For a lark, I wanted to do something a bit different for Heroquest. By tradition, it is designed to be played with a Barbarian, Dwarf, Wizard, and Elf. The Wizard and Elf and a bit more fragile but bring a bit of utility magic and healing, the Dwarf takes care of traps and tanks, and the Barbarian brings Body points and damage output. The four work together to make a well-balanced team.
With the release of several expansions, there were a number of new Heroes you can take for your Heroquest adventures. Conveniently, I have them all and even painted them all up. That means, instead of the O.G. 4, I can take a mix of new Heroes.
I have been running with Heroes Reborn for a few quests now. They are a Wizard, a Dwarf, a Monk, and a Druid. The Wizard and the Dwarf we know their roles. The Druid brings magical support and healing, plus the Beast Form spell. However, they are pretty squishy and not much of a fighter. The Monk on the other hand is a great tank and damage dealer for low Body monsters thanks to her elemental powers. This again leads to a rather balanced party.
I will continue my more "serious" questing with Hope Reborn. However, First Light seems to suggest that Mentor has not put all his eggs into one Heroic basket. It seems to imply that Mentor is running more than one heroic band at once! This gives me a chance to run a "less serious" group through the First Light scenario packs and see what happens.
For this group, I am not going to balance it at all! Instead, I want to go no magic and all Meatheads! I am interested to see how they do with no access to healing. Will they all die Quest 1 or will they soldier on all the way through?
The Meatheads
This secondary adventuring band will be led by Sir Tryard. A loyal knight of the Crown and a former squire of Sir Ragnar. Sir Tryard has never much cared for magic and the threat of Dread that comes with it. When asked by Mentor to lead a band of heroes, his one stipulation was that there would be none of the sorcerous ilk.
My secondary group will be joined by the barbarian, Sonjah. Hailing from the Northern Tribe oft called the Aetherkin. She has come down from the mountains to answer Mentor's summons for aid. She won the honor after a series of trials set forth by her people..... or so she claims. No one wants to challenge her telling of events.
Accompanying her is the strong and mostly silent Rageina the Berserker. She seems to accompany Sonjah out of a sense of purpose. Sonjah does not speak of how the two crossed paths. Perhaps their meeting is the true reason they have answered Mentor's summons? Sir Tryard had no interest in courtly gossip on the subject and is glad to have them join.
Finally, they are also joined by the Dwarf Noble, Autius Argead. Hailing from a rival family line to the Magonids, Autius has joined Mentor's adventuring party to prove the superiority of the Argeads to the Magonids. Perhaps one day, the Argeads will supplant the Magonids as the heirs of the Dwarven Throne? Until that day, Autius has come forth to stop the forces of Zargon and aid the King of Men.
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| The Meatheads - Autius, Sir Tryard, Sonjah, and Rageina |
Sir Ragnar's Spies
Sir Ragnar comes to Mentor looking for aid. His scouts have failed to return from the Border Fort of In-Gulden. He fears the worst but is unable to sally forth himself to investigate. With Mentor's promise of aid he turns to his latest assets to assist the Kingdom.
Sir Tryard is happy to assist Sir Ragnar. Perhaps he can show his mettle to his former master? With that, he calls together his team and gives them a briefing. They gather their weapons and head out on the long trail from Mentor's tower to the Border of the Kingdom.
After a few days, the Border Fort of In-Gulden comes into view, strategically situated on a cliff side overlooking a winding road into untamed lands. The banner of the King is no longer visible along the battlements. The Meatheads exchange glances and fear the worst.
"Be Cautious," Sir Tryard intones. Before leaving, in a private counsel Sir Ragnar gifted Sir Tryard with two potions of healing to help on this mission. Tryard hands a Healing Potion to Autius and keeps one for himself. He slams his helmet closed and takes up his sword, gesturing for the rest to follow him in.
The Border Fort of In-Gulden
Sir Tryard is confident of his knowledge of these types of Border Forts. This is not the first one he has been in. His early days squiring were in just such a fort. He leads the way in, and quickly finds and slays a goblin guard. Sonjah goes down the opposite corridor and deals with a sentry there, while the others scramble in behind.
However, Sir Tryard's confidence is quickly shaken with a mighty rubble and a wall of dust as the ceiling comes crashing down. Rageina barely made it through in time! Sonjah grabs her friend's hand and pulls her up. Her ice blue eyes stare daggers into the Knight. The entry was blocked. A neat trick, and something the forces of Zargon had added.
"I doubt that is the only trap Zargon's troops have added. Be mindful," the knight intones.
The group goes through a doorway and is soon greeted by more enemy foes. They were moving to investigate, and when the Meat Heads opened the door caught them by surprise. Sonjah rushed in, eager to finish them off quickly but found herself falling victim to a falling rock trap! She failed to take Sir Tryard's advise. However, the group quickly dispatched the foes.
However, it was too late. Sir Ragnar's scout was dead. The barbarian rummaged through the body and found a note, that she handed over to Sir Tryard, "Your chief will want that."
