Stepping through the portal they found themselves in an ancient, dark, icy antechamber. The sense of foreboding evil was palpable – they all felt it weighing upon them. It made concentration difficult. It made them all feel weak and drained. This would not be an easy place to do battle.
Progressing inside, they came to a large central area, surrounding what appeared to be nothing less than a hole in reality. But before they could take stock of the situation, they were confronted by a large, formidable entity with a booming laugh. Sessroth had arrived.
He mocked their appearance, mocked their efforts, and vowed their destruction = summoning demons to his aid.Then he took to the air leaving a massive storm of fire and lightning in his wake. Tess did her best to shield them from the magical onslaught, but this only enraged him further.
He swooped down to hammer at Tess and eliminate her protection of the group. Unfortunately for him this put him directly between Falcon and Kat – which is *not* a healthy place to be in melee range.
Between Falcon’s assault from the front and Kat’s jabs from behind Sessroth quickly found himself in far more trouble than he anticipated. He teleported out to try his luck again from afar now that Tess’s concentration on the spell shield had been disrupted, leaving demons to keep Falcon and Kat occupied..
Only to find himself met with a barrage from Tess – which he no longer had the strength to counter. Down he went, and his entourage immediately vanished with him.Well that was easier than expected! commented Falcon. Roland groaned and Tess shook her head. This was just the beginning. They had done nothing but forced Sessroth back to the Abyss. They still needed to find a way to seal the portal before he returned.There were four large hallways leading out from the main portal chamber, so they chose one at random and headed down it. The air, the atmosphere, everything changed as they progressed, until it opened up into a dark, hellish… but strangely familiar… cave complex, dominated by large red crystal growths like they had seen before. Before they could observe more, they found themselves under attack! A giant Hezrou demon accompanied by several Vrocks.But something else appeared simultaneously… spirit warriors coalesced from the air and began battling the demons! The warriors looked… familiar as well… but they did not have time to look closely. The battle was on!
The screams of the Vrocks were intense, and Roland and Kat found themselves stunned and helpless.
Falcon attacked the Vrocks relentlessly, but if it wasn’t for the aid of the spirit warriors several of the others may have succumbed to the Hezrou before he eliminated them and Kat and Roland could rejoin the fight..After the battle they realized who the spirits were. Echoes of Eastern Clan soldiers they had known – General Blunt… and Captain Ashdown! Now Tess realized where they were. This was a demi-plane – a demonic reflection of the caves under Glendale Castle. Connected somehow to the demonic crystal growth they had seen under the real Castle. Perhaps breaking the crystal on this side would break the connection!And so, using the Guardian as a sledgehammer, Roland destroyed the first of the Crystals.Exploring the area further, they made a completely unexpected discovery. There was cave with a set of cages containing human figures. Upon approach the people inside called out. When Kat let them out they discovered that this was, in fact, the entire Royal Family of Gallivan! Rather than merely replacing them with Infilitrators, the Soraks and Demons had also kept them *alive* so that they could use their fates to blackmail any Gallivan political or military leaders that resisted their control! Roland immediately directed them back to the Gateway through which they had arrived. With the reappearance of the real Gallivan royalty, perhaps the wars with Gallivan could be brought to a peaceful resolution after all!
The next hallway led to a similar experience – a demi-plane reflection of the frigid Great White of the Northern Clans. And sure enough the likes of Marduk and the Giant Hjalmar appeared to help them defeat the guardians of this area – a massive Maralith and her retinue. Then they destroyed a second crystal.
When they returned to the central area to continue to the third, however, they had an unpleasant surprise awaiting them. Sessroth had returned! This time backed up with Succubi, Incubi, and Hezrou. He was clearly getting irritated with them, and his attempts to mock and intimidate them were undone when Tess noted that he hadn’t actually fully healed from their last encounter… He was *not* in fact infinite and inevitable. He growled and the battle raged again.The second battle with Sessroth began much as the first, but clearly he had learned from their first encounter. Falcon began assaulting his forces as before… but then stopped and turned as the Succubus took over his mind! .
