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radintorov posted:He doesn't strike me as the type to get all smug on being proven right. True, but I could very easily see him saying "YAY we found a bit of a dragon" or something like that.
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Jul 15, 2016 23:17
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JustJeff88 posted:True, but I could very easily see him saying "YAY we found a bit of a dragon" or something like that. I've got that covered for the next update. Which won't be done for at least two weeks thanks to a move I'm going through and my computer with E3 on it being packed up.
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Jul 16, 2016 00:37
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berryjon posted:I've got that covered for the next update. I am about to move as well - I'm not even going very far this time (which is both good and bad), but I am still dreading it. May your relocation be the least shite possible. Just to be safe, I recommend that you back up all of your files/the whole drat game to Dropbox or the like.
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Jul 16, 2016 04:37
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Alright, a couple of things to mention. First, during the Chess By Mail sidequest, you CAN completely bypass the Troglo tollbooth without killing them by going further east around the mountains. However, doing so without horses makes it take probably an extra couple of days to complete the entire quest. Also, you used the same screenshot for the deliveries every time. That may be deliberate, but it makes the "keep an eye on my gold counter" message seem pointless. Next, with jobs, there is an upper limit you can take - you can have a maximum of 4 jobs at any one time. So be careful! Finally, in regards to the Anama, something I didn't learn until I
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Jul 17, 2016 17:55
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LuffyVeggies posted:Finally, in regards to the Anama, something I didn't learn until I
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Jul 17, 2016 18:24
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LuffyVeggies posted:Alright, a couple of things to mention. If you take too long, you can fail the quest completely as well. quote:Also, you used the same screenshot for the deliveries every time. That may be deliberate, but it makes the "keep an eye on my gold counter" message seem pointless.  Check out my gold before and after this sidequest...quote:Next, with jobs, there is an upper limit you can take - you can have a maximum of 4 jobs at any one time. So be careful! quote:Finally, in regards to the Anama, something I didn't learn until I Still got to pick up the fake rings, and I've edited the talk about the rings to reflect this into the update. Thanks!
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Jul 17, 2016 19:01
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Thank you all for your patience. The Great Map Update is currently sitting at over 170 images before processing - and there is a lot of that to do. Things Missed is currently sitting at over 330 images before processing. I might be able to squeeze in the opening section of 'Things Missed' into the last part of TGMU1, and walk out with just two updates. Or I might end up with three. I don't know. What I do know is that I'm working First Aid for Animethon this coming weekend, which should give me a few hours here and there to work on this mess. Once again, thank you all for your patience, and I hope to have updates ready for you soon.
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Aug 3, 2016 06:59
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Update 022A – The Great Map Update and Things Missed 1 Hello everyone! I'm going to take a break from the story for a couple updates worth of missing maps and things I've missed. I'll be honest here, maps are a chore. Back in Exile 1, every map – outdoors or indoors – was 48x48 squares, and the map display window was sized to fit it nice and neatly. This made mapping in the first game fairly easy. Take a shot of the window and make a copy to annotate. Easy! Then Exile 2 came around, and they introduced multiple map sizes. I'm not going to complain about that, as the size of 32x32 for the 'small' map was simply a matter of more trimming, it was the larger 64x64 maps that became a problem. You see, the map window didn't get any bigger, but some maps – the larger cities and dungeons – grew out past the edge of the map window. That meant that I had to take four pictures per map, and stitch them together. So, here's what I would have to work with:    This normally wouldn't be a problem as it was only the occasional large map that came up that needed the extra work. And then Exile 3 came along. And the vast majority of maps are now 64x64. Random town? 64X64! Outdoors? 64x64. And they're ugly. I liked the simple clean lines of the maps in E1 and E3. The full colour maps in E3? Ugh. I'm starting this update with 173 map images to process. I have to edit sets of four like above down into a single image, including annotations.  The things I do for my love of the game, and you guys.Upper Exile  Welcome to Fort Emergence! This particular map can be divided into four quarters. The upper-right is the Unspecified Services quarter, where we start the game, and get training. The lower-right is the Mage's Quarter, where we can talk to Barra about the evidence we find. In the lower-left is the Army Quarters, and we can pretty much ignore that except for the item storage room. Which I'm actually planning on using this time! The upper left is the administration quarter, and is where we communicate with Anaxiamander and deal with our major quests. Not noted on this map – and many others – are where you can find wandering NPCs. Because they'll never be where I point. The Portal Fortress is a transition map, marking a point from Upper Exile into the Tower of the Magi. Most of this map is empty space, the huge central area and the large room to the south the worst offenders. The Garbage includes the traditional fight against rats that I didn't really show off. The Armor is a set of Bronze Chainmail just lying on the ground, a freebe to reward people who explore around a town rather than just diving in. The woman handing out the quest to get her amulet from the Tower is in the upper-right. Lastly, the ??? in the lower right is a place I haven't gone yet. And missed on my Things Missed run through.  The Tower of Magi is just as big as it was in Exile 2, and marks as far into Exile proper that we can go in the game. The outbound portal from E2 has been fixed to Upper Exile, and can no longer be used to get around. I made a mistake on the map though, the room in which Solberg is, and where I placed Peregrine are reversed. The lower-left '???' is probably the meeting room for the Triad, I just haven't broken in there yet. On the right side, the Stores have this huge section of space joining them together. Normally, I would complain about that, but the Tower has always had sufficient space issues in the past that I'm not going to gripe here. The Vahnatai portal is broken, and unusable, which is odd because there is indications that there is still a connection somewhere. I can only assume that once the state of emergency was resolved the Tower and the Vahnatai moved their respective ends of the portal to a less sensitive location. And X is still in his library. We'll be visiting him soon-ish, as well as making another crack at the places I haven't seen yet here in the Tower. The first dungeon most players will encounter if they're willing to take the hint, the Goblin Warrens is actually not that easy. Mostly because it's so damned big! Here, I will complain about the size inflation of the maps, and this particular dungeon is the first real problem. The river is a space guzzler, and the spiders (which I get in Things Missed) are a total near-waste of space. The entire upper-right of the map could have been folded into the left side, reducing the 'prison' area, or the walled off room in the lower left corner. And behold! The first non-stitched together map. The Wolf Pit is a far more efficient use of space, and the enemies are actually a little bit more easier to handle thanks to choke points and the Wolves not having poisoned weapons. I sorta like how it connects the Goblins and Thieves, as that's the sort of thing that hasn't happened before in Exile – but will happen again. There's a plot dungeon later on that can only be accessed by going through either of two distinct dungeons first. I suspect that this place was built with the bandits in mind, due to the secret entrance to the treasure chest that holds the Vahnatai Statue. You know, I'm not that annoyed by the size of the map here. The switch-backed secret hidden passages to enter from the front is a neat use of space, It's a very open map, but it doesn't feel wasteful at all. The forward barracks separated from the rear support building and officer's quarters makes this place feel a bit more natural in design, even though it's developed enough to have access to the Wolf Pits, and separate garbage disposal. Now, I want to admit something straight up – I didn't do Erika's Tower and Ghikra at this point, mostly because I wanted to save Erika's Map for later when I explore her tower in more completeness, and Ghikra because half the town is inaccessible at the moment, and I can't be arsed to cheat my way into there at this point. Besides, I have a couple more GMU's to do in the future, so I'll catch it in the future. The map of Upper Exile is massively incomplete. Once again, I skipped over Erika's Tower at this point, and the current point in the story will take the party into the empty space on the left side of the map and north. There's not a lot of places in this section of the map though. It's still the early game, and unlike Exile 2's massive amount of places to visit inside the Barriers, Upper Exile doesn't have the same level of development. I think I'll save my final opinion about this region for after we've explored it all. Don't think too hard about the distance between the Goblins and the Bandits on the overworld map when compared to how far you travel through the connective dungeon.Krizsan Province  Welcome to Krizsan, capital of the province of the same name! This is typically the first major city the player will encounter due to them being channeled southward by the mountain range to the north, and the river headed south. Here, and in Fort Emergence, we get everything the budding party needs to keep going. Important locations here include the Mayor's office, for starting the Slime Quest officially, the south-eastern Inn to get the location of Jordan's Tower, and the Job Board – first of its kind! Other than that, the major point of interest is all the background information to be found here. For the longest time, we are given the impression of the monolithic control the Empire wields over the world, and yet here we get the very edge of civilization – and that lack of control is something that people aren't used to experiencing. The Job Board, the quests being handed out – these would normally be taken care of by the Empire, but they're not around any more. Now, I'm not about to complain about the Inn of Blades at all. Yes, it's a boring place, yes the NPC's only give out one minor quest. Yes, it's wide open, and you can skip it without missing anything. But that misses the real purpose of the Inn of Blades. If you take too long to resolve the Slimes, and the cities in the Krizsan province get damaged – or worse yet, destroyed – then vital NPC's travel to the Inn so they can be found and help the party still. While many other towns only have 3-5 iterations as time advances and they degrade, the Inn has over a dozen versions as new people show up. Therefore, the Inn of Blades gets a pass. Delan is an interesting town. It's close enough to Krizsan that any services it offers is redundant, but also is needed to fill the space between Krizsan and Delis. Also, what's with the names? Delan then Delis! Did someone name these towns after people who were related or something? Delis, source of food, a working Nephil, and the target of a quest issued in Pergies. Other than that, it's just another space filler of a town. But it does serve a larger purpose in the wider world, being the nearest port to Pergies, allowing them to ship their stores of minerals and metals out faster. It just lacks the warehouses to hold items until they are loaded or after they are unloaded. I'm also writing these descriptions out of order, so forgive me if my impressions of towns bounce around. Pergies is Exile 2's Fort Draco without the importance or utility. The only thing of note here is Paulo and his quest to Delis to retrieve his “Herbs”, but other than that, there is nothing of note here. Merry is redundant, and I never did find the shopkeep for the food store. Of note, the town is blocked off from the North, but on the world map, you should be able to access it from all directions. Perhaps the town got moved at some point, or the town was designed with 'up against mountain' in the design document, but that note was not read when it came time to place it. Silvar! Wait, this isn't the town south-west of Fort Exile. This is a new town! Silvar is one of many, a very generic name as I addressed in the narrative when I first got here. It's also an important jumping off stop as the next safe town to the east is in the next province over, and their problems are far more violent than the Slimes. The presence of the  