Unveiled: Camelot Unchained Newsletter #39 - City State Entertainment View this email in your browser Share Tweet +1 Team Tidings -by Max Porter Hey folks,



Happy end of October and start of November! Also, happy Halloween, if you happen to celebrate it!



A lovely fall is upon us here at City State Entertainment™, and we’ve sure got a lovely amount of progress on Camelot Unchained™ to match it. More than one article in this month’s issue will talk about the Dragon Circle and Saturday Night Sieges, so if you haven’t read the Beta 1 Doc release of chapters 16-18 on that subject, here’s your chance. I’ll see you back here when you’ve caught up!



All good? It’s been pretty darn exciting here in the office, what with recent in-house playtests of Deathmatch gameplay, the first iteration on those design goals. You can read a lot more detail on that process, and the way we’re handling many aspects of it, in the State of the Build article by Brittany, below. Tyler goes into detail on the art (and some art production) side of things in his Artitup piece, so check that out as well. Just a bit below this article, Ben does his usual detailed explanation of an aspect of game development in his Dose of Design on why there are secrets. To cap off the exciting-ness of this issue, I hereby present the conclusion to the Silverhands Becoming story in the Lore Corner section!



We have continued our weekly schedule of streams this month, showing you everything from impressive creative work by artists and programmers to the latest updates and news. We have fun with it, but the streams are also very important to us, as we always want to be as informative as possible for our Backers and fans. If you want to catch up on any missed streams, they can always be found on our Twitch and YouTube channels. For a good read of our news, as well as our weekly Top Tenish updates, check out the News section of our website, and our User Stories to check on our progress.



That seems about enough for this month’s Team Tidings, don’t you think? Bear with me as I remind you once again to click on the “view this email in your browser” link on the top right to see the whole enchilada. As ever, it’s been a ton of fun writing and putting together the monthly newsletter for you all! Read on for the articles, art, news, updates, and lore, and thoroughly enjoy the thirty-ninth issue of Unveiled. Hot Topics

The latest topics of discussion on the forums right now include The Dragon Circle, the Dragon Challenges, and continuing discussions on grouping!



Join the discussion on the forums on our website to bring your thoughts and ideas to the table! The latest topics of discussion on the forums right now include The Dragon Circle, the Dragon Challenges, and continuing discussions on grouping! Thank You A big thank you to Poxer, who sent us these awesome candy crates, both here and at the West Coast office! Some really classic (dare I say old-school?) candy, which has been rapidly consumed this month! Thanks to DrunknGod, who sent us this awesome Valhalla coffee, Deathwish stickers, cup, and coffee-drinking paraphernalia! This shall keep us wide awake! Look What You Did Hey folks, it’s time for another newsletter fan art contest! In this issue’s Lore Corner, we present the conclusion to the Silverhands Becoming tale, so let’s take inspiration from that. Pick any scene from the lengthy Silverhands Becoming story, and illustrate it! That should give you plenty of room to go wild! Post your creations in the thread you’ll see popping up in the Fan Art section of the Forums. Winners get published in next month’s issue. I can’t wait to see what you all come up with! Dose of Design -by Ben Pielstick Why There Are Secrets

Crowdfunded videogames have introduced many gamers to a lot of behind-the-scenes information that had generally been withheld by game developers when their funding was coming from places like private investors or large publishers. For Camelot Unchained, we try to show our Backers, and many other gamers who take an interest, a lot of what goes on here at CSE from week to week. We also often provide previews of upcoming features and game mechanics while they’re still in the concept phase, before they’ve even been prototyped or tested. While we do try to be as open as we can about most of the work that goes into Camelot Unchained, there are still a few things we keep under wraps, and there are some pretty important reasons for doing so.



While holding back any information at all may at first seem contrary to the concept of open development, there are many circumstances where not everything can even legally be shared. Obviously, developers can’t give out personal information they receive as part of billing Backers for their pledges, and likewise any important business dealings, with middleware companies and the like, need to be finalized before they can be announced. Beyond the absolutely necessary withholding of information, there is a large gray area where a lot of things could be made public right away, but might be better served by remaining undisclosed for some period of time.



Sometimes certain reveals can be exciting, and saving an exciting announcement for an important moment like a convention, or the release of a new playable feature, can help build interest at a time when it is important to do so. An early announcement might not have the same effect. Letting players know about a great new feature that won’t be showing up in the game for many months or even years doesn’t build very much excitement. It can at times even lead to disappointment, due to the long wait players will have to endure before the feature becomes available to them. Waiting to announce a feature until a time relatively close to its release can help keep players' excitement from dying out before that feature becomes available for them to try out in the game. You may also have noticed that a lot of feature announcements coincide with conventions and expositions. Developers often try to garner attention in any way they can during large events. These events draw a lot of attention from both gamers and the media. It can make a big difference to have something impressive to show off at these critical times, when interest levels are at their peak, whereas a big announcement at some other time might be overlooked, and not generate nearly as much excitement.



