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Yesterday we played session two of our Spider Queen Obsidian Shackles campaign. I’m playing the heroes, and my opponent has the Farrow twins camped outside Frostgate with all preparations for an assault made. Astarra, Laurel, Nanok, and Hawthorne had travelled to the Gardens of Tarn to follow up on the Belly of the Beast rumour. Our previous session ended with us drawing Trial by Fire as the first level of the Gardens.
Quote: Astarra: Heavy Leather Armour , Prodigy
Hawthorne: Crystal of Tivial, Ring of Quickness , Knight
Laurel: Dwarven Fire Bombs , Acrobatic
Nanok: Dragontooth Hammer , Leadership
Gardens of Tarn I: Trial by Fire (26)
This wasn’t the best first level to draw for my rumour dungeon – I fully expected to run before taking on the demon, but decided to see how I went. Astarra ran to town, purchasing the bone blade, knuckle dagger, and staff of punishment. Taking the latter herself, she passed the first two to Hawthorne to duel wield (-750 GP). Hawthorne and Nanok cut down the sorcerers and put wounds on the hellhound level leader.
Unfortunately for me, the Spider Queen had drawn a rage card, and proceeded to use this on her hellhound. As his special ability was quick shot, he proceeded to breathe four times on my heroes, killing Laurel and wounding the others [+3]. Hawthorne took his revenge, knighting his way through the hellhound, and the skeletons lurking behind the door that opened with its death (+2, +150 GP). Returning from the temple, Laurel looted a treasure pile while Nanok and Astarra began to chew through the dragon’s health (+400 GP).
A ferrox tribe spawn combined with the dragon’s breath to reduce Nanok and Astarra to four and three wounds respectively, and a Spider Queen enhanced pit trap finished off Astarra as the two of them fled towards town [+2]. Seeing the ferroxes had cut him off from the exit, Hawthorne knight-battled the dragon, using a power potion to cut through its remaining wounds while Laurel used her acrobatic skills to dash between the blocking monsters (+2, +150 GP). The ferroxes finished Hawthorne off, but Laurel escaped to town and the heroes fled to Tamalir, abandoning their first rumour dungeon [+4].
Quote: Experience: OL [20/25]; Heroes (21/27, 1325/4200 GP)
Week 6: 52 Conquest
The Spider Queen collected her weekly conquest, then watched in horror as her lieutenants’ assault on Frostgate was driven back [+1]. Saving her experience to upgrade her monsters later, she ordered Alric to head west to the Gate to the North while his brother oversaw the continued assault on Frostgate.
The heroes headed south on the Theslavan Highway. I’d explored this earlier without entering, but wanted to see how many dungeons I could do before my opponent upgraded his beasts to silver so needed places as close to Tamalir as possible.
Theslavan Highway I: Cursed Fountain (39)
After the previous dungeon, I was relieved to see one that had a beastman rather than a dragon/demon tag team combo as its boss. My opponent took option C for his support monsters (3 skeletons, master skeleton, and a master golem). Astarra dashed forward, using her blasting rune to kill one skeleton and damage the golem while the others moved up in support. Laurel went to town, purchasing a Crystal Shield for herself (-250).
My assumption that the level would be easier proved correct, as Astarra ran around the room collecting gold, activating the rune and opening the chest (+4, +1,150 GP). Nanok finished off the boss, and the heroes continued to the next level while Astarra returned to town to heal (+2, +150 GP).
Theslavan Highway II: Fountain of Life (14)
This level was filled with spiders, and had a beastman boss who was immune to damage when within 3 squares of the fountain he started next to. With no knockback weapons available, I decided to grab cash and run. Hawthorne opened the chest, Nanok killed the guarding master ferroxes, and Laurel collected gold (+1, +800 GP). A dark charm on Hawthorne failed (0/3 so far), and Nanok nimbly dodged a block and pit on his way back to the portal. With a banespider spawn adding to the bodies blocking their way to the glyph, the heroes fled back to Tamalir.
Quote: Experience: OL [21/26]; Heroes (28/34, 2700/5900 GP)
Week 7: 60 Conquest
The overlord gained his weekly conquest, and failed to take Frostgate once more. Merric continued the siege and Alric moved down to Greyhaven [+1].
The heroes headed towards Red Echo River, entering the dungeon there (+1).
Red Echo River I: Mask of the Monster (36)
Another beastman dungeon, this one with a boss who lost his special abilities after three hits. Astarra ran around, collecting gold and activating the first room’s glyph (+3, +400 GP). The other heroes slaughtered the unfortunate kobolds blocking their progress to the leader, and Laurel put the first hit on his mask. The remaining monsters were all out of reach, and were quickly cut down on the following turn, as Hawthorne collected another gold pile and opened the chest, passing its Axe of Returning to Laurel (+700 GP). A dark charm on Nanok failed (0/4 attempts), and Nanok’s return blow felled the leader after Laurel removed the remaining hits on the mask (+2, +150 GP).
Red Echo River II: Two by Two (20)
This room looked time consuming, and with Nanok needing to return to town for healing I didn’t plan on staying long. My opponent confirmed this plan when he selected option A for minions (2 master skeletons, master beastman, hellhound) and placed them all in the second room with the naga leader.
Nanok returned to town, purchasing the Cloak of Deception and Bane , and passing both to Astarra (-500 GP). Meanwhile Astarra and Hawthorne grabbed the two nearby gold piles (+800 GP). A skeleton patrol spawn in the rapidly filling second room spurred me to flee the dungeon.
Quote: Experience: OL [22/27]; Heroes (34/40, 3950/4650 GP)
Week 8: 67 Conquest
The Spider Queen collected her conquest, and cackled maniacally as Frostgate fell under Merric Farrow’s assault [+1]. Alric continued on to the Plains of the Ruby Gate, while Merric packed up his siege equipment and headed back towards the Howling Giant Hills.
