Let's Play After the Storm

[holypaladin]

Where is every body?! Comment the great Inky!

[Inky]

Hey everyone, sorry it's been a while! Hopefully everyone hasn't completely forgotten the plot. I think we're saving the world from a drone apocalypse or something

Where is every body?! Comment the great Inky!

Well there hasn't been much to comment on lately... though I like the sound of "the great Inky."

Cutscene (E3 S8A – Interim)

Let’s see what nefarious schemes Elyssa is up to today.

But the Seer told you about things to come. Things that did not make much sense to you at the time; things you promptly disregarded as long-winded prophetic nonsense, of the kind that necessitates a very specific mindset to digest and interpret correctly. Even after over three hundred years, you cannot understand half of her ramblings, and have forgotten most of the rest.

Yet she sometimes provides you clear instructions to follow. Darkness and its association with the matters of the mind are well understood by her, as the descendant of Delethia she claims to be, and she willingly allows you to exploit that aspect and gnaw at her thick mental barrier when the situation calls for it. But instructions are all you ever find in the vast void of her thoughts.

Executing commands as the machine you are is all you ever do. But you were promised a change. You have a couple of contracts to fulfill first, however.

What will you do?

Talking to herself at length in the hallway and following orders, it looks like. I guess being the Chaos Warlord isn’t as exciting as it sounds.


Forget the meeting, let’s go exploring!


Or not. Ugh, she’s no fun at all.


Fine, let's just get that meeting over with.




















Well, we're stuck doing Uria's dirty work for her. As usual.


And we have to walk all the way there. It's going to be a long day, isn't it?


A very long day. I don’t blame Elyssa for going on killing sprees once in a while to let off steam.




We head on past these pests and use the transport glyph to go pay a visit to the gatekeeper of Ethea.








We’re promptly assailed by a series of philosophical questions.




I can already see this is going to be such an enlightening conversation.








Elyssa’s sprite changes into a more human looking form.








Shaxthals are better than humans, as this campaign has repeatedly demonstrated.










Whoa, that’s quite a nasty shade of red you’re turning, Elyssa. Might want to get that looked at.










Elyssa applies her usual problem solving strategy, which involves blowing everything to bits.




We take the transport glyph back. Whew, that was quite a trip. Elyssa’s going to need another long monologue to sort things out.

You have not felt so stupid in a long time. Zhangor’s ruse was simply too obvious to fall for — Uria would not have asked you to destroy the Gatekeeper yourself if she did not fear her for some reason. Perhaps if she had such an introspective conversation with the Gatekeeper, things would have changed to some degree. Perhaps...

But no. You are well familiarized with the demoness and her childlike stubbornness. Whatever advice the Gatekeeper might have had for her would have gone unheeded. That is, assuming Uria would have given her a chance to speak in the first place.

Maybe you were too hasty in disposing of the creature, though. She seemed to be genuinely trying to help you for some reason. The illusion she cast on you seemed as real as it was intensely painful — not that you are are not accustomed to pain yourself, but... you admit that you were afraid for a moment.

Regardless of the intentions of Delethia’s offspring, she managed to stir up uncomfortable thoughts in your mind with her meddling. You decide to sweep them aside, if only for a brief interval while you go to report back to your oppressive overseer.

Oh great, these guys still haven’t found anything better to do.










Well I’m glad at least somebody here seems to having lots of fun.




Bad news for Sheelevrea fans, I don’t think she’s going to be around much longer.






Halbadrel starts to think that maybe standing in a different spot would be a good idea.




With those annoyances out of the way, we head towards our next meeting with Uria.








That's right, what ended up happening to Elynia?




Oh. That doesn’t sound promising.






Anyway, it seems all our hard work is going to be rewarded by… being replaced by Zhangor?!












Agh, she's sounding just like that crazy demon zephyr. If only she were as easy to get rid of...





We start exploring the area, triggering memories of the past.












They seem to be having some relationship issues.






Argan doesn't seem particularly touched.






In life, it's very important to know what your priorities are.


Uh oh. Better not to answer that.


It’s not helping that Argan possesses the tact and social skills of a Door.










Argan receives a brilliant insight, but it’s a bit too late.

For long you have tried to purge your memories revolving around Argan’s descent into insanity and the eventual fulfillment of his end of the bargain with Uria. Alas, Norsulan technology around the time you were resurrected was not advanced enough to do that kind of thing, and you are sort of stuck in the past in that regard.

Maybe some day you will learn to do the advanced mind tricks Merthiaal could, and use that power to alter or clear your own memory. Surely if you manage to do that, you could attain absolute control of every single creature on Irdya.

(What better times?)


We come across another memory of Elyssa and Argan.


This conversation doesn’t seem headed in a good direction either.


Argan’s been desperately searching for Elynia all this time. Maybe he’s not such a bad guy after all.






Ah, that’s why.

Many years later, Argan’s orders would take a turn for the worse, and you would happily comply with every single one. You do not really regret it in the least. Killing lesser creatures is amazingly comforting after all you have been through. If only you could do that with your own underlings more often. Wait, you mean Zhangor’s underlings now. You are quite sure he would not actually mind.

On the other hand, you were allowed to do as you pleased with your torturers back in the day. If only you had the control you now have over your artificially enhanced body, and Merthiaal’s heart. If only you could ravage people’s minds like the true Eater of Souls could. If only...

We next head to a ruined room.

The costs and risks of being a predestined guardian have not been properly documented, but everyone agrees that it was the temptation of power that finally got the best of the goddess whose legacy Argan and Uria bestowed upon you. But your case is an unprecedented one, and you have had to cope with other difficulties along the way. The technology that binds your body and soul with Merthiaal’s heart was considered highly experimental on its world of origin, and every test subject was destroyed without exception.

Maybe it was because the heart they chose for their testing was that of an unborn goddess as opposed to a deceased one. Maybe it was because the Aspect of Fire itself did not choose them. Or maybe those individuals simply lacked the resolve, and the initial excruciating pain was too much for their feeble psyches.

Whichever the case, you are certain that even though cheating the system devised by Yarae was a straining and arduous task, the Aspect of Darkness is now yours to control.