Colchis ... warning to players of what happens should you fail in your mission. The Slimes will eat and devour their way through the cities, displacing the people until there is no where left to run, caught between plagues. The reconciliation of the spirit in this city and the names of the first expedition up to the surface is purely me adapting the information from Avernum 3 to this game. And the equipment that the nameless spirit directs you too is actually pretty good – the Helm of Alertness is practically end-game equipment! Farpoint is the jumping off point for Bigail from Krizsan, but the most important location here, from a gameplay perspective, is the woman in the forge who can augment your weapons, the first (or nearest) such location in the game. In terms of background and lore, the woman renting out a room to make ends meet while her husband is in the army is a sad case, and the mage providing identification services is one last chance to be introduced to the Anama in a time and place not on their terms. Completely optional, the Pit is our first introduction to the Giants, and some of the more powerful enemies we could encounter. Helping the Dryad nets a nice reward, and if only the Airy Stone wasn't bugged out. Still, worth it to visit sooner rather than later. What's this? A Dungeon that isn't oversized! Yes, I know I'm beating this into the ground, but the exceptions are fare more impressive than the rule. On its own, Jordan's Tower would be a generic 'Bandit Camp led by a Wizard' style dungeon, but what makes this a cut above the chaff is what is under it. Jut remember that going to the right of the entrance takes you to the trap door dropping you down, and going left leads to a quartet of archers who are just Fireball bait, and allowing you further into the dungeon. Going south takes you downstairs in a more controlled fashion. This is the first real, serious dungeon on the Surface that most people will encounter. Coming down from Jordan's Tower proper, the PCs are dumped in a position where they have to fight their way out. The top half of the map is optional to explore, but still needed to pass though. You can go to the west, and head through the temple to get at Jordan's Lab that way, or you can go right, head through the other barracks, get the boat, and approach the Slime Pit from the rear. Just don't forget to browse Jordan's library after you kill him to get the map to the final dungeon for this quest! Welcome to the end of the Slime Quest – or at least the first half of the end. Your goal here is to use the central control panel to open up each of the five paths down in any order, go down and destroy the Slime Pit. Really, take them in any order, but I suggest finishing – or at least approaching the Alien Slime from the upper-rightmost entrance. Not only does it have the shortest distance to the Alien, but also has the restorative pool right outside. Don't worry if you see things listed I haven't covered – the Things Missed Update will take care of that. And here is the lower level. Five distinct paths, all of which converge on the Alien Slime itself. Kill it, and grab the evidence before you leave. Just take it slow and steady, and even if you finish on day 11 or even 12 you'll be fine and Kriszan Province won't take much damage.  And here we have the totality of the Krizsan Province. Nearly the size of the Great Cave back in Exile. And about 1/4 of the total overworld from north to south, and 1/2 of the map east to west. I also want to apologize – I neglected to take several screenshots, including filling out that white spot west of Guhkbar's Pit, and the rest of the road leading up through the Troglodyte Passage. As I mentioned at the start, I was working with 170 images to start with, and I missed a few. Those places marked in a Yellow Circle either require the Orb (or Flight) to gain access to, or will requires poking for hidden passages along the water. I know I get to a couple in the next update, but I can't recall which at this point. The defining feature of this Province is the massive mountain range that divides it north and south. The south side is far more developed, though civilization is advancing in from the east along the coast as well. Thankfully there are several ways through the mountains, especially important when you're running for the Isolated Hut.Isle of Bigail  I start the Isle with its Capital – Shayder. The home of the Anama Church. I didn't grab a shot of the upper floor of the Church itself – I want to save that for when I rob the place. As for the town itself, it's decompressed, but it's not wasteful like other cities. That's mostly due to the set piece of the Church itself, and a good chunk of the outer wall filled in by residences and the gates. This map is a good use of space between the open areas and the buildings. I like the layout, I just wish it wasn't because of the Anama. This tiny map is, in my opinion, simply a means to get some XP while in Shayder, and to be rewarded with the gear from the dead bodies and the Wand of Fireballs. I find the fact that one of the boats in inaccessible without a boat to be hilarious. The Point of Contemplation is a small map that at first seems fairly useless as a dungeon. After thinking about it though, I suspect that at some point during the design for Bigail that the party was supposed to arrive at Shayder first and that there would have been a quest of some sort to point you at the Point. That way, you would encounter the Roaches in a 'dungeon' where your level wouldn't have the chance to drive them away, and you're given a free Disease curing point to make sure you're not punished for not having anyone with Priest 3 or higher. However, that is just conjecture on my part, and what we're left with is a bit of disconnected combat in a place no one talks about, or mentions at all. But hey, at least it isn't an oversized map!  I completely disavow any knowledge of criminal activity at this location. Instead, the source of Piercing Crystals is something I will need to pay a bit more attention to – I should have given what I missed out  The most likely point of entry into Bigail for the average party, Port Townsend shares the same spacing problems of the other small towns around the edge of the Isle have – a quarter to a third is taken up by the regular barracks for the displaced Anama members and dedicated kitchen/mess. Except that's the problem. You see the same set of 4 barracks in many towns, and you start to think that this isn't really a refugee crisis the Church is handling. The organization is too regular for it. Four barracks in exactly the same shape and size, always on one side of the town, and the support building beside them on the north side of town. And then Bavner only has 3 Barracks rooms, putting paid to my sweeping global statement. Probably because the space for the fourth is taken up by a decorative fountain. If the map looks a little odd, it's because I didn't want to edit in the rest of the water What makes Bavner more than just another place to say 'Yes' to the Anama is the presence of the Training room and the alternate location for the one 'free roam' priestess. Thank you Kuper, for wasting half your map space! Literally the entire left half of the map is irrelevant! And the right half only has the Anama Church and the dock to Kneece for things! SO WHY WAS THIS MAP 4 IMAGES BIG?!?!?!?!?! :deep breath: Alright, let's take stock here. There's the psycho Empire Soldier who will attack you at the end of the conversation in the lower-left. Anything else...? Nope. Still nothing. On to Kneece! Now, Kneece is a lot better as a half-dungeon. There's enough stuff here that's recognizable as a functioning town to make you wonder what really happened here. And once you talk to Purgatos, you start to get a better idea of what that is. And the lizards around, including the 'boss' Drake are a hint as to the nature of the hidden dungeon on the other side of the island (spoilers!) And Purgatos deserves some props for being one of two mages on the island who hasn't been driven off by the Anama – even as he's expecting the hammer of doom from the Empire any day now. Fenris is a nice place, with everything needed or wanted for people coming to Bigail from the East and not from the South like I did. (People arriving from the North wind up in Shayder actually.) Oh, and it's Steel Weapons at Exorbitant Prices, not Iron ones. Just be careful checking out the empty rooms – some of them have Roaches. Which one? Well, I'll leave that as a surprise. Northpoint Lighthouse is another small little place. What makes it interesting is the presence of the Necromancer maintaining the facility. And he's not evil! Except there is a certain Undead I am going to encounter in the next update ...  Hectar... Hectar... What is there to say? It's the closest town to the Filth Factory, and it already shows some of the damage involved. There's a Fletcher's here, but they don't sell bolts for Crossbows. I think I'm not going to find any place that sells those for some time now. Oh, Spiders. Shoehorned into this game. And just another point on the arrow pointing across the Isle to the Factory. And they're occupying old ruins which just reinforces the point that the Anama were no where near the first group on this Island. The Iron Bars aren't really worth hiking back to civilization though. ... And this one is small. And literally the only thing in here are a half-dozen distinct roaches, and the alternate location to find the map to the Filth Factory. Not that I'm looking at this in retrospect, this dungeon is almost ... gratuitous. And I've even talked to people who didn't even remember this place existed – that you went from the Spiders to the Factory then to pick up the Pheonix egg. The Filth Factory represents the end of your primary quest time on the Isle, and the only required dungeon. Under Shayder, the Point of Contemplation and the Spiral Crypt are all optional. Because of this, it's actually fairly easy as dungeons go due to the fact that it's considered to be a 'starter quest' in terms of the plot, on the same level as the Slimes. It helps that this dungeon is actually very linear in nature, and you can't access the centre. This encourages you to go around the map where you discover for yourself the extent of the facility. Our mysterious culprits have established a developed research lab and production line, then sabotaged it on the way out to prevent an easy shutdown. There are a lot of little treasure rooms I missed on my way through, mostly containing other monsters like Shambling Moulds and sometimes even actual treasure! At this point though, it's not worth it to go back and get them – there's nothing special. The second level of the Factory is where the work is done. After breaking in on the right side, and breaking out by sabotaging the sample barrels, you are teleported into the lower left corner. Unlike my note during the update itself, the teleporters in the four corners connect in a counter-clockwise manner, and do not provide an exit from the second floor. Just beware, this particular dungeon has a very high spawn rate for all types of Roach, and they will come from all directions once you get in the Trash Pit itself. Working your way around, just be careful that you're not ambushed on the corners. Lastly, don't do what I did with my playthrough and miss the Dragon Scales. Unlike the Slime Pit, the Filth Factory is removed from the map once you detonate the Egg and escape. There's no second chance to recover the evidence unless you either wade through a sea of Quickfire or cheat. Which I did.  I apologize for that missing sliver just west of Bavner, I'll catch it next time. What to say about the Isle? The more I think about it, the less there is to say. It seems like it was designed as a whole thanks to the Anama Church. There are a lot of towns, but not a lot of combat, as I mentioned in the Filth Factory. Therefore this entire Island doesn't see a lot of action. I suppose some effort was made to alleviate this with fixed enemy encounters with Roaches, and the Bears near the Southern Lighthouse. (spoilers: Bandits start showing up about a week after the Roaches go away). But still, this is a very combat-light, and exploration-heavy section of the world, and I think it suffers a little bit for that. The two “???” are places I can't go yet – the location North East of Kneece is a hidden dungeon I haven't gained access to yet, and the Island is a place I can't reach yet – I'll need the Orb of the Flight Spell. And here is the complete, non-annotated map of the explored Surface. We've explored about a quarter of the Valorim Province at this point, and the next major axis of surface exploration will be to the east of Krizsan along the coast. After that, we'll sweep north to the region east of Bigail, then who knows?
berryjon fucked around with this message at 14:20 on Aug 8, 2016 |
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Aug 8, 2016 05:52
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Thanks for the map update; it really hammers home the scale of the game. Speaking of, I presume that's why so many maps are bigger now: to make the game feel bigger. It's just a little unfortunate that so much of that space is empty. You have some typos when starting the Bigail section, including transitioning out of italics and spelling "capital" as "captial". Also, I dimly recall there being a really nasty optional fight just sort of out in the middle of Krizsan Province somewhere, where you and a drake fight a bunch of fire lizards. It might be further east though. In any event it was bad enough that my last playthrough had to use an invulnerability potion.
