Sebastian D.
Germany
Berlin
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At beginning of session:
Player 1 (Thalia): {Unmovable}; Mace of Aver, Plate Mail, Ring of Quickness, Ring of Protection, (Shillelagh)
Player 2 (Kirga): {Rapid Fire}; Dwarven Firebomb, Crystal Shield, Chainmail, Archer’s Charm, (Falcon’s Claw, Iron Shield)
Player 3 (Shiver): {Prodigy}; Staff of the Grave, Improved Leather Armor, Ghost Armor, Gauntlets of Power, (Crystal of Tival)
Player 4 (Spiritspeaker Mok): {Quick Casting}; Cone of Fire, Cloak of Deception, Mana Weave, Bag of Holding, (Elven Robes, Crystallize, Bane)
OL Avatar: Sorcerer King, XP: 28/48
Plot: Obsidian Shackles
OL Upgrades: Sir Alric F., Snipers, Greed and Hatred
City Status: All good 
Week 9 continued
AWF Level 3 - #20 Two by Two
A boss naga and doors that only open after standing on encounter markers. I place a hellhound and a sorcerer in the first half-section as a distraction, skeletons and second sorcerer in the second, ready to greet the heroes with arrows and magic bolts.
As Mok goes healing the others just move into position as they can't open the door on the first turn without him (maybe not a really good move by him, delaying their progression by at least one round), Tahlia running, Kirga guarding, Shiver resting.. I spawn shades in the first half-section, the hellhound eats the guard by getting killed and the shades and sorcerer attack Shiver. Mok comes back and everyone except Tahlia steps on a marker. She battles and kills a shade (Kirga Shoots for Distance but misses the other) and places a guard to kill the sorcerer on the OL turn. But she misses and steps on the last marker to open the door. The naga gets into striking distance and attacks Shiver (who drank an invisibility potion). It needs two more attacks by both skeletons until the sorcerer finally kills Shiver [+4]. Lots of misses by the heroes keep one shade and a skeleton alive and Mok over-exposed. But not for long.. .. [+3]. They kill the rest of the monsters next turn which almost all now were in the first half-section, the naga survives, of course. Now I have the chance to move back with her and close the door but I don't do it (going easy on them even now, closing the door would have gotten me a lot more turns and at least one more kill I think as they were set on getting everything from their last all-copper dungeon). So Tahlia goes after the naga and kills it (+4, +250 gold). The chest contains a Crystal Shield, then it's glyph (+3), open door and out, return to Tamalir.
Week 10
[+1] (33/53), Sir Alric F. to Moonglow March and I buy Silver Eldritch [-25]. Buying Merick before the upgrade might have led to another 3-level-all-copper dungeon which I didn't want.
Heroes all train 2 silver dice and upgrade to the bazaar.
Week 11
[+1] (9/54), Sir Alric F. to Riverwatch, I buy Lord Merick [-5] who leaves my keep towards the Bitter Downs.
Heroes all train 1 silver and one black die and upgrade to the great bazaar, they are really looking scary now. They all have 3 silver and 1 black die except Mok who is one black die short. All heroes only have one skill, though, and no secret master training yet as the silver campaign level is drawing closer.
Week 12
[+1] (5/55), Lord Merick to Misty Plains, Riverwatch +1 ST (now at 1).
Heroes want to save Riverwatch but figure they have enough time to do more dungeons until it is sieged to three tokens. So they travel to Red Echo River (+1).
RER Level 1 - #42 Secret Garden
Exceptionally tough it seems to them with silver shades and a silver master dark priest so they grind their teeth and flee right away with absolutely no gain.
Week 13
[+1] (6/56), Lord Merick to Dawnsmoor, Riverwatch +1 ST (now at 2).
They try another dungeon at Hanging Woods (+1).
HW Level 1 - #37 Reflections
A boss skeleton and a boss manticore, the latter can use the magic portals on this level as if all were of the same color. Chosen minions are beastman an a tough silver master chaos beast (23W 7A).
Beastman and manticore are both killed on the first turn (+2, +100 gold) but because of the portals monsters can reach almost any space easily. Spawn protection even with Kirga is really difficult. Thus the chaos beast picks on Shiver (with white, green, green, silver) for a lot of damage, the boss skeleton finishes him [+4]. Second turn the boss skeleton is swiftly killed by Tahlia and a returning Shiver (+2, +100 gold). Now it's time to pick on Kirga. The chaos beast and a skeleton patrol (in hand since turn 1 but saved; having it this early seems rather unlikely and I wanted to .. .. you know it .. .. go easy on them. A Foiled Plans revealed the patrol, though, so there was no point holding it back anymore) hit her hard but as he equipped both crystal shields she survives with 3 wounds. As they all can reach the exit now they don't bother with the monsters (Mok picked up the glyph (+3), chest (+1, +200 gold) and coins earlier) and continue to the next level.
HW Level 2 - #67 Unholy Halls
Another boss skeleton and all skeletons on this level have Undying, all eldritch setup again with two master shades. Their pierce 5 will finally hit through Tahlia's thick armor.
Tahlia runs close to the door, Shiver guards in the middle and Mok moves somewhere while Kirga heals herself at the Temple Not so smart I think. In a small dungeon like this she could have prevented almost any spawn. But then.. later she does cover almost everything and I still spawn deadly creatures. I spawn beastmen behind the door, open it with a white one, attack Mok with the other white one and attack Shiver with skeletons. He kills the first but dies after two normal and one leader attack [+4]. Silver monsters hit hard! Even if they knew that, game feels a little unfavorable to them again. Tahlia does her best/worst and battles on the master beastman but misses twice (and the guard later, too). Now exposed I attack her with both master shades (supported by command) and finally hurt her. So far, her 6 (or 7 while battling) armor was impenetrable to me. And her moving around with guard orders was annoying enough to make me want to kill her. Carrying a Shillagh makes her even more annoying, she can kill even monsters with ghost. And I thought Varikas with 5 armor was annoying last campaing. But then, he had Ironskin. Ohh, let’s not talk about Ironskin on Tahlia, please!. And as she kept missing I get more opportunities (master beastman is then dead already, unfortunately) but worse rolls than before and she survives. Mok doesn’t do enough damage on the skeletons and gets killed [+2]. After Kirga returns and kills the leader (+2, +100 gold) and someone gets the chest (+1, 250 gold) I spawn skeletons only in the tiniest corner and with a charge they attack and kill Shiver again [+4]. They leave a coin pile and the glyph behind and exit through the portal.
This ends today’s session.
SESSION SUMMARY: +25 OL (23/73), +19 Heroes (115), + ~2000 gold (~5000 gold total)
At end of session:
Player 1 (Thalia): {Unmovable}; Shillelagh, Plate Mail, Ring of Quickness, Ring of Protection, (Mace of Aver); dice: 3 silver, 1 black
Player 2 (Kirga): {Rapid Fire}; Dwarven Firebomb, Crystal Shield, Chainmail, Archer’s Charm, (Falcon’s Claw, Iron Shield, Crystal Shield); dice: 3 silver, 1 black
Player 3 (Shiver): {Prodigy}; Staff of the Grave, Improved Leather Armor, Ghost Armor, Gauntlets of Power; dice: 3 silver, 1 black
Player 4 (Spiritspeaker Mok): {Quick Casting}; Cone of Fire, Cloak of Deception, Mana Weave, Bag of Holding, (Elven Robes, Crystallize, Bane); dice: 3 silver
OL Avatar: Sorcerer King, XP: 23/73
Plot: Obsidian Shackles
OL Upgrades: Sir Alric F. (at Riverwatch), Snipers, Greed and Hatred, Silver Eldritch, Lord Merick F. (at Dawnsmoor)
City Status: Riverwatch at 2 Siege Tokens
Comments:
As hoped and expected, silver monsters help the OL a lot. It’s still surprising to us how fast heroes are dying from silver monster attacks, silver monsters themselves also die fast but hurt much more (don’t we sound like newbies, saying that? It seems to me we are just not good enough at this game to react/adapt to the challenges. Or we are a bunch of cry babies.). Favorable dungeon draws and hefty bad luck (heroes were missing 36% of their 40-50 attacks this session while I sit on a below-average 12%, even the stealth die shouldn’t make that much of a difference, should it? And there were only 4 shades on the board this session, for that matter.) gave me plenty scoring opportunities. Clearing out starting monsters still leaves them vulnerable to spawns, which is where most my CT come from (silver skeletons have a minimum range of 6 for normal and 7 for masters, speed of 6, sniping let’s me almost always hit someone, pierce 2 or 3 means no armor for the mages). They feel they shouldn’t die this much. I think this session was just one which went my way for a change. They are still ahead and greatly equipped and trained (even when silver comes around, one or two weapons will greatly increase their damage output again due to maximum dice). Well, training might be one thing they are a little lacking as they are missing secret master training and with only 12 CT to go and in the middle of a dungeon, copper training might just slip them by (and my distraction strategy will have paid off  ). The two lieutenants are close to Tamalir at this time of campaign change purely by coincidence (going easy, remember? *grin*), I hope they do something against that or I will have to move them away (But to where can I? The cities in the north are only reachable by moving through Tamalir which will surly look like I want to siege it.).
Right now their best move seems to me to leave the dungeon, chase Alric away, forget about Dawnsmoor and Merick and go straight for secret training at Shika’s, getting fatigue upgrades and skills. They should try to time it in a way that they will get there right before and after the campaign change and train twice (in copper: fatigue and in silver: skills or dice). What do you think?
corbon wrote: Its been said before, but this campaign should be enough evidence for anyone.
Always, always, always save for your monster upgrade first. Of course you're right, but I think with enough ruthlessness on my side I could turn this campaign around. I certainly held back quite alot this time... Hmm, might be feeling a little cocky here, don't I  ?
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BastiRand wrote: They kill the rest of the monsters next turn which almost all now were in the first half-section, the naga survives, of course. Now I have the chance to move back with her and close the door but I don't do it (going easy on them even now, closing the door would have gotten me a lot more turns and at least one more kill I think as they were set on getting everything from their last all-copper dungeon). So Tahlia goes after the naga and kills it (+4, +250 gold). The chest contains a Crystal Shield, then it's glyph (+3), open door and out, return to Tamalir.
It is technically permissible to close this door after some of the heroes go through? Would the party then have to die or go back to town in order to get the door open once more?
Don't have the card with me, but I'm boggled by this, and the possibilities this offer. I'm assuming only the Named Naga would be able to operate the door in it was the case?
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Corbon Loughnan
Singapore
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Grubsnik wrote: BastiRand wrote: They kill the rest of the monsters next turn which almost all now were in the first half-section, the naga survives, of course. Now I have the chance to move back with her and close the door but I don't do it (going easy on them even now, closing the door would have gotten me a lot more turns and at least one more kill I think as they were set on getting everything from their last all-copper dungeon). So Tahlia goes after the naga and kills it (+4, +250 gold). The chest contains a Crystal Shield, then it's glyph (+3), open door and out, return to Tamalir.
It is technically permissible to close this door after some of the heroes go through? Would the party then have to die or go back to town in order to get the door open once more? Don't have the card with me, but I'm boggled by this, and the possibilities this offer. I'm assuming only the Named Naga would be able to operate the door in it was the case?
Yes, this is correct.
I had a lot of fun with this level before Poltergeist was outlawed.
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Sebastian D.
Germany
Berlin
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Re: Campaign #4 - Sorcerer Suppressor - Session 7
At beginning of session:
Player 1 (Thalia): {Unmovable}; Shillelagh, Plate Mail, Ring of Quickness, Ring of Protection, (Mace of Aver); dice: 3 silver, 1 black
Player 2 (Kirga): {Rapid Fire}; Dwarven Firebomb, Crystal Shield, Chainmail, Archer’s Charm, (Falcon’s Claw, Iron Shield, Crystal Shield); dice: 3 silver, 1 black
Player 3 (Shiver): {Prodigy}; Staff of the Grave, Improved Leather Armor, Ghost Armor, Gauntlets of Power; dice: 3 silver, 1 black
Player 4 (Spiritspeaker Mok): {Quick Casting}; Cone of Fire, Cloak of Deception, Mana Weave, Bag of Holding, (Elven Robes, Crystallize, Bane); dice: 3 silver
OL Avatar: Sorcerer King, XP: 23/73
Plot: Obsidian Shackles
OL Upgrades: Sir Alric F. (at Riverwatch), Snipers, Greed and Hatred, Silver Eldritch, Lord Merick F. (at Dawnsmoor)
City Status: Riverwatch at 2 Siege Tokens
Week 13 continued
Well, they saw the danger of a campaign change without training and abandoned the dungeon, returning to Tamalir.
