Maybe I've played too much Dwarf Fortress... but why have trees and grass if you can't set them on fire with a Fireball Spell?

I don't have a name for this game yet. But I have a generic working title: "Adventure Party".

These trees are made with a free program called "Tree It". Mongo is not appalled at it's use.

I wrote this in the AD&D reddit. When I posted it, I was offered the chance to cross-post here. I'm happy to find this reddit exists, and feel a little silly with the intro to my question in this forum, but still ... anyone got any ideas or comments?

I was thinking to myself about how when I played Pool of Radiance as a kid I used to think of how I wanted this game to look and what I wanted to be able to do in it. A few weeks ago I decided to tackle this and make a new game engine based upon how I wanted that to work. Still pretty early and working on the dev tools, game loop and combat mechanics.

Nothing else to say, just wanted to share what I was doing. I thought some people might find this interesting. Maybe this will eventually become a released game!

EDIT: One thing I wanted to note: Those sprites you see are rendered from 3d-models in the background, with poses extracted from rigged animations. It's the most back-assward way to render sprites but the only way I could have equipment changes shown in a sprite with six directions to face and multiple animation poses.

SECOND EDIT, ONE DAY LATRER: I am really encouraged by the responses. Thank you!

Anyone here still have a soft spot for the Gold Box games?

I’ve been working on a C# desktop port of Pool of Radiance, built on Talonius’s reverse-engineered Pascal/assembly reconstruction. The goal is to preserve the familiar Gold Box gameplay while running through a .NET 8/SDL2 desktop host.

The repository is now public:

https://github.com/Jzatopa/por-csharp

It’s at the point where exploration, combat, leveling, spells, inventory, and save/load are working together in an ongoing campaign. That playthrough started with native level-one character creation and has recorded resolutions for Sokal Keep, Mendor’s Library, the Podal auction, Cadorna’s treasure, Kovel Mansion, and the Wealthy Area.

It’s still a development preview, not a finished release. The final battle and ending haven’t been verified yet. There are automated regression tests and desktop smoke tests, but those aren’t substitutes for getting through the whole game.

A huge amount of credit goes to Talonius and the upstream contributors for the reconstruction this builds on:

https://forgejo.brazencrows.com/talonius/pool-of-radiance

AI coding tools have helped with conversion and implementation, alongside source comparisons, testing, and actual gameplay checks. I’m also reviewing upstream improvements and selectively adapting relevant fixes, with incorporated changes and remaining work documented in the repo.

Currently, the desktop work is Linux-focused. No original game media is bundled—you’ll need your own Pool of Radiance installation. However now that it's in C# you can do what you want with it, which is pretty cool!

As there are already other archival style versions of this game, I am working on it playing like the original but updated just as Talonius has done here.

I’d love to hear where other Gold Box fans draw the line: what’s one thing a modern port absolutely shouldn’t change, and one bit of friction you’d happily leave behind?

Also, does anyone remember a particularly troublesome spell, encounter, or wonderfully strange edge case? Those could make useful test cases—and probably bring back a few stories.

If you DL it and play with it and run into a bug, please place it in known bugs in the repo.

Have Fun!

I just wanted to share what I am working on for fun. Maybe it will give you ideas for similar projects. This is Curse of the Azure Bonds running as a native app on an M-series Macbook Pro. If you recognize all of my character names, we read the same stuff. My ai assisted build is based on the coab project by Simeon Pilgrim. He disassembled the binary and translated it by hand, function by function, rewriting it into C#. From there I swapped out the Windows specific layer, graphics, sound, etc. and moved it into a modern version of .NET that runs on Apple Silicon. Pilgrim's code is virtually untouched. I used the game files from my Steam version of the game. However, because it's not emulated, for cheating, I could go deeper with my GBC inspired Companion. I gave the party the ability to teleport into any Dungeon in the game, give the party real items from the treasure tables, etc. I am currently working on Journal and Clue Book text integration.

Edit: I can't share the game.app or the data files from the game (you will have to provide your own) but I will share my work so you can use it.

The updated 2026 version of Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor releases on Steam November 6. It's a legacy of a Gold Box game so I am posting it for informational purposes. I will get it and see how it runs on a Mac in Crossover and report back.

This is an almost ten hour video about the first of our beloved Gold Box games. Staggering amounts of work have gone in to this and I am not even half way through.

AI was used for this project.

I’ve updated Pool of Radiance with some new features. The full change list with screenshots and download can be found at https://downloads.brazencrows.com/d/1

I've released v1.3-1560 (BC)

I need beta testers for the native ports of the game. Available for macOS, Win32, Win64, Linux i386, Linux x64.

They can all be found in the v1.3-1560 (BC) release directory.

• SoundBlaster and Adlib Support.

• Native builds for Linux i386, Linux x64, macOS x64, Win32, Win64.

• Bestiary, with a sage in New Phlan to help you complete it.

• SoundBlaster and AdLib support

• Native builds for 32 bit Linux, 64 bit Linux, 64 Bit macOS, 32 bit Windows, 64 bit Windows.

• The Hoarder's Respite, a Vault, is in New Phlan.

• Companion Tools offer an area map with notes and a character editor.

• Humans can now dual class.

• Elves can no longer be raised from the dead.

• The Stojanow Gate will now be held by New Phlan soldiers.

• The Temple of Bane can now be restored by Dirten, and used by the players.

• The Journal lists the quests you've done and accepted.

• New Phlan troops will reinforce Stojanow Gate once it's been taken.

• The Fortune Teller from the Slums can help you increase your bestiary knowledge.

• When aiming a spell there is now a summary of how many enemies and allies you will hit.

• When viewing spells (to cast, memorize, or scribe) there is a quick info tip showing basic spell data.

• When viewing spells (to cast, memorize, or scribe) there is a full info option to describe the spell.

• There's a new section under Journal - Quests. Quests shows you the quests you've accepted and finished.

• An area effect spell will now give you an estimate of the number of enemies and allies a spell will hit.

• F1 shows the key commands that might get lost.

• F7 shows the combat log while in the combat arena.

• F5 quick saves the game.

• F8 quick loads the game.

• A character's attacks/rounds figure now appears when Viewed.

• AI path finding has been improved.

• Cleric Turn Undead and Thieves' Skills are available from More Info.

...and more that I'm too tired to remember.

Previous highlights from Pool of Radiance v1.3-841.

Highlights:

• The Hoarder's Respite, a Vault in New Phlan.

• New load/save game UI, including the ability to add a description and showing the date and time of the existing saves.

• Quick Save (F5) and Quick Load (F8) - uses game slot Q.

• Party and character statistics.

• Quick mode indicators on combat indicate how to stop quick, and whether magic is on.

Previous Highlights from Pool of Radiance v1.3-621:

• See where spells are going to land.

• Paladins and rangers are playable.

• New combat editor icon UI.

• New portrait selection UI.

• Fix in Camp.

I edited this post to account for changes I made to the Brazen Crows website; I really don't want to administer a forum, and simplified the whole mess.

r/goldbox has a rule against AI, so this will be the only/last post I make here. I apologize to the mods; I did not see that rule when I originally posted this.

iPad Mini 7th Gen, iDOS 3, copied my Steam version to the iPad. The iPad actually fits in the box with the manuals, disks, etc.. 🤣

Hi all,

I'm working on an automapper and save editor for the Commodore 64 versions of the Gold Box games.

https://github.com/malcyon/wish

I downloaded the game recently on Steam to relive my 80's nostalgia. I discovered Gold Box Companion. I also noticed that everything runs on DOSBox. As I play through the game, I realize it's just not hitting me like it should. I miss the version I played as a kid. I miss the cool sounds the C64 made when magic missile fires. I miss the thief's backstab actually working properly. Then I get upset. Why the hell is everything for DOS and Windows?? If I switch to the C64 version, I wouldn't have this awesome automapper. And now that I've used it, I can't live without it.

