16thOct2019
Into the Barrow.
Everyone needs to eat.
Whatever your reason for coming to Gloomhaven, out here on the edge of the world, that simple fact is never going to change. A mercenary can't fight on an empty stomach. So when Jekserah, a Valrath woman wearing a red cloak and enough gold jewellery to keep you fed for a decade, approaches you in the Sleeping Lion and offers to pay you ten gold coins to track down a thief and retrieve some stolen goods... well, it seems like as good an excuse as any to sober up and start paying off your tab.
"This thief has taken some important documents," says the red-skinned merchant, her tail whipping about in agitation. "I don't care what you do to him. Just bring back what is mine." Based on Jekserah's description, it was easy enough to knock around a few alley thugs and get a location of the thieves' hideout. You don't find yourself as a mercenary way out in Gloomhaven without knowing how to crack a few skulls.
So your target is the Black Barrow. Sounds like a lovely place.
So we have a task set out for us by the Valrath Trader, Jekserah. Namely to retrieve her stolen property, by any means necessary. Well this sounds like fun. It's about time I gave my daggers a good workout.
So we were on our way out of town when we heard this whisper calling us from the shadows of an alleyway (City Event #3). Turns out it was a scruffy Vermling who had spotted our Tatty Rat and was trying to sell us something he had "found". I was rather dubious of it all, especially given the cost, but we managed to pool enough gold together from all of us to by this "thing". It was a very strange contraption, covered in the dirt and filth of the sewers, but as we cleaned it looked at it a little more closely we could see that there were some cogs and gears in there which made it a little more intriguing than we originally thought. But this would have to wait until later, we had people to kill.
As we left Town heading North, we encountered a Trader's Caravan heading in the same direction (Road Event #4). We offered to travel with them for a while, since our paths were going in the same direction. The Guards in the van were suspicious of us but they allowed us to go with them and we even gained a few coins for our troubles. But we left them and headed off to the low hill that was our eventual target.
As you descend, you gratefully notice light emanating from below. Unfortunately, the light is accompanied by the unmistakable stench of death. You contemplate what kind of thieves would make their camp in such a horrid place as you reach the bottom of the steps. Here you find your answer - a rough group of cutthroats who don't seem to have taken very kindly to your sudden appearance. One in the back matches the description of your quarry.
"Take care of these unfortunates," he says, backing out of the room. You can vaguely make out his silhouette as he retreats down a hallway and through a door to his left. "Well, it's not every day we get people stupid enough to hand-deliver their valuables to us," grins one of the larger bandits, unsheathing a rusty blade. "We'll be killing you now."
Joke's on them. If you had any valuables, you probably wouldn't be down here in the first place.
So we were faced with six tough looking Guards, we prepared for battle and they... did nothing. They stood there and readied their shields looking ready to retaliate any attacks we sent them. Fortunately as they were still a way off we could get them with ranged weapons. I had my throwing knives, Oliva had her magic and our Rat? Well first he did some sort of mind trick to get them to hit each other and later, he whistled and brought forth a huge swarm of rats. They look a bit ungainly but they were certainly distraction enough.
As we headed into close combat the guards were a little more aggressive, but I could use my allies to my advantage and managed to dispatch a couple of them. That Rat Swarm was certainly useful for something. I was also pretty sneaky and stole their coin purses from their belts. No harm in making the whole event profitable in the meantime.
I managed to get up next to the door and kicked it down, feeling very smug with myself. Not that it helped as we could see a Guard who looked extremely competent bearing down on us, with three archers at the far end of the room. We decided to stay out of the line-of-sight of the archers whilst drawing the Guard into battle.
I went in for the kill and with the help of the Rat Swarm managed to severely injure the Guard. We eventually managed to drop him and dashed into the long corridor to deal with the Archers when our Rat did something remarkable. He literally threw one of the Archers almost halfway across the room into a trap that was guarding the exit doorway. Well I'm all in favour of that as it meant there was one less to deal with. But the other Archers were a pain in the neck. Literally. I took a lot of damage and had to stop to grab my breath and down a potion to keep me going. Getting up next to the other door, we paused ready to dash in.
Nothing more to do but lay them to rest along with the remainder of this troublesome rabble.
Our way in was pretty much blocked by a couple of tables. Did they place them there deliberately knowing they would be attacked? Either way we had to get in there and deal with them. Looks like it was going to be a case of throwing knives for me again, whilst our Vermling did his mind trick again to upset the balance.
But I was exhausted. The toll taken on me by running through the rooms and kicking open the doors had finally defeated me so I dropped to the floor. As I ducked the Spellweaver let forth a blast that hit all three of the remaining enemies dropping them all, whilst the Vermling headed for the chest in the corner. And I think I heard the Rat Swarm catching up to us, just when it was all over.
But the person we were after was not amongst the dead bodies. We collected our breaths and took stock of what we had just achieved. We certainly worked better as a team this time than we did before. We are starting to understand how well we can work together to maximise our potential. Certainly I can use my fellow allies in battle to help distract our foes. We can also help each other by weakening or targeting people to get the best of possible outcomes.
So what was the end outcome? Well our Spellweaver was pretty pleased with herself as she managed to feel a little more confident in her skills, but more importantly she felt that she was far more aloof and smug with herself by not stopping to loot the bodies as we passed. "Splinter" the Rat got a shed load more experience in life which left him feeling happy. Not only that, but he also got a Treasure Map. Certainly it was a map to an island. Does 'X' mark the spot? Well the map certainly does mention Demons, so maybe we could put that aside for a later date.
And me? Well I filled my pockets with gold by looting the dead as I was battling my way through. Would love to go and spend all that extra cash... but our target has gone deeper into the depths. I fear we must follow.