Annok growled as the
weary warriors approached the imposing structure of Tor Varden.
“Those bastards gnolls
got the jump on us and slaughtered the whole garrison but me,” he turned to the
ranger Grey Leopard. “Will you help me get my revenge and clear out this nest
of evil?”
The ranger peered up
at the top of the tower and then down to the stout wooden door on the ground
floor.
“Aye, that is my
mission, but we cannot scale the walls and battering that door down will bring
them running in their droves – we’d be outnumbered within minutes.”
The old soldier
grinned and fished the key out of his haversack.
“Oh, no need to knock
my lord, we can let ourselves in…”
Suddenly an all-to
human scream of pain came from behind the stone walls.
“Someone lives!”
Gasped Annok. “But not for long I’ll wager – we must hurry!”
(Note: This is a playtest of the draft document. Rules and
scenarios in the finished publication may differ)
Time then to enter the watchtower of Tor Varden! Our heroes
would have to be quick, for the longer they tarry, the greater number of gnoll
defenders they must face. As well as working against the clock, this scenario
is interesting in that you must roll for the type of room you go into each time
you go through a doorway. Our heroes turned the key in the lock – what would
the first room be?
A storage room. After passing the pick lock test (auto pass
due to the key) and stealth test, only four gnolls inhabited this room. Two
fighters and two archers, they looked up in surprise as the warband burst in.
Group activating, Grey Leopard ordered his men to attack.
Ulf and Annok soon dispatched one fighter, but the others were still standing.
One was downed by a shot from Grey Leopard, but Ned the archer missed his
quarry. Our heroes had to act fast, lest reinforcements piled into the next
room, making it harder for them to advance.
Another gnoll was attacked, but despite being outnumbered it
managed to get the better of Ulf before succumbing to the onslaught. All the
time the clock was ticking…
Ned the archer was also attacked and was wounded before
Ungarra and Blackwing stepped up to defeat the evil gnoll. With the storeroom
cleared of gnolls it was time to head through the door into the second room.
What would our heroes find?
A torture chamber! Grey Leopard and his two men-at-arms
stumbled through the door to discover a gruesome scene. On the far wall, two
emaciated prisoners (I used ghoul models) were hanging in chains. In the centre, a surviving soldier
was being tormented by a gnoll sergeant while two fighters looked up, gibbering
encouragement.
Luckily the element of surprise was still with our heroes.
Grey Leopard shot and wounded a gnoll before it attacked him. He easily
dispatched the creature as Annok ran to attack and wound the sergeant. In the
meantime the unfortunate torture victim was forced to fight another gnoll
barehanded.
But where are the rest of the warband? The two rogues were
doing what they do best; looting the gnolls’ treasure in the first room; while
the others were making their way into the torture chamber as quickly as they
could. Luckily Blackwing arrived just in the nick of time to help defeat the
sergeant and it’s pal.
As everyone gathered in the now liberated torture chamber, a
wounded Ned was left to release the two prisoners, while, grabbing one of the
gnoll’s weapons, the rescued soldier joined the warband. Grey Leopard raced to
the next door before the occupants could react to the noise of battle, bursting
into…
…an armoury! Once again the room was sparsely populated as
the surviving gnolls remained oblivious to our heroes’ presence. However the
three creatures in the armoury quickly attacked the lone ranger and his plucky
avian sidekick Blackwing.
Grey Leopard shot at an advancing gnoll but missed, allowing
it to launch it’s attack and bring Blackwing down. The ranger was forced to
face the gnolls alone until his remaining band could get into the room.
Luckily he managed just that, buying enough time for the
others to pile in and launch a counterattack. Soon the armoury was filled with
the sound of battle and the guttural howls of dying gnolls.
The final gnoll was easily dispatched, leaving the lower
level of Tor Varden to our heroes. Ulf the swordsman quickly recovered from his
injuries, but blackwing suffered a smashed beak.
As the dust settled the room searched for clues. In addition
to the gold and jewels looted from the storeroom, our heroes discovered a
philtre of fairy dust and a hidden note, scrawled by the captain of the tower
before he was dragged off to his doom. In it, he warned of a terrible danger,
for leading this band of gnolls was none other than an evil Shadow Knight…
To be continued...
