Darkest Dungeon

STATUS UPDATE: DAY 38
Weeks 166-170

You know, when I set out for these tasks, I must remember to pack enough resources.

I got into the Courtyard, but only had the one invitation to work with. So I made significant progress the first round (enough that I don't need more than 4 ventures into the place), but couldn't do any more rounds yet.

So this time, my focus has been on bosses. Both the Formless Flesh and the Gibbering Prophet are down. Both fights involved the same two heroes - Raoulin and Moyaux, my Houndmasters - but for completely different reasons. For the Flesh, it was a mix of full-team targeting and being able to focus on the unarmored parts when they showed up. For the Prophet? Mark him, target him from a distance. Mussegros and Linesi were in on that second battle too.

At this stage, I'm making about 20k in interest per week alone. So I don't think I need to grab any more money items, unless I can find trapezohedrons (like the ones in the Shrieker's nest - and thanks to the Geological Studyhall, they stack!) or tapestries. No, I can load up on provisions and go to town on these places, grabbing heirlooms and maybe interesting trinkets on the way. When the Countess is down, I may be spending some more weeks in the Courtyard area grabbing trinkets.

It's a bit important I get the Countess down immediately so I can resume going to the Farmstead. The two invitations I got on a run during this round may actually be enough, if I stretch each trip sufficiently. But taking her on is going to be a challenge for certain.
 
STATUS UPDATE: DAY 39 PART 1
Facing One's Future Failures

A much stronger and much longer vision of the future happened this time. And... there's hope for me yet.

It started as these visions do, back at the altar. With the help of my candles, I now know the identities of all of my possible allies on this long and twisting road. Bounty Hunters, Hellions, Occultists... and a newcomer, the Runaway. That one introduced herself as Moyaux... I get the feeling she will share the same name with any Houndmaster or friendly Antiquarian I've encountered (so not ^$@@ING Fonnereau!). To avoid confusion, I'll refer to her as Moyaux II in this entry.

The Duelist? Has introduced herself as Marci, sharing names with the last Shieldbreaker I knew. The Hellion is the long-fallen Vernon, and the Occultist is Courcy.

Vernon fights as I expected. So does the Occultist, although he started off missing one of his support hexes. The Runaway Moyaux II? All about fire. That includes smoke, and that was honestly her most useful trick.

Anyways, this expedition started in the Tangle. Here I ran into a whopping three shrines. In order:
  • Vernon recalled how she got into a warband in her younger years... and a major night of revelry. She recalled learning an aggressive way to bleed out opponents too close to bring the full weight of a polearm to bear.
  • Moyaux II recalled running away from the orphanage where she was raised... after one too many incidents where she was branded with a hot iron. Remembering all that sneaking reminded her of ways to strike at any distance.
  • Courcy recalled the cult he ran, and how they helped him out with astral projection. He wound up recalling the hex that he was missing, and it has proven exceptionally valuable.
This time, on my path through the Tangle, I FINALLY ran into a Hoarder. I swapped the treasure map with him for an old but well-forged sword... checking in at the inn, I found out it was indeed Reynauld's old sword. Finally, I had enough of the pieces together to pinpoint his location... on the other side of the Sprawl, in a cage.

I had business to take care of first, though. There was a call to enter the Great Library again, and confront the Librarian. This team was... better, for handling that place. Still not powerful enough to stop the Librarian before he burns all of the books. However, it was enough to bring down the Librarian without anyone dying! That's the first time in any of my visions that I've been able to foresee cleaning out a Lair. I believe I will be required to do that every time from now on... hopefully I can pick someone else for the next time I do that.

My focus from here was making it to the cage, but I did have time to find a fourth shrine. I heard out Marci's story. She... she apparently used to be at an academy, but went above and beyond with her approach to discipline. A bit of a perfectionist. She showed off a strong kick she had been practicing in those days, good enough to send someone to the back of the lunch line. Wonder if it'll work for the battle line too.

So how'd the whole cage incident go? Well, I encountered a massive Warlord who ripped through my front line. Courcy's healing and some salves kept people up, but Vernon didn't make it to the end. Eventually, the Warlord went down to one of Marci's ripostes. With the long search ended, I could have just dumped the freshly-rescued Reynauld off at the next inn and continued on to the mountain. But... he actually insisted on taking Vernon's place on the battle line, despite not having trained for a while.

You would not believe what I saw up on that mountain. A huge brain, shackled to four locks! As the team and I approached, the locks sprang to life and started attacking!

The locks denied some of the team's efforts. Mainly, there was little chance to attack at a distance, and only one opportunity for Reynauld to do stress recovery throughout the whole fight. Moyaux II might not have lasted to the end, but didn't go down right away... and Courcy earned his keep. Between hexing the locks to make Marci and Reynauld strike harder, and his ability to do healing infinitely (even if very random and with a risk of bleeding), I somehow scraped through the entire encounter when I believed I had no chance at all!

I still do not know what crime happened in this vision, for me to face such a big denial. But the brain has been unshackled.

And I know to no longer deride Occultists for being useless.

First confession completed.

When I have another of these visions, what will be my plan with the 98 candles I got? Simple. The Stagecoach comes first. I want that thing as strong as possible and able to carry lots of stuff.
 
STATUS UPDATE: DAY 39 PART 2
Weeks 171-175

So at this point, I've made a fair bit more progress in the Courtyard, and dealt with all of the remaining bosses in the main regions. I had enough to spare for a couple of attempts at the Farmstead.

Sadly, neither team I sent was good enough for a guaranteed Memory. Even the Reynauld/Dismas team doesn't quite have enough Blight damage to carry through the Sleeper battle. I realistically need two strong Blight dealers for that battle. Maybe the team should be Highwayman/Shieldbreaker/Jester/Vestal? Vestal is practically mandatory with the kind of damage being shot out.

However, that does not mean this was fruitless. I actually saved another Abomination in the Courtyard - Meverel - and built both the Miasmal Orchard and the Altar of Light. Just a couple more buildings to go before all the districts are set.... though naturally one of them is the one that's 750 crests...

