When last we left off, the party was leaving New City for the first time and heading into the wilderness in search of Orkogre Castle, home of the Gorn. With a message of utmost importance to the king, speed is off the essence!

Heading down the road from New City, we encounter a few simple enemies (bugs and such), but nothing too particularly challenging. Coming to a fork in the road, we recall that Boerigard told us to head North, so we use Tragic's map and determine which way to go. Tromping down the road a little further leads us to our first indications that we've entered Gorn lands...



A civil war erupting, eh? Sounds like our mission really is quite important! You'll notice that in that exchance with Lord Galiere, we also used the "Lore" function. What that does is gives us updates on what all of the NPCs we have encountered so far are up to. While this sounds harmless enough, it also represents us giving information to the NPC, which may help speed them along in finding the Maps that we are looking for, so it is a bit of a double-edged sword.

Following Boerigard's instructions, we move into the forest past the road and begin our search for the entrance to the castle. After slogging our way through several large battles with some lesser Gorn rebels, we finally find a ladder descending into the ground in a hidden grove. With that, the castle is breached...



The Castle is, fortunately, laid out in a relatively logical way, and is not so maze-like as other dungeons. Our encounters with Gorn soldiers continue, growing more difficult the deeper in we delve. On the up side, we do manage to slay a Gorn Captain and lift a Spear +2 off of him, which we give to Tragic. It's now the strongest weapon we have in the party!

After descending a few levels, we come to the throne room, but are unable to find a way past the gates. Nearby, however, we find Murkatos's Outer Sanctum, which we are able to enter following a spot of puzzle-solving. Inside, we find the wizard's hastily scrawled last words...



Using the conveniently placed ring of keys nearby, we follow his advice and check out the prison. After a few tough fights (including more bugs! What is with this planet and their storage of bugs in prisons? What kind of penal code is this?) we locate a hidden series of switches which takes us to a deeper level. There, we find Murkatos's Inner Sanctum.



Such are the wages of treachery, it seems. Murkatos's own ambitions betray him, to the ruin of himself and his empire. Perhaps we can find a way to help mend his wrongs (as well as check out that treasure he mentioned...). With the wizard's spirit at rest, we take a secret path out of his sanctum, and using some things we found along the way, are finally able to enter the throne room itself. No doubt the Gorn King has some thoughts on all these events...



I guess we managed to cheer him up slightly? If slaughtering his own people makes him happy, who are we to judge? At the very least, he has given us the keys to his secret stash, and that can only be good!

Heading back down to his bedchambers, we open up the secret chamber...



Another map in our pockets! And, again, totally cryptic! When the time is right, I'm sure it will all make sense.

With that, our adventure in Orkogre Castle is more or less complete, so we pack up and trudge back to New City to sell some junk and restock on a few vitals. From there, I guess the next natural step would be to take that other fork in the road and see what lay to the South!