No introduction or preparations this time. My party's full and well optimized, I've got plenty of supplies except for Zdowns and the ingredients needed to make more of them, not much cash, and I don't feel like farming gold when I'm likely to find some in a new dungeon I'm pretty sure I can survive.
Wrong, the dungeon of anti-Justice, lies deep in the High Steppes mountain range north of the Serpent's Spine where Despise's entrance is hidden, and can only be spotted by trudging slowly around the north coast. I go there next.
I have Geoffrey, who lags behind the party by two levels, do as much of the killing as possible. With no access to magic spells, he can't conjure any big wipeouts like Tremor or Jinx, but at least he hits real hard with a magic sword, able to kill just about anything within three hits, and isn't too shabby with a crossbow either. And the spellcasters can support with Sleep, Negate, Heal, and if things get bad enough, Protect. Quickness seems like overkill and the manual suggests there are aging side effects but doesn't elaborate.
Level 1
Yep, that's a swastika mosaic. Zelda might have had its manji dungeon, but there's no mistaking this clockwise one for something else.
Nothing to do here but take the secret exit down - I image you probably wouldn't find it without a peering gem.
Level 2
I'm right next to two ladders going down, but first I explore the spider-filled, slime-dripping passage. Geoffrey is allowed most of the kills; unfortunately he can't use any magic at all, so it's crossbows while cowering behind Julia's plate and Katrina's crook.
The passage winds around past two fountains, both of them healing, before returning to the start. I take the north ladder first.
 |
| The black room before it has a fixed encounter. |
Level 3a
Magic death ball on this floor, behind a false wall! I test in on myself - it deals 400 damage and improves dexterity/intelligence, or it would if I weren't already maxed out on my stats.
We can make a logical, but possibly pointless insight here. Despise, the antithesis of Compassion - Love's virtue - has dexterity-boosting orbs. Wrong, which opposes Justice, a combination of Truth and Love, boosts dexterity and intelligence. Hylothe's orbs boost strength, dexterity, and intelligence, and opposes Spirituality, which is composed of Truth, Love, and Courage. Therefore, dexterity must be aligned with Love, intelligence with Truth, and strength with Courage.
There's two ladders down - I take the southern one first.
Level 4a
Just a straight shot in a cash-filled corridor to the ladder back up.
3a's other ladder down leads to...
Level 4b
The ladder down here is surrounded by four fixed encounter rooms.
 |
| North - Geoffrey holds a chokepoint; the trolls are too stupid to walk around it. |
Level 5
Ah, what a dumb level. Every tile you can step on blows out your torch - just find a ladder going down, any ladder will do.
Level 6
What seems like a dead-end passage has four secret sub-passages going south, each one blocked by magic fields. The center two have healing fountains and damaging orbs - they also have fixed encounter squares that must be fought going both ways.
The leftmost and rightmost passages have ladders going down. I take the left one first.
 |
| No, moving my whole party through this winding, narrow passage wasn't annoying at all! |
Level 7a
Not much to say here. There's a straight path to the ladder down, and a long windy path to an effectless fountain and a stat orb. Spellcasting, immobile reapers like to spawn here.
 |
| The right wall conceals a passage. You might not realize that without a peering gem. |
Level 8
Four fixed encounter rooms wait between the ladder and the stone room.
 |
| This fight is insultingly easy |
 |
| I deploy a rare tactical energy field here - the trolls funnel themselves right in |
 |
| This fight is even more insultingly easy... but it's a one-way trip. |
 |
| Check the gem - the stone room is west, not south! Dispel the fields to find the passage. |
The south path from the Zorn room is a linear corridor to the Altar room of Truth, from where you could exit south to Hylothe and leave, or you could just turn back to Wrong and Xit out. Instead, though, I use Yup to backtrack and explore the roads less traveled.
Yupping back to level 6, I try the rightmost passage.
 |
| Oh. That's a lot of thieves. |
Level 7b
Money! Hold your excitement - it was just over $300 worth.
Level 5 can't be Yupped to, so I walk there, and then Yup back to 4b, and take the left-side ladder up.
Level 3b
Just the negative space of 3a. A linear, Z-shaped path to the ladder back to level 2.
I Xit out and Gate back to Britain.
 |
| For my pains, Geoffrey gains two levels! |
Four stones found, four to go.
It seems quite reasonable to find fights insultingly easy after all that minmaxing
ReplyDeleteI mean that compared to fights on other floors/dungeons. Skeletons are among the weakest monsters in the game, spiders only a nuisance for their poison (which I can Cure), and I've fought off individual daemons solo near the start with nothing but the initial bonk stick.
Delete