Week 14
[+1] (24/74), Riverwatch + 1 ST (now at 3), Dawnsmoor +1 ST (now at 1) and I buy 1 event treachery [-15]. Total CT is 189, 11 more before campaign change.
Heroes move and attack Alric in Riverwatch.
Sir Alric F. @ Marshy Valley
Spaces next to water cost one extra movement. Treachery chosen is Crushing Blow. I plan to attack with something to trigger CB and flee as Alric's minions are not strong enough to get a hero kill.
Alric turtles behind a razorwing. Heroes advance only slowly due to the Bog but the other monsters die easily. CB for a copper item costs 5 instead of 4 because of Mok's ability, the first time that it really hinders me as I get only 4 threat per round. So I reinforce a sorcerer only to discover he's just as slow as the heroes and he goes down soon after. I then reinforce a razorwing (fast and ignoring Bog, at least that's how we play). But because of that I never have enough threat to actually play CB. In a bold move Tahlia is knockbacked by Mok and gets three attacks on Alric (one a guard) after Kirga shoots down the blocking razorwing.. If Shiver had also been knocked close to Alric he might've gone down but Mok fortunately rolls a miss. Alric flees, limping (+175 gold). Crushing Blow was almost too tempting here, almost crippled myself with it. I never get to play it in the encounter.
Heroes probably visit the market but I don't have any notes about the draw.
Week 15
[+1] (10/75), Dawnsmoor +1 ST (now at 2), Alric to Bitter Downs. I save XP for a monster upgrade at silver. Total CT is at 190.
Heroes move back to Tamalir but encounter the Hammerbrothers. Both block one exit so they have to kill one (+2, +100 gold) before fleeing.
Week 16
[+1] (11/76), Dawnsmoor +1 ST (now at 3), Alric to Misty Plains, uniting with Merick soon. Total CT is 193.
Heroes move to Gate to the North but encounter The Wild Hunt. They can't flee that encounter so they have to kill the leader (+2, +100 gold) and reach the dungeon (+1).
Week 17
[+1] (12/77), Alric to Dawnsmoor, Merick to Blackwing Swamp. Total CT is 197.
Heroes move to Shika but get Lost.
Week 18
[+1] (13/78), Dawnsmoor +1 ST (now at 4), Merick to Tamalir. Total CT is 198. One more encounter with an unfortunate draw and they might be too late. A leader kill in an impossible to flee location or a hero kill will up the count enough for a change next turn.
Heroes move to Shika again. They opt for the red trail with a higher encounter probability. Red encounters usually have strong but few monsters maybe leaving an exit wide open for them to run to. They encounter a Two-Headed Giant which is too slow to catch them while fleeing. They safely reach Shika's tree. Wow, an encounter every week, and bad ones for them, too! Just as they don't need them, they will probably try for encounters later and never get one. There was much groaning going on during all those rolls, but in the end they were cheering  . Great experience and fun right there!
Week 19
[+1] (14/79), Dawnsmoor is razed! Alric to Blackwing Swamp, Merick to Greyhaven.
Heroes train 3x fatigue and Spiritwalker for Shiver. Life just got way harder for me, ugh!
Week 20
[+2] (16/81), Alric to Tamalir, Greyhaven +1 ST (now at 1).
Heroes wait to get a dungeon with silver items but no gold monsters and move (No encounter, told ya!) to River of Sleep (+1).
Week 21
[+2] (18/83), Silver Campaign! Alric to Greyhaven, Greyhaven +1 ST (now at 2).
Heroes enter the dungeon.
RoS Level 1 - #62 ???
A razorwing boss with web and undying, treachery is Crushing Blow for spider spawn.
I stupidly attack with the boss into guarding Kirga and Mok, forgetting about their Rapid Fire and Quick Casting, which ends in a dead boss, of course (+2, +100). A badly covered exit dash soon after let's me spawn sorcerers and kill Shiver [+4]. Mistakes on both sides .
RoS Level 2 - #36 Mask of the Monster
A beastman boss with a mask which gives +8 wounds and +1 commando.
Tahlia almost acts like a runner, battling while moving 6 spaces (fatigue + Ring of Quickness) in her turn and 3 spaces in mine. She clears rooms and collects coins and chests, Shillelagh is really helping her. After everything is safely killed (+2, +100 gold) they leave open a spot for a skeleton patrol which swiftly kills Shiver again [+4].
RoS Level 3 - #40 Shreds of Night
A dragon boss with potential to destroy armor.
Tahlia is upfront again but all alone, with a dead dragon (+4, +250 gold). Focusing three traps on her (two pits, one block) brings her down to 3 wounds. A skeleton spawn later (supported by a surviving master beastman) she is at 1 wound. But I can't get that last wound of her as she battles her way through the monsters (gaining +1 armor form Unmovable). The dungeon special of -1 on damage and range for ranged attacks (skeletons!) and a crucial miss by a sorcerer (also supported by the command) saved her. I still held a chest trap but she didn't go for it. Dark charm never came up, neither did my Crushing Blow, unfortunately. I know, going for another hero with all those traps would have been successful, but that opportunity seemed golden to me. I'm still glad I tried it, those were two very suspenseful turns.
Throughout the dungeon they drew Grinding Axe and Shield of Light, market had Cloak of Mists and Bow of the Hawk, sold Bane.
This ends our evening. We delayed their decision where to stay after the dungeon. Saving Greyhaven or going for another secret training (2 fatigue, 1 wound, Knight) or Frostgate (Tiger Tattoo, Swift)?
SESSION SUMMARY: +18 OL (26/91), +24 Heroes (139), + >4000 gold (~3000 gold total)
At end of session:
Player 1 (Thalia): {Unmovable}; Grinding Axe, Plate Mail, Ring of Quickness, Ring of Protection, (Shillelagh, Mace of Aver); dice: 3 silver, 1 black; +2 fatigue
Player 2 (Kirga): {Rapid Fire}; Dwarven Firebomb, Shield of Light, Chainmail, Archer’s Charm, (Falcon’s Claw, Bow of the Hawk); dice: 3 silver, 1 black; +2 fatigue
Player 3 (Shiver): {Prodigy}, {Spiritwalker}; Staff of the Grave, Improved Leather Armor, Ghost Armor, Gauntlets of Power; dice: 3 silver, 1 black
Player 4 (Spiritspeaker Mok): {Quick Casting}; Cone of Fire, Cloak of Mists, Mana Weave, Bag of Holding, (Elven Robes, Crystallize, Crystal Shield x2); dice: 3 silver; +2 fatigue
OL Avatar: Sorcerer King, XP: 26/91
Plot: Obsidian Shackles
OL Upgrades: Sir Alric F. (at Greyhaven), Snipers, Greed and Hatred, Silver Eldritch, Lord Merick F. (at Greyhaven), Event treachery (1)
City Status: Dawnsmoor razed, Greyhaven at 2 Siege Tokens
Comments:
Not much to say, they gained big with the secret training while I only managed to raze Dawnsmoor. Encounters were in my favor and then.. not so much. So these strings of events were satisfyingly suspenseful.
Waiting that week was pretty smart I think but it only leaves them with one action to try and save Greyhaven (which has Wind Pact, a skill they were desperately missing in our last campaigns) if they plan to do this (sometimes they seem to forget about important skills, that’s when I benevolently remind them ). That last dungeon gave me enough XP for gold monsters or another treachery. As gold eldritch are on average a weak upgrade (besides the wound and armor boost) I’m seriously considering the treachery (maybe traps?).
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Sebastian D.
Germany
Berlin
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Re: Campaign #4 - Sorcerer Suppressor - Session 8
At beginning of session:
Player 1 (Thalia): {Unmovable}; Grinding Axe, Plate Mail, Ring of Quickness, Ring of Protection, (Shillelagh, Mace of Aver); dice: 3 silver, 1 black; +2 fatigue
Player 2 (Kirga): {Rapid Fire}; Dwarven Firebomb, Shield of Light, Chainmail, Archer’s Charm, (Falcon’s Claw, Bow of the Hawk); dice: 3 silver, 1 black; +2 fatigue
Player 3 (Shiver): {Prodigy}, {Spiritwalker}; Staff of the Grave, Improved Leather Armor, Ghost Armor, Gauntlets of Power; dice: 3 silver, 1 black
Player 4 (Spiritspeaker Mok): {Quick Casting}; Cone of Fire, Cloak of Mists, Mana Weave, Bag of Holding, (Elven Robes, Crystallize, Crystal Shield x2); dice: 3 silver; +2 fatigue
OL Avatar: Sorcerer King, XP: 26/91
Plot: Obsidian Shackles
OL Upgrades: Sir Alric F. (at Greyhaven), Snipers, Greed and Hatred, Silver Eldritch, Lord Merick F. (at Greyhaven), Event treachery (1)
City Status: Dawnsmoor razed, Greyhaven at 2 Siege Tokens
Week 21 continued
I tell them about my event treachery choice, which they haven’t seen yet. They were thinking of Enraged or Danger + something but Crushing Blow felt .. .. unnecessarily cruel to them (they were already counting the items they would lose every week  ). Reminding them of Wind Pact after that made the decision easy: return to Tamalir and save Greyhaven!
Week 22
[+2] (28/93), Greyhaven +2 ST (now at 4) and I buy gold eldritch [-25].
Heroes move to Greyhaven and attack Merick first, fully loaded with potions and everything.
Lord Merick F. @ Peaceful Glade
Figures cannot roll more than 3 power dice on an attack. Treachery chosen was Crushing Blow
I placed Merick and his minion a little too aggressively mostly in the middle tile. Merick in the trees covered by more trees, the manticore and skeletons. Some skeletons and sorcerers in the side arms as flanking attacks. Heroes count spaces, think heavily, plan for the kill.
Turn 1: Mok goes first, battles and moves 8 spaces with fatigue (3 left after potion) and finally attacks with his fire cone and kills the manticore, leving a skeleton with one wound but adding dice is not allowed. His quick casting misses so his last attack kills the skeleton but cannot be used on Merick. Thalia also battles and moves 8 spaces into a tree with fatigue (1 left after potion), hits Merick and misses once. Shiver battles and moves 7 spaces with fatigue (0 left after potion), spiritwalking, hits Merick and misses once. Merick is still alive with about 14 wounds remaining. Kirga has the choice of going for the kill (rapid fire should give him enough attacks, Bow of the Hawk enough rerolls on misses) or webbing Merick. They go for the latter, Kirga advances, moves 9 spaces (4 mp and 5 fatigue, 4 left after potion) and one attack out of three misses, but Merick is stuck with 2 web tokens and 11 wounds.
Turn 1 (OL): Tahlia interrupts for her guard attack but Merick survives with 3 wounds. I crush Shiver’s Staff of the Grave and attack him and Mok some more. I get no kill or significant damage (might’ve been good for the next fight) due to misses from feats or low damage. Merick doesn’t get free.
Turn 2: Merick dies (+4, +250 gold).
Alric is next.
Sir Alric F. @ Stormy Stream
Treachery is Crushing Blow again.
On the first turn all monsters are dead, the last hellhound is killed with Tahlia’s guard. Feat takes my threat and Alric flees. Without that feat I might’ve stayed, running far away (far from Tahlia at least). Shiver has the Cone of Fire, Mok only Crystallize (really happy they sold Bane earlier) and Kirga only Rapid Fire . Maybe reinforce a sorcerer or save for a Crushing Blow before fleeing but without any threat there was no chance.
Heroes visit alchemist to stock up on potions again.
Week 23
[+2] (5/95), Alric marches to Bitter Downs *again*. I should punish him for being so unsuccessful. But then, it’s all my fault anyway .
Heroes train Wind Pact on Mok, buy more potions (fatigue stock empty, so a couple invisibility and power) and hear about the rumor A Mother’s Lament (at Blind Mur Forest).
Week 23
[+2] (7/97), Alric marches to Smokeblue Hills *again*.
Heroes have all the time in the world, no map pressure at all. Move to Frostgate, encountering shades.
Echoes of the Past @ Ancient Grove
Ahh, too bad the trees can’t be entered as shades in the trees would have been save from Tahlia (disabling soar on the tree space). They still haven’t bought a backup weapon for a mage, so Shiver has Cone of Fire and Mok has Crystallize (even the shop rune is better than this, having surge-to-damage conversion).
