Dungeon 8 Turn 2
————
Lara rejoins the group and together they attack the two merchant guards by the ladder. Ricki and Cordy defeat the more heavily armoured one, while Lara, Daisy, and the tiny little mushroom manage to take down the one with only a standard-issue breastplate. The guards drop two longswords, two shields, and a suit of chain armour, all of which are given to Molly to carry.
Cordy, having sacrificed another 1 HP to spread their spores, grows another little mushroom from one of the unconscious guards. This process is probably uncomfortable, but ultimately leaves the host unharmed.
However, converting this human’s ENTIRE biomass into a patch of inert fungus will probably hurt quite a lot.
“Don’t do that Cordy. We don’t kill people, only animals and monsters, and only when we can’t avoid it.”
Cordy doesn’t do that? Because… Cordy doesn’t kill people????
Cordy needs to sit down for a minute.
Oooh that’s cool. So Cordy’s white eyes isn’t mind control, just some sort of telepathy that is its mean of communication with the party? Make senses with how it doesn’t have a mouth or ears.
It’s Ricki using the mind control on Cordy
How the turns have tabled…
We should drop the longswords and shields, that’s a waste of Molly space
Not drop, but probably should have had someone else pick them up. It’s not the end of the world because Kamau still has some room too, so he can at least hold the shields.
I’m glad we are clearing enemies in first room so we dont have to go backtrack.
That said.. I’m not sure these bandits can handle a wolf if we leave them awake.
Also, that hobgoblin has darker leather that the other… Could it be studded leather?
We are way way way too afraid of backtracking. Remember that we need to clear the entire dungeon of guards to win. As long as there are guards on every screen, backtracking is painless, provided we aren’t trying to go from room 3 to room 1 immediately. As long as we have productive things to do in every room, we can always move 1 room at a time and do something good on every screen along the way.
What we REALLY want to avoid, is clearing an entire room prematurely. If we do that, and need to come back later to say, fight wolves, we may find ourselves wasting a bunch of actions on extra moves, or dithering uselessly just to get where we need to be. That’s why I really think we should prioritize opening up dungeon paths immediately, not try to resolve every screen as soon as we see it. If we find additional weapons, or wands that do AoE, they could greatly simplify combats, but that’s only helpful if we find those items before we spend a bunch of turns on difficult fights. The premature clearing is less of a big deal on the edges, but given that this dungeon is 5 rooms long, if we clear everything useful to do in rooms 2 and 3, we could find ourselves wasting actions during trips back to room 1 to interact with NPCs or defend them from wolves.
Is it possible that clearing a screen of one faction will automatically let the other side clear out? I
Sorry, should also have said that the hobgoblin in the top group isn’t wearing armor. That’s his default appearance per the enemies page.
Well, I guess we follow up with Sick’s direction per his plan last turn.
Everyone: Try to make clear you’re aiming for the guard as you charge.
Ricki: Point out the pressure plate trap to your friends so they all avoid it then stab the guard. (7 dmg)
Cordy: Assign the new mushroom to yourself then Spore Touch the guard (9-10)
Daisy: Bite the guard (3)
Lara: Chop the merchant
Both little mushrooms: Attack the merchant
Kamau: Interpose for the party
If combat ends, place dropped plate armor and heavy shield on Molly, replacing longswords that instead go to Kamau’s inventory like everything else.
Explanation:
We now know for sure 19 damage on the guard is enough to defeat it since it has 3 more defense than the chain armored one we just defeated. This do exactly 19 minimum damage on it. Extra attacks are used on the merchant since we have to defeat it too per the dungeon goals.
If we’ve got overkill damage on the guard available, I’d sorta rather talk to the bandits we’re trying to help to warn them we’re trying to help. I worry they’ll freak out when we launch into combat with no warning, even if we’re aiming for the guard beyond them.
We already tried talking first and all it did was telling us they don’t trust us and will attack when we approach anyway.
So here I’m planning to talk a turn after demonstrating we’re on their side. Or maybe the action was the only requirement and they’ll initiate talks themselves after?
I think the math on this is wrong, but it might not matter. We did max 16 dmg to the more armored guard (7 on Ricki + 9 on Cordy) and max 14 dmg on the less armored guard (1 from shroom, 3 from Daisy, 10 from Lara). Less armored guard had a shield and only a shield, so 12 kills a guard ignoring equipment, but the more armored guard had chain and a shield, meaning 11 dmg kills a guard ignoring equipment.
Taking the lower max damage amount, we need to do 11 dmg plus the visible equipment defense to kill a guard. That guard has plate armor (5 defense since he isn’t wearing boots or gloves) and a heavy shield (3 defense), meaning 8 additional defense. That means we need to do 19 dmg to guarantee a kill based on observed dmg totals.
From Discord: Daisy attack guard and little mushrooms attack merchant (instead of opposite pairing as in the posted plan) would ensure 19 damage on the guard.
You’re correct, I went for 3 more damage than we used for killing chain guard since this guy has 3 more defence, but neglected that we could have high rolled there and low roll here.
This is now fixed, thanks for checking the math!
Ricki: point out the pressure plate upstairs so everyone can avoid it. Go up to the melee upstairs, avoiding the trap, and announce to the bandits we are their reinforcements, please don’t attack us.
Kamau: avoid the trap while going upstairs and interpose against anyone who attacks us.
Lara: go upstairs while avoiding the trap and attack the guard.
Daisy: avoid the trap while going upstairs and attack the merchant if you can. Help Ricki somehow if you can’t.
Cordy: assign mushroom 2 (Celium) to yourself Go upstairs avoiding the trap and spore attack the guard.
Mushrooms (Mycah and Celium): follow upstairs, avoiding the trap, and attack the guard.
Molly: follow Kamau upstairs avoiding the trap
If loot drops, Cordy please pick up all weight 1 items. Kamau pick up armor and shield to place into Molly’s packs, swapping with Molly’s inventory as needed.
Idea is that this might be how we learn “the secret handshake”, so to say.
Ricki talking is merely to ensure cooperation, and her damage will likely not be needed.
If talking doesn’t help now, we just quit doing it until circumstances change – actions are precious.
Edit: Nvm
I think it’s overkill by 3 – could shift Daisy to fighting the merchant.