Scenario One-Point-Five - The Baron's Lair

Note - This scenario is a way to get your warband back on track if they've lost the first scenario, The Market in the game previous. Out of the context of that situation, your warband could follow a robber back to this dungeon, or perhaps a floor has collapsed underneath them and now they've landed in this lair!

Maphunter Campaign
Scenario 1.5 - The Baron's Lair

Collecting her composure, the wizard recalculates. There's a chance that if she regroups fast enough, the map might still be hers. A peasant, seeing an opportunity, offers to lead her to the thieves' hideout for a price. A bargain is struck and the scraggly warband is led to the swamp on the outskirts of the village. An old mill lurches out of a mist, with its foundations sunk into the marsh-bed. Doubt and hesitation bubble in the stomachs of the party, until a queasy resolve sets over the wizard; "We're going in."

Set - Up

This scenario is played on a 2'x2' table, set up in a dense fashion and in a fashion appropriate for fighting indoors, with only a few pieces of terrain being multi-leveled. At one end of the table, place a door. At the opposite end of the table, place a miniature table. The warband deploys within 3'' of the door, and should be composed of the wizard and up to three additional members of their warband, excluding the apprentice. If this game is played immediately after The Market scenario, play only with figures who survived the post-game roll on the survival table. Any figure who was removed from the table in the previous game begins this scenario with -2 health.
Two treasure tokens should be placed on the board. Each token must be at least 16'' from the warband stating point, and at least 6'' away from another token. Place a special treasure token on the miniature table to represent the map. Place the Crime Baron within 3'' of the special treasure token.

Special Rules

The goal of this scenario is for the wizard to steal the special treasure token and escape with it through the only door of this dilapidated and poorly designed mill. Because of poor lighting and claustrophobic conditions, the maximum line of sight in this scenario is 16''.

Whenever a member of the warband ends their activationas either not in combat or not under vertical cover, roll 1d20 and consult this table.

• 1-2 = an urchin drops down from a rafter, directly into combat with the figure. It behaves like other creatures as described in the creature actions section of the Frostgrave rulebook.
• 3-5 = the figure must defend against a score 11 shooting attack, as urchins fling rocks and nails at the character from above.
• 6-20 = nothing.

Roll for initative as per usual. On a score of 9 or more, the wizard and their warband go first. On an 8 or less, the Crime Boss and his urchins activate before the warband.

Beastiary

Street Urchin       M7   F+1   S+0   A5   W-1   H5

- an unwashed youth who is loyal to the Crime Boss.

- carries a knife

The Crime Boss     M5   F+3   S+2   A12   W+3   H13

- a scoundrel who trades in tricks, traps and other less savory services.

- carries a hand weapon, a crossbow and wears mail armor

- the Crime Boss behaves differently than most monsters, in that he has a horde of urchins as his eyes and ears inside of the mill, who relay the warbands whereabouts in shrieks and whispers. He always moves towards the nearest enemy via the path of least resistance. His general strategy is move, then shoot. In the event that a figure has the special treasure token, he will ignore any figures that are nearer to him in order to pursue the thief who has stolen his treasure.

- in combat, whenever the Crime Boss inflicts six or more damage to a character, he rolls on the following table and performs that action as well.

• 1-5 = Booby Trap - the Crime Boss activates one of his outfit's built-in weapons. The figure in combat with the Crime Boss immediately defends against a score 13 shooting attack.
• 6-10 = Trip - the Crime Boss attempts to sweep your feet out from under you. The figure in combat with the Crime Boss makes a will check against a score of 14. If they fail, the figure is reduced to one action next turn.
• 11-20 = Cheap Shot - fighting dirty, the Crime Boss's attack has left you winded. In the next round of combat, this figure is at -2 fight.

Two Player Suggestions

In a game with two players, I'd suggest each player roll for initiative before the game sets up. The winner of the roll then rolls a d4 to represent their beating the other warband to the lair. Consequently, the loser of the initiative roll must wait that many turns into the game before deploying their warband by the door.

Treasure and Experience

Players should roll once on the treasure table in the Frostgrave rulebook for each regular treasure the warband has retrieved. The special treasure token is the map, and may be used to further the campaign, or as otherwise described in the previous scenario, The Market. 

Experience for the warband is gained within the peramiters listed below.

• 30 experience points for each treasure recovered
• 50 experience points for recovering the special treasure, ie: the map.
• 50 experience points if the wizard personally kills the Crime Boss