Surprises still in Durlag's Tower (has spoilers)
magisensei
Member Posts: 316
It has been many years since I last played Tosc and it still has surprises which is nice.
The first basement floor - the one with the 4 wardens has a secret door on the south wall - detect traps and you'll be able to see it - which is not a surprise - opening the door you find a ton of traps also not a surprise - the surprise is when you come from the other direction and didn't know about the other side of the door. When you open the secret door from the other side first the traps on the floor are not visible to your thief - and wham - you get hit by a fireball and lightning and cloud kill - ouch a lot.
Surprises are always nice even nasty ones.
Another fun surprise - on the next level - the one with all the doors that need to be opened in a special way; I had Imoen do the scouting while the other members relaxed in the far right room enjoying a spot of tea as Imoen worked investigating the rooms open to us. Suddenly Imoen walked into a room and all the doors slammed shut on her leaving her one side and the rest of the party really far away and no escape from the greater dopplegangers that appeared. Lucky for us, she was invisible at the time and wearing the boots of speed but still no escape.
I had totally forgotten about the hitting the sparring dummies to open the door so I had Imoen think for a moment before deciding on a plan of action. There would be no escape without killing the monsters and luckily Imoen had a wand of monster summoning. So she called some instant monsters to aid her, the greater dopplegangers got a few hits on her before they engaged the monster which was not good (as she did not have stone skin yet) and she retreated - nothing like having boots of speed and drank some healing potions. The summons nicely occupied the foes and Imoen used her wand of frost, some MM and her arrows to get rid of the foes. With summons, spells and arrows she actually cleared all the rooms on the north side of the 2nd level all by herself- ya Imoen!
Nothing like being locked up away from your melee fighters to think of different ways to defeat your foes.
That wasn't the only surprise in the tower. Imoen in her eagerness triggered a trap - a fireball one but these fireballs were different from the usual ones -- the fireballs actually tracked her as she ran away - Imoen had boots of speed and could easily out distant a mere fireball but they chased her - who has ever heard of tracking fireballs locked on to the target - (Imoen wants that spell) -- and so Imoen got a tan courtesy of some heat/intruder seeking fireballs that chased her.
Next were the slims that split itself - that was annoying and dangerous luck was with me when I finally noticed and not too many had split itself. Nothing fire darts and arrows could not eventually handle with Dorn slicing away until they reached almost death and Rassad and Imoen dealing the coup de grace.
Finally, the final battle with the demon knight was a bit funny and quite shocking. We pre-buffed before going up the stairs as it is obvious this is the big battle. Buff potions and spells were always only a click away as this was Durlag's Tower infested with monsters and almost everything was a foe in here. We used spells and potions to raise AC, get MR, increase strength, speed etc the usual buffs. We entered and summoned a skeletal warrior and other monsters and hasted along with protection from evil and chant. All ready to rumble. We took a step forward after surrounding the round room leaving only Dorn and my PC ready to go into melee battle if necessary but I didn't think it would happen as I had a surprise ready for the demon knight.
We then had to engage in melee which was dangerous but nothing like a few summons to distract and even the odds a little. He used his own fireball and a dispel magic which wasn't fun but luckily we had a few potions always on the ready just in case it was needed so my PC and Dorn used a potion of speed and heroism plus invulnerability while summons continued to be sent at him.
Surrounding him we fired ice arrows, acid darts, +2 bullets and the random spell like MM just to see if he really was totally resistant to magic attacks while my front line fighters and summoned engaged in melee combat. It was a bloody battle that would leave a few scars.
Although injured and hurt quiet badly we emerged victorious against the demon knight and freed the Tower. But it was a close thing at times when we battled him.
The fun thing about Durlag's Tower was that it still had surprises after all this time.
The first basement floor - the one with the 4 wardens has a secret door on the south wall - detect traps and you'll be able to see it - which is not a surprise - opening the door you find a ton of traps also not a surprise - the surprise is when you come from the other direction and didn't know about the other side of the door. When you open the secret door from the other side first the traps on the floor are not visible to your thief - and wham - you get hit by a fireball and lightning and cloud kill - ouch a lot.