I can’t reach and hurt even one of them enough to die in one turn so I attack, block and attack while slowly being killed, hmpf (+2, +350 gold).
Week 24
[+2] (9/99), Alric marches to Moonglow Marsh *again*.
Heroes train Tiger Tattoo on Tahlia.
Week 25
[+2] (11/101), Alric marches to Riverwatch *again*.
Heroes move to Shika’s Tree.
Week 26
[+2] (13/103), Riverwatch +1 ST (now at 1) and I buy trap treachery (now one) [-10].
Heroes train fatigue on Kirga (now using 23 of 24 available fatigue) and a silver die for Shiver (all they could afford).
Week 27
[+2] (5/105), Riverwatch +1 ST (now at 2).
Heroes move to rumor (+1).
BMF Level 1 - #26 Trial by Fire
Hmm, now I see we’ve had that before (we usually take used dungeons out of the deck).. .. I didn’t see that in my notes during the game. Oh well.. .. it happens. Treachery is Crushing Blow and Dark Charm, though both never come up.
The master demon boss with 50W, 7A and Fear 4 is too strong to take on with no losses so they kill the first two leaders (+4, +200 gold) and flee. One of the 4 skeletons in area 2 kills Mok [+2].
This ends the session. I must’ve miscounted somewhere as my XP sheet said 106 for me after this session. Maybe I missed the first +2 per week at the table.., but as we kept playing with 106 I’ll just put that number down.
SESSION SUMMARY: +15 OL (6/106), +12 Heroes (151), + >1500 gold (~800 gold total)
At end of session:
Player 1 (Thalia): {Unmovable}, {Tiger Tattoo}; Grinding Axe, Plate Mail, Ring of Quickness, Ring of Protection, (Shillelagh, Mace of Aver); dice: 3 silver, 1 black; +2 fatigue
Player 2 (Kirga): {Rapid Fire}; Bow of the Hawk, Shield of Light, Chainmail, Archer’s Charm, (Falcon’s Claw, Dwarven Firebomb); dice: 3 silver, 1 black; +4 fatigue
Player 3 (Shiver): {Prodigy}, {Spiritwalker}; Cone of Fire, Improved Leather Armor, Ghost Armor, Gauntlets of Power; dice: 4 silver
Player 4 (Spiritspeaker Mok): {Quick Casting}, {Wind Pact}; Crystallize, Cloak of Mists, Mana Weave, Bag of Holding, (Elven Robes, Crystal Shield x2); dice: 3 silver; +2 fatigue
OL Avatar: Sorcerer King, XP: 6/106
Plot: Obsidian Shackles
OL Upgrades: Sir Alric F. (at Riverwatch), Snipers, Greed and Hatred, Silver Eldritch, Lord Merick F. (dead), Event treachery (1), Gold Eldritch, Trap treachery (1)
City Status: Dawnsmoor razed, Riverwatch at 2 Siege Tokens
Comments:
Not much to say, they gained even more with two more skills, fatigue, dice and a dead lieutenant. I’m not so much annoyed by that than more by my lack of playing time this session. Every hero turn, especially on the lieutenant fights took ages (I kind of understand as those were really crucial moments, but still.. .. I wanna play, too!). Moving Alric towards Riverwatch again was not exactly “fun playing time” .
Heroes with fully upgraded fatigue are really strong, add upgraded dice and they make a formidable team. I think they made the right choices by going for dice (and thus damage) first and then with the fatigue to move around with their hitting power. Tahlia battling while also crossing half the dungeon is not desirable for any aspiring world dominator.
While without SotG damage highs are not over 20 anymore, they consistently roll about 14-16 damage, enough to take out gold skeletons in one hit. For fun statistics: Hero miss rate throughout is 20.9%, OL miss rate is 18.3%. So while we have evenings with widly swinging luck (see session 6, and upcoming session 9), we’re pretty close together overall (heroes facing shades with stealth might make up that difference).
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joel cuthbert
United States
fort collins
Colorado
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BastiRand wrote: Comments: Not much to say, they gained even more with two more skills, fatigue, dice and a dead lieutenant. I’m not so much annoyed by that than more by my lack of playing time this session. Every hero turn, especially on the lieutenant fights took ages (I kind of understand as those were really crucial moments, but still.. .. I wanna play, too!). Moving Alric towards Riverwatch again was not exactly “fun playing time” . Heroes with fully upgraded fatigue are really strong, add upgraded dice and they make a formidable team. I think they made the right choices by going for dice (and thus damage) first and then with the fatigue to move around with their hitting power. Tahlia battling while also crossing half the dungeon is not desirable for any aspiring world dominator. While without SotG damage highs are not over 20 anymore, they consistently roll about 14-16 damage, enough to take out gold skeletons in one hit. For fun statistics: Hero miss rate throughout is 20.9%, OL miss rate is 18.3%. So while we have evenings with widly swinging luck (see session 6, and upcoming session 9), we’re pretty close together overall (heroes facing shades with stealth might make up that difference).
i know you want to play, but i know you understand how critical LT fights are. knowing that this was going to happen since you pretty much convinced them to intercept you at greyhaven, you should have packed a pizza and a magazine, or just watch a movie in between their turns.
you are taking it easy on them, and that is fine, that was your choice, but you are pitching softballs to them instead of actual baseballs. you have pretty much been giving them the campaign again and again. now they are getting stronger and stronger while you are left in the dust with minimal upgrades. you have brought the heroes epicness upon yourself.
you already said that upgrades from silver to gold eldritch is minimal. how about buy 2 treachery before the LT battles, you could have possibly made it a 3 hero party at the beginning.
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Corbon Loughnan
Singapore
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I gotta agree.
You gave them Merrick, and fluffed Alric as well. Any Lt not starting on a rear space or in the rearmost tree is being too agressive, especially not-Alric (who can ignore web and knockback).
And you know they will get in first whack and can do a lot with potions, feats etc, so all your monsters should start defensively positioned, nearly all as defensively as possible.
Definitely you want a couple of hard hitting reserve monsters to act on your turn 1 even if you flee.
Time is always your friend, never the heroes'. Every time they have to come to you you make them spend time, and maybe resources, to do so. And a second treachery will enable you to guarantee affording to get off a crushing blow on your first turn. not to mention other options.
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Sebastian D.
Germany
Berlin
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Re: Campaign #4 - Sorcerer Suppressor - Session 9
Yeah, I know I probably played too soft. It’s hard to get that right for me: hard enough to be a challenge but not too hard to be frustrating (please don’t say: get another group, your friends are wimps ). As I have enough fun with the aftermath of a session (e.g. hanging around BGG) I don’t mind playing from behind. (I know I know, the last argument of every mediocre player: “But we have fun.. ..”  )
But in a weak attempt to defend myself: as you can see in this location Merick was standing in the rear-most tree (on the upper-right tree of the four-tree-space) .
At beginning of session:
Player 1 (Thalia): {Unmovable}, {Tiger Tattoo}; Grinding Axe, Plate Mail, Ring of Quickness, Ring of Protection, (Shillelagh, Mace of Aver); dice: 3 silver, 1 black; +2 fatigue
Player 2 (Kirga): {Rapid Fire}; Bow of the Hawk, Shield of Light, Chainmail, Archer’s Charm, (Falcon’s Claw, Dwarven Firebomb); dice: 3 silver, 1 black; +4 fatigue
Player 3 (Shiver): {Prodigy}, {Spiritwalker}; Cone of Fire, Improved Leather Armor, Ghost Armor, Gauntlets of Power; dice: 4 silver
Player 4 (Spiritspeaker Mok): {Quick Casting}, {Wind Pact}; Crystallize, Cloak of Mists, Mana Weave, Bag of Holding, (Elven Robes, Crystal Shield x2, Pacify); dice: 3 silver; +2 fatigue
OL Avatar: Sorcerer King, XP: 6/106
Plot: Obsidian Shackles
OL Upgrades: Sir Alric F. (at Riverwatch), Snipers, Greed and Hatred, Silver Eldritch, Lord Merick F. (dead), Event treachery (1), Gold Eldritch, Trap treachery (1)
City Status: Dawnsmoor razed, Riverwatch at 2 Siege Tokens
Week 28
[+2] (8/108), Riverwatch +1 ST (now at 3).
Heroes attack Alric @ Stormy Stream again. Treachery is Crushing Blow (Wind Pact’ed), Explosive Rune and Dark Charm. This doesn’t really matter since everything goes almost exactly like in week 22: heroes force Alric to flee (me without enough threat to play Dark Charm, Mok’s ability really shines here).
Shopping at Riverwatch gets them Ice Storm and Beastman Fetish, tavern brings a rumor (bad one, don’t remember) and a tavern brawl.
Week 29
[+2] (10/110), Alric to Bitter Downs *again*. Since I suspect them to go hunting for rumors (especially the one that gives Ironskin) I fear for my avatar upgrades and buy Soul Ward [-5].
Fearing nothing, heroes stay and shop and drink again. Results are Prince of Thieves @ Velvet Plains rumor (-20% market prices), items are Flying Death and Bo Stick. They really like that rumor (a lot of items are bought at Riverwatch as you may have noticed). They regretted not placing the rumor at Smokeblue Hills, suspecting Alric to move there and then attack him (and win) AND enter the dungeon in one turn. As if they didn’t have enough time already.. .. .
Week 29
[+2] (7/112), Alric to Smokeblue Hills *again*. I now think this is really stupid. Riverwatch is a high priority for me to raze (they bought too much stuff there) but sending in Alric while he’s rather beatable just gave them free shopping actions at that great market while also taking care of sieging lieutenants. Not much point in changing that strategy now anymore, though.
Heroes to Velvet Plains, attempting the rumor.
VP Level 1 - #??
Don’t remember, something easy. Treachery choices for the dungeon are Crushing Block and Dark Charm. Shiver prevents evil on me playing Evil Genius. I guess after that I’m not even a genius anymore . Sorry, stupid joke. The others didn’t think that that was a good idea with Crushing Blow still waiting in the deck.
VP Level 2 - #4 – Bridge of Death
Razorwing boss with possible knockback on attacks and an instant death bridge. But oh well, Tahlia reaches the boss on her first turn and kills him (+2, +100 gold). Kirga standing in the room right after the bridge covers almost all spawn points. The sorcerers manage to kill Mok once [+2], fortunately. Chest has Drain Life for Shiver. Now everyone has at least two decent weapons, I don’t know anymore which one to crush, if that card ever comes up. I was eyeing the cone of fire earlier but now... ..
VP Level 3 – Rumor: Prince of Thieves
Rumors are played like original quests so they contain some surprises. As such, my short description contains SPOILERS for this level.
Well, I had 2 Hordes of Things in play and plenty of threat saved for the level surprises but otherwise my card draws haven’t been lucky. I haven’t drawn either Dark Charm nor Crushing Blow. Wind Pact forces me to play good cards before a level change and with a rumor level coming up I will lose even more, maybe even my treachery choices, meh. I lost the shade spawn last level to it and a crushing block in the start area of this.
Turn 1: They did see paralyzing gas but Tahlia still readys and opens the door without placing her marker. She’s hit by the trap, stunned and her turn ends, yay for a good start. Then Shiver totally blasts the first room empty. Master sorcerers in the back are both stunned twice by Mok, Kirga rests with her and Mok hiding behind corners.
On my turn I attack Mok (one skeleton unsuccessfully picks on Kirga to get rid of his rest, two get through to Mok) and open up area two for 20 threat. I don’t have another master sorcerer so that one is lost but 4 more skeletons appear, too, one of those gets the rest off of Kirga. I charge an ogre and try to knockback Kirga into LoS of the sorcerers instead of just hurting Mok a lot. I’m trying to get every hero killed once during the whole campaign, new personal goal . But Kirga pulls out Backstab and kills the ogre, ugh. The other skeletons hit on Shiver and Mok, the latter promptly dies [+2].
Turn 2: Tahlia can’t do anything and moves into area 2, Kirga follows her with a guard. Shiver kills some skeletons with blast but has only 4 wound left. Mok comes back to stand besides Shiver.
I focus on Kirga, who kills a beastman but is hit by a skeleton and a master ogre. The appearing level leader finishes him off [+3] Only Tahlia to go .. .. and closes the yellow door! Tahlia is trapped alone in area 2, without a glyph active. I have one skeleton standing on the glyph in area 2, one master ogre in the way, 2 master sorcerers in area 1 (after this turn with no stun tokens anymore) and maybe a stray skeleton.