Autius points to the door, indicating more activity on the other side. They are eager for battle... to eager as another falling rock trap hits Sonjah. Orcs and Goblins leap at the intruders but are quickly cut down by the heroes flashing blades. The Meat Heads take a moment to rest at the hearth and catch their breath. Autius said, "This place has more traps than a ratcatcher's convention."
The group continued, and this time Rageina opened a door a triggered an alarm. Orc guards came rushing from across the fort to deal with the intruders. Sir Tryard and Autius moved to cut them off, while Rageina and Sonjah dealt with the greenskins in front of them.
The danger is quickly dealt with, but their presence in the fort was now known. They had to move quickly, and the group tried to pick-up its pace. Stealth was mostly abandoned now as they rushed to find the scouts. A scream heralded their approach and they opened a door just in time to see a scout slump to the floor at the clawed hands of a pair of abominations.
Sir Tryard moved quickly to the next room to try and rescue any remaining scouts. Behind him Sonjah and Autius fought a desperate battle with the onrushing abominations. The knight flung open the next door, to see he was again too late! The scout was on the floor, dead. Looming over him was a warrior in massive red armor, a huge, bloody halberd in his hand, "I am Shal-da, warrior of Queen Kassandria. I challenge you knight!" The word "knight" came out as a hiss. Sir Tryard did not even notice the orc warriors with his challenger.
"I accept you challenge." With that the two engaged in a furious fight at the threshold as the Orcs jeered the Hero and cheered on their champion.
It was an epic duel as the Dread Warrior was a skilled opponent. He had earned his place by his Queen's side. He battered and pummeled Sir Tryard, using his longer reach to push the knight out of the doorway. Sir Tryard was injured and being pushed back. However, he heard the war-shout of Sonjah! The barbarian cared not for honor, duels, and challenges. The point of fighting was to win. She rushed the Dread Warrior from behind, and her broadsword found a weak spot in his red armor. Her blade sunk home, as the Warrior's mighty Halberd clattered to the ground.
"Is this what your King calls honor?" Shal-Da gurgled before slumping to the ground. Sir Tryard did not have time to think about the finer points of chivalric combat as the Orcs stormed out and attacked as well. Autius and Sonjah jumped in to hold back the tide with Rageina following up. There was one Scout potentially left alive and Sir Tryard intended to find them.
As Sir Tryard rushed ahead Rageina and Autius confirmed that the two scouts they had found were dead. In the process, Autius found a secret door that led into a secret tomb. He was accosted by skeleton guards, and a shout for aid brought Sonjah. Together they cleared the crypt. Sonjah easily opened the sarcophagus and was pleased to see the glint of gold inside!
Rageina also found important information in the room of her fallen scout. She took the paper with the Kingdom's strange writing on it. Sire Tryard would want to see that. Plus, inside a chest she also found a pile of plunder! Her search revealed a secret door, and on the other side was a secret stairway.
During this search, Autius was ambushed by a goblin who was hiding in a cupboard. The critter charged at him with a terrified hiss! He was to startled and out of position to respond and it gave him a serious wound. However, Rageina stepped in and finished it with mighty swing.
"Nothing worse than closet goblins," she mumbled.
Tryard broke into another room, and his shouts of alarm brought Rageina running to his aid. They quickly dispatched the Orc and Goblin guards. The rest of the group came up as they burst into what Sir Tryard was positive was the last guard house to be cleared. Again, they were too late. The scout had been killed by Zargon's allies. He rushed in to do battle, along with Sonjah. However, she fell into a pit. Despite the challenges the battle was short lived.
With the last scout's fate secured, Sir Tryard took a moment to assess the situation. His party was bruised and bleeding. However, they were still trapped in the fort. With this moment of respite, Rageina gave him the note from the desk; important intel for Sir Ragnar. She also said, "I found a way out."
"By all means, show us the way m'lady."
The Berserker wrinkled her nose at such words, but easily led the party to the secret stairway.
Conclusion
Well, the Meathead Party managed to survive their foray into the border fort of In-Gulden. They did take some bad injuries with Autius at 1, Sonjah at 2, Rageina at 3, and Sir Tryard at 3. However, for not having any spell-casters they did okay. I might have to try something like this again but with only the Warlock, Bard, Wizard, and Druid? I doubt it would end as well.
The group made a lot of money on this one, netting something like 555 gold, two Healing potions, and a Potion of Defense. With all this loot, they should be able to arm up nicely for the next few adventures in First Light. Someone really needs a Battle Axe for this group.
They did still tend to find traps the hard way, but Autius managed to disarm two or three during the adventure. The Meatheads were just too eager to get into melee and ran into the traps head first. However, the decision-making process for this band of Meatheads was a bit different than with a normal spread of heroes. You knew that each of them could handle themselves on their own, so getting split up was easier. Sadly, I did not even get to try to use any of the Knight or Berserkers special abilities out.
The battle between the Knight and the Dread Warrior was pretty epic. A duel that went several rounds as Sonjah and Autius were tied up with a pair of Abominations. It was the highlight of the adventure for me. Too bad that was somewhere in the mid-point of the mission rather than the end.
I wonder what Hope Reborn is up to these days? Maybe we will find out soon?
Until next time!
