Rival heroes
In short: the realm has heroes of its own. Each season a handful of adventurers set out from Oakhaven with you: characters of the game, never players, and always labelled as such. They climb, slay bosses, fall and get up again, and when no other player's hero is near you meet them on the road instead. One of them is your rival, racing you to the dragon; the Hero tab says who is ahead, and the dawn tells you what they did while you were away.
How it works
The heroes of the realm
Each season has 6 rival heroes. They are characters of the game, not players: wherever one appears (a meeting on the road, your journal, the Hero tab, the dawn, the Daily Happenings, the hall of heroes) the game says so, as "a hero of the realm". Their names are never a player's: a rival's given name is never one a player can choose.
Each has a temperament, cautious, steady or bold, shared out evenly among them. They climb as a player of that temperament does: the cautious quickly and safely, then never dare the dragon; the steady at an even pace; the bold slowly, falling often. Each keeps their own pace too, a little faster or slower than the others of their kind. They gain levels, slay the bosses in order, sometimes lose to one and try again, and now and then fall on the road. A fall costs them the day and nothing more: they are back on their feet at dawn, with every level and boss they had.
The realm hears of a rival's day when it is over, so what you see of them is how they stood last night.
Meeting them on the road
When a step onto dangerous ground would meet another hero (see Crossings and cairns) but no player's hero qualifies, there is a 50% chance you meet a rival instead: one within 3 levels of you, whom you have not met today. The new-hero shield holds for rivals too: for your first 2 days you meet nobody. A player's hero always comes first: a rival is met only when nobody real could be.
| Choice | What happens |
|---|---|
| Test your blade | A duel, fought like any other: you as you stand, against the rival at full strength with the gear their level and bosses allow. Win and you gain the experience of 1 kill at your level. Lose and you end it bruised, at worst on 1 health. No gold changes hands either way. |
| Trade stories | You gain 50% of the experience of a kill at your level. |
| Nod and walk on | Nothing happens. |
A rival's purse is a story, not gold anyone earned: taking from it would make gold out of nothing, and paying into it would throw yours away. So a duel with a rival is for experience only. For the same reason it leaves no grudge (a grudge is about gold taken). And there is nothing to ignore: the ignore keeps players apart, a rival has no player behind them, and you can always walk on. If you have turned duels off in Settings, a rival offers only stories, as anyone does.
Your rival
When you join a season you are given one of its rivals to race to the dragon, and you keep them all season: one of those nearest your own level on the day you joined (on the first day, any of them; later, the slower ones).
The Hero tab shows your rival: their temperament, level, bosses slain and where they were last seen, how the race stands by bosses slain ("You lead by one boss", "Neck and neck", or theirs; once the dragon has fallen to you the race is yours for good, even if you begin again at level 1, and your rival can at most draw level by slaying it too), and their latest step on the boss ladder, a boss slain or a fall before one ("Leofric of Dunmere reached Skarn's Glacier and was beaten back by Skarn the Frost Wyrm", two days ago). At dawn, if your rival did something worth telling since you were last here, one or two lines say so, with the race beneath them. Meeting your own rival on the road, the meeting says so.
In the hall of heroes
When the season ends, its hall of heroes lists the rivals apart from the players, under Heroes of the realm, as they finished. They take no place in the hall, no rank and no honour from anyone: your place in the realm and your honour are counted among players alone (see Seasons).
Tips
- Your rival climbs at a real player's pace for their temperament. Falling behind early against a cautious rival is normal; the cautious never face the dragon.
- A duel with a rival risks only your health, so test your blade when you are well, and walk on when you are not: losing leaves you hurt for the rest of the day.
- Trading stories with a rival is always safe.