Almost immediately an ominous tower can be observed from afar.  May that be our final destination?  First, we will need to tread through what appears to be the beginning point of the new module: the City Streets (anima: 35).

Among our encounters here included Undead Sentries (vitality: 50, difficulty: 1), Undead Archers (vitality: 50, difficulty: 1), Dark Acolytes (vitality: 50, difficulty: 1), Kuk Missionaries (vitality: 60, difficulty: 1, special: Favour Drain), and the ever menacing Slow Shadows (vitality: 200, difficulty: 2, special: Syphon).  Dispatching these was relatively easy, but required intermittent trips to any of our favorite places to heal.

Alas, while navigating through the streets several structures are discovered.

One of these findings is a place of religious significance where one may purchase healing (1 Ka Fragment), essence cleansing (10 Ka Fragments), and rent one of the four available Hellion companions, the last and most expensive of which, Nisu Sekhrey, hints the existence of a new form of currency, Gold Qedet, that is even more precious than Silver Seniu.

Also in this Shady Temple, there is an option for the kind-hearted to “tend to the needy”.  Donations only marginally increased our favour with the gods, but giving more seemed like the right thing to do.   On one such occasion, we observed a little peasant girl appearing to change to the shape of a man in front of our disbelieving eyes.  The mysterious figure, it turned out, was no man, no girl, but in fact Eshu the Wanderer, a powerful god from ancient legend.  Evidently, our generous contributions to the temple had not gone unnoticed, and he graciously offered us the opportunity to become his disciple.

(Recall from the previous issue, Nightvol (N: Monolith) is credited as being the first to walk the path of Eshu)

Further in our journey we discovered a Scorpion Marked Door, wherein Ellochel, an Avatar of Selket, in exchange for 5 million favour gave us a Chromatic Scarab, which affords its carrier some rather familiar statistical boost to potency, anima, and vitality.

We next came upon the Pit Arena, a place to engage in combat with some of Dzimba-dza-mabwe’s fiercest fighters, but at the risk of losing our entrance fee.  Surprisingly, we dispatched the first five opponents with rather ease.  Iabi (vitality: 40, difficulty: 1), Najja (vitality: 175, difficulty: 1), Odji (vitality: 190, difficulty: 1), Nebtawi (vitality: 150, difficult: 1), and Anum (vitality: 100, difficulty: 1) all fell to our sword in under seven rounds and never forced lotus potion consumption.  The sixth fight took a little longer since Lisimba (vitality: 165, difficulty: 1, special: Knife Throw) dodged seemingly every attack we attempted, but sixteen rounds of miasma damage proved too much for him in the end.  We needed a Gold Qedet to enter the last battle, which we didn't have, so we’ll come back to this one.

The Gloomy Marketplace offered some interesting trades including a Catharthic Philter and Kabechet Token for 50 Ka Fragments, Mercenary Necromancers accompaniment for 1000 anima, and most intriguing of all the option to purchase a Thoroughbred camel for 4 Gold Qedet.

The House of Usury enabled us to exchange between standard camel coinage and Gold Qedet, and purchase a Silver Scarab for two Silver Seniu.  The last option, sell a Golden Ankh for one Gold Qedet, was not available.

At long last, we reached the Tower Walls and were introduced to a young, impressively valiant female warrior, Belvin, who along with her brother, Daltha, had come to scout Gaunub’s army movements, but somehow they became separated.  Belvin bid us to help her find him, and we were off to the Ancient Sewers (anima: 40 anima).

Among the creatures we encountered down here were Carrion Liches (vitality: 40, difficulty: 2), Patchwork Abominations (vitality: 40, difficulty: 1), Exiled Apostates (vitality: 60, difficulty: 1), Grotesque Amalgams (vitality: 40, difficulty: 1), and Clockwork Sweepers (vitality: 120, difficulty: 3). The last of which required multiple uses of healing potions per battle, but with its defeat came a random chance it would drop an Essence Cage.  We found a shiny Gold Qedet inside of one!

