Rangers of ShadowDeep - Incinerator - part II

INCINERATOR is a two part mission for any level Rangers for the RANGERS OF SHADOW DEEP co-operative tabletop skirmish game. The second part of that mission is - "Prison Break"...

   Our heroes, barely alive, burst through the door over the body of Odis their fallen comrade.. They had entered a smallish guard room. In the center of the room were three surprised looking Temple Guardians, and hanging out in the far corner were two Gnoll archers. Eight doors were in the surrounding walls... one of these doors must be the exit to the grim prison...

Our current lineup of Heroes:

Alfie's Team:

Arthur - Ranger (level 11)

Malvolio - Conjuror

Fern - Guardswoman

My Team:

Jennifer - Ranger (level 11)

Archibald - Archer

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

Our bedraggled heroes burst into the room...

We had three characters each now. Our Rangers were on 6 health points. The other four were only on 1 health point each. The first thing that Jennifer the ranger did was to use up her Healing Spell on Fern, bring her up to 6 health points also.

We decided that we would split into two groups to try and find the exit as quickly as possible.. There were two decks of cards for this scenario, an Event Deck as normal, and also a Doorway Deck which referred to a table to determine what was behind each of the doors.

There was no Creature or Event phase in the first turn, as the baddies were surprised by our heroes sudden entrance..

My guys headed up the left side of the room, and Alfies up the right. Jennifer opened the first door, and found a huge figure with a puzzled look on his face staring back at her.. It was a confused and slightly beaten up Ogre. He quickly introduced himself as Gorbin, and (due to a high leadership roll from Jennifer) decided he would join us in our desperate prison escape attempt!

The next door to be opened was by Arthur, who came eye to eyes with a giant fly emerging from a room full of rotting meat! Malvolio ran to help him, and between them they killed it. The Gnolls were shooting from their corner... but not having much luck.

Seb opened the third door. He found himself staring up at the boney face of an Ogre skeleton. It hit him over the head and knocked him out instantly.

Seb opens a door to find an animated Ogre Skeleton!!

Aaaargh!!

One of the gnolls rolled high, and knocked Malvolio out. Arthur killed a Temple guardian, but was then knocked out by another one! This left Fern by herself on the far side of the room from everyone else. She had two Temple guardians on her, and she was the nearest target for the gnoll archers... this was when a skeleton appeared from the dark corner to her left and also started to approach her! Gorbin could see what was going on and decided to try and help - he started lumbering across the room...

Fern finds herself alone as the Temple Guardians close in....

Archibald finds an empty room, and Jennifer fails to hit a Gnoll with her bow...

Archibald and Jennifer were only finding empty rooms... Fern was overwhelmed by the two temple guardians, she managed to kill one - but was knocked out by the other... Gorbin just couldn't get to her in time to help.. The Ogre skeleton, and now two other skeletons were jerkily moving to catch up with Gorbin as he thumped across the flag stones towards Ferns crumpled body...

Archibald and Jennifer now found themselves targets for the arrows of the gnolls. They were both knocked out!

Last man standing - against all odds Gorbin tries to find the exit...

This left Gorbin as the only friendly prisoner left upright! He tried to get to one of the three remaining unopened doors... but he went down in a tangle of boney limbs as the two skeletons,  a temple guardian and the animated skeleton of an Ogre all jumped on him...

And that was that. Our heroes failed in their prison escape. They were thrown back into cells by the minions of the Shadow Deep to await their fate.

This was very hard. Starting on such low health, our guys didn't stand much of a chance. Luckily no-one died this time...

After what seemed like ages, our heroes and Gorbin would finally be rescued from the prison by another group of fresh faced rangers sent by Lord Arklin of Alladore... who are this new team of Rangers? We will find out in the next mission.... "Ghost Stone"

...

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

  2 minute tabletop.

Desert Characters for Rangers of Shadowdeep

The up-coming "Across the wastes" Mission for Rangers of ShadowDeep has got a desert theme... so we're going to need some suitable characters! I ordered these dudes from Wargames Foundry - They're from their "Darkest Africa" range, and I thought they would be great miniatures for new companions for our Rangers, or any NPC characters that might show up...

https://www.wargamesfoundry.com/

https://www.wargamesfoundry.com/collections/darkest-africa-zanzibari-arab-slavers/products/da041-zanzibari-characters

https://www.wargamesfoundry.com/collections/darkest-africa-balichis/products/da051-baluchi-swordsmen

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"....

