I had made a complete trip around the northern part of continental Britannia, and the next logical step was to venture south, around the southern border of the impassable Serpent's Spine and to the south bank of the Lost River. The dense groves of Spiritwood dominate the terrain here and block line of sight, impeding the mapping effort. A poisonous marsh also lies on the west bay.
Further south, around another river basin, a mountain range ends Spiritwood, and a fortress city can be seen on an unreachable island to the north. The peninsula continues south, and a bridge to the east crosses back into the main continent, whose terrain is rough and hilly going southward.
The Cape of Heroes, a tooth root-shaped coastal protrusion, lies at the very southern edge of this region, and a shrine is seen in some swamplands to the west, right up against some coastal mountains. Multiple islands are seen to the south.
The fighting during this session seemed less frequent than before, and easier than ever. Our HP reserves let me persist longer without rest, and Julia's magic axe is a hard-hitting thrown weapon which returns to her hand like Thor's hammer. Orcs and rogues rarely live long enough to enter melee range, and the rock-throwing ettins have lousy aim.
Heading north from the cape, I spot a moongate, and a new town - Trinsic.
- The guards advise me that the town's leader, Dupre, will join honorable quests.
- Dupre is found in the tavern and joins without hesitation. He is a paladin armed with a sword and wearing chain mail.
- A fighter at the inn tells me that the shrine I saw in the swamplands is the shrine of honor.
- Another man "Winthrop," wandering around trades in rumors, but needs a keyword prompt to tell me anything.
- A door in the inn's upper room leads outside, but is locked.
- A "searching" man tells me that the mantra is 'SUMM,"and that Winthrop knows of the rune. I return and ask Winthrop, and he directs me to speak to a child named Terrin.
- A friendly skeleton hides in the trees south of the inn, and tells me he came from the "Shame" dungeon, but says little else.
- A sailor in the weapons shop tells me to purchase sextants at Jhelom's pub.
- The weapon shop sells bows - I buy two for Iolo and Dupre, which costs most of my remaining cash.
- The armor shop sells magic chain for $4000 which is well beyond my current budget.
- A wizard sits in the southwest corner surrounded by a magic field of poison. All he wants to talk about is magic poison fields.
- A wandering mage in the woods tells me that the skeleton knows about the purple stone of honor. I return and ask him - he says it is used in the altars of Truth and Courage.
- Terrin cowers in the southeast corner, and tells me that the rune is found in the town's southwest corner. Of course. I go back to the field of poison and dig it up.
- Another mage in the woods asks me if I know the "main ingredient" of powerful spells - I tell him "mandrake" as per the spellbook, and he tells me to ask about mandrake at the Folley Tavern.
I return to the shrine of honor.
I meditate on SUMM. A neat little aspect of this is that meditation is realtime and unskippable - you have to sit there and wait as the Avatar reflects on virtue, with nothing to engage your senses but the serene music (or for most players in the day, silence). Arguably this is poor design from a conventional perspective which must maximize player engagement and minimize boredom, but I find it thematically appropriate.
Anyway, the shrine dispenses some advice and I'm still not sure what else you're supposed to do with it.
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