If the once Lady of Light had not killed him, Argan would be proud to see you execute his plans like clockwork.

Proud. Nothing more than that, really.

If you were to use Golden Age literature as reference, you would say he always regarded you as a daughter. His increasing lack of empathy did not allow him to see that you had feelings of a different kind for him. While that truly bothered you in the beginning, you would soon learn of another cost of being a guardian. To put it into perspective, of all the guardians that have lived so far, only the second incarnation of the Guardian of Fire found true love — and then she died under mysterious circumstances.

Those unrequited feelings of yours vanished long ago, but that does not change the fact that you owe your life to Argan and that you will do everything within your power for him, even now that he is gone for good.

Poor Elyssa. The typical chaos empire guys were so unpleasant that even Argan started to look good.

Lastly, we head into Elyssa’s cell, which is nicely decorated with leeches.

You have not really spent as much time in this cell as you would if you were an ordinary creature. Thankfully, your body allows you to spend an indefinite amount of time without rest. You have tried sleeping on occasion, but ever since you were captured by the human scum in the capital you have only had variations of the same recurring nightmares. You hoped your new life would allow you to have normal dreams again, but it has only been worse since then.

You think it is finally time to go and put those plans in motion. You glance at your cell a last time to make sure you are not forgetting anything before leaving.

The last sentence is a hint to explore the shrouded corners of the room.


Hey we found something… completely useless, it looks like.

You take the book. A few loose pages slide onto the floor, and you pick them up.

Of course. These are the pages you took from Argan’s journal some time after he became irreversibly incoherent.

Finding these pages in this scenario is necessary for seeing the campaign’s epilogue.

After that, we can just leave, though we can also take a detour to a southwestern area to read some backstory glyphs:


So the first Guardian of Darkness messed around with powers she couldn't control, went insane and absorbed the souls of all life on her world. Turns out she just wanted to impress Yarae because she was jealous.





The remaining glyph lists the ten elements and their Guardians.

The Original Ten:

Life
The force that governs the birth of all creatures in our reality. Incarnated by the Guardian of Life, also known as Uria, Guardian of the Legacy and the Void, Mistress of the Void, Goddess of Life.

Water
The element common to the origins of all life in our reality, as well as its sustainment and destruction. Incarnated by the Guardian of Water, also known as Valdir, Guardian of Water and Destruction, the Beast, God of War.

Thunder
The spark that keeps life in motion, the arbiter in a chaotic reality doomed to an ephemeral eternity of strife. Incarnated by the Guardian of Thunder, also known as Kaarul, Guardian of Thunder, Harbinger of Judgment, and God of Storms.

Earth
The shelter that harbors the promise of life, the energy that kindles the mystic in a dying reality. Incarnated by the Guardian of Earth, also known as Xia’el, Guardian of the Arcane Flame and Earth, Goddess of the Forests, Protector of Peace.

Fire
The aspect that fuels life through love, the flame that sustains the forge of knowledge in a reality where ignorance has ensnared its hopeless dwellers. Incarnated by the Guardian of Fire, also known as Shardia, Guardian of Fire and Knowledge, the Fire of Hope, Goddess of Love.

Darkness
The aspect of the free will necessary for life to progress, the precursor and successor of light in a reality devoid of ultimate intent. Incarnated by the Guardian of Darkness, also known as Merthiaal, Guardian of Darkness and Shadows, Eater of Souls, Goddess of Free Will.

Light
The aspect of the constancy from which life springs, the successor and precursor of darkness in a reality unprepared for its end. Incarnated by the Guardian of Light, also known as Luceith’el, Guardian of Light and Metal, Star of the Morning, Healer of Souls.

Air
The aspect of the kiss that insufflates life, the breath that preserves life in a decaying reality. Incarnated by the Guardian of Air, also known as Kazith, Guardian of Air and Breath, Lady of the Skies, Messenger of the Ether.

Ice
The aspect that is the cold touch that ends life, the substance that holds treasures for those daring to explore the confines of a shrinking reality. Incarnated by the Guardian of Ice, also known as Yukiria, Guardian of Ice and Mirrors, Queen of the White Expanse, Keeper of Death.

Existence
The aspect that binds all life together, the empty canvas from which a corrupted reality was created. Incarnated by the Guardian of Existence, also known as Delethia, Guardian of Secrets and Time, the Faceless Woman, Seer of the Tree.

Once we're done sightseeing, we head to the exit in the north.

E3 S8 B – Destiny - Part 1

Meanwhile, our group of heroes is launching an attack on the chaos empire’s fortress in Kalari.


About Elynia….






Durvan’s still following us around, though I guess he's too cool to associate with the likes of us, since he’s got his very own keep in the northwest.



Turn 1


In addition to the usual loyals and a second saurian healer, I recruit a couple ghosts since they’re fast and you can never have too many leveled ghosts.


As we advance, Ergea provides us with a disturbing history lesson on the creation of those turrets.






And here I was thinking that they were just made of some strange wood. Thanks, Ergea


Meanwhile, Durvan only gets a few fast units, because this is a huge map and dragging along a massive horde of weak units would get tedious, and most of the fighting is done in narrow corridors anyway.

Turn 3


Our two armies converge in the center and we start attacking the turret, trying not to think too hard about what it's made of.

Turn 4


Of course. There’s no way we could just abandon the XP, I mean, tortured souls.


Anya and Nalan destroy the nearby drone, and we form a line in the narrow hallway, which is quickly becoming filled with enemies.

Turn 5


Picking off enemies in that 3-hex bottleneck would take forever, so we retreat down the two hallways to hopefully speed things up a bit.

Turn 6


That wounded ghast on the left looks like a tasty target for one of our ghosts. We’ll also want to get rid of the dangerous chaos magus in the north.


Sadly, the ghost doesn’t finish the ghast and Durvan was unhelpfully blocking the remaining hex, so I leave the ghast alive to finish next turn so the XP won’t be wasted. Annoyingly, the chaos magus survives after dodging attack after attack against all odds.

