Sebastian D.
Germany
Berlin
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I'll try and stick to the format of other reports that I found to be excellent, for example by PaulGrogan and edroz (and many others I missed). And I will adopt links to www.descentinthedark.com as that makes it easier to look things up, thanks corkysru for that idea.
So (+X) indicates Conquest Tokens CT for the heroes, [+X] indicates CT for the overlord.
Red highlighted text will be used for possible rule problems we had and blue highlighted text will mark personal comments (will change color some time later due to blue being the inherent link color; ← don't think this will happen, don't have enough internet time on my hands). We're playing with Altar of Despair and Tomb of Ice.
At beginning of session:
CONQUEST TOKENS: Heroes: 46, OL: 17/17; Total: 63
Player 1 (Andira): {Quick Casting}; Immolation Rune, Leather Armor, Mana Weave
Player 2 (Varikas): {Able Warrior}; Bone Blade, Morningstar, Chain Mail
Player 3 (Landrec): {Vampiric Blood}; Crystallize, Leather Armor, Ring of Quickness
Player 4 (Ronan): {Shadow Soul}; Dwarven Firebomb, Leather Armor, (Mace of Kellos, Crossbow)
Heroes have ca. 3200 gold and Staff of the Wild.
OL Avatar: Demon Prince, XP: 16/16
Plot : Obsidian Shackles
OL Upgrades: Sir Alric F. (at Gate to the North), Endless Hunger
WEEK 7 continued
Each player has done a little thinking between session, now it's time to discuss their plans. Back and forth they argue, exchanging argument for argument. They see Alric going for Frostgate so the basic problem is: leave it or try to save it? Frostgate has two skills they want, Swift and Tiger Tattoo. They will have six weekly action before I make my first roll.
First idea is to stay in the north, do a couple of dungeons, train at Shika’s and attack Alric with those new powers. After realizing that that would mean going through 3 levels all the time to be able to stay at the location this was quickly discarded.
Second idea is to buy go to Riverwatch, with a dungeon on the way, and buy items and maybe train a week in Tamalir, then attack Alric on week six from now.. Which might mean losing to him or at least not chasing him away and therefore losing Frostgate. Third idea is to got to Frostgate now and train for those skills there and let it get razed afterwards (or even try to save it with the new skills; items will not be great on the Frostgate market).
In the end the go for the second idea. They feel a little short on items and see the best damage potential in upgrading those.
On their way to the dungeon at Red Echo River they have an encounter.
Hunting Spiders @ Shadowy Copse
Andira is badly hurt and has 1 health remaining so I block the exits and plan to kill her with the two master razorwings. Varikas blocks one path for the spiders with two shields up, the other way is blocked by water, so that’s something favorable for the heroes. The others hide in trees and guard next to Andira hoping to take down the Razorwings when they attack. This stalemate goes on for some turns as the spiders can’t hurt Varikas enough (only one damage on a max roll, without the shields, and it needs to be adjacent for that to still have enough range, disregarding added dice by threat of course) and the other three move cleverly. Varikas even manages to slowly kill of the white spiders which I don’t reinforce as they don’t do nothin’ *grrr*. I save up on threat and start an attack with the razorwings, it doesn’t work and the heroes remain victorious (+2, +300 gold).
ENCOUNTER SUMMARY: 6 turns; Heroes: +2 (48), +275 gold, OL: +0 (17/17); Total: +2 (65)
They arrive at Red Echo River (+1).
Red Echo River Level 1 - #17 Bag of Bones
Ugghh, there goes a good eldritch level without an upgrade. Yep, that’s what I was thinking at this point, nothing really working out for me.
Andira goes healing of course and will come out of the forward glyph in three turns. The others stay loosely close to the starting corridor. So as usual for me I get in a few shots and do a little damage but nothing major. The leader picks on Varikas, pierce 4 goes through his armor and the 5 CT was very tempting. Looking back I should‘ve just focused more on one hero, possibly not Varikas. Anyway, no spawning possible because of lack of cards. One by one they pick off skeletons, I get a Dark Charm hit with Varikas on Ronan and the level becomes empty of monsters. Now they’re covering spawn lines well so again no spawning possible. The kill the leader (+2) on my turn and Ronan sprints to a sarcophagus, activates the glyph on the way (+3) and dumps the bone heap. Little rules question here: The card says nothing about the leader NOT coming back after being dumped. I thought it would be rather silly but maybe it was planned to act as an incentive for the heroes to hurry even after getting the rune-key. So we discussed if he can come back (pretty tempting for me, next to Ronan who had only 4 health left). We try to play the rules as written but then decided to not let him come back. Dropping the bone heap onto the sarcophagus puts two prop markers on top of each other which is not allowed (at least, we figured; we couldn’t find a rules quote). So the bone heap is put away and the leader can’t reappear, end of story. I have a last shot with an exploding rune on Varikas with six health left (rune does six damage which can be prevented) but the lucky guy rolls one surge, enough to not die. But they do continue their empty-chest-streak (+1, +350 gold).
