We are slowly approaching the grand finale of our draw.io adventure! If you have accompanied the four heroes Caroline, Marcus, Pauline and Angie up to this point (if not, you will find the five previous parts linked below) you know that they actually all work at a game development company (Team “Fiends & Foes”) , were brought to the kingdom of Connectalot via a magical portal, agreed to help there after a few teething problems and paid a visit to a dragon named Atlas.
In the last part, however, they lost their colleague Marcus, who was kidnapped by a tentacle-wielding monster. Now that things have gotten personal, let’s just hope the three remaining team members can save their Agile Coach…
A not-so-secret hideout
Any thought of returning to Austin is gone from the minds of Caroline, Pauline and Angie. Instead, they are determined to track down the kidnappers, free Marcus, and hopefully unravel the mystery of Jack of all trades and the missing Connectalot citizens in the process. They now take cover near the secret hiding place, the location of which the map has given them. They realize that they must combine perfect teamwork from home with their new heroic abilities to face the threat – even if they still don’t know what they are fighting against…
Caroline’s hand reflexively tightens around the hilt of her sword. Her thoughts are with her friend Marcus, who is probably being held captive somewhere in the cave system ahead. She walked all night with Pauline and Angie to find the entrance to this hiding place.
When Angie gives the signal “All clear” from her vantage point near the entrance, Caroline and Pauline move, both careful to move as quietly as possible so that no one notices their presence.
“Ok,” Angie whispers as the other two approach, “I didn’t see any movement. After what happened yesterday, every tree, bush, or flower could probably be one of those damn monsters. But that doesn’t hurt my confidence, I think we should go in.”
Caving for beginners?
The lithe feline leads the trio, and they tiptoe into the aisles in front of them. They know from the captured map that the cave system is quite large, but as their eyes adjust to the dim light, the sight of the many tunnels branching off in all directions discourages them a little.
Pauline shakes her head. “These are by no means natural corridors. Look at the walls – all these passages were dug by hand.”
Indeed, the deeper they delve into the system, the clearer the clues become – again and again they come across discarded, broken pickaxes, shovels and other items clearly related to mining. It doesn’t take long for Pauline’s keen elven hearing to pick out voices in one of the hallways, along with the sound of steel on stone. She motions to the others, and they quietly follow the sound – until they find a group of villagers, chained, trying to dig another tunnel into the hard rock.
Angie, Pauline and Caroline don’t hesitate for a second and immediately set about freeing the prisoners. Each of the grateful humans tells a similar story: They were all tricked and teleported into the mine by one of the creatures that also kidnapped Marcus. Here they were forced to dig for the jack of all trades hiding somewhere in the cave network. They don’t know exactly why the creature is so important, but it appears to be related to its magical ability to “do anything”.
An almost successful rescue
After guiding the villagers back to the surface, the adventurers continue their quest. Angie uses her cat senses to keep her on the right course. After a while she catches a familiar smell – Marcus’ beard oil! With renewed strength they continue on their way, and a short time later they come across a small alcove in which stands an iron cage. Marcus lies on the floor of the cage, motionless.
Caroline scans the area and discovers a key hanging from a hook on the wall. When she wants to take him off the wall, her armored foot brushes against Marcus, who is apparently awakened by this. He blinks in disbelief several times, recognizes the situation and calls out “Wait!”, but it’s too late.
Caroline’s fingers close around the supposed key, from the end of which a fanged maw suddenly shoots. The creature bites her hand heartily and the product marketing manager feels a sharp pain. “Ouch,” she yells, dropping the key and clutching her bleeding fingers. Her scream echoes around the cave, and all of a sudden eyeballs and toothy maws appear on the rocks in the wall – the whole cave is teeming with cloaked monsters. You have fallen into a trap. And sure enough, before they can say agile, the group is surrounded.
“Bring them to the main hall,” one of the monstrous rocks growls. “He’ll want to get rid of her himself.” The group’s reunion with Marcus is joyless as all four are driven deeper into the cave system by the copycat monsters.
At the center of evil
They pass more chained villagers until they finally reach a large underground cavern: hundreds of meters long, hundreds of meters high, and lit with huge fires. All around them are the ghastly copycat monsters of an incredible variety: animals, furniture and even a collection of weapons, all monsters in disguise. Perched atop a throne in the center of the room is a humble treasure chest. But as they get closer, she too changes form, revealing bulging eyes and a mouth full of fangs.
