Comrade Commander

Darksten follows the party to the apple orchard, pausing briefly in a moment of shock when his adversaries appear before him. This was by far the largest horde he had ever seen. Steeling himself against the onslaught, he takes aim at Healer A from the back

Ooc: sorry for not being clear, I had updated the stats in my signature link to reflect taking off my amulet. Also, Skrall sold me his regular bow without the gems embedded. The stats in the quote should be correct now

Darksten quickly walks up to the potion master and throws down a few coins, pointing to the vials of liquids he needed. Normally he wouldn't be this rude, but he knew he was running behind. Purchase: Pheonix essence x1 (-50g) and Grand Potions x5 (-50g): 512-100= 412

Darksten jogs up to the Field, feeling even more like he was late after seeing the gathered heroes chatting. When the Ogre hands him the pile of loot, Darksten feels a bit ashamed to have to be looked at as the weakling, but knows it is for the betterment of the team to equip the items. Seeing an opportunity to upgrade his own equipment though, Darksten offers the Hunter 100 gold as payment towards the bow. "Thanks mate, I believe I am now ready to go where ever the team lead wants to head" OOC: Stats updated to reflect changes & market stop

I voted for Eslandola. While I am not particularly a fan of the "Green Coats" I felt it was the best faction to mix my entire pirate collection since I could weave a trade theme between them all. It is true I can see the different colors of soldiers in my collection as different countries, But I more often viewed them as a single force against the Pirates (Ex: Red/artillery and Blue/marines). This made picking one over the other difficult!

Darksten sees his name get posted to the list of chosen players, and nods to his fellow questers before he gets up to depart for the Market "I will see you at the Fields"

"Thank you gents for your generosity and suggestions" Darksten nods to the ogre and necromancer "I am not much for charity, or getting into debts with people. However, if I am going to be a hindrance to the team I guess I will consider it. Either way, I will definitely look into improving my weapons." The assassin then extends his hands to the two "Besides the brief introduction by the lady there, I don't think we have met. My name is Darksten"

"Thank you Ma'am, I look forward to joining everyone in the Fields" Darksten replies. Pulling out his coin purse, the assassin turns to the fellow heroes who made the list "I have been very fortunate during my time here in Heroica. I am in a good position now to look to improve my stores, and I would be willing to hear if the team has an opinion on how best to spend these. I was planning on upgrading my weapons a bit, but can also stock up on some consumables if people prefer." "I beg to differ Lind, but thank you either way" Darksten simply states back, choosing to ignore the obvious sarcasm

"Ah yes... Uh hello there" Darksten replies to the Munchkin, wishing he had seen him prior to walking over. The thought of another trip to the fields with the 'man' gave the assassin reason to pause. But Darksten needed to keep busy, and this was one of the few options available. "Thanks!" "Pleasure to meet you Ma'am" Darksten replies with a bit of a bow, hoping the added honor didn't just insult the fellow hero "My name is Daksten, I am a Ranger by trade having grown up in the forests. However, the Copper Fox has just helped me hone my skills and I am looking to practice my refined power as an assassin. I admit that the hunter and I probably share many traits, but I could still compliment your team by bringing a lethal barrage of arrows. I have plenty, and would not have to stop to be retrieve them" the assassin finishes with a sideward glance towards his previous quest mate, remembering his last trip to the fields

Darksten awoke with a bit of a start, hoping after a second that he hadn't been snoring. Clearly his training had taken a toll... Hoping that he hadn't missed getting selected for a quest, Darksten quickly strolled over to the quest board and after a moment signed his name up to Quest #133. Thinking that he better start throwing his name onto every quest because he had been passed over one to many times for his liking, he turned to search for Karie. Not knowing who Karie was however, he was left scanning the room, finally deciding that the cluster of heroes was probably where he needed to go. Unknowingly approaching the group which Karie was apart of, the new assassin spoke up... "Excuse me Ladies and Gentlemen is there a Karie here who I could speak to about going to the Fields of Glory?"

