As promised here comes T-Engine4 and ToME4 beta16 ! See http://te4.org/

Not everything I wanted to have is in this release but my life is a bit complicated currently, not much free time until the end of the year, so those 118 lines of changelog will have to do ;>

Release highlights:

• Online automatic character-sheets: all your characters will automatically be uploaded to te4.org
• New class: the Doomed
• New trees for Anorithils
• FOV code speed improvment
• Persistent hotkey assignements when quickbirthing!

Expanded changelist:

• Can not be stuck on tannen tower
• Positive energy is magic!
• Z'quikzshl the skeletal mold has been demoted from Boss to Unique rank
• The Rod of Recall is now dropped by Bill. Rejoice!
• Many typos!
• Removes mentions of some left over tolkienian names
• Warning about the crypt danger
• Custom mouse cursor support (disablable in the video options)
• Infusions & Runes can be used while silenced
• The game now computes "keyframes", those are the number of reference frames displayed. Simply this means that particles effects and such that are dependant on being called 30 times per seconds now work independantly from actual FPS.
• Game:display() now receives a "nb_keyframes" parameter, it should be passed to to the map an other such things (see the example module, it is easy to update, although technically not needed)
• Requested FPS can be changed in the video options
• Do not pop artifact quest in the ID
• Maximun OOD creatures set to 6 in the infinite dungeon
• The Ruined Dungeon is now persistant
• Reduced the power of melee projection on randarts
• Artifact bows/slings have default ammo
• Fixed Dark Ritual
• Inscriptions are now displayed in character sheet and dump
• Creating a new incription slot correctly consumes the infusion/rune
• Made it clear that overriding an inscription deletes the old one forever
• Added new lore to Tol Falas, I am sure you'd love some undead poetry, wouldn't you?!
• Renamed Tol Falas the Dreadfell
• Infusions & Runes items now have a more descriptive name
• Infusions & Runes variable values should scale better with levels
• Randart themened name will be determined by the theme that has the higher powers in the randart (out of the possible theme names, not all themes have names)
• Wild Infusion will only clear detrimental effects
• Fixed spell crit multiplier increase
• Aeryn in the endfight is a big biffier
• Fixed cooldown for Cursed's Rampage
• Disable equipment destruction by elemental attacks
• Greatmauls now have the same attack speed as other weapons
• Fixd the duplicate hotkey binding in the third hotkey page
• Bad (online)profile data wont prevent load
• Twilight gives the correct amount of Negative enegy
• Forbid lore items in place of unqiues
• Wands of trap destruction are much more effective now
• Renamed Stalactitic Missiles to Earthen Missiles
• Improved antimagic quets description
• Switched Explosion Expert and Alchemist Protection
• Talent category points now increase mastery by 0.2 but can only be sued once per category (instead of twice 0.1)
• Ametrine correctly lights the target area when used with Throw Bomb
• Fix bone shield, probably
• Fix Brandish description
• Runed Skull wont prevent using Imbue
• Fixed Martyrdom
• Added an achievement for killing Harkor'Zun
• Corrupted talent description update
• Gave a unidentified name to all artifacts
• Reworked Nightmare and Insane difficulties. Instead of weakening the player they will generate much nastier monsters. You have been warned.
• Demon Plane can only be cast on or by the player
• Bow & Sling specific talents only work with bows or slings
• Fix random/rare crash when saving
• Fix Vestments of the Conclave
• Sand tunnels will be strengthened by a second tunneler passing by
• Improved the speed the NPC FOV calculation, should lag less on crowded big levels
• Absorption shield talents now provide more info in the corresponding tooltip when activated
• Demon Plane should not work on players possessing creatures
• Updated online profile creation to work with the new te4.org website
• Even if bosses are killed by non-actors (like traps or suffocation) the player gain exp
• Using magic will correctly put on cooldown all antimagic talents
• Hate regen (loss) lies on an exponential curve. Above 10 it falls very quickly. Below 5 it falls pretty slowly.
• Hotkeys assignements are now remembered when doing a quickbirth
• New achievement for killing Bill at character level one
• Fix Geomancer's life rating
• Reading lore does not randomly turn the font italic or bold
• Renamed Trollshaws to Trollmire
• Advanced Golemancy requires higher level
• The Demonic Orb of Many Ways is identified as such when discovering the trickery
• Entities can have a "__position_aware" flag to tell the map code to store their position in x/y properties
• Infusion/Rune scaling is shown in talent info
• canProject() returns 2 additional values, the explosion coords
• Great many typos fixed by greycat
• Improved talent tooltips
• Demon Plane can not be used in zones forbidding worldportation
• Domniation Hex is removed if the target is damaged by the caster
• Automatic character sheet upload to http://te4.org/ each time the game is saved. The charsheets are then visible online, with colors and tooltips!
• Character Sheet dialog now provides a link to the online character sheet url
• Increased healing from shield of light on the lower end
• Rebalanced shield of light positive energy drain (now drains up to 2 per hit instead of a flat 3)
• Fixed Brandish targeting
• Rebalanced Providence (lower duration but more healing, should encourage investing more then one talent point into it without it being worthless at one point)
• Fixed Simulacrum and changed it a bit, added some cunning scaling
• Made twilight scale off cunning
• New Anorithil tree: Eclipse
• New Anorithil tree: Circles
• Fix the onslaught on Zigur quest
• Killing the elementals in Derth will now currently trigegr the quest even if killed by a summon controlled pet
• Character sheet now displays archery damage correctly
• Fix a weird worldmap bug
• Static map addZone and addSpot can take a 4th parameter that is a table to be merged into the spot/zone data
• Ghoul & Skeleton stat increasing talent does not count toward the stat limit, like items
• Fix Grace of the Eternals speed
• Fixed quakes, again
• The Summoner's Stone Golem does not quake anymore, instead it can use Unstoppable
• Added new horror creatures
• New class: Doomed (Afflicted)
• Changes some of the talents of the Shades in the Shadow Crypt
• Meditation breaks on damage
• Clarify stealth tooltip
• The Flooded Cave can be encountered again
• The Shade can not bleed
• Fatigue can not be negative
• High level Phase Door & Teleport will indicate which targetting does what
• Cyst Burst & Epidemic tooltip changed to note they only spread one disease
• The alchemist's golem will not appear on the worldmap
• Fix Crooked Club
• Added lore to each of the orc prides
• Effects duration is now displayed in left player pane & tooltip
• Game modules will be verified against an online check; profile data logging and online charsheet will only activate if the game is found to be clean. This is to prevent developpers & testers from erroneously uploading false data
• Frozen effects now reads as "encased in ice", making it more explicit that cold resist has no effect on it
• Frozen provides a 20% resist all due to being encased in ice
• Frozen creatures are shown more explicitly
• Creating a new character over an existing one now prompts a confirmation
• Added lore to the Temple of Creation
• Reknor max level increased
• Updated Cunning tooltip, it does not affect APR

Have fun!

I’ll be trying a new format with this character build today, and hopefully it will look better.

Now then, I’m usually in the #tome channel on mIRC [we use Rizon server for those interested], and there are a lot of people that ask ‘how do I build a Reaver?’; and, here’s your answer. Now then, this build in particular is only one of several ways you can go. Notice that I don’t use the Bone or Hex trees at all. That’s mostly personal preference – but I’ve seen good use and arguments for Bone Spear and Bone Shield. I have not seen good arguments for Hexes yet, and it my opinion, the entirety of the Hex tree itself is rather terrible – though, I honestly don’t know the radius of their effects now, as they lack that in their descriptions.

