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The enemy is felled by an intensely powerful blow! Climbing the Dark Spire.

JBear

JBear

Internet's foremost Bertolli cosplayer
(He/Him)
I'm a bit behind on updating, but I've been keeping notes as I go!

  • After a bit of chasing down dead-ends, I found that the pirate ship is back, and empty. Also, it is originally swan-themed, which the pirates have been trying to disguise with a dragon make-over.
  • I took the magical swan boat for a ride down the tunnel. These guys literally stole a tunnel of love and started calling themselves pirates. I love it.
  • Seems as if it was a one-way trip, so presumably I'll find a way back.
  • ...Like, say, almost immediately. It costs 800 gold, though!
  • Floor 3, here we come!
  • We are not in Kansas anymore. Judging by the music and the decor, I'd better brush up on my MOBA skills, because we junglin'.
  • A one-way door onto the new floor so I can't run away if I'm in over my head. Stay classy, Dark Spire.
  • Looks like all of the doors here are one-way!
  • "People are arguing and it's best not to get involved" is novel as far as plot gates go. Guess our quest will have to wait so we can avoid any social awkwardness.
  • I just found an animal trap missing bait, but I seem unable to bait it with nuts to catch a squirrel, much to my disappointment.
  • An enemy just dropped a "frilled codpiece". It gives -2 AC, so strap me in!
  • Looks like there's a few new things for sale in town now. The innkeeper is also selling molotovs? That's quite the side-business.
  • Alright, I bought some jerky in town on a hunch (the enemies on 3F had dropped it, which made me suspicious), and sure enough, the trap can be baited with jerky. It says to "come back later", so I guess I'll have to wait until my next trip to see what I get for my trouble.
  • I... think I just stumbled into a teleporter that shunted me back to 2F somewhere?
  • Good thing I have a navigation spell prepped. What an... oddly arbitrary spot for it to drop me. Seems like a good opportunity to bail-- the encounters on 3F are still quite taxing for me.
  • I just found a tree... time to teach someone tree climbing, mayhaps?
  • Update: Much to my disappointment, my dreams of climbing a tree and befriending a squirrel didn't work out, and I also don't seem to be able to cut it down with either of the available axes. Whatever I need to do here, I can't seem to do it now.
  • I just found an herb garden. Maybe a place to circle back to once I've taught someone Botany?
  • My trap gave me a tusk, which I leveraged to gain an audience with the "shrine maiden".
  • Our party was given poison wine, and now I'm fighting kidnappers, accompanied by some kind of beast person.
  • The beast person (werewolf?) feels like the closest thing we've had to a full-on boss so far, and provided a good opportunity to try out my single-target lightning spell. It was very effective!
  • There seems to be a magic barrier in the room we woke up in after being poisoned.
  • The werewolf dropped a ring! I... am hesitant to try it on. Maybe later.
  • We found a gourd, which, according to the description, "is also known as a 'fairy's pillow'. In folklore, placing it next to one's pillow will result in pleasant dreams."
  • Floor 4! That was quicker than I anticipated.
  • Given the music, the decor, and the lighting on 4F, I'm thinking... vampire mansion?
  • Apparently the Amazons had offered us as a sacrifice to the "Messenger of God". The sacrifice is always "outsiders" or "slothful men".
  • Oh. The messenger is apparently not a werewolf. The werewolf and his cronies are stealing the sacrifices to their actual God, a Hydra. Yikes! I'm reasonably certain that the hydra is hiding in the sealed cave I found earlier.
  • The first trip to 4F is pretty short. Note: Goblin Majors are spellcasters!
  • I don't think I've mentioned this before, but status effects are very potent and important in this game. Silence in particular seems incredibly effective, and I have yet to see it wear off.

