Having successfully looted a lost library, Tim decided to follow up on rumours of a golem that has seemingly mysteriously emerged from the undercity and started rampaging through the frozen city, feeling like that was something he wanted for himself.
With that in mind, I set up the board to look like a camp set up in the shell of a destroyed building in the depths of the frozen city:
I also tried to have some corners of buildings facing outwards at the edge of the board, to make it look like this was just a slice of a much larger area, than my usual fare which has a bunch of buildings in a self-contained square, if that makes sense.
As usual, I rolled to see if Tim’s Mortal Enemy would make an appearance, and again it was a no. The thing is, each time they don’t appear, it becomes more likely they will next time, so it’s only a matter of time… with that out of the way, I went about setting up some monsters. I figured that it would make sense thematically to have a Ghoul starting in contact with each of the 5 corpse counters, then rolled randomly to see what would start in the centre of the three table edges that didn’t feature Tim and the gang. Left to right, I deployed an Ice Toad, a Pair of zombies, and an Ice Spider.
Then it was time for Tim and his companions to deploy, and as ever they split up into three groups - Tim, backed up by the Apothecary, Barbarian and Tracker in the centre; the Apprentice, with the thug Knight and Man at Arms over on the left; and the Captain, accompanied by the Thief and Warhound, making up Team Speedy over on the right.
I then remembered to cast Tim’s pre-game spells, and he and the Apprentice once again successfully brewed a pair of Healing Potions to replace the ones that they sold after the last game. Flicking through Advanced Spellcraft while setting up (as I’d belatedly remembered that I was planning to start using those rules once Tim had plundered the Library, but hadn’t actually gotten around to cracking the new book open), I learned that it turns out you can’t sell homemade stuff on wizard Etsy any more, so I shouldn’t have actually been able to afford that a Grimoire last game. Ah well, I also learned that I could have learned a Flourish on Shield rather than selling the duplicated Grimoire, so c’est la vie. To follow this up, Tim successfully raised a zombie to join the gang on their excursion, and then it was go time!
Tim kicks things up by advancing bravely forwards, positioning himself so that he can cast a spell on the nearest Ghoul whilst still shielding himself from other Ghouls by positioning his Apothecary between himself and them. The Barbarian and the zombie both also advance on the first Ghoul, just on the off chance spells don’t get the job done (plus, Tim feels like if anyone has to turn over a corpse to look for loot, it should probably be the easily replaceable zombie). Tim casts Control Undead on the Ghoul, and succeeds in bending it to his will, satisfactorily.
The Apprentice then moves up, using the Thug as his own personal human (well, some sort of freaky toad-man) shield, and casts Leap on the newly controlled Ghoul, sending it flying over to the Ice Toad that was hungrily eyeing the rest of the gang. I originally thought I was being smart and could launch it directly into combat, but rereading the spell card revealed that wasn’t the case, so I dropped it directly in front of it instead.
In the Monster Phase, a couple of Ghouls could now see the gang and ran straight at them - it turned out that I had misjudged the distance somewhat, as one of them was able to get into contact with the Apothecary. Side note - in terms of the Ghouls activating, I decided that any Ghoul that didn’t have line of sight to a member of Tim’s gang that was on a Corpse Token would stay there, continuing to eat, rather than moving randomly). The wild zombies, however, couldn’t see anyone so largely shambled around ineffectually.
The Ice Toad on the left however hopped forwards and attacked the controlled Ghoul that had just appeared in front of it, losing 1 Health for its troubles. At the same time over on the right flank, the Ice Spider, unable to see the group just the other side of a wall to it’s left and instead scuttles into the camp in the centre of the board, ending up near to the gang’s zombie.
Back with the gang, the Tracker takes aim at a Ghoul that is bearing down on the Barbarian, and scores a solid hit and drops it to 1 Health, a feat then replicated by the Captain over on the right flank with a Ghoul of their own. She and the Warhound then charge in to finish it off, which they do with ease - my dice luck seems to have reversed from the last game, and now the monsters were the ones only able to roll single digits! With the way now clear, the Thief moves up to take cover behind a wall, trying desperately not to get spotted by the Ice Spider.
At the end of the turn, a single Giant Rat enters on the same board edge as the gang did, leaving Tim and the Tracker at risk of being attacked from behind…
At this point in the game, I realised that I’d been mixing up the rules for Group Activation with being able to activate multiple figures in thenWizard and Apprentice phases - so my Tracker is hopefully going to become a lot more effective now that I didn’t think I had to move as his first action!
Tim motions for the zombie to attack the Ghoul currently trying to chew on his Apothecary, and it rolls a 1 in combat, and is immediately destroyed by the Ghoul. The Tracker feels torn - should he rush in to help the Apothecary, or trymtomfinishnoffnthenghoul he shot last turn? Now that I remember the rules correctly, he can try both, and takes out the Ghoul with an arrow before running over to engage the Ghoul attacking the Apothecary. The Apothecary, bolstered by this reinforcement, thumps the Ghoul with his staff, dropping it to 3 Health.