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Aug 8, 2016 12:56
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:Thanks for the map update; it really hammers home the scale of the game. Speaking of, I presume that's why so many maps are bigger now: to make the game feel bigger. It's just a little unfortunate that so much of that space is empty. Thanks for that! I fixed the problems. I credit me being First Aid at the local anime convention this weekend and lack of sleep for the errors. I started this on update on Friday, and was picking at it over the weekend. As for the spoilers, I do that in the "Things Missed". And I'm less concerned with the empty spaces on the overworld map, and more with the empty spaces in the town and dungeon maps. That annoys me.
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Aug 8, 2016 14:23
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Wait, did I miss the update with the Tower of Magi?
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Aug 8, 2016 14:29
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Pierzak posted:Wait, did I miss the update with the Tower of Magi? Yes.
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Aug 8, 2016 14:36
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Ah, there it is. It's been a while and I just forgot about it. 
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Aug 8, 2016 15:02
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berryjon posted:Thanks for that! I fixed the problems. I credit me being First Aid at the local anime convention this weekend and lack of sleep for the errors. I started this on update on Friday, and was picking at it over the weekend. As for the spoilers, I do that in the "Things Missed". The empty spaces on the over world make sense. It's a massive, recently colonized continent - of course there's tons of empty space! The towns though...no real justification there. You can't even argue that "spaced out for farming" since they don't include surrounding farms in a lot of towns (or major cities).
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Aug 8, 2016 20:46
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I can appreciate the desire to go big for this game. I mean, you've got the whole overworld, not just some cave people got exiled to. Why not spread out?
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Aug 10, 2016 00:02
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Glazius posted:I can appreciate the desire to go big for this game. I mean, you've got the whole overworld, not just some cave people got exiled to. Why not spread out? And it does make it a lot easier to get lost just wandering through the overworld, which was never really an option in the previous two games, where the density of major landmarks is much higher.
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Aug 10, 2016 00:27
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Update 22B – Things Missed in Upper Exile and Krizsan Province So, this is the first update where I just go back and point out things I've missed over the course of the actual updates. There's a lot of things, 331 images worth before I start processing. It's also on a different save from the map update, so you'll see lots of black spaces again. Let's get to it.  “Ehhh... I feel like we missed some things in our reports.” “Like what?” “Well, I think there's a secret passage over there, but I need to be able to cast Firewalk before we poke over there.” “We should ask Mazumdar about those tomes she's smuggled up. I think we've proved our worth in that regard.” “Thanks!”  “No, it's like this.”  “Study time!”  “Eh, not that useful in the long run. Who casts Symbiosis anyway?”* * *    “Someone is hurt! We should save them!” “Or maybe they're already dead?”  “Don't give me that look!”   “We can figure out if there is anything special about this later.”   “So, why are we up here again?”  “Finding a dead Vahnatai. Possibly the one the Bandits killed for the statue.” “And looting the body apparently.”  “No. We are not going down there!” “What's the concern? It just comes out here.”  “Mung Rat. Not good eating.” “Ewww.” “Giant Lizard.” “Now, that is good eating!” “Now, how to we get around to the other side?” “Why would there be a secret passage in the Nephil Chief's room?” “Escape?” “See? He had a boat back here!”  “AGAGGAGAGAGAGAGA!” “Can't touch us!” “Please don't taunt the locals.” “Nothing back here.” “Ah-ha! Here's how we get to those Spiders!” “After I fireball them out of existence.” “And more of them.” “I hope what's in the chest is worth it.” “Worth it.” “You know, I was wondering about the kind of person who would hide things behind wolves.” “The ones who have domesticated them.”  “BOLTS!” “Well, that's all well and good, but this guy's got some serious literary issues.” “Already dealt with that.” “Hey, Bandit Treasure! Mine now!” “Nice haul!”* * *  “Ah, the sun on my face...” “Right until the clouds get in the way and cause a chill.” “I'm surprised that we never actually went east along the mountain range before.” “Following the water is both logical and natural. After that, we never really had a reason to come this way before.” “Well, more horns for the man down in Krizsan.” “Oooohhhhh.... A cave! You know what this means, right?” “There's no other way out!” “You know, I have no problems with this. North or south?” “NORTH!” “South!” “You're being unusually bloodthirsty, Bronwyn.” “They're disgusting creatures.” “Hey, I wonder how tough they really are?” Yeah, not a threat. This cave serves both as an XP generator for the initial forays to the surface, and source of cash from the Horns. “Wow, that was a slaughter!” “Huh, that's weird.” “Don't care.” “But the anthropological implications! It's Art!” “Yes?” “Not you, the concept.”  “How do you know it's not the same thing for me?” “Uh.... You raise a good point. Did your parents ever tell you why you were named that?” “Actually, Art is short for something else. I chose to shorten it when I joined the military.” “Ah. Making it more masculine, I presume?” “Yep. Didn't stop me from ending up in the Acolyte corps.” “Corpse? You were dead!?!?” “No, you idiot. Corps is spelled differently, and indicates an organized group of people that is multiple divisions in strength. And before you ask, it's a complicated thing.”  “Hrm, is she undead...?”  “Eh, we'll come back to that in a moment. Let's finish taking care of the outside rings first.” “BUT THE ANTHROPOLOGY!” “I'm sure we're not killing all of them. Just the ones still dumb enough to be here. By doing this, we make the totality of the herd smarter, thus increasing the intellect that can be used for further art.” “It doesn't work like that!'”  “Look! Funeral rites!” “Many animals do that to discourage predators. It's not a sign of civilization.” “Yep, looks like everything. We should drop off our haul at Krizsan.” “That's a good idea. I've got over three dozen horns on me. I'm running out of places to hold them.” “I've been picking up the ones you're dropping.” Actually, Matthias has reached his carry limit at that point, and Delilah was taking up the slack. “Hey, this pass is passable!” “And if our maps are correct, this could be a faster way to get to the Teleporter person. What's his name again..?” “We should check to make sure it's clear first.”  “Not clear.” “Let's just get this done.” “Now the pass is clear.” “Sounds about right. The teleporter person should be to our west.” If you didn't skip over the Great Map Update, this shows you how close Fort Emergence is to the Teleporter hub. Run east, up through the pass, then west, and you never leave the map zone! “See!” And here's the map of his hut, because i forgot to show it off last update. “That's nice, but there are still all sorts of little nooks and crannies in this mountain range we haven't poked our noses into yet.” “My nose is bigger than all yours put together!” “Irrelevant, but I'll let you have that.” “Like this!” This is to the east of the Unicorn Pass. In the GMU, I accidentally listed this event as 'Giants vs Nephilim', not Ogres. “CHARGE!” “Hey! That's my line!” “Neener Neener Neener!” “I love controlling chokepoints.” “First real opportunity to test out the gifts of the Anama.” “We're going to have to have a talk about that in the future.” “Why?” “Nice!” “Thanks!” “Well, the enemy is all dead now.” “You know, I think we can cross here.” “I know I can!” “You want us to walk across this? Most of the ground is under water!” So, you can, with a certain degree of exploration, cross over between the mainland and many of the islands that surround Valorim. With only a couple of exceptions, which require either the Orb or a dedicated ferry, you can tell where to go by looking for these small islands in the way. “Except she's right. This one is impassable.” “Don't worry. Once we get my baby back, all will be well.” “I hate you.” “I love you!” “Still, quite a long way to go.” “I'm serious, this is a long path.” “Hey, I know this! It's a Ravage Knife!” “Not that I dont' trust you, but let's wait until we're not on a random dot of land to verify that!”  “Just you wait.” “But this one goes nowhere!” “Aww, can't reach these two.”* * * For the record, this next event is close to the north-west corner of the Krizsan – I've been sweeping along the northern coast from Farpoint to the west, aiming to swing south around the mountain range, then back east. “Nothing special about this, I think.” “huh.” “Are those lizards?” “They have the right idea... I should take a nap.” “No.”  “Oh, Fire Lizards.” “Boring.” Still took enough damage from the fire-breathing to necessitate a rest afterward.  “There's a lot of heat here, and it's coming from under, not above.” “He's right. There's geothermal activity this way.” “Anyone else worried about this?” “I left worry behind after the Filth Factory. I just assume things are going to get worse.”  “See?” “WORSE!” “Hey, you won't happen to have been over to the Isle of Bigail recently, have you?” “Why should I answer you?” “Because I killed Pyrog.”  Like the drake we found in Kuper, except this time there's a lot more open space, and a lot more lizards to act in support. I lost this fight a couple times, let me tell you.  “And stay down!” “I think we can discount this dragon-ling as the source of the problems on Bigail. It was far too stupid.” “Loot! Happy day!” “Hold on, you mentioned Pyrog?” “Yeah.” “As in the full on Dragon?” “Yeah. Used to live in the Giant's lands, demanding a tithe. Had to kill him ... oh ... ten years ago?” “... You scare me sometimes.” “Only sometimes? I'm sure she instills terror wherever she goes to some degree or another.” “Aww, you're too old to flirt with me, Matthias.”* * *  Hey, I found a secret passage!” North of Pergies And another case of a three tile secret passage. I'm becoming immune to the surprise of seeing them now.  “Sure, show us what you got.” Cheap is right. I think I upgraded Sass's Bronze Halberd for an Iron one. I'll have to check later. “You know, I think this is the strip of land between the two rivers that join up between Emergence and Krizsan.” “I wonder who built this.”  “We should save harvesting this until we're ready to use them.” “You know, I think we missed something in that Giant's cave.” “Really now?” “Something behind the wolf pen?” “Poor things have gone feral since Guhkbar died.” “Is that wind?” Spot the difference! No? Well, let me identify it for you. The Airy Stone is wrong. You see the weight? Normally, that's crushing on anyone short a 20 Strength character with the +25% Carry Weight trait. What happened is that the weight of all the items are integers in 8 bits, from 1 to 256. Except this was supposed to be the only example of an item with a NEGATIVE weight, with a -20! Problem was, weights are not signed integers. You can't toggle a negative on them, so the -20 instead became 236. An item designed to make it easier to carry more things became the worst thing to have in your pack. Oh well, at least it sells for something. South-east of Delan. “Oooh!”  “Not how I imagined my afternoon to be going.”  Not a threat. At all. “Hey, got Unicorn Horns for you.” “That's 49 of them!” “And that's terrible.” “I think someone made a mistake in there. Maybe multiple.” “Don't care. Got paid. Now, let's check out some of the loot we've been accumulating.” “Where were you when we were facing Slimes?” “Keep it anyways. Priestly magic hasn't caught up to Acid yet.” “Toss.” “Glad that Dragon-ling didn't think to use this.” “I'll keep this handy.” “Explains why the Giant died while having it.”* * *   “And why are we back here?” “We rushed through here last time, and I want a second look to see if there is more evidence lying around.” “I agree that the intact location where the undead wraith was in wait is a good place to start.”  “You know, it's now what we were looking for, but it's still useful none the less.” “There's a draft here!” Curious. No evidence of Slimes here at all.” “And down we go!” “You mentioned no evidence of Slimes?”   “Nothing now.” Had I come down here before I killed the Alien Slime, there would be one Slime of each color in these four chambers, indicating they were there for examination by whomever built this place. “Hey, I think we can push through this!” “shoulda had Delilah buy a dozen Piercing Crystals when we had the chance.” “I agree.” “Nothing unusual here. In fact, nothing relevant at all.” “Back upstairs then.”  “Nice pool.” “Careful on this narrow path here. Don't want to fall in.” This entire loop around the water is 'secret passage'.   “Careful... careful...” “Safe!”  “Glowing green water never hurt anyone!” “Please tell me you're joking.” “I'm not Joking. I'm Art.”   And everyone is healed for 20HP.  “I could have sworn all the Slimes died!” I could have sworn this place was toggled as 'abandoned', and thus no more enemies would spawn in!  “And now we have a better idea of where those Slime Zombies come from.” “WHY ARE THEY STILL ALIVE?!?!”  “Who care? LOOT!” “Lame.” “Really wishing for those cheap Crystals about now.” “Hrm, can you feel that?”  “Let's see what we have here...” “Bah.” Had we come here before killing the Alien Slime, we would have been able to see it through this scrying crystal.* * *  “Now the Slimes are almost gone, it seems like the local wildlife is making a move to restore the normal food chain.” “Food? Where? And why would you put it on a chain?”  “Still can't get over there. Will need to fly.” “Oh, this is the Trog pass. We have enough money. We can pay.” “Or we could clear them out for the benefit of everyone who uses this road.” “Your logic is sound, yet flawed at the same time.” “Huh. Don't think I remember those.” These guys could cast Slow Group and Curse all – but spend a good chunk of their time casting Bless Party, and Summon Host. Speaking of...  More undead.* * * Headed up for Farport to go to the Isle, when I came across Empire Troops. This is what they had to say: Their response is different if I took out the Slimes or the Roaches first, and if I hadn't dealt with either, they would attack me on sight! Nice to know that someone is taking their job seriously. Next time? The Isle of Bigail!
