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<blockquote data-quote="Demetrios1453" data-source="post: 9339245" data-attributes="member: 6801060"><p><strong><em>Pool of Radiance </em>(Part 58): Valjevo Castle (Part 1)</strong></p><p></p><p>With the Stojanow Gate cleared, it's time to head for the final location of the game - Valjevo Castle, where Tyranthraxus awaits!</p><p></p><p>But first, the reward given by the Clerk is enough for Bant to level up.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]362018[/ATTACH]</p><p>[ATTACH=full]362019[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>Bant has hit the max level for fighter in the game, and thus GBC will show his XP bar as full from here on out.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]362020[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>Everyone else still has levels to gain in one class or another, although we've hit max for Brother Baltor's cleric levels and Bragir's and Brin's magic-user levels. We might max out other classes as well before the game is over. I'll probably have a significant amount of leveling to do immediately at the start of <em>Curse of the Azure Bonds.</em></p><p></p><p>Off to the store. We didn't get much of interest, so it's mainly buying arrows and consolidating my funds.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]362021[/ATTACH]</p><p>[ATTACH=full]362022[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>And now to the inn rest, heal, and memorize spells before we trek across town to the castle.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]362023[/ATTACH]</p><p>[ATTACH=full]362024[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>Once we're ready to go, we head back to the Slums...</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]362025[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>(I really hope the party will have the clout to get these guards fired once we've finished saving the city)</p><p></p><p>And then we go through Kuto's Well...</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]362026[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>Through Podol Plaza, and then the Stojanow Gate...</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]362028[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>Until we reach the entry to the castle area.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]362029[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>Valjevo Castle is <em>huge</em>. It's basically divided into three concentric sections, each larger than the last. In the center is the castle proper, surrounded by a large hedge maze, and then an outer castle area. We're headed into the outermost section first, which is divided into four quadrants. The entrances from the Stojanow Gate lead to the southwestern quadrant.</p><p></p><p>As we enter this area, we go into the first door on the right.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]362030[/ATTACH]</p><p>[ATTACH=full]362031[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>As one of the strategy guides says, it's a big leap from us being someone they haven't seen before to assuming that we're here to kill Tyranthraxus! But if that's what they want to leave, we won't disabuse them of the notion.</p><p></p><p>We choose "Nice" and speak to them.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]362032[/ATTACH]</p><p>[ATTACH=full]362033[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>Sure! Sounds like as good a plan as any!</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]362034[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>Simply leaving is the best choice. You can tie them up, but there's a chance they'll be discovered and the disguise fails, and if you kill them, they not only curse you as you die, but the disguise will be ineffective as well.</p><p></p><p>Being disguised means we can walk around without too much interference, unless the party does something to set off an alarm, in which case you'll be questioned and possibly attacked by the alerted guards. But even then, it's hard to lose the disguise unless you do a few specific things.</p><p></p><p>We're going to fully explore the entire southwestern quadrant, then turn back around and explore the remaining quadrants counter-clockwise. This gets the best items as quickly as possible.</p><p></p><p>So we head out from the laundry and head west. We skip past a few doors for the moment, and enter the first door along the western wall....</p><p> </p><p>[ATTACH=full]362035[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>This room isn't accessed much, so it will be a safe place to rest. We don't need to do so yet, but it's good to identify such locations as quickly as possible should we need to hastily retreat to one.</p><p></p><p>We're going to rest since it's night, and it's better for most encounters if we wait until day.</p><p></p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]362036[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>Rested up, we head out and go through one of the doors we passed previously.