Picked up a Knight. Managed to get off Dagger Wound Island.
I get GM Body for Maylander and take on the rest of Murmurwood. Using Fire Aura'd bows and Prot. Magic (the Wisps appear to have an instant death ability), the rest of the Basilisks and Wisps finally fall and I find the pilgrim statues and Cauri Blackthorne (Patriarch). After promoting my Dark Elf and spending 8000 gold on GM Merchant, I discover that Cauri is Level 50 with already tweaked out skills. The party is about Level 25.
I cleaned out all the Skeletons, Vampires, and Skeletal Dragons from the Shadowspire area. The Elder Vampires and bigger Dragons have nasty abilities, so I use magic on them (Acid Burst, Blades, Light Bolt) and just bows on the rest. The Temple is only a few seconds away if I need to recharge. I prefer to Fly all the time. I do not seem to be able to use Meteor Shower effectively; I really wish I could choose the target of the spell.
After a landslide success in Shadowspire, I go after the Gorgons of Ravage Roaming, and they prove to be much more resiliant than anything I've fought up to now. But Prot. Magic comes though again. I alternate between flying salvos of arrows and meele with the Iron Gorgons, who just don't fall fast enough with bows.
I actually get the Animate Dead spell to work for the first time. Although not really needed, an animated Brass Gorgon distracts the others while I get free shots in with the bows.
It takes a while, but finally all the Gorgons are dead. I am rewarded with Judicious Measure, a cool Cutlass.
I return to Ironsand Desert and report my discovery of the Ancient Troll home. This month's bounty is on a Cyclops, so I fly east and take them on. They were quite disappointing- much less resiliant than the Gorgons. I kill them, find the Swift War hammer, and proceed to map the rest of the area, taking out all the Gogs as well.
I decided to go after the Lost Book of Khel to promote my Necros. The Boulders at the top level give me a pounding, but Dark Grasp keeps them from casting that nasty Rock Blast spell. The book is mine, as well as the Lightning Crossbow.
Now to get the Lich Jars. I clean out the Mad Necromancer's Lab, taking care not to trigger the wall traps in the maze. Five Lich jars are found, as well as the spear Ebonest and the Puzzle Box. I also found a set of Dragonning Plate.
I talk to Blazen Brightspear and recover his cure from Dervish Chevron in Ravenshore. After curing him, he offers to join my party. I swap him (50 Champion) for my own Knight and promote the Necros to Lichs. Cool portraits.
I try returning to Leane Stormlance in Garrote Gorge, but she insists that I haven't found her father yet, even though he's in my party! This must be a bug. I dismiss Blazen, drop Ebonest and pick it back up, and then Leane will recognize that the quest is complete. Now Sir Quixote will promote Knight to Champions.
I'm really feeling the burn for GM Water, so I decide to take on the Plane of Water. I manage to survive the little ambush on the other side of the portal by killing one of the Greater Elementals and then hopping back through the portal to recharge at a Temple. After the initial fight, I work my way through the Dragon Turtles with ease and pick off the Elementals one by one. (You can avoid their Ice blasts with the Fly spell.) I eventually find Black Current and get GM Water. The area's only half mapped, but I'm sick of Water Elementals for the moment.
I clean out the Cyclops Larder, but don't find anything interesting, which makes me suspicious.
I clean out Korbu's Crypt and lug his Sarcophagus around. But where are his remains?
The party trains: Lich 38, Priest 36, Patriarch 56, Lich 37, Champion 54
I return to Ravage Roaming with the intent of cleaning out the Barbarian Fortress. The Gorgons had respawned, so I checked their chests, and got another Judicious Measure.
The Ogres in the Fort aren't much of a challenge, so I kill them all (including the infamous Zog) and find a Dragon Leader's Egg.
I went back to the Ancient Troll Home and cleaned it out. Not wanting to leave a job half done, I finish mapping Murmurwoods and take out all the Unicorns on the way.
Now for Garrote Gorge. First stop, the Naga Vault. I found Fleetfingers (Gauntlets, +8 Armsmaster) which happily combine their bonus with my Helm of Armsmaster +11, and the Drum of Victory.
I entered the Dragon Cave (I was expecting a fight) and gave them Dragonsbane flower. I talk to the dragon leader and give him the Egg, completing another third of the Alliance quest. I found a Dragon willing to join my party, but he's only Level 5. I don't want to take the time to retrain another party member, so I decide (reluctantly) to leave my party as-is. I finish mapping the rest of Garrote Gorge.
Next, I went to the Necromancer's Guild and took their Alliance Quest. I have to (apparently) take a lame level 15 Cleric with me to retrieve the Nightshade Brazier from the Sun Temple, so I have Maylander cast all his protection spells and then swap him for Dyson Leland. After running around the temple for about 15 minutes, I give up and go do some other quests.
The Dragonhunters now hate me, so I smack them all down in the Camp. I found Snake (Longsword, Slows target) in their treaure cache. Even though I helped the Dragons, Quizote will still pormote Knights to Champions. While I'm here, I delivered the Drum of Victory.
What's left? The Vampire Crypt,, which contains the Vial of Grave Dirt, the Druid Circle which contains the (unmentioned up till now) Druid of Circlet of Power, and the Dark Dwarf Compound, which has Balthazar's Axe hidden within its dark recesses.
The party trains again: Lich 42, Partiarch 58, Lich 41, Champion 56, Priest 40
There's 9 hours of gaming for you.
I raided the Pirate Outpost in DWI and found Terminus (Broadsword, +7 Armsmaster) which combines its bonus with my other two Armsmaster items. I beat up the rest of the Pirates there and take the sub to Regna, ending Part 2.
