With the Belt of Giant Strength, at last we can bash through the doors of Mendor’s Library and get this quest completed!

The focus of Mendor’s Library, as a city hex, is less on introducing new concepts (sort of) and more on exposition. The whole point of this hex is getting into the library, and exploring until you find all the books with Journal Entries. There are no random encounters, and only two fixed encounters, though the ones that are there are a doozy – a basilisk and a wraith. In the latter case, this means that if you’re coming here before the Cadorna Textile House, this will be your first time encountering level-draining undead. On top of this, I did some in-game checking and the temples don’t have Restoration – meaning that the only way to cure level drain in the game is through the use of magic items.

The exposition here is pretty big. Based on the information found in various books, the player should be able to put this together – Tyranthraxus is a malign spirit or other demonic entity acting service to the Evil God Bane. Tyranthraxus had taken the form of a mighty warrior many years ag, and had led a marauding horde which ravaged the land. When he was slain, the armies that defeated him bound his spirit to a magical pool.

However, this pool, which became known as the “Pool of Radiance” was somehow able to move, and is no longer located in the mountains where it was once hidden. Further, the force within that pool could potentially possess beings – the implication is clear – the pool had moved to the ruins of Old Phlan after the fall, where Tyranthraxus apparently possessed the dragon that had holed up in the ruins of the castle.

After completing this quest – Ghim and Deedlit both gained levels in Fighter and we picked up a Cloak of Displacement, so it feels like now is a really good time to give the Vaihingen Graveyard a shot – so that’s what I’ll cover in the next installment.