The Oubliettes

Context

The Fall of the Dungeon Guardians is a minor indie video game, published in 2015. It is a first-person-view, grid-based dungeon crawler evoking older classics such as Wizardry or Ultima Underworld. For younger players, the main reference will likely be retro revival The Legend of Grimrock.

The game is developed by just one bloke, so it remains straightforward. But I thought that the start of the story, to justify a dungeon crawler situation, was interesting.

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The usual caveat

As with most blobber RPGs , the Player Characters  aren’t defined at all. Therefore, the material here about the PCs (everything up to the Warden’s death) is completely made up. And yes, there’s a small Ultima joke  since the genre owes so much to this series.

This entry isn’t unlike the profile for the Nguyễn siblings, our sample Avernum adventuring party (which also has a traditional CRPG composition). Or Owen’s Formation Raiders, our sample Might & Magic X: Legacy party.

• This profile features a sample or customized Player Character. See our video games writeups FAQ for more.
• This profile features tabletop RPG mechanics about the video game’s gameplay. See our video games writeups FAQ for more.
• This profile has S P O I L E R S about the first level of the game. Nothing too important, really.

Powers & Abilities

As the game starts, the Oubliettes have but a modest amount of training, and zero combat experience. They are rookie corrections officers. Or in other words, minimum wage security guards. They’re not any sort of elite fighter.

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One thing you need to be if you want to stay here

Their survival hinges on two facts :

1. They’re excellent at working together, in the spirit of Dwarven solidarity.
2. Though their talents are minor, they superbly complement each other’s. In technical terms, they are a traditional tank /DPS /DPS/healer quartet.

They are pretty good choir singers, too. Which does have a tactical use, as we’ll see.

Their main talent are :

• Jaana is a heavier, more defensive fighter.
• Katrina is a more offensive fighter, with minor divine supporting magic.
• Mariah is a subterranean druid, with minor but useful healing magic.
• Julia is a witch with a number of curses and other harmful spells.

As they fight their way through the prison, they considerably harden and grow in power and competence.

Songs of faith and devotion, part 1

In-game, the team has a key ability. It can quickly interrupt an enemy ability. Though one specific character does it, the lengthy cooldown applies to the entire roster. Thus, you can’t have two characters doing interrupts, to do these twice as often. So in effect it’s a team ability.

This is a typical video game element, making boss battles survivable if used right. So it’s critical to the Player Characters’ performance, and needs to be in their DCH writeup.

In-game it is represented by a kick. But that can’t be what it is in-universe. Most bosses are far too big to be interrupted by a kick. And if there was a weak point, you wouldn’t kick it. You’d take an axe to it. As often – video game logic .

So let’s completely make something up.

Songs of faith and devotion, part 2

Let’s assume that magic (spells and spell-like innate abilities) in the setting is performed by sound. The person or creature sings a specific sequence they have mastered, and these few seconds of notes conjure an effect. There could be a pantheon of gods providing the actual magic, each associated with both certain magical effects and certain tempos and vocal ranges.

In this made-up system, major rituals would be handled as various styles of in-church choir singing. In a military context, some units might use loud instruments with a specific sound, such as bagpipes, for battle magic.

Thus, the Oubliettes being the women’s equivalent of a barbershop quartet could be the source of their video game interrupt ability. Counter-spelling could require high vocal ranges “wielded” as close harmony singing styles. And Dwarven women might be known for their high-octave-capable singing voices, and thus their affinity for soprano spells.

Songs of faith and devotion, part 3

Thus, the interrupt might be a close harmony thrilling sound around a F₆ note . This second-long, high-frequency sequence is a spellbreaker, working even if the magical effect they counter isn’t a proper spell. But it disrupts the *action* of invoking, not already-cast magic.

Obviously, delivering a F₆ (or even backing it as part of a singing quartet) isn’t easy, even for trained Dwarven ladies. This explains the cooldown – they need a bit of rest, breathing and refocusing before they can do it again.

Our game stats assume that it could counter other spells. So they might sing at Doctor Strange to counter his Bolts of Bedevilment. And heh, may it could work once due to surprise.

