Dungeon Delver Quest (Original Fantasy... again)

[LeoAbogos]

One question, at least for me, is whether Yuuka is the sort to strongly care about forming a very starkly defined group to run with. Her bios says she "She clings passionately to friends and teachers" but that doesn't necessarily mean having to run in the dungeon with only them, and presents problems with the implicit implication that those outside her immediate group aren't really friends if you do prescribe to that interpretation.

I do agree that the so-called "hot-swapping" is maybe not the best option, but it's not like our options are totally static party or chaotically dynamic roster selection for each self-defined mission. Somewhere in the middle seems more comfortable.

One consideration is that if we swap up the people we party with from time to time, we introduce them to each other and open the way for cooperation and partying outside of our immediate presence among people who we enjoy the company of. Settling into a more or less "permanent" team setup over time seems likely to me, but I don't see the hurry.

 

[Darkened]

Okay, so skills. In the long run we're going to want most things at C, but in the short run we should be pretty damn careful to focus on building up our viability.

Nodachi takes first place for most useless skill at a glance. It's an aggressive weapon on par with greataxe, but great-axes are likely a lot more common than one super-specific kind of big sword. Staff isn't very Yuukaish though is probably very good and Greataxe crosses over with club to the extent that I'd only want it to make better use of drops.

In the non-weapon skills, everything is interesting. Blaze and Drink both offer power with very obvious drawbacks, making them a bit lower on my list of preferences until we can more adequately cover our niche. For doing that Adamant Skin (Pure defense) and Mountain's Fury (Potentially CC/root resistance, potentially offense and some defensive elements) jump to the forefront. Warrior's Intent is another solid pick as it gives us much needed CC.

Brew is... interesting. If nothing else making super-alcohol and selling it could be a good way to farm shards without climbing the tower or to multiply profits from dungeon drops. It obviously synergizes with drink as well, but I'd put it above drink for the external utility and the fact that drink probably needs brew to really work well.

For now I'd suggest Adamant Skin>Mountain's Fury as our buy order, followed by upgrading both and Breaker. Warrior's Intent and Drink/brew can come after that if we haven't unlocked anything more or found the means to raise our job to B. Seeing the initial benefits of a few can help us guide our growth and 5 shards is cheap to see. If we get something bigger than a shard, I'd say we should reevaluate and consider bumping something to B before buying more, but other than that getting everything and seei

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Now party, in the long run friends are quite good, but for now we mostly have made acquaintances. Getting a feel for several people and different options.

Linnea seems pretty ideal for a healer to me skill-wise and she's easy to get along with, but deciding on allies for life after two days nad having met 3 people is a bit premature potentially. Her ability to sniff out Shadow's 'illness' is potentially interesting and useful. That said, we can get by without heals for now and we have not met anywhere near the totality of available options.

Take another day or two and go with whomever, trying out different people in practice, and then settle on a final team composition.

Ideally a 3 man team would be us+healer (leaning to Linnea)+Ranged damage. We can't persistently get by without ranged if, say, we encounter a flying foe or a teleporting one or a wizardish enemy that won't close in.

Upgrading to 4 man, I'd say add a scout type (stealth, traps, minor in some DD or support) for utility and avoiding the need to cruth on Breaker all the time.

At 5, my ideal would be a second melee.

Every addition should be ranked in terms of what they bring to the table that others do not and how comprehensive that makes our spread in dealing with unexpected situations. For expected situations we can always just prepare in advance and change our line-up.

To that end, Du, whose support seems very narrowly focused, seems like a terrible choice.

However, we're still at the beginning. We shouldn't really form a set party (if we do) until maybe we push the second floor.

I'd also be entirely willing to duo with Linnea and just swap out DPS as desired.


[X] You could use someone magically inclined
[X] See who shows up.
[X] Buy Adamant Skin if we have 5 shards

 

[The Nobody]

[X] Linnea
[X] Du didn't seem like a bad sort, seek him out
[X] Try to join up with the twins

[X] Buy Adamant Skin if we have 5 shards

 

[Arkeus]

"Not allowed to"? No. If she doesn't want to group with us, we're not going to force her - but long-term, there are very few healers around, and we'll do a lot better if we have one of them on our side. People are already pretty much grouping up. As time goes by, that's likely to happen more and more. Establishing a long-term group, where we can learn to work with one another, and build to better support one another, is sure to help us, and in that group we're going to want to have a healer. Given how much she needs a front-line fighter to support her, if we're not planning on grouping with her pretty much every day, she'll eventually find someone who is.

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Furthermore, Linnea is also very good at CC which increases her potential as a teammate.

However, she is neither the only healer nor is a healer needed in all possible team configurations, just in most. Not only that, but I don't see an issue with her finding other groups to be around: it's also a benefit for Yuuka.

Having looked at the situation, I personally don't think that we should be building a hot-swapping team. We should be building a semipermanent team. If the team loses members, then we can worry about picking people up, but as long as we manage to keep everyone alive, that won't be an issue, and in the meantime, our overall effectiveness will benefit from having a consistent group. We're also a bit early for alliances. We're probably better served trying to build friendships, and those can be handled with conversations in downtime.

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Hot-swapping is a big term, and it's not a yes/no. The team can lose member because "want to leave the tower" and "death", but a team might also need to change members simply because of conflicts or realising that it's not as well designed as it could be member-wise.....

And having friends in other team is also very useful for other things than "in case of people leaving", whether we want to do a boss with multiple teams or we need something or they do need help or whatever.

If our main objective to taking new people is in identifying who to pull into our long-term group, then the fact that they cannot and will not be part of that group is a strong argument to not take them.

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I disagree with that main objective, I think it's about making friends, making it possible for us to learn who works and who doesn't, and also become known.

The twins, as people who will possibly stay downstairs most of the time, are super useful to have as friends as they can network like no others as well as give gear/etc support.

Personally, I absolutely want Linnea on the final team.

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I think it's really, really early to be able to tell who we definitely want in our final team. Even if a Healer is needed (which highly depends on team set-up) Linnea might not be the best choice for one, or she might simply be the best choice until she needs to leave.

For the twins, I don't expect them to be part of the final team. Their shops are too significant a part of their active life. However I wouldn't mind having them as actual friends, rather than continue to be nothing but customer #88. Ilina is highly reluctant to be social, and Gemnus is equally friendly with everyone. Neither one actually seems to be friends with anyone aside from each other.

Basically, the fact that they are not going to be in the final team is impetus for going with them. It's a bonding that isn't going to interfere with the normal team composition, while still improving connections to a couple of the important people of the campgrounds.

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This.

However, for the purposes of identifying who we want on the final team, Du+Lona is pretty much the best option to get info we're notably lacking right now.

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There is also non-created by us characters.

Like, you know, we haven't yet seen an archer or a tank or a cleric or....

Yuuka — Strong melee, good defense. Tank/hate gatherer. [mandatory]

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Also seems to be the only character so far that we have seen that can handle traps.

Linnea — Healer. Some CC. Minor magic attacks. [no other options if we want to go for high-challenge stuff]

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There are plenty of healer choices even in named characters, let alone unnamed ones.

Du issues:
Du may not be able to boost Shadow's abilities, since her weapons all seem to be flesh-shaping.
Du probably cannot boost Murdan's summoned familiars.
Du can probably work well with both Yuuka and Ansom.

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Du might or might not be able to boost Talismans which would improve healing, which is worth mentioning. They might also be a healer themselves, though that's unknown.

As for Yuuka and Ansom, they are proabably the best ones we have seen so far to work with Du, though a traditional tank who actually has real armour (and not strip-gear like Ansom or clothes like Yuuka) would be good.

A 'basic' set-up with Du would be Yuuka-Ansom-Du-Royal Guard- Lona, especially if both Royal Guard and Du have some healing, which I expect.

I also think Du would work really well with "Yuuka-Ansom-Archer-Linnea-Du", but in that case we'll be sorely lacking in Will-attacking specialist.

Murdan issues:
Very broad skill base means that, while he can fill about any role, there's probably always going to be someone better for any given role he fills. (eg: Linnea or Du for defense; Lona or Ansom for offense; etc)
Selecting him means we should have a well-balanced team without him, and he can shore up any weaknesses on demand.

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Murden can work in a few different ways: in smaller teams he can 'shore up weaknesses', but in bigger teams he can instead turn into "change specs depending on the enemies in order to target their weaknesses".

My current inclination is a selection of 4: Yuuka, Linnea, Du, Shadow. However selecting a 5th out of the other 3 is problematic. All of them are likely to have issues with Shadow. Taking Ansom means we have little to no magic capability in the team. Murdan is unlikely to benefit from Du (unless Du can help with Murdan's 'stamina' issue, if there's equipment that helps boost it). And we just don't know for Lona. Would likely put Ansom and Murdan as first picks, with the choice based on how badly each of them deal with Shadow.

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I really dislike those first 4 choices, as I think Du does badly with both Shadow and Linnea, especially if they are both healers, and they don't do that well with Yuuka too.

If we want Du, we want to make a team around them.

