Verrotwood AAR 3 - The Riddles

 

Introduction 

The Uncoiling of Beiysss and Wisentii are drawn into the Verrotwood once again.  The wind carries the sound of the lunatic cackling that can only mean a Twister is about.  They heft their weapons and set off to look for the ancient being and gain Favor for their gods.  

The Uncoiling of Beiysss

Wisentii

Set up

The Riddles is an encounter that appears in The Blood & The Riddles supplement by Mike Cruchett.  I played it as the third game of my Awakening Campaign.  (The AAR for the first two games are here and here).  

The encounter centres on the Trickster, an ancient Chaos being.  The cultists have to land blows on the Trickster to gain Favor.  However, the Trickster will either savage the cultists in melee or engage them in a riddle which can prove deadly.  A really clever  innovation is that although it has only one Defence die and is relatively easy to hit, the Trickster can't be damaged.  When it is hit it automatically relocates to another part of the forest meaning the game is in a state of flux the whole time. 

The Trickster waits for cultists to torment

Round 1

Starting position with Wisentii deployed at the bottom

The Trickster activates first, and on a random dice throw I determine that it will move towards the Wisentii.  The Riddles token is drawn next and the Trickster targets the Heart of the Wisentii who is the nearest cultist.  The Trickster's Intelligence roll is higher than the Heart's roll and the subsequent roll on the Failed the Riddle table means they switch locations.  The Trickster is now alongside the Wisentii. 

The next three activations are SerpensLeachim, Heart of the Wisentii and SerpensMinajnem who all spend their activations Running towards the centre of the table to search for the Trickster.  

The Trickster is up again, it Moves on the Shield of the Wisentii who is the nearest cultist and performs a Melee attack.  With 3 die against 2 not surprisingly the gnarly little creature gnaws away at the Shield who takes 5 Damage.  

Shield gets chomped

SerpensNadrew activates and like the rest of his fellow cultists with the action all at the far end of the table, he Runs to the sounds of the struggle, as does SerpensEnirethec who activates next.  

The Breath of the Wisentii is next, moving forward he spots SerpensNadrew and lets fly with his trusted bow.  SerpensNadrew's Defence is too good and he ducks as the arrow strikes into a tree near him.

The Horns uses her activation to make a Melee attack on the Trickster.  Her attack succeeds and the Trickster automatically reverts back to its starting point of the Forest area terrain in the middle of the table.  

The Trickster caught between Shield and Horns

The last to activate is the Shield who Runs towards the centre of the table pursuing the little beast that he'd been savaged by.  

Round 2

Round 2 starting positions

Once again that mischievous Trickster activates first and Moves to Melee attack the Heart who is nearest.  It overwhelms the Heart's defence and chewing on the unfortunate Wisentii, it inflicts 5 Damage.  The Trickster has enjoyed chomping up the Wisentii.  The Heart's counter is drawn next and she tries to get her own back.  She succeeds, successfully hitting and the Trickster instantly pings to another area of Forest terrain. 

The Heart swing the axe

Seeing something scoot in front of him, the Breath moves forward and makes a Ranged attack.  He succeeds and it's the Trickster himself he hits and who instantly pings to the next furthest away area of Forest terrain. 

The Trickster's second token is drawn and it Moves to Melee attack SerpensEnirethec who he has appeared behind.  Once again the chaos creature takes a bite out of a cultist.

The Trickster can't get enough of this cultist flesh

SerpensLeachim uses his activation to Move and get line of sight on the Shield.  His Ranged attack is unsuccessful with the Wisentii cultist managing to get his shield up and deflect the crossbow bolt.

Careful with that crossbow, you'll have someone's eye out!

The Horns who has been left at the table edge uses her two actions to Run to move alongside the Shield, who in turn activates and Moves forwards towards the advancing Uncoiling and out of sight of more crossbow bolts.  

The Riddle token is next out the bag.  As he is in contact with the Trickster, SerpensEnirethec has no choice but to play its games.  Being no match for the ancient one he loses and takes 4 Damage.  This is bad as he was already carrying an injury from the last game and he's now out of action.  

SerpensMinajnem just manages to reach the Trickster with his Move allowance and then he Melee attacks the little beast.  His attack fails though.

The last character to activate is SerpensNadrew.  He swings round with his sickle and swipes at the Trickster.  Like his fellow cultist Minajnem he also fails to land a blow on the riddling monster. 

The Uncoiling turn on the Trickster

Round 3

Round 2 starting positions

Having activated last in Round 2 SerpensNadrew is first in this round.  He steadies himself and attacks the Trickster again.  This time he's successful and once again the little bugger pings off to another part of the forest.  

Nadrew gets involved

Seeing the Trickster materialise near her the Horns uses her first action to Move and then Melee attacks the Trickster.  She hits it with one of her daggers and it pings off yet again.  She seems to have got the measure of the ancient one. 

The Trickster gets the Horns

It's Riddle time as that token is drawn.  The Heart is the nearest cultist and she must play the game.  Perhaps having been struck so many times has shaken the Trickster, but she beats him her with one Intelligence die scoring higher than his three and she gains 2d10 Favour.  

SerpensMinajnem Moves for one action and then uses his other action to engage the Shield in Melee.  His attack slices through the Shield's defences and the Wisentii cultist takes 8 Damage putting him out of action.

Minajnem finishes off the Shield

The Trickster is next and he launches his scrawny body at the Heart.  His gnarled teeth latch on and she suffers 5 damage. Having already been damaged by the chaotic conundrum in the previous round this is too much and she goes out of action.  

"Yum, yum a taste of Heart"

The Trickster's second token is drawn and after having seen off the Heart he turns to the next nearest cultist, SerpensMinajnem.  Once again he succeeds dealing out 5 points of dental damage.  This is bad news for the Uncoiling cultist as he carried 5 points of damage into this game and he also goes out of action.  

SerpensLeachim moves forward and manages to draw a bead on the Trickster.  He fires his crossbow and sticks the little fecker who instantly pings off.  

The Breath sees the Trickster appear in front of him and he instantly fires his bow.  Alas, the Trickster's sole die beats the archer's two die rolls.  

Round 4

Round 4 starting positions

It’s the last round and the Trickster activates first.  The Horns of the Wisentii is nearest and he attacks her.  Her defence is weak and it once again tastes cultist blood.  The Horns is next and she gets her revenge sticking the Trickster with one of her punch daggers.  And guess what?  He pings off to the furthest piece of Forest terrain which is where he started from in the middle of the table. 

The Trickster gets the Horns (again)

The Breath has line of sight to SerpensNadrew and he makes a Ranged Attack.  One of his die beats the two Defence die of the Uncoiling cultist who takes 5 damage. 

Catch this! The Breath (left) hits Nadrew 

SerpensLeachim faced by the Trickster materialising in front of him fires his crossbow.  He hits the Trickster who yes pings off to another piece of Forest terrain.  

The Riddles token is drawn and SerpensNadrew is drawn into the deadly game.  The Uncoiling cultist wins the game and throwing a 10 the cultist and the Trickster swap places on the table.  

The Trickster activates next and obviously riled by losing the riddling game attacks SerpensNadrew.  His frenzied attack causes 5 damage.  In response the last action of the game is SerpensNadrew.  He successfully Melee attacks the Trickster and the game ends with the ancient creature of chaos chuckling manically as it pings off into the forest.

The final act - Nadrew battles the Trickster

Summary 

The purpose of the game was to land hits on the Trickster,  each time a cultist manages to successfully hit the Trickster they gain 2d10 of Favor.  The Wisentii managed five hits, The Uncoiling four.  However, when rolling  Favor The Uncoiling gained 56 points and the Wisentii 40.  For  the second game running The Uncoiling of Beiysss win and gain one point of Power. 

There wasn't much cult on cult violence, but the Trickster certainly took his toll chomping on the various cultists.  Two from each side ended up out of action. 

The Riddles is such a fun game.  Mike Crutchett has dome such a good job with it.  It's innovative, has elegantly simple mechanics and you never know what will happen from activation to activation. 

In the post game phase all the out of action cultists survived which was a much better outcome than last time. when two were declared dead when rolling on the Post-Encounter injury table.  Some minor injuries were suffered which will be taken forward to the next game and will make it interesting.

The Explore the Forest phase was also far less dramatic this time and both cults are in reasonable shape for their next encounter.  They both have some Favor to spend and I need to work out how best to do this.

Stayed tuned for a return to the Verrotwood soon for Game 4.