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]362037[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>Fire giants! That's a pretty rough first encounter of one of the true giant types.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]362038[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>We walk up to him.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]362039[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>We can't let the smith armor up Tyranthraxus' forces, especially with fire giants at his side. So we decide to attack.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]362040[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>Luckily 1e fire giants are much weaker than their current versions. We start concentrating on taking them down.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]362041[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>We take them out so quickly (I guess we took them by surprise) that they don't even get a shot in before all but one is dead. The survivor rapidly retreats across the room.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]362042[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>And Brin takes him out with a bow shot.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]362043[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>The giants give excellent XP.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]362044[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>Mainly because of what they have in their bags...</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]362045[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>The game faithfully follows 1e rules on giants' bags, meaning they have a ridiculous amount of coin after you kill them. It's not convenient to carry around (and we actually decline to do so to avoid encumbrance), but it is very helpful on the path to leveling up.</p><p></p><p>The smith apparently had a couple of magic items, which we take in lieu of all that heavy coinage.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]362046[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>Done here, we head north, investigating the doors to the east (the west is just a huge wall, with the hedge maze inside). Most of the rooms are unused and uninhabited, but some do stand out...</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]362047[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>Well, that's gross. We'll head out and see if we can find something less disturbing.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]362048[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>And, yes, a temple of Bane is less disturbing than that smokehouse.</p><p></p><p>What exactly is at the end of the room that's crudely altering things? But before we can ponder 1980s spell-check errors...</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]362049[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>He definitely looks suitably smug to be a priest of Bane.</p><p></p><p>And, no, we politely decline being blessed by Bane. And by "politely", I mean "violently".</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]362050[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>Three clerics - we need to damage them as quickly as possible before they get any <em>hold</em> spells off! Luckily, the two 1st-level clerics will be taken out in a single hit, two at most.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]362051[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>Yep, single shot.</p><p></p><p>Bant takes down the leader, which I unfortunately didn't get a screenshot of. But in any case, it's a quick battle, and the acolytes of evil have been taken down!</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]362052[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>Let's see what that cleric had...</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]362053[/ATTACH]</p><p>[ATTACH=full]362054[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>Very nice! All three items are upgrades!</p><p></p><p>Brother Baltor will keep the mace.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]362055[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>I give Buffy the necklace so she can have something to do (firing off <em>fireballs</em>) when faced with foes immune to damage from non-magical weapons.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]362056[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>And Bragir gets the plate, which an upgrade over his banded mail.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]362057[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>We move back towards the "alter"</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]362058[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>No we don't. There's only a few silver in the offering box, and attempting to steal it will cause damage. Bane doesn't like people stealing his change!