Burn Out the Barrows with Sellswords and Spellslingers.

 Here's a Sellswords and Spellingers scenario you might like to try. It is intended for a moderately experienced party (Expert level in the original rulebook), say around 120-140 XP.

The party have found employment at a town that has been suffering problems with undead. The mayor had seemed somewhat harassed when he briefed you for your mission.

“I want you lot to go and clear out an old burial site on the North Road into town. A bunch of travellers got themselves killed on the road and we’ve had strange reports coming in from outlying farms up that way. The Merchant's guild are complaining about the interruption of trade and want something done. We have had an alchemist mix-up some flammable devices to burn the monsters out."

"The pay is 50 silver coins each and you can keep any loot you find in the old barrows."

"Oh, and do not open the chest with those fire bombs in, until you are well out of town."

" Apparently they are delicate!” he added with a grin.

Terrain:

This scenario is played on a 3’ x 3’ table.

There are 3 barrows (burial mounds) in each of 3 corners of the table, 12” away from the centre.

In the centre area of the table, is a small circle of standing stones with a rough-hewn sacrificial altar in the middle.

The PCs enter from the empty corner. The party have been equipped with a 3 containers of flammable liquids, with a warning to take great care in using them!

Foes: Place one wraith knight within 3” of each mound, not closer than 6” to one another. Place a horde of 4 ghouls within the stone circle.

CARDS

Remove:  Traps, He’s Loaded and 1 Wandering Monster card from the deck.

At Our Back:  1d6 ghouls

Reinforcements: 1d6 ghouls

Things Could Get Worse: A Succubus appears on the altar.

Scenario Event: The stones in the circle glow with eerie light. No spells will work within the circle and no magic can pass across the stones (including spell attacks, teleport etc).

Wandering Monster: A wraith knight enters from a random barrow.

Barrows: The PCs need to destroy the 3 barrows by setting them alight with their flammable devices. For Two consecutive actions a PC can prime and set fire to a Barrow.

If a PC spends an action searching the barrow before destroying in roll 1d6.

1: They disturb a wraith knight which immediately attacks.

2-6: Roll on CQB hideout table*.

 

Altar: If a PC touches the altar after the stones begin to glow, the anti-magic stops and the PC is filled with the magical energy absorbed by the stones.

A non-magic using PC will feel a strange tingling.

A magic item carried by the PC will gain a +2 to it’s effects for the rest of the game.

A spellcaster will gain +2 to casting rolls for the rest of the game.

 Experience

4 XP per player if at least 1 barrow is destroyed

+2 XP per player if all barrows have been destroyed

1 XP per PC who burns a barrow

1 XP per PC killing the Succubus or performing a heroic act (eg carrying off the body of a friend).

* Close Quarter Battles. If players do not have the Close Quarter Battles campaign book, roll 1d6

1-3 = 6d6 SP, 4 = Potion, 5= Scroll, 6 Random weapon +1 to hit

Foes 

Ghouls	DL 9	HP 1	DMG 1	MOVE 4”	LOOT None
Minion, Undead
Undead Nature: Immune to poison, disease, mind effecting spells. Poison: perform DL8 Constitution Roll to resist their poison or suffer -1” movement, if movement reaches 0 PC is paralyzed.

 

Wraith Knight	DL 10	HP 2	DMG 1	MOVE 4”	LOOT 2d6 SP
Loner, Undead
Undead Nature: Immune to poison, disease, mind effecting spells. Nocturnal: Immune to darkness modifiers. Shroud of Mist: All perception rolls and ranged attacks are at -2 whilst there are any wraith knights in play. If a Storm spell is cast, the shroud disappears, but will reappear if a new wraith knight enters play.

 

Succubus	DL 14	HP 3	DMG 1	MOVE 6”	LOOT 5d6 SP
Loner, Demon, Evil
Energy Drain: Any PC spending more than 3 turns in melee combat with a succubus without wounding her must perform a Will roll vs her DL or be unable to attack her anymore. If this happens the PC loses 1 HP and the succubus gains 1Hp and +2 to DL. Flying: Succubus ignores any terrain. Demonic, Vulnerable to Holy Water.

 

 Ian and I ran this with 2 PCs each, a Wizard, a Cleric, a Barbarian and a Fighter. We gave all the flammable devices to the Cleric and used the rest of the party to run interference while he set fire to the barrows. Here are a few pictures from our game.

