Monday, July 19, 2010

Goodbye Tavern Hopping...

I read the changelog today to find out that tavern hopping has been taken out of the Brotherhood of Wine and Song. So with them losing that, and having lost the ability to identify items a long long time ago, the Brotherhood becomes yet another association that's nothing more than some decent spec access and a trainer.

Oh well.

Of course, I can understand that the tavern hopping ability was pretty much illogical, but it was still a useful ability, and its removal eliminates yet another shortcut between points of interest. At the same time, other methods of traversing the world without necessarily needing to hit the amazingly-barren overland map and type 'go 160 n' to reach the nearest point of interest have gone largely unrealized.

Friday, July 16, 2010

Chapter 11, Page 2

Quilline glanced hesitantly at the demon beside her. Despite having been commanded by her superiors in Ordo Maleficus to assist Porphryia in any way to bring about as much suffering amongst the Inquisition as possible, she still felt as if perhaps too much faith was being placed upon this demon. Although in theory, all mazikah served the same dark God as Ordo Maleficus did, Quilline knew from experience that many demons had ambitions and designs that put them at odds with the gods who would be their "masters".

"You have not been with your Order for long, have you?"

Porphyria's question caught Quilline off-guard, and it took a moment for her to respond, "No. I was initiated two years ago, so I am still in the process of learning." Quilline lowered her eyes, continuing, "I hope that my lack of experience does not displease you..."

The demon seemed to consider for awhile, and then replied softly, "No. I will not hold your inexperience against you. On the contrary, I have found the older members of your Order somewhat set in their ways, and quite a bit less ambitious than those, like you, with something to prove." Porphyria looked about her before lowering her voice and saying, "I do require that you swear your loyalty to me. I know you have probably been commanded by your superiors in your Order to follow me faithfully, but I would have your personal oath. And know this: Not only will I hold you to this oath; I have the means to ensure that any breach of trust by you will result in the most delicious punishment my mind can devise."

Quilline paled slightly at Porphyria's threatening words, and the strange little goblin-thing at the table grinned toothily at the witch's discomfort. Quilline closed her eyes for a moment in deep thought; one did not swear oaths to demons lightly, and while Quilline had few pretensions over who truly owned her soul, she was still quite hesitant to deliver herself into the hands of this strange creature.

"I swear the oath you request of me," Quilline finally said, resigning herself to intertwining her fate with that of Porphyria. After all, what else could she do? If she returned to her Order without having completed the mission they assigned to her, she would fare no better than she would with the demon. And, she thought, looking appraisingly at Porphyria, this assignment could very well be fun.

"Good." Porphyria smiled at Quilline in what appeared to be a reassuring manner, "Now have a drink with me and Vurp here." Porphyria indicated the goblinoid companion who was still leering at Quilline. "We've got all day to relax. This town doesn't get really interesting until night falls."