</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]362059[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>As tempting as it is (and, yes, they are magical swords), again we don't. First of all, the swords can only be equipped by characters of lawful evil alignment (which is one of the very few moments in the game where alignment matters) and will do damage to anyone else who tries to use them. Secondly, the swords are apparently quite distinctive and hard to hide, so we will lose our disguise if we remove them. So we leave them behind, and exit the temple.</p><p></p><p>And, well, that's it for the southwestern quadrant. We backtrack towards where we entered and then continue eastwards. Next stop, the southeastern quadrant! But we'll cover that in the next post.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Demetrios1453, post: 9339245, member: 6801060"] [B][I]Pool of Radiance [/I](Part 58): Valjevo Castle (Part 1)[/B] With the Stojanow Gate cleared, it's time to head for the final location of the game - Valjevo Castle, where Tyranthraxus awaits! But first, the reward given by the Clerk is enough for Bant to level up. [ATTACH type="full" alt="Screenshot 2024-05-05 131906.png"]362018[/ATTACH] [ATTACH type="full" alt="Screenshot 2024-05-05 131910.png"]362019[/ATTACH] Bant has hit the max level for fighter in the game, and thus GBC will show his XP bar as full from here on out. [ATTACH type="full" alt="Screenshot 2024-05-05 131927.png"]362020[/ATTACH] Everyone else still has levels to gain in one class or another, although we've hit max for Brother Baltor's cleric levels and Bragir's and Brin's magic-user levels. We might max out other classes as well before the game is over. I'll probably have a significant amount of leveling to do immediately at the start of [I]Curse of the Azure Bonds.[/I] Off to the store. We didn't get much of interest, so it's mainly buying arrows and consolidating my funds. [ATTACH type="full" alt="Screenshot 2024-05-05 132220.png"]362021[/ATTACH] [ATTACH type="full" alt="Screenshot 2024-05-05 132508.png"]362022[/ATTACH] And now to the inn rest, heal, and memorize spells before we trek across town to the castle. [ATTACH type="full" alt="Screenshot 2024-05-05 132550.png"]362023[/ATTACH] [ATTACH type="full" alt="Screenshot 2024-05-05 132559.png"]362024[/ATTACH] Once we're ready to go, we head back to the Slums... [ATTACH type="full" alt="Screenshot 2024-05-06 211507.png"]362025[/ATTACH] (I really hope the party will have the clout to get these guards fired once we've finished saving the city) And then we go through Kuto's Well... [ATTACH type="full" alt="Screenshot 2024-05-06 211547.png"]362026[/ATTACH] Through Podol Plaza, and then the Stojanow Gate... [ATTACH type="full" alt="Screenshot 2024-05-06 211615.png"]362028[/ATTACH] Until we reach the entry to the castle area. [ATTACH type="full" alt="Screenshot 2024-05-06 211709.png"]362029[/ATTACH] Valjevo Castle is [I]huge[/I]. It's basically divided into three concentric sections, each larger than the last. In the center is the castle proper, surrounded by a large hedge maze, and then an outer castle area. We're headed into the outermost section first, which is divided into four quadrants. The entrances from the Stojanow Gate lead to the southwestern quadrant. As we enter this area, we go into the first door on the right. [ATTACH type="full" alt="Screenshot 2024-05-06 211746.png"]362030[/ATTACH] [ATTACH type="full" alt="Screenshot 2024-05-06 211758.png"]362031[/ATTACH] As one of the strategy guides says, it's a big leap from us being someone they haven't seen before to assuming that we're here to kill Tyranthraxus! But if that's what they want to leave, we won't disabuse them of the notion. We choose "Nice" and speak to them. [ATTACH type="full" alt="Screenshot 2024-05-06 211834.png"]362032[/ATTACH] [ATTACH type="full" alt="Screenshot 2024-05-06 211839.png"]362033[/ATTACH] Sure! Sounds like as good a plan as any! [ATTACH type="full" alt="Screenshot 2024-05-06 211846.png"]362034[/ATTACH] Simply leaving is the best choice. You can tie them up, but there's a chance they'll be discovered and the disguise fails, and if you kill them, they not only curse you as you die, but the disguise will be ineffective as well. Being disguised means we can walk around without too much interference, unless the party does something to set off an alarm, in which case you'll be questioned and possibly attacked by the alerted guards. But even then, it's hard to lose the disguise unless you do a few specific things. We're going to fully explore the entire southwestern quadrant, then turn back around and explore the remaining quadrants counter-clockwise. This gets the best items as quickly as possible. So we head out from the laundry and head west. We skip past a few doors for the moment, and enter the first door along the western wall.... [ATTACH type="full" alt="Screenshot 2024-05-06 211951.png"]362035[/ATTACH] This room isn't accessed much, so it will be a safe place to rest. We don't need to do so yet, but it's good to identify such locations as quickly as possible should we need to hastily retreat to one. We're going to rest since it's night, and it's better for