In todays news: 2 communists, a texan and a priest walk into a bar. The priest says, let's light these candles on that weird altar and so they do. Suddenly the exercize deprived barkeeper appears out of nowhere, gets really angry for no reason at all, and begins pummeling them. A proper brawl ensues, there is actual FIGHTING involved, like blocking and reposting and stuff. The tanks are happy. After a short melee the barkeeper explodes, leaving behind a toxic cloud. The party is glad they did not order any food in this dump. They did take the stuff hidden behind the bar though, unfortunately no shotgun anywhere to be found. The priest says:" Oh well, time to go shopping somewhere else then, I am still looking for that 0.0001 movement improve."

Ahahaha. Ignorance is brilliant, though the scripting is a bit off some places. The guy defrosted himself to cast rain of arrows. Also his counters (not reflected damage) proc before your skill activation. So if you, say, cast invulnerability or try to teleport out of position, he kills you before you finish the casting. Also he can home in on sneaking characters with his specials.

It took me several tries just to wrap my head around his M.O. and adjust accordingly.

It turned out to be a race against the script that defrosted him.

I started by individually sneaking my party around him, distributing people evenly around him, just outside his view range.

I started the fight with erosion out of sneak (so his counter would not proc on the cast), then snuck Madora to his back and cast divine light out of sneak and KDed him. It snowballed from there, but the problem is I have very uneven damage dealing distribution in the party. Basically the rogue is a specialized damage dealer and the rest mostly do control/buff/debuff. So while the whole party was comfortably standing under the Mass Heal umbrela, the rogue had to alternate between attacks and gulping down healing potions. The finisher that came just in time before the rain of arrows turn was adrenalined chain5 lacerate that got my rogue from full HP boosted by Water Of Life down to 150HP via reflected damage.

Actually when I first saw what he does I was hoping we'd have an epic duel with my rogue. Sneaking, backstabs, diving behind cover, teleporting from under the fire, but he just had to rain on my parade with arrows and preemptive teleport terminators.

After meeting the prototype umbrella from the umbral corporation Sol Invictus crafted a lvl 27 pumpkin helmet, which has 64 armor, 25% fire resist and 5% chance to fear the enemy. For a brief moment he considered wearing it, but then deemed it a worse fashion choice than his Deadly Ascendant Casque of the eternal Reign.

Originally posted by infine:

Cruelty down.

Ha! Well done! That sounds like it went about how I imagined it would have :)

Originally posted by infine:

Regarding the maze bug ...

I'll probably need to add in some failsafe for it or something because I can't see where a bug would be; it's a very simple procedure...

Originally posted by infine:

Ahahaha. Ignorance is brilliant, though the scripting is a bit off some places. The guy defrosted himself to cast rain of arrows.

Huh. He's not supposed to break free from CC. Maybe I'm okay with that, I'll think about it :P

I could potentially have him give more time for teleports to resolve, it might make sense. Also, It is possible to out-run his shots with enough movement speed :)

I'm glad you had fun with this guy though, he has a lot of work put into him and he's definitely one of my favorites.

Originally posted by Furin:

In todays news: 2 communists, a texan and a priest walk into a bar. The priest says, let's light these candles on that weird altar and so they do.

Ahahahahaha

Originally posted by Furin:

After meeting the prototype umbrella from the umbral corporation ...

HA! I didn't think about that connotation, but I like it :) That Pumpkin head though... 64 armor not too bad!

Originally posted by Sandpie:

Also, It is possible to out-run his shots with enough movement speed :)

Oh, I didn't even think about that. I thought the shots were targeted and didn't try to dodge that way..

Also. Carnality went down. It was a decent straight up fight, considering the guy is pretty much the bane of my party (low EHP zero saves full control high dps against an enemy that's immune to every form of hard CC and does AOE stun). Madora finally had a proper job, though the damage is still overwhelming.

But Restraint, I can't get him. He ignores taunt, he oneshots anyone without immunity besides Madora on the first turn and apparently gets worse over time (after the first several attempts I decided to dress her up into full tank mode, and on the first turn she gets about 1/5 damage with a large con potion, large resist all potion and water of life, but on the 3rd or 4th turn she almost gets oneshotted). I believe he reflects back the damage from shekels of pain. He homes in on invisible characters, he reaches everywhere on the map - 3 screens away, behind pillars, does not matter. The spiders are just multiplying if I try to kill them. And the worst part is I don't understand what's happening with his HP. He starts low, but then jumps to high then to low then to high... I managed to grind him down both directly and through the vitality link, and both times he just jumps to near full.

EDIT: upon further inspection I think the HP indicator is just bugged (they start at low HP, but either dropping it manually or dropping disease on them reveals the "normal" HP). There were similar problems with other bosses, but I did not really pay attention because I could deal with them.
And he probably does not get worse, might be just potions wearing off and leadership dropping (because mage died lol).