Darkten strolls into the hall, looking more deadly than before. He is happy to see that despite the crowd, his usualy seat is unoccupied. He settles down there, alone and away from the rest of the group. OOC: Updated my stats. I am now an assassin (Level 15 1/2). Also noticed on the front page is shows my age as 20 when Darksten is 35. Just don't want to cause confusion when he talks down to all those young whippersnappers out there! haha

Darksten strolled into the training room, a bit pissed that it had taken him so long to finally make it here. Though the ranger had never met the Copper Fox, the lead trainers capabilites were well know. Darksten approached the man, seeking guidance to improve his combat capabilities. "Sir. I come to you seeking assistance for I have grown tired of having to rely on my companions on quests. They simply hide in fear and leave me to get mauled, or are so pathetic they cannot hit the broadside of a barn. I wish for you to teach me ways to become so powerful I won't have to rely on others" "No man is an island ranger. We all rely on each other in some fashion. But I understand your frustration. You seak to be able to blast away enemies, while having more power over your questing party... While each quester is their own unique character, unable to be simply controlled by another, I do have an idea..." The Copper Fox replies, before teaching Darksten the power of an evoker, using gems stored in the training room. "Amazing" Darksten mutters to himself as his flaming eagle flutters around the room. "With this loyal companion I can have more say over the course of a battle and together we can present a more powerful front" But then his eagle is gone, leaving behind a simple grey puff of smoke. "What happened?!" Darksten asks of his trainer "You ran out of Ether." "You mean to say I am restricted by an unseen force? I am sorry sir, but this class is not for me" "Fine, then let us try to make you a true hunter" The Copper Fox says as he helps Darksten practice with his crossbow "Now this feels better" Darksten says as his arrows strike the humanoid targets with increased precision. But he grows frustrated when his bolts seem to loose their edge against other races "Master trainer, perhaps you miss understood me" Darksten says, growing angry at the lack of progress towards his goals. "I want to kill all enemy. I want to be able to strike out at the groups that oppose me no matter the number, no matter the race, and I want to do so without the limitation of the a magical force." "Very well, then let us make you a true assassin" Darksten spends the next few hours learning how to hone his accuracy and strike from the shadows. He has finally found the class he enjoys. 'Thank you master trainers. I will not forget your assistance. Perhaps you could aid me with one more thing. I saw one of my previous quest companions swipe gold off of one of our enemies. Perhaps you could teach me the same thing?" And so Darksten learned to steal gold on top of his deadly skills before making his way back to the hall. Darksten (Comrade Commander) *Immune to poisoned, bleeding, cursed, jinxed and blinded* 35 year old male human Assassin Level 15 1/2 *Immune to poisoned, bleeding, cursed, jinxed and blinded* Power: 21 (15+6) Defense: 2 Health: 26/26 (6+14+5+1) Gold: 512 Equipment: Crossbow (WP:6), Sand-Worm Hide (SP: 2, bodywear), Tribal Amulet (Wearer is immune to poisoned, bleeding, cursed, jinxed, and blinded; suitable to barbarians, rangers, beast warriors; accessory) Inventory: Weapons: Spider String Bow (WP:4, darkness-elemental bow), Fine-tuned Guitar (WP:15, user is lucky; instrument) Artifacts: Safety Blanket (SP:1, protects from Afraid, backwear), Vampire Cape (Halves damage from undead enemies; backwear) Spell Items: Murder on the Dancefloor (Has 1/6 chance of instantly knocking out each opponent (unless immune to sudden death) when sung; costs 30 ether per round; Battle Song) Consumables: 6x Potion, Health Core, 5x Remedy, Elixir, Phoenix Essence, 4x Mead, Smelling Salts, 2x Nostrum, Soma, Ambrosia, Root Beer (Restores 10 health, or can be used as a bomb against undead enemies for 20 damage. The Root Beer does not affect non-undead enemies), Aeolus Bomb, Floral Bomb, 5x Lightning Bomb, Smoke Bomb, 3x Venom, 2x Bone Tools: Bedroll, Pickaxe, Shovel, Magnifying Glass, Telescope, Magic Compass

Darksten finally strolled into the hall after clearly taken a detour or two along the way. Where he went, it was clear that many would truly know. On his way to the training room, the ranger passed the quest board and saw new postings. He quickly added his name to the list of heroes for quests #128, #129 and #130, but added a little more emphasis to quest #129 hoping it would get him selected for his preferred quest. "As long as I get a reward, it doesn't matter I guess" Darksten thought to himself before leaving down the hall for the training room. Ooc: haven't been able to post my character upgrade, but didn't want to miss out on quests. Will have my training room post in a day or two so any QM can see my new build.