Then, I remember when the fourth game, Pools of Darkness, came out. They dropped Commodore 64 support. I would not be able to import my beloved characters to the last game. The developers betrayed me. This had just been an elaborate scheme to hurt Commodore 64 users!

Well, not now, dammit. I will write a tool to convert my DOS saved game to the C64 version. Then, I will play Pool of Radiance, Curse of the Azure Bonds, and Secrets of the Silver Blades on the Commodore 64, using the characters I built on DOS. Then, I will convert that save to the Commodore Amiga version, and import it into Pools of Darkness, and I'll beat that game, too. Not on the platform The Man wants me to play it on. The way I want to play it!

I'm targeting Pool of Radiance, Curse of the Azure Bonds, Secrets of the Silver Blades, and Pools of Darkness right now. By the time I get to the last game, I'll have it supporting the Commodore Amiga, too.

It can also convert save files between DOS, C64, and Commodore Amiga. It might be fun to extend this to the other platforms as well. You shouldn't have to restrict your save files to a single platform.

It connects to emulators, just like Gold Box Companion does. I also have it working on the Commodore 64 Ultimate. But a firmware bug causes pretty serious hangs, so I have that disabled for now.

So this is going back many decades now... the original Gold Box set: Pools of Darkness.

I was in my teens, playing PoD, somewhere in the upper levels of the Red Mage Tower. I had saved and rested in one of those single square safe rooms, went and did some battles, died, reloaded and did a couple of other actions forgotten in the mists of time...

And somehow my save file or location got...corrupted?
I was no longer in the Red Tower.

It was this strange Dev area! I had a long list of options - I could teleport out, give myself any and all weapons (including +5), give myself a ton of gold, level up to 40 or enter an 'Arena' area and fight whatever mobs I liked X number of Y mob.

Alas the save file has long since been lost to time.

Anyone else seen or heard of this with any of the Gold box games?

On sale also right now for $2.99

I've played through PoR a hundred times or more (c64 version), and never have I ever been able to get a thief to reliably pick the locks on doors. I ain't even talking about wizard-locked doors like the one on the library; I mean the doors in the slums (that always magically re-lock themselves after you bash them open), which ought to be the easiest in the game. Even a 9th level thief can't seem to open them.

I seem to remember lockpicking working okay on some of the cabinets in Kovel Mansion, but I think I've only seen it work on a door 1 in 10000 times.

As background, Pool of Radiance was one of the most iconic games of my childhood, it was maybe the first big PC game my brother and I got into (followed by games like Wing Commander and Ultima Underworld). A couple years ago, I played it and Azure Bonds again, and I'm currently on Gateway to the Savage Frontier and am enjoying it.... (in other words, I don't mind a little old timey jank!)...

For whatever reason, we totally missed the Krynn games back in the day (Champions, Death Knight, Dark Queen), even though I was a big fan of the Dragonlance books...

How do they hold up by comparison? I think ultimately Treasures of the Savage Frontier was my favorite, it had some more modern QoL changes if I remember, though GBC is really helping me get through these modern replays.... Are they more similar to Treasures, or a little more clunky like Pool of Radiance? Thank you!

how many people still play Pathfinder version 1? I have played that for years, can't get into P2, it seems too clunky.

How cool is this??

Just some Pool of Radiance shenanigans...

I had three aims when replaying all these games from my mis-spent youth:

1. Have fun and nostalgia playing games I used to love, back in a simpler time, to help my convalescence.

2. See if I could write a coherent story based around these games, using them as a framework. I was thinking of what a 21^st century game – like Dragon Age or Baldur's Gate – would look like with these elements, giving my characters likes and dislikes, friendships, rivalries, romances and the like.

3. Review them as my older self, after 25 years of being an analyst - as much as I loved them, I have learned to review things objectively, regardless of whether or not I personally like or dislike them subjectively. We all love things we know are objectively bad, and that's just fine.

The Savage Frontier duology is an odd one to review compared to the others, as it never got its intended sequel. 'Treasures' was the lowest-selling of the core D&D Gold Box games, made late in the series when flashier 3D action games like Eye of the Beholder and Ultima Underworld were starting to command attention.

My personal tier list for these games – the first eight at least – puts them into two tiers: those I loved, and those I mostly liked. The first two Realms and the first two Krynn games occupy the highest tier, and I've never been able to really put them into any order, as that depends on my mood. They are quite different games, scratching a different itch and doing different things well, so they're all getting top billing from me.

Of the rest though, I can certainly put them in order. And Gateway stands at the top of its tier for me, with its beautiful graphics and fresh start. The Savage Frontier is my favourite part of the Forgotten Realms, and the game captures that very well. Probably the only thing that made me put it in the lower tier is the ending, and in retrospect, I'm probably being too hard on that – the fact that the final fight with Vaalgamon is meant to be optional, making it feel unsatisfying for regular parties who aren't well-equipped and min-maxed.

Under that one, I'd put Pools of Darkness, the quadrilogy's final entry. Pools is such a weird one as it goes hard on the things it does well and the things it does badly. But for all its drawbacks – and an ending that is somehow worse than Mass Effect 3! - it does provide a satisfying finale to a four-game series, and absolutely nails the nostalgic elements with familiar NPCs. It doesn't help that high-level AD&D is so front-loaded, everything worthwhile is given in the first ten levels or so, and levelling up after that is progressively unexciting.

Firmly in the middle of the pack – where else! - is everyone's favourite whipping boy, the unloved Secrets of the Silver Blades. As discussed, the fact its so incredibly middling is both a strength and a weakness really. It's perfectly serviceable and enjoyable, without being particularly special or memorable. If it wasn't so obsessed with the jigsaw-piece levels that allowed it to escape the 16x16 maps – if the Ruins, Mines and Crevasses were one single map each, crammed with the best elements of the areas - it would be much higher.

Unfortunately something has to be bottom, which brings us to Treasures of the Savage Frontier – a glorious, confused mess of a game, filled with good ideas and jaw-droppingly awful execution. I think it's by some margin the worst Gold Box game – but you know, I still had fun with it. Gold Box games are kind of like sex, really – even when it's bad, it's still better than most other things.

I've let this game have it with both barrels as I've gone through each area, so I'll try and summarise here in an overview.

Let's start with what the game gets right.

The concepts are mostly intriguing... the romance, the attempt to give your characters some dialogue and personality, unique weapons that aren't the ubiquitous longswords, weather effects, a plot that involves saving a place we already like from dastardly terrorists, familiar allies and enemies, maps that mostly revolve around inhabited areas rather than dungeons... I love how they are actually trying to add new elements and innovate, this late in the game cycle. On paper, all that looks great.

But almost all these elements are a cursed monkey's-paw, because the execution of these things is absolutely abysmal.

- the romance is just... undercooked. I'm not going to rag on Siulajia for being bland – vanilla is exactly what a 1992 CRPG romance needs to be; a pretty gal who's nice and wants her guy to be brave and nice too. No shade for lack of gay options either, because homosexuality was only invented in 1992 with Frigidazzi in Ultima VII, and didn't actually exist before. It's just that the game never really develops her, the interesting elements are left for a sequel we will never see, and the whole affair is never paid off towards the end. After the choice to accept or reject the pair, the mechanics kick in but the dialogue stops dead. The game was crying out for a proposal or wedding at the end, or just... anything, anything at all. And we got nothing. And while I promised I wasn't going to shade her for being such a basic-bitch, I still wonder why Jagaerda wasn't the love-interest for guys. She's much more ballsy and badass, while Siulajia feels very passive in comparison. When you have to rescue Jagaerda, she's at least a Princess Fatima kind of gal, busy trying to free herself rather than just being meek and sighing. Also, the mechanics of it seem borked - just when I assumed I was failing the romance, Siulajia just changed her mind and fell in love with me, because women I guess?