“Aha! Even the king’s best people can’t stop me! That’s not surprising – for nobody, nobody can stop the master of deceit, the lord of imitation, me, Luciffy,” laughs the shapeshifter on his throne evilly. The madness in his eyes makes the team shudder, and he shouts to his subordinates, “Loyal subjects, loyal mimics, bring our loot!”
A waddling oak tree and a two-legged coal wagon emerge from the shadows, pushing a heavy iron cage in front of them. From within, a strange creature looks balefully at the group of heroes: half sheep, half pig, half cow, and half chicken. It seems the copycat monsters have finally found what they were looking for – Jack of all trades has been captured.
“Well, do you know this one-of-a-kind beast? The one that, as they say, ‘can do anything’?”. Luciffy grins coldly. “I bet you don’t know his little secret, but I do. The Jack of all trades can do anything, and there’s something in there that no one else can do – she lays eggs that contain magic spells. And every now and then there’s an egg in there too , which contains the most powerful of all spells – a wishing spell.”
A bad plan
“Yes, my plan is working perfectly!” giggles the insane monster. “For years we mimics were the laughing stock of the kingdom, the bottom of the food chain, the laughing stock of the ecosystem. But that’s over now! Because see, now all I have to do is wait – and as soon as that sow lays a wish spell egg, mine is Hour has come! I will make a wish that will create the perfect utopia – I will wish for every creature to become a mimic!” His loud, insane laughter fills the cave and the assembled monsters join in cheering. “And once I’m done with Connectalot, I’ll travel to your homeworld – and do the exact same thing there!”
Ice-cold anger grips Caroline. The muscles in her arms tighten as she clenches her fists, but before she can take a step to face the megalomaniac Treasure Chest Monster, Angie’s little cat form darts forward and stands in front of Luciffy.
“Nobody likes cheap copies, Luciffy, and we’re going to make sure you don’t get away with it,” she says without batting an eyelid. Encouraged by Angie’s firm words, the four heroes, each on their own, join in Weapons or magic, and if the Mimic King thought he had intimidated them, he now sees that the opposite has happened: the entire Fiends & Foes team bravely stands up to him.
An evil twinkle gleams in Luciffy’s eyes: “Well, if you don’t want to become one of us, I guess we’ll have to make four skeletons mimics. – Destroy them!” he yells, and screeching, the pack of his followers lunge at ours heroes.
The four colleagues exchange one last, knowing look. If they fail, not only will this kingdom and this alien world perish, but the earth as well. It is as King Gaudenz the Elder said at the beginning of their journey – the only thing standing between freedom and annihilation are Caroline, Marcus, Pauline and Angie. Knowing that they hold the fate of both worlds in their hands, the four charge into battle with determination.
Experience the end up close – at the draw.io booth
Do you want to know how the exciting adventure ends? Will the quartet be able to free the jack of all trades before she lays an egg with a wishing spell? Or will Luciffy’s minions defeat the heroes and plunge the world into darkness? Join us at Team ’23 in Las Vegas, where you can not only read the ending, but help shape it! Exactly, we’re hosting a tabletop game based on our story right at our booth and you can play along!
just come up to us if you want to know moreor inform yourself here about the Team ’23.
The draw.io diagram inspiration of the week (also usable for quests)
You got lost in a confusing cave complex and don’t have a suitable map at hand? Don’t worry – draw.io’s freehand drawing tool lets you visualize everything you need quickly and easily. Try our live collaboration feature, which allows you to work with multiple people on the same map at the same time.
How do you like our take on the imaginary hideout of the BBEG (Big Bad Evil Guy)? Can you do better? Then start right away and create your own dungeon maps with draw.io! Simply download your free 30-day trial from the Atlassian Marketplace!
To help you get started, we have a few videos for you:
And now: Happy (original) diagramming!
Further information
The draw.io Adventure (5): On Conflicts, Resistances, and Retrospectives (Adventures in Diagramming, Part 5)
The draw.io adventure (4) – knowledge sharing with Atlas (Adventures in Diagramming, part 4)
The draw.io adventure (3) – the power of collaboration (Adventures in Diagramming, part 3)
An unexpected journey – the draw.io adventure continues! (Adventures in Diagramming, Part 2)
An unexpected journey – the draw.io adventure begins! (Adventures in Diagramming, Part 1)