Let's play King of Dragon Pass, just as our ancestors did

Year 1332, part 7



Unfortunately (note: actually fortunately), the Eurmali were outvoted in favor of the more practical annual tribute option. We can choose any number between 20 and 40 cows. There's a small chance they don't have 40 cows; in any event, a free 20 cows a year is a handy profit as long as we have someone else to use as a punching bag.



They agree too it all too eagerly. This is good: it means they have pockets deep enough to be worth our time when they inevitably break tribute a few years down the road.



Sacred Time again. Look at our food output. That was a bad harvest. Arene is an alarmist, and we'll be fine as soon as we get a good harvest.



Like this one. As a bonus, we have Humakt's blessing (in the form of a threat) to go pound on someone.

Oddity: the "reserve" in the upper right shows two Magic fewer than our status line. I honestly don't know what's up here. Either way, it's more than generous for whatever we want to do.



We have two items up for vote today. What should we do this year, and how much food should we ask for?

For what it's worth, Rostakos is being overly alarmist, too. If you're really in dire need of food, your weaponthanes will take that instead of cows when you plunder. Scroll up and you'll notice they didn't.

We have lots of options for this year:

• Raiding is a given. Can't go soft now, can we?
• Exploring distant lands netted us a treasure last year. (By the way, I did some research -- it's a weaponthane that dies if you use it, not a portrait-and-name thane like Insterid.)
• Exploring our tula could also unearth a treasure or additional crafting materials.
• We could always trade our treasure. If we want to keep the Raven Banner, we can still trade Blacktail the Bull, who will die within the next several years if we don't.
• Of course, we can perform regular trade missions, too. I'm fairly certain we can support more trading partners.
• You don't want to go more than a few years between diplomatic missions, either. We're on one right now, so it's not urgent, but we can curry some favor in preparation for tribe-making later.
• It's never a bad idea to learn more mysteries. Which god deserves our attention this year?
• Though it's still an option, performing a heroquest is more likely to fail when done on consecutive years.
• The farmers' mood should improve once our food situation gets better, but we can give the farmers gifts if anyone's feeling sorry for them.
• Once we're looking better on food, it might be time for a feast to show our neighbors how awesome we are.

Trade Blacktail the Bull, explore distant lands, and mysteries. Oh, and ask for slightly less than the customary amount of food.

Raiding, exploring distant lands, trade mission, whatever god mystery helps with weapons...how many of these can we have?

There's no way to know!

You always get ten actions per year, but circumstances can cause us to spend some of them on actions we didn't anticipate.

While we're stewing over options for the new year, how about another intermission?

Interlude 3: Art Break

"What's so great about King of Dragon Pass?" you ask. Today, the answer is art.



Did you know that all of these gorgeous scenes are actual watercolor paintings? It's true! KoDP developer David Dunham explains in this blog post the exact process through which a story description becomes an actual picture of a squid strangling a cow.



But wait! There's more! You can actually purchase some of the original watercolors from Dunham's Etsy page. Since these are, yes, the actual originals, there's only one of each painting available, and the selection is pretty poor at this point. (The index shows the same painting twice a couple of times. I don't know why, but the duplicates link to the same skus. There is no second print for those paintings.)



In the PC version, the dialog box covers some of the art. (The iOS version is arranged so that this isn't a problem.) You can see the full art by pressing Space. The same key will restore the dialog.

Year 1333, part 1



We've decided to make some sweet, sweet transactions this fiscal year.



Per Gerad's recommendation, we beg for less food than we could. This raises our esteem in that clan's eyes. It might also increase our reputation. Who knows?

Sea 1



Checking in on things, we're looking pretty good! No need to buy off our farmers this year, it seems.



Since we wanted to explore distant lands, I decide that the northeast corner of Dragon Pass is as good a spot as any and send Farad packing with a small escort.

Sea 2



I sacrifice for Humakt's mysteries and obtain Battle Luck. This blessing is not subtle: it increases our chances of winning battles. "Winning" in this context means completing your objectives (Plunder, etc.) or preventing your foes from completing theirs.

Fire 1

Time to raid.



I spotted a bit of a problem when trying to choose our next victim. The only neighboring clan that we're feuding with are the Osgosi, and we're receiving tribute from them. We've got two other clans in our doghouse, but they don't border us. Raiding them requires traveling through lands we don't own, which usually requires paying somebody for the privilege of performing a raid.

