Part 8
Update 7: Meeting new faces.
After a couple of levels up, Marogareh gives this particular skill to Insert Name. It will be my best friend for a while (and/or until I can get a minion with the skill, then it will be replaced by a better skill, and when the Spyglass is acquired...)
The first analyzed enemy is a Preta.
As you can see, it is weak to offensive magic, but it is immune to Death magic.
That means that every sort of magic BUT the Mudo family will be effective against them.
Wikipedia posted:
Preta (Sanskrit) or Peta (Pāli), Tibetan yi.dvags, is the name for a type of supernatural being described in Buddhist, Hindu and Jain texts that undergoes more than human suffering, particularly an extreme degree of hunger and thirst. They are often translated into English as "Hungry ghosts", from the Chinese, which in turn is derived from later Indian sources generally followed in Mahayana Buddhism. In early sources such as the Petavatthu, they are much more varied. The desciptions below apply mainly in this narrower context.
Pretas are believed to have been jealous or greedy people in a previous life. As a result of their karma, they are afflicted with an insatiable hunger for a particular substance or object. Traditionally, this is something repugnant or humiliating, such as human corpses or feces, though in more recent stories, it can be anything, however bizarre.
Pretas are invisible to the human eye, but some believe they can be discerned by humans in certain mental states. They are described as human-like, but with sunken, mummified skin, narrow limbs, enormously distended bellies and long, thin necks. This appearance is a metaphor for their mental situation: they have enormous appetites, signified by their gigantic bellies, but a very limited ability to satisfy those appetites, symbolized by their slender necks.
The Piexie also learned a useful Conversation Skill when levelling up. Yes. Demons CAN talk to other demons in this game. And that is awesome.
This particular skill is useful for male demons.
A Kodama. It resists the Force spells, so it is not affected very much by the Zan family of spells.
It is just a resistance, though. Hitting them with Zan will be mostly ineffectual, but won't penalize the party by removing press turns. It would be wise to abuse its weakness to Agi spells, but so far no Agi casting minions have been recruited.
One of these was recruited.
Wikipedia posted:
A kodama (木霊, 木魂, or 木魅?) is a spirit from Japanese folklore, which is believed to live in certain trees (similar to the Hamadryad of Greek myth). Cutting down a tree which houses a kodama is thought to bring misfortune, and such trees are often marked with shimenawa rope.
The word can also refer to an echo.
These are a bit annoying. They are weak to Hama spells. They take little damage from physical attacks.
Just annoying.
Wikipedia posted:
The will-o'-the-wisp or ignis fatuus, or in plural form as ignes fatui ("fool's fire(s)") refers to the ghostly lights sometimes seen at night or twilight that hover over damp ground in still air — often over bogs. It looks like a flickering lamp, and is sometimes said to recede if approached. Much folklore surrounds the legend, but science has offered several potential explanations.
The term will-o'-the-wisp comes from wisp, a bundle of hay or straw sometimes used as a torch, and will-o' ("Will of").
The phenomenon will-o'-the-wisp (will of the wisp) is sometimes referred to as Jack o' lantern (Jack of the lantern), and indeed the two terms were originally synonymous. In fact the names "Jacky Lantern" and "Jack the Lantern" are still present in the oral tradition of Newfoundland. These lights are also sometimes referred to as "corpse candles" or "hobby lanterns", two monikers found in the Denham Tracts. Sometimes the phenomenon is classified by the observer as a ghost, fairy, or elemental, and a different name is used. Briggs' "A Dictionary of Fairies" provides an extensive list of other names for the same phenomenon.
Trying to recruit one with Seduce does not work. Talk is more effective. And cheaper.
Damn right.
Excellent. More = better.
A human? Another survivor!
Life Stones. VERY useful healing items. Also: Used in the simplified Demon negotiation.
Passing through.
Yeah, well, screw you too.
FORNEUS?
Damn.
Better look.
Huge bastard, isn't he?
Waaaaay ahead of you.
Or... Not.
Excellent!
HOLY JUMPING JEHOSAPHAT WHAT'S THAT?
Demons that are lying around like that are not hostile. And Insert Name can interact with them.
Let's see what this one has to say.
Those are pretty much the basics of the press turn system, again.
BWAHAHHHAHAAHAAHAHA!
Wait what the fuck's that.
Well, at least it was friendly.
Yes.
USEFUL. If a minion dies, Insert Name can use this to revive it with a little bit of health. If Inser Name dies, nothing can be done, though. It is GAME OVER MAN, GAME OVER.
NOM NOM NOM. Oh wait, there's no eating in this game. Other than the magatamas.
Insert Name will have to eat a lot of those. And then puke them.
And eat them again.
Oh. So that human is not dead.
Those are some tips on Demon Negotiation. But they are mostly useless/obvious. DAMN YOU MUMBLING SPIRITS.
Now there's access to the Annex from the Underground facility. No more having to go all the way back to heal and save. NO MORE.
See?
Well, Forneus is... Swimming? Around in the first floor, so I think that he could not have heard it.
Bah!
And with that dissapointing Jack Frost vending Machine, this update ends.
NEXT: What comes next.