Turn 7


Whoa, that was dangerous! Roeghar was looking very dead for a second there, and Anya and Nalan need some urgent medical attention as well.


We quickly get to work picking off wounded enemies.


We also manage to nab some XP for the loyal captain. Giving kills to Durvan’s units takes some extra planning since Elynia’s units need to leave hexes for them.

Turn 8


Thankfully our frontline units look a little less dead this time.


We again start cleaning out the nearby units (no thanks to that captain standing around blocking an important hex).


We make a line, and things look safe now.

Enemy turn:

Well, maybe not. The poor goblin pillager, who never hurt anybody (this scenario), meets an incredibly swift end.

Turn 9


We take our revenge and level a spectre in the process.


Durvan’s units also try to grab some XP, though maybe this wasn’t such a smart idea.

Turn 10


Gweoc comes disturbingly close to dying, which seems to be a common theme this scenario.


The rogue actually makes himself useful by skirmishing around and eliminating the chaos invoker with backstab.


We attract the attention of one of the leaders to the south, who sends a friendly greeting.


Meanwhile, the "most unhelpful unit of the scenario" award goes to the remaining ghost which tried to finish off the dying wraith but somehow got finished off himself instead.


Fortunately Durvan, whose army hasn’t been too helpful either thus far, steps in and takes care of it.

Turn 11


Everyone marches down the hallway, which is mostly clear of enemies now.

Turn 12


We send a small squad down the left side passage, while the other units keep going east.

Turn 13


Irylean zaps a spectre, luring out the northern draug in the process.

Turn 14


The draug is easily dispatched, and a few units detour north to kill the leader there.


Meanwhile in the south, the rogue backstabs the ghast and clears the way for the units in the small western passage.

Turn 15


The northern leader thoughtfully saves us some trouble and bravely comes out to meet his fate.
A couple fast units go grab his villages and everyone else heads south.


In the south, we make our way past a drone to a nice grassy area.


There’s a nasty leader waiting there, so we make sure to stay out of his way for now.

Turn 16


We've lured a couple level 3 enemies our way though. Getting rid of them in the bottleneck would be difficult, so we try to retreat and lure them further into the passage, where our northern forces can also come help.


Unfortunately Nalan the elvish champion is too slow to use the elves’ ultimate technique, which is running far away.

Enemy turn:

Rest in peace Nalan, hope you get more movement points in the next life.

Turn 17


Avethan the slayer almost follows Nalan to the afterlife, nearly getting eaten by a serpent messenger.


We slow the serpent, and manage to get the captain to finish the demon stormtide.


We then whittle down the serpent, which promptly kills itself attacking the direwolf on its turn.

Turn 18


Finally, we start to make progress into the grassy courtyard, where there’s another demon stormtide waiting.

Enemy turn:

Oops, I forgot that demon stormtides do not mix well with spectres. Fortunately the spectre manages to survive thanks to the +20% fire resistance given by Ergea's protection.

Turn 19


The swordmaster finishes off the stormtide, getting an AMLA.


Then we lure out General Ramzal, who does some serious ranged damage.

Turn 20


Attacking in ranged is too dangerous, so we pound him with our strongest melee units.


Pleasant guy, isn’t he.


Durvan’s pet direwolf comes and finishes him off.


Looks like there's one more leader we need to take care of.



Turn 21


The rest of the courtyard just has a few demons left, which we make quick work of.

Turn 22


We head down the southeastern hallway, where a couple drones are waiting.

Turn 24


We come across a river with some enemies waiting on the other side.

Turn 25


And of course, our day wouldn’t be complete without a big drone ambushing us from the fog.


No problem for our drone extermination squad though. We head into the corridor ahead, where there’s another turret and another drone trying to be sneaky.

Turn 28


The southern path is a dead end, so all that’s left to do is destroy the nearby turret…

Stats so far:

Losses: Nalan the elvish champion, 2 ghosts
Advancements: assassin, banebow, rogue, spectre
Restarts: none







Turn 29


…and suddenly, we’re transported into a new area filled with light.








Our chat is interrupted by the arrival of a new leader.




There’s a small two hex keep where we can get reinforcements, including a much needed healer. The crystals don’t attack but we do have to deal with drones respawning from the passages.

Turn 30


Well, that didn’t work. Get over here, Anya!

Turn 31


That’s more like it! Attacking one crystal damages all of them, and they're very weak to Anya’s arcane attack.

Turn 32


Anya makes quick work of the crystals.




Fortunately, the boss can be damaged by any unit, so we start whittling her down.

Enemy turn:

Yikes! The boss goes for Anya, almost killing her!

Turn 33


Almost isn’t quite good enough though.


Whew, finally some nice fresh air!




Ergea follows Anya into the garden.


Followed by Durvan.


Followed by… a loud bang as the wall seals itself off behind them!








We hear an evil laugh in the distance…


















Well the good news is, Zhangor's too busy to attack us right now.


The bad news is, it probably won't matter.


You didn’t have to add that last sentence…






Anya?! Wait, it's too soon to give up… maybe Ergea will save us! Or maybe Durvan will?

…we’re doomed, aren’t we?

[Sudipta]

Feels good to see a new entry. Your one line comments throughout both the story segments and the gameplay ones were brilliant. Very entertaining. I especially loved the ones during elyssa's memory recollection.. those were hysterically funny.

Also, i feel the story writing has been greatly improved compared to a couple years back. The last time i played, i didn't really understand all of the complex backstory and lore, but now it seems a lot clearer to me.

Keep being awesome!

[shadowm]

Also, i feel the story writing has been greatly improved compared to a couple years back. The last time i played, i didn't really understand all of the complex backstory and lore, but now it seems a lot clearer to me.

That’s interesting, because it’s remained the same since version 0.8.90 (first version to ship the finale scenarios, E3S6 onwards), other than some grammar fixes and slight phrasing changes for stylistic purposes.

[Inky]

Thanks Sudipta (and everyone else reading), glad you're enjoying it!

E3 S8C – Breakdown

... The darkness...

... The silence...

And then…

The pain...

A pain so strong...

Hooray, Elynia didn’t get devoured by a necrophage after all! It seems like she’s got other problems though.