berryjon fucked around with this message at 06:37 on Aug 19, 2016 |
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Aug 19, 2016 05:04
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You said there wasn't an Iron Halberd in the cheap iron shop, but the screenshot showed one in the store window.
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Aug 19, 2016 06:25
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GodFish posted:You said there wasn't an Iron Halberd in the cheap iron shop, but the screenshot showed one in the store window. This is what I get for going a couple weeks between recording an update and writing it up. I've changed it to note I may have bought a replacement for Sass there, but will have to go back and check. Later.
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Aug 19, 2016 06:38
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Update 022B – Things Missed on the Isle of Bigail “So... that covered Krizsan, and Upper Exile – what parts we've seen anyway.” “What did we miss on Bigail?” “Not as much, I would think. I mean, it's a closed circle, so any decent exploration, which we did, would find most things.” “Except we really only focused on the coast. Not the interior. That is something we should look through our notes to see if there's anything of importance we missed.” “Most of it was trees anyways, and our job isn't being a logger.” “Why aren't all the Roaches dead yet?” “Probably because they are self-sustaining, not like the Alien Slime's affect over its creations.” “Let me handle this.” If you are a member of the Church, there's a couple spots around Shayder which will reward you with free food.* * *  “Curious, this grove seems to be locked off.” “No, you just need to find the right path.” “No.” “Yes.” “NO.” “YES!”   “Oh, don't look at me like that, we got a free sword!” “Is it any good?” “Who cares?”* * *  “Why are we back here?” “Who cares?” “They're giant talking spiders. Of course I care!” “That's alright, this is the wrong spot anyway.” “This is the right spot.”  “Curses.” “They didn't get everything.” “That's almost insulting.”  “And if we didn't already know about the Spiders, this would be a warning sign.”  “Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. Never attack a bunch of web-slinging spiders by yourself.” “Um, those Spiders ran away.”  “Killing more Roaches.” An otherwise unremarkable battle where you fight with an allied bear against Roaches. One stomp later, we part ways. “And what's this?” “Quiet back here.” “Which means we should be ambushed sometime about now.” “Hail!” “I'm just going to wait outside then.” “You are the third mage we've found on the island. And sure!” “Curious, these are high level spells. You could charge even more if you moved off the island.”* * *  “I can feel the evil coming from this place.” “Yes. It is quite malevolent.” “Whelp, this is going to be a fun little excursion.” “Sounding sarcastic much?” “With the things I've seen and done with where the undead are concerned, this will be nothing.” “Right, this is no where near the Dark Pit.” “Still does nothing about the one way out.”   A huge ghast sits on the throne, gazing at you hungrily. Drool drips from its massive teeth, and the little bits of blood are speckled around its mouth. “Hey there. Got a name?” It emits a deep chuckle. “My name will not save your life.” “Cute. What are you doing here? Giving guided tours?” It runs a claw down an arm of the throne. “I have been placed here by Gorvifal to taunt you.” “Finally! A name! Who is Gorvifal, and why should I care?” “You are in the tomb of Gorvifal, mighty warrior and thane! For centuries he has lurked here, hiding his crypt and then making it visible again.” “Thane? No one has used that title since the Nethergate incidents, I think. So, what's special about his crypt? “Nothing pleases him more that snaring a few passers-by, tormenting them. I am honored to share in this pleasure. He is brilliant. You have no hope. You may just want to let me eat you now.” “Where there's life, there's hope!” “You may think that. I have been placed here to ask you a riddle. Answer correctly, and I will depart and let you proceed. Fail, and wander aimlessly. Are you ready for the test?” “Sure.”   “Oh, come on! This is easy!” “The answer is fangs, obviously!” “I woulda got it eventually.” “Leave the riddling to those who are your older and wiser.”  “Why don't you just come out and we can discuss these things?” “Before we go too much further, I think we missed something. The Ghast was there for a reason.” “What are you talking about?” “That!” “Huh.” “PUSHING THE BUTTON!”  “You would expect anything else?” “No, not really.” “Can't go back. Have to go forward.” “I think someone is used to people panicking.” “I don't panic.” “No, you don't. And you're a rock for the rest of us.” “Oh, hey, evil altar.” “The worst parts are those legitimately good and honest places of worship and respect that have fallen to time.”  “You have to get out, therefore we can get in.”  “Awww... I wonder if they were some sort of honor guard, or more victims?” “aww is not the phase I would use.” “Almost back at the start.” “Go ahead, Sass.”  “You know, this picture is interesting.” “I wonder if there is deeper meaning here. Does the image of the button indicate that it s real, or that the button, like the image itself, is nought but an illusion?” “...” “Of all the things you say, it's Art Critique?” “Hey, I don't mind feedback.” “Didn't we already do that joke?” “Probably. Also, I've had long conversations about theatre work with co-workers while on the job. Unspecified Services does encourage people to pick up more esoteric skills – you never know when they might be useful.” “Gorvifal, I think.” “I wonder how the Anama can maintain the claim that they civilized Bigail when there's just more and more evidence that other peoples were here first.” “Self-serving historical revisionism.” “You'd think that this would be the one image to be maintained.” “Curious. It's almost like he's ashamed of his mortal life.” “Really? All the way back around for this? I think we'll die of boredom long before the undead get a chance.” “Especially when they're not much of a threat.”  “Three for three!”  “We could escape. Or we could take care of the lord of the crypt.” “I say we re-kill undead. I have something I want to try.” “Agreed. This creature should not exist to ensnare the unwary.” “I got no problems.” “There's a draft from the north. Very chill.”  “Let's be careful with this.” FRAK! A Wight and a Ruby Skeleton. This could be a problem.  Freaking Ruby Skeletons, with their 4AP, and 1AP ranged attacks. That can hit the entire party if they're stacked on a single tile. I love them as an enemy, but then there are days like this where things don't go well at all. “A good target to practice on!” “What are you talking about?”   “Come on, I doubt those are the proper enemies. There's a body back here as well that I saw.” “Nothing of value though.” “It's here, the center of this crypt.” “Stab everything!” “This spell is amazing!” Yeah, the Specter is a problem. Very good chance for double damage from the Icy damage, then XP drain from the Draining Touch. Good thing Delilah has the anti-undead spell!   “Fine, fine. You get the loot.” “And here's the 'actual' entrance. That wall looks pretty solid.” “And now we can leave, never to return.” Nothing special about the Crypt, though a party that has joined the Anama properly may find the whole thing to be like shooting fish in a barrel. “And thus the crypt vanishes from memory.” Someone in the thread reminded me about this, so this is for you! “Who would have thought about approaching this place from the west?” “Not me.”  You see a horrid, shadowy spectre, lurking back in an isolated nook of the lighthouse. It looks at you hungrily. “Who are you?” It hisses. “I have no name no longer. I just am!” “And why are you hiding back here?” “I wait here, for my chance for vengeance!” “I think I know the answer, but vengeance on whom?” “Nekaros created me! He tried to bind me! I was too strong. Now, I want revenge on all pathetic living things!” “All living things? Sounds quite open.”   Heading south from the Lighthouse... “Something's in the grass.” “Must be a friendly one.” “We're going to have to do something about that at some point.” “Moving out onto a lake like this is barely more acceptable, given that I can see the edges.” “That was nice.” “I think that's everything. It's time to head back. Now, where did we put that Amulet of Returning?” “I have it.” “Everyone, stand close together, and Matthias, fire it up!” “Using it now!”  The Amulet is Word of Recall, and unlike Exile 2 where the spell brought you back to Fort Ganrick, this time the spell is set to bring you here to the entrance to Fort Emergence – something far more useful. “Now, what were we supposed to be doing?” “Investigating a Murder!” “Then let's go!”
berryjon fucked around with this message at 06:02 on Aug 20, 2016 |
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Aug 20, 2016 01:58
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Aww, you didn't answer his question with 'teeth'. That happened my first time I was there.