It took all of Roland’s skill and determination just to hold Falcon’s attention without being eviscerated. Meanwhile Tess and Kat concentrated on taking out the flying Succubus to eliminate her control over Falcon – weathering a blistering magical assault from Sessroth in the process..But once the Succubus went down, Falcon regained his senses. Sessroth refused to close with them. He was wary of Falcon’s blade. But Falcon, Tess, and Kat were perfectly capable of engaging him from afar while Roland dealt with the riff-raff. Before long this avatar of Sessroth too went down in defeat. “How may times do we have to kill this !@@!?” cursed Falcon. “As many times as it takes until we can seal his way back”, replied Tess. And their exploration continued.
The next area was a twisted reflection of the woods of the Western Clan, and a huge Glabrezu with a company of Hezrou met their assault – while spirits of elves such as Graybear, Elora Brightheart, … and even the Draconian Priestess from the woods came to their aid. The draconian spirit died occupying the Glabrezu while the others made their way through the hezrou. They could only hope that this would not shatter the real-world incarnation as well. But even this mighty Glabrezu eventually fell. And one more crystal was destroyed
The last hallway resembled the caves of the Central Clans, guarded by a powerful Incubus with a retinue of Succubi and Hezrou. Spirits of Kara Wisehead and Gilmar Goldentongue joined in the battle. They were wary of the Succubi this time, and stayed close to Tess as she focused on countering their mental assaults. It was largely a ranged battle, with Roland engaging the Hezrou while they others shot down the flying demons. Finally when the demons were defeated they destroyed the last crystal.
But returning to the central area, the portal was still open. There were five Clans, but they had only found four crystals. Then they realized what this meant. The missing clan was Vigdis’ Southern Clan. And the demon had taken Vigdis’ soul in the ceremony. The last link would be with Vigdis. In the Abyss itself. They looked at each other, steeled themselves, and nodded. Then jumped into the portal.They found themselves in a dark, twisted place like nothing they had ever known, and they were immediately greeted by… Sessroth. Once Again.
“You Solastans are almost as insane as my bretheren. To follow me here? To think that you can contend with me in my own home plane? Let me show you how truly overmatched you are. Let me introduce you to someone. Someone who knows you quite well. A business associate of mine… from the world of Tirmar….“
And then their worst nightmare appeared beside Sessroth, hissing with rage and glaring with hate. Sorr Tarr. The god of the Soraks. In the flesh. The one and only.
Tess hissed “its only an Avatar, its not really him”.
Kat quipped back. “Is that all it is? Just an Avatar? Of Dark and Scaly himself? Why that’s nothing. Maybe we can have tea with Mephistopheles afterwards.”
Roland answered for them all, loudly and clearly. “This must end. You cannot have Solasta. Neither of you. And I will bring down Gods with my own hands if I have to to ensure that.”
And the final battle was on.
Other demons joined in, but at this point their presence was almost incidental. Tess let loose a massive cascade of lightning to clear out the minor concerns, and it very quickly became a matter of the four vs an ArchDemon and a God. From that point she concentrated on mitigating magical assaults from the other two.Sessroth assaulted them with blistering storms of Fire and Ice. But they were quite familiar with his tricks by now.
As before, Sessroth attempted to avoid Falcon by taking to the skies. Unfortunately for him, Tess had anticipated this, and cast a Fly spell upon Falcon before crossing into the Abyss. With no way to escape the already-injured Sessroth was once again beaten down. This time for good.
The Avatar of Sorr-Tarr was a different beast. His shrieks chilled them to the heart. His deathly aura tore at their flesh. His hideous claws glistened with deadly venom. But they had essentially been training for this battle for a year now. Gradually learning to fight stronger and stronger Soraks. The Avatar of a God he might be, but a Sorak is a Sorak. Roland took him head on, absorbing the blows, ignoring the aura, shrugging off the poison, and never backing down.
And every time the Avatar grew too relentlessly focused upon Roland, Kat made him pay. Again and again her daggers found purchase as the enraged reptile extended itself trying to finish off Roland.