....oh yeah, a couple oddities this week. Another Shrieker battle that secured me 5 trapezohedrons... and something funny that happened when going after the Drowned Crew: when trying to rest, I got an ambush... that included a Gatekeeper. Seems the Countess is eager to meet me at last. I should not keep the lady waiting too long...

I will definitely do the Farmstead a couple times on Week 176 due to it being a bonus week, but I get the feeling that whatever awaits me in the Courtyard after the Countess might need some attention. I really want those trinket sets, given just how valuable the Highwayman's has been for me....
 
Day 40 of the logs is going to be delayed for two reasons:
  1. Runs of the Farmstead do not advance the week counter and take more time than a Long dungeon run to reach a shot at Memories.
  2. The Farmstead is simply not worth the effort.
    1. Out of all my runs after the successful one, only two of them even made it past the Miller due to random crit bullshit.
    2. The Farmstead is a slog otherwise, plain and simple. Only very specific teams get anywhere at all and I can't keep running the same thing hoping for RNG.
    3. Due to the above, I am better off grinding the Thing from the Stars to get the Memories needed for the Mill. I get a 1 in 5 chance of him dropping a Memory each time I fight him, and I make enough money that I can bring all provisions into each dungeon... so I can simply meet him head-on repeatedly.
  3. Day 40 is going until I beat the Countess. That may be just five weeks, that may be ten.
I'm also... running out of non-repeatable things to do. I don't plan on getting every single Crimson Court trinket, just every District. Beyond that, the only static boss I've got before the Dungeon itself is the Countess. I can repeat dungeons trying to get good quirks locked in for my teams but that's about it.

After Day 40's log, I am simply going to track weeks arbitrarily rather than log every five. I don't have infinite space in the notebook and I want to save half of it for Darkest Dungeon 2.
 
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STATUS UPDATE: DAY 40 PART 1
Weeks 176-180

So, I halted the Farmstead until I could deal with the Countess. And I'm probably going to stay on hold with it for the foreseeable future - or at least, until every hero on my roster hits resolve level 6 and The Red Hook is built.

But I learned something valuable from my attempts at the Farmstead that I used later on. Namely, that the Crusader can actually serve as a decent stress healer if you give him the Ancestor's Scroll trinket. I think one of his Court trinkets has the same boost, but I don't have that yet... but it does make me wonder about the combined result.

Either way, I chose to finish business with the Countess. I actually had a bit of a false start, trying to use the same team as before. See, the Countess does three things: injects eggs, brutal tongue-lashings, and blood draining. And gets the vapors every once in a while.

So I brought a power team. Amiens, Gueron, Harcourt, and the tried-and-true Mussegros. Mussegros actually had the option of a frontline skill this time, but he never got to use it. Most of the work was done by the bleeds from Amiens and Harcourt, with Gueron on healing duty for the whole fight. See, those eggs will burst if the affected person attacks. But only if they attack. So Amiens took the brunt of those, using Exsanguinate to get right back into fighting form each time. In very short order, the Countess was down, and the Crimson Curse is hardly an issue anymore.

And in short order I had enough portraits to build the House of the Yellow Hand, thus completing all the buff-based Districts.

So where does that leave me?

If I don't get The Red Hook and the Mill built by Sunday, I'll log my progress on that day. I will be taking on the Garden Guardian a few times for trinkets if I'm in a good mood, but most of my time will be spent on The Thing from the Stars.

When the two remaining districts are built, it'll be time to tackle the Darkest Dungeon itself.

I have one more future vision to address, and I will be getting to that today.
 
STATUS UPDATE: DAY 40 PART 2
It Becomes Clearer Now

So with the news of the Countess going down, I had another vision of the future.

I found out a bit more about that thing I was denying. A half-circle with five points, found in a blood-soaked cypher. The Iron Crown. Of course! The symbol anyone afflicted saw in the Hamlet! But... even with a symbol this ancient, how did it become so prominent in the Hamlet in the first place....?

I now realize... my visions up to this point? They happened right after I solved the riddle of the Hamlet. I go on this journey the minute I uncover what is beneath that secluded place... but there are still some gaps to fill. I do know... despite the glory of the Hamlet as it is now, that place is liable to collapse without my involvement, no matter what caretaker I hire.

Such is life, I guess...

But let's get to the vision. As I said I'd do, I immediately spent all those candles and upgraded the Stagecoach into as much of a luxury ride as I can get. Better armor, better wheels, a lot more capacity to put things in and on it. And a few candles to teach myself how to better survey what comes ahead...

Apparently now, the theme is "Resentment". From not being able to discuss what was in that cypher with the academy. Also, it seems I really do have to take on at least one region leader on the journey, every single time.

The team this time? Flagellant Amiens, Crusader Gueron, Highwayman Harcourt, and Vestal Lanquetot. Now the road gets a LOT tougher. First off, not nearly as much Mastery right off the bat. Second, two new regions came up: The Shroud, and the Foetor. The Shroud is the one I hit first - it's kind of a coastal deal, much like the Cove but with a different kind of aquatic folk pestering me.

While here, I hit up the Shrine and asked Lanquetot about her story. She was apparently at a very disciplined and sheltered abbey, tending a sacred flame. But she was having some... hidden desires that she uneasily tried to suppress. She taught us some of the prayers from the abbey... one of them is so powerful she can actually clear smaller blights, bleeding, and even burns with but a word! Amazing.

Before I discuss the other region, the Foetor, I should note something about the cultists. In the last confession, their altar granted stealth. Now? Critical tokens. They're much more dangerous already.

So... the Foetor. I didn't complete it this time, but it's some kind of farmland with gluttonous residents. It's like what would happen if Nurgle's minions were just bloated and not full plague-spreaders. I easily bit off more than I could chew here, and due to my earlier failures to confront the Loathing, only Gueron made it to the next Shrine.

He recalled being a farmer, forced to do a harvest early because of a sudden frost. He... only got enough for his wife and child. I told him to keep up that reaping technique, as it'd be handy on the battlefield.

And that's about all that could be done. Alone, Gueron stood no chance against cultists... so here I am, back at the start, with a little less than two dozen candles to my name.

Next time, I need to start boosting my heroes directly. I gave the Stagecoach a ton of love already.
 
