Flipz

Ah, heck, I'll give it a shot. I'm in.

"You have a point--but is that so different than Heroica? Not here, specifically, I mean, but in general? Hel, all of the Houses are that way. The Wolfgang, too, if their lieutenants were to be believed--and given the way they talked, they believed what they said, even though they were wrong." "We're here to fix this town. Maybe we should be taking notes on what happens--notes on how to fix our own." "And I'd like to speak to Shawe myself--I'm inclined to side with him, as he has the backing of the people, but...today, I think, I should go with Nerwen, and Lady Ahvialyn ought to travel with you, Lord Boomingham, if you are going to speak to the Elves. Perhaps Lady Nerwen and I can escort you to the elven keep, and then we may travel on our way." "Oh, and Lord Boomingham--you should visit the blacksmith. Trust me, you'll be glad you did." Arthur winks at Boomingham. Arthur nods. "Exactly. Lady Nerwen, you have not borne the brunt of their brutality. They mercilessly murdered one of the bravest, most wise Heroes I've ever known, for the sole sake of enjoyment. They had no stake in Chaos, they sought merely a new conquest--were it not for the other Heroes, Eubric would have fallen into their hands." Arthur's refusal to include himself was glaringly apparent to the others. "They likewise tore apart the town of Haddon, home of one of the bravest, most honorable military commanders I've ever seen--and I don't have to tell you of what they did to aid in the ravaging of Dastan. Mark my words--the price they will require of you to leave R'kliff in peace is blood." "Still--there is yet hope that they will be the only faction to need such a manner of persuasion. What did you learn of the Mopags? What did they want, and will they be willing to help the people of this town?"

"She's upstairs in our room. I'll go get her." Arthur returns upstairs to wake Ahvialyn. He knocks on the door, then opens it a crack and speaks in. "Sorry to disturb you, milady, but Lady Nerwen and Lord Boomingham are downstairs. They wish to speak with you." He waits outside the door to escort Ahvialyn down.

Pie, are you seriously turning down a free Zirconia?

"Lady Ahvialyn is," Arthur says, not mentioning that they had seen Throlar there the previous night. "Shall I go get her?"

I really, REALLY hope the Test Questers will make a cameo appearance...and possibly come join the game proper.

Let's see... Q38: This is by far my favorite Quest I've ever seen or played in, and it was the most important Quest for Arthur, too. His backstory was fully established here, as was the tone of his life up to 53. Q70: This was the first time in a long time that Arthur's had hope. It hasn't seemed to last, unfortunately, but it was still a really powerful experience that challenged a lot of his 'new' attitude. Q53: A lot changed for Arthur in this one. He went from Chaos to Order, lost good friends, developed a mistrust of Witches, learned to hate himself, went toe-to-toe with the archdemons of Zoot, developed a pure hatred of Poncanae...this Quest marks the start of Arthur's slide into semi-suicidal depression. Q66: This was very much a make-or-break Quest--it really was edge-of-the-knife for him. He could have very easily defected to the Wolfgang, had just a few things been different...and that would have dramatically changed his life. Q17: This is where Arthur began, and despite his evolution, a lot of things still remain the same--the Lion Knights remain the only faction he completely, unequivocally supports, and Tanma's analysis of Arthur sowed the seeds for his backstory. Q31: The beginning of Arthur's slide toward Chaos. Arthur has a strong connection to Dastan, but it's been somewhat sidelined lately, unfortunately. Q51: Surprisingly, despite a large number of personal connections he's made, not a lot changed for him on this Quest. Mostly, he just embraced his darker side, casually continuing on his path from 38.

"Well, there's one thing we all agree on, it's that the Pongcanae have to go. I say we deal with them first--and it seems rather likely that we'll have aid from at least the Mopags and the Resistance, anyway."

