Brutus Retirement

When Brutus came from from the Lost Island, Brutus decided to retire from adventuring, since he achieved his Personal Goal of becoming a Battle Legend.

With Brutus’ retirement, the party can now find out more about the history of Gloomhaven and access the Town Records. Having made enough donation to the Sanctuary of the Great Oak, Envelop B was also available for the Solo Bunch.

Brutus’ retirement meant that Music Note is now available. However, the lost of the tough fighter meant that the Solo Bunch needed another tough guy who can deal lots of damage, and also absorb damage. In comes Cray the Savvas Cragheart!


Because it wasn’t good enough to attain mastery of an element, Cray was exiled. To prove that it is not a failure, he decided to venture out on his own to look for Aesthers who can help him using magic in attaining mastery of an element. It believes that going on adventures with the Solo Bunch can help him to augment its powers through Enhancements.

Since the Solo Bunch needs a power fighter, Cray joined up with the party... and going to Hail will be the next logical step. Closing the Rift, and also meeting the Aesther. Cray couldn’t ask for a more perfect start to its mercenary adventuring career. 

Lost Island

In Gloomhaven, a pie-eating contest is going on and with nothing else better to do, the party took part. The opponents are large sailors who seemed like they could win. The party powered through the pain of digging into pie after pie, and the sailors eventually conceded. However, the party felt so sick after that all they could do is lie down. A checkmark is lost, but at least they gained 10 gold each and gained 1 reputation.

The party decided to causally head over to the Lost Island, one of the undiscovered ones in the Misty Sea. Hopefully there are some riches on this one. Approaching the small island, the party saw a derelict ship. After landing on the beach, the party was attacked immediately by Vermlings. Lots of them.

As the Vermlings attacked, 2 Cave Bears advanced from a distance to join in the fight. While dealing with the approaching Bears, Brutus was able to sneak in the use of the Doomed Compass to control the Vermling Shaman into a damage trap. This helped to reduce the Shaman threat on the island. 

After dealing with the enemies on the beach, the party entered the wreck of the ship. What greeted them was more Vermlings, and a horde of treasure that were scattered all around.

Dispatching the Vermling Scouts were not too difficult. Moving deeper into the derelict ship, the party encountered more Vermlings. This time there were 2 Shamans in the mix. 

Tinder’s Disintegration Beam came in handy here. In one attack, it took out an Elite Vermling Scout, a Normal Scout, and an Elite Shaman.

The plan to have a more attacking Tinkerer certainly paid off here. 

Moving into the final area, all the party needed to do was simply to clear out the remaining enemies. Brutus did a Fatal Advance on the Cave Bear, while the rest of the party cleaned up the room without much difficulty, and even looted the treasure chest to open a random scenario.

With the end of the scenario, it seems that Brutus has finally achieved his Personal Quest of being a Battle Legend by earning 15 checkmarks from completed battle goals...

2 attempts at the Noxious Cellar

Weaver told the party that it’s time to head into the Noxious Cellar. She is now ready to proceed along with her Personal Quest.

Before heading into the cellar, the party was approached by a Vermling wanting to unload a piece of metal covered in sludge. The previous time, the party got the Curious Gear artifact. This time, the party was tempted to also buy the thing. But it’ suspicious that good things happen twice in Gloomhaven, so they refused to pay and laughed at the Vermling swindler’s attempt to get some gold out of the party.

The Noxious Cellar is an interesting quest. Getting to the remains of Xorn meant going into a curious shack in the Sinking Market in Gloomhaven. Finding a switch on the ground amongst flat stones placed in a radial pattern, the party activated it and found themselves sinking into the ground. Soon, the party was separated and each of them have to deal with the coming quest on their own.

This scenario is a tough puzzle to crack. The party’s first attempt was a failure. As each character needed to fight on their own, they found themselves defeated by the enemies when trying to clear the rooms on the way to the treasure. 

As this didn’t work, the second attempt saw the party trying out a different strategy.

With each on their own, the heroes will attempt to break out of the rubble-filled room, and move as quickly as possible towards their goal.

Tinder and Brutus used jump and also losing some high movement cards to get into the adjacent room. Weaver managed to clear a small gap, the room, turned invisible and then summoned the Burning Avatar to aid in dealing with the enemies.

