JimBee

"What kind of sailor does not carry a telescope?" Hybros muttered under his breath. "Erm, no, I --" he checked his bag. Inside were three torches that Erik had given him. "Oh... useful, eheh." Erik would have to forgive him if he lost the items. Hybros took a torch in his hand, which lit automatically thanks to its fire element. He peered down to the dark docking area, and dropped the torch close to the edge so that it would not fall in the water. He moved along the balcony to either side to drop the other two torches in the same fashion, hopefully lightning the area enough to see.

I like the changes made for Cannoneer a lot. I think the new idea for Chrysopoeia is great, but like when Rogues were nerfed awhile back, I think QMs should start dropping treasures more often. I think I've gotten a grand total of two (including the Crystal Ball from 129) so far in the game. As for ether costs, I think we should make the cost of the same action universal across classes. Druid and Necromancer should have an ether cost of 1 per revival. Minstrel still has a lot of issues, and I agree with Chromeknight that there's little incentive for them to attack instead of sing. I think the solution is to continue to increase the cost of songs rather than buffing the attack rolls. I like the cost of 10 ether for buffing allies, and 5 ether per round for debuffing enemies. Black Knight and Paladin were fine as they were, IMO. I think Hide is kind of a weak roll for the class and puts Berserker at an advantage when comparing the two, but the SHIELD roll was good with a x4 multiplier. Maybe if you wanted to make it more unique, have the multiplier be equal to the number of items stolen that battle.

Hybros dismounts the dragon by sliding down his side; the imp was too short to reach the ground with his foot. His wings flapped to lessen the impact; he was a little dazed from the flight. And cold. "Ehem, yes, we must move quickly." He tipped his hat to Volumniix and Giuliana nervously. That would be a trip to remember. "Right. Illdria, I will lead with you and Thalion, Dyric and Em to the overlook. It would be good to secure the guns as well. Let us go." He looked to the heroes who would be splitting off. "We will meet on this floor after dealing with these tasks. Good luck."

Battle orders can be difficult. Some quick tips that I have found useful while being PL: -Tanks should go first, and healers last, generally. - It's important to pay attention to the Special Damage of each enemy, and how it will affect the whole party in case it's triggered. Sometimes it's better to put heroes targeting enemies with nasty specials last, that way if it's triggered you'll still get a decent round out of everyone else before they're harmed. - Lucky heroes, barring the consideration of their tankiness vs. free hits, should go first. For the 132 party, I would suggest putting Tesni first, followed by Atramor then Nur then Ellaria, but it will be different based on the situation.

"Hm, I know this Melvin the dwarf. We met in Zylstra. And a Selkreeth, hm? I know how deadly those can be..." He gave Guts a nod. Hybrps tips his hat to the dragoon and dragon, feeling a little intimidated. He had met many dragons by now thanks to his travels in Heroica, recalling the ferocious elder and her younglings in the quarry that he and Guts fought, the partner of the Dragonlord, and the dragons Torc and Arx who flew with other heroes. He recalled that respect was what pleased Smaragdea. "It seems you have many friends in high and low places, Illdria, heheh." He bowed a little lower to the dragon. "I cannot say that I have ever ridden a dragon before... it is, erm, and honor to be able to do so, ehem." "Yes, we are ready." Hybros checks his gear, preparing for the night to come. It was difficult enough the first time to infiltrate the Grotto, he tried to picture what defenses a fully-fledged Bonaparte force put up. "I do not think those of us securing the guns will get off easily without a fight, heheh. We will need your arrows to take down the soldiers in our path."

Hybros nods. "It is simple enough. How many do you have in your crew, and who should we be looking for? Guts, Hoke, Erik and Mizuki can take out the soldiers in the barracks while the rest of us can take care of the guns. There will probably be some other surprises in those other rooms, too." "I am ready. Now this dragon..."

"Heh! She barely let us pass through the sewers, I do not picture her allowing us to ride her into battle, heheh."

"Hm. Well I do not think you hired me for my good looks, heh. You will need my help navigating. But do not worry, the reward is acceptable. I will help you. Heheheh..." "Where are you going to find one of those? Torc is not big enough to carry us all..."

