"All things considered, balance in nature is a wonderful thing. The Edifice of our Lord was built specifically to preserve that balance. Please don't upset its protectors, but you are welcome to come to North Hesperia Square and admire its beauty." - Crys
The Edifice of the Lord is a gamemode located in Hesperia City in the Realm of Sassafras in The Extended Tale of Diep. Idea by Diepmon.
Overview[]
The gigantic statue of Lord Sassafras in question. The entry to this gamemode is located in the square directly below the diamond shape on his forehead beneath his hat.
The Edifice of the Lord is a high-tier gamemode meant to be played after "defeating" Lord Sassafras for the first time, and as such, is only available to those who have completed the Lord Sassafras's Palace gamemode for the first time.
It is accessed through a series of parkour jumps off buildings onto the mustache of the gigantic golden statue of Lord Sassafras that stands in front of the entry to Lord Sassafras's Palace, to which there is a small, square-shaped door, when interacted with, will warp players to a sub-realm presumably inside the statue. In here, there is a starting room that players begin in. Health values in this gamemode are given as level 75 values. Only groups of up to a maximum of 16 players may enter the Lord Sassafras's Edifice gamemode at any time.
Like all gamemodes in the Extended Tale of Diep, dying in this gamemode does not reset one's Character to the previous tier - they merely cannot respawn until the boss has been defeated or all players have died, at which point all players will respawn in the previous boss room or the beginning.
Progression[]
Start to Half 'n Hat[]
When spawning in, players begin in a medium-sized rectangular room that functions as the starting area. Once either 8 or 16 players (only these sizes) have joined, the IE Energy laser gates at the other end deactivate, allowing access to the next area.
In this roughly U-shaped room (with the bottom at the entrance,) there wait four Legionnaire clusters. These Legionnaires are of random class, but they come in the following amounts per cluster:
- 8 players:
- 2 Tier 4, 8 Tier 3, 12 Tier 2, and 16 Tier 1 Legionnaires
- 16 players:
- 4 Tier 4, 16 Tier 3, 24 Tier 2, and 32 Tier 1 Legionnaires
In each of these Legionnaire Clusters, one of the Tier 4s will always drop an "Unusually Shiny Hesperian Key" item upon its death. If any Legionnaire in a Legionnaire Cluster is provoked by getting too close or attacking it, the entire Cluster will aggro toward the instigating player unless someone else (namely a Tank discipline player) pulls the group away, as the vast amount of Legionnaires will necessitate an organized plan of attack.
It is highly advised not to pull more than one group at a time, unless players want to end up dead. Legionnaires are not your standard Realm Enemies - they have weaponry and health on the level of players, and have a wide variety of abilities and complicated AI, allowing them to function in roles similar to that of players (tanks, damage, and healers.)
Once all of the Unusually Shiny Hesperian Keys have been gathered, the players who picked them up must use them to unlock the door ahead. Behind this door is just one Legionnaire Cluster, but all Legionnaires in this specific cluster have permanent Frenzy. It is not technically necessary to defeat this cluster, as it is more spread out and some can be disabled to allow the group to sneak past, but if someone draws aggro, the cluster will immediately begin attacking. Past this cluster is a room with four teleporters of the colors yellow, orange, blue, and purple. 1/4th of the group must use each teleporter for the upcoming boss battle in the teleporter destination room.
Boss: Half 'n Hat/Whole
Half 'n Hat to the Ballistic Barricade[]
After Half 'n Hat, a room with three Legionnaire Clusters follows the midway boss room. Each Tier 4 Legionnaire here has double stats, however, and is twice the normal size. After the Legionnaires have been defeated, a chase sequence occurs with Heptone materializing in her Phase 4 form down the hallway.
Heptone's chase sequence acts much like that of Belisarius, in that players cannot attack her while they are being chased. Touching Heptone is instant death (which causes players to respawn at the very beginning of the gamemode, so that they have to run all the way back.) Heptone can use any attack that is accessible to her in her Phase 4.
After 1-2 minutes of being chased by Heptone, a group of Legionnaires sweeps in from the front and drives Heptone away. All players then must fight this Legionnaire Cluster, and afterwards, open a gate with a key obtained from one of the Tier 4s. Behind this door is the arena Ballistic Barricade, the final bosses of Lord Sassafras's Edifice.
Boss(es): The Ballistic Barricade
Trianglow Encounter[]
There is a 2% chance, with each Legionnaire that is defeated between the time players finish Half 'n Hat and are progressing to the Ballistic Barricade, that a Trianglow will spawn upon that Legionnaire's defeat. A Trianglow is a mini-boss that has 2,000 health, but can stealth and appear at random in a 20 tile radius around any player. While stealthed, it is Invincible. Trianglows spawn Pink Crashers and Swarm Seekers that have no fill color and only a glowy line to defend themselves, and fire similarly half-transparent bullets.
Trianglows can be a nuisance among Hesperians. They are a subspecies of triangular Hesperian who possess the unique ability to cloak and stealth, but are extreme introverts and prefer to be left alone. The few Trianglows that exist at any time take up residence in Lord Sassafras's Edifice, where in this shadowy gold sub-realm created out of IE Energy they can stay silent and fulfill a duty of guarding their Lord's most valuable treasures while staying out of the public eye.
NO U[]
A little reference to a certain something on one of the walls in this hidden room.
Oh, what's this? There's a wall at the very end near the exit door that seems a bit... thin. Destroying the wall, which has 3,000 health, will result in it falling away to reveal a hidden room. Inside this room, there is a small, unmarked altar. Using SYNTAX ERROR - OBJECT REFERENCE NOT SET TO AN INSTANCE OF AN OBJECT will result in [DATA EXPUNGED BY ORDER OF HESPERIAN DEPARTMENT OF IE ENERGY] being spawned.
Secret Boss: !oH hO oH nO u
Trivia[]
- This was the first EToD gamemode page to be created.
- The Edifice, while it does contain hundreds of tons of Hesperian treasure, was created for the specific purpose of containing a reality-bending anomaly that even Lord Sassafras doesn't even know what to do with. Said anomaly is the secret boss of this gamemode.