Revenge of Morcar

[Mistral]

@Anderas: Thanks, I managed to completely miss your quest book. This should come in handy for future installments.
Top work!

[Mistral]

The next morning, the Elf is waiting at the breakfast table as if nothing happened. Whatever required his presence the past days, he is not willing to discuss it (yet) with his brothers-in-arms.
After informing him of what has happened, they are ready for their next quest! Ahnuld the Barbarian wants to take on the Bastion of Chaos (lots of orcs to be slain and gold to be earned!), but the Elf wants to find Karlen, the lost Imperial Wizard. Jaques the Dwarf gets the deciding vote and chooses REVENGE! He hopes the nightmares will stop once he vanquishes them cursed statues guarding the dungeon. With better weaponry and equipment, the heroes hope to stand a better chance.
Mentor waves them goodbye and all depart again for the cursed ruins where the lost wizard is supposed to reside.

Quest 7: The Lost Wizard (reprise)

After desceding the same stairs, the Barbarian finds a pouch full of gold under the same rock the Elf fell over and nearly broke his neck. But in the next chamber, all is not as it should be. A sickly, green fire is burning in the old hearth, illuminating three threatening skeletons that close in on anyone foolish enough to enter. One of them is wearing ancient, almost rusty armor. But the combined might of the three heroes gets the better of these old bones.



It is clear some force is at work in these ancient ruins, raising the dead after they left last time. The confrontation with the statues in the central part of the dungeon is postponed for a while and they decide to examine the southern chambers where the Elf found the strange purple bottle. But as the Elf steps into the small hallway, he triggers a trap that clearly wasn't there the last time and a ball of fire forms into the centre, ready to explode. The Dwarf manages to jump into the next room and lands between a few guardian skeletons, while the Elf nearly gets roasted by the magical trap!



Jaques fends off the skeletons, and even manages to crush one of them but is wounded by the others. A few seconds later, the Barbarian and a slightly burnt Elf join him. Some more skeletons are vanquished and chambers found, and as the heroes arrive at the final chamber containing the chest, it is still open from when the Elf searched it last. An utter waste of time!
To make matters worse, the barbarian falls into a pit when he decides he wants to search the room for treasure. He finds an old, rusted bottle with a skull depicted on it. Against better judgement (and because barbarians are always thirsty) he downs the entire bottle and is wounded by the poison inside. Those barbarians!
The Dwarf and the Elf are already heading back to the central hallwayss, on the lookout for those magical statues. The Barbarian catches up and a tactical plan is made to encounter the statues.
As the barbarian charges around the corner, he engages one of the statues and... misses. The Dwarf attacks the other statue, which shatters in a thousand pieces in return!



After the barbarian suffers the necessary damage and ducks out of the way underneath the Elf's legs, the statue is demolished by the Dwarf and Elf. But another two magical statues are guarding the hallway, and the battle continues! Luck is with our heroes and after a short but fierce battle (all healing potions and sells have been used) only rubble remains where once proud warrior statues guarded the ancient ruins.
But time is ticking and Karlen is still nowhere to be found. The Dwarf scouts ahead and is shocked to find no traps at all in the corridors and a chamber with two guardian mummies! The Barbarian destroys one of them with his trusty battle axe, after which the other one proves to be a tough opponent! The combined might of the three heroes is needed to vanquish it, But what they find in the next hallway fills them with dread: a Gargoyle flanked by ancient skeletons, the true guardian of this dungeon!



The Elf uses his wits and throws his holy water into the room, obliterating the skeletons and giving the Barbarian more room to engage the abomination standing before them. The Dwarf joins the fight and the Gargoyle goes down without inflicting too much damage. Two doors remain, of which the Barbarian chooses one that leads to an ancient armory, guarded by more undead creatures. Ahnuld has enough of fighting skeletons and mummies and throws his last vial of holy water into the room. Clear! The armory contains rusted weapons and armor, but one piece of shiny armor stand out: the Armor of Borin, a relic from the War against Chaos! The Barbarian claims it for himself and now has a formidable defense as the Dwarf!
The Elf opens the last door and finds a zombie wearing a tattered robe in front of an alchemist's table, guarded by an imposing Chaos warrior! Jaques places himself in the doorway and is assaulted by the zombie, who not only damages him physically but also mentally! Something is wrong with this zombie (apart from being a zombie in the first place) and all heroes destroy it before it can inflict further damage. The Chaos warrior poses no real threat and after searching the chamber the Elf finds evidence that the zombie was in fact... Karlen!