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Aug 20, 2016 04:04
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I could swear that Ruby Skeletons have 4AP, it's just that their heat ray only costs 1AP to use. It doesn't do a lot of damage, but when your entire party is all piled up on a single tile like that, it adds up fast. At least they often drop rubies. They're a nice enemy design because they remain threatening even when you make use of buff/debuff spells.
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Aug 20, 2016 05:32
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:I could swear that Ruby Skeletons have 4AP, it's just that their heat ray only costs 1AP to use. It doesn't do a lot of damage, but when your entire party is all piled up on a single tile like that, it adds up fast. quote::facedesk: Well, that's another thing fixed. But hey, I just plowed through the Murders, so I can work on more updates!
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Aug 20, 2016 06:01
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“I wonder how the Anama can maintain the claim that they civilized Bigail when there's just more and more evidence that other peoples were here first.” If the peasants were starving, it isn't a stretch to think the people here didn't survive that long; seems more like they tried to live here, and failed. It makes sense, considering that the guy is ashamed of his life and that the spider's new home was cleaned out, rather than hastily abandoned.
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Aug 20, 2016 09:08
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There have been several places IRL where the earlier colonists literally died to a man and the whole place had to be resettled later. Greenland comes to mind as an example.
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Aug 20, 2016 09:22
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The Crypt can be pretty tough if you go to Bigail first, especially if you don't figure out about the buttons for a few circles around the place.
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Aug 20, 2016 10:08
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There's quite a lot of stuff on the overworld 
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Aug 20, 2016 10:18
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That's for sure. One of the best parts of Exile 3 is that the overworld really feels like an entire continent, and there's always something new to find if you poke around for a bit.
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Aug 20, 2016 10:26
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Might be saving it for when you have Firewalk, but there's one other thing in the Unicorn Cave. There's a demon if you walk to the edge of the lava and pop the bubble. Barely a threat, especially by the time you get Firewalk, but I always check EVERYTHING when I visit a place, even if I don't have quite the right spells/equipment. Triggering this with an early game group by walking across lava and casting light heal all after every tile...Not recommended.
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Aug 20, 2016 12:43
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Exile 1 and 2 are not small games by any definition of the term, but having played Exile 3 a literal generation ago I'm just starting to get a new idea of how utterly massive it is. This third chapter of the LP is making me even more chuffed for Avernum 3: Ruined World. Avadon 3 comes out in a few weeks and I do plan to buy it directly from SWS to support Jeff's works, but I'd be lying if I said I cared about it nearly as much as Exile 3 the Reremake. Edit: Off-topic, but also Dragon Quest VII for the 3DS. I haven't been looking forward to a video game this much since I was a teenager.
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Aug 20, 2016 16:10
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Update 023 – New Cotra The New Formello Murders have two contingent triggers. If you complete two monster quests, then the event happens. Or, if you putter around until about Day 60, then the event triggers, regardless of the status of the other events on the overworld. Unofficially, it marks the end of the first third of the game and sets up events that don't unfold in their totality until the endgame. But the party doesn't know this. “I was right! I was right! It was a dragon!” “Yes, you were right. I am sorry.” “Hey, don't do that. Part of the reason why we're a team is because we each bring skills and knowledge that the others don't.” “What does Art bring?” “Sarcasm.” “I cannot object to that. Now, shall we head north? Bodies decay over time.” “But Flanagan has headed ahead. He's the real investigator. We're just backup.” “And before that, we're actually going back to the Tower. There are more rewards for us waiting there.” “That's actually reasonable.” “I also want to check something out.” “Of course you do.”  “I remember this! I couldn't get in.” “As Art-Iktah, I have permission. Matthias, the door please.” “And why are we doing this?” “Curiosity?”  “Interesting. A fusion of two culture's magics. It is known that Human teleportation and portal skill far exceeds the Vahnatai. Melding it with the materials skill of the Deep Peoples is only natural to the benefit of both.”  “No need to break down these barriers.” “What's this? Art not poking her nose into everything? What's the matter? Growing old?” “At least I'm getting there!” “Hello! We have permission to get more training from the Tower.” “You guys check in with Solberg. I'm going to talk to Peregrine.” “... And that's what we found on Bigail.” “Curious. The use of insects like that as an infection vector is quite alarming. Normally, such creatures are quite clean, but the artificial diseases involved.... I just wish we had someone who could have examined them for further evidence.” “But regardless, you've done a good service for Exile. It is only proper to reward you.” “Thank you!” “Any further rewards, I will have to direct you to X in his library. He is cleared to teach higher level spells. And I will confer with him when you make your reports, as I will after you leave with him and Mahdavi.”  “Most concerning. I cannot be much help. There is that Witch over in the Great Cave who may be of help, the one who didn't give me her name.” “I remember the argument you had regarding whether or not Name Magic was real or not.” “I still doubt it exists,” he says smugly, “But I am willing to concede that knowing something's name can help isolate it from its fellows, as Linda's work has proven.” “Speaking of...” “Still being watched. She's in her labs to the North. I would almost suggest you visit her, but I don't know if her face or your hand would break first.” “Would I do that?” “Repeatedly. And I can neither confirm or deny that there is a betting pool involved.” “You wouldn't bet on me, would you?” He laughs. “Never! If such a thing was a reality, then I would be the fairest person to administer it.” “Peh. Well, thanks. Any word on when Karmas is coming up?” “Within the week, I think. Why?” “There's been some weird deaths up at New Formello, and my team has been tasked with supporting the investigation.” “Beneath you, but I suppose even you must rest on occasion.” “Well, I suppose Solberg is done with the others by now. I'll collect them, then be on our way.” “I will see you again. Oh, and I suggest you read that book I know you looked at the last time you were here.” “Alright.”* * *  “He could have at least removed the barriers first!”  I know we've encountered Orvid before, but for the life of me I can't recall where. “A passable spell. But why is it locked away like this?” “Because the letters are SWIMMING ACROSS THE PAGE?” “There's nothing left here. Let's go back to Upper Exile.” “We'll cut across the wilds straight north. Go through New Cotra first, then get to New Formello.” “Camping Trip!” “I thought all our trips were camping trips at this point?” “Or our path could be blocked by water.” “There's a reason why roads exist, and not because they keep us away from monsters.” “North to New Cotra, then New Formello!” “So, what happened to old Formello?” “Nothing.” “Then why is there a new one?” “Couldn't tell you. Maybe someone there will know.” “This is east of the road. Why are we here?” “Because.” “And there's the road from Emergence to Ghirka.”   “I accept free money as an excuse to go off the beaten path.” “Hey, anyone else hear that?” “I think so?” “Glowing Green hasn't steered me wrong yet!” “Except for all the times that it has.” “Uhh....” “What was that all about?” I don't know either. Anyone from the thread care to enlighten me?GodFish posted:Just loaded up a fresh party and checked out the pool. I forgot to check more than one person's EXP, but the party lead gained 15 experience, so I suspect everyone did.  “This bridge will take us closer to New Cotra.” “I'm surprised you aren't asking about old Cotra.” “Some history was part of the Unspecified Services primer.” “Screw that, I just remembered something. To Ghirka!” “What.”* * *   “I greet you, Art-Iktah. How fares?” “{Tell me truthfully, Rentar-Ihrno, in the service of your people and mine. I found a body of yours on the Surface, in a place they had no reason to know about.}” The leader of the Vahnatai people sighs in resignation. “{Yes. You deserve to know. We too have spies on the Surface, investigations of our own against the Empire. Your leadership knows of this, as they keep us appraised of the existence of other teams like yours. Where did you find our lost number?}” “{On the Isle of} Bigail, {in a place of vile construction. A source of plagues that threatened the innocent and guilty alike. I burned it to the ground, but your person was beyond identification.}” “I will pass that along to those in charge of such things. I thank you for your efforts, and willingness to keep me appraised. Go in peace, Art-Iktah.” “And you too, honoured Elder, Rentar-Ihrno.”* * * “That was completely unnecessary.” “Yes, it was.”  “Ooh!” “This should be easy.”  Not a serious battle for us at this point. “Always nice to help!”  “Hold on, there's something unusual here.” “You mean aside from the view?” “This pathway has been hidden, but not good enough.” “Loot!” “How typical.” “I wonder if it's theirs?” “Well, we can talk with words or swords.” They choose swords. And the fight was boring. We get 260 gold as a result. “Still, nice view.” “That it is.” “And now we cross that bridge.”  “Who is Ilgrith?” “I have no clue.” And the name doesn't appear on the Exile Wiki. Curious.  “We'll leave this alone.”  “Anyone else feeling cold?” “Ice pudding.” “Maybe a Cryo Lizard?” “Nothing beats out experience where these things are concerned.” “Oooooolllldddddd.”  “I wonder how these creatures formed in the first place?”  “But that can be answered later.” “Eh, that's enough. Off to New Cotra!”  “Nice town.” “Typical Garbage disposal.” “Hold on, I hear something.” “Sounds like two people arguing. I don't see why we should get involved.” “It's because I know who those two are.” “Ah. Personal.”  “Don't you dare!” “But someone has to do it! And no one else can!” “You barely fit in your armor any more!” “It's because my muscle mass has improved.” “No, you've gotten soft.” “Hey guys. How's married life?” “Hi Art.” “Leave that sort of thing to the guard.” “They're the Guard! Defending is what they do.” “...” “So I'm going to go out there and take care of it!” “No, you're not!” “Yes, I am!” “Hey, whatcha planning on killing?” “Sir Ma'am, Mayor wants someone to take care of an Ice Slime to the west.” “Done.” “See! Art took care of it already. Now get out of that ridiculous getup. “Wait. How long have...” “you been standing there?” “Long enough. Good to see you two.” “Sir! Ma'am! It's good to see you!” “She's Art, farmboy. Now ditch the armor.” “Don't mind me, I'm actually passing through to New Formello.” “Why? I thought you had retired to the Embassy at Olgai?” “Dmurr mentioned something about then when she passed through, didn't she?” “I suppose she did, but I thought she was on a lark. Not that Art of all people would unretire from the Services.” “Eh, less an un-retirement, and more a panicked recall to duty. I'm on the Surface Exploration assignment.” “What” “Totally.” “Oh god, the Empire is doomed.” “Good riddance to bad rubbish. So, why are you headed north?” “I know there was a cavequake up that way a few days ago. That related?” “Can't tell. Don't know everything myself yet, but I do know that there are dead bodies involved.” “Ugh.” “Well, I suppose if there's a problem, you'll resolve it.” “I will. Say, Prince Karmas is coming up here soon. If you see him before I do, could you tell him I want to chat?” “Sure. But we don't really know the Prince all that well. He's more your associate than ours.” “And even then, we've retired. It's not like we have Royal Clearance anymore.” “Still, if it's something that happens, it happens.” “Care to stay for supper?” “I have a nice salad in the icebox.” “I'll pass. You know how it is. Travel to new places, meet interesting people, and punch them in the face.” “Sure. I understand. You never could stand still for long.” “I'll talk to you guys again when I have the time. But for now, the job is calling.” “Take care of yourself, dahling.”