"Ellaria! Lady Ahvialyn and I were rather worried when we couldn't find you in the Marketplace." "I'm afraid I have poor news. The elves will be of little help to us. According to the merchants in the Marketplace, they are all afraid of any harm befalling their leader, and they care nothing at all about the people of the town. If you care nothing, than you deserve nothing, in my book--they are not worthy to rule. Of course, I don't think they deserve to be evicted--but I don't know if they'd accept living in peace as subjects of some other ruler. And I doubt they'd be any use to Lord Normorn--they simply aren't bold enough to take action when necessary." "I also found out that the Pongcanae are led by the Dread Pirate Indiacca, and that the Mopags, like the elves, don't really care about the welfare of the people. Oh, and that most of the merchants have lost hope for the town." Arthur listens intently as Ellaria relates her tale. "Interesting...he sounds like the best hope for the town, he has the support of the people, and the Shadeaux...well, I can't say I think much of Noctus, but if Nuitan and Bellanotte come into power, I think the Shadeaux could be a tremendous force for good, both in Eubric and here. I met them at the Foundation Day Ball, after all. Can't say I'm much for assassination, though, but if the leader's earned it...has he, Nerwen? Alternatively, if we found out where and when to attack the Pongcanae, we could set the Mopags on them and hope they do the job for us." Arthur grimaces. "I can't believe I'm thinking like that again...second time in as many days, too. Some things never leave you, I guess..." He looks wistfully out the window. It seems like he wants to talk about something...but it's clear he doesn't know how to bring it up himself.

"What an incredible smell you've discovered!"

Dammit, at this rate I'll never get Boomers and Thalion on another Quest together.

Arthur sits in quiet meditation, an inky black orb and his Watchman's rank insignia in front of him. Order and Chaos...Light and Dark...fair and foul...Balance...there must be Balance... As if on cue, the Mystic Knight's Diamond and Amethyst began to stir, extracting themselves from his pack and levitating to head height, slowly orbiting the mage as he focused. Gradually the man's murmuring grows quieter, but the orb itself begins to whisper, as it had many times before... Arthur was unaware of it, however. Leaving the conscious world behind, his mind began to fill with images...sounds...feelings... Faces. Fire. Tears. A woman. Caroline? No...not her. But who? Now Caroline. Eyes of madness...eyes of hate. The All-Seeing Eye: Isiris. Asking...asking...for what? His help? The voices...all too familiar. 'To'pekh ta Zuk'kara.' A tingling, burning sensation...pain overwhelming. Eyes of hate...ones he obeyed. Why? 'Zu'nihl to neconai.' A crushing pain within his soul...exile? No...loneliness? No...alienation. What?? A booming laugh, full of many evils...ringing forth from a black shadow, constantly transforming itself. A Paladin, bright but dark, and worryingly familiar. A Witch, voice indistinct but almost like his own. A monster, stories tall with glowing eyes. That one he knew. And for one brief moment, he again knew what he had to do, what he was destined to achieve... The dream faded to darkness, and Arthur awoke with the first rays of the rising sun. He looked over to Ahvialyn, still asleep. Hope I didn't disturb her... Quietly dressing, he gathers his things and slips quietly out of the room. He stands in the hallway, watching the dimness grow to true illumination, the rays of light slowly chasing the shadows away. It was a comforting image--especially after the imagery of his dream. That face...where had he seen it before? An enemy...it felt like she was an enemy...so why was she crying? And why did he get the impression that she was crying for him? The rest of the dream made just as little sense to him. Why would Ethereth appear to me in a dream? After everything I've done, you'd think I'd be the last person he'd appeal to. Or maybe, a small part of him said, it's because of everything you've done. He wasn't going to get any more answers sitting here, though--and that went double for the problems of the town. Straightening his outfit before covering it with his armor, Arthur goes downstairs to the lobby. It was too early for anyone else to be up, he knew--if they had even made it to the inn in the first place--but perhaps one of the elves had risen early. They, at least, would probably have the common sense to look for him here. Choosing a secluded chair from which he could survey the entire lobby, he sits down and continues to meditate. OOC: Same deal as Chromeknight; I know the room business isn't concluded, but I wanted to get Arthur's morning action posted, so that Arthur can speak to Nerwen alone before the others wake up.

