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The Witch spent several days travelling towards the Deep Woods. On Day 18, the Witch rested at the Inn, and on Day 19 she prepared black mana to fuel her transformation to the Tremendous Flying Dragon, which she intends to do prior to battling the heavy monsters in the Deep Woods.
The Witch is five clearings away from Deep Woods 3, where the heavy monsters are waiting. She will need to use all of her basic, sunlight, and workhorse phases to reach that clearing today. Thus, the Witch will not be able to hide prior to combat.
No matter. Her transformation to the Tremendous Flying Dragon will happen first, as spell casting always precedes combat during the combat phase, so the Witch's transformation will occur before the heavy monsters have the opportunity to attack.
The Tremendous Flying Dragon, above, which the Witch absorbed, is a tremendous armored monster.
Neither the heavy serpents nor the heavy dragons can harm her, as the greatest harm they can inflict is heavy, not enough to kill the Tremendous Flying Dragon.
The Witch has selected 3 fame and 2 notoriety as her victory conditions for this game, and she has yet to collect a single point. She needs 30 fame and 40 notoriety to fulfill her victory conditions. The Witch hopes to dispatch all five monsters today, as if she does so, their combined fame and notoriety will equal 72 each, more than enough to meet her victory conditions. As I said earlier, the Witch's absorb essence strategy is a powerful one, and once she finds a suitable monster to absorb, she can rack up serious amounts of fame and notoriety.
The Witch's only concern today is if the Tremendous Dragon appears (which happens on a monster roll of 1). The Tremendous Land Dragon is slower than its flying cousin (which the Witch absorbed) so the Witch/Flying Dragon should be able to dispatch the Land Dragon easily. But the Land Dragon's head attack is length 9, while the Witch/Flying Dragon's head attack is length 7. During the first combat round, weapon length determines who strikes first. So the Land Dragon will strike first during combat round 1.
If the Tremendous Dragon appears, flips to its Tremendous head attack side (a 30% chance), and lines up with the Witch's maneuver, it will kill the transformed Witch before she has a chance to strike, since the Land Dragon's head can do tremendous damage. The Witch will not be hidden during round 1, when weapon length decides attack order, so let's hope the monster roll is a 2 (summoning the Tremendous Serpent which the Witch can easily dispatch) or 3-6 (no other monsters appear).
Having discovered that Giants and Spiders haunt the Mountain, the Witch will dispatch her familiar to find the other hidden path in the Deep Woods.
Witch: Move-Bad Valley 2, Move-Bad Valley 5, Move-Borderland 2, Move-Deep Woods 5, Move-Deep Woods 3
Familiar: Move-Mountain 2, Move-Deep Woods 2, Move-Deep Woods 3, Move-Deep Woods 6
Of course, the monster die roll is a 1, the exact number we had hoped to avoid. The Tremendous Land Dragon will appear in the Deep Woods clearing 3 at the end of the day. If the Witch does not get killed by the Tremendous Land Dragon, it's defeat, along with all the other monsters, will supply an additional 33 fate and notoriety to the Witch's score. If the Witch doesn't get killed first!
The Witch's familiar moves four times to Deep Woods 6. The Witch moves five times to Deep Woods 3 and is blocked by the five heavy monsters waiting there.
Meanwhile ... the Black Knight continues to loot the Guardhouse, and the Sorceror hides and alerts her shortsword again. At the end of the day, the Tremendous Land Dragon appears in the Witch's clearing. There are six monsters for the Witch to fight today. And the combat round begins.
When it comes to the Witch's combat strategy in round 1, she has little choice. She must transform into the Tremendous Flying Dragon and kill the Tremendous Land Dragon first. If the Tremendous Land Dragon strikes the Witch this round, and she doesn't inflict a similar strike, the Land Dragon will tear the Witch/Flying Dragon apart in combat round 2. The other monsters are nuisances and can be safely ignored until the Witch finishes off the Tremendous Land Dragon.
The Witch will play a color chit this round. Remember, Absorb Essence is a permanent spell. We don't need to cast it again. We just need to play the proper color of magic (in this case, black) and the permanent spell will automatically be invoked, transforming the Witch into the Tremendous Flying Dragon.
The Witch will use her Magic V6 chit, which was transformed into black mana during Day 19, to invoke the Absorb Essence spell.
And lest there be any confusion ... yes, we are going to energize the Absorb Essence spell, and transform into the Tremendous Flying Dragon.
Now that we are the Tremendous Flying Dragon, we select the Tremendous Land Dragon as our first opponent.
We let Realmspeak auto-position the monsters. It puts the Tremendous Land Dragon in box 3, with the Land Dragon's head attack in box 1. I'm not sure it matters where we put the Tremendous Land Dragon's attacks: if the Land Dragon's head flips to the Tremendous side (30% chance) and ends up in box 3 (33% chance), there is a 10% chance the Witch will be killed. Otherwise, the Witch will strike and kill the Tremendous Land Dragon, since the Witch's attack speed is 3, and will undercut the Land Dragon's move speed of 6. But only if the Tremendous Land Dragon's head doesn't hit us for tremendous damage first.
The Witch successfully kills the Tremendous Land Dragon! The Land Dragon stayed in box 3, so the Witch's head attack lined up with the Land Dragon's move, and the Land Dragon's head moved to box 2 but stayed on its heavy side, rather than flipping to its tremendous side.
The Witch/Tremendous Flying Dragon takes several more rounds to finish off the heavy serpents and heavy dragons, but the outcome is never in doubt. By the end of Day 20, the Witch has accumulated 105 fame and 105 notoriety for dispatching all six monsters: (1x10) + (2x4) + (3x4) + (4x5) + (5x5) + (6x5) = 105. She has fully satisfied (and then some) her starting victory conditions, and there is still a week to go before the end of the game.
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2 comments:
The ability to place the TFD head on its T3 side without having to "change tactics" as an absorbed monster is very powerful. Even if the T Dragon's head had flipped to its more powerful T4 side the TFD would be able to kill it by undercutting 100% of the time…after round 1 of combat. Its only in round 1 that the T Dragon has any chance of killing the TFD. A good trick is to wait in hiding through the first round of combat and then attack with certainty of success in the second round.
Obviously that wasn't possible in this case since the Witch was unhidden. Very cool write up. I love these entries to your blog.
Agreed. It's only during day 1, if the TFD is unhidden, that the T Dragon has a chance (10%) of killing the Witch/TFD.
Other than the Giant and T Dragon, there are few monsters that can threaten the TFD.
Multiple monsters, now, that's a different story.
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