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Darkest Dungeon - The Crimson Court - Halforums Edition
#1
GasBandit
Coming shortly...
GasBandit
Coming shortly...
#2
GasBandit
GasBandit
#3
GasBandit
Our journey to the village was reaching its conclusion, when something upset the stagecoach, destroying its axles and leaving myself, @GasBandit the Highwayman, and @Terrik the Crusader on the road to fend for ourselves as the sun sank beyond the horizon and the wolves began to howl distantly. Steeling ourselves, we set off in the direction of the hamlet, keeping just out of sight of the road, lest whoever attacked our conveyance... wasn't in the mood for witnesses.
Surely enough, we barely had set foot upon the path than we were waylaid by a thuggish oaf.
The men dispatched him quickly, if not expertly, and we ransacked his encampment. Gold, trinkets and baubles... paid for in blood.
With the town in view, we were ambushed by two more ruffians!
Terrik was dealt worrisome injury, but we overcame. A brief respite and pillaging, and it was time to head to our new home.
... this, by whose reckoning, is a town? An ominous pall hangs over several mounds of stone and wood, weak lights barely visible through the windows. And overlooking it all, the ruins of my ancestral home - the precarious columns of burned wood and charred stone looking like the ribcage of a vulture-picked corpse... or perhaps gnarled fingers, stretching ever skyward in futility.
Here, however, there was comeraderie to be found, and two more souls joined our cause - @Dei, the Vestal, whose healing light would no doubt be most welcome among us, and @Null the Plague Doctor, equally deft at weakening enemies as supporting allies. With our numbers doubled, I decided it would be best to begin scouting the ruins about my ancestral estate upon the morning. Not leaving anythign to chance, I spent freely on food, torches, bandages, and other items I thought might prove useful.
Twas worse than I expected... the halls of the manse were patrolled by the unliving! But my stalwart companions rose to the challenge, time and again. We had to dig our way through collapsed rubble and unholy dead, but prevail we did... and among the loot we scavenged, something curious - an ornate vial filled with blood. Something made me think I should husband this vial closely... and find more like it if I could. We returned to the hamlet, soberer, only beginning to grasp the magnitude of the task before us, but with many of my family's valuable heirlooms tucked away in our packs. Null found the entire experience so stressful, he immediately trundled off to the tavern, and drank and gambled the night away...
GasBandit
Our journey to the village was reaching its conclusion, when something upset the stagecoach, destroying its axles and leaving myself, @GasBandit the Highwayman, and @Terrik the Crusader on the road to fend for ourselves as the sun sank beyond the horizon and the wolves began to howl distantly. Steeling ourselves, we set off in the direction of the hamlet, keeping just out of sight of the road, lest whoever attacked our conveyance... wasn't in the mood for witnesses.
Surely enough, we barely had set foot upon the path than we were waylaid by a thuggish oaf.
The men dispatched him quickly, if not expertly, and we ransacked his encampment. Gold, trinkets and baubles... paid for in blood.
With the town in view, we were ambushed by two more ruffians!
Terrik was dealt worrisome injury, but we overcame. A brief respite and pillaging, and it was time to head to our new home.
... this, by whose reckoning, is a town? An ominous pall hangs over several mounds of stone and wood, weak lights barely visible through the windows. And overlooking it all, the ruins of my ancestral home - the precarious columns of burned wood and charred stone looking like the ribcage of a vulture-picked corpse... or perhaps gnarled fingers, stretching ever skyward in futility.
Here, however, there was comeraderie to be found, and two more souls joined our cause - @Dei, the Vestal, whose healing light would no doubt be most welcome among us, and @Null the Plague Doctor, equally deft at weakening enemies as supporting allies. With our numbers doubled, I decided it would be best to begin scouting the ruins about my ancestral estate upon the morning. Not leaving anythign to chance, I spent freely on food, torches, bandages, and other items I thought might prove useful.
Twas worse than I expected... the halls of the manse were patrolled by the unliving! But my stalwart companions rose to the challenge, time and again. We had to dig our way through collapsed rubble and unholy dead, but prevail we did... and among the loot we scavenged, something curious - an ornate vial filled with blood. Something made me think I should husband this vial closely... and find more like it if I could. We returned to the hamlet, soberer, only beginning to grasp the magnitude of the task before us, but with many of my family's valuable heirlooms tucked away in our packs. Null found the entire experience so stressful, he immediately trundled off to the tavern, and drank and gambled the night away...
#4
PatrThom
PatrThom
#5
GasBandit
There were two more new arrivals on the coach this week who joined our cause... Another Vestal named @Kags and @PatrThom the Plague Doctor. Pat took Null's place in the party while the latter... recovered.
We set off back into the ruins again, to try and root out some of the corruption.
In the ruins, we found a journal page, describing how another party was doomed by sticking a torch where it didn't belong... I shall have to be cautious about such matters.
The foray was successful, but upon our return, we found the hamlet beset by a new kind of pestilence...
But our efforts have already had an effect - the blacksmith and adventurer's guild have reopened their doors, allowing us to train and equip ourselves better! We took advantage of these new facilities.
The following week, we went back to scout the ruins again. Dei vacated her place to rest, and Kags stepped in, eager for the experience. GasBandit inadvertently trapped himself within an iron maiden, and henceforth became quite... severely claustrophobic.
Nevertheless, hope continued to slowly eked back into the local populace each time we returned from a successful foray. The Sanitarium reopened, along with another merchant and trainer. Two more stalwart adventurers join - @Charon and @Dave. Terrik was sent to the Sanitarium to relieve him of his kleptomania.
The newest recruits cut their teeth in the ruins. There was hardship, confusion, and hunger... but they prevailed... and returned better knowing their predicament, and themselves. We were joined by a Flagellant, named SpecialKO. I wasn't sure what to make of him, at first... Charon had to go into the hospital for a torn rotator. More new faces also arrived... @Wasabi, @Ravenpoe and @Grue.
GasBandit escorted the newest arrivals into the abyssal depths near the shores. He and Grue caught a disease from one of the eldritch creatures. Things were pretty touch and go for a bit, but everyone returned alive, if unsettled. @Zero Esc the Bountry Hunter, and @sixpackshaker the Houndmaster have joined the fight. They were sent down with RavenPoe and PatrThom to venture into the Weald surrounding the estate...
PatrThom's curiosity got the better of him, and he caught the red plague from digging in a grave, and Sixpack caught it later from some fungal combat. But apart from those drawbacks, the new blood performed admirably, and the corruption of the countryside was pushed back.
Treatment and training for the newest recruits drained my coffers dry. The supplies for the next mission would be scant, indeed. Two more adventurers joined, as well - @Shego and @figmentPez, the former a Hellion, the latter a Jester. They went with GasBandit and Grue into the Warrens, a confounding maze of twisting tunnels, running miles beneath the area. But there was no money for torches, barely enough for food and bandages...
The stress of fighting monsters in the dark was too much for Pez and Shego, and they became afflicted with selfishness. However, it brought out the best in Grue, who found a source of courage within himself even he had not known existed. GasBandit, when tested, also became a stalwart fighter. Alas, it was all too much for Pez, and he perished under the knife of a butcherous swine - but not of the cut, but rather of a heart attack from the fear. Shego and Gas had to be returned to the sanitarium for treatment. Even with the expenses, the loot was generous... but was it worth losing Pez?
The ranks were replenished by @Amy the Antiquarian, @BErt the Houndmaster, and @Bubble181 the Abomination. Zero took them on their inaugural foray into the Weald. It was a two day trip, and proved to be too much. Zero nearly died, but Amy managed to barely keep him alive, and all returned to the safety of the hamlet. However, just for the Antiquarian's presence, the trip was three times as profitable in loot as any previous "victory" had been.
A new Jester, @HCGLNS, was added to the troupe. He joined Charon, Dei, and Null to successfully attack the foulness in the Weald, but the stress of the experience made the new guy find his next opponent in the bottom of a bottle.
@Celt Z the graverobber joined next. Terrik took her, Wasabi, and SixPackShaker on a successful two-day excursion to the cove, to root out more fishmen.
Ten weeks have passed. It's a tenuous start, but a start nonetheless.
GasBandit
There were two more new arrivals on the coach this week who joined our cause... Another Vestal named @Kags and @PatrThom the Plague Doctor. Pat took Null's place in the party while the latter... recovered.
We set off back into the ruins again, to try and root out some of the corruption.
In the ruins, we found a journal page, describing how another party was doomed by sticking a torch where it didn't belong... I shall have to be cautious about such matters.
The foray was successful, but upon our return, we found the hamlet beset by a new kind of pestilence...
But our efforts have already had an effect - the blacksmith and adventurer's guild have reopened their doors, allowing us to train and equip ourselves better! We took advantage of these new facilities.
The following week, we went back to scout the ruins again. Dei vacated her place to rest, and Kags stepped in, eager for the experience. GasBandit inadvertently trapped himself within an iron maiden, and henceforth became quite... severely claustrophobic.
Nevertheless, hope continued to slowly eked back into the local populace each time we returned from a successful foray. The Sanitarium reopened, along with another merchant and trainer. Two more stalwart adventurers join - @Charon and @Dave. Terrik was sent to the Sanitarium to relieve him of his kleptomania.
The newest recruits cut their teeth in the ruins. There was hardship, confusion, and hunger... but they prevailed... and returned better knowing their predicament, and themselves. We were joined by a Flagellant, named SpecialKO. I wasn't sure what to make of him, at first... Charon had to go into the hospital for a torn rotator. More new faces also arrived... @Wasabi, @Ravenpoe and @Grue.
GasBandit escorted the newest arrivals into the abyssal depths near the shores. He and Grue caught a disease from one of the eldritch creatures. Things were pretty touch and go for a bit, but everyone returned alive, if unsettled. @Zero Esc the Bountry Hunter, and @sixpackshaker the Houndmaster have joined the fight. They were sent down with RavenPoe and PatrThom to venture into the Weald surrounding the estate...
PatrThom's curiosity got the better of him, and he caught the red plague from digging in a grave, and Sixpack caught it later from some fungal combat. But apart from those drawbacks, the new blood performed admirably, and the corruption of the countryside was pushed back.
Treatment and training for the newest recruits drained my coffers dry. The supplies for the next mission would be scant, indeed. Two more adventurers joined, as well - @Shego and @figmentPez, the former a Hellion, the latter a Jester. They went with GasBandit and Grue into the Warrens, a confounding maze of twisting tunnels, running miles beneath the area. But there was no money for torches, barely enough for food and bandages...
The stress of fighting monsters in the dark was too much for Pez and Shego, and they became afflicted with selfishness. However, it brought out the best in Grue, who found a source of courage within himself even he had not known existed. GasBandit, when tested, also became a stalwart fighter. Alas, it was all too much for Pez, and he perished under the knife of a butcherous swine - but not of the cut, but rather of a heart attack from the fear. Shego and Gas had to be returned to the sanitarium for treatment. Even with the expenses, the loot was generous... but was it worth losing Pez?
The ranks were replenished by @Amy the Antiquarian, @BErt the Houndmaster, and @Bubble181 the Abomination. Zero took them on their inaugural foray into the Weald. It was a two day trip, and proved to be too much. Zero nearly died, but Amy managed to barely keep him alive, and all returned to the safety of the hamlet. However, just for the Antiquarian's presence, the trip was three times as profitable in loot as any previous "victory" had been.
A new Jester, @HCGLNS, was added to the troupe. He joined Charon, Dei, and Null to successfully attack the foulness in the Weald, but the stress of the experience made the new guy find his next opponent in the bottom of a bottle.
@Celt Z the graverobber joined next. Terrik took her, Wasabi, and SixPackShaker on a successful two-day excursion to the cove, to root out more fishmen.