Turn 3: Here comes the X! Mok, Kirga and Shiver miss 7 out of 10 attacks, kill the skeleton but only scratch the leader and a sorcerer. Seems like multiple kills are coming. Tahlia kills the ogre and the skeleton but can’t reach the glyph.
I spawn dark priest Just making sure I get those kills .. I need two shots to take out Mok [+2], one for wounded Shiver [+3] and Kirga gets some damage, too.
Turn 4: Now everything’s over of course. No more misses clear the monsters, no more decisive traps to play. They leave the level one or two turns later. Neither Dark Charm nor Crushing Block ever came up during those levels. Preventing Evil Genius proved a good decision after all. Market items are now 20% off. They stay at the location, planning to go back to Riverwatch to shop *again*.
This ends our session
SESSION SUMMARY: +22 OL (28/128), +21 Heroes (172), + >2000 gold (~3000 gold total)
At end of session:
Player 1 (Thalia): {Unmovable}, {Tiger Tattoo}; Grinding Axe, Plate Mail, Ring of Quickness, Ring of Protection, (Bo Stick, Mace of Aver); dice: 3 silver, 1 black; +2 fatigue
Player 2 (Kirga): {Rapid Fire}; Bow of the Hawk, Shield of Light, Chainmail, Archer’s Charm, (Black Widow’s Web, Flying Death); dice: 3 silver, 1 black; +4 fatigue
Player 3 (Shiver): {Prodigy}, {Spiritwalker}; Drain Life, Improved Leather Armor, Ghost Armor, Gauntlets of Power, (Ice Storm); dice: 4 silver
Player 4 (Spiritspeaker Mok): {Quick Casting}, {Wind Pact}; Cone of Fire, Cloak of Mists, Mana Weave, Bag of Holding, (Elven Robes, Crystal Shield x2, Pacify, other stuff); dice: 3 silver; +2 fatigue
OL Avatar: Sorcerer King, XP: 28/128
Plot: Obsidian Shackles
OL Upgrades: Sir Alric F. (at Smokeblue Hills), Snipers, Greed and Hatred, Silver Eldritch, Lord Merick F. (dead), Event treachery (1), Gold Eldritch, Trap treachery (1)
City Status: Dawnsmoor razed
Comments:
Rumors give some opportunity for nasty surprises due to their hidden specialties. That’s how I actually killed them so much. Getting cheaper items seems like a rather weak reward for me catching up (although gaining 1 more CT than them isn’t exactly catching up).
Everybody now has at least one good backup weapon so using Crushing Blow won’t be a real crushing blow to the team (I still need to even draw it, randomness be cursed ).
As I said, going for Riverwatch all the time without a fighting chance was a bad idea (and one I in all honesty didn’t see). It made my Greed and Hatred play almost ineffective.
Heroes are playing well, using opportunities to go along their plan instead of reacting to mine (even if their plan isn’t really oriented to a far-away-future ). Dungeons often go smoothly while spawning can almost never be prevented, it’s preventing useful spawning that they are good at. If I do get to spawn usefully it’s usually one hero back at the temple.
Play will be suspended for a pair of months at least, in case anyone wonders about our progress.
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Sebastian D.
Germany
Berlin
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Re: Campaign #4 - Sorcerer Suppressor - Session 10
Back after 5 months. I like to keep things complete so I’ll keep posting here. Too many other reports don’t go the distance. I hope the constant readers appreciate that despite this being a fairly uninteresting report strategically .
At beginning of session:
Player 1 (Thalia): {Unmovable}, {Tiger Tattoo}; Grinding Axe, Plate Mail, Ring of Quickness, Ring of Protection, (Bo Stick, Mace of Aver); dice: 3 silver, 1 black; +2 fatigue
Player 2 (Kirga): {Rapid Fire}; Bow of the Hawk, Shield of Light, Chainmail, Archer’s Charm, (Black Widow’s Web, Flying Death); dice: 3 silver, 1 black; +4 fatigue
Player 3 (Shiver): {Prodigy}, {Spiritwalker}; Drain Life, Improved Leather Armor, Ghost Armor, Gauntlets of Power, (Ice Storm); dice: 4 silver
Player 4 (Spiritspeaker Mok): {Quick Casting}, {Wind Pact}; Cone of Fire, Cloak of Mists, Mana Weave, Bag of Holding, (Elven Robes, Crystal Shield x2, Pacify, other stuff); dice: 3 silver; +2 fatigue
OL Avatar: Sorcerer King, XP: 28/128
Plot: Obsidian Shackles
OL Upgrades: Sir Alric F. (at Smokeblue Hills), Snipers, Greed and Hatred, Silver Eldritch, Lord Merick F. (dead), Event treachery (1), Gold Eldritch, Trap treachery (1)
City Status: Dawnsmoor razed
We are exactly half CT for the campaign so I decided to start playing around with the numbers a bit. With 300 more CT available, how much will I get and what will I be able to spend it on? Going by the current strength I will be very conservative with my estimations and predict a 120 : 180 (OL : Heroes) split. As the final battle seems pretty possible I will try to get most upgrades for my avatar: Phylactery [5], 2x Dark Strength [20], Protective Magics [10], Arcane Energies [20]. And I’ll definitely need the diamond eldritch upgrade [25] so that’s 80 CT for final battle upgrades. I’ll have 40 CT to spend on other things: possibly Krieg the Relentless [14] and more treachery but of what kind?
Of those choices only Phylactery and Arcane Energies (the earlier the better) (the layout/trick of the final avatar room seems ridiculous, but no more spoilers!) are absolutely essential in my view. What do you think of the rest?
Week 32
[+2], I buy Krieg the Relentless [-14]. He moves to Bitter Downs, Alric joins him there. Even if I secretly go for a final battle I need to put some pressure on the heroes. Alric alone just doesn't cut it. And my treachery only really shines in lieutenant battles. So another lieutenant will roam the countryside now. Losing the Staff of the Grave means I'll never really lose Krieg which makes him a safer choice than Eliza (besides having an all-eldritch team compared to Eliza's all-beast roster).
Moving Alric back to Krieg was just to confuse the heroes. I will probably always run around with these two together now, and standing at the crossroads on Bitter Downs might have them think a little about my possible next moves.
Heroes move to Riverwatch while trying to force a red encounter. They are successful but they didn't really want that encounter ;-)..
Circle of Doom @ [url=]Ancient Grove[/url], Ambush!
Trees block movement. All heroes start with a stun token (and three are sleeping).
Mok breathes fire to wake them all up, does 4 damage to all. Tahlia plays Hurry and moves 7 spaces (fatigue and Ring of Movement), attacking twice and killing one sorcerer and hurting the other. Kirga moves 5 spaces and rapid fires one sorcerer to death. Shiver spiritwalks through Tahlia but falls three damage short of killing an unwounded sorcerer He should have gone for the wounded one :-).. Two sorcerer attacks kill Kirga [+4], the master sorcerer boss kills Shiver [+3] (both wounded from dungeon before and the wake-up fire). Player one teases me by saying that those attacks would have been enough to kill Tahlia (at 7 wounds, also from dungeon and wake-up, fulfilling my personal goal of killing each hero at least once.) but that would have been only 5 CT and I really need more of those . Next turn heroes flee.
Reaching Riverwatch they buy potions, Scorpio Helmet for Kirga and the rumor “A mother's lament” (raise market values by one, basically negating my Greed and Hatred).
Week 33
[+2], Krieg and Alric to Smokeblue Hills. I buy Event treachery [-15].
Heroes train, getting Boggs for Shiver. Market brings them Bow of Bone for Kirga. They are not under intense time pressure so training while only getting one skill and no dice is not exactly harmful. Besides, since dangerous spawns are really the only thing killing them, Boggs might help them a lot. Bow of Bone will come in handy once Kirga trains Born to the Bow in Vynelvale, which will be their next training stop.
Week 34
[+2], Krieg and Alric to Moonglow Marsh.
Heroes move to Ashen Hills, encountering a Lost Treasure (+325 gold).
AH Level 1 - #25 The Arena
An ogre boss, elevated dead ends with skeletons and sorcerers shooting from there. Treachery is Crushing Blow, Enraged and Dark Charm for spider and hellhound spawn and a dodge.
First turn my treachery DC is windpacted. Mok knockbacks Kirga. Tahlia battles and moves 9 or so and kills boss who comes back alive. Kirga kills a skeleton, a master sorcerer and a master skeleton (both of which stay dead). Shiver does something without effect.
My normal Dark Charm fails on Shiver. Kirga evades a raged master skeleton once and thus stays alive after the second attack and another skeleton attack. The boss ogre undies a few times afterwards (without having any real effect) but is finally killed (+2, +100). Kirga escapes through the glyph (+3). Chest has Golden Armor, all 5 bonepiles are searched: 2 empty chests (+2), two empty, one master skeleton attacks Shiver. Heroes move on.
Some unlucky things going on for me. I guess the encounter before was as much as I should accomplish this evening .
AH Level 2 - #21 King of the Hill
A skeleton boss throwing two dice for undying and elevated terrain. Heroes must have one of them on the middle tile for 4 uninterrupted turns to open the door.
Mok knockbacks Kirga. Kirga kills two ogres. Tahlia battles and moves 9 or so and kills boss (and sorcerer with guard) (+2, +100). Shiver kills skeleton. My only chance to spawn will be on this first turn but I have no card in hand. Tahlia stays on the middle tile, Shiver collects everything (+3, Ring of Freedom), Kirga covers spawn in front of the door, Mok and Boggs in the back. 4 turns of speed Descent take place. The moment before they all move out they shift around the positions a little and I get to spawn a skeleton patrol. Mok survies, though.
AH Level 1 - #10 The Ancient Library
A sorcerer boss who returns after dying. Heroes must search question marks for the key.
Mok knockbacks Kirga and Tahlia. Kirga rapid fires 5 monsters to death (2 spiders, 2 skeletons, 1 dark priest). Tahlia battles and kills second dark priest (and boss (+4, +250)) with guard attack). Shiver moves forward. Spawns are easily covered on this level. Second turn Shiver gets hit by two traps (Trapmaster in play) and is left with one wound. Heroes try to cover everything, killing the spiders and guarding to kill the boss. I desperately risk everything, drop all but one card and play Run on the boss. He successfully rolls his undying and promptly kills Shiver [+3].
Heroes get the rune key only at the last question mark and on that last turn I can spawn 2 sorcerers. With an enraged boss and those two I kill Kirga [+3]. Heroes exit and stay.
SESSION SUMMARY: +19 OL (13/147), +22 Heroes (194), + 4000 gold (~7000 gold total)
At end of session:
Player 1 (Thalia): {Unmovable}, {Tiger Tattoo}; Grinding Axe, Golden Armor, Ring of Quickness, Ring of Protection, (Bo Stick, Mace of Aver); dice: 3 silver, 1 black; +2 fatigue
Player 2 (Kirga): {Rapid Fire}; Bow of Bone, Chainmail, Archer’s Charm, Scorpio Helmet, (Black Widow’s Web, Flying Death, Shield of Light); dice: 3 silver, 1 black; +4 fatigue
Player 3 (Shiver): {Prodigy}, {Spiritwalker}, {Boggs the rat} ; Drain Life, Enchanted Breastplate, Ghost Armor, Gauntlets of Power, (Ice Storm); dice: 4 silver
Player 4 (Spiritspeaker Mok): {Quick Casting}, {Wind Pact}; Staff of Fire, Cloak of Mists, Beastman Fetish, Bag of Holding, (Cone of Fire, Elven Robes, Mana Weave, Crystal Shield x2, Pacify, other stuff); dice: 3 silver; +2 fatigue
OL Avatar: Sorcerer King, XP: 28/128
Plot: Obsidian Shackles
OL Upgrades: Sir Alric F. (at Moonglow Marsh), Snipers, Greed and Hatred, Silver Eldritch, Lord Merick F. (dead), Event treachery (2), Gold Eldritch, Trap treachery (1), Soul Ward, Krieg the Relentless (at Moonglow Marsh)
City Status: Dawnsmoor razed
Comments:
Alright, Boggs does make my spawn-game even harder, but I still squeezed in two spawns, one for a kill. OL is now a much more reactive game than it already was, most of the time I’m just waiting for that special opportunity (see: speed Descent turns). I usually can’t screw up their turns as movement points are available in abundance so it’s just wishing for bad rolls or mistakes. But that’s how the OL part plays in Descent, isn’t it?
