Dungeon 5 Turn 29
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Ricki quickly darts past the justiciar to retrieve the items she left in the hallway. She picks up her wolf hide armour and shield just in time to defend herself against two heavily armed guards who arrive in the room and both take a swing at her. She is only barely able to avoid taking damage.
Ricki runs back to her friends in the room to the right.
Kamau continues to interpose himself between the justiciar and the rest of the party as Ricki runs past again, but the justiciar doesn’t seem interested in attacking. He does seem to recognize Kamau, though.
“The traitor? Here?”
“…So be it. May the Emperor condemn you however many times it takes to stick.”
Kamau feels the crushing weight of the Emperor’s power upon him, similar to the wanted poster. He now has a -2 penalty to Atk and Def.
Lara descends from the room above, having discarded her torch and meat in favour of a longword and leather armour. She offers these to Macadamia, who scrambled away from the fight brewing below to cower with the little girl, but it seems the kobold isn’t in a fit state right now to join the fight. He also doesn’t seem able to coherently answer questions (and the little girl doesn’t seem to know anything useful). Maybe if he’s away from combat he’ll be better able to help.
Lara offers to swap armour with Ricki, but she can’t because Ricki has already used her armour this turn. So instead she just kills one of the hanging bats with her ranged spell. Kamau draws the ire of the remaining bats, but he takes no damage.
Ricki opens up the puzzle chest. Inside she finds a pretty neat sword, but she doesn’t have any inventory space to pick it up.
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OXIDICER
Weapon
Atk +2, target’s rusty items are twice as likely to break this turn. 30% chance to deal +3 damage and become a Broken Oxidicer.
Weight 1, Cost 12
That’s interesting. The fact that Kamau is crushed by Emperor’s power (and not just by a magic spell) might imply that the Emperor is some kind of a (minor?) deity, rather than a mere mortal.
or like in 40k Emperor power can be channeled by his most faithfull servants
so totally a God
I2P19 mentioned the Emperor “replaced” the old God of the Sun, greatest of the Gods.
Also, this spell is close to the Web Binding corruption spell in power (and for now I’ll assume it will wear off at the same rate, we’ll see if Kamau is at -1/-1 next turn). I wonder what toll this spell takes from the caster…
Well, it looks like that is a divine spell fueled by Emperor’s power, so it probably doesn’t take anything from the caster.
Lara’s power was also granted explicitly from the Goddess of Spiders (dungeon 5 turn 10).
Law magic could be involved, it’s a common theme that magic is empowered by agreements. The loophole then is that you make so many things illegal that everyone is a target anyway and you just enforce the ones you care about.
The costs will only matter if we encounter a character granted power by the Emperor who also decides to rebel, which isn’t too much of a stretch given how Kamau must have been a Champion to become a Fallen Champion. Lara can also continue to use her powers despite being Excommunicated.
With seeming the type that “wouldn’t last long in a jail cell” and this obvious fright, it’s plain to me that precious little pulse (not a bean but a nut) Macadamia is a character who would never see combat if he has his way
copy-paste-edit from previous turn:
Observation:
At first, I throught the guards are meant as a swarm. Two guards each turn. That’s a lot. So either they will be goons, easy to be KO’d (maybe except the Justicar), or they are meant to be almost undefeatable mob, and this turns the thing into a benny-hill-style runaway from angry mob chasing us.
EDIT: Thanks to Ricky’s bravado, now we see they are heavily armed. They are not goons, they won’t be easy to KO. We may try to KO the justicar, and the closest group of reinforcements that will probably be upon us immediately, but we probably should not keep trying to go left from here. We’re probably going benny-hill style.
(…removing irrelevant noise..)