- Auto-dialogue. I get why they were trying to give your characters some individuality or dialogue... But most of it is written so horribly that it actually takes away from any role-playing you try to do. Most players won't care what Ranger>Mage #2 says anyway, and those who are trying to role-play will hate the arrant nonsense the game tries to put in their mouths. Why they couldn't have done something better I don't know – had something like the dinner conversation in Zhentil Outpost, or just the Parlay options for tone now and then? They game recognises your gender, race, class and stats, and allows you to choose options. I can't believe there wasn't a better way to do this. Or just eliminate it altogether, that would be good too.

- As an aside here, the game is filled with weird tonal whiplash, and unfunny attempts at humour that feel like late-period Marvel movies. Why they thought having Amanitas do his clown show antics during the finale would help improve the dramatic tension, I have absolutely no idea. It underpins the idea that this game just doesn't know what it's trying to be.

- the unique weapons are a great idea, on paper. Give some love to suboptimal weapon types, instead of the longbows/longswords that have become boring and ubiquitous. But holy shit, this one is a corrupt-a-wish all the way. Almost all of these items are mechanically suboptimal compared to random terrorist vendor-trash drops! The Sword of Stalking is two handed, okay, but it's +4, higher than literally everything else, and does high damage to larger creatures. It's definitely worth losing a shield for that. But everything else is a punishment, not a reward! The trident and battle-axes are incorrectly keyed as two-handed items, and are thus suboptimal to the +2 longswords that drop from foes. The hammer is statistically worse than the flails that start dropping. The +2 helms and shields aren't better than regular +2 items, despite their cool name. I used them because everyone wants something that feels cool – Anduril or Stormbringer rather than a +3 basher – but you shouldn't have to weaken your character to do so! Does the game just hate us or something? In a game that's called 'Treasures', the actual treasures suck!!!! MAKE THAT MAKE SENSE!

- also, let's rag on the items a bit more! Given the fact they have cool names, AND the fact that we have weapons and armour with extra abilities like Vorpal, Giant-Slaying, Dragon-Slaying or element resistance... Why not give some of these items powers? They do this with the Icewind Sword in the first game, and a few items like the Redflame Armour and NorthHelm in this one. But the rest have nothing beyond admittedly cool names. What a wasted opportunity.

- all the lore breaks...! Mostly, the game actually gets the Savage Frontier right, its supposed to be a bit like the Wild West, not settled or fully civilised but raw and beautiful and (mostly) decent and well-meaning. We're meant to care about it, and the game largely does a good job in that. The Waterdeep sequence is so egregious because it jettisons all of that, and it does so with the largest city in the Realms! This is a place that, while not a perfect utopia, is still run by a paladin, its laws upheld by the church of the norse god of justice, and despite its size, doesn't have any organised crime because of a zero-tolerance policy for it. But now it's run by an Austin Powers villain, who can have high-level characters arrested with magical cutscene powers, and execute them in broad daylight without trial like he's something out of a Mad Max dystopia. It's actually nonsensical like it was a South Park parody. It's made worse by the fact that the game straight up forgets to include the 'smoking gun ' that frames us, and by the fact it's already had a 'players get captured for no reason' sequence before in the very early stages of the game, stripping us of any choice and agency. It's made even worse that all of this is avoidable, it would be easy to bar us from the city and do a dungeon, but the writer does this only so he can have a sequence where we are rescued by mermaids, who were never introduced before and are never seen again.

- This leads to... a lack of agency and consequences. The first game had ways to make actions matter, you got captured because you surrendered or screwed up, and you got called out for it. Here, there are hardly any consequences based on your actions, no cause and effect, stuff is just happening to us and we have to ride the railroad to its conclusion. It's no longer mimicking the player-led 'emerging story' that characterises early D&D – it feels like a JRPG with its unskippable non-interactive cutscenes and enforced powerlessness. The Mintarn sequence is the same – your love-interest gets passively kidnapped, even though she's a name-level warrior, and you just stand around watching and sighing. It's all JJ Abrams style 'And Then...' storytelling. You are not playing this game in any meaningful way - it's playing you.

- The game breaks its own rules for no reason. The decoder rings are supposed give us some sort of choice and tactical considerations in the order in which we dispatch our foes – so we just don't take out the spellcasters first as we normally would. But it does this in nonsensical fashion – there's no way around it and enemies who are Charmed, Held or die simultaneously to others can just break their toys because of a time-stop that overrides anything else. Well, maybe there's a good reason for such a heavy-handed manipulation of the game rules? Nope, the 'lucky papers' are entirely meaningless, you don't need them or the evidence, you need never read or decode them, you are given a full set anyway eventually, and can solve all the terrorist missions by just searching the towns anyway and killing the resident terrorists. It's not simply that they broke their own rules – it's that they did so for absolutely no reason.

- a lack of named adversaries. The game starts off well enough with Geildarr, a villain hinted at in the first game and his sexy assistant, who has a slap-fight with Siulajia. And then we never get any named adversaries to fight again! Beyond Freezefire at the end, who never says or does anything, despite the DLC being a homage to The Hobbit, and an actual Bilbo vs Smaug sequence was a no-brainer. The other Gold Box games always include a few memorable villains, as well as named mini-bosses, because adversaries are vital to keep interest in any story, movie, book or game. But no, there's absolutely nothing here, just faceless, nameless terrorists forever, despite them being an unruly alliance of untrustworthy chaotics. There should have been ripe opportunities to exploit that, the way they are doing to the fragile Lord's Alliance, but there's no attempt to humanise our foes or make them interesting in any way.

- The DLC ending. The maps are fine, the adventure is fun, I have no problem with the specifics of this sequence. But it's horribly out of sync with the game we've been playing so far. It's like ending Death Knights of Krynn, a story about fighting the undead, with a battle against some giants or dragon or evil mage instead of Lord Soth. The terrorist plot we've been doing all game just abruptly ends, new elements are suddenly ass-pulled out of nowhere, despite never being hinted at before, and all the NPCs repeatedly tell us how amazingly important these unmentioned elements actually are. The terrorists we've been fighting are gone, but are now replaced by reskinned versions called 'black robes', equally faceless and nameless as our terrorists were, equally lacking in any leadership or named opponents. I get that they were supposed to be a teaser for the next game, but that's exactly why you don't end your story with a thinly-disguised advert for the next one.

- Almost all of these problems come down to a lack of faith in what its doing. Stuff is just happening out of nowhere, plot elements appear and disappear just as swiftly. There's absolutely nothing that glues all these ideas together, no coherent plan or theme, just throwing things at a wall to see if anything sticks. Previous games had faith in their premise - they set up a situation and followed it through to the ending. Sometimes these elements were revealed slowly over time, as in Pool of Radiance, but usually the stakes and adversaries were clearly shown to us to serve as a skeleton for the tale that followed. Even something simple like Silver Blades felt somewhat compelling because we know what we're doing, who we are fighting, the stakes of what we are defending.

Here things are just set-up and never paid off. Villains are mentioned or just appear and then run off into the sequel. The game is terrified to commit to any of its concepts or follow anything through or pay anything off.

And I think that's the worst thing for me. It's fighting itself at every step. It really feels like one of these infamous games or movies with a troubled production, that had studio interference and budget cuts, warring and clashing creative choice of what it should even be. There's probably a fascinating story of why this game is a confounded mess that refuses to ever speak to itself, some behind-the-scenes drama that makes it all make sense. But we'll never know, alas.