It didn't start well, by the time we had burnt out the first barrow, all 4 PCs were down to 1 HP each! The Succubus turned up early and inflicted some damage before the Fighter managed to kill her. Fortunately we had a couple of healing potions, so two of the characters could regain some hits. The stone circle's magical exclusion zone meant that the Wizard's Teleport Others spell wasn't as much use as it might have been at this stage.

A Wraith Knight waits at the entrance to a barrow.

A pack of ghouls lurk by the altar.

The party assault a Wraith Knight, distracting it....

...whilst the Cleric sneaks around behind the creature to get to the barrow.

Once that barrow was aflame, the Wizard used a Teleport Others spell to move the Cleric on to the next barrow.

Which he quickly sets on fire. 

Unfortunately we had some unlucky combat rolls and both the Barbarian and the Wizard were knocked OOTF as we tried to escape. The Fighter and the Cleric managed to fight off the assailants and drag their comatose bodies off the table. 

If you do try playing this through, I would appreciate your feedback on how it went.

Sellswords in Bogland Game 3 The Finale

 Ian and Ross came over for the third, and final, instalment in my Bogland campaign using Sellswords and Spellslingers. Ross lost his wizard in the last game, so the party elected to delay their advance until the wizard's apprentice joined them.

The party must now locate the last two parts of the mystical necklace, hidden in the Fearsome Forest and the Ghoul's Barrows (I wonder what they will find there?).

As the party cautiously advanced through the Fearsome Forest they heard ominous crashing sounds coming through the undergrowth behind them, and a marsh troll burst upon the scene. Ross's elf turned and shot the beast with an arrow before moving off to join the rest of the party.

Another failed activation triggered an Ambush. A  strange plant burst into life and flung a purple fruit at Ross's fighter. The missile burst on impact and released a cloud of vapour, breathing this in the fighter immediately felt his limb turn to lead and his energy drain away. (PC need to pass a will test or else lose 1" off of their movement, if they are reduced to 0" move they collapse in a coma).

Another activation fail drew the Scenario Event card, which activated half a dozen sentient man-eating plants, including the rather nasty large jawed monstrosity on the right.

The PCs press on, with the elf bringing up the rear-guard, pausing occasionally to shoot at the on-coming (and rather annoyed) troll. 

As the walking plants close in, another ambushing fruit bush appears, throwing poisonous fruit at the PCs and causing Ian's ranger to slow in this tracks.

Ross's fighter finds himself surrounded by man-eating plants, as he chops bits of the largest assailant.

Ross's apprentice cast a heal spell on Ian's ranger to restore his movement. The apprentice proved to be a far better spell caster than his master, and had healed most of the party in one way or another by the end of the game. Unfortunately this delay allowed the troll to catch up and attack the elf.

                                      
But what of Ian's fighter and his faithful squire? Well to be fair the squire spent a lot of time chopping plants and rushing around to aid various PCs in their combats. His lord and master, however, just seemed to wander about the forest, oblivious to the various dangers, stumbling upon treasures! First he found another piece of the missing necklace, and then, after drawing the hidden treasure card, found a chest full of silver coins!

The party finally escaped from the Fearsome Forest and approached the Ghoul's Barrows. In from of an ominously stained alter, stood a pile of skulls. Ian's fight examined the pile for evidence of the final part of the necklace, only to bring the whole pile crashing down!

In response ghouls charged out from all the barrows and leapt upon the PCs!

In the meanwhile the persistent troll caught up with the apprentice, wounding him. The elf and the ranger rushed back to his aid and succeeded in killing the troll.

Just in time, as a giant spider was closing in on the PCs from the forest. Leaving the spider to feast upon troll meat, the three hurried off to join their comrades in the epic melee that swirled around the altar.

Slowly but steadily the PCs cut their way through the ghouls, until all the foul beings lay dead. A quick search of the barrows found the last piece of the necklace and the party beat a hasty retreat as another troll was rapidly approaching.

Finally success for the party of heroes! Undoubtably the apprentice earned his place by his excellent spell casting. In the course of the game he had cast a successful Heal spell on each of the party and cast a Enhance Others spell to boost one of the fighter's combat skills. I think he had been more use in this game than the previous wizard had been in the first two adventures out together!

Sellswords in Bogland Game 2

Ian and Ross came over for the second game in our Boglanders mini-campaign. This time they needed to traverse the Webbed Wyldwood and search the Giant's Lair for the missing pieces of the necklace of Jenny of the Bog. 

