[el_kalkylus]

I just finished the game! I followed my rules for the challenge except one, (setting a portal beside the Trynton fountain). Here is the party:

* Dracon ninja (lvl 17)/fighter - (str, dex then spd and sns) - close combat, polearm, throwing, stealth and locks & traps
* Elf bishop - (int, pie) - divinity, alchemy and psionic
* Elf mage (lvl 7)/bishop - (int, sns then spd, pie) - wizardry, mythology and then divinity

The reason why I had my ninja develop polearm skill, was because it is an extended weapon. This helps to protect the bishops against melee fighters with extended reach.

--------------------SPOILERS ABOUT THE GAME: ---------------------------------

Monastery: (level 1-7)
No problem, except against Gregor. With the ninjas autopenetration ability, the noxious slimes died quickly and couldn't harm anyone. Then of course everyone leveled up fast (because they were only 3 characters) and could cast spells more effectively. The ninjas dracon breath made it somewhat easier too sometimes.

Arnika road: (level 7)
By this time, the mage had fireball, noxious fumes, missile shield and web, while the bishop had guardian angel and web + some non-combat spells. When I didn't see far ahead of me, I pressed combat mode and moved to see if anything was ahead. If the coast was clear, I continued. That way, I could always get to gaps and fight monsters one at a time, so it was not much trouble on the road with the spells I had.

Arnika: (level 7-9)
I needed money! So I went around almost all of Arnika looking for things to sell. This meant that I had to face alot of monsters, and sleep alot, which meant I had to face even more monsters that respawned. Finally though, I had the money I needed for some spell-books and powders, and got out of Arnika.

Arnika-Trynton road: (level 9)
I just ran through it, because I had x-ray. When I found gaps and monsters ahead, I lured them over to the gap, or rested in the gaps and woke up with hordes of monsters waiting for me. Then I killed them and moved on. The usual tactic was to cast guardian angel on the ninja, and have both bishops cast spells like fireball, noxious fumes, whipping rocks etc.

Trynton tree: (level 9-11)
There are two very hard monsters in Trynton that is better to run past than to go through, leaf sprites and crawling creepers. The crawling creepers are not as hard as the leaf sprites, but they can be very dangerous to my bishops. I tried to avoid these creatures as best as I could, and ran directly to the fourth bough.
In fourth bough, I had to kill oak saplings to get spiked spear. I felt ready at level 10 when I had element shield and superman (safe at power 3), and managed to kill them. With this glourious win, I felt confident and went to kill Don at ratkin tree. He was of course not easy to kill, I must have spent at least 80 rounds to try to kill him, but I finally made it. The stealth skill, extended reach, guardian angel and superman was the key to this win.

The swamp: (level 11)
I had to be real cautious here. Just like Trynton tree, previous IM parties have died in the swamp. So my tactic was to not get too far into the swamp, but lure monsters to the beginning of the swamp. If things would get too tough, my team could easily retreat by walking backwards a bit, to the Trynton map.
When I thought I had killed enough groups, I went farther into the swamp and ran to Crock as fast as possible. I stopped by to kill that ironskin crocodile too, just for fun.

Marten's bluff: (level 11-12?)
There is a great portal here, so my bishop set a portal (even though he didn't have return to portal yet). I bought 3 more spell books, found some items, killed a rapax assassin, and took the idol needed for Trynton. Sauron (mage/bishop) disappeared, so I had to go to Crock again.

The Swamp:
I agreed to do Crock's little quest, and went out looking for the frog. I didn't have x-ray without the mage (after a while), so I tried to stay close to the river. I fought some easy millipedes, killed the frog, then went back. I was very cautious all the time, and pressed close combat alot to look ahead. After alot of effort and running back and forth, I finally made it back to Crock to collect my reward. Sauron cast "return to portal" .

Trynton tree:
Placed the idol, killed the bat.

Umpani base camp, northern wilderness:
Bought some more spell-books, did some "umpani training", fought the Hogar-guardian and got my "return to portal"! That means I had two portals, one in Trynton and one in Marten's bluff which I could use as much as I wanted.

Marten's bluff: (level 14)
Z'ant was so nice to give me all that experience points for so little effort, that I did all his quests. Finally he asked me to kill the umpanis!

Umpani mine tunnels: (level 14-15)
I ran as fast as I could to the spaceport. There was an Umpani commander guarding the panel. I looked around, nobody except him was there, so I killed the commander. He was tough! When he was dead, I still only saw green dots, so I crashed the ship and portalled myself out of there (gained 100.000 exp for the crash). Z'ant was very pleased, so he gave me alot of money and 600.000 exp!

Mountain wilderness: (level 15):
Bought the dreadspear from Bela, then went to the waterfall to get some expensive items to sell. The party started to get really powerful, so I headed to rapax rift.

Rapax rift: (level 15-16)
My intention was to go to the rift while the rapax were still weak. I mean, in previous games I never had to face warlords or warmages before level 18, but this time it was different. I had to face them too, and the fights lasted for a long time. Finally, I arrived to (and killed) El-dorado, which kept killing my bishops over and over until I ran out of resurrection powders. Then I killed Al-sedexus.

Rapax castle: (level 16-18)
Inside the castle, I had to fight at least 30 casters (samurais, warmages and warlords), and about 30 fighters (archers, bowmen, berserkers and veterans) until I reached the upper floor and could become a templar. I managed to kill them all thanks to the defensive spells of my bishops, and the offensive spells of my mage (and of course my ninja with extended reach).
After becoming a templar, I had no difficulty getting all the expensive items in the castle, so my ninja could change to a fighter and wear a very expensive armour. I deactivated the bomb and killed Al-sedexus again.

After this, the game was very easy. Bayjin, underwater area, sea caves and mountain wilderness-dungeon felt like a little picnic. It was quite nice to feel the power though.

Ascensions peak: (level 20-26)
I had a little problem when I was surrounded by 30 rapax templar, but after I managed to freeze half of them and , resurrect, cure paralyzis, unconsciousness, health, stamina etc, I got control of the situation and managed to win.
Other than that, there were 5 tree monsters that kept casting earth quake at power 7. They were also tough. I got 1.5 million experience points from this fight, which is the most I got for one fight in the game.

This was a fun game, and it was very challenging the first levels. After rapax castle it became almost silly though.

[ 10-12-2002, 09:41 PM: Message edited by: el_kalkylus ]