Messages

76

Game Room / Re: Guild Wars 2 Beta Weekend: ask me stuff

« on: July 23, 2012, 12:44:42 PM »

My player wasn't in that event Geary. That particular stress test was so short he literally spent all his time just playing what needed to be tested.

Anyway, onto the BWE 3... which involved my player playing as me, so feigning schizophrenia on the internet is now on!

Ranger
Giving the ANet team as long as humanly possible to fix the Pet AI appears to have worked wonders. Mind you their AI isn't smart enough to constantly disengage and reengage the enemy, so their going to be dieing a lot. But you'll be surprised how durable they are if you just do a simple thing like popping your heal skill to heal your pet as well as yourself. My player's rating of the ranger is much improved, actually putting it in a tie with the warrior briefly for fifth place on the profession order. Ultimately it was a prestige armor that made up his mind for him, but more on that later...

Mesmer
This was a lot better than before. Part of it was learning how to play better than BWE 1, and part of it was the super amazing root skill the sylvari have that will hopefully not be nerfed. But mostly there where just a lot of little improvements. Not enough for PvE, but still enough that the PvP crowd are cheering. A lot of their power is wasted on short fights or less useful on larger groups, and you need both to rock things up in PvE. So better the Mesmer still sits at eighth place for my player.

The Asura Race
These guys used to be my player's least favorite race. Now he has four favorite races and one that is somewhat decent... and the decent one is the norn. Seriously, what made him think that he wouldn't love a race of little mad scientists? My personal story was wonderful, and the aesthetics of their monolithic architecture in the middle of a jungle might be the most beautiful things in all of Guild Wars.

The Sylvari Race
My player came into the game liking this race so much that I really almost nothing to say about them. As said before, their tier one utility skill Grasping Vines is very useful on a mesmer. Mind you, certain racial skills will be more powerful to certain professions based on what mechanics they're lacking, and a powerful root... definitely not a mesmer thing. In contrast the sylvari also have a lot of plant turrets that are inferior to an engineer's turrets but situationally useful on other professions. Otherwise... same going in as out: I love how they look after their redesign and type of character I was able to produce in character creation.

Unexpected Additions: Cultural Armor and Preview System
Yes, we can now preview armor on our characters in Guild Wars 2. Which went well with trying out all the racial armors for sale in in the racial capitals. Not all the vendors where correctly labeled, but that is mostly a busy work thing that the team will correct fairly close to launch. The point is that each race has three tiers of armor for each of the different grades of armor. That makes nine sets of racial armor. My player had a lot of fun trying things out, to the point he blew on hour on Sunday just making a few characters just to try out armor on them. It was fun, and as said before it was the appearance of the Sylvari heavy armor that made him decide on warrior over ranger: rough touch and barky, just like my player's Sylvari Fimnai.

That's Tier 3 Heavy Sylvari armor, previewed on my level ten sylvari mesmer, so as it currently stands you can preview armor across profession armor restrictions. Not sure if that will remain at launch, but it was certainly fun and productive.

Jumping Puzzels
Love Vistas, Accept Skillpoints, Hate Treasure Chests. Basic summary of my player's opinion of jumping puzzles. My player's guild had a field day going to all the known jumping puzzles, and it was pure madness. The one in the fields of shemoor was timid enough, but everything else across all the other starter zone's where brutal. Also, when lava kills me slower than a firetrap, mother nature needs to pay the heating bills. But yeah, I won't be touching these outside of group events because they are no fun unless there is someone there laughing at how terrible you are.

In an odd bit of peculiarity, I might touch the dungeons on my own time. At the end of the lava jumping puzzle there was an insane asura inventor who went into trap boss mode on us... that was fun. Almost fun enough to make the lava jumping worth it, but no... I'd rather just have the rewarding boss fight without the my player loosing any more hair.

Raf Cian
Yep, and now for some screenshots of me. My player wanted to get a real handle on how the engineered played, so he rolled me as one and saved his ranger testing on another charr incarnation of Ryan. So, without further delay: me straight out of the character creator. I know, it's a little lacking. I would have preferred if those splotches where a shade more gold, but one has to work within the color pallet presented to you. I do rather like how my player choose short ears rather than one you can spot from orbit.

