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Huh. That's a very nice piece of Art. I'm curious though, if you always get some SP on level up if you have magic, why not always give at least one level of magic to every character? Does the initial investment cost more?
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Mar 22, 2016 18:27
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Deceitful Penguin posted:Huh. That's a very nice piece of Art. You get Skill Points on level up, not Spell Points. And Characters that are genned at Level 1 get a bonus 3 SP for every point of Mage and Priest Spells they have. Buying levels of Mage and Priest afterward do not provide additional Spell Points. Yes, it gets confusing. And the long-term investment is pretty high.
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Mar 22, 2016 18:32
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The only things you get when you level up are 5 skillpoints (reduced to 4 after, I think, 20 levels) and some HP based on your STR score. Everything else you have to buy.
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Mar 22, 2016 18:45
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berryjon posted:You get Skill Points on level up, not Spell Points. And Characters that are genned at Level 1 get a bonus 3 SP for every point of Mage and Priest Spells they have. Buying levels of Mage and Priest afterward do not provide additional Spell Points. Yes, it gets confusing. And the long-term investment is pretty high. That's actually why in games I start, if I consider having full casters, I start them with 7 in Mage or Priest just for the bonus SP, even though they can't cast 4+ yet. It makes levels 1-4 harder for them, but becomes much less expensive and painful in the long run.
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Mar 22, 2016 19:23
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Tylana posted:The 0 HP cough helps a lot, but also makes giant lizards on the the worst threats in the game because they have a D&D style claw/claw/bite attack, as I think berryjon's mentioned. Oh god, the memories from playing Exile 2 as a kid, rushing into Chapter 2 far too early, and getting routinely murdered by Ghasts to the tune of *WHACK* *WHACK* cough *WHACK* AAAAARGH.
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Mar 22, 2016 22:12
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Update 05 – The Slimes of Krizsan     “AAAAAHH!”    “I notice you're not screaming.” “I knew what to expect. You?”“Dapper Hat.” “OH MOTHER-OF-US-ALL Why?”“I will invent something to protect my eyes!”“What is that horrible thing?”“It's called the sun. You're probably the first Slith in living history to see it.”“Wait, does that make me a legend?”“Yes it does! Aren't you joyful?”“I AM AWESOME!” “Alright, it's a valley. And the sky is clear...”“The sky! Praise the almighty, I see the sky!”“But where does it come out? I see it curving away to the east.”  “That's beautiful... I've never seen such colors.”“And those of us who have, we had forgotten.” “What're those?”“Trees with leaves.”“What're those?”“Birds. They fly.”“WOW!” “No swimming, Sass.”“But why not?”“Who knows what's in the water?”“Right! Don't know the currents at all. Got to be safe.” “Oh hey! Look at this! Fish in a pool!”“Oooh!”“Aaah!”“I'm hungry.” “I don't know what those are.”  “No, seriously. Never seen them before!”“They appear to be much larger versions of the Goos you find in the caves. Fascinating! I didn't know they could maintain coherency at that size!”  “Should be easy to kill then. Just splatter them.” Meet the Slimes. They come in four major types. Amber is your general fighter. Emerald can cause a PC to sleep, making them miss their turns. Mauve can cast first level Mage and Priest spells. “Did that one just use magic?” “They're still weak! Beat them down!” “That was easy.”“Yeah, but goo everywhere.”“This is worrisome. The Empire wouldn't tolerate these things existing, and should have hunted them down.”“Really?”“Quite. Most concerning.”“Oh, don't worry. I'm sure someone is on top of this.”  “Undertow is no joke.” “But this is a safe crossing it seems. The city is on this side of the river though, so no need to cross yet.”  “An actual forest! With groves! And trees! And leaves!” “Farmland! Careful. Who knows how they'll react to us.”“Will that be a problem?”“You're Slith.”“Yes. And what's the problem.”“I don' know if they've seen your kind before.”“oooooooh!”  “More of these slimes. Attacking farms like this? Where is the army?”  And here is the last type of Slime – Ochre. Acid does two things. First is that it decreases your defence as it eats at your armor. The second is that it will also deal damage over time like poison, except it runs out faster. “Ah! The burning!”   “Just the normal ones left!” “This is wrong. Very, very wrong.” “More farms. We need to be careful.” “Hello?” “We're right here, you know.” “Look at that city...”“It's actually not that big. Almaria is bigger.”“Can we go in? Please! I want to see?”“Hey, Art? Are you sure this is the right Sass? Seems more like a hatchling than a proper agent.”“He's what I had to work with. Other options, not so much.” “Look at the walls. They are showing acid scoring.” “Come on, let's talk to people!”“Stick together! I don't want us separated here.”  “I wouldn't worry about that. We make sure lost kids get returned to their parents.”“That could go wrong in so many ways...”“I know. Listen, go see the mayor before you leave. Please?”“Uh... sure?”“He'll explain things. For now, I need to get back to work, in case more Slimes show up.”“Uh, alright.”  “Pretty obviously a port town if the inn farthest from the docks has a maritime pun as a name.”  This innkeeper has filthy, dirt-encrusted hands, which have probably touched every mug and plate in the place. He looks you over with disinterested eyes. "I'm McElroy. Welcome to the Rowdy Oar."“Good day! We're from out of town. What does your establishment offer?”He wipes his nose with the back of his hand. "Well, we got the best drinks in the whole town. Only two gold. And we got room in the common room to sleep for the night. Only three gold. And we'll make sure none of the slimes get ya'."“Well, your inn is up against the outer walls. I hope the slimes aren't too much of a trouble?”"Well, those slime creatures have been sneakin' in all over the place. There was even an attack near here!"“An attack? Inside the city? Horror!”"Oh don't worry, one will slip through the walls every one in a while, but none get in here. Sleep easy!" He grins in a way you find not at all reassuring.“Well thank you. But we have some other business to attend to first. Have a good day.”“How delightfully normal.”“Next building then, with a sign on it.”  “Our supplies are running low.”“What's a herring?”“A small fish used as a distraction.” You meet a big, beefy man gleefully attacking a leg of lamb with a large cleaver. After years of chewing on mushrooms in the underworld, the smell of food in this shop drives you wild.“Hi!”He looks you over knowingly. "I'm Herron. Proprietor of Herron's Herring.""You all look hungry, like you haven't seen good victuals in a long time." He winks at you. "You're in luck! Herron's Herring has the best food for sale around!"“What's a herring?”“I told you! A distraction!”He grins. "Well, we don't have herring anyway, on accounts that the sailors when they come to shore are all sick of it. I just call this place that because it sounds good."“You sure you don't have any for him somewhere to taste? I don't think he's going to let it go now.”He shakes his head.“Nah, I tend to work with mutton and the like. Just let me know if you want any rations.” I hold off on buying for now. My finances are pretty tight, at least until I get back to Fort Emergence and the free food and cash. “Ah, decorative pools. Something that we have back home as well.”  “I don't recall this sect.”“Neither do I.”  You meet a young, calm woman. She wears long white robes and the ankh of a healer, and somewhat incongruously, wears a big axe at her belt.“Hello! I am Delilah, Church of Joy.”"I am called Terry. I'm the town healer.""Well, I mainly act as the town healer. Busy work. Plus, I maintain the shrine, for what it's worth."“It's not a large one, that's for sure. But all shrines are worthy of respect.”"Well, Krizsan has one small shrine to the healing arts, and I look after it. Nothing compared to what the other cities have. It's more a worry than anything else, I'm afraid."“You shouldn't worry! Don't worry, be happy! That's what I always say!”"Well, Krizsan has lots of sailors. They're a superstitious lot, but not the shrine-going type. It's all I can do to keep the dust off everything."“That's understandable. While they are superstitious, sailors are not cowardly. They will come when they need to, not because they want to. Until then, be happy!”“I'll try.”  “Um... keep practising!” “Let's not leave yet. Those guards are watching us a bit too intently.”“What is your exit plan?”“Sass jumps in the water and swims back up river. The rest of us steal a boat.”“That's less a plan and more like... I don't know.”“I've found hard and fast plans have a tendency to go awry. Just stay flexible.”   This is one of the tallest women you've ever seen. She looks down at you with a grinning face as she effortlessly hefts about a huge hammer and tongs. She wears a leather jerkin, and her bare arms are sweaty and muscular. She gives the hammer a spinning toss, and catches it."Welcome to my Smithy. Call me Jinx."