A new scenario, and the introduction of the companion system, highlight the v1.2.6 patch. [list][*]Introduced a new system to support protecting objects from being destroyed. This is used in the Protect the Artifact scenario, on the artifact itself. It was designed to be reusable, for additional future scenarios. [*]Added a new scenario: Protect the Artifact. This scenario opens up after you complete Raiding Camp or Retrieve the Artifact. It sees the Hideout fall under enemy attack. The players will need to protect the artifact being housed there until the enemy retreats. This will involve enemy encounters of escalating difficulty. You can unlock this scenario by completing the Retrieve the Artifact scenario. [*]Added a companion system. Companions come in two varieties. The first are summoned pets. Witches, and in the near future conjurers, will be able to summon pets. The second type are NPC companions, who will fight alongside you until they die. NPC companions are a part of the scenario, and can not be summoned via spell. [*] Added a companion version of the Commander, who will aid you in protecting the artifact. He wields a large flaming sword, and will assist you in battle, as well as verbally taunting enemies. [*]Witches now have the ability to summon skeletal pets. This ability requires bones as a component. Those can be purchased from vendors in limited quantities. They also drop from skeletons and shamans. Their pets will be stronger based on how many ranks they have trained the pet skill in. You also will gain additional active skeletal pets at a time based on the skill rank, maxing out at 4 pets at a time. If you try to summon more pets than your skill rank allows, it will replace the oldest pet with the newly summoned one. [*]Implemented a new wave spawner system, which can be reused in diferent scenarios. This system allows for scaling numbers of NPCs, modified also by difficulty settings, for scenarios such as the newly added one today. [*]You can now zoom the camera out to a further distance than was previously possible. [*]You can also now zoom in closer than before. [*]If you zoom in significantly, the camera will tilt forward. [*]Added additional voice overs for the Commander. This includes quest dialogs, and combat taunts. [*]Completing Raid Camp or Retrieving the Artifact will now unlock the Protect the Artifact scenario. [*]Completing the Protect the Artifact scenario has become an alternate way to unlock the Sealing the Rift scenario. You must be level 35+ to unlock Sealing the Rift. [*]Added a Stash to the scenarios where the Commander spawns at the end. That includes the Cutting off the Head, Raid Camp, and Showdown scenarios. [*]Added an animation to when players are knocked back. [*]Skeletons, mages, and shaman now drop bones sometimes. Those can be used to summon skeletons using a new Witch/Mage ability which allows you to summon skeletal pets. [*]Bones can now be purchased from shopkeepers and magic vendors, in limited quantities. [*]Increased Fireball (Wizard/Mage) damage radius. [*]Some NPCs have a random chance to be stubborn when it comes to pursuing the player. These NPCs will continue to chase for much longer distances than others. [*]Hold Undead (Witch/Mage) now receive +1 to it's damage bonus for every 2 ranks of Summon Skeleton trained. [*]Hold Undead (Witch/Mage) is now a child of the Summon Skeleton ability in its tree. [*]Animation optimizations. [*]Improved generated stash placement. [*]Increased Fire Staff damage radius. [*]Fixed an issue with the Spider Leap timeline. [*]Fixed a bug which was causing some NPC armors or weapons to float in the air for a few seconds after they died. [/list]