An updated pin list:

Basement
--
  • Room with blizzard crystals (3E, 20N)

F1
--
  • Collapsing hallway (4E, 0N)
  • Guild of Commerce Secret HQ (4E, 3N)
  • Generator Room (13E, 6N)
  • Doll Room (21E, 20N)
  • Sir Emerald Lightning, who sold me an Important Item (7E, 4N)
  • MP recovery fountain (13E, 17N)

F2
--
  • Gambling Hall (3E, 18N)
  • Gambling Nobleman (4E, 19N)
  • Rum-soaked nuts (14E, 7N)
  • Paper wishing tree (14E, 15N)
  • Capsule machine (20E, 15N)

F3
--
  • Spring & Chopping tree (1E, 3N)
  • Herb Garden (5E, 19N)
  • Sunflower Seeds (11E, 9N)
  • Magic Barrier Cave (9E, 2N)
  • Gourds (18E, 1N)

F4
--
  • "Crowley's Palace of Amusment" (8E, 4N)

Outstanding mysteries
--
  • Getting to the other side of the collapsing floor
  • What to do with the many random key items in my inventory.
  • Fixing the power generator (need feed and a squirrel)
  • Fixing the elevator (may be the same thing)
  • Meaningfully interacting with the Guild of Commerce
  • Figure out what to do with Scrap Metal so I can free up inventory space.
  • Figure out what to do with the spring and tree on F3.
  • Revisit the Herb Garden with Botany.
  • Figure out how to enter the sealed cave.
 
Torzelbaum

Torzelbaum

????? LV 13 HP 292/ 292
(he, him, his)
JBear said:
An enemy just dropped a "frilled codpiece". It gives -2 AC, so strap me in!
Click to expand...
Uh, is that good? Does this go by early D&D rules?

JBear said:
The beast person (werewolf?) feels like the closest thing we've had to a full-on boss so far, and provided a good opportunity to try out my single-target lightning spell. It was very effective!
Click to expand...
"Do you know what happens to a werewolf when it’s struck by lightning?"
 