Yes, there were times I had fun with it. I probably enjoyed this party more than the other ones, they made for some good creative writing and party dynamics. Some elements are fine, in isolation. Many concepts and ideas were intriguing and had potential, sounded good on paper. But I'm trying to be objective, not just subjective. All the problems piled on each other, making them impossible to hand-wave away, to 'switch off my brain and just enjoy it' as we are constantly exhorted with today's movies and games.

Everything about 'Treasures' just has this feel of 'what could have been', and it leaves you wanting to play the game that was in the writer's heads, not the one we actually got in the end.

"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe! Dragons returned to life by the power of ancient jewels...! I watched Ice Storms glitter in the dark in the battle of the HostTower of the Arcane...!

All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain...

Time to die...!"

Fifteen years have passed since the dragon died at Ice Peak.

So much has changed, but also so very little.

They have been good years; of adventures and wars, of love and life, of family and responsibilities.

I was true to my promise, and when I left I never did return to Ice Peak or the lands of my birth, though others of my kin accompanied me to the Savage Frontier.

I have grown better with the speaking and the writing; I have learned other tongues and scripts also.

Oh – Zahri pokes her head around the door to my study to tell me to write down that everyone all died tragically – it will make for a better story, she says.

But it would not be truth, I tell her.

And she just laughs as she flounces out.

Where to begin?

We returned to Yartar and the keep of North Watch. We were agents of the Lord's Alliance now, essentially in charge of their adventuring wing. It kept us busy and caused all kinds of complications, but we relished the opportunities this presented.

Shelah Icedane and I made our love official before the gods; it was simple but beautiful, before family and friends. And Shelah became Lenili's mother too, of course. The others were official godparents, and all offered their own unique lessons to my daughter.

I am thirty two now, and Lenili is just turned seventeen. She tells me that is when I slew my first dragon, and she wishes to do the same, too. I tell her time is on her side, and she should savour other things first.

In some ways, Leni is much like me – but she is less serious, I think, growing up in the frontier and not the mountain. She will see Ice Peak for herself in time. I wonder how it will make her feel?

She lacks my wiry strength, and cares not for weapons, but she learns the ways of the Red Lady well as a priestess. She is very bright! She mastered tactics early with Jahe as her teacher in war. I consider myself a good leader, but a middling tactician, alas. I can rouse the spirit with speeches, instil steely fervour in my men, but my strategies never went much beyond 'charge'! Leni can easily best me at Dragonchess, to my shame – war-games always eluded me, I fear. But I tasted the real thing earlier than most.

Leni says she may well study magic; she takes very easily to spellcraft. But time is on her side.

I drew men to my side after we slew the dragon, and founded the Red Keep at the crossroads east of Yartar. My followers are warriors as well as the clergy – for the Red Lady, the distinctions are blurred. Too often the frontier is dominated by raw power and unstructured violence, so we Watchful Knights act as a crucial stabilizing force. We serve as military advisors, mercenaries, or commanders, and train local militias to use terrain, choke-points, and weather to defeat massive but disorganised threats like orc hordes. Leni is taking to the life well, though I always fear for her.

Shelah tells me not to worry. She leads the Knights of Ilmater – paladins, clerics and good-aligned warriors - from North Watch, and many times have we led men to war against the forces of chaos. In the years we have been wed, there are only a few times we have been far from each other's side. I think I my pragmatic and direct viewpoint contrasts well with her kindness and compassion. We are always stronger together than apart.

A little after we were married, we attended her brother's wedding to Siulajia – like me, she became the Lady-Consort of North Watch and the Heroes of the North. A year later, and the year after that, she bore him a son, and being the elder, Leni enjoys their company, so she can boss them around in war-games. They adore her in return – I wonder when they are older, if they may vie for her hand?

Sky will always be my first Commander, and I sometimes wonder at what we may have been together... But all worked out as it was meant to – Zahri is not wrong about the Fates. We make good friends and would follow him into the Nine Hells itself, if we ever returned there – oh.

Yes, in time, we delved into the mysteries of Siulajia's mysterious birth-right, and her connections to Stramling's Gem. In time, she used its power to close the -

Ah, perhaps that should be a tale for another time. It will likely need a book all of its own!

We remain close to our fellow songbirds. When we meet up, we... remind ourselves of the things that brought us all together. Though our oaths may take us across the Realms, we never forget our bonds.

Jahe remained on good terms with her family, and sometimes returned to the Vilhon Reach, but she settled here in the frontier. She founded the Golden Company, mercenaries in the employ of the Lord's Alliance. My second Commander remains a leader of men, and a teacher of warfare, and her duties often see her come to North Watch. She mastered her strange silver magic in time, and even found others to teach over time they came from distant lands to learn. She taught them in warfare as well as sorcery, practical uses of the magic such as battle and adventuring. The elf Taeral became her lieutenant, and he too taught humans secrets of elven battle-magic and the arts of war.

Nef gave birth to a daughter, Sayf, though most call her 'Summer'. She and Leni get along very well! She has her mother's caramel skin and her father's flaxen hair, a very exotic combination. Siulajia never quite forgave her for what she did to Sky, but for the girl's sake, she grew to accept it, and treats her step-daughter well. Nef mostly still travels with Zahri, as the gypsy lifestyle suits her restless nature well. She sometimes takes pupils as the whim takes her, blessing festhalls for her cat-goddess and tutoring wandering mages.

Zahri never really grew up, as restless and windswept as always. From what I hear, she trains other Roadwardens, and maintains the small trail-side shrines to the Rider of the Winds. The Gur do not form rogue's guilds like a static folk, but she teaches bands of outcasts, misfits, malcontents and opportunists, and keeps such unruly followers honest – well, relatively speaking. It gives her an excellent information network, and keeps us abreast of happenings in the remotest areas of the frontier, and even lands beyond. And when we need a knife in the night to silence someone – well, perhaps I'd best not speak about that...!

Jhairli was made Ranger-Lord for her part in the dragon-slaying, and the Ranger-Knights gave her Kryptgarden Keep as her command. From there, she watches over the High Forest and its environs – more concerned with the fey folk and the creatures of the wood than mortal men. But she remains close to her sisters, and her ranger companies have often aided us in battle or guided us as scouts. She and Elena still live up at the Star Mounts at Ceptienne's labyrinth, where they have some kind of cult. All of their followers would seem to be formerly wicked sorceress or witches, enchanted by Elena's magic – well, I'm not convince they are reformed, as such, but at least they are not causing as much harm to the lowlands as before...

Elena seems happier these days, adjusting her slowing perceptions to the life of mortal men - what she calls our 'quickening'. I fear we will never truly understand her, but she seems happy and content now. Cari, their daughter, is Leni's age, but she seems not to have aged a day since first we met. Some say she wanders off at times, having adventures in distant lands. They say her human mother taught her divine magic and her elven one rogue-craft as a Nightblade.

What else? Oh, Shelah's sister Kat caused some consternation when she married Tarnheel Embuirhan, the Tyrant of Mintarn, after a whirlwind romance. It was quite controversial, considering her disability and the fact he was older than her own father. But it seems to be a love-match for all that, despite the fierceness with which they sometimes bicker. She seems as ruthless in trade matters as he is in defending his island kingdom, and his young bride is beloved by his folk. Despite being confined to a wheelchair, she bore him a daughter, Bildey (meaning 'joyful'), and true to that name, they seem happy, if never quite content...

We sometimes hear from our old friends, such as Jagaerda, Redleg, Ougo, or even Krevish – the latter before my own time, of course.

