Rufus's expedition to the frozen city

[Timbor]

Another nice writeup.  It is also nice to hear that a fun game can be had even when there are level discrepancies.

My favourite picture is the one of the ghoul giving the bear a friendly stroke. 

[rufus sparkfire]

Yes, I was also amused by the ghoul's attempt to make friends. It's too bad the bear wasn't interested.

I feel a bit bad about being so far ahead of everyone else, level-wise. I'll probably start a new warband next time. Perhaps an all-halfling group!

[rufus sparkfire]

Campaign game 8

Since Professor Lund was now level 25, I decided to start a new warband until such a time as someone else caught up a bit.

Jhoira (chronomancer): sword [spells: fast act, fleet feet, time store, elemental bolt, raise zombie, reveal secret, leap, brew potion]
Rufus (apprentice): sword
Sven (barbarian)
Erik (archer)
Torvar (archer)
Garthar (thief)
Vilkas (thug)
Stenvar (thug)
Vorstag (thug)
Ulf (thug)

Jhoira was expelled from Icefall College several years ago (or possibly sometime quite soon) as a result of her reckless experiments with time. She returned to her home town of Innswatch on the edge of the Crescent Sea, where she became court wizard to the Hetman. Now she has traveled to Frostgrave in search of the rumoured Infinite Archive, where every possible future is described.

The first rival she faced was a level 6ish witch with a fondness for bears (bear-themed warbands are popular). The two warbands met in a small but relavatively open area of ruins.



The enemy warband, which included three barbarians and two huge bears, lurks out of sight. Jhoira's archers claim the high vantage points, while the others take cover.


The time-wizard and two of her northmen guards. A bear appears in the distance!


Rufus the apprentic directs his men as the bear starts to move forward.



The bear is swept up in a leap spell, and lands very close to Jhoira's band. She sends her men in to attack it, and the mighty beast is overwhelmed by numbers. A second bear races across open ground, coming under arrow-fire from above.


An enemy tracker teleports (with the aid of a potion) onto the steps of the tower. Stenvar the thug heads for a treasure token, but is attacked by a warhound.


Sven and Vilkas claim a treasure, but Sven is hit by a blinding light spell!


A pair of ice toads arrive!


The toads hop towards the enemy treasure hunter, who thought he only had to deal with Garthar the thief.


However, the toads were no match for the hunter... and neither was Garthar. As the game continued, the bear cult wore down Jhoira's warband. Eventually, the time wizard and her remaining followers withdrew, leaving the ruins to the bears. However, she'd managed to claim three of seven treasure tokens, which included an orb of power, a magical dagger, and a grimoire of elemental ball. She gained two levels, which she used to increase her health by one and to reduce the casting value of elemental bolt by one. Vilkas died, while Garthar would miss the next game. Not a bad result!

Game in progress (from the shop's facebook page):


Frostgrave dress code: shirt required, shoes optional.


There was time for a second game. See next post!

[rufus sparkfire]

Campaign game 9

Since I didn't want to waste time, I made no changes to my warband other than re-buying Vilkas and Garthar (Jhoira manipulated the time-streams so that neither was actually harmed in the last battle!). My opponent was a summoner of level five or so, with a reasonable number of the more expensive soldiers. The warbands met at a village just outside Frostgrave.

The summoner, a trafficker in things that should not be disturbed by mortal man, lines up his troops.


Jhoira, whose bold experiments in temporal mechanics are certainly worth any trifling risks they involve, leads her men forward.


Rufus does the same.


Twas Brillig! A jabberwock (using the gorilla stats) burbles onto the scene. Unfortunately, it appeared on my table edge, uncomfortably close to my treasure-carrying zombie. The monster pursued the zombie, until (with a surprising level of reasoning power) the zombie chose to duck behind a tree, breaking the jabberwock's eye contact. With no targets in sight, it moved randomly instead.


Ulf and Stenvar find treasure.


A wild snow leopard appears!


Sven and Torvar face off against a demonic fishman and an infantryman.


