Crooked Bee
(no longer) a wide-wandering bee
Part 6. What gain with Odysseus, or, A curse of stone
Due to spekkio having summoned a certain Horse to aid him in his uneven battle against my glorious LP, I now find myself in the middle of a life and death struggle for finding a via media that would bring peace, harmony, and prosperity to this thread. Meanwhile – so you could all follow this game's wonderful, totally non-cliché plot – a new, I'd even say newfangled, update is in order. No combat, no rage, just pure magic of storytelling. And some new design decisions stolen from neighboring LPs.
...
Anyway, let's get started. Who's this guy!?
Witches, witches never change. Just when you think it's finally over, just when you're about to enjoy a celebratory ball – the evil grows new roots and lo! multiheaded mischiefs arise from the deep. You may disdain the witch for going down so easily; the joke, however, is on you. Your victory is without glory, and your peace is without quiet.
Last time we left our company of heroes engulfed by the light of a mysteriously talkative blue crystal. They may have defeated the witch, yet what lies in store for them? And what's going on, already?
"The world cannot be allowed to fall into darkness! Heroes of Light, set forth on your journey!"
"Forge new hope from the light of the crystal!"
Volly: I-I must be hallucinating... SMA, do you see this, too?
SMA: Er, yes. At least, I think I do...
"As the Dark flows from the hidden world within, our would-be savior stands helpless, bereft of power."
(I wonder what "would-be savior" is it talking about?)
"O, children of hope!"
:blah:
"To thee I grant this gift of Light, upon thy head a crown of might."
Looks like we have obtained our first "crown", i.e., an equippable and upgradeable class.
"Enter the magic circle now, and to safety you shall fly. Go forth, Heroes of Light, and seek your adventure!"
What magic circle, you ask? This magic circle:
Oh my, it's pink!
First, however, time to do some talking. We hear SMA wonder:
Volly, unsurprisingly for a pretty princess, suggests we make her our main character:
And BRO argues that a crown is good for you:
We see that we have a new option "Crown" in the menu:
So let's have a look at the crown we've been presented with:
Looks like it grants a new ability, Runaway, which gives us a chance (not 100%, though) to escape from a battle, and makes recovery items more effective. It doesn't alter Volly's stats at this point, though, which is a mystery to me, since, as we'll see later, it will alter both Codexer's and SMA's stats a bit further down the road. Still, we equip the Wayfarer crown on Volly and make her our main controllable character (everything for our pretty princess!):
This done, we step into the magic circle and get teleported right outside the Witch's Mansion...
... and enter the North Caves to make our way back to the village:
Along the way, we easily deal with two Lizardmen and two Blood Bats, looting a ruby and a Phoenix Down. North Caves B1 is a tutorial area now, in which SMA, BRO, and Codexer teach Volly the way of the crown:
To satisfy our piqued curiosity, we try to upgrade our crown...
...only to find out that, even though we've got enough rubies to fill the upper slots, we don't yet have any of the square-shaped gems required to fill up the rest:
Bah. We'll have to play the game of upgrading later, then.
Moving on, we get ambushed by a pack of 4 blood bats. Weak suckers. 4 exp. And 2 gems as loot.
Upon getting out of the caves back onto the world map, however, we stumble upon a new type of enemy - a group of four imps:
Imps are very weak, and hit our characters for just 1 damage per attack. Meh. Nothing to talk about much. Defeating them, however, allows our BRO to level up:
BRO goes from level 7 to level 8, gaining +3 hp to his max health, and nothing more.
We finally arrive to the village, safe and sound:
Yet something is afoot here. Something strange and horrible. Something not to be taken lightly.
...
An evil curse! Laid by a witch, nya!
And so the heroes who had cheated death in the Witch's Mansion faced another, greater evil. The wicked witch, in her moment of defeat, laid a curse upon the land, a crooked curse of stone. And so the town of Horne was forever changed.
Even the local shopkeeper's been turned to stone, so we can't buy anything from or sell anything to him. Only our Codexer's parrot is alive and well, so maybe it was the bird that laid the curse?
This bird is the root of all evil, I tell you.
Our heroes, however, think that the witch must be involved.
SMA: What's going on here? I though we had defeated the witch...
Codexer: Is this happening because we fought the witch?
BRO: Could this have something to do with the witch's contract?
Even the local sheep are afflicted:
We shall revenge you, sheep!
I guess we should visit the castle and demand some answers!
Unfortunately, everyone in the castle is turned to stone, too, and the king's throne is empty!
A strangely-looking fella's standing in the middle of the throne room, though, so we chat him up:
Head of BMIU: I'm sorry to report that Horne has been stricken by an evil curse.
Head of BMIU: For your own protection, we can take you back with us to Liberte. You would be much safer there.
Once again, we get a fake choice between agreeing or protesting. Naturally, we protest. This makes our BRO turn on us, however:
You're NOT a true bro, BRO!
Codexer: But what about the people here? We have to help them!
BRO: WE don't have to do anything, but YOU are welcome to do what you like.
Where's the love, BRO?
SMA: Erm, I hate to impose... but would you please take Lady Volly with you to Liberte?
(SMA looks at Codexer.)
SMA: I must stay in Horne, too. I can't help thinking I'm partly to blame for this.
They leave with all their items! : x Heh.
Looks like we're stuck with SMA for now. Oh well.
Head of BMIU: It's much too dangerous here in Horne. Who knows what will happen next? You'd best leave, and soon!
No BRO love, it seems. BRO, I am disappoint. :/
Still, BRO'll get Volly to safety. So we forgive him. And after all, "what gain with Odysseus"? The safer the better, right, BRO?
Walking around the castle, we meet a few more Baneful Magick Investigation Unit members:
BMIU member #2: What on earth happened here? Is this the curse of a witch?
BMIU member #3: Did the king really enter into a contract with a witch!?
That king really is some bastard, entering into contracts right and left!
If only we could find him...
BMIU member #4: If we can just find one member of the Horne royal family...
Neither have we! We aren't told where to go next, imagine that! Clueless, we walk out of the castle.
I ask you, Codex: WHERE'S MAH HANDHOLDING!!!?
Hint: in the next post. So stay tuned!
*Clears throat* War, war never changes...
Due to spekkio having summoned a certain Horse to aid him in his uneven battle against my glorious LP, I now find myself in the middle of a life and death struggle for finding a via media that would bring peace, harmony, and prosperity to this thread. Meanwhile – so you could all follow this game's wonderful, totally non-cliché plot – a new, I'd even say newfangled, update is in order. No combat, no rage, just pure magic of storytelling. And some new design decisions stolen from neighboring LPs.
...
Anyway, let's get started. Who's this guy!?
Witches, witches never change. Just when you think it's finally over, just when you're about to enjoy a celebratory ball – the evil grows new roots and lo! multiheaded mischiefs arise from the deep. You may disdain the witch for going down so easily; the joke, however, is on you. Your victory is without glory, and your peace is without quiet.
Last time we left our company of heroes engulfed by the light of a mysteriously talkative blue crystal. They may have defeated the witch, yet what lies in store for them? And what's going on, already?
"The world cannot be allowed to fall into darkness! Heroes of Light, set forth on your journey!"
"Forge new hope from the light of the crystal!"
Volly: I-I must be hallucinating... SMA, do you see this, too?
SMA: Er, yes. At least, I think I do...
"As the Dark flows from the hidden world within, our would-be savior stands helpless, bereft of power."
(I wonder what "would-be savior" is it talking about?)
"O, children of hope!"
:blah:
"To thee I grant this gift of Light, upon thy head a crown of might."
Looks like we have obtained our first "crown", i.e., an equippable and upgradeable class.
"Enter the magic circle now, and to safety you shall fly. Go forth, Heroes of Light, and seek your adventure!"
What magic circle, you ask? This magic circle:
Oh my, it's pink!
First, however, time to do some talking. We hear SMA wonder:
Volly, unsurprisingly for a pretty princess, suggests we make her our main character:
And BRO argues that a crown is good for you:
We see that we have a new option "Crown" in the menu:
So let's have a look at the crown we've been presented with:
Looks like it grants a new ability, Runaway, which gives us a chance (not 100%, though) to escape from a battle, and makes recovery items more effective. It doesn't alter Volly's stats at this point, though, which is a mystery to me, since, as we'll see later, it will alter both Codexer's and SMA's stats a bit further down the road. Still, we equip the Wayfarer crown on Volly and make her our main controllable character (everything for our pretty princess!):
This done, we step into the magic circle and get teleported right outside the Witch's Mansion...
... and enter the North Caves to make our way back to the village:
Along the way, we easily deal with two Lizardmen and two Blood Bats, looting a ruby and a Phoenix Down. North Caves B1 is a tutorial area now, in which SMA, BRO, and Codexer teach Volly the way of the crown:
To satisfy our piqued curiosity, we try to upgrade our crown...
...only to find out that, even though we've got enough rubies to fill the upper slots, we don't yet have any of the square-shaped gems required to fill up the rest:
Bah. We'll have to play the game of upgrading later, then.
Moving on, we get ambushed by a pack of 4 blood bats. Weak suckers. 4 exp. And 2 gems as loot.
Upon getting out of the caves back onto the world map, however, we stumble upon a new type of enemy - a group of four imps:
Imps are very weak, and hit our characters for just 1 damage per attack. Meh. Nothing to talk about much. Defeating them, however, allows our BRO to level up:
BRO goes from level 7 to level 8, gaining +3 hp to his max health, and nothing more.
We finally arrive to the village, safe and sound:
Yet something is afoot here. Something strange and horrible. Something not to be taken lightly.
...
An evil curse! Laid by a witch, nya!
And so the heroes who had cheated death in the Witch's Mansion faced another, greater evil. The wicked witch, in her moment of defeat, laid a curse upon the land, a crooked curse of stone. And so the town of Horne was forever changed.
Even the local shopkeeper's been turned to stone, so we can't buy anything from or sell anything to him. Only our Codexer's parrot is alive and well, so maybe it was the bird that laid the curse?
This bird is the root of all evil, I tell you.
Our heroes, however, think that the witch must be involved.
SMA: What's going on here? I though we had defeated the witch...
Codexer: Is this happening because we fought the witch?
BRO: Could this have something to do with the witch's contract?
Even the local sheep are afflicted:
We shall revenge you, sheep!
I guess we should visit the castle and demand some answers!
Unfortunately, everyone in the castle is turned to stone, too, and the king's throne is empty!
A strangely-looking fella's standing in the middle of the throne room, though, so we chat him up:
Head of BMIU: I'm sorry to report that Horne has been stricken by an evil curse.
Head of BMIU: For your own protection, we can take you back with us to Liberte. You would be much safer there.
Once again, we get a fake choice between agreeing or protesting. Naturally, we protest. This makes our BRO turn on us, however:
You're NOT a true bro, BRO!
Codexer: But what about the people here? We have to help them!
BRO: WE don't have to do anything, but YOU are welcome to do what you like.
Where's the love, BRO?
SMA: Erm, I hate to impose... but would you please take Lady Volly with you to Liberte?
(SMA looks at Codexer.)
SMA: I must stay in Horne, too. I can't help thinking I'm partly to blame for this.
They leave with all their items! : x Heh.
Looks like we're stuck with SMA for now. Oh well.
Head of BMIU: It's much too dangerous here in Horne. Who knows what will happen next? You'd best leave, and soon!
No BRO love, it seems. BRO, I am disappoint. :/
Still, BRO'll get Volly to safety. So we forgive him. And after all, "what gain with Odysseus"? The safer the better, right, BRO?
Walking around the castle, we meet a few more Baneful Magick Investigation Unit members:
BMIU member #2: What on earth happened here? Is this the curse of a witch?
BMIU member #3: Did the king really enter into a contract with a witch!?
That king really is some bastard, entering into contracts right and left!
If only we could find him...
BMIU member #4: If we can just find one member of the Horne royal family...
Neither have we! We aren't told where to go next, imagine that! Clueless, we walk out of the castle.
I ask you, Codex: WHERE'S MAH HANDHOLDING!!!?
Hint: in the next post. So stay tuned!
*Clears throat* War, war never changes...