I have visited the Apolocapyse upon the Sliths. Lot's of 'em, anyway.
At last I used up my spell energy with no further sources for replenishing it, so I went back to town and lost my arcane cloak. Mycroft was completely out of energy, and he's my major offensive player with his icy rain spell that just devastates the Sliths. Cordelia had a bitsy bit left, but not enough for a good fight. Anyway, Mycroft got killed just before I finally slaughtered the priestess in that damned Slith temple. I did not take the broken piece of sword (that's part of Demonslayer) because it triggers yet another big fight to get out of the temple, and I didn't have Mycroft or enough spell energy for Cordelia to do that.
But wowser! I got a huge amount of stuff done with that arcane cloak! I cleaned out three (count 'em, three) whole Slith forts, plus half of one with a demon. Got the demon too. I have also learned the dispel barrier spell (two levels!), so I can go back to several places and clean out the loot. That spell normally takes you about half the game to get. Avernum 1, and obviously this remake, was more forgiving than the rest of the games.
I only got a couple more of those slith encampments. Those are tough, tough fights, useful for getting stronger, but they don't yield much loot. Anyway, they take up too much spell energy to be worth it when you're using the spell energy as efficiently as possible.
I was able to keep going for so long because I found further energy potions and basins with energy in the Slith forts and temples. I was amazed at how long I was able to go with that arcane cloak. What a fun diversion, and it's still quite early in the game!
I also found all six of the crystals for that cave outside of Cotra, and thereby hangs a tale. We get the sixth crystal from a hungry, elderly drake. However, he needs lots of food, and I didn't have enough the first time. That meant I had to go back to the Nephil fort and their underground fort, which I've already cleaned out, searching for food. But when I was there the first time I had found a buncha books I couldn't read. Coming back with better arcane skills I collected about three advances for the early spells. Also found more loot. So that was well worth it!
And yet, with all the loot I found, I'm already almost broke again. Bought some spells and two levels of dispel barrier (that cost 3,000 coins in itself). I guess the last level will have to be found through my adventuring.
Again, I appreciate the junk bag, introduced in Avadon. This is a truly excellent upgrade. It used to be tough to handle all the stuff we wanted to sell--you had to save before you sold stuff in case you made a mistake and sold something vital. With the junk bag, you just put it all into the bag when you find the loot, then sell it all with one click. Fantastic!
Now that I've got some spell upgrades, and Mycroft is alive again and my spell energy is back up, I just might go back and get that piece of Demonslayer.
But what a great little sojourn with the arcane cloak spell. I made it work for a long, long time.
Update: So I did go back, and got the Demonslayer piece. However, I'm not done with the place yet. There's a barrier that needs a stronger spell to dispel. Must be some really nice loot behind it. It was not only one big fight, which was pretty easy this time even without my arcane cloak, but they stop you with warriors (one of them named, so he's much tougher but he drops some nice loot). I couldn't have made it out of there if I'd tried earlier. So that was worth it!
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