Revenge of Morcar

[Mistral]

After ages, we have started another Heroquest campaign with some members of our regular gaming group (from Belgium).
I decided to skip the trials and mazes and just plunge into the Original quests. Rather than playing them in order (bo-ring) the heroes get to choose from a few open quests Mentor presents to them. I try to follow the EU version but will incorporate some US options such as higher hit points for selected monsters, extra treasure/artefacts, etc...


First setup (with counters for hp/mp to reduce scribbling on hero sheets)
The heart tokens are from Arcadia Quest.

As per the original (EU) rules the heroes will become "super heroes" of the King/Empire when they succesfully complete 3 quests. In the US rules they become knighted when defeating the Witch King at the end of the Original campaign.
In my campaign they will become Champions after completing 3 quests, giving them 250 gold pieces and access to the material of the Wizards of Morcar set: henchmen for hire plus three new schools of magic for the elf and wizard.
Also, after becoming Champion each hero will get a personal quest to embark on (with the entire posse) whenever the group chooses to do so. For the barbarian it will be the three solo quests from the barbarian Quest pack, tweaked for a group of four. The elf will be presented with the first solo quest (also tweaked for a group), which will serve as a "test" from the Queen of Elves to see if he is fit to take on the quests from the Elven Quest Pack. The Dwarf will get to clean the Halls of Durrag-Dol of vile skaven and trolls. Still unclear about the wizard, probably a single quest where he can get some magical stuff - maybe The Eyes of Chaos?

After completing the Original quests, they will be knighted and receive 500gp (and maybe a single free henchman/squire depending on resources).
Then they will have to choose between the first expansions (Kellar's Keep and Return of the Witch Lord). Knowing my players, they will probably go rescue the Emperor first (KK).

If brought to 0 hp of mp they are not "dead" but merely unconscious. This to not break the narrative, pus the "new" hero will be the same character with a new name, which is lame in my humble opinion. If they fall unconscious in a room away from the others, they DO lose all gold and items when not recued in time (mugged by filthy grotlings from the shadows), this to put some stress in NOT being defeated. They do get to roll for every item (lost on a roll of 1-3) and artefact (lost on a roll of 1) but lose all gold.
If ever the entire group is defeated (KO'd), forced follow-up quests will become available: Legacy of the Orc Warlord (only after completing Fortress) and Race Against Time (starting from a prison cell as the first). Morcar/Zargon chooses which one. Maybe even The Trial (also starting from a cell and having to get the key to escape from Verag) if they keep failing, but we'll make that up as the campaign continues...


Painted HQ minis (still some work left)!

So far we did 1 evening of questing and played three quests, of which the heroes won 2 (ran away but without casualties in 1 quest). Heroes present: barbarian, dwarf & elf. Next session will be without the dwarf (dwarven business) but introducing the wizard to the group.

I'll try and post summaries of the quests later, with some more photos if possible.

[Mistral]

Quest 1: Prince Magnus' Gold

Mentor welcomes and introduces the heroes. Present are: Ahnuld the Barbarian, Marcel (real name unpronouncable) the Elf and Jaques (Jack) the Dwarf. The wizard is missing and currently dispatched by Mentor on a personal quest to retreive lost knowledge. Mentor also tells of Morcar, the First War against Chaos and Rogar (aka Sigmar) the Barbarian, ancestor of Ahnuld! He adresses the current situation of the Empire and presents the heroes with their first quests: The Rescue of Sir Ragnar, Prince Magnus' Gold and The Lost Wizard (aka The Stone Hunter).
The heroes decide go after Gulthor the Chaos Warrior and his band of foul orcs and retreive the stolen gold of Prince Magnus (the steep reward may have contributed to that decision).


The 3 heroes prepare themselves for their very first quest!

After a long journey they reach the orcs' stronghold. Goblins and orcs are slain without much problems (though rolling black shields like crazy), but when searching for treasure the heroes are surprised by marauding fimirs on more than one occasion! The heroes do remember to search for traps and find almost all pits and spear traps in the hallways, which the dwarf removes with changing succes (he falls into about half of them pits - a result of his drinking problem according to the elf). Through a secret passage behind a book case another part of the dungeon is reached...


