Interlude: Profiles of Power V

Official Road to Purgatory-Beta Forum

-Kelgarn, confirmed Beta-Account

Hey Guys and welcome back to the Profiles of Power

Today, I am forced to present a profile to you, one that I don’t want to feature. But, alas, needs must, despite my personal dislike for the subject, they have managed to cement themselves as a premier player of the game, turning himself into what appears to be the most influential supporter we currently know about. But maybe calling them the most influential would be wrong, their influence direct and centered around them, other people are reputed to have a less direct influence, covertly moving pieces around, whispering in the right ears. Pun fully intended.

Back to the Traveller I have to talk about today, William the Bard, or as some call him William of the Shaking Spear. God, I hate this already.

Anyway, here’s what we know about William.

Race: most likely Human

Class: rumor has it that he started out as a Bard, getting an advanced class called Battlesinger later

Titles: unknown, rumored to have one called “Voice of Battle”

Relevant Skills:

Again, what is skill and what is ability is hard to differentiate.

His signature skill seems to be one called “Havoc”, a wide-area buff, boosting allied troops attack, defense and even movement-speed by a relatively minor amount. But a minor buff, applied to a few hundred people has major impact, especially as he has an apparently unique skill that allows him to layer buffs. Quite a bit on that was given to me by Tobiuno, who has some similar skills, and promised to explain in detail so I’ll leave that to him.

In addition to those support-skills that Tobiuno will explain, William has some skills suited for personal defense and mounted combat, let’s get to them.

When fighting, he is clad in light chain-armour, most likely classified as medium but it might be light, with padded clothing beneath, giving him some defense without compromising mobility. I assume that will become a stable for many Travellers, especially those who don’t mind the reduced Astral Power regeneration. But who knows, it’s far too early in a far, far too diverse game to talk about a meta.

In addition to his armour he has two distinct sets of weapons. When mounted, he is armed with a relatively short, thrusting spear, easily usable in one hand, certainly no lance. It might even be a prop for his other skills or merely an affectation by the Traveller in question. He has yet to be seen fighting on horseback but I’d think that he has some skills related to that, given that he rode into battle with a small army.

On foot, he has been seen with a thin, thrusting blade in one hand and a short, heavy dagger in the other, using the dagger to parry while poking people with his foil.

Other than those, there might be some skills related to acting, public speaking, singing and, most likely, the usual suspects that most martial characters seem to have, athletics and the like.

But that’s enough from me, what have y’all seen when looking at his videos? Maybe some of you even met the avatar in question and experienced some of their skills first hand? Please, share what you know so we can further our understanding of ‘Road to Purgatory’ and the world we all have been travelling in.

Tobiuno, confirmed Beta-Account

And I think this is my cue to cut in, explaining a little more about support-abilities in general and what makes William such a special supporter. His abilities are similar to my own leadership-abilities, only difference that his are based on influencing and motivating people, while mine are based on a military structure and leadership. That allows me to achieve similar results but with some constraints, namely I can only command subordinates.

Now, as explained when I was profiled, the various leadership-skills provide boosts to different aspects of combat, attacking, defending or maneuvering, some of them combining two aspects into one, others not. The important part is, you are limited to one order at a time, with one triggering a cooldown for all of them. Interestingly the cooldown isn’t the same between orders, for example the cooldown between giving an offensive charge-order and a similarly offensive mobility-order is a lot shorter than between charging and holding the line. Makes for interesting tactics but that’s a different topic.

Back to William and his Shaking Spear. What makes him stand out is that he can seamlessly chain his buffs, some of them overlapping, all into one larger buff, affecting  the whole battlefield. Not just allies, his motivating chants, for lack of better word, even affect the enemy, making him into a strange, spear-shaking cheerleader.

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

Let’s look at it in practise:

charge.avi

A large group of riders, all clad in chain-armour, mounted on barded horses, riding in a double-line. At the front of the group is a small contingent in different armour, one of them wearing a fancy helmet, with decorations and tassels. Another, the one the camera is focusing on, is wearing simpler armour, similar to the one worn by the rest of the riders but is carrying a banner in his stirrups, instead of a lance. The last of that group is dressed differently again, the armour seems to be lighter, the helmet is a simple metal cap with some leather and there is no lance, only a short spear, good to stab down from horseback but not much use in a charge, a fact driven home by the decorations affixed to it, tassels and ribbons.

