Chaos Wars II

Quest #4 - Kharne's Rift


Wandering Monster - None


To be read to the Heroes at the start of the Quest:

You enter a blacksmith's shop in the city.  You are puzzled by the actions of the blacksmith; you would expect him to be busy making new weapons and armor for the war.  Instead he is sitting by his unlit forge, smoking a pipe.  When questioned about his lack of activity, his only reply is to shrug his shoulders and say, "Don't have any iron to work with".

Later, while in the castle, you are pulled aside by one of the Emperor's WarMasters.  "Maybe you have already noticed, but the Empire is facing a lack of iron.  Most of our ore comes from mines in the Ironstone Mountains, in the northern section of the empire.  The wagon trains that haul the ore from the mines have stopped arriving.  We have sent scouts to see what is the matter - none of them have returned.  The iron mines are worked by miners from the city of Scarredish - you must go there immediately and see why they are not sending the ore.  Without iron we cannot make the weapons and armor we need for the war!"

"Take Kharne's Rift; it is a pass into the Ironstone Mountains and your quickest route to Scarredish."

After many days journey you arrive in Kharne's Rift.  The pass is a peaceful mountain meadow, surrounded by cliffs and the peaks of the Ironstone Mountains.  You have yet to see any of the wagon trains that are suppose to be bringing ore from the mines.


Quest Notes:

This quest has two maps - part A and B.  

The quest uses two copies of the Meadow tile, joined end-to-end.  The sides of the map are the Cliff Edge tile; several of these are printed and placed along the edges of the Meadow tiles to keep the Heroes from moving off the map.  If desired, instead of using the Cliff Edge tiles you can just tell the Heroes that they cannot move off the edge of the Meadow tiles.

There is no treasure in this quest.  If a Hero attempts to search for it, tell him:   You are outdoors.  There is no treasure here.

When fighting outdoors, spells are only affective from 8 squares away.  Spells that affect a whole room only affect the square that the caster is in, plus every adjacent square (including diagonals).
Bows may be fired the following distances:  
	Shortbow - 8 squares
	Longbow  - 10 squares
      Crossbow - 12 squares

This quest can be rather hard, especially if playing that quests #4, #5, and #6 are all connected (see Quest Map B below).  You may want to allow the Heroes to cast each of their spell cards twice.


Quest Map A:

Start the Heroes from the locations marked with an 'X'.  When the first Hero gets to the row of squares with the 'A' marked on it, read, "You hear a strange noise coming from all around you.  The walls of the pass begin to shimmer, as if seen through a haze.  Suddenly three cave entrances appear around you.  Chaos Raiders pour out from the caves - it's an ambush!"

After reading this, refer to quest map B.


Quest Map B:

Place the cave entrance tiles as shown.  The locations of the cave entrances are marked with A, B, and C.  These cave entrances can be entered - see the appropriate quest as marked on the quest map.  The cave quests (quest 5 and 6) are actually part of this quest - the Heroes can move freely between quests #4, #5, and #6.  It is up to you to decide whether the Heroes are healed between these quests.

Each cave entrance has a certain number of monsters that are rushing out to attack the Heroes.  Each turn move 1 monster out from each entrance.  You can either randomly pick a monster from the list, or roll a die to determine which monster to move.  If you do not have enough miniatures for a certain type of monster, wait until one is killed, then place that figure at the cave entrance.

Entrance A:  6 Goblins, 1 Orc, 2 Fimirs

Entrance B:  6 Goblins, 3 Orcs, 2 Fimirs, 2 Chaos Warriors

Entrance C:  4 Goblins, 4 Orcs, 1 Fimir, 1 Chaos Warrior


The Heroes do not have to enter the caves - they can make for the end of the pass.  If they do so, the pass is not cleared of the Chaos Raiders.  You may wish to have them come back later to finish the job.

If the Heroes enter one of the caves before clearing all the monsters from the pass, the monsters will be waiting for them when they exit the cave.
