Josiah Leis
United States
Merino
Colorado
I spent 100 GG and all I got was this stupid overtext.....
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Session one of this campaign can be found here: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/523665/down-with-sean-th...
Session two is here: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/563389/down-with-sean-th...
Session three is here, along with a kind of "mid-campaign recap" post at the bottom of the thread: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/564207/down-with-sean-th...
Session four is here: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/5692065#5692065
Session five is here: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/576597/down-with-sean-th...
And so we start session 6, for those who don't know or don't remember, Sean is playing the Overlord, while Roy is Laughin Buldar and Landrec the Wise. I personally am playing Runewitch Astarra and Ispher.
When we’d last left off, our heroes were just about to enter a dungeon, and the campaign looked like this:
The campaigns total conquest is at 346 with the heroes having 162 to the Overlord’s 184.
Sorcerer King: Siege Engines, Sir Alric Farrow, Lord Merrick Farrow (DEAD), Lady Eliza Farrow, Gold Eldritches, Silver Beast, Silver Humanoids, 1 Trap Treachery, 1 Event Treachery, Lawlessness, Temple of Fire, Temple of Waves
Laughin Buldar: Weapon Mastery, Leadership, Copper Fatigue Upgrade, Silver Wounds Upgrade,1 Black Melee Die, 2 Silver Dice Upgrades
Equipped Items: Dragontooth Hammer, Morningstar, Enchanted Breastplate, Belt of Strength, Ring of Protection, 2 Vitality Potions
Pack Items: Hammer
Landrec the Wise: Wind Pact, Prodigy, Spiritwalker, Copper Wounds Upgrade, Silver Wounds Upgrade, 1 Black Magic Die, Two Silver Dice Upgrades
Equipped Items: Staff of the Grave, Heavy Leather Armor, Elven Boots, Aldar's Mirror, Vitality Potion, 2 Power Potions
Pack Items: Screaming Eagle Staff, Ring of Quickness
Ispher: Born to the Bow, Rapid Fire, Knight, 2 Black Ranged Dice, 1 Silver Dice Upgrade, Copper Fatigue Upgrade, Silver Wound Upgrade
Equipped Items: Magic Bow, Cloak of Mists, Gauntlets of Power, Archer’s Charm, Vitality Potion
Pack Items: Leather Armor, Falcon’s Claw
Runewitch Astarra: Quick Casting, Acrobat, Tiger Tattoo, Blessing, Copper Fatigue Upgrade, Silver Wound Upgrade
Equipped Items: Staff of Fire, Robe of Kellos, Ghost Armour, Mana Weave, 3 Vitality Potions
Pack Items: Ice Storm, Elven Robe
The heroes have acquired both Market Upgrades for Tamalir, and the Cathederal. They have Kerak's Map, Enchanted Boat, and the Staff of the Wild. They also have the Twins rumor waiting for them at the Hanging Gardens (which they plan to do as the last dungeon of Silver level).
There are some odd items in packs right now since the heroes haven't had a chance to trade stuff yet when we quit in the middle of the dungeon level. Ring of Quickness will likely go to Laughin who'll then give Ring of Protection to Runewitch since she can equip 3 other items.
I have decided not to give the conquest totals for each relevant action (+3), [+1], etc. It is rather time consuming and at this point I’m sure you all know what gains conquest for each side. Plus since this isn’t the early stage of the campaign, there aren’t critical break points in conquest that the heroes are really trying to avoid, hence there isn’t as much tension with each point on conquest. I’ll still try to give general summaries of any gains or losses to each side after each dungeon level though.
Week 35 (continued)
At the end of the last session the heroes were just about to enter into a dungeon at the River of Sleep.
Level One: #21 King of the Mountain
To open this dungeon, Sean’s amazing luck was showcased again. Crushing Blow was in his hand of 3 cards, and was promptly removed through the use of Wind Pact  .
This level is rather long and broken up into sections of different elevation, with the highest point being at the center. In order to unlock to the Runelocked door a hero must be on the center tile for 4 consecutive turns. We took that to mean that the hero had to end his turn there four times in a row, and after ending his turn the first time could not leave the center tile for any reason or he lost any progress toward opening the door.
