Part 29: The Little Things
Sorry for the lack of scene-setting screenshots for the first couple bits, but snagging those two images will have to wait for archiving, I think.Enough about that. Who loves clawbugs?
The Little Things
You return to Pentil and meet with Mickall Blade. "I have spoken with Doge," you tell him, and describe your meeting with the leader of the southeastern outpost.
Mickall looks concerned, but only for a moment. "These are indeed troubling and threatening times, but now that you are here, I am sure that we have nothing to fear. I feel that I have taken up enough of your time. I know you have more pressing matters elsewhere. Before you go, though, I feel I should give you some aid in return for that you have given us." He hands you a pair of gloves. "We found these during a raid to the north. I believe that they are very high quality, but they burn when we put them on. We cannot wear them. Perhaps they can help you. Thank you again for your help, Shaper. We owe all we have to you."
You thank the servile for the Shaped gauntlets. You didn't know that they were enchanted against serviles. You received a high price for the previous pair you sold, which means there must be demand for such gauntlets... and that demand is probably from the Sholai.
That insight reminds you that you still need to inform Astrov of the little pact you made between his rebels and the Obeyers.
Back in the northern cave, you approach the Sholai scout. "I have spoken with Rydell, the leader of Pentil. He is loyal to the Shapers. He might help you," you say.
"Then I will go down there to meet him. It will be hard, but I might convince him that we have a common cause. Thank you, Shaper. You have been a great help to us."
You have so many loose ends to wrap up. The nightmarish dry wastes still seethe with clawbugs that stalk you across the dusty flats. Exterminating them takes a great deal of dedication, but it's a good way to put MagusofStars through its paces.
The clawbugs have certainly defended this useless plot of land from all interlopers, though. Their boneyard is full of trophies.
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The floor of this cave is littered with dry clawbug carapaces. Something cleared out this lair recently. The cave is icy cold.
Can you see the ghost without the highlight tool? Because I sure can't.
The specters are the same ancient ghosts you found in the last set of icy tunnels you explored. You wonder what caused them to pop up here in the clawbug tunnels. They are no more challenging than those on the other side of the island, though.
In the very back of the tunnel network is a pylon chamber. It seems that the clawbugs nesting here managed to puncture this sealed room with their constant digging. They must have awoken the specters that protected this place.
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This is an ancient stone pillar. It has been sitting in this cave for many centuries. The constant drip of water from the ceiling has coated it with thick mineral deposits, concealing whatever purpose it once had.
You decide to return to the icy tunnels to investigate the pylons there further. You walk through the first tunnel and immediately notice that something's different... The wall to your right is closed again. Whatever secret mechanism causes this remains a mystery to you.
The caves are still rotten with specters. Maybe they never really fall; maybe their dissipation is only temporary, and they can never be truly laid to rest. What an awful fate.
Reaching the unexplored depths of the cave requires a significant amount of backtracking. Along the way, you discover subtle shifts in the cavern layout that confirm your suspicions about the secret rooms. Specters must be hiding in them, waiting for intruders to pass, and then exit to ambush those intruders from behind.
It's truly a devilish plan. The necromancy this trap requires is mind-boggling. Your untutored grasp of spellcraft isn't enough to work out how it might have been accomplished.
In the furthest corner of the cave is a large burial chamber. A handful of specters greet you here.
These ghosts are stronger than the shades you've already met, and with these numbers, victory will be hard-won.
But won it is.
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When you examine this pylon, you notice a strange, hairline crack at the base. You look more closely and find a cunningly disguised hidden panel. You would never have noticed it, had not good fortune and years of decay conspired to aid you.
You open the compartment. There is nothing inside. However, when you opened it, it made a strange clicking noise.
You approach one of the sarcophagi.
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You try to slide away the lid of this crypt. However, it doesn't budge. Your strength is completely inadequate to move it.
Then the other...
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The lid of the crypt slides away smoothly at your push. There is a body inside. Well, there was. The moment the fresh air from the outside hits it, it crumbles into dust.
The body was holding a long, iron sword. The years and damp have caused it to rust into bits. Similar fates met the shield, boots, robe, and so on.
However, the skeletal hand did have a ring on its finger. You take it.
You fiddle with the second pylon and hear another click. Then you return to the locked sarcophagus.
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The lid of the crypt slides away smoothly at your push. At first, you think that it was empty. There is only a scattering of dust inside. Then, as you watch, a spectral being rises from inside.
Its form is very amorphous. You can only tell that it is the spirit of something humanoid. It seems to be looking down at you, examining and judging you.
