An Unexpected Journey - Of Good Teamwork, Failed Rescue Attempts and Devilish Schemes (draw.io Adventures in Diagramming, Part 6) - News, tips & guidance for agile, development, Atlassian-Software (JIRA, Confluence, Bitbucket, ...) and Google Cloud

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We are slowly approaching the grand finale of our draw.io adventure! If you've followed the four heroes Caroline, Marcus, Pauline, and Angie up to this point (if not, you'll find all the previous parts linked below), you know that they actually all work for a game development company (team "Fiends & Foes"), were brought to the kingdom of Connectalot via a magical portal, pledged their help there after some teething problems and paid a visit to a dragon named Atlas. However, in the last part, they lost their colleague Marcus, who was kidnapped by a tentacle-wielding monster. Now that the whole thing has become personal, the only thing left to hope for is that the three remaining team members will be able to save their Agile Coach...

A not-so-secret hideout

Any thought of returning to Austin has vanished from the minds of Caroline, Pauline, and Angie. Instead, they are determined to track down the kidnappers, free Marcus, and hopefully solve the mystery of the "Eierlegende Wollmilchsau" and the missing citizens of Connectalot. They now take cover in the bushes near the secret hideout, whose location was revealed to them on the map. They realize that they will have to combine perfect teamwork, as they know it from home, with their new, heroic abilities in order to survive against the threat - even if they still don't know what they are fighting against at all…

In a reflex, Caroline's hand closes tighter 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 of them. Together with Pauline and Angie, she has walked all night to find the entrance to this hiding place.

When Angie gives the signal that the coast is clear from her vantage point near the entrance, Caroline and Pauline start moving, making sure to move as quietly as they can so as to not alert anyone to their presence.

“Okay,” whispers Angie, as the others creep closer, “I haven’t seen any movement. After what happened yesterday, for all I know every tree, bush, or flower could be one of those hidden monsters, but I'm as sure as I can be that it's safe to go in.”

Spelunking for beginners?

With the lithe cat person leading the way, the three slowly tiptoe into the cave system. They know from their acquired map that the system is quite large, but as their eyes adjust to the dim torchlight, They do get a bit discouraged when they see how many tunnels are branching out in every direction.

Pauline shakes her head. “There’s no way these are natural tunnels, look at the walls; these passages have been dug by hand.”

Sure enough, as the party ventures deeper they find discarded broken picks and shovels, and other evidence of mining. Before long, Pauline’s sharp elvish hearing detects voices down one of the corridors, intermixed with the crack of steel hitting stone. She signals the others, and, following the sound, they discover a group of villagers chained together, attempting to dig another tunnel out of the hard rock. Angie, Pauline, and Caroline quickly free them, and the grateful captives relate their story; each was tricked by a mimic who teleported them into the mine, where they have been forced to dig for the Eierlegende Wollmilchsau, who is hiding out somewhere in the network of caves. They do not know for certain why the creature is so important, but it seems to be something about its magical ability to “do anything”.

An almost successful rescue

After giving the villagers directions back to the surface, they continue their search. Angie uses her cat-like senses to keep them pointed in the right direction. After a while, she picks up a familiar scent, Marcus’ beard oil! With renewed energy, they continue their way and soon they arrive at a small alcove with a locked iron cage. Inside, their friend Marcus lies still and unmoving on the ground.

Searching the nearby area, Caroline spots a key hanging from a hook on the wall. She moves to grab it, her footsteps causing Marcus to stir in his cell. Blinking his eyes in disbelief, Marcus opens his mouth and shouts “Wait!”, but it’s too late.

As Caroline’s fingers grasp the key, a fanged mouth sprouts from its end and chomps down on her hand. “Yeeouch!” the Product Marketing Manager cries, dropping the key and grabbing her bleeding fingers. Her cry reverberates around the cavern, and soon eyeballs and toothy maws appear on the rocks in the wall, revealing even the cave itself to contain hidden mimics; they’ve walked into a trap. Quicker than they can say "agile", the party is surrounded.

“Bring them to the main chamber!” growls one of the monstrous rocks. “He will want to dispose of them himself”. The party’s reunification with Marcus is joyless, as all four are herded by mimics deeper into the cave system.

