In the last post, we had lost SISK from an overly grumpy ogre and turned tail back to Provoka to find more levels.

We got our level up to 12 with some effort after our return. This got us to the point where we could do four attacks per turn rather than 2. Suddenly, Ogres went from 3 turn kills to 1-2 turn kills. So we went back to Elfland, where Ogres are plenty, and got up to level 15 before heading west to the cave.

Overall, the leveling went well, but there was one point where we party-wiped twice within 10 minutes! We ran into a couple groups of 4 geists, one of which got first strike, and they promptly stunned both of our heroes and killed them both.

I will repeat this happened twice within 10 minutes, and I never got a single action off in either fight. Stuns are the most brutal form of attack in this game. It lasts awhile, and the creatures that do it frequently seem fast, so even if you get unstunned, you get re-stunned rather quickly. This problem is exacerbated by the fact that we are running a more minor group, making you more susceptible to this happening. Luckily, both were complete wipes, and we are not in quite the right spot to drop down to just one hero.

The cave makes me nervous, so I probably leveled more than needed. However, even going into its depths and meeting up with the Wizards, I was very concerned that we would not survive this endeavor. We started the Wizard fight, however, and it was a piece of piss. Each wizard died within a single attack, and they did almost no damage to our heroes.

Shocked and amazed, we grabbed the crown and sprinted out of the cave. We run north of the marsh and quickly set up a tent for rest and save. Relieved at our good fortune, we made a quick trip back to Elfland for a stay at the Inn and a brief resupply.

Emboldened by our victory against the Wizards, we now traveled northwest to the castle at which Astos was supposedly staying. If I was concerned by the Wizards, I was very worried by Astos. Astos is a bit tougher and tends to throw magic at you, whereas the wizards are all hand-to-hand combat for some odd reason, which plays into our heroes.

The fight began, and our results were mixed. We do, and around 10 and 25 damage. Neither is a ton, but if we did around 25-30 damage, maybe we could do Ok. Astos attacks back and misses. In round 2, we get similar damages, but Astos attacks back and misses. Round 3 Astos casts slo2 on us; this is the worst thing that could happen to us; we weren't doing great damage before, and getting slowed won't help. And sure enough, we do less... 1 and 8. Round 4, another 1 and 10-ish, and low and behold, Astos falls! Handing us the crystal, that the witch Matoya needs.

Today's XP totals are:

Runecrafting: 1; Aurum: 1; Dominus: 1; Glyphus: 1; Iteron: 1; Dracorius: 1