Part of this decision came from a desire to see diplomacy in action. But raising the disposition of Burgan Vale would be really nice as well.
Heroes taken on mission: Thea "Speaker for the East", Fuscus "Master of Coin", Viator "Courtier of Candlelight Keep"
The spotlight character was Fuscus. Fuscus had a connection within Burgan Vale: Childric, the washed up mercenary captain. Both Childric and Fuscus were from Southkeep. This would be a recurring theme for the mission.
Build Developments: Lacking the resources from Echo Lake made things difficult, but still managed to obtain Great Casting, thus unlocking the possibility for a Mana Forge in the fall.
Challenge Phase: Preparations for the Festival of Illusions, the annual celebration of magic in Burgan Vale, were underway. Thea took the opportunity to make contacts and meet up with old friends, while Fuscus and Viator undertook efforts to find information that could be used as leverage by Red Bank.
Challenge Scene: An Unseemly Past - Diff 5, 2 Suns, 1 Moon, Disguise / Thievery / Stealth : Fuscus and Childric did all sorts of morally questionable things on the streets of Southkeep when they were growing up. For insurance, Fuscus and Viator decided to dig some of this up on Childric. Playing innocent, asking around, and using some measure of deception let them find out that Childric didn't come to Burgan Vale under the most honest of circumstances. His past as an enforcer for the Empire was not something he wanted to get out. Should the situation arise, such information could prove useful.
Advantage Scene: Alda's Hopes and Dreams : While Fuscus and Viator were busy, Thea spent time with Alda, the horsemaster for Burgan Vale. She took the time to better understand and relate to Elisa's granddaughter on a more personal level. This culminated in the creation of a mission aspect with two free invokes.
Challenge Scene: Structural Weakness - Diff 3, 1 Moon, Engineering / Wits : In the tower of Arankh, Thea and Fuscus met with Marellus to go over security within Burgan Vale. Leveraging information from Fuscus' past, the duo exposed some weaknesses that the Autarch may be able to exploit. Marellus was grateful for their aid.
Challenge Scene: Bending Elisa's Ear - Diff 1, 1 Sun, 2 Moons, Society: After an initial difficult challenge, the rest of the scenes proved fairly easy. The final challenge scene showcased Thea following Elisa about while Elisa performed various preparation tasks for the festival. Thea took the opportunity to get closer to Elisa.
Advantage Scene: Favor of the Blue Robes: Finally, Fuscus and Viator worked to gain the favor of the Order of the Eye. With Viator's magical knowledge and Fuscus' charm, they were able to create a campaign aspect with two free invokes.
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| Diplomacy |
Mission Status: Success! Disposition with Burgan Vale increased by one. However, Red Bank had two campaign consequences with one free invoke each, Questionable Past and Watched by Elisa.
Stability: Stronghold: -1 (The raiders of the Amber Hand took their toll.)
Ally Disposition: Burgan Vale +3, Crescent Hold +0, Gravewood -1, Lily Manor +3, Sunriders +2
Stronghold Developments:
Great Channeling
Great Casting
Regional Income:
Red Bank (Capital): 1 food, 2 timber, 2 mana
Echo Lake: 2 ore
Tarrydale Farms: 2 food
Green Vale: 1 food, 1 ore
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Total: 4 food, 3 timber, 4 ore, 2 mana, 1 luxury
Schemes: Skirmish One! The Autarch was causing problems on the frontier. Ignoring the scheme would mean a campaign aspect for the Autarch.
Scheme Pool
These are special dice pools used for the solo version of WotA.
Diplomacy Schemes: 1
Infiltration Schemes: 1
Skirmish Schemes: 1
Warfare Schemes: 1
Region Threats: None
Faction Threats: Lily Manor, Diplomacy difficulty 6. Lily Manor is nervous about the push toward gaining the Palimpsest. This worry could fester.
Rules Musings:
Used the same basic structure for diplomacy as was used for skirmish: each opponent has a chart which determines their action and the resulting total. It worked pretty well! It was difficult, probably on the border of being too difficult, but I enjoyed the fact it was kind of in doubt. It would be pretty fiddly if played solo, though. It's not as bad with a group if each player controls one of the opposing leaders as well. That kind of reduces the amount of info that's needed to track.
Also, it would be nice if the charts didn't need the character skill numbers at all. Currently, they do. That will make things a little redundant, but it's another way to be less fiddly. Used the complication and invoke rules tweaks from last session, and that went much better!
All in all, it worked fairly well. The biggest issue is probably going to be in terms of developing the info so that it's easy to track.
Next Session:
Not sure! Given how tough a difficulty 4 diplomacy mission was, the difficulty 6 mission to Lily Manor probably isn't going to happen. So that disposition is going to drop. And it doesn't really seem worth it to try to stop the Autarch's skirmish plans. Early on, they aren't that bad.
Most likely it will be an exploration mission to either Sunset Isles (diff 4) or the Gray Forest (diff 5). It would be good to ping-pong a few times between skirmish and diplomacy for playtest purposes, before moving on to infiltration and warfare. Probably choose Sunset Isles as Gray Forest looks pretty tough.
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