After that, it was a sprint to the goals. Brutus was the first to reach his goal, being able to utilize the Boots of Striding to enhance his movement.

Tinder found the going tough. He didn’t have that much movement, and the Ooze had poison effects. Although he summoned the Battle Bot, he was down to really low HP. It was only when the combination strike with the Battle Bot finishing off the Elite Vermling Scout and Tinder doing the same to the Elite Ooze that gave him hope of completing the quest.

That leaves Weaver. The Burning Avatar took the hit from one of the Spitting Drakes. Weaver herself was also poisoned, but she just had to press on.

Eventually she reached her goal, but she was exhausted in the process. But that was okay as all three heroes reached their goal.

So, the jump and sprint strategy worked. The Living Corpses in the starting area moved slowly so after leaving them behind, they were less of a threat. For the remaining enemies, it’s not to kill them, but rather to dash pass them and stopping them from dealing too much damage. Brutus was down to 1HP and Tinder was down to 7HP (but only because he healed himself at the final round.

Oh, the donation to the Sanctuary of the Great Oak helped, but barely. The Blessing card didn’t appear in Weaver’s attack until at the very end. Well, at least it appeared.

With all of them reaching their goal and picking up pieces of a gruesome staff, they returned to their quarters, and found out the next step of this quest... a return to a secret room in one of the Crypts they previously explored.

Forgotten Crypt

After doing 2 Random Dungeons, the party felt ready to proceed along with the Campaign. With the Rift still opened, they decided to ask. For Hail’s help to do something about it.

Before approaching Hail, the party saw a Valrath struggle with a large, intricate vase. He loses balance and the vase topples... until Brutus ran forward to grab it and preventing a shattering tragedy.

In this scenario, Hail decided to come along for the ride because to close the Rift, she needs to get an elemental censer from someone called the Stonebreaker. To get the censer, they need to travel to the Forgotten Crypt.

On the way to the destination, they found themselves cutting through a dense underbrush, but it seems the forest floor is on fire, with animals of all sorts running away. Following the animals’ cue is probably a good idea and the party ran out of the forest, and need to discard 2 cards each from exhaustion. This will have implications in the coming quest, surely.  

Entering the Crypt, the party needed to escort and protect Hail (represented by a 10-sided die) until she reaches the altar to grab the censer she needed. 

As usual for Crypts, Cultists were there first...

 

Clearing the first room was easy. The second room with some Living Spirits and more Living Bones was also not too tough.

It’s entering the third room that things got rather hairy. More Cultists appeared from previous rooms, and the Elite Cultist in the new room summoned more Living Bones. In order to let Hail move towards her destination, the party had to carve out a path for her to move through.

Hail manage to slip through the third room to open the fourth room, while another Living Spirit spawned behind them.

With his newly acquired Auto Turret, Tinder was able to lay down some covering fire, allowing the party to slip out of this room. No time to linger and clear the room, they had to move forward.

Brutus moved ahead into the fourth room to clear out the Living Corpses blocking the way forward. Here was a good opportunity for him to use his Push attack and also the Doomed Compass, pushing the enemies into the Damage trap, and also clearing the way forward.

When Weaver opened the final chamber, they party was confronted by more Living Corpses, Cultists, and what made it worse was that the Cultists summoned even more Living Bones.

At this point, the enemies in the last room were moving forward and blocking the path for Hail to reach the altar. Enemies were all around the party... plenty of Living Bones and Cultists were quickly advancing on them. 

All the party could do was focusing on killing the enemies straight ahead, in order for Hail to get through. Everything seemed lost until Weaver could jump over to the back of the chamber and attack from there.

It was a brutally tough mission, and probably made worse by losing 2 cards at the start of the scenario. Hail eventually slipped through, getting to the altar, but Weaver and Brutus ran out of Ability Cards and had to leave the game. Although Weaver was still in play, she was down to 2HP. Luckily, this was enough for Hail to reach the altar.

The step towards the Rift is now open... but dare the party proceed down that path?

 

Scaled Armory->Archaic Altar->Horrific Clearing

After failing the last Random Dungeon, the party decided to try another one.

This time, the heroes entered a Scaled Armory with Vicious and Spitting Drakes and some Giant Vipers. The area is very confined filled with traps and obstacles. It helped that there are some Poison + Wound traps between the first and second bunch of enemies.

