Verrotwood 6 - The Pools of Sorrow

Introduction

The air is dank and visibility is poor in the constant mist. The ground roils underfoot and strange whispers fill the air.  A place once full of light is now home to darkness.  The cultists move forwards searching for the Pools of Sorrow.

The Pools of Sorrow are an area in the Verrotwood which before the fall were once places of healing.  However, whilst healing is no longer available, if one has courage enough there is Favor and Power to be gained.

This is a self penned encounter.  The cultists must decide whether to risk gazing into a Pool of Sorrow.  If doing so they must roll a D10.  For one of the lesser pools: a roll of 1-5 means they'll suffer 2 Damage (DAM); a roll of 6-10 sees them gain 10 Favor (FAV).  For a greater pool: a roll of 1-5 will automatically spawn a Ghost (as per the Verrotwood rules); 6-10 sees them gain 25 FAV.  It takes one action to gaze and the cultist must be in contact with a pool. 

Round 1

Round 1 starting positions.

The Cultists start to make their way through the boggy ground.  Shield of Wisentii activates first and his lower body contorts as he performs the Hoofed Form Ritual.  He then Moves forward ignoring the penalties for Difficult Terrain.  SerpensNadrew is the first Uncoiling Cultist to activate.  Wasting no time, he Moves and just reaches one of the three greater Pools of Sorrow.  Bending forwards he gazes into the pool.  His roll is good and he gains 25 Favor.  SerpensLezal (a new initiate into The Uncoiling), Moves for one Action and then performs the Cannibalism Ritual.  SerpensLeachim is the third Uncoiling Cultist in succession to activate.  He Moves forwards and then spotting the Mad man and being within half the weapon's range, he takes aim and shoots his crossbow.  He hits and the lunatic takes a bolt for 8 DAM. 

Leachim plugs the Mad Man.

To complete a full streak of four in a row, the next token drawn is for the final Uncoiling Cultist.  SerpensLicev Moves forwards to support SerpensLezal.  Stung into action, the Mad man turns and closes on Leachim.  Sweeping the cultist's defence aside, his rusty cleaver chops into the crossbowman for 5 DAM.  The Mad man's second token is drawn and rolling to see his action, he continues his frenzied attack.  Hitting again. SerpensLeachim falls and is Out of Action.  

And Leachim pays dearly for his actions.

With all the other characters having now completed their activation, the Wisentii cultists activate.  Horns also performs the Hoofed Form Ritual and Moves forwards.  Heart Moves forwards and gazes into a lesser Pool of Sorrow.  She takes her chance but instead of gaining Favor she takes 2 DAM.  That's the gamble when gazing into the abyss.  The last Cultist to activate is Breath.  He Moves but is in a very swampy part of the wood.  Making little progress he takes a chance to gaze into a lesser pool and takes 2 DAM.  

Round 2

Round 2 starting positions.

The Mad man is first to activate.  What will he do?  The dice roll decides he'll perform a Ranged attack at the nearest Cultist who is Nadrew.  The attack misses.  Horns of Wisentii is next and she Moves forwards and gazes into one of the greater pools.  Steeling herself she is rewarded with 25 Favor. 

Horns gazes into a Pool of Sorrow.

SerpensLezal fires her crossbow at the Mad man, but misses.  He then uses his second action to drop to his knees and gazes into a lesser pool.  His luck is out and rather than gaining Favor he takes 2 DAM.  SerpensLicev Moves forward, falls forward and gazes into the central main pool.  Failing his roll, it has triggered an immediate spirit attack from a Ghost.  Thankfully he manages to close his mind and the attack does him no harm.  

A Ghost of the Pools attacks.

The Mad man activates again and the dice roll sees him charge in on Nadrew and attack.  Chopping with his rusted cleaver he hits inflicting 5 DAM. 

Nadrew and the Mad Man in combat.

Breath of Wisentii still finds himself in a maze of pools.  With few other choices open to him he decides to try his luck at another lesser pool.  This time he has better luck, gaining 10 Favor.  

Shield, still in Hoofed Form moves though the Difficult Terrain with ease and drops to his knees to gaze into a greater pool.  Luck is with him and he gains another 25 Favor for his cult.  Recovering from her damaging experience of last round, Heart Moves slowly through some Difficult Terrain.  

Round 3

Round 3 starting positions.

