Gloomhaven: The Ruinous Toxic Well

[Part of the Party Time journal] 

We decide to investigate rumors about a magical wishing well not too far from the city but can only verify it is guarded by a small army of vermlings, fairies and stone golems that have laser arms. We well and truly get our butts kicked and limp over to a moor where there's supposed to be a sacred healing tree. As luck would have it, the tree is also in danger of burning down thanks to a fire drake orgy. *Sigh* So we defeat the horny drakes, save the tree, heal up and get back to investigating this Gloom cult (the bandits raising the dead) by attacking their next ritual site.

This time they have night demons (you are always disadvantaged to strike them), ice demons (like earth demons but slightly faster/slightly less HP) and fire demons (glass cannons like wind demons but straight upgrades with more damage and more shields). I slaughter the night ones because my mod deck is very much more balanced now so their disadvantage perk does little to save them, DL's boulders smash the ice ones as they lumber across difficult terrain and Jim almost kills all but one fire ones in a piercing bow strike, but as that's one use, the last (elite) fire demon basically duels Juris for majority of the mission until he can finally get his piercing card to hit!

While victory is claimed there is still a gateway to the void realm (where the demons live) that lingers here. While its tempting to just hop in we decide it's more prudent to head back to town and find an expert who knows how to close this thing.

Gloomhaven: Inox Warehouse of the Damned

[Part of the Party Time journal]  

I love how every starting room immediately puts you in the sh*t.

Jekserah's next job was basically the massacre of an Inox encampment which wasn't so bad physically, but felt somewhat wrong when I found the tent they were protecting their young in. No slaying of younglings was required though, as we had to flee before their returning war parties could get us. A guard lady back at Gloomhaven then confirmed our suspicions that Jekserah might not be such a good employer so we decided to snoop on her warehouse to find that she's summoning undead in TOWN! Luckily her zombies are fat, slow, and tend to hurt themselves but her two huge bodyguards with their AoE attacks do a good job of covering her escape. I make good use of jump abilities to deal decent damage but it is Jim and DL that take down the first one and Juris beheads the second.

We try track Jekserah down to a crypt where more undead have been reported but it turns out to be the bandit cult again and they've progressed to summoning earth and wind demons! Random note: opening multiple doors works better in this game as your cards/stamina impose a pretty tough time limit. The earth demons are lumbering and slow and are dealt with using Jim's cunning and Juris' steel while the glass cannon wind demons are tremendously difficult to hit (or rather, to hit through their shield). Jim actually has to come over and help take care of the last one with his piercing bow to cinch the victory here, as DL and I were just taking too long.

Once cleared we find a map made by the cultists indicating another of their ritual sites, and a mark on a different crypt where it seems they've lost control of their summoned dead. We opt to go to neither and return to town to rest!

Gloomhaven: Black Barrow Lair

[Part of the Party Time journal] 

A mercenary team composed of an Inox brute warrior (Juris), a cragheart (DL), vermling mindthief (me), and tinkerer (Jim) were hired to collect a magic tome from some bandits based in a crypt that possibly once was the home of a baby black dragon... Apparently the bandits had some warning since they had six guards ready in the first room! With Juris and DL tanking and Jim healing, I had the opening to not just backstab a few fools but also to open the door to the next hall, introducing three archers into the fight... but just them, because I was "gaming" it knowing that there's a limit of "figurines" even in the digital version which means the additional 3 bandits that would otherwise be here as well were missing.

My summoned rat swarm could tank some arrows as DL and I cleared out the archers while Juris and Jim finished off the initial guards. Juris then opened the last chamber and got pelted by the numerous archers sitting behind some multi-armed skeletons, downing our horned warrior and giving Juris an aversion to doors. Luckily we could manipulate the skeletons into the already set traps and smashed the remaining archers at close range where they have disadvantage at attacking.

With Juris revived the team proceeded downstairs where the bandit boss was busy summoning more skeletons, and I goofed by overestimating my rat swarm and ending in a bad forward position (while not being invisible). As such, I got wounded significantly early and just piled on as much hurt on the boss before collapsing in exhaustion. Luckily Juris sword and DL's hurled boulders took care of the other bandits while Jim got the finishing shot off on the boss, clearing this level. Since we couldn't open the five mystery doors, it was back to the city of Gloomhaven to get paid by our patron, the merchant Jekserah, who was happy to take the accursed tome off our hands for some coin.

