Pool of Radiance AAR: A GrogHeads™ Experience

[Sir Slash]

The "Boss"? I don't remember Bruce Springsteen being in this game. But there's a lot I don't remember from the 90's. If you go up against him with the Staff of Tom Jones, you better hope you were "Born To Run".   Anyway, great AAR. I'd forgotten playing this game half the time with a couple of party members knocked-out, a couple of more low on HP's, no spells left and trying to find a safe place to rest. Kind of, "Running On Empty". Reminds me of my "Glory Days" when it was a great time to be "Born In The USA" and live in "My Home Town". I won't do "Tunnel Of Love" because I never liked that one. Old Tyranthaxus is going to have his claws full with the Heroes of Grog on his trail. 8)

[KyzBP]

KYZBP
Human
Level 3 Cleric
XP: 4,504 (need 6,001 for 4th Level)
Current Equipment: Ring Mail, Shield, Flail +1 (also, Wooden Holy Symbol of Tyr, and three Clerical Scrolls with two Cure Light Wounds, one Animate Dead, one Silence 15' Radius, and one Detect Magic).
Spells: Cure Light Wounds x 4, Hold Person x3

You forgot his "Wand of NCAA Tournament Winning"

;D
I think that wand needs to be recharged.  I'm in the market for a Wand of Fantasy Football Awesomeness though.

[JasonPratt]

Bad news on Fireball and Lightning Bolt.  Third Level spells aren't gained until you become 5th Level.

Curse you again, AD&D 2.0!! {shaking fist}

Man, this game makes you save the world with spit and bailing wire.

[BanzaiCat]

Entry #11
Moving to Bigger Things...?



We returned to Phlan and made a beeline for the City Hall, to receive our reward.







Not too bad, but one would think for removing the lynchpin in the dyke that's held Phlan hostage for a long time now, we might get more than 1,250 gold. That's barely enough to level one character up, I think. I bet the jewelry is worth top coin, but that's not my priority at the moment.



"Is this gonna be another stand-up fight, sir, or another bug hunt?"



"It's a bug hunt."



Sounds to us like the bugs have eaten the "faithful servant" by now. Either that, or they found the treasure and though it was most triumphant and headed for the hills, never to be heard from again.

Regardless, it seems that this particular mission could yield some significant rewards, or possibly be a total waste of time, since a noble/councilman is involved. As a Chaotic Good individual, I generally don't trust those of highborn status.

On the way out, we stopped by the Council Clerk again. She offered us a few missions, including:

- A reward for books, tomes, maps, which provide useful information about Phlan before the fall. The reward is tied to the value of the information.
- A weapon of great power is to be auctioned to our enemies. This auction is to be held in Podol Plaza. Find out what the weapon is, and return.
- The Bishop of Tyr (one Bishop Braccio) summons us to Tyr's Temple.
- Searching for the Councilman's little treasure, in addition to the above.

We wandered over to the Temple of Tyr to see what was up over there. After a few false starts, with priests asking us if we needed healing, us replying "no," and them telling us to please leave, we found a door tucked away in the middle of the rather imposing Temple itself. Walking in, we were greeted quickly.



Ookay...hello, Priest...



HOLY CRAP IT'S MIRTH (if MIRTH were a priest...shudder)



Whoa, whoa, whoa...slow down, hombre. I tell him 'NO' for now and we walk outside, where I encamp and save the game. I'm not big on temple runs, especially if it has anything to do with demons or devils or Real Housewives or anything truly evil like that.

So, I'll leave this one up to you guys that are reading: where should the party go to next?

A. Clear Kuto's Well (which is immediately to the west of the Slums...err...ex-Slums now, I suppose. There's no mission per se to clear it but there would be a reward for doing so. It's not tied to the main storyline but it would mean clearing one more area and doing so OCD style.

B. Skip past Kuto's Well and go to Podol Plaza, immediately to it's west, and try to find information on that weapon that Phlan's enemies apparently want.

C. Tell the Bishop that we'll go ahead and babysit his prize cleric in a quest to reclaim a desecrated Temple of Tyr.

D. Search out maps, tomes, books, etc. - while *I* know exactly what this is, my characters do not, so I need to play dumb (lol, like that's hard) and try to complete that mission.

Let me know what you want to see next, and we'll head off after it. I'll give you guys a day or two to discuss, and if nobody does, I'll just choose a direction to go in.