Then, suddenly, it darts downward and touches you. Its icy, insubstantial finger traces a cold line through your chest, chilling you to the heart. Then the being fades away, evaporating in the dim light.
As it goes, you start to feel different. You feel stronger, more sure, more charged with energy, as if the being gave you a strange boon before it departed.
Two more points in Spellcraft? Yes, please!
A spectral priest friend dropped this upon defeat. I don't make a habit of using gear that reduces fire resistance, though.
As you make your way out, you find that the ghosts and their pylons have one more gift for you. This room is full of chests that, though covered in minerals from their time moldering in this cave, clearly haven't been tampered with.
That means the locks and traps are still intact. You use some of your precious stash of living tools to disarm the traps without harming yourself... No, don't laugh; you actually detonate the traps after popping a shielding pod and hoping for the best.
Avoiding some puny powder bombs by wasting your living tools is for lesser beings.
The chests are full of ancient, gold coins, wands, and other supplies that seem intact. Well worth losing your already singed eyebrows for.
Solution also received a stabilizing band and a shielding band for her trouble. Her jewelry collection is quite nice. She could really use some necklaces and bracelets to round out her accessories, though. Maybe even a few brooches. She could be the Madeleine Albright of Shapers.
You deposit your extra supplies in a safe place in the tribal woods before resuming your exploration of the western side of Sucia.
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This is a dusty forest of dead and petrified trees- There are gnawed bones in the ground everywhere, some very old and some newer. There is a heavy vinegar smell in the air, and the still air carries to you the sharp rhythm of clicking claws and mandibles.
Oh, great. Spawners.
The western wastes are not an improvement over any other poisoned, gritty desert you've visited here. The monoliths are a little interesting the first time you see them, but eventually all you can think of is enormous, abandoned middle fingers flipped at you across the centuries.
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This sign was placed here recently. It says:
this is the realm of goettsch
intruders are killed
sholai are killed slowly
At first, you're excited by this sign -- Goettsch must be nearby! Finally, you'll be able to seek advice from a real, full Shaper. But something about the wording seems a little strange...
You've barely set foot westward when motion to the north catches your eye. Your artilas hiss in anticipation. There's a thahd clutching something...
But you can't focus on the thahd right now, because the venomous type of clawbug is trying to introduce its stinger to your face. You cast a war blessing on the team to help them neutralize the damned rogue.
More clawbugs, the variety with the extra thick plates, move in to support the stinging clawbug from the west.
Out that way, to your dismay, is a spawner spitting out ever more of the things. You direct MagusofStars and the artilas to fire, hoping they can suppress the spawner long enough to keep it from popping out more reinforcements while your fyoras deal with the stinging clawbug.
Just as you get the clawbug situation sort of under control, ghosts swoop in from the south to hassle RickVoid and placid saviour.
Placid saviour remains steadfast despite being flanked. It fires and the spawner squeals and collapses into mush.
MagusofStars' terror effect proves potent even against the wastes ghosts. They are paralyzed and rendered helpless. They quickly fall, as does the last plated bug.
And just to rub it in, your artilas also kill the thahd, which had been transfixed by all the fighting. It dies holding a crescent stone -- this must be what the junkyard serviles were talking about. You pocket the heavy rock.
The thahd doesn't always spawn here. It seems to be about 20 - 25% whether he'll spawn on a given instance of this zone, and he'll only spawn if you haven't gotten a crescent stone through other means. And the stone itself? It's a key item, but it just looks like any other rock. Good luck if you don't think to hit G to search the small radius around where you kill the thahd and then make sure to check the stupid rock to see that it's not just an ordinary stupid rock.
Another stinging clawbug scuttles out of the woods after you, but your creations successfully exterminate it at range.
More interesting is the tome in the lee of this collapsed building.
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This is an old Shaper notebook, abandoned when the island was Barred. Its author probably thought he or she would be able to return to collect it. After the years and the exposure to the elements, only a short section of it is legible:
Truly, the natives who settled the island before us were a strange people. A mixture of savagery and cunning, of simple beliefs and strange, necromantic powers.
At last, I have received assistance. Five Guardians will help me safely explore the massive ruins. It is hard to get attention and resources, because of all the excitement about the Geneforge, but [long, illegible section]
Their power was so great that, even now, their shades are still potent and dangerous. We can defeat them, but it is dangerous, especially since they resist [unreadable].
... and then enter the largest ruins, at the northwest corner of the isle.
