[Wizard Pack][10 Quests] - Summons of the Wizards' Council

[Pancho]

It's based off the Epilogue to the EU version of Return of the Witch Lord where it says that Skulmar has escaped with the help of Sir Ragnar who has been corrupted by Chaos. It says that you'll have to confront Skulmar soon but that Sir Ragnar was captured and executed.

It's weird that they brought up this turn and killed him off all in a couple sentences in an epilogue and that the Heroes didn't get to see it at all or interact with him, but it's cannon enough for me to have him be evil.

I'm playing the long game with him being the the one who tells Grak where to find the Heroes to kidnap them in Legacy of the Orc Warlord (I'll have the Heroes discover a charred note on Imperial parchment detailing the Heroes' locations), Ragnar pointing them in the direction of Grawshak at the end of Kellar's Keep, and I'll go from there maybe weaving him in to more stories before revealing him as a traitor and having the Heroes confront him in some future Quest.

Never read that before. Strange difference from the NA version.

Another option I was going to say is Hinsgrim. Kind of a prelude to the story in Dark Company.

In my chronology Hinsgrim is replaced by Sir Ragnar. It makes little sense to me to have another traitor Knight with almost the same story as Ragnar, so I combined the characters. I think it adds weight to the Dark Company and gives the players a greater reason to play and stay engaged with such a long quest.

Spooky, very Interesting what you have done with Sir Ragnar. I really like the idea of him taking the Heroes to one side and giving them information that is designed to get them killed.

Evil Ragnar also features prominently in my Heroquest, and I've covered his fall from grace in more detail than, like you said, a couple of throw-away sentences in ROTWL.
He wasn't always evil, however. After the original game system comes the first part of The Chronicles of Sir Ragnar, which introduces him and his special men-at-arms as playable characters, who escape from Ulag around the same time the original Heroes rescue Sir Ragnar. A bit later, an adaptation of the Elixir of Beauty quest gets played, in which Sir Ragnars bride-to-be is killed by a hideous Witch named Helvaig. Ragnar is grief stricken and never quite the same again, as well as harbouring some resentment against the heroes for failing to rescue his beloved.
Then, just as the Heroes are gearing up to play Kellars Keep, I'll run a one-off quest in which the near suicidal Ragnar, now trapped in the keep alongside the remnants of the Emperors army decides to lead a death-or-glory charge with a small band of loyal companions right into the teeth of the besieging army, to buy time for his Emperor (Think of the last ditch charge out of Helms Deep by Theoden & his Kings Guard!). This quest is specifically designed so that Ragnar is always killed off.
Kellars Keep is then played and the Emperor is rescued from Morcars army, then we go straight into the next part of the Chronicles of Sir Ragnar in which Ragnars companions go into the underworld to bring back their commander. It is too late however, because whilst in the underworld Skulmar came to the spirit of Ragnar and promised him that he would return his bride-to-be to the living if he joined forces with the Witch Lord (this turns out to be a false promise on the part of Skulmar). This arc does however explain the treasonous act by Ragnar in Return of the Witch Lord, which is the next quest pack in my chronology. The arc also covers in more detail how the Witch Lord actually returned from the grave.
Ragnar makes a few other appearances in later one-off Quests, now established as a main villain.
He is finally confronted (and destroyed) in the Dark Company.

What I love about the Inn is that everybody does things differently, and there are so many great fan-made quests out there that we can adapt ever so slightly to fit are own requirements, without having to design loads of new quests from scratch. It sounds as if both you Spooky and J_Dean take this approach too. The Summons to the Wizards Council is a fine example of that.

[Spookyhappyfun]

Never read that before. Strange difference from the NA version.

Another option I was going to say is Hinsgrim. Kind of a prelude to the story in Dark Company.

I forgot all about Himsgrim!

In my chronology Hinsgrim is replaced by Sir Ragnar. It makes little sense to me to have another traitor Knight with almost the same story as Ragnar, so I combined the characters. I think it adds weight to the Dark Company and gives the players a greater reason to play and stay engaged with such a long quest.

Spooky, very Interesting what you have done with Sir Ragnar. I really like the idea of him taking the Heroes to one side and giving them information that is designed to get them killed.