But yeah... not much else to share. As said before my personal story will kick all kinds of posterior. By the end of the beta I managed to upgrade to my level 25 rawhide and of course my player preplanned my endgame armor. That's mostly tier two asuran medium armor, with the substitution of the tier three shoulder pads and my profession starting headgear. So much of the asuran head gear insisted on covering up the hair.

So for the most part I'm now as thrilled to get in there and start rocking Guild Wars 2 as much as my player. Ryan better watch out, because I'm planning to muscle in on his screen time now.

The End of BWE3 Event
In a nutshell... parody of the hunger games. Guild Wars 1 loved a lot of shout outs, and Guild Wars 2 is no different. As long as it can be fit into game without completely breaking immersion, they'll name drop their own mother if you let them. Basically a four team shoot-em-up for half an hour. 7 or so minutes to practice your skills. 15 minutes of no death penalty. And then the remaining fifeteen minutes floating around as a 'helper bot' after you die. The whole parody bit comes around with the 'hunger' mechanic of health degenerating once the match officially begins, and the fact that the right side of your skill bar requires power up to be used at all, including the rations for your health.

It was a lot of fun even for someone who just doesn't play PvP out of principles. One of the funniest moments was when someone starting shooting the large group of helper bots for the ammo we where carrying, I managed to kill him with my reflective shielding. I guess none of the other helper bots had played a guardian before because they spent the whole time trying to guess what had killed him. Aside from that it was just a bit of a lark. A lark where everyone looked completely awesome but still just a lark.

And that's my report. I'm still accepting questions, but otherwise... me and my player can't wait for the early release on August 25th. Now if you'll excuse me I have another Guild Wars 2 thread to post to in this forum.

77

Writer's Guild / Re: Gears: Coby and Flynn's Debut!

« on: July 18, 2012, 09:26:25 PM »

It was a very enjoyable read. The flow in particular was very good. Elaborated just enough details without dragging into monolog. The characters where nice as well. The wizard and his familiar aspect reminded me of another book I read once.

78

Role Play Theater / Re: Dawn of Worlds

« on: July 11, 2012, 02:55:24 PM »

Starting Points: 12

Command Avatar Takers position themselves to fulfill bargain(-1)
While the Takers are mildly upset at the Shadow’s decision of only partial acceptance, they made the offer and they uphold the bargain. Besides, there is much for them to reap in this upholding this bargain. Chief amongst them is that it requires positioning a small grouping of Takers at the Notcus center of... everything. To that end a select group of Takers and their honor guard will make their way to the Longshadow Spire to... set up shop until their power is called upon.

Command City x2 Raise Armies in Salkyn and Quesalk (-4)
The Seekers, continuing with their standing orders to prepare, increase the size of the Blades in the Resalk cities. When suddenly the order to act finally arrives, the new armies find themselves in the position of home guard as the rest march out...

Command Race March 5 Resalk Armies towards Las Flotas (-3)
...towards Las Flotas.

Command Order x2 Seekers and Red Rats displace the Pirate Lords (-4)
It’s been a longtime coming. While the Taker’s appreciate the brutality and ruthlessness that Las Flotas, its Pirate Lords have made nothing but stupid decisions over the years. With one army under control of the Red Rats and another inspired by the Takers themselves, the remaining armies loyal to the pirate lords will be under pressure to maintain control even before the rest of the of the Taker’s Blades march their five armies on Las Flotas’s doorstep.

Assuming something doesn’t happen to displace their advantage, the Seekers keep the populace inline by handing control of the city to the Red Rats, and who promptly ask the foreign armies to camp outside while allowing recreational ‘leave’ inside the city. At least until they’re ready to depart in phase two of the plan...

Ending Points: 0

Vote: End Game
While some of us still have plans, even more of us have lost interest. Even those who are still interested probably see the current game as mostly a learning experience. I certainly would do things differently the second time around.

79

Writer's Guild / Re: Interview with the Dark Lord

« on: July 04, 2012, 09:18:24 PM »

I have a hero friend whose not only cursed but prophesied to one day rule a layer of hell. It's not a fated corruption thing: his curse is going to land him in hell no matter how saintly he is and overthrowing demon and devils is kind of what he does. Despite the best efforts of certain demonic seers to keep him alive indefinitely... well you know first hand how fragile hero types are. As an adventurer turned overlord, what advice would you have for my friend in the case of his eventual death forcing him into overlordship?