Oh, the irony. You do recall that that was the Quest where CJP and I ended up totally lost and confused and ended up randomly attacking Emeraldo's guards instead of following the plot, right? Obviously, I haven't actually QM'd yet (though I'm still happy to run rounds for QMs who are dealing with issues ), so I can't answer 1. 2.) I LOVE LOVE LOVE Endgame's "Level ??" enemies that scale in damage relative to the Hero targeting them. In my opinion, it's a MUCH better way to deal with level mismatches than specials that ignore SP or row "for characters with a higher level than them". 3.) [shamelessplug]The Cathedral of Commerce, though I'm only about 3 sets and 2 puzzles away from having my Quest ready to go. [/shamelessplug] In terms of things we haven't seen, I'd actually like MORE "unknown" things. We've been filling in a lot of the edges of the map, I think it's time we added a few more back in. 4.) Well, I tried to do that with you and [REDACTED], but then the idea took on a life of its own. I'd love to do a swap with you sometime, though.

Waterbrick Down has done some work on them for an upcoming Quest as well, those interested may want to ask him about it.

Actually, shouldn't ALL the enemies be Bleeding? As far as I know, AoE physical attacks still transfer their effects to all enemies that aren't immune.

"There...are...four...lights!"

One thing to note about Dastan: unlike in official LEGO themes, they aren't evil. You might want to check out the Dastan Trilogy: Quests 29, 30, and 31.

"True...I just figured that 'paying to keep that lunatic in the farthest room from mine' would leave a strong impression that I don't wish to associate with him...which is actually the truth. Your way makes a lot more sense, though--I just hope the dwarf doesn't cause us any trouble." Having heard the innkeeper's price quote to Throlar, Arthur readies his coin pouch, speaking to the innkeeper as quietly as possible. "Two-bed room, please. Just for the night. I believe I heard you say it was 15 gold?" He passes over the Gold, and then waits quietly for the innkeeper to show him and Ahvialyn upstairs, hoping Throlar wouldn't spot him and ruin his cover.

"That's what I thought. Mind sharing a room? It's cheaper, and unless he inherited a Gold mine while we were apart, I'm going to have to pay for his room anyway." "I think I know how I can do that while making sure people know we aren't connected to him, though."

"All right...I just hope that if he DOES bring the place down on our heads--literally OR figuratively--we won't live to regret it. Better to die stopping a crazed madman than to live having failed to do so." He shakes his head in disappointment. "So what do you think? Stick with Throlar, or try and find out where the others went? And why did Ellaria not come into the magic shop with you, anyway?"

As Arthur walks to the inn with Ahvialyn, he begins scribbling more notes in his journal (on my profile page, again, if you're in the same place as Arthur, feel free to read over his shoulder, that goes for Ahvialyn as well, Doc). Lifting his head from his work for a moments, he asks, "Penny for your thoughts, Lady Ahvialyn?" Stopping just inside for a moment, Arthur spots Throlar speaking to one of the employees. He quickly pulls Ahvialyn aside, removing his hat and raising his hood to make himself harder to recognize. "What's he doing here?" he whispers to Ahvialyn. "And where's Nerwen to hold his leash? Or any of the others, for that matter?" He pauses, considering. "What do you think? I don't want to room with him, and I wouldn't put that on you, either, but too many rooms would be expensive, and I'm not exactly keen on bunking down out in the street. Any ideas?"

"Ah. So that's why they're completely useless. That explains a lot, actually, thank you, Mr...?" OOC: Arthur will be taking Ahvialyn to the inn as soon as the smith gives his name, just so you know.

Should also probably mention that the Syndicate is technically now an offshoot of the Town Watch, so they've abandoned their criminal ways.

<These tags, which work well for Animal Talk, also work well for foreign languages.> [These ones do as well, though this particular set works better as a translation of foreign text above it.] (These tags don't work as well for foreign languages--use one of the others.) {These tags aren't so great for foreign languages, but I think they'd work well for OOC notations.}