A Cautionary Tale of Patience, Puzzles, and Pathfinding

Where’s Dave? A Cautionary Tale of Patience, Puzzles, and Pathfinding

It began, as these things so often do, with a sunken stone temple complex rising from the mists of the valley. Equal parts Montezuma and Petra, it was the sort of place designed to bring adventurers to their knees in reverent awe or simply trip over themselves trying to interpret obtuse hieroglyphic warnings about imminent doom. Naturally, we blundered in like caffeinated raccoons at a campsite.

Getting to the temple complex was no small feat. It lay hidden in the fog-of-war, its location hinted at only by vague map markings and an overwhelming sense of "we're probably going the wrong way." We began our journey by gliding from a high tower, landing in an unknown expanse, and then hoofing it on foot through treacherous terrain. It was somewhere along this arduous trek that Dave, true to form, decided to split from the group.

Dave’s Solo Adventure

Dave’s plan, if one could call it that, was to take a bold detour through the Shroud, a dangerous, fog-enshrouded valley to the north. His reasoning? Something about efficiency, exploration, and possibly finding better loot. On paper, it sounded daring and innovative. In practice, it was akin to navigating the London Underground with only a Ouija board and a vague sense of foreboding.

For those unfamiliar with the Shroud, imagine a landscape where teleportation is disabled and every hostile creature in existence has unionized against solo adventurers. When Dave inevitably succumbed to overwhelming odds and died, his respawn point was, of course, back at the start of the valley—still firmly in the Shroud. Without a teleport-to-safety option, Dave had no choice but to try again. And again. And, well, again.

Meanwhile, Back at the Temples

While Dave was busy reliving his personal Groundhog Day, Zaph, Craig, and I had a delightfully productive time solving the three temples. Zaph handled the precision challenges with his ranger-sniper finesse, Craig solved jumping puzzles by doing what can only be described as chaotic parkour, and I, as always, carefully mapped the place while trying not to trip over my own good intentions.

Dave's Grand Arrival

Hours later (in both game time and actual human lifespans), Dave clawed his way to the gateway and activated the shrine, moving his respawn point to the temple complex at last. The man was battle-worn, grouchy, and “humming with the quiet fury of someone who’d just lost their entire inventory at least twice,” as Craig put it.

“What took you so long?” Zaph quipped as Dave finally emerged. This earned a glare sharp enough to shave with.

After a quick orientation session (read: Zaph and I patiently explaining puzzles), we moved on to the final temple. Surely now we could triumph as a team.

The Chest Incident

The final chamber loomed before us. Inside was the grand chest, a prize promised by all the architectural grandeur and puzzle-solving torment of the last few hours. We approached, eager to revel in the treasure and victory.

Zaph, ever the optimist, reached for the chest first. He opened it and froze. “What… why is the chest open and empty?”

“I haven’t stepped foot in here,” I said, immediately sensing trouble. Slowly, we all turned to Craig.

“What?” Craig said innocently, wearing an expression that could only be described as suspiciously angelic.

“Craig,” Zaph growled, pointing at the now-empty chest.

Craig shrugged, the picture of nonchalance. “Okay, fine. I couldn’t wait.”

The silence that followed was deafening. Not the kind of silence born of awe, but the kind that screamed, “This is why we can’t have nice things.”

Wrapping Up

With the final chest prematurely looted, there wasn’t much else to do but leave. “Well, I’m glad you finally made it here, Dave,” I said, clapping him on the shoulder. “But it’s time to go.”

“What do you mean, time to go?” Dave asked, incredulous.

“It’s done,” Zaph said, shooting Craig another withering look.

Craig, naturally, was already halfway up the nearest wall, scouting for more chaos to cause. As we exited the temple complex, leaving behind a trail of solved puzzles, looted chests, and frayed nerves, one thing was clear: the greatest treasure wasn’t the loot. It was the friends we made along the way—and the remarkably creative insults we’d now have for Craig for the next several decades.

Adventures in Futility: The One-Eyed Menace

This week’s mission, should we have chosen to accept it—which we did because apparently, we have the collective survival instincts of lemmings—was to track down Old One-Eye in his lair, kill him, and decorate our flame altar with his skull. Why we want his skull remains unclear, but as Dave pointed out, “More skulls = more power,” and who can argue with that? Certainly not us, the group that once spent three hours debating whether to turn left or right in a dungeon because Craig thought the shadows on the left looked suspicious.

The Prelude to Disaster

Like any Dave plan, it literally went wrong before he had finished talking. “Right, guys, we are after Old One-Eye. Once we mount his head on the wall, we can upgrade our flame altar, making us even more awesome,” he announced.

“Cool, where does Old One-Eye live?” Myles asked.

“You unlocked his location from the notes you found in the stable last time,” Dave replied. “Everyone open your maps and lock in the location.”

