Right.

We played Fortune and Glory awhile back and the OL won. I always thought Pilgrimage was a cool looking quest, though I don't have that much experience playing it.

Initially, I was going to play the Pilgrimage Quest. I even had it setup. But I was heavily weighing the options as it was the Overlord picking the Quest. I also had to take into account the Valyndra PLot Deck he is using. That Plot Deck relies on the use of Large Monsters, which the Fortune And Glory quest says not to use. It still requires the use of Ettins though and they do respawn. It's also a risk because this Interlude features two encounters as compared to Pilgrimage's lone encounter. So there is a chance the heroes can grab more search tokens. However, Pilgrimage only gives you one monster as a reinforcement each OL turn and the quest seems to favor the heroes. And although they may be small monsters, those Carrion Drakes look hard to kill. Looks like this one will be interesting.

I should note also that last shopping trip, the Mana Weave came up and I had enough cash to buy it for Dez. So perhaps now the Hexer class will start to be of use. Also the heroes found Jinn's Lamp in a Treasure chest last quest. So they have a chance for good stuff.

Pilgrimage is based too much on luck. The position of the statues can make this quest close to impossible for the overlord to win. Was by far the most one sided quest in our entire Labyrinth of Ruin campaign. I would never choose it as a overlord ever again.

I won it as OL in our campaign. But like you say, it was all down to luck that the unrevealed objective token (there were only 2 left) I was attacking turned out to be the right one.

Ok I haven't posted any updates in awhile, but that's only because this quest lasted a good long while. But it is finally over and so I give you the details:

Encounter 1- The enemies were Carrion Drakes and Ettins equipped with Aurium Plating ( 2= Health, Immune to Pierce ) and could hit for +1 extra damage on all attacks.

The pace of the heroes was slow and methodical. The Ettins moved to block the passage of the heroes as the Carrion Drakes flew from behind. The master's ability to Disease a Hero and keep them Diseased was annoying and debilitating. Nonetheless, the heroes kept Serena from harm and in return she healed them every round. After finally dispatching the Ettins, they were able to move into the left room and search the first token. It wasn't the prisoner. At this point, the objective became to get to the right most token on the map. As the heroes fended off the countless wave of Drakes, the heroes continued searching tokens. Logan came up with a treasure chest that ended up being a suburst. A secret room afforded some treasure and Dezra kept using Jinn's Lamp, finally pulling a Crossbow out. Finally Logan had a suitable weapon.

The fighting in the crossroads was slow and intense, but the heroes methodically pushed their way in. One of the tokens was passed up in order to search the other one first. Grisban ran off for a round, then thought better of it and returned to the front lines. At last the token was reached and it turned out.... to be just another dud. Turning around they made their way back. As they passed the long room, the token was searched and the prisoner found.

So now the heroes had to fight their back again. This time however, the OL sent one of the worms to stand adjacent to the blue Token, which yielded an Ettin every turn. As they battled at the doorway, a worm ended up Knocking out Logan whom had been carrying the prisoner. It managed to get a cheap shot in before it was dispatched. Serena also got cheapshotted by an Ettin, which took her down with one swing. Without her, the heroes got bruised an bloodied. After taking out a few Etiins and Worms, some of which had knocked them out as well, an opening finally presented itself. Grisban ran off the exit carrying the prisoner.

At that point the heroes had won, but they were still getting repeatedly Koed. I came to the conclusion that the last search token would be grabbed, and the OL would have his whole deck in his hand next scenario. I gave the last three heroes a standup action and some revives and started the next encounter.

Encounter 2- The deck was literally stacked against the heroes. The Overlord had his whole OL deck to command from his hand. This time around, there were Goblin Archers, Arahuryas and Ettins with the Aurium Plating and all huge creatures attack for one more. Now even with this, the heroes might have stood a chance. The first hero turn cleared the stairs of Goblins, But the Arachuryas moved in swift and fast. By the end of the first round, half the heroes were Koed and Serena was gone. The heroes tried to fight back, and eventually cleared the room, but it took too long. The OL kept knocking heroes out, which gave him the cards he used back into his hand. Nearly every defense roll on the Goblins was a 3 shield, making them dang near unkillable. On top of that, there were too many missed attacks. The heroes got 3 out of the 4 search tokens though. To make time, they all split up to take on a door. The goblins ran after Logan and Dez and Koed them though. Dez found the lock in the cave, but wouldn't you know it, Grisban who was carrying the prisoner was on the opposite side of the map. And here come the Ettins...

