Ricki gained the Case ability!
Ricki lost the Infected ability.
Kamau gained the Light Sword Proficiency ability!
Kamau lost the Infected ability.
Kamau’s bond level increased!
Lara gained the Poison Resistance III ability!
Lara lost the Infected ability.
Lara’s bond level increased!
Botanya gained the Bloom II ability!
Botanya’s bond level increased!
Coccyx joined the party!
Mushrooms 1 and 6 grew into Big Mushrooms!
Mushrooms 1 and 6 lost the Infected ability.
Golly lost the Infected ability.
The Covered Balcony has been built. Lohk gains +1 HP and can once again increase her bond.
The Dead Drop has been built. Several shop items are now cheaper to buy.
9 Gold Coins were earned through Labour.
All expended HP and abilities are restored.
Intermission 9 will begin next week!
Love this little panel!
Wow, look at Coccyx’s abilities. You guys were spot on with the HP sacrifice for arrows. Does make me wonder if they had two more hearts for their max HP before they died twice, though. We really don’t want to use that ability unless it’s an absolute emergency, or they’ll grow weaker over time. Interestingly, they only have one bond barrier, which is likely the character-themed dungeon, so they probably don’t need a special room in the manor. Also complete immunity to poison means yeah, Cyx and Lara for the Poisoned Well. Plus the fall damage reduction? Great character to have.
My baseless prediction is that Botanya and Cyx eventually become unlikely besties because they’re both weird and like to do weird things. Even though Botanya says she likes to eat dead things and seems to be eyeing Cyx hungrily here.
Oh, AND we received them right before October, which is perfect. I wonder what canonical in-universe reason is given for Cyx suddenly getting spookier for a month? Is it like Lord of the Rings, where the calendar just so happens to follow the same Roman calendar as our world?
Spooky scary skeletons.
Also applies to enemy skeletons and the friendly ones we can make with Imbued Skulls.
Botanya also has a couple of level up abilities which combo well with archery. Literally growing cactus arrows is the obvious one, but Tangle Vines creates a blockade to keep enemies from closing in melee while hitting them with ranged attacks. The risk of Beanstalk stranding someone up high after being chopped down is almost an advantage for Coxxyx, as a sniper perch and also with the reduced fall damage making it easier to drop safely.
Coxxyx gets to treat HP like Remorse. Immortal Archer indeed.
No, Coccyx wasn’t nerfed because he died before or anything, LSN clarified that on stream. The necromancer restored him to tip top shape
Wrap up stream notes are on the last turn of the dungeon, Turn 56.
Coxxyx clarifications:
– In this Dungeon Coxxyx was revived by the necromancer, no impact to max health. (Emergency Ammo caused some deaths.) As with Lara’s use of Corruption before joining the party, there’s no impact to us.
– Doesn’t level up in a dungeon where they die
– Equipment isn’t lost on death, but they can’t carry it out while dead
– Yes, they only have one Bond threshold.
– Undead mostly highlights that most HP restoration effects (potion of healing, Nectar, Edible) specify living creatures. Undead doesn’t negate healing by itself, and the potion of ectoplasm obviously works better when not living. My observation: Lohk’s Heal (and Wand of Mend) only specify “ally”.
I basically skipped this dungeon again after suggesting loadouts, so I only have a few lessons learned:
– Not giving Botanya an attack pet was a mistake. Especially so in this dungeon where she could have let a flytrap eat zombies with impunity, but in general she wants to be in combat to reduce enemy attack power, and on her own she can’t fight back.
– Light sources are still valuable. Now that we know plants can’t see in the dark, the owlbear cowlwear isn’t as appealing. Messing with the Faithless would’ve been a neat side effect. I wonder how hard it would be to split up to have light in one room while using Night Eyes in another…
– I stand by only bringing in one set of thieves tools, plus Ricki’s free set for two total. I feel like this is the first dungeon to not have tools as loot, and Ricki was never Careful. We still unlocked every chest and only missed out on the imp, which was a trap. With the inventory caps throughout, we had the right number of tools.
– Speaking of traps, we could have disarmed the piercing arrow trap chests, saving 1 HP on Kamau and 3 gold of treasure, which would have been a reasonable use if we were luckier and still had tools. Every other trap was avoidable and did trip up the enemies called by the necromancer.
Wow, Large Mushroom can regrow into Cordy. Probably without level ups, but still, that’s now two characters with extra lives. (Yes, Cordy has a limited number of lives, because there’s a limited number of dungeons.)
I’m disappointed that the dead drop hasn’t impacted thieves tool prices, that’s the one thing I wanted out of it. Oh well, waste of 10 gold. Not the worst decision.
