Triple Quests

From DDwiki
Revision as of 20:34, 8 October 2015 by Tinker (Talk | contribs) (Scenario 3 - Demonic Library)

Jump to: navigation, search

Triple quests are unique challenges added by the Goatperson DLC. They are accessible via the Goat Glade. The first triple quest starts unlocked, and completing it unlocks the second triple quest; completing that unlocks the third.

Each triple quest is a series of three scenarios - specific map, character, special rules - however normal preparations are only available for the first such scenario of each triple quest. The second scenario starts with the finishing inventory of the first scenario; and the third, with the finishing inventory of the second. For this reason, optimal preparations for a triple quest will consider all three scenarios. Furthermore, there is a tangible incentive not to convert items during a scenario, because every item or glyph left may make the next scenario that much easier.

A note on item transfer. Most items transfer normally from scenario to scenario. The only exceptions are:

  • 'Food' does not transfer (this is only valid for Triple Quest 1, Scenario 1, as that's the only scenario that has 'food' in it).
  • Taurog's gear will transfer normally, however only as items. So they will provide the item's effects (+5 Damage / +15% resistance / 5 DR), but not the -1 Max Mana or the +5% Attack Bonus. Converting them will not trigger Taurog's punishment.
  • Glowing Guardian's beads will transfer! However, again only as base items, so none of the previous benefits (i.e. extra health) will be re-added. Furthermore, enchanted beads will have different image and mouse-over, but will have the same effect as the normal Prayer Beads: add 1% magic resistance. It is therefor advised not to take too many of Glowing Guardian's beads in early scenarios, because the inventory effect will hurt also the subsequent runs.
  • If the next scenario's character has built-in equipment, the sixth item the previous character had will be placed on the ground next to the entrance. This only happens in the third Triple Quest.

General note on worship choice. Tikki Tooki is an exceptionally good deity in early stages of the triple quests, because his boons can give the player character gold and Reflex/Quicksilver potions, all of which are generally very handy items that help with the next scenario. Conversely, the Glowing Guardian is a poor deity choice for early scenarios, because his beads clog the inventory of all subsequent scenarios without providing much benefit. Dracul and The Earthmother are really useful on those maps that have blood pools, to win the current map without having to rely on expendables like potions (which can then be carried over to the next scenario).

Triple Quest 1 - The Spider Script

Ancient carvings found throughout the Northern Desert have always been a point of curiosity for those intent on studying history. A seemingly unbreakable pedestal in an otherwise unremarkable set of ruins bears a few such carvings... and one old historian has found the means of interpreting them.

Scenario 1 - The Northern Desert

TripleQuest1 Scenario1.PNG

The scoundrel known only as "Junesbury" always took a special interest in arcane mysteries and historical artifacts. For this reason alone, an otherwise sparsely-scrupled ex-bandit developed a friendship with kingdom archaeologist Lemmin Tee, one of the most respected history experts outside the Administrator's small council. The dangers in the desert were present and numerous. Junesbury didn't want the old man coming to any harm.

This map resembles the Northern Desert. It starts the story revolving around the Bloodmage Order seeking to usurp the power of the gods themselves. It also serves to teach the player the Goatperson's first class trait, Herbivore.

Player Character

Junesbury, the Class: Thief Human Thief

Preparations / Resources

Preparations are allowed normally, but only for this stage. There are only four shops. Otherwise, the map has the standard assortment of glyphs, potions, gold, altars and stat boosters, and even has a random subdungeon.

Special Rules

When you kill a monster, some of the closest unbreakable (water) tiles will be removed, just like in Northern Desert. The "boss" of the map, the archaeologist Lemmin Tee is Pacifist, and according to the story, you must protect him while he deciphers the script (i.e. defeat all other monsters).

Monsters

All basic monsters will be present, as well as Monster: Desert Troll Desert Trolls. Monster difficulty is 100%, corresponding to Normal difficulty.

Boss

The boss of the dungeon has two forms.

  • The first form resembles a Class: Sorcerer Human Sorcerer and is Pacifist. He cannot be interacted with until all monsters on the map are slain. Once the monsters are gone, speak to Lemmin and witness him complete reading the inscriptions. You will gain XP as if you have defeated a L10 monster, though you do not actually have to fight him.
  • Then you will see the real boss, the transformed Lemmin Tee: (Monster: Rusalka Rusalka icon, Attack 75, Health 350, Blink, Magic Immune, Death Protection (3) ) Furthermore, the whole map will turn dark again; 50 food will be placed in your inventory; and all tiles where a monster died previously will hold 8 food. Curiously, all the food combined is *not* sufficient to re-explore the full map again, which means that if your fight with Lemmin Tee drags out for too long, you may run out of food, and starve to death. Welcome to the world of a Goatperson!

