Might and Magic 2 (Ch. 11)

Ongoing blog of Might and Magic 2: Gates to Another World

Chapter 11 - Red Hot Wolf Nipple Chips + Jurors of Mt. Farview

 The local Druids kept a grove just south of Middlegate. The strange symbols carved into the nearby trees were in a language unreadable to Sam or I --- but Ruce, who was something of a Linguist, was able to decipher them.

Our guardian pegasus had a name--Meenu, apparently. If we should chance to stumble upon him we were sure to be rewarded--however, it was not high on our list of objectives.

Finding Meenu and telling him his name rewards with some gold, repeatable once a year. Big wow.

 Most of the druids we happened upon were either hostile or left at our approach. But in this one clearing, an old bearded druid paid no mind to us at all and scarfed down a plate of Red Hot Wolf Nipple Chips. Oh, the memories of Tundara came flooding back! That warming wolf nipple chip heat! That succulent wolf nipple chip crunch! I demanded Lucreto fly us back so that we could order some straight away.

On our return, the old druid cackled with a knowing glee and invited us in to join him at the fire. After sharing an evening filled with skunky local beer (Deanna did most of the drinking for us since I don't tolerate alcohol well.) and bawdy songs, the old man left us with the spell Nature's Gate, which would allow Ruce to open a teleportal elsewhere on Cron depending on the phases of the moon and sun.

We were in for a further treat as well. Nature's Day, day 93 of the Cron Calender, was coming up. And when a portal was opened on that particular day....

It was straight into Ground Zero of the Dead Zone we were sent. On any normal day, the residual Thaums hanging heavily in the air would reduce us to cinders in an instant. But on this peculiar day, an anomolous force rendered the 'eye' of the Dead Zone safe.

Lain hidden here, Lucreto discovered a tablet etched with the words comprising the Starburst spell--a powerful magic that he did not yet have the power to cast, but nonetheless would make him a dangerous mage when we attained the skill to use it. He cackled maniacally and described the devastation that could be sewn with such a spell until Sofia gave him a smack on the ears and told him to teleport us out of here.

In fact, there are many small side-quests in the game dealing with the different food specialties you can buy in the five cities. In the beginning, I had thought they only provided stat bonuses but as I have learned I am wrong.

 We didn't have permission for an audience with Lamanda yet, but with our castle key we were still free to let ourselves into the Luxus Palace Royale and have a look around anyway at some of the more ancillary chambers. There was an artifact we needed to retrieve from here, and the Black Bishop as we understood it was still held prisoner as well.

 "Hall of Illusions". What sort of illusions might we find in here?

 Oh. IllusionISTS. Somebody must have mistitled the door. The illusionists of Luxus Palace could drain our spell levels, sucking away the collected skill of Ruce and Lucreto and making them unable to use anything but the simplest of cantrips. Unluckily for the illusionists, their spells had no effect on the steel and arrows we retaliated with.

 At the sight of these three beings, Sam and I were immediately reminded of Varn. There--in Corak's crashed spaceship, a small demihuman wearing a suit of metal approached and spoke to us. At least, I -thought- it was a demihuman. The Iron Wizards--whom we so called for the many and repeated energy spells they cast, were a dangerous adversary. Their tough armor was perfect. Not even Sam's photon blade could leave a scratch in it. Only Deanna and Lucreto's sorceror spells had any effect on their sturdy frames--and when they were finally defeated, they exploded and toppled into multiple smoking pieces, filled not with the blood and gore of demihumans but scraps of metal and materials I didn't recognize. A type of golem, perhaps? A relic from the hand of the Ancients?

 At last beyond the Iron Wizards we reached our goal and set the Bishop of Black Battle free. With all four bishops freed the arena games were once again fully staffed, and we would be forever remembered as the ultimate triple crown champions.

 On our way out, we found the artifact we were looking for. A little princess was playing with an A1-Todilor, but was more than happy to fork it over to give us a 'turn' and play with a cupie doll instead.

We now had all the castle-guarded artifacts, but no clear idea of what to do with them yet.

 To the south of the Luxus Palace lied the seat of the jurors of Mt. Farview. Although the jury was not in session today, a plaque left behind outlined the requirements for our recognition as Chosen of Cron.

The quests themselves we had already learned of in Atlantium at the statues. The reward was a staggering 5 million experience points and recognition in the form of a '+' mark.

The strictest requirement was -- each of our quests were divided by class, and they were to be undertaken -only- by those classes. The only exception was for Robbers, who had no quest of their own but could 'steal' the glory of their own '+' by assisting any of the other classes. We had no Robber in our party. But if we so desired this opened the opportunity to take some Hireling robbers with us.

We were all up to the challenge and putting it off wasn't going to get us anywhere. So we returned to Middlegate to go our separate ways with the promise of regrouping once we were finished. We wished each other luck and then the trials truly began....





Clerical Spells: Level 7

7-1: Earth Encasement - Wraps the target in a suffocating prison of earth, dealing 40 damage per round and immobilizing them. Ends if the target overcomes it or is attacked. 7 SP + 7 Gems.

7-2: Fiery Flail - An avenging prayer of retribution summons a hammer of divine fire, slamming it into an enemy and inflicting 100-400 points of damage. 7 SP + 7 Gems.

7-3: Moon Ray - The mysterious and beneficent power of Cron's satellites  deals 10-100 points of damage to up to 10 enemies. At the same time, those same powers heal 10-100 points to each party member. Outdoors only. 7 SP + 7 Gems.

7-4: Raise Dead - A lone cleric with sufficient power can bypass the temple and raise the recently dead themselves. However--the act is straining and carries a chance of failure, reducing the body to ashes and eradicating it. On a successful cast, the deceased is restored to life and both the deceased and caster age by 1 year. 7 SP + 7 Gems.

Sorceror Spells: Level 7

7-1: Dancing Sword - A conjured blade whips and dancing among up to 10 enemies, inflicting 1-12 points of damage per level. Costs 3 SP per level and 7 Gems.

7-2: Duplication - Attempts to make a copy of an item. There are no restrictions on item type, but there is a good chance that the spell will fail, destroying the original item. Costs 7 SP + 100 Gems.

7-3: Etherealize - Alters the molecular structure of all party members--whisking them one space ahead before reassembling again. Works in some places that Teleport wont and can bypass certain traps and forcefields and locked doors. 7 SP + 7 Gems.

7-4: Prismatic Light - A color spray of strange powers covers the enemy, resulting in completely unpredictable results. 7 SP + 7 Gems.