theBlackman on 21/10/2003 at 02:42
Right on Jackofalltrades, You did read the DAMN thing. :D :thumb: :thumb:
JACKofTrades on 21/10/2003 at 22:19
Hehe, I did initially register as JACKofAllTrades very early on but that account got scuttled somehow in a horrible board crash back in the day. :thumb:
Dafydd on 21/10/2003 at 22:48
[Folks]
After reading that I couldn't get to the Horn or the secret switch there, I was plenty surprised when I had no difficulty; then I finished reading here and discovered that I must have been playing Version 2.
I missed a lot of loot; I only got 8402 out of 9074, and that's including the Horn, the two golden skulls, and the associated secret loot. Somehow, even though I got all eight secrets, I missed 672 loot. Yeesh!
I did a lot of sightseeing, so my time was awfully long: 12:07:44. But at least I can say that I BJed every last human and killed all but one non-human in the joint. I assume you all can guess the one I had to leave intact :p .
So I end up with 44 backstabs and 61 blackjacks.
This is an excellent FM... but I wouldn't rank it as high as, say, Ominous Bequest for the reason that I like to ghost, and it's not possible in this mission.
[spoiler]For one thing, I'm pretty sure that blowing up the wall would alert the guard standing next to it, if he were conscious! Also, I doubt you could hop down to the brightly lit sacrificial altar without alerting the caged demons around it.[/spoiler]
I enjoyed the mission a lot -- but I second the motion that, if AIs must be killed, there be some method available other than backstabbing.
[spoiler]I didn't notice that Rowena's picture had changed after killing her; I'll go back to my last savegame and take a look![/spoiler]
One weird -- well, not really problem but oddity I had. Spoilering up for a long one:
[spoiler]I slew Rowena, then a clone, then another clone, possibly a third (I don't remember); then I grabbed Isabel -- well, actually I tried, but I slipped into the pit by accident; I had to blackjack Isabel's foot, which seemed to knock her out (the delicate flower!) -- took her down to the zombie/blood room, killed the zombie-grrls, dumped Isabel in a dark corner, and went back up to finish the job on Rowena. She was in her zombie state... twice, when I hacked her to death, then gave the coup de grace, the grace stroke that would explode her, I got caught in the explosion and died mysefl! So the next time, I just let it go with her being "dead." The objective ticked off, and all seemed well.
But later, after several reloads when I messed up, I returned to Hell on a loot hunt, since I was still short... and when I looked into the ritual room, Rowena was back! She was still alive -- undead, I mean. Her shrill, squeaky voice was still hurling threats. This time, I crept up behind her and backstabbed, which exploded her. As I was striking from behind, I wasn't hit by the explosion.
I thought this was pretty weird... if she was recoverable in her zombie state, as evidently she was, then why did the objective tick off?[/spoiler]
Great mission, marred (in my opinion) only by being ghost-unfriendly.
Dafydd
Dafydd on 21/10/2003 at 23:16
[Folks]
Since I was looking at the picture anyway, I decided to detour and try again for the one monster I hadn't killed. Still couldn't kill it.
But on the way back to the front gate, I remembered reading about one piece of loot I missed:
[spoiler]The chest in the spider room near the beginning of the mission.[/spoiler]
I went there and got it, so my loot total is 8502. Big whoop :rolleyes: .
I thought I had seen a second explosive barrel around somewhere, but now I can't find it. I can't think of anything else that would eliminate the last monster.
Oh, well.
Dafydd
theBlackman on 21/10/2003 at 23:47
Not sure what you mean by monster. I successfully killed everything in the mission that was not human.
[spoiler]
Rowena, is not and does not come back as a Zombie. There are two or three Clone type females running around. Also in the hole you fell into there is a key that will unlock the gates to the Horn etc.[/spoiler]
If you did not find the well room and open it, then the mission should not allow you to complete.[spoiler] You need a key that is hidden there to open quite a few doors.
Unless you did the game in DROMED[/spoiler]
Dafydd on 22/10/2003 at 01:31
[TheBlackman]
I'm not exactly sure if you're responding to me, but it seems so. Yes, of course I found the key in that room; I was surprised because I had read that the section of the FM in question wasn't working and hadn't yet read that there was a new version out (which I was playing) that presumably fixed those problems.