Why is this everyone’s go-to solution?


She starts running around blasting her surroundings.


Her next idea is to jump off a cliff, but fortunately she’s interrupted before she can execute this questionable plan.




This is not my first choice for who I would want to be stuck in a deep dark cave with.


Blasting Elyssa’s face in sounds like the first good idea Elynia’s had so far!


Too bad it didn’t work at all.










Yeah, where were these awesome powers before?!






Limitless power and immortality sounds great to me!


There’s always a catch, isn’t there.










And she likes your hair.














Speaking of shapeshifters, Anya isn’t looking too good right now. She looks like a mudcrawler that's been stepped on.






Agh, that's no mudcrawler!


Ergea and Durvan turn around only to see something even more disturbing than those things they were fighting against.




So Anya’s another Guardian of Darkness, and there’s also another Guardian of Earth- guardians seem to be a dime a dozen these days!


Cool, maybe she can take over with the whole saving the world thing.


Or she can sit around doing nothing just like everyone else.




























Wonderful, this is going to be a pleasant partnership.


This a almost a cutscene scenario, where the combat generally consists of watching enemies destroy themselves one after another attacking Elyssa.

Having awakened as the Guardian of Earth, Elynia’s received a major powerup!

She also gets a new Aspect of Earth ability, which grants +16 healing. (If only we had somebody to heal besides our new “friend” Elyssa.)

This unit is a Guardian of the Aspect of Earth.

As such, it has access to the following abilities:
• Sylvan Essence: healing and curing allies (+16 HP per turn), self-concealment on vegetated terrains
• Regeneration (+8 HP per turn)
• Immortality (can only be killed by specific units)
• Counts as level 0 for XP calculation purposes during combat

Elyssa is even more overpowered than Elynia:

She has the Aspect of Darkness ability, which doesn’t do much since Elyssa and Elynia are neutral but at least it sounds cool.

This unit is a Guardian of the Aspect of Darkness.

As such, it has access to the following abilities:
• Obscures: +25 chaotic bonus on adjacent locations
• Regeneration (+8 HP per turn)
• Immortality (can only be killed by specific units)
• Counts as level 0 for XP calculation purposes during combat

We start heading out and are promptly confronted by a drone.

Elyssa tries using diplomacy.


Aw, looks like they don’t want to be friends. Well, their loss.

Most of the combat in this scenario will be skipped over, since it typically goes like this:

A drone range attacks Elyssa, which has only one result.


Followed by another.


And finally an enforcer drone destroys itself. After having been harassed by drones all campaign, there’s a certain satisfaction in seeing them get demolished like walking corpses.












We proceed into a western room, where an (ahem) epic battle with some worms takes place.












Between the nonstop drone attacks and Elynia’s pestering, Elyssa just can’t catch a break.


After trudging through a swamp we come to a dead end.


Elyssa applies her usual problem solving strategy.


Yeah! I think we might be able to get along with Elyssa after all.


Well at least she's keeping these thoughts to herself now.


We come across a corridor with some enemies who vanish extremely quickly after meeting Elyssa.


Elyssa accidentally ditches Elynia to attack an imp, causing Elynia to be unable to move due to being outside Elyssa’s movement range. Moving Elynia first every turn usually avoids this inconvenience.


She’s enjoying this way too much…


Pesky cave walls blocking your way? No problem, just call the Elyssa & Elynia demolition squad!




Elyssa joins in on the blasting fun.


Oh great, we've got another Elyssa in the making. Is anyone else slightly worried about the fate of the universe?


As if Elyssa wasn’t OP enough, she can summon up to 6 fire guardians on the map at a time into the hexes next to her.


They make the ultimate cannon fodder units since Elyssa can summon an unlimited supply of replacements.


For example, you can chain suicide them into a powerful enemy and then immediately summon new ones.


We clear out the nearby area, attracting the attention of a nearby imp leader.










Some assorted rabble gets sent at us from the corridor. It doesn’t take a Guardian to handle these weaklings.


We proceed to the Demon Lord Jeru’unog, who seems to be all alone.


Nice try with the nightgaunt ambush - it might have been dangerous if our units weren’t superpowered goddesses.


The unfortunate imp quickly gets surrounded and burned to a crisp.




We proceed to another drone hive area, which isn’t anything to write home about.


We reach the exit in the north. The southwest passage leads to a story glyph.


Once we’re done admiring the scenery, moving to the northern exit ends this part.
(And no, we still aren’t done with Scenario 8 yet.)

[adramolokh]

I'm ridiculously late to comment, and I'm sure somebody had have pointed this out by now, but this is a ROT13 cipher that was then reversed. It decodes to make the following, after fixing the punctuation:

Code: Select all

FEMALE VOICE: Second core unit insertion complete. Phase two start-up complete. Critical block initialization complete. Incubation chamber draining process started. Core unit stand-by block rescinded.

MALE VOICE: Entity induction rod detached. Neural phase normalization in progress. Estimated time for incubation chamber draining completion is five minutes. Clear central chamber area.

[Losthunter]

Again, great letsplay with entertaining comments Inky. I cant wait on next mission .
And adramolokh:

Code: Select all

FEMALE VOICE: Second core unit insertion complete. Phase two start-up complete. Critical block initialization complete. Incubation chamber draining process started. Core unit stand-by block rescinded.

MALE VOICE: Entity induction rod detached. Neural phase normalization in progress. Estimated time for incubation chamber draining completion is five minutes. Clear central chamber area.

Wow, I have never noticed that, I thought it was only some random text

[Inky]

Sorry it took a while, but it's back!

I'm ridiculously late to comment, and I'm sure somebody had have pointed this out by now, but this is a ROT13 cipher that was then reversed.

I'm even more ridiculously late to comment, but that is such a cool find! Nice work on discovering it

E3 S8D – Destiny, Part 2

Today we’re storming the Chaos Empire’s capital! If you thought previous scenarios had a lot of drones....


With Anya newly awakened as the Guardian of Darkness, Durvan is just getting more and more useless by comparison.






Given the incompetence of the chaos empire members we’ve been encountering, I’m not sure we even want their help.








