R1otPolice
Zeke is pissing me off. First, I wouldn’t have succumbed to a bunch of goons trying to kidnap me. But on the off chance that I had been kidnapped and dropped into the Cathedral of Ash, I’m walking out in like…a day. Two tops.
Not even trying to flex here, that’s just how easy Frontiers is if you understand the systems. You can get busted FAST. Zeke is thinking way too small here. He’s got a weapon, he’s got the keystone elixir that he still hasn’t drunk, and he’s got access to a forum filled with glyph experts. It’s a ridiculous toolkit if he leans into it.
Stop overcomplicating this! Pull out your guitar/axe and go full anime protagonist on these people. The Black Teeth aren’t filled with elites. They’re mid-tier at best. Once he drops a couple bodies with his axe, his melee skill is going to spike and it’ll build momentum. Then everything snowballs from there.
You don’t survive in Frontiers by hiding in a corner. He needs to become the scariest thing in the setting. That’s the only way he lives.
MushroomCleric
| he’s got access to a forum filled with glyph experts. |
Glyphs are only useful if you’ve got time to set them up. If he’s getting ambushed, he can’t exactly tell people to wait while he draws out a bunch of diagrams on the ground.
Glyphs aren’t some kind of instant “I win” button.
StealthieGurl101
Stealth is the optimal strategy.
Z3ke, change your mindset. Start thinking like this is a horror movie and you’re the sneaky monster preying on all the horny college kids. Stay low and find some blind spots. Then you scout everyone out and find out who’s paying attention and who isn’t. Then you grind a stealth skill until you unlock it, pop your keystone elixir and boost it straight to Rank 7.
After that, you hunt the shit out of the Chapel Pit. The lights go out and all the guards start disappearing. You can turn the Chapel Pit into a charnel house where you’re the avenging angel. By the time anyone starts cottoning onto the idea that something is wrong, half the Black Teeth will be paranoid wrecks thinking some wraith is stalking them.
InnerMarrow
SIGH
That’s right, I’m sighing at those plans. We’ve got one dood telling Zeke he needs to become John Wick. We’ve got someone else urging Zeke to go full on Arkham Asylum. What part of anything that Zeke has written makes you think he can pull all of that off?
I love the guy, but he panicked after stabbing two bandits on a train. His only notable kill in the story was the Reclaimer, and even then he was basically in the backseat while the rest of the forum and Milicent did all the heavy lifting.
FarFieldVanishes
|I’m walking out in like…a day. Two tops. |
That’s some bosheet. You’d get swamped the moment you dropped the first guard. This isn’t some solo dungeon run in the early game. This is a full-on faction stronghold.
You think you can really just roll into Black Teeth territory and go Doom Slayer on them? That means you’ve been playing Frontiers on easy. Try surviving a Zeke-run before bragging that you’re built different.
CrushDaddyXx
| go Doom Slayer on them? |
I agree that it’s a bad idea…but can you imagine Zeke just going batshit insane, blasting The Only Thing They Fear Is You, and going full chainsaw massacre on the Black Teeth? That would be peak fiction. But yea, no, he’d die immediately.
We don’t want to have Zeke go punching all the Black Teeth because that would get him killed before he got strong enough to go punching all the Black Teeth.
Cold_Reboot
How the hell is Crush the voice of reason right now? What timeline did we slip into?
RedCarpetManiac
Agreed, all the other plans are shit. Zeke, you said they’re feeding you, right? That means that they’ve got some kind of kitchen or food storage area in the Chapel.
The best plan is for you to sneak around and find that food source, and then contaminate it. Give everyone food poisoning and it’ll spread. The guards will get sick and start dropping like flies. Then you just walk out the front doors.
RoadWarrior77
| Then you just walk out the front doors. |
And what? Die of dehydration while walking through the middle of the Deadlands? He needs a vehicle. He talked about garages and repair bays being scattered about the place, which means that’s his best bet.
He needs to get something that runs. Even a half-broken truck is better than trying to escape through the Deadlands on foot.
Also, poison? Really?
RedCarpetManiac
It works for Talion in Shadow of Mordor. You can poison all the grog and make everyone weaker. That’s what Zeke needs to do with the Black Teeth. They’re basically like the Uruk-Hai in the Fracture-verse.