The Wizard had been dabbling with forces beyond his control and succumbed to the Chaos magic he was studying, turning into a brainless zombie. In his personal chest, two hundred gold pieces are found, enough to forget the tragedy of the Emperor's personal Wizard's passing.
The journey home is silent. Mentor is devastated by the news of Karlen's passing, though he considered the possibility of temptation by Chaos. Each hero receives another hundred gold pieces as a reward for finding out the truth. The demise of Karlen rests heavy on the Empire, and proves a major setback in the campaign against the orcs!

But there is also reason for celebration, as the Elf is granted the title “Champion of the Empire” and is rewarded with even more gold! He also becomes a member of the Warrior's and Mage's Guild and learns new schools of magic. The next days wounds are healed, weapons are shopped and Ahnuld even hires a man-at-arms with a crossbow to take with him on the next quest.

[The Admiral]

Pristine combat dice! Aaah, I remember those, vaguely .

[Mistral]

Bert (aka Jaques the Dwarf) shot a timelapse video of Quest 7... Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6r9AgPqR1Vc

[Anderas]

Nice one
Thanks for this nicely written report.
In the time lapse video do i really see that you had difficulties in the last room?

[Mistral]

Quest 8: Bastion of Chaos

Ahnuld convinces the others to take on the Bastion of Chaos and clean it from evil. The bounties on the monsters' heads might have something to do with the Barbarian's resolve.
Mentor tells that a small group of Chaos Knights, affiliated with the feared “Dark Brotherhood”, have taken over an ancient, abandoned dwarven fortress dating back to the War against Chaos. With their new man-at-arms by their side, the heroes depart on yet another journey that leads them to the Black Mountains.



The first rooms are ridden with greenskins, but the goblins and orcs pose no real threat against well equipped heroes. The fimirs in this fortress are different and practice a form of chaos magic. Whenever they wound an adversary, they also hurt their mind (minus 1 mind point). After cleaning a few chambers, two pesky goblins target them with mere slings. The Dwarf atacks and slays one of these pests, but the Barbarian is less lucky and falls into one of the many pitfalls in the room. The crossbowman follows him, also stumbles into a pit and... dies. Ahnuld curses the wasted gold (not a single tear for the fallen soldier), climbs out of the pit and... falls into another one. The Dwarf finishes off the final goblin and searches the hallway for traps. On the bottom of the pit Ahnuld discovers a small, rusted bottle bearing the face of a skull. One might assume he has learned his lesson but no... The Barbarian downs the potion and is hurt by its poison again. Good times!
The way devides and all decide to follow the western route, which leads to another pitfall and an armory guarded by two chaos knights and their orc slave. The orc is quickly slain but the two Warriors of Chaos pose a real threat and several healing potions are needed to vanquish them. The armory has nothing of value. Once a mighty shield was to be found here, but now its place is just empty (too bad all shield cards were in play).



The Dwarf goes deeper and deeper into the stronghold and finds a room with a strange mosaic on the floor and another Chaos Warrior! The Barbarian charges into the room and is assaulted by its magical aura! Each hero has to roll a white die to defend against the Chaos magic, if no white shield is rolled he loses one mind point. Ahnuld is very glad he's wearing the Talisman of Wisdom!
He clashes with the Chaos Warrior, who's also infused with Chaos Magic and scores a mind hit every time he does damage. The horror! Instead of staying the heck outside, the Dwarf and Elf charge into the cursed room to aid their comrade and manage to defend against the magic with varying succes. Against three opponents the armored fiend goes down rather quickly, and all leave the room before it can play even more tricks on their feeble minds (where's that Wizard when you need him?), but not the Elf! He stays behind to look for treasure and finds a fimir hidden in the closet! What's a fimir doing in the closet of a Chaos Warrior? While pondering this bedazzling question, the monster assaults his mind together with the powerful corrupting magic of the room itself, and the unfortunate Elf falls down, mind shattered. He stays behind with his eyes open, drooling on the mosaic of a terrifying eye.



The fimir goes after the other heroes, but runs into a trap and gets butchered rather quickly by the Dwarf. Assuming their friend is “safe” as long as he's in that room the others push on and fight their way to the heart of the fortress. Little do they know something comes out of the shadows to rob the fallen Elf blind! Filthy grotlings, a cross between goblins and spiders, appear out of thin air and steal all his gold and even some items (he had to roll for every item, it is lost on a roll of 1-3). Then they vanish without a trace...
In the central room the Master of the Bastion is ready for them! A Chaos Warrior in blood red armor sits on a throne adorned with skulls and flanked by savage orc warriors and goblins. He wears the insignia of the Dark Brotherhood (ignore all damage when rolling a black shield). While the orcs assault the heroes, he challenges the barbarian and strides towards his foe... only to be massacred by Ahnuld in two mighty blows with the battle axe! Khorne won't care, more blood for the blood god!
So I actually managed to not roll a single black shield with four dice in two tries. Oh well.