Sometimes certain information can be a cause for concern if made public too early. Waiting until after some further development might negate any such concerns. Announcing that some major development hurdle has been encountered, for example, may cast doubt on the impending release date expectations for a title, or even cause players to question whether the developer will be able to complete the game at all. Upon closer examination of this kind of problem, however, it may turn out things aren’t as bad as they at first appeared, and so any announcement made would have to be retracted, and then lots of concern would be caused for nothing. Even if it is determined that a problem will require a considerable amount of work, simply taking the time to solve it, possibly investing extra overtime hours (which happens quite a lot in the gaming industry), without fanfare is often the best solution. As severe as many problems generally encountered in the course of development might seem, most of them won’t affect the completion or viability of a game at all. Once a problem has been thoroughly analyzed, and is well on its way to being solved, then informing interested players about it can shed some light on the development process without generating the concerns that might have been caused had an announcement been made earlier, without a plan of action yet in place to address it.



Likewise, announcing some features before they’re ready, or have been fully thought through, might lead to a lot of confusion. Instead, taking the time to finalize a design, and test it to ensure it will work as expected before making an announcement, could entice a much more positive reception. Since games are often very large and complex, interconnected systems can take a considerable amount of time to fully hash out. While it would be nice to think that a game is first fully designed, and then fully implemented, and finally released, real game development seldom works this way. Instead, many design plans made early on tend to change along the way. This can be due to technical limitations that were unknown before work on the game began. It can be as a result of internal testing, as prototyped features are tried out for the first time, often modified heavily, and sometimes even scrapped completely when they don’t turn out the way they were originally envisioned. It can also be because designs change just by virtue of new ideas coming up over the course of long development cycles.



Since each different developer is tasked with working on different parts of a game, everyone adds their own interpretation of the design based on their desires and experiences. This often leads to interesting ideas that may not have been thought about when a system was first envisioned. Not to be confused with feature creep, these kinds of “wouldn’t it be cool if...” conversations can simply lead in a different direction from what was originally planned, and help the game end up better off than it was planned to be from the start. Announcing the details of features when they’re nothing more than words in a design document misses out on a lot of these later-stage changes, and can cause players to be confused when they compare what was planned early on with what is later delivered. The more unique and complex a system is, the more likely its nature will change during development. While many well-established and unlikely-to-change features get talked about a lot, sometimes it can be better to wait until a degree of certainty has been established about how a feature will actually end up working before announcing all its details.



At the same time, simply showing too much too early may cause excessive concern. Incomplete information about untested features creates uncertainty and doubt as to how the scattered fragments of early concepts could possibly develop into a game worth playing. Because so much about a game tends to change over the course of development, it is often most effective not to spell out a specification of every exact detail each feature of a game during pre-production. Instead, the early design tends to be more of a high-level ‘vision’ document. This conveys the general nature of the game experience with perhaps a small number of key features, each identified as comprising the core of what will make the game successful, laid out in the most detail. These documents are almost never made public, because their general use is to justify the expenditure of starting off a game’s development, and to generate initial tasking for senior team members to figure out the scope of art, tech, and design the game will eventually need. Releasing this kind of incomplete information right away, with such inconsistencies in level of detail presented to a broad audience, can lead to a lot more questions than answers. Taking the time to instead lay out a more complete picture of each system and how it relates to the game as a whole, especially after spending some time prototyping to settle on the most important details, provides a much clearer and more understandable idea of what players can expect when a game is finally released. Though delaying some of this information might make players wait longer than they would like to hear more about a game in early development, the wait can often be worthwhile, so that the information that does get released provides a cohesive and unambiguous view of what the game will eventually be like.



Making determinations like these can be a challenging process. Even though pledges are not investments, for developers of crowdfunded games, there should be a strong sense of accountability to be honest with Backers about how progress is going, and what to expect from a finished product. Just to get started with crowdfunding, a significant effort has to be made to inform potential Backers about a game they might want to put their support into. This can range from a simple video presentation with a few bullet point slides and a little concept art, to an early gameplay prototype, or even a playable demo. This sets out some initial expectations, that then have to be followed up on by more information on an ongoing basis all the way up through testing and release of the finished product.



Along the way, developers have to decide how much information they should be releasing, and when to release it. They must take the effects on their Community into consideration, as well as the time and resources it takes to compile and release information in a presentable format. At some points in development, there may not be much to talk about, while everyone at the studio is in the middle of busily working on building important features. At other times, the flood of information may become overwhelming, generally around the times that new systems and features start and finish their development cycles. All the while, a difficult balance between publicly saying too much and saying too little has to be maintained.



