Darkest Dungeon: We were rewarded with Madness

Reports from Darkest Dungeon - spoilers ahead! You can follow the rest of the story here!

The gods smile upon us. Elizabeth, Alvinia and Shaliquor, Dr. Vahlen and the short in stature Skrmischa somehow found the way through the third floor of the dungeon, which had been twisted into living flesh and tissue. Their foes consisted of mammoth, beholder like cysts and horrific antibodies that could teleport them around the massive map. Despite all being near death, and hopelessly lost they still managed to find victory.

It was then my turn in what turned out to be the final floor where Kokabeel, Rocket Man, Sunbro Forever and I faced... the grounds keeper Penultimo? The mad man was in fact the wizard behind all the creatures here, and his mastery of sorcery was impressive but not unstoppable. It was only when he fused himself with the heart of darkness that his true power was revealed - unmaking Rocket Man and Kokabeel from existence before Sunbro and I finally put an end to his horrible life. It is just as well that we fought him now before the creature got stronger or we would not have had any chance.

As it is, he could already do this...

So this is what victory feels like, yet on the faces of those who descended into the Darkest Dungeon I can tell that their minds will be forever haunted by the experience. I imagine the Joining is the only thing that is keeping me sane right now... which is why I can write this. The nightmares are getting stronger though... if I make it out of this place I think it is time for me to take the long walk... the Calling, before it is too late.

-Agdan, Grey Warden

Sunset Six: Looking for Group

[Part of my Sunset Six story.]

The discipline of Worship holds for me, what are hands down the hardest set of tests. While comparatively they don't need as many of the exorbitant items for constructing things they are still usually required as offerings but the real challenge is that all tests needs a group of people. Let's start with the Test of Vigil.

A favored test of pyromaniacs.

In it, you build a large fire then listen to the flames for what it wants to consume. You then have a time limit to get all the said items (which can be anything in game) and burn it. The rarity and number of items increases the longer the Vigil goes on. Failure to burn the requirements on time ends the fire. You individually gain points equal to the number of sacrifices you made multiplied by the number of sacrifices made by -other people-, meaning if you attempt to do this alone you get ZERO points. Highest scores pass the test.

If that sounds tough, you should see the Test of Beacons. Doing some random mundane activity has a chance of attracting a holy altar to spawn nearby. Once it does you have three in game minutes to anchor it to this plane of existence through meditation... by three people. Once anchored the three anchorers have thirty minutes to work out the proper ritual as it only gives each of them a fragmented piece. If you manage to do all of that seven times (including anchoring) you pass.

Anchoring fail, as we needed one more person.

Sunset Six: Marriage Goods

[Part of my Sunset Six story.]

Balance of Goods continues the theme of Harmony which is guesswork, only this time you need to construct something first: an offering vault. Once built you can then load it with items of your choice (one unit per item) which are then taken up by the gods. You get points for each, but you get more if no one else puts the same item in their vault that week. My optimum strategy? Put as much garbage in there as you can. :P

After passing the test, it also becomes an awesome storage space.

The final test of Harmony I'll talk about is the easiest to pass but one I'm definitely not going to for moral reasons: the Test of Marriage. Yep, pixel murdering is OK but pixel marriage to anyone else but my real wife (who doesn't play this game) is definitely off the table. Anyway, all you need are some pretty common items, an altar for a quick ceremony, five witnesses and boom, you are married. Egypt is also pretty progressive in that you can marry an avatar of any gender and once married you gain the ability to instantly warp to them. Pretty cool right?

There's a small catch: Once married your spouse has access to all your stuff and all your constructs. They can also log in as you. Good thing divorce in game is pretty easy huh? :P The most common solution it seems is that people simply make alts and then marry themselves! That wasn't the case in the next picture though.

Kokabeel and Kamots wedding!