Dragon's Roost

[conantheimp]

Originally posted by Smurky Turkey:

Content wise I would like to see a new card/tile: the dragon nest.
The dragon nest would be a tile that you can upgrade by throwing your loot in it (building up a hoard so to speak). By doing that the tile will go from offering weak enemies such as dragonlings, to offering a dragon and finally a legendary dragon to fight.

Smurky Turkey had an excellent idea in another thread and I wanted to riff on it, but it became something a bit...more. I added a bunch and fleshed out the concept, and came up with something like the Forge that takes cues from the Bandit, the Outpost, the Mountain Peak, etc.

When it first spawns, the Dragon Roost does /nothing/ but steal your equipment every time you pass by this Roadside Tile. Maybe your best equipment, maybe random equipment, and possibly even equipped equipment! Every time it takes equipment, it "charges up" the tile, until it spawns a Hatchling, as you said, but this Hatchling flies away from the roost to a random tile within a short range, flying back to the roost to heal after a fight, and then back out at the beginning of the next loop. It starts with a small flight range, which increases by 1 tile in every direction for every loop it survives. It "levels up" every 10 equipment stolen, and steals 3 equipment every time you pass it.

However, this is still a /dragon/ and as such cannot be so easily fought. Every time you fight it, you have a limited amount of time to chip away at its health, before it flies away. The Roost will continue to steal your items, healing and empowering the Dragon, which will age and gain in power infinitely until killed.

You basically get to choose the difficulty and longevity of the Dragon by your placement. If it's adjacent to a single road tile, it's Easy/Short Lived, two tiles gives Medium, three is Hard/Long Lived, because it's healing so much and gaining power at a similar rate to the player. It also heals more for every day it stays back in the roost after your fight, but with diminishing returns so very long later loops don't completely wreck you automatically.

When you /finally/ manage to slay the Dragon, it gives you loot and XP commensurate to how old the Dragon was when it died, probably with heightened rarity and levels. The Dragon's Roost turns into an Empty Roost, which gives you resources every time you pass it, and spawns 1 Drake every few days.

Special Interactions:
-(Note:for every modifier a Dragon gets, the final loot it gives will be upgraded by +1 loop. It may have up to 4 modifiers, one per adjacency. Dragons will lose or gain modifiers based on adjacency at the start of a loop when the Dragon spawns.)
-No other "special" monsters can appear with a Dragon, so no Vampires, Books, Watchers, etc.
-The Dragon will eat any Living creatures on the tile it lands on, but it leaves all others alone.
-If the Roost is adjacent to a Vampire Mansion the Dragon will gain Vampirism.
-If the Roost is adjacent to an Abandoned Bookery the Dragon will gain Magic Damage.
-If the Roost is adjacent to a Storm Temple the Dragon will gain Lightning Breath, letting it join battle(at partial strength?) as an Archer.
-If the Roost is adjacent to a Swamp, the Dragon will gain Corrosive.
-If the Roost is adjacent to a Mountain Peak, it will gain +3 bonus roaming range.
-If the Roost is adjacent to a Treasury, the Roost will turn into a Hoard, making the Dragon only ever roam to adjacent tiles, but making it much fiercer and eventually give even better loot. Empty Hoards function identically to Empty Roosts.
-If the Roost is adjacent to a River(Reed, Oasis, or Bridge), the dragon will gain the Submerge ability.
-If the Roost is adjacent to a Battlefield(or Shipwreck) or a Cemetery, when the Dragon finally dies it will spawn an Undead Dragon. Both have the same offensive stats and special abilities as the Dragon when it died, but cannot heal between battles. "Ghost" Dragons(Battlefield/Shipwreck) will change location /every day/, but have decreased max HP. "Bone" Dragon will have higher Defense, but cannot move from where it died. Undead Dragons will give massive loot and XP on death, but not as much as on its first death.
-If the Roost is adjacent to a Village(Ransacked, Count's Land), Suburb, or Outpost, they will become Razed. Razed Villages/Suburbs/Outposts do nothing until the Dragon is killed. At that point, the Razed Village turns into Reclaimed Land(even better version of Count's Land, additionally gives a Helper for any fights on this tile), the Suburb turns into a Memorial Park(at the end of a fight gain 1% of a full bar worth of XP), and the Outpost turns into a Hunting Lodge(Upgrades the Helper, +1 Range, works for Necromancer, does not take equipment). All of these are resistant to future Roosts.
-If the Roost is adjacent to a Forest/Thicket, it will burn it.

[Black Ram]

I had an idea for a "hidden dragon boss" (Elder dragon)
You would have to place certain tiles next to each other
A treasury (to become empty) - The center of it all, all the other tiles need to be next to it
Mountain peak - Dragon's home, (must be made BEFORE emptying the tresury)
Battlefield - Because chests
Chrono Crystals - Makes the dragon older faster

The "story idea" is that the dragon lives on the mountain and is angry, that someone have stolen its treasure.
I'm thinking that you can only do it in chapter 4 (after having beat the normal boss at least once), and the setup must of course be done before "boss spawn" AND you must make 5 loops after having "raided the dragons hoard", so you have to make a "puzzle" and "survive" for a time after.
The special reward should be a building for the camp (treasury), +2 supply slots and +1 equipment unlocked for the hero (like the arsenal, but without the need for a card).

At least that's how I would make a hidden boss if I made a game.