(Content shown in screenshots are works in progress and subject to change)
As you may have noticed, I've decided to 'spruce things up a little' with the game's screenshots. This is because I've finally gotten around to replacing the placeholder palettes with my own custom variants. If things go well, you should be able to make your own palettes in the game itself!
Beyond this, I've been hammering away at the game's foundations to get that next big cogwheel ("Fighting a Slaughtered God") ready to spin. Fighting a slaughtered god requires at minimum a few new things added to the core game and ways to get them. Namely, you're going to need Clues and with them will (optimally) come Heralds.
Clues
Clues are little bits and pieces that reveal your Adversary (the God chosen at the start of your run who is slowly stirring from their slumber) or prepare you to fight them. There's a few reliable ways to get bundles of clues (Kill Heralds, Perform Rituals, and Complete Mysteries), but you may also findthem in events or encounter eldritch personalities who offer them in trade.
To Fight a Fallen God
Against adversaries, there is no greater shield than Clues. They are the key that allows you to summon them, but also can rob them of their fell power: their omnipotence, their omnipresence, and immunity to fate.
If an Adversary can be stripped of all three and a Banishment properly performed, not only will you send that Slaughtered God back to sleep but cleanse their Portfolio of its corruption. What to do with these Portfolios? Become more of a concept and spirit in exchange for power or lock them away, beyond the reach of mortalkind? (Or at least this is what is currently planned)
Heralds
Heralds are 'miniboss encounters' that roam the shadows of The City, spreading chaos and complication in their wake. Catching these foes is optional, though the longer they're allowed to plot in secret the more a thorn in your side they may become. Like you, they go from Location to Location each turn but instead of investigating a Mystery, they prepare the world for their dread master's arrival. To do this they will open rips in the Veil and allow monsters to spring forth onto The City's streets, assault (and possibly kill if left alone!) your Allies, lock down locations for a time, and terrorize the cities' merchants and notables to drive out any who would help you or harm their master.
Unlike regular encounters, a Herald can summon things from the shadows to the battlefield thanks to A small piece of the Adversary's deific power. Heralds are neither mortal or immortal, but defeating them once is not enough to stop them. The consequences of each battle will linger upon them and weaken them, but they will shamble on to the end under the weight of the Scars you have given them. Each Mystery grants them a chance to return to the world to continue and haunt your efforts to stop the Adversary's descent and only by sending their master back into the void can they be truly defeated. (Or at least this is what is currently planned)
Fighting the Herald is one thing, of course. Finding them is another. The Heralds, too, are aware of the Prophecy and of the Investigator and know well it is best to confront you indirectly than directly. Fighting a single creature in an urban sea such as The City will require resources.
Resources such as ... a Guild?
More to come.