Darkest Dungeon: A Town in Flames

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

Today is a day of loss. As if it wasn't bad enough for Melisandre and Sima Yi to have been taken by the shroom men in the Weald and to have the young Da Qiao get her heart exploded by a ghoul - a large band of bandits attacked the town, no doubt after all the riches our delves have been bringing back from the cursed places. Many of my comrades fell to their blades and bullets, including Abbess Feeva who led the defense.

Those are strong guns!

Along with her we buried Hunter O'Harrah, Redbeard, Mogg, Katunga, Derkeethus, Don Pez and Alpha. Their tenacity made the bandits retreat... for now, but they will surely return once their numbers and courage are replenished. Elizabeth and I are doing the best we can in reorganizing the remaining survivors and getting them the help they need - be it physical, mental or spiritual.

I have also begun to formulate plans for a specific defense should the bandits return. A man named Big Mike, who supposedly is used to leading troops in similar situations (some of whom are present), has volunteered his services to assist in that matter. I believe it would be prudent to accept his aid.

-Catharina

Darkest Dungeon: The Tragic Extent

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

My concerns of any leadership challenges have been abated this week with the death of Lenigrast. He was laid low by a small pig man named Wilbur who everyone assumed he had previously slain. They could not recover his body, no doubt he is now food for those hideous creatures. God rest his soul. We also lost Bill and the spy Mina Petrova who fell (or rather, had crushing debris fall on them) while hunting a fulminating prophet in the ruins.

They're always filled with disgusting bile.

Fortunately their allies Hunter O'Harrah and Don Pez managed to find victory thanks to their sacrifice. They then had a much better run when hunting another hag in the weald with Alpha, a soldier from another time, and the cats Alvinia and Shalquoir. Apparently the old crone was no match for them at all.

Soon after Lenigrast was avenged by Melisandre, Don Pez, Ian and Da Qiao, a young vestal who can't be older than her teens. Despite Ian getting hacked in two, they defeated the Swine King in the warrens, and Wilbur as well - though after the battle they claim the little pig was nowhere to be found. I have a feeling this isn't the last we've seen of him. Da Qiao also accompanied the barbarian Zhurong, Techno Viking and the shaman Katunga to slay an Unstable Flesh afterwards. This girl shows much promise.

-Abbess Feeva

Darkest Dungeon: Slowly, Softly

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

Fawadin is dead, having taken an octocestus to the face. There was some dispute if the loud, ex-blacksmith Lenigrast would be taking the reigns but as of now I am in charge and have appointed my battle sisters Catharina and Elizabeth (who disguises herself well, for a mushroom) as my proxies to handle any unrest.

My old ally Vengarl also is no longer among us. He and the hellion Nerelia were taken by mutated fungus men in the Weald. This was right after he, Don Pez, Bill and Hunter O'Harrah destroyed the shapeshifting incholate flesh in the warrens. Also lost are Ingward and Thanaros, having been devoured by a monstrous shambler that Blunder Buss inadvertently summoned while putting a torch too close to a strange red orb in the ruins.

"Surprised!" is an understatement!

We had other victories too, as Catharina, Lenigrast and Mogg destroyed a brigand 8 pounder cannon in the forest as well as another undead sunken crew at the cove. The bounty hunter Redbeard as well as Alvinia and Shalquoir (who I am told are magical cats) assisted in these endeavors. Slowly but surely we are cleansing this land of all evils lurking within.

-Abbess Feeva

Darkest Dungeon: Chain of Command

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

More welcome aid keeps arriving in town, the last batch being strangers from another time. I can only hope this rumor of people questioning my leadership doesn't distract people from our goal here. If anything I'd make Abbess Feeva my second, having seen her in action personally.

Her arrival was fortuitous as one of our other healers, Myria, was recently decapitated by a head collector - a death so gruesome that it supposedly gave Sellsword Luet a fatal heart attack upon witnessing it. With her healing, Gough, Redbeard and I managed to finally take down the (non-apprentice) necromancer in the ruins.

She then accompanied Bill, Vengarl and Hunter O'Harrah to slay the sodden crew - a group of drowned pirates in the Cove. She also was crucial in helping MoGG, Mina Petrova and Sunbro Forever in slaying the Alluring Siren in that same, sahaughin infested vista. Alas Hawkeye Gough fell victim to these fish folk while scouting the way to the siren. His archery skills will be missed.

