Aria Reservoir: the Core of Evil

Part of the journals from Wizardry Online! You can view the rest here!

Seems there's something happening behind the scenes in this kingdom as Quark's team and I encountered a strange party of "evil doers" in the lower core level of the Aria Reservoir. This floor features larger hallways mainly patrolled by more cursed coins, while the main spacious "dance hall" is patrolled by petryfing shadows who are easily enough avoided if you put your mind to it. It is best divided into three sections:

A Tale of Knights Reception:
The first barrier was not far into the second floor at all, held by a riddle of four knights and a foolish king. While I could defeat each knight individually I needed Quark's help to beat them all together. Once out of the way we were allowed entry to the main area.

The Petrifying Dance Floor:
Taking up the largest area on this level, it is pretty easy to navigate if you stick to the walls to avoid the lurkers. Stairs down on either side lead to either spider or frog infested sewers, both of which we ended up harvesting for reagents with Jaina's help (Quark's thief friend). The frogs were more dangerous - definitely evade their poison tounge attack! Also within their lairs were items that needed to be "mirrored" then given to statues in the dance hall itself to access the next area - defended by Shadow Dancer zombies. Despite their name they still very much lacked dexterity and were easy prey for my spear.

Back Area:
Ran into the masked aristocrat Arahawi here and he's very much as untrustworthy as Sel first said. Still he had a potion of magic negation which we required to access the last barrier, but not only was it protected by dark magic but also by four minotaurs! Fortunately Porkul and I could spear them through the door that they were too fat to fit through. Once within the barrier we encountered the strange party I spoke of earlier composed of a patchwork giant, an elven vampire, a masked fencer and the same sorceress from Deltis Keep, who seemed to be their leader.

Apparently they were giving out Beta-keys!

They didn't deem us worth the trouble of fighting though and instead the vampire let loose his "pets" on us - more bullspawn. After the battle the four had fled to parts unknown and we were left to return to town and report in our findings. On a lighter note Quark has made me an honorary member of his currently 7 strong union called the "Porkul-pickers". From those that I've met I think you'll like them, they seem to be Dragonarm material.

-Caanon

Trials at the Golden Dragon Ruins

Part of the journals from Wizardry Online! You can view the rest here!

Sel was contacted by a masked aristocrat calling himself Arahawi today and we were tasked with retrieving the Fir Elin jewel for him from the Golden Dragon Ruins, an outdoor trap-filled labyrinth of teleporters inhabited by goblin-like gargoyles, troll-like zules, foul smelling ogre things and worst of all large earth elementals that have remarkable range with their fists. Furthermore, both floors are stacked with riddles pertaining to the rather gruesome fate of Lin Lian. The answers are littered within stone tablets in the ruins themselves but most were a pain to remember, let alone get to (good thing we have a sneaky elf). Also Sel remembered a song sung by the bard back in town which helped in some parts.

Most of the barricades were held by denizens of the ruins, and some by groups of stone knight statues. Using the many broken pillars I could fight them a few at a time but one barricade, held by five earth elementals was almost unpassable. Fortunately with enough training they too broke before me and deeper within the mapless zone I met a porkul priest named Quark, Jaina a thief, and Vladut an elven warrior. We decided to team up to reach the end of the place, defeating a powerful purple hued zombie on the way.

Giant Frogs like eating Porkuls.

Due to the arrival of another murderous mage (pk) called Smackman our group was broken not long after and I had to proceed to the final section with Vladut. Fortunately the giant frog that was guarding the jewel itself was not so dangerous, despite being very tough. After it fell to our blades we returned to Illfalo Port and Sel gave Arahawi what he wanted, completing the contract. On a side note I am getting concerned for her. Something is wrong with the mana in this region, despite the supposed mana drain, as evidenced by the blood thirsty mages we've seen. Will keep an eye on her and will get Thanam to do the same.

-Caanon