80

Game Room / Re: Guild Wars 2 Beta Weekend: ask me stuff

« on: June 27, 2012, 04:36:05 PM »

2nd Stress Test is done. Aside from some the occasional problem loading an instance or connecting to the public server when leaving an instances it was very non-stressful. Spent three hours on the thief and fifty minutes on the engineer... could have added ten more, but I would have just been poking around trying to find interesting NPCs to talk to. The important point is that I unlocked their skills and then took them on the ultimate challenge of the usability of a skill set by taking them through the personal story a bit. Onto the game play reactions...

Thief
The more offense you bring to the party the more glass cannon you are: there is no question now, the reason why a lot of people keeping on crumpling on the thief in videos is because they just don't pack for the long haul. Guild Wars 2 is not a game where you can spike down mobs and stealth isn't an defensive answer when you're soloing. Main hand dagger and off hand pistol provides the defense I need to stay in melee, and the longbow is a much more versatile that the more popular double pistols. End answer is that I could definitely play a thief.

Engineer
Actually had some educational learning experience here. Nothing teaches you how to play more than getting your [censored] handed to you once or twice... at least in Guild Wars 2. Pistols and shield appears to be stable ground for me, while the as expect it takes a lot of training to remember that the utility skills matter... at least after abusing signets on my Guardian for so long. It will be more fun in a group than solo, but I can still see myself playing an Engineer still.

Going Forward
...just waiting for the announcement about the next BWE. I still feel like I need to give the Ranger and Mesmer a chance, but at the moment I feel that I am capable of going into the game without them since I am on some level able to handle myself in all of the non-pet professions. It would still be nice if they fixed the pet AI. Oh well, we shall see what comes...

81

Game Room / Re: Guild Wars 2 Beta Weekend: ask me stuff

« on: June 22, 2012, 09:42:30 PM »

@Geary

...right, from the top.
With a main hand dagger they are a close range lifestealer. With utility skills they can summon an army of minions regardless of weapon set. Different weapon sets and different utility skills produce different results. Main hand axe is about spiking one target for damage from a distance, main hand scepter is about inflicting a steady streams of bleeding and poison, and the two handed staff is about area of attacks. Utility skill don't just have minions but corruptions skills that inflict conditions on you along with their standard effects (which works will with Consume Condition and Plague Signet), while well are a mix of defensive and offensive area of effects. A necromancer will (once you reach level seven) always have two weapon sets, three utility skills not counting healing and elite, and their profession feature Death Shroud.

Honestly, you really need to spend some time behind the wheel and try things out. When you get in game your equipped with a one handed weapon, which supplemented by an off hand once you leave the tutorial. You mind find whatever combo your wielding to be the bomb, but you also might hate it. You have to remember that that is only one weapon set; you need to run the gambit of all the weapon skills a profession can use before you pass judgement on the class as a whole.

@Any whom it may concern...
Concerning the BWE 2
Spent a lot more time on my Guardian that I original intended. After being left with the same character from last BWE, I decided I owed it to myself to push him up to the upper tiered content to be ready for any other tiers of content they unlock next BWE. Still got a decent amount of progress on testing out other professions.

The Guardian:
Aside from being a better guardian player at the end of the weekend than I was at the start, I mostly have to say that improvements made to the scepter was definitely good for PvE. There are some PvP people who say that is isn't enough in World versus World, but I just hope they don't break it by trying to fix it more.

The Elementalist
Unlocked all it's skills and got a decent feel for the profession. It's certainly playable, though it's better when everything is unlocked and you have full range of your power. Trying to use the skills in nonideal situations just so I can level them was... less than fun. Fire tends to be offensive in a group, Water support in a group, Air offensive solo, and Earth Defensive solo. All the weapons but main hand dagger had some appeal to me, including off hand dagger.

The Warrior
A big surprise: this was fun. I knew certain weapon sets appealed to me from pondering the class before, but once again trial was the acid test for daydreaming. I always thought it would be warhorn off hand with any mainhand I thought passable, rifle as the other weapon set. Now I'm thinking duel weilding maces with either the rifle or longbow depending on if I'm expecting trash mobs or expecting a big boss.