The throne room cleared and sightly wounded, the two remaining heroes decide to cautiously scout the northern section of the fortress (the Barbarian has 2 MP left, the Dwarf 1 MP). An orc torturer is slain on sight, and two fimir attack but pose no real threat against mighty heroes that fight defensive. Lucky rolls, as every hit of them still scores an extra mind point damage. It's a Bastion of Chaos for a reason!



The Dwarf investigates all rooms, and ends up in a central chamber they forgot. Inside, another Chaos warrior awaits in front of a laboratory. Ahnuld comes to the recues and together they can vanquish this final foe! Victory is theirs! Or is it?
Jaques discovers a hidden passage and the barbarian crawls into a small cellar behind the wall to face a hideous stone abomination! A huge chest awaits, but the Barbarian smells a trap when he... smells one. Ahnuld is pretty certain the monster will come to life (and possibly crush them all) when the chest is opened so the heroes decide to head back to the exit and call it a day! They take the long way and search for treasure, but apart from a poison arrow in the knee and some hidden gold, nothing is to be found. No more hidden fimirs!



A small regiment of imperial troops awaits them outside. Apparently huge smoke clouds from the explosions within can be seen for miles away. The soldiers go into the fortress to make sure no monsters remain and bring out the Elf, whose condition is alarming! They also find a hideous statue and one of the soldiers decides to open a hidden treasure chest he finds... but that's another story!
After the journey back, the Elf heals in Mentor's estate until his mind can function again properly, although that could take a while.
Meanwhile Mentor tells the others the Emperor is searching for the Star of the West, a legendary diamond, to unite all provinces in the coming war against the orcs! Ahnuld and Jaques spend some days shopping for new weapons for the Elf (much was stolen) and drinking ale. The reward (bounties) for cleaning the Bastion of Chaos was rather steep!

Then, Ahnuld is summoned back home by his village elder (something to do with that Frozen Horror stuff). The Wizard is also about to return back from College! Just in time for NEW adventures!

In hindsight, maybe the mind point damage was a bit much, BUT they had a real challenge this time and were actually quite afraid in the last part of the fortress, playing very cautious and sneaky instead of kicking in doors. 1-2 more mind damage and this quest would have been a failure. They were warned the Bastion of Chaos wasn't for sissies!
Next time will be more traditional, with "normal" monsters and rules. I'm also thinking of using the American rules for mind points (0MP = shocked instead of KO'ed).

To be continued!

[Mistral]

Quest 9: Barak Tor – Barrow of the Witch Lord

Ahnulf the barbarian is called away by the village elder concerning the threat of the Frozen Horror. He won't be participating in the next quests (the player had a conflicting agenda). The good news: the Wizard will be joining the party again after graduating from the College of Magic with three new spell groups! Hoozah!

After a feast of reunion and the following hangover, a quest has to be chosen wisely. The Dwarf and Elf put the greater good in front of their personal interests and decide to go and search for the Star of the West for the Emperor, since it is of the greatest importance that all gather underneath its banner against the coming threat from the East. Barak Tor is a known, be it shunned, location and soon the heroes travel to the ancient city of the dead. A crumbling staircase (again) leads into the underground crypt of the Witch Lord who is laid to rest there and poses no threat at all.
The Wizard had some spare coins and decided to hire two men-at-arms on this quest, a dangerous crossbowman and a vicious sword fighter.



The Elf searches for treasure in the very first chamber and disturbs the not-so-eternal sleep of a guardian skeleton (wandering monster) that attacks him on the staircase! Five heroes are too much for the pile of bones and they continue into the long, silent corridors of the mausoleum.
Note of importance: none did search for traps or secret passages in this starting room, a slight mistake that will influence this quest greatly in a later stage.



The Wizard opens the first door he encounters, and quickly ducks away to let the Dwarf pass and take on the guardian mummy that awaits inside! The little tank holds his composure against the lumbering foe, but requires assistance from the men-at-arms and the Elf to slay the undead monstrosity. Alas, one of the soldiers gives his life for the cause and falls before the might of the mummy (it wasn't nice). His family will benefit from the gold pieces donated by the Wizard at the beginning of the quest. All that is found within the room is and old trap. But the real drama ensues behind them, as the corridor collapses, sealing off the way out!