With their newfound gold and experience, the heroes trained in Tamilar. Visiting the market, Astarra purchased the Crystal of Tivial to replace the one Hawthorne had healed with earlier, as well as the Staff of the Wild and the Great Bazaar (-6, -1500). Hawthorne went to the tavern, hearing rumour of a Prince of Thieves hidden in the Hanging Woods.
Quote: Experience: OL [23/28]; Heroes (28/40, 2500/4650 GP)
Week 9: 68 Conquest
Benefiting from the razing of Frostgate, the Spider Queen collected two conquest, and upgraded her beasts to silver [+2, -25]. Alric headed down to the Shadow Peaks, and Merric returned home to the Whispering Forest.
Running out of places close to Tamalir, the heroes headed to Blackwing Swamp, exploring and entering the dungeon (+1)
Blackwing Swamp I: Up & Down
This didn’t look good. As my first dungeon with silver beasts, I got a razorwing boss. Wonderful. Luckily his minions were eldritch (option A, 2 skeletons, 2 master skeletons, sorcerer, master sorcerer) so I only had one enhanced razorwing to face.
Heading straight to the market, Laurel drew a spectacular number of market shortages and a Belt of Strength , which she purchased for Nanok (-250). Hawthorne advanced, killing the master sorcerer and collecting gold, while Nanok opened the chest to find no treasure (+1, +750 GP). The master razorwing proved as deadly as I’d feared, slaughtering Astarra with only a pit trap to help it [+2]. Hawthorne rushed upstairs with a knight battle and all his fatigue, chewing through most of the razorwing’s wounds but not quite finishing it off. In response, the skeletons peppered him with arrows, finishing him off [+4].
Nanok advanced to the second floor, activating the glyph and collecting gold as he killed a master skeleton (+3, +400). Upon returning through the glyph, Hawthorne was block/pitted, and only survived by rolling a blank on the dark charm that was played on him (0/5, does this card ever work?). The razorwing flew down, chewing through all of Laurel’s wounds with a pair of raged attacks [+3]. Astarra returned the favour, finishing off the boss as the others headed to the exit, dodging a pit on the way (+2, +150).
Blackwing Swamp II: Fire & Ice
We finished here for the day, after drawing level two. Hooray, two silver beast bosses, and a room full of razorwings! Although I took heavy losses on the first level, no power cards are out, and my opponent only has two cards in hand with nine threat, so this could be manageable if difficult.
Quote: Experience: OL [9/39]; Heroes (34/46, 3675/5950 GP)
Thoughts
Overall this went pretty well. The overlord is catching up to me on conquest and has silver beasts out, and Frostgate has fallen, but the Tamalir rush I feared doesn’t seem to have materialised. My heroes are pretty well equipped now, and I really only want to upgrade their dice/skills before trying to chase down Alric. Hopefully this dungeon will give me the experience/funds to do so, as he’s currently cornered within two trails of Tamalir. I’ll be more than happy with a Frostgate/Alric trade.
What I really need to think about now is how to upgrade the heroes. Nanok is easy enough – definitely adding two black dice there – but with the others I’m not so sure. Maybe dice all round as they can be trained at Tamalir. Otherwise maybe I should head north to grab skills in towns that the overlord could take quickly. I’m not certain which skills I’ll go for with each hero, but am thinking something along these lines:
Quote: Astarra: Wind Pact (Greyhaven); Quick Casting (Olmric)
Hawthorne: Unmoveable (Forge); Vampiric Blood (Nerekhall)
Laurel: Rapid Fire (Olmric); Tough (Forge)
Nanok: Taunt (Dawnsmoor); Able Warrior (Shika)
Looking at that list I can see Forge and Olmric are in danger of being cut off at silver, while only Greyhaven is really in a vulnerable position out of the cities. Since I need Wind Pact for the lieutenant fights, I should probably focus on getting Astarra that while I upgrade Laurel and Nanok’s dice, and get Hawthorne Unmovable. I have ample experience for this plan, and only need another 350 GP. With any luck I can get more than that in this level – there’s 1200 plus a chest for the taking – and take Alric out before the campaign hits silver.
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Brad DeRan
United States
Columbus
Ohio
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ok i have to ask on Up and down, did your heroes actually choose not to stage a guy on the encounter marker leaving your boss stuck upstairs? Because that level seemed cake when you do that.
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Alain Gottcheiner
Belgium
Brussels
Unspecified
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As a matter of fact they'd need two heroes to do so efficiently, as the boss can use the shaft between any two levels.
I think you'll quickly need the boat and staff, if you don't already have them. This will cut on your gold, so training will be limited. But I guess that's the price to pay for blitzing strategies, and this isn't such a high price.
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Ackbar: As merrimac said, you have to block two encounter markers. In my first turn I blocked the bottom floor one, so my opponent sent the razorwing down the stairs to attack my characters who had advanced to collect treasure and kill the sorcerors he placed on the bottom floor. After that it was a pretty moot point. He had a ton of skeletons on the second floor, and managed to kill characters / spawn monsters at a rate fast enough that I had trouble covering line of sight while killing monsters.
I think that level was actually the one he's played best so far. Having a highly mobile, tough, hard hitting boss helped, but his spawning and trapping went off better than any other level. It helped that his usually awful luck with misses reversed and he rolled zero to my five in this level.
On the other hand I've been rolling blanks like mad to avoid Dark Charm - 0/5 so far - to the point where he didn't use it as one of his Into My Parlour cards in the last dungeon. This seems to crop up in every campaign I've read here actually, one of those weird anomalies I guess.
Merrimac: I have the boat and staff already  Still need the map, but I figure that can wait until after I train some dice and skills / attack Alric.
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