Scenario One - The Market

Maphunter Campaign

Scenario One - The Market

At the crack of dawn, one of the wizard's informants appears at the door, reporting that in a nearby village, a map to the Collector's crypt has surfaced in their market district. The Sorcerer's name has been lost to time, but their title is as infamous. A thousand years ago, a wizard with a penchant for artifice kept a library of cursed talismans somewhere in the mountains around Felstad. No one has ever found the wizard's hoard, but the possibility of a map is quite the temptation. With great haste, the wizard rouses a party and makes for the village, their mind reeling with possibilities of what this map might lead to.

Set - Up

This scenario is played on a 2'x2' table with 10 market stalls positioned to form a winding avenue. each stall is 2x4, and counts as rough ground. Set up other terrain around the stalls to your liking. The warband starts within 3'' of any corner of the board. Place 12-24 villagers around the board as though they were visiting the stalls of the market. The player must select their wizard for this scenario and may also take up to three additional members of their warband with the exception of their apprentice. The wizard must also start with a purse of 500gc, taken from their own reserve for the purpose of purchasing the map. The purse takes up one of the wizard's item slots.

Special Rules

The goal of this scenario is for the player to buy the map from one of the stalls, and then escape the market with it. If the wizard is in base contact with a stall, they may use an action to roll 1d20.

• 1-8 The stall does not have the map.
• 9-15 The stall does not have what you seek, but a ne'er do well has overheard the wizard in their attempts to purchase the map. The nearest villager becomes a thug and pursues the wizard using the rules for creature actions in the Frostgrave rulebook, with the amendment that if there is more than one figure in line of sight during step 2, then the thug will always pursue the wizard. 
• 16-19 The stall has the map! exchange the wizard's purse for the Map to the Collector's Hoard. The two nearest villagers become thugs and act as stated previously.
• 20 The stall has the map! exchange the wizard's purse for the map. the second-nearest villager becomes a thug and acts as stated previously.

Each stall may only be visited once. In the event that the wizard has not found the map by the ninth stall, when rolling to shop the tenth and final stall, re-roll until the die rolls between 16 and 20.

When a figure enters combat with a figure who is holding either a purse or the map, should they win combat, after dealing damage, they will push back the figure 1'' and steal the map. If that figure is a villager-turned-thug, their goal is then to escape a board edge with that item. All of the thug's actions will be spent moving towards the nearest board edge, and should they escape with a purse or the map, the game is over with a loss for the player.

Additionally in terms of shooting, villagers count as intervening terrain, and stalls count as light cover.

Two Player Suggestions

In a game with two players, each player should use their wizard and up to two other members of their warband, not including apprentices. Setup and rules for checking stalls are the same as in the one player version, and players should roll initiative as normal.

There will only ever be one map to the Collector's Hoard, and once it's purchased, there's no point in searching more stalls. When the map is found, an additional nearest villager becomes a thug.

Players may steal the map from one another and villagers-turned-thug. Should a villager-turned-thug steal one player's purse, the game continues, but if both purses are stolen, the game ends and both players lose.

Treasure and Experience

• 10 experience points for each enemy figure killed by a wizard or their warband.
• 50 experience points if the wizard or their warband has stolen back either a purse or the map.
• 100 experience points if the wizard manages to purchase the map.

Ways to use this Scenario

• If played as a two player game, the same warbands could loot a vault, with the treasures automatically rolled on the magic item table. The player who won this scenario could have a deployment advantage, or could have automatic initiative for the next game.
• The wizard could try to copy the map, and then sell the copies back to the market. If the wizard knows write scroll, they could use that spell between games to make copies worth 200gc apiece.
• If the thugs won by stealing the map, the player(s) could pursue the local crime baron who employs the thieves. Perhaps the wizard's warband follows them back to the baron's lair, and a raid ensues in the hopes of retrieving the map.
• This scenario is part of a campaign, and its sequel, Ridgefire will be out next week.