Dan’s 2025 Board Gaming

Thebalt travelled East into the swamps where he found the asylum that housed the rest of the infected people of Tuathan. It was protected by the Red Guard, the very military unit he had petitioned the King to establish. Although he thought they would be dismayed to learn that their brothers had been thrown into battle unsupported, they were in fact happy that they had had the opportunity to die in battle. Thebalt found many who were willing to follow him in exchange for the opportunity to have a similar death.

Thebalt then led his force of elite Red Guards North to the castle construction site. There he found that work had stopped after a number of workers mysteriously died during the evenings. Thebalt waited until evening himself, and standing on the cliffs to the rear of the castle, he noticed the glyphs on the beach below making and ominous magical glow. He felt drawn to them, but the sensation passed.

Travelling back inland, building a lift mechanism to allow for swift travel from the cliff tops to the swamp, then heading back East to the beach, Thebalt did indeed find many dead bodies at the base of the cliff. It would appear that the workers, upon seeing the glowing beach in the evenings, had been compelled to walk off the cliffs and fall to their deaths. Thebalt destroyed the magical glyphs drawn into the beaches, ending their magical alluring effect.

Thebalt reported his findings to the castle, and the workers were happy to resume work. He then returned to King Arthur who had a new task for him. The King confided that he had travelled to Tuathan at the behest of a lady who appeared in his dreams. Only once here did he realise that this lady was a Foredweller, one of mankind’s enemies. She still haunts his dreams. The King has asked Thebalt to track her down and assess her. If she’s a friend, find out what she wants. If she’s an enemy, kill her.

Thebalt knew that the mysterious lady communicated with the King via dreams, so he travelled East to the castle construction site and the beach beneath it, where he had already experienced vivid dreams. Alas, it didn’t work. So then he began travelling towards the west of the island. This paid off. He had one had recurring dreams where he could see the mysterious lady was being held against her will somewhere.

Meanwhile, the enemy army that was de-powering the statues had become a serious threat, so Thebalt recruited a large army and engaged them in battle, wiping them out.

As Thebalt sought better locations for his dream communications with the mysterious lady, he found the Treetop Cathedral that was under construction. These hunter cultists were usually very distrustful of outsiders, but as Thebalt had helped a band of them out before, he was able to ingratiate himself with the group and join their cult.

By now, the dreams had revealed that the mysterious lady was being held in the Wyrdfort. Thebalt had no choice but to break into it and mount a rescue. He considered using his troops as a distraction, but realised they would have next to no impact on the fort’s defences, so he just decided to send them off to safety and just sneak in. Stealth almost worked perfectly – Thebalt only had to fight a single sentry that discovered him. He rescued the mysterious lady, and as they made their way out the fort they were attacked by none other than the monster that had killed Merlin. The mysterious lady used some sort of teleport spell to get them out safely. The showed Thebalt a vision of the King meeting with her in a spire to the North of the island, then vanished.

Thebalt returned to the King to report his success. The King prepared to travel alone to his rendezvous with the mysterious lady, while he assigned Thebalt another task. The hunter cultists were prophesizing doom to the kingdom. Arthur wanted Thebalt to infiltrate the cult and determine if there was any truth to their prophecies.

Thebalt expected that infiltrating the hunter cult would be fairly easy. He had already visited their under construction cathedral in the forest and had become a welcome member of their religion.

Sure enough, an uneventful journey west saw him talking to their high priests who were excited that he might be able to help them. It seems a high ranking member of their religion’s ship had been blown of course. This person was now trapped on the Western side of the island and needed bringing to their cathedral. The priests would share no other details of their plans than that. Thebalt was aware of this individual, having already run across him when trapped on the Western side of the island himself.

Thebalt reported in to Nimue, who said they had no choice but to bring this person to the cathedral. Perhaps then the priests would divulge more information. Nimue had arranged for a ship to transport Thebalt from Creaking Cove to the west, in order to save time.

Thebalt therefore sailed west and then travelled on foot to the old hideout he’d established after the battle in the West. Alas, there were no more survivors left alive from that first ragtag band. Still, the member of the hunter cult was where he had left him, and the guy was very excited to hear of the cathedral under construction. So Thebalt escorted him back to the ship, and they returned East.

Having disembarked Thebalt’s companion drew some odd looks from his unusual dress, but their journey through the port was uneventful to begin with. But then the stranger turned to Thebalt and accused him of treachery. Thebalt was confused. The stranger unleashed a magical blast that knocked everyone to their feet – except a lone figure in a black cloak. Nimue was here, and he had sensed her. The stranger’s skin and bones began to ripple, and he began to grow at an alarming rate.

Nimue shouted to Thebalt that this was not some high ranking member of the hunter cult, it was their God! She would delay him reaching the cathedral. If he were to reach it he would become too powerful. In the meantime Thebalt had to hastily assemble as large an army as possible and intercept the God.