Winner: The Overlord.

Summary: This quest needs some serious errata. The first encounter needs to end when the prisoner is carried off the map. Unfortunately you need to have all the heroes walk off the map, one with her. But that will just give the OL the possibility to do what I just did, Spam KOs until he can get every singe card. That's just a bit unfair to Heroes in the second round.

I don't know which quest you are talking about o.O.

Fortune and Glory probably.

Initially, I was going to play the Pilgrimage Quest. I even had it setup. But I was heavily weighing the options as it was the Overlord picking the Quest. I also had to take into account the Valyndra PLot Deck he is using. That Plot Deck relies on the use of Large Monsters, which the Fortune And Glory quest says not to use . It's also a risk because this Interlude features two encounters as compared to Pilgrimage's lone encounter. So there is a chance the heroes can grab more search tokens. However, Pilgrimage only gives you one monster as a reinforcement each OL turn and the quest seems to favor the heroes. And although they may be small monsters, those Carrion Drakes look hard to kill. Looks like this one will be interesting.

Yes, it is the Fortune and Glory Interlude Quest. I suppose I should have said so.

The Interlude Report

The Story Thus Far

Upon hearing of a legendary treasure to be found in a long underground city known as Sudanya, Logan Lashley set out on this adventure of discovery. Along with his friend Grisban and two associates Ulma Grimstone and Dezra (The Vile ), they came upon a massacred Dunwarr Expedition. The signs we're not good as as they reached The Pylia encampment, they found it to be under attack by Goblins. Although they managed to chase the creatures away, they failed in preventing the goblins from kidnapping a woman. Since then, their quest has seen nothing but setbacks- They failed to prevent bats from making off with an ancient relic and allowed fire imps to burn down an inn while minions of Valyndra made off with a infamous smith named Jarem Tolk. They have also had multiple run in with a creature named Splig, the King of all Goblins. Splig seemed to be working for someone nefarious, as him and his band of goblins succeeded in killing the kidnapped girl, defiling a holy temple to make off with yet another prized Relic, and helping a mysterious woman bring a Dunwarr back from the dead for whatever purpose she has in store. The last encounter finally brought them face to face with this woman. Tricked into finding a secret doorway that lead to a room full of undead instead of the promise of wealth, the heroes now knew their enemy. Forced to retreat, they made their way into the daylight- realizing that they might be the only ones who could stop the ever encroaching darkness.

Observations:

The heroes have managed to lose every single quest so far. This would be bad enough, but their inability to score any search items has hampered their progress some. They have been fortunate to find ACT1 items in the quests, because they sure wouldn't have been able to afford any otherwise.

As a healer, Ulma is ok. I like the fact that she can give someone the ability to heal when they wish. She's also taken on the role of a ranged fighter, having equipped her Bow of Bone. Her abilities remind me of a Scout at the moment. Grisban took the role of Beastmaster. He can do some great damage and the wolf is pretty helpful. But he will always be the victim of a Blinding Speed Overlord card. He was equipped early on with a Bearded Axe and although it's a great weapon, it's also not helpful against huge monsters immune to pierce. Logan- his abilities are helpful at times. he was never really able to get a good weapon though. He stumbled around with the Leather Whip and a Handbow for Ranged for a bit. He replaced the whip finally with a Serpent Blade, but that never really did much good and didn't jive with his requirement to use an Exotic Weapon. He now has a Crossbow, which is infinitely better. Logan is good for picking up shop items though. The Treasure hunter ability to Survey up good stuff from the Search deck is nice, allowing you to get whatever you please. And if a Treasure chest is there, your getting a free item. Most of his abilities center around having Search tokens around though- without them, they are pretty much useless. As for Dezra- her regenerating ability is great. I still don't find the Hexer class to be all that particularly useful. This is a surge that takes away from being able to do other things- perhaps scoring that extra damage to kill something or regenerate health. Hexes have at time come in handy, but they're more often then not just wasted as the monsters get killed by other heroes. And what good is it to roll an black die for defense when it always comes up blank anyway?