As we continue working on Camelot Unchained, much of the core design philosophy of the game has been available right from the start in the Foundational Principles. Many more specific details of what we’re actively working on continue to be shared in our livestreams, weekly update emails, and Unveiled newsletters like this one. While you will hear “we’re not ready to talk about that yet” from time to time from CSE, we do our best to ensure we reveal as much as we reasonably can. We only hold back on a few sensitive topics, most of which we know will be much better shared later on down the line, when everything is in place to make the best presentation we can. Developer Quote “The bottom line is, as always, that we have to deliver on our goals and slowly, ever so slowly, we are, and we’ve shown that to our Backers … And when we finish our “sprint” we’ll have a lot more to show.” - Mark Jacobs Artitup -by Tyler Rockwell Spooky greetings, fellow humans! Now that we’re able to talk about the Dragon Circle and Saturday Night Sieges, I’ve got a lot to say about the art team’s focus to support them while still supporting the larger scope of Beta 1.



From a production perspective, the Dragon Circle, and the scenarios we create, support smaller chunks of the overall scope of Beta 1. It allows us to create some fun gameplay scenarios sooner, vs. waiting for everything to be all done at once. This is one of the ways we’re rewarding our Backers for their patience, by providing something fun to do while helping us test.



This format gives us more control over the specific things we want to test. On one day, we may want to see how eight-man groups of different compositions stack up against one another, while the next day we may want to determine how long it takes to destroy a building. We can create games around these scenarios, track player actions, and reward them for participating. The first scenario uses “Deathmatch” scoring around a siege environment to award points. Much of this month’s work from the artists has been focused on supporting all of these plans.



To support the first scenario, we made some new siege abilities, partly to make things more fun in the scenario, but also to test VFX performance. We’ve made several optimizations to the engine for our large-scale battles, so this is the perfect opportunity to do some more exciting VFX. Ben created several new Scorpion siege engine abilities, currently shared among the Realms, and two new abilities per archer archetype, per Realm.



Our resident VFX artist and part-time perfectionist, Mike, as well as dB, our SFX artist, have both been hard at work on these new abilities. Each asset requires not only an “on-travel” sound and visual, but an “on-impact” asset as well. We want these new abilities to look like they could damage a building, so the effects are a bit larger than the ones we’ve done before. A caveat: these abilities for testing, and are not indicative of the way things will work in LIVE. We will pay attention to the performance of both SFX and VFX during our first tests.



To support these new archery abilities, we’re trying something new with the timing of the animations. Sandra has created new animations for both the shortbow and longbow animation sets, which look much better than the previous versions. Earlier, Scott had handed off some first pass animations to support paired animations when using the Scorpion siege engine. Getting the latter hooked up soon.



Dionne and I (Tyler) have been working on filling in some holes in our environment assets, while also setting pre-existing assets up in a manner that will more easily support creating zones. In this case, some of the new assets will be used in the first map SNS map. Ben will do a design pass on it fairly soon, and art will follow up. We’ll also be able to drop in the Realm-specific portals we’ve been working on, to clearly denote Realm starting points on the map, vs. the generic portal we used in previous tests.



Jon, too, has been busy supporting the first SNS scenario. This month, he completed 16 new Scorpion bolt models and is currently working his way through the generic male clothing for each Realm. We’ll use these to denote NPCs that can be interacted with, in both the SNS maps, as well as the Beta 1 maps.



Concept art is usually a good indication of what we’ll be building next. Earlier, Michelle completed a Viking longship concept, which has since been made into an in game model. We have a completed concept pass on the Arthurian ship, and she’s currently working on a TDD variation. We’ll use these not only for the SNS maps, but other maps to indicate departure and arrival points.



Moving forward, for the first SNS map, the art team will continue to focus on a solid first pass with Design, as well as cleanup and iteration on the archery and siege animations and abilities. So far, the tests we’ve done in office have been a lot of fun, so we’re looking forward to getting Backers in there, too! State Of The Build -by Brittany Aubert There’s been a lot of excitement around the offices these past few days, as we geared up to talk about the Dragon Circle and Saturday Night Sieges (SNS)! Getting to surprise our Backers with the progress on our sprint was so great, and seeing the positive response has put a big smile on our faces.



In October, we’ve had a targeted focus on siege battles, which we attacked from all directions, so to speak. We wanted to test our existing systems in a holistic setting, and to focus on bringing the fun to our players. I can already tell, based on a handful of very rowdy playtests in the office, that you folks aren’t going to be disappointed.



Just as we have done in our continuing sprint, I'm going to focus on SNS in this month’s article, particularly the “how we are building it” part. We'll cover some techy parts, but this will have a strong emphasis on the production aspect. With that, let’s get to it!



Planning for Siege Warfare: Before we jumped into code, we had an extensive amount of planning. We spent about a week in and out of discussions, mapping out the implementation plan for what SNS--and future games in the Dragon Circle--will look like. Caleb, as the primary implementer for the core of SNS, started drafting a plan using a pretty sweet documentation tool called Workflowy. He broke down the larger “sprint” into many smaller iterations: Version 0

A “dead simple” game

Deathmatch One of the particularly challenging things about making games is the long-term planning. While we know exactly what we want in the end (in this case, siege matches with defined objectives, scheduled to run at specific times of the week), the plan for how we get there may change form as it gets built. Because of this, the first three iterations were extensively mapped out, while future iterations aren't discussed at as much length. I’ll go more into this in a bit.



Our initial technical design mapped out the goals for each of these iterations, including what the end-user would see in the game at each click-stop (a synonym for “deliverable” I’ve picked up from Matt). All in all, before any code was written, we spent a week mapping out how we were going to build a scalable system and identifying the quickest path to getting something up and running.



Version 0: Once MJ and Andrew had approved the plan, we hit the ground running. The first iteration was merely the framework, which, when completed, didn’t visibly resemble anything looking like a game. Much like when you’re building a puzzle, the easiest way to start is to connect all the edge pieces, making it easier to complete the whole picture. Version 0 could be best referred to as an all-tech prototype. Basic functionality was plotted out, including the SNS Director, or core system for managing a scenario instance. The Director detects whatever configuration is set, sets up the relevant behaviors, and updates the state of the scenario. In this case, ‘state’ refers to a different phase of a scenario: Initialize, where we set up all the necessary game objects.

Start, where we signal the round has started and allow the score to now change as needed.

Update, the state where everything chugs along and the ‘game’ part happens.

End, where we announce who won or lost.

Clean Up, where we delete objects created for that round and move players back to starting positions. These states may repeat if a particular scenario has more than one round. In Version 0, a number of slash commands were created so we could mutate these states gracefully before there was a game to drive all of it.



The Supporting Cast: During Version 0, we started development on many other systems, with the focus on supporting the development and gameplay for SNS.



With Version 0, we started building the concept of a team. In order to function as a team, you must be able to see who else is actually on your team, be able to communicate with your team, and keep this group of players together for the entirety of the scenario. Well, if you’ve been following our development, you’ll know that Warbands, our version of groups, do just that. By creating a ‘temporary’ Warband to manage an SNS team, we get to reuse code, UI, and features (like group chat). The limiting factor of Warbands is that they can only contain 8 players, which limits us significantly when it comes to building epic battles. That’s why JB has been driving the implementation of Battlegroups, which, behind the scenes, is a collection of Warbands. Much like Warbands, this gives us a lot of opportunity for code reuse, utilizing a system we were already planning on implementing for something else!



So while SNS is running, we need to be able to communicate among all the different entities inside the scenario. Enter the PostOffice, a messaging system whose code was started by Caleb and last-miled by Colin. Each round inside of a scenario is managing multiple entities, whether entities are players, objectives, random game objects, buildings, environment assets, etc. We’ll sometimes need those entities to communicate with one another, whether that's sending game state information, scoring events, or whatever our hearts desire. So, every critical bit of the game knows everything it needs to at a given moment.



Last month saw the addition of DevUI, something we started creating when implementation of Version 0 began. DevUI is a temporary UI widget that our gameplay programmers can use to quickly display information on the screen. This helps with gameplay iteration and general debugging. Once Matt and Caleb got their hands on the first round of DevUI, we circled back and added more functionality based on their feedback. AJ came in and improved the separation of our markup code (the HTML code that makes UIs visually appealing) and the game data. He also added the ability for our gameplay programmers to call GraphQL queries from the UI, which is something our standard UIs have to do in the game. By making this change, we’ve created improvements that help the eventual conversion to final UI much quicker, as linking to queries has already been completed in all the appropriate places.



From Clicker to Deathmatch: Following the implementation of our Version 0, it was time to start building something that players could actually see and interact with. Combining the tools and framework built up to this point, it was time to build the simplest possible game, what we called “CU Clicker.” Imagine well-known web-based games where clicking a button gets you a point. Well, now imagine that in Camelot Unchained! For the purposes of testing this tech, of course. Once a player has chosen a team and entered a scenario, they are presented with a number of buttons. Some buttons add points to your team. Others subtract points from the rival team. Once you hit a specific number of points, you win!



Ok, so that’s not super sexy. But that’s not the point. What we establish with a simple game like this is a proof-of-concept. The scenario has and can manage multiple rounds and states. Our configuration system, where we set up the rules and win conditions for a match, is functioning properly. We can add players to teams and have their actions affect either their team or others. There’s not much to it, but it paves the way for something bigger...



Once CU Clicker came and went, focus turned to making something that provided proof we were not only headed in the right direction with our plan, but that we were also making something fun. We revisited our original technical design and mapped out the next steps.



In order to make SNS feel special, we set up a specific zone and a staging area. Players would enter the staging area, and once they entered the SNS portal, would be warped to the SNS zone after joining a team. This alone is a great proof-of-concept for future Dragon Circle games, where we could potentially have a single staging area, where players are presented with multiple different scenarios running simultaneously. Our Deathmatch scenario is scripted so that killing another player adds a point to your team’s score. Killing can occur through the use of abilities, dropping and using a siege engine, or running up and controlling a siege engine pre-placed in the environment.



At the same time as we develop all of the above, we’re building support for Entity Component Templates, data bundles created through the editor that are built quickly using existing pieces we construct with the purpose of pumping out different game types and rulesets. If you’ve ever worked with the Unity editor, ECTs are very similar to the concept of prefabs. Bull’s been tackling the editor side of this for a few weeks, but once that initial investment is done, we can let Ben run wild and make different objectives for our players.



