Episode 6: The Late King

 

Last we left off we were traveling to a new mission. It happens to have 10 weeks of travel. While traveling we find a Horse and Cart vendor, who sells us two Warhorse & a Cart all at 50% normal cost. In the future our travels will be quicker!

 

This dungeon regularly forces Undead monsters. Unlike the last mission with Orcs & Goblins, I have printed & painted the whole Undead Monster Encounter Table, so when it requires we find the nearest Undead entry, we will instead roll on that Table, which adds things that normally don't appear like Undead Wolves, Spirit Hosts, Revanents, Bat Swarms, Bone Giants, and so much more.

Room 1 we get a Poison Arrow Trap,
 it puts the Slayer at -1 Str & -1 WS for the rest of this adventure.

 

The Spiral Staircase as the 2nd card of a Dungeon?! 
All monsters beyond this point will be at +1 DL!

First monster encounter doesn't become undead, 
instead 4 Clanrat Champions and 2 Rat Ogres.

  

The Clanrats Champs are armed with these
jumping them from 2D6 damage to 4D6 damage
& Ignore Blow (4+)!

 

We are in the Sewer, meaning we are at +1 to be hit, and -1 to hit for most of this combat! 

Turn 1, the Halfling, Slayer, and Pit Fighter all target to kill the same Clanrat, so I can use my follow up move to get to 2nd floor quickly. The Priest takes my old spot, so she can heal any of the 4 of us. I think at the end of turn 1, all but Cleric go down to the onslaught of attacks. Cleric was able to heal everyone back above 0 before turn ends. Turn 2 the Halfling gets frustrated non of his shots are hitting, so he uses a "halfling Spell" that keeps a one Clanrat pinned until the power roll comes up a 1. We also kill 1 Clanrat and 1 Rat Ogre. We have good damage and a fair number of attacks, but Ignore Blow (4+) is just brutal.

 

End of turn 3, we kill 1 more Clanrat and I think everyone stays standing, 
as the only remaining Clanrat is magically pinned where he can't attack.

 Turn 4 we clean up the remaining monsters. (so far Undead Adventure is rats and a trap, no undead).

Guard room we get 4 Wights, this image is end of turn 1, after we killed one.

 I think we killed all 4 by the end of turn 2.

Hard to tell, but this is Flames of Khazla, so some free healing.

 

Normal Passageway followed by a Corner.

Small Passageway led into "the Intersection". Intersection spawns an event like a dungeon Room.
We get attacked by Vampire Bats & Undead Wolves.

The Bats easily bring me (Pit Fighter) to zero wounds during their Ambush, giving me 4 bleed counters. Luckily the Undead Wolves fail their Ambush (6+) , so they don't make it to us before our first Warrior's Phase. And the Vampire Bats Fail their Hit and Run (5+), so they stick around for our first Warrior's Phase.

The Slayer uses two healing potions on me to get me above zero wounds and to heal away all my bleed counters (saving the Cleric Blessings for end of turn). Between the Halfling and I, we kill all four Vampire Bats. These guys have Hit & Run, so we want to kill them before they disappear. The Slayer is no longer pinned, so he moves forward and kills one Undead Wolf and seriously injuring the 2nd. The Priest finishes off the injure wolf.

 

 With Cavalry as an ability, the Undead Wolves are never pinned by and can push models that take up 1 space. This allows them to move through one or more warriors to get to their target. They evenly distribute between us (can't target the cleric because of her Collar), I got down quite easily as I was at like 3 or less wounds, but the Slayer & Halfling stay standing, and the Cleric heals me before the turn ends. We easily dispatch the 3 remaining wolves on the next turn.

We know the last card is the Dread King's Throne, but with this mission, the Chasm of Despair will put itself as the next room. This room forces Single combat between one party member and 1 random Monster (of Dungeon Level 3, since we are passed the Spiral Staircase).  We decide the Slayer has the best chance at winning this fight, so I hand him a Scroll I got that has a one time effect of +2 Attacks until end of turn, the Halfling gives him the last Vial of Blade Venom, thats a one time effect of +1D6 damage until end of current combat, and we hand him 4 Healing Potions & 3 Lab Potions that have random effects. Hopefully between these he can defeat the King's Champion.

The Slayer walks into the Chasm, and we roll up the monster. 3+, it moves to the Undead list. He gets Spirit Hosts. It gets +1 Str, +1Toughness, +1 WS, a Monster Magic Weapon, and a Monster Magic Armour for being the King's Champion.

The Spirit Host gains these Magic Equipment.

 

Something of note, the Slayer has a temporary Rune on his axe that means he deals damage with no modifiers for Armour bonus (this Rune fades at the end of this adventure he got it from Slayer Shrine Table).  This still puts the Spirit Host at 7 Total Defense (3 base Toughness, +1 Toughness, and +3 Ignore Pain) and Ward (6+).

The Spirit Hosts doesn't do normal damage. It causes its target to reduce it's Starting Wounds, then deals 1 damage with no modifiers. The Starting Wounds only return after all Soul Drain monsters on the board are killed. The Spirit Host getting +1 Str here is scary, it now reduces the Slayers Starting Wounds by 1D3+2 each hit, instead of 1D3+1. The Vampiric Mace only helps the Spirit Host a little as it only deals 1 wound per attack at best. The Swarm ability doesn't help the Spirit Hosts, since no one but its target will either attack it or try to help the Slayer as the mission forces "One Vs One" combat.

 

 

Fighting a Spirit Hosts in Single Combat, makes healing potions useless. At most you will only ever be down 1 wound, but that will get reduced away as soon as the Slayer gets hit anyways. 

Luckily, the Spirit Host fails its Ambush roll, so the Slayer can go first. He starts by pour Blade Venom on his blade, then reading the scroll  for +2 Attack for a turn, and chugging 1 Lab Potion (healing wounds, so no use). The Slayer has 4 attacks this turn, at 3+ to hit, dealing 2D6 damage, with Str 6 (or 8 if he hits with a 6).

(Slayers base Str 3, +2 from Hammer, choose +2 from Champion skill, but -1 from Poison Arrow from room 1 of this dungeon).

He hits with 3 Attacks, 1 getting +2 Str. Spirit Hosts fails to Ward any of those attacks. Host takes 9 damage, is down to 13 life. 

Host attacks, hits with one, reducing Slayer's Starting wounds to 19, then putting him to 18. Healing itself 1 wound, back to 14.

Turn 2 of combat, Slayer tries another Lab Potion, gets +3 Toughness for D3 turns (useless in a fight against Spirit Hosts as they bypass Toughness). Slayer attacks with only 2 Attacks now, hits with only 1 and gets no bonus Str. Host takes 6 damage, is now at 7.

Host strikes back, Hits with all 3, reducing Slayer's Starting wounds to 10, then puts him at 9. Healing itself 3 wounds, back to 10.

Turn 3 of combat, Slayer tries last Lab Potion, gets -1 to be hit  for D3 turns, now the Hosts needs a 5+ to hit Slayer. Slayer hits back hitting with only 1 Attack through the Ward save, dealing 7, Host is now at 3.

Host returns the favor, still manages to hit with 2 Attacks! Reduces Slayer's Starting wounds to 2! Then puts him at 1. This heals host back to 5 wounds.

Turn 4 of combat. Slayer has to kill here or he dies. One attack hits, but no extra Str for this hit. Need a damage roll of 6 or higher on 2D6 to kill. Rolls a 7, Slayer kills the Host.

This is were we had to stop for the night, Priest and Slayer players had to leave to give a family member a ride. We will pick back up from this point next time.

That's all for this post, may your lantern always stay lit.

DeMagic Tutor out.