Part 21: Mancuso and Resting Cell #4

Update 018 – Mancuso and Resting Cell #4

Going into this update, I resolved to grind Dmurr some in order to catch her up a bit. The results were.... less than stellar.



It starts out alright. I move Dmurr to the front of the party so she can get into fights quicker and focus the XP gains.

Also, meet the Pyrohydas. AKA: Fire breathing Hydras with the same physical attacks. Related to the Cryohydras.



Dmurr even has the Alien Blade for this, and some decent armour.



Dmurr also has the HP of a wet paper bag, and dies quickly. My life is pain.



“I had a bad dream. I was trying to be leader! And everyone else was useless!”

“Welcome to my life.”



“This place is quite amazing!”

“I have to agree. Such natural beauty!”

“You ssshould sssee what growz in the water.”



Jeff Vogel: Master Troll



“Thisss place isss... zomber.”

“Did you say 'zombie'?”

“No. Sombre.”

“Ah.”




“Let's be careful here.”

“I will never undersstand the dezzire to inter remainsss.”




“I don't get it. There's so many old cairns here.”

“So?”

“For how long waz thisss placce unattended?”



“Too long. The question is, why?”

“We sssee that the Vahnatai have been in repossse for some time. Perhapsss they have not yet reached thisss pace?”



“Who is that?”



“What. What are those. Proper question.”



Wights and Spirits, a set encounter you'll have four times going down this small passageway.



Interesting to note – fields exist on a first-come-first-served basis. In this image, a Stinking Cloud was dropped on Chester (hence the Curses), then the other Spirit put down Conflagration, a fire damage field on Chester. Except the Stinking Cloud was already in the way, so only the outer ring of the second spell was applied.



“Again?”



“Thisss isss not natural.”



“End of the cavern. Whatever is causing this is here.”



“Hrm....”





“Too many!”

Yes. This encounter is too powerful for the party at this time.



“{I CALL YOU FORTH!}”

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”



“This isn't good!”



“...”

Yea. Note how the Lich's summoning failed in that last screenshot. That's because the enemy forces were already at their numerical maximum.



I should take this moment to tell you all that there are two degrees of 'dead'. The first is merely Dead. The second is Dust, usually caused by powerful spells or massive damage. You can't really raise a Dust'ed PC.



“That ritual looks like it could take some time. Let's come back later.”

“Ssshould we not tell the Vahanatai?”

“That iz a ritual that would take much time, there will be time to mount a proper response.”

“It still doesn't feel right.”

“Don't worry. We'll come back later. I promise.”






“That's a very narrow ledge.”

Ladies and Gentlemen, it's finally happened. We're starting to see the limits to the Demo of the game. Being Shareware, if you hadn't paid to register Exile 2, that single tile would be a chasm, preventing any further exploration to the north. I'll point out the other walls when I come to them.





“This place looks... new. Newer. -Ish.”



“You are correct.”



“It's a farm!”



“See! Pens!”

“Oh bother...”



“Hello.”

There is a guard here, wearing a nicked breastplate and a heavily used wave blade.

“I don't think they're the talking type.”



“{At least the Ritual allows for reading comprehension as well.}”



“This is worse than some of the warrens back home.”

“Thiss is worssse than Slithzerikai consstruction.”

“Speaking as a person who has gone through both, you're in the right area. But this place just has an unfinished feel to it.”

“Perhaps there is someone here we can inform about the Undead problem.”



A Vahnatai boy looks at you nervously from some distance away.

“Hello!”

He backs away a little more.

“What's your name?”

He makes a hand gesture that you cannot believe is intended to be friendly, then runs away some more.

“<Hatchlings.>”




“This is absurdly normal.”



You meet a stocky Vahnatai female, holding a crystal pitcher.

“{Greetings}.”

"I am Vine! Welcome to my inn."

“You seem unsurprised at our presence.”

“I run an Inn, Slith. I've heard about the Humans though, so it doesn't surprise me that some would come this way.”

“I'm Nephil!”

“I mean no offence.”

“None taken. This is your inn? Not much of a job, is it?”

"I run this inn. It's a bit rough now, but it'll be the biggest in this cave someday. A room is 15 gold, a meal is 2. Good food, fresh from Aeon's fields."

“Aeon?”

"My mate. Works the field outside town. The best farmer around!" She beams.

“Thank you for your time.”

“I repeat. Weirdly normal.”

“Except for the part about being confused with the Humans.”

“It could be worse.”

“Oh? Do tell.”

“They could think you Slith.”

“...”

I'll be honest here. Mancuso is a supply town. Inn, Food. There is, however, two points of interest. First is this:




“Odd way to spell that.”

“Or correct.”

There is a Vahnatai man sitting here, chanting over a long, delicate waveblade. It glows gently. When you enter, he stops chanting, and the blade stops glowing. He looks up at you, revealing a face pocked and withered with age. "I am Tokor-Te. Welcome to my humble shop."

“Greetings, honoured Elder.”

“Stop. I am aware of your use of the Ritual, but your culture shows.”

“What do you mean?”

“Your greetings. Such formality is only given to the great leaders, of whom I am not. A more proper greeting when approaching someone whose status relative to yours would be “I bow to your wisdom”, being a sign of respect for the other without committing an insult.”

“Then I bow before your wisdom, elder.”