JBear

JBear

Internet's foremost Bertolli cosplayer
(He/Him)
Fallen behind again, so here's a note dump:
  • Looks like my party won't venture into the darkness on 4F because of "anxiety". Big same.
  • Ooo, another (paid) teleport to the exit on 4F. That should allow me to probe a bit more greedily.
  • I found a doll that I need to finish assembling. I'm confident that my blue ink is one of the items needed, but I don't think I have anything that could serve as "canned sand", so I'll have to come back here later.
  • First party wipe in a while-- the fire-breathing enemies on this floor are a problem.
  • Oh, hey, my Priest just learned an exit spell. Screw you, paid teleport jerks-- God is my taxi now!
  • It seems like # of hits is at least partially a function of level, because I had never hit twice before, but now that they've hit level 10 both my warrior and thief are doing so routinely. I just showed my werewolf ring to a shady carnival barker and he seems to know something about it. It looks like maybe he's poaching?
  • And now we're in a maze with teleporters and spinners. Rest assured, I am in my element.
  • Someone dropped a Lightning Bow! I don't have my Thief on the back row, but maybe I should consider it...
  • Okay, wow, yeah, we're keeping the bow. It shoots arrows of light.
  • I really need to figure out how to fix this elevator, because walking up to the 4th floor every time is a pain. I've done it so many times I think I may legit be able to do it blindfolded. Since the elevator only goes to 3F, I'm worried that I may have missed my squirrel somehow...
  • I got sucked into a mirror, and now I'm fighting a boss Jabberwock. That was sudden!
  • It... dropped a spell book?
  • I can leave the spellbook on one side of the mirror and then pick it up on the other side to change it into a necromancy book. I... don't know why I'd want to do that?
  • Aaand... that's the stairs to floor 5. There's still more to explore on 4F first, though!
  • I just found an "unbirthday" cake. The words "EAT ME" are written on it in colourful frosting.
  • I et it, and it left behind some trick candles.
  • I just found a small animal hole in the "costume room". To my frustration, none of the items in my inventory are luring a squirrel out of it.
  • Well, that just happened. I found the squirrel hiding in the hat of an owl puppet, chased it into the hole, got it drunk on rum-soaked nuts, then let it fall asleep on my dream gourd.
  • Text I did not expect to see in this game: "Erotic Panda: This way please." N...no?
  • The panda was a stuffed animal. There was also a "hornless unicorn" (read: horse) and an "invisible man" (read: empty cage).
  • An imprisoned Amazon just asked me to run an errand for her. I look forward to doing it via elevator!
  • I just paid for a safari adventure and got teleported down to 3F, lol.
  • Pretty sure I just met a Belmont. Seems like the head vampire needs to be killed with a "Purification Ritual" or "Blood of Absolution", which is to say purified Belmont blood.
  • One of the new terrible 4F enemies dropped a new dagger, and I tried giving it to my warrior, and he sometimes kills things instantly with it? Seems good!
  • Finally. The squirrel-powered generator, by which I hopefully mean the elevator, is online!
  • And it has given me access to new areas on 2F and B1!
  • Well, it looks like the imprisoned Amazon is the real shrine maiden, and I need to break her out somehow.
  • She shrieked when I showed her my werewolf ring, but otherwise I don't seem to have anything relevant in my inventory. Presumably busting up the werewolf kidnappers will lead me to a way to rescue her then? Conveniently, the new part of the basement seems to be full of werewolves!
  • ...The werewolves have poison claws.
  • The enemies down here seem generally less scary than 5F, though, so I think I'm in the right place.
  • Some goblins dropped a magic wand, and I was briefly excited to use it, but it broke after two uses and didn't actually work, so I don't even know what it was trying to do.
  • My useless Rogue is suddenly failing to pick all of the locks down here.
  • When I enter one of the rooms down here, I'm told that "there is an overwhelming sense of animosity" and then I'm kick right back out. Okay...
  • The next choice of oath for my Warrior seems more consequential. My choices are "no items during battle", "always pray before entering the dungeon", "no changing equipment while in the dungeon", and "no aborting quests". Honestly, I think I could manage any of those, but I went with "no aborting quests", because why would I ever want to do that?
  • TODAY I LEARN: the new skeletons in the basement have a chance of causing instant death with their breath attack.
  • And one of them just dropped a giant wooden stake. Seems like something to maybe keep in my back pocket for vampires.
  • It looks like spells are just quietly guaranteed to fail in the area I'm exploring now? As far as I can tell, there's no way for me to figure out how far the effect extends other than via experimentation.
  • It seems like I can still cast inside the rooms, which would be more of a comfort if so many of them weren't filled with awful traps.
  • I just found a room that says "Boost nullifier--" and nothing else. I feel like perhaps a description is missing?
  • ...and I just got wiped by a bunch of coins in a safe after mapping that terrible area. So much for my wooden stake. Time for a break!
New map pins:
  • 4F - Doll that needs "canned sand" (0E, 19N)
  • 4F - Prop room (16E, 5N)
  • 4F - Imprisoned "angel" (16E, 1N)
  • B1 - "sense of animosity" room (17E, 11N)
  • B1 - "Boost nullifier" (20E, 18N)
 
N

Nodal

I've been playing this as well. So far everything seems like a valid design choice for the aesthetic they're going for except for one thing: not having any idea what stats weapons have. As far as I can tell there is no way to get any information about this in-game.
 
JBear

JBear

Internet's foremost Bertolli cosplayer
(He/Him)
Nodal said:
I've been playing this as well. So far everything seems like a valid design choice for the aesthetic they're going for except for one thing: not having any idea what stats weapons have. As far as I can tell there is no way to get any information about this in-game.
Click to expand...
Yeah, that is admittedly a pretty frustrating choice. I've been sorely tempted to just look at a spoiler list, but have been content to just experiment and see what seems to work best. In general, more expensive = better seems to be a good rule of thumb, and I always try out new enemy drops just to see if they do anything obviously new or special.

I'm also finding the opacity of secondary classing to be pretty frustrating, but that's still new, so maybe the game will have something more to offer me in that regard yet (although I'm not holding my breath).

As far as being a "valid design choice", though, I could see an argument for an overall intent of making the player experiment, whether that be through dungeon exploration, weapon choice, or class advancement. Or, conversely, another guiding principle of this game seems to be text > numbers, so maybe they just wanted to hide the math and rely on weapon descriptions, having the player engage with weapons as narrative objects rather than numbers on a stick. I'm not sure I agree with either of those, mind, but there must be some reason that they opted to hide this stuff. They certainly could have made that information available in-game if they decided that they wanted to.