...

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

  2 minute tabletop.

Rangers of Shadow Deep - Temple of Madness - Part IV

TEMPLE OF MADNESS is a four part mission for level 5 - 15 Rangers for the RANGERS OF SHADOW DEEP co-operative tabletop skirmish game. This is the fourth part of that mission - "The Mirror Enduring"...

Our current lineup of Heroes:

Alfie's Team:

Arthur - Ranger (level 11)

Malvolio - Conjuror

Fern - Guardswoman

Odis - Rogue (New recruit for this mission)

My Team:

Jennifer - Ranger (level 11)

Archibald - Archer

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

After making it through the Pit of Ghouls in the third part of the mission... our heroes recuperated a bit and descended a long winding tunnel...eventually they entered a chamber... at the far end was a huge mirror.. in front of the mirror were an old man, and a huge horned man-beast!                                   
As the Rangers and their companions came through the doorway, the old sorcerer raised his hands - and instantly two things happened... a huge net of chains rose up from the floor in front of the raised dias that the evil magic user was standing on, and a wall of fire appeared in front of our guys...

Trekatis the evil sorcerer stands in front of his magic mirror, guarded by Greviks his faithful man-beast

To make it through the wall of fire, our team all had to make a Will test, or end up taking burn damage and being stuck behind the wall. Everyone made it through apart from Jennifer and Seb..

Three Temple guardians who were hanging about in the middle of the room started shooting at our teams. Trekatis raised his hands... Odis was suddenly being mind-controlled by the evil wizard... He was already in base contact with Archibald, so he started to attack his friend!

Odis - his mind controlled by Trekatis, turns on his fellow heroes!

Whilst Odis continues to try and fight Archibald, the other heroes move towards the curtain of chains...

 There was a possibility that Odis would be able to fight off the mind control, so we didn't want to knock him out unnecessarily. We left Archibald on his own, in the hope that they wouldn't do too much damage to each other... Two of the Temple guardians were taken out easily... Trekatis raised his hands again... he tried to blast Malvolio with some kind of magical blast... luckily he missed!

Trekatis casts spells as the heroes approach...

Our two rangers shot at the fixings holding up the net of chains... Arthur had an incredibly lucky shot, and Jennifer used her one-off "Steady Aim" ability... the metal Net crashed to the floor!!

Trekatis summoned two skeletons.. they appeared in the center of the room not far from where Archibald was struggling with Odis (who was showing no sign of shaking off the mind control!).. Jennifer and Seb turned and moved to intercept them...

Alfie's three other heroes - Arthur, Fern and Malvolio got into a position where they could all rush at Greviks together... Malvolio blasted Greviks with a magic bolt... rolling high, he reduced the creature to half its health!

Two skeletons appear!

Odis has knocked out Archibald!.. he moves to help the skeletons attacking Jennifer and Seb...

Whilst Jennifer and Seb took on the skeletons, Odis took out Archibald!! - The skeletons were bashed to bits by Sebs warhammer... Seb had had enough of Odis - it was clear that he was too weak minded to fight off the power of the evil sorcerer. Seb knocked him out.

Meanwhile Alfie's team did a group movement and took on Greviks together... it wasn't long before he fell at their hands.. Trekatis was looking worried... he tried to cast another spell... failing this time..

Alfie's team take on the man-beast mob-handed...

A Bloodbat swoops down into the center of the room...

Malvolio strikes the final blow... Trekatis is defeated!

Jennifer and Seb took out the last temple guardian and started to move up to help with Trekatis...

Trekatis was fighting off Alfie's guys. He kept pushing them back... He pushed Fern back so hard she scooted back across the floor 6 inches!.. He summoned a Blood-Bat, which flew down in the center of the room... but it was too late... Malvolio ran at him - and with a mighty blow knocked the Evil magic-user to the ground...

