Waterbrick Down

Skrall nodded back before taking another draft of the tankard, "Regulus." "I know ya were, some hurts though go deeper than the emotion as in Haldor's case. Those hurts shake a person's very core of beliefs and that can be hard to let go because it means releasing some of your assumptions on how someone or something should function. If yer to learn anything from your past, make sure ya don't give yer heart and mind so much over to one thing that ya become blind to all else or even the possibility that ya could be wrong."

Atramor, Nyx, and Skrall just went on a quest together. Where were you?

Skrall wandered back into the Hall, he noted the notice on the Quest board but moved on up the stairs. Ordering a tankard he stood and surveyed the hall.

Masked just posted one, and I'm in the middle of set building and photo taking. Out of curiosity is there anything people would like to see in a quest besides reputation with a certain house?

The rules definitely need to be rebalanced first before worrying about specific artifacts. I see this just like job traits and class strengths though, some classes are going to have more advantages in the arena than others and by extension some players with certain artifacts will have more advantages than others.

Skrall chuckled. He had no intention of finding out how deep the Eurbic Harbor was, so he bid farewell to Guts at the end of the gangplank and continued on his way to wander the streets of Eubric. "Probably wouldn't be so bad," he thought to himself, "life on a ship and all that..."

As specified in the Training Room, WP+Level to all enemies.

Agreed. Role-playing isn't exactly synonymous with story-telling, at least not in the traditional sense. It's more of a free form story which evolves as your character interacts with others and the scenarios going on around them. Sometimes your story is just going to end in the death of your character. QMing embodies the more traditional story-telling structure as you have the freedom to create the scenarios to convey your themes or ideas upon a certain topic if your players cooperate. So as players are dependent upon QM's to write their non-traditionally formatted stories, QM's are dependent upon players to tell their traditionally formatted stories. Thanks Zepher, I think you nailed Skrall to a T. He's basically lived too long and is now just moving from one thing to another in hopes that it will either bring him contentment or put an end to it all. I'd be glad to try a solo quest some time and see where it would take him. While it was fitting that he was one of the last shots to kill Wren, from his perspective she really didn't "die" so it was a bitter sweet moment, but one that I think needed to happen in order for him to keep walking his current path. Thanks again for taking him along.

The latter case, Witches still don't get gold.

While it's Sandy's final ruling, I created the hollow blades with the intention to hold any type of restoritive consumables (including smelling salts, and by extension ether cores, health cores, and phoenix essences).

Skrall let out a low whistle, "Ain't she a beauty. Can't say I have much of an eye for ships though, only been on 2 my entire life. So this you're part time job outside of heroing?"

"Most of us don't live long enough to temper our more violent tendencies. Can't say those shoes are what ya'd expect from someone in Heroica either though."

Skrall took the offered hand, "Skrall. Lead on Mr. Holla."

"Why not, I could use a bit of thoughtless labor." Skrall finished his ale, placing the tankard off to one side.

"Gone and done/had 'em both, both turned up empty. When ya get to be my age though, one thing is about all ya can keep track of at a time." Skrall smiled a little as he called back over to the gnome, "Keep my seat warm". Pulling out a bench at the man's table he sat himself down, he eyed the wares, "Thinkin' about going into the merchantin' business are ya?"

"You've no idea. Ever feel like life's just movin' too fast fer ya to catch up? Ya keep pursuin' somethin' only to find yerself twice as miserable when ya actually achieve it?"

"I just so happened to be partial to that spot. Not many places in the hall can support an ogre leanin' his back against the wall in comfort and that spot with the support beam just happens to be one of 'em."

Skrall lifted his weary head to look over at the bald man, looking him up and down. Crocodilian armor, nice looking dagger, pockets lined with consumables, and equipment out the wazoo, whoever he was he seemed to be rolling in the dough, probably a rogue. "I ain't in the mood for arguin', human. I made a request of the gnome and he is free to make his own decision, my size has nothin' to do with it, if you were sittin' there I'd ask ya the same. Besides, I can't say I've ever seen very much of ya around these halls either."

Skrall walked back into the hall banging his head on the door frame for what must have been the umpteenth time, though he didn't seem to care. He trudged up the stairs without bothering a to glance at the quest board. The ogre couldn't even managed a small smile for Scheherazade as he requested a tankard of ale and moved into the seating area. He passed Dyric and Haldor's table, but he was in no mood for conversation, opting for a quieter one further from the bar. He approached the table where a small gnome sat with his feet on the table. The ogre set his tankard down. "Yer in my spot, gnome."

3 in the works, an epic triolgy, a stand alone focused more on puzzles, and an open ended free form one focused more on battles. One will be for newer players, one for advanced classes, and the last can be a mix.

Of all your characters Zepher, I think XX is the one that has become the most alive to me. Very well done to both you and Pandora.

