Frostgrave Campaign Game 2: The Mausoleum

      On Sunday we were back at the local game store, Critical Hit, to have the second game in the store's Frostgrave campaign.  There were four of us playing on  a 4'x6' table.  We decided to play the Mausoleum scenario from the core rulebook, but instead of only one Mausoleum, since there were four of us, we included two.
   For one of the Mausoleums we used a half-sunk and rotting ship hull I had built (which would disgorge skeletal pirates!), and for the other we used a small church building.  We set up the treasure and the starting skeletons as per the rulebook

An overview of the table. Col. Greyrain and party entered from a zone a foot along on the nearest corner.

    My Chronomancer, the elf, Colonel Greyrain, and his human Apprentice, Guenevere Kirov, entered on the side of the table containing the small church Mausoleum.  Across from me was the Summoner, and to my left was the Enchanter.  Diagonally across from me was the Necromancer.
     Greyrain was aware of four treasures in the immediate area that he had a good chance of getting: One a few inches away form his starting position in  the corner of a ruin, one on top of a nearby tower, and two that were on the closest corners of the Mausoleum.  As per the scenario, the Mausoleum treasures were worth 50 extra gold coins, and 20 extra experience points if you could get them off the table by game's end.
   The Chronomancer divided his force in to two groups: with himself  he took the Templar Brother Austex; the Thief, Okita; and the new Ranger in the group, Sareese Riverbend.  Under Guenevere's command were the Marksman, Sergeant LeClerc; the Man-at-Arms, Centurion Vortus; and the Thug, Lindfor. The Thug, Caloban, was left under his own command.
     Greyrain knew things around the Mausoleum were going to get dangerous, so he immediately cast Combat Awareness on the Templar, Brother Austex, who stood next to him; to give him an extra edge in the coming fight. He directed the new Ranger, Sareese, to go get the treasure off the nearby tower, and he had Brother Austex and the the Thief, Okita, move with him towards the Mausoleum.
    Meanwhile, his Apprentice, Kirov, moved forward and directed the Man-at-Arms, Centurion Vortus, and the Thug, Lindfor, to go get the treasure from the nearby ruin; and she had the Marksman, Sgt. LeClerc, take up a position to offer covering fire. She then noticed the flaming red hair of the Summoner,  who stood atop a distant wall surveying the ruins around him; and she took the opportunity to pull out her strange device from the future that shot a ray of light like a bolt of lightning, and aiming it at the Summoner, pushed the button on it (Cast Elemental Bolt). She let out a little yelp as the device shocked her, and her arm went numb (+4 health sacrifice to boost the spell); but the beam of light went true and struck the Summoner who clutched his chest and jumped down from his vantage point.  She could see she hadn't killed him, but he was certainly badly hurt.

As Brother Austex battles a skeleton, the Chronomancer cast a wall of Fog to block Okita's advance from enemy eyes.

      As Okita ran towards the Mausoleum, Greyrain covered her advance by casting a wall of fog on the side of the old building. Brother Austex had to deal with a wandering skeleton that advanced towards him; but was able to quickly reduce the menace to a pile of smashed bones.
   Nearby, as Lindfor and the Centurion approached the treasure, they were taken aback as an Imp appeared directly upon it (Imp cast by the Summoner).  They charged in to fight it, but the little demon was able to knock out Lindfor almost immediately.  Guenevere cast Slow on the Summoner's Templar as he rounded a corner of the Mausoleum, but the strong faith and will of the Templar was able to resist it. The Apprentice then moved to a position of cover to drink the Potion of Healing she was carrying.
     Meanwhile, Sgt LeClerc had taken up a position by a nearby wall, and as he scanned the distant ruins he saw the Summoner's head bob into view.  He raised his musket and squeezed the trigger, and there was loud report from the musket.  In the distance the Marksman could see the enemy wizard lurch backwards and tumble out of view.

The battle with the Imp:  Lindfor and the Centurion charge in, as Guenevere prepares to drink her healing potion in the background.

      Back near the Mausoleum, a skeleton had come around the side through the wall of fog, and seeing Okita, charged towards the thief. Greyrain knew this might be trouble, so he quickly cast Leap on the Templar to get him over to help quickly.  The Templar was able to intercept the undead threat, and make short work of it.
   Over where the imp still guarded the treasure token,  the Centurion found himself haivng to battle the little demon all alone.  Kirov saw his predicament, and being one to never refuse a good scrape, ran over  the rubbled wall and into contact with the Imp in order to give Vortus some support.  Between the two of them they were able to kill the Imp, and the Centurion grabbed the treasure.
    Meanwhile the Ranger, Sareese, had reached top of the tower almost the same time as the Enchanter's Thug did.  She shot at him point blank but he was able to duck away and she missed.  She quickly notched another arrow and shot again, and this time she hit.  The Thug staggered back, wounded.  He recovered quickly though, and as he charged back towards the Ranger, she drew her sword and was able to slice him down as he came at her.   She breathed a sigh of relief and moved to grab the treasure.  She almost took a moment to take in the impressive view from atop the tower, but an arrow and Bone Dart came whizzing by her head and snapped her back to the job at hand.