The Engineer
I unlocked all the weapon set skills on this guy, but that isn't enough for the engineer. Their utility skills are more important due to their profession feature Tool Belt taking advantage of them. Still, even with just the weapon sets this class was fun. I'll just need to add on some levels next time I play so I can get a handle on all those utility skill slots.

The Thief
I didn't complete unlocking this profession's weapon skills, but I was still pleasantly surprised. Most people make the thief look like a paper flamethrower, but by this point I'm at least a junior adept at the Guild Wars 2 combat system. You're control conditions are important to maintaining a strong defense, and the thief control condition of choice is blind just like the guardian. I'll definitely want to get to know this profession more during the upcoming stress test.

The New Traits and Skill System
...I like it. Things are cheaper overall and forcing people to have more skills means they'll have a selection to figure out what does or does not work for them, just like weapon sets. It annoys some meta gamers who think they know everything but overall it will help more people enjoy the game and competitive PvP has everything unlocked anyway.

Moving Forward
There is a stress test coming next Wednesday. I'm going to be spending it on the thief since that is what I'll have time for in just a sort four hours. For the next BWE (and we expect there to be at least one more) I will have hoped that they would have fixed pet AI so I can check the Ranger and recheck the Mesmer. Either way I also need to spend more time leveling an engineer to see how easily I can handle the tool belt.

We might be wrong on all this retention being a lasting thing, though. There is heavy suspicion that the remaining races will be in the next BWE simply because we expect for them to spend some time testing them before launch. It is theoretically possible that they are taking the lessons learned from the existing race's area and apply them to the jungle, but that still falls short of actual testing. Overall we'll simply have to wait and see. At least they appear on the ball with the new stress test.

82

Art Gallery / Re: EXTREME Square-Boxed Facial Artwork Giveaway (Open!)

« on: June 21, 2012, 09:06:08 PM »

My player just noticed this.
Half of him sees the long list and tells himself he shouldn't bother you.
The other half of him knows that he's just making excuses so he can be a shy wallflower.
Both halves are getting knocked on the head and dragged into this forum because there has been a total of ONE picture drawn of me in the entirety of my existence.

References and Description
As said there has only been one drawing done of me in my entire existence.
http://i1144.photobucket.com/albums/o487/Ryan_Galen/Raf200x250.jpg

That was me relatively close to how I existed in the Napping Cat's Dream, the now defunct roleplay forum I was created in. As a character I'm heavily adjusted to my setting on a regular basis and in Crimson Flag that meant becoming your typical male toon animal: no pants and no hair. As such I'm a black ferret with a golden mask (the ferret fur variety) and blue eyes. You are free to omit the blue eyes since colored eyes aren't your preference.

In CF I've been wearing a lab coat, but since this is a head shot that really shouldn't be an issue here.

Expression
I'd says "Absentmindedly Noticing Something" would be most desired and fit me best in most circumstances. Alert and staring at something just off panel that I've just noticed by with no fear, glee, or nefarious intent. Just more raw "Well that wasn't there... three hours ago? How long have I been working on this particle assembly? ...ok obviously three hours." That short of deal.

83

Art Gallery / Re: "Bet Your Tail" (Comic)

« on: June 10, 2012, 08:07:24 PM »

No it isn't. It's a gun you can store in your in your jacket without hammer space and will still head shot you just as good as a sniper rifle when your across the table from your target.

Also, love the turn about. Given that this is only a five pager I expect a transformation blitz to be coming next page.

84

Game Room / Re: Guild Wars 2 Beta Weekend: ask me stuff

« on: May 30, 2012, 02:19:20 PM »

@ Geary concerning combat

Combat in Guild Wars 2 is more engaging then Guild Wars (1). It isn’t’ a full action game like Terra or Vindictus, but you can use many skills while on the move and without targeting the enemy in question. Things like line of sights, whether you are in range, and “hey those red circles on the ground are where enemy AoEs are about to land” are all important to your survival.

All this currently makes ranged more viable than melee at the moment since melee must be in the enemies face to get things done; enemies will telegraph big attacks it isn’t that easy to see that the giant is raising his arms for a power stomp when all you can him from the hips down. The fact that Guild Wars 2 will grind your face in hard for ‘unsmart gameplay’ doesn’t help, but due to the rally system tasting the dirt every once in awhile is just part of the learning curve.