Ten weeks have passed. It's a tenuous start, but a start nonetheless.
#6
WasabiPoptart
WasabiPoptart
#7
Null
Null
#8
Dei
Dei
Hey, Pez could come back from the dead 4 or 5 times like Terrik did last game. 
#9
Gruebeard
Gruebeard
#10
Hailey Knight
Hailey Knight
#11
DarkAudit
DarkAudit
#12
GasBandit
The days begin to blur together. On week 14, Terrik, Gas, Dei and Grue finally trace the source of the ravenous bloodsucking insects that have been plaguing the hamlet. The trail led to a vast courtyard surrounding the manor. It was filled with terrifyingly warped humanoids with insectoid features and pedipalps, dressed in finery and bearing a dignified mein, as if clinging to the pretense of posh nobility. But pretense was all it was, for the slightest amount of agitation would reveal the bloodsuckers for what they really were - some sort of vampiric-mosquito hybrids.
The party moved deeper into the labyrinth of the crimson courtyard, torching enormous insectoid nests with pitch-soaked torches as they went. Things seemed to be going well enough, until Grue was given a particularly nasty bite... and though the vermin assaulting him was quickly dispatched, it left him changed... a new hunger was behind his eyes, or rather, a thirst. The party battled on, but as the hours dragged past, the craving built inside Grue until he could no longer ignore it. Taking one of the vials of blood found during the adventure, he quaffed the entirety of its contents... and the craving seemed to abate, somewhat.
And it was just after this, that a terrifying crocodilian predator leapt from the rushes and savaged the party fiercely! It would rise from the reeds to rake at a victim with its powerful jaws, then sink back among the cattails.
A mighty struggle ensued. Dei and Grue were almost dragged away to be dismembered, but finally the beast was slain. The party returned to the hamlet, the buzzing of wings fading as they left... but the blood sickness still festering quietly in Grue's veins...
In subsequent weeks, the hemophagic pests began appearing outside the confines of the courtyard. We may have closed the window, but clearly we opened the doors for this spreading pestilence.
Be that as it may, the heroes recruited to my grim task grew ever stronger. On week 18, Gas, Terrik, Dei and Celt Z went into the ruins and purged it of a foul necromancer, with little to no trouble. Dare I believe that my goals are not impossible?
GasBandit
The days begin to blur together. On week 14, Terrik, Gas, Dei and Grue finally trace the source of the ravenous bloodsucking insects that have been plaguing the hamlet. The trail led to a vast courtyard surrounding the manor. It was filled with terrifyingly warped humanoids with insectoid features and pedipalps, dressed in finery and bearing a dignified mein, as if clinging to the pretense of posh nobility. But pretense was all it was, for the slightest amount of agitation would reveal the bloodsuckers for what they really were - some sort of vampiric-mosquito hybrids.
The party moved deeper into the labyrinth of the crimson courtyard, torching enormous insectoid nests with pitch-soaked torches as they went. Things seemed to be going well enough, until Grue was given a particularly nasty bite... and though the vermin assaulting him was quickly dispatched, it left him changed... a new hunger was behind his eyes, or rather, a thirst. The party battled on, but as the hours dragged past, the craving built inside Grue until he could no longer ignore it. Taking one of the vials of blood found during the adventure, he quaffed the entirety of its contents... and the craving seemed to abate, somewhat.
And it was just after this, that a terrifying crocodilian predator leapt from the rushes and savaged the party fiercely! It would rise from the reeds to rake at a victim with its powerful jaws, then sink back among the cattails.
A mighty struggle ensued. Dei and Grue were almost dragged away to be dismembered, but finally the beast was slain. The party returned to the hamlet, the buzzing of wings fading as they left... but the blood sickness still festering quietly in Grue's veins...
In subsequent weeks, the hemophagic pests began appearing outside the confines of the courtyard. We may have closed the window, but clearly we opened the doors for this spreading pestilence.
Be that as it may, the heroes recruited to my grim task grew ever stronger. On week 18, Gas, Terrik, Dei and Celt Z went into the ruins and purged it of a foul necromancer, with little to no trouble. Dare I believe that my goals are not impossible?
#13
PatrThom
PatrThom
#14
GasBandit
GasBandit
As an out-of-character side note, WHY ARE NO MEN-AT-ARMS SHOWING UP IN MY STAGECOACH TO BE RECRUITED? I thought they fixed this 
#15
Terrik
Terrik
Just admit that you don't want to recruit @SnuffleupagusAs an out-of-character side note, WHY ARE NO MEN-AT-ARMS SHOWING UP IN MY STAGECOACH TO BE RECRUITED? I thought they fixed this
#16
GasBandit
In other news,
Lately, Grue has felt like somebody is following him... Everybody else has been pretending not to notice him periodically sipping red liquid from secreted vials.
On what should have been a milk run through the ruins, Bubble is bitten by a mosquito, and contracts the Crimson Curse... The run is also somewhat spoiled by BErt insising on being the one to open every chest, meaning Amy can't search for valuable antiques, greatly hurting the profitability of the trip.
@Snuffles finally arrives, but he's so late and behind in experience that I wonder if he'll ever catch up.
Gas, Terrik, Dei and Celt Z were on a roll. They dispatched another boss with almost no difficulty! Each foray, I wait with growing trepidation for the other shoe to drop. I'd feared I'd hear it finally, when the increasing levels of bloodsucker infestations necessitated a return to the Crimson Courtyard, and its seemingly endlessly meandering hedgerows and pathways. More than once did a confounding mist drift across the path, leaving the party to suddenly realize it had gotten turned round, and needed to retrod paths already cleared.
Sure enough, my fears were realized when Dei was bitten by a supplicant, and contracted the Curse. As the mission progressed, she began to beg wounded comerades for "just a taste," and babbling about nonsense, all of which greatly unsettled her compatriots. Eventually, when her pleading became too much to be borne, they allowed her to drink blood from a vial pilfered from one of the enemy. Eventually, the stress of it all became too much and the quartet had to retreat back to the hamlet, dispirited - despite clearing no less than 18 locations, no way to stop the swarms was found. GasBandit and Celt Z drank away the bitter taste of failure, while Terrik sought refuge in prayer, and Dei found solace in bloody flagellation...
GasBandit
Quiet, you.
In other news,
Lately, Grue has felt like somebody is following him... Everybody else has been pretending not to notice him periodically sipping red liquid from secreted vials.
On what should have been a milk run through the ruins, Bubble is bitten by a mosquito, and contracts the Crimson Curse... The run is also somewhat spoiled by BErt insising on being the one to open every chest, meaning Amy can't search for valuable antiques, greatly hurting the profitability of the trip.
@Snuffles finally arrives, but he's so late and behind in experience that I wonder if he'll ever catch up.
Gas, Terrik, Dei and Celt Z were on a roll. They dispatched another boss with almost no difficulty! Each foray, I wait with growing trepidation for the other shoe to drop. I'd feared I'd hear it finally, when the increasing levels of bloodsucker infestations necessitated a return to the Crimson Courtyard, and its seemingly endlessly meandering hedgerows and pathways. More than once did a confounding mist drift across the path, leaving the party to suddenly realize it had gotten turned round, and needed to retrod paths already cleared.
Sure enough, my fears were realized when Dei was bitten by a supplicant, and contracted the Curse. As the mission progressed, she began to beg wounded comerades for "just a taste," and babbling about nonsense, all of which greatly unsettled her compatriots. Eventually, when her pleading became too much to be borne, they allowed her to drink blood from a vial pilfered from one of the enemy. Eventually, the stress of it all became too much and the quartet had to retreat back to the hamlet, dispirited - despite clearing no less than 18 locations, no way to stop the swarms was found. GasBandit and Celt Z drank away the bitter taste of failure, while Terrik sought refuge in prayer, and Dei found solace in bloody flagellation...
#17
Gruebeard
Gruebeard
#18
PatrThom
PatrThom
#19
GasBandit
GasBandit
#20
Null
Null
#21
GasBandit
GasBandit
#22
GasBandit
GasBandit
#23
Eriol
Eriol
#24
Officer_Charon
Hardly befitting a Crusader, if that's what I am, this time around.
Also, DAMMIT GAS! Why you gotta give me diseases when I'm alreay in the hospital?!
(Ohfuck, I'm on hospital guard duty today.... *nervous look*)
Officer_Charon
Hardly befitting a Crusader, if that's what I am, this time around.
Also, DAMMIT GAS! Why you gotta give me diseases when I'm alreay in the hospital?!
(Ohfuck, I'm on hospital guard duty today.... *nervous look*)
#25
GasBandit
GasBandit
You made it pretty darn far, last time.[DOUBLEPOST=1510935484,1510935463][/DOUBLEPOST]
No, YOU gave ME the curse
Hardly befitting a Crusader, if that's what I am, this time around.
Also, DAMMIT GAS! Why you gotta give me diseases when I'm alreay in the hospital?!
(Ohfuck, I'm on hospital guard duty today.... *nervous look*)
#26
Officer_Charon
Officer_Charon
#27
GasBandit
But then they're all
And now we're all
[DOUBLEPOST=1510939394,1510939272][/DOUBLEPOST]And I'm all like
GasBandit
Yeah really. First they're all
But then they're all
And now we're all
#28
GasBandit
GasBandit
And as long as I'm imagedumping, here's what my desktop looks like at work these days:
#29
Celt Z
Celt Z
I have a hat! 
#30
GasBandit
GasBandit
Reference for next year's halloween costume, though I'm using the palette option that gives you red hair and a purple coat.I have a hat!
#31
Celt Z
Celt Z
#32
GasBandit
Here you go.
Important parts:
Hat
Coat
Cravat
Leather Pants
Belt (BIG BUCKLE, pouches)
Pants (Leather, patched)
Boots (black leather, knee high)
Gloves (leather, elbow, fingerless)
Daggers
Green bottles
Pickaxe
Shovel
GasBandit
Dammit, the link went to the thumbnail and not the full picture.
Here you go.
Important parts:
Hat
Coat
Cravat
Leather Pants
Belt (BIG BUCKLE, pouches)
Pants (Leather, patched)
Boots (black leather, knee high)
Gloves (leather, elbow, fingerless)
Daggers
Green bottles
Pickaxe
Shovel
#33
PatrThom
PatrThom
#34
GasBandit
GasBandit
#35
PatrThom
PatrThom
#37
PatrThom
—Patrick
PatrThom
Those poor pixels. They probably didn’t even have time to feel afraid.I just dumped a screenshot in paint
—Patrick
#38
GasBandit
@ThatNickGuy, @Sara_2814, and @Bones join the roster!
Celt Z gets a tapeworm. That's not a good diet plan, Keltsy. She is sent to the doctors and is out of commission while it is... dealt with.
Charon is nearly killed, being boiled alive in the pot of a hag. Fortunately, he is rescued just in time. The Hag is dispatched.
The Crimson Courtiers are ubiquitous now. Terrik is infected with the Crimson Curse from a sycophant bloodsucker.
The Charon takes Celt Z's place in the A-list lineup while she's out recovering, and the heroes return to the Crimson Courtyard to, once again, attempt to staunch the ever-increasing swarms.
In a blood frenzy, Terrik attacks GasBandit, wounding and stunning him. #GodDammitTerrik
The Party finally reaches the Baron, after an excruciatingly long search.
The fight is long and hellish, and it claims the life of Dei (at about 5:10 in the above video if you don't want to watch the whole thing). In fact, the entire party comes close to perishing... but the day is won. The Crimson Baron falls, and the bloodsuckers retreat from the environs back to their nests in the Courtyard... for now. A silver lining to Dei's sacrifice - everyone who had been afflicted with the Crimson Curse is cured!