I am very excited for this to go live. While I admit I am quiet on posting MOCs, having something I can connect to for storyline a will most likely encourage me more. That being said, I wanted to weigh in for the LDD verse real brick debate. I would prefer either separate categories for both and/or a ban of LDD in the main challenges. First and foremost there have been some amazing things built in LDD, yet I agree with the sentiment that it just doesn't not have the same feel. If one can simply use every piece they ever wanted, then it takes away some of the magic. I can see LDD entries discouraging some people from getting involved. For people like myself who have mediocre building skills and even worse photography skills, it is hard enough to compete against people who can take beautiful images of their mega-MOCs. But to then go up against some people who can use any brick they want, and not have to worry about photography can be a little discouraging. Additionally, it was mentioned that the community could police itself and I would hope that is the logical step. But, at the same time a large number of LDD users could do the reverse for real brick users. Either way though, I am excited for the full release and getting involved in the story!

Quest #124 Review Overall I enjoyed this quest! I want to thank Sandy for putting it together, and I want to thank my fellow questmates for playing along. NPCs: Overall I enjoyed the NPCs. I felt the first few at the beginning were rushed a bit, but they were minor characters and we were loosing battles so no big deal. As a guy who hasn't been fully invested in the different conflicts between houses, it was interesting to see how the quest played out. I personnaly don't like going into the wiki (or other quests) to get indepth knowledge of the backstory as I try to play Darksten as a bit naive and it helps when I don't know more than he does. However, I find I am going to have to dig in a bit more to connect a lot of the dots. Even still, the little I did skimmed over helped a ton and I enjoyed some of the exchanges. Obvouisly the last one between Darksten and the Hinckwell matriach didn't end up the way I wanted but that's life. haha, and I understand that the story must be played out. That being said, I loved the girlfriend twist you pulled Sandy to counter my arguement as I admit I wasn't thinking of it appearing like that. Battles: In regards to the battles, I might still be a little new to this, but I think the battles were more fair than others have given them credit for. We might have been able to win the battle against the dwarves at the start had I read the special hits a little more closely and not been KO'd first round, and the fairy battle could have gone different if we had gotten better roles. Of course that was the theme of the entire battle as our rolls pretty much were the worst we could get, but that lead to a bit of fun for RP sake so I don't mind. Overall, I defintely learned a lot more about being Party Leaders so I definitely appreciate everyone bearing with me Players: I hope both of you can forgive me for making a Darksten bit of a jerk against both of you. I definitely felt you guys did a great job going through. haha, I enjoyed how Bobby stayed in character the entire time with his "street talk." I am not an expert in character development so I won't give indepth analysis of your playstyles, but I wouldn't mind playing with you guys again! Loot: I played a bit greedy this quest, so I might have gotten a lot of the better loot and that is why others feel short changed. That being said, a lot of the minstrel stuff is useless for me right now even if it is kind of cool. But I knew going into this quest that is what I was going to get, so no major complaints. Pacing: I felt the quest moved along nicely. Now that I know the last two battles were add-ons I definitely appreciate the effort you took. Had we simply walked away from the other two battles and ended with the Crowd battle (was there a peaceful solution?) it might have felt a little skimpy. Bu the way it turned out was perfect. So overall, thanks again and I am always happy to hear feedback about my performance!

