[LP] Double Game - Glade of Dreams: Darian, Master Magician

[angelfromanotherpin]

Stall. I'm definitely not joining the moral relativist brigade today.

[SGamerz]

The wizard agrees and you step aside with Issel. However, by using a lesser spell you can tell that the wizard is still listening to you and you shake your head slightly when Issel begins to speak: you must come to a decision on your own.

Will you decide to accept the wizard's offer and join these heroes in fighting the dragon?
Will you decide to return above ground to the Glade of Dreams and continue in your quest?
Or will you try to persuade these men to stop their cruel and needless torture of the Guardian of the Glade of Dreams?

For the first time since the 2 PCs join up in this playthrough, they are finally presented with a situation where they can make their own independent options without consensus (there's a 2-player grid here). What is Darian's choice?

[angelfromanotherpin]

Given that none of the options are hostile to the eavesdropper, I don't see why we couldn't confer.

Persuade.

[SGamerz]

Neither you nor Issel will accept the offer, nor can either of you simply turn and walk away. "I cannot allow you to continue with what you are doing," you say, and Issel nods.

"No matter what this beast has done," he continues, "he comes from a wise and ancient race. Stop this torture or we must make you stop."

The wizard laughs and his companions move forward together to confront you. You rise up on the balls of your feet, poised for action. "How will you do that?" asks one.

In answer, you draw your sword and slash in the same motion, slicing one of the wizards. He falls, caught unawares. At the same time, Issel kicks out and breaks the staff of the wizard who stands closest to him. There is a blinding flash of light and when your eyes readjust you see that the man lies unconscious on the floor.

The dragon, able to loosen its bonds due to the absence of two of the wizards, manages to sweep its tail along the floor and catch the third wizard, throwing him against the wall of the cavern and crushing him to death. The three fighters, however, leap agiley out of the way and advance upon you. You must fight them together.

Two of the fighters will attack Issel, while one attacks you. If you manage to dispose of your opponent then you will be able to help Issel, but until then you must fight this opponent. At least you will be able to strike first.

Fighter: Sword 11 Strength 8

If you both win, turn to 100.
If you alone win, turn to 60.

Since you can hit first, you'd have no trouble Death-Blowing this guy in just one round. But would you want to do that to both of Issel's opponents after that? Or Conserve your Strength and just do it for one or none of them?

[angelfromanotherpin]

The answer to that question depends on whether Issel's enemies can harm me while I'm helping him. Ask me again when I've seen how the two-on-two fight is handled.

[SGamerz]

There's no specific rules in the text for this particular combat, but the general rules in multiple opponent fights is that you can strike at every opponent each round, but must divide your weapon skill by the number of opponents if they outnumber you.

In this case, it'd be 2-on-2 after you join Issel, and sadly the book doesn't really state whether you still need to divide the weapon skill if the numbers are equal. Personally, I won't be doing that. But yes, Issel's opponent can strike at you once you enter their fight.

[angelfromanotherpin]

In that case I will Death one of Issel's foes and we can two-on-one the last one.

[SGamerz]

COMBAT LOG:

Round 1:
Darian casts Death Blow, and his Strength is down to 9. Fighter is dead!
Darian joins the fight against Issel's opponents.
Round 2:
Darian casts Death Blow, and his Strength is down to 6. First Fighter is dead!
Issel hits Second Fighter. Second Fighter is at 4.
Second Fighter rolls 7 and hits Darian. Darian is at 4.
Second Fighter rolls 4 and hits Issel. Issel is at 6.
Second Fighter is now outnumbered and must now fight with his Sword skill reduced to 5.
Round 3:
Darian rolls 11 and misses.
Issel hits Second Fighter. Second Fighter is at 2.
Second Fighter rolls 8 and misses Darian.
Second Fighter rolls 7 and misses Issel.
Round 4:
Darian rolls 10 and misses.
Issel hits Second Fighter. Second Fighter is dead!