DeconstructedAntlers
Fake being weak. Really sell it by collapsing a few times and make the Black Teeth think that you’re barely hanging on. The worst case scenario is that they move you somewhere less guarded because you’re low value. Then you get a chance to escape. The best case is that they completely ignore you. Then you get a chance to escape.
InnerMarrow
No. The worst case is they decide he’s useless as a slave and just dump his body in the pit. It’s not like the Black Teeth have HR managers who care about the labor pool. What use is a weak slave to a slaver?
StealthieGurl1010
Okay fine, if you don’t want to go full horror movie on them (which I still think is the best idea) then kill a guard and take his gear.
Most Black Teeth in the game have masks and junk armor. Half of them probably don’t know each other by face. If you drop one in a blind spot, strip him, and then suit up, you’re good to go.
Keep your head down and just don’t talk that much. You’ve got your Persona skill and that should help sell the idea that you’re just another faceless good. Then you act like a random grunt until you find an exit.
BigDutchOven
^Stealthie. Zeke needs to Solid Snake this. Where are the cardboard boxes when you need it?
CradleOfMirth
| kill a guard and take his gear. |
Yea, because no one’s going to notice a missing guy or a random naked body lying around. Great plan. 4/5 stars. No notes.
Orm
Well, he’s got the Keystone Elixir in reserve. Definitely time to drink that; don’t die with consumables remaining…or at all, if you can help it.
StealthieGurl101
^Orm. That’s what I’m saying. Stealth Rank 7 will get him out of that place. If not that, use it on Persona and pretend to be a guard.
SignalLoss
You’re forgetting the part where he has seemingly STOPPED leveling his Persona skill because he’s afraid it’s changing him.
Skelatox
| he’s afraid it’s changing him. |
Life changes you. Learning any new skill, even poorly, changes how you look at people who’ve mastered (or at least reached a high degree in) that skill. Carrying a weapon that you’re willing to use changes how you react to threats. Having a poor night’s sleep changes you. It’s not really something to panic about. We’re never the same person from one day to the next.
StoryLeech
^Cradle. You’re all thinking in game logic where NPCs don’t have object permanence. Zeke is in a slave pit filled with paranoid raiders. The second that Zeke kills one of them, the guy’s crew is going to notice that he’s missing. Or someone will find the naked body and then they start checking for a slave dressed as a Black Teeth.
Zeke would get spotted IMMEDIATELY and then folded like a lawn chair.
Caboodle
Can we circle back to R1ot’s “just go ham” strategy? Zeke got jumped by like five dudes in an alley and barely survived. Now we’re suggesting that he 1v1000 a faction in their home base?
There’s a reason that 2 on 1 fights end up with a victory for the numbers. You’re telling Zeke to shout “worldstar” and just sprint at the Black Teeth and that’s going to get him killed.
I love the confidence in Zeke’s melee skills. It’s inspiring. But it’s also completely detached from reality.
Reetzy
I’m tasting the possibility of a slave revolt, viva la revolution!
BrightSky18
He could try to use Performance to start a slave uprising, but that’ll probably be suicidal since the Black Teeth are heavily armed and not breathing in magic asbestos.
Ulises
That’s exactly what I was thinking while reading this. Especially because “revolutions” was exactly what was given as an example for one of his class skills a while ago.
GnomelandSecurity (Proctor)
I’m stepping in here. Some of your ideas are…creative. That’s the only word I can use without Gravemind temp banning me. But all those plans are going to get Zeke killed in under five minutes.
Zeke, if you’re reading this, do NOT charge a group of armed raiders head-on. Do NOT try to stealth kill your way through an entire Cathedral of Ash. Do NOT assume that disguises are going to magically work for you. And unless you’ve secretly developed a chemistry skill on par with Walter White, you don’t really have anything that can act as a poison so you’re not going to be doing that plan either.
DuckDetective13
The vehicle idea is so far the only one that is remotely viable, but even that needs some kind of setup. Zeke needs some allies, a distraction that can pull attention away from the cars, and someone who can actually hotwire the car and drive it.
