The adventures of Tim the Necromancer: The Mausoleum

For the first time in over a year, Tim ventured back into the frozen city! 

After his last outing, Tim has heard tell of a fabled lost library filled with magical doodads ripe for plundering, but no one knows where it is (it is a lost library after all…). After some investigation, Tim the Necromancer realises that he has a unique advantage over other types of wizards, and sets about tracking down a deceased former librarian to ask for directions. 

Out of character, Tim wants to get to the library because he keeps getting enough XP to level up but not having any Grimoires to learn spells from, so is banking ridiculous amounts of XP! Also, I’ve bought Advanced Spellcraft but not read it yet, so finding a library full of advanced magical texts provides a nice narrative reason for why Tim might suddenly be able to do more complex stuff with his spells.

So, I set up a table that looked like a tomb complex, centred around the Mausoleum that I recently finished:

I set up the skeletons and treasure tokens as per the scenario, then rolled three times on the Wandering monster table to put some monsters on the other side of the board from Tim and the gang (and yes, I re-read the rules for wolves in Frostgrave and redeployed them together after taking this picture). Side note - for this game, I rolled for wandering monsters at the end of every turn, and also the first time each treasure token was picked up, having them enter in the centre of a randomly determined table edge.

As usual, the gang split up into three groups - a ‘fast’ group on the flank with the most treasure (the left side), the apprentice on the right with some tough fighters, and Tim in the centre with the Apothecary and some human shields. As he didn’t fancy having to walk any further than was strictly necessary. A zombie was summoned before the game, as is traditional, but non-traditionally, the Brew Potion spell actually came through, giving Tim a healing potion that he duly took for himself (because he and his apprentice traditionally take a bunch of damage from catastrophically failing to cast spells), then it was off to the races!

Tim strode forward confidently to kick off proceedings, planning to bend the nearest skeletal defender to his will with the Control Undead spell, but despite successfully managing to cast the spell the mindless skeleton turned out to be too strong willed, and resisted the spell. Feeling less confident, Tim ordered his zombie into its usual early game battle position, ‘Operation Human Shield’.

The Apprentice, leading his band of toughs, elects to try and Bone Dart a skeleton instead (as that’s a much easier spell to cast than Control Undead) and succeeds, blasting a skeleton into bones. The rest of the toughs then go up the board towards the mausoleum and it’s waiting treasures:

With a howl, the wolves, zombies and skeletons all make their way towards our intrepid troupe of grave robbers, but only the one that Tim failed to compel makes it into contact with the unfortunate Thug currently acting as Tim’s human shield, and it deals him a minty blow, dropping him to only 3 health!

Then it’s time for Team Speedy (also Team Shooty, technically) as they fan out with plans to pepper a skeleton closing on Tim with arrows, whilst the Warhound plans to go wide to try to draw away some of the threats bearing down on the group.

The Captain’s (in green, balancing artfully on a mobile ruined pillar) arrow flies true and destroys the nearest skeleton, but the Tracker behind her is less lucky, and their arrow clatters ineffectually into an intervening wall:

Drawn by the sounds of battle, two Armoured Skeletons lumber onto the board, luckily on the furthest table edge from Tim and the gang, so they weren’t an issue… yet.

Team Tim activates again, with the Knight originally part of Team Apprentice running forward to rescue the beleaguered Thug, the zombie shambling closer to the nearest Treasure token, and Tim and the Apothecary shifting slightly sideways to get a better line of sight on the skeleton that the Tracker had failed to take out last turn.

Thanks to outnumbering and the magical Sword of Wounding and Healing, the Knight is able to handily defeat the skeleton despite only rolling a 5. Tim tries to cast Control Undead again, but is successful this time, bending a skeletal guard to his will (and also transforming them from a regular human skeleton into a rat an one, for ease of em remembering which one it is that he has under his control).

Team Apprentice rushes up, ganging up on another skeleton, as another had just also popped out of that Mausoleum door:

The Apprentice, trailing behind them, narrowly fails to cast Strength in the Barbarian, so cuts to turn the failure into a success. You know what’s better than a maniac with a massive sword that’s frothing at the mouth? A magically enhanced maniac with a massive sword that’s frothing at the mouth!

Buoyed by this, the Barbarian easily cleaves the foe in twain, leaving the Man at Arms without an opponent, so he moves up to engage the remaining skeleton. 

It was at this point that I realised that I’d forgotten about the wolves lurking nearby in my excitement to have the Barbarian smash up skeletons (and also, they’re grey wolves on grey bases on grey rubble terrain). They leapt on her, and due to some terrible rolling on my part she was swiftly taken out of action:

My glass cannon probably needs some sort of magic item that gives her a little more Armour. Or even more Fight, I guess lack of armour doesn’t matter if you never lose a fight! (I know, mathematically that doesn’t work given how swingy d20 rolls are, but humour me for the sake of the bit).

The Man at Arms, on the other hand, coolly hacks down the skeleton facing him before turning to face the pair of wolves breathing down his neck.

Back in the centre of the table, the Thug grabs the first Treasure Token, and 2 Ghouls appear on the board, again luckily on the farthest table edge. 

The controlled skeleton (aka the new recruit) shambles forward to engage the Zombie that has finally managed to make its way to being a threat to the group, but poor rolls on both sides mean that they largely slap ineffectively at each other:

On the left flank, the Captain and Tracker both cautiously advance to try and take out the Armoured Skeletons bearing down on them just beyond the zombie, but the dice seem to have forsaken me and only deliver up single digit rolls, not enough to hit.

The Thief with them makes a dash up towards a Treasure Token, with the Warhound bravely shielding them from the encroaching Armoured Skeletons with his body:

This plan (Thief making a bold dash in to retrieve a treasure while everyone else smartly disposes of the monsters) is slightly scuppered by the door on the Mausoleum behind her opening, and a skeleton emerges…

Tim, meanwhile, steps forward and casts Bone Dart to try to remove the threat behind his faithful Thief, but despite succeeding to cast it frustratingly it is ineffective (I guess bones aren’t weak to other bones it turns out, a 15 against a 16).

As the gang have spread out to engage the enemy and grab treasure, there are now unfortunately only minimal models that can activate with Tim and the Apprentice - the Apothecary sticks close to Tim though, lest he require a Potion of Healing, while the Apprentice, alone, uses his Gloves of Casting to attempt to cast Grenade on the wolves menacing the Man at Arms. He succeeds, landing it just behind them, but unfortunately I am betrayed by the dice again, and no damage is caused.

In the creature phase, things don’t go well for Tim - his hound and controlled skeleton are both taken out of action, and both the Thief and Man at Arms are wounded by their opponents.

Time for a comeback, he thinks - his Zombie grabs a Treasure Token, and makes a break for freedom. Just as 4 Giant Rats appear on the table edge just behind Tim. Nuts.

The Captain, always cool under pressure, dashes up and kills the skeleton attacking the Thief, who continues her run up to grab the unattended Treasure Token from under the noses (or lack thereof) of a Zombie, 2 Armoured Skeletons, and 2 Ghouls:

The Tracker, steadying themselves, manages to take out the nearest Armoured Skeleton, buying the group a more of breathing room. He then runs up and hides behind a low wall, hoping to be able to dash behind their enemies to grab another Treasure token (the axe leaning against a barrel in the picture above).

Over on the right, the Knight redirects from the centre and charges in to relieve the beleaguered Man at Arms, hacking down the first Wolf, while the Man at Arms chops the second Wolf down to only 1 Health remaining. This side of the field, which was originally looking a bit dicey when the Barbarian got taken out, is now looking a lot more under control! The Thug just behind them, seeing that things seem to be well in hand, makes a dash for the table edge with a Treasure Token in hand instead. 

While this is happening, another skeleton and a single Giant Rat enter the field. 

Tim, showing incredible tactical nous resists the urge to cast Grenade on the tightly packed foes bearing down on his Thief, instead casts Leap, catapulting her to relative safety away from the horde of monsters keen to sink fangs into flesh. This is slightly to the chagrin of the Captain, who now founds herself the nearest target to the aforementioned horde (she’ll probably be fine though, she has more magic items than Tim). Tim then notices that there is a skeleton and a pack of Giant Rats bearing down on him, and decides that discretion is the better part of valour and relocates to the safety of a nearby doorway:

The Apprentice, seeing this, instead casts Control Undead on the skeleton nearest Tim, turning it into a Valued Team Member tm instead. He then starts heading towards the left side of the field to support, as it seems things aren’t going so well there…

In the swirling melee around the Captain, the wild Zombie manages to deal 1 damage to the Captain, before an Armoured Skeleton joins the fight. Using a combination of her Dodge and Furious Attack skills, the Captain cuts it down. A ghoul then joins the ruck and the Captain takes more damage, leaving her on 8 Health. Things aren’t looking great for the girl in green…

Over on the right flank, things are going equally badly - the last Wolf snaps at the Man at Arms, dropping him down to only 1 Health remaining. 

