Descent Campaign 2 - Session 4

by Ed Rozmiarek

Previous session reports:
Session 1 / Session 2 / Session 3

Week 9:

A quick recap of our cast:

Overlord
Conquest: 35 total / 35 unspent
Upgrades: Snipers.

Party
Conquest: 28
Money: 2250
Upgrades: Bazaar, Enchanted Boat
Nanok of the Blade: 22 XP. Taunt, Axe, Leviathan
Varikas the Dead: 22 XP. Leadership, Plate Mail, Iron Shield, Sword
Landrec the Wise: 22 XP. Quick Casting, Ghost Armor, Elven Robe, Ring of Protection, Immolation, Gauntlets of Power
Grey Ker: 22 XP. Eagle Eye, Great Bow, Crossbow, Iron Shield

Flametail River Level 3: 11 - The Mine
This was sure to be the last all copper dungeon level, so the heroes wanted to get the most out of it. The heroes are sitting on 22 XP each and want to get to 30. It's possible with the level leader, a glyph and a chest on this level, if the chest does not have a treasure. Figuring that the party would be going for the treasure and gold, I wanted to pack that room to the gills. My hand was full of cards, with several spawn cards to pick from. I was sitting on 24 threat from the last level and the spawn marker was enabled since it was the start of the level. So I went with the option D minions, 3 beastmen, 4 razorwings and a dark priest. I left two razorwings and the priest to guard Geos, the master Bane Spider level leader and the rest went on treasure protection duty.

The heroes started off slow. Varikas went back to town to get Grey Ker (who was still frosted from the last level) some armor. Grey Ker's frosty armor had been shattered near the end of the last level. The remaining three heroes moved up and placed guard orders. During this, Landrec gives Nanok his ring of protection, which will soon come in handy for Nanok. I started off by calling in more beastmen to join their brethren protecting the treasure. I sent the dark priest up to take a pot shot at the nearly naked Grey Ker. The priest survived the guard order attack and put some hurt on Grey Ker. The rest of the monsters held back, biding their time.

The taunting Nanok throws himself at the wall of monsters guarding the treasure. Between his regular attack and a guard order from Verikas, Nanok removes the two razorwings. Landrec moves in the help, but can't do much. Grey Ker snipes the dark priest down and Verikas returns from town with on chain mail which he tosses to Grey Ker and then helps watch the hallway to prevent spawns. I call forth a pair of Ferrox to help out. Nanok is now facing 5 beastmen, a master beastman and a master and regular Ferrox. Nanok should be dead meat. But he survives the 8 attacks. The extra armor from the ring ends up canceling 6 wounds and two critical misses by the master beastman and master ferrox leaves Nanok standing with 4 hits and a bleed token. Meanwhile, a razorwing takes Grey Ker downs to 2 wounds. Another round happened in here I missed in my notes, but I know I was able to spawn a pair of Dark Priests with the master going to the treasure room and the normal protecting Geos.

The heroes are now starting to wonder about the level. Grey Ker decides to run to town. Before hand, he takes out the razorwing and does a strategic retreat towards the glyph. Unfortunately for him, he tripped and caused rock slide. The crushing block takes his remaining wounds and Grey Ker wakes up at the temple in town (+3 CP). Nanok escaped the bleed token with a miss, dispatches a beastman and also retreats towards the glyph. Landrec takes up the offensive push and takes out a beastman. The new block in hallway gave me a wonderful spot to spawn another beastmen war party right behind Nanok. It took all three attacks, but I was able to dispatch Nanok (+4 CP). Landrec was next and the three masters (beastman, ferrox and dark priest) combined to take Landrec out (+2 CP). Three kills in one round!

The battle then started turning for the heroes. The three revived heroes came back and took out the new beastmen, although it took more than they thought it would as Landrec missed twice. I spent the last of my threat to spawn some skeletons which turned out to be fairly useless. I finally moved Geos into the fray. She lasted a couple rounds but did not do much other than give out a couple web tokens. Verikas finally got in a kill by taking Geos out, but only after Landrec had a classic turn, missing on three attacks (battle action with quickshot). Nanok took on the three remaining masters from the treasure room. Eventually the monsters were dispatched, but not before they had gotten Nanok down to 4 wounds again.

With the level finally clear of monsters, Varikas flipped the glyph (+3 CP) while Landrec and Nanok went for the treasure. Low on threat and cards, I could not do much. So I waited for the chest. I had been holding the Monkey God trap card for two levels and wanted to spring it. Landrec was the victim as he reached for the chest, he was transformed.

Unfortunately for me, I was not able to take advantage of the situation and squash the monkey. The heroes covered the LOS well and did not provide any space to spawn. They waited out the two turns for the curse to wear off, while I gathered threat and cards. In the end, the delay was good for me as I now had threat, spawns and traps at the ready.

Here's where everything paid off for the heroes. Back to his normal self, Landrec opens the chest and finds FOUR treasures. Yes, all four dice came up blank on the roll. Amazing. And one of the treasures was the Staff of the Grave. Sigh. Must make them pay.

As the heroes start to exit the level, they leave me just enough room to spawn two razorwings who cut off the overloaded Landrec. The razorwings quickly bring Landrec down to 2 wounds. Wounded Nanok can't risk helping and makes a run for the exit. Too bad he falls into two pits. The first does two damage but he was wary and avoids the second.