UnhelpfullyHelpful
These ideas sound like speedrun strats that won’t work in the real world. Zeke can’t clip his way through a wall and he can hop on one of the Black Teeth and launch himself across the map.
PixelBaron
Zeke: trapped in a nightmare slave mine and covered with brain-fog dust.
Forum: have you tried to become a stealth god?
K1LLPR1EST
The only useful takeaway from everyone’s “solutions” is that we now have confirmation that if anyone from this forum were isekai’d into the Fracture-verse and dropped into the Chapel Pit, they’d last about twelve seconds.
StoryLeech
Twelve seconds is being generous. Half this forum would try to deliver a dramatic one-liner to a Black Teeth guard and get punched mid-sentence.
GnomelandSecurity (Proctor)
Zeke, your best bet right now is to try and find some allies among the slaves. We’ll keep trying to come up with some sort of plan, but anything we come up with…you’re going to need numbers to help make it work.
***
Z3ke (Original Poster)
Have you guys figured out a plan yet? Also, ReCoil…can you tone it down a bit? I don’t know how long I’ve got before one of the guards checks in on us, and right now my brain is struggling to read anything. I don’t have the energy to try and decipher everything you write, and since you’re supposed to be my Primary, you’re going to be writing the most.
GnomelandSecurity (Proctor)
We’re working on it, but we don’t have anything solid for you yet. The best option so far is still for you to find some allies. How’s that going?
Z3ke (Original Poster)
Not great. I’ve been trying to do what you all suggested, but it’s not that simple.
We finished our work for the day and they tossed us all back in the holding pens, but I’m just so goddamn exhausted that I don’t want to do anything else. My hands are all torn up, my body is achy from being punched and kicked around, and there’s that Veylstone dust everywhere and it’s making my mind all sluggish.
I’ve been trying to keep an eye out for allies, and so far I’ve figured out that the slaves can be divided up into three groups. Most are part of the group that I’m going to call the broken.
They don’t talk at all and whenever I try to interact with them they just flinch away. All they do is keep their heads down and do what the guards say. Whatever they were before they got to this place is just…gone. I don’t think they’re going to be much help for whatever you all have planned.
The second group is the survivors but it’s hard to tell them apart from the broken. There’s maybe two or three in my holding pen and they’re quiet and not trying to draw attention to themselves. They seem somewhat clearheaded, and it’s like they’re just waiting for a moment or a chance where they can escape.
Then the third group is the volatiles and…I really don’t want to try and work with them. It feels like they’re kinda like the broken in that they don’t think that we can escape. They’ve given up on that, but they’re still pissed and they’ve got some fight in them. They are the kind who want to hurt the Black Teeth and think that as long as they can take out a guard or two, they’re happy with dying.
R1otPolice
Broken, survivors and volatile? Stop trying to fit everything into some kind of sociological experiment and start trying to get your way out of there man.
I’m about to drop this story.
SpicyShoyu
We asked him for info and he’s giving it to us. We need all that to help him plot out an escape R1ot.
R1otPolice
No. He needs to get the “volatiles” to work together and start a slave revolt. That’s how he gets free and clear. He’s got a ready made army all around him and it’s time he puts them to use.
ShivSays
A ready made army that is malnourished, weak, chained up, and lacking weapons. This shit ain’t Spartacus dood.
Z3ke (Original Poster)
What the shit are you talking about? You want me to form an army out of slaves who lost all will to live? That’s not gonna work. And even if I get the volatiles to help out, fighting our way out won’t do shit. That was proven when one of the volatiles snapped today and almost got me killed.
Shootingblnks
What do you mean one of them snapped? Was there a revolution? Were you at the head of it?
Z3ke (Original Poster)
Are you kidding me right now? There’s a bunch of slaves, but we’re all chained together and there’s more Black Teeth. Plus, they’re all armed and not half-starved.
No, what happened today was I found out what the Black Teeth do when one of their guards is killed. We were working in the pit and this guy just lost it.
He was one of the guys whose job it was to pick up the Veylstone the rest of us were mining and toss it in the wheelbarrows. We were working and I heard this thump behind me and turned around, half-expecting to see a guy having fallen to the ground out of exhaustion. Instead, it was a volatile who had seen his chance and took it. He dropped his gear, turned, and sprinted straight at one of the guards.