If I pare down to just start with Yuuka + Linnea, which other three would provide a good synergetic benefit? My first pick would probably be Du, Ansom, and Murdan. Being equipment-focused, both Yuuka and Ansom would benefit a great deal from Du's buffs, while Murdan provides a variety of magic options (and can possibly benefit from Du, given the right equipment). Lona is an option in place of Murdan. Mainly, though, it would be removing Shadow from the group.

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I'll point out to the 'Archer' there instead of Lona, or Lona/Royal Guard instead of Linnea. Du is significantly less useful for each person who doesn't use gear a lot, so an archer if you insist on Linnea is better than Lona, and Lona/Royal Guard is better than Linnea with Du around.

However, while it's probably a better working team, I rather dislike dropping Shadow. I kind of got to like her, and she's likely to have a very hard time getting a team of her own otherwise (with the possibility of scary psychological damage if things go too badly).

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What? Shadow had no real issue finding people to fight with iirc. Sure, she is creepy, but she is creepy in a cute way (see your reaction), and she is strong.

An alternative without Du would be Ansom, Murdan, and Shadow. However that brings up the issue of healer strain. The more people the healer has to keep healed, the harder it is on them. Though I guess Murdan and Shadow would take little to no damage, leaving it almost entirely as what Yuuka and Ansom take.

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I actually think the opposite- Linnea probably is good enough on her heals that it could be better for her to have more than one people taking damage.

However, instead of Yuuka-Ansom-Murdan-Shadow-Linnea, Yuuka-Royal Guard-Lona-Shadow-Linnea would possibly be better if we are thinking about personality conflicts (Ansom-Murdan certainly would conflict much more than Royal Guard-Lona) and work better if, as I believe, Royal Guard is a real tank and as such would not be as redundant as Ansom-Yuuka.

Honestly, though, I'd still put Ansom as the lead of her own team. Just doesn't seem right to have her as second DD on our team, when she and Yuuka are filling such similar roles. Though having Du boost both of them would probably be pretty scary.

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I am still tempted by trying out Du/Ansom/Yuuka/Archer/Linnea once or the Royal Guard/Lona variation, because goddam that should be taking full use of Du.

Going back to my original question, though: I see Du as having a high likelihood of being worth having on the team, but I don't see Lona as having a strong chance of displacing Murdan.

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I still am waiting until we see a real trapper/rogue, a real cleric/buffer/healer, a real archer, before we can even talk about 'displacing'.

Also, well, both Murdan and Du can make Linnea redundant, so that's the part I would be worried about (I would really, really not want to have 3 healer in the team. 4 if Yuuka counts as a one too).

 

[yrsillar]

Yeah, I've been holding off on introducing my own characters since I promised to at least give the submitted ones screentime. Shopkeeper twins being an exception.

 

[Kinematics]

There are plenty of healer choices even in named characters, let alone unnamed ones.

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Oh? How do you figure?

Murdan is explicitly noted as not having any healing (yet). Given Du's description of an equipment modifier, I don't see how he can be considered a healer of any sort. He might be able to boost the effectiveness of potions, perhaps. I'll grant Lona as a possibility, if she falls into the 'red mage' grouping, but I can't imagine her captain of the guard being a healer.

I really dislike those first 4 choices, as I think Du does badly with both Shadow and Linnea, especially if they are both healers, and they don't do that well with Yuuka too.

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I've been getting more hesitant with Du as I ran more numbers, but I didn't want to base an evaluation on that before we'd had a day working with him.

Overall, though, you want at least two people that Du can reasonably buff to really consider Du worth the party slot. The fewer options for buffing that are available, the weaker Du is as a choice. Although buffing someone like Yuuka by 33% damage is pretty massive, when the best Du himself is likely to reach is about 50% of Yuuka's damage.

I am still tempted by trying out Du/Ansom/Yuuka/Archer/Linnea once or the Royal Guard/Lona variation, because goddam that should be taking full use of Du.

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Indeed.

I actually think the opposite- Linnea probably is good enough on her heals that it could be better for her to have more than one people taking damage.

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More than one, yes. But less than four. If everyone on the team is taking damage, that puts quite a strain on the healer (something people who only play DDs often don't appreciate).

Basically, no more than three potential damage targets, and preferably at least one of them takes little to no damage most of the time.

 

[Grosstoad]

Each Adventurer will appreciate Du, eventually. But like Murdan, his benefits probably will come later, when Adventurers are more flush with enchanted equipment, which Du might be able to improve those enchantments, instead of the equipment's general function.

To be noted, Linnea does have an At-Will ability, it's just too bad that the current enemy type is immune to Poison.

It should also be questioned whether the flames from the Talisman she got from the support-type Undead would damage other Undead or would instead heal/buff them. Because paranoia, you know?