The second room is an Archiac Altar. Again, Hazardous terrain and obstacles abound, making maneuvering difficult. The Ancient Artillery’s long range also inflicted heavy damage on the party. The Stone Golems here hit hard, but keeping them stunned is the key.


The party survived the second room to emerge into a Horrific Clearing, filled with Black Imps, a few Deep Terrors and a Lurker.

While it was an area filled with tough enemies, the open space allowed the party to positioned themselves for attacks with maximum effects. After some careful movements, Tinder was able to use the Disintegration Beam’s instant kill on a row of three Black Imps, preventing them from doing much damage to the rest of the party.

Meanwhile, with Muddle + Damage Traps at the far end of the clearing, Brutus was able to push the Deep Terror and the Lurker into those traps, further helping to damage the monsters.

The adventure was eventually a success, with a ranged Spare Dagger attack by Brutus on the final Deep Terror left standing.

Putrid Tunnel->Cutthroat Cave->Infected Encampment

In order to gain some XP and loot, the party decided to try out a Random Dungeon on Casual Mode. Of course, there is nothing casual about the dungeon, as they would soon find out.

First, they entered a Putrid Tunnel filled with the smell of Living Corpses and slimey Oozes. Fighting through this was still quite manageable. 

Next, they entered a Cutthroat Cave. The Bandits there didn’t give the party any chance to enter the cave as the Hounds advanced towards the entrance preventing them from getting a foothold in the new area. The Bandit Guards followed and with their strong attacks, kept the party at bay. Bandit Archers fired their arrows at long range, and soon Weaver was out of action.

Brutus and Weaver were left to carry on the adventure, but at least they manage to survive the room, only to clear the rest of the enemies at the chokepoint of the entrance to the cave.  

Moving forward, the remaining heroes exited the cave, only to find themselves in an Infected Encampment with Giant Vipers around the remains of a campfire and some Oozes.

The Vipers swarmed forward, again leaving Brutus stuck at the entrance to the area.

THe Oozes also began to multiply and soon there were nine Oozes in the area. All that was too much for the party to handle, with Tinder finally exhausting his cards. While Brutus managed to cut down five Vipers surrounding him, it was too much as the Elite Viper dealt the killing blow.

Not a success, but at least the party gained some XP and gold in the process.

Plane of Night

Back in Gloomhaven, the Solo Bunch came across a vegetable thief. The party immediate gave chase and caught the thief, and the vegetables were returned to the owner of the garden, with the party gaining 1 reputation in the process.

Instead of dealing with the Artifact on their own, the party decided to get help from an expert. Bringing it to Hail the Aesther Enchanter, she identified it as the Vessel of the Elements. After examining it, she told the heroes that they need to break the connection the item has with the Plane of Night.

Using magic, the party was transported into the Plane of Night...

The party found themselves in a cave covered in slick, black slime. In the distance is the giant black pillar Hail was talking about. They had to destroy the pillar to cleanse the Artifact. Of course being in the Dark Plane, there were demons, plenty of them.

The first area consisting of Night Demons and Deep Terrors was not too difficult. Not easy, but nothing the party can’t deal with.

The second area was the killer. Upon entering it, the party was confronted with Black Imps... plenty of them!


The party had a tough time in this area. The party was continuously hit by the Black Imps Poison ability, meaning that a lot of healing was needed to simply get rid of the poison.

The Elite Night Demon in this area was also a tough opponent. At one point, it turned invisible and hit Brutus hard.

The party eventually cleared the area, with Weaver taking out the final Imp at one end, while Brutus took out the Elite Night Demon at the other. 

Brutus had to take a long rest and Tinder had to do some extensive healing on the rest of the companions.

But things certainly look bleak...

In the final area, the massive tower with twisting ropes of darkness weaving in and out of one another was visible. The aim of the mission is to destroy this tower (with a massive 33 HP), and with not many HP and cards left, the party had to focus on destroying the tower.

Weaver first hit it from the entrance. Brutus followed by rushing in and simply focused on damaging it. Tinder followed using the Crank Bow.

Tinder also wanted the Treasure Chest, hoping that it contained an item that will help in his Personal Quest. He moved into the area, use the Net Shooter at the tower, and the Critical Hit manage to whittle the Tower down to just 1 HP. He was also  able to grab the chest in the next round. Inside was a Robes of Summoning, not too bad.