The major rules question we had with this level regarded what the cards meant by “use the elevation rules for beds and tables where sections of different elevation levels adjoin”. We interpreted that to be referring to the damage and range bonuses and penalties regarding height, NOT the movement related penalties for walking on beds and tables. We also decided that it meant if you were more than one elevation above or below another figure, the bonuses and penalties stacked for each level higher or lower you were. I’m not totally sure that’s right, but I think we played that correctly, anyone have any comment about this?
Things started out in standard fashion for the heroes. Runewitch raced to the other end of the level, grabbing a glyph and a chest in the process. Ispher ran to the center tile, but was promptly knocked off by the ogres.
At some point in the following turn Runewitch grabbed a treasure pile and Landrec killed a master monster. However Landrec was severely wounded and ended his turn next to a glyph in order to try and escape the level. It was not to be however, Sean used every trick up his sleeve going after Landrec with all of his monsters and just barely managed to bring him down. Landrec still had 3 curse tokens on him due to lots of equipping and unequipping of his cursed staff in the previous LT fight. Thus Sean scored a whopping 5 conquest with a single kill!
Laughin Buldar also nearly went down, but managed to escape back to town where he spent several turns healing. Runewitch at some point grabbed another treasure pile, while Landrec killed the boss while Spiritwalking through Ispher. Once again that Staff of the Grave showcases how insanely powerful the Undying immunity is, particularly since this bosses only special ability was that he rolled two dice instead of one when making his Undying roll. Ispher was the one who spent the 4 turns in a row standing atop the center piece in order to unlock the door. He was a very good choice with his regeneration ability, mainly he just dodged while attacking once and managed to stay pretty healthy despite a spawn or two by Sean.
This level was very annoying for the heroes. It really slowed the party down, just because of the mechanic to unlock the door. It takes a minimum of 5 turns to do the level in the first place (4 to stand on the mountain, the fifth for the “King of the Mountain” to run out the door), and is made more difficult by two Ogres in the room with knockback. As such it took the heroes a full 6 or 7 turns to complete this level, much longer than they’ve been averaging during the Silver level of the campaign.
Still, the rewards on this level were pretty great for the heroes, they walked away with 1450 more gold, and 5 more conquest. A costly death by a thrice cursed Landrec did give Sean 5 conquest though.
Level Two: #12 The Throne Room
Some dungeon levels are harder than others, which is good I think, it spices the game up and keeps things interesting. This dungeon level has to be one of the easiest I’ve ever seen for the heroes. It is absolutely loaded with loot, and not really that toughly defended. Plus to unlock the red door all the heroes have to do is end their turn on top of the throne in the middle of the room.
To start with, the level has two bosses, but one of them is simply an extra fast beastman. Runewitch moved first, using her new Ice Storm to clear out a huge amount of skeletons, after which Landrec Spiritwalked through her to kill the Giant boss. Laughin then managed to get up and kill the Beastman boss on the first turn also. Ispher then managed to snatch up one of the glyphs and a chest.
Sean spawned a Beastman War Party (silly mistake by the heroes, it would have been easy on this level to cover LoS), and using their leader’s Command and loads of monsters managed to take down Laughin. They tried to kill Ispher also, but his Cloak of Mists which hadn’t done him hardly any good at all the entire time he’d had it up to this point, finally paid off. It blocked 7 out of 8 wounds from a Master Skeleton’s attack  . Needless to say that ruined any chance Sean had of killing Ispher that turn.
Runewitch then again uses an AoE weapon to great affect, this time it is her new Dragon’s Breath weapon which she got from the throne. It kills two master monsters and several regulars, but a 3rd Master Skeleton manages to succeed at his Undying roll. The heroes then collectively spent their time clearing out the remaining monsters. Sean then attempts to play a Dark Charm on Landrec the Wise.....who rolls a blank!  Sean’s luck is officially terrible.
Between Ispher and Runewitch the heroes manage to grab another chest and another treasure pile plus the remaining glyph. Only once all of these goodies are secure do the heroes advance to the next level, after making a quick shopping trip to town. Laughin spends 1500 gold to puchase the Bracers of Might, the Grinding Axe, and the Shield of Light. He then sells the Morningstar and the Belt of Strength. Runewitch also sells her Ice Storm, deciding to keep the Dragon’s Breath instead.
