Dungeon Delver Quest (Original Fantasy... again)

[Larekko12]

[X] Buy Yamabushi's Garb

 

[Minion #Q]

[X] Buy Yamabushi's Garb

 

[yrsillar]

Yeah not much dissension on this one either, I suppose the next vote will make up for that. Locking by the way.

 

[Guile]

Yeah not much dissension on this one either, I suppose the next vote will make up for that. Locking by the way.

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Ominous.

 

[Grosstoad]

Well, it's probably about bashing someone, or about picking a new party or not.

 

[yrsillar]

After you take a moment to spend your 'points' and a few shards empowering yourself, and doesn't that feel freaky, you decide you should figure out what to do with the evening. You suppose you'll get some shopping done, as much as you'd love to just stroll around, take in the sights and chat a bit, the pragmatic part of you knows you really should put in a little groundwork on figuring out exactly how much a 'Shard' is worth. Decided you make your way back into the bustling camp at the base of the tower, easily navigating the crowd by simple virtue of your bulk.

It's easier now though, if only because as the sun crawls down toward the horizon, the camp is settling down. Fewer people move between the many tents and pavilions now, though those that are still up seem warier and more furtive than their daytime counterparts. Your search for goods comes up short for the first little while. It's not that there aren't reasonably fine weapons and armor on display here and there, but rather that there really isn't anything suited to you.

Back home, not many of your kin go for metal armor, its plain unnecessary given your natural toughness, and that's not even considering how expensive it would be to make the sort of plate armor popular among smaller and squishier folks for an Oni. There's also the fact that none of the stuff you see would even fit you. Sure there are other races as big as Oni, but most of 'em tend toward more unique body types, so their stuff is a wash too.

You do make note of a nice little roped off area with a reasonably neatly painted sign up that reads 'Looking for Group?' It's kind of a weird way of saying it, but you get the idea. It's empty right now though, you'll have to take a look in the morning assuming you don't decide to track down Murdan. You finally find something that you can use, buried in the depths of a peddler's tent. The scrawny little skink running the place gives you the creeps, but he has bits and bobs from all over the place on display, and a few knick knacks that look like Oni work catch your eye.

Understanding the garbled common coming out of the tiny colorful lizardman is even more of a pain, but you manage to convey an interest in anything else from your homeland he might have, after a few frustrating minutes. You hit jackpot though, 'cause he actually has something useful among all the junk, namely an actual, genuine set of Yamabushi gear. You have no idea how something like that got off of home islands, but you're kinda glad it did. The mountain sages mostly live on the more active volcanoes and work to calm the spirits and keep them from blowing you all to kingdom come, so their everyday wear is pretty hardy.

It still almost physically hurts to pay out the ten shard price tag though. You know you'll earn more, but it still feels wrong to use something so precious like mere coins. Leaving behind a rather happy peddler, you alternate between feeling irritated at your now near broke state and happy at your acquisition. You suppose you'll have to find someplace to change. Once you do, it's not too different than your old stuff, except for the fact that the heavy sleeves actually cover your arms, and the sturdy leather bracers cover your wrists and the backs of your hands, and it takes a bit of fiddling to get the ties on the front right, you figure you can leave the headwrap down around your neck while you're in camp though. You think the pale orange coloring of the overcoat looks pretty good on you too.

Also frankly, a new pair of sandals does you pretty good, your old ones were getting pretty worn out. You might not have the shards to buy anything else, but you suppose it only makes sense to at least swing by and take a look at what potions are available too. The fact that it will take you back near Gemnus, tent for dinner is just a bonus.

The apothecaries tent is pretty easy to identify, mostly because of the multicolored steam and smoke floating lazily upward from slits in the fabric, and the oddly appetizing smell of potions being brewed. The proprietor has a surprising resemblance to Gemnus, almost enough to make you double take. You're pretty sure they're female, but the heavy protective smock, and goggles the brewer is wearing makes it hard to tell. She barely looks up from the trio of boiling cauldron's she is hovering over when you enter, acknowledging you just long enough to call out, "The golem can take care of purchases. Don't bother me unless you're looking to sell ingredients."

Looking over to the side, you see another one of the smiling 'maids' who served in Gemnus' pavilion standing behind a small display. You kind wish it wasn't another one of those glassy eyed smiling dolls manning the counter. You suppress a shudder when the thing turns briefly your way, and hunch your shoulders a bit, as you turn your attention back to the woman. She's… not exactly personable is she? "You not even gonna introduce yourself?" you reply as you move along to start looking over her stock. Each type of potion is labeled with neatly written placards with the price at the bottom. You wince at the expense of some of them.