The table layout. The three standing stones mark the extent of the Webbed Wyldwood and the pile of skulls marks the entrance to the Giant's Lair. A piece of the necklace is with one of the mummified spider meals scattered around the wood, the other in the friendly-sounding Giant's Lair!

Not a great start. With Ian's first activation his Ranger stood on a poisonous scorpion and took a point of damage and stepped back into a spider web trap he hadn't noticed! Did I mention he was a ranger?

This attracted the attention of a giant spider, who started moving closer to the party. 

Fortunately the bad luck didn't continue. The group quickly despatched the giant spider and a wandering bugbear and, after pausing for the Sorcerer to cast a couple of healing spells, found the necklace part in the first body they searched!

The Squire led the way out of the wood, but paused at the edge and called bgack "Sir, I think you should come and see this!"

 

The Knight, Squire and Warrior (why are they too lazy to name their characters?), lined up shoulder to shoulder to face the charging giantess. Not a good move as she threw boulder at them as she advanced, knocking them all to the ground. Luckily their armour saved them from serious injury. The Sorcerer was no so lucky when he was hit by a second boulder, as he doesn't wear armour!

All the commotion attracted the attention of another threat, the much feared onion knight!

The party managed to kill the angry giantess before the onion knight reached them, which was fortunate, as the fumes exuded by the onion knight causes the PCs eyes to sting and water copiously (-2 on all combat rolls!).  Ian's Knight was unable to assist his friends as some dodgy activation rolls meant that he was trapped as sentient vines wrapped around his legs while, simultaneously, a poisonous spider attacked him!

The Ranger and the Squire fought off the onion knight's attacks and eventually killed him, although both were wounded.

Still in the woods, Ross' Elf saw a strange figure stirring a bubbling cauldron and went to investigate, only to be attacked by another poisonous spider.

Having dealt with Mrs Giant, now Mr Giant turned up!

The Sorcerer valiantly faced the giant down and zapped him with a brace pof magic darts (channelling Gandalf and the Balrog?)

The giant took exception to this behaviour and ignoring the rest of the party, charged towards the Sorcerer (Ross had drawn the Target on Your back card!). He flattened the Sorcerer with a boulder, then stamped on the prone mage, taking him Out of the Fight.

The Warrior and the Knight plunged into the fray, killing the giant after a bloody melee. But, on pulling the Sorcerer's body out from under the fallen giant, they discovered he was dead!

Searching the Giant's Lair, the remaining PCs found the next part of the missing necklace in the pile of skulls. As everyone was injured they decided to leave immediately, while they could still walk!

With no magic in the party now, they decided to wait before continuing their quest, to allow time for the Sorcerer's apprentice to join them. Especially as they had now found another magic wand the giant had taken off a previous meal. One good thing for the PCs, once the Elf re-joined the party, they discovered he had been given 4 flasks by his mysterious new friend that turned out to contain healing potions. Probably going to come in very useful.

Painting in February

 In an effort to keep my painting mojo going, I am going to post a monthly update of my "achievements"  (or at least I am going to try to).

So, for February:

Some more Wild West Zombies from CMON's Zombicide Undead or Alive.

A blast from the past! A 90s sculpt from Heartbreaker, sculpted by Phil Lewis

A 3D print I found online, I have cunning plan in mind for this.

A couple of nasty mutant gribblies, also CMON models from Zombicide Undead or Alive.

Martian Fighting Machines, 3D prints from Etsy. I'm using these in 28mm, the taller ones are about 50mm high. they would be brilliant for 10mm or 6mm games.

Reaper Bones Graveyard Golem. I picked this up at a show 4/5 years ago and it's sat in the pile of shame ever since.

Assorted dead bodies, alway useful!

Two Bogander Fishmen from Ramshackle games.

The ruler of Bogland: Bortrand, eighth of his name, and Nigle, the second of his name, the two kings who wear the crown simultaneously, Bringer of War and named vassal to the Dark Lord, who he tricks.

Another random 3D print I took a fancy too, not sure what I will use it for yet, but I will probably find all kinds of occasions to put this on the table! 

Sellswords in Bogland Game 1

 Ross and Ian came over to play through the first game in my Bogland mini campaign. It was meant to be two scenarios, but they party performed so badly on the first attempt, they decided to go home and rest/heal up before making a second attempt at the game!

I took the role off GM, Ian had a Fighter, a Squire and a Ranger, Ross had a Fighter, a Magic user and an Elf archer.