STATUS UPDATE: DAY 41
Weeks 181-Unknown

I'm actually going to give the progress report now. I've managed to settle into a rotation of sorts, with two different main teams and the occasional expeditionary team.

First, my team for the Garden Guardian. Fairfax the Leper, Port the Grave Robber, Clinchamps the Jester, Guyot the Vestal. Garden Guardian is exceptionally easy... as long as the shield and spear remain unbroken. It does take a while, though. Worthwhile cost, to secure some more Court trinkets.

The larger news is the Farmstead. I actually have a consistent group for this place! Mussegros the Man-at-Arms, Marci the Shieldbreaker, Harcourt the Highwayman, Gueron the Crusader. Mussegros needs to either keep decently-high PROT or use his Crimson Court set, Gueron uses the Signed Conscription and the Ancestor's Scroll, Marci and Harcourt use their respective Crimson Court trinkets. The way I deal with bosses with this team is riposte, riposte, riposte! Both the Miller and the Sleeper regularly hit the whole team, so both Harcourt and Mussegros can punish them for it. In fact, with his Court set, Mussegros doesn't need to do any other offense! I can actually keep a couple of his buffs, or his debuff, on his skillset full-time.

And with both the Conscription and the Scroll, Gueron actually does passable stress healing and single-target healing full-time - and unlike the Jester and Vestal, he won't crumple to just one errant critical. Multiple crits from area attacks or a big one from Treebranch Smackdown when the Weald filters in will still ruin my day, of course, but that's RNG.

With this settled, the time is drawing ever closer to consider who to bring to the Darkest Dungeon. I will most definitely need to be on my A-game this time. And I do not permit Reynauld or Dismas to deploy until the time is right. I... also don't want to use Mussegros until at LEAST the second expedition. Supposedly, there's a whole lot of shuffling going on down there...

UPDATE: I decided this bit of news didn't need a separate update...

I will actually be going to the Courtyard until the Garden Guardian has coughed up all of the remaining Crimson Court trinkets - probably looking at 10-11 fights with the guy. The Red Hook was built on week 197, and the Mill on week 209.

Here are the available heroes going into the Darkest Dungeon:
  • Reynauld, Crusader (reserved for finale)
  • Dismas, Highwayman (reserved for finale)
  • Valorges, Plague Doctor
  • Craon, Vestal
  • Fairfax, Leper
  • Port, Grave Robber
  • Clinchamps, Jester
  • Guyot, Vestal
  • Mussegros, Man-at-Arms
  • Marci, Shieldbreaker
  • Harcourt, Highwayman
  • Gueron, Crusader
  • Grancourt, Highwayman
  • Bourneville, Jester
  • Lanquetot, Vestal
  • Raoulin, Houndmaster
  • Moyaux, Houndmaster
  • Ravenot, Jester
  • Meverel, Abomination
  • Selina, Antiquarian
  • Linesi, Musketeer
  • Bondeville, Houndmaster
  • Courcy, Occultist
  • Grentemesnil, Crusader
  • Marchès, Flagellant
  • Amiens, Flagellant (I actually got a second revive somewhere in this)
  • Bertran, Hellion
I also have two Veterans that I can't realistically train right now.

So... let's see, that's:
  • 3 Crusaders
  • 3 Highwaymen
  • 3 Houndmasters
  • 3 Vestals
  • 3 Jesters
  • 2 Flagellants
  • 1 Plague Doctor
  • 1 Grave Robber
  • 1 Leper
  • 1 Man-at-Arms
  • 1 Shieldbreaker
  • 1 Abomination
  • 1 Antiquarian
  • 1 Musketeer
  • 1 Occultist
  • 1 Hellion
No Bounty Hunters or Arbalests in the mix, and most of my options are unique - if I lose them in the dungeon, I don't get another without severe grinding.

The next time we talk, either I'll have succeeded in clearing the Darkest Dungeon... or I'll be desperately trying to raise an entire roster.

I've made it this far... this is the grand finale of the first game. Can I do it?
 
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STATUS UPDATE: DAY 42
Weeks Unknown-216

The deed has been done.

I ventured into the heart of the Darkest Dungeon, and have conquered all of its trials before me.

Allow me to discuss each of the four teams I sent:
  • Team 1: Vs. Shuffling Horror
    • Amiens, Flagellant
    • Marci, Shieldbreaker
    • Courcy, Occultist
    • Selina, Antiquarian
  • Team 2: Vs. Templars
    • Grentemesnil, Crusader
    • Moyaux, Houndmaster
    • Guyot, Vestal
    • Mussegros, Man-at-Arms
  • Team 3: Vs. Mammoth Cysts
    • Bertran, Hellion
    • Raoulin, Houndmaster
    • Lanquetot, Vestal
    • Linesi, Musketeer
  • Team 4: Vs. Heart of Darkness
    • Reynauld, Crusader
    • Dismas, Highwayman
    • Valorges, Plague Doctor
    • Craon, Vestal
Now, for thoughts on the missions:

Team 1

I had previously sent a rank 0 team into here, so I had some idea what to expect. Cultists that guard their brethren and spam healing, tougher versions of the cultists I'd seen to this point, one resting opportunity...

And the Shuffling Horror.

Honestly, this team may not have been the perfect one, but the Shieldbreaker and the Occultist got the job done. And with two actions per round, having the Antiquarian debuff the creature's Blight resistance did wonders for the Shieldbreaker. And the Flagellant got in on the fun, even if it was a spear attack from Marci that finished it off.

I had two of the heroes go Virtuous, actually. My memory is hazy as to whom, but I want to say Marci and Selina.

Team 2

Honestly, the only threat in this section is the Templars themselves. Everything else? Actually kind of weak.

The Templars, though... I decided that Guyot was the one who wasn't going to be carrying the Talisman. This left Mussegros to stand in the back line as her bodyguard... for the dual Templar fight. In the other two fights, I actually had him taking the second position behind the Crusader - and he both struck a final blow on the solo Impaler, and was the only one to successfully stun the solo Warlord. Perfect send-off for him, if you ask me.

This place also introduced some more minor creatures within the Heart, but none of them got too concerning.

Tell you the truth? This mission would have been much more of an issue if they didn't provide me two stacks of firewood. I can have buffs for all three major fights if I play my cards right.