Dark Deity: Spear Dancer

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Mage apprentice Alden, novitiate cleric Maren and rookies Garrick (archer) and Irving (warrior) are recruited into King Varic's army under battle group leader Lincoln (cleric) and his second, Bianca (spear girl). En route to reporting at the capital, they stop to help a village fight off some bandits where locals Elias (spear guy) and Cia (buxom rogue bartender) assist in routing the enemy, and then pursuing them all the way back to their base where they rescue the sorceress Sloane and her scout ally Sophia who were the bandits "guests" for two weeks. 

 

Based on how she's dressed, I can guess how they spent the time...

Lincoln is pretty happy with his teams performance as there were only two friendly injuries sustained: Irving getting the wind clubbed out of him and Cia getting manhandled by some lucky bandits when her impressive speed put her in an isolated spot. Said curs were put down like the dogs they were. On the flip side, Bianca is amazing and really knows her way around a pole spear - being the MVP in most of the skirmishes.

When a unit goes down this game places perma-debuffs on characters instead of letting them die, so I'll be keeping track of that below. Maybe I'll go with 5 worth of lost stats is "death". That should be nice and easy.

Rolling Damage List:
*Irving [4/5]: -1 Def
*Cia [4/5]: -1 Str

Thea 2: Dark Hearts

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Before leaving Iceland, the team befriend the Shadow Folk who live on the edge of the island (no shortcuts here, just lots of talking over a long time) who then send one of their number, Sylvanas, to help them on their quest. As they sail back to the Slavyan isle they save the syrin Seayanna from a kraken and she too joins their crew and helps them defeat the trolls imprisoning the elder dwarf they found long ago.

Why wear clothes when you can wear shadows?

This dwarf is then taken to the patient researcher who is then able to decypher the tablet in the Red Ridge mine which gives the location of the quake causing threat, but also says to fix it they would need a magical heart assembled by a druid. With no leads on any druids, the team sails to the next island - the isle of darkness, home to striga, undead, vampires and... more followers of the light!?

Sylvanas is handy in convincing the darker beasties to simply let everyone pass while Seayanna uses her charm to convince female bandit captain Yanka to join the team, who then reveals that the Spirit Talker goblin tribe also resides here. Thanks to the goblin children in the party and a little assistance helping them build a catapult, they introduce the group to their leader: an orc necromancer who can construct the magical heart they need to save the world. Not only that, the necromancer and the entire tribe are coming to help too. Things are looking up!

Thea 2: Strength

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Iceland is also home to followers of the light: people, creatures, and tentacles(wtf?) infused by a viral spirit and this faction constantly harasses the team with their "convert or die" methodology to the point that Siegfried tracks down their local base and leads an attack that wipes it out, at the cost of Jaethal who was light tentacled to death. Her daughter, Karina the crazy, also dies giving birth to a son Krisztian - whose father is her half brother Vshesul. The boy really has a thing for incest. Ratslava also gives birth to a daughter Mishka, having slept with King Szuvarek of the Water Demon clan after his rescue.

Anyway, after killing little red riding hood (who in this version is a werewolf), the team find the Ice Demon village and Nyrissa befriends them via an exchange student program: giving them Krisztian to raise as their own while they gain Ice Demon daughter Sniezynki and her pet elemental Icicles.

The Little Red Lie on steam is free to play if you like Little Red Riding Hood.

The team then run into the slaver band that held Romek captive and this time the slavers are killed - with the team gaining a young girl named Anzeka and three young goblins: Jere, Tino and Zosh. As they are overburdened with supplies at this stage, the team trade with the Ice Demons to buy powerful magical weapons and God's Armour? Siegfried decides to test these out at a local arena where the group must face five battles of increasing difficulty in a row and they are victorious! This band of champions are now ready to take on the world.

Thea 2: Iceland

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Since the only elder dwarf on the Slavyan isle is guarded by powerful trolls, the group decides to make a ship and sail to the next island over to continue the search. Ice island, dubbed by Siegfried as "Iceland", is quite inhospitable with the lack of food resources and the constant requirement for faith replenishing rituals. They also save the cursed child Zloslawa from her murderous parents and she too begins learning the way of the witch.

This place is full of witches.

Iceland is also home to the Water Demon clan (russalkas) who are at war with the Water Pirates (orcs). Nyrissa quickly befriend the Water Demons by saving their leader, King Szuvarek, from a Water Pirate base on the lake. Only two of the Water Pirate youths are spared to join the group: Little Pirate and his younger sister Deathlover who is again, witch potential. Valerie quickly gains their trust by having a daughter with Little Pirate they call Zenzimira. Nyrissa then promptly baptizes the girl at the Water Demon lake to turn the child into a Water Demon, deepening the friendship with that group so much that a russalka named Natalia also joins their ranks.

