2.0 · Your champion's own track
The Founder's Road
Short solo scenes for your champion, a milestone track you fund with Command, and the only way to give your champion a third essence slot.
Updated ·patch v2.0.5
Do this
- When a section called The Road shows up on Quests > Available (under Story Quests), tap Open on a card whenever your champion is free. It resolves instantly.
- Pick the best free option. Options your champion qualifies for are marked, cost nothing and pay the most. Only pay Command for an option if you have spare points that would otherwise drain.
- Tap the milestone row at the bottom of the section and pledge spare Command into it. Pledged points are never lost, and each milestone pays gold and champion essence XP. Milestone 9 is the Third Flame.
Nothing on the Road can go wrong: there is no fight, no injury and no failure. If you back out of a scene, it goes back on the board.
What it is
The Road is your champion's personal track (the champion is your founder, the character you made in the wizard). It has two parts:
- Scenes (legs). Short one-decision moments the champion walks alone: an old debt, a pit fight, a ferry at dusk. You read the scene, pick an option, and get the reward on the spot as a toast. Each scene also pays 1 to 3 Command to your champion.
- Milestones. A ladder you climb by pledging Command. Every milestone pays gold and champion essence XP; some add a title, and the ninth lights the Third Flame.
Where and when it appears
Where: Quests > Available, in its own section headed The Road with a counter (for example "The Road 2/3"), directly after Story Quests. It only shows in the all-regions view: if you have a region selected in the filter at the top of Available, pick All to see it.
When: all of these must be true:
- You are in Chapter 2 or later (you have cleared Chapter 1 of the story).
- The Command meter is visible (it is from Chapter 1, so this is automatic).
- You have seen 3 beats resolved. A beat is a decision point inside a quest; it counts whether you picked the option or read the crew's choice on the quest report. Beats only start in Chapter 2, so the Road usually arrives a day or so into Chapter 2.
The moment it unlocks, the first scene is already waiting. After that a new one arrives every 4 hours until the board holds 3. A full board stops the clock, so scenes do not pile up while you are away: clear them to keep them coming.
Walking a scene
- The champion goes alone and must be free. A champion out on a quest cannot walk the Road until they return (a Proving Grounds stage does not block it). If the champion is injured, the section says when they will be ready.
- It is instant. There is no timer and no combat. Backing out cancels the scene and puts it back on the board, so you never lose one by closing the window.
- Who your champion is decides the options. An option can ask for a trait, a profession, a backstory, an essence rank (Silver or Low Gold), or a Noble or Underworld alignment (30 or more either way). If your champion qualifies, the option is free and pays the most. If not, some of those options can still be bought for 2 or 3 Command, and the rest are simply hidden. Every scene keeps one plain option that anyone can take for free.
- Rewards: gold and XP from the option you pick (30 to 240 gold, 30 to 150 XP), plus the scene's own 1 to 3 Command for your champion. That Command can push past the cap, and like any surplus it drains, so pledge it.
Your champion's traits, profession and backstory can all be changed for free from the Identity tab (Founding Choices), which changes which Road options are free for you. Backstory can only be changed until its chain starts.
The scenes
Eighteen scenes rotate through the board. The table shows the best option and who gets it free. Every scene also has a free fallback option that pays roughly 30 to 70 gold.