Thebalt hastily raced North to Tintagel where he raised the biggest army he could. Then he travelled to the Quiet Plane where he army laid an ambush. Theblat used magic to soften the ground, some troops dug trenches to hide in, while others prepared spikes and other impediments. That evening the God emerged over the horizon. It was the size of a mountain at this point.

Thebalt’s ploys worked though. They were able to trip the God and attack his feet, then the army swarmed all over his body dealing many tiny wounds. Eventually the God reared up and made one last dash to the cathedral, but it stumbled and fell, never to get up again.

Thebalt returned to Arthur triumphant again. Arthur was pleased, and this time intended to send Thebalt North to deal with another problem.

Before heading North, Thebalt decided now was a good time to get his own boat to help travel quickly around the coast of the island. He travelled along the coast to where he had previously seen a damaged skiff. He put his troops to work felling lumber to raise funds, and after a few days work the skiff was repaired.

Now for the mission at hand, to travel North into the newly opened frontier and meet up with another agent of Arthur’s.

On the East coast of the island Thebalt found some old brochs. These puzzled Thabalt as they were clearly of human construction, yet predated the arrival of humans to the island. Within one he found an imprisoned magical being, hunger to exchange knowledge with him.

Further North, Thebalt found a maze of tunnels overgrown with ferns. Within, a strange tribe lived in isolation. Thebalt was unable to communicate with them properly, so will have to return at a later date.

Heading East, a giant pit had several streams and rivers falling into it. It was while exploring the pit that Thebalt found the other agent, who was actually Arthur himself. Arthur needed Thebalt to search for some hidden power in the North-East of the island that he had learned the Fore-Dwellers feared.

Travelling to the very tip of the island, Thebalt and Arthur travelled through a forest filled with the Wyrdness and eventually came across a pristine white castle, seemingly untouched by the Wyrdness. This was surely their goal. They explored the area, but found that they always seemed to return to the castle. Travelling East they found the world started to dissolve and fracture into multiple versions of itself, and they had to turn back. After thoroughly exploring the area, the castle drawbridge lowered and Arthur journeyed inside. Thebalt waited outside, as asked, for what felt like an age. Then Arthur returned and said he had made the discovery he needed. In order to escape the area, they had to fall asleep and then leave in their dreams. This worked, and then the pair were able to return to Tintagel with Arthur’s new knowledge.

While Arthur worked on his new found power, he tasked Thebalt with returning North. There was a third power emerging on the island that was using strange beastmen to attack humans. Thebalt had to find them and stop them.

Before Thebalt could journey North and find the source of the beastmen, he had to raise a large army to attack the Fore-Dweller army bearing down on Tintagel. Thebalt’s army was victorious, but he had to recruit so many forces to do so it severely drained his wealth and reputation.

With the battle over, Thebalt returned to the North of the island, taking his time to explore more thoroughly.

He found the Reach just a bit further West, beyond the Fernsea. It had recently been attacked, so Thebalt helped rescue the captives and drive off the remaining Beastmen. The Knight in charge reported that the attacks came from the North, but the only way to get there was via giant bats, which carried the beastmen back and forth in cages.

Thebalt and the Knight came up with the plan to allow themselves to be captured as slaves. They would then be transported to the island by their enemies. The plan worked, and once on the island the Knight and Thebalt were able to break free and seek out the leader of the Beastmen, the God Morgaine.

Morgaine actually found their plan entertaining, so allowed it to proceed and for Thebalt to reach her throne. Once there, she was more than happy to explain that she believed all the old Gods must have made it to Avalon, so she was preparing to battle them all for control of the island. Thebalt countered that he had explored the entire island and encountered no other Gods. Morgaine appeared to realise she had been over-reacting, but before she could do anything, the Knight, who had crept up behind her, chopped her head off. Thebalt started to criticise the Knight, but before he could say much Morgaine’s head began to rant that she would have her revenge if it took a thousand years. She screamed, and the Knights skin melted off and he died in agony. Thebalt fled, eventually finding a giant bat. He grabbed its legs and it took to the skies. It was a wild ride, but eventually the bat tired and landed on the mainland, and Thebalt was able to walk back to the Reach.

Following Thebalt’s success with the cult in the North, Arthur was leading his army West, to assault the enemy fortress there. Thebalt was tasked with keeping an eye on Tintagel while Arthur was away.

The first couple of days were un-eventful, but then while patrolling the outer wall Thebalt heard a terrible commotion coming from the commander’s tent. He rushed to the scene along with several other shocked guards. Within the tent, the Knight of Round Table left in command of Tintagel lay impaled on the floor by a spear, bleeding out. Most of his guards were similarly injured. A magical beast of mist and shadows was assaulting them. Thebalt charