The Final Battle Part 1 - Adventure Setup

"And we come to it at last. The final battle..."

- Eladrion, Mage Scion

For the final battle, I wanted a 2 part adventure to end off the campaign, the first of which would be a grand scale epic in the vein of an MMORPG type arena. To accomplish this and keep it in line with the story sequence of the previous adventures, I opted for gaming mechanics that could easily be tweaked to allow for replay-ability and to accompany varying degrees of difficulty, notably on the activation of heroes and monsters based on the sequence of phases. The underlying engine for The Final Battle Part 1 is essentially a combination of a tower defense and a capture-the-flag driven objective system that is replayed over a sequence of events. The battle kicks off immediately following the previous adventure (Adventure 9: The Paths of Night).

Adventure Setup:

This adventure has a number of setup steps. The sequence of steps is somewhat important so ensure that you execute them in order:

1. Board Setup: 

Setup the board as indicated in Figure 1 below.

This adventure uses a pre-constructed map, built off of ALL of the Legend of Drizzt Cavern Tiles. While most of the previous adventures in the Ruin of Nimbar campaign allowed for some randomness and customization to the board build/ dungeon setup, this adventure requires that the board mirrors the given map layout exactly. The Throne Room tile, together with the Stone Altar token will be used to represent Astifoorn and the Tower of Altoth as well as the Heroes Activation points while the Rocky Lair Tile will represent the Enemy Lair & monster activation points. All of the Volcanic Cavern Tiles are used to build up the Enemy Lair and there are 3 main entry paths down which enemies may move towards Astifoorn. All of the Cavern Edge and Fissure Tiles are needed for this adventure.

Figure 1: Board Setup

2. City Wall & Tower Setup:

Setup the City Wall & Tower as indicated in Figure 2a below.

Stack 5 of the Cavern Edge Tiles in a line below the Drow Glyph Tile as indicated in Figure 2a. Then stack another layer of 5 Cavern Edge tiles on top of the first. This represents the City Wall. Finally stack two layers of 5 Cavern Edge tiles around the Throne Room Tile. Place the Stone Altar token on the Throne icon on the Tile. Place the Eladrion miniature next to the altar token and place 6 starfire crystals (use whatever beads/ gems/tokens you like) on the altar. Place the Immeril wizard miniature inside the Throne room on the Tile closest to the Drow Glyph Tile. Place Eladrion & Immeril's power cards to one side of the Throne Room Tile.

For Eladrion, the following Power Cards are used: Summoner's Call, Fury of the Elements, 4 Elemental Ally Cards (Gust, Freeze, Blaze & Crush).

For Immeril, the following Power Cards are used:  Scorching Burst, Magic Missile, Fireball, Lightning Bolt.

Now place six 5 HP tokens to one side of the Throne Room Tile. These represent the Forgemaster's Incantation Track. (See Figure 2b) (rules explained later). Place a single D20 next to this track. Place it with '1' facing upwards. This will be used to measure your Objective XP (rules explained later).

Finally, leave room above the Incantation Track for your Victory Display Area (Figure 2b). This is where all your won Objective tokens are stored.

Figure 2a: City Wall & Tower Setup

3. Heroes Setup:

Setup the Heroes as indicated in Figure 3a below.

Separate ALL of the Heroes from the Castle Ravenloft (except for Immeril), Legend of Drizzt and Wrath of Ashardalon games as well as the 2 custom built heroes (see Necromancer and Druid builds) into 3 regiments of 5 heroes each and 1 regiment of 4 heroes (for the Dwarven army). For the purposes of this adventure, the group of heroes that are active for a particular objective are known as a 'regiment'.

• Regiment 1: The Warsworn: Tarak (Commander), Jarlaxle, Keylith, Arjan, Alyssa.
• Regiment 2: Companions of the Hall: Drizzt (Commander), Artemis, Catti Brie, Wulfgar, Regis.
• Regiment 3: Stealth Squadron: Quinn (Commander), Heskan, Kat, Lolth, Aldred.
• Regiment 4: The Dwarven Army: Bruenor (Leader), Thorgrim, Vistra, Athrogate + 10 5HP tokens.

Place the Heroes in their regiments behind the City Wall (See Figure 3a below). Give each Regiment a Regiment Activation Dice (See below). Place each regiment's Hero stats card and power cards to one side of the board. Once a Regiment activates at the start of a given Objective, move the stats & power cards for that hero squad to the Regiment Activation Track (Figure 3b).

Figure 3a: Board Layout (Hordes & Regiments)

Figure 3b: Regiment Activation Track

Regiment Activation Dice: Each Regiment has a special die to indicate the number of Heroes activating per phase. In most cases, 2 heroes activate per turn (see Activation Table below) For this campaign I used some leftover action dice from the Dicemasters games I owned. Alternatively, you could use a standard D6. Both the D6 or Action dice rolls are explained here:

Activation Table:

Action Dice Roll	D6 Dice Roll	Activation
2	6,2,1	2 Heroes
Action	3	3 Heroes
Action *	4	4 Heroes
Action **	5	5 Heroes

4. Monsters Setup:

Setup the Monsters as indicated in Figure 4 below. 