Jhoira casts leap on Vilkas, lifting him and his treasure token over the tower and away from the jabberwock.


The jabberwock wiffles along in the vague direction of the enemy warband. Missile fire from the tower injures it. It eats an imp, but is then killed by another arrow volley.


Rufus has been using his leap spell to speed treasure-carriers to safety, but now finds himself under attack from the enemy warhound. He and the dog land simultaneous strikes, and both are seriously injured. Some distance away, Jhoira faces a difficult choice: does she use her leap spell to get Vilkas and the treasure away, or does she use it to save Rufus from the dog?

After weighing up the options, she chooses to cast the spell on.... Rufus. It works, and he vaults away from the surprised beast. Vilkas is left to walk; he is hit by a bone dart from the summoner's apprentice, which takes him out. Jhoira is now alone. She considers picking up the treasure before withdrawing, but decides the risk is too great. She hurries away from the battle.

Even so, she has managed to retrieve four of the seven treasure tokens, finding another magic dagger, spellbooks of mud and circle of protection, two potions, and some money. She has gained two levels, which she uses to improve elemental bolt and leap. The only real casualty is Vilkas, who has died for a second time (unless a past version of him can be pulled out of the time stream again).

[rufus sparkfire]

Campaign game 10: quest for the golem, part 1

Vilkas did, in fact, survive... or rather, Jhoira was again able to reach into an alternate future and draw out a version of him that survived. Of course, this is precisely the sort of thing that caused her to be expelled from Icefall College, and with good reason. If she ever encounters Professor Mira Lund in Frostgrave, the professor will doubtless have something to say on the matter.

Jhoira and her warband took over one of the frozen city's many derelict inns, renaming it 'The Tolarian Academy.' A pigeon loft was installed to allow for easy communication with outlying settlements, and a second barbarian warrior - with the extremely common name of Ragnar - was hired. A short while later, Jhoira's divinatory skills revealed that a strange and powerful artifact was active not too far away. She set off at once.

The warband arrived to find a scene of devastation: bodies were strewn among the ruins, dismembered or simply pounded into the stones. All of them were fresh. No less than three other warbands had also been drawn to this aftermath of slaughter, each led by a necromancer. Could they have been responsible? If not them, then what?


The warband cautiously lurked behind the fallen pillars, trying to avoid attracting the attention of the necromancers. Rufus the apprentice had been practicing his alchemy back at the inn, and had succeeded in creating a demon in a bottle. It should serve as a useful distraction.


Two of the necromancers were substantially more experienced in the art of sorcery than Jhoira, though the third was a novice.


All four warbands had the same goal: to examine the twenty corpses for signs of what killed them (oh, and to rifle through their pockets for loot too).


At the center of the area was this oddly-futuristic ruin. To Jhoira's practiced gaze it crackled with temporal energy.


Jhoira, drawing on her orb of power, sent Vilkas hurtling onto a rooftop with a leap spell. Once there, he examined a dead body... there were no clues, but the man's undamaged backpack was full of treasure! Looking down from the tower, Vilkas saw one of the necromancers leading his group of dead men and - incongruously - bears through the rubble. They too were searching corpses, and discovered a peculiar set of papers [the golem notes!].


Meanwhile, Garthar the thief searched a dead horse while Erik and Torvar covered him with their bows. Sure enough, a man at arms from the novice necromancer's warband began to hurry towards them. He was wounded by bowfire as he approached, then overwhelmed in combat.


The bottled demon had been entrusted to Vorstag the thug, who released it as soon as he could. The entity within proved to be a rather traditional beast with bat-wings and a tail. While the barbarians searched another body (finding more treasure), the demon raced ahead and attacked the bear-necromancer. The two combatants injured each other, but neither was able to gain the upper hand until one of the necromancer's thugs intervened. The demon was swiftly banished.


Stenvar searched yet another body, only to find that the man was still alive! But he was horribly wounded, able only to mutter, "The great metal devil! It killed us all!" before expiring.

