Shadow Deep: The Plague Cult - Mission 1, Scenario 1

We're starting some weekly Rangers of Shadow Deep action at the office, with yours truly GMing the whole shebang (we'll usually have 3 or 4 players, so it makes sense that I run the villains... plus, I have the Choleric Order of the Yellow Bile from which to draw potential enemies).

Today marked the first scenario, a variation on the rulebook's starter scenario, with a few tweaks to reflect the available figures and the plot of the mission and overall campaign...

The Plague Cult

Mission 1: The Missing

No-one has heard from the village of Canford in weeks. No goods coming to market. No travellers bringing news. No refugees fleeing some disaster. Nothing. What is more puzzling is that Canford is some distance from where the Rangers currently report the creeping borders of the Shadow Deep to be. A party is sent out to investigate…

Scenario 1: The Deserted Village
As the scenario of the same name (RoSD, p.91), with the following amendments:

• Giant Rats are replaced by Wretches.
• Zombies are replaced by Plague Zombies.
• A third wretch is placed at the start of the game.
• Clue Marker Table is updated.
• Outcome and Experience are updated.

Wretches
Stunted, diseased and deformed scavengers, wretches lurk around the fringes of the Shadow Deep, looting and feasting in the wake of its more powerful servants. In numbers, however, they can still be dangerous.

Wretch						XP	2
Move	Fight	Shoot	Armour	Will	Health	Notes
6	+0	+0	6	+0	4	Disease (TN8)

Plague Zombies

These zombies were struck down (or, perhaps, raised…) by means of a virulent disease, and many are still infectious. Whenever a plague zombie is placed on the table, roll a die – on a 15+ it is infectious and gains Disease (TN8).

Plague Zombie						XP	2
Move	Fight	Shoot	Armour	Will	Health	Notes
4	+0	+0	12	+0	6	Undead (15+) Disease (TN8)

Clue Marker Table

Clue Marker Table
Die Roll	Clue
1–3	The Mayor. You have found the mayor of Canford, close to death. If he can be swiftly interrogated (Leadership Roll, TN6), he reveals that a plague swept through the village, striking down young and old, frail and healthy alike, and that many villagers sought solace in the preaching of an itinerant cleric. Alternatively, the figure may attempt to save the mayor’s life (Survival Roll, TN8, or a Heal spell, potion of healing, etc.) – if successful, the mayor counts as a survivor (see below). Re-roll subsequent results of ‘The Mayor’.
4–6	Survivor. You have found a badly wounded, but living, villager. Until the end of the scenario, treat this figure as one of your companions with the following Stats: Move 3, Fight +0, Armour 10, Health 5.
7–9	Tracks. You discover a set of fresh tracks, only slightly washed away by the rain. Make an immediate Track Roll (TN6) to make sense of them. They appear to show about two-score people, a couple of carts, and a small amount of livestock heading north in quite a hurry.
10–12	Dead Guardsman. You discover the body of an elderly man, dressed in the uniform of a local militia. His hand still clutches a sword that appears too fine for a man of his rank. Make an immediate Armoury Roll (TN6). If successful, the sword is identified as bearing a minor enchantment - +1 Fight. It can be used for the rest of the scenario (provided the figure that discovered it can normally use a hand weapon), and may be traded to another figure between scenarios, but is returned to the King’s Armoury at the end of the mission. Re-roll subsequent results of ‘Dead Guardsman’.
13–15	Herbs. You find some herbs discarded by one of the villagers. Roll once on the Herbs and Potions Table to see what you have discovered. This may be given to any member of the company after the scenario.
16–18	Loot. Treat the clue marker as a treasure token. If this token is being carried by a hero at the end of the scenario, you may roll to see what treasure has been found.
19–20	Plague Zombie. Place a plague zombie that in combat with the figure that moved into contact with the clue marker.

Outcome and Experience

Assuming all the rangers have survived, proceed to Scenario 2. All figures that survived regain their full Health (unless suffering the effects of Disease). Rangers gain experience points for the following achievements:

• +2XP for each Wretch or Plague Zombie killed.
• +6XP for each clue marker uncovered.
• +8XP for interrogating the mayor.
• +12XP for saving the mayor.
• +15XP if any survivor (including the mayor) is found and survives the scenario.
• +6XP if the tracks are discovered and successfully interpreted.
• +5XP for recovering the enchanted sword.

The Game

There were three rangers in this company, two veterans of Frostgrave and similar games, and one entirely new to the system.Rather than a blow-by-blow account of the game, I'll report on the key events (dramatic, comical, and otherwise) from the scenario.

(1) Wretches, (2) Plague Zombies, (3) Diseased Plague Zombies, (O) Clue markers

The heroes deployed around the broken standing stone and small copse of trees in the centre of the table, while the clue markers were scattered around the village (and in a couple of the buildings). Some high die-rolling on my part meant that two of the four starting plague zombies were diseased...

Only one figure on the board was unpainted, and he attempted to dash off as soon as possible, shamed, no doubt, by his resplendent colleagues.

Brave Gird ventured by himself to investigate one of the buildings. He checked the corners... not carefully enough, and was mugged almost immediately by a plague zombie that ran out of the building from the next door over...

The aforementioned mugging can be seen at the top of this picture. Opening doors was a problem in general... One player's melee-focused crew (including a ranger with +3 Strength, seen here running towards another locked door at top) bounced again and again off the TN8 doors. It took a survivor that had been found at a clue marker to hammer his way through door after door, only to find... nothing. Over and over again. Knights and rangers should stand ashamed...

The final event card revealed a host of murderous zombies, advancing menacingly through the cornfield... and from whom the brave ranger fled. I mean, in a storytelling sense, it was very satisfying - a tactical withdrawal after 8 turns in the face of a wave of new enemies, with only one clue marker left undiscovered. In another sense, that ranger (who shall remain nameless) did run away...

All told, the lads had a good time, amassing 90XP each, saving the life of the mayor (the player who actually found him had, it turned out, +3 Survival, +3 Leadership, and had previously found a healing potion... talk about spoiled for choice!), recovering the enchanted sword, and discovering a magic bow!

Two figures were infected by the monsters' disease, but Gird, the only hero to be reduced to 0 Health, rolled a natural 20 for his recovery, and is back to fighting fitness. Now, he just needs to learn to watch his back...

Next up, and deviating more (I think) from the existing RoSD scenarios...

Scenario 2: The Priory

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