The Age of Decadence Part #21

Part 21: Loose ends

Part XXI: Loose ends

I forgot to show a branch of conversation at the Ordu camp, so here it is.

: Tell me of your people.

It's more or less "our people strong, your people soft." Whatever!

We need to deal with Mack the Knife. He's a pain in the dick and can bring you down to 0 HP in seconds. His attack pattern usually consists of throwing a net at you, then running in and stabbing you to death, relying on his high chance of hitting you with Bleed and multiple critical strikes.

Luckily, he doesn't have much health and his armor is nonexistent, so I'm taking my new blue steel shamshir and ramming it up his ass.

3v1, but this is a breeze compared to the encounter at Harran's Pass. The one with the hammer should be targeted first.

By this point, I'm hitting around 20 points of damage on criticals and Bleed is stacking up to 15 points of damage per turn. It's still a bit of a grind to kill these guys, but nothing too hard.

Three more bite the dust.

We're holding off on the champion until Ganezzar.

Instead, we're sticking the big power module we have in the doohickey in the Slums well room.

This is one of the locations we could have accessed from Zamedi. It's probably a mistake to look in the tank, but I'll do it anyway.

I don't want to know anything about these procedures, thanks.

Reading the scrolls lets us grab one of the canisters. Its use will become apparent much later.

Aw, thanks for the uplifting message, game.

The canister is in a strongbox next to the machine.

Using it will raise our Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution by 1. I'm going with CON because more HP is always good.

Owie.

Hooray!

Here's a merchant I missed at the Temple. He has an extremely metal skull collection.

Don't touch the merchandise!

: Where did you get it?

Simmer down and take my money.

What a weird device. Maybe Clemens would know what it does.

: Ever seen anything like this?

Yes, we're really doing this.

I have the utmost confidence.

Despite what Clemens says, there isn't an impact to gameplay now that we have no depth perception.

And it's permanently grafted to our skull. Great!

Soundtrack: Teron II

Making a stop in Teron, something I couldn't do until the main plot of this act was resolved.

A bunch of tents have popped up around town.

We're here to pick up a sidequest from Aemolas, since our Word of Honor is high enough.

: How much is there?

Whoa.

: The wasteland has been kind to you, Aemolas.

: I'm in.

Off to find hidden (and likely stolen) treasure.

Parley!

: Yes.

: Why should I tell you?

: And then?

Hmm... nah.

There are eight guys to fight, but they're using basic equipment.

Barely a scratch.

Heck, we've got enough money. I'll be nice and split it with Aemolas.

Another good deed done. We only had to kill eight people to do it!

Back in Maadoran, we meet Kemnebi, the guy Basil told us about several updates ago.

: I was just curious about what line of work you were in.

Okay, be that way.

: Are you Kemnebi?

: Whose mortality?

He's tight-lipped about the job, but fuck it, the promise of killing fools is enough for me.

: Yes.

: Are you killing raiders? Are you some kind of militia?

: How do you know about the botched raid?

: How much money are we talking about?

Kill raiders, get gold. Simple.

We've been tricked.

: Who are the Hundred Swords?

Fuck it.

: I'm in.

It's time for a big brawl. Almost 20 combatants shedding blood on the sand. A true battle in every sense of the word.

It's boring! The enemies can't do dick against us, so this encounter consists of waiting like 30 seconds until everyone else's turn is over, then advancing, taking a swipe at an opponent, repeat.