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Chocolate Chunk posted:Attack, They will respect us if we beat them Correct answer
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Oct 23, 2016 01:39
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| # ? May 19, 2024 20:48 |
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Let the barbarians be
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Oct 23, 2016 02:06
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As of this post, it looks like the vote is tied 7-7. I'll give it a day or two more to see if the stalemate is broken, since I'm slightly busy with Civ VI and all. Update 12b - Trigius Talks Too Much In the last main update, we did the Judgment Day Arena for Master Trigius at the Magic Academy. What I didn't show you guys in that update is all the lore dialogue we've been skipping by any time we visited the place. In the interest of completionism, though, I'm putting that dialogue here. Read on if you want to learn more about Magic, Necromancy, and aspects of magical history in Darion. Feel free to skip it if you like, as I did anytime I played this game for fun.   : Tell me about magic. Imagine that I'm a novice student.  : King Kerus? Was he a mage?  : Tell me about the Academy. : I'd like to know more about necromancy. : Also... Could you tell me about the Death Magic Department and Necromancers?  : The necromancers' revolt, and the Inquisition? Tell me more about it... : And why was the Death Department closed? : I'd like to know about how to upgrade items. : A sword that turns into a piece of steel? Incredible! : And how can I win the respect of such an item? 
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Oct 23, 2016 03:10
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Live and let live.
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Oct 23, 2016 18:26
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Aumanor posted:Live and let live. Tie-breaking vote made, Bill will be going with Walking away. Same choice I normally go with, since it's pretty cruel to come back with a 'new' lovely treaty and kill them for not agreeing.
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Oct 24, 2016 18:52
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Can we just have a nice drunken bash and then get even more drunk with our new buddies?
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Oct 24, 2016 19:26
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Update 13 - Cruise Control By 8 votes to 7, Bill has been told to let the barbarians be, and ignore the Marquis' attempt to get a new treaty in place. : Calm down, Hogard, calm down! I will settle the case with the Marquis, and we will forget this misunderstanding.The barbarian has no further words to say to us, so we return with the bad news to the Marquis.  : So how is the barbarian situation developing? Is there any news?: Yes, I talked to their leader. But you know, here's the thing... He felt that the treaty was not in his favor, and he attacked me. And I had to admit, he's right in a way. I decided not to fight with him and promised to settle the question with you, Marquis.: That's a pity. It was a good plan. But never mind. I'm satisfied with the previous treaty, which we've already signed. However, I'm sorry - but I cannot reward you. The new treaty is not signed, and that was our deal.: That's a pity. Well, Marquis, see you later. With that, the quest is failed. We get no reward, but 1200 more Berserkers come in to the Marquis' collection of mercenaries. So, what to do now? Well, one thing we can do is return to the Knight's Temple and Master Richard's tournament. We've gotten quite a bit stronger, and maybe we can challenge a new hero. The last tournament fight was in Update 10, when we fought Adun the Goblin. Coming to the Knight's Temple, we indeed find the next fighter, Robin of Greenwood, is at the same level as Bill (Level 6). We step into the arena once again.  Robin of Greenwood boasts an army with a heavy archer component, including both Bowmen and Elves in numbers. To guard his archers, he also brings a number of Swordsmen, Ancient Bears, and Robbers. Robin himself has a good Attack boost, and some minor magical skill of his own. Robin also has a hidden boost that gives all of his archer troops +1 Damage.  Starting this fight, I need to cut his strong archers down quickly, or my troops will be pincushions.   Using my Inquisitors, I manage to cobble enough Rage to soon bring out the Evil Shoal. It is particularly effective for these kinds of fights, since there are so many enemy stacks. Even though we miss one stack of Ancient Bears, it still inflicts nearly 2000 total damage on the enemy, far more than even my magic does right now.  Despite the wounds inflicted on the enemy by spell and Shoal, his archers still inflict quite a bit of damage on my own Bowmen.  I cut loose my Barbarians, using their Berserking talent. This removes them from my control, but makes them deadly on attack. Their Defense suffers though, so I expect to lose plenty of them.  By the start of Turn 3, my Bowmen have lost nearly a third of their number, and the berserked Barbarians have taken a beating from the melee fighters. But we've decimated his archers and melee troops between spells and combat, and it takes just a bit more fighting to finish them off.   : Well done, Bill Gilbert! You have passed this stage. I'm sure that further successes await. I hope that a fight with an experienced opponent did no only help you to show what you are capable of, but also helped you learn something about battle tactics... [You've obtained 2 Might Runes!] In addition to the reward of 2 Might Runes, Bill gets enough experience from the fight to reach Level 7. From this point on, Leadership will basically be taken at every opportunity.  The casualties taken from the tournament fight do have consequences, because my Bowmen are now pretty depleted, and I don't have any source of them currently.  So we return to the Thorn-Hunters for a ranged unit. The only other ranged troop I could get in numbers right now is Priests, and I think we will see plenty of that in the near future.  I also pick up a scroll of Shroud while getting reinforcements. This Distortion spell reduces the damage of ranged units in its area of effect. It's a poor spell, but I'll try to show it off at some point in the future.  Stocked up, we head back to Arlania.  Along the main road, we take the cross road south past the Dragon Fang Inn.  This sailor-looking fellow has a quest for us.  : To buy? Maybe we can arrange another way? I do need a boat, though. : Let's do it this way - you help me and I'll give you a boat. Quid pro quo. Recently, I carried some goods from Verlon to Arlania, and ran into a terrible storm. I never seen one so bad before! Part of the cargo got washed overboard. If you could find my lost goods... I would give you a ship for it!: Ok, I'll find it! With that, a ship appears out of nowhere. Maybe it's like the capsules from the Dragon Ball world?  With that, Bill hits the high seas! Well, maybe not the high seas, since we can't actually sail out into the ocean. But we can now explore the coasts of Darion.   Following the coast, we find the first bit of lost cargo for Gek.  The second chest floats by this small island. We could ignore these Devilfish and sail by, but who knows what kind of treasure they might be guarding?  Indeed they are! This chest is just a bit of gold though.  They say to fight fire with fire. How about fish with fish?   The third chest is found here by a magical barrier.  As before, this represents the transition to the other maps.  And we are back in Verlon Forest for the umpteenth time! This time we can explore the small islands and coves we could not reach before.  Most of the troops we find are pretty weak. We could have done this sea exploration at a much lower level, in which case these might have been challenging (of course, then we'd be stronger for the fights we did have).  I particularly like these island combat maps. They always look like the desert islands from a comic strip, with a single clump of trees in the middle. These clumps tend to create lanes and chokepoints for troop movement. Restricted movement almost always benefits the player, as the AI doesn't know how to deal with it well.  This Berserker look so drat smug considering he's just been wrecked.  It's hard to always prevent Thorns from dying, and Plants can't be Resurrected.   The Wishing Well at the top of the hill yields a great trove of 3 Mind Runes. Considering we get 1 or 2 per level, this is awesome.  On the mainland we run into some Wolves and Barbarians. If nothing interesting happens in a fight, I'll be cutting down on pictures from combat.  A variety of loot awaits us after the fight. The chest contains some scrolls of Fear, so essentially just more money.  As we sail down the coast, we pass by Hogard's tent again. No reason to say hi though.  The island just off the coast has another easy fight guarding a Mana Absorber.   Sleem reaches Level 5 due to using Evil Shoal whenever possible. And I bump the damage of Shoal another 40 points once again. The Rage cost is climbing though, I hope I get some other options soon.  The Mana Absorber gives us another point of Intellect, always a good bonus to get.  We pick up the banners from the strand past the lighthouse that we couldn't get by on land.  Sailing past the village here, the shore becomes rocky and uninviting, and no seaway exists here. Take a look at this formation of rocks, though. That's Dragon Castle just above the camera, and I never noticed before that these rocks are meant to look like a dragon's tail with spines. Unable to go further, we return to Skipper Gek with the lost cargo. : So what, have you found my good?: I've found all the chests. Here, take them.: Thanks! You can't even imagine how much you've helped me! Goods from one of the most important pirates on the Islands were there, I would have been killed for the loss!: You are welcome. I am always glad to help.Having returned the cargo, we get 2400 Gold in addition to the boat itself. We could have bought a boat from a number of different people so far (Gek himself, Kitano back in Greenwort, and the merchant from the fishing village in Verlon Forest), and if you ever lose track of where you left your ship, its usually easier just to buy a new one.  With official ownership of our boat, Bill returns to the pirate life. The bay in Arlania is dominated by this island (called Griffin Island, no guesses as to why). We won't head there in this update, but we will scour the coastline.  Sailing counter-clockwise, we grab some gold and find this house on the far side.  : Who are you? A real artist? : Don't you believe me? My name is Alexo de Artisto! I studied from the best masters of Darion and other lands! I know the le Pikal's technique, Malevio methods, and also the sun dust technique. Kings of all different countries order their portraits from me. One time I was the resident artist in maestro Katauro's studio. There I painted the legendary canvases of knights and their feats...: No, I don't need your pictures. Maybe you have something else for sale?: What does it mean "don't need my pictures"? These "pictures" as you call them are true artworks. Please, just look at them.: Ok. Show me! The artist's store is one of the fixed stores in the game, and these two paintings will always be for sale there. I go ahead and purchase the Image of Fear. -3 to enemy Attack basically means +3 Defense, and that's very good for a single equipment slot for most of the game. The other painting gives +1 Attack.  I kind of like the idea that Bill is just holding this over his head during battle.  Continuing along the island coast, the next beach over holds a Training Dummy.  We get another boost of +1 Defense permanently.  As we make our way back to where Gek was, we find this island with some Sea Dogs on it. Sea Dogs are upgraded Pirates, and have a Talent that lets them take a swipe at multiple hexes simultaneously. Other than that, they are pretty much normal melee fighters.  The Holy Statue casts a buff on a nearby troop, usually either Bless or Divine Armour (as shown here). which boosts all the resistances of the affected troop.   The pirates go down for the count.  We return to following the mainland coast. More Sea Dogs guard this chest.   The chest contains a Magic Rune. One closer to Higher Magic!  This point of land marks the edge of the bay that contains Griffin Island. Up from the beach a path leads to a bridge guarded by some Cyclops. I have a plan here, but I need some Rage first. So I head along the beach to take on the Sea Dogs over there.   Holy Anger gives us that Rage. With a damage range of 1-2, the bless effect also really helps my Thorns.   We also find another Mind Rune here (that's 5 Mind Runes found in this update).  Stocked up with anger, we return to the Cyclops.  Last time we took on a pair of Cyclops, our army was devastated. Lets see if we can do better now.  First off, we have a new tool in our Spirits of Rage.  Next, our Fireballs are much stronger. Checking back, in the last fight against these guys, my Fireballs were doing 133 damage. Now we are doing 3x the damage.  The Cyclops do get an attack off against my Ancient Bears, but they are immediately resurrected.  And the second Cylops falls with the second Fireball.  Yeah, I'd say that went a hell of a lot better than the last time.  The chest the stone beasts were blocking contains a decent chunk of change.  The nearby Viking ship is a good find, as we can re-stock up three of my troops. I'm always glad to find hundreds more potential Bears for sure.    This army falls. Nothing much more to say about it.  This unusual army patrols this small spit of land. It looks like they broke out of a cage, presumably from a shipwreck.  The army is a mix of Sea Dogs, Goblins, and a single Dwarven Cannoneer. Cannoneers are interesting ranged troops, which will certainly find their way into our army at some point. But since there's only one here, it's not really worth talking much about.  Instead, lets just clean these guys out.    The next army is eaten by our fish will little effort.  On the northern Arlanian coast, we find a spookily haunted ship.  The ghosts and skeletons of former sailors guard this shipwreck in death.  Ghosts (and their upgraded version, Cursed Ghosts) are fast, strong, and only take half physical damage. Fortunately, they are not nearly as terrifying as the versions from older Heroes of Might and Magic games. Though they can create more Ghosts by sucking the essence out of troops they attack, they only do this at a rate of 1 Health per 4 Damage they deal. Inquisitors and Priests are great at fighting them, as is any spell that does Fire or Magic damage.  They do have a Shriek attack which pushes nearby troops away and does minor damage.  Even physical attacks will take them down eventually. And the numbers here aren't threatening.   Having defeated the spooky guards, we can now purchase troops from the shipwreck. In this case, its just some Decaying Zombies. Not a troop I'd care to use.  Just off-shore from the shipwreck, we find a pair of Top-Boots in a floating chest. I don't know what makes them Top, but they do offer +2 Defense. Since I didn't even have any boots yet, this is a great find.  