"Have at thee, filty orcses!!!"


A hidden fimir surprises the elf from within the book case!

After a long search the elf arrives first at the door of the central chamber and decides to open it. Inside, Gulthor awaits with his personal retinue of bodyguards. Even more orcs, gobbo's and a fimir! Our heroes decide that an assault is the best defense and after decapitating the foul fimir, Ahnuld strikes Gulthor down with a mighty blow (3 hits without a single black shield for his impressive 3 hp). Sigmar will be proud! The other orcs and goblins are easily dealt with.


The final fight against Gulthor!

The Dwarf mentions keeping the gold for themselves but is quickly intimidated by his companions to give all of it back to the good people of the Empire. When they return, Mentor is relieved they chose the right path of heroes instead of becoming fugitives (with some gold to spare).

With their reward from the Prince, a helmet is bought for the barbarian and a (sneaky) staff for the elf. After a short rest they are ready to take on their next quest...

[Mistral]

Quest 2: The Lost Wizard

Mentor again welcomes the heroes in his private study. The two earlier quests are still standing plus the old mage has a new quest to boost their pockets (although dangerous): Bastion of Chaos in which every monsters (its head) is worth its weight in gold!
They decide a full fortress of chaos monsters and warriors might be a bit too much at the moment (and they are no mere bounty hunters!) and decide to start the search for the Emperor's pet wizard Karlen. The last clues found point towards an ancient dungeon at the edge of the Empire... Is he dead or has Karlen succumbed to the powers of Chaos?

Still on the stairs the elf decides to search for treasure... and falls right off, injuring himself.
A portion of the dungeon is searched and apart from animated skeletons, lots of devious traps and a strange, purple liquid in a flask nothing more is discovered. When trailing back to the central portion (all dungeons seem to have the same proportions ) strange stone statues are discovered.
The stone statues even move and attack when going near them, and it seems impossible to harm them (I kept rolling black shields for every hit). Badly wounded, the heroes retreat and even manage to put a scratch on one of the statues. Just as the barbarian and dwarf escape via the stairwell, the elf vanquishes one of them, after which it crumbles to a rubble. Singled out and with more of them approaching, he decides not to be a hero and quickly trails behind his companions, the fate of poor Karlen still unknown...



Mentor isn't happy but glad the heroes aren't dead. NO reward though and all healing potions were used. They decide to heal up and free poor Sir Ragnar next (how long has he been the captive of those orcs?).

Side notes: TWO stone Chaos warriors were enough to make the heroes flee... Wonder how it'll turn out if they ever decide to return here. because of its nature, the quest stays available (for now). Some thing might not be the same when the heroes return here...
The yellow tokens are to make it clear which chambers have already been searched (I only allow 1 search per chamber).

[Mistral]

Quest 3: The Rescue of Sir Ragnar

As seasoned dungeoneers, the heroes go straight for the part of the dungeon where the good Sir Ragnar is being held captive by the orcs. After defeating some orc guards, a cell door and its guardian, a foul fimir, is found.



Inside the cell they find a heavily wounded Sir Ragnar!



But alas, an alarm sounds throughout the entire dungeon, mobilizing all inhabitants and sending a waaaaghhh of orcs and goblins their way!



The barbarian keeps the door from the first goblin assailants but teams up with the dwarf and the elf (from behind a corner with his sneaky staff) to take on the tide of greenskins!



The heroes emerge victorious, though wounded, and after sending Sir Ragnar to the stairwell, a few venture off into the dungeon, looking for its treasures. On the lookout for marauding monsters they find some gold and a healing potion, but the elf is wounded after searching a trapped chest (without looking for traps first). What a mistake to make!
After being jumped by a sneaky orc from under a table, they quickly head for the exit, glad to have accomplished another quest. Mentor gives Marcel the Elf the promised reward of 200 gold pieces as he was the first to open the cell door, who shares it with his companions.
Now the true culprit behind his abduction is known, Sir Ragnar has put a price on the head of Ulag the Orc Warlord!

