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

Ambitious Dynasty: Western Region Campaign Finale

[Part of my Dynasty Warriors 8: Ambition Mode story.]

After selling a whole bunch of treasures I finally am able to pay the academy to max out my defense rating. Sima Yi responds to this by proclaiming that he doesn't think I'm an idiot. Guess he -was- planning on killing me at some point after all! :P

Sure looks like the enemy has been broken morale wise as despite being the biggest region on the map, this actually offered the least amount of challenge to conquer. The final enemy commander turned out to be the sickly Guo Huai and with his new apprentice, Jiang Wei, barricaded themselves at the Chang'an fortresses. This only delayed the inevitable for them, but they still managed to kill my fire sorceress, Zhenji. :(

Zhenji: It's because my clarinet broke! *DEAD*

Jiang Wei: I've leveled up since we last met! *DEAD*

Guo Huai: *cough* If I can't live... no one else can! *DEAD*

Finally, it was time to face the false Emperor at his palace defended by siege weapons, wizards, ambush archers, cavalry, tigers (always the tigers), all led by his servants the ten eunuchs. They really weren't anything special with Sima Yi and He Man even killing one each while I wasn't looking - but after they were all defeated we had to cross a courtyard to reach the false Emperor and all ten returned... in perma musou mode! Holy crap, suddenly they became a difficult boss fight and He Man was killed!

By the power of Gre... *DEAD*

Never underestimate a eunuch.

With enough defensive fighting (a new one for me) they were finally all out of the way and we were free to face the lone "false" emperor. He too was on fiery overcharge but because there was only one of him it was pretty easy to chain lock him to death. With that, the land united under the true emperor (the dude still occupying my palace) and entered an era of peace. While it does let you continue to do whatever after this, I decided that was the best ending I could hope for and will end this tale here.

Thanks for reading!

The final survivors were:

Sima Yi, Zhurong, Xu Shu (me), Lu Lingqi, and Da Qiao

Ambitious Dynasty: Northern Jing Province Campaign

[Part of my Dynasty Warriors 8: Ambition Mode story.]

Rage mode: on!

My character, Xu Shu is now Level 120 and becoming quite a tough cookie. Lu Lingqi also manages to obtain a rare(?) skill called "rage" which lets me start with a full rage meter if she is one of my three bodyguards. Of course this earns her that position as you can trash a LOT of people with a full rage bar. It is a small solace given that I lost a lot of people in the previous campaign.

Now we find ourselves in the Northern part of Jing, having to traverse a pretty fortified Changban river. Despite the "cleverness" of their "brilliant" commander, Zhuge Liang here, his forces are simply spread too thin for their own good and soon he is found and killed.

You go into battle with a fan, not sure how wise you really are. *DEAD*

It is at Luoyan castle that the enemy put up their strongest defense, led by none other than Zhuge Liang's old partner, Sima Yi and his son (my first ally) Sima Zhao. It doesn't help that Luoyan castle is apparently home to a bunch of ice wizards either as my allies begin falling one after another.

Lianshi: Ice Wizards!? What is this - Frozen? *DEAD*

Diao Chan: Who will wear all my pretty dresses now? *DEAD*

Li Dian: Oh! I like pretty dresses! Wait... I mean... *DEAD*

Lu Bu: A billion ballista bolts!? I still have one HP LEFT! *DEAD*

I was a little annoyed because Lu Bu was doing so well up to that point, AND he lasted so damn long. He was my friend! DAMNIT! MY FRIEND! My psycho, opera singing friend who dismembers people with other people as evidenced by this video clip! After breaking into the keep I didn't hesitate to fight and kill Sima Zhao.

Sima Zhao (by mollymous): Now it's just you and m... *DEAD*

His father, Sima Yi, managed to stay my blade though by reminding me I was literally out of allies and that he could be a useful asset. After all, he did just almost wipe me out. It was a good argument and so I decided to let him join. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer kind of thing.

Sima Yi (by shibakaien): Weren't you impressed how I killed all your people? 

Now, I don't usually keep the "less important" officers but there is this one fellow we freed from the dungeons who had an interesting enough name for me: He Man!?

Most likely not what he looked like.

Ambitious Dynasty: Two Heads are Better

[Part of my Dynasty Warriors 8: Ambition Mode story.]

While scavenging on some plains we ran into our most difficult adversaries yet. I was surprised to see siege weapons such as ballistas and pyrocannons (think minature tank) on the field tearing through my ranks as enemy units swarmed from multiple directions. It turns out that the enemy had not one but TWO brilliant strategists on their side in the form of Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi (father of the first guy I ran into).

Only through skilled fighting on my part (since almost everyone else had fled or was KO) was victory achieved, and the two formidable minds joined my army along with their respective wives, Yueying the inventor and Zhang Chunhua the "man"ipulator.

Zhuge: "We should join him. He single handedly destroyed our tanks!"

Yueying: "Honey, it took me months to build those."

Zhuge: "Exactly."

"That was most impressive indeed. By the way, is that our son with you?"

(Sima Zhao off screen: Hi mom!)

They don't really have those titles, I just give them here so that you can get an idea of their in game personality - or rather, what I understand them to be. :P