While the other three make for the glyphs, Landrec can only wound one razorwing and then guards. With just enough threat to pull it off, I spawn some shades (from Tomb of Ice) to help make sure Landrec is taken down and then pull out Dark Charm, and it finally works! Nanok falls on his axe doing just enough damage to take himself out (+4 CP). Landrec does succeed in taking out the damaged razorwing with the guard, but the new shades complete job on Landrec (+2 CP).

The dungeon complete, the heroes return to Tamalir. The score for his level, Heroes 7, Overlord 15.

CP: Heroes: 35 / OL: 50/50

Week 10:
I picked up my one CP for the week. What was once my only source of conquest is now a drop in the bucket. I'll certainly take it as every little bit helps, but I finally have some conquest to spend, and spend I do. It's time for the silver monster upgrade!

For a change I wanted to do something other than Eldritch, like maybe beasts, but I reconsidered. Given that I will need the fire power against the soon to be beefed up heroes, I went for the silver Eldritch (-25 CP). The fact that the Eldritch are the Sorcerer King's cheap upgrade was a consideration as well.

With 26 conquest left and plans for more upgrades soon, I have to decide what to do with Sir Alric. I decided to send him east through the mountains to the Smokeblue Hills with Riverwatch his final destination.

After much discussion, the heroes decide on a plan. They are sitting on 29 XP each and want one more so Nanok can get two power dice upgrades. So off exploring they go, east towards the Red Echo River dungeon. It was a peaceful trip down the river to the dungeon, with no encounter along the way. They stumble upon the dungeon while camping along the river one night, gaining the one conquest they desire.

CP: Heroes: 36 / OL: 51/26

Week 11:
It was a fairly quiet week for the overlord. The weekly CP is deposited in the account (+1 CP) and it's time for this week's upgrade. It's Lord Merick Farrow (-5 CP); time to split the party's attention and start working towards my evil plot. Lord Merick is sent to the Bitter Downs and Sir Alric continues on to Riverwatch, camping in the Moonglow Marsh this week.

The heroes continue down the river to Forge, again with no encounter. Since they cannot train this week, it's shopping and drinking time. Grey Ker heads for the temple to remove the lingering poison from the last dungeon. Nanok gathers potions for the team. Landrec checks out the market and picks up the Archer's Charm, which is given to Grey Ker. Down at the Tavern, Verikas (undead drink?) picks up a rumor of a powerful Dark Shard up in the dungeon of the Gate to the North.

CP: Heroes: 36 / OL: 52/22

Week 12:
It's training week for the heroes. But before that, I get my turn. Another conquest point in my pocket and I buy another upgrade. Time for some treachery and I pick Event Treachery (-15 CP). Ah, now which card to pick...

Sir Alric makes it Riverwatch and starts gathering wood for the siege. His cousin, Lord Merick, heads north to the Misty Plains.

Decision time for the party; what's the best combination of upgrades, how much they can afford and long term plans. They finally decide on:
Nanok: Adds two black power dice (no surprise there)
Varikas: Upgrades a black melee power die to silver
Grey Ker: Upgrades a black range power die to silver
Landrec will wait until later to get an upgrade so instead went to the market. It was a slow week as only two treasure cards were pulled.

CP: Heroes: 36 / OL: 53/8

Week 13:
This week's conquest point leaves me with 9 to spend. Not enough for another treachery point so I decide to wait and not upgrade anything. Sir Alric places the first of the siege engines at Riverwatch and Lord Merrick arrives in Dawnsmoor.

Feeling beefy, the heroes paddle their way back up the river to check out the Red Echo dungeon they spotted one the way to Forge. The Cahulawassee River it's not, so there are no encounters along the way. After pulling up the boat up on to the shore, the party heads to the entrance of the dungeon and bravely steps through the cave opening.

Red Echo River Level 1: 8 - The Warrens
And here our tale ends this week. Running out of time, we decide to call it for today. Return next time for the power clash of silver sorcerers vs. Nanok the taunting tank and his friends packing the heat.

CP: Heroes: 36 / OL: 54/9

Comments:
Wow, a busy day with another long level. Although I cycled the overlord deck near the end of level 2, I almost did it again on this level. Three more turns and I would have. Maybe I should have toyed with Landrec at the end to see if I could, but I did not want to risk it losing a kill. It's interesting that some people report that The Mine was a fairly easy level. Just goes to show it depends on when the levels show up in the dungeon and how the dice fall. In the end, I won the level 15 to 7 and the entire dungeon 37 to 21. This dungeon got me back into the game. Of course, the heroes came out pretty well with a good deal of cash and four treasures from one chest, unbelievable.

The power escalation has started. I purchased the "dreaded" silver Eldritch, but the party is much more beefy. With the two additional power dice and the ring of protection, Nanok now has 7 armor. With taunt, that's going to be interesting to deal with. Surprising though, Nanok has been the hero most killed so far. Probably since he's going to taunt anyway, I might as well set up to attack him. Now with 7 armor, only the silver monsters will be able to touch him. The rest of the party is powered up with several treasures and silver dice.

The action on the main board is getting interesting. With two lieutenants causing trouble in the south, will the heroes come back down to deal with them or will they go north to the rumor and the legendary dungeon? And it's time to start thinking about the overlord plot. Or maybe I have already...