Our Heroes Link (Robert) and Gwalchmai (Phil) have been tasked with scouting out the Shadow deep. Having lit the beacon fire they have now crossed by a secret mountain pass and must descend the steep and treacherous path to reach the road below.
To each side of the treacherous path dark cave entrances lead to the homes of evil flying giant bats. To one side of the path an abandoned camp site might be worth investigating. Our heroes must reach the end of the path with their companions intact. Each turn there is a chance more bats will come out of the caves.
Heroes moving off the path or moving quickly risk falling unless they are good at climbing.
Gwalchmai quickly fires teleports down the mountain side whilst Link climbs to the side. Link plans to seal off the first cave hole and Gwalchmai seeks to investigate the camp site. Meanwhile the companions move slowly down the path.
Link soon takes out the bats on his side of the path whilst Gwalchmai uses archery to clear his side and move back onto the path having grabbed a backpack from the camp site. It would later turn out to contain valuable gems.
Gwalchmai moves the companions down the path but Link is set on making the path secure for future Rangers. Leaping from stone to stone he rushes over to each cave hole and seals it. He despatches any intercepting bats with mighty blows of his 2 handed sword.
Dark Tom assists with a fireball and rushes down hill accompanied by Steel Blaze. He joined the group after the last mission in the dark tower. He had been controlled by the dark powers having been captured and trained as a cultist with dark magical powers. Rescued and healed back in the Kingdom he has broken free of the evil influence of his former gaolers but retains his magical powers.
However Bobby the Recruit is caught in the open by two giant bats and falls over defeated.
Our heroes rush back to grab Bobby and defeat the bats. With the final hole sealed Link and Birdo come rushing down the path and take out the bats whilst Gwalchmai and the others pick up Bobby and move down the path once more.
As they leave Gwalchmai takes the opportunity to successfully draw the pass into his mapbook which will prove useful to future rangers.
Thanks to defeating many bats and closing all the cave holes our heroes amassed some good xp and some companions became stronger. Fortunately Bobby was only dazed and has come back even better and ready for the fight.
Our heroes Link and Gwalchmai with their Companions sneak through the Barbican and enter the first room. No Panter of course as he did not survive the battle across the bridge. Forewarned by the Vulture the Shaman and his two guards are ready. A curse is cast but Link is able to resist. Whilst Gwalchmai casts an enchanted blade on Link’s 2 handed-sword Birdo and the Swordsman distract the guards. This allows Link to take on the Shaman and with one blow (critical) he cuts him down. They make short work of the guards and enter room 2 within the required time.
This room is a torture room. The heroes advance as fast as they can but are held back by the guards and the narrow spaces between the tables. This allows the Orc Sergeant to attack the unarmed soldier and cut him down. Then Gwalchmai casts weakness on him and Link attacks him. Gwalchmai and Swordsman take nasty wounds in the melee but once again our heroes defeat the enemy and enter the third room in time.This is a store room.
Whilst Gwalchmai and the Swordsman hold off the guards Link, Recruit and Birdo rush off towards the piles of treasure. Gwalchmai yet again takes a heavy wound and falls to the ground, Swordsman soon following. Link and his cohort grab the treasure and then finish off the enemy whilst the Recruit races up the tower steps to open the final door in time.
Fortunately Gwalchmai, Swordsman and Dog are all okay and easily heal up for the final fight. Recruit stays behind to guard the rescued soldiers.
The Tower
Link and Birdo head towards the enemies whilst Gwalchmai enchants Link’s sword and weakens the Shadow Knight. They see distant green watch towers alight whilst they fight.
Once again Link strikes a critical blow on the shadow knight and defeats him in two strikes with his magically enhanced two handed sword. Birdo is wounded and a fight ensues on the walkways. However they are soon victorious and rescue the final soldier before lighting the warning beacon. They make a hasty retreat and head out picking up the two soldiers on the way out.
From the treasure a magic two handed sword is found for Gwalchmai and Link is able to obtain some training for his Dog. Both Main characters are now level 3 and a new Conjuror has joined Gwalchmai’s list of companions.
The adventure continues. Scenario Two: Orcs defending a bridge and an Orc Camp.
Our heroes need to cross the river and exit from the other side. They can investigate the camp on the way. They can use stealth and cover to avoid the Orcs until the alarm is raised. Cover blocks line of sight in this scenario where possible- our heroes crouching and being stealthy until the alarm is raised.
Link stealthily headed right supported by Gwalchmai. Panther went left whilst the others kept to cover. Link’s stealth caused the archers to look towards the river rather than the see our heroes.
Gwalchmai used his teleport spell to cross the river and hide behind the ruin. Meanwhile the Orcs clearly suspecting some activity (randomly) headed towards the ford where Link, Birdo the Man at Arms and Bobby the Recruit were all heading. Panther headed far left and the heavily wounded Swordsman kept to cover in the now clear central route.
Link raised the alarm by attacking but failing to subdue the Orc Sergeant who dealt him 9 damage with a blow from his two handed sword.
Gwalchmai grabbed the treasure secretly but then found himself in the open as the alarm was raised by the Sergeant. Two orcs rushed at Gwalchmai. A bitter battle near the ford ensued with both Bobby and Birdo falling in the fight against the sergeant. Panther pushed an orc archer into the fast flowing river: but he held his footing and shot an arrow killing the big cat.
In the end though Link with Swordsman’s aid was able to defeat the sergeant and evade the orcs to cross the ford to the camp where he and Gwalchmai found a book of poems. Then under a hail of arrows the three heroes escaped. Under cover of darkness Birdo and Bobby joined them, but the evil vulture had surely spotted them. They bound their wounds successfully and rejoined the resting War Dog of Link and headed towards an evil looking tower.
We found the map to the sulfur mine early on in our campaign. We never did it thinking we would wait until we had the scoundrel to loot all those chests.
Now that our team comprises scoundrel, bladeswarm , brute and diviner it seemed a good opportunity to warm up our new characters.
It was a good challenge with the bladeswarm having some bad luck with his summons who seemed to get killed needlessly. The Brute had a rough time upon entering the second main corridor. The scoundrel looted a record ten coins.
The diviner at last had lots of fun with her rift tokens as now they can be moved and used to attack. Plus they dealt out some nice curses blesses and one occasion proved very valuable in this scenario by teleporting the blAdeswarm into the penultimate room.
The bladeswarm went first into the last room and finished on one hit point but in the end had looted three of the necessary chests . The Brute pushed the annoying shaman onto a trap thus leaving him easy prey to the bladestorms attack.
The team scored a victory and with just one more technology required are headed to the clockwork cove. We can expect less use of Summons this next time perhaps .
We played some games of Blue Max and Downforce. Phil, Alex, Bruce, Darryl and the Two Mikes. Was good. Lots of shooting downs and burning planes in the first. In the second Phil came first and won in the first race and then Darryl did the same in the second (despite his betting on Alex).