Strategy

The only preparation that is recommended specifically for this first scenario is the Bear Mace, given how it makes the bossfight significantly easier. If Lemmin Tee cannot blink away, the map loses most of its danger; furthermore, the extra damage from knockback helps especially when you are going through his Death Protections. If you do not have the Bear Mace, consider pre-exploring at least half of the map, leaving several small dark patches, that you can selectively explore should Lemmin blink into one of them. Avoid leaving too vast expanses of blackspace, because should Lemmin blink too deep into blackspace, you will lose a lot of damage you previously dealt to him by the time you get to him. Keep note of his magic immunity - no spell can affect or target him!

However, do consider that the resources you bring into Scenarios 2 & 3 will partially depend on the preparations you take for Scenario 1! Therefor, it is advised to bring at least a Can of Whupaz and a Burn Salve with the intention of keeping them until the boss fight of Scenario 3. Furthermore, some Schadenfreude Potions may come very handy for the boss fight of Scenario 2. Plus, the more general Health and Mana Potions you carry on, the better you odds will be later on.

Through great resourcefulness and desperate measures, Junesbury survived both the desert and the marauding supernatural spirit that had taken hold of the dear archaeologist. Junes had witnessed both terror and mystery during all those years as a marauder. Wherever the two joined, blood magic was often afoot.

Scenario 2 - Havendale Bridge

TripleQuest1 Scenario2.PNG

The elusive order of Bloodmages - perhaps the only clan in existence powerful enough to steal from the gods - has moved its base of operations to the West, near Havendale, after storming the life druid sanctuary for reasons kept hidden. Junesbury was ill-trained in assaulting Bloodmage strongholds, but had a friend with a sword and stout heart. Kel Yi volunteered to travel West and find answers about the desert inscription and its Bloodmage trap. Hopefully, the warrior's long-standing friendship with the life druids could make a difference. Upon Arriving at Havendale, Kel Yi felt a mighty sense of fatigue. Blood magic was at work in this area - combat would be gruelling and difficult to recover from.

This map resembles Havendale Bridge. It teaches another of the Goatpersons hindrances - Prototype.

Player Character

Kel Yi, the Class: Fighter Elf Fighter

Preparations / Resources

No preparations are allowed for this stage. The initial inventory will be what the player carried over from the end of scenario 1. There are only three shops. Otherwise, the map has the standard assortment of glyphs, potions, gold, altars and stat boosters, and even has a random subdungeon (as well as a secret subdungeon).

Special Rules

The Bridge Troll guarding the bridge cannot be bribed (and instead of the usual Sensation Stone, drops the "Forlorn"). Druids are pacifists and cannot be attacked, however upon speaking to them they disappear and grant XP to the heroine equal to their level. After revealing the boss, whenever you level up or kill a monster, all blood pools will be transformed into Barbing Bushes.

Monsters

The usual Havendale Bridge monster assortment: Monster: goat goat, Monster: goblin goblin, Monster: warlock warlock, Monster: bandit bandit, Monster: tokoloshe tokoloshe, Monster: rusalka rusalka and Monster: druid druid. Monster difficulty is 100%, corresponding to Normal difficulty. Note that druids gain the Trait: pacifist pacifist trait and obey special rules.

Boss

The boss is Trikkistix (Monster: Druid Druid icon, 75 Attack, 397 Health, Undead, Bloodless, Retaliate: Fireball, Physical Immune, Magical Attack).

Strategy

It is recommended that the player avoid revealing the boss as long as possible (the bloodstains on the floor are telltale signs that his lair is on one of the adjacent tiles). Otherwise the Barbed Bushes he grows on blood pools might make the map more difficult to navigate.

As Trikkistix is immune to physical damage, the most straightforward solution to ending him is using BURNDAYRAZ, and having enough health to tank his retaliate hits. As level-ups do not restore the player, it is recommended to engage him at the highest reasonable level (i.e. after having killed all desired monsters). Schadenfreude potions are very useful for this purpose, because they can fully restore Kel Yi's expanded mana pool, and the hits from Trikkistix are guaranteed thanks to his retaliate.

While it is technically possible to use the Glowing Guardian's Cleansing boon to land magical damage melee hits on him, the Prayer Beads will carry over to the third scenario, making inventory management more difficult and providing very little benefit.

Kel Yi managed to gather enough druid survivors for a Bureucratic Council. Xenophobic as they were, they felt reluctant to share much knowledge. But they admitted that the Bloodmages probably knew at least a few of the Spider Script's secrets, placing dark magic upon its indestructible pedestal to kill off other knowledge seekers. They would not give up their findings peacefully.