Tim, figuring that the Barbarian should be able to rush in and finish off the Ghoul in a second, attempts to cast the Strength spall and fails badly. He then also moves in to engage the Ghoul, figuring that if worst comes to worse they can hopefully drag it down with weight of numbers.
On the left, the Thug steps up to investigate the corpse at the Barbarian’s feet (again, he’s more expendable than she is) and he discovers a Treasure Token! Unfortunately, as he picks it up two wolves enter the board, just behind the Ice Toad, and suddenly things aren’t looking so hot for the controlled Ghoul…
The Barbarian, being more interested in hitting things with her massive sword than investigating, instead charges into the surrounded Ghoul by Tim and promptly cuts it down. Over on the left flank, the Knight and Man at Arms both sprint up to engage the Ice Toad, and in doing so block the advance of the onrushing wolves with their bodies.
The Apprentice is torn - at times like this, he would usually always raise a zombie, feeling most comfortable having as many bodies as possible between himself and danger, but on the other hand he suspected that if the Knight and Man at Arms fell there would be multiple dangers coming his way, so he clicked the fingers of his Gloves of Casting and cast Strength on the Man at Arms, so that he and the Knight would have an equal chance to survive their combats.
In the now slightly complex melee on the left (between and Ice Toad, two Wolves, a controlled Ghoul, and the Knight and Man at Arms), the Wolves charged into the Knight and Man at Arms - the Knight dealt a mighty blow to his canine foe, but the a man at Arms was unable to do anything other than furiously defend themself. The Ice Toad then clamped its powerful jaws onto the controlled Ghoul, taking him out instantaneously with a Critical Hit! This also unfortunately leaves the Knight and Man at Arms now separately outnumbered:
The Ice Spider, seemingly unaware of the life and death struggle happening on the other side of the board, scuttles forwards to attack the Captain and is killed for its temerity. The Captain then proceeds to harvest it’s venom (I should probably try to learn the spell Poison Dart at some point, as were building up a stash of these ingredients that make casting that spell easier).
The Giant Rat that has snuck on behind the gang scrabbles through the rubble, and reaches the Apothecary.
With their way now clear, the Thief rushed up and investigated another Corpse Token, revealing a second treasure.
Unfortunately for her, a Minor Demon then appeared on the board to her right…
Figuring that this new threat was much worse than the single Giant Rat that they could otherwise see, the Captain ran up to the Thief and loosed an arrow at the demon, but to no avail. The Warhound then bravely ran up and interposed himself between the ladies and the oncoming demon.
Seeing that his left flank looked to be on the verge of crumbling, Tim cast Strength on the Barbarian (using his Staff of Power to turn a failed casting into a success) and sent her to reinforce the Knight and Man at Arms, although she couldn’t quite make it into the combat. He then stepped back to help the Apothecary fight the Giant Rat, which unfortunately nipped the Apothecary for 2 damage.
In the centre, the Tracker was just able to see the Minor Demon, and while he was able to hit it with an arrow, wasn’t able to do it any damage. He lamented the lack of magic bows found in these parts so far! He then strode back to engage the Giant Rat fighting the Apothecary and Tim, in the hopes of being able to take it out in a later phase.
The Apprentice activated, but only had the Thug nearby, who took off and left the board, Treasure Token in tow. This left the Apprentice worryingly alone, which he wasn’t a huge fan of, so he clambered through the crater towards the swirling melee on the left and raised a zombie (although he had to expend the power from his Ring of Power and cut for 2 points of damage in order to successfully cast the easiest spell he knew). Hopefully the Knight and Man at Arms could hold out long enough for the zombie to be able to reinforce them!
On the right hand side, the Minor Demon and a Ghoul rush Team Speedy, but is unable to damage the Wolfhound, who pushes back the demon in order to give the Captain an opening to peg it with an arrow.
Back on the left, the two wolves attack their opponents - the Knight is able to cut down his wounded opponent, but the Man at Arms is less lucky and is bitten for 3 damage. He is luckier when the Ice Toad attacks him though, as a lucky blow manages to finish it off. With the big melee now looking a lot smaller, the gang’s zombie instead redirects to head towards a wild zombie that has almost reached the Barbarian:
The Knight steps up and cuts down the last Wolf, leaving the Man at Arms free to duck through the ruined doorway next to them and attack the zombie that our zombie was closing in on. He probably should have waited for reinforcements though, as it deals him a mighty blow, dropping him to only 4 Health.
While all this is going on, the Giant Rat attacks the Apothecary again, but is outnumbered 3 to 1 at this point and is easily cut down.
Back on the right flank, the Captain uses her Steady Hand skill to shoot at the Minor Demon, but I roll a 2, which even with the additional +3 isn’t enough to do anything useful. Resigning herself to her fate, she draws her sword and rushes to engage it. The Warhound sprints to join her, but I roll a 1 on that combat.