Meanwhile Siegfried encountered the cursed King Kral'Skra, doomed to be forever trapped in his crumbling kingdom by the gods who also stole his face and put it on a lowly demon. Siegfried agrees to find and slay this fiend only to discover it is Kral'Skra's son Romek whose back was infused with his fathers face and is now being towed around by some slavers. After purchasing the child Siegfried makes him face his father and Kral'Skra opts that he instead be killed instead of his son. Siegfried obliges, and Romek joins the group as a zerca.

Thea 2: Red Ridge

[Part of the Cursed story line]

The Red Ridge bandits are an imposing lot, but they agree to let Siegfried's team and the researcher into their territory if the adventurers can first remove from their lands a cave full of demons and a camp full of squatters, who are possibly one and the same. Both are equally easy to massacre, and the child Barbara is taken into the group from the squatter camp as she has the traits of a zerca (a spiritual leader).

Finally granted access, the researcher finds an old tablet in the Red Ridge mines but is unable to read them - now requiring an elder dwarf or elf for the task. Siegfried promises to help and Red Ridge bandit Captain Bear joins them. Also Miloslava has another daughter, Sveibora, this time with her son Vshesul (that motherf*cker) while Valerie helps wandering King "Arathor" to pull a sword from a stone. The thankful King sends Valerie across a bridge (which holds a battle of wisdom) to a nearby lake where the local lady of the lake hands her a less powerful but still magical weapon.

Only movie knowledge can save your characters from certain death...

Meanwhile Nyrissa aids Suri, a little girl found on the road, to get revenge on the rich silk trading merchants that killed her family. Suri turns out to be a spider queen in disguise but Nyrissa keeps her word and slays the merchants which is enough to convince Suri to join the team (and wow, spider queens are strong). Suri then promptly begins teaching Sveibora the ways of witch craft, because spider queens know everything apparently.

Thea 2: Retinue

[Part of the Cursed story line]

After a long and prolific reign, Siegfried Baranor gave up his crown to travel to new rumbling lands with his nymph queen Nyrissa, lover Jaethal, muse Valerie, obese fan girls Miloslava and Ratslava (sisters), and Siegfried's children Karel the fighter (with Nyrissa), Karina the crazy (with Jaethal) and Vshesul the warrior (with Miloslava) after a friendly imp suggested their old enemy, the Lantern King, was hatching a new plot here.

Quarreling with the local scavenger Slavyans wasn't helping matters any so the group instead opted for friendship - clearing some vermin, convincing goblins to move away, and doing odd jobs to gain their friendship while living off the land, harvesting resources as they went, and dodging the multitudes of unliving that clustered around old ruins. 

Including striga.

Miloslava also saves a vodnik prince turned into a frog by kissing him... a lot apparently, as she soon has a daughter Lethiamira. Nyrissa also befriends the local spider folk (who are simply intelligent giant spiders) while Valerie retrieves two half russalka daughters for their dwarf father. Doing all this leads them to a researcher investigating the rumbling (Eren is that you?) but his work has stopped since the location he needs to study is occupied by the territorial Red Ridge bandits.

BDO: Robber Team

[Part of my Adventures in Black Desert Online]

A small group from the excavation team are unhappy that the King won't be paying their full fee due to the locked door remaining so (thanks to my lie), and so recruit me for a money making enterprise (I'll call us the robber team) which involves stealing from city folk, visiting ALL the pilgrimage sites in the desert while digging random sand dunes for treasure, and learning how to read texts of the ancient.

To break up the monotony I also chase down a criminal hiding with Gahaz's bandits (who turns out to be dead, but Gahaz the psycho only tells me this after I kill a hundred more of his gang), kill a lot more nagas at their temple and also an army's worth of their sworn enemies the Egyptian desert fogans, scout a dried up river which is now a monster nesting ground, do some swimming/diving jobs for Shakatu and Princess Saya (rafts are slow, fish suits are awesome), and encounter a few of the Aakman desert wanderers who are doing a poor job of protecting the ancient weapons (golems) of the desert as some are very much active, and hostile.

AOE attacks are great.

Since the robber team eventually tries to rob from me too, I rob them in return - taking the huge stash of ancient royal relics that I've been digging up for them back into my possession and handing it over to King Sahazad Nesser explaining that I had infiltrated the group to gather evidence of their crimes. As the King is super gullible he praises my actions and sends out Katar soldiers to arrest the rest of the robber team.