Now i managed to kinda sorta down him to maybe a third HP with decaying touch cheezing, but I can neither step up the burst nor keep it up because once the initial invulnerability wears off the mages have no means of survival (I can sorta do scrolls, but I can't keep up decaying touch due to AP requirements on scrolls needed to keep the guy on low saving throws, not to mention decaying touch has long cooldown. Though I can probably try to proc the touch itself off lacerate). It's oneshot anywhere on the map. And once the mages are down it's pretty much game over.

How'd you handle the fragments on Carnality? :)

His HP shouldn't be randomly refilling, if you think there's a bug you should send me a save so I can check things out.

You're right to observe that there's something up with his damage (but idk if you want me to spoil the mechanic). This guy is one of the hardest fights for sure.

If you think the the scaling is off on him (I'm not sure what level your party is now) let me know, because tuning is very important on a fight like this.

@Furin: you killed BarkBark and a defenseless Abyssal Barkeep? I knew something was up when you infected Marissa with rot, but now you've gone too far! Wait until their buddies find out.

Good to see you are enjoying the optional encounters. ;) We had a ton of fun setting up the various set pieces and mini-bosses. Honestly that may have been the best part of this whole thing, at least for me, other than testing the encounters.

@Infine: I'm loving the play by play!

Cruelty is a fun one. It's sort of a race, but with a twist.

Ignorance is my personal favorite. That encounter always felt like some sort of party to me when we tested it. People hitting the deck and getting blown up while the boss taunts you with one-liners--good times!

Then there's Restraint--not for the faint of heart, certainly.... The way Fear spreads, the encounter has a touch of an Aliens flavor, I think.

After searching the legion terrace literally for hours for a certain key, my party finally gave in and used a magic unlock scroll to open a certain door. The inhabitants of the place were not happy to see them (especially Lady Incontinentia) and had to be pacified. Good items were found, but the real deal was the chest called "Eternal Riches". This chest now resides in the living room of my heroes, filled with no less than 42 divine items they "eventually" will use, if they ever get their heads around why they collected all that stuff in the first place.

Originally posted by Sandpie:

How'd you handle the fragments on Carnality? :)

Ignored/tanked. In fact they are hard to spot and after I've seen the first set of fragments suicide I just didn't bother.

Originally posted by Sandpie:

His HP shouldn't be randomly refilling, if you think there's a bug you should send me a save so I can check things out.

Well, it isn't just his, really. It was the same with Ignorance and maybe with carnage, and just happens randomly I think. I believe it's just HP representation bug (maybe) tied to the level adjusting script. I'll see about the save.

Originally posted by Sandpie:

If you think the the scaling is off on him (I'm not sure what level your party is now) let me know, because tuning is very important on a fight like this.

Nah, the scaling is mostly fine. My playstyle is just generally squishy which does not do well in this particular fight (generally speaking I can get Madora and the rogue through the nuke, but not mages. If I went focused tanky priest kind of mages they could live). I believe I can do him with the proper respec I have in mind, but I don't want to and will try to wear him down with what I have.

Originally posted by Elric:

Then there's Restraint--not for the faint of heart, certainly.... The way Fear spreads, the encounter has a touch of an Aliens flavor, I think.

Actually I figured I don't want the fear to spread. I tried and stopped at like 6-8 spiders, then did some math. The boss has 75K HP for me. A spider has 5K HP, is unhealable (I did consider the magical torture with healing thing) and has to be allowed a single turn to cast vitality link. And spiders hurt. They hurt Madora much more than the nuke in fact. AND the way initiative queue is set up, they go right after the nuke. The things that tank them are Nick and probably ooze lords due to autoheal on piercing damage. But both can't keep aggro. As per readme, Vitality link transfers up to 60% damage, so I can reasonably expect to get 3K off a spider to the boss. So I need to kill 25 spiders for the full package. Killing each spider adds one spider on the field. 25 dead spiders is 25 spiders on the field (I assume I don't need to kill the 26th). 25 spiders that are allowed to take turns. Furthermore, I can reasonably expect to kill 2 spiders a turn, so it would take me about 10+ turns of tanking The Nuke. And Spiders. NOPE. I WILL TAKE MY CHANCES WITH DECAYING TOUCH THANK YOU PLEASE.

Today was my turn to visit the astral dragon. In his first attack he ate Madora, turned around and spat her in vapor form at my tanks. They could take the abuse and as vengance is a dish best served hot, trapped him in an ice wall. Taunting him actually worked, so in the next round his breath attacks went where I wanted them to go, namely over the heads of my tanks. I leashed the, now debuffed dragon, weakened him further (he had already hurt himself plenty on the leash) with decaying touch and the resurrected Madora finished him off from behind with an insane critical hit just moments before the decaying touch faded.

The whole place looks very nice, I was more worried about breaking vases than breaking my party memebers, because broken vases are not affected by lucky charm and I have found all sorts of good stuff in intact vases...

Ahahahaha. Take that, bastard.

I TOOK MY CHANCES AND HIS LOOT WITH DECAYING TOUCH.