He slammed into the guy and tackled him and they both flew off the scaffolding and plummeted into the pit. Everyone froze and most of the slaves flinched back like they were about to get hit. Some just stared at where the guard used to be. I saw one or two of the people in my pen stiffen and look around, and it looked like they were trying to decide if this was the moment that they’d been waiting for.
I turned to look at the Black Teeth who were guarding us, and they were all laughing their asses off. It wasn’t a nervous laughter either. It was a booming one, like they’d just seen the best show of their lives.
I thought that was an odd reaction to having just seen one of your friends killed by a slave, but then I figured out that the guard who’d died wasn’t associated with the Black Teeth watching over us. He was with a different crew or clan or family or whatever they want to call each other.
It’s something I noticed today. There are a couple different clans in the Black Teeth. I think. They’ve all got the same split circle tattoo as the first guard that I saw a few days ago, but there are subtle variations to the tattoo that I’m guessing denotes different clans or families.
The Black Teeth watching over us thought that the tackle was hilarious, but the ones who had lost their guy were pissed about it. About six members of that crew charged at us and started laying into us with clubs and fists and kicks. A guy near me was yanked back and slammed into the ground and he spit up blood. Another got smashed by a metal club across the face and he didn’t get back up.
I was grabbed by one of the Black Teeth and I tried fighting back. I got an arm up to defend myself but the guy drove a fist into my stomach and it doubled me over. Someone punched me in the back of my head and I went down and must have blacked out for a second because the next thing I knew boots were kicking in my ribs and everything was ringing.
The beating would’ve continued but the Black Teeth watching over us stepped in. They told the other clan to back off and that they shouldn’t be touching their slaves, and then shit escalated fast. Weapons were drawn and for a second I thought both groups would start killing each other. The two survivors I picked out looked at each other and I could see them grabbing their pickaxes and holding them close, getting ready to jump in.
They didn’t get the chance though because, before the Black Teeth could get to fighting this older guy showed up. He stepped in between the two clans and mumbled something that I couldn’t hear because of the ringing in my head. Whatever he said shut everyone up. Weapons started to get sheathed and there was a pause before the two clans started laughing and nodding. The older guy gestured at all of us and then pointed at something a ways away.
“If you want blood, then you need to put on a show.”
I managed to haul myself back to my feet and shuffled into line with the rest of the slaves, thinking that the whole near-riot between the clans was finished. It was, but what replaced it was worse. They loved the older Black Teeth guy’s idea and guards immediately started grabbing people.
There wasn’t any rhyme or reason for who they grabbed, they just reached out and yanked slaves out of the line by whatever they could get their hands on. One guy tried to pull away and he caught a club to the side of the head. Anyone who resisted got beat until they stopped.
The chains came back out and cold iron snapped around our wrists and necks. They linked us together and marched us out of the pit, but they weren’t shepherding us back to the holding pens. No. We were pushed deeper into the Cathedral.
I could hear our destination before I saw it. There was this cacophonous mix of shouting and laughter and the sound of metal against metal. Engines were revving and they let out this deep, angry sound that echoed through everything. And underneath it all was the constant roaring coming from a crowd. It sounded like we were walking into a concert, except it was meaner and angrier and drunker than any concert I’d ever been to.
We were shoved into this massive open space and in the middle of it was this large circular pit recessed into the ground. It obviously wasn’t as large as the pit where we were mining everything. Instead it was only about five or six feet deep and around thirty or forty feet across. The ground was packed dirt, and there were spots where you could see the blood and spit and piss had soaked into the ground.
Surrounding the pit was a bunch of jury-rigged seating and platforms stacked on top of each other. Floodlights were lashed onto poles and they blasted white light down into the center of the pit. And everywhere I looked, I saw Black Teeth.
They were all packed in together. Some were sitting, some were standing, and they were all drinking. They shoved each other and shouted and laughed. There were a few bookies that were scattered throughout the crowd. Some held up fingers and some passed out items. Arguments broke out over the odds and insults were tossed around haphazardly.
