Q15: "The Ruins of Direburg" by Count Mohawk & Gold Bearer

[Count Mohawk]

(As of the most recent storyline draft, the cultist chapter begins at Quest #15. This is the first Quest in that chapter.)
Edit July 26th: I have updated the Quest layout, removing references to Games Workshop material and changing the swamp-themed monsters to additional undead figures. I believe this new layout plays better with the storyline. This will be the final edit unless additional objections are voiced.
Edit August 4: Daedalus made some good wording suggestions, so I incorporated those into the Quest Notes. (The actual gameplay remains unchanged.)

HQ25 Quest 15A.png

QUEST 15: The Ruins of Direburg
After a grueling and arduous trip through the thickened forests, you finally find yourselves looking down on the once serene but now decaying town of Direburg. The jungle has claimed most of the outskirts, and a thick green moss has covered the buildings. Direburg has been occupied by a band of cultists led by a powerful necromancer. The bodies of its long-dead inhabitants have been cursed to rise from their graves and do his bidding. You must find the entrance to the crypt where the necromancer hides and kill him before he escapes.

NOTES—

The doors with a slash through them have long since fallen apart from disuse, and are put onto the board open instead of closed. Those doors with adjacent blocked square markers represent impassable entryways to collapsed structures.
A The first Hero to Search for Treasure in this room will find a Ball of Flame Spell Scroll atop the table.
B This treasure chest contains a Potion of Healing capable of restoring up to four lost Body Points, but is trapped. If a Hero Searches for Treasure before the trap is disarmed, all Heroes in the room will lose one Body Point as an acrid cloud of smoke billows out of the chest.
C These three Cultists wear gaudy robes signifying their higher rank in the Cult of Chaos. While all three of them are alive, they can collectively cast the Chaos Spell Cloud of Chaos instead of attacking or casting a Spell as normal.
D The treasure chest here contains 150 gold coins.
E The Stairway here leads down into the crypts of Direburg, and marks the end of the Quest.

Wandering Monster: Zombie

[Count Mohawk]

Hi, my username is Count Mohawk and I am bad at making easy Quests. I did try to keep both the difficulty and the length of the Quest Notes to as low a point as I could manage, and this is the result. As you can see, the Heroes are not obligated to explore the entire Quest by any means, so despite there being a fair number of monsters I suspect the difficulty is on par with Kellar's Keep, or a little above. Of course, the Heroes have at least 14 Quests under their collective belts by this point, so I would assume they have collected some useful equipment by now anyway. As for the Notes themselves, I checked them in a Word document and they fit exactly on one page, including the map and parchment text, so I would call that a success!

I made a few changes from the notes Gold Bearer and I collectively took in our brainstorming thread (found here):

• I had to cut down on the pre-Quest parchment text to make it able to fit as it is usually printed. I may have cut a little bit too much, but then I also think we could fit another line or so of narration in. Gold Bearer wrote a lengthy pre-Chapter piece, however, that I would like to see included as a page of its own just before our chapter begins proper, not least because I'm not sure how else to fit in the description of how the Empire's seven best Wizards were kidnapped for use in a profane ritual by the various cultists.
• All names of places and people, except for the names of the four Chaos gods, are WIP and/or placeholder names. If you like them, they can stay; if you don't, suggest something better and I will change them.
• I simplified the Nurgle Cultists' ability, as it takes up too much room otherwise. That said, I'm not all that happy about removing the incremental effect each Cultist past the third had on their collective ability to cast spells. Gold Bearer (and others), I'd appreciate your input on how best to fix this so that four Cultists are better than three while the note explaining this doesn't stretch past four or five half-lines at most. (For example, if we limit them to just summoning, each Cultist above the third lets them summon one more monster, although limiting them in this way makes them overlap with the Khorne cultists.)
• I don't think the list of Swamp Spells has been finalized yet, but regardless of what they do, the sorcerer near the exit stairway will have a hand of six spells including some or all of those spells. Incidentally, I intend to make sure one of his spells is the almighty Rust!
• I cut down on the Wandering Monster here quite a lot. For those who underestimate the danger of a WM encounter with four or five monsters, even if they're as weak as the Kobolds, they all get to attack at least once each. Five chances at failing the Heroes' defense roll gives a surprisingly high chance of taking Body damage - and they still have to kill the Kobolds on their own turns afterwards or risk getting more of the same.
• The custom Monster icons I used were the Lizardman Sentinel for the Kobolds (there's three of them in the quadrant with note B, for reference) and the Chaos Sorcerer (Frodo's) for the Cultists (the hooded guys with horns).

