Guess who's back? Back again?
The Free Haven region. So much to do, so little time.
First stop is the castle to the southwest of here. This castle is home to Osric Temper, the kingdom's champion and the third of the six nobles we have to impress.
Temper is a man of action, and he's on the same page as us: the devils are the Big Bads. To get his approval, we have to destroy a outpost the devils have created near the ancient castle known as Kriegspire. This is one of the harder approval quests, so it gets to wait.
Also, he handles promotions for Knights, and Toblerone is all too happy. This one is fairly simple on the surface: get the sponsorship of an existing Cavalier, and you can become one. As you will soon see...it really is that simple.
Now to the city! We really don't want to tangle with the locals (more mages and some archers) at this point. So naturally it's time to utilize the oh-so-nifty Water Walk spell, and cut across the lake to the north. We do so, and end up in the southeastern part of the city, next to an odd building.
This building is the High Council building, and also sits above the chamber that houses the legendary Oracle we need to consult. The six representatives are all here, and they must unanimously approve of us. At the moment, they do not approve at all, and give us thumbs down. Some gestures are truly multiversal.
But from them, we learn the (last) names of the remaining three nobles:
- Lord Stone
- Lord Stromgard
- Lady Fleise
We will see them later. Now for the town.
We head north to near the docks and visit a house that my psychic powers told me to. Inside, we get a quest from a strapping young lad to find his "friend", who is being held captive in the Temple of Tsanta on an island in Bootleg Bay. Yes, it's another temple dungeon, and yes, it is the next dungeon on our list.
Next, we head to the northwest most part of a town, and visit another house. The man inside wants to study the remains of a lich...but not just any lich. He wants to study the remains of the greatest lich, Ethric the Mad, and is willing to pay us if we bring him the skull of Ethric. Sure, sparky...we'll...get back to you on that one.
Next we leave the city, and travel to Free Haven's #1 suburb, Rockham. There, we visit the tavern, where a man named Chadwick Blackpoole is enjoying a drink. Chadwick is also a Cavalier. Guess what, Toblerone? You can start cheering now.
Now to head back into the city and hit the local guilds. They are scattered all over the city, so I'm not going to bother describing which way we went. It doesn't matter anyway, as the whole thing turns out to be a big fat waste of time; they have nothing useful I can afford. The biggest groaner is not having Cure Disease. Come on people! Help a group of adventurers out here!
Time to hit a southern house, and get another quest. Zoltan Phelps wants the legendary dagger Mordred. He bought it, but bandits attacked the caravan and stole it. He wants us to recover it. Guess what? Not happening any time soon.
Now, we head back across the lake (another cast of Water Walk) and talk to Osric Temper. We have the nomination, and now, <drum roll> we have the promotion! Toblerone is now a Cavalier!
Of course, this being a quest, we get a lot of experience points. Back across the lake (another Water Walk) then, to train. Sounding familiar?
Did I say a lot of experience points? I meant A METRIC TON of experience points. All of our characters go up not one, but two levels! Everyone, meet Level 12.
We then go around and collect the horseshoes from the two stables of Free Haven. Someone apparently forgot to tell them horses have four hooves, as each stable only has two horseshoes. Whatever. All of them go to Eno, as his wide range of skills make him slower to develop. There's a reason why I named him what I did.
Skill points get assigned, and a lot more skills are at the Expert threshold. As tempting as it is looking around Free Haven for trainers, that would be boring. I don't do boring. So...
...one last trip across the lake (guess what spell I cast). It's time to return to Bootleg Bay, and cast more Water Walk spells! The Temple of Tsanta awaits us...
