Six Ages Ride Like the Wind: Dostal Elk Hunter Guide

You can start the game knowing this ritual if your first god was Yelm and, when the First Clan split, your ancestors were the most dissatisfied.

Otherwise, you can naturally learn it by sacrificing to Dostal.

• Abundant game.
  Your hunters will bring in more food.
• Strengthening of the quester’s abilities.
  Increases Combat and Food by one level each. A decent way to strengthen a male warleader, particularly one who has already boosted his skills with Elmal’s ritual.
• A magical treasure.
  Grants a treasure sacred to Dostal, such as the Emblem of Dostal (improves the mood when you succeed at hunting) or Pouch of Dostal (aids Dostal worshippers in some tests). Personally, I wouldn’t go for this.
• Protection against sorcerers and magicians.
  This isn’t a reward I’ve ever gone for, to be honest, although it might be handy if you’re having a lot of trouble with the Evil Magician events.
• A blessing of ancestral magic.
  Grants two points of magic a year for seven years—unless you do something to anger your ancestors, in which case you do not get the magic. I am always in favor of more magic, so I like this one.
  This choice must be unlocked with choices in the ritual.
• The ferocity of Stelfor.
  Helps with some offensive raids: “Dostal said he would imbue us with a portion of Stelfor’s ferocity. For seven years, we would strike hard when attacking clans we had often hit before, and against those whose hatred we had earned.”
  Must be unlocked during the ritual.
• The wisdom of Zenangar.
  Helps in diplomatic matters: “Dostal said we had established our connection to Zenangar by protecting him on the hunt. His spirit would turn our words to gold when we dealt with outsiders.”
  Must be unlocked during the ritual.
• Sharp sight.
  Helps with tests vs. Elusiveness for seven years.
• Good luck when fighting monsters.
  Enemies sometimes bring monsters to the battlefield–some as a matter of routine, others only when you press them hard.
  Must be unlocked with choices during the ritual.

Dostal’s ritual is simplicity itself in terms of Sacred Time magic preparation: Harmony (Hyalor on the circle) helps in the first stage, while Wilds (Dostal, Inilla) helps in the rest. Nice and straightforward!

As usual when it comes to Gods War rituals, you must allocate at least two points to have an effect.

You can ask Wheels as well as Riders to help. This is harder than convincing Riders, because athough they worship Dostal, they do not respect him or his priests.

As usual, performing this ritual too often (within the last five years, or if your nobles tell you it will be hard because you’ve done it too recently) is not a great idea.

The sacrifice to begin with does not have to be unusually large.

Only non-shaman men are eligible to perform this ritual. Worshippers of Dostal do have an advantage—and tend to be strong in both recommended skills, Combat and Food. (Hunting is the average of these skills.)

The quester does need to be good at at least one of those skills, because the third stage has only Hunting (Combat + Food) tests, and the second has mostly Hunting with one Combat choice and one that isn’t actually skill-based. That’s half of the ritual, so you can’t ignore both those skills. But you don’t actually need both of them—one can be enough.

Personally, I tend to choose a guy who’s strong at Combat even if he’s not also good at Food. But I also use this ritual to build up a warleader (often Beren—though he goes through Elmal’s ritual first). If you’re going for another reward, an actual hunter might be your best bet!

You might be able to get by on Food and Leadership, but I haven’t actually tested that myself.

Dostal’s story is as much about teaching as it as about the hunt itself. Today he has chosen four pupils, and only four—the future Four Chieftains.

Of course, there are many other youths in the clan, and some of their relatives think they should be included. How does the god respond?

• Test: Mediation (Diplomacy + ???) vs. Resentment
• Magic: Harmony
• Personality: Peaceful, Waffler, Merciful, Individual
• Other Bonus: Rose Spirit

• Test: Oration (Diplomacy + Lore) vs Resentment
• Magic: Harmony
• Personality: Optimist, Spendthrift, Inarticulate (penalty?), Miser, Pessimist
• Other Bonus: Rose Spirit

• Test: Singing (Leadership + ???) vs. Confidence
• Magic: Harmony
• Personality: SongQuoter (bonus), Harsh (bonus?), Merciful (penalty?)
• Other Bonus: Raven on circle
• Other Bonus: Turtle Spirit

• Test: Intimidation (Combat + Diplomacy) vs. Confidence
• Magic: Harmony
• Personality: GodSeeker, Harsh, Intuitive (bonus), Waffler
• Other Bonus: Turtle Spirit; Hero quester (Beren or Yatakan); more Rider clans fear you than mock you

In the myth, it’s Nameforgot who notices that this is the wrong deer. In the ritual, it’s an unspecified boy. Poor Nameforgot—for once he does something right and he doesn’t get the credit!

