Vanguard: Seeking Sanctuary - Chapter 7: Treasure

 "The refugee trek comes across a monastery that looks abandoned.

"According to lore, within its vaults may be the fabled Springblade - a sword with the magical power to revive the fallen. Leaving the trek outside under the guard of the soldiers, the mercenaries dare an attempt to recover the weapon..."

This scenario is very different. Basically I was facing a race; get one mercenary to the end, pick up the sword, and get him/her back to the entrance before 20 monsters get out. The monsters will only stop to fight if there is a mercenary blocking them.

Just to clear it up now, I realized after playing that the path should have been set up diagonally and I didn't do that. However, I had decided to roll a double spawn move for the first monster placement. But, hey, all it means is everyone has a shorter course to run in order accomplish their win condition. So bad guys have a numbers advantage with the first wave.

Dramatic thumbnail?

Before rolling to populate monsters, I chose how to attack this scenario. I decided to run three groups of 2 mercenaries, each group taking one of the three corridors. On the left, Ivor and Willy the Wizard, Thorval and Emeralda in the middle, and Elan and Katya on the right.

Turn 0:

Three elites and six grunts to start!

Turn 1:

I see I made an error: allowed Willy a fireball after moving twice. It knocked down that middle grunt on the left side, so it didn't move forward as far as the rest. Willy also got an armour buff from Emeralda before moving.

Turn 2:

Katya advances and kills a grunt right off the bat! It's clear that I'm going to have to send only one fighter to get the sword while I try to delay as many of the horde as I can with every one else.

Thorval had rushed ahead, counting on Emeralda succeeding on at least one attempt to buff his armour! Perhaps the oncoming wall of monster got to her as she failed to cast the spell! Thorval is killed!!

Turn 3:

With Thorval gone and herself being un armoured, Emeralda retreats to a spot where she can cast a buff on Elan. As a result, any monsters coming down the middle are unopposed the entire way! On the left, Ivor is blocking a grunt from advancing when a boss comes up and knocks him over!

From this point on, Katya is totally occupied by this grunt. She will keep knocking it down and it will keep coming back for more! Emeralda's buffs will keep her from being knocked down.

Turn 4:

Emeralda moves again to cast a buff on Katya, but puts herself in the path of an oncoming grunt. Willy makes it to the sword and lifts it from its resting place.

Turn 5:

Ivor, as he recovers from the monster's blow, rises up and kills that boss monster dead!

Somehow, no monsters have spawned in the middle corridor. Willy takes the road less populated! So far, 11 monsters have left the building! 

Turn 6:

Ivor's sword strikes true again as a grunt falls before him. (Should this elite engage or pass by? It's not technically blocked and I could argue, since Ivor needed two actions to down that grunt, he was too busy to stop the larger monster.)

Willy is only one movement from the door! As soon as she sees him, Emeralda runs out, calling to Katya and Elan to get out, too!

Turn 7:

Willy exits the monastery with the Springblade! The scenario is won. And none too soon either: fifteen monsters were able to get out.

This scenario was very quick playing. Had the course been diagonal, I would have needed one more turn, maybe two. But even after two turns, I'd have had three more monsters leave at most, pushing that counter to 18. Maybe not, they'd have to run farther too! Katya and Elan still had a buff each, and were facing only grunts, not likely to face more than a knocked down status.

So onward to the final face-off. Needing a new mercenary. I'm thinking about having some form of casualty count to reflect the soldiers outside having to fight off the monsters that did exit the monastery.