Ila

There was some distance of tunnel from the tomb area back up to the surface, along the way the walls went from rock to ice. When we got to the surface it was a vast glacier. First thing we saw was number of trolls coming at us!

We carry a number of fire based weapons now due to the number of these regenerating Trolls we’ve faced.

After clearing 20 or so of these beasts we took stock of where we were. An elaborate structure stood in the middle of the glacier. A chasm to one side had a bridge across, to a cave entrance. But the bridge was damaged. So we looked to enter the large building. It was presumably Dwarven architecture. We could see movement inside the upper level, but a basement entrance seemed quiet so we entered there. And found a number of escaped slaves hiding in a toasty warm library. They explained they’d recently escaped from upstairs, but had nowhere to go and were only temporarily safe because the “Ice Salamanders” and “Snow Trolls” upstairs would come down into this warmth.

Of course we offered to get them out. And we’ll clear the upper level free of charge.

The Ice Salamander leader assumed we’d been sent to check up on him. We parlayed to gain intel, but he was too stupid to know much. Except that his immediate superior was in the cave across the chasm.
Charity does draw a lot of attention… but then most of us do.

We slew a number of Salamanders and Trolls, but only one living slave was still up here. We got all the slaves together and learned there were still more with the leader on the other side of chasm. We got the feeling we needed a way across that chasm!

What a shock, inside that cave we found more Trolls.

Pikwell is a good shot with flammables. The trolls really don’t like this!
We also came across a group of Aurilites, followers of that bizarre frozen goddess, that had been chasing after us for several weeks.

We finally got to some bigger caverns, where there more slaves in need of saving. They were being kept by giant, blue skinned, well I guess they were giants! We learned they were the ones who’d started the avalanche that killed most of the companions we first set out for Kuldahar with.

I wish Jinella wasn’t so loud with her insults in combat. She draws too much attention to herself. It does make things easier for Aias and I, but I worry for the child.

We led another large number of freed slaves back to Kuldahar after this. We were planning on heading back right away, maybe finally get to the bottom of things. But we were needed to put down a Chimera right near town. And then a Barbarian Shaman came to us, he was insistent he had seen it as our destiny to help him with some drama over by the (not too) distant town of Lonelywood.

2 responses to “Aias: Update 10”

  1. Zeno Avatar

    Heh. Jinella insulting the Frost Giant is fun! She has a very “norse” vibe to her there – despite the Drow look. It really works for her.

    Charity looks *really* golden in that pic. Like she’s actually made of Gold. Not sure what the difference is from prior renders that makes it look that way. The face maybe?

    I notice the extra “random snake parts” in the background with the Frost salamander. I get those with anything I do with the snakes. I had a ridiculous amount of rejects with my “flying vipers” for exactly the same reason – random snake tails littered about the scene.

    Don’t think I’ve ever even tried to get the AI to do a sling. Given how “well” it does with Crossbows it never occurred to me to try. Is this the Magic Stones spell? Or one of the similar variants?

    I’m having a lot of trouble with the filter lately. Wanting “person standing over wounded team-mate defending them” and it just will *not* do it. Also *really* wants to reverse roles when a male is healing a female. On the other hand I’m glad the only “difficult to render” character in the current set is Tess’s hair, because some of the backgrounds in Solasta are crazy.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. atcDave Avatar
      atcDave

      I almost added as a note at the end, I think it fits Jinella’s character to think she’d be mouthy, probably pretty funny in combat. And she hits hard, number one for damage done, although its a closer thing than on many teams I’ve run. But as I’ve said before, she is *defensively* the weakest of the front rank. It is amazing how much healing gets spent on her! Ila rarely gets hurt, and she has like 60% more hit points. So the idea she maybe baits foes excessively is funny to me. Ila, as team mom, is thinking “let them come after me girl, that’s what I’m here for!” But it is not in Ila’s character to engage in the taunting and baiting. Although she might physically insert herself in harm’s way. Funny the sense you start to get for characters and personalities as you play them!

      But yeah I loved that render, my favorite of this set.

      I’ve changed two things in Charity’s description, that makes her much easier to get right but *may* have altered her look some. First, I call her “gold skinned woman” for her initial descriptor. Then in the longer description I say “bright metallic gold skin reflecting the torchlight”. Maybe 1 in 8 of her come out Asian! But I’m getting maybe 7 in 8 I can choose from. That’s a huge improvement from earlier renders.

      Yes on the snakes! That is funny, but I figured there were plenty of other salamanders around, so someone else’s tail sticking up was not a deal breaker.

      The sling is hopeless! Yes that’s what I was trying to do, he has fire bullets, useful against trolls. But yeah, the AI has no clue. Well, he also carries a number of oil flasks. So maybe he’s throwing something lit up? Frustrating.

      Currently, I would say Jinella is the hardest character to get right. But I’m pretty happy with several of the renders I’ve gotten of her. And I’m maybe just past the halfway point? So I can do this!

      Solasta does look like a different sort of setting. That does make things tough. But its looking really good. I think its harder when you KNOW what you want, and the AI just isn’t getting it. And yeah, the filter is annoying. I would say OpenArt’s filtering is less intrusive seeming. I don’t think I’ve a single reject yet? But of course, I’ve had a number of misshapen horrible looking renders. Maybe that’s part of the trade-off? Is some part of the filter asking if it makes sense in some way? I don’t know, obviously a lot of useless stuff comes out of Co-Pilot too.

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