Trying to push towards the finish of this original campaign. After my last beating, I changed up Syndrael from having a sword and shield, to just having a two handed sword to try and increase her attacks. There were two choices of scenarios, I simply chose the first of the two - Edge of Dawn. So here we go with penultimate chapter in my Heirs of Blood campaign. As a reminder, I track the raw play online using the D2E Tracker (this is really a great tool) - 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.
Edge of Dawn - Encounter 1
Opponents: Sir Alric Farrow, Cave Spiders, Goblin Archers, Shadow Dragons
Travel Steps: while traveling, nothing of interest happened.
Each morning, the sun seems reluctant to rise, as if held down by the long and starless nights. One evening, after the darkness has swallowed the previous day all too early, a priest bursts into your tent. "It will not rise again!" he exclaims, his eyes wide and wild. "They have cursed the valley, and if you cannot break the curse by tomorrow's dawn, the sun will be bound beyond the sight of the valley forever.'" You leave immediately, heading directly for the cathedral that holds your only hope. Diving headlong into the frigid river, you swim across the dark waters and sprint for the crumbling spires. Somewhere within is hidden the sword of Arcite, also called the Dawnblade. It is only before the blazing edges of this sword that the curse can be broken and the light of day restored to the valley.
I have to traverse halfway through the dungeon to get a sigil, then take that the other way to get the sword (while fighting spiders, Alric, a shadow dragon and an incoming horde of goblin archers).
Round 1 - Event: Global when heroes open a door roll for a trap.
Goblin reinforcement added. Syndrael moves and opens door. Alric begins heading from his starting spot to the sword. Widow takes fatigue to move in a little then uses a blast attack on the spiders. In the best attack ever, she entirely eliminates the entire group. Spiders (no spiders!). Tomble - double move to get the sigil. Dragon moving in towards our party of heroes. Goblin master moves towards Syndrael and gets off a shot for 3 damage (down to 9). A spider reinforcement appears
Round 2 - Event: Dark Influence - Global when reinforcements arrive add an extra figure. Uncool event. Two goblin archers arrive. Tomble uses fatigue to get in close enough to grab the Arctite Sigil and then starts heading back the way he came - I set him so that Alric has to move adjacent to him to get past him. Alric moves and Tomble uses Caltrops which immobilizes Alric! He is forced to bash Tomble for 4 damage (down to 6). Widow moves up and uses a blast to hurt the master goblin archer, but the dragon takes no damage. The master cave spider attacks Tomble for 3 and poisons him. Syndrael uses her heroic feat, which allows Tomble to move again. She then moves and attacks the master goblin archer, knocking it out. The shadow dragon full on attacks Syndrael, but misses. The minion goblin archers attack Syndrael for 6 total damage (down to 3). Two spiders added as reinforcements.
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| Better run! |
Round 3 - Event: Global when a hero recovers an HP, master and lieutenant figures move one space towards the hero and attack if they can. Tomble (with Sigil) moves and the does his heroic feat (disappears). Alric is immobilized. Syndrael does a double move towards the door that needs to be opened to get the sword. Spiders combine to hit Widow for 10 damage (to 1) plus poison. Widow never gets a turn as she is knocked out (see first note below) at the start of her turn by poison. The Dragon double moves to chase Syndrael down. The goblins move and shoot, KO'ing Syndrael. Spider reinforcements added.
Round 4 - Event: Dark Influence - Global small monsters get to add +1 shield to their defense rolls. Tomble fails his poison roll and is down to 2 hp. He reappears and moves and opens the door to the sword room. Alric stays in hot pursuit. Syndrael recovers 5hp and 1 fatigue. Spiders all move to close on the heroes. Widow recovers 4hp. Goblins have no LOS to targets and can't move in. The shadow dragon KOs Tomble.
Round 5 - Event: Instant - instant ends up causing 2 damage to Syndrael and Widow. Syndrael picks up the Sigil, uses a fatigue to slide a space and slams the door close. Alric moves. Tomble recovers 5 hp. Spiders KO Tomble and then move in and open the door. Finally, the last spider moves in and KOs Syndrael. Widow tries to move into range and attack something, but misses. The dragon actually has nothing it can do. The goblin archers make up for this by KO'ing Widow again.
Round 6 - Event: Global - whenever any figure it hurt, add +1 damage. Tomble recovers 5 hp. Alric moves and is finally adjacent to the sword (thus will win next round). Widow recovers 4hp. Spiders move in and KO Tomble. Syndrael recovers, but needed Tomble to still be in place. He's not, so even if she makes it through this round, she is out of position. Dragon moves in and KOs Syndrael. Alric will recover the sword without any opposition next round.
The hilt of Arcite's sword protrudes from a tall pedestal of obsidian. The sheath of black rock glows and glimmers, as if the sun itself were encased within. Alric grasps the hilt, but the sword does not immediately give way to his strength. Unable to withdraw the sword, the black knight places a foot against the pedestal and pulls sideways. A moment passes, then there is a sharp crack and the obsidian shatters. He raises the blade in triumph, but the stone continues to pop and break, and in a moment the floor gives way beneath him and he disappears into a cloud of dust and debris.
Notes:
- I was really unsure about the timing with being poisoned here - if a hero dies at the start of their turn to poison, are they done or do they just recover. I probably went the hard way (recover next turn), but I don't think it would have changed the outcome in the least.
- This was really close - I needed some luck at the very end. A hair bit of luck and I might have pulled it out. Instead, I did really well the first two rounds and then it all went to hell.
- This hero group has no defense and I really take a beating against these second stage monsters - especially the masters.
Edge of Dawn - Encounter 2
Well, due to a house fire, it took me 6 months to finish this encounter. I didn't bother taking notes, I just wanted to play. Because I didn't have much clue as to the actual state of things, I re-played the first encounter. Because I had written up the first play, I left it above. For the replay, Tumble snuck past Sir Alric and grabbed the sword at the 11th hour. Owning the Dawnblade has changed the game for me. Here's what I know...
Opponents: Sir Alric Farrow, Lord Merick Farrow, Barghests, Flesh Moulders, Goblin Archers, Zombies
You try to flee, but you can feel some force compelling you deeper. Whether it is the call of the sword or a challenge issued by its master, you are not sure. All you know is that you cannot leave this place until the mage or you are defeated.
I gave the Dawnblade to Syndrael. During the replay of encounter 1, Tumble pulled a search for a random item, which turned out to be a Rune weapon (and a good upgrade for Widow. With the weapon upgrades, I was able to pound my way through the second encounter and beat Lord Merick Farrow.
Seriously, the weapons I had before were crap compared to what I ended up with. Shopping is random of course, but can make a huge impact. In fact, after the scenario, I ended up with Dwarves Fire Bombs for Tumble, giving all three characters really decent ability to wipe out hoards of monsters and control the board a lot better.
The Dawnblade allowed Syndrael to hoist a shield, which helped keep her in the fight a lot, and the massive damage I was doing (well, 8-9 a shot feels like massive at this point) let her take out multiple monsters a turn.
Merick 's body glows as you slide the Dawnblade into his chest. Rays of light spring from his eyes and wounds, then his flesh flickers and disintegrates into a pile of ash. There is a long stillness in which you wait for some farther assault, but none comes. Instead, a light breeze glides across the floor, sweeping the ash upward through a hole in the ceiling. You sheath the blade and retreat back into the morning sun.
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