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Well, since most of my stuff was out and setup after the last quest set, I went ahead and continued on with the next quest. Just a reminder that this is being recorded online using the D2E Tracker - I am playing through the Heirs of Blood campaign for Descent 2nd edition using the RAMV system for solo play. In many ways, this system is like the Road to Legend computer system, but setup to play through the printed campaigns. Because there is no overlord, each round there is some variable effect in play. I am playing three heroes: Widow Tarha (mage), Tomble Burrow (scout), Syndrael (warrior) (yeah, trying to get by without a healer).
Also, there are some spoilers, so if you don't want to know about this campaign, don't read on.
Encounter 1 -
Opponents: Goblin Archers, Cave Spiders, Barghest
Smoke fills the western sky. You race down the open road leading to the small village. A number of the outlying hovels lay in smoldering piles, and you can see the raiders advancing on the village proper...
So there are a couple of buildings on fire in town. Two buckets of water will put the building out. There is a whole system for how much of the town you save based on how much "damage" is done and how fast I get the fires out. Meanwhile, monsters can make it worse by being in or near the buildings. Water being carried can be dropped if you take damage. The first fire building I enter will get populated with the spider group.
Round 1 - Global (Dark Influence): Small monsters rolling blank defense can re-roll it once.
Tomble does a search (finds a curse doll) and grabs a bucket of H2O. Goblin Master (per AI) heads for the area between houses to cause the most trouble. The rest of the goblin pack annoys Tomble until he drops his bucket. Syn goes straight for the goblins and takes 2 out. All the Barghest go after Syn, hitting for a total of 3 hits. Widow moves up and blasts the Barghests, but kills none.
Round 2 - Instant, all monsters recover 2 wounds
Syn kills the master barghest and one goblin (and recovers a chunk of fatigue - ha, I remembered!). Goblin reinforcment shoots Widow, but is blocked. Tomble grabs some water (again) and moves into a place where he can "borrow" all of Syn's defense dice (his main power). Remaining Barghests both howl and try to bit Tomble, but he's the man and keeps his water (his defensive power is awesome at times like this). Widow grabs some water and makes for the house on the left.
*Side note: I'm developing some rhythm and synergy with the team. Syn is definitely a tank now - good defense and ok melee. Tomble (who if next to another hero) can borrow all their defense dice, so he is now that much harder to kill, but has to hang with her. Widow is my ranged attacker. Her runic attack lets me do blast and with a surge, I get 2 pierce, so she can take out these little mobs of spiders and goblins fast. Since I have no healing, I have to avoid damage or find healing potions. If I can't kill things quickly, things become a mess.
Round 3 - Global: blue X's are not a miss, just nothing.
House on the right is burning down from the timer. Syn's heroic feat pushes Tomble towards the house burning down. She grabs a bucket and heads for the other house (that Widow is heading towards). Goblin reinforcements go after Syn, but she easily blocks their shots. Time for Tomble to be tricky. He uses fatigue to get to the door, opens it (immediately revealing four cave spiders blocking his way), and then uses his heroic power to disappear - either the spiders will move, or he will just reappear in the house behind them next turn. Barghest tries to make Syn drop her water bucket, but fails and the others can only move in for next time. Widow throws water on the fire, reducing the flame tokens for that house. Spiders have no target, so they all rush to the other house.
Round 4 - Global: All monsters gain - apply a random condition on a surge.
Syn moves in and throws her water, gaining the group two tokens for the next encounter. The goblins shoot the crap out of Widow, leaving her with 4 health. Tomble re-appears, douses the fire, and then searches a nearby spot and finds a stamina potion. His efforts on the fire will not matter at all - its ok, his job was to make the monster group NOT appear in the other house. Master cave spider (who had moved to the other house) attacks and poisons Widow. The others are blocked, so move back towards Tomble.
Round 5 - Instant effect discards the last search token.
Goblin Master causes the house Tomble is in to be finished off, ending the encounter.
...The goblins were merely a distraction; a small army appears out of the forest to the north, marching on the town's fortifications...
Encounter 2 -
Opponents: Cave Spiders, Goblin Archers, Barghest, Merriod, Flesh Moulders, Ettin, random lieutenant.
The entire town retreats to the ancient fortification that juts out from the cliff.
Ok, so I have to hold off the Lieutenant from exiting the map for 8 rounds (well until round 8, the lieutenant will show in round 2 or 4). The setup reads like the setup for The Battle of Helms Deep. The map starts with Cave Spiders at the gate (conversely, I get two guards). Goblin Archers are the followup. Waiting in the wings: Barghest, Merriod, Flesh Moulders, Ettin, and a lieutenant.
Round 1 - Global (Shared Pain) when a hero suffers a wound, all heroes within two spaces suffer a wound also.
