Saturday Night Dungeon: The East Gate

Another quest from Kellar's Keep! We decided not to pass the East Gate quest and go straight to the last quest, because, well, why would we?
So we set the table for another game: fruit, drinks, snacks, everything was set for another great adventure!

Hmmmmmm Strongbow Cider!
The weather here has been extremely hot and humid the last 5 days or so, so fresh cool beverages are more than welcome :D
I've also finally finished painting my other Heroes! yay! Now all 4 Heroes are fully painted, and all players are quite pleased about that.

Allright, so, refreshed and eager to explore, the Barbarian and the Wizard head in, trying to search for traps, but they each spot an orc further down the passageway they enter. The Barbarian doesn't have enough movement points to reach the closest orc, so the Dwarf charges in, and kills the first orc right away. Nice start! Fortunately, there were no traps.

The Elf enters last, and only rolls 3, but with her bow she deftly shoots the other orc way across the corridor.
The Barbarian searches for traps now, but finds none, and no secret doors either. He heads on, following the Dwarf. The Wizard searches the other side of the corridor, and follows the Barbarian down the hall as well.
The Dwarf opens a door, and finds 2 chaos warriors. They're standing on the sides, facing each other... Statues? Should we attack them? The Dwarf doesn't want to wait and find out, so he attacks one, and scores one hit, which is enough to kill it!
The Elf decides to further explore the left corridor, and walks up to the first door, but decides to wait before opening the door.

The remaining chaos warrior attacks the Barbarian, and scores one hit, but the Barbarian manages to roll one white shield and blocks the attack. He immediately attacks back and rolls 2 skulls, but the cunning chaos warrior defends with 2 black shields and survives.
The Wizard uses a fireball spell on the chaos warrior, who rolls one black shield, which isn't enough to block all 2 points of damage from the fireball. The chaos warrior falls dead to the floor.

The Dwarf opens the door to the next room, and finds Petrokk, a chaos sorcerer, standing next to a sorcerer's table. He immediately attacks him, but only rolls one skull. But the surprised Petrokk doesn't roll any black shields at all, and dies! Our DM is sourly disappointed... She promises us this is not the last trick up her sleeve. The Elf meanwhile walks on, and sees the middle passage is blocked.

The Barbarian searches Petrokk's room for traps and hidden doors, but finds none. The Wizard searches the first room for traps and hidden doors as well, but also finds nothing. He takes a peek around the next corner and spots an orc.
The Dwarf finds 25 gold on Petrokk's table, and heads back out.
The Elf decides to head back toward the others.
The orc in the next hallway attacks the Wizard, and rolls 2 skulls! But the Wizard has recently been equipped with new bracers and a protective cloak, and is allowed to roll 4 dice in defense, and rolls 3 white shields, taking 0 damage.

The Barbarian searches the first room for treasure, and finds 20 gold coins. The Wizard whacks the orc with his staff, and rolls 2 skulls. The orc suffers severe brain damage and dies.
The Dwarf searches the hallway the orc was in for traps, but once again finds nothing.
The Elf continues to catch up with the rest.
The Barbarian spots another door and opens it. Inside are 2 goblins and an orc near a weapons rack. Time to take up defensive positions.

The Wizard can attack diagonally with his staff, so he takes up position next to the door. The Dwarf waits for the others to take action.
As the Elf advances, the orcs ands goblins make no move to attack, and taunt the Heroes, trying to get them to enter the room.
The Barbarian is easily enraged, and runs in, and slays a goblin. The Wizard does nothing, so the Dwarf heads in and kills the orc. The Elf rolls 3 movement points, and still hasn't caught up with the rest. The remaining goblin runs out of the room, but bumps into the Wizard. It attacks, but the Wizard easily defends the attack.

The Barbarian runs after the goblin, and kills it through the dooropening, hitting it on the head.
The Wizard walks into the weapons room, and searches for traps, but finds none. The Dwarf then searches for treasure, and finds more gold, 25 pieces! He then walks up to the door to the center room, which is often bad news.
The Elf rolls 2 movement sqaures, but she's almost there...
The Barbarian waits behind the dwarf, and so does the Wizard. When the Dwarf opens the door, our Heroes pale... Six fimir warriors and 2 chaos warriors await them inside!