Restrain down, healed to death in 4 or 5 turns thanks to the hero rogue who sacrificed himself doing chain5 lacerate (applies decaying touch) on a guy with 100% damage reflection. No regrets. But one more level for the rogue would be sooo good because it would give me one more atonement.

Also thanks to a stack of witchcraft scrolls.

Poor spider never recovered from hard CC.

EDIT: Melchior didn't even fight me. Just teleported me out with the loot. ALL THE LOOT.

PS: Sorting out the loot, and I stumbled upon something I've seen before that's possibly a minor bug in item naming. An unidentifed staff named Unidentified. Just Unidentified. After identification is calls itself Maiming Of The Sun. This happened before with another staff.

PPS: There's a phylactery in a tomb n front of a fiery gate in Snowbound Ledge, and I don't know how to open it. I think it's the only thing left. I've done 4 towers, 3 altars (there's fourth in the "teleport there" place, but it does not activate), the whole ascension part and assorted minibosses like wolf packs and zee spiders and the caspers in lvl7 lock mausoleum.

Originally posted by infine:

Ahahahaha. Take that, bastard.

I TOOK MY CHANCES AND HIS LOOT WITH DECAYING TOUCH.

Restrain down, healed to death in 4 or 5 turns thanks to the hero rogue who sacrificed himself doing chain5 lacerate (applies decaying touch) on a guy with 100% damage reflection. No regrets. But one more level for the rogue would be sooo good because it would give me one more atonement.

Also thanks to a stack of witchcraft scrolls.

Poor spider never recovered from hard CC.

EDIT: Melchior didn't even fight me. Just teleported me out with the loot. ALL THE LOOT.

PS: Sorting out the loot, and I stumbled upon something I've seen before that's possibly a minor bug in item naming. An unidentifed staff named Unidentified. Just Unidentified. After identification is calls itself Maiming Of The Sun. This happened before with another staff.

PPS: There's a phylactery in a tomb n front of a fiery gate in Snowbound Ledge, and I don't know how to open it. I think it's the only thing left. I've done 4 towers, 3 altars (there's fourth in the "teleport there" place, but it does not activate), the whole ascension part and assorted minibosses like wolf packs and zee spiders.

Congrats! I never figured out the vampire phylactery myself. There is no key and you can't traget it with an unlock scroll because there are vines all over it, which block the spell. I think it is "just" a loot chest though.

I just "fought" the entrance guard of the portal area. Poor general Zandrix was right, he really is getting too old for this ... First he is turned into some sort of unholy abomination and then he is pummeled into fine dust by one of his own golem constructs (and my party looted his tomb too on the way here).

I have activated all four portals, well they seem to be active, but I have not tried to step through them just yet.

Allright, I just did the Ignorance fight. It is weird I don't know if it is supposed to be done this way, but putting a poison slug in front of my caster and 2 shield tanks in his face made this fight kinda easy. All that was left is be careful not to kill oneself on the reflected damage. I did not quite understand what I was supposed to do with all the other "people" that spawned, so I left them alone, I guess they are "cover" for parties without tanks/slugs and ice walls.

Originally posted by Furin:

Congrats! I never figured out the vampire phylactery myself. There is no key and you can't traget it with an unlock scroll because there are vines all over it, which block the spell. I think it is "just" a loot chest though.

Well, there's a book in that tomb which seems to be some kind of journal of I think the guy who got Melchior &Co into all that ascension mess in the first place and according to the journal wanted to invite Outsiders through the gate. And it's mentioned that you can feed the phylactery with some abstract concepts, coincidentally fear, cruelty, ignorance and carnality - all the stuff that you fight in the trial of ascension. I thought that successfully mowing through the bits and pieces of Melchior will let me fiddle with the phylactery but nope, still closed. Also I've got lockpicking 7 (don't think it's possible to get more), and pick lock is greyed out.

I think I'm shelving this playthrough until answers (also vacation starts tomorrow yay!) and doing a casual playthrough on some sane difficulty because I'm tired of feeling like a wet paper punching bag and spells doing achoo damage.

Originally posted by infine:

I think I'm shelving this playthrough until answers (also vacation starts tomorrow yay!) and doing a casual playthrough on some sane difficulty because I'm tired of feeling like a wet paper punching bag and spells doing achoo damage.

Enjoy!

I think I have an idea what the problem with the hp meter is. The bosses start with more health than the bar can show and when they drop below a certain threshold the bar "fills up". I am having the same bug as Infine. Only way to tell the bosses real health is examining them.

I just beat Carnality, having high shield and centurion really helps in this fight but at the high level my party is now your only hope is the decaying touch (which lasts only one round, the thing showing 2 rounds is a lie, before you need to purifire it, unless you want to have him regen all the health back) and huge xbow crits with all possible debuffs on him and all possible buffs on your damage dealer, also I had to use an invulvnerability scroll (the shame). You have to finish him in 3 rounds or he nukes you to oblivion. He starts with way over 50k health, g/wp 7.

Also you need to use anti stun items or spells immidiatly before he casts for the first time, a stun in this fight is more or less a certain loss.