Inventory at end of the Tomb, for posterity:
Ricki
Shocking swiftblade
Wand of fireball
Rusty Heavy shield
Full helmet
Heavy gauntlets
Bone armour
Imbued skull X3
Copper ring of aggression
Silver ring of aggression
Kamau
Hilt
Plate armour
Heavy shield
Owlbear cowlwear
Piercing arrow X5
Potion bandolier
Copper ring of aggression
Silver ring of aggression
Lara
Corn spear
Bat hide armour
Helmet
Heavy Greaves
Rotfang hood
Rotfang Cobra venom gland
Poison dragon robe
Venomous siege sword
Copper ring of aggression
Copper ring of protection
Botanya
Magma shield
Pipes
Helmet
Purse
Chain armour
Copper ring of protection
Gold coin x19
Golly
Great axe
Gold warhammer
Gold longsword
Wolf hide armour
Lohk
Cane
Staff of gravity
Fire dragon robe
Monk Robes
Coxxyx
Bow
Manor
Arrow X1
Rat tail X1
Double crossbow
Shield
Great axe
Owlbear talons
Gold coin x9
28 gold coins, plus 15 from gold gear and 6.5 from rusty shield. That’s almost a room right there, before looking at the 15 gold of piercing arrows we could technically use, or the other surplus gear. Piercing arrows are better than the wand of death touch because they could theoretically deal unblockable damage to enemies from out of reach, softening the target up. Still not impressive, though.
I’m tempted to make Ricki’s bedroom, extra max HP on our main character is nice and it’s possible she’ll get a secondary benefit like the others did. Mac will be happier not going into dungeons.
Well I think it couldn’t hurt to make the Kitchen and/or renovate the stove since Paws hinted at a possible danger with smoke inhalation in the previous interlude. Plus I’m curious to see what remaining upgrades will be unlocked after the kitchen is made. The remaining personal rooms left are Mac’s, Ricki’s, and presumably Botanya’s once her bond is high enough. Ricki’s room isn’t connected to bond and Botanya’s room (if it’s going to be a thing) isn’t here yet, so that leaves Mac. Mac seems perfectly content as the cook who doesn’t go on as many dungeons, so even if we’re not making his room, this is kinda like a treat for him anyway. And I’ll bet the Kitchen pairs nicely with other things like the Vegetable Garden, too.
One thing that has my curiosity piqued is the description for the Sentry Post. It says that it’s there for the sentries to keep an eye out for the guard. This kind of implies that it some point there may be a risk of discovery. I think we’re safe for now, but I think it’s possible that the more we do things in opposition to the empire, the more likely we’ll be noticed. Probably we’re safe for now, but surprise dungeons like the Contested Caravan or character dungeons probably increase our odds of this happening, so we have to keep this in the back of our minds. It’s still early though, I think.
Last point of interest is the Underground Shelter. Mac’s apartment and the Kobold Den plus a variety of other rooms that we’ll eventually unlock are likely subterranean. It makes sense to get this first before we get these other rooms so that we can get the discount. Plus the extra point of Labor ain’t bad. If we’re planning on getting Mac’s room soon, we can spend money on it first and save a few coins. It’s not much, but it’ll add up over time. You save 5 coins on Mac’s room, 4 on the Kobold Den, maybe an accumulated 10 on other rooms we unlock over time–oh, look, now you got some 20 coins to spend on say, the Mammoth Paddock or Sentry Post you wouldn’t otherwise have. Our Labor produced 9 coins, so we’re getting an additional 9 *at least* by doing this, plus extra Labor, so really more. You also can’t forget the whopping 4 Labor (another 4 coins each interlude!) from the Kobold Den, which we would then have a 4 coin discount on. So you’re netting 8 coins you wouldn’t otherwise have by going Underground Shelter, then Kobold Den. It’s kind of a dark horse choice, but I like it.
So to summarize, as far as Manor is concerned, my ranked choice vote is Kitchen>Underground Shelter (as prerequisite for Mac’s room and Kobold Den)>Sentry Post. Curious to hear from others.
Intermission 8 page 49 for those of you wondering why I’m advocating for the Kitchen. Doubles as a morale boost for Mac who won’t get his room yet, doesn’t endanger us with smoke, and apparently gives us boosts before battle. It sounds really, really good.
I like all these choices and the way you’ve ranked them.
Besides the other benefits you mentioned, the kitchen also gives us +5 storage. Storage hasn’t been a problem so far, but at some point it might become one. Mainly, though, I’d like to find out what Paws meant when he said
Also, just from a roleplaying perspective, I feel like we owe the kobolds from the warrens a home, and the underground shelter would be a smart first step in that direction.
Labor basically costs 10 gold per labor point based on the other rooms. By that standard, the underground shelter basically costs 15 gold for its discount. 9 of that can be recouped through the rooms we see already, leaving 6 as an extra cost. Still might be worth doing in that order if we can swing it.
I don’t think Paws was actually hinting at danger of smoke inhalation, that felt like fluff.
The line I DO think was a hint was asking the lines of ‘the right meal before can make the difference’. To me that hints that we might get access to buffs through one of the upgrades unlocked by kitchen.