Scenario 3 - Magma Mines

TripleQuest1 Scenario3.PNG

Kel Yi, though brave, was too broken to continue fighting. The pervading aura of blood magic has taken its toll, and now it was up to the newly-liberated life druids to strike at the Bloodmages directly. An attack was made on the Magma Mines, large and open enough to draw most of the attention while a lone druid known only as The Granite Wizard moved unseen into the depths of the cave...

This map resembles Magma Mines. On top of the regular monsters it hosts Ratlings (Fast Regen, Retaliate: Fireball).

Player Character

Granite Wizard the Class: Wizard Dwarf Wizard

Preparations / Resources

No preparations are allowed for this stage. The initial inventory will be what the player carried over from the end of scenario 2. There are only three shops. Otherwise, the map has the standard assortment of glyphs, potions, gold, altars and stat boosters, and even has a random subdungeon.

Special Rules

None.

Monsters

The usual Magma Mines monster assortment: Monster: serpent serpent, Monster: goblin goblin, Monster: wraith wraith, Monster: minotaur minotaur, Monster: goo blob(monster) goo blob(monster), plus the unique Monster: ratling ratlings.

Boss

The boss is Mance. He has two forms:

  • Mance form 1 (Class: Bloodmage Bloodmage icon, 90 Attack, 190 Health, Revives);
  • Mance form 2 (Class: Goatperson Goatperson icon, 75 Attack, 2500 Health). As his health is reduced, form 2 will also unleash a set of scripted punishments on the player character:
    • <2000 Health: Binlor Ironshield (resist wipe);
    • <1000 HP Jehora Jeheyu (Poison + Mana Burn + Curse x3 + Corrosion x5 + Weakness x5 + reduce Health to 1 & Mana to 0);
    • <500 HP Earthmother (Corrosion x10, petrify all creatures including plants);
    • <250 Glowing Guardian (inventory wipe)

Strategy

The basic monsters, as well as the first form of Mance, are not very difficult to deal with. However, the second form of Mance can be very difficult to the unprepared. His divine punishments hurt every character severely. It is therefor advised to prepare for them in advance - by not relying overly on resistances; by having curing potions ready; by keeping any items on the floor that are intended to be used against him after his post-GG punishment. Also, given his massive health, having an abundance of resources is ideal to cleave though his health.

Would the Kingdom's Authorities believe this story? Whatever the Bloodmages learned in the desert has divine implications, and the only person outside their order with knowledge of those secrets is dead. Did the creature in these caves really bring the gods to their knees? Did it seal its own fate by abusing that power? Or was it just luck that saved our hero? This situation leaves the Kingdom with many warnings and few answers.

Triple Quest 2 - The Monster Machine

The prolonged and bloody conflict at Havendale between the Bloodmage clan and the local life druids has yielded significant - but disturbing - information. The Ministry of Omnipotent Affairs, long concerned about the Bloodmage rise in power, has struck an agreement with the druids to investigate the southern swamplands for the key to a profound, Kingdom-changing secret related to the legendary spiders.

Scenario 1 - Southern Swamp

TripleQuest2 Scenario1.PNG

For several months, wild and frightening rumours of Bloodmage activity in the West ha been sweeping through the Kingdom. In an unprecedented move, the life-worshipping druids of Havendale contacted the Kingdom's order of Monks, urging them to explore a hitherto-uncharted area of the great southern swamplands. An ancient Spider temple was crumbling in the middle of a toxic bog, holding vital information for those who knew what they were searching for. Acco volunteered for the perilous journey, braced against disease and despair as well as any living creature could hope to be.

Player Character

Acco Lite the Class: Monk Human Monk

Preparations / Resources

Preparations are allowed normally, but only for this stage. There are only three shops. Otherwise, the map has the standard assortment of glyphs, potions, gold, altars and stat boosters. There are, however, no subdungeons. The Glyph: BURNDAYRAZ BURNDAYRAZ glyph is guaranteed to spawn, the rest of the glyphs are random.

Special Rules

Whenever you kill a monster, it inflicts 1 stack of Corrosion on the boss, Chzar. Each monster killed will drop a random item from the following list:

Monsters

All basic monsters and Monster: Naga Naga. Similarly to Southern Swamp, there are several Monster: Mysterious Murkshade Mysterious Murkshades. In addition to their normal stats, each monster (including plants) also has Trait: Corrosive Corrosive: 1. Monster difficulty is 130%.

Boss

The boss is Chzar. (Monster: Ratling Ratling icon, Attack 50, Health 1200, Retaliate: Fireball, Corrosive: 1).

