Pool of Radiance (Part 12): Sokal Keep (Part 2)
Off to SoCal Keep, where the surf's always up, the stars hang out, and the weather's great when there's not an atmospheric river...
Oh,
Sokal Keep. Well, that's going to be a bit different...
We head back to the docks area, since the Keep is on an island in the bay:
We head to the end of the pier...
And off for a pleasant boat ride to a haunted keep! The boat drops us off:
Nice. Echoing footsteps in a haunted keep are never a good sign.
Hmm, odd that that mound of reeds is mentioned. Let's go check them out.
How do we know it's an elf skeleton? Do they have pointy ear bones?
Those are Espruar runes, and using the code-wheel, they spell out "LUX", "SHESTNI", and "SAMOSUD". Obviously code words of some sort.
With nothing further to find here, we head into the Keep. Shortly after we pass beyod the main doors:
Sokal Keep has a set number of random encounters like the Slums, but it's a far more manageable 4 (all groups of skeletons and zombies). But, unlike the Slums, if you clear them out, they stay cleared only while you remain on the map; if you leave and return, you'll get 4 more. So we'll do our best to clear them, and then do everything here in one visit.
We do have a couple of options here with these undead patrols. If you choose "Parlay" here, and then speak the code word from the elf's belongings "SHESTNI", they will leave peacefully. Beyond that, Brother Baltor will have the option to turn undead in these encounters. But because he's low level still, he can't destroy them yet, and because in this game turned undead just run across the map so then you have to chase them down, it all becomes very tedious (later games will just have undead simply disappear off the map when turned, which makes things much simpler). Since these are relatively harmless skeletons and zombies, we'll just defeat the four patrols through combat (we'll gladly turn more dangerous undead later, and take them out from a distance).
We do have to fight a good number of skeletons
and zombies:
...in these patrols. Skeletons only take full damage from blunt weapons, but for our frontliners, even our sword wielders have enough Strength to still do enough damage to take them down, as they only have 5 HP. Our ranged characters will concentrate on taking down the zombies that will still take full damage from their bows (and which go very slowly, as they have negatives to initiative)
They go down fairly quickly, but Bragir takes some damage from some flanking undead.
Patched up to a reasonable amount of health, we continue our exploration. We take a few steps more:
This time, our backliners prudently move a bit further back from combat. Notice that Brother Baltor has the option to "Turn" on the menu.
And we take minimal damage during that fight.
Through another couple doors, and something quite different appears!
We need to be very careful here. Poison in 1e doesn't give you some sort of damage over time effect if you fail your save like in more recent editions - it straight drops you dead, until you can get to a temple to have
neutralize poison cast on the victim (in later games, we'll be high enough level to cast it ourselves, but that's not possible in this game, and the substitute
slow poison only keeps you up for a short time before you drop dead again). Luckily there are only two scorpions, so we should be able to take them out quickly.
We take down one, but Baroness Bella gets hit
twice by the second one - but somehow manages to make her saves (I was sweating bullets as the hits occurred!). After that, the second one drops quickly.
Let's head back to the other side - there's not much of interest on the west side of the keep.
Oh, these guys again.
Bottled in by terrain where they can't reach my back line, they go down quickly, although Bant takes a bit of damage. And a few steps further:
The back line again moves back to where it's harder for them to be reached,
and we're quickly victorious again, although we've taken a bit more damage (Buffy moved back up because the wall was blocking her aim on the remaining undead towards the end).
And that's it for the skeleton/zombie patrols. No more will spawn unless leave the zone and come back. Now we can explore properly without them interrupting (which is a good reason just to take them out instead of using the code word and let endless patrols spawn and pass).
We continue east, then north, and then east again
Croaking frogs, eh?
Again, with poison, we need to be careful and... wait, the party has four
sleep spells memorized. Why endanger ourselves unnecessarily?
And that is that (also, technically, they should be
venomous frogs, unless we have frog legs for dinner).
Since the text earlier said there were remains of a blacksmith's shop, we turn on Search, and...
Why is "No" even an option on these questions? We're adventurers!
Bleh. Hammers in 1e are very weak compared to their later edition counterparts, only doing a pitiful 1d4+1 damage. So no one is going to equip that, even with it being magical.
We go through the door to the north.
Well that sucks. We move around a bit more.
Um... That's a blank wall, but the map shows a door. Let's move forward.
Oooh, a glow!
Oooh, special stands!
A
shield +1, longsword +1, chainmail +1, and a
mace +2! All upgrades except the chainmail, which is equivalent AC to our banded, but it will allow for increased movement. A fine haul indeed!
Baroness Bella gets the sword (replacing her slightly inferior
broadsword +1) and shield, Brother Baltor gets the mace, and Bant gets the chainmail, which at least will give him a better movement rate. Bant also gets Brother Baltor's old
flail +1, so everyone in the front also has a blunt magical weapon to be used against creatures that are better hit by them.
This is as safe a spot as any, so we rest here to regain hit points and spells (and we're going to need them soon enough).
We head back out of the northeastern section of the keep, and head towards the central section. Right before we enter, Brother Baltor receives another premonition of danger, and casts his
bless spell.
We enter the door and...
Nothing like 50 (yes, I counted) foes bearing down on you. But it's only 8 - 1 odds! And since I don't want to run out of available file uploads halfway through this fight, I'll leave this battle and what happens afterwards for the next post!