“Much better! Now, I run this extremely humble shop." He looks around at the shoddy, crumbling walls in distaste. "I offer training in the magical arts. I am also skilled with weaponry."

He sells spells I don't have access to yet. I'll have to come back. Running theme of this update, I'm beginning to think. I'll get back to you guys later with more thoughts on that.

“What do you mean by weapons?”

"I can augment your non-magical blades, so that they will provide you with protection during battle. Let me know if this sort of improvement would be to your liking."

Of the five Upgrades to weapons, I think I like this one the best.



This upgrade (P) is the Protection augmentation. When you look at item stats, you see that weapons are “Damage + Bonus”, while Armor is “Protection + Bonus”. What this particular thing does is apply a weapon's 'Bonus' stat to your armour value. And numerically speaking, the best weapon to apply this to is the Steel Waveblade. Which Art happens to have.






A Vahnatai woman is here, planting a row of mushrooms. You watch as she lays down a thin layer of sticky fertilizer, and then places bits of mushroom spore into it. She stands and wipes off her hands. "I am Aeon."

“Hello. We've met your mate in the inn. What is it you do here?”

"I plant and tend my crops. And defend them if necessary." She looks down at a long wave blade she wears at her side.

“It is good to see people caring for crops.”

"It's a lot of work, but ..." She looks around at the proud rows of mushrooms around her. "I'm proud to have created all this."

“Then whom do you defend these from?”

"Hydras from the south, brigands from the north. I'm getting good with this thing." She pats the blade proudly.

“Good.”






“No real leadership. We sshould return to Olgai soon.”

The Shareware Daemon pops up here, preventing going North any further. I would love to show it off, but alas, I registered this game a long time ago.







“Another necropolissss.”

“A city of the dead? Is that even the right word?”

“Well, 'Ghost Town' does not, as there are no Spirits here, nor is there any remains of a proper city save the road.”






“I cannot help but noticcsse that thisss is not the way to Olgai.”



“Well, we can't let these monsters run around now, can we?”

“I don't think Hydras, or Ice Slimes are a threat anyways.”



“They aren't.”



“Hello?”



There is a mage sitting here, meditating and moving his limbs in elaborate, hypnotic patterns. The Vahnatai are many-jointed, but never has it been clearer than now.

“We bow to your wisdom.”

He opens his eyes and looks at you. "Welcome, humans. I am Abra."

“And two Slith.”

“And a Nephil.”

“Semantics aside, what are you doing here?”

"I prepare to meet my doom." His voice is appropriately grim.

“Doom.”

"You see that door over there?"

“Beyond it are some controls I need desperately to get at. There are also hydras, dozens of them."

“Like that one place we encountered on our way here. Those controls, a Lever, a Wheel and a Button?”

"Don't ask me what for. All I can tell you is that they would cause you great harm were you to try to use them."

“Fair enough. What do you need?”

"It is my duty to sneak past them and use the controls, even if it means my doom. I prepare myself now." He looks at you slyly. "Of course, with your assistance, my job would be easier. There would be a reward."

“Reward?”

"I can't tell you more."

“Stifle your greed. What is the nature of this assistance?”

"These icy caverns to the north are occupied by a huge hydra nest. The alpha nestlings are two ice hydras. Kill them, and the nest would begin to disperse, and we could sneak in. Kill them, and I will give you a Soul Crystal."

“A what now?”

"A powerful and rare tool of Vahnatai magic."

“Will you describe it any further?”

“No.”

A Vahnatai warrior sits near the fire, sharpening a razordisk. She looks up at you grimly when you approach. "I'm Bohen." She watches you carefully.

“Chester. You here with him?”

"I'm guarding Abra. And he's trying to make my job harder."

“How much harder could it be?”

She looks at the entrance to the caves. "There's more hydras in there than I've ever seen. We gotta' sneak in there to perform the awakening. We sure could use some help. Talk to Abra about it. He could pay you."



“Here is the map.”



“And here is where all the points I get with Detect Life are.”



“How do we do thisss?”

“Without lights.”

“The nest is probably here, in the chamber off the primary crystal stasis room. There's a concentration back there.”

“And six can handle this better than two.”

“I am in agreement.”




“Keep quiet.”



“HISS!!”



“Oh great.”

“There are not many nearby!”



“Perhaps there is more back down these side passages?”



“Ow.”




Reload!

“That was close! Let's see our rewards...”




Not anything interesting.



“Extra silent...”

“Let's take a quick break, and come back.”

Don't be afraid to fight a bit, then leave the dungeon to camp. The enemies won't respawn for a while, or if you visit a couple different towns/maps.



“Making progresss. We sshould be able to advance up the wesst sside.”



“Almost there...”



“{Would it be that I could dispel Barriers.}”

“You have my sympathy.”

“<HYDRAS!>”















“I think that's it.”



“I think so.”

“I can see why the two of them would have so much trouble. They would be swamped.”



“Broken and ussselsss.”

“Let uss return then. Carefully.”






“Done!”

“Truly?”

“Didn't kill them all, just the Cryohydras, like you asked.”



“I.. see. You have my thanks. Now for the promised reward.” He nods, smiles, and pulls a Soul Crystal out of his pack. He hands it to you. "You are now the first humans to be able to use our magic. Power to you." He begins to prepare to enter the caves.

“I am Slithzerikai.”



“Can we return to Olgai now?”