One of the first available Quests is a simple 5-room dungeon. Heroes must enter one side and exit the other.
I drew four Heroes at random (you have six available).
I drew a difficult starting set. I did not draw the Wizard (whose Fireball is invaluable early in the game), nor the Thief (whose speed and versatility is extremely useful).
I drew a small handful of fantasy coins to determine my party's starting crowns. Gold = 25 crowns, Silver = 5 crowns, and Copper = 1 crown.
The Hero Party for this playtest Campaign consists of: Layra the Elf, Rosalie the Warrior, Brulf the Barbarian, and Hreimdi the Dwarf.
Necessary decks and the Saga Scale are set-up and shuffled.
The Hero Party readies for adventure!
And...shit. What a first room. Immediately jumped by Cave Spiders with Skeletons ready to close in...
The Hero Party completely falls apart immediately, failing 15-20 attack rolls vs. the Cave Spiders. The Heroes take 30-50% wounds almost immediately. Cave Spiders trap heroes, not allowing them to move or flee...
Eventually the Heroes stop rolling like complete crap and dispatch the Cave Spiders, falling back slightly to prepare for the Skeletons. They clear them out quite easily within two turns, and move on, licking their wounds.
The next Chamber holds merely Goblins, and the Dwarf runs in head first. The Dwarf possesses an innate bonus when fighting Goblins or Orcs.
After clearing the Goblins (killing enough that they ran away due to cowardice!) the Heroes explore but find nothing, and then turn to battering down the locked door...
A glance at the characters mid-game. A few tokens located, some wounds taken, etc.
After breaking down the door and entering the third room, the Heroes encounter Brigands and choose to pay a bribe to avoid fighting them (one of the uses of having a nice stack of crowns in your pocket). Unfortunately one of the rooms rewards places an Encounter behind the Hero Party.
In CCC, a Hero Party can always abandon a Quest, but they must exit the dungeon in order to survive. This means that turning back and fleeing through the entrance is always an option...but now an Encounter is behind the party - making that exit less appealing.
Entering the fourth of five rooms, the Saga Scale is creeping dangerously close toward Yellow, or the second level (wherein Creatures become more dangerous and more numerous)
The Hero Party encounters Orcs. This fight nearly kills the Heroes, and they're forced to expend all of their Items and available Luck (bonus dice) to win the fight.
Having defeated the Orcs, the Barbarian plays an Item to reduce the Saga Scale, hoping the next Chamber doesn't push the dungeon into Yellow.
The Heroes kick open the door to the final Chamber and prepare for...
Zombies! This is good news. They're slow and easy to kill...but they multiply.
The Heroes opt for a fighting withdrawal, running toward the staircase. By fleeing the dungeon they'll win the Quest but will not gain any rewards from the fifth Chamber. The party is struggling with wounds so they opt to fight and run...
More Zombies appear from the Staircase entrance and the Heroes risk being overrun if they can't smash some heads in...
The Heroes slay enough Zombies to escape, but the Barbarian is left alone. He's tough and manages to bash his way through a few Zombies and escape one turn later.
The Heroes are successful in this simple quest, though it started out quite badly. The Hero Party ended up with a handful of quality rewards (some bonus traits, some Eelskin boots, etc.). Most importantly, everyone made it out alive - a rare occurrence in CCC so far.
I'll stow these Heroes and set up another game in the next day or two...see how far this party can make it before they're slain.