The viability of melee against the maximum side of the curve of the dynamic event scaling is something that is being looked into. How much progress they’ve made on this issue is something that is being looked into. There are other issue like pet AI that is being worked on (they tend to just stand around for a good few seconds when combat is either started or they are first summoned; minor issue with ranger pets and necromancer minions but major issue with mesmer clones and guardian spirit weapons), but once again this is a clear up front issue they are working on. These BWE are real betas that should help with a very polished game on release.

An important thing to note on the combat: a profession will play very differently across its different weapon sets. Pick them up and try them out till you find the ones that you enjoy using. Be familiar with all of them in case there is a situation where you want one in particular, but experiment to find your personal sweat spot. You’ll know it when you find it. For me it was sword and focus for the guardian with axe and focus on the necromancer; it will most likely be different for you.

@Geary concerning the necromancer

Two important things to note.

One, Arena Net uses an iterative design process, meaning they are not afraid to toss things out. They did some major revamps on the Necromancer coming into last BWE in an effort to make the weapons each feel like they had a special role, but just because they did all that work doesn’t mean they’ll won’t change things again for the BWE coming next week. The staff, for instance, was very fun with every mark (their standard targetable AoE skill) placed on it, but there is a chance it was too fun. Their goal is to find what works.

Two, no class can do everything but all profession can do many different things... just not all at once. They’re working on making sure all professions have some form of damage, support, and control available to them. Necromancers in a very quick rundown can spread a wide array of conditions, summon minions with utility skills and traits, mark the ground with well and marks to hex enemies and buff allies, and yes they can lifedrain.

The most important part of any profession is their feature, and the feature of the Necromancer is their death shroud. Death shroud is basically a secondary forum where you have a second degenerating healthbar called lifeforce and new set of four skills to play around with. You have to learn these skills like your weapon skills, meaning going into death shroud and killing enemies. Overall, death shroud can be a big damage spike if you choose to speck it that way with traits but by default it mostly makes you more durable than other casters since you have a second lifebar you can switch too if you sense a lot of stuff is about to come your way.

As for a focus on lifedrain... it’s possible but not as much right out of the gate. Right out of the gate you’ll have the option of main hand dagger’s second skill that can be used every twelve seconds. Skills in Guild Wars no longer cost energy, so it’s all managed by cool downs now. Now the dagger is a very close range weapon currently, so you’ll be taking some risk with a life drain spec out the gate but it becomes more viable as you unlock more skills. You’re first utility skill will open up the option of signet of locusts, which passively increases speed and on use triggers an AoE lifedrain. Greater traits are where most of the life draining is at though; focus your trait points into Blood Magic and you’ll open up your first greater trait choice for Blood Magic by level twenty. When you hit level forty you’ll be able to buy your master trait book allowing you to invest up to twenty points in a trait line, meaning you’ll probably want to use that free respect to get the fifteen point blood magic minor trait Vampiric which in last build allowed life drain with every hit no matter the weapon skill.

Guild Wars 2 likes to encourage diversity and intensity across the game. Diversity comes into how much you can do at one time. Yes, you can only start seriously life draining at level forty, but you’ll never be only lifedraining; at level seven, forty, or eighty the importance is on using everything you got rather than just one overwhelming focus. Intensity comes from the game not starting only at endgame; rather endgame is first game. Stuff may be more forgiving in the level 1-15 level zones, but there are challenges in there that are just as thrilling as the bosses you fight at the end of your tutorial zones. And while you gain more power as you level up, you get scaled down in statistical power to a level appropriate for the content you’re fighting. Meaning while keep your epic late game life stealing abilities, fighting in a low level area doesn’t trivialize the content.

But yeah... if you want to get an idea on how to play the necromancer, just stare at the wiki skill page and it’s talent page to get an idea on what is available. All is likely to change come the BWE.

85

Random Topics / Re: Recruiting For the (Beach) War effort

« on: May 30, 2012, 11:47:43 AM »

You'll have to ask Kenku if female alternate versions of typically male characters will be allowed.

@Trask: I welcome your enthusiasm but I have places you'd be better suited for than Chapter 2... namely Chapter 3.

@Zavier: Welcome aboard. Any description you can give me would be welcome since... I honestly have no clue who you are.  Sorry.

