The Thing in the Crypt

Talin awakens from his vision of Ria with a start. He quickly dresses, straps on his sword belt, and departs his humble quarters. He returns to the main room of the tavern, quiet and empty at this early hour save for a few snoring patrons slumped over their tables or sprawled across benches. The stoic innkeeper from the night before appears from a back room behind the bar and looks to Talin expectantly.

After a brief exchange, Talin breaks his fast with bread, cheese, and watered wine. He stands and gets ready to leave. He thinks back to Ria’s instructions. He must reassemble Jagar Tharn’s foul weapon, the Staff of Chaos, the first piece of which can be found in a place called the Fang Lair. He has no idea where to begin his search for such a place.

Regardless of where it is, he will not get very far without proper equipment or funds for the journey ahead, and there is no shortage of work to be found for a mercenary or guard. He will get outfitted and then look for work to tide him over while he tries to find information on the Fang Lair. All the while, he should keep a low profile in case Tharn has agents looking for him. The way forward set, Talin opens the door of the Crimson Helm and strides out into the chill morning air.

Our first order of business is to sell some of the loot Talin acquired in his explorations of the Imperial Dungeon, then to get some new equipment for him. After asking a villager for directions to the nearest shop, Talin navigates to it and enters.

The economy of Arena is a simple one. Equipment shops offer all the basic gear, as well as randomly generated higher quality items. You can buy, sell, and repair your equipment at each shop, and if you’re unhappy with the prices you can issue counteroffers to the shopkeeper to try to sell higher or buy lower. Your chances of success are affected by your Personality attribute.

Weapons and plate armor can be found in ascending quality from iron to ebony. However, since Talin is a Spellsword, he can’t wear plate. He offloads a few of the enchanted baubles he found in the opening dungeon for some gold, which he puts toward a sturdy kite shield and a mix of leather and chainmail armor.

Next up, Talin needs some spells. We make our way over to the Mages Guild, which is easy to find given its bright cyan color. On entering, we’re greeted with some spooky music and a mysterious ambience.

Commerce at the Mages Guild is just like the standard equipment shops. Spells, potions, and various magic items are all available for purchase. The highlight however is the Spellmaker. With the Spellmaker, you can craft your own custom spells using any of the magic effects available in the game. Spells made in this way can often far exceed their purchasable counterparts, as you can create a spell that has is initially very weak to keep the cost and spell point requirements low but grow exponentially more powerful with each level of your character. Drawing on his teachings from Ria Silmane, Talin crafts and fills out his spellbook with the following spells for now.

• Light
• Cure Wounds
• Magic Armor (A shield spell which lasts until depleted, functionally doubling Talin’s health)
• Cure Paralysis
• Levitation
• Spirit Arrow (A ranged damage spell)

In addition, Talin purchases some emergency potions that heal, restore spell points, and cure disease. Satisfied, it’s time for him to set out and find work while looking for the Fang Lair.

The quickest way to find side quests in Arena is to inquire about work from either the wandering townsfolk or innkeepers. Quests can also be found at the palace for each major city, but Talin wants to avoid those for now in case Tharn has infiltrated them with his agents.

Over the span of a few days, Talin gets a few simple jobs from the townsfolk of Eagle Brook, serving as an armored escort for a wealthy merchant in his dealings throughout the town, keeping watch over deliveries, working as an armed courier for important messages and items, nothing too taxing. Or particularly rewarding for that matter. It seems there’s little else to be found in a relatively quiet town. Talin departs the city and begins the journey to Wayrest, one of the largest cities in High Rock.

Arena is a huge game, and travelling through the sparse overworld from one city to another can take literal weeks of real-world time. As such, most travelling between destinations is done via fast travel on the overworld map. It takes about a week of game-time to reach.

Not long after arriving in Wayrest, Talin hears rumors of a local crypt outside the city in which some manner of undead creature has taken up residence. He decides to investigate, knowing the local guard would probably pay handsomely for proof of slaying the creature.