You take note of this. Even with the illegible sections, you're sure that some of the information here will prove useful. Anything about the people who inhabited this place even before the Shapers colonized it is interesting, and might, perhaps, provide you with a path forward after you leave Sucia Island. Think of the research opportunities!
But that's neither here nor there. You have so many clawbugs to deal with...
Back in the clearing the ghosts ambushed you from is a corpse. You also find a few living tools and some Shaper equipment in the detritus.
You eliminate another spawner. This one was backed up by a crystal pylon -- but unlike the others you've encountered so far, this pylon focused on healing the spawner rather than spewing searing orbs at you.
In a gap between the western trees, you're attacked by another group of wastes ghosts.
They set you up for a stinging clawbug ambush.
Luckily, there's only the one clawbug, and you don't sustain any casualties. Once the last ghost dissolves into the aether, you approach the pylon.
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This is an ancient stone pillar, far older than anything the Shapers built here. It must have been placed here by one of the natives who lived on this island long before the Shapers arrived.
You notice one part of the pillar which was worn smooth. There are also carvings on the pillar. Some of them depict crude, humanoid figures, all in a long line, touching the pillar as they walk past.
You touch the bare spot.
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When you rub the worn area you feel a sharp stinging sensation up and down your arm. You jerk your hand away.
As you shake out your stinging arm, you wonder if perhaps these pylons weren't meant for you. Maybe they're as anathema to non-natives as Shaper canisters are to serviles.
You find another spawner - pylon combo in the northwestern quadrant.
Guess who got one shot by a random attack and had to redo this area due to a lack of quicksaves? I am truly the proest of pro gamers.
The first order of business is for your artilas and vlish to suppress the spawner and pylon.
Then you have to do something about the clawbugs surrounding MagusofStars. They're much too close for comfort. These bugs are well-armored, and the mixture of plated bugs with stinging bugs is a deadly combination. To top it off, these rogues are fast.
A combination of swarm crystals and the speed spell eliminates most of the clawbugs and gives your team some breathing room. Idhrendur finishes off the last stinging clawbug, which grants you the space to start curing MagusofStars and GreatEvilKing of poison.
Just as the tide turns in your favor, another stinging clawbug swoops in from the north and grazes your arm with its poison barb. Though the scratch is shallow, you can feel venom spread through your flesh.
The stinging clawbug doesn't stand a chance without other reinforcements nearby, but the spawner is still making new clawbugs to throw at you.
It goes down next, followed by the pylon.
You pause to catch your breath after that fight. It was the toughest engagement you've faced in the wastes yet, and chewed through your stamina. Right now, all you can think about is how tired and thirsty you are.
The nearby outsider doesn't have that problem anymore.
On his body you find a very potent wand, which you tuck away in case you find even tougher battles in the future.
There's a fourth spawner to the northeast. You hope it's the last, too. Everywhere you go, you're ambushed by clawbugs. If you never see another clawbug again, it'll still be too soon.
After you wipe out a few more lingering clawbugs, you find a clear pool. Upon closer inspection, though, you find that it's hopelessly tainted -- it's so alkaline that not even algae will grow in it.
You plow through still more bugs and locate a pair of nests in a northern dead end path.
Nearby is a fantastic cache that includes a canister. It's almost worth dealing with the bugs. Almost. This canister grants you the ability to create battle alphas.
Gotta pump that blessing magic.
Another side path in the dead woods leads to a wastes ghost, more crushable clawbugs, and a pair of bodies. They were left to gradually mummify amid their flung javelins. At least they went down fighting.
You fight your away through another nasty clawbug ambush through the grace of the speed spell alone. It leaves RickVoid in such bad shape that it panics and tries to flee, dragging you further west and into unexplored land -- and straight into a spawner.
Braced for another ugly fight, you push your creations forward to defend RickVoid.
The fyoras prove their worth, frying stinging bugs and the pylon.
But this spawner is supported by two pylons, which conveniently can also heal each other.
Focused fire brings down the nearest pylon. It explodes into toxic fumes, which have an immediate and visible negative effect on the spawner.
You're surrounded by carnage.
MagusofStars nails the spawner with its terror effect, paralyzing the creature. You've managed to cure your team and heal them, which reassures RickVoid enough that you regain control over it. Together, RickVoid and placid saviour coat the spawner in a fatal dose of acid.
Then the last pylon finally goes down.
Exhausted, you stand amid the ruins of the spawners and pylons. Did Goettsch put all this here? It's insane, but... you've also had to resort to insane, illegal measures to survive here.
And despite all your wanderings here, you've found no more signs of the Shaper's presence. If this is his realm, where is he?
Next time: It's No Nausicaa