  • Cripes, that coin battle took some doing. It was several tries before I hit on a good strategy. That's easily the hardest fight I've encountered in the game thus far. It didn't help that all of my persistent party buffs had been wiped and I didn't notice. Not sure if it's the anti-casting properties of the area doing that, or a magic draining trap, or something else entirely.
  • I found a well of flames. I threw the blizzard crystal that I found long ago down there to put them out, then sent my rogue to climb down (no idea if the game cared that he has Tree Climbing and Acrobatics skills or not), and he came back up with an hourglass, which sure sounds like "canned sand" to me!
  • I just went through a room with a "deafening roar", and the solution was to use marshmallows as earplugs. I guess that's what all that stuff about them being good insulation was earlier?
  • Um, a demon just crawled out of a portal to hell to attack me.
  • Actually, not quite all of the way, I guess, as the description mentions that it is "protruding halfway out of a rip in space, trying to get through".
  • For all of the bluster, it died before even hitting anyone. Okay!
  • Whelp, looks like I've done all I can down here for now-- the only door forward requires a special key.
  • Found an apple tree up on 5F, and it looks like that tree climbing skill is likely finally coming in handy. It might just be colour, but some grafitti implies that I can take extra apples if I'm "beautiful", and my climber has high Charisma, so I have him grab a few just to see, but nothing seems to happen.
  • Just found a "significant-looking cave", which, when investigated, led to a boss battle with 36 killer bunnies.
  • I take them out in a single turn with my Mage's new "Extinctio" spell. Seems good!
  • I just found the "Grim Reaper Key", which will hopefully open some doors for me, both literally and figuratively!
  • I just did a very silly quest in the training ground to unlock secondary classes, but completing it... doesn't seem to have done anything?
  • I... think I see? It looks like I need to do a puzzle dungeon each time I want to advance someone to a secondary class? But it looks like they might need to meet the prereqs first, and the game isn't surfacing those at all? They're sure not going to make this easy for me, huh?
  • I was able to finish exploring the basement with my new key, but it looks like someone in the party needs to know Necromancy if I want to accomplish anything more down here?
  • There doesn't seem to be a necromancy skill available at the guild. Hrm.
  • A-ha. But there are a buttload of quests to earn secondary jobs now. I guess I just need to enter the dungeon and then come back?
  • Alright, so I passed the test, and unlocked the ability to become a Ranger... and I still have no idea how to do that. >_<
  • I think I'm going to save up a bunch of XP to shove into class levels and skills so I can experiment and see what falls out.
  • I found the steps to exorcism in the library. Looks like I need to "awaken the spirit" somehow after I create a barrier of fire (light my trick candles) and before I chant the exorcism spell (in my book of necromancy?)
  • ...and I just found a "bell of the dead". That should do nicely!
  • I just used a forgery writing robot to finish a contract written in disappearing ink that I think I'll be using to liberate an imprisoned angel? Video games!
  • I can't coax the angel out of her cage, and when I go to visit the Amazons to see if they can help, they're now nowhere to be found. Frustrating!

An updated pin list:

B1
--
  • "sense of animosity" room (17E, 11N)
  • "Boost nullifier" (20E, 18N)
  • Altar & Casket (8E, 18N)

F1
--
  • Collapsing hallway (4E, 0N)
  • Guild of Commerce Secret HQ (4E, 3N)
  • Sir Emerald Lightning, who sold me an Important Item (7E, 4N)

F2
--
  • Gambling Hall (3E, 18N)
  • Paper wishing tree (14E, 15N)

F3
--
  • Spring & Chopping tree (1E, 3N)
  • Herb Garden (5E, 19N)
  • Magic Barrier Cave (9E, 2N)

F4
--
  • "Crowley's Palace of Amusment" (8E, 4N)
  • Imprisoned "angel" (16E, 1N)

F5
--
  • Apple Tree (2E, 20N)
  • Lycaon brotherhood door sealed by a force (2E, 11N)
  • "Space bathed in mysterious light" (14E, 20N)

Outstanding mysteries
--
  • Getting to the other side of the collapsing floor
  • Meaningfully interacting with the Guild of Commerce
  • Figure out what to do with Scrap Metal so I can free up inventory space.
  • Figure out what to do with the spring and tree on F3.
  • Figure out how to enter the sealed cave on F3.
  • Figure out how to coax the angel out of her cage.
  • Figure out how to perform an exorcism in the basement.
 
