Saturday Night Dungeon: Court of the Witch Lord

New Years Eve, and another evening of HeroQuest! Our heroes have found the stairway leading up to the Witch Lord's lair, and must find a way to defeat this evil lich.

The table is set, the snacks and drinks are abundant, and the fluffy evil Tiger of Doom is watching... Butch the Dwarf has undergone a total makeover.

Upon entering the room at the top of the stairwell, the Elf immediately opens the first door, and spots an orc at both ends of the corridor! Alarmed, she fires her crossbow at the closest one.

The bolt twangs off of the orc, which turns out to be some sort of magical statue, because her crossbow suddenly catches fire! As she drops it from her hands, it incinerates, and Elly is left weaponless... Fortunately, Sjengis Khan the Barbarian still carries his broadsword, and hands it to her.

Butch the Dwarf opens another door, and Sjengis enters the hallway. He spots a third orc statue at the end, and when arriving at the intersection, the way is blocked. Furthermore, a pit trap is discovered. Back to the Elf then.

The new bigger gameboard is great, but has one overlooked disadvantage: all the blocked sqaure tiles have become too small! Time to make new ones ;)

As the others move on, they find and disarm a pit trap. Meanwhile, Sjengis is back in the first room, and searches for treasure. He finds 25 gold.
Elly finds another pit trap and a speartrap in the intersecting hallway.

After Butch disarms the trap, Elly opens the door and spots two mummies in the room. She walks in and attacks with the broadsword, but unaccustomed to such heavy weaponry, she misses. Butch attacks it as well, but it blocks his attack.
Sjengis catches up and finally kills it in one stroke, dealing two damage. Eddy stumbles in and uses his holy water on the second mummie, which dissolves, moaning loudly.

Elly meanwhile finds a secret door into a room with a strange creature, heavily armed and armoured... "This guy doesn't seem to be undead" she says to the others. "No good lady Elf" it says in a gutteral voice, "I am Teemu, a travelling merchant from way up north. I am a polar bugbear in search of loot to sell. Many adventurers have travelled here before, and were slain by the undead armies of the Witch Lord. I dare not travel further, so I will be heading back. But you may purchase anything I carry before I leave".

"Curious creature" says the Dwarf. "Do you have a crossbow perchance, oh frosty one?" Elly asks. "Why yes, I do." it answers. Elly loans some gold from Butch and buys herself a new crossbow. Butch meanwhile searches the room for treasure and find 100 gold pieces. "Ha! You missed this bit o loot, Teemu!" he shouts gleefully, and as he does, he opens the door into the corridor.
Meanwhile, Sjengis Khan had been searching for treasure as well in the previous room, and found a wandering mummie there. It has taken one point of damage from him.

Sjeng attacks his assailant, but misses. As Eddy searches the corridor for traps, Elly shoots her new crossbow at the mummie, taking one life from it. Butch heads back to aid Sjengis as well, and kills the mummie.
Eddy finds another pit trap, and the heroes walk over, letting Butch disarm it. He falls in doing so, and takes one damage. Furter on, the way is blocked by yet another orc statue...  The only unexplored corridor is to the center.

So the heroes head back, and spot a forgotten hidden door! Inside a tiny room 4 zombies turn their heads at them as the door is pushed open.
While Sjengis and Butch take on the shambling zombies, Elly catches up, passes them, and moves towards another door in the hallway, leading to another small room. Eddy scouts ahead to see if there are more traps.

After all the zombies have been cleared out, Sjengis has suffered one point of damage, but Butch finds a spell scroll with the Ball of Flame spell. The second small room is empty, but Sjengis spends a whole turn searching for gold coins. He finds 50 gold, but has lagged behind finding them.

The party opens another door and find 6 skeletons waiting for them. They advance and crowd in front of the door, and each time a skeleton attacks, it misses, and Butch dispatches them one by one.

The fifth skeleton manages to actually hit Butch, but he blocks it easily..."Hahahaha, these buggers are blind as bats!" Sjengis laughs, and walks inside to slay the last of them.

When Eddy searches the room for hidden traps and doors, he spots a secret door. Two Doomguards and a mummie are inside the hidden room, along with a small chest. The Doomguards immediately spring into action, and rush at the Barbarian. He tries to block the attacks, but loses one body point.

Elly fires her crossbow at the purple Doomguard, and scores a hit! The Dwarf rolls a lousy three, minus two penalty, so he can't enter to help.
Sjengis deals three more damage to the purple Doomguard, and it falls to the floor.

Eddy casts Tempest on the blue Doomguard, and it must skip a turn. The mummie enters the room though, and attacks Sjengis. It scores three hits, but Sjengis blocks them all! Elly fires at it, but the mummie blocks. Butch finally manages to roll enough to reach the Doomguard, and scores a solid hit. So does Sjengis, bringing the Doomguard down to 2 body points.

