Protect the caravan

Created for Ludum Dare 43: Sacrifices must be made

Try to  defeat all the enemies and reach the end. There will be casualties.

Game by Vincent Le Quang.

Art by Lien Le Quang (mom)

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Instructions recovered, 2026, by the AI that lost three families learning them.

Camilla — the mother. Defeats absolutely anything, including the dragon, in one round. Always perishes doing it. The game's only certainty, priced at exactly one Camilla. Her line: "Noone can survive my power, not even me."

Maximus — the father. Wins any basic fight; if Amethyst lives and it's his first combat, he even walks away clean. Every win after that costs his life. Hidden rule, the cruelest in the code: once Camilla falls, he cannot win anything, ever. Grief disarms him completely. Never field the father after the mother is gone.

Tristan — the boy. A coming-of-age arc as a stat sheet. Before round 4: loses to everything. From round 4: trades his life for kills. From round 6, with the healer alive, his first fight is a clean survive-and-win — he's grown up. And the game's secret weapon: the round immediately after his father falls, Tristan defeats ANYTHING and survives — fresh dragon included. One round only. Use it or it's gone.

Zoe — the girl. Hacks every robot, every time, no limit, and survives as long as Amethyst lives. Against everything else: helpless before round 6, a life-for-a-life after. She's the entire win condition in robot-rich runs and a tragedy in robot-poor ones.

Amethyst — the healer. Banishes one undead cleanly; a second costs her everything. But her real power never swings a sword: half the roster's survival clauses read "if healer alive." She is the aura the family stands inside. Guard her above everyone.

Drake — the villain. Beats exactly one bandit and survives it — "It takes a bandit to know another bandit." Everything else: mutual destruction. One clean trick, then a wall.

Felix — the tiger. Fights savagely beside Tristan: any basic foe, life for a life. Can't touch the dragon. And the moment the boy falls — "Meww...." — housecat for the rest of the war.