Lockdown 2.0 Project Log Day 106: Brutal Quest Battle Report

 Hi!

I played a quick game of Brutal Quest last night and rather enjoyed it so without further ado, on with the report:

The Background

Sir Roderick, Knight of the Eternal Light is on a quest to recover an ancient tome of knowledge from the Order of the Tower's library. Accompanying him is his young squire, Kes Westlake and following a long and arduous journey from the fortified city of Sunpeak, they have reached the Axeblade mountains. 

Unfortunately the snows arrived early and they were forced to winter in the trading outpost of Arch as the passes through the mountains were blocked and Roderick hadn't managed to secure a pass to the Dwarven Realms. As the spring arrives and the passes begin to open, Roderick and Kes have departed, climbing ever upwards and along the Pinecliff road towards the eastern flank of the mountains. Finally after a week of travel the two adventurers approach a small hamlet and a much needed Inn to rest in but as they walk closer to the settlement, the place seems abandoned with no smoke rising from chimneys and nobody moving around.

Cautiously the two approach, easing their weapons from their scabbards and move to investigate. As they do so hunched and unlovely figures emerge from the shadows, their eyeless heads turning as if to listen before letting out guttural snarls and shambling forward towards Roderick and Kes. 

The Forces

Sir Roderick is wearing light plate and has a shield and a longsword whilst Kes has leather armour and a shortsword.

The monsters are a trio of Cavern Dwellers, shambling mutants who often leave the safety of their subterranean lairs to raid settlements. They are unarmed and unarmoured but have the Brawler ability making them pretty dangerous in combat.

The Layout

The settlement lies at the centre of the board and is surrounded by rocky outcrops and sturdy trees. Sir Roderick and Kes enter from the bottom right corner whilst the Cavern Dwellers enter from the top left.

Each building can be investigated by performing a successful melee attack to break down the door. On a roll of a 1, the character is attacked by a giant rat, on a 2-4 they find nothing, on a 5 they discover D6 gold and on a 6 they discover a survivor.

Do they try to enter buildings quickly or deal with the monsters!

The Game

Kes has the highest Agility followed by Roderick and finally the Cavern Dwellers.

Keen to discover any survivors, Kes rushes towards the nearest building despite Roderick's warning. The youthful but headstrong Squire kicks at the door but fails to gain entry. Sighing at his squire's impetuousness, Roderick moves to the barn and puts his shoulder to it but fails to get the sturdy door to open.

Meanwhile the shambling Cavern Dwellers split up with two rushing towards the settlement intent on getting to grips with the two adventurers. The third one, possibly more cunning or cowardly than his compatriots splits off and begins skirting around the edge of the settlement, intent on sneaking up behind the adventurers.

Turn two sees Kes succeed in opening the doorway to the building finding no survivors but four gold pieces in her search. Roderick kicks down the door to the barn and is immediately confronted by a giant rat who launches itself at the startled knight. Uttering a most ungentlemanly oath, Roderick takes a swing at the rodent but the creature is too nimble and scurries up his leg and begins gnawing on his cloak.

The Cavern Dwellers continue their advance and end their activation dangerously close to the adventurers. 

Uttering a shrill battlecry, Kes hurtles out of the building she's just investigated and engages the closest Cavern Dweller who was stalking towards Sir Roderick who seems to be performing some sort of jig with a rat hanging on his cloak.

The charge catches the creature unprepared and Kes scores two respectable hits with her shortsword, wounding the Cavern Dweller and earning herself a Brutality Point. Meanwhile Sir Roderick isn't having a good day, the Rat keeps avoiding his swings and his cloak is getting decidedly gnawed upon (game wise, Sir Roderick was rolling terribly and the rat kept hitting him but failing to damage due to his plate armour)

The now wounded Cavern Dweller swings its filthy claws at Kes but the speed and violence of her charge has obviously unnerved the beast as it fails to hit the Squire. Things start getting a bit dicy for Kes as the second Cavern Dweller charges her but she spots it and manages to fend off its first attack while her leather armour absorbs a second swipe from the creature.

The third beast, hearing the clamour of battle rushes into the village from the west and moves towards the outnumbered Squire.

Kes is starting to worry as she is badly outnumbered and shouts to her boss for help whilst fending off the hideous beasts. She manages to hit the second Cavern Dweller, wounding the beast and seems to be holding her own but how long can she hold out?

Roderick finally manages to kill the rat and glances over his shoulder to see his Squire in a brawl with two unlovely beasts whilst a third creeps up behind her. Such ungentlemanly behaviour requires punishment and Sir Roderick bellows his warcry and bowls into the beast but it spots his approach and his longsword only grazes the creature.

The two Cavern Dwellers in combat with Kes redouble their efforts to drag down the plucky Squire but a combination of bad rolls to attack and some impressive armour saves sees Kes survive, bloodied but unbound.

At this point, I couldn't remember how many turns had been played and realised I had forgotten to take photos so apologies!

Drawing on her training, Kes thrusts her shortsword into one Cavern Dwellers face, sending the beast stumbling away, blood pouring from the deep wound. Her second attack drives her other opponent back with a badly mangled claw.

Roderick meanwhile succeeds in repeatedly hitting his foe but rolling rubbish damage so while his longsword is capable of doing eight points of damage with a single hit, he's only causing one or two points of damage but with a massive overhead swing, he finally causes some real damage and drives his opponent off.

At this point, the Cavern Dwellers have all been badly wounded and shamble away from the battlefield leaving Kes with 4 Brutality Points and Roderick with 3 to save towards advancements.

Conclusion

Sir Roderick binds Kes's wounds and chides her for her impetuous actions but is relieved that his plucky squire has survived and ruffles her hair before bemoaning his badly chewed cloak. Kes, stifling a giggle at her bosses mournful expression volunteers to sew the ravaged cloak. 

Further exploration of the settlement reveals that it has been abandoned and Roderick and Kes barricade themselves up in the inn for the night, lighting a fire in the hearth and preparing to move on towards Pinecliff in the morning.

Well that was a fun game! I really enjoyed playing it and feel that Brutal Quest is going to be a staple for my small fantasy skirmishes moving forward. I've still got to fully master the close combat section as it's a bit more in-depth than Planet 28 but it's rather fun. The Brutality Points also look like they are going to add a really awesome element to games, allowing for re-rolls on skill tests, extra actions or attacks which will allow for damaging even heavily armoured foes.

Hopefully I'll get chance to play some more games today or tomorrow as well as continuing with my Sci-Fi shenanigans but until then, All the best!