Part 49: Buy Stuff Now or Kick Yourself Later

Buy Stuff Now Or Kick Yourself Later





The moment you step into the old Shaper quarters, you smell a familiar fragrance -- baking bread. But there's no time to enjoy the scent, as there are more outsiders just waiting for an excuse to abuse their powers.

You meet another powerful Sholai, improved by enchantments and Shaper magic. He is not rude, but doesn't want to talk with you either. He just nods.

"I'd like to know something about this complex," you say.

Your knowledge of the Sholai tongue is adequate to pierce his dialect and speed at which he talks. However, he knows little and has no interest in sharing even that with you. The conversation is short and fruitless.

At least he didn't ignore you entirely.



These corridors are under heavy guard, if the combination of hostility and inattention of the Sholai warriors can really be called a "guard." The warriors are probably meant to ensure that all the records here -- a mix of old Shaper records and new Sholai observations -- don't stray too far away, but you can't imagine how anyone would be able to tell if something has gone missing. It's a mess here.





None of the Sholai you cross paths with are willing to entertain questions. The repulsive drayks, however, watch you closely and with animalistic hunger.





The Sholai might have had a real plan for how to inhabit the old Shaper living quarters once, but now everything is a jumble -- there's piles of coin forgotten by canister-addled researchers and even bloody knives left behind on tables stained and gouged. They were probably playing the kinds of stupid games only drunks usually try.



You even find experimental apparatus leaking noxious fumes in one of the crowded bunkrooms.




You're a little surprised at being addressed directly when so many other outsiders have done their best to ignore you. You discreetly fiddle with the control rod but the door still does not respond.

Like all of the other Sholai mages, she has been highly augmented. She looks normal, except for one detail. Her eyes are glowing.

She smiles coldly and says, in your tongue, "Hello, Shaper. I am Varya. I suppose you wish to pass this door. You must get my permission."

Her sneer rankles, but you draw on your recent experiences and remain calm. "How can I pass through this door?"

"Therein lays a tale. When I and Trajkov and the others arrived in these ruins, they were defended by turrets, minds, and a drayk. The turrets and the minds were easily dispatched. The drayk was different."

Drayks again. "How so?" you ask, but you already suspect what you'll hear. This drayk won't be the first intelligent monster you've met on Sucia Isle.

"The drayk was Akkat. His lair is just to the west of here. He had long forgotten his duty to your people. He was bored, and eager to assist us. In return, we feed him and provide wealth. And stroke his ego." She smiles unpleasantly. "Now, however, we need him no longer."

"And you want from me..."

"We are strong enough to slay Akkat. But Akkat is very, very strong. It would likely cause a loss of one or more of our number, and we can afford to lose no more humans. Kill Akkat and I will give you free access to Trajkov."

She clearly wants you to fail, but at the same time, has more or less admitted that you are stronger than the Sholai who would otherwise take on this fight. You decide not to point out that if you survive, you've proven your superiority over her and her brethren. After all, it doesn't do to be rude to anyone, not even squatters.

Varya is silent. She stares at you with her glowing eyes. You notice that you can't make out the pupil or the whites. It's just one uniform glow.

"Where is Trajkov?" you ask.

"Beyond this door. But before you can pass, you must be tested." The contemptible mage doesn't stop smiling. You make a bet with yourself that she was told to slay Akkat and your arrival just presented an irresistible opportunity to use you as an errand girl.

"You look like you have used a lot of the canisters," you say instead of calling her lazy.

"No. Just a few of them. But they were good ones. I was already a mage when I arrived on this island, unlike the simple ones you have met before me. I only needed a small amount of modification to reach my true potential."

You can't resist a small snort at that. The canisters have nothing to do with potential. "Why do your eyes glow?"

"It is a simple and effective magical affectation designed to engender respect." She's merely deluding herself about possessing more talent than she really had.

"You speak my tongue well. Can you teach me some of it?"

Varya snorts. She seems amazed that you think it would be worth her time.

"Surely Trajkov will be displeased when he learns you have delayed me in reaching him."

"Surely you are a fool. You think I would dare test you if I didn't have Trajkov's explicit permission?" The mocking lilt at the end tries your patience to its limit.

"Sure I do. But Akkat won't be the first drayk I've disposed of. Come along and watch, or cower here if you're worried about a little blood." You turn and stride eastward with a very satisfying sweep of your robes. Your creations strut around you, buoyed by your surge of confidence.

Varya doesn't follow, which leaves you free to pursue your own agenda.