Strategy

As the monsters are all Corrosive, the Monk will be hard pressed to employ her usual regen-fighting technique against them. In fact this, combined with the high monster health / damage, will make kills of higher (or even the same) level very difficult.

A curiously effective preparation tandem for dealing with all these challenges is Item: Fake Beard Fake Beard and God: Tikki Tooki Tikki Tooki. The bonus experience of the beard ensures the player character starts at 2nd level; and Tikki Tooki both offers boons to compensate for low-level kills, and grants piety for them.

Furthermore, at least one Item: Burn Salve Burn Salve is recommended as a preparation to clear the many stacks of corrosion the character will inevitably suffer.

The boss itself should not be very difficult, considering that each monster killed will afflict him with corrosion, and the items dropped by the monsters can boost Acco's melee damage significantly. Ideally around Level 7-8, after a corrosion wipe on the player's side, he should be readily defeatable with a combination of standard regen-fighting, and PISORF use.

As tempting as it may seem, it is recommended not so spend too many potions on this boss fight (other than Burn Salve to wipe corrosion stacks as needed). Especially a Can of Whupaz will prove very useful for the boss of Scenario 2.

The presence of a Ratling identifying itself as a high priest raised many questions about an otherwise antitheistic culture. Acco grabbed a key from its bloated and diseased corpse, and began to feel dizzy...

Scenario 2 - Hexx Ruins

TripleQuest2 Scenario2.PNG

Nobody knows what eventually became of the Monk known as Acco Lite. The last living person to see Acco - a Swampzerker known as Harm Sway - came accross the babbling, contagion-ridden devout during a routine smashing expedition. Acco's body was contorted and hairy, matched by words that were flowery and nonsensical. Whatever supernatural curse afflicted this Monk was beyond Harm's control, and at any rate Acco ran off after thrusting a slimy green key and some meager equipment into the Berserker's hands. Harm knew this area well, and wondered if this was finally the opportunity to unlock a moss-covered portal which had thus far defied all physical attempts at opening. As it turned out, Harm was in luck, and soon found a way into the surprisingly well-preserved underground ruin.

Player Character

Harm Sway the Class: Berserker Gnome Berserker

Preparations / Resources

No preparations are allowed for this stage. The initial inventory will be what the player carried over from the end of scenario 1. There are only three shops. Otherwise, the map has the standard assortment of glyphs, potions, gold, altars and stat boosters, and even has a random subdungeon. Note that there is no guarantee that BURNDAYRAZ would spawn!

Special Rules

At the start of the game, all monsters - including the boss and the special Spider Totems - begin with three extra traits:

There are three Spider Totems on the map, and their locations begin scouted. Their stats are nominal (Attack 1, Health 1, No Experience, Bloodless).

Destroying one of the Spider Totems removes one of the afflictions from all monsters (including the boss and the other Spider Totems); as well as do 1000 points of damage to the boss.

Monsters

All basic monsters. In addition to their normal stats, each monster also starts with Curse Bearer, Poisonous and Mana Burn (see above).

Boss

The boss is Hesss. (Monster: Naga Naga icon, Attack 75, Health 5000, Cowardly, Weakening Blow, Curse Bearer, Poisonous:1, Mana Burn).

Strategy

The Boss is extremely durable without the aid of the totems. It is therefor recommended that the player only destroy the three Totems only when she no longer plans to uncover any more tiles before the boss fight. This generally means that resistances will be useless during the leveling phase.

Hitting the boss with Trait: Crushing Blow Crushing Blow prior to destroying the totems brings his health down to a more reasonable 750 health. Therefor a Can of Whupaz is best carried over from Scenario 1. Also, the extra items dropped by the monsters there - especially the Charms and Courage Juices - can be extremely helpful to level here. Furthermore, the advantage of Fake Beard is starting the scenario at Level 2 - making initial kills much easier.

Although BURNDAYRAZ will not be especially useful in this scenario, it is still recommended to be kept, as it will be very useful in the last scenario (along with any potions that can be spared).

One final blow, and the crazed Naga fell. Harm considered the death a mercy: the creature had been driven half-mad from isolation. But exactly how long had it been trapped in the underground temple? The Naga spoke with an infection Harm had never heard before, and seemed young despite the fact that this tomb had been sealed for what appeared to be centuries. A routine corpse looting revealed a map with some weird symbols and arrows on it. Harm let out a frustrated roar upon realising that these were words and directions. This was a power beyond reckoning, but Harm still had some ties to a few friends in the seedier parts of the Kingdom. Perhaps they could use their Literacy to make sense of this mysterious paper? It was time for Harm to make a rare trip back to civilisation.

