Lost in the Fog

 Scenario based on "Lost in the Fog", from the Burrows & Badgers Rulebook

Erenthal

BACKGROUND 

Having escaped the Aegyptus ambush and rallied their ship, Erenthal and his comrades set sail for their island refuge. They had barely left the continent behind them that the skies began to darken alarmingly. A few hours later, ferocious lightning strikes could be seen on the horizon, sending up gouts of flame wherever they struck island vegetation. There was, however, no turning back : the storm must be braved.

It was horrendous and, the sailors said, unnatural. Never had nature unleashed such rage in this season, and so close to the continent. Their vessel was tossed around like a child’s toy, and in any case, the gloom had removed any hope of maintaining course.

Nobody who lived through that storm agrees on how long it lasted. Some claim it was but hours, others swear it was at least a week. When it finally and abruptly broke, the ship was low in the water, one mast broken, and with land in sight. A muttering congregation of sailors finally declared that they were lost, and then all kinds of unlikely theories and old half-forgotten stories came spilling out.

Wherever they might be, they had no choice but to go ashore. As the sailors set about the lengthy repairs, Erenthal led his companions inland, to explore. It was then that the fog fell upon them...

AIM

Erenthal and his companions must survive until the fog lifts, or they have managed to safely get back to their starting point.  There are also some interesting places to explore...

TERRAIN

Set up on a 36" by 36" table. Once off the beach, the island is quite bare, with no trees and only a few straggled bushes and salt-resistant plants.

Once terrain has been set up, place four ruins, occupying a roughly 4’’ x 4’’ zone, in each quarter of the surface. To determine their exact position, roll a D8 and deviate that many inches from the centre of the table quarter, in the direction indicated by the die.

SIDE QUESTS

There are no Side Quests in this scenario.

BANDS AND DEPLOYMENT ZONES

Erenthal and his men are the Defender. Set them up together in the centre point of any table edge. Then, for each model, roll a D10 as a Deviation dice, four times.  During a deviation move, the model cannot go back on itself, ie. come any closer to the starting table edge.*  If the model would leave the table, end his current deviation move at the table edge. Should any model move adjacent to a zone of ruins, leave it touching the ruins and end all deviation rolls for it.

The Mist Ghasts are the Attacker, there are four of them. Set them up randomnly, using for example 1D20 x 2 for the X and Y coordinates.

No objectives are placed for this quest.

*  To speed things up, roll say 3D10, and use the die closest to you that gives a valid result 

SPECIAL RULES AND RANDOM EVENTS

Mystic Mist

The whole table is shrouded in magical fog and thus entirely covered with Difficult Terrain. To make matters worse, visibility is very limited. At the start of each Turn, roll 3d6 to determine the distance in inches that models can see during the entire Turn.

As each Defender model is Activated, each Turn, make a Fortitude Test, difficulty 3.  This occurs before any Roll Offs required by Uncanny, since they are made at the beginning of each Action.  It is not affected by Wounds.

Add +1 to the roll if the model is inside one of the areas of ruins.

Add +1 if at least one friendly model is within 2’’

Subtract -1 if the model is suffering from The Fear

Subtract -1 if at least one enemy model is within 6’’

- Disastrous Roll : the model becomes subject to The Fear

- Fail : the model becomes Lost and Alone.  If in base contact with an enemy, the model is not Lost and Alone, but may only use Attack actions.

- Success : the model may perform their Actions normally (remembering that the whole table is Difficult Terrain)

- Perfect Roll : the model may perform their Actions normally, and is not subject to the fog being Difficult Terrain

The Fear

The model is frozen with terror, assailed by flashes from the past, their’s or another’s. They have the condition « Paralysed » until their next activation.

 

Lost and Alone

The model is Lost and Alone until the beginning of its next activation, completely surrounded by whispering, chilling, mist and can see no further than the end of their muzzle. They wander randomnly, seeking their friends.