Eriol, Snuffles, HCGLNS and Wasabi defeat the Sonorous Prophet, but the men all come down with various diseases. Capital is expended to enlarge the hospital facilities to treat everyone.
With the loss of Dei, the roster needs a new Vestal. Fortunately, @Dirona arrives on the coach.
Emrys takes Ravenpoe, Eriol, and Sixpackshaker on a 3-day scouting mission into the warrens that ends up being extremely profitable. But they end up having to make extensive use of the medical facilities when they return - conditions in the swine-infested warrens are not exactly... hygienic.
GasBandit
@ThatNickGuy, @Sara_2814, and @Bones join the roster!
Celt Z gets a tapeworm. That's not a good diet plan, Keltsy. She is sent to the doctors and is out of commission while it is... dealt with.
Charon is nearly killed, being boiled alive in the pot of a hag. Fortunately, he is rescued just in time. The Hag is dispatched.
The Crimson Courtiers are ubiquitous now. Terrik is infected with the Crimson Curse from a sycophant bloodsucker.
The Charon takes Celt Z's place in the A-list lineup while she's out recovering, and the heroes return to the Crimson Courtyard to, once again, attempt to staunch the ever-increasing swarms.
In a blood frenzy, Terrik attacks GasBandit, wounding and stunning him. #GodDammitTerrik
The Party finally reaches the Baron, after an excruciatingly long search.
The fight is long and hellish, and it claims the life of Dei (at about 5:10 in the above video if you don't want to watch the whole thing). In fact, the entire party comes close to perishing... but the day is won. The Crimson Baron falls, and the bloodsuckers retreat from the environs back to their nests in the Courtyard... for now. A silver lining to Dei's sacrifice - everyone who had been afflicted with the Crimson Curse is cured!
Eriol, Snuffles, HCGLNS and Wasabi defeat the Sonorous Prophet, but the men all come down with various diseases. Capital is expended to enlarge the hospital facilities to treat everyone.
With the loss of Dei, the roster needs a new Vestal. Fortunately, @Dirona arrives on the coach.
Emrys takes Ravenpoe, Eriol, and Sixpackshaker on a 3-day scouting mission into the warrens that ends up being extremely profitable. But they end up having to make extensive use of the medical facilities when they return - conditions in the swine-infested warrens are not exactly... hygienic.
#39
Celt Z
Celt Z
Try this secret weightloss trick they don't want you to know!
#41
WasabiPoptart
WasabiPoptart
#42
PatrThom
PatrThom
#43
GasBandit
Shego, SpecialKO, Snuffles and Dirona kill the horrid Swine Prince, but once again the warrens spread various forms of creeping ick among the heroes.
The town is attacked by a gang of brigands, led by a huge man named Vvulf. Terrik, Gas, and Celt Z step up to defend, and Kags has to take the vacancy left by Dei's death, even though she is a tad underleveled. The party makes its way through burning streets and dastardly cutthroats, and confronts the villainous Vvulf himself. The bandit lord lobbed powerful explosive bombs at the party, and Terrik was blown to smithereens. We'll have to bury what's left of him in a coffee can... but ultimately, the robbers are defeated and the town is saved. Kags gains a massive amount of experience in the ordeal, and can no longer be called a liability by any definition.
@fade arrives on the stagecoach. He leads a Nick, Sara_2814, and Dirona on a 2-day expedition through the cove that goes pretty well.
It clears the way for Zero, Nick, Bones and Emrys to come through next, and attack the ghostly Sodden Crew. Bones' occult skills at dealing with eldritch abominations comes in particularly handy against the fish-men of the cove. They make short work of the piratical apparitions. But Bones can't resist rooting around in the guts of a giant dead fish, and contracts the red plague.
Shego, Dave, Snuffles and Wasabi purge the world of the nightmare of anatomy that is the Inchoate Flesh.
The Gibbous moon sends Bubble and RavenPoe howling into the hills at night, and when they return they have both gained a level, with no explanation...
Charon, Dave, Kags and Amy go to destroy the Brigand 12-pounder cannon, confident in their victory. But it all goes terribly wrong... they are defeated soundly, sent fleeing home... and Kags doesn't make it at all. We seem to be having a really hard time keeping our Vestals alive >_<
GasBandit
Shego, SpecialKO, Snuffles and Dirona kill the horrid Swine Prince, but once again the warrens spread various forms of creeping ick among the heroes.
The town is attacked by a gang of brigands, led by a huge man named Vvulf. Terrik, Gas, and Celt Z step up to defend, and Kags has to take the vacancy left by Dei's death, even though she is a tad underleveled. The party makes its way through burning streets and dastardly cutthroats, and confronts the villainous Vvulf himself. The bandit lord lobbed powerful explosive bombs at the party, and Terrik was blown to smithereens. We'll have to bury what's left of him in a coffee can... but ultimately, the robbers are defeated and the town is saved. Kags gains a massive amount of experience in the ordeal, and can no longer be called a liability by any definition.
@fade arrives on the stagecoach. He leads a Nick, Sara_2814, and Dirona on a 2-day expedition through the cove that goes pretty well.
It clears the way for Zero, Nick, Bones and Emrys to come through next, and attack the ghostly Sodden Crew. Bones' occult skills at dealing with eldritch abominations comes in particularly handy against the fish-men of the cove. They make short work of the piratical apparitions. But Bones can't resist rooting around in the guts of a giant dead fish, and contracts the red plague.
Shego, Dave, Snuffles and Wasabi purge the world of the nightmare of anatomy that is the Inchoate Flesh.
The Gibbous moon sends Bubble and RavenPoe howling into the hills at night, and when they return they have both gained a level, with no explanation...
Charon, Dave, Kags and Amy go to destroy the Brigand 12-pounder cannon, confident in their victory. But it all goes terribly wrong... they are defeated soundly, sent fleeing home... and Kags doesn't make it at all. We seem to be having a really hard time keeping our Vestals alive >_<
#44
Terrik
Terrik
#45
Null
Null
#46
GasBandit
@Frank arrives on the coach.
The first few hints of bloodsuckers are starting to be seen outside the courtyard again... soon I fear we will have another pestilential swarm on our hands.
With Dei and Kags gone (and the loss of all the +healing gear along with Kags), Dirona is put on the fast track to the top. We need solid healing. She, BErt, Snuffles and Frank explore deeper into the Ruins. There is noticeably more difficulty on these forays into the dark. While they were seuccessful, Frank, Snuffles and BErt are going to need doctoring and a lot of booze before they're ready for action again. I hope this doesn't signal a turning point in the fight... against us.
BErt had such a good time in the Brothel, he's now got himself a love interest - and he refuses to partake in any other form of stress reduction. Snuffles, on the other hand, got so sick on rotgut and engine degreaser that he has sworn off alcohol entirely.
It's now been an entire year since our battle against the unseen and unspeakable began.
@SeraRelm joins the roster.
Fade falls afoul of the Crimson Curse.
@DarkAudit comes on board.
Dirona rises quickly in the ranks, and her achievement of level 5 is reached by going along with the 3 biggest dogs on the block to kill a fiendish necromancer. Irony and Karma team up to slippityslap GasBandit, in full view of Celt Z.
PatrThom contracts the Crimson Curse. The infestation is getting out of hand. Another trip to the Courtyard is evidently urgently required.
Charon, Gas, Dirona and Celt Z take the Viscount up on his invitation, and head into the Crimson Courtyard. Things start to go awry when Charon is afflicted with the Crimson Curse. The slog through the maze-like hedges is grueling, and the bloodsuckers seem even stronger than before. The incredible duress put upon the party causes a vastly increased appetite, and they are forced to turn back when the rations are exhausted.
GasBandit
@Frank arrives on the coach.
The first few hints of bloodsuckers are starting to be seen outside the courtyard again... soon I fear we will have another pestilential swarm on our hands.
With Dei and Kags gone (and the loss of all the +healing gear along with Kags), Dirona is put on the fast track to the top. We need solid healing. She, BErt, Snuffles and Frank explore deeper into the Ruins. There is noticeably more difficulty on these forays into the dark. While they were seuccessful, Frank, Snuffles and BErt are going to need doctoring and a lot of booze before they're ready for action again. I hope this doesn't signal a turning point in the fight... against us.
BErt had such a good time in the Brothel, he's now got himself a love interest - and he refuses to partake in any other form of stress reduction. Snuffles, on the other hand, got so sick on rotgut and engine degreaser that he has sworn off alcohol entirely.
It's now been an entire year since our battle against the unseen and unspeakable began.
@SeraRelm joins the roster.
Fade falls afoul of the Crimson Curse.
@DarkAudit comes on board.
Dirona rises quickly in the ranks, and her achievement of level 5 is reached by going along with the 3 biggest dogs on the block to kill a fiendish necromancer. Irony and Karma team up to slippityslap GasBandit, in full view of Celt Z.
PatrThom contracts the Crimson Curse. The infestation is getting out of hand. Another trip to the Courtyard is evidently urgently required.
Charon, Gas, Dirona and Celt Z take the Viscount up on his invitation, and head into the Crimson Courtyard. Things start to go awry when Charon is afflicted with the Crimson Curse. The slog through the maze-like hedges is grueling, and the bloodsuckers seem even stronger than before. The incredible duress put upon the party causes a vastly increased appetite, and they are forced to turn back when the rations are exhausted.
#47
MindDetective
MindDetective
#48
GasBandit
Well, anyway, if a Vestal comes on the coach, I'll remember
Come to think of it, you might also make a decent Occulist, which a lot of people think is the primary healing class of the game.
See, a Vestal's best healing, Divine Grace, (before boosts from gear) does about 9 hp.
The Occultist's heal, Wyrd Reconstruction, will heal a random number between 0 and 20 hp, but will also attempt to apply a bleed effect for 3 turns (which can be resisted, but still)...
Thing is we already got two occultists, Grue and Bones.
GasBandit
Heh, Mindy Tective the Vestal? You were a plague doctor last time, which can heal a little, granted, but is really more a damage-over-time class...
Well, anyway, if a Vestal comes on the coach, I'll remember
Come to think of it, you might also make a decent Occulist, which a lot of people think is the primary healing class of the game.
See, a Vestal's best healing, Divine Grace, (before boosts from gear) does about 9 hp.
The Occultist's heal, Wyrd Reconstruction, will heal a random number between 0 and 20 hp, but will also attempt to apply a bleed effect for 3 turns (which can be resisted, but still)...
Thing is we already got two occultists, Grue and Bones.
#49
GasBandit
The big boys party restocks and returns to the Crimson Courtyard, intent on finding the Viscount and ending him. It doesn't take long for both Gas and Celt Z to contract the Crimson Curse.
The party finds a captive Level 5 Bounty Hunter in a hidden room. Upon being rescued, he joins the roster! His name is @General Specific.
As Dirona begins to feel the thirst, it is apparent that now all four party members suffer the Crimson Curse. The Party finally must fall back to town due to stress and injury, but I think a huge amount of progress has been made.
A puppet theater is built in the town, which will aid in the stress relief of idle heroes. On his first foray on the team, GeneralSpecific contracts both Spotted Fever and the Ague. Charon, during a drinking binge, blows 500 gold buying a round for the entire house.
A bank is constructed, so that we may gain interest on gold we do not spend. This little hamlet is really starting to come back from the ramshackle hovels it was a year ago.
After some B-listers run a couple other quests, the big 4 tackle the courtyard again. They finally track down the viscount, and defeat him, though Celt Z does not survive the encounter... All are cured of the Crimson Curse, the swarms of insects retreat, and Dirona advances to level 6, finally.