Scenario 3 - Halls of Steel

TripleQuest2 Scenario3.PNG

Clokun wasn't sure why, but this place was unusually warm. Desperation could do strange things to a Rogue. Pickings had been slim recently, what with the war in the West and all. Nobody had much of anything right now and the Kingdom turmoul bubbling over from suspicious Bloodmage activity had people worrying that the war would soon become internal. Clokun's smelly client had been armed with a rotten map and some curious stories about swamp guardians, strange machines and locations in the East. The offered "payment" consisted of little more than some brightly-coloured glass and shiny swamp rocks, but Clokun accepted the job anyway. The map pointed towards an inhospitable piece of frozen wasteland - if there was treasure to be found there, the Rogue would surely be the first to find it. After finding the pair of obsidian doors hidden in a network of icy caves, Clokun muttered a quiet prayer to Tikki Tooki and entered.

Player Character

Clokun Dagger the Class: Rogue Halfling Rogue

Preparations / Resources

No preparations are allowed for this stage. The initial inventory will be what the player carried over from the end of scenario 2. There are only three shops. Otherwise, the map has the standard assortment of glyphs, potions and stat boosters. There is no gold, there are no altars, and there are no random subdungeons.

On previous tries I always found three glyphs, they may be fixed: Glyph: APHEELSIK APHEELSIK, Glyph: BLUDTUPOWA BLUDTUPOWA and Glyph: ENDISWAL ENDISWAL. However, BURNDAYRAZ is not guaranteed to spawn!

Special Rules

There is one small fixed sub unique to this map. If you talk to the friendly golem NPC residing in it called "Goleministrator", he will ask you: "DUNGEON -> REPOPULATE ?". Choosing "Yes" will 1) re-shroud the whole main map; 2) spawn the seven bosses; and 3) spawn 19 Level 10 Monster: Illusion Illusions (as well as fill up the inaccessible exterior of the subdungeon with hundreds of L10 monsters).

Monsters

Goo Blobs, Animated Armors, Wraiths, Warlocks, Golems, Illusions. Monster difficulty is 130%.

Boss

There are seven bosses: Bleaty, The Iron Man, Aequitas, The Tormented One, Tower of Goo, Lord Gobb and Jörmungandr.

Strategy

This scenario is somewhat similar to Naga City. The main difficulty is having to do the challenge Faithless; look for items in store that boost your health. You have very little use for money (which, ironically, happens to be overly abundant thanks to all the bosses dropping trophies). Choosing what to carry over from scenario 2 can make a world of difference. Having several mana potions for example can help get maximum health from Alchemist Scroll. Bringing 1-2 useful glyphs - CYDSTEPP and BURNDAYRAZ for example - can also help a lot. The Wisp Gems will not be very useful, but the Charms collected in scenario 1 are still worth keeping. The Orb of Lusory helps against Aequitas and The Tormented One; Bleaty requires high health and resists or death protection; and mostly all bosses require a strong character. One health is built up sufficiently, the Halfling Health Potions become very useful.

As Clokun struck down the final opponent, a great rumbling emerged. Moment later, the floor began to shake. Recognising a trap, Clokun knew that abandoning the rapidly self-destructing facility was the only course of action. No fabulous treasures would be claimed on this day. What was the meaning of this magic, and those creatures? Were there more facilities like this further afield? Did the mad Naga's words make a startling amount of sense after all? The answers to these questions would, sadly, have to wait. Clokun needed to survive.

Triple Quest 3 - The Portal Perilous

Although their very existence is still subject to doubt, the legacy of the ancient Spiders has caused chaos throughout the Kingdom, inciting wars, monster attacks, and goodness knows how much more. Their influence on your realm from its very inception looks to have been profound and destructive. Can a trio of bold adventurers uncover the surviving remnants of spider civilisation and put an end to this madness once and for all?

Scenario 1 - Western Jungle

TripleQuest3 Scenario1.PNG

The War of Havendale was starting to go badly for the Bloodmages. Dealing with the wrath of Dracul was one matter, but the life druids were drawing on power that clearly came from their own knowledge of ancient magic. Malamort Crumpet had tried to warn the others, but speaking against one's own brothers and sisters was grounds for suspicion at best. Striking at Dracul was a foolish and arrogant move, but picking a fight with these forces as well? Suicide. It was time to switch sides. Malamort had vital information to bring to the rest of the Kingdom, but making it out of Havendale alive would be a challenge.

Player Character

Malamort Crumpet, the Class: Bloodmage Orc Bloodmage

Preparations / Resources

Preparations are normally allowed for this stage. The map has a standard assortment of glyphs, shops, potions, gold and boosters. Glyph: BURNDAYRAZ BURNDAYRAZ is guaranteed to spawn. There is one altar, normally dedicated to God: Dracul Dracul, though if you prepare an altar, it will replace Dracul's. There are also several blood pools scattered around the map. There is no random subdungeon.