The Dwarf thinks it's wiser to stay behind the Barbarian this time. Now a spot in front of the door is free, and the Elf takes a last sprint towards it, and fires her crossbow at the chaos warrior she can see through the door, rolling 3 skulls! The chaos warrior rolls 4 skulls, and fails to defend, so he dies.
The remaining chaos warrior steps up to the door, blocking it, and attacks the elf. The Elf manages to block his attack and takes no damage.

The six fimir all walk to the opposite side of the room, so they can have their picture taken better... Or are they blocking the door behind them?
A strategy is needed here, so the Barbarian and the Wizard decide to use the weapons room as a defending position, with the Barbarian blocking the corridor, and the wizard in the doorway with his staff, so he can aid in the attack.
But the minions of Morcar are no fools, and stay inside the center room.

A stalemate has been reached, so the Dwarf decides to go look for another way around.
The Elf has an idea: she can cast Sleep on the Chaos warrior, and blocks the door herself, the fimir cannot leave the room, and the others can find the exit. But her spell fails miserably, so she steps back a bit so she can fire her crossbow on her next turn. But the chaos warrior steps aside, so the crossbow cannot hit him.

The stalemate is unchanged, so the Dwarf and Elf walk on, in search for the exit. They open the first door they find, and see a strange creature inside. Apparently this is a shapeshifter, that can morph into any monster it wishes. It currently looks like a fimir somewhat, but as there are no more models left, it's portrayed by the cloaked orc boss. Nice! It attacks the Dwarf and rolls 3 skulls. The Dwarf can only block one, and suffers 2 damage.

The Barbarian and the Wizard are still waiting for the fimir and chaos warrior to attack, but nothing happens...
The Dwarf and Elf decide they stand no chance against the shapeshifter, and run away. The shapeshifter heads after them, but runs in the opposite direction, back towards the center room! The Barbarian understands he's in trouble, and quickly devises a plan with the Wizard. He hands him one of his two potions of speed, and uses one himself to charge through the center room, out the opposite door. He runs head-on into an orc, but manages to kill it.

The Wizard casts pass through rock on himself, and uses the speed potion to walk straight through Petrokk's room into the shapeshifter's room. While the Dwarf and the Elf walk on, to find a different way out, the Shapeshifter continues on to the center room.

The Barbarian opens the door on his right, and sees two orcs and two goblins having dinner at a large table. He attacks the closest orc, and successfully kills it.

The Wizard, glad that the shapeshifter is moving away from him, casts Fire of Wrath on the chaos warrior he saw in the center room, and mentally projects the spell along the corridor to hit it. It's caught by surprise and burns to ashes on the spot. The fimir are now without their leaders, and start getting agitated. The Wizard heads out of the room, toward the others.

The Dwarf and the Elf reach the room with the table, and the Elf fires her crossbow at the orc in the back of the room, but only has 2 attack dice, as the table blocks part of her view. She still manages to roll 1 skull, and the orc cannot defend it, so he dies. One of the remaining two goblins attacks the Barbarian, but his attack is blocked. The other misses him completely.
The Barbarian retaliates with a swing of his Spirit Blade, and slays one goblin. The Dwarf rolls 10 movement points, and manages to enter the room the Barbarian is in, and even attacks a goblin, but his attack is blocked by the creature.

The Elf walks past the Dwarf, and shoots at the goblin, but she misses, as the goblin is barely larger than the tabletop. The panicked remaining goblin attacks the Barbarian wildly, and manages to inflict 1 point of damage.
Meanwhile the Wizard walks on and the shapeshifter has almost reached the center room.

The Barbarian gets rid of the last goblin, and the Dwarf searches the room for traps and doors, but finds nothing. The Elf rolls 11 and walks to the door to the center room, firing her crossbow at a fimir. She scores two skulls and the fimir goes down. But then the shapeshifter enters the room, and takes up position in front of the middle door.
A fimir attacks the Elf, and scores two points of damage. The Elf takes a step back, and fires again, but the fimir dodges the arrow and lives! It attacks the Elf once more, but this time she manages to block his attack as well.