Evil Ragnar also features prominently in my Heroquest, and I've covered his fall from grace in more detail than, like you said, a couple of throw-away sentences in ROTWL.
He wasn't always evil, however. After the original game system comes the first part of The Chronicles of Sir Ragnar, which introduces him and his special men-at-arms as playable characters, who escape from Ulag around the same time the original Heroes rescue Sir Ragnar. A bit later, an adaptation of the Elixir of Beauty quest gets played, in which Sir Ragnars bride-to-be is killed by a hideous Witch named Helvaig. Ragnar is grief stricken and never quite the same again, as well as harbouring some resentment against the heroes for failing to rescue his beloved.
Then, just as the Heroes are gearing up to play Kellars Keep, I'll run a one-off quest in which the near suicidal Ragnar, now trapped in the keep alongside the remnants of the Emperors army decides to lead a death-or-glory charge with a small band of loyal companions right into the teeth of the besieging army, to buy time for his Emperor (Think of the last ditch charge out of Helms Deep by Theoden & his Kings Guard!). This quest is specifically designed so that Ragnar is always killed off.
Kellars Keep is then played and the Emperor is rescued from Morcars army, then we go straight into the next part of the Chronicles of Sir Ragnar in which Ragnars companions go into the underworld to bring back their commander. It is too late however, because whilst in the underworld Skulmar came to the spirit of Ragnar and promised him that he would return his bride-to-be to the living if he joined forces with the Witch Lord (this turns out to be a false promise on the part of Skulmar). This arc does however explain the treasonous act by Ragnar in Return of the Witch Lord, which is the next quest pack in my chronology. The arc also covers in more detail how the Witch Lord actually returned from the grave.
Ragnar makes a few other appearances in later one-off Quests, now established as a main villain.
He is finally confronted (and destroyed) in the Dark Company.

What I love about the Inn is that everybody does things differently, and there are so many great fan-made quests out there that we can adapt ever so slightly to fit are own requirements, without having to design loads of new quests from scratch. It sounds as if both you Spooky and J_Dean take this approach too. The Summons to the Wizards Council is a fine example of that.

These are some great ideas! I'm definitely adding a note to substitute Hinsgrim for Sir Ragnar in all future Quests if Ragnar dies during his escape.

I've always been reluctant to run the Dark Company since switching between two boards is a lot and four just seems insane, but I've been meaning to print out some alternate Boards so maybe I'll have enough by the time I get to it. And having Sir Ragnar instead of Hinsgrim seems like the perfect way to have a huge final confrontation and conclusion to his story.

I don't think I'll ever do the Chronicles of Sir Ragnar with my group since I don't like the idea of them playing characters other than their main Heroes, but you've got some great ideas in here that I might adapt and use in other places. Thank you!

[j_dean80]

I got 4 boards just so I could run The Dark Company when I get to it.

[Spookyhappyfun]

Since I've been doing a little editing to a lot of different Quests to get my upcoming campaign ready, I made a few changes to this one as well, just in the story, to try to tie it all together.

Running the Gauntlet, while a cool solo Wizard Quest, didn't seem to tie in too much, so in Quest 3 I added a little bit at the end of the Intro about Mentor trying to warn the rest of the Wizards of the Council about Zanrath's treachery (since he's just figuring that out) and to be careful because the Cabiri have given the Wand of Galimatias to the High Mage and it's been known to create grand illusions. I'm using this to explain the fun twist at the end where the Wizard sees himself in the cage and is then captured.

Then I grew in a quick bit in the Intro of Quest 4 about Zanrath having killed the rest of the Council (since I didn't see it explicitly written anywhere about what happened with the Council).

And for Quest 7, since there's a cool full Quest based on doubles of the Heroes, I've tied that to the Wand as well and wrote in the intro that Zanrath has mastered the Wand and is using it to directly target them.

And lastly, since The Final Conflict takes place in Zargon's Citadel, I thought it strange that he wasn't there at all, so I'm gonna make it so that he sees the battle and once all the Wizards are killed, Zargon himself uses the Wand of Galimatias, given to him by Zanrath, to escape and elude the Heroes.

