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Update 2: Squire Philip, Chests and Baby's First Battle

In Betrayal at Krondor, when you are wandering around the game world, you are occasionally treated to the sound of a bird chirping in the background, but that is about it. There isn't theme music just playing off in the background as you walk around certain areas. I think this helps prevent the game from feeling intrusive. Instead, music is reserved for special events, such as combats, entering towns, or entering into a dialogue cutscenes with NPCs that you encounter out in the game world.

For the moment, our three would-be heroes beat feet south to LaMut. Our supplies are pretty crappy at the moment, and we should look into restocking very soon.

Hey, what's this?



Oooh, our first treasure chest! Gimme gimme gimme!




If you are playing along, then you should get used to seeing this screen. Scattered throughout the game world are these wordlock puzzle boxes, which have goodies inside of varying quality and quantity. The catch is that in order to get access to them, you have to solve the riddles that they pose. Sometimes they are easy, and sometimes they are impossibly difficult.

It also so happens that they are written in Moredhel, so it is a good thing that we have Gorath along for the ride, isn't it?



Since this is our first introduction to Moredhel wordlock chests, we might as well get some background on them.

What are Moredhel Wordlock Chests posted:

In the Kingdom of the Isles, a farmer will occasionally stumble across a strange locked chest in his fields. Folk myth contends that these are ?fairy chests? containing items lost by individuals who have somehow displeased Banath. They are actually boxes which traveling Moredhel use to pass messages back and forth. (Most kingdom couriers refuse to travel in the lawless Northlands and will not venture past Inclindel Pass or Cutter?s Gap.) In peace time, these locked chests contain only messages and harmless scribblings between mercenaries. When hostilities flare within the Kingdom, however, they are often used as secret highways to pass weapons, communiqu?s, poisons and other items of intrigue.

Moredhel chests possess ?wordlocks,? a series of small cylinders onto which have been inscribed letters of the Moredhel alphabet. Once the letters on the cylinders are rotated to form a pre-designated word (this is accomplished by moving the mouse up to a letter and clicking on it with the left mouse button), the catches on the box are automatically sprung. Most of these chests also have a steel plate (inscribed in Moredhel) affixed to them with a puzzlelike rhyme so that forgetful couriers can still make their appointed rounds.

While most citizens dismiss the existence of these boxes as hearsay, there are a few scattered scholars who have been known to point travelers to sites where these boxes can be found. To read clue plates, someone in your party must be able to read Moredhel.


Ours reads:

Prince Arutha, from his lofty perch,
Will find our troops without a search.
His men will fall, his castle too,
And then what will Prince Arutha do?

Answer: Die.

"Hey now, that's not very nice."

There isn't much inside this box though, just a broadsword and low quality kingdom armor. We give the armor to Owyn to put on so he isn't quite as easy to kill.

Let's keep on going to LaMut.




"Hold There!"

Certain NPCs that we encounter in the game will have a very short clip play of their voice. In Squire Phillip's case, he just says "Hold There!" in a youngish voice.

Also, very creative of the guys to use "Thorgath" as a cover name for Gorath. Certainly nobody will crack that puzzle.




"Katherine took a liking to everyone at the party. She's as fickle as her mother. She'll likely marry a conDoin if she can find one not tied in the martial knot."
"True enough. Say, I thought you said you were from Tiburn. Why are you taking this route home? Kind of a long way around isn't it?"
"Well yes, but I had to meet up with my ... uncle Locklear here. And my other friend is an elf, Thorgath. They decided that it would be nice for me to take a tour with them down to Kron..."
"Hawk's Hollow..."
"...down to Hawk's Hollow. I hear it's lovely at this time of year. what are you up to?"
"I'm looking to cash in a reward actually. When I was on my way to Yabon last month, I found a chest in this area but I couldn't pick the lock on the thing. I figured it wasn't meant to be and I left off. Thing is, all through the Duchess' party I couldn't help but think about it. I had chest on the brain. I don't really care what's in it, but I have to pick that lock."

We can infer from this conversation is that there is a chest in the area with a lock on it that Phillip wasn't able to pick. This would be different than the one that we just opened. Perhaps later we can take whatever is in there for ourselves? Maybe we'll find buried gold?



Here we have our conversation topics. As we continue along, we'll sometimes unlock more topics to ask. The game is also generous enough to allow you to re-ask a topic, which usually gives you the exact same dialogue, though I think there are some occasions where the text might change depending on the circumstances. Often you'll want to re-select a dialogue open if it leads towards having somebody train your characters.

We are going to ask Phillip about Nearest Town and Inns.

