RPG: Chunk 2

This has been done for a while but apparently in the American mid-south they haven’t discovered the internet yet.

RPG: Chunk 2

I didn’t change Alistair’s name.

Story
Alarim and Imere leave Merisi and head south to the second town, Crasada. Crasada is a large town (by their standards) at the crux of three large trade routes. A lot of what you can find out about the political situation in the world can be discovered by talking to villagers there. After staying in Crasada for a while, they leave for the third town, Iuris Monastery. When they arrive, they find it in a state of panic: the head priest of Iuris, Eusoph, has disappeared, and none of the monks have any idea where he could have gone. After wandering around the monastery for a while, Alarim and Imere come across Alistair, Eusoph’s apprentice and presumable successor. Alistair reveals that he knows where Eusoph is, but also that he has been cursed, and if he tells anyone where Eusoph has been taken or leads anyone to it, the curse will activate and kill him. Alarim finds (steals from the monks) a way to draw out the curse and uses it, and then Alistair leads the two to the demons’ convoy, which is transporting Eusoph away from Iuris. The three manage to defeat the convoy leader, a powerful demon called the Abyssal Rider, but it’s too late to rescue Eusoph, who is dragged into a portal and presumably (at this point in the game) killed. Alistair cannot return to Iuris, as Alarim had to steal an instrument to remove his curse, which he should have confessed in the first place, so he goes along with Imere and Alarim.

Characters
Alistair – A neophyte in the Iurian order who, despite his timidity and naïvete, is highly skilled in magic. He is an orphan, and has always looked at Eusoph as a sort of father figure, which is probably a bad idea, since Eusoph is kind of an asshole (aloof, arrogant, fanatical). Alistair has good intelligence, accuracy, evasion, and luck. He has average speed and low strength and defense. When you meet him he can cast Cure, Light, and (I neglected these in the spell list) Heal Poison, Awaken, and Heal Stun, which heal the major status ailments. He gets Cleanse shortly after he joins (within a few levels), which is very important when you start fighting large numbers of demons. He can equip staffs and maces.

Crasada
Crasada is significantly larger than Merisi; I’m thinking four full screens of stuff. There are three roads out of town: one to the north, one to the southeast, and one to the southwest, so there’s one screen per road, with a hub in the middle. The hub is where you can find the inn and the shops, and the roads are where the talkative townsfolk are. There are caravan wagons everywhere in this town, and I think that each road should have a different look to show where they all lead. So the north road to Merisi is coniferous and rocky, the southeast road to Iuris is deciduous and verdant, and the southwest road to the steppes (where you find Khavir and Avi) is dusty and grassy.

Iuris Monastery
Iuris Monastery is only two screens: an exterior shot of the walls, the cloister inside them, and the gardens, and an interior shot of the cloister on its own. You can’t buy anything here, but you can sleep for free. To find Alistair, you have to go inside, talk to some monks about Eusoph, and then leave. You find him in the gardens.

Demon Convoy
This is not so much a dungeon as it is a train. The demons have Eusoph in manacles to prevent him from casting spells, and you have to fight through several groups of them to get to him. Basically, it’s a long series of battles against progressively harder enemies, so the challenge is in enduring long enough to get to Eusoph and then… well, fail to save him, I guess. Too bad.

Once you get through, you get to fight the Abyssal Rider, who is at the head of the caravan guarding the cage containing Eusoph. Pretty bland dungeon, really. More like an event.

Monsters

The Demon Convoy contains five different encounters.

Five Minor Demons – There are more of these than there ever were in Merisi Mine, but they’re still not very hard. They can do basic attacks and throw stone shard (since there’s no obsidian here).

Three Mounted Demons – These are significantly harder than the Minor Demons, and they get to attack earlier due to a higher speed. There are less of them, I guess, but they’re tougher. They can do basic attacks or Charge.

Three Mounted Demons, Two Minor Demons – Not much new to say here. There are more of them, and this is where the endurance thing starts to pick up.

Two Demonic Cavaliers – These are hard enemies. They’re very fast (fast enough to attack before anyone but Imere) and very powerful. They’ll fuck you up unless you’re careful and loaded with potions. They can Attack, Charge, and Trample (high damage with a chance to Stun).

Boss – Abyssal Rider

The Abyssal Rider isn’t as hard compared to the other enemies as most dungeon bosses are, but he’s still big and scary, and he always attacks first, before anyone else in the battle, which makes him extremely dangerous. He can Attack, Trample, and cast Darkness, Drain, Nightshade (some spells, like Nightshade, are only usable by monsters, which is why they didn’t appear in the spell list). and Decay. Killing him doesn’t help Eusoph or really help you out at all, plot-wise. But shut up. You have to do it. Also, it gets you an Abyssal Rapier, which is an excellent weapon.

So there’s the second chunk. I actually have no idea what chunk three is going to be yet, so it could be a little bit of a wait. Oh well.

~ by pieboy on May 28, 2008.