(Old) Goal: Help at least one kobold, then gather at the exit.(Old) Time Limit: On turns 30, 40, and 50 a gang of hoodlums will enter the dungeon and begin searching for Ricki’s party. They may be hostile to other creatures within the dungeon, and may steal loot for themselves.Alright. I just proved myself wrong. Since the gang-entering-on-30-40-50 rule was written under the “Time Limit” point, and that very point has just been completely rewritten, gangs will not arrive, and there won’t be a gangs-vs-guards war out there.
Still, secondary goal is still active. Considering that the thing just happened at Macadamia’s, and Macadamia’s shop is right here, and the kobold family is back at the entrance, and the guards will be pouring each turn starting out at -this-next- turn, can it be that this is wired up to fail the 2ndgoal if we go through Macadamia’s arc? Sure could. We could ignore Macadamia, we could just give the doll, and quit, or give the ball back, and quit. Or even then get the dog, and quit. Mission complete, treasure hoarded, doggy obtained, and all kobolds would be safe. 2ndgoal was possible.
However, we considered there will be a team member here, and DollyMommy won’t be a team member, I hope. Macadamia on the other hand, could be. And a very valuable one, considering his skills. I’m NOT surprised that getting this far (things done, items gathered, doggy, QUEST chest with unknown contents, and now maybe Macadamia) is at the cost of failing the 2ndgoal.
I think, as bad as it feels, we should ignore what happens to the family. If the entrance to the mines is there, they will flee on their own. If not, it’s on guards’ karma, not really ours.
EDIT: The guards were already on Ricky’s back, and we have not really heard “2nd goal failed” annoucement (unless Kamau’s “horribly sad” was that). If that’s the case, then maybe kobold family actually barricaded themselves/etc, and we just have to protect their daughter.
EDIT: And maybe also all the miners below! If our escape is via the mines, then guards will follow, and we’ll also have to save all the miners. Uh-oh.
The new time limit says that the guards are looking for the party. I could see them attacking anyone who helps us, but not the family at the start.
This part certainly doesn’t say they will attack everything on sight, but still sounds ominous, and still doesn’t say they won’t.
For one thing, if they were harmless to normal, peaceful inhabitants of the warrens, why would we need to babysit the DollyMother? She could just take her doll and go back to her parents, right? That’s what keeps my doubt.
I don’t see how we have to fail the second goal?
And I’m quite sure that Kamau was horribly sad about some briefly hinted backstory trauma involving a (his???) little girl, as we saw at the end of the first dungeon when Ricki touched his arm.
Guards confirmed to have 1 base attack + weapon (2 in this case).
Kamau: Interpose
Everyone else: Go upstairs and take Oxidicer and dump it with other items
Lara: Get ball from whoever has it and try to make friends with Dog. Assign it to Ricki for now (since Kamau isn’t in same room. We can swap pets between missions)
Ricki + Macademia: Talk, make friends, join party
Mommy: be a strong mom and take care of your Dolly. She relies on you so you can’t break down (yet)
next turn inventory management and depending on Doggo status and Macademia status
Neither Lara nor Ricki (nor the spider) have an empty item slot to pick up the Oxidicer, Kamau has an empty item slot. Lara cannot take the ball (Ricki has it) without first freeing an item slot.
Lara cannot have two pets. Her attempt might fail
Lara wasn’t required to take the spider, she can probably assign a new pet to someone else.
Still “probably” though, and getting it wrong wastes an action.
I think we must try to get daisy and mac this turn.
Ricki scarpers up first with Mac and dolly mommy, gets coins, drops ball, gets the oxidicer lara will drop in her part of the comment, talks to Mac about needing an alternate exit and attempt to convince Macadamia to join now he Guard has wronged him. He can get a new distributor via Paws. If Maca isn’t in a state to talk on this screen, go one screen left and try then.
Kamau goes up, leaving the room at the same time as Lara, with Lara in front of him, and spider at his back, gets ball as said above, gives ball to dog, attempting to befriend a new pet (hereby named Daisy) as he was taught in the guard. Drops potion of healing, potion of shield, and bucket. Gets heavy gold shield and moldy cheese.