JBear

JBear

Internet's foremost Bertolli cosplayer
(He/Him)
Another update on my progress. Nearing the end, I think!

  • With the bell in hand, a friendly spirit showed up to help us use the necromancy book, and after a false start with the wrong candles, we successfully performed an exorcism!
  • We then got to have a chat with a friendly plot dump ghost, who gave us an amulet to fight Duke Crimson (read: Dracula). Sounds like we're supposed to use the amulet on him, and then destroy his Crystal Skull, which will weaken him. Also, I'll have to remember to hoof it back here to talk to Mr. Plot Ghost afterwards, because apparently that skull has stolen his knowledge.
  • It looks like none of my peeps can equip the amulet, so I hope we don't need to do that in order to use it!
  • I released our vampire-hunting friend from a prison cell ...and he just joined the party. Whaaa? Looks like this game has guest characters!
  • Ooo, an "assassin bow" just dropped. An upgrade over my lightning bow, maybe? (Update: Noooope)
  • And we just thoroughly chumped Duke Crimson. I don't know if I was lucky or what, but we silenced him in the first round and then he spent the rest of the fight trying and failing to cast spells. Works for me!
  • Quests for our final two secondary classes just showed up. Score!
  • Alright, we've got 60-70k XP banked across the board. It's time to experiment and see if we can manage to promote anyone.
  • Okay, so it looks like once you've met the requirements for a secondary class, it just shows up as a skill that can be learned for 10k XP. However, the requirements are anything but clear. At a minimum, it looks like they're linked to class level and base stats. Fortunately, I have a character with med-high base stats across the board who is making a good guinea pig.
  • Addendum: Some of them also have skill requirements. Also, some skills have class level and/or base stat requirements (which I suspected, but hadn't confirmed until now).
  • Alright, after thorough experimentation, it looks like all of my peeps qualify for at least one secondary class, although a couple are short on enough XP to actually learn the skill. I can't manage to make anyone a Ninja or a Wizard, though, for some reason.
  • Anyway, it looks like my new party is going to be a Paladin, a Samurai, a Ranger, and a Druid. I've just got the Samurai and the Druid for now, but the other two should follow after a spelunk or two.
  • Oh snap, my Druid can use the Assassin bow. That's a big upgrade from a quarterstaff!
  • Huh, it looks like the Druid gets a special bonus to AC while wearing a robe, because I was all excited to upgrade his armour but he's having none of it.
  • Floor 6 has opera singing. Not something I expected to hear coming out of my DS. The ceilings here are very high. It's a very effective visual. I really feel like I'm walking through a cavernous cathedral.
  • I just got wiped out in a single turn by a pack of "venom dragons". I guess the kid gloves are off!
  • It didn't take many battles on 6F to get enough XP to make my remaining two characters a Ranger and a Paladin. And my Paladin ought to be able to make good use of this "Saint Mace" I just found!
  • Rangers apparently have access to utility skills that increase success rate of fleeing and increase likelihood of getting an ambush. Nice!
  • Wow, that new mace is a ridiculous upgrade over literally every other weapon I've seen thus far.
  • This new Dragon Lance ain't no slouch either, though.
  • Huh, the game just froze/crash. Good thing I hadn't gotten too far yet.
  • And after a reset, I'm seeing some corrupted visuals. Uh oh.
  • Seems okay for now, though?
  • I am only just realizing, after some 40 hours, that attack maneuvers are a function of weapon, not just player class. I think it may key off a combination of the two?
  • My Paladin just did 200 damage with his Mace in a single attack. I can count on one hand the number of time I've done over 100.
  • I just cut the ear off a giant I killed to sell to the store? Odd thing to introduce long after money has ceased to be a consideration.
  • I just found a group of burly men having a caber toss competition, but I need to bring my own caber. I guess I'll have to figure out how to cut down that tree on 3F.
  • Rapunzel just let us climb into her tower by letting down her hair. Okay!
