-
- Forums
- Chatrooms
- Gallery
- Gameplay Videos
- Upload
- Articles
- Mod Reviews
- Shop SP: Games, Movies, Books
|
|
Docks of Targos | Town of Targos | Palisades of Targos |
PALISADES OF TARGOS
Palisades of Targos
Here I perform a series of short miscellaneous quests. The first one involves a Weapon Instructor straight ahead north, who's training his Soldiers to use their spears on a Keg. Markus brings up the subject of how to use the spears more effectively without leaving themselves vulnerable, but the Weapon Instructor just blows him off. Markus then smashes the Keg apart, and this offers him an opportunity to instruct the Soldiers and get an xp reward. I also get a shield, Cliffs of Targos (+2 armor class), which Alliria equips as her main shield for the time being.
At around 3:09, and west of the Weapon Instructor, is a Drill Sergeant who's raking his Soldiers over the coals. You can either have a priest character bless the Soldiers, or have a warrior character inspire them, for an xp bonus.
Towards the southwest corner of the Palisades is a man named Caulder, who's trying to put together a catapult but is frustrated that he can't finish it off with the nails to hold in place. A character with a low Diplomacy check can persist with offers of help so that he's willing to borrow a Warhammer and then use it to finish the job. This provides another xp bonus.
Towards the southeast corner of the Palisades is a drunken soldier named Niles. You can either get him a bottle of wine for some xp and a little gold, or as I prefer, oblige him to get off the bottle and get back to his post.
Just north of Niles will be a man named Tabard, who's jealousy guarding over his weapon rack. Tithian performs a low Bluff check to convince him to leave the rack behind, allowing me to get Tabard's Shield (+3 to armor class), which will be an interim upgrade for Lord Markus.
Towards the northeast corner will be Gabor and Kaydence, who are having a contest on whether or not the Barrel at the top of the wall to the north can be shot down. I think either a Ranger or a character with good enough Dexterity can join in. All you need to do is have that character switch over to missile weapons, and then damage the barrel enough to break it. Gabor won't have any gold to match his wager, but I can force him to give up his Longbow, which becomes an upgrade for Alliria.
Fat Loki's Fate
Just south of Gabor and Kaydence will be a trio gathered round a camp fire, Anson, Illignar, and Tarran. With the Dead Cat from the Warehouse in my inventory, I can finish off this conversation with how the trio managed to clear the rats out of the Warehouse. This leads to the discovery that they stole the cat from Firtha Kedros, and used it to eat up the rats, which led to its death by overeating.
I then go to Firtha's house in the docks, and inform her of what happened, which gets me another xp reward. Firtha, now that the Docks have been cleared of Goblins, can now use her Seer's vision to tell various tidbits of information.
The video ends with me telling the trio about Firtha's anger over the cat for the sake of completeness.
Lumber for the Palisades
Now I go to the Commander's headquarters, which are just by the gates to the Town at the south end. First I speak to Nolan the Healer. He can provide free healing as well as tactical advice if you're so inclined.
Shawford Crale, the Commander, has a job for me. I am to help Olap Tamewater repair a breach in the Palisades.
Olap and the breach will be found at the north edge of the Palisades. He needs a merchant named Lumbar to deliver lumber so that he can repair the breach.
Swift Thomas can be found standing just outside the Commander's headquarters. Now that I'm officially in the service of Targos, I can always have Swift Thomas bring me to any one of the Town, the Docks, or the Palisades.
I go to the Docks. Lumbar Grundwall is at the south-central edge of the town bemoaning his fortune. His problem is that the crane wheel has broken.
Now I go back to the Palisades, and inform Olap. Olap promptly directs me to his father, Jorun Tamewater, to get the crane wheel fixed.
I then head to the middle of the Docks, and explain the situation to Jorun. He gives me a Wooden Crane Wheel that now appears in my inventory.
Now I head back to the Town. I click on the 'container part' of the Crane and put the Wooden Crane Wheel inside of it. The Crane is now repaired, although Lumbar isn't any less whiny for it.
I head back to the Palisades, where Olap has now repaired the breach.
Arrows for Isherwood
I talk to Shawford Crale again, and get another xp reward for informing him of the repairs to the Palisade. His next job for me is to help a guy named Isherwood stock up on arrows.
Isherwood can be found at the west end of the Palisades. He needs 300 arrows from Deirdre Galloway.
Deirdre's Trading Coster is at the south end of the Town, just a little west of where Swift Thomas will take me.
Now, before I go any further, I must digress and discuss a future development. The series of combats that will end the Prologue involves the Goblin hordes storming into the Palisades in force. The goblins themselves are still the same easy brats you will have first fought at the docks, but in combination with their three war leaders, well ... This is one of the most challenging series battles as part of the Tactics mod, and precisely because this is still a low-level encounter where your characters won't have a lot of hit points. So what you need is preparation and foresight.
Every bonus you can get counts. Whatever you can do to increase your odds on the die rolls, whether its your own armor class or your own attack bonus, do it. It can make all the difference in a fight like this. Get the best equipment you can. Don't be stingy with your gold. I'm normally not a big fan of spending gold on equipment that I won't be using for the rest of the game. But in battles like this, every point of attack bonus and every point of armor class helps. Sell your flaming oils and anything else you don't need. Milk the folks in town of whatever cash you can get from them for doing their quests. This of course means not letting a Paladin or a Monk do the talking. Buy whatever you can.
As it so happens, the Light of Selune mod adds a second merchant in the northwest corner of the Coster, a Dwarf named Skalla. He sells +1 and Masterwork versions (that add a +1 attack bonus but without being +1 enchantment) of many weapons in the game.
I bought from him a Masterwork Longsword for Markus, a Masterwork Battleaxe for Stygar, a Masterwork Scimitar for Alliria, and a Masterwork Sling for Lady Elanna.
He also has a few unique magical items, like:
I buy the Rhino Beetle Shield for Markus (shown at the end of the video) to improve his armor class, and transfer Tabard's Shield over to Stygar to improve his armor class as well. I might get another of these, but not yet.
Deirdre runs the Coster, and she's on the east side. You can either buy the 300 arrows from her, or pass a minor Bluff or Intimidate check to get her to give the arrows to Isherwood.
Deirdre is herself a merchant, who also sells Masterwork and +1 versions of many of the weapons. Some of her unique items (some of them added by Light of Selune) include:
I don't buy any of these just yet. I do however buy some armor, including a Splintmail for Lord Markus, a Chainmail for Stygar, and a Studded Leather for Tirion. Alliria equips the other Studded Leather after Markus dons his Splintmail.
I conclude the video by heading back to the Palisades.
Koluhm speaks with the Dead
I then check with Isherwood to make sure he got his arrows. I then inform Shawford Crale of the good news for another xp reward. His next job for me is to find out if the Priest of Myrkul, Koluhm Bonecutter, can glean any information from the spirits of the dead Goblins at the abandoned house.
You get less xp rewards if you simply have Koluhm send the words of the Goblin spirit onto Crale. I get more when I have Stygar, being a Dwarf, directly translate the words of the Goblin spirits.
I then head back to the Palisades.
Iron Collar Mercenaries
I then bring news of the translation back to Crale for another xp reward. He has another job for me, to convince the Iron Collar mercenaries to take up their assigned posts at the Palisades.
So I head back to the Salty Dog Tavern. I can kill the members of the company but this gets me less xp overall. A mild Diplomacy or Intimidate check will convince them to willingly take up their posts.
I then return to the Palisades.
Attack on Targos
Now I give the good news to Shawford Crale. The xp bonus is enough for Stygar, Akutagawa, Alliria, and Lady Elanna to advance another level, which will be helpful for the upcoming battles.
Crale also rewards me with Sad Giant's Cap, a +3 buckler. Since this shield only involves a 5% chance of arcane spell failure, it will be just perfect for Tithian, and it becomes his shield for the rest of the game. An explosion is heard outside, signalling the start of an all-out attack on Targos.
The attack comes in three waves. The first wave is several Goblins, Vghotan's Hounds, and Goblin Archers led by a Goblin Hound Rider named Vghotan. Lady Elanna hangs back, and once enough foes have closed in around the party, she unleashes a Sleep spell to catch some of the Archers but as well as some of the up close foes. Monsters in Tactics4IWD2 sometimes display a habit of chasing after my arcane spellcaster so, annoying as it can be, I often have her run around until they stop giving chase. The party meantime goes all out for Vghotan, since he's the greatest threat. They have this luxury after having stocked up on equipment, allowing them to more or less ignore the peons. Once Vghotan falls, the party mops up on the rest.
