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: 57, OL: 19/19; Total: 76
Player 1 (Andira): {Quick Casting}; Cone of Fire, Magic Robe, Bag of Holding, (Immolation Rune)
Player 2 (Varikas): {Able Warrior}; Bone Blade, Morningstar, Chain Mail, Belt of Strength, Ring of Protection, (2 Iron Shields)
Player 3 (Landrec): {Vampiric Blood}; Crystallize, Magic Robe, Ring of Quickness, Ghost Armor, (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. 3000 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
Week 8
[+2] (21/21) and Frostgate +1 Siege Token (now at 1).
Here comes the decision I was so curious of… “We’ll do a dungeon!”. Not exactly original  . They Travel to Velvet Plains. On their way they roll for the red encounter (“We’re strong! You told us it will probably mean bigger monsters but only one of them.”) and are ambushed by:
The Wyrm Turns @ Hidden Creek
Ronan is put on guard duty while the others are safely sleeping. The location isn’t really working well for an ice wyrm, there’s only one spot he can be placed and still be able to move and attack the heroes on the starting tile. So Ronan stares into the gaping maw of the wyrm just two spaces away, and it’s hiding in a tree! [ color=#0000FF]Imagine incredulous looks and shaking of heads at such silliness.[/color] Varikas is out of the equation as without being swallowed he can’t attack with his weapons due to the ghost ability. Choice is an all out attack and probably lose someone (i.e. Landrec) or flee right away (and lose someone if they can’t wake up). They count their damage potential, calculate one-turn survival rate… and decide to flee. Landrec shakes off the sleep marker and Ronan punches the others awake and moves with fatigue. His Shadow Soul tries to block attack spots for the wyrm. But they miscount and move Ronan to the only spot I can attack. I miss because of range, encounter ends.
ENCOUNTER SUMMARY: 2 turns; Heroes: +0 (57), OL: +0 (21/21); Total: +0 (78)
They reach Velvet Plains and explore it (+1). If they don’t give up any CT they will still be able to train and do another dungeon without upgraded monsters, which could be the Hunting the Wyrm rumor on their way to Alric. They also want to gather more gold to purchase upgrades for everyone, they need around 1500 gold for that.
Velvet Plains Level 1 - #11 The Mine
Great, a level with possible extra money to earn. Well, they probably run out of luck soon *fingers crossed*.
I place most of the monsters in the chest room, two spiders block the way to the leader. The group thinks at 13W 3A the spider leader is very weak.
Andira sees a chance of a great first turn, catching two skeletons, the naga and a razorwing in her breath attack. She only needs another figure to stand on an empty space so she can have her pierce 2 on both attacks (she wants to advance and quick cast). In a surprise and bold move, Varikas puts on both shields and stands in that very space. With two max rolls Andira could inflict 8 wounds on him so with 10 health left he feels safe. On his way I drop him into a pit to possibly make Andira’s attack lethal. But her first attack is a miss, her second does a measly 3 damage, not even killing one lousy skeleton! Landrec and Ronan kill a spider and a skeleton and cover the crossroads. On my turn I gank up on Andira, killing her [+3]. Silver upgrade here I come, even before the rumor! Good times! Varikas then disposes of the naga and a razorwing, Ronan kills another spider. Landrec moves to a not-so-safe spot and is killed by a max damage roll from a razorwing [+2]. The rest of the level proceeds almost as normal: dead leader (+2, +100 gold), glyph (+3), 2 successful mining actions (+400 gold). And then, the greatness: On their ninth chest since the start of the campaign they finally get their first treasure draw! It’s the Falcon’s Claw (+150 gold, +3 potions).
With nothing left to lose they move to the next level, not without shopping (Ripper and a shortage, bought for Ronan; 2 vitality potions).
LEVEL SUMMARY: 6 turns; Heroes: +5 (63), +1050 gold, OL: +5 (26/26); Total: +10 (89)
Velvet Plains Level 2 - #30 Stuck in the Middle
We’ve never played this before so the secret web spaces were really messing with the heroes, both passive in thinking/planning and active in actually being caught in one.