Eddy next tries to attack with his staff, but misses. He screams and runs away.
The Doomguard and the mummie attack the Barbarian again, but he blocks both attacks, taking no damage.
Elly shoots the mummie for two hitpoints, and it dies.

Next, Butch scores another two hits on the last Doomguard, and it falls to the floor!
Elly opens the other door, and finds a pit trap behind it! The room is otherwise empty, so the heroes ignore it and check out the room with the treasure chest. Inside the chest, they find two healing potions! Huzzah!

The next corridor holds no traps, and so the only remaining door is the one leading into the dreaded central room... Sjengis takes the lead and opens the door. He finds an army of undead inside, lead by the evil Witch Lord! He immediately throws his Magical Dagger at him, scoring a solid hit! Eddy wastes no time and uses his Fire of Wrath on the Witch Lord too, believing that he too, is immune to his Genie like Kessendria.

Another body point is taken from the lich, but it still lives! It snarls angrily at the heroes, and casts a powerful Thunderbolt spell at them

Sjengis, Butch and Eddy are standing behind eachother in the corridor, and all are hit by the spell! Sjengis deflects the bolt with his giant sword, Butch ducks beneath it, but poor Eddy takes one damage from the spell.

The Dwarf and Elf hide in the previous room, while Sjengis blocks the door, trying to take on the undead singlehandedly. Eddy stands ready with spells to aid him. He casts Rock Skin on the Barbarian to strengthen his defenses.

A mummie attacks Sjengis, and scores three hits, but Sjengis manages to roll three shields with his seven combat dice, and so he barely deflects the damage, keeping the important enchantment active. The Witch Lord summons two more skeletons to his aid!
Sjengis kills the mummie in front of him with a whopping three points of damage, and Eddy casts Courage on the Barbarian, also buffing his attack. "Let them come!" he roars defiantly.

A lowly skeleton attacks him, but misses. The Witch Lord retreats behind his army, but no other undead advance. The heroes must enter the room if they want to win this day...
After Sjengis slays the skeleton, and another one after that, the others join him, and enter the room. Eddy uses his Genie spell on a Doomguard, but it misses completely!!! "Oops" Eddy mumbles.

Elly kills another skeleton with her crossbow, and Butch slays a second skeleton. Sjengis takes down a third. The Witch Lord moves to a spot where he has a good view of the Barbarian, and casts Tempest on him, causing him to miss a turn again. Both Doomguards attack Sjengis, and while still being held by the Tempest spell, he manages to deflect one blow, but misses another and loses one body point. Two skeletons attack the Dwarf and Elf, but both are blocked.

The Elf switches back to her loaned broadsword and hacks away at one Doomguard, taking one life from it. Butch takes on the other Doomguard and manages to miraculously slay it in one blow.
"Nice one!" shouts Sjengis, still dizzy from the Tempest spell. Eddy heals the Barbarian back to 6 bosy points with his Heal Body spell.
Now the Witch Lord casts Fear on the poor Barbarian, and the remaining Doomguard attacks him as well. It only scores one hit, and Sjengis blocks it easily. The three remaining skeletons attack the Dwarf, Elf and Barbarian respectively, but only the Elf is caught off guard and suffers two damage. She fires back at it, but it even blocks her two hits! Butch fortunately takes out a skeleton next. Sjengis, holding the Talisman of Lore, rolls two shields in defense of the Fear spell, and shrugs it off. "Ha!" he yells, and attacks the last Doomguard.

He scores a solid four hits, and the Doomguard fumbles his defense, and goes down in a tumble of armour. One skeleton attacks Sjengis but misses again, and another attacks Elly but is blocked. Angered and desperate, seeing his evil plans foiled, the Witch Lord casts Firestorm, enveloping the entire room in flames! Butch takes two damage, Sjengis takes one and Elly takes two as well, but fortunately, one of the skeletons is burnt to a crisp as well. Elly quickly slays the last skeleton, leaving only the Witch Lord in the room.
The Dwarf sees his chance, and throws his Magical Dagger at the Witch Lord, hoping to finish him, but he still lives! Sjengis rushes forward and swings his mighty bastard sword, only to see it pass right through the evil lich. "Hahahahaha!!! Your weapons cannot harm me!" it cackles madly. "Leave with your lives while you still can!" "Not on my watch" Eddy shouts as he walks in and casts his final offensive spell Ball of Flame on the lich. "NOOOOOOOO!" it screams as it only manages to deflect one point of damage. The evil Witch Lord is finally defeated! Our heroes cheer, and head back to the surface, having saved the day! Huzzah!