Let’s Play Dark Covenant Invader! Part 2: Tarnished Silver

Leoric invades a world to hunt his first target.

Table of Contents

Let’s start invading and collecting Trophies for our Covenant!

The first step of the process is to check the starting point of the invasion. This defines the Usage Die required to hunt the target.

A Usage Die gets reduced in number whenever we roll a 1 or 2, until that result happens on a D4, which triggers the necessary event to happen.

If we begin with a UD8, rolling a 1-2 decreases it to a UD6, then to UD4, then we play out what the UD represents. In this case, we reach the target and start the combat.

D6 Starting Point: 5
Before boss area, UD4

Nice, real close to the target! We should find them quickly.

Now let’s define our target.

D6 Light Covenant: 3
Silver Knights, UD6 Summon

All Light Covenants except one have either an immediate summon or a UD for summons. That means that our target will have the help of another dreg during the combat.

We flesh out our target with background + lore.

D6 Background: 1
Zealous Cleric
Purpose: Defend
Essence: Lost
Form: Fungal
Land: Luskand

A cleric from the same land as Leoric! Some great possibilities for narrative here.

Alright, now we generate each area as we go through them. These are the steps:

1. Roll the hunt UD.

2. Roll the Summon UD.

3. Roll number of exits for the area. This is partly cosmetic, but a roll of 6 also starts an Escape UD8 for the target, which means they start running away from us. If successful, the hunt is over and we return to the Sanctuary.

4. Roll for the area encounter (from area 2 onwards).

5. Generate area description and lore with the tables.

Easy and fun. With that, I’ll start part 2.

Part 2

Area 1
Hunt UD4: 3, no change
Summon UD6: 5, no change
D6 Exits: 3, single exit
Environ: Settlement
Essence: Deteriorated
Form: Verdigris

Leoric started the ritual focusing on a target. His mind floundered against a spiral of cold water as faces flickered beneath, then dissolved into the current.

A presence lingered. Fragments of their life pieced together like a puzzle, giving form to a cleric. From his homeland. A zealot who sanctified the corrupted waters of Luskand. She was now sworn to the Silver Knights, serving the Covenant of radiance and martial perfection. Pathetic.

The clerics of Luskand aided the lost and broken, absorbing the corruption into themselves so that others could remain pure. A self-destructive calling that made them walking martyrs.

Leoric despised them. They thought they were holier and better, and their methods made the Verdant Flame look like an Order of drooling barbarians. Luskand remained rotten despite the cleric’s godliness, didn’t it?

Reality shifted Leoric closer to the target. His body tumbled around as if the sea pulled him under a wave and knocked him over again and again. When his mind settled and the ritual concluded, the Sanctuary had disappeared.

Leoric found himself in a half-drowned settlement. Roofs collapsed into pools of contaminated water, and verdigris streaked through shingles and walls. He took in the foul smell of rust and mildew and set off toward the cleric.

Her name didn’t matter. Only her eye did.

Area 2
Hunt UD4: 1, target found!

Should we still roll for the Summon UD (if it’s a UD4, of course) after finding the target? I’m going to rule that yes, we should. It creates more tension and can make for a clutch save for the target.

Since my target’s Summon is at UD6, it’s pointless anyway.

I decided not to roll for an Environ + Lore since I found the target. I think it’s better to keep the same description, as The Environ can change a lot, like rolling for Catacombs + Riddle, for instance.

The path took Leoric to a ruined courtyard consumed by dampness. Roofs glinted with verdigris against the overcast sky.

The cleric waited for him in the center of the square, eyes gently closed.

Her lips moved in a silent prayer, punctuated by drops of water from corroded gutters. One hand tightly held a morningstar, the other hung still in a holy gesture.

She opened her eyes and glared. “The Verdant Flame,” she spat. “Even in death you sully and poison Luskand with your presence.”

“Our fire cleansed the rot, zealot.”

“And choked the land with it, taking shrines, homes, and families.”

Leoric snarled. “That’s the price paid to ensure nothing ever grows again.”

“Including life and hope. No, blasphemer, that’s just the price you chose to charge.”

Combat
Stages: 2 + Covenant Rank (0) = 2
Damage: D6 x number of enemies = D6

Stage 1/2
3d6: 5, 5, 5
5 means I deal and take 1 damage.
D6 damage: 6!
Max damage again! Mitigated by 3 (2 STR, 1 armor)
3 damage taken
3/6 HP

Stage 2/2
3d6: 6, 6, 2
Optimal outcome! Damage dealt and none taken.
Combat won!

Leoric dashed toward her, greatsword drawn back. The cleric swung the mace desperately as he approached fast as an animal, baring teeth and hate. Leoric offered his cheek to the blow, and the iron crashed against his face with a loud clang. His skull rattled as blood pooled inside his mouth. Gods, how the pain fed him. He flashed a crimson grin.

The greatsword tore the air, hissing like water boiling, and cleaved the cleric in two. The halves splashed onto the flooded ground.

TARGET HUNTED

Leoric howled with pleasure, then knelt to collect his trophy. And something else that the cleric left upon death.

Every enemy killed, unless specified, drops a Curio, a consumable with a random effect to be decided by the random Lore table rolls and the player interpretation. Let’s generate it!

Curio
Purpose: Defend
D3 quantity: 3!
Essence: Sanctified
Form: Scale

That ‘sanctified’ is perfect for the cleric. Hmm, I’m going to say that this item reduces damage by 1 (can only be used one at a time).

Blessed scale
A piece of sanctified steel carried by a cleric of Luskand, polished brightly. She handed these to people lost in the bogs, giving them some hope of light in the darkness.
It hums with a lingering zealous energy.

The blessed fragment churned Leoric’s stomach, that representation of the cleric and the Silver Knights. Trying to save the entire world was a weakness. Strength meant deciding what should be destroyed to build something better.

Even so, he kept it. That brightness, although sickening, could be useful.

To those not used to the deep Abyss, even a tiny light could be blinding.

His laughter bounced across the ruined settlement as he returned to the Sanctuary of Spikes.

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That was quick, as I got lucky with the Hunt UD. I wouldn’t say the combat was easy, as a bad roll could have ended badly for me. Overall, short and fun!

That’s it for this one. One more for the road?

Thanks for reading, and until next time.

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