The End?

Just as the project leader Bruticus has indicated in the comments section, I’ve been leaning towards pulling the plug on this three-month project the last several days. I have my reasons, and I’m not looking for support in my decision at all, but I felt I did owe the readers at least some kind of explanation. The first thing that comes to mind is that I said all along, from the very beginning, that I would take this site down if it stopped being fun. Well, the truth is, I lied about that. I’ve been forcing myself to update these last several weeks despite the fact that it has never been once been fun during the entire trip through PS:T. It could be a number of factors, really. It could be that I just don’t like blogging about Planescape. It could be I’m sick of fucking playing a two-hour chunk and then sitting down and recapping my every step before I can move on and play some more. It could be some combination of the two.

What is most certainly is not the issue is the game. Weeks back I got over my issues with Planescape, and I now appreciate it as being a very fine game in its own right. I certainly prefer Fallout 2 without any question, but Planescape itself is not the problem. I’m just tired of blogging about it! It makes me dread playing the actual game, and that’s not right. It breaks up the flow of the game process to pause for an hour to gather screen shots and journal my experiences, especially considering everyone here balked when I tried to condense my experiences into a shorter entry. Look, I experimented with different blogging styles for the game because quite frankly the specific narrative I was doing in Fallout 2 started to grow old even while I was still playing that game. I didn’t want to keep doing that style, because I sensed I would burn out at some point, but no one liked the other styles, self included. So I returned to what worked with Fallout 2, all the while hating the process every time I sat down to write.

Now, when I think of PS:T, I don’t think of how curious I am about TNO’s story, and how close I am to uncovering some important shit that would doubtlessly hook me in even more so. I think about how annoying it is that as soon as I play for a few hours, I’d better stop and describe what I did. I guess game blogging just isn’t for me, because I’m sure some people would be more than happy to describe their gaming experiences as they’re playing through a game for the first time. I don’t feel that way. In fact, I recall a poster on the Codex who specifically told me I should stop concentrating so much on my “summer journal” and just fuck off and play the game. I think that person was dead on. If you can concentrate on playing a game and blogging about it without it ruining the experience, great, but ultimately I don’t think that’s for me.

Even now, as I tentatively begin the process of dragging this blog out back to put an end to its miserable life, I feel liberation. And I feel like fucking playing Planescape for the first time in over a week, because I won’t be obligated to retrace all my steps later and describe them to you all. And let’s be honest: many of you have picked up on the lack of passion in the last several updates anyway. This blog isn’t even fun to read anymore, is it? Let’s just be honest about everything, here. I guess technically this means I lose the challenge I agreed to take on, but I don’t feel that way at all. I believe I’ll finish PS:T in my own time, and I believe I’ll keep my eye on the RPG genre from now on. I think that’s saying something. I do agree it was silly to get competitive about it and threaten to beat it out of spite, but some of the hate I find in the Codex forums really brings out the worst in me.

Anyway, I’m not asking for sympathy or understanding. I really don’t care what the overall reaction to my decision is. The fact is, I’m not having fun, readers are ducking out left and right, and continuing for the sake of continuing is just going to ruin what enjoyment I do get out of games like PS:T. Sure, at the peak of the Fallout 2 entries this was a lot of fun, but it hasn’t been for a while, and I’ve given up on hoping it will be again. I appreciate all the support, all the readers, all the comments, but in the end this blog is not a necessary component of learning to appreciate the RPG classics, is it? If I could find a way to share my experiences along the way and entertain a few people, great, but if not, oh well. Time to move on.

As far as challenges go, I suppose I could keep up some semblance of this blog just to chronicle the fact that I am still playing the game, even if it’s just a simple screen shot entry with the three words “I beat it.” I’m open to anything personally, but what I’m not open to is taking the page down altogether. There’s no point in that. I’ll leave it up just in case I get that spark to come back here and add a new entry, or until I decide to remove it. By no means am I making any promises to update in the future, so feel free to sever ties with this URL if it helps you attain some sort of peace of mind. Again, thanks for all the comments; it was great hearing everyone’s reaction on a regular basis.

The Clerk’s Ward At Long Last

After a lengthy pause that I swear did not involve laziness or a general unwillingness to play PS:T, I am ready to make my comeback post. It will be epic. We left off several years ago just as TNO was about to enter the Clerk’s Ward. The odd part of this experience for me is much of what I’m now writing about has already been played before I took my out of town trip (California sucks, no offense), so I’m relying heavily on video capture from my journeys over a week ago. That said, it shouldn’t be hard to step back in the role of TNO and finish up this interesting gaming experience that has definitely provided plenty of ups and downs. And to anyone making requests or giving valuable hints, please don’t feel ignored. I’ll get to all of your comments as soon as I can. We’ve got some serious catching up to do first, though, so let’s get started. 

TNO’s initial experience with the Clerk’s Ward is that he is a welcome sight here. I first speak with Diligence, an uppity bitch who is quick to denounce me and threatens to call the guards if he doesn’t leave her alone. Apparently my appearance is not pleasing to the citizens of this area.

TNO's first conversation in the Clerk's Ward immediately puts him on the defensive.

In this area, I attempted to use my growing knowledge and comfort of the game to explore the location and chat with the locals at the same time, so with most of the region still black on the map, I move on and chat with a variety of other characters, many of whom don’t advance the story, at least not in an obvious way at this time. I speak with a drunken mage (TNO wanders what the man could do to rid himself of the addiction), find Nemelle and unlock the full potential of the decanter, and then perform a side quest for her in which I locate a friend on the other side of the Clerk’s Ward. I come across another side quest when talking to a man named Malmaner who requests I retrieve his costume for him from the tailor who threw him out of the store. 

In other words, nothing of real consequence (aside from the decanter) happens over the first twenty minutes of play in the Clerk’s Ward. But then I stumble upon Jolmi’s Messenger. It appears the gentleman is looking for TNO, and his orders are to bring me to the Civic Festhall for a proposal. I agree to this and immediately head that direction, having fully explored the outside area of the Clerk’s Ward. 

Inside, TNO immediately approaches Jolmi and discovers that she’s seeking permission to kill him for two thousand copper commons. Being immortal and all, this seems like a good way to earn some money, so I instruct TNO to agree to the proposal and die. He immediately returns to the same room after his death two thousand copper commons richer and with a disappointed Jolmi no longer willing to speak to him.

A most unusual proposal...

Now inside the Festhall, I decide I might as well begin exploring. My next act is to converse with Splinter, the guide of sorts for the Festhall who gives me novels of information and persuades me to give up my allegiance to the Dustman faction and join the Sensates; I tell him a story that meets expectations and helps me become a member. Done deal. Now a member of the Sensates, I decide to continue exploring. 

Unfortunately, that decision takes me to Jumble Murdersense next, the man who put a curse on Reekwind. Jumble refuses to talk to me, leaving me with no dialogue option other than to threaten him or bluff. Not surprisingly, my (relatively) good-natured TNO elects to bluff, but the result is nonetheless unpleasant, as Jumble then puts a curse on me as well. Rather than fight him, I decide to look elsewhere for the cure and leave him alone for the time being. The constant hiccups that follow me as I explore the rest of the Festhall were rather annoying to say the least, however.

Jumble Murdersense would rather cast spells than take time to... ya know, talk.

