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[IronyOwl]

Ruin has come to our family...

You will arrive along the Old Road...

Spoiler: The Old Road (click to show/hide)

The woods surrounding the manor are... not as I remember them. Warped, sickly, festering... if it's this bad this far out, what does it look like near the manor itself?

Only one thing can stand against this corruption: The power of friendship!

I am not a magical girl.

I am, for a little bit more.



For now, a hardened crusader and high-class bandit will have to do.



We encounter a brigand. The warnings were true: These lands are not safe.





The thug is vicious, but no match for my companions.







Already justice is proving to be quite profitable...



More thugs, and not just opportunistic rabble this time. Getting supplies through here must be a harrowing ordeal...





Renault sends them a message.





The remainder of the trip is uneventful, by the standards of a tense hike through corrupted, enemy-infested woods.

Spoiler: Home Sweet Home (click to show/hide)

The hamlet is... also not as I remember it.

There is much to do. Starting with our new recruits.

They're not magical girls either.

My two favorite things are healing comrades and beating skeletons.

Acid solves everything!

...

Ha! This darkness doesn't stand a chance!

Spoiler: New Recruits (click to show/hide)

[IronyOwl]

Roster and Graveyard

Roster

Spoiler: Renault, Apprentice Crusader (UNCLAIMED) (click to show/hide)

A hardened veteran, unamused at his emplower's eccentricity.

Spoiler: Dismas, Apprentice Highwayman (UNCLAIMED) (click to show/hide)

A skilled rogue, as at home here as anywhere else.

Spoiler: Maminot, Seeker Vestal (UNCLAIMED) (click to show/hide)

A woman of gentle healing and pious violence.

Spoiler: Guernon, Seeker Plague Doctor (Egan_BW) (click to show/hide)

A very real doctor with a real degree and everything. Hates skeletons, and keeps noticing that things she kills are often skeletons in disguise.

Spoiler: Tranchant, Seeker Bounty Hunter (EuchreJack) (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Quesnel, Seeker Houndmaster (UNCLAIMED) (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Forneaux, Seeker Grave Robber (UNCLAIMED) (click to show/hide)

Waitlist
None yet!

Graveyard
The graveyard is empty. Well... not empty. Just not used for our heroes. Not recently, at least.

Spoiler: How to Join (click to show/hide)

To claim a hero, just pick an unclaimed one or tell me your preferences and wait for one to arrive on the stagecoach. Name, color, personality, and other customizations are welcome. I'll also accept habits or goals, like "I always want to run the hardest mission possible in pitch darkness" or "try to stack SPD trinkets".

I'm willing to add mods as well, so don't be shy if you've got a custom class you like.

[IronyOwl]

Archives

Spoiler: Treasures (click to show/hide)

[Egan_BW]

Sure, give me Guernon. Plague doc best waifu. And throwing acid bombs at things is kind of like a magical girl power!
She hates skeletons. The fact that when she kills things they often leave behind skeletons is just evidence that those things were corrupted beings.
Despite being a very real doctor with a totally real degree, she doesn't realize that people normally have skeletons inside them.

[Rockeater]

Will choose who I want later

[EuchreJack]

Dibs on the unknown fifth recruit. Random for me Random God!

[IronyOwl]

Week 1: Diva

Spoiler: Massacre (click to show/hide)

Our first order of business will be a scouting run into the ruins. We need to know what we're dealing with.



We'll bring a few essentials, but no need to go overboard.



Our first encounter.

I knew it!






They are melted and smited with extreme prejudice.



The rewards of righteousness.




Further in, our team ambushes two skeletons and a cultist.

It's three skeletons! Get them!

...that's a mask, but yes!







They fare poorly, but the cultist was carrying an intriguing trinket.



More skeletons!

Care to wager I can't make them bleed?

Oh no you don't. I've seen skeletons hiding under flesh before! It's more common than you think!







They are no match for our onslaught, but the priestess' foul incantations begin to take a toll on our Vestal.

At least we discover a magnificent powerup for our other magical girl.

Spoiler: Hunger (click to show/hide)

After an uneventful massacre, we discover an ominous item. Perhaps it will mean something to us later.



I also make the decision to backtrack for some loot Dismas spied earlier. This is our reward.



And this is our punishment. A patrol appears behind us as we make our way back, well prepared and eager to slaughter the living.





They really, really don't like Maminot.






We really, really don't like them either.







Maminot can't take it anymore. She begins-



Yeah, that.



Bastards!





Guernon takes that personally, and the remaining skeletons are quickly dispatched.

Spoiler: Screaming (click to show/hide)

Back on the main path, Reynauld discovers a pack filled with riches.