Team 3

Any of you who was hoping I would wander the halls and let the Mammoth Cysts and White Cell Stalks stop me, instead of just trying to crush a fastest path into the center of this maze, should prepare to be disappointed. Fatigue with this adventure was getting to me, I won't lie - and I had little patience for a 4-firewood mission.

That, and recalling the 54 bodies I've left getting to this point - including 24 of Veteran status or higher. Plus Danneville the Leper, Ver the Occultist, Halle the Bounty Hunter, and Guiffart the Grave Robber - who were the four Rank 0 heroes I sent into the Darkest Dungeon some weeks back.

So.... that's why the Hellion, Houndmaster, and Musketeer. The Hellion's primary job was destroying the White Cell Stalks with Iron Swan - with the other two helping if needed, but most of their task was marking the Cysts and bursting them down. Houndmasters are crazy powerful down here.

There is also a risk of massive Blight attacks from this mission and the previous one. Like, 10 points per round massive, kind of like those big crabs in the Cove did with their bleeds.

While I shortcut this place massively, this was definitely designed in such a way as to frustrate someone who only got here the first time. Those Stalks can warp you pretty much anywhere. The place is still dangerous even if you have a truly dedicated team, just for the massive Blight damage and the weakened Templars alone.

Team 4

Finally, we reach the grand finale. I ought to mention something here - ever since the first team took out the Shuffling Horror, I'd been seeing weird glitching-out around town. People randomly pulsing or turning into lumps of flesh for the briefest amount of time. Stuff like that.

Anyways.... I finally came face-to-face with the Ancestor, who claims himself an Avatar of the Crawling Chaos. It would be cheap to say Nyarlathotep is on board with all of this... but that Outer God is known to be the biggest troll amongst the Mythos last I checked. I wasn't having much of it, though - his comments about the mountain of corpses accelerating the end didn't really sink in with me. I had a job to do.

This.... as end bosses go, this one wasn't difficult so much as a grueling experience. First phase was slaying reflection after reflection, until I found the ones that weren't perfect. The reflections targeted Valorges so much that she actually had a resolve test - and for the third time, someone went Virtuous in this hellhole.

Second phase was when the gloves came off. 3 indestructible voids, and the Ancestor dancing around hitting everyone with low-impact bleed attacks. The way I was set up, only Dismas could deal damage on every round - with Valorges and Reynauld contributing when the Ancestor got closer.

Third phase was a cooldown, with a lot of blight. I actually drained the phase's whole health bar.

The final phase... didn't get to do a whole lot, but it DID get to do its special. Come Unto Your Maker. Now, some people will argue against my choices... but since I started this journey late, and had visions into who makes it onto the stagecoach immediately for the next venture, I knew who had to survive this encounter. So I sent Craon to tank the first special.... and Reynauld tanked the second, leaving Dismas and Valorges alive.

The remnants of the Ancestor spoke of futility and an endless cycle... but that is not my cycle to continue. It's someone else's turn to take up the Hamlet's defense, to prevent the thing down there from hatching and blowing up the planet. I found something else... worrying down there, related to what I now know is the Iron Crown. I plan to go address that.


So, after this point, what have I done with the leftover heirlooms and the 2.5 million gold I had lying around?

The heirlooms stayed. I took a big chunk of the gold and built the best stagecoach I could. Dismas and Valorges got on board, as did Mussegros. Port eventually agreed to stay on, and Marci chucked away her spear and took up fencing.

And... I have had several trips since then. Those who have followed this journey and saw the future visions I wrote down, will know that's what happened between the Heart's defeat and now. Several cross-country journeys, finding a couple new allies and rediscovering some who had passed in my journey down to the Heart. And the recent reunion with Reynauld, still fighting strong as ever.

Dismas actually wasn't mad at me about the Heart. Apparently Reynauld took the decision himself, seeing that Valorges was on something of a tear against the Heart.



....this stagecoach is a double-decker, with bunks up top. I'm going to go lie down a while. We're looking at a week or even two before I log more adventures on the road to the Mountain - and they will be spaced farther apart, for sure.

I have stories to write, and a tale to read about a Journey to the West.
 
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STATUS UPDATE: DAY 43
Where do we Go From Here?

I did say it'd be a week before I logged any more adventures. I'm thinking for the time being that I do one of these expeditions every week, two at most, while I'm dealing with my other stories.

I will not recount my most recent expedition, however, save for a couple of things:
  • The party was a Flagellant, Jester, Highwayman, and Vestal.
  • I was able to ask the Highwayman about his story. He started it off discussing a jailbreak, where he had to fight his way past multiple guards... with the up-close nature of the battle, I asked him if he could apply that infighting technique to his guns. He thinks he can do it.
  • I was able to ask the Flagellant about his story. He was basically a homeless man who found out how much he delighted in pain when two drunks started beating him up. He demonstrated how he forgave them afterwards... I don't think he expected to be able to send up a rain of blight. He insists he couldn't do that back then... I'd believe it.
  • The reason I refuse to log this one is... I didn't even make it out of the first Region (the Shroud in this case). Despite having given every party member a buff to Deathblow resistance and the ability to find an Indelible Trinket, both the Jester and Vestal bit it during a Creature Den. The other two were killed off by the following Pillager battle.... leaving me with a whopping FOUR candles! Barely enough to slightly help out one more hero.
The only person I really NEED to bring on the next one is the Jester, and I really am reluctant to bring a Plague Doctor.... My goal for the second Confession is to hear the second part of everyone's story. It is really time to start unlocking techniques.

I'm wondering if I should bring the Brigand Vvulf team next time. Man-at-Arms, Leper, Jester, Vestal.
 
STATUS UPDATE: DAY 44
Maybe I Shouldn't Have Gone There

Well, I'm thinking one expedition a week for now. Two once I get through an exhausting bit of work elsewhere.

This time, I did bring the Brigand Vvulf team. Mussegros, Fairfax, Bourneville (the Jester), and Lanquetot.

Unfortunately, in the parties' current state, that team turned out to be a really bad idea. Mussegros actually took the brunt of it and didn't even make it past the first region's Rampart. Pity.