TNO makes good use of his exploring prowess, attending all three lectures in their full length and seeking out each individual trainer as well despite the fact that I have no interest in switching professions or learning anything other than the craft of sorcery. I also come across a dormitory setting where I learn that a past reincarnation of TNO actually had a room. This seems to be an especially important discovery, as I come across several charms, spells, and an interesting object called a dodecahedron, which is currently in a language I cannot translate. 

But the bulk of my time in the Festhall is spent reading the damn memory crystals in the sensoriums. After traveling to both the public and the private sensoriums, I take the time to go through and experience each emotion, which often results in extremely long-winded narrations. Now, I understand these have an important role in the game, so I won’t speak too disrespectfully about them, but let me just assure you I have no interest recapping them all, or even trying to summarize my findings. Just trust me when I say I did make sure to experience every last one of them, which netted me quite a few experience points in the process. I also came across an odd man named Quell who seemed capable of giving me information about Ravel Puzzlewell, but he has very little to say to me until I fetch him some sort of exotic chocolate. 

After concluding there isn’t much left to do inside the Festhall, I exit and seek out Salabesh the Onyx, the sorcerer Splinter told me could heal Jumble’s curse. Salabesh has bad news for TNO, however — Jumble will have to remove the curse himself, and willingly at that. Utilizing his clever ways, TNO tricks Salabesh into teaching him a curse to use on Jumble Murdersense and then quickly races back in the Festhall to end the infernal hiccups. The curse works to perfection, as it cuts off Jumble’s ability to speak. In his panic, he agrees to remove both the curse he put on me as well as the one he put on Reekwind.

At long last, Reekwind has his retribution.

With several key accomplishments taken care of inside the Festhall, I pause to take a look at my journal and still unfinished quests. While perusing it I come across the entry recalling how I delivered a message for Giltspur back in the Lower Ward to the Godsmen faction, and it dawns on me that I left unfinished business behind after all. Since I currently have the ability to quick travel to any location on the map I choose (or so it seems), I figure it’s a harmless detour and decide to return to Giltspur to let him know I completed his task. As I expected, I get some experience points for the task, and no small amount at that. Doubling back was well worth the time taken from the Clerk’s Ward, and furthermore, I hadn’t even been finished working for Giltspur! He gives me one final task, which is to deliver a handbill to Barkis at the Smoldering Corpse Bar. Talk about backtracking. But again, the travel aspect of the game is easier than ever, so why not? 

This particular portion of the game, much to my surprise, turned out to be absolutely huge. Back at the Smoldering Corpse Bar, I deliver the handbill to Barkis and then remember to purchase back my eye (earlier in the game I didn’t have the money for it) from him. This gives me 1,000 experience points as well as a new memory. While heading back out, I come across Ignus, the man the bar is named after. And then I have a revelation that changed the whole game for me. I quickly reread the description of the Decanter of Endless Water where it assures me it can put out any fire, no matter how intense, and then use it on Ignus. The result is 5,000 experience points and a new member in my group, but that’s not the part I keep referencing as being critical. 

Through a series of intense talks with Ignus (who still burns despite having the decanter used on him), I come to an incredible discovery — TNO personally trained him in a previous life! This powerful son of a bitch was once my student! After reliving a painful memory in which Ignus’s current condition is explained (TNO was a real bastard back then), I then take a big gulp and ask Ignus to teach me the powers I once taught him. This process is handled very effectively by the game; through a series of painful interactions, I gain literally thousands of experience points and invaluable sorcery wisdom at the cost of a few hit points. I instruct TNO to continue asking to learn more until Ignus has burned every available part of him, including the spare intestines I got a while back.

Experience points have never before been earned in such a painful manner.

After this grueling experience, I end the conversation with Ignus and check out my statistics screen. Through these painful efforts, I have now become a Level 10 mage with a level of 18 for Wisdom, Intelligence, and Charisma. Remembering my lessons from before, I take the time to go through each member of my party and ensure everyone is as strong as they can possibly be. This feels like a transitional moment in the game to me, and I want to be sure everyone’s completely set up and equipped for optimal performance. 

Before leaving the bar, I go around and talk individually to each member of my party, making sure I haven’t missed anything important they might know. In this process, Dak’kon admits to me that he has sworn himself to me for the remainder of my life before he knew I was immortal, which now makes him my slave for the rest of his life. TNO vows to find a way to release him from this pact, as he has grown quite fond of Dak’kon over the course of their travels together. I also inadvertently pick a fight with Ignus after apologizing for the condition I put him in once upon a time and have to reload, but no need to dwell on that. Let’s just pretend I never have to reload anymore, as everyone keeps reminding me not to. 

This is one of those times where I find myself feeling stronger than ever, like my character is miles away from what he started off as, and that I can return to quests in the game with more confidence than ever before. I’m armed with new experience, skills, spells, and even a new party member. Before returning to the Clerk’s Ward, I even stop in at Fell’s Tattoo Parlor and take advantage of the effects of a few tattoos as well, something I’d been neglecting earlier in the game. Indeed, TNO is more powerful than ever, and is finally being controlled by a semi-worthy player. Or at least one that has an idea of how to play the game, if you don’t want to give me that much credit. It only took this long to figure it all out, right?

TNO shops for tattoos. Next stop? A new pair of shoes and a haircut.

Back in the Clerk’s Ward, I go about resolving some leftover matters from my last visit, before TNO was the most bad ass mage ever. My first stop is to Finam’s house to solve the mystery of the dodecahedron. Although Finam himself proves unable to help me, he does mention that his dead father would have known how to read the language. Fortunately, his dead father’s remains are kept right here in the room, and with TNO’s uncanny ability to talk to the dead, this poses no problem at all! 

The conversation is very revealing. Firstly, the dodecahedron (once translated) turns out to be the missing journal I’ve been after this whole game. Reading through it is very disappointing, as it appears to have been written by a considerably crazier, more evil version of TNO. Secondly, this insane evil version of TNO was the person who killed Finam’s father in the first place! It bears repeating that old TNO was a real son of a bitch. At any rate, mystery solved: the dodecahedron was a way to hide the journal left behind by evil/crazy TNO. 

Now, to obtain that exotic piece of candy for Quell, I head over to the Curiosity Shoppe, quickly coming to a decision and returning with great haste to the stupid Festhall (sorry, the writing process has me growing very impatient to finish this up and get back to playing the fucking game already; it’s been forever) and tracking down Quell once again. With the candy in his mouth, he’s much more forthcoming, and shares what he knows about Ravel. Quell feels that seeking out Ravel is a terrible mistake, as she’s impossible talented and wicked as well as dead. But TNO is persistent, and after prodding for a while, Quell advises me that every maze has a portal, and the way to get into the maze housing Ravel likely involves getting a piece of Ravel herself.

Chocolate loosens Quell's tongue rather effectively.

Remember the memory stone with Ravel in it, I head to the south and use it again, telling Ravel I have returned. She gives me a hint when I question her about the key, telling me the key is a labor of her own flesh and blood, and then she vanishes leaving me with that same haunting question: what can change the nature of a man? I admit that line gives me chills. With these chills still lingering, I depart the Festhall once again and decide it’s time to seek out The Brothel of Slating Intellectual Lusts. 