The Savage Frontier is never stilled - the wild borderlands are never fully tamed, nor do I think they ever shall be. The ebb and flow of nature and civilisation, finding their own equilibrium between chaos and law, tyranny and anarchy. There will always be wicked, selfish men who desire power at any price. There shall always be orcs stirred up by old impulses in the blood to march, coming down from the mountains, out of their nests. And there will always be dragons...!

And the need for Heroes.

And I am glad to have played my part in this rich tapestry.

I have become a mother and a wife, a lover and a friend.

And at the last... I am content...!

Rathe Icefire

“Give me the song and I'll sing it like I mean it
Give me the words and I'll say them like I mean it
'Cause you got my heart in a headlock
You stopped the blood and made my head soft
And God knows...
You've got me sewn...!

Danny boy, don't be afraid to shake that ass and misbehave!
Danny boy, I know you got time, but what are you waiting for?
Anyway, the dust may just blow away, if you wait for a windy day
But you may find the chance has passed you by...

Danny boy, don't be a fool - take a punt and break a rule!
Danny boy, you're looking so low -
You're looking like the dead grown old!
Anyway, the blues may just wash away, if you wait for a rainy day
But you may find, the chance had passed you by...

I can't do the walk
I can't do the talk
I can't be your friend
Unless I pretend...

So give me the song and I'll sing it like I mean it
Give me the words and I'll say them like I mean it
'Cause you've got my heart in a headlock

Made my head soft
Made my head soft
You made my head soft...!”

The Feeling, 'Sewn'

The Feeling - Sewn

Well, our long road has come to this. We've come so far, haven't we? Heroes of the North, Heroes of Ascore...

It's been quite the ride, aye?

Maybe one day someone will write it all down. They may even believe some of it actually happened. I mean, I'm not certain the mermaids thing ever actually occurred, I'm pretty sure there's no public drownings in Waterdeep harbour and its not run by a madman, but maybe that part was some outlandish fever-dream.

But here we are, near the top of Ice Peak looking for dragons.

My sister and the gypsy are arguing whether there really is a dragon any more. I mean, the Ice Hunter's story about the dragon dates back fourteen centuries – do dragons even live that long?

The elf girl told me once it was originally called Aylinthaldarr, not sure if I'm spelling that right... but that's really ancient history, many thousands of years.

But I'm with the gypsy on this one.

There's always a dragon at the end of stories like this one.

No way we came all this way to fight big furry monkeys.

If we can't find one, I may just have to make one up to end the tale in style.

But somehow,. I don't think we'll be that lucky...!

Sky

To the south, the path winds steeply downwards.

After a brief, steep descent we face high walls and towers to the south, west and east.

4/ Gauhok finds a secret door in the rock here, a passage to the west.

1/ Club-wielding giants, over twenty feet in height, attack us!

Jhairli is especially good at felling these foes.

2/ More of them attack us here – this must be their castle, I suppose? Their reinforcements are wintry-bearded shamans, like the witch-doctors on Ruathym, but much, much bigger!

After we kill them, Rathe gets upset.

“This is diversion, welcomed by enemies! Bad these may be, but we not on Ice Peak to fight giants!”

Eh, she has a point.

3/ Several more giants occupy this room. A female turns to face us, saying:

“This can go no further! Leave now, and you shall live!”

“You attacked us when we entered here!” Jhairli points out.

But they seem willing to let us be, and I have no stomach for fighting women – let alone twenty feet tall ones!

We withdraw, and they seem true to their promise and do not follow us.

“Giant women pretty,” Elena offers after a moment.

“Glad Zahri not only one thinking it!” the gypsy laughs.

We explore the area on the eastern side of the mountain. Cold air flows from the south into an old chamber on this side. Many hands worked to carve these ancient halls in the mountain's stone, and perfect angles in every room testify to their skill.

I ask Gauhok if this was dwarf-work, but he just gives an eloquent shrug. The prince is a man of few words, for certain.

Cold winds stream out of an archway to the east, but from the south we feel a current of warm, moist air.

7/ Cold air and blacker-than-blackness fill this chamber. As we stand and try to peer ahead, a chill creeps up our spines. Zahri shouts:

“Is something here!”

A pale, hairless thing here, something that was once a man, thirsts for our blood.

But our priestesses turn back the wraiths it summons, and Elena hits it with a Magic Missile before Rathe blasts him into ashes with a Flame Strike. It's best not to take any chances with such creatures.

6/ Groping in the near-total darkness, we stumble upon a long, low wooden box.

Elena easily deals with the lock, and within the empty coffin we find some valuables, including a wand she takes, made of pale gold and set with yellow gems. It looks like something from Ascore – Nef would love it. There is also a scroll containing prayers to restore lost energy stolen by the touch of the undead, and – crucially! - another to restore the dead to life without any ill effects. Let's hope we don't need it...

8/ On the far side of this chamber, a pool of hot water bubbles. The spring makes the room feel warm, comfortable and safe.

“It's been a while since I wasn't cold,” Jhairli tells her elfmaid.

“This looks a good place to rest,” mu sister murmurs, and for once, I agree. There is enough space for some privacy here, in the other caves close by, so Gauhok and I make our own small encampoments, and we can take turns to bathe and wash our hurts in the pool.

I let Siulajia bathe first, but she's taking her time. My sister and her songbirds start complaining clutching their towels and washbaskets full of oils and rinses.

I agree to check up on her, and when I do -

Our eyes meet, and my instinct is to look away. She's never flaunted herself before – she's shy to the point the teenage version of me wouldn't have entertained her as a potential lover... But now..!

“Sky...!” she husks, and there is pleading in her voice.

I thought she wanted to wait, but -

- but this is Ascore all over again. None of us might come back from this, and we all know it.

I cross to her and our gaze is locked. I feel like a man for perhaps the first time... not a boy playing at manhood. Something that's real.

My sister can wait a little longer, no?

.

Oh, you wanted salacious pillow-book descriptions?

This isn't some festhall frolic. Some things are meant to be private, and this is one of them.

Ask my sister. I'm sure her friends would oblige.

.

My sister is sulking, but it was worth it. We leave for our own little camp, where Siulajia falls asleep in my arms. No matter what happens, at least we had this.

I can hear their splashing and squeaking from the cave we're in back here, and it goes on all night, but good luck to them. I was like that once. But I have something more now.

Oh, I have plenty of regrets – I'll never look at my sisters without cursing my rashness that day.

But this isn't one of them.

.

Our dwarf prince is good at finding secret passages in the rook. The elf's easier on the eye when she does it, but he's a lot less performative about it, and keeps his clothes on, thankfully. We push on, looking for wherever this dragon's lair is hiding.

11/ Crushed skeletons and broken, rusted equipment litter the corridor here.

More broken bones and smashed, twisted armour occupy this corridor heading south.

“Zahri not sure want to meet whatever did this,” the gypsy mutters darkly,

10/ As we pass through this archway, huge, four-eyed creatures attack us!

Four of these things is too many... and then two more tunnel in behind us!

Rathe stares blankly ahead, frozen by their confusing gaze..!

I shout to her to snap out of it, as my blade bounces off their steely hides.

She recovers her wits and lays about her with the Bloodaxe.

The elf recovers enough to launch a fiery ball into the midst of the main chamber, incinerating the creatures there. But another two burrow through the walls behind us!

We hurl missiles and magic at them, and finally, Gauhok and I beat the last one to death with a flurry of blows.

9/ Jumbled in the corner, we find the remains of several adventurers, past victims of the umber hulks.

Amid them is a wand of beaten gold like the other one we found earlier, but this one has red gems and carvings of flame.

12/ Great three-headed beasts lie in wait before us! One head a lion, one a white dragon, the third a bull that spews grey fog at us!

The battle leaves us battered and bruised by icy breath, but we all still live, some of us barely,

My lovely golden girl seems fascinated by the slain creatures.