All right, you say she doesn't come back as a zombie. But when I fought her --
[spoiler]I killed Rowena; she spawned another one, plus a ghost. I killed the other one; now there was yet another Rowena and two ghosts (I saw them together... definitely two ghosts). I killed at least one more solid (non-ghost) Rowena, and she seemed to have disappeared... though she may have just respawned behind a pillar or somesuch.
After dragging Isabella through the zombie/blood room, I returned, and there was a woman who looked very much like Rowena, screaming the same things that Rowena had been screaming, but who was very zombie-like, up to and including exploding like a zombie when I finally permanently killed her.
Call it what you will, but to me, it looked like she kept coming back until finally she respawned as a zombie. Other people (cf. Nightwalker) have made similar comments.
Note: I did not get the chime for fulfilling the objective until I "killed" the zombie version (not exploding, just knocked to the ersatz death mode); none of the deaths of earlier Rowenas did it. But zombies can fall and be "dead," then pop up again later if you come too close... and that's just what Rowena seemed to do, although she did it in my absence. When I returned on the loot hunt, she was standing on her feet, frozen solid, and quiet... but the objective still had a check mark (I looked). When I crept up behind her, she suddenly began shouting her threats again, but still didn't move. When I backstruck her, she exploded like a zombie.[/spoiler]
Dafydd
Lady Rowena on 22/10/2003 at 04:49
Dafydd
You are right, if you kill the last Rowena the objective is checked off, but since she is a zombie she pops up as you said.
I hoped that the player would have never noticed it, because [spoiler]the last Rowena opens the cages of the demons and so you have to run after her and kill her as fast as you can[/spoiler]......but you slipped into the pit...LOL :D
BTW, the portrait of Rowena changes only in the 2nd version. Maybe you will play it one day? :)
Dafydd on 22/10/2003 at 05:48
[Lady Rowena]
Quote:
BTW, the portrait of Rowena changes only in the 2nd version. Maybe you will play it one day?
I think TheBlackman initiated this error, and it seems to be propagating: the second version
is the one I played! As I said, I was surprised when I found a key in the blood room, and the key opened the area supposedly broken, allowing me to get the eighth secret.
And yes, I did see the changed Rowena picture. Definitely second version.
Interesting that my footslip saved me; in fact, I was running there anyway, [spoiler]because I was pretty sure that as soon as Rowena died, the cages would open. And sure enough, when I skulked back up the ramp from the blood room, coming in behind the demons, I found the cage doors open.[/spoiler]
Demon-killing spoiler: [spoiler]I snuck around and found a lever that closed cages
behind the demons; either that's a separate set of cages, or else the demons had moved forward a bit. In any event, I was actually able to slay one or two outright, right through the bars, with an overhead backstab; the rest came running up, and I just stayed back far enough that they couldn't claw me, darting forward to chop them through the bars. After a few minutes of this, they were all dead.[/spoiler]
The one creature I couldn't kill was [spoiler]the treebeast in the Earth-key room.[/spoiler]
I have no idea how to kill these things; I tried backstabbing with the sword, but I wasn't able to chop it down. Maybe if I had an axe?
Dafydd
Lady Rowena on 22/10/2003 at 22:43
Ah, I'm glad that you played the 2nd version! :) I thought you missed the Horn and so you had not enough loot. Anyway, there is a loot list at Ephithumia's site, if you are interested. ;)
As for the demons: [spoiler]you could avoid to kill them, because they ALL were bound to die together with Rowena. (the last one, of course);).[/spoiler]
The treebeast: [spoiler]I made him almost invulnerable in the 2nd version, because in the 1st version some people managed to spare the fire arrow or the frog eggs and killed him. But it was too easy this way! :ebil:[/spoiler]
Dafydd on 23/10/2003 at 01:03
[Lady R]
I thought he was harder than normal! I recall being able to kill them before, but this time, it was like hacking away on an iron door.
As I said, aside from the ghost-unfriendly nature of LRC, I really enjoyed this mission. Thanks for designing it.
Dafydd
