Might and Magic 3 (Ch. 2)

Ongoing blog of Might and Magic 3: Isles of Terra

Chapter 1 - Fountainhead

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Exhausted, I stumbled downstairs to get a closer look at the world I was going to be calling 'home' for the foreseeable future. Corak had placed me in this modest place -- the Forty Winks. The inflappable man behind the counter didn't seem surprised to see me at all, although he must have been aware that I had been comatose in one of his guest rooms for the past few weeks.

There was no question of payment. The alien bastard had, it seemed--paid my rent well in advance. Well -- that was kind of him.

As I made my way out the door, the innkeep stopped me to hand me some belongings that he claimed were registered for me when I checked in. I thought he must have been joking until I realized that the aforementioned alien bastard must have left them for me. Well--what did we have in here?

Some rudimentary gear. Scale armor--some boots..a helmet..a shield and club. At least I wouldn't be starting this adventure with just the clothes on my back like the way things started on Varn.

To my amazement--the next thing I found in my new travel bag was a small pouch filled with 20 magic gems and 3000 gold pieces!

It wasn't a fortune, of course. But it was no inconsiderable sum either. The alien must have really been counting on me to make the effort. Though--it would have been even more helpful had Corak at least told me where to find my brother or other companions.

Just across the square was the local goods clearinghouse -- Fen's Fineries. The armor and weapons for sale weren't anything particularly impressive or better than what I had now--but at least everything seemed to be in good condition. I purchased a leather-lined cloak to add an extra layer of protection to my gear and then took a selection of the owner's travelling gear. Rope and Hooks, torches, and a potion of healing.

Of course, I'm capable of healing myself with the right clerical prayer. But the long travel through the worldgate had left me weary and I wasn't sure how out of practice I was.

There were many fountains around the town square. I imagine they were of course the eponymous things that gave Fountainhead its name. But something was wrong. Instead of potable or even decorative water--the edifices were clogged with a thick green ichor that blocked the fountains and pooled in their basins. Testing its viscocity, I flicked a coin into one of them and watch it sink and break apart under the corrosive vitriol. Disgusting. I wouldn't find any fresh water to drink in this dump.

Later in the evening, the owner of the Lonely Hearth tavern finally opened shop. Already he was wiping the stale dribblings of spilled ale from the countertop as drunken adventurers stumbled around the room. I peered through the crowd hoping to catch a glimpse of my brother--but he was not to be found. I knew such a finding was unlikely. Volkmeir never could handle his liquor and generally eschewed it as often as possible.

For a mere ten gold, I filled my travel pack with the local specialty--Orc Gruel. Ugh. Even on this alien world it was just like our mother used to make. There was no sense in filling my rations completely on it--it would only last a few days before going bad. But it was better than nothing.

I have lots of food in this screenshot because I filched all the food that the default party started out with. All their gear to be sold, too!
 
*hic* But the beer on tap wasn't bad! I lost count after about brew number four. But by then, the barkeep refused to serve me anymore and I stumbled out. I was feeling morose about my situation here. I was on a new world with no idea where my friends were. Volkmeir and I had scarcely been apart for longer than a day since the moment we started adventuring around Varn.

Suddenly, I felt bad for all the horrible things that I'd promised the dark almighties they could do with Volkmeir's soul in exchange for their aid.

Of course, all those almighties were trapped on Varn now. And we were on the other side of a sea of stars. The almighties are far-reaching, but not -that- far reaching.

Status conditions work differently in MM3 than in the previous games. They work primarily by changing vital stats. 'Drunk' condition as seen above -- lowers some statistics by 1 (displayed in yellow, indicating that it is below maximum.) -- but also RAISES other statistics by 1 (displayed in grey, which indicates it is above maximum.)

Status conditions also have levels of magnitude now. Faulkner is currently Drunk - 1, which changes those statistics by a factor of 1. Although it is impossible to get more than Drunk -1 from the tavern--if it WERE possible, for instance--to get Drunk -2, than those stats lke his endurance and speed would be calculated at max - 2. And his personality and luck would be + 2. That lucky drunk!

This primarily comes into factor when in battle with enemies that can cause disease or poison or other related conditions with their attack, which adds to the magnitude with each successful hit. Some conditions, like disease and poison -- also get worse as you rest. If any vital stat hits 0 -- even if it's some lame one like luck or accuracy -- that character will die either during rest, or during the next time 'check', typically around 5 AM.

 There was a curious artifact here at the end of one disused office space. A wooden gate had been erected here--sealing it off.

There were scarcely any people about and I doubted the ones that remained would care...

So I put my shoulder to the frame and broke the simple thing out of its hinges. I might not be able to pick a lock--but when you're half-orc, you don't always have to.



There are a lot more opportunities to bash things open in this game, such as doors and hidden walls. Gone, however, is the ability to bash or force open chests. Locked chests -need- to be picked in order to open them.
Also note, bashing does some minor damage to the first two characters. The gem representing Faulkner's hit points have changed from green to yellow -- color coded just like his vital stats.

