EFFORTPOST Darklands LP XIV: Another Detour

Darklands Series

1 - Darklands LP Part I

2 - Darklands LP Part II: Charles Bronson Edition

3 - Darklands LP III: Nuns and Coins

4 - Darklands LP Ep IV: Introduction to Equipment & Combat

5 - Darklands LP Part V: We finally briefly go out into the dark lands

6 - Darklands LP VI: We actually start a quest!

7 - Darklands LP VII: We reach our destination

8 - Darklands LP VIII: Raubritter confrontation & learning how combat works

9 - Darklands LP IX: I'm not giving you my goddarn alchemical materials

10 - Darklands LP X: We actually do some alchemy!

11 - Darklands LP XI: The Main Plot

12 - Darklands LP XII: Halloween Edition

13 - Darklands LP XIII: Detour

Episode XIV

We're headed toward Denmark to attack the Fortress Monastery, but we're going to run into a few things along the way.

The Castle

I stop by a castle. Let's see what's going on here. (I love the artwork in this game so much it's unreal.)

Well I can't let this continue. I ain't Scheherazade but let's see if I can convince this wicked lord to change his evil ways.

These peepeeheads won't even let me in to confront him!

I guess we're gonna have to do this the hard way.

Note that there are other saints who can get you up there in different ways. Like levitation.

The castle guards like using their bows. Fine. I'll just shoot back. My guys need some practice.

Since we're in a fairly large castle, we go into non-combat mode until the next time one of them sees us. Time to search the place. These fights get kind of annoying because only one person can go through a doorway at a time. So you have to wait your first guy to get through before you send your second. But this will be of tactical importance in certain situations, like in the Fortress Monastery.

This is the main gate. If we had blasted our way through with a potion we would had have started out here. We could also retreat through it if we wanted to, but we're doing fine.

Frick this. I've searched almost every room and I can't find the castle lord. I'm getting bored. (This virtually never happens btw, this is just incredibly bad luck.) I'm out of here.

Back on the road. I run into another one of those corrupt Dominican friars peddling indulgences. Remember how last time I had St. Dominic himself set him straight? This time I'll use another saint, one who is against church corruption in general.

It's incredible how much content there is in this game. I'm still finding new stuff that I've never seen before.

A Mid-game Quest

Uh oh. WTF is going on here? Suddenly the normal travel music is replaced by something really ominous.

It's probably some MMO tard who likes flying around on dragons in Guild Wars 2 or whatever.

Goddammit this is gonna cost me so much.

old hags cackle as they stuff carrion into a filthy leather sack

That's just an ordinary thing you see every day in Portland.

Pagans. I hate these guys... er... girls.

Dammit! I'll definitely need to go replace my equipment after this.

This is what happens when you piss off /r/witches_vs_patriarchy.

Notice how many choices this game gives you when you run into a problem.

Finally we found him. I think we've got him now.

I try to reason with the dragon. I doubt this will work as dragons are satanic beings. But who knows? Maybe they just got a bad rap?

I knew it. Okay, we're dealing with a dragon here so when combat starts it's time for everyone to take a Flamewall potion for protection. Also Hardarmor and Strongedge to improve the weapons of Sasha and Nathan. (Since Yuna and I use impact weapons we would need Greatpower instead and somehow I neglected to make any of those.)

Just to make sure we're protected from flames I also implore St. Polycarp for some help. (He was burned at the stake for refusing to burn incense for the Roman Emperor.)

Or as we call him in Marseyese:

I have everyone take a missile shot and then just charge this bastard.

Redactor is getting the heck beaten out of him. Better take an Essence o' Grace potion just to be sure he isn't killed. And a New Wind to restore some endurance since he was about to fall. That 19 point hit must be Nathan using his alchemically enhanced halberd. Normally it's not great at penetration, but with Strongedge it is and it inflicts massive damage.

We cut through him pretty fast. I dunno if that's a bug or we're really that good. I guess I did do everything possible to prepare for fighting a dragon. St. Polycarp especially gives you a huge advantage. Just pretend that was a really epic fight.

Fame 216: Good reputation!

We're gonna have to stop singing this song now:

And we've got 100 florins now if we need to buy anything.

Meta

Next time I really will go to the Fortress Monastery. I just wanted you to see one of the more complex mid-game quests, but it was a bit disappointing. There's a lot more dragon-related encounters you can have while searching for it. We just happened to run into him early.

I had to go all the way from Bohemia to the outskirts of Koln to bring this quest to you. The things I do for you people.

@kaamrev