Verrotwood AAR 5 - The Hare of Yester

Introduction 

Spring has finally arrived in the Verrotwood.  After a brutally harsh winter where survival was their sole concern, the cultists of Wisentii and The Uncoiling of Beiysss are now ready to sally forth again.

With Spring comes news that The Hare of Yester has been seen.  Both cults descend into the deep forest to seek the mysterious entity and fight for Favor and Power in the service of their dark deities. 

The Hare of Yester appears in the Egg Hunt Encounter in The Village & the Hare  supplement by Mike Crutchett.  This is the fifth game of my Awakening Campaign.  The AARs for the other games are here, here, here and here.

Round 1

Round 1 starting positions.

As the cultists move through the woods in search of eggs, The Hare of Yester stirs.  Activating on each of the three Event tokens in the bag, the crazed demi-God starts to move randomly about the forest.  

At one point The Hare appears in SerpensLeachim sights and he fires his crossbow but misses.  The Hare's proximity causes SerpensLicev of The Uncoiling to go prone and in the very next activation the Hare attacks.  This is Licev's first foray into The Verrotwood and it could be his last as The Hare makes two successful attacks putting the hapless cultist Out of Action.  A woeful start for The Uncoiling of Beiysss Cult.  

Poor Licev gets stomped.

Meanwhile the remaining Uncoiling and all the Wisentii cultists have managed to Run forwards unhindered in their quest for eggs.

Round 2

Round 2 starting positions.

Round 2 begins with two Event tokens being drawn and then a Hare token which puts The Hare in base to base contact with The Shield of Wisentii.  The Hare attacks and inflicts 5 Damage on the Wisentii.   The Hare's second activation token is drawn but this time The Shield manages to defend against the lagomorph's attack. 

The Shield tries to shield from the Hare.

Having been rendered prone by the closeness of The Hare when it attacked The Shield, The Heart of the Wisentii has to spend one action to stand and then moves towards an egg.  The next Event token sees The Hare move off randomly into the forest.

The Breath of Wisentii Runs and is the first cultist to move to be in a position to claim an egg.  

"The egg is mine!"

Seeing this SerpensEnirethec Runs to contest the egg with the Wisentii.  He doesn't quite reach but it could be trouble next turn.

"No, 'tis mine!"

SerpensLeachim moves deeper into the forest for The Uncoiling as does The Shield for Wisentii.  He falls just short of claiming an egg, not so SerpensNadrew who Runs to be in pole position to snatch one from under his nose next turn.

The Shield and Nadrew argue it out.

The last cultist to Activate is The Horns.  She  had also been rendered prone earlier in the round, so she picks herself up and moves forwards to complete her activation.

Round 3

Round 3 starting positions.

The Horns is first to activate and Moves in to attack SerpensNadrew to stop him claiming an egg.  Her attack is blocked by the experienced Uncoiling devotee. 

The Horns and Nadrew scuffle, while The Shield moves in.

The Heart is next and she Runs to support The Breath as he looks to claim an egg.  And he is next as his token is drawn.  He uses one action to claim an egg and one to move away with his prize.

The Breath claims the prize.

Too far away to help Enthirec and unable to fire into the melee for fear of hitting Nadrew, SerpensLeachim decides to at least inflict some pain on Wisentii.  He draws a bead and fires at The Heart.  The Heart's Defence rolls are too good and his bolt sails harmlessly past her

Two Event tokens are drawn in succession and The Hare is on the move again.  

The Shield moves forwards and claims an egg which ends his activation.

Success!  The Shield swipes an egg.

The Hare hops forwards and attacks The Heart.  Being rendered prone by The Hare and suffering a critical hit the Wisentii cultist takes 6 damage.  As he was close to The Heart, SerpensEnirethec has also been knocked prone.  He uses his activation to stand and then move away from the crazed demigod.

The Hare claims another victim.

SerpensNadrew performs the Ritual Existential Dread, pitting his Intelligence against that of The Horns.  He fails and  resorts to good old steel for his next action, but this fails too.  

The final action of this penultimate round sees The Hare of Yester hop off randomly.

Round 4

The Horns attacks Nadrew but once again his defensive skills prove too good for her.  

The Shield is next and clutching the precious egg to his chest he moves away from danger.  

With The Hare in front of him, The Breath decides to go prone and try and see the round out and protect his egg.

That was a wise move as three Event tokens one after the other are pulled out of the bag.  The Hare's random movement ends with him in BTB contact with SerpensEnirethec who automatically takes 5 damage and is knocked prone, as is SerpensLeachim who is within 6" of the demented hopper.  SerpensEnirethec's ordeal doesn't end there as The Hare activates again straightaway and finishes off the unfortunate cultist. 

Enirethec falls to The Hare.

SerpensLeachim stands, steadies himself and fires his crossbow at The Hare.  He misses and all it does is draw the creature onto him as it hops and attacks dealing 5 damage onto the serpent worshipper. 

Leachim loses against the loopy lagomorph.

SerpensNadrew closes on The Horns and performs the Drain Life ritual inflicting 3 points of Damage on the Wisentii.  

Nadrew the life drainer in action.

The last action of the round and the game sees The Heart stand from her prone position and Move to support The Breath with his prize.

The Heart and The Breath have success!

Conclusion 

This encounter was a success for Wisentii but a disaster for The Uncoiling.  Wisentii held two eggs at the end of the game and gained two Victory Points.  The Uncoiling held none so victory was the Wisentii's for the second game running.  They gain 100 Favor and 1 Power.  The Uncoiling gain 50 Favor.  

The post encounter Explore the Forest sequence saw The Horns of Wisentii venture into the forest and find a mount.  Not wanting this, I made the call that she traded it for 1/2 its Favor value (50).  SerpensNadrew found a crossbow, which he decided to keep and will use to equip a new cultist (which is a great excuse for me to build a new model)!

SerpensLeachim and SerpensEnirethec, the two Uncoiling cultists that were put Out of Action, survived their rolls on the Damage Table.  However, Leachim was concussed and won't be able to conduct Rituals next game.  Licev in his first outing lost an eye, so won't be using any Ranged weapons anytime soon! 

It's been a long while since I played Verrotwood.  Getting the cults out of their hibernation was a blast, and it's whetted my appetite to play more encounters to see who will become the most powerful cult in the Verrotwood.