So I took Parthenai to fill his place. As I turned to leave that inn, I noticed a third route I'd never taken before. Into some kind of sewer system. The Sluice. The team was okay with me going this route.

In retrospect, I should have thought again - because that area is the territory of the Swine. Yes, the very same swine from the Hamet's Warrens region. And they're tougher than ever - the main issue being their javelin thrower, who proportionally does the same kind of damage they did back at the Hamlet even though my crews are significantly tougher than in those days. To make matters worse, there is absolutely no way to scout ahead in the Sluice, so I have no idea what I'm getting myself into.

Good news is, the Sluice doesn't have a Rampart at the end. Maybe I'll consider it again when my teams are much tougher.

As it stands, my teams are still having trouble getting through more than one real region. Parthenai bit it early in the Sprawl and the rest of the team fell just shy of the Rampart. I'm thinking I beat the first Confession too quickly, but I'm not about to back down to it now.

This time, at least, I have 40 candles to work with. So I can make some significant improvement when I revisit the altar.


The shrines this time:
  • Jester #1. We found this one in the Shroud, and he recounted his early days as a street performer. I asked him to play a couple songs and the one he came up with was basically his outro. No hands on the performers, after all.
  • Vestal #2. This was one of two shrines in the Sprawl, and I asked her to further discuss her time in the abbey. She recalled the moment when things started going wrong - while tending the fire, there was a couple having a tryst in the courtyard. She kinda let the fire slip by accident while gazing at the two of them. Yes, both. Apparently Lanquetot bends both ways. She mentioned the verbal lambasting she got from the Abbot, and she let her feelings reach a crescendo... and nearly hit me over the head with a mace. As if I was the Abbot! We had to calm her down and tell her to keep that wrath to the battlefield.
  • Jester #2. He told us of a musician he met in a graveyard - playing a rather haunting tune. He had learned his song structure - a verse to a chorus, a bridge after a break... eventually, the Jester gained control of the song and ended with a killer finale. Given he had his sickle buried halfway in a building, a wide scar carved by it... I'm not sure if he meant "killer finale" literally or not. I wonder if he can do that wide harvesting sweep on the battlefield?
It is time I start establishing who gets which names. Here's what I have so far (with two exceptions, I've avoided canon names):
  • Crusader: Reynauld, Gueron, Grentemesnil
  • Highwayman: Dismas, Harcourt, Grancourt
  • Man-at-Arms: Mussegros, Raoulin, Bondeville
  • Grave Robber: Port
  • Plague Doctor: Valorges
  • Occultist: Courcy
  • Runaway: Dreux, Selina
  • Jester: Bourneville, Clinchamps, Ravenot
  • Vestal: Craon, Lanquetot, Guyot
  • Leper: Fairfax, Sollers
  • Duelist: Marci
  • Flagellant: Parthenai, Amiens
  • Hellion: Vernon, Bertran
  • Bounty Hunter: (no names given)
I'd like to eventually have four names for each hero, excluding canon names. Any ideas?
 
STATUS UPDATE: DAY 45
(unavailable)

Candles spent on making everyone's first trinket available.

Crusader, Flagellant, Highwayman, Occultist.

Foetor. Lair. Harvest Child. Constant lockdown of actions thanks to the putrid meat. Unable to fight back.

I'm being as terse as possible as there's going to be no log for this week, as I got a run so disastrously bad I wound up with precisely 3 candles after it - almost the lowest you can get and still get to the first Inn. I didn't even get any shrines!

From now on, I only take on lair bosses on the third region, no matter what the game objectives tell me. I'm not sure I could have done much against the Harvest Child, but I had this problem in the Tangle on an earlier expedition. I clearly am at a level where I need serious buildup to face a Lair.

No one has their first path unlocked. And that will be true for next run too, as I'm likely to blow all those candles on Trinkets.
 
STATUS UPDATE: DAY 46
Horseshoes and Hand Grenades

Crusader Gueron and Flagellant Parthenai again. This time, I paired them with Grave Robber Port and Plague Doctor Valorges.

I went to the Foetor first again. I was railroaded into the Lair right off the bat this time - and remembering my last experience, I bugged out of it after just one battle. There was no way I could repeat the experience - though for reasons we'll get to later, this party may not be a bad setup for the Harvest Child...

Actually, the enemies in the Foetor aren't so bad. Durable and get buffs too easily from dead comrades, but not really difficult. So I used the opportunity to chase Shrines again:
  • Grave Robber shrine #2: We got a flashback into the night she snapped. Port's husband wasn't merely "nasty", he was straight-up an abuser. Apparently after placating him for a bit, she went and hid behind a folding partition, waiting for him to take his eyes off the drink tray. And... she straight-up poisoned it. She ensured this was the man's last drinking night. She still remembers the man's final pleading and her responses to it... sounds like she could lure off trouble on the battlefield with it.
  • Flagellant #2: Parthenai apparently pledged himself to the church after his encounter with the muggers. Working as... a torturer? He regaled us with the whole story of his days as a torturer... and frankly I wish he hadn't. Apparently the church didn't like him either, as they threw him out on his ass. Oh well, maybe his tendencies could be useful on the field.
  • Crusader #2: Gueron recalled the army marching through after the early frost took his crops. Knowing there wasn't enough of a harvest for the whole family, he signed his life away to the army. Understandable, and how it often went as I recall. It seems one of the first things they taught him was the importance of the standard - he showed me that it wasn't just for morale, it could encourage those who saw it to fight on! Good old Battle Heal. How I've missed it.
So with all that in mind, what's with my title and why did I mention the team's ability when skipping that Lair?

That would be because of the second region, the Tangle. Going into the Lair with only three heroes (Port met her end shortly before), I actually made it to the Dreaming General with all three still alive. Parthenai having Acid Rain and Valorges having Plague Grenade... meant I could hit the Tap Root and the General every turn to drive the roots back, and stack huge amounts of Blight on the General himself at the same time. Unfortunately, trying to heal damage interrupted this long enough for a couple shots of Nightmare... so we didn't actually succeed in the battle. But we got him below a quarter.

"Close only counts..."

Yes, this is not a situation where "close" counts. But it's very encouraging. And now I can see why the Tangle is one of the regions available in the Denial confession. This is also why this team might work for the Harvest Child - I kinda need backline hitters for that fight.