Perhaps there was some existing animosity between the necromancers, or perhaps it was simply fate, but the chronomancer warband was largely ignored. While Jhoira's men searched bodies and retrieved treasure, the necromancers fought bitterly against each other. Bears fought treasure-hunting ghouls.


Jhoira and Rufus remained at a safe distance, using leap spells to speed their hirelings across the ruins (though not without injury, since their spells needed considerable amounts of life energy to succeed. No doubt the sheer number of necromantic spells being cast was unbalancing the aether).

Erik felled an enemy marksman with a single arrow, while Vostag, Stenvar and Ulf examined another corpse.


As bear fought demon, Jhoira and her warband withdrew from the field. While they had learned little about what had occurred here (only that some monstrous construct was on a rampage), they had found a considerable amount of treasure [five treasure tokens].



Jhoira advanced to level 8, improving fight, health, elemental bolt and leap. The warband had taken no casualties apart from the temporary demon.

[Knightofspades]

Very fun and detailed battle reports I enjoyed reading them.

[rufus sparkfire]

Thank you very much!


Campaign game 11: hunt for the golem, part 2

The granite golem, an ancient war machine responsible for the scene of slaughter we discovered last time, had been sighted! The deadly machine had been tracked to a remote area of the ruined city, among nine of its lesser comrades. This would be an opportunity to observe the golem in action... without damaging it!

The mission was to recover treasure as normal, while also observing the granite golem. Bonus experience points would be awarded for getting close to the golem, for casting non-damaging spells on it, and for engaging it in combat... but destroying it would cause the campaign to end in failure (with no EXP for anyone!). There were also nine minor constructs scattered around the area.

Jhoira and two of her necromancer rivals from last time would face the golem (the third necromancer wasn't available).

Team photo. Also pictured is a lesser demon, ready to be summoned from a bottle... except that I failed the 'brew potion' rolls, so didn't get one.


Aerial shot of the board.


Jhoira's warband skulks in the blighted woodland.


Necromancer who likes bears.


Necromancer who likes spiders.


The part of the granite golem was played by Sauron.


The golem sees a dog, and charges.


Ragnar the barbarian attacks a minor construct while Garthar grabs the treasure.


Bear-necromancer secures treasure while trying not to get too close the the golem.


Spider-necromancer does the same on the other side.


Rufus the apprentice leads from the rear.


Ghoul strokes a bear, part 2.


While the necromancers clash, the golem is locked in combat with a man-at-arms. Spider-necromancer has his marksman shoot into the combat, hoping to hit the man-at-arms, sure that the golem would be unharmed if it was hit instead. He promptly caused 10 damage to the golem, reducing it to only 6 health. The next time the golem fought, the man-at-arms won... and caused 6 damage.


Since the destruction of the golem would end the campaign immediately, it was decided that 'the dice was cocked' and needed to be rerolled. Disaster averted!

All sides decided to retreat from the field to prevent and further accidents. On the way off, Jhoira sniped an enemy apprentice with an elemental bolt, and two of her bored barbarians ambushed a bear.


At the end of the game, Jhiora's warband had recovered three treasure tokens: a spellbook for 'possess', a ring of power, and approximately 350 gold.

[rufus sparkfire]

Campaign game 12: the hunt for the golem, part 3.

After the field encounter, the three warbands tracked the granite golem to a crumbling factory complex. The receding ice had left the ruins in a dangerously unstable state, but the lure of arcane technology was too great to ignore.

This was the final part of the mini-campaign. The golem was here, ready to attack any intruders. Additionally, it was possible for walkways to collapse or for rubble to fall on soldiers' heads. Any treasure tokens found can contain special items instead of standard ones.

View from above (standing on a chair).


Yes, it's 40K terrain!


Jhoira lead her warband into the factory. Her followers were a mixture of pragmatic soldiers and crazed, under-dressed northmen. Oh, and a zombie.


The opposition was the same: one necromancer who likes spiders...


