ROSD Mission 2 Finale

The Inner Cloister

A few weekends ago we met once again with @kingofrhovanion to play the final scenario of Mission 2 of our Rangers of Shadow Deep campaign. In the past two scenarios, heroes Camran the Cursed and Gordon the Vigilant entered the Argent Sanctuary through the Monastery Wall, and fought their way through the Outer Cloister. Now they will emerge into the Inner Cloister through an underground passage, and face the leader of the enemy forces: a Black Castellan.

The party is battered and bruised, but the fight is not over. Whatever now rules in this monastery is likely in the Inner Cloister. While it is tempting to leave now with the gains they have made, it would then be left to some other group to come and finish the job, and who knows what evil might be done here in the meantime. Readying their weapons, they advance through the underground passage.

As they emerge from the trap door, they encounter a sickening scene. A dark crystaline obelisk stands tall in the courtyard, with a beat up prisoner chained to its base. An imposing figure clad in black plate looms over the victim, guarded by disgraced knights and mercenary crossbowmen. Ths has all the makings of a blasphemous ritual, and the heroes must stop it before it's too late.

Since they were highly successful in their last mission, the two players felt confident that they would make a quick job of the adversaries found here. Both had the power to Halt Undead, which enabled them to stun the Black Castellan for a turn each. That bought them time, but the dice were severely against them in this game, and they suffered losses while the enemy refused to be cut down. Gordon managed to score a massive hit with his heavy arbalest against the Castellan early, but she would not take any damage for a long time after. As the battle raged on, the heroes noticed a searing white beam of light shoot into the night sky some distance away. The dark obelisk before them hummed an obscene otherworldly tone in response. The spectacle was unusually terrifying and unsettling. Another beam appeared soon after, leaving the party even more weakened and disturbed. They did manage to stop the Castellan from slaughtering her prisoner and activating this dark obelisk's own light. The Castellan was eventually slain, but the enemy crossbowmen ended up shooting the enitre party full of bolts. Left for dead in the ransacked Argent Sanctuary, Gordon and Camran lamented their fate.

Both heroes survived with no permanent injuries after all, as did all of their companions save one. The man at arms they rescued from the Torture Room in the Outer Cloister was unlucky enough to roll the worst possible outcome and died for good. Such a shame, since it was a character with backstory that emerged through gaming. The game did not go as planned, but fun was had and we will continue the campaign into Mission 3!

If you want to have a collection of Companions and Monsters like mine made, or even a custom Ranger, I’m open for commissions. You can find my email in the bottom of the page, together with the Gardens of Hecate Facebook, Instagram and RSS links.