For a few seconds you think she's going to ignore you entirely, "Inila. If you want chit chat go bother my brother." You finally hear her say, glancing up in time to see her carefully stirring the brilliant indigo contents of one of the cauldrons.

Huffing in amusement at her utter disregard for customer service, you continue to look around. There's some pretty good stuff you'll admit, although you can't afford anything at the moment. Your eyes do come to rest briefly on a neatly written sign hanging over one of the displays, 'Ingredients purchased. Inquire for details.' You suppose people probably find all sorts of weird stuff in the towers, if your enemies start dropping stuff besides godsblood you suppose you'll have a place to offload it. "You have any particular ingredients you're looking for?" you ask, more to see if you can bait a response than anything else.

This time the reply comes faster, "Anything created in the tower. If you provide the ingredients for a new mixture, I will provide you one free phial of the new mixture. I pay in barter otherwise."
You blink, that was a little more verbose than you were expecting, good to know though you suppose. You give a grunt of affirmation to let her know you heard her, and spend a few more minutes looking around. Your belly soon reminds you of your priorities though.

You take a stop over at Gemnus' pavilion and spend off the last of your normal coin for a good meal after that, startin tomorrow you're gonna have to consider the costs of food too… ugh. On the other hand, you should also probably be considering what sort of partner you want to look for tomorrow…

You ponder that as you search out a free space to roll out your bedroll in, and keep on pondering as you drift off to sleep.

Select up to two
[] Someone who can heal
[] Someone with some range
[] Someone who can sneak
[] A good supporter
[] Just see who approaches you tomorrow
[] Go it alone.
[] None( select if you do not want a second choice.)

-15 Shards
+1 Yamabushi's Garb

 

[Xicree]

[X] Someone who can heal
[X] Just see who approaches you tomorrows

 

[Tavarokk]

[X] Someone who can heal
[X] Someone with some range

Wonder if chibi dryad is as snarky as she looks.

 

[Sirrocco]

[x] Just see who approaches you tomorrow
[X] Someone who can sneak

 

[Larekko12]

[X] Someone who can heal
[X] Someone with some range

 

[yrsillar]

Tavarokk, Sirrocco could you add a vote for [] None if you don't want a second person? For ease of counting.

 

[Grosstoad]

[X] Someone who can heal
[X] Someone with some range

EDIT: I would also like to add that I am going to suggest of stealing Inila from her brother.

 

[Sirrocco]

[X] Someone who can heal
[X] Someone with some range

EDIT: I would also like to add that I am going to suggest of stealing Inila from her brother.

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What would that even involve? She's an apothecary, and doesn't appear to have any interest in going into the tower.

 

[Grosstoad]

I am weak to kuu- things.

 

[Hangwind]

[X] Go it alone.

 

[Arkeus]

Going at it with a healer when we have just bought the armour is super counterproductive. They almost certainly will just end up looking at us the whole day doing nothing.

[X] Someone with some range
[X] None

Really tempted to just say 'go at it alone' too, but...

 

[Grosstoad]

Or it would extend dungeoneering time by a larger factor, cause a healer who can only heal is odd.

 

[Nohbody]

[X] Someone who can heal
[X] Just see who approaches you tomorrows

 

[mrttao]

So, our main problem is sustainability. We have, very likely, enough damage output and accuracy to beat most enemies we've seen fairly consistently. This means we can conceivably earn consistent shards for a day or two and buy up what we don't buy now.

Our biggest issue is damage. If we can't heal incoming damage, things get very desperate. Finishing enemies faster helps, but armor would as well.

Click to shrink...

We need heal over time effect.

[X] Someone who can heal
We can smash face for days, a healer could really help our "stamina" so to speak

 

[CptTagon]

[X] Someone who can heal
[X] Someone with some range

 

[Arkeus]

Or it would extend dungeoneering time by a larger factor, cause a healer who can only heal is odd.

Click to shrink...

A low level healer who can do much more than heal is odd I would think, but that's difference in how we interpret the world.

We can smash face for days, a healer could really help our "stamina" so to speak

Click to shrink...