Again it is the Wizard that continues into the next chamber and curses beneath his breath as more undead guardians await him within. Why in Sigmar's name did he study that “Sleep” spell when all adversaries are creaturs that are immune to his magic? The others rush into the room and the Dwarf blocks the doorway, shielding the frail Wizard from retribution, crushing their enemies. Unfortunately, the other soldier gets massacred! Yet more children growing up without a father... Tragedy! The Wizard finds some coins in the next room, which take some time counting (he misses a turn).
But: a hidden passage is found within the chamber and the party continues into the revealed corridor. No traps are to be found and a door opens into a grand chamber with a table in the middle, surrounded by three skeletons, a mummy and a weird zombie. Tactical positions are taken and a mighty battle begins! The skeletons are crushed easily, but the mummy takes a bit more to vanquish! The zombie holds his own against the Dwarf but is slain a bit later.



Within the zombie's hand, the Star of the West is found! Victory!!! Or is it? The exit still has to be found, plus some of the heroes plan to loot these ruins for more treasure. Always a swell idea!
More corridors follow, some of them trapped, and more chambers are found within the labyrinthine crypt. A dead end surprises the Wizard as two vile skeletons and a monstrous Gargoyle stand within, but the smart magic user conjures black clouds of shadow, rending his opponents useless for one turn! Once the shadows clear, his comrades are already in battle position and a conjured genie finishes off the unfortunate gargoyle. Epic!


Gargoyle vs (invisible) Genie

Secret passages are found, and hidden skeletons (bless those wandering monsters), while even more undead guardians threaten our heroes, one of which a barrow wight (according to the Wizard, none dare defy his knowledge) that takes a heavy battle and some healing of wounds to put down.



When the Dwarf assures his comrades the exit cannot be far off, disaster strikes! An old tomb is revealed, guarded by zombies. But when Jaques charges into the burial chamber, an old curse takes effect and an ancient, threatening figure appears besides his tomb: the Witch Lord has awoken!


Just a plain old tomb?

Mentor sends a mental warning claiming only the “Spirit Blade” can wound the undead sorceror, which the Elf wrongly understands as he should seek the ancient artefact in these tunnels. In the next chamber a library is discovered, guarded by a terrifying mummy!
While the Dwarf takes his stand and fights off the mummy and the hordes that are being summoned by the Witch Lord, the Elf and Wizard run into the corridors looking for the Spirit Blade. All they find are false doors and traps. The Dwarf is assaulted by vile magic but manages to brush it off (instant saves agains Fear and Ball of Flame, nice!), as he keeps fighting skeletons and zombies and manages to slay the mummy.



But then, the undead sorcerer plays another trick: the slain undead return to his burial chamber and yet again assault Jaques the Dwarf, who calls it a day and runs towards his friends. Desperate to find the exit, the Wizard offers to use his precious Ring of Return and escape from Barak Tor! With a small undead army on his heels, they regroup in a nearby chamber and use the artefact to teleport back to the stairs... The Witch Lord remains in his crypt, waiting to exact his revenge on the Empire!


The Witch Lord plots his revenge!

With haste, the heroes return to Mentor who is clearly shaken by the revelation of the Witch Lord's return! Only the Spirit Blade can harm this ancient foe, so the heroes quickly agree to take on the quest to retrieve the legendary weapon from wherever it is held.
Both the Elf and the Wizard hire a halberdier to accompany them on the search for the Spirit Blade.

Note: I actually had to interfere in the last chambers, switching one hidden passage to ensure the players would encounter the Witch Lord's tomb. Otherwise, they might have gone straight for the exit through the secret passages without awakening him, which is basically the main goal of this quest! Also, missing the secret passage in the very first room made a significant difference.

[Mistral]

Quest 10: Quest for the Spirit Blade

The only known facts about the Spirit Blade are its mysterious origins, hidden in legend: it was forged by the dwarves of the World's Edge mountain range and enchanted by elven archmages to be the ultimate and only weapon to put a stop to the threat of the Witch Lord. That was ages ago, in the Old Times, and the blade has been lost ever since. But Mentor is not your average archmage and through powerful scrying methods and ancient tomes and lore, he manages to put his wrinkled finger on what could be the final resting place of the legendary weapon!

Yet again, the Champions of the Empire travel to the remote ruins of elven making and descend yet another crumbling staircase into darkness...