* * *  “Random boat.” “Too bad the rest of you can't swim as well as I can.”* * * “Time for the town survey?” “Yep.”  You meet a small, intense woman in short hair and black leather. Several vicious iron blades hang from her bet, and a proud expression graces her face. She greets you with a sharp nod of her head. “I am Elspeth. Welcome to my shop. Please use the front door next time, not the back.” “Elspeth!” “ART!” “How's Nance?” “At the Inn, if I don't miss my guess. What brings you to New Cotra?” “Business. This is my team. Team, this is Elspeth. I've done a couple favors for her over the years, so be nice.” “True that. Well, I run this shop with Nance. I make the best Iron weapons you're likely to find, and you can purchase them if you got the gold. You can also sell me other stuff. I'm sure I can unload it on somebody. There's that woman who lives on the south side of town who loves to pick up random things.” “Forgive the question, but who is Nance?” “Nance and I have been through a lot since the Empire sent us down. We just weren't approved of, if you know what I mean. Then we got separated.” “You were separated? I hope you found each other!” “Aren't you adorable! We were living in Cotra – the old one – when the Empire War hit. They raided our town, blasted it apart. We were lucky to escape, but got separated. We didn't find each other for months. In fact, it was Art who managed to get us back together. But then we heard about this settlement near the surface. There was no way we could stay away.” “You sound eager to return to the surface.” She gives a vicious smile, and for a moment she seems six feet tall. “We will be back on the surface someday. There are no two ways around it. It was wrong of them to throw us down here. And it's up to all of us to make them pay for their crimes.” “I can state that such plans are in motion. Can you be patient?” “Oh, I have been. And I will be. But enough about that. Care to see my wares?” “Sure.” Iron Weapons in Upper Exile. Good to know. You can also sell your stuff to her. In fact, let's take care of that. “WHERE did you get that Piercing Crystal?” “Oh, that's the one we found in the Slime cave.” “You got some neat stuff here.”   “Yeah, you can have all that.” “Cha-ching!”  “Nice female.” “Nope. Couldn't see why the Empire would send her down. At all. Ever.”  “I wonder what he has for sale.” “Hello there!” There is a young man with dark hair and a neatly trimmed beard behind the counter. His fingers are permanently stained from years and years of working with herbs and mixing concoctions. “I am Miles. Miles the mage. Welcome to my shop.” I think we first met this NPC in Patrick's Tower back in Exile 1. “And a fine shop it is! What do you study?” He points to the bookshelves.. “Each of those scrolls contains a recipe I have mastered. Every plant in these caves I have turned into a wondrous concoction of some sort. And I place all my knowledge at your disposal!” “That's amazing! All of them?” “Hundreds of recipes! Of course, most of them are useless. But I've mastered them all anyway!” “And you are willing to share them? To put them at our disposal as you so put it?” “I make potions of all sorts, and you can obtain them for a price. Let me know if you want to purchase some of them.” Medium Energy Potion! “Surely there must be some concoction that you haven't made yet?” “OK. Not all the plants. I still haven't found a use for Black-spotted sponge moss. But I'm working on it.” He smiles and shrugs. “What's the point of being modest?” “You don't seem like the modest type in the first place.” “I live in a cave. I mix mushrooms and lichen for a living. I get backaches all the time. With a life like this, why bother to be modest? Feh!” I like this guy. I really do.* * *  “Unmarked building with no obvious way in or out. Suspicious.” “But nothing we can do at this point.”  “...” “Hey...” This shifty looking man wanders aimlessly but quickly around the town. It takes a minute to catch up with him. He doesn't seem keen on talking to you. He looks you over, then seems to recognize you. “Call me Asp.” Another man we first met in Cotra back in Exile 1. He helped us get the Ankh from the Mayor of Spire to return to Sulfras. “And what are you doing here? You're acting very suspicious.” He looks you up and down appraisingly. “Just wandering. And observing.” “You do seem like a wanderer. Gone anywhere interesting lately?” “Here and there. Like you.” “And in your wanderings, have you observed anything interesting?” “Well, you know, there's a lot to be seen by someone who likes to pay attention. Like maybe you might have noticed something peculiar nearby.” “I've seen too many things to simply label something as peculiar.” “Like, in the northwest corner of town.” “I saw that.” “There's a building up there with no doors. No entrances. Nobody goes in or out. Been watching for days. And you know what's really bizarre?” “No.” “Nobody around here owns up to noticing it. Mention it and everyone gets real uncomfortable and pretends they don't know what you're wondering about. What's the big secret?” “Could be a state secret. Or a glorified trash disposal unit. You know how the government likes to operate.” “And there goes a man for whom paranoia is a way of life.”  “Always nice to have an alternate food supply.” “Oh, hello there.” There is a Nephilim sitting behind the counter chopping mushrooms. This is not too unusual – some Nephilim have made peace with the humans and taken to living among them. A few, but not many. Its tail twitches happily as it graces you with a toothy grin. “Mrrr. My name is Hmurrr. Welcome to my shop.” “And you do all your own cooking?” It purrs excitedly. “I make all types of foodstuffs for my good human buyers. Mrrrr. You can purchase all of them that you want and be assured of their edibleness. Mrrr.” “Why would their edibleness be a concern? Food's food.” “Be assured that there are none of the delicious rats and bats in the fine foods I am making. All those things are saved for me and my mate. Only we appreciate them as one should. Mrrr.” You look at the food as it is preparing and indeed, there is no sign of the sort of small animal and cat would find appealing. I'm getting uncomfortable ethnic food vibes here. “I think I'll stick with Art and her Manna spell for now.” “Not built yet.”    “Interesting choice of names. Very symbolic.”  There is a gentle looking blonde woman with a kind face sitting at the table. She is sharpening a small knife. She smiles at you as you approach. “Hello, I'm Matthias. You must be Nance?” “I am Nance. Greetings to you.” “If I may, what do you do in town? Your other mentioned you helped her, but only her name is on the store.” She shrugs. “Oh, I mainly help Elspeth run her shop. Not what I'd choose as a path, but there you go.” “Oh, yes, Elspeth...” “Have you met Elspeth?” She grins. She runs the best smithy in Upper Exile. If not Exile.” She holds up the knife she's sharpening. “It's not quite my area, but it keeps me busy until we can reach the surface.” “And what would you do on the surface?” “All of us were sent to live in the pits because of who we were, because we refused to fit in, to conform, to submit to unjust standards.” Nance's normally gentle face has a steely, determined expression. “Every day we live here is an injustice. An injustice we will all gladly face death to right.” She looks a little embarrassed. “I've been told I have a bit of a tendency to go on and speechify.” Then she grins. “But it's fun, so I'm not going to stop.” “I think you have a future as a politician then, if you can light fires like that. So when you get back up there, what will you choose to do with your life?” A dark look passes over her face. "I cared for horses when we lived on the surface. When the Empire exiled us, it took away my entire life's work. That is one of the many reasons I want to return to the surface." “Thank you for your time.” This man is intensely unappealing. He has bushy whiskers, a distracting personal odor, and wartmoss stains on his shirt (wartmoss is chewed much like tobacco). He fixes a beady eye on you as you approach. He hawks and spits a greyish stream at a nearby spittoon. He isn't too picky about his aim. “Call me Gointz, kid.” “...” He hawks and spits. “I sails the lake.” “And what does one find on the lake?” He hawks and spits. “Yep. Cave fish are good eatin'. Sell plenty of 'em. See some interesting sights too. Real interesting sights.” “And what could be that interesting of a sight on a lake completely controlled by Exile?” He haws and spits. “That's fer darn sure. Lot's of peculira goin's on out there. Lots of stuff to see. If maybe ya' got a boat.” “A boat.” I buy the boat. It's not necessary, but you'll see why it's useful later.  The bar is being tended by a thin man with short black hair, a twitchy demeanour, and a lopsided smile. He wears the traditional sash used in Exile to mark a mayor. “I'm Crisper. Crisper the barkeep. Or Mayor Crisper. Whichever you prefer.” “Several jobs like that?” “Well, I'm the mayor for now. Painful, but necessary. But I also run the Phoenix, which is a bit more satisfying.” “How does one such as yourself become mayor?” “We pick a new Mayor every year. That's the person who takes time off building this new, beautiful city to carry out the administrative tasks.” “You can't pick a dedicated administrator?” “We're not there yet. No, I have important jobs. Like pushing papers. Organizing things. Meetings. Endless hell. And worst of all, I occasionally have to press some gang of hapless adventurers to go out on some mission or other.” “Well, it's your lucky day! What mission is there on the table?” “Well, there's this Ice Pudding out to the west. One of the locals was planning on taking it on himself, but if someone could beat him too it...” You tell Crisper how you slew the Ice Pudding. “Well done! Thanks for taking care of that!” He counts you out a generous stack of silver coins. “Now get out there and kill other bad things!” 300 gold, and permission to loot even more? SCORE! “So, tell me about the Phoenix.” “The Phoenix, because this Cotra rises from the ashes of the earlier Cotra. I do all the standard Inn things. We have an excellent room for only ten gold, and a round of beer is only two.” “Mushroom Beer?” “Nothing else!” “You know, apparently there are people on the surface who would be willing to import this stuff?” “Bull. Not a chance.”* * *  “And that's scenic New Cotra.” “What's that?” “What's what?” “That!” “...” “Actually, instead of going overland, I hear that Matthias got us a boat. Let's go for a ride.” “YAY!”  “Too many rocks in the way. There's no way we can go upstream to figure out how to get into that isolated building.” “I'm certain that if it becomes relevant, we can get in eventually.” “Right! For now, we row!”
berryjon fucked around with this message at 16:37 on Aug 21, 2016 |
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Aug 21, 2016 04:56
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For the phosphorescent pond / spirit thing, check your stats. It might have given you experience, skillpoints, or a skill boost. There's a number of such things in the game and they're rarely well-communicated. Nice to see the old party-members are still around and kicking. Just be careful not to get too self-indulgent with the cameos.  So far as I'm aware, the forest is just named at random. Presumably Ilgrith was some Exile explorer who found the forest, but wasn't otherwise notable. Kind of like Grahk's Peninsula in the original game.
