Everything you Need to Know About Underworld Commanders

[Kismet]

A Quick Guide to Underworld Commanders

Underworld Commanders are characters selected by Hades to control his monsters. Their abilities can get a little complicated and there's a lot of different mechanics involved, so rather than make everyone dig through Hades application, I've written this guide to help everyone understand what they're dealing with when one shows up.

So you're doing your thing, RPing, saving the world (or maybe making the world in need of saving), when BAM. Suddenly-

~FIELD MONSTERS~

These are monsters summoned by Hades. Without a Commander present they are bainless beasties who patrol about and attack anything that moves. They are total scrubs who go down in one or two hits, and any poster can control them. So long as they are kept "in-character," any poster may freely describe battle with them, autohit them, and defeat them. They drop Hearts when killed, which can be exchanged for Items in Hades Underworld Store. The monsters are:

• Monoeye - Slow flyer, shoots energy orbs, 1 hit to defeat, drops 10 Hearts
• Club Skuttler - Super cute, swings a femur, 1 hit to defeat, drops 10 Hearts
  
• Skuttler Cannoneer - Also super cute, shoots bursts of energy blasts or sustained beams, 1 hit to defeat, drops 15 Hearts
• Skuttler Mage - Dresses fancy, kinda has a brain, shoots streams of blue flame, 2 hits to defeat, drops 20 Hearts
• Mik - Slow flyer, chomps, has a charge attack, 1 hit to defeat, drops 10 Hearts
• Souflee - Looks delicious, super fast, hard to hit, hard to catch, does not attack, 1 hit to defeat, drops 100 Hearts
• Treasurefish - Does not look delicious, super fast, hard to hit, hard to catch, does not attack, 1 hit to defeat, drops a Chest.

Only ten monsters may threaten a character or party at a time, and the number of threatening monsters is called the Aggro Number. When a monster is killed, all party members gain the full number of Hearts for its defeat. 

• For example: A party of three defeats a Mik; all three receive ten Hearts.

So things are going well, you're beating up monsters left and right, when BAM. Suddenly-

~Underworld Commander~

Oh no. Now you've done it. First, you should consider your options. Have you considered that maybe you're on the wrong team? Why not join Team Underworld? Being on Team Underworld makes you a better person than people who are not on Team Underworld. It's just a fact. That's not just me saying that, they're just wonderful, beautiful people.

But if you're determined to be just the worst, here's what you need to know:

For each Underworld Commander present, the number of hits needed to take out a monster goes up by one. They also make Field Monsters a bit less brainless by giving them Strategic Orders. These are sweeping guidelines for all monsters in an area; stuff like "attack the town" or "protect Faction A."

Underworld Commanders may also form a Personal Guard composed of five monsters. If one is killed, the Commander can replace it with another in two posts. These are much smarter, because they are following the Commander's Tactical Orders. That is, the attacks and actions of these monsters are written by the Commander. Each can can still be freely autohit and killed by other characters, but the Underworld Commander may select one Personal Guard monster to act as his or her Flag Bearer. The Flag Bearer cannot be autohit or freely killed, and is always fully controlled by the Commander (it essentially acts as a player character). The Personal Guard contributes to the Aggro Number, but does not extend it. Let's look at a hypothetical scenario for what, exactly, that means.

~Example~

Alice is an Underworld Commander, and Bob has done goofed and looked at her funny. Alice has a Personal Guard of five, one of whom is a Flag Bearer, and a number of Field Monsters are in the vicinity near both of them. This means that:

• The Aggro Number cannot exceed ten, so aside from Alice's Personal Guard, only five more Field Monsters may threaten Bob.
• Bob may freely describe the actions of the five Field Monsters, and is free to autohit and kill them in his posts.
• Bob cannot write how the Personal Guard attacks or maneuvers, but he may still freely autohit and kill them in his posts.
• Bob cannot write how the Flag Bearer attacks or maneuvers, can cannot autohit or kill it in his post without permission from Alice.

