holoz0r plays Pillars of Eternity - Part XIV - Slow progression.

The cave. Its dark. It curves around to the left. Given all the scary stuff I just fought, I think this is going to be a long, tough and winding journey to a tiny reward. We'll see. The first thing in the cave are three undead chaps, who take a fair beating before falling on the ground. There's a skeleton on the ground, and that's it. He has a ring that gives Aloth a few more spell casts, which is nice; but hte cave is very anti-climatic. I really did expect more.

Dejected, I climb back up, and gain some experience from Sagani's quest; and her search for the village elder person. Some quest stuff happens, then I end up in another fight with Drakes.

I am consistently impressed with Aloth's ability to do damage to enemies. Provided he is at the rear, and doesn't die, his spells are absolutely devastating when used correctly. I head back to town, unload a whole bunch of crap, and get richer still, after having a bit of a rest.

I travel out to Dyrwood Crossing, where the Dragon Egg I sought previously is, allegedly.

Its a bright, pretty place, but deceiving at first, until I find a little stream that goes across the river, leading to some local wildlife (wolves, promptly slaughtered and skinned) and a random deer, who I also kill. There's a strange statue, and because I don't have the key, I improvise, forcing my way into some underground ruins. I do this with a combination of hammer and chisel and crowbar, and end up underground again.

This time, I'm in catacombs, and there's some cultist types wandering around. There's also a plethora of traps which I am absolutely hopeless at detecting. I think I might need to swap my fighter out for a rogue type - it would also be handy to have a dedicated lock picker and trap-diffuser on hand. I take some fairly significant damage, so opt to sleep, right there in the catacombs.

I doesn't afraid of anybody. Kana has something to say when the party wakes, but I ignore him. I'm here to kill stuff and get rich, not follow prophecy. I fight my way through cultist until I come to a bubbling, speaking pool of blood that eventually invites me to bleed dry one of my party members in exchange for some untold power. I might come back here with one of those hired muscle characters to see what happens when I do.

I leave the catacomby place, and move toward the North, where there is a group of ... soon to be corpses scheming over the dragon egg. I make time pass, killing them all brutally, and use Gherk's incredible athletic abilities to climb, and then carefully lower the egg, undamaged to safety. The egg will surely make a delicious omelette.

To be sure the job is done, I kill some lonely, baby dragons in what may have been a genocidal rage, before finding a cave strewn with spiders, blood, and tons of foreboding. The sort of foreboding that makes lesser adventurers enmoisten their breeches. Me? I carry on through with the cull, taking spider legs, stuff from inside their webs, and the name of the place 'Grisly Cave' not too seriously.

I discover an ogre, a pit of bones, blood and scraps, and I kill him, before killing the local spider queen. I bottle the blood of the Ogre, and wander back to town, whistling. I deliver the dragon egg, deman my reward, sell my new loot, and head off to the new place on the map, Cliaban Rilag. I'm sure there will be stuff to kill here, and loot also!

This is also the first time I see a reference to "The White March" on the world map, which gives me a little bit of a hint that soon, my character might be ready for some sort of higher level conquests - but I'm not yet even level 10. There's still plenty of game to go.

This new location, Cliaban Rilag, is a rather odd combination of corridors, caves, and ancient ruins; with a mixture of trolls, slime, ooze, and animats present as enemies. There doesn't seem to be much story to this area, until I come to one of those machines that does stuff with people's souls. I activate it, and apparently, my job here is done.

I waltz out the front door, (I sneak in through the back entrance) and back stab the guards that are chilling out the front. I head back to Dyrford, to plan my next steps, their blood still wet on my weapons.