Part 11: Vesper

Before heading to Vesper we explored the southern part of the main continent (south of Trinsic). The map below shows the general area I explored:

We found several caves and got a little loot. At one point we came across the Shrine of Honour, and it was infested with harpies who had a baby on the altar. We slew the harpies and returned the goblet to the shrine, and took the baby to hopefully find its parents.

Restoring the Shrine of Honour

Next to the shrine is a cave which my brother and I dubbed "Lightning Whip Cave" in the past because it is the location of this mythical golden weapon. Whenever it strikes the sound of lightning is heard. It is not a very powerful weapon in the scheme of things, but an upgrade for Dupre right now.

We decided to walk to Vesper to see the sights:

Vesper is an unhappy little town in the desert. It is the only place where humans and gargoyles live in roughly equal numbers, but the two live in different sides of the town. There is a lot of tension between the two races.

It quickly became apparent that this place is close to all out violence. The humans blame the gargoyles for everything, and not everyone has good motives.

The mayor, Auston, let me know that Elizabeth and Abraham, of course, have moved on. They have left for Moonglow which is conveniently where the observatory is located. He also noted they dropped in at the Britannian Mining Company on their way to Moonglow - I suspect it has something to do with obtaining blackrock.

When I walked over to the gargoyle side of town the voice in my head spoke as I approached the tavern, "Go inside. Tell them you are the Avatar". I decided that was a terrible idea and just told them my name. I stumbled upon one gargoyle, For-Lem teaching a young girl, Catherine about gargoyle mythology. I decided to keep their secret to myself - I suspect if her parents knew all hell would break loose. For-Lem seems like a stand out guy.

The gargoyle sage Wis-Sur is as mad as the rest of the mages of Britannia. He was pretty unhappy to see me so I just left him to it. There were a few people we couldn't find in town so we went into the Vesper Mine to look for them. Something of interest in the mine was a blackrock deposit sealed behind a magic lock:

I wonder what they want blackrock for?

I had a few hours to kill until everyone finished work (I still couldn't find some of the townspeople) so I explored the nearby areas. The first landmark was a black "X" on the ground with some glass swords and a key I might find useful later. As I approach the "X" the voice in my head says something backwards... I can't make it out.

I also found a pirate fort with quite a bit of loot. They didn't put up much resistance at this point in the game:

We also found a cave with another lightning whip.

Back in Vesper we found a despicable man named Blorn. He claims Lap-Lem attacked him (I met Lap-Lem in the mines and he was the kindest person I've met in Vesper). Blorn asks me to avenge him, and I agree. Lap-Lem claims he just wants an amulet back that Blorn stole. I confronted Blorn, got the amulet, and returned it to Lap-Lem. Another case closed.

With that we finished our time in Vesper. Next up we have more choices:

• Go to Moonglow to follow Elizabeth and Abraham and see the observatory
• Go to New Magincia to find Alagner and his notebook for the wisps

We are looking pretty decked out. Only I have full magic armour, but everyone has at least plate now.