With our newfound treasure in hand, we made our way back to the Pit Arena with the clear purpose of finishing off the last fighter, Chike (vitality: 300, difficulty: 3).  We finally crushed him after enduring 57 rounds of nonstop mauling, and happily accepted our winnings: 2 Gold Qedet!

Resuming our exploration of the Ancient Sewers, we stumbled upon some Scavenger Folk, who in exchange for four pieces of Gold Qedet showed us a secret passage into the Tower Dungeons.

This was a most dreadful place, containing by far the peskiest encounters of all the areas introduced in the new module.  So bad in fact that our guide refused to travel any further and even deserted us at one point.

Some of the monsters we ran into included Mind Flayers (vitality: 40, difficulty: 2, special: Stupefy), Flesh Flayers (vitality: 50, difficulty: 2, special: Gutted), Soul Flayers (vitality: 40, difficulty: 2, special: Sunder), and Hope Eaters (vitality: 100, difficulty: 2, special: Hopeless).  The last one often left behind Hope Chests, which contain a nice mixture of old and new artifacts, the most intriguing of which has been a Pearl Philter.  Using one completely cleared our list of statuses, giving us the impression that it is a superior version of a Cathartic Philter.  We were also met by a Kuk Philomath, who would summon a welcomed set of familiar monsters like Shezmu and the Miasma Monstrosity when we answered his questions incorrectly.

Despite being gutted, sundered, stupefied, and hopeless, we continued to sneak further into the Tower Dungeons until we came across an undead woman creature, who turned out to be Belvin’s dearest clan mate, Anka.  A vengeful fire overtook her eyes, Belvin's rage was grown, and in our very next adventure we conveniently encountered the blame for her fallen clan mate’s fate, the Dungeon Master (vitality: 250, difficulty: 4, special: Shadow Blast, disallows external curing, destroys healing potions).  For days victory seemed unachievable, thus quite satisfying when epically realized, especially for Belvin who with one expertly delivered blow to the neck exacted her revenge.  Out from the Dungeon Master came several precious artifacts including Deben and a never before acquired Tarnished Ark.  More importantly we obtained a key that unlocked the Black Tower (anima: 45).

Upon entering the first section of the Black Tower, the Profane Forge (anima: 40), we are met by the thunderous sound of clashing metal as countless undead creatures slave to give shape to fresh weapons and equipment.  Some of the creatures we encountered here were Tempered Corpses (vitality: 50, difficulty: 1), Undead Smiths (vitality: 30, difficulty: 1), and Forge Overseers (vitality: 40, difficulty: 1). We killed a great many of these combat weaklings before finally gaining access to the Upper Corridors (anima: 50).

Here in the Upper Corridors we fought Lifeless Sentries (vitality: 50, difficulty: 1), Deathless Assassins (vitality: 50, difficulty: 2), Corrupt Aristocrats (vitality: 50, difficulty: 1), Elite Guards (vitality: 60, difficulty: 1), Tainted Adepts (vitality: 50, difficulty: 1), and Gaunub’s Chosen (vitality: 50, difficulty: 2, special: Necromancy), dying repeatedly to necromantic killing blows.  Eventually we came upon a conference of noblemen, who were plotting to increase their exploits of a rebellious nomadic tribe, which quickly ignited Belvin’s rage, and in this enraged state she pounced on the men until none were left alive.

The crowning achievement of the Upper Corridors, however, comes packaged in the form of the Shadow Nomarch (vitality: 400, difficulty: 5, special: Shadow Blast, disallows external curing, destroys healing potions), which is probably as tough as they come in terms of non-player-controlled adversaries.  Defeating it is said to yield three pieces of Gold Qedet and a level-cap increasing Shadow Crown!

Thus ends the first half of this highly addictive, immensely satisfying adventure.  More to come as future chapters in the Gaunub saga are released, at which time we hope to detail our hopefully successful confrontations with the Devouring Sludge (vitality: ????, difficulty: Insane) and Blasphemous Idols (vitality: ???, difficulty: Insane).

To Be Continued...