"Hm, well if it is the Wolfgang they want to rally around, I guess it is not our business to stop them. Not yet, anyway. I have never met the Wolfgang, but the people have a right to fight for what they think is best... And to them, that could be anything other than what they have now, which is a locked cage..." Hybros looked to Illdria, then to the werebunny, to the tied up Bonaparte with a grin on his face. He looked back to Illdria. "Hm. Well I hope this is not another part of the wild goose chase we have been on, heheh. I am Hybros, and these are the heroes you hired. I have heard of Jolly Roger's Grotto, and I was one of the heroes who put an end to the auto... auto... ehehm, machines and pirates that dwelt there, including Jolly Roger himself. I know the fort well, but do you? I know that you cannot just rush in headfirst and expect to win, heheheh." "What did you do to get on the Bonapartes' bad side? Ehem..." Hybros thought for a moment. Now wasn't the time for ethics, but he didn't know the captain. Maybe she and her crew had done something bad that the Bonapartes sought punishment for. He shook his head. "Well, we signed up to escort goods, and if saving those goods is the plan, then that is the job that we will do. But believe me when I say it is a fortress, and we will need a better plan. Where will you get an airship to begin with, hm? There is only one man on this island who can build those."

You got it.

Hybros looked with scorn at the Hovel walls as they passed. "Thalion, Erik, Mizuki and Guts... we were all here when these walls were being built." He now vaguely remembered Erik and Mizuki from that time, though there were many heroes in that party and many years since. "It was built by the houses to keep the poor and infirm out of the rest of the city, to stop them from rioting and destroying the city. Heh! I wonder if they realize what side of the cage they are on." In the club, he looked around quickly before following the others up the stairs and into the room. He answered to Hoke, "That cat led us here, I am sure it is with our 'missing' captain now." He thought on the cat. "Strange, I remember a chicken in the Hall with such an attitude...eheh."

In case anyone was interested, I did a quick tally of the active characters and their job class choices (woe is me who goes nowhere for spring break ). Only the first post of the Hall was scanned, so characters who've been active the last six months or so. For the Advanced Classes spread, a single character switching out of and back into a class was not counted (but each different AC choice from each character was counted). The results: Knight: 13 Rogue: 17 Ranger: 14 Cleric: 10 Mage: 13 Barbarian: 11 Assassin: 9 (6-3 Rogue) Battle Mage: 4 (3-1 Mage) Berserker: 3 (3-0 Barbarian) Black Knight: 4 (3-1 Rogue) Druid: 2 (1-1) Evoker: 4 (2-2) Hunter: 2 (2-0 Ranger) Mystic Knight: 5 (4-1 Mage) Paladin: 4 (2-2) Raider: 6 (4-2 Barbarian) Sage: 4 (3-1 Mage) Shaman: 4 (2-2) Sorcerer: 6 (5-1 Mage) Warden: 4 (4-0 Ranger) Witch: 3 (3-0 Rogue) So, with second characters and new players on the rise, if you want to be unique, be a Cleric who goes Witch or Druid. Or a Barbarian who goes Hunter, or a Knight who goes Warden or Berserker. I'm actually a little surprised that we have so few Druids (actually only one now that Ellaria has advanced to Alchemist), considering that it's the "best" healer of the ACs (I know Shaman and Sage have the potential heal more points, but they can't revive or remove negative effects). Also worthy to note is that there are 78 active characters according to the Hall, which is a lot more than I previously suspected. Some of those characters have since departed, and some players are no longer active. A quick count tells that 21 of those characters aren't really active right now, so that leaves 65 active characters. Take away the handful of second characters and you have about 57 active players. Among those, 12 are actively Quest Mastering (i.e. have hosted a quest in the last six months and have not fallen off the face of the earth coughEndgamecough). From there you make a lot of projections about how many quests will be hosted in a year and how many people get to go on them, etc. But the message is pretty clear: we only have a handful of QMs who do great work to keep this game running. Kudos to all of you for that. I'd encourage people to QM, but I know that I myself have been busy and away from my bricks, so much so that I don't think I could host a quality quest, at least not in all aspects. I wasn't really intending this post to turn into a lecture about how to keep things going in this game when I first started tallying numbers, but I do hope the last part sparks some discussions about what we could do to make sure we have a steady stream of quests and guaranteeing players spots on quests. I really like playing this game and would like to see it continue. I think the class choice tallies are interesting as well.

