It's almost a year since we last played Frostgrave. Back then we liked it...but it never clicked. Now we went back for a reboot and dove in with renewed energy! We decided to start with new warbands and to start with the Dark Alchemy campaign. The coop element really appealed to us and the scenarios sounded cool and thematic. So we created our warbands, my mate created a huge dungeon with his Teraclips Dungeons set and off we went. My warband consisted of a Wizard (Staff), Apprentice (Staff), Captain (2-handed weapon, mail armour), Infantryman, Archer, Tunnel Fighter, Warhound. For my spells I chose Bone Dart, Raise Zombie, Control Undead, Fleet Feet, Animal Companion, Imp, Elemental Hammer and Push.
"Dragos observed the city from a crumbling ruin. Everywhere he looked he saw ruins covered in snow and ice. Although the city was slowly thawing, it was still extremely cold. Not that it bothered him. As a vampire he felt no cold and he actually enjoyed the city’s wintery desolation.
He heard something wade through the snow towards him. It was his warhound, a reanimated beast. Dragos scratched the dead creature behind its ear and patted him on the head. “Soon, my friend. Soon you will taste flesh again”. The creature made a guttural sound and jumped off the ruined bulding. The count gave the signal and the warband moved on again. Once again they would enter the city in search of the many hidden treasures. Dragos had found an ancient tome which told of an alchemical factory which was supposed to be in this part of the city. There was a chance he could find some ancient potions to augment his magic. This was enough for Dragos to search for the place.
The warband moved through the maze-like city, following their nocturnal leader. He navigated the streets easily and found the place without trouble. But then, trouble would always find them. As soon as they rounded the last corner and found the ancient crumbling factory he spotted several Elves converging on the same building. Curses, there were others! In an instant he reached for a rune-carved bone and blasted it at the nearest opponent. The Elf survived because of its quick reflexes, dodging the bone and rolling behind cover. Dragos’ apprentice summoned a zombie from the snow and sent the creature for the Elves. But after only two steps the zombie was blown apart by a bone dart from the Elf mage. Then chaos ensued.
Both parties tried to engage each other from range while going for the building. One of Dragos’ thugs was killed by an Elf archer and Dragos killed the Elf with a Bone Dart before both sides entered the building. It would be a race for the treasures.
The building was huge with several levels of alchemical factories, laboratories and workshops. The Necromancer and the Chronomancer fought for long hard minutes until they entered a room filled with dozens of large vats. Dragos could smell the contents were extremely explosive and with a wicked smile he threw a bone dart at the vat behind the Elf Mage. The mage leapt away with magic and evaded the exploding vat. The explosion triggered a second explosion and a third until all vats in the chamber exploded. The whole building first trembled and then seemed to collapse. Fire and smoke was everywhere and the warbands scattered through the collapsing building. What seemed like a smart move from Dragos could well be the end for both warbands. The treasure hunt became an escape from doom.
When the smoke cleared Dragos found he was alone with his infantryman and archer. They were bruised and battered but could still fight. He heard coughing. Spinning around he was next to the Elf Mage. Dragos raced his staff and prepared to blast the Elf again, but the Mage raised his hand.
“Stop! Can’t you see this fighting will probably kill us all? Think, foul creature! We must work together to escape or die together in this forsaken place”.
Dragos looked the Elf in the eye and knew it was the truth. He must work together with this creature or else he would probably be destroyed. And afterwards there would be plenty of opportunities to destroy the Mage anyway. From the adjoining chamber there came a loud and foul bubbling scream. It was unnatural, pitiful and full of hatred.
Dragos smiled wickedly and pointed towards the dark chamber. “Lead on then, Elf…”
Both sides cleared the smoke and entered a ruined part of the factory. While they eyed each other suspiciously, a hideous roar came from close by. Apparently something else was present, something hungry. Both wizards knew there was little time to escape this part of the building before it would collapse. Hopefully they could leave with some treasures...
They heard the creature slither away from them and the Elves quickly followed up. The Mage boosted the captain by giving him extra speed. The Elves moved diagonally, moving away from the sound of the creature.
Dragos didn't want to stay near the Elves, so decided to move the other way. Hopefully the Elves would run into a trap or some other foul creatures...
He tried to boost his archer's speed, but the magic backfired. He head felt like a split melon and he cursed loud in his ancient language. The Infantryman lead the way. In the distance they could see a large shape moving through the chamber...
Quickly moving forwards, both the Elves and the Necromancer's forces entered the large chamber. The archer took an arrow from his quiver and observed the large room. In the distance a huge bleeding fleshy blob had worked its way unto the stairs and there were many rats pouring from a huge crack in the wall. The archer fired but missed one of the rats. Once again Dragos tried to work his magic bur once again he was hurt by his feeble efforts. His anger was building up...
His rage built up and he absorbed all magic energy close by. Entering the chamber he saw the huge monstrosity slobbering down the stairs. He focused the energy into a bone dart and then hurled the deadly projectile at the monster. The spell hit the monster in its right side and several body parts were torn off by the blast. It howled in pain and anger and blood flung about. The archer also fired at the monster, but the arrow simply bounced off its rubbery skin. On the other side of the room the Elf mage saw the effect of the magic bolt and he ran up the stairs near the side to get a better shot at the monster. Rats were still pouring into the chamber and the Elf captain and treasure hunter were harassed by the frenzied rodents. The rats prevented them from following their leader, but so far they managed to keep the creatures at bay.