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Aug 21, 2016 05:13
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I usually start the game off with hitting up the Ice Pudding (and reward) and the silver coin bundle in the stalactite forest because that gets you enough money to buy the boat, which lets you get... well, we'll see when the party gets there. But the Slimes and Cockroaches are even less of a challenge afterwards. The Ice Pudding can easily kill a starting party just with the ice fields, but you can kite it just as easily until it dies from fireballs and wound.
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Aug 21, 2016 05:30
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Didn't post during the maps and recaps because I had nothing substantial to add. Although yeah, I did notice how empty most of the smaller towns were and realize how much of a pain it is to deal with mapping pre-magic map. Also, that spellbook hidden behind the barriers in the Tower of Magi that taught you Major Summoning? I'm about 50% sure that it also drained your experience, and 100% sure that it lowered everyone's intelligence scores. You should probably check that. But... what you sold... I... why?! Why sell those? Okay, Dust of Hiding is pretty useless in most situations, but Brew of Ironskin is LITERAL invulnerability to EVERYTHING for several turns. And Orb of Sight is a free casting of Magic Map that doesn't need a Sapphire. Why get rid of those?
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Aug 21, 2016 06:05
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LuffyVeggies posted:Also, that spellbook hidden behind the barriers in the Tower of Magi that taught you Major Summoning? I'm about 50% sure that it also drained your experience, and 100% sure that it lowered everyone's intelligence scores. You should probably check that. It may have drained XP, but my stats are the same. I just checked from the training I got in Bavner, and compared to the training I got after dealing with the Murders. quote:But... what you sold... I... why?! Why sell those? Okay, Dust of Hiding is pretty useless in most situations, but Brew of Ironskin is LITERAL invulnerability to EVERYTHING for several turns. And Orb of Sight is a free casting of Magic Map that doesn't need a Sapphire. Why get rid of those? Because in about 10 images, I'm going to show off a shop that sells potions of Knowledge, Ironskin, Battle, Lethe (why), Bliss and Clarity. And the Orb was tossed in the trash heap because I would only get one use out of it and I have no way of replacing it. TooMuchAbstraction posted:For the phosphorescent pond / spirit thing, check your stats. It might have given you experience, skillpoints, or a skill boost. There's a number of such things in the game and they're rarely well-communicated. quote:Nice to see the old party-members are still around and kicking. Just be careful not to get too self-indulgent with the cameos. And when you have two games worth of PC's and NPC's to deal with, you have fun when and where you can. But don't worry, those two are happily retired. Karmas is planned to get something later on, but his is actually plot related.
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Aug 21, 2016 06:24
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Just loaded up a fresh party and checked out the pool. I forgot to check more than one person's EXP, but the party lead gained 15 experience, so I suspect everyone did.
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Aug 21, 2016 10:19
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GodFish posted:Just loaded up a fresh party and checked out the pool. I forgot to check more than one person's EXP, but the party lead gained 15 experience, so I suspect everyone did. Edited into the post!
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Aug 21, 2016 16:37
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Update 024 – New Formello and the Murder Cave “So, where are we going now?” “I was thinking of checking out what that sailor said about weird things on the lake.” “Are we ever going to get to New Formello?” “Perhaps it can be accessed by water?” “I can swim it!” “How about we row instead?” “Nothing interesting here.” “Hey! What does the sign say?”  “Curious. This ring of rocks does not appear to be completely natural.” “Well, let's circle around, and see if we can spot a gap, or something.”  “Any one else have a weird feeling about this?” “I don't see anything...” “No, there's something there, I can feel it.” “Hrm...”  “Welcome to my newest shop. I'm glad you could make it. And I expect to do plenty of business with you in the future.”  Let's go down the list of available items here, shall we? Brews of Knowledge give the drinker 2 Skill points a pop. This is the most expensive they are in the series, but still a steal. I'll be dumping a lot of money on those in the future. Ironskin, a unit of which I sold last update, gives the user Invulnerability for several turns. Brew of Battle should be the Haste/Bless combo for the drinker. Lethe removes XP, so don't drink it. And who cares about Bliss or Clarity when there are better drinks here? “Not yet. But we'll be back. Oh yes we will.” “See you, dear.” “And this is Ghirka!” “I have to say, this is unusual. Why is this even here?” “Vahnatai stuff is your purview, Art.” “This is a teaching crystal. Why is it hidden back here?” HELL YES! Major Blessing is a top-tier spell. It Blesses, Hastes and gives everyone poisoned weapons for a single spell. Now I just need someone who can cast it. “While that knowledge will undoubtedly come in handy, we should go. Perhaps the waterway may provide a convenient path?” “Fancy words for 'faster'.” “So many people on the shore.” “And therefore they can't get to us.” “And we've reached the headwaters with no signs of roads, just basic bridges that we've passed under on our way here. We may actually have to follow the road.” “Ogres? What are Ogres doing down here?” “We should check in with Erika. If they're from that direction, she might know something, then ask me to get rid of them for her.”* * *  “The western wall of this gallery is not the road.” “Curious. There are Nephil signs here. Why would they be hiding?” “This does not bode well.” “Are they outcasts?”   “Pick your targets, we exterminate.” “I agree. They are worse than savages, and their destruction will be appropriate.”  There are a lot of targets here, but at this point, we're well above the board in terms of difficulty.    See? “I think that's the last of them. All that's left are the non-combatants. And I don't feel guilty about this at all.” “We should not hunt them down. It will not bode well for us.” “And if these guys are related to the Murders, we can justify the attack ex post facto.” “What?” “After the fact.” “And this is a resource they should be denied.”* * *   “That sounds familiar.” “Chitrach.”   “Curious. I would have expected more.”  “Still enough for a workout.” “We should withdraw. I do not know where this will end.” I don't know if this is an infinitely repeatable event that spawns three Larva and a Chitrach, or if there is some limit I didn't reach, or if it's bugged, but I gave up on trying to get through.* * *  “The headwaters are to the east.” “And there's a thin passage here. Let's follow it.” “Really thin.” “More like a glorified crack, really.” “dontslipandfalldontslipandfall” “Whose idea was this again?” “It's fun!” “A light at the end!” “Oh well, it could be worse.”  Free healing! “I feel like taking an actual road this time, and not a glorified strip of flat ground.”* * *  “Like this one!” “Uh....”  “Why are there Slith statues all over the place?” “What's this? An actual Slithzerikai? I don't believe it!” “And who might you be?” There is a short man with short hair on his hands and knees here, cementing stone floor tiles. He looks up at you and cocks his head. “I am McCullouch. Welcome to my work place.” “Art. Unspecified Services.” “And I am assembling a floor, as you can see. Alone.” “And you're doing a good job of it too. Alone.” “Don't get smart with me, girl.” He closes his eyes and takes a moment to calm down. “Sorry. Shouldn't have done that. Yes. Normally, there would be a Slith named Ahsoth helping me. However, it is absent, as you can see.” “Why would they be absent?” “Normally, one might be inclined to take this as evidence of the laziness of Slithzerikai, especially considering how often it has been happening lately. And how lousy the work they've been doing has been. However, I'm sure you wouldn't come up with the idea that the Sliths are just big dumb lizards. That wouldn't be a conclusion we would come to, right?” “And what sort of conclusion might we come to?” “I don't know. But us enlightened types have to stick together.”  “Hold on. There might be a legitimate reason. Let's investigate further.” “If it wasn't so cold, I'm be more annoyed.” “You're cold?” “Yeah, this section of the caves is chill.” “He's right. It's cooler up here than it is down in Exile, or even on the surface.”  “Before we do that though, how about some warm up exercises?” “Yay!” “Wait, I didn't know Sliths were cold-blooded.” “They aren't.” “But they do have a different temperature tolerance than humans. We can handle cold better than they can, while they're much better in heat and humidity.” “Huh. Learn something new. It's a happy day!” “Spiders!”  “Well, this is cheery.”  “ohfuck NULL BUGS!” “Uh what?” “Insects that radiate an irregular anti-magic field! Sass! Bronwyn! Help Art!” Null Bugs are a pain in the rear for a Magic heavy team like this one. Half the party is useless, and the other half is stuck in close quarters with this thing:  “I can scry it!” Interesting mechanical talk for combat. Creatures like the Null Bug or Ice Pudding, those that radiate a 'field' around them, refresh the field when they move. So if an enemy that radiates doesn't move, it doesn't reapply their field around them. And each turn, every field has a random chance of falling down. I got obscenely lucky here, and the Null Bug itself lost its protection, giving me the chance to scry it.  “Hate the damned things. Hated them ever since I first encountered them on the Black waters.” “The what?” “The river passage from under Formello – the old one, not the new one – down to Avit in the Olgai-Vahnatai lands.” “But that's a drop of...!” “Yep. Not a pleasant trip at all.” “Body here.” “I can't tell anything about this person, aside from being human.” “I think that was all of them. These supplies look untouched.” “Yeah, but and the town really needs them.”  “Why am I not surprised that the Inn was the first building finished?” “You guys chat up the locals. I'll pry Flanagan away from the woman he's talking too.” “On it.” This woman is surprisingly small and delicate to be working in a construction site in the middle of nowhere surrounded by hostile monsters. She seems perfectly at home, however. She bows to you. “Greetings, fellow Exiles.” “Hey there. I'm Bronwyn. So, what do you do around here? You don't look like a builder or craftswoman.” She takes a delicate sip of her mushroom beer. “I spend most of my time on watch duty.” “Watch duty? For what?” “I can spot a chitrach twice as far away as anyone else. It's good thing – I have to be especially on my guard now, after the killings.” “Better check the back caves then, we just dealt with a small incursion back there. Chitrachs aren't exactly subtle insects.” “What? The Captain's supposed to be on patrol! They're nasty, nasty creatures. They used to only live down with the Vahnatai. Now they're spreading everywhere. I hear someone brought a few of them up to Exile as an experiment, and they escaped and spread everywhere! At least that's what I heard. Is it true? Beats me. At least they keep me in a job!” At that, she raises her mug and takes a hearty swig. “So, what's this about killings? You can't be serious.” “They call them murders, but I don't buy that. Foley and Thompson went out. They got careless. They were too slow. A chitrach ate them. End of story. You'll hear lots of weird rumors about magic and evil and stuff, but don't buy it. And the earthquake was just a coincidence!” “Last I checked, this was a fairly geologically stable region. What earthquake?” “A day before the bodies were found, there was a big rumbling, like an earthquake. But that sort of thing happens often enough. Dumb to think there was a connection.” “pst, Delilah. Art has Flanagan. You can talk to that woman in the pink dress now.” There is a short, stout woman sitting at the bar, working on her fifth mug of mushroom beer. She looks uninterested in your presence. “Hey, sorry about Flanny there. He can get carried away. I'm Delilah. What's your name?” “McKinley. OK?” she grunts. “So McKinley, what do you do when you're not being annoyed by people?” “I'm a laborer here.” “There's nothing wrong with that.” She turns to you, angry. “Look, two of my friends just got murdered, OK? Idiot.” “Wait. Those were your friends?” “Yeah. They went north. I think some bugs got 'em. That's all I know.” “But that's dying, not being murdered. If the bugs killed them.” “Chitrachs, they're called. They snuck into Upper Exile with the humans somehow. That's all I know, OK? Let me get blasted in peace.” “You have my condolences. Let me buy a round or two for you.”