LEVEL SUMMARY: 9 turns; Heroes: +6 (55), +850 gold, OL: +0 (17/17); Total: +8 (72)
Red Echo River Level 2 - #5 The Barracks
With everyone pretty badly hurt heroes flee on the first turn after seeing my monsters deployed close to them. Before fleeing they visit the alchemist (2 vitality potions) and the market (Bag of Holding and a shortage, the Bag bought and put on Varikas) and heal up.
Another dungeon with absolutely no gain for me  . Man, I like my group!
DUNGEON SUMMARY: 11 hero turns, 9 OL turns; Heroes: +6 (55), +400 gold and +3 potions, OL: +0 (17/17); Total: +6 (72)
Week 8
[+2] (19/19) and Alric moves to Frostgate. I would have loved to spoil their carefully spelled-out plan by doing something completely unexpected like turning around and going for Tamalir but I’m just not up for that.
Heroes move to Riverwatch but have an encounter.
Wild Hunt @ Haunted Trail
Quick story: Heroes can't flee so they fight  . Easy win (+2, +325 gold).
ENCOUNTER SUMMARY: 3 turns; Heroes: +2 (57), +325 gold, OL: +0 (17/17); Total: +2 (74)
They arrive at Riverwatch and visit the buildings. Tavern is resolved first to keep the suspense for the market high. New rumor is Hunting the Wyrm, placed at Gate of the North. Ugghh, Ironskin for one hero, my beloved eldritch might just have been countered… and it’s on their way to Alric, too, aaarrggghhh!
The market draw reveals Crystal of Tival, Staff of the Grave, Cone of Fire, Skull Shield and Belt of Strength. They buy the Belt for Varikas, the Cone for Andira and the Staff for Landrec plus a voodoo doll. But apparently they were looking for other items as this draw did not lead to shouting and high-fiving.
It's an end of the week so we quit here.
At end of session:
CONQUEST TOKENS: Heroes: 57, OL: 19/19; Total: 76
Player 1 (Andira): {Quick Casting}; Cone of Fire, Magic Robe, (Immolation Rune)
Player 2 (Varikas): {Able Warrior}; Bone Blade, Morningstar, Chain Mail, Belt of Strength, Bag of Holding, (2 Iron Shields)
Player 3 (Landrec): {Vampiric Blood}; Crystallize, Magic Robe, Ring of Quickness, (Staff of the Grave, Leather Armor)
Player 4 (Ronan): {Shadow Soul}; Dwarven Firebomb, Crystal Shield, Leather Armor, (Mace of Kellos, Crossbow)
Heroes at Riverwatch. They have ca. 4000 gold and Staff of the Wild.
OL Avatar: Demon Prince, XP: 19/19
Plot: Obsidian Shackles
OL Upgrades: Sir Alric F. (at Frostgate), Endless Hunger
Comments:
So, a rather short session this time. Things are still going in the heroes' favor. They are definitely playing really well. Their better play has not really sunk in with me yet, my play style still takes their old selves into account. If they continue this level of skill and manage to preserve it we will have a pretty good game on our hands I think.
Anyway, let's see what they'll make of all their XP. After one more dungeon they will have enough money to do whatever they want in a training week: skills for all or dice for all or more items and some skills/dice, I'm really curious for their decisions.
My plan is still straightforward: save for the monster upgrade! Last campaign I could spend XP left and right, almost every week/dungeon gave me enough to buy something, let it be treachery or lieutenants or avatar upgrades. Even if they're not at the point where they are counting my XP to deny me crucial upgrades they definitely do a great job hindering me.
We'll play again pretty soon, so keep your eyes open for a new report straight away.
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Corbon Loughnan
Singapore
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BastiRand wrote: Little rules question here: The card says nothing about the leader NOT coming back after being dumped. I thought it would be rather silly but maybe it was planned to act as an incentive for the heroes to hurry even after getting the rune-key. So we discussed if he can come back (pretty tempting for me, next to Ronan who had only 4 health left). We try to play the rules as written but then decided to not let him come back. Dropping the bone heap onto the sarcophagus puts two prop markers on top of each other which is not allowed (at least, we figured; we couldn’t find a rules quote). So the bone heap is put away and the leader can’t reappear, end of story.
Correct. It could perhaps be clearer, but the bones must be dropped 'into' the sarcophagus (not on top) which implies that they will be gone, and therefore Janius(?) cannot come back.
Quote: The market draw reveals Crystal of Tival, Staff of the Grave, Cone of Fire, Skull Shield and Belt of Strength. They buy the Belt for Varikas, the Cone for Andira and the Staff for Landrec plus a voodoo doll. But apparently they were looking for other items as this draw did not lead to shouting and high-fiving.
Cone of Fire and Staff of the Grave? They should be!
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Ananda Gupta
United States
Columbia
Maryland
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Landrec with Staff of the Grave... urgh, that gives me overlord heartburn.
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Sebastian D.
Germany
Berlin
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Yeah, Landrec with SotG has great damage potential, I think from 5-15, without any skills or other items factored in. But they are not too keen on cursed items especially not on Landrec who dies a lot (see session 4). Also they don’t like to feel that it’s forbidden for everyone but him to attack undying monsters (see session 5 of spider queen). So SotG is the only cursed item they will ever buy (don’t need the shield, don’t like the bow, the familiar is waaaayyy too weak).
Cone of Fire is an item Andira desperately wanted but so far she has only dealt minimal damage with it .
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