The Bard's Tale: Kylearan's Dark Tower

 

Next part of the tale - Kylearan's Tower, by way Harkyn's Castle. I swap out Ahab for Magic Mike and put Sunfall in the front row; Ahab's hitting power will be missed, but some extra spellpower will be more than a good tradeoff, and Sunfall's holy shield, magic ring and flute, and beer belly will offer just as much protection to the back row as Ahab's full mithril plate.

 

A Entrance B Message C Combat D Trap E Teleport F Spinner G Riddle H Green Dragons I Silver triangle J Crystal Golem K Stasis chamber L Kylearan

Seekers 2304 Dwarf Kings 2304 Wizards 2304 Sorcerers 2304 Samurai Lords 2304 Magicians 2304-2560 Conjurors 2304-2560 Lurkers 2560 Fire Giants 2560 Berserkers 2560 Azure Monks 2560 Hydras 2560 Green Dragons 2560 Wraiths 2560 Shadows 2560 Ivory Monks 2560 Ice Giants 2560 Weretigers 2560 White Dragons 2560 Phantoms 2816 Ogre lords 2816 Eye Spies 2816 Xorns 2816 Body Snatchers 2816 Fred 2816 Lesser Demons 3072 Crystal Golem 3582

 

Ugh, what a pain to navigate. From the start, the only way into the central area (which I've transposed to the top of the map) is by way of one-way teleporter relays, and there's no teleport spells or phase doors allowed here, so you're stuck! The only way out is through, or a reboot.

And very soon, I am forced to reboot. A magic mouth offers a riddle I can't solve, and not only can I not advance without solving, I can't retreat either.

Mangar? No, no, that's not right.

Another reload wipes out all of my gold and Tarjan's eye. Which is annoying, but not game-ruining; I can just go back to the dungeon and re-fight the Spectre to earn it again, and I have little use for gold now except recharging spellpoints, which is free with turbo emulation.

At least the monsters aren't very difficult. There's a new assortment of them, but the melee-based ones can't touch my front row, the spellcasters die quickly to Mind Blade, and even dragons or unusually lucky mages who live long enough to do damage are quickly killed in retaliation and our wounds healed with Scribe's restoration magic. But all this XP and treasure earned is a waste; I can't leave and bank it until I explore enough to find the way out. And with magic and song being limited resources, this takes a few tries.

Elsewhere in the central area, a diagonally-symmetric complex of doors, I find two poetic clues:

• Made of earth
  Yet without soul
  As living statue
  He is whole
  


• As a guardian
  He must walk...
  The First part of his name
  means rock

Now the answer is obvious. This teleports us to a big, dark rectangular region. Thankfully not a maze, but I explore every square just to be sure, and there is, in fact, a riddle hidden inside.

The included map shows the answer to this one.

I don't realize this yet, but solving the riddle opens up a door in the next area. In a subsequent try I will learn this the hard way; solving it blindly and running into a dead end where there used to be a door.

That next area is a dark maze. Big fun. Three things are hidden within; the exit, a silver triangle (I see where this is going), and a clue: Beware the sting at the tail (south) of the serpent-way.

The exit leads to the Crystal Golem.

It takes a few rounds - Kurisu is the only one wielding the crystal sword capable of killing it, and we suffer a few crystal-studded slaps to the face, but eventually Kurisu lands a lethal blow and we move forward.

 

Two doors - going forward leads to unexplored territory. Going right leads back to the entrance. I go right; we've earned a rest, and a few levels.

On return, I try out my newly acquired spell; Lesser Summoning, which brings a minor demon into this world (it's safe, really!). It's difficult to say if this is better than the best Sorcerer summons or not (Wind Giant and Wind Dragon), but it's cheaper, and the Wizard's summons only get better. Furthermore, these summons, unlike some of the junior class ones, can be cast outside of combat, which I hadn't realized until now.

"Something special" is an inescapable stasis chamber, which the clue in the dark maze vaguely warned of.

A spinner in a 1x1 room with four door exits makes life miserable for a little while.