86

Game Room / Guild Wars 2 Beta Weekend: ask me stuff

« on: May 30, 2012, 11:44:35 AM »

Arena Net has announced the date for the next Guild Wars 2 Beta Weekend Event: June 8th

I’ve tried doing at some discussion asking for things to test during the press test, and the interest from the crowd was... well of those present only Draykin was interested. Any interest is better than none, but even if it turns out only me and Draykin will be playing Guild Wars 2, having a thread to memorialize things down will keep me from repeating myself.

It also gives me the benefit of allowing more than just the people who happen to be on in the chat at that particular moment to respond. So go ahead and ask me questions of things to check out, or ask questions about what I have already checked out.

List of what I have already checked out followed by what I’m planning to check out are as follows:

Professions
Guardian: I have a level 20+ charr guardian. Needless to say I LIKE this profession, and while the melee issues need to be corrected, new BWE means a new build meaning corrections may have been made.
Necromancer: Got to level ten, and enjoyed it. New build may mean things have changed, but I they would have to turn on a dim to make things less fun. Since Guild Wars 2 practices iterative deisgn, this may have changed.
Mesmer: Created and have deleted a Mesmer. Created it because I planned on playing it, deleted it because between my own confusion about certain issues with the pet AI made things less fun than it should be. Will need to come back to this class when the pet AI issue is finally fixed.
Elementalist: I played one during the short eightish hour stress test, partly looking for a replacement for the Mesmer and partly at Draykin’s recommendation. Certainly more fun than the Mesmer, but didn’t unlock enough skills to have a proper opinion on it. They won’t be deleting the old characters for the next BWE, so I will be continuing to test the Mesmer this weekend.

Engineer: Both me and Draykin(based on the stress test questioning) want this to be my next profession to check, so I will be rolling a level one engineer during this weekend once I have a good idea of how the Elementalist plays.
Other Professions: While I plan to play a Ranger, I’m withholding testing one till the pet AI is fixed. I don’t have a big desire to play the Warrior and Thief, but I will test them eventually. Based on the previous BWE I will have time to test three professions, and unless I check the forums to find out the pet AI is fixed Saturday would be the time to test Warrior or Thief.

PvE
We have know we have Human, Charr, and Norn starting areas plus their associated explorable zones up till level 25. We do not know yet what they will be adding in the new build for the BWE. They’ve had the area north of Lion’s Arch in previous demos so it would be easy(ish) for them to drop that in if they didn’t already I and just didn’t notice, but its level 25-35 so I’d need to level my charr a bit before exploring that.

Otherwise... there was a PC magazine exclusive on the asuran starting area last month that makes it encouraging that they are almost ready to give us that starting area, but we have no clue if it will be coming now or not. They have a week and a half to tease us with new information, and they will be taking advantage of every tease they can get.

PvP
I haven’t PvPed and don’t plan to, sorry. If you have questions I can answer them based on keeping track of the academic information released to the public and reported on by other people.

Screenshoting
Requests open. My computer is not 1337 enough to do video captures but I plan on print screening as often as I can think of it. If there is a certain aspect of the game you want explored, ask for it and I’ll try to satisfy.

87

Random Topics / Recruiting For the (Beach) War effort

« on: May 28, 2012, 09:52:28 PM »

Ok, as some observant people might have noticed my player is writing a story. It's a slow process mostly involving mortal combat with writer's block and then strapping his behind to a chair and staring at a word processor for a bit. The story was almost reach for it's second chapter... but each character is allowed to review their scenes for ICness and as it turns out Kenku doesn't do TG.

And by that I mean he doesn't do it onto other people. So I'm scrapping the later third of the chapter and find myself in need of an actual female character. Now, I know there is a female variant of Virmir and a few others of otherwise male characters, but I don't know any of them. So I need to get a volunteer female to put herself at the mercy of Kenku's free samples.

Also, since the thread is open if anyone else would like to volunteer/request/blacklist something now would be the time. As I explained to Selden yesterday this isn't just a muscle growth story (though my player is found of those), this is a beach TF story, so things will be escalating slowly until eventually... well that would spoil the ending. The point is this is not a time to be shy; the longer this story drags on the more likely that anything will go.

...within a reasonable G(ish) rating of course.

88

Art Gallery / Re: "Bet Your Tail" (Comic)

« on: May 21, 2012, 09:13:49 AM »

Well that's an unexpected turn of events. I was honestly expecting the fox to loose his tail, not get it replaced with a... cacomistle was it?

