Part 7: Road To Ruin

: You find everyone is feeling rather miserable. You sense just being in Flagging Hands eats away at one’s spirit. Only the imp Ti’zo seems unaffected.



: … Good. That’s… that’s what I wanted.

: A moment, Reader? There are several courses we may take through Flagging Hands. If you choose to prolong your stay, it may be worth your while.

: However, your companions’ spirits shall likely suffer more.



: We’re given three choices, as opposed to the usual two. None of them have especially welcoming names – if I had to choose, Coldmoat sounds the most ‘appealing’ of the three.





: We’re on a particular time limit of sorts: the longer we stay in Flagging Hands, the harder it’ll hit our Hope stat. Hope determines how long our players stay banished, should they be banished at all. So, the obvious solution is to not be banished. It’s easy.

: Going by that argument, I’m fine with not taking Plaguemont and going for some other buff on our way to the Pit of Milithe. Also, I don’t want to go to a place called Plaguemont.

: I’m not interested in going to Fallowfield just for some Stardust, though, so I’ll head to Coldmoat and look for that ‘valuable item.’


Gfy

: The north route through Flagging Hands is dismal beyond reckoning. There is little talk among your group, yet you sense despair encroaching. Only Ti’zo seems unaffected.



: We’ll, uh, we’ll be fine.

: Later, you accompany The Lone Minstrel in pursuit of his task here.

: Speak not directly to the living shade, and be true to your heart when responding to its inquiries. And… make no attempt to look it in the eye.

: The Lone Minstrel offers these and other words of advice as you approach the burial mounds of Coldmoat, where many exiles of the Downside see their final days.



: According to the shade, the Book that you possess may lay some of the fallen here to rest. The shade leaves you to your work. You turn through the Book, locating passages concerning freedom and the spirit. You recite such words as seem best fit to each of the fallen you see.

: It is draining work.

: The shade resurfaces after a while. It leads you to a hollowed stump, then fades away.



: The Noxshroom is vender trash that’s worth fifty coins. Considering we’ll be going into the next Rite already at a pretty hefty disadvantage, we won’t be using the Contract to make a couple extra dollars, so this detour was worth it, at least monetarily.

: Assuming we win, of course.


Gfy

: By the time you reach the Pit of Milithe, everyone besides the imp Ti’zo seems to be feeling even worse than before. You sense their desire to leave this place as soon as possible.



: Damn, I’m going to need to play out of my mind at this rate.



: There’s quite a bit to do here in the Pit of Milithe before we begin. Which is weird, considering that we’d want to spend as little time here as possible. You’d think we’d just show up, play ball, then get going before anything has a chance to fuck us up even worse.

: In any case, someone would like to speak with us, so let’s head into the blackwagon.



: You sense Jodariel’s steel gaze well before you turn to her.

: Reader. Rummaging about the wagon once again. Tell me something, now that you are here.

: Look at me. Are you afraid of me?

: You consider the question. You have never before met someone like her, but do know something of what happens to those who remain in the Downside for many years.



: Obviously, I write these posts after having already played and recorded the session.

: At the time of me playing the game, I was a bit confused by what Jodariel had wanted from me. She can be a little difficult to read sometimes. When we first met, she wanted to mercy-kill me; for a short while after that, I had gotten the impression that she didn’t want me around.

: I wasn’t sure if it was because she just didn’t like me, or she didn’t like riding around in a cramped wagon for days at a time or whatever, but I figured that she might have been putting on an impression. That she wanted to come off as abrasive and intense. And that she was asking me if it was working.



: You tell her in a careful way that you have done your best thus far to not cross paths with her, and wish to stay in her good graces.

: That is definitely not how I would phrase it, though.

: Indeed. It is comforting to know that my mere presence instills fear.

: One day perhaps you too shall grow some horns, if you survive this place. That day shall put the fear you feel in some perspective. Now then, I shall go make my rounds.

: She walks away. You feel the floor of the wagon shake with her step.



: Thinking back on it now, Jodariel may have a stern way with words, and she may sometimes act as if she doesn’t want anything to do with the Rites, but she’s otherwise done everything she could in the best interests of the group. Of course she’s grumpy – she’s been down here long enough to grow an impressive pair of horns on her head. She was the welcoming committee for Mae for a reason.

: I didn’t need the debuff to know that I had really hurt Jodi’s feelings when I said she was intimidating, despite her best efforts, and now I feel like a big ol’ jerk

: Maybe some light reading will take my mind off how poorly I just handled that.


Gfy



: There’s one more thing to do before we begin the Rite, and that’s to give Falcon Ron a visit. He’s probably got something good for us, and I’ve got some fungus I know he’ll love.




: Another Pinch of Stardust, and two more Talismans: a Faith Stone, which will great the bearer +2 Hope, and a Scribe Rock, which grants the bearer +2 Presence.

: Before we do any shopping, though, let’s sell the mushroom for some sweet, sweet cash.



