The Ruin of Nimbar Adventure 7: The Paths Of Night

"There is another way in to the City. It is not known by many and the few who know it will not be want of knowing...for it is a path of maddening darkness and danger. But it will lead you to the very door of the Tower of Altoth."

Following the meeting in Dal Haleth, the Mage Scion Eladrion set out with the last of the starfire crystals and opened the rift to the traverse the Lai T'run Fael, the mysterious Paths of Night which enables travel between the realms. Hoping that this path will secretly lead them to the tower in the besieged city of Astifoorn, Eladrion along with the Drow Ranger Drizzt, the Cleric Quinn, Druid Aldred and Necromancer Lolth, have embarked on the impossible quest to restore the crystals to the Everlast Forges. In a quiet clearing within the deepest parts of the forests, Eladrion used Arcane knowledge to create a vortex and, with a final glance at the serene peace of Dal Haleth, the heroes stepped though and into the Paths of Night. But as soon as the rift into the vortex opened, a second rift appeared and a Death Tyrant, a chaos-tainted undead Beholder followed the Heroes into the void.

Goal: Transport 4 starfire crystals through the Arcane Circle.
Number of Heroes: 2-4 (Group Adventure). Recommended: 4.
Suggested Heroes:
* Eladrion, Elven Mage - custom, see Mage Scion Build.
* Quinn, Human Cleric - WOA.
* Drizzt, Drow Ranger - LOD,
* Aldred, Elf Druid - custom, see Druid Build.
* Lolth, Necromancer - custom, see Necromancer Build.

Healing Surges: 4

Adventure Setup:
* One 20 Tile stack of random dungeon tiles, shuffled (no exits, stairways or vaults).
* One 20 Tile stack of ANY random dungeon/cavern tiles, shuffled.
* Arcane Circle Tile from CR.
* Any one Start Tile from CR/ WOA/ LOD.
* 12 Time Tokens.
* 4 HP Tokens
* D20 dice (I used 3 separate ones for Warps/ Tyrant movement).

Special Components In This Adventure:
* Death Tyrant monster card (see below) and 4 Death Tyrant tokens/ miniatures.
   (The ones I used are the Caco-Demons from the Doom Boardgame).

Death Tyrant Villain Card:

Death Tyrant Token (if needed):

When You Start The Adventure, Read:
A maddening silence eschews and all around you lie the ethereal cosmos that stretch out above and behind you into an infinite universe. The void is both beautiful and frightening and you find yourself being pulled through time and memory. Somewhere, off in the distance, lies the Arcane Circles which the Mages of Old used to travel between the realms. If you can reach it, you can transport the starfire crystals across to the Forges of Astifoorn. But be careful! The Void is perilous and prone to maddening Time and Space Warps. Also a Death Tyrant, a chaos spawned Beholder, has also entered the Paths of Night and is relentless in its pursuit of you!

Starfire Crystals:
You can use any colored gems/ beads to denote the crystals. At the start of the game, give each Hero 2 starfire crystals and place it on that Hero's stats card.

Setup:
Place the 20 Tile Stack of dungeon tiles to one side. Then lay the 20 tiles from the random tile stack facedown in a 4x5 grid as indicated in the picture below. Use removeable labels/ stickers to number the tiles, starting from the topmost left (#1) to the bottom right tile (#20). Place the start tile facedown connected to Tile #1 (the topmost left facedown tile). This map represents the void/ Paths of Night and each tile in it is known as a Night Tile. Place your Heroes on the Starting Night Tile.

Paths of Night Setup: 4 x 5 Grid

Starting Tactics:
At the start of the game, before the first player starts his Hero Phase, roll a D20 and place the Arcane Circle Tile on the matching numbered Night Tile. For example: If this rolled a 14, the Arcane Circle would be on the 14th Night Tile as indicated in the picture below. Start the Time Warp Counter (see Time Warp Tactics below). Then roll a second D20 and place the Death Tyrant Figurine on that Night Tile. (If you Time Warped and there are more than one Death Tyrants in play, roll a D20 for each of them and place them accordingly). See above image for explanation.

Time Warp Tactics:
Place 12 Time Tokens face-up in a row to one side of the board. At the start of each Hero's Hero phase, flip over a time token. Once the last time token has been turned, a Time Warp occurs! Remove all 'explored' tiles and monsters except for the Arcane Circle Tile and any Death Tyrants currently in play. Then repeat the Starting Tactics above. You will need to find the Arcane Circle again!
Note: The Time Warp may only occur a maximum of 4 times (use HP tokens to keep track of time warps). After that the Arcane Circle Tile vanishes and your Heroes are trapped in the void forever!

Space Warp Tactics:
If your Hero is on a Night Tile at the END of his Exploration phase and there are NO monsters on the current tile, your Hero undergoes a 'Space Warp'. Roll a D20 and place your Hero on the matching numbered tile. Then Roll a second D20 and move the Death Tyrant to that numbered tile. The agents of Chaos are warping as well! (If there are more that one Death Tyrants in play, roll a D20 for each of them and place them accordingly).
Note: Hero's that have warped onto the same tile MAY exchange starfire crystals (one crystal per turn).

