Scubacarrot

Just spend a bazillion gold on a weapon, change to a class that has a low change at using that weapon. That's some great tactics right there. (me )

A worn figure walks into the training room. "Mr. Holla. It's been a while." "Aye." "Finally giving up on being a "Raider" then? Very well. The Guild of Invision is interested in teaching you. Perhaps you can pick up some useful tricks from them." "I see. Very well." With that, Guts walks out of the door again and heads to the Guildhouse. Greeted by an old acquintance. "Velcome, Velcome Mithter Holla! Ve have tho much to do, come in, come in!" Guts raises an eyebrow, and follows the doctor inside... ~ Later, much later, several days later. Guts walks out again, with the basics of alchemy in his head, and several basic alchemical compounds in his belts and pockets. "Guts Holla. Alchemist. Heh." Guts Holla (Scubacarrot) *Immune to Weakened, Fragile, Asleep, Cursed, Confused and Blinded**Immune to Darkness, Light, Water, Fire, Air, Earth, Wood, Lightning and Ice Elemental Damage* 44 year old male human Alchemist Level 31 3/4 Power Bonus: 4 (2 permanent bonus+2 equipment) Health: 48/48 (7 base+30 level ups+10 class+1 permanent bonus) Defense: 4 Gold: 855 Equipment: Lifestealer (WP: 60, Ice, Darkness, Light, attacks restore 3 health, dagger), Dancing Shoes (Wearer dances well, in the turn after a miss is rolled, the wearer can act twice. +Immunity to Asleep, Confused, Fragile, Weakened and Blinded, + Immunity to Darkness, Light, Fire, Air, Earth, Wood, Lightning and Ice Elemental Damage, footwear), Pugilist's Gloves (2+ Power, Immune to Weakened, handwear), Crocodile Armour (+4 Defense +Immunity to Water Magic, bodywear), Blessed Amulet (Immunity to Cursed, accessory) Inventory: Stag Antlers (WP:10, Intimidation, halberd), Twin Sai (WP: 10, dual strike, dagger), Ambrosia 3x Mead, Smelling Salts, 22x Grand Potion, 4x Health Core, 2x Elixir, 10x Remedy, 5x Smoke Bomb, 5x Deadly Venom, 2x Neutralizer, Shovel, Telescope, Magnifying Glass, Pickaxe, Bedroll, Crimson Serum (Grants Mutated Effect for one battle.), Arc Elixir, Beholder's Eye, Agni Bomb, Neptune Bomb, Crimson Venom (Causes a weapon to deal the poisoned by 7 and cursed effects for the duration of one battle), Topaz

Skrall Skrall counts thirtheen people in the room, not counting himself. Besides the obviously armed Hobgoblin next to the bar, there seems to be a barrel containing various weapons under the stairs, where a few armored men sit. The ogre reckons that those might be the bodyguards of the richer patrons. There is only one staircase, and Skrall can not see upstairs, but on the ground floor, there is only one other door. It is to left, and is closed. The bartender sniffs when Skrall asks for a drink. "Hmpf. I am not quite certain your purse can afford a beverage from us. Are you here to meet someone, sir?" The bartender raises an eyebrow expectantly. Ellaria and Atramor "Hey lady, those compliments might work better if ya didn't follow them up with a request right away, eh? But sure, sure, I'll help, I mean, why else would I be here? So convenient, am I right? Got some food? A certain kittycat might be more interested in helping if ya got 'em some food."

Guts sells his Gold Chalice, Gold Bar and Black Pearl for 70+50+75=195 gold. (1430+195=1625) He then strolls over to Anwyl. "The usual, mate." Anwyl upgrades Lifestealer two times (330+340 = 670 gold). Then, Guts pulls out his 4 pieces of Mithril and hand it over to Anwyl along with another 100 gold. (1625-770=855) "Let's see how this works." The 'dwarf' stokes his fires and reforges Lifestealer along with the Mithril. Soon, the work is done and there lays a new blade, with a blue metallic edge with it. "Hmpf. Lifestealer. I hate that name. Should think about renaming that thing." Finally, Guts used 16 grating stones to sharpen up the blade, bringing the blade up to WP: 60

The door is locked.