Atop the tower, the Elf Ranger, Sareese Riverbend, puts the Enchanter's Thug out of action, and prepares to recover the treasure located there.

    Back near the Mausoleum, Greyrain had used his device from the future to fry one of the Summoner's Thugs who had emerged through the fog (Cast Elemental Bolt).   Okita recovered one of the Mausoleum treasures and Caloban had moved forward and picked up the other.  Guen tried to Leap the Caloban away with the treasure as one of the Summoner's Thugs approached but she failed.  The Templar ran to help the Thug, as the Summoner's Treasure Hunter moved to help this party's Thug.  A swirling melee developed, and the combatants were soon joined by a skeleton that emerged from the Mausoleum. Guen was able to Decay the enemy Thug's sword, but not before he had put Caloban out of the fight.  Brother Austex was able to dispatch the enemy Treasure hunter, but in turn was given a mighty blow by the Skeleton which reduced him to only 3 Health.  Weakened, he turned to the enemy Thug and was still able to knock him out of the fight, and then staggered around to face the skeleton, and killed it. Grimacing with pain inside his helmet, he reached over and picked up the treasure.

The battle by the Mausoleum:  Caloban and the Summoner's Treasure Hunter have both been put out of the fight, as Brother Austex tries to deal with both the Enemy Thug and a rogue skeleton. Nearby, Okita attempts to carry away her treasure as the Summoner's Templar appears through the fog, and another skeleton emerges from the Mausoleum.  Luckily the skeleton spotted the Summoner's Templar, and kept him occupied for a short time.

    Meanwhile, the Chronomancer had used Leap to move Okita to a position further form danger, and then turned,  and as the thief dragged the treasure away, he placed another wall of Fog to block anyone from trying to shoot an arrow or Bone Dart at her.   Kirov moved to where she could see the Ranger atop the tower and used Leap to get her down more quickly.
     Greyrain knew the day was coming to an end.  Vortus, Okita, and Sareese had all gotten their treasures away, and were making their way back to to the base camp.  He could see the poor Templar was till dragging his treasure slowly away. He was making slow progress, but the wizard was sure the Templar would make it back safely.  The Chronomancer took one more glance back at the ruined city, and then he too started the trip back to his Laboratory base.

Greyrain Leaps the thief to a  position of safety, then casts a wall of Fog behind her.  In the foreground, Sgt LeClerc keep a watchful eye open for any trouble, while over on the right, the Templar prepares to dispatch the skeleton and then recover the treasure sitting there.

     Back at the base, Col. Greyrain took stock of the day's events.  The Thug, Lindfor made a full recovery after his tangle with the Imp, but Caloban was seriously wounded.  The Chronomancer  was pretty sure though that the news that he was being promoted to  a Man-at-Arms (-80 GC) would get the Thug back on his feet in no time.   Otherwise the party had been very lucky this outing; with no one else's wounds so serious that they were put out of the action.
   Treasure-wise  it had been a very successful trip as well, with four treasures recovered; including two that were from the Mausoleum (though the one the Templar was dragging was not exited from the table within the game time, so did not count for the bonus Mausoleum GC and Exp.)  Greyrain was pleased with both his and his Apprentice's performance, as between the two of them they had cast 10 spells (100 exp.), and the Chronomancer had personally killed one of the Summoner's Thugs with his Elemental Bolt (40 ep).  The treasures themselves offered a great deal of knowledge to the Elf wizard (100 exp. + 20 exp. for special treasure), and Greyrain's time studying the old notes in his Laboratory base camp had imparted even more knowledge to the wizard (20 exp.)   (280 total exp.)
     That night, as the party sat and looked through the old chest they hauled back from the frozen city, they counted up 310 gold coins!  Also there was an Amulet of Resistance, which Greyrain gave to his Apprentice; and a Magic Staff (+1 Fight) that the Elf wizard kept for himself.  There were also three scrolls: Fleet Feet, Bone Dart, and best of all, Destructive Sphere.   Greyrain blew the dust of an old Grimoire, and opened to see it was a spell of Control Animal.  "That might come in handy", he thought to himself; "I'll need to study this right away".
   The band was up late that night recounting tales of their adventures that day.  Greyrain sat in a corner contentedly, paging through the Grimoire and thinking about his plans for the future.  He thought promoting Okita to a full-fledged Treasure Hunter might be in order, though he would need to order her some specialized equipment for that (-80 GC).  And perhaps the  party needed a little more firepower...  He had been missing the 1800's, (and was running low on French wine), so perhaps he could do a little recruiting (Hire "Crossbow", -50 GC) while he was there...