Welcome back! Let's continue the adventures of Hopson.
Hopson quickly slays a diggle and cheers into the air. He just leveled up!
This is the skill tome, where we go to make a selection for new abilities. By overwhelming popular demand, I choose the rocket-punch. I'm sure it will serve us well!
Thanks to increasing Hopson's clockwork skill, he also learns a new recipe. We don't have any of these things yet, so don't get excited.
As Hopson steps through a doorway, he is hit by a curse! This is the Easy Target curse, which lowers dodge ability by 15 points. It only goes away if he gets hit once.
The culprit is that garden gnome over there. While physically weak, these guys can teleport around the dungeon, drain mana, and cast debuff spells. More of a nuisance than anything else, unless they have backup. Hopson goes berserk and the gnome collapses in a pile chunky chunks.
But what's this?
It's a shrine to Inconsequentia, the Goddess of Sidequests! Hopson quickly stops to offer a prayer.
We'll keep an eye open for these things as we travel through the dungeon. Moving on.
Remember when I mentioned how terrible gnomes were without backup?
Yeah. If there's one thing that makes DoD stand out from some other rougelikes, it's the sheer number of enemies that you can face at any time. This is actually a fairly small group.
A quick bit of slaughter (and a dose of Diggle Flu) later, we're good.
Well, this is strange. Zombys don't usually start showing up until a little further down. These guys are fairly tough and deal putrefaction damage, a difficult type to defend against. I think it's time to test the rocket fist.
It's really hard to get a decent screenshot of these things
On the plus side, it deals a massive amount of damage and stuns the zomby. Easy to finish off.
In a small alcove, Hopson finds his first crossbow. It is also an artifact! Hopson equips it, but doesn't have any bolts (aside from the highly valuable squid bolts) to shoot with yet.
Oh hey, it's a batty. Aside from being a little hard to hit, these aren't very difficult. The only tricky thing about them is that they can fly, which means they aren't affected by traps and can move across bodies of water.
And what's that over there?
What the heck is a deth doing here?! Like the zomby, these don't start showing up until farther down. I think we have another candidate for rocket punching.
Hopson is starting to look a little ragged, and now comes an Evil Magic Potato. These guys can fly just like battys, but can also launch magic missiles from range and deal asphyxiating damage up close. Thankfully, Hopson goes berserk and dices it in two hits.
Another new foe. These common cave ravens are a bit of a joke; they're just hard to hit. Hopson takes no damage from it.
This...thing. These can be a genuine pain; large amounts of physical resistance and they hit hard as well. ROCKET PUNCH!
And with that, Hopson reaches level 3! Time to choose a new ability!
Axe Skill: Viking Strike
Has a chance to perform a special attack in combat. Also increases counter chance and accuracy.
Shield Skill: Duck and Cover!
Has a chance to increase defense for a while after getting hit. Also increases block chance.
Berserker Skill: Viking Temperment
Has a chance to increase attack power for a while after getting hit.
Master of Arms Skill: Suit Up
A cooldown ability. When active, your defensive abilities are increased. Also passively increases block chance and piercing resistance.
Smithing Skill: Ingoteer
Increases burliness, tinkering ability, and smithing ability.
Demonology Skill: Fervor of the Flagellant
When hitting or being hit by a demon, has a chance to provide a buff to damage resistance and damage, at the cost of a little health.
Clockwork Skill: Rocket Jump
This ability will detonate explosives at your current location, allowing you to jump to another point within sight range. However, you will also take damage from using this ability. Also passively increases tinkering skill.