Tomble starts by removing the poison condition from Widow and then jumps off the bridge, breaking his ankle. The spiders brutalize half the bride gate's defense in the first round. Syn also jumps off the bridge and while stronger, is not any more graceful. She then moves up, knowing the goblins will try to rush by her. After Syn, one guard activates and steps up to the gate to engage the spiders. He gets in a shot, but no kills. The Goblins rush towards the exit and Syn will need a good round to slow down the troops. Widow fires off a blast attack and wounds two and kills one spider. Her followup does not have the range and fizzles before doing anything. The other guard moves up to try his hand at the spiders. He shoots one dead.
Round 2 - Instant - Syn has to go last this round - crap.
Barghests arrive to reinforce the map. Tomble searches and comes up with a stamina potion (really needed that healing potion), he uses fatigue to move up and attack a goblin, but is blocked. The remaining spiders continue the assualt on the gate, but to little effect this time. Widow uses her blast attack to decimate the Goblins from the high ground. Her second attack finishes the Goblin master off. A guard attacks the spiders but misses. Barghests are making for the exit now, running right up to the greeting party. Syn doubles up attacking the lead Barghest, but the thick hide deflects a lot of the attack. The other guard eliminates a spider.
Round 3 - Instant - all heroes suffer a fatigue. Syn finishes off the master Barghest and wounds another. The last spider continues their meager assualt on the gate. Tomble defeats the remaining two Barghests with his daggers. A guard shoots the master Cave Spider, but doesn't defeat it, so Widow shoots and finishes the Master Cave Spider (no more monsters on the map) then rests.
Round 4 - No effect instant
Baron Zachareth and a Merriod arrive. Widow has a moment before she'll be needed, so she moves and searches, finding a Warding Talisman. Zachareth has no fear and advances right up to the gate for an assault. Syn runs to get into the Merriod's way as he comes forward. The Merriod shambles on up so as not to disappoint Syn. Tomble joins in as well. The guards start the wounds on Zachareth, shooting him through the gate.
Round 5 - Dark Influence! When a hero is attacked and the hero has at least 6 wounds, the monster gets a surge = +3 wounds
Syn uses her special to move her and Tomble next to Zachareth. Then she begins the attacks. She wails on him and finishes her turn with Zachareth having only 2 more health. Zachareth's attack on the gate fails, but he then forces Tomble to move off a couple spaces. Undeterred, Tomble slides back up to Zachareth and knifes him, finishing him off (literally, Zachareth is unavailable the rest of this campaign). The heroes win handily.
...The assault breaks before your stalwart defense and, at last, even the opposing captain is slain...
So there are a couple of buildings on fire in town. Two buckets of water will put the building out. There is a whole system for how much of the town you save based on how much "damage" is done and how fast I get the fires out. Meanwhile, monsters can make it worse by being in or near the buildings. Water being carried can be dropped if you take damage. The first fire building I enter will get populated with the spider group.
 |
| A race to put out the two buildings at the top of the map |
Tomble does a search (finds a curse doll) and grabs a bucket of H2O. Goblin Master (per AI) heads for the area between houses to cause the most trouble. The rest of the goblin pack annoys Tomble until he drops his bucket. Syn goes straight for the goblins and takes 2 out. All the Barghest go after Syn, hitting for a total of 3 hits. Widow moves up and blasts the Barghests, but kills none.
Round 2 - Instant, all monsters recover 2 wounds
Syn kills the master barghest and one goblin (and recovers a chunk of fatigue - ha, I remembered!). Goblin reinforcment shoots Widow, but is blocked. Tomble grabs some water (again) and moves into a place where he can "borrow" all of Syn's defense dice (his main power). Remaining Barghests both howl and try to bit Tomble, but he's the man and keeps his water (his defensive power is awesome at times like this). Widow grabs some water and makes for the house on the left.
*Side note: I'm developing some rhythm and synergy with the team. Syn is definitely a tank now - good defense and ok melee. Tomble (who if next to another hero) can borrow all their defense dice, so he is now that much harder to kill, but has to hang with her. Widow is my ranged attacker. Her runic attack lets me do blast and with a surge, I get 2 pierce, so she can take out these little mobs of spiders and goblins fast. Since I have no healing, I have to avoid damage or find healing potions. If I can't kill things quickly, things become a mess.
Round 3 - Global: blue X's are not a miss, just nothing.
House on the right is burning down from the timer. Syn's heroic feat pushes Tomble towards the house burning down. She grabs a bucket and heads for the other house (that Widow is heading towards). Goblin reinforcements go after Syn, but she easily blocks their shots. Time for Tomble to be tricky. He uses fatigue to get to the door, opens it (immediately revealing four cave spiders blocking his way), and then uses his heroic power to disappear - either the spiders will move, or he will just reappear in the house behind them next turn. Barghest tries to make Syn drop her water bucket, but fails and the others can only move in for next time. Widow throws water on the fire, reducing the flame tokens for that house. Spiders have no target, so they all rush to the other house.