Tucked away in a secluded glade some distance from the city gates, he finds the crypt. The stone door has been ripped askew and lays in the rain-soaked dirt a few feet from the opening. Cracked stone steps lead down into pitch darkness. Talin closes his eyes and conjures a bright ball of light into existence. He heads down the steps.

The stale air of the tomb is suffocating, and the light from Talin’s spell struggles to hold back the darkness all around him. He searches for some time but sees no sign of any undead beast. Could it be the rumors were false, the product of imagination or mischievous children? Then again, children couldn’t have opened the door to the tomb.

He hears it before he sees it, but first, he smells it. A fetid, rotting scent of death, disease, and decay. Then, a slow, rasping shuffle of movement from the blackness before him. His hands sweating within their leather gauntlets, Talin tightens his grip on his sword and shield and readies himself for combat.

Out of the dark a creature emerges, a bloated, ambulant cadaver with jaundiced skin and sunken red eyes. It clutches a wicked looking club in twitching hands with broken, dirt-encrusted nails. It shuffles forward, an eerie moan escaping from its cracked lips and blackened gums.

Talin recoils for a moment in horror. The smell was buffeting. He had faced men in combat and killed more than his fair share of goblins and other beasts. This was different, this was a ghoul, a creature of pure evil, and an abomination from beyond the grave. Swallowing his fear, Talin charges forward.

He hacks at the creature repeatedly, his longsword chopping and sticking into it like hardwood. The ghoul is unfazed and swings its club without warning at astonishing speed, striking Talin across the chest. Talin is thrown backwards into a sarcophagus, his back cracking against the hard stone. The creature ambles forward at a slow but unrelenting pace, raising its weapon high.

Every movement agony, Talin fumbles for his weapon but cannot find it. He reaches up and behind him to grasp the edge of the sarcophagus and makes to stand. If he was to die, it would be on his feet.

Atop the sarcophagus, beneath a layer of dust, inches thick, Talin’s hand finds the unmistakable grip of a sword. With new resolve, he summons every bit of strength in his body to leap upwards and lashes out with the weapon, beheading the ghoul with a single stroke. Close to blacking out, Talin uses what breath remains in his lungs to recite a healing spell and feels strength and stability return to him. Gasping with relief, Talin wipes the sword clean with a scrap of cloth which he quickly discards, examining his new prize.

The sword is magnificent, a blade of pure silver somehow untouched by age. This was clearly an enchanted weapon, likely left in the crypt to honor its former wielder long ago. Talin is loathe to become a graverobber, but finding the weapon in this way is clearly a sign he is meant to wield it. With some disgust, he collects the rapidly putrefying head of the ghoul to show the Wayrest guard. He departs the crypt.

Armed with a new weapon, a Silver Longsword of Speed, Talin returns to Wayrest and sells off a few trinkets he found in the crypt and makes some money. Soon after, he ventures out and clears out an abandoned ruin of bandits that have been plaguing the region. This cycle of finding dungeons either through quests or exploration, killing the enemies and collecting and selling the loot is a basic blueprint of the gameplay of Arena, it’s pretty boilerplate.

Some weeks pass, Talin clears out a few more dungeons. Throughout this process, he levels up a few more times, makes some money, and fills out his equipment with a few more pieces of chainmail armor. A revelation is just around the corner for him.

Upon inquiring on some general rumors with some townsfolk, Talin hears a very compelling piece of information. He hears rumors of a certain individual in the city who has information on the Oghma Infinium, an ancient tome of forbidden knowledge written long ago by the wizard Xarxes. Ria had talked of searching for it herself years ago. Many had tried, but most had written it off as a legend.

Talin has his doubts as to the veracity of this rumor, but he can’t afford not to investigate it. He has made no progress in his search for the Fang Lair, and the Oghma Infinium could possibly shed some light on its location if nothing else. Putting his doubts aside, Talin decides to pursue the lead.