Inside, I meet Fall-from-Grace, who I quickly realize is going to be the next (and last?) member of my party. She talks to TNO a bit about the nature of the brothel, which she established herself for those who seek pleasure through conversation instead of carnal actions. While sharing my amnesia plight with her, Fall-from-Grace admits to being intrigued by TNO’s condition and suggests some people in the brothel may have helpful information. Lastly, TNO offers her to come along on the group’s adventure, and she proposes that first I must find ten students inside the brothel, talk with them, and then return to her with my thoughts. I accept her proposal, and then promptly decide I’ve had enough for one play session, save, and quit. 

Even recapping all of this now is an exhausting process, but after a long lay-off, I’m back in the swing of things, and more ready than ever to finish things off. I’m more interested in the story than ever, and eager to seek out Ravel. I will leave things at this point for the time being, with the promise that more is on the way very soon. Ish.

Slower Pace

Hello, readers. I just wanted to make a quick note that I’ve been out of town (and will continue to be so for the next several days) as well as apologize for the lack of updates. It’s highly unlikely I’ll be done with the game by August 1, but finishing by a deadline is a pretty pointless endeavor when it comes to playing a video game, so I’ll be removing that deadline and taking all the time I need to finish PS:T. The pace en route to finishing the game may be slower than anticipated, but hopefully that will allow me to give it the attention it deserves. Thanks for your continued support everyone! I really am very eager to see TNO’s story revealed.

The Post Where Morte Comes Back

After a short rest, it’s time for more PS:T. Last time I finished up inside the Marketplace, where I had concluded that I needed to track down Lenny to get to the bottom of this situation with Trist, so that’s the first place I look once my group is back out in the Lower Ward. But nothing ever goes exactly as planned for me in this game, and as usual, I can’t find Lenny right away and end up getting sidetracked.  

In this case, it’s an interesting merchant by the name of Giltspur that catches my attention. After paying him ten coins for more information on Lothar the Master (I feel like I’m hunting for Pharod all over again), our conversation changes to jobs he may need done. Giltspur has a simple errand for TNO to run to The Print Shop. Since I’ve already been there early and the quest sounds easy, I gladly accept, and quickly head north to the location. 

A guy with the name of Giltspur should be running errands for me...

 Afterwards, with the task done, I return to Giltspur and get my payment along with another task: this one to visit Keldor of Durian at the Foundry and deliver a message. This brings back to the gate the Godsmen are guarding; earlier, I was denied entry, but with a message to deliver, I’m good to go.  

Inside the Foundry, TNO learns a little about the Godsmen faction, a strange group of factory workers that believe there’s something God-like in everyone. After a bit of wandering, I locate Keldor and deliver the message, hovering afterwards to ask him how I go about joining this faction. I still have yet become a member of any group, and I find myself curious about the process, so I decide to follow up on his instructions and speak with Alissa, the Foundry Supervisor in regard to the my first quest, which is to use the forge to create something beautiful out of something ugly. 

Alissa, who has horns in her forehead, tells me I’ll need a few items first if I want to use the forge: protections from the flames, a hammer, tongs, and an iron ore. What is this, a quest within a quest? At least I’m able to obtain the iron ore quickly from Thildon, an arrogant old man with shaggy white hair. With other things seeming more pressing at the moment, I leave the Foundry for now and decide to embark on other quests. 

It's great when following up on a quest leads to its own sub-quest.

 Back to wandering around the Lower Ward, I stumble across a few side quests. First, there’s Xanthia, who has some interesting information regarding the group of thokola warriors waiting by the Marketplace preparing for a battle with an abishai creature (evil bastards). Turns out she had a drink spilled on her fancy dress by Thorp, the most educated of the three thokola, and then told him she wouldn’t accept an apology from any but a true warrior. Thorp, eager to pay his debt to the lady, is waiting to come across an abishai and kill it, but little does he know it can only be killed with magic! TNO chastises Xanthia for not passing this information on to the thokola, and then promptly goes and does so himself, which is worth 6,000 points and some coins.  

I also come across Sebastion, who offers to help me with my stitches if I do his dirty work for him and kill Grosuk, an abishai by the siege tower to the northeast. In full side quest mode now, I agree, and decide to immediately head that direction to give a shot.  

Bad idea. Grosuk is impossibly tough, and owns TNO and the two companions (who are still near death from being resurrected admittedly) many times over, despite casting a variety of spells. Apparently, TNO needs to feel stronger a few more times before I can handle him. I mean, wow. Grosuk doesn’t mess around.  

The good part about going up to that area is that I accidentally stumbled across a portal that allows me access to the tower; the trick is to suppress the desire to enter the tower before entering, which TNO discovered in an earlier conversation with Lazlo. Anyway, inside is a giant creature name Coaxmetal; he makes weapons for the sake of the Entropy, whatever that means. Coaxmetal shares many theories on death and metal with TNO, and claims there is a weapon that can kill every living thing, including an immortal. This piques my curiosity, and I have TNO donate some blood to the cause in order to create a weapon that could kill him. Coaxmetal is successful in his creation, although he warns me it alone will not do the trick. I’ve had enough bizarre conversation with a giant being inside a tower for the time being, so I leave and resume my search for Lenny, which I was supposed to be focusing on this whole time. 

Coaxmetal's surprisingly friendly for a giant iron beast; maybe it's because he's melded to the wall.

 Turns out Lenny is to the south of the tower, and his appearance made him look like a common thug, which is probably why I overlooked him earlier. This time, TNO spots him, though, and accosts him. Lenny, though, isn’t interested in talking, until I reference Byron Pikit that is. Once I have Lenny’s attention, I have TNO get straight to the point: what happened to Trist’s papers? Lenny plays dumb, but TNO is too clever, and he’s quick to tell Lenny exactly what he thinks happened: Byron ordered him to steal the papers and destroy them, but he never really got rid of them. Lenny cracks under the pressure and tries to take off, but TNO grabs him and forces a confession, at which time Lenny reveals he was only trying to save Trist all along. It was his intention to double cross Byron all along. Unfortunately, Lenny doesn’t have the ability to get the papers himself; he’s stored them in the warehouse, and they’re not open for business. TNO offers to get them himself, and Lenny gives me a secret pass phrase that should result in Trist’s documents as well as incriminating evidence against Byron Pikit, also known as the mother lode.  

Our group runs quickly back to the north, where we give the phrase to the Vault of the Ninth World and leave with the necessary documents in tow. My first stop is to the Marketplace, where I get Byron Pikit off the streets by handing over the incriminating documents to Corvus (2,000 points). My next stop is to the auctioneer Deran, who I hand over the documents proving that Trist has paid her dues (4,000 points). Trist is freed from the slavery block and then rewards me with a thousand copper coins (the game decides I’m worth another 4,000 experience points to boot). Feeling warm and fuzzy from all the gratitude and accomplishments, TNO decides to pay a visit to one of the last unexplored places in the Lower Ward: The Coffin Maker. Yes, I’m purposefully avoiding the Wrecked House for now, because I don’t think I’m ready for Lothar.  

Inside The Coffin Maker’s building, I attempt to have a conversation with Dimtree, who turns out to be a zombie. TNO’s newfound ability to talk to the dead helps him engage in conversation with Dimtree, where he reveals that he’s completely miserable stuck in his current situation. Apparently, Sebastion is the only person that can help end his pain, so I vow to speak to him on Dimtree’s behalf. 

Poor Dimtree; he's a zombie, and far too aware of it.

