Phantasie: J.R. Trolkien's Castle

My party awakened in a jail cell with an unpickable lock. Nothing to do but search the walls for a secret exit, and of course there was one.

A new enemy, "High Rangers," guarded the passage out. but we killed them before they could demonstrate any mischief.

At the end of the passage is a bloody arena.

Just a troll. His hits barely tickle my weakest member, and went down with a single round of sustained hits. Some human soldiers attacked next, but they went down with little trouble too.

The arena exit was, once again, locked, and so I searched the walls for another secret passage, which I found in the north end of the tunnel, leading to a control room.

Three levels stuck out from a panel, and I pulled them all before continuing eastward, through a secret passageway, where I met the big guy - J.R. Trollkin.

He was a bit of a pushover who went down in five rounds of combat, and I looted his bedroom and closet.

Further up north, a group of high rangers supported by two big groups of scribes hit us with repeated debuff spells to the point where our attacks ceased to be effective, so I hit them with Mind Blast, Minmax's most powerful group-targeting spell, and finished off the survivors with a thousand cuts.

I explored the majority of the map, though some doors remained impossible to open. Some rooms of note included hidden corridors that led to the arena viewing area, an armory filled with weapons, and another library. Eventually I returned to the starting area.

 

But the exit door wouldn't open!

I went back to the jail - the door there was open, and led to a few storage areas where I got more treasures, including a key.

I backtracked all the way to the entrance, and unlocked the exit door.

 

This was the first dungeon that I effectively had to complete in one go. Previous dungeons could be entered and left at will to heal and level up, apart from the occasional curveball such as being kidnapped at the lizard men's caves and being forced to fight my way out of an arena before I could leave. But this dungeon kidnaps you from the start, and makes you fight your way out, find the secret passageways, and find a key somewhere in a maze-like layout where the doors open and close from a three-lever control panel. By the time I did all that, I probably saw the entire dungeon, unless I missed some secrets. There is no opportunity to rest, which would have been a problem in levels past, but by now I really didn't need it - I barely even needed to use magic healing.

I went back north to Splitwater to check out the loot and gains. The game doesn't tell you what you found until you return to town.

The haul included three numbered rings - likely found among the treasures in J.R.T's bedroom closet - as described by the prisoner's scrolls in Lord Wood's dungeon.

The weapons - good lord there were so many - were all vendor junk downgrades from what I brought with me, but a few pieces of armor were improvements. Nobody gained quite enough experience to gain a level, but by now we had so much money that a few characters couldn't even store their shares in the bank - the limit is $65,535 per person.

The scroll found in Trolkin's library gave a clue that you probably don't need if you've managed to escape the castle and read it.

Oof. That last one didn't age well.

My party:

• Mystic-rated party score of 42 - "You are almost ready to visit the gods"
• Air rune, earth rune, and fire rune
• Three rings of power
  
• Lenny - Level 12 dwarf fighter
• Needs 14,000xp to level
• 216 HP, 5 MP
  
• 22/10/22 combat stats (God knife, plate mail, god shield)
• Slash can hit up to four times per round without magic buffs
  
• Knows one spell - Monster Evaluation.
  
• Lambert - Level 11 dwarf ranger
• Needs 44,000xp to level
• 168 HP, 17MP
• 19/9/18 combat stats (Halberd +4, banded mail, giant shield +2)
  
• Useful spells include Quadruple Healing and Awaken
  
• Claude - Level 12 human priest
• Needs 162,000xp to level
• 126 HP, 20 MP
• 19/8/16 combat stats (Sword +10, splint mail, giant shield)
  
• Useful spells include Quadruple Healing, Quadruple Fireflash, and Awaken.
• Untested spells include Triple Protection, Quadruple Confusion, Triple Weakness, Triple Binding, Teleportation, and Resurrection.
  
• Rasputin - Level 11 halfling monk
• Needs 59,000xp to level
• 142 HP, 13 MP
  
• 19/6/13 combat stats (Sword +10, ring mail +1, large shield +1)
  
• Useful spells include Quadruple Fireflash and Double Ninja
• One untested spell - summon elemental
• Dennis - Level 13 sprite thief
• Needs 95,000xp to level
• 113 HP, 8 MP
• 18/6/12 combat stats (Halberd +3, ring mail +1, large shield)
  
• Generally excellent thieving skills, with a so far 100% success rate at lockpicking and trap disarmament
  
• Knows three spells, but none of them have been useful lately (and two of them never were).
  
• Minmax - Level 12 elf wizard
• Needs 350,000xp to level
• 92 HP, 17 MP
• 8/3/2 combat stats (Flail +1, Robes +1, wood shield)
  
• Useful spells include Quadruple Fireflash, Triple Quickness, Quadruple Mindblast, Double Ninja, Awaken, and Transportation.
• Untested spells include Triple Strength, Triple Flamebolt, Fear, and Summon Elemental.