Melar's Maze is my favourite quest from the original game, which probably makes it my favourite all-time quest full stop (at least until such time that I find a better one in the expansions or fan stuff that I haven't had a chance to play yet). It just has so many cool features in it. However, since we have all played this quest before (many, many times in my case) and know it too well, we decided to play another one of Zenithfleet's variants ( http://forum.yeoldeinn.com/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=1463&p=15924#p15924 ). I was very excited about this, not least because I got to play as Rend the Barbarian again, exploring a brand new layout of my favourite HQ adventure.
Grimgold the dwarf has acquired a shiny new Shield since the last quest. On the first turn he explores the north passage, whilst Merkai spends the turn filling every pocket and sleeve of his wizards cloak with the contents of a treasure horde! Not a bad card for him to draw in the first room...
Meanwhile my Barbarian strikes out south along the corridor and promptly triggers a falling block trap. The cascade of stone and earth does no damage, as it falls in the square behind the Barbarian but, perhaps worse, I am now blocked off from the other Heroes. The other players find this quite amusing, seeing as its "my" game and "I should know better". This is part of the joy of playing the variant quests, even old hands like myself can get caught out.
Rend finds 'Melar's Key' on the throne. He reaches out to grab it but is surprised to see the key sparkle and disappear, and the throne move forwards to reveal a hidden door.
We now essentially have two separate quests going on, with the other three Heroes taking the northern route through the Maze.
Bretal the Elf just about manages to push open a long-forgotten secret door with his weedy Elf arms, and is confronted by this shambling horror at the other end of the corridor.
Rend enters another room, giving me a chance to showcase the newly painted alchemists desk, but for the moment I'm more concerned about having to face this Mummy with no help. I miss my first attack, and the Mummy claws at me with its filthy corpse hands, causing 1 point of damage.
Grimgold disarms the trap in the north corridor, allowing Bretal to get at the Zombie. However, he also fluffs his attack and then takes a scraping flesh-wound. This is the thing about new Heroes, they can really struggle to kill anything.
The Barbarian screams a battle cry and rolls a mighty two skulls in attack. The hulking mummy barely flinches from these hits from my broadsword, the thick bandages absorbing most of the impact as it rolls two black shields in defence.
This isn't going like I planned at all. I ponder tactics for a moment and decide that discretion is the better part of valour. If I can move far enough away from the undead creature, it won't be able to reach me. I promptly get snake-eyes on my movement roll, completely scuppering my plan and sending the other players into raucous laughter. The mighty barbarian running away from a fight and tripping on his own show-laces.
Bretal the Elf is being quite brave this quest. Having finally skewered the first Zombie, he's scouted further ahead and ran into another, defeating that one easily. This allows the dwarf to catch up and disarm two more spear traps.
By this time the brutal fight with the Mummy is over. I think it lasted for four turns in total, the Mummy sent back to the grave but not without Rend losing 3 body points.
Finally I am free to search the desk, and suitably for this piece of furniture I find a potion of speed amongst the clutter. I think it was around this time that someone made a sly joke about me using the potion to have better luck running away from Monsters next time. Why can't they see the difference between a tactical retreat and running away? Jeez.
The other Heroes have made good progress moving towards the heart of the Maze, but Grimgold was now confronted by the spectre of a grinning skeleton stood across from yet another trap. Thankfully he managed to defeat both hazards without coming to any harm.
Finally I get a bit of luck, finding not only some loot in a small room but also a secret door that just might allow me to link up with the rest of the party again.
And sure enough the Barbarian and the Dwarf are free to shout greetings over yet another trap. Thank goodness for the Dwarf on this quest, as Grimgold was able to disarm everything without too much trouble.
Although in the very next room Grimgold suffered a hit from a arrow trap cunningly hidden within the treasure card deck...
Bretal and Merkai peel off and decide to open the door into the centre room. Sunlight spears into the dark room diagonally from a crumbling shaft in the ceiling, illuminating a giant stone statue in the form of a Gargoyle.
The room from above, showing the detail on the books atop the bookcases. Although it took some time to complete, the painted furniture and the little additions have really added to the atmosphere of our games and was well worth the effort.
Bretal casts Rock Skin on himself, convinced that the Gargoyle is some sort of trap. However, the Golem remains statue still for now...
By now it has become obvious that each of the players only want Melar's magic Talisman for themselves. I don't blame them as it is the first Magic Artefact/Quest Treasure that this group have had an opportunity to find, but knowing well the effect of the Talisman I really want it to be mine (my Barbarian has a pathetic 2 mind points, and is very susceptible to psychic attacks and the like).
Merkai greedily rifles through the books in the centre room, hoping to uncover the Talisman, but gets more than he bargained for as another arrow flies out of the wall and impales his arm. That'll teach him.
Rend and Grimgold are exploring the south of the dungeon, with the Barbarian making short work of a skeletal adversary.
We are now all convinced that the Talisman is in the south. I push on, using the potion of Speed to put some distance between me and the Dwarf, whilst the other two Heroes abandon the central area to try and catch up (the Gargoyle still hasn't moved an inch).
More undead fiends await us in the next room...
Bretal, who has proven quite the swordsman this quest (swashbuckling Imperial Outlaw that he is), destroys the skeleton whilst Merkai incinerates the Zombie from afar with Fire of Wrath.
My Barbarian hopes to join the fray (and be the first one in the room to be able to search for treasure!), but is thwarted by a pit trap. As there is another door into the same room, I decide to wait til my next turn to get in there. In the meantime the other Heroes bring down the last Mummy, allowing the Dwarf to search the fireplace...
...and of course he finds the Talisman of Lore lying in the ashes. This artefact will be very useful as it increases his mind points from a measly 3 up to very respectable 5. The Dwarf player gloats at his eternal rival the Elf, knowing that he is now smarter than his pointy-eared friend. I keep very quiet with my 2 mind point Barbarian, but I'm inwardly seething that I didn't get to it first...
Jokes aside, I'm actually really enjoying the competitive nature of this Hero group.
Final thoughts on this variant Quest; it started very effectively with the Barbarian getting separated and then suffering at the hands of the Mummy, but after that it didn't ever really feel like we were in real danger. The Dwarf had no trouble disarming the bucket-load of traps, and it was a real shame that the Gargoyle never got to attack. The one door in the centre room that we didn't open was the one that would have triggered the guardian. So it fell a tiny bit short of the majesty of the official quest, but was nevertheless a lot of fun.
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