21 candles to carry on to the next attempt. I could either start unlocking Paths, or I can work on getting Inn items.... it's worth noting at this point that I have STILL never seen a single positive relationship develop within my team. I need to figure out how to fix that soon.

We have confirmation, by the way, that Bigby (and in my case, Meverel) are coming back.
 
STATUS UPDATE: DAY 47
New Paths

So this is the second-worst run I've gotten to this point. Man-at-Arms, Runaway, Grave Robber, Vestal. How could it go so badly so soon again?

Well... that's because I unlocked my first Paths this time, and without cautiously checking what said paths meant:
  • For the Man-at-Arms, he has the Sergeant path. This basically fulfills the role of that weird rank 4 shield trinket from the first time, except with a lot more shouting orders.
  • For the Runaway, the first path is Arsonist. All about burning... but it lowers direct damage.
  • For the Grave Robber, she's got Deadeye. This turns her into a backline sniper with daggers - so basically how I've been using her.
  • For the Vestal? Confessor path. All about debuffs, and would be a bit rank-flexible... were it not for the fact that Divine Grace still requires the back two rows.
See the issue? Three heroes for two backline slots.

At least this time, I got a couple shrines:
  • That vaunted command the Man-at-Arms earned? He totally botched it. Every one of his orders had the opposite effect. He basically caused his own men to rout through poor command. He tells me he's gotten better at orders since then, and he also demonstrated he does much better standing at the front. I'll remember that.
  • As for the Runaway? She mentioned her vagrancy, until a woodsman and his wife took her in. She recalls spending a lot of her time by the fire - and she also mentioned literally burning shut some of her injuries. Cauterization. Kind of amazing.
And something new did occur this time - I did so badly in battle and bailed on several key fights so that I actually ran out of Flame entirely. Right before the Oblivion's Rampart. While I scraped through one fight (losing the Man-at-Arms), I just couldn't swing two back-to-back Cultist fights with this setup.

7 candles into next time. I can get a couple paths and maybe an item or two. Honestly, I unlocked a ton of items through candles this past run - so if I can't do too much with this one, no real loss.
 
((Can I request this be moved to the Games/Movies/Music subforum? It probably fits better there now.))

STATUS UPDATE: DAY 48
General Malaise

So my unlocks this time were Tempest Leper, Maniac Flagellant, and the Almanac for the Foetor. And my team was Leper Fairfax, Flagellant Parthenai, Grave Robber Port, and Vestal Guyot.

I am still having no luck getting any positive relationships in these runs. Five negative ones at the end of the first region! Ideally, with the item I got out of the first region's Lair - the Footman's Grog - I could turn all of the hate towards Parthenai into boosts. That grog, it turns out, turns certain negative tokens into positive ones. And since he actually runs well off of high stress...

Two Dinner Carts attacking my weakened team in the Foetor put a swift end to that. And to the run, as while the Grave Robber survived that fight, she ran into Implication as the very next battle.

Still, this is actually a reasonable team for the Dreaming General. A bit slower than I'd like, but three people that can hit the back line means a lot more focus on the General and it also means I can tag off someone for healing. Unfortunately, Maniac Flagellant means I can't realistically stack Blight if I do this - Maniac's Acid Rain debuffs instead of Blighting. This team's biggest weakness is it does not have a lot of passive offense - it's a defensive team through and through, and despite all the healing options it can't really serve against high-offense enemies. Wars of attrition all the way.


The Shrine this time: The Leper's second one, where it's discovered he has the disease of his namesake... and that doctor's can't do much. He apparently thought about what to do with the kingdom and wondered what his advisors would pull... there's a new talent in there somewhere, but I've yet to ask him to use it.


23 candles for the next run. I will probably just unlock everyone's first Path and then work from there instead of dragging it out.
 
STATUS UPDATE: DAY 49
A Breakthrough in Negotiations

Two weeks out of this, huh? The next run had better be something special, I'm guessing?

Yeah. This is officially the first time I've gotten a single positive relationship. Between Reynauld and Dismas no less. You know what it took? A whole cache of wine from the Academic's Studies.

After unlocking the first path for everyone, I took Reynauld, Dismas, Valorges, and Craon on this one. I found the wine in a study in the Shroud, and hit a lot of assistance encounters here. One of my few actual battles? The Leviathan. There's a pattern - spew mists, gaze, then raise his hand. With the hand up, they'll drag gaze targets under. A hugely stressful battle of moderate length. Dismas as a Rogue and Valorges as a Surgeon are both quite powerful in melee. Reynauld as an Aggressor... works better with a burn-based team at clearing road and resistance battles.

Valorges was still angry at Reynauld pretty much the entire trip. This is why you don't swear off the bottle before the end of the world.

My next trip was to the Sprawl. This is where I found out just how powerful positive relationships are - I actually got Dismas to counter an attack that struck Reynauld. There were a couple Shrines, which I'll get to in a bit.

The third place was the Foetor, and I'm sad to say this is where things collapsed after a lucky crit with a follow up took down Dismas. Reynauld was the next to fall at some place called an Oblivion's Ingress - basically an early cultist battle. After I ran out of stagecoach armor later... I just couldn't swing that battle with only two left.

Shrines:
  • Highwayman 2: Dismas recalled his time after the jailbreak, quickly finding freedom to be much harder than he initially thought. The idea of having to subsist on rats! He... gruesomely demonstrated the way he opened their veins, and was happy to do it to our enemies later.
  • Vestal 3: Craon recalled that she was dragged to an oubliette after letting the sacred flame waver. I... don't want to think of what she said happened down there. I just prefer to note the fact that she finds it easier to give others sanctuary, even on the field.
  • Highwayman 3: Dismas recalled that he had been offered one last job, and he took it out of desperation. He apparently recalled a trick to steal buffs, but never got the chance to use it.
The yield from this attempt was 41 candles. With the secret of positive relationships unveiled, boosting Resourcefulness and getting all the inn items unlocked has just become top priority.
 
STATUS UPDATE: DAY 50
Enshrined

So in truth, two runs have happened from the last log until now.