Now then, here is a character dump of a level 50 Reaver with base equipment. Ruin is sustained, so Vim is lowered correctly. You’ll notice a few things here, such as stats, base hp/vim/ect. Take your time and look at the talent choices as well and see if you notice the combo involved.

I recommend a Higher as the race for one big reason really – the regeneration of the racial talent. Early in the game this will be what allows you to use blood sacrifice as you are ending combat without too much fear of a stray skeleton mage or archer killing you. As you wont’ be raising willpower with this build, the amount regenerated won’t scale, meaning you’ll probably only get an extra point or two as you progress due to your kit increasing willpower. This is fine, as you will always want to have at least one regeneration infusion inscribed on you, and probably level 20 or 30 you’ll want to put a second on.

 [Tome 4.00 @ www.te4.org Character Dump]

Sex : Male STR: 60
Race : Higher DEX: 12
Class : Reaver MAG: 60
Level : 50 WIL: 11
Exp : 0% CUN: 20
Gold : 10.00 CON: 60

Attack(Main Hand): 91 Life : 1684/1684Encumbrance : 8/148
Damage(Main Hand): 62 Difficulty : Normal
APR (Main Hand): 2
Crit (Main Hand): 6%
Speed (Main Hand): 1.00

                                Vim              :     256/256
                                

Attack (Off Hand): 91
Damage (Off Hand): 33
APR (Off Hand): 2
Crit (Off Hand): 6%
Speed (Off Hand): 1.00

Fatigue : 0% Spellpower : 60
Armor : 0 Spell Crit : 4%
Defense : 0.7 Spell Speed : 1
Ranged Defense : 0.7

Physical Save : 30
Spell Save : 17.75
Mental Save : 7.75

Number of NPC killed: 0
Most killed NPC: none (0)

  [Talents Chart]

- Technique / Combat training (mastery 1.30)

    Heavy Armour Training (generic)   1/5
    Massive Armour Training (generic) 5/5
    Health (generic)                  5/5
    Weapon Combat (generic)           10/10
    Weapons Mastery (generic)         5/10
    Knife Mastery (generic)           0/10

- Corruption / Sanguisuge (mastery 1.30)

    Blood Sacrifice (generic)         5/5
    Drain (generic)                   5/5
    Absorb Life (generic)             1/5
    Life Tap (generic)                5/5

- Corruption / Bone (mastery 1.30)

    Bone Spear (class)                0/5
    Bone Grab (class)                 0/5
    Bone Nova (class)                 0/5
    Bone Shield (class)               0/5

- Corruption / Curses (mastery 1.30)

    Curse of Defenselessness (class)  1/5
    Curse of Impotence (class)        5/5
    Curse of Death (class)            1/5
    Curse of Vulnerability (class)    5/5

- Corruption / Plage (mastery 1.40)

    Virulent Disease (class)          5/5
    Cyst Burst (class)                5/5
    Catalepsy (class)                 5/5
    Epidemic (class)                  0/5

- Corruption / Scourge (mastery 1.40)

    Rend (class)                      5/5
    Ruin (class)                      5/5
    Acid Strike (class)               5/5
    Dark Surprise (class)             5/5

- Corruption / Reaving combat (mastery 1.30)

    Corrupted Strength (class)        1/5
    Bloodlust (class)                 5/5
    Carrier (class)                   5/5
    Acid Blood (class)                5/5
 
 [Current Effects]

- Ruin

- Build focus -
Ranged DOT with supporting hard hitting and status causing melee abilities – that is about as detailed summary as you need for Reavers.

Raising magic first to help with EVERYTHING – that’s right, EVERYTHING you have scales off of magic [and thusly, spell power as well], then swapping between 10 points in str/con to help with overall damage/wear ability of items, and to allow rising of health at critical points. Survivability is hard as overall you are weaker than most enemies you will come across, but that is where VD and the various diseases and status effects you can inflict come in. You need to make your enemies weaker, way weaker, to be on an even field with them. But then, why only make it even? VD can put multiple diseases on a target at a time. Now, while the 3 diseases lower stats, they don’t disallow kit usage by npcs – BUT they do lower the effects of the stats. For instance, the str disease will lower the amount of damage that you take, especially at higher levels. The DOT you can inflict is great; it is large amounts of exotic damage types, with medium to long duration. You are able to inflict a wide variety of damage types as well, darkness, blight, acid, fire [if you go into hexes], along with physical, natively. Along with the various diseases and ways to spread them, you also are able to blind, cut, stun, lower damage all damage dealt, lower all resists, and if hit, thanks to acid blood – one of the best talents in the game – you can also lower ac [very good], and attack [even better] of npcs. Most all of these effects are at range, and at 10+ range as well. You also steal vim using 2 different talents and regenerate health through your racial, infusions, and increase your overall damage with life tap. This build focuses greatly on hitting from a distance, over duration, and then finishing them off with a hard hitting melee attack. You may want to not put 5 points into massive armor, and instead opt for only 1. If t his is the case, I’d recommend either putting them in Weapon mastery instead of absorb life. Absorb Life just isn’t very good, at all.

- Class Talents -
The order of which I recommend raising your class talents is going all out into VD first. This is really the first part of a really good combo, and the most important. The damage scales with your spell power [say hello to Bloodlust], it has good range and has a very short cool down. The stat penalties are also very good, with this dump it’s 18 stat point penalty. It doesn’t start that high, with the penalty only being 1 at the beginning, but you really want the DOT in the early game. Later, when VD is coupled with Cyst Burst and Catalepsy, you have one of the best combos in the game. First you disease someone, and then depending on if you want to spread the disease [meaning other npcs get inflicted], or if you want to stun the npc [Catalepsy], you can do so. Or of course you can simply let them come at you diseased, and then disease them again. That combination of three talents will cover your ranged assaults for the entire game, mostly.

As Ruin becomes available, I like to stop with VD and go directly and completely into Ruin. It does great damage, doesn’t drain your Vim like other project style talents such as Weapon of Light, and it’s an exotic damage type. Once you put a point into it, I’d sustain it, but if not, when you reach level 5 and raise it to tlvl 2, I greatly recommend sustaining it then. It will drastically help with your melee damage output.

Once Ruin and VD are maxed out, I like to race down to Acid Blood. Now, Acid Blood is by far one of the best talents in the game. 1) It’s passive ; 2) It deals damage, DOT style [which is VERY good for you {see Bloodlust}] ; 3) It’s a damage that really isn’t resisted all that often actually ; 4) It lowers the attack on enemies [which is VERY good news for you] ; 5) It lowers npc armor as well, which doesn’t mean a WHOLE lot as most npcs just resist damage instead of possessing armor, but you’ll notice it when it happens on the right enemies. Also, Acid Blood scales nicely in all aspects with tlvl, so I really believe it should be gotten to, and completed as soon as Ruin and VD are learned. Also, to get the talent learned, you only need 44 str, and that is easily reachable in a hurry. Depending on the comfort you have with dealing with pits, summoners, splitters, breeders, ect. you may want to invest a point [or 2 in the case of Cyst Burst, as it’s radius increases to 2 with 2 points] in Cyst Burst and Catalepsy before doing Acid Blood; and this is okay as well. Acid Blood is mostly picked up by me at this point because I like to finish off enemies in melee, to help preserve my Vim. Vim usage isn’t really an issue I find at any point other than the first 10 levels or so usually, unless I’m really in a bind and need to use a lot of the melee talents in succession.