How so? Our stamina is currently limited by our dailies (and even then probably not) and by tiredness. We have never gotten more than 1damage at once, after all, and so with the current rate of enemies it's flat out impossible to get damage. Of course, assuming enemies significantly stronger... it's still very, very unlikely.

Taking a healer along on a trek where we can't get injured is a waste of that armour.

EDIT: Hopefully we end up with the druid and she isn't a healer but a CC, but even then "looking for a healer" is not what we'd be doing.

 

[mrttao]

How so? Our stamina is currently limited by our dailies (and even then probably not) and by tiredness

Click to shrink...

There is no such thing as a tiredness stat on our character sheet and we have shown zero indication of this being an issue for us in combat thus far.

We have lost HP at an alarming rate in combat so far. And our dailies are not needed to win, they just let us conserve some HP at the moment since so far we 1 hit kill any enemy we have seen. The daily lets us one hit 3 kills, good for minimizing the amount of HP damage we take. With a healer we could actually conserve our dailies better too, saving them for when we really need them (boss fights) rather than using them as a way to extend our HP.

We have never gotten more than 1damage at once, after all, and so with the current rate of enemies it's flat out impossible to get damage. Of course, assuming enemies significantly stronger... it's still very, very unlikely.

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1. what is very very unlikely is that we will continue to face nothing but skeletons who are the weakest possible enemy. In fact we already encountered a more dangerous enemy (the necromancer) and we don't know how much damage his magic attacks would do but i am guessing more than 1HP
2. we haven't taken more than 1HP per hit thus far, but we have taken more than 1HP per fight. In fact just fighting skeletons we had to burn an HP potion
3. This is basic video game 101. Healer massively increases your combat staying power, there has been zero indication that this quest is in any way an exception to this.

 

[Guile]

[x] Just see who approaches you tomorrow

We are a giant, pretty woman with a club. I'm sure we'll fish up someone interesting without even trying.

 

[Bre Karn]

[X] A good supporter
[X] Just see who approaches you tomorrow

 

[Arkatekt]

[X] Someone who can heal
[X] Someone with some range

 

[Kinematics]

Spoiler: Analysis

Your dice pool is determined by adding the values of your attributes and skills.

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The number of dice granted by your attributes are your stat divided by 2 rounded down.

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Equipment relevant to a task at hand (such as a weapon during an attack, or lockpicks in a door unlocking) add automatic successes equal to their quality.

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Skill dice:
E: 1 dice
D: 2 dice

So, prior to the recent buys:

Str 4 / 2 = 1.5 -> 2 dice
Club skill E = 1 die
Greatclub passive: +1 on success
Club quality 2

Total: 3D + 2 + 1?
Average: 3.2 + 1?


New stats:

Str 5 / 2 = 2 -> 2 dice
Club skill D = 2 dice
Greatclub passive: +2 on success
Club quality 2

Total: 4D + 2 + 2?
Average: 3.6 + 2?



Anyway, in general we can expect to get 3 or 4 successes, with a slight bias towards 4. If that beats the defender's defense, then we get the difference plus 2 in damage.


Defense:

Toughness 4 / 2 = 2 dice (would have been 1 before the buy)
No relevant skills
Armor quality 2

Total before the stat and armor buy: 1D (average 0.4)
Total after the stat and armor buy: 2D+2 (average 2.8)


In order for us to not be totally mangled by the skeletons, their offense had to be like 1D+0. Even at 2D, or 1D+1, it's now impossible for them to do any damage to us.

The skeleton's defense is 1D+1. Yuuka's previous offense would average 2.8 damage per attack against them. Her new offense should average 4.4 per attack. Skeletons probably have 3-4 HP. So at this point we could pretty much wade in and kill skeletons all day, all on our own.

Of course that's not a very exciting way to level up.

An increase in opponent power would either be going to 4 str or D skill. Maybe both, if they don't have equipment. So looking at 3D+1 or 4D offense. That's 2.2 or 1.6 average offense damage. Still lower than our average, but with the possibility of occasionally doing damage. Either one could hit 4 successes, which is the maximum for our defense. If we don't roll the max at the same time, we can take 1-2 damage.

We can survive such opponents getting lucky a couple times, since we still have one potion left, but after that we'd be heading back to the skeletons for basic farming, or ending the day.

Given the option to take two people with us, and that it looks like we're going for that, we're going to want a target that's a bit tougher than skeletons. (If we were going alone, we could do what Ansom did yesterday and just farm skeletons all day.)