With this task complete I can finally get out of this god damn desert... because screw finding Illezra. That quest line was painful.

Insight: The Valencia II quest line sucks balls, mainly because of the heavy energy use. Energy regains 1 point every 3 minutes log in or 3 hours logged out. It takes 12 energy to attempt to steal and you'll be doing this a lot as there are multiple items that might require multiple attempts. Thieving past 10PM in game time seems to net more favorable results.

BDO: Dragon Bandits

[Part of my Adventures in Black Desert Online]

With my previous success Prince Barhan sends me North around the desert to Shakatu's Territory. The wealthy goblin who rules that region is already a fan of mine, having witnessed my arena battle at Altinova and now wants my help to impress his esteemed visitor, Princess Saya Nesser who was after black dragon essence from the captive dragons at the nearby Gahaz bandit canyon.

There are A LOT of bandits and outside the rare female bandit who clearly uses black dragon juice with her kung fu, the short riflemen are the most dangerous. After killing a thousand of them I finally meet the bandit leader, Gahaz Tuval, who despite being a psychopath manages to convince me not to continue on my mission as his bandits didn't actually "capture" the dragons - the dragons came to them and asked for protection while hibernating.

Hmm, these dragons sleep like whales.

Also, he questions why the Nesser royals would be after such a thing in the first place as it would only be used for destruction, which is the same reason why he got the basilisk men to intercept the delivery of an ancient artifact to Prince Barhan at the Sand Grain Market. It's almost like the entire family is up to no good. I decide to investigate for myself by heading back to Valencia.

Insight: On the way to Shakatu there's a place called Cadry that was super dangerous for me not only because of the pretty tough soldiers and wizards everywhere but because my graphics card kept blacking out while fighting in there. Fortunately it can be completely avoided.

Thieves of the Wood

Robin Hood with some light thievery and some heavy murder.

Jan de Licht opts to live with the poor criminal outcasts in the forests and due to the pompous wig wearing big shots in the city continually treating them like dirt decides to rally them into a band for some organized robbery and murder.

Stupid decisions abound...

This one season show is not shy on character introductions and throws almost everyone in right at episode one which makes it a bit overwhelming at the start. Have no fear, as the body count is high in this one - especially with so many people acting like morons just at the right moment.

I wouldn't call this show good, but it is certainly entertaining. It's also funny to watch Jan's luck continually see-saw per episode. If you have nothing else to watch, you might want to give this a try. You'll need to reach episode two before getting invested though. Two and a half wheels out of five.

Eschalon: The Runner

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Asking around in Aridell about the necklace gave Rollo a lead. Apparently the druid Lilith who lives in the vast, Tangletree forest, was known to be wise in all matters in regards to mystical amulets so that's where he plots his next course. Before departing, he is also warned about the expanding goblin empire, but that's not enough to stop an adventurer like him. It isn't goblins he runs into though, it is a bunch of brigands demanding a toll fee of 75 gold.

Such a fee is well within his means so Rollo accepts and they let him pass. Or at least, gives him a head start... for soon after a small brigade of bandits is hot on Rollo's tail, hooting and hollering for his blood. He has no choice but to run and happens to reach the bordertown of Darkford whose guards and citizens bravely rush into battle against the oncoming threat. While the brigands are wiped out it is a pyrrhic victory as only two guardsmen (barely) survive the encounter. They pair manage to give directions to Lilith though, and after a few days Rollo finds her hut in the middle of the forest.

Making a bee line for the house.

Alas, she is unwilling to help Rollo without first getting a task out of him: to slay the hive queen wasp who is taking over the woods. The hive queen is very clever though, as before Rollo gets far from Lilith's cottage a swarm of giant wasps attack the pair. The druid kills enough of them before getting stung to death for Rollo to survive. Upon searching her corpse he finds another almost identical triangle amulet which he takes before fleeing the wasp forest into a thicket filled with... raptors!? Cursing his luck, Rollo runs for his life once more.

Insight: Just like in D&D, door ways are good choke points to defend against superior enemy numbers.

Borderlands 2: Up Yours Captain Trainwreck

[Part of the Wasted Land story]

Hahahah, the train went boom! Didn't help that we were on it at the time though. Lucky the soft snow was nice to crash in, and put out our fires! Commando DL and Gunzerker Jim seem to be ok too, though they keep saying I might have brain damage or somewhat. Like whaaaaat? No way man. I feel fine. Just a little... psycho.

