Ormus is Akbar, and cannot both defend and second mastery (I don’t think, anyway - some roles do get to do that at higher ranks). Edit: That mastery does allow it at rank 7, but we’re not there yet.
Still looking for exact counts of purchases, please. It’s worth doing a little pre-gaming on the boss to decide what you think you’ll need, but we aren’t to the boss fight yet and I don’t need final decisions on that stuff right now. :)
Sorry whoops, I get confused with who is who. Should add it to the character sheet.
I think one ration and one ironscale potion. Divide the cost equally among characters willing to pay. Use rations to cure starvation, then divide the rest among characters who eat.
Plan to face the boss at earliest encounter. Use Cheya’s Leather Grip to damage and sustain to Grip. Then Chiminy’s Whirling Blades to damage. Akbar’s All Tied Up to give us some cover with boss’s action. And Orion defends and holds onto the Ironscale potion in case Chiminy (or anyone else) takes a fatal blow.
Does a caravan count as a game turn from start to completion? Or is it a series of game turns?
Caravan journeys take place during a single Event Phase.
This sounds good to me. Fun enough, the attack that would one shot me is Corrosive and can’t be healed during resolution of the same turn I get it, but if I use my primary offensive mastery so we can one-turn the Pangolin, I’ll get just enough free defense to survive, I think.
I think we might want one of the cheaper potions as well to heal up after and not waste the Ironscale we’ll get as a reward, but we can buy that after the fight, too, if need be. Similarly, we might need to heal up the caravan master at some point, to ensure we get full benefits (I assume we can heal him, at least!), but can reassess after the boss fight.
As an escort for the boss fight, yes (but unless he dies during the fight it won’t carry over). Caravan master vitals, no - you need to assist during the events to stop the damage from connecting in the first place.
Sounds good as far as I can see. Thanks!
[Further support for boss as early as possible: the bonus power-ups will only boost our ability to pass subsequent skill/ability checks for later Caravan Events, increasing odds of the caravanmaster surviving at full!]
Okay, total cost for Rations + potion is 9 gold, which is 2 from everyone and 1 more. Distributing 1 leftover Food to each of the three food-eaters in the party and the Potion to Orion.
I’ll give you a chance to choose after posting each event. Early boss makes sense but some of the events have really good payoffs and/or are just completely positive.
PS: I’ve literally never had a caravan journey in any of my games of this so far where the Master took any damage. I assume that’s a relative anomaly, though. Especially since we often have had just one damaging event.
Event Phase
The above purchases are made, everyone that was starving isn’t anymore. Caravan Journey initiated. Bribing Master to go to Nemsynet costs another 3 gold, so everyone that spent 2 gold on the Rations chips one in there to average things out unless y’all want to handle it differently.
Three events are dealt. The first one revealed is:
[Hmm, with one or two bigger party members, our odds aren’t terrible to get a crit, but they aren’t amazing to get successes, either, and that’s a lot of energy drain to carve through. I suggest it’s Pangolin time!]
Not only that, but we don’t have any food. I think we go to the boss.
Again, that gets tallied up at the end. (And FWIW, 1 is the lowest I’ve seen from an event that used food. Mostly they’ve been 2-3)
The end of the whole caravan? Oh sorry I thought it was after each event.
So, like Armando said, I automatically roll crit on attack with size matters, and Akbar has a 70% chance to, so I think we could probably mitigate the energy drain. But we’d likely fail enough checks that the caravan master would take health damage. 3 platinum would be really nice though.
Ah, no I’ve misunderstood how this works apparently. If I went first, I’d suffer 4 energy drain even if I roll two crits. That would be unfortunate. I vote for the boss still.
Correct. So, yeah. You guys could probably handle it, but it’s also unlikely to be worth it in my estimation, especially pre-boss. I’ll put up the boss fight in a few.
Yes think Boss is good here. Did I get my poultice or did we not have enough for that? No worries if not, just my energy is a little low and will be lower still after the Boss fight.
I think we decided we can buy a poultice after the fight if we need it, since we can’t use it during the fight anyway.
Melhin the Hunter. His name was legend, his deeds whispered low and quiet around crackling dung-brick campfires all across the Wastes of Shurax. His traveling merchant company were regarded as celebrities at minimum, heroes more frequently. They’d faced the Ravager and lived – indeed, not only lived: they’d come away with a taste of its flesh-warping blood. From Tarri to far Nemsynet, he was heralded, but Melhin wanted nothing of their fawning adulation or shocked awe. No, he wanted one thing, and one thing only: to find the Ravager once more, and to strike it dead once and for all. In his single-minded quest, he’d developed an uncanny knack for discovering the faint, mysterious trails of the other great beasts and horrors of the Wastes, leading more than a few of his caravan journeys on long, meandering paths across the sands as he ground through supplies and men alike in search of his hated foe.
All of which was well and good, except that Chimminy was aware of exactly none of it; apparently the grand tales of Melhin’s dead-eyed deathwish had not yet reached Upper Midwest Lod’nonderry, or in truth, any of the sweeping expanse of the Great Empire of Bryttan. What Chimminy did know was that for seemingly no good reason, Melhin charged damn near double the going rate on his ramshackle, much-abused-looking caravan (presumably to fund his ongoing crusade, but it’s hard to excuse him for that if you’re unaware of his life’s mission).
“Oi, we’ve got ta pay this man ‘ere twelve gold pieces ferra pack o’ withered-looking, unidentifiable jerky, a bottle o’ dubious origin ‘e claims’ll cure all our many ills, and fer tha right ta catch a ride ta tha city that ‘e’s lit’rally from? Queen o’ Air an’ Darkness forfend that we balk at ‘is generous offer, lest poor Akbar an’ Orion starve ta death in the meantime. I’ve got 'alf a mind to put me umbrellas in 'im, I do. . .”
Chimminy grumbled at a similar pace, but with a rapidly increasing vulgarity that was more than a little shocking from a being of his stature and bright coloration, for the first dozen hours of the journey, pausing only when the caravan wagon he was perched upon ground to a sudden halt. He looked up to see Melhin’s withered, scarred right hand raised in a tense fist; silence blanketed the caravan as the moon lit the scene in an eerie half-light.
“Oi, whassis all about, eh?” he demanded unhappily. Melhin hissed back at him.
“Silence, fae. Culth raiders. Behind and before. I’ve seen a trail. Could follow. May be trouble. Better than raiders.”
It’s possible the caravan master waited for the confounded consensus of the adventurers behind him, or maybe he was just timing his next move to unseen stimuli only his piercing grey eyes could perceive. Whatever the case, nothing at all moved for an agonizingly long held breath, before the entire caravan and its surroundings exploded in a whirlwind of motion, tearing through the sands as numerous spears and javelins whistled through the air with deadly intent. The wagon rocked violently, threatening to throw Chimminy to the raiders after all, but he clamped his tiny hands around a leather-bound satchel of what he now realized were swords of some kind. Wincing through the pain, he rode along for what seemed like an eternity, until at long last the sounds of the raiders giving chase faded behind them.
“Ah, some peace at la–”
A great and terrible roar tore through the night, and something enormous rose above them, blotting out the pale moonlight.
“Ah soditall.”
Well, you can, it just won’t prevent anyone from dying because it takes until the following round to take effect. And you’re hoping there won’t be a second round.