Lara goes up in the order stated above, dropping a longsword and picking up oxidicer on the way up. Upstairs, she drops oxidicer for Ricki to get, feeds kamau a potion of healing, drops crit greaves and extra leather armor to macadamia to pick up, gets lens, potion of shield and encyclopedia, spider eats meat.
Macadamia talks with Ricki when possible, gets longsword, leather armor, crit greaves and cracked shield if he has calmed down enough to do so. And a lens or potion if he has space.
We don’t get to keep the spider after this dungeon. I would rather save the meat for the dog (we might need the ball AND some meat in order to tame her, especially when soon guards are running around that she might know from before her retirement).
There are two slices of meat anyway. Presumably the spider can only eat one this turn.
We’ve already fed Daisy. We also don’t have the space to carry all these items, and with the thieves tools, encyclopedia, magic lens, and healing potion around, the meat isn’t high priority for me.
I’m also curious to know if spiders can even eat meat. That might inform how much we buy later, assuming meat will be stocked by Paws’s identical twin brother out in the countryside after we leave the capital.
I think the inventory management on Kamau doesn’t work. He has one slot right now, if he drops the bucket and potion of healing he can hold the shield but not the cheese. That’s also assuming he doesn’t need to continue holding the ball for the dog.
Repaired
Ricki: Move up one room. Drop ball for Kamau (whose a good boy?!). Talk to Macadamia a little girl. Tell them we need to get out of here and any help they can provide would be great.
Lara: Drop Longsword. Pick up oxidizer and help Dolly Mammy move up one room.
Kamau: be the last one to leave the room then move up one room. Pick up ball and befriend dog.
Guards should be busy with bats for at least 2 turns. If Kamau gets hit while he leaves thats ok, the guards wont be able to follow either way.
We can switch inventory next turn once we’re all there.
Ricki can still move 2 and talk to pickaxe kobold if that is a possible exit.
It’s okay, Macadamia! We aren’t giving you armour because we want you to fight here, we want you to be safe from the fight. Plus side, the TRAITOR and the Arachnomancer should draw attention away from you.
Alright, longswords, plate mail (note the shoulders vs D2T51 chain mail), and heavy shields, so guards are looking like 3 Attack and 9 Def. We also either had 2 guards enter last turn or these are the 2 guards from this turn who were immediately allowed to move right. Either way, the guard front is up to the hallway and with no venom bats this room won’t be posing a meaningful threat to their advance.
The Oxidicer doesn’t look very appealing. I hope the Broken Oxidicer does something cooler than having a break chance. I was hoping for some sort of rust-fixing cream. I wonder if Rusty would love or hate the taste of this one…
The bats will require 5 attacks to clear, so they should buy us two turns or so if nobody misses their attacks.
I actually would have thought that the “entering of the dungeon” is already a “move” action. (We usually enter the dungeon on turn 0 and only in turn 1 we can actually do stuff.)
If that assumption is correct, I find it super scary that apparently the guards can move two rooms (enter dungeon = 1, move right to where Ricki was = 2) AND still attack. I mean when we go into a new unknown room, we usually can’t do anything, much less go to yet another new, unknown room afterwards. Those guards are cheating! (Or they already know the dungeon from sometime earlier?)
Or I could be just wrong in my assumption that entering the dungeon is already a move action. But that still leaves the problem of the guard being able to attack in a room they haven’t seen before (at the very least they didn’t know Ricki would be there).
Previous enemies entering dungeons haven’t acted the turn they entered. But we also got a warning about this entrance unlike the tavern guard or faithless.