@Squidleybits joins the fight. GenSpec, Dave, Bones, and Snuffles defeat the Alluring Siren. Meanwhile, the Horrid Shrieker steals 8 trinkets from us!
Gas, Charon, Dirona and Snuffles go to get them back. They destroy the flying monstrosity, and return with all that was stolen, plus a little extra...
Shego, Dave, Sara_2815 and Wasabi have a much easier time dealing with the Brigand 12-pounder. Kags is avenged. Dave makes level 6. Eriol, SpecialKO, BErt, and Wasabi make short work of the Swine King.
@MindDetective joins on!
Shego, Frank, ThatNickguy and Sara_2814 perform surprisingly well together, and defeat the Fulminating Prophet without a dedicated healer in the group!
The Sunken Crew is put to sea by Frank, ThatNickGuy, Bones, and Null.
GasBandit
The big boys party restocks and returns to the Crimson Courtyard, intent on finding the Viscount and ending him. It doesn't take long for both Gas and Celt Z to contract the Crimson Curse.
The party finds a captive Level 5 Bounty Hunter in a hidden room. Upon being rescued, he joins the roster! His name is @General Specific.
As Dirona begins to feel the thirst, it is apparent that now all four party members suffer the Crimson Curse. The Party finally must fall back to town due to stress and injury, but I think a huge amount of progress has been made.
A puppet theater is built in the town, which will aid in the stress relief of idle heroes. On his first foray on the team, GeneralSpecific contracts both Spotted Fever and the Ague. Charon, during a drinking binge, blows 500 gold buying a round for the entire house.
A bank is constructed, so that we may gain interest on gold we do not spend. This little hamlet is really starting to come back from the ramshackle hovels it was a year ago.
After some B-listers run a couple other quests, the big 4 tackle the courtyard again. They finally track down the viscount, and defeat him, though Celt Z does not survive the encounter... All are cured of the Crimson Curse, the swarms of insects retreat, and Dirona advances to level 6, finally.
@Squidleybits joins the fight. GenSpec, Dave, Bones, and Snuffles defeat the Alluring Siren. Meanwhile, the Horrid Shrieker steals 8 trinkets from us!
Gas, Charon, Dirona and Snuffles go to get them back. They destroy the flying monstrosity, and return with all that was stolen, plus a little extra...
Shego, Dave, Sara_2815 and Wasabi have a much easier time dealing with the Brigand 12-pounder. Kags is avenged. Dave makes level 6. Eriol, SpecialKO, BErt, and Wasabi make short work of the Swine King.
@MindDetective joins on!
Shego, Frank, ThatNickguy and Sara_2814 perform surprisingly well together, and defeat the Fulminating Prophet without a dedicated healer in the group!
The Sunken Crew is put to sea by Frank, ThatNickGuy, Bones, and Null.
#50
Celt Z
Celt Z
#51
PatrThom
PatrThom
#52
GasBandit
GasBandit
#53
Officer_Charon
Officer_Charon
#55
GasBandit
Fade, SpecialKO, HCGLNS, and Wasabi sally forth to destroy the Unstable Flesh. It's a close call for Wasabi, who is brought to death's door, but everyone lives and the beastly mistake is put to an end. The experience takes Wasabi to level 6. Fade comes down with the Fits, the Runs, AND a Spasm of the Entrails. WHAT DID HE EAT??
Fortunately, the doctors are SUPER EFFECTIVE at curing Fade, and... uh... Wasabi? What did... you know what, I don't want to know. Unfortunately this puts Wasabi in an odd predicament - her Love Interest quirk makes her refuse to engage in any stress relief activity other than the brothel, but now thanks to her Deviant Tastes, she's banned from the brothel. Looks like I need to send her to the sanitarium for some... remedial intervention.
The respite from the bloodsuckers was brief. When they return, Eriol is the first to be infected. Serarelm is only moments behind him, however. On another mission, HCGLNS does the same. It's building again...
@AshburnerX joins the roster. About time, we needed another Man at Arms.
GasBandit
It's difficult to manage the Abominations. Religious classes refuse to group with them, and I don't have a lot of stress mitigation - and you guys cause a LOT of stress when you get riled up.[DOUBLEPOST=1511648747,1511648186][/DOUBLEPOST]Hurray! I got another mention!
Fade, SpecialKO, HCGLNS, and Wasabi sally forth to destroy the Unstable Flesh. It's a close call for Wasabi, who is brought to death's door, but everyone lives and the beastly mistake is put to an end. The experience takes Wasabi to level 6. Fade comes down with the Fits, the Runs, AND a Spasm of the Entrails. WHAT DID HE EAT??
Fortunately, the doctors are SUPER EFFECTIVE at curing Fade, and... uh... Wasabi? What did... you know what, I don't want to know. Unfortunately this puts Wasabi in an odd predicament - her Love Interest quirk makes her refuse to engage in any stress relief activity other than the brothel, but now thanks to her Deviant Tastes, she's banned from the brothel. Looks like I need to send her to the sanitarium for some... remedial intervention.
The respite from the bloodsuckers was brief. When they return, Eriol is the first to be infected. Serarelm is only moments behind him, however. On another mission, HCGLNS does the same. It's building again...
@AshburnerX joins the roster. About time, we needed another Man at Arms.
#57
WasabiPoptart
WasabiPoptart
#58
GasBandit
Ambushed at night during a patrol through the Ruins, Bubble181 contracts the crimson curse.
Gasbandit, Charon, Sara and Dirona return to the ruins afterwards defeat the third and final necromancer. Perhaps now the wandering dead will begin to dwindle. Sara_2814 is now level 6.
Null and PatrThom are put to work when the plague comes to town. The experience boosts them from level 4 to 5.
On the way to kill the most dastardly Hag Witch, Dirona and Sara are infected again with the Crimson Curse. In the fight itself, SpecialKO was nearly boiled to death in the Hag's bubbling cauldron! It all worked out in the end, though, I suppose. Enduring the searing pain pushed SpecialKO (and Shego) to level 6.
A granary is constructed. Another sign of Civilization returning to the hamlet. But the swarms are back at full force, and Charon, Gas, Dirona and Sara have to return...
...to the Crimson Courtyard.
I suppose it was only to be expected that another of the untainted members of the party would contract the curse, and that they would not find the Crimson Countess on their first try. They made good progress, until the stress became too much for Dirona, and the cracking sound of her psyche collapsing prompted the party to fall back to town.
GasBandit
Ambushed at night during a patrol through the Ruins, Bubble181 contracts the crimson curse.
Gasbandit, Charon, Sara and Dirona return to the ruins afterwards defeat the third and final necromancer. Perhaps now the wandering dead will begin to dwindle. Sara_2814 is now level 6.
Null and PatrThom are put to work when the plague comes to town. The experience boosts them from level 4 to 5.
On the way to kill the most dastardly Hag Witch, Dirona and Sara are infected again with the Crimson Curse. In the fight itself, SpecialKO was nearly boiled to death in the Hag's bubbling cauldron! It all worked out in the end, though, I suppose. Enduring the searing pain pushed SpecialKO (and Shego) to level 6.
A granary is constructed. Another sign of Civilization returning to the hamlet. But the swarms are back at full force, and Charon, Gas, Dirona and Sara have to return...
...to the Crimson Courtyard.
I suppose it was only to be expected that another of the untainted members of the party would contract the curse, and that they would not find the Crimson Countess on their first try. They made good progress, until the stress became too much for Dirona, and the cracking sound of her psyche collapsing prompted the party to fall back to town.
#59
Dirona
Dirona
#60
GasBandit
Genspec, SpecialKO, BErt and Wasabi go after the Swine God. BErt finds a barrel of moonshine spirits and aquires a taste for it... a little too enthusiastically. He also is infected by the Crimson Curse.
SpecialKO clings to the precipice at Death's Door FOUR TIMES, but he manages to cling to life and the party is victorious! The sight instantly cures BErt of his newfound alcoholism, but gives him Zoophobia. Which isn't very good for a Houndmaster to have. Straight to the sanitarium for him.
Charon, Gas, Dirona and Sara take another crack at the Crimson Courtyard. They find an imprisoned Jester, @Tinwhistler. Being released, he joins the crusade.
Surprisingly, the Countess is found! Her appearance is deceptive, and her disguise doesn't last long. The battle is horrific in more ways than one!
She implants a broodling into Dirona, that kills her when it bursts out of her body!
Gas Bandit is slain by her probing ovipositor.
And Charon follows quickly thereafter, run through by the Countess's piercing proboscis.
Sara has no choice but a frantic retreat to town. This is a monstrous setback.
Losing Charon, GB and Dirona is a terrible blow, but at least a wave of new recruits arrive... in the form of @mikerc, @Denbrought, @Grytpipe-Thynne, and @Hylian.
The Crimson Curse is still spreading, so GeneralSpecific, SpecialKO, BErt and Wasabi step up to try to succeed where the others failed.
Madness claims the party, one by one.
The stress is too much,and BErt dies of a heart attack. Morale utterly crushed, the 3 survivors flee for town.
@Gryfter and @Reverent-one arrive on the Coach. GeneralSpecific crawled into a bottle to forget what he saw in the Courtyard, and it seems he might never come back out again.
On Denbrought's first outing, the terrifying ghouls he meets drives his mind over the edge. However, Grytpipe, Mikerc, and Grifter manage to carry him onward, and their mission to gather relics in the ruins is successful despite this.
GasBandit
Genspec, SpecialKO, BErt and Wasabi go after the Swine God. BErt finds a barrel of moonshine spirits and aquires a taste for it... a little too enthusiastically. He also is infected by the Crimson Curse.
SpecialKO clings to the precipice at Death's Door FOUR TIMES, but he manages to cling to life and the party is victorious! The sight instantly cures BErt of his newfound alcoholism, but gives him Zoophobia. Which isn't very good for a Houndmaster to have. Straight to the sanitarium for him.
Charon, Gas, Dirona and Sara take another crack at the Crimson Courtyard. They find an imprisoned Jester, @Tinwhistler. Being released, he joins the crusade.
Surprisingly, the Countess is found! Her appearance is deceptive, and her disguise doesn't last long. The battle is horrific in more ways than one!
She implants a broodling into Dirona, that kills her when it bursts out of her body!
Gas Bandit is slain by her probing ovipositor.
And Charon follows quickly thereafter, run through by the Countess's piercing proboscis.
Sara has no choice but a frantic retreat to town. This is a monstrous setback.
Losing Charon, GB and Dirona is a terrible blow, but at least a wave of new recruits arrive... in the form of @mikerc, @Denbrought, @Grytpipe-Thynne, and @Hylian.
The Crimson Curse is still spreading, so GeneralSpecific, SpecialKO, BErt and Wasabi step up to try to succeed where the others failed.
Madness claims the party, one by one.
The stress is too much,and BErt dies of a heart attack. Morale utterly crushed, the 3 survivors flee for town.
@Gryfter and @Reverent-one arrive on the Coach. GeneralSpecific crawled into a bottle to forget what he saw in the Courtyard, and it seems he might never come back out again.
On Denbrought's first outing, the terrifying ghouls he meets drives his mind over the edge. However, Grytpipe, Mikerc, and Grifter manage to carry him onward, and their mission to gather relics in the ruins is successful despite this.
#61
WasabiPoptart
WasabiPoptart
#62
Officer_Charon
Officer_Charon
#63
PatrThom
PatrThom
#64
GasBandit
GasBandit
#65
PatrThom
PatrThom
#66
GasBandit
GasBandit
#67
Emrys
Emrys
#68
GasBandit
GasBandit
#69
Emrys
Emrys
#70
GasBandit
Though, I've been formulating a plan to kill the Countess that might involve you or Amy, whichever is higher level, better equipped, and lower stress at the time of implementation.