All in all this level was a cakewalk for the heroes. Despite stupidly losing Laughin by not covering LoS and therefore awarding Sean 4 conquest, the heroes were definitely the winners here. They walked away with a whopping 12 conquest (2 empty chests, 2 glyphs, 2 leaders) and 2350 gold and a new silver rune, Dragon’s Breath.
Level Three: #2 Alchemist’s Lab
I’ve never in all of my playing Descent ever got to see a Chaos Beast in action. It’s the only one of the monsters whom I haven’t seen on the table. So I was pretty happy when Sean choose one for this setup. And thanks to Sean’s Brilliant Commander power card, he upgraded it to a master.
The heroes weren’t that interested in completing this level, just grabbing the loot and running. Runewitch started off with her typical, “run and grab the glyph” tactic, while Landrec and Ispher headed to town. Laughin stayed on the board to drop a Dodge onto Runewitch to try and help her survive.
It was however, not nearly enough. Mainly due to an incredibly punishing attack by the Chaos Beast (who used Magic to stay out of reach of her Aura feat card), Runewitch went down easily. This wasn’t enough to stop the heroes though, Runewitch came right back through the glyph, and grabbed two treasure piles around the room, as well as opening a chest. Landrec the Wise managed to Spiritwalk through Ispher (who’d cleared the monster off of the chest for Runewitch) in order to kill the boss.
The next turn Sean showcased why they put the “beast” in “Chaos Beast” by killing Landrec, almost in a single hit from the towering many armed monstrosity. The heroes decided the potions weren’t worth staying to try and duke it out with the beast, and so left the level.
Sean scored 5 conquest on this level, for Runewitch and a cursed Landrec, while the heroes walked away with 7. They also left with a new silver treasure (can’t remember what), and 1650 in gold.
After the dungeon was complete, the heroes choose to return to Tamalir. Their “quick blitz for some cash” turned into a pleasant romp through all three levels. Sean acquired only 14 conquest, while the heroes themselves gained 24 conquest and 5450 gold. Not to mention a few silver treasures and numerous potions.
Week 36
Sean again collected his conquest and purchased his 2nd point of trap treachery. He then has his LTs leave the city of Dawnsmoor, moving to the Misty Plains, out of reach of the heroes this week. The heroes decided not to chase, and instead entered the rumor dungeon at the Hanging Gardens.
Level One: #6 The Gauntlet
We interpretted the rules on the card to mean that the overlord drew 3 cards at the start of this level in addition to the 3 he normally started a dungeon with. We then decided that Wind Pact went off after both of those things had happened, so we got to see Sean’s hand of 6 cards and choose one to discard. I have no idea if that is correct, but we didn’t want to waste time discussing it.
The heroes once again used their standard tactic of running Runewitch to the glyph, and having all of the other heroes pop through on the following turn. Why Sean didn’t take the setup with the Naga to prevent this I’m not sure, I think the idea of 3 Gold Dark Priests tempted him too much.
Runewitch Astarra amazingly enough managed to live, mainly due to Ghost Armor. She of course grabbed both treasure piles and activated the Glyph during her run. While the other heroes were in town, Ispher managed to find a Scythe of Reaping at the market and promptly bought it. A silver weapon in the hands of our fast firing hero was something that made Roy and I smile.
The turn after Runewitch survived Sean’s onslaught, Runewitch popped back though the Glyph to heal at the Temple. The rest of the heroes stormed though the glyph, killing the leader Grimfang was Laughin’s job, while Ispher cleared the rest of the room with his Knight and Rapid Fire combo, showcasing his new weapon in the process.
In the following turn, Runewitch remained in town to heal, and Landrec who’d managed to survive the brunt of Sean’s attacks returned to heal also. Ispher opened a chest, finding a Flute of Repose within. Afterward all of the heroes left the level to move onto the next one.
Sean didn’t score a single point of conquest this level, while the heroes gained 5 as well as 1300 gold.