Anyway, that's my contribution so far. While the rest of the forum chatters about what they do and don't like about Quest #15, I'll be working on #16, which takes place in a crypt and has loads of Undead!

[Gold Bearer]

A few thoughts, I'll write a more detailed post later. I really like it.

We could add some breached wall tiles from WoM, that would work really nicely, even if they just lead to emtpy buildings.

There's a better hooded icon for the cultists.

I'd love to see an orc warlord and shaman in one of the unused rooms.

[Gold Bearer]

We don't need to include rules for the chaos warriors and cultist quest by quest if we use a page in the chapter just for that. That's how I laid it out in the edited opening post to save space.

There could be a mixture of open and closed doors.

We could tart up that gas trap in the centre room so that they all roll a combat dice and on a skull they loose a bp and on a black shield the loose a bp and get infected with swamp disease.

I think the wandering monsters needed cutting down but maybe a fimir and two kobolds/goblins wouldn't be too much?

I think the room with the broadsword needs a weapon rack. I can't imagine a sword fitting inside a chest.

I don't think we should use the marsh skeletons or fogwalkers coming up the stairs, just mummies. There won't be any swamp undead down there and it will hint at lots of mummies to come in the next quest. We could use marsh skeletons to come through the entrance door every turn after a certain point. Then they'll be undead coming in from both directions.

I think there needs to be a few more green skins. I had them in mind as the main occupants of the town. I've got an idea of how to include them. I'll upload an edited version of your map at some point if you don't mind to see what you think. I won't be changing anything you've put in.

I think the sorcerer should just have swamp spells. The high mage in the ogre quest has got rust and it's a better version of it. It works on anything, apart from artefacts. I might give the tzeench sorcerer the chaos rust spell.

Suggested chaos sorcerer spells: Toxic cloud, fever, disease, bog plague, cloud of flies, putrification. But definitely toxic cloud.

I think at least a couple of these should be in there. I don't know if you've seen them, I forgot to tell you about them.

Traps

Slough
This trap is a concealed natural occurrence and can be found by searching for traps, but can never be disarmed. A slough trap may be jumped like a pit trap. If a Hero steps onto a square containing a slough trap before it is found, he triggers it and ends his move immediately. A Hero occupying the same square as a slough trap, has to try to climb out of the slough. At every turn, he rolls a number of combat dice equal to his current Body points, but no less than two. If at least one white shield is rolled, he successfully climbs out of the slough onto an unoccupied adjacent square and may move and take an action again during his next turn. If at least one black shield is rolled, he loses 1 Body point. After the roll, the Hero's turn is immediately ended. A hero may also immediately climb out of the slough by discarding any one earth or water spell.

Acid Spray
When an Acid Spray trap is triggered the victim is sprayed with a strong corrosive green goo. The player rolls a combat dice, on a skull they take one body point of damage and on a black shield they take one body point of damage and any non magical armour they may be wearing (not a shield or helmet) is discarded.

Creeping Snare
When a Creeping Snare trap is triggered the victim is ensnared with deadly vines. An ensnared character cannot move and attacks and defends with one combat dice until freed. The vines have 4 body points but don't defend. An ensnared target or any directly adjacent allies can attack the vines.

Noxious Spores
When a Noxious Spores trap is triggered the victim is unable to distinguish between reality and the effects of the spores and is forced to re-roll any successful combat dice within that room or passageway.

And Cloud Of Flies and Insect Swarm could be used as parts of the environment in certain places.

[Count Mohawk]

There could be a mixture of open and closed doors.

I think the room with the broadsword needs a weapon rack. I can't imagine a sword fitting inside a chest.

I think the sorcerer should just have swamp spells. The high mage in the ogre quest has got rust and it's a better version of it. It works on anything, apart from artefacts.

