Friday 15 November 2019

The Shape-shifters

This is new quest that I have been working on. I doesn't yet fit in with the ongoing adventures described so far on the blog, but I might add it in to the story someday...










"Garblox Gorehammer, who calls himself the Goblin King, has laid siege to the Imperial city of Talabheim with a huge army of greenskins. The Emperor's northern army has been obliterated by the goblins, and in his desperation he has pleaded with you, his greatest Heroes, to somehow lift the siege. If you can get to the Goblin King and slay him, there is a small chance that the alliance of orc and goblin tribes might fall apart. To this end, you have travelled across a fire-ravaged countryside to reach Talabheim. Many thousands of Greenskins now surround the city, and even worse, the key fortification commanding it from the heights to the south, has already fallen. The goblins have moved their machines of war into the fort and are even now lobbing fiery death into the screaming city. Talabheim has only a few hours left to survive, so we must act immediately. The Emperor's wizards have placed a shape-shifting spell upon each of you, magically disguising you as goblins. The spell should last long enough to get you through the siege-lines and into the fort, and possibly longer. Make your way up to where Garblox holds court. If luck is on our side, the confusion within the enemies ranks may give us a chance against huge numbers. Do not try to fight them all. Speed and subterfuge are your greatest allies now".


Notes and special rules for this quest
- This quest is for experienced Heroes that have completed at least the basic quests.
- All four Heroes start the game in 'goblin form'. Use a suitable model to represent the Hero, until he changes back to his usual form.
- You will also need Giant Wolves and Ogres for this quest, plus lots of orcs and goblins. If you don't have these models just use something else.
- Whilst in goblin form they have all their usual stats, abilities, spells and equipment. The shape-shifting spell is simply a magical glamour that has been placed on them that makes them look just like goblins. They are safe from attack whilst they remain in this magical disguise, and may search for secret doors and traps even in the presence of monsters. They may only search for treasure if there are no monsters in the same room, regardless of which form they are in.
- The only way that a hero loses his shape-shifting disguise is if he rolls a double during his movement roll. If a double is rolled that Hero, and only that Hero, immediately reverts to his usual form, and may then be attacked by monsters on Morcar's turn as usual.
- However, if a Hero rolls double for movement, he may chose to lose 2 Mind Points, and stay in goblin form. This represents the strain placed on the Hero's psyche by trying to hold onto the effects after the magic should have "naturally" dissipated.
- The Evil Wizard player must always allow Heroes in goblin form to pass through squares occupied by his monsters, and if ALL of the Heroes in a room or corridor are in goblin form, he may not move ANY of the monsters in that room or corridor.
- If a Hero attacks a monster whilst he is in goblin form, he gains the benefit of complete surprise and the monster rolls no defence dice against the attack. The Hero remains in goblin form, but all monsters within the same room or corridor will know that something is up and can attack the Hero as normal. If the Hero manages to reach another room or corridor and he is still in goblin form, any new monsters encountered will be fooled by the disguise as before.


A - The Heroes enter here. The gate was smashed down by the greenskins during their assault yesterday and the corridor is full of corpses of the Imperial soldiers.
B - This is a courtyard inside the fort. The walls of the fort rise up steeply on all sides. If a Hero in goblin form passes by a giant wolf, inform that player that the wolf gives him a good sniff, but then ignores him.
C - All of the goblins in this room are armed with spears. The weapons rack is empty.
D - This orc has one hand poised over a lever that will trigger a rolling boulder trap (from the square marked with an arrow). If the orc see's a Hero who is not in goblin form, he can release the boulder on Morcar's turn. It rolls using two red dice and hits all figures in its path with 5 attack dice, which may not be defended against. If a Hero can kill the orc before it releases the boulder, the Hero may himself choose to trigger the trap by standing in the square that the orc was in and using one action.
E - This is a rocky ledge on the north side of the fort which overlooks the city. From here the Heroes can see the burning houses and the inhabitants of Talabheim running for their lives. Of more pressing concern however is the hail of goblin arrows now hurtling towards the Heroes from an overlooking turret. Each Hero on the ledge that is not in goblin form is attacked with 5 combat dice, which may be defended against normally.
F - This is the chamber of Boil-face, a Goblin shaman. He stands on the X - move 10, attack 3, defend 4, body 4, mind 4. He has the spells Summon Greenskins, Cloud of Chaos & Command. In addition, as a magic user he is more likely to detect a magical deception. Morcar may roll one die for each Hero that enters the room in Goblin form. If the result is lower than Boil-face's Mind Point score, the shape-shifting spell is permanently ended and the Hero must revert to his ordinary form.
The chest contains the artefact Ring of Return.
G - These are the archers that were firing at the Heroes whilst they were on the rocky ledge. They are all armed with short-bows.
H - The torture rack represents an orc war machine that is flinging flaming missiles down into the city. The Heroes should slay the orcs manning the machine.
I - There is potion of healing on the table (4 BP).
J - Garblox Gorehammer, King of the Goblins, stands on the square marked X - move 8, attack 4, defend 5, body 5, mind 4.
If Garblox is slain, tell the players that they may hurl his body from a window in the room, down into the goblin camp below. The sight of their King's broken body will cause the greenskin army camped outside Talabheim to start fighting amongst themselves, or else retreat from the city walls. The Imperial city is now safe. However, the Heroes will still have to find a way out of the fort, dealing with any monsters that lie between them and gate A (unless they have the Ring of Return).
K - These treasure chests contain the Goblin King's loot. Each chest contains 150 gold coins, but is also armed with a spear trap.


Wandering monster - Giant wolf

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