A Murder, A Birth, And An Abduction

Holy shit! That’s right, two posts in one day. That hasn’t happened since I yelled at everyone and vowed to finish the game/rape all the doubters. For the time being, I’ve had a self-inflicted fire lit underneath me, and I want to finish this game badly, so I’ve got some more progress to report and don’t feel like waiting until tomorrow to write it up. 

Before I begin, let me give a quick warning: my computer is not fond of Fraps for whatever reason, and lately I’ve been having trouble recording my comedic exploits through the Planes for future referencing, so I’m having to revert back to screenshots to jog my memory. This is bad because I can’t be quite as specific on what exactly happened with only screenshots to tell the story. So if any of this comes across as a bit vague (“Yeah, think I probably cast a spell there or something, got by that next area somehow, think I even met an important NPC at some point…” You get the idea.), I apologize. I’ll do my best to recall this game’s rather mysterious storyline through screenshots snapped every 15 seconds. 

So we begin in Pharod’s Court, the lovely Annah joining us in our adventure now. As one of the readers commented in my last entry, I found little to do in the Buried Village. I talked to a grumpy storekeeper named Quint, sold him a few things, and took on a quest in which I agreed to find an item last carried by Gris, the dead collector I came across in the Catacombs. The only trouble is, I looked everywhere for that damn necklace, even went back into the Catacombs to ask Gris for directions again, and couldn’t find it. I eventually decided I’d just come back later if the side quests prove important enough to me, and then departed for the location Annah found TNO’s “dead” body. My time in the Buried Village wasn’t a total waste, however, as I did get a few experience points and a tattoo for acquiring Ku’u Yin his name and number back from Radine.

Ku'u Yin just couldn't rest without knowing his name and number.

It turns out Annah is leading me to the Alley of Painted Thugs, which I of course stumbled across earlier, but was not able to get into. With Annah’s tip about opening the door while not looking, in we go. I save the game, expecting a few battles, and it must be said, I was not wrong. This was a very interesting experience, even with all the protective mage items, higher skill levels, and extra companion on hand. 

The first few enemies we come across are either alone or in small groups, and although Annah dies quickly, for the most part the opponents are easy enough to dispatch with a few cool TNO spells. I’m getting used to this mage thing. I raise Annah from the dead and equip her with a pair of chained earrings, which apparently help her thief skills. Eventually we come to a door that simply won’t open even with these thief skills, however, so I figure it’s time to have a look at the next floor. 

The battles get much tougher upstairs, and even though I actually leave to return to Mebbeth for healing and resting (for spell casting purposes) at one point, my group still gets hit hard, although the opponents fall at a satisfying pace. By the time we reach the enemy mage on the third floor, only TNO and Morte are left alive, and somehow, we prevail. Morte’s ability to avoid damage proves very useful, as I’m able to leave a severely wounded TNO in the next room while Morte finishes the battle, equipped with a new set of teeth that inflict a little more damage as well as poisoning the target to boot. With the upstairs areas cleared, I find a key on the dead body of the mage, and then make another trip to Ragpacker’s Square for another healing and rest session.

Morte takes on the enemy mage by himself; what a brave little skull.

Back to the Alley of Painted Thugs, our fully healed group busts in the previously locked door with the new key to find… an entire fucking room of thugs. Some vicious fighting ensues, in which each party in my group dies repeatedly. Although we are making some progress in killing the huge group of thugs, they don’t go down without a fight, and I have to perform several reloads and trips back into Ragpacker’s Square before they’ve all been slain. I begin to get a better feel for some of TNO’s spells in the process, at least. The Chromatic Orb spell freezes the target, while the Balance in All Things spell seems particularly effective for large groups of attackers (provided TNO can live long enough for the spell to be effective while being attacked by several people at once). And I’ve become very fond of the strength spell, which I once equipped Morte with and sent him in to clear out an entire group of opponents single-handedly. Ah, the joys of sorcery. 

Anyway, it wasn’t pretty, and I later discover that there is apparently an alternate way to get past this room, but we eventually succeed in wiping everyone out, picking up a few keys in the process and making our way out of the building into the Alley of Lingering Sighs, an area that offers a very welcome quiet environment. Aside from a Dabus hard at work doing his repairs, no one seems to be around at all. 

While exploring, I pop into a house to find a dead Dabus, observing him to discover that he apparently died because he was trapped inside. There is very little to interact with in this whole location, so I press forward eagerly, looking for whatever it is that’s so important I had to fight through 803 powerful thugs to get to. 