Ansom... Meeting too short and battlestyle too inconclusive and, well, Murdan's info at the end really tells how her luck can swing wildly.

Shadow... Well, we do need a DPS type, since Yuuka is kind of a defender type.

Murdan, well, he's kind of a standard wizard in a sense.

I want to snatch away Ilina... For reasons.

 

[Xicree]

What info at the end? I reread the part with Ansom and Murdin and I didn't see anything conclusive or indicative...

Did I miss something?

 

[Grosstoad]

Ansom was angry at Murdan for knocking out the necromancer, because she was intent on farming the summons, but Murdan later mentioned that the the rewards for defeating summons are very little in comparison to normal mobs. It was not clear whether she was expecting to get something special from defeating so many summons, she actually thought that the rewards from the summons are as good as normal mobs, or if she just wanted to fight.

Maybe I should say mood rather than luck there.

 

[Nanimani]

[X] Linnea
[X] Shadow
[X] Du didn't seem like a bad sort, seek him out

I like Shadow. And we worked well together yesterday.
I don't have any other reasons.

 

[Varano]

[X]Murdan
[X]Linnea
[X]Buy Adamanat Skin

 

[Grosstoad]

Huh, we do have 8 Shards...

I'll edit in buying Adamant Body then.

EDIT: Varano, Adamant Body, not Skin.

 

[yrsillar]

Alright, can I get the count up?

 

[Kinematics]

Basic tally by invitee:

Vote Tally : Dungeon Delver Quest (Original Fantasy... again) | Page 16 | Questionable Questing
##### NetTally 1.5.4

[14] Du didn't seem like a bad sort, seek him out

Spoiler: Voters

Bailey Matutine
Arkatekt
Arkeus
Bre Karn
Grosstoad
Guile
Hangwind
Kinematics
LeoAbogos
Nanimani
Pipeman
prandom
Sirrocco
The Nobody

[13] Linnea

Spoiler: Voters

Xicree
Bailey Matutine
Bre Karn
ChandraMagic
Grosstoad
Koden
Larekko12
Nanimani
Nohbody
prandom
Sirrocco
The Nobody
Varano

[8] You could use someone magically inclined

Spoiler: Voters

Koden
Arkeus
Darkened
LeoAbogos
Nohbody
Pipeman
prandom
Sirrocco

[7] See who shows up.

Spoiler: Voters

Xicree
ChandraMagic
Darkened
Grosstoad
Koden
Nohbody
Pipeman

[4] See if Inila and Gemnus are interested in teaming up.

Spoiler: Voters

Kinematics
Arkatekt
Hangwind
The Nobody

[4] Murdan

Spoiler: Voters

Bre Karn
Guile
Larekko12
Varano

[2] You're curious to see if that Ansom girl is still alive.

Spoiler: Voters

Xicree
ChandraMagic

[2] Shadow

Spoiler: Voters

Bailey Matutine
Nanimani

---

Task: Buy

[11][Buy] Buy Adamant Body

Spoiler: Voters

Grosstoad
Arkatekt
Arkeus
Darkened
Kinematics
Larekko12
LeoAbogos
Pipeman
Sirrocco
The Nobody
Varano

Total No. of Voters: 21


Of the 21 voters, 12 voted for 3 picks, 9 voted for 2 (counting the twins as one pick).


Tally by group plan, excluding skill buy.

Spoiler: Tally Results

Vote Tally : Dungeon Delver Quest (Original Fantasy... again) | Page 16 | Questionable Questing
##### NetTally 1.5.4

[X] Du didn't seem like a bad sort, seek him out
[X] See if Inila and Gemnus are interested in teaming up.
No. of Votes: 3

Spoiler: Voters

Kinematics
Arkatekt
Hangwind

[X] Du didn't seem like a bad sort, seek him out
[X] You could use someone magically inclined
No. of Votes: 2

Spoiler: Voters

Arkeus
LeoAbogos

[X] Du didn't seem like a bad sort, seek him out
[X] You could use someone magically inclined
[X] See who shows up.
No. of Votes: 1

Spoiler: Voters

Pipeman

[X] Du didn't seem like a bad sort, seek him out
[X] Murdan
No. of Votes: 1

Spoiler: Voters

Guile

[X] Linnea
[X] Du didn't seem like a bad sort, seek him out
[X] Shadow
No. of Votes: 2

Spoiler: Voters

Bailey Matutine
Nanimani

[X] Linnea
[X] Du didn't seem like a bad sort, seek him out
[X] You could use someone magically inclined
No. of Votes: 2

Spoiler: Voters

prandom
Sirrocco

[X] Linnea
[X] Du didn't seem like a bad sort, seek him out
[X] See who shows up
No. of Votes: 1

Spoiler: Voters

Grosstoad

[X] Linnea
[X] Du didn't seem like a bad sort, seek him out
[X] Murdan
No. of Votes: 1

Spoiler: Voters

Bre Karn

[X] Linnea
[X] Du didn't seem like a bad sort, seek him out
[X] Try to join up with the twins
No. of Votes: 1

Spoiler: Voters

The Nobody

[X] Linnea
[X] You're curious to see if that Ansom girl is still alive.
[X] See who shows up.
No. of Votes: 2

Spoiler: Voters

Xicree
ChandraMagic

[X] Linnea
[X] You could use someone magically inclined
[X] See who shows up.
No. of Votes: 2

Spoiler: Voters

Koden
Nohbody

[X]Linnea
[X]Murdan
No. of Votes: 2

Spoiler: Voters

Larekko12
Varano

[X] You could use someone magically inclined
[X] See who shows up.
No. of Votes: 1

Spoiler: Voters

Darkened

Total No. of Voters: 21

Grouped as Du/misc, Linnea/Du, Linnea/Other, Other. Trying to make sure I didn't miss any that should be merged.

Out of 13 plans, there was one with 3 votes, six with 2 votes, six with 1 vote. So no particular consensus on the overall invite plan.

 

[Grosstoad]

Linnea (13): Xicree, Bailey Matutine, Chandramagic, Arkatekt, Koden, Grosstoad, Hangwind, Nohbody, prandom, Bre Karn, Sirrocco, Larekko12, The Nobody, Nanimani, Varano

See who shows up (7): Xicree, Chandramagic, Koden, Grosstoad, Nohbody, Pipeman, Darkened

You're curious to see if that Ansom girl is still alive (2): Xicree, Chandramagic,

Shadow (2): Bailey Matutine, Nanimani

Dufi Hansard (1+11+1+1=14): Bailey Matutine,
- Du didn't seem like a bad sort, seek him out: Arkatekt, Hangwind, prandom, Bre Karn, Kinematics, Sirrocco, Arkeus, Pipeman, LeoAbogos, Guile, The Nobody, Nanimani
- Du-na-na, um, you mean, whatever that androgynous purple fellow's name: Grosstoad,
- Du: Hangwind

You could use someone magically inclined (8): Arkatekt, Koden, Hangwind, Nohbody, prandom, Sirrocco, Arkeus, Pipeman, LeoAbogos, Darkened

Murdan (4): Bre Karn, Guile, Larekko12, Varano

See if Inila and Gemnus are interested in teaming up (2+1+1=4): Kinematics, Arkatekt
- Twins: Hangwind
- Try to join up with the twins: The Nobody

Buy Adamant Body if we still have 5 shards (8+2+1=11): Kinematics, Sirrocco, Arkatekt, Arkeus, Pipeman, LeoAbogos, Darkened, The Nobody
- Buy Adamanat Skin: Varano, Larekko12
- Buy Adamant Body: Grosstoad

Dang... I just finished the above line and Kine ninja'ed me...

 

[yrsillar]

Morning comes quickly, as it always does, and a brief look around a check of your surroundings shows that you got through the night unmolested. So good for the folks you paid to keep you that way, right? Yawning, you go about packing but your bedroll and taking care of the other morning stuff. Once your done with that you can go spend a shard for breakfast and start figuring out your tower group for the day. You figure you'll pick up Linnea again, the little dryad is just too useful to have around, and besides she's a nice enough girl.

A brief count of your shards shows that you can afford to purchase a skill, so you do. Your kinda looking forward to the expression of the first person who breaks a weapon on your face.

You kinda want to keep meeting new people for awhile yet though, so you'll leave off contacting Murdan or Shadow, or even that Ansom woman. You suppose you could hunt down that Du fella you met yesterday. He seemed alright, and you kinda want to see how his magic works. On the other hand, with those two along… you'd pretty much be the only offense. Someone else to deal out the hits would probably be good. Maybe you can look up a magical type. Having Shadow along to blast the back lines was pretty helpful yesterday.

With that in mind you head out, absently thanking the lady running the sleeping area as you leave, chow first, then Linnea. Course, your gonna have to find her first. She'll probably be at the gathering area for the folks looking for groups though. Given that she has a real weapon now she could probably handle a few skeletons on her own, but you have a feeling she isn't gonna go solo anytime soon.

The shard you set aside for breakfast buys you some a bag full of some kinda fluffy jam filled pastries, so you can eat and walk at the same time, peering around to see if you can catch sight of Du or an ungrouped caster type. You find a fair number of the latter, but you get a bunch of declines, with varying degrees of politeness. Some are just not with their groups, others are playing solo and some apparently don't like the looks of ya or think your gonna club 'em over the head when their back is turned or something.

