Gloomhaven #6 - (5) Ruinous Crypt

29th April 2018 (Sunday)

Game(s) Played:

No, really, the following post has MAJOR spoilers for the Gloomhaven campaign. This has been your spoiler warning.

Gloomhaven #6 – (5) Ruinous Crypt

Game: Gloomhaven
Designer: Isaac Childres
Players: 1 – 4 Players
Playing Time: 30 – 120 minutes (This Play: 120 minutes)
Main Mechanisms: Role Playing, Legacy, Hand Management

Player(s):

Even as Thalia, Xanna and Rincewind contemplate Argeise's request (you remember, the Quartyl City Guard wanna be Private Detective) to turn coat on Jekserah, the legendary Inox belching that rattles the rafters of the Sleeping Lion announces the arrival of All Might after consuming a quarter of Gloomhaven's alcohol reserves. Announcing that he has no time for issues of honour and morality, All Might more or less decides on behalf of the party by chugging down everybody's drink and then pushing his way out of the Sleeping Lion onto Main Street, heading towards the Gloom cult's next base of operations because he can "smell" treasure.

Not given towards throwing hard earned loot, we of course chose to jump into the river with the sphere (Option B). Losing the tick was a hard blow to some of us

Even as we are singing along to the ever famous trail breaking song "Walking In The Jungle" (What's that? It's a poisonous twin fanged leaping death mauler! We're not afraid.)… …

Whilst we all opted to go around (Option B) this lesson has taught us to sometimes trust the force

Oh no, our palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy… We're suffering the Disarmed condition!

Thalia takes a quick survey of the room and notes the unusual height of the slabs at the right and left ends of the room, indicating the presence of traps. Shuffling over to the right corner, Thalia unfurls a length of rope and lassos the nearest Night Demon, pulling it into pressure plate and triggering a spike trap that makes the Night Demon wail in agony.

Thalia recalls her days as a rambunctious cowgirl on the Plains of Dominaria

Left in an open position in the front, the Elite Cultist and Night Demon capitalize on the situation by surrounding Thalia. All Might gives the Elite Cultist and almighty kick in the tuckus, sending him bundling head over heels into the other spike trap next to the door, before stepping up to the two remaining Cultist coolies to body check them.

All Might's "Overwhelming Assault" changes the entire dynamics of the battlefield

As Xanna & Rincewind distract the two Night Demons, Thalia slips through the gap in between them and silences the writhing Elite Cultist into eternal sleep. Eventually overwhelming the two Cultists, the party turns their full attention towards the two still surviving Night Demons. Fighting them gives the party a strange feeling as if they were second guessing their every move. Thankfully the Night Demons are mostly corporeal and Xanna's "Net Shooter" still works to help buy time as the rest of the party continues to throw ranged missile after missile at them. Even as one of the Night Demons fades to nothingness, the second Night Demon decides to high tail it back through the portal but is cornered by Rincewind, Xanna and Thalia, striking it down before it can flee back to its home plane.

"And where do you think you're going, punk?" sent tremors down the Night Demon's spine in the awkward reversal of roles

Whilst the others are busy taking care of "business", All Might proceeds to push open the door closest to him whilst saying "Nobody home?"… … Such wishful thinking. Even as the door opens, an icy blast of wind rolls out of the entrance revealing the presence of 3 Frost Demons guarding a treasure chest and 2 Living Bones watching over a pile of coin. Reacting immediately, the Living Bones begin trudging towards All Might standing at the entrance. Even as All Might backs away from the doorway, the Frost Demons also make their move, rushing forward without fear, confident in their innate frost armour to "RETALIATE" against any melee attacks of the enemy.

Leaving the range attacks to Xanna and Rincewind, All Might draws the attention of the Living Bones and Frost Demons by literally jumping on everyone's head with "TRAMPLE". This only partially works as the enemy now effectively splits into two teams, with one team maintaining their assault on the party in front and the other team turning to face All Might at their rear.

Finally the AI acts like a proper SWAT team. I would be surprised, if you are surprised, at the surprise that happens next… …

Surprise!

With this move, our tank is now 11, ELEVEN, ONCE, 十一, ग्यारह hexes away from us. For this betrayal, the greedy Inox earns 15 gold. The Frost Demons might be tough at close range but go down to the barrage of ranged missiles launched at them safely from a distance. Being the closest, Thalia opens the other door and sneaks a peek at what's inside to espy a mirror image layout of the previous room, only this time it's Flame Demons instead of Frost Demons. Small the Flame Demons might be but seeing one in particular juggling fire balls with its arms sends the fight out of Thalia as she retreats to the other side of the room. Even as the enemies make their way towards the door, Xanna quickly lays one of her single use bear traps right in front of the door, hopefully this will at least take out one of the enemy minions coming their way.

Even as Xanna backs away from the trap, something crosses her mind and she turns towards Thalia to ask, "Waitaminute, did you say that those Flame Demons had wings?" Even before Thalia could nod in the affirmative, the three small Flame Demons unfurl their wings and proceed to hover like little hummingbirds of doom, their "SHIELDS" of flame eating up the ranged missiles being launched at them, only doing slivers of damage at a time.

Xanna: "You should have mentioned they could fly!" Thalia: "At least the Living Bones will… " *CRUNCH* Xanna & Thalia: "Ahhhh…"

Even as All Might, Xanna and Rincewind slowly chip away at the Flame Demons, Thalia decides to sneak off into the room to try and grab that treasure chest. Sadly a hidden Living Bones catches her off guard and Thalia succumbs to some blunt trauma to the back of her skull. Not one to miss an opportunity, All Might decides to hop on over to "assist" his team mate.

Greed is good, for healers that is when they show you their bill

The Living Bones keeps getting in All Might's way as he tries to squeeze past the fallen Thalia into the room, in a fit of pique, All Might smashes the Living Bones skull in whilst exclaiming "ENOUGH!!!" forgetting that killing the last surviving enemy triggers the end of the scenario and no further loot can be obtained.

Aesthers are always a gloomy, mysterious bunch. All the plane travelling addles their brains

Now let's cut to the action in real time!

Results Of Game(s)

Loot!:
Moses aka All Might "Curses I missed that treasure chest"
Justin aka Rincewind "I wish I could get a treasure chest" – 18 Exp & 6 Gold
Gideon aka Thalia "Next time, I'm not waiting to grab that treasure chest" – 19 Exp
Sean aka Xanna "By the way, this is your healing bill"

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It is International Tabletop Day and we are celebrating by doing three Gloomhaven scenarios in a single day! Lookout for Part #7 which happened on Labour Day!