Remnant: from the Ashes - Flaming Totem

[Part of our Remnant from the Ashes story]

Thrown by the dead end, it takes a bit of exploring the forest before finding a way up into the tree top villages of the satyrs whose main defender is an archer and imp combo that both like fire attacks. For a single player this might have been a tough fight, but for us - Jim just kept the archer busy while DL and I murdered the imp. While tough, the archer had no chance against three of us, especially since he didn't have the cheating moves of Shroud.

Not far beyond is the ziggurat prison, guarded by the Totem Father - a giant satyr whose totems summon adds. Outside his boss fight is a totem that can be spun to either make him use ranged magic while hopping on pillars while his adds are bladed assassins, or have him fight in close quarters while his adds have crossbows. We found the former much easier to deal with, especially once I realized he forgets to summon adds if he has a clear target to attack.

And the door to the final level is right at the first level...

With these easy fights out of the way we finally locate the founder, who gives us the info and access we need to stop the root. A crazed dreamer in Ward 17 is what's letting the plant people advance across the planets so we head there immediately and because we can't just shoot the defenseless sleeper for some reason, we are drawn into the final battle in his mind!

BDO: Nella's Quest

[Part of my Adventures in Black Desert Online]

As a free agent again, I find work assisting the local military in suppressing enemies at the border in the form of Rhutum orcs, always nicely grouped Mansha goblins, and an unending swarm of catfishmen. It sounds ridiculous, but the lake catfishmen are the most dangerous foes I've faced thus far mainly due to the mob density. I literally slay just over a thousand of them.

Ugh, too many catfishmen!

Afterwards I help a newbie knight named Nella investigate a forbidden book which is banned by the Church of Elion. To find a copy we first travel to the lumber village of Trent and help them harvest some Treants (the huge ones are spectacular to watch), then on to the hunters village of Behr which is having a problem with a nearby massive graveyard filled with undead.

These skeletons are certainly tough but quite slow, and with other adventurers here stemming the undead it isn't long before their source is found: Hexe Marie, an ancient witch who once summoned a world-level threat known as the Kzarka! She's pretty easy to kill though - easier than her minions! I suppose it's just because she's really old. We find the forbidden text on her person and Nella gets to translating it. I'm now level 55 and get a cool +15 sword as a bonus.

Insight: Press V to turn into a ball of smoke to escape a dangerous spot! There's a long cool down on it though so try to save it for when you need it.

BDO: Isobelle and Elina

[Part of my Adventures in Black Desert Online]

Elina next sends me to the mining village of Keplan to try secure a trade agreement. The miners are hesitant to agree so I first foster some good will by culling the junk golems and petrifying diseased miners in their quarry (really, don't get sick in this world), and then pushing back the clan of giants trying to reclaim the dig sites which used to be their home. Some of these guys are a little dangerous!

Bwahahaha! Now I have two swords!

Finally with the trade agreement in hand I return to Elina who is again happy with my work. She then reveals Lady Isobelle is under investigation for being a traitor to Calpheon, and that as someone who worked for her - I might be implicated unless I pledge my loyalty to Leight guild.

So, I attend the inquisition hearing and proclaim my loyalty to Isobelle, much to Elina's displeasure. Luckily Lady Isobelle arrives at that moment with proof of her innocence. Her wealth that was initially thought to be going to the Heidel "rebels" was actually simply to buy a tavern in that city, the receipt/deed of which seems to appease the inquisition fully. I mean, I'm no lawyer but that still could be supporting the Heidel rebels... but whatever. I'm in the clear!

Anyway, since I didn't pledge my allegiance to Elina she dismisses me from service. Lady Isobelle also fires me when she learns I helped Elina win the trade agreement from Keplan which used to be hers. Furthermore, Isobelle reveals it was Elina's henchmen that poisoned her during our travels - a fact Elina doesn't deny. In this world all is fair when it comes to making money.

Insight: The yellow dots on your radar are your quest targets.

BDO: Into the Leight

[Part of my Adventures in Black Desert Online]

Calpheon City is ridiculously huge and hosts many people: from the protesters in the slums, merchants in the artisan districts and finally the nobles, church and knights in high town but they all share a single passion: getting other people to read books for them in the hill top library that is really a pain to walk to. Guess which sorry sap gets to do that chore? :P

There's always something to protest about.

Eventually I find the council chambers to deliver the report on the troll war, and once council lady Elina Leight is so impressed that she asks me to work for her merchant company and I accept. The first job is to help the Church of Elon Musk Elion at a nearby refugee camp where some refugees have become contaminated by rabid dogs (or something). After dealing with the sick (by killing them because a dead one has 0% transmission rate) I move on to investigate some really poor quality chimeras blocking the nearby road.  

These seem to have gotten loose from a nearby laboratory, and after fighting my way in discover that the flesh golem lab assistant in charge has become possessed by the black spirit. I defeat this new form and cull as many of the chimeras as I can before reporting back to a very pleased Elina.

Insight: Calpheon is where I learned that city quests are fricking endless, and where I decided to stop trying to do everything especially since there's a limit to how many active quests you can carry at a time.

BDO: Attack on Calpheon

[Part of my Adventures in Black Desert Online]

While waiting for the Shais to complete the cure I take a short adventure to the nearby Bree Tree ruins where the excavation team from the beginning is now digging. I help them with rock spiders and active stone guardians before reaching the lowest relic which is being absorbed by the black spirit!

It looks pleased with itself...

It's not a cute fuzzball anymore but a sinister looking ghost with a cloak. One look at me and it runs off though, and since I do have to deliver the cure back to Isobelle I don't bother chasing it this time.

Eventually I make it back to Lady Isobelle (who miraculously hasn't died yet with all the delays) to give her the potion. Since she will still need a few days to regain her strength I decide to help out at the Western border against a full blown troll invasion, complete with siege weapons and artillery!

Lucky the trolls aren't very dangerous and once they are taken care of, some soldiers ask I deliver the message of victory to the Calpheon City council so that's where I head next. I am now level 50. Coincidentally this is also the level where open world-PVP unlocks... dun dun dunnn!

Insight: While the dual sword Musa skill is great since it can heal per hit (and hits fast), I still rely on healing potions most of the time which are both useful and relatively cheap!

Remnant: from the Ashes - Zombie Onslaught

[Part of our Remnant from the Ashes story]

Learning that the founder has been kidnapped by the Empress of this world (not the Queen of the Butts) we go exploring to fight more of these shock based enemies. The boss named "Onslaught" embodies the shock trope nicely, as he is a big melee brute that can insta-teleport. Killing his bat type adds is a good idea if you have time, but you need to be ready to dodge if he locks on to you.

I quickly discover he doesn't quite teleport so much if he has someone in melee range, and so I try to continuously semi-duel him (semi because I would lose an "actual" duel) giving Jim and DL more time to shoot him in the back. When I learn to dodge his double spin attack is when we finally put him down.

It's cool that between all of this there's a musician just randomly chilling in the forest!
Wait a minute, only now am I noticing those bells beside him...

Much harder is a horrible crypt full of slow zombie satyrs, peppered with much quicker teleporting assassins who explode on death. These guys don't stop spawning until the three summoning stones are destroyed and it takes us awhile to work out the correct tactic: split up. Since my scythe seems to be the fastest stone destroyer I am given that job while DL and Jim have the way more dangerous task of luring the enemies away not just from me, but from each other.

Summoned dogs really help a lot here, as does the group heart heal when in range (and Jim's range is massive since he was upgrading the cooperation trait). Even so, it takes us many frustrating attempts before finally clearing this challenge and our reward is... a dead end! LOL.

Remnant: from the Ashes - Queen of the Butts

[Part of our Remnant from the Ashes story]

Using the King's Key, we are able to unlock the other doors in the labyrinth and the first one we step through puts us on a swamp that has corrosive bug infested people and dogs. The four armed ones need a delay to dodge properly, while the ones sporting head crabs actually need the head crabs killed as well afterwards, otherwise they just find another body to play with.

At a large hut we meet a giant butcher fellow wielding a giant hammer. He is actually the most light hearted boss thus far as his weak spot is his butt, and many of his moves have him bending over. Main tip for this one is he can break the walls, which caught us by surprise initially. Not a hard fight since he has loads of windup.

We meet the Queen of the bugs next, but she is not hostile - explaining that her kind are a hive mind and that for some undisclosed reason she wants the heart of the planet's guardian, probably the very same one we strongly rejected the Undying King over. At least she doesn't go nuts when we refuse, and instead sells me a pretty cool scythe to replace my sledge hammer. 

I guess she likes "strong and wide travelers"?

Being lawful good, Jim leads us back to the labyrinth to explore the other world first because hopefully we don't need to kill whatever guardian whose heart is on the most wanted list. This next world is a nice foresty one full of angry satyrs and basilisks. After a particularly brutal encounter with multiple elites (don't get caught in the doorway, make use of the huge arena) we meet some "good" satyrs - and these ones know about the founder we've been looking for.