Perhaps inspired by Maminot's stellar example, he decides to pocket eight rations all for himself.



There's no time to worry about stolen hams, however.



Not when there's friends to listen to.







Maminot's bold combat strategy has some downsides.







Just a handful of downsides.











Despite our Vestal shrieking like a banshee the whole time, our team dispatches the unholy terrors.



It's going to be a long walk back to the hamlet.



Nonetheless, our first trip to the Ruins was a complete success!

Spoiler: Aftermath (click to show/hide)

Rewards well earned and much needed. Our current champions are badly stressed, and our potential recruits, well...



Haha

Ahahaha

AAAHAAAHAHAHAHAAAA!



As far as stress relief goes, the Caretaker highly recommends the brothel. However, we're a bit short on means of improving it.



The Abbey, on the other hand, can count on my firm support. Guernon believes herself possessed, Reynauld refuses to do aught but pray, and Maminot desperately needs to be beaten with a stick the best relaxation money can buy, so into the Abbey with the lot of them.



Ah, the sweet sounds of screaming. I mean, chanting and praying and absolution.







As for Dismas and our new friends...

You see, without a healer, we're going to have to run our next mission quick and brutal. Strike hard, strike fast, and remember: You don't have to win. You just have to gain more than you lose.

[IronyOwl]

Sure, give me Guernon. Plague doc best waifu. And throwing acid bombs at things is kind of like a magical girl power!
She hates skeletons. The fact that when she kills things they often leave behind skeletons is just evidence that those things were corrupted beings.
Despite being a very real doctor with a totally real degree, she doesn't realize that people normally have skeletons inside them.

Dibs on the unknown fifth recruit. Random for me Random God!

I forgot to ask about naming. Did you want to use your exact forum name, a close equivalent ("Euchre Jack" instead of all one word), keep their current name, or what?

[EuchreJack]

Er, let's say that our forum names are new nicknames for the characters, quickly rename them now, then edit all prior records so it has always been so (except the photos which we'll claim are cursed regarding the naming in a footnote).

EDIT: Well, defer to Egan_BW on what they want to be called.  Plague doc is indeed the best waifu (and my favorite heroine in the game).

[Egan_BW]

Guernon is Guernon.

[IronyOwl]

Week 2: Gamble

Spoiler: Thrust (click to show/hide)

A brief scouting mission while the others rest.


We won't need torches where we're going.


Unfortunately our entry point is inconveniently located. We'll need to double back to fully scout this area.


Fate has a sick sense of humor.


We uncover a journal entry. It's incomplete, but if we can find the rest we'll have an invaluable source of insight into this place.


Our team gets the drop on some skeletons in the dim light.





They savagely press this advantage.




The skeletons are up to their old tricks.





Our party is undeterred.





The rewards are unexceptional, but the shrine soothes our Grave Robber's wounds.



The key we brought comes in handy for opening a locked cabinet.






A few butchered vermin later, and the first half of the mission has been completed. Now it's time to double back and then continue into uncharted territory.

Spoiler: Bleed (click to show/hide)

More maggots yield more treasures.



Fourneaux gets a nasty cut trying the lock on a cabinet.



A little blood is no excuse to not take the fight to the enemy.




Terrible things happen in the dark.



The brute stands alone.




EuchreJack does not play when there's bounties to collect.



And a bounty it is, for the right buyer.



There is a... slight problem, however. Fourneaux is badly injured, and we have no healer.

The smart thing would be turn back now with what riches we've collected... but abandoning this quest would have its own costs. And the next challenge could be the last obstacle... perhaps one more battle, and our party would have free run of this place...

Spoiler: Lunge (click to show/hide)

Fourneaux recovers a bit of strength with some food, and the party lunges back into the fray.






EuchreJack is staggered.





Exposed. Exhausted. Teetering on the brink.



Like Maminot before her, our Grave Robber can't handle the strain.



Face to face with her own death, there is only one person she can bring herself to care about.





A slippery maneuver brings her to the safety of the shadows... for now...



Dismas has no such reservations.





EuchreJack has no such luxuries.



Their ranks are thinned.



Fourneaux disapproves.




They drag our Houndmaster in closer.



He shows them his appreciation.






Victory. Barely, but victory nonetheless.



The party consumes the last of their rations. Surely a hall patrol will be nothing, a few maggots perhaps... and the room beyond is clear. Perhaps they are all clear? Perhaps the end is in sight?










Another tenuous victory.

The room ahead provides an opportunity to scout the corridors beyond.


Empty. Aside from a few traps, handily disarmed by our Highwayman, nothing remains to bar the party's way.

