Description

Storyteller

The taleswapper has no startup hints

Story: 

Story 19                           Siblings                    Told By Taniwha

~~~ As a youth, when I wandered these Realms in search of the stories that ~~~
~ tempt and tease the imagination, I once found myself on the Isle of Belaern ~
~~ in a strange tavern. This place, deep in the wasteland known as the Blood ~
~~ Sands, had a peculiar clientele that seemed mostly made up of... well... ~~
~~ Those that were no longer quite of this world, or quite of the next. As I ~
~ sat there, certain a story would find me, one did. A ghoul sat down next to ~
~ me, and with a sad look on his twisted face, began to tell me the story of ~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ his strange life." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~ "I've forgotten just how old I am," he said, "but I remember clear as the ~
~ waters of the Sword Sea the first day I found myself in this form. I was a ~
~ soldier in the army of the rightful king. We were fleeing his evil brother, ~
~~~ when something terrible happened. I will never be sure exactly how this ~~
~ happened, but I remember my lord telling us that if his brother caught him, ~
~~~ and if something in his possession ever went into his brother's hands, ~~~
~~ Belaern would never be the same and he and his brother both would likely ~~
~ die. I can tell you this. Belaern is not the same. But the brothers are not ~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ dead." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~ He wandered away after that, and ordered another Bloody Mary, leaving ~~~
~~~~~~~~~ me with more questions than I knew how to frame. Belaern is ~~~~~~~~
~~~~~ certainly an isle with a strange past, and it seems that those who ~~~~~
~~~~~ seek the truth often never return. Venture deeper into the mystery ~~~~~
~~~ at great peril... But it is true that those who survive great adversity ~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ often receive great reward. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
______________________________________________________________________________
Mission Control                                                Mission Control

Walkthrough

You can do either this quest or Quest 286 - Militant of the Citadel, they are basically the same, except that in Quest 285 - Militant of the Keep you must enter Keep twize, while in Quest 286 - Militant of the Citadel you must enter Citadel twize.

Both quests are solved as follows:

1. Visit one brother (in Keep or Citadel), using the "roundabout" way (descriptions to follow)
   1. The brother will give a message about "failure"
2. Go kill the other brother (opposite Keep/Citadel), again using the roundabout way
3. Go back to first brother, and quest is solved

Finding Frodo in Keep:

Bottom Level

This level is a Spiral that spirals inward. You start at the southeastern corner.

As you move inwards you will encounter 4 portals that has mini puzzles of increasing difficulty (and penalty)

The Portals are all controlled by a 3 bit binary lock (aka 8 combinations). The locks are manipulated by syntaxes such as: 'push one', 'poke three', 'polish two'.

The portals have penalties for trying to pass them when they are wrong:

Trick is to use Eye of Humbaaba to spy through the portal, recognizing the correct room behind the portal.

Portal 1

Blocks progress, but can be party moved through when correct.

Portal 2 and 3

Teleports party backpards. Random location pr member. 

Seems that when combination is correct, then it is correct for all of the party.

I believe party move is possible on 2, not sure if possible on 3.

Seems that 3 has a random chance of sending you the wrong place, even if you have the right combo.

Portal 4

Teleports party backwards

Combination that is correct for one char is not correct for second char! Even if spying the portal yields the correct exit.

After one char successfully passes, the next must first polish one of the claws, then exit and come back, then repeat the procedure to get the correct combination.

After the 4th portal, you can go south to kill an Ice Wyrm, then head up.

This area is setup like a "mini globe", in that if you move in one direction, you will keep circling the same 5 rooms in that direction. A representation is shown below. 

The only two rooms of real importance here are:

• 2s from where you enter (the room with 'hole' exit). This is where Frodo is
• 1n from where you enter (the room with 'hole' exit). This is the "shortcut" room. Contains a "gate" exit to leave the Keep.

Finding Orfod in Citadel

Vortex no 1

Make your way westwards until you find the vortex

After entering the vortex, there will be random exits, you want the exit that leads to a room with "vortex and east"

Vortex no 2

After getting to "vortex and east"

Make your way westwards to the next vortex (e,n,w,w,s,w,n,w,s)

Go vortex

Vortex 3

Random exits again, now you want to go into a room that give you "vortex and south"

then

Make your way eastwards (s,e,e,), kill the Fire wyrm, and go up

Top floor:

Orfod is one north of where you come up

Notes

• Several relevant pieces of lore surrounding this quest
  • A Book on the Sons of Salmarik
  • The Rule of Salmarik

After having done the quest once, you can enter via the "back door"

• left circle is the backdoor for keep
• right circle is the backdoor for citadel

Unknown who originally created the quest/area, but it was broken for many years until I, Legend, fixed it and created the rewards. Yes, each tier is a better version. I think the odds were something like 60/35/5% to get them. Some rewards have unmentioned bonuses that scale on their tier, such as the juggernaut plate which gives total damage reduction % on top of ac/hp or the python sword which has a backstabbing multiplier.

They all... have scaling power whether you're aware of what that power is or not.

Legend