Session 12

I have to say, the sky box in the city is beautiful. I spent a while whipping about doing back-in-town stuff at this point.



First I went to the healer and got some downers for Tom and Hofstedt. Only 4 gold a pop - bargain! AND she threw in a free healing potion as a loyalty reward scheme (not that there's anywhere else in town to get healed even if I wanted to...)



Then I went to an inn thinking that I could probably get a better rest - only 2.4 gold coins for three rooms for the night! AND - as expected - you get 100% health back for sleeping in a bed. So that's ANOTHER bargain! Clearly people round here is terrified to leave their houses. The only reason I can think of that 4.6 gold would seem like a sensible price for a full body de-tox and tone up would be that people have no idea you can just walk out of the city and kill rats for cash (well, pretty much. The rats don't have cash on them - but they usually hang around piles of junk that contain it) or bird monsters for spheres you can sell...



Thinking of which, I popped into the general store to flog my sphere and the trii-like bits off the monsters. It's quite refreshing for an RPG to be able to get quite rich quick at the start of the game!



Back to the trainer - I was sure (and turned out I was right) that all my guys would be able to do more training now. And interestingly I think my theory about the value of things in this town being linked to people's cowardliness is supported by how much it costs to learn to fight. The badass trainer charges an arm and a leg for his tutoring - clealry he's been outside and knows that rich adventurers are ripe for a carvup.



I'm still not clear about the level up system. I don't know for sure - but I get the feeling you HAVE to spend money to improve - which is interesting. You've already fought to level up, and to then be asked to allocate money from your spoils to being allowed to level up some more... dunno how much sense that makes... It's obviously not terrible - I'm not putting the game down in disgust. But it's funny how it makes developing your characters into a double challange...



Anyway - everyone got trained up in close combat and that pretty much cleared me out.



Thankfully I'm carrying round a load of useless weapons - so off to the weapon-smith to flog them.



That's more like it. Feeling a little bit like a wheeler-dealer now I'm flush again. To the point where I'm ready to spend money getting things repaired - I found a broken decorative sword somewhere along the way so I get that cleaned up. Never know what might turn out to be useful!



Also - I nipped off and bought a musical crystal, a compas and some torches. Then I got Hofstedt's curse lifted and nipped back to Agrim in the old formers' building. This would've previously been an epic, dangerous mission. Now that the cave's clear it's just a fairly boring track through empty mossy halls - halls that thave been drained of their opressive spookiness because I know full well what everything is, what I need to be worried about and what I can just push through. What used to be horrific squiggly roots and throbbing pustules don't awe me now. Even the floor mouths can be shut up by and large with old monster meat.



When I get to Agrim's brain again I click to interact with it. Only, by chance, I've got Tom leading my party now. So Tom plunges his human face deep into the blue goo that is Agrim's giant Trii.



"AIIII! It feels like someone's set my spine on fire!" is his response! I can't imagine how that would feel, but I'm guessing pretty nasty - and it leaves our hero both intoxicated (again) and "irritated".



I have no idea how severe any of these complaints are. It's hard to guage if any of his stats are being effected by them... Thankfully I know a lady who can cure him so I'm not too bothered.



I put Dirr in charge and she connects back up to the ancient maniac.



"Hello again little lady!"



"Hi - we've brought you a musical crystal!"



"Oh cheers!"



"here you are"



"Thanks"



"... so... got anything in return?"



"Bye"



I'm imagining the already irritable Tom asking Dirr what Agrim said



"Funny story. He just said 'thanks' and that was it."



"No special reward? That's how quests are meant to work aren't they?"



"Well until now I'd've said yes. But it seems that Agrim is a douche of the highest order and took our expensive crystal and just left it at that!"



This is quite irritating. I guess it's quite entertaining too - it's like the quests in Ultima 7 that you do if you're playing as a goodie, but that get you nothing. I remember the rescuing the baby quest in U7 - I lugged that baby round the whole world before I found the parents and then they just say "Thanks" and that's all you get.



I like the way that it's sort of a morality system that works on the same basis as real life - if you're nice, all you get is the warm sensation of knowing you helped someone out. On the other hand, I don't like it because trecking through this cave takes ages and it turns out it was totally pointless. Gah!



Since this all happened I've learned that I had the option to kill Agrim. Had I known it at the time I might've done it as a result of the game tricking me into wasting time like this.



I head irritably (Tom especially so) back into town. Another visit to the healer sorts Tom out for intoxiction - but she's clearly no councellor since she can't do a thing for "irritation". she doesn't even sell any potions that would appear to have anything to do with it. I guess I'll just have to put up with Tom being snappish for a while then... I hope it wares off eventually. I mean, yeah, having your spine zapped by a ghost brain is pretty annoying - but he's not lastingly hurt and to be fair, he did press his face into its rotating gelatinous body. He shouldn't be taking it QUITE so personally...



Now to get back to the quest proper.



I head over to Frill's office and show him the dagger.



"Oh, interesting dagger... Hmmm... This is 150 years old - exactly as old as the madded up Formers' building you found it in. Probably a co-incidence though... Anyway, the strangest thing is - and I can't work out how this could have happened - it used to belong to Bradir's family! Y'know - the guy who, in your absense, has taken over Akiir (the dead man)'s position as head of the Dji Fadh. I just don't get it though! The murderer of the leader of the guild... The dagger belonging to his new replacement... the assassing who will have been hired by someone... I just can't work out why the murderer would have a dagger belonging to the guy who, it turns out, was going to get a big career boost as a result of the killing..."



"Hmm... maybe the murderer was looking after it for Bradir when someone asked him to do the murder and it's all just a co-incidence?"



"Yeah - I guess that would have to be it!"


Secretly I didn't think so - so I headed off DIRECT for the Dji-Fadh's guild. I, like Jessica Fletcher, was going to catch the killer out with my old-lady cunning.


I scurried over to the new guild-house, past the toilet tour, and into the building proper.


"excuse me - what can you tell me about Bradir?" I ask some random passer by


"Oh he was such a good pal of Akiir. He was really VERY sad when our former master got horribly murdered up in front of that kid..."


"Kid?"


"Er - yes. The kid whose coming-of-age ceremony was ruined by there being a murder at it. You know, the one who will be scarred for life?"


"Oh HIM..."


"Well anyway. We were all quite worried for Bradir, but now he's leader of the guild he seems much happier. I suppose that keeping busy has taken his mind off the death of his chum"


A likely story.


Ah ha! Here's my suspect now! I'll trap him with a cunning word-trap - just like in Murder She Wrote. I'll say - "they found the antique dagger that the murderer used you know" and Bradir will say "Oh, I wondered where I'd put that" thus leaving himself open to me saying "OH HO! But I never said it was YOUR antique dagger!!!!" And then he'll know he's shown his hand!


OR perhaps I'll say something like "We found the murderer dead in the old Formers' guild hall" and he'll say "Oh, did you take a musical crystal in with you?" and I'll say "AH HA! The only way you could know about the gelatinous ghost of Agrim would be because you were in the old Formers' guild hall and are in cahoots with the killer!!!"


This is going to be so cool.


"Excue me Bradir..."


"Yes?"


"What can you tell me about this?" At which point I reveal the dagger I found and prepare to pay VERY close attention to whatever he says next - so that I can catch him out...


*WHAM* oh - he just punched me. That never happens to Jessica Fletcher.


A short fight ensues, but really this guy should definitely not have tried to take us on as the recently trained up Dirr chops his guts out with one move.


So I guess that's that sorted out. Clearly he did the murder and knew he couldn't get away with it so he tried to attack us and escape.


No sense wasting good kit though - Dirr kneels down and thieves his breast plate and sword ("Bradir's Stiletto" - named weapon eh?). Then she rifles his pockets (which he doesn't have because he's naked now, but he must've been keeping the rest of his stuff SOMEWHERE) and grabs 2 gold coins and a non-perishable food pack off him.


Well I guess we should go tell someone about all this - only OOPS! Turns out the recently looted Bradir ISN'T dead at all!


As soon as I click to clear the "loot enemy" screen, some text pops up saying something to the effect of "Ow - you bested and then degraded me. Get me to the healer and I'll fess up!"


Fade to black and another text box pops up saying "you took him to the healer and thence to Sabinah (I think that's her name... can't remember off hand and I didn't write it down) the head honcho of the town for an interrogation"


The game fades up in the council house. Us three, Sabinah, Bradir and now Sira (the murder victim's daughter) are all there standing around. I imagine I've explained everything that's happened already, so this is pretty much a formality before this douche get's chucked in prison...


Only then Sabinah says "Bradir - please exaplain your unusual reaction to being shown the dagger."


What?! Unusual reaction? He's CLEARLY the killer!!!"

"Ah... Oh... Well..." stars Bradir "Wel..."

"YOU KILLED MY DAD!" Sira says

"No! No I didn't!"

A likely story

"If you didn't order the hit" begins Dirr "then who did?"

"Well... now that's a tricky one... You see... the thing is..."

"yes...."

"The thing is... AKIIR ORDERED THE HIT ON HIMSELF!!!!"

Does this guy really expect us to believe that?

"How can that be true?" asks Sebinah

"WELL - he was fatally ill! And since he was effed off at Sira for being a Dji Kas AND he had a score to settle with Fasiir he decided to get himself murdered as a way of getting back at them. The dagger was the killer's payment..."

Now I can see holes in this story. For starters, why would Akiir pay for a hit on himself with someone else's ancient dagger? ALSO - why did he have a score to settle with Fasiir? He got Fasiir's sister killed through his ineptitude - that doesn't sound like something he needs to get revenge for by arranging a frame-up...

Additionally, isn't it all a little too convenient that the two people who could possibly corroborate this story are the dead people?

"I believe him" Sira cries out without asking for any details OR seeming to be bothered that she'd pissed her dad off so hard that he felt it was sensible to have himself murdered to teach her a lesson.

"Oh, well then I do too" says Sabinah.

"Someone free Fasiir and rehabilitate her" (Rehabilitate?!?!? What do they do to you in custody that would require this?!?!)

"Kill Kriis though. He was clearly some kind of accomplice in all this and probably guilty of something"

And that's it!

I didn't catch what was to happen to Bradir - I guess he was set free? But CLEARLY something's amis here - I'm guessing that Bradir and Sira were in on it together. That's the only reason I can think of that she'd just arbitrarily accept his mad testemony.

But the game doesn't seem to want me to follow it up at all and the interrogation breaks up and people wander off with Sabinah saying:

"Thankyou for solving the crime, you did well! Come talk to me when you're ready for me to arrange a boat to take you off this island!"

So there we are - mission successful. "Well that was exciting" says Dirr. "Listen, you don't mind if I tag along with you wherever you go next do you? I know I'm some kind of police officer, but I recon I'm owed some exciting holiday and I'd really like to see how the giant world-eating robot stuff pans out!"

Hoorah! My best-fighter-by-miles is coming with me! That's ace!

"Oh, and I've always been an impulsive sort of person" Pipes up probably-a-murdererss Sira "So I think I shall come with you too. If you don't mind..."

Um... not SO sure about that one. I'm pretty sure she had a hand in her father's killing so I dunno if it's a great idea having her along. But the game doesn't give me a choice in the matter so I guess I'll just have to make the most of it.

I dress her up in Bradir's armour and give her his sword (which seems fitting... it's like I'm saying I KNOW you guys are in cahoots... I just need to prove it...). Then I set off out the door, ready for the next step in my grand adventure - presumably some kind of epic boat trip!