Rangers of ShadowDeep - Incinerator - part I

INCINERATOR is a two part mission for any level Rangers for the RANGERS OF SHADOW DEEP co-operative tabletop skirmish game. This is the first part of that mission - "Fire Drop"...

   Our heroes were on their way back from defeating the evil wizard and smashing his magic mirror in the last mission... when they were overwhelmed by a huge horde of minions of the ShadowDeep... roughed up and thrown in a dungeon... they found themselves in a large underground room. All our characters were on half health. At the far end of the room they saw a ledge with a doorway at the top of it - the only possible way out... just as our Rangers were discussing a strategy for escaping, they heard some dry cracking and scratching noises coming from below the ledge... six jerky figures rose up from the floor - a mob of skeletons!... if that wasn't bad enough, the floor behind our team started to crumble and drop into a lake of burning lava!! Time to get out!! 

Our current lineup of Heroes:

Alfie's Team:

Arthur - Ranger (level 11)

Malvolio - Conjuror

Fern - Guardswoman

Odis - Rogue 

My Team:

Jennifer - Ranger (level 11)

Archibald - Archer

Seb - (a character from the Bloodmoon mission who is now a companion)

Set up at the start of the game.

There is an event deck for this mission. At the end of every turn we had to turn over a card to see what happened... in addition to the event, there was also a number that told us how many inches the lava would advance across the room - if any figure dropped into the lava they would be instantly reduced to 0 health...

Skeletons rise up from the floor...

The floor drops away into lava behind our crew...

Our guys started to move across the room. Jennifer, Arthur and Archibald all moved then tried to shoot at the skeletons as they approached... Arthur destroyed one with one shot - but the other two missed... everyone else moved as far as they could... there was a massive crash from behind, so loud that the skeletons retreated back towards the ledge... the lava moved 6 inches up the room - just behind Jennifer!

Shooting at skeletons as the floor crumbles away...

There were three possible clues further up the chamber... as everyone ran to take on the skeletons and get away from the lava, Seb split off to head towards one of the clues. Arthur used his one off blinding light spell as three skeletons were in range and line of sight... one of them crumbled to dust instantly... but the other two just shrugged it off and ran at Malvolio and Odis... Fern was near enough to intercept and help, and soon the skeletons were piles of bones on the floor...

A giant rat attacks as Seb moves towards a possible clue...

The lava continued to creep up the room, and a giant rat ran out of a hole in the center... Seb went to see what it was he could see on the floor - it was the body of a dead ranger who must have perished earlier in the dungeon...

Seb finds the dead body of a ranger...

The Giant Rat was no match for Fern... Arthur found the body of another dead ranger, Fern found a treasure... and soon all our heroes were trying to climb up the ledge...but not having much luck! - This was when two Temple Guardian Archers came through the door and started shooting at them.... Malvolio was knocked out as he continued to try and climb... another giant rat appeared as the lava got nearer to the ledge...

Temple Guardian Archers shoot at our guys, whilst we struggle to climb up onto the ledge...

Fighting the Guardians at the exit...

Finally we all made it up to the platform... but those Temple Guardians were in the way of the door... Arthur tried to attack one of them, but was knocked out! - So Jennifer and Archibald took them on... this was when two more Temple Guardians ran out of the door, slamming it locked shut behind them! A big scuffle ensued... Odis managed to avoid the fighting and had enough space to get to the door whilst the fighting was going on... but he rolled low and couldn't pick the lock...

More Temple Guardians arrive to hinder our escape...

Jennifer and Archibald were both knocked out by the Guardians... Seb knocked out one of them, but then he was struck from behind by a skeleton that had crept up behind him from the far corner of the ledge... Now that the lava had reached the raised platform they were on, all figures on it had to pass a movement or acrobatics roll at the end of every turn, or lose their footing and be knocked out...

The floor is all gone... the ledge starts to shake... a skeleton attacks Seb from behind...

As Seb struggled with all three of the remaining baddies, Odis moved out of the way so that Fern could try brute strength to open the door. She failed. There was a massive rumble, the whole ledge jolted to one side...the Temple Guardians, the skeleton, Seb and Fern all failed their movement rolls and were knocked down!!

This just left Odis alone to try again to open the door... just as he moved into position to do it, a Giant Fly came zooming up from behind and slammed into him... there was a crunch as Odis's head smashed into the door and it flew open... Odis fell, his dead body slumped through the opening into the next chamber.

Barely alive, Jennifer, Arthur, Archibald, Seb, Malvolio and Fern dragged themselves over Odis's dead body into the room through the doorway... 

...

Jennifer managed to cast her Healing spell, and Archibald gave his Healing potion to Arthur.. so the Rangers will be on 6 Health at the start of the next scenario... everyone else will only be on 1 Health point... Fern dropped her treasure when she was knocked out. Our guys got a little bit of XP  for killing some baddies, but that was about it. 

This was a really tough scenario... we rolled badly throughout, which didn't help! Just managing to stay ahead of the lava, but bogged down by those Temple Guardians at the end... and now we are two team members down... Odis in this scenario, and Ralph who died in the Temple of Madness... Things aren't looking good for the last part of this mission - "Prison Break"....

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I created all the floorplans for this mission using the fantastic free resources available from

  2 minute tabletop.