Game(s) Played:
No, really, the following post has MAJOR spoilers for theGloomhaven campaign. This has been your spoiler warning.
We continue our adventure in Gloomhaven with an additional teammate, Sean who will be playing Xanna "Master Artificer to the Etherium Crafters" the Tinkerer. We came in at just under 2½ hours with 3 Players for the first scenario, admittedly we had some teaching and rules lookup time but here's to hoping we don't cross over into the 4-5 hour mark for one scenario. Today we continue our adventure in the Barrow Lair, still looking for the Bandit that stole Jekserah's valuable documents.
Gloomhaven #2–Barrow Lair
Game: Gloomhaven
Designer: Isaac Childres
Players: 1 – 4 Players
Playing Time: 30 – 120 minutes
Main Mechanisms: Role Playing, Legacy, Hand Management
Player(s):
With All Might "The Symbol of Peace" being the last standing character of our party, we trudged our way back to Gloomhaven to lick our wounds and regroup in order to fight another day. Whilst fortifying ourselves with the paint stripping liquid the bartender deigns to call ale, the doors to the inn burst open with a loud crack. All eyes in the bar naturally look towards the source of the commotion before in synchronized harmony, all eyes turn to look down a little lower. Standing at an impressive 4 feet 5 inches for a Quatryl is Xanna "Master Artificer to the Etherium Crafters", at least that's what it says on a sign hanging around her neck…
12 beers and 5 drinking songs later, Rincewind "the magical equivalent to the number zero" discovers Xanna is his mother's brother's wife's cousin twice removed and thus a new friendship is formed. Wiping the froth from her mouth, Thalia "Heir of Saint Traft" kicks the bench out of under the entire team who fall on their backs with drunken grace before leaning down and saying with a leer "It's time to get back to work". What a party pooper.
Food glorious food!
This felt like an episode out of Shokugeki no Soma (cooking anime), particularly the one on molecular gastronomy. In any case, this was a unanimous "Yes" to try the food. I usually read the outcome without showing the card to the others so when we got to "the taste mixes with the aroma of the vapors to create a wonderful experience", most of them thought we were going to be kidnapped onto a boat and turned into slaves. Thankfully the "food" was imbued with physical fortification and Xanna got to eat for free since she had no money in her pocket. Time to get out of this city…
Okay, this encounter was just plain weird
So we elected to try and placate the delusional and delirious old man with fifty "wives" which resulted in us being cursed with his stench, on this rare occasion All Might was right, we should have just put the old guy out of his misery. So we stank our way into the Barrow Lair…
How can you have bows at the ready all the time? You'd have no biceps left
So being cursed by the old guy wasn't so terrible since this scenario made us start cursed anyway, the evilness of the Gloom (oops spoilers) must be permeating the stones of the chamber or something.
4 Archers, 2 Traps and the Spellweaver looking to hightail it and run
You have to pity the Archers in this situation, a 1 to 1 battle with no bodies to tank them is more like a race between us as to who can grab the most Coin drops from the baddies (Thalia won by the way, the speedy son-of-a-gun). So after NOT learning our lesson from the last adventure, Xanna promptly walks up to the door, knocks and swings it open.
Good heavens what incredible vision we have, "a dark otherworldly force" in his eyes across the entire large crypt
Finally! Our quarry appears!
The more astute and experienced Gloomhaveners amongst us will realize that we are playing the game without all the rooms laid out. I adopted this from the start of the adventure where I would be the only one to know the entire layout and reveal it as doors are being opened. We find this to be a lot more exciting even if it does take a little bit more setup time.
By the way, a lot of déjà vu is about to happen from this point onwards. Our poor Xanna immediately gets shot by the 2 Archers causing copious amounts of bleeding. Thinking that having blood as makeup makes her look heroic, Xanna forgoes the common sense of swigging some healing potion and jumps further into the fray.
Another Leeroy Jenkins moment for all of us
Not one to leave a cousin hanging, Rincewind covers Xanna's left whilst Thalia cuts off the Archer on the right. No one is sure what All Might is doing, for those who know Moses and All Might personally, this is entirely in keeping with BOTH their characters. Well role-played son.
Cutting out of the story for a bit, I made one boo-boo here that made it harder for us. Never having played with Boss characters before, I didn't realize that the Boss' special abilities only happen when it shows up on their Monster Ability Cards, so the Bandit Commander was opening doors and spawning Elite Living Bones each turn. Thankfully we realized this quite quickly but decided to just play on.
Alas poor Yorick, I knew him well, urk
Realizing that taking out the Bandit Commander should be our primary objective, Thalia, Rincewind & Xanna let loose with everything they've got. Low on health, Thalia has to retreat for the moment but Xanna takes the opportunity to heroically tap the Bandit Commander with a generic Attack 2, henceforth changing her title to Xanna "Kill Stealer".
I know I shouldn't break the story but here is where I got it wrong again. Rincewind should not be able to stand on the door and thereby block the Bandit Commander's ability to teleport and open the door. This time was to our benefit so I guess it all balances out in the end.
But where's All Might you might ask? Wellll…..
Is that a treasure chest I see?
I'd be surprised if you were surprised by this picture at this point. Notice Rincewind in the background not paying attention to the Living Corpses shuffling over his way….
And he's down! A rushing clothesline from the Undertaker has Rincewind out for the count!
Here's how it all played out. Rincewind decides to do a short rest, letting All Might pick his random lost card, of all things he picks "Reviving Ether", so Rincewind takes a shot in the liver (-1 HP) to not lose a crucial card as that. The Elite Living Corpse then gets a Movement +1 (2) Attack -1 (3) Modifier +1 to rush in a deal a crushing 4 damage to Rincewind who has zero cards in hand. This will teach him to have ZERO cards in hand at any point during a scenario in the future. And also to never let All Might pick his random lost cards EVER again.
Déjà vu
So Thalia has to bravely step in with all but 2 cards lost to terminate the Elite Living Corpse with extreme prejudice then succumbing to exhaustion herself. Leaving Xanna and All Might to wrap up the remaining mobs to give us the win for this scenario. So a black cat went past us then another that looked just like it.
Now let's cut to the action in real time!
10 gold coins is seriously cutthroat, and she will pay more for the next job but never says how much more? Can't we ditch this poor paymaster?
Results Of Game(s)
Loot!:
Moses aka All Might "Somebody's gotta take the treasure, might as well be me, ladeeda" – 17 Exp & 24 Gold
Gideon aka Thalia "I just keep giving and giving" – 15 Exp & 20 Gold
Justin aka Rincewind "I'm not a tank is my new tagline" – 13 Exp & 12 Gold
Sean aka Xanna "I wanna be a Master Artificier, so phreaking bad" – 10 Exp & 10 Gold
+1 Prosperity
I didn't actually expect to be playing Gloomhaven two weeks in a row which shows the enthusiasm we have for the game. In fact we even have another party member waiting in the wings but unfortunately Gloomhaven only accommodates up to 4 Players.
I will be getting the active Players to vote on our next destination: The Inox Encampment OR The Crypt of the Damned. Do look forward to the next round of adventures in Gloomhaven.
Until next time, keep calm and play better.
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