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#31
May 17 2024 07:08am
21. The Search for Cain

"It is clear that we are facing an evil difficult to comprehend, let alone combat..."

No, actually it isn't. Demons ravage the world in service of the burning hells and the undead are their allies or minions. This is all a fairly straightforward military conquest. We witches eliminate the enemy and loot their belongings to sell for a decent profit. Couldn't be simpler. Magic is might and might is right.

Or is it that magic is right and might, and hence might is right? Wilma, Wanja and Wilhelmina debate the subject hotly as they walk towards the Stony Field.

The Stony Field is an easier area to battle in due to the simple reason that the unfreezable enemies are slower than their preceding colleagues. They are thereby easier to outmanoeuvre and hurt before they overwhelm the iron wolves and forces the witch to teleport them away.

The passage is far more treacherous, for the confined spaces and quick corrupted rogues could easily trap an unlucky sorceress near the entrance. She would then need to retreat or teleport past them blindly which is an unpleasant prospect. The WWW are in luck however and can clear a space before engaging unfreezable enemies.

Wanja may lack the sniping expertise of Wilma but fire walls are not only useful to keep intruders away from the witches personal information, they are also effective for attacks around corners. The dreadful damage capacity of the spell means that even a few seconds hits are enough to silence most opposition.



The Underground Passage has a second level where demons nest and store some looted treasure. Wanja faces especially rabid and ill-tempered carver captains that practically boil over in their frenzy and just explode with ire when her spells cut their guards and themselves apart.



On the other side is the Dark Wood, more risky than the Stony Field due to faster enemies and also the obscuring terrain. Ruins and old walls left by the woodcutters speak of a more cultivated age but currently the loudest voice is the roaring Treehead Woodfist, proud of his assignment of guarding a murky old tree. Or maybe just mad in general about trespassing witches. Once stirred from his fascinating hobbies near the tree, he chases Wanja to an old wall and must endure the brunt of WWW insults from across.

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#32
May 17 2024 07:11am
Since Wanja has been blessed by a skill shrine her taunting is even more corrosive than usual.

"Larvae-eaten headmistress-rubbing old pile of herring remains", that is it! Treehead Woodfist sends his currently available subordinate brute around to catch the insufferable girl.



After setting the lackey on fire, Wanja remains in place and continues her irreverent behaviour.

"Aardvark-romancing hair-knitter of a guano brain!

Treehead decides to take the matter in his own woody fists and charges around furiously. Wanja smiles under her horrifying bone helm and simply teleports to the other side of the wall, leaving a fuming brute squadron leader on the opposite side yet again.



"Hedgewizard Hamfist is so thickheaded his left ear doesn't hear last mornings news from his right ear until tomorrow..."

Treehead Woodfist storms around yet again and runs straight into Wanjas firewall only to catch a glimpse of her teleporting away again. Furiously stampeding ahead he encounters yet more fire walls and so ends the most brutish of the brutes.

If any monster of the wood was left alive they could attest that the WWW waz here...unfortunately no one is left to admire their subtle ways.




This post was edited by Maltacus on May 17 2024 07:12am
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#33
May 17 2024 07:15am
With the combinations in hand the Cairn Stones can be activated.

Haphet is testing some of his rather theoretical concepts of camouflage while standing practically enveloped by a hydra. Or perhaps the hydra just wanted a hug.



Wilma takes point with eager hydras and is met by a cold and fire immune shaman. Her underdeveloped chain lightning would have trouble overcoming the regeneration of such an elusive and mobile foe were it not for the fact that she has all the time in the world after one hit with her crossbow...no hurries on Cains account or anything.



Tristrams mighty goat men and undead are no match for the witches underhanded tactics. The many ruined buildings and walls make sniping the witches difficult for the skeletal archers.

This post was edited by Maltacus on May 17 2024 07:15am
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#34
May 17 2024 07:17am
Deckard Cain is the only one who hurries on his own account, not even bothering to join the party to fight the forces of evil so more people can travel with his town portal.



