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Part VII – Goondalf the G(railfinder)
Thank you. It was challenging, but worth it.
And to you.
We should have known. Oh well. Let's continue exploring the village.
The upper-right part of the map is the Church, which doesn't have to be but probably should be our last destination, for reasons. Let us go down to Village 4! On the way there, though, there is this guy, with some very important loot.
Same stats as the monk robe, except it comes with the moral victory of wearing more wizard stuff.
Plus it's black with white trim, which goes nicely with our Black Boots of the Shadow.
Okay, now onto Village 4. We are greeted almost immediately by more Sha'ahoul, before I can even pull up the map.
Cowering before facing a now full fledged wizard, the scouts immediately drop dead. (Or we got very lucky and they missed their attacks.)
No notable loot on them though. Sad.
Then on our way down the path, we get sniped by a Bow Guy.
The clever bastard is hiding in a doorway, leaving only a very narrow angle of attack for our spells. Weaving through a storm of arrows, Goondalf runs forward and strikes him down! Now we can finally look at the map.
(The explored bit on the left is from when I accidentally clicked over here from Village 3.)
The path leads to another archer, and we can see the roof of a strangely intact stone structure.
The scout is just... carrying around a tower shield. Which he can't even use since bows are two-handed. Sure, you do you buddy.
These bad boys are way too much Restriction for a Mage, but they offer a ton of protection.
Cutting out yet another trip to Avalon for healing...
The sniper has become the sniped! Goondalf launches snowballs at this scout and he dies.
The Hunting Bow he carries has slightly lower damage than a Longbow, but also lower requirements and it takes up less inventory space.
There is also a magic item!
Not overwhelming, but neat.
And from this guy...
A non-rusty variety of chainmail! Goondalf is a leather daddy for now, but we might keep this around for later.
Eep. Defeating these guys actually takes two trips back to the monks. They got very lucky hitting Goondalf.
And another.
Village 4 is hard y'all.
We do find this though, which we will exchange for the Fancy Hat while adventuring. Speaking of adventuring...
There's a basement we can get down, full of nothing but spiders and broken wood.
Oh well. The next scout we kill has some neat stuff at least.
Slower attack recovery than the Scimitar, but otherwise similar. Not bad.
That guy must have been pretty hardcore to walk around in a steel kilt.
I also forgot about this ring.
Looks like we don't have to spend as much on Charm as we thought! (Perception is still useful for avoiding getting sniped, not just for those checks I mentioned in Chapter 2.)
Village 4 is mostly explored. Not many unusual things to discover... just a lot of enemies to fight.
And the intact building whose roof we saw earlier has a steel door entrance here. What on earth could this be that the Sha'ahoul haven't managed to destroy it?
Anyway, with that, exploration of Village 4 is complete! Let's head back to Village 3 for some unfinished business.
One of the non-blocked stairways takes us to another basement.
It, of course, is full of spiders.
Guarding a chest!
Oh hell yeah. Time to get ourselves a sweet steel blade.
We wear ourselves out until we need healing, then journey back to Avalon to talk to the blacksmith.
That depends. Would this be what you're looking for?
I knew it! I bloody well KNEW it! Was it hard to find? Never mind, I don't care. How much was there?
I didn't spend long pawing through the rubble, but I'd think thirty. Perhaps forty.
Forty? I was hoping for more... We can still use it though—every scrap we can use! Now I've gotta ready the forge, and start the--
Freeman? My sword?
What? Your sword? What are you babbling about? I've got things to do now—run along...
You promised me a sword—and a fine one, too.
But--
The hard part's done, soldier. Are you really going to quibble about five minutes more work.
I suppose not. I'll return shortly. VERY shortly.
I understand, sir, but there is another matter that requires your attention. You see, sir, a cache of steel has been located in the village and--
Steel, you say? It was Freeman the Blacksmith who filled your ears with that tale, wasn't it?
Well, yes, sir. When I was out in the village I simply kept my eyes open, and stumbled across the steel.
Stumbled across... Amazing. I would have sworn the blacksmith was a bit touched in the head to be forever spouting that story, but I guess he was right all along. Well done.
Yes, sir. He asked me to ask you to send a few men to get the rest of the steel. I can tell you exactly where to find it.
Here, the game checks to see if you've defeated all enemies in the Village 3 map. This doesn't just include the Sha'ahoul, but the starving wolves too. Helpfully, there is a little “The area is now secure” message once they are all dead, which Goondalf of course already got.
I understand, sir. However, I have already cleared out all the Sha'ahoul in the area.
Excellent. I'll start sending my men out immediately. The proper weaponry we can make with that steel will save lives once the time for battle comes. Well done, lad! The spirits are truly with you!
Thank you, sir, but it was just part of my duty.
With that done, we are off to see Freeman again.
He was surprised that the steel actually exists. And grateful. His men should start bringing in the bars shortly.
Good, soldier. Very good, in fact. And now I think this belongs to you. I'm sure you'll agree that it's a fine enough sword for you to wield with pride. A great deal for the price, don't you think?
I could've used this BEFORE I went to find your steel, blacksmith... but I'm glad I've got it now. I'll treat it well. My thanks to you, and farewell.
The Officer's Sword is incredibly good and will be sticking with us at least through Chapter 2, maybe longer. It has fully half the Attack Recovery of a regular longsword, with an Attack bonus to hit on top of that.
And it does way more damage than either the scimitar or longsword.
Now we are ready to face what awaits us in the Church.
The graveyard next to the church seems deserted... at first.
Until some of these nasty looking creatures start popping out of the ground!
They are easily slain with our arcane might. Their main danger is that we can't see them, so we can end up running into packs of four or more if we move too fast through an area. Best to walk slowly through an area that we know has voreworms.
They are also no match for our new blade!
With that, the entire village has been explored.
Well, the Church is also left, but it is considered its own separate map.
Inside, the Scouts we face begin to wear pieces of steel armor, making them slightly tougher nuts to crack. It's a good thing we've already been using Frost, because some of Flame's damage is Crushing, which they will now reduce a bit.
I really like that this game actually uses its inventory for storytelling sometimes. Here we have an amulet that doesn't do anything for us or sell for much money... this enemy just has it.
There are also more tower-shield-carrying archers. 
More great weapons for Goondalf the F, as well as further sign that these guys are more important than the scrubs we've been facing so far.
This scout is just hanging out alone in his room. Relatable.
More rings to sell!
Now the Church is secure... but there also wasn't really much of note. Unless we happen to point near this candleholder.
It has a purple outline around it, but nothing in the description field below. If we click it,
a secret passage is revealed! Gotta love oldschool pixelhunting. (Though there are some conversations with the monks that can give us hints if we're stumped.)
The lower level is full of more warriors. This place is even more heavily defended than Village 4. Though thankfully there are fewer Bow Guys.
With them dealt with, Goondalf steps into a more open room, and sees not an Ahoul or half-breed, but a human. A Sha'man Lieutenant, in fact.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6Hp2WANepc
This battle is a great bit of gameplay storytelling. It really shows us first-hand how the Sha'ahoul could possibly be doing as well as they are against the Seven Kingdoms. The Sha'man has all the spells we do, and then some, plus more Mana.
This one is Aura of Iron, which reduces all physical damage by 50% for the duration. It's one of two spells he will start the fight with casting, and honestly is the better result.
Goondalf blasts the Sha'man with a gout of flame! It strikes true, but the enemy responds with what I feared most: the Hold spell.
Three seconds unable to move as the Sha'man responds with his own fireballs against Goondalf.
Fuuuuuuck
Oh yeah, the Sha'man also has Heal, and will use the hell out of it. The only upside to it is that he isn't casting Hold on us again.
Let's see how he likes it!
Wailing on him with our sword isn't the most efficient, especially if he has Aura of Iron up, but it can at least buy us time while our Mana regenerates.
With a few more spells traded, the Lieutenant finally goes down.
By the G, that was tough!
Note the message on the bottom.
Yes, we can actually equip it ourselves, though we have to give it back to advance the story. No wonder that guy was so tough! That Healing Rate alone is equivalent to like 10 points of Constitution.
More scrolls to get translated.
Items that actually lower Restriction are pretty rare, so this is a very nice find.
Goondalf holds the Chalice of Life aloft, and laughs triumphantly! The effect is only slightly ruined by all the bleeding and coughing he is doing. But then he notices a strange hole in the room.
A tunnel?
Leading to mostly unarmored Sha'ahoul.
Wielding pick-axes...? Uh oh.
RUMORS
JOURNAL ENTRIES
-of home: the earthy scent of just-tilled soil, the fragrance of wildflowers when the sun is high, the perfume that Meg wears just behind her ear. Those are things I won't forget, no matter how horrible the war gets. I hope she waits for me...