In either case, after VD, Ruin, Acid Blood, and minimally a point in both Cyst Burst and Catalepsy, I like to finally invest a single point in both Acid Strike and Dark Surprise. Now, Acid Strike to me can be either really good or moderately bad, it really depends on the npcs you are fighting, and how tightly packed they are. Acid Blood’s key feature is that it splashes, a 1 radius burst in other words. This is your only melee style ball attack, and that makes it important, but not important enough to max out until late in the game. It functions fine at tlvl 1 most of the time – as only the base damage and splash damage scale with tlvl. Dark Surprise however is good pretty much the whole time. It deals 2 different damage types [to make it useful against a wider variety of enemies], the second hit auto crits if the first strike landed, and it BLINDS. Now, let me talk about the positive and negative aspects of Blind. The npcs that are immune to blind are probably the ones that you will want to blind the most, those being the undead enemies [like Dreads, Skeletons, Vampires, Ghasts, Ghouls, Wights, ect]. And the undead also have a bonus against you as they also typically resist darkness, blight, acid, ect in at least small amounts. However, not a single orc/dragon/natural enemy to my knowledge is immune to blind. That’s right, all those spell casters, berserkers, bears and dragons can be blinded. Just made you grin a little bit didn’t I? Unfortunately you are unable to spread blindness as you can diseases, but it does make melee life a lot easier once you have Dark Surprise.

Regarding unlocking the Curses tree, I like to hold off on that until my lvl 20 category point. You really want four inscribe slots at about your third dungeon with a Reaver so you can be absolutely sure you have enough healing to get by. The only curse you may want really early is Curse of Vulnerability. What this curse does is it lowers all damage resists on the target by x%. Those of you that have fought things immune to your damage type know exactly how useful this talent can be. The other useful Curse is really a toss up between Impotence and Death. Death is useful because it’s more DOT – but its core aspect is blocking healing for the npc. I … don’t know any npc that heals itself. So, Impotence gets my vote as it lowers all damage that the inflicted is capable of doing. It’s just like having – x% [damage], and that means you live longer. It’s really meant for things that have a lot of life, and/or are resistant to your damage types [not that I know of any other than Bone Giants and some bosses]. You’ll find the curses useful in some situations, but in most you’d rather disease/cut/stun/blind/ect them.

- Generic Talents –
Some what fortunately, you don’t have too many options for generic points. You only have one class tree that uses generics, and the most generic of the generic trees, Combat Training. Now everyone probably knows the drill by now when it comes to the Combat Training tree – raise con to use Health, raise str to unlock Massive Armor and in your off time upgrade Weapon Combat as needed. That all still applies to Reavers, to an extent. As a dual wielding class, you will want to raise Weapon Combat almost every chance you get to maximize the chance of getting both hits in every time. But then you run into a slight problem – Blood Sacrifice, the core talent of regaining your main energy source, deals you damage. Luckily, the amount of hp lost is static, but the amount of Vim regained scales quickly with tlvl and off of magic – so I recommend raising Weapon Combat every 4 levels, and Blood Sacrifice, and eventually Drain [which also scales with magic] every level other than that. Drain will do decent damage, and its range increases with tlvl, so you may wish to focus on that in particular more so than weapon combat, depending on how much you use your melee talents. Also, Drain can be used in every fight as a replacement for Blood Sacrifice, given that the amount of Vim recovered is directly based on the amount of damage Vim itself does. Life Tap can be very useful, or not at all. What it does is it drains some of your life, like Blood Sacrifice, but then it raises your damage, like an inverted Curse of Impotence. The duration at tlvl 5 is 7 turns, which is plenty long to get a couple of diseases going and spread, along with a cut. Yes, it even boots your DOT damage, which is really all its good for. Some people may find that some of the massive armors aren’t as useful for you as they would be for fighters/berserkers/sun paladins, and that’s fine. I do say put at least 1 point into the talent regardless as you never know what you’ll find; and 1 point is probably enough. In that case, go ahead and put the other 4 into Weapon Mastery [which really should be about the last thing you increase]. Weapon Mastery doesn’t scale very well with tlvl, same as Weapon Combat, but it does help you even more so than most other classes as you do attack more than once a turn.

- Dungeon Advancement –
Normally I would recommend melee capable classes of going into the Maze first as that is a very easy dungeon for melee combatants. The Reaver, while capable of devastating melee, isn’t one of them though – at least not until they have a few levels under their belt. So, the Old Forest is probably your best bet at easy adventuring with quick levels. The dungeon being fully lit and with large open areas work to your advantage with VD weakening the mobs or flat out killing them as they come at you. Even Wrathroot isn’t too much of an issue as long as you get to him at about level 3 or 4, as VD should deal a load of damage at that point, and you might even have a point in Health. The only real danger that Wrathroot possesses is freezing you and then coming in and not attacking the whole time you are frozen. The further away he is, the better it is for you, as the only damaging talent that he has at a range greater than 3 is Freeze. Once he gets in close he can do Tidal Wave and Ice Storm, both of which are no good for you. And, coming to him at such a low level, you most likely won’t have Ruin high enough, or Dark Surprise yet. So, Wrathroot = VD and walk backwards, then VD again.

Next I recommend the Maze as it will probably be easy as you might be as high as level 9 coming out of the OF. It’s pretty easy, usually 1v1 fights, 1 tile wide corridors, with some traps. The only npcs you might want to watch out for are the Minotaurs as they can confuse you [so you blind/cut/disease them before they get a chance to]. NOTE: The Minotaur of the Labyrinth can be blinded, which then makes him a push over. He can also be inflicted with whatever status effect you want, as he isn’t inherently resistant to any of them.

Next I usually tackle the original 2 dungeons, probably the Shaws first if I have found an artifact staff [for the apprentice quest], if not, then I do Kor’Pul first. Everyone knows about these two dungeons, and there isn’t much to say here so I’ll leave it at that.

I do the merchant quest whenever it shows, and the Cursed quest after my third dungeon [depending on if I’ve found a good weapon or not]. After all that, I do the Storming the City and Urkis quests, preferably with at least 25% lightning res.

Following all of these side marks, it’s pretty much a tossup between the Sandworm Lair and Daikara. If I have access to 40% or greater cold res, and 70% or greater stun res, and I have 2 regeneration infusions, and a teleport rune, then I usually do Daikara before the sandy pit. I also recommend to those that have trouble or have never been – have at least a phase door rune when going to the sandworm lair. Preferably a teleportation rune, but a PD would work fine.

The Ambush can be extremely difficult, or doable depending on how high of damage your VD does, along with the spread ratio of Cyst Burst, and the stun duration of Catalepsy. With all the orcs grouped so closely, you can disease stun about 3/4ths of them in 3 turns, and then work off the archers from there.

In regards to the order to do the western dungeons on the trip back, I say do Kor’Pul first, then the others in which ever order you want. Kor’Pul’s drop is custom made for you, and thus, it’s useful for you.

The prides in the east I like to leave until after I’ve done the Unknown Cave, and the Flooded Cave [remember your amulet of the fish!]. Depending on how bad I need a shop, I might even do the Spider Lair before starting up the quests to return west, or the prides.

The order that I recommend to do the pries really depends on what equipment you have. If you have a lot of fire/cold/lightning/acid/stun res, then Vor is a good start, if you only have good fire/cold then perhaps Gorbat instead. Grushnak, the warrior pride will probably be the roughest for you, with all the high damage melee crits and rushing in your face, you won’t be able to keep the enemy at bay. However, this pride is the ideal place for Acid Blood to show its worth. If Acid Blood and Ruin are maxed, and you have good armor and weapons, Grushnak might actually be the first tribe to try. Rak’shor is going to be your bane however, as you’ll be fighting hordes of yourself. Be prepared to fight of a LOT of DOT effects. Luckily, none of the Leaders of the Pride are all that difficult, as all can be inflicted with whatever the hell you want to throw at them.