After coming across a door and using the path revealed behind it to leave the screen, my group appears in front of another talking statue, although this one isn’t as friendly as Glyve, and it doesn’t seem to want any water. After shouting at TNO about how it saw him destroyed by the shadows that cast no shadow, it then settles down and reveals that it’s pregnant and needs help giving birth; just raging hormones I guess. On the plus side, at least I finally know how TNO found himself in The Mortuary when the game started.

It turns out TNO was destroyed by a bunch of shadows. Is the Lady of Pain behind this?

Anyway, this pregnant statue lady is unable to give birth with the Dabus in the last area constantly doing its repairs, and she needs me to bump him off. TNO balks at the idea, but reluctantly agrees, seeing no other way to get past the area the statue guards currently. I return to the previous screen, find the Dabus, and cleverly talk him into entering the building where his co-worker’s dead body was found. After returning to the statue, I’m rewarded a whopping 11,500 points for my evil deed, and then given another chore, which is to effectively undo the repairs the Dabus made. 

TNO rolls up his sleeves, borrows a few items from Dak’kon (who I was thankfully using as a fighter weapon mule anyway), and gets to work, destroying two areas that were previously fixed up. With these accomplishments taken care of, I’m given another 16,250 points (“I feel stronger”), and then the path opens up to reveal the Lower Ward. 

A quick note before I go on any further here: apparently, whatever got TNO before the game started got to Pharod as soon as our group departed the Buried Village. I haven’t taken the time to go back and visit Pharod’s Court since setting out for the location Annah found my body (and subsequently fighting many, many unsuccessful battles), but I get the idea that ol’ Pharod won’t be talking much anymore. Secondly, some odd looking tailed fellows appeared and made off with Morte as soon as I showed up in the Lower Ward. Just when the little bastard was starting to grow on me, too. I don’t even think of him as Murray anymore.

The Lower Ward opens up, allowing TNO access.

TNO and his two remaining companions take the time to scout the Lower Ward out carefully. I’m not going to go so far as to say it’s “big” since that always seems to get me into trouble, but it appears there’s more to do in this area than there has been in any area since The Hive. Fair enough? At this point, I’ve just scratched the surface, entering a few buildings to the north and beginning an investigation into the matter of who the hell took Morte and why. I also stop in to the Vault of the Ninth World and collect 1,123 coins from what I assume is one of TNO’s past lives.

My next visit is to Deran, an auctioneer who gives me some useful information about Morte, and then all but refuses to talk to me afterwards because he now feels endangered. Deran believes a shady figure by the name of Lothar the Master to be responsible, and not surprisingly, he isn’t one to be trifled with. There’s also the matter of rescuing Trist, an unfortunate widow who finds herself sold into slavery because the documents that prove she’s paid off her business went missing. TNO agrees to help her get that sorted out.

TNO shows shades of Geronimo by agreeing to help out a stranger in need.

I then head south to one of the Marketplace locations, where I immediately spot Byron Pikit, one of the men implicated as having an involvement in Trist’s situation. Byron is not a pleasant man, and TNO gets very little useful information out of him, although he does vow to help Trist in whatever way he can. 

Then into the Marketplace I go, where I’m bombarded with a huge group of shoppers, three merchants, and a few Harmonium guards. TNO takes great efforts to become familiar with one of the guards, Corvus, who has taken a liking to one of the shoppers in the area but is too shy to talk to her. Sensing the opportunity to play matchmaker, I talk to the woman for him, and then pass on the information to Corvus, who’s so grateful he gives me some inside information about some of the suspicious characters involved in Trist’s case, Byron Pikit included. He also gives me specific directions to Luthar, who I will need to visit if I want Morte back.

Corvus is full of helpful information, especially after he succeeds in stalking Karina.

With little else to do inside the shop, it’s time to continue the exploration of the Lower Ward. My next plan of action is to seek out Lenny, Byron’s right-hand man, since Byron wasn’t very helpful. Before I go, however, I note TNO’s pockets are starting to get a bit heavy with copper, and I buy a few spells from Cinder the merchant: Scroll of Cone of Cold, Scroll of Force Missiles, and Scroll of Ball of Lightning. The spells are expensive, and I haven’t yet figured out which ones to aim for, so I have no idea if I chose wisely or not, although I did figure out the Cone of Cold one is currently too advanced for me to even memorize. 

For my next entry, I look to solve Trist’s problem, reclaim Morte, and otherwise finish up in the Lower Ward before moving on, perhaps to the Upper Ward, which I’m guessing is next. Since I’ve been determined not to even so much as glance at a single walkthrough or guide with this game, however, I could be getting way ahead of myself. With my continuing familiarity in the game and steadily growing interest in the story of TNO, I do think things will move quicker from here. I’ll also see if I can’t figure out a way to get some more effective video capture; it’s brutal recapping my adventures without that. More to come, readers, more to come.