Stupid that, if you wanted their stuff you'd openly crack them over the head and take it. You do eventually catch sight of shiny purple scales through the crowd heading toward the group area though, and after the third time it actually turns out to be the enthusiastic fella you met the night before.

You find Du leaning against one of the wooden posts that have been pounded into the ground to act as anchors for the ropes, he notices you coming of course. You're pretty noticeable. "Morning," you say cheerfully, raising your hand to wave a greeting. "Figured I might tap you to see how your tricks actually work since ya talked my ear off last night."

A brief expression of surprise and a hint of embarrassment cross his androgynous features, and he offers you a weak smile, "I got a little carried away. Thanks for listening though," Du responds sincerely. "You want to group up then…Yuuka? It was Yuuka right?"

You're a little amused at the care he takes to pronounce your name right, and you dismiss his apology with a wave, "Yeah, if you don't mind. I want to pick up a couple other people first though."
He nods easily, pushing himself upright from the post he was leaning against, "That's fine." He pauses to give you a considering look before following you along the edge of the enclosure though. "I can only maintain a few semi-permanent enhancements at once, would you rather have offense or defense?"

"Right," you respond distractedly, peering around for Linnea. "You did mention that yesterday. I'd rather hit stuff harder." After a moment you add, "Keep an eye out for a scraggly little bush, will ya?"
Du gives you an odd look, "…Sure. Will it be a problem if your weapon gets heavier, that's the best way to enhance bludgeoning weapons."

"As long as it doesn't mess up the balance," you reply after a moment, before your eyes catch on something leafy and green. It looks like Linnea was hanging out near the edges again… you hope so anyway, otherwise you're gonna look awful silly talking to a bush. "Looks like we found who I was looking for," you add cheerfully, "How's it going Linnea?"

Du glances between you and the waist high shrub, "Wait, so the 'scraggly bush' is the person you were looking for?"

"I'm not scraggly," Linnea's voice rings out as the 'bush' is seemingly replaced by the height challenged dryad. "Mom says I'm just a late bloomer. My foliage will come in soon."

"Sorry," you respond unrepentantly, grinning down at the huffy looking girl, "You mind coming along again today?"

"Sorry," Du adds, sounding a bit more genuine in his apology. "I was just repeating what she said." You roll your eyes; you'd give him a playful shove for ratting you out if you didn't think it'd send the poor fella flying.

Linnea plants her hands on her hips, craning her neck to glare… well it's more of a pout really, at you. "I guess I don't mind, unless you're going to keep being rude."

You laugh, bringing a hand up to rub the back of your neck sheepishly, "Hey, hey, I said I was sorry didn't I? It was just a joke." Maybe it's one of those 'cultural' things? You give Du a dirty look when you catch him biting back a laugh. It can't be that funny watching you get chastised by someone a third your size.

Linnea continues eyeing you for a second longer before shrugging and going back to her usual placid expression, "That's fine then." She then turns her attention to Du, and blunty asks, "Who are you though?"

"Just call me Du. I guess we're going to be working together for a bit?" he responds with a hint of uncertainty, offering a weird little bow. Foreigners are strange.

"Oh, okay." Linnea responds easily. "Are we going in then? I kind of want to see what's in the fancy halls we found before we left yesterday."

"In a bit," you respond, looking around. "I kinda want a mage along today. Magic stuffs been coming up as we get deeper so it'd be nice to have someone who knows how that mumbo jumbo works along," you pause, glancing at Du. "No offense, but you did say that you're pretty specialized."

Du shrugs, "No it's fine, I know I don't fill the same niche as a…" He frowns, "Traditional wizard."

You shrug off the weird way he says that, and return to considering the crowd, and sharing a little small talk with the others. Within a few minutes though, something catches your eye, or rather someone. Most of the people here are relatively young, explorers and mercenaries tend to have fairly quick expiration dates after all. The lady approaching you though… well you aren't the best at telling human ages, what with the lack of horns and aversion to scars, but your pretty sure she's a bit older than the average sellsword wandering about.

She's also pretty clearly a human noble, if only because her clothes and the gems adorning them look REALLY expensive. She pauses briefly when it's clear that you've noticed her and meets your gaze for a few seconds. Heh, most of the fancy sorts you met on your travels don't have eyes like that, looks like she has some spirit. Linnea and Du's conversation fades as she approaches your little group at a measured pace and stops a short distance away. "Good afternoon," she begins, looking over the three of you briefly. "I am Lady Lona Estellor. Am I correct that you were the one seeking a skilled practitioner of spellcraft?"

