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thebibliomancer · 4 years

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Dark Crystal Age of Resistance Tactics liveblog pt 13

Okay! Time to check out the Sifa!

Y'know, I think that the Sifa get the least exploration in the show. You've got several Vapra main characters, several Stonewood main or focus characters, couple Drenchen, a very main Grottan character, best boy Kylan the Spriton, whole bit of the show with the Dousan. And the Sifa have... I think... that time Brea visited them?

Probably why Alyadon was made a Sifa, so they have some presence.

Mission: Deep Trouble - Hidden Grotto

"A curious, young Sifa is under attack by darkened creatures. Save him from a grisly fate."

Ah, darkened creatures. The gift that keeps giving. So we don't have to always be fighting other Gelfling or Arathim.

Hey, wait a minute. Why DID I fight Arathim in the Vapra missions? You don't unlock those without going through the Grottan missions where the Arathim become your good pals. Dangit, the game!

Wow, five party members. Also Ivo, the Gelfling.

Party: Alyadon, Kylan, Boggi, Breg, and Hup. For being the lowest leveled. That's kind of over doing it on menders but Mender is a required step on a lot of characters' personal journeys so I have too many of them.

The level starts with Ivo corned by a nurloc and a windsifter. If he dies, I lose. If everyone else but him dies, that's fine.

He's also a lvl 25 tracker, which makes him the highest leveled person on my team.

Oh, the tide rises. None of my peeps were anywhere close to it but it apparently will just straight up kill a Gelfling because they're too dumb to move out of the water when its not their turn.

Ivo was apparently researching ancient symbols or something. He weirdly has non text box text explaining this so I missed the first thing he said.

Ok Ivo is definitely going to die. He's corned and a nurloc is attacking him.

He asked me to get him higher because the tide is rising but Ivo, my pal, you're on the highest part of the island...

AH THE TIDE ROSE AND HUP IS IN THE WATER GET OUT OF THE WATER HUP

Wow that tide rising thing is no joke. I think Alyadon just vanished underwater. Eesh. I wish there were tide lines showing you where its going to happen. Or when.

And my non dead units are mostly all trapped on the other side of the island and can't cross the now deep water. Not loving this new mechanic but it is a new mechanic.

BUT BOGGI SAVED THE DAY GOOD DOG BEST FRIEND

With his rolling, he was able to get across the map before the tide rose and with his healing he was able to heal Ivo until Ivo could save himself by knifing the nurloc a lot.

And he was looking for ancient symbols that may go back a thousand trine hidden across the coast.

So final count was Kylan and Alyadon horribly drowned but also leveled. Everyone else leveled and learned. Boggi learned Insistent Bark (revive an ally by barking insistently! Good dog!), Breg learned Borrow Time 2 (slow enemy for two turns, self haste for two turns), and Hup learned Well Done (hit a spiced enemy but really hard).

That's also the last ability Boggi can learn. From now on he is but as you see him. No more, no less.

---

Mission: Against the Tide - Sinking Isles

"Ivo's search for ancient symbols is met with some resistance."

I don't love how the island is going to sink.

I get five people and Ivo again. Hi Ivo! There are two glowy spots that I assume I have to get him to. Also I assume he can't die.

A Gelfling elder has shown up to tsk because this area is forbidden.

Ivo: "Bu-but, my research was approved by Elder Cadia himself!"

Elder: 'Its been revoked!'

Ha. But no.

Elder: "That fool lost his memory to nulroot. He knows not what he is doing. Guards, seize them!"

Oh, right. Brea wiped his mind. He'll approve any research project now. Geez, Ivo.

Yup, Ivo has to investigate the symbols. And bad news but one is in the water.

Oh, the tide fell instead of rising. And I only just noticed that the tide is in the turn order. Duh.

Oops Ivo drowned. I thought about going up the back instead of back the way I came and then an enemy unit blocked it and by the time I decided it was a bad idea, well, he didn't have enough turns to get back to dry land.

So second attempt is going better now that I have a better idea of how the tide works. The level is fairly open but there's a lot of chokepoints which makes it nerve wracking until you realize that the water doesn't reach the upper elevations of the map.

Also Wukki died =(

But I got Ivo to all the ancient symbols and they've revealed a stunning secret! The next level!

