So, with a build entering a 'playable' state I'm opening the doors to runs in the undercity. Alongside this, I'm going to start playing out the Blackhide Campaign a bit. Thus far my efforts have been relatively tame and contained. For those not in the know, the Blackhide are a militant group of Ratiki that have been assaulting Luciesnburg for a few months now. This has resulted in damages about the city in many places and much of it hasn't been repaired. I'll put a little more effort into explaining things in a few sections below. So, first thing is the Undercity. What is it?
It's effectively a few caves under the city of Luciensburg that play host to a few thousand rats, their leaders and the source of Luciensburg's problems. That's not to mention the hostile wildlife that calls the caves home. Alongside this, the caves house a few treasure hoards, IC Crafting Materials, cursed items, and so forth. Everything about this region is meant to be genuinely difficult to approach and efforts made to explore and interact with the region will require planning and preparation. On a side note, there is no exploring the undercity without ST approval and supervision.
To give a feel for what it's meant to be like in the undercity, here's a quick clip. https://streamable.com/hb28aq Next is the Blackhide Campaign What is it?
The Ratiki, Vermin, Skaven-Knock Offs, or whatever you want to call them are going to be an active entity that starts in the Luciensburg region and spreads as situation allows. Many of you have likely already seen them and have probably done a few bouts of fisticuffs with the mob variants. They're tough, have a few surprises to them and can be a serious pain. PvE / Mechanics combat will continue to be present but only in large encounters as I feel it dramatically cheapens the experience. When possible, I'll make the effort to do CRP around encounters with the rats. My objective with them is, well, for them to be a sincere regional antag that isn't just some background ignorable entity that you engage twice a month to push some on-rails experience along before to plot hits the little 'auto-win' point.
As a part of this rats will spread and make camps which can and will be upgraded over time. They'll start to harass and annoy whatever just so happens to be around them. Upgraded camps result in more rats with better equipment which makes the fights with them that much more difficult. That said, camps need resources to thrive. An underfed or unsupplied camp will suffer and so will those within it. How do we engage with these things? Undercity
Refer to format here:
Just post below. Blackhide Campaign
Find the holdings, assault the holdings. If you see me online and if I'm not running any events, I can probably host an event for your crowd to try to assault the camp, poison its supplies or etc. Otherwise, you'll more than likely see them around if you just so happen to be out and about in their general area. But what if we want to help the rats or hinder players?
Well, if this is something you genuinely want to do toss me a PM with your intent and I'll get back to you with a yay or nay on whatever it is you intend to do. As a side note! I strongly suggest visiting your local smithy, apothecary and so forth. If you don't have the MC / RP item, you don't have it for use in the events. Alongside this, an item that has a good description or was made by a known craftsman will be a significantly better quality item for use against the vermin and will effect how I emote or roll for outcomes.