The Impact of Playtesting: Our first playtest in the office went swimmingly. Sure, there were some pretty obvious bugs (which were squashed quickly), but through our in-office Discord channels and voice chat, we were able to experience something that felt more like a game than anything we’ve had in a long time. It was pretty exciting.



So, where do we go now? Our original plan left a lot of flexibility after the third iteration. We can start diving in and creating new game types, expanding beyond SNS. We could build something more complex than the simple, “Jump in and kill” style gameplay we have now. Or, we can double down and take what we have, add more visual polish, start replacing the DevUIs with real UIs, balance existing ability components, or something else. Do we take the lessons learned and grow beyond what we have? Or do we take what we have and double-down on what's there? It’s guaranteed that both will happen, but in which order and to what they will apply is to be determined over time.



This is why playtesting is so important. Our plan for implementation stayed true throughout the entirety of SNS development so far, but as we continue the sprint, our next tasks will be flexible. At the end of the day, we aim to make a fun game that our players enjoy, and now that we’re at the point of having something to play, we can see that the possibilities are endless.



That’s all for now. Let’s go make a video game! Brittany out! Lore Corner -by Max Porter Hey folks, welcome to another story in the Lore Corner! This month, allow me to present to you a rewritten, revamped, and refreshed version of part seven, the conclusion of the epic story of the Silverhands! This sprawling chronicle was originally written by Mark Jacobs in seven parts, which were then collected into one massive Becoming™ story. Please read on for the developed version, as we call it, of this Becoming tale, which not only tells us a great adventure of the first Silverhand, but also presents some of Mark’s thoughts on The Depths™ and the beings therein. Here's parts one, two, three, four, five, and six, in case you want to catch up. Without further ado, I hope you enjoy! The Becoming: The Silverhands Part 7

The Tale of Nuada Part 7

The outer skin of the Merchant’s tentacles was thick and rubbery, holding Nuada fast as he struggled. Twisting round, the former king of the Tuatha Dé Danann swept his blade through the horrors that surrounded him and the Merchant as they wrestled. The things reached out fearlessly with their chubby, grasping limbs to weigh him down, wear him out.



However, Nuada’s silver arm didn’t tire easily. Little by little, he forced his way closer to the Merchant, through the press of nightmarish tentacles and small creatures.



The Merchant only grinned wider, his cherubic face framed by the writhing mass. “You wonder why I am so calm?” he sneered. “You really don’t understand a single thing about our home, do you? We are legion within The Depths. You may kill some of us now, you may even defeat me, but you cannot defeat us all. We are many. We are one. We will always return.” With this last phrase, the Merchant hurled Nuada away with great force.



Despite his bruised body, the Tuathan twisted in midair, landing safely in a puddle of ichor. Picking himself up, Nuada panted, gripped his sword in his silver hand, keenly aware of the blood of the slain that dripped down his body and along his weapon. “I will destroy you. Even if it takes the remainder of my life,” said Nuada, “Even if it means a true death. And if I do perish, only to fail? Others will rise to destroy this place of horror. Of that, you may be certain.”



“So stupid, so sweet, so, so naïve!” chuckled the Merchant, raising himself up on far too many limbs. “Your people won’t destroy this place! They will fight to learn its secrets. And when those secrets are discovered, the survivors will fight one another to learn more.”



The raging battle all around seemed to fade away for Nuada, as if it were very far away. The Merchant’s hypnotic face seemed very near. His eyes glittered darkly, endless hallways into nothing.



“These are but our first steps, Nuada. There are many dances yet to come.” The Merchant began swaying from side to side. Before Nuada could cut him down, the swaying form shimmered, transforming into something else. Where the Merchant had been, a young woman now stood, smiling in her blue dress.



Nuada gaped as Nimue raised her arms to him in greeting. She was alive, free, and happy.



He didn’t see the pouncing horror behind him until it leapt upon his neck. With a cry, he spun and ripped it off, but not before the thing bit deep into him, injecting a burning venom. His flesh was torn with a deep, bloody wound.



Falling to a knee and grasping the warm-gushing wound in his neck, he looked up at the illusory Nimue advancing upon him, an eerie giggle playing about her lips. He could not move to avoid her. She smelled of flowers and snow. Then Nuada heard an unexpected sound.



“Charge!” Miach roared as he joined the battle. The fake Nimue’s head jerked up. Two Dvergar were running through the open space in the center of the birthing room. The pair of them looked down at their feet, heads pointed forward; their crowns grew stonier as they ran, and in seconds they looked like rock-covered battering rams, rushing inexorably forward.



Nimue’s form shimmered back to the Merchant’s, but before he could react, the two Dvergar struck him in the gut with incredible combined force. There was a crunch, and the Merchant was thrown backward, tumbling end over end.



His battering ram head melting back into his body, Miach straightened up and laughed. Then he spotted Nuada crouching in pain. “Healer! You’d better come and help our fearless leader. He got quite a love bite from one of these nasties!” Miach punctuated his holler by squashing one of the creatures between his stone-encrusted hands.