 After paying a visit to Sebastion and convincing him Dimtree is cognizant of his misfortune, TNO finds that there’s really no direct way to help. Sebastion’s under contract in regards to Dimtree, and can’t just release him without hurting his reputation. After I speak with him about the possibility of releasing him myself, he cleverly leaves a book open revealing the spell to do just that, pretending he has no idea I’m reading it. With that unspoken agreement taken care of, I’m able to return to Dimtree and free him, which nets me 4,000 points.  

Having completed all these side quests, I decide I’m in no condition to take on Lothar or Grosuk just yet. Since there’s little else to do in the Lower Ward (or so it would seem for now at least), I decide it’s time to head back to The Hive, maybe take care of a little unfinished business from the earlier stages of the game.  

Utilizing the knowledge I’ve gained of The Hive, not to mention my veteran prowess of PS:T, I quickly resolve a number of quests that have been in TNO’s journal for quite some time. First, I pay a visit to Sev’Tai and alert her that I have exacted revenge on the Starved Dogs Barking, which is good for a small reward and a little experience. After perusing my journal carefully, I then visit the Gathering Dust Bar and free Angyar from his contract by pressuring Gravesend into believing that the poor man will never achieve True Death if the contract isn’t destroyed. I then return to Angyar’s house and tear the contract up in front of him. More gratitude ensues. Thirdly, with Pharod dead, TNO decides to come clean to Emoric about where he was getting the bodies, effectively breaking his vow, but to a dead man. That makes it okay, right? I considered lying about the method for quite a while before deciding to break the vow; not an easy decision. I get 2,500 points for my trouble, however, and mark off another quest in the process. 

There's no need to keep a vow to a dead man, right? Besides, Pharod had it coming to him... TNO still feels wrong about it.

 All this work has the desired effect, as TNO and his companions are racking up the points and doing a little leveling up as well, making us more prepared for the battles that await in the Lower Ward. I decide it’s time to return and reclaim Morte, but first, I revisit one last place: Pharod’s Court, where I find his dead body and promptly loot it, grabbing the bronze sphere and his crutch among other things. Annah feels little emotion over the death of her “father” and wishes to remain among the group, so the three of us raid Pharod’s secret stash together, using the crutch as the portal key. I don’t find much, although a lot of walking is certainly necessary. With everyone rested and healed, I head back to the Lower Ward.  

Before getting Morte, I decide to take another crack at Grosuk. With the full variety of spells available to me after resting, I hit the bastard with a Chromatic Orb spell, freezing him so TNO and Dak’kon can hack away at him. He’s much easier this time around; a little too easy, in fact. Returning to Sebastion nets TNO a permanent raise in the charisma category since he’s so much better looking now (“I feel hotter.” Seriously, he says that. Don’t believe me? Go play it again, you’ll see.). Only one thing left to do now…  

But the Wrecked House is not what I expected. Instead of running into rooms and rooms full of evil mages I have to die repeatedly to overcome, Lothar turns out to be a man of reason, at least to an extent. He offers to make a trade for Morte, one skull for another. Lothar grants me access to a secret portal that takes TNO directly down to the Catacombs, where I’m to find an especially valuable skull in the crypts of Drowned Nations. 

Not only did I misunderstand this quest, I also didn't know what a divan was.

 Actually, I have to admit at the time of Lothar’s request, I don’t fully understand it. I mistakenly think Lothar is asking for the skull of the Dustman in the Catacombs (it makes sense, remembering Soego), and happily make a trip to the Catacombs to do as asked. It makes even more sense when I cast a spell on Soego and watch as he transforms into one of the rat creatures that took Morte; clearly Soego is not who was claiming to be. And lastly, for a nice complete package, Soego’s skull is available to be upon looting him body. Mission accomplished, right?  

Wrong, for a few reasons. One, Lothar’s minions are blocking my return path, and I make the mistake of telling them I have a skull, which they quickly take from me, turning hostile afterwards. That’s easy enough to fix, however; I simply reload and go back the long way, not using the portal shortcut. But when I approach Lothar about my find, there’s no option to give him Soego’s skull. Instead, he merely asks if I found what he requested, and I have the same dialogue options I had before I left at the beginning of the quest: Not yet, or There was nothing to find, which I had previously assumed was an option to bluff my way out of the quest. Seeing no alternate option at this point, I choose it, and am surprised to be rewarded with experience points. 

Ahhh! Soego's a rat! Seriously, I knew it all along.

 Although this enrages Lothar, he’s still willing to make a trade — if I can find him some kind of valuable skull in the Catacombs. Fortunately, Soego’s skull apparently suffices, as that dialogue option appears next; it appears I was one quest ahead by sheer accident. Again, my reading comprehension fails me, although in an oddly successful way for once. 

After receiving an acceptable skull as a trade, Lothar is happy to return Morte, and he also gives me some background information on why TNO is immortal. ‘Twas a hag by the name of Ravel who cast the spell in the first place, but she’s since been mazed, and as such will prove very difficult to find. Lothar then grows tired of our revealing conversation and teleports me out when I try to strike up another conversation with him. Oh, well. I’ve got Morte back, and that’s all that matters.  

My slate is surprisingly clean at this point, readers. Sure, there are a few unsolved quests in my journal, but nothing huge. For the most part, I’ve taken care of all the important quests that lead up to this point, and now there’s nowhere left to go but directly to the Upper Ward, or the Clerk’s Ward as it’s apparently referred to as. The four of us are rested, fully healed, and stronger than ever before. It’s time to get some fucking answers!

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.

Out Of The Catacombs At Last

Alright, so I admit it. I’ve been putting this entry off. I’ve been putting it off because it’s time to admit that I made some extremely big oversights in this game, and there’s no excuse for it other than laziness. However, the fact is that the oversights were my fault, and I will own up to them. There were a few items in my inventory that I didn’t know what to do with, you see. There was the pair of amber earrings, a magus guard, a ring or two. I read the descriptions of these items and I liked what I saw, but there was no “use” button! So I waited until the time came that using them would become an option. And I waited. And waited. Eventually, after being told the error of my ways, I realized they go in the inventory slots designed for uh, things of that nature. Earring? Ear slot. Ring? Ring slot. Guard? Uh, armor slot. Simple enough, yes. But I missed it, okay? I fucking missed it and have been playing the game all the way up to this point without using those items.

But it gets worse, readers. Ever since I made the conversion to mage, I kept thinking, “Wow, I’ve gotten all these points. I thought I was supposed to be hitting new levels quickly? When’s that gonna happen? How am I supposed to get through the Catacombs with two spells and like, 8 hit points? This sucks!” In my defense, I swear I remember TNO getting new levels on his own when he started the game as a fighter. Long story short, I was on Level 1 Mage with over 30,000 experience points just sitting in the bank because I didn’t go into statistics and click the damn Level Up button. Oh, and I didn’t do it for my NPC’s, either. We were just a trio of walking targets for the beasts in the Catacombs. 

The reason I start with these admissions is because I wasn’t able to truly accomplish anything until I discovered what I was doing wrong; I kept getting slaughtered anytime a ghoul turned on me or a flying beast thing and ten of his friends came at me. I thought that this game must be seriously the hardest game ever, and that I wasn’t going to be able to get through it. Plus, I know it’s the right thing to do to come clean about my idiocy, and I just wanted to get it out of the way. So get it out of the way I have, and now we can concentrate on what I accomplished in the Catacombs. 

