The quest for stuff

Apparently the Wardens of the Facility Hub don't like people running around in explorer gear, because they keep sending me to get armor. Today's objective is the Halls of Helm, where I am to retrieve... a shield. And a helm, of course. As this is a Dericost ruin, I expect Undead, which is once again troublesome because I still have no fire weapon.

Fortunately, it's mostly fairly weak Zombies and the occasional Lich. Between Lugian gems and good tactics, I have little trouble. The key is to put something between you and their War Magic, then wait for them to get tired of ranged attacks and come to you. Above, you see this strategy in action. Both Frost Bolts and throwing weapons strike the wall harmlessly, then when he switches to melee the shape of the wall brings him right to me, and out of the protection of any comrades fighting with him.

The enemies are unremarkable, but the architecture is interesting. It's given to large, open chambers with multiple levels. Below, the main room as seen from one of it's upper floors:

To find the boss, however, I have to go down into the depths. I find him in an impressive-looking room with thrones and torches:

Rather then charge in there, though, I keep to my strategy and take cover, waiting for him to come to me.

Once I finish him off, his zombie pals come at me and I have to clobber them as well. Not too hard. I pick up the requested shield and helm, then go through the door at the back of his chamber. It turns out this dungeon isn't done yet. Rather than an exit portal, the door opens onto a tunnel that leads up into the eaves.

I'm not sure what was up with this chair, here. I note with some amusement that It allows us to peep into what appears to be a bedroom across the way...

Anyway, the shield is useless to a Dual Wielder and I sell it. But the Helm is quite good for this point in the game:

Overall, the Halls of the Helm were fun and rewarding, but not enough to fill a whole blog post. So I move right on to the next quest, the Colier Mines. The goal here is the Baron's Amulet of Life Giving, held by the undead Baron Colier.

Colier is going for the "damned town look. There's a monolith warning of terrible things along the road into town, along with a lot of dead trees, and the place itself has been trashed by Banderlings and Drudges. I've been told two of these squatters have keys I need, so I run around the town kicking ass for awhile. The enemies include Banderling Guards (below on the left,) which wear the weirdest armor I've ever seen. WTF is that, anyway? It looks like an evening dress with the skirt torn off.

The portal into the mine is in a basement. I wish I had something illuminating to say about the mine's aesthetic but, well, it's a bunch of mining tunnels. The inhabitants are mainly drudges and banderlings. Suspecting a lot of twisty passages await me, I try to navigate it using the right-hand rule. This is successful: after going around the entire immediate area and coming back to the start, I have successfully gotten a handle on where the major points of interest are, including a lever-locked door that I leave for now. I've also found an area full of jail cells. One of the keys I found back in town is described as being a jail key (the other I've already used to get through a door just inside the portal), so I use it to do some exploring. I find a unique zombie that carries a third key. This one is described as opening a chest.

Since I haven't found any unpickably locked chests in here, I figure it's time to yank that lever. beyond lies a pit, which I bravely jump into. On the level below the drudges are traded in for a new enemy: human miners turned into undead zombies.

I start putting things together. I'm after the Baron's Amulet of Life Giving, yes? Which is guarded by miners and, eventually, the baron himself, all of which have turned undead. Is that how the amulet gives life? If so, count me out.

In any case, these zombies either don't have War Magic or don't use it often, leaving them barely tougher than the banderlings. On the lower level I also find the chest that belongs to the curator's key, inside which I find... two more keys, for a door and a chest respectively. The chest is suppossedly in the Baron's quarters. So, I'm getting close to the end. However, the only door forward appears to be unreachable due to a cave-in:

I later find out that this is actually the door into the Baron's quarters. But I obviously can't get to it, so I wander around looking for a door somewhere in this level. In actuality, the key goes to a door that I passed earlier, while right-handing my way through the upper level. Unfortunately, I forgot about it and it takes my stupid ass nearly half an hour of poking around before I figure out I have to go back to the start and retrace all my steps.

Once that's done, however, the remainder of the dungeon is straightforward. I pass through some more tunnels full of Undead Miners and banderlings, then reach this ominous-looking corridor:

On the other side is a series of rooms that appear to have once been inhabited. The Baron is close, I can feel it. Finally, I reach his quarters, where I take on him and a few guards for a boss fight.

He's not much tougher than the ordinary Undead Miners. I start the fight by sneak attacking him and it goes downhill for him from there. I unlock the chest and loot it, finding the Amulet and some valuable treasure. I also find a number of strange stones lying about the room:

Checking the wiki, I find out that these are for a quest that I won't be doing for a long time, so I turn it in to the town crier. I consider whether putting on the Amulet is worth the price of potentially becoming a zombie, but luckily it's a moot point since the enchantments are crap:

On the other hand, I do manage to find this among the loot:

And just in time, too. Next up is the Green Mire Grave, with its halls full of Mosswarts. Good place to give it a workout, don't you think?