Of course it's a dead end with a lever-locked door, but most levers aren't an obstacle to you anymore. Inside the tiny storage room you find more thorns and healing pods, which you add to your already sizeable collection. You're starting to run out of space for all this stuff you've been... liberating.

That puts you in mind of the serviles down in the Junkyard. The route to them is safe enough now thanks to you, so you leave Sholai-held lands to find friendly faces willing to trade.



Shock is pleased with all the shaping equipment you sell him. While he and Proof are preoccupied, you break into the locked northeastern room. You've never seen either servile go in or out of it, and you're curious.

Inside are sleeping quarters, and more importantly, a cache of valuable equipment, including a leaded shield. The heavy old thing isn't that useful to you, though; you leave it and most of the other supplies. You keep a strong healing pod as a souvenir of sorts.

With your load significantly lightened, you once again set foot on the road to Trajkov.





The corridors reek of drayk. Lesser beasts swarm all over, hissing at you8 and scuttling away when you come too close. These feral creations have little love for or knowledge of Shapers or any humans; you're not sure who is even keeping them in check -- is it Akkat or the Sholai?





They live in such squalor that you feel almost sorry for them. If someone had taken the time to teach them, these drayks would have been more than simple animals. Nevertheless, you rifle through their nests when the drayks are out of sight.




This drayk is ancient. Its skin is faded and cracked, and its wings are torn. Yet, it has not grown weak with age. Its eyes are alert and its joints are supple. It is easily old enough to have known the Shapers before they left.

When it sees you, it nods its head, a gesture of respect. "Ah, a Shaper. Yessss. It hassss been long. Yesss, I am Akkat. I greet you in peace, as long as you do not trifle with my nessst."

"What is your job here?" You try to temper your revulsion long enough to speak civilly with this hoary old monster.

"I was set by your kind to guard this place. I lossst interesst." You can hardly blame it. The years must have passed slowly here. "I breed at timesss and ssset my sssspawn to find homesss on the isle. And, of late, I trade knowledge with the Sholai."

"You have assisted the outsiders?" you ask, though Varya already told you as much.

"Sssome, yessss. I wasss bored, and their struggles interesssted me."

More like the drayk thirsted for whatever shiny baubles the Sholai offered. "Who created you?"

"I was made by Danette herself, master researcher of this island."

"I see." Danette may have been one of the last Shapers to legitimately create a drayk. You wonder what she thought of them. "Tell me about this complex."

"There is not much you have not ssseen. To the north isss the Geneforge. Wesst of there are holding cellsss, full of rogues. To the wessst, past research, are the vatsss, full of poison."

Only one of those things really piques your interest. "What do you know of the Geneforge?"

"Little. The Shaperssss, they trusted me little, though they made me from nothing. They told me naught of the Geneforge, for fear I might accessss it in their absence."

They were wise to be paranoid; even though Akkat would die if it tried to use the Geneforge, the drayk would have surely traded away everything it knew to the Sholai for a few glittering crystals. Akkat idly picks at a withered scale with its claw. It doesn't seem impressed by you in the least.

You look away and pause, as though you're searching for a way to relate something mildly embarrassing. "I think perhaps you should know," you say, scuffing your heel in the dirt. "Varya sent me here to kill you."

Akkat shakes its massive head, unimpressed. "No. I still know much, and am too useful to them. They would not betray me. There is no senssse in it." Quite an arrogant creature.

"That may be true, but the Sholai are acting against their interests. They don't trust you. They want you dead." You shrug.

It is difficult, but you get Akkat to believe you. Appealing to its egotism and vanity help.

"What! The ingrates! After my help, betraying me! That Varya! She will pay!" The drayk storms off westward, towards where Varya keeps her stubborn vigil. Akkat must be able to smell her.

If you don't have enough leadership, you don't get the opportunity to betray Varya here. Instead, you can initiate hostilities through dialogue or you can simply force a fight by attacking it outside of the dialogue box.

You can also open negotiations with, "Greetings, creation. I require your assistance." As you might imagine, Akkat is unimpressed with your attempt to coerce it.

Akkat chuckles. You see no traces of obedience in its eyes. "Shaper, your kind lost my respect when you fled this isle. You abandoned me. I see no reason to follow you. I am not one of the pitiful sub-drayks you see here."

"What do you mean by pitiful sub-drayks?"

"The Sholai, they make drayks. They are around. But I am an original, ancient and learned, made by a master Shaper, with my own will. Do not confuse me with them."