With 2 of the 3 required quests done, all may reach the status of "Champion" next game!

[knightkrawler]

Ooooh, shiny!
A new batrep thread. For the future: I might rarely respond to this in any way, but you can be sure I'll always read these post and enjoy them.
Many of us do, so please don't feel discouraged if the thread gets rare responses.

[Jafazo]

Just wanted to double up on Knightcrawler's response. I like reading these little tid bits. Good Gaming!

[Mistral]

The Elf is called away on “elven business”, according to Jaques the Dwarf: “Huggin' trees an' eatin' flowers”. Mentor summons the Barbarian and Dwarf to his home and in front of his trusty fireplace, drinking exquisite mead, he tells them the Wizard hasn't returned yet from the quest he was undertaking. He had found the location of the legendary “Maze of Melar” in which, according to legend, the Talisman of Wisdom was kept safe from the forces of darkness. The Wizard was on a secret mission for Mentor to retrieve this Talisman before Morcar could get his filthy clutches on the artefact, but something must have gone wrong and the Wizard vanished without a trace! In his last correspondance he made notice of the Castle of Mystery, once home to the dreaded sorcerer Ollar who sold his soul to chaos in exchange for power. Had he built his abode on top of the Maze to try and reclaim the Talisman as his own?
Decades ago, the mad mage wanted to make his home into a “Silver Tower” dedicated to the foul god Tzeentch. But the Emperor sent his witch hunters to the mage's home who eradicated everything before he could finish his work. Ollar perished inside his burning castle, at least that is what the stories tell. Some of the chaos magic must still linger, as the locals still shun the place and refuse to speak the mad mage's name!

Determined, Ahnuld the barbarian grasps his sword, and Jaques the Dwarf takes his trusty axe and helmet to embark on a new quest, this time to save the Wizard and reclaim the Talisman of Wisdom!
Mentor guides them in the right direction and after a few days of travel, they reach old ruins where once was the home of Ollar the Mad. Only an archway with an old door set into it remains. As the Barbarian pushes it open, he is swallowed by chaos magic and pulled into the...



Quest 4: Castle of Mystery

The Barbarian arrives into an icy chamber with a metal door at the far end. Inside the ice, strange creatures are frozen for eternity. The door opens onto a stairwell that leads down, only a force field is holding the Barbarian back. Are all heroes needed before being allowed to descend to the Maze? Ahnuld curses Ollar and the forces of chaos!
Meanwhile the dwarf leaps after his friend and arrives in an old chamber guarded by a mummy! He decides to hold onto his holy water for a later occasion and battles the creature heads on. A bold move, for after defeating the mummy he arrives in another part of the castle where some skeletons and another mummy are waiting for him. The holy water turns them into dust within an instant!



And so a mad chase starts throughout the Castle of Mystery, where the heroes keep arriving in the same chambers over and over again and are beset by the castle's guardians: undead creatures, orcs trapped in time, warriors of chaos, a foul ogre and even a champion of Khorne. The way out seems to have vanished, and on occasion the ghost of Ollar appears, laughing as a madman before going up in smoke! The castle seems to be ridden with treasure and our heroes stuff their pockets with gold and jewelry.



But then the Dwarf finds his doom against ice goblins. As he falls down, the Barbarian arrives to find his friend gone! After slaughtering the poor gobbo's, he dives back into the doorway searching for his missing friends. Destiny (or was it Tzeentch himself?) helps a hand and manipulates the Dice of Destiny so Ahnuld is thrown into a chamber containing a cage made up of force (time was ticking and we were getting nervous from rolling the wrong numbers). It is guarded by three orc warriors and contains the Dwarf and Wizard, both unconsious and held in stasis! But these guards are no match for the dreaded barbarian and after the last is defeated a key to the lock is found. Once freed, the Wizard, who introduces himself as Borwulf Faustenberg, is grateful for the rescue and pledges his elemental magic to their cause! The Talisman of Wisdom must be claimed!