* * * “Hey. Talk. Now.” “Hold on.” “...” “now.” “Hey! Hey! Don't push! I'm glad you're here. I could use some help. These murders, they're messy.” “We're here now. Just... What's up with these murders?” “Not long ago, two men here went north to do some surveying. Not long after that, there was an earthquake. Not long after that, they were found in a cave up there, dead. I sure could use another brain to find out what happened.” “What do you mean what happened? That's your job!” “Here's what I know. Two New Formellans, Thompson and Foley, recently went north to a small cave to look for minerals. Days later, there was a quake. Then the bodies were found. Their bodies are there still – nobody wants to go and get them.” “Go up and investigate. Find out who or what killed them, and if you can, the killers themselves. Deal with them if you have to. I'll wait here. Report to me when you find something.” “So, do all the heavy lifting for you. Gotcha.” “I'm not exactly a paragon of everything. I have my place, and so do you.” “...” “I suppose that leaves me with you to talk to.” You meet a tall, thin, awkward looking man with curly dark hair. He is polishing a rough bar that seems to have been set up rather quickly. He has a high pitched, nervous voice. “I am McDonald. Who are you?” “Matthias.” “Look, I take care of the food here. That's all I do, so don't get mad at me is anything goes wrong! Lord knows everything is messed up, and I didn't do it!” “I mean, aside from the obvious, what's wrong?” “Well, we were behind schedule, and there were bugs and everything, and that wasn't enough! Now we've had these murders! I didn't do it!” “Well, tell me about the bugs. That sounds like a solvable problem.” “Those chitrachs have been moving into every cave we can get into, and they grow big and mean. They keep walking up and chomping down on us. Two appear for every one we kill. It's a big mess.” “Well, you'll be glad to know we took out a couple groups on the way here and found their primary nest in the region.” “Too many?” “But they're bottled up. I think they can be burned out, but not with what I have available. Now, about these murders?” He looks frantically nervous. “I know nothing about it! Honest! Foley and Thompson went north to survey. We had to go look for them a few days later because they didn't come back. We found their bodies and ran for it and called for help. You would have run too! We were afraid of getting attacked by bugs at any moment.” “Thank you for your time.”  “Nothing interesting here.”  “... No.”* * * “So, that's that.” “My bet is on the Nephils. This sounds like something rogues like them would do.” “I'm betting on Chitrach.” “I'm cold.” “Here, have a spare blanket. He does have a point here, why are there supposed to be Sliths up here where they aren't suited?” “Thanks.” “How about we talk to the guard captain?” “Oh, hello there, sir.” Worst name to type ever. She shall henceforth be “Commander Zhiv”. “Hey there, Captain?” “My name is Zhiv. But you can call me Commander Zhiv.” “Commander it is. Art, Unspecified services. We're here to assist in the investigation.” “I oversee the defence of this town, and believe me, there have been nothing but troubles.” “Let's start from the top then. Troubles being?” “Well, first there were the problems with the Chitrachs, and the sliths. And now we have a murder investigation to deal with!” “The Chitrachs are a problem?” “Big evil bugs. You don't want to know.” “And the slith?” “Yeah! What's wrong with them?” “Now, don't get me wrong. I got no problems with those lizards. They just shouldn't be here. They need lots of heat, and if we send people out to forage stuff to burn, they'd be eaten by Chitrachs! Plus, they're terrible labourers.” “HEY!” “Hear me out! The lizards only started making real buildings a few years ago, and they don't have the knack or the experience! Plus, they insist on putting statues up everywhere! They refuse to work unless they can make statues!” “But their statues are...” She spits in irritation. “I know, it's some religious thing. They can't make a city without statues. Look, I got nothing against them personally. They just shouldn't be here!” “I'm cold. I agree.” “There is a point there. Who would send them up here in the first place?” “Don't know. There's one Slith left in town – in the forge. Talk to him. Her. I can't tell.” “And lastly, about those murders?” “Simple enough. Foley and Thompson went out to survey. Now they're dead. The bodies are in a cave up north, but nobody wants to go up there. Can't blame them. I know nothing about it really. You should talk to that big-shot Flanagan guy.” “Flanagan? Already have.” “Let's find that forge so I can warm up.”  “Here?” “No, all the fronts are empty.” “But not the back.”  You meet a big, burly Slith, skin dry from the heat of the forge. “Blessed fire!” “I am Drosser. Welcome to this shop.” “While Sass warms up, what do you do here?” “I am the blacksssmith for this new city. I run the first shop here.” “And what a shop.” “This is the first working shop in New Formello. It is necessary because the people here need metal goods to build the city. Also, I provide a good place for Slithsss to come and meet.” “What goods do you produce?” “Hammers and axes and weapons to fight monsters. I also have weapons for purchase by passerss by. Like you.” Pass. “So, what is with the Slith contingent in this city?” “We slithsss were sent here by our people as a peace gesture to humans. It was a difficult idea.” “Whose idea was it?” “A young leader, versed in the ways of rhetoric and combat by the name of Aaarth-Tss.” “What are some of the difficulties you have been experiencing?” “It is too cold for us here, except in my forge. The humans to not like us, and we are ill-suited to the work. When the city is done, most of us will return home. But alass, few will have anything happy to say about the experience. Little peace will come from this.”* * * “Well, let's go north then. Find out what we can.” “Hold on...?” “WHAT?” “I must have imagined it.” “And here we are, if Flanagan's directions are true.”  “I hear nothing...”  “We can take'em!” “Let's see what we have here.” “The bodies are untouched. This one still has samples on him.” “But there's a small crack to the north. Did they go through?”   “Curious. Perhaps they didn't have a chance to get this far, and were just sampling before going in further?”   “Careful, you can slide behind them here.”  “Anyone else concerned about the insects being quiet like this?”  “They could be magically silenced.” “That is all kinds of frightening.” “Well, the Stealth spell is a Fifth Circle spell. It could be a natural augmentation related to the Null Bug.” I hate Null Bugs. “It doesn't seem like it's enough.” “He has a point. This is more like a deterrent, rather than an obstacle.” “There could be thousands of the things down there, and you won't tell because of how quiet they're being.” “No thank you. I like to sleep.” “Heat!”  “Bad heat!” “I think we found what killed those men.” “Not going to stop us, is it?” “We are made of sterner stuff.” “You're looking quite scorched there yourself, Ni'aurrl.”  “Right, take a breather, everyone.”  “Especially with this thing in the way.” “Perfect ambush point though.” “By the echoes, we're almost at the end.” “oh.” “Fall back to the Bridge, build a choke point.” “People who can take a hit up front, not at the back!” “It's too narrow!” Annoying when the game deploys my party into combat backwards, but I make do, somehow. “Ugh. I'm going to be cleaning bug guts out of my poncho for weeks at this point.” “What do we have here?”  “Keep it. We'll show it to Flanagan.” And here's the map. Pretty straight forward: * * *  “Flanagan! Report!” “Right. I'm not hiking back. Matthias, the Amulet, please.”  “...”* * *  “Anaximander! Flanagan's being useless.” “That's it? Back to the surface?” “Yes. That's your job. The investigation was because I needed to throw warm bodies at a problem, and you were available. Now, back to work.”* * * Guess what I haven't done for a while? Training! Let's end the update by doing the usual. Now that Art's at level 20, she's only going to earn 4 Skill Points per level now, rather than five. With 34 points accumulated, she buys a nice round of physical stats, and better spell casting abilities. Better start the next update with actually hunting down spells for her. Four more points of Strength, but the real improvement was him finally starting to pick up more spell casting ability. He'll never be as good as a specialist, but in the “All Casters, All the Time”, he was falling behind. Now he can Bless himself before going to town! More physical stats. I should invest in Defense, Luck and Assassination next time. Matthias can now cast Cure Disease on himself! And use the spells Solberg taught us for taking out the Roaches! And cast more spells in general. I'll turn him into this game's version of Peregrine and Kai-Lyss yet. Delilah is now in a much better position to exploit Firestorm and accelerate her HP gains. I really need to get her to work on Archery for when she runs out of SP. And Bronwyn has taken over as party Skill Monkey, but has the combat skills to not fall behind like others have. Oh well. Ni'aurrl picks up Mage Five for the same reason as Matthias, but rather than investing more into Spell Points and Intelligence, she picks up more points for Item Lore to minimize dependency on Identify in the future.* * *  “So, east huh? I wonder what new ways people will try to kill us we will encounter.” “It'll be fun!”
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Aug 22, 2016 08:14
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You can eventually run that chitrach nest out of encounters. If I recall correctly, you get one big encounter at the end, and then some treasure. It takes a lot of fighting, though. Also, if you go to New Formello earlier on, you can talk to Thompson and Foley. One of them, I forget which, is a glorious troll. I forget exactly what he says, but he basically leads the party around by the nose with artful use of sarcasm.
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Aug 22, 2016 16:05
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I never managed to completely clear out those Chitrach in that nest. Didn't even know it was possible. Interesting to note, if you check one of those other rooms in New Formello, you'll find a bunch of people sleeping. But you can talk to them, and it turns out it's the rest of the Slith workers. And I hate, HATE those fireball traps in the Murder Cave. Serious drain of MP trying to heal from them.
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Aug 22, 2016 19:45
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