Seriously: "These carvings tell of a secret location: a cave hidden among the rocks on the coast"

If Ivo is one of the two remaining characters I have yet to unlock, I'm going to lose my mind.

BUT: levels up! Wukki leveled up but didn't learn anything. Like Boggi, he may have learned all he can. You can't teach a lvl 24 dog new tricks. (Checking, he apparently keeps learning up until lvl 28). Hup learns Cauldron, which lets him place a healing cauldron on the map. Its a summon so its either that or the worm. Alyadon learned Soothe 2, cooler than Soothe 1. Naia learned Edged Slice 2, cooler than etc. And Kylan learned Awaken but also unlocks Bramble Sage and Adept, meaning he's on his way to Song-Teller!

Mission: Sunken Treasure - Coastal Caves

"A submerged sea cave holds the knowledge Ivo has been looking for."

Oh god most of this cave is flooded. The shiny square is way on the other end under a lot of water. I hope the water just goes down and not up.

Bringing Rian, Deet, Brea and Gurjin. Also Ivo is here.

Gelfling Mage: "Ivo this is your final warning. These etchings have been forbidden by Skeksis law."

That just makes me want to see them more! I WAS wondering whether any of this was relevant.

Ivo: "Why would the skeksis make our own history forbidden? They must be hiding something!"

Follow that train of thought, Ivo!

Yup, the tide is falling, revealing more of the cave. This is a neat mechanic which gives me anxiety.

AAAAAH TWO GUYS SPAWNED RIGHT BEHIND ME! Not cool, the game!

Ok this isn't going well. I'm down to Gurjin at very low health and Ivo at very low health. Thankfully, I just need to get Ivo to the shiny. As long as nobody spawns near his end of the cave, I'm golden.

A darkened hollerbat just spawned on his side of the cave.

But I ran like heckle to the last symbol and made it before any of the hollerbats could even take a turn. Phew.

Despite everything, everyone got level ups. Brea learned Geyser 2, Gurjin learned Bandage 2, Deet learned Cascade, Rian unlocked the Adept/Bramble Sage jobs meaning he's another step towards Strategist!

Son of a gun, I unlocked Ivo as a character! Not what I was expecting when I started this quest chain and not entirely what I wanted! I also got the Driftwood Cane!

So whats the scoop, Ivo. What do the symbols mean? WHY ITS THE GREAT CONJUNCTION!

There's actually a little cutscene.

Wait, did the Gelflings not know about the Great Conjunction? It only happens every thousand trine but still? Then again, the Skeksis were trying to suppress knowledge of it for some reason.

Geez, Ivo has ten levels in Scout, ten in Mender, and ten in Tracker. I have no idea what I'm going to do with him. I'll keep him in Tracker. And give him a spear. And some clothes.

I'll give the Driftwood Cane to Alyadon. It is the Sifa Clan staff.

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Mission: Washed Up - Littered Shores

"A pair of shipwrecked Sifan sailors have washed up on shore. Help them deal with a pack of pursuing pirates."

I'm belatedly realizing that each Gelfling area has its own gimmick. The Sifa missions have the rising and falling tides, of course. The Vapra have the random power ups scattered in the levels. The Caves of Grot have the random buff squares. The Drenchen lands have the poison swamp water. And the Dousan have the sandstorms. Wonder what the Spriton will be when I get there. And I guess the Stonewood didn't have a gimmick?

Ok so I have to protect shipwrecked sailors Van and Jilly. They will probably not end up in my party. I'm still reeling over Ivo being unlocked but it makes sense to give you a Sifa party member that isn't Alyadon. Probably hence why Ivo, despite being a researcher, is very swashbuckly. Compared to Alyadon who is a huge nerd.

The level looks like a rising tide horror show. Most of the level is low lying except for a ridge that the enemy units are all already perched on.

Party: Boggi, Deet, Kylan. They need some love. And levels.

APPARENTLY, Maudra Seethi asked us to save the sailors. Which puts me in mind that the resistance showed up and was like 'hey maybe join us in opposing the Skeksis' and instead of going 'how dare, the Skeksis are beautiful angels' the Maudra went 'huh? That's nice. Go find some sailors'

And the level starts with Jilly and Van bickering over whose fault the shipwreck was. Jilly is mad that Van steered them into some rocks and Van is mad that JILLY STOLE A BUNCH OF TREASURE FROM PIRATES AND THATS WHY THEY WERE IN A HURRY

These two are fun.