This last strip of beach in Arlania has a nest of Snakes.  NOM NOM NOM!    We've now cleared all the coast of Arlania, so it's time to return to Greenwort.  The coast here is pretty short, and really only has two islands. This one contains one more of Fandor's obelisks.   The second island has another haunted ship, some Sea Dogs, and a Might Rune.  Look at all those matching socks!   Our fish take an incorporeal bite out of these Ghosts.   This shipwreck also sells some Skeleton Archers. I believe that Skeleton Archers are one of the most damaging archers per Leadership cost. The problem is that my other troops will all suffer a morale penalty for the presence of Undead in the army, so I leave these guys alone for now.  Having cleared out that wreck, we've completed our tour of the Darion coastline. Bill has gotten a lot stronger over the course of this update. Between equipment and map objects, Bill has gained a massive effective +6 Defense, as well as +1 Intellect. He's also found a ton of runes. Because of this influx, we are able to spend some on the skill Reserve.  This skill gives us the ability to have an additional slot to carry troops around which don't participate in battle. First, you can use this slot to carry extra troops of one of your main stacks, in order to keep them at max strength in between combats. Usually this will be your ranged troops, since the AI likes to target them and they are usually weak. In most games, I will carry a reserve of Bowmen around with me.  The second use is to carry a more situational troop along for the ride, to substitute in when you face enemies they do well against. For instance, I could bring along a bunch of Priests which destroy Undead. Either way, I can't imagine playing the game without the Reserve skill, and I pretty much always get both levels of it. It just saves a ton of hassle in bringing troops up to strength. Next update, we will finally conclude a quest from Update 7, in which a miller was having a bit of a problem with turning into a zombie. Bonus Material Let's look at what happens if we attack Hogard and the barbarians. : What a hot head you are! Well, let's have some fun. Hogard's army is...anti-climactic, I'll say. It's quite weak, even compared to other nearby forces. Hogard doesn't even lead them himself, which is odd considering the tough talk he was giving.  Poison Skull wipes out one stack of Barbarians.   The melee troops bring out their big attacks and wipe out the few troops that make it over.  Welp, so much for the treaty. Let's see what the Marquis has to say about killing his new allies. : So how is the barbarian situation developing? Is there any news?: Yes, I talked to their leader. But you know, here's the thing... He felt that the treaty was not in his favor, and he attacked me. I had to defend myself... To make a long story short, the barbarians don't have a leader any more. And, uh... there aren't many barbarians left, actually.: You killed him? I don't know what to say... On the one hand, he could have been a good source of income. On the other hand, nobody knows what this vulgar barbarian might do tomorrow! Well, in any case he could easily have brought more problems than benefit. Let us say that you've settle the issue. (Reward: 84 Experience, 2200 Gold): Thank you, Marquis. Until we meet again.So yeah. The way to actually complete the quest and get the reward is to kill Hogard off. Marking the Map    Talkin' 'bout Troops Elf  Resistances: None Critical Hit %: 10 Defense Bonus: 3 Talents  Double Shot: Discharges two arrows at once, inflicting double (8-10) damage. (Reload: 2)Abilities Archer Sniper: No penalty for Ranged attack. No Melee Penalty Gully's opinion: These guys are very solid archers. Though their base damage isn't significantly higher than Bowmen (4-5 instead of 3-4), the extra Attack, Defense, and better HP/Leadership ratio is quite effective. Sniper and no melee penalty means they can attack at any range for full damage. Double Shot is an awesome talent, giving you an extremely strong first shot, when it is most important. High initiative also means they are good at getting the first shot in. Fighting them: Not much you can do to avoid taking big damage from them unless you use spells or can block them off somehow. Like most archers, try to get melee attackers in their face, they are relatively fragile. However, they can still deal significant damage in melee, so beware of their retaliations. Spells Seen I didn't cast it, but it was seen: Divine Armor  Provides the target increased defenses from all types of damage. Crystal Cost: 6 / 10 / 14 Mana Cost: 15 / 20 / 30 Level 1: All Resistances: +20%; Duration: 2 turns Level 2: All Resistances: +25%; Duration: 3 turns Level 3: All Resistances: +30%; Duration: 4 turns Gully's opinion: This is an interesting spell. The best way to use it is to stack Resistances on something that is already Resistant. Combine with Stoneskin and you can make a unit have up to 80% Physical Resist, which is insane. Or stack with Fire Resist units (like Horsemen or Knights) when fighting certain fire-breathing serpents. Too expensive for ordinary use, but awesome in certain cases. Great for Warriors or Paladins. Skills Shown Reserve This skill allows the hero to keep reserve troops that do not participate in combat. Mind, Tier 2 Prerequisites: Glory  Level 1: The hero can keep one set of units in reserve. Cost: 3/3/0. Level 2: The hero can keep two sets of units in reserve. Cost: 3/3/0.Gully's opinion: I take both levels of Reserve in every game of King's Bounty I play. The convenience of being able to bring reinforcements around is fantastic, especially for your troops that get targeted a ton (like Bowmen). If you really want to save the runes, you can skip this skill and just go back every time you want to reinforce. I don't recommend it. Items Identified Top-Boots  Description: Exceptional boots, steel-reinforced. Effects: +2 to Defense Type: Boots Race: Neutral Cost: 6000 Info: Long leather boots, reinforced with inserts of flexible steel. Cheap, but good. Image of Fear  Description: This picture inspires the enemies with fear. Effects: -3 to the Attack of enemies Type: Artifact Race: Humans Cost: 16600 Info: Seeing this picture, the enemy feels nervous and ill-at-ease. Inspirational Image  Description: This picture inspires troops to great feats. Effects: +1 to Attack Type: Artifact Race: Humans Cost: 5000 Info: The picture was painted using a special technique, which increases the ferocity of troops. Floating Chest  Description: A chest which is used for the maritime transport of goods. Type: Quest Info: A strong wooden chest, the main virtues of which are flotation and watertightness. Special runes, which were drawn on it by skilled mage, sometimes make the chest itself more valuable than its contents.
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Nov 1, 2016 19:20
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Maybe nobody can actually tell it from a dragon reinforcement wearing a particularly ill-fitting necklace? Anyhow, good job that artist.
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Nov 2, 2016 00:52
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Apologies for the long delay for this update. Life stuff happened, and I also had trouble figuring out how to fit the material I recorded into one update. I've given up on that, and decided to post just this first half. So the next update should be coming in not too long. From this point on, I will probably be posting shorter updates, but hopefully more frequently since each update will be less intimidating to make. Update 14 - It's Miller Time  We start this update back in our ship, just past the haunted ship we cleared out at the end of the previous coastal tour. There's one major area in Greenwort that we haven't finished yet, and a quest we've been working on since Update 7 that we can finally finish.  The coast is guarded by some pirate-types, but not in much strength.  Our forces have no trouble with small armies like this, especially pure melee ones.   Having cleared off the beach, we dig a few lost scrolls up, and survey the land. The most interesting feature is the structure on the right.  This Robber's Den is the home of Rotten Hake. It's been a long time, but we were told to come see Hake in connection with a potentially cursed ring that the miller sold to Hake (and the miller subsequently became zombiefied).   : stolen goods, you know.: I'd like to buy something. I heard you buy and sell stolen stuff? I'd like to have a look at what you have.: What's this? You trying to cause trouble? We are honest workers - we even have a license. What, do you think the license is no good? We have great document specialists, you know! They can't read, but they'll write whatever you tell them, in elven or even in the sunset language! And we don't sell the stolen stuff! Even if we did, we definitely wouldn't tell you about it.: I believe you, chief, I believe you. So show me your license and your other stuff. So yeah, Hake isn't so good at hiding this whole criminal thing. He does sell a few robber-types, but nothing else useful. : Hey guys, just look who's come to pay us a visit! Can this be that king's detective? Why did you come? You wanna test the sharpness of our knives or the strength of your skin?: I was sent to you by...uhh...the Crooked Tooth! A famous robber from the capital.: Crooked what? That's the first time I've ever heard of him. Of course, long ago there was a Crooked Dog in the capital - and there was Crooked Mug, who lived in Arlania port, but I never heard about your guy before. Maybe because there ain't such a person, and you're a spy, sent by the town guard?: I'm no spy; I'm the new Treasure Searcher of His Majesty. You probably heard about it.: Searcher you say? So you steal ancient treasures by the king's order? Well-well, good job, filling the king's treasury - but if we was in business together, one of them shiny treasures might... say, drop out of your bag by accident, am I right? Eh, Bill Gilbert?: I need to talk to you. It has to do with a stolen ring that the miller sold you.: The miller? What miller? I don't know any millers! And of course I don't sell stolen goods...: Don't play all innocent. Everybody knows that all the stoeln goods around here passes through your hands.: Bah! You don't have any evidence. Even if you did, you won't have long to live.: It's up to you... But the point is that the ring is cursed. The miller has turned into a zombie!: Cursed? A cursed ring? So that's why there's such trouble with my Rina! It's because of the ring!: I don't get you. What Rina?: Rina... My sweetheart... I gave her the ring, as a symbol of our love. She felt bad already last night. In the morning I found such a frightful monster in her bed, that I nearly killed it myself. Thank god it wasn't too late before I recognized that the zombie was my dear Rina... Listen, my good man - you're not asking about this ring just because you want to keep turning people into zombies, right? There must be a way to get rid of the curse! Please help me. Remove the curse from my beloved, and I'll gladly pay you for the service.: Ok, but I need the ring. Call Rina. : Oh...No, I'm not your new toy... : Hrg-ar! Bad! Will you play with Rrrina? Rrrr... Rina forgot! Introduce yourself; first you have to introduce yourself! I'm Rina.: What a face! Pah! A real monster!: Grauu! Hake! He offended Rina! I will bite you to deathhhhh! I'll tear you to pieces! I'll eat you up! [The zombie-girl bares her teeth and jumps towards you, but she is grasped by Rotten Hake, who holds her in his arms tightly...]: I'm not tasty. You'd have trouble choking me down!: [Tightly holding the zombie as it tries to escape his hands, Hake turns to you.] Hey you! Be careful what you say! You're talking to my fiancee, you know! Get out! Come back when you learn some good manners - or my guys will stab you in a minute...: See you later...To get the ring back from Rina requires us to take the right choices in a dialogue tree, while wrong choices lead to Rina trying to eat us like this or just ignoring us. Fortunately you can just try again, and eventually get there by trial-and-error. I'll skip the extraneous dialogue. : I'm Bill Gilbert. Today is a wonderful day isn't it?: Grrr... ok! Rina ok! [The unfortunate girl closes her eyes and starts to stroke the ring that is on her finger.]: Oh, you have a wonderful ring! It's so nice...: Aggrr! A ring! Prrretty... Precious... So precious!: I had a ring like that too...: Agrr? A ring? Another pretty ring?: But then I lost it. And you probably found my ring! Return it to me, please!: Mine... Mine... Mine! He's bad! He wants to take away my ring!: Let's swap! I'll give you 100 gold coins and you can buy yourself some nice new beads!: Prretty! My darling gave it to me... [It's amazing, but it seemed like the zombie just gave you a wink...]: Look at this cunning creature... Not enough? Alright, then let me give you 1000 gold coins.: Yes! Prrretty beads for Rina! Give it, give it!: Take it. Buy beads for you...: Thank you! Take the ring! I'll have prretty beads!: Oh, at last! Thank you! We've got the ring at last, and we need to return to the Magic School with it if we hope to find an answer for the zombie curse. There are now two lives at stake. We could return to the boat and sail around, but I think we have the strength to force our way back over the land.  First, we want to get this guarded chest. More of Hake's robbers stand guard over it.  This group is a little stronger than the beach pirates. But it still is pure melee. A starting Fireball weakens their centre.  We can't always rely on Fireball, but Flaming Arrow is still quite good, especially for only 5 mana.  Soon the last brigand falls beneath our blades.  A couple of minor losses result because of the Biting Strike talent. The chest has a few thousand gold for our trouble.  We grab a banner, and run into a group of Thorns on our way out. This is same group that scared us out of the area back when the Miller Zombie quest started.  Even now, an army of close to 1000 Thorns is not necessarily easy, and they have a strong amount of ranged Thorn-Hunters.  The placement of the ranged troops on the wings means I need to resort to an non-optimal Fireball placement in order to wreck the ranged units. Luckily, the double damage that Plants suffer from Fire goes a long way to aid us.  The Evil Shoal comes out to finish off that weakened stack, and thin the rest out a bit.  The remaining stack of Thorns target our well-armored Swordsmen. I carefully place my units just outside of the attack range of the melee plants.  This lures them in, and I get to strike first. This is very important against fragile units like these Thorns.  The only unit to take damage was our Swordsmen, who are resurrected by the Inquisitors. A perfect fight! Note: this battle could have gone very differently in terms of troop losses. I was less careful in a practice run, and lost dozens of Barbarians and a ton of my own Thorn-Hunters. Having broken through back to territory we've already pacified:, we take the ring back to the Magic School.  : I've brought you the cursed ring! : How interesting... No-no! I guess I won't take it in my hands now. The curse is rather strong, and I wouldn't like to take the risk. By the way, are you alright? You don't feel giddy? Your feet growing numb?: But what's this have to do with removing the curse?: I'm sorry, never mind, just my curiosity... I beg your pardon, but I can't help you under the circumstances. This is no common object, but a highly animate one. And at this moment, the Ring's Keepers are in quite an aggressive mood. They won't even let me approach close enough to examine the magic structure of the ring, not to mention break the charm. I'm afraid you'll have to eliminate them, young man!: Ok, I'll suppress the cursed ring! Time for another Keeper battle!  As expected for a Zombiefying ring, this Keeper battle has undead guards. One of the Friendly Gremlin towers casts Mass Haste, speeding up all the troops. This could have been threatening, if their stacks weren't miniscule.  This Fireball is major overkill on this tower (Health: 54).   No, that's not a double-posted screenshot. We get Fireballed twice by the Towers. Despite the fact that the towers have very low HP, a Fireball still hurts, and two of them really sucks. I'm mostly happy they didn't target my irreplaceable Inquisitors.  The units loss tab doesn't look too bad in the end. All of these troops are easy to find right now.  We also level up Zerock, giving us access to his third ability, Rockfall. We will have a look at this relatively unimpressive ability next update. Having suppressed the ring, we talk to Elerio again. : I've dealt with the cursed ring, as you requested.: Excellent! Now I'll be able to examine the structure of the curse and make up a counter-spell. Actually, it's a fairly elementary task... now to modify the structure a little and...[While talking to you Shivarius strangely manipulates the ring which for a moment throws off blue sparks as it glitters a reddish color...] All ready! Ah, and the spell that will take off the miller's curse sounds like this: "Sobius rat caberian torus!" As for the ring, I'll have it melted down so that it won't kill any more poor souls. : Sobius rat... Yes, got it. Thank you kindly! Time to return to heal the miller.  : I've found the ring. And I got a spell from the mages which will remove the curse... : Don't tantalize me, Bill Gilbert! Come, remove the curse from me!: "Sobery rat kabame conusom": It seems... Yes! Something is going on... As if... Like... Oh, I just thought for a second... Hmmm, maybe you learned the spell wrong.: Something is wrong... Let's try it one more time... "Sobius cant berlil tonus": Well... Well... It's working! I feel something crackling inside me... How... How my ribs are rotting and breaking! Oh no, I rot alive - I mean dead! What have you done?: Whoops! Let's try this again... "Sobius rat siberian torus": Yes! You did it! I'm already feeling how my eyesight is becoming clearer. The fog and darkness disperses - I see as if I stand in dayling. I see you, every crease on your clothes, and every vein in your neck. I hear how your living heart beats.. Oh, how I want to dig my teeth into it!!!: Fourth time's the charm, I guess. Klaatu verata nicto? Wait, no, wrong pop culture universe... : "Sobius rat kaberian torus": It worked! I felt at once how it became warmer inside me... And my legs became more obedient as if they have thawed...: That's how it should be. Soon you'll have completely returned to being a normal human... Good luck! : So, have you visited the miller?: Yes. You don't have a miller anymore - he has turning into a zombie... I guess I probably should have told you about that way back: Oh, I knew his trips to the cemetery wouldn't end well. How many times I've told him - "come to your senses, Bob, the dead won't forgive your violation of their remains!" So how shall we manage without a miller now?: Don't worry; I've already removed the curse.: Oh, thank you! Now every shadow frightens me. What if the miller comes to get me?: I thought you cared about the village, but you're just concerned about your own skin! Alright, I have to go. Whew! Finally finished off that quest, only took like 8 updates to get around to it. If those magic words worked on the zombied Miller, what about Rina? The girl looked like she could use some help. : So did you find the spell for removing the curse from my sweetheart?: I learned the spell which will remove the curse.: Excellent! But, you know... You'd better write it down on a piece of paper for me. We'd better not remove the curse from Rina right now.: I don't think I got that... You want your wife to remain a zombie?: At first, they just laughed behind my back - of course... And then my men decided I should be removed. That's when Rina came to my help. The first time, she smelled a poison in my food. The second time - she took an arbalest shot for me. To her, well, she's undead, so it doesn't do her no harm... You try to find a bodyguard like that! No sleep, no food, no rest, no salary. But oh how she loves me. If I can just keep her under control, well, you can't find a better wife.: Ok, write this down - "Sobius rat caberian torus"!Yes, I got it. Well, my friend, you've save me. I am indebted to you. [Reward: 2100 Gold, 84 Experience] : Good luck with your family life.Hmm, that does sound like a useful wife to have. What if we had such a wife... : Thank you for such a wonderful wife! She's such a lovely angel.: I have a suggestion concerning your Rina...: Oh? I hope you won't try to eliminate her. She's no common riffraff. At least, not most time, heh-heh.: Give her to me.: How much you gonna pay? Think about it - what do you think is a good price? First, she doesn't eat, doesn't sleep, doesn't need rest or a salary. And second, you're taking my beloved wife, you see?: 1000 gold coins.: Not enough. Don't be mean. It's not a cow you're buying - It's my wife, and a good wife at that.: 5000 gold coins.: Deal! Alright, you can take my darling... Do you remember the secret word.: I have no problems with my memory, thanks.Wives and Gender Politics in King's Bounty With the completion of the cursed ring quest, we get our first chance to interact with the marriage/wife mechanic in King's Bounty. Unfortunately, there's not too much character to it, and lots of sexism in terms of controlling them as you will. Wives are essentially inventory bags with certain bonuses. Each wife has 4 additional inventory slots, with the type of slots given depending on the wife. Additionally, each wife gives an innate bonus, usually to certain races or types of units.  For instance, Rina here gives us an additional Torso, Boot, Belt, and Artifact slot.  In her Zombie form, Rina improves the speed and initiative of all Undead creatures. Very powerful if you have an Undead army. Obviously useless otherwise. Another aspect of the wife system is that you can have children. Ignoring all realities of pregnancy and gestation time, a child will pop out only a little while after you agree to have one. Children occupy one of the wives inventory slots permanently, and give a random bonus. Some are quite good, but many are worse than potential equipment, or may not fit your character. And you can't get rid of them without also ditching the wife. : Darling, darling! Will you give Rina a ring? Rina will be a good girl!: Well... My wife, I wanted to talk to you about children...: Arrg! Yum-yum. Tasty meat. Fine meat!: drat you! Cannibal! It seems to me that while you're a zombie there's no sense talking to you about children.Well, I guess we won't be having children with Zombie Rina. How about asking for a divorce? : You know, I don't need such a wife! Get out!: You don't like Rina? Is Rina bad? So, you're bad too!: Sorry, you misunderstood. Of course, I love you and will never let you go!Divorcing a wife means she will take any equipment you've left in her slots, all of the children, and 1/5th of your gold. It's also permanent, no going back and getting remarried. Because of this, canon Gilbert did not actually marry Rina, since I don't want to lose her in case I want to come back later with an Undead army. Remember those words of un-zombiefication. Well, we can use them at any point to return Rina to her humanity. And even though we were never told how, we can return her to Zombie form by saying another magic word. I'm guessing its the same words, but backwards.  Rina as a living human has the same slots, but now gives bonuses to Robbers and Pirates. A much more useful bonus for this point in the game, given that we could easily get 3 stacks of these guys. Let's chat with Rina, see if she has more things to say as a human.  : No, don't turn me into zombie again!: And what is it like to be a zombie?: I... I don't remember... Normal sensations, like a pain, happiness, sadness, fear and the other feelings - they go far away, and are no longer my own. There are only the cold and hunger. Wild hunger, which can be satisfies only by living flesh.: What on earth made you become a zombie?: That's all because my fiance, Hake. He bought a little ring from the miller, but the miller had stolen it from the cemetery, and it turned out to be curses. I really loved Hake and protected him even as a zombie. But he got rid of me. Sold me like I was his property. It's terrible and unfair. But now you are my husband, and I will love and protect you.: Aww, isn't that sweet. Look, don't you think that it's time we had a child? : I mean, I bought you off of your previous fiance a whole five minutes ago, let's get cracking on this!: A child? But... I thought your life makes it difficult to raise children.: My lifestyle doesn't matter. My service should not hinder our feelings and desires.: You... you really want it? Then I'm the happiest wife in the world. Someday we'll have a big family and our own house. What am I talking about... a house? But my husband is the Royal Treasure Searcher, and a Viscount! We'll have our own castle!: That's wonderful, honey. (Kiss your wife.): Psych! I don't actually want a child. Maybe I should ask for a divorce?: I'm sorry, but I've decided that the former fiancee of a robber-chief, and zombie - well this is not the best thing for me right now. I want to divorce you.: Eh, you know, I've been meaning to say we should break up too. I'm tired of the constant chuckles of your warriors behind my back, and the pieces of dead flesh which they sneak into my tent, and all the holy symbols.: Come on, obviously the Inquisitors have holy symbols, its part of their job. And the Thorn-Hunters are blind, they didn't mean to leave their dinner in your tent.: Yes, I'm turning into a zombie, but it is not my fault. I can't bear it anymore! I'll take my things and one fifth of our property, and I'll go away. I can see there's no place for me beside you. Find yourself a normal living girl, and good luck.: Sorry! I really don't want to let you go. And I promise that I'll put an end to all the jokes about your... uncommon fate. Please don't leave.or : Goodbye. And be careful; try to avoid any paladins you might come across.As said, though, this marriage never actually happened. Although we could use Rina's human side with her bonus to Robbers/Pirates (and we still have that belt that gives them +5 Attack), it would restrict our army composition, and we'd lose any chance to potentially use Zombie Rina later if we want to use an Undead army instead. That finishes off this half-update. Small amount of bonus material this time, but we will have more when I go through the rest of the already-recorded material for the next update. Next time, we will march through the marshes! ---------------------------------- Bonus Material Marking the Map  Items Identified Cursed Ring  Description: The ordinary golden ring, found by the miller in a cemetery. Type: Quest Info: The miller found this ring in one of the graves, and paid a heavy price for his greed - the ring was cursed and the grave-robber was turned into a zombie. Gully Foyle fucked around with this message at 23:28 on Dec 4, 2016 |
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Dec 4, 2016 23:05
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Your wife turning into the robber chief is quite funny. Though I have a feeling you didn't mean to do that 
mauman fucked around with this message at 23:10 on Dec 4, 2016 |
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Dec 4, 2016 23:07
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mauman posted:Your wife turning into the robber chief is quite funny.  Haha, wow, thanks for the heads up. Although I think that would have been way better if that was the case. Fixed now.
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Dec 4, 2016 23:31
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I remember a much better wife being available soon anyway. Not a very healthy relationship there either though.  One of the best things about the later games is that they let you have the reserve slots right away without having to unlock them. It's such a great convenience.
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Dec 5, 2016 12:46
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Poil posted:I remember a much better wife being available soon anyway. Not a very healthy relationship there either though. Oh yeah, I will almost certainly be using the wife you are thinking of. She is much more flexible in terms of army composition, at least for a mage. I agree regarding the reserves skill. Having to unlock a convenience with runes is annoying. I think they could have made it so that you unlock the slots through quest rewards in the main quest. You don't really need the reserve slots while you are on the first island, it's more for when you are far away from the stacks you are using.
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Dec 5, 2016 19:08
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What about the Zombie Miller? As I recall, isn't there some sort of bonus if you recite the spell given to you on the first try?
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Dec 5, 2016 21:40
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I like that they're making neat plot use of the item-guardian mechanic.
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Dec 10, 2016 06:51
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Mind you, if you find the idea of holding a painting above your head in battle to scare the enemy, you're going to love Dark Side's use of paintings. Nothing like porn when it comes to army motivation.
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Dec 10, 2016 13:34
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Psycho Lawnmower posted:What about the Zombie Miller? As I recall, isn't there some sort of bonus if you recite the spell given to you on the first try? Huh, I didn't know if there was any difference if you do it right the first time. I'll go back and check it out from an earlier save. Glazius posted:I like that they're making neat plot use of the item-guardian mechanic. Yeah, the Keeper battles are an interesting mechanic, and I like the way it is used in many of the quests. They can be some of the hardest fights in the game. 5 or 6 spells per turn can really screw with you, and if you don't have great ranged troops or spells to take them out, you get even more cast against you as retaliation from melee attacks. One of the (many) reasons that Mages are great is because of these battles.
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Dec 10, 2016 16:36
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Update 15 - March in the Marsh By now, we've fairly thoroughly explored 3 of the 4 sections of the land of Darion. It's time to finally visit the final region, Marshan Swamp. Before we head over, we need to pick up a number of quests. We already have a mission given to us to deliver a letter from the king's brother Carl to his love, Martha di Gonda (back in Update 8). Let's see what other quests we can rustle up. Our first visit is to the Magic School, where Elerio has something he wants us to do. : I have a bit of free time. Do you have any easy errands I might carry out for you?: Hum. I may have one easy errand for you. You just have to go over to a... woman and... collect some papers from her. You'll need to go to Marshan Swamp. There you will find an old witch - Old Chvakha, she's called. Long ago, we loaned her some very valuable papers - the Lost Necromancers' Town Chronicles. Unfortunately, after our conflict with Witch's Coven about 500 years ago, all our ties with the witches were broken, and so the papers were left with Chvakha. And now the Mages' Counsel has decided to resume the search for that town, so we are in need of the Chronicles once more. So, will you go to the witch and collect the papers from her?: Woah woah woah...500 years ago? You can't just casually throw that number around. Have you been alive the whole time? And more importantly, do all mages live that long?: Ok... This doesn't sound too difficult...: How do you like that, a man in a hurry... But I didn't even tell you how to get there! Marshan Swamp is to the West. Search for the guide sign as you approach. To the left is a cemetery - you don't need to go there. Instead, go straight to the swamp. That's where Old Chvakha lives.: Aha! Swamps, Marsh, Witch... Ok, I got it; I'll find her directly!Our next trip is to the Knight's Temple. Not for one of Iron Richard's tournaments, but to see the priest, Aron Demion.  : Good day, Bill Gilbert. What has brings you to our Temple? My name is Aron Demion. I'm one of the priests who carry the light of knowledge and the gods' revelations to the people.: And I am Bill Gilbert, a graduate of the Knight's School which is under your Temple. So it's not the first time I'm here.: Oh yes, the young Treasure Searcher, of course. I've heard abut you. Then the gods themselves have sent you to our Temple, Bill Gilbert. And by the will of the Gods, your help to our Temple will be taken into account in this life, and in all future lives as well.: Fine! So I came in time then.: You've come here not by your own will, but by the will of the gods. Indeed, the gods have turned your eyes and feet to the Temple. This is a hard time, hard for all of Darion. Young knights like you are the support and the hope not only for the royal power, but also for the spiritual prosperity of our country.: I see. I have often wondered if I was chosen by the gods for some important mission. I just want to know what that mission might be.: Your dedication to the gods' will is praiseworthy, young Searcher. I ask you to accept this purse of donations, and bring it to the Temple of Deceased Souls. This Temple stands on sanctified land in Marshan Swamp. The way is long and dangerous, which is why I cannot entrust even such slender donations to anyone else. Find Brother Ovein and deliver the pure into his hands. (Reward: 3 Magic Runes, 77 Experience): Ok, I'll deliver the purse, just leave it to me. I'll be back in a flash.Third, we go back to see the Earl Argus in Arlania. We've been to this castle for reinforcements a number of times, but never spoke to the owner.  : Nice to meet you, Argus. My name is Bill Gilbert. : Pleased to meet you! Guests from the capital do not often come to visit us.: Well, Argus, could you tell me where in your lands that a mercenary troop may be needed? I'd like to earn some money.: What can you do? I do need your help, and I will hire you with great pleasure. It's a very delicate situation, so promise not to laugh! You see, I always dreamed of marrying an enchanted princess. I read a lot about it in fairy-tales! After I grew up, I managed to find out what these unusual creatures are. It turns out that enchanted princesses are frogs. It is said that if you kiss such a frog, she'll become a beautiful young lady and a caring wife.: How can I help?: I want to ask you to go to the swamp. Please bring me a frog. As a reward, I'll tell you how to turn one into a real princess. Maybe you'll find yourself a good wife too. You needn't go far; there are plenty of frogs in Marshan Swamp! It is to the west of the capital. (Reward: 2800 Gold, 110 Experience).: Ok, I'll find a frog for you...Well, I think that about covers it. Time to hit the swamp.   At the entrance, a small village awaits us. Let's see if the local innkeep has anything for us. The path straight ahead leads to the graveyard region, while the swamp lies to the right.  : I know that very often mercenaries, ready to sell their sword and skill, hang about in taverns. Can I have a look, whether you've got a couple desperate fellows here? Nothing we haven't seen elsewhere, but at least we can replace some of our team without going back to other lands.  An Experience Shrine sits in the corner. 240 Experience is a bit measly by this point. Sitting away from the other houses, there's a hut with a quest marker on it.  : I think I should take this guy back to Earl Argus, see if he'll try smooching it. After all, he just wanted a frog right?: I am Bill Gilbert. I have never seen frogmen. This is amazing! And do you have a store? : No, sorry, I sell nothing.: That's too bad. Well, goodbye then.Hmmm... that quest marker tells me we will be back.  We enter the actual marsh/swamp portion of Marshan Swamp.  This ferryman will take us (slowly) to another part of the swamp. You can use this to avoid some fights. But we are definitely leveled enough for this area, so no reason to avoid experience and gold.  Snakes, spiders, and dragonflies are the main enemies in this area.  The narrow passages in the adventure map translate to very narrow combat maps. This is all in our favour, since the enemies have no ranged attacks. Instead, the swamp creatures will bunch up trying to reach us, to be Fireballed and picked apart by ranged attacks.  Arggh! Stupid dragonflies get this chest with their high initiative before I can reach it.  gently caress you guys.  Last update, Zerock learned his third ability, Rockfall. Let's see how it looks.  Three egg-shaped meteors plummet in, burrowing right through their targets. For the all the flash, though, it does very little damage over a small area - at the start at least. If you persist in training Zerock though, it has the potential to hit a huge area for quite a bit of damage. We won't see that for our mage, and our spells will always be better, but it can provide an AoE effect for Warriors.  We easily crush these guys.  We find more Snake eggs along the sides of the solid land. More eggs for sale (god I wish these eggs could hatch into Royal Snakes).  In the near corner, a mossy and overgrown castle lies waiting.  : Phew! What a spiteful creature! : Keep moving. Go on, move.: Ok...Ok! I'm leaving. Don't worry.Hrm. Another frog, another fat load of nothing.  Some Royal Snakes attack us at the foot of this mysterious statue.  Royal Snakes take a high priority in the target list. Their initiative and reach make them one of the melee troops that easily reaches your units by the second or third turn.   This obelisk is much less grand than the carved figure we just passed, but we get a bit more of the story of King Fandor.   Continuing along the northern fringe of the swamp lead us to this witch house. Plain house my rear end.  : I'm looking for a girl; her name is Martha di Gonda. : This is strange, what need might you have of me? I am Martha.: You see, I came to you from Arlania with a message from Carl Leonar himself! He sends to you a letter sealed with the Royal Seal as proof of his royal ancestry. He asks you to be his wife. What do you say?: Oh, dear... It was not without reason that I have refused him so many times. How persistent he is! Look at me, Bill Gilbert. What kind of a wife can I be for the king's brother? I am almost 100 years old! Poor Carl, he did not even notice the date on the manuscript. Those works of mine are almost fifty years old already. However, I must admit that I like Carl; he is such an educated and interesting man. Oh, how I wish I were younger now. I even asked my mother for help, but she was unable to finish her rejuvenation potion.: Who is your mother, if you are 100 years old already?: She lives not far from here. Her name is Old Chvakha. She is the most famous witch of the swamp. I still have much to learn before I can match her arts. Listen, my dear. Can you help her to make the potion? Then I could reduce my age by fifty years and I could become a worthy wife for Carl! Can you help me?: Ok, I'll go. I'm already committed to helping Carl, so I may as well finish the job.Can any quest given to us be one step for once? Like, deliver this letter and then...that's it. We get paid and go off. Well, we wanted to find Chvakha anyways, so it isn't a big loss.  We turn back and find a side path leading deeper into the bog. Yet another frog. Will this one be just as rude as the last?  : Croak-croak! Hey frog, what if you're a magic frog and can talk? : Croooak! I mean "Yes" - I am not an ordinary frog.: Well, if you can understand everything, then jump to my bag.: It's simply a disgrace! I've had enough. The deep bog of my patience is overfilled!: What has happened?: There are too many of you - frog hunters. It's like it's not even a swamp any more - more like the central marketplace. Where did you all come from? First there was that terrible earl, now you turn up.: Calm down, I came for the earl. He sent me to bring him a speaking frog. He is... uhh... a real frog lover.: Croak! It is a scandal! This earl, having read too many fairy tales, kissed all the frogs in the neighborhood. And these frogs, one and all, turned into beautiful ladies for him to have his way with. I do not know what kind of man he thinks he is, but I've never heard of such a scandal.: Oh, then I suppose you're upset that he hasn't kissed you? Do you want me to help you? I can bring you to him, you know...: Ugh! He kiss me? That will never happen. Look at him; he wants a magic wife for himself just like in a fairy tale. What he apparently does not know is that it is impossible to turn a frog into a girl forever without real love. Do you think he even tries to love his frog girls? He does not even look at them, he just kisses them on the eye or on the back. I implore you, human, don't give me to him. Far better if you would help me - you have such beautiful eyes.: Uhhh, thanks? I guess?: How can I help you?: I am sure that all the girls who were enchanted by the earl have turned into frogs again. Surely he will not keep them at his side; probably he will hide them somewhere away from people's eyes. Would you go and find out what is going on in that castle, and return my sisters to the swamp.: Interesting. All right, I'll ask Argus about your sisters.So yeah, now this quest is about investigating the Earl's creepy frog-based sex dungeon, whee...  One guarding troop stands between us and the witch's house (the other witch's house).  That's what you get for being in my way, Bowmen.  I'll continue trying to level up Zerock so we can see his last ability, before I quit using him almost entirely.   : I'd like to buy something from you. Some of those tinctures or ointments that witches usually make. Chvakha's shop sells a variety of poisonous things. Nothing we need though. Back to speak to the old witch. : I came to you on purpose. I was sent to you by your daughter, Martha. : Martha, you say? So what does my daughter want?: She asked me to get the Rejuvenation Potion from you.: A Rejuvenation Potion? What does she need it for?: It seems she wants to get married. She is almost one hundred and still has no children.: Get married? Oh, this is funny. I told her that all men are evil, and she keeps saying "I want to, I want to." Ok, if she wants to get married, let her get married. Let me see if I have everything for the Rejuvenation Potion. So, snake wings, rattlespider legs, stone blood, triton tear, so I have this, ok well that's... Aha, I don't have any red water lilies. We need to get them in the swamp. Would you bring me 5 water lilies? Could you go get some? Would you?: Yes, I'll get them right away.Ok, we will get around to that in a bit, let's ask about those Chronicles while we are here, since I'm sure it will mean more wandering about for some reason. : I came to you for a manuscript. The Chronicles of the Lost Town of necromancers. Have you heard about it?: Look at him, what he wants... He wants the Chronicles of the Lost Town. Where can I get them? Have you heard about it? Do you know, dear, how many people like you have tried to find these papers?[The old witch looked at you piercingly and screws up her eyes wickedly.] Well-well, darling. You knew where to get these papers. Am I not right? How did you know that I had these Chronicles Tell me! Tell me like you are confessing to a priest - or I'll look at you with the evil eye, and your spine will shrivel and bend. Mages from the Darion Academy sent you, did they not? : I will not lie to you, I am sent by Master Shivarius, one of the senior teachers of the Academy. They need these papers very badly.: So you are saying that Elerio Shivarius himself sent you? Ah so now they remember the Chronicles so suddenly. We need the Chronicles, we'll send the boy. So the old mage didn't forget me after all. Tell me, darling, what did he tell you about me?We have an option to tell her a few things: : [The truth:] Oh, when he recollects you his eyes sparkle, but then he frowns and uses such words which can not be used when ladies and children are present.or : [Also the truth:] To be honest, he said very little about you, he just said where to find you. Actually he was talking mostly about the Chronicles.or : [This is also the truth:] As I understood it, he feels that you are... mmm... quite an erudite witch, a real mistress of these swamps. And it is also clear that your health is not unimportant for him.It doesn't matter what we say here (I think), but we might as well be nice to the old lady threatening us with the evil eye, so I pick the third option. : Crikey! What wonderful news you have brought to me. my knight. He remembers me, and he asks about my health. He must have forgiven me and freed himself from his fierce hatred. But what made him hate me? I said nothing and did nothing to hurt his feelings.: Actually I came to get the Chronicles of the Lost Town of necromancers. So, what about these papers?: So you keep talking about them again. Give me the Chronicles. What about the Chronicles. Well, I do not have them. I lost them. There.Hey, don't be upset, Bill Gilbert. Your papers are intact and hidden in a good place. I took them to the cemetery, where I was going to perform some rite with them, which would show me the way to the Lost Town. I found a good place - I had to visit all the crypts, and my feet hurt, and in one crypt the ghouls nearly tore me to pieces. I barely got away from them. I'm sure the Chronicles are still there, because I sealed that crypt with a secret word. Unless you know the secret word, you cannot open the crypt, whether you're a looter or a warlock. I am too old darling, and I am too fearful to return to the cemetery. I'll tell you the secret word, and you take the Chronicles yourself. Say "Charyvala Chvakha Stvory Raschinitsa" and the doors will open. But you must be careful there. The undead creatures which came to kill me, are still in that crypt along with the book. : What a nice way to spend the day! I will roam around the cemetery and shout the "secret word" at every door, and meanwhile I'm attacked by the undead? Well...alright, I have to go. Hope to see you again. While we hunt for the red lillies, one more nest of snakes await us.  This has got to be the most naturally constrained combat map I've seen. A single lane separates these snakes from us, so they pile up and remain easy targets for us.   The red water lilies are easy enough to find (of course they weren't there before).  We circle around the swamp, and find the last one near Martha's house. Back to the old one for the potion. : I found the red flowers for the potion.: Give them to me. [The witch snatches the lilies and smells them.] And they are fresh, just as I need. Good job, young lad. I'd take you to be my assistant, but a witch has to have either a girl or a black cat. What if I turn you into a cat? Would you like that? I am kidding, I'm kidding... Wait a little bit, I'll put the lilies into the boiler and in a couple of minutes the potion will be ready.: (wait...): [The witch indeed returned rather quickly. You even get the impression that she ad already made the potion even before she sent you for the lilies.] Here it is, darling. The Rejuvenation Potion. I got the recipe from my great-grandmother. I hope it is not too strong, because I remember how I had to clean the night-pot for my great-grandmother and change her diapers. She wanted to be young again, but made a little mistake about the proportions.: Thank you, granny.One more visit, to see if she has any quest of her own for us [spoiler: she does] : Well, I go from one place to another, help the good people and make bad people better.: You said you're helping? Perhaps you could help me as well? Tell me, what do you think of dwarves?: I have nothing to do with dwarves, actually. I'm pure human. Dwarves are very different...: Hmm, look at him, how careful he is. Well, well. Recently one dwarf - Foritop - moved into our swamp. He's ruining my reputation with all his chemical experiments. People start believing in science, and turn away from the natural cures. So I want this dwaf to stop selling his hideous medicines. I have decided that if hid medicines - or even better - if his equipment were spoiled, he would stop his experiments. What do you think? (Reward: 1700 Gold, Scroll 'Fear', 70 Experience): Hmm. If nobody gets hurt, I think I could help.: Well, I have one potion: the Stinky Elixir. He boils his chemicals in a big cauldron near his house. So if the Elixir is poured into that cauldron, his work will go to waste. Even if he does not leave the swamp, he'll forget about his chemistry for a long time to come.: Give me the elixir.Nothing like a bit of anti-dwarf racism to brighten the day. But Bill will do nearly anything for a bit of gold, including murder. Industrial sabotage is rather minor in comparison.  Before we take this potion back, Bill is tempted for a moment by the allure of a younger self. Wisely, he decides not to drink from it.  Perhaps slightly less wisely, he decides it'd be a much better idea to take a whiff of the Stinky Elixir. No one in the army has the nerve to stop Bill from his bad ideas.  Not much of a bonus, but that could have turned out a lot worse. Anyways, let's hand the non-stinky elixir over to Martha. : Well, has my mother managed to finish her potion?: Yes, here it is. Take it.: Please, come back in a bit. I'll see how the potion works.: Ok. As you say... : Excellent, everything is just excellent! So, how do you like me in my new appearance?: You are bewitching! Carl has got a truly wonderful fiancee. Do you want me to accompany you to him?: No, it's not necessary; I know a shortcut, ha ha. But take this. It is my gift to you.: Thank you - and good luck to you and Carl! In exchange for getting all of her youth back, she gives us...a blood soaked bandage. Thanks lady. Real generous of you. Anyways, the Bloody Band is no good in comparison to the much better Regalia we have right now. The main point of it is to let you cast more expensive Spirit abilities than your current max Rage allows. I guess it is occasionally useful. It is a set item with an Artifact called the Tactics Treatise, but the set bonus is only +5% Experience from combat.  : Oh! An enchanted speaking house! Very interesting. Ok, let's take a look at what you have in your storeroom. Well, not a bad selection here. Hey, a new spell we haven't seen...wait a minute...  YES! YESSSSS! Mwa-haha!  Royal Snakes galore! I can't tell you how relieved I am that these guys showed up in this game in decent numbers. We will see them in action next time, and probably for most of the rest of the game. I'll discuss why I love these guys so much next update. Here's our hero thus far. We are still building up the Magic Runes for our investment into the Higher Magic skill. Next time, we will finish exploring the swamp, solve the riddle of the unfriendly frogmen, give a dwarf an unexpected surprise, and perhaps explore a bit into the local graveyard. ---------------------------------- Bonus Material Learning Lore Just in case you haven't had enough Chvakha for one day: : I have some questions for you, kind lady.:  : What is such a terrible and disgusting woman doing in such a wise and gentle place as this? I mean, uh, vice versa. Wise woman - terrible place.:  : I see. I have some other questions.:  : I'd like to join the Witches Coven.:  :  :  :  :  :  :  :  :  :  :  : Why does the Witches Coven have a problem with mages?:  :  : That's is all I wanted to know. Good luck, granny. Be healthy - and be careful! The swamp is a dangerous environment!Marking the Map  Talkin' 'bout Troops Cave Spider  Resistances: 20% Physical, -10% Fire Critical Hit %: 12 Defense Bonus: 1 Talents  Web: Enmeshes a nearby enemy troop in a spider web, immobilizing the target. (Charges: 2)Abilities Underground: If combat takes place under ground, Attack is increased by %50 Stone Skin: Gives the creature 20% Physical Damage Resistance. Gully's opinion: I've never really used any variety of spider, so this is mostly conjecture. But these guys aren't great. Decently tough for their Leadership cost, but low initiative on melee means taking a lot of hits. Web is a fairly useless skill. Yes, it keeps a unit rooted, but the AI was probably going to attack the spider anyways. Two situational uses are to protect your ranged troops (melee troops will try to attack them if possible) and to root a ranged unit down, preventing them from shooting. Fighting them: Low initiative troops, relatively easy to kill. Slow and Freeze to make them a non-threat if the stacks get too big. Venomous Spider  Resistances: 80% Poison, -10% Fire Critical Hit %: 12 Defense Bonus: 1 Talents: None Abilities Venomous: The creature has a 30% chance to cast "Poisoning" for 3 turns when attacking. Immune to Poison: The creature has 80% resistance to Poison Damage, and cannot be poisoned. Gully's opinion: Similar to Cave Spiders, but a bit more offensive and more fragile. The chance to poison is nice (Poison gives a -20% Attack debuff). The lower damage is offset a bit by the Poison damage type, which is often less resisted (except when it is, like on these guys). But 1 Defense, low Health, and melee unit combine to mean lots of dead spiders. Fighting them: These guys die very easily, so hit them? Again, Slow/Freeze and range attacks if the stack is huge. Spells Seen None (I swear I will show some more spells than Fireball at some point). Skills Shown None. Items Identified Red Lily  Description: A water plant, bright red in color. Type: Quest Info: Red Lily Flower. As you catch a whiff of its scent, your heart starts beating quickly, and everything around you becomes foggy. Rejuvenation Potion  Description: A vial with a glittering magic potion. Type: Quest Info: This vial contains an incredible magic - the elixir for recovering health and youth. Stinky Elixir  Description: A closed vial containing a liquid of unpleasant color. Type: Quest Info: Even through the tightly closed lid you can catch a whiff of the terrible smell which this elixir exhales. Bloody Band  Description: A silk band covered with dirty blood spots. Effects: +8 to Rage Type: Regalia Race: Humans Cost: 17000 Info: It is believed that the wounded general Karador tore this band from his head, bound it to a spear, and raised the band instead of his army's flag, which had been burned by a spell. And this bloody band, flying in the wind, became the new banner of the victorious army of general Karador, the greatest general and defender of all Darion. Paired with the Tactics Treatise, together these two items give the hero an additional +5% of combat Experience. Gully Foyle fucked around with this message at 17:14 on Dec 14, 2016 |
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Dec 14, 2016 01:12
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Oof, you certainly were lucky at the end there. Those are going to be very useful. 
