Pathfinder: Someone Else's Shoes

Hi folks,

On Mondays I have been doing my best to meet up with The Trooper and Sgt Waz to continue their Pathfinder Adventure Card Game campaign. Together with KuriboGoomba, they have been playing Pathfinder fairly consistently for a number of years now. I had only played in two sessions over that time but, after we lost Goomba, it was time to step up and help keep the party going. I have inherited Goomba's Half-Orc Witch Hunter character, Imrijka, and she is is such a typical choice for him. Just flicking through the cards he has collected for her is like a window into his mind, the gamer we all know so well. Currently, she is geared up for dealing horrific ranged damage, with some spectacular conditional bonuses that allow for devastating alpha strikes when required. She also has a real eclectic mix of other junk! Some cards I just pick up and laugh at, thinking "why the hell do I have this!?" Then I remember who picked the cards and it all makes sense. Heavy crossbow: check! Frog; check! Monkey's paw: check!

The last game saw us hunting down some demonic goon through the stronghold of our enemy. The usual strategy involves closing locations to corner the main bad guy, then sending in a heavy hitter to finish the job. That would be made difficult in this scenario due to an extra location that spawns after the second is closed, providing an extra hiding hole, and giant worms protecting every site. Thankfully, Imrijka has been geared towards passing constitution checks. I was going to be busy uncapping each site, by the looks of it.

Breakfast. 

We set up the board and got cracking, uncapping sites and starting to explore. One of Imrijka's skills, which Goomba has maximised, is the ability to take additional exploration actions whenever an enemy is slain. I quickly started churning through locations, chopping through demons and rolling 3+ to continue exploring.

We quickly closed down one location then found the villain we were hunting for. We had a golden chance to end the game quickly but even the bucket-load of dice we chucked at it, including a long range shot from me, wasn't enough to bring it down. I got the blame for this (of course!), because my d4 was the last rolled and could have made the difference. I only rolled a 2 however, and the mongrel got away. Let's forget the fact that on 2d20 Sgt Waz couldn't roll above 5's ;-)

Anyone got a blessing?  Anyone!?

After that we had some idea of where the villain had moved too, so we started grinding out a (hopeful) victory. The additional location spawned and The Trooper worked hard to close it, which would allow us to unlock a powerful character to use. We were running out of time though, so after checking the number of turns we each had left, worked about trapping the villain at the expense of any other bonuses. Strategically positioning ourselves, The Trooper and I temporarily closed all of the remaining escape sites, whilst Sgt Waz dove into the last pile to root out the evil within. In that last turn, he fought demon, after demon, after demon. It was epic.

Not the first demon. Not the last. 

Finally, Sgt Waz drew the main villain; some kind of hag. After missing her early on we threw everything at her, including another long range shot from me. With all of his bonuses, Sgt Waz amassed over 40 points of damage, including 2 from my plucky d4 from across the table. That was enough to take her down. I claimed the kill (of course!), because obviously my shot dealt the fatal wounds. With a tough victory under our belts, we sifted through the loot we had accumulated and modified our decks. I got rid of some of the really dodgy stuff Goomba had put in there. Part of me felt bad doing that, but I know he would have approved. After adding my own spin to the character I am keen for some more games. Sgt Waz has hinted that he has some miniatures on the way to match our characters, and I have the urge to get myself a set of dice to play with. More about that later!

See you across the table,

Marc