Special Rules

Your Sanguine ability *drains* your health instead of refilling it! It still grants you a point of Mana, (as well as Dracul piety,) though.

Monsters

All basic monsters. Monster difficulty is 130%. Note that there are no Level 1 monsters on this map!

Boss

The boss is the true form of Zin Kibaru (Monster: Rusalka Rusalka icon, Attack 50, Health 1500, Curse Bearer, Corrosive). Striking the boss will spawn 4-6 blood pools. Note that several blood pools may occupy the same tile, in such a case the blood pool appears thicker; walking over such a blood pool will only consume 1 blood pool, so it may be possible to repeatedly walk over the same blood pool until it is completely consumed.

Strategy

As blood pools deplete your health instead of refilling it, try to only step over them when you're at low health (stepping on blood pools this way cannot kill you, you will be left at minimum 1 Health). The boss looks impressive with his 1500 health, however thanks to the blood pools he spawns, the boss fight is really trivial. There are several ways to go about defeating this stage; however, bear in mind that this is merely a preparation level for what is to come. Therefor, the preps taken for this level - as well as some of the choices made, equipment purchased/kept - will largely influence the odds of beating the subsequent stages of this Triple Quest.

The easiest way to beat the boss is to prep Mystera, and take her Mystic Balance boon before starting the boss fight; keep blasting the boss, and refill your mana 1 point at a time using the blood pools. As the number of blood pools generated is on average equal to the cost of the fireball spell, as long as there are no inaccessible parts of the map, a near infinite number of fireballs can be cast, making quick work of Zin Kibaru's true form. Note that this is possible at any level, even at Level 1, so leveling up is only needed insofar as shortening the time needed to finish the map.

That said, given the difficulties of subsequent maps, it is recommended to do one of the following:

  • Pick Binlor whose glyphs will help during both stage 1 and stage 2;
  • Pick Tikki Tooki and try to get as many of his potions as possible in preparation for stage 2;
  • Pick Taurog and get his Armor in preparation for stage 3.

As far as other preparations go, some of the best picks are probably:

  • Compression Seal helps you to carry more items into subsequent stages. This benefit generally outweighs getting money / free items.
  • Fewer Glyphs makes it more difficult to get some of the "good" glyphs, however it ensures that the glyphs you do carry over to the next stage(s) have a boosted conversion value.
  • Dragon Shield is arguably the best Guild prep for this triple quest. Gorgward helps a lot during stage 2, however most approaches will not be able to afford losing out on the resists to prep it.
  • Quest Items help increase the likelihood of items like Platemail, Dragon Soul, Soul Orb, Balanced Dagger, all of which are really helpful during the last two stages. Alternatively, Apothecary can provide really good potions that help during the later stages. Mana Potions / Schadenfreude are great for Stage 2; Health Potions and one Whuppaz for Stage 3.
  • Black Market gives a benefit that can be carried over to the subsequent stages.

In any case, you will want to have, at minimum, the following resources when you leave the stage:

  • BURNDAYRAZ (you need it for stage 2)
  • 1-2 Schadenfreude potions, 4-5 Mana potions (you need it for stage 2)
  • 4 Health Potions (you need it for stage 3)
  • item(s) giving you minimum 15% physical resist (you need it for stage 3)

Malamort wondered: was that truly the real form of Zin Kibaru? Bodies of waters started boiling nearby, and the trees ran red with what surely had to be some kind of sap. Surely. Malamort had a terrible feeling about what the slaying of this creature could mean. But there was no time to contemplate. A rippling sensation rose in the Bloodmage's chest like the rattling of a thousand tiny pebbles, and was already beginning to spread. The time to leave was now, lest the Crumpet line end at Havendale.

Scenario 2 - Shifting Passages

TripleQuest3 Scenario2.PNG

At long last, the Kingdom is taking formal action in the conflict. Malamort Crumped succeeded in reaching the authorities with vital information, but only managed to get across the barest of information before succumbing to whatever magical curse Zin Kibaru's death had inflicted. The Bloodmage was still alive... barely. But the magically-induced coma had no known cure at this point. Two brave heroes - Warhamma Gobbo of the Goblin Embassy and Kim Royce of the Order of Paladins - volunteered to venture into the deadly Shifting Passages up north and follow up on the lead Crumpet gave them. They had no idea what to expect, aside from an alleged entrance to some sort of magical plane where - if Crumpet was to be believed - some of the legendary Spiders still existed. There was much trepidation in this mission. Discoveries of mysterious "monster factories" in the East raised more questions than answers, and they seemed closely tied to Spider magic. What awaited these brave adventurers beneath the harsh, cursed sands of the old Northern Empire? Warhamma volunteered to take the lead and clear the passages. It was the least an aging Warlord could do.