They managed to net a good amount of gold coming away from the Interlude- this should be able to afford them some armor finally. Perhaps then they won't be so squishy. The heroes as a group have a habit of getting creamed during extended fights. Getting owned by Goblins for instance just makes me sad. That being the case, if they can barely handle ActI monsters, I'm shuddering at the prospect of fighting ACTII baddies.

On the Overlord Side, he has gained a considerable amount of experience. The Valyndra Plot deck gained him a very large amount of Threat tokens after winning the Introduction, which allowed him to have a significant power base since then. Huge Monsters can hit for more, have better health and be immune to Pierce. That hurts. And at the times the Valyndra agent has been present, it's been a factor that just can't be dealt with. Massive Bulk is also just one of those cards that can mess hero formations up. That Monster is going to go where he wants.

The Overlord cards are quite strong as well. The Basic II Cards in my estimation are quite stronger then some of the ones you can buy. Blinding Speed allows a monster to get to wherever he is needed. Cards like Reflective Ward, Mental Error and Dirty Fighting can put a hero down fast. Flurry is just mean, with an extra attack and green die besides? Befuddle prevents heroes from passing attribute tests, Mimic delays search actions and can damage/KO heroes.

I've also gone the Magus route, which has allowed cards to be drawn back into the OL's hand rather quickly and have put the pressure on the heroes.

Also, I would like to mention the Unseen Wings OL card. As a reward, this is obtained from winning the Oath of the Outcast quest. Here is yet another reason why picking up H&M packs might be a wise investment for an OL player at least. This card is nothing but useful and has influenced many a quest. I don't really know what the other H&Ms have in terms of OL cards, but it goes to show that they are not just remade Heroes and Monsters. Those quests can be legitimate and so can the rewards within.

How will this campaign move foward? Time will tell. The next Act begins.

So, after a short break, I'm finally back to it.

The heroes sold off the Serpent Blade, Handbow, Sunburst and any last starting equipment during the last ACT1 Shopping Step. Combined with how many search items they came away with in the quest and leftover gold they had about 525 gold to spend. Everyone picked up some Armor, Chainmail to Grisban, Thief's Vest to Logan and Cloak to Dezra. Also Picked up a Ring of Power for Ulma. So everyone got something nice.

The Overlord decided that the heroes would go on the Advanced Quest: Armed to the Teeth!

The Travel Phase saw the heroes attacked brigands, get lost in the Woods and then get attacked by an Ettin. That left the heroes going in with fatigue and damage counters on them.

Splig With Valyndra's Fury Relic. Imps. Open Groups, Beastmen in Cabin, Merriods on Campsite, Arachuryas on Rocky Path.

The heroes rushed into the door and killed the Master Beastman. However, the OL played the MagusII Card Rise Again. This allowed the Beastman to Rez. Grisban was in the thick of it and had to automatically try out his new Chainmail armor. It failed miserably. Two seperate attacks on him came up with two Blank Grey and one Brown Dice. Another Attack on him by a Hexed Beastman actually resulted in a 5 shield on 2 Grey,1Black Dice, but it still did damage. One of the Beastman used one of it's actions to flip the signal fire in the cabin. The other opened the cabin door, thus by activating the Fire Imps. Some of them tried to finish off Grisban but failed, some of them put the hurt on a Line of Sight Logan and one flipped the Second signal Fire. By the end of the round, Grisban clinged to one Heart of Life. ( The Monster damage totaled to up to 15 damage, 1 away from his 16 Health).

During the Second Hero Turn, The heroes dispatched most of the small fry. Logan in particular, with the door opened, found himself next to a Search Token. His turn consisted of Survey- Find Health Potion, Dungeoneer ( Search and Attack), Use Heroic feat to Move, handing the Health Potion to Grisban and attack another monster. He succeeded in offing two monster with both attacks. Grisban then drank the health Potion, popped his Feat and took out two more. His Wolf took out another.