Panting and bleeding from a dozen cuts, you turn to congratulate Issel. A broad smile sweeps across his face and he looks towards the dragon.

No longer cut or burned, the mighty bronze Guardian looms tall above you, then lowers its head to rest comfortably on one foreleg as it examines you both. Looking around, you can see no sign of the men you defeated, nor of the wizards that were killed earlier on.

The dragon chuckles. "That was well fought, my little dreamers," it rumbles, and the walls of the cavern echo with the sound of its voice.

Standing beside you, Issel asks a question which has been bothering you both. "Were they telling the truth?" he queries.

The dragon smiles. "First, tell me why you saved me from my torturers," it counters. You both shrug. It seems obvious. "Because we are honourable men," says Issel. "and because we would have been equally to blame if we had simply walked away," you add. "Once we knew that what they were doing was wrong, we had no alternative."

The dragon nods solemnly. "And so you risked your lives to save mine," it says. "That deserves some kind of payment. And I have the power now to give it to you. Issel, King Theo of Franzos is dead. Long live King Issel!"

"Long live King issel!" you repeat, happy that your friend has found what he was seeking.

Then the dragon turns to you. "You wish to know the secret of turning lead to gold, my young magician? It is yours. When you leave this place look in your pack. There will be an amulet there which contains the spell you seek. Careful study will reveal its secrets to you. Use it wisely." Stunned you can do little but whisper your thanks.

"There is another gift which I intend to give you," continues the dragon. "Yu cannot refuse it because until I have passed this burden on I will be unable to leave this glade. You may not consider it a burden at all, but to one of my race it is a heavy load to bear. The gift I give you both is immortality. My own immortality and that of this glade, passed into your bodies. It will not preserve you from harm, but if you can avoid dying in combat, then your lives will be without limit."

Gasping, you cannot believe that the dragon is telling the truth, but you do feel slightly different. Your entire body tingles and glows with health (restore your Strength to its full value).

"The time will come," concludes the dragon, "when you too will wish to pass on this burden to others, but that will not be for some time. You have both the gift and the problem of eternal life. I wish you well of it."

Suddenly the cavern and its huge occupant disappears from sight to be replaced by darkness and the sound of your own breathing.

You open your eyes to the Glade of Dreams. Everything about it is as normal. Beside you, Issel is sitting up, too. Anxiously you ask him if he dreamed the same as you. He did. Can it be true? Can you really possess eternal life and also the spell which changes lead to gold? Nervously you dig deep your pack and find a strange amulet.

"It is true!" you shout, and excitement overwhelms you both. However, your celebrations are interrupted by a great rumbling sound and the shaking of the ground.

A massive shape bursts through the soft earth of the glade. Soil and grass cannot stop its passage and soon the bonze shape of the Guardian of Glade Dreams gleams, hovering above you. The wind from his wings makes you duck.

"I thank you, Issel, King of Franzos, and Darian, mighty wizard," booms the majestic creature. "For twice a hundred years I have been bound here, destined to wait until two came who cared more for me than for their own life. And now they are here. You have released me so that I may join my brothers and in return I have given you a gift few possess. Once more I thank you. I bid you farewell."

A final blast of wind accompanies the giant beast's final wing beat and it soars upward, free at last.

Around you the Glade of Dreams is beginning to disintegrate. Trees, magically preserved for over a hundred years, grow old as they try to catch up with the passage of the years; a great flood of water springs from the tiny pool and washes around your feet. As the ground continues to shake, you hurry with Issel towards the exit from the glade.

Hurrying from the dying glade, you pause with Issel just outside it to look back on the destruction and chaos that have overtaken the tranquil clearing where you dreamed. The Wailing Forest is reclaiming that which it has been denied for so long.
'
Turning your backs on the scene, you walk a little way down the trail towards the waiting Riddling Sphinx. Already you can feel the buzz of immortality flowing through your veins. You feel young and supremely fit. It seems a pity that you should have to share this boon with Issel. After all, does he really deserve this precious gift?

