Part 12: Which Bridge to Cross and Which to Burn

Which Bridge to Cross and Which to Burn



You venture north out of Pentil and into a wide, peaceful mountain pass, where the road is broken by green hillocks and the skeletons of trees. The only clue that this place is not as quiet as it seems is the sign you find near a patch of pavement -- "Beware! Rogues!"

But unless the ornks grazing here are rogues, nothing seems amiss. Any other creations dwelling here must be shy.



By locating the north and south exits of the Wooded Valley, we can now cross this place freely. There isn't very much here.

You cross to the other side without seeing so much as a feral fyora. But for now there's no reason go head further north; you're only trying to get the lay of the land. You decide to indulge your curiosity and check out the fissures leading east and west.



There's a boneyard in one, though all the fragments are dry and brittle from age. You toe at them, but the remains are unidentifiable now.



In one of the fissures you find a surprise -- another Shaper ruin.

There is a servile hiding back in this remote cave. However, instead of being some crazy, scrawny hermit, she looks reasonably calm and well fed. She looks up at you as if she has been expecting you.

"Greetings, Shaper," she says. "I am Sniff."

"What are you doing out here?" you ask. Hidden by the shadow of the collapsed pillar, Sniff is almost invisible. PurpleXVI sniffs curiously in her direction, no doubt wondering if this servile will be its next snack.

"I am waiting for help, Shaper."

You wait, but Sniff says nothing else. "What sort of help?" you finally ask.

"I cannot say. But, if you have some sort of message, or if you're looking for someone, I can help you. Otherwise, I cannot." Sniff stares at you, waiting for you to produce the message. It looks like you won't be able to lie your way into here.

She's being too coy for your tastes. You consider trying to deceive or threaten her, but instead, you try to pump her for more information. "Well, can you at least give me a hint of where I should look to get the message you need?"

Sniff thinks. "That is a good question. There are people trapped east of Kazg. Look to them. They serve the interests of the Shapers."

"Everything comes back to Kazg," you say, then sigh. Sniff doesn't respond to this. Eventually, you leave.



Maybe the rogues just needed some time to get used to your presence, because you spot a roamer peeking out from a fissure to the east. More shards of bone poke out of the soft soil here. These roamers are nothing special -- PurpleXVI is more than a match for the scout, and manages to crush its throat before the rogue can cry for help.



The rest of the rogue pack has established a den of sorts here. Your creations make short work of the first few roamers, but they



just



keep



coming.







But even a horde of worms are still, in the end, mere worms. The rogues can't overcome your combat-tested creations. These rogues, whose prey consists of dim ornks and lone serviles, aren't prepared to be preyed upon themselves.



With the rogues destroyed and their nests scattered, you've put a stop to raids from this direction for a little while. Now there's only the mystery of Sniff and whatever waits beyond that door.



Southbridge seems quiet enough when you arrive. The terrain here is as dead as it was in the Tombs. Not a speck of grass greets you here. Only bleached bones and a surprisingly intact road remain.



Just off the south curve of the road is a natural cavern. When you peer inside, an automatic light flares up in greeting. Someone placed the shaped lamps in here ages ago and they still function even now.


From the shadows scuttles a clawbug, hungry and curious. It shakes its long, barbed tail in anticipation of a feast.



Clawbugs are tough. Their exoskeletons put them a rung above thahds in terms of defenses, and their speed is second to none. But their minds are simple, just like the arachnids upon which the design is based. Though it's tough work, your creations pick the rogue apart. Only Charmander is unlucky enough to meet the clawbug in face-to-barb combat.



You find a nest and furiously start stomping clawbug eggs. The clawbugs are why most creations are shaped to be sterile, but perhaps a couple hundred years ago, no one thought to take such precautions. It's surprising that there were enough strains of clawbugs here that they didn't go sterile from in-breeding. Then again, perhaps that's not really a problem with fertile clawbugs. Your heredity studies were brief.



Clicking from the north draws your attention. More clawbugs have noticed you, and they're not pleased that you and your creations have invaded their territory.







Fighting several clawbugs at once is a completely different kind of encounter than a solo battle. Keeping your creations in the fight pushes your limits, but PurpleXVI and placid saviour are exceptional. The fyoras are forced to gradually pull back and cluster, but with three of them attacking one clawbug in concert, it's only a matter of time before the rogue is completely dismembered.

Before you leave, you ensure that no more clawbugs will hatch in this warren.




Old bones are mounded up on the river banks, perhaps evidence of what befalls creatures foolish enough to drink here. They're too old to be victims of the turrets, though.



The turrets are arrayed in a cunning formation which makes destroying one without exposing yourself to several others rather challenging. Your creations pick the turrets off with concentrated fire, sustaining a few wounds in the process.



The dark coloration of the turrets on the far end of the bridge means venom. You spend a moment and patch up your creations, wondering if you should turn back and rest before pushing on... But if you leave the bridge half-cleared, it'll be all too simple of a matter for whoever did this to return and repair the defenses. If you destroy all the turrets, though, you'll cost your unseen foes more time and resources.

You also don't want to have to fight turrets in this same position twice if you can avoid it.



You plan to have your creations stay on the far shore and take potshots at the nearest venom turrets. Unfortunately for you, the turrets are not only faster than you expected, but stronger too. Charmander spits fire across the river and misses the mark. The venom turret, though, doesn't miss, and Charmander dies with a thorn half a hand long buried in its heart -- though these turrets are badly misshapen, they're still capable of precision fire.

Charmander's loss only makes you more determined to destroy the turrets and punish their creator. For the moment, though, you withdraw. Maybe there's a better way to take out the turrets, or maybe you just need to indulge in some easier to achieve revenge in Charmander's name.



You follow the riverbank north and find another clawbug warren.







