Quest for Glory Epic Let's Play Parts 130, 131 and 132: Victory From Defeat, Hero of Mordavia and QG4 End Credits

In Which Our Hero defeats Ad Avis once and for all, is saved by a woman who loves him, and finally meets Erana; and becomes Hero of Four Lands, and is summoned to the fifth by an old friend.









Who knew the end of the road would be in a dank, dark cave? Actually if you've played fantasy games before, you probably know that's exactly how many roads end.

I digress.

The Dark One's cave: there's no where else to go but up. Good thing we've got this rope and grapnel. A quick toss and a climb later and we're standing in what could only be described as Avoozl's brain, with a large piece of crystal, Ad Avis and Katrina. There is one final ritual, which we recite.

Katrina starts bragging to Ad Avis about her triumph. He casts a spell at Marcus. She casts one back at him, breaking his bonds. They fight for a while, and Marcus hangs on for dear life. Finally Ad Avis casts a powerful spell at Marcus, Katrina teleports in front of him to save him, and Avoozl.. well.. he eats her. No better way to say it. Chomps her down like a $0.49 Taco Bell bean burrito.

Marcus climbs up as Ad Avis gloats. Just as he's ready to destroy Marcus, we do the only thing we can to delay it: crack the Ultimate Joke. It works, and Marcus tosses Erana's staff through Ad Avis' chest - killing him. The staff then breaks Erana from her prison. She tells Marcus she loves him and they will be together.

After that, it's all downhill. The usual Hero Ceremony stuff (a 'party' in the castle.. sheesh) where Marcus gets a message from none other than Erasmus, who summons him to Silmaria for his next adventure - and the next game!!

The end credits are just a quick bit that plays after you save your Hero for import, so you can enjoy those too. The music and art is kind of nifty.

Quest For Glory Epic Let's Play Parts 124 and 125: Punny's Last Show and Last Day

In Which Our Hero attends a fine comedy show and enjoys his last morning in Mordavia Town.







"What do you know about show business?"

"There's no business like it. No business I know."

Ah, showbiz. The glitz and glam of being up on stage and having people pay attention to you. If you're a gnome then it's pretty much the beginning and end of your existence. So it's understandable that Punny Bones wants to do one last show in Mordavia before he moves on. Who wouldn't want these rubes laughing at his jokes?

Punny's in rare form, and his act takes up most of the first video along with the townsfolk's reactions to it. Marcus also pays a visit to Boris, who talks about snuggling with Olga again at night. Good deed done.

Marcus drop in on Piotyr too, who tells him that the way to greater light is to travel the path of Darkness. Very interesting advice. Perhaps the meaning will become more clear soon.

The next morning Marcus gets a note from Katrina asking him to meet her at the castle gate. They have much to discuss. Yeah, like why she's an undead freakshow with giant 1988 hair. There really isn't a hell of a lot to do but wait at this point, so Marcus kicks back and chills - and the next series of videos will be the climax.

Quest For Glory Epic Let's Play Parts 122 and 123: Mordavian Hero and Marcus' Fourth Fortune

In Which Our Hero is celebrated throughout Mordavia and learns more about his fortune.







There's nothing like the morning after a long night. Marcus stops for some hangover chow (garlic breakfast) with the Innkeeper and his wife, and talks to Tanya a little more. It seems like she's going to be OK.

Then it's time for the daily rounds: the burgomeister wants to congratulate Marcus, and even Olga has something nice to say. Of course, a hero can't let his muscles go to waste, so there's a workout session and an appointment with Dr. Cranium, where we discuss Silmaria.. sounds like such a nice place!

After that, Marcus hustles across the valley to the gypsy camp where his final fortune is read. It is about yet another of the women in his life... there sure seem to be a lot of them, but hardly any, ahem, reward for dealing with them.

Everywhere there are warnings that rescuing Tanya may have angered someone greatly. We'll see how this all plays out...

Quest For Glory Epic Let's Play Parts 116 and 117: A Fine Morning and Hit Me Baba One More Time

In Which Our Hero enjoys the last normal morning in Mordavia and runs into Baba Yaga one last time.







