Dragonsphere – Changes

Written by Vetinari

Welcome back to Dragonsphere! After a plot twist that my teenage self would have absolutely adored (and one year before The Usual Suspects as well), the game let us take back control of our now-unnamed protagonist in Sanwe's empty study, after the explosive defeat of the sorcerer.

He was more of a technomancer, anyway.

I scavenge among the debris and find many useful things inside Sanwe's former inner sanctum. I get a large black sphere from the ground, the only remains of the powerful circle of spheres which powered the sorcerer's magical abilities.

Well, what did you expect?

From the chest on the far side of the room I get a spirit bundle and a magical crystal ball.

I know some shamans who would love something like this.

Anything which you can “invoke the power of” is something to keep.

Of all the magical paraphernalia strewn across the room, the only other item which catches my attention is a strange parchment stuck to the back wall, near the window.

At least they are not dancing instructions.

Having gotten all that I could from Sanwe's study, I exit and the game helpfully makes me skip all the way back out of the tower. As soon as I get out, the door into the tower vanishes.

And thankfully the vines have reverted back to non-magical too.

Before I start the descent back down, I take a look at my new appearance and notice that I have something in my inventory which has taken a completely new meaning after the revelation that I am not the King at all.

Well, boy, it's an Atlan, and you are a shapeshifter. Put two and two together.

I begin to go down the mountain, and when I arrive at the mid-height ledge, I remember that the Shaks didn't like me because they thought I was King Callash. But since I am not King Callash...

The first time that not being royalty is a boon in a fantasy game.

Going down the path I arrive at a big formation of stone pillars, which I have to cross.

This looks familiar...

This is what the map from Sanwe's study was referring to. I follow the pillars using the route drawn on the map, and I get safely to the other side.

Not that much of a home, but the view is fantastic.

Inside the Shak's nest is my reward: a magic belt. The Shak comes back saying that I have earned it, and tells me their story: in the olden times, the Shak couldn't fly, but a god smiled upon them and granted them the gift of flight. No one knows how it happened, but they say that the first ones to do so wore belts like this one, which allowed them to fall without harm.

The god also said that this particular belt (which has been preserved for generations) would have to be given to the hero who would deliver the Shak from bondage. And apparently I am that hero. The Shak then tells me to follow him and learn the power of the belt.

Whoa, easy there...

Luckily this thing still works after all these years.

Falling down from the cliff, I nevertheless land safely at the base of the mountain, near the waterfall cave where the hermit and Llanie are waiting. I hurry there and find that the old man knows exactly who I am and that I have defeated the sorcerer. I press him for more information but he isn't forthcoming.

Damn, you really make me pry the words out of your mouth.

The hermit says that I am a shapechanger, and as such I have been the target of an enchantment to make me look like the King, since no enchantment can be powerful enough to give one man another's looks and memories unless that other is a shapechanger. Since I have no memories of my former self, I have also forgotten how to use my powers, but I can have them back.

Convenient.

It would seem that all shapechangers have the power to heal, “for healing is nothing more than the power to shape a body back to its original form”. Luckily, to do that I don't need my ring, but my Atlan (the doll that looks just like me) is sufficient.

I try to use the doll to heal Llanie, but it doesn't work. The hermit says that she's too weak, and she first must be strengthened with magic and with love. Only then she may be healed.

So, nothing by Coldplay then?

The only magical item that works is the spirit bundle which I just lay on Llanie's chest. I then proceed to talk to her trying to summon some words of love. The game switches to a dialogue interface where I have to select one word at the time to compose my declaration.

How does this work? The hermit said that originality counts, and you can easily see that two of the possible phrases you can compose with the available words are “Soft! What light through yonder window breaks” and “How do I love thee, let me count the ways”, which are very famous quotes (and thus not original at all), the former from Shakespeare and the latter from Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

But – I hear you say – I don't know anything about William Shakespeare, I am more of a William Wordsworth or William Blake kind of guy! Well, don't worry because the game has got you covered. You see, back in Callash's chambers, examining Fiona's book of love poems the two given examples were just the two quotes above. So you should have known that those are not original, and that you will have to compose the third quote instead.

Which is this one by the way.

Having successfully strenghtened Llanie's spirit, I try to heal her again, this time with resounding success.

That's a spark of light over Llanie's chest.

Llanie wakes up, asks where Callash is and who you are and so on. You try to recount what has happened, but as per the typical trope in this situation end up all tongue-tied.

Real smooth.

Luckily the hermit explains all the situation to Llanie, and she asks the question that everybody was expecting.

Yes, we are going there, and YOU WILL LIKE IT.

After some other small banter between lovers, Llanie says that the one thing that she doesn't understand is how can a shapechanger take the form and thoughts of another. She thought that was a myth, and this finally prompts the friggin' hermit to reveal himself.

Yeah, I guessed who you were around two posts ago.

Ner-Tom said that he feared for his life, so he fled from the castle and came here, waiting for me and wondering if he should expose the Queen Mother's plan or let it go forward. Since he scried the future and saw that there was a very real possibility that I was successful in defeating Sanwe, he let me go ahead. And here we are.

Ner-Tom says that by now Nak-Hella and MacMorn would already be spreading the lie that I killed the King and took his looks, so pretty soon the countryside will be hunting for me. Llanie tells me to flee the kingdom, but I say that since I know very well the King's wife, his mother, and how he felt about them, I must help rescue him if I can.

It's called Main Character Syndrome, you know.

Llanie then interjects that when she was lying almost dead near the beast, after they fell from the cliff, two Shaks stood by them, gawking. She heard them saying that there is another beast like that in the catacombs of Gran Callahach, and “if only she'd known their secret name” she would have been saved. They then said a word so horrible she almost passed out from hearing it. She helpfully writes it down and gives me the parchment.

This joke almost writes itself, so just put whatever name you think it would be funny here.

I leave the cave and resolve to visit the other realms again before I get back to Gran Callahach, free the King and make everyone live happily ever after.

Except MacMorn and the Queen Mother. They're jerks.

Session Time: 1 hour 00 minutes
Total Time: 8 hours 20 minutes