A +1 to opponent difficulty would not really warrant a healer. If we go for a +2, though..

3D+2, or 4D+1, gives 3.2 or 2.6 averages, with potentials up to 5 successes. We have a max defense success of 4, which means if they max out, they will always do damage. Further, their average is about the same as our average (2.6 or 3.2 vs 2.8), which means we could expect to take damage about 25% of the time. That's far more than we can keep up with with just a potion, making a healer a must.

Now, who would combine well with that? Ranged? Sneaky? Well, honestly, both of those are the types that generally don't need a healer. If they're getting hurt, they're doinitwrong. At the same time, they're also squishier types, so may need it just from incidental damage.

Honestly, I'd want an AOE/CC type to complement Yuuka's heavy melee/single-target strengths. Of course, the way hate works here (+1 threat for every target damaged), an AOE user would very quickly become the primary target. Probably too dangerous for them for now.

Barring that, it looks like the second choice is a toss-up between range and random. Also depends on the interpretation of 'range' — magic or arrows? Eh, either works, so... will go with range for now. It'll be someone new no matter what, and I'd be a bit suspicious about who might approach us on just the second day.

[X] Someone who can heal
[X] Someone with some range

 

[Smyter]

[X] Just see who approaches you tomorrow
[X] Someone with some range

Going by how we did the first day, we should be able to last much longer today. We increases our toughness and armor so we should take much less damage than we did the first day. We only took 3 damage over the entire day. We will be taking even less than that. It looks like we will no longer take damage by encountering a group of 4 mooks. Since each mook drops one god's blood, we should target large groups rather than elites for more shards with less risk. Fighting 3 groups of 4 mooks should not even damage us. We can likely get 15 shards if we go alone.

That said, we should take more party members than less. We do not know all of the things that can happen in the tower. Having more people means that we will not get stuck because of a trap or an elite enemy. We got 15 shards by having a partner and having help in that one room. We can easily get 10 by partnering with 3 people. It would be better to be safe than to be risky this early.

I would prefer a ranged character over a healer to help us with the tough enemies. A healer lets us last longer, but a ranged character gives us more options in battle. We would take less damage by clearing a room faster than tanking a bunch of enemies for several waves. Especially if there is an elite. Having a sneak might be a good idea since traps might be common, but that might not be the case.

No matter what we do tomorrow, I will be satisfied by our progress as long as we get at least another 15 shards. I want to level up as many abilities as possible so we can handle tougher enemies. Leveling up our skills is the name of the game at this level. Whether we increase club to C or all of our abilities to D, we will be making progress in the game.

 

[Guile]

That said, we should take more party members than less. We do not know all of the things that can happen in the tower. Having more people means that we will not get stuck because of a trap or an elite enemy. We got 15 shards by having a partner and having help in that one room. We can easily get 10 by partnering with 3 people. It would be better to be safe than to be risky this early.

I would prefer a ranged character over a healer to help us with the tough enemies. A healer lets us last longer, but a ranged character gives us more options in battle. We would take less damage by clearing a room faster than tanking a bunch of enemies for several waves. Especially if there is an elite. Having a sneak might be a good idea since traps might be common, but that might not be the case.

No matter what we do tomorrow, I will be satisfied by our progress as long as we get at least another 15 shards. I want to level up as many abilities as possible so we can handle tougher enemies. Leveling up our skills is the name of the game at this level. Whether we increase club to C or all of our abilities to D, we will be making progress in the game.

Click to shrink...

It's very unlikely that we're going to get trapped by an elite enemy in the first handful of rooms. Also, the oni herself noted and avoided the pressure plate trap a couple updates ago; we don't need a rogue for it this early.

And what part of the world-wandering oni seems like the slow and cautious type to you?

 

[mrttao]

We only took 3 damage over the entire day.

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It was a 5 minute work day aka typical adventurer work day. We fought literally 2 encounters and then called it a day because we lost half our HP. "only 3"? we only have 6 HP total and each potion heals 3HP. We went down from 2 potions to 1 potion. And we fought the scrubsiest of scrubs.

And what part of the world-wandering oni seems like the slow and cautious type to you?

Click to shrink...

I think the MC is more cautious than the typical oni. So, much less than anyone else in town.

 

[prandom]

[X] Just see who approaches you tomorrow
[X] Someone who can heal