This guy's name isn't entirely appropriate, because half of his powers involve ice instead of fire. He has the ability to toggle between two modes, each with its own set of spells. Above, you can see him in cold mode. At which point he might better be called Mr. Freeze, or The Iceman, or Frost Bearer, or Lil' Chilly. I don't know. I'm not good at thinking up this stuff. I don't make these games. I just play them.

But whether he's in fire mode or ice mode, Torch Bearer is also a guy notable for parading around the battlefield carrying a bunch of hats. So overall, he might be better called Hat Rack.

Read about how Hat Rack got his name after the jump.

The object of Demigod is to destroy your opponent's citadel, a huge powerful building at the other end of the map from your citadel. But next to each citadel is a much smaller building that's arguably more important. This little building is the item shop. Here you can buy potions, scrolls, trinkets, armor, weapons, and more, all with varying effects on your demigod. At first, the variety of items is bewildering. There are nearly sixty things for sale in here. It helps that you can't afford most of them until later in the game. So that knocks out of the running about forty of the things, leaving you with twenty to choose from. It's still a bit much, isn't it?

But what you might not realize unless you actually read the tooltips is that the categories give you a hint as to the items' functions. For instance, the gloves improve your attack damage. The hats improve your mana capabilities. The chest pieces improve your health and armor. And the boots make you speedier and more dodgy. Rings do a whole mess of things, so unfortunately you can't make any blanket statements about them. Mirroring the five categories of store items, there are five slots on your demigod's character sheet. From years of playing RPGs, you will naturally think that one slot is for your hat, one for your gloves, one for your chest piece, one for your shoes, and one for your ring. That's just how character sheets work. So you'll eventually buy one of each type as you go about kicking ass and taking names.

However, you're wrong. Let me clarify for you two things that are going to make your life in Demigod a little harder by giving you even more choice. The first thing to clarify is that the store takes returns. In fact, as you get more money and can afford more lavish accoutrements, you absolutely should return stuff. Not necessarily for the money, but to free up the inventory slot. Simply right click an item to cash it in and now you've got a free slot for something better. A restocking fee will be charged.

The second thing to clarify is that none of your demigod's inventory slots is particular to a part of his body. There is no hat slot, glove slot, or shoe slot. Instead, any slot can hold any item. I only realized this when I wondered if I could use two rings, like in other games that let you wear one on each hand (never mind that you have ten fingers, as that's far too much realism for games about magical rings). I was surprised to discover that not only could I equip two rings, but I could equip two hats. In fact, I could equip five hats! And that's just what I did.

The Torch Bearer is a great candidate for five hats, because he's all about dropping spells. Over and over. Lots of spells. Fireball, Circle of Fire, Deep Freeze, Rain of Ice, Fire Nova, Frost Nova, all in quick succession. Of course, this drinks up mana like it's going out of style, so the Torch Bearer can use as many hats he can get his hands on. Load him up with the Plate Visor, the Vlemish Faceguard, the Vinling Helmet, the Plenor Battlecrown, and the Hungarling's Crown and he's essentially a perpetual spell machine. It may look awkward showing up to battle wearing a visor, a faceguard, a helmet, and two crowns, but a pate that protected means never having to say "out of mana".

Tomorrow: The Queen of Thorns ain't no bed of roses.
(Click here for yesterday's game diary.)