And when it finally turned on Kat, having had enough of her constant tearing at its backside, it lost its head. Literally. As Roland would not allow it to assault Kat as it had him.They looked at each other, brusied, beaten, singed, and exhausted, but elated..And then they looked at the portal. Which was closed. With them still in the Abyss…. With Sessroth dying in his home plane, he was gone for good. And with him the link to Solasta formed of his blood…They ran to look closer, and a light appeared. Shining brightly and circling over their heads. The Soul of Vigdis. And then a Voice boomed from above.
“I am the Guardian of the Gate. The Source has been quenched. The gateway has been closed. There is now but one way to pass. It will cost but a single Soul. Any Soul will do”
.
The others glanced at the Soul of Vigdis, circling above, and then looked at Roland – all of them knowing exactly how he would respond to this Faustian Dilemma.But before he could say a word, before any of them could argue, everything froze. None of them could speak. None of them could move. And then someone stepped to the fore… Tess.“I’m sorry, old friend. But I cannot allow you to do what I know you intend to do. The world needs *you*. The world *always* needs *you*. And *they* need you.”, she said, gesturing behind him at Kat and Falcon.
“I know you would never sacrifice Vigdis, or any of us. And if you could speak you would find some way to convince us to agree. But I won’t allow that. Not this time. I will stay, and you will take Vigdis and the others back to Solasta. It is the only way”With that, she stepped up onto the platform, and addressed the Voice. “I will pay the price”, she said. “My soul for their passage”. “SO BE IT”, replied the Voice. And Tess… vanished. And the others found themselves back in Solasta.Falcon was stunned. Kat was despondent. Roland, for the first time in his life, was utterly speechless..
Solasta quickly began to return to normal with the demonic interference eliminated and the remaining Soraks shorn of both their divine support and their political powerbase,
With Vigdis’ return, and her new fame and experiences, she became the leader of the entire Snow Alliance.
With the return of the true Royal Family, peace with Gallivan was restored.
Violet dedicated her efforts exclusively to understanding and reproducing Exonaïka’s research – in hopes of finding some way that Tess could be snatched back from the Abyss.And the others? They never gave up hope. Roland would not allow it. They chased down every lead Violet uncovered. Fought their way through every elder ruin, dragon’s lair, and magical wasteland in Solasta tracing down ancient tomes and lost artifacts to bring back to Violet.So that one day. Some how. Some way. They could bring Tess home.
5 responses to “Solasta: The Palace of Ice”
atcDave
Well that was huge, epic! The post, the renders and the story are all epic!
Mostly satisfying end, the power growth is obviously dramatic. Comparable to BG1 through ToB?
Does it all play well? Or get a little clunky by the end?
There’s nowhere near as many sidequests as BG as a whole. Its more focused on the main quest. Which works well narratively, but means there’s less total content. But given this is a first RPG from a relatively new, small developer its a pretty amazing first effort. Dialog isn’t up to BG2 standards, but its a deficiency they are aware of – and there’s a sequel coming out this year.
Its turn based, so they never go completely nuts with huge numbers of baddies. The difficulty is a bit off late. ToB gets brutal in some fights towards the end. This one had the opposite issue that some fights were too easy. Main letdown there was the final fight. Sorr-Tarr was essentially a big bad melee baddy, and Sessroth could be contained with Tess on counterspell duty. If they were backed up by another spellcaster, or something like the Glabrezu that gave us fits at the end of the elf village arc they would have been much nastier. Or if the Succubi didn’t come with the “once you’ve been hit with a Succubus charm you’re immune for 24 hours” caveat. The hardest fight they had was when they had to hold off Falcon.
The ending felt earned overall. The requirement that somebody stay in the Abyss to let the others return was an understandable and thematic price. And when it came up the what it would play out was obvious. Any one of them would’ve been willing to make that sacrifice. Roland would be the most persuasive about it. But Tess can throw around the likes of Time Stop…. Hard to top that when she’s *really* insistent.
The game practically wrote the ending – right down to Violet leading the charge to find a way to get Tess back. She was quite the endearing NPC.
It’s other big selling point is that it supports user modules, and there’s a decent collection of custom modules – both remaking old dnd modules and original efforts.
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