Screw that. Let's pick on the Blue Spruces. They even sound like a wussy clan.



We're facing the full army of the Blue Spruces, which is not ideal, but we still have the numbers advantage. I pump a point of magic just in case.



We still lose. Well, sorta. It's not like they came out ahead on this one.

That should be good enough for Humakt, though. He didn't say we had to win.



Turns out we were just in time. The horse nomads are back in full force. I choose some conservative tactics.



They aren't really interested in man-to-man combat, though.

Subsequently

Everyone is gossiping about what happened a few hours ago. The young woman Eonislara was found out in the forest, making love with Korol, a notorious poet and troublemaking warrior of the Isolting clan. Korol left without a formal farewell. Eonislara is unmarried, so her actions are not an offense against the gods. But she is betrothed to Jorator, a young thane of the Eagle clan, and the wedding is scheduled for next season.

Yerestia: Jorator's clan is allied to ours. Korol's clan is on the cusp of a feud with us. Recommends #5.
Harvar: A marriage is like any other trade. You must tell your trading partner the facts, so he will not complain later. Recommends #5.
Insterid: Eonislara's desires are not important. This is a matter between clans. Recommends #5.
Iskalli: Eonislara has done nothing wrong; nor has the otherwise disreputable Korol. It would be absurd to marry her to him. Recommends #3.
Valensta: Korol has talked many of his hotheaded kinfolk out of unwise revenge. Recommends #2.
Arene: Eonislara loves Korol, not Jorator. Recommends #2.
Heortarl: Korol's poetry is fine indeed. "More snakes live in the mountain than any old fool thinks." No recommendation.
Mogri: When Valensta and Arene agree on something that no one else does, it's a clear signal to ignore them.

I kind of love the art on this one. Korol? More like Trololol, right, guys?

I was going to ask if the young lady in question had anything to say on the subject, but I kinda like the idea that she's also the one in front chasing him off with a pitchfork even though that's probably not what's actually happening...
so let's go ahead with the marriage. And probably just as well to mention this, because I imagine it's going to be kind of notorious if we don't.

5, fine, though in my heart I'm with Heortarl. Who cares?

Year 1333, part 2



We decided to rat on our naked friend, but managed to convince Jorator it was cool anyway.

...Why does anyone ever get married in Glorantha?

Fire 2



We failed at our last raid, which is basically unacceptable. Let's raid someone else this time: the Heran clan.

Now, you're thinking, "Who?" And I'm saying, "Right?" But the fact that we don't border means that it's honestly just not worth the effort to actually do anything about our feud most of the time. We exchange ill-wishing Sacred Time cards with the Herani every year and that's mostly the extent of it.



Not this year, though. This year, we're gonna pony up for some VENGEANCE for whatever it is they did to us before the game started.



But not, like, very much or anything. We don't want to break the bank here.



I brought some friends, used a point of magic, and sacrificed to Humakt for Victory. Not gonna take chances here after paying for this privilege.



Profit~~~

Since our food stores were so anemic, we took some food from this battle instead of goods. That's really too bad, since we're about to get a nice influx of food. Oh well. The Herani have a bloody nose now, which is what really matters. Fie on you, clan Heran.

Elsewhere



Ay yi yi! Trolls are a little more anatomically similar to pigs in this universe than you might be used to. (This also appeared in the last image of the heroquest we did, but it was much less obvious there.)

Anyway, we have stumbled on the lair of the broodmother here. Her hindquarters are all leggy and stuff, and she breathes fire. What do we do?



























Haha, okay, sorry, no. Not putting this one up for vote. You can send a Heroic-level warrior with a complement of fifty warriors and she'll still burn 'em up like nothing. There is no way to beat Cragspider. You can only manage not to die horribly. If we ever send anyone back this way, she'll kill them outright.

This is a reliable way to get rid of anyone you don't like.

Earth 1



Oh, so this is why Gloranthans marry: for the parties.

I suddenly get the feeling that Insterid intimidated Jorator into marrying Eonislara.



Now that raid season is over, let's search for treasure. We have no way of knowing a priori which clan holds what treasure, so we take the dartboard approach to this exercise. This clan sounds as good as any.

The image suggests I sent Harvar, but I really sent Rostakos, our go-to bargainer who's not on the ring.