The annoying Claptrap bot survived too (supposedly the last of his kind?), and offers to take us to the safety of "Sanctuary". I try to break it but it's too stupid to die. Even to the six armed yetis that try to eat it. After painting the yeti's red we reach a village. Of bandits. Or pirates. Bandit pirates! They welcome us with bullets! Afterwards only one resident left. Tells us we need to take the boat of the bandit pirate captain to sail to the mainland so that's where we go. We welcome plenty more bandit crazies with bullets and reach their toll gate, guarded by a German Super-heavy howitzer!

Still no match for DL's placable turret and Jim's dual wielding guns though. So much killing, the snow is all red hahahaha! Finally we reach the dragon ship that shoots fire everywhere and find the super bandit pirate captain who shrugs off bullets - so I carve him up with my buzz axe from behind, right in his ass. The screams are delicious!

That fire breathing ship is AWESOME though!

Insight: Sell junk at any opportunity as your carry space is very limited.

Firefly Adventures: Surprise Retrieval

Today's board game session is from Firefly Adventures: Bandits and Browncoats.

The job was simple: get in, get the item and get out. The guards in the complex would be suspicious if they saw the team traveling together, but as Mal (DL) knew by now - expediency was key opting to once again go guns hot. It was a manic few minutes as the two fireteams: Mal and Jayne (mom) on one end, Wash (me) and Zoe (wifey) on the other worked their way to the center - obliterating the guards wandering out of cover.

On one of the bodies, Wash found the master key and tossed it to Mal who opened the main storage unit in awe - the item was priceless! Mal greedily tucked it under his arm only to have a loud alarm go off as soon as he turned for the door, summoning a swarm of goons onto the crew!

More weapons = more options!

Jayne was caught in the worst position, flanked in the open - taking a number of hits that nearly brought him down. The rest of the team scrambled to help him with Zoe taking down chasers, Wash doing another near point blank sniper shot through a door to kill the gunman behind it, and Mal tossing a grenade that wiped out a whole cluster of the enemy.

Jayne managed to eliminate the last bad guy personally, and with the area clear the crew was clear to make their escape and cash in big time. Mission Success! At this point the crew are rolling in $11,400 credits. :)

Alas, that is the last mission that comes with the base game which is a shame given how cool it is.

Firefly Adventures: Swifty Rescue

Today's board game session is from Firefly Adventures: Bandits and Browncoats.

Using the intel gained from the information relay, Mal (DL) and Zoe (wifey) set course for a nearby prison camp where one of their old wartime buddies was being held tortured. Being a time sensitive mission Mal decided to skip the sweet talking with the entire crew going in guns hot.

Corners and shotguns are a lovely combination.

Zoe opened by blowing away two guards with her shotgun gaining the attention of a third whom Mal shot in the back. Jayne (mom) and Wash (me) took down the remaining two at range, giving the team full run of the place for now. Unfortunately they didn't know where their compatriot was being held so it was going to be a door to door affair with the squad splitting up to cover more ground.

Zoe and Jayne only found empty buildings but Mal lucked out - finding the captive inside the largest structure along with the three goons beating him up! All three rushed the intruder and Mal knocked out the first two, but barely won against third, "the Butcher", as Wash needed to use a medkit stims to keep the captain going.

Jayne provided cover fire as more goons began arriving with Mal and Wash carrying the captive to the landing pad, but the Butcher Mal initially KO'ed got back to his feet and raced out of the building, managing to knock down Mal and almost kill the captive before getting a near point blank sniper shot from Wash - putting him down for good.

With Jayne carrying the captive and Zoe helping Mal back to his feet, Wash could finally call the Serenity for extraction. Mission success!

Firefly Adventures: Sneaky Hacks

Today's board game session is from Firefly Adventures: Bandits and Browncoats.

After a few days of surveillance, the team knew exactly how the thugs patrolled the base of their information relay. As planned, the squad arrived from three directions: Mal (DL) from the South, Zoe (wifey) and Jayne (mom) from the West and Wash (me) from the North, with each quietly taking out a patrol guard as they arrived.

This made breaching the main facility a cake walk, but hacking the actual server node was far more challenging with Wash having the most success at it. Meanwhile Jayne didn't even make an attempt, opting instead to try for a safe in the backroom. Unfortunately it too was digitally sealed.

