Quirks, Diseases and Week 4

Our new building this week is the Sanitarium which allows us to remove the negative traits (or quirks) that the adventurers pick up, as well as diseases (which we, thankfully, haven't faced yet). You can also lock in a positive trait to ensure that it doesn't get replaced by anything else, but this is really expensive. The upgrade tracks are Treatment Library (which reduces the costs of removing or reinforcing quirks), Medical Devices (which reduces the cost of treating diseases) and Patient Cells (which opens up more slots for people to be treated.


The only quirk negative enough that I'm willing to shell out at the moment is Marianne's Yips - as you can see, it will cost 1130 gold to remove.


Dave Jones and Jess are also starting to look a little stressed, so they can spend the week in the tavern. Jess is a Gambler and so will only go to the Gambling Hall. We also pick up a couple of new recruits:


At which point, adventure awaits!


A team with a Vestal and a Jester should give us a good chance at surviving a medium adventure, and there is one available in the Weald. So off we go! Before we do though, I buy Matt a new skill (Divine Comfort which is a small full party heal).


Medium length adventures provide some firewood so that you can camp. I also make sure to purchase more food, torches and medicinal herbs (as you can use them for more food in the Weald if you get lucky).


Our quest is, again, to explore 90% of rooms. Now we are on a medium adventure, we can safely ignore two of them and, looking at the map, there are a couple of off-shoots which, unless scouting changes anything, will probably be the ones to be overlooked.


Not a great start...


You must be kidding!


First battle should be fairly straight-forward!


Squire Keen is a Hellion, which is a very aggressive class. Current skills are Wicked Hack (a fairly straight forward attack against spot 1 or 2), Barbaric Yawp! (which stuns the front two enemies, but gives a small damage and dodge debuff to the Hellion), If it Bleeds (which can target spaces 2 or 3 with damage and Bleeding) and Breakthrough (which attacks the front 3 enemies, but gives a debuff to the Hellion that affects damage and dodge). Hoping to finish quickly, we'll try a Breakthrough!


Close but no cigar. Next attack is to Dave Heaton, our Jester. He's primarily useful as a de-stresser, but can also do some fun stuff with status affects. Lots of his skills rely on where he is in the party order, and move him, so he can be hard to use well. His current load-out is Dirk Stab (attacks any of the front 3, but moves him forwards 1), Harvest (which relies on being in space 2 or 3, but attacks both of the enemies in 2 and 3 with Bleeding), Solo (which moves him forwards 3 spaces but hits all enemies with a huge damage and accuracy debuff) and Inspiring Tune (which heals stress and raises resistance to stress in one ally). In this case, Dismas is looking pretty stressed, so an Inspiring Tune it is.


Dismas finishes things off with a Grapeshot Blast.


The next battle will likely prove to be more of an annoyance, but with three people able to inflict Bleeding, we should be ok.


And the basic plan of inflict bleed whenever possible works pretty well.


This is a really quiet dungeon, but a lucky scouting chance reveals a secret room to the west. I had planned not to go that way, but this changes everything!


One secret room can fund a lot of activity!


Let's hope we can take advantage. In this instance, the Cultist isn't the problem he would normally be, as Dave will be able to mitigate him quite well. The ectoplasms might prove annoying though and become primary targets.


They are highly resistant to Bleed, but don't have many hit points so we're able to sort them out before they get to act (and replicate!).


Another battle where Bleed will probably save the day.


This was starting to look bad with stress building faster than I could get rid of it. But sometimes, when an adventurer hits 100 stress, they get a Virtue rather than an Affliction. This will make a difference.


Normally, I'd be tempted to camp after a battle like that, but that would waste Dave's Virtue (which only lasts until you camp or return to the hamlet). Let's press on and hope.


Oh crap.

This guy is the collector - a mini-boss that turns up if the game thinks you are doing too well... To be honest, I'm tempted to cut my losses and run, given that we got the secret room, but with all the bleed we can inflict, we might be ok.


His big trick is summoning friends which are supposed to be the people he's killed. Each corresponds to one of the adventurer classes. The first is a Highwayman, the second a Vestal and the third a Man-at-Arms.


Finally, in round 8, we get to the point where we can mop up the summons (the fourth set!).


Eventually, victory does bring a good prize at least.


And, thankfully, he marked the end of the adventure.


But a good haul earned.


But the new quirks aren't great. Dismas and Matt both develop Deviant Tastes (not allowed in the Brothel), Squire Keen is Tuckered Out (less damage when at less than half health) and a Clutch Hitter (so he gets more crit chance when at less than half health). Dismas also picks up Beast Hater, which means he does more damage to beasts and takes less stress when fighting them.


Sadly, whilst the team were away, Dave Jones has gone on a drunken bender and is nowhere to be found. He'll return... at some point...