Player Character

Warhamma Gobbo, the Class: Warlord Goblin Warlord

Preparations / Resources

No preparations are allowed for this stage. The initial inventory will be what the player carried over from the end of scenario 1 (plus the Warlord's standard issue CYDSTEPP glyph). Although the map has a standard assortment of shops and stat boosters, it has no gold, potions, subdungeons or glyphs! There is a single altar, dedicated to God: Taurog Taurog.

Special Rules

Except for the Gorgons, every single creature, including the boss, has Trait: Death Gaze Death Gaze 100% (meaning they petrify the character unless he is at or above maximum health). Gorgons gracefully only sport their usual 50% Death Gaze. Furthermore, the map follows the wall formation algorythm of Shifting Passages, so special care must be taken when killing monsters to avoid getting boxed in. Try guessing the direction of the corridors and stand on would-be-wall tiles, or make use of the rightmost column that is always safe.

Monsters

The map hosts: Monster: Djinn Djinn, Monster: Dragonspawn Dragonspawn, Monster: Goat Goat, Monster: Wraith Wraith, Monster: Gorgon Gorgon, Monster: Changeling_(Monster) Changeling_(Monster) and Monster: Ratling Ratling. Monster difficulty is 130%. There are no Level 1 monsters.

Boss

The bosses are each alteregos of the character:

  • Warhamma Gobbo (Class: Warlord Goblin Warlord icon, Attack 97, Health 412, First Strike, Blinks, Magic Immune, Death Gaze 100%).
  • Warhamma Gobbo (Class: Warlord Goblin Warlord icon, Attack 97, Health 412, First Strike, Blinks, Physical Immune, Death Gaze 100%).

Furthermore, when struck, each boss will re-randomize certain additional traits, just like Evolvia on Shifting Passages, and most notably Retaliate:Fireball is one of the random abilities that can come up.

Strategy

The leveling phase should not require special resources. You can afford 3 strikes against a monster who cannot 1-hit KO you, with a pre-cast CYDSTEPP; this should be enough to kill monsters who are at least 1 level above you. Goats and Gorgons make excellent targets for even higher-level kills. The Changelings are OK initially, if you can wear them down combined with exploration, but later on become too resource intensive. In any case, even if you have to avoid a couple of high-level Changelings, Djinni or Dragonspawns, you should be able to level up to L8 considering also that you can convert a few items for XP.

The bosses, however, are really difficult, because both of them require you to spend your Mana (for Fireballs or for CYDSTEPPs), which is not overly abundant. If you have Tikki Tooki's potions from stage 1, that makes the Magic Immune boss easier, but it does not really help with the Physical Immune boss, who is anyway the tougher of the two. Even if you start the boss fight just shy of L7, and have 2 level-ups banked, you will likely need a lot of mana restoration (probably 2 Schadenfreudes and 4 Mana Potions).

Initially focus on the Physical Immune boss, then on the Magic Immune one (unless you start the bossfights with no blackspace left, in which case you can use your health to do some damage to the Magic Immune boss). If you kept the BLUDTUPOWA glyphs from stage 1, you can use it to more effectively fight the Physical Immune boss; be leaving thin patches of blackspace, you can convert health into mana (and use B2P to uncover the boss should he blink into blackspace).

As difficult this stage may be, it is still just a preparation for the last stage. Taurog is there to allow you to take some of his boons - it is normally enough to join him after the boss fights, his initial piety reward, coupled with a couple of mop-up kills, should be sufficient to afford you what you need.

You want to leave this stage with the following:

  • Items giving you at least 30% physical resist
  • 4+ Health Potions

Though, optionally, you can have a lot of other things that will come in very handy during the last stage:

  • Mana and/or Schadenfreude potions
  • 1 Burn Salve
  • Dragon Soul
  • Soul Orb
  • +Damage item(s) like Skullpicker
  • If you don't have very high resists, keep the CYDSTEPP glyph

These twin demons must have been some part of the Spider's monster cloning experiments. Or something. Warhamma understood little about this situation, but it definitely wasn't good. Whatever this magic was, it obviously held some influence over the goblin, and the old Warlord was spent from all the fighting. Perhaps it was best to step back and let a divinely-blessed Paladin lead the final charge...