Level Two: #22 The Citadel
This level is HUGE, easily the largest I’ve seen in RtL so far. As a result it is a hard one for the heroes, since space is one of their biggest enemies. To make matters worse it is spilt up by multiple doors and is rather spars on loot, not a very good level from the heroes’ perspective.
I cannot remember a turn by turn account of what happened on this level, mainly because it took so LONG. Sean did a good job of delaying the heroes, playing Kobold swarms to block hallways and dragging this level out over several turns. I can’t be sure, but I bet this level took longer by far than any other regular dungeon level the heroes have done at the silver level of the campaign.
It didn’t help the heroes any that they were dawdling, taking their time in town to heal and slowly clearing their way through the dungeon. Still, despite all the delays, Sean only managed one kill, Laughin for 4 conquest. He did it mainly through the use of Dark Priests and the boss.
The heroes managed to acquire 6 conquest and gained 1250 gold, 250 of that from Master monsters. They also spent a lot of gold in town at the temple, but sold various items. These included Ispher’s Leather Armor, Runewitch’s Drain Life, and Landrec’s Screaming Eagle Staff.
Rumor Level: #1 The Twins
And so it finally came to the Rumor that the heroes had come for. Once again this level went on for quite awhile, so I cannot remember a blow by blow account.
The highlights included numerous Master kills, a lot by Ispher with his Rapid Fire and Knight abilities. Runewitch of course did her customary running, complicated by Master Hell Hound’s Aura in narrow hallways, and Landrec scored the boss kill, again thanks to his amazing staff. We treated the two halves of the sorcerer as one boss for the purposes of conquest and gold gain for killing the leaders of a level.
Here in lies the fun climax. We’d laid waste to basically every monster in the dungeon by the time the boss went down, and then the turn he died started moving the Twin Boys. Sean had no monsters left, and so tried to spawn Blood Apes, but only one could be spawned within reach of either of the boys. Now in order to complete the rumor the heroes must leave the level with both boys still alive.
The one blood ape that was within reach then attacked one of the boys, represented by a helpless villager. Villagers have only 1 armor and 6 wounds, meaning it only requires 7 damage to kill them instantly! The blood ape was rolling Red Green and Yellow dice plus a Power die from the Doom card. Not exactly a gimme, but not impossible to roll 7 damage either. Sean however, managed only 3 damage on his dice, placing a pathetic two wounds on the Twin.
The following turn the heroes of course dealt with the Blood Ape, and huddled round the village boys to protect them before leaving through the glyph, thus completing the rumor.
Which brings me to a rules question. The rules for villagers say that they cannot take movement actions except using glyphs. And the Twins rumor simply says the heroes must leave the dungeon with the boys to complete the rumor. I took that to mean that the boys can simply walk to the glyph and leave that way, and that no one needs to exit using the portal, not even a hero! Though this might not qualify as “completing the dungeon” it seems to satisfy the requirements of the rumor. It was kind of a moot point though, any of the heroes could have easily reached the portal, and even escorting the boys there would not have been a problem for the heroes at this point.
Sean managed to score two kills, Laughin and a cursed Ispher (courtesy of a Master Dark Priest on the previous level) for a total of 8 conquest. The heroes gained 7 conquest total and acquired 1800, a whopping 450 of that coming from Master Monster kills.
After completing the rumor the heroes choose to remove the Avatar upgrades Phylactery and Soul Ward, crippling any chance Sean may have had remaining to win in the Final Battle. The heroes then returned to Tamalir to start the next week.
Week 37
Sean collected his weekly conquest and the campaign advanced to the Gold Level! Sean now attempted to beef up his LTs for the coming battles, purchasing his 3rd point of Trap Treachery, instead of upgrading his Eldritches to Diamond. I think this was the better choice overall, since he knew 3 LT battles were upcoming and didn’t have much treachery. But it was a tough call.
Despite his LTs now having their Gold statistics, the heroes choose to attack immieditely instead of wait a turn while they trained. They figured it would just give Sean another chance to get more treachery.
After moving to Dawnsmoor the heroes choose to attack Lady Eliza Farrow.
Lady Eliza Farrow @ Marshy Valley
This encounter features a bog that slows figures who step near water. This slowed the heroes down a lot but ultimately was not enough to save Eliza.