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Dec 14, 2016 01:56
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What are we even doing? Are we just medieval OK Cupid right now or what?
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Dec 14, 2016 10:02
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quote:Crikey! What wonderful news you have brought to me. my knight. He remembers me, and he asks about my health. He must have forgiven me and freed himself from his fierce hatred. But what made him hate me? I said nothing and did nothing to hurt his feelings. Wrong portrait, I think. I like how the brother asking for the royal seal turns out to be completely innocuous. It's usually part of some plan for good old brotherly regicide. Cvakha seems to like pulling one over on people, almost like Granny Weatherwax.
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Dec 14, 2016 16:14
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Delacroix posted:Wrong portrait, I think. Man, I'm gonna have to get better at this whole 'editing' and 'reviewing' thing, that's the third time in a row. Thanks for pointing it out. Deceitful Penguin posted:What are we even doing? Are we just medieval OK Cupid right now or what? Pretty much. I guess when everyone else is glued to their castle, the man with a horse has to do everything. Especially since hordes of monsters await people in every direction. One interesting thing about this game at the start is that there isn't any overarching crisis or threat that we know of (at least, not yet). We are made the Royal Treasure Searcher, so our job is just this...go around, do stuff for the King's subjects, get paid. In that context, the fetch quests make more sense.
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Dec 14, 2016 17:22
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Update 16 - Frogus Family Flag Fracas Last time, Bill arrived in the Marshan Swamp and found witches, frogs, and snakes galore. Speaking of snakes, I'm going to break from tradition to begin this update with a special episode of Talkin' 'bout Troops. I've mentioned a number of times my adoration for Royal Snakes, and I feel I should explain that since I now get to play with them. Royal Snake  Resistances: 10% Physical, 80% Poison Critical Hit %: 25 Defense Bonus: 3 Talents  : Lunge: Lunges to the enemy target, attacking across one free cell. Inflicts 8-11 points of damage and poisons the enemy. The enemy cannot retaliate. (Reload: 1)Abilities No retaliation: Enemy has no chance to retaliate. Venomous Immune to Poison Gully's opinion: My go-to #1 troop in the game in terms of solid performance. Looking at their numbers, it may not seem like anything stands out tremendously. Let's break it down. 1) Initiative 6. This is among the highest in the game, and beaten mostly only by Level 5 units. With initiative 6, we will be going first 95% of the time. For a mage, this means we get to cast our spells before the enemy can act. We can cut down numbers with damage spells, slow troops before they move, set up combos or traps, and more. 2) Solid stats. 18 Attack/Defense is good for Level 3, especially for only 60 Leadership. 52 Health isn't bad either. Their damage is high for their Leadership, with a chance to poison, and a high Critical hit chance. Speed 3 is good enough for a melee troop. 3) A premium, premium Talent in Lunge. Lunge ups the damage output considerably and adds in automatic poisoning. Most importantly, you can attack across a cell. This means the Royal Snake can hit units 4 tiles away (usually) every other turn, meaning they sort of have an average Speed of 3.5. It also leads to shenanigans. Sweet sweet shenanigans. Most notably against stacks slowed to 1 movement point. 4) One of the single best abilities (No Retaliation). Do not underestimate how great this is. Not getting hit at all is the best form of defense, and this cuts down the number of hits your snakes will take considerably. Let me put this all together in a tactical example. A dangerous enemy melee stack is approaching your troops. First, you command your Royal Snakes to 'Wait'. High initiative units which use the wait command are put at the end of the turn (sort of a first in, last out situation). The enemy stack approaches and stops. You move in, strike at the stack with the Royal Snakes (with no retaliation, remember). Next turn starts, your Royal Snakes go first. You back them up one hex, and use the Lunge talent for extra damage. You've gotten two big hits in on this enemy stack with no damage in return, poisoned them (-20% Attack debuff as well as DoT), and you are sitting one hex away. If you want to be really clever, you can now either use a Slow or Freeze effect to reduce the enemy movement to 1 (so they can't reach your snakes), or you can use an ability like Rockwall to put a barrier between the enemy and your Snakes. Fighting them: Royal Snakes do have a weakness in that their hitpoints aren't the highest. They are vulnerable to ranged attacks, and non-poison spells. Beware of the extra range that Lunge gives them, let them move in, and then concentrate attacks. The AI isn't as clever as we can be with them.  Anyways, on with the main show. We want to explore the remaining swamp areas past Martha's cottage.  This mana fountain is pretty useless. There's only one enemy troop in this direction, and this whole area is very out of the way.  Speaking of the enemy troop, here it is, guarding a bridge to an island castle.  As you see, our Barbarians have been replaced with Royal Snakes. This represents a significant increase in our melee prowess.  I continue to use Zerock where possible, trying to level him up before I need to start using Rage abilities more intelligently.  As the spiders move up, my snakes respond with their Lunge talent.  Next turn, the Royal Snakes turn to destroy their lesser relatives.   Before we head to the island, Bill's attention is caught by the purple fumes coming from this strange tower.  : Hm. Who are you? : And you, don't you see? Your eyes seem to be in the right place. Do you suffer form a squint? I'm a dwarf. And not only that, but an alchemist of the first order! You can call me "Dear Sir Foritop"...: Thank you, my dear Sir Foritop! Alchemist? Dwarf? What is an expert in alchemical science doing in these swamps?: These swamps are an invaluable fount of rare alchemic elements and ingredients! However, they are in their primitive state and it's impossible to extract them without various operations of distillation and hydrolysis... Look, why are you pestering me? Are you trying to worm my secrets out? Get out of here!: No, no! I was just passing by! Hey, do you have anything for sale? Show me, what you have! Foritop's shop sells a mix of Alchemists and Zombies. Alchemists are an interesting high level ranged unit that are difficult to use. He also sells a pair of boots that boosts Robbers and Pirates. I make a note in case I want to make a Pirate-based army later on.  We do pick up this Potion of Fury though. Once you get out of the very early game, it's worth it to buy any Potion of Fury or Potion of Mana you come across. Since Mana regenerates naturally, Potions of Fury are by far the more useful of the two. This allows you to start any difficult fight with a full Rage bar. Very nice, and the cost is insignificant. Well, we've bought what we need. Time to mess with this Dwarf's poo poo as Chvakha asked us to.  : What are these splinters around my house?! And why does it stink so much?: Well, actually... Old Chvakha gave me the Stinky Elixir and asked me to pour it into your cauldron. Well, you can see the result for yourseful; the cauldron is broken, a viscous liquis is spread all around and stinks terribly...: This is perfect! Did you hear how loud that explosion was!? I've been looking for an ingredient for the creation of a special explosive mixture for a long time, and here it is! What luck! I'll call this mixture - a Stink Bomb! What do you think?!: So, you're not angry?: Of course not. Why should I be angry? You're the key to the experiment. I'm most grateful to you - and to this old witch, who gave you the idea to use such an ingredient. By the way, about the ingredients. Would you like to do an important job for me? Are you headed towards the cemetery?: You dwarves are strange creatures. I do a bad thing to you and you're grateful... Ok, come on; tell me what kind of a job you have...: I have a helper, a zombie I call Noric. He's wandering around the cemetery, collecting various useful things for me. He'll come back in three days as we arranged, but I need the ingredients he has for the experiments right now. So I have a request; find him there and take whatever he has managed to gather. And I'll repay your kindness. (Reward: 3200 Gold, 100 Experience): Ok, I'll try to find him. Where should I look for him, approximately?: Usually he walks in the western part of the cemetery. Search there first...: Ok.That went better than expected, and we have yet another quest to take us into the cemetery.  We head back to that bridge, and find this castle waiting for us on the other side.  Ooh, lots of goodies here in Hlezn. First, we have another 500 Royal Snakes available. Noice.  Next, I pick up this plain looking ring. We have a spare artifact slot, and more mana is always nice. +5 Mana isn't much, but we can see that this item is upgradeable.  Third, I sell some scrolls to make space for the Pain Mirror scroll, and add it to my spell list. This Distortion spell works by dealing damage to a unit based on its previous attack. This means its a direct-damage spell that scales very well over the game. Finally, let's chat with the owner.  : Good day to you too, my good... eh... man? : Me? Man? Ho-croak-ho-croak-ho! I am not a man, I am a frogman! And my name is Squelch. I am the owner of the Brown Hlezn castle. And who are you?: I am Bill Gilbert, the Treasure Searcher of His Majesty, King Mark! Listen, I have already met someone who looks like you... you aren't brothers by chance, are you?: Someone who looks like me? You probably mean Bagaba. Yes, we are siblings. Actually, I have two brothers: Bagaba and Bogis. We were born by a girl-frog, who was turned into a princess. I am the eldest, then comes Bagaba and Bogis is the youngest.: Very interesting... very interesting indeed. So, princess-frogs give birth to... frogmen?: It is as you say. We children of frogs are special - we are unusually developed. By human standards we are just children. I am the eldest. I am ten, Bagaba is eight, and Bogis is only five years old. Hmm. Look, human, can you help me, eh?: It depends what you ask.: You see, I am the eldest Frogus, but by brother Bagaba does not want to swear fealty to me. Can you hoist my flag over his house, and make him swear fealty?: Right, put the swamp in order, I got it. Give me the flag; I'll do it quickly.: Wonderful! As soon as you finish, come back immediately.: Of course, everyone likes a reward. By the way, what kind of reward will it be?: Of course, of course, don't doubt it for a second. (Reward: 2700 Gold, 120 Experience): Excellent!Sigh, more issues for us to deal with. Well, at least maybe that other frog will talk to us now. On the way back across the swamp, we stop in at Chvakha's to report our prank on Foritop. : I'm here about the dwarf...: You have returned! Did you get to the dwarf?: Yes. That was really something. His cauldron with his chemicals shattered. It's a good thing that I wasn't injured, or worse!: So, what about the dwarf? Will he be leaving the swamp?: I'm afraid he will not. He was not in the least upset; on the contrary, he was quite pleased. As it turns out, he was experimenting with explosives and was having quite some difficulty discovering a suitable one. Your potion was the best he had ever conceived of. So he sends you his greetings, and great thanks. Also he promised to send a present. As a sign of his gratitude, sorry to say.: He is strange, this Foritop. You play a dirty trick on him and he thanks you. Who can understand these dwarves? Well, thank you, good man, for trying to help. Come again! I'll be always glad to see you. (Reward: 1700 Gold, Scroll of 'Fear', 70 Experience).: Thank you, granny. I was glad to help.Onwards to Bagaba's castle:  No Royal Snakes here, and we've already picked up the Pain Mirror spell. The Griffin's Feather boosts the speed of flying units and Level 1 units. Not super useful for our army (our only Level 1 troop is a ranged stack). : You again? What else do you want from me?: Well, your brother, Squelch, wants you to obey him, and fly his flag over your castle.: What's that you said? What does he want?! That's never going to happen. And you... you... Your body will rot in the swamp; I'll see to that personally. Croak...: We'll see who's going to rot. If you don't want to do this the easy way, we'll do it the hard way. (Attack the Frogman). Despite his claim that he'll see to our death 'personally', Bagaba is nowhere to be found when his troops come out to defend the castle. Unusually for a castle assault, there is no moat or drawbridge here. Bagaba's army seems large, but the only real troubling part are the Royal Snakes.  You may have noticed the full Rage bar above. I popped a Potion of Fury before the fight, letting me start off with an Evil Shoal that decimates most of the stacks.  A Fireball is used to halve one of the remaining Royal Snake stacks.  By the second turn, my Royal Snakes have come up to finish the last of their opposing number. However, this leaves them vulnerable to an attack by the Snakes (the red ones, that is).  A quick Rockwall serves to stop the enemy from reaching my valuable troops.  My own snakes are able to use their strong mobility to maneuver and destroy the Skeleton Archers.  : That's it, that's it; I surrender; you win. You can put your flag up; I'll see that nobody takes it down.: So why did you resist? You sent your servants to their deaths in vain.: Well, alright, in that case, I'll ask that you talk to my younger brother. Bogis lives somewhere between the marsh and cemetery. Tell him that he has to fly my flag over his house. I'm older than him, so he must obey me!: Mmm, well. I'll try. Why are trying to expand your... dominion? Do all Froguses have such obsessions with where their flags fly?: I like it when everybody obeys me. I just want everyone's respect.: I can't understand this, but I'll try to help you. Sleem levels up, and gains access to his final ability, Glot's Armor. Glot's Armor is great for the entire game. It puts a shield that absorbs all damage on a troop. The drawback is that until the shield is broken, the unit cannot move. It's great to protect ranged troops, and 400 damage is significant at this point in the game. The real key is that no matter how much damage Glot's Armor takes, there is no carryover. So if a 400 Health armor is hit with an attack doing 10000 damage, your troop takes none of it. We saw Bogis last update, so we quickly find his hut again. : Hello, kind traveler. I welcome you to my modest dwelling. I am Frogus Boigs. Who are you?: I am Bill Gilbert. Your brother Bagaba sent me. He wants you to become his subject.: Oh, their fighting - always want to decide who is superior! I am tired of them. I moved away from them, settled in this abandoned corner, and still they want to get me, even here.: Yes, your brothers deserve each other. Nevertheless... may I hoist Bagaba's flag over your house?: Ok, whatever, you can do it. Probably they will leave me alone then.: Excellent, thank you! Hmm, his house has the new flag, but he still has a quest marker... : Let me tell you, I do not like to obey Bagaba. Can you help me?: What do you propose I do?: I think my elder brother will help me. Go to the Squelch and tell him that Bagaba is pestering me. (Reward: 2400 Gold, 110 Experience): Ok, I'll go to the Squelch, but what do you want me to say to him?: I have nothing to offer him. Oh, I know! I'll let Squelch's flag be hoisted over my house, and my elder brother will be glad.: Ok, I'll talk to Squelch.Off to the other side of the swamp again. We stop in at Castle Mudin to report to Bagaba. : Well, hello hello, Bill Gilbert! How are you doing?: I hoisted your flag at Frogus Bogis. But you see; now I am going to visit Squelch, and I don't think that he's gonna be glad about it.Bagaba has literally no response to this, but this completes another quest, so I won't complain.  