Exploration Tactics:
If your Hero is on a Night Tile at the START of his Exploration phase and there are ONE or MORE monsters on that tile, the Hero cannot explore or warp away from that tile until the Monster is defeated.
If your Hero is on a Night Tile at the START of his Exploration phase and there are NO monsters on the current tile, your Hero may choose to explore the current tile. Draw a random tile from the dungeon tile stack and place it face-down on top of your current tile. Rotate the tile to choose your orientation for it and then flip it over.
Note: Your Hero is now 'locked' into a normal dungeon and cannot return to the Night Tiles by movement unless some special card allows for it.
The normal exploration rules now follow: Place a new monster and draw an encounter card if needed (we used encounters from the WOA boardgame). You may now follow the standard game rules of movement, exploration and tile placement and 'build on' to your existing explored tile to try and connect with the Arcane Circle.

Monster Tactics:
If your Hero is on a Night Tile at the START of his Exploration phase and there are NO monsters on the current tile and you choose NOT to explore the current Night Tile, then draw a monster card from the top of the monster card deck and place the monster on the current tile. That monster activates as per normal during the villain phase. That monster is now 'locked' in space to that Night Tile and cannot move to a new tile unless a Death Tyrant warps it (see Death Tyrant Tactics) OR any one Hero explores that tile. Monsters do not warp along with Heroes. Any hero warping onto a Night Tile with a monster may engage that monster in battle.

Arcane Circle Tactics:
Whenever a Hero carrying a starfire crystal either space warps onto the Arcane Circle (see Space Warp Tactics) or reached it through exploration (see Exploration Tactics), that Hero may spend 5XP to teleport the crystals through the void and safely to the Everlast Forges. Then that hero MUST immediately Space Warp. If that Hero lands on the Arcane Circle again, he may spend another another 5XP to teleport himself out of the void. Remove that Hero from the game.

Death Tyrant Tactics:
The Death Tyrants are relentless in their pursuit of you and the crystals:

• If the Death Tyrant is on an unoccupied Night Tile at the start of any Hero's Villain Phase, the Death Tyrant space warps to a new tile (see Space Warp Tactics above).
• The Death Tyrant also space warps to a new tile whenever a Hero Space Warps (see Space Warp Tactics above). 
• Any one monster sharing a Night Tile with a Tyrant also warps along with the Tyrant.
• If the Death Tyrant is on a tile with 2 or more monsters it undergoes a Demonic Surge! (see the monster's villain cards for tactics).
• If the Death Tyrant space warps (not moves) onto the Arcane Circle Tile, the Chaos Beholder undergoes a Demonic Surge! Roll a D20 to place a 2nd Tyrant figurine on the board. Then, roll twice whenever these demons warp to place each on a different location. The Death Tyrants may only surge a maximum of 4 times.
• If a Death Tyrant manages to kill a Hero or is on a tile with a Hero that has just been killed and that Hero is in possession of a starfire crystal, remove the crystal from that Hero and place it next to the Death Tyrant Villain card. The Death Tyrant has consumed it!

Special Night Tile Rules:

• Treat any card ability or effect that has the text 'within x tiles'  as the current Night Tile. Heroes, Traps, Villains and Monsters are 'blind' to adjacent Night tiles for the purpose of this game.
• Treat any card ability or effect that has the text 'adjacent to' as the current Night Tile. Heroes, Monsters and Villains occupying the same Night Tile are all regarded as adjacent to each other.
• Any card effect or encounter card effect that requires drawing and placing an additional dungeon tile is done in a random manner: Roll a D20 and place the drawn dungeon face up tile on the numbered Night Tile, placing monsters as instructed. If the number rolled is already an explored Night Tile, roll again until your are able to place the tile. If all the tiles are occupied, discard the effect.
• Any card or effect that removes a Hero from the board and allows the Hero to placed on any tile afterwards ONLY applies to explored tiles and excludes Night Tiles and the Arcane Circle. You may however place your Hero on an explored tile connecting to the Arcane Circle.
• Where rules are unclear, card text should be given priority. House-rule where needed.

Defeat:
The Heroes lose the game if:
* You have exceeded the maximum number of time warps.
* All of the starfire crystals have been consumed by the Tyrants.
* Any one Hero is killed and no more Healing Surges remain.

Victory:
The Heroes win the game if:
* At least 4 of the starfire crystals have been 'teleported' from the Arcane Circle.

Variations:
* For a slightly longer game: Increase the maximum number of Time Warps to 8. In order to complete the game each Hero MUST also teleport themselves from the void by landing on the Arcane Circle and spending 5XP at the end of the current Hero Phase.
* For a more interesting variation: After each Time Warp, change the layout of the Grid with your own combinations of facedown Night Tile placement. Try a 5x4 or a 10x2 or opt for a lattice of spiral shape! (see below).

When All Of The Starfire Crystals Have Been Teleported, Read:
With the menacing Death Tyrants bearing down on your party, you manage to secure and teleport the last of the starfire crystals through the gateway to Astifoorn. Using a powerful summoning invocation, Eladrion the Mage Scion pulls all of your remaining company onto the Arcane Circle. Powerful shockwaves erupt from the sheer power of the spell and you all tear through the very fabric of the universe. Darkness envelopes you as you are pulled through time and space.. Then a burst and a piercing brightness blinds you as you emerge into the light and a somewhat familiar voice exclaims loudly in surprise and awe: "By Asharah! You lot are most certainly welcomed in these unwelcoming times!".
It is the voice of Tarak Half-Orc, Leader of the Warsworn Legion and Warden of the East.

You breath a sigh of great relief. You made it back to Astifoorn. The Everlast will now be reforged!