most encounters if we wait until day. [ATTACH type="full" alt="Screenshot 2024-05-06 212013.png"]362036[/ATTACH] Rested up, we head out and go through one of the doors we passed previously. [ATTACH type="full" alt="Screenshot 2024-05-06 212117.png"]362037[/ATTACH] Fire giants! That's a pretty rough first encounter of one of the true giant types. [ATTACH type="full" alt="Screenshot 2024-05-06 212126.png"]362038[/ATTACH] We walk up to him. [ATTACH type="full" alt="Screenshot 2024-05-06 212132.png"]362039[/ATTACH] We can't let the smith armor up Tyranthraxus' forces, especially with fire giants at his side. So we decide to attack. [ATTACH type="full" alt="Screenshot 2024-05-06 212235.png"]362040[/ATTACH] Luckily 1e fire giants are much weaker than their current versions. We start concentrating on taking them down. [ATTACH type="full" alt="Screenshot 2024-05-06 212307.png"]362041[/ATTACH] We take them out so quickly (I guess we took them by surprise) that they don't even get a shot in before all but one is dead. The survivor rapidly retreats across the room. [ATTACH type="full" alt="Screenshot 2024-05-06 212341.png"]362042[/ATTACH] And Brin takes him out with a bow shot. [ATTACH type="full" alt="Screenshot 2024-05-06 212359.png"]362043[/ATTACH] The giants give excellent XP. [ATTACH type="full" alt="Screenshot 2024-05-06 212410.png"]362044[/ATTACH] Mainly because of what they have in their bags... [ATTACH type="full" alt="Screenshot 2024-05-06 212422.png"]362045[/ATTACH] The game faithfully follows 1e rules on giants' bags, meaning they have a ridiculous amount of coin after you kill them. It's not convenient to carry around (and we actually decline to do so to avoid encumbrance), but it is very helpful on the path to leveling up. The smith apparently had a couple of magic items, which we take in lieu of all that heavy coinage. [ATTACH type="full" alt="Screenshot 2024-05-06 212552.png"]362046[/ATTACH] Done here, we head north, investigating the doors to the east (the west is just a huge wall, with the hedge maze inside). Most of the rooms are unused and uninhabited, but some do stand out... [ATTACH type="full" alt="Screenshot 2024-05-06 212700.png"]362047[/ATTACH] Well, that's gross. We'll head out and see if we can find something less disturbing. [ATTACH type="full" alt="Screenshot 2024-05-06 212750.png"]362048[/ATTACH] And, yes, a temple of Bane is less disturbing than that smokehouse. What exactly is at the end of the room that's crudely altering things? But before we can ponder 1980s spell-check errors... [ATTACH type="full" alt="Screenshot 2024-05-06 212805.png"]362049[/ATTACH] He definitely looks suitably smug to be a priest of Bane. And, no, we politely decline being blessed by Bane. And by "politely", I mean "violently". [ATTACH type="full" alt="Screenshot 2024-05-06 212936.png"]362050[/ATTACH] Three clerics - we need to damage them as quickly as possible before they get any [I]hold[/I] spells off! Luckily, the two 1st-level clerics will be taken out in a single hit, two at most. [ATTACH type="full" alt="Screenshot 2024-05-06 213020.png"]362051[/ATTACH] Yep, single shot. Bant takes down the leader, which I unfortunately didn't get a screenshot of. But in any case, it's a quick battle, and the acolytes of evil have been taken down! [ATTACH type="full" alt="Screenshot 2024-05-06 213107.png"]362052[/ATTACH] Let's see what that cleric had... [ATTACH type="full" alt="Screenshot 2024-05-06 213204.png"]362053[/ATTACH] [ATTACH type="full" alt="Screenshot 2024-05-06 213228.png"]362054[/ATTACH] Very nice! All three items are upgrades! Brother Baltor will keep the mace. [ATTACH type="full" alt="Screenshot 2024-05-06 213247.png"]362055[/ATTACH] I give Buffy the necklace so she can have something to do (firing off [I]fireballs[/I]) when faced with foes immune to damage from non-magical weapons. [ATTACH type="full" alt="Screenshot 2024-05-06 213304.png"]362056[/ATTACH] And Bragir gets the plate, which an upgrade over his banded mail. [ATTACH type="full" alt="Screenshot 2024-05-06 213321.png"]362057[/ATTACH] We move back towards the "alter" [ATTACH type="full" alt="Screenshot 2024-05-06 213448.png"]362058[/ATTACH] No we don't. There's only a few silver in the offering box, and attempting to steal it will cause damage. Bane doesn't like people stealing his change! [ATTACH type="full" alt="Screenshot 2024-05-06 213500.png"]362059[/ATTACH] As tempting as it is (and, yes, they are magical swords), again we don't. First of all, the swords can only be equipped by characters of lawful evil alignment (which is one of the very few moments in the game where alignment matters) and will do damage to anyone else who tries to use them. Secondly, the swords are apparently quite distinctive and hard to hide, so we will lose our disguise if we remove them. So we leave them behind, and exit the temple. And, well, that's it for the southwestern quadrant. We backtrack towards where we entered and then continue eastwards. Next stop, the southeastern quadrant! But we'll cover that in the next post. [/QUOTE]
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