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 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 Seventy-Nine: The Monastery

In Which Our Hero learns more of the Dark One and ignores the warnings of the locals.





Now things start to get interesting. We finish questioning Dr. Cranium and head back to the monastery at the north end of town. Ignoring Igor, we try to open the door, only to be eaten by the sculpture hanging there! Oh no! Good thing we saved our game.

A quick restore later and we use the Dark One sign on the door, gaining access to the monastery. It's not so bad inside - if you can get over the evil symbols everywhere and the creepy, dried-out Domovoi statue in the cabinet. There's another Hexapod over the fireplace and some telltale scratches inside. Could this be another door? It could!

Give Hector the Hexapod (I didn't make it up, sorry) some garlic and we have access to the monastery basement. Now this is clearly where the monastic order invested most of their creepyness. It's cold, and damp, and moldy, and smells like rotting flesh. Not unlike my refrigerator.

We have a quick look around, including as the massive Cask of Amon Tillado, and will pick up in the basement next time - when Marcus is going to go on a little 'trip.'

Quest For Glory Epic Let's Play Part Seventy-Seven: Puzzle Solving

In Which Our Hero solves some puzzles. He never was very good at that sort of thing.





Ah the inside of Dr. Cranium's house. Office. Lab. Thing. Marcus starts things off right by inadvertently loosing another Antwerp Population Explosion, but it's OK because we need to TRAP one to solve the next puzzle anyway. It takes our intrepid hero (and his intrepid puppet master) a little bit of time but in the end the maze and the keyhole puzzle prove no match for our wits.

I realize this video is a little boring since it's puzzle-solving, so I tried to make the subtitles as entertaining as possible. Next time we'll have a nice one-on-one with Dr. Cranium and go exploring around where we don't belong. That will be more exciting than this, I promise.

Quest For Glory Epic Let's Play Part Seventy-Five: The Locals

In Which Our Hero meets a farmer and an elephant-herder, and breaks the glass because it's an emergency.





We start off at the Inn where we pump the Innkeeper for information, which consists largely of 'avoid trouble' and 'dangers at night.' So the same old song and dance really. It sounds a bit like a scam to drum up business at his Inn if you ask me.

Then we question the three locals sitting at the table, a pumpkin farmer, a garlic farmer and an elephant herder. These guys will be providing some much-needed comic relief throughout the game. Note there was an audio bug right before Ivan's intro which caused me to skip past it, so I've pasted it above.

These guys aren't very helpful (yet) so it's on to the adventurer's guild, stopping quickly to talk to Igor, the town gravedigger. He may have a funny accent and a comically deformed body but he's got a great sense of humor! Really.

The adventurer's guild is a sad, deserted place. One thing catches Marcus' attention: a fine sword in a glass case on the wall. "Break Glass in Emergencies" the plaque reads. Well, if being stuck in Mordavia without my equipment doesn't qualify as an emergency, I don't know what does!