After re-fighting the golem, going through a long, long twisty corridor, some rooms with spinners, and finding the right alcove to the teleporter forward, Kylearan awaits at the end of one last windy passage.

The prize is an onyx key, and a teleporter back to the entrance.

The Bard's Tale: Loose ends

 

Before attempting Kylearan's Tower, I wanted to try try some earlier, optional challenges, and to do this, I assembled a new power team meant for flexibility and single-fight endurance. Magic Mike and Houdini stay home; they're too low-level. Grub the hunter lacks in armor class. P-Tux the rogue just hasn't been useful at all in this game.

Challenge 1 - The Master Sorcerer

Conrad breaks him in half before he can finish his summon!

Behind him, a clue room is accessible through a secret door.

More secret doors in his antechamber lead to corridors of more doors, an encounter of 49 perfectly harmless wights, and his treasure chamber, guarded by a dragon.

It's just a single grey dragon. We can take it.

 

Our prize is $180, some singed beard hairs, and the satisfaction of completing another map.

A Stairs up B Message C Combat D Trap E Soul Sucker F Stasis chamber G Spinner H Master Sorcerer I Stairs down J Wights K Grey Dragon

Monster XP Orcs 100 Skeletons 110 Wolves 256 Jade Monks 256 Half-Orcs 256 Zombies 512 Swordsmen 512 Magicians 512-1536 Conjurors 512-1536 Sorcerers 768-1536 Wizards 768-1536 Werewolves 1024 Black Widows 1024 Assassins 1024 Samurai 1024 Statues 1024 Ogres 1024 Wights 1024 Bladesmen 1280 Goblin Lords 1280 Master Thieves 1280 Ninjas 1536 Stone Giants 1792 Dopplegangers 1792 Spinners 1792 Scarlet Monks 1792 Stone Elementals 2048 Jackalweres 2048 Ogre Magi 2048 Blue Dragons 2048 Grey Dragon 3072 Master Sorcerer 3328 Soul Sucker 3584

 

Challenge 2 - The Jabberwock

I had defeated Harkyn's Jabberwock before with luck, but lost a rematch without it. Could my power party best it this time?

Yep.

I might have just been lucky that it didn't breathe, but I'll take it. And another crystal sword.

Challenge 3 - Mandar Guards

The slave quarters on Harkyn's confusing second floor is guarded by eight powerful guards. With Scribe's magic, my frontline's collective AC is as low as it can register.

 

This one takes several rounds, and even with this AC we suffer a few mighty blows, but eventually fell them all. Viila's Mind Fist and Scribe's Deathstrike do most of the killing; I am convinced that damage to monsters is an all-or-nothing affair in The Bard's Tale and that non-lethal blows don't actually do anything, and most of our physical strikes miss anyway.

There is absolutely nothing in the room they were guarding.

Challenge 4 - The 400 Berserkers

They look disrobed to me.

 

It's 396 berserkers, to be precise. Last time, having this many of them just wasn't survivable, but how does my party fare now?

My first try was a partial failure. Viila and Scribe would kill 66% of them in the first round with dual Mind Blast spells, but not before they landed enough hits to kill Ahab.

But then I tried it again with music. And surprise - that old AC-lowering mainstay Traveller's Tune really helps here! Our AC might not look like it can get any lower, but it can.

Turbo mode helps too.

The reward here is a handsome 59,733XP per character and a chunk of gold that I don't care about. But to be honest, I actually expected a lot more. There might be some experience capping going on here. Fighting the undead megastacks in the catacombs is probably more efficient.

 

The experience is worth a few levels; Conrad reaches level 14; Viila and Scribe reach sorcerer level 13, giving them access to the Wind Giant summon spell, and I put them on the Wizard path, where they immediately gain the powerful Repel Dead spell. This is a daunting path; though; a wizard needs 20,000XP just to reach level 2! So we go down to the catacombs again, along with the underleveled Magic Mike and Houdini, to use our newfound magic and do exactly that.