- Equipment –
These are pretty much the items you should be striving for. Usually once you find one of these or a comparable item, even if it’s material lvl 1, you’ll probably use it for a good long while. Artifacts are capitalized, egos are not.

Weapon

    Razorblade, the Cursed War axe
    Wintertide
    Malediction
    elemental of corruption

Ring

    Glory of the Pride
    Ring of Dead
    Varg’s Redemption
    pearl ring

Amulet

    Vox
    Unflinching Eye
    teleportation

Lite

    Eldritch Pearl
    Wintertide Phial
    scorching of elbereth

Armor

    Spider-silk Robe
    Behemoth Hide
    Scale Mail of Kroltar

Cuirass of the Thronesmen

    impenetrable of the dragon

Cloak

    Ureslak's Molted Scales
    thick cloak of fog

Helmet

    Helm of Dwarven Kings
    Dragonskull Helm
    Crown of the Elements
    prismatic of precognition

Belt

    Girdle of Preservation
    Girdle of Calm Waters
    Blurring of resilience

Gloves

    Gloves of the Firm Hand
    powerful of iron grip

Boots

    Frost Treads
    Boots of Phasing

Digger

    delving

Infusions/Runes

    regeneration
    regeneration
    teleportation
    shield
    acid wave
    

- Ideal Endgame Equipment -
Pearl Ring/Vargs Redemtpion - Vox - Wintertide Phail - Ureslak's Molted Scales - Scale Mail of Kroltar - Helm of the Dwarven Kings - Gloves of the Frim Hand - Wintertide/Razorblade, the Cursed War Axe - Boots of Phasing - Girdle of Preservation

The reasoning is that this particular set up should, along with your talents, allow for more damage absorption as these grant a lot of broad resists without being too difficult to wield once found. Vox in particular should be the amulet you wear 100% of the time once obtained, as it raises your max vim, which is very nice but not utterly important, while also granting 80% silence resist, which is very important. Over all, there is no better amulet in the game for reavers and the same really goes for the Girdle of Preservation as well.

- Character Dump Talents –
These are what your talents will look like at level 50, with tlvls 5, and these stats. Keep in mind that they will in actuality be much greater in effect as you’ll be wearing a lot of things that increase your magic as you go.

Blood sacrifice - 139 vim recovery
Drain - 146 blight damage, 20% vim recovery of damage dealt
Life Tap - 19% damage all increase over 7 Turns – works with DOTs
Curse of Impotence - 27% damage decrease
Curse of Vulnerability - 42% resist all drop
VD - 32 blight over 6 turns with 18 stat drain [192 total]
Cyst Burst - 65 blight per disease 3 radius spread
Catalepsy - 5 turn stun dealing all remaining disease damage
Rend - 174% with 29 bleed damage over 5 turns
Ruin - 31 blight damage with each hit
Acid Strke - 174% acid damage – 96 acid damage 1 radius
Dark Surprise - 154% darkness – 154% blight with crit and blind 4 turns
Bloodlust - Maximum 6 spellpower increase a turn, with 39 spellpower reachable
Carrier - 100% disease resist with 20% chance to spread disease on melee
Acid Blood - 21 acid damage 5 duration, -25 attack, -29 armor

Hopefully this is a better character build guide, and that this one is even more helpful than the previous. This is part 2 of an unknown amount of character build guides, so expect many more.

As always, if you have questions or comments, you can leave them here, in the blog, or in this thread, or you can always PM me on the forum, or catch me in #tome. Again, enjoy, and try it out.

FM

Coming in beta16, an awesome new feature to share your successes (and failures .. mostly failures :> ) as easily as possible: automatic online character sheets!

You can see an example here: http://te4.org/characters/68/tome/afb7da0e-0612-11e0-b16d-001cc000edf0
On the left pane of the site there is a list of the last 5 updated characters, to see what is going on.

How does this work?
Automagically!
Just make sure the game is logged on your online profile and any characters you create will be registered with te4.org and everytime you save the character sheet will be updated.
When you check the ingame charsheet (using 'C', or the menu) there will be a link (clickable too!) at the top of the window to your online char sheet.

Have fun!

{{}}

Five years have passed since the death of the Istaris and the destruction of the Orc Pride. The orc presence in the Far East has greatly decreased with the loss of their leaders. The free people of the Sunwall now prosper and thrive on their land. The West is once again in peace... and most of its inhabitants did not even know they were on the verge of destruction.

Haldor is back from his journey on the seas. As always, Haleth and Morwen have been waiting for their father the whole morning, repeating in the garden the ultimate fight of their parents against the evil wizards. Aeryn is waiting inside the house. Since the fall of the Istaris and the relative quietness of the orcs, her duties as protector of the Gates of Morning leave her enough time for her family.

Even after settling down in the Far East, Haldor kept his taste for adventure... so he decided to put his talents to good use by escorting merchants through their journeys on land and sea. After the creation of portals between the West and the Far East, trade between the nations has grown flourishing. But now, it asks for more expansion. Rich patrons have invested a lot of money to build the biggest and fastest ships to explore the Great Sea to the east. And even if the orcs are quiet, there are still pirates roaming the sea, always looking for an easy prey...

Today, Haldor is back from one of those journeys across the Great Sea. Since he's been hired, no pirate has dared attacking his ship. And this last trip was very successful...

"You seem to be very satisfied with your journey..." says Aeryn.

"Indeed." replies Haldor. "This time we finally found what we were looking for... A new continent beyond the Great Sea, to the east. We were welcomed by peaceful people. Humans, elves... Their people call themselves with strange names, like we never heard before. And they wish to open a new trade route with our continent..."

"And what is the name of this new world?"

"Eyal... Maj'Eyal..."

This will turn into a multi-part series of character builds covering specific race/class combinations. First, I will cover Dwarf Fighters - one of my best and favorite.

Today I will be talking about how I build my fighters, why I choose dwarf fighters in particular, talent choices, when to raise what talents and stats, combat tactics, egos and artifacts to look for, dungeon completion order, and what to not do.

First, let me give a bit of a background on myself when it comes to dwarf fighters. As of this writing, I've made 42 Dwarf Fighters after profiles were created - and I've had 4 make it to the Far East, and 1 to the Final Battle. They are easily in my top three best played race/class combination, one of my favorites, and to me, the absolute easiest race/class combination to play.

Now then, why a dwarf when playing fighters? Well, for several reasons - they are naturally inclined to be fighters in the world of T4 - with good starting hp, along with strength and constitution bonuses, they cover two of the three more important stats for a fighter. Their racial in particular is probably the best for a fighter, as it will raise your armor [scaling very very nicely, about thirty or so armor], and huge boosts to two saves [something like sixty or so (however saves as of beta15b don't exactly do much - this is slated to change in beta16)]. Their penalty to magic doesn't matter at all anymore as scrolls/potions have been removed, and runes/infusions can scale off of any of the three stats you will most likely max.

I like to max out strength, dexterity and constitution, this will leave about fifteen or so points left after raising those three stats to the natural maximum of sixty. They go to either willpower or cunning, depending on the kit that I have available - and because I should be about level forty-five at this point, it's probably my final kit. I will raise the stats in particular by maxing out strength first, and once I start to reach the 'max per level' cap, the extra points will be going to constitution. Not only will this raise my hp [and allow me to get health], but it will also help the dwarf racial scale, and it scales very well.

