A group of volunteers has been chosen to attack Blue Tail at Fort Zaquino. Lowrance the Fighter, Madge the Rogue, and Squint Eye the Archer accompany Cave Top the Wizard in a frontal assault at daybreak.

This is an illustrated example of play for the scenario “Jailbreak at Fort Zaquino!”

Satchel the Fighter is imprisoned in the middle of the fort. The Heroes can try to break the cage with attacks, but the goblin garrison will surely have something to say about it!

The Heroes move first. Squint Eye rolls a D6 and gets a 2. He has 2 Action Points this turn. He spends 1 Action Point to notch a bolt into his crossbow and 1 to fire it at the speargoblin guarding Satchel. Since Squint Eye is an Archer he can take a Power Shot for only 1 Action Point, allowing him to call a color instead of a suit to see if his shot hits its mark.

He calls reds and flips the top card from the deck. It’s the ace of spades, a miss! The stray bolt slams into the wall of the fort with a heavy thud. The Squint Eye’s activation is over.

Cave Top is next. The Heroes are off to a slow start–the devious kobold Wizard rolls a 1. He spends his sole Action Point on a Normal Cast, channeling Push through his Arcane Staff at the same speargoblin.

He calls hearts and flips the top card from the deck. It’s the nine of hearts! The spell connects. The speargoblin is wearing heavy leather armor–2 squares indicates that he gets to call two suits (i.e. a color) to try to block successful hits.

The goblin calls blacks and pulls the 4 of spades. The armor absorbs some of the magical energy but there is still a difference of 5 in Cave Top’s favor. The spell Push moves a character directly away from the caster a number of zones equal to the difference. The speargoblin is hurled 3 zones before the fort’s wall blocks his progress.

Upon hitting the wall the unlucky goblin is forced to take damage equal to one card pulled from the deck no matter what suit the card is. The 5 of clubs is pulled, but the goblin calls reds for his armor save and is saved from all damage with the ace of hearts.

Madge is the next Hero activated. Rogues roll 2 dice for Action Points. Rolling a 7, Madge spends 2 Action Points to move two zones to Satchel’s cage. She winds up and swings a Power Attack with her sword at the cage for another 2 Action Points. She calls blacks and pulls a 5 of spades, dealing 5 damage to the cage. The cage breaks once it takes 8 damage.

She misses her next Power Attack and takes a Normal Attack with her last Action Point. Calling diamonds, she pulls the 10 of spades and misses once more. Her activation is over, but Satchel is closer to freedom.

Lowrance rolls a 2 and moves two zones to challenge the goblin skirmisher near the campfire. He doesn’t have enough Action Points to press his attack home, and the Hero Impulse is over.

The Monster Impulse begins with the skirmisher squaring off with Lowrance rolling a 3. Goblins are quick–they add 1 to their Action Point rolls.

With 4 Action Points the skirmisher takes 2 Power Attacks at Lowrance–and whiffs both. Next goblin!

The sentry on Fort Zaquino’s northeast landing rolls a 2, plus 1 is 3 Action Points. Notching an arrow into his crude bow, he lets off a Power Shot at Cave Top. He calls reds and pulls the ace of spades. The arrow zooms harmlessly over Cave Top’s large hat.

The ear-ringed scout on the south wall gets 2 Action Points. He notches an arrow and lets a Normal Shot fly at Squint Eye, but it soars wide.

Blue Tail’s bodyguard leaps to his feet in the barracks–7 Action Points! He charges into the yard and swings a Power Attack at Madge. Calling reds, he connects with the king of hearts. Madge tries to block with her Light Armor ( [] + 1) but misses the suit call. The goblin deals Madge 13 damage (the value of the king) minus 1, because defensive equipments’ modifiers are still considered even if the pull is missed. Madge takes 12 damage and, because the damaging card was a heart, begins to bleed. The second Power Attack misses.

The goblin near the straw targets is slower off the mark, getting only 2 Action Points. He draws his sword for 1 Action Point and moves towards the fray.

The blacksmith gets 7 Action Points. Snickering at his comrade laying in a heap against the wooden wall, he plunges forward into Madge’s zone. He Power Attacks once, hitting Madge with a 6 of spades. She calls diamonds in defense and flips the 3 of diamonds, blocking all but 2 damage. The spade result unlocks the axe’s special damage, which is a knock down. Madge stumbles in the dirt and falls to one knee as the blacksmith swings once more. He connects with the 9 of diamonds, but Madge is able to block with the ace of diamonds. Madge is down to 1 Health Point.

The armored speargoblin rolls a 3(+1). He spends 2 Action Points to stand up and hauls himself back towards the breach.

Blue Tail is the last to move. With only 2 Action Points he stalks into the courtyard. The Monster Impulse is finished.

Lowrance starts off turn 2 for the Heroes. He rolls a 1 and uses it to make a Power Attack on the goblin in front of him. He misses!

