Time to start the Burning Light campaign from the main rulebook now. It's a trek into the Shadow Deep with a bunch of linked scenarios and limited opportunities to heal between them. There are also no reinforcements coming so any characters that die will not be replaced. It's all a bit nervewracking really.
I have no plans to make new terrain for this campaign, unless absolutely necessary, so a lot will be improvised. The same applies to the hostile figures. I'm going to use what I have as much as possible, which means that some figures will be recycled into different roles along the way. Also, apologies for the not-too-great pictures. I still need to work out the best settings on my phone for this, or not be lazy and go and fetch my actual camera.
The Thrappled Lemmings had healed their wounds and were once more itching for action. Admittedly, by action they actually meant beer, but the Captain wilfully ignored that when she called Aethelwyrd to her office.
"Time for your lot to ship out again. Our rangers rescued a Lorenthian survivor, who told an interesting tale. The survivor has directions to the Convent of Saint Emilia in the Shadow Deep. More importantly, the Decanter of Saint Emilia is said to still be there. We want it. You and your patrol are going to go and get it. Speak to Sergeant Gunvold and the survivor and then grab your kit and get down there. It's will take you a couple of weeks to get there and back again so pack accordingly. Any questions?"
The Captain's face informed Aethelwyrd that she would not have any questions, so she left to do as told.
Eight days of sneaking and skulking through the Shadow Deep later, she outlined her plan to the rest of her patrol.
"Ok, Lemmings, we're going through the front door because we are not sneaking weasels," announced Aethelwyrd.
"Speak for yourself!" muttered Ash.
"I heard that! Just for that, Ash, it's your job to sneak us in through the front door. Lead the way!"
Ash grumbled but set out at once just the same. He charted a route to the entrance to the Convent of St Emilia that enabled the Lemmings to reach it unseen and unheard.
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| The heroes enter from the bottom of the picture. The exit is to the top. There is an ogre top right and a ghoul bottom right. The monk figures are clue markers and there is a locked door in the middle of the wall on the left. |
"Ok, I've had a look," he informed the others, "There is a ghoul to the right of the main gate and an ogre on the far right. Looks like it might be guarding something valuable. There's a door on the left that I shall need to check out and what looks like the remains of several of the locals hanging from chains on the far side."
"Good job, Ash. You and Incunabulum go left. I'll follow with you to start with. You two will be scouting everything and looking for clues. The rest of you go right. Take out the ghoul and I'll meet you at the ogre and we can scrag it together. Then we break for the courtyard. We need to get this done before the Shadow Deep realises what we are up to."
The others grunted their assent and they glided silently through the main gate, taking up position before the hostiles knew what was coming. Like a smoothly oiled machine, the Lemmings worked together. Aelfwyn wounded the ghoul, which then charged Onund, who caved its head in. The ogre charged towards them, as the warriors regrouped further into the room. They heard a deep booming laugh and a second ogre came through the door they planned to exit through.
"Oh, shit!" cursed Incunabulum.
Aelfwyn put another couple of arrows through the first ogre but it just seemed to make it angry and it promptly smashed Onund and Kalfr as they attacked, badly wounding them. Incunabulum fired a magic bolt at the second ogre but merely grazed it. Meanwhile Ash had picked the lock on the door and was suddenly confronted by a room full of ghouls.
"What the flip!" Ash was seriously unhappy now.
Just at this moment, a giant vulture chose to fly into the gatehouse, following the second ogre. The fight was on in earnest.
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| Red dice mark the Health that the monsters have left. I keep track of the heroes' Health on their character sheets to the side of the table |
One of the ghouls attacked Ash, who slew it and ran towards some bodies that were hanging from chains to check them out. Incunabulum let loose a fireball at the remaining ghouls but merely singed them. The others laid into the other monsters. It was a hard fight that saw Kalfr, Incunabulum and Ash all laid out cold, while Onund grabbed treasure. Between swarms of insects, an earthquake and some apparently living chains that wrapped Aethelwyrd up for too long, only Aelfwyn was carrying no wounds. With zombies arising everywhere, the Lemmings made tracks for the courtyard. They barely had time to bandage their wounds before the next fight began.
As they marched forward, Ash asked Aethelwyrd if she could read the scroll he had found. She looked at it and nodded.
"Yes, I think it's a clue to the location of the Decanter. It looks like the nuns and the Lorenthian guard just had time to hide it before the Shadow Deep took over."
Onund sidled up, "Hey, Ash, I found this and think it might be your style."
He handed a grey cloak to the scop. The pattern and weave of the cloak made it hard to focus on. Ash nodded. He recognised this as a Greyleaf Cloak that would help him hide. He suspected that he would be doing a lot of that as he tried to heal his wounds.
That started really well and then it all went to hell as the undead started to score heavily against the poor heroes. Worse yet, the Lemmings failed loads of tests due to random events and lost valuable actions that gave the monsters freer reign than they would otherwise have had. This also prevented Ash from moving out of trouble and stopped them grabbing the other treasure token in the scenario. Ah well, lesson learned: do not open locked doors! Let us hope that the next scenario is kinder to the poor Lemmings.
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