The wine bottle is empty, but the door opens. Inside, they quickly press themselves against the wall. They appear to be in a hallway, with an open doorway directly ahead, and a closed door on the left from where they came in. The voices they heard earlier seem to come from the doorway, and they can seen a figure through it as well. The Heroes can hear some of what is said: "Oh man, why do I have to be scheduled as 'reserve' for the whole week?" "I'm telling you, it's all in the look. You look half dead, and he IS actually half dead. Get rid of that ridiculous armor and it would be better already." "Heh, if it's looks that decide the roster, why do you get girl and front shifts. Makes no sense. You're ugly as balls." What do the Heroes want to do?

Ellaria and Atramor: Atramor looks through the keyhole, he can't see much other than a wall, but the door is unlocked. Will they go in or not? Nyx and Boomingham: Nyx and Boomingham drop down a couple of meters and land down in the sewers below. They are greeted by an incredible heat and an even worse stench. Luckily, the puddle they dropped in wasn't that deep, so only their shoes are covered in muck, and few stains higher up from the splash. Then they look forward. They are greeted by a horrible creature and his companions! Nyx and Boomingham, PREPARE FOR BATTLE! The Enemies: Abandoned Bone Elemental (Abe) *Immune to Bleeding, Poison* Level 60 Undead Health: 653/653 Defense: 0 Special: Sewer Skewer: Hits the target according to their level ignoring defense, and calls forth more sewer creatures to fight. Drops: Bone Scepter Sewer Cobra Level 40 Vermin/Aquatic Health: 320/320 Defense: 0 Special: Nasty Bite: Bites target for 50 damage, and relays either the Petrified, Poisoned by 5 (stacking) or Doomed effects. Drops: Paralyzing Venom, Deadly Venom Tunnel Snake A Level 20 Vermin/Aquatic Health: 80/80 Defense: 0 Special: Poison Sting: Poisons target by 5 (stacking) Passive special: Free hits poison target by 5 (stacking) instead of a normal hit. Drops: Venom Tunnel Snake B Level 20 Vermin/Aquatic Health: 80/80 Defense: 0 Special: Poison Sting: Poisons target by 5 (stacking) Passive special: Free hits poison target by 5 (stacking) instead of a normal hit. Drops: Venom Tunnel Snake C Level 20 Vermin/Aquatic Health: 80/80 Defense: 0 Special: Poison Sting: Poisons target by 5 (stacking) Passive special: Free hits poison target by 5 (stacking) instead of a normal hit. Drops: Venom Tunnel Snake D Level 20 Vermin/Aquatic Health: 80/80 Defense: 0 Special: Poison Sting: Poisons target by 5 (stacking) Passive special: Free hits poison target by 5 (stacking) instead of a normal hit. Drops: Venom The Party: Lord Lawrence Boomingham (Zepher) Level 30.75 Paladin *Immune to Darkness-, Fire-elemental; Immune to Fragile, Sleep, Weakened, and Blindness* *Pierces SP From Front Row* *SP Ignored From Back Row* Power: 49 Power Bonus: 5 Defense: 10 Health: 53/53 Ether: 29/29 Gold: 0 Equipment: Scupperer (WP: 14; Darkness-, Fire-elemental; inflicts Bleeding (-5) and Poisoned (-10); great sword) Round Metal Shield (SP: 7), Tome of Affluence (+10 Gold if equipped for the entirety of a battle; Immune to Fragile, Sleep, Weakened, and Blindness; Immune to Darkness-, Fire-elemental; accessory), Counterstrike Gloves, Mopag Helm (SP: 3; headwear), Chains of the Pongcanis Chief (Hero Pierces SP if fighting from Front, Enemies ignore SP if hero fights from the back row, cannot be removed in battle)*Pseudo's Blessing (+4 Power; not an artifact)* Inventory: Frozen Saber (WP: 9; Light-, Ice-elemental; inflicts Stunned; great