The heroes(?) have undertaken a quest to seek the missing segments of a mystical necklace, stolen from the shrine of Jenny the Bog in Bogland. The full background is given here

                                        

Their sponsor/client, the King of Bogland, Bortrand, eighth of his name, and Nigle, the second of his name. Those who are both the Bringer of Peace and Bringer of War. 

The table lay out. The PCs enter from the near right corner and have to exit between the statues on the far right corner, having traversed the Misty Swamp and crossed the river at Troll Bridge. In the close left corner is the Forge of the One-Eyed Smith-God.

One-Eye at work by his forge. He has the skill to enchant weapons, but can sometimes be fickle.

In the Misty Swamp, something stirs in the watery depths.

Troll Bridge. How did such a charming rustic location gain such a name?

The First Attempt.

Not a great success story. It is best summed up by Ian's words "You have a magic user with no magic, your elf's a frog and my squire has just been killed, again! Let's leave and come back another day."

A few pictures of this disaster.

It started well enough, Ross's elf pushed forward and the rest of the party advanced more cautiously, except for Ian's squire who was somewhat laggardly in his attitude.

Reapatedly failing Activation rolls meant that lots of foes kept turning up, like these fish people...

...and this Swamp Troll.

A typical example of Ian's Activation dice rolling!

Moving in advance of the rest of the party meant that the elf got ganged up on by swamp frogs! He despatched the amphibians easily enough, but earned the ire of the Frog Master. This spirit of the bog appeared and turn the unfortunate elf into a purple frog!

Being lazy and hanging back was also no protection, as Ian's squire learned when he was attack by an irate bugbear. Some spectacularly bad combat dice and armour rolls left the poor squire out of the fight in short time!

The elf/frog at the forge of the One-Eyed Smith. 

Ross' conversation with the GM went like this:

You are now a frog!

Can I still use my bow?

No, you are a frog!

Can I talk to the smith?

Yes, he speaks elvish!

Having had to double back to help despatch the Bugbear, revive the unconscious Squire and magically heal him back to some semblance of health, after an hour of playing most of the party were back to their starting places!

Now things started getting really dangerous and the party were attacked by a troll and assorted other gribblies...including a marsh sprite. This a creatures of marsh gas, so cannot be harmed by mundane weapons and only vulnerable to magic (and fire, the marsh gas is quite flammable!).

Some of the party did manage to reach the forge and persuade the smith to enchant their weapons, but after three time he got bored with them and wandered off. It was at this point the Magic User rolled a 1 to cast a spell and lost his magical energy, and the Squire was killed for the second time by a troll, so the party decided to grab his body and leg it!

Having spent some time recuperating and healing, they returned to try and pass through the Misty Marsh a second time.

This time everything went far more according to plan. The party kept together, especially after they enter the mists, when LOS was reduced to 6", trying to keep at least one other PC in sight at all times.
                                                                                                            

                                        
They quickly encountered the Marsh Monster and killed it, searching the body revealed the first part of the mystic necklace and a magic scroll caught up in the creatures slimy hide.

                                        
When a Marsh Troll appeared, the party ganged up on the creature and again swiftly killed it. The party then paused to carry out some healing before continuing forward.

                                        
Again they were ambushed by Marsh Sprites, but now as at least half of the party had weapons that could hurt them so they were far less of a problem this time around.

                                        
As they neared Troll Bridge, Ian had a bright idea. "No one move onto the bridge until we are all in position, just in case"

A good idea, except that when Ross moved his Fighter up to the bridge first, he placed him on the edge of the bridge before anyone else arrived, "just to see if anything happened"....

                                        
....and of course, something did happen!

                                        
In the meantime something else was stirring in the mists. Bog Bodies, the spirits of drowned travellers, trapped forever in animated mud and slime.

                                       

"It's behind you!" The Elf tried shooting the Bog Bodies before it could reach the magic user, but discovered arrows do not do much to mud!

By the time the party had killed the Great Troll and dealt with the Bog Bodies, most of them were injured (again) and the Magic User and the Fighter were dead (or at least out of the fight). 

On checking the two bodies, Ross's fighter was OK, just a flesh wound (having a PC with healing +2 carry out the checks did help) and the Magic User was still alive, but comatose.

The Elf slung the Magic User over his shoulder whilst Ian's Fighter and Squire cleared the last of the foes off the bridge. The PCs just had time to search the fallen troll's body and find the second part of the necklace, before escaping off table!

A great couple of games and a lot of laughs all round!

The next adventure will explore the charmingly named Webbed Wyldwood and Giant's Lair! What could go wrong?