Kalthar by Taws

 

Far, far, out of the west gate on coast road, at the end of a road of heros, there sits a city; this city, while being of a reasonable size, and being rated all the way up to level 35, presents no real challange to even a level 25, is not much of a challange to conqour - but yet it does possess a few unique and interesting traits that make it interesting for at least a low-level to visit.

As for location, it is (fairly) safe for even a level 20 or so to get to, provided such a person is careful not to attack random mobs along the way. It's also in the middle of a fairly large expanse of road - so you have the feeling of taking a long trek, even if it's acutally not that hard to find. The area it's self is a sort of "eight" shape, with a road running around the permiter, and a bisecting road down the middle. Shops and such branch off of both roads; and while a magic shop is missing, weapons, armors, and dried goods are represented, as well as something I'd not seen before - a healer whom only heals for money (the priest). The most interesting thing about this town is that there's a sort-of plot to it; more interestingly, it ties (effectivly) into another, related area.

The plot is that the castle of kalthar has been (Invaded? Turned Evil?) by some force(s), that we're not quite sure of. We suspect the necromancer in the basement, but it could be someone else entirely, perhaps leaving him as a "holding force". The king, and all of his nobles (Sadly no princes or princess) are all undead, and milling about the castle - infact there's no one and nothing alive in the castle but the necromancer himself, and he's debatable. There's suprisingly a great deal of complacency about the town however; there's a cemetary full of monuments, a single guard at the gate to the castle - whom won't let you through until he meets with an accident - and that's about it. No angry townsmen, no templars; just quiet calm complacency that the castle and the king have fallen victim to the undead hordes, and thats it.

The Equipment here isn't the best; but it's easy to get, and reasonably described. The area descriptions are also well done - everything is smooth and visual, with no "teaser" descriptions of rooms or areas that aren't there. Everything is explained except for the big questions; whom took over the castle, to what end did they do it, what will the town do about it? I'm not sure why there isn't some quest - I mean you'd think the necromancer's blade or something would make a fine (and logical) quest for the priest to give for a healing wand or something.

Other then that, this is an "ok" area, that needs some more explorations - and like all taws areas, there's some..interesting things..behind locked doors. Maybe the answers to some of the questions i've mentioned are behind a few locked doors - like who masterminded this little invasion.