Part 10: Don't Fear the Reaper

Don't Fear the Reaper

I see how it is, goons. It's OK to kill an old man, but you all voted to spare the cute redheaded girl. I'll show off what happens when you don't in the Fuckup Run I plan to do after we finish our current goon-led run.



: I shall slay any sent to kill you, however many there are, but I am no executioner.

: (Cunningly narrowing his eyes.) Well, Eikon, remember this-Pelko Soturi always gets what he wants, regardless of what's written in some contract. You'll see.





We elect to watch the prisoners.

: The prisoners at the foot of the wall can barely stand. Few men, only the very old and the very young, remain. The mostly female crowd falls to the ground, horrified at hearing the anguished cries of an old man being tortured. Then the redhead begins to sing.



We get the options to
1) Look at Pelko Soturi
2) Look around for Nakoma
3) Look at Augrin

I choose to look at our good buddy Pelko. We're literally being paid to watch him, after all.

: You turn to face the count. Sweating and gasping with anger, he presses his palm to his chest, saluting the spread-eagled girl on the wall as though she were primarch of the Temple of Divine Wrath.

: Guardsmen's helmets are removed, sharp blades are lowered. Prisoners and onlookers weep uncontrollably. You know that a Temple service cannot end in an execution-it is forbidden. As this thought forms, a Reaper appears.

I actually like how Reet comes up with a clever solution to - oh, shit, did the narrator say Reaper?



Oh. Shit. Remember how in the prologue the only way to stop those assholes was for those 12 weird shadow magic guys to stab themselves?



Lo Pheng doesn't give a fuck!



We are given command of Lo Pheng and thrust into combat with one of the 5 Reapers, one of the most deadly creatures to walk Terminum. Let's talk about his skills, shall we?

: Those of you who have played this game are probably laughing their asses off at how threatening this Reaper is to Lo Pheng, because Lo Pheng is a BEAST. While other characters get shitty passives like buffing the team when they die or getting 3 defense on killing an enemy (Krieger), Lo Pheng's passive skill is twofold:
-Lo Pheng is immune to knockback
-When attacked by an adjacent enemy, Lo Pheng counterattacks back at his full attack strength.

That's it. While other characters have to fuck around with passives and cooldowns to get counterattacks, Lo Pheng just kinda shows up and has it always on for free. We can discuss his active skills, but really they're all powerful attacks that fuck people up. His basic attack, Stone-Piercing Gaze, shreds a foe's attack stat, deals damage to health, and gives Lo Pheng energy. He gets a ranged energy drain attack, an AoE that hits the 4 squares adjacent to him for 30 damage (which will kill all the soldiers onscreen), and an incredibly powerful attack named "Way to the Altar of the Gods" that will one-shot any non-Reaper enemy in the game at the cost of lowering his defense. He's got two defensive cooldowns. One is Dry Tar on the Lips, which gives Lo Pheng energy and makes his opponents attacks go directly to health. It's good because Lo Pheng starts with 0 energy (but builds it up by murdering people) but it's completely overshadowed by his other defensive passive, Cloud Tower.

Cloud Tower makes you completely invincible for a turn.

Specifically, it gives Lo Pheng 42(!) defense, and won't end the turn when used. Because of how Ash of Gods calculates turns, this means you can turtle up by firing off Cloud Tower, burning your entire hand of battle cards buffing Lo Pheng, and watch as idiots suicide themselves into the invincible Eikon and get counterattacked to death. The only move I've seen in the game that can get damage past Cloud Tower is...Way to the Altar of the Gods. You might be noticing that Way to the Altar of the Gods' defense penalty is only 9, and yes, you can combine Cloud Tower with Altar and do a crapton of damage while being nigh-impossible to kill.

Lo Pheng is probably the best character in the game.



The two archers have an unfortunate encounter with a Sudden Abyss and die.



This idiot walks out to get shanked by the Phengster.



There's a marked contrast by how the dialogue talks up our heroes. In Thorn's chapter it's kind of grating because he's not nearly as good as the dialogue makes him seem. He's not bad and has unique abilities, but he's not gonna cut down armies of guys unsupported. Lo Pheng, on the other hand, absolutely will. That dialogue about Lo Pheng being worth 50 Frisian troops? Yea, it's turn 3 and he's already killed 4 guys.

What I'm saying is, Atraakh is dead. He just doesn't know it yet.



Here Atraakh tries to hit Lo Pheng, and gets completely shut down by Cloud Tower.

The AI is smart enough to hold its powerful attack in reserve, and Atraakh fucks up Lo Pheng pretty badly here after I had to move. But he didn't kill him and Lo Pheng got the counterattack here.



This guy wanders up but is not nearly hardcore enough to take out Lo Pheng and gets brutally mutilated for his troubles.



Seeing that the Reaper is lost Lo Pheng kindly points him in the direction of the local altar. It's fatal.



The Reaper apparently having mystically bonded himself with his soldiers proves fatal as Atraakh turns to stone and the soldiers all die. There's a neat animation of Atraakh's body crumbling.



: Your eyes meet Reet's. She has been a hard nut to crack. Two swings of the sword is enough to cut the ropes binding her. The moment you set her free, she rushes to the other prisoners. What follows is not your responsibility. Your road leads to the Isle of Shadows now, but first, you need to overcome the strange weakness.

: Many generations of warriors lived their lives knowing that if a Reaping comes, they will have to oppose the Reapers. Whoever cuts even one of them down should bring news of it to the Shadow Clan. Your service to Pelko Soturi is over.



Next update:: Bells! Ominous churchmen! Curses! Bad ideas! A vote!