"I'm afraid my senses of direction and distance are a bit off right now. We all had a bit to drink last night and we're still trying to shake off the effects. Which way is the nearest place we could get cleaned up?"
"It must have been quite a bender if you're that confused! Head straight south along the main road and that will take you on into LaMut. If you're looking for good food, the Blue Wheel is a solid wager, though I warn you their Tsurani food can be a bit spicy."
"I for one could do with a little less sleeping on the ground. Any good inns that you can recommend?"
"There's the Blue Wheel Inn in LaMut or you might try the Dusty Dwarf in Hawk's Hollow. I suppose if you got really desperate you could try breaking into one of the abandoned houses out in that part of the country but I can't sleep well in a house that may fall on top of me. Of course, it may well be that the people have moved out for good reasons. I've heard that several people south of Loriel moved out after a contagion began spreading near there."

This opens up a new conversation topic, Abandoned Houses, but we should also take note that the village of Loriel may be afflicted by disease.

"Was anything left behind in any of the abandoned houses you saw?"
"Nothing of real value. Bits of food in a few cupboards, an occasional gold piece kicked beneath the foundation of the house. Lost items mainly. The majority of the places I visited had those unpickable locks --- what are they called --- Webber locks, yes. They had the Webber locks installed and so I wasn't able to get inside.
"I'm not certain, but I think I may have mislaid a very valuable belonging of mine..."
"I shouldn't worry about it. Depending on where you lost it, the chances are food it will still be there.

This is just a hint that most chests with locks, whether the kind that are opened with keys, or the special wordlock chests, will left you safely stow away your items. Leaving items someplace else, like say on the middle of the road in a bag, won't be quite as safe.

We've got nothing left to ask Squire Phillip, so we take our leave and continue south.





Aventurine is good for maintaining or improving the condition of crossbows. It isn't much good to us at the moment since neither Locklear or Gorath have a crossbow. We could always sell it for extra coins. For now, it goes in Gorath's pack. We head down a little bit further south on the road and see a signpost, clicking on it reveals...



Confirmation that we've reached LaMut! But before we head in for supplies, let's scout out the area first and make sure it is safe.



In the distance, there somebody is moving about! Let's pretend we don't know what or who the guy is, and examine him by using our right click.



Ah, a Moredhel! A bit silly to think that he's just strolling about. While we could just walk over to the guy, it would be better if we left click on him...



... because now our characters are planning to attack him and so we will attempt an ambush. By not clicking on enemies on the main screen, they will sometimes ambush you, even if you are completely aware of their presence.




Our attempt at ambushing him fails. Still, it's three on one in this instance, so unless this guy is Dog the Bounty Hunter or Hawk the Slayer then we've got nothing to worry about.



This is the combat screen. While I'm mildly alarmed to discover that Herman Toothrot Owyn isn't wearing any pants, I can't say that I'm altogether surprised. Speaking of Owyn, it's his turn to take an action. Combat moves in grid format, and while I could just move Owyn forward to engage the enemy, combat isn't really what he is good at. It's much better if I have him cast a spell. I click on the first bubble to the right of his stats to open the magic menu.



Owyn doesn't have a lot of spells to choose from initially, but in the early game 'Despair Thy Eyes' will be your standard spell to cast.

"A useful spell, it prevents the target from taking any action in combat. It only lasts a few rounds though, and unfortunately there are some enemies that it just doesn't work on."

Note that using a spell does use up Owyn's Health and Stamina. Losing 2 points of Stamina right now isn't a big deal, but with some other spells - especially those that let you determine how much you want to spend in exchange for spell power - it can add up to quite a bit, so take care and note just how prepared Owyn is when casting spells.

Owyn casts the spell which blinds our opponent.

Locklear goes next, but instead of moving him forward to attack, I have him assess our foe using the scales bubble just below the magic one.



This will sometimes give you a sense of how difficult a foe we face. Othertimes, you might not be able to glean much information about the enemy at all. In this instance, Owyn is twice as good as this guy when comparing stamina. Our foe's accuracy also sucks, so we will easily mop him up.



I said easily mop him up, Owyn! <>



Better if we have our fighters take him out. Locklear! Gorath! Kill!

"Rarr!"



With our target blinded and unable to fight back or flee, the battle is easily won! We loot his body for supplies, including another set of kingdom armor and a sword and then turn back to head into the city of LaMut. All hail the conquering heroes!



Next time we'll finally enter into our first city, LaMut, and meet a few interesting characters. Also, more plot and sidequests!


"I may or may not get us kicked out of the inn due to my ineptitude with a lute!
"I'll be there too, hitting on the barmaid. My glorious pornstache quivers in anticipation!"
"I find myself suddenly regretting my choice of traveling companions."

See you in Update 3: where we'll talk about the backstory!