The Hamadryad ran to Nuada’s side, beating abominations out of her way as she went. Laying a hand on him, her power sealed his wound. She muttered, “Relax, Nuada. The battle is over for you. We’ll take care of him.”



“Yeah. Now that the Dvergar are here, this won’t take much longer,” bragged Miach, brushing his hands together to shake loose gobbets of gore. “Besides, look at that winged beauty over there, why, she’s barely bent a feather!” Full of pride, he yelled, “How long can a Viking fight?”



All the Vikings in the room responded, “All the day and through the night!”



Nuada wasn’t paying them much attention. He struggled to hold steady on his knees as the burning sensation of the venom worked its way through. “The Merchant must be mine,” he coughed weakly. “Healer, I know you can do something about this poison that weakens me.” He struggled to his feet.



“Not that one, Nuada. I’m so sorry,” she shook her head and tail sadly.



“Don’t lie to me. I finally understand who you are,” said Nuada. “Perhaps the taint of The Depths has fallen from my mind. I finally remember.”



“Took you long enough,” Miach muttered, as he tossed an abomination into the crowd.



“You are of the Alsea.” He squeezed his eyes shut, as his companions held off the rushing monstrosities. “The mother of your people,” said Nuada, “Hamadryas.”



“Yes Nuada, I am she,” Hamadryas nodded.



“You remember the way to call forth life. You have the power to restore me…don’t you?” said Nuada, coughing.



“Yes, though it would come at a terrible price for you,” Hamadryas answered, clenching her aching fingers.



“I am prepared to pay any price,” he said hoarsely.



“To what end, Nuada?” she asked, “To kill, and kill again?”



“To save my friends, our people. To begin restoring the balance of nature in our Realm… That is worth any price to me.” He grasped her wrist with his bloodstained silver hand and stared into her strange eyes. “Even eternal oblivion, if need be.”



She sighed. “I wish you hadn’t said that, Nuada. Though at the same time…I am proud of you. Miach, hold him down. As I well know, this is going to hurt.”





The battle raged around them, life and death flowing through the chamber as Nuada struggled to breathe. Hamadryas called upon all of her powers, old skills she had long known but little used. Taking the wound upon herself, she poured power into Nuada to drive out the poison. Draining herself of her deepest reserves, Hamadryas bestowed strength and speed upon the king of the Tuatha Dé Danann.



Invigorated, his eyes flashing, Nuada jumped to his feet.“Take care of her, Miach. I will return as soon as I am able.” With that, he leapt toward the Merchant once more, who was busily retracting his twisting tentacles. As Nuada, approached, the Merchant glanced up in alarm, then slipped out a hidden side exit.



Nuada was about to follow him when he heard Miach’s voice. “Wait! How about using some of that newfound strength to free Nimue and John,” the Dvergr shouted, “Unless you’re just too busy?”



Nuada stopped in his tracks. He could not again forget his friends in the rush for revenge. “Valkyrie. Give me a boost!” he shouted, running toward her.



Just below the giant iron pentagram that held Nimue, the Valkyrie knelt with cupped hands. Nuada jumped, and the Valkyrie tossed him into the air over her head. He landed atop the pulsing, sucking birth tube, barely keeping his balance on the slick glass.



Nuada leaned down to Nimue’s fearful, pained face, and wrenched the awful tube from her mouth in a spray of black liquid. As she coughed and gasped for breath, the tube gurgled its sludge angrily onto the ground. With a few quick strokes of his sword, Nuada cut her free, helping her from the altar. As she slumped over shuddering, Nuada muttered, “Rest, brave one. You suffered so much for your noble deed.”



He turned to find the young, stern-faced Tuathan man already at John’s side, cutting away the pustules with expert bladework. As each spiny thing burst with a disgusting splash of ichor, the man didn’t even flinch. Once free, John had just enough strength to give Nuada a shaky smile before he too fell unconscious and slid into the Valkyrie’s waiting arms below.



There was no more time to lose, and Nuada’s thoughts turned to the tempter, the escaping servant of evil. Nuada searched for the secret exit in the shifting metal plates that formed this room, but it had vanished.



Cutting his way through the dregs of the remaining abominations, Nuada returned to the silent metal door where they had entered the Birthing Chamber. If he was right, there was only one place the Merchant would go.



He followed a return path that led back to the chamber of the golden throne, the chamber of Bres’ folly. As he crept inside, Nuada felt a strange, slightly familiar prickling on the back of his neck. This was different from the creepy, oily feeling of the Merchant’s aura, or the cold nothingness of Bres. Older, and not so unsettling. The realization came to him as he rounded the back of the elaborate gold throne and entered the chamber proper: this aura was one deeply connected to the people of the Tuatha Dé Danann. It had to be the the Four Treasures, stolen by Bres and brought to this place of horror. They were hidden somewhere here.



He found the Merchant, tentacles now fully retracted, standing over Bres on his golden throne. “Merchant!” yelled Nuada.