Well need to wait until next month when the panel pans over to a dear gamblers so see how through this exchange was, but still... this will be an interesting five page comic.

89

Crimson Flag Comic / Re: Comic 196

« on: May 20, 2012, 06:13:36 PM »

Hmm... just for clarity, I'm pretty sure the fox in the center of the staffs is Emiline.
http://crimsonflagcomic.com/comic.php?comicID=67

 It's the first time we've bot a good look at her feral form with Virmir's art style, but the small bit of coloration on the top of the head is the telling detail. Also given that the archemage was the one who went to engage her in battle, it makes a lot of sense that he'd be watching over her.

90

Role Play Theater / Re: Dawn of Worlds

« on: May 04, 2012, 02:00:02 PM »

Starting Points: 11
Command City x3: (-6)
New armies rallied in Salkyn, Quesalk, and Las Flotas.

Command Order: (-2)
Seekers openly approach the pirate lords of the Red Ryen with interest in the protection of Las Flotas.

Command City: (-2)
Red Rats begin construction of a galleon fleet at Las Flotas, secretly for benefit for Takers.

Command Avatar: (-1)
Have a ‘meeting’ with the secret societies infesting your civilization.
Ending Points: 0

At the beginning of the new year, the Seekers and the Red Rats continue strengthening the Taker’s various armies. Not that the forces at Las Flotas consider themselves the Takers at the soldier level, but their generals know better. In any event, by the end of the year Salkyn, Quesalk, and Las Flotas will each be supporting a new army.

Additionally throughout this year the Taker’s plan for the Red Ryen are pushed forward with a sense of urgency. The Seekers use the recent attack against Las Flotas, and their masters’ help in repelling that attack, as an opening to approach the pirate lords of the Red Ryen concerning assistance in the protection of Las Flotas. In preparation for the opening this will create the Red Rats begin construction of a fleet of ships in the harbors of Las Flotas. Not an unusual activity in Las Flotas, but for the Red Rats who normally use their employers’ transportation it does raise an eyebrow. The Red Rats simply claim that one of their employers has need for both men and transportation and assure the pirate lords that they aren’t going to be infringing on their rights of pillage.

All these actions, as grand as they are, pale in comparison to the activities of solitary member of the Takers in the city of Quesalk. Her actions if fruitful will soon alter the season of the world on its furthest shores.

--- --- --- ---

The unimportant quarter mistress named Tuilan didn’t know what to expect as she sat in lavishly decorated sitting room. Rooms like this were uncommon in Resalk culture, too many thrills and not enough practicality. Practicality was in the eye of the beholder and one did not question the decisions of a Taker unless one was a Seeker, and even then with great care...

Of course that brought to attention how to react to the woman sitting across from her. By now reaching middle age, Lady Ressalon was far from the most impressive Taker; many of them where as impressive as their Blades ready to fall at the emperor’s command. For some reason this made Lady Ressalon as her position as fifth to the emperor as all the more impressive.

Putting down her ‘tea’, the Lady Ressalon raised an eye at Tuilan’s untouched cup. The quarter mistress took it up immediately and almost choked as she struggled to gulp down a sip. This appeared to assume the Lady Ressalon as she smiled for a moment before finally speaking, “So the Seekers tell me that your son has been accepted into the Blades.”

“Yes your greatness. He is a great honor to the family,” Tuilan responded with a hurried caution, particularly making sure to the ‘the’ rather than ‘our’. The Takers rarely took kindly to others claiming ownership of... anything, and only tolerated it in those who didn’t know better. And they always knew if you knew somehow as more than one foreign merchant had discovered over the decades to the detriment of their small cloth.

“Yes... an honor,” the lady responded with a smile... though there was a small frown in her undertone. “I’m certainly your father must happy. Particularly after his bother said he was such a fool for sending such a gifted prodigy into the lion’s den.”

Tuilan paled slightly. “My... there is no uncle, greatness.  Father was an only child.”

“You mean your cousin, the one posing as a merchant in Las Flotas?” Lady Ressalon said with a small frown, “Well, given the last time he’s seen his sister he may as well be an only child, but honestly this meeting isn’t about your family.”

If not for her brown fur, Tuilan would almost be sheet white. “What is it about, greatness?”