Video

Here’s the one-minute trailer for the game, to get a visual sense of it.

History (prelude)

Julia od Kraina Głębi left said Dwarfhold as a young adult. Rather than the usual life of backbreaking labour, an uncle could get her a sinecure in Human lands.

The position was with a high-security prison. The complex went 20 levels deep, but only the last one was currently occupied. The other levels were there to deter intrusions.

For instance, the corpses of slaves who had died excavating the facility were left to rot, so they would raise as hostile undead. And baby giant spiders had been brought in to create nests. This formed a deadly, err, gauntlet  – well capable of killing intruders.

The facility’s warden had been recruiting a few Dwarven guards in recent weeks. This seemed reasonable, since the posting was deep underground with few liberties.

Choir blimey !

When Julia arrived, the skeevy-looking warden assigned her to the most junior corrections squad. This, too, sounded reasonable.

However, she was surprised by the rest of the squad, who had arrived over the previous fortnight. All four badges were blonde, short, buxom Dwarven lasses with long hair. The others suspected that the warden was some sort of fetishistic creep, and the arrival of a fourth solidified their suspicions. Two could be a coincidence, but three or four was enemy action.

The situation was awkward if not outright threatening. But the four newbies bonded over bottles of wine. The boss seemed to be a leering authoritarian creep, but the rookies would be much safer if they stuck with each other.

To keep their spirits up whilst they guzzled spirits down, they decided to form a singing quartet called the Oubliettes. Coming from the same general area, they all were trained into a distinctive, regional choral singing style.

History (in-game events)

The rookies were woken up by commotion near their dorm. The Warden said something about a prison riot and needing outside help, then jumped onto the only elevator out. Furiously working the hand crank to rise, he was clearly leaving them behind to die.

Seconds later, the elevator came crushing down, on fire. The burning and screaming Warden disappeared underneath.

Red alert

Though mourning the boss wasn’t on the menu, that left only one way out. And the odds of a few rookies with dingy, lowest-priced-contractor weapons and armour making it through the hostile levels were dismal.

Cautiously scouting, the newbies found no other guards. But all 15 high-value prisoners were gone from their cells. Furthermore, a score of undead slaves had somehow slipped into the 20^th level, which was supposed to be sealed against that.

Thankfully, these skeletons were very old. With enough coordination among themselves, the rookies could dispatch these if they were careful.

Something’s off here

Exploring the 20^th level led to the discovery of a hidden quarter in the prison. These secret cells were also empty, but were well-stocked with torture equipment. Furthermore, there was a discreet entrance in the Warden’s office leading to this hidden quarter.

Investigating further was impossible though. The Warden’s office was ablaze with an odd magical fire that couldn’t be put out.

As they neared the 19^th level, the young guards ran into one of the prisoners. It was Horno, a warrior with a magical power and a really big sword. Somehow, he *did* have said sword on him, as well as his armour and his titular horned helmet. The skeletons who had broken in also seemed to ignore him.

Thankfully, Jaana had heard about his most dangerous power. Thus, the rookies could coordinate among themselves to compensate for it. And so they managed to kill Horno before he could kill them.

But still… something was really wrong. And Horno was the least powerful prisoner in supermax…

Music

Close-harmony women’s singing was mostly making pop music charts in the mid-XX^th century. A typical example would be the Andrews Sisters in the US.

It is still practiced, of course. Here’s a recent-ish example of British not-quite-amateur-anymore trio the Lounge Kittens. Let’s take a song often covered in close harmony singing (up to and including choir singing) – Toto’s Africa.

Description

The Oubliettes are armed and armoured from random supplies. These were left behind in the sealed levels for suitable monsters (such as the undead) to arm themselves.

Some seem to come from hapless mercenaries who were sent in to test the security without proper information, via the prison’s sole elevator.

By Sébastien Andrivet.

Source of Character: Inspired by the Fall of the Dungeon Guardians video game.

Helper(s): Coyote’s Own, Darci.

Writeup completed on the 11^th of July, 2017.