Knowing he couldn't get any further with the Hinckwell matriarch, Darksten politely bid farewell to his employer and walked out with his fellow questmates happy that they had accomplished their stated objective. When Bobby made to go his separate way, Darksten shook the offered hand as the rogue certainly wasn't the worst person the ranger had encountered. Yet Darksten secretly hoped that the kid would learn to speak like a civilized individual by the next time they met. Seeing as the party was splitting up, Darksten also said farewell to Leofwein. The barbarian had a ways to go in Darksten's mind, but he hesitated on offering to try and help the other hero try and hit motionless boxes. Somethings just had to be learned on your own... With the proper courtesies given, Darksten left the group and made his way to the training facilities back at the hall. He had learned a lot from his previous quests and he wanted to refine his techniques. Ooc: Thanks for a great quest everyone!

"I would think an innocent friendship couldn't cause significant harm, though how you handle your family is not my place to get involved I suppose." Darksten says "Either way, it was a pleasure finding the source of the song for you ma'am. I wouldn't mind having that guitar if you don't mind."

Darksten looks at the barbarian with a bit of anger, thinking the armored kid had insulted him "No I got it, I made no such promises..." Turning back to the Hinckwell matriarch the ranger says "It wasn't a secret crush, just a childhood friend. Your son Lyren talked to Nuitan Shadeaux about the song. Though I hear Lyren and Nuitan's sister have a bit of a history so perhaps the song was meant to be for her? As I said, we were not able to talk to your son so we don't have the whole story."

"Yes, forgive me, it would appear to be Lyren who we believe was the initial source. But as I mentioned, we haven't had a chance to talk to him about his side of the story so we don't know his motive. As for his friends, may I ask why you would need to know who they are when you have the initial source and the main broadcast for your song? You could probably stop Carly from singing your song if you tried hard enough, but there isn't much you could do with the middle people now..." Darksten said, wishing he had a bit of diplomacy in him.

"Well ma'am, the song is now being sung by the famous Carly Swift so a lot of the local populous is familiar with your work. We haven't had a chance to talk to him yet to get the full story, but it it seems she got it after your son came across the manuscript and some of his peers overheard him talking about it. They must have thought it was pretty good and passed it to their idol Carly to be used as inspiration. So bottom line, to explain how your song is in the public now, everything seems to have started with your son coming across the manuscript and ending with it being sung by Carly Swift. Hope that answers your intent ma'am" Darksten says explaining the situation, but doing his best to avoid the topic of contention for the sake of the squeamish rogue Ooc: loot distribution: Darksten: 60 Gold Bobby: shovel, pickaxe, 20 Gold Leofwein: Twin Axe, 10 gold

Darksten sees the power of the Minstrel and cannot be amazed at the power of the song. He continues to sit back and admire for the turn... Battle order: Darksten: Does nothing but admire the power of song for the round Bobby: Crafty from back Laureline: Angelic Aria from back Leofwein: Crafty from front

With a hint of growing frustration, Darksten felt obligated to respond and defend his strategy,but he still tried to remain polite to his employer "I can imagine you have a list of songs for a wide variety of situations, but one single song doesn't necessary equal the power of three encouraged warriors. But alas, if you would like to change you may now do so..." With a bit of a bow, Darksten steps aside to let his employer strike now that the dark dwarves were down to a weakend state. However, recalling the pain from his last encounter, the ranger still kept his distance from the dwarf leader, letting the other party members pile on. Suggested Battle order: Darksten: Twiddles his thumbs for the round Laureline: Angelic Aria from back Bobby: Crafty from back Leofwein: Crafty from front

"Aye Ma'am, but if you knew us better you would be singing the same lucky song even harder... That being said, perhaps carrying your flute will be easier for you?" Suggested Battle order: Laureline: Lucky Chant from back (now equipped with a flute) Darksten: Sneaky from back Darksten: Potion on Bobby from back Bobby: Shifty from back Leofwein: Sneaky from front

Darksten sniffs his salts and continues to try and complete what he wanted to do, before launching into an attack against a new target... Battle order: Laureline: Lucky Chant from back Darksten: Remedy from back and then Sneaky from back Bobby: Shifty from back Leofwein: Sneaky from front

Darksten slowly completes his attempt to even the odds by slowly taking a smelling salt and a remedy... Battle order: Laureline: Lucky Chant from back Darksten: Smelling Salt and Remedy from back (slowed) Bobby: Shifty from back Leofwein: Sneaky from front