Brutus was actually all ready to deliver the blow that will bring down the Tower. However, Weaver’s Flashing Burst hit the target first, and the Tower was destroyed.

The party was immediately brought back into the Crooked Bone. Hail examined the Artifact and concluded that it has indeed been cleansed. She also gave the party some clues on the location of three places where she sensed there may be some connection to the Artifact.

The party now has the choice to dig deeper into the mystery of this Artifact...

Overall, this scenario almost seemed impossible. The narrow caves leading to the final area made maneuvering difficult. It didn’t help that the number of enemies and the effects that they caused, ranging from Muddle to Poison. Didn’t think that the party could complete the scenario, until in the last room where the focus was simply to target the Tower, and hoping that the enemies weren’t able to kill them. All the party had to do was to withstand the damage. The scenario was completed with the heroes having very low HP left.

Temple of the Elements

Before heading to the Temple of the Elements to retrieve the artifact, the party returned to Gloomhaven to rest. Interrupting their rest is a ratty-looking boy who wanted to help from the party to look for his cat in a decrepit building. Can’t really refuse the call to help look for a cat. However, the building is so much rubbles and by the time the cat is found, the party is entirely exhausted. The boy is certainly ecstatic with the return of his cat and the party gained 1 reputation. Too bad they are tired and have to lose 1 checkmark each as well.

Just before leaving Gloomhaven, Brutus decided to make a donation to the Sanctuary of the Great Oak for some Blessing.

On the journey to the Temple of the Elements, the party encounter a pack of Vermlings in a circle singing and dancing. It seems like they are doing some ritual. Staying hidden, the party sat through a number of tunes and felt enriched by the cultural experience. 

The Solo Bunch was greeted by more Cultists as they entered the temple.

With his Leaping Cleave, Brutus easily took out the two Cultists who greeted them.

Of course there were more Cultists in the central room after the entrance chamber. This other group was standing around a reddish clay skull-sized vessel. This must be the artifact the demon was talking about.

Tinder used his Net Shooter and Stun Powder to Stun and Immobilize the enemies, and it wasn’t too difficult to finish this group as well.

Just before the last Cultist was killed, he managed to summon a Living Bones. It was so unexpected! Brutus took on this unexpected threat, but not after suffering additional damage. 

With the room cleared, Weaver and Tinder spent some time towards their Battle goals. Weaver picked up all the loot left by the Cultists, and Tinder managed to get the Treasure Chest. But too bad the chest contained a trap. Well, at least he achieved his Battle goal.

Now comes the tough job of destroying the four altars. They are in different rooms, and the presence of the altars will give the Demons additional HP and attack points.

The party decided to split up, each taking on a room:

- Weaver summoned the Burning Avatar and went into the room with the Frost Demon.

- Brutus went into the one with two Flame Demons.

- Tinder summoned the Dangerous Contraption and went into the one with a Wind Demon.

It was tough going from now on... and keeping track of the additional HP was made more complicated. Dice came in handy to help to track all the additional fiddiliness of this scenario.

Brutus’ room with the Flame Demons was the toughest of the lot. With high shields and additional HP due to the presence of the altars, Brutus was down to really low HP. Eventually he managed to survive from a combination of the destruction of the other altars by Tinder and Weaver, who only had to face one Wind Demon and Frost Demon each.

With the Wind Demon dying from Wound, the heroes have to make their way to the last room.

Weaver was the first there and opened the door. She was confronted with the final two Earth Demons and the last altar.


The Earth Demons had high HP and killing them wasn’t easy. They also moved towards the door to attack the party.

Weaver retreated and cast Fire Orbs, hurting one and killing the other, with the additional damage from a Minor Power Potion.

Before the last demon could block the entrance, Brutus jumped over it and entered the room. The party’s combined attack eventually manage to take down the last enemy.

That left the last altarand all Brutus had to do was to destroy it with an Unstoppable Charge.

With that, the party picked up the Artifact. It seems to be corrupted and sensing that it could be used for evil, the party has to decide to fight for the evil or against it. The other alternative is to visit Hail... decisions decisions...

This scenario was not easy, due to the combination of having to destroy all the altars (10 HP each) and the additional HP and attack the Demons had. Thankfully, the decision for the party to spilt up worked. But it was really close as Brutus was close to being defeated.