Less daydreaming and more zapping, please!




This is the final battle with our regular army. Good thing too, because something tells me there are going to be lots of casualties.



That's a lot of leaders! Fortunately for us, the chaos empire seems to having their usual budget problems so no one has much gold.


They’ve given us quite a welcome!
Anya and Durvan are in the southwest, along with a massive horde of free goblin pillagers! The east is filled with lots of enemy leaders and lots of drones.

Turn 1


Some of the villages contain former chaos empire units who will make the first intelligent decision of their lives and join up with us. They aren’t useful at all, but it’s the thought that counts.




Now she can give herself a cool name with lots of consecutive vowels and apostrophes and umlauts!


Or she could just stay boring.

Turn 2


And drones. Don’t forget the drones.



Turn 4


Most of our army goes north, where a bunch of drones are coming.


After a lot of babysitting, the loyal aragwaithi captain finally levels to an ancient banner. I can’t wait to use that level 4 leadership!

Turn 5




Tragically, he gets instantly demolished by a drone gang. Well that level 4 leadership sure was fun while it lasted.


We make quick work of the drones, leveling a goblin knight in the process.

Turn 6


The main enemy force arrives, along with the three storm sisters which are major bad news.


We clear out some nearby enemies with the help of backstab.


A pillager finishes the enforcer drone on the village. I leave the village open so Elynia’s side can capture it next turn, but this turns out to be not such a bright idea....

Enemy turn:


Remember how those storm sisters had the skirmisher ability? I didn’t…
One of them moves right onto the village and obliterates a spectre, and it’s all downhill from there.


One thing leads to another, and suddenly there are a lot less goblin pillagers around and a lot more demons and drones!

Turn 7


A small detachment of units has gone south to deal with some enemies there, though they don’t appear to be doing so well.


Things in the north are not going particularly well either, since the storm sisters are guarded by lots of drones.


We manage to clear out a drone so the assassin can backstab one of the storm sisters.


On Durvan’s turn, the goblin knight finishes off the storm sister and we fill in our line in the north with goblin pillagers.


Meanwhile, we pick off some stragglers in the north, and one of our goblin pillagers makes an unlikely new friend in the windmill village.

Enemy turn


The brutal slaughter of our veterans continues. Crendil the loyal marshal, who was standing on that forest hex, got devoured by one of the storm sisters, and a poor spectre becomes another victim of the drone mob.


The goblin pillager on the village also dies, but deserves a medal for managing to distract a ton of enemies.

Turn 8


The storm sisters have a weakness to arcane damage, so our spectres start slicing and dicing them.


A few backstabs later, we finally get rid of them.




After that we start cleaning up wounded enemies to the north, including a bunch of enemies trying to swim across the river.


Another goblin pillager tries to act as a distraction.


In the south we try to heal up, though we still have a couple more drones to deal with.

Enemy turn


The orcish warlord on the beach became yet another drone mob victim, but he did a good job in distracting all three drones.
The goblin pillager also helpfully distracted some enemies but unhelpfully provided the slowed chaos invader with enough experience to level.

Turn 9


Meanwhile in the south, the drones have killed off the assassin, but after we get rid of them the southern units can finally catch a break.


With the most dangerous enemies gone, our veterans can start advancing east on the weak level 1 enemies. We can’t do much against the drone mob in the north, so we just retreat and lure them closer to us.

Enemy turn:


The veteran losses continue to pile up, as the drones start killing off some poor wolves.

Turn 10


In the east we’ve now got an Armageddon imp and some chaos invaders to deal with.


We didn’t have much success hitting the imp so we turn our attention to killing off the other nearby enemies.


With a very satisfying whack, a thug gets rid of the remaining nearby war drone.

Turn 11


A bunch of enemies cross the river from the north, including another Armageddon imp.


In the east we finally finish off that first pesky imp.


We’re close to one of the enemy leaders now, who isn’t too intimidating. With his amazing 3 movement, he couldn’t even outrun a mudcrawler…


We make some kills in the north and get our very own knight of chaos.


We put yet another goblin pillager (the true heroes of Irdya!) on the village to hopefully distract the imp.

Enemy turn:


The imp goes for the pillager on the village, and a couple chaos invaders slice up another. (Apologies to all wolf lovers for all the gruesome wolf deaths this scenario).

Turn 12


Our veterans unleash their fury on the imp, and a goblin pillager takes revenge for his fellow pillager.


Meanwhile, some more pillagers slow the nearby leader. There’s also a chaos lorekeeper leader nearby.

Turn 13


Our eastern units have a merry party in the Hell guardian’s keep.


Meanwhile, our northern units are going on an expedition across the river.

Turn 14


Our mob in the keep accidentally lured over some enemies from the east, who killed a saurian flanker. The chaos lorekeeper leader also comes out to play.


Durvan makes himself marginally useful by finishing off the lorekeeper, and his units help fill in the front line.

Turn 15


Whenever we move Ergea or Anya onto a defeated enemy leader’s keep, we get some free loyal units, as well as +110 gold for both sides.

We even get our very own drone, I’ve always wanted one!


We immediately put the new recruits to work.

Turn 16


We continue pushing east, toward a large fort in the middle of the water.


Meanwhile, our northern units have finally made their way across the river and are ready to attack another leader.

Enemy turn:


Mal Unroth eagerly comes out to zap our poor defenseless silver shield.


The death knight also unwisely leaves the (relative) safety of his fort to kill a dryad.

Turn 17


Liches on grassland are highly susceptible to being whacked over the skull with a giant hammer.
Goodbye, Mal Unroth.


We also roast the foolish death knight.


There’s another leader in the southeast, so we break off a small squad of units to kill her.

Turn 18


We continue picking up free loyals and gold. I’m going to start my very own drone army now!


We also get rid of the spelldancer leader who was kind enough to save us the long hike to her keep.

Turn 19


Our units crowd into the river fort and approach the main enemy leader, Mal Ba’arth.


The rest of our army closes in from the west, where there’s one final extra enemy leader in the north.

Turn 20


Some zaps from Anya and some backstabs make quick work of him.