| Scene | Command | Best option (free if you qualify) | Buyable option |
|---|---|---|---|
| Old Debt | +1 | Charismatic or Forgiving: 140 gold, 60 XP | Stubborn or Vindictive option: free if you qualify, else 2 Command |
| Market Rumor | +1 | Merchant: 160 gold, 55 XP | None |
| Night Road | +2 | Nocturnal or Cunning: 150 gold, 70 XP | None |
| Pit Fight | +1 | Brave or Reckless: 170 gold, 80 XP | Greedy option: free if you qualify, else 2 Command |
| Healer's Plea | +1 | Healer: 120 gold, 75 XP | None |
| Old Song | +2 | Bard: 150 gold, 65 XP | The Bard option itself, for 3 Command |
| Ferry at Dusk | +1 | Shipwright: 155 gold, 60 XP | Patient or Stubborn option: free if you qualify, else 2 Command |
| The Burned Ledger | +2 | Merchant: 180 gold, 70 XP | Noble alignment option: free if you qualify, else 3 Command |
| Smoke over the Valley | +2 | Brave or Loyal: 165 gold, 90 XP | Escort option: free if you qualify, else 2 Command |
| The Kept Promise | +1 | Forged in Battle backstory: 150 gold, 75 XP | The backstory option itself, for 2 Command |
| A Scholar's Errand | +1 | Wandering Scholars backstory: 130 gold, 95 XP | Studious or Patient option: free if you qualify, else 2 Command |
| The Locked Shrine | +2 | Temple Exile backstory: 145 gold, 100 XP | None |
| The Essence Dowser | +2 | Champion at Silver rank or higher: 175 gold, 105 XP | Greedy or Ambitious option: free if you qualify, else 3 Command |
| The Hollow Beneath | +3 | Champion at Low Gold rank or higher: 240 gold, 150 XP | None |
| A Word with the Magistrate | +2 | Noble alignment: 160 gold, 80 XP; or Underworld: 165 gold, 75 XP | None |
| The Fence at the Crossroads | +2 | Underworld alignment: 190 gold, 70 XP | Cunning or Nocturnal option: free if you qualify, else 3 Command |
| The Lame Horse | +1 | Beast Master: 125 gold, 70 XP | Kind or Patient option: free if you qualify, else 2 Command |
| First Snow on the Pass | +2 | Scout: 155 gold, 85 XP | Stubborn or Brave option: free if you qualify, else 3 Command |
Milestones and pledging
What this means for you: the milestone is where Command goes to keep its value. Your bank caps at 2 per member and drains above that; a pledge is kept forever. Tap the milestone row and pledge 1, 5 or all of your points. When a milestone fills, its reward pays out at once and any extra carries into the next one. Pledges cannot be taken back.
Milestone n costs 40 + 20 per step (40, 60, 80, ...) and pays 200 + 100 per step gold and 50 + 25 per step essence XP to your champion. After the ten named milestones the ladder continues forever with numbered ones on the same formula.
| # | Milestone | Command | Gold | Essence XP | Extra |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | First Steps | 40 | 200 | 50 | |
| 2 | The Long Mile | 60 | 300 | 75 | +100 extra champion essence XP |
| 3 | Wayfarer's Mark | 80 | 400 | 100 | Title: Wayfarer |
| 4 | Old Roads | 100 | 500 | 125 | |
| 5 | The Crossroads | 120 | 600 | 150 | Reserved for a later update; pays the normal reward for now |
| 6 | Pathfinder's Oath | 140 | 700 | 175 | Title: Pathfinder |
| 7 | Far Country | 160 | 800 | 200 | |
| 8 | Distant Banners | 180 | 900 | 225 | Reserved for a later update; pays the normal reward for now |
| 9 | The Third Flame | 200 | 1000 | 250 | Your champion's third essence slot |
| 10 | Legend of the Road | 220 | 1100 | 275 | Title: Legend of the Road |
The Third Flame: a third essence slot
Reaching milestone 9 lights the Third Flame: your champion permanently gets a third essence slot. Nobody else can have one; companions and recruits stay at two.
- The slot appears in Member Details, Combat tab, Essence Slots once it is lit.
- An essence there adds its stat bonuses and its own combat triggers (a third block, separate from slot 1 and slot 2), and counts toward power.
- The champion's archetype skill tree gains a column for the third essence.
It costs 1,080 Command pledged in total (milestones 1 to 9). That is a long-term goal: plan on weeks of steady pledging, not days. The earlier you start pledging, the less Command you lose to the drain.
Numbers are the shipped defaults and are server-tunable. See also Command for how Command is earned, and Quests for the rest of the Available tab.