See, the only reason Sara escaped when Dirona, Charon, and GasBandit died was because she had massive dodge buffs.
So I need a team of people who can
Now, Antiquarians aren't good at dodging, but what they can do is command another party member to guard them, and doing so buffs the dodge (and prot) stat of the person doing the guarding. And they're the only class that can do that that has a heal (albeit a very paltry heal).
So, I need a party with high dodge/prot that can deal damage, and I'll still need a healer in case anybody gets to Death's Door (0 hp).
I'm thinking two Men-At-Arms (Snuffles and AshburnerX most likely), a Grave Robber (Sara_2914), and an Antiquarian (You or Amy). Snuffles and Ash will start spamming their group dodge/speed buffs, Emrys/Amy will spam "guard me!" on Sara, and Sara will be the primary damage (and boy oh boy does the graverobber do damage). Hopefully all the dodge boosting will negate damage, so we'll be able to whittle the Countess down over time, and if somebody gets into trouble, Emrys/Amy's minor healing can at least get them off Death's Door (a character has to already be at 0 hp to be killed by further damage, abarring things like heart attacks).
The big concern in this fight will be the implanted broodlings. The Countess will start trying to oviposit those nasty little suckers right away in the first round, and the dodge buffs might not be stacked enough yet at that point to avoid it. The broodlings cause damage every turn while they grow, then cause massive damage when they burst out, plus bleeding. If the bursting takes somebody to zero, the subsequent bleeding makes for an uncomfortably large chance for a deathblow. But that's a risk I'm willing for you all to take.
I'll probably give that a try this weekend.
GasBandit
Indeed.
Though, I've been formulating a plan to kill the Countess that might involve you or Amy, whichever is higher level, better equipped, and lower stress at the time of implementation.
See, the only reason Sara escaped when Dirona, Charon, and GasBandit died was because she had massive dodge buffs.
So I need a team of people who can
Now, Antiquarians aren't good at dodging, but what they can do is command another party member to guard them, and doing so buffs the dodge (and prot) stat of the person doing the guarding. And they're the only class that can do that that has a heal (albeit a very paltry heal).
So, I need a party with high dodge/prot that can deal damage, and I'll still need a healer in case anybody gets to Death's Door (0 hp).
I'm thinking two Men-At-Arms (Snuffles and AshburnerX most likely), a Grave Robber (Sara_2914), and an Antiquarian (You or Amy). Snuffles and Ash will start spamming their group dodge/speed buffs, Emrys/Amy will spam "guard me!" on Sara, and Sara will be the primary damage (and boy oh boy does the graverobber do damage). Hopefully all the dodge boosting will negate damage, so we'll be able to whittle the Countess down over time, and if somebody gets into trouble, Emrys/Amy's minor healing can at least get them off Death's Door (a character has to already be at 0 hp to be killed by further damage, abarring things like heart attacks).
The big concern in this fight will be the implanted broodlings. The Countess will start trying to oviposit those nasty little suckers right away in the first round, and the dodge buffs might not be stacked enough yet at that point to avoid it. The broodlings cause damage every turn while they grow, then cause massive damage when they burst out, plus bleeding. If the bursting takes somebody to zero, the subsequent bleeding makes for an uncomfortably large chance for a deathblow. But that's a risk I'm willing for you all to take.
I'll probably give that a try this weekend.
#71
PatrThom
...eh? Clicking on it just says, "memegenerator.net may not be a legitimate website you should close this page" so no idea what's up there.
--Patrick
PatrThom
...eh? Clicking on it just says, "memegenerator.net may not be a legitimate website you should close this page" so no idea what's up there.
--Patrick
#72
GasBandit
GasBandit
#73
PatrThom
PatrThom
#74
GasBandit
GasBandit
#75
PatrThom
PatrThom
#76
Officer_Charon
Officer_Charon
#78
PatrThom
PatrThom
#79
Officer_Charon
Officer_Charon
#80
PatrThom
PatrThom
#81
Null
Null
#82
PatrThom
PatrThom
#83
GasBandit
GasBandit
Spoilered for size, this is a long one, and the pictures would get overwhelming in full size probably.
A fairly uneventful patrol through the Cove pushes Snuffles and Amy to level 6.
Mikerc went to meditate in the abbey for stress relief, and it calmed him down a little TOO much! -15% damage on the first round? Unacceptable! Gonna get the leeches to pull that nonsense right out of his blood.
On what should have been a milk run through the warrens, Wasabi and Nick contract the Crimson Curse. But the experience pushes Zero to level 6. Frank is also infected by the curse the following week. These swarms are everywhere!
Ashburner's morale breaks when his party runs out of food, leaving him hopeless on a trip through the ruins. His affliction causes a retreat to fail at a crucial moment, causing the death of both himself, and Null. Patrthom and Frank barely manage to escape.
@CynicalKat, @stienman, and @JunJun join the roster. The latter two are woefully inexperienced, but we really have a bad need for a crusader and a vestal.
On a trip through the weald, Emrys looks into a tent at a seemingly abandoned campsite, and the revelation of the grisly fate of its occupant drives her over the edge.
Grue, on the other hand, rises to the challenge.
The mission goes completely pear-shaped, however, and after retreating back to the bloody camp after a battle gone terribly wrong, Emrys dies of a heart attack. Another antiquarian arrives to take her place, named NobleHippy.
Grytpipe-thynne, Stienman, Junjun and Hylian are also afflicted with the Crimson Curse.
The Fanatic ambushes the party! The battle is bloody (and fiery), But Hylian, Nick, Stienman and Junjun finally overcome him - though Nick is nearly burned to death at the stake. Nearly. But in surviving, he advances to level 6. He celebrates by going on a drunken bender and isn't seen for three weeks. Two vials of antidote for the Crimson Curse are found on the fanatic's fallen corpse! With so many infected, it will be difficult to choose who to cure...
@Sparhawk and his faithful hound join the crusade.
Wasabi is cured of the crimson curse. She, Dave, General Specific and Shego go to destroy the last cannon in the Weald, the Brigand 16-pounder. They're fantastically successful, and bring home a nice trophy (and Shego brings home a tapeworm). (6:50)
When they return, they find some sort of miracle has returned Dirona to life! She's alive and as strong as she was, but considerable expense must be invested to re-train and re-equip her. Fortunately, money is no longer a problem for us.
The second vial of cure is used on Junjun. She is, however, almost immediately reinfected during the mission. As are Fade and Mikerc.
Wasabi, Serarelm, Genspec and Dave try to kill the final, Formless Flesh. Things do NOT go well at all. Wasabi is killed brutally by a lashing hail of toothed and spiny tendrils. Dave is nearly bitten in half, and then bleeds out before any aid can be rendered. The others come so very close to finishing off the horrible thing, but in a crushing flurry of teeth and bad luck, everyone is killed. Everyone. Catastrophe.
Shego, Dirona, Nick, and Sara_2814 set out to defeat the Beguiling Siren, but the stress of all the madness drives Shego to hopelessness with alarming quickness. Sara has a close brush with death, and the four deem it prudent to regroup in town.
@Adam the highwayman signs on to the endeavor.
After a very successful attack on the fish-men of the cove with Tinwhistler, Bones, MindDetective and Grue all advance to level 6.
It has now been two years. Two... long... years... since our arrival.
The hamlet, once a hopeless midden sheltering a few terrified rabble, is now almost completely restored to its heyday, and adventurers bustle through the streets. But what a cost the labor has incurred... so many dead, so many lost.
And the jagged rictus of the mansion on the cliff still looms over us all, like the Sword of Damocles, waiting to fall on us and end it all at any time.
A fairly uneventful patrol through the Cove pushes Snuffles and Amy to level 6.
Mikerc went to meditate in the abbey for stress relief, and it calmed him down a little TOO much! -15% damage on the first round? Unacceptable! Gonna get the leeches to pull that nonsense right out of his blood.
On what should have been a milk run through the warrens, Wasabi and Nick contract the Crimson Curse. But the experience pushes Zero to level 6. Frank is also infected by the curse the following week. These swarms are everywhere!
Ashburner's morale breaks when his party runs out of food, leaving him hopeless on a trip through the ruins. His affliction causes a retreat to fail at a crucial moment, causing the death of both himself, and Null. Patrthom and Frank barely manage to escape.
@CynicalKat, @stienman, and @JunJun join the roster. The latter two are woefully inexperienced, but we really have a bad need for a crusader and a vestal.
On a trip through the weald, Emrys looks into a tent at a seemingly abandoned campsite, and the revelation of the grisly fate of its occupant drives her over the edge.
Grue, on the other hand, rises to the challenge.
The mission goes completely pear-shaped, however, and after retreating back to the bloody camp after a battle gone terribly wrong, Emrys dies of a heart attack. Another antiquarian arrives to take her place, named NobleHippy.
Grytpipe-thynne, Stienman, Junjun and Hylian are also afflicted with the Crimson Curse.
The Fanatic ambushes the party! The battle is bloody (and fiery), But Hylian, Nick, Stienman and Junjun finally overcome him - though Nick is nearly burned to death at the stake. Nearly. But in surviving, he advances to level 6. He celebrates by going on a drunken bender and isn't seen for three weeks. Two vials of antidote for the Crimson Curse are found on the fanatic's fallen corpse! With so many infected, it will be difficult to choose who to cure...
@Sparhawk and his faithful hound join the crusade.
Wasabi is cured of the crimson curse. She, Dave, General Specific and Shego go to destroy the last cannon in the Weald, the Brigand 16-pounder. They're fantastically successful, and bring home a nice trophy (and Shego brings home a tapeworm). (6:50)
When they return, they find some sort of miracle has returned Dirona to life! She's alive and as strong as she was, but considerable expense must be invested to re-train and re-equip her. Fortunately, money is no longer a problem for us.
The second vial of cure is used on Junjun. She is, however, almost immediately reinfected during the mission. As are Fade and Mikerc.
Wasabi, Serarelm, Genspec and Dave try to kill the final, Formless Flesh. Things do NOT go well at all. Wasabi is killed brutally by a lashing hail of toothed and spiny tendrils. Dave is nearly bitten in half, and then bleeds out before any aid can be rendered. The others come so very close to finishing off the horrible thing, but in a crushing flurry of teeth and bad luck, everyone is killed. Everyone. Catastrophe.
Shego, Dirona, Nick, and Sara_2814 set out to defeat the Beguiling Siren, but the stress of all the madness drives Shego to hopelessness with alarming quickness. Sara has a close brush with death, and the four deem it prudent to regroup in town.
@Adam the highwayman signs on to the endeavor.
After a very successful attack on the fish-men of the cove with Tinwhistler, Bones, MindDetective and Grue all advance to level 6.
It has now been two years. Two... long... years... since our arrival.
The hamlet, once a hopeless midden sheltering a few terrified rabble, is now almost completely restored to its heyday, and adventurers bustle through the streets. But what a cost the labor has incurred... so many dead, so many lost.
And the jagged rictus of the mansion on the cliff still looms over us all, like the Sword of Damocles, waiting to fall on us and end it all at any time.
#84
WasabiPoptart
WasabiPoptart
#85
Bubble181
Bubble181
#87
Terrik
Terrik
#88
Tress
Tress
#89
GasBandit
GasBandit
#90
DarkAudit
DarkAudit
#91
GasBandit
But yeah, for every note up there, usually 4 or 5 missions go by. That most recent post came from a nine-and-a-half hour long play session.
GasBandit
Generally that just means that every mission you go on, nobody dies or goes insane, so I don't make a note of anything
But yeah, for every note up there, usually 4 or 5 missions go by. That most recent post came from a nine-and-a-half hour long play session.