Quack

A delegation of Cabbage Ducks come to your clan hall demanding redress for the slayings of their kinsmen. 3 ducks were killed by nobles of your clan, or so they allege. They say that they are as Orlanthi as we, and demand compensation for these killings. They say that the slain were nobles, and deserving the full wergild of a warrior thane, 20 cows, paid in silver.

Wergild is payment for the unjust death of a clansman, if it wasn't obvious from context.

Yerestia: We have already done them harm. Do not threaten them further. Recommends #1, #2, or #3.
Harvar: They want to be respected as proper Orlanthi, which means getting the full wergild we would pay for slain humans. No recommendation.
Insterid: The ducks are no threat to us. On the other hand, their cousins, the beastfolk, could fall upon our tula and destroy us. Recommends #3.
Iskalli: They are Orlanthi, but their versions of proper customs are peculiar. No recommendation.
Valensta: We can afford to pay what justice demands. Recommends #3.
Arene: The ducks claim to be descended from a great, vanished Empire called Ganderland. No recommendation.
Heortarl: They are foreigners, and we can mistreat them if we want to. Recommends #4.
Mogri: Ducks have no interest in cattle. The beastfolk are our ancient enemies, but for some reason, that doesn't seem to be relevant in this scenario.

No one wants to offer an opinion on this one. What about you?

They are foreigners, and we can mistreat them if we want to. 4.

Is a carl's wergild one step down from a weaponthane's? Go with that, they'll probably grumble about it, but it's not so insulting that they'll try to get the beast men involved.

Yeah, the progression should be cottar < carl < thane. They want 20 goods per duck at the thane level, for a total of 60 goods. Carls would cost half that, and cottars probably cost half as much as carls. We have 85 goods, so it's mostly a matter of how much we're willing to part with.

For the curious, there is real-world historical precedent for this practice, although it doesn't involve ducks.

I...I kind of want to see more angry warrior ducks.

How much money have we made off them, anyway? Is it more than the carl price? Cause if so I'm okay with the carl price.

We have made no money off the ducks.

Well, they've been paying their tribute, so we know that they keep their word. More importantly, we know that they're neither starving nor powerful enough to stop paying tribute to see what we're going to do about it...

And look how cute they are in their duck armour! Let's go with Option 1!

Year 1333, part 3

(That's a lot of 3s)



The ducks are less than thrilled about our decision, but what are ya gonna do?

Earth 2



I try my hand at getting more secrets out of Ernalda -- you know, our clan's main deity -- but she just wants to tell us more about a heroquest we already know. This is great if you're playing the game unspoiled.

I'm playing the game pre-spoiled.



Rostakos has arrived at his destination, so it's time for a little trading action. We stumbled onto a nice litle trinket here that will give Insterid a boost as long as there's an Insterid on the ring. This is worth trading our horny bull for, so let's do that.



Ouch, dude. That stings. Our cow is plenty valuable.

Dark 1



I decide to scour our tula for more goodies. You can't leave the tula during Dark season, but you can still explore inside. We end up scoring a cache of gems, which I'll give to our crafters in short order.

But before that

Jorator of clan Eagle, to whom you married the young woman Eonislara, demands compensation. "I thought you made up the story of Eonislara and Korol to put me off the marriage, since Eonislara promised she would dally with no other before we wed. Yet now she is puffed up with child, and I see the story was true! I am cheated, and demand the return of the bride price as penalty!"

Yeah, we totally tried to trick you into NO WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU.

Yerestia: Why is he bringing this up again? Even his own clan thinks he is an idiot. But for Eonislara's sake... Recommends #4.
Harvar: There is a humorous incident like this in Oskul's Saga... or is it Harmast's Saga? No recommendation.
Insterid: It is not a good time to fight the Eagles. Recommends #2.
Iskalli: There is no end to this man's stupidity. Eonislara is now his kin; there are no crimes between kin. His own clan will tell him as much. Recommends #5.
Valensta: Eurmal launched a lawsuit against the Bird God for painting his arm white. Everyone laughed. Recommends #3.
Arene: He is a fool, but treat him gently. Recommends #4.
Heortarl: It is sad that Eonislara is married to a buffoon. She should divorce him. Recommends #1.
Mogri: The bride price isn't even that much. It's the principle of the thing.

Clan consensus is that this guy is a total moron. What should we do with him?