I also support kitchen (or one of the other upgrade unlockers) > Sentry Tower > Discount makers (either Underground Shelter for Mac’s room or Mammoth for where I’m assuming Botanya’s will be).
I wouldn’t read too much into the comments about Smoke Inhalation or the Sentry Post, mainly because if you do, then EVERY room in the Manor is an immediate critical priority. I get the feeling that instead LSN is nudging us to indicate that Manor rooms will have effects other than the ones directly listed on the build page (whyyyyy).
So the Foyer mentions guests, the Library mentions knowledge, the Living Room offers relaxation, the Still would have booze…
Personally I’m most excited about guests and knowledge — guests because who knows what kind of events that might unlock, and knowledge because we’re constantly in the dark on pretty much everything in this game and gaining information on just about anything would be amazing.
Labour from rooms is a bonus side effect. It is not an argument for making a room. We have not seen 10 dungeons yet, and we’re approaching the end of Act 2, the comic is more than half over. Making rooms for people is the end goal, we get the other rooms to get better at looting so we can get these money sinks. Recognize that claiming we’ll save another 10 gold through the Underground Shelter is to say we’ll have 100 gold of undiscovered underground upgrades, on top of taking every known underground room. Now, if Coxxyx has a 50 gold Underground Crypt room then that might get us a little closer.
I’m interested in the Kitchen, yeah. It’s been pretty clearly hinted that we could get buffs from cooking, presumably in the form of single dungeon buffs bought in the intermission. Getting at least one of the unlocking upgrades is worthwhile just to see what sort of rooms are unlocked. I expect the Library or an upgrade will get some access to enchantment scrolls, which have been pretty significant boosts.
You make a good point, but I’m also interested in the labor-type rooms because they’re space for friendly NPCs, which feels like something we should be doing, plot-wise.
Building a home for people is worthwhile. It means something because, much like with the dungeons themselves, we can probably only expect to complete half of the Manor upgrades. Rooms are my personal priority beyond all else.
It kind of depends on whether Dungeon Eyes wears out its welcome through time or through dungeon count. Two weeks of backstory for each room adds up, but if each friend has their own dungeon at max bond, then that’s 7 extra dungeons right there, which is like adding another act to the story. An extra dungeon’s worth of loot is huge even before any extra level ups, and maybe even extra bond to keep the chain going for folks like Lohk with lots of Bond to go.
Lara should at least give us a hint in this next Intermission about how exactly “new side dungeons can be unlocked”. These dungeons might be limited to avoid taking too long, I’ve guessed that a bond dungeon could only allow Ricki and the relevant person to enter. That could limit all the other dungeon rewards, though we have been promised that Ricki will gain something from developing a strong bond.
My god. Those mushrooms really do turn into a new Cordy if Cordy is killed. They really are nearly impossible to truly kill, aren’t they? I really hope that they don’t become an enemy we have to defeat at some point. The lack of bond and the disconcerting mind control we had from them upon introduction is worrisome. Like I really don’t think it’s a good idea to upgrade any more mushrooms to that size beyond the two, juuuuust in case.
There’s certainly some discussion on the discord about using Cordy to help steam roll bond dungeons I WERE allowed to bring more then just ricki and the bondee with. We still don’t know how bond dungeons work but with lara now at that threshold we’re hoping we get an idea shortly.
Cordy is a pay-to-win character and by word of LNS will have no impact on the plot. He has no bond to indicate that. Mary Sue (the other ptw we didn’t take at the time) would have worked the same way.
So no need to fret about some Cordy apocalypse (I mean if you want to read the story in that direction you do you) from a plot perspective.
And if you’re wanting to read it in that direction anyway, Ricki mindcontrols Cordy in the Caravan to prevent them from killing an unconscious guard, so the mushroom apocalypse wouldn’t be quite so cut-and-dried as Cordy taking over everybody.
I7P3. Everything worked out fine. Nobody had any lingering concerns.
I feel like, whenever our buddies go out to a dungeon or something similar, we should probably take care to make sure that Coccyx and Botanya aren’t left alone together at the base – I don’t see that going well.
If Lohk and small animals can coexist at the base, so can Covcyx and Botanya 🙂
D12T0. Party is Ricki, Lohk, Botanya & Coccyx, plus Phoenix and Squirrel. Paws: “So the dungeon’s on the other bank of the river there, but this rowboat can only carry two of you across at a time…”
Dungeon 6 Report:
Lara’s bond has reached a threshold. It cannot increase again until certain requirements are met.
I notice this line isn’t present here. There’s still a | on Lara’s character sheet though, so maybe that’s accidental.
We’ve been told there are 10 characters:
0. Ricki
1. Kamau
2. Lara
3. Macadamia
4. Lohk
5. Botanya
6. Coxxyx
7. ???
8. Cordy
9. Mary
One more to go, likely in Act 3. Perhaps A Friend will join the party, that’s a loose end.