Ricki: Lead the two kobolds upstairs. Leave the ball on the floor in the hallway under the old blue base. Pick up the 19 gold we left behind on the floor and add it to your purse and also pick up the Encyclopedia Apocrypha. Now that you’re out of immediate harm’s way, talk to Macadamia. Explain that you’re so sorry about how wrong things have gone and we don’t want to scare him, but he can’t trust the guards to listen to his explanation. The guards left Ricki malnourished and without food to starve to death in a cell. That’s the only thing Macadamia can look forward to at the hands of the guards. The most important thing now is to survive. We can get Macadamia to a safe place if he just comes with us and listens to our advice, but we have to go now.
Lara: Drop your longsword, grab the oxidicer and run upstairs, following behind Ricki and the Kobolds and keeping ahead of Kamau at all times. If either Kobold has at all calmed down enough to accept an armor, give one of them your extra leather armor, otherwise drop it along with the crit greaves and crit gauntlets. Pick up the heavy gold shield, but do not use the heavy gold shield, simply stow it away for now. When Kamau arrives, trade your potion of rage for his healing potion. If you can, use the healing potion on Kamau and upon using it, pick up the other healing potion to replace it.
Spider: If you can do it on your own, eat a slice of raw meat! You’ve been a good little arachnid and we would like you to heal with the meat we would leave behind.
Kamau: Follow behind Lara and her spider and exit the room up to the old blue base. Take off your bucket, pick up the ball from the ground, and then try to gain the friendship of the retired guard dog with a bit of fetch. If you can’t befriend the dog to get it to follow you, try tossing the ball down the hallway to the old red hideout. At least maybe we can meet the dog there next round. If you’ve got a clear inventory space now, pick up a piece of moldy cheese.
Macadamia: If we got you this turn and I can give you commands (big IF) put on the leather armor Lara tried to give you. Also pick up a cracked shield. If you have any inventory space left, grab a magic lens and whatever you can carry of the crit gear.
Dolly Mommy: It’s gonna be okay!
Basically the same plan as Siv’s but with slightly different inventory management choices.
From a storage perspective, the gold shield is worth more than the crit gear which we can buy. Guards could use the crit gear against us, though. Of course, that isn’t a fight we can win so it doesn’t much matter.
Ricki: Give ball to Kamau as he comes up. Take Macadamia and doll mommy up to the blue hideout, pick up loose gold in the purse and a magic lens, and move onward to the red hideout if they can keep up (avoid and point out the pressure plates because it’s good practice). Reassure them that they’ll be alright, and ask Macadamia if there’s another way out.
Lara: Dump a longsword for the Oxidicer, head up to the blue hideout, command your spider to eat raw meat (the item, not anyone alive), and continue towards the red hideout.
Kamau: Take ball from Ricki, go up and use it to play with Daisy in hopes of getting her to come along. Grab the encyclopedia.
Good plan. Unclear Lara can command the spider to eat raw meat and also leave that turn, but I’m not sure how much value there is in having Lara one square left. One problem with double moving the Kobolds is that if we do get Macadamia to help we won’t be able to grab any items we’re leaving behind with him.
Having Lara closer to our miner kobold and further from the advancing guards seems worthwhile to me. I’m not confident that the spider will be able to eat the meat, but we don’t really need the healing there so I hope to figure something out. It isn’t an attack, so I’d be surprised if eating stopped the spider from moving on, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it took Lara’s action to feed the spider.
One thing I like about double moving the kobolds is that we’re more likely to have a turn where the kobolds are completely separate from combat. If the Justiciar follows upstairs rather than sorting out the bats, then Macadamia may not get a chance to take a breath.
I’ve considered sending Lara to burn a magic lens on the Owlbear or crow, but since she can’t see through floors I imagine she’d be targeted by ranged attacks when doing so.
Just saing this,
BUT that if a secret door is triggered by standing on both the press button in the same room with the Owlbear?
MAYBE it will open a secret passage?
EDIT:
By the way the bag can hold 60 Gold,
WHY is not filled with all the rest?
Imperial Justiciar: “The traitor? Here?”
Kamau: “What traitor? I am Bucketman!”
Imperial Justiciar: “You make a good point, the champion should have more pride than this…”