The experience ticks us over to a new level. An easy choice here, Mana will be more useful to us than Rage. Bagaba's castle still has a quest marker, so we go back in to talk to him. : Well, hello hello, Bill Gilbert! How are you doing?: Well, everything is fine; no complaints. I came by to find out if you needed any help.: Listen, I have one problem. Maybe you can help me with it?: Sure, I'll be glad to help.: Here in the Marshan Swamp lives Dirty Butory, the local chieftain of the robbers. He owes me a lot of money, and refuses to repay me. I don't like it when someone tries to cheat me. To teach him and the others a lesson, he needs to be killed. Will you do it? (Reward: 3400 Gold, 100 Experience): Well, it would be good to get rid of a bandit in any case. Alright, I'll do it.: Croak! Excellent. As soon as you kill this... Butory... let me know right away.: Of course, of course. But don't croak so much or you'll make yourself hoarse.Ah, good old hitman duty. Before we take care of this, let's trek to Squelch's castle so we never have to go all that way again. : Well, how is my brother doing? Is the flag flying above his castle yet?: Yes. Oh, how stubborn your brother Bagaba is! But it's ok, I've persuaded him.: Thank you, thank you, Bill Gilbert! I am pleased that he has now recognized my seniority and power. I'm very glad about our victory. Croooak! (Reward: 2700 Gold, 120 Experience): Yes, it seems that I have made all your family happy.Well, not quite. We still have to tell him about Bogis' desire to be out from under Bagaba's thumb. : Hi, Bill Gilbert! How are you? What has made you drag yourself so far once more?: Well, Bogis asked for your help to protect him from Bagaba.: Croak-how? My help? What has happened?: Bagaba liked your idea with the new flags. So he decided to make Bogis his vassal and hoisted his flag over the house of Bogis. Now Bogis asks for your protection.: What? Croak! The swamp is mine. I am the rightful master here. Everything here belongs to me. Go to Bogis immediately and hoist my flag over his house. And if you see him, tell Bagaba that the swamp is mine and there can be only one High Frogman. And that's me.We have a choice to attack Squelch here instead of performing one more trip across the swamp. However, I'm going to humour him this time. A) I don't want to mess up a supply of Royal Snakes, and B) I have to walk back that way anyways. I never need to come this far into the swamp again, so whatever. : All right, as you say. Give me the flag; I'll hoist it over Bogis's house.One hike back across the swamp later: : Well, have you talked to Squelch?: I talked to Squelch. Naturally he agreed to reign in Bagaba. I'll hoist his flag over your house now.: It's just as well. Probably the best way out of the situation. This will teach Bagaba a lesson about pestering me. Thank you Bill Gilbert! Croak! (Reward: 2400 Gold, 110 Experience): Good, see you later. Next to Bogis' house is the road leading to the cemetery portion of the map. But first, we take this small side-path.  At the end of it, we find our target guarding a chest, no doubt holding his ill-gotten gains.  : It's none of your business. I came to you from Bagaba... : Bagaba? What does this freak want from me? And how is it that you can deal with these disgusting toads?: Well, how should I put it... He wants me to bring him your head.: Disgusting monster! Not you, Bill Gilbert! I mean this disgusting toad Bagaba. He wants me to pay him taxes, as if he is the king of the swamps. Look, friend, let's sort this out peacefully. I'll pay you 1000 coins and you tell Bagaba that you killed me. Then both of us will be in the clear. Is it a deal?: Sorry, Dirty Butory, but I'd rather believe your nickname rather than your words. Protect yourself. (Attack the robber)  Dirty Butory has some decent stats, but his army is not that threatening, as a pure melee army.  Butory does try to get his troops into combat through the liberal use of Haste spells.  All it really accomplishes is to get his Marauders into range of my whole army and out of the support of his own.  It's not a smart move.  Let's check out our new ability.    Sleem transforms his body into an energy shield that surrounds the targeted stack. I chose my snakes because they were out in front.  And then I killed the remaining troops without even being attacked... it will get a better showing in the future, I am sure of it.  Butory's stash is not too shabby a prize.  Time to head this way, we have a purse of donations for the Temple.  Hmm, this house on the way doesn't seem like much of a Temple.  : Excuse me; I do not have the honour of knowing you. Who are you? : This is strange. I would bet my glove that you graduated from the Knight's School under the Temple. I have seen many students of the Iron Master in my time... Is it true that you have never heard of Furious Paladin?: Furious Paladin? Intriguing nickname, but no I don't remember... So what's your real name?: It is my real name... and so it has been for almost two hundred years. And this name... My name has been erased by years and the deeds of others, and nowadays nobody remembers it. Probably it is for the better...: Two hundred years? Ah, I understand - you must have elven blood. Or maybe you know the secret of immortality?!: Now I am certain that you have never heard of me! No, I am human, the same as you. As for my age... Long ago, when I was a young and newly initiated paladin, I made a vow, an awful vow, sealed with blood, before the gods and other forces no less powerful. I vowed that I would not go to my rest, either in sleep or death, until I had killed all loathsome creatures, from vampires to zombies and other undead. Who knew that the gods would accept my vow? So I have been continuously fighting the undead for nigh two hundred years.: Not a bad vow, if it gives you eternal life!: It's not so easy, Bill Gilbert. Before you make such a vow, think twice, think thrice, and then change you mind anyway! My fate is not easy. The gods are well known jokers - it would seem that they escape from their boredom by subjecting us to such trials.: You must have a lot of trophies. I'd like to buy something. A few more Inquisitors is nice to have access to, and I'll snag these Potions as well. : It's you again, Bill Gilbert. What brings you here?: I want to offer you my help in your struggle against the undead!: Your help would be very useful; I cannot do it on my own. I even had to seal the crypts because too many creatures came out from them. You might be able to clear these crypts. I will open them for you and you will finish what has proven beyond my power. I put the Holy Cross on every crypt and its power has stopped the undead creatures. I did not have time to sanctify them, nor would I be able to, for my vow does not permit me to sanctify items. Indeed, I can hardly bless the holy water. (Reward: 3500 Gold, 120 Experience).: Yes, I will help you. Tell me more about these crypts.: There are five crypts at the cemetery. They are ancient, with numerous corpses inside, and all of these dead bodies come out of there crypts again and again. In each crypt, I put the Cross of the Saints, a symbol of purification, and on the biggest crypt I even put two crosses! I hoped that it would stop the undead creatures, but my vow does not let me sanctify the crosses. I thought that I might get holy water from the temples, but Death magic has saturated the cemetery air so badly that even holy water is despoiled within minutes. You must touch each cross - there are six of them - and recite a prayer of Purification. I believe you learned it at the School.: I know the prayer... So where are these crypts?: They are scattered throughout the cemetery. I shall remove the Seals from the crypt doors, so that you may enter into the crypts. Remember - six crosses, the prayer of Purification on each. This will banish these foul creatures from the crypts, and stop the undead from rising again. The most important task is to get to the crosses. If you are near them, it will be easier to deal with the undead creatures.: Good. Pray for me, Paladin! We head on, looking for that Temple. There's an ominous-looking glowing sigil on the way. I gotta say, that can't be a good sign.  Necromancers in a cemetery is also probably a bad sign. Necromancers are one of the most annoying troops in the game, with a wide variety of abilities and talents designed to frustrate you. Fortunately, this group is extremely weak.  They do count as mages, so Zerock's abilities do double damage to them.  The remaining Necromancer performs his titular ability by returning this small stack of Undead Spiders to  A few extra Undead Spiders is no threat though. Necromancers become far more difficult in larger armies.  Now that's more Temple-like.  : Do you have anything useful for welcome guests? Nice, good to see even more Inquisitors. And I'm going to just buy one of those Dispel scrolls, for 'reasons'. : Hell, Father. I need to see Priest Owein. I have a package for him. : I am Father Owein and by the mercy of the gods I am the local senior priest.: Aron Demion sent me, he asked me to give you something.: Brother Aron? I have not heard from him in a long time! He is a man of the kindest soul; no one could ever guess that he was one of the fiercest mercenaries of the Islands of Freedom. So, what did he ask you to deliver?: Here is the purse with donations.: Why so little? Anyway, I am infinitely grateful to Aron and to you, young knight, and will offer my prayers for you.: I don't know... But I'll pass your thanks to Aron Demion.Well, that was simple. But what if we had been a little less, let's say, 'honest' with that purse of donations? Well, see the bonus material for the shenanigans. For now, let's see if there's any more quests available from Owein here. : Hello, Father. Can I do anything for your temple?: Yes, we have a job for you. Listen carefully; it will be a long story. One day one of the village boys was bitten by a vampire. Usually children do not survive such bites, but his parents asked a witch to do everything she could. And so the witch cast a curse on the boy, it helped him to survive, but his blood remained poisoned, black as night. This horrified his relatives and they disowned their son and brought him to our Temple. Here we looked after the poor child for several years, and gave him the name - Enemen, which means "saved." The boy grew up, but became a true monster. He ate animals and birds alive, refused to pray, and read forbidden books in the library.We were trying to bring him to reason, offering prayers, but... So we struggled with this terrible situation, until one day a whole troop of orcs appeared out of nowhere. All the monks took cover in the main tower, but the boy was not scared. He broke away and ran towards them. The monks do not know what they talked about, but they say the boy lead them towards the grave of General Karador, the famous killer. The orcs did not spends much time there and went away soon. But when we visited the site, we found the grave dug up and empty. : What about the boy, that Enemen?: At first we thought that the orcs took him with them or killed him, but we later learned that he found shelter at the deserted Castle Karmag, which stands here at the cemetery. He even managed to subdue the undead creatures there, even the proud vampires. We have become worried about his power. So we sent several people to him, but he killed all of them. Could you please set him back on the right path, or if this is truly impossible, then kill this accursed child? (Reward: 6900 Gold, 550 Experience): Woah, woah, woah...I know I kill people, but child murder is a little harsh.: I'm willing to try. If anything happens, I'll scare him a little as a warning. Where can I find this castle?: Go to the south coast. Karmag is located near the sea,: Excellent! Let's go!Hold on, Bill. For one thing, that'd be way too much for this update. Second, and this is a bit spoilery, but we cannot handle that kid right now. Trust me. Instead, let's turn around and report the quests we have finished. : I'd like to talk about Butory.: Croak, Bill Gilbert! How is Butory? I'm hoping we can put a candle for him in the Temple of the Deceased Souls.: Yes, fire up the candles - and not just one of them. A lot of his scoundrels followed him to the Land of Death.: Croak! Excellent news! Take your reward, Bill Gilbert! (Reward: 3400 Gold, 100 Experience): Thank you, Bagaba. See you later.Finally, we leave Marshan Swamp to tell Aron that we delivered the Temple donations. : Welcome again, Bill Gilbert. Our doors are always open for people craving cleansing of their sins or those who seek divine inspiration. Perhaps you need our help?: I wanted to speak to you about my trip to Marshan Swamp.: So, Bill Gilbert, have you found Brother Ovein? The Temple of Desceased Souls needs this money very badly. Do you know where the Temple is located?: Yes. I've given him the money. Brother Ovein promised to pray for our souls.Note: I have no idea why it changed from Father Owein to Brother Ovein. Good old Russian translations is my guess. : Excellent! Do you know that this was not only a test of your courage, but a test of your honesty as well. And you've passed both tests successfully. Congratulations!: Hum... I don't really know whether or not I should be pleased. But thanks anyway. And that's enough for this update. We finished around 6 different quests in this update alone, thanks to the frogs. Reaching 8th level and the quest reward for the Temple donation quest leaves us juuust shy of being able to take the Higher Magic skill. Sigh. I hope we can find a single Magic Rune somewhere. Next update, we will deal with a certain Earl and his proclivities for amphibian kidnapping. However, that update will not be until at least January. I will be away from my recording computer for the holidays, and will be moving to a new apartment just afterwards. But once I get back to it, I intend to try to keep regular updates going so we can make real progress in this game. I hope to have some surprises coming for the LP in terms of the format, and I look forward to continuing to share this game with you. I also want to say how much I appreciate all of the readers and the comments which make it satisfying to create this LP content. ---------------------------------- Bonus Material Learning Lore So what if we wanted a taste of those Temple donations for ourselves?   Yeah, we can try to steal some money. The only way we can actually steal money and get away with it is to take half and ensure that we return the seal. For instance, if we get a bit too greedy and take it all:    At this point, we can make amends by giving the priest 500 Gold, and everything is peachy keen.  