Rangers of Shadowdeep - Mission 1:2

​Ruleset: Rangers of Shadowdeep

Mission 1: The Missing
Scenario 2: The Infected Trees

After a rough go investigating the secluded village, Ranger Jonas and his team set out into the middle of the nearby woodlands. Having found a mutilated corpse with large bite marks in it, Jonas was ready for what lay ahead. Making swift time, they raced ahead and found what they sought; several webbed nest trees and a collection of spiders (-1 for successful tracking roll by the archer Sally Tangleshoot).  Fenra the savage, still feeling her wounds from action inside the village, spied some Farlight Leaf as they moved in on the area, which Sally hurriedly consumed to bolster her aim. 

Jonas and his faithful hound advanced up the center, chucking a knife and felling the first spider they came upon. Meanwhile, to his right, Fenra and Sally moved up and eliminated another arachnid. On the far left, Horus the conjurer and Elga the rogue moved towards some cocoons in hopes of finding some of the missing villagers. 

Suddenly, two more arachnids arrived behind the group and swarmed Sally. Luckily, Fenra was close enough to step in to help fight them off, but Sally suffered a minor wound from one of the beasts. As she began to move away, waves of nausea hit her, causing her to stagger as the poison coursed through her. The blasted venom made her head swim, so causing her to fall into a gigantic web from the hell spawn.

With Horus giving a word of caution, Elga opened a cocoon, only to find a withered corpse looking back at her. As she went to step away, the corpse suddenly sprang to life in attempt to lunge at her. Fortunately, the clumsy shambler was still not free of the webbing, and its face exploded as a magic bolt stuck home, splattering Elga with rotten gore. "Now do try to be careful next time," Horus scolded.  Elga flashed a grin, "No risk, no glory, old man."

Jonas, too, found opportunity to cut back some webbing on a cocoon from which he spied movement. "Hello?" he offered, only to be greeted by a fetid green arm. Sensing danger to his master, Little Pup bound forward to assist, only to have his ribs raked deeply by the creature. Together, the two were able to dispatch the dim-witted former citizen. 

Horus, demonstrating a bit more care then Elga had shown, cautiously peeled open another web sac, with a startled old man scurrying out screaming!  "Praise be to the gods! I've got to get out of here!"

With the area cleared for now of the eight-legged vermin, our intrepid heroes move closer and torch the nests. The dried webbing covering the trees quickly set aflame, burning the egg clutches, stopping the spider threat before it could spread further.

As the night drags on, a few more walking dead shamble into the area, but are quickly dispatched before they can pose a threat to the adventurers.  

With dawn drawing closer, the shifting light reveals another nest tree, along with one last venomous beast.  Finally free of the webbing in which she was trapped, Sally lines up a shot, landing an arrow in its primitive brain.  

Fingers as sticky as ever, Elga manages to scoop up some gold and jewels stuck in some webbing at the last tree, but the others are too far away to help. As greed won out, the adventures were unable to torch the last nest before being summoned away as the light of a new day shines brightly over the forest. But with the last nest undisturbed, how long will the inhabitants enjoy a respite from the dark creatures before they return?  We can only hope that when the time comes, new heroes will step up to the challenge.  

But that will be yet another.... Adventure on the Tabletop.