Quest Feedback: Story: Excellent, while it seemed to drag at points you managed to keep us all entertained and engaged till the very end. I’m not a big fan of railroading, but I think you handled it better this time round than in previous quests. I’m sad to see Hans go as he and Poletad are the two characters that Skrall felt the closest to, but I think that it is fitting that the end of Wren was accompanied by the end of the Wren hunters. A few words of criticism: too many spires. I know you tried to give us choices with them, but they honestly got to be too repetitive. I would have liked to see interactions with the different villainous NPC’s in a different setting than just defending a spire, perhaps it was more an issue of believability than anything. If you had sent us to stop baddies from stealing ingredients from a certain location that would have seemed more realistic than a dozen dimensional rifts opening up all across the city that no one had ever seemed to notice before. The ending seemed a little anti-climatic with Wren and Felton walking off into the distance, but it’s your story and you have the right to end it like you want. Other than that, you did a superb job in bring all of your NPC’s together for this quest and giving each of them a unique voice. The court of demons was an excellent addition, and I wish we could have seen more of them. The Regret stuff was really poignant and gut-wrenching as well, so congratulations for a well played scene. All together you can pat yourself on the back for a job well done. Mechanics: Battle wise things were tough, but as a QM I understand that they had to be. No complaints from me, besides maybe a little loot stingy at the end, with no drops from the summoned chaos beasts. Would it be possible to see the stats of the big bad if we hadn’t saved any of the spires? Players: Cronk/CM: This had to be one of the most difficult quests to be Party Leader, having to manage everything from party split-ups, battle tactics, loot distribution, and the fact that NPC’s and some of the PC’s were on perma-death mode. You did wonderfully though and always struck the exact balance between role-playing and game-playing. I really enjoyed what you did with Cronk at the end as I think it accurately portrays how such events can affect people in different ways. Nyx/Pandora: As my fellow 2nd in command, you also performed marvelously in taking charge of situations both in and out of battle. Your interactions with XX are some of my favorite parts in the entirety of the quest. Atramor/CMP: As with Nyx, your role-playing in this quest was top-notch though I missed some of McCafferey quips during the latter points of the quest. You and Flipz really were a blessing when it came to battle strategies and loop-holes/battle mistakes, and saved our hides on more than one occastion. Haldor/Scorpiox: I’ve grown to really enjoy your combat role-playing, keep it up. It was also good to see you role-playing more with the current situations than Haldor’s backstory. He’s really started to take on his own persona and it was neat to watch him grow. The shift in demeanor after his encounter with the regret was made me smile (especially his updated avatar). As a player, I was always glad that Haldor could be depended upon to stick to a plan even at the risk of his own well-being. Dyric/Legonator: You do a really good job of engaging the NPC’s and actually treating them like individuals, so keep it up. I’m liking the direction you’re going with Dyric as an assassin of light and it’s neat to see how the past quests have influenced his current development. While Dyric sometimes seems aloof to his other party members, it was good to see a spectrum of reactions to Arthur’s decisions and I’m glad you had Dyric take the more understanding sympathetic role as it fit well. Arthur/Flipz: I’ve got to say that at some points Arthur was annoying to his party. From a role-playing perspective I think you did an excellent job in keeping consistent with his character (i.e. the fact that he saw Wren as the fulfillment of his wishes concerning chaos), but from a game-playing perspective, it was annoying to have a party member refuse to fully assist his party in accomplishing their quest goal. Also remember to be careful of taking up too much of the spotlight with your character. I know that it was difficult as Arthur’s background is steeped in this sort of material, but it did feel like at times that it was more a story about Wren, chaos, and Arthur, rather than Wren, chaos, and the party, remember that we are merely actors and gamers rather than protagonists and QM’s. Otherwise, as I stated for CMP, I’m glad you were along for all of your strategic assistance, it really cut mine and I’m sure CM’s time in half. Hoke/UsernameMDM: Hoke is a man of action and few words, and enchantments, lots of enchantments. Kidding aside, he’s everything another party member could wish for: a knight that knows his duty and does it well. Great job with your incorporating Vipera into your role-play, I’d really like to see him go Dragoon at some point with Vipera as his mount, but I think Zepher might have other plans. Thothwick/Professor Flitwick: Skrall hasn’t had much experience with Thothwick, but I enjoyed the conversations they had together. Who knows you might be able to convert him to S.O.W. after all. The tension you developed between Thothwick and Atramor were fantastic, in addition to how Quest 44 affected his character. The gentleman metasimian will always be one of my favorite characters in the whole of Heroica. Alexis/Masked Builder: Quiet Elf maiden who shoots enemies from afar. Not breaking any stereotypes are we? I know you didn’t role-play as much as some of the other characters, but I really think you had something going with Alexis being so fickle between her lovers. Keep up that storyline and I think it can really shine. Otherwise, it was great to have a second assassin along for the ride, though it would have been more helpful before the “immune to instant kill” enemies started becoming more common. Self-critique: Skrall had an interesting journey this time round. He started the quest somewhat discouraged at the state of the world, threw himself into the business of getting the job done, but in the end left somewhat bitter and still unsatisfied. I guess that has always been the theme to him, dissatisfaction. I haven’t figured out a way to write him out of it, but this quest definitely gave him more to stew over. I sort of wished I could have interacted more with some of the NPC’s, but it is how it is in that regard and I can’t really do anything about the dead ones now anyways.

Skrall pocketed the topaz and gold, "Well where to next? I suppose we'll be reportin' into the Town Watch?"

Skrall stood motionless as the two warriors were lowered into their graves. That was it, no trumpets, no fanfare, the world would barely ever know of its near destruction. Not that he cared for the world's gratitude or thankfulness, he wasn't sure what he cared about anymore for that matter, but those lost deserved it. "May you both find peace and contentedness in whatever lies before you."