Heroes now have a pretty standard strategy in dungeons: knockbacking Tahlia and Kirga into position and letting them then take care of the monsters. With Tahlia at a tough 7 armor when battling (and immune to pit damage because of Tiger Tattoo) and Kirga with rapid fire (and a shield to her 16 wounds), this works almost every time. I’ll try to tickle them a bit with Krieg and treachery soon but I really need some luck. I also need a big blow to their plans soon (like razing Riverwatch, because visiting there for gold weapons will make me very unhappy), not just unexpected kills in random dungeons.
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Sebastian D.
Germany
Berlin
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Re: Campaign #4 - Sorcerer Suppressor - Session 11
Week 35
[+2] (15/149), Krieg and Alric to Riverwatch. I thought long and hard about what upgrade to buy, if any. Krieg and the event treachery were 29 together when I had 40 to spend in my calculations from last time. In my eyes a crucial lt. battle was coming up (Riverwatch needed to get destroyed!) so I compared treachery choices: 1 event (putting me at 3ev/1tr) or 1 trap (putting me at 2ev/2tr), monster was out of the question (too expensive and fights don’t last long enough for spans to be effective). Basically I was eyeing: 3 event: Crushing Blow+Ambush or 2 trap: 2 Dark Charms. Other combinations were also interesting: 2 event: 2 Dangers+Rage or Aim and 2 trap: 2 DCs and a space trap. (I made elaborate spreadsheet comparisons, in case anyone is interested… ) In the end I bought 1 trap treachery (now at 2) [-10].
Heroes move to Vynelvale, market proves empty.
Week 36
[+2] (7/151), Riverwatch +2 Siege Tokens (now at 2).
Heroes train: Tahlia Weapon Mastery, Kirga Born to the Bow, Mok Leadership, Shiver to the market (Elven Boots for Tahlia).
Week 37
[+2] (9/153), Riverwatch +1 ST (now at 3).
Heroes are fully loaded with potions and travel to Riverwatch, attacking Krieg first. In hindsight I think buying Big Trouble to weaken them before this battle might have been a good move, but oh well. Now I get to save that for a really crucial battle.
Krieg the Relentless @ Box Canyon
Overlord moves first.
Whoohoo! Box Canyon in a lieutenant fight, with all gold monsters! This must be a perfect dream come true for any overlord. Treachery chosen is Danger, 2x Rage, Aim, 2x Dark Charm, Exploding Rune (No use of Crushing Blow, I want to crush their bodies not their items). One Dark Charm is removed by Wind Pact. All skeletons are put up front, beastmen (from Hordes of the Things) as blockers.
Turn 0: Kirga is my main target because of Rapid Fire. It helps that she put her shield away for the two-handed bonus from BttB. I have 2 threat from the DC, draw 4 threat, discard Danger and Expl. Rune for 14 more and play Dark Charm on Tahlia (who stands next to Kirga and has higher damage output). Preventing Evil was gone, Disarm Traps was gone so what could go wrong? Well, Player 1 rolls a blank.
I rage both master skeletons, miss one of 4 attacks (one is aimed, not the miss of course) but have pretty bad rolls for an overall 9 wounds on Kirga (gold power die never rolls enhancement). I need 4 more normal skeletons to kill Kirga [+3] (one miss and 3 bad rolls *again*). The remaining 2 skeletons attack Shiver for 2 wounds (uses Ghost Armor for the most part but Mok has Cloak of Mists so not a clear better target).
Turn 1: Mok kills 3 normal skeletons and a beastman (cone of fire), Tahlia 2 normal skeletons, the master revives, Shiver kills the last skeleton. I have 2 masters in front of Tahlia (who blocks the way to the others by standing next to water), one beastman and Krieg way in the back left.
The masters take shots at Tahlia for small number of wounds and retreat. I reinforce 3 skeletons.
Turn 2: Heroes move forward, kill beastman and one master skeleton.
I attack some more and flee (denying them the CT for the kill, if anything).
Oh man, that was disappointing!! An absolutely perfect opportunity to really set the heroes back a bit. A possible roll for Riverwatch next week might’ve razed it. I don’t think I could’ve taken them all out in my turn 0 but I was counting on at least 2 heroes. The failed Dark Charm was the beginning of the end there. Even if I would’ve attacked Kirga instead of Tahlia (which I wouldn’t do if I had the choice again (Tahlia is just too tough, she has to severely hurt herself next time)) my skeletons would have been able to massively pound on the mages instead of needing 8 attacks to kill Kirga . The game goes on, heroes attack Alric.
Sir Alric F. @ Corrupted Forest
Placing orders triggers 2 wounds. Which we always play as: place the order, inflict two wound, remove order (if applicable). One respectable german user answered a rules question on that differently: As the wounds are inflicted while placing the order, the order is not yet placed and therefore not removed. Certainly sounds better for the heroes as they always play this location without ever placing an order since that’s mostly useless by our interpretation.
Alric is not a threat. Treachery chosen is Crushing Blow, Danger, Aim, 2x Dark Charm, Exploding Rune. Crushing Blow is removed by Wind Pact.
Turn 1: Heroes spread out and kill stuff. Everyone but Shiver unequips their weapons.
Shiver is charmed and promptly kills himself [+3]. Alric flees.
Week 38
[+2] (17/161), Alric and Krieg to Bitter Downs.
Heroes to Moonlight Marsh (+1).
MM Level 1 - #56 Den of Thieves
6 or 7 chests, 4 coin piles, chests have low chance of treasure and have (sort-of) free traps built-in.
The way to the leader is blocked, Mok clears one blocker and moves into position for Spiritwalking Shiver. He clears the second blocker. Tahlia battles and moves 10 or so and knockbacks the leader 8 spaces (with Mace of Kellos). Kirga battles and shoots the leader to death (even after undying once), 4 vitality potions are used. The SoB dungeons leaders scale with campaign level. We were just skimming over the german card text and added the wounds once and armor twice. Now I think wounds should have been added twice, too. Is that correct?
Remaining Dark Priest wounds Tahlia (guard attack misses), a master razorwing stuns her. Doesn’t matter at all, heroes get blue and red rune key next turn and cover spawns. They did not go for any chests as they have almost all useful silver items and traps or skeletons seemed too risky. I draw Crushing Blow on my second turn but have nowhere to spawn. Heroes move into position to get out on their forth turn, I still have nowhere to spawn and play Hordes of Things.
MM Level 2 - #58 Cave of the Seadragon
2 naga bosses and a dragon “statue” which spawns razorwings.
I lose Crushing Blow to Wind Pact.
We quit for the evening.
SESSION SUMMARY: +14 OL (17/161), +3 Heroes (197), + 2500 gold (~4500 gold total)
At end of session:
Player 1 (Thalia): {Unmovable}, {Tiger Tattoo}, {Weapon Mastery}; Grinding Axe, Golden Armor, Elven Boots, Ring of Protection, (Bo Stick, Mace of Kellos); dice: 3 silver, 1 black; +2 fatigue
Player 2 (Kirga): {Rapid Fire}, {Born to the Bow}; Bow of Bone, Chainmail, Archer’s Charm, Scorpio Helmet, (Black Widow’s Web, Flying Death, Shield of Light); dice: 3 silver, 1 black; +4 fatigue
Player 3 (Shiver): {Prodigy}, {Spiritwalker}, {Boggs the rat} ; Drain Life, Enchanted Breastplate, Ghost Armor, Gauntlets of Power, (Ice Storm); dice: 4 silver
Player 4 (Spiritspeaker Mok): {Quick Casting}, {Wind Pact}, {Leadership}; Staff of Fire, Cloak of Mists, Beastman Fetish, Bag of Holding, (Cone of Fire, Elven Robes, Mana Weave, Crystal Shield x2, Pacify, other stuff); dice: 3 silver; +2 fatigue
OL Avatar: Sorcerer King, XP: 17/161
Plot: Obsidian Shackles
OL Upgrades: Sir Alric F. (at Bitter Downs), Snipers, Greed and Hatred, Silver Eldritch, Lord Merick F. (dead), Event treachery (2), Gold Eldritch, Trap treachery (2), Soul Ward, Krieg the Relentless (at Bitter Downs)
City Status: Dawnsmoor razed
Comments:
Of course, the major let down was the Krieg fight. Do you think I’m over-confident when I still think I should be able to win that fight in that setting most of the time (winning meaning either forcing them to flee or kill them all)? I should have added the beastmen to the attack pool as well, all or nothing right? But what about Krieg himself? I mean I know I shouldn’t rely on a Dark Charm to do all my work but maybe without it there never was a real chance? What would your dream scenario for that fight be (given the current situation)?
Anyway, I certainly did draw some CT out of those fights, at least that’s something. Maybe I will get some more then the estimated 120 over the course of the second half of the campaign. But the next dungeon level has 2 leaders and 2 glyphs IIRC, and I don’t see me getting a whole lot there, so they will make up what they lost pretty soon.
Next session will probably be awhile from now again, but I will keep posting .
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Sebastian D.
Germany
Berlin
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Re: Campaign #4 - Sorcerer Suppressor - Session 12
Week 38 continued
MM Level 2 - #58 Cave of the Seadragon
2 naga bosses and a dragon “statue” which spawns razorwings.
Kirga moves into the dragon’s room to loot gold, chest and glyph next turn (+4, ~750 gold 3 potions). Her anti-spawn aura covers the whole room and then some so she is safe. The other three move into the spiraling hallway but moving Boggs away from the starting corridor leaves open spaces for two small monsters to spawn. Adding spell of frost might work (hits all three) but I decline as Shiver (only monster target) does not really have anything worthwhile to destroy and I want a bigger opportunity (like 4+ attacks on frosted guys). Of course it will almost turn out to have been my only opportunity, when on my last turn I draw two DCs. Frost spell on Mok and Tahlia and DC on Mok if on guard Tahlia can unequip weapons, right?. But the attack misses and both roll surges to lose the frost on their very next turn. Tahlia at least is a bit hurt (at 10 wounds) from c. block and sorcerer attack. The second Dark Charm is removed with Wind Pact on the next level. (+11, +~1000 gold, 6 potions, Robe of Kellos)
MM Level 3 - #50 ?? Trappings
Figures are pulled towards pits, naga boss, razorwing minions.
Nothing much going on here: Kirga is knockbacked by Mok, then rapid fire (aimed from BttB) kills shades and razorwings. Shiver blasts remaining monsters. I spawn sorceres behind rune door. Next turn gathering of key, glyph (+3) and chest (flute). Boss Charges, opens rune door and attacks Tahlia. Additionally the two sorcs attack her, too. Boss misses, 2 sorcs don’t, Tahlia has 3 wounds remaining. Monsters are all killed on next turn, Tahlia moves safely onto glyph (no space trap, no spawn), escapes next turn. Heroes out, remain in Moonglow Marsh.
Week 39
[+2] (19/163), Alric and Krieg to Smokeblue Hills.
Heroes to Smokeblue Hills (+1), attack Krieg and Alric.
Krieg the Relentless @ Frozen Path
All water is treated as Ice. Treachery is Danger, Aim, Crushing Blow, 2x Dark Charm, Explod. Rune. Wind Pact removes Dark Charm.
Exit is really far away, good for me. First turn everyone but Kirga unequips weapons at end of turn. She is promptly charmed and attacks Tahlia (aimed due to BttB), who loses her guard. Skeleton and masters then pound on Tahlia leaving her with one wound. She constantly forgets her Riposte feat, so knowing she still has it I refrain from attacking further (and thus overexposing my monsters). There is nowhere to hide and/or heal in town so I will get her eventually. Wrong! Mok pulls a Healing Amulet out of his Bottomless Bag (which surely contained over 20 items) and two turns later, Tahlia is at full health again. I wasn’t aware of that item in his Bag (He discovered it by chance himself after quietly discussing options while I was busy trying to kill Tahlia, but placed it on top of the stack while it was still my turn. I never noticed that, though.). I guess that’s just one of the quirks when you have lots of real-time weeks between sessions which is just the way it goes. Nevertheless pretty unfortunate for me. Without fear of death she storms ahead, knockbacks Krieg 8 spaces into the midst of her buddies who kill him [+4, +250 gold]. Encounter ends with Crushing Blow still in hand.
Sir Alric F. @ Hedge Maze
Entering trees inflicts one wound. Treachery is the same as before. Wind Pact removes Dark Charm.
