SDR) First boss, a home base, and new allies

Last time, we covered the third and fourth members of our ragtag group. At this point in the story, tensions would still be running high as the group is willing to work together for the same overarching goal, but it's hard to say that they're a proper team. Now is the perfect time for them to show what it is they can do as they face off against their first boss. I mentioned previously that Rogue would begrudgingly join the team after Link, Rinoa, and Katt were separated, allying with Rinoa to ensure her safe return to the group. As they continue traveling, they eventually find a large building occupied by the fiend that attacked them earlier, and it seems as though he has prisoner.

The Dark Lord (Miitopia)

The Dark Lord, once just a regular Mii, was corrupted after opening a forbidden box containing the Dark Curse. The Dark Lord flies around, terrorizing people and stealing faces. With a limited access to magic and his signature face stealing ability, he's a fairly menacing antagonist in his home game. Here, he's the perfect starter boss, providing enough unique challenge to push the player and the characters. He presents a a fun mechanic in which he can steal the face of party members and place them on imps. While faceless, the characters cannot act, though once the imp is defeated their face returns to them. This will greatly alter the flow of combat and force the player to adapt their strategy on the fly as well as making them contend, if only temporarily, with abilities they might otherwise take for granted. Still, the Dark Lord will prove a mostly harmless enemy that the players will be able to drive away relatively easily. In doing so, they will rescue the poor soul that he took hostage.

Prince Porky (Angry Birds Epic)

Did you know that Angry Birds made an RPG? I sure didn't, which was one of the many surprises that awaited me in turning to Reddit for characters and ideas. Seeing as how he's essentially just a head, the Dark Lord mistook our porcine prince for just another face for him to steal. When the party confronts the Dark Lord, Prince Porky will demand their assistance in setting him free. In the battle proper, he'll provide some likely unwanted commentary while also taking some actions himself. He could use his Tit for Tat ability to grant the party a damage boost which also makes them more vulnerable. He can also use his Back Stab ability on either the imps or the Dark Lord himself. while this initial boss fight is relatively beginner friendly, Prince Porky's intervention would be both a hindrance and a boon, though honestly he's more helpful than anything.

After defeating the Dark Lord, Prince Porky would take it upon himself to tell the team that they are welcome for his assistance. Snobbish and bratty to a fault, he'd insist that the party may now work for him, even if he has no clue as to what's going on. Though begrudgingly, the team would accept him among their ranks as he's far from useless, giving us our first chance to swap party members and have control over what our team looks like.

With the Dark Lord defeated, the large building the heroes came across is freed from his corruption, and just so happens to be spacious and available.

The Villa (Miitopia)

The building, as it turns out, is actually a rather luxurious, if somewhat abandoned, villa. Though lacking much in the way of amenities and creature comforts, it will serve nicely as our ragtag group's home base. As we get more party members, the characters not in use will stay here, each bringing their own flair to the room they occupy. As the party travels the worlds, they can find items to add in order to customize the villa, and we'll eventually introduce characters and minigames to bring more use and convenience to home base.

Having defeated the Dark Lord and somewhat unwittingly made a new ally, the group explores the villa as they decide what to do next. Among the numerous items they can find will be a tall mirror tucked away, almost as though it was meant to be hidden. This will prove to be an Eluvian, a powerful artifact from the Dragon Age series that will allow our group to travel to other worlds. They also, curiously, find a small "doll" made of paper plates and other craft supplies. While seemingly just junk, there's a certain draw to it, and none of our party members can quitr be brought to throw it away. Indeed, it seems that any attempt to discard of the item by the player sees it reappear in the inventory. Huh...