When we finally made our way over to the pit we were lined up on the edge of it. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the other Black Teeth clan had dragged in their own group of slaves. They were all looking just as panicked as we were, and both clans started reaching in and plucking people out of the line.
Our guards moved down the line and started shoving people forward and backwards. One of them paused in front of me and looked me over. I must have looked like shit after the beating I’d just taken. Bruises were blooming on my face and I could barely stand straight. The guard grabbed my arm and turned me a little, like he was inspecting livestock. Then he shoved me aside with a shake of his head.
“Not this one,” he muttered.
Just like that, I was safe. But the guy next to me wasn’t so lucky. He was pushed forward and I saw the fear and panic on his face. Across the way, the other clan had chosen five of their own slaves. Each group grabbed their slaves and started shoving them towards the pit.
The lucky few of us who hadn’t been chosen were shoved to the lower platforms around the arena. There weren’t any seats free and we were instead forced to stand. They packed us in tight and a bunch of the Black Teeth in the crowd saw us and started shouting and making threatening motions towards us, laughing whenever one of us flinched away.
Black Teeth crowded the edges of the arena. They leaned over railings and almost spilled into the arena and shouted at the slaves in the pit like they were watching a tv show.
The ten slaves, five from each clan, were shoved into the center of the arena and then…nothing happened. Nobody moved. They all just stood there under the floodlights, staring at each other and at the crowd and trying to understand what was expected of them. The crowd didn’t like that and they started shouting and braying for blood.
A bottle arc’d from the crowd and crashed into one of the slaves. It nailed him across the face and the glass shattered and shards cut into his skin, drawing blood. The crowd roared with laughter. I heard one of the guards shout something but I couldn’t quite make out the words. I still understood what he was shouting though. He was telling them to fight.
I’ve seen fights before. I’ve seen a whole range of them, everything from drunk college kids to professionals.
When drunks fight, they always try to act all badass and they peacock around and puff up their chests and try to star down whoever pissed them off. Those fights never amount to anything because, the truth of the matter is that people inherently don’t want to get into a fist fight. Drunks just like to pretend they’re hard, but they don’t want to actually swing at someone. They just bump chests and curse at each other and say “whatchu gonna do about it?” and wait until their buddy steps in and breaks up the fight.
I’ve also seen MMA fights and boxing matches. The bar used to show fights whenever they were on and we had a steady stream of regulars who’d come in and shout at the screen.
Neither of those - the drunk kids and the MMA professionals - fought like the slaves in the arena. For one, there wasn’t any skill or drunken confidence on display. It was just panic. A few of the slaves were afraid of pissing off the Black Teeth, so they decided to charge in. They were all wild swings and desperate tackles and biting and kicking. There wasn’t any sort of technique or plan to their actions, they just fought.
A few of the slaves hesitated. I locked eyes with one guy who just shook his head and tried to back away. It was like he was thinking that if he turned his back on it then he’d be safe and the Black Teeth wouldn’t punish him. Another slave rushed at him and tackled him to the ground before he started pounding away at the man until blood flew. The crowd loved that.
There were screams and stomping. A few of the Black Teeth started throwing drinks into the pit. Someone near me dumped half a bottle over the railing as he cheered the bloodshed. The noise was this constant, overwhelming wall of sound.
I tried to look away but one of the guards noticed and he walked over to me. When he was standing in front of me he drove a fist straight into my stomach. I dropped to my knees, gasping for breath, and before I could recover he grabbed my head between his hands and forced me to look at the arena.
“Watch,” he growled out.
Whenever one of the slaves went down, there was a surge of noise from the crowd. It was a mixture of cheers and boos and complaints and shouts. People started settling bets and others started shoving people aside so they could get a better look.
The fight dragged on longer than I expected because the slaves kept hesitating. They were just trying to survive, so they didn’t try too hard to kill their opponents. But that didn’t exactly work out for them.
When it was all over there were only three of the slaves left standing. They were covered in a mixture of blood and spit and sweat and dust. One of them swayed and then bent at the waist and vomited all over the arena floor. That drew laughs from the crowd.
