Couriers

Couriers are the explorers the Church sends into the Dark Mist. Their shared job is to find the Colossal Grave, which exists in stories more than on maps (UIQuest 10102). Most of the player's party are Couriers or former Couriers. The Church that employs them is described in Church of the Blessedland; the other groups are in Factions.

Overview#

• Equipment. A Courier carries a small lamp that burns whale oil, with a range and brightness depending on how pure the oil is (ItemData 10055-10061). In play this is probably the Mist Lamp (inferred) that opens the Dark Mist zones (Deep into the Dark Mist#The Mist Camp and the Mist Lamp). Important Couriers carry Church-made hourglasses to warn of Marcion curses (ItemData 10012). Couriers record their experiences in diaries, which the texts say are useless for finding the Grave (ItemData 10011).
• Mind and body. Couriers have seen so many things that violate common sense that they have become powerful because of it, and they invented elixirs that deliberately cause Abnormality (ItemData 20020, 20021). Immortal jellyfish are said to be the souls of dead Couriers lighting the way for new ones (ItemData 26003).
• Ascetics. A branch of Couriers who toughen themselves with self-mutilation so they can resist the Sendrils (ItemData 70005; the Maddened Ascetic bosses are examples).
• Banishment. A Courier can lose the right to return to the Blessedland; the quest text for entering the Blessedland via Edith says Terrence lost that qualification long ago (UIQuest 10511). Banished Couriers are collected at Exilium (UIQuest 10302).
• Amnesty. The Overseer promised that any Courier who found the Seal of Yekub would be pardoned and allowed back into the Blessedland (StoryDialog story 5 row 1127).
• Glenn. Glenn drives the Carriage and works on contract: he tells Terrence the contract ends once the Colossal Grave is found, though it stays valid for any errands before entering (StoryDialog story 7 rows 2033-2035). The Bone Whistle summons him to carry a Courier back (ItemData 26001, 26002).
• Companion key. The Ancient Silver Key calls a companion who cannot fight in the current area. The text asks whether it is a blessing or a Sendril curse that turns people into puppets (ItemData 20027).

Hidden mechanics#

• The Egg of the Bearer is a damage-halving crutch. While the Egg (ItemData 10018, the item id the code calls NoobItem) is in the bag, damage dealt to the host character is multiplied by 0.5, including damage-over-time ticks (gamedata/playerdefine/animalbase_value_define.lua:28; logic/playervalue/animalbase_value.lua:2010-2012, 2022-2024; logic/status/status104.lua:20-21, 45-46; structdata/ms_itemdata.lua:112). The main menu shows a special status marker while you carry it (structdata/fs_itemlist.lua:127-134). The item text mocks anyone who takes shortcuts, and the achievement "Legendary Courier" requires finishing the fourth Journey or higher without having used it (Achievement 20005; controller/controllerstorymode.lua:1536-1541, 9440-9441). The Egg is removed on a new Journey (GamePlusRemove = 1; New Game Plus#What carries over and what is removed). The achievement's difficulty gate is in Achievements#Hidden mechanics; the damage step is in Damage formula.
• Rankings. The arcade results screen compares you with other Couriers as a percentage (GameText UI_ARCADE_RESULT_RANK_COMPARE). See Arcade mode.

Sources#

• ItemData.jsonl 10011, 10012, 10018, 10055-10061, 20020, 20021, 20027, 26001-26003, 70005; UIQuest.jsonl 10102, 10302, 10511; StoryDialog.jsonl story 5 row 1127; story 7 rows 2033-2035; Achievement.jsonl 20005; code: animalbase_value_define.lua:28, animalbase_value.lua:2010-2024, status104.lua:20-46, controllerstorymode.lua:1536-1541; GameText.jsonl UI_ARCADE_RESULT_RANK_COMPARE.