We left off last time, several days back, with TNO and his companions at the entrance. After telling the gatekeepers of Pharod’s mission, they let us pass without any trouble, and in we go. 

My (at this point) weak, horribly unskilled trio advances into the dangerous dungeons and explores, quickly learning we’re in some place called Weeping Stone. I run into a few ghouls with a red circle underneath their body, and decide to cast a spell on one before they notice me. Since I’m still Level 1 at this point, the ghoul I hit promptly sneezed, and then turned around to attack. At this point I pause the game, read spell descriptions for an hour, and then send all three of my characters charging in for a melee battle. Thankfully, the ghoul dies in the 3-on-1 battle, but TNO is hurt enough to the point of not wanting to battle the other one. We flee the opposite direction.

Ghouls are mean.

Here we encounter a big, disgusting group of rats! There’s so many of them that they’re powerful enough to unleash a horrific spell that nearly kills Morte. Combined with the hostile zombies that appear on the screen at the same time, these rats are too much. I quickly leave the screen, entering the Dead Nations area. There I’m greeted by Hargrimm the Bleak, who tells me that I’m trespassing and must submit to the Silent King. TNO agrees to be peaceful, and then is informed that he is to remain in the Dead Nations as prisoner for the rest of his life. Not what I expected. 

The game fades to black, and then I’m standing across from a Dustman by the name of Soego, who is living in the Dead Nations as a way to help guide the ghouls and skeletons to the True Death. We talk for a bit, TNO decides to rest, and then I explore this area I’m apparently destined to live in forever.

TNO meets the inhabitants of the Dead Nations.

After wandering about for a bit, my group comes across Hargrimm once again and I question him about this puzzling place. He says it is the will of the Silent King for me to remain here forever, and should I wish to leave, I’ll have to speak to him directly. TNO asks Hargrimm if there’s any chance we could earn our freedom by doing a task instead, whereupon he’s told there are always cranium rats to take care of. Fair enough. 

The problem is, as soon as our group stumbles across a group fo these cranium rats, they shoot another spell at us, this time killing Morte. I charge in with reckless abandon, and not surprisingly end up dead myself. Time to regroup. With Morte back from the dead, his health doesn’t look good, so I find Hargrimm and ask for rest, which he grants. I pay another visit to the cranium rats, and this time I’m able to finish them off, with Dak’kon taking most of the damage. Returning back to Hargrimm results in 3,700 experience points, but curiously enough, he doesn’t have anything to say about the matter of getting me an audience with the Silent King; clicking on the dialogue option to tell him this news just exits the interaction immediately, and then there’s no way to bring up our agreement again. I assume this is some sort of bug.

Morte can only take so many cranium rat spells...

Having wandered around Dead Nations for a while, I decide to take another crack at the Weeping Stone area, where the two hostile zombies I left behind a while ago are still waiting for me. I cast a spell and then hack away, taking no damage in the process of killing them both. Advancing forward, a small group of angry flying things comes at us, but after looking at the map for points of interest I’m in search of Glyve, the face in stone, and I’m able to get into a conversation with him before the combat starts. Glyve seems to know something about TNO, and wants to warn him the Catacombs hold a lot of danger for him (as if it wasn’t obvious). Glyve then shares with me his curse, which is to remain on the wall until water from a magical flask passes his lips. Apparently, it’s somewhere in the Drowned Nations, which I can get to through the Dead Nations or the Warrens of Thought. 

Immediately after this conversation, my group quickly runs away from the flying demons, and then winds up in the Mosaic Crypt, where nothing seems to happen aside from getting hurt when standing in a specific location. Dak’kon takes most of the damage and is almost dead when I give up and leave the room with nothing accomplished. Back outside, the Vargouilles are waiting for us again, and I’m so tired of them I decide to take them on. I die very quickly and end up at the beginning of Weeping Stone once again, chasing a solitary cranium rat until we catch it and kill it. Then I figure it’s probably best to just head back to the Dead Nations, since there appears to be nothing in Weeping Stone aside from a few small crypts.

These are the Lesser Vargouilles? I'd hate to see the Greater ones, then.

After more wandering then I care to admit, I finally come across the entrance to the Drowned Nations, where I found myself thoroughly overwhelmed by the opponents present there and gave up on getting through the Catacombs for the previous blog entry. In good news, at least I was able to learn how to talk to the zombies after a failed conversation with Stale Mary opened up a new dialogue option with Hargrimm. I also got some points for helping a zombie come up with a new name, and traded a ghoul a bunch of rat tails for Uhir’s knife. 

Although I played much of the Drowned Nations on Level 1, I was able to frantically run away from enemies in a successful enough manner to find the items I was in search of, namely the magic water flask and Pharod’s golden spear (that was on purpose this time). I’m happy to report that after leaving the area in fear and wandering around some more, I discovered the art of leveling up and then returned triumphantly, wiping out much of the area even though I’d already found what needed to be found. 

It’s also worth noting TNO stumbled across a very interesting area at the end of the Drowned Nations that he had to go inside alone. This area proved to be a portal maze of sorts, and after many intentional deaths, I was able to obtain all the keys as well as appear in the middle room with the walls that were full of what looked like old TNO journal entries. I read them all carefully, but ultimately it didn’t seem like quite the breakthrough I hoped, and even after the sarcophagus I had to push all the panels to open only held another portal key, which took me back out to my companions. I’m not sure if I’m missing some key themes here or not, but I’m still very confused as to what’s going on with TNO.

"Don't let it end like this."

Afterwards I returned to the Dead Nations, and no matter what I tried with Hargrimm, I couldn’t get him to get me an audience with the Silent King (I still think it’s a bug), so I just decided to leave. I did pay a visit to the crypts in the Weeping Stone area, and was again able to make some tough kills I couldn’t earlier, although it didn’t give me much aside from some good loot. 

Since I was able to make it back to the Buried Village unharmed, I assume that the game did not punish me for leaving without getting consent from the Silent King. I quickly make a stop at Uhir to return the knife and claim the experience points, and then it’s time to visit Pharod and seek out some answers! 

Unfortunately, Pharod is still cryptic, even with his damned golden spear in hand. I do learn, however, that it was his “daughter” Annah who found TNO’s dead body in the first place and turned him in, where he would of course go on to wake up in The Mortuary and enter my life as it were. Pharod instructs Annah to bring me back to the place she found me, but as I’ve been so concerned with Pharod during this trip the Buried Village, I haven’t really gotten the chance to fully explore, and I tell him to hold on first. Annah agrees to join my party while I finish searching through the village. 

And that’s where my progress is as we speak, readers (what’s left of you, that is). I intend to see what other items of importance await me in the Buried Village, and then I shall follow Annah to this mysterious place she found me. More answers to TNO’s dark past appear to be coming, although not by any means at a fast pace. 

As for me, well, it’s obvious I haven’t taken well to this game. I’ve made some pretty critical mistakes, overlooked some obvious points, and continue to play the game the wrong way, especially in regard to combat tactics. This mage thing is new to me, and in my defense it’s tempting to just say fuck it and attack when you can only cast two worthless spells. Since I finally figured out it was my own fault I wasn’t more powerful yet, the spells have been more effective, and perhaps I’ll be able to handle myself better from this point on. I will be going through the remainder of the game as efficiently as possible, as this one just hasn’t been my preferred style. I look to have this game beaten by the end of the month; if not, then I will have to surrender and call myself not worthy, moving on to the next game in the process (no spoilers will be given here). But I think you should know that I don’t have any intention of allowing the latter to happen.