The Bard's Tale: Harkyn's Castle

So, there's a downside to multiclassing your mages. I'm sure it's worth it in the end, when they have access to all of the magic, maxed out stats, and HP/SP from all those levels gained, but in the short run, resetting their character levels means less resistance to magic and breath.

I tried bringing along the bard for some extra protection, too. It didn't help. The dragon spits fire quicker than Sunfall can spit bars, and I'm not even sure if music offers any protection here anyway. You beat the dragon guarding Harkyn's Castle relatively unscathed if it decides to claw at a heavily armored fighter in the front, and you lose your mages if it decides to breathe on them.

We train a bit in the catacombs. Viila & Scribe reach level 10. Magic Mike reaches level 13, so I let him multiclass and then swap him out for Sunfall.

The ground floor of Harkyn's castle isn't quite as maze-like as the underground dungeons, having a lot of open, rectangular areas connected by doors and corridors. Monsters, apart from some special encounters, are nothing we haven't seen before.

A Stairs down B Message C Combat D Trap E Golem F Teleport G Jabberwock H Baron's Throne I Berserkers J Spinner K Crystal sword L Smoke M Master Ninja N Stairs Up

Monster XP Wolves 256 Jade Monks 256 Half-Orcs 256 Zombies 512 Swordsmen 512 Magicians 512-1536 Conjurors 512-1536 Sorcerers 768-1536 Wizards 768-1536 Werewolves 1024 Black Widows 1024 Assassins 1024 Samurai 1024 Statues 1024 Ogres 1024 Wights 1024 Bladesmen 1280 Goblin Lords 1280 Master Thieves 1280 Ninjas 1536 Stone Giants 1792 Dopplegangers 1792 Spinners 1792 Scarlet Monks 1792 Stone Elementals 2048 Jackalweres 2048 Ogre Magi 2048 Blue Dragons 2048 Berserkers 2560 Golem 3072 Master Ninja 3072 Jabberwock 3072

 

One corridor, tucked to the side of an anti-magic zone west of the grand hall, leads to a teleporter to a damaging hall of hot coals.

In the southeast, a powerful, lightning-breathing Jabberwock monster lurks in darkness. Weapons seem ineffective, but Scribe's Deathstrike spell does what the name promises. It guards a crystal sword, which seems to be marginally better than the weapons currently used by my fighters, but it's hard to be sure.

A subsequent fight shows that my first one was lucky; its breath attack is instantly lethal to half of my party.

On the north wall of the grand hall sits the Baron's throne, which opens up a secret passage to the rest of the level when Sunfall sits on it. Anyone else gets zapped. I have to ask, is there a clue somewhere that hints at this, or are you just supposed to find this by trial and error? I could have also gotten through by using Phase Door.

A lone Master Ninja blocks the junction to the rest of the level, and immediately kills a friendly samurai who had just joined us with a critical hit. Sunfall's double-song ensures he doesn't land one on the rest of us, and Scribe's magic takes him out.

Stairs in the northwest lead upwards.

A Stairs down B Message C Combat D Trap E Chute up F Teleport G Smoke H Riddle I Silver square J Mandar Guards

Bladesmen 1280 Goblin Lords 1280 Master Thieves 1280 Conjurors 1280-2304 Magicians 1280-2304 Ninjas 1536 Stone Giants 1792 Dopplegangers 1792 Spinners 1792 Scarlet Monks 1792 Stone Elementals 2048 Jackalweres 2048 Ogre Magi 2048 Blue Dragons 2048 Copper Dragons 2048 Sorcerers 2304-2560 Wizards 2304-2560 Seekers 2304 Dwarf Kings 2304 Samurai Lords 2304 Ghouls 2304 Weretigers 2560 Fire Giants 2560 Hydras 2560 Azure Monks 2560 Hydras 2560 Lurkers 2560 Green Dragons 2560 Wraiths 2560 Mandar Guards ?

