Descent Session Report: Heirs of Blood Campaign - Army of Dal'Zunm

And now we return to the next chapter in my Heirs of Blood campaign with the Army of Dal'Zunm, the first in the Phase II set of quests. Just a reminder that this is being tracked 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.

Army of Dal'Zunm
Opponents: Splig, Belthir, Zombies, Cave Spiders, Ettins

Travel Steps: nothing happened on any travel steps

Skirmishes continue for days across the valley, neither army gathering at a single location for long. However, when a large force is seen at the ancient graveyard of Dal'Zunm, you know Eliza is positioning for a major move. You gather your best soldiers and rush to the site.

This encounter has a series of zombies rising from the graveyard and trying to make it down the map to the field, where they'll be transformed into  huge monsters (Ettins). Scattered over the map are a bunch of random tokens that are either a stake, nothing, and one is a relic. The heroes have to find the three stakes and use them to kill three zombies. If three zombies transform first, they lose. Splig and Belthir can "possess" zombies to make them faster. Tyrus is there to help us search.

Round 1 - Dark Influence! Global - heroes that stand up only roll one recovery die.
Syn moves out to find a stake and the first place she looks results in finding one. Splig possesses a zombie to make it fast (WTF? he's as slow as they are). Master Cave spider misses its attack on Syn and all the minions do as well. Tomble heads out to try and find a stake. Belthir moves and then possesses a zombie. Widow and Tyrus move. Zombies advance.

Round 2 - Global - whenever a figures suffers a condition, suffer 1 additional wound.
Syn takes out the Master Cave Spider and a minion. Splig possesses another zombie. One Cave Spider poisons Syn, the other misses. Tomble uses his lurk ability to find a Power Potion, but no stake. Belthir charges up the last zombie (possesses), then moves to close in on the heroes. Widow searches but gets the giant NADA and moves to help kill zombies. Tyrus tries to find a stake, but finds nothing. Zombies are on the move! Master Cave Spider appears in the Mausoleum.

Round 3 - Global - all heroes add one brown defensive die to their pool.
Syn recovers from being poisoned and stakes a minion zombie (one of three gone). She also un-possesses the Master Zombie (when possessed, if they are wounded, instead of taking wounds, they lose the possession). Splig moves. Cave Spiders go for the closest hero (Syn) but can't get past her defenses. Tomble moves, finds a Warding Token using his lurk ability then jumps in the water to try and find a stake, but finds nothing. Belthir closes in on Syn. Widow realizes a zombie is going to break free - there is no point attacking the rest, so she moves up and then shoots the Master Cave Spider with her new "runic" crossbow (she gets bonuses for using "rune" weapons but has the ability to make any weapon "runic"). Tyrus finds the Fortuna's Dice artifact, meaning the last two special searches are going to be the stakes I need. Master Zombie gets to the graveyard and mutates, the Zombies are all (except the one I staked) then reset to the Cemetery. Cave Spider appears in the Mausoleum.

Round 4 - Dark Influence Global - All small monsters get +1 speed (bad), all large get +1 dmg on attacks.
Mutated Zombie becomes a Master Ettin! Syn is nearly surrounded and makes a dash to get clear of the Ettin. The heroes are going to try and jam up a choke point to block further advances through (make them go the long way around). Splig turns around, heading back to possess a Zombie or two. The Master Cave Spider fails its attack on Syn and the other spiders move to engage the heroes. Tomble takes position by Syn blocking the direct route to the graveyard. Belthir flys towards the Zombies to help Splig. The Ettin shambles towards the heroes. Widow shoots and knocks back a spider, then uses her blast attack to try and hit a group: Splig takes a couple hits and the Master Cave Spider is finished off. Tyrus finds one of the remaining stakes. Zombies move up.

This could get rough

Round 5 - Global - when a master monster suffers damage, an adjacent regular master suffers the damage instead.  Widow starts with a great "runic" blast from her crossbow, which takes out a Zombie. She then grabs the Fortuna Dice relic. The minion Cave Spiders gang up on Syn for a couple of hits. Splig possesses the Master Zombie. Syn works to attack the Master Zombie, but the global effect directs the damage to a nearby spider (killing it). Belthir possesses the other minion Zombie. The Ettin steps up to bash Syn, dropping her to four remaining life. Tomble attacks to slow down the minion Zombie, which is likely going to head around the blockade. The Zombies do start the trek the long way around. A Cave Spider arrives in the Mausoleum.

