Eilif does dungeon

Leaving Markus dead body behind they go down into darkness. As soon as they enter Brytagh springs a trap and is hit by a bolt but he escapes unharmed. Then there is a stairs down and a room with another stairs going down. The Orc's lair is bigger and deeper that they thought to be!

Face cards show a new level down. Black cards are encounters and red ones nothing.

Right after the second stairs they stumble upon a group of Goblins! They are four archers and a warrior.

Eilif's group react first and they take two archers down with Eilif's bow and the sling Njal took from Markus. Brytagh charges and kills another Goblin. Then the remaining ones flee in panic! They loot 1 Increasing Rep d6 from the dead.

They go after the Goblins but they have escaped. They realise the dungeon is bigger and bigger (Joker card). In the next room they meet two Orcs guarding a door.

Again they react before and Eilif puts down one with his bow and Brytagh the other one with a thrust of his sword. They loot 6 Increasing Rep d6 from those wealthy Orc bodies!

They descend into darkness two levels more. Brytagh activates another trap but again he dodges a bolt; he is getting cocky.

They enter in a new room and this time they meet with three Orcs who again are slow to react.

Both Eilif and Njal miss their targets. Brytagh charges and kill one Orc. Now one Orc charges Eilif who kills him effortlessly, and another charges Brytagh who also slaughters it. Brytagh is starting to really enjoy this adventure! They loot 3 Increasing Rep d6 from the dead Orcs.

Eilif's group goes down another level and finally meets with the Big Boss! A giant spider Rep 5 AC 4, Poisonous.

The spiders react first and charge but the small ones (Rep 3 AC 2, Lightweight) are no match for the warriors. The big boss it is but Eilif puts one arrow into its brain and kills it instantly! There is nothing to loot from the spiders.

After the spiders they advance for a while without seeing anyone, but suddenly they meet more Orcs. These one better than previous ones and ready to rumble! They charge the surprised adventurers and one of them kills Njal while the other puts down Brytagh! Eilif uses his Star's Extraordinary Effort to slay one of the Orcs and after that he luckily kills the last one when he charges him. Thank to the gods there were only two of them.

Njal is dead and Brytagh is unconcious and bleeding. Eilif now wonders for a moment about picking Brytagh and retiring or keep going alone.

There is nobody in the next room but after a corridor he opens a door and meets with some Goblins.

Their leader charges Eilif and dies. The rest flee in panic.

The dungeon so far.

Eilif turns a corner after another corridor and meets some more Goblins.

They charge at him but he has time to loose one arrow and stop one of them.

Eilif kills the two Goblins who charge at him and then another one with his bow. The last Goblin vanishes.

Eilif finally reaches the end of the dungeon and the chamber with the treasure! (red ace).

He finds 15 Increasing Rep d6, one Potion of Courage and one Scroll of Transformation. Now he needs to go back, patch up Brytagh, bury Njal and Markus, drink a keg of beer and then report to his king.

Dark Alliance Orcs [set 1]

I finally finished painting this box with 45 Orcs in total and I am pleased with the overall result. But there are one box of Trolls and one of Warg riders in the painting queue, plus one of Steppes Warriors, one of Hafl-Orcs and one of Goblins in the post that need to be painted to call this project done.

Here you have a closer picture of the Orcs facing some Eimhar Saxons that will proxy Rohan infantry.

Eilif in the capital

So in the last encounter Eilif set off to the capital, where king Ragnar rules his lands from his castle. Eilif and Marcus had to roll three times for involuntary encounters as they travelled from the border, through the interior and up to the capital. They only had one involuntary encounter in total; someone broke in Eilif's house but they could not rob anything as he is poor and carries all his belongings with him.

Once in the capital, he left Marcus in a tavern and went to the government area for an audience with the king. There he talked to the captain of the guard who acknowledged him and let him into the throne room. King Ragnar received him well and sent Eilif on a mission. He commanded him to seek and destroy an Orc hideout in the interior area of his kingdom. Those Orcs have a secret base from where they are assaulting travellers and merchants and also raiding nearby farms, causing havoc and much discomfort among his subjects. It is a Wandering Encounter with Dungeon.

After talking to king Ragnar, Eilif goes straight to the tavern in the Bazaar area to meet Marcus, but there a Dwarf stumbled on him, spilling all the beer from his mug on Eilif clothes. This is an involuntary Encounter, a Confrontation. One of the Dwarf stonemasons who are currently working on the enlargement and reinforcement of the king's castle drunk too much ale after his duty and he's now mad at Eilif, accusing him of spilling all his beer. 

The Dwarf, Rep 4, AC2, 1H weapon, deadly lunged at Eilif and is Out Of Fight! His Star Power saves him as his buckle stopped the stab. Then Eilif swiftly reacts and finishes the rowdy Dwarf. Eilif gets one increasing Rep d6 for winning the Encounter plus 2d6 more in coins he takes from the knocked down Dwarf; so he gets 2 d6 in total after discounting one for using his Star Power.

After the fight, Eilif meets with Markus and talk to some of the customers to see if they can recruit some men for the incoming mission. They resolve one PEF with five people, a labourer Rep 3, not very useful; a Nobleman guard Rep 4 AC4 and Swordman. -Hey, hey! this lad is what we need! Eilif jostled Markus. He uses a bit of sweet talk and convinces Brytagh to join them. Next there are townsfolk with Rep 3 but among them there is also a warrior Rep 5 AC2! Another good candidate; but this time Eilif has to spend 4 increasing d6 in Sweet Talk to convince him to join them.

Later, the four of them went to a nearby Blacksmith's and there Eilif bought one shield for Brytagh and a two handed axe for Njal. So now Eilif is down to six increasing d6s that he keeps to pay his group for the next encounter.

So they finally departed and without anymore incidents they reached the area where the Orcs were operating, and started to search for their hideout.

Eilif's group is at the bottom and there are three PEFs (Possible Enemy Forces) on the board, two on sector two and one of sector four.

Turn 1: Eilif's 2 - Orcs 4.

No PEFs move except one from sector two and it is resolved as soon as it gets in sight. It turns to be a flying flock of partridges. Something must have scared them. A false alarm.

Then Eilif and his men move forward to resolve the PEF on sector four, behind the river. It is another group of fellow Mirholmen who are also searching for those pesky Orcs. After exchanging some pleasantries, Eilif asks for some magic items to barter but they haven't got any.

Turn 2: Eilif's 3 - Orcs 5.

Orcs do not activate. Eilif moves towards the last PEF to resolve it.

And they discover a group of Orcs laying in ambush. The Orcs act first. One archer looses an arrow that hits Brytagh but it's deflected by his armour. He then ducks back behind a tree but he is immediately charged by another Orc. Suddenly all of them are fighting against Orcs!

The fight ends quickly with three Orcs dead and two leaving the battlefield. Markus is dead on the red grass.

Now Eilif spots a hidden entrance that goes underground. The secret Orcs' hideout! That's is the second part of the Wandering Encounter that I will play another day.