Friday 26 July 2013

Dungeon of the Dwarves of Chaos

 Busy busy busy... almost 2 months since I last managed to post anything!  Time has been filled with organising Scout camps, building additional dungeon for the games club and more.

What follows is the most recent outing for the dungeon.  Chaos Dwarves (seldom encountered before) are up to no good and are building some sort of mysterious pumping station in the depths.  What lies at the heart of their nefarious scheme?  Best send some adventurers to find out...

Sir Egbert the barbarian has obviously been on a course of steroids since the last adventure and is now far taller and wider than ever before.  His first encounters in the dungeon (Beastmen) are unimpressive but we eventually worked out that he needs a good run up before he starts doing damage.  Soon the Beastmen are slain and a search of the room reveals a scroll on the bookcase that warns of overindulging in healing potions.

Sir Egbert the Barbarian confronts the Beastmen
Venturing down a side passage, a mysterious pool of ooze is discovered.  Rather than risk falling in, the adventurers decide to follow a different route.

The Elf contemplates leaping the pool of slime.
Falstaff the dwarf finds a bridge that leads deeper into the dungeon.  He finds and makes safe some pitfall traps but decides to wait for the others to catch up before going any further.

Falstaff the Dwarf checks the bridge for traps.
Sir Egbert takes the lead across the bridge.  The wizard stays safely in the middle of the party where his spells will be most useful.  At the end of the bridge, tunnels lead both left and right.

Sir Egbert crosses the bridge.
Disaster!  Sir Egbert plummets into a pit trap and is beset by a horde of Chaos Dwarves.

Aaaargh!  Sir Egbert falls into the pit trap and is attacked!
Meanwhile in the opposite direction, the wizard opens a door to discover a mighty Chaos Sorcerer!

The Chaos sorcerer
The sorcerer guards a treasure chest of some kind, but with Sir Egbert fighting for his life elsewhere, the wizard cast a wall of stone to block the passage and heads to the rescue.  The evil sorcerer can wait until later...

The Chaos sorcerer again.
Sir Egbert and his companions are battered and weary but have fought past the trapped staircase.  Now they face a Chaos Dwarf champion and his bodyguards who defend some sort of pumping station.  Once they are slain, a trickling sound is heard down a nearby corridor.  Our battered and bloodied heroes limp to investigate...

Chaos Dwarf champion in the pump room.
A healing fountain!   Now, what did that scroll say..?

The fountain of healing.
Falstaff drinks and heals slightly.  He drinks some more and falls into a deep slumber from which none of his fellow adventurers can rouse him.  The Chaos sorcerer has worked his way around the maze (falling into the pit of ooze on the way and losing a body point) and is killed by our heroes after a brief struggle and a clash of magics with the adventurers' wizard.

Falstaff the dwarf drinks too deep... and falls into eternal sleep.
Meanwhile the halfling has decided to sneak back to the Chaos Sorcerer's lair.  A spell from the wizard enables him to sneak through rock and he enters the room and opens the treasure chest.  AAIIEEEEE!  Traps hidden within the treasure chest fire poisoned darts into him and he collapses lifeless to the floor.  A Beastman lurking in the nearby Nurgle shrine comes out to investigate and is soon tucking into this unexpected, fresh feast that has appeared. Yumm!

The halfling thief just before he was struck down by traps in the treasure chest, then eaten by the Beastman.
Our remaining heroes reach their final encounter in a shrine to Khorne, worshipped by many Chaos Dwarves.  The room seems strangely empty but an aura of menace hangs in the air. The Elf slits his finger and drips blood upon the altar between the piles of skulls.  In a flash of light a Bloodthirster appears and a mighty battle ensues!  The other heroes try to help but their weapons have no effect against the Greater Daemon.  Only Sir Egbert's enchanted blade will harm it!  The magical Spirit Blade does its work and after a hard fought battle the Bloodthirster is finally slain, banished back to the Warp for a thousand years and a day.

Shrine of Khorne (work in progress!)
And so... the dungeon is conquered, the evil of the Chaos Dwarves defeated - for now.  But wait!  What is that faint scratching noise?  It comes from the room next to the Khorne shrine, the room that the heroes failed to explore before the final encounter.  Opening the entrance they discover a trapped wizard, one who would have been a great aid to them against the Bloodthirster and who would have enchanted their other weapons, allowing them to damage the Daemon!  Oh well, live and learn...

The dungeon in its entirety.
Another room the heroes didn't visit until later was the Nurgle shrine.

Shrine of Nurgle (needs more slime?)
They also found a fabulous healing gem, fortunately just before the final encounter with the Bloodthirster.

The fabulous healing gem.
A fun game again, I did tone down the Bloodthirster slightly to avoid a complete slaughter at the end of the adventure - he would have been rolling 10 dice to attack/defend but I had him rolling only 6 for each.  It was still a close run fight though!

Still to come on Mini Metal Mayhem... more 15mm goodies including reviews of Mad Mecha Guy scenery, quick and easy desert buildings from bird feeders, Red Shadows, Peter Pig, more Matchbox repaints and possibly (if I ever find the stencil I want to use) the completion of the APC rebuilding project!