If you decide that you would like to kill Issel, turn to 246.
If you think that such an idea is crazy, turn to 108.

Does Darian want to keep all the gifts and glory to himself?

[angelfromanotherpin]

Killing Issel is indeed crazy. There's no discernable practical reason to do it, and this whole place has been a morality filter, so this could very well be a last test where betrayal leads to forfeiting both my wonderful rewards and/or my life.

But I'm pretty sure I know what the good ending looks like from here, so in the name of content exploration, let's GET HIM!

[SGamerz]

Drawing your sword, you swing wildly at Issel, who is forced to defend himself. Before you fight you should make sure that you have Issel's correct Swordsmanship and Strength values. The fight is so frantic and you feel so confident of your ability that you may not use magic.

If you manage to stop the fight, turn 277.
If you win, turn to 145.

Since everyone's been restored to max health, Issel's stats are still 12 Swordsmanship, 10 Strength.

Unfortunately for you, the text disallowing you to use magic for this fight (for pretty rubbishy reason) means that you are highly unlikely to be able to see the ending where you win the fight. You can only win by rolling a double-2 instant-kill here.

Player-vs-player combats can be ended before any deaths if both players choose to stop fighting, so I guess I will be checking with both sides every round.

Round 1:
Darian rolls 4 and misses.
Issel hits and Darian is now at Strength 10.

Do you wish to continue?

[angelfromanotherpin]

Huh, I was supposing that Issel's immortality would protect him from Death Blow to prevent an anticlimax but I was hoping that the other spells would be on the table. In particular, some cool Mind Over Matter effect would have been much appreciated.

The madness that came over me has passed or whatever, I'm willing to make nice if Issel is. If not I guess we'll (eventually) get to see his total victory cutscene.

[SGamerz]

Huh, I was supposing that Issel's immortality would protect him from Death Blow to prevent an anticlimax

To be fair, the dragon clearly stated that the immortality doesn't protect you from death by combat.

Suppressing your urge to attack Issel, you take a deep breath and ask him if he too feels strange. He does, and your suspicions are alerted at once. Is seems that someone has put you both under a spell.

As you are discussing it, a hooded figure emerges from the undergrowth at the side of the trail. Stopping in front of you he throws back his hood to reveal a shock of white hair and startlingly cold blue eyes.

Have you been together to the Pool of Mirrors, deep in the Wailing Forest?

If you have, turn to 23.
If not, turn to 215.

Neither players have been to that locale....

Although you do not recognize this man, you can tell from the aura that surrounds him that he is a very powerful magician and you wait warily as Issel politely asks what the man is doing here. His reply is puzzling.

"I am the hermit of the Pool of Mirrors," he tells you, "come to reclaim what is rightfully mine now that the Glade of Dreams has been destroyed. Some time ago," he continues, "I entered the glade and the Guardian stole a magical amulet which held a powerful spell. Now I have returned for it."

Unwilling to believe his words, you ask the man what spell the amulet contains, and he answers correctly that it contains the secret spell that can turn lead to gold.

Reluctantly, because you do not want to believe that the amulet belongs to him, you begin to dig into your pack for the amulet, but Issel stops you with an outstretched hand and asks the hermit to describe the amulet.

He cannot, and his anger at you both becomes obvious. Stepping forward, he holds out one hand and snarls. "Give it to me and I will let you live. Refuse and I will kill you."

Although this man has great magical powers, he has stepped quite close to you and you both already have your swords in your hands. If you act swiftly, you will both be able to strike at him before he can react. After your attack, the next person to strike should be the one with the highest Agility score, followed by the one with the next highest score and so on. Consequently, if both your Agility scores are higher than the hermit's, you will each be able to hit him twice before he can cast a spell. The Fire Hand spell is powerful and you must lose 4 Strength points every time the hermit hits you with it. The hermit will attack Issel first, and then you.

