Treasures of the Savage Frontier, Chapter 3: Twinning

Two exceedingly beautiful women stood before them, in heated conversation. They seemed to be arguing about a man's affections. One's countenance was fair and her hair was the color of golden wheat. The other's locks were like that of a raven's feathers. Although equally beautiful, she wore a scowl of deep-seeded anger and hatred. As the Heroes entered, a spell was on her lips, and in a blink, there now stood two golden haired beauties of fair countenance. The argument turned physical as one of the women pounced on the other, both yelling "I'm the real Siulajia!" as they wrestled on the stone floor.

After the battle at the entrance to the keep, my heroes then explored the side towers. There were illusions of Lord Geildarr on one side, and what must be his consort on the other. I was a little apprehensive at seeing efreet, since they laid the hurt down on Krevish so bad in Gateway. My fears were founded, as they killed Avrilenne... killed her dead. I reloaded because raising her would make her lose a point of constitution, and thus hit points. I soon found out that using the "repair" option in the temples causes them to cast resurrection, and thus you do not lose the Con, but I didn't know this at the time.

The only option left in the keep was to descend into the dungeons below, which also included barracks for the troops of Geildarr. Finding a secret door in the north part of the dungeon, I came upon a peculiar scene. There was a golden haired woman, and the dark haired woman mentioned in the above screenshot. The raven haired one cast a spell and transformed into a look-alike, and the two women begin wrastlin'! I thought the obvious answer here was to cast a spell, but it took me a second to get it to work. After choosing "cast", instead of asking "Who casts?" like usual, it takes you to the main menu; it confused me for a bit.

Maybe the wrestling part just happened in my mind... forgive me.

After cutting down the dark haired woman, Cortarra, the golden haired women introduces herself. Her name is the easily pronounceable Siulajia. Her father is some guy who sounds important, he leads pilgrims on a road and stuff. The characters in Llorkh are introduced so fast, they may be established characters in the lore of the Forgotten Realms that might assumed to be familiar to the player already. Another NPC is introduced almost right after, and he leaves the party just as quickly as he appears.

I keep reading this is as "EXCEPT with a bow," and it cracks me up.

Siulajia is indeed a capable fighter, with high stats and more hit points than any of my characters have (80). I think she serves a similar purpose in this game as Krevish did in the former; staying with the party throughout the game and offering hints.

The next couple rooms are a whirlwind, as you rescue a fighter from a giant skeleton, then he helps you defeat Geildarr, then he leaves. After Geildarr's defeat, the dwarves thank you, and it's time to move on to Secomber to meet with Amelior Amanitas once again.

I should probably put a pic of Geildarr here, but I love this guy's enthusiasm too much.

The warrior the party rescued, Jabarkas, mentions to keep an eye out for crystals. They are carried by the evil troops, and they are careful to crush them rather than let them fall in to the hands of the enemy. There are different colors, and no person is entrusted with more than one. I recovered a green one soon after, in Secomber.

Many of our foes also carry odd items called "lucky papers." Holding the crystal over the paper reveals some of the text, just like those old clue books where you need a red filter to see the hints. Since I only have one crystal, only some of the letters show up. What I can use these papers for remains to be seen.

I'll let the game tell you the next part:

I wonder what happens if you say "no..."

And with the crown upon one of their heads, the Heroes could communicate with the wizard from anywhere in the Realms. This would alleviate all manner of trips back to his home, in which Erek would be bothered to open the door for them, acknowledge them with a grunt, and Amanitas would have to rack his brain as to who they were... again.