hive drones... help please.

[dobson]

i'm extremely and literally stuck! My character is at that secluded house by Lake Atria, (northern Tangletree Forest) where a woman lives. He killed off those "Hive Drones" (the bees) one by one no problem on his way there and started chatting with her no problem, everything was clear and dandy... but now that i'm trying to go back the same way I came (i went around the lake 5 times and couldn't find another passage) a swirm of those hive drones comes charging towards me! (There are A LOT of them)

i've tried finding secret passages, different spells, all the potions i have... there are just too many of them and they completely block the way! I believe there's even two or more queen bees further back but i'm not sure-I die before i get there. my character is only level 6 illusionist... what should i do? (i don't have a previously saved game to that trap)

[mark]

Lead the swarm back to lilith. She will help you kill them.

[dobson]

that's what i did at first, 3 or 4 bees came after me and I lead them towards the house, but the bees killed her!...... then i finished the remaining two that were weakened by then...

[Farwalker]

Hmm... sounds tough. If you had a point in hide in shadows you could try the sneak approach. Any chance you left an unopened chest etc within reach? As a last ditch effort you could then banzai reload until you get something that helps...

[dobson]

oh no... i'm sensing it's going to be impossible isn't it?? please say it ain't so....

yes, those thoughts crossed my mind... no unopened crates left, no invisibility, nor camouflage type spells/potions... nothing I guess it would be possible to try and fight off thugs that spawn while you sleep and hope to find a bag that contains something that I would need but the time it would take, given the odds, would just simply make gameplay way too tedious.

(on a side note: are you sure Lillith is supposed to be able to take these guys?? She's tough but I remember I brought those bees various times before saving the game and she died at least twice... oh well, she's definitely gone now anyway... i felt bad for her but I thought i'd leave it at that to see how the story would evolve (it didn't at all ))

i really really don't want to start over... is there a code that could help me?? (i hate doing this but i actually see this as a game flaw because if it's possible for a weak character like myself to get in using wits and a bow... he SHOULD be able to get out (istill have arrows)! at least with a warning!?... maybe....? ((((( i'm crying inside... plz heeeeelp!) - (drama sometimes helps ... no but seriously, I really don't want to start over and I really like this charcater (i'm loving the game by the way, regardless of this...).

help...

[Kreador Freeaxe]

If Lillith is dead, did you look in her locked back room? There's some help in there, I think. You've been to the Whistling Cave and killed the queen? (She's a LOT bigger than the ones you see in the forest.) There's a barrel in Lillith's bedroom also (tight against the wall, so it's hard to spot).

Good luck. The other possibility is put on some haste and run for a border.

[dobson]

yes... i've opened every door, every crate in that area, in the house too, i know which one you're talking about...

and i don't have haste

believe me, all i want is to get the hell out of there! I don't care about killing them off..... not yet at least....

didn't do the Whistling Cave either

[Unclever title]

Have you tried to funnel them? Best way to do that is to stand one square directly in front of (or rather behind) an open doorway, then you can handle them one at a time, but then again at level 6 and depending on their numbers even that might be too much. In terms of running a tight zigzag path, i.e. a zig step for every zag step, will allow you to outdistance your foes, but there's obviously still the matter of getting past them to begin with.

You could also try guerrilla tactics, so long as you have enough arrows you can get within range, attack a few times, zig zag back to Lilith's, shut the door and camp out in her back room to heal. (Assuming you can camp out in her back room that is...) Once out of arrows you'll have to rely on spells etc.

I don't see an quick solution other than sneaking out, which would require a safe (relatively) place to camp until nightfall, and that is assuming you have at least a single point in hide in shadow. Though even without any points in hiding you might be able to run out and avoid enough damage by just being harder than normal to hit in the darkness.

... Heh.

I just realized something... if you can get far enough away from the hive drones, then just quick travel. No easier way out than that!

[dobson]

these are all good ideas but tried and failed... oh yes and to top it all, did I forget to mention : he's got dungeon fever! He's had it for so long now that i even forgot about it (i still don't know how to heal that...)

anyway, I started another character and will leave this one saved for later... for now I would rather advance... besides, it's not that bad re-doing some of the dungeons and I think I like this one (he's got dungeon fever too though

[dobson]

I just realized something... if you can get far enough away from the hive drones, then just quick travel. No easier way out than that!

ok! now that's another thing i haven't figured out... how do i quick travel ? clicking doesn't seem to help... maybe I need a higher level in cartography?...

[dobson]

thanks! it never crossed my mind to click on those signs before...

[Farwalker]

Ah, but if you can get clear enough to sleep, not only can you harvest dropped loot bags, you can lure your ambushers into the fight! Let them all fight each other if you can...

[dobson]

yep, that's what I did with the first three Hive Drones one by one, but then remaining ones see me at the same time no matter what tile I advance to. So even if i "lock" myself in the room and let them kill each other off (the bees and ambushers), then the remaining 4 or 5 bees are right outside the house. I can't kill off let alone 2 bees at the same time. In other words, when it's about 3/4 ambushers to say 2 bees, the bees are usually defeated and the ambushers are already at least very weakened so that's not a problem. But when there are five bees, the scenario changes

but indeed i think that would be my best bet with a lot of patience (unless I really overlooked something else)... I'll try it sometime but for now, I'm actually quite happy with my new character.

Note that around that particular house,you can't "ring around the rosy" either which makes it more difficult, and I guess you can't sleep in houses...

edit: this is all my fault, the letter DID say not to wander off the path!...

[Evnissyen]

Dobson:
This sounds most odd, since I had little trouble with the drones... although the Jungle Fever should explain some of your trouble. (Like Unclever Title, I led them back to Lilith's house and bottled them up in the doorway so only one at a time could attack me and they couldn't get inside.)

Whenever I can't find a doorway I try to bottle them up in the trees. In Eschalon the foes can be nice and tough, but when you get swarmed you're usually a goner if you allow yourself to be attacked from more than 2 of them at once. At least as far in the game as I am now, there really don't seem to be enough offensive area spells of strong effect. Those would help Lilith too if she happens to be outside when you get there and helps you fight off the bees.

I suppose the only actually helpful thing I can add is: You can get rid of a disease with a Potion of Cure Lesser Disease (light blue bottle). I think you can get it at Aridell. There doesn't seem to be any other way of getting rid of it.

Perhaps later in the game I'll find a Divination spell for the purpose?

EDIT: Also, Dobson: the game will actually allow you to sleep in Lilith's back room, if not the main space.

[dobson]

well, I had no problems in that area at all with my new character. My other character is not only weakened by the disease but he's weak in general... what I did, is i just wandered off very discretely to places i shouldn't have ... I even forgot to read the notes I found... But I like the fact that the game allows me to "wander" pretty far if I want to

edit : I didn't realize for the sleeping in houses though since I tried three or four times and it said something or other, but now I'm seeing that it's rather particular about space and if a NPC is around... I'll try again then, If I can sleep inside, I think i could beat this...thanks for that tip!