Verrotwood Game 8 - The 'Shroom Brothers

Introduction 

In a clearing in the Verrotwood lies the dwelling of Jinger and Schweg, known as the 'Shroom Brothers.  They are famous or more accurately infamous, as breeders of the 'shroom hog, which they use to find the most potent mortshrooms.  

The cultists of The Uncoiling of Beiysss and Wisentii have ventured into the forest to try and steal the hogs and the brothers' supply of mortshrooms.  However, the brothers are far from defenceless.  They are competent fighters in their own right, but they have perfected a mode of fighting as a pair which makes them strong in defence and lethal in attack.  Additionally, continual exposure to mortshrooms has given them the ability to regenerate Health when they take any Damage.  

They have also protected their dwelling.  The tethered Greater Reanimated of their departed third brother guards the 'shroom hogs.  The mortshrooms storage shed also contains a Ghost.  Traps surround the homestead and the cultists won't find this an easy target.  And if that wasn't enough, the hogs themselves are not going to take kindly to any intruders and have been known to give a nasty bite!

Set up

The game centres around the dwelling of the 'Shroom Brothers, Jinger and Schweg.  The entire complex is surrounded by fencing which will take an action to climb over.  The 'shroom hog enclosure is enclosed by another fence which also requires an action to climb.  

Starting positions

Wisentii start the game being able to activate all their cultists for two actions before Round 1 begins.  This was a power gained during the Into the Forest post game phase after Game 7.  They all choose to Run to move up to the dwelling.  This takes all of them to the fence line and they all have to take an INT test to see if they have triggered any of the traps.  It's not a good start as Heart, Shield and Breath fail their rolls and each take 3 DAM and will need to roll against DEX next turn to try and free themselves.  

Wisentii blunder into the traps.

Round 1

'Shroom Brother Jinger is first to activate.  Having heard the screams of the Wisentii as they spring the traps, he comes out of the round house and wastes no time in attacking Heart, who is pinned on the fence line.   He lands a Critical Hit on the cultist who has now lost 3/4 of their Health and the game is only in it's first round! 

Axe time, Jinger gives it some.

Horns, the only Wisentii who didn't fall foul of the traps, climbs over the fence and heads towards the 'shroom hogs' pen. 

SerpensLezal Moves forward and then spying Horns fires her crossbow at the aforementioned Wisentii.  Obscured by the buildings and the clutter of the homestead, her aim is off and the bolt misses.  

Heart uses one action to make a successful DEX roll and pull herself free of the trap. For her next action she strikes at Jinger.  He successfully defends himself though.

Breath also pulls himself free of the trap and immediately fires his bow at the Greater Reanimated.  One of his DEX rolls is a Critical hit and this takes the shambling dead thing Out of Action.  Fine shooting from the bowman.

Breath hits the mark!

SerpensEnirethec activates and Runs to the fence line. His INT roll is poor and he steps into a trap taking 3 DAM.  

Shield extricates himself from the trap and for his second action climbs over the fence. 

Schweg, the second brother activates.  Hastening to his brother's side he attacks Heart.  Gaining an additional STR die for flanking his opponent, she falls to his attack and goes Out of Action.  The bad start for Wisentii has just got even worse.  

The end of Heart.

SerpensNadrew uses his two actions to Run up to the fence line.  Being of superior Intelligence he avoids the traps.

The final character to activate is Serpens Leachim.  He mimics SerpensLezal in Moving and then firing his crossbow at Horns.  The Wisentii cultist again avoids a crossbow bolt without injury.

Round 2

Round 2 starting positions

After destroying the Greater Reanimated, Breath turns his attention to the 'Shroom Brothers.  He takes aim and fires at Schweg.  His bow skills triumph again and he causes 5 DAM.  However, the brother automatically regains 3 health so 'tis just a scratch.  

Having seen what happened to Enirethec and being warned by Nadrew, SerpensLeachim moves near to the fence line and once again fires at Horns.  This time his bolt strikes home causing 8 DAM.  

Alas for SerpensLezal, she fails to learn from her brother cultist, and in her eagerness to get to the mortshrooms store she blunders into a trap at the fence line taking 3 DAM.  

SerpensLezal stuck on the fence.

Schweg charges into Shield.  The Wisentii is unable to defend himself and takes 6 DAM leaving him with only one Health point.

Axe to axes, shield to Shield.

Shield is next to activate and he attempts to get his own back on Schweg, but his attack is bashed aside. 

SerpensNadrew climbs over the outer fence and performs the Disembodied Whispers Ritual on Hooves. She is automatically moved away from the hogs.  Looks like Nadrew has his eye on some prime pork!