#92
mikerc
mikerc
#93
Gruebeard
Gruebeard
#94
GasBandit
GasBandit
#95
GasBandit
GasBandit
Once again, spoilered for image size -
Due to his grousing, @Tress becomes the next Plague Doctor to join the troupe.
Eriol and Tinwhistler reach level 6 after the easiest, smoothest trip through the warrens I can remember having. They didn't even need to use their firewood and camp for the night.
In fact, they (plus DarkAudit and Junjun) come back with more food than they left with. Uh... where... where did you get this meat, guys?
DA and Jun return to the warrens with Grytpipe and HCGLNS, and all four of them make level 6.
@Docseverin the crusader signs up for the long haul.
Snuffles, Grytpipe, Amy, and Sara make a try for the countess. For a while, the battle seems to be going well... until it suddenly isn't. Sara comes to death's door, and discretion being the better part of valor, they all four retreat to town to lick their wounds before something... permanent happens. Everyone retires to their various preferred methods of stress relief, but Sara's drunken bender leaves her missing for weeks. Snuffles catches the Crimson Curse from someone else in the tavern. Maybe Sara.
The lowbies get their feet wet in an easy scouting mission while the big dogs recover, then Grytpipe and Snuffles return to try the countess again, this time taking Dirona with them to give Amy more time to recoup, and Shego to deal damage in place of the absent Sara. It doesn't go nearly as well. Shego is nearly killed, and ends up with a torn rotator. Everybody but Snuffles also fails their sanity check.
They flee back to town, and find that the tavern has run out of ale! This must be Sara's fault. This is gonna be a tough week.
A week later, Shego's missing. She was last seen at the brothel... let's hope she hasn't run off with some sweet young thing.
Snuffles and Grytpipe try it one more time, this time bringing Amy and SpecialKO. It doesn't go any better. Rather, it SEEMED to be going amazingly, until suddenly the Countess started dodging every attack and ignoring the party's dodge buffs like they weren't even there. I'm starting to smell shenanigans in the back end.
It seems whatever powers that be sense my growing suspicion of their hand on the scales, and they decide to show they can give as well as take - when the party retreats to town, they find that Terrik has miraculously returned from the grave.
Due to his grousing, @Tress becomes the next Plague Doctor to join the troupe.
Eriol and Tinwhistler reach level 6 after the easiest, smoothest trip through the warrens I can remember having. They didn't even need to use their firewood and camp for the night.
In fact, they (plus DarkAudit and Junjun) come back with more food than they left with. Uh... where... where did you get this meat, guys?
DA and Jun return to the warrens with Grytpipe and HCGLNS, and all four of them make level 6.
@Docseverin the crusader signs up for the long haul.
Snuffles, Grytpipe, Amy, and Sara make a try for the countess. For a while, the battle seems to be going well... until it suddenly isn't. Sara comes to death's door, and discretion being the better part of valor, they all four retreat to town to lick their wounds before something... permanent happens. Everyone retires to their various preferred methods of stress relief, but Sara's drunken bender leaves her missing for weeks. Snuffles catches the Crimson Curse from someone else in the tavern. Maybe Sara.
The lowbies get their feet wet in an easy scouting mission while the big dogs recover, then Grytpipe and Snuffles return to try the countess again, this time taking Dirona with them to give Amy more time to recoup, and Shego to deal damage in place of the absent Sara. It doesn't go nearly as well. Shego is nearly killed, and ends up with a torn rotator. Everybody but Snuffles also fails their sanity check.
They flee back to town, and find that the tavern has run out of ale! This must be Sara's fault. This is gonna be a tough week.
A week later, Shego's missing. She was last seen at the brothel... let's hope she hasn't run off with some sweet young thing.
Snuffles and Grytpipe try it one more time, this time bringing Amy and SpecialKO. It doesn't go any better. Rather, it SEEMED to be going amazingly, until suddenly the Countess started dodging every attack and ignoring the party's dodge buffs like they weren't even there. I'm starting to smell shenanigans in the back end.
It seems whatever powers that be sense my growing suspicion of their hand on the scales, and they decide to show they can give as well as take - when the party retreats to town, they find that Terrik has miraculously returned from the grave.
#96
Dei
Dei
I knew it was only a matter of time. Like a bad fungus.Once again, spoilered for image size -
Due to his grousing, @Tress becomes the next Plague Doctor to join the troupe.
View attachment 26104
Eriol and Tinwhistler reach level 6 after the easiest, smoothest trip through the warrens I can remember having. They didn't even need to use their firewood and camp for the night. In fact, they (plus DarkAudit and Junjun) come back with more food than they left with. Uh... where... where did you get this meat, guys?
View attachment 26105
DA and Jun return to the warrens with Grytpipe and HCGLNS, and all four of them make level 6.
@Docseverin the crusader signs up for the long haul.
Snuffles, Grytpipe, Amy, and Sara make a try for the countess. For a while, the battle seems to be going well... until it suddenly isn't. Sara comes to death's door, and discretion being the better part of valor, they all four retreat to town to lick their wounds before something... permanent happens. Everyone retires to their various preferred methods of stress relief, but Sara's drunken bender leaves her missing for weeks. Snuffles catches the Crimson Curse from someone else in the tavern. Maybe Sara.
View attachment 26106 View attachment 26107
The lowbies get their feet wet in an easy scouting mission while the big dogs recover, then Grytpipe and Snuffles return to try the countess again, this time taking Dirona with them to give Amy more time to recoup, and Shego to deal damage in place of the absent Sara. It doesn't go nearly as well. Shego is nearly killed, and ends up with a torn rotator. Everybody but Snuffles also fails their sanity check.
View attachment 26108
They flee back to town, and find that the tavern has run out of ale! This must be Sara's fault. This is gonna be a tough week.
View attachment 26109
A week later, Shego's missing. She was last seen at the brothel... let's hope she hasn't run off with some sweet young thing.
View attachment 26110
Snuffles and Grytpipe try it one more time, this time bringing Amy and SpecialKO. It doesn't go any better. Rather, it SEEMED to be going amazingly, until suddenly the Countess started dodging every attack and ignoring the party's dodge buffs like they weren't even there. I'm starting to smell shenanigans in the back end.
View attachment 26111
It seems whatever powers that be sense my growing suspicion of their hand on the scales, and they decide to show they can give as well as take - when the party retreats to town, they find that Terrik has miraculously returned from the grave.
#97
PatrThom
PatrThom
#98
Terrik
Terrik
#99
GasBandit
MindDetective chaperones Fade, Patrthom, and Hylian through the cove on a search and destroy mission. It goes well! The latter three are now level 6. MD gets rabies for his trouble, though, and is out of commission for a bit.
@Soupy the man-at-arms joins the campaign.
Here we go again... Snuffles, Grytpipe, SpecialKO and Shego once more try to beard the Countess in her lair.
It's a close thing, but success is finally achieved! The horrific thing is no more! Everyone is cured of the crimson curse, and any further infections are now treatable by conventional means. Something still moves about, within the confines of the courtyard, however... but for the time being, we can turn our attention back to the main task at hand.
Zero, Eriol, Sixpack, and Jun head into the warrens for another try at the Formless Flesh that has thwarted our attempts previously to kill it. Their skills compliment each other impeccably, and the abomination of sinewy flesh and bone doesn't stand a chance. The experience brings Sixpackshaker to level 6.
GasBandit
MindDetective chaperones Fade, Patrthom, and Hylian through the cove on a search and destroy mission. It goes well! The latter three are now level 6. MD gets rabies for his trouble, though, and is out of commission for a bit.
@Soupy the man-at-arms joins the campaign.
Here we go again... Snuffles, Grytpipe, SpecialKO and Shego once more try to beard the Countess in her lair.
It's a close thing, but success is finally achieved! The horrific thing is no more! Everyone is cured of the crimson curse, and any further infections are now treatable by conventional means. Something still moves about, within the confines of the courtyard, however... but for the time being, we can turn our attention back to the main task at hand.
Zero, Eriol, Sixpack, and Jun head into the warrens for another try at the Formless Flesh that has thwarted our attempts previously to kill it. Their skills compliment each other impeccably, and the abomination of sinewy flesh and bone doesn't stand a chance. The experience brings Sixpackshaker to level 6.
#100
MindDetective
MindDetective
#101
PatrThom
PatrThom
#102
DarkAudit
DarkAudit
#103
PatrThom
PatrThom
#104
Emrys
Emrys
#105
GasBandit
GasBandit
#106
Terrik
Terrik
#107
Dei
Dei
#109
GasBandit
GasBandit
#110
PatrThom
PatrThom
#111
Null
Null
#112
Dei
Dei
#113
GasBandit
GasBandit
#114
Dei
Dei
#115
GasBandit
GasBandit
#116
GasBandit
GasBandit
Just a short session tonight.
Shego, Grytpipe, Patrthom, and Hylian go after the Gibbering Prophet. It's a close thing (and Grytpipe has a mental break), but the last of the malodorous madmen is finally silenced.
After many campaigns and hard work, Gryfter, Mikerc and CynicalKat reach level 6.
Shego, Grytpipe, Patrthom, and Hylian go after the Gibbering Prophet. It's a close thing (and Grytpipe has a mental break), but the last of the malodorous madmen is finally silenced.
After many campaigns and hard work, Gryfter, Mikerc and CynicalKat reach level 6.
#117
GasBandit
Terrik, Bones, Grue, and Patrthom confront the Beguiling Siren. The combination of zealotry and eldritch knowledge fortifies their minds against the seductive pull of the aquantic temptress, and the party wins the day handily. Now only the final drowned crew remains to haunt the cove.
Dirona and Hylian accompany Frank and Stienman through many difficult battles in the weald. When they return, the men have also reached level 6.
Terrik, Junjun, Dirona, and Snuffles venture back into the cove one more time to defeat the final boss, the Drowned Crew. Despite the party being extremely strong against unholy enemies, the battle is long and difficult. Nevertheless, the undead are put to rest. All of the bosses have now been defeated from the ancillary parts of the desmene... it is now time to venture into the manor proper, and plumb the terrifying depths of...
...The Darkest Dungeon!
GasBandit
Terrik, Bones, Grue, and Patrthom confront the Beguiling Siren. The combination of zealotry and eldritch knowledge fortifies their minds against the seductive pull of the aquantic temptress, and the party wins the day handily. Now only the final drowned crew remains to haunt the cove.
Dirona and Hylian accompany Frank and Stienman through many difficult battles in the weald. When they return, the men have also reached level 6.
Terrik, Junjun, Dirona, and Snuffles venture back into the cove one more time to defeat the final boss, the Drowned Crew. Despite the party being extremely strong against unholy enemies, the battle is long and difficult. Nevertheless, the undead are put to rest. All of the bosses have now been defeated from the ancillary parts of the desmene... it is now time to venture into the manor proper, and plumb the terrifying depths of...
...The Darkest Dungeon!
#118
Emrys
Emrys
#119
GasBandit
GasBandit
#120
PatrThom
PatrThom
#121
GasBandit
GasBandit
Spoilered for picture size, and, well, for spoilers. Again, the spoilers won't always be behind a spoiler tag from here on out.
So, first... some mood music
The lower leveled recruits make a few runs through the weald, to mop up straggling beasts and brigands. Their efforts bring DocSeverin, Tress, Sparhawk, Soupy, Adam, and Reverent-one to level 5, and gain enough heirlooms as plunder to finish rebuilding the last district of the hamlet - the statue of the Red Hook, which while serving no pragmatic purpose in and of itself, is nevertheless a symbol of the progress and recovery of the last two-plus years.
It is time to finally breach the manor house, and confront whatever lies beneath it. For the first foray, Shego, Mikerc, ThatNickGuy, and Patrthom are chosen.