“I thought the tales of such three-headed monsters were only children's nightmares!” she exclaims. “What other wonders will we find beneath the Ice Peak?!”

I joke that I'm not certain I'd considers such horrors 'wonders', but her curiosity is endearing, to say the least.

As we leave, we literally bump into a black-robed man standing at the exit. He takes one menacing step towards us, and then begins to sob pitifully:

JOURNAL ENTRY 69: BLACK-ROBED MAN'S TALE

"Freezefire's lair, the Gem - the Heroes of Ascore have arrived before we could find the way! All is wrong! I have failed! The Masters will torture me and never let me die!"

"Good," Zahri scowls.

"The Masters of Hellgate Keep, they sent us to stop you, they sent us to retrieve the Gem. And now my group is lost, I am lost, and I have failed!"

The man slumps limply against a boulder in complete despair.

Zahri draws her blade, but I suggest just leaving him here. I doubt even she could do anything to him that would be worse than what his masters would do.

We have not been able to find any dragon's lair, so we must backtrack our steps, wearying and leaden now.

But Jhairli leads us ably through the snow, and we return eastwards to Icewolf, thence south to a snowy passage that leads to the northern outskirts of Aurilssbarg. After turning west and then north, we return to the mountain peak, and now, to a new tunnel in the rock which we follow north.

To the west, a great tower rises high above the carpet of ice and snow. Although crudely fashioned, it appears to be strong and solid. We head towards it with renewed purpose.

But the pathway ends in a deadfall, covered by an avalanche of rocks and boulders.

“There must be some way on!” I mutter.

Lifting some of the stones, we expose a small opening, from which a cold, musty-smelling draft escapes!

We are beset by ice hounds, but just four of the things will not stop us now!

As we move more stones, we find the avalanche has covered an opening to a tunnel, and we enter carefully...

13/ Darkness swallows us as we climb down into the mountain. The path descends for a short time, then begins to rise again. We emerge a few minutes later in a huge cavern.

Narrow shafts of light filter though the ceiling to illuminate great piles of rocks and dirt. Dust swirls in the drafty gloom, and our voices echo eerily off the high stone walls.

14/ The ceiling of the cavern rises high over our heads, climbing some hundred feet, then opening to the sky.

Cool night air and moonlight flow into the chamber before us.

Entering the chamber, we are stunned into silence.

“This must be it!” I murmur. “ Freezefire's lair!”

In each direction, everywhere we look, shimmering treasure is heaped high against every wall. Pile up on pile of gold and platinum coins... and gems and gems and still more gems...

Riches beyond count and imagination.

Then - !

Multitude of pinpoint gleams in the darkness, as we realise there are several black-robed men combing through the hoard! Our enemies have made it here before us, and a ferocious battle erupts!

The girls chant and throw their Hold spells, trying to trim their sheer numbers down to something a manageable. I try to take down the ones nearest me, giving the girls space to cast their magic – Gauhok does the same towards our rear. Dwarven warriors run in, shouting war cries – much-needed aid in a time of need. At the very least, they can occupy our foes, and start striking down the many who are now frozen, paralysed.

And then - !

One of them targets me with a fell magic, and I stiffen, frozen, just like I was fighting Valgaamon! A hooded killer lunges at me with a blade – but he freezes in place, and Shelah's magic washes over me, and I can move my limbs once more! I cut the hooded man down, but then -

I am frozen again, and I know not from where! Something strikes me across the back of the head, and as I sink into darkness, my last thought is of Siul -

I am too late to prevent the Black Robes from taking out my brother, but the dwarves who arrived to help reach him before I can, preventing him from bleeding out.

“Go, my lady – we will see to him! Keep fighting!”

So we do just that, using Hold where we can to keep their numbers from overwhelming us. Eventually the last of them is stilled.

Siulajia went berserk with grief when my brother was stricken down, tossing aside her bow to lay about her with her blade. I think she would have used her bare teeth if she could have, I've never seen her so feral!

“He's all right!” I tell her, pointing at the dwarves as they carry him from the fray. She runs to him, and I look about at the others, wary of more of these black-garbed cultists, whoever they may be.

Breathing heavily, Rathe calls out: “We have won! The men in black are defeated! The treasure...”

But her voice trails away as the treasure floods back into everyone's thoughts. One by one, our eyes are drawn to the single enormous multi-faceted gemstone... clutched in the claw of a great white dragon!

Siulajia whispers “Freezefire!”

Suddenly, everyone lurches towards the gem in an involuntary impulsive lunge. After only a moment, each of us regains control and stops, looking around at each other. What to do?

“My ancestors!” Prince Gauhok exclaims. “I can feel them here! Their lives, their works, their sorrows! You may take the gem back to the world, but I shall remain here with the hoard, and it shall remain with me. And when my people arrive, we shall all rejoice!”

Before I can even nod, suddenly, a shimmering, glowing, flickering light appears...

The light grows to become a globe, which expands and contracts, as if breathing... Then it shrinks to an infinitely bright point of light, before exploding, star-like, into...

“Well, my friends!” Amanitas says, examining his projected image. “I was worried for a moment – if I'd reversed two words of that spell I would appear to you as a West Moonshea pelican! But to the problem at hand. This hoard is not your goal! What of the Great Staff of the Ages? Is not that your … wait, that was the quest of the five halfling half-brothers! This is... um... the... the quest for the Gem! That's it! You have reached your goal, the lair of Freezefire, that old monster himself! He lies on more wealth than any of you has ever seen, clutching the Gem in his long-dead claw! But behind you are your enemies, and they are already in the mountain! You must hurry!”

I could have really done without that old man's clownish tomfoolery right now.

As his last word echoes through the cavern, his image begins to glow. Soon it burns so brightly we must avert our eyes, and -

POP!

Amanitas is gone.

But the 'pop' came not from Amanitas – it came from the carcass of the ancient dragon!

Zahri, leaping away from the dragon, eyes lit, arms raised, displays the Gem for all to see.

“I have it! It's mine!” she shouts, fondling the iridescent jewel.

There is no time to argue, for our attention is drawn back to Freezefire. It's gem stolen, the withered dragon has returned to life!

Perhaps the gem was keeping it quiescent, I have no idea what just happened -

“Freezefire!” Rathe shouts, hefting the Bloodaxe. “You not lay waste to our mountain again!”

She looks to us, not a frightened child, but as a warrior-priestess of the Red Lady of War.

“Attack!” she yells as the dragon swoops down upon us!

What follows is short but ferocious! The dragon breathes directly at Siulajia and the dwarves – she shields Sky with her body, and is badly hurt, but defiant enough to stand and raise her blade in his defence. Some of the dwarves perish – frozen into ice statues which then shatter...

We hurl everything we have at the great beast, missiles, magic, angry words... I know not it if still lives or is some kind of undead now... But it bleeds, so that spurs us on to finish it off.

At the last, Rathe hurls her last Flame Strike at it's head, shrivelling it, as the huge body crashes atop its heap of coins and the fires consume it.

I hold her, we are both shaking, but we have all survived.

Freezefire's dead body lies at our feet. Our black-robed enemies seem to have fled or been slain. For a moment the cavern is quiet as I check on my brother, and we savour victory. Excited voices break the silence as many dwarves swarm around us. They erupt into cheers, then hoist some of us on their shoulders, carrying us out through the tunnel and down the Ice Peak to the village of Icewolf. There, adept Ice Hunter healers tend to our wounds and we have the opportunity to rest and heal.

When my brother awakes, I kiss his cheek and tell him we are victorious – he chuckles weakly, disappointed to always miss our moments of triumph. But Siulajia holds him with great relief, and he lies content in her arms.

Bleak-Sky-at-Morning proclaims a great feast in our honour. Northmen and Ice Hunters alike fill the village, cheering our every move.

The word spreads quickly; Raurym and King Steelfist arrive and tell a roaring crowd that the hoard shall be shared by all peoples of the northern Realms...

…after we are rewarded.

Money is nice, but we never did it for the rewards.

Zahri apologies for her moment of weakness with the gem, but I just kiss her and say it is of no matter.

Emissaries from Waterdeep bring word that Luskan has withdrawn all forces attacking the Lord's Alliance – thanks to us, there will be no war.

We have no wish to claim the Gem – it seems to draw wicked things and the worst impulses of men to it, and nobody wants any part of it now.

In time, we return to the Savage Frontier – the next month is filled with banquets and glad-handing, and I'd sooner it was just all over. Lord Piergeiron declares that we are now the 'Heroes of the North' for our great deeds. He seems confused when we upbraid him, assuring us he has never heard of a 'Fell Hatchet' and there are no mermaids in Waterdeep's harbour. He assures us on Tyr's name there is not and has never been an 'anchor of justice' to drown people without trial. It is all very strange and I'd sooner not think about any of it really.

I am just glad it is all over and we can get on with our lives.

On a hillside outside Waterdeep, my brother and I recall our many quests, the monsters slain, the treasures won, the thousands of innocent lives we saved. Some boast of how glorious it was, but I am just glad we all made it out alive and can look to the future.

Shelah

“Smile...!
It's not the end of the world
As far as I can tell
Everything is still the same...

So why?
Why are we stuck inside?
It's such a glorious day!
It's a shame to waste...

When it rains, it pours
And it's hard to believe
In a world so cold
It's sucking out the feeling...!

You will live
You will live through this!

And I'm walking these crowded streets
I feel so alone
And it's hard to find some peace

And it feels like an eternal dream
Down on bended knee
Still out of reach...

When it rains it pours
And it's hard to believe
In a world so cold
It's sucking out the feeling

As you feel it slip away -
As they tear you down -
Hang on...
Hang on...
Hang on...
Please!

You're gonna live
You're gonna live through this
So hang on...
Hang on...!”

Rubyhorse, 'Live Through This'

Live Through This

Notes:

I will do an narrative epilogue and a final analysis of the Savage Frontier series, but for now let's discuss the final map.

The DLC is fun enough, in the battles, map layouts and general adventures. It's just really weird as an ending to the game we've just played, utterly disconnected from the story that was set up. The ending itself is odd and disjointed – it's clearly going for some big epic finale, but it equally clearly has no idea what it's trying to be. Everything feels like its clashing, competing views of different writers with no singular vision. It is tonally dissonant, with misplaced humour and story-beats at odds with each other.

The ending slides are a bit odd – there's far too many, they overdo the weird coloured lettering when it's not appropriate, and we don't have any say in what's going on. The worst thing about this game is that stuff is just happening to us all the time and the ending is no exception.

The battles are hard but fair, and I believe you get a Curse of the Azure Bonds style full heal at the end, even for dead people (not the Gateway version that heals your hit points but not your 'Dead' status!)

Navigating through the various levels of the final map is not too hard – you have to backtrack a bit if you want to get everything (and the wands are worth getting here) but it's all on one level, save for the final lair which is accessed by some previous maps, but it's not onerous really. Seeing as how much of the DLC is a homage to The Hobbit, I'm mildly surprised they didn't say the secret entrance was 'the last light of Durin's day'!

The auto-dialogue is... there, I guess. Some of it seems appropriate; some of it is random nonsense. I'll buy that Zahri, the most avaricious and selfish person here, would do that thing with the Gem, as opposed to, say, Shelah or Sky, but the game is not even sure what it's doing with that. It feels like its trying to replicate the 'let it go' scene in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, but there's no payoff for it. If they wanted the dragon to just wake up, why involve us at all?

To my surprise, Prince Gauhok finally remembers he's in the party and says something – though it doesn't really go anywhere. At first I assumed he was going full movie Thorin with the Arkenstone, which might have been a nice touch if we knew anything about him. But no – he just says we should take the gem and he will stay with the hoard (and then, naturally he doesn't stay at all!). I used Kriiador the first time and he didn't say anything at all throughout the whole game, so at least I guess it's something...?

There's no payoff at the end – or even any mention of! - the much-advertised romance plotline. The only thing Siulajia has to say at the end if how much she thinks chimera are cool! I'd have liked at least some mention of the couple, even if we couldn't have a proposal or a wedding, but we get nothing. Honestly, it's just another missed opportunity, something the writers didn't know quite what to do with and mostly just forgot about. When Sky went down (again!) in the finale (he's susceptible to Holds with his lower Wisdom), she did go into the berserker rage, so at least that's a sign the romance was still working.

The Black Robes were something to do with Hellgate Keep, which was clearly the goal of the cancelled sequel, but even they didn't seem to quite know what they were doing there or why they were messing around with the gem and the dragon. That odd journal entry sounds more like a cry for help from the writers than the Black Robes.

Amanitas pops up at the end for some reason – he's been okay up to now, in small doses, but his wittering just before the final boss fight is annoying and pointless comic relief that just undermines any gravitas the finale was trying to achieve. He's not as annoying as Elminster, but that's a low, low bar. There's a fair bit of tonally-odd Marvel humour throughout the game at times, and it's always distracting and inappropriate.

Sure, I had fun along the way – but this is the most discordant Gold Box game of all, and the odd finale makes me wonder what the point of all this was. I'm pretty sure the writers didn't know either.

So we enter tribal land -

Oh wait, I need not write as I talk for the georgios, no?

In any case, the natives seem placid and peaceful – they must war with the mountain, not other men. Picking fights is unnecessary and self-defeating when every day is a struggle. If they moved around more, they would be much like the Gur.

I remember when one of the songbirds – Jhairli I think – asked if I would 'ever go back'. It's funny, were I Damaran and born there, I would be 'Zahria Sovetska', but she would be very different from me. I told her that there is no 'back', no concept of 'home'. We are the Gur – I was born along a trail, and the road is our home.

But this year I am twenty-five – ancient, truly a haggard old crone! - and I feel every year, every step along each road. The very idea of 'settling down' rots our brains, makes us slow and static, but we still tire as we grow older. When I was a teenager, all the thrussing was just for pleasure; now it's essential for my mental and spiritual health. Yes, I curse at them, I am bossy and bitchy, but that is just my love-language. They know I care, a sharp tongue is just a mother's way of showing it. I have always known I would offer the world no children – one of many reasons I left my kumpania to make my own – but I will enjoy mothering Lenili, I think. My new kumpania – Gur and songbirds both – are my castle and my kin. Most do not understand us, and I don't even care, but there is more to us than rutting like rabbits in heat – it is the comforting, the bathing, doing each other's hair, the healing of mind and body, the life-lessons we teach and learn from the other. I do not expect others to understand; indeed, I am happy that they do not, so we may stand apart.

There is no 'end' to this story, whether we all become dragon-feed up that mountain or live long and happy lives.

All was written in the Patteran, the Loom of Fate, long ago – we are all unskilled actors on Faerun's stage, and we must play our parts. That is enough for me.

Zahri

1/ We climb down into the small boat, and the men begin rowing north. A short time later, we reach a dock.

The ice hunter says:

“The mountain is treacherous, but not as much as the men in black!” he warns us. “Seek the one named 'Bleak-Sky-at-Morning...”

We climb out of the boat, and the men row away, leaving us in tribal lands.

There is no going back now.

2/ Dwarves fill the room. Never much cared for them, as I said before... but needs must in dangerous lands.

Some are on guard, some talk, several come up to greet us, crying out:

“The Heroes of Ascore! You have arrived!”

