Ye Olde Inn

by **Kurgan** » May 1st, 2021, 8:07 pm

Had a great time, thanks for playing.

:goblin:

it burns us!

:mummy:

think you had a bad day?

:orc:

sigh.....

come and get me!

:barbarian:

just you wait!

I'm now convinced, the Trial is probably the longest canon quest in history (other than Dark Company, I bet that sucker takes forever). It lives up to the name.

Hang in there! We'll finish it next time and be ready for something new.

You said most people don't even go off finding the tomb … But this map seems to funnel people into it. An exhaustive clear of The Trial probably does take longer than most others of the original quests and I think we've mostly done that now. There's one other I think I remember that might take as long, but for a different reason.

by **Kurgan** » May 3rd, 2021, 9:10 am

No, that was definitely a goblin crossbowman that got a taste of fiery wrath! Lips are sealed on any other things until we've finished it...

I think in the 2nd Ed. EU version of the Trial (the quest's debut), it says to only use the monster cards, so that would definitely be faster (not just for the 1 BP monsters) with no searching (but also NO SPELLS, which really weakens the Wizard!). The original version did have stronger monsters though...

I played a souped-up version of the Trial with five heroes once which was quite epic... and took 4 hours as well.

The homebrew mechanics of hammers being better against skeletons and fire against mummies, etc. is cool and all but I am trying to keep it simple(r). These are magic monsters, so who knows why, it just is. |_P

by **Kurgan** » May 3rd, 2021, 12:22 pm

Next Quest time is Friday afternoon. Hit me up...

by **iKarith** » May 4th, 2021, 11:32 am

Oh you're right! That bugger having a crossbow is why he got cooked.

by **Kurgan** » May 4th, 2021, 6:59 pm

So I'm allocating time to play this Friday AND Saturday. Even if just one person shows up one of those days, it's worth it, so I send out the invite... send me a PM if you like but email is the best way to contact me and I can send you the info needed to join.

by **Kurgan** » May 7th, 2021, 12:21 pm

We're starting shortly here if anyone is watching...

My Treasure deck has 70 cards. I'm using Potions, Equipment, Spell Scroll, Evil Wizard and Combat Card decks, but NA rules base.

Pretty awesome game. The Trial (remixed) was completed, with lots of thrills and chills (and plenty of gold). Added a furniture trap and a new prize (the Wand of Recall) to a heavily guarded (but formerly empty) chest.

Two of the heroes embarked on a side quest (BQP #1) but didn't quite finish (saved our position). Planning to play again tomorrow Noon---, of course what we play will depend upon who shows up!

Victory!
Last time... the evil Verag was cornered and one by one his henchmen were vanquished until finally he himself was slain by the Heroes. I was getting tired towards the end but had a great time. Lots of loot was taken as well which will come in handy. Mentor identified some rare potions that the Heroes confiscated from the tomb which they have chosen to keep for now. Meanwhile two of the Heroes went on a side quest to the frozen north, gathering intel on a new and growing threat...

Lots of good use of magic by the Wizard and Elf (who used Water) and the Barbarian who had a couple of stashed spell scrolls (Sleep and Genie!). Despite Zargon's interference (creeping darkness prevented spells for a round)) they were able to punch through and invade Verag's hiding place. A Chaos Warrior was thrown into sleep but finally woke up, yet he too was killed. While the Heroes were gravely wounded (but had plenty of healing left), they survived and we called it a night.

What will happen this afternoon? We'll find out in a few hours...

by **Kurgan** » May 8th, 2021, 12:57 pm

Saturday session begins in a few minutes here...

by **Kurgan** » May 8th, 2021, 10:11 pm

I'd not seen such bravery! Ikarith controlled the four heroes in the Rescue of Sir Ragnar (remixed thanks to Heroscribe).

