Yzalirk

@LordDan @Grover @Kai NRG @Exetrius Thank you all again for the warm and insightful responses! I have many ideas in mind for what I want to focus. Specifically being around reptillians of Nocturnus and expanding their lore after the catastrophe at Abyssian. But of course I would like permission to so I do not step on anyone's toes. I also do have an interest in Kaliphlin again or Mitgardia! That is why I am undecided if I should do the Nocturnus related stuff as separate free builds or not.

Wonderful! Thank you both! I just need to decide on which guild interests me the most and create a sig-fig. I was here back in that day in Book II, it is unfortunate Nocturnus is not an available option this time around. Can I still do Free Builds involving Nocturnus or is it off limits entirely?

I am thinking about joining a guild soon! Or is it too late?

I am curious if we can get a headcount on the active players here. I feel like it is only a few of us now, which totally breaks my heart, and was thinking as a result we be allowed to create an alt character or characters to breath a bit more life and activity to the game. But we need more MM's haha. We can also try to advertise the game on site if the admins are willing to help, or some other sites like Reddit or whatnot.

I personally am not sure. I know when developing 2.0 this topic was not discussed. But if I had to guess the players should be awarded an appropriate amount of CP, at least based on an average, for the mission and sent back to the hall. As far as other loot like Credits and gear... those should be rewarded depending on what the mission would reward upon completing it. Some of it may fall on the player's imagination and they will have to sorta "invent" that piece of gear. In my opinion it just does not sound fair to not reward the players for the MM's inactivity. Once this type of thing happens you cannot revisit the mission.

Really cannot believe it's been a year, folks! Much appreciation to those who helped develop Heroica 2.0 and to the wonderful players who breathe life into the game. 😊

With our intense cliff hanger, here are my thoughts of Mission #9: He's Dead, Jim. @Duvors Overall, I really enjoyed this experience! Admittedly it seemed a bit slow and boring with exploring the sewers at first. That is primarily because we did not find anything (yet) and it seemed rather confusing to navigate. The addition of the sewer map really helped with that issue for me so thank you for that! I thought the story was extremely interesting as the mission progressed. Initially I thought it was going to ne just finding Gregory Smiles who simply just went missing. But then slowly putting the pieces together to discover he was kidnapped for some ritual by a cult really added to the intrigue. When I was able to figure out that the few other missing people were the corpses in the sewer made the mission more intense I think. When talking to Vinoq I assumed we would be trying to find them too. Whilst we did I did not expect it to be in the way we did haha. One thing I genuinely loved and appreciated was some of the quirks to the mission when we arrived at the bazaar. I enjoyed some of the more notable NPCs there and really enjoyed interacting with them. Vinoq was an interesting character I thought. A dealer of information. And with him being a Quarm I enjoyed that too. Neros Solon was another NPC I enjoyed too. I think without his help being able to save Gregory would have been impossible. I think he was one of the unsung heroes in this mission. I am glad we found his son too and I hope he was able to return home safely! Kenshi was great too, I was a bit disappointed I lost that duel with him but I think it was a great learning experience for Ronin. I do hope to encounter him again. Lastly... Elfonn Deshelf. He was by far the most fascinating NPC on this mission I thought. I loved his interactions with Decker! I definitely would love to see more of that guy again. I am very pleased with the outcome of this mission too. I am glad we were able to save Gregory from being possessed instead of having to kill him. I understand you had to wrap up the mission rather quickly, Duvors, but I hope it did not affect the story too much. I actually thought that we would face Avery Mann after saving Gregory. I had such a fun idea with Ronin and the Lamplight for that. I am curious to know about alternate outcomes. What would have happened if we killed Gregory? Things like that interest me the most. @Endgame, I had a blast playing with you again! I think Decker and Ronin make a great team together. Decker is such a fun character to interact with and to get his perspective on things. I really like how you roleplay him and hope we can be on more missions again. In fact, I myself even thought about having Ronin reveal himself to Decker. I tried to give some subtle context clues to Decker about Ronin's identity. That hint being Ronin is not exactly human per se. Next time we are on a mission together you may find out more about him. I will give you a hint, examine Ronin next chance you get.

Thank you for having me be part of your Mission, @Duvors! I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and am craving for a sequel Mission. I will post my thoughts to the Mission Master's Lounge soon. Stats look great but it appears you forgot to add the 60 Credits Arno gave us to our balances.

"I would like a Structural Scanner as well." He turns to Szizekh and hands him the Ghanta. "May this serve you well and save many lives."

I am thinking the Structural Scanner too just because it is not in the shop.

"Machen unfortunately was used as a sacrifice. For what it is worth, I am sorry for your loss. Initially our mission was to find Gregory but I feel it is the righteous thing to pursue this Avery Mann phenomenon. He must be killed."

"That sounds like you encountered Avery Mann. He is a strange man. Unnaturally supernatural. The cloaked men that kidnapped you were his disciples. They are dead now, someone or something in the sewers disemboweled them all. We also discovered their identities, they were among the many people who disappeared around here. The other man that was tied up was a member of the Thaumaturgic Society. We believe he was investigating the Avery Mann phenomenon. Unfortunately he was killed in a ritual sacrifice that resulted in you being possessed."