With a good haul of sellable information on hand it was time to go, but a new goon arriving on a shift change muddled up the timing of their escape - long enough for the alarm to trigger and for the bad guy cavalry to arrive en force, right from the direction of their escape vehicle!

Time to go loud.

Having no option but to fight, the team made use of the large garage door as cover to shoot under - laying waste to the incoming line of gunmen while only taking minor injuries themselves. There was no shortage of bad people however as more thugs began pouring into the area (literally, because on this map if they "see" a dead body - remove the body and spawn a goon).

"We need to move now!" yelled Jayne as he threw a grenade into a cluster of incoming baddies - killing nearly all of them, only to have a fresh batch arrive again.

Predictably, Wash was the first one to the car and got it started while the rest fell back firing - reaching the vehicle and making their escape just in time. Mission success!

Firefly Adventures: Misbehaving Delivery

Today's board game session is from  Firefly Adventures: Bandits and Browncoats.

Captain Malcolm Reynolds (DL) led his team of Jayne (mom), Zoe (wifey) and Wash (me) into the shady looking town. Under the crook of his arm was a package that they needed to deliver to someone in this area, but the details of who were quite vague.

"Split up and behave," was his instruction as he trudged towards the nearest house on his own to hopefully get directions. The fat goon inside was not the easiest person to talk to, and while Mal eventually got the info he needed, it also resulted in a short brawl in which he knocked the fatty out.

Upon exiting to the street, he was greeted by mayhem. Wash had somehow set exploded a water silo AND set it on fire (in that order) and was running for his life from two angry thugs with Jayne and Zoe openly providing cover fire. Blood and numerous bodies already lay littering the roads.

There is no parlaying in the wild lands!

Picking up his pace and still trying to remain casual, Mal headed to the contact who was more than happy to receive the package - but he wasn't willing to sign for it. Mal insisted as he needed that for payment but there was no talking him into it, resulting in another brawl!

Despite this man happening to be a skilled martial artist, Mal killed him with his own sword before running back out - package still in hand. With the entire village now slaughtered, the squad returned to the ship in failure.

Fortunately, upon opening the package themselves they find enough contents to fund their next adventure!

Firefly Adventures: Brigands and Browncoats

It aims to misbehave.

This 2 to 5 cooperative player game sees the crew of the Firefly undertaking planet side missions that often result in mayhem. Despite only having 10 figurines for bad guys, they do end up being quite unique when it comes to game play. In contrast each hero gets 2 figurines, one in their gun slinging "Heroic" mode and one more "Casual" which lets you slip by or even chat to enemies.

Each map takes a little bit of setup.

Unfortunately most of the non-violent options per mission aren't well executed. Negotiation is hard and not very rewarding when compared to the speed of simply blowing everyone away. Kudos for the "downed body" markers too, those really pile up! :P

Also included in the box are 10 already made buildings which are used to "decorate" the board which is really neat from a visual perspective. Alas, much like the show it is based on - this board game feels really short with only 4 missions included which is a shame given how much my group enjoys playing it. If you are a Firefly fan, I still recommend you give it a try. I give it 4 cowboys out of 5.

Also, I'd thought I'd try something different this time: a play through of one of our board game sessions which will be added below...

Session 1 - Misbehaving Delivery
Session 2 - Sneaky Hacks
Session 3 - Swifty Rescue
Session 4 - Surprise Retrieval  

The Cursed: Bandit Hunt

[Part of the Cursed story line]

The Firewine Ruins are home to more kobolds who have rigged traps galore. As the party gets separated while wandering through the tunnels, both Safana and Viconia are dragged off into the dark by the little bastards while the rest of the party locates and defeats their ogre mage boss and finds a clue where to find the main bandit camp. It seems all these baddies are working in unison!

Gold is a great unifier!

This also accidentally saves the halfling village of Gullykin, as stairs up lead to a hidden place well behind their town walls. Here they encounter the man hater Shar-Teel once more who was helping to defend against the kobold infiltrators. She joins the group and convinces them there is no time to waste and to abandon the two missing girls in favor of scalping bandits.

There are plenty of victims for her at the bandit camp hidden deep in the woods - a combination of humans, hobgoblins and gnolls making up their number. None of them are a match for the team with Party Girl one shotting most with her heavy crossbow. Their boss seems to be away though, and correspondence indicates something about a mine in the Cloakwood forest.

Insight: Summoning creatures, especially via wand, works well when out numbered against ranged opponents - as I learned in the thief battle of Black Pits. Get a mass of them and send them in as meat shields / distractions for your main party. It's more fun than casting protection spells.