“Hey! You're tall for a human!”“I am, aren't I. And what are you?”“I'm Sass! I'm a Slithzerikai!”“Well, never seen your kind before.”“You're the smith here?”"Oh, well, what do you think? You can sell me what you got, and purchase weapons in return. Always glad to help a visitor to Krizsan."“Visitors. Oh. Yes. Us. Totally.”She smiles, as if she's in on a joke you don't get. "Krizsan doesn't get many visitors these days, being as it's about as remote a large city as you can get. Sometimes we get people from odd places, though. Where are you from?”“Gnass!”“Imperial Capital.”“Cotra.”“It doesn't have a name.”“Silvar.”“Cotra as well.”“Interesting. You're from all over the place. Oh, and be sure to ask me if you want a good meal. I know just the place to go." She chuckles at this.“A meal? I suppose you would get an appetite working here.”"Well, Herron, who's a ... a very good friend of mine, runs a shop near here." She rubs a small diamond ring on her finger and giggles. It's strange to see such a huge person giggle.Aww, isn't that sweet. Anyway, we can go back and ask Herron about Jinx."A fine woman, running a fine smithy. And don't think I'm biased or anything just because I'm married to her." He laughs, and dumps some lamb into a stewpot.We can also sell anything to her that we've identified, so let's take care of that now. Turns out, I didn't actually have a lot of stuff to lose. And her inventory isn't worth investing in yet.   “Those look like warehouses over there.”“We'll ignore them for now, continue looking around. “BOOKS!”An elderly, angular man sits behind the counter, dispiritedly polishing a shield. There is plenty of armor behind the counter, which is peculiar considering the number of books in the shop.“Hello! I'm Ni'aurrl! Can I look at your books?”He looks you over. "I'm Benedict. And sure." “And while she's reading that, what do you do around here? Identification services?”"Well, I'm a businessman. You know, this and that. Right now, I deal in armor."“Armor is your business? Is it any good?”"I used to sell potions and such, but then the slimes started appearing. Armor suddenly became the best business to be in."“What do you know about the Slimes?”"The ones who drop acid are the worst. Armor doesn't do a bit of good against acid. Still, armor usually helps a lot against them." Once again, not much. “This storeroom hasn't been used in a while.”“At least the spiders in here aren't the talking type.”“They're not that bad.”“Uh, what are you talking about?”“If you're ever west of Fort Draco, you'll find out.”  “No need to pry.” “Besides, I think they take thieves seriously around here. Where's the joy in that?”  “Hey, I wonder if they have any ships in here?” “Hello? Anyone home?” “Odd.”The guy who is supposed to be here has wandered off, and I couldn't find him. That's alright, I'll come back when I need a boat.“That's the western half of the city looked over. Merchant district, warehouses. Nothing out of the ordinary.”“Aside from the threat of the Slimes.”  You see a seedy looking sailor, walking around town looking bored. He paces over to you - it seems he finds talking to you preferable to doing nothing. He scratches himself."I'm called Denzil. Howday' do?"“Uh... hi? I'm Delilah.”“Had'ta' see you up close.” He shrugs and spits. "Normally, I'm a sailor. It's a disaster for people in my trade these days, I tells' ya!"“A Sailor? Where's your boat?”He scratches a tattooed arm."Bad trade to be in these days. Nobody is shipping anything anywhere. Too many monsters."“Yes, we know about the monsters. We were attacked on the way here.”"Betcha' think this is the only place with lots of monsters. Don't kid yourself. I've heard the rumors. We sailors get around. There's monsters running around everywhere. Watch your back. As for me? I'm running."“And where could you possibly run when the monsters are everywhere?”"I'm waiting to sign on with some merchants going west. There's a town called Pergies to the west, hasn't been attacked much. Maybe I'll be safe there. Sure getting out of here as soon as I can. Way too many monsters!"Note to self: Visit Peregies sooner, rather than later. There's something there I need to pick up that will make my life a lit easier.“I hear a guitar coming from that inn there. Odd, I recognize that tune...”  “HALT!”This woman hefts a large halberd around with her. Both her weapon and her breastplate have tiny spots of dried slime on them. “I am Captain Maxine, head of the garrison.”“Art.”She shrugs her shoulders brusquely. "Can't talk long. Have work to do. I look after the garrison and city hall. Plenty to do, what with the slime invasion."“We won't take your time then. One of your men told us to check in with City Hall before we leave. Can you tell us anything about that?”"Just between you and me, City Hall isn't too useful to us. I mean, are we going to club the slimes to death with paperwork? That's all Cindy and Agrod have contributed."  “Hitting slimes with papers?”“Agreed.”“Who is Cindy?”"She does research, trying to figure out how to flight the slimes. She's nowhere near bright enough, and I've lost good men trying out her schemes. Still, she's come close sometimes. She's still worth the trouble."“And Agrod?”"We beg the Empire for help, and who do they send? That worthless paper pusher. I'd like to use him as a shield, that's what I'd like. Now, I've answered your questions, so answer mine."“Alright.”“Spies?”“Recon.”“Don't make a mess of things.” She leaves the party behind, heading for one of the gates. “GYPSY?” A heavy set woman sits perched in the middle of the tavern, commanding everyone's attention. She plays a guitar flawlessly. When she finishes her song, she walks up to speak to you. Her skin is incredibly pale - she's an Exile!“Huh, now I know where I heard that music before. Back in Blosk.”She bows. "Art? It's been ages! Nice to see familiar faces. What brings you to the surface?"“Oh, this and that. I wasn't told you were up here. Why are you up here?”She tunes her guitar as she speaks. "Oh, just touring the surface. Like you, I suppose."“You know what I meant! The Surface!”"Well, I've already played pretty much everywhere in Exile, so I snuck up here. Tricky, but I did it."“...”“So, when we go back to the Fort, can you let us know how you got out so we can plug the leak should someone come in?”"Volunteered to help build Fort Emergence. Slipped out onto the surface soon as I got a chance and never looked back. And I'm not the only one! Pretty immoral of me, but, well, there you go."“...”“Let it go, Art.”“But..! She's! And more! Security!!!”“Let. It. Go.”“Look, I know you're on the clock Art, but I would love to talk later. Besides, if you think me being here is mind bending, you should talk to the owner.” You meet a woman with a sun-weathered face, loose clothes and a sure step. Tattoos ring her arms and wrists. She gives you a cocksure grin as you approach.“Hello there. I am Ni'aurrl. Are you the owner?”“No, that's Kessle over there.” She tugs her earlobe as she looks you over."I'm Dawn."“Ah. Well, what do you do around here? Help out?”“Well, I normally sail the open seas. Now I just wait around here. Krizsan's my home, after all."“A lot of those around here. Sailors, I mean.”“Yeah! Except you're stuck here too!”"SHUT UP! Not much call for that now. Ships haven't been sailing since the monsters appeared."“The slimes, yes.”"Interesting thing about that. Just when the slimes started appearing, when I was sailing into Krizsan for the last time before the ships stopped going, I saw some weird lights on the coast."“What as so unusual about them?”"The south coast, just west of here. There was a tower, and there were some seriously weird lights flashing around it." She tugs her earlobe thoughtfully. "Maybe it's just me, but the Slimes must be caused by a bunch of weird magic there." She grins."But what do I know? I'm just a sailor, and you're genuine Exiles!"  “Could we not advertise that particular fact? We're all politely ignoring it.”She laughs. "Don't worry! Your secret is safe with me! I was pretty close to being sent down there a few times myself!"“Oh?”“I was a sailor. I'm certain you can think of reasons.”“Maybe. Uh, Delilah, you want to talk with Kessle there?”“Sure!” The woman behind the counter looks like a buxom serving wench made good. Her demeanour and clean, stylish clothes clearly mark her as the one in charge. She mops up some beer on the counter and looks at you proudly. "I'm Kessle. Welcome to my inn."“Delilah! You run this place? Nice!”"I run the Crusty Sailor Inn. I feel that, even in the middle of all the slimes and horror, we should still have a little luxury to get us through. We have fine beer for 5 gold, fine wine for 10, and luxurious rooms for only 15 gold. What would you like?"“Well, we're from out of town. What can you tell us about the Slimes?”"We have to be careful in these dark days. And we also have to keep clear heads. Good heavens! Some people from the northern cities said the monsters were being sent by the Exiles!"“Exiles? Really?”  "Isn't that silly? I mean, the Exiles have plenty of reasons to hate us, but even if they had the power to do that, why would they want to attack those of us out here in Krizsan? I mean, this is the boonies! “Well, I mean, maybe there's something important in in Krizsan?”"But what could it possibly be? Krizsan is a beautiful city, but it's the youngest and farthest out of the cities in Valorim. This is as far from the center of the action in the Empire as you can get."