Turn 21


After clearing out some turrets for easy XP, our entire army slowly closes in on the citadel.

Turn 22


Some wolves say hello to Mal Ba’arth while the rest of our units catch up.

Turn 23


We slowly start whittling him down. Like everyone else in the chaos empire, this guy’s pretty useless without his drone army.

Turn 24


Zzzap! There goes the last member of the Iron Triad.

Now we just need to move Anya to the citadel.

Turn 25


Whew, we finally made it! I’ve certainly had enough drones for one day.


Oh.










Time for the attack of the giant mutant killer drone horde!

Turn 26


A huge mob of drones appears in the northwest, including a level 4 drone!


A second group appears in the south, though these won’t reach us for quite a while.

Turn 27


We have so many units around (and also more gold than we could ever spend), so the drones don’t really pose much of a threat. Everyone just lines up along the fortress wall.

Turn 28


The drones begin their attack, killing a few unimportant units. Our powerful veterans have no problem dealing with them.


Anya spams some level 1 fodder in the south, while Durvan’s wolves come to help out.

Turn 29


Our trusty drone extermination spectres arrive, and the drones disappear very quickly after that.


And, drone problem solved! For now at least.

Turn 31


A second wave of drones arrives. It sure was nice of them to wait until we were done with the first wave.

Turn 32


A few units split off to deal some drones coming from the south.


The rest prepare for the new wave from the north.

Turn 33


Just another usual day for our drone exterminators.


We kind of just throw units randomly at them since this is the last scenario they’ll be used in.

Turn 34


And that takes care of most of the northern drones.


There isn’t too much going on in the south either.

Turn 36


It’s the final turn, so our units just sit back and enjoy the scenery.


And that concludes this scenario! Next time, we’ll find out what’s going on with Elynia and her, uh, friend, Elyssa.




Losses: way too many to list
Restarts: none

[ForestDragon]

Nice to see the playthrough back! the humor's great as usual!

oh, and Elyssa is basically "Mal Keshar v2.0: undead-free edition"

[holypaladin]

Yes, nice. That was great campaning (better than IFTU)or Inky was great master of strategy.
Very good!

[Inky]

I call upon the dark powers of necromancy to revive this thread! ...even though Wesnoth 1.14 is already out
Thanks to ForestDragon for constantly poking me and reminding me to update

E3 S9 – Dark Depths

Back to our favorite invincible overpowered duo. Another day, another crawl through a massive drone infested cave maze.










Zhangor tried to be clever and avoid the prophecy by not attacking Elyssa, but unfortunately for him he didn’t realize being a Guardian of Darkness was such a popular job these days.






Elyssa seems a bit insecure that she’s being replaced by a new version.





Turn 2


We start heading north and spamming fire guardians.

To anyone having trouble, here is a strategy guide for the combat in this scenario:
1. Move Elyssa in range of the enemies.
2. Gleefully observe the resulting carnage.
(Repeat)

Turn 5


The path splits north and south, with the northern one being a dead end with a security glyph.

Turn 6




The not-so-secure glyph opens up a passage in the south near some drones.





Turn 10


We head down the southern path now, demolishing drones along the way.

Turn 12


The southern corridor is guarded by gigantic and fearsome… ants. Using the Claw of Urvatha to squish them just feels like bullying...

Turn 13


There are a couple stormblades around too, which fare no better than the ants against Elyssa.

Turn 16


We come across a dead end with a touchplate.

Turn 17


Don’t tell me we’re stuck here eating ants for the rest of our days!


Fortunately Elyssa’s problem solving skills save the day again.



Turn 18


We make our way through some narrow tunnels, trampling some weak creatures along the way.

Turn 22


We get held up for a few turns by a mutant spider though. Maybe instead of drones the chaos empire should have taken up giant spider breeding?

Turn 24


The next leader goes down in a flash. There’s another giant spider behind it which also gets quickly exterminated.

Turn 26


Luckily this glyph is also not too picky about who it grants access to.




It opens up a hole in the tunnel we just came through, so we backtrack to it.

Turn 30


We make it to the new hole, which is filled with lava and bats.






Elynia starts whining, and Elyssa reacts just as you’d expect.




Spurred on by Elyssa’s helpful encouragement, Elynia manages to make a bridge across the chasm.

Turn 32


Yeah, blasting time!


Sigh, we never get to have any fun.


We enter the chamber…


And it's a trap. I'm not sure I would call it cunning, though.




Great, looks like we’re stuck with yet another psychopath with an evil laugh.




Figures that Elyssa knows him.








Elyssa tries the diplomatic approach, also known as threatening.








Unfortunately the Engineer (like many of his comrades) lacks any kind of self preservation instinct, so as usual we'll have to do things the hard way.










Well at least someone here seems to be having a good time.




We currently can’t damage the Engineer, but he’s got a few useless golem buddies around, so we focus on killing them first.

Turn 33


We get rid of some of the golems, and the Engineer comes out to attack. For lack of any better ideas, we just surround him with fire guardians to keep him busy.

Turn 35


Fortunately a better idea soon presents itself.






So, have Elynia distract the enemy while Elyssa does the work – sounds just like our usual method.




Elynia attacks the Engineer, and Elyssa then melee attacks from the opposite side. And misses. Great work, team!

Turn 36


We try again, and things go a bit better this time.




Now that the Engineer can be damaged, we start piling on all the damage we can.

Turn 37


If either of the guardians gets low on health, we can just surround the boss with fire guardians until they heal up a bit.

Turn 39


Zap! That’s the end of him. The whole place is starting to come apart though!


Looks like Elyssa managed to teleport us out just in time. Great, another cave. This one looks slightly less sinister at least.




Eww. Good thing we're immortal.




Elyssa’s completely unresponsive. Probably a Windows update. Anyway, we won’t have to worry about her for a while.






Also, we'd last about 2 seconds without Elyssa's babysitting.






We head down the corridor into a large chamber.


Left alone, Elynia turns to her favorite activity, wallowing in guilt.






Wait


a


minute…


Sounds about right.










Wow, the miraculous power of love has brought Argan back! It’s great to see Elynia finally get a break after all she’s been through.