You cock your head to the side a bit, studying the way the human holds herself, lots of pride of course, but there's something else there, a hint of tiredness and a certain tightness to her expression. "Yeah, that's me, or rather us now," you reply with a grin. "I'm Yuuka, guessing you're here to apply?"

She seems a bit pained by your assertion, but nods once sharply. "Indeed," she glances around once, and then briefly raises her right hand, which holds a polished piece of crystal, an arcane focus if you ever saw one, it pulses once, and the noise of the crowd dies down to a buzzing whisper. "I will be frank, I am seeking to destroy the creature that denied me my previous bodyguard." She states simply, "Not only that, but the abomination was guarding a stairwell leading up. I am sure I need not tell you what that means."

Linnea looks intrigued, "We could be the first ones to make it up to the second floor." She seems excited by the prospect.

You on the other hand are a bit more leery. "Sounds pretty great," you admit dubiously. "So what made you decide we were the ones to tell?" A quick glance shows that Du seems a bit suspicious as well.

The noblewoman gives you an appraising look for a moment. "I am not a battlemage," she admits simply. "I am quite well learned in several schools of magic, are you aware of what divination is?"
You frown, "Moon Clan stuff. Reading the stars to figure out when the storms are gonna hit and which days are bad luck."

Linnea just wrinkles her nose, "Ugh, that's the thing with animal guts and incense right? It's kinda gross."

Du's response is the simplest, "Yeah, I'm aware. You should get to the point."

She frowns a bit at Du's bluntness but nods anyway, "Those are both passable methods, although not the one I use. In any case, I have divined that exploring with you," she looks pointedly at you here. "Brings me the highest chance of success."

Huh, that's kinda unexpected, "Yeah, alright. I can accept that." Moon Clan's a bunch of weirdos but ignoring their predictions is dumb, you can respect somebody following their own version.

"To be clear," she adds. "I do not believe we should face the creatures today. I merely wish to establish a working relationship between us, such that we may do so in the future."

Linnea pouts a bit at that, but Du seems relieved. You just laugh though, "Yeah, it'd be kinda dumb to just rush in when we don't even know each other's abilities properly yet."

"Exactly so," Lona responds, seeming slightly relieved herself for some reason. Maybe she figured you'd insist on running off immediately?

"Well anyway, this is Linnea, and that's Du. We should get to figuring out where we want to roam today," you say cheerfully. "So…"

[] On Tour in Zombieland
[] Iron Door?
[] Fancy Glowing Lights zone.
[] The Deep Corridors.

 

[Arkeus]

[X] Iron Door
Because our Will is too low to do that Fancy Flowing Lights zone, and I can't recall what's in The Deep Corridors.

Also:

The art of hardening the muscles and skin with your inner energy.
-Passive: Add two dice to your defense against piercing and slashing attacks.
-Invulnerable: 1/day When struck by a melee attack negate the damage and reduce the quality of the weapon used by two. Weapons reduced to zero quality are destroyed. Creatures using natural weapons instead suffer two points of damage.

Click to shrink...

This is nice.

 

[Arkatekt]

[X] Iron Door?

Adamant Body is pretty good.

 

[Seventeen]

[X] Iron Door

 

[Xicree]

[X] Iron Door?

 

[LeoAbogos]

[X] Iron Door?

Curious what's down there now.

 

[Grosstoad]

[X] Iron Door!

Hmm, she lost her bodyguard? Darn, that's a shame.

Anyway, Divination, eh? Dunno how that'd work in here, rerolls?

Looks like Linnea is still missing out on getting parties.
. . . That's a boon to us, right? Well, Linnea-sympathizers I guess, since there were others that were vocal on looking for other healer-types.

 

[Nohbody]

[X] Iron Door!

 

[Bre Karn]

[X] Iron Door?

 

[Kinematics]

A few quick corrections:

Yawning, you go about packing but your you're bedroll and taking care of the other morning stuff.

Click to shrink...

Once your you're done with that you can go spend a shard for breakfast and start figuring out your tower group for the day.

Click to shrink...

Course, your you're gonna have to find her first.

Click to shrink...

The lady approaching you though… well you aren't the best at telling human ages, what with the lack of horns and aversion to scars, but your you're pretty sure she's a bit older than the average sellsword wandering about.

Click to shrink...

(Didn't bother with comma corrections this time.)

Hmm. Word selection algorithm changed. It now includes the space following the word. Annoying.

Anyway, I have no specific preference, so the iron door is as good as any direction.

[X] Iron Door?

"I'm not scraggly," Linnea's voice rings out as the 'bush' is seemingly replaced by the height challenged dryad. "Mom says I'm just a late bloomer. My foliage will come in soon."