I agree with these comments and will update the Quest to reflect them.

We could tart up that gas trap in the centre room so that they all roll a combat dice and on a skull they loose a bp and on a black shield the loose a bp and get infected with swamp disease.

I don't think we need the dice rolling on a simple trap. The swamp disease seems fitting, though; if that's an established mechanic during the Kobold/Fimir arc, I will just upgrade the trap to always cause swamp disease if it's triggered.

I think the wandering monsters needed cutting down but maybe a fimir and two kobolds/goblins wouldn't be too much?
...
I think there needs to be a few more green skins. I had them in mind as the main occupants of the town. I've got an idea of how to include them. I'll upload an edited version of your map at some point if you don't mind to see what you think. I won't be changing anything you've put in.
...
I'd love to see an orc warlord and shaman in one of the unused rooms.

Between kobolds, goblins and cultists we have no shortage of low-level monsters - but we don't need all three in one Quest. If it's mostly the greenskins living in this ruined town, I can swap them in for the kobolds. I don't think this quest needs the high-level orcs though, for two reasons. We described the forces of Nurgle as the main threat for this Quest, therefore the Orcs that appear are being led by the Chaos Warriors rather than their own leaders. Also, the Orc Shaman spells work best in a quest with a heavy Orc presence, whereas this level is a bit more swamp- and decay-themed (not to mention the pluponderance of Cultists).

I don't think we should use the marsh skeletons or fogwalkers coming up the stairs, just mummies. There won't be any swamp undead down there and it will hint at lots of mummies to come in the next quest. We could use marsh skeletons to come through the entrance door every turn after a certain point. Then they'll be undead coming in from both directions.

On reconsideration, I think it would probably be best to do away with the 'flood of reinforcements' mechanic for the quest. I put the trigger point for the swamp undead at the very beginning of the corridor leading up to the end point for the Quest. Assuming that swamp undead have a movement rate of 5, it takes them six whole turns to get even as far as that trigger square, and four more to get onto the 5x8 tile housing the exit stairway. As for mummies wandering in from the stairway, the ones that are on the board in the upper-right quadrant are implied to have come from there anyway, a solution I thought was more elegant than adding a Quest Note to summon them. The swamp undead will still be around from the cultists' ability, of course.

I think at least a couple of these (traps) should be in there. I don't know if you've seen them, I forgot to tell you about them.

The creeping vines definitely fit well here, although I don't think I can make good use of the other three.

By the way, in case you feel I'm being too quick to dismiss your suggestions, I'm trying not to do it unfairly. I find most of your ideas fascinating; I just want to make sure that the complexity and Quest difficulty both stay at a manageable level for this point in the Quest Pack.

[Gold Bearer]

Town.png

X. The walls between these squares are breached. Place a breached wall tile on the board when their in sight and treat them as an open door.

A. These orcs are boss orcs and are tougher and better equipped than most other orcs. They have two body points, defend with three combat dice and can attack diagonally. Use the orcs with ball and chains to represent orc bosses. The orcs and goblins in the northern room are trapped and come only come into play using the orc shaman spells.

B. Potion of healing that restores five lost body points.

C. When they reach the first square marked with a C tell them they hear a knocking coming from the south. When they reach either of the other two squares marked with a C place the breached wall tile on the board between the two shaded X squares and place one marsh skeleton on the south one and one on the square next to the quest entrance door. These may be used on your turn and on all your turns from now on one marsh skeleton is placed just the other side of the square next to the quest entrance door to be used in that turn.

D. This room contains an orc warlord and orc shaman, the leader of the tribe and his lieutenant hiding from the chaos force.

E. This is a chaos champion of Nurgle. He has one extra body and mind point, can attack diagonally and infects anyone he wounds with swamp disease. He has the Nurgle seal. Each chaos seal is worth 50gp or 500gp for the full set of four.

F. These mummies attack the nearest non undead target (you decide if there's more than one at the same distance) and on all your turns from now on one mummy is placed on the southwest square of the stair tile to be used in the same way in that turn.

[Gold Bearer]

I've had another couple of thoughts about this quest if you're interested but I'm a bit reluctant to post any new ideas now. I used the previous idea about the undead in a slightly different way, two actually. If you use two open doors for the central room it should work really well.

