Henrik Refsnes

For several moons you have served as mercenaries under King Torgul in the war-torn lands of the Seltuk Empire. The bounty has been plenty, your enemies driven before you, and some lamentation has been heard. But eventually all good things must come to an end, and you find yourself fighting a pitched battle in the narrow streets of Timurkand. 

An orc horde has the dwindling defenders hard pressed and the city is poised to fall. Tunnels beneath the merchant quarters have led you to a small warehouse, close to the city watch garrison, where the invading force has set up command. Outside the door the battle in the streets intensify. 

Your only hope—and the city’s—is to break through enemy lines and kill their commander, a warchief known as Nergal Kahn. 

NOTES

At some point during this quest a hero must find a small leather pouch containing an amber gem—a MacGuffin that features in parts 2 and 4. The best place would be on the fallen knight at the last stand, or the dead priest. But if any of the other friendly warriors scattered around the map fall in battle, they could also have carried the pouch. In a pinch, throw it in at any point a hero searches for treasure.

Falling rock traps represent enemy catapult fire, or collapsing roofs, and cannot be detected nor disarmed. Monsters do not trigger these traps (but may well end up its victims). Connected traps all fall at the same time.

Some orcs carry crossbows, noted by the arrow on their icon. They make ranged attacks rolling 3 dice.

X. Heroes emerge from the tunnels in this small warehouse. If you own fancy custom terrain, stack it with crates.

A. In this open air market the heroes come upon a last stand (no, not a market stand, a battle). As they enter, the last remaining knight is shot by an orc crossbowman and dies. The heroes failed to reach him in time. It happens. If the heroes search for treasure they will find a Broadsword, a Shield, and a broken Plate Mail. They will also find a small leather pouch that contains an amber gem warm to the touch. If your heroes forget to search for treasure (seriously, a whole table of players and no one loots the bodies?) make sure to describe all the useful items laying around.

B. The merchant fled this store in panic and left all her belongings behind. The chest contains 112 gold coins and the bookshelf holds a Spell Scroll: Courage. A hero can choose to loot the store, after all, the merchant’s livelihood is about to go up in flames anyway. It’s all fine. The damage from the falling debris made the wall brittle enough to punch through. Almost like karma doesn’t exist.

C. This house is on fire and filled with smoke (torn apart cotton balls make great smoke). If a hero ends a turn inside this room they lose 1 body point. In addition, a hero who jumps through the burning door loses 1 body point. A few walls are weakened enough to punch through and escape the inferno without losing a body point (but remember it takes an action to search and open secret doors).

D. The friendly warrior in this house can be any unused hero from your Hero Quest game, or a henchman from the Barbarian Quest Pack. They will fight the monsters in the room and take their turn after the heroes, before the monsters. If they survive they will not leave, but hold the door, and attack any monster that enter.

E. If the heroes don’t mind the stink, they can bypass the blocking rubble using 4 movement, and the sewers.

F. See D for details. In addition, if this room is searched for treasure the chest contains 167 gold coins and a Battle Axe. Keep in mind the forge master will not view kindly on theft should he still be alive (orcs or so called heroes, all the same). If the heroes help him save his forge however, he’ll gladly give them a Hand (Axe) as a reward. He would also be willing to repair a broken Plate Mail for the special discounted price of 100 gold coins. Considering the current state of affairs, however, the heroes would need to swing by later to pick it up.

G. See D for details. In addition, the friendly warrior will gladly help any trapped heroes bash a hole in the wall to escape. The cupboard is empty—he’s already come out of the closet.

H. Another sewer, this one longer. Heroes must spend 7 movement to crawl through the poop. It would really suck to end a turn down there.

I. Oh great, they brought an ogre.

	MOVE	ATTACK	DEFEND	BODY	MIND
Ogre	4	6	4	5	2

Note that the heroes may see the battle with the priest play out, but falling rubble prevents them from doing much about it. In any case, the priest gets smashed into pulp by the ogre on its first turn. When (and however) the heroes reach the shrine, the monsters have already looted everything of value. The ogre has an iron key though, and keys are always useful.

J. See D for details. In addition, the alchemist will give a Potion of Healing and a Potion of Defense to the heroes if they help him. If he dies, and they search for treasure, they find a Potion of Healing on the bench (he downed the Potion of Defense to save himself, which clearly failed).

K. See D for details. A group of city watchmen are holding a choke-point against a wave of orcs. Unfortunately, there’s not 300 of them, only 4. They might be interested in a cultural exchange but have nothing to give the heroes beyond that.

L. The door to this house is barred from the inside. Heroes who don’t mess around can break it down by rolling 2 skulls with their attack dice. Once inside, they interrupt a war-time profiteer about to collect 127 gold coins. The heroes could punish the thief and return the gold to its rightful owners (yes, it could happen). Either way, the thief will attempt to flee through the open window out back once he has spent his action taking all the gold. The bookshelf holds a Spell Scroll: Heal Body and a Spell Scroll: Ball of Flame.

	MOVE	ATTACK	DEFEND	BODY	MIND
Thief	9	2	3	2	2

M. The orcs should have known better than to kick in the door to this humble necromancer’s abode. He raised a few dead ones to defend himself. Who wouldn’t? That said, necromancy is very illegal, and regardless which side wins he should probably be punished for it. If the heroes approach to make a peaceful arrest the roof will collapse and put an end to the matter. See, karma does exist. If they search for treasure a Spell Ring can be found on the hand of the necromancer sticking out of the rubble.

N. A long narrow staircase leads up to the garrison entrance, where the front door is fortified (use any fancy door from your Hero Quest collection to represent it). A lever on the inside opens it, as does the key held by the ogre (I).

O. This is the garrison armory, where the orcs have stashed their loot. A pile of 563 gold coins lie on the floor (because all the other chests from the core set are in use). Someone should give it back to the people of Timurkand. The rack is mostly empty, but the heroes can find a Dagger and a Short Sword. Orcs don’t use puny weapons like that.

P. The stairs in this room lead up to the garrison tower, but that has nothing to do with this quest and things will go sideways before the heroes reach it.

Q. One of the orcs in this room is unusually large and vicious. He wields a clawed scepter, wears a fancy headdress, and barks out orders. There can be no mistake, this is Nergal Kahn. 

	MOVE	ATTACK	DEFEND	BODY	MIND
Nergal Kahn	8	5	5	4	4

His clawed scepter allows him to attack diagonally and he has access to the dread spells Command and Summon Orcs. Whomever carries the amber gem may not be the target of Command.

When Nergal Kahn is reduced to 0 body points this quest ends immediately, regardless of how many other monsters are still in play. Continue to part 2, but leave everything as is on the game board. Body points are not healed and used abilities or spells are not regained. If the heroes are killed during part 1, but before Nergal Kahn is defeated, continue to part 3 with body points and abilities restored. Either way, the heroes cannot visit the armory or alchemist shop.

Wandering Monster in this Quest: 2 Orcs

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