Click to shrink...

Aww. Well, I guess it could be considered a little rude, but it's meant with affection. She can be the "adorable little bush" from now on, I guess?

"I will be frank, I am seeking to destroy the creature that denied me my previous bodyguard."

Click to shrink...

Hm. A bit more serious. Unfortunate that her captain of the guard died (though it makes our party size issues easier). Also means she'll be a high priority teammate, at least til we finish this floor.

Will be interesting to see how things go with two utility-type mages here. Well, I guess Lona is more "well-rounded" than pure utility, but also not overly-specialized in combat. Also means she's likely to have at least some healing, though not as much as Linnea. Definitely sounds like a red mage to Linnea's white mage.

Also: Yay for 2 defense dice (as long as it's not blunt damage).

 

[Sirrocco]

[X] Iron Door...

She broke my axe! With her face!

Note that when translated to "out in the real world" stats... we can do the one-per-day weapon-breaking thing on any weapon made by standard smiths. C is about as far as you can get in a skill without godsblood, and crafting skill C can't make anything of quality higher than 2.

Iron skin doesn't defend against elemental damage types, either. From the looks of things, it's limited enough in scope that I wouldn't call it a primary skill, but it's a very nice little secondary... especially with that "no-sell one hit and damage the weapon that made it" as it's *first* daily. There are an awful lot of fights that get a lot easier if you can throw around, say, five of those.

Other pertinent detail: it seems that weapon breaking is a Thing. We probably won't run into it just yet, but it does give us good reason to invest in wrestling, and possibly to carry around and learn how to use backup weapons, so that when the weapons we have get busted, we can still function.

 

[Larekko12]

As well as specific weapon type resistance. We're going to need to be able to inflict the trifecta of damage.


[X]Iron Door

 

[Arkeus]

Note that when translated to "out in the real world" stats... we can do the one-per-day weapon-breaking thing on any weapon made by standard smiths. C is about as far as you can get in a skill without godsblood, and crafting skill C can't make anything of quality higher than 2.

Click to shrink...

I seem to remember C being Quality C, but it being basically 'the bestestest smiths'. yrsillar?

Iron skin doesn't defend against elemental damage types, either. From the looks of things, it's limited enough in scope that I wouldn't call it a primary skill, but it's a very nice little secondary... especially with that "no-sell one hit and damage the weapon that made it" as it's *first* daily. There are an awful lot of fights that get a lot easier if you can throw around, say, five of those.

Click to shrink...

Adamantine' Skin doesn't yet protect against either Blunt or elemental damage, but I am expecting the passive to improve as it levels.

Also, yeah, this is actually a very, very strong first active part. It really bodes well for what will come next, as well as for the other high-job skills we can grab. Probably means I'll insist to grab Job B with our first chunk if the other skills we got as we raised our rank are all so good.

Other pertinent detail: it seems that weapon breaking is a Thing. We probably won't run into it just yet, but it does give us good reason to invest in wrestling, and possibly to carry around and learn how to use backup weapons, so that when the weapons we have get busted, we can still function.

Click to shrink...

Yup, unarmed just jumped in my priorities.

As well as specific weapon type resistance. We're going to need to be able to inflict the trifecta of damage.

Click to shrink...

I just realized GreatAxe was slashing and Noginata was Piercing. LOL.

Also, mmh. We probably will want to befriend smiths soon so that we can make weapons on order.

 

[Larekko12]

We need a demon Halberd. Axe head, hammer back, and a spike. Everyone should want one.

 

[Sirrocco]

I seem to remember C being Quality C, but it being basically 'the bestestest smiths'. yrsillar?

Adamantine' Skin doesn't yet protect against either Blunt or elemental damage, but I am expecting the passive to improve as it levels.

Click to shrink...

From what I recall, Skill Rank C was as high as a master might get with a lifetime of training. Additionally, crafter rank C wasn't able to make more than quality level 2 (the best gear that could be wielded by 1st level characters). No such thing as Quality C.

I absolutely expect the Adamantine Skin passive to improve with rank, but there's the possibility that it might only improve numerically. It's not like having a bunch of extra dice in defense against piercing and slashing is ever going to go out of style.

As well as specific weapon type resistance. We're going to need to be able to inflict the trifecta of damage.

Click to shrink...

Oooh. Good thought. It looks like some of our skills might bring some fire damage, though, so that might not be *highest* priority. I still say we want to wait buying weapon skills until we get the weapons to use them, but I'm willing to accept that getting equivalent-quality weapons in alternate damage types might be enough of a reason to make that investment (depending on how our shards are looking).