A Storm Unsung News

Greetings,

Xermillion Glass once again with more information on another of our accursed souls. This week, I will be talking, of course, about Naan Solverian, the heir to some-such kingdom somewhere.

Naan Solverian

You can hear this whole story for the price of even a shred of interest, as Naan enjoys the sound of his own voice more than most.

Naan was born to a king-by-another-word in the Solverian Kingdom far to the north of Goldwrath and Xerenia proper. As is the custom on Solveria, Naan was raised as a warrior and constantly accompanied by a group of lowborn soldiers that he calls retainers.

Naan's life was one filled with joy and decadence as he tells it - being the heir to a kingdom does that. The only tragedy that ever struck him before this was the death of his youngest brother, Benn, and his whole family in a fire.

But, as all stories do, this one turns sour somewhere in the middle.

Naan's father, Toffer, took ill with the wasting disease and it came on strong and quick. Naan was poised to succeed his father, non-too-happy about his death, but the prospect of running his kingdom excited him. Toffer passed peacefully one night, surrounded by loved ones.

Then the curse reared its head.

Naan's family seems to be of old Glass blood, as I cannot find a direct link in my research anywhere, neither does Naan himself know from whence the connection came. But Toffer reanimated the next morning, barely worse for the experience, and Naan and his entire family were relieved, if only somewhat confused.

After the second reanimation, if was clear that something was amiss. Toffer was dying and reanimating, returning less and less himself, both physically and mentally, as the wasting disease itself was brought back with him each time.

By Naan's telling, Toffer had reanimated some forty times by the time that Naan was sent on his quest. There is no telling how many more times it has happened since he left.

Main

Naan's primary way of dispatching foes is with his queer curved blade. He seems to revel in it, speeding up the more danger there is about. It also allows him to gather some sort of power that he utilizes elsewhere

From the Shroomer, he can learn to: increase the amount of power charged, add some-sort of trail to the swing, increasing the area, or his bloodlust can be fueled faster.

Secondary

Releasing the stored power, Naan can swing his sword faster than any other I have seen without the aid of magic. Naan and his whole family, to my knowledge, are nulls.

He can learn to: increase the max stored power, increase the damage ratio of the power stored, or fire some sort of wave from his blade. Very queer power for a null.

Dodge

Naan is quite nimble when he wants to be, thought looking at him walk, you would never guess. He is able to quickly jump into the fray, generating energy, and dealing a deadly overhead strike.

The monkey can teach him to: jump farther, cause harm to those near him at the start of his jump, or increase the arc of his sword at the end, hitting more targets.

Ultimate

Naan is either asleep or talking, sometimes both. His crowning ability is his ability to scream at such a pitch, that all those nearby are stunned momentarily. He seems to take some sort of odd pleasure from this, as he is often revitalized by this maneuver.

From the Shroomery, he can learn to: greatly increase the amount of defense he is returned, increase the stunning effect on foes, or speed up his recovery, allowing him to scream all the more.

Naan is one of the few that are here by his own choice. He could have stayed home, allowing his family to suffer, but he chose to quest out of his own volition and try to stop the evil that is Saren Glass.

I apologize to all nulls in the audience. There isn't a succinct word to describe those without mana affinity that I am aware of in the common tongue, else I would have used it.

Next week, I will be writing of our resident poultice maker, Koria. Unlike Naan, Koria is not quite as much of an open book, and as such, a lot of my ramblings will be purely conjecture.


Until next time,
Xermillion Glass, Scholar

Greetings again.

It is I, once again, Xermillion Glass, at your service. I apologize for my tardiness, sometimes the winds of providence do not blow how one would wish them to.

This week, we take a look at an Emberwatcher by the name of Ky. As far as he tells it, his ascension into an Emberwatcher was not done in good faith, but that I know nothing about aside from his own words.

Emberwatcher Ky

Born Ky Rendi of Coalgarden, Ky's youth was spent trying to gain his father's affection. His mother died bringing him into the world and, as such, Ky never knew her. I can only begin to guess that his father, Kol, had some resentment for him. Why he never remarried, I can only point to the Rendi's loyalty to their duties, in this case, Ky himself.

Ky is an odd Rendi. The Rendi are generally enchanters, flame magi all, using their mana to enhance their physical abilities. But not Ky. Ky decided to use his mana for magics, for what reason, he never has said.

My best guess is that the Glass blood that flows through Ky's veins is the boon of his mother, Freena Lin, as there is another Lin here somewhere in my notes as well. Ah, yes. Tabitha Lin, a bastard by all rights, but a Lin all the same.

Ky tells it that he was forced to join the Emberwatchers on the threat of death. He mentions no names, using simply "Uncle." Now, if I remember my Rendi family line as well as I would hope I do, Ky has two uncles: Karm and Koil.