No chance to win this one even with depleted potions (no more Tahlia Battling and moving 12 spaces). Weak monsters die, after one round all but one beastman and Alric are dead. Weapons are unequipped, so I just go for Kirga’s Bow of Bone. Crushing Blow on beastman attack, Alric flees.
Heroes enter dungeon but that’s for next time.
SESSION SUMMARY: +2 OL (19/163), +23 Heroes (220), + 2000 gold (~6000 gold total)
At end of session:
Player 1 (Thalia): {Unmovable}, {Tiger Tattoo}, {Weapon Mastery}; Grinding Axe, Golden Armor, Elven Boots, Ring of Protection, (Bo Stick, Mace of Kellos); dice: 3 silver, 1 black; +2 fatigue
Player 2 (Kirga): {Rapid Fire}, {Born to the Bow};Flying Death, Mirror Shield, Chainmail, Archer’s Charm, Scorpio Helmet, (Black Widow’s Web); dice: 3 silver, 1 black; +4 fatigue
Player 3 (Shiver): {Prodigy}, {Spiritwalker}, {Boggs the Rat} ; Drain Life, Enchanted Breastplate, Ghost Armor, Aldar’s Mirror, (Ice Storm); dice: 4 silver
Player 4 (Spiritspeaker Mok): {Quick Casting}, {Wind Pact}, {Leadership}; Staff of Fire, Robe of Kellos, Beastman Fetish, Bag of Holding, Mana Weave, Ring of Quickness (Cone of Fire, Crystal Shield x2, Shield of Light, Pacify, other stuff); dice: 3 silver; +2 fatigue
OL Avatar: Sorcerer King, XP: 19/163
Plot: Obsidian Shackles
OL Upgrades: Sir Alric F. (at OL Keep), Snipers, Greed and Hatred, Silver Eldritch, Lord Merick F. (dead), Event treachery (2), Gold Eldritch, Trap treachery (2), Soul Ward, Krieg the Relentless (at OL Keep)
City Status: Dawnsmoor razed
Comments:
Now I’m even worse off than before with both lt’s back at the keep and the heroes in a dungeon that will probably push things into gold campaign. Good party decision in attacking the lt’s instead of going for the rumor (or something completely different) and a little luck with dungeon levels and my dice rolls.
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Sebastian D.
Germany
Berlin
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Re: Campaign #4 - Sorcerer Suppressor - Session 13
First of all, I’m a little disappointed by lack of responses here. I’m not sure, there is much to add/comment to my reports, even more with this campaign taking a turn for the easy-hero-win route from the beginning, but still. I also know that I probably sound too much of a whimp as OL, still complaining after deliberately choosing to go easier on them. Most of you serious players won’t feel it necessary to follow this report as there’s nothing to gain/discuss here on a strategic level. I’m sorry about that, I still feel obliged to finish this report as I’ve seen too many campaign reports remain unfinished for too long. Or maybe everyone is using descentcampaigntracker and session reports are not needed anymore? Anyway:
Week 39 continued
SBH Level 1 - #56? – KRAAWUUMM!
A barrel needs to be pushed into a river to blow up a rune door later. Boss is a gold master demon with 50W 9A.
Tahlia is knockbacked twice by Mok, then Battles and moves into the upper room, killing a hellhound and dark priest on the way, master deep elf on guard, covers spawn. Kirga kills other hellhound and guards in lower hallway, waiting for other dark priest. Shiver also guards, sending Boggs to replace Tahlia for spawn coverage later.
No spawns, dark priest is killed (waiting and hiding was not possible).
Heroes push the barrel into the stream, it will take 4 turns until the yellow rune door will be open at the beginning of the OL turn. Now it’s just waiting, moving into position and covering spawns [+3, +1 (empty chest, Tahlia raided the market for 3! Shortages; would have been a good chest draw), +1000 gold]. They can’t cover properly so skeletons attack Shiver but can’t kill him (only normals in range, master in boss room).
After the door is open the demon can’t really get out because of low movement and stream spaces taking 2 movement to enter. Hiding from a hallway shot puts him in reach for Tahlia with Bo Stick who will move back on her guard (also blocking path for a possible Charge). Not hiding will get him peppered from Kirga and Shiver. So despite a gold demon boss with SoB bonuses I don’t get an attack from it [+2, +100 gold]. Tahlia is pushed into his aura by a crushing block once, though, so some damage done here.
Plenty of screw-ups on both sides.
SBH Level 2 - #15 – The Crypt
3 undying bosses, no minions.
Tahlia goes healing, others guard. Quick Casting and Rapid Fire take care of two bosses [+4, +200 gold], third barely lives due to a miss. Useless spawning and a raged boss can’t kill anything. Tahlia stays in the temple, others kill and loot [+2, +6, +950 gold].
SBH Level 2 - #39 – Cursed Fountain
Beastman boss can only be killed after drinking from a fountain.
We stop for the night.
SESSION SUMMARY: +3 OL (22/169), +22 Heroes (242), + 2000 gold (~8000 gold total)
Comments:
First level took around 3 ½ hours, careful planning on the party side and general delay-mechanic of the level are to blame. Next one was super fast, though, and was beat by basically 3 heroes as Tahlia was in the temple the whole 2-3 turns.
Again it was obvious that the OL needs to take advantage of the rare opportunities he is given I didn’t manage that. I rolled only 11 attacks all night, 4 of them missed. That’s 36 %! I could prepare the final room of the first level for three turns and didn’t get anything done (messed up rules for large monsters, too, the demon could have moved out after all (Charge was saved for this)) so I have to blame myself. Heroes also screwed up spawn covers but managed to get away. But related to that: while SoB dungeons are smaller but as compensation filled with more rubble to provide spawn opportunities, Kirga totally messes with that design approach. Almost all SoB dungeons we played so far were almost completely coverable by her aura alone. I still did manage to spawn in all of them (even getting some kills off of that) so what am I complaining about, right? I don’t know, it just makes hero play so much easier, not worrying about spawn coverage as much. And as they don’t suffer from mistakes as much as I do (while already having 4 minds vs. my lone one) this feels annoying to me, that’s all.
Sorry about the rant in the beginning. The game feels a little bit out of my hands right now and you guys have always been good for my spirits. That’s why I’m missing some activity here. But don’t worry, I’m mostly doing these write-ups for me. Writing them brings back the feelings of defeat for a very short time but those change into fun and passion during the writing and posting time. Thanks for hanging in there with me!
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Corbon Loughnan
Singapore
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BastiRand wrote: First of all, I’m a little disappointed by lack of responses here. I’m not sure, there is much to add/comment to my reports,
This mostly.
BastiRand wrote: even more with this campaign taking a turn for the easy-hero-win route from the beginning, but still. I also know that I probably sound too much of a whimp as OL, still complaining after deliberately choosing to go easier on them.
And a little bit of this too.
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M.J.E. Hendriks
Netherlands
Velp
Gelderland
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Write ups should indeed be mainly for oneself - they add to the enjoyment of the game, I feel.
That being said, I do always read these posts, though I get blasted for any comments/questions/what not I have by some people here who feel they are superior (and no, Corbon, that's not you). Hence my unwillingness to post after having read your posts. They're enjoyable though!
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Sebastian D.
Germany
Berlin
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Re: Campaign #4 - Sorcerer Suppressor - Session 14
Thanks for the heads up, guys, appreciate it!
Week 39 continued
SBH Level 3 - #39 – Cursed Fountain
Beastman boss can only be killed after drinking from a fountain. I pick 3 skeleton +1 master and master golem to stand on the fountain.
Mok advances, moves Tahlia with Hammer and opens door. Tahlia battles and moves 13, killing one skeleton on the way (one attack misses). Kirga advances, kills 3 skeletons. Shiver screws up, moves to space where he can’t use Spiritwalker in a useful way. Whole dungeon is spawn-covered (Boggs in starting corridor, Kirga everywhere else.). Boss and remaining two skeletons attack Mok, master skellie misses, Mok survives. Tahlia guard attacks golem.
Heroes kill skeletons, Tahlia knockbacks golem from fountain (with silver item), drinks and puts guard up. Mok knockbacks boss into Tahlia’s reach. I get to spawn a lone master beastman, Tahlia interrupts and kills boss. More misses from golem, master beastman can’t scratch Tahlia. While moving out and grabbing loot I catch Mok with 8 wounds left in a corner, play crushing block followed by scything blades to get at least some points from this dungeon but he rolls a surge on both blade spaces, go figure. So they only get to leave on their fourth instead of third turn.
Counting my CT (22, +2 next week is not enough for monster upgrade) the return to Tamalir, eager to tackle the rumor dungeon (Mother’s Lament on Plains of Ruby Gate) in gold campaign next.
Week 40
[+2] (24/163), Krieg and Alric to Bitter Downs.
Heroes to rumor location(+1), no encounter although trying for it.
SBH Level 1 - #68? – The Executioner
Giant boss with additional knockback and extra damage for heroes knockbacked into a wall.
Mok goes to the temple (no knockback, yay!). Tahlia battles, moves up to boss and attacks twice. Shiver advances but misses boss. Kirga readys, kills two skeletons. On OL turn Tahlia guard kills boss, Kirga guardkills one out of two master skeletons. It was their decision to rather clear out the starting monsters than cover spawns which Kirga could have easily done almost by herself. But I do draw a spawn in my first draw and kill Shiver [+3] with it (or was it a Dark Charm? Neither remember nor care.). Heroes grab gold chest (Longspear) and move out.
SBH Level 2 - #19 – Downward Spiral
Giant with a possible sleep effect on hit.
First they discuss and plan an audacious attempt with knockback: hitting Kirga for 16 spaces! But ultimately they find it too risky damage-wise and play conservatively: everybody guards and they make their way in two-three turns instead of one. I can only sit and wait, no cards and nothing to reach except running into multiple guards. Tahlia then kills 3 skeletons with her new longspear and the Sweep feat (some solid damage there in the mid-30s). The chest contains two more gold items, Spirit Spear and Sorcerous Orb both for Kirga. I spawn skeletons to attack a non-battling Tahlia (no guard or +1 armor) but fail by not attacking with the giant first who puts her to sleep AFTER all skeletons have inflicted a combined 2 damage. Shiver then discovers the joy of Blast, killing all skeletons in one attack with Ice Storm. On the last dungeon turn I also play a otherwise surely lost Spell of Frost on Mok and Shiver, who both shake it off on their first attempt, going to town unscathed while Tahlia and Kirga enter the portal.
SBH Level 3 - Rumor – A mother’s lament
!SPOILER warning!
So far the only thing going for me was that they haven’t discarded anything useful with WindPact, and that will not change as I will not draw either Crushing Blow or (the second) Dark Charm till the end.
Shiver clears the blue runekey room in area one with Ice Storm again and comes to really like Blast. He managed to pretty much ignore that weapon before as Mok and Cone of Fire was all they had needed so far. As area 2 is opened I’m not quite sure what to make of the special victory condition and I went with my instincts and ruled in favor for the heroes without opening a whole new discussion on fairness etc.: Final Area says something like “When the prison door is opened by the heroes the red rune door unlocks. The griffin baby has to exit the dungeon for the reward to be had. Monsters can attack the baby like any other figure.” (translating by memory from german, obviously) The underlined part led me to think that only the heroes can open the prison door. Final area is revealed by opening the blue door, prison door is in final room approx. 12 spaces away from the blue door. If the monsters can open the door, the griffin will probably be dead on the OL turn as the monsters will just open the door and kill it (8W 4A) as at least one monster will probably be upgraded and able to one-shot it. .. .. Wait, rumors have preset monster spaces, maybe they all are too far away to open the door? I’ll check that. Maybe it only seemed dangerous because of my skeletons from Hordes of the Things.. .. or a well-saved Charge puts the heroes in a tough position. Maybe this level leaves some possibilities for the OL on purpose. Wow, that might have changed the outcome although the reward isn’t a very spectacular one. But mostly negating my 20XP “Greed and Hatred” does bother me a little. I don’t think I could have ever convinced them, though . Monsters were dropping really fast again. Kirga in a forward position covered spawning in area two, Shiver closed the blue rune door to deny me spawns from behind. At that point the level was done, I had no means to kill the griffin. Gold chest had another ranged weapon, this time the bow with pierce 4. More items from chests than the whole of copper, IIRC, lucky guys, hey?
