Learning is important. First lesson is that Isaiah was not nearly as dominating as he thought he was. Likely the only reason he was able to burst Marlykan down like he did the first time was because he was overconfident. If someone gets hit by a fireball and the next thing they do is quaff a few potions they likely won’t get burst down so easily. Mages only have a certain number of spell slots if they can tank the damage and quaff enough potions they can fight through it enough to turn the tables. Obviously the best position is to be the one that starts the fight that always gives the greatest advantage. Second, with open world PK cities were not safe. One would think laws would protect people inside a city but it hasn’t gone that way for Isaiah. Cities should be safe but in his experience the opposite was true. Team evil probably used cities as hunting grounds. If someone wanted to avoid getting attacked, being someplace obscure or inaccessible was the best bet. The safest place would likely be both. The mage’s guild tower might be a good spot, unless it was a mage who was after him. Mage is not an obscure class and he knew from experience there were evil mages out there.

Evil also had an advantage in terms of what would be okay for them to do. Isaiah was lawful good. He didn’t think about it when he picked it but it was the most restrictive alignment. Would a lawful good character dish out death in town? Without a trial? Are there even trials in the game? Isaiah really jumped the gun attacking Marlykan on the streets of shadow city. If this was a tabletop RPG he’d likely be facing a fine, jail time, or the executioner’s block. The fact that players can come back from death complicates things. The penalty for murder should be death. Maybe some noble could claim killing a commoner for something minor is okay because things like that did happen in feudal times but Isaiah was just an elven adventurer. Whoever ‘someone’ was he/she was right that said conflict wasn’t roleplayed well on his side. It would be easy to play the race card. Raveena was an elf and elven loyalty comes before human laws. It was a weak argument though. He suspected if anyone knew Raveena and he claimed to be defending her honor he’d be laughed out of the room.

Isaiah was pondering this while re-reading the description of the rooms leading up to the troll for the 10th or some time. Before he might go back to shadow and see what was going on there but after what happened he didn’t feel safe there. He’d still need to go shopping. It was the place to get spell components, healing potions and sell loot. While he was reading one of the rooms and doing some self-reflection he noticed something off about one of the descriptions. A few rooms north of the quiet forest road on the way to echo mountains it looks like there were some footprints going away from the path along the canyon. The room only had two exits: north and south. This might be another case of a hidden exit that didn’t get displayed.

Isaiah searched the room.

You discover a hidden path leading into the canyon.

The area had three cliff walls and descended into some kind of temple-like stonework carved into the cliff wall. The place looks ancient and where a symbol should be a carving of a bony arm holding scales is placed over it. Isaiah continued into the creepy structure. It was a dark place with large columns. The whole place was obsidian and gave off a feel like a distant memory of evil calling. To the south a huge iron door with a glowing sigil stood blocking the way further in. Isaiah tried to open the door but it was locked. Isaiah was no thief and couldn’t pick locks. He also didn’t have the key. This whole area was screaming ‘nope’ to him. A death might be nice so he could get rid of this cursed cloak but losing the experience would be bad. He needed one more mage level to get a spell he suspected he’d get more use than any other spell yet. He just needed a source for level 5 scrolls. Teleport is a level 5 spell. Maybe Isaiah was being a bit greedy when he only had one level 4 spell but he really wanted teleport. Running around and passing out from exhaustion sucked. He wanted those days to be done. Also, showing up in a burst of blue light was a great way to make an entrance. Vanishing in a blue light likewise was a great way to make an exit.

Having spent enough time searching around Isaiah left to kill the troll again. He collected the coins that it dropped. After a few more respawns he had enough to remove the curse on the cloak. Even though Marlykan was dead, and rid the thought of someone coming up to him and asking ‘why are you wearing my cursed cloak?’ sent chills down his spine. He unequiped the now +0 silk cloak and sold it at the general store for a dozen gold. After spending hours farming a single troll for 100 gold every 15 minutes he was scraping the bottom of his money pouch. When the game rebooted then all the shops would reset and he’d not have to worry about that thing anymore. Having sold off all the gear he looted from Marlykan was a weight lifted from his shoulders. The sooner he had this embarrassing incident behind him the better.

Feeling a bit free, Isaiah made his way back to Deku to kill Jarrow again. He made sure to stop for a while midway through running across the desert so he wouldn’t pass out from exhaustion. Waiting a few minutes until the ferry arrived, he paid the fee and after a boat ride got off at the correct dock. He did the same in and out casting and avoiding eventually the old drow died and he got another level 4 scroll.

Stoneskin:

Level 4

This spell causes the target to be immune to a number of physical attacks. The amount of attacks depends on the caster’s level.

Components: Diamond dust, Granite Dust

Isaiah’s player gaped at the description. It had to be the best defensive spell he’d come across yet. It was quickly scribed into his spell book. He went back to the little town not far from the drow’s tower hoping the money he got from the fight would be enough to buy the components for the scroll.

He got sticker shock. Diamond dust costs 1200 gold. Granite dust costs 400 gold a pop. The spell cost almost as much as it was for him to remove the curse on the silk cloak. Well… not quite as much but 4 digits was sticker shock zone none-the-less. Isaiah’s plan to keep stoneskin on all the time and never need to buy potions was thwarted by the simple fact that stoneskin was an order of magnitude more expensive than potions. Maybe one day he could afford to actually cast this spell. Isaiah’s lack of gold was going to be the death of him one day . . he just knew it.