Horns is next to activate and she moves back to where she was, then climbs the hog pen fence.  The race for the hogs is heating up between Nadrew and Horns, who are old enemies of each other.

Jinger rushes to his brothers side but his attack is beaten away by a spirited defence from Shield.

SerpensEnirethec fails his first DEX roll, but his second attempt is a success and he is free of the trap.

Round 3

Round 3 starting positions

Nadrew moves first into the hog pen and tries to grab one of the beasts, which he succeeds in doing.  The hog automatically tries to bite him but fails.

Trying to cross the fence, Leachim falls into a trap, taking 3 DAM and ending his turn.

Jinger continues his attack on Shield who once again defends himself successfully.

Lezal extricates herself from the trap and climbs over the fence, heading to the mortshroom store.

Schweg presses home the brothers' attack on Shield.  Having used all his energy defending against Jinger's attack, Shield has nothing left and he falls beneath the axe of the dark haired brother.

The Brothers account for Shield.

Horns moves and attacks Nadrew.  She sticks him with one of her daggers for a Critical hit.  That hurts as Nadrew has not got the Health he used to have.  This also causes him to lose hold of the hog.

Nadrew and Hooves renew their enmity.

Breath fires his bow at Schweg.  He scores another Critical and the brother takes 6 DAM although he automatically regains 3.  Breath has been very effective in this game.  

SerpensEnirethec is once again the last character to activate.  Her climbs the fence and moves up to support Lezal in securing the 'shroom store.

Round 4

Round 4 starting positions

SerpensLezal moves and enters the mortshroom store.  There may be a surprise in store for her...

Breath of Wisentii continues his one man war on the 'Shroom Brothers, launching another shaft at them.  This time though the Brothers' defensive tactics means the arrow embeds itself harmlessly in one of their shields.

Horns makes another attack on Nadrew.  Her attack is too strong and she scores another Critical hit.  With the additional Dam point for the Critical it takes The Uncoiling cultist past his Health and he falls Out of Action.  

Nadrew falls to Horns.

Sick of being used for target practice Schweg attacks Breath.  His attack is lethal and the Wisentii bowman falls Out of Action.

Breath's time runs out.

Enirethec runs to the 'Shroom storage to help Lezal loot it.

Jinger now moves to the nearest violator of his property and attacks Horns.  The veteran Wisentii avoids his blows and is unharmed.

SerpensLeachim stands outside the fence line and fires at Horns while she is engaged by Jinger.  His bolt strikes true and the last Wisentii still standing falls Out of Action.

The last character to activate is the Ghost in the Mortshroom store.  Her first activation sees her inflict 4 DAM on Lezal and in her second activation her cold dead hands do the same to Enirethec.  

Cold dead hands reach out...

Round 5

Round 5 starting positions

It's the final turn and none of the Wisentii are left to fight.  SerpensEnirethec and Lezal are poised to loot the 'shroom store, but having little Health left they can't allow themselves to be subjected to any further damage from the Ghost.  SerpensLeachim is not in a position to achieve any of the objectives so The Uncoiling withdraw from the field.  The 'Shroom Brothers have successfully seen off the raiders.

Summary

In a totally different outcome to the previous encounter, it was Wisentii that were were wiped out.  The bonus move they gained from the post-encounter phase last time prove to be more of a curse than a blessing.  With three of the four getting caught in traps and taking Damage, they were disadvantaged before the game had even truly begun.  

Neither cult achieved any of the encounter objectives, therefore victory was determined by how many characters each cult put Out of Action.  Wisentii accounted for the Greater Reanimated and SerpensNadrew.  The Uncoiling only accounted for Hooves, with the rest of Wisentii being despatched by the Brothers.  Bizarrely then victory is awarded to Wisentii. Neither Cult gained any Favor.  

In the post-game phase there was further catastrophe for Wisentii.  Heart succumbed to her wounds and was declared dead.  The others got off lightly with Shield’s max health reduced by one and Breath suffering a concussion and being unable to perform rituals next game.  Horns became hardened from combat gaining 25 Favor.  However, in the Explore the Forest phase Horns' luck deserted her and she suffered a grievous wound, reducing her maximum Health by five.

SerpensNadrew was the only one of The Uncoiling to be rendered Out of Action, and rolling on the injury table he suffered a grievous wound with his maximum Health reduced by five. In the last few games Nadrew has gone from a robust 15 Health down to 9.  In the Explore the Forest phase SerpensLezal gained 15 Favor for The Uncoiling.

Wisentii now need another cultist, so I'll be getting the bits box out before I can play the next game.  I'm not sure what that game will be.  There will be a return to the 'Shroom Brothers again, but on the evidence of this game the cults need to get tougher before they do that!