Avadon the Warborn 11: Can this be Defeat?

I hate to say it, but I may have just been defeated in this game.

I've been playing Spiderweb games almost since Jeff Vogel started making them. I played the original Avernum and Nethergate. I think I started when the original Avernum 2 was released, and that's a long time playing Spiderweb games.

I might not be able to finish this one.

I've done quite a lot of nice stuff. I've found a nice new possible lair for the dragon Zethron and have cleaned out the pests on Svar's peninsula. I've made a pact with the Titans and defeated the Ogres and Wretches in Goldcrag.

I defeated the enemies in the dragon's library. Now if I can ever get back to the Black Fortress, I'll have a buncha nice quests to turn in.

However.

Now I'm in the Warborn Arena and I think I might be finished.

You go into the area that you must enter, and the gate closes behind you. You cannot open it. You must get through all the fights ahead.

The first few are perfectly straightforward. I came with two tinkermages (I am playing a tinkermage) and my Blademaster. Once you get through the first routine fights you face a whole village of ogres. OK, that's fine, but this one has three, count 'em, three (3) seers who keep healing the ogres no matter what we do to them.

After consulting the Spiderweb forum, I took Randomizer's advice and went back to an earlier save and got my shadow walker instead of my tinkermage ally. My shaman is out wandering somewhere and is not available. My sorcerer is available, but she's so weak she won't survive the first two attacks.

Well, by using battle elixers and a buncha wands I managed to defeat the ogre village. OK.

The titans were next, but Zethron the friendly dragon drops in to help, so that fight was fairly easy.

I had made an alliance with the Titans, so I was able to get through that area. Without that alliance that area would have been actually impossible.

But now I'm facing wretches. Well, wretches are easy, right? Not these ones. They're led by a wretch who has stolen a bunch of grenades and he uses them. He appears to have an unlimited supply. He calls bats in to fight you as well, and with the bats and the grenades, I can't even get through the first fight. I know there are three fights.

Tomorrow I will use my potions better and that ought to help.

But I can easily see that I might not be able to get through this.

If I can't, it will be the first Spiderweb game that had defeated me.

So we'll see what happens tomorrow. I don't think I can do it.

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