16 – The Well of Dreams and Sorrows

After our battle at the mausoleum, our warbands set out for a magical well that could help them gain insight into the secrets of Felstad. For this scenario, The Well of Dreams and Sorrows, the center of the board has a well that awards experience to wizards and apprentices who use an action to drink from it.

Before the game, all of our spells were successful. My wizard and apprentice created two Elixirs of Speed with Brew Potion. My wife’s wizard and apprentice both cast Awareness.

With three treasures on the left side of the board, I put my wizard, bear, wolf, demon hunter, and apothecary there to advance and try to claim two of the three. On the other side of the battlefield, my treasure hunter and tracker would try to claim one more treasure. Then my apprentice, snow leopard, man-at-arms, and archer would start in the center to be able to support either side as needed.

During the first round, we each advanced our forces without much direct interaction. My wife’s apprentice used Telekinesis to pull one treasure closer to let her man-at-arms pick it up. Unfortunately for her, that triggered a pair of wolves wandering on to the battlefield near her thief. The wolves charged in at the end of the round, but they didn’t manage to take out their target.

On turn two, her demon hunter charged forward to help her thief and was immediately taken out by a critical hit from the wolf he fought. Then just a moment later, my demon hunter scored a critical hit with her crossbow against my wife’s ranger. Those two lucky rolls gave me a huge advantage on the left side of the board since they left only her thief close enough to really contest the second treasure I was aiming for on that side. Her thief did well though and managed to take down both wolves during the creature phase of the round.

On the other side of the board, my treasure hunter grabbed one treasure and my wife’s assassin had the other. My tracker tried to take out the assassin and wounded her, but was then taken down by my wife’s mystic warrior.

In the center, both of her spellcasters were going for the well. My archer took up a firing position while my apprentice, snow leopard, and man-at-arms advanced to try to keep her spellcasters busy while I focused on treasure. My snow leopard took out her war hound only to fall to her woman-at-arms. Then her apprentice tried to cast Animate Skull and got a critical failure, summoning the skull in combat with herself. My man-at-arms scored a critical hit against her woman-at-arms as luck continued to be on my side.

Back on the left side of the board, my wife’s second ranger moved to help her thief, but was taken out by my bear who was benefiting from both Strength and Shield by this point. With only the thief left again, my demon hunter moved to take a shot with her crossbow at my wife’s wizard who had just taken a drink from the well. It ended up being an amazing fourth critical hit and took out her wizard.

After my bear took down her thief, my wizard moved to help my apprentice in the middle of the board. I decided to cast Petrify on her apprentice using my Wand of Light and rolled a 1 and a 20. That let me pick the critical success and freeze her apprentice in place for three rounds while I finished collecting the remaining treasures. Not everything went smoothly though and a wandering boar appeared and took down my apothecary before my bear could stop it. My wizard ended up having to carry that last treasure off the board himself.

The battled ended up being a 3-2 victory for my warband. I found grimoires of Blink and Strike Dead, a scroll of Spell Eater, and 260 gold coins. My wife collected a suit of magical heavy armor that she sold and 90 gold coins. One of her rangers, my snow leopard, my wolf, and my man-at-arms all died from their wounds after the battle.

The Druid’s Warband

• Audric Silverbeard the Druid (+2 levels: improve Animal Companion, learn Animal Manipulation)
• Roslin the Apprentice
• Nils the Tracker
• Dimitri the Archer
• Diego the Treasure Hunter
• Red the Demon Hunter
• Raven the Apothecary
• Albrecht the Man-at-Arms (dead)
• Lucia the Thief
• Jarl the Bear
• Fenris the Wolf (dead)
• Tiberia the Snow Leopard (dead)
• Brendan the Man-at-Arms (new hire)

The Trickster’s Warband

• Freya the Trickster (+2 levels: improve Mind Control, learn Curse)
• Ophelia the Apprentice
• Emilia the Ranger
• Ronald the Ranger (dead)
• Keima the Mystic Warrior
• Jack the Demon Hunter
• Dany the Woman-at-Arms
• Sean the Man-at-Arms
• Scarlet the Assassin
• Annabelle the Thief
• Thaddeus the War Hound (badly wounded, but paid to restore)
• Robin the Ranger (new hire)