Game(s) Played:
No, really, the following post has MAJOR spoilers for the Gloomhaven campaign. This has been your spoiler warning.
Gloomhaven #26 – (7) Vibrant Grotto
Game: Gloomhaven
Designer: Isaac Childres
Players: 1 – 4 Players
Playing Time: 30 – 120 minutes (This Play: 180 minutes)
Main Mechanisms: Role Playing, Legacy, Hand Management
Player(s):
Two sharp raps at the door break the morning silence. A moment later, the door opens two inches to reveal the upper half of Bob 'I am An Actual Doctor's face leaning at an angle to see who had interrupted his morning.
"Greetings" greets Splinter 'Karaoke Kingu' and with him are Thalia 'Heir of Saint Traft' as well as All Might 'The Symbol Of Peace' picking a beetle out of his hair. "Ah, gentlemen and lady" responds Bob as he opens the door another six inches, revealing an enormous syringe full of green liquid in his other hand. The group outside the doorway collectively leans backwards at a 45 degree angle, all eyes watching the syringe play wonderful nightmares on their imagination. Still within the doorway, "I'm afraid I have a patient this morning, wagon accident, stuff of nightmares, nothing you want to see" to which the mesmerized group shakes their head in agreement, "this will probably take a while and I'll see you at the inn later" before closing the door with a bow of apology.
"Remind me never to get into an accident ever again" murmurs Thalia. Thinking of Bob's ginormous hand saw, Splinter and All Might can only nod in agreement, wondering what other nightmarish implements Bob uses in his practice. "Hey, you know Lyramof 'The Polite' is in town today. Let's see if he's at the Sleeping Lion" suggests All Might. With nothing else to do, the others nod in agreement and turn their footsteps towards the inn.
Ah Xanna, we miss you but we don't miss you that much… Sorry
"It's been a while Lyramof" says Thalia as they set out from the inn the next morning. "Well, my mum, the dear old thing, has taken up gardening. It's doing her loads of good really" responds Lyramof. All Might looks over to Lyramof and asks, "So you didn't say what you're in town for in your letter" "Oh, I've taken up a hobby as well" answers Lyramof. Curious, Splinter asks with hope, "Is it karaoke?" Pebbles scatter all over the road as Lyramof gives a throaty laugh, "Sorry new friend, nothing so cultural. I'm into head hunting these days" "Being a bounty hunter is hardly a hobby" remarks Thalia, being familiar with the occupation. "Ah, I understand the confusion. What I meant was traditional trophy hunting?" clarifies Lyramof. At All Might and Splinter's blank looks, Thalia explains, "He cuts off the heads of things for sport" which is met with two grossed out faces mirrored on the giant Inox and diminutive Vermling.
"Everybody needs a hobby I guess" mutters Thalia as they make their way towards the ruins of Crooked Bone. They may have already found and defeated Jekserah but perhaps Hail the admittedly eccentric, insane, deranged and unstable Aesther Enchantress might have an errand they could run on her behalf.
To make this scenario viable, I had to call on some long unused Dungeon Mastering skills of on the fly - omission and bs-ing
So let's backtrack a little bit back into the forest so that the order of events will make more sense…
Thankfully we have a cultured Vermling in our midst
And back to the present, where the wildlife has conspired to rise up against us in our quest to obtain the herb called biteroot, seriously even the flora in Gloomhaven sound dangerous.
Bookies are now taking bets against how long All Might will maintain his role as a tank… short odds are "less than 3 rounds"
"FOREST IMPs!!!" bellows All Might as he glimpses shadows of them hiding behind the cover of the three CAVE BEARS. As if in a feral rage, All Might leaps into the fray, not even bothering to unleash his weapons he grapples with the CAVE BEAR, as if all he wanted to do is toss the CAVE BEAR aside and strangle the life out of the FOREST IMP.
"Well, this is new" says Thalia in puzzlement as she and Splinter split off to flank the enemies whilst a strong breeze of forest wind blows around Lyramof as he calls upon the forces of nature to aid him. The CAVE BEARS fortitude prove that even Mother Nature has learnt battle tactics over the years as they form a shield wall whilst the FOREST IMPS begin chanting under cover. A pall of gloom settles over both All Might and Lyramof, recognizing a curse at work, Thalia shouts, "Get clear!!! They're going to curse you!" The CAVE BEARS however manage to prevent their retreat and both All Might and Lyramof are now curséd.
A bunch of forest critters have no chance against us but they sure now how to make the rest of the mission more difficult
"So what's the deal with you and FOREST IMPs?" asks Thalia quizzically as she picks up the loot on the floor. "NONE OF YOUR DURNED BUSINESS" is the bellowing reply. "FRIENDS!" shouts Lyramof jumping in between both of them before it came to blows, "Perhaps you'd better go that way and we'll take All Might this way to cool off."
Sometimes the rivalry in real life makes it easy to translate to fiction
"An EARTH DEMON! What magnificent horns it has!" gushes Lyramof at the sight of the EARTH DEMON, all conflict between All Might and Thalia all but forgotten. Splinter comes bounding backwards into the first clearing, releasing kunai after kunai at the enemy. The shaking earth causes Splinter to stumble ever so slightly as Lyramof comes bounding into the next clearing, the head of an EARTH DEMON calling out to him. A second booming set of footfalls heralds the arrival of All Might as two FOREST IMPs appear to assist the EARTH DEMON. Seeing that all is in hand, Splinter decides it is now an opportune time for a quick weapons check.