 Ahh--it was a kind of magic mirror. A teleportal, from the looks of it. Only certain key pass phrases would activate it to send me to a pre-set destination. But seeing as how I was unfamiliar with the world and didn't know any phrases regardless, I decided not to bother with it for now.

On a nearby wall, some graffiti. "The call of adventurers is a call to roam. Return again by saying HOME."

Well--there was one pass-phrase at least. Saying 'Home' before another teleportal like this one would return me to Fountainhead.

More graffiti. Hrmm...Ultimate Power Orbs, eh? Why would I give up an artifact of ultimate power when I could keep it for myself? This 'King Righteous' was putting a lot of faith in the generosity of strangers.

I decided to have a peek outside the city gates--but no sooner had I crossed them when I spotted an army of goblins camped just outside. Fountainhead was under siege! No wonder the city looked so barren of people. Between the goblin army and whatever that sludge clogging the fountains was -- the place was on the edge of becoming a deathtrap.

You left me in the safest city you could find, eh Corak? Well...what should I expect from the man who let his prisoner run rampant around Varn?

Combat is drastically overhauled from MM1 and 2. Most noticeably--enemies now exist in generated spaces of the map and will follow you once they see you. This means--on a technical level anyway--that the number of enemies in the game is finite since there are no more random encounters. If you slay every goblin in this sector for instance--there will be no more.

There is one important caveat, however. Each sector DOES have a camp/breeding site/office space/whatever where, left unchecked -- more enemies will SPAWN -- Gauntlet-style. Destroying them will cut off that 'port' of monster generation, and if all such generators are cleared out of a map, that map is now 'safe', and that safeness persists from one saved game to the next. Game worlds are persistent now, whereas in MM1 and 2 all monsters and quests would renew every time you left an inn.

This means that ranged combat is not nearly as important in this game as in previous games. At the farthest you can see an enemy in the world, you'll only have a chance to fire two arrows and/or spells max before they close in and engage you in melee. To make up for this, ranged classes like the Ranger and Archer are a little more proficient in combat.

Speaking of melee, 'front' and 'back' ranks are done away with. All party members in melee are considered in the 'front' once melee begins.

The number-heavy combat text is also gone. Damage and health is pretty contextually simplified. If you attack and hit something--you'll see a short splash effect on that enemy--like a splatter of blood if it's a melee attack. A fiery ball if it's a fire spell, etc. The bigger the splash effect is, the more damage it did.

The enemy names in the upper right are color coded, just like your health gem. Green means full health -- yellow is wounded -- red is critical, and when the enemy dies they just disappear, making room for the army that's typically behind it.

 Slipping back behind the city barrier--I paused to catch my breath. And then--before I had a chance to calm myself, I felt a prickling along the back of my neck. Something wicked was coming this way.

Glancing down this lone hall, I saw a man covered in green foam lying prone and crawling down the hall towards me. Before I had a chance to squint and make out his features--he waved a foaming arm and sent a shot of corrosive green foam my way--catching me in the face and burning severely. I wiped the nasty vitriol away immediately and reflexively tried to fire off my strongest Produce Flame spell.

Only--with a sputter of spent and useless mana sparks, I realized that Produce Flame was apparently a Varn-only spell. The class and character of the Almighties here and the ley lines that governed them was different. Bereft of the local familiarity, I could only produce the most minor favors.

Still -- a flying fist at a distance was better than no spell at all. I summoned the flying gauntlet and punched the foaming man in the face--sending him crawling away.

As I pursued my running prey, I couldn't help but notice the fountain in this back corner of the city. Here, the sludge and noxious fumes gathered in the fountain was overwhelming and I had to turn back a few paces.

I found my quarry slinking along the sides of the alley, trying to come around and sneak up on me once more. I engaged it head on with my cudgel and bludgeoned the pitiful thing until it stopped moving and dissolved into a corrosive, rapidly-evaporating puddle.

I was never quite sure what to make of these strange bubble-men. Were they victims of the accursed sludge inhabiting the fountains, or some other malevolent extension of the sludge itself? I would never know for sure.

A training yard was located near the town gate--although the men at arms loafing about within looked unwilling to deal with the bubble man infestation or goblin siege outside. Cowards. I could train here with enough gold and experience--but these meager souls could only offer so much benefit to me.

In MM2, levelling up at the more expensive Atlantium trainer gave you a bonus to your hit points roll. In this game--there's no advantage to using one trainer over another except that each city has their own 'maximum' that they can train you. In Fountainhead, you can only gain up to level 10 before you have learned all they can teach.

 As I sauntered back through the town square -- I noted a young apprentice in shabby robes huddled near Fen's Fineries. Pegee, as he called himself--had no trust fund to finance his way through Sorceror training and was having trouble making ends meet for purchasing his supplies. For 50 gold he promised to slip my name into the register of the local Raven's Guild -- it was a fair price and a smart purchase.