On the next Overlord Turn, Splig twigged onto the fact the heroes were on the map, ( passed his awareness test) and booked. Unseen Wings moved him a couple more spaces. However Blinding Speed only yielded 2 MPs for Splig.

The Heroes were faced with a dilemma. Try to chase him down via Rocky Path or attack the Master Merriod blocking the way, in the hopes of defeating him and thereby getting the chance to cutoff Splig. The latter was chosen and it was fortunate for the heroes to polish off the Merriods rather quickly. The path open, Dezra took the lead being the fastest, hoping to get to Splig. In the meantime another Blinding Speed card only gave Splig 2 MP again, somehow Grisban passed the awareness portion! He was still entering the pathway to the exit when Dez caught up.

Splig however used one of his actions to bash Dezra's face in, knocking her back three spaces and knocking her out. The other heroes were in pursuit however. Logan managed to stand Dezra up at that point and She continued the chase along with Ulma and Grisban. At the point Dez and Ulma were close enough to start attacking Splig with ranged shots. It was then that the Arachuryas woke up. They started to chase the group of heroes. Logan went for the search token was KOed by a Mimic Volucrux Reaver. Dezra managed to get adjacent to Splig and delayed him a turn with her Feat. As the Arachuryas follwed in hot pursuit, Grisban somehow got in front of Splig. Now with two heroes blocking the path, Splig would have to attack first to advance. He was also slowed down by the water. Dezra got Koed again and the Master Arachruya moved around Ulma to block any attempt for her attacks to effect Splig.

It fell to Grisban to either inflict 7 points of damage or lose the encounter. He inflicted 6 on the first attack. The second attack... hit!

The Heroes win Encounter 1

Looked at Encounter 2 - 8 Search Tokens and the possibility of 1 EXP? Sheesh!

Armed to the Teeth Encounter 2

Open group Arachuryas. All huge Monsters have +1 Attack and Arachuryas have Aurium Plating.

Logan found the key to the Keep on the first turn. The Heroes then spent 3 rounds cleaning up the Arachuryas and the outside search tokens. Perhaps the heroes could have just bum rushed Valyndra.. in anycase one of the Arachuryas Koed Grisban. With the outside fight over, Dez and Grisban took the top corridor while Ulma and Logan went the south pathway. By the time they managed to get into Valyndra's room, the initial group of Hybrid Sentinels had already left. This left the heroes with the task of killing Valyndra while keeping one Sentinel from leaving. Although ultimately the first real objective for them was to get all the Search tokens. To this end, they succeeded. Dez drew a Secret Room which lead to her flipping two Knowledge challenge tokens and passing them both. Logan revealed a treasure chest.

The battle however did not go as well. The Imps managed to knock Logan out as he searched the bottom room, Grisban and his wolf were taken out by Valyndra and then she also took out Ulma. Ultimately, they could barely do any damage to Valyndra with the weapons they had. The worst hit she took was from Grisban, which was only 6 damage. The total damage she took was seven. No one was able to stop the last Sentinel from leaving... and even if it had been killed, the Overlord had the Rise again card, which would have won him the quest anyway if the Monster was close enough to leave.

Winner: Overlord

The heroes had drawn the entire Search deck however before the quest was over and even picked up a Dragontooth Hammer. Total gold now lies at 400. So even though the Overlord won, I feel everyone came out of it a winner.

Quest: Web of Power

On the Shopping Phase, The OL plays Unknown Treasures. The heroes end up turning over two of the cards, which end up being a Heart of the Wild Staff that Dezra Picks up and a Heavy Steel Shield, which went to Ulma. Ulma took the Dragontooth Hammer as well.

The Travel phase saw the OL get an extra card and a landslide got the heroes for some fatigue.