I will not discuss the one involving the Hellion, Jester, Duelist, and Occultist. With the paths I have unlocked, that team is a bad combination. The creature den proved that team too fragile and they didn't get past the first Rampart. 7 candles there.

I will discuss the second one - Flagellant, Duelist, Plague Doctor, and a Man-at-Arms bringing up the rear (because that's how a Sergeant works). The team's got a lot of good frontline ability - putting mastery on Punish allows for easy combo tokens to capitalize on Incision and the special Crush bonus healing. We got through the Foetor just fine with that team. However... the Tangle is not a place for frontline teams. You need a lot more backline potential than I had in order to make it through there - and while the Plague Doctor somehow defied death endlessly to take down the General herself (the Defiant quirk is THAT powerful the way that fight goes), the Deacon at the next Rampart was not something she could solo at all.

I've nearly got all the Inn items unlocked. 23 candles isn't quite going to do it, but one more solid run like this should let me finish that.

I am bringing the Duelist for the next run, and hopefully I can finish off her Shrine memories this time. I don't tend to use her often, so I'm getting this out of the way.

Total shrines this time:
  • Occultist 2: He approached a pyramid and prepared himself for an upcoming sacrifice of some kind. He practiced some of the ritual preparations for us - a dagger trick viable from the back line.
  • Hellion 2: She spoke of the big battle she led the charge in. She... also spoke of that battle going disastrously. Not in the same way the Man-at-Arms screwed up - she could lead, but her fellow warriors were simply too weak... and she cowered. Something about that incident struck a nerve, because she gave a blood-curdling scream - one that could also mean bloodlust in some places.
  • Duelist 2: After-hours instruction with the training dummy. She recalled the commands of her instructor very well - she could do them again in her sleep, if needed. I don't know if I'll need that out of her though.
  • Duelist 3: She reminisced about her time with her dedicated instructor. Finally, she demonstrated a technique to go from front to back - very helpful to know she's more mobile.
  • Flagellant 3: Apparently he took on so much suffering it nearly killed him. He thinks he can take on the poor status of others at this point - taking bleed, burn, and blight onto himself.
  • Duelist 4: I'm... not entirely sure I got the proper story from our duelist this time. She said it was a drunken duel against her instructor, but she thinks she lost somehow. I'm pretty certain she actually won that encounter. I'll try asking her again next time we find a shrine with her. (Yes, I actually failed a shrine for once.)
 
STATUS UPDATE: DAY 51
Full of Hot Air

So between the last run and this one, I have officially unlocked all of the Inn items. Working on the Stagecoach items next, followed by boosts to Resourcefulness.

Before I discuss the actual run, I will first state that unlocking all the Inn items has been extremely beneficial already. I've seen a lot more positive relationships develop, and got to witness their power for myself. Buffs, stress relief, and even several instances of counterattacks from heroes who respect each other! Going all in on the Inn items is worth it.

I brought along the Crusader, Duelist, Plague Doctor, and Occultist. I must confess, I only took the Duelist to finish her Shrines - I really don't think she meshes well with most of my teams and despite her strong showing here, I will be leaving her out of most future expeditions.

Speaking of Shrines, let's actually get that out of the way:
  • It took me two more tries to get her to properly tell what happened with her instructor. The third time? A nailbiter of a duel, very close... but then her instructor faltered on one of his disengages. She seized the opportunity, reading his next move... and one good riposte ended it. That technique-reading is extremely good, even now.
  • Apparently, striking down her instructor led her to realize that sport was pointless. She thrilled more in duels to the death. Her story told, she spoke of a couple tricks she learned since then - sneaking in a coup de grace with a sidearm, and instructing others in their footwork.
  • Her story done, I went and asked the Occultist how he prepared for that sacrifice he mentioned. He spoke of an inner conflict with his virtues. An inner struggle to forget what was virtuous about himself, to empty himself for the sacrifice... that is something I did not expect. He said he'd actually seen some power from it immediately - he unlocked one of his 'super' abilities that requires Unchecked Power to use. This time it was Malediction - bad status for a target every time they're struck.
I had an encounter early on with the Chirurgeon... would not recommend, even if I did beat him. Constant healing of minions, boosted damage off my negative tokens... it was crazy all around.

The Duelist did wind up pulling her weight and then some, despite my contempt of her... but that was because one of my trinket unlocks (I save those for the last few candles on each set if I wind up uneven) was Parrying Patriarch. That thing is tailor-made for the Duelist and all the Dodge tokens she generates - turning all of them into Dodge+, which let her go far longer than she should have against the confession boss.

I also ran into Implication again - and managed to force the cannon to miss by blinding it. Somehow. Really, that battle was made faster thanks to the Occultist.

My boss of choice wound up the General, again. Extremely easy with this team - Plague Doctor and Occultist lock down the root (with items too in the latter case, so I can try for crits with Incision - a 41 point crit in one case!) so everyone else can focus the General. Sadly, I lost the Crusader at the following Rampart. Stupid Cardinals.

Replacing him with a Hellion just didn't cut it, because of the confession boss - the Seething Sigh, which is apparently some kind of freakish lung dragon. It inhales with one lung-wing every turn - sometimes two - and you apparently have to damage the wings quite a bit to get them to stop. I... couldn't maintain that kind of damage and still attack the boss, so I just threw everything I could at the center. Not good enough. Duelist actually brought the thing down to about 40% before she just ran out of steam.

71 candles, which have promptly gone to Resourcefulness as well as the Stagecoach items and the last few Inn items. I'm either going to work on the combat items or the heroes when I'm done maxing Resourcefulness.
 
STATUS UPDATE: DAY 52
An Old 'Friend'

I took the Leper, Highwayman, Jester, and Vestal on this one. For the Tangle, there's actually not much to discuss. Other than the fact that this is still not an ideal team, at least not with the paths I have unlocked right now. Unlike the Duelist, the Jester is still someone I can keep around after finishing his shrines - but I still want to finish them to get access to a good skill for this path.

The Foetor... there were a couple of caches, but that's not the focus. You would not believe who I encountered on the road.

That TRAITOROUS #$%^@ FONNEREAU! The Antiquarian herself!