Another mad chase commences in which heroes and monsters bounce around the castle, landing on top of one another, wounding and sending each other to other parts and chambers. As it starts to seem there is no end to the endeavour (we are starting to grow tired outgame as well), the Barbarian goes down against an almost defeated ogre warrior (one hp remaining) and both Dwarf and Wizard arrive in the final chamber with the exit.
As they continue downward without the Barbarian, a change occurs in the castle above and a third pair of footsteps sounds behind them. The Barbarian is alive and well, just slightly wounded (returned with 4/8 hp). The castle gives and takes!
The three heroes continue their journey into the darkness, and finally arrive in... Melar's Maze!

Notes: I have always hated the Castle of Mystery because of its random nature and the fact there was NOTHING to gain with this quest. In the original, one player finds 5000 gold pieces (or something like that) only to learn it was an “illusion” at the end of the annoying quest. So I decided to make Melar's Maze a two-parter. In hindsight I should just have beefed up the latter and scratched Castle of Mystery altogether, but it was fine as an introduction to the Wizard who was a bit later in real life so it kept the other players busy until he arrived. But rolling for the right rooms took FOREVER!

[Mistral]

Quest 5: Melar's Maze

Our heroes need some time adjusting to the eerily quiet maze, after the insane nature of the haunted castle. They decide to explore the first chambers, and find a secret door behind a throne, leading into an abandoned laboratory where they also find a hidden healing potion.
Following the long corridors of the labyrinth, an ancient mummy assaults them. Because of the small nature of the corridor unusual tactics are in order to defeat it (jumping over each other and standing in each others' way) but the heroes persevere.
After another encounter with a dreadful mummy a bit further, the way devides in two and the heroes split up. The Barbarian follows the left branch, leading to a door guarded by a skeleton, while the dwarf and wizard take the right turn and find a hidden door behind a corner (not that well hidden and the Wizard is actually afraid and stays way back). This “hidden” door leads into Melar's library, full of book cases and also some shambling undead guardians!



The Barbarian makes quick work of the lone skeleton and hurries to join the fight. While the Wizard keeps his distance (his “Sleep” spell is utterly useless with all these undead), his comrades hack 'n slash their way through the library, Ahnuld doesn't even spare the shelves stocked with ancient tomes and writings. Borwulf has to shed a tear for all lost knowledge.
When the dust finally settles, Jaques spots a remarkable locket within the bandages that remain of the mummy guardian: the Talisman of Wisdom! Using diplomacy, flattery and utter care the other two can convince the Barbarian to wear it (since he has the least mind points of them all – not saying he's just stupid).

The Talisman has been found, but the exit hasn't. Through the other door more chambers and corridors are found, mostly full of walking skeletons. When the barbarian enters a distant chamber, he almost has a stroke as he stares into the vacant eyes of a stone statue of a Gargoyle! According to the dwarf, the statue will burst to life as soon as Ahnuld opens the distant door, an idea at which the barbarian laughs out very loudly. Ahnuld is beset on the other side by more skeletons, while the dwarf is viciously attacked by... the Gargoyle, sprung to life by ancient magics! Talisman of Wisdom, eh?



The skeletons are almost as formidable as the Gargoyle, costing the heroes their last healing potions and magic (at least the Wizard doens't feel completely useless keeping his friends alive), but victory is theirs in the end. Through another crawlspace a vast treasure is found in a trapped chest (hooray for dwarves) and the hundred gold pieces are devided among the party. Through the hidden door behind the throne they finally reacht the stairwell leading upward, back to the Castle of Mys(t)ery. Ahnuld braces himself to hack his way through the magical castle again but all end up in overgrown ruins. The magic of the castle has finally disappeared! They can return to Mentor bearing good news!

Aftermath: Borwulf is welcomed by Mentor who is relieved he is not dead yet. The old mage is content the Talisman is worn by a champion and thus protected from evil.

Ahnuld and Jaques both receive the title “Champion of the Empire”, along with 250 gold pieces each and the membership of the Warriors' Guild. Now the can hire man-at-arms through the guild to take questing! They decide to spend their hard earned gold on better arms and armor. Ahnuld buys a shiny battle axe (4 attack dice, woe them monsters!) and Jaques is transformed in a small tank (4 defend dice) waving a long sword (3 attack dice).