Roll a d8 as a deviation dice. If the model comes within 2’’ of a friend, or bumps into a ruin, it stops moving. If it bumps into an enemy model, it also stops in contact.

If the model wanders off a table edge, it is has been taken by the Mist Ghasts, and is permanently lost and considered dead. It may come back to haunt the survivors...

For each model that has successfully escaped (see below), the deviation dice can be re-rolled for either direction or distance, as the lost models try to follow the sound of calling voices.

 

Mist Ghasts

They are Large Mist Ghasts. 

They are unaffected by the Mystic Mist and all of its special rules.

In this scenario, they ignore the effects of Otherwordly. 

They benefit from a +2 to their Strike roll against enemy models that are Lost and Alone.

 

Exploring the Ruins

The Ruins can be Searched (Difficulty : 4). Compare the Result to the following table.

Each result can be obtained only once.

If an object is found, but the the second test is unsuccessful, other models can use an Interact action within the ruins to attempt it, but each only once.

A Ruin that has been successfully Searched can be Searched again for another object, but increase the Difficulty by +1 each time.

Search Result
+1	You find a pile of objects, but nothing of apparent value. Make an Awareness Test, difficulty 3. If successful : « Looking closer at the ruins, you realise this must have been some sort of sacred ground. It is unlikely this is just a pile of junk. Looking closer, you notice a brooch bearing a large silver star. Although tarnished, it seems to glint. Strange that it didn’t do so before ! »
+2	A termite-ridden coffer, whose lock is easily prised open, contains a sheaf of scrolls, miraculously untouched by time. Unfortunately the language is undecipherable. Make an Awareness Test, difficulty 3. If successful : « Wait a minute, that one is written in one of the langages of western Euwera, although you could have sworn it was gibberish at first glance ! It reads : « Of new lands, to be King. At Warren Percy Stand on the outside, looking in »
+3	There might be something promising behind that doorway, but a landslide has completely blocked the entrance. Make a Fortitude Test, difficulty 4. If successful : « With straining muscles, you manage to open up a passage just large enough for a smallish creature to squeeze through ». A Small or Medium size creature must be within the ruins, and use an Interact action, to continue reading. « A tight squeeze indeed, and you feared you wouldn’t be able to wriggle back out, but it was worth the scare. You come out triumphantly holding an Arcane Tome.
+4	Despite frantic searching, there seems to be nothing here at all. Make a Fortitude Test, difficulty 4 If successful : « Nothing here. Indeed, nothing at all. Not even a sound or a smell. Something is not right...Even as that thought crosses your mind, the illusion covering the ruins blinks away. In the centre is a pedestal bearing a reliquary, inside of which is an imposing signet ring, bearing a star motif cut into its gem. It looks fit for a King ! »

STARTING THE GAME

Use the normal Initiative rules.

ENDING THE GAME

The game has Variable Length.

A model can voluntarily leave the zone only by the point at which it initially set up. A model that leaves in this way has escaped, and does not come back.

The game ends when at least half the band have escaped in this way ; when there are no models of the Defending band on table ; or when the game ends, the fog having lifted and everything within it having disappeared, like waking from a dream.

There is no routing in this game, voluntary or otherwise.

REWARDS

Experience 

+2 : Survived

+1 : Escaped from the playing surface

+2 : For whomever found each of the four objects in the ruins

Treasure 

Depending on what the company found in the ruins :

- The Star-brooch, once cleaned up, is obviously magical. It seems to imbue the wearer with a sense of pride and purpose. Anybody carrying it in a slot can use Erenthal’s Presence Stat, if he is in their line of sight

- The Scroll has no immediate purpose, perhaps it will be useful later ? Note « Warren Percy Prophecy » on someone’s roster, it does not take up a slot.

- For the Arcane Tome, see p. 117 of the Rulebook. This tome, however, contains no less than three spells. When one of them is successfully cast, make a test Difficulty 4 using the opposite stat of the spell (eg. Awareness, if the spell required Fortitude). If successful, the spell cast is erased from the tome, but the Tome itself it is not destroyed.

- Looking closer at the ring, you see that it is engraved. It reads « The hand of a King is a touch that heals ». Whoever recovered it feels compelled to give it to Erenthal. He slips it over one of his claws...when he pats his comrade on the shoulder to thank him, they both watch in amazement as a shallow wound there heals. Erenthal gains the skill Apothecary as long as he wears this ring (one Item slot).

POST-BATTLE PHASE

Ignore Steps 4 and 6 to 9 after this Quest.

AFTER ACTION REPORT...

 

The companions were quickly split up in the chilling fog, only Ythareh and Chol Vappu keeping contact.  

Amaranth felt herself in great danger, as if thousands of icy fingers were creeping towards her heart.  Something warmed her, however, and she managed to slip free from those invisible tendrils, and make her way into one of the ruins.

Ythareh had wandered the deepest of them all into the shifting nothingness.  He knew that the mist ghasts of his nurses' not-so-tall tales were out there, yet resolutely he pushed on to the lines of bricks he had glimpsed, and which he knew as a sign of civilisation and, perhaps, of assistance.

 

Erenthal remained strangely unmoved by the danger, as if a hidden hand was guiding him.  For long moments at a time, the fog ceased to exist for him, and he took to the air, winging his way towards Rakza, who was only a stone's throw away from some red-painted ruins that she seemed not to have noticed.  He flew over her head, indicating the way.  Landing amongst the shattered walls, he pushed aside enough rubble to make an opening for a lithe creature, and Rakza wriggled in.  She came out trimphantly, holding a precious grimoire like a trophy.  She was still smiling excitedly as a Ghast materialised out of the mist and struck Erenthal down in two precise blows.  The Ocelot screamed, but at her Prince's bidding, dashed for safety.

 

Cyan and Chol Vappu were desperately struggling with the quick-shifting enemy, to give Amaranth the time she needed.  Both paid for it with dreadful wounds, but their comrade was successful, fishing out a star-bearing brooch of exquisite craftsmanship. 

 

As for Ythareh, he was alone, but he pressed on determinedly.  The ruins he had taken his bearing by reared up in front of him, but he had barely begun to cast about that a Mist Ghast was upon him.  The camel's blood was up, however, and with two precise blows from his master-crafted sword, he broke the mist into a thousand red-tinted ribbons.  Freed of it, he found an imposing signet ring, whose magnificent green gem was cut with a star motif.

At that moment, the fog suddenly evaporated.  With it went the sense of impending doom, the ruins were nothing but a vague memory.  Four things, however, remained real : the brooch, the signet ring, the magical tome...and the pained groans of the wounded : Erenthal, Chol Vappu and Cyan had all three fallen.  Their friends rushed to them in a panic suddenly greater than anything they had just felt...

A truly awesome scenario.  The trick, as indeed in any med-fan skirmish game, is to make the fighting the means to an end, rather than the end itself.  This was a nail-biter.

As it turns out, Erenthal had simply been knocked senseless.  As he came to, his eyes shone with new purpose, and he put the signet ring on as if he had known what it was.  His gaze held the star-symbol on the brooch and signet for a long moment.

Cyan had gotten away with minor injuries, but the gashes were nonetheless deep, and were likely to trouble him for some time (Slow Recovery).

The company believed, at first, that Chol was badly hurt.  Cyan had seen the blow that felled him, and thought him likely dead or dying.  Perhaps something of magic was still at work, however, for Chol made a quick recovery, walking on his own by the time they reached the beach.  He would, however, be permanently Enfeebled.  

Erenthal attained Level 4, gaining d12 Presence, a fitting outcome; Ythareh at Level 4 also, gained d8 Concealment.  Rakza made Level 2, improving her Fortitude to d8.  Amaranth acquired Born Survivor as she reached Level 2 also.