Then you're given the choice to ask for Akkat's assistance, or you can say, "Then you are a rogue! I will end your ungrateful existence."

If you're nice, Akkat says, "You are polite. For a Shaper. I will give you little help, but I will let you pass in peace."

All in all, a lot of characterization for an NPC you don't spend much time with and can slaughter outright. Now let's return to our show!



Varya really shouldn't have been so rude. Your creations follow a few paces behind Akkat. You maintain a respectful distance, but that doesn't last for long.



Akkat stops short, leaving your glaahks to stumble forward, carried a short distance by their own momentum. You don't know if Varya recognizes them as yours, but she certainly doesn't take any chances and immediately strikes Dmar with a bolt of energy.

The drayk is a canny old bastard. His fire breath scorches Varya and ignites her robes. Blinded by pain and smoke, she flails and leaves herself open. The burns are vicious -- you can smell her cooking. She can't even scream.



You command your creations to end her suffering quickly; no other Sholai are coming to aid her, and you have no interest in wasting healing on an enemy.



When Varya dies, whatever enchantment she had maintained to bar your path finally ends. The door to Trajkov thuds open.



But you're not quite done yet. After all, this dangerous rogue just turned on a human.

"Greetings, foul rogue," you say, and bow slightly -- you can at least show Akkat some respect and perhaps also acknowledge the irony here. "Now we do battle."

Akkat doesn't look the least bit afraid. "Good. Yessss. Now, at lassst, I get to serve humility to an arrogant Shaper." At least you can make one being happy.



Your vlish move first, as terrifyingly swift as ever. Their loathsome power proves efficacious against even cunning old Akkat. It attempts to flee, then cowers against the far wall. The glaahk finish it off before it dies of a heart attack.

Varya dies and is avenged.

If you don't betray Varya and instead just slay Akkat, Varya receives a little more dialogue.

"Excellent." She waves her hand. "And now, at last, you may meet my master, Trajkov, keeper of the Geneforge."

The door opens at this point. If you ask where Trajkov is now, she says, "Beyond this door. Do not tarry. Trajkov awaits."

Like she didn't just waste our time!

Slaying Akkat lets you loot his nest; you get a girdle of strength, a jeweled wand, and some vendor trash. Varya doesn't drop anything, if I remember correctly. And murdering her doesn't actually make anyone else in the compound turn hostile, because everyone hates her, I guess!





You move Varya's corpse off into the dead end eastern chamber before you finish your explorations of the reclaimed quarters. In one room, you find something interesting. The mage within doesn't seem to notice you, so you investigate the tome.


Unfortunately this doesn't actually unlock dialogue with the Sholai NPCs.




The splendid room inside is guarded by reaper turrets, but they don't turn on you. Apparently knowing the combination is enough to enter safely. You check what you at first think is a closet, but then turns out to be even more luxurious -- an armory all for one man. You wonder what has him exiled to boring guard duty.

The pair of canisters within improves your ability to throw fire and create fyoras. New possibilities come to mind, but you doubt you'll be shaping another fyora in the near future.







You find more kitchens and another large dining hall before coming upon a carpeted section of the complex. The pile has worn down and still smells somewhat of mildew, but it's even more luxurious (comparatively speaking, that is) than Serabryakov's chambers.





You help yourself to the money left in these unguarded rooms, then pause to inspect a gallery guarded by turrets and drayks.

The turrets don't seem hostile, so you pass on through to the west.



You wish you could have seen this library in better times. But this way leads back the way you came, so you turn back.



The drayks don't respond as you walk between them. You find more private rooms here; they're still shared, but with only pairs of beds instead of piles of bedding.



The obelisk reads, "MASTER'S CHAMBERS

Danette
TRAJKOV."



It's no surprise that Trajkov has better guards than his flunkies.



But a pair of reaper turrets is less troublesome now than a passing summer shower.







Four at a time might be a little problematic, though.





Dmar and wedgekree suffer for it, but they get the job done. You check the cabinet the turrets were guarding first, before anything else.






Our creations' HP pools long ago outpaced our ability to heal them. A little more healing craft will help keep them alive during protracted engagements, though.

You spend a few moments patching up the glaahks before clearing the northern chamber.




In his cabinet, you find something familiar.




Now that you've thoroughly swept through Trajkov's personal belongings, you head north. It's not without trepidation that you pass through Varya's door...



Thanks for bearing with me during this longer than expected break! I hope you enjoyed this birthday update. Now it’s back to celebrating in the usual fashion – indolence.