The centre of evil

They pass rows and rows of chained villagers until eventually they reach a large underground cavern, hundreds of feet long and a hundred feet high, lit by massive bonfires. All around them walk mimics of an incredible variety; animals, furniture, and even a collection of weapons are all monsters in disguise. Perched high on a throne in the middle of the room is a humble treasure chest. But, as they get closer, it too changes form to reveal bulging eyes, and a mouthful of fangs.

“Aha! So, all the kings’ finest couldn’t stop me, eh?! That’s no surprise, for no one can stop the lord of all mimics, Luciffy!”, the mimic laughs maniacally on his throne. The madness in his eyes makes the team shudder, and he calls out to his minions, “Loyal subjects, please bring forth our prize!”

A shambling oak tree and a bipedal cabbage cart appear from the shadows, pushing a heavy iron cage. Inside, a very curious creature stares balefully at the heroes; part sheep, part pig, part cow, and part chicken. It seems the mimics finally have what they were digging for, and the Eierlegende Wollmilchsau has been captured.

“I think you four know all about this unique beast, don’t you? The one who can ‘do it all’, as they say?”. Luciffy grins coldly. “I’ll bet you don’t know its little secret, but I do. The Eierlegende Wollmilchsau can do everything, but it also does something nothing else can – it lays eggs that contain magic spells. And, every once in a while, those eggs contain the most powerful spell of all – a wishing spell“.

An evil plan

“Yes, my plan is coming to fruition!” cackles the crazed monster. “For years, we mimics have been the joke of the kingdom, the bottom of the food chain, the laughing stock of the ecosystem. But no more! For you see, all I need to do now is wait, and once this pig lays an egg with a wishing spell, I will make a wish that will create the perfect utopia – I will wish for every creature to become a mimic!” His loud, maniacal laughter fills the cavern, joining the other cheers of the assembled Mimics. “And, once I’m done with Connectalot, I will travel to your home world and do the same.”

A cold rage builds inside of Caroline. The muscles in her arms bulge as she tightens her fists in anger, but before she can step forward to offer the megalomaniac treasure chest monster a rebuke, the small feline form of Angie leaps to the head of the group.

“No one likes a copycat, Luciffy, and there is no way we’re going to let you get away with this,” she says, without blinking. Emboldened by Angie's decisive words, the four heroes arm themselves, each separately, with weapons or magic, and if the Mimic King had thought he had intimidated them, he now sees that the opposite has happened: the entire Fiends & Foes team bravely confronts him.

A wicked gleam enters Luciffy’s eyes; “well, if you don't want to become one of us, then I guess four skeletons will become mimics instead. Destroy them!” he yells, and the pack of minions surges at our heroes.

The four co-workers exchange one last knowing glance with one another. If they fail, this world and Earth itself will fall. With the knowledge that the fate of both worlds rests on their shoulders, they charge into battle.

Experience the end up close - at the draw.io booth at Team '23

Do you want to know how the exciting adventure ends? Will the quartet succeed in freeing the Eierlegende Wollmilchsau 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 create it yourself! That's right, we're hosting a tabletop game based on our story right at our booth, and you can play along! Just reach out to us if you want to know more, or find out more about Team '23 here.

The draw.io diagram inspiration of the week (can also be used for quests)

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 anything 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.

What do you think of our view of the BBEG (Big Bad Evil Guy) imaginary lair? Can you do it even better? Then get started right away and create your own dungeon maps with draw.io! Just download your free 30-day trial on the Atlassian Marketplace.

Here are a few resources to get started:
Create floor plans with draw.io in Confluence
Use background page to create a floorplan in draw.io for Confluence (YouTube video)
Use layers in draw.io to create interactive diagrams in Atlassian Confluence and Jira (YouTube video)

Happy diagramming!

Want to know how you can use draw.io for your own tabletop RPG adventure, or just get some inspiration how to use it in your daily work life with entertaining use cases? Then head on over to the draw.io blog, where you can find extra articles with practical examples!

An Unexpected Journey – Of Good Teamwork, Failed Rescue Attempts and Devilish Schemes (draw.io Adventures in Diagramming, Part 6)