I don't know what I had expected to find beneath my ancestral home, but certainly not this - a yawning cavern that stretched off beyond perception into blood-colored, fog-shrouded nothingness, with cracked and jagged rock pillars stretching up from an imperceptible depth below. The party crossed this unsettling cavern upon a grey stone causeway, festooned with cruel, spiked adornments that were only less unsettling than distantly-glimpsed altars and idols, tricking with a crimson fluid that leaked from the cavern ceiling as if from an unclosable wound.
Diseased and mutated cultists came forth repeatedly, unsettling to behold, but my quartet of stalwart fighters had little trouble working their way through them.
All too soon, however, the enemies become less and less human. What appear to be some kind of dark priests turn out to be not even human beneath their robes - although perhaps once they were...
Their undulating, horrific attacks wreak grievous injury and terror among the party, and we are forced to make camp for the night to tend the wounded, beneath a massive brass gong of fell aspect.
When at last the end of the blood-flecked causeway is reach, an eldritch Shuffling Horror confronts the party! The twisted thing rends their bodies and their minds, but eventually is defeated through heroic effort. Some... curious implements are found in its stash of treasures. The party grabs them and flees the terror of the dungeon... when they reach the hamlet, they refuse to speak of their experience, save that the four of them all emphatically vow to NEVER go there again, no matter what. It seems others must carry on the fight from here.
Also... since returning from my ancestral manor... I myself seem to also really need to get some rest. Sometimes I could swear that, out of the corner of my eye, sometimes my compatriots have... too many eyes?
So, first... some mood music
The lower leveled recruits make a few runs through the weald, to mop up straggling beasts and brigands. Their efforts bring DocSeverin, Tress, Sparhawk, Soupy, Adam, and Reverent-one to level 5, and gain enough heirlooms as plunder to finish rebuilding the last district of the hamlet - the statue of the Red Hook, which while serving no pragmatic purpose in and of itself, is nevertheless a symbol of the progress and recovery of the last two-plus years.
It is time to finally breach the manor house, and confront whatever lies beneath it. For the first foray, Shego, Mikerc, ThatNickGuy, and Patrthom are chosen.
I don't know what I had expected to find beneath my ancestral home, but certainly not this - a yawning cavern that stretched off beyond perception into blood-colored, fog-shrouded nothingness, with cracked and jagged rock pillars stretching up from an imperceptible depth below. The party crossed this unsettling cavern upon a grey stone causeway, festooned with cruel, spiked adornments that were only less unsettling than distantly-glimpsed altars and idols, tricking with a crimson fluid that leaked from the cavern ceiling as if from an unclosable wound.
Diseased and mutated cultists came forth repeatedly, unsettling to behold, but my quartet of stalwart fighters had little trouble working their way through them.
All too soon, however, the enemies become less and less human. What appear to be some kind of dark priests turn out to be not even human beneath their robes - although perhaps once they were...
Their undulating, horrific attacks wreak grievous injury and terror among the party, and we are forced to make camp for the night to tend the wounded, beneath a massive brass gong of fell aspect.
When at last the end of the blood-flecked causeway is reach, an eldritch Shuffling Horror confronts the party! The twisted thing rends their bodies and their minds, but eventually is defeated through heroic effort. Some... curious implements are found in its stash of treasures. The party grabs them and flees the terror of the dungeon... when they reach the hamlet, they refuse to speak of their experience, save that the four of them all emphatically vow to NEVER go there again, no matter what. It seems others must carry on the fight from here.
Also... since returning from my ancestral manor... I myself seem to also really need to get some rest. Sometimes I could swear that, out of the corner of my eye, sometimes my compatriots have... too many eyes?
#122
Hailey Knight
Hailey Knight
#123
GasBandit
GasBandit
#124
GasBandit
GasBandit
Mood Music!
Soupy, Bubble181, RavenPoe, and Denbrought raid the warrens, stealing food from the swine beastmen, to encourage them further to leave now that their disgusting chieftans are dead. The campaign raises the first three to level 6, with Den being barely just shy of the mark.
Provisioning for the next foray into the Darkest Dungeon, I thought I saw... nevermind, I'm sure it was just nerves.
Terrik, Zero Esc, Junjun, and Grytpipe are the next doughty troupe to plumb the depths. May they come back alive... and sane. They bring with them the flame talismans wrenched from the deathgrip of the Shuffling Horror slain by the previous party. But there are only three.. Jun will have to be carefully guarded to ensure whatever malevolence these trinkets be aegis against... does not take her.
Well, this can't be good. That's a lot of teeth. That's a lot of eyes. That's a lot of... a great many things that should not exist.
In the bowels of the flesh-stretched labyrinth, the party finds three beacons to light, each guarded by horrific beasts whose forms defy belief - nightmares of contorted organs and unnamable dread. Their worst attack would normally be a devastating blow to body and brain, but the talismans protect against it completely... if only the secondary attacks were not so fearsome.
Terrik is slain. But the die is cast, and the first beacon is lit. The other beacons must be as well!
Zero is cut down by a fell blow. Only Jun and Grytpipe are left to light the remaining beacons.
The battle is a real nailbiter, but Jun and Grytpipe manage to light the second beacon.
Struggling through the hellscape, battered by the enemy, Grytpipe-Thynne's morale breaks.
The stress continues to twist him until he dies of a heart attack....
...leaving Jun hopeless and broken. She flees, whimpering in terror, back to town, the mission a complete and utter failure.
Soupy, Bubble181, RavenPoe, and Denbrought raid the warrens, stealing food from the swine beastmen, to encourage them further to leave now that their disgusting chieftans are dead. The campaign raises the first three to level 6, with Den being barely just shy of the mark.
Provisioning for the next foray into the Darkest Dungeon, I thought I saw... nevermind, I'm sure it was just nerves.
Terrik, Zero Esc, Junjun, and Grytpipe are the next doughty troupe to plumb the depths. May they come back alive... and sane. They bring with them the flame talismans wrenched from the deathgrip of the Shuffling Horror slain by the previous party. But there are only three.. Jun will have to be carefully guarded to ensure whatever malevolence these trinkets be aegis against... does not take her.
Well, this can't be good. That's a lot of teeth. That's a lot of eyes. That's a lot of... a great many things that should not exist.
In the bowels of the flesh-stretched labyrinth, the party finds three beacons to light, each guarded by horrific beasts whose forms defy belief - nightmares of contorted organs and unnamable dread. Their worst attack would normally be a devastating blow to body and brain, but the talismans protect against it completely... if only the secondary attacks were not so fearsome.
Terrik is slain. But the die is cast, and the first beacon is lit. The other beacons must be as well!
Zero is cut down by a fell blow. Only Jun and Grytpipe are left to light the remaining beacons.
The battle is a real nailbiter, but Jun and Grytpipe manage to light the second beacon.
Struggling through the hellscape, battered by the enemy, Grytpipe-Thynne's morale breaks.
The stress continues to twist him until he dies of a heart attack....
...leaving Jun hopeless and broken. She flees, whimpering in terror, back to town, the mission a complete and utter failure.
#125
GasBandit
The next attempt to light the beacons is undertaken by Sixpackshaker, MindDetective, Grue, and Bones. Jun's information was that most of the creatures opposing her ill-fated expedition were eldritch based - so this time, we stack the deck against the eldritch. Fortunately, Jun made it back with all three Talismans of the Flame - Sixpack is there to guard Mind Detective, who will have to go without one.
Team Occultist+Doge has a much easier time dealing with the scorpion-like templar guarding the first beacon, and his floating-mouthball friends don't fare much better.
I'm sure glad we are shielded by the talismans from whatever sanity-shredding nonsense THIS is trying to implant in our brains.
At the second beacon, disaster strikes - two templars attack, and though their worst attack is blunted, their poisoned tail spikes put the bearded one to a Grue-some end. Nevertheless, they defeat the twisted tormentors, and light the second beacon. Only one to go.
Outside the room containing what the party is certain will be the final battle and beacon, they make camp for the night. MindDetective equips the protective talisman belonging to the fallen Grue, and everyone steels themselves for the fight of their lives.
It is a close battle, indeed... but victory is clawed back from the yawning abyss of defeat. The final beacon is lit, and the screaming of something... unearthly, echoes up from the bowels of the deep... Despite winning the day, the crushing sense of doom that has been our constant companion for the last two and a half years intensifies ten fold. The remaining members of the party hasten back to the relative safety of the hamlet... joining the others in their vow to never, ever set foot beneath the manor again.
GasBandit
The next attempt to light the beacons is undertaken by Sixpackshaker, MindDetective, Grue, and Bones. Jun's information was that most of the creatures opposing her ill-fated expedition were eldritch based - so this time, we stack the deck against the eldritch. Fortunately, Jun made it back with all three Talismans of the Flame - Sixpack is there to guard Mind Detective, who will have to go without one.
Team Occultist+Doge has a much easier time dealing with the scorpion-like templar guarding the first beacon, and his floating-mouthball friends don't fare much better.
I'm sure glad we are shielded by the talismans from whatever sanity-shredding nonsense THIS is trying to implant in our brains.
At the second beacon, disaster strikes - two templars attack, and though their worst attack is blunted, their poisoned tail spikes put the bearded one to a Grue-some end. Nevertheless, they defeat the twisted tormentors, and light the second beacon. Only one to go.
Outside the room containing what the party is certain will be the final battle and beacon, they make camp for the night. MindDetective equips the protective talisman belonging to the fallen Grue, and everyone steels themselves for the fight of their lives.
It is a close battle, indeed... but victory is clawed back from the yawning abyss of defeat. The final beacon is lit, and the screaming of something... unearthly, echoes up from the bowels of the deep... Despite winning the day, the crushing sense of doom that has been our constant companion for the last two and a half years intensifies ten fold. The remaining members of the party hasten back to the relative safety of the hamlet... joining the others in their vow to never, ever set foot beneath the manor again.
#126
Hailey Knight
Hailey Knight
#127
PatrThom
PatrThom
#128
Gruebeard
Gruebeard
#130
Hailey Knight
Hailey Knight
#131
GasBandit
GasBandit
#133
Hailey Knight
Hailey Knight
#134
GasBandit
"The Maniacal cultists are quelled for a time, but there can be no celebration. Your progress is measured only in progressive realization... and dawning horror. You are in the shadow of the end." - The Ancestor
Adam, DocSeverin, Tress, and Sparhawk attain level 6 on a patrol through the Weald. Curiously enough, they also find the shield that was lost when Grytpipe fell beneath the manor... Despite our costly victories, the corruption is clearly not any more contained. In fact, it might be as close to unleashed as it has ever been...
The interminable stone corridors were but a threshold! The horrifying beast beneath the manor must be battled from within. Rock and mortar give way to membrane and humour. Frank, DarkAudit, Junjun, and Hylian attemt to locate the weak spot of the... thing... marching ever deeper into its undulating bowels.
Their opponents are mammoth cysts and emormous stalks of white cells. Fleshy, bulbous, and revolting. And when the party seems to gain the upper hand, the stalks push them through the boundaries of reality itself, teleporting the heroes to an unknown other place in the intestinal maze!
After confused wandering and nauseating battles, the quartet finally defeat a massive teratoma guarding a great gateless gate, the maddening stretch of warped infinity beyond. Before it, arcane scratchings on the ground and wafting outworldly smoke signify they have come upon what they sought - the Locus Beacon.
Activating it grants them a glimpse of unfiltered revelation. The Heart of the World is laid bare... be it for sword, or supplication. Oblivion engulfs the party, and they reawaken in town... say it with me now... vowing never to venture beneath the manor again.
The time has come for the final confrontation. The fate of the sane world teeters upon the precipice.