Finally I'm in Regna. I explore, finding the Light and Dark teachers, and buying their services. I play my final Arcomage game at the tavern and with with a resource victory (500 gems). Also in the inn is the Dread Pirate Stanley, who takes the false reports from Arion Hunter.
I found the last Obelisk and try to puzzle out the meaning of the message. When's midusmmer's day? The equinox?
Woohoo! Had a lot of fun Meteor Showering and Death Blossoming the clusters of Pirates around the area. But eventually, I return to Ravenshore to claim my Arcomage Prize: Glomenthal (Longsword +14, 10-40 Points of Dark Magic, +40 Might). A useful item.
Training: Lich 47, Partiarch 62, Lich 46, Champion 60,
Now I want GM Earth, so I go to the Plane of Earth. By far, these are the toughest things I've fought yet. Two or three of those Rock Blast spells (cast by the rid-range Earth Elementals) renders my Lichs nearly unconscious. Several times I am forced to run and hide while my hit points regenerate. By making an effort to take out the Rock Blasters first, and using plenty of Shrapmetals, I finally manage to manage to beat my way though all of them, claiming the Heartstone and finding Grivic's house to learn GM Earth.
Time for some Pirates to die! I check out the Abandoned Pirate Keep, but can't get past the inner doors. While flying around looking for the "underground tunnel" one of the natives mentioned, I stop off at Old Loeb's Cave to try beating up some Dragons.
I should have done this long ago. The Earth Elementals put up more of a fight! The only problem is that the dragons keep flying over my head where I can't target them with Shrapmetal. But eventually they all fall. Looting the bodies takes about 45 minutes, but I walk away with 8 unique items, including the Crown of Final Dominion (+100 Intelligence, of Dark Magic, Lich), a Ring of Water Magic, and a Ring of Spirit Magic.
I wade through the Pirate Stronhold, follow the Tunnel Under Regna back to the Abandoned Pirate Keep, and clean it out. There I find the Cannonball of Dominion, which is used to power the big gun that sinks the Regnan fleet.
After that, I travel back to Ravenshore to speak to Xanthor the mage, as well as the King and Queen.
I went to the Wasp Nest and used Jump to reach the higher areas. I got plenty of Royal Jelly.
The rest of my time was spent checking up on NPCs.
DO NOT STORE ANYTHING IN THE MERCHANT'S GUILD CHESTS. They reset when Ravenshore respawned. I lost all the good reagents that I had collected up until now. This calamity, combined with the obtuse Obelisk message, is making me grumpy.
Back to the Planes to get the other two Hearts. The Fire plane proves to be quite challenging, but after about an hour of hacking and slashing I obtain the Heart of Fire. The Air plane is a complete pushover.
Now I can get into the Crystal. The Dragons in there are insane! I cleared out the first room with difficulty, using most of my spell points on Shrapmetals, and had to retreat to recharge at a Temple. I then realized that I had forgotten to cast Hour of Power (oops). I take on the next room full of Dragons and have better luck now that Hour of Power is in effect. It still takes quite a few rounds to beat one of those Ruby Dragons down (they've got about 2000 HP). I tested the effectiveness of Shrapmetal; Vivian got one off that did 495 points of damage. Coolness.
I tried to get a Unique Item from a Ruby Dragon for about 15 minutes, but no luck. I did get a Ring of Dark Magic for my second Lich, a ring of Alchemy +22, and a Harpoon of Darkness for my Knight.
I beat up a few more Dragons and then decided to call it a night.
I returned to the Crystal and pounded the rest of the Crystal Dragons there. I solved the little follow-the-leader puzzle and took the portal to the Plane Between Planes. The Guardians and Ether Lords there give the party no trouble at all, but those Nightmare things appear to be resistant to physical damage, so I Shrapmetal them.
I fight my way to Escaton's Palace and spend some time running around pulling switches. After a few game hours, I manage to find Escaton in the heart of his maze, and mamage to answer his riddles after a few puzzled minutes. With the prison keys in hand, I head back to the PbP.
I start with the Fire Prison first (with the Water Lord in it), since that is likely to be the most difficult. More Nightmares and a lava floor - really fun stuff here. At this point, I'm not even bothering to take most of the treasure that I find. The traps on the chests don't even hut me. I find Acwalander and free him; the other three prisons aren't much of a challenge. The end game movie plays once I exit the Crystal into Ravenshore.
My finishing party is: Necro (47), Necro (46), Priest (45), Champion (60), Wyrm (50). I haven't bothered leveling up since 3/12/2000. Time: 2 years, 2 months, 9 days, final score: 4494. I currently have over 2M in gold.
My thoughts on dragons: Duroth is not a good Dragon to get. His skill points are distributed very badly (9 skill in Regeneration? Why?) and a player-crafted dragon would be much more effective. I like Duroth's missile attack. In melee, however, Blazen attacks about twice as often and usually does about 175-200 points of damage, comapred to Duroth's "guaranteed" 75. Plus, Blazen can use a vampiric weapon to gain health back, or a Slaying Weapon. I can see how a dargon is very useful in early game, but the Champion still reigns supreme in raw melee damage.
The makeup of my party is influenced by my play style. I like a party that can go for hours without returning to town for any reason (as I did with the Gorgons and Basilisks, see above). This isn't the only way do do things, of course, but it's my personal preference.
After playing M&MVII, on the Light side, I knew what kind of party I wanted: Knight, Dark Elf, Priest, Necro, and Dragon. (I just gotta get a dragon!) I anticipate that the ability to have both Light and Dark spells will make for a very powerful party. This party can GM most adventuring skills, with the exception of Identify Monster, and only the Dragon can GM Identify Item. Also, everyone is using different weapons and armor, which allows to to actually have a use for most of the items you find.
Regeneration occurs every 5 game minutes. That's about 10 seconds realtime.
The amount a PC will regenerate every 5 minutes is: