Expeditions 0-2: Days 1-12
It Starts!
You remember our venerable house, opulent an-
Oh, wait, no, wrong house. It's a one-floor sty in the middle of Boon County that I just bought this time. And I wonder what I got myself into, because first day in and I got asked to meet this mad scientist named Thomas A. Beanies.
He experiments on cats. There were three waiting when I got there - Leah, Kalongha, and Boban - and I could only take two with me.
I chose
Kalongha and
Boban. I don't know what fate awaits Leah, sadly.
Just as I left, I ran into this creepy guy named Butch. Apparently cat fights are extremely common in the area around Boon County and the two cats I just rescued were stuck defending themselves from animals. Including one of Butch's cats, Pebbles.
Once we got back into the house, I met this... flamboyant cat lover named Tink. He's explained the situation with the Boon County cats a little better. The cats here can go on one adventure in their lifetimes. At the end of a day, cats in the house may breed and make kittens, and the kittens take just one day to mature.
I took several days in the house, and Kalongha and Boban made one son -
Wiktor. A few days later, Wiktor made a move on Kalongha and the result was Miss
Uguette. I also picked up three strays during this time - females
Big Momma and
Grissy, and male
Crevette. In an attempt to temper Wiktor's urges, I sent him to the Alley with the three strays, with some collars that Butch had given me - Wiktor wore the Fighter collar, Big Momma had the Tank collar, Grissy had the Mage collar, and Crevette had the Hunter collar.
I... must admit I should have tracked this expedition better. I remember two things of this one: Maisie and the Radical Rat. Maisie is a stray who will warp into the line of fire of any of the kittens she brings out. The Radical Rat is a mad rodent who throws two bombs every turn and will start catching the entire arena on fire. Crevette came through in the clutch and everyone else limped home after that one.
After this trip I ran into Frank, a bum architect living in the sewers. He... wanted cats in exchange for expanding my house? I sent him Kalongha (to get her away from that creep Wiktor) and he built me an attic - which I will use as a staging area for any kittens, as well as cats who haven't adventured yet. Butch also stopped by to drop off a Cleric collar. And then there's Tink. Tink warned not to let the cats inbreed due to birth defects (too late for that, I've got Uguette) and explained parameters for the house's Comfort (more breeding and less fighting), Stimulation (better inheritance), Mutation (what it sounds like), and Health (worse health = diseased cats). A lot to take in, something I'll address when I can.
Butch says he wants cats who have fought, and Tink says he wants kittens. So cats are currency now? Hoo boy, this is gonna get weird real fast.
Sadly, it seems the adventure only made Wiktor meaner. He actually killed his father Boban! That makes him the oldest cat in the house now.
I picked up three strays: females
Yatzy and
Myka, and male
Mr. Majestic. Even before I could take them on an expedition, Mr. Majestic and Myka made a son -
Mr. Fazbearington. With enough cats available, I began another expedition: Uguette as a Tank, Myka as a Mage, Yatzy as a Hunter, and Mr. Majestic wore the new Cleric collar. Mr. Majestic's got some Reach, which is very very good when the basic attack can heal other cats.
Now that I've had a better look at the Alley, there's generally both cats and bugs to fight. I ran into Maisie again, and it appears that taking her down isn't the only way to end the battle. Taking out all the kittens is good enough to make Maisie flee, and Myka's magic abilities - including the devastating 8-way Thunderburst - were up to the task. I also ran into an issue with holy light - basically death lasers from the sky, as Mr. Majestic found out the hard way. He lived, though.
Somewhere along the way I picked up a set of Binoculars. I eventually gave these to Yatzy, who used them to devastating effect to attack almost all the way across the battlefield. The Radical Rat was a lot less of a messy fight with these available. We didn't stop there, though - we had sewer access. There were leeches, farting cats, and... living poops? Boon County is a really weird place.
Somewhere along the way I ran into the Flushmaster. He caused a bunch of tidal waves and, due to a mutation Yatzy got, almost blew Yatzy up. Luckily every cat made it through that, and after Myka got infected with an Eye Worm, we ran into Boris - a very beefy mound of flesh that caused eruptions in the water. Despite all the movement, every cat survived the journey.
Butch had another collar for me when I got home - the Thief collar, for backstabs and looting. I sent Big Momma his way and he offered to upgrade my storage locker - but now he wants cats that have been in either the Sewers or Junkyard. Except I don't have Junkyard access right now - but I do have Caves access. Frank's terrified of that place.
The shopkeeper I'd seen several times on these adventures, Tracy, finally set up shop near my house and wanted elderly cats. I sent Grissy her way, after Grissy got injured in a fight, and I have more access to cat food.
Mr. Majestic and Myka really got it on once we got home. It resulted in three more cats - twin daughters
Noel and
Princess Dingdong, and son
Cabeer. Noel was sent over to Tink and I got... some kind of fancy bow in exchange? Odd. I also picked up two more strays,
Yorgi and
Meow, both male.
With this, I have a team ready for an expedition to the Caves. After an analysis of stats and special abilities, here's my next party:
- Meow is the Tank. He has an ability that further boosts Constitution, and has high Constitution with the overall worst stat total, so he drew the short straw.
- Mr. Fazbearington gets an extra step movement each turn and has a decent stat spread across the board with poor magic capacity. He's overall my best candidate for the Thief in this team.
- Yorgi has an amazing stat spread for melee combat, and a special spell that builds damage every turn. He has no business around magic though. So he's going to be a Fighter.
- Princess Dingdong has the highest stat total but it's not distributed well, and she's got the lowest Constitution. She also has an extra Dexterity-based melee attack. I've chosen to shore up her weak defenses and make her my Cleric, even though it weakens her Dexterity special.
As far as shipping off cats away from this house, Wiktor is likely going to be sent to either Tracy or Frank very soon. I'm still mad about his patricide and his earlier creep behavior. I'd hoped his better Strength would get passed on to a cat with a better attitude, but it seems that's not meant to be.
Probably Frank as I want to be able to give certain pairs of cats their own room.