Create 6 Enemy Battalion Hordes. Place the relevant monster cards and tokens to one side. You may mix and match as you please or go with the suggested groups below. For the purposes of this adventure, the group of monsters that are active for a particular activation are known as a 'horde'.

Note: When creating your own hordes try and follow the following suggestions for the minimum XP per battalion. The idea is to amp up the XP levels of enemies in the latter hordes:

1. Horde 1: Klan Kobold: 14 XP - 1 x Meerak Kobold Dragonlord, 3 x Kobold Dragonshield, 3 x Kobold Skirmisher, 3 x Rat Swarms.
2. Horde 2: Goblin Glories: 16 XP - Goblin Champion, 3 x Goblin Cutters, 3 x Goblin Archers, 1 x Feral Troll, 3 Hunting Drakes.
3. Horde 3: Cult of Lolth: 22 XP - 1 x Dinin Do'Urden, Drider, 3 x Spiders, 3 x Spider Swarm, 3 x Drow Duelists.
4. Horde 4: Orc Pact: 25 XP - 1 x Kraash, Orc Storm Shaman, 3 x Orc Archers, 3 x Orc Smashers, 3 x Snakes, 1 x Legion Devil, 1 x Rage Drake
5. Horde 5: Abberant Ambush: 29 XP - 1 x Otyugh, 3 x Grells, 3 x Gibbering Mouthers, 2 x Water Elementals, 1 x Chaos Legion Death Tyrant.
6. Horde 6: Undead Horde:32XP - 1 x Zombie Dragon, 3 x Zombies, 2 x Hypnotic Spirits, 2 x Blazing Skeletons, 2 x Wraiths, 2 x Ghouls, 2 x Chaos Legion Necrophage.

Place all the Enemy Battalion Hordes in and around the Rocky Lair Tile and separate their monster cards in piles to one side of the board as indicated in Figure 4.

Figure 4: Monster Setup

5. Chaos Legions Setup:

Setup the Chaos Legions as indicated in Figure 4 above.

For the Chaos Legions, you will need the Villain Cards from the Ruin of Nimbar: Chaos Legions post. This adventure uses the following cards and Chaos Legion miniatures:

1 x Zaldramas Demon Lord (inactive for this Adventure).

1 x Death Tyrant

2 x Necrophage

Place Zaldramas on the Rocky Lair Tile (on the Icon) and the Chaos Legions on and around the Rocky Lair Tile (See Figure 4 above).

6. Objective & Horde Activation Track Setup:

Setup the Objective Tokens as indicated in Figure 5b below.

Objective Tokens:

The Final Battle consists of 6 missions known as 'Objectives'. An Objective is either won (scored) or lost according to specific rules listed on the Objective. Win conditions are also listed. A minimum 4 Objective win is required for a very basic win condition for this Adventure. 

Horde Activation Tokens:

The Horde activation tokens consists of a number of monster tokens (0, 1, 2, 3, 4 and any required villain tokens). At the start of a new Objective (rules explained in The Final Battle Part 1 - Adventure Rules), the relevant Horde's monster cards are shuffled together with the monster token pile and placed above the Objective Track as indicated in Figure 5a. The mechanics for Horde Activation is explained in the Adventure Rules post..

Objective Track:

The Objective Track consists of a number of objective tokens. After each Objective, consult the Objective's Victory Requirements to determine win conditions. Then, if you have won that objective, you may remove that objective token from the track and add it to your Victory display. 

Figure 5a: Horde Activation

Figure 5b: Objective Tokens

7. Encounter & Treasure Card Setup:

This Adventure makes use of the following Encounter Cards from Wrath of Ashardalon: 

Environment: Walls of Magma, Hidden Snipers.

Hazards: Cave In, Volcanic Vapors.

Traps: Lava Flow, Poisoned Dart Trap, Whirling Blades, Rolling Boulder.

Events: Unbearable Heat, Revel in Destruction, Deadly Poison, Quick Advance.

Curses: A Gap in the Armor, Terrifying Roar, Dragon Fear, Cage, Bloodlust.

Events: Earthquake!, Steam Vent, Concussive Blast, Poisoned Arrow, Walking Dream, Volcanic Burst, Sulphurous Cloud, Bull's Eye!, Deep Tremor, Phalagar's Lair.

Shuffle the Encounter Deck Pile and Place it to one side of the board.

For this Adventure it is recommended that you combine all the Treasure Decks across the three games (Ravenloft, Drizzt and Ashardalon). Shuffle the treasure cards and place it to one side of the board. Each regiment will have an inventory of treasure cards from which to select (explained later).

Figure 6: Regiment Inventory

Your board state is now ready to commence playing the Final Battle Objectives. Before playing, it is required that you read and refer to the rules explained in The Final Battle Part 1 - Adventure Rules.