TEMPLE OF MADNESS is a four part mission for level 5 - 15 Rangers for the RANGERS OF SHADOW DEEP co-operative tabletop skirmish game.
My Son Alfie and myself have been steadily working our way through the official missions. So far we have done all the missions from the main rulebook plus the BLOOD MOON mission. Our Rangers are now at Level 10.
Our rangers have been sent to find an entrance into the Shadow Deep to then descend and destroy an evil spellcaster who has somehow been sending his spells over a great distance to plague the soldiers of Alladore...following a map drawn by a friendly conjuror, our team journey for six days over a rough rocky plain.. (luckily passing a Navigation roll at the start of the mission our heroes manage to avoid being hungry and thirsty).. and they eventually arrive at a cave entrance in a sinister looking mound...
Our current lineup of Heroes:
Alfie's Team:
Arthur - Ranger (level 10)
Malvolio - Conjuror
Fern - Guardswoman
Odis - Rogue (New recruit for this mission)
My Team:
Jennifer - Ranger (level 10)
Archibald - Archer
Seb - (a character from the Bloodmoon mission who is now a companion)
Ralph - Man-At-Arms (New recruit for this mission)
The first scenario in this mission is called "The Laughing Columns"... our party of heroes enter the cave and find themselves in a weird chamber filled with columns.. it is dark and confusing (line of sight is only 6" for this mission) and all the heroes must pass a Will roll when they first activate to see if they are confused and just start moving off in a random direction.
There are what look like glowing runes on each of the columns... if a hero is in contact with a column they can attempt to read the runes - if successful they roll a D10 and keep a note of the number...each columns' runes can only be read once...if two runes that are read reveal the same number as one that has already been read - then we have to read a special section at the back of the booklet to see what happens - hopefully we can find an exit to the next area of this underground sorcerers' domain...
As our heroes enter the chamber shuffling noises can be heard...it sounds like they are not alone in the dark...
There are Temple Guardians in the chamber... four to start with, but one more will appear in a random corner at the end of each turn. The Temple Guardians are accustomed to the dark and unlike or heroes, have no restrictions to their line of sight...
All our heroes pass their Will tests apart from Malvolio who starts to wander off to the right... We decide that we are going to split into two teams, Alfie's guys investigating the columns on the right side of the chamber, and my guys on the left...
We steadily move up the chamber, checking out the columns and taking on the Temple Guards as they come at us... we take out the first few without any problems..and it's not long until we have rolled two numbers the same on columns that we have activated... a creaking noise is heard in the top left corner (we can't see it yet -but a Ghoul has just crept up out of a trapdoor in the floor - an exit to another area of this creepy lair)...
Archibald, Ralph and Seb get in a scrap with a Temple Guardian and a Ghoul at the same time, whilst Jennifer investigates another column... there is a horrible grinding noise in the center of the back wall of the chamber, followed by a nasty chittering sound (A giant spider has entered through a doorway - another exit)...
On the other side of the room, Alfie's mob are taking on more Temple guardians with ease... although Malvolio is not having much luck with his Magic Bolt spells... it must be something to do with the confusing nature of this chamber??
Seb, Archibald and Ralph are still fighting... Ralph is badly wounded by the Temple Guardian, and then knocked out by the Ghoul... we later find out that he's not just injured - he's dead!! His first mission into the Shadow Deep and his last!!
A third exit is revealed in the top right corner - a pit in the floor... Alfie's guys head towards it. My three remaining heroes head towards the trapdoor in the top left... just as another Temple Guardian jumps out of it...
Alfie's guys all leave the chamber unhindered by sliding down into the pit... they pick up a treasure on their way out, which turns out to be a healing potion...
My guys are still caught up fighting the Temple Guardian at their trapdoor exit. Another Temple guardian appears at the end of every turn in a random corner. The next three turns, three more Temple Guardians all turn up in the same corner with the trapdoor!! Aaargh!... my three heroes are overwhelmed, Jennifer uses her Frenzied attack special ability, but it's to no avail... and one by one they are all knocked out!!
And that is the end of that... as Alfie's guys found an exit we can move on to the next scenario which is called "The Incantation Lock"... between us we successfully activated 8 columns, found three exits, killed 8 Temple Guardians, a Ghoul and a Giant Spider... Alfie's heroes were relatively unscathed, but my guys took a severe beating. Ralph was dead. Archibald was given the healing potion, and he will be at full health for the next scenario, Seb will only be on 8 health next time... and Jennifer my Ranger has suffered a permanent injury - The Temple Guardians hit her so hard they smashed her Jaw! - This means that the rest of her team are now struggling to understand what she is saying, and from now on she can only activate one other companion in the ranger phase... Not good news...
Despite the bad ending for my team, we had a great time with this one - some really fun mechanics with the columns, and the reduction of line of sight meant we had to pretty much take on all the baddies hand to hand...
Next week... "The Incantation Lock"...
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I created all the floorplans for this campaign using the fantastic free resources available from
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