Might and Magic 3 (Ch. 15)

Ongoing blog of Might and Magic 3: Isles of Terra

Chapter 15 - Castle Bloodreign

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In the course of our exploration, we had collected a few worthless trinkets such as these 'ancient artifacts' of the alignments. They were not particularly valuable and had no magic power within them. And yet, because of their age and history the lords of the respective alignments would pay a high price just to have them for the sake of posterity. We had gathered a few that we were sure the king chaotic would want to have.



"Okay--but why are we bringing him the Power Orb again? We aren't just casting our lot with him are we?" Stella asked warily.

"We need to get our foot in the door with the lords." I explained again, "Once word gets around that there's a group of fantastic adventurers that found and brought back a power orb, the other kings will be eager to have our aid. We'll bring the next orb we find to Zealot--I promise." I had worked out a compromise with our group. Until we had a greater feel for the intentions of the rival lords, we would try to keep the balance of power as equal as possible on all sides.

And so, we returned to the Crystal Mountains near Wildabar and were allowed entry into Castle Bloodreign--our mark as crusaders from the statue of Fire Mane in the Temple of Moo was all the proof we needed.

Chathos, the palace minister--was all-too-glad to accept the artifacts of neutrality we had brought with us and gave is a fair sum of gold in return, although we would have liked a little more for the space they had taken up in our travel packs.

Those trolls that hadn't been forced out of the isle were taken prisoner by Tumult's dwarven army, and they languished here in their cells near the outer wall. They tried to break out and assault us at our approach, and we satisfied them by breaking down the gates ourselves and putting them to rest in melee. Stashed in the corners of their cells we found ancient artifacts of good and evil--which we saved for our eventual visit to the other lords.

The passage to the castle dungeon was blocked by a spell that could only be undone by speaking the correct passphrase. The clue simply asked the manner of creature that once pillaged the castle.

The clues to this answer could be found scattered around the statues in the castle--but we were familiar enough with the war of alignments that we already knew the answer:  Malefactor's ogre army had invaded during the war of alignments. "Ogres" allowed us access into Bloodreign's deepest dungeon.

"Is there a reason we're breaking -into- the dungeon?" Lydia asked, "I'd ordinarily be concerned about breaking -out-."

"The magic that seeps under the crystal mountains is heaviest here--under bloodreign." I explained, "We saw the power of some of those crystals in the Arachnoid cavern, remember? If we can find some formations down here they should be even more powerful."

In one of the cells we stumbled upon a mob of Sonic Ninja from the Wildabar clan interrogating a pair of prisoners. Although we weren't quite expecting to run into so many of them, we had grown powerful enough that they were not a considerable threat to us.






 Charity the cleric and the robber known as Son of Abu were both affiliated with the rival Swamp Town ninja clan and were being tortured here by the Wildabar clan for information. Though Swamp Town was largely no longer inhabited by the living they insisted on returning to their home anyway and offered themselves as hirelings should we stop by there again.

The other main prison areas were guarded by Draconi -- the weakest caste of the dragon folk. Armed with blades and shields made from brittle crystal glass--they were determined in their attacks, but far outmatched by us.

We searched the hanging skeletons looking for information or treasure--but the only things we found were cryptic remarks painted on the walls nearby in dried blood. "The second is Oh." this one read. As we found more and more of the clues, they began to piece together into a word.
"En, Oh, Are, Tea, Eye, Sea."

That's 'Nortic', I concluded, remembering my lesson in linguistics -- "In the old language, it refers to the northlands. The frozen isles, most like."

"But why is it here?" I wondered.

In the far corners of the dungeons where fire seeped up from the cracks in the earth -- Dragon Worms had nested nearby and attacked us angrily when they sensed our presence.

The beasts had bodies that were thin but wiry and highly muscled, making them hard to hit even with a prayer of Heroism. Their poisonous acid breath could hit all of us at a turn but a prayer of protection went a long way to keeping us in the battle until we could wear them down.

There -were- crystal formations here, but they didn't quite reach deep enough to get into the dungeon proper. With a Wizard Eye, Bernadene could just barely make out where they had formed in the corners of the dungeon--and Alicia had to teleport us in so that we could make use of their power.

Overall, there weren't more than three, which was less than I'd hoped. But their magic was rather potent.

Making our way back up to the castle proper--we calmly made our way into the inner keep while trying to act as though we belonged there. With any luck, we would keep a low enough profile that nobody would notice the havoc we had wreaked in the dungeon.

At the entrance we were accosted by a jester who assaulted us with his blend of gnomish humor, but we escaped with our wits intact.

"Oh, hello---what do we have in here?" Lydia asked out loud for us as we passed by the treasury.

"What are you doing?" Stella whispered, "We can't just let ourselves in there!"

"And why -not-?" Knell asked, "I don't see any guards patrollin' the place.

"Ah--that's because the chests themselves are guarded with a spell." Lydia noticed. "See? It needs a passphrase...in the days of old, what were the frozen isles named? Hey....wait a minute..."

Recalling the clues we'd gathered in the dungeon--Lydia leaned in and eagerly whispered to the chests, "Nortic."

A loud siren began wailing all around us.

"Hey! But we used the magic word! The chest should have opened!" Knell protested.

"It -DID-! By the gods bring me a bigger sack!" Lydia squealed in excitement.

"Look out, we attracted some attention!"

The court sorcerors were the first to come rushing from their studies. Their magic was highly potent, but they were--to the last of them--specialists exclusively in frost magic. With a prayer of element protection we effectively countered the threat before it even began.

The castle guards were numerous in their response but ill-equipped in these days after the hottest parts of the war of alignment. They wielded heavy shields and large flat blades designed to break armor and disrupt sieges--against a more strongly offensive force like ours they buckled under the onslaught and eventually we forced them back into their barracks.

"Are we unable to invite ourselves in -anywhere- without suddenly looting and pillaging?" I asked my friends bruskly.

"Hey-- -you- were the one who said we weren't the 'good guys!'" Stella chastised me.

"Point taken...perhaps we should just quietly make our way out of here..."

In the chaos of the scene we'd made though--our next turn around the corner was not towards the portcullis, but straight across the throne room. A hirsute dwarf with a long beard and an iron crown was waiting for us--but rather than confront us for our actions within his castle, he merely guffawed with delight.

"Zealot and Malefactor vie for the souls of men like two dogs tearing after a piece of meat, while I merely strive to agitate the conflict so as to keep them out of my affairs...strangers--with the power you bring me today the careful balance of equilibrium shall be maintained...my chaotic rule secured."

With a wave of his scepter--the ultimate power orb that was resting secure in my pack suddenly came free and made its way to the King Chaotic of its own accord. And in return, Tumult granted us a sliver of his divine spark, a font of experience that greatly strengthened each of us.

"Compared to this....the cost of anything you've taken from my castle is negligible. Go! Bring me more orbs to maintain my rule! You'll be well rewarded."

We regrouped later in Fountain Head. All things considered, everything went better than we had feared. Our dwindling gold situation had been remedied for the time being.