The Quest started off with Ariad, Arachuryas and Ettins, with all Large monsters hitting for +1 and Arachuryas having +2 Health and immune to Pierce. The heroes got off to a quick start, polishing off the minion Arachurya. While the master was not killed, Dezra managed to hex the monster. Ariad used a Blinding Speed to quickly get to the ritual spot on the first turn. The minion Arachurya appeared at the exit and quickly ran into the ritual room. Dezra used Affliction on the master when it declared it's move action, severely injuring the beast as it moved next to Ariad.

Then the heroes got a bit tied up. The Master Ettin entered the doorway so as to block any pursuit. In the meantime, Logan used Survey to find a treasure chest, which turned out to be a Rage Blade. He traded this to Grisban, Ulma traded the Heavy Steel shield to Grisban as well, in order to effectively used the Hammer. The Ettin was quickly dispatched, but the OL played a Web Trap. Oddly, Dezra passed and was unaffected, but Grisban failed and was affected. The Ol also played In the Wyrm Queen's favor, which spawned a random master Dragon Hybrid. The Hybrid took a shot at Serena and then ran to block the entrance. Finally crossing the water, the heroes made their way into the next room. By the time they got into the center hallway, Ariad was already at 3 fatigue... the ritual was almost done. The Heroes needed to get past a Dragon Hybrid, a minion Ettin, two cave Spiders and Two Arachuryas.

Grisban went to town. He flipped his heroic, using his Rage Blade and wolf to clear out the Ettin and two Cave Spiders. The Hybrid was removed by Ulma, Logan finished off the wounded master Arachurya. Another master spawned at the Exit and ran down, but couldn't fully stand in the way of the heroes. Dezra managed to get a damage on Ariad, and Hex her in the process. Logan got another heart in. This was on the Grey roll Defense round. The minion Arachurya missed it's Pincer attack, the spiders were not able to do much damage to anyone. Everyone was fatigued out.

So... it was now on the Brown defense roll.... one more turn before Ariad Transformed. There was a minion Cave Spider standing in the direct pathway to Ariad, a critical space for the Melee Fighters to move on to get a shot at taking out Ariad. Logan had two attacks on it.... and didn't kill it. Fortunately with the LOS rules, Dezra had diagonal line of sight to Ariad and attacked her twice. She was able to get in pierce Attacks, and so did 5 damage for each attack, plus two Hex tokens for each attack. Grisban went next, having his Wolf move next to the wounded spider. It killed the Spider, letting Grisban through. The problem was then how to get past a Master Cave Spider with max Fatigue. Luckily he had... a Fortune token! It allowed him to recover enough Fatigue to move next to Ariad and do some damage. Then came Ulma, the last shot. She also needed to find a way to get some Fatigue to stand next to Ariad.... wouldn't you know it? Another fortune Token! She swung at Ariad with the final attack and removed all Curse tokens. The attack would inflict 11 damage... which was EXACTLY enough damage needed to kill Ariad.

The Heroes win!

Not that your heroes needed any extra help, but FYI:

-Arachyura spawn at end of turn. It souns like you were spawning them start of turn.

-It has been ruled that heroes can suffer damage for web if they are out of fatigue (they aren't stuck). So, the heroes could have (should have) saved those fortune tokens for a shop card.

Thanks. While we're on the subject though, I'd like to check something. If a figure occupies an adjacent space next to a master Cave Spider and another figure is in the process of moving, as in moving through the friendly figure that is adjacent to the Master Cave Spider, does the web effect trigger?

Yes, the effect still triggers, because you're still moving out of an adjacent space adjacent to the spider (note it doesn't say empty space.) I suspect that's part of why the suffering of damage to pay the penalty is allowed- otherwise a hero who couldn't suffer fatigue might end up stuck in the same space as another hero, and that's not ok. If a hero moves into a space containing a friendly figure and adjacent to a spider, he has no choice but to move out and pay a fatigue if possible, or a damage if not.

It's a pretty silly thing to do, considering that unless you're moving from a space adjacent to the spider already, you're moving adjacent to the spider just to move away again. There are certainly scenarios where a hero has to walk past a spider, though.

Which was the case here, because unfortunately a Master spider dropped right onto the Red Token and there was no other available path. So I did take in the correct amount of fatigue to walk past.

