The Ruin of Nimbar Adventure 5: The Siege of Astifoorn

War! Astifoorn, the City of Stars is under siege. Zaldramas, the mysterious Chaos Lord has amassed an army of monsters on the outskirts of the Blessed Vale and is hell bent on penetrating the protective shields that surround the city. The enemy seeks to destroy the ancient forges atop the tower of Altoth wherein the Everlast may be reforged and the chaos driven out of Nimbar. While the remaining Wardens have separated into their own tasks of mustering forces (see: RON: Adventure 4), gathering Starfire see: RON: Adventure 3) and seeking out the last Scion of the Mages (coming soon in Adventure 6!), the fortification and protection of the city has fallen on Tarak Half-Orc, Lord Commander and Warden of the East. Skilled in warfare and combat, Tarak and his remaining War-sworn companions have secured the eastern paths leading up to the battlements at the pass of Ren, the only visible path into the vale. With the eastern front heavily fortified and imbued with deep and ancient magics, the dark tide of the armies of chaos were driven back into the shadows...

When You Start the Adventure, Read:
The eyes of the enemy are ever watchful and they learned soon of two paths, long forgotten and buried deep beneath the very foundations of the Tower of Altoth itself and stretching out, through many narrow passages and into the hidden crypts below a lost and somewhat familiar castle. Zaldramas has summoned hordes of his monsters, led by four of his most powerful generals to break the ancient passageways through the Ravenloft crypts and invade the tunnels below. Knowing that if the forces of darkness infiltrate the Tower, they will destroy the ancient forges and the Everlast will never be remade, Tarak Half-Orc and his battalion of fighters have gathered in arms in the lower foundations of the tower. Here, our brave heroes attempt to make a final stand to drive back the horde and also seal the crypt entrances to stop the monsters from entering the city!

Goal 1: Stop the monsters from getting to the Secure Exit and Tunnel Exit tiles and entering the city.
Goal 2: Seal the crypts and prevent more monsters from spawning and overrunning the lower tunnels beneath the tower!

Number of Heroes: 2 - 4 (Group Adventure). Best with 4 players (recommended).
Suggested Heroes: Tarak (WOA), Keyleth (WOA), Kat (CR), Jarlaxle (LOD), Arjan (CR)

Healing Surges: 4

Adventure Setup:
Start Tile from WOA, Secure Exit Tile, Tunnel Exit Tile, 2 x Long Hallway Tiles (WOA), 2 x Passage Tiles (WOA, connected to Long Hallway), 2 x Narrow Passage Corner Tiles (LOD), 2 x Narrow Passage Tiles (LOD), 6 x Passage Tiles (CR), 1 x Strahd's Crypt Tile (CR), 1 x Crypt of Sergei Tile (CR), 2 x Cavern Edge Tiles (LOD).
This adventure uses a pre-constructed map using the above components (see below).

Pre-Built Map Layout

Special Components in this adventure:
* All the monster tokens except for the '0 monsters' tokens, shuffled face down and separated into 2 stacks.
* Kobold Dragonlord, Werewolf, Orc Shaman, Flesh Golem, Mind Flayer and Duergar Captain villain tokens (shuffled facedown), villain cards and figurines.
* 8 x Time Tokens (or HP tokens)
* Monster card stack (from across all 3 games).
* Treasure card stack (from across all 3 games).
* 2 x Collapsed Tunnel edges (LOD).
* 1 x Crushing Walls Trap Token (CR),
* 1 x Dart Trap (CR).

Setup:
* Setup the map as shown in the Adventure Setup image above. Monsters will spawn from the coffins on the 2 crypt tiles in separate waves and make their way down the tunnels.
* Your Heroes will start the adventure on the start tile as per usual.
* There are no encounter cards for this adventure.
* Shuffle the 2 monster token stacks as well as the villain token stacks. Then, without looking, place a random villain token after the 4th and 8th monster token in each stack.
* If you are playing a 2 player game, shuffle in one random villain and reduce the monster token stack by removing 5 tokens in each stack.
* If you are playing the recommended 4 player game, give each player an extra treasure card as a starting bonus.
* Divide into groups of 2 and assign your groups to 'secure' each of the tunnels. Randomly have each group select one of the 2 trap tokens and also randomly select 'even' or 'odd' for each group (explained under Tactics below).

Tactics:
* At the start of any Hero's hero phase flip the top of any of the monster token and place the appropriate number of monsters on the relevant crypt tile.
* Heroes may move and attack as per normal. Note the -4AC inside the narrow passage tiles applies to both heroes and monsters/ villains.
* Monsters activate as per normal and will travel down the passageway towards the heroes.
* Villains activate at the start of the villain phase as per normal for all heroes (independent of your group/ squad allocation).
* When defeating a villain, you gain 2 treasure cards for your group.
* After the first villain spawns, a Hero may attempt a suicide mission to 'seal' off the crypt by trying to reach the crypt tile and spending 1 movement action to 'seal the crypt'. Place the collapsed tunnel token over the coffin. No further monsters may now spawn from this passageway.
* When monsters reaches the Long Hallway tile, roll a D20 die at the start of your Hero phase. If the number you have rolled is even and matches your group's choice of even or odd, all monsters on and ahead of the Long Hallway tile moves 1 tile in the direction of the tiles arrow (i.e. towards the exits).

Traps:
Heroes may spend 5XP to place a trap token marker on any of the normal passage tiles above the narrow passages. Traps activate whenever a monster moves over that tile. Note that traps will also still affect any hero ending their hero phase on a tile with a trap.

Victory:
* If both crypt tunnels are sealed and no more monsters remain inside the tunnels, the heroes have won the adventure.
* If all the monsters are killed/ defeated and no more monster tokens remain, the heroes have won the adventure.

Defeat:
* If  8 or monsters escape the tunnels the heroes lose the adventure.

* Use the time tokens/ HP tokens to keep track of escaped monsters.

* Note that if a villain escapes the tunnels, it counts as 2 monsters.

* The heroes also lose if any 1 hero is killed and no more healing surges remain, the heroes have lost the adventure.

When The Heroes Are Successful In Stopping The Forces of Chaos, Read:
Victory! As the forces of Zaldramas slink back into the shadows, the tunnels below the crypts are secure. Making their way back up the tower, the battle-weary heroes return to their lodgings for some much needed rest. Along the way, they all stop by the old watering hole to ease their turmoil and mend their wounds and anguish of the day. Around them and blissfully unaware of the great dangers that our heroes have endured, the city folk of the Vale continue in drink and songs of merriment. But for our heroes, this has been a dark day. A day of sword, steel and blood. No words are spoken as they raise their goblets in a silent salute. They are the War-sworn. And this battle only just began.