With Argan’s help, we could defeat Zhangor. We could vanquish Uria. We could save Irdya!




After we get the important things done, of course.










With Argan acting much less maniacally evil than normal, Elynia starts to get suspicious.






Can’t you see that we are having a moment here?!


Oh.


But that means…


…that we just kissed Zhangor.












She’s really mad about the kissing, isn’t she.




The Deathbringer summons a whole bunch of drone friends, most of which decide to attack Elyssa.


As you can see, the drones who went for Elyssa have all mysteriously vanished.


Elyssa AMLA heals by killing another drone, and the fire guardians whittle down the boss.


He’s got a really cool looking lightning attack.


He dies all the same though.


Huh? We got teleported to another cave?! Something seems a bit off this time though…


We wander out of the cave into a forested area.






Ohhh no. We’re seeing dead people again.


It seems to be a childhood memory.








Suddenly it gets dark, and Niryone ditches us.

How clear did you find the scenario objectives?

Well it could be a bit clearer, I’ll give it a 3/10.






It's so nice to meet you too, Gliomir.


Elynia’s unit type undergoes a disturbing change.










Hey, Galas is back! Wait, we’re not falling for this again.




His unit type also undergoes a creepy change.


I knew we shouldn’t have eaten those funny tasting mushrooms in the cave.


You don’t say?!!


Whew, it’s Anya! Someone normal for a change!

How clear did you find the scenario objectives?

I’m afraid I’ll going to have to give this a 1/10.


Oh no. Even Anya’s turning strange.












After all this, even Elyssa's company would be welcome.


0/10 for this one…


We embark on our quest to find someone remotely sane.








Instead we find a second Elynia which isn’t so helpful.








Huh? Wait, we’re Elyssa now?






Oh like it’s all our fault! I don’t recall you being too helpful either, Elyssa.
















No Elynia, don't you turn into a drone too!


And Elyssa’s being influenced by Elynia. She'll have to start writing a diary at this rate.
























I miss this guy.














We’re back!




If I had to think of a word to describe what Elyssa’s done to us so far, "helping" would not be the first word that came to mind.


This is what happens when you hang out with Elyssa for too long, everybody.








So, I guess we’re friends now? Sort of? Well, off to defeat Zhangor!

[shadowm]

Spurred on by Elyssa’s helpful encouragement, Elynia manages to make a bridge across the chasm.

Actually, it's Elyssa who builds the bridge the old-fashioned way by blasting the ceiling.

Spoiler:

How clear did you find the scenario objectives?

Well it could be a bit clearer, I’ll give it a 3/10.

[...]

I’m afraid I’ll going to have to give this a 1/10.

[...]

0/10 for this one…

I was actually crying reading these xD

[BTIsaac]

Yeah, i alluded to this sequence in my review. Trippy.

[ForestDragon]

Great humor as usual! I'd list some of the highlights, but this time there are too many to count, which is certainly a welcome change of pace from the previous large scale battles, where 80%+ of the commentary was mostly gameplay-focused.

[Inky]

Yeah!!! It's finally finished!

E3 S10 – Blood

Lovely place Zhangor's got here.


Elyssa offers some comforting words before we head out.



Turn 1


Yikes, she wasn’t kidding about the blood everywhere. Though what’s most disturbing is the dead fish swimming in it…

Elyssa summons her usual fodder guardians, which I have named "Mal Kendria’s ghost", "Galas 2.0", "Mal Keshar was here" (those names courtesy of ForestDragon), "Flamy", "Sparky", and "DIE ZHANGOR!"

Turn 2




It wasn’t for the enlightening conversations, that’s for sure.




Yeah! We’ve now got some awesome combo attacks, which greatly increase the damage of the second attack in the combo when Elyssa and Elynia attack the same enemy. Most enemies can be killed by Elyssa or Elynia alone, but these combos will be useful against the boss.

Inferno grasp (x3 damage) = claw of urvatha + ensnare (in that order)
Primal nightmare (x4 damage) = claw of urvatha + faerie touch (in that order)
Flames of Xia’el (x2 damage) = pyranoctum + arcane rage (in either order)
Foreshadowing moon (x4 damage) = noctum + arcane rage (in either order)

Turn 3


We continue on, with most enemies happily destroying themselves by attacking Elyssa.

Turn 4


The fire guardians get killed alarmingly quickly in this scenario. I renamed the new recruits after their fallen comrades but eventually gave up on this because they were dying way too fast.

Turn 6


Further north is a passage guarded by some fallen faeries.


And what scenario could possibly be complete without drones popping out of nowhere?

Turn 11


We head into the passage, where we’re given a warm welcome by those weird looking alien things, and of course more drones.


This drone will be the perfect victim to try out our new combo attack.
Attacking it in ranged is still a bad idea, so Elyssa whacks it with her staff.


Followed by Elynia’s ensnare attack, which now does 9x3 = 27 damage each strike thanks to inferno grasp’s x3 damage multiplier.

Remember how those custodian drones used to be powerful boss units?

Turn 14


Finally we reach a ruined keep in the north.




Of course, we’ll have to swat some pests before we can get to the keep.

Turn 17


We finally arrive and start taking in the scenic view.






Well that doesn’t sound very helpful.
















Whew, looks like we’re not going to erase all life on Irdya after all. Knowing Elynia, I wasn’t too sure.


She starts getting philosophical.


Questions such as, "Could there be a character more awesome than Mal Keshar?" or "How OP can a Wesnoth unit possibly get?"


We hear the usual signature evil laugh.




Our chat is very rudely interrupted.










She sure talks big for someone whose main function is healing Elyssa.


Glad we agree. Let’s get to work!


Ha, that little Union thing was so last campaign. We’ve got something much more awesome now!


Attacking in ranged is not a very good idea, so we go for melee attacks instead.




The primal nightmare combo makes Elynia’s faerie touch do 7x4 = 28 damage per hit. While this combo isn't spectacular damage wise, we avoid taking massive retaliation damage.


Zhangor eagerly attacks Elyssa, though this only hastens his demise while AMLA healing Elyssa.