One more thing: Should we pursue Vinga's Comb or just keep looking? Purchasing Vinga's Comb will probably require something like 100 goods/cattle; regardless, we need to find someone else who'll take Blacktail.

Huh. If Insterid doesn't want a fight right now, I'll skip the obvious choice of one and go for four.

5. Dude is an idiot.

Eh, if we were mean to every idiot we met we'd just be assholes. Go for 4.

I don't see how we could have been any more frank with him back when this all started, so my first impulse is to just tell him off. For the sake of keeping things civil with the Eagle Clan (and for Eonislara's sake) we should at least try to talk him down with Option 4, though.

Year 1333, part 4



We decided to let the idiot down gently. Everyone wins!

Getting bored

Let's fly kites!



Well, this was unexpected.

Yerestia: This is a good chance to improve our relations with our neighbors, with little risk of insulting them. Recommends #2, #3, or #4.
Harvar: Good relations mean good trading. Recommends #2 or #3.
Insterid: When Orlanth tamed his unruly brothers, he did not fight with peaceful Kolat. Instead, their brightly-colored kites fought. Recommends #2.
Iskalli: This tradition shows that we respect each other's borders, and can pay tribute to Orlanth's competitive nature without shedding blood. Recommends #3.
Valensta: This is an excellent chance to show our generosity. Recommends #2 or #3.
Arene: This is an excellent chance to show our generosity. Recommends #2 or #3.
Heortarl: I'll go along with the ring's decision. No recommendation.
Mogri: Doesn't anyone care about winning?

In many countries (though not English-speaking ones, as far as I know), kite fighting is a popular hobby. It involves crushing up glass into fine shards and gluing them to the kite string. When kite strings tangle, one of them will sever the other, winning the contest. It's very easy to get slivers of glass stuck in your hand in this process.

I care about winning, Mogri. I do. 1.

The Kite Runner was the first thing that came to mind when I saw this event.

Yes, let's concentrate on winning.

It's not like we had any long-term peace plans, did we?

Feast! Feast! Feast!

I can't believe Heortarl is being quiet on this one.

That was where I first learned about battle kites too! I hope that the ending of this contest is a lot happier...

So to that end, we should give gifts to our fellow combatants, in the spirit of the season.

Year 1333, part 5



We used our FIGHTING SPIRIT and won the kite competition. And wow, did we win. That's 12 more magic than we had before! Our entire clan ring was trying to lead us astray here.

Dark 2



It's Crafting Time! I've decided to max out our crafters and assign them to our new crafting good, which is apparently amulets and not gems.



This leaves us with something like 400 out of the 407 farmers we need, which naturally means Arene is here to tell us how the world is going to end.

I don't really like Arene, guys.

Storm 1



Normally, this is the month where I'd be launching another punitive raid, but we dumped a lot of magic into Trading and I must get my money's worth. These guys look like promising trade partners, judging by the description.

I sent Harvar because this should resolve quickly enough for it not to matter, and Harvar is a better negotiator than Kostardos.

Nobody cares



about this event.



So I exercise executive control and just give them what they asked for. Our farmers are a real bunch of whiners, aren't they?

Storm 2



Normally, this is the month where I'd launch yet another punitive raid, but I figured, yeah, we can probably use a few more farmers, if for no other reason than we could use a few more heads in our army. We could just as easily sacrifice to Barntar for his Vigor blessing or kill off a few dozen cattle to ease the workload for our pasture-type farmers, but this has ancillary benefits, so this is the option I picked.



Hooray! Our aggressive pursuit of trade has won the hearts of our like-minded neighbors.



Finally, we pay for our complacency with a raid from one of our feud partners. We're outnumbered pretty badly, but we're also awesome, and they're not.



They still manage to "win," in the weakest sense of the word, grabbing next to nothing as their surviving warriors limp off the battlefield.

This means revenge, naturally.



But first, it's Sacred Time. Our numbers look really, really good this year.



With a ton of magic to spend and no special forecast for the year, our options are pretty wide open. What's our plan for this year?

