AE Arc 69444 "Give Me Liberty".

[Darmian]

I've temporarily stepped out of retirement (while awaiting updates/additions to AE maps that will allow me to finish my Praetorian AEs) to write a little one-off concerning a Necromancer.

 

Here's the blurb.  

 

"A mysterious message leads you to the Pandora's Box magic store in the New Thebes section of Talos Island. Inside a member of the staff, The Mystic, recognizes you and brings you into a back room to meet the one who called you. Today got stranger than usual in Paragon City."

 

I'm a little rusty (not published anything since 2023) so hopefully players can point out typos and so on.  In the meantime, have fun with it. 

 

EDIT:  I've done some tweaking, particularly mission #4.  I tested it with a full team and oh dear me it was hilarious.  And horrendous.  Yes, I am that rusty.  Should be better now.  Alas, if you're already part way through you won't see those tweaks.  Hopefully you're not at x8!!

Edited September 29 by Darmian

[TerroirNoir3]

1 hour ago, Darmian said:

I've temporarily stepped out of retirement (while awaiting updates/additions to AE maps that will allow me to finish my Praetorian AEs) to write a little one-off concerning a Necromancer.

 

Here's the blurb.  

 

"A mysterious message leads you to the Pandora's Box magic store in the New Thebes section of Talos Island. Inside a member of the staff, The Mystic, recognizes you and brings you into a back room to meet the one who called you. Today got stranger than usual in Paragon City."

 

I'm a little rusty (not published anything since 2023) so hopefully players can point out typos and so on.  In the meantime, have fun with it. 

Well, you're going to have to wait a bit before I get around to this one 😄 Not that I won't, but I have a list I'm working through.

[Clave Dark 5]

I love a good magic story, I'm in, soon as I can.  How many missions is it?

 

ETA:  never mind, started it up and after one mission it's already fun, great character for the contact, and always nice to see Hermes Trismegistus mentioned.  Again, I'm in!

Edited September 28 by Clave Dark 5

[Darmian]

2 hours ago, Clave Dark 5 said:

I love a good magic story, I'm in, soon as I can.  How many missions is it?

 

ETA:  never mind, started it up and after one mission it's already fun, great character for the contact, and always nice to see Hermes Trismegistus mentioned.  Again, I'm in!

Had fun writing the contact. 

[Darmian]

Might use that contact again @Clave Dark 5! 

[Clave Dark 5]

Finished it finally.  Lots of solid work and thought put into this in many ways, I quite enjoyed it!  I said a bit more in my comment than I'll put here, but I will say anyone looking for a fun magic arc should run this one.

[Darmian]

On 9/30/2025 at 4:00 PM, Clave Dark 5 said:

Finished it finally.  Lots of solid work and thought put into this in many ways, I quite enjoyed it!  I said a bit more in my comment than I'll put here, but I will say anyone looking for a fun magic arc should run this one.

Took account of your suggestions in my tweaks, including a Do Not Spawn.

[cranebump]

Of course I ran the damn thing, you fiend.:-) 

 

Really strong arc. Nice details (as usual). CLEVER use of clues to address teams. And the contact is one of your best. Extra points for Princess Bride ref.:-) I did find this ONE thing.

Spoiler

M1, clue...(wait for it)...

 

Carriage return.:-)

 

Some objective notes:

And don't know if this is a thing, but all the (middle) objectives for M3 were located in the back room, including El Archmage-o.

 

On M4, Gate Focus appeared in font, though it's listed as (middle). Map is pretty straightforward, so it's not hard to find, though.

 

GREAT final mish. Excellent use of the map. Another winner, hombre!

 

[Darmian]

3 hours ago, cranebump said:

Of course I ran the damn thing, you fiend.:-) 

 

Really strong arc. Nice details (as usual). CLEVER use of clues to address teams. And the contact is one of your best. Extra points for Princess Bride ref.:-) I did find this ONE thing.

  Reveal hidden contents

M1, clue...(wait for it)...

 

Carriage return.:-)

 

Some objective notes:

And don't know if this is a thing, but all the (middle) objectives for M3 were located in the back room, including El Archmage-o.

 

On M4, Gate Focus appeared in font, though it's listed as (middle). Map is pretty straightforward, so it's not hard to find, though.

 

GREAT final mish. Excellent use of the map. Another winner, hombre!

 

I've moved things all around that damn map in M3 and nothing sticks. And I kinda need that map so...

As for M4? Have a look at it in test mode. No visible markings of where Front/Middle/Back are. So it works... until the AE decides to move it for some arcane reason.

The other thing? Lol. Well I had to leave one in for you to find. That was a joke. No? Tsk, there's no pleasing some people.

Edited October 3 by Darmian

[Zhym]

Another excellent @Darmian arc, as usual.  The lich is surprisingly chill.  Some notes and thoughts:

 

Spoiler

M1: Looks like now that the Midnight Club has an empowerment station, so does the AE map.  Huh.

 

M2, clue 2: "Either way its located now" s/b "Either way, it's located now."

 

I spent a lot of time in that Orangbega map hunting for the glowies.  Oranbega is kind of annoying place to hunt for glowies, but I'm not sure there's anything that can be done about that.

