Maldar, the Magnificent

[MongoJerry]

MALDAR: ACT V, BLOODY FOOTHILLS

Maldar and Cain arrived at the barbarian stronghold of Harrogoth and saw a strange dichotomy. On the one hand, outside the city walls, Baal's army was ravaging the countryside and barbarian forces were in seemingly endless retreat. On the other hand, Harrogoth itself seemed untouched by the corrupting influence and destructive power of Baal. Clearly, something more than barbarian might was keeping Baal's army at bay.

Maldar and Cain attempted to speak with various leaders of Harrogoth, but few had any time to spare for the new arrivals. The barbarians had heard of Maldar's legendary deeds from years ago and honored him for them, but they had also heard of Maldar's strange decision to give up demon hunting because of his new pacifist philosophy. This philosophy so contradicted hundreds of years of barbarian tradition that the barbarians couldn't understand it. Most assumed that Maldar had gone mad and some went so far as to call him a deserter or worse.

Of all of Harrogoth's leaders, Malah, the head of the city's halls of healing was the most generous in her greeting. She told Maldar and Cain the truth of how desperate the situation was for Harrogoth and said that while pride made it difficult for barbarians to accept aid, Harrogoth needed help all the same. She told them that all of the city's elders, save Nihlathak, had sacrificed themselves to place a protective ward around Harrogoth and that was why the city had remained untouched for so long. Nevertheless, the siege outside the city's walls was taking its toll on the city and its inhabitants all the same.

While Malah told Maldar and Cain much of the happenings within Harrogoth, she unfortunately did not have much specific information about the battles being fought outside or about Baal's possible location or motives in this conflict. She only knew that Baal was on Mount Arreat "searching for something." Maldar and Cain continued to ask Harrogoth's other leaders for information, but none of them were as free with their time as Malah had been.

When Maldar and Cain walked into the city's main smithy to question Larzuk, the city's head smith, about what he knew, Larzuk dismissed them at once. He couldn't see how Maldar, the Pacifist, could help the barbarians in their war against Baal. Maldar stood his ground and said that he was on an important mission and that he was going to defeat Baal for the good of all creatures -- free people and demons.

Larzuk scoffed at Maldar and said, "If you're here to defeat Baal, you must prove it! As we speak, Harrogoth is under siege by Baal's demons. Catapults rain death just outside the town walls. Baal himself travels up the sacred mountain, having left in charge here one of his most vicious generals, Shenk the Overseer. If you wish to prove yourself to us, destroy the monster, Shenk, that commands those infernal catapults outside Harrogoth." Then he ushered Maldar and Cain out the door.

Fury rose inside Maldar, and he told Cain that he was tempted "to leave these infernal barbarians to their fates."

Cain calmed Maldar down and told him to think of the greater good and not let his mistreatment by a few individuals deter him from his mission. Maldar took a deep breath and told Cain that he was right.

When Cain was certain that Maldar was ready to listen, he told him, "Despite his rude behavior, Larzuk may have had a point. To stop Baal, you need information about the local terrain and Baal's possible whereabouts. I believe that stopping the siege on Harrogoth is the only way for you to earn the trust of these people. When the siege is broken, perhaps they will be more willing to give you the information you need."

Maldar nodded. Cain was right. Besides, the ruthless Shenk was hardly an innocent bystander in this affair. Upon his death, his enslaved minions would scatter. The siege could be lifted and the catapults destroyed with minimal loss of life.

Maldar took out his wand, cast a fresh bone armor around himself, and walked out of Harrogoth's main city gate.



The Bloody Foothills were populated by slingers and carrion birds. Sheesh, the "legendary" barbarians of Harrogoth were lame. These were about as easy opponents that one could get. I ran past everything, casting Dim Vision ahead of me as I went. Like most people, when I'm killing things, I usually hug one of the walls so that monsters can only attack me from one direction, but I found that it was easier for Maldar to travel down the center. When he hugged the wall, he had limited options when the path was clogged up by monsters (sure, he could use Terror to move monsters, but that takes time and effort), but when he ran down the center, if a path was clogged up, he had multiple alternate routes to choose from.

Maldar quickly and without much trouble made it to Shenk the Overseer and bone prisoned him. Then, I thought, "You know, this isn't a challenge worthy of Maldar." So, I restarted the game, letting Shenk live.



This time, I got overseers and quill rats. Eh, not bad. Overseers and their enslaved minions take up a lot of room, so I had to do a lot more monster manipulation with Terror and Dim Vision to move them out of the way. Plus, quill rats can hit pretty hard with their poison quills.

Still, everything worked pretty straightforwardly, so I again got to Shenk quickly and bone prisoned him. This still didn't feel like a good enough challenge for Maldar, so I again restarted the game.



This time, I got burning dead archers and foul crows. Like quill rats, foul crows can sting a character pretty badly with their poison attacks, and any area with burning dead archers can be considered a challenge.

I had to bone prison a few boss and champion burning dead archer packs and sometimes run around a bit to find a decent path through all the archers, but on the whole, making my way through the Bloody Foothills wasn't too hard.



I found Shenk the Overseer and bone prisoned him, myself, and everything else in sight. Then, I fired bone spirits like mad at Shenk and took him down without any trouble. After the bone prisons expired, I ran up the slope and found the Frigid Highlands waypoint. Mission accomplished.

When Maldar returned to Harrogoth, he found the city's residents stunned by what they had seen. Maldar seemed to walk out of legend right into their midst. This was indeed the great Maldar, the Magnificent.

Maldar returned to Larzuk who stammered while trying to come up with the right thing to say. He finally blurted out, "You're an even greater warrior than I expected... Sorry for underestimating you." He offered to place sockets in an item of Maldar's choosing (something Maldar had no need for at the moment) and to give Maldar the best prices for all of his wares.

Maldar instead asked Larzuk to escort him and formally introduce him to the city's leaders. He wanted information and if Baal was to be stopped, he needed it without delay.

Larzuk led the way to Qual-Kehk, Harrogoth's Senior Man-At-Arms. Now that Maldar had lifted the siege, perhaps he would be more willing to divulge his battlefield intelligence and give some idea of where Baal may be found.