Rusty Dagger: Spire of the Golem

 And so Rach'mal the Bull begins his adventures in Rusty Dagger, the cute little, tiny booklet driven, fantasy solo game.

And we do so with the scenario included in the core rules pack, Spire of the Golem!

A mysterious structure has suddenly appeared overnight, and has not been entered by any adventurers so far.  So Rach'mal sets out at first light, out to breach the doors of the Onyx Spire and gather whatever artifacts might be stored inside...

 

But let's have a short look at Rach'mal's stats first, as he sets out for his first adventure:

 

 

Needed models

In this adventure, you of course face enemies, but there is also a chance of gaining a companion, the thief Allendale.  So let's have a look at what models I selected, and where applicable, changed some of them (visually) to suit my collection better.

 

 

Allendale the Thief: the "Bokkenrijder" Crisis limited edition entrance model from 2010

3 Zombies: these are Exiled Dead zombies from Warhamer Underworlds

2 Zombie Hounds: for these, I used Mastiffs from my Chaos Dwarf collection

Rat Swarm: this is actually changed for a Giant Rat I got from Vinted

Stone Golem: a Magic the Gathering Earth Elemental that serves in my K'daai regiment

The Game

 

 

And so we set out to play the first game of The Rusty Dagger!  The token bag was prepared as was all the material and figures we needed.  I used red GW rulers to border the 6 by 10 "encounter board" on my 3x3 cobblestone battlemat and of we where for the first adventure of Rach'mal the Bull in his quest for wealth and artifacts to advance his schemes!

 

After hearing rumours of a mysterious structure having appeared a few nights ago, you set out to a towering onyx spire set in a clearing just beyond the tree lines.  A malodor of rot fills your nostrils, you encounter a man leaning against a tree, who tells you he is there for the same reasons as you: to loot the place.  He is Allendale, a skilled thief, who has been scouting the spire since it's appearance.  

 

 

Unaware of what is behind the doors, you and Allendale forge a temporary alliance, and a Candor roll succes convinces him to join your quest. 

As they travel through the halls of the spire, sounds of low groans and shuffling can be heard in front of you.  As you step into the next room, you spot a trio of zombies, out to pick your head for brains...

 

 

All three zombies advance as they receive the first three activation counters, closing the gap to Rach'Mal and Allendale. 

But with a speed belying his Dawi stature, the Bull springs forward, swinging his huge hammer and taking the first of the zombies out!

 

The second zombie attacks Rach'Mal, but it's movements are to slow and he misses before being sturck itself by the huge hammer.  The first round ends and the tokens now go back in the bag, minus the one the zombies received for their first battle round. 

Rach'Mal takes down the second zombie with a well placed hammer strike, before he moves up to attack the final zombie and wounding it.  When the third hero activation counter comes out of the bag, this final enemy is also duly dispatched by the mighty Sorcerer-Prophet of Hashut.

 

 Rach'Mal and Allendale investigate the large statue in the room, and succesfully pop open a hidden compartment, yielding them a Small Healing Potion.

 

As they advance through the hallways, a sudden click sounds as a flagstone contained a Dart trap.  Luckily both of them dodge the missiles, but time to recover is short! 

Two fierce Hell Hounds (technically, zombie hounds, but this sounded like a better name to go with the models I used) and a Giant Rat (again, actually a rat swarm) stalk the corridor in front of them.

 

 The hounds advance swiftly towards our heroes, but Rach'Mal counters one of them and smashes his hammer against it's skull, wounding it once.

 

 

Taking another swing, he smashes the beast to the floor, as he advances towards the other Hell Hound.  The beast snaps at him, but it's jaws fail to connect. 

Moments later, the Hound crashes to the floor, it's body broken and shattered by the mighty Bull headed warhammer.

 

 

Advancing on the rat, the vermin lunges forward but in all it's momentum misses (even with me accidentally rolling still 2 dice for this beastie, while it only has D6+1 for attack).

 

 

It proves no match for the Dawi'Zharr, and soon it is dispatched, as the heroes find 5 coins of Wealth in a corner in the room. 

Reaching a large door, an eerie glow shines through the cracks.  Pushing the door open, they see a large jewel with a statue in front, but as soon as they step inside, the statue starts to animate, lava flowing through the cracks of it's armoured skin.

 

 

But the golem is not alone in the room, as in a far corner two zombies are shuffling towards the heroes as well, Rach'Mal finding himself at the furthest edge away from the large beast. 

As the Golem and the zombies advance, Rach'Mal and Allendale take up positions to face the monsters, the Sorcerer-Prophet aiming for the large construct, while Allendale will try and tie up the zombies in the meantime.

 

The golem charges in, but Rach'Mal is barely saved from it's charge thanks to his skill in melee as he rolls a double 1, luckily the big beast's roll was not high enough on the D8 in it's attack dice pool! Striking back, he wounds the stone creature twice as he chips of chunks of rock from the monster.

 

One of zombies is engaged by Allendale, who wounds the undead creature, before putting a dagger through it's brain.  As the zombie falls to the floor, Allendale withdraws while the second zombie shambles after him. 

 

 

As the golem misses Rach'Mal once again, the Dawi'Zharr lands more blows onto the beast, smashing more and more of it's armour away, wounding it twice.

 

 

The last of the zombies joins the fight between the Dawi'Zharr and the construct, but it misses it's attacks. 

 

Seeing his makeshift ally being outnumbered, Allendale engages the zombie and wounds it as he attacks it from behind.  There is no honour amongst thieves, just efficiency after all...

 

 

Having had enough of this, Rach'Mal swirls his massive hammer in wide overhead arcs, crashing down onto the golem time and again until it falls to the floor all beaten and smashed to pieces, huge chunks missing from it's body and the lava slowly extinguishing in it's veins.

 

 

Oblivious to the things happening around it, the zombie clumsily tries to grab the nimble thief, who dodges around it's clawing talons over and over again.

 

Rach'Mal smites the thing back to the afterlife, and even though the zombie rolled a 6 on it's defence, the Sorcerer-Prophet had scored a Natural Success with a double 6.  Meaning all three dice came up as 6's!

 

 

As they investigate the jewel, Rach'Mal spots still a trace of life in the golem (thanks to his high Arcane score, this was an automatic success).  With a loud shout of "Look Out!" he manages to warn Allendale just in time as the golem collapses, and the spire starts to crumble.  Dodging the debris, and carrying the jewel, they both make it safely to the exit before the whole spire crumbles back into dust... 

Back in the village, they count their gains, as they sell the jewel for 10 coins worth of Wealth and an Antidote to Poison potion, something that might always come in handy.  As a result, the adventure yielded 15 coins of Wealth, the Small Potion of Healing and the Antidote to Poison, but also 2 SP's for Rach'Mal the Bull.  This causes him to level up, and I decided to spend both points on his Judgement stat, and raising his Luck from 0 to 2 in the process.  While he also learned the Mouth of Hell spell, Allendale saw the potential in sticking along with this Sorcerer-Prophet, and joins him as a Companion...

 

And so the first story of The Rust Dagger has been completed, a fun little game that with all the notes taking and picture snapping took about an hour to play out.  

 

I will definintly be playing out more of the official and fanbased ones, found on their Facebook group, over time, and continue the adventures of Rach'Mal the Bull in the world of The Rusty Dagger!