Game 2 of the 2017 Campaign season - Icecapades (or fun on the frozen river)
Last weekend we played scenario 2 from the Thaw of the Lich Lord. We had 7 out of 8 players so we expanded to 4 Mages, one of which was carrying a fake treasure, to be determined after the game ended.
For a couple other viewpoints: One a Frozen River and Battle on a River
Here's a few pre-game shots of the table.
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| A Dwarven submarine |
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| A three masted, de-masted schooner |
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| A Dwarven Ironclad |
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| A Dhow |
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| A large ship of the line |
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| The view down the length of the river |
The door burst open as Agarn ran into the room, startling Bemis from his studies.
"Master, Master, we found an old library. Its perfect." said Agarn with youthful excitement. "You must come see it."
"Calm down and tell me more about your find. Then we'll go have a look see"
Agarn relates that he was out exploring with Niko and Piko. They were examining some of the old ruins near the inn. Niko found a door that was iced over. After much chipping with some hand axes, he and Piko managed to pry the door open. Inside they found the abandoned workshop and library that looked like it belonged to a long departed wizard. Niko stayed behind to guard their find while Agarn and Piko rushed back with their news.
Finding the ruins of the old library satisfactory, Bemis decides to set up his base of operations. There's some work needed to patch some leaks and seal some drafty areas, but it'll do. To his delight, Bemis finds there are some partially collapsed tunnels under his new home that appear to contain a few undamaged books and scrolls. Now he'll have a place to explore while he is planning future forays into the frozen ruins. Maybe he'll find some interesting tomes, grimoires or scrolls. And where there's books, there's knowledge to absorb.
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| Bemis and his warband |
As Bemis was rummaging around his new home, he came across an interesting scroll. It told of a location along the river where mages would ship and receive their magic items and spell components. Of course the river was now frozen solid but could there still be some relics or unusual magic items stored in the hull of some vessel or along the docks? As consultation with Nigel (Captain), they decided to make this the target of their next expedition. Nigel would need to recruit another treasure hunter. Bemis left that kind of thing to him and went back to reading his scrolls and tomes.
As part of the warband's preparations, both Bemis and Agarn attempted to prepare scrolls (Write Scroll) but the ink was too runny. They then tried to scry around for hidden treasure items (Reveal Secret). Both failed.
Bemis then took some scrolls from his scroll library, scrolls of Reveal Secret and Raise Zombie. These would be used just before they reached the frozen river.
Moving towards the river, Bemis could detect the movement of several other warbands nearby. "I wonder how they found out about the ships?" thought Bemis. Once he reached a suitable position, he halted his group behind some ruins. He read his scroll of Reveal Secret. A small breeze suddenly blew in and moved the snow concealing a small pouch hidden in some rubble. Agarn read a scroll of Raise Zombie and an undead minion appeared. Bemis did not like dabbling in the dark arts but at times it could be useful. He directed the creature to pick up the treasure and return to base where it would be freed from service.
The Game's a Foot
After surveying the vast array of ships frozen in the ice, Bemis and Nigel come up with a plan. The warband would focus its effort on the dwarven ironclad ship to their front. Shadow II and Piko (Thief) headed out onto the ice, slipping and sliding their way forward.
Bemis cast Draining Word - Telekinesis and then carefully stepped out on the frozen river (+25 experience for entering the frozen river).
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| Bemis and the gang moves across the iced river |
Agarn failed to cast Draining Word but was able to use a scroll instead, Draining Word - Bone Dart. The zombie picked up a potion case and headed out of the area to the rendezvous point. Shadow II ran across the ice, taking a glancing blow from an arrow along the way (Rob's Ranger hit him for 1 point of damage).
Bemis cast Fog to provide additional cover for his group. Seeing what his master had planned, Agarn quickly jumped in to help. Unfortunately in his haste, he misspoke the spell's words. A shooting pain went through his head and his nose started to bleed (Failed to cast Fog by 11 and took 2 points of damage).
Shadow II sees Rob's minions trying to get a box inside a small boat and moves to contest it. The rest of the warband slowly makes it way across the slippery ice.