Surprises are always nice even nasty ones.
Another fun surprise - on the next level - the one with all the doors that need to be opened in a special way; I had Imoen do the scouting while the other members relaxed in the far right room enjoying a spot of tea as Imoen worked investigating the rooms open to us. Suddenly Imoen walked into a room and all the doors slammed shut on her leaving her one side and the rest of the party really far away and no escape from the greater dopplegangers that appeared. Lucky for us, she was invisible at the time and wearing the boots of speed but still no escape.
I had totally forgotten about the hitting the sparring dummies to open the door so I had Imoen think for a moment before deciding on a plan of action. There would be no escape without killing the monsters and luckily Imoen had a wand of monster summoning. So she called some instant monsters to aid her, the greater dopplegangers got a few hits on her before they engaged the monster which was not good (as she did not have stone skin yet) and she retreated - nothing like having boots of speed and drank some healing potions. The summons nicely occupied the foes and Imoen used her wand of frost, some MM and her arrows to get rid of the foes. With summons, spells and arrows she actually cleared all the rooms on the north side of the 2nd level all by herself- ya Imoen!
Nothing like being locked up away from your melee fighters to think of different ways to defeat your foes.
That wasn't the only surprise in the tower. Imoen in her eagerness triggered a trap - a fireball one but these fireballs were different from the usual ones -- the fireballs actually tracked her as she ran away - Imoen had boots of speed and could easily out distant a mere fireball but they chased her - who has ever heard of tracking fireballs locked on to the target - (Imoen wants that spell) -- and so Imoen got a tan courtesy of some heat/intruder seeking fireballs that chased her.
Next were the slims that split itself - that was annoying and dangerous luck was with me when I finally noticed and not too many had split itself. Nothing fire darts and arrows could not eventually handle with Dorn slicing away until they reached almost death and Rassad and Imoen dealing the coup de grace.
Finally, the final battle with the demon knight was a bit funny and quite shocking. We pre-buffed before going up the stairs as it is obvious this is the big battle. Buff potions and spells were always only a click away as this was Durlag's Tower infested with monsters and almost everything was a foe in here. We used spells and potions to raise AC, get MR, increase strength, speed etc the usual buffs. We entered and summoned a skeletal warrior and other monsters and hasted along with protection from evil and chant. All ready to rumble. We took a step forward after surrounding the round room leaving only Dorn and my PC ready to go into melee battle if necessary but I didn't think it would happen as I had a surprise ready for the demon knight.
I had Dorn equipped with exploding arrows, I had a potion of explosion, necklace of missiles, wand of heavens and 2 mages ready to cast fireballs.
Once the dialogue was over we engaged our fireballs - I thought the battle would be if not over then almost so a hit or two would end it - no need for a prolonged melee battle. We fired our fireballs - and you can imagine the explosion that happened as 5 fireballs and a flame strike descended upon the demon knight. And you know what happened - nothing - absolutely nothing happened - he stood in a inferno of fire and didn't take a single hit point of damage - I almost screamed in surprise - he had total magic resistance or at least high enough that 5 fireballs and a flame strike did absolutely nothing.
We then had to engage in melee which was dangerous but nothing like a few summons to distract and even the odds a little. He used his own fireball and a dispel magic which wasn't fun but luckily we had a few potions always on the ready just in case it was needed so my PC and Dorn used a potion of speed and heroism plus invulnerability while summons continued to be sent at him.
Surrounding him we fired ice arrows, acid darts, +2 bullets and the random spell like MM just to see if he really was totally resistant to magic attacks while my front line fighters and summoned engaged in melee combat. It was a bloody battle that would leave a few scars.
Although injured and hurt quiet badly we emerged victorious against the demon knight and freed the Tower. But it was a close thing at times when we battled him.
The fun thing about Durlag's Tower was that it still had surprises after all this time.
4