Round 4 - Global: All monsters gain - apply a random condition on a surge.
Syn moves in and throws her water, gaining the group two tokens for the next encounter. The goblins shoot the crap out of Widow, leaving her with 4 health. Tomble re-appears, douses the fire, and then searches a nearby spot and finds a stamina potion. His efforts on the fire will not matter at all - its ok, his job was to make the monster group NOT appear in the other house. Master cave spider (who had moved to the other house) attacks and poisons Widow. The others are blocked, so move back towards Tomble.
Round 5 - Instant effect discards the last search token.
Goblin Master causes the house Tomble is in to be finished off, ending the encounter.
...The goblins were merely a distraction; a small army appears out of the forest to the north, marching on the town's fortifications...
Encounter 2 -
Opponents: Cave Spiders, Goblin Archers, Barghest, Merriod, Flesh Moulders, Ettin, random lieutenant.
The entire town retreats to the ancient fortification that juts out from the cliff.
Ok, so I have to hold off the Lieutenant from exiting the map for 8 rounds (well until round 8, the lieutenant will show in round 2 or 4). The setup reads like the setup for The Battle of Helms Deep. The map starts with Cave Spiders at the gate (conversely, I get two guards). Goblin Archers are the followup. Waiting in the wings: Barghest, Merriod, Flesh Moulders, Ettin, and a lieutenant.
Round 1 - Global (Shared Pain) when a hero suffers a wound, all heroes within two spaces suffer a wound also.
Tomble starts by removing the poison condition from Widow and then jumps off the bridge, breaking his ankle. The spiders brutalize half the bride gate's defense in the first round. Syn also jumps off the bridge and while stronger, is not any more graceful. She then moves up, knowing the goblins will try to rush by her. After Syn, one guard activates and steps up to the gate to engage the spiders. He gets in a shot, but no kills. The Goblins rush towards the exit and Syn will need a good round to slow down the troops. Widow fires off a blast attack and wounds two and kills one spider. Her followup does not have the range and fizzles before doing anything. The other guard moves up to try his hand at the spiders. He shoots one dead.
Round 2 - Instant - Syn has to go last this round - crap.
Barghests arrive to reinforce the map. Tomble searches and comes up with a stamina potion (really needed that healing potion), he uses fatigue to move up and attack a goblin, but is blocked. The remaining spiders continue the assualt on the gate, but to little effect this time. Widow uses her blast attack to decimate the Goblins from the high ground. Her second attack finishes the Goblin master off. A guard attacks the spiders but misses. Barghests are making for the exit now, running right up to the greeting party. Syn doubles up attacking the lead Barghest, but the thick hide deflects a lot of the attack. The other guard eliminates a spider.
Round 3 - Instant - all heroes suffer a fatigue. Syn finishes off the master Barghest and wounds another. The last spider continues their meager assualt on the gate. Tomble defeats the remaining two Barghests with his daggers. A guard shoots the master Cave Spider, but doesn't defeat it, so Widow shoots and finishes the Master Cave Spider (no more monsters on the map) then rests.
 |
| Look who is here! |
Baron Zachareth and a Merriod arrive. Widow has a moment before she'll be needed, so she moves and searches, finding a Warding Talisman. Zachareth has no fear and advances right up to the gate for an assault. Syn runs to get into the Merriod's way as he comes forward. The Merriod shambles on up so as not to disappoint Syn. Tomble joins in as well. The guards start the wounds on Zachareth, shooting him through the gate.
Round 5 - Dark Influence! When a hero is attacked and the hero has at least 6 wounds, the monster gets a surge = +3 wounds
Syn uses her special to move her and Tomble next to Zachareth. Then she begins the attacks. She wails on him and finishes her turn with Zachareth having only 2 more health. Zachareth's attack on the gate fails, but he then forces Tomble to move off a couple spaces. Undeterred, Tomble slides back up to Zachareth and knifes him, finishing him off (literally, Zachareth is unavailable the rest of this campaign). The heroes win handily.
...The assault breaks before your stalwart defense and, at last, even the opposing captain is slain...
NOTES:
- The D2E tracker noted that the win ration for heroes on this scenario was very high - very unbalanced towards the heroes, plus this is the last PART I scenario. Next up is the interlude(s) before moving into the PART II section of the campaign, so I more or less expected the party to do well.
- Of the physical campaign materials that come with Descent, this is the furthest I've ever gone, so I'm a little excited to get through the Interludes so I can break out the 'II' monsters and shop items!
- I'm trying to decide if I should include an expansion pack of monsters for the second half of the campaign. Honestly, just using the base set is beginning to be a little stale.
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