...and one who prefers bears.


The granite golem looked different this time.


An enemy treasure hunter, supported by a bear, went after a collection of tomes.


The golem appeared from its lair. Jhoira attempted to hit it with a lighting bolt, but rolled a 1. Rufus the apprentice also tried, and also rolled a 1. Enraged, the golem launched a rock at Jhoira's zombie-shield, but it missed.


Spider-necromancer moves his troops forwards, taking shots at the treasure hunter.


Jhoira's band skirt around the edge of the complex, shooting arrows at the golem.


Bear-necromancer moves half his warband towards Jhoira.


The golem had sighted enemies closer to its lair, and moved to attack them. After a prolonged fight, the treasure-hunter-ghouls destroyed it... resulting in an explosion that knocked one of them out.


After some magical leaping to speed things up, the chronomancy warband had three treasures secured.


Bear vs spider (the spider is also a bear, stat-wise). The bear won!


Spider-necromancer had left the board with three normal treasures and a revealed secret. Bear-necromancer had three in his possession, but some of Jhoira's men decided to mug one of the carriers! Jhoira herself launched a lightning bolt at the necromancer's apprentice, knocking her out. This treasure was taken by the chronomancy band, bringing their total to four.

This was quite a mean thing to do, really!

The game, and the mini-campaign, was over. The golem had been destroyed, and the secrets of the factory had been raided. Jhoira gained three more levels, taking her to level 14. The only casualty was Garthar the thief, who would miss the next game.

As for the treasures... well, there wasn't time to roll for those. It will happen next week!

[Devoted of Slaanesh]

Amazing mate! Enjoyed your posts and models a lot!!! Keep them comming! 

[rufus sparkfire]

Thanks! I'm glad you like the posts!

[Knightofspades]

Very cool battle reports! Great work.

[rufus sparkfire]

Thanks!


Campaign game 13

The loot from the golem factory turned out (unsurprisingly) to consist of mechanical upgrades for metal men. Unfortunately, enchantment is the opposition school to chronomancy, so Jhoira was unable to put them to use. She decided it was time to leave the frozen city and return home to study the various treasures she'd discovered.

However, on the outskirts of Frostgrave, she encountered a sigilist and his warband, several of which were weird creatures constructed from books! A conflict was inevitable.

[note: we had the likelihood of monsters arriving increase by one for each treasure token that was picked up.]



The battlefield, viewed from above.


Jhoira split her warband into groups and had them advance cautiously.





The sigilist did the same.





The book-golems crept around the side of a watchtower.


Jhoira launched an elemental bolt, sending the enemy scurrying for cover.


A pair of giant, skeletal rats arrived on the scene.


Jhoira's men reached some of the treasure, but the sigilist's soldiers were massing for an attack.


Erik the archer shot an arrow at the enemy apprentice, which struck home. The young mage was unable to continue the fight. A moment later, a sleepy bear was roused from its lair, and attacked!


Ulf bravely took on the bear, so that Stenvar could escape with the treasure. The bear knocked him down. Rufus the apprentice began to fear for his safety.


Ragnar and Torvar were outnumbered by their enemies. After a few rounds of combat, both were defeated.


Jhoira had used Time Store to save an action, and now used it to cast two elemental bolts at the enemy wizard! Unfortunately, neither did any damage. [I've been wanting to do the time store/double elemental bolt combo for ages now, so it was nice to finally have the opportunity. It's too bad it didn't work though.] A turn later, Jhoira sent a single bolt at him, and took him down!


A troll arrived! It spent the game wandering around in circles, since no one was willing to risk going near it.


The bear caught up with Rufus, and attacked him! He was forced to play dead [knocked out].


The rats caught up with a sigilist soldier, and defeated him.


The rats went after a book-beast. While he was busy fighting them, the wandering bear charged in.


With the rats and the book-beast defeated, Jhoira sent her zombie after the dropped treasure. She fired off an elemental bolt, intending to hit the bear, but fried the zombie instead.