: As for what I want, I don’t think to browse all of Ron’s inventory and I focus just on the two new Talismans that have appeared. They’re both decent picks, doing the same thing for different stats.

: That said, I don’t think the Faith Stone would be the better pick right now. Flagging Hands is going to take a huge dump on our Hope stat no matter how much we try to buff it, and we’re already so debuffed that the Faith Stone would be like trying to put out a brushfire with a squirt bottle.

: Which might be a backwards way of thinking about it: if we’re doing so poorly, why not do anything in our power to make things a little easier on ourselves? But, my way of thinking is that, if we take the Faith Stone, we’ll ultimately make our Hope stat only slightly less worse, whereas if we take the Scribe Rock, we’ll make our Presence stat better.



: Gimme some of that Stardust while I’m here.



: Stardust is going to get incrementally more expensive the more Ron sells it to us, so enjoy that six-dollar price tag while it lasts.

: Hah, I know you’re going to like that stuff, guys, it’s pretty whooooo, know what I mean? And if you want some more, now, I know just the individual and his Dad who can get it, catch my meaning, yeah? Just stop on by some other time!

: The other Pinch of Stardust costs a whole nineteen coins, which is too much for my blood right now. I think that’s enough for this visit to the market.



: Before we commence the Rite, we should get geared up for the upcoming battle. It’s going to be a tough one, especially with all the Hope debuffs, and we could use everything we can. Specifically, I got a Talisman that hopefully Jodariel, uh, won’t read too much into.



: Adding one of our Pinches of Stardust to the Scribe Rock that we just bought… does nothing. This image looks like it’s saying that it’ll buff the Rock to give the bearer +4 Presence, but what it’s actually saying is that this will change the Scribe Rock’s effects from +2 to +2.

: If we want the Scribe Rock to actually do anything, we’ll need to give it a second hit. Luckily, we happen to have a second pinch hanging around.



: Now, whoever bears this Talisman will get a +3 to their Presence. Giving this to Jodariel will make her impressive Aura all the larger, and if there’s anything that I’ve stuck to doing so far, it’s making my strengths stronger. So let’s give her this rock.



: Jeez, that 5 Hope is looking pretty dismal. In a sense, it’s lucky that it’s only Hope that’s taking such a hit, because every other stat is active at all times during the Rites and Hope only comes in when someone is banished. So, I just gotta… not get banished. Easy. Like I said.



: As you make preparations for the coming Rite, you wonder if the stars above will even be visible through the dense fog hanging over the Pit of Milithe. Then…

: (Ti’zo seems to be very concerned by something in the vicinity.)

: The little imp disappears in a hurry.

: Oh! Is Ti’zo all right? He was so frightened!

: He was not frightened. He was issuing a warning.

: Silence. Everyone, take cover.

: Jodariel makes quick note of several hiding places among the nearby crags and rotted husks.

: You wait. Something about the place dampens your senses. All you feel is a creeping dread.



: Dread Design – Music

: The shape stops. Slowly, its head turns from one of you the next, each in turn.

: … Wise of ye to hide yourselves from usss, little Nightwings. Ye trespass on the resting-place of the Astral-Born. We shall see ye when the starsss muster the courage to illuminate this place.

: The creature vanishes into the dark…. After a time, your companions reconvene.

: That was a bog-crone.

: Indeed. That was Witch Udmildhe of the Withdrawn.

: (Ti’zo makes clear he has no love of Udmildhe.)



: I really like how Pyre handles Udmildhe. You really get the sense that she’s your first seriously-dangerous enemy: Lendel was a frustrated limp-wrist; Barker was wild but ultimately more concerned with having a good time (and it just so happened that him having a good time meant that we had a bad one); and Dalbert was an upstanding gentleman.

: Everything about Udmildhe, from her appearance, to the way she speaks, all the way down to her damn theme song, just screams ‘do not approach.’ She apparently isn’t above getting physical outside of the Rites. Even the Voice in the video would prefer you win over Udmildhe getting any sort of traction whatsoever. Udmildhe is Pyre’s first truly dangerous villain, and they get the message across well.

: We’ll take what chances we can get in all of this…. Everyone? It’s time.


Gfy

: Road To Ruin – Gameplay

: I was curious on how my players were performing individually, so I counted how many banishments each of my teammates got and how much damage they each did to the enemy’s pyre. This is what I got:

: Jodariel’s Hope was so dismal that whenever she was banished, she was knocked out for almost three times as long as any of her teammates, and yet she still did twice as much damage to the enemy’s pyre as Rukey and she got a little over twice as many kills. Just goes to show how powerful her defensive game is.

: Moving on, though, Hedwyn and Ti’zo got themselves the usual amount of Inspiration. I should mention: even if you get enough to level up, you can’t actually level up via Inspiration. You need to be involved in the Rite to obtain a new level.

: That said, we got ourselves a new perk!