[Barthheart]

I sez we go with the cleric, stuff him in a closet ( with Mirth) and make off with the treasure. (C)

[Sir Slash]

I want that weapon in the plaza but going with the cleric is probably the safe bet because he'll accompany you I'm thinking thus getting another party member. And a cleric to boot. Maybe you can get him on board and grab the plaza-weapon while he helps-out. A Two-Fer. O0

[MetalDog]

Is there any other reason to clear the next area of slums, outside the reward and satisfying unnatural urges?  Does it help out later in the game?  If not, go find out the weapon the baddies want or search for knowledge.  It's great to be heroic and save the damsel/vanquish the evil one/save the day, but, it helps if you're sufficiently powered.  And that means grinding.

[Bison]

Only a party wanting to deprive themselves of sweet, sweet loot would bypass the well. 


I also think you'll need the XP.

[KyzBP]

I sez we go with the cleric, stuff him in a closet ( with Mirth) and make off with the treasure. (C)

I see no flaw in this plan.  :)

[BanzaiCat]

Looks like the majority want to go after the weapon but only after taking on the Cleric, and making a 'slight detour' while he's on board. I was thinking the same thing, though I was going to go after Kuto's Well. The Podol Plaza mission is pretty straightforward IIRC, so we'll go ahead and do that. I'll get it moving by tonight. Thanks for the input.

[JasonPratt]

Late to the vote, but I would have said go for the Well. Not sure if I'd bring Dirty the Priest along, simply because he might soak up some of the XP. (I forget how the experience divides out in this game.) You have a hard enough time leveling up in this game, it's important to grind while the grinding is good.

If the Well turns out to be too problematic, you can always go back and try to bring Dirty along to grind with you. {ba-dump-tish} However, taking him into the party may lock you immediately into his quest, too.

[mirth]

I sez we go with the cleric, stuff him in a closet ( with Mirth) and make off with the treasure. (C)

I see no flaw in this plan.  :)

Thanks guys :P

[Sir Slash]

Not me Mirth. Anybody that can go from 1 to -1 that quick is the guy I want in my party. But why does the Bishop look like Pop-Eye the Sailor Man?

[BanzaiCat]

Entry #12
Kobolds and More Kobolds...

Thanks to reader input, we are going to head off to Podol Plaza. But not before we pick up Dirka-Dirken, or whatever his name is.



Oh, okay. Dirten. Joe Dirten. I'll just call him Joe.



Hmm...he's rather average. And why is a Cleric having a Mage's body? Weird.

Also, too lame to be a decent character. He's also 67 damn years old...what the hell? WHY are you going on adventures? Are there no other Clerics in the Temple of Tyr to take this on? Are they all too busy eying the elementary school across the street? No wonder he's an NPC. Likely the other Tyr priests wanted him to go off and die, giving him a mediocre mission like this but wrapping him with six studly characters that can break a Lizardman's back by just looking at them cross-eyed (hey, it could happen! The studly part, that is...).



His spells are decent at least. 'Find Traps' is kind of useless in this game, but whatever. I won't disparage him this list and possibly hurt his little feelings. He might start posing and slapping his forearms and saying, "Does that spell look queer? Does that one? Huh?"

We head back out to find out what's being sold in Podol Plaza. Joe doesn't argue. He's just an NPC. If he wants to ever be remembered for anything, he needs to zip it up and cast Cure Light Wounds when we demand it. That's his lot in life.



WHY are these doors in the Slums ALWAYS friggin' locked? Who's going back through and replacing the doors after I bash them? I mean, come on.

We enter Kuto's Well, since it is just west of the Slums and between there and Podol Plaza. And of course we're just about immediately jumped by dog-dudes again.



An epic battle this was not. Even BBMIKE just kind of yawned and turned his back to the slaughter-fray.



And as soon as THAT bit of butchery was over, more doggies came up out of the well to meet their maker(s). Who are we to deny them this pleasure?



That wasn't even worthy of a screenshot. The Kobolds all went down like...well, dogs.

Okay, that kinda pissed me off. We trudged over towards the Well.



We're going to have to climb down there and remove this menace, even though it wasn't in the game plan. I can't have someone thinking they can take us down with Kobolds! I mean, what will they say back at the Fighter Club? Until next entry...

[Bison]

The trolls are the bane of my existence right now.  I had them down to 2 trolls with around 10 hp each.  Killed 1 and the other down to 3 hp, yay me!  Then a troll stands up where the other died.  Then all freaking hell broke lose.  My party was wiped by a series of 3 and 4 hits and the other trolls standing back up.  Damn you trolls!