 

Extensive wrap-around gives this floor a confusing, non-Euclidean quality! I've done my best to demystify the map somewhat by tweaking the points of origin, but there's only so much that can be done here. Orange lines represent edges of the original 21x21 map which may be crossed. 

The monsters on this floor are stronger, too, but the only bad ones here are green dragons. Thankfully, even they aren't as bad as the grey dragon outside. Unfortunately, they appear in groups. I bring along Houdini and Magic Mike for some training opportunity (the grey dragon lethal to them doesn't respawn; we just kill it without them and come back with them), but we run from the dragons inside when we can. 

Teleport and phase door don't work here! And surviving each trip isn't a guarantee, but I don't worry about it too much; when someone dies, I keep going and continue mapping until everyone is dead and then reboot/reload. Whenever we survive long enough for magic to start running low, I teleport to the castle entrance (this is allowed) and go home to recharge, save, and check inventory/levels.

 

There's flavor text, but this room is empty.

An easy riddle. Solve it for a chance to find a plot token.

Cranford tests your theology.

One fixed encounter remains unbeaten; a company of "Mandar Guards" stationed just inside the slave quarters have no magic abilities, but attack with armor-piercing hits and shrug off our own magic like cheap parlor tricks. I will have to come back for them later.

In another room, an alcove in the ceiling continues upward.

A Stairs down B Message C Combat D Trap E Riddle F Teleport G Berserkers H Spinner I Mad God

Bladesmen 1280 Goblin Lords 1280 Master Thieves 1280 Ninjas 1536 Conjurors 1536-2304 Magicians 1536-2304 Stone Giants 1792 Dopplegangers 1792 Spinners 1792 Scarlet Monks 1792 Stone Elementals 2048 Jackalweres 2048 Ogre Magi 2048 Blue Dragons 2048 Copper Dragons 2048 Sorcerers 2304-2560 Wizards 2304-2560 Seekers 2304 Dwarf Kings 2304 Samurai Lords 2304 Ghouls 2304 Weretigers 2560 Fire Giants 2560 Hydras 2560 Azure Monks 2560 Hydras 2560 Lurkers 2560 Green Dragons 2560 Wraiths 2560 Mad God 3584

 

There are a lot of one-way doors on this floor, which aren't straightforward to mark in Excel, but that's okay, Phase Door and teleportation do work on this floor. Which means you can get here directly from the entrance and skip the first two floors entirely.

If anything, this floor is pretty tame. Monsters are the same as before, combat spots are fewer, and they even seem to appear in smaller numbers, though this is hard to confirm. The worst part is a nasty maze of darkness in the southwest; the sole reward for exploring it being a message on one of its walls: The Crystal Sword will leave the crystal guardian in many pieces.

A surprise urban geography quiz forces us on a pub crawl.

Another challenge on this floor is the barracks, where 396 berserkers attack. Individually they'd be no threat to us, but the sheer numbers mean they land enough lucky hits to kill the entire front row. Reload!

Thankfully, as mentioned, Phase Door works here, and I can just go through the wall instead of the door, bypassing this fight. The Mad God waits in an antechamber, past an annoying array of spinners.

It's an anticlimactic fight, as all he does is cast poison spells at the party. In a few rounds, he goes down to my concentrated attacks and Mind Fist spells.

We are teleported outdoors.

Now, in the previously inaccessible northeast corner of Skara Brae, Kylearan's Tower is seen right in the middle, but we're too depleted right now to start doing another dungeon. At least we've still got Tarjan's eye and can get here again without too much trouble.

The map of Skara Brae is now complete. 