I assume this is what happens when a paladin and a thief are friends because Jilly is a thief and Van is a paladin.

Rian tries to interupt but Van is like AND YOU GOT THESE NICE BYSTANDERS STUCK IN OUR DRAMA GEEZ JILLY

THEY KILLED MY DOGGO

The pirates did I mean. I don't think Jilly or Van would.

Aside from the poor, sweet, innocent doggo, the level went pretty smoothly. The only problem is that one of the enemies cast Guardian's blessing and rather than kill a person twice, I decided to wait it out for some reason.

And then he died of poison and respawned anyway.

I'm good at tactics.

Its fine, he ded now.

At the end of the level, Deet is like ok so can we take you home now and Jilly is like NOT SO FAST THE PIRATES WILL KEEP PURSUING US UNTIL THEY GET THEIR TREASURE BACK.

Jilly: "Our village won't last another trine without it! The Skeksis took everything during the Tithing Ceremony!"

It was kind of lost when the Skeksis went full supervillain and started drinking people, but yeah, lets not forget the multiple ways that the Skeksis were exploiting the Gelfling and the whole dang world. They're drainers in many senses. I love a ridiculous fantasy metaphor that works on multiple levels.

And I'm pretty sure it was intended to be that way since the movie. I remember the novelization being like 'yeah this used to be a nice place and then the Skeksis drained the life out of the planet' or something.

If I'm overfocusing on this its because its only as an adult that I realize how timely Dark Crystal has stayed all this... uh, time.

Anyway Deet is like sure we'll help you beat up the pirates. Its cool.

Deet leveled and learned nothing. Kylan leveled and learned Purge Rot.

---

Mission: Sneak Attack - Tidal Wall

"The heroes follow the quarreling sailors back to the pirate's den, but encounter resistance along the way."

Is this going to be a real sneaking mission or what, game?

The gimmick for this mission chain is that Jilly and Van are tagging along so you only get to bring three peeps. Because I only get to bring three peeps. Luckily, I have three peeps that are all lvl 23 instead of lvl higher than that.

Oh, this is cool. This is a pirate fortress so there's a wall that we have to fight our way into. Except its less of a wall and more of steps but its wall like. It feels like we're breaking in, anyway.

Look, as I've said, FFTA is my main other experience for trpg games and it was way lazier with its levels.

Party: Boggi, Breg, Alyadon. Boggi wants to redeem himself. I assume. He started yelling but that may have been because of general fizzgig anxiety.

Enemy: "You've walked right into our trap-"

Jilly and Van: -immediately start bickering and interrupt the pirate-

I like that the lack of many Sifa characters from the show means they had to create some for this set of missions. The writing is entertaining enough that I wish there had been more of this for the other clan mission sets.

Nothing to really report about this one, it went swimmingly. Nobody even drowned!

Jilly and Van are decently powerful so I don't regret having them instead of two of my peeps in terms of their efficacy in battle.

I was worried about getting to higher ground with the rising tide but the battle went so quickly that I wasn't ever in real danger of that.

Jilly: -after beating up several pirates- "Well, we've clearly lost the element of surprise."

My favorite part of this is that this does and doesn't have anything to do with having the Sifa join the resistance. I'm pretty sure that we sealed the deal when we saved these two chuckleheads to begin with.

We're going to come back to Maudra Seethi and be like 'we saved Jilly and Van' and she's going to be like 'Ah, well done! The Sifa will be glad to join-' and then we'll be like 'also we beat up a pirate fortress and redistributed the wealth to a destitute village' and she'll be like 'oh.'

Holy crap, Boggi leveled twice! Good dog! I mean, he did a pretty good job. Doggo redeemed. Breg and Alyadon also leveled but learned nothing.

I should check at what point jobs stop paying out in terms of abilities.

I got seven more levels for Breg and six for Alyadon before they've learned all they can.

---

The pirate fortress is actually a ways away from the Tidal Wall. I guess maybe it was a pirate outpost. Pirate watch station? Anyway.

Mission: Finders, Keepers - Flooded Ruins

"The heroes confront the pirate leader."

Ok this map looks a lot less like a pirate fortress than the last one did. I know that they've got to keep the tide gimmick so the levels have to look a way - with a low part and a higher part - but this is a random sandbar with some rocky bits. The other place had a wall! Why you hanging out here, the pirate king?