Nadrew is first to activate.  He needs to do something about the lunatic that's chopping at him.  He performs the Drain Life Ritual and the Mad man crumples to the floor Out of Action as Nadrew absorbs his life force.  Revived, he Moves forwards until stopped by more Difficult Terrain.  

Horns in Hoofed Form (say that when drunk), Moves to a greater pool and drops down to attempt to gain Favor.  She succeeds, Wisentii are totting up the Favor now. 

Horns gains more Favour for Wisentii.

At last in some clearer ground, Breath makes a full Move forwards which brings him in range of SerpensNadrew.  Nocking an arrow he let's fly, but Nadrew dodges and is unscathed.  

Heart Moves forward and gazes into a main pool.  Arggh she fails her roll and a Ghost immediately makes a successful attack, causing 4 DAM. 

Icy cold hands reach out for Heart.

SerpensLezal manages to move forwards just enough to bring Breath in range of her crossbow.  She hits and the Wisentii archer takes a hefty 8 DAM which sees him go Out of Action.

The crossbow triumphs over the bow.

Shield Moves past Heart as she combats a Ghost, and due to being in Hoofed Form reaches a greater pool.  Success as he gains another 25 Favor.  The last Cultist to activate is Licev who uses a Disengage action to Move 6" away from the Ghost.

Round 4

Round 4 starting positions.

SerpensLicev is first to activate.  He spots Shield gazing into a pool and Moves to attack.  Seeing the serpent worshipper in the reflection from the pool, he manages to roll to one side as the two handed cleaver swipes towards him.  

Horns activates.  She moves and attacks Nadrew, but the veteran cultist defends himself with ease.  

Shield turns and attacks his assailant, SerpensLicev.  His attacks are poor and the Uncoiling cultist is untouched.  

Shield and Licev square up.

SerpensLezal manages to reach a greater pool and attempts to gain Favor.  She does and banks 25 Favor for her cult.  

The Heart Disengages from the Ghost and Moves to be in position to attack Licev in the flank next turn.

Nadrew is the last Cultist to activate.  He attacks Horns with his sickle causing 8 DAM.  

Nadrew and Horns cross cold steel.

The two Ghosts are last to activate.  Although she thought she was free Heart is again tormented.  The cold dead hands draw another 4 DAM from her.  It's too much and she falls Out of Action. 

Heart cannot escape the Ghost's touch.

The other Ghost attacks Nadrew.  The experienced Cultist's mind is too strong and he's unaffected.  

Round 5

Round 5 starting positions.

SerpensLezal goes first and at point blank range unloads their crossbow at Horns.  It's a hit, and the Wisentii staggers as the bolt hits home and then falls to the marshy floor Out of Action.  There is now only one Wisentii left.

Lezal puts paid to Horns.

SerpensLicev takes a firm grip on his mighty two-handed weapon and swings at Shield, but he gets his trusted shield to take the blow.  It's now Shield's activation.  He uses one action to Disengage and then still in Hoofed Form he retreats from the battle. 

Shield disengages as a Ghost looks on.

A Ghost now attacks Licev but it has no effect.  

Nadrew Disengages from the Ghost that was attacking him and Moves towards the retreating Shield.  

The final action of the encounter sees the second Ghost attack Lezal but it has no effect.

Conclusion

Although they won much Favor, that was a brutal encounter for Wisentii, losing three of their four cultists.  The 110 Favor they collected didn't mean they won.  When totting up the Victory Points (which was based on putting characters Out of Action), The Uncoiling were easy winners.  They put two Wisentii and one creature OOA, the Wisentii didn't manage one.  The Uncoiling lost just the one cultist gaining 50 Favor from the pools.  For winning the Uncoiling gain an additional 50 FAV and one Victory Point.  

In the post-encounter phase all four cultists put Out of Action survived with minor knocks.  The Explore the Forest phase was relatively uneventful. Shield found some Oil for his cult.  SerpensLicev gained an additional 25 Favor from becoming Hardened in combat.

All in all I thought this encounter (which was the first I'd created) worked out very well.  I did wonder if the addition of an additional crossbow armed character would make The Uncoiling too powerful, as the crossbow is the most potent weapon in Verrotwood.  However, one of the crossbow  armed characters was taken out in the first round so it made no difference.  I now need to put my thinking cap on for Game 7.