Hybros looked at Omen with bewilderment. "How did you...?" He scowled. "Never mind. I suppose you are one of Azazot's stray cats. Heh!" "I will say that I have never met a cat with such guff before..." he mumbled under his breath. "Thank you, Erik, but these potions pay for themselves in no time. Although I may be needing more soon..." he gives Guts a meaningful look, then turns back to Erik as they walked down the streets of Eubric after the cat. "You can keep the gold I make from your items. Consider it a payment for letting me hold onto them, eheh. Oh, and here." He pulled out his Sapphire. "You will be needing this I think, heh."

Hybros looked at the cat suspiciously, but nodded and started to follow all the same. "Heh, I have seen stranger things in my time than a talking cat. I think we have no choice but to follow it. Omen, lead the way."

OOC: Thanks for autorolling! "Hm, well that was annoying, heheh. It seems that this city can sometimes be all that it is said to be. I do not remember the last time I walked these streets without having someone wanting to kill me, heh!" Hybros looks through the loot, and passes it out to each party member. He looked around realizing that some of the party had already found other distractions. Em was talking to a cat and Hoke and Torc had taken off. He sighed, and hoped they would figure out where their missing ship went soon. Loot: Erik: Ethereal Cloak, Crystal Ball, Feather of Flight Mizuki: Amethyst, Feather of Flight, Demon Repellent Em: Amethyst, Feather of Flight Hoke: Feather of Flight, Crystal Ball Guts: Feather of White, Crystal Ball Thalion: Feather of White, Feather of Flight, Demon Repellent Dyric: Feather of White, Crystal Ball, Demon Repellent Hybros: 2x Feather of White, Crystal Ball

I'll just ask for clarification on this in here, even though the battle in 129 is over. Is the max health reduction removed once a Remedy is used to cure the Cursed effect? I.e. does a hero with 100 max HP have 100 max HP after being remedied, or 90 max HP (after one round of the Curse effect and then being remedied)?

OOC: Maybe this will keep you from running a lot of rounds: Hybros was in the front row so should have been dealing full damage. Also, you forgot to add some gold for Guts and Hybros. I count two rolls for the latter. "We are getting near... And here I thought we would be fighting on the sea by now, heheh."

Hybros uses potions on heroes with low health, and attacks Hrostulf from the front row, twice. Battle Order: Thalion Em Hoke Erik Dyric Guts Mizuki Torc Hybros Hybros

Hybros repeats. Battle Order: Erik Dyric Guts Em Mizuki Thalion Hoke Torc Hybros Hybros

OOC: You forgot to update my gold. Hybros uses potions on the heroes with the lowest health, and repeats. Battle Order: Guts Erik Dyric Mizuki Hoke Thalion Em Hybros Hybros Torc

Hybros uses a potion on himself and attacks Wight D from the front row with Justice. He then uses a potion on the hero with the lowest health. Battle Order: Guts Hybros Erik Dyric Em Mizuki Thalion Hoke Torc Hybros

I don't remember Sandy anything about officially changing it, and the rules page hasn't been updated. Otherwise I could've started a second character a long time ago (which is why I'm asking).

I was just thinking about this, and I'm a little confused. You need 15 quests as a player or 5 as a QM to get a second character, right? Hoke will have 12 after 129. And I think the access to Veteran classes is granted after 10 successful quests, right?

Hybros watches Guts go down and grimaces. "You should have listened to me. Ugh...." After recovering, he revives Guts again, followed by a Neutralizer and an attack to the Craven Murder from the front row. "Use that Fortune Flush now. Thalion, use a Seal Bomb." Battle Order: Hybros Hybros Guts Thalion Erik Dryic Mizuki Em Hoke Torc