“Right then… keep yer mouths shut.” whispered Ulskrag as he peered down the broad steps and strung his bow. “There’s bound to be some of those filthy longbeards about… their stink is all over the place!”
As I mentioned in my last post, I’m giving another one-page-rules game a try – this time Age of Fantasy Quest (with the aim of trying to tie it into my Five Leagues from the Borderlands game – in which I’m playing a bunch of orcs battling against the dwarves of Balin’s company during their failed re-colonisation of Moria).
Now I did get a few rules wrong during the first half of the game (or just forgot things here and there) - but it worked out reasonably well in the end – though I think it would be better if I had more table space (though that’s not something I can change at the moment).
Anyway… on with the game!
Ulskrag ordered Izdin (his second in command – a large orcish brute wielding a heavy axe) and the rest of the patrol down into the chamber, and had them form a defensive line between himself and the group of dwarves that appeared out of the darkness.
The bearded folk were few in number, little more than a patrol themselves, and so the lads (Bagash, Kildig, and Gitnik) faced them head on – charging in (with their spears leading the way), while Izdin came around at them from their flank.
This resulted in the death of all three dwarves – though Bagash was also slain in the exchange.
Meanwhile, Ulskrag took his time to make his mark on a pile of stones to indicate the passing of his patrol (as was their custom – it being a means of ensuring the orcs actually patrolled their allotted areas), before moving deeper into the ruinous chamber.
However, it seemed that their recent engagement, brief though it was, had not gone unnoticed, and more dwarves rushed in through an open archway on this lower level.
This time, the remaining lads (Kildig, and Gitnik) advanced a short distance and set themselves to meet the enemy's charge… and succeeded in beating them back (this time without loss).
Like before, Ulskrag had begun making his mark on the appointed stone – but seeing that the dwarves had not been dealt with, he moved into position to take a shot at them with his trusty bow… but missed dramatically – his arrow disappearing into the darkness of the passage from which they had emerged.
Seeing this, Izdin (his blood still up from the previous encounter) charged into the dwarves, his axe swinging left and right as he cut all three down in a matter of mere seconds.
Both impressed and a little intimidated by this, Ulskrag called Kildig, and Gitnik over to watch his back while he continued with his task (he actually failed the roll to complete this several times during the course of this encounter – so I had him spend two power to turn a failed roll into a success).
With the primary mission complete (i.e. both objectives had been achieved) it was time to roll up a secondary objective. This resulted in ‘safeguard’ – which meant that a marker is placed in the centre of the table, and a hero will need to make three successful dex texts when within 3” of it to ‘safegaurd’ that area from enemy attacks. In story terms I interpreted this as the group having to hold that area while Ulskrag daubed the stones with the blood of their enemies - to mark this area as orc territory).
However, before doing that he chose to search the area for any indication as to what the dwarves might be up to in this hall (as there was also a search token next to one of the primary objectives)… but this turned up nothing of interest… though the delay meant that more of Balin’s folk had made their way into this area – this time descending from a higher level (i.e. through door 1).
The resulting battle proved costly…
...and although this newest threat was eventually dealt with – it cost the lives of Kildig, and Gitnik.
With the halls falling quiet once more, Ulskrag searched another promising area for possible loot, and this time uncovered a strange elixir.
Once again, the delay meant that yet more dwarves poured into the area… and, the remaining pair of orcs chose to hide behind a ruined pillar while this next group (armed with hammers) made their way towards the middle of the hall.
Then, with one of the ruined portions of the chamber between them, Ulskrag began raining arrows down upon them…
...before fleeing again.
(Now, if I’m reading things right, the AI rules as written state that if an enemy doesn’t have line of sight to a hero they head towards an AI goal – so they never pursue a hero once they turn a corner for example. However, I don’t really like that – so I adopted an Advanced HeroQuest rule, and judged that when a hero disappears from view, its enemies will pursue it for one round (following the direction the hero took)… and if their movement doesn’t bring the Hero back into sight, then, and only then, will they head back towards an AI goal).
So, with the dwarves giving up the chase, the pair decided to investigate another of the chamber’s corners…
...but came up empty handed once again.
Now, with the dwarves’ backs turned, the pair climbed a set of crumbling steps that led up to a platform that overlooked the central portion of the chamber, and prepared their final assault.
Ulskrag took aim and loosed his arrows, while Izdin charged in with is axe held high.
However, more of the sneaky beardlings had made their way into the area, and were already heading towards the skirmish in the centre of the room. As such Ulskrag jumped down and joined the fray.
The resulting battle ended with Izdin felling the last of the remaining hammerers, while Ulskrag finally threw caution aside, and charged the newly arrived axemen… slaughtering them all with his orcish blades.
With the halls falling quiet again, if only briefly, Ulskrag took the time to daub markings onto the fallen stones in the blood of his enemies (as a warning to any other dwarves that might journey this way).
(Note that I once again failed a couple of necessary rolls to complete the secondary objective – so I used two power to convert those fails onto a sucess. However, this quickly depleted my power score… but I think you can still do that with zero power remaining… but it instead comes off your wound total.)
But no sooner had he finished, the sound of yet more hurried footfalls echoed throughout the chamber… the heavy stomp of dwarven boots - this time approaching from behind (i.e. door 6).
Looking each other up and down, both Ulskrag and Izdin could see that they were in no shape to fight off more of the hated longbeards; both were wounded, and more than half of their patrol lay dead.
So, with their mission complete, they decided to flee the hall – spitting foul curses at the pursuing dwarves, before quickly outpacing them and disappearing into the long dark of Moria.
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