The Quest For The Lichemaster

Quest 9 - The Final Battle Level 1


You return to Felspraag, and see that it is now home to only a few score badly wounded warriors recovering from their grievous injuries, and a few acolytes of the Temple of Shallya caring for them.  Virtually every able-bodied man is away in the Baron's army, for the final apocalyptic battle against the Lichemaster's forces.

You set off after the Baron's army, following them with ease - all you have to do is to ask one of the stream of walking wounded heading back from the battlefield.  They stare at you with mad, haunted eyes and stumble away when you try to speak with them.  You march past scores of such wretches, and finally come to the edge of the battlefield.  Hundreds of men lie wounded and dying, and their comrades in arms are trapped by a circling force of Undead.  Skeletons are amassed as far as the eye can see in this hilly terrain.  Only sheer willpower and a refusal to give in keeps the Baron's forces from being swept aside by a torrential avalanche of Undeath.

"There," croaks Johann the Wizard as he stumbles across to talk to you.  "See the cave entrance?  It was concealed by magic; I have only just detected and uncovered it."  The dying Wizard coughs blood into a heavily-stained cloth.  "The Lichemaster is below.  You are our only hope now.  I have also seen that the only way to his inner sanctum lies within a magic circle which must be completed and taken to another chamber.  When the circle is centered in this chamber, you will be drawn into the lair of the Lichemaster, so take great care before you do this.  Be as strong as you can for the final conflict!"

Special Notes:

1.  If the Heroes leave this level, and then return, all of the monsters killed by the Heroes, unless otherwise noted, should be replaced on the board.  

2.  If you would like to make this quest harder (like it is not hard enough already) read the following after the first paragraph above "To your dismay you realize that it will not be as easy for your to find the help and equipment you might need for the final stage of your quest!"

Because most of the supplies in the town have gone to the war effort, the Heroes can only buy the following each time they return to town:

2 Potions of any type

If using Henchmen, only two are available - one Man-At-Arms and one Sergeant.  Both demand 25% above the usual rate of pay.

There is no one in town to train the Heroes, or teach the Wizard new spells.

When a Hero attempts to purchase something from the Armory, roll one red die.  On a roll of 1 that item is out, and cannot be purchased by that Hero or any other during the stay in town.  If the Heroes return to town later, reroll the die because it may or may not be available.

If you are really feeling sadistic, you could implement either of these two rules:

a.  The Healers are too busy with the war casualties to attend to the Heroes.  They must rely on spells and/or potions to heal themselves.

b.  The Healers may be too busy with the war casualties to attend to the Heroes.  For each Hero, roll one red die, one at a time.  If 1-4 is rolled, that Hero is healed.  If a 5-6 is rolled, then that Hero, plus any others that you have not yet rolled for, are not healed.

Notes:


A.  This is the entrance to the level.


B.  When a Hero steps onto this square, or onto the square with the spear trap on it, read "Just past the entrance the passage is carved with stone hands which protrude from the walls.  At the far end the motif of a hammer seems to be etched into one wall, but you cannot make out any details from where you stand."  If a Hero steps onto the spear trap and triggers it, read the proceeding after telling him that he hit the trap.

The squares marked with an 'X' in the passageway are the ones with the protruding stone hands.  They will reach out and attempt to grab the Heroes.  Roll two attack dice for each square that a Hero passes through.  The hands cannot be attacked by any means, but can be defended against.


C.  When a Hero gets to either one of these squares, read "Etched on the wall before you is the World Edge Hammer.  The wall looks thin here, like it is made of ice."

If the Heroes attempt to break the wall here, it can only be accomplished by the World Edge Hammer.  When this is attempted, read "The wall shatters under the blow from your Hammer."  Place a door in each of these squares.


D.  This room is the only way of getting to the lower level of the dungeon.  As soon as the Magic Circle from location 'N' is placed in this room, the entire room is transported to location 'A' of quest 10. 

When the circle is placed in the room, read "The hovering Magic Circle slowly drifts toward the center of the room.  You feel a powerful influx of magical energies within the room as the Circle spins towards the center, and you guess that it must form some magical link between here and the realm of the foul Lichemaster himself!"

Any Hero outside the room when the Magic Circle is placed is out of the game.  Before a Hero places the Magic Circle, give them a fair chance to make sure that all the Heroes are in the room.  You may have to ask them if they are sure they want to do this yet, etc.  Wait for the Hero to tell you he wants to 'place the Magic Circle in the center of the room' to transport the Heroes.


E.  When a Hero first enters this room, read "The shriveled and malefic form of a Wight confronts you.  It has a burning greenstone amulet around its neck.  The amulet shines with a baleful magical intensity which is mirrored in a green glow in the eyes of the Skeletons found in this dismal chamber."

As long as the Wight is alive, the Skeletons will regenerate when they are destroyed.  When a Skeleton reaches its maximum Body Points in damage, read "The Skeleton collapses before you, then glows with a sickly green glow for a moment before standing back up!"  Once the Wight is killed, the Skeletons can be destroyed normally.  When the Wight is killed, the amulet he is wearing disappears and cannot be found by the Heroes.


F.  These Skeletons are attached to the Wight found in room 'E'.  If the Wight is still alive, read "As you open the door you are confronted with Skeletons, their eyes glowing with a strange green light."  See the note in room 'E' on how to handle these Skeletons.


