This Is One Of Those "Pickle" Moments

I saved my game when I got into the castle, past the bugbear gates. I have been trying

and trying

and trying

to survive up here but it just ain't working. My easiest fight is against 1 normal human, 1 6th lvl magic user and 2 ettins. I die fast. The harder fights are between me and about 9 bugbears. I die even faster. Sadly, i did save my game inside the gate so I don't actually have a save I can easily go back to... except that I have been periodically backing up my saves, 'just for old times sake'.

My 'closest  to todays date' save is 6/26/11 and I am not quite sure how far back I am and i'll thus have to re-follow my steps, but I am clearly way over my head here. I need to head back to New Phlan, go to the docks and look for Sokal's Keep  ( a tip o' the hat to The Enraged Geek for the head's up- thnkx!).

So, tomorrow or so I'll let y'all know how I've been doing. I never would have thought of the Docks on my own. I forgot they were there. I do suck after all.

Scorpions Feast On Our Flesh

"

Shouldn't it read "Scorpions approach; you are hungry"? Right?  Should I- should I just reload now?  (Ans: No, reload when all of you are dead. Should be any second now.)

I stuck all my maps in MS Paint, into one MegaMap. Interesting, so far. If I can get it made smaller, I'll put the pic below this paragraph.

Left 2 right, top 2 bottom: Podol Plaza, Kuto's f**king Well, the slums, New Phlan. Then the cemetery, I believe, and the library. 

Anyway, so I decided to try out the area above Podol Plaza. This brought me to a castle!

It's like those castles in Germany! Except way uglier, and lacking in detail completely.

Now,they didn't mention this place at city hall, nor did the city commissioner tell me I needed to bust the place up, but I still thought hey- Sokal keep, Arglebargle castle... maybe these are connected in some way...

It's like those castles in Germany! Man, that joke can be recycled  forever, I bet.

So's I watch this guy in a wagon get into the castle through the gate (in the theatre of the mind's eye- all I could REALLY see was this:

It's like those cast- yeah, yeah.)

For the measly price of $250 GP I bought a wagon from a guy, then bribed a bugbear

He's all cute and fuzzy. He's adorable.

to let me in and son of a gun, in I came!  I discovered that north of this area is what I presume to be outside- I didn't walk around, I just ducked back in, but the ground is all white and there is no overhead map. Sss, sss, the sun, it hurts me it does. So right now I'm trying to find ways of finding mission objectives so I can build up some XP- fighting monsters is a mug's game with the paltry XP reward for random fights.

I'll get it worked out. This Tyranthraxus is screwed when I find him!

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The Need Of Money Makes Us Do Horrible Things

When Fimu didn't survive our last battle with ogres, I needed cash to bring her back because brother, money we didn't have. And it turned out I had a "manual" in Figtle's inventory. When I had it identified for $200 I could barely afford, it turned out to be a manual of "B" health. Hmmm. In the manual it turns out that is something that can improve your health by bumping up a stat (so I understand the less than helpful manual to mean). When I looked to see how much I could get for it, I could  get $25,000 GP.

Hmmm. $25,000 in cash right now, or a dead Half-elf who would stay dead but someone else would feel healthier?

I may kick myself, but we're not going to be short on cash for a while.

Wearily, Figtle Slammed his Sword Through the Ogres Chest.

Kaanus's beard, he thought as he dragged the chipped and slightly bent length of metal back through the ribcage of the now expired ogre. This doesn't get any easier. Which really wasn't true- the first time Figtle and the others had fought an ogre it took the five of them to bring it down and even at that, Ficle had had to use his magics to bring Thifling back to the land of the breathing.

Fimu'd killed her set of ogres using a spray of magic missiles, and her brother Feyemoo was still cutting the throats of the kobolds he'd put to sleep. Ficle was resting- using his flail to stave in three ogre skulls was very tiring work.Thifling wasn't to be seen but that was standard- his daggers,thrown from cover and shadow,had brought down another bunch of frightened goblins.

"God's beard," murmured Figtle, catching his breath. "We've become regular masters at this death business."

Hokey Smokes!

So, since the Plaza has become too dangerous for us at this time, I decided to check out this area just to the west of the Library. Can't be that bad, says I. Probably easier than the Plaza, says I. Piece of cake with ice cream, says I.

I enter a building in the map-area to the west of the library and inside I find this!

I hadn't realized I'd volunteered to be eaten at this particular restaurant. 

