Game:

Lands of Lore: The Throne of Chaos (1993)

Duration: 13:04

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We’re now in the Southlands, a forest map similar to the one around Gladstone Keep but significantly larger and more dangerous. It represents a step up in difficulty from the Northlands, and since I’m playing on Ferocious we’ll have to be careful. That said, the Southlands also has a new character who can join us. Geron had mentioned someone named Timothy at the Grey Eagle Inn when he gave us our Writ, and while it’s possible to finish the Southlands area without him, having his help makes things a whole lot easier. With that in mind, our first objective is to find the Grey Eagle Inn and talk to this Timothy character. I start by going to the right and come to a dead end, but we do pick up a rock—sometimes there are some other items hidden in the trees along this path, but we have no such luck this time. From there, I backtrack and head the other way, where we soon stumble on the Grey Eagle Inn. Upon entering, we’re shown a large central area, with a bar manned by the owner and a room to the side. We could just click on Timothy right now—he’s the guy with long yellow hair—but first I check the room to the side. It’s occupied by a guy named Philip, who isn’t going to come with us but does support our mission. He helpfully supplies us with a compass, which is now going to appear on the main game screen and allow us to know what cardinal direction we’re facing even without the map—obviously very helpful. From there, I talk to Timothy and he agrees to join us. When I click the exit button, he’s now a party member alongside Michael. We’ll be fighting with two characters instead of one for as long as he’s with us, making our party twice as hard to beat (although certainly not invincible).

Now that Timothy’s joined us, the next thing I want to do is visit the merchant in this area. There’s a hut nearby where we can buy some things, and they’ll be fairly useful. Using the map as a guide, I make my way to roughly the center of the Southland forest, where we find a hut that’s definitely not in the best shape. Clicking it causes Michael to complain how stinky the place is, and going inside reveals that it’s occupied by a lumberjack. This lumberjack, Buck, has utter disregard for personal hygiene, but he does have some valuable equipment that we can buy. The most useful possible item is a large bow, but it’s too expensive—it’ll cost us 100 crowns, and after buying the long sword from Victor we only have 36. Inconveniently, Buck won’t buy anything from us, so we can’t raise more money. Still, there are some other good items we can afford. He’s got a pair of boots available for 10 crowns, which can increase our armor—Michael’s currently wearing sandals, so the boots are a significant upgrade. I make sure to buy those. There’s also a buckler shield available, and as Michael currently doesn’t have a shield I buy that for an additional 10 crowns. That more or less wipes us out, so I bid Buck farewell and leave the smelly hut. He warns us to watch out for the Orcs, and it’s a sound warning—before I can even equip the new stuff, an Orc approaches us to attack!

Orcs are very common enemies in this game. They form the foot soldiers of the Dark Army commanded by Scotia, and while they’re not too tough individually they pose a real threat in numbers. Fortunately, this particular one doesn’t have any backup, so we drop him after two hits. I equip Michael with the boots and buckler we’ve purchased, and also make sure to pick up the mace dropped by the Orc. Before we can move, though, more enemies approach! We face two Orcs, who aren’t much of a challenge, but they’re backed by a giant lizard. These beasts are especially dangerous because they have a special move—they can grab our equipment with their tongues and swallow it, leaving a party member unarmed. This is why it’s best to confront them only after looting maces from Orcs, as we now have extra weapons in case our current ones get stolen. Fortunately, in this encounter we don’t have to do that, although Michael is beaten to within an inch of getting knocked out. I’m forced to use our bottle of Salve to heal him to full strength, and then we kill the lizard. From there, I rest our way to full health and cautiously explore the map, wanting to clear it before visiting Roland’s manor. We encounter two more giant lizards which are killed without incident, but large groups of Orcs pose a real problem. Michael gains a level in fighting skills, which is nice, but the enemy forces us to use all our healing items to keep our party members conscious. Still, we do manage to clear out the enemy and approach Roland’s manor, which has clearly seen better days. It’s obvious that the Orcs have attacked and ransacked the place, so our chances of actually getting the Ruby of Truth aren’t looking very good right now.

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