Magic Realm: Day 11

The Black Knight spent most of yesterday resting.  He also looted his shield on day 10, which he earlier sold to the Guards, before dispatching them.

On day 11, the Black Knight will record three search actions, spending most of his day looting the Guardhouse.  His last action will be a trade phase, to sell whatever he recovers to the Patrol.  If he is lucky, he will obtain three more treasures, sell nearly everything he owns to the Patrol, and then eliminate them, thus looting those items once again.

Today's prowling monster roll is a 5, which means spiders are prowling.  The Black Knight is very effective against heavy Spiders, but none will bother him while we remains in the valley.

The Black Knight recovers only the axe and broadsword during his three loot phases (he obtained results of 4 and 6, 2 and 6, and 5 and 6, so his last attempt netted him nothing, as there was no sixth treasure at that point).  During the final phase of day 11, the Black Knight sells the axe, broadsword and shield to the Patrol, collecting another 19 gold.

During the combat encounter step, the Patrol chooses to avoid the Black Knight. He doesn't return the favor.  He alerts his mace using his FIGHT M5 chit, and then uses his FIGHT H6 chit in conjunction with his speed 3 mace to undercut and kill the Patrol leader's workhorse.

During the first round of combat, the Patrol leader switched to his faster, lighter attack, which is accompanied by a much slower move speed of 5.  That potentially makes it easier for the Black Knight to kill the Patrol leader next round.

The Black Knight is now facing two Patrol members, an unhorsed leader, and Patrol 2 astride his horse.  The Black Knight targets the Patrol leader with his attack using a FIGHT M4* chit.  If the leader does not switch tactics, the Knight's speed 4 attack will undercut Patrol leader's speed 5 move.  As the Black Knight can only use two effort asterisks each combat round, the fastest move he can play is MOVE H5*.

During combat round 2, Patrol leader switches to his heavier attack, and with his speed 3 move, dodges the Black Knight's speed 4 mace.  Since the Patrol leader's attack speed is 4 and the Black Knight's move speed is 5, the Patrol leader undercuts the Black Knight's attempt to dodge and lands a wounding blow.  The Black Knight suffers both a wound, from the Patrol leader's attack, and fatigue, since he played two effort asterisks.  Because his attack on the Patrol leader missed, the Black Knight's mace will be alerted next round, giving him a faster attack.

Combat round 3 is more successful for the Black Knight.  Once again, the Patrol leader switches to his lighter attack.  This allows the Black Knight's mace attack to undercut the Patrol leader's move, resulting in a dead Patrol leader. As the Black Knight played his fatiguing MOVE H4** chit, he suffers another point of fatigue this round.

At the start of combat round 4, the Black Knight once again alerts his mace using his FIGHT M5 chit, and then attacks with his FIGHT H6 chit and speed 3 mace.  He must use that heavy fight chit, because the workhorse is only vulnerable to heavy or greater damage, and thus the medium mace must be overswung with a heavy fight chit in order to kill the workhorse. 

Now that Patrol 1 and Patrol leader are dead, the Black Knight can also switch to his less fatiguing MOVE H5* move, rather than his very fatiguing MOVE H4**.  He can do this because Patrol 2 has slower attacks, although he is harder for the Black Knight to undercut than his compatriots.

The Black Knight dispatches another workhorse in combat round 4.  Patrol 2's attack speed is 5, and our maneuver speed is 5, so the Patrol must line up in the same direction as the Knight, in order to score a blow.  The Patrol's Thrust attack was avoided, as the Black Knight played a Dodge maneuver to avoid it.

Combat round 5 is an interesting one.  The Black Knight plays FIGHT M4* and MOVE H5* chits with his mace, dispatching Patrol 2 during this round, and is unharmed by Patrol 2, even though Patrol 2's attack lines up with Black Knight's maneuver.

The reason the Black Knight is unharmed is that his attack speed is 4, while Patrol 2's attack speed is 5.  As I mentioned earlier, after the first round, Magic Realm combat is governed by attack speed.  Since Black Knight's attack speed of 4 "lands" before Patrol 2's attack speed of 5, Patrol 2 is killed before he has a chance to land his blow.

Since the Black Knight played two effort asterisks that combat round (FIGHT M4* and MOVE H5*) he suffers another point of fatigue.

At the end of the day, the Black Knight has garnered an additional 19 gold, for selling the axe, broadsword and shield to the Patrol leader, and obtained an additional 9 notoriety (3 notoriety for Patrol leader and 2x3 for Patrol 2) and 4 gold for killing the remaining Patrol.  The Black Knight therefore has 0/10 fame, 66/60 notoriety, and 82/30 gold towards his victory conditions.  He has satisfied his notoriety and gold victory requirements, and needs only his fame points to win the game.