In the centre, the pack of Giant Rats rush towards the Apprentice, but none are able to reach him this turn. In response, the newly recruited Skeleton flings himself at the pack of rats, quickly cutting one down:

Back on the right, the Knight dashes forward to attack the Wolf in the hopes of freeing up the Man at Arms, but a natural 20 takes him down to 1 Health. The Man at Arms, however, is able to hack it to pieces, but looks up to see a Giant Rat only an inch away with hungry eyes…

Over on the other side of the Mausoleum, the Tracker plunges in to assist the Captain, cutting down the wild Zombie. Emboldened by this, the Captain deals a grievous blow to one of the Ghouls, dropping it to 4 Health. Unfortunately for her, a skeleton then appears in the doorway next to that Ghoul…

Tim, again resisting the urge to cast Grenade, uses Control Undead to grab the as yet unwounded second Ghoul, and now it looks like the monsters are outnumbered! 

The Apprentice, on the other hand, has no such qualms and tries to cast Grenade on the sea of Giant Rats in front of them, but fails so badly that he manages to hurt himself in the process. He then dashes to his master’s side, away from all the Giant Rats, leaving his controlled skeleton to its fate. Seeing this, it feels somewhat less like a Valued Employee than in the previous turn, and is rapidly dispatched by the rats. Not so for the single Giant Rat menacing the Knight, which is swiftly cut down for its troubles.

In the ongoing melee on the other side of the table, the Captain succeeds in cutting down the wounded Ghoul, but is then wounded in turn by the recently emerged skeleton.

While this is going on, the Thief, Thug, and Zombie all manage to make it off of the table, securing a Treasure Token each, while the now free to move Man at Arms moves to secure another. Back in the melee, the controlled Ghoul takes out the skeleton, leaving the Captain and Tracker free to dash towards the last remaining piece of treasure. As the Captain grabs it, a single Ghoul appears on the right hand side of the board, too far away from the gang to really affect anything at this point in proceedings. An imp then appears, as well as another skeleton emerging from the Mausoleum,  it at this point it is too, little too late as the controlled Ghoul was able to block monsters, allowing the Captain and Man at Arms to escape with a Treasure Token each, while the Apprentice fails to cast Leap on the Captain and atom fails to cast Strength on the controlled Ghoul to give it a better chance against the pursuing monsters. When all is said and done, the Apprentice is the last to flee the board, closely followed by a gang of rats and a skeleton:

After a break to pick the kids up from school (during which I walked past a graveyard and suddenly realised that I should have dug out my gravestone scatter terrain to use for a scenario set around a Mausoleum), it was time for the post-game sequence.

Unfortunately the Warhound died, but the Barbarian was able to make a full recovery. Tim immediately bought another Warhound, as they are a lot cheaper than Barbarians to replace!

Having survived, cast plenty of spells and grabbed loads of treasure, Tim walked away with 379 XP, which caps at 300. He spends 200 to gain 2 levels, increasing his Health by 1, and making Grenade easier to cast (as it’s very handy when you’re outnumbered!). Unfortunately, he has no Grimoires in his Vault, so cannot learn any new spells this time, and banks the rest of the XP. The Captain, having survived and chopped down an assortment of monsters, gains 50XP, not enough to gain another level yet.

Scraping around the Treasury that they made their base in, the gang are able to scrape together 13 GC. Then, it’s time to see what each Treasure Token was. Oddly for the tomb of a former librarian, as well as an assortment of cash, they found 4 magic rings (2 Transference, which got sold as Tim already had one in his Vault, 1 Power, which went to the Apprentice as they are most likely to need help casting a spell, and a ring of Will, which Tim kept for himself). The final token came up trumps though, revealing a Grimoire of… Draining Word, a spell which makes other spells harder to cast, and is so functionally useless in solo play. Ah well, a Grimoire is a Grimoire, and anyway I guess it’s worth learning to potentially make things more difficult if his Mortal Enemy tries to jump him again…

Tallying everything up, after the Captain takes her 13% Tim finds himself with a tidy amount of cash, and feels torn - should he upgrade his group, maybe replacing his Thug with something a bit tougher? On the other hand, with 584GC, he could potentially afford to buy a Grimoire, so heads down to the Black Market. Unfortunately, there’s not a lot on offer - a pair of Boots of Speed (which the Captain already has a pair of) and a Grimoire of Shield, which he buys. It’s a Thaumaturgy spell, so will be needlessly difficult for him to actually cast once he manages to learn it, but the idea of eventually being able to have a Barbarian with both their attack and defence magically enhanced proves too alluring…

What’s next - the Library! And maybe upgrading the war and with the remaining money, as yet to be decided…