A Guild of Adventurers B Credits C Garth's Equipment D Temple E Review Board F Tavern G Iron gate H City gates I Ogre Lord J Stone Giant K Golem L Teleport M Samurai N Scarlet Bard O Temple of the Mad God P Roscoe's Energy Emporium Q Sewers R Mangar's Tower S Grey Dragon T Harkyn's Castle U Kylearan's Tower

Monster XP Kobolds 60 Hobbits 70 Gnomes 80 Dwarves 80 Hobgoblins 90 Magicians 100 Conjurors 100 Orcs 100 Thieves 110 Skeletons 110 Nomads 120 Spiders 150 Mad Dogs 180 Barbarians 200 Mercenaries 220 Wolves 256 Samurai 1024 Stone Giant 1792 Ogre Lord 2816 Golem 3072 Grey Dragon 3072

 

Throughout this crawl, the most exciting character development was seeing my spellcasters build their way through the Sorcerer rank. Scribe and Viila are nearly done, now each at level 12 and with about 60,000 XP left before they reach level 13 and can pursue Wizardry. They've learned the useless-seeming Mind Warp spell, and the very possibly useful Wind Dragon spell, and will learn Wind Giant at the next level. I really should try using summons more, but there's so many to choose from and I have no idea which ones are actually good.

The Bard's Tale: Catacombs

Sewers, catacombs, castle. This is the manual's recommended order of tackling The Bard's Tale, and so the catacombs underneath the Temple of the Mad God comes next. The high priest shows us in after daring us to whisper the name of the Mad One, which had been revealed to us in the sewers, and I bring along P-Tux and Houdini to see if I can drill some usefulness into them.

A Stairs up B Message C Combat D Wights E Ghouls F Trap G Smoke H Skeletons I Zombies J Stairs down K Spinner

Monster XP Magicians 100-1536 Conjurors 100-1536 Orcs 100 Skeletons 110 Nomads 120 Spiders 150 Mad Dogs 180 Barbarians 200 Mercenaries 220 Wolves 256 Jade Monks 256 Half-Orcs 256 Zombies 512 Swordsmen 512 Sorcerers 768-1536 Wizards 768-1536 Werewolves 1024 Black Widows 1024 Assassins 1024 Samurai 1024 Statues 1024 Ogres 1024 Wights 1024 Bladesmen 1280 Goblin Lords 1280 Master Thieves 1280 Ninjas 1536 Ghouls 2304

 

Unsurprisingly, there are a lot of undead monsters here, along with plenty of the usual mainstays. Wights inflict a withered status, crippling our attack and defense power until it is cured with an expensive temple visit. Ghouls hit accurately and hard, doing 20-30 damage per strike, and also inflict a withered status. Some tombs hold upwards of 60 skeletons, which are easily destroyed with a group-targeting spell, but not worth that much XP at this stage.

P-Tux is unfortunately pretty useless. There are traps here, but he can't do anything about them; only my conjurors and their Trap Zap spells help, and the only way to know where a trap is, is by walking into one and remembering the spot. A trap locate spell won't be available until we make the upgrade to sorcerer.

There are also some smoke gas traps, which blind the party and limit vision to a distance of one tile. These can't be Trap Zapped, and I haven't seen a cure except for going outside.

I eventually swap in Sunfall for a bit. The Fire Horn is pretty neat; using it inflicts around 40 damage to everyone in a group. Unfortunately it only works once. The Traveler's Tune is also now twice as effective as it used to be, and this seems to be determined by the location.

Clues:

• Fifteen doors east and thou art there
  On souls they feast in the dark one's lair
• The ancient witch king yet still lives...

 

The stairs down lead to more catacombs.

 

A Stairs up B Message C Combat D Trap E Soul Sucker F Stasis chamber G Spinner H Master Sorcerer I Stairs down

Monster XP Orcs 100 Skeletons 110 Wolves 256 Jade Monks 256 Half-Orcs 256 Zombies 512 Swordsmen 512 Magicians 512-1536 Conjurors 512-1536 Sorcerers 768-1536 Wizards 768-1536 Werewolves 1024 Black Widows 1024 Assassins 1024 Samurai 1024 Statues 1024 Ogres 1024 Wights 1024 Bladesmen 1280 Goblin Lords 1280 Master Thieves 1280 Ninjas 1536 Stone Giants 1792 Dopplegangers 1792 Spinners 1792 Scarlet Monks 1792 Stone Elementals 2048 Jackalweres 2048 Ogre Magi 2048 Blue Dragons 2048 Soul Sucker 3584 Master Sorcerer ?