• As always, raiding is on the table, but we're not adjacent to a neighbor we're feuding with.
• To that end, dumping magic into Diplomacy in order to form an alliance with one of the clans that stand between us and our punching bags might be a good idea, though it's not necessary -- we just have to pay the toll until we do.
• We failed to trade treasures last year. We could put a few points into Trading and try again with a new clan.
• We could also use Trading magic to try to buy Vinga's Comb. They won't take Blacktail, but we have the riches to pay for it.
• It's been a few years since we performed a heroquest. Putting two points into Quests would be necessary if we want to do this, but the magic pays for itself if we're successful.
• We always need to learn more mysteries. Who's the lucky god this year?
• We sent out two exploration parties this year -- one internal, one external -- but much is left to discover.
• Now that our food stores are looking healthier, a feast might be in order.

Clan Destine needs your guidance, Talking Time!

Feast, heroquest, trade treasures.

Feast, heroquest, alliance. In whatever order you choose.

Heroquest, raiding, trading?

And a feast, to see what that's like.

Welcome to a very special installment of Let's Play King of Dragon Pass. This is more than double the length of your usual update, but it's packed with Drama, Excitement, and a Cliffhanger Ending! Ready? Buckle in.

Year 1334, part 1



It's difficult to find enough actions in a year to justify both diplomacy and trade. We'll stick to trading this year; there'll be time enough later for alliances.

Sea 1



Arene notifies us of the new arrivals. There aren't very many, but we didn't need very many.



For our first action of the year, I decide it's time to find someone else to take Blacktail. These guys sound cool: they have a magic rock!

Again, I accidentally send Harvar. Oh well.



Arene is back, this time to complain about hunters. It's true that we don't need very many hunters, so maybe I'll consider them as an option for when she complains next.

Sea 2



For our second action, let's build a shrine to Humakt, permanently granting us the Battle Luck blessing that we discovered last year.



And we get an update on the Glendara/Rangarda situation. Maybe she'll take the grudge to the grave with her. haha yeah right



Harvar arrives at the magic rock clan. They have a Hate Torch for sale, which sounds good to me.



They agree to relinquish the Hate Torch in exchange for Blacktail. Excellent.

We're still not done with Sea, because...



...the Orlundi want our crafting materials again. You might remember that the Orlundi, our newest trade route, are "known for their aggressive pursuit of trade." Yeah.



Yeah, no.

Fire 1

Okay, guys, time to get to raiding. Let's start with the



Waaaaaait a minute. Where's my Hate Torch?

I reload and run through the trade event again.



What in the world? This isn't a Hate Torch at all! But that's the same number of treasures we had before...



Oh, hey, this is what we must have gotten the first time around. And it's dumb and stupid.

I'm going to stick with Quivin's Torc and its mysterious, unspecified bonuses.

Okay, now we can raid the Herani.



And that's just what we're gonna do.



The Karandoli are playing coy with us. They know we want what's on the other side.



15 goods later, they let us through.

Hold on a minute, though.



Who's steering this thing?

I guess that'll teach us to go raiding after an all-night bender.



Numbers advantage, check. "Just-in-case" point of magic, check. Let's do this.



Suck it, Herani.

Fire 2



Harvar wants more trade routes, and we've dumped points into Trading, so let's give this a try.



Of course we're like three farmers short now. Probably happened between the casualties from the raid and the soldiers we sent as trade escorts.

Tragically



Disaster strikes! Why couldn't it have been Arene?

Insterid has been stricken with a terrible illness. Investigation by a worshipper of Urox confirms everyone's suspicions -- she is the victim of chaotic magic. The Uroxi pinpoints the method of infection: the fabric of one of her skirts was woven with hard-to-discern Chaos runes, as well as other malign runes. Nobody is sure who gave Insterid the skirt, and she is too sick to talk. She is attended by your best healers.

Yerestia: Another clan will be offended if we accuse them of Chaos, but grateful if we root out a genuine practitioner of chaotic magics. Recommends #3, #4, or #5.
Harvar: It is very difficult to tell one clan's bolt of cloth from another's, but of course I am an expert. That skirt was made by one of us. Recommends #2.
Insterid: BARF
Iskalli: I can do little here, unless this be the work of outlaws. If so, I can hunt them down. Recommends #5.
Valensta: Chalana Arroy heals those sickened by Chaos; Urox avenges those slain by it. Recommends #3.
Arene: It is very difficult to tell one clan's bolt of cloth from another's. Recommends #1 or #2.
Heortarl: If we falsely accuse another clan's women of being chaotic, they have the right to take all of our cheese. Recommends #5.
Mogri: Harvar and Valensta seem to know what they're talking about.

You guys had better not kill Insterid.