sword), Lullaby Wand (WP:6, Inflicts Sleeping Effect), Sabre (WP:6, Longsword), Darksteel Greatsword (WP: 10, Blinded Effect, Greatsword) • Hood of Belthazar Bluehood (Power +4; Ether -6; headwear) Cloak of Blood Magick (+5 ether, attacks made with darkness magic weaken the enemy, bodywear suitable for Mages, Necromancers, Chi Monks) • Garnet, Sapphire, Amethyst • Scroll of Recklessness (Encouraged and Fragile; costs 5 Ether; 50/50 chance), Scroll of Blindness, Scroll of Weakening, Scroll of Fragility, Scroll of Sealing, • Mulled Wine, Fire Brandy (Encouraged, Immune to Ice), Fireball Whiskey (Immunity to Fire One Battle OR 20 Fire Damage All Enemies), Emerald Lamp of Summoning, Hamantasch (Lucky, Blessed), Admantite Shard (1/4 of a piece of Adamantite), 4x Mead, x2 Nostrum, Ambrosia, Smelling Salts, Hair of the Dog, Smoke Bomb • Bedroll Nyx (played by Pandora) *Temporary Leader* 19 years old Female Human Battle Mage *Natural Respite* *Immune to Fire, Darkness, Earth, Wind, Poisoned, Confused, Hexed, Sealed, Asleep, Fast Asleep**Intoxicated, every attack has a 1 in 6 chance of having an unexpected result* Level: 30.75 Power: 46 Defense: 8 Health: 41/41 Ether: 42/42 Gold: 292 Equipment: Zee Standard (Staff, WP: 15 Ice, Light and Darkness Elemental, Necromancers Raise Enemies with 2 extra levels), Robe of the Archmagi (SP:4, Max. Ether +5, protects from sealed-effect), Mirage Cloak (Immunity to Fire-, Darkness-, Earth- and Wind-elements and confused- asleep- and hexed-effects), High Heels (+1 Power), Helmet of Azzurat (SP:4, immune to poisoned, headwear).[/color] Inventory: Book of a Thousand Creatures (WP:15, each roll has a 1/6 chance to summon a creature to aid the hero), Lullaby Wand (WP:6 Sleep effect), Healing Staff (WP: 5), Darksteel Dagger WP: 13, blinded effect) * Sandman's Parasol (Immune to Asleep and Fast Asleep effects), Monkey Bar (all minions, pets, summons etc are Hastened), Chef’s Apron (Bodywear, Immunity to Fire and Poisons), Phoenix Dress (Max. Ether +5, full ether restored upon revival, immunity to Fire and Lightning, suitable only to female mages, clerics, chi monks, minstrels and necromancers; bodywear), Desert Cloak (Immunity to Fire-, Earth- and Wind-elemental damage; backwear), Water Canteen (Carries 3 portions of water; essential in deserts to avoid dehydration; accessory). Bolero Of Fire (Cause Fire damage equal to the minstrel's level to all enemies per round for as long as the song is sung. Costs 10 ether per round. Minstrel Song) *Ruby (Fire), Diamond (Light), Amethyst (Darkness), Topaz (Lightning), Sapphire (Wind), Emerald (Wood), Garnet (Earth), Aquamarine (Water), Opal (Ice).Scroll of Sealing, Scroll of Arc Sealing, Scroll of Blindness. 3 Meads, 2 Nostrums, Smelling Salts, Ambrosia, 4 Deadly Venoms, 4 Phoenix Essences, 3 Cosmic Essences (Revives a knocked out ally with full health and ether and gives them the blessed-effect), Potion, 4 Tonics, 2 Grand Tonics, Ether Core. Fire Bomb, Smoke Bomb, , Skadi Bomb (100 Ice Elemental damage to all opponents), 2 Chaotic Bombs (Causes 100 random elemental damage to all opponents), Rudra Bomb 'X2' (Deals 100 lightning damage to all enemies and ignores SP), Pumpkin Bomb (Causes stunned, poisoned, asleep, blinded, sealed and confused to all enemies). 2 Bedrolls, 5 Bones. Please state your actions. NYX is also the temporary leader, and as such should also provide the battle order. Skrall Skrall squeezed himself out of the hole, and walked through the front door. Inside, the ogre gets some weird looks, but no one moves in to usher him out, as of yet, anyways. What will he do?