A team that is chained and drowned together, stays together.

-Fawadin

Dark Souls II: Of Ice and Fire

Tales from Dark Souls - spoilers ahead! You can follow the rest of the story here!

The frigid outskirts beyond Elysium Loyce were the furthest place I knew of to escape from Drangleic. I joined an expedition led by the Head of Vengarl (a barbarian), with familiar faces Abbess Feeva the healer and Manhunter O'Harrah the archer, who has upgraded to using explosive arrows from the last time I saw her in the Iron Keep.

We make our way across the snowfield, going slow to keep together for when the ice deer show up. In the scattered ruins there are also a few regular hollows and some hostile wandering knights but none pose much of a problem. Even the ice deer aren't so bad once we put a snow wall to one side of our group. Soon we find the lair of our quarry - a pair of black sabertooth cats (which is basically Aava x 2)!

Burning them is super effective!

While they do hit strong it's nothing my fully upgraded gear can't deflect, and with proper preparation of fire resin (which was effective for everything else leading up to here too) we soon take down both kitties with little effort, and no losses to the team. Making camp in a nearby cave afterwards Feeva and the others are already talking of heading back to escape the cold. What I sought wasn't there though, my road could only lead forward. Silently, I watched the flames of the bonfire as I waited ... to install Dark Souls III. :P

Dark Souls II: Earth Mover

Tales from Dark Souls - spoilers ahead! You can follow the rest of the story here!

Balor (erm I mean the old iron king), is a ridiculously simple fight with easily readable moves yet he still manages to 1HKO Manhunter O'Harrah and knock me into the instadeath lava lake half a dozen times. I finally win but am frustrated that it took me so many attempts. Using the bonfire just past him scares the bejeezus out of me though since it explodes as a shrubbery appears to tell me "I'm interesting" then goes away. WTF? Ok to be fair, he also speaks a little bit about King Vendrick, who "almost" claimed the throne. Whatever that means.

Hello Mr. Jump Scare!

There's also another shrine teleporter here which leads to more locked doors so I return to Majula where I find a new, stout fella named Gillian sitting by the pit. He claims to be a laddersmith so I pay him a fair bit of souls for his longest ladder. This pays off in that it leads to a key! Not to the locked doors in the lava lake but to the locked doors beyond the lair of the Rotten!

I sure hope he decides to land.

Following the path down I find myself in a huge cavern which houses the ancient Sanctum City. The Mayan temple in the distance is a nice touch. This place is guarded by giant, poisonous skeleton warriors, corrosive bugs, and more poison shooting statues - these ones actually move since they ride little turtles! Even cooler is that the city landscape changes upon hitting switches (which I accidentally discovered during combat). Whole buildings move to form or reveal new paths. Best of all, there's a great white dragon down here. I suspect I'll be fighting him eventually!

Dark Souls II: Gesture of Friendship

Tales from Dark Souls - spoilers ahead! You can follow the rest of the story here!

The interior of the Iron Keep is pretty well guarded by very "Eastern" knights wielding katanas who do a good job in giving me a hard time. An explorer named Magerold is here too, selling wares and talking about a shrine of dragons somewhere as well as Lucatiel who finally joins my party. I also should note this is the first area of the game that I've seen player summon signs, and get my very first co-op cleric named Lee.

The more the merrier!

The three of us make easy work of a smelter demon boss (1st go), which causes my team to disband. Lee waves vigorously as he vanishes. I only realize now that there is no actual method of communication beyond in game gestures and slow to write messages, so I spend a few minutes after the battle to learn and practice the gestures my character knows. In case you are reading this, thank you Lee!

The next area is some type of foundry which really kicks my butt with enemies knocking me into lava or just overwhelming me. Takes awhile before I find an alternate route (hard to see during combat and fire traps) above the gauntlet, defeating Oliver the Collector and finding a switch to turn off all the flame traps in the keep. Then I found the inappropriately dressed Manhunter O'Harrah nearby who accompanied me onto a lake of lava to face this guy...

Didn't Gandalf deal with you?