Sean put Eliza on the far south-eastern exit space, and put the bulk of his forces to guard the path. He did split off 1 Hell Hound to the other wing toward the western exit, but ultimately it proved to be a waste since the dog never managed to get into the fight.
I believe his hand started with, Crushing Block, 2 Dark Charms, Scything Blades, and Crushing Blow, with Wind Pact removing Crushing Blow. The heroes then began the slow painful advance toward Eliza.
Despite a Scything Blades trap in the corridor which they had to walk through, Runewitch and Ispher managed to get to the front and clear out all the monsters in their way. Landrec and Laughin stayed in the back, Spiritwalking and Leadershiping from a distance. It was a rather slow and painful process. The heroes were also constantly unequipping their weapons to prevent a Dark Charm from being played.
As Runewitch and Ispher slogged their way toward Lady Eliza, Sean tried to use his Threat for hit and run tactics, instead of reinforcing monsters right into the waiting Landrec and Laughin. Runewitch, Ispher and a Spiritwalking Landrec did a lot to hurt Lady Eliza, though she was still very far from death. Ultimately Sean had only a few threat remaining on his last turn. Lady Eliza was next to a very wounded Ispher, with a more than half dead Runewitch right behind him. Thanks to the bog though, it would take a lot of movement to flee the map.
Sean was 2 threat short of being able to walk Lady Eliza off of the map using threat, and so he choose to battle, thinking that with two attacks he could kill Ispher, or possibly Astarra and gain the threat he needed. Instead he missed on the first attack, and gained only 1 threat on the 2nd.
Then to make matters worse, Ispher’s cloak of mists saved the day for him again, blocking an insane amount of damage to prevent his demise. I’m still way below what I should be for that cloak saving me from damage, but it runs in very lucky streaks when it does hit  .
With his wounded LT still on the map, the heroes closed in for the kill, the honor of the killing blow went to Ispher, who’s new silver weapon was proving quite powerful.
Unfortunately for Sean, due to rapid placement shifting by Runewitch and Ispher, and poor rolls at bad times, he’d scored no kills, and Ispher would heal to full wounds anyway. The heroes gained 4 conquest, and a total of 775 gold.
At this point we decided to break, although the heroes declared that they would next choose to attack Krieg the Relentless.
Summary
Things are looking pretty grim for Sean, although I wouldn’t call it a forgone conclusion at this point, he needs a TPK in one of the next two fights to stand a ghost of a chance of fulfilling his plot, and even then it’s a long shot. Plus, he has no chance in the final battle without Phylactery and Soul Ward (not that he stood much chance with them).
The heroes are sitting pretty, with 9825 gold in their coffers, and a 2nd LT dead. However as they start this next LT battle, they have only 3 vitality potions between all of them, and all but Ispher are at least somewhat wounded.
*Edit* I forgot to include the conquest score. It is Overlord 214 to the heroes 209, for a total of 423 conquest.
It will be interesting to see where the campaign heads after this, but I think that the power of the heroes is starting to steamroll Sean a bit, and it is only going to get worse. Then again you know what they say about pride and falls......
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Slyvanian Frog
United States
Lakeville
Minnesota
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These are always quite interesting; thanks for the writeups.
After reading through this, I've noticed that a lot of your writeups are starting to develop a bit of the "same old, same old" feeling. Also, some stuff that just seems really cheesy and gamey. Runewitch makes a mad dash across the entire dungeon for the glyph. Heroes min/maxing and spending time shopping at Macys during the middle of dungeons. Intentionally unequipping to prevent Dark Charm.
Mind you, I'm not suggesting this is dishonorable or something. I would be playing to win as well. But I've always thought it was the job of a good game to have a good rule set and gameplay set to not permit the cheese to happen (not the job of the players to hold themselves back from what is permitted in the game).
Do you (or if you put yourself in the overlord's shoes) find this frustrating at all, from an overall gameplay/game enjoyment/sense of immersion sense?
Kartigan wrote:
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Josiah Leis
United States
Merino
Colorado
I spent 100 GG and all I got was this stupid overtext.....