My level fifty talent point distribution looks like this:

Class Lvl
Shield Pummel 4
Resposte 5
Overpower 1
Assault 5
Shield Wall 5
Shield Expertise5
Last Stand 5
Shattering Shout5
Second Wind 5
Battle Shout 5
Precise Strikes 1
Rush 5
Quick Recovery 5
Fast Metabolism 5

Generic Lvl
Disengage 5
Track 5
Massive Armor 5
Health 5
Weapon Combat 9
Weapon Mastery 10

Shield Pummel should be maxed because the stun duration is based off of the tlvl of Shield Pummel. Riposte now scales the counter hit chance better with points, and Assault is maxed out of pure lack of good things to put points in. Shield Wall should be your first priority to max out as it's your class defining talent, as should Shield Expertise as it directly effects Shield Pummel, Overpower and Assault. I really like Shattering Shout, especially for fighters as it's a massive cone of damage, and fighters lack AOE attacks entirely outside of this ability. It starts out at a low AOE, but I believe at lvl 5 it's radius caps at 5 - quite large, believe me. Second Wind is also useful for that quick boost to your stamina as at times you will run out stamina in cases that you would prefer not to. Battle Shout is useful for a quick boost to survivability as well. Disengage is your quick escape option, and is also very useful for dashing multiple tiles during the Mount Doom Dash - as is Rush. Rush is also important for chasing down those blasted mages - orc mages in particular. Track is your version of sense - sure it's not passive as Heightened Senses is, but it effects a greater area and scales with a stat you'll be raising anyway. And, of course you'll be maxing Massive Armor, Health, Weapon Combat and Weapon Mastery, because ... well, you're a FIGHTER. Some people will argue that 10 points in both weapon mastery and weapon combat is too much, and, they’re right. It is too many points, as both talents scale horribly with additional points. HOWEVER, other than if you somehow get a good amount of cunning, or you REALLY want to use the field control tree for some reason, there’s no other good options for generic point use. If you do wish to invest in these other tree’s further, take away from weapon mastery, not weapon combat. Attack is scaled off of both strength and dexterity evenly, so as a fighter you will have high attack, but you absolutely want to make sure that you can hit everything all the time. At lvl 50 and fighting things that are level 70/80/90, you WILL NEED attack as high as 200 to make certain that you will hit.

- Class Talents -
I like to save up class points so that I can raise each new class talent level at the same time, and so that I can max out shield wall as soon as possible. After that, I go for shield expertise, then shield pummel and the two regenerative talents.

- Generic Talents -
I put a point into Massive Armor so that I can wear it, and then raise weapon combat and disengage/track going back and forth. Health takes priority over this if I can raise it however. There's no real urgency to get any specific generic talents with fighters.

- Dungeons -
I like to do The Maze, Old Forest, Trollshaws, Kor’pul, Sandworm Lair, Daikara, Tol Falas, Iron Throne, Unknown Cavern, Underwater Cave [amulet of the fish required], Spider Lair, Grushnak, Rak'sor, Gorbat then Vor.

I like to do the maze first because it’s almost entirely 1v1 fighting with things that don’t hit very hard [only minotaurs, and you’ll probably fight only four or five of those]. Also, it doesn’t have escorts, and escorts level off of your level, so it will make doing all future escorts easier. If you would like to pretty much ensure all your escorts will live, after doing the maze, you could do the sandworm lair, but I find that that is unnecessary. OF I like to do second because it’s the next least frustrating and easier of the dungeons for a fighter, also, you might luck out and get some good escorts. Following the initial two dungeons, it’s pretty open actually as you should/could be at about level 12 now, which means you have shield wall and shield expertise maxed or close to it – and that means that you are pretty well settled.

Regarding the order of the prides – it’s mostly for the ease to do them/artifact you acquire. You really want the Glory of the Pride as it makes everything else much easier, thus, Grushnak first – and it’s also you against people built like you, so understanding what you’re up against is a nice thing. Grushnak also has a unique layout that really helps as a fighter, no mass open arena levels like the other prides. I like to save Vor for last as Vor can be one of the easiest or most dangerous depending on how you have your kit and what resists you have. If you have really good cold/fire/lightning resists then you could do Vor earlier. Rak’sor is also the same, it can be either pretty quick death or a relative walk in the park. With Rak’sor however, you’ll want poison/disease/hex/curse resistance/curing, along with blight/darkness/fire resistance. The specific status resistance will be hard/impossible to get, or get high, so a good temporary wild infusion will be fine here.

For the side quests, I would recommend doing them when you feel comfortable with them. Personally, I always do the merchant quest, save the Elven Ruins for right before the Iron Throne [be careful, you WILL be about eight levels under what you are supposed to be to come here], do the cursed once I’m about level 15, and the tempest quest at about level 15 as well, or once I have 50% lightning and cold resist constantly, along with about 500/600 hp. I do the heading back west quest after I do the Unknown Cave, Spider Lair and Underwater Cave mostly. Sometimes I put it off until after I’ve done Grushnak, but not always. Once back west, I do the dungeons again in the same order that I did them the first time.

In this next section, I won’t be using what material or item type because it doesn’t really matter that much as in beta15b and betas before it, egos don’t scale well, if at all, with what material level they are on. This is scheduled to change in beta16 however.
- Specific Egos and Artifacts -
Amulet:
Greater Telepathy
Teleportation
Vitalizing
Daneth's Neckguard
Garkul's Teeth
Choker of Dread

Ring:
Vargh Redemption
Ring of the Dead
Ring of the War Master
Glory of the Pride

Shield:

• element* of deflection

Fire Dragon Shield
Lunar Shield

Digger:
Delving

Cloak:
Thick/Oiled of fog
Serpentine Cloak
Ureslak's Molted Scales

Belt:
Blurring of the titan/life/resilience
Girdle of Preservation
Girdle of the Calm Waters

Gloves:
Powerful of iron grip
Gloves of the Firm Hand
Stone Gauntlets of Harkor'Zun

Lite:
Scorching of Elbereth
Eldritch Pearl
Wintertide Phial

Helm:
Prismatic/Shalorn of greater telepathy/precognition
Helm of the Dwarven Kings
Runed Skull
Crown of the Elements

Boots:
Stealthy/none of almost any
Shifting Boots
Frost Treads

Weapon:
Elemental of rage
Razorblade, the Cursed Waraxe
Wintertide
Malediction

Armor:
Impenetrable of the dragon
Radiant/Fortifying/Hardened of x
Behemoth Hide
Scale Mail of Kroltar
Plate Armor of the King

The reason that I like these egos/artifacts in particular [not counting the zone artifacts, I’ll add those in later], is because they help with survival the most. Trust me, you aren’t meant to deal damage, you are meant to absorb as much of it as possible. This makes fighters and sun paladins very similar, however, in my opinion, sun paladins have a much easier time. I like to go with as much resistance to as wide of damage types as possible – magic WILL kill you [unlike with paladins]. Your armor will soak up a vast majority of the physical attacks, so you don’t need to worry too much about that. Unlike sun paladins who have to fight back because of using active or triggered talents, fighters survivability is almost entirely non drain inducing sustains, and passives. Fighters simply outlive their opponents, and in order to do that, you need as much resistance and hp as possible.

This will probably be rewritten or at least reformatted as I go into more and more class builds; and decide on the best approach to display and write them. Thank you for your time, and you can expect a write up again in probably a week or two. I hope this helps, if you have any questions or comments, feel free and again, I’ll post another one up soon.

FM

FAR EAST

“This is all your fault!” Eden rattled the Orb of Many Ways frantically, but it offered no response.