Karm died some years back during a small skirmish with some minor lord or another. Ah, yes! It was a minor lord from house Tiira - generally the Rendi's bannermen, but this one decided that was not enough for him, I surmise.

But, in any case, that only leaves Koil as the culprit - though none of this is especially important, only an academic exercise.

Main

Ky's main strength comes from his ability to control fire. His most used spell, as it were, is a simple, slow projectile that explodes when it strikes something.

Through the Shroomer, he can learn to: increase the size of the explosion, increase the efficacy of the projectile itself, or cause the fire to linger, burning those it touches.

Secondary

I suppose some of his Rendi blood shines through, as Ky can also use some enchanting. He gathers fire mana at the end of his staff and strikes with it - stunning those unfortunate enough to be struck.

With help from the monkey, he can: cause an explosion from the point, stunning all nearby, vastly increase the amount of harm the strike can cause, or increase the efficacy of the stunning portion.

Dodge

Ky's philosophy of staying away from his enemies shines through as well with his next effect. He is able to knock those around him up, to keep them at bay for a moment, giving him some breathing room.

From the Shroomery, he can learn to: increase the knock up area, increase the danger the explosion poses to enemies, or cause the explosion to knock them away, instead of up.


Ultimate

Ky's mana is no lesser than any from house Rendi. He is able to summon a massive chunk of mana, high above the clouds and force it to descend at amazing speeds. I have seen him do it on occasion and the effect is phenomenal - certainly more than I can do with my meager fire mana.

He can also increase it's efficacy, of course. He can learn to: condense the meteorite - cause more harm to a smaller area, vastly expand the size of the meteorite - for the cost of power, or cause it to fragment and shard as it falls, dropping smaller, lesser meteorites in its wake.

And that is Ky, our resident Emberwatcher.

Oh! It has occurred to me that some of you may not know what an Emberwatcher is. They are a monastic sect of Vulpine origin. They monitor the life of these odd, enchanted trees - Smoldering Pines, they are called, I believe. Some rubbish about never allowing darkness to befall a settlement, or else their boogy-man, Lii'kun'tu should find his way in and eat their children or some such.

I'm not much for tall tales, though some can prove quite intriguing, I must say.

Next week we will be looking at a talkative man from the Solverian Kingdom, Naan Solverian. He claims that the kingdom is actually named after his family, but I am incredulous. Now that I compare my notes, there are three individuals from Solveria. My blood must run deep there.


Until next time,
Xermillion Glass, Scholar

Hello all!

Our last, planned devlog behind us, we now turn to the character spotlights. For these, we'll be doing something a bit different. I will be turning this over to Xermillion Glass, a direct relative of the Singing Storm. He fancies himself a scholar, but finds no joy in his work.

Without further ado.

Xermillion

Yes, hello.

As you were told, I am Xermillion Glass. My line runs straight to me, the fifth son of a first son. My brother Socor would inherit the house, if there were any real house to inherit. The house and Xerenia were dashed apart after Saren the Storm's death. His grandson ruled for a moment in a distant holdfast on Xerenia for three years, I am told, but was deposed not long after, the house scattering to the wind, never truly safe from that day until now. Though, I digress. You are here to hear about the baker's daughter, the one they call Whispering Willow.

Whispering Willow

Born the fourth daughter to a baker's wife in a town that has lost its name, Willow was always a quiet one. She was too long of limb from birth and her siblings never took to her, it is told. How my family's blood found its way into her veins, one will never know, but found its way it did.

She never talks about how she found out about her connection to us, but if I had to hazard a guess, it would have to do with the nameless village, her refusal to talk about her family's current whereabouts, and her first demise.

She is always willing to help those around her, sometimes to the detriment of her self. But, she is loyal and kind, something that the sorry state of my family lacks.

Main

She grew up quite that markswoman as well. She fancies her bow as her primary weapon, felling foes from afar.

She can learn even more tricks from the Stephan the Shroomer. She can learn to fire more rapidly, or at different angles. I've heard him boast that she may even learn to fire arrows that weigh as much as her!
I doubt the voracity of the last claim, as the Shroomer is as likely to lie as not.

Secondary

Another tool that she carries is a small digging tool, the humble kunai. She is less accurate with these, but makes up for it in quantity.

From the Shroomer, she may learn: to fire even more of them, to throw them with such force that they always harm enemies, despite piercing through others, or to throw them with such ferocity that their accuracy is entirely forfeit - though their danger is greatly increased.

Dodge

She seems to be able to employ some amount of wind mana as well, using it primarily to move herself swiftly from place to place.

She may learn to: increase the distance, cause wind mana to explode as she transports, or cause the after-effect of herself to daze those around it for a time. Much more control than one would expect from the daughter of a baker.