 

M5: I noticed that the obelisks scattered throughout the map had the description text, "This obelisk must be protected," but they were targetable.  I assume that was just default text left in place, but it was a bit confusing.  I was worried that there might be an objective later on that would require the obelisks not to be destroyed.  Or does "must be protected" mean that they seem to be protected?  Anyway, it seemed like most of the obelisks were just set dressing.  Or did they serve some purpose for AE mechanics?

 

Do I detect a bit of Pratchett's Death in the lich's fondness for cats? 

 

[Darmian]

26 minutes ago, Zhym said:

Another excellent @Darmian arc, as usual.  The lich is surprisingly chill.  Some notes and thoughts:

 

  Hide contents

M1: Looks like now that the Midnight Club has an empowerment station, so does the AE map.  Huh.

 

M2, clue 2: "Either way its located now" s/b "Either way, it's located now."

 

I spent a lot of time in that Orangbega map hunting for the glowies.  Oranbega is kind of annoying place to hunt for glowies, but I'm not sure there's anything that can be done about that.

 

M5: I noticed that the obelisks scattered throughout the map had the description text, "This obelisk must be protected," but they were targetable.  I assume that was just default text left in place, but it was a bit confusing.  I was worried that there might be an objective later on that would require the obelisks not to be destroyed.  Or does "must be protected" mean that they seem to be protected?  Anyway, it seemed like most of the obelisks were just set dressing.  Or did they serve some purpose for AE mechanics?

 

Do I detect a bit of Pratchett's Death in the lich's fondness for cats? 

 

 

And some replies!

 

Spoiler

M1:  Yeah, while that CAN be useful sometimes things spawn in places they shouldn't.  The Midnight Club now has Mediport stations too, and during one test a desk spawned around it. Annoying.  Plus the humming from the Labyrinth cube can almost drown out the sound of a glowie. Plus I liked having Dream Doctor be so "uber" that he's not bothered to fight you, LOL.

 

M2: Fixed that.  Oranbega...no matter which Oranbega map you pick it has these issues.  Even the tiniest ones.  

 

M5: Yes, just scenery mostly but I've adjusted them to be a bit more thematic to the arc.

 

As for the liking for cats?  Possibly a subconscious thing on my part!  Mostly I had fun with writing him.  Who knows, maybe I WILL write a sequel to make this a duology.  It's all a matter of not going over old ground again. So, can I keep the slightly exasperated yet depressed tone of the Lich, without descending into a parody of this arc?  We'll see. 

 

Edited Thursday at 08:12 PM by Darmian

[Zhym]

Spoiler

That reminds me: I was defeated in that mission in the same room as the Mediport stations.  So I went to the hospital...and popped up about thirty feet from where I'd bit it.  Fortunately, I was either just outside of the mobs' perception range or I rezzed with no aggro, so I was able to hit my toggles before fighting again.  But that could have been really inconvenient—if things had been just slightly different, my only way out of that situation might have been to abandon the arc and start over.  (At least it was only the first mission.)

 

[Darmian]

1 minute ago, Zhym said:

  Hide contents

That reminds me: I was defeated in that mission in the same room as the Mediport stations.  So I went to the hospital...and popped up about thirty feet from where I'd bit it.  Fortunately, I was either just outside of the mobs' perception range or I rezzed with no aggro, so I was able to hit my toggles before fighting again.  But that could have been really inconvenient—if things had been just slightly different, my only way out of that situation might have been to abandon the arc and start over.  (At least it was only the first mission.)

 

Well, that's unfortunate!  At least you weren't spotted.

[Darmian]

@Zhym, the Nav for M1 all start with Middle, because in a test run one of my IRL friends spent AGES hunting around the reception area with the stairway and bookshelves before I had to point out that nothing ever spawns there, even though it's technically the Front.  And I really don't know why nothing spawns there.  It's a pretty big space actually. You'd get a lot more use out of the map if that area was usable.

 

And writers learn from each other!  @Ankylosaur's use of optional escorts led me to use that in M2, which can really shorten the search time for an outside map.

[Zhym]

33 minutes ago, Darmian said:

@Zhym, the Nav for M1 all start with Middle, because in a test run one of my IRL friends spent AGES hunting around the reception area with the stairway and bookshelves before I had to point out that nothing ever spawns there, even though it's technically the Front.  And I really don't know why nothing spawns there.  It's a pretty big space actually. You'd get a lot more use out of the map if that area was usable.

 

And writers learn from each other!  @Ankylosaur's use of optional escorts led me to use that in M2, which can really shorten the search time for an outside map.

Another fun side effect of nothing ever spawning in the reception area is that M1 starts up with a comment about how things seem a bit crazy at the Midnighter's Club, but it actually looks pretty quiet when you enter.

 

And I do like how you use the escorts.  They really help in M2. 

[Darmian]

7 minutes ago, Zhym said:

Another fun side effect of nothing ever spawning in the reception area is that M1 starts up with a comment about how things seem a bit crazy at the Midnighter's Club, but it actually looks pretty quiet when you enter.

I've adjusted that now!  It says something along the lines of "The reception area is very quiet but the area beyond is full of activity".