Eden’s self-proclaimed stellar sense of direction had failed him in this strange new land. Despite his half-hearted wanderings, he hadn’t come across a single trace of civilisation (apart from a few orc patrols who angrily told him to ‘wait for the next beta’). For all his aspirations of becoming a loner in Middle-Earth, he soon found that being alone wasn’t all it was cracked up to be, and his present isolation was making his brain behave in strange ways… the fact he had all-but-made an imaginary friend before becoming stranded didn’t help matters.

“Now are you sorry you abandoned me? If you were wearing me, you could have fled from Novan and not needed to use the farportal…”

“Quiet!”

“I hope those ballyhooed Frost Treads have sturdy soles… you’re going to be wandering for a long time…”

“Quiet I said! Quiet! I…” Eden’s initiation into the insanity club was postponed as he spied the telltale entrance to a cave mere yards away. Approaching the entrance he saw that the cavern was submerged.

“An underwater cave… Shouldn’t be too difficult to traverse. Right…”

Fortunately, the sound of approaching hoof falls brought Eden away from his premature death on the end of a naga’s trident. A patrol was approaching him, and not just any patrol – a patrol of humans and elves in shining armour. Sun paladins!

“By Eru’s knapsack, I’m saved!” The paladin patrol (or palatrol) came to a halt by Eden’s side as he gasped, “Thank you, thank you! I-I-I’ve been lost for days! I went through this portal and it dropped me in the middle of nowhere and I haven’t got a clue where I am! But now I’m saved, hahaha! Please, won’t you help me?”

GATES OF MORNING

“High Lady Aeryn. We found some vagabond not affiliated with the Sunwall out in the wilds. Probably a spy.” The pair of paladins that had dragged Eden’s bruised body the distance of the journey to the Gates of Morning dropped him unceremoniously, “Deal with him as you will.”

Eden got to his feet, tenderly feeling his many aches and pains as he did, “You’re the boss here? I’ve gotta tell you, I don’t think much of the hospitality around here. Would it hurt ya to roll out a red carpet for new arrivals? I just think that with this treatment I’ll…” Eden looked up, noticing who he was talking to for the first time, “… okay-I’ll-be-quiet.”

The woman who stood before Eden was glaring at him with such intensity that he imagined she was trying to melt him with imaginary heat vision. Not that it would’ve been necessary; the sheer gleaming of her armour was enough to give Eden a mild suntan just by standing there.

Eden waited as the woman perused him. When no greeting seemed imminent, he coughed and began, “Anyway, my names Ed--”

“I am High Sun Paladin Aeryn, ruler of the Sunwall.” The woman spoke over Eden, “Followers of the sun, who wield the power of the sun to punish the enemies of the sun.”

“Thanks for clearing that up. So, anyway--”

“Who are you, traveller?” Aeryn sniffed with distaste, “You have the smell of orcs about you.”

“I should imagine so! I’ve just fought through a whole dwarven-hallsworth of them, and I haven’t had the chance to fit a bath into my schedule. I don’t suppose you warriors of the sun have a bath house of the sun I can use… of the sun?”

An entirely humourless smile crossed Aeryn’s face, “You seem to be under the delusion that you are welcomed here, rogue. I, for one, doubt your story. We have heard of no dwarven halls in the surrounding lands, and I find it hard to believe someone as un-shiny as you could have performed such a feat anyway. I find the idea of you being an orcish spy far easier to believe…”

“How can I be an orcish spy?! They barely understand what they’re seeing half the time, let alone what others are seeing for them!”

“High Lady Aeryn!” A sun paladin approached Aeryn, who had entirely ignored Eden’s speech, “News of another spider attack reaches us. Scouts saw a group of the fiends dragging an anorithil into Ardhungol.”

“Anorithil?” Exclaimed Eden, “You mean like Beturin?”

“Indeed! That was her name!”

Aeryn scowled, “And how did you know that?” Drawing her sword, she advanced on Eden, “Not an orcish spy, but a spider spy? A spy-der?”

Eden drew his knives, “Oh, whatever. You’re obviously itching for a fight of the sun, lady of the sun. I’ll give you a fight, of the sun!”

“Eden?”

Both Aeryn and Eden turned to the sun paladin in confusion. Raising his visor, he was revealed to be Belebeth, the sun paladin Eden had assisted in the Trollshaws. “Is that you? Never thought I’d see you again! How fare you?”

“You know this knave?” Aeryn mumbled, sheathing her sword.

“Indeed. He was the rogue who helped me to my recall portal I told you about.” Belebeth turned to Eden and grinned, “Come quite a way from your home in Bree, haven’t you?”

“We cannot control our circumstances, only our responses…” Eden replied with humility, but not before shooting a smug look at Aeryn.

“So, you’re not a spy…” Aeryn muttered, “But then, how do you know Beturin?”

“Saved her too,” Smiled Eden, “She’d be fertiliser for Old Man Willow right now if it wasn’t for me.”

“Well then,” Aeryn displayed a smile as gleaming as her armour, “Why not rescue her again, from these spiders? Do that, and maybe we can talk further about your admittance here…”

“Deal! After all, how big can these giant spiders be?”

ARDHUNGOL 1

“WAAAAAH!”

Eden was hurled against the cavern wall, rolling to the floor in cloud of dust. Turning his head, he beheld the gigantic mandibles only inches away from piercing his neck. He swung his dagger, by luck hitting the scuttling horror in one of its many eyes. The pain was enough for it to flinch, giving Eden the opportunity to regain his footing and bring the creature down with a frantic flurry.

“That’s not a spider!” Shrieked Eden, “That’s… that’s two mumakil tied together!”

 Level 30!
 +3 Cunning
 +2 Precision
 +1 Cunning/Packing

This scenario repeated itself many times as Eden attempted to explore the caverns – far more times than he would’ve liked. Although adventuring was never truly safe, Eden felt a sense of peril that he hadn’t felt before. During one of the quiet moments between battles, he heard a sinister voice in his head that was not his own.

“Eden?” Arenji hissed, “Your time comes, and not a moment too soon.”

“You!” Eden spoke to thin air, “This little subconscious ploy shows just how desperate you are!”

“Fool yourself if you will, whelp.”

Eden moved on, ignoring the voice, when he noticed something peculiar. “Arenji… if I’m to die… why aren’t you happy?” Indeed, Arenji’s voice was bitter, “I thought you delighted in seeing people brought to their end.”

“In most cases, yes,” Arenji grumbled, “But there is a meddler in your affairs…”

“Meddler? What do you mean?”

Arenji was silent. All of a sudden, Eden felt a presence behind him. Spinning on the spot, he saw no one.

ARDHUNGOL 2

 Level 31!
 +3 Strength
 +1 Whirlwind
 +1 Efficient Packing

Eden fell back with exhaustion. He was fighting a group of dragon hatchlings, both red and white, that didn’t seem to be dwindling. He couldn’t help but hear the distinctive scuttling sounds of giant spiders blocking off his escape routes too. Only when it was too late did he perceive the source of the hatchlings; a pair of drakes, one red and one white. Eden couldn’t hope to face them, the main body of the hatchling horde stood directly between him and them. With his escape blocked by spiders, he had no choice but to read a scroll of phase door.

The scroll deposited Eden in a new cavern, but from the nearby sounds of roaring and scratching, he guessed that he wasn’t too far from his previous location.

A faint red glow came from the darkness beyond. In its light Eden could almost make out… an orc’s face?

“Hello, something seems to be happening down the--”

???

“I… I can’t move…”

“Good. That’d just make my work harder. Can you see me?”