No action till the second turn. I’ve been drawing really useless cards only, I had 3 Aims, 2 Gust of Wind, 1 Dodge, 2 Paralyzing Gas and 2 Crushing Blocks at this time. So I played a block on Varikas and pushed him into a net, thus getting an attack with pierce 3 from each of the two leaders through. But he won’t die and is left with one wound. Ronan webs the razorwings but they both get out again. Everything else can only hurt him with max rolls which I don’t get. He plays Blocked against one razorwing and the other razorwing has the last attack on my turn and misses. Grrrr. So he slips away and gets to teleport to Tamalir later. I then focus on Landrec who wanted to cover Varikas’ retreat but stepped into a web trap. He’s easier to take down [+2]. Now they are unsure how to cross the middle room. Ronan uses his Shadow Soul and activates the glyph (+3), the others stay at the edges. Further kills are denied by good play of feat cards. Andira saves herself with a Protect Thyself while having 3 wounds left, Ronan Evades one razorwing. I make a habit of rolling a miss with my last attack during a couple turns in a row. Landrec comes back and kills the two leaders (+4, +200 gold). He is then punished and brought down to 2 wounds again. On his escape he fails to cover one spawn space which I exploit with a raged master beastmen [+3]. Then everything is back to normal: empty chest (+1, +250 gold +3 potions). They all escape through the portal.
LEVEL SUMMARY: 9 turns; Heroes: +8 (71), +1250 gold, OL: +5 (31/31); Total: +13 (102)
Velvet Plains Level 3 - #22 The Citadel
They know this level and want to play it next time as I have only 3 cards and 2 threat at the moment.
At end of session:
CONQUEST TOKENS: Heroes: 71, OL: 31/31; Total: 102
Player 1 (Andira): {Quick Casting}; Cone of Fire, Wizard’s Robe, (Immolation Rune)
Player 2 (Varikas): {Able Warrior}; Bone Blade, Morningstar, Chain Mail, Belt of Strength, Ring of Protection (2 Iron Shields)
Player 3 (Landrec): {Vampiric Blood}; Crystallize, Wizard’s Robe, Ring of Quickness, (Staff of the Grave, Leather Armor)
Player 4 (Ronan): {Shadow Soul}; Dwarven Firebomb, Crystal Shield, Leather Armor, Bag of Holding, (Mace of Kellos, Ripper, Falcon’s Claw)
Heroes at Riverwatch. They have ca. 4500 gold, Staff of the Wild and Enchanted Ship.
OL Avatar: Demon Prince, XP: 19/19
Plot: Obsidian Shackles
OL Upgrades: Sir Alric F. (at Frostgate), Endless Hunger
Comments:
Gaahh, I was so sure we would see silver monsters on the board today but turns were reaaaallly long again.
I was afraid they might rush to the rumor and do that before the monster upgrade. Ironskin on Varikas sounds scary! As ice wyrms are eldritch this has just turned harder, they will really have to show some great effort and/or accept the trade-off of going through that dungeon by paying in CT. Luckily they didn’t try it and valued more money and training higher than that rumor.
Anyway, Player 3 (Landrec) was not having his best day, handing me two unnecessary deaths. So I’m quite happy with the turnout so far. I will upgrade eldritch on my next opportunity so the Ice Wyrm rumor will be significantly tougher, I hope. For the Alric battle that lone silver sorcerer won’t be a factor I think.
Let’s see how this turns out there. Cone of Fire is good against the razorwings but Andira has only a max damage of 8 with it, just enough to kill one. Landrec does great damage now, consistently in the lower teens with SotG which is dangerous even for Alric. Luckily he’s immune to Ronan’s web weapon, I have to be careful with other bosses and lieutenants, though. He’s switching his weapon around quite a lot now. He likes the Ripper and the lower miss chance for easy monsters, the bomb for good damage and the claw for tactical attacks.