This, ladies and gentlemen, is it: the beginning of the Quest for Glory IV endgame. The first video is really quite normal: it's the last real normal morning Marcus will have in Mordavia. He starts off with brekkie, talks to Bella and Yuri for a bit, then heads out to chat with Dmitri about Piotyr and being a Paladin. Igor has a few graveyard humor jokes too. It's on to the guild for a workout, on to Dr. Cranium's for some pills, and back to Dmitri to tell him about Nikolai. That's it.

There are a couple of loose ends to start wrapping up, the first being the final ritual we need to collect. The one hidden in the Hangman's Tree. Guess who's hanging on to it. Yup. So we get to visit our onetime foe one last time. She's far more cordial this time (probably because she isn't dead-set on having Marcus with a side of cordial), even taking the time to explain the Dark One situation in plain English. Or common, whatever it is.

That's where we leave off. Next time, we've got a fortune, then we're sneaking into Castle Borgov to start the final pieces of the game.

Until then...

Quest For Glory Epic Let's Play Parts 104 and 105: The Bad Touch and Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves

In Which Our Hero burns down a building and meets the gypsies. Is nice!








It is a beautiful Mordavian morning. The sun is out, the birds are singing, the Burgomeister is jolly, and the evil monastery is still standing. But not for long...

After doing Marcus' morning routine, we break into the monastery and find the Bad Place Domovoi that the Hotel's Domovoi told us about last night. With an application of Dr. Cranium's Rehydration Solution the Domovoi comes back to life and (presumably) gets the hell out of Dodge. Which is good, because Marcus is feeling a little left out of the action. So he takes a torch to the monastery and burns the building down.

We quietly slip out of town with no one the wiser (actually, we tell Dmitri about the evil inside and that it had to be done), and make our way to the gypsy camp where we meet Davy and Magda, the fortuneteller. The gypsies tell Marcus a little about themselves and the valley, most of which we already knew but it's helping to put some things in context for the last part of the game.

More importantly, she tells Marcus how to free the Rusalka so we can finally get Piotyr off our ass about it.

The second video is almost a cut scene unto itself (as the fortune-telling well be next video) so there's relatively little in the way of commentary there.

Next time: Marcus' fortune is read, and we come face to face with our oldest enemy.

Quest For Glory Epic Let's Play Parts One Hundred and 101: Saving Igor and The Lovers

In Which Our Hero solves the crime, saves the gravedigger and the gypsy; and reunites Boris and Olga.







Marcus' big day continues. We go into Dr. Cranium's lab looking for Igor and instead find that the doctor has sinned against nature - and apparently intends to do so again that night, and several nights thereafter. Maybe it's best that we as a Paladin don't get too involved in this little... um... affair.

Igor's not at Cranium's and he's not in front of the monastery. Maybe he's at the graveyard? Marcus rolls out of town and takes the opportunity to swing by Boris' to deliver Olga's latest message. Fun.

In the graveyard there's an awful groaning noise coming from one of the graves! Hands on his sword, Marcus pushes the fallen gravestone aside to find...

Well, what did you think? It's Igor of course, who runs back to town after expressing his gratitude that Marcus freed him.

Back in town, Marcus finds that the gypsy has been set free and everything seems to be on its way back to normal. Olga has another message for Boris, which Marcus delivers. And Boris finally admits he will go see Olga. Looks like those two are on the mend.

A brief wait later and night falls. We're going to go see a couple of friends, but first we head back to the swamp where Marcus captures some Will-o-the-Wisps to shine the light of dead children's souls on the Squid Stone to retrieve one of the rituals inside. He then releases the Wisps back into the swamp, and that's where we'll pick up next time.

Quest For Glory Epic Let's Play Parts Ninety-Eight and Ninety-Nine: Marcus' Pledge and Redeeming Piotyr

In Which Our Hero pledges to help save an innocent man and teaches the Burgomeister what it means to be a Hero.