Ghouls! I try to turn undead (hey, it's a long shot but worth my time and money) and nothing.  Oh well, maybe they are not undead. But then the WIGHT attacks and unless I am thoroughly insane, a wight is something already dead. I learnt that by reading The Hobbit. Also by actually playing D&D, AD&D, and AD&D 2.0 when I were but a young one. (An aside- I like AD&D 3.5 much much better than the train wreck that is 4.0)

I got the color right, I just can't get the text shape right.

Anyway, the battle went about as well as you might guess- the wight and the ghoul paralyzed each character after every hit  and WAY too soon for my liking I got the

No caption is necessary or required.

screen.

So I am guessing I am in some kind of cemetery, maybe? The NES version is mighty mighty poor on text labels for anything at all. Anyway, I'm going to make my way back to the plaza and start work again there I guess, maybe make my way north of the plaza. I saw a doorway up there so I am guessing I can go that way.

See yez next posting!

p.s. Sorry if it seems like I am taking forever to play a game that probably shouldn't take this long, but with my schedule and my life, this is about as fast as I can get  through it.

p.p.s. Yes, Addict, it's actually spelled BASILISK. Whoops! Color my face red!

Where I Am Now

I finally managed to get out of Podol Plaza alive. A trifle shy on hit points, but we made it. When I got to the city hall, what I saw was enough to fulfill the requirements for the auction mission so we got a load of XP and  GP. Handy :) I can't finish exploring Podol Plaza however- I am not tough enough to handle all the fights right now and there are a lot- I am not given a choice to disguise myself any longer- so monsters are leaping in my face  every few steps to show me what for. Later I'll finish just to be completist.

I was also very tired the other night when playing, and something happened to my necklace of fireballs. It's just gone. I don't know if it ran out of charges and disintegrated, it ran out of charges so I threw it away, or I accidentally sold it at a shop. No clue. Went to use it earlier today and bloody gib-gab, the thing was gone! Too bad too, that thing was NICE.

So right now, I have to still clear Sokal Keep, visit and recruit some nomads, find Council Cadorna's fortune, and bust up an entire kobold army before before it joins with the enemy. Shucks, not bad- that easy baking for my five goof balls! :)

As a quick  by-the-by, their names are pronounced: Figtle = FIG-tul, Ficle = FI-cul, Fimu = FEE-muh, Feyemoo = F(eye)-moo, and Thifling = THIFF-ling.

Be good and I'll fill you in on our goings-on again soon!

This Is The Crazy You Have To Go Through

I just checked my people if they needed to lvl up after a successful Podol Plaza auction mission. It takes a metric butt-load of screens and button presses to check 5 PCs. This post is also pic intensive, but only so you will know the horror- the terror.

My sincere apologies if my posts look more incoherent than normal... I destroyed my normal keyboard, so I am using a rubber, waterproof, weird-chiclet-like-keys keyboard. No moving parts- you depress rubber buttons. The 's' key is missing so I have to be extra careful to depress the small diode in the hole and that is toughish, force me to artificial slowness. The space buttons are oddly shaped and easy to not press right. Wah, boo hoo, poor me. At least I don't live in India where they keyboards are made of rice and the children have to eat their keyboards at night or go hungry. Not sure where that came from.

Because this game is a NES game, I have a gamepad plugged in to play it with so as to be more authentic. When I enter the training hall, I am met with this screen.

1) Nice to know. Thank you, unnamed lady.

It takes a button press- either A or B, or a press on the D pad- to get this next screen.

2) One from column A, one from column B

D pad to my choice, then a press of the A button.

3) Good God man, you are ugly.

I D pad to my character of choice, press the A button. I choose Ficle.

4) Either fighter or magic-user, please.

I have to press A or B or D pad to get to the next screen.

5) Whoops, how about cleric instead? *blush*

I D pad, then press A at my choice.

6) Sir,I am not a tree.

I takes A, b, or D pad to get off this screen.

7) Probably. A good chance there is.

Another A B or D pad to leave this screen as well.

8) Yes or no, i would think.

I D pad and press A at my choice.

9) This is effectively step 3 again.

Here I either D pad and choose to start again, or B button to back out of this menu tree.

It's a lot of screens to check each and every character. Oh, and as a by the by, I have tried to hire an NPC here, and I dunno why but they won't let me. Why? Dunno. I have a slot open. I'm not too high or too low in  lvls, I think. If I can hire one later I'll fill you in.

But- but why?? Tell me the problem so I can fix it!