by Michael Eckenfels, 3 September 2023
Champions of Krynn AAR: Part 19, The Test of Battle
Last time, our party was heading into the final Test – this one, of Battle – to apparently complete in order to gain access to Sir Dargaard’s final resting place.
Here we go.
I have a feeling this will be a challenge.
We continue inwards, faced with echoing, distant sounds that are odd.
Soon, we enter a large room where we’re faced with Skeletal Knights.
But before we get to face them, a trap is triggered, and everyone is damaged to an extent from a collapsing roof.
Then, the battle is joined. We are way up on the northern part of the room…
…while the four Skeletal Knights are on the far southern end.
I’m going to hope they don’t cast spells, so I keep the party firmly rooted where they are. And thankfully, the Skeletal Knights charge for melee. No spells here.
I did try to get Wynn to Turn these guys, just in case, and there was nothing doing. Her powers did nothing to these undead heathens!
And yet, there’s only four of them, so it doesn’t take too long to bring them down. Their Armor Class of 2 meant we missed a lot more than we should have, especially our two main melee tanks. Still, a victory is a victory.
I take a chance to Encamp and save the game at this point. I want to see if we can memorize spells, but the restless spirits here don’t allow it. They don’t attack, they just don’t let us concentrate. I can, however, perform a Fix command, to heal the party up. I have a feeling we’ll need those hit points here soon.
Continuing into the winding halls and rooms for this Test of Battle, we enter a small room where unintelligent creatures attack us. This is mostly Giant Rats and Giant Centipedes, as well as a few Mobats, which are not dangerous but are very hard to hit.
Soon, though, this encounter is done too, and we’re free to proceed.
We continue onwards, ready for anything. I think the next encounter will probably be the final test here. And sure enough…
Oh, CRAP. Undead Dragons are no fun at all. And there’s four of them!
While dangerous, these Undead Dragons can’t actually breathe anything, so they’re essentially big melee targets.
Wand of Ice Storms, as well as a few Fireballs, really does a number on them and it’s not long before they’re all shattered across the floor.
They give out quite a nice sum of XP, too.
Geez, I hope so. I can’t imagine what may happen next.
With that being the third of three Tests, we can now hopefully proceed to the south to access Sir Dargaard’s Tomb.
The spectral apparition that turned us back before has no issue with us entering, now.
Wait, I have to answer this question?
Fortunately, it’s a simple matter of selecting Sir Fsup when the game asks which of my party members should answer. Without a Knight PC in the party, there’s no way we’d be able to get past this. He answers correctly – though what the answer actually is, I’ve no idea, as the game simply tells me it’s okay to continue.
This happens once again.
And once again, I merely select Sir Fsup, whom apparently has all the answers (though he doesn’t share them with us).
Sir Fsup’s secretive answers get us past all the challenges leading to the actual burial spot.
Now, we’re right outside the entrance to his actual crypt.
The game wins points for paranoia by saying something relatively innocent like “nothing appears” – ha.
Our charge? (That was screenshot number five hundred, by the way.)
A bunch of Solamnic Plate armor, a Girdle of Giant Strength (which makes the wearer have a Strength of 21), and a Long Sword +2.
The problem is, only Knights can wear this Solamnic Plate, so I go ahead and take all of them anyway. Might be we can sell them later.
The Tomb is now apparently laid to rest, though I wonder if that means intruders can now get in here and mess about.
Without wanting to stick around long enough to find out, we resolve to get out of here as quickly as possible.
We’re not quite quick enough.
These Draconians are large in number and vary greatly in type. The Bozak are spellcasters, making them very dangerous, especially with a high Armor Class of 2.
Fortunately, we’re able to fight them off, but they down both Smashen and Wynn thanks to some Hold Person spells the Bozak cast.
We’re unable to bring down all the Draconians before they themselves knock our two hapless party members down. We Bandage them during the fight, though, so they don’t bleed to death.
With that battle done, we decide to Encamp immediately to risk some Fix commands to heal these two up, as well as Izzie, whom took a few hits herself.
Fortunately, we make it out of the Tomb and back to Outpost 2 without further accosting from denizens or Dracos.
We head over to the Armoury to try to sell the sets of plate armor we do not need; they’re incredibly heavy and count hugely against encumbrance.
Unfortunately, we’re offered zero Steel for each set. I guess they’re far too specialized to be traded.
At least Sir Fsup keeps one set, though, which knocks his Armor Class down to a mind-boggling -7.
We then head over to the Commandant’s office to check in.
We don’t really have anything to check in with here, apparently, but our choice of path is chosen for us as we exit.
Of course, we agree to go with Maya to rescue Sir Karl.
Eventually, we reach Neraka, and enter therein.
I wonder how she knows of the secret base. Was she here before? Is she just brilliant, or perhaps clairvoyant? I don’t know. All I know is, we have a direction to go in.
End of Chapter 19
CHAMPIONS OF KRYNN AAR
PART ONE ~ PART TWO ~ PART THREE ~ PART FOUR ~ PART FIVE ~ PART SIX ~ PART SEVEN ~ PART EIGHT ~ PART NINE ~ PART TEN
PART ELEVEN ~ PART TWELVE ~ PART THIRTEEN ~ PART FOURTEEN ~ PART FIFTEEN ~ PART SIXTEEN ~ PART SEVENTEEN ~ PART EIGHTEEN ~ PART NINETEEN ~ PART TWENTY
PART 21 ~ PART 22 ~ PART 23 ~ PART 24 ~ PART 25 ~ PART 26 ~ PART 27 ~ PART 28 ~ PART 29 ~ PART 30
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There once was a game called Krynn,
With warriors, mages, and dragons within,
In Champions of might,
They battled all night,
For glory, for honor, to win.
The heroes were brave and true,
Fighting foes, both old and new,
With spells and with swords,
They faced their rewards,
To vanquish the dark and break through.
From the streets of Solace they roamed,
To the lairs where dragons called home,
With quests to fulfill,
And battles to thrill,
Champions of Krynn, on they’d roam.
