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Descent: The Road to Legend — Preview #3Home Sweet Home
If you've played Descent: Journeys in the Dark at all, you've no doubt spent some time traveling to, shopping in, and returning from "town." You've marveled at the wonderful utility and power of glyphs of recall, letting you make your trips home mid-dungeon and still be back in time for the final battle. But did you ever wonder what town you were visiting? Or how all this works? Well, good news, hero. I'm about to tell you. TamalirThe town in question is Tamalir, the most civilized and important city in Terrinoth. Tamalir is the most important city in the game — if it is ever razed, the overlord wins! Heroes may always travel to Tamalir via glyphs of recall, even if they are in a distant corner of Terrinoth, thanks to the mystical relic that is the source of most of Tamalir's wealth and influence: the Obelisk of Journeys. This ancient stone, inscribed with runes and glyphs whose meaning has long since been forgotten, is the heart of the network of glyphs that link Terrinoth together. Thanks to the Obelisk, Tamalir's messengers and spies may travel freely throughout the world, and her chosen champions (that would be you, heroes) are always only a glyph away from a temple's healing and a busy market. If the overlord ever got his talons on this powerful relic, all of Terrinoth would be doomed. Of course, Tamalir is not the only Free City in Terrinoth, and although its cosmopolitan nature means that it has a little bit of everything it doesn't have the busiest market, or the grandest temple, or the most skilled craftsmen, or the most learned sages in the land. The heroes will often wish to travel to other cities and make use of the amenities they offer. These amenities take the form of the five building types that heroes are likely to frequent.  This city, Forge, has a Market rating of 2, Defense rating of 5, Alchemist rating of 3, and Temple rating of 2, and teaches both melee and ranged traits, but not magic. Taverns, aside from being a great place to relax between bouts of saving the world, are a gathering place for all sorts of people. A hero who visits or trains at a tavern may, by buying a few rounds of drinks, uncover a few tidbits of useful information in the form of Rumors. As much as they might want to, heroes can't "restock" at a tavern while in mid-dungeon.  Temples are already familiar to most Descent players as the place you wake up in after dying. In Road to Legend, they offer an added benefit of healing for a modest donation. Although each temple is different, most of them are far more cost effective than healing potions when it comes to health returned for your coin!  Every hero knows the value of a good Alchemist, of course. Buying the right potion for the right job at the right time is critically important to experienced heroes, so they'll be visiting the alchemist quite a bit over the course of the campaign. Alchemists can only brew a few potions per week, but the better ones (like creepy old Doctor Potts in Greyhaven) can supply all but the most demanding heroes.  Markets have all the goods one might expect, including the items found in the town deck, and also a few choice extras! When a hero visits a market, he draws cards equal to its market rating from the treasure deck that matches the current campaign level. That sets the market's contents for the week, and from then on any hero who visits, trains, or restocks at that market can purchase any of those items. At the end of the week, any of the items that weren't purchased (in addition to any that were sold back) are shuffled back into their deck.  Finally, there are Training Grounds. Heroes can't visit or restock at training grounds; they can only train. Each city has its own training ground, with its own specialties and skills available. When a hero trains at one of these locations, he can either upgrade his traits or purchase a new skill. Each town has its own list of skills available there, and not all towns allow all traits to be upgraded, so a major reason for traveling from city to city is to learn the skill or upgrade the trait of your choice.  Aside from variable temple, market, and alchemist traits, and a unique list of skills and traits available for upgrade at each town, each of the Free Cities also has its own unique special ability! For example, Forge has the ability "Dwarven Market: When drawing the first Market item, draw until you find a Weapon, Armor, or Shield, or until you exhaust the deck, in which case shuffle the deck and draw normally." Forge is aptly named, after all, and naturally it's an excellent place to shop for weapons and armor! Of course, Tamalir has its own power: "Hometown: The heroes may purchase upgrades for Tamalir." ;)
;) "Great Wall" and "Bazaar" Tamalir upgrade cards. That's all for now! See you next time, when we discuss the evil that (beast)men do! Read the other articles in this series: | |
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