Easy peazy. "I can do this," you think. "Imma fight this Underworld Commander." When BAM. Suddenly-

~Elite Monsters~

Oh. Oh that sounds serious. And it is, kiddo. Regular Field Monsters may be cannon fodder, but Elite Monsters are a bit trickier to deal with. These are special, tougher monsters that Underworld Commanders can summon by fulfilling certain requirements. They are:

• Handora - Kinda handsy, super fast, hard to hit, hard to catch, shoots bursts of energy orbs or laser streams, 1 hit to defeat, drops 20 Hearts
  
• Boogity - Invulnerable back, tries to block attacks against the Commander. Always under the Commander's control. Front end is vulnerable, but and can shoot missiles and is still kinda sturdy, drops 100 Hearts
  
• Fort Oink - Summons one Skuttler every post. Can duplicate another Elite Monster every four posts instead of summoning a Skuttler, monsters summoned by the Fort Oink ignore the Aggro Number, does not attack, invulnerable except for the very sturdy door, drops 100 Hearts 
  
• Belunka - Big flying whale thing, lands and waits three posts before opening up and unloading five new (non-Elite) monsters before immediately flying away. Belunka summoned monsters join the Personal Guard and allow it to contain up to ten monsters. They each still count towards the Aggro Number. Very tanky, drops 100 Hearts
  
• Eggplant Wizard - Jerks. Teleport, tanky, toss and drop eggplant bombs. If struck, the victim is turned into an eggplant with legs for one post, and cannot use any powers while afflicted. Pretty tanky, drops 300 Hearts
  
• Clubberskull - Big scary monsters. They chill inside their skulls and don't bother no one. If attacked, they go berserk and try to smash anyone any everyone, Underworld Commander and fellow monsters included. Surprisingly fast, and really hard hitting. Clubberskulls, not even once. Absurdly tanky, drops 1000 Hearts.
  

So, looks like you might have made some bad life choices. Maybe you overestimated yourself, maybe you underestimated that cute little Skuttler, but whatever the case, you bit it. You've been turned into a trophy, and you're off to Bowser's Prison. When BAM. Suddenly-

~The Underworld~

See kiddo, if an Underworld Commander does you in, you go to meet their boss. Characters defeated by a Commander go to the Underworld, and they must make a contract with Hades to leave. Hades must offer a contract that each character could reasonably be expected to accept in-character, but it need not be fun. Or exist at all - Hades can, if he wants, just let you go. But that is up to Hades. Details of each contract and the penalties for failure will be decided between posters and myself.

But let's just say, and it's crazy talk, I know, that you defeat the Underworld Commander. Good job! You're a terrible person, why would you do that? But look, poof, they've turned into a trophy, and they're off to Bowser's Prison. Except, you know it's not that simple. Underworld Commanders also go to see their boss when they kick the bucket. Hades can make them form a contract too, but if any Personal Guard monsters are still alive, Hades can sacrifice one to resurrect his Commander. He has to wait three posts though, if there's any monsters left, hurry up and do them in!

And that's it! That's basically everything you need to know about dealing with Underworld Commanders. But...

~What if you're the Underworld Commander?~

Congratulations! You've made great life choices to get here; good job! All of the above still applies, but there's just really just two extra little things you should know. First is that normally, only your opponents get Hearts for defeating your monsters. And second, aside from being harder to kill, non-elite monsters serving as Flag Bearers give you special perks! These are:

• Monoeye - A Flag Bearing Monoeye can use its eye as a big TV screen to relay visual information from any other Monoeye in the field to its Commander
• Club Skuttler - Defeated Personal Guard monsters can be replaced in the next post.
• Skuttler Cannoneer - All Aggro Number monsters with projectile attacks will simultaneously target and fire upon whatever the Flag Bearer attacks.
• Skuttler Mage - Once per post, the Commander may sacrifice a Personal Guard monster to summon a Handora
• Mik - While a Mik is your Flag Bearer, you gain Hearts when your monsters are defeated.
• Souflee - All monsters gain a dramatic boost to their movement speed.

I think that's probably everything. It's still kinda a lot! Hope it helps!

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Hades Application for further reference.