Although Eden didn’t feel his eyes open, his vision slowly returned. Unable to move his head, Eden could only see from his current viewpoint that he was in a dark, underground chamber. The air was deathly cold.

“I’m freezing…”

“Ahh, quit complaining.” Came Grim’s response. Her familiar face appeared in Eden’s field of view, smiling as always, “You’re lucky I found ya in time.”

“Lucky?” Eden mumbled, “Lucky how?”

“Don’t you remember? You were attacked by this orcish pyromancer and his drakes, not to mention a whole heap of giant spiders. They totally surrounded you. You were in a right state; looked like a crimson jelly exploded.”

“Oh, yeah…” Eden moved to wipe his face, but found he couldn’t move his arms, “I remember that damned pyromancer now. Makes this cold a bit more bearable thinking about it. Where are we?”

Grim offered no response, too busy with something out of Eden’s field of view to reply. Eden asked another question, “How did you find me, anyway?”

“Uh? Oh…” Grim shrugged, “Turned out there was a second farportal to the east that didn’t need the Orb of Many Ways. It’s what all those sun paladins and anorithils were using to show up in the west. I went through it, found that Sunwall place, got told to go to Ardhungol by the scary lady, and found ya in a spider web. Simple. Ooh! I think I’ve got this figured out now…” Grim ducked out of view again. A few moments later, Eden felt the paralysis slowly fade from his limbs. “That better?”

“Yes. So… I’m going to be okay?”

“Right as rain,” Grim twinkled, “Just one thing. You kinda lost a rib. Hope you don’t mind.”

“One rib? Of course not.” Eden sighed. He felt safe, a feeling he hadn’t experienced in a long time, “Looks like I owe you big-time, Grim. Still, I got pretty far for a punk from Bree, didn’t I? I wonder if the townspeople will accept me now, once they’ve seen all I’ve gone through…”

Grim made a long and hesitant noise, tugging the collar of her robe awkwardly, “Well, maybe… I mean, people are a little more accepting now than they were in the old days…”

In an instant, Eden was suspicious, “What do you mean? You have fixed me up properly, right? I’m not disfigured or anything? I have to say, I didn’t know you to be much of a doctor…”

“Doctor?! Nah, I’m hopeless at that stuff,” Grim giggled, “I ended up in prison when I tried to get that splinter out of old man Gardner’s finger once…”

“Then… what have you done? And what is that?!” For the first time, Eden beheld the tool Grim held in her hand – a bonesaw.

“I can hardly ply my trade without it, can I Eden?”

“Trade?!” Thoughts of dread were rapidly accumulating in Eden’s mind, “Why is it so cold?! How did you heal me?! And where are we?!”

Grim smiled, a picture of glee, “The Paths of the Dead, silly!”

You have died!

MINAS TIRITH

“Well well! If it isn’t the king of the sandworms! What business do you have with us here, your highness?”

“I have destroyed the Master, and have shocking news for your elder.”

“Hahahaa! You?! Destroy the Master?! I don’t suppose you have any proof?”

“Well… I drew this picture.”

“Aahahaahahaa!”

“And also, I have his head in a bag here. Look.”

“…! On you go.”

---

“Welcome, Bree-Man, to Minas Tirith.”

“Racialist,” Thought Eden in his head.

The town’s ancient elder shifted in his seat. Looking at his deeply tanned and wrinkled complexion, Eden couldn’t help but think of walnuts. “Traveller, please be quick as my time is precious.”

“Ignoring the fact that you were just sat there collecting cobwebs…” Eden muttered under his breath, before addressing the elder properly, “I have found a strange staff in my travels. It looked very old and powerful. I dared not use it.” Eden froze – why hadn’t he used it?! He could’ve left that Ukruk looking like a metroid victim…

The elder remained silent for a while, “… Indeed, you were right to come here. The staff you describe reminds me of an artefact of great power from ancient times. May I see it?”

Eden tugged his collar awkwardly, “I’m afraid I lost it…” He went on to describe his encounter with the orcs in detail, with only minor embellishments, “So, I was riding along on my tiger when I saw this group by the side of the road. ‘What’s all this?’ I thought, as I adjusted my diamond-rimmed eyeglasses…”

---

“… And that’s about it.”

The elder’s head was bowed in thought, his eyes closed. “Could I have that story without the nonsense, young man?”

Eden hung his head, “Found staff. Big orc. Head hurt. Gone.”

“Orcs?! In the west?! This is deeply alarming!”

Hah, Eden thought. Knew I was right, back in the Old Forest.

“We have not seen any for nearly eighty years. They must have come from the far east…”

“Excuse me? Far east?! What far--”

“But do not let me trouble you…”

“I’M TROUBLED--”

“Do not let me trouble you. You brought important news and you are lucky to be alive.”

Eden rolled his eyes, “Thank you, my lord.” How many vampire lords has he slain recently?

“We have heard rumours from the dwarves that there may still be an orc presence deep in the mines of Moria. I know you have been through a lot, but we need somebody to investigate and -- GET BACK HERE!”

Eden, who was already halfway to the door, reluctantly turned, “Are you cracked?! I’m not going into Moria!”

“I can see someone like you only exists for personal gain…” The elder mumbled to himself, “Lad, I suppose you know the story of Moria?”

“Yes. Dwarves, greedy, dug too deep, balrogs.”

“Indeed. They dug too deep. They dug too deep for their mithril, gold and jewels…”

“…”

“I understand that the balrog situation is now under control, but the depths of Moria largely remain open. If one wanted the wealth within its halls now, they wouldn’t have to dig too deep – they wouldn’t have to dig at all!”

“…”

“How does ‘walking too deep’ sound to you?”

WILDERNESS

As Eden made his way towards the western entrance of Moria his attention was taken by a structure that wasn’t on his map. An abandoned ruin, obviously of elven architecture, stood open and ready for an enterprising adventurer to explore.

“Meh,” Thought Eden, and continued on his way.

MORIA 1

Yep, this was definitely a dwarven hall. You could always tell when the bearded brethren of the mountains have had a hand in designing something. Long corridors branched around the entirety of the halls, many of them useless, simply ending in dead ends or curling around on themselves. Each and every wall was covered in engravings, the vast majority of which illustrated the various horrors and massacres the previous residents of Moria had suffered/caused. The air was thick with the smell of cat meat and mushrooms. Still, it beat the smell of…

“Orcs!”

The orcish battalion that fell upon Eden came as something of a shock. They had forgone their usual ‘drums in the deep’ routine; a few years ago the orcs realised that an orc playing a drum is an orc not beating somebody’s head open, so they banned the activity. While this choice certainly improved the stealth and manpower of many orcish groups, their strength still wasn’t enough to put Eden away presently.

Eden also noticed, with quiet irritation, that the orcish assassins he fought held rather mediocre daggers, despite ostensibly being part of one of the orcs’ largest forces in the west. Just how long would he have to amble along with dwarven-steel daggers for?

 Level 28!
 +2 Dexterity
 +1 Cunning
 +1 Precision
 +1 Knife Mastery

"Aah... Do you hear this noise? This is the end of knife mastery and weapon combat's tyranny over my generic skill points. I can finally specialise... anew."