The Elf now takes refuge behind the Barbarian, and the fimir follows, and attacks the big Barbarian. He takes one damage. The Barbarian doesn't take it very well and chops the fimir's head off. The Wizard, who has rejoined the party, waits for the best moment to take action.
The Dwarf thinks he might take up position in the door across the center room, but rolls a 6, so stays where he is. The Elf now runs to the door again, firing her crossbow once more, slaying another unfortunate fimir.

Three fimir left! One of them attacks the Elf, but misses. Using the same strategy, the Elf steps back again, and fires her crossbow at the fimir. She rolls 3 skulls, and the fimir dies. Another fimir takes his place, and attacks the Elf again, but she manages to block the attack this time. Once again, she steps behind the barbarian, letting him block the creature. With a 1 vs 1 roll, the Barbarian takes no damage, and kills it on his next turn. Now the Dwarf takes up position in the door, with the Elf behind him.

The last fimir attacks the Dwarf, but misses! It's blocking the entrance, so the others cannot enter the center room to aid the Dwarf. He attacks the fimir, but misses. On the fimir's turn, it also attacks and also misses! Another turn passes, and the Dwarf hits the fimir, but it blocks! The Dwarf gives up, and hides behind the Barbarian again.
The fimir rolls 2 skulls versus the Barbarian, but he rolls 3 white shields. It is becoming a fierce battle, the last fimir is fighting for it's life.

The Barbarian attacks back, rolls one skull, but once again, the fimir blocks it! Now the Barbarian steps back to give the Elf a clear shot at this tough fimir. The Elf fires and hits for 2 skulls worth of damage, and the fimir finally fails to block the attack, and dies. The shapeshifter meanwhile stays in front of the middle door, blocking it for the Heroes. They have no choice but to try and kill it.  The Barbarian's first attack is successfull, but the creature morphs into a skeleton.

The Dwarf attacks the shapeshifter as well, but this time, it changes into a chaos warrior! The Elf shoots it, but it's metal armour blocks the arrow. The chaos warrior does one point of damage vs the Barbarian. He attacks back, but the chaos warrior is armoured so well, it blocks the attack again. The Wizard decides to join the fray and casts Courage on the Dwarf, who then rolls 4 dice, but only rolls one skull. It turns out to be enough, because the chaos warrior dies, and turns into a skeleton again.

The Elf fires her crossbow, and fells the skeleton, but this time it changes into a zombie. Instantly, the Elf lobs a vial of holy water at it, and it immediately changes again, into another chaos warrior! The chaos warrior attacks the Dwarf, but he manages to block the attack. Then the Barbarian takes another swing, but is also blocked. The Wizard takes a deep breath, steps up, and swings his staff, but misses... Now the Dwarf scores a solid hit, but all of a sudden the chaos warrior changes into a large winged gargoyle!

Defeated sighs escape the Heroes mouths, but the Elf tries another shot. She misses, and the Gargoyle rolls two skulls versus the Barbarian. He deftly blocks the attack with two white shields. In one fluent movement, the Barbarian follows through with a swing of his sword, and hits the Gargoyle. It changes again, another skeleton this time. The Wizard misses again, and the Dwarf's attack is blocked! But now it's the Elf who scores a hit, and kills the skeleton.

Another chaos warrior forms, and our Heroes feel this might become a very, very long night indeed... The monster attacks the dwarf, but misses. Perhaps it too is getting tired?
Now the Barbarian thrusts his sword in a crack in the warrior's armour, and kills it. The creature tries to morph again, but fails to do so, and it melts into a large puddle of black goo, slowly seeping between the cracks in the floor.
Relieved, the Heroes open the door, and find two goblins guarding the exit.

The Elf immediately fires at one, and kills it, and the Wizard kills the second one with a diagonal sweep with his staff.

The exit is near! But wait? What's this? Strange dwarven runes are etched into the door. The Barbarian doesn't understand them and can't open the door, but the wise Wizard easily reads them, and our Heroes head out toward another quest.

Time to stock everything back into the HeroQuest box, which is starting to fill out nicely with painted miniatures! :D