HEROES' FORTRESS

A quest pack for use with HeroQuest.

Written by Dewayne Agin  dagin@my-dejanews.com

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Heroes' Fortress is copyright 1998 by Dewayne Agin, and may not be reproduced in any form without permission by the author, except for personal use.

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File Note:  

The pack zip file contains the following files: 

    readme.txt                (this file)
    tiles1.bmp - tiles2.bmp   (tiles for the quest boards)
    cards.bmp                 (artifact card sheet)
    quest01.bmp - quest10.bmp (the quest maps)
    quest01.txt - quest10.txt (quest descriptions)
    Key.bmp                   (a key to the symbols found on the maps)
    overlay1.bmp - overlay4.bmp (room overlays) 
 
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Intro (to be read to the Heroes at the beginning of the quest):

You have just returned from your latest adventure.  After a night of recounting the stories of you exploits at the local inn you retire, a little groggy from the ale.  Your slumber is filled with strange dreams, though.  Four adventurers stand before you, their arms held out in supplication.  The Wizard of the party steps forward.

"I am Bolligar," he states.  "I must ask you to come to our aid.  My companions, Rohn the Barbarian, Galwan the Elf, and Thorgrim the Dwarf, and I are in dire need.  We were once mighty Heroes like yourselves.  We retired from our adventuring and built an underground Fortress in the Northern Wilderness.  From there we lived in luxury with our henchman, making the occasional foray against Chaos.

"One day we received a message from a distant land.  Chaos was attacking, and the Vizier begged us to help.  The reward was rich, so we packed our weapons and answered the call for battle.  Alas, Chaos was too strong, and all four of us were killed.  Several of our henchman escaped, and recovered our bodies from the battlefield.  They returned us to the Fortress and entombed us in a lower level.  The Fortress was sealed and lost to the knowledge of mankind."

The Wizard steps back and the Elf moves forward.  "All that took place many centuries ago, my friends.  We have slept the slumber of death, undisturbed until recently.  A Chaos Mage, Guzwil, somehow learned the location of our Fortress.  He recruited the Chaos General Manx the Black and his forces, and together they have raided our keep."

The Dwarf continues the tale.  "Each of us had an artifact.  Bolligar had a Robe that let him take control over his enemies.  Galwan had a Magical Bow that was the dearth of all undead.  Rohn had a shield that could deflect magic back at it's caster.  And I, Thorgrim, had a magical helmet that protected me from harm.  Our artifacts gave us the power to overcome Chaos, and upon our deaths were enshrined in our Fortress with us.  It is these that draws Manx to our domain.  He knows that the magic in these artifacts will make him the strongest of all the Chaos commanders.  He has his soldiers searching our Fortress for the artifacts.  Each of us had a separate level on our Fortress as living quarters.  Our artifacts were hidden on the owner's level.  As of yet Manx has not been able to find them, but it is only a matter of time before he does."

Finally the Barbarian steps up.  "Guzwil is a powerful necromancer, and hopes to raise our bodies as Undead Champions of Chaos.  He knows of our might and power in battle, and hopes to use it for evil.  This fate scares us; we do not wish to serve Chaos, yet cannot stop Guzwil.  So far our spirits have resisted Guzwil's call, yet his magic grows daily and it is only a matter of time until our defenses fail.  We, who were Heroes of the Empire, will become servants of Chaos.

Again, we beg you, help us.  Find our artifacts and deny them from Manx the Black.  Use them against him, instead of allowing their power to be used by him.  Then, find Guzwil and kill him.  Stop the desecration being performed against our spirits."

All four of Heroes raise their voices in an echoing chorus "Help us, please.  You are our only hope."  They repeat this over and over, as they fade from view.

You awake in the morning, and put the dreams you had during the night down as the results of drinking too much ale.  Yet the callings persist.  Night after night you have the same dream of the four Heroes, and it is always the same.  "Help us, please.  You are our only hope."

You resist the dream for a week, yet it keeps coming each night.  It is getting stronger and more intense. You awake at the end in a cold sweat; fearful that if you go back to sleep the spirits will haunt your dreams again.  Finally you and your companions decide that you must help the dead Heroes, if only to keep from going crazy.

You make purchases for the adventure in town and head North, not really knowing where you are going.  You camp that night, each of you dreading the nightly dreams, but they do not come!  Instead you have a peaceful night of sleep.  Your dreams are pleasant, but direct.  A map with a location on it highlighted.  You awake knowing where you are going.

After several weeks journey, you arrive at a small clearing in the middle of the wilderness.  A large boulder sits in the middle of the open area.  You look around; this is where the dream showed you to go, but what are you suppose to do now?  Suddenly you hear a click, and a portion of the boulder swings away revealing a set of stairs leading down.  You check your weapons and secure your armor, and enter into the Fortress..."

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Special Notes For The Game Master (The rest of this file is not meant to be read to the Heroes.  Doing so will reveal parts of the game):

I have included a new trap in this quest pack, the Wandering Monster trap.  It is marked on the quest maps with 'Wand Monst'.  This trap can be disarmed like a normal trap.  If a Hero steps on it without disarming it, a wandering monster appears.

Several quests have spell scrolls as treasure.  I have not drawn up special cards for these scrolls.  If a Hero finds this treasure, mark it down on his character sheet.  The Hero may cast this spell once.  Mark the scroll off the Hero's character sheet when he casts it.

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You may or may not want to allow the Heroes to move back and forth between levels.  The quest was written to be played in the normal way, yet it does not exactly make sense to allow the Heroes to purchase items and be healed between quests if the nearest town is many days journey away.

If you decide to allow the Heroes to move back and forth between levels, you  will probably only want the Heroes to move between levels as a group.  If a Hero moves onto the stairs, you can put him in 'stasis' until the other Heroes move onto the steps also.  Heroes in stasis do not move until all the other Heroes are also on the steps.  
If a Hero is in 'stasis' on a set of stairs, and another Hero tries to enter a different set of stairs, tell him "The way up [or down] is blocked somehow."  

Return to normal turn order when all the Heroes go to the new board.  
You can also allow the Heroes to leave the game from the first level to go back to town to rest, buy items, etc.  Unless noted specifically, replace all monsters on the board when the Heroes return to the level, even if killed.
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Tiles and Cards Note:

I have some new tiles and board overlays for this game.  These should be printed and then cut out for play.  You may want to print the tiles and overlays on regular paper then past them to posterboard or cardboard.  There are also some cards to print out in the files Cards.bmp.  I have not made extra cards for scrolls and potions found in the game.  If a Hero finds one of these, note it on his Character sheet.

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Besides the normal potions, these extra potions are sold by the potion shop.  You can read this to the players when they enter the shop, or print this section out and give it to them.

Potion Shop:

Potion of Major Restoration    Cost:  800 Gold Pieces    Restores a Hero's Body or Mind Points to original levels.

Potion of Speed   	       Cost:  100 Gold Pieces    Adds 5 movement squares to the Hero's next movement dice roll.

Potion of Strength             Cost:  250 Gold Pieces    Doubles the number of attack dice a Hero can roll on his next attack.


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