“Form a line!” the one with the decorated helmet shouts, using his sabre to guide the riders from the path they are on, onto the meadows and fields around them. The camera shifts a little focusing into the distance, showing a ragtag group of people, on foot and in disarray. From the distance, it is impossible to tell who or what they are but they have noticed the riders and a commotion has broken out.

“Bard, now it is time to earn your keep.” the commander orders gesturing for the one with the decorated spear to take a position, behind the middle of the line.

“And you, you are supposed to learn from this, so watch closely. The battle will most likely be decided in the first few moments, whether our charge can break their ranks. Or if they can even form ranks.” the commander addresses the one the camera focused on.

A short salute and both go into position, while the commander takes up a position near the bard.

“CHARGE!” The commander orders and the line of riders begins to gather speed while the one with the decorated spear raises his spear above his head, shouting a single word, “Havoc”, before beginning to chant in a strange cadence. The chant had no words, only sounds. At the same time, he waves the spear in a circular manner, letting the tassels fly and flutter. The effect of his chant is quickly noticeable, the riders seem to grip their weapons tighter while they echo the noise deep from their throats, creating a massive wave of sound, beating in turn with the thundering hooves of their mounts.

After a few moments, the riders are at full speed, ready to break into the enemy line and there, too, the effect of the chant becomes obvious, even as the cadence changes a little, some people dropping their weapons, others simply turning to flee, throwing their lines into disarray and chaos.

As the cadence of the chant changes again, the riders crash into the enemy lines, breaking them apart, running the fleeing peasants down with ease. Before the full extent of the slaughter becomes clear, the video cuts out and ends.

I cut the footage before the full extent of the slaughter is shown, simply because it is too gruesome and brutal. The rebels, uprising peasants, bandits, whatever you want to call them, were cut down to the last, the soldiers showing no mercy, no hesitation.

It is difficult to really appreciate the effects on video but from reports I’ve heard, William has amplified some of the emotions felt by the soldiers and peasants, lust for battle and blood for the soldiers, fear for the peasants, while suppressing others, mercy for the soldiers and bravery for the peasants. The ability to affect battle on such a scale is what makes William the most dangerous supporter we currently know off.

-Hammasce, confirmed Beta-Account

That sounds insane, a supporter able to scale up an army, even if it’s only a small one? What happens once he reaches a higher level?

On the other hand, I totally dig the name. Will someone rid me of this meddlesome bard?

Rachant, confirmed Beta-Account

I like the name, but I’d love it even more if it was a female character. Just because the joke of Willhemina with the Shaking (or maybe vibrating) Spear appeals to the snickering teenage boy within me. No, I’ve no idea how he got inside me, maybe it was something I ate. Or someone, who knows.

Grace, confirmed Beta-Account

I’ve met him, worked with him. And y’all seriously underestimate him, if you think he is only good on a large-scale battlefield.

When he focuses his magic, cause that’s what it’s got to be, on a single person, he can make them do anything, regardless of their will. And that’s all I’ll say on this topic.

Yuthos, confirmed Beta-Account

Well, f*ck. Grace, if something happened to you that you don’t want to explain or can’t explain, be sure to find someone to talk to. I don’t know what happened, and, to be honest, I don’t want to know but that is the kind of thing that can cause real harm, in the real world.

Please, make sure you are okay and maybe write a ticket to Pantheon if what happened had real world consequences. Remember that the technology we are playing with is new and, while I’m sure that Pantheon had extensive tests, we all know that new games and new technology almost always has bugs in some form. Please, make sure you are alright.

Tobiuno, confirmed Beta-Account

I very much agree with Yuthos, please make sure you are alright. I’ll also send you a direct message with a contact at Pantheon, you can go to them directly without jumping through hoops.

Grace, confirmed Beta-Account

Thanks for the support guys, but nothing happened. I feel like I should explain, even if I don’t really want to.

What happened was that we were in a play, or rather Opera, together and I had a bit of a temper-tantrum. In hindsight, I’m embarrassed by it which is why I didn’t want to elaborate.

Anyway, I was screaming at him, at the top of my lungs, calling him all kinds of incompetent, which, to be fair, he is, when suddenly, my avatar just stopped. I couldn’t speak, couldn’t move, nothing but stare at him and breathe.

At that point, he told me to get over it, to go away and not bother him any longer. And my avatar did, even as I was trying to continue, to tell him where to stick his attitude. It took ten minutes of walking until I was able to shake whatever he did to me which is scary enough.

So no lasting damage, at least not to me.