SESSION SUMMARY: +5 OL (27/174), +21 Heroes (263), + X gold (~15000 gold total)
Comments:
Third time heroes outclass me in CT lead by about 15. Seems my conservative calculations weren’t conservative enough *grimace*. Now my options will get even slimmer. Next time I will have 29 CT while the party plans a round of upgrades. If I don’t buy diamond eldritch they might just torch me with another dungeon (where I don’t make any progress). If I do buy diamond eldritch I might never get the chance again to buy the crucial plot card which kinda defines the plot.
I also seem to be running on a bad luck stream. You know, despite Kirga and Boggs and small dungeons I still get spawn opportunities only to miss my rolls on a higher-than-average basis (last time 4 misses out of 11 rolls, this time 5 misses out of 20).
I think I’ll just go with the monsters, quietly rolling with the game till the end.
One more thing: I didn’t have to tell you that my heroes were not satisfied with their gold item draws at the time, did I? Everything didn’t look like a major upgrade to them. Until Tahlia did 30+ damage with the spear. The ranged weapons still suck, though, until proven otherwise . Insatiable lot, they are!
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Sebastian D.
Germany
Berlin
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Re: Campaign #4 - Sorcerer Suppressor - Session 15
Quote: Wait, rumors have preset monster spaces, maybe they all are too far away to open the door? I’ll check that. Alright, the last room has 2 monsters able to open the door, a third can hit the griffin after that, two more possibly with some range. So I remembered wrong. But rumors are supposed to be special, maybe especially hard? I still can’t make up a final opinion on a ruling for this level.
Anyway, we had an epic (in the sense of: loooong) session on the Easter weekend. Even so this started much earlier than our usual “Friday after work” we still made lots of mistakes on both sides. Which led me to think we’re just not very good at this game, at least not in the actual game situation. Afterwards we usually find and talk about better moves that should have been made instead of the crappy ones (imagine mistakes like in PBF: forgetting familiars, attack bonuses, equipping/unequipping weapons, etc.).
Week 41
[+2], (29/176). First decision of the day for me is already a fairly wicked one: with 29 XP to spend, what do I buy: Diamond eldritch, Arcane Energies (Blast 1 for all sorcerers) or wait one turn to buy Brother against Brother? All three are on my theoretical must-buy list.
1. Already a couple of game weeks into gold level the diamond monsters seem like the only reasonable choice.
2. AE is only crucial for the end fight (that’s what I think from looking at the final dungeon) but as I will buy it later why not earlier as sorcerers are frequent monsters and spawns and they might get some more hits with that blast. Also would be more “unconventional” just like other upgrade decisions before .
3. BaB is kind of the point of the whole shackles plot so while mostly going without the other plot cards this was always on my list. And as the heroes have almost all money tokens (limited supply, right?) = 15400 gold they are upgrading/training now and not doing another dungeon (only one in range 2 of Tamalir left, anyway).
Learning about that BaB-card (yeah, they still don’t study all the OL’s options) they say they’d skip a second round of training (training 2 gold dice each for 8000 gold in the first round) and go to Riverwatch to buy gold items instead. Afterwards they’d probably skip training altogether (2 gold 2 silver dice is plenty already and there are power potions to compensate) so I would have spent 30 XP for nothing (yeah, for the threat of training but they are too well trained already to count that as an advantage).
Of course I go for the easy choice: diamond monsters [-25]. Alric and Krieg move to ??, going for Riverwatch again just won’t be successful so Greyhaven it is.
Heroes train 2 gold dice each (-8000 gold).
Week 42
[+2] (6/178), Krieg and Alric to Dawnsmoor.
Heroes to Riverwatch, buy Hammer of Doom, Red Plate of Kellos, Star of Kellos (Krieg is now permanently killable again).
Week 43
[+2] (8/180), K+A to Blackwing Swamp.
Heroes train in Riverwatch, buying Word of Vaal, Frost Axe, and getting the rumor Dust to Dust (temples +1) at Korinas Tears.
Week 44
[+2] (10/182), K+A don’t move as in Tamalir they just would be in the direct path to the rumor dungeon basically giving the party a free shot at them.
Heroes move to Tamalir, encountering Hunting Spiders at Dark Shadows. (no use of description, all copper monsters are easily defeated, Kirga is wounded for 4 wounds and 4 poison tokens -> almost everything healed at Tamalir’s temple 7). In Tamalir they check the market once again, getting Shield of the Warrior, Ring of the Arcane, Flame Strike.
Week 45
[+2] (12/184), now K+A move to Tamalir. I don’t think they will us a week’s action just to get the lts. I was wrong.
Heroes fully loaded with items and potions attack Krieg.
Krieg the Relentless@ Hedge Maze
Entering trees causes one wound. Treachery as always is 2x Dark Charm, Crushing Blow, Danger, Aim, Explosive Rune. Wind Pact removes one Dark Charm.
Because of the gold knockback hammer I place Krieg in a tree the corner of the left path, surrounded by all his monsters + two spiders. In one direction I leave two spaces empty between spider and skeletons to provide a bigger safe area in case of blast.
Turn 1: Well, first turn Tahlia is knockbacked twice by Mok with the silver weapon, far enough to stand exactly on those empty spaces playing mistake 1: but he forgets to reequip the star of Kellos (instead equipping two shields!) so Krieg will survive at the OL keep no matter what. Tahlia then battles to clear a skeleton and then hit Krieg back to the start area. Her first attack fortunately misses the skeleton. Now Krieg can only be hit with her guard. The other heroes prepare guards themselves. On the OL turn Krieg is hit and “flies” over to the others. Kirga’s 4 attacks almost kill him but Shiver misses and Krieg survives with 8 wounds left.
Now my turn and a rules question: rules mistake 1: Player 2 plays feat Foiled Plans. I want to discard my Danger first to not lose it but can I do that. OL can discard any time, even during a hero's turn. Does the FAQ ruling for card interactions “active side has priority” come into effect here? We played that I could discard but only to spare us a long-winded discussion. I do have 2+10+4-4=12 threat. With a Run and 8 additional threat Krieg will be able to exit so I have 4 threat to spare, not enough for a Dark Charm (which costs 9 in our game due to Mok, so much too dangerous to count on getting 10 surges for 5 threat on my attacks). Master skeletons hit on Tahlia for ~5 wounds, one normal skeletons attacks Mok and crushes his Bag of Holding (around 15 items lost). I'm gambling on Tahlia but the first attack from a normal skeleton misses. The remaining 3 skeletons hit Mok who has two shields and therefore doesn't die. Krieg then flees.
Sir Alric F.@ Quiet Pond
Heroes cannot be ambushed. Treachery is the same as above, Wind Pact removes a Dark Charm.
Turn 1: Everything but the sorcerer and a hellhound is killed, everyone has a guard up, planning to take out the incoming monsters to be safe from Crushing Blow.
I play Dark Charm on Shiver (playing mistake 2:has Flamestrike equipped from clearing the razorwings and a dog) who can catch Mok, Kirga and himself in the blast. For fear of massive damage Kirga kills Shiver [+3] but:rules mistake 2: no one interrupts the card but Kirga interrupts the attack to kill Shiver. We know how to play Dark Charm (as Tahlia is always messing with that timing and her guard, unequipping after guarding) but we were distracted. What I want to know is if Kirga had interrupted the card and killed Shiver what happens to the card and my paid threat? FAQ says “card is canceled without effect” but what does that mean? Do I lose the card and the threat (would “negating” be a better word?) or do I take it back an can now play it on someone else? The sorcerer is guard-killed by Tahlia and Alric flees.
Heroes buy some potions and treasures but nothing worthwhile pops up.
Week 46
[+2] (14/186), K+A to Bitter Downs. Heroes go for the rumor but not without an encounter. Throggs Bandits at Snowy Woods. Again not worth describing (I missed a spot to get one sorcerer attack on Kirga but other than that.. ..).
KT Level 1 - #5X? – A Bandits Cave?
Boss skeleton with command 2 and scattered encounter markers for random coins or potions.
First turn Mok opens the door and does nothing. Shiver blasts through him and kills almost all blocking creatures with Blast 4 and 5, respectively. Tahlia battles, moves 13 spaces and hits the boss, knockbacking him 20 or so spaces into the arms of Kirga who kills him with 6 or 7 attacks. Yeah . Two remaining sorcerers and spawned Ferroxes bring Tahlia down to 6 wounds and two bleed tokens. Should the mighty one finally fall? Of course not, she rolls one heart and an X. She runs back to heal (no forward glyph, finds Wings of Regiroth eventually) and the others clear the rest. I put Brilliant Commander in play.
KT Level 2 - #6X? – XXX?
Boss dragon, at OL turn all heroes must roll other than blank or get a stun token.
Two rune locked doors might make forward progression slower but Kirga spawn-covers the whole dungeon from her starting spot! So I have to play careful with my starting minions (skeletons and dark priests, 3 of each, one DP a master from Bcomm.). Playing mistake 3: I play Paralyzing Door trap on the normal door that leads to the rune key, planning to draw one more hero from the monster filled room behind the blue door. But Tahlia gets the key after Mok is stunned, Kirga opens the blue door and scratches 3 monsters and moves back, then Shiver blasts everything to death. I should've saved the trap for the blue door as whoever would have opened that would be inside the blast radius. Oh well. So everything is dead after the first turn, heroes clear everything and move out.
KT Level 3 - Rumor – Dust to Dust
SPOILER warning!
First room has all master monsters which are swiftly killed. Activating the altar afterwards does nothing (good altar turns all masters into normal monsters here), I ridicule them a bit that grabbing stuff (chests, altars, etc.) before killing monsters is THE one basic Descent tactic and they don't even know that one? But who am I to teach them, they just killed every monster in their way . Just as their lining up in front of the door to the next area I draw Dark Cham and Tahlia kills herself [+5]! Finally! Every hero died at least once! But does Dark Charm really count? I'll try to get her with monsters also to satisfy my inner demons . In the next area a sundered glyph takes them by surprise (Tahlia's way back is now reaaallly long). But they quickly recover, moving Kirga into the last room and ,with the help of Shiver, killing everything but a lone normal deep elf (yeah, even the boss and even with fog making the last room rather hard to see through). Playing mistake 4: I pictured this situation many times: Kirga covering spawn but killing her with Dark Charm, freeing up an area and killing more from the opened opportunity. My card draw on this turn is Dark Charm and sorcerer circle, perfect, isn't it? I even have a deep elf to activate the evil altar to turn both normal sorcerers into masters! And Mok and Shiver just stand around the corner! But alas! I play Gust of Wind, spawn the sorcerers next to Tahlia, Dark Charm and kill Kirga [+5] afterwards(!) and forget about the altar conversion, hitting Tahlia for 8 or 9 wounds. Stupid! After my mistakes they clear everything and move out, temples now heal one more wound.
SESSION SUMMARY: +23 OL (27/197), +22 Heroes (285), + X gold (~8000 gold total)
Comments:
As I said, mistakes all around. Normal dungeon levels do not take longer than two turns but that’s nearly the pace we had going in silver, too. Most gold weapons really do a lot of overkill damage. The heroes are still doubtful about their chances in the final battle as they don’t know the specific rules. Avatar upgrades “no surges” and “+100 health” seem awfully strong (i.e. most of the Longspear’s damage comes from surges, conversion 1 surge=2 damage).
I’m facing nearly the same situation as before, 29 XP with the heroes ready to train more dice at Tamalir. I think I have to say goodbye to “Brother against Brother”, as much as it pains me. Blast 1 for sorcerers is the next upgrade, followed by final battle avatar stuff, maybe one more trap treachery.
If you have any input on my rules questions, especially the Foiled Plans one, I’d appreciate that.
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M.J.E. Hendriks
Netherlands
Velp
Gelderland
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Rules mistake #1 - no, you can't discard. You're actually interrupting a card play and interrupting is only allowed when specifically mentioned (as with a Guard).
Rules mistake #2 - we play it that you can take it back in hand and get back your threat as it's an interrupt and takes place before the overlord makes his actual move.
Compare it to the overlord declaring an attack. If that attack is interrupted he/she can still attack if the monster is still alive and can even change his mind about who to attack (that last part is from memory - but it does allow then the overlord to change his mind about the card as well!).
Quote: Which we always play as: place the order, inflict two wound, remove order (if applicable). One respectable german user answered a rules question on that differently: As the wounds are inflicted while placing the order, the order is not yet placed and therefore not removed. Certainly sounds better for the heroes as they always play this location without ever placing an order since that’s mostly useless by our interpretation.
That's just silly imho. I too would assume the wounds and the order are simultaneous and that therefore you get the two wounds but get to keep the order. Why else place an order then?
