That's a bit of an odd assumption, given that, just from the missions thus far, you know possible enemies include super-magical animals and GIANT ROBOTS. Yes, you'll probably beat ordinary humans with your bare hands, but really, credible melee threats will be much the same as you in that regard. Not arguing against taking the Rifle, that's the choice of the player base and I intend the three options to be roughly equal, just pointing out what I consider be a likely misconception. (And really, the magical properties of the three are more important than the sword vs gun point per se.)
That's a bit of an odd assumption, given that, just from the missions thus far, you know possible enemies include super-magical animals and GIANT ROBOTS. Yes, you'll probably beat ordinary humans with your bare hands, but really, credible melee threats will be much the same as you in that regard. Not arguing against taking the Rifle, that's the choice of the player base and I intend the three options to be roughly equal, just pointing out what I consider be a likely misconception. (And really, the magical properties of the three are more important than the sword vs gun point per se.)
Shhhhhhhhh. *pets creepily* shhhhhhhh. We must simply make our fists better then. Plus there is always using the butt of a rifle to bludgeon things, soooooo. *shrugs*
By my count, we have a tie between 'Blake" and "LI-78T" for name. (unless anybody wishes to change their vote, I'll probably just go with "LI-78T" here), while the rifle has 3/5ths votes thus winning, and the fifth mission wins, as the only mission with more than one vote. Locking in the vote, aside from name, although I don't expect to get out the update till tomorrow.
"Hmm. I'll deal with the dimension that has no night first. That sounds dire, for the entire dimension." you say.
"Very well, LI-78T. Hmmm. You'll need this, then." he says, pulling a scroll out, while putting away all but one of the mission scrolls.
"A scroll?" You ask, somewhat baffled. It's not the mission scroll, he never put it away.
"A Primal scroll, LI-78T. There's a rather critical difference. This Primal Scroll contains the spell Primordial Influence. Go on, read it." he says, handing over the Primal Scroll. You open the scroll... and black out for a second. Next thing you know, the scroll is gone, and you have a spell running through your mind. It... it... you're not quite sure what it does. Kabie speaks up once more at this point "Wondering what your new spell does, LI-78T? Oh, don't look at me like that, every Incarnate has the same question when they get it. In short, it forges a direct connection to the Primordial Incarnated by the caster to the location it is cast at. In general, this increases the presence of the things that a Primordial brings to the cosmos in the local area, and in the case of a situation like this, casting it in key, cosmically significant locations in the dimension will re-anchor the dimension to the influence of the Primordial and correct the problem entirely." That's... interesting. Kabie then hands the mission scroll to you.
Mission Type: Darkness Expulsed.
Severity: Estimated 4/10.
Dimension affected: 7th Realm of the God, Heavenly King.
Dominant Species of the Dimension: Elves, Robots, and Centaurs.
No other information currently available.
Kabie then says "For reference, the scroll will automatically record relevant information. Even if you don't realize it is relevant, LI-78T."
"Oh? Sounds useful." you reply, making a mental note to check up on it every so often. Who knows, it could be key to figuring out what to do.
"Now then, my good fellow, it is time to go and begin your mission" announces Kabie, and you think you detect some oddly sadistic glee to his words.
"Oh? And how do I get there, Kabie?" you ask, with some trepidation.
"I told you I was responsible for transportation of Incarnates, did I not?" Kabie says, prompting a nod in response from you, and then he continues with "Well, like this!" he announces, with abundant glee in his voice... And then everything is cloth, you see nothing but cloth, cloth everywhere, for the next three seconds (thank you, on-board chronometer). It ends as abruptly as it starts, and now you are standing in a desert, on a hill (or is it a dune?) overlooking a village full of centaurs. You've seen some back home, though they aren't especially common there.
And then a supernatural voice booms forth from above you, startling you "Ah! The Dark One! Surely, the Primordials smile upon me this day!" you swivel around, dropping into a fighting stance, while the voice continues "You are here to return night to my seventh realm, yes?" the voice continues... wait, is this the local god? Yes, the Visors heads-up display confirms him to be "Friendly God: Heavenly King". He looks like the sky. Seriously, your tactical assessment programs refuse to give you any concrete information, he just looks like the sky, yet somehow special and distinct, even though as you are looking upwards you are in fact, also looking at the sky.
"Er, yes, that is my goal." you reply, somewhat flustered by the strangeness involved in the situation.
"Excellent, most excellent. So, Dark One, did the Keeper explain why night has gone missing, or was that absent from your briefing?" asks Heavenly King, in a most jovial tone of voice.
"Well, no, he did not" you respond, suspecting you know where he is going with this, and so you continue on to say "I take it you are implying that you know? It would be most useful to know the cause, so as to guide my actions... And forgive me for asking this, but are the people of your realm alright? A month of continuous day seems... harsh in the extreme, as conditions go."
"Oh, yes, my people are quite alright. You see, I have quite the control over the sky, and that which is present within it. So, after the second day or so, once I understood there was a serious problem, I simply enacted a sort of artificial night, via the application of blotting out the sky with clouds." he says, in a casual tone of voice, leaving you vaguely dumbfounded. And indeed, half the sky is covered in a thick, unbroken wall of clouds. If you had any doubts to his divinity before, this banished them. "As to the cause, a misguided group of religious zealots, composed principally of angels, believed that 'banishing darkness from the world' would improve things, and surprisingly, they pulled it off. They enacted complex rituals at the five anchor points of the Primordials that my humble seventh realm features, banishing the influence of Darkness from the realm" You are shocked at the idea of Angels doing such a thing, after all, they are the servants of gods, are they not?
You ask as much "But I thought Angels were the servants of gods? How did this come to pass?", confused, and concerned.
Heavenly King chuckles, and replies "Angels are, on the whole, far more prone to having strong religious, or spiritual values, or needing a belief in a greater beings guiding hand, but for better or worse, they are just another species of sentient, when it gets right down to it. I would guess the God of your home realm employed them as personal servants, either out of a desire to keep them out of trouble, or a wish to more personally shape the lay of his realm. I have no desire to exert strong control over my seventh realm, it interests me to see how it develops without a heavy hand, and so religious zealots, Angels or otherwise, tend to be a bit out of line with my own goals. Perhaps a mistake on my part, given this situation." he finishes, in a somewhat rueful tone of voice. Then what appears, at first glance, to be a map and compass fall into your hands. "Here, this map shows the terrain, major political divides, and most importantly the locations of the anchors in my seventh realm. The compass points towards each of the anchors, with a different color of pointer for each. I apologize for cutting this short, but I have some matters that I simply must attend to. Bear in mind the anchors are almost certainly fortified by an entrenched army of those zealots, and that they are unlikely to take kindly to attempts to return Darkness to the land". And with that, he leaves. You're... not quite sure what makes you think that, but you are confident he has left.
Then Kabie's voice chimes up from nowhere. "Ah, an army. That's a complication. I'll have to open up part of the barracks to you"... his voice is originating from the Visor of Darkness. All righty then.
Kabie swirls into existence in front of you, and announces "As you may be going into serious combat here, I am required to provide you with access to a modest army, LI-78T. Protocol dictates I offer you the choice between three options. Firstly, a squadron of Night-stalkers, stealth specialists that function best in the dark, their dog-like senses serve them particularly well in black out conditions. The artificial night that Heavenly King has been maintaining would qualify well enough. Secondly, a pair of Night Serpents, mighty beasts that can quite literally swim through darkness. And thirdly, a regiment of Onyx Guard. These stone golems are quite well suited to a straightforward battle, and I can assure you that they are qualified to lay siege if it comes to that. So, LI-78T, which will you take?" explains Kabie. After a moment of you thinking and Kabie floating silently before you, a thought seems to cross his mind "Oh, whatever you choose, don't worry about endangering the lives of your soldiers over much. All things drawn from the Barracks are constructs forged of Primal energy, not truly sentient or alive." Well, that alleviates some concerns.
[] Night-stalkers, stealth specialists best suited to assassination, subterfuge, and raiding.
[] Night Serpents, big, mean monsters, quite swift, but with their best feature being their sheer strength and durability.
[] Onyx Guard, straightforward melee sorts adequately competent in siege warfare, among other styles of fighting.
Additionally, what do you do first, upon Kabie departing once you are in possession of your new forces?
[] Go towards the far northern anchor. It appears to be in empty wilderness.
[] Go towards the far southern anchor. It's... not far relatively, but it's across an ocean, and the map names no ports nearby
[] Go towards the centrally located anchor. It's location is surrounded by territory labeled as "Purifier Zealot Protecterate", which you suspect is the Angel religious order responsible for this mess.
[] Go towards the far western anchor. It's the farthest from you, location in what the map labels a kingdom of elves.
[] Go towards the far eastern. It is a medium distance away, and the region of the map is labeled as 'the Sun's Abode", for some reason.
[] Write-in
You will be able to take a force of soldiers and/or war beasts into every mission. Whichever choice is taken here will remain permanently unlocked for use in later missions. As soon as a second unit type is made available, you will have to make choices as to how much of what to take.
Current HP: 100/100
Current MP: 500/500 Species: Paladin-Bot, Combat Model 3b. (Major features: Magically powered, immune to life affecting spells and most biological toxins, doesn't sleep) Attributes
Strength: 15
Armor: 25
Agility: 5
Intelligence: 18
Magic Power: 20 Skills
Melee Skill: 20
Ranged Skill: 20
Light Magic Skill: 30
Fate Magic Skill: 10
Lightning Magic Skill: 15
Dark Magic Skill: 100
Leadership Skill: 25
Tactical Skill: 25
Strategic Skill: 20 Known Spells: Starlance (Light), Sun Wall (Light), Radiant Healing (Light), Twist Fate (Fate), Charge Generators (Lightning), Banishment (Dark), Disjunction (Dark), Rift Sealing (Dark), and Primordial Influence (Special: no check, always succeeds) Traits
Deathbane: +5 to all skillchecks against the Undead, knows the weaknesses of most undead from long experience.
Defender: +10 to all Leadership, Tactics, and Strategy checks when defending a known location. Has a knack for picking out the best locations to defend from.
Inquisitor: The Incarnate is highly skilled at catching lies and deception.
Incarnate of Darkness: Embodies every facet of Darkness. Artifacts
Rifle of Starry Skies: Uses mana to fire, but receives a bonus from wielder's skill in Dark Magic, and can harm targets that would be immune to mundane bullets. Additionally, has a chance to negate any harmful spell that would affect the wielder, as long as they still hold it.
Visor of Darkness: Provides all kinds of useful info, like this description right here. Also allows the Keeper to communicate with you at any time.
Whew, that took way longer than I expected to make.
[X] Onyx Guard, straightforward melee sorts adequately competent in siege warfare, among other styles of fighting.
[X] Go towards the far northern anchor. It appears to be in empty wilderness.
[X] Night-stalkers, stealth specialists best suited to assassination, subterfuge, and raiding.
[x] Go towards the centrally located anchor. It's location is surrounded by territory labeled as "Purifier Zealot Protecterate", which you suspect is the Angel religious order responsible for this mess.
Do the most secured one by stealth before they know it
[X] Onyx Guard, straightforward melee sorts adequately competent in siege warfare, among other styles of fighting.
[X] Go towards the far western anchor. It's the farthest from you, location in what the map labels a kingdom of elves.
Concerning the possible minions we may get, I honestly think the straightforward siege-warfare guys are best. We're going to have to assault the PZP eventually, and considering the fact that we're not exactly the slimmest, stealthiest robot around, we're probably going to have to do it the old-fashioned way.
I chose the elves so that we can get a look at how the local non-angelic sapients are doing in person. So long as we explain that we're the guy that was sent to fix everything, they shouldn't be hostile and we might even get some temporary troops to help us in some of the later areas. At the very least, the elves should provide us with some intel regarding the locations of the other anchors, such as possible obstacles, dangers, etc.
[X] Onyx Guard, straightforward melee sorts adequately competent in siege warfare, among other styles of fighting.
[X] Go towards the far northern anchor. It appears to be in empty wilderness.
hit them hard before they know it. Also maybe we can get some party members at some point.
[X] Night-stalkers, stealth specialists best suited to assassination, subterfuge, and raiding.
[x] Go towards the centrally located anchor. It's location is surrounded by territory labeled as "Purifier Zealot Protecterate", which you suspect is the Angel religious order responsible for this mess.
Meatspace has been giving me trouble and I am perhaps overambitious in my quest design.
Hmmm.
Onyx Guard it is by the votes, but we have a tie on what to do. Therefore, I'm going to start a new vote to settle the tie! (this can not possibly go wrong)
"The Onyx Guard, sir? Very well." says Kabie, in response to your choice. And then he does... something, and a thousand (exact, thank you troop counting program) pitch black stone golems are standing in front of you, at attention. Then Kabie throws you something, catching it, you see it's some manner of badge or medal, and then Kabie says "that is your Commanders Mark, for the Barracks. It is an essential tool for managing your army. The Visor can tell you more", and with that he vanishes.