[j_dean80]

Since I've been doing a little editing to a lot of different Quests to get my upcoming campaign ready, I made a few changes to this one as well, just in the story, to try to tie it all together.

Running the Gauntlet, while a cool solo Wizard Quest, didn't seem to tie in too much, so in Quest 3 I added a little bit at the end of the Intro about Mentor trying to warn the rest of the Wizards of the Council about Zanrath's treachery (since he's just figuring that out) and to be careful because the Cabiri have given the Wand of Galimatias to the High Mage and it's been known to create grand illusions. I'm using this to explain the fun twist at the end where the Wizard sees himself in the cage and is then captured.

Then I grew in a quick bit in the Intro of Quest 4 about Zanrath having killed the rest of the Council (since I didn't see it explicitly written anywhere about what happened with the Council).

And for Quest 7, since there's a cool full Quest based on doubles of the Heroes, I've tied that to the Wand as well and wrote in the intro that Zanrath has mastered the Wand and is using it to directly target them.

And lastly, since The Final Conflict takes place in Zargon's Citadel, I thought it strange that he wasn't there at all, so I'm gonna make it so that he sees the battle and once all the Wizards are killed, Zargon himself uses the Wand of Galimatias, given to him by Zanrath, to escape and elude the Heroes.

So you do not let the Wizard fight it out to keep the Wand? I thought that to be a perk.

[Spookyhappyfun]

So you do not let the Wizard fight it out to keep the Wand? I thought that to be a perk.

I guess I'll see who's playing the Wizard when I get that far. They might be the kind of person who just gives it up because it seems like that's how the fight should go. Story-wise, though, maybe the Cabiri fight could be un-winnable and they knock him out which is how he finds himself in Zanrath's tower. If I do have a player who insists on keeping it and it seems like it might be more interesting, I could always re-write it a bit.

[j_dean80]

Then I threw in a quick bit in the Intro of Quest 4 about Zanrath having killed the rest of the Council (since I didn't see it explicitly written anywhere about what happened with the Council).

The rest of the Council can be seen as Chaos Mages and Wizards that the Heroes battle. They were turned to do the evil bidding.

[Spookyhappyfun]

Then I threw in a quick bit in the Intro of Quest 4 about Zanrath having killed the rest of the Council (since I didn't see it explicitly written anywhere about what happened with the Council).

The rest of the Council can be seen as Chaos Mages and Wizards that the Heroes battle. They were turned to do the evil bidding.

Oh, cool! That makes sense. I assumed there were more members of the Council. I'll make sure to reference that he's either killed or turned the rest of the Council.

[j_dean80]

Then I threw in a quick bit in the Intro of Quest 4 about Zanrath having killed the rest of the Council (since I didn't see it explicitly written anywhere about what happened with the Council).

The rest of the Council can be seen as Chaos Mages and Wizards that the Heroes battle. They were turned to do the evil bidding.

Oh, cool! That makes sense. I assumed there were more members of the Council. I'll make sure to reference that he's either killed or turned the rest of the Council.

I count 9. That's a pretty big Council of elite sorcerers.

[wallydubbs]

I've read a lot of posts regarding Sir Ragnar turning to the Dark Side, but I figured that was some form of fanfiction... I never knew that was HeroQuest canon. The North American version makes reference to Skukmar's escape, but says nothing of Sir Ragnar's betrayal.
I would've played that Skulmar, if escaping The Forgotten Legion, would stand by the Witch Lord in the final battle, but now I'm tempted to rethink this.

It was an excellent time in with Hisgrim. I never really cared for that story, but combining him with Ragnar does add a bit of continuity.

Also, Spookhappy, these are nice little additional editions to the story about Zanrath, it seems like it would tie in well since he's got the Cresent staff, which seems like it might relate to the Wizard's order.
I'm also thinking maybe replacing Skulmar with Fanrax, the Necromancer. As the Witch Lord is supposed to be the most powerful Necromancer, Fanrax isn't quite up to par regarding spell power. Plus, Skulmar doesn't really make any appearances after Return of the Witch Lord.
It might be a good tie in since we're adding back stories to Wizards of Morcar/zargon.