After the absolute insanity that just happened, relief overcomes Ronin. He is glad that Gregory appears to be physically fine. That daze was short lived though. They still have to find Avery and deal with him. He then notices Decker's hand in the air. Unfamiliar with the gesture, he feels compelled to give Decker some sugar high five him back. So does exactly that. "You did good back there kid. I believe we make a good team." He begins to assist Gregory to his feet. "You must be Gregory Smiles, correct? Arno Milver tasked us with finding you. I am Ronin -" He gestures to Decker. "-And this is Decker. We are agents from Heroica. Do you have any recollection of what happened to you before you became possessed?"

Since ??? now has the Ghanta equipped, technically, I hope my action or rather attempted action is not against any rules. After the dark viscous hand permeates from the ground, snatching the Ghanta from his grasp, Ronin fell to his knees. Though feeling morally defeated, he begins to... laugh? Still laughing, he picks himself up and looks straight into the eyes of evil. Bright yellow nothingness. He begins to taunt the demon. "Evil never prevails, demon. You are a coward. A parasite. You need to prey on the weak and powerless to survive." He grabs ??? by the collar and attempts to chime the Ghanta.

Ronin moves to D3 and begins to equip the Ghanta. "I... do not think so. It feels like it is trying to pry my soul from me. I think the blessing Neros gave us protected me, but I feel it getting weaker."

"Heh. I do suppose you are right. The elf with the mushroom obsession was quite... unnatural." Disoriented by what just happened, Ronin tries to get make sense of it mentally and regains his bearings. "Decker... I do not this that is Avery... I think that might be Gregory." He faces Gregory. Glowing expressionless yes to... whatever Ronin has. Whatever lies beneath his headgear. "Gregory? If you can hear me resist the evil that has corrupted you." Ronin moves to E3 and throws a vial of that orange Sleeping Aid at the Corrupted Gregory. @Endgame, I have an idea for this battle without killing Gregory. Assuming I understand the mechanics correctly, we both need to use the appropriate items simultaneously. Since Decker has Machen's Notebook equipped, he can keep that. You have to throw the Ghanta to Ronin. I assume we just need to use one candle unless @Duvors says otherwise. In this case, you can move closer to me and throw me the Ghanta. Next I will move closer to you and equip it. After that you can then use a Candle while I defend myself. Next round you can use the Notebook while I use the Ghanta. This is probably our best bet to save Gregory, or some version of it. What do you think?

Thanks for the clarification. I think that Lamplight should last longer, in my opinion, since it has no combat-related effects. It simply just makes the consumer glow. And I also have a very amusing idea for it too. "Very well. I hope these things turn out to be useful and not just colored water or something." He accepts the Plasma Potion. "Many thanks, Decker. Lets do this." He shows him the glowing bottle of Lamplight as they begin to proceed. "I have an idea for this one. It sounds almost too mad to explain but... I think psychological warfare on top of physical warfare will be enough to defeat this evil for good. Or have I lost it?"

"Good idea Decker. I suppose if fighting this demon outright does not work, some holy magic should do. I know little to nothing about the supernatural but this does make sense to me." Ronin hands Decker his Holy Candle. "Anything else I have you think you may need? I have some ideas how these potions can be useful. I am just not sure how to get them to work." OoC: Regarding the potions, do I have to physically use them / or apply them to a weapon to work, like Frozen Blood, in order to use them. Or is it possible to throw them at an enemy? And for Lamplight, how longs does that potion last for?

"I am not very good with riddles Decker but I think there is some merit to your conclusions. I found some journal of sorts but most of the pages are torn. From what I can gather that is legible, it does appear that Machen was their sacrifice. It also describes a maintenance worker being sent down who will make the perfect vessel. I assume that would be Greg. They planned to drug and capture him. Sadly I cannot form an opinions based on the rest. Maybe something will make more sense to you?" Ronin proceeds to show Decker the torn up booklet he found on the corpse. He also searches around for the sections that were torn off. "I think we should check the other secret room next then go back to the warehouse. If Flatfoot is working with, or for Avery, perhaps we can find more answers in there. If we have to kill the beast inside then so be it."

"Me neither, Decker. This is something I did not expect to find. Do you have any idea what that machine could be? It looks rather crude." Ronin walks over to the cultist corpse and rolls it over, searching for anything on it.

"Oh, hello-" He greets Vintej Ahntiq and bows. "-We were actually on our way to find the access to another manhole. A big fleshy blob sort of disrupted our plan. Are you a friend of Gregory Smiles? Anything you can us about him may certainly help us find him."

"Indeed. He either got eaten or... integrated into that fleshy blob. Best we can do is speculate on who we missed but we did discover the identities of the other corpses. I would like to figure out what is behind those secret doors too. But perhaps you are right, the monster is surely still lurking around there."

"Decker lets go!" He grabs Decker and starts running to the passage to their right. "Lets fight this thing if there is no choice. I do not want to become another pound of flesh to this thing." He says deceitfully.

"Do you see anything, Decker? If you can get the door open that may help. But we will have to deal with what is in there. I will let you decide, I support whatever your decision is."

I would like to be presented more combat scenarios against ranged enemies. I think we need to get more data on this to come up with a more solid solution.