So! Not only have I rescued my first Crystal Soul, but I finally managed to get the Avernum portals to work! It will be much easier to travel now (although some things still require leg and/or boat work).
I teleported down to Vahnatai lands again and immediately got a mission to save a Crystal Soul (these are revered Vahnatai souls who, after death, live on in crystals and dispense knowledge to their tribe, for hundreds of years).
First, I went back to the Vahnatai bandit lair and conquered it, rather easily this time. I haven't yet tackled the demons in the lava dome to the north of the place, but I know they're there and will return.
After that I had to travel far west, through dangerous spore caves full of lava and various demon-like creatures, all of which will try to kill you if you get too close. There is a way through it all, however. Then we trek a long way until we find a fort. There, after a brief battle, we meet the commander, who says that his little force will accompany us as we go to the Empire ziggurat to rescue the Crystal Soul.
Yeah, that was a fight. I was worried that I used up all my battle crystals, but it turned out I didn't need them. We meet the Wizard Garzhad, who is a major enemy, but we can't kill him yet. We can, however, find the Soul. The major difficulty was getting by a buncha wizards and mages in a central room, which is surrounded by poisonous, very active trees. Helluva battle and I'm quite sure I would not have been able to win it.
However! I noticed a stairway in one corner. One of my characters was fairly close, because I'd gone in the back way (turned out to be a good choice). I rushed my character up the stairs, and voila! There I was on the top level, thereby avoiding the big battle almost completely. Of course, I also missed out on some good loot, no doubt, but maybe I can go back when I'm stronger. We'll see.
Hmmm. I just realized that I might have been able to use my mages's blink spell to get to the staircase. With that, your mage can jump pretty far away to another point in the area. In other games you need a clear path to the point you want, so it might not have worked because there were enemies in between, but I need to remember that idea when I want to escape something major. Could work!
I was in front of the entrance to Garzhad's chambers. Natch, I though I was going to have to battle him, and I didn't think I was strong enough for it. However, the battle turned out to be just between a couple of mages and an Empire warrior, with all their summoned minions.
Ha. I've got some minions to summon myself. I have finally managed to capture some useful souls for my simularicum spell, and I unleashed a Vahnati mage on 'em. Then I just kept hitting 'em with divine fire and lightening, and managed to get 'em all. After that, finding the Soul was pretty easy. Then, escaping from the ziggurat is mostly automatic. The directions tell you where to go, and you only need to get one character there.
Success! So, back in Avernum, I finally figured out the portal system. The first time you use it you have to fight some demons, but these are garden variety who go down pretty easily. Actually I think I was supposed to discover this earlier in the game. Once we get to Pryn's tower there a some more demons, but these aren't too difficult either.
So! I can travel now! Spiffy!
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