Round 6 - Global effect- defeating a monster makes heroes test, with a failure making them diseased.
Zombie reinforcement arrives. Syn shakes her poison and then runs after the Master Zombie and at least manages to slows it down (un-possessed). Tyrus grabs the last stake and tosses it to Syn, who has both of them now. Splig possesses a Zombie. Cave Spiders head off to fight Syn but can't land a hit. Tomble moves to block the Master Zombie's path back to the short route, but fails an attack against it. Belthir flies in to possess the Master Zombie. The Ettin moves and attacks the only thing it can - Tyrus. Tyrus takes a heavy beating...

Tyrus is thrown to the side by a mighty blow, but regains his feet. He expels a chain of glimmering orbs from his hand that strike the beast before him. 7he creature stumbles back in surprise, but no real damage is done. However, during the brief distraction, Tyrus ducks into some undergrowth and disappears.

Widow takes out a spider with a couple of shots. Master Zombie has to go the long way around, but starts going. The other zombie also is moving, but might be closer now. Another Cave Spider joins the party from the Mausoleum.

Round 7 - Instant, no effect
There is no clarity in the rules on this, so I'm playing that the stake is an item like any other and can be passed from hero to hero without an action. Syn moves and passes a stake to Tomble on the way. She attacks and slows down the master Zombie. Splig possesses a new zombie. Spiders converge on Tomble, he takes a little damage, but is otherwise ok. Tomble chases after the Master Zombie to get in some licks, but he doesn't defeat it. Belthir goes after Syn, but she blocks his attack. The Ettin goes after Widow, but he misses his attack. Widow helps whack on the Master Zombie, but doesn't kill it. Another Cave Spider joins in the fun.

Round 8 - Instant, no effect
Syn rushes forward and destroys the Master Zombie with her stake, taking out the second of three that the heroes need to win the scenario. Getting the last Zombie is going to be tough. The Master Cave Spider moves in to attack Tomble, but misses. The minion moves in and Tomble remembers to use Caltrops to stun the sucker before it can attack. The last moves in to surround Tomble. Tomble attacks the wounded spider killing it, then uses his heroic feat to disappear. Belthir turns to take on Widow and hits her then backs off a little. Widow goes for a massive blast attack. She then rests. A Zombie makes it to the graveyard and it transforms into another Ettin, then the two Zombies re-appear in the graveyard and another Cave Spider joins the fray.

Round 9 - Global - All figures get only one activation action.
Widow start the round with another blast attack hurting Belthir and killing off the two Cave Spiders hanging around. Splig moves. A Cave Spider moves towards the heroes. Tomble re-appears and moves to meet the zombies. Belthir moves. The Master Ettin moves towards Tomble, the other heads up the map. Syn moves. The Zombies move and Tomble wounds and stuns one with Caltrops. A new Master Cave Spider joins the fun.

Round 10 - Instant - lose a search token from the map.
Still have the last Global effect in play, so only one action each. Tomble hopes to end this, but only has one shot - he misses! Splig possesses the stunned (from the Caltrops) Zombie. Cave Spiders move. Syn attacks a spider. Belthir moves. Master Ettin attacks Tomble who somehow manages to not be thrown out of the way. The other Ettin continues on his way. Widow kills the nearby Cave Spider. Zombies move by Tomble, but he Caltrops the second as it tries to go by, stopping it in its tracks. Another Cave Spider joins the fun.

Round 11 - Global - Monsters can't suffer conditions and remove any they are suffering.
Tomble now gets two chances to end this, if he doesn't, the monsters will very likely win. The first attack is one hit short of a win, so it will come down to one last roll of the dice. The second attach is a surefire hit and wins the encounter for the heroes.

Notes:

• I have enjoyed how balanced out the encounters have been for me. I think that if there were an actual overlord that was using their deck of tricks, things would be much harder, but for what is essentially AI, things have been just tense enough to enjoy each playing.
• Tomble's build  (Thief) makes him really good for things like this now that I have his Caltrop skill. Monsters moving in near him are pretty much a guaranteed Stun. His personal ability to use the defense dice of a hero adjacent to him means that when paired up with a tank like Syn is ATM, he's really hard to hit. 
• I was worried that the Phase II monsters with their extra attack dice and life would go through the team  like butter, but their bulked up defenses and my smarter play is making it still pretty even. 
• Two more encounters to the finale!

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