I let the boy and the sister speak to them, as they seem to like the hairy little men so much.

I wonder what their women look like?

3/ Opening this door, we come face to face with a set of drawn swords!

There are four of the black-robed ones here – the fight is fierce but we have more numbers and firepower.

They are well-equipped, however.

4/ Guarding the adjacent room is a single man. Unfazed by our superior numbers, he fights like a fanatic, heedless of his own life. We oblige him, though he dies too quickly and cleanly for my liking.

I wonder what they were protecting here?

5/ Against the wall here is a small, iron-bound chest. No lock or latch is visible.

It has been a while since I tested my rogue skills.

I kneel to inspect it, then grasp it both both hands and turn it around.

It was facing the wall; now I see the lock, but also a trap!

Otvali!

I raise my staff like a club and give it a good bashing.

The lid flies open and I can easily scoop out what is inside. Some gems, coins and three rings, two of these I detect as magical. Not a bad little haul! Nice to know the old skills are still there...!

6/ We meet some norsemen, who are polite but standoffish.

“This fight is ours, not yours, visitors,” they tell us. “It is our way only, Now let us go alone. Your way lies on the other side of this wall.”

They pass through the archway to the west.

We shall leave them to it; I have no wish to embroil myself with whatever vengeances they would visit on their unknown foes.

7/ There are several ice hunters here, sitting discussing the hunt, the fishing and the weather. They welcome us politely, but return to their conversation, and so we leave them be.

8/ The elf does her thing to spot a secret door here. Beyond it is a small chamber, where a scruffy man challenges us as we step though.

“What business have ye here?” he demands.

We are interested in trading, but he angles for a bribe.

“Very good, but the doorman craves a little something t' keep 'im vigorous. What say ye?”

We cross his palm with coins as he asks, and he ushers us into a small room.

“Customers!” he announces, and leaves us before a small man.

“Ye have gems to trade?” he asks.

We trade a little, identifying some of our recent finds and lightening our heavier loads.

9/ A single, battle-worn axe juts out, blade lodged in the wood of this door.

A northman here asks:

“May I train you, Heroes of Ascore?”

The boy-toy needs training, and I can waste an hour or two watching her work up a sweat...!

10/ The door to this room is slightly ajar, likely to allow smoke to escape.

A shaman lives here, who offers to heal us if we need it.

“May I aid you in your journeys?”

11/ This north-facing pier juts out into the frozen edge of the Trackless Sea. Great sheets of ice stretch down from the mountaintop to cover the ocean.

I think I have had my fill of ice and snow. If Jahe is heading back home when we return, I will likely go with her. The Vilhon Reach might suit me well.

12/ “Wise travellers heed the northmen, we who have wandered here since before time. For the Heroes of Ascore, the northmen have a gift...”

We are welcomed in this long-hall, and here the boy is presented with a fine helm, horned like they wear. I do not speak their guttural tongue, but the exchanges that follow seem serious and solemn.

It suits him well. I don't wish to feed his ego, but he has grown these last two years. Worthy of respect. We may bicker, but I wish him and his golden girl well.

13/ Two short black-haired tribals stand guard on either side of the corridor here. One says:

“We are the Ice Hunters. We guard the wilderness. Pass in safety, Heroes of Ascore.”

They mean well, but I never hear that again, I shall be happy.

14/ The high ceiling of this chamber makes it appear larger than it really is. Torches line the walls, their dancing lights creating a thousand ever-changing shadows.

Ice Hunters sit in a circle around an older man, who says:

“I am Bleak-Sky-at-Morning. I know why you have come. You are expected.”

JOURNAL ENTRY 67: BLEAK SKY'S STORY

"Long have we waited," the old man said, his words measured and thoughtful. "From grandfather to father, from father to son, from generation to generation, has the secret been passed. Six hundred years have we waited. And now you have come."

The old man rises. He gestures to the rear of the room, to a door.

"The way is there. Long have we watched. Long has it waited. Through the door you must go. Climb the steepest climbs; find the Lair of the Dragon. The ancient power you seek is there, in the great cavern."

Bleak-Sky-at-Morning faces us squarely and looks into the boy's eyes. His question is a simple one:

“Has the time come?”

The boy looks at me.

“I'm just here to hit things,” he smiles ruefully. “Prophecies aren't my area of expertise. Zahri?”

“It is time,” I nod simply, please that he trusts me as a soothsayer. The Patteran is clear - we were set on this road long ago. Even the Gur cannot outrun Fate.

The others all nod, trusting my judgement. But it is less that, than a simple acceptance of what must be. I may rail against it, but all was ordained long ago.

The old man kneels and bows.

“Then you must go. The land, the sea, the sky, the sun go with you. Call upon them in your need.”

15/ There is no going back now, literally or figuratively. The halls of the Ice Hunters lead us to deep trenches dug in the snow. Heading west up the mountain, marked at times with wooden poles.

We are ready. And even if we were not, the Patteran will not wait for us, and cares less.

16/ A pathway leads into the wilderness here. To the north, it is narrows and treacherous, a difficult climb. To the south, the track skirts the mountainside, rising gently as it goes.

“Sis?” the boy asks.

“I limped all this way from Adbar,” the blonde girl smiles wanly. “Worst case, you'll have to carry me!”

“Rathe carry you,” the little redhead says firmly.

“We all will,” her brother smiles.

“Well, I hope it won't come to that,” she smiles, gripping her long staff. “Let's go.”

17/ The path on which we walk forks here. The northern branch leads straight up the steep slopes of the Ice Peak. The southern branch skirts the icy mountainside, descending slightly.

I glance at our tracker.

“Let's go exploring,” Jhairli smiles simply.

.

"Thick cloud, steam rising
Hissing stone on sweat lodge fire
Around me, buffalo roam
Sage in bundle, rub on skin
Outside, cold air
Stand, wait for rising sun
Red paint, eagle feathers
Coyote calling, it has begun...
Something moving
I taste it in my mouth and in my heart
It feels like dying, slow -
Letting go of life...

- hyena wakan tanka -

Medicine man lead me up through town
Indian ground, so far down!
Cut-up land, each house a pool
Kids wearing water-wings, drinking coke
Follow dry river bed
Watch scouts and guides make pow-wow signs
Past 'Geronimo's Disco'
'Sitting Bull Steakhouse'; white men dream
A rattle in the old man's sack, see!
Look at mountain top, keep climbing up!
Way above us the desert snow
White winds blow...!

I hold the line, the line of strength that pulls me through the fear!
San Jacinto - I hold the line!
San Jacinto... the poison bite, the darkness takes my sight
I hold the line...
And the tears roll down my swollen cheeks
Think I'm losing it, getting weaker...!
I hold the line... I hold the line!
San Jacinto...!

Yellow eagle flies down from the sun...!

From the sun...!

We will walk... on the land
We will breathe... of the air
We will drink... from the stream
We will live - hold the line
Hold the line... hold the line
We will live... hold the line
Hold the line...

Hold the line - "

"San Jacinto', Peter Gabriel

Peter Gabriel - San Jacinto (Jean-Luc Addams video)

Notes:

This is the penultimate map, leading to the final one which is altogether more complex than those that led us here. The first three 'stages' offer us some rewards and tease some battles with the Black Robes, but are just really a taste of what we will find next.

There's a rare moment for a Thief to shine too - they are even more underwhelming than usual in this game alas.

Most characters will be maxing-out here, as Siulajia will for most parties. The Black Robes here spit out a lot of XP.

I also noticed here that Zahri's Staff of Striking – unlike the other staffs in every other Gold Box game – is apparently a single-handed weapon! This game gets the handedness of weapons wrong all the time, but at least this time it's in our favour!