The servant of The Depths looked up. “Hmm. You found me. Maybe you’re not as stupid as I thought. On the other hand…” With a wave of his hand, the Merchant loosed the magical bond that held Bres. Giggling, the creature stepped back to watch as the two kinds of the Tuatha Dé Danann confronted one another.



His crown flashing in the dim light of the hall, Bres stood and turned furiously to Nuada. He shouted imperiously, “Nuada! How dare you invade my kingdom?”



Nuada stared at him. Bres stared back, his eyes angry. “Bres... ” Nuada whispered.



Bres took on a wide grin. “Back to grovel after all this time? After I shamed you before all, and took your sword arm from you?”



A thousand images flashed through Nuada’s head. Pain, blood in the sand, retribution. A hundred years spent in horror, desperation, and toil. One figure stood out from the rest: the young Bres, a fighter nearing his prime, desperately learning all he could. All the young Bres wanted was to defeat his rival, blessed with more natural gifts than he.



Words bubbled up from deep within Nuada. “You’ve been deceived by the Merchant. Where do you think you are?”



“In my throne room in Tír Na nÓg, of course,” growled Bres, folding his arms.



It was hard to speak. “You are in The Depths,” Nuada finally ground out. “You’ve been tricked by the same creature that tricked me.”



The Merchant covered his mouth to hold in his laughter, looking from one to the other.



“Nonsense,” said Bres, visibly irritated. He swept his hand around the stone room shrouded in darkness. “I can see the bright seashore from this window. High overhead, the tree branches form the roof of my grand hall. I smell the aromas from the forest marketplace, and I see you standing on the loam floor with your filthy feet.” Bres reached behind him and drew a long spear from a hidden panel in the golden throne.



Nuada gasped as he saw the spearhead burning, spitting fire. It was the Spear of Victory, one of the Four Treasures. He ducked Bres’ thrust, then countered with a cautious blow of his own. “You’re under enchantment, Bres. Perhaps you always were. I don’t want to kill you until I know the truth!”



Bres thrust again and again with the crackling spear, shouting while the Merchant looked on silently. Then, just as Nuada parried, Bres dropped the spear and collapsed to the ground, untouched by his opponent.



Nuada bent over him and and saw wrinkles spreading rapidly over Bres’ face, his hair growing and whitening, his flesh turning pale, his eyes discoloring. He was aging. “Bres,” Nuada whispered again.



“Nuada,” shuddered Bres, “Where am I? What has happened to me?”



“You’re in The Depths. You’re dying…” Nuada clenched his flesh fist. “And I can’t do anything to save you. That son of an abomination, hiding in the skin of a man. The Merchant tricked you as he did me!”



“Merchant?” said Bres, “I saw no merchant, or any man. The one who guided me was the kindest and most beautiful woman… She told me that I had to save our people, our world. She warned me that you would destroy of our people, and that only with the help of mighty Balor could we be saved. Did I do it? Did I save our people from Nuada’s pride?” He struggled to take a breath, his lungs making an audible rattle.



Nuada sighed. Seconds of silence ticked by like years. “You did, Bres.”



“I’m so glad,” Bres breathed, his frame collapsing further as he relaxed, eyes blinking weakly. “I’m sorry, but I have to go…”



“How touching,” interrupted the Merchant mockingly from the great golden dais. “It’s a shame he had to leave us so soon. You both fed so much power into us, we hate to see you die.”



Nuada picked up the Spear of Victory from Bres’ hand, turning toward the self-satisfied voice. “Where are your horrors now, Merchant? It’s just you and me, this time.”



“Yet you are still outnumbered,” The Merchant’s deep scorn bit the air like a blade. Glancing at the dark corners of the room, Nuada braced for the onslaught. However, the Merchant just turned and ran.



Stopping himself from giving full chase, Nuada curbed his impatience and trailed the Merchant slowly. As the Merchant sped on, nearing the great toothy maw with the stone shelf above, Nuada hefted the burning spear in his hand.



The instant that the Merchant’s slippered foot touched the stone shelf, Nuada hurled the spear. “Merchant!” Nuada shouted.



As the Merchant turned to glance back, the spear struck him. With the sizzle of burning skin, it pierced his body and stuck fast. As it vanished and returned to Nuada’s hand, the Sword Brother charged.



Off balance, the Merchant teetered on the edge of the stone walkway, coughing and trying not to fall into the pit. Shaking, he sprouted tentacles from his legs and gripped the corner of the walkway, righting himself even as blood poured from his chest. The Merchant raised his arms and laughed in triumph.



“Hah! I told you that you were stu…” said the Merchant, just as Nuada slammed into him full force. Bouncing off the wall, they both tumbled into the toothed abyss.



“And I told you that I would kill you.” Nuada said calmly, grasping the flailing tentacles with all his strength. Their suction cups could not grip the long hanging teeth on the way down. As they picked up greater speed, Nuada whispered a death curse into the Merchant’s ear. For the first time in memory, the Merchant was afraid.