Regardless: how does the quester handle the beast that is not actually his prey?

• Test: Combat vs. Monster
• Magic: Wilds
• Personality: Intuitive (bonus)
• Other Bonus: Hero quester (Beren or Yatakan)
• Reward Unlocked: Good luck when fighting monsters
• Notes: Failure here can result in Basikan being wounded, which will make the ancestors unhappy with you for a while

• Test: Hunting (Combat + Food) vs. Elusiveness
• Magic: Wilds
• Personality: Individual
• Other Bonus: Fox Spirit; Hero quester (Beren or Yatakan)

• Test: Hunting (Combat + Food) vs. Elusiveness
• Magic: Wilds
• Personality: Daring
• Other Bonus: Fox Spirit; Hero quester (Beren or Yatakan)
• Reward Unlocked: Protection against sorcerers and magicians
• Notes: Success here can sometimes please the ancestors.

• Notes: There’s no stat check here—the outcome is entirely up to luck. However, the odds can be modified by the mood of your ancestors (that is, whether you have a Happy Ancestors concern—in which case this choice is better—or the opposite, which makes things worse). Most of the time, it’s better to take one of the other choices.

Sakkars are sabertooth cats. (You may find a Sakkar Spirit! It helps you manage your own fear, which is appropriate considering the reaction of any human faced with a sakkar.)

Helping any of the boys but Nameforgot will unlock a potential reward.

• Test: Hunting (Combat + Food) vs. Skirmish
• Magic: Wilds
• Personality: GodSeeker, Bloodline
• Other Bonus: Eagle Spirit (iOS only); Hero quester (Beren or Yatakan); Relandar circle member; Zarlen circle member
• Reward Unlocked: A blessing of ancestral magic.

• Test: Hunting (Combat + Food) vs. Skirmish
• Magic: Wilds
• Personality: Waffler, Inarticulate, Pragmatic, Daring
• Other Bonus: Eagle Spirit (iOS only); Hero quester (Beren or Yatakan)
• Notes: This is the only choice that does not unlock a special reward. As such, it’s the least optimal choice to make.

• Test: Hunting (Combat + Food) vs. Skirmish
• Magic: Wilds
• Personality: Harsh (bonus?), Warlike (bonus?), Waffler (penalty?), Peaceful (penalty?)
• Other Bonus: Eagle Spirit (iOS only); Hero quester (Beren or Yatakan)
• Reward Unlocked: The ferocity of Stelfor

• Test: Hunting (Combat + Food) vs. Skirmish
• Magic: Wilds
• Personality: Pragmatic, Intuitive, GoatFan, Insecure
• Other Bonus: Eagle Spirit (iOS only); Hero quester (Beren or Yatakan); quester has a high Diplomacy skill
• Reward Unlocked: The wisdom of Zenangar.
• Notes: If quester’s Diplomacy is higher than Very Good, (Diplomacy score – 3) is added to bonus. (This means that this is the easiest choice for Beren to make in this ritual stage.)

At the last moment, having stalked the elk to exhaustion, the four boys hesitate out of pity. This is a somewhat counterproductive impulse in a hunter.

How does the quester push them towards necessary harshness?

• Test: Mythology (Lore + Magic) vs. Elusiveness
• Magic: Wilds
• Personality: Individual
• Other Bonus: Fox Spirit; Hyalor on circle
• Other Penalty: Relandar on circle?

• Test: Hunting (Combat + Food) vs. Elusiveness
• Magic: Wilds
• Personality: Intuitive, GodSeeker
• Other Bonus: Fox Spirit; Relandar on circle
• Reward Unlocked: The ferocity of Stelfor

• Test: Prophesy (Leadership + Magic) vs. Bullheadedness
• Magic: Wilds
• Personality: Arbitrary, Optimist, SongQuoter, Pessimist, Harsh
• Other Bonus: Lion Spirit, Whistling Wind Spirit

• Test: Oration (Diplomacy + Lore) vs. Disorder.
• Magic: Wilds
• Personality: Merciful, Optimist, Peaceful, Pessimist, Inarticulate (penalty?)
• Other Bonus: Spider Spirit
• Other Penalty: Raven on circle

By lyreofsheliak