I'm extremely confused by the Villain in Midnight Isles' scenario "Landfall on Colyphyr." The Defiled One's card reads:
"The first time each turn The Defiled One is undefeated, a random character summons and encounters The Defiled One; after that encounter, the villain is undefeated."
1. Does this mean from the very first turn (when the first player/character advances the Blessings Deck for the first time), or only after The Defiled One has been encountered in a location deck but either not defeated or escaped?
2. Either way, where is it being summoned from, since it presumably is shuffled into a location deck, either at the start of play or after escaping (defeated or otherwise)?
3. How exactly does one untimately defeat the villian if he isn't in a location deck (so that he is available to be summoned and encountered) and is undefeated after being summoned and encountered whether he is defeated or not?
Any suggestions would be appreciated, as we are stuck until we can figure out how this is supposed to work.
1. When you encounter The Defiled One and lose the check (does NOT trigger if you evade him).
2. Summoned cards are not part of any location deck; this is universal across all summoned cards. You summon and encounter the copy of him before handling him escaping so he is not shuffled into any decks at that point in time. After the encounter with the summoned copy is over, the original card escapes as normal.
3. Defeating (or not defeating) the summoned copy does absolutely nothing. The original card works exactly like every other villain does, including winning, escaping, and all that jazz. The original card will never not be in a location deck, so I'm not sure where you're coming from with that question.
1. When you encounter The Defiled One and lose the check (does NOT trigger if you evade him).
2. Summoned cards are not part of any location deck; this is universal across all summoned cards. You summon and encounter the copy of him before handling him escaping so he is not shuffled into any decks at that point in time. After the encounter with the summoned copy is over, the original card escapes as normal.
3. Defeating (or not defeating) the summoned copy does absolutely nothing. The original card works exactly like every other villain does, including winning, escaping, and all that jazz. The original card will never not be in a location deck, so I'm not sure where you're coming from with that question.
Just so that I'm clear, then:
1. The defiled one is encountered as normal during an exploration. (He can't be evaded according to the card.) If defeated and all locations are closed, we're done. If defeated but locations are open, he escapes (as usual).
2. If he is not defeated, before shuffling him & the blessings into open locations, a random character encounters him. Regardless of the result of this encounter, The Defiled One is undefeated and gets shuffled into a random open location along with cards from the Blessings Deck.
In other words, all of this takes place between the failure to defeat and the escaping to an open location part of the encounter. Maybe the card should have read: "If The Defiled One is undefeated, before he escapes, a random character enounters the Defiled One. After this encounter, the Defiled One remains undefeated and escapes as usual." It was the whole "Each turn the defiled One is undefeated" bit that threw me, because technically he is undefeated from the start of the scenario until he is.
As to my point #3, since there is only 1 card for The Defiled One, the only way to summon and encounter him each turn he is undefeated (as I was understanding it, that is, at the start of every player's turn after he was initially encountered but not defeated) is for the card to be available for encountering, i.e., not shuffled into a location deck.
Thanks for the help.
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1 and 2 are both correct. He can, however, be evaded by a Mythic Trickster expending 5 mythic charges ;)
Your proposed rewording is different than how it actually works, though. Consider the following scenario:
1. It is your turn, you explore and encounter The Defiled One.
2. Despite your best efforts, you miss the roll by 1 and it is undefeated. You reveal your armor to block the damage.
3. The Defiled One's power makes someone else encounter a summoned copy of it.
4. It escapes back to the same location deck (let's just say that all other locations were closed/temporarily closed at the time).
5. You continue exploring and encounter The Defiled One again.
6. You lose against it again.
7. The power does not trigger because it is not the first time The Defiled One was undefeated this turn. It escapes as normal without any additional villains being summoned.
In your rewording of it, #7 would have it summon another copy as opposed to how it currently works where you only have that happen at most once each turn.
As for the timing of it, the wording works as-is although it relies on knowing how the regular encounter sequence nests into the villain encounter sequence to make sense. When you flip over a villain, you go through the following steps in order:
1. Attempt to Temporarily Close Open Locations.
2. Encounter the Villain:
2.1. Apply Any Effects That Happen When You Encounter a Card.
2.2. Apply Any Evasion Effects.
2.3. Apply Any Effects That Happen Before You Act.
2.4. Attempt the Check.
2.4.1. Determine Which Skill You're Using.
2.4.2. Determine the Difficulty.
2.4.3. Play Cards and Use Powers That Affect Your Check (Optional).
2.4.4. Assemble Your Dice.
2.4.5. Attempt the Roll.
2.4.6. Take Damage, If Necessary.
2.5. Attempt the Next Check, If Needed.
2.6. Apply Any Effects That Happen After You Act.
2.7. Resolve the Encounter. This is when The Defiled One's undefeated power is applied and you summon and encounter a copy.
3. If You Defeat the Villain, Close the Villain's Location.
4. Check to See Whether the Villain Escapes.
5. If the Villain Has Nowhere to Escape to, You Win!
It was the whole "Each turn the defiled One is undefeated" bit that threw me, because technically he is undefeated from the start of the scenario until he is.
"undefeated" is a very specific game term that means you attempted a check to defeat a bane but failed. A card will only ever be undefeated if you actually encounter it, it is not a persistent state of the card. The rules say (Resolve the Encounter): "If you succeed at all of the checks required to defeat a bane, banish it; if you don't succeed, it is undefeated--shuffle the card back into its location deck."
Excellent explanation. I don't envy the people who write these cards, because of the difficulty of saying precisely what you want to happen - and exclude what you don't want to happen - in so few words. What I am truly impressed by is how good a job they do at making scenarios just a bit different from the standard "formula."
Again, thanks for the help.