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Update 13: Reading is good for you!



Last time we finished up poking around at Hawk's Hollow. Turns out there isn't too much to do there right now. We continue to head west so we can loop back around and hit Zun.



We take a detour on this road here though to investigate the building.



Sure, it *might* be a shop. But maybe it is a house filled with creepy skeletons?



Oh God, it's both! Oh wait...



"I repair armor, and that's all I do. You dig, cats?"



Joseph exclusively repairs armor. Which would have been nice say 10 updates ago. As it is right now, I pay the little bit to bring our armor up to 100%.



The better the armor, the more costly the repair though.



Moving on. A bit further along the path towards the west is another wordlock chest. There is also a temple to a little bit further to the west that we'll look at in just a little bit.



"When it comes in, From sea to shore, Twenty paces you'll see, No less, no more."

E O E
G R A
F L L
A W G

Only a broadsword, some picklocks and royals inside this chest though.

No matter though - I suppose this area can be considered the newbie area, so the treasure isn't bound to be that fantastic.



The Temple of Killian

Considered a lesser God in the pantheon, Killian is known as the singer of green silences; the gatherer of quiet pleasures. She is the Goddess of Love, Foresters and of Sailors.

We examine the mandala on the wall.



This is the second temple that we've been to, so we have the option to pay for magical teleport, if we wanted to.



All the temples that you've visited (and mandala's you've studied) will show their location on the map in red triangles. The cost will vary depending upon the distance.



However, to go from the temple of Killian to the temple of Ishap, it'd cost us a whooping 85 sovereigns.This will be less important later on once we have a ridiculous pile of cash, but for now it's better to just walk.



Let's go talk with the priest or priestess.





"Bwahaha! You should have seen the expression on your face when she called you a drunken lout."

"Well at least I wasn't lusting over fruit."

"But... the wet dew? And the Honeysuckle?"

Yeah let's just get out of the temple before she comes back to scold us some more.



We are now directly south of Zun. From here if we continue south we'd hit the coast and will eventually get to Krondor, but we are going to head up and finish clearing out the area first.



This isn't a location of a wordlock chest, but if you were playing the game and making a beeline straight to Krondor, you'd want to poke around this area for the contents in the chest.



You do have to deal with an ambush though. Fortunately Gorath is on the case here.



Thing is, I don't want to avoid fights, but it's always nice to know about them in advance.





Only two of them though. They go down pretty easy.

I promise later on they will be a challenge, especially when I'm outnumbered and have to deal with casters.



This chest isn't even locked!

Inside is about 21 gold sovereigns, but also...



BOOM! Another flamecast spell. Doesn't do any good for us since Owyn already knows the spell, but it's worth knowing about this location.



Yup. Same spell, can't cast a Fireball v. 2.0 or anything like that, alas. It'll sell for a decent chunk of change though, so we'll hold onto it for now.

We move north and hit the village of Zun.





There is a shop that we'll check out shortly. Not too much else there though.







Actually a pretty good shop to get buffs for weapons and for our stats. I take the opportunity to replenish my stock of restoratives for each character, as it's always nice to have those on hand for difficult battles.



sense out of it. Now if you'll excuse me I really must be running along."

"Perfect. Now *I'll* be using that expression all the time now."

"Please don't. It doesn't make any sense."

"That is kind of the point. Baron Kevin is obviously a very wise man."

Let's check out another house.



"Uh, you don't have 'days rations' do you? The sight of fruit sends my friend into... well."



"Mounds of apples!"

"That's it, we're leaving!"



"I have a good feeling about this next house."



"OW My head. YOU SON OF A..!"



"OKAY ASSHOLE, I'LL GIVE YOU TO THE COUNT OF FIVE!"

"Three, Sir!"

"Three... Who keeps saying that?"

"What?"

"Uh, nothing. I guess."

But hey - with that bottle to the head, we've now cleared out the area! It's a straight shot back up to LaMut where we can finally drop off that stupid ruby.







Good old, LaMut.

Let's go to the garrison.



"Yesss? It isn't worth much anyway."



"Hundred? Not bad."



We can scratch finding Malaka's ruby off the list. Only thing now is to report back to the scribe and let him know about the trapped chest over in Hawk's Hollow.



This happens on our way way. Guess who we run into again?





"Have you been here this entire time? It's been like... a month and a half."

"Chest on the brain, Owyn. Chest on the brain.



Oh hey - we have a new dialogue option. Owyn, let's awkwardly ask Philip about his hands.

"This is going to sound lunatic, but would you mind letting me see your hands?"

"My hands? Okay...Why?"

"Just humor me. A man we spoke to in Hawk's Hollow said that we should look for a man who had a sign on his hands. He said that the man had very important scrolls in his pack and that we should listen to him... Your hands look fine to me."

"Scrolls? It sounds like the man you spoke to might have gone round the bend."

And... that's it? That was kind of pointless. THIS IS YOUR FAULT, OWYN!





Skip and a jump, and we are back to the scribe's.

"LOCKLEAR SMASH!"





"That box blew us up. Why didn't you beat his ass, or have Gorath rip his arms off?"

"I... I like books, is all."



Now, I know you might be thinking that books aren't important, save for flavor text, but it so happens that certain books raise certain stats.Now, if we sit down to read this book.



mother-in-law having consumed a vial of Fadamor's Formula to outslug a Tsurani warrior in a bar brawl.



This is after having had everybody read the book.







Yup. This boosts everybody's stats! I'm actually going to hold onto the book for a little while longer since it will provide the same boost to other characters who we haven't met yet.

Alright - so from the scribe's house, we hoof it all the way back towards where we were just south of Zun.





Another ambush. But I want this one to trigger because for a particular reason.





Everybody is wearing the stealth shoes though, so we sneak on by. I have to move a pair from Owyn's inventory to Gorath's so we can get the encounter to trigger.



Just a trap, and a pathetically easy one at that.



Just avoid going through the red ones and the green ones, and we are home clear.



Getting through triggers a conversation.



"But Delekhan sits in Sar-Sargoth. Word of my escape could only have travelled as we have come..."

"The fact that we have been attacked this far south suggests otherwise..."

"I have never been a witness to it, but I have heard of a talent called mind speech. very few magicians have it, but the ability allows men to communicate over very long distances. Perhaps Delekhan might have hired such help."

"it is entirely possible. Even before I escaped from his fortress, it was rumored that the magicians with whom he has been keeping company had such talents. I know that his assistant Nago claimed to have such powers, though I never saw evidence of such..."

"And if Delekhan has the capacity, then undoubtedly he shall use his assistants. So we will have to be cautious and watch out for any who seem like magicians as we head for Krondor. Both of you, keep your eyes open..."





Just Questor's View and Sarth before we get to Krondor!