Wilhelmina encounters a persistent smith that seems to insist on taking a closer look at their equipment and offer premium items from the good old days, classy wares instead of the everyday. Wilhelmina tells him rather coldly to get stuffed and return to his roots on his own, presumably found a couple of metres below the ground. Spellsteel is already perfect, thank you very much!


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#35
May 23 2024 02:48am
22. A Vile Hole

The Black Marsh, unjustly shunned by picky travellers. Just imagine the beautiful scenery of the serene river banks the hurried wayfarers miss as they think of nothing but the next caravan to take them away from the uncouth neighbourhood.



Or the classical architecture, the height of new-old gothic spookery. Wilhelmina made that term up, it does not exist. If anyone wondered. The tower cellars promise numerous stair traps, ambushes and confined spaces and the WWW unanimously decide to leave its sickly smells for later.



The areas that Wilma, Wanja and Wilhelmina have crossed so far have been curiously free of corrupted rogue, the most formidable foes in the region. In the Black Marsh that changes. Vile archers patrol the place and guard the Hole, the local tunnels. They are not immune to cold, but to fire which is a main damage source of the WWW, which proves troublesome enough for all but Wanja since blizzards and glacial spikes take their time to work. The former is inaccurate and the latter requires the caster to remain in a spot to cast it. To add to their unpleasantness, vile archers fire poisoned arrows that all witches and their hirelings are sensitive to.

Wilhelmina encounters an especially dangerous pack as she leads the way down the Hole. The less than stylishly named Sharp Froth the Grim hits hard, very hard, and Vanjis health descends into the yellow once or twice from just a shot or two. Even with decrepification from Spellsteel, tanking the archer captain is out of the question and spectral hit makes her tedious to wear down.



This post was edited by Maltacus on May 23 2024 02:48am
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#36
May 23 2024 02:50am
Wanja for her part encounters not such an incarnation of danger, but one of obnoxiousness. Dire Touch the carver captain, immune to her main attacks and highly resistant to her feeble lightning. He curses his enemies by shouting his dreadful battle cry, or rather motto or slogan; "Can't touch it, can't touch me, AHA!". Obviously a tedious and repetitive acoustic disturbance.



Wanja may not have much luck with her lower resistance cursing but the WWW are not without aces up their sleeves...or stashes. Riphook puts the little marauder in his place, which happen to be on a cliffside where he is trapped by Wanjas timely teleporting to the other side. Open wounds, slowing and poisoning is enough to help the lightning chew through that little rascal.



Cliffs are the epitome of picturesque natural environmental beauty, at least in the opinion of the WWW. The opinion of others is rarely heard. They are obviously frozen in reverent awe of the scenery.



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#37
May 23 2024 02:53am
Wanja is the only witch to deal easily with the vile archers. Frozen orbs hit everything in their patch and therefore Wanja never needs to stop to take aim and can conduct a fighting retreat so the archers never stop their pursuit to shoot at her. They act a bit like immature football players where everyone chase after the ball and congregates in one corner instead of spreading out to assess where they can actually be useful.



Wanjas most dangerous enemies are brutish brute squads. One of the nastiest guard the second level of the Hole and she is forced to take extra care to keep Narphet away from its boss. The fire walls are rather well suited for corners like this part of the tunnels but still requires precision to aim properly.



Wilma has had a boring journey throughout the chapter and frequently found carver crowds running in and out of her blizzards radius. Chain lightning is almost starting to look like a working complement while the snow rains down, just a few skill levels more to it...

The Tamoe Highlands await the WWW and their iron wolves, all still alive.
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#38
Jun 16 2024 02:43am
Where are the updates bro!
Youve been gone too many days!
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#39
Jun 17 2024 11:59am
This is awesome stuff.
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#40
Jun 18 2024 12:47am
Quote (Lazybumi @ Jun 16 2024 09:43am)
Where are the updates bro!
Youve been gone too many days!
Real life has that ugly tendency to get in the way... Hopefully it will turn around for the better.

Quote (Tarisus @ Jun 17 2024 06:59pm)
This is awesome stuff.
Thanks!

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