Phinally Phound Pharod

Welcome back, readers. With TNO having discovered his identity as a mage, I decide to move quickly towards advancing the story in this play session. It’s time to seek out Pharod. It’s worth mentioning that I attempted to visit Sharegrave inside his house upon first discovering Ragpicker’s Square, but considering he tried to kill me within seconds after talking to him, I fled and didn’t feel it was important enough to bring up. Fortunately, this disaster inside doesn’t stop Ratbone, the man standing guard outside the house, from giving me useful information about successfully tracking down Pharod once and for all. I get my first useful tip: visit Creeden near the Office of Vermin and Disease Control. 

A few short mouse clicks later, I come across Creeden peddling rats just where Ratbone said he’d be. Creeden doesn’t know specifics, but he does remember seeing a woman by the name of Nalls entering the area once. Off to Nalls we go, who is not far to the north. Indeed, Nalls has the juicy details TNO has been in search of. Turns out all I really need to get through the portal is a handful of junk, which she’s kind enough to offer.

Thankfully, Nalls just happens to have plenty of junk on her to spare.

Our trio heads excitedly back to Ragpicker Square, the thrill of a chase about to end lingering the air. Approaching the archway with the junk proves successful; simply throwing it in teleports our group on the other side of the portal, where we then are able to enter the Trash Warrens. I can sense that Pharod is nearby, and I find myself on alert, more attentive than I’ve been the whole game previously.

Immediately upon entering this new area, a collector by the name of Anamoli approaches me and offers a terse insult, making it obvious I’m not welcome here. TNO, using his wits, warns the collector that it’s perhaps not a good idea to deliver a body to the Dustmen by killing the person occupying it, and he backs away — for a moment. After some further exploration that yields little but a rusty dagger and an extra bandage, a large group of collectors falls on TNO and his companions. I arm TNO with the rusty dagger he’s just come across and attempt to fight off the huge hoard of hostile men, but there’s simply too many of them. Desperate, I attempt to use my new mage abilities and cast a spell, choosing Magic Missile, which works, but hardly destroys the group. With TNO and Dak’kon taking heavy damage (Morte floats above all the chaos seemingly unhurt), I try to run away to several different locations, but am ultimately hunted down and killed.

Holy Jesus! When do I get to level up and cast some decent spells?

This time I wake up in a different area than The Mortuary, and there’s an old woman standing over me. TNO spends a moment getting to know her, and even persuades her to search his body for objects. This is a mostly unsuccessful process, although it does result in a ring, 500 experience points, and some intestines in my inventory. After finishing up with Marta, I begin trying to find a way out; I have trouble with that sometimes in this game. After unsuccessfully searching for a few minutes, I decide to try and engage my companions in some chit-chat. I’m pleasantly surprised when I find that Dak’kon actually has much to teach me in the ways of sorcery. TNO studies several circles from the Unbroken Circle of Zertimon and as such gains some new spells and many experience points in the process. After all this, I find the way out. Turns out it was pretty simple. 

I end up in the Buried Village, and after exploring the area and perusing my map, I discover a location that catches my interest immediately: Pharod’s Court. In my excitement, I ignore other areas and rush directly to Pharod, clicking wildly to get to him. I must say, this is not what I thought of when I picture Pharod. An old man with a long beard? Not so much. Anyhow, Pharod isn’t quite the tell-all I hoped he would be, at least not yet. After a brief conversation, he informs me he won’t be able to give me the answers I seek, not without a little quest or two first (or ten, if my experience with this game means anything). It’s also worth mentioning I was able to talk him into telling TNO how he’s getting all the money from the Dustman people; turns out he’s digging up the dead bodies buried by the Dustmen and selling them back. The trouble is, without thinking, I have TNO vow that he won’t share this secret instead of lie about it. I realize afterwards that now I’m unable to tell the Dustmen what Pharod shared with me, thus keeping me from completing that particular quest, and likely keeping me from being able to join the Dustmen. That could be a problem, but I feel TNO is a man of vows and honesty, not lies and deception. I’ll deal with that later. For now, it’s time to pay a visit to these so called Catacombs.

So this is the man who holds all the answers to TNO's past? Hope I can find the bronze spear before he DIES.

Another quick note: I also spoke briefly with a man named Uhir who lost a knife in the while trying to kill a ghoul, and I agreed to help him with that, so it’s not just Pharod’s golden spear (edit: bronze sphere. Wow, that’s some great reading comprehension I displayed there. Thanks, Drugar, I owe you one.) I’ll be seeking in the catacombs. 

Well, readers, I’m afraid I’ll have to stop here for this entry. I want to get this entry up as soon as possible, and it must be said that I’ve ventured far into the catacombs and, to put it mildly, I’m having trouble getting out. I expect to succeed very shortly, however, and I’ll be more than happy to describe my harrowing adventures there in the next entry. You guys remember the Catacombs, right? Do you remember them being impossible? Because I have to admit, and this will note come as a surprise to anyone reading this, I’m getting my ass kicked. In just about every location, too. But I’ll save it for next time…

A little preview for next time, gents.

TNO Chooses His Path

Gather round, children. A few days have passed since my last entry, and much has transpired for TNO and his two sidekicks. When I left off last time, TNO had cleared the disturbance in the Mausoleum, and in the process, I had found myself growing more and more familiar with the game. It’s been a battle, but I can feel the game gradually growing on me. 

So with this newfound knowledge and comfort in the world of PS:T, I had a desire to revisit every area I’d visited earlier in my clueless state. No better place to start with than the Mortuary, right? One of the characters I had come across much earlier was Pox, a collector who seemed all too familiar with TNO and was perfectly willing to smuggle him back inside. With a little dialogue, TNO is able to convince Pox to do just that, pretending to be dead in the process. This convincing acting job is worth 500 points, and puts me back in the same spot where the game first began. Bad memories.

TNO returns to The Mortuary... on purpose. Pay no attention to the low health levels; that was on purpose, too.

 But I’m determined to do a better job of searching out my surroundings this time around, and a full exploration of every level yields an interesting discovery: a character that I’m not sure how I missed the first go-round. The character is, of course, Deionarra, who was apparently TNO’s lover in a previous life (or many previous lives). The two share a deep conversation in which she reveals that TNO is both blessed and cursed; one who dies many deaths, and whose memory is growing weaker with each one. I also discover that TNO has the ability to raise the dead, which could prove useful at some point. After some more poignant dialogue with Deionarra in which she reveals cryptic clues to the future, TNO vows to find some means to save or join her and then departs. 

After this conversation, I get a note about an alignment change. It could be that this has always been there and I just missed it before, but after some investigation, I discover that TNO is currently Neutral Good, which means I believe in a balance between law and chaos, but prefer good actions over evil ones. That seems fair to me. Slowly, I’m learning who my version of TNO is, and as that happens, I find myself becoming more interested in what becomes of him.

It's TNO's old flame, Deionarra. Cool name.

Outside The Mortuary again, I decide it’s time to move the story forward and seek out Pharod. Since I’ve searched all over The Hive for the guy and talked to many people, I’m convinced my next destination should be to Ragpicker’s Square. Our trio sets off for the previously unexplored area, and then does a quick scouting job to fill in the black spaces on the map. I quickly determine there is a portal that I don’t have the necessary means to access just yet, and assume it’s likely got something to do with how Pharod is hiding. 

