that it will raise his Strength to 120 in combination with the Ankh of Might.
Lazurite Stone and Chisel
Just as I'm leaving the Temple, there is near the entrance a Lazurite Stone. A Gadgeteer can combine this with Electrodes to create the Regenerating Stone, which can replicate the Heal All spell.
The party goes back down the path to where they initially found the Chaos Drone. I run into several Diremares. The fight for the most part follows the familiar pattern of the foremost Diremare casting spells while the rest retreat. But a couple of Ravenous Swallowers join in. I kill the foremost Diremare, and then position myself directly inbetween the two Ravenous Swallowers so that my front line warriors attack one while Errol can attack the other with his *Light Sword*. He himself is no slouch now when it comes to melee combat.
I continue the pattern of pursuing the Diremares one at a time, killing the foremost one while the others retreat. But at some point I run into Savant Berserkers and Savant Drones led by a Savant Orb. I let the Diremares retreat as far as they wish, so I can kill off the Savant's minions.
I continue my pursuit, but now several of the Diremares make a stand together. So now I have Rothgar cast Soul Shield. Even so, I still have a close call or two when a rearing from a Diremare has the Turncoat effect on multiple party members. It's a matter of toughing it out, crossing my fingers, and multiple Heal Alls to heal up the damage when it's done. Even so, there was an instance where RFS-81 was both heavily wounded and paralyzed. That's the perfect situation for Errol to use his Renaissance Lute. Also, I notice that Water Magic is a relative weakness for the Diremares. So Errol uses Arresting Aria on them, and paralyzes three of them which proves to be quite helpful.
Chun-Li takes Tsunami on her 21st level-up. The next areas have lots of monsters, Rapax and others, who are highly resistant to Fire Magic but are relatively weak against Water Magic. So now's the perfect time to take the Tsunami spell.
I continue my pursuit of the remaining Diremares until I've killed them off.
I return to where I had found the Chaos Drone. One path goes east and towards the Old Mine Tunnels, which was the path where I chased down the Diremares.
I go up the path that leads north. I find a Chisel, which can be combined with the Pendulum to create the Jackhammer. The Jackhammer can replicate the Earthquake spell.
I rest up, buff up, and follow the trail to its end so that I enter the Mountain Wilderness.
