Tower of Destruction, Play 1 Part 3

Tonight we continue my playthrough of Tower of Destruction. Aliades the wizard was kind enough to give me healing potions and food for my journey north-east, where I intend to stop the Tower of Destruction from being completed. It’s a 40 kilometer walk across tundra, and then into the wizard’s Ice Castle…

In the late morning, some barbarians fly in on winged horses. Now that’s pretty cool, not something I’ve seen before. They make some dismissive comments about my quest, that I’m just another fool who’s gonna get stepped on by a mammoth. Eventually they tire of me, and fly off.

In the late afternoon, I come across a polar bear killing a trapper. I must say, I’m not that saddened to see the bear kill the guy because he hurts animals for a living. But then the bear comes at me! Agh! I seriously luck out, though, and kill the bear without taking a scratch. Then I rummage through the trapper’s stuff. I find a heavy bag of salt, and some extra food, and his sled and dogs. Nice!

I ride on through the day until I stop to camp, on an overlook where I can see the Ice Castle. The dogs won’t go any further so I turn them loose, sleep and eat, and the next day finish my walk. I now stand in front of the Ice Castle. Wow, getting here was easier than I expected. The writing and the illustration really lay it on thick: this is a super sweet castle, and a gigantic one, with walls of ice, towers of ice, a gigantic dome of ice… Wow.

I make my way around and find a gatehouse, and am attacked by two dark elves! This is pretty surprising, since this was supposed to be a long-abandoned city and dark elves aren’t normally found in this part of the world. We cross blades and I kill them both, which is kind of sad.

And then I make my way into the courtyard. Again, I’m surrounded by sparkling, reflecting, crystalline beauty. There are four towers, a cathedral, a whole town down here at ground level, and then the Great Tower. It’s quite breathtaking. So many choices… where to start?

Let’s start by exploring the workshops at ground level.

In an abandoned weaponsmith’s workshop, I meet a ghost. Something about it doesn’t put me off, though, and I let it touch me, draining 6 stamina points of my warmth. Ouch! The spirit reanimates a bit, enough to thank me and to tell me a story about why it was cursed to be here — something about a magical sword in the ice cathedral, that really had the wizard on edge. That’s good to know.

In an old jeweler’s workshop, I find a dark elf looting the place. I kill him to punish looting, then take the jewelry he found because, well, it’s not like anybody needs it, right? Sure…

I wander the warehouse district for a while. I find an enticing set of ice gates that can only be opened with magical Ice Keys. So that’s sure to come back later! I also kill a wild tiger that tried to eat me. Then I found a whole stash of food, enough to heal back to full and to refill my stocks. But then I ate too much and got tired, and had to sleep another night. It then occurs to me that the clock is still ticking, and this is now 7 nights.

Well, enough screwing around down here in town. Let’s check out a tower…