With that location ruled out and few other areas to visit on this map, I decide to pay a visit to the house marked as “the midwife’s hut” which takes me intoa  small room with an old lady named Mebbeth. TNO has a lengthy conversation with her in which she provides much-needed healing, offers her place for rest, and informs me that Pharod is in fact hiding underneath Ragpicker Square, although she isn’t the one to ask for exact directions. While talking to her, I also decide to part with some copper in exchange for identifying a few of the items I’ve been carrying in my inventory for a while. 

Lastly, I make a big step (I presume it’s a pivotal point in the game) and ask Mebbeth to teach me about the art of magic. She agrees, but only if I do some chores for her first (big surprise there). My first task is to take a peculiar seed to a fruit merchant for herbs. The trip should have been quick enough, except I took the time to talk to every merchant before finding the correct one, and in fact was certain the merchant must have been in a different area at first, so I got a little off track and wandered some more.

Old Mebbeth has some good old fashioned quests that need completing before she'll teach me the art of magic.

In my travels, I return to the Alley of Dangerous Angles and take out both Rotten William and Krystall for Blackrose, who fist ordered me to kill for good and then for evil to balance things out. Once I succeed (after several deaths in which I persistently walked my way out of The Mortuary and returned to battle without racing to reload), Blackrose attempts to lure TNO into combat with him as well, but after informing the creature I am in fact immortal, he backs down, and I get more experience points. The area doesn’t seem particularly important, but I thought it worth mentioning since it resulted in several thousand experience points. 

Additionally, I had found Craddock wandering around the merchant area, and delivered the message Baen the Sender had asked me for help with. In turn, Craddock wants me to go find one of his workers near the Smoldering Corpse Bar. In the course of my travels still searching out the merchant, I come across Jhelai, Craddock’s worker, only to discover he doesn’t think much of Craddock and won’t be returning to work. By this time, I’ve explored enough areas that I’m ready to give the marketplace area another try, and I return, immediately seeking out Craddock and passing on the message from Jhelai. Although this doesn’t sit well with Craddock, I offer to fill in for Jhelai in exchange for a day’s pay, thus fulfilling the quest in my journal.

Somewhere shortly after this point of play, I finally stumble across the merchant I’ve been looking for all this time. As it turns out, even the correct merchant has very little information about the seed, although TNO does get the idea to visit Mourns-for-Trees at the end of the conversation, so it wasn’t a complete waste. 

Mourns-for-Trees, as it turns out, is much more helpful. While he doesn’t have any more knowledge of the seed than the merchant did, he is able to enlighten me on an important lesson of Sigil: simple belief can turn something imagined into reality. By willing the seed to grow, it does, and suddenly TNO has the sample he needs for Mebbeth. Before leaving, I ask Dak’kon to join in the effort of caring for the trees, and he agrees. Furthermore, asking if there have been any changes in the trees results in a positive answer from M-f-T, which nets me 500 points to boot. Now, back to Mebbeth for our regularly scheduled programming.

Oh, look, Mourns-for-Trees has a purpose after all! Well, how about that?

Back in Mebbeth’s hut, I’m again reminded that if I want something to happen, simply thinking of it is sometimes all it takes. With that, the growth on TNO’s arm from the plant releases itself, and is then turned into a picture frame, all via thought (telekinesis?). With the first task taken care of, Mebbeth has another, and another, and another. But why am I describing this in such detail like no one’s played this before? Everyone knowns damn well that I had a few more quests to complete for the old hag; I retrieve some rags, hunt down a woman who squeezes ink out of a fish into a tankard I had to obtain from a different merchant (seriously, I think I talked to about a dozen different people for three tasks, but complaining would make me look like a console tard, and no one wants that, no one). Point is, I did the bitch’s quests, went back, and at long last, became a mage, which is apparently this TNO’s destiny. This is a very satisfying process to play, but not as much to write about, so forgive my hurried tempo. 

I was actually quite pleased to get some answers about all these spells I had been carrying around. Mebbeth explains that I simply copy them individually into my spell book, memorize them, and then cast them when necessary. In the story of TNO, this is a big development, as it fills in a big blank in regards to just who the hell he is. This TNO, my TNO as it were, is a sorcerer, and almost certainly destined to be one of the best sorcerers in the history of the Planes. 

And so a big part of TNO’s identity has been decided; it’s been a very revealing entry, all, one filled with long-lost loves, magical spells, epic battles in alleys, and the continued search for Pharod and the elusive journal. We’ll pick up here next time. I do believe the next play session will be one I’m actually not dreading, and for this game, that’s quite an accomplishment. As I’ve repeatedly said over and over again, there’s still hope to be found yet.

A New NPC And More

It’s been a long couple of days for me. As most of you know, I found the map key a few days back, and it’s been taking a toll on my weary body and mind. I wasn’t able to muster the strength to get out of bed long enough to do anything productive, let alone plop myself down in front of the computer and play this mentally exhausting game. But I’ve been recovering slowly; I’m keeping solid food down again, and today I thought I would try a little writing. No promises, though; another discovery like that one, and I may be comatose for a while.

So my latest playing sessions began swimmingly, as usual. I began it by talking to an angry man named One-Ear who did nothing but yell at TNO and hurt his immortal feelings, and then throw some money at a collector who wasn’t able to tell me anything about Pharod I didn’t already know. He did mention something about Ragpicker’s Square being his boss Sharegrave’s territory, and something about a fight, but ultimately I’m still not exactly sure where Pharod is, since I’ve gotten quite a few potential locations.

Things get even better when I come across a towering monster known only as the Black Abishai. Against Morte’s warnings (and my better judgment), I continue to pester the monstrous creature until he well, kills me. Although tempted to reload, this time I just shift-clicked my way out of The Mortuary and returned to The Hive the long way. Yes, I knew I was immortal, damn it; I’m just lazy. So it’s safe to say the first five minutes of play went just about how the rest of my PS:T experience has, which is to say poorly.

TNO's in store for a quick return to The Mortuary.

But then I actually accomplished something. Something genuinely noteworthy, for once. Utilizing my newfound map key (alright, let’s move on now, please, or I’ll just make a whole entry with the word ‘map’ repeatedly until everyone decides to let it drop), my next destination once back outside is to the southeastern portion of The Hive, where I then make my first appearance at The Smoldering Corpse Bar.

Nine hours later when I was finished talking to everyone inside, I’d learned several interesting things and found another member for my strange wandering group. His name is Dak’kon, and he’s a member of the githzerai race. After a long conversation with the (man?) creature in which we discuss the history of his people, our favorite cereal, and debate about the finger points of existence, Dak’kon wants to come along, and seeing as how he looks pretty formidable in battle, I happily accept his request to tag along, netting 500 experience points in the process of talking to him.

Dak'kon was so impressed by my debating skills (something about the city being flawed) that he decided to join me!

While in the bar, I also have an important conversation with Candrian, an experience traveler who knows all about the planes, gives TNO tons of information about them, and agrees to help Ingress, the woman scared out of her wits about portals and such. Additionally, I help settle a matter for Barkis, the bartender who just so happened to be holding my eye from a previous life. While I don’t have enough to buy it back yet, I do agree to collect a tab from a patron who hasn’t paid up in a while in exchange for free drinks.