Picking up where we left off, we walk into the Burgomeister's office and pump him for information about this gypsy business. It seems that the gypsy was just wandering outside of town and happened to be there when people were looking for Igor. So naturally, they brought him in, locked him up and want to burn him. Reason is lost on the mob so unless someone can prove the gypsy's innocence - figure out what happened to Igor - this guy's going to burn for just being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The second video covers Marcus telling the Burgomeister about finding Piotyr's sword, the battle with the wraith and the ghost in the town square. It turns out that Piotyr was suspected of abandoning Dmitri's grandmother and this sword proves he didn't, that he was killed in battle instead. Dmitri is impressed, so much so that he gives Marcus Piotyr's Paladin shield as well (woohoo!) and tells Marcus that his faith in Heroes and Paladins is restored.

All in a day's work!

The rest of the video is Marcus' morning routine, talking to Olga, looking for Igor, and finally going to Nikolai and telling him about the ghost we saw in the forest. Before we can stop him, he runs off to find her.

Oops.

Quest For Glory Epic Let's Play Parts Ninety-Six and Ninety-Seven: Ghostbusting and A Strange Crime

In Which Our Hero helps a ghost come to terms with her death and learns of a crime that has been committed - maybe.







This is where things really start to take off. We open the first video with Marcus addressing some various ghostly undead issues: first, it's back to the female ghost in the forest, whom Marcus finally convinces she's a ghost. We then return and learn her name: Anna. As if we didn't realize it already. This is Nikolai's lost love, who perished after being out at dusk. Seemingly on an errand for Dr. Cranium, but who's counting?

Then Marcus heads to another wraith barrow where he does battle with the vicious undead and is triumphant. Another wraith horde to add to the stack. It's too bad Marcus can only buy candy and sandwiches with his loot. Maybe he should look into the deed on Borgov Castle...

Back to town and the inn, where Marcus has a quick meal, a good night's sleep and wakes up for the second video.

There is a lot of dialogue in this one and not a lot of commentary, mostly because I wanted you guys to enjoy it. As I pointed out in the commentary, this is the start of the events that lead to the endgame of Shadows of Darkness. We're through learning about the town and this series of events will lead us to our final confrontation. But enough about that: this is something to be savored.

Marcus rolls out of bed, heads downstairs, noshes a bit and walks out to Mordavia's fine morning. The birds are singing, the sun is shining, and there's a lynch mob ready to tie a gypsy to the stake and burn him.

What?

It seems that Igor the gravedigger's gone missing. And the mob caught a gypsy outside of town. Naturally, gypsies are werewolves and eat people so this gypsy was brought into town for questioning as he is clearly related to Igor's disappearance. Or is he?

Looks like Marcus is going to have his work cut out for him.

Personal note: this is one of my favorite scenes in the series because it combines so many great elements of gothic fiction: the paranoid mob, the slightly supernatural, the disappearance of someone familiar and the terrible things that linger just beneath the surface of common folk. So yeah, enjoy.

Quest For Glory Epic Let's Play Part Eighty-Four: Strange Dreams

In Which Our Hero has some very unusual dreams.





Erana's Staff is a perfectly safe place to sleep, so Marcus beds down for the night in the middle of town rather than sleep in his nice warm bed. Looks like he needs to work on that Int. score a bit.

That night Marcus' dreams tend towards the crazy. Maybe he shouldn't have taken so many hits off the water pipe in Tarna, because damn. What does all this mean??

The next morning the Burgomeister grills Marcus a bit before we head off to the store, more for rumors than anything (and also because I was trying to kick off the Boris-Olga subplot, which didn't happen.) Then it's off to Doctor Cranium's where we watch him get fried with 1.2 gigawatts before talking to him about a certain Antwerp POPulation Explosion that we may or may not have taken part in.

The speech really slows the games down, huh? I'm thinking of kicking these up to an update a day.

Quest For Glory Epic Let's Play Part Seventy-Three: Mordavia Town

In Which Our Hero finds the town of Mordavia and meets the friendly locals.





We pick up in the swamp and make a run through the nighttime Mordavian forest to the town of Mordavia itself. Marcus has a quick poke around the outside and then walks in, much to the surprise of Dmitri, the Burgomeister.

Most of the rest of the video is Marcus' conversation with Dmitri, which is a bit lengthy but sets up part of the story for this game. Listening to the dialogue does make the game more interesting (and the subtitles slightly less distracting) but takes a little longer - so I anticipate there will be more updates for Shadows of Darkness than the other games.

At any rate, enjoy!