G.  When a Hero passes through this passage, read "The ceiling here is formed from bones.  You can see assorted bones sticking out;  ribs, femurs, skulls.  As you walk through this passage, a heavy gray dust falls from the bones."  The grave dust causes any Hero passing through the chamber to lose an attack die for hand-to-hand combat during the next attack phase (this counts until all monsters in the room/corridor are killed).  Missile attacks and spells are not affected.  Putting up shields for protection against the dust does not help.  If the Heroes have any other ideas for passing through the passage, it is up to you to decide if it is possible or not.


H.  The pits in this passage cannot be detected by searching for traps.  Do not place the pits on the board until instructed to.

When either of the doors to rooms 'I' or 'J' are opened, place all the pits on the board.  Any Hero standing above one is dropped down and suffers a Body Point of damage.  Move the Hero to one of the small 2-square x 3-square rooms in the bottom left section of the board (marked pit on the map).  These two rooms should normally be considered solid rock; you are just using them to represent the bottom of the pit.  If two Heroes are standing side by side, move both of them to the same pit.  Place a Skeleton in the room, one for each Hero that falls.  The Heroes can climb out of the pit, but they must defeat the Skeleton(s) before doing so.  If more than two groups of Heroes fall (i.e. you need three pit bottoms) wait until one battle is resolved.  Place this Hero back on the main board on the pit tile and put the waiting Hero in the room representing the bottom of the pit.

If a Hero attempts to jump a pit and fails, he falls into the pit.  Place him in the special 'Pit' room, along with a Skeleton.

If both doors to room 'I' and 'J' are closed, the pits close back up.  If a Hero is in one of the Pit bottoms, he is trapped.  He must wait there until the pit is opened back up.  If he is left there at the end of the quest, he dies.


I & J.  The doors to these rooms control the pits found in location 'H'.  If either door is open, the pits are open.  If both are closed, then the pits close.


K.  Place two room tiles together to make this room - one of the Room 6 tiles and one Room 7 tiles.

The door leading to this room does not open from the corridor outside.  If a Hero touches the door trying to open it, have him roll 2 red dice.  He is transported into the room in a location determined by his roll.  Look at the horizontal row for the first die, and the vertical column for the second.  This is the location to place the Hero.  If that square is taken, place the Hero on the closest open square.

The regular door will open normally for a Hero leaving the room, but closes behind him.


L.  When the electrical trap next to this square is either disarmed or tripped, four squares beside room 'M' - the electrical trap trigger and the squares effected by the trap - all disintegrate (giving electrical damage first if tripped).  Place pit tiles on these four squares.  If any Hero is standing on these four squares, he fall, resulting in 1 Body Point of damage.  A Hero may jump down the pit, suffering 1 Body Point in damage, or climb down.  If climbing down, the Hero is vulnerable to attack by any monster in an adjacent square in room 'M', and can make no defense roll.  The only way into room 'M' is to fall/jump/climb down one of the pits.


M.  This room is the home of Orlock the Vampire, represented by the 'X' in this room.

If Orlock's Body Points are reduced to zero or below, tell the Heroes that his body crumples and disintegrates.  On the following turn it will reform in the coffin, where he will regenerate 1 Body Point per turn.  Orlock can open his coffin and attack at any time during the GameMaster turn, but you may want to wait until he has most or all of his Body Points before doing so.  To finally kill Orlock, the Heroes must drive a weapon through his heart as he lies with his body reforming inside his coffin.  This can be done anytime during the Heroes' turn as long as Orlock is in his coffin.  The weapon may be retrieved from the coffin after using it to kill Orlock.

Orlock's coffin is trapped with poison gas.  If it is opened from the outside by a Hero without disarming it, any Hero in the room should roll one red die.  Unless the Hero rolls a 1-2, he suffers 2 Body Points of damage from the gas.

Orlock's coffin contains 200 gold coins, 2 scrolls of Ball Of Flame, and a Magic Jewel needed to get the Magic Circle in room 'N'.  Give the player that finds it the Magic Jewel tile.


N.  When a Hero first opens the door, read "As you open the door you spot two things.  The first is a Magic Circle, hovering just above the ground.  A diamond shaped hole is in the middle of it.  The second thing you notice is a large throne in the corner of the room, giving off a magical aura that seems to affect the Undead creatures that are attacking you!"

Use the Magic Circle #1 tile here.  It is a single square in size.

The throne gives the Undead monsters in this room and extra attack die.  The Heroes can destroy the throne if they try with a fire spell.  If the Heroes try to attack the throne, roll one defense die (the toughness of the wood).  It has 3 Body Points.

When the Heroes open the regular door to room, the Undead Champion nearest the secret door will open it (if it has not been already found) and attempt to surround the Heroes.  Place the secret door tile on the board if this occurs.

The Heroes can do nothing with the Magic Circle until they place the Magic Jewel in its center (take the Magic Jewel tile from the Hero that does this).  Then read "The Magic Circle raises up to head height, hovering in the air, and begins following you".  The Magic Circle will now follow the Hero that placed the Jewel into it.  If the Heroes decide to leave the dungeon to return to town to recuperate, it will remain spinning by the door, waiting for them.  See room 'D' for placement of the Magic Circle.