Investigating into this matter, TNO comes across a timid lady in Dustman robes, and my interest is piqued immediately. It appears momentarily as though I’ll be settling Barkis’s problem as well as completing one of the quests for the Dustmen faction. After conversing with her, though, TNO establishes that while she isn’t a true Dustman, she isn’t the thief, either. After being firm with her but not threatening, I order her to pay up, but she doesn’t have the money, so TNO agrees to loan it to her. Aside from several other lengthy conversations that don’t yet have any noticeable impacts on the game, there’s little else to share about the bar. I was unable to interact with the guy in the flames, for what it’s worth.

Outside, I decide TNO should probably stop in at the tattoo parlor; maybe the owner can shed some light on his numerous tattoos. On the way I chat with a man who devotes his life to trees and agree to help him (?) and also come across a desperate woman who tries to convince me that her sister’s in trouble. TNO, ever the observant one, doesn’t immediately rush to her aid, but asks her a few questions first, and then realizes the blood on her is old and dried. Suspecting something suspicious, TNO bluffs and tells the woman he’ll kill her if she doesn’t come clean. She confesses at that point, admitting that some nearby thugs in the alley ordered her to bring unsuspecting victims down to them so they can rob them. It’s worth mentioning that after agreeing to help Mourns-for-Trees, TNO leveled up, although it doesn’t seem to mean much in this game, at least so far.

Mourns-for-Trees helped me level up by agreeing to care for some plants.

Inside the tattoo parlor, TNO has a conversation with Fell, who indeed remembers him but is unable to enlighten us on what the nature of the last visit there was, or what history is between the two of them. After taking a quick look at the tattoos Fell offers and attempting to have Dak’kon translate just in case it leads to other conversation options, our group departs, and I’m feeling more than a little disappointed.

My next stop is the Mausoleum, where the Guardian Spirit appears at the entry to yell at TNO for intruding. After gently probing the spirit for details, it is established that something has been disturbing the dead inside the Mausoleum; this must be exactly what the Dustmen warned me about. After getting permission from the spirit to rid the Mausoleum of the intruders, TNO marches ahead through the narrow passages, searching out the source of the problem. It doesn’t take long to come across some resistance in the form of skeleton workers. While I still despise the combat system in PS:T, the battles are a little more interesting with the help of Dak’kon, who helped us make short work of the skeletons while sustaining very limited damage. Continuing to explore, it isn’t long before we come across some more combatants, which this time includes a giant skeleton who is a much more challenging kill. I attempt to use a clot charm to resist the damage a little better, but the giant skeleton is nonetheless devastating to TNO, who has to repeatedly run away and heal with bandages in the process of fighting. Finally, after several attempts, we manage to bring our worthy opponent down, followed by a few more of the smaller sized skeletons afterward. At this point, the only of us who isn’t severely injured is Dak’kon.

These were a lot easier to beat when examining them in a specific order made them disintegrate...

Advancing farther into the Mausoleum leads us to a showdown with Strahan Runshadow, who proves to be a very annoying enemy. While TNO helplessly hacks at the repeatedly spawning skeletons, Dak’kon is smart enough to go to the heart of the problem and fight Strahan directly. This is a very fortunate development, as my poor combat skills and decision-making has completely drained my healing supplies, and there was no way I was going to be able to defeat the skeletons without reloading and trying again. When Dak’kon deals the final blow to Runeshadow, however, every remaining enemy turns to dust and I’m awarded 975 experience points. On the way out, the spirit thanks us for our work, and I feel like I’ve just done my first meaningful quest in the game. I miss that feeling.

Before calling it a day, TNO decides to take care of one more quest by finding Ingress and telling her to be prepared for Candrian to help her get out of The Hive. I conclude the quest by paying another visit to The Smoldering Corpse Bar and talking to Candrian about the experience. He tells me it was a success, and Ingress left me a pair of teeth as a reward. Gross? Thankfully, I have the presence of mind to equip them on Morte, upgrading his bite just a bit. That’s enough for now. I feel like I may be getting somewhere.

An Updated Word On RPG’S

I briefly thought about the comedic value of typing just one short thought in here and leaving it at that: “I hate them.” And as much as I would have enjoyed that in regards to my own twisted sense of humor, it wouldn’t be fair, and I dare say I would probably get a few disgusted comments. Plus, I was plenty scathing to my gentle readers in the last post, so why pile it on? The fact is every person that has taken the time to comment on here has meant well, and has given some great advice, and that means a lot to me. Especially to the regulars who have commented on so many of my entries, trust me when I say you guys are awesome. I would absolutely buy you all a beer if we just happened to have, like, an SGD meeting at some neutral location. Wow, I’m arrogant. But we all know some of you would show up. Maybe.

I’ll get to the point. Planescape is hurting me, bad. It’s just as I feared before I started this game. I can barely stand to play it, and then writing about it afterwards is like picking at the freshly inflicted wounds with the blunt instrument I had to jab in my eye a few days ago, only it’s rusty this time and infects the wounds and gives me some sort of horrible disease that guarantees death, a sweet release of sorts that would at least free me from the shackles this infernal game has me in! Let me stop to catch my breath; that was a long sentence. Have I reminded everyone that I love you all? I feel bad I’m not tackling this game with as much effort as I did Fallout 2, and I do fear losing the audience bit by bit. I’ll do my best to battle through this at a steady pace until I enjoy the game more, and I’ll continue to work on a writing style that isn’t hated by all some.

Today, for instance, I played. I swear I played. I have it all on video for later reference. I utilized the map key for the first time and holy shit did it ever make me feel better about finding my way around The Hive. I found a very crucial area and had some very meaningful interactions. But enough about the upcoming blog entry (shameless tease). Overall, I must say, my new interest in the RPG genre is not wilting. I am somewhat put off by PS:T, but I understand that it doesn’t mean I won’t get into it yet, and I understand even if I never like the game, there could still be tons of future games to play that I’ll love as much as (or more than) FO2. The fantasy aspects do tend to make my eyes glaze over just a little, but if the story were hooking me in the way it’s supposed to be, I don’t really think that would matter. I know I can get through this, because my faith in RPG’s has not been damaged. I’m struggling big time, but as I’ve said repeatedly, I’m not giving up, and I still believe the best is yet to come, even for this game.

Some final thoughts, in no particular order… I don’t like to reply in the comments section. I think of it as a pure space for reader thoughts only, just as this space is for my thoughts only. Sorry, it’s just a firm belief I have and would sooner die than stray from. Secondly, if anyone was curious about my name, you may refer to me as Sprayahen, Mr. Sprayahen, or Spencer, which is my actual name, and certainly likely to show up on a Google search associated with “sprayahen” if you somehow decided you wanted to look me up. Again, my ego reveals itself. Since we’re all getting to be so close here, I’m fine with the whole first name thing. Let’s see, where there any other oft-asked questions I felt the need to address? Oh, yeah. I don’t write these instead of writing game updates; I write these because I have no game updates to write, so anyone concerned about the general update days taking away from game progress need not worry; it’s either these or nothing. Lastly, yes, I’m sure I’m short-changing a very quality game and offending some people in the process, but don’t take my complaints too seriously. I’m still having a good time overall. Again, when that is no longer true, the link you have saved for this page will no longer take you anywhere but the abyss TNO is so familiar (and yet unfamiliar) with.