The blood-bat flew off... and our heroes were victorious. Odis and Archibald were both ok.The heroes searched the room on their way out, finding a magic Spellbook. Arthur smashed the mirror so that it could no longer be used by the ShadowDeep... now all they had to do was get back home.....

...

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

  2 minute tabletop.

Rangers of Shadow Deep - Temple of Madness - Part II

TEMPLE OF MADNESS is a four part mission for level 5 - 15 Rangers for the RANGERS OF SHADOW DEEP co-operative tabletop skirmish game.

After our disaster with the "Laughing Columns" in the first part of the Temple of Madness mission, our battered party of heroes had descended down a hole in the floor, and after scrambling down a dark tunnel, they finally emerged into a well lit chamber... there were four raised discs in the floor...a big metal door in the right hand wall, and a point of interest on each of the other two walls. The door looked like it might be locked, but there were some arcane words written on it... The room was not empty. There were five temple guardians in the room...and from the sounds that our heroes could hear - it wouldn't be long until more evil minions of the Shadow Mage would be on their way to try and stop them....

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)

 

 
Unsure how we were going to get out of the room - we decided we would go and read what the writing on the door said... Jennifer and Archibald both shot at a temple guardian that was approaching from the right hand corner and then started moving towards the door.. Arthur, Malvolio and Odis all moved towards the door as well. The temple guardians started to move towards us... Malvolio and Seb started across the room towards the left to see if there were any clues that might help... Two skeletons appeared out of the shadows in the top right hand corner of the chamber....

At the end of every round more baddies would turn up. We had to roll on a table to see what they were (combinations of groups of skeletons, armored skeletons and temple guardians), and then roll to determine which random corner of the room they would emerge from...

Arthur and Fern take on some temple guardians whilst Odis reads the runes on the door...

The writing on the door that Odis read, told us that the door was sealed with an incantation lock. We would have to light the four braziers on the magic discs, then speak the three command words in the correct order (a 3 digit number - we would read a passage from the back of the mission book and see if we got it right...) Whilst we were trying to do this, more and more evil creatures would be turning up to try and stop us....

Seb and Malvolio take on two temple guardians... 

 

Seb and Malvolio were stopped in their attempt to find any clues. Seb was on low health after his experience in the first scenario...They were both knocked out.

Whilst Arthur, Odis and Fern struggled with a combination of temple guardians and skeletons, Jennifer and Archibald started moving towards the other clue as even more undead warriors came at them out of the corners...

Archibald was having trouble working out what the clue meant. He was just about to be overwhelmed by a bunch of boney bandits, when Jennifer got near enough to help by casting her special "Burning Light spell" - disintegrating all but one of that particular group of skeletal ne'r-do-wells! Archibald smashed up the last one and then finally figured out what the clue was telling us...

Alfie's remaining guys started across the chamber towards the other clue... Fern was mobbed by two more gangs of skeletons - she got a bit bashed up, but managed to take them all out!! - Arthur finally got to the last clue whilst everyone else was fighting off various baddies... 

 

Now we knew what to do, and we had to make it back to the door, lighting the braziers as we went... 

Fern was finally knocked out by a single temple guardian who got to her just as she had lit one of the braziers... the remaining three party members - Jennifer, Arthur and Archibald, lit the last three braziers as more of the evil wizards hench-dudes approached from the corners... the two clues that we had found meant that we had a good idea in what order the command words should be spoken. Archibald spoke the words. They were not correct - flashes of blue energy skipped around the room - Jennifer and Archibald were both slightly damaged... Luckily the bad guys were not near enough to get to our guys in the next turn... Archibald tried again - this time it worked! - There was a grinding of rusty metal gears - and the doors slid open...

...

I really didn't think we were going to get though this scenario without being completely overwhelmed. I think this is the hardest one we have done yet. The death toll was crazy - between us we killed 5 temple guardians, 4 Skeleton knights and 18 Skeletons!! We accumulated enough experience to go up to level 11.

 We rolled for injuries. Nobody died this time - but Odis now has a permanent injury of a smashed leg, so he has -1 movement from now on... Seb, Malvolio, Fern and Odis will all be starting on only 8 health for the next part of the mission... "The pit of ghouls"

...

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

  2 minute tabletop.