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Sebastian D.
Germany
Berlin
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Quote: That's just silly imho. I too would assume the wounds and the order are simultaneous and that therefore you get the two wounds but get to keep the order. Why else place an order then? Yeah, they never did place an order in those encounters (which made Tahlia a little less strong) but it always semmed wierd to us. We'll probably play differently from now on even if it won't matter this time .
Other rules answers: yeah, we kind of agreed to those ways to play.
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Sebastian D.
Germany
Berlin
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Re: Campaign #4 - Sorcerer Suppressor - Session 16
Week 47
[+2] (29/199), K+A to Smokeblue Hills (heroes returned to Tamalir last game week, by the way). Again I’m left with 29 XP to spend with the heroes planning to train. But I’ve written BaB off last week, so I buy Arcane Energies [-20].
Heroes discuss a bit what upgrades they should get, maybe even move to Forge instead of Tamalir to get skills and dice (Cautious for Mok (to mess with me even more), Master Archer for Kirga, dice for Tahlia, nothing for Shiver (he’s already up one die upgrade compared to the others)). Now that would’ve sucked as I could have waited to gain 2 more XP. But they stay and train 2 dice each (Kirga and Tahlia now with 3xAu, 1xAg, Shiver 4xAu and Mok 3xAu, 1xBlack).
Week 48
[+2] (11/201), K+A to Moonglow Marsh. I buy one more trap treachery [-10] (now at 3).
Heroes move to Nerekhall, no encounter.
Week 49
[+2] (3/203), K+A to Riverwatch, I buy Big Trouble [-3]. Maybe sometime I might mess with their traveling plans. But from now on I’ll only buy avatar upgrades, I promise!
Heroes move to Crimson Forest, encountering The Guardians: two large golems outdoors, albeit diamond, are no match for the party. No write-up needed.
CF Level 1 - #16 – What lies beneath?
Encounter markers are possibly trapped but give money or treasure. Manticore boss makes party lose 50 coins on hit. I draw Crushing Blow in my first three cards and thus immediately lose it to Wind Pact. There goes one opportunity to get rid of something (gold knockback hammer? gold reach weapon? gold Blast rune?) before more lt. fights. I think I never drew it in a dungeon so far. Or if I did I couldn’t play it due to lack of monsters. So much for the “very mean card” that makes the party lose an item each week.
First turn Kirga kills all 2 monsters in the way to the glyph (shooting 9 range and 13 range respectively, the latter with a feat). Mok advances and kills the spider blocking the way to the boss, ending on an encounter. Shiver blasts the boss and 2 sorcerers twice, sorcs survive with more Burn tokens than wounds but Tahlia plays it safe and kills them both, thus also covering all spawns.
I do nothing and they hang around to grab everything and move out later.
CF Level 2 - #63? – Meat Chamber
Invincible hellhound in cage can be soothed by giving him meat from the end of the dungeon. This also opens the red rune door. Boss is a manticore with Frost.
First turn Mok moves forward and opens the door, killing a naga behind it. Now Shiver has free LoS to the back room and Blasts the boss and the master sorcerer (boss dies, m. sorc with enough burn to die next turn, also in Star of Kellos aura from Mok). Kirga moves forward for spawn coverage, killing the last skeleton on the way. Tahlia moves forward with nothing to do.
I play Dark Charm on Shiver, catching all four heroes in an aimed blast! Only Shiver dies right away [+4], others have two Burn tokens (Mok at 5 wounds (had two shields equipped), Kirga at 3, Tahlia at 5). Master sorc dies.
Kirga rests and stays put (she heals 3 when using the rest order next turn due to her armor) but keeps both Burn tokens. Mok loses one burn and gets hit by a trap when he opens the chest (one wound remaining). Tahlia moves to starting glyph. Shiver comes out and gathers the meat/encounter marker.
Next hero turn Mok dies from Burn [+2], Tahlia escapes to town, Kirga remains resting, Shiver drops meat on hellhound. I play Animate Weapons (yes, with only 2 heroes on the board, Kirga without a weapon. But I would surely lose the card to Wind Pact on the next level.), question arises: Shiver has Word of Vaal equipped, which cannot hurt himself as per FAQ. Can he target himself nonetheless and the effect then damages/kills Kirga? Animate Weapons is a little different in wording/effect to Dark Charm as the weapons attack their owners. Wait,… I think I’ve figured it out myself: Shiver’s Word of Vaal CAN attack himself but he doesn’t hurt himself. And as it is not a Dark Charm allegiances don’t change, meaning he is not an enemy figure to Kirga which means Kirga doesn’t get damage either. Oh man, we played that wrong . Kirga gets killed [+3]. After that, they move on to the next level.
CF Level 3 - #5 – The Barracks
No dungeon special but a huge area with much space to spread out monsters, boss sorcerer with Command 1 and Aura 6.
First turn Tahlia Battles + Hurry feat and takes out 3 monsters (including her guard). Kirga advances and takes out three monsters while also hurting the boss. Mok advances and hits the boss some more and moves to keep him in his anti-undying aura. Shiver guards, kills the boss and a skeleton on his guard. All monsters dead after the first turn and spawn easily covered with Boggs and Kirga alone. Next they grab everything and move out.
Party returns to Tamalir.
SESSION SUMMARY: +21 OL (9/218), +23 Heroes (307), + X gold (~X gold total) (don’t keep track anymore as virtually everything useful has been bought or trained)
Comments:
Game is moving along towards the end, maybe three more dungeons? Heroes are all geared up, trained and ready. More upgrades are not really needed they think. They are thinking about going for Knight and wound upgrades at Shika’s Tree, or Mighty and Inner Fire from Tamalir at the last action before the final dungeon. They will also try to let the last dungeons be rumors with nice rewards. I will upgrade what I can (+100 wounds, +gold dice as priorities). I’m looking forward to the final dungeon and curious how it will play out. Next session might be a while away, though.
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Corbon Loughnan
Singapore
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Mr Mjeh wrote: Quote: Which we always play as: place the order, inflict two wound, remove order (if applicable). One respectable german user answered a rules question on that differently: As the wounds are inflicted while placing the order, the order is not yet placed and therefore not removed. Certainly sounds better for the heroes as they always play this location without ever placing an order since that’s mostly useless by our interpretation. That's just silly imho. I too would assume the wounds and the order are simultaneous and that therefore you get the two wounds but get to keep the order. Why else place an order then?
Quote: Heroes suffer 2 wounds (ignoring armor) each time they place an order
I disagree. Its placing an order that causes the two wounds. Therefore the wounds come after placing the order.
Nothing says the wounds come simultaneous with the placement, just each time. No placement, no wounds. Placement causes wounds is as valid a conclusion as placement and wounds come simultaneously - more valid perhaps. In that case, what is causing the creation of the wounds? Certainly not the placement because it hasn't happened yet!
The argument that it can't be cancelling the orders because that makes placing the orders pointless is ... invalid.
So what? Sometimes, placing certain orders will become pointless. Perhaps that is the point!
The point here is that heroes are discouraged from placing orders in general. Some orders will fail totally. Other orders come at a cost. Some of the orders that would normally fail can still be sucessfully placed if you have the right kit (Cursed Shield, Ghost Armour, prevent the wounds).
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Andrew P
United Kingdom
Nottingham
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A very good clear write up. I am now waiting to hear if you manage to sneak a win in the final avatar battle. Good luck.
I also think I might do a write up of my own campaign through it'll probably take a year or two to actually finish unless I get a tamalir win.
Andrew
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Sebastian D.
Germany
Berlin
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Thanks!
Don't be afraid to do it, I for one would definitely follow it. As you can see, this campaign (and write-up) started in May 2011 so it took us over a year, too. We hope to be done by the end of June *fingers crossed*.
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Sebastian D.
Germany
Berlin
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Re: Campaign #4 - Sorcerer Suppressor - Session 17
Week 50
[+2] (13/213) (mixed up numbers last time it seems), K+A to Moonglow Marsh retreating back to OL keep for Reinforcement. I buy Phylactery [-5].
Heroes plan on doing dungeons to get to the Final Battle. 10 cards remaining in the gold treasure deck with a 5/5 split between items and caches. Going to Riverwatch would have meant drawing all 5 but there’s nothing really interesting left (Stonecutter, Staff of Knowledge, Jinn’s lamp, Curse of Rot, Bloody Dagger), and still opportunities in dungeons (Tamalir or chests). So in order to keep the opportunity to visit Shika’s Tree the stay in the north, traveling to Forge, hearing the rumor “X marks the spot” (weak, especially with the aforementioned thoughts but a safety net in case of a Crushing Blow). They find an abandoned treasure.
Week 51
[+2] (10/215), K+A to Smokeblue Hills. I buy Dark strength [-10].
Heroes travel to the Gaping Abyss, encountering a lone Dark Priest @ Ancient Grove. Although Diamond he has no chance on his own, no write up needed.
CF Level 1 - #60 – The Hideout
Heroes start in a cage, only able to get out at the end of their turn. So a free first turn for me, sweet.
Tahlia gets out after Battling and placing a guard. Kirga dodges and gets out, too. The mages choose to stay inside.
I have no spawns so I’m stuck with starting monsters. Tahlia tries to interrupt a skeleton but a block drops and pushes her to the side. The dodge on the attack on Kirga turns it into a miss. The other skeleton is guard-attacked by shiver through Tahlia, my dodge doesn’t change anything so much for dice fairness .
Tahlia and Kirga clean up the dangerous monsters (skeleton and naga), Shiver gets out, Mok doesn’t. I cast Frost Spell on Tahlia and try to hit her with the boss, she guard-runs away. Kirga kills boss on next turn, Now they cover spawn and collect everything and move out.
CF Level 2 - #7 – The Graveyard
Boss skeleton can auto-revive if normal skeleton in 5-space-range is sacrificed instead. I place everything clumped together to prevent Tahlia from knockbacking the boss to the starting glyph where Kirga finishes him. But she’s still frosted and too scared her items might get destroyed so they just move Mok up front, Shiver blasts through him and almost everything dies (last skeleton dies from burn on my turn, boss is successfully undying). Shiver kills the created skeleton, Mok kills the boss with Star of Kellos, Kirga and Tahlia move forward in order to collect stuff next.
I play Dark Charm on Shiver who blasts Kirga and himself. Kirga (hurt from a skeleton attack) dies right away, Shiver burns to death on the next turn [+7, 1 from curse from Dark Priest encounter]. Rest is collecting.
CF Level 2 - #44 – The Ice Tunnels
Lots of ice and the rune key is enclosed in an ice block.
Flying Tahlia battles and Hurries forward, kills boss and master medusa. Mok kills normal Wendigo, others move forward. No spawn for me and wendigo can’t get through Kirga’s armor. Rest is waiting for heroes to cross the ice and collecting. One turn after opening the chest with Curse of Rot I draw the Dark Relic trap. And all spawn is covered so my also drawn sorcerer spawn has no place to enter. Heroes now will be careful in opening chests.
Week 52
[+2] (9/224), K+A to Bitter Downs, no buy.
Heroes to rumor location at Howling Giant Hills. With nothing to lose (other than the opportunity to play it) I play Big Trouble. Encounter is great: Circle of Doom (4+1 sorcerer and heroes start with stun), location not so much: Corrupted Forest. Of course I was hoping for Box Canyon but I had like 3-4 others in mind that might’ve been favorable to me, so between 20 and 30 % chance. But I was only lucky with the encounter.. I place them a little to aggressive and everyone but the boss is dead on turn 1. The boss blasts Tahlia (Blast 2!) for 4 wounds and then dies. Unsatisfactory, but also quite meaning less .
We quit for the day.
SESSION SUMMARY: +13 OL (9/224), +24 Heroes (331), + X gold (~12500 gold total)
Comments:
Nothing much game changing anymore, we’re basically just accumulating CT. My plan with Dark Relic didn’t work, Crushing Blow also didn’t show up, so those “balancing factors” to deny the heroes perfect equipment are not really working for me . With 45 CT to go they plan on two more dungeons, quitting the upcoming rumor if things go bad. I will look carefully into my upgrades, I’m eyeing another gold die and one of armor or speed. As my last upgrade after 600 CT I’m keeping Eliza in mind if I don’t have 10 CT at my disposal. And then I’ll be giving my best in the Final Dungeon! Let’s see if no temple healing, no alchemist and fear of Dark relic might make them run out of potions which would mean a little relief for me (you know, Battling Tahlia and Rapid Fire Kirga).
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