Mentor pulls some strings at the court and arranges for the Wizard to get two out of three quests fulfilled since the threat of Ollar is finally gone and the Talisman is found. One more quest and the Wizard shall also become a true Champion!
Ahnuld doesn't want to rest while evil is afoot and consults Mentor as to which quests are currently open. The Emperor's mage is till missing, but those statues are mightily intimidating. The Bastion of Chaos still hasn't been cleaned of evil. Sir Ragnar's bounty on the head of the orc warlord that kidnapped him is still standing. And a new bounty has been put on the head of Balur the Fire Mage, a vile sorcerer helping the Black Orcs in their raids against the good people of the Empire.
Jaques the Darf wants to go trash some magical statues in revenge, but Ahnuld chooses the things he does best: slay orcses! And so Mentor consults with emperial spies for the shortest road to...

[Mistral]

Quest 6: Lair of the Orc Warlord

This quest was a bit beneath heroes of such composure, but it helped Borwulf the Wizard reach the status of Champion rather quickly.
Arriving within the foul lair of Ulag and his orc marauders, Ahnuld the mighty Barbarian and Jaques the Dwarven Tank were released upon unsuspecting goblins, orcs and fimirs. These poor creatures didn't stand a chance against trained killers in the service of the Empire and fell by the dozens before red steel. From time to time, the Wizard aided them by putting the already disadvantaged gobbo's and orcs in a magical slumber. A genie was dispatched to deal with an imposing fimir, befor the barbarian finished the creature off. After a small wave of greenskins posed what seemed to begin to look as a minor threat, the chambers of Ulag himself were reached!



The orc warlord had the protection of a Champion of Chaos and some goblins, but the Dwarf positioned himself rather interestingly and with one mighty blow decapited the Chaos Champion while the Barbarian slaughtered more gobbo's. Ulag had a healing potion tucked away to make things a bit more interesting and managed to wound the dwarf slightly, before getting butchered by a barbarian and a dwarf.
In the back of the room, a treasure chest is found containing the orcs' spoils of battle. Hoozah!

The last part was a bit more interesting, as an escaped goblin was bleeding the Wizard dry, before running away into the far corridor for backup. In a distant armory a fimir and his two orc bodyguards gave the heroes their first real challenge here , using the narrow corridors against them. But eventually (and with the help of the Wizards' healing magic) the heroes defeat the monsters and even find a nice spear amidst the heaps of orcish trash. It is reserved for that Elf in exchange for the staff he is carrying. Everybody happy!

Aftermath: Sir Ragnar himself is at the eastern front, preparing for war against the tides of greenskins and the armies of chaos that are gathering there. When news of the small victory reaches his ears he has the promised reward sent to Mentor who gladly gives it to Jaques the Dwarf, boosting his popularity. He decides to share it with his brothers in arms.

Borwulf the Wizard also receives the title "Champion of the Empire". He is awarded with heaps of gold and the membership of the Warrior's Guild so he can hire men-at arms, but also the Mages' Guild, which allows him to learn three new schools of magic!
He will have to leave the party for a while to go study at the prestigious College of Magic in the capital (the player couldn't be there next session, so this was a good solution).

If that isn't enough, the Dwarf and Barbarian receive personal news from their respective homes. News of the Dwarf's exploits reached his clan and he has become a true celebrity of Clan Durrag! The Clan Chieftain has commissioned him to retrieve an old heirloom from the old catacombs of Durrag-Dol, should he feel up to the task.
Ahnuld receives grim tidings from the North, as an ancient evil has awoken from its slumber: the Frozen Horror now threatens his ancestral lands, and even the entire Empire should it gain in power! As a direct relative to Rogar the Barbarian, he could be the one destined to stop this monster once and for all... But to prove he is up to the daring task he will have to fulfill three quests for the tribe elders first.
In thoughts, they both are found within the alehouses the next days, pondering the future.

And what about that Elf?

[Anderas]

Hello,
if you think a quest is beneath the heroes, and it is from the base game, just take a look at my 4 colored questbook

Thanks for your report. I rather like the style.