GasBandit
"The Maniacal cultists are quelled for a time, but there can be no celebration. Your progress is measured only in progressive realization... and dawning horror. You are in the shadow of the end." - The Ancestor
Adam, DocSeverin, Tress, and Sparhawk attain level 6 on a patrol through the Weald. Curiously enough, they also find the shield that was lost when Grytpipe fell beneath the manor... Despite our costly victories, the corruption is clearly not any more contained. In fact, it might be as close to unleashed as it has ever been...
The interminable stone corridors were but a threshold! The horrifying beast beneath the manor must be battled from within. Rock and mortar give way to membrane and humour. Frank, DarkAudit, Junjun, and Hylian attemt to locate the weak spot of the... thing... marching ever deeper into its undulating bowels.
Their opponents are mammoth cysts and emormous stalks of white cells. Fleshy, bulbous, and revolting. And when the party seems to gain the upper hand, the stalks push them through the boundaries of reality itself, teleporting the heroes to an unknown other place in the intestinal maze!
After confused wandering and nauseating battles, the quartet finally defeat a massive teratoma guarding a great gateless gate, the maddening stretch of warped infinity beyond. Before it, arcane scratchings on the ground and wafting outworldly smoke signify they have come upon what they sought - the Locus Beacon.
Activating it grants them a glimpse of unfiltered revelation. The Heart of the World is laid bare... be it for sword, or supplication. Oblivion engulfs the party, and they reawaken in town... say it with me now... vowing never to venture beneath the manor again.
The time has come for the final confrontation. The fate of the sane world teeters upon the precipice.
#135
GasBandit
Meanwhile, Reverent-one, Denbrought, Dirona and Squidleybits make a scouting run through the warrens to make sure it is clearing out. Squidleybits finds a book... reading it awakens needs inside her.
The expedition is successful, and Reverent-one, Denbrought, and Squidleybits advance to level 6.
The Gateless Gate beckons. DocSeverin, Eriol, CynicalKat, and Sara2814 sally forth.
Passing through into the infinite void beyond, we were confronted by the image of my ancestor! I'll... just let the highlight reel tell the rest of the tale.
But for those who want my florid prose, I'll plagiarize from my previous playthrough -
GasBandit
Meanwhile, Reverent-one, Denbrought, Dirona and Squidleybits make a scouting run through the warrens to make sure it is clearing out. Squidleybits finds a book... reading it awakens needs inside her.
The expedition is successful, and Reverent-one, Denbrought, and Squidleybits advance to level 6.
The Gateless Gate beckons. DocSeverin, Eriol, CynicalKat, and Sara2814 sally forth.
Passing through into the infinite void beyond, we were confronted by the image of my ancestor! I'll... just let the highlight reel tell the rest of the tale.
But for those who want my florid prose, I'll plagiarize from my previous playthrough -
A single path lay before the party. Stepping upon it seemed to make the world dissolve away, and all was bathed in some sort of unnatural luminescence. Time, space, light, and dark seemed to have no meaning here. But the path lay ahead, and onward they sallied.
Imagine my surprise when they were confronted by the Narrator. My ancestor, whose mailed suicide letter had brought us all here and set these events in motion. His apparition appeared multiple times, explaining how his delvings had uncovered a horrible truth, and it stripped away his humanity and made him herald of the apocalyptic ur-creature. And he invited me to join him.
Well, I didn't slog all this way, and sacrifice all these people, just to throw in the towel here. Enraged by my denial, my ancestor shimmered and split, like an image seen through a rotating prism, and where once there was only he, now there were four.
Empowered by the eldritch he might have been, but my ancestor was still no man of violence, and the heroes were not overly taxed hewing through his copies. But as quickly as they did so, more copies took their place, so that no progress seemed possible. Until, by chance or lapse of concentration, one of his copies came out... imperfect. Warped. Mutated. When cut down, injury manifested itself upon the original. Understanding the required tactic, if not the underlying mechanism, I had the party form a meat grinder, chewing through dozens of copies but keeping themselves hale and hearty for what was surely to come. Each time an imperfect reflection was sundered, my ancestor seemed to grow weaker.
When at last it seemed the matter might be rectified, the copies melted away, and my ancestor grew in stature until he was easily twice the height and size of a mortal man. Surrounding him appeared tangible manifestations of absolute nothingness, impossible to hit, impossible to kill. Avoiding these pockets of oblivion, the party continued to lay into the familial malefactor. But he had a new trick up his sleeve... with a wave of his hand, he caused the bones, muscle, and flesh of the party to revolt against their own very cohesion to one another, then readhere - doing seemingly little physical damage, but an altogether terrifying experience. In fact, most of the assaults upon the group seemed to be aimed at undermining their sanity more than attacking their physical health.
Just as before, when the towering form of our opponent seemed to be on the verge of collapse, he was entombed in a giant ball of sinew and flesh that flowed over him as if liquid, then solidified into a pulsating mass. A throbbing heart the size of a small house, wrapped in tentaclular veins and arteries of greater circumference than wagon wheels. Troubling as this was, it barely defended itself with caustic aerosols as everyone hacked away at it with all their strength.
And then it opened.
I don't even know how to describe it. As a phoenix rises from the ashes shrouded in new flames, so did some androgenic form burst from the heart, wrapped loosely in haphazardly-draped ribbons of skin and glistening with blood as well as unspeakably malign purpose. Hundreds of slits opened upon the surface of the enormous beating heart, revealing myriad black, shining eyes gazing at us as would a crow eye an insect for dinner. The eyes didn't blink as one would expect, it was more as if they burst, deflated, and reformed anew like bubbles upon the surface of some hellish stew. Blisters of knowing, hateful intellect.
Still, the heroes fought on. Bravely. Effectively. And then, the great thing counterattacked.
It made me pick who was targeted.
Fearing some new psychic assault, I decided that DocSeveren should receive it, as his hardiness was the highest, best to weather whatever was to come.
How mistaken I was as to the nature of the assault. Doc was instantly, cruelly, and completely... torn from existence. Gone, as if he was never there in the first place.
I had the remaining trio redouble their efforts. The Heart was already down by more than a third of its capacity, and clearly this needed to be ended swiftly.
Not swift enough. As it weakened, I was again forced to choose, myself, who would die. Squidley, Eriol, or CynicalKat? The cold numbers told me that I needed Sara and Eriol's higher damage output if this escapade was to have any hope of succeeding. In a fight where a great cosmic abomination simply chooses that you cease to exist, a healer becomes... expendable. CynicalKat was sent to non-existance.
Eriol and Sara desperately chopped away at the Heart. Bleeding and spattered in acid, Sara finally managed to bring the eldritch organ down.
And in victory, I came to know The Truth.
The inevitability.
It doesn't die. It just sleeps. Our world, our reality, is its chrysalis. It will slumber until the stars are again right for it to burst forth anew, ending and yet reuniting all men, all life, in the shrieking, howling, psychotic hereafter.
And I am to become its herald.
Just a short note, dashed off and mailed to a distant cousin.
And then the release promised by a pistol to the temple.
Of course, it can't really be a final release. Not when an end isn't a possibility. Not when it can only begin again.
Imagine my surprise when they were confronted by the Narrator. My ancestor, whose mailed suicide letter had brought us all here and set these events in motion. His apparition appeared multiple times, explaining how his delvings had uncovered a horrible truth, and it stripped away his humanity and made him herald of the apocalyptic ur-creature. And he invited me to join him.
Well, I didn't slog all this way, and sacrifice all these people, just to throw in the towel here. Enraged by my denial, my ancestor shimmered and split, like an image seen through a rotating prism, and where once there was only he, now there were four.
Empowered by the eldritch he might have been, but my ancestor was still no man of violence, and the heroes were not overly taxed hewing through his copies. But as quickly as they did so, more copies took their place, so that no progress seemed possible. Until, by chance or lapse of concentration, one of his copies came out... imperfect. Warped. Mutated. When cut down, injury manifested itself upon the original. Understanding the required tactic, if not the underlying mechanism, I had the party form a meat grinder, chewing through dozens of copies but keeping themselves hale and hearty for what was surely to come. Each time an imperfect reflection was sundered, my ancestor seemed to grow weaker.
When at last it seemed the matter might be rectified, the copies melted away, and my ancestor grew in stature until he was easily twice the height and size of a mortal man. Surrounding him appeared tangible manifestations of absolute nothingness, impossible to hit, impossible to kill. Avoiding these pockets of oblivion, the party continued to lay into the familial malefactor. But he had a new trick up his sleeve... with a wave of his hand, he caused the bones, muscle, and flesh of the party to revolt against their own very cohesion to one another, then readhere - doing seemingly little physical damage, but an altogether terrifying experience. In fact, most of the assaults upon the group seemed to be aimed at undermining their sanity more than attacking their physical health.
Just as before, when the towering form of our opponent seemed to be on the verge of collapse, he was entombed in a giant ball of sinew and flesh that flowed over him as if liquid, then solidified into a pulsating mass. A throbbing heart the size of a small house, wrapped in tentaclular veins and arteries of greater circumference than wagon wheels. Troubling as this was, it barely defended itself with caustic aerosols as everyone hacked away at it with all their strength.
And then it opened.
I don't even know how to describe it. As a phoenix rises from the ashes shrouded in new flames, so did some androgenic form burst from the heart, wrapped loosely in haphazardly-draped ribbons of skin and glistening with blood as well as unspeakably malign purpose. Hundreds of slits opened upon the surface of the enormous beating heart, revealing myriad black, shining eyes gazing at us as would a crow eye an insect for dinner. The eyes didn't blink as one would expect, it was more as if they burst, deflated, and reformed anew like bubbles upon the surface of some hellish stew. Blisters of knowing, hateful intellect.
Still, the heroes fought on. Bravely. Effectively. And then, the great thing counterattacked.
It made me pick who was targeted.
Fearing some new psychic assault, I decided that DocSeveren should receive it, as his hardiness was the highest, best to weather whatever was to come.
How mistaken I was as to the nature of the assault. Doc was instantly, cruelly, and completely... torn from existence. Gone, as if he was never there in the first place.
I had the remaining trio redouble their efforts. The Heart was already down by more than a third of its capacity, and clearly this needed to be ended swiftly.
Not swift enough. As it weakened, I was again forced to choose, myself, who would die. Squidley, Eriol, or CynicalKat? The cold numbers told me that I needed Sara and Eriol's higher damage output if this escapade was to have any hope of succeeding. In a fight where a great cosmic abomination simply chooses that you cease to exist, a healer becomes... expendable. CynicalKat was sent to non-existance.
Eriol and Sara desperately chopped away at the Heart. Bleeding and spattered in acid, Sara finally managed to bring the eldritch organ down.
And in victory, I came to know The Truth.
The inevitability.
It doesn't die. It just sleeps. Our world, our reality, is its chrysalis. It will slumber until the stars are again right for it to burst forth anew, ending and yet reuniting all men, all life, in the shrieking, howling, psychotic hereafter.
And I am to become its herald.
Just a short note, dashed off and mailed to a distant cousin.
And then the release promised by a pistol to the temple.
Of course, it can't really be a final release. Not when an end isn't a possibility. Not when it can only begin again.
#136
Bubble181
Bubble181
#137
Gruebeard
Gruebeard
#138
Null
Null
#139
Hailey Knight
Hailey Knight
#140
GasBandit
GasBandit
#141
Hailey Knight
Hailey Knight
#142
PatrThom
PatrThom
#143
GasBandit
GasBandit
#144
Squidleybits
Squidleybits
#145
GasBandit
GasBandit
#146
PatrThom
PatrThom
#147
PatrThom
PatrThom
#148
GasBandit
GasBandit