Khryselakatos

**Khryselakatos** is a rare artifact weapon in *Barony*, being the ranged representative of the magical weapons. It serves as a random but powerful mid-ranged bow that has the chance to fire off any special ammo type in the game.

## Description

In older versions of the game, Khryselakatos was a much simpler weapon. It functioned like a normal bow, never degrading due to its artifact status, as well as firing off poisonous arrows instead of normal arrows. Like all other ranged weapons, the originally fired projectiles which traveled straight and indefinitely until the arrow collided with an entity or a wall.

Legends and Pariahs saw two massive changes to Khryselakatos, the first being an overhaul to how arrows and bows now dropped off as they traveled through the air, effectively limiting the range of all bows and crossbows considerably. The second was a complete overhaul of the weapon’s gimmick, no longer firing off poisonous arrows, but instead having a chance to firing off a random arrow of any ammo type, scaling to up to 50% at maximum ranged proficiency.

While it could be argued that these changes made Khryselakatos overall weaker when considering the reduction of effective range from infinite to finite, it more effectively plays to the new direction of general ranged combat. Now, it more effectively benefits from a wide variety of ammo types that it can randomly shoot out, allowing combat against enemies with high health more effective than just poisoning them.

Now with quivers, Khryselakatos can be loaded and firing off any ammo type consistently like other bow and crossbow weapons. Its gimmick however also plays very well into this aspect, with each randomized arrow not costing the arrow that would have been spent firing from the quiver.

## Location

For its potential strength, Khryselakatos is hidden behind one of the most difficult tests of the dungeon, requiring the player to venture into the Underworld to collect it and get back out to the main dungeon. However, there is a much less painful alternative further into the dungeon, even if it is rather late into the adventure as after Baron Herx’s confrontation.

### The Underworld Method

The first and far more difficult method is the Underworld, its portal found in the intermission between the Mines and the Swamp. To access it, the player must break a wall signified with a skull block, requiring the player to own a form of Digging early on into the game. Going to the Gnomish Mines beforehand to collect a pickaxe helps with this part.

From there, the Underworld is an exceptionally harsh location filled with deadly Shadows and Imps, which will wipe the player easily as well as requiring the player to have some form of levitation in order to travel to the other islands.

Having both levitation and dig is going to be a difficult feat, even by the last stretch of the dungeon. To have this kind of access by the beginning of the first intermission is an exceptional feat, with the more common forms of dig like the magic staff version or a ring of levitation can only be found far further into the dungeon normally.

Monster races can provide some powerful innate spells to access and traverse the Underworld, with Vampire or Insectoid players having innate forms of floating over the large pits and getting back to the main dungeon easily, requiring only forms of digging to first access the portal.

### The Hamlet Method

The second option is far less of a hassle, requiring only the Mystic Green Orb after Baron Herx’s boss fight to be returned to the Mysterious merchant in Hamlet’s sewers. After delivering, he provides the option to purchase Khryselakatos. This means that the player cannot use it against Herx or for most of the dungeon, but allows the player to obtain the weapon if they have missed their chance to do so in the Underworld and to use it against the remaining Caves, Citadel and Orpheus and Erudyce.

## Trivia

* Khryselakatos is one of two artifact weapons that can be purchased from the Mysterious Merchant in Hamlet, the other being Sharur.