A sigilist book-golem completed a lengthy escape with a treasure token. Only Jhoira (and the bear and troll) remained on the field, so the game ended. Jhoira's warband had taken four treasures to the sigilist's two.



Rufus the apprentice survived his encounter with the bear, but Ulf and Vilkas had died. Erik and Ragnar were injured. This was the greatest number of casualties the chronomancer band had suffered for quite some time, which only strengthened Jhoira's belief that it was time to leave.

She left the city only days before the first signs appeared of a new power rising in Frostgrave...

[I'm starting a new warband for the lich lord campaign]

[rufus sparkfire]

Thaw of the Lich Lord game 1: Total eclipse

Oskar Hollowhill, gentleman explorer and scientist, was visiting the library at Icefall College when word arrived from Professor Mira Lund's expedition to the ancient ruins of Frostgrave. Mr. Hollowhill was astonished that the professor - whom he knew as a theoretician who rarely left the east wing of the college - had dared to make such a perilous journey... and he was even more astonished by the secrets she'd uncovered there. He resolved at once to travel to the frozen city.

After retrieving his lazy apprentice Rufle from the college refectory, Mr. Hollowhill set out at once for the estate of his old traveling companion, Baron Edwinicus Stoutwallow. The Baron was as excited about the venture as Mr. Hollowhill had hoped. It took only a couple of days to assemble the necessary provisions, and to equip a small party of the Baron's retainers for the journey.

While on the road to Frostgrave, they met other groups who were fleeing the city, speaking of a nameless evil that had thawed out among the demon-haunted tombs. Undeterred, Mr. Hollowhill pressed on.


Oskar Hollowhill, an enchanter [level 0]: sword
[Spells (casting number): enchant weapon (8 ), embed enchantment (12), telekinesis (8 ), write scroll (14), brew potion (14), elemental bolt (14), leap (12), restore life (24)]

Rufle Sparkfoot, an apprentice: sword

Baron Edwinicus Stoutwallow, a templar
Jimmy Quicknap, an archer
Jonny Quicknap, an archer (brother of the above)
Fredrik Aleborrow, a javelineer (actually armed with a crossbow pistol)
Willbur Brandymire, a javelineer (actually armed with a sling)
Sammie Overglen, a thug
Fang, a warhound
Bessie the Yak, a pack-mule (actually, in fact, a yak)



Before the game, Oskar and Rufle each made a 'bottled demon' potion. Sammie was given one, while the other was stored in one of Bessie's bags. Oskar wrote a scroll of 'restore life.'


Mr. Hollowhill and the baron led their expedition into a suburb of the city dominated by five great towers. Several treasures, freed from the retreating snow, had been sighted.


A pair of elementalists and their bodyguard of uniformed soldiers had also spotted the treasure.


But as the two warbands arrived on the scene, a shadow fell over the face of the sun. Though it was midday, the world grew dark. Mr. Hollowhill recognised the phenomenon of the moon eclipsing the sun... but he was quite certain that no such eclipse was due.

As the growing darkness hid the rival band from view, Mr. Hollowhill led Bessie forward.


Rufle and the baron urged the nervous halflings to advance. Fang, normally a fearless guard-dog, whined piteously at the unnatural darkness.


The halfling wizards used telekinesis to drag the two treasures beside the tower closer.


Bessie and the baron carried their treasure to safety.


With the darkness preventing any long-ranged attacks, the halflings rushed forwards to claim four of the treasures. In each case, the halfling (or yak!) collecting the treasure was screened by one of his fellows. Bessie, the baron, Fredrik and Sammie each picked up a treasure and began to retreat with it. Willbur, guarding Sammie, was alarmed by several crossbow bolts that thudded into the dirt near his feet.

While the wizards used leap spells to speed Bessie and the baron, Fang charged an enemy crossbowman. However, he had failed to notice a construct lurking nearby, which joined the fight. Fang was defeated.

Some missile fire was exchanged despite the darkness. The halfling archers knocked out a crossbowman, while another crossbowman (his weapon empowered by a elemental hammer spell) took down Jimmy Quicknap.

Willbur was attacked by two soldiers, but held his own. Though wounded at first, he was able to push himself away from the combat (after winning a round) and then flee the table.

The enemy elementalists, each protected by a ward of crackling energy, decided to withdraw from the field. Their soldiers had secured two treasures, but had no way to stop the halflings leaving with the other four.


After the game, Oskar and Rufle attempted to make two of the temporary weapon enchantments permanent with 'embed enchantment.' Both failed.

The baron commandeered an old inn as the expedition's base.

Jimmy Quicknap and Fang the dog had been knocked out during the game. Fang was unharmed, but Jimmy had a sprained ankle and would have to spend the next game in the pub with his feet up.

Among the treasures recovered, Mr. Hollowhill found a hideous tome that contained the blasphemous ritual required to become an undead lich! Disgusted, he destroyed the vile book [+50 EXP for destroying the Lichdom grimoire instead of keeping it]. The other treasures were a ring of teleportation, three scrolls [one was restore life, which he kept, while the other two were sold for 100 gold each] and a total of 350 gold.

Mr. Hollowhill and Rufle had cast ten spells during the game and recovered four treasures. Additionally, 50 bonus EXP were awarded for being on the table at the time of the total eclipse, and a further 50 for destroying the lich book (as mentioned above). This was a total for 400 EXP, taking Mr. Hollowhill to level 4. He increased his fight and health stats by one each, and improved the casting values of elemental bolt and brew potion by one each.


Next time: wrecked ships on a frozen river may hide clues to the identity of the dark power rising in Frostgrave!



[warband status after the game]

Oskar Hollowhill, an enchanter [level 4]: sword, ring of teleportation
[Spells (casting number): enchant weapon (8 ), embed enchantment (12), telekinesis (8 ), write scroll (14), brew potion (13), elemental bolt (13), leap (12), restore life (24)]
Fight +1, Health +1

Rufle Sparkfoot, an apprentice: sword

Baron Edwinicus Stoutwallow, a templar
Jimmy Quicknap, an archer  [missing a game]
Jonny Quicknap, an archer
Fredrik Aleborrow, a javelineer
Willbur Brandymire, a javelineer
Sammie Overglen, a thug: bottled demon
Fang, a warhound
Bessie the Yak, a pack-mule: bottled demon

Base: inn
Gold: 550
Vault: 2 scrolls of restore life

[no money spent yet!]

[jp1885]

Great stuff - bravo!

[rufus sparkfire]

Thank you!


Thaw of the Lich Lord game 3: loot the cart

[As I expected, the frozen river table was already taken. So I played scenario three instead, and will do two next time.]

Mr. Hollowhill took another sip from his glass of port, and sighed. The singing from downstairs was starting to irritate him - especially since his apprentice, Rufle, was clearly leading it. He could hear the boy's strident voice belting out a song about a young lady and a curious donkey. Choosing to restore an old inn as the expedition's headquarters in Frostgrave had been a mistake. Still, it had been the Baron's choice, and Mr. Hollowhill knew better than to question his judgement on logistical matters. He took a bite of the pork and stilton pie the Baron had sent up to him, and closed his eyes, savouring the taste. The inn - the Baron had named it 'The Bothered Badger' - wasn't an ideal place for study, but at least it had a proper kitchen.

He returned his attention to his astronomical tables. He was correct that the eclipse had not been a natural one. So what had caused it? He thought of the hateful book he'd discovered in the ruins, with its vile formulae for trapping a living, thinking soul inside a dead body. When he'd touched it, he'd felt every single hair on his feet stand on end. Even the smoke it produced as it burned had stung his eyes and turned his stomach. Evil forces were rising in this ancient, broken shell of a city.

Downstairs, Rufle had forgotten the words to his song, so was loudly la-la-la-ing away. Mr. Hollowhill pulled his woolen cap down over his ears, and picked up his pen. Whatever the morning brought, he intended to be ready for it.

Since the last game, the halfling expedition had acquired a new member: Hugo Kettlewood, a crowmaster. Hugo's crows, however, were not living birds, but complex mechanical constructs. He took over a room at the Bothered Badger as his workshop, where he spent hours grinding gears and coiling springs.

Sammie Overglen, meanwhile, had been provided with new equipment and was now a treasure hunter.

Rumours had begun to circulate of a new power rising in Frostgrave, whose coming had been announced by the unscheduled eclipse. Whoever this wizard was, he already had a great many followers. These people - fanatical cultists - hid their faces with hoods. Word reached the Bothered Badger Inn that a supply cart belonging to these cultists had thrown a wheel in a nearby part of the ruins. The halflings set out at once, arriving in the area to discover that a sigilist warband had also come to investigate.

The cart (my model) full of treasure, guarded by four death cultists (models belonging to my opponent).


Mr Hollowhill, the Baron, the pack-yak, treasure hunter, archer and crowmaster.


Rufle the apprentice and the two javelineers.


Mechanical crow and Fang the dog.


The broken-down cart sheltering in a ruined building, and the larger area around it.


Thieves and an apprentice. An archer lurked behind a building nearby.


Sigilist, knight, men-at-arms, archer and crossbowman.


The book-golem thieves made for the nearest treasure.


The halflings advanced cautiously towards the cart, shooting at the cultists and wounding one. They were unsure if the sigilist warband was here to help battle the cult, or if they would prove hostile.


The sigilist band advanced. Their crossbowman took a shot at one of the halfling javelineers. It missed, but their intentions were now clear!


The sigilist used a push spell to send a death cultist hurtling towards the approaching halflings!


The Baron, Sammie the treasure hunter, and Bessie the yak attacked the cultist. The fight was a stalemate at first, despite the numbers. The sigilist crossbowman took the disreputable action of shooting into the combat, but fortunately failed to hit anyone. The halflings soon triumphed over the cultist. But before they could move on, the sigilist cast a blinding light spell at Sammie. The spell failed to affect him.


Bronze Bob, the mechanical crow, attacked the book-golem thieves. Fang the dog had moved up to join the fight, but the enemy archer shot him.


In response to the sigilist's continued hostility despite the presence of a common threat, Mr Hollowhill launched an elemental bolt at him! The spell hit the enemy wizard, knocking him down to a single point of health. He quickly withdrew to a safe position, playing no further role in the action.


The four death cultists were dead, but their reinforcments had arrived: four ghouls.


Hungry ghouls!


A potion carried by Bessie the Yak was opened by the halflings, releasing a meta-dimensional entity that was bound to their service. The entity moved to engage one of the sigilist's men-at-arms. The other man-at-arms charged the entity, but was immediately struck down. The first, however, struck the creature with his huge hammer and so caused it to dissolve into etheric protoplasm. Meanwhile, Sammie and the Baron each took a treasure from the wagon. The Baron proposed a gentlemen's agreement to the rival warband: each band would take two treasures from the wagon, agreeing not to hinder the other. Both warbands would concentrate their attacks on the ghouls. This bargain was accepted.


Both sides held to the agreement. Now they directed their aggression towards the roving ghouls. Before long, the sigilists had accounted for three of the ravening monsters, while the halflings destroyed the fourth.


The halflings left the field with three treasures. These contained 160 gold, grimoirs of the spells heal and beauty, and a pair of magical spectacles. Mr. Hollowhill elected to wear these, since their fine crystal lenses were of surpassing quality, far better than those he wore already.

Fang and Willbur had been injured in the conflict, but turned out to be unharmed. Mr. Hollowhill had gained 290 experience points, bringing him to level six. He improved his elemental bolt and leap spells.

The halflings used their gold (including an unspent 250 from last time) to install a new kenel for Fang at the inn. They also hired a new man: Flynn Dazzlebrush, a musician, singer and raconteur!