All in all, it was a long, epic game. I got off to a slow start, but figured out a lot better camera angles (macros in OBS!) for next time. We spent some time sparring over the application of Courage (I'm going to be taking a more liberal interpretation of it, just not the maximalist approach that the EU wording encourages). In the end it was put to very good use and I was impressed with the way the quest was resolved.
:fimir:

A pretty satisfying adventure I would say. Looking forward to the next one!
:orc:

Once the alarm sounded, the following turn, Zargon placed two Orcs on the stairs, every turn thereafter until Sir Ragnar would escape...
He can get into the details, but by the end, these stalwart warriors cut down an entire PLATOON of Ulag's orcs guarding the escape down the southern double passage leading to the center room and the stairs. A daring rescue indeed, and for that, and their previous achievements (Quest 7, and 1), they were each granted the rank of Champion. What mighty deeds will be recounted in the stories yet to be told? |_P

by **iKarith** » May 8th, 2021, 11:49 pm

hope that goblin didn't owe you money or something…
:orc:

He owed me three gold pieces!
:dwarf:

Ya won't be collectin' in this life… Maybe you'll have better luck in the next. *stab*
:orc:

urrrrggh…

In the last quest, there was that orc who just couldn't manage to hit the elf no matter what he did… Mentor noticed the orc's shade was following him, trying to stab at him ineffectually. He determined this was embarrassing for the poor fellow and had him exorcised. We named him Bob. But just before we found Ragnar, we found a wandering monster who … appeared inside the wizard's hat, jumped out, and tried stabbing the elf again. Bob, is that you? No mater, dead again.

So there we were, we rescued this tr—trusted champion of the empire, yeah, but before we got there, there was this room with a table and even though we'd searched for traps, somehow we had missed one thanks to this card Zargon pulled out of his ass apparently when there were no monsters to be found. We were moving cautiously and carefully, searching everything as we went … but pit.

The barbarian was all for just jumping up on the table for us to get around it, but … nah. Amazingly, the wizard (with his rock skin) and prisoner were the only ones it seems like to never fall into the damned pit at least once. Then there was a mimic. Could've been that table, but nooo, it was the bookcase so that we had to jump that stupid pit trap again. Which of course at least half the heroes fell into, y'know, again!

We DID get the prisoner out of his cell and were in the process of leading him off to his tri—uh, triumphant return, yeah—when we realized there were orcs coming in about as fast as we could move to get out. The passage ahead was already full of them, and more were coming!

The elf had already popped healing water on the prisoner since he was apparently sooooooo wounded and had two BP left … and then he had three. THREE? Some "hero". Almost as if he just asked the orcs to make it look like they were torturing him, right? But he seemed to be in some kind of shock and … maybe that's why he was moving so slowly after being healed from his "grave" … scratch.

Fine, so we used a very expensive potion of restoration which gave him back a mind point. The Emperor sent us in to get this man out and … with orcs pouring in we needed a plan to do that. They were just going to keep coming until he was out, we figured so … what to do? Well, we got him as close as we could before it was starting to get ridiculous… And then we gave him some Vanishing Dust and a Potion of Speed. We had spells to accomplish the same, but the way things worked out timing wise, the wizard had already acted and Ragnar was moving at 2d6 and … the stairs were 80 feet away (even though there were a crap-ton of orcs between here and there…)

Yeah so we were going to actually pile the potion and a pair of spells on him to give him lots of movement but we took the gamble … 6, 5, 6, 1. That's 90 feet of movement there, and more than enough to get this rat ba—er, I mean faithful knight who would never betray the empire, to safety.

That just left a LOT of orcs. The wizard decided to cast Courage upon the crossbow-armed dwarf, who was heard to shout, "All right lads, it's a faight ya be wantin' let's fooking GOOO!" before he charged in throwing crossbow bolts for 5 dice each at every orc that was more than a few steps away from him. The barbarian ran forward trying to cut a path through, the elf even charged ahead in a rather surprising display of non-elifshness.

Oh! The elf! He charged into battle, so bravely! And … was cut down!

:orc: