Verrotwood AAR 4 - The Haunted Village
Introduction
News of an abandoned village draws the cultists of The Uncoiling of Beiysss and the Wisentii into the Verrotwood again. Whispers abound that the place is haunted but they are undeterred and they strike out, forever searching for Favor and Power for their dark deities.
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| The Uncoiling of Beiysss |
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| Wisentii |
Set up
The cultists are tasked with searching an abandoned haunted village. As they search each building they take a test against their Intelligence statistic. They have a 50% chance of gaining Favor and a 50% chance of the building becoming Haunted Terrain and a ghost being spawned as per the core Verrotwood rules.
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| Starting positions, Wisentii at the bottom |
As is often the case Round 1 is all about movement. SerpensLeachim starts the proceedings and straightway uses his two actions to Run to the nearest building. The Shield does likewise, pelting forwards to end his activation in contact with a building.
SerpensEnirethec does the same to move to another building. The Breath Runs for two actions to move forward into the village scanning for enemies. The Heart of the Wisentii uses her two actions to reach the main dwelling.
SerpensNadrew Runs into the village reaching the cover of an abandoned wagon. The last Wisentii to activate is the Horns and she Runs into the village to support her fellow cultists. And the last cultist to activate is SerpensMinajnem who mirrors SerpensNadrew’s move ending his activation by the wagon on the opposite side of the village
Round 2
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| Round 2 starting positions |
SerpensEnirethec is first to activate and he spends an action to search the building that he ended the last round in contact with. He rolls an 8, the building isn't haunted and he gains 25 Favor. The building is now cleared. He uses his remaining action to move to the main dwelling.
SerpensNadrew moves forward to make contact with another dwelling and then has to use his remaining action to move round to gain access to the door.
The Heart enters the main building. Her INT roll is good and she gains 25 Favor. She uses her remaining action to exit the building and move on the building behind.
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| The Heart enters a building. |
SerpensMinajnem move forwards towards the Horns but can’t reach her to initiate Melee. As the next character to activate, the Horns takes advantage of this error to move forward and attack him. Feinting with her left dagger, she sticks the Beiysss cultist with her right dagger for 5 damage.
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| Impaled by the Horns! |
The Breath activates next and spotting Nadrew trying to enter a building he lets fly with his bow. It’s a success and Nadrew is pieced by a Wisentii arrow.
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| The Breath lets fly |
SerpensLeachim moves to the door of the dwelling he was in contact with and enters. The atmosphere is fetid, he fails his INT roll, the building is haunted! The Ghost’s cold hands reach out but Leachim closes his mind and her attacks fail to damage him.
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| Cold hands reach out for Leachim |
The final cultist to activate is the Shield of Wisentii. He enters a building and it’s haunted! A tethered spirit lunges at him but he brings up his shield painted with the totem of the Bison and he manages to ward off the attacks.
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| The Shield repels a spirit attack |
Round 3
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| Round 3 starting positions |
SerpensEnirethec moves and attacks the Heart. His one Strength die is beaten by both of the Heart’s Defence die.
The Horns’ token is next out and she continues her assault on SerpensMinajnem. Her first action is to perform the Aura of Rage Ritual and then she strikes. She hits him again and the 5 Damage he takes puts him Out of Action.
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| The Horns finishes off Minajnem |
The Breath activates and moves to the last unsearched building, barging the injured SerpensNadrew aside, he enters. His bold action is rewarded as his INT roll is a success and he gains 25 Favor. That’s all of the buildings now searched.
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| Move aside serpent worshipper! |
The Shield spends one action to disengage from the ghost and the remaining action to move towards the cultists of The Uncoiling.
The Heart who had been attacked by SerpensEnirethec at the start of the round, counter attacks. She swings her mighty axe, but the Beiysss cultist moves his pole arm and blocks the attack.
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| The Heart and Enirethec battle |
Incensed by being denied the opportunity to gain Favor, SerpensNadrew follows his enemy into the building and performs the Existential Dread Ritual making an INT attack on the Breath. He succeeds and the Breath suffers 5 damage.
Leachim is the last cultist to activate and he spends an action point to disengage from the angry ghost. Sensing danger of a more corporeal kind, he spies the Shield and makes a Ranged Attack. Amazingly the Shield rolls a 10 so once again he survives an attack. Lucky or is he blessed of the mighty Bison?
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| Leachim draws a bead on The Shield |
Round 4
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| Round 4 starting positions |
It’s the penultimate round. With the buildings all now searched, the two rival cults now turn on each other in a frenzy of violence.
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| It's all kicking off |
The Shield Moves and just makes base to base contact with Leachim. He then engages the crossbow wielding cultist in melee. His attack just breaches Leachim’s defence and his axe bites home to inflict 5 damage.
Nadrew continues his attack on the Breath. Reverting to cold steel he brings his sickle round but it can’t penetrate the Wisentii’s defence.
The Horns Runs to close on the enemy.
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| Move to the sound of cold steel |
SerpensEnirethec lunges with his pole arm at the Heart. His attack is good and she feels the weapon strike home, taking 5 damage off her health. The Heart’s token is drawn next and she has the opportunity to respond in kind. She first performs the Aura of Rage Ritual and then swings her axe. Enirethec’s defence die are too good and the attack fails.
Under attack from the Shield, Leachim has had to drop his bow and grab his dagger. However, the Shield uses his shield to great effect again as the +1 to defence that it gives him is the difference on the die rolls of 9.
The Breath is last. He has also had to revert to melee and he attacks SerpensNadrew. Melee is not his forte though and the attack fails to do anything.
Round 5
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| Round 5 starting positions |
The Heart presses home her attack on SerpensEnirethec, but once again The Uncoiling cultist proves to be a master of defence with his pole arm and he beats away her attack.
The Breath spends an action to perform Aura of Rage and then attacks SerpensNadrew. His attack also fails. Nadrew responds but his attack is also a failure. He then perform the Ritual Drain Life and sucks three points of Health from the Breath into himself.
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| Ritual combat |
The Horns charges into the action and attacks Leachim. She flanks The Uncoiling cultist and rolls a natural 10 to score a critical hit. He crumples as her dagger pieces his body and he’s Out of Action.
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| The Horns takes out another Uncoiling cultist |
The Shield is now free to concentrate on SerpensEnirethec. Both roll best die of 9, but as he is making a flank attack the Shield gains a +1 so his attack succeeds and he causes 5 damage.
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| Enirethec in trouble? |
It’s now Enirethec’s turn and he firstly performs the Ritual Disembodied Whispers on the Shield, moving the bemused cultist away from him. He then concentrates on making a Melee Attack on the Heart. The attack fails and that’s the last action of the game. The cultists disengage and disperse to lick their wounds and count Favor gained.
Conclusion
This was a successful foray into the Verrotwood for the Wisentii. They gained 50 Favor and searched three buildings. They also put two of The Uncoiling Out of Action. The Uncoiling searched two buildings and gained 25 Favor. Therefore, as they searched more buildings, the Wisentii are declared the victors and gain one Power.
The after game sequence was successful for the Wisentii too. They didn't have any characters go Out of Action and didn't have to roll on the Damage Table. The Shield went "into the forest" and gained 25 Favor.
It was a mixed bag for The Uncoiling. For the Out of Action cultists, SerpensLeachim rolled a 10 on the Damage Table becoming hardened and gaining 25 Favor. SerpensMinajnem rolled 1 which meant he was dead. I'll now build another cultist for them. SerpensEnirethec went "into the forest" and gained another Ritual for his cult.
For this game, I finally remembered to incorporate Rituals. These definitely added a further dimension and I need to ensure that in the ongoing campaign I continue to use them. My initial thought was to end this campaign after 5 games, but I'm enjoying so much that I'll just keep playing. I've also bought some more sprues so I can keep making more cultists as they get killed off.
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