It's important to take turns to rest in Gloomhaven, it often is the difference between winning and losing
Meanwhile, Thalia has finished picking up all the loot and is ambling towards the other branching path deeper into the forest, keeping one eye on the ground for biteroot and one eye on the surroundings. She hears the chittering of the FOREST IMPs before she sees them and nonchalantly slips into the shadowverse becoming INVISIBLE without missing a breath. Thinking that All Might would appreciate the opportunity to fuel his new found hatred towards FOREST IMPs, she simply steps past them and heads deeper into the forest.
All Might has to hold back his gag reflex as Lyramof sets to remove the EARTH DEMON's head, not being gentle about it either. However, the voice of his enemy carrying over through the clearing distracts him.
Thankfully, Gloomhaven comes with the blood effects turned off feature, fallen monsters simply turn into a coin
Picking up a biteroot from the ground, Thalia strolls nonchalantly into the next clearing, leaving the FOREST IMPs to go after All Might. Coming through a low lying tree branch, she sees three EARTH DEMONs bumping horns and spies another biteroot behind them. Making note of that, she sidesteps into a small opening in the mountain face and enters a small cavern.
Lyramof hitches the EARTH DEMON's head securely to his belt and moves with a bounce in his step towards the only exit, a hole in the face of the mountainside.
All Might is torn between following the group and going after the lonely group of FOREST IMPs slowly making his way toward him. In the end, feral rage wins over and he turns back towards the entrance.
What a happy coincidence! The paths merge back together! A game designers handy trick to make the map seem bigger than it actually seems
Seeing Lyramof enter from the far entrance, Thalia decides to leave the FOREST IMPs and INOX SHAMAN to the rest of the team and see if she can slip past the trio of EARTH DEMONs. Splinter is doing his best to take down the FOREST IMPs whilst Lyramof is fully focused on gaining an INOX SHAMAN head, horns being of particular interest to his hobby it seems. Dodging the lusty swipes of the FOREST IMPs, Splinter accidentally steps into a side entrance and disappears from view.
The sudden reappearance of Splinter and thudding footfalls that bring dust down from the ceiling causes even a pause in Lyramof's unwavering determination to chase down the INOX SHAMAN who is clearly retreating from the Cragheart with the deranged eyes. Grinning with a smile that doesn't reach his eyes, Splinter simply says "Bear nest" striking down two of the stunned FOREST IMPs before a horde of angry CAVE BEARs descends on Splinter, literally smothering the Vermling under a deluge of claws and fur.
All Might looks up from the carnage he had recently wrought on the FOREST IMPs, his inner hero sense telling him that something is amiss with his tiny rodent friend.
We all make mistakes, Splinter's controller just makes the mistake of acting like a tank way too often
Splinter stands up, still alive but barely, one arm dangling uselessly at his side and deep flowing cuts all over. The last FOREST IMP begins a different chant, this one to STRENGTHEN its allies and the CAVE BEARs take a moment to adjust to their new influx of power. As the last syllable leaves the lips of the FOREST IMP, the spell now complete, the weight of a fully grown and then some Inox drops on it, literally snapping it's spine in half.
Standing on the struggling FOREST IMP, All Might grins and says "I AM HERE!" His flashy entrance is spoiled by the increased growling of the CAVE BEARs who are now STRENGTHENED by the dying FOREST IMP's spell. "You are late, by exactly one turn" says Splinter matter-of-factly before disappearing in a swish of his cloak.
With time we've learnt that the correct way to tackle big scenarios is to move individually but never too far from the group
Surveying the area, All Might sees that all the remaining FOREST IMPs are now dead and yet this somehow triggers him further into an apoplectic rage. Despite being STRENGTHENED, the CAVE BEARs do a double take at the death promising aura emanating from All Might. Overcoming its fear, the oldest CAVE BEAR lashes out with its claws, designed to take off the head of a lesser being. The CAVE BEAR blinks in surprise as its severed paw goes flying into the darkness, its surprise is terminated abruptly as All Might follows with a whirlwind of chops that ends the life of the CAVE BEAR and the CAVE BEAR standing next to it.
Sulking is a surprisingly common expression in an RPG group
Picking up the biteroot in the now empty bear nest, Splinter then walks back to the group who are discussing what to do post decimation of the three EARTH DEMONs. "There's one more over there" says Splinter gesturing over to the far corner behind the EARTH DEMONs corpses. "Last one there is a stupid Quatryl!" yells out Thalia. Speeding off to the corner despite his wounds, Splinter realizes he'd been conned as he's the only one racing to the last biteroot, Thalia having sprinted off in another direction to pick up loot. So what else is new, Splinter thinks to himself as he uproots the last biteroot and begin their journey back to Gloomhaven.
I adjusted the reward to 15 Gold to each Player, I guess the system is not entirely fool proof in the end
Now let's cut to the action in real time!
Results Of Game(s)
Winners:
Justin aka Splinter "Where is the INVISIBLE card?!? WHERE IS IT?!?" – 21 Exp (LVL UP!) & 21 Gold
Gideon aka Thalia "I should have a new nickname, Thalia Solo" – 25 Exp & 36 Gold & 1 Tick (+1 PERK!)
Moses aka All Might "FOREST IMPS!!!" – 22 Exp & 32 Gold & 1 Tick (+1 PERK!)
Edward aka Lyramof "Can I kill this one? Oh and that one too please" – 26 Exp & 21 Gold
We will be back with more Gloomhaven in two weeks.
Until next time, keep calm and play better.
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