The Raven's guild was the magical clearinghouse for the area. The plaque at the entrance indicated that it was founded several hundred years ago from the current day--just after the end of what they called Cron's war with the elementals.

The guildmaster's repository of magical supplies contained salable copies and instructions for all the local magical spells and prayers--both sorcerous and clerical. From here, I would remake my connections with the Almighties local to Terra and become a powerful cleric once more.

Oh thank God. There's actually an in-game reference for spells now instead of just casing "2, 3" and crossing your fingers that you remembered Energy Blast correctly and didn't cast something dumb like 'Web'. The Spell-and-Level tiering is now gone. When you open your casting window--all your currently known spells are displayed in a scrollable window in alphabetical order. If you have a spell and don't know what it does, the local Guild can give you a blurb of information on any of them.

Some guilds are more powerful than others. The Ravens guild is at the low end of the totem pole. The next most powerful guild will have stronger spells -AND- all of the Raven's guild spells. Which means if you hold out and go to the best guild straight away, you'll have your one-stop membership for purchasing all the spells in the game. But this is hard to do unless you know how to cheese the game.

 A local dwarf named Zahab owned a vault in one subsection of the city. An enormous treasure trove was guarded by his man, the Mighty Myron. Here was an institution I was unfamiliar with as there was no such thing as a 'bank' on Varn -- other than the lord's private treasuries.

It all started from a clever idea by an enterprising dwarf long ago named Deanna, I learned. By opening a large public vault, people could store their valuables communally and they would be guarded by the bank owner's trust, who could use the large sums to fund other enterprising adventures while at the same time guaranteeing the safety of the people's treasure hoard by paying a regular 'interest'.

Deanna, it is said--became wealthier than any person before or since, and the 'bank' business model still exists today.

You can store gems and gold in the vault. Gold earns interest weekly but gems do not. Investing regularly can start netting you enormous sums of gold by the end of the game just from the regular interest -- on the order of tens of millions by the end of the game--which is useful when you start hitting higher levels and the cost of training becomes obscenely expensive.

 In a more dull corner of the city near the storerooms, an aged priest was building a shrine to the Five Forces. Those benevolent powers--he claimed, that aided mankind during the conflict with the elementals.

Gaiam, which represented nature and untamed wilds. Represented by the Druid and Ranger professions.

Cosmonium, the energy and elements. Reflected in sorcerors and archers.

Esoterica - The growth and spirit within, represented by paladins like Samuel, and of course clerics like myself.

Bellum - the spirit of might and warfare, represented by bloodthirsty barbarians and mighty knights, like my own brother Volkmeir.

Lastly, Lurkane - That which is hidden and unknown. Represented by the crafty robber and deadly ninja.

These five aspects don't really play a role in the game. They're just neat holdovers from the manual.

Kranion informed me that at one time, there was a fad among the wealthier people in Fountainhead to collect ornate silver skulls, crafted in a limited series by a popular designer. These skulls would make wonderful adornments for his shrine -- he insisted, but when the curse of the ooze fell over Fountainhead and many of the townspeople moved out -- most of the skulls were left behind in underground vaults in the tunnels that ran underneath the city. If I could bring as many as I could find to him-- he offered to pay me a thousand gold for each one.

It was a tempting sum. And I would need the extra money to finance more training and purchase all the local spells. I agreed to his proposal and before long would start exploring the city's underhalls.

This was a tiring affair, traveling alone. Without Volkmeir watching my back, I had to be extra cautious.

The local temple Greenleaf was a helpful place to at least get a small boost to my protection before venturing forth alone.

Donations are less random now and follow potency by day. On Terra, a week has ten days -- from Onesday to Tensday. On Onesday, you only need to donate once to get blessed by the temple--which will give you Heroism, Blessed, Holy Bonus, and Protection from Elements-- all at +1.  On Tensday on the other hand, you need to donate ten times--but then all your buffs will be +10 also.

Checking my pack, I was wondering if there was anything else I needed before I began looking for a route into the tunnels. As I did so, though--I noticed a couple items I'd missed the first time I retrieved my bag from the innkeeper.

My book of magic maps was tucked away in one sleeve. I thought perhaps it had been left behind on Varn. With it, I'd have a much better bearing about where I was in the world.

The other book I didn't recognize. It was thin and ornately bound, and when I lifted the cover slightly it seemed to have far more pages in it than was possible for a tome of its size.

Suddenly--I had a flashback. A dream I had while I was lying unconscious in the Inn.

I saw Sheltem...and then Corak.

The alien bastard left it with me. I cracked open the first page and gazed briefly at it's contents.

It was a notebook. Describing all that had happened after Varn. Everything that happened on Cron. With my brother...the elemental lords....the Mega Dragon. All of it. And more.

I felt lightheaded and sat down at a nearby wall. It was a lot to take in. I needed a moment to gather my thoughts.

I had been in the Worldgate a very, very long time.