The Elf captain and treasure hunter were hacking away at the rats. Each time they killed one of the creatures, another took its place. Both fighters were breathing heavily and the treasure hunter had taken some severe wounds. He was bleeding now.
Dragos finally managed to cast the Fleet Feet spell right and magically hastened the archer. He commanded his minion to get to the balcony, guard the door and retrieve one of the last treasures, while he send in the infantryman to support the treasure hunter. He may despise the Elves, he needed them to escape this forsaken place.
With three soldiers working together, the rats would surely be killed in no-time.
The Elf Mage was away from the blood and chaos and tuned his mind to the magic around him. Weaving the spell with quick gestures, he built up the energy and then sent it into the alchemical monstrosity. It hit the monster from the other side and the dart managed to rupture the creature. The internal gasses and fluids burst out and the creature exploded in a shower of gore, fluids, organs and jelly. The Elf could find solace in the thought he gave the creature the peace it was probably looking for.
The infantryman charged into the rat harrassing the treasure hunter, but the foul creature leapt aside and bit the soldier in his neck. The infantryman tried to grapple the rat and toss it aside, but the creature was slippery from the treasure hunter's blood. The soldier went down, blood gurgling from the nasty neck wound. He dropped the treasure and suddenly the situation looked problematic.
The count was troubled: should he move to the centre, maybe support the Elves and reclaim the lost treasure or quickly run up the stairs and follow his archer. In the end the glittering treasure cought his eye and he went to the centre. To gave him some extra support, he summoned a zombie but that took a lot of his energy. He felt drained! The zombie moved towards the nearest rat and simply squashed it under its boot. It then picked up the treasure and shuffled towards the stairs. Dragos followed and magically enhanced the undead's speed. Both of them ran up the stairs. The archer tried to open the nearest door, but it was a false door! Curses...now they would need to move across the dreaded rat lair.
The archer moved up and picked up the nearest treasure. A rat jumped up to him but the soldier impaled it on his dagger. Dragos and the zombie followed. While the zombie charged into combat, Dragos pushed the archer away with a wall of force. This gave the soldier the time he needed and he quickly ran for the door. The zombie was then attacked by the rat and the rodent managed to bite its head off in one quick stroke! It then jumped for Dragos. Althugh the vampire as fast, the rat was faster and it managed to bring the vampire down. Dragos succumbed to the darkness and the last thing he saw were big rat teeth.
Post game thoughts"Matei the archer waited for his employer to follow him through the ruins, but after waiting for several minutes the wizard wasn't there. He cursed silently, hid the treasures beneath some rubble and silently prowled back into the chamber. All was silent and the rats seemed to have disappeared for now. He retraced his steps and in the distance saw the slumped Wizard. The vampire sat against the wall, clutching his wounded side. Although the vampire was severly wounded, with the help of Matei he could continue the escape. The both new they needed each other. Dragos needed the soldier to help him while he was wounded and the archer knew he needed the vampire's magical prowess. Matei looked over the balcony and saw the Infantryman getting back up. Apparently the bite wound wasn't as dire as it seemed during the fight. The three slowly moved out of the chamber to continue their journey through the factory. Matei stopped to reclaim the treasures and gave them to Dragos. Dragos smiled coldly and nodded. "Good, let's continue. I wonder how my apprentice is doing...."That was awesome!
In the first scenario we were facing off against a Alchemical Monstrosity and lots and lots of rats. The first game was quite tense and I lost my Wizard and Infantryman, while my mate almost lost his Treasure Hunter. He left the dungeon with 3 treasures and I left with 2 treasures.
During the game my Cthulhu die obviously hated me. I think 2/3 of my rolls were 6 or lower. It started with my wizard taking 3 wounds in the first 2 turns due to failed spells. That slowed him down without me gaining anything. But then I rolled a 20 for the Bone Dart aimed at the Alchemical Monstrosity. It took 12 wounds and it was bound to go down fast. I tried to follow up with arrows and Bone Darts to get those valuable XP, but I failed and my mate blew him apart with his Mage. And then my Infantryman fumbled two attacks against a rat and was taken out. Darn! Bad timing and he was also carrying a treasure. Since treasure is important in Frostgrave I decided to move Dragos to the centre to claim the treasure. The raised zombie really helped me out.
The archer had a hard time...he was basically stuck on the balcony. He was close to the rat hole, so if he moved up he would be charged rightaway! The nearby treasure was too close to the rats. He tried to open the door (I just wanted to move it all on), but I didn't roll 15+. But when his boss and the zombie arrived he manned up and went for the treasure. The rat and he fought without results. Then I though I was savvy and pushed him through the rat with the wizard. But due to a crap roll he was only pushed 2". Doh. The wizard jumped in th combat to support the zombie. But my dice were terrible and my mate's (who rolled for the rat) were on fire and the rat first took out the zombie and then the wounded Dragos. Doh! Although I wanted to burn the die I kept it...it was Dragos' fate to keep using the awful die ;-). Luck would return!
After the game we rolled for treasures and injuries. Both Dragos and the Infantryman were perfectly fine (yeah!) and I found some gold, a Scroll of Awareness, a Potion of Fire Breath and an Elixir of Speed. Good stuff!
The next game will be the Skeletal Run. In this second scenario of Dark Alchemy my Apprentice, Captain and Tunnel Fighter will try to escape a part of the factory overrun with burning skeletons. Oh oh...
I have also added the report as a comic to my website:
http://paintoholic.nl/batreps/frostgrave_game1.pdf
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April 18, 2024, 06:57:26 PM
August 17, 2016, 09:32:54 AM