 

Rows of tombs surround the entrance to this floor. Most contain random encounters, which mostly comprise familiar foes and a few new ones, mostly melee-focused ones who are low risk and medium reward. Not so low-risk are Blue Dragons, whose breath attacks can one-shot the mages in the back if I don't one-shot them first.

One tomb in the south opens up to the southern half of the map, where traps abound at regular intervals, and contrary to the manual, the levitate spell does not protect you. It's easy enough to reckon their placements, though.

The southmost row is quite dangerous. To the east, a series of one-way doors leads to an encounter with a very deadly Soul Sucker enemy, and the only way out is Scribe's Phase Door spell (or a teleport which I don't have yet). To the west, there's a "stasis chamber" that even Phase Door won't get you out of. At least it's labeled.

Another tomb in the initial rows conceals a treacherous, winding labyrinth of traps and darkness, and at the end of it, a priest's secret chamber.

He summons a Storm Giant, who takes out my party one member at a time while we utterly fail to land a scratch. Reload!

The way forward is hidden in one of the southern chambers.

A Stairs up B Message C Combat D Ghouls E Trap F Wraiths G Spinner H Zombies I Teleport J Skeletons K Wights L Spectre

Monster XP Orcs 100 Skeletons 110 Wolves 256 Jade Monks 256 Half-Orcs 256 Zombies 512 Swordsmen 512 Magicians 512-1536 Conjurors 512-1536 Sorcerers 768-1536 Wizards 768-1536 Werewolves 1024 Black Widows 1024 Assassins 1024 Samurai 1024 Statues 1024 Ogres 1024 Wights 1024 Bladesmen 1280 Goblin Lords 1280 Master Thieves 1280 Ninjas 1536 Stone Giants 1792 Dopplegangers 1792 Spinners 1792 Scarlet Monks 1792 Stone Elementals 2048 Jackalweres 2048 Ogre Magi 2048 Blue Dragons 2048 Ghouls 2304 Wraiths 2560 Spectre 3328

 

This floor, where teleportation and phase door don't work, has a lot of openness in the middle, a tedious and claustrophobic maze of doors in the north, and cascading rows of tombs in the south. To keep things interesting (not really!), a few tombs have mega-encounters of undead, up to 99 of them. One very close to the entrance is stuffed with 36 ghouls, which is all but certain to get somebody aged with their draining touch if not killed, but the encounter is worth 13,824XP for each member if everyone survives, and easily repeatable. Another, against 69 wights, pays nearly as much XP as the ghouls. Just have the quickest mage cast Shock Sphere and crank up the speed. Two spots also have wraiths, which inflict disabling (but easily cured) insanity. Regular encounters are just the same as in the level above, but the fixed combats are the best grinding spots yet, by far.

Only one clue is found here: Seek the Mad One's stoney self in Harkyn's domain. 

Viila and Scribe very soon reach level 13, giving them access to their cool final spells in their respective classes; for Viila, a teleportation spell, for Scribe, an instant death spell, and for both, a group-healing spell. This also means I can class-change them as part of their Archmage path; both become Sorcerers, which gives them something important - Locate Trap. And a few levels after that, Second Sight, which supersedes it by detecting just about everything.

In this case it's just a spinner.

At the end of the maze, a teleporter zaps us to a walled-off region in the northeast; where a linear series of corridors of antimagic, darkness, and traps leads to an encounter.

 

The Witch King goes down in one round, but not before draining Kurisu of a level. Our reward for this is his eye, and a teleport back to the stairs.

 

Back in town, Kurisu is restored at the temple for over $10,000, now a pittance, but all of the XP he gained during the past session or two is effectively lost; he now has exactly 200,000XP, where Ahab has almost 250,000. Both will need 400,000 to reach the next level.

Scribe and Viila reach sorcerer level 9 and attain some new spells, including Disrupt Illusion, and Mangar's Mind Blade; the most powerful group-damaging spell in the game.