Looks like she's improved, leading the Pillagers. She's about as cowardly as I remember her - relying on allies to protect her - but her censer now infects a whole team rather than the single-target affair I remember out of her. She's also quite evasive. I was able to defeat her this time - and she dropped some decent trinkets - but I was so flustered by this that I could not lead the team effectively and let the flame run out. We never made it out of the Foetor.

I have 22 candles to use to make improvements. Some more serious consideration of teams is needed.

Shrines this time:
  • Jester #3 - Turns out he got invited to a king's Court. But the Court was fully abusive towards him. One thing they made him play was a marching tune - he didn't like it, but he said he might be able to put it to better use here than in the Court.
  • Leper #3 - He found out while bedridden that his advisors were planning on killing him in his sleep. So he hoisted his blade and went to meet them. That pose he maintained at the end - he definitely can put it to use in battle now, just like then.
  • Jester #4 - So apparently in that Court, he snapped and played the tune he learned from that other musician. He showed it to me as a puzzle - mirror sets of notes to play a melody. I was able to nail this puzzle first try... and what he told me was that in his rapture, he slaughtered the whole Court. Including one grand finale where he summoned spears out of nowhere. Now that's a trick I want to see him use again!
 
STATUS UPDATE: DAY 53
Learning to Let Go

Now... today's run is a prime example of not giving up, turning it around, and pulling through.

Let's take it from the top. I used my candles for more stagecoach items and combat items. I'll only note one of them here - the Icebox - ensuring I'd attain more food than I knew what to do with. I brought along Crusader Gueron, Jester Clinchamps, Plague Doctor Patris, and Occultist Courcy - with my original plan being reliance on Incision.

That went out the window right away when Patris got killed early in the Shroud. I basically limped through on bleeds, only escaping the Rampart with Gueron.

So my replacements were Flagellant Parthenai, Grave Robber Port, and Vestal Lanquetot. You need relics to change a path mid-run, so I only did it with Port to activate the Deadeye path.

Turning in the corpses of the three prior companions left me with a lot of mastery to work with. Too much, perhaps. Enough that I never had issues mastering my skills by the end - and in fact, had more mastery than I could reasonably use.

Between Parthenai's Acid Rain, Port's dagger skills, and Lanquetot's Judgement, the General proved really easy in the Tangle. But I actually ran into a complication in this region... after one of the resistance encounters, a pale rider shows up. Parthenai flipped his shit, telling me it was an avatar of Death herself - and that it was after HIM. Turns out Death's avatar is very reliant on bleeding, and hurts bleeding targets more. With a lot of defensive skills, we were able to survive without a single casualty.

.....actually, before I go on about my visit to the Sluice, I should inform all of you about a second item that was part of the unlocks. Adrenaline Tonics. They're better than Healing Salves, but inflict stress as well as heal. They came in handy later on.

Anyways, Sluice. There was one point that Lanquetot suggested we taint food to lure out the inhabitants of a creature den. Devious, and made Parthenai's job easier. What wasn't easier, was finding a familiar altar in a study down here... how familiar? It summoned none other than a Shambler! For some reason, this guy seemed more difficult even though I definitely had access to lots of back-rank attacks.

At some point in all of this, I got food barrels to match up with the Icebox. With that combination, I had well over 40 food items at the end of the road.

Third up, the Foetor. There's really not much to discuss here, other than this is the point where I noticed everyone was getting rooted at the start of battles. This proved invaluable against the Harvest Child, because it meant no shuffling and no going for the tainted food (aside from a few bites Gueron snuck at the start), meaning an overall easy battle for once. Turns out, that was the General's trophy doing it.

All of this built up to the Mountain, and a rematch with the Seething Sigh. The wings, as it turns out, are immune to Blight, Bleed, and Burn - meaning I have to use active damage to stop the Exhalations. I was able to keep up with this until it started with the Deep Breaths - I fell behind here and only was able to regain my footing due to Adrenaline Tonics, healing salves, and a couple of very timely Resolutes and Parthenai's Toxic state. Given that this one came down to retaliation damage from a trinket's ability? I'd say literally everything counted.

A vision of a library burning to cinders and an ominous letter greeted me when the Sigh went down. And 136 candles! With all of those, I quickly researched every path of resourcefulness that I could, and had enough candles left over to unlock a second path for every hero.

Next up, obsession.


Today's Shrines:
  • Jester #5 - Apparently after witnessing the scene, he cut his hand. I... think it might have been severing one knuckle on his pinky, but either way he cut himself off from that eldritch melody. He demonstrated a solid solo and I wanted an encore of his performance - too bad I didn't get the chance.
  • Grave Robber #3 - The demise of her husband revealed that the estate was in massive debt. Facing eviction, she cursed his portrait... only to realize the man's rings were buried with him. She actually demonstrated one of the lunges he did to her while alive - I told her to not go for my throat and instead try it with the daggers on the field.
 
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STATUS UPDATE: DAY 54
A New Revolution

Still haven't quite figured out who sent the letter, but it does involve a remote manor.

Anyways, trying out the new paths and I took Mussegros, Port, Patris, and Courcy (that's Man-at-Arms, Grave Robber, Plague Doctor, Occultist for those keeping track). Ultimately not a terrible party, but I didn't plan to make it to the end of this expedition in one try.

Even for what I was trying to accomplish, though, I had major complications. Specifically, I ran into four shrines on the way and only on the last one did the Occultist succeed in telling his story. He encountered a Shambler while he was untethered and it tried to possess his congregation. Several times, he told me the congregation freaked out and untethered him - and we all knew that's not how it went down. What actually happened was that he drew energy from the mediums, carefully balancing his actions against the Shamblers and slowly weakening it with hexes. Then, he unleashed a meteor attack for massive damage against the beast. Ultimately, he succeeded in becoming some kind of eldritch beacon. I asked him if he can do the meteor attack again, and he says he can... when he builds up to it.

The only other noteworthy thing to write home about with this expedition is just what "obsession" means for the cultists. It means they can taunt, and force my heroes to strike them. Not as much of a hindrance as it sounds. However, I never made it to the third Rampart because I did not do well at all with the first two regions.

37 candles. No major updates this time - I instead took the time to max out the Bounty Hunter... who I really need to consider using....
 
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