The Drunken Lizard Pub

I wish I`d stopped laughing long enough to take a screenshot, this Devilmander was a complete nutter!

I was going through a phase of trying to pick off some of the isolated BoreHead Beetles, for experience, and a certain `goody`, before I was ready to take on the Broken Blade crew.
At this stage, my character could just about finish off 1 Beetle, or 1 mander before mana was exhausted (Fire Dart), given a bit of luck, even if not, using the terrain to my advantage, they were weak enough to be finished off by a few bow shots.

So, having taken out most of the loners, I tried to see if I could entice away one of the group of three beetles in the forest, and do him in before his mates joined in, but soon found that the terrain was working against me from that side, I could only get a few Fire Dart shots in, before having to retreat, and soon my Mana was exhausted.
So, being late, and having a save game to fall back on, I thought I`d experiment with coming at the problem from the other side, worked my way around the pit area, and found a nice spot in the forest where I could rest up.
Of course, this turned out to be one of those rare occasions where my sleep got interrupted, and my character awoke to find himself surrounded by 3 Devilmanders, in a tight area.
Surprisingly, he managed to dodge past them, without taking a hit, so for a bit of fun, I decided to lead them towards the Boreheads, and hopefully be able to have them weaken one enough, so I could pick him off at range, then scarper.
I got to the pit with the `manders in hot pursuit, and a quick lap around, now had 3 beetles, and 3 lizards after me! Again, Lady Luck smiled, and none of the stun attacks worked, otherwise I`d have been a goner for sure.
Unfortunately, they showed no interest in each other, so I fled back into the forest where the beetles could not follow, lizards still in close attendance.
Once more, I managed to turn around through them, taking only 1 or 2 hits, and set back off towards the beetles. This time, the lizards got left behind, getting trapped by trees, so I back-tracked a bit, and almost trod on one I couldn`t see!
He followed me back to the pit, and I tried a couple of laps, to see if I could get a beetle between him and me , and it worked! The lizard tried to go through the beetle, and a fight ensued. I quickly headed the other side of the fight, to avoid the other 2 beetles. Meanwhile, the lizard seemed to be putting up a good show, appearing to be immune to the stun attacks, and getting in a few good jabs of his own, but by now, the beetle`s mates were closing in, and I feared the worst for the plucky lizard, as I could make a decent fight one on one vs a Devilmander, but was hopeless vs 1 beetle, let alone 3 of them.
This lizard, however, was clearly made of sterner stuff than I was, and as the 3 beetles closed in, like a Jack Russell Terrier, he was ready to take on all comers.
The beetles couldn`t touch him, and feeling tears of laughter pricking my eyes, I watched him take down first one, then two, then the third opponent, still without seeming to take a hit! (and completely forgetting to take part in the fight myself as I looked on in admiration).
Then the plucky lizard turned his attention back to me, and I fled back to the pit, keeping it between him and me, as I sniped away at him.
As he died, I had a horrible feeling that I`d done something very wrong, having watched him defeat easily, 3 opponents I could only dream of taking on, I stabbed the heroic lizard in the back, then remembered that he had just cost me 900 experience points, so I had to kill him and his cowardly mates, just to offset that loss, then picked up the `special` item that a beetle had dropped, and went off to collect my reward, which came in very useful in Broken Blade.
Even with that item, Broken Blade was a war of attrition, picking off 1 opponent at a time, what a pity I couldn`t have taken "super-lizard" along with me, he could have cleared out the ruins on his own!

Was this an uniquely tough/lucky creature, or are Devilmanders perfectly suited to taking on Boreheads?
If we ever get allowed a pet in the game, I know what I`m going to choose!

Ha! That is fantastic.

Post of the day!

Awesome! I hated those lizards until I read your post. Well, I still hate them, but now I have a grudging respect for the buggers as well.

Great post, but I'm curious...will you still get credit for the Boreheads quest? Since you don't get XP for a kill from mobs fighting each other, I'm wondering how the game will treat the fact that YOU didn't kill all 23. I hope you get credit, after all, the quest is to 'rid the forest of the boreheads' - I don't think it says you have to personally kill them all...

Hope so, after all, I engineered the fight!
That particular scrap got me to thinking, did Basilisk factor in mass brawls for creatures? The reason I ask is, the player gets penalised when going toe-to-toe with multiple opponents, do creatures get this too, might explain why 3 beetles were as ineffective as 1?

Now I`ve got the taste for it, will be setting up a separate game, where I try to set up more creature vs creature battles, could be quite an eye-opener.
So far, Devilmander trashes Boreheads:
Dire Wolf beats shop-keeper:
1 Red Wolf vs Sentinel Stalk, victory to the plant, although Wolf manages to do some damage - 2-3 Wolves should be close, so far, have tried to set this one up, but they all kept after me!
Lovely opportunity for Mire Troll vs a pack of black moulds, will probably have to use Invisibility/Dense Nimbus before setting off a particular trap.

Currently have 4 Devilmanders trapped in the Ravens Gate East entrance, was trying to lead them to the guards who annoyed me, but they don`t appear to follow you over area boundaries, whereas in Book I, I`m sure monsters did if they were adjacent as you exited the area.

Undead seem completely disinterested in each other.

Sorry BW, I am really taking the game seriously, but this is fun, and provides quite an insight into monster abilities, and potential character development to combat them, rather like trailing a horde of Wasps back to Lilith, to prove she was lying about her `allergies`.

I certainly hope you get the reward for the quest! Probably the game will just check whether they're all gone or not, and then you will be okay.

I do it too sometimes; trying to set up creatures against each other. I try not to rest in the game, and then I'm often walking around with very low hit- and mana points. Then sometimes the only thing I can do is try to and engineer a rendez-vous between creatures, as I'm in no position to take on healthy creatures myself.
It's not so easy; often they will not have a go at each other until I'm out of sight, and then I can't see what's going on. I only know they're fighting from what pops up on the info bar and from sound effects. Cleverly intervening at the right moment to give the last killing blow for the experience points is then difficult.

It's not a favourite strategy of mine, but I used it a bit in the early game with Dragonels and Outlanders. Outlanders will win those fights, but it leaves them injured, so they become easier victims for me, and you still get the experience and loot from them if they drop anything. You just lose the experience from the Dragonels.
What is also handy is if you know any traps nearby, you can try guide your enemy to a trap, and when it goes off and kills your foe, you still get the experience points, eventhough you had nothing to do with the trap.

The quest problem did cross my mind after it happened, but I assumed it would just check "dead Goliaths". Now several people have voiced the same concern, if it doesn`t, I`m well and truly screwed. Since `aggro-lizard` did his stuff, I`ve been beetle bashing in Broken Blade, and the most up to date save prior to super lizard is going to take me back a very long way.

I`m not to keen on off-screen battles, after exhausting mana sniping at a Sentinel stalk, I wandered around a bit, and when he was back on screen, he`d gone back to full hit points. Regenerating flora?

It shouldn't mess up the quest.

Good news folks, it didn`t.

BW, please can I have a pet lizard in the next update?

Psycho Lizard, qu'est-ce que c'est!
fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa better
Run run run run run run run away

lol.

I have been singing that song ever since I saw this thread!