I put doors on all the rooms because it doesn't really make sense for there to any rooms without them. It's a town and wouldn't of had inaccessible building before it became ruined.

We could tart up that gas trap in the centre room so that they all roll a combat dice and on a skull they loose a bp and on a black shield the loose a bp and get infected with swamp disease.

I don't think we need the dice rolling on a simple trap. The swamp disease seems fitting, though; if that's an established mechanic during the Kobold/Fimir arc, I will just upgrade the trap to always cause swamp disease if it's triggered.

A lot of traps already use a dice roll anyway and I think giving everyone in the room swamp disease is a little harsh, unless you mean just the one that opens the chest.

[MrBigB]

The new edit looks great, and reads crystal clear Well done!

[TMU]

Yes , I like it too

[Daedalus]

QUEST 15: The Ruins of Direburg
After a grueling and arduous trip through the thickened forests, you finally find yourselves looking down on the once serene and tranquil town of Direburg. The jungle has claimed most of the outskirts, and a thick green moss has covered the buildings. Direburg has been occupied by a band of cultists led by a powerful necromancer, who has cursed the bodies of the town's long-dead inhabitants to rise from their graves and do his bidding. You must find the entrance to the crypt where the necromancer hides before he escapes.

NOTES:
The doors with a slash through them have long since fallen apart from disuse, and are put onto the board open instead of closed.
A The first Hero to Search for Treasure in this room will find a Ball of Flame Spell Scroll atop the table.
B This treasure chest contains a Potion of Healing capable of restoring up to four lost Body Points, but is trapped. When a Hero Searches for Treasure, unless the trap has been disarmed, all Heroes in the room will lose one Body Point as an acrid cloud of smoke billows out of the chest.
C These three Cultists wear gaudy robes signifying their higher rank in the Cult of Chaos. While all three of them are alive, they can collectively cast Cloud of Chaos instead of attacking or casting a Spell normally.
D The treasure chest here contains 150 gold coins.
E The Stairway here leads down into the crypts of Direburg, and marks the end of the Quest.

Wandering Monster: One Zombie

Nice reworking--it gained focus. I haven't considered the difficulty, but here are some suggestions in blue that might help:

After a grueling and arduous trip through the thickened forests, you finally find yourselves looking down on the once serene but now decaying town of Direburg. The jungle has claimed most of the outskirts, and a thick green moss has covered the buildings. Direburg has been occupied by a band of cultists led by a powerful necromancer. The bodies of the town's long-dead inhabitants have been cursed to rise from their graves and do his bidding. You must find the crypt where the necromancer hides and kill him before he escapes.

NOTES:
The doors with a slash through them have long since fallen apart from disuse, and are put onto the board open instead of closed. Those doors with adjacent blocked square markers represent impassable entryways to collapsed structures.
A The first Hero to Search for Treasure in this room will find a Ball of Flame Spell Scroll atop the table.
B This treasure chest contains a Potion of Healing capable of restoring up to four lost Body Points, but is trapped. If a Hero Searches for Treasure before the trap is disarmed, all Heroes in the room will lose one Body Point as an acrid cloud of smoke billows out of the chest.
C These three Cultists wear gaudy robes signifying their higher rank in the Cult of Chaos. While all three of them are alive, they can collectively cast the Chaos spell Cloud of Chaos instead of attacking.
D The treasure chest here contains 150 gold coins.
E The Stairway here leads down into the crypts of Direburg, and marks the end of the Quest.

Wandering Monster: Zombie

NOTES: The blocked square markers before open doors puzzled me at first. It took a moment to figure they represented collapses of blocked-off buildings. (The usual convention is to have blocked-off rooms sealed with a closed door that can't be opened). I like this thematic restyling of a blocked doorway, but I added a bit in the Parchment Text and the prefatory note with the purpose of making their inclusion more obvious.

In note C, you mentioned the Cultists casting a Cloud of Chaos spell instead of casting a spell normally. I took out the casting normally part as I figured you meant they can't do that. If they can, I'd change the wording to "...instead of attacking or casting a spell as normal." More explanation of how they cast normally would then be needed.