Copper is half over and they still want to do some things which they might not complete. I’ve seen silver beasts in action (blood apes with 18W 4A or 19W 6A are… yes, beasts!), silver eldritch don’t show terrifying stats (Skeletons at 8W 1A? They will still be one-shotted.) but the sheer number will overwhelm them, racking up my CT or denying them crucial victories.
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Jerry Rhodes
United States
Elgin
South Carolina
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Thanks for taking the time to write these.
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joel cuthbert
United States
fort collins
Colorado
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yours are much prettier than mine with all your nice links and colors. it looks like landrec is taking a beating as he is your easiest target.
how do double shields work out for varikas? i am thinking of purchasing 2 to put on zyla as a runner, because most of what she does is take a run action, which can negate traps or a random spawn.
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Sebastian D.
Germany
Berlin
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Well, I think 2 shields are working pretty well. So far the all-copper-monsters they met do a max damage of 8 or 9, I think (no master naga or master troll yet
 ). The usual roll is a little lower so he is rarely affected by anything if it’s only one attack. Two or more attacks are needed to wound him then. So that’s less attacks to kill the others with.
If he gets the plate mail (armor +3) and the second crystal shield (ignore 2 wounds) he will be hard to crack, if I even wanted that. Add the Ironskin rumor reward to that and he’s a great guy to sit in front. I’m just happy we don’t have WoD and therefore no Taunt skill.
Almost always when there’s nothing to attack due to his slowness (like on the first turn) he puts them on and is then rather ignored by me. He therefore blocks 2-space corridors really well (see spider encounter). Sometimes I feel he stays a little bit too careful, double- and triple-checking the monsters’ damage potential before deciding not to move into the midst of them. But they do try imaginative things as with positioning for the Andira-Firecone-attack.
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joel cuthbert
United States
fort collins
Colorado
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BastiRand wrote:
Week 8
[+2] (21/21) They Travel to Velvet Plains.
How does this work if the heroes don't have the "Enchanted Boat"?
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Justin Phillips
United States
California
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Really appreciate these session write-ups. Not only are they fun to read, but they're helpful in understanding future rule conflicts.
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Corbon Loughnan
Singapore
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duhtch wrote: BastiRand wrote:
Week 8
[+2] (21/21) They Travel to Velvet Plains.
How does this work if the heroes don't have the "Enchanted Boat"?
Illegally and wetly?
Ranged weapons mostly destroyed... all Leather items (armour, bag of holding, belt of strength) ruined...
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joel cuthbert
United States
fort collins
Colorado
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corbon wrote: duhtch wrote: BastiRand wrote:
Week 8
[+2] (21/21) They Travel to Velvet Plains.
How does this work if the heroes don't have the "Enchanted Boat"? Illegally and wetly? Ranged weapons mostly destroyed... all Leather items (armour, bag of holding, belt of strength) ruined...
well i see at the end of the session they have the boat, but no where is it mentioned that they purchased it or from previous sessions.
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Corbon Loughnan
Singapore
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ahh, missed that. They can buy it any time they go to the shop - even mid dungeon.
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Sebastian D.
Germany
Berlin
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duhtch wrote: corbon wrote: [q="duhtch"][q="BastiRand"]
Week 8
[+2] (21/21) They Travel to Velvet Plains.
How does this work if the heroes don't have the "Enchanted Boat"? well i see at the end of the session they have the boat, but no where is it mentioned that they purchased it or from previous sessions.
Yeah, they have it, probably bought earlier then this time,too, since they visited Red Echo River already. It's one of the things that are sometimes lost during write-ups, I keep missing equipment sometimes, too, as the game is at my friend'S house and I can't look up the character sheets. Taking notes is not exactly my top priority during game play, sorry . Although I think of posting and of you guys all the time of course . It's good to know, someone catches those missing things, makes me a little happy.
Thanks for everyone's feedback, it feels good to know that people exist who don't think it's weird to take notes and write a game session as there's so much other things to do like cleaning the house, take a walk or talk with your honey, etc.  .
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