Or, we can defy the priest and tell him where to shove it:  And we fail the quest. Not worth it in the slightest. Even in the best case, and you take only half of the purse, you have to use a Dispel scroll to snag a whole 250 Gold. Marking the Map  Talkin' 'bout Troops Let's look at the little brothers of our new favourite unit. Snake  Resistances: 50% Poison Critical Hit %: 15 Defense Bonus: 2 Talents : Lunge: Lunges to the enemy target, attacking across one free cell. Inflicts 4-7 points of damage and Note: The in-game label for their Lunge lies, as these Snakes inflict Stun, not poison. Stun prevents Talent use and reduces movement and initiative. Abilities Venomous Gully's opinion: Speed of 2 really hurts a melee unit, even with the Lunge Talent, especially when most other slow melee units at least have the Running Talent. Otherwise alright stats, and can do good damage. But I'd rather just use Royal Snakes. Fighting them: Not much of a threat. Only 2 Speed, so very vulnerable to slow or Freeze. Just remember that they do have the Lunge. Swamp Snake  Resistances: 80% Poison Critical Hit %: 12 Defense Bonus: 2 Talents : Lunge: Lunges to the enemy target, attacking across one free cell. Inflicts 4-6 points of damage and poisons the enemy. The enemy cannot retaliate. (Reload: 1)Abilities Venomous Immune to Poison Gully's opinion: These guys lose even more initiative and stats over the regular Snake, and not given enough back. They do Poison with their normal attack, which may be useful, but sucks when you go against the many Poison-resistant groups of units (like Undead or Plants). Again, 2 Speed for a melee unit just doesn't cut it. Fighting them: Even weaker than Snakes, so just kill them. Bonus strat, send your own Royal Snakes against them. 80% Poison resist means these guys will do next to nothing. Spells Seen Not yet. Skills Shown We are so close to Higher Magic...so close. Items Identified Bronze Ring  Description: A rough bronze ring, covered with runes. Effects: +5 to Mana Type: Artifact Race: Humans Cost: 6500 Upgraded To: Silver Ring Info: Runic etchings turn an ordinary ring into a weak source of magical energy. Potion of Fury  Description: A vial containing a potion of fury. Use: Recovers 30 points of Rage, but no more than maximum. Type: Used Item Cost: 500 Info: This secret extract, cooked according to the recipe of northern barbarians, instantly infuriates even the calmest of warriors. Potion of Mana  Description: A potion of mana. Use: Recovers 50 points of Mana, but no more than maximum. Type: Used Item Cost: 500 Info: This is a Blue Mushroom extract, which recovers Mana instantly. Bottles filled with this potion are very popular among battle mages. An exhausted mage is helpless in combat. Bagaba's Flag  Description: The flag of the middle brother, Frogus Bagaba. Type: Quest Info: The flag which Bagaba wishes to hoist over his brother's castle. Squelch's Flag  Description: The flag of older brother, Frogus Squelch. Type: Quest Info: The flag which Squelch wishes to hoist over his brother's castle. Purse  Description: The rather weighty leather purse, filled with donations for the Temple. Type: Quest Info: The purse is filled with gold coins.
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Dec 19, 2016 04:59
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Please tell me it's not the end of the frog quest chain.
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Dec 19, 2016 13:29
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You can deceive Bagaba about Dirty Butory and then return to kill him. And while you can't move in Glot's armour, you can use Teleport on the unit with it on, and it teleports the unit together with the armour.
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Dec 19, 2016 14:54
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Royal snakes are really good. Unlike a lot of good troops they're not too difficult to find but like all good troops it's a pain to run back and recruit more all the time.
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Dec 19, 2016 16:12
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I really like that our hero goes into maximally respectful mode upon seeing witches.
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Dec 19, 2016 16:21
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Man, I never actually tried talking to Sir Foritop after sabotaging his cauldron. New vistas are opening to me even today. I'm not sure I'd call Royal Serpents a top-tier unit, because I typically want either targeting flexibility or some amount of tanking ability out of a straight damage unit, but these fellas are damned close. Always such a pleasure to see in the early game, especially in such large numbers.
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Dec 19, 2016 19:41
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Pierzak posted:Please tell me it's not the end of the frog quest chain. I'm sad to say that I'm pretty sure we are done with the Frogus family. We do have our quest for Feanora to rescue the other frog-princesses though. NHO posted:I really like that our hero goes into maximally respectful mode upon seeing witches. Yeah. As some one said, it's very reminiscent of the Discworld witches. In fact, I can confidently say that the Discworld is probably one of the biggest influences in this game, as we will see as the game goes on. Poil posted:Royal snakes are really good. Unlike a lot of good troops they're not too difficult to find but like all good troops it's a pain to run back and recruit more all the time. If I'm using them, they'll usually be one of the troops in my Reserves for this very reason. Doopliss posted:I'm not sure I'd call Royal Serpents a top-tier unit, because I typically want either targeting flexibility or some amount of tanking ability out of a straight damage unit, but these fellas are damned close. Always such a pleasure to see in the early game, especially in such large numbers. I can agree with that, for the most part. I think my love affair does have to do with how easy they are to acquire in the early parts of the game and how flexible they are at being added to most army compositions. They also pair very nicely with one of my other favourite troops (Shamans). There are definitely more powerful choices out there, but I find I usually have room for these guys in my end-game army.
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Dec 19, 2016 21:17
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Enjoying this lp. Good work.
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Dec 19, 2016 21:56
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Gully Foyle posted:I'm sad to say that I'm pretty sure we are done with the Frogus family. We do have our quest for Feanora to rescue the other frog-princesses though.
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Dec 19, 2016 22:34
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Gully Foyle posted:I'm sad to say that I'm pretty sure we are done with the Frogus family.  ) hosed up by not making the frogmen raise the King's flag instead. After getting sent around over and over again for pointless stuff it was so satisfying to just say "gently caress it, I'm taking over, you now do as I say"
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Dec 21, 2016 16:31
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Pierzak posted:Well then you royally ( Haha, I'll have to go back to check it out, I think I've always just said 'whatever, it's on my way out of here' to the last flag quest (since that's when you get a chance to attack Squelch). Playing this for the LP makes me realize that the game has some depths in terms of quest choices that I never bothered to explore, and I'm glad people are pointing out what I miss. I will note that I don't really care who rules the swamp, as long as they sell me Royal Snakes. By my book, I got almost half a level of experience from those quests, a bunch of gold, and access to a pool of 2800 Royal Snakes (if you include the ones from the enchanted witch's hut).
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Dec 21, 2016 18:01
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Royal Snakes are a serious contender for the best unit in the game. I can really only think of one situation where I wouldn't want them in my army and I don't think this game has that mechanic yet.
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Dec 21, 2016 18:52
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Heh, the swamp's got horrid thunderclouds over it. That's a nice touch, but unless this game is super-small they're probably going to run out of interesting things to do with map clouds.
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Dec 23, 2016 18:33
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Glazius posted:Heh, the swamp's got horrid thunderclouds over it. That's a nice touch, but unless this game is super-small they're probably going to run out of interesting things to do with map clouds. The kings bounty games are not known for being small
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Dec 23, 2016 20:47
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Sloober posted:The kings bounty games are not known for being small Yeah. Hard to judge entirely, but I'd say we are around 20-25% done in terms of material. Probably even less of the way in terms of time played, but I'll be cutting out a lot of things that can make the later game long (backtracking for troop reinforcements and quests). I will say that one of my resolutions for the year is to finish this LP of The Legend. Of course, we all know how successful New Year's resolutions are, I'm making this goal so I can point and laugh at this post a year from now.
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Dec 24, 2016 17:58
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Update 17: The Love of a Good Frog Welcome to a new year, full of promise, hope, and.... Ok, the real world might not be in great shape. But we've got a full year of King's Bounty ahead of us, and I hope to make the best of it.  Last time, we traipsed around the marshes doing errands for a froggish family. The questing remains frog-focused, however, we begin far away from the swamps, at the castle of the Earl Argus. : Greetings to you again, Bill Gilbert. Where is my frog? Come on, give it to me!: You know, there is a problem with the frogs...: Really, the problem is more standing in front of me, but hey, you've got the money.: What happened? Are there no more frogs at the swamp? It's very strange, when I was there last time there were a lot of frogs.: I found one frog. It seems to be their princess. She said that her name is Feanora, and asks that you return her sisters to the swamp. She said your plan will never succeed. No one can turn a frog into a beautiful girl forever without love.: Oh... She's right, Bill Gilbert. None of them turned into a princess forever. All of them turned back into frogs after a while.: There you are! Let's return them to the swamp then.: I brought all of them to the castle dungeon. It is wet and cool there, the most comfortable place for them in the whole castle. I'll open the entrance for you, so you can take them. But what should I do now?: Didn't you think of finding a, uh... normal young lady?: A normal girl? And really fall in love? Hmm... That's a great idea, I'll try it! Now, what's the best way to find one... All the normal girls I know keep turning back into frogs! But wait - that's it! I've got it! But I shall need the help of Helga, the witch from the Snakes Undergroud. Listen, friend, it's not far from here - in the forest, back from the road, the entrance is under a skull. Go and tell the witch that I need the best love potion she's got.: Love potion, really? Goddamn it, Argus. This just gets creepier at every turn.: You know, it just might work. Alright, I'll find your witch. The Earl was not lying, the turn-off is not far from his castle, next to the local sawmill.  The first foe in our tracks is rather unimpressive, especially for our level.  I glossed over it when we found the first pool of Royal Snakes for hire, but the Enchanted House had a Book of Evil scroll for sale as well. Let's see how this goes.  The Book of Evil is our first summon spell, and is an interesting addition to our toolbox.  The Book comes with one charge of Random Spell, which casts a random offensive spell on a targeted enemy. The spell level is determined by the level of the Book, and the damage is influenced by your own Intellect. The higher the level of the Book, the more spells are available for them to use as well.  In this case, the Book casts Magic Pole Axe on the remaining Thorn-Hunters, killing them.  Once the Random Spell is used, we need to recharge the Book. It does have a Talent called Drain that lets you consume friendly units to gain multiple charges...it's basically useless. Unless you have a vastly weakened stack or another summoned unit, there's no way that one of your stacks will be weak enough to be eaten.  However, the other way to charge the Book is to attack an enemy. I don't think it matters how much damage you do, you get one charge of Random Spell back. Also, I love the Book's animations. The rib/teeth movement, the way the skull jiggles and emotes... it's great.  Book or no Book, these enemies guarding the Snakes Underground stand no chance.  We grab the banner here, and see a Beholder guarding the entrance to the Underground.  Yeah, a Beholder, and some scrubs.   As promised, the entrance takes the form of a stony skull. The description is lying, though. While many a snake will indeed be found, I don't think there's a single spider.  Entering the moist cave, we find the first two groups of snakes waiting for us just past a Mind Rune.  The numbers and strengh of enemies inside the cave is far beyond those outside. Not enough to threaten us, but these fights are interesting at least.  Despite the fact that Royal Snakes are the most threatening unit, I can't resist killing a stack of ranged units with a single spell.  Our right wing surges forward to take on the snakes in this gap, while the Swordsmen guard the left wing from the remaining Royal Snake stack.  Flaming Arrow remains our strongest single target spell when Poison Skull is not a good idea.   We turn to the next victim, who is guarding the entrance to the main cave.  This army is entirely Snake-based. The Rage built up in the previous encounter lets us begin with an Evil Shoal to reduce their numbers across the board.  The geometry leads to one stack of Swamp Snakes coming down the top lane, while all the other stacks take the open route at the bottom. Of course, this leads to them clumping up nicely. Who likes a nicely roasted snake?  We do lose a couple of our own snakes, but I'm not concerned.  The main cave features a nicely kept cottage surrounded by a dank moat of stone and stagnant ponds. Two more snakes roam the area, protecting the cottage.  I take my time before rushing in, letting my mana reserves recharge a bit. Eventually, it's time to take care of these last threats.  I like the flying-V form these enemies form, even it reduces my spell damage.  Ancient Bears remain my strongest potential attacker. The double attack if they've been damaged is huge. The Royal Snakes aren't nearly as strong, but their mobility is far better.  I lose a good number of Thorns in this fight, as they are targeted by the enemy Thorns.  I'm carrying a reserve of them for a reason. We quickly fill our ranks as the remaining enemy closes in.  Again, the opposing snakes keep themselves from clumping up to make an attractive Fireball target.  Instead, I bring out another Book of Evil. This one casts Flaming Arrow.  Like other summons, one of the biggest uses for the Book is as sacrificial fodder to absorb enemy attention. And the Book can take a pounding, for this stage of the game at least.  This helps us lose fewer melee troops. Nothing we can do about the Thorns though.  Having cleared the region of dangerous snakes, we return to the cottage.  : It was difficult to get here. It's a really... good place you chose for your home. Are you hiding from anybody in the backwoods out here? : Well... It's just that snakes understand me better than most people do. I adore snakes, they are the most tender and kindest creatures in the world. People say that I am an ugly person. I endured their meanness long enough. And thanks to snakes I know a great deal about poisons, better than any witch in the kingdom, and even better than any assassin, ha-ha. Do you want to try my potions?: Uhhh, about those 'tender and kind' snakes... there may a slight shortage in the neighborhood for... reasons.: Thanks for the offer. Do you have anything else for sale? Let me see. As far as I can tell from experience, Helga will always have small stocks of all three Snake types. Too few in number to use Royal Snakes forever, but it will suffice for the early game if the Marshan Swamp doesn't provide any. Anyways, back to Helga for quest reasons. : It's you again! Have you decided to amuse me with a little conversation?: I have something to discuss with you. Earl Argus asked me to go to you and get a Love Potion.: Love Potion? There are several types of Love Potions. It depends on who you are, and especially who you want to enchant. You should know the age, color of the eyes and hair. Tell me a bit, and I'll choose the right one.: I'll tell you but don't be too surprised. Earl Argus wants to get married to an enchanted princess. He wants to get her by kissing a frog. But wants here not to turn back into a frog again, so the earl must fall in love with her. That's why he needs a Love Potion for him.: And why should I be surprised at that? Sounds perfectly reasonable to me! So anyway, he wants the potion for himself. And so his intended will be a green-skinned, goggle-eyed and hairless... Well... Now. Here it is! For goggle-eyed! Take it, the perfect potion; there should be no side effects on humans.: How can I thank you?: You know, darling, I am just so glad to see you. People come by here very rarely, especially people as polite as you. And the earl is a good man too. He doesn't take money from me. So, I will not take the money from him either.: You have a kind soul, Helga. Thank you.Let's return this potion to the Earl. And no, you can't drink it yourself, sadly. : Well, have you brought the love potion?: Here it is... take your potion.: Excellent! I decided to stop messing about with all these frogs. There are a lot of beautiful girls, so I will just choose the most beautiful one, drink the love potion, and fall in love with her forever!: Ummm, does the girl get any say in this? Let me tell about a little something called consent...: So, you can return the frogs to the swamp. I'll open the dungeon of my castle for you. I shall have no more need for enchanted frogs. (Reward: 2800 Gold, 110 Experience): I'm sure you'll find your true love. Good luck, earl. We are immediately sent into the Earl's dungeon. Many guards stand, well, at guard. These troops are neutral, meaning they won't attack us, but also won't join us like friendly troops will.  This antechamber holds a few scrolls and a floating Might Rune.  One of them even holds a new spell for us: Ghost Blade. This is a single-target direct damage Distortion spell. It has its place, especially if you've not taken Chaos Magic. The spell is expensive for the damage, although much like Flaming Arrow, the cost doesn't increase with power. And at Level 3, it will ignore all resistance, and do full damage to any target.  The small room nearby holds another banner. This quest is nice in terms of bonus Leadership for sure.  As we proceed, the dungeon gets darker, until we find a pair of Necromancers having a conversation. I guess we will do the Earl a favour and clear out this infestation. At least, I hope its an infestation and not more 'guests' to the Earl's sex dungeon.  Time to face Necromancers in real numbers. Fortunately, the rest of the army is pretty weak, because Necromancers are one of the most annoying enemies in the game. They have a wide variety of annoying talents.  For instance, they can cast Plague on your whole army.  Plague reduces Attack, Defense, and Health by 20%, which is a huge debuff. It also transfers to any un-Plagued units next to the afflicted troop. Undead units are immune to the effects, but can still carry it.  Hah, take that!  drat it! Naturally, Necromancers can raise the dead, including other Necromancers. They can raise up to 120 Leadership per Necromancer of any killed Undead stack. The raised troops are limited to the original stack number at most. Note that this abilitiy requires the corpse's hex to be free, and for the corpse to exist. So if you have a troop stand on a corpse, or summon a unit onto it, the Necromancer can't raise that stack. They also can't raise Ghosts, because those troops don't leave a corpse.  Just gotta take care of these guys again.  Raised units aren't counted in the end of battle screen, and don't count for experience or gold rewards.  The next stack has fewer Necromancers, but has Cursed Ghosts instead of regular Ghosts. Fire still does a number on them.  The third talent of Necromancers is Magic Lock, which prevents a unit from using any of their own Talents for 3 turns. This ranges from mildly to very annoying, depending on the context and the unit targeted. The last Necromancer ability is their actual attack. Much like Liches in several of the Heroes of Might and Magic games, the Necromancer has a ranged attack that damages not only the target unit, but any neighbouring units as well. On top of that, it curses the target, giving them lower Morale. However, due to their wide variety of Talents, Necromancers use their attack relatively infrequently. (Which is why I don't have any screenshot, they never attacked in either of these fights.)  We clear out this stack with minimal losses as well.  We loot the chest the Necros were gathered around, and proceed further into the dungeon.  At the end, we find the moist cavern the frogs are being kept in. Despite the cage, it appears there are frogs all over the place. When we pick up the cage, all of the frogs disappear.  I'm hoping that 'powdered' refers to make-up, not actual powdered frogs, or Feanora is going to be furious. We leave the Earl's dungeon with the cage, and return to the sunlight. As a side reward, Argus gets a new huge stock of Bowmen for us to hire. I'd hire some and replace my Thorn-Hunters, but I plan on replacing them with something else quite soon anyways. Let's get these frogs back to their home. : Well, how is everything going? Have you managed to free my sister-frogs from the cruel Earl Argus?: Yes, I brought them. Here are your sisters.: Excellent! Croak! How wonderful it is that there are such kind and sympathetic people as yourself, knight. If there were a man who was truly able to perform the miraculous transformation, it would be you. I promised to give the most previous thing I have as a reward. And that most precious thing is my love. If love and faith in miracles are also alive in you, then kiss me and I will transform into a beautiful girl, and become your wife. But remember, if your feelings fade, I will turn back into a frog again. Croak!: Excellent! I have always dreamed of a magic wife. (Kiss the frog.)Wife: Feanora With that, we've married the frog princess Feanora, who has indeed turned into a human woman. And unlike with Rina, this marriage is actually happening.  Feanora gives a great bonus (as long as you are a Mage) which is independent of army composition, and as such is the most flexible wife in the game. +3 Intellect is nothing to sneeze at, and our spells will be much more powerful now. Her equipment slots are a bit one-sided, though. Helmet, a Belt/Artifact, and two Artifact slots. Artifacts tend to be a bit less powerful, but there are many flexible options that we will have (eventually). Let's see what riveting conversations we can have. On children:  : Croak! I am so glad that you took me from that horrible swamp. What disgusting leeches there were, and the terrible undead from the cemetery.: My dear, what do you think of us having a cute kid?: Croak! You can't imagine how glad I am to hear these words! For a long time I have dreamt of a crystal pool filled with our tadpoles. Just imagine, a lot of little children frolicking in the slush.: It is pleasant to see that the idea makes you so happy.Or: : Aha. I see the picture very clearly. You know what... let's talk about children some other time, ok?On divorce: : I've thought it over. I don't need you any longer. Go away - you're not my wife any more.: Croak? My master, what have I done wrong? Please let me stay. Remember that I'll take all my property, and one fifth of our gold also belongs to me by law, as I am your lawful wife.: I know, I know. I've just had enough of your croaking. I want to be free, no matter the cost.Or: : I'm sorry. I was a little bit out of my mind for a moment. You don't need to go. We will leave the newlyweds to get acquainted. Frustratingly, we are still one Magic Rune short of that key Higher Magic skill. Next update, we will head into the Marshan cemetery to continue our campaign against the living dead. I'm hoping the update will be timely, but I am moving, and there's always a chance that it might take a few extra days to get internet up at the new place. ---------------------------------- Bonus Material Learning Lore Well, we are actually caught up in conversations and extras for now. Marking the Map No new map today. Talkin' 'bout Troops Book of Evil, Level 3/4/5    Resistances: 50% Poison, 80% Magic, -100% Fire Critical Hit %: I don't know Talents  Drain: The book satiates itself, eating a surrounding friendly troop whose total health does not exceed 200/400/600, and gains 2 attacking spells. (Charges: 1) Random Spell: Casts a random attacking spell or random negative effect on the target. (Charges: 1)Abilities Common Spells: (Level 3 Book of Evil) Casts weak attacking and weakening spells. Power level: I. Strong Spells: (Level 4 Book of Evil) Casts strong attacking and weakening spells and curses. Power level: II. Powerful Spells: (Level 5 Book of Evil) Casts powerful attacking and weakening spells. Can cast Mind and Distortion spells. Power level: III. Magic Immunity: Gives the creature 80% Resistance to Magic Damage. No spells effect the creature. Immune to Mind Spells: The creature is immune to mind spells and effects. Vulnerable to Fire: Suffers double damage from Fire. Gully's opinion: The Book of Evil isn't bad in the early game. The utility of a summoned creature to absorb damage and retaliations is great, and the book is a strong creature in the early game. Later on, it will be easily killed by single attacks, and so loses utility. And the lack of control of which spell it uses is bad. Generally, I'd rather just cast the spell I want to cast. Fighting them: You occaisionally will encounter Books summoned by opposing heroes. Again, in the later game they are of little threat, and you can often kill them before they can act. Fire damage attacks do huge damage to them, so Fire arrows from Bowmen are useful for eliminating the Book. Undead Before I talk about the Necromancer, let's introduce the Undead modifier. Being raised from the dead has the following features: - +50% Poison Resistance - +50% Attack during nighttime and underground combat - +1 to Morale if combat takes place in the cemetery - Takes double damage from Holy Attacks - Immune to Mind spells and some other spells (like Plague) - Non-undead units (with a couple of exceptions) in the same army suffer -1 Morale, unless you have the Tolerance skill Necromancer (true Leadership cost is 200)  Resistances: 50% Poison, 10% Magic Critical Hit %: 10 Defense Bonus: 5 Talents  Magic Lock: Blocks all the special attacks and abilities of the target. (Charges: 1) Raise Undead: Raises a number of undead creatures from any troop of killed creatures. The number of raised creatures cannot exceed the number of creatures killed, and its total Leadership cannot exceed 120. (Charges: 3) Plague: Infects unit with plague, decreasing its attack, defense, and health up to 80%. Infected unit becomes a plague transmitter. (Charges: 1) (Note: I think this is just a bad translation, it reduces by 20%, or to 80% of the original value, not by 80%)Abilities Undead Cloud of Darkness: A remote attack, which allows the creature to cast Curse on the enemy target and the surround troops. Gully's opinion: I've never used Necromancers, because I've never used an Undead army. However, they have a wide variety of useful Talents. Raise Undead isn't great for your own army (since you need to have a dead stack to work with). But Plague and Magic Lock are potentially devastating, and their attack is dangerous to clumped groups. They also have a very high Initiative. Fighting them: I have far more experience with this. Taking out Necromancers is key to tough Undead fights, or they will continuously raise stacks that you are killing. If you can't eliminate the Necromancers easily, try getting troops or summoned units/objects onto the slain undead to prevent the Necromancers from doing this. Avoid clumping up units to limit the damage their ranged attack does. They have no particular weakness and good Defense, but they will go down to attacks eventually. Spells Seen Book of Evil  Summons the Book of Evil, which casts random spells on the enemy. The more powerful the book, the more harmful the spells. The quantity of spells also depends on the book's power. The hero's intellect also plays a role in the power of the spells. When the book is hungry, it can't use magic and you should feed it by making the book attack either friendly or enemy troops. Crystal Cost: 3 / 6 / 9 Mana Cost: 15 / 20 / 30 Level 1: Summons: Book of Evil, Level 3 Level 2: Summons: Book of Evil, Level 4 Level 3: Summons: Book of Evil, Level 5 Gully's opinion: Generally, I'd rather just cast the spell I want to cast, rather than something random. The mana cost is also fairly high. In the early game, it can serve well as a tank to absorb hits as well as casting a spell. Note that you can only have 1 Book of Evil summoned at a time. Skills Shown None. Items Identified Cage of Frogs  Description: Several frogs croak sadly inside the metal cage. Type: Quest Info: Several would-be princesses, gathered from different swamps by the unhappy earl, are croaking sadly inside this small cage. Love Potion  Description: A vial filled with love potion. Type: Quest Info: The small bottle contains a sparkling liquid, which exhales sweet aroma. Gully Foyle fucked around with this message at 20:05 on Jan 17, 2017 |
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Jan 5, 2017 19:34
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Now Necromancers are one of my "top-tier" picks. Not only does their direct attack deal a good chunk of damage, but the AoE on it raises your rage like just about nothing else in the game. I typically ignore plague and magic lock (it's better as a spell anyway), but being able to raise undead 3(!) times per-battle anywhere on the map makes it a strong contender for the best enemy-disruption in the game. Pick off some of the weaker stacks, raise them and watch the enemy waste copious amounts of time dealing with them. These fellas are a strong reason to go for an "unholy" unit comp (has morale come up in this LP yet? I can't recall), and go fantastically into just about any lineup if you have Tolerance.
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Jan 5, 2017 21:22
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Oh my god Argus is such a gross jerk. I hope he gets some kind of karma backlash later. 
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Jan 6, 2017 00:54
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