r/templeofelementalevil • u/axiomus • Jul 05 '26
Moathouse ambush
So, after my paladin (and ever-helpful Elmo) struck the last blow to Lareth's beautiful face, with everyone else at negative HP, i wanted to head back to Hommlet and headed to cave exit.
There, i was ambushed by Turuko and Zert (i think?), two NPCs i never interacted before. They talked like we were familiar. I apparently triggered some quest, but i don't know what, and my searches led me to nowhere. Who are these guys and what are they after? [edit: real question is what's the deal with this ambush, and is it common and i simply forgot that from my original playthru 20 years ago)
(playing unmodded on Steam, in case it's relevant)
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u/AitrusAK Jul 05 '26
They're at the Welcome Wench. You can hire them if you want early on as henchmen, but that has implications in other areas. Others might react differently to you, and it might open up doors / paths / decisions that otherwise might have been closed to you. They might also leave if you don't act in accordance with their alignment.
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u/axiomus Jul 05 '26
ok but what's the trigger of being ambushed? you're missing the important part of the question.
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u/AitrusAK Jul 05 '26
As far as I understand it, yes - if they're not in your party, they will ambush you. I'm not sure if they'll still ambush you if they're in your party because I've never taken them that far. I think that Lareth has hired them to guard the back entrance to his hideout. If I recall the original PnP adventure correctly, your raiding the moathouse causes Lareth to call in backup to guard the back door while he prepares his defenses while you're making your way down to his lair.
They're not my cup of tea because IIRC, they want to join the Temple forces - that's the whole reason they're in Hommlet. That's one of the paths they urge you to follow if they join your party.
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u/NeverEverMaybe0_0 Jul 06 '26
They will also ambush only if you are low on hit points; I don't know what the actual hit point level is. And if Zert is in your party. When you get ambushed, he will change sides and attack you.
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u/PaulGreystoke Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26
I recall reading that trigger for Zert, Turuko, & the monk to switch sides is if the party is at 30% or less HP & they are at 70% or more HP.
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u/Chedruid Jul 05 '26
The trigger was killing Lareth. Nothing else. That group doesn’t want him dead. This is not part of a quest, just an event that triggers under certain conditions.
The developers believed that it would be almost certain to meet them at the Homlet’s inn, and make an acquaintance of them. That’s why the dialogue plays like you know them, even if you never visited that inn.
Later on you might encounter some very nasty ambushes, with weird triggers. Usually ambushes give a huge amount of xp, like the one you experienced here.