Party: Brea, Wukki, Rek'yr.

The pirate leader is this random Sifa caster. They coulda given him a name.

The pirate leader caster says no one gets to steal from him and live

Van: "Hey! I'm the only one that gets to threaten her! We're taking you down!"

Jilly: "Yeah, you don't scare us! Together we're unstoppable!"

Heh, these quest characters are alright.

... ok Brea gets killed without ever taking a move because the enemy placement can just up and kill her turn 1. That's... great.

Ok, Jilly died. Good thing Jilly and Van need to survive isn't a condition on this level. And Wukki died =(

Ok, it was a bloodbath like some of the end missions of mission chains are for some reason. Everyone died except Rek'yr and Van. Then again, whats to be expected of a mission where one of my units died first turn because of enemy placement.

Still, the pirates are defeated and their treasure will save an overly taxed village. Hooray!

Van: "We will tell Maudra Seethi of the good you've done this day."

Ok, alright, yes, so thats how the Sifa join the resistance.

Brea levels and learns nothing! Rek'yr levels and learns Edged Slice! I should check to see where he is vis a vis able to go into Grave Dancer (two more levels)! I get the Seafarer's Harpoon! Spears are really common as important clan weapons, I've noticed! This is probably going right on Ivo!

Except the Unite the Clans meter doesn't go up. Which means that you only have to do one of the mission chains to actually get the clan on your side and it doesn't matter which. I thought it was a weird coincidence that I kept doing the one that got you clan allegiance first but nah. In my heart though, it was helping Jilly and Van that did it.

That just leaves the Stonewood and Spriton, I think. Weird that I don't already have the Stonewood on my side but then again, they were all kidnapped by spiders.

#dark crystal #the dark crystal #dark crystal age of resistance #dark crystal age of resistance tactics #THE GAME #liveblog #fighting some pirates and doing some archeology #both involve hitting people

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ecotone99 · 4 years

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[HR] The Pointy Shoes

For years I never told anyone the story of the pointy shoes. Not my parents, not my sisters or my friends. It was something that I kept completely to myself. My own sinister little secret of you will. It was an incident in my life that only lasted for five hours but seemed like an eternity. It happened to me when I was seven years old but I remember like it was last night.

My dads brother-my uncle James- had a small pig farm in Southern Indiana. He was married to my aunt Helen and had three kids just like our family. However, where my parents had two daughters and me, James and Helen had two sons and one daughter. The boys-JJ and Max were aged ten and eleven. Their sister-Patricia-was older than the rest of us. I believe she was 15 or 16 at the time of this story. She was an odd girl, to say the least. My sisters and I never quite trusted her for various reasons but it was kind of a known thing within the family that Patricia was someone you had to keep an eye on.

On the day of the Pointy Shoes incident, my Dad and I were visiting the farm. For reasons I can’t quite recall I ended up being left there by my dad to spend the night. I remember I didn’t really want to, but also didn’t want to hurt my aunts feelings so I didn’t speak up. Needless to say, that was the one and only time I would ever spend the night on the farm. When it came time for my dad to leave he tasseled my hair with his hand and told me he would be back to get me in the morning. I remember when I turned around to join the others Patricia was looking at me with a strange-knowing look on her face. She knew I was uncomfortable to be there and I could tell it pleased her.

There was still a few hours of daylight left when my dads truck pulled out of the drive. That time was spent playing with my cousins around the farm. JJ and Max took me down to the chicken coop to show me how things worked on a farm. I have to admit, at age seven I was pretty intrigued by it all. That is until Patricia spoke up from behind us.

One thing I forgot to mention was that my cousin Patricia had this weird habit of making us younger kids call per Patty Pie when there were no grownups around. So Pattie Pie surprises us from behind the chicken coop and tells us she wants to show us something.

My cousins JJ and Max were good hearted and fun kids to hang around but even they seemed powerless around Patty Pie. Whatever she would suggest, we all would go along with even though her intentions never seemed kind.

The farm had an old Silo on the property. It was old and decrepit and looking back now probably hadn’t been used in a good 5-10 years. My cousin Patricia suggested that we play a game called “Killers are Coming.” She instructed us to break off into pairs. One pair would hide and the other pair would search while chanting the line Killers are coming. Patty Pie told us she had learned it from some movie. She also volunteered to be my partner and I remember feeling my stomach drop at that news. I didn’t want to be around her without the boys. Of course I was to shy and scared to protest so off I went with cousin Patricia to hide.