They arrive in a room with four doors, which all give way to a central corridor. The hallway is guarded by a small regiment of orcs, led by a foul fimir! The Elf's enchanted sword thirsts for orc blood and a mighty battle ensues within the ancient tunnels!



A few slain greenskins later, Borwulf the Wizard scouts ahead and finds a room guarded by a dreadful mummy, who doesn't move at all. The Elf charges into the room but has to duck for cover as a falling stone trap collapses onto his head. At the last second, he jumps back into the hallway. The Wizard looks behind the next door and finds it guarded by a Warrior of Chaos and four skeletons! An eerie, unearthly light shines within this strange chamber...



Borwulf runs for his life and the Dwarf, Elf and halberdiers close in around the entrance. Another battle commences, which costs the life of both soldiers.
Tragedy
When the feeling's gone and you can't go on
It's tragedy
When the morning cries and you don't know why
It's hard to bear
With no one to love you, you're
Goin' nowhere...

With all opponents slain, the mysterious chamber is searched and there, floating in an ghostly blue light is the Spirit Blade! Victory!!! Or is it?

Old habits are hard to break and the Wizard opens a distant door and disturbs some orcs and a fimir playing a game of cards! Bloodshed and mayhem! Tactical positions are taken and rooms cleansed of foul greenskins! Another Chaos Warrior is encountered, but poses no threat to real heroes (although the Wizard has to heal the Dwarf on some occasions).



One comic moment when the tactical positioning turns out not so tactical and three sneaky goblins manage to gang up on the nervous Wizard, who sadly can fend off all attacks. The next round goblin kebap is made by the psychotic heroes, even after the poor creatures begged them to just leave them be. Psychopaths!



Not even healing potions are needed and, after some dead ends and a chest filled with gold pieces, the heroes return to the surface with the enchanted weapon as their prize!

The Witch Lord had better beware! The Champions of the Empire are coming for him!

Note: I'm gonna beef up that finale big time, with special undead monsters and abilities that will put them heroes to the test! The Witch Lord won't give away victory that easily...

[Anderas]

Nice battle reports!

There was a thread around here called "the witch lord is pale" to get some ideas, which finally lead to me writing down this in my personal quest book:

euh...
it seems i can't post it here ?!

[Daedalus]

That is one well documented and entertaining write up! Your own adjustments also look very entertaining. I'm looking forward to more reports. There are a few points I'd like to bring up.

Quest 4: Castle of Mystery
...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!

Quest 7: The Lost Wizard (reprise)
...The combined might of the three heroes is needed to vanquish it, But what they find in the next hallway fills them with dread: a Gargoyle flanked by ancient skeletons, the true guardian of this dungeon!

The Elf uses his wits and throws his holy water into the room, obliterating the skeletons and giving the Barbarian more room to engage the abomination standing before them.

I thought the holy water card only targeted one "any undead creature", not one or more "any undead creatures." Does your edition differ from the UK Treasure Card? If you're instead running a house rule, consider how it can affect Return of the Witch Lord. Quest rooms have up to 20 undead and aren't likely to be made more fun by removing a planned tough fight with a random Treasure Card.

Quest 4: Castle of Mystery
. . . 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!

Quest 5: Melar's Maze
. . . Through the hidden door behind the throne they finally reacht the stairwell leading upward, back to the Castle of Mys(t)ery. . . .

Quest 8: Bastion of Chaos
...The way devides and all decide to follow the western route, which leads to another pitfall and an armory guarded by two chaos knights and their orc slave. The orc is quickly slain but the two Warriors of Chaos pose a real threat and several healing potions are needed to vanquish them. The armory has nothing of value. Once a mighty shield was to be found here, but now its place is just empty (too bad all shield cards were in play)....

Lots of EU players play that way, but there is an option. The Adventure Design Kit, an EU release, has a page with a new Character Sheet. It is explained that "...This also allows you to buy pieces of equipment for which there are no spare cards by simply paying the existing cost and noting them down." It's the EU way to play with unlimited equipment, like the North American Armory.

Quest 9: Barak Tor – Barrow of the Witch Lord
. . . More corridors follow, some of them trapped, and more chambers are found within the labyrinthine crypt. A dead end surprises the Wizard as two vile skeletons and a monstrous Gargoyle stand within, but the smart magic user conjures black clouds of shadow, rending his opponents useless for one turn! Once the shadows clear, his comrades are already in battle position and a conjured genie finishes off the unfortunate gargoyle. Epic! . . .

I'm not sure what "black clouds of shadow" is, but I guess it is the WoM Darkness spell Cloak of Shadows, which lasts the whole Quest.