"Alright then." Guts hands 250 gold to Benji in exchange for the Grating Stone.

You don't. Of course ideas for specials, perhaps passive specials or just combination of immunities/ strong enemies vs. amount of enemies can be thought of to make interesting battle ideas beforehand, but the actual stats, you write those later.

Ellaria can hear muffled voices inside. She can not make out what they are saying or how many there are. The window in the door seems to be blocked by a wooden shutter on the inside for some reason. Perhaps against the sun.

Atramor quickly bribes the kobold, who does nothing but shrug and smirk at the coins and words thrown at him. Mortimer and Purple nod, Purple bedrudgingly, and report to Gwyar to help, who quickly sends them off to carry buckets of water. Ellaria quickly climbs up the pipe, faster than you would expect from someone wearing a dress. Atramor and finally Russus follow. They make it up without problems, and not counting the kobold, no body seems to have seen them do it. From now on, the party is split. Both parties will still post here. The party on the roof has succesfully made it up there. There seems to be only one way further, the door. Will Ellaria and Atramor go in? Meanwhile, back on the ground. Boomingham doesn't seem to be able to pull away the wooden beams, but instead uses a few well placed kicks to solve that problem. He hops down, into the sewers below, as does Nyx... Then Skrall tries... He is too big! Skrall does not fit through the hole, what will he do?

Atramor plants the bomb in an alley a while further back. Atramor runs back to the party and waits a few moments. Atramor winks at the rest of the party, and a moment later a loud BOOOM is heard. The square fills with smoke, fire seem to spread from the alleyway, and sure enough, Gwyar starts shouting orders through the smoke: "Either magic or someone's stash of alcohol just went up. Everyone, find buckets and use the water from the fountains to start putting this out, we can't let the fire spread. Harolds, find a Water Mage somewhere, now. Grush, help me with this. You two guarding the door there, help me as well. Merchant you too." People start moving around and no one seems to care for the heroes at the moment. What do the heroes want to do and in what order? A small mistake and they may have to add Captain Gwyar and their lawmen to the Heroes' list of troubles.

"Benji Carvenhall. It's good to see you too. 300 gold, that's a bit steep, don't you say. I think 200 gold would be more in the right direction."

Guts pushed open the doors of the hall, and entered. He sat down on the first empty chair he saw, and put his head on the table.

There is no abandoned building. Where will Atramor plant a bomb? "The plan: Atramor plants a Bomb, Russus, Atramor and Ellaria will climb the pipe and attempt to enter through the roof-terrace Boomingham, Nyx and Skrall will go through the Sewers. No one will enter through the front door. Myself and Mortimer here will try to warn you if there's trouble. Very well..." Will move things along as soon as the bomb is planted.

I had a lot of fun in Quest 89, for the most part. I'm really happy that I got to be a part of the Baltarok Trilogy, and thank you CMP and also WBD and Zepher for hosting! There were obviously some issues I had with the quest though. I think. I did not like the final battle at all, I though it's mechanics, the rows, the bridges, some of the enemy specials were just weird. Never put in an enemy that heals enemies to full health. Never put in an enemy that one-shots people pretty much always. I also was not really impressed with some people's refusal to cooperate to get it done quickly enough, but that's something else. It dragged on, and that's never a good sign for a battle. That was just one battle though. I thought most battles were really good, especially the War Party battle comes to mind. The bird battle was obvious filler, but if you're dealing with three quests that have to connect at certain points, that's absolutely fine. My other major issue with it was also near the ending, and that's how the side-choosing was handled. What did the choice of who to side with matter in the end? I'm not sure, most heroes chose to side with the orcs, yet there was a neutral victory. Even though some people might get screwed, I think it would have been excellent for the quest, to after that choice say: Right, Orcs vs. Kingdoms, final battle, go. Of course that's not the vision that the QMs had, but it was kind of annoying to see the choices made and things accomplished be diminished by that. Does that make any sense? What I'm saying is I would have liked to see something more conflicting between Heroes happen. I also did not understand why the bridge seemed so important (to keep standing) to everyone, in my reasoning, it would not be so. It seemed like an appearing choice with hidden railroad tracks to me, also as the neutral choice would be the best for all the heroes. Which is not a positive thing, in my opinion. I liked the intersecting between quests. I'm sure 90 and 88 intersected at some point as well, but the intersections between us and 88 was in my opinion good for a strong start, and the coöperation with Quest 90 was very interesting also. Well done! My fellow party members were mostly really cool and I'm very happy with them, the only part where I did not feel that way was at the diplomacy with the mistakes there, but things happen, and I made a lot of mistakes myself also, and I'm sure they'll get pointed out, so. Thanks for putting up with me, guys. The interactions were really good, and I'm glad that Guts got to meet some of the other heroes for the first time. I really liked the pictures you had for your quest 89, we got to meet a lot of interesting characters, with my favorites including Gor and Tarvalk. There was a lot of mystery involved which will maybe be expanded upon, who exactly is Rook? What is the Crimson Crown's stake in all this. Very, very cool. Quest 89 was a very good quest.

Ellaria doesn't find anything interesting on the posters. A few advertisements, some more adult than others. "Wait, wait, wait. After all this planning and preparation time, talk of bombs and distractions and whatnot your plan is to just let a few people walk in, say hello, order a few bevs? That doesn't seem like a very good plan at all! From what I've gathered, the Nightmaster got away, he knows who you people are. What if it's a trap?! Two people'll be stuck inside against who knows what."

Guts raises an eyebrow at the man in black, and then turns around and onto the ship. "It's good to see you again, Captain."

The raider gave Haldor a sceptical look. "... Good luck."

"No idea who your son is or was. Your people attacked the Orcs, but all of them that made it into Baltarok are dead. If your son was one of the attackers, he is dead, might be I killed him myself."

Skrall doesn't find anything at that side either. "Please, ser, I've been doing this for a while. You see, for example , the cuts... from the last sword would match up the most. Notice how the cuts line up... Jagged edges, slightly circular cuts so a curved sword. We're looking for a swordsman carrying a blade similar to that one, that one right here. Thank you, for your help. The Lion's Share, right over there, see for yourself. I've not been in there, I'm a detective, no captain. Not my kind of place, no. "The Sewers, the Drainage Grate, and the Front door would probably all give us access. But for the first two we still need a distraction. Disguises or acts might work, but once they know what we're up to, it will be useless. Keep in mind that they know me, they know Mortimer, they will realize we're coming. The plan is to get inside, preferably in different ways with the most efficiency for the best results, once inside, we'll take it one step at a time from there." "Hmmm. I never actually made it in the actual Wolfgang, but I could still pose as a common merc hired by the Daymaster, sure. Problem is, those two chaps aren't with the Wolfgang or the Daymaster as far as I know. So that won't help much." "It's a solid distraction you need right now. There are the guards, both of the city and guarding the door and a few civilians to worry about. Perhaps you could trick them somehow... Or do something that would lead them all away or at least looking in the wrong direction for a solid while..."

Guts shrugged. "Keep your garrison here well fortified and well supplied, Tarvalk. Look after Gor and his people. He's a valuable ally, and your neighbour as well. My last piece of advice. It was an honor to help the Orcs, if what we did helped. I hope we never meet again, as it would mean fighting on Orcish soil again." The raider smirked: "If the Kingdoms do want to try their luck again though, send for me."

Ill take the Topaz.

Skrall does not find what he is looking for, he finds a wall instead, unclimable, too. Not that way, it seems. "Not right now." Distracted, the man turns to Boomingham. "That's my boss. The Captain that you're talking about, not the woman, ehhehe. No, I don't recognize her, I'm afraid, yes. My job is to examine the body, find clues. It's difficult, all that's clear is that a large sword was used to, eh, cut her up. Say, you wouldn't allow me to measure your swords, see if any cuts match your type of swords, you've got a couple." "Screaming loudly, in Strivvi it is not gonna raise any eyebrows. A fire? Maybe. But they will probably try dousing it right away with the water from the fountain, dead body or no... They'll still all be running around here, and anyone climbing up will be in full view."

The raider crossed his arms and shook his head. These terms were nothing less than ridiculous. Tarvalk was not the best negotiator, it seemed to him, but Guts was no orc. In the end, it would all be up to them.