The final room remains unknown, but our heroes say to hell with it. The area has been scouted well enough.

Spoiler: Sting (click to show/hide)

All is not well in the hamlet. The omens we found earlier have borne fruit.



On the bright side, the others are much more relaxed and ready to sally forth than they were. My plan appears to have worked perfectly.

You miserable bastard. You toyed with our lives and nearly got half our squad killed!

Yes but I also gave you a trinket for your cute puppy right upon joining.

...objection retracted.

I retract nothing! Where's my just reward for such perils?!

Ah yes, I have just the thing.



Despite my cunning ploy-

"Heartless, skinflinted gamble."

Despite my ultimately successful strategy, our heroes are still a bit on edge.



Fourneaux, of course, goes in the Pain Box. I mean, Penance Hall.



EuchreJack refuses any diversion save the bottle, so we set him up appropriately.

Remaining accommodations will have to wait until we know who's going on the next mission and who's staying. Speaking of which...







We have some more candidates.

[Egan_BW]

Hell yeah, let's go to the crimson court and burn those bugs. I'm sure that nothing bad will come of this.

[IronyOwl]

Week 3: Blood Price

Spoiler: Poke (click to show/hide)

Guernon is quite eager to take the fight to these vermin. Ulterior motive may play a role.



I have reason to believe we will not need conventional torches, but I have no doubt we shall face all manner of ailments.



The Courtyard is an unsettling, ruined place... which I suppose does little to distinguish it from the surrounding areas.





The spirits are wise. We should listen to the voices in Geurnon's head more often.



Our first signs of resistance.



The servant cuttingly insults Geurnon's fashion sense.



Reynauld cuttingly insults the servant's ability to keep his limbs together.





Nothing too bad, though Reynauld is very slightly melting.



Perhaps a more worthy challenge.








A harder fought battle, and a sparkling crimson reward.



We burn the hive and move on.



We encounter a strange plant...



Investigating it tells us much about what lies ahead.



The strange object we spied from afar turns out to be... significant.



Tampering with it produces the inevitable.







Not a difficult fight overall, but this constant feasting and digestion is starting to wear on us. Hopefully the other two hives aren't far off.



Putting down another few vermin reveals an intriguing find.



Curse me for a fool for not bringing shovels. We'll have to do this the hard way.



Not far now...



We encounter more of our good friends.






We defeat them, but at a cost: Guernon is infected with... The Thirst.



Mainly it just makes her voice sound really sinister. So far, anyway. If she sprouts mandibles and starts trying to drain comrades of their fluids, I guess we'll... uh...

Actually we probably wouldn't notice anything for months, on account of the mask and medicinal inclinations. Hrm.



The party stops for a quick bite to eat (Guernon appears to consume non-comrade food normally) and a brief rest. Hopefully that next hive is nearby.

Spoiler: Scrape (click to show/hide)

Further on, we encounter another cocoon. Experiments are in order, but sadly neither holy water nor medicinal herbs seem to affect the pulsing abomination.



On the bright side, the wretched thing appears to have been empty anyway.

On the less bright side, the path splits into three. This may not be as simple or quick as we were hoping.



The shortest path, the one straight ahead, leads to refreshingly mundane vermin.









They are obnoxiously thorny to put down, but we find a trinket in the webbed bushes nearby.



Further in, we discover... something. Someone?

We debate the correct course of action, but eventually decide on the most obvious and costly:





In exchange for The Blood, we receive a pair of peculiar items. Hopefully Guernon doesn't need any soon.

Spoiler: Doom (click to show/hide)

The bushes part. An abomination lurks here, hungry and terrible.






It's a hive. A living hive.



We cannot defeat this thing. Flee. We must flee.



It does not pursue out of the concealing mire, but my champions are broken in body and spirit. There is nothing more we can do here.

Spoiler: Bell (click to show/hide)

Bah, this won't even cover the cost of treatment! The heirlooms are a precious commodity, at least.





Bah! Wretched things, your day will come!



At least our other squad appears to have recovered well.



Of all the... Guernon, do try not to infect comrades with your unnatural hungers.



Unfortunately I'm not familiar enough with our Plague Doctor to know how concerning I should find this.



Speaking of which...

Prior to our expedition, I hired a Man-at-Arms and Occultist to help flesh out our frontline and healing, respectively. We have a wealth of mid-rank bruisers but precious few mystics or shieldbearers.

We also have a few more potentials available this week.

[Egan_BW]

The plague doctor will suggest bringing more fire to the Court in the future. It would likely be safer to dispose of those cocoons by the torch than by hand.

[EuchreJack]

Glad I didn't go.