This warren is absolutely rotten with clawbugs. They crawl through the tunnels like maggots in a dead bull. Though your forces are weaker now, you still crush the rogues. Without a superior intelligence to direct them, their shells aren't enough to save them from what your creations have in store. You feel a little better when the last rogue falls.



Further north, you spy a dock on the far side of the river. Unfortunately, you're not the only one doing spying. A turret fires at PurpleXVI when it strays into range. The turret doesn't survive PurpleXVI's counter-fire.



Perhaps unsurprisingly, you find a few more tombs in the canyon. The Shapers occupied Sucia Island long enough to not only irrevocably poison part of it, but also to need to expand their funerary complex.



These tombs are victims of looting, too. The mine inside looks fresh.



The thahd shade that pops out is no longer a match for your creations, though.



You find yourself struggling with the writings left here. You try to make a note of this place so that you can return later, but all the places you wanted to revisit are starting to blur together. You ask yourself why it's so important to come back, anyway... You're trying to leave this island, not fully exploit it.



While springing this mine, you stumble and turn your ankle. Ordinarily such an injury wouldn't be very meaningful -- a little rest, a little healing craft, and you'd be good as new. But the pain slows you enough that you can't escape the chamber before the shade springs out of the box mine. The shade swipes at your chest. You feel something like pins and needles spread through your lungs. It's an awful sensation, like something has been stolen from you. You struggle to breathe.



In the confusion, your creations manage to slay the guard shade even though you can't manage to direct them. You require several minutes to catch your breath and heal the strange damage the shade left behind. A huge patch of skin from your left to right armpit is red and bubbled, like an exotic rash or burn. You don't have to be able to see the inflammation in your chest cavity to know it's there. You're just lucky that you're able to heal yourself now.

Once you can breathe easily again, you examine the tome left behind here.



It discusses command and charisma. This Shaper appears to have been quite the philosopher. Instead of discussing the mechanisms by which Shapers control creations, the author speaks of how to work with other Shapers and even outsiders under one's command. He pays special attention to resolving conflicts. One of the central points of advice he gives is to always leave a person a way to save face.

We won't be putting any more points into leadership during level ups!



You've put this off long enough. There are no more clawbugs or shades to vent your spleen on. Your creations grow anxious from the smell of Charmander's blood, but they cross Southbridge with you.



The venomous turrets go down quickly with you backing your team. You use a spore bag to heal everyone, and then close with the strange, bright green turret at the end of the bridge.

It turns out to be a fragile turret, and PurpleXVI melts it before you see a demonstration.

Destroying all the turrets allows Solution to freely cross Southbridge from now on.





Finally, one of them, unfamiliar with your language, says, "Me of Sholai. Sholai land! You go. Back! No go here."

You frown. You won't be chased away from any part of this island by these repulsive outsiders, but you also don't want to fight. Without knowing their capabilities, engaging them seems unwise. You've already lost Charmander today. You don't want to lose more creations, or worse.

"Greetings," you say slowly. "I want to know who you are and what you're doing on this island. Don't you know that it is Barred?"

The scouts clearly don't understand what you are saying. But they keep their hands near their swords and watch you. If you keep going, you may have problems.

Frustrated by their ignorance, you decide to try the path of least resistance and lie. "I've been sent by Trajkov. Let me pass."

As soon as they hear the word Trajkov, they begin talking animatedly. The name Trajkov must mean something to them. They look at you and smile. Then they nod and begin to walk off.

You are free to move on.

The game isn't kidding when it says the scouts walk off. They leave the map entirely.





Instead of following them, you head north into another gap. A turret has been placed in front of this cave, so there must be something important inside.



As it turns out, there's an entire camp set up in here. There are more beds than there were scouts who met you. You wonder where the other outsiders are -- probably up to no good, wherever they are.

Stronger turrets guard the eastern caves. When you catch a glimpse, you understand why -- there's a canister here. But your creations are flagging. You decide to leave the turrets alone in hopes that the canister will still be there when you return.



Back in Pentil, you decide to shape another addition to your team. Your ability to create artilas has vastly improved since you made placid saviour, so you decide to make it a companion. Even though you now know how to make a cryoa, you abstain; too many different kinds of creations will be too hard for you to control.

You can only have three different creation types in your party, so I can't have a roamer, fyora, cryoa, and an artila at one time.





The combination of ManxomeBromide, PurpleXVI, and placid saviour proves extremely effective against the new turret varieties here.





With the advantages of all your new learning and canister powers, ManxomeBromide is even stronger than you hoped. Turrets it fails to kill outright are easy enough prey for the rest of your creations, so clearing the rest of these outsiders' caves is a simple task. Afterwards, you have the fyoras burn the turrets' remains away. It's cathartic.



The canister imparts knowledge of how to shape a clawbug. To your disgust, the clawbugs are parthenogenic and even primitively eusocial. Why would a Shaper make a combat creation with traits like that? You vow to yourself that you'll keep any clawbugs you Shape under close control. You absolutely won't let a clawbug of yours go feral.


You decide to take the letter along. You've already used the canister here, so there's no point in trying to conceal that you were in the camp. Perhaps you'll find a way to decipher the outsider writings later.

That's one bridge down. You turn your thoughts to Northbridge and all the mines the Obeyers warned you of...

If it can't be crossed, then it must be burned. A bridge in control of the outsiders is a bridge in the control of the enemy.






No rogues or outsiders greet you when you set foot on the road west of Northbridge. You had to backtrack to get here, but the journey was blessedly free of rogues and the alien Sholai.

A sign nearby cuts to the point: "Watch out for mines!"

Next time: A Landmine Is an Eternal Sentry, or How I Came to Love Spores

Rest in peace, Charmander. All hail ManxomeBromide!

We might have a double update today. No promises, though!