Chapter 8: The Wrath of Khan

FrdNwsm

The wrath of MC more likely. Among the rumors heard in the Tavern in Sara's Tush was one that vampire prostitutes had been encountered in areas underneath the town. MC was inspired! He would explore the underbelly of the city in hopes of meeting a substitute for his lost (well, misplaced, actually) Hexxat. The first area explored was the basement of the old prison. There were indeed vampires, but none seemed interested in any close encounters other than the sanguinary kind. Still, there was a sub-basement level; surely they would find the more amatorily inclined vampires down there.

Not! The place was overrun with hostile warrior and assassin types, apparently in enemy employ. These caused a bit of trouble with their backstabs, but were eventually exterminated after some effort. Keldorn's true sight ability proved once more invaluable against lurking invisible assassins. Unfortunately, they also had some prisoners which MC released; his reputation rose as an unexpected side effect. Bah! The Bad Boyz might never speak to him again. Maybe it was time to "accidentally" fireball some innocent bystanders?

Well, OK, so that place was a bust. Still, the rumors did say the sewers were a more likely place to find trysting vamps, and a sewer key had been found in the barracks that had been raided. Sewers that needed to be locked up? What the heck was so precious down there that it needed to be so protected? Hah! Must be Grommet Khan's private harem!

No such luck. The place was swarming with Orogs (whatever those were), duergar diggers undermining parts of the town, and occasional battle mages serving the evil Yog-Sothoth. Interspersed with these were some odd horrors that may have inspired the vampire tales; at any rate, they were able of draining life levels. Not particularly attractive, though. These pesky things came in swarms, and gave some trouble until tactics were adapted to meet their particular threat, after which they proved little problem. MC wondered what a "devil shade" was. Looked like some sort of undead, but they seemed to totally ignore Anomen's False Dawn spell. Some sort of minor demon, perhaps?

Well, even though a way up into GK's tower seemed to have been found, MC wanted to explore the town further.

FrdNwsm

The group wandered on up to the battlements, where a fight raged between the town militia and the foes outside. Every now and then MC would catch a glimpse of the enemy, but, alas, never enough to allow any of the group to fire off missiles or spells. Oh well. It wasn't all wasted effort however. Blundering accidentally into Militia HQ, the group stumbled upon what turned out to be a plot on the part of one of the town's less reputable citizens to betray the place to Yog-Sothoth! Doubtless he was responsible for letting the enemy sappers down in the sewers. His plan exposed, it was a simple matter to put him down.

OK enough stalling; MC's dander was up, and it was time to call Mr. Khan to account for his nonsensical behavior. He needed to take his disappointment out on someone, after all. Now, Melissa had wanted MC to try and reason with the guy, but as far as MC was concerned, that plan was right out. Melissa, in his opinion, had more empty space between her ears than even Neera did. Well meaning, perhaps, but living in a world of her own. Either that, or she was on drugs. MC had every intention of letting any conversation with Mr. Khan be conducted by Lilarcor, who had a very pointed way of phrasing things.

And indeed, so it proved. GK had zero intention of talking with anybody, least of all another Bhaalspawn. He was actually more mad than angry; totally paranoid, in fact. The resultant combat was short and very much to the point. Afterward, Melissa showed up, bewailing the outcome. Lady, get a grip!

She did, however, reveal something about Yog-Sothoth, namely that he was invulnerable to weapons and magic. Huh; that might pose a problem. However, possibly a weakness could be found by exploring his past, starting with the Forest of Mir. Of course! The group needed to find out his True Name! That would defeat any villain, be he ever so powerful.

A new quest was in the offing! Onward!

FrdNwsm

Note: Having power over a shaman or some such by knowing their true name is an old belief. It was a central point of Glen Cook's "Black Company" trilogy, which I heartily recommend for any lovers of the fantasy genre. The semi-stand-alone novel "The Silver Spike" is also pretty good. His "Books of the South" series, however, is, IMO, somewhat inferior, despite following the further adventures of Croaker and the Lady. You can only milk a series so far before it gets stale.

For those who are curious who/what Yog-Sothoth is, it's mentioned in one of H.P. Lovecraft's books from the 1930s; do a Google search.

Gallowglass

I seem to recall that Yog-Sothoth is a recurring character in the Lovecraft mythos, not just an isolated reference. Long time since I read that stuff, though.

The power of a True Name is also a staple in tales of demon-summoning. There's an incident in IWD (and IWDee) in which the player can make explicit use of this trope to gain control over a demon, so lots of people in these forums should be familiar with the concept.

Jarrakul

Yog-Sothoth definitely comes up a few times, I think. He's first mentioned in Charles Dexter Ward, and of course he's pretty important to The Dunwich Horror, so that's at least two.

FrdNwsm

The "Dunwich Horror" indeed. Very good.

True name concept appears in many mythos; I was just wanting to throw in a specific recommendation for Cook's work, for which I have a particular fondness. All told, the series runs 9 volumes, and IMO ranks up there with Hobbit/LOTR/Silmarillion.

Arunsun

Back to the game, I just wanted to mention the presence of Fflar Scabbard somewhere in Gromnir's Castle. Be sure to grab it, Cespenar might be able to do something with it.

FrdNwsm

Arunsun said:

Back to the game, I just wanted to mention the presence of Fflar Scabbard somewhere in Gromnir's Castle. Be sure to grab it, Cespenar might be able to do something with it.

Yeah, I have it. But I don't have the weapon it's supposed to go with, so I doubt it will be of much use.

Jarrakul

Ah, that's sad. The sword was in Watcher's Keep, but I guess you must've gotten rid of it. Still, I don't recall you using a lot of bastard swords, so it's probably not a big deal.

Arunsun

It is Foebane which can be found in the first floor of Watcher's keep. Probably one of the strongest weapon in the game.

FrdNwsm

Arunsun said:

It is Foebane which can be found in the first floor of Watcher's keep. Probably one of the strongest weapon in the game.

I don't recall ever seeing the thing; possibly I missed it somewhere along the way. Since I still have access to WK (and plan in going back down to level 5 soon to get my revenge) I can take another look.

But no, I don't have anyone with pips in bastard swords anyway.

Arunsun

It is on one of the statue you get to fight on the first level, to be accurate

Jarrakul

It's a really cool weapon, but TOB is full of really cool weapons, so I wouldn't worry too much. But it is probably worth a quick check of the first level if you plan to go back to the keep anyway.