Ultimate

She also employs the most curious of tools. She has a cache of blunted arrows that carry small pouches of dust. This dust, sunsand, explodes brilliantly on impact, dazing anyone who looks upon it too closely. I do not know where she gets the sunsand - the Sundrinkers that produce it do not part with it for nothing, but gets it she does, and in vast quantities.

The Shroomer can make this more potent as well, by allowing her to: increase the payload increasing the area of effect, mix ground lavaleaf into the payload, thus producing fire as well as flash, and, the oddest of them all, she may learn to cause the payload to explode multiple times as her arrow passes through enemies.

And that, my friends, is our young Willow. She was one of the first to arrive here in Riilavkava, and likely may never leave, even after my ancestor is dealt with.

Next week, I shall be writing about a young Emberwatcher by the name of Ky. He has quite the tragic story, though, I believe that is the case for all of us.


Until next time,
Xermillion Glass, Scholar

Hello all!

This here is our last planned explanation devlog of this sort before we get onto character spotlights. This one won't be super duper long, so lets dive in.

Castle Glass

Castle Glass was once the seat of the living Saren Glass's power, but as with all things, time has brought it to ruin and, as with his living blood, Castle Glass has been reanimated with Saren's return to the living world.

Castle Glass works, on the surface, like most of the other levels - it's generated the same way, it's traps and enemies spawned the same way, etc. The difference between Castle Glass and the rest of them is that Castle Glass changes much more dramatically between each difficulty, and on top of that, it's appearance is always tied to your current difficulty level.

With each new difficulty, a new theme is planned for the level, each time pushing it closer and closer to the disjointed, howling madness of its once proud ruler.

Currently, the themes and added mechanics are planned out, with the Hard difficulty changes being completely fleshed out, but none of them have made it into the current build as of yet.

Saren Glass

As with his domain, Saren Glass changes vastly between difficulty levels. One could say that he is, in fact, four different boss fights. With each passing defeat, the singing storm that animates his corpse draws closer and closer to being unleashed upon the world. And, by the ultimate fight, he will be transformed beyond recognition.

Saren Glass's forms have almost all been added as of this writing. The only form that is incomplete is the ultimate form, which needs a bit of love before I feel comfortable releasing it to you all.

And that would be that. Not super long, but here we are. More devlogs will, of course, follow, but none are currently planned out like these were. I imagine that the following ones will primarily be about updates and the like. Unless something jumps out at me, or something really feels like I want to share it immediately, I will be posting character spotlights for the foreseeable future, starting with Whispering Willow next Sunday.


Until then,
Thank you all for reading,
Lucas

Join our Discord!

Hello all!

This devlog is a whole day late, but here we are again!

This time, I promised to talk about the Shroomery, and I will. So, let's just dive in.

The Shroomery

The Shroomery is a building which is unlocked from rescuing its proprietor.

Stephan, as the proprietor is named, is quite handy when it comes to making tonics and decoctions from the myriad mushrooms that have grown since Saren Glass has been resurrected. And, as such, will help his compatriots in anyway that he can - for a small price, of course.

Stephan only accepts vulight pearls for his services, and that's where all these mechanics come together.

Along with unlocking Stephan as a playable character, you unlock the Shroomery, and the bounty board simultaneously - though this may change, especially the bounty board unlock. The bounty board allows you to hunt the vulight cultists, which drop the pearls, which fuel the Shroomery.

Now, why would you want to fuel the Shroomery? Stephan's tonics and decoctions alter the abilities of the imbiber. In practice, this means that you may choose between different variations of the same skill, depending on whatever suits your fancy.

I will go into all of these at a later date when I start going over character spotlights, but I'll give a for-instance with our own Whispering Willow.



Willow's base main attack is a simple arrow shot.



Take the rapid variant, and it becomes three quick shots forward - each dealing less damage, but the average cumulative damage being higher.



Take the spread variant, and you get a fan of arrows that move at different angles.



And finally, take the giant variant, and your arrows grow massive - dealing much more damage per shot, but not travelling nearly as far before falling.

As I mentioned above, each and every skill that each and every character has will be subjected to similar treatment. Currently, only Willow's skills are 100% complete and ready, but all the others are designed and ready for implementation. And, if Willow's Shroomery code was any indication, all the others should follow suit very quickly.

And that, my dear friends, is the Shroomery. I'm quite proud of it, if I do say so myself. I feel that it adds a lot of variety to each character without making them all feel generic. The more I write about this game, the more it excites me to actually have people out there playing it and enjoying it.

Next time, we will be talking about Castle Glass and how difficulty will affect it, since it works in a way that is independent of the level unlock system and wholly dependent on current difficulty.


Until next time,
Thank you for reading,
Lucas