Once this battle ends (at around 6:00), the Goblin Sorcerer Cabbalus shows up and blows out the northeast portion of the Palisades with a Fireball. He then teleports in another batch of Goblins led by Ghotrag. I make haste for the northeast. Once battle is joined, Lady Elanna again catches as many as she can with a Sleep spell. She has to run around for a bit to avoid being targeted, but once she gets away, she adds a second Sleep spell to take even more of the Goblins out of the battle. The party then kills off the two Goblin Elites that were still standing to rob Ghotrag of any support. They then gang up and kill the de facto by himself Ghotrag. After that, it becomes another mop up.
After this, Cabbalus will use another Fireball to blow out the northwest portion of the Palisades and teleport another Goblin force in. Cabbalus can be a tough foe. He can keep himself well defended by combining Mirror Image with Shield. The latter spell can prevent Magic Missiles from tearing down some of the Mirror Images. The Goblin force that he teleports is very numerous, which can make reaching him difficult, not to mention they'll all be taking their shots at me. This battle always has the danger that he can be free to go to work with offensive spells like Chromatic Orb, Melf's Acid Arrow, Burning Hands, Fireball, and Lightning Bolt. My strategy was to inch along, and with a little luck, encourage the Goblin force to come forward without bringing Cabbalus into view. I hang back and let them come to me. Lady Elanna again catches as many as she can with her Sleep spell. Lord Markus, Stygar, and Akutagawa kill off any come forward. Alliria and Tithian will use melee weapons for any that come close, but will switch over to missile weapons and fire away at the distant Goblin Archers once any close up danger for them is removed. Once all the foremost Goblins are gone, I still hang back and have Alliria, Tithian, and Elanna shoot missiles at the still awake archers, and then the rest of the sleeping Goblins. This strategy has effectively deprived Cabbalus of all of his support. My warriors now rush straight for him, while Alliria and Tithian open fire right away. Elanna partially tears down his first set of Mirror Images with a Magic Missiles spell. With a little luck and some persistence, I am able to take him down before he can do much damage. Alliria is in some danger of dying from the Melf's Acid Arrow that he managed to cast, so I have to take care to keep her hit points up to allow the acid to run its course.
Cabbalus' body can be looted for scrolls of Magic Missile, Gedlee's Electric Loop, Aganazzer's Scorcher, Snilloc's Snowstorm, a Traveler's Robe (+1 armor class vs. missile weapons, +1 to Fortitude saving throws), and the Whispering Staff (+1, +1 to Move Silently, 1% chance of Silence on target).
Aftermath of the Battle of Targos
Now I have Lady Elanna equip the Traveler's Robe, and then have Tithian equip Phaen's Rags. Having Elanna wear the rags and Tithian wear a Studded Leather Armor was expedient during the Goblin attacks on Targos, but soon I'll want to transition to Tithian adding Wizard levels, and I can do without the arcane spell failure involved with the Studded Leather.
I then stop just outside of the Commander's headquarters. I loot Vghotan's corpse for the Houndstooth Collar (Beast Claw 1/day, immunity to fear and panic). It allows its wearer to use Beast Claw once a day. That's not the point though. Stygar as a cleric often has to cast Remove Fear if any of his comrades become panicked. He can't do this though if he himself is struck with magical fear. He thus wears the Collar for its real benefit, immunity to fear and panic.
I then speak to Shawford Crale for another xp bonus. He advises me to speak to Lord Ulbrec, and rewards me with the Mail of Life (+3 chainmail, regenerates 1 hit point per turn). Stygar will find this a good interim armor.
I then rest up at the Weeping Widow, so that I can recover from the battle, but also so that Lady Elanna can Identify the Sad Giant's Cap and the Mail of Life.
Now I head over to Ulbrec's house, but I speak to Lady Elytharra first. She has a lot of magical scrolls for sale. The one I bought from her was the Scroll of Mage Armor, so that when Tithian begins acquiring Wizard levels, he can always cast this on himself for a source of armor bonus that doesn't impose a chance of arcane spell failure.
She also has quite a few other magical items for sale, including:
I won't get most of these, and indeed, I don't intend to buy the Chameleon Ring of Dexterity, since a better one will come along without my having to buy it.
The one I can afford to buy and do buy is the Black Raven Sash, with obvious benefits for a Monk in the form of a bonus to attack, and immunity to both Confusion and Feeblemind. This will be Akutagawa's belt for the rest of the game.
The video concludes with Lord Ulbrec congratulating me on aiding in the defence of Targos, and giving me my next assignment, to retake the Shaengarne Bridge from the Goblinoid forces.
Now it is time for me to begin Chapter 1 by journeying to the Shaengarne Ford.
