Game Notes
A while back I had asked the Wargames Website for suggestions on 10mm fantasy figures. One suggestion was for Copplestone's heroes and halflings set. The figures did not really match the characters I was playing at the time so I passed. But now I wanted figures for Khamen (a thief) and Candorra (female elf); I found a couple of likely candidates in the Copplestone set so I figured I'd give them a try.
And here they are. Admittedly a bad paint job, but at a distance they do the job. Candorra on the left and Khamen on the right.
Now that I have figures for them, I wanted to give them a trial run. I have not finished the stats for the encounters in the next installment of the Stones of Sorcery campaign. Therefore, I decided to do a one-off (a "prequel" if you will). Once again I am using my tweaked version of Four Against Darkness.
Rescue from the Reavers
The daughter of the local magistrate has been kidnapped by reavers, a band of marauding orcs and hobgoblins. Khamen and Candorra have been tasked with rescuing the child.
The reavers have holed up in a nearby network of caverns.
Khamen and Candorra are met with hobgoblin guards (1). The villains are dispatched with alacrity.
"They have a cave troll." (2) Khamen kills it and Candorra dices it into pieces so it cannot regenerate.
They pass through winding corridors (2-3) to an empty room (4). They have to turn around.
Back into the entry hall (1), they run into a wandering monster - a catoblepas! Its gaze wounds both our heroes before they can dispatch it.
I swear that's a catoblepas! It only looks like a manticore to the untrained eye. ;)
From the entry hall, they proceed down the right hand corridor (5). Both take wounds from vampire bats. After a long, empty corridor (6-7), they enter a room (8) with an altar to the orc's hideous god. On the stone slab lies a dead figure, a human sacrifice!
Khamen's blood turns cold at the thought that their quest could be in vain. However, it turns out to be an elf male, not the magistrate's daughter. Still, it is a chilling sight that leaves Khamen unnerved and vulnerable (cursed with -1 Defense)
Next (9) they tangle with four orc reavers. Candorra fireballs 3 of them.
"Now where did you learn that trick?" Khamen asks in awe.
"Never mind! Get that last one!"
But the remaining orc blocks Khamen's attack and rushes Candorra. He manages to inflict 2 serious wounds before Khamen kills it. Severely wounded, Candorra uses a healing potion.
Finally, they confront the reaver boss, an orc brute. It has the child bound and gagged, lying at his feet. It attacks with two whirling blades, but Khamen dodges. Candorra wounds it. He swings at her but misses. Her counterattack hits and Khamen also wounds the brute.
It throws its sword at the duo, forcing them to duck. In that instance, it grabs the hostage and flees through a secret door into an adjoining room (4).
After losing half life, it failed morale. I improvised the rest of the encounter.
Our heroes pursue. Candorra switches to her bow and shoots. It strikes the brute in the leg, hobbling it.
For the pursuit, I first rolled for a wandering monster in the room. If there was one, the heroes would have to fight it first. Then I made an opposed die roll to see if the heroes could close the gap on the enemy. In room 4, there were no wandering monsters and the heroes won the opposed roll decisively. This meant that they could attack the reaver. For narrative purposes, I added the bit about Candorra shooting it.
Yet it refuses to surrender. Instead, it drops the child and turns on its foes. Khamen engages the orc while Candorra reloads. The reaver swings but Khamen dodges, lunges, and thrusts his blade deep into the brute's vitals. It collapses to the ground.
"Beat you to it." he laughingly chides Candorra.
"Only because I lamed it." she corrects him.
They free the hostage and returns her to a very grateful father.