Hermit: Agility 8 Spell: Fire Hand Strength 8

If you both survive and the hermit is killed, turn to 350.
If only you survive, turn to 121.

Both of you have higher Agility than the hermit. I don't think it's possible to lose this fight, since Issel is guaranteed to hit him in the first 2 rounds, and casting the Fire Hand spell successfully will drain his Strength to 2, so he'll go down before he can cast a second Fire Hand. And you are both too healthy to go down to just one Fire Hand spell.

COMBAT LOG:

Round 1:
Darian rolls 6 and misses.
Issel hits and Hermit is at 6 Strength.
Round 2:
Darian rolls 6 and misses.
Issel hits and Hermit is at 4 Strength.
Hermit casts Fire Hand at Issel, and Issel is at 6 Strength. Hermit is at 2 Strength.
Round 3:
Darian rolls 6 and misses.
Issel hits and Hermit is killed.

Yes, Darian really did roll 6 for 3 rounds....

Smiling grimly, you and Issel stare down at the body of the old hermit. Stooping, you cover his face with the hood of his cloak, but as you do so there is a breeze from the glade and the body shudders, turning into dust as you bend over it. Exchanging a shrug, you turn your backs on the remains and hurry down the trail to the waiting Riddling Sphinx.

As you approach, the giant beast kneels and offers its hands for you to mount. "Hail King Issel!" if cries. "Hail Darian, mighty wizard!" Then it lifts you both to sit astride its broad golden back. The mighty wings beat twice and the beast springs lightly into the air, circling the destroyed Glade of Dreams.

"Where can I take you, masters?" it asks, and Issel turns his head in enquiry. You grin broadly and nod and he bends to shout into the Sphinx's ear.

"To Franzos!" he yells, and you echo it. "To Franzos!"

The magical creature nods, then turns to head north. High above in the sun you catch a single flash of bronze as if from the wings of another mighty creature. It is gone in a moment and you are left together to face a long and happy future.

Your joint adventure ends here. Congratulations!

And it's over! Thanks for sticking with this despite the month-long lapse during the playthrough.

Regarding the hermit:

As the text indicates, it's possible to encounter him before you enter the glade. He would try to dissuade the PCs from continuing their quest, and also try to turn the 2 players against each other by goading them into looking in his pool "see their future", which would show them each to see a maybe-phony (could turn out to be legit since the player can decide to double-cross his companion in the future) future of his companion backstabbing him. He's much more difficult to deal with once the encounter turns hostile, and that's when the players need the Mind-Over-Matter spell to escape from him if he manages to freeze them with spells. There's no way to kill him then. The end-game fight is surprisingly easy considering how he's portrayed to be so much more powerful in the initial encounter.

Also, if the players have encountered him before, then the conversation is quite different, since instead of trying to trick Darian into handing over the amulet he will simply be upset at the PCs for causing the glade to be destroyed (which was apparently the reason he tried to stop them from continuing their quest before. He will also claim to be a friend of ex-King Theo and wants to kill Issel to avenge him.

So, as a 2-player game.....this wasn't a very impressive design. Too many things in multiple-combat encounters not being specified and left to reader's interpretation, and also once you enter the glade the 2-player grid mechanism isn't really utilized much. There are really only 2 instances where the players get to make independent options via the grid (the choice whether to save the dragon from his torturers and the final choice to double-cross each other). Also, the game becomes very linear once the players enter the glade, so there isn't going to be much variation on replays. There are more opportunities to utilize the 2-player options before you enter the glade, and the pre-glade part of the game was more open-ended with a few different paths to reach it, but there's also a high chance that the players may not cross paths at all and therefore don't get to experience what is supposed to be the unique features of this series.

There is some replay value in the sense that the dreams take a completely different nature if the players are going solo, and some parts of the solo dreams are actually more interesting than the joint dreams in 2-player mode.

Anyway, if there are any questions about the books, I will answer them in the joint thread. Thanks for playing!