Madge rolls a 7. It is illegal to stand up in a zone occupied by an enemy, so she crawls 1 zone away, spends 2 Action Points to stand up, moves 1 more zone, and spends her last 2 Action Points to Patch Up her bleeding wound.

Squint Eye rolls a 6. He readies a bolt for 1 Action Point and fires at Blue Tail’s bodyguard, hitting him with an 8 of hearts. The goblin misses his armor save completely and takes 9 damage (8 plus 1 with the crossbow’s modifier). He notches and misses his next shot. Notching one last bolt, he fires at the armored speargoblin. He hits with a 6 of spades, the goblin misses his armor call, and the first monster falls!

Cave Top rolls a 5. He channels Blast through his staff, hurling a seething ball of explosive energy into the goblins surrounding Satchel’s cage. Since Blast affects every character in a zone, the Power Cast will hit both goblins as well as Satchel himself.

Cave Top calls blacks and pulls the seven of spades. A powerful hit! This number will be weighed against each character’s armor save. Blue Tail’s bodyguard calls blacks and pulls the 7 of hearts. His armor unable to protect him, the goblin is blown into oblivion by Cave Top’s spell. The bodyguard also misses his armor save, takes 7 damage and, according to Blast’s wild card result, is knocked off of his feet. Satchel calls reds and pulls the 5 of diamonds. His heavy armor adds 2 to the result to total 7, enough the block the spell. He glares at Cave Top from behind his bars nonetheless.

With his last 2 Action Points Cave Top Power Casts Push at the goblin sentry who took a shot at him last turn. The spell connects with the jack of spades. The sentry calls diamonds and flips clubs and is thus flung off of the fort’s high walls and into certain doom. The Hero Impulse is over.

The goblins react with a flurry of missed bow shots, low rolls, and slow movement. The archer in the courtyard was the one exception, rolling a 6 and charging at Lowrance.

One Power Attack finds its mark and the 10 of diamonds slips by Lowrance’s heavy armor. The goblin’s sword wounds on wild cards. Lowrance takes 8. Blood begins to soak his undershirt.

The second Power Attack is deflected by the heavy armor. Meanwhile, the remaining goblins close with the distressed party.

Lowrance begins the Hero Impulse by rolling a 4. He misses his first Power Attack, then strikes the speargoblin down with his second Power Attack (attack call black, pull jack of clubs/defense call hearts, pull king of spades). The archer manages to knock Lowrance’s third blow aside with his sword (attack call red, pull 4 of hearts/defense call diamonds, pull jack of diamonds) but the fourth finishes him (attack call red, pull queen of hearts/defense call black, pull jack of hearts). Two more goblins are down after much effort by the Fighter.

Madge rolls a 9 and starts by Power Attacking the blacksmith in front of her, killing him. She moves into Lowrance’s zone and spends another 2 Action Points to use her First Aid ability, pulling the 8 of clubs. She heals Lowrance for 8 Health Points and stops his bleeding wound in the process. Moving to Satchel’s cage, she Power Attacks the lock and hits it with the 3 of hearts, breaking it wide open. She draws her bow with her last Action Point.

Satchel bursts out of his cage with a roll of 6. He barrels towards Blue Tail, reaching him with 3 Action Points left. Satchel is a Fighter, so he starts swinging Power Attacks. The first attack hits–a 9 of spades–and Blue Tail misses his defense call. He takes 11 damage (the Stout Spear adds 1 and Satchel’s Weapon Training ability adds 1) and, according to the stout spear’s wild card result–is knocked down with 2 Health Points remaining. Coming for another blow, Satchel connects with the 9 of diamonds. Prone characters can only defend with a maximum of 1 suit, but Blue Tail calls diamonds and blocks the attack with the ace of diamonds. With his last strike Satchel calls blacks and pulls the king of clubs, which threatens to deal 13 damage plus the 2 from Satchel’s weapon and ability. Blue Tail calls hearts and pulls the 4 of hearts, but it is not enough. Satchel gets 11 more damage through Blue Tail’s defense and exacts revenge on his captor.

Squint Eye rolls a 2. He notches an arrow and lets fly at the sole surviving goblin. He misses.

Cave Top rolls a 1 and chooses to attempt an Overcharge Action. He calls diamonds and pulls the jack of diamonds–his charge is successful. He may add the jack of diamonds to his next successful cast (i.e. adding 11 damage and a wild card damage result). The third Hero Impulse comes to an end.

The goblin gets 7 Action Points. He launches arrow after arrow at the Heroes in the courtyard, but all three of them miss.

Squint Eye starts off the fourth Hero Impulse by rolling a six. After a couple of frustrating turns, he turns to the goblin with new focus. He calls red and pulls the 4 of diamonds, a hit! The goblin calls hearts and pulls the 3 of clubs. Squint Eye’s Critical Shot Ability lets him add another damage card to any wild card hits with ranged weapons. He flips the 7 of diamonds. The total (12) exceeds the goblin’s 10 Health Points.

The goblin garrison is eliminated! The Heroes claim victory in the first battle. Now they only have to get home again…