So, after a minor hiatus, we returned to frozen Felstad. We decided to play the “Haunted Houses” scenario from the Frostgrave rulebook.
Prologue
Fizban was cold, too cold. His cloak offered little protection against the howling wind, as he and his companions trudged slowly through the snow. They had wandered for three days trough the ruins of Felstad in order to reach one of its western districts. Here one of the few citadels of the city stood tall in the heyday of Felstad’s empire. Rumors of treasure lured several groups of explorers into this area. But none were able to excavate the area properly. Most groups (if they returned) were unwilling to tell, why they fled in such a hurry.
Suddenly, the wind stopped. Pritt, his captain, seemed uneasy.
The wizard dismissed his captains muttering with a wave of his hand and peered at the ruins below him. His eyes became large as goose eggs and he cursed. Arthrose, his long time concurrent, set up camp at the far end of the district.
Set-Up
Due to terrain limitations, we had to improvise the haunted houses from the scenario set-up rules. We combined some wall elements in a rectangular fashion and defined the “door” of the “house”. Eric’s wonderful homage to the Maugthrond watchtower was a stand-in for the central house.
We used a corner to corner set-up, to add an extra twist to the game. I’d be starting in the south left corner and Eric in the northern right corner.
(notice the backdrop form Eric’s backdrop tutorial)
Opening Act…
I won initiative, so I had my go before Eric.
As we hurried for the treasures, both the central treasure and one in the outlandish temple (aka the expensive aquarium decoration) seemed particularly alluring.
In utter disregard of my soldiers’ safety, Arthrose and his apprentice cast Leap on the thugs, getting them closer to the treasure locations. My Captain, Jaz’Minh, was designed as a extra-buff and fast treasure hunter. She went solo for the treasure on my right hand corner. She’d later claim it and run away. Mission accomplished.
Eric/Fizban had the main bulk of his warband head towards the watchtower on the elevation. Meanwhile the pipe-smoking wizard teleported to the outlandish temple, where my thug Red Ryan was already waiting.
at the outlandish temple
The outlandish temple soon became a major brawl pit. After Fizban teleported to its ruins and claimed the treasure, soldiers from both parties jumped into the fray. (Note: Opening the treasure spawned a ghoul in the house. But we forgot after this turn that the poor fellow existed and discovered him only while cleaning up the table ;_; )
Unfortunately most of the creatures, that were summoned from the Random Creature Table, spawned close to our heroes and went on to bash in some heads.
Ghouls anyone?
A special shout-out goes to Patsy, the mule form Fizban’s warband. All by himself he braved a haunted house. The pentagram carved into the stone floor does not fluster our hero, nor does the oddly well preserved treasure chest at the far end of the house. But opening the treasure chest seemed to trouble a nearby ghoul nest: one appeared in the house and a second one close by as if summoned by his nightmarish friend.
Patsy would do what every brave adventurer would do. With his second action he ran out of the house and hid behind a wall. Little did he know, that there are more perils outside of the house.
At the keep…
At the center of the battlefield we witnessed another major fight. Funnily enough, all the fuss would reward the winner of this skirmish with one(!) measly treasure.
Unlike the fight at the outlandish temple, the spellcasters used magic abundantly, since Arthrose and both apprentices were not bound in close combat. A lot of “whoosh” and “boom” and “WALL“.
Escaping…
After all the treasures had been claimed, both parties tried to escape, since the ruins were already swarmed by some hard hitting creatures, like white gorillas (ugh) and demons. Thankfully no wraith had been summoned (as per scenario special rules).
After several turns of brawling, most casualties were caused by NP-creatures and not by the PCs. We had some serious respect for them, for their surprising resilience and for our unfortunate dice rolls. Soooo…we fled the table 🙂
Ending the game
We ended the game with a clear victory for Eric.
He managed to claim 3 out of 5 treasures and gained most experience points. I fatally lost two soldiers. Among them my trusted and longtime Infantry-woman Aggra.
Sadly for both of us, the rewards from the treasures were not that impressive.
The “Haunted Houses” from the Frostgrave rulebook is an entertaining and challenging scenario. Using the Random Creature Table, makes the the scenario even harder and forces you to act quickly, if you don’t want to be swarmed by creatures. For a more beer&bretzel-version, we recommend not to spawn creatures once treasures are claimed.
See you soon in the frozen ruins.
D.
Very cool! Love the little photos zooming in on the action, adds a lot to the atmosphere.
🙂 thank you