  • And there's a Tinker Gnome up here!
  • Dang, I was hoping he would take my scrap metal.
  • Hrm, another crash, on the exact same enemy type.
  • Aaand I just had a trapped chest wipe out my whole party with a death beam. Fun!
  • I brute-forced a passcode door and found a weird magic device with coloured gems and a conspicuous hole in the middle.
  • Huh. And the map shows this tile as a warp tile. Interesting. That's either a bug, or heavily implies what this machine will do once I can operate it.
  • I finally repaired the broken floor on 1F! We'll have this tower looking presentable yet.
  • My way forward on 6F is being barred by a giant foot that keeps kicking us back into the previous room.
  • I think I might be stuck again? Time to follow up on some loose ends.
  • I just unlocked level 8 arcane spells with a quest, but they're still not showing up on my list? Maybe I'm not lawful enough.
  • 16 STR still isn't enough to chop down a tree.
  • Aha, turns out I needed help from our local not-Belmont to talk the angel out of her cage.
  • And now she's back home with the Amazons, and we're going to go beat up a god with her as a guest character.
  • LOL, it ambushed us and killed her before we even got to act.
  • And then my Samurai killed it with a single attack before it got to do anything else.
  • And now we have a magic black orb. I think I know a machine I want to try jamming that into.
  • Oh, wow, it looks like this teleport machine is going to help us fill in the missing areas on previous floors. Time to start taking notes!
  • No gems lit: 6F, new part. (21E, 17N)
  • Green gem only: 2F, single tile exit-only room.
  • Red gem only: 4F, interconnected single-tile spinner rooms
  • trololol, it's a bunch of single-tile rooms with one way exits and spinners on every square.
  • ...and traps.
  • ...and teleporters.
  • All to guard a room full of broken dolls, apparently.
  • We beat up a bunch of creepy dolls and got a doll's eye for our trouble.
  • Blue gem only: 5F, missing area
  • Green + Red gems: B1
  • I've already explored this part of B1, but I think this lets me bypass a floor switch that I was forced to step on?
  • ...Ayup, I just netted two quest items in quick succession.
  • I don't seem to be able to cast 8th level Arcane spells, but I can cast seemingly all of the 9th level ones!
  • Green + Blue gems: 1F, middle unexplored area.
  • Red + Blue gems: 3F, single missing tile.
  • Aha, a bird feather. I bet this is what I need for that giant foot.
  • I do believe I have now fully explored every previous floor. Nice!
  • All 3 gems: ...Doesn't seem to work? Hrm.
  • I've just met the "Goblin King", who seems to be a handsome human.
  • Who tells me that the end boss is weak against fire?
  • And also tells me his exact location. Looks like there's just one more floor to this tower!
  • Apparently we need to "reverse the teleporter's polarity" if we want to reach the 7th floor, as there are no stairs.
  • And now we've agreed to put down a goblin uprising for him.
  • Some direction on where precisely to do that would be swell.
  • Guess I'll just have to thoroughly re-explore the floor. Bah!
  • Well, it took me forever to find (I had to use the teleporter to get there), but I do believe that's one rebellion quashed.
  • And for my trouble: a white orb. Seems like we have another date with a teleporter!
  • No gems lit (white orb): New part of 6F
  • Blue gem only: 7F!
  • All other gem combos: nothing
  • I guess that's it! Onward, to the final floor!

An updated pin list:

B1
--
  • Altar & Casket (8E, 18N)

F1
--
  • Guild of Commerce Secret HQ (4E, 3N)
  • Sir Emerald Lightning, who sold me an Important Item (7E, 4N)

F2
--
  • Gambling Hall (3E, 18N)
  • Paper wishing tree (14E, 15N)

F3
--
  • Spring & Chopping tree (1E, 3N)

F4
--
  • "Crowley's Palace of Amusment" (8E, 4N)

F5
--
  • Apple Tree (2E, 20N)

F6
--
  • Caber Toss (12E, 3N)
  • Maintenance Gnome (3E, 1N)
  • Teleport Machine (16E, 8N)

F7
--
  • Final boss, allegedly (15E, 18N)

Outstanding mysteries
--
  • Meaningfully interacting with the Guild of Commerce
  • Figure out what to do with Scrap Metal so I can free up inventory space.
  • Figure out what to do with the spring and tree on F3.
  • Find something for the caber toss.
 
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