KQ - Potion pilferers

The king's enchanter, Marlin, was distraught. He had returned to his chambers in the white tower (safely distant from the great hall so that the unusual aromas from his experiments didn't spoil guests' appetites!) to find them ransacked. Sorting through the mess, he had found that four of his most unusual and powerful potions had been stolen! The only clue was a set of footprints that headed down towards some unused store-rooms under the castle. Bare footprints that weren't quite human...

Another weekend, another game of Knights' Quest with my two little proto-geeks. Hurrah! This time both Knights had learned from their previous adventures and used their accumulated Hero Points (HP) to acquire Skills. CJ took Charge and Weapon Master (sword), while EM's knight had learned Parry and Grapple, solely because he wanted to be able to throw his foes off bridges or cliffs. I worry about that boy sometimes...

Anyway, the two knights set off following the footprints (with the wizard) down into the bowels of the castle... where they encounter a small band of imps enjoying a meal of doubtless stolen goods. 

Check out the newly painted black board we're playing on - it made the tiles 'pop' for us while playing. Ten minutes well spent!

Combat ensued, with CJ putting his new Charge skill to good use and slaying one of the imps before the others had a chance to react. Although the rest immediately swarm him, they posed no real threat, especially once EM came to his aid.

All the best castles have lego archways holding up their storeroom roofs.

At this point, the knights decided to separate, one through each doorway, with the wizard accompanying EM. This nearly proved fatal for CJ as he found out later. Their justification for splitting up was that each wanted to get as many HP as possible and so wanted to defeat as many foes by themselves as possible. Proper little glory-seeking, HP farmers! Quite knightly, though, I suppose, to seek personal glory and renown?

CJ soon encountered an orc, who proved little challenge, falling immediately to a well-placed thrust (CJ tripled the score the orc got to defeat him instantly - we were using the Heroic Combat rules)...

... while EM and Marlin broke down their locked door to encounter the source of the footprints - a ferocious and hungry-looking troll.

While engaged in this way, CJ got carried away by his prior success and charged into the midst of a band of greenskins, without any consideration for tactics or using a narrow passageway to deal with his foes one at a time...

Unlike in their last adventure, a more statistically normal distribution of dice rolls meant that poor decisions nearly led to the end of the brave Sir CJ. It wasn't long before his shield was shattered and he was being badly battered about by the goblinoids. Fortunately, a burst of common sense (and a lucky victory in a round of combat) saw CJ strike down the imp and break from combat to make a tactical withdrawal back along the corridor. The orcs must have been surprised by this move as they failed to injure him as he turned his back on them. Treating them one at a time, and relying on his Weapon Master skill with the sword, allowed CJ to strike down his foes and reclaim a higher Combat Dice through the experience he gained in defeating them.

Meanwhile, EM and Marlin had finally overcome the troll, despite his Tough hide, explored further to encounter some goblins and two of the missing potions.

 

... before hurrying to join CJ ...

Progressing together, the party find an evil wizard (prime candidate for masterminding the potion theft) and his last remaining cronies.

Dashing along the corridor under a hail of singularly ineffective fireballs, the knights piled into the orcs, pushing them back and cutting down one of them. Realising that CJ was flagging fast from his earlier injuries, EM finally got to use his Grapple skill.

He hauled the orc to one side allowing Marlin a clear shot at his rival. The king's wizard took advantage of the opportunity and promptly vaporised his foe while the disoriented orc was simultaneously dispatched.

The knights hurried to retrieve the final two potions and the quest was completed.

Aftermath

After that last game I was worried that the whole thing was unbalanced. With "normal" dice rolling and fewer Retainers to assist them, this was much tighter. CJ was nearly defeated when he got carried away, EM similarly would have struggled to defeat the Troll without the wizard Blessing him to boost his combat scores. I'm finally happy enough with how this plays to put it out to a more open playtest and will post about how I'm going to do that later this week. Volunteers welcome!

May the dice roll ever in your favour,

Rab