The Drunken Lizard Pub

I suppose everyone on this forum except me knows enough to NOT lead any bandits back to Bordertown early in the game. The merchants rush to your rescue--and are killed. I stood there firing my wimpy little arrows at the bad guys doing no damage whatsoever while they killed the very merchants I needed. This was my third try as ranger usually my favorite character. Made campfire and burned my useless bow and what few arrows I had left. NOW- I have metamorphed into the mighty Mage Frumius. Beginning with level 3 fire dart I can blast salamanders with one shot, I will be able to go into dungeons and actually see something, and I will soon be able to cook those damnable bandits with a level 6 fire dart. Oh yeah, power is fun!

I would figure that the gate guards and the town guards would do a decent job fighting off bandits. Plus, once the gate guards are gone you don't have to pay to get in :)

I still think bow specialist is the most powerful build in both books, but you need to put a lot of points into Bows skill.

Maybe I'll try it again sometime. By the way, the gate guards are too far away and there are no town guards In Bordertown. Just suicidal merchants. I really kind of assumed that the merchants couldn't be killed or that they had very many hit points. The blacksmith has a dandy +4 bow for sale which was what I was after.

You have to lure the bandits farther west to the guards guarding the gate or towards the missile weapon trainer who can fight.

I've posted before about this, but especially in Book I (where you don't have the massive power of the bow feat), it's important to use the terrain and things like demon oil to control the movement of opponents. Also, standard procedure for any Ranger should be to hug the terrain as much as possible. In the approach to Border Town, this lets you limit the number of bandits who can see you, and thus attack you. Eschalon is definitely a game of strategy and tactics, and never more so in Book I than early in the game with a Ranger.

Yes, you are right Freeaxe, I wasn't using any strategy just blundering through. I sure do miss that bow feat. Having played a ranger in book 2, I didn't even realize that I had no bow feat in book 1 until I wanted to use it. Then--big surprise! After I finish my mage runthrough I'll try a ranger again, only this time I'll try to use my head. Really hate those dark underground places though.

noname wrote: Really hate those dark underground places though.

With potions or the spell of Predator Sight, those dark places become your friends. Also note that flaming oil slicks light up the area around them a bit, making it easier to hit opponents standing on the other side like waiting pin cushions.

SpottedShroom wrote: Plus, once the gate guards are gone you don't have to pay to get in

This is for blackwater right?

dalamar882 wrote:

SpottedShroom wrote: Plus, once the gate guards are gone you don't have to pay to get in

This is for blackwater right?

That would have to be Blackwater, yes. If the gate guards near Border Town get killed, that's a little side quest you can never do.

Kreador Freeaxe wrote:

dalamar882 wrote:

SpottedShroom wrote: Plus, once the gate guards are gone you don't have to pay to get in

This is for blackwater right?

That would have to be Blackwater, yes. If the gate guards near Border Town get killed, that's a little side quest you can never do.

Not only that, it makes getting into Crakimir kinda hard... Oh, and you miss out on 50 experience. xD

I didnt even realize there were other ways into crakimir till after I beat the game. I came across the little cottage next to bordertown. LOL I activated the portal then went through....to quickly have my @$$ handed to me by some slugs. Needless to say I hurried back on through the portal.

Anyway, I had the thugs kill the freakin trainer in border town and I had only trained two levels in bows

Vroqren wrote:Not only that, it makes getting into Crakimir kinda hard... Oh, and you miss out on 50 experience. xD

Well, there's one way in that's pretty simple, actually, as mentioned by Dalamar882. It can also give you a short-cut to the Blackwater side of the forest (though you'll have to discuss passage with a few goblins at that end) which then gives you two of the other three ways into Crackamir. The toughest one is the other way by foot.

Kreador Freeaxe wrote:

Vroqren wrote:Not only that, it makes getting into Crakimir kinda hard... Oh, and you miss out on 50 experience. xD

Well, there's one way in that's pretty simple, actually, as mentioned by Dalamar882. It can also give you a short-cut to the Blackwater side of the forest (though you'll have to discuss passage with a few goblins at that end) which then gives you two of the other three ways into Crackamir. The toughest one is the other way by foot.

Discuss passage with a few goblins...? I've beat the game numerous times, and I don't know what you're talking about, unless by "discuss" you mean "show your sword to for"...

Two of the three ways...? There's North of Blackwater, Through the gate, and through the ossuary, what else?

I do agree that the final way through, is the hardest though.

Vroqren wrote:

Kreador Freeaxe wrote:

Vroqren wrote:Not only that, it makes getting into Crakimir kinda hard... Oh, and you miss out on 50 experience. xD

Well, there's one way in that's pretty simple, actually, as mentioned by Dalamar882. It can also give you a short-cut to the Blackwater side of the forest (though you'll have to discuss passage with a few goblins at that end) which then gives you two of the other three ways into Crackamir. The toughest one is the other way by foot.

Discuss passage with a few goblins...? I've beat the game numerous times, and I don't know what you're talking about, unless by "discuss" you mean "show your sword to for"...

Two of the three ways...? There's North of Blackwater, Through the gate, and through the ossuary, what else?

I do agree that the final way through, is the hardest though.

Yes, I mean that you need to display your weapon skills (or use invisibility if you are avoiding combat). Spoilerishly, there are two teleporters into Crackamir and two foot-traffic ways. If you can't get the key for the easiest way in because you got the guards killed, you have to use one of the other three. Or did you never turn on that second teleporter?

The only teleporter I can think of is the one South East of Bordertown? I might have done that, but if so, not in my most recent game. And if not that, then what? Thanks for clearing it up.