After consulting our quest journal, we confirmed our task: track down the fugly Cyclops and end his existence. The journal even helpfully marked his location—on the opposite side of the map from where we’d planned to explore. So off we went into the freezing north, with Craig as usual forgetting to bring any food.

We scrambled up and down mountains, fell off cliffs, and found everything except the location we were looking for. Myles and Dave repeatedly demonstrated their lack of skill at the double grapple-jump, while Zaph and Craig excelled at finding alternate ways to make things worse.

Spiders swarmed over Zaph like he was a human candy while ignoring Dave’s ranger “friendship” abilities. Eventually, after a series of wrong turns and several respawns, Dave gave up and jumped off a cliff into the Shroud.

“OMG, it’s here!” he shouted.

“Where?” we all asked, squinting at our maps.

“There’s a humongous road leading into a giant opening in the cliff! This has to be it!” Dave yelled.

Myles and Craig spiraled down to join Dave on the road. Craig promptly fell into a hole, while Zaph flew overhead, pivoted, and zipped off into the opening, leaving Dave and Myles to fight their way in on foot. Craig rejoined them just in time to "assist" by smashing random objects and aggravating local wildlife. Meanwhile, Zaph discovered updrafts, lava, and yet another fight deep in the cavern.

Chaos in the Cyclops’s Lair

Standing on beams above a river of lava, we spotted a Shroud Mushroom.

“That must be it!” Myles shouted, leaping off the beam to glide toward it. He caught an updraft, smashed into a rock face, and plummeted into the lava to die.

“Again, again! Do it again!” Craig exclaimed gleefully.

Zaph and Dave, as usual, headed off in opposite directions but ended up at the same place. A minor fight ensued, during which Craig definitely did not save us, and we destroyed the mushroom—only to discover another one.

“That’s new,” someone muttered.

“What’s the plan?” Myles asked.

“Smash it,” Craig said, doing his best Hulk impression. The second mushroom was promptly dispatched.

“Where’s Old One-Eye?” Myles asked. “We haven’t seen him yet.”

“Maybe he’s up on that cliff by the third mushroom,” Zaph suggested.

Three Shroud Mushrooms later, Dave’s “plans” were still failing to impress. Grappling up to a ledge, Dave rushed forward and smashed the mushroom. Old One-Eye responded by smashing Myles and Zaph, while Craig looted a chest in the corner. Dave tried to revive Myles but misjudged a jump and fell to his death.

This left Craig to shine. With three of us providing directions, Craig got hopelessly confused, flew off in the wrong direction, killed a bug, and then got flattened by the Cyclops. Respawn it was.

A (Sort of) Plan Emerges

After much finger-pointing, we decided to spread out and attack Old One-Eye from different directions while Myles threw skulls at him to distract him. A flurry of fireballs, arrows, and skull shots later, the Cyclops was down.

Craig claimed he had connectivity issues and that’s why he didn’t tank for us. No one believed him, but who cared? We had the head, slapped it on the wall of Spider House, and upgraded our flame altar.

Dave celebrated by doing chores—collecting eggs, milking goats, and feeding farm animals—while the rest of us tried to decipher his chaotic storage system. Myles and Zaph attempted to put things in the right boxes, while Craig just dumped his gear into the nearest crate.

Onward to the Halls of the Dead

With half the session spent on those shenanigans, we decided to hit the Nomad Hollow Halls. Dave retrieved the key from his secret stash, and off we went. A quick glide from the fast travel tower and a short jog brought us to the doors.

The first room was a breeze. Level 20 skeletons, skeletal dogs, and summoners were no match for our level 26 skills and level 30 weapons. Feeling overconfident, we mined glowing crystals for skull-summoning devices while taunting each other about how easy the dungeon was.

Then came the puzzles. The triple grapple jumps proved impossible for Myles and Dave, who took the lava-hopping ground path instead. Zaph and Craig, who actually know how to follow directions, disappeared into the distance.

Finally, we reached a teleportation puzzle that required jumping through runes to unlock a door. Side areas filled with traps and skeletons yielded skeletal Cyclopses, which unlocked the runes. With the final room cleared, we grabbed our loot and returned to the Collector. His reward? Glowing soup. Because nothing screams victory like bioluminescent broth. Dave, of course, refused to even try the glowing soup (he doesn't like pumpkins). We also found a bunch of crystal clusters that Dave promptly repurposed into a key for the Kindle Wastes Hollow Halls dungeon.

That, however, is a tale for another knight (ie, not Craig).

Until next week, when we’ll inevitably find new and exciting ways to fail spectacularly. Cheers to teamwork, skulls, and the eternal respawn!

Epic grapple fail

Getting over your skis in the Halls of the Dead

Flight of the Zaph - he went too deep, and woke the Balrog.