Counting Coup

Last night, I was cleaning up some old logs and found my first adventure into The Marsh Keep Area.

Jersea, Moswell, Gutios, Armundia, Sorlu, Spingwell, Khiya Lurrah, Ponrick, Husark and I left the Common’s in search of a mythic fortress in the bog. Following Sorlu, we took a minor detour to Niima’s shrine. Then we promptly got lost.

We were attacked by Necrotic Snakes in the Ghastly Swamps. That doesn’t happen any more, the swamp is just outside of their range now. I am proud to say I am the first Rester to kill a Necrotic Snake. I was also the first to injury a Chimera, which ran for it’s life.

A few minutes later, I got lost and ended up in a running battle with a Tomb Troll Necromancer, a couple of Flesh Golems and a few Tomb Trolls. Fortunately, the group came back for me and handily defeated the Trolls in a truly epic rescue.

Jersea took up the lead as a bard and lore sang many new finds. She pulled knowledge and details unimaginable to us.

Moving deeper into The Keep, we found the Flooded Chamber. The pool with turned out to be an impassable barrier to me. I wished the others well and took up the rear guard position. Armed with a flask, some pretty old songs and my staff I managed to hold the Chamber against hordes of Trolls. I was focused on holding on, I missed the signal. The rest of the party escaped back to town.

My fault, entirely. I went down fighting an uncountable host of Trolls. The rest of the gang escaped back to town.

For the record, I heard that the prize was a book.

Gruesome Feast

I was fighting a Flesh Golem and took it down as a Tomb Troll Necromancer entered the room. Instead of attacking me, it did this:

With a ravenous glint in his eye, a tomb troll necromancer pounces upon the body of a flesh golem and begins feasting on its abdomen. Within seconds, the golem’s midsection is torn asunder and the troll necromancer looks up from his meal with gore dripping down his face. A tomb troll necromancer looks much healthier after consuming his gruesome feast!

I’ve never seen that before. And really don’t want to again.

Hording Gear

After years of hoarding, I finally have a character that can use some of my accumulated gear. Ryvell, my cleric has a matching pair of maces:

You remove a sigil-etched black Ora mace from your silvery leather sheath.
You remove a white Ora mace from you black leather sheath.

I need to get better sheaths, but for a 6th level cleric, follower of Zelia, these weapons are perfect.

Astronomy, Elanthian Style

Elanthia is interesting. This world is set in what would be our Middle Ages or slightly before, yet they have developed astronomy due to the weird nature of their satellites.

Examine Stars:
You gaze up into the sky and see a broad field of lights…
An elaborate and expansive pattern of twenty-one stars shines directly overhead through the darkness of the night sky, forming the serpentine coils of a magnificent drake, its raised head framed by a dark indigo nebula. Every star within sparkles with a brilliant silver hue, highlighting the twinkling outline of the regal creature as it drifts its way through the darkness.

Examine Lornon:
You gaze up into the heavens scanning for the moon Lornon…
Lornon drifts through the upper sky as a full perfect circle. Whorls of darker hue shift slowly across the icy disc, their rhythmic swirling nearly blending in completely with the blackness of the sky.

Examine Liabo:

You gaze up into the heavens scanning for the moon Liabo…
Liabo isn’t anywhere to be seen right now.

You gaze up into the heavens scanning for the moon Makiri…
Makiri isn’t anywhere to be seen right now.

You gaze up into the heavens scanning for the moon Tilaok…
Tilaok isn’t anywhere to be seen right now.

No only does the planet have four satellites, they move. The moons play a great part in the history of Elanthia, Lornon is the most prominent moon and the home of the evil Arkati. Liabo, the largest moon, is the home of the good Arkati. Tilaok and Makiri orbit Liabo, not the planet.

In the distant future, Makiri will plunge into the surface of Liabo in a titanic cataclysm. Once a month, Lornon is tinted blood red. The cause of this is unknown. In the distant future, the moon always appears red.

It appears that the world of Elanthia is shared by three game systems – DragonRealms, Gemstone IV and Dragons of Elanthia. Gemstone IV takes place many years before DragonRealms and who knows when Dragons of Elanthia takes place.

Black Ora Weapons

My sigil-etched black Ora mace is sort of a disappointment. I thought it would flare, but it doesn’t because it has been uncursed. Pity.

However, today Serendipity was able to ensorcell it. Right now I just have a level one temporary ensorcellment, but soon I shall have a permanent cast on it.

Strange tactics

Gemstone IV has a lot of depth. There are many classic tactics you can use, such a parry tag, combat maneuvers or spells to slow opponents down.

However, the are some more subtle  tricks built right into the game. For example, going prone before an elemental wave hits will not hurt you. The same for shield bash. It is also unlikely that you would sucked into an implosion.

Going prone affects affects both offense and defense by 50 points. Choose carefully.

Sometimes, a minus 50 is better than vaporization.

Other tricks include the basic warding check. If an  opponent has Fasthr’s Reward running casting a low level warding spell can trip the Reward, ending the spell. For example, Dark Catalyst costs 19 points to cast and is really expensive to cast against Reward. Blood Burst costs one point and has the same chance to trigger and eliminate this defense. Other good choices are Corrupt Essence against spell casters and Spirit Barrier against swingers. The nice thing about these cheap spells is that they can trigger the Reward even if the creature is not subject to the attack type.

For example, Purified Citadel Heralds are immune to Blood Burst due to their undead status, but Blood Burst still forces a warding check. This effect is the same as casting Limb Disrupt on a creature with no limbs, you can succeed in overwhelming their TD or Target Defense, but that success will not effect a creature with no limbs.

Old Golems used to be puncture immune; it is the exact same situation, you can hit them with an arrow but it doesn’t do anything. This has been remedied my changing Golems to “puncture resistance”, so current Golems aren’t a good analogy any more. Certain creatures are completely immune to magic, trying this stunt is a waste of time. Vvreal and Constructs come to mind.

Rock is paper vs cold and fire

An ingenious attack method built right into GSIV. Cold and fire spells against stone creatures cause extra damage. Casting Dark Catalyst against stone trolls or giants causes their skin to crack to horrific effect. The temperature differential adds another round of damage a moment or two later.

This is different than the standard Fire Spirit against trolls. That merely slows or stops regeneration for a time. The temperature differential is extra damage. This is a good thing because that stone skin is as tough as metal.

My pet theory - Monster Combat Tactics

I have a pet theory. If a creature can’t hit you with weapons, it switches to magic. If that fails, it will try combat maneuvers.

This is roughly how a combat maneuver appears to a sorcerer.

At level 60, I can’t help but notice how often Hisskra will attempt their dart maneuver or how shield bashy Tomb Trolls can get.

One of these days, I will roll up a swinging type character and take them to the Tower or Keep to see if they get the same effect. At level, I suspect that cman’s are just one tool. When fighting at a disadvantage, cman’s will be used to affect characters.

Remember, this is just a theory.