14 – The Steam Vents

After finishing our exploration of the Catacombs of the Evrenbright with our quick visit to the Howling Cages, the next meeting of our warbands was at the Steam Vents. For this scenario, the central treasure is on an island in a pool of deep water. The entire battlefield is also filled with warm steam that fatigues soldiers in armor and can cause injured soldiers to pass out.

Before the game, we had much better luck with casting than recently. My wizard cast Animal Companion to summon a wolf. Thanks to being a Beastcrafter and having a kennel at my base, I’m able to have it in addition to my bear and bring it into battle as an eleventh warband member. Then I brewed two potions – an Elixir of Speed and a Potion of Teleportation. My wife succeeded on both of her Awareness casting rolls for a big advantage on initiative.

My wife rushed for the central treasure with her wizard by using a Potion of Teleportation to get to the island right away. I decided not to try to contest that treasure and instead aimed most of my warband at the two treasures on the left side of the board. My wizard used Mud to slow down my wife’s soldiers on that side. Meanwhile, the other part of my warband was going to try to claim at least one of the treasures on the right side of the board.

My wife’s speed and initiative advantage was big enough that four of the treasures were soon held by her warband. While I was able to take out a couple of her figures early, things weren’t looking great for me with only one treasure under my control.

On the left side of the board, my wizard managed to use Strength, Heal, and Blinding Light to give my soldiers an edge so that my bear, demon hunter, and treasure hunter eventually overpowered my wife’s man-at-arms, ranger, and assassin. That let my treasure hunter grab a second treasure for my warband.

On the other side of the battlefield, things weren’t going as well. My two thieves were desperately trying to slow down my wife’s demon hunter and second ranger. The ranger was holding the treasure, but unable to break away from combat. My archer and wolf animal companion tried to join the fight to help, but soon all of my soldiers went down. At that point, my apprentice was my last hope to grab the treasure and she was forced to rush into combat to stop the ranger from fleeing with the treasure.

Luckily, my apprentice managed to prevail in hand-to-hand combat and grab the treasure. Unfortunately, my wife’s wizard wasn’t far behind and started hurling animated skulls at my apprentice. In danger of losing that treasure, I rushed my bear across the battlefield to charge her wizard. The gamble paid off and her wizard was taken down, giving my apprentice a clear path off the board to claim a third treasure for me.

The final treasure haul was three for my wizard and two for my wife’s wizard. Her treasure rolls after the game were much better than mine though. She collected a pair of grimoires. I only found three potions and a couple of piles of gold coins.

It had been a pretty brutal fight, and we each had a lot of injury rolls to make. One of my thieves and her man-at-arms both died from their wounds. We each also have a couple of soldiers who are badly wounded and will need to sit out for our next battle.

The Druid’s Warband

• Audric Silverbear the Druid (+3 levels: +1 Will, learn Enchant Weapon, improve Crumble)
• Roslin the Apprentice
• Nils the Tracker (badly wounded)
• Dimitri the Archer
• Diego the Treasure Hunter
• Red the Demon Hunter
• Rhane the Thief (dead)
• Raven the Apothecary
• Lucia the Thief
• Jarl the Bear
• Fenris the Wolf (newly summoned, badly wounded)
• Boris the Thief (new hire)
• Albrecht the Man-at-Arms (new hire)

I’m still hoping to have my apprentice cast Animal Companion to get a fresh snow leopard. Nils will be sitting out in my inn during the next battle, so I had to hire both a thief to replace Rhane and a man-at-arms to fill my tracker’s spot in the next battle. If I do manage to summon a snow leopard, then the thief will likely get dismissed to make room.

The Trickster’s Warband

• Freya the Trickster (+3 levels: +1 Will, learn Planar Tear, improve Mind Control)
• Ophelia the Apprentice
• Emilia the Ranger
• Ronald the Ranger
• Keima the Mystic Warrior
• Jack the Demon Hunter
• Draco the Man-at-Arms (dead)
• Dany the Woman-at-Arms
• Scarlet the Assassin
• Annabelle the Thief (badly wounded, but replaced for free)
• Thaddeus the War Hound (badly wounded)
• Sean the Man-at-Arms (new hire)