Inner Region and the Invoke Favor Spell

By HarleyWarren, in Talisman Rules Questions

As my turn starts, I am in the inner Region on the Plain of Peril. Before I move, one of my opponents casts the spell Invoke Favor on my character:

"Cast on any character at the start of his turn. The character must roll 2 dice to pray with the same results as the Temple. If he is enslaved, he must remain on the same space until he rolls a 4, 5, or 6 for his move."

And of course, with a little help from someone else's dark fate, I end up with a final roll a 5 (Enslaved). My opponent now declares that under a strict interpretation of the rules, that I am now totally defeated as I may not move AND will never be able to move since I am in the Inner Region and do not get to roll a die for my move. Cannot move, Cannot die, Total Defeat. As an extra bit of fun, it was also deemed that I could not use the Cloak of Feathers that I was carrying, because due to my Enslavement, I no longer had a "normal" move.

After some discussion, we agreed that a player should always get a roll the attempt to free themselves from Enslavement. It is processed first regardless of any other conditions. After a few turns, I successfully rolled my freedom and then had the choice to either use the Cloak of Feathers or move one space forward as required by the Inner region. I used the Cloak and ultimately won the game.

The wording and conditions do leave things a bit unclear, but hey, this is Talisman. I would note that the same issue applies in other regions if the Invoke Favor target currently has the Haunting Poltergeist which also prevents you from rolling for you move and limits you to moving just one space. Not really a big deal, I think we handled it logically and correctly. Does anyone know if there are there any clear rules or FAQ entries to address this one?

Edited by HarleyWarren

Well, I found it myself. It's right there on page 1 of the FAQ:

Temple

Q1: If a character rolls a "5" in the Temple while he is a Toad, does he still roll a die to break free from enslavement.

A: Yes. If he breaks free, he must move 1 space.

Slightly different conditions, but it covers it.

You got it. Also, on page 2 of the FAQ, under "Instead of Moving Normally", it mentions that being enslaved at the Temple requires a test before moving normally.

So this means you really should roll two dice when enslaved IF the first one breaks the enslavement..? One for enslavement and one for your normal move. We've always used the same direction but then we've never had a situation as the one above either.

I think you are supposed to always roll one die for enslavement, regardless of what's going on, and use it as your normal move should you break free. If your Region or some other effect doesn't allow for movement via a die roll, then just use the roll as an enslavement check and move according to the Region as normal.