The Thief, deciding that discretion was the better part of valour, looks a little apologetic as she books it off the board with a Treasure Token rather than joining the fight, especially as there is also a Ghoul still closing in on them…
As the turn ends, an angry looking boar enters on the left, just behind the Knight.
Tim, suddenly remembering that they were here to investigate, not get dragged into a series of knock down drag out fights, decided that he needed to get a bit of a move on. Firstly, he attempted to cast Control Undead on a lone zombie near one of the Corpse Tokens, but I rolled a 1, for a critical failure, a new rule introduced in Advanced Spellcraft. Checking the book, it just means that Tim can’t try and control this particular zombie again - fair enough, I had visions of it accidentally buffing it or something! He then heads off towards the right hand side of the board, taking the Apothecary with him, as it seemed like the Captain might need a little help against the Minor Demon. The attacker then trailed along behind him, loosing off an arrow at the same zombie that Tim failed to ensorcel, but wasn’t able to hit it.
On the left, figuring that it was better to attack the boar before it could bring it’s tusks into play against the Knight, the Barbarian charged in - both combatants dealt each other damage, leaving the Barbarian on 5 Health and the boar on only 1.
Meanwhile, the Apprentice tries to control the other zombie (the one currently fighting the Man at Arms) but failed, as after his negative spellcasting modifier his total was… zero.
The Minor Demon attacks the Warhound and crits, taking it out of action, as the last Ghoul on the board closes on the Captain.
On the left, a wild zombie shambles to join its companion, while the Man at Arms is dropped down to 4 Health. The boar attempts to strike the Barbarian, but is chopped into bacon bits. The Knight rushes forward to join the beleaguered Man at Arms, as does the gang’s zombie, who is able to successfully cut down one of their foes.
The Captain, realising that this is literally the definition of a do or die situation, uses her Furious Attack skill to attack the Minor Demon, dealing an impressive 11 points of damage to it, leaving it on a single point of Health. As I frantically double checked the warband sheet to make sure that I hadn’t missed a modifier somewhere, I realised that the Captain is wearing Gloves of Strength, which means that she does +1 damage whenever she wins a combat - the Minor Demon was dead! She then rushed back towards Tim to escape the clutches of the Ghoul that was all too close nearby.
For the first time all game, no new monsters came onto the board at the end of the turn. Reassured by this and surrounded by comrades, the Captain turned and smoothly put an arrow between the eyes of the last Ghoul. Shrugging, she headed towards the most distant Corpse Token, counting hope against hope that no more monsters were going to jump her. Seeing this, Tim cast Leap to send her flying towards it (although he has to spend 4 Health to turn his failed casting into a success). He and the Apprentice then advanced on the Corpse Token in the centre of the board. As they did this, the Tracker sprinted towards another Corpse Token, happy not to be noticed by the last zombie:
That zombie however shambles forwards onto the waiting blade of the Man at Arms, losing 1 Health, only for the Knight to step forwards and finish the job, and with no monsters now left on the board everyone takes this opportunity to consolidate their positions.
The Man at Arms clambers up a ruin to investigate a pair of dismembered legs:
and finds the Golem Notes (that in hindsight I’d made a special token for). Another side note - I really need to make a proper Man at Arms miniature for the gang to replace this one that is actually borrowed from Tim’s Mortal Enemy’s gang!
At this point I suddenly realised that I’d accidentally skipped activating the Apprentice, which shuffled around a bit and cast Strength on the gang’s zombie, just in case anything untoward happened upon their investigating a Corpse Token. Having found the Golem Notes though, the gang decide to head out before anything else can menace them, as I realised that it’s only zombies or survivors left to find on the Corpse Token table, neither of which I was particularly fussed about.
Post-game:
Another Warhound dies, and again Tim quickly replaces it with a new one before anyone can notice.
Between clearing the field, claiming two Treasure Tokens and killing a bunch of monsters, Tim walks away with 295 XP. He spends 300 to gain 3 levels, gaining +1 Fight, improving his Control Construct spell (as having seen the destructive power of the golem, Tim wants some of that!), then learns the spell Animate Skull from a Grimoire. I know that spell is kind of useless in solo play, as it spawns an uncontrolled monster that will just start attacking the gang, but one: it’s on theme, and two: if we can find another copy of that Grimoire, we can add a flourish to the spell that means it spawns a monster as part of the gang instead…
The Captain, having had a much more productive game than last time, gains 40XP and levels up to level 4, learning the skill Coup de Grace just in case she comes across any more demons that need slaying!
In terms of treasure, Tim finds a Ring of Power, which he swaps of his Ring of Will for, and a between the a treasury, selling a boar tusk and finding a small pile of gold - once the Captain has taken her (higher now that she has levelled up) cut, it leaves Tim 59 GC to put in the vault.
Not the most profitable expedition into the frozen city ever undertaken, but Tim is one step closer to being the proud owner of a weapon a magical destruction, he just knows it…
No comments:
Post a Comment