: I didn’t think to write out Jodariel’s second-level perks when she got her first level a few updates ago, so here they are. From left to right, they are: Crushing Heel (when Joadriel lands from jumping, she stuns nearby enemies into dropping the Orb); Brazen Manner (for seven seconds after Saluting her enemies, Jodariel does an additional 10 damage to an enemy’s Pyre, bringing her up to a devastating 40); Fierce Presence (Jodariel gains a straight +4 buff to Presence); and Enduring Flame (at the start of the Rite, Jodariel’s Pyre begins with an additional +35, uh, Pyrepoints)

: I’m still working towards Celestial Spike, although looking back on it, Enduring Flame would have been a pretty good perk to have, especially after that last match. I can’t undo my perk choices, though, and I’m not much for Saluting my enemies, so I’m going to take Crushing Heel.



: In a sense, Crushing Heel is a bit of a dangerous perk to have because if an enemy drops the Orb, they get their Aura back, and that puts Jodariel at risk. However, as a demon, Jodariel’s Aura is almost guaranteed to be larger than everyone else’s (except other demons, and even then). Besides, as you saw in the video, Jodariel has a tough time approaching an enemy’s pyre because of her slow speed, and Brazen Manner requires her to stop, so, eff that.



: So… when can we get out of here?

: What, Greentail, had enough of Udmildhe’s hospitality for the time?

: Oh, Jodi, yeah, thanks, I’m good!

: The Reader and the stars will point the way, as ever. It’s just… so far, we’ve kept on going north. If that’s the case again this time…

: The Sea of Solis spreads north and west from here, for untold leagues. I could not tell you when last a vessel dared to sail those waters.



: What is the matter, little one?

: (Ti’zo is trying to get you to come look at something outside the wagon.)

: Reader. Please go see what he wants.

: You excuse yourself and follow the imp into the dark of night.



: Can you not read the stars yourself, then, Mister Minstrel?

: I fear it is not so simple as matters of can or cannot when it comes to me, Mae. We shall see what the Reader has to say, for this is his charge.

: And here he is, in fact. Thank you for fetching him, Ti’zo.

: (Ti’zo is happy to have obliged The Lone Minstrel.)

: Reader, it would seem the skies have cleared to some extent. Please, look upon the stars and see where they compel us to go next.



Gfy

: The Rites beckon you still further north… toward the middle of the Sea of Solis.

: That’s not good.

: You’re joking, right, chum?

: Does the Reader seem the joking type to you, Greentail? We do not argue with the stars.

: You talk like we can just go ride right out into the water!!

: Pardon my interruption, though, perhaps we can.

: …Say what?

: My client, Sandalwood. He has a way of anticipating such eventualities. West of here lies a place called Big Bertrude’s. The proprietor is an old companion of his. She may be able to assist us.



: That sounds like our best shot right now. Let’s pack it up and move as soon as possible.



: As much as a rush we’re in to leave a rotting graveyard to swim across the ocean, we need to shoot the shit a bit more. I wonder who would want to delay our leave this time?



: Greetings, Reader. It is good that you are here, for there is something that I wished to tell you privately. Do you have a moment? I shall not keep you long, though I know your time is precious.



: Tariq, buddy, you clearly don’t know me very well.

: You bid him to continue, and make clear your interest in whatever he has to say.

: Very well, and thank you for your time. And, I should further note: Matters that pertain directly to the Rites I must reveal to you alone, for thus I am obliged.

: Which seems like a pretty stuffy, unnecessary and obstructive tradition, if you ask me. I’m just going to blab it to everyone as soon as it becomes relevant.

: In any case… when you confronted the Withdrawn, and Witch Udmildhe… you might recall she tended to invoke a certain name.

: …Yslach, the Astral-Born… I hesitate to say it even now.



: Before the union of the Eight Scribes, when first they found themselves here in the Downside, this land was even less hospitable, if that can be believed. It was ruled over by the Greater Titans. The one called Yslach was the eldest and most fearsome of the lot.

: Just the same, the Scribes managed to defeat it. They later used Yslach’s own hide and ichor to bind the Book of Rites.

: That’s pretty metal.

: However… Yslach did not truly die, for by some accounts, it seems to be incapable of death. The creature is regenerating even now, though very, very slowly. Its vow is to devour this land, and everything in it. Only then can it return unto whatever plane that banished it to ours.



: If ever should the creature be re-born, it shall be many ages hence. Thus, the ravings of Udmildhe are more or less inconsequential, for the while. Yet, the history of Yslach is inexorably linked to the Rites, and therefore must be known. I trust your research of the Book shall lead you to discover more, in time.

: I hope all this is some reassurance…? And now I leave you to your more-immediate concerns. I shall go check to see how everyone is faring at this time.



: So, Yslach is basically Lavos from Chrono Trigger. Like, down to the end-goals and motivations. Got it.

: That’s that for this update. No votes on who to take into the next Rite for now; we’ll get to that very soon.