Quest 7: Rise of Urthko

Act I 2 Encounters Requires: Quest 4 (Blood Will Tell)

Quest 7: Rise of Urthko

The valley is quiet for a few days, but the camp of your enemy continues to expand beneath the shadow of the eastern mountains. This morning, just before dawn, a small force raided the village, taking a number of prisoners. You track the raiders up the river and, within a few hours, slip into their lair.

The darkness carries the stench and sound of the dying and the feral beasts that slay them. You hurry forward, but stop as a figure steps out from the shadows behind you.

"Wait," a voice hisses, "you are too late." The man is a scout from the monastery. "Most of the captives have already been... eaten, and the rest are being prepared even now. The beasts are being groomed for an assault against the monastery. Some grow unnaturally large and powerful. We must return to the fortifications while we can."

His words give you pause, but only for a moment. You instruct him to return to the army and warn them. You will continue, if only to save a handful of the captives and slay what beasts you may.

Monsters

Lord Merick Farrow
Ettins
1 open group

Setup

Place Merick on Exit. Ettins on Large Cave. Open group on Chasm.

Place 8 villager tokens as captives.

Special Rules

Merick may move and attack through locked door. Locked door has 3 Health per hero, defense result of 3 Shields per attack.

An Army to Feed: Merick picks up captives entering adjacent spaces (max 1 at a time). Carrying captive adds 1 gray defense die. Adjacent to pit: spend 1 MP to throw captive into pit, placing token in OL play area.

Deep Trouble: Pit rules — Merick cannot enter pits (if does, placed in closest empty space and Stunned). Heroes entering pits become dangling (hero token, turn ends). Large monsters ignore pits. Non-hero/non-Merick figures entering pits are defeated.

Getting Out: Dangling heroes: adjacent hero tests Mind or Heart to pull out. Dangling hero may climb out as an action (place figure, end activation).

Reinforcements

At the end of each overlord turn, place 1 ettin on Entrance.

Victory

Merick pursues his task unabated by your advance, and many are thrown into the pits before you can stop him. At last he yields before your onslaught, but in a final act of spite, he throws his arm around a prisoner and tumbles into the pit himself. In a flash of fire, his body explodes on impact, scattering through the air as ash... You continue your descent, freeing those prisoners that remain alive. Their number is few, and even those that you find seem unlikely to survive the journey back.

Encounter 1 complete. Note villager token count in OL play area for Encounter 2.

Map Tiles

5B Large Cave
4B Chasm

You burst through the door to the lower level and are immediately assaulted by a great, chained beast. The barghest is easily twice the size of any other you have seen. Its skin strains to contain the cords of muscle that empower it, and its eyes bulge with crazed hunger. A wave of blood and saliva sprays across you as it roars and stalks forward.

But then it falters, writhing suddenly under some internal conflict or pain. It stumbles sideways and cracks its head against the wall with a twitch of its bulging muscles. It sways, but regains its senses.

Then you spot Alric, the cursed black knight, pulling back on the chains. "Come, Urthko," he moans, his words rasping and deliberate. "Eat later." A massive plate of iron slides down across the opening, and the far door crashes open.

Monsters

Sir Alric Farrow
Barghests (Urthko is master barghest)
Ettins
1 open group (no large monsters)

Setup

Sir Alric and barghests on Feeding Grounds. Ettins on Ettin's Lair. Open group on Holding Cell.

Urthko: +1 gray defense die. For each villager token in OL play area from Encounter 1, Urthko +1 Health per hero.

Unique search token is Tyrus. Mutation pool: 1 white, 1 green, 4 blue, 4 red tokens shuffled facedown in OL play area.

Special Rules

Figures on unique yellow spaces may move to empty unique red spaces as if adjacent (not reverse).

Unnatural Growth: At start of each OL turn, draw 2 mutation tokens, keep 1 facedown near Barghest card, return 1, shuffle pool. OL may flip near-card tokens: Red (heal 2 red dice), Blue (+1 Heart per attack, extra fatigue on Howl failure), White (free Howl once/round), Green (immune to conditions, +1 Shield on defense).

Another Power: When unique search token (Tyrus) revealed: A number of bodies are chained to the wall. You are breaking the bonds of the few that still live, when you come upon the boy Tyrus... After Tyrus found, OL draws 1 token instead of 2.

Victory

Hero Victory

Dark liquid sprays from Urthko's final wound. His fur is matted with pus and blood, and his mouth froths with the same. He snaps at the air, attacking imagined assailants and backs away into the corner. There he leans and then slumps against the wall, his body deflating as it expels the means of its unnatural growth... You drag its corpse to the center of the room and burn it, ensuring that it will never rise again.

The heroes win!

Overlord Victory

Urthko struts forward as more of his kind fill the room behind him. His teeth snap open and shut with unnerving speed as he lunges forward, pressing your defense to its limit... The great abomination bellows a howl that shakes the very earth, and the walls split before his power... On hands and knees, you retreat into unknown corridors, and in a few hours you emerge into the sunlight and flee back across the river.

The overlord wins!

Rewards

Win or lose, each player receives 1 XP.

Heroes win: 25 gold per hero.

Overlord wins: +1 XP.

Map Tiles

2B Feeding Grounds
5B Ettin's Lair
9B Holding Cell