Some distance away, Hamadryas straightened suddenly from tending to the injured. Her ancient connection to Nuada snapped like a weary twig in a forest. She never cried, but through the tears that came, she felt Nuada’s last wry smile also on her lips.



No more abominations spawned from the tubes in the Birthing Chamber, and the Delvers gathered to see who could be saved.



With the bleeding stopped, Nimue and John were alive, but still wordless. The Merchant had tortured them endlessly and without mercy.



Miach comforted John, and tried to boost his spirits with a few jokes about pustules, but John was silent. The Valkyrie took care of Nimue as best she could, but the mage simply stared straight ahead of her. She did say “Nuada?” at one point, but nobody had the heart to respond.



Regaining her strength even as Nuada’s presence faded, Hamadryas turned back to the grave injuries of the Cait Sith at her feet. “You fought so bravely,” she told her, though the warrior was bleeding profusely. “At times, you moved so swiftly through their ranks, you were nothing more than flashing teeth, daggers, and claws.”



The Caith Sith coughed. “I gave up my eternal life to kill them, to protect...us all. Please...bury me at my home. Tell Arthur that I...what I have done.”



There was nothing more Hamadryas could do, so she took the Cait Sith’s furry hand. “I will go to the One True City and tell him. I will preserve your body with my magic, and see you buried, brave one.”



Seized with shaking, the Cait Sith passed on. Hamadryas cast the spell that would preserve her body. It was a somber group of Delvers that departed that terrible Birthing Chamber, carrying their dead and injured.



In the throne room, they found Bres’ eyes fluttering open. He took a shaky last breath. “Listen...the treasures are hidden in the golden throne.”



Hamadryas laid her hands on him, but his life force was draining away fast. “And Nuada?”



“Nuada took the servant of The Depths into the abyss with him. Listen.” As the light faded from his eyes, he whispered, “Forgive me.”



“I forgive you,” she answered, but he was already dead.



While Hamadryas found the hidden panels in the golden throne, which was beginning to look tarnished and crumbling, the young Tuathan warrior retrieved the Spear of Victory on the edge of the abyss.



Although this man had maintained a stoic expression all through the battle, something about this place moved him, and his face shifted. He looked into the shuddering maw below for a long time. When he returned with the burning weapon, he spoke quietly to Hamadryas. “This feels right in my hands,” he said. “It feels good.”



Hamadryas stared into those serious eyes. She could sense a shift, a change in the forces of fate. “Yes Lugh, it should,” she told him. “Use it well.”



Never one for many words, Lugh nodded firmly.



Miach walked over to the edge of the pit where Nuada had plunged to his death, and looked down at the gaping maw. In his hand, he held a gift that he had crafted for Nauda at the golden forge. Neither weapon nor armor, but a simple piece of jewelry. He had made the brooch of gold, with three unique golden swords interlocked, and the symbol of the Tuatha Dé Danann in the center.



Miach looked down the hungry mouth, turning the trinket over in his fingers. “Safe journey, my friend. I swear this upon my gift to you: I will give the secret of the silver arm to your people, and never reveal it to any other, even unto another Breaking of the world.” He let the gift slip from his hand. Turning from the edge, he couldn’t help but add, “I hope that creature chokes on you.”





As the companions left The Depths and journeyed back to their homes, they told the tale of Nuada, hero and fool, killer and savior. However as history rolled on, this adventure marked one of the last times that the three Realms would work in fellowship.



The Depths stayed quiet for a long time. Once the adventurers left, the entrance in the green hill disappeared, and no new one could be found for many years. At last, intelligence stirred deep within its bowels, opening a new entrance. Hamadryas was waiting there, ready to start a new story.



The tale of our mightiest champion spread through our people, filling them with hope. No risk was too great for Nuada to take on, though the dangers to our people were many. Some took on the Silverhand tradition, for we shall never forget his power and his bravery.



With the four treasures of the Tuatha Dé Danann, Lugh continued Nuada’s work and restored his people. It is said that Lugh learned much from Nuada’s mistakes. He rebuilt the Realm and weathered the Second Breaking of the world. But that is another tale.





“Very good,” said the grizzled instructor, rubbing his chin. “That was an excellent recitation. One of the best I’ve heard, to tell the truth.”



“Thank you,” said the young one, wearily. He was anxious, but excited. He had only one Trial remaining.



“Come, then. We must enter the Room of Becoming, where you will make the final sacrifice that marks all Silverhands. It is time for your own story to begin.”



The young one whispered, “My story begins with a hand of silver.”





Thus ends part seven, and the Becoming Story of the Silverhands. Bonus Images -by Max Porter This amazing cathedral was built by the Backer known as Njalvar in C.U.B.E., after over 40 hours of work! Thanks for sharing these images, Njalvar, so I can show them to the rest of the world too! Here we are at the end. Thank you so much for reading! I hope you have truly enjoyed this issue as much as I have enjoyed writing and putting it together for you. Until the next issue of Unveiled, then. I’ll CU later! - Max