This earned a mild glare from Tuilan, “We tolerate deception rarely and only when it’s polite, but even more infrequent do I tolerate idiocy. You know very well what I know, Tuilan. After all, we know everything.”

Tuilan tried to stand only to find a pressure keeping her seated. Glancing with panic at Ressalon, all she saw where dark features and fiery eyes. The entire room seemed to glow with an inner light, dispelling all shadows as the doors and windows slammed shut. “Greatness... I assure you I...”

“WE ARE FIRE,” Lady Ressalon stated with a calmness that shook the air with its firmness, “LIGHT AND HEAT CARRIED IN VESSELS OF BLOOD. WE HAVE SPENT GENERATIONS TOLERATING YOUR PRECENCE IN OUR HERD, BUT NEVER SHOULD YOU HAVE FOOLED YOURSELF INTO THINKING YOUR WHERE UNSEEN BY THAT WHICH SEES ALL.”

Standing, Lady Ressalon advanced on the trembling Tuilan, “YOUR SECRETS ARE AN ILLUSION... A DECEPTION THAT WE GIFT TO YOU AS WE GIFT TO ALL OTHERS. A GIFT WE NOW REVOKE.” Snapping her fingers, Tuilan’s form shimmered a lost all color briefly before taking on a liquid metal sheen.

Turning around and taking a seat, Lady Ressalon lets the sense of exposure sink into Tuilan before speaking up again, “Sorry about that. It’s a bit of a right of inniations for the Seekers.”

Tuilan bubbled for a moment before refirming her vocal cords, “Greatness?”

“Surely you must have suspected we knew? The shifters have been trying to infiltrate all levels of Resalk society for generations. Is it any surprise you’ve failed to infiltrate the Seekers for so long if we didn’t knew? We are the FIRE that once guided the Watchers of Recycled, free from our crystal prison and given flesh now for generations. We know much of what happens on foreign shores, and most assuredly EVERYTHING that happens in our domain.”

“As such,” Lady Ressalon continued, “We know that things are changing... and not entirely in ways we can turn to our advantage. To pull things back on track we need contacts with those who think themselves beyond our interest.”

“You’ll soon be getting messages from your homeland that the war against the Scourge has just taken an... unpredicted turn. While distant to us, we’ll soon be recruiting allies who can provide assistance in your war... rapid assistance. Even if that turns sour, with the threats against Las Flotas diminishing we’d like to offer aid... even for those who we might have once waged war against. Do not ask questions, as Seeker you are privileged to such information only as we delegate.”

Rising, Lady Ressalon walked to the door and opened it, “You may resume your deception. Such are the games we allow the Seekers to play amongst themselves.”

Regaining her brown fur, Tuilan hastily stood and bowed. “Thank you greatness. Your intentions will be relayed at once, greatness.” And with that the quarter mistress and spy rushed out of the room.

Closing the door behind her, Lady Ressalon looked at the perfectly sealed and impossibly lit room. Truly impossible if not for her power, for even between the floor and the carpet there was light. Not a shadow was tolerated within the room. Well, almost no shadow. “You may come out, Namco of the Noctus. Or would you practice idiocy?”

After a moment of hesitations, a shadow that had been desperately trying to escape the room slid out from the bookshelf and stretched out into a canine form. Lady Ressalon evaluated the Notcus critically, almost seductively... though truth be told it was an entirely different hunger in her eyes. “You would have made such warriors. Given time we would have relished making you ours, but we barely have time to finalize our acquisition of the Red Ryen before we must act or lose all.”

“When you return to your precious spire, news of the disaster the scourge’s efforts against the glyph scared will be spreading like wildfire. What was once a minor threat might overtake the north west continent. Slaughter is slaughter, but if they breach Eis Wand... than the rest of the world might soon fall. The White Larepin do not know what they play with. We might want to rule the world, but you’d prefer living in our empire then becoming one with the swarm.”

Darkening again, Lady Ressalon’s inner fire takes over as she deliver her message, “TELL DARKNESS... TELL NOCTELLUS, THAT THE FIRE OFFER TO EXTEND THE REACH OF THE LONGSHADOW ACROSS THE NORTHERN DIVIDE. THE TIME TO DO SO IS NOT NOW, BUT IT WILL BE SOON. IT WOULD DO WELL OF THE DARKNESS TO NOT DISMISS THE FIRE’S OFFER.”