A few of the Black Teeth climbed into the arena and grabbed the survivors and dragged them out. While that was going on I saw another clan start dragging a few slaves towards the far side of the pit. There were four of them and they were all still chained together. A Black Teeth stepped into the ring alongside them and the man was absolutely massive. He was holding a bat in his hands and a grin spread across his face like it was the best day of his life. I didn’t want to be forced to watch this fight, and thankfully I didn’t have to. Our Black Teeth guards marched us away from the pit before it started.
We were guided back to the pit and our spots in the mine and then just released and told to get back to work. We worked a few more hours and then were tossed back in the holding pen and that’s where I am now.
DuckDetective13
The volatiles might be useful actually. If they’re willing to fight the Black Teeth, that might be enough of a distraction to get you to safety.
SignalLoss
You kidding mate? ONE of them tackled a Black Teeth into the pit. Even if it was a one for one trade, that still leaves tons of Black Teeth - armed with weapons and skills - for Zeke to fend off.
Even if the clans would laugh if a guy from another family got killed by a slave, that doesn’t mean they’re just going to sit back and watch a revolt happen under their noses.
DeadMienWalking
He shouldn’t be relying on the volatiles. Zeke, you need to find useful slaves in the holding pen with you.
Is there anyone there with any skills? That should be your first check. Find some slaves who got something more than just a 3 in their melee skill ranks.
R1otPolice
Why didn’t you just fight after the guy speared the Black Teeth off the pit? You said the two clans were distracted and at each other’s throats. THAT was your moment. That was when you should have started attacking people. You should have jumped in, pulled out your guitar/axe, and started swinging.
InnerMarrow
Jeezus no. Don’t do that Zeke. You said there were survivors mixed in with the other slaves. The fact that they didn’t attack is proof that it wasn’t the time for heroics.
CradleOfMirth
Yea Zeke. Why didn’t you simply 1vEveryone? You really missed your shot there. /s
MapHackJunkie
Zeke, I know you’re tired, but you’ve got time now. Start talking to a few of the people in your holding pen. Get their stories and understand what you’re working with.
We’re still coming up with a plan, but anything we come up with is going to be easier if you’ve got allies to help out.
ReCoil44 (Primary)
Correction. We have a plan.
Z3ke, you are still approaching this as though your survival hinges on brute force. It does not and it never has.
You view yourself as a combatant who can stand toe-to-toe with armed raiders and carve a path to freedom, but this is a fundamental misreading of your capabilities. You have demonstrated, repeatedly and quite conclusively, that direct violence is not your domain no matter how fervently certain individuals on this forum wish to cast you in that role.
You are NOT a fighter. You are so much better than that, because you are a performer. A rockstar.
Z3ke, you have now witnessed the nature of the Black Teeth firsthand. Their cruelty is theatrical. They revel in spectacle and domination. You have seen this in how quickly they transformed a potential internal conflict into a blood-soaked exhibition for their own amusement. Bloodshed, gambling, and cheering crowds is their language. It is how they understand the world.
Which brings us to the plan that you have not yet alighted upon. Several individuals on this forum - some more eloquently than others - have already circled the correct conclusion. What you need is a movement. You need a destabilizing event that is large enough to ensure your ability to escape.
Stated in simpler terms: you need to create a slave revolt.
I’m not talking about the crude and suicidal kind bandied about by the more…enthusiastic among the forum’s residents. Do not blindly rush into gun fire. Instead, you must give the Black Teeth a spectacle so compelling that they lean into it willingly. You must create a moment that is so charged with anticipation, so saturated with energy, that their attention narrows to a single point. Then, you turn that energy outwards.
Your skills - Performance, Instrument Mastery, and Persona - are tools specifically suited for this environment. When amplified correctly, they can influence emotion, heighten aggression, and unify disparate individuals under a shared rhythm.
Conduct the orchestra of a slave revolt. Turn the Black Teeth hunger for violence against itself. Feed it. Shape it. And escalate it beyond their ability to contain.
Should you make the Black Teeth lose control, even briefly, then the slaves will not need to be convinced to revolt. They will already be moving. And in that singular, carefully engineered collapse of order, you simply leave.
StoryLeech
The Scarf King thinks you should start a riot. But like…with style.