“Well, if you wanted to mount an invasion, would you start in the capital, where everyone's attention is, or start at the edges? In some nowhere town that no one would miss if something unusual happened?”“No! That can't be! We're nobodies! They would never come here! Not in a hundred years.”  “That's the point! No one would expect those insidious worms to come here!”“Of course! It's not possible!”“But what about their spies? They could be anywhere.”“Not here! That's for certain! I would know an Exile if they ever showed their criminal faces in MY inn!” “Good. Good. You keep a watch out for those evil, evil, people.” “I WAS IN FRONT OF HER!”“We noticed.”“Gypsy has been playing in her inn for weeks!”“To be fair to her, our skin should darken over a couple weeks in the sun.”“Until then, keep your skin protected. I don't remember sunburn being fun.”“Hey, why is that building off to the side?”  This man looks like a sailor, but is wearing the robes of an apprentice mage (dirty and torn robes none the less). He stares intently into an orb on the table in front of him. As you approach the table, he looks up from the orb."Welcome, my children!" he says in an affected fortune teller voice. "Come forth, so I may speak unto you."“No. I may be happy, but I only have so much tolerance per day.”"I will forecast your future for only two coins! Also, I can share with you my great magical skills!"“Really?!?!? You're an awesome magician?”He waves his hands, and there is a flash of light. It's a very simple spell."I can create charms which will shift your fortunes. Purchase one, and you will never be devoured by the seas. A bargain, compared to the value of your life!"“Hold on, let me check my wallet...”“No! He's a con-man, and a poor one as well. It's a disgrace!”“But!”“No! We're leaving!”“Awwww....”  “Last place to check.” “Let's see what that plaque says.” “This must be where Cindy is doing her work. Let's say hi!” Yes, those are hostile slimes in the room. The rune-marked floor prevents anyone, including the party, from crossing. Though, if I was desperate for the XP, I would kill them with spells. You meet a female mage. She's pacing back and forth, completely involved in her own thoughts. She stares intently at a vial of brightly colored slime in her hand.“Allow me. Pardon, my name is Matthias, can I have a moment of your time?”She looks up at you, but her gaze is absent. Her mind is clearly miles away.“I am ... umm ... I'm Cindy. Hi."“Sorry for the intrusion, but I was informed that you were a person of interest with these troubled times.”"I am ... oh." She stared at the vial and thinks for a moment. “I ... Research. I am doing research."“Doing research into these slimes is a good thing. What have you learned?”"Looking for ways to defeat slimes." She uncorks the slime, and sniffs it."The danger to us is great."“What about the slimes themselves?”She holds the vial of slime up so that you can see it. It's mauve."This. ... A sample. Very useful. For research."“And the dangers they pose?”"The slimes can enter Krizsan at will. They slide through holes in our walls. I look for a weapon against them, but the work is slow." She thinks."Perhaps you should leave, so I work more."“I think that's for the best. Good luck.”“The Mayor is in the next room.” “Mayor.” You meet a small, fidety man with the look of a natural-born bureaucrat. He sits in an impressive, polished oak chair far too large for him. His expression is hard to read."Welcome, travellers, to the city hall of Krizsan. I am Mayor Arbunkle."He doesn't have a cat. I checked..“I think you're doing a good job.”He has a nervous tic around his eye. "I was picked by the Empire to look after this area. It was a nightmare assignment, and the monsters have only made it worse." He surprises you with his bluntness.“I am certain that the Empire made certain that you were the most qualified for the position.”"Yes. The continent of Valorim is only recently settled. A post here was a dead end for a career even as it was seen as a blessing. Then the slimes appeared." He looks around."The only worse job is anything dealing with Exile." “There is nothing wrong with Exile.”His mouth twitches. "Don't bother to pretend. I know there are Exiles running around. I don't care. We have too many other problems, and I'm not foolish enough to believe Exile would attack us by dropping slimes in the middle of nowhere."“That's good to hear. So, what can we do to make your life with the slimes easier?”He looks at you cannily."I will be blunt. You're adventurers from Exile. I don't know why you're here. I don't care. We have too much else to worry about." He wipes nervous sweat from his forehead."I have a mission for you, with a considerable reward."Her eyes narrow. “You can tell us what it is, but I can't be certain whether or not we can take missions from Empire Officials.”“I understand. We don't know who is creating the slimes or why, and we don't know where they come from. Perhaps a small, skilled band, such as yours, could have luck finding them. Find out where the Slimes are from, and remove the source, and you will be rewarded lavishly. Good luck to you." “That is something we will need to run by Anaximander first.”“Things must be extremely desperate if the Empire is willing to reach out to Exile for help.”“Agreed. We should head back right away.”“But we're almost done poking around this building. We should finish that first.”  There is an officious looking woman with a turned up nose behind the counter. Even as she looks up at you, she continues to nervously shuffle papers with her hands.“Hello! Your nameplate says you're the Job dispatcher, but not your name.”"Valoda" The papers continue to shuffle.“And what does that mean, anyways?”"I'm the delivery dispatcher. Even in these awful days, the mail must still go through."“I thought the Empire already had a dedicated mail service.”"Not out here. The Empire insists the mail continues to move as much as possible. It might occur to some to that perhaps they should send more troops to help us, and fewer orders to obey." She sighs."It is, of course, not my place to criticize the Empire."“So, what, anyone can just come in and ask to do a delivery?”"When someone needs something sent somewhere, they come to me, and I find someone to do it for them. It you'd like a mission, let me know. Before you get a mission, however, I have some advice for you."“And that would be..?”"These are paranoid times. You may not want to take a mission to a city until you know you will be let in. Also, we job dispatchers are unforgiving of failure."She's right. We won't have access to certain cities and late-game quests until we've cleared lower things first.“I refuse to fail! By the way, what is the price for failure?”"Fail to complete one of my jobs on time, and don't be surprised if I don't give you another for a few months."Another promise. You see the 'Day' counter in the upper right? Certain events are timed, and if you mess us with a Dispatch Quest, you will be shut out of that town's quests for 30-60 days. So don't mess up! If this looks familiar, it's because it's the prototype for the Job Boards in later games. And it's randomly generated! That means that you'll rarely see the same mission twice!  “I think I'll speak with this one.” You meet a Captain of the Empire Army. He has a squashed, puffy face, and a huge nose. He looks at you with extreme distrust."I'm Captain Agrod."“Matthias, thank you for seeing us.”He pulls out a small hip flask and takes a swig from it."Better than nothing. I'm the Empire liaison for this area. I hope you don't plan to cause trouble."“Trouble? Us?”"Look, we all know there are Exiles wandering around. If you were near the center of the Empire, this would be a serious problem. But this is the middle of nowhere, and we don't care here. Just don't cause trouble, OK?"“We understand completely. How is the Empire these days? You know, as we don't get out much.”"The Empire stuck me out here in the middle of nowhere to look after things and to implement their inane policies. Speaking of which, what's your opinion on unicorns?"“We are completely ambivalent on the subject of Unicorns.”"Don't have any romantic ideas about happy, friendly creatures. When we got out here, we found a bunch of them, and they're nasty, vicious pests. The Empire told me to hire someone to get rid of them. So, tell you what, Every Unicorn horn you bring me, I give you ten gold. Just come back and tell me you have the horns."  “I think that's it. We should head back north and report in. Something is very screwy here.”“Could the previous team have been ambushed by the Slimes and killed?”“Possible. But Gypsy mentioned she wasn't the only one to sneak out. She could have mistook the scouts for escapees.”“There's no sense in guessing. We can investigate that later. Let's just go back.”* * *  “Hey, Anaximander, it's worse than we thought.”   “But before you do, I need to report back to the Castle. Take care of stuff here in Upper Exile for a day or two, then we can have firmer orders for you.”“Yes, sir. Oh, what about the Exile escapees?”“Your report indicates they are being tolerated for now. Identify who they are, and their last known location. We'll work something out, but that's for the Castle to decide.”“Understood.”
berryjon fucked around with this message at 05:55 on Mar 24, 2016 |
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Mar 24, 2016 03:33
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Going onto the surface for the first time is actually super disconcerting. The color palette for surface terrain is totally different from the color palette for the caves, and looks wrong for a few minutes, until your eyes adjust. Or at least, it did for me. Acid is a surprisingly dangerous debuff. While it wears off faster than poison, it also deals more damage than poison, and stacks much more aggressively. If you get hit a few times with acid, then you can easily be taking your entire HP pool in acid damage every turn. It's also difficult to get rid of; IIRC there's no magical way to get rid of it. That fraudulent mage in Krizsan (which, incidentally, is named after Jeff Vogel's wife) (EDIT: the city, not the mage) can identify items for you. And finally, there are a lot of those little dialogs with Anaximander. If you don't check in with him very often, you can get a couple dozen of them all at once, which is kind of amusing. TooMuchAbstraction fucked around with this message at 04:59 on Mar 24, 2016 |
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Mar 24, 2016 04:33
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:That fraudulent mage in Krizsan (which, incidentally, is named after Jeff Vogel's wife) can identify items for you. I had to cut out about 10% of the update to fit it in under the character limit, and that was one of the things done as Delilah doesn't tolerate (other) confidence crooks.
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Mar 24, 2016 04:41
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Very much enjoying the write-ups! The people of Krizsan seem very tolerant of Exiles. And pretending to not notice what must be obvious, given most of them seem to recognize the party being Exiles. (Which, in all honesty, with a Slith and Nephil, should be pretty obvious.) Couple of typo/missing words: Delilah, initial fight with the slimes: “That that one just use magic?” Ni'aurrl: facepalm, “Could not advertise that particular fact? We're all politely ignoring it.”
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Mar 24, 2016 05:14
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Kacie posted:The people of Krizsan seem very tolerant of Exiles. And pretending to not notice what must be obvious, given most of them seem to recognize the party being Exiles. (Which, in all honesty, with a Slith and Nephil, should be pretty obvious.) Yeah, that's true. With all their other problems, they're just happy that here's one group that's not out to kill them. But as the game progresses, we'll see those attitudes change. quote:Delilah, initial fight with the slimes: “That that one just use magic?” "Did that one just use magic?" "Could we not advertise that particular fact?"
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Mar 24, 2016 05:55
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What is the surface world like, politically? Could the slimes be creations of an enemy nation trying to invade the Empire?
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Mar 24, 2016 12:12
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Glazius posted:What is the surface world like, politically? Could the slimes be creations of an enemy nation trying to invade the Empire?
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Mar 24, 2016 13:45
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Pierzak posted:There are no enemy nations. There is only the Empire. That said, the Empire's control is not literally absolute. Rebellions have been known to happen from time to time. King Micah was a rebel leader who was exiled rather than executed to avoid making him into a martyr.
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Mar 24, 2016 14:18
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Glazius posted:What is the surface world like, politically? Could the slimes be creations of an enemy nation trying to invade the Empire? Imagine if you will, that the Empire is the British Empire that never stopped growing, taking everyone else out in time, like one of those 'Global Domination' games of Victoria that people like Wiz wave to hold themselves back from doing. Only with added magic. Valorim is basically Australia at this point - the farthest away you can get from the Imperial Capital, and still being colonized. But one of the more benevolent policies of the Empire is "Is there a hostile monster in the area? Send in the Army! And a second one, just in case." That there are monsters attacking cities, with no official overwhelming response from the Empire is bad news for everyone. In fact, Garzahd was (legitimately) hailed as a hero for helping to kill the last known Dragon on the surface.
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Mar 24, 2016 17:55
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berryjon posted:Imagine if you will, that the Empire is the British Empire that never stopped growing, taking everyone else out in time, like one of those 'Global Domination' games of Victoria that people like Wiz wave to hold themselves back from doing. Only with added magic. This is the primary reason why nobody hassles you about being an Exile - The mere fact that there's a major province-wide monster plague that the Empire hasn't immediately fixed is shattering their sense of security. Compared to that, you're small potatoes. berryjon posted:
> They're randomly generated, but in general, there will usually be a mix between super close (same province), a bit of a hike (adjacent province) and way the hell away (basically anywhere). > Jobs available are not in any way limited by where you've already been, where you just came from, or where you might be going next. Completely logical, but it's a nice avoidance of the typical prescient NPCs and crazy coincidences that you often see in video games. > Rush jobs are exactly that. If you're accepting a Rush job, you better already know where the town is AND head straight there. The deadlines are always possible, but they don't give you much float room to screw around. > Magical Supplies have very lenient deadlines, but they're also often relatively rare enemies (no "kill 5 common skeletons" or whatever). Again, this is totally unrelated to what you have and haven't done, so it's entirely possible to clear out dungeons ahead of time and have a lot of trouble finding the target creature to kill and harvest.
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Mar 25, 2016 00:15
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MagusofStars posted:> Rush jobs are exactly that. If you're accepting a Rush job, you better already know where the town is AND head straight there. The deadlines are always possible, but they don't give you much float room to screw around. They are also a lot easier once you get a horse.
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Mar 25, 2016 00:22
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If I was empress of the entire world and Australia got hit by swarms of super-sized modified creepy crawlies I think I'd take basically the same course of action as the Empire over the course of this game. I mean, if it doesn't work out then nothing of value was lost, right?  Does the Imperial Capital have a name? The wiki has an entry for it but it's hard to tell whether its info is actually from the games or fan-created.
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Mar 25, 2016 01:21
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Redmark posted:Does the Imperial Capital have a name? The wiki has an entry for it but it's hard to tell whether its info is actually from the games or fan-created. If it gets mentioned, then it's not in the original trilogy. I haven't played 4 in ages and never played 5 or 6 so I suppose it could be mentioned in those games.
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Mar 25, 2016 02:59
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You know, it's funny - on every playthrough of the game I've done (except for I believe the most recent one), I always went to Pergies first. It was probably because the river ford was the first thing I came across, and I had this BIG thing for exploring and getting black spots out of my map. Also, I didn't know that acid actually lowered your armor rating. I knew it sapped your HP like a bitch (making giant slugs so much fun to fight  ), but lowering your armor is serious. Did you test that?Finally, about the Jobs dispatcher. Most of what I knew everyone said already, with a couple of exceptions. First, they are VERY useful for making cash when you're a little short, but don't take too long. Days do start passing quickly when you don't have horses. Second, and I found this out the hard way, for the Magical Supplies jobs - it does NOT count if you kill a monster that you summoned via Capture Soul/Simulacrum. And wouldn't you know it, when I had found that out, there wasn't a single Null Bug left in the game. Fun times!
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Mar 25, 2016 08:11
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LuffyVeggies posted:Second, and I found this out the hard way, for the Magical Supplies jobs - it does NOT count if you kill a monster that you summoned via Capture Soul/Simulacrum. And wouldn't you know it, when I had found that out, there wasn't a single Null Bug left in the game. Fun times! ..you were surprised that the Empire has a policy against something that could easily lead to counterfeiting? If I'm buying Mummy Dust, that poo poo better be from a Pharaoh, and not Bob's Mummy Dust Emporium: I'm paying for guaranteed quality, after all.
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Mar 25, 2016 10:22
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The situation in Valorim must be extremely bad if trade between cities has totally collapsed. But about the Empire being at the peak of its power, is it really? Hawthorne and Grazhad were supposed to be an exceptional administrator and an extraordinarily powerful archmage, respectively. Based on what we've seen already, I can't help but wonder if the Empire has been suffering from a sudden drop in its fortunes, become generally more bureaucratic and less effective. So, cities will gradually fall over the course of months if you don't solve problems quickly enough, right? That makes me think one could write a different story of playing through this game, where you let the surfacers of Valorim die off so Exile can move into the area uncontested. I'd at least like to see what happens when a city is wiped out. Do they get just a message explaining what happened, or are they replaced with actual ruined city maps? If so, that seems like a lot of work must have gone into it, and it would be a shame not to see. And boy, slimes. Those are some classic RPG enemies. Maybe I just don't play that many games these days (I've never played a Dragon Quest), but it seems like you don't see them that often any more, outside of SMT or that one slime raising game.
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Mar 25, 2016 18:24
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Montegoraon posted:The situation in Valorim must be extremely bad if trade between cities has totally collapsed. But about the Empire being at the peak of its power, is it really? Hawthorne and Grazhad were supposed to be an exceptional administrator and an extraordinarily powerful archmage, respectively. Based on what we've seen already, I can't help but wonder if the Empire has been suffering from a sudden drop in its fortunes, become generally more bureaucratic and less effective. The Empire is literally a world-spanning organization, of course it's bureaucratic and inefficient. Trade has collapsed because ordinary people aren't able to deal with the monsters, the in-place military is too small to deal with them effectively (being reduced largely to defending towns), and no reinforcements are arriving for reasons that will eventually be made clear but would be spoilers to talk about now. Incidentally, while wandering around these towns, periodically some slimes will spawn on the edge of town and get attacked by the guards. quote:So, cities will gradually fall over the course of months if you don't solve problems quickly enough, right? That makes me think one could write a different story of playing through this game, where you let the surfacers of Valorim die off so Exile can move into the area uncontested. I'd at least like to see what happens when a city is wiped out. Do they get just a message explaining what happened, or are they replaced with actual ruined city maps? If so, that seems like a lot of work must have gone into it, and it would be a shame not to see. Letting the monsters destroy the continent would be a travesty. Exile doesn't actually hate Imperial citizenry; it just has a beef with the whole "being a penal colony" thing. Plus, if Exile is seen to profit from the monsters' destruction, then this all would just be a prelude to the Second Empire/Exile War. Destroyed cities are replaced by different maps, if I recall correctly. Plot-essential NPCs take refuge elsewhere so you can still always complete the major quests, but you may be cut out of other content. I don't think I had more than a couple of cities get destroyed the first time I played the game, though, so the "time limit" is extremely generous.
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Mar 25, 2016 18:38
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:Destroyed cities are replaced by different maps, if I recall correctly. Plot-essential NPCs take refuge elsewhere so you can still always complete the major quests, but you may be cut out of other content. I don't think I had more than a couple of cities get destroyed the first time I played the game, though, so the "time limit" is extremely generous. It is true that the "time limit" is quite generous (especially if you have horses), but things can go south very quickly if you're not fast. I recall during my first-ever complete playthrough that I went pretty fast (getting horses almost right away, doing main quests before lengthy sidequests), yet I think that Appleton was already destroyed by the time I got up there. Unless that town was destroyed at the beginning of the game.
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Mar 25, 2016 19:36
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:Destroyed cities are replaced by different maps, if I recall correctly. Plot-essential NPCs take refuge elsewhere so you can still always complete the major quests, but you may be cut out of other content. I don't think I had more than a couple of cities get destroyed the first time I played the game, though, so the "time limit" is extremely generous. While looking around for information about when certain cities get overrun by monsters (which I still haven't found yet), I realized that this party could actually pull of an Anama run with the way they are now. Man, I have to seriously consider showing that off on a different save.
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Mar 25, 2016 19:36
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berryjon posted:Man, I have to seriously consider showing that off on a different save. Oh boy, an Anama run? That sounds so fun and yet so hard. This may be a bit of a spoiler for me to ask, but is it impossible to complete the first quest if you're an Anama member?
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Mar 25, 2016 19:52
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LuffyVeggies posted:Oh boy, an Anama run? That sounds so fun and yet so hard. This may be a bit of a spoiler for me to ask, but is it impossible to complete the first quest if you're an Anama member? There are items that can compensate.
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Mar 25, 2016 19:56
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LuffyVeggies posted:Oh boy, an Anama run? That sounds so fun and yet so hard. This may be a bit of a spoiler for me to ask, but is it impossible to complete the first quest if you're an Anama member? IIRC Flamestrike, the priest spell should work, and maybe the fireball-emitting items
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Mar 25, 2016 19:58
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The game is completely beatable as an Anama. It's notably more difficult because some key spells are much harder to use with regularity (Haste, Antimagic Cloud), but it's possible. Also, as for cities, the time limit is very generous. You really need to screw around to lose more than a couple cities in the entire game. Note that some cities were destroyed before the game started so if you run across a ruined city, it's entirely possible that it wasn't your fault for taking too long.