I immediately knew where we were going. I could read the look in Patty Pie’s eyes. She wanted to hide in the Silo, and that’s exactly where she led me.

As the boys gave us proper time to hide PattyPie led me to and around the silo to the backside. There was a door on that side. Patty Pie said we should get in because it was by far the best hiding spot on the farm. She opened the door and to this day I still remember the smell that came out from inside the silo. It’s smelled of damp, dark stuff. Like someplace that hadn’t seen sunshine in a very long time. Patty Pie pushes me in, so forcefully that I actually stumbled over and landed on my side. Then, instead of coming in the silo with me, she slams the door shut.

The blackness was instant, and so was my fear. I remember immediately being angry at my father. Why would he leave me here? Couldn’t he see that I didn’t want to stay? I pictured my parents and sisters sitting around the dinner table smiling and laughing and I was stuck in this smelly old silo. I was in here in the pitch dark nothing. My mind began to imagine horrifying situations. I pictured an old farmers hand flicking the switch on the grain elevator and the silo begin to fill up until I was buried beneath. I pictured something dark and sinister lurking in the silo with me and ready to attack at any moment. I began to freak out and started yelling for someone to get me out.

That’s when I heard her laughter. She was right outside the door listening to me and laughing. I pictured Patty Pie standing there with a red smile spreading clear across her face like some gross wound. Suddenly it is occurred to me that for as scared as I was stuck inside the dark silo,I actually happy she wasn’t in there with me.

Eventually after what seemed like hours but was probably only 10 minutes I heard the boys voices. They were coming to find us and were close. I heard movement and with a loud creak the silo door opened. The daylight was blinding at first to my eyes. Eventually they adjusted themselves and Patty Pie was there. She just gave me a look of utter disgust and then the boys were there. We walked back to the house and didn’t play anymore of that game. Patricia never mentioned the incident to me and that was the end of it.

It would not,however, be the last time Patty Pie was outside my door.

I remember few details about that evening until the Pointy Shoes incident. I know we had dinner and played a few games of Aggravation(a marble and dice board game). I recall Patricia did not play the board game. I then I remember going to bed. For reasons still unknown to me I was put in the spare bedroom to sleep by myself. I thought it was strange that I couldn’t sleep in the boys room but decided best not to mention it.

The farmhouse was old with uneven wood floors. One could not find a square inch that didn’t creak when stepped upon. When my aunt Helen wished me a good night and turned off the lights I immediately noticed there was a 2-3 inch gap beneath the door and floor. The light from the hallway bathroom would come through that gap and act as a nightlight. I was happy to have it. I drifted off to sleep.

Something woke me from my sleep at around midnight. It was about ten minutes of trying to go back to sleep when I heard the creak of Patty Pies door. It could have been any door in the house but I knew it was hers. I could here each step..creak.. step..creak..toward my door. I was paralyzed with fear. I pulled the cover up tight around me and peaked at the door through my fingers. When the steps were right outside my door I could see the shoes through the gap of the door. They were black and pointy. They arrived at the door and just stopped. I lay there clutching the blanket and staring at those feet. The shoes were off putting.

I could not move. I could only stare at the pointy shoes. Patty Pie was right outside that door...and she was probably showing that horrifying smile of hers..and she was gonna do something really bad to me...and I couldn’t even move. I could just lay there and wait.

At some point I remember peeing myself. This game went on for what had to be at least five hours. I never once took my eyes off the shoes and the door never opened. She just stood outside and listened to me breathing. Finally the first sign of sunrise came to the window and eventually I fell asleep. When I woke the pointy shoes were gone.

I didn’t see Patricia the next day. My dad picked me up in the morning and she had not yet come out of her room. I recall being very tired on the way home from being up all night watching that door and those horrible pointy shoes.

I fell asleep in the car and never spoke of the incident to my family.I never spent the night over at their house again. I told my dad I didn’t want to and he seemed to silently understand. I also never brought it up to Patricia in the remaining years of her life.

She died in an automobile accident at the age of 25. They said she survived the initial crash but was consumed by the flames.

When I learned of the manner of her death my first thought was that Patty Pie had returned to the flames of Hell where she had first spawned.

I did not attend her funeral.

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