Just wandering around the frozen forest around Frosthaven as one does, just kind of seeing what’s what, who’s who, pressing the flesh, smiling for the press. We were great heroes after our adventures at sea, but it would take some time before we would be able to return to our search for the magical coral fragments, as none of us were able to crack the nut of adventuring underwater. Not yet; we had people working on it, of course.
Still, Frosthaven is just a snowy outpost in the middle of nowhere, and it’s not going to have all the amenities of a place like, say, Gloomhaven, or wherever Jaws of the Lion was set. (Also Gloomhaven, it turns out). Buttons and Bugs? (Um, also Gloomhaven, just really small).
We saw an Algox lurking about in the trees. We stopped and stared. He turned and ran deeper into the woods. We, of course, gave chase. It’s a hunter instinct; if someone runs, you run, too. If you’re an Algox lurking around the edges of a city that hates your kind, maybe just stop and wave and saunter off and nobody is running after anyone. Take off like a frightened rabbit and the hounds will follow.
When we caught up to it (them? him? her? can you really tell?), they (I guess) smiled a weird smile and pounded their fists on the ground, sending a magical shock through the earth. In moments the ground collapsed beneath us and we fell a good ten meters into an icy, crystal cavern.
We weren’t alone. Among the ice pillars were Ice Wraiths, and they didn’t appreciate the disruption. What’s worse, we could hear a magical thrumming and an eerie green light from a door on the other side of the wraiths…
Drew and his Blink Blade were back this week; we really missed the DPS last time. My scenario goal was to kill no enemy, so my plan (as Banner Spear) was to take on the support role and help wear down enemies. Since this was going to be a small map — two small rooms — I thought I would try and get the mastery point for summoning a banner on turn 1 and keeping it within three spaces the entire scenario. I swapped out some tanky cards for my health and strength banners.
The scenario effect was that everyone took two damage from the start due to falling into the pit.
I didn’t intend to stay to the back, but I also hadn’t noticed that my starting position was in a little alcove, hidden from most of the mobs. It worked out; I summoned my strength banner while the Doom Walker and Blink Blade rushed out of hiding to confront the wraiths. They immediately took significant damage. The wraiths are tricky; they will attack from range and melee, they have retaliate even for ranged attacks, and they can swap between normal and elite forms. I was able to heal them sufficiently for them to continue. That particular heal hurt me in return, but I’m tanky, I can take it.
By the time we cleared the room and came to the door, everyone (except me) was at low health and the Blink Blade and the Doom Walker were discussing how few turns they had left. With my two banners and my permanent shield active, I’d lost three cards by that point and was dubious about how long I could continue as well.
Everyone took a long rest, and we opened the doors.
Frozen corpses came to life and started shambling toward the door. At the far end of the room, an altar, glowing green, was connected to the zombies by tendrils of green mist. We needed to destroy the altar before we could think about touching the zombies.
The Death Shaper and the Blink Blade made short work of the altar. I was stuck at the door with my banners and some zombies, and the Doom Walker used her shadows to return to the previous room for healing before returning once the altar was down to spread death and joy. I concentrated on chipping the health from the zombies so that the others could take them down more easily.
And we won!
We opened two new scenarios — one goes deeper into the crypt, and in the other we follow the Algox into the tundra. For that, we need a sled. Since the Doom Walker’s retirement goal is to travel on various vehicles, and without anyone else’s retirements dependent on anything we could do, we opted to return to Frosthaven and build a sled.
And so we did. We also made a hunting lodge, had an encounter with someone fencing stolen goods from Gloomhaven, and unlocked a scenario to find a shortcut through the Copperhead Mountains. There was also a city event where an artisan with a magical deer antler wanted to know if they should convert it to resources or make it into a work of art.
So: next time, into the tundra to meet the Algox once more.
