Frostgrave campaign game eleven

Last Thursday the Frostgrave campaign continued to Thaw of the Lich Lord scenario seven, Lair of the Ghoul King.

Ghoul King definitely hadn't thought this ambush through very well. I mean, both wizards were competing who'd get to lure the king to his warband! I decided to sacrifice my Captain in this attempt. She used Sprint trick of the trade and was the closest model to Ghoul King when the creature phase began.

There was this one pesky ghoul who fell from the ceiling. It single handedly killed my Bard (how can that be? She has beaten even enemy wizards!) and even tied up Jack. Jack had cast Possess on himself and he was carrying the Sword of Undead Slaying, and he had a friendly warband member in melee with the Ghoul. That's a +13 attack. And yet Jack didn't score a kill. Nonetheless it's quite rare to deal five damage points in to a target when you roll "2" for attack roll...

Anyway. This distraction combined with Ghoul King refusing to die made it look like Necromancer would snatch both treasures in the middle without any contest whatsoever. Loyal War Hound had to run to the throne to block treasure picks.

Necromancer warband got their very own elite ghoul to stall them, which probably saved war hound for a turn or two.

But the Ghoul King. I had Possessed Rangifer, my captain and barbarian beating him for multiple turns. I decided to use drastic methods and cast Plague of Insects on my own Treasure Hunter, who then ran within 1" of the Ghoul King. Of course the casting roll was 18 or so, so getting rid of it would be difficult. Eventually Ghoul King fell thanks to the -4 Fight from insects and it was the Captain who scored the kill. For a moment I was worried that she'd keep the Amulet to herself, thanks to Captains not giving back items that are given for them.

Well. Back home I kind of found it very fitting for the theme of my warband if Captain did steal the amulet. So I gave it to her anyway.

Once I had taken down the King, it looked like I overwhelmed Necromancer completely in the middle. Four treasure tokens and the amulet looked like they'd fall easily to my greedy hands. But how things change when you become too overconfident.

A couple of (finally) good damage rolls from enemy warband killed my Barbarian and Marksman. War hound had only one hit point remaining and Rangifer would soon be all alone versus three enemy models. Oh, sure, there was my Trasure Hunter with Plague of Insects on him... but I considered him useless. He was tying up two enemy soldiers with success, though.

If it hadn't been for the super ghoul that ate enemy Apprentice, I would have probably lost both treasures. I had started to fall back with Captain, as I didn't want to get her killed with the amulet. Ghouls had been slowing down and damaging my apprentice. Once Rangifer fell dead, both Jack and Adon tried to barrage a dense group of three enemy models and my own war hound with Elemental Ball. Results weren't too inspiring though both spells succeeded. Two models died. Only one enemy model, though.

Ranger went and picked up one of the treasures on the throne - just in time, as the Treasure Hunter who had Plague of Insects was finally put down.

I won a critical initiative and was able to Leap away with treasure carrying Ranger. Opponent had more than enough models to pick up the other treasure in the middle. Necromancer soldiers had also been pulling the levers to open doorways, and there was a door in both of our deployment zones. Game was pretty much over then, as the LoS was only 12" in this scenario. Both players seemed to be more interested in securing a treasure than to wreak havoc.

So, it was a clean 3-3 game. My warband had killed Ghoul King, Jack had escaped through a door and quite a few ghouls had been put down. Jack got 400 experience points from this scenario.

Treasure rolls were lackluster. I got 220 gold, a Grimoire of Spell Eater, a +1 damage modifier dagger and Quiver of the Soul Seeker.

Grimoire and dagger were sold right away, with Captain insisting on her share of the loot.

War Hound died from roster and Marksman and Rangifer need to miss next game. I bought Grimoire of Plane Walk for Jack.


- - -


Roster details:

Jack Saturn is level 33 with 3335 experience.
He has levelled fight by +3, Will by +3*, and health by +4.
Fleet Feet spell has been improved by +4, Elemental Ball by +3*, Leap by +2, Possess by +1, Spell Eater by +1, Imp by +1 and Fog by +3.
He has learned Plague of Insects, which has been improved by +2.
He has learned the Reveal Secret spell, which has been improved by +1.
He has learned Willpower spell, which has been improved by +1*.
He has learned Plane Walk spell.*

Home base is Inn with Crystal Ball, Sarcophagus of Healing, Carrier Pigeons (+0 gold) and Kennels

Vault has Magical two handed weapon (+1 damage modifier), 2x Sword of Undead Slaying, Magical bow (+2 damage modifier), Club of Battering
Amulet of the Ghoul King
Book of Rangifer
Ring of Power (1)
Eyes of Amoto
Fire Heart Gemstone
Horn of Hellfire
Grimoire: Poison Dart, Control Construct, Furious Quill, Enchant Weapon
Quiver of the Soul Seeker
Scroll of Planar Tear.

Unspent gold: 717.
(I've forgotten if I have included sold items to the collected gold, so I'll ditch it from these statistics from now on.)

Warband roster is worth 1400 gold (level 33 apprentice is 530) and includes:
Barbarian
(miss next game) Marksman
Ranger
2x Treasure Hunter
Apothecary
Bard
War Hound (re-purchased)
(miss next game) Rangifer
Captain: +1 Move and Sprint trick (cost so far: 118 gold), leather armor, hand weapon and dagger, Amulet of the Ghoul King, 90 experience