Darkest Dungeon

[Firuthi Dragovic]

STATUS UPDATE: DAY 55
Here Comes a New Challenger!

It has been far, far too long since I explored these confessions. A muddied mental state, exhaustion in my lifestyle.

Well, not anymore. I found out there's a newcomer at the crossroads. He looked a lot like the Abominations I saw back in the Hamlet. I took him along with a Poet Leper, Venomdrop Grave Robber, and Alchemist Plague Doctor.

To my shock, the Abomination does not automatically have the ability to transform! Just a couple tricks with the chains he bears. I've chosen to focus entirely on shrines this time, and to have him be the focus of all of them. I also intend to focus my candles on him until he is caught up to two hero paths with everyone else.

So let's discuss the story I know of him so far:

• He was a scholar seeking rare plants and fungi, but he foolishly went into a moor without a guide and got bit on the shoulder by some cursed beast. When recalling this story, he started puking up some sort of green bile. To my surprise, he can do that on command - a good way of inflicting widespread Blight.
• After the biting incident, he went back to his laboratory in an attempt to find a cure. Herbs, mushrooms, extracts... and some sort of "alkahest" that boosted the concoctions. Nothing he mixed warmed him, or did much to actually cure his affliction. In a solemn moment, he looked to the sky and kneeled. Apparently he was praying for some miracle... I think he can also use that to calm himself during heated battle, so that will work.
• Some time later, he was shackled in a tower. Some inquisitors had apparently caught him with the blood of a mutilated cow all over his body. Without giving him a chance to speak, they declared he was possessed and they were going to attempt to drive the beast out. He began puking again when he told this - but he was spewing a bit more of a directed ichor. Somehow he can do this on command as well.

I was so anxious to hear the next part where he'd transform... unfortunately, the expedition got cut short by an ill-timed attempt to fight the Librarian. This team is too easy to shuffle and move around, and way too vulnerable if it's out of perfect position.

No matter. With the 16 candles I got out of this attempt, I'll boost up the Abomination and try to learn the rest of the story next time.

I really want to know how he tears up those inquisitors.

 

[Firuthi Dragovic]

STATUS UPDATE: DAY 56
More Reflection

Putting as many candles as possible into the Abomination revealed two paths for him. One of which (Fiend) I could not seriously consider yet, as it relied on his alternate form.

I took the other path (Unchained) along with a Ravager Hellion, Maniac Flagellant, and Warlock Occultist. This resulted in a party that just wouldn't quit, despite literally everyone hating each other in the third region. An Unchained Abomination gets a near-total party heal in Absolution and does a lot of movement with manacles, so he honestly fits a lot better in a dancing party. However, with three people that can heal in some fashion, I survived way more encounters than I deserved to.

We didn't get all the way to the Mountain though. The party ultimately fell at the third Rampart, after having just had the Abomination sniped by Fonnereau (AGAIN! She's going to be the bane of me). Now... the third Rampart in the third Confession is where you start to run into the 3-slot terror that is the Exemplar. Average attack hitting for 20, Exultation dealing that much to multiple targets (and 40+ on criticals) in addition to summoning enemies... yeah, this is not the fight for endurance matches. Especially when you're one short.

I found out some more hero stories this time:

• The Abomination finally revealed what led to him transforming. It was an exorcism attempt. From what he described of his torturer.... I swear he's blaming the Flagellant for his misery... either way, it seems even the Abomination's beast form has improved this time. Every transformation stresses the party and every attack stresses him - that part's normal. What's new is that (at least in Unchained) he has ways to bypass guarding and blocks tokens, and even hits harder against a block token. I think there's more, but I didn't get to explore this too well given everyone hating each other and locking my skills - however, the Abomination has told me his entire story at this stage.
• The Flagellant spun a rather... interesting yarn about actually running into Death and fighting her one-on-one. Apparently, this is how he first awakened his Toxic status. He also showed some trick that looked an awful lot like soul-stealing, but was really a massive health-steal - literally, as it causes Blight upon its victim. Neat trick, but I feel like he's still got one more for us....
• The Hellion described cowering in the tree for a while, startling ravens that were feasting on her comrades' corpses. At a second shrine, she discussed going back to grieving widows to try and plead and apologize. They were having none of it and exiled her. She lamented no longer being able to participate in revelries - I told her she can do it on the battlefield if it makes her feel better - and also showed a guard-breaking trick she started practicing the day after she was cast out. I wonder if she knows more?

I have 45 candles to work with this time. I was actually beginning to eye some pet animals I saw at the Altar.... maybe it's time I finally take one with me on these little excursions.


P.S. I only just learned after writing this that as of January 30th, the voice for the Ancestor and Academic - Wayne June - is no more.

This means the second and third modules of Kingdoms will have a new voice narrating. I have to wonder how it'll turn out.

 

[Firuthi Dragovic]

STATUS UPDATE: DAY 57
I Didn't Forget!

As the title says, I did not completely forget about my expeditions. So many things happened over three months and I just suffered schedule slip on this.

Anyways, with the 45 candles I chose to unlock more than just companions. I got a bunch of trinkets, as well as a couple Stagecoach and Combat items.

So, the pets presented to me so far:

• Orphaned Wolf Cub: Good for maintaining positive relations inside the Stagecoach.
• Pygmy Pliskin: Random healing
• Unnatural Owlet: More crafting
• Reanimated Rabbit: Some buffs related to hoarding lots of food in the Stagecoach
• Purloined Felid: Who knows how this cat got here? Anyway, Cat Food in exchange for buffs dependent on what's bolted to the Stagecoach.

I will also state... I actually did two runs today. The reason? First run was so abysmal it was merely 2 candles! Man-at-Arms, Crusader, Runaway, and Plague Doctor. Made the mistake of facing the Chirurgeon right away. Lost two and simply could not recover by the time the Implication rolled up. The one time I've had to abandon a run outright.

So... I kind of want to bury that. Let's focus on the run with Crusader, Highwayman, Runaway, and Plague Doctor.

Well, that's what it was for the first region anyhow. When I took on the second region, the Runaway got offed by the Dreaming General and I barely scraped by. Hiring an Occultist to replace the Runaway helped for a while... until I got to the third Rampart. This Exemplar is going to be quite the pain to conquer, that much I can say for sure.

But at least this is where the roadblock is. So, what stories happened this time?

• The Man-at-Arms did not sleep well from the disastrous loss of his men. Apparently in all those sleepless nights, that's where he lost his eye. At one point, he swore to make things right and enact retribution - something I want to see him do more often on this journey.
• The Runaway made friendly with fire while she was tending it. All that trauma at the orphanage turned into a pyromania obsession. She recalled being able to plant fires precisely - the ability to cause a controlled burn is exactly what I wanted out of her!
• The Plague Doctor was at a critical point in her research and started raiding the University's labs on the regular. Once, she found her professor, dead of whatever illness he'd had. She'd decided he was going to be her test subject. She unveiled the start of the healing technique she'd practiced first on him... even if she's holding back how it really went down, this indiscriminate technique of hers will come in real handy for healing emergencies!
• The Crusader told us how he wound up getting caught up in the battlefield, regardless of the fact he was a conscript of sorts. He said there was peace in battle, or something like that? He showed off his defensive techniques that made him a bulwark even without a shield.
• The Highwayman described his final highway robbery job. In and out of the bushes, picking off guards before blasting the stagecoach... and even resorted to grapeshot at one point. He... didn't tell me about what he discovered when he'd finally disabled the stagecoach. I wonder why....?

49 candles and five shrines? I'd say this was a good run even if I still fell flat at the end.

The Exemplar's proving a tough nut to crack. At this point, I want to finish unlocking the Stagecoach items and Combat items in my next couple runs. Then it's time to laser-focus on having a party fit to take out the Exemplar.

 

[Firuthi Dragovic]

STATUS UPDATE: DAY 58
Seeing Clearly Now

Nine whole months. That's how long it's been since I've done one of these. I now know why it's taken so long - because a single expedition takes several hours. This journey is a commitment.

Anyways, where were we? Oh, right, 49 candles. Most of that was spent on the heroes and... most of them are more resolute and able to resist deathblows. Not the Hellion though. She's just straight-up tougher. I also found a broken mirror, a wristband, some gloves meant for handling fish... as well as metal surveying gear that fits on the stagecoach. Interesting.

Who went on this journey? Fairfax the Poet Leper, Dreux the Survivor Runaway, Port the Venomdrop Grave Robber, and Lanquetot the Confessor Vestal. And I must say, while this group meshes very well (barring some issues with stress reduction), this is also one of the luckiest runs I've ever had. You don't get much luckier than having a pig roast available at the first inn.

We took an owl and some trapmaking tools with us to the Foetor. Actually, we were able to spy a mostly clear route through this area, hitting up a cache with some more trap tools and a storage crate we could fit to the stagecoach. So I took the opportunity to talk to Port about her husband's buried jewelry... and she went into quite a bit of detail about her first grave-robbing. It wasn't just her husband's jewelry... she had to search multiple coffins without getting spotted by guards, and a couple of them were even trapped. Eventually, after picking off one guard, she found what she was looking for. Her shadow-fade technique in dodging the guards is going to come in real handy on the field.

Or it would, if she was in a different party. She actually got to do a lot of grave-robbing on this trip, and clearing enemy corpses like that granted her plenty of stealth.

Probably the thing that vexed me the most on this entire trip was the Warlord's troops. I had several road battles with them, including one right here in the Foetor.

After that mess, I spoke with Fairfax and asked him to discuss how he dealt with his treacherous advisers. He said it took patience - moments of blind fury, tranquility, and accusation combined. When he managed to expose a treachery, he acted - swiftly. He hewed through enough advisers that his sword actually broke! Wow. He didn't get to show that technique off on this trip though - his main offense was breaking enemies, taking their defense for himself.

And honestly, that made a lot of difference at the Ramparts and Ingresses we encountered. No matter how much defense was involved, the Leper got most of the benefit instead of the enemy.

Where luck came into play was the various caches. In the Foetor, there was a stash of whiskey and steak along with some improved wagon wheels. Later in the Sprawl I'd find a cache of wine, and even further in the Tangle I ran into some survivors that had hoarded so much steak and potatoes that I couldn't use it all - and a cache with multiple roasted pigs.

Funny enough, with this party, the most difficult opponents weren't the cultists, and I wouldn't even say it was what we encountered in the Mountain. No, it was the Librarian. With only two of my party members realistically being able to attack from a distance, some bad rolls on blight resistance from Throwing Darts, and the Runaway's kit being neutered by 100% Burn Resist, we got well into the phase where the Librarian was burning everyone and basically limped out of there on no health.

Dreux actually wanted to talk to me afterwards. She discussed how she made friends with the fire, how it entranced her... she got carried away with it. Setting things on fire to watch them burn, and at one point she even danced away from the fire throwing a flask of alcohol on it - she got plenty of chance to show that "dragonfly" technique of hers on this trip. I have a feeling I know how the story ended for her, but I'll save that for another trip.

Let's not forget Lanquetot in all of this. By waiting until she was full of holy power to strike, she basically neutered the second Rampart's Deacon. I spoke to her at some point in the Tangle and she discussed her time in the dungeons... until a ray of light shone through the bars. She went into the light, and it was full of holy power! As she described the way she struck down her torturer... I could swear that her torturer was the Flagellant... but either way, she revealed the nature of her prayer and she finally has an offensive consecration to go with her defensive one.

With all of that provided, everyone had massive affinity towards one another. Even on the Mountain, where meltdowns became more common - with that camaraderie, the Exemplar was a piece of cake to deal with. When we got to the final stop, we encountered... a bunch of eyes? Yeah, it was clusters of eyes that focused on both Fairfax and Dreux. After bursting all the eyes, the true horror came - which I will call the Focused Fault. Anyone the smaller eyes see, the Focused Fault just kept lasering. And lasering, and lasering... Fairfax must have tanked over 400 damage (one instance was 108!) by the time he finally collapsed, unable to fight any more. However, he was the only casualty. By some luck, going the tank route like this, I'd had more than enough power to finish off this confession the first time I saw its final boss. At that point I saw it - the ritual that was my obsession. Attendees nailed to a five-pointed Iron Crown. It sickened the Scholar.

102 candles out of this, and we're now on Confession 4. Confession 4's focus is going to be unlocking every other boost before I try to go after cosmetic rewards. That means all trinkets, stagecoach items, hero boosts... all of it. While I've done a lot of work to this point, we are talking well over 800 candles to get it all. My initial 100 will make a significant dent in that, at least - I've unlocked all possible pets (including a mini-Shambler - isn't it cute?), the rest of the possibilities for the Stagecoach (among them are a medicine chest, a telescope, something for the merchant's guild, and a Stew Pot), a number of Trinkets... and an improvement in recalling memories. I haven't gone over this before, but whoever survives an expedition can recall memories of it, giving them a bonus to future expeditions. At some point, I need a whole party to survive all five... but that day is not today.

I have other ambitions. Wanting to know the secret of that Crown, for instance.