Scenario 3 - Demonic Library

TripleQuest3 Scenario3.PNG

Kim Royce. Founder of the Order of Paladins, veteran of countless battles, loyal servant of the Ministry and fighter of evil magic. As a child, Kim had experienced dark dreams of eight-legged horrors and blood magic, but it had taken years to even understand what they meant. Shortly before the debacle at Havendale, Kim had attempted to hunt down and bring judgement upon a young Bloodmage showing signs of harnessing Spider power. It hadn't ended well, and Kim was still recovering from a wound that would have slain a lesser warrior - the friendship of an old goblin warlord had proven to be the Paladin's salvation. Her pride, on the other hand, was beyond salvaging. At least until now. Kim was determined to step through the Spider Portal at the bottom of this dungeon, put an end to the Kingdom's malus and find some answers to lifelong questions.

Player Character

Kim Royce, the Class: Paladin Human Paladin

Preparations / Resources

No preparations are allowed for this stage. The initial inventory will be what the player carried over from the end of scenario 2 (plus the Paladin's standard issue HALPMEH glyph). Although the map has a standard assortment of shops and stat boosters, it has no gold, potions, normal subdungeons or glyphs! There is a single altar, dedicated to God: Glowing Guardian Glowing Guardian.

Special Rules

None.

Monsters

The map hosts: Monster: Doom Armor Doom Armor, Monster: Djinn Djinn, Monster: Thrall Thrall, Monster: Succubus Succubus, Monster: Cultist Cultist and Monster: Steel Golem Steel Golem. Monster difficulty is 130%.

Boss

Similar to Demonic Library, there are five mini-bosses on the main map; slaying each of them will allow access to the central subdungeon that hosts the real boss.

The mini-bosses are each called "The Avatar", and have 2 forms each:

  • The Avatar (1st form) (Attack 105, Health 100, No Experience, Revives)
  • The Avatar (2nd form) (Attack 105, Health 666, No Experience)

However, striking any of the 2nd form Avatars re-randomizes the Attack, Magic Resist, Physical Resist and attack type of each 2nd form Avatars. This will be very important during this stage of the boss fights.

When you kill one of The Avatars, 10 random "Kingdom Pawn"s will spawn. These pawns are Level 1, and have Attack 4, Health 8, First Strike, and one random trait from the following: Mana Burn or Corrosive or Curse Bearer. Be cautios about the Curse Bearers especially, given how their First Strike means you get double curse stacks for killing them. They drop an item about 50% of the time from the following list:

Also, killing all but the last one of The Avatars will give you 100 Piety.

The final boss is The Watcher (Attack 100, Health 1000, Bloodless, Poisonous). Each attack against him increases both his Physical Resist and Magic Resist by 5%!

Strategy

First of all you want to level up. Ideal targets will be the Imps and Doom Armors. If you have the Soul Orb, Thralls also become (relatively) easy pickings. Steel Golems and Succubuses will be more difficult, in fact it is recommended to leave them until they are outleveled and can be 1-shot killed. There is generally no reason not to start worshipping GG as soon as you find his altar, it will be important to build up some initial piety with him for the boss fights.

The initial forms of The Avatar mini-bosses are not difficult, and should become feasible around L4-5. Kill them all, though don't touch the 2nd forms of the mini-bosses until you're done with the leveling/exploration. You will not really be able to use blackspace against them, so explore the full map (you may leave a couple of dark wall tiles to round up health/mana, but not too many will be needed).

Fighting the 2nd form of the mini-bosses can be tedious. They have an enormous amount of health, can deal a lot of damage, and can sport very high resistances. You will have to mouse over each of them before every strike, to see which ones do the least amount of damage to you; though try to also consider the amount of damage you will do, i.e. a form that does low damage but has extremely high resists is probably less efficient to attack than a form that does a bit more damage, but has much lower resists.

As the bosses start to die, you will find it harder and harder to get an optimal hit in. It is therefor recommended that you try to deplete the bosses health in a balanced way, sometimes picking a boss who is less optimal but has higher health, just to keep as many of them alive as possible until each of them come within 1-hit range. That said, the benefit of killing one of them is huge, because you gain piety, and the monsters spawned allow you to gain XP and some useful items. The Compression Seals nicely offset the beads you will most likely end up taking from GG, the Bargain Pendants are excellent conversion fodder, and the spoons can help round up your damage a bit though are going to be pretty useless by the end.

Use the resources available to refill (Protection boon from GG; Potions; level-up). This is a long and tedious fight, and the RNG can roll next to impossible stats for the mini-bosses, so try to be patient and carefully weigh the benefits of killing a mini-boss earlier versus keeping her alive longer.

Once you're done with all of them, you should have ample resources available to bank one more level-up for the final bossfight. The Watcher is not terribly difficult, however his special ability makes it impossible to regen-fight him. Which is why any last refills (for example, that last level-up) will be very useful.

Good luck! :) Winning this stage will earn you an audience with someone cute!

MainNav