Game(s) Played:
Gloomhaven Solo #1 – (1) Black Barrow
Game: Gloomhaven
Designer: Isaac Childres
Players: 1 – 4 Players
Playing Time: 30 – 120 minutes (This Play: 90 minutes)
Main Mechanisms: Role Playing, Legacy, Hand Management
Everyone needs to eat.
Whatever your reason for coming to Gloomhaven, out here on the edge of the world, that simple fact is never going to change. A mercenary can’t fight on an empty stomach.
So when Jekserah, a Valrath woman wearing a red cloak and enough gold jewelry to keep you fed for a decade, approaches you in the Sleeping Lion and offers to pay you ten gold coins to track down a thief and retrieve some stolen goods... well, it seems like as good an excuse as any to sober up and start paying off your tab.
“This thief has taken some important documents,” says the red-skinned merchant, her tail whipping about in agitation. “I don’t care what you do to him. Just bring back what is mine.”
Based on Jekserah’s description, it was easy enough to knock around a few alley thugs and get a location of the thieves’ hideout. You don’t find yourself as a mercenary way out in Gloomhaven without knowing how to crack a few skulls.
So your target is the Black Barrow. Sounds like a lovely place. Turning in for the night would be a good idea.
You are walking home late at night when you hear some suspicious sounds coming from a nearby garden.
You move to investigate, and a shadowy figure bolts in the opposite direction carrying an armful of vegetables. Good Lord, vegetables! Let's see whether this poorly skilled thief left any share for us.
In an area cut off from civilization with no viable farmland, fresh vegetables are a rare commodity. The thief already made off with an armful, so what's the harm in taking some more? When you get back to your rooms, you cook up a nice hearty soup and have a great meal. *YOU HAVE BEEN BLESSED*
Mice, squirrels, ferrets – they all appear to be running from something up ahead of you. You are filled with a troubling sense of foreboding as you catch a whiff of smoke in the air. Fearing the worst, you turn around and head out of the forest they way you came in. You reach a clearing just before a great fire consumes everything with its blaze. It takes a while to orient yourself and find the road again, but considering the alternative, you feel lucky. *YOU DISCARD TWO CARDS*
As you descend, you gratefully notice light emanating from below. Unfortunately, the light is accompanied by the unmistakable stench of death. You contemplate what kind of thieves would make their camp in such a horrid place as you reach the bottom of the steps. Here you find your answer – a rough group of cutthroats who don't seem to have taken very kindly to your sudden appearance. One in the back matches the description of your quarry.
"Take care of these unfortunates," he says, backing out of the room. You can vaguely make out his silhouette as he retreats down a hallway and through a door to his left.
Joke’s on them. If you had any valuables, you probably wouldn’t be down here in the first place.
Now seems to be the perfect timing to introduce the protagonists of the story.
Llaer first met Remy by unhappy circumstance, with Remy being held up by his throat, toes dangling 6 inches above the ground, and Llaer's meaty hand applying slowly increasing pressure. For only a moment before, Llaer had felt a bump and sensed movement near his purse then reached out to grab the 'clumsy pedestrian' who was turning away, muttering words that vaguely sounded like an apology.
As we watch the action unfold through the magic of stop motion video…
As the darkness closes in, Remy uses his last ounce of strength to kick open the treasure chest lying in the corner. The lack of any glinting treasure in the flickering torchlight saps the strength in Remy's legs and he goes crashing to the floor, knocking the chest over.
Remy's hand closes on the single piece of parchment that was in the chest but even the lines were blurry and thus Remy collapses besides Llaer waiting for the end to come at the hands of the last remaining living bones.
Apparently not.
You first hear the movement of wind in the air. Then you hear the soft animal sounds of the forest. Followed by the heat of the midday sun.
"The first try is always the hardest, especially after spending all that energy escaping that fireball earlier," says the surprisingly strong human as he pulls you up by the hand. "I'm Isaac," he says by way of introduction, as if expecting you to already know him.
As if remembering something, Isaac pulls out something small from his pocket and places it in the palm of your hand. "Maybe THIS time, things will be easier." Looking at your hand, you see a small pin made of silver in the shape of a waving flag. Whoever the artist was, he was inspired, as the flag looks like it's waving as the sunlight plays off the silver metal… a silver flag, you muse.
You look up and not unexpectedly, Isaac is no longer there. Not sensing any evil from the little accessory and quite liking the way it looks, you pin it to the collar of your cloak and unsheathe your weapons. THIS time, you are prepared.
With the last bandit dead, you take a moment to catch your breath and steel yourself against the visions of living remains ripping at your flesh. Your target is not among the dead, and you shudder to think what horrors still await you in the catacombs below.
Llaer gains 16 experience and 2 gold
Remy gains 21 experience and 16 gold
The Barrow Lair has been unlocked
The Sulfur Mine has been unlocked
Until next time, keep calm and play better.
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