Part 10: Queen of Plague

Part 10 - Queen of Plague (YouTube)

I hate Cursed Gamblers. I hate curses. I hate the idea of losing equipment when I can only carry one at a time. If you're not a Nomad and you hoard equipment and money, the Cursed Gamblers may be less of a challenge? I think they'll suck no matter what you do.

Otherwise, the run was lucky in quite a few areas. We got the right kinds of weapons at exactly the right times, we did amass some gold, and the icing on top of the cake was the Self Righteous blessing. Rat Cleaver was very nice, but that's why I made sure it was in the equipment deck!

Aside from the… uh… spectacle that was the fight with the Queen, this dungeon further showcases that you can work around the encounters you have if you prepare ahead of time. Almost all combat is, to some degree, manageable. Chance events are still a matter of chance, but you can follow cards around to a limited degree. And if you fail a dungeon, you can try again with a bit more understanding of what it takes.

help the game is breaking around me

The Lich

The Lich seems like a menacing enemy, but you'll fight it in an arena where you can put a sarcophagus between the two of you. Do that, take out the skeletons, and then just make sure to dodge or reflect the Lich's attack. If you're confident enough to dodge roll into the Lich just as it reforms, you can get more hits in. Keep at it until it dies.

If you do get hit by all its ranged attacks, that'll start hurting a lot more.

The Queen of Plague

The Ratman Queen can birth thousands of her foul kind, protecting them with her prodigious spear skills.

The Queen of Plague has one primary attack in two parts: the energy attack will draw you towards her if you get hit, afterwards she will try to swipe at you with her claws, though that can be countered. This seems trivial, but losing your mobility is a great way to get overwhelmed, especially if she stays near her unblockable totem. In fact, the totem is the real problem of this fight. If you don't deal with it rapidly, it will bring in a lot of hurt.

I suggest staying far away from the Queen and her Totem to pick off her entourage first. After that, you can take out the totem while dodging her, preferably when she's lured away. Without any kind of backup, the Queen isn't much of a threat.