Might and Magic 2 (Ch. 17)

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

Chapter 17 - Epilogue

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Corak addressed each of us there, in the huddled and cramped core of CRON, deep under Middlegate. He had made some progress on repairing himself. The most hewn parts of his face and body were less severe than before. It looks as though he was, in a very slow and methodical way--regenerating himself completely. The smaller cuts and scorches had already healed away and carried not even the slightest hint of scarring.

"It will take many, many years before Sheltem finishes repairing himself. Multiple lifetimes, at least. And yet--left unchecked, he -will- repair himself. He -will- wage war against the Ancients again. He must be stopped. And if he cannot be stopped, he must be destroyed. Varnlings---Cronlings---friends, there are worlds beyond even this one where I can use your help.

"The way is dangerous," he continued, "Unknown. Filled with much horror. And equal opportunity. Volkmeir--Sam, you two have already left your homeworld once. Will you go at my behest once more into the dangers unknown?"

Sam straightened himself up, like a dogged and tireless templar.

"I will not rest while that demonic menace threatens our worlds. I can not stop until I once more have Alicia safe with me." He declared unflinchingly.

I nodded slowly and stood with him, "My brother and I embarked on this journey to see how far we could push our limits in this life. In the face of unknown challenges I will not falter."

Corak nodded gratefully, "Varnlings--your brother---your loved ones, you will see them again in this life. I know it."

There was a gleam in the great sage's large, dark eyes. A twinge of possibility welled up within me. Did he know something about their fate that we did not? I held my tongue. Of course--I knew that there were -many- things Corak knew that I did not.

"Deanna?"

"Psh. Are you kidding me? The world is safe and I've got enough gems to start total market domination. I'm returning to Middlegate and opening a bank!"

"If that is your will--you shall know long life and wealth beyond measure."

Corak invoked a spell with barely a movement of his finger and sent Deanna back to Middlegate with a Surface spell.

We weren't expecting quite so sudden a departure, but it was not unexpected regardless. Still--as she glanced at the rest of us while the spell took effect, I looked back at her and mouthed words of thanks to her. She had been a faithful ally.

"I'm a little too old for this," Ruce mouthed somewhat reluctantly, "It's not that I don't wish you luck. But I'm thinking it's time for me to settle down and retire. I hear the Luxus Palace has an alchemist who can create infinite amounts of gold...and...well, I'm sure 'saving the world' entitles me to a pretty sizeable pension..."


Corak eyed the gnome who had reunited his soul with his body in deep gratitude, "You're a credit to your profession. Blessings of the Almighties upon you, Cleric."

Ruce went around to all of us, shaking our hands with thanks--and then, with a Surface spell, he took his leave of us with no regrets.

Corak next stopped in front of Lucreto.

"Not a chance. If I leave now, CRON's ley energies will leave me. I have all the power I dreamed of and more...and there's a tower out there for the Evil Archmage missing my name on it."

Corak nodded, "The war of alignments ever shifts and finds balance. In your own way, you too shall serve the Ancients' will."

At this, the elf merely smirked.

"Lucreto..," Sam called his name to get his attention. The elf looked at us expectantly.

"More than a few times, we really would have been helpless without your power. Thank you."

As the Surfacing spell took effect, the elf smirked even further and retorted jubilantly:

"Only more than a -few-? Hrmph..fair fortune--goody-two-shoes..."

At long last, all eyes were on Sofia, our 'lone operative'.

"I...want....," Sofia stammered, unused to being the center of attention.

She stepped over to us and held her hands behind her back confidently.

"The ghosts of my clan are at rest, but nothing shall ever bring them back to this coil again. At the time I gained my vengeance I made a vow---that I would never walk in this world alone again."

She gazed away from Corak to look at Sam and I.

"If you would have me...then wherever you may go across the worlds---I will go together with you."

And even though she was addressing both of us, she was looking directly at me. I suddenly felt quite vulnerable and cracked a nervous smile.

"We'd welcome you openly." Sam said for me.

=====================================


Corak was standing over us. Puttering about this cold chamber. Sam, Sofia, and myself had all been strapped securely into the pod chamber--ahead of us, a worldgate twinkled and came to life. Much like the one I had stepped through on Varn when we left for Cron. But this one was much larger. Housed in the heart of this inner core of the world.

"In just about 1000 years, CRON will finally reach Terra and begin assembly." Corak had explained.

"I will have to place myself in suspended animation until that time...you don't have that luxury. A millenia is too long for a humanoid to remain suspended--even as stout as you are. This worldgate will send you on a journey of nearly that length--though to you it will seem like just a long, deep sleep."

"But not to Terra?" I had asked quizzically.

"No. The time continuum between CRON and Terra is still suffering residual tension from the events that happened here. I can not send you there safely. But through the web between the worlds I have foreseen another world that will need your help."

Corak stopped and paused for a moment--as though unsure how to proceed, before finally saying...

"I don't want to get your hopes up in case I'm wrong. But I think I may have seen your fellow Varnlings there. It's...unclear. I don't quite understand yet."

"Faulkner..." I mouthed longingly. Looking across the long chamber I could barely make out Sam, whom I'm sure was thinking of his elf woman.

"As fate would have it--there are also some promising Varnlings that will arrive on Terra precisely when they are needed. The hand of the Ancients does sometimes work in strange ways."

Making sure we were all secured and comfortable--Corak started operating the controls and brought the arcane machines to life--slowly, our pods began to move. The worldgate edged ever closer to us.


"Good luck, friends. I will see you again after you arrive there. Look for me. And be safe."

Sofia, who was closest to the Worldgate, stared transfixed in wonder as she slowly passed through to the other side.

Next came Sam--who braced himself, remembering the unpleasant experience last time.

Lastly--I breathed a sigh of relief at the gate passed over me, and wondered just how deep this adventure would run.

A breathtaking sea of stars washed over me--and then the strain of travel between the worlds made me weary--and, unable to help it--I settled down into a long, long sleep.

-The End

Closing thoughts:
Wow! Might and Magic 2 takes everything that was absolutely enormous about MM1 and expands on it! I regret that there were quite a few dungeons and caves and other maps I glossed over in order to make the narrative more comfortably concise.

This was the first time I'd played it and it was very much a pleasure. The big plus that this game has over the first game is that the overarching goal is a LITTLE less obtuse to figure out. Clues pointing you in the direction of various objectives can sometimes be found in multiple places.

The biggest drag was that the enormous enemy party sizes can at times be utterly ridiculous to deal with. When you start reaching higher levels the last thing you want to do when you're trying to navigate a difficult map is get into a random encounter with 255 Lepers and wonder if you should run back to the safe square and lose your progress or just hold down CTRL+A for auto-attack and just slog through it.

The Enchantment factors--where you can find items with modifiers from +1 all the way up to +63, adds a certain revolving loot grind to the game that is at times very reminiscent of Torchlight or Diablo--a quality that was perhaps before its time.