Forums » General Pantheon Discussion

Dead Storm Valley

    • 34 posts
    April 26, 2019 12:17 PM PDT
    Hello everyone,

    Just a question to see what your opinions are, but the “teaser” illustration shared by Coh at the end of his stream yesterday, do you think this is a concept of the mobs described in the ‘Tales from the fire’ story that appeared in November’s newsletter? In the story they talk about Thaeloyn’s adventure into Dead Storm Valley, and her encounter with storm like mobs she calls “The host of the valley”. Also, when they demonstrated the lightning in a video clip on Coh’s stream, the one that can potentially cause an insta-death if you don’t escape it’s radius in time, they explained it would be in a higher level area I believe. Could this mob teaser (the host of the valley ?), plus the lightning video clip, and storm glass video clip mean that they are building concepts for the Dead Storm Valley, and that it will be a higher level zone? Or am I overthinking the information they provided with a lot of wishful thinking?
    • 372 posts
    April 26, 2019 12:32 PM PDT

    I like the connections you've made. I believe it's part of Faerthale and they seem intent on completing Faerthale so there's a good chance they are building concepts for it.

    • 2138 posts
    April 26, 2019 1:39 PM PDT

    Or maybe the zone leading to Faerthale? where its better to travel by night since the lightning strikes are easier to see than by during the day. Although the wardens themselves are harder to see at night due to their cloudy/billowy legs in which case its better to travel...

    .....run fast and pray you dont aggro as you thread the needle in a straight line through their pathings as any swerve will make you late during the brief period of twilight between dusk and dawn. You can see the shadow of night and ray of day as a clear boundry line rushing towards you from the east or west because of the high mountains surrounding the valley, knowing that once that line crosses you, you have half as much time to make it to the end before the storms start. You don't see the skeletal remains of the merchant and his beast that the traveler said was the half-way mark as night rushes over you, perhaps fear will make up the extra speed to overcome the distance. 


    This post was edited by Manouk at April 26, 2019 1:40 PM PDT
    • 646 posts
    April 26, 2019 3:08 PM PDT

    Manouk said:.....run fast and pray you dont aggro as you thread the needle in a straight line through their pathings as any swerve will make you late during the brief period of twilight between dusk and dawn. You can see the shadow of night and ray of day as a clear boundry line rushing towards you from the east or west because of the high mountains surrounding the valley, knowing that once that line crosses you, you have half as much time to make it to the end before the storms start. You don't see the skeletal remains of the merchant and his beast that the traveler said was the half-way mark as night rushes over you, perhaps fear will make up the extra speed to overcome the distance.

    I really wish I could like posts. :D

    • 2886 posts
    April 29, 2019 6:03 PM PDT

    I think you nailed it. The sequence of teasers, the color schemes, etc. all heavily imply that. It could be just a "Child of the Valley," but I think it's more likely that it's the Host. Just look at this quote from the Tales of the Fire and how closely it resembles what we see in the concept art: 

    "Abruptly, the wind ceased. Thaeolyn lowered her arm and looked around, her off hand finding the stone hilt of a sword. Surrounding her were twenty or more creatures with yellow eyes and twisting, shadow-like skin. Nightmarish was their appearance but ordered was their assembly as they created an oblong corridor around Thaeolyn and the path ahead. These were called the Children of the Valley, though nothing of their appearance was like that of a child. Their bodies had no muscle, no hair, and were instead an unstable, shifting form. Their flesh was not tissue. Their skin was black, inky vapor, an anthropomorphic raiment that was ever swirling. (This was the origination of the name “The Stormclothed”, used chiefly by the Thronefastians, and so called because the tempest of their outer layer never rests.
     
    The term “stormcloth” has became universal when describing their bodies.) The limbs of a Child of the Valley could be four, five or six in number, long and oddly bent, possessing long forearms that extended beyond the joint of the elbow. Their fingers were thin, yet the hand would often transform into a blade for cutting, pike for stabbing or club for bludgeoning. Some even mastered a whip-like snare with their appendages. Their legs fell in line with this macabre design, bending with a low knee and capable of extending to great height. The head was centered around two large, sickly, and glowing eyes that drew back along their head. The head that pulled back and pointed from the rear of what ought have been a skull. Nowhere else on Terminus have the beasts been found and only in Dead Storm Valley would their unsettling form seem appropriate and at home. The enclosure they formed around Thaeolyn gave her space to react if attacked, but they showed no interest in anything more than detaining her.
     
    Then one stepped out from the head of the ring, and each Child’s face turned toward him in unison. His outline was taller than the already sizable Children, his shoulders unnaturally broad with vapors of twisting clouds emanating like thorns, shifting as if controlled by a wind under his own control. His stormcloth moved in a calm yet heavy pattern, falling into a thick mist that reached across the earth and crackled with small shocks of light. His arms wore sleeves of smoke, posed in a manner that suggested far greater intelligence than the obediently silent Children. His head was a rounded spire of stormcloth, a volute that might have been more fitting on a priest than a creature such as this. His movements were slow and deliberate, carrying a grace that contrasted with the tempest of his attire. His face was a void save for two yellow eyes that swirled like balls of flame.
     
    This was the Host of the Valley."
     
     
     
    • 223 posts
    April 29, 2019 7:51 PM PDT

    This really fits a good description, good find Bazgrim.

     

    Their bodies had no muscle, no hair, and were instead an unstable, shifting form. Their flesh was not tissue. Their skin was black, inky vapor, an anthropomorphic raiment that was ever swirling. (This was the origination of the name “The Stormclothed”, used chiefly by the Thronefastians, and so called because the tempest of their outer layer never rests. The term “stormcloth” has became universal when describing their bodies.)

    • 2138 posts
    April 30, 2019 6:10 AM PDT

    Yaladan said:

    This really fits a good description, good find Bazgrim.

    I think that is legit and if so I think really nice to see lore from an old newsletter actually be a reveal of sorts, making lore important and immersive. I am hoping "stormcloth" also implies a crafting something that is dropped from the children of the valley.

     


    This post was edited by Manouk at April 30, 2019 6:11 AM PDT
    • 372 posts
    April 30, 2019 6:23 AM PDT

    The description of eyes and arms differs and that's throwing me off - but it's just concept art, so who knows. The head looks right. Whatever it is, it's related. GJ again Mentira. If it is a boss, let's hope it drops those bone-handled swords!

    • 34 posts
    April 30, 2019 9:59 PM PDT
    Thank you, guys. Manouk, that was a wonderful little read! Baz, that’s exactly the passage my mind went to when seeing these things appear in Coh’s video, so I guess we shall just wait and see! I’ll be curiously watching to see if this proves true.