So, last time we refused to commit infanticide. We did however, make a lot of little lizard orphans.

At the moment we’re making good progress on our major objectives. We’ve got two of the three parts of Demonslayer, and the castle is a ways west of the Tower of Magi, we also know there’s a group dedicated to fighting the empire, but they’re still a distance from where we are now. since we ended at the tower last time, we might as well start working towards the castle.

A small volcanic area near the tower is home to some demons. Interestingly, unlike the other demon’s we’ve encountered so far, they don’t appear to have been summoned, they’re just sort of… here.Weirdly, at the end of the path cutting through this little area is a battle that’s been frozen for a very long time. We know there was an expedition sent here by the empire before Avernum was founded, and a crypt we visited ages ago hint there might of been people here ages ago. but how and why we had a fight that was just frozen here? I have no idea.We encounter a broken fort just past the entrance to a large cavern.The inside of the fort is full of imps, but with broken bridges and magic barriers blocking the way, we can’t really explore it right now. We’ll have to come back later.Across from where the ruined fort is is another demon, who wants us to come back once we’ve freed a different demon. The number of demons here is getting to be a bit of a problem, We know the slith summon them and the Tower of Magi have a haakai lord locked up somewhere. It seems ever since we’ve visited the tower, there’s been more of these guys running around and I’m starting to wonder if Avernum is close to facing a full demonic invasion.We’re now in the great cave proper, home to castle Avernum and the center of Avernite civilization. We’re a good distance from the welcoming caves and Fort Avernum where this whole mess started, and the sparsely colonized caves north of that.There’s huts and mushroom fields all over the place, and we can even visit some of them one in particular gives us an interesting tip.Welcome to Almaria, the last town that stands between us and the castle. There’s supposed to be a toll for the bridge, but we’re awesome so we get to skip it. City hall is just past the entrance. Mayor Bevan isn’t too keen on talking to us, at least until we flash our crown token, then he has a job for us: killing some Basilisks nearby.Another town means another job board. oddly, I’m pretty sure we already went through the temple that houses the assassin, but I don’t recall fighting them, we might have to go back.Dextre was the one we were told to ask about tools, bring that up and…A hidden shop! Though we don’t really need anything from here right now. He also wants us to get a serpent shaped ring from a home in a corner of the city of Blosk.A merchent in the inn nearby tells us about Pactrick’s tower to the southwest, an archmage named Patrick runs a school there. more importantly, his wife is sick and he’d likely pay anyone who could heal her.Ramone here is worried about the slith island to the north, and says we should ask Chuck in Silvar about it.Below town we find the pillar for fast travel. We also need to hunt some slimes down here. and we might fond Cormac while we’re at it.for the most part the slimes are ones we’ve seen already. Aside form one, a bulging slime, kill it and it splits into the unstable slimes seen here. kill them and……ow.one quick trip ot get Marion healed later, and oh hey, it’s Cormac. interestingly, if you talk to him normally, he menions this little camp is for people fighting against the empire, and points you towards the group in Bargha we heard about earlier.With that done we hand in the good news.I also take a moment to go back to Silvar to talk to chuck. We also hand in a very old quest asking for picks and shovels as I’ve finally found enough of them, and get a new quest asking for hammers and iron bars. Sadly I’ve been selling all of my bars, but there’s still a good amount of cave left to search, we’ll hopefully find more. A quick stop at the Tower of Magi to give Helner his message, Then back to Almaria to find two more jobs waiting for us. Thantria is likely behind that area in Formello we found that’s blocked off with magic barriers, so we can’t do that just next. Finding the new threat in the Almaria sewers however, is easy.Turns out it’s more Aranea, one quick fight later and we’ve got our prize.Basilisks are pretty nasty. mostly because they’re fans if inflicting long lasting stuns. We managed ot take them down however and runs back to tell the mayor the news.ASSHOLE! At least he’s willing to hold up his end of the deal once his little snipe hunt backfires. with that out of the way, we’re pretty much done here. nothing left but to head towards the castle.It’s taken ages and we’ve been delayed several times, but it’s finally happening, we’re at the castle.Fortunately, we have our Crown token from way back when we helped Formello, so we’re allowed inside.Right inside the entrance is Captain Houghton He has a job for us but first we need to prove our worth: They’ve got a demon imprisoned, in a cell below the castle, go kill it.

Why do they have a demon? Well, in truth they capture a slith mage, but when they tried to interrogate them, they responded by summoning a demon. Said demon then took over the slith’s mind. Not exactly the best of escape attempts. since then the demon and slith have been cell buddies while Houghton searches for a way to get rid of it. That way is now us.Near the back of the castle, Rone says Avernum is facing a great threat, sadly, he’s highly confused and absent minded and won’t say what it is. Hopefully we’ll figure it out later.At the very back of the castle, we find the prince. He’s… a bit slow, being stuck underground might be getting to him. He’s also sad due to losing a ring. somewhere in the castle. Probably something to keep an eye out for.

Interestingly, he tells us that the council picks the next king when the old one dies, meaning his position as price does not mean he’s in line for the throne. Sadly, with Avernum having apparently done a number on him that might be for the best.I meet a few others wandering the castle, though nobody of much importance, mostly servants and the like, though a man named Beneath says he’s willing to buy magical scrolls off of us if we find any. Eventually, I find my way down to the cells to deal with the demon. The demon is surprisingly tough and has a mage backing him up, but my party is more than strong enough to deal with it.Sadly there is no reward for demon slaying. We do however, get a new quest: Go to Kyass’ Freehold, talk to Kyass and figure out what he wants. WE heard some mention of the freehold earlier. it’s basically a den of bandits. odds are at best we’re not going to have good news, at worst we won’t even get to talk as things immediately turn ugly. We’ll see when we get there.Finally, let’s talk to the king.The king wants us to kill Sss-Thsss,  the leader of the slith, who’s on the island we heard about earlier. Actually, going by the king’s word, Sss-Thsss isn’t the leader of the slith, but the leader of the slith Avernum has been fighting against. Apparently there’s another, much friendlier group somewhere in the caves.So, we’ve got another major job ahead of us: Kill the leader of the slith, thus ending the war, and as luck would have it, the final piece of Demonslayer is not to far from where said leader resides. We could probably do both, then go fight the Haakai lord. Though I think I’ll save that for the next update.