Diary of Dismas - Week 1Day 1
After some work, the roads are clear and safe for caravans once more. Reconstruction of the hamlet is now underway, and I hope to have the Abbey and Tavern repaired and ready for service and The Service by weeks end. With the clearing of the road, two adventurers have answered the call to join my expedition into the ruins north of the hamlet.
A dedicated rear-rank healer, with access to single target healing, group healing, and the Judgement ranged attack which heals her as well. She can also stun front-row enemies with Dazzling Light, which increases the light level too. In camp, she can pray to heal and reduce the stress of all religious companions, reduce the chances of being ambushed at night, and help companions resist stress with a pep-talk. She's hard to afflict and does higher ranged damage, but her Curiosity might expose her to unecessary risk in dungeon events. In the front rows, her lack of combat skills and low hitpoints due to Fragile make her vulnerable.
She has skills in both the rear and front row, but is better when not heading the party. Her skills inflict a variety of negative effects; wasting blight, bleeding cuts, or shuffling the order of single enemies. She can also cure ailments, though she has no direct healing. In camp, she employs healing leeches and vapours, and stress-reducing encouragement. She's a bit of a mixed bag, with bonus HP from Tough offset by a higher bleed chance from Anemic. She also deals bonus damage to Beast-type enemies, but finds the Warrens where they make their home stressful.
I've welcomed both into my employ. After the travelers have had their rest, and supplies are gathered, we will venture together into the ruins. I hope to put the villager's superstitions of the walking dead to rest, and perhaps recover a few old family relics and deeds which might help establish this hamlet as something more than a stain on the map. Such are my hopes, at any rate.
...
Day 4
Damn these delays! I suspect my Steward shares the common folk's superstitions of the place, as he's done everything he can to postpone gathering supplies for our expedition. That, or perhaps he truly fears for our safety. A touching notion, however misguided, and one quickly dispelled by the price he asked. 1,100 crowns for a simple shovel, 8 rations of food, and 4 torches would be outrageous but for the difficulty in keeping this village supplied. At any rate, we now embark north, up a craggy cliff I haven't walked since I was a child. Fond memories, to keep me warm against the chill of morning.
...
Day 5
There is much to record this evening. My hands still shake... would that there were something in Fossard's kit to calm my nerves. Perhaps in writing of the events that transpired, it will all begin to make sense. Perhaps then, my pulse won't thunder so in my ears.
The ruins we discovered broke out through the hillside... a collapsed tunnel, leading into some subterranean space. I know not what purpose it once served, for it was not part of the manor as I recall it. It resembled a fortress sunken into the earth, hewn stone brick crumbled in heaps, and ornate wood paneling now worm-eaten and moldering. The air was foul with rot and damp, and our torch sputtered with each breath of that fetid breeze.
We had only walked a few paces into the ruins, when a swarm of great maggots boiled towards us. Wretched things like nothing I've ever seen, each the size of a hound and covered in twitching hairs. What had they feasted on, to grow so big? And what horror would they have matured into, given enough time?
Together, we dispatched them swiftly, though Mallory sustained a sizable bite-wound. Would that they had been the worst of what awaited us.
A pile of earth and rubble blocked our path, but Reynauld and the Shovel I'd had the foresight to bring cleared it quickly. As he worked, Fossard laughingly dubbed him our "Shovel Knight"... perhaps she found some humor in it that the rest of us didn't.
The shoddy shovel was ruined by the excavation, and our torches had dimmed slightly by the time it was cleared, but we pressed onward, reaching a closed doorway leading to a small chamber. As light flooded into the room, I remember the glint of bronze. A holy font stood in the center of the room, crowned by a small statue of The Light. Perhaps those tunnels had been the undercroft of some forgotten cathedral?
Reynauld didn't seem to mind the thought of profaning this holy icon of The Light, as he scooped fists full of gold from the basin without hesitation. Strange behavior for a self-proclaimed Warrior of the Light, though perhaps it should come as no surprise. Often in my travels, I've heard stories of the looting that took place during the Crusades.
We pressed on, encountering more oversized maggots, as well as chittering black spiders with fangs like knives, dripping with venom. In such a pestilent place, I was glad for Fossard's medical sachets and remedies.
As our torches continued to dim, we continued onward. In an old strongbox, I recovered a stash of valuable documents and familial relics, not far from another heap of rubble. With our shovel broken but our hopes high, we set about the tiring task of clearing it by hand.
Fossard had no jokes for us this time, and each of us were bruised from hauling splintered stones and timbers away. So tiring was the work that I scarce noticed the dimming of our torches, until smoke was all that was left of them.
I should have had the sense to turn back then... return home, rest, and gather more supplies for another foray into the ruins. But there was wealth to be found in those dark halls.
Wealth, and ill fortune...
...and worse things.
Things that have given me cause to reconsider those superstitions I once thought so foolish.
I thought my uncle a madman... covering failures as a governor behind his mad fancies of "abominations".
It still seemed mad, even when I saw those walking corpses with my own eyes.
This is my land, my duty... the seat of my bloodline, going back more generations than I can count. And such horrors are not welcome here.
Together, we will purge this place. Cauterize this seeping wound, and burn whatever wretched things dwell here in the fires of The Light. This, I swear.
Reynauld:
Gained Eagle Eye during the expedition, boosting ranged critical chance. Not really useful for a frontline melee hero, but maybe we can teach him some ranged skills too. Also caught the Creeping Cough from inhaling cremated remains, lowering his accuracy, dodge, and speed. We'll probably want to get that cured, and relieve some of the extreme stress he wound up with, before sending him in again.
Mallory:
Gained Resilient, allowing her to recover from Stress more easily. She's was pretty badly stressed by all the injuries, though, and may want to sit out the next expedition as well.
Dismas:
Gained Quickdraw, increasing his speed in the first round. Got The Yips from the exploration as well, making his aim shaky. The filth in the dungeon gave him Ablutomania as well... a newfound obsession with cleanliness. Don't know what to expect from that, but we'll see!
There we go, first expedition down, and Waiting List updated. There ended up being a lot more images than I thought there'd be. Hope the resolution and format is okay for everyone; I wanted to keep it from getting too obscene on the old bandwidth, but still keep the fine print legible. I might end up recording videos for some parts instead too... boss fights or so on. Lemme know what folks think! Also, if you have guidelines for how to specialize your characters (vague or specific) just lemme know. I'll do what I can to keep to them.
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Topic: LP Darkest Dungeon: Week 1 - Ruins Expedition (Read 6830 times)