Merchant Prince Folly

 

The dangers found within the jungles of Chult now threaten the walled city of Port Nyanzaru in the all-new endgame Skirmish “The Merchant Prince’s Folly”. Players must rally to eliminate ferocious dinosaurs, yuan-ti, the undead, and bands of batiri goblin!

 

The Merchant Prince’s Folly skirmish is the only relevant PVE gameplay addition the Swords of Chult mid-module update has to offer. It adds an additional source of campaign currency to the Jungles of Chult campaign, and introduces some new loot. The skirmish is also part of the new random skirmish queue. 

The Setting

The Merchant Prince’s Folly takes players to the prince’s villa which they have to defend from attacking enemies. Just like other content in recent modules the type of the mobs is random. So you never know what you’re up against. It adds a little bit more variety to your runs and has no other effect. The Batiri mobs can be slightly more painful due to their control abilities though. During the three “phases” of the skirmish players first have to protect the villa’s courtyard, then build up barricades outside and lastly escort an engineer to one of the port’s gates. The time limit for this is 15:00. To get into the gold bracket, groups need to finish within 06:00, silver’s limit is 12:00.

The higher the bracket, the more campaign currency you get for completing the skirmish. You would also assume that the chance to get special loot from the skirmish or the extra chest is affected. The key for the extra chest comes from the Jungles of Chult “Soshenstar Adventures” key task. It now not only produces a key for the Tomb of the Nine Gods, but also one for the skirmish. The cost remains at 25 Forgotten Totems.

Phase 1: The Inner Courtyard

During the first phase groups have to alarm and arm guards in the courtyard of the villa. After defeating an initial wave, players have knock on eight doors at the sides to get guards out and interact with two stands to repair sabotaged weapons while more mobs are rushing into the courtyard. The best way to deal with this phase as a group is to assign one or two DPS to intercept mobs at the entrance. That way the other members can freely interact with the doors and weapon stands. One additional big wave ends the first phase and the group can exit the villa.

Phase 2: Outer Courtyard Barricades

The next thing to do outside is to build up barricades to protect the villa from the ongoing attacks. There are four possible barricade spots, but only three random ones have to be build up. The materials are located on the left and players have to go back and forth four times to finish each barricades. Again mobs are trying to disturb and just like in phase one it makes most sense for a group to split duties. Let one or two players deal with the mobs while the rest carries the materials to the barricades. Getting hit by the way does not always stop the interaction. So a tanky or strong group might as well ignore the mobs altogether.

Phase 3: Escort

Once finished, you have to escort the engineer to one of the port’s gates. Depending on what barricade was left out, it can be south, west or north. Just follow the engineer and kill the spawning mobs. The only relevant enemy is a Tyrannosaur, which is as strong as the ones in Soshenstar River, but features less HP. At the gate groups have to fend off final foes and can claim their prize.

B.t.w. you don't need to kill the Tyrannosaur to complete in this skirmiss.

 

Here’s a picture that shows all the relevant locations.

The Rewards

Next to campaign currency (Bronze rewards 4 Totems and 20 Riches, Silver 6 and 30) and seals (20 Protector), the skirmish features new loot that can be looked up in the collection. In limited tries I’ve only been able to pull this stuff out of the additional chest, but it might also drop for free.

The companion could be of interest for some as it adds a sizeable amount of DPS in boss fights. The shirt might be worth a look for support and DC builds as well.  Also note that the flavor text of the shirt and pants indicates they are the made-over Jerkin of Lord Roy and Sandy’s Assault Pants that people were bankrupting their guilds trying to get out of the Mysterious Merchant wares. Thanks to becky for pointing that out!

Overall however this skirmish will probably be used by most as additional source for Totems and Chultan Riches. Gold runs as mentioned take under six minutes and might be more appealing than running Soshenstar River quests.