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| Fog to cover the warband |
Bemis once again casts Fog to protect his warband from pesky bowmen. Shadow II is attacked by one of Rob's minions and is driven back - right into the line of fire of Rob's Ranger who doesn't aim poorly a second time. And just like that, Shadow II is out of action.
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| Shadow II down and out |
A figure emerges from the depths of the Dwarven ironclad with a bundle under his arm and moves towards the stern. He turns and quickly throws a bolt of ice (Elemental Bolt) at 9Toe (Thief) who easily dodges its path.
Bemis picks up a chunk of ice, waves his hand over it, and throws it towards Rob's warband. It shatters upon landing but fails to harm anyone (A successful cast of Grenade...well kind of,,,).
9Toe moves into contact with what is apparently a Mage. Vale also moves in to attack the Mage. Even though he successfully strikes at the Mage, he fails to penetrate whatever armor he was wearing. With the Mage already engaged by two members of the warband, Piko, yelling like a banshee, charges into the fight. And he runs straight into the business end of the Mage's staff - THWACK - and he dropped like a sack of rotten potatoes.
At the other end of the ironclad, Niko (Thief) manages to climb into the pilot hoping to get a better view of the cluttered river. To his surprise he find a leather satchel which he quickly stuffs into his backpack.
And once again, Agarn fails to cast Fog (The boy obviously needs more training and practice). The snow fall started to get a bit heavier (Chaffarn cast Call of Storm again)
Bemis dodges an Elemental Bolt from Rob's wizard. Bemis attempts to transpose to Transpose Nigel and 9Toe in order to Nigel into combat with the Mage but fails. So he decides to join the fray; maybe he can distract the Mage so someone can get in a killing blow. Bemis is successful as Vale manages to sneak a fatal strike into the Mage's side, dropping him to the deck of the ironclad. 9Toe grabs the bundle dropped by the Mage.
At the other end of the iron clad, Hatch has spotted a treasure chest in a nearby ship and is slowly working his way across the ice to retrieve it. Agarn spots one of Gru's crossbowmen taking aim at Hatch. He quickly pulls out a Scroll of Elemental Bolt and reads the magic. A bolt of ice zips across the ice and successfully impacts the crossbowman, leaving him lifeless on the ground.
The fire from Rob's cursed warband was picking up: Vale dodges a crossbow bolt and 9Toe was hit by an arrow. Nigel decides to take the fight to Rob and jumped through a fog bank, attacking Rob's Thug. The Thug is successfully taken out of action with a single, well placed thrust.
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| Nigel earning his keep |
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| Nigel takes out his second victim |
Bemis tosses another Grenade at Rob's warband with no effect - but he leaned out too far. Bemis is hit by an Elemental Bolt from Rob's apprentice that knocked him off his feet. As he falls, he strikes his head on the side of the ironclad's turret and is knocked unconscious. 9Toe grabs hold of robe and pulls him to safety. He can tell Bemis is badly injured and calls out for assistance.
Meanwhile, Agarn cast Fog to cover Hatch as he moved to try and beat Gru's gang to a treasure. Nigel and Vale see some of Rob's henchmen moving around to try and intercept our treasure bearers. They move to cut them off.
Agarn cast Dispel on a Mage fighting both Greg and Jim warband members, dispelling a Plague of Insects. Why did he do this? - because he could. Plus anything that prevents another warband from gaining an advantage in the frozen ruins is always good.
Over eagerness, or maybe over confidence, pushed Vale to close with Rob's riffraff faster than Nigel. Vale quickly finds himself fighting both of Rob's henchmen. He doesn't last long and is soon slumped on the ice. Meanwhile, Nigel is distracted by a giant rat who has a larger stomach than brains. The rat is quickly dispatched by a single, well placed swing of Nigel's sword.
With Bemis wounded and the storm picking up, Nigel signaled for the warband to withdraw.
Epilogue
Bemis is badly wounded, Doyle (Thief) and Shadow II do not recover. Vale and Piko recover with no long term effects.
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| After game group pose |
Another great game. Already looking forward to next month's foray.
As requested from last game, here's some pictures of some of the other warbands.
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| Rob - Elementalist |
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| Necromancer |
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| Chaffarn - Summoner |
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| Another Doctor - Soothsayer |