Ok so since the heroes won the last quest, they get to pick. Thus next Quest: Tipping the Scales

Actually I played through most of the quest, but really felt like it needed a retcon due to lots of missed triggered abiliies, overlooked conditions and what have you.

And now, I feel I need an answer to this question before I even start again.

Does Ariad need to be located off the Mysterious Waters before she can use Surges to replace Weights?

Yes. "Cannot spend surge for any abilities" means "cannot spend surges."

OK, I see. Man, this quest is damned difficult for the heroes even if it's Hero sided. I have Elementals on one side and Merriods on another. Both of these creature can Immobilize, and then I can just have Ariad sit there and break weights. Well I'll update it when I reach the end.

Omnislash, when my group played this quest, the heroes didn't find it too difficult. With good crowd control and mobility, it's a cinch.

The Geomancer and Apothecary just constantly stunned, immobilized and moved (our treasure hunter with the Xbow took a few potshots) Ariad to keep her on the waters while the others moved the stones; with Ariad unable to use her surges, all the stones kept their value and it was a simple mathematical task to balance the scales.

Well, I might be able to keep her Stunned and Immobilized with Dezra. (Staff of the Wild.) Saving Grace? Grisban is now wearing Obsidian Armor, which means he's immune to curse. We'll see...

Well, I might be able to keep her Stunned and Immobilized with Dezra. (Staff of the Wild.) Saving Grace? Grisban is now wearing Obsidian Armor, which means he's immune to curse. We'll see...

Oh boy. That armor found it's way to our Trenloe knight during labyrinth of ruin. In addition to the curse, he kept getting the fatigue back when he used "defend" since he often didn't get damaged. Since he also had "Inspiration," he was fatigue machine.

Well, atm Grisban is not faring so well. He managed to roll a blank black die twice...thus he is now Koed.

So after a few days interruption caused by weekend, etc. finally got around to finishing the quest. Some of the details may be fuzzy, so here we go:

Quest: Tipping the Scales

Monsters: On the Armory I have Merriods and the Cave I have Elementals. Elementals have +2 Health, are Immune to Pierce and all huge monsters hit for +1.

Nothing much really happened during the travel Phase.

The heroes started off with Logan grabbing the Search token right at their feet and Grisban grabbing a white weight and moving towards the top. The OL will most likely score a Fatigue token on the first turn and did so here, as no hero managed to grab a weight and move off the mysterious waters yet. Ariad started her assault by attempting to curse everyone. Grisban was wearing Obsidian Armor and was thus unaffected, though Ulma and Dez were. At first, the monsters played defense, letting the heroes choose their pathway. Grisban and Ulma chose to go north, while Logan searched the Mysterious Waters and Dezra played crowd control. Serena got Koed early on. The Master Elemental moved up into the center room in an attempt to keep heroes Immobilized. It was defeated however by Dezra. This presented an opportunity for Logan And Dezra to take some weights and move toward the south path.

As the other two heroes moved south, Grisban and Ulma hit a rough patch. Ulma had made it into the weight room, But Grisban had been delayed by the Master Merriod's Flail/Reach Attacks. He was first Immobilized and then Koed. (But well, that's what happens when your rolling a black die and still only manage blank results. ) In between the times he was standing up and picking up the weight, Ariad was reducing his weight. Ultimately it got reduced to a red weight. (Originally right.) Meanwhile, Dezra and Logan had manage to easily dispatch the Elementals, but were delayed by a In the Wyrm's Queen Favor OL play which dropped a Hyrbrid Sentinel next to her and Koed her. A Mimic from the OL also produced a Volucrux Reaver. Logan stood up Dezra after she got Koed. She was pretty ticked off from getting waylaid by the Hyrbid and promptly dispatched him. After finally placing their weights down in the bottom room, they rushed back to help the others.

On the way back an Elemental spawned and Koed Logan. The final plays of the Quest came down to some missed rolls on the weights by Ariad and a missed attack on Logan, had that gone through he would have been Koed again and nobody would have had any weights. Essentially, this could have gone either way. But...

Heroes win.

Next Quest: Let the Truth be Buried.