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Mar 25, 2016 21:23
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berryjon posted:While looking around for information about when certain cities get overrun by monsters (which I still haven't found yet), I realized that this party could actually pull of an Anama run with the way they are now. I couldn't find one for Exile 3, but I did find one for Avernum 3. There's no guarantee, of course, that nothing changed in the remake process (in fact, the opposite is likely true). Spoilers for the uninitiated: http://spiderwebforums.ipbhost.com/index.php?/topic/19339-avernum-3-effects-of-passage-of-timedays-complete-town-list/
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Mar 28, 2016 20:13
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Update 06 – The Goblin Tunnels, The Wolf Pit, The Bandit Hideout “So, now what do we do? We can't go back to the surface.” “We get used to the cold and dim lighting of the caves again. I can barely see twenty feet in front of me.” “There was a distinct lack of joy in the world up there. Where did those monsters come from and why?” “Well, the slimes are a threat, but they don't seem to be an existential one. I suspect part of the problem is institutional.”  Dammit game, give me a chance to cure the disease before you throw out the secondary effects of Disease! “Are you sure you can keep going?”  “I have learned enough that I can aid in his recovery, Art. You need not keep as much in reserve as you would normally need to.”  Check out the log. It looks like Matthias got diseased again while I was curing him, but that's not the case. We actually got about 20 steps first! “Hey! People!” “Not even questioning if we were bandits or not. Lazy.”* * *  “Alright, let's see what's hidden back here.” “More Goblins?” “A dead end.” “Think we should check out what's behind that locked door on the west end? The one past the prison for dangerous creatures?” “Oh. Chitrachs. How quaint.” “Oh come on! Show some enthusiasm!”  Huh. Didn't know they were cold resistant. “But not fireproof!”  “I quite agree.” “Not much here. Just garbage an bodies of goblins and the like.” “This must be the other end of the pit we saw in the prison cells. Still one way though. In.” “And if we came in this way, there would be no way to control the flow of battle as we could around the door.” “And there's this crack to the north. Looks like the bugs couldn't fit through.” “Say, how did they get up here anyways? I mean, we're further up than Exile is, and I'm sure these things came from the Vahnatai lands.” “... Good question.” “Well, there is Ghrika to the north, that's a Vahanatai town. We could ask them.” “Just spiders.” I then head back down into the Wolf Pit for some more grinding, as well as checking out their stats.   “Curious. This construction is recent, but better than the Goblins.” “No wonder! Bandits!” “Hey!” Yeah, I can stop all over him.  “Hey! Wot's all this racket down here? The Doggies getting uppity again?” Oh god the Assassin. This guy is above our current level, and is twice as potent in terms of dishing out the poison as the Goblin Warriors. He's actually a serious threat! He also uses a graphic used by NPC's in towns, just to enforce the idea that he can and will look like anyone! “It's a good thing we're outnumbering these people 6 to 1 when we fight them. I'd hate to go one-on-one with any of them.” “True. But this looks like a feeding pen to me.” “Agreed. Look at those bones!” “And we can't climb over the fence, so we'll have to take the long way around.”  “Not quite yet. I think we missed something.” “Oooh! Is that the voice of experience talking? Is it male, female, or neuter?” “How did you know there was something in the back of the worg pit?” “Seemed like the best security to me.”   “Oooh! How joyful! Treasure!” “Uh... this shouldn't be here.” “I agree. If it was stolen from them, we should return it.” Just a picture of the chest not changing to the 'open' state, or vanishing as it used to in E1 and E2 – which makes double checking things a pain in the arse for sure as you have to treat every chest as unchecked. Now, back into the Bandit Hideout properly Huh. It also seems that I've killed enough wolves and worgs to result in the Wolf Pit being 'Cleared Out', which is the new version of 'The Dungeon is Abandoned' that I did so often in previous games. Nice to know! “Time to beat up bandits!” “Hey guys! Want to surrender?” “What?” 1d6 damage at range, and all the defenses of a paper sack. At this point (thanks to Magically Adept), Niarl can hit that much damage on average with a fireball.  “This will open the gates, should we choose to leave through the front door.”  “See!”  “Oh, that's not happy at all!” “You're really good with that sort of thing for a priestess.” “Oh, you know. Sometimes you forget the safety catch on something sacred, and have to do it the hard way. Nothing unusual.” “Except this is a storeroom with nothing of value in it. Not even food.” “Hey! Watering hole!”  “Another hideaway, another shrine to dark powers. It's kinda sad really.” This is after taking 12 points of damage. Still fragile, and quick to put down. “You! Traitor!” “I have no idea who you are.”   “NOT ME, YOU IDIOTS!” While Friendly Fire isn't, this is a case where it's justified – Bronwyn has enough HP to survive those, as well as the Wound the Evil Acolyte is sure to toss her way. “Here, dear, let me help.” I love the persistent damage on the map – the scorched tiles, and puddles of blood from battle. It gives a sense that you're leaving a certain degree of destruction behind you that the previous games didn't. “Gee, thanks. At least someone has my back. I hope that potion was worth it.” “Curious. They thought they knew you.” “And that's the end of that line of conversation.” “Oh! A pen for cows.”   I had to. “Hey, Bessie, is someone disturbing you?” “Uh.. no?” “I don't believe my ears! Blue, is that you?” “No, just people from unspecified services.” “Did you say your nickname was 'Blue'?” “Uh, no?” “I know that voice! ALARM!” “Eh. Charge.” I picked this fight poorly, running low on SP for everyone except Art. At this point in time, I realized I had forgotten to screen-cap things, and took this picture to show you what was happening. Art is dealing with a generic soldier enemy outside while Delilah just used the last of her SP to put a minor bless on Niarl – she'll switch out with Bronwyn next turn. Matthias dropped a Stinking Cloud on the enemy spellcaster and the Captain. The stacking Curse from being in Cloud each turn, coupled with the AI's in ability to fall back out of combat if possible means that Sass can wail on the Captain with relative impunity. And Bronwyn can take out the mage once her magically slowed actions let her. That's a whole lot of words to cover up I forgot to take about three images to set this all up. “Care to make a statement?” “No, not really.” “As I said, no more discussion on that part. Am I clear?” “Well, at least the books aren't porn.”   “Alright, this should be the better stuff. Take everything, and we can sort it all out later.” I decide pressing on isn't good, so I backtrack through the wolves and goblins to sleep and come back. “Odd, this lock is quite resilient.” “Look, how hard can it be? I mean, you just stick a couple pins in there and twist, right?” “Not for magic!” “Talking to the only non-caster here, remember?” “Don't worry! You'll improve some day!” It's at this point I realize that no one in the party has lock picking as a skill. Nor lockpicks for that matter. I resolve to fix that at the nearest opportunity. “More wolf pens.” “And training grounds?” “Fall back, I have an idea.” I love me some killboxes. “Building ahead and behind. Shall we go forward?” “I want to see how far around the buildings go if possible.” “Ugh, the webs get in my fur!” “Not quite a dead end – I can feel some air flow.”  “Which leads us outside.” “Good enough. Means we don't have to go through the wolves and goblins again.”  “SLIMES!” “No, it's their smaller counterparts – Viscous Goos.” The ability to split is something where if they take physical damage, they divide into two monsters, each with half the remaining HP. They're not a threat, just a nuisance, something to toss a Fireball at and be done with. Fireballs solve a lot of problems don't they? “No wonder, people just tossing good sets of lockpick away. I'll show you how easy it is!”  “Another secret passage out of the fort.” “Except guarded.” Now I remember to grab the Monster Info for the Apprentice Mage. Also – multiple enemies in close proximity Two fireballs clear them out. “And this takes us back to the training area. Looks like we've circled around the front building.” “Seems to be a barracks of some sort.” “Did you decide that before or after you reduced the stew they were cooking to unsuitability with your magical bursts of destruction?” “Before, obviously.” “I'll take those arrows, but the bow is just another Cavewood one.” “Actually, I think that's all of it. Let's go back to Emergence and see what's up. It's been a day, so they might have heard something back.” “Already? Emergence to Portal to Tower to Castle and back in a day?” “Well, they are establishing those teleportal pylons in important places, so it could be done if the people run.” “Or use magic.” “Or both.”  “Huh, actually a clean side-cave.” “{HAIL!}” “{They were in a side cave to the north-east, honored blade. I came upon them and slew a great many, and now return to Fort Emergence for rest.}” “{I hear your words and believe then, Art-Iktah. Know this – the honored Rentar-Ihrno is in Ghrika, and knows of your presence here. She bids you seek her out, that she may convey her own wisdom to you.}” “{I hear the words of my elders and will obey.}” “Did anyone else catch any of that?”* * * “How hard could lock picking be?” “You just put the things in and jiggle, right? “What is this? I don't even?!?” “How do people make this look easy? “No! No! No!” “Please?” “AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” 10 points into Lockpicking for Bronwyn. I don't regret spending those at all as it saves SP on my mages.* * *  “Ah, Art. Good timing. I got word back.” “That was quick. What of it?” “I can't believe I'm saying this, but in the words of King Micah and Prince-Regent Karmas, you are hereby authorized to assist the Empire in dealing with threats to the Surface that they cannot resolve by themselves in the interests of diplomatic stability and for the peace and welfare of those who are not our enemies.” “That's.... that's very open ended.” “You're right it is. Which is why you're the only person I can think of who can do this.” “Right, because anyone who knows me knows exactly what I do to people.” “And yet Karmas struck down Hawthrone, and Kai-Lyss ripped Garzahd's mind apart. People still think it was you.” “Such is leadership.” “Still, orders are orders. Get to the Surface, find out the source of these slimes, and deal with it.” “And if people officially think it's us, and we're cleaning up the mess to make us look nice?” “I will trust you.” “Thanks.” “Alright, let's figure this out, and then get on to serious work.” Sorry for the short update, but it's just the way things worked out. I did a little extra training that I didn't show off because it's mostly boosting STR/AGI/INT for people. Art, however, is still sitting on 30 skill points as she's just too efficient, and I keep running into gold shortages. Some people in the thread wanted me to show off the descriptions of some of the more... benign objects in Exile's item inventory. Well, here they are!    
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Mar 31, 2016 22:57
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You missed a couple of things in the Goblin and Bandit dungeons, but the one in the Goblin is actually pretty hard to find (and is just something like 300 gold), and the other is that door you couldn't unlock in the Captain's room, so it's understandable. It's really quite cool that you're doing the Scry Monster stats. It was pretty useless in Exile II other than spending 2SP to see how much health they had left, but there's a bonus they added to Exile III; any monster you scry once gets permanently added to a library of monster stats that you can use as a reference at any time. Unfortunately, there are a few exceptions - some unique monsters/enemies/characters do not get added in. However, I'm currently playing through again with a limitation (only using 2 party members), and I've made sure to take a screenshot when encountering a unique non-recording character. If possible, I could post those stats when we come across them and if you've missed the chance to record it.
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Apr 1, 2016 00:48
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LuffyVeggies posted:You missed a couple of things in the Goblin and Bandit dungeons, but the one in the Goblin is actually pretty hard to find (and is just something like 300 gold), and the other is that door you couldn't unlock in the Captain's room, so it's understandable. I'm going to be coming back through once I (legit) get Magic Map and do 'things missed'. It's just that this game is far more 'goal' oriented than the previous two games, and I'm keeping an eye on the clock. Once I'm clear of the Slimes, I can advance a bit on my own pace and do a bit more thorough exploration.
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Apr 1, 2016 02:10
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LuffyVeggies posted:You missed a couple of things in the Goblin and Bandit dungeons, but the one in the Goblin is actually pretty hard to find (and is just something like 300 gold), and the other is that door you couldn't unlock in the Captain's room, so it's understandable. Can't remember if it's E3 or Blades, but you can actually exceed the limits of the menu if you Scry everything.
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Apr 1, 2016 02:44
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First off, read and loved your LPs of exile 1 and 2. Had exile 3 on a 250 games disk and played the hell out of it. Restarted numerous times over the years, but never beat it until the Avernum reboot. Anyway, I've played through the beginning area enough to know that there are a bunch of goodies in fort emergence and upper exile. For starters, I think there's a rough diamond in the fort, bottom left area of the map, hug the outside wall of the building. If you pick up a rock and notice it has a different weight and doesn't stack, that's the one. Also a bunch of secret rooms, one on either side of the lava bridge, and one in the barracks with some scrolls. I remember my last run was a gimmick run a friend of mine and I talked about. Luck tends to make you nigh-unkillable, so what if you made a 1-man party with a character who has to hit 20 luck before anything else. Named the character "Coughdrop" and he was certainly in need of one. For anyone doing a proper run and you want to make things easy on yourself, get a level 7 Mage, a bunch of Mage lore, and enough gold to buy a boat in upper exile. One of the best spells in the series can be gotten before you even have a combat encounter.
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Apr 1, 2016 10:46
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Don't worry, I'll get everything (or at least as much as I can). I'm just not pushing things due to the narrative structure.
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Apr 1, 2016 18:48
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Update 07 – Jordan's Tower "It occurs to me to wonder what our leads are in this particular investigation." "Well, we do have the word of the nice lady in Krizsan who saw a mysterious tower to the west of the city." "You suspect that it is relevant?" "It doesn't matter, does it? It's something that needs to be looked into. If it's relevant, good, if it's not, then that's one place we can ignore in the future." "Have you done that sort of thing before?" "What? Attacked potentially hazardous towers of mages on half-cocked information and a prayer of good luck? Not this week." "What happened last week?" "I joined you guys." "We can cross here, and head down the river that way, cover new ground." I really hope you're happy, people who voted for the guy with chronic disease. "Well, there are less trees on this side of the river, should be a clearer run."  "That's sad. We need to destroy these Slimes!" "I agree. The economic disruption is going to be catastrophic if this keeps going." "But how long has this been going on?" "Delan... Yep, that's on the map." "It can't have been going on for too long, else things would be even more desperate. There's only so much blame passing, and holding out hope for the Empire to come save you before you take action yourself." "But people with that sort of independence of action, well, they tended to end up in Exile." "And no one has been sent down there in ten years! Sending them to the final frontier of Valorim would be the next best thing." "Why is it a bad thing, being able to act?" "The Empire has a love-hate relationship with heroes. Those who excel, but dare not fit into the mould the Empire creates for them are broken down in the end, unable to keep doing what made them great in the first place.” “That sounds like a story.” “I'm old, but not that old.” “If she was right, then the tower should be on the other side of these hills... mountain range?” “Sounds about right.” “Marshland at the mouth of the river. How very normal.” “But nothing here. We'll have to circle around to the other side.”  “What?” “Weren't we told this? Some bandits able to travel or direct Slimes?” “Doesn't matter, they get blown up all the same by fireballs.” “Curious though, the Slimes are fairly easy to dissipate with concussive force. You would expect something... I don't know... stronger?” “Maybe they're... what's the word for a first version of something, where you know there's going to be problems?” “Prototype.” “It's certainly a prospect. If you look at it, the Emerald Slimes are the base form, little more that oversized goo. Then you get the Amber and Ochre with their offensive ability, then finally the Mauve, that can cast spells.” “That a Slime has the presence of mind to cast spells still boggles my mind.”  “Well, a second layer of defences, just as easily beaten by judicious use of fireballs and sharp objects.” “YAY!” “Not much of a 'tower'. I can see why people would miss it.” In fact, this dungeon doesn't appear until you talk to Dawn back in Krizsan. No sequence breaking here!  “How... quaint.” “Hrm, what do those signs say?”  “This is way too easy. Something is off here.” “You are worried about good fortune?” “It does seem a bit suspicious.” “Well, there's no way to go but forward.”  “Look, you haven't hurt us. We haven't hurt you. Can we just talk this out?” “No!” “You tried.” It's like they want me to Fireball them! “Well, it is a good defensive position against more conventional attacks.” “Oh come on!” “HAHA!” “Hah! We don't need Fireballs for this!” “No, but it's still helpful.” “Hey, don't I know you?” “Why do people keep saying that?   “Well, that seems like most of them. Spread out, careful. Look around for things of interest.”  “Found the basement.” “We'll come back later.” “Found a locked door. Or rather, it was locked.”   “This is bullshit!” “I'm not interested in walking through those unless I have to. We should come back later once Niarl or Matthias can dispel the barrier properly.” “Won't be for a while yet. That's advanced magic.” “Hey! Look what I found!”  “And how we're trapped outside! How delightful! An escape route!”  This is the only way to get this 100 gold. Now you just have to step to the west to leave the dungeon, then come back in through the front door. “We've done the west side thoroughly. Time to go down the middle.”  “Aw... You'd think they would have at least released ravenous monsters for us to fight.” “Really?” “No, they would probably send Slimes instead, and that's not as fun.”  “Everyone, be careful.” “Yes, a garbage pit. How dangerous.” “Hey, you never know!” “There's something on that altar down there...” “May I please have a lizard shank for supper?”  Uh... that's an Imp? I don't think so!  That's an Imp! Dammit Vogel, stop changing things around! I have to mess with graphics files to get things right again! Also, dangerous. Two attacks, excellent combat skill, and Mage 2, Priest 2 for multiple combat options.  “Watch were you're aiming that! Ow!” “Sorry! Sorry! The demon dodged!” I swear, I aimed for the demon, but my hand must have slipped as I clicked in the attack – Art got hit instead. Thankfully Matthias was able to heal her up a little. “....” “I'm sorry! Really! I am!” “...” “WELL WELL WELL.” “Hey guys! Extreme Danger! We should do this instead of fighting each other!” “That's my line, priestess.” “Does anyone hear anything?” “Nope!” “He's right, it's pretty quiet. Maybe it's a bluff?” “Or we could have just needed to wait to get the smell.” “Everyone, careful.” And save. “AAAGH!” Meet the Spiny Worm! Just LOOK at those stats! Yes, it deals 6-72 damage before armor. Yes it has 100 HP, and is a Level 15 critter where Art is the highest in the party at level 7. But what's really new about it, and new to the Exile series in general is that it is that it takes up multiple tiles on the board. Here, let me show you the monster picture from the files: Now, while I could try to take this guy out now, I'm not in the best condition. Matthias just got diseased, Ni'aurrl is out of Spells, and I don't want to risk the Worm rolling high on its damage and skipping the whole '0HP Save'. I re-load the save. “Well, I think there's something moving back there, but it ignored us.” “I think we're getting closer to the source of these things.” 'Where has to be something here, right?”  “Killbox!” “Ugh, these benches make things harder than they should be.” “Still, lots of dead slimes.” “Seriously? This guy has a 'throne' – and I use the word as ironically as possible, surrounded by various Slimes? He's a showman, and failing at the theatrics.” “Maybe it's a prototype for when he demands the Empire bow to their knees before him? Showing that he can control the Slimes that are ruining the world?” “I think you give this guy too much credit.” “This.. is going to hurt.” If I had Move Mountains as a spell, I could get access to the boss fight directly by blowing out the lower-right corner of the throne room. I don't, so I have to do this the hard way. But first, I fall back and see if I can get around him. “drat, doesn't look like it.” “And where did he get these?!?!” “We can ask him?” “We can beat the answer out of him with this stick I found!” Yes, you can use a stick as a weapon. Bashing type for 1-4 damage. “No. Here's the plan. We rest up, then Bronwyn, Sass and I charge in to him to keep him occupied. Everyone else, stay back and support with spells.”  Jordan's stats do not reflect the 12 points of damage he already took. And holy poo poo, he has Mage 4? He can cast Slow Group! And Curse All! If his AI was as smart as I am, I'd be SCREWED. “Fireball! And this is what immunity looks like – you don't even register the damage, let alone take '0'.  Bronwyn's dead thanks to the Slimes. Reload. No Monster stats for the slimes or Gremlins at this point. “Wow, that poison works better than I was expecting!” Yeah, he died when he took 70% of his max HP as poison damage after Art hit him twice and poisoned Jordan on both hits. “What's in these pots?” “Ugh.” “Nasty, nasty stuff. But four pots, four types of Slime.” “Should we destroy them now?” “Wait until we're on our way out first. No sense in leaving a mess we'll just have to cross over again.”   “Matthias, Delilah, Ni'aurrl, start going through those shelves. I got the desk. Sass and Bronwyn, keep an eye out.” “And there is a lot in the desk.” “That piece of paper looks interesting. What's on it?” “A map?” “Wait, Silvar? But that's a city in Exile!” “Actually, our Silvar is named for a city on the Surface. It's possible this one is the same.” “The Slime Pit? Is that where these things came from? He didn't cook them up in a lab?” “Actually, I found his biography.” I call bullshit. Stealth is a Tier 5 spell, but Jordan's stats only put him at casting Tier 4 spells. “So, fireballs can destroy Slime Pits, where they form naturally. Good to know.” “For you and me both.” “Aww, I want to throw Fireballs around.” “And with plenty of practice, you can!”  “Hold on, there's a note here. Apparently he made a Pit here, it's just past the storage rooms.”  “Careful of those fumes. They can knock you out, and you'll be sleeping away the rest of this.” “I got this.”      “Got it in one!”   “Hey, no celebrating like that.” “The structure must contain a multitude of volatile compounds to detonate like that. I doubt these things were formed naturally.” “That just means we need to blow them up more!” “Not really. A Flame spell won't trigger a cataclysmic organic molecule delay, while a Priests Firestorm is overkill for the task.” “So noted.”   “And the way back up. Finally!” “Considering this leads directly to his Slime Pit, I think it's just more of Jordan's quarters back in the building above.” “Right!” “Still, we should finish checking things out, and clearing out the last of the bandits. Don't want them to get any ideas.”  “I bet this is a lever for a trap door!” “YOU IDIOT!” “What did that do?” “I have no clue.” “Strong enough to hold a Slime, but they were all killed when we took out that Pit.”  “We'll check, just in case.” “Huh.” “Safe water resource.” “Quiet.” “I smell food!” “Found food!” “This boat is in a weird place.” “Expecting something back here?” “Something.” “Fresh water! Nice cistern.” “I found some Comfrey Root in a store room.” “Ugh, Dancing Boots. Why do these show up everywhere? Toss'em.” “Lookit me! I got a new Halberd! This'll be so awesome!” “Careful where you swing that thing!” “Seriously, where did everyone go?” “Hello?”  “Not a bad operation down here. Not enough to feed everyone, but it will stretch rations in case of a siege, or they have to avoid towns for a while.” “That's it, back upstairs.”* * * “And they're all gone. I mean, maybe some will come back after their patrols or raids, but I think we scared them all away.” If you come through here without first pulling the lever in Jordan's 'proper' throne room, you get this message: And you drop down into the basement. Oh yes, if you sleep/camp, Matthias' disease can still kick in, and get at least one trigger before the rest auto-cancels. “Alright, next stop is the town of Delan. It's the closest, and if Jordan had contact with civilization, that's a good place to start checking out. If that doesn't pan out, we head back east and go through Silvar and ... Cochis was it? Then the Slime Pit.” “Or we could deal with those soldiers first?” “Crap.” “There's no way they didn't recognize us as Exiles. Sass kinda gives it away.” “HEY!” “I think they're not concerned with us because the Slimes are attacking. And truth be told, we are looking a little worn ourselves from the same thing.” “Or perhaps the Mayor of Krizsan informed them of our presence, and as long as we're helping, they'll leave us be?” “Don't matter much, we're here.”
berryjon fucked around with this message at 23:53 on Apr 4, 2016 |
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Apr 1, 2016 23:05
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Hot dang, when I put Chronic Disease on there I was more interested to see how bad it was and while it's pretty bad, at least this party can mitigate quite a bit 
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Apr 1, 2016 23:42
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One interesting note - while plot dungeons like this tower can only be accessed if you're told about them, you still get the set fights just by stepping on the trigger. Since they kinda make it a trend to have preset fights outside plot dungeons, you can accidentally figure out where they "should be" due to the monster groups. Also, while a Priest's level 5 Flamestrike is overkill compared to the Mage L3 Fireball, it does work to destroy be slime generator. So if your group doesn't have Mage spells for any reason, you're not screwed out of completing the quest. Good design.
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Apr 2, 2016 00:00
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They're getting pretty serious with the slime thing. I suppose it's the first major surface plotline and Exile is where the real newbie stuff happens?
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Apr 2, 2016 01:55
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Glazius posted:They're getting pretty serious with the slime thing. I suppose it's the first major surface plotline and Exile is where the real newbie stuff happens? Upper Exile has... four plot events to deal with over the course of the game. The one least related to the overall plot is a Murder Mystery in one of the towns. They get spread out over time, but two of them can be triggered by completing quests on Valorim, or waiting for a certain day to roll around.
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Apr 2, 2016 02:11
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