Noticing the Visor describing an ability to 'pack up' and 'deploy' your army, you attempt to activate these functions after putting the Markon your chest (and lo and behold, it sticks there almost as if magnetized. But you sense no magnetism. Curious). As you watch, your army turns translucent and ultimately vanishes over five minutes, and then re-appears at the same rate when you attempt to 'deploy' them. Useful. You think you'll keep them out, for now, you decide, since you've concluded that the far Northern Anchor should be your first destination, and that's in wilderness. If you encounter hostile creatures, you'd prefer to not have to wait five full minutes for reinforcements. You will the Onyx Guard to begin marching behind you as you plot a course to the north, and a quick glance (not to mention the noise of a thousand stone golems marching) shows that, indeed, they follow. Useful, being able to co-ordinate an army without any warning passing to the enemy.
The march passes mostly without anything worth commentary, until you encounter a massive horde of Slimes, glowing brilliantly, like you'd expect back home. While one of the less threatening monsters to encounter, hundreds of them is nevertheless a somewhat concerning prospect (troop counting program reports: 1000 exact)... and... Well. That appears to be dozens of Skeletons in the back, apparently in command of this horde of slimes, crackling with arcane energies and wielding sizable bows. Is this the work of a necromancer or merely the restless dead?... Question for later. They've turned to attack your army, readying bows and waving arms, generating troop movements among the Slimes.
What do you do?
[]Write in. (if you choose to engage the force, include a strategy going into the fight)
Current HP: 100/100
Current MP: 500/500 Species: Paladin-Bot, Combat Model 3b. (Major features: Magically powered, immune to life affecting spells and most biological toxins, doesn't sleep) Attributes
Strength: 15
Armor: 25
Agility: 5
Intelligence: 18
Magic Power: 20 Skills
Melee Skill: 20
Ranged Skill: 20
Light Magic Skill: 30
Fate Magic Skill: 10
Lightning Magic Skill: 15
Dark Magic Skill: 100
Leadership Skill: 25
Tactical Skill: 25
Strategic Skill: 20 Known Spells: Starlance (Light), Sun Wall (Light), Radiant Healing (Light), Twist Fate (Fate), Charge Generators (Lightning), Banishment (Dark), Disjunction (Dark), Rift Sealing (Dark), and Primordial Influence (Special: no check, always succeeds) Traits
Deathbane: +5 to all skillchecks against the Undead, knows the weaknesses of most undead from long experience.
Defender: +10 to all Leadership, Tactics, and Strategy checks when defending a known location. Has a knack for picking out the best locations to defend from.
Inquisitor: The Incarnate is highly skilled at catching lies and deception.
Incarnate of Darkness: Embodies every facet of Darkness. Artifacts
Rifle of Starry Skies: Uses mana to fire, but receives a bonus from wielder's skill in Dark Magic, and can harm targets that would be immune to mundane bullets. Additionally, has a chance to negate any harmful spell that would affect the wielder, as long as they still hold it.
Visor of Darkness: Provides all kinds of useful info, like this description right here. Also allows the Keeper to communicate with you at any time.
Commanders Mark: Allows you to telepathically issue orders to Barracks troops within a large radius. Allows you to receive updates from the troops in the same range. Allows you to 'pack up' or 'deploy' your army over a short period (current five minutes). Gives some army information.
Eh, don't see why not. Paladinbots must be trained in handling necromantic creatures, what with DeathBane trait, and slimes are one of the weakest encounters on their own.
[X] Stay in the back of the assault and snipe the Skeletons while your Onyx Guards take care of the slimes.
[X] Try to claim command over the remaining slimes after the skeletons are destroyed
[X] Stay in the back of the assault and snipe the Skeletons while your Onyx Guards take care of the slimes
[X] Try to claim command over the remaining slimes after the skeletons are destroyed
[X] Stay in the back of the assault and snipe the Skeletons while your Onyx Guards take care of the slimes
[X] Try to claim command over the remaining slimes after the skeletons are destroyed
[X] Stay in the back of the assault and snipe the Skeletons while your Onyx Guards take care of the slimes
[X] Try to claim command over the remaining slimes after the skeletons are destroyed
Battle against Skeleton Rangers and Slimes
You decide now would be a good time to give the Rifle of Starry Skies a testrun, of sorts, and see how competent these Onyx Guard are in melee.
You take aim with the rifle, and fire. A... you don't know what to call it, you'd say a flash but there was no light involved, emits, and one of the Skeleton Rangers is shredded utterly. Well then. The other rangers start panicking and fleeing, you cut down about a quarter in total before they flee. Your Onyx Guard start laying into the Slimes, largely crushing them easily, when you have the idea to try to seize command over the Slimes.
rolled 88. -50(oppositional element)=38% convert!
You're not quite sure how to go about taking command of Slimes, but when all is said and done, 380 Slimes are following your orders and the rest have been destroyed by the Onyx Guard. Some of the Onyx Guard might be a bit beat up (you think, you're really not sure), but none of them are what you'd call casualties, they all seem capable of fighting. All in all, that went pretty well, in your opinion. On the other hand, a lot of those Skeleton Rangers escaped, and in those kinds of numbers you suspect their might be a Necromancer at work in these parts. Even if they are just restless dead, they're still dangerous... and on the other hand, fixing reality might be more important.
What do you do?
[] Continue to the Anchor. Fixing what's wrong with the world is more important, the locals can probably handle that many Skeletons.
[] Hunt down the remaining Rangers. Wouldn't want travelers getting killed from you leaving a job half-done.
[] Search for the source of these undead. With that many, there's probably either a recent battle site or something for so many naturally occurring undead to be present in one location, or there's a Necromancer at work. Neither is likely to be anything good.
[] Other (Write-in)
Current HP: 100/100
Current MP: 475/500 Species: Paladin-Bot, Combat Model 3b. (Major features: Magically powered, immune to life affecting spells and most biological toxins, doesn't sleep) Attributes
Strength: 15
Armor: 25
Agility: 5
Intelligence: 18
Magic Power: 20 Skills
Melee Skill: 20
Ranged Skill: 20
Light Magic Skill: 30
Fate Magic Skill: 10
Lightning Magic Skill: 15
Dark Magic Skill: 100
Leadership Skill: 25
Tactical Skill: 25
Strategic Skill: 20 Known Spells: Starlance (Light), Sun Wall (Light), Radiant Healing (Light), Twist Fate (Fate), Charge Generators (Lightning), Banishment (Dark), Disjunction (Dark), Rift Sealing (Dark), and Primordial Influence (Special: no check, always succeeds) Traits
Deathbane: +5 to all skillchecks against the Undead, knows the weaknesses of most undead from long experience.
Defender: +10 to all Leadership, Tactics, and Strategy checks when defending a known location. Has a knack for picking out the best locations to defend from.
Inquisitor: The Incarnate is highly skilled at catching lies and deception.
Incarnate of Darkness: Embodies every facet of Darkness. Artifacts
Rifle of Starry Skies: Uses mana to fire, but receives a bonus from wielder's skill in Dark Magic, and can harm targets that would be immune to mundane bullets. Additionally, has a chance to negate any harmful spell that would affect the wielder, as long as they still hold it.
Visor of Darkness: Provides all kinds of useful info, like this description right here. Also allows the Keeper to communicate with you at any time.
Commanders Mark: Allows you to telepathically issue orders to Barracks troops within a large radius. Allows you to receive updates from the troops in the same range. Allows you to 'pack up' or 'deploy' your army over a short period (current five minutes). Gives some army information.
Special: 380 Light Slimes. Acidic, capable of flowing through tight spaces, glowing. They're pretty bad at melee combat against any kinda competent soldiers, but maybe they'll be useful as scouts or siege tools or something.
Current Command capacity: 1000/1000
So, I tried to make more than one system work for me, and in the end couldn't. For now, there will be no formal system of rolls to the gameplay, so don't expect to see the same kind of rolls or modifiers or whatever, I'll work with my assessment of things and some informal rolling to keep things a bit random. I'd kinda rather have a system, but I feel keeping the updates going is more important.
[X] Search for the source of these undead. With that many, there's probably either a recent battle site or something for so many naturally occurring undead to be present in one location, or there's a Necromancer at work. Neither is likely to be anything good.
[X] Continue to the Anchor. Fixing what's wrong with the world is more important, the locals can probably handle that many Skeletons.
Saving the world's just a mite more important than taking out the newest Evil Necromancer Guy. If the undead continue to be an issue, we can look for him after finishing with the first Anchor.
[X] Search for the source of these undead. With that many, there's probably either a recent battle site or something for so many naturally occurring undead to be present in one location, or there's a Necromancer at work. Neither is likely to be anything good.
While saving the world is more important than defeating Evil Necromancer Guy, this side quest ties in directly to the main one. Ideally, we want to convince the angels to let Darkness back into the world using diplomacy rather than force. This will be easier to accomplish if we already have a local reputation of being a force of Justice against Evil.