Turn 18


And we finish him off. That wasn’t hard at all!


Uh oh.


Yikes, he's turned into some kind of ultra demonic venus flytrap! He’s also summoned a bunch of fallen faeries as well as what looks like demonic octopi.

Fortunately for us, Zhangor’s new form comes with the minor design flaw that he can’t move.


So we just leave him sitting in his castle while we go investigate the demonic octopi (officially known as blood cores).




Every time you hit a blood core they switch themselves around, so Elynia’s attack on the upper right core ended up damaging two of the cores on the bottom.

Turn 19


We take advantage of Zhangor’s laziness to take care of his minions while he sits around in the keep.

Turn 22


After we get rid of the fallen faeries, we start zapping the blood cores.


Destroying a blood core gives us some extra maximum HP, which is always welcome.


It gives Zhangor some extra HP too, but he’s already got so much it doesn’t make that much of a difference.

Turn 25


After a few more turns of blasting away at the blood cores, we finally get rid of the last one.

Turn 27


Now we just need to deal with Zhangor, who is looking awfully lonely at the moment.


As usual he’ll help us out by attacking Elyssa in ranged, though this does mean we need to retreat and heal for a bit.

Turn 29


Inferno grasp (Claw of Urvatha followed by ensnare) is a good combo to use here, as it leaves Zhangor slowed on his turn.

Turn 31


We continue chipping away at his massive HP using Inferno grasp.

Turn 32


Finally! Great job, every-


Not again?!




Yikes! Not only has he summoned a bunch of new enemies (including a fake Argan, Anya and Galas), he now has 10 movement and skirmisher so there’s almost no avoiding him now.


We start by going for the easy prey.


Poor guy, demolished in one attack from Elyssa again.




Zhangor comes over to say hello to Elynia, who fortunately slows him and avoids taking too much damage.

Turn 33


Great, now we’ve got Argan, Anya and Zhangor here all at once. Elyssa zaps a shapeshifter since it’s the only enemy in reach now.




We just surround ourselves with our fire guardian fodder and hope for the best.


This time Zhangor goes for Elyssa, and Anya and Argan go for the fire guardians.

Turn 34


We start retreating to the east, getting rid of fake Anya along the way.


Zhangor once again goes for Elynia, who slows him in retaliation.

Turn 35


Both guardians are getting pretty low on health, so they use the time-honored tactic of running for their lives.

Turn 36


Good thing someone left a healing glyph up here!


Elyssa tries to get some healing from Elynia while the fire guardians act as distractions.


Zhangor comes over and destroys a poor little fire guardian.

Turn 37


Argan’s actually very dangerous to attack in ranged, so we use the time-honored tactic of suiciding fire guardians into him until he’s almost dead.




Fake Argan tries to guilt trip us, but Elyssa’s not buying it.


Once again we hide behind our fire guardian wall.

Turn 38


Zhangor attacks again, and we’re finally able to focus our attention on him.

Turn 39


Elyssa’s getting plenty of practice whacking people with the Claw of Urvatha this battle.


Neither option is very appealing, but we go with the slowing one.

Turn 40


For some reason Zhangor decides to move into the corner, where we can easily trap him. We do the usual fire guardian chain attack, though the 4 damage per hit (Zhangor’s physical endurance heals back half damage from non-arcane attacks) isn’t too impressive.


Elynia then attacks in melee to finish the primal nightmare combo.


Zhangor attacks Elyssa in ranged, which is probably the #1 cause of death on Irdya.

Turn 41


We do the usual chain attacking for some chip damage.


Followed by the Claw of Urvatha + ensnares combo.


Zhangor goes for Elyssa in ranged again. Agh, hang in there Elyssa!!
We use the time-honored tactic of praying fervently to the RNG.

Turn 42


That was close! Zhangor’s got only 8 HP left now. How to finish him off, I wonder?


Revenge for all his dead fire brethren!!!


Yeah, we did it!


Not again?!!!!




The whole place starts turning into a lake of blood, killing off most of the surrounding units.














And finally the two guardians vanquish Zhangor once and for all, while DIE ZHANGOR! looks on with pride.

Ending cutscenes

E3 S11 – After the Storm


We take a much deserved nap after our fight with Zhangor.




Can’t catch a break, as usual.


Don’t tell me she’s going to get all sentimental now.




Ah. Good to see she’s acting like her usual self.












More importantly, she was such an awesome unit.











E3 S12 – Destiny, Part 3


That sounds cool! Let's go blast some stuff!


Or we could get stuck in a giant philosophical monologue, which is usual for guardians.










Aw, look at those puny little level 1 drones trying to block the way.


Wow, that was a really, really short scenario.




Sigh, looks like we’ve been teleported into yet another hive full of weaklings.


There’s isn’t so much scenic variety here.


Still nothing to see here.


Are we there yet?


Finally!







Fortunately a wall opens up, and we arrive in a plot dump room. The bottom two purple glyphs aren’t readable.




Hey, leave me alone! I’m just trying to read here!






Hopefully it’s not a messed up teleportation spell like the last spell glyph.


It manages to be even more useless.






This looks promising.




I’m tired of this rotten little cave. Let’s go!






No Anya, don’t talk to the imaginary voices!








It happens to everyone in this campaign sooner or later.


Anya disappears through the teleport glyph, and a shaxthal worm follows her through.


We get teleported into another twisty passage, while Anya continues conversing with herself.













Epilogue




We get some backstory on Uria. Apparently she used to be pretty nice, until some bad stuff happened and she turned psycho (a common occurrence in this campaign).




















Aradellys seems a bit slow on the uptake.




























Not the most convincing argument.






In a flash of light, everyone gets burnt to a charred crisp!

And that's the end of After the Storm! (I was totally too lazy to do the "Campaign stats" at the end... let's just say this part involved lots of drones )

Thanks to shadowm for such making such an awesome campaign, and thanks to everyone for reading and putting up with the loooong waits!

Good news, I'm going to start another LP soon, of Voyage of a Drake by Samonella! It's a unique RPG campaign so it'll be a nice change of pace from the usual Wesnoth gameplay.