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I know what you mean by the "same old, same old" feeling. Frankly it has kind of reached the point in the campaign where the heroes are decked out in all the right equipment and gear to fulfill their roles, and they do so flawlessly.
Runewitch has 6 speed and 8 fatigue, meaning that if she has a Vitality potion she can move 27 spaces in a single turn......when combined with Acrobat, Tiger Tattoo, etc. It means there isn't much Sean can do to stop her.
Ispher's ability to make 9 attacks in a single turn means he can usually clear the entire room in just one turn. Landrec's ability to Spiritwalk and ignore Undying allows the heroes to guarantee kills against creatures who might pop back up. And of course Laughin with Leadership places down orders where they're needed and kills anything left standing.
This means that basically every room without exception follows the same pattern.....Runewitch runs to the Glyph and grabs any treasure or open chests on the way (Sean can stand monsters on chests to prevent her from opening them). Half the time she needn't run, and with an Advance still gets there and kills whatever was trying to keep the chest from her.
The other heroes then head to town, doing some shopping while their there. Runewitch then either dies to the onslaught of monsters, or doesn't (and more often doesn't), then the other heroes return from town the next turn and kill everything in sight. At that point the heroes are usually ready to leave the level on the 3rd turn.
Perhaps the reason my write-ups are starting to all sound alike is because many of our sessions are all starting to play alike. Perhaps we as players have fallen into ruts.
As to the "gameyness" of certain things, it cuts both ways. On one of the levels Sean spawned Blood Apes, and then hit them with one of his own Kobold so that they would gain beserk. That's pretty gamey just like stuff the heroes are doing, but if you start trying to regulate that I don't know where you'd stop.
We just try to play that "if it's not against the rules, it's okay". This can lead to a little strangeness, but not too bad. And it's simpler than trying to decide what's "gamey" and what isn't.
I'll try to make the next session report not sound so repetitive, maybe I'll spice it up somehow, with some pictures or something.
*Edit* I see I didn't answer the original question. No I don't find these kinds of gamey tactics frustrating, just a part of the game. The overlord does a little bit at times, but not nearly as frustrating as his incredibly bad luck, or how powerful our heroes have become.
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Slyvanian Frog
United States
Lakeville
Minnesota
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Kartigan wrote: I'll try to make the next session report not sound so repetitive, maybe I'll spice it up somehow, with some pictures or something.
You certainly don't have to change anything. I wasn't criticizing the session reports at all; I think they're awesome as is. Please don't take my comments as any criticism that they have become boring or fallen into a rut.
I was asking you a more general question about the game itself, and your feelings about it.
Please note, I also was not criticizing anyone for using gamey or cheesy tactics. I am with your opinion (or at least what I think is your opinion from what you wrote). To me, if it can be clearly done under the rules, then do it and have no regrets or bad feelings (and don't have bad feelings if it is done to you).
That's why I made the comment that I do not think it is up to the players to have to intentionally stop taking actions that are permitted under the rules to avoid cheese or gameyness. That's the job of the game designer; the game should not permit such things if it does not want to players to use them.
In sum, carry on - your session reports are great and I was just asking your opinion and thoughts on a few things, not leveling any criticism of you or the reports (or your method of play) at all.
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Josiah Leis
United States
Merino
Colorado
I spent 100 GG and all I got was this stupid overtext.....
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I see, thanks for the helpful reply. I didn't really mean to sound like I thought you were criticizing my reports or something, glad to hear that isn't what you meant.
I think that it could be possible that the game does start to enter a bit of repetition at times. I think that's probably more the fault of the players than the game in this particular instance though. The heroes aren't really changing what they're doing because it has been working for them so far. I think Sean isn't changing things as much because he's still learning, and also he may have "given up" by this point, although I don't think so.
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Udu Tont
Estonia
Tartu/Tallinn
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I do not think that it is the fault of the players that the game feels repetitive. There is very little that the players can do to bring variety to the game, especially as regards the heroes because the whole camapaign is about fine tuning your character to fulfill certain role (runner etc). In other words this is a major design flaw of the campaign game. (The normal Descent is much better in this regard.)
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I spent 100 GG and all I got was this stupid overtext.....