MORIA 2

It had been a long time since Eden had fought trolls. The Trollshaws were a distant memory, but here he saw that the big and brutish race still had some tricks up their sleeves. With a mishmash of metal plates covering their hides to improve conduction, not to mention segments of carpet under their feet to generate electricity, the trollish thunderers were indeed dangerous opponents. Eden would have gladly traded in his Frost Treads for rubber treads while fighting them…

MORIA 3

Next up in the long parade of Eden’s enemies: Wyrmics. Two of Eden’s least favourite things – orcs and dragons – brought together in imperfect harmony. The main dangerous thing about fighting wyrmics was unpredictability; some wyrmics are genuinely mighty opponents, wielding forces draconic to deadly effect. Others were just orcs slightly touched in the head who liked dragons a little too much. After a while, Eden had discerned a fairly reliable system for judging wyrmic danger: If they’re wearing fake tails, take it easy.

On approaching the stairs leading to the lowest level of Moria, Eden couldn’t help but notice the heavy, hot and mephitic air that blew upwards from the depths below. Demons in Moria? No…

MORIA 4

The long and winding corridors finally coming to an end, Eden now entered a spacious hall, used by the previous dwarven occupants of Moria as a communal meeting hall. A rather different community resided here now, although it was a community Eden now knew all too well – orcs.

Eden pointed wildly, screaming at something over the orcs’ shoulders, “BALROG!”

By the time the orcs realised Eden was lying, they were already dead. “Only in Moria does a trick like that always work,” Eden chuckled, “To be honest, I am pretty surprised that there actually isn’t a balrog here.” It was at this point that a great scorching wind blew through the hall, displacing the many dwarf skeletons that were piled up around its perimeter.

“Perfect,” Eden thought, “I knew there had to be at least one -- brrr!”

Without warning, the scorching wind ceased, only to be replaced by a wind as chilling as those from the Icebay of Forochel. Confused by the dungeon literally ‘blowing hot and cold’, Eden only understood why as the leader of the orcs he had fought stepped into the hall. Eden found himself wishing that he didn’t understand now.

The orc was massive, easily the largest specimen Eden had the misfortune of facing, and the great multitude of scars that marked his flesh were displayed as trophies of the many battles he had endured. Eden noticed – with concern – the many scars on his chest he had received from daggers. If an assault like that wasn’t going to stop him he was in a bit of trouble, he thought. He also saw that said orc was a wyrmic, a skilled and powerful one indeed; one half of his body glowed with heat, licks of flames appearing occasionally, while the other half was frozen, with ice crystals constantly forming and reforming across his skin.

Eden stood uncertainly as the orc approached, mace in hand. The two stood before eachother momentarily, the orc silent, Eden waiting for the inevitable threats and boasting that all orcs employ. To say he was rather surprised when the orc’s mace met with the side of his head is an understatement.

Shaking off the initial blow, Eden and the orc began their fight proper. As it transpired, Eden’s fears were quite genuine; the orc was less than impressed by his knifeplay, and despite his bulk could easily match Eden’s agility. The orc’s minions didn’t help either, for while Eden could handle them easily enough they served their purpose of distracting him from his main foe, which only served to press the orc’s advantage home.

Eventually forced to phase door away to catch a momentary respite, Eden took stock of the situation. It was the fire and the ice he really couldn’t deal with; between this guy and Carn Dûm, Eden was cultivating a rather large rivalry with the elements in general. But that was when it hit him.

“Hey!” Eden shouted from his hiding place, “You… what’s your name?”

“Golbug!” The orc thundered.

“Golbug, hi. Which side of you is fiery again?”

“The left side! Daargh!” Golbug smacked himself in the head with his mace, “What am I doing?! Time to die, wretch!”

It certainly is, thought Eden as he slipped on his rings of fire and ice resistance, making sure to put the ring of fire resistance on his right hand…

With the elements the orc controlled dulled by Eden’s rings, not to mention the forces under his command all falling or fleeing, it wasn’t long before the battle turned in Eden’s favour, culminating in a killing blow straight at Golbug’s heart. The orc staggered, but before he fell he turned and slammed open the pair of wooden doors behind him. Beyond them was a small chamber in which a portal, like the recall portals Eden had seen before but much larger, took pride of place. Taking a large glass orb from his pocket, Golbug’s final action was to roll said orb towards the portal, dropping it as he fell. The orb fell short by a couple of feet.

 Level 29!
 +3 Constitution
 +1 Precision
 +1 Trap Detection

Eden approached the portal, holding up the strange orb. “Interesting trinket,” He thought, “I bet Minas Tirith would love to see this. Suppose I better go show them… at least there’s no chance of me being ambushed by orcs this time, seeing as…” Eden tapped Golbug’s body with his toe, “… you know.”

As Eden made to leave the hall, he almost ran into the courier that was headed in the other direction. Hiding his face, the courier offered a sealed scroll to Eden. “Here.”

Eden unsealed the scroll and read it, “Mmhm… our elders found… yadda yadda… orc hands… hmm… masters in the far east… yadda yadda yadda… should you find this Golbug… please investigate?”

“Investigate?” Eden repeated, “What do they mean by that? I mean, my knives have investigated most of his insides… what do they want me to do now?” Properly noticing the courier for the first time, Eden nodded and reached into his coin pouch, “Sorry, I forgot. How much do I owe ya? Five?”

Crack! Eden was floored by the courier’s kick. Before he could gather his thoughts he could already see that the courier now held a dagger and was ready to strike down at him. Rolling away from the strike, Eden got to his feet and spat, “Geez, okay, ten! What, are you… YOU!”

From beneath the courier’s hat, the face of Novan gave Eden a smile straight from the deepest reaches of the void, “Thought we’d forgotten about you, scum?”

“What are you doing?!” Eden shouted at his former colleague, “What are you doing in that courier get-up? Got a second job? Just being a horrible bastard can’t pay the bills by itself I guess…”

“The courier is dead,” Novan snarled – Eden noticed that the clothes Novan wore were bloodstained, “And you will be too. You took Melna. You took Melna from me!” Novan swung at Eden again, but this time he was ready to dodge.

“What do you care about Melna?” Eden retorted, “If you like mental patients so much, why don’t you go back to the madhouse you got her from and kidnap another?”

Novan had no more words for Eden, simply unsheathing his second dagger and running at him furiously. Eden brought his own daggers up to block, but Novan’s berserker charge was enough to knock him from his feet. Eden disentangled from Novan, who was already bearing down on him again. Bringing up his daggers in preparation for a flurry, Eden was dismayed as Novan effortlessly blocked the attack. “You always were worthless, Eden. I’m just about to show you how worthless!”

Eden knew he was fighting a losing battle. The memories of his losses to Novan while he was in the gang haunted him, and facing him in his present fury seemed a foolish choice. He couldn’t flee, either – Novan blocked the only exit. Or did he? Eden noticed that as their fight neared the portal the orb he had taken from Golbug began to resonate, the swirling mist inside it glowing brightly.

“Where will it take me?” Eden thought, “Does it matter? Any location is better than ‘on the end of this maniac’s knives’. Besides, it’s probably two-way.” Disengaging from Novan again, Eden fled into the portal chamber.

Within seconds his pursuer faced him again. Eden watched Novan pant and seethe from within the portal’s soft light. “Don’t think that fool glyph will save you from me, Eden! Any last words?!”

Eden didn’t have any last words, but he did have a last hand gesture. Suffice to say, it wasn’t a wave. With a pop, he vanished, leaving Novan to stare in horror.

“Coward!” Novan howled at the portal, “Fine! Run! You may be able to save your own hide, but can you say the same of those you care abo…” Novan was so invested in his raving that it took him a while to notice the excruciating pain that had appeared in his back, and was rapidly spreading to his chest.

Looking down, Novan only saw the scythe blade stuck through his chest for a second before it was brought upwards, effectively ripping his torso in two.

Pulling her scythe from Novan’s body, Grim stepped forward and regarded the faintly glowing portal with interest.