Sunday, July 14, 2013

Magic Realm: Day 18

The Black Knight spent the last couple of days in the Magic Realm travelling to the Chapel, the home of the Order. 

The plan for day 18 is to trade the Sacred Statue to the Order, to fulfil our fame victory conditions, and buy a warhorse and morningstar.  The warhorse will provide the Black Knight with extra protection, as opponents must kill the horse before they can wound or kill the Black Knight.  The morningstar is a fast, heavy weapon, that, in conjunction with the Gloves or Girdle Of Strength, allows the Black Knight to take on the most dangerous Monsters in the Magic Realm.  There's no guarantee he will find either treasure, but if the Black Knight does, he may as well have the right equipment available.


During day 18, we record four trade actions, and one hide action.

The prowling monster roll for day 18 is a 3:  Goblins and the Octopus.  The Goblins are dangerous, and the Octopus, more so.  Fortunately, we are safe in the Valley as no monsters prowl here.


During our first trade action, we buy the Order drinks.  Buying drinks costs 1 gold per Denizen in the group, and temporarily improves your relationship with the group by one level.  The relationships are Enemy, Unfriendly, Neutral, Friendly and Ally.  Depending on the Denizens, this may be worthwhile.  In this case, we are neutral with the Order, so buying them drinks costs 4 gold, and increases our relationship from neutral to friendly.  During the trade action, we ask the Order to sell us their best warhorse, worth 22 gold -- a massive, armored beast able to carry tremendous items and move at a galloping speed of 5.


We roll a 1 on the meeting table.  A roll of 1 on the friendly table improves our temporary relationship with the Order, from friendly to ally.  On the ally table, we roll a 2, and as a result, the Order agrees to sell us the warhorse for its price x 1, or 22 gold.  This is an fantastic result, as the only better result is a 1, where the Order gives us the warhorse for free. 

Rather than giving the Order 22 gold, we give the Order one gold, and make up the difference by giving them an axe, shield and the Sacred Statue, worth a total of 21 gold, thus buying the warhorse and at the same time collecting the 10 fame points for the Sacred Statue.

With that trade, we have collected 10/10 fame (the boon for the Sacred Statue), 66/60 notoriety, and own 77/30 gold (we had 82 gold, but used 4 gold to buy drinks, and provided 1 gold as part of the bargain for the warhorse). 

We have met all of our victory conditions.  Any additional points and gold from here on in go to bragging rights, as every player who meets their victory conditions wins the game, but the one who exceeds their victory conditions by the greatest value is first amongst equals.

We still have 3 trade actions and a hide action.  During the next trade action, we buy drinks for the Order, for 4 gold, and offer to buy the morningstar, worth 8 gold. 


The die result on the friendly meeting table is 6: no deal.  We try again, again buying drinks for 4 gold.  This time we roll a 1, bumping the Black Knight's temporary relationship up to ally, but the subsequent roll is a 6: price x 4, or 32 gold.   Too expensive.  On our final attempt, we buy drinks once more, and roll successive 1's: the Order offers to give the morningstar to the Black Knight for free.  Instead, we pay 2 gold and make up the difference trading a mace worth 6 gold.

As a result of all that drink buying and bargaining, we have reduced our gold to 63/30.  Still an adequate amount, and we now have a warhorse and morningstar.

Our final hide action fails, as we roll a 3 and 6.

During the combat encounter step at the end of the day, we roll a 3 on the meeting table.  The Order does not take offence the presence of the Black Knight at the Chapel, and the day ends.

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