The Fellowship of Destiny had been broken. It could not be reformed. Its pieces could not be reunified. All that remained was the young wizard Aerlin, Mentor's own pupil. The rest had been lost to the power of Zargon.
Time was of the essence. The King's former wizard Wardoz had delved too deeply into the secrets of Magic. He had been consumed and possessed by the powers of Dread. He was Wardoz in name only. He was now a living husk driven only by the power of Dread. Sir Ragnar's spies had reported that once the Fellowship had been broken, Wardoz was forced to leave his secret underground lair and he fled into an abandoned keep on the border near the Wildlands. There his malignant power began to attract Dread followers. He had to be destroyed before it was too late.
Concerned by this growing evil within their lands, the Druids sent an emissary to Mentor for aid. The fae-druid Rosemary made the long quest and Mentor quickly introduced her to Aerlin. From there, the two began to search for new heroes to go to the borderlands. On their journey's they met two other members willing to help. Barco Hamilcar, the cousin of Magos and one of the Hamilcaroid line; came from the halls of the Mountain dwarves. From the east he brought his mentor and friend Lin-Min Maye from the Sacred Temple of Way.
With four heroes, they dubber themselves "Hope Reborn". They soon found themselves journeying to the Wildland themselves, and on a collision course with the latest threat to the Kingdom; Wardoz.
A Quest Returned!
Faithful readers, you will recall that the Fellowship of Destiny was broken during the quest of The Lost Wizard. Neo-wulf, Magos Hamilcar and Alathursa of the Green were all killed and their valuable loot lost while investigating the fate of the king's wizard Wardoz. Only the wizard escaped, and that was by the skin of his teeth!
With three of the four party members dead, it was time to rebuild my adventuring band. The first would have to be the only surviving member, Aerlin the Wizard. He would retain his Wizard's Staff and Cloak.
I wanted to add a Guardian Knight, but I do not have the rules for the model and did not want to wait to pick-up the Rise of the Dread Moon Expansion before I went back on the Quest. Therefore, I needed to pick from my existing heroes. I decided the Barbarian as my heavy-hitter was not working out as I had gone through two all ready!
This time, I was going to stretch and make a Wandering Monk my main "frontline" fighter. It is a bit of a stretch, but with the elemental powers they might be able to pull it off. To replace the Elf, I decided to try the Druid character. Finally, I did not have a good anti-trap model, so decided to go with the Dwarf once again. However, this time I would use my First Light version of the model. My new band of heroes had been selected..... and I was not entirely confident they could manage it!
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| Hope Reborn led by Aerlin the Wizard |
Creating the Dread Wizard Wardoz' Keep
I went back and read what to do if the party fails a quest. Oh dear! They recommended that you make a new quest to replace it and introduce your new heroes. However, I am playing solo using the App. I had a few choices. I could try to select an opening mission from First Light of a different supplement such as Kellar's Keep or Rise of the Witch Lord. I could also try to build my own level, which would be fun; but I could not use the App to run. I wanted to keep some element of discovery.
Therefore, I decided to try to put together a way for me to auto-generate the dungeon to keep up the exploration and surprise. However, I only needed it for a quick, 1-off game and not a complete quest. Therefore, something quick and simple I could run using simple charts would be best, and allow me to help provide some of the equipment the party had lost during their failed mission.
First, I decided that Wardoz himself would use the stats for a Dread Wizard instead of a Zombie. For spells I would randomly draw from the Dread deck on his turn. However, I also decided that Wardoz had recovered the Talisman of Lore and that would be a reward for the Heroes when they defeated him.
Here is how I decided to randomly generate the dungeon:
1. The beginning was in the center room, all corridors from the main room were blocked. There was one door at the opposite end of the room to leave.
2. At each room wall that a Hero could see, I would roll a combat dice. On a skull it would have a door to the room. I did this first in each room/hall a hero entered.
3. I would roll for furniture with the red movement 2d6 and counted off each piece of furniture in my collection. If I got to a number higher than the furniture there was no furniture. I placed it where no doorways existed.
4. For monsters, I limited myself to the Undead foes so Skellies, Zombies, Mummies, and Stone Golem Dread Warriors, and Wardoz himself. For foes I would roll 5 combat dice, with each Skull indicating a foe. If you scored 3+ Black Shields you encountered Wardoz and a single Stone Golem guardian.
5. Finally, I rolled 1 combat dice per skull in step 4. Another skull meant a skeleton, a white shield meant a Zombie, and a Black Shield meant a Mummy. These would be placed in the room in the available squares furthest from the enemies.
6. If the players never encountered Wardoz via rolling, the two main baddies would face them in the main stairway room before escape could be possible.
7. Whenever a player tried to detect traps, I rolled a Combat dice. On a skull, there were no traps. On a White Shield there was a spear trap, and on a Black Skull there was a Pit trap. These traps were blocking any other exits first, and if not we randomized the position in the room with a d6 and counting squares away from the detecting hero.
8. For treasure, I decided that any chests opened we would roll a white combat dice. On a skull it was 2d6 x10 gold, White Shield it was armor (shield or helm player's choice), Black Shield was a Healing potion.
9. Secret Doors would be discovered on a roll of a Black Shield and would only go to rooms without other doors.
With this basic order of operations in place, Hope Reborn was ready to attempt to explore the Keep on the Border of the Wild Lands
Here is how the map developed during the game:
In Pursuit of the Dread Wizard Wardoz
Hope Reborn made the dangerous trek to the edge of the Wildlands. There, they found the entrance into the keep and ascended the ancient, carved stairs and towards danger. Aerlin was the leader, and he chose to be cautious. He did not wish to see yet more companions fall.
They moved out carefully, mindful of any of Wardoz's minions. Barco identified a spear trap in front of the far door. The party approach the first door and quickly discovered their first challenge! A Mummy and two Zombies! A battle broke out where Lin-Min May quickly proved her worth as she skillfully ducked into the room and covered the others as they fell back. She was able to defeat the beasts. However, her search for treasure proved costly as she took an arrow to the knee!
The rest of the party moved on. They quickly discovered more spear trap protected doors. Barco disarmed two of them by taking a spear to the face! Ouch! Not so good at disarming these things yet!
The group found that the Keep was now crawling with re-animated skeleton guards! Wardoz and the power of Dread had been busy!
Barco managed to find Wardoz' secret study. There, Lin-Min May in a whirlwind of destruction took out three skeleton guards in a moment! Barco and Aerlin exchanged glances as they had never seen such a display of martial prowess before. Soon after, the Monk again impressed by taking on a Mummy single-handedly with the aid of a Courage spell and easily man-handling the horror and its escorts! Aerlin was wondering why Mentor had kept the Warrior of the Way on the shelf prior!
The heroes of Hope Reborn slowly and carefully made their way through the undead infested rooms of the Keep. They stumbled upon the Guardroom, where they bested more Skeleton and Undead guards. However, Barco was able to find a serviceable shield and claimed it as his own. Elsewhere, Lin-Min May discovered more monsters and spear trap protected doors. Even Aerlin was getting in on the Skeleton busting, as his staff proved deadly at an angle against the foes.
However, a toll was being taken on Hope Reborn. Barco had taken injuries from terror and trap. Lin Min May had also been injured. Thankfully, Rosemary and Aerlin had come prepared with spells to boost their comrades! The wizard hoped it would be enough.
Hope Reborn headed home, with the loot from the Treasury. However, Barco was halted in his tracks as he went to go back up the stairwell. In front of him was the twisted and inhumane visage of Wardoz. Along with him were his last Stone Golem guard and a Mummy. (This was very lucky as I used the normal random monster generation + Wardoz and his Golem and only rolled 1 additional Mummy monster). Immediately, the Dwarf was struck by an unnatural Dread Magic-induced fear as he fell back from the Mummies' raking claws.
Rosemary transformed herself into her Wolf form and attacked the Mummy, tearing it apart before it could finish off Barco. However, the Stone Golem ambled forward and the two wrestled. Aerlin's summoned a Genie to blast the Golem, causing it to reel back, but not destroy it. It dealt a grievous blow to Barco who was barely hanging on. Rosemary got the better of it and finally smashed the Dread Construct into small stone rocks. Lin Min May used the chance to rush forward towards Wardoz!
However, she was too slow as a blast of crackling lightning blasted from his fingertips. The Monk was barely able to avoid the shot thanks to her elemental powers, but Rosemary and Aerlin were not so lucky. They were caught in the blast!
With a last gasp, Aerlin cast Tempest to tie up the evil wizard in a magical storm. This gave the Heroes of Hope Reborn a few precious seconds! Rosemary summoned a Pixie to heal Aerlin. Lin Min May channeled her inner Chi and unleashed a beam of red-hot heat that sliced into the evil wizard, he cried out in pain as it seared him with her inner strength. Barco, terrified; threw his axe and managed to crack the wizard in the skull, embedding it deep in his forehead.... killing him.
The terror of Wardoz had been defeated. He was an abject lesson to those who tried to delve too deep into Dread Magic. The foolish often think they can learn Dread's weaknesses, or master it; but all too often fall into Dread’s corrupting grasp. Lin Min May scooped up the Talisman of Lore from the body of the fallen monster and claimed it as her own.
Conclusion
The severely twisted and damaged head of Wardoz was all the proof Prince Magnus and Sir Ragnar needed. They concluded that the King's former wizard had indeed fallen and that the Heroes of Hope Reborn had put an end to his reign of terror. They were awarded the reward.
In addition, Rosemary had discovered a Heroic Brew in the Keep. The group also had found 70 gold coins, a few gems, and to be combined with the 100 for the reward; and the Heroes had a solid nest egg. Barco was also happy with the shield he had found in the Keep and kept it.
However, the respite was only temporary. Loretome all ready foretold of the next danger to the kingdom, as the power of the Fire Wizard was growing in the mountains.
Final Thoughts
Well, that was fun. The dungeon generated worked well for the most part. However, it did lack some of the "Gotcha" that Heroquest scenarios are known for. Traps and Secret Doors were especially tough, as they only became a "thing" if searched for. Therefore, if you never searched there would never be any. Therefore, that part of the generator has to be re-worked. I also need to re-work enemy placement when generated as again, it lacked some of the "gotcha" and lethality of pre-made Quests. However, it was no push-over as Aerlin was 1 wound away from dying, Barco got down to two wounds left, and Lin Min May was at half, while Rosemary had taken 2 of 6. By the end, I had used up all of my healing abilities and many of my spells, so I guess it turned out relatively hard.
A note about the Monk's powers. I played a slightly altered variant. In my variant, the Monk had to use their activation in prayer and meditation to "re-center" and regain access to their Elemental Powers when no other Monsters were on the board. This was a good addition, as even if all the enemies were dead, the Monk had to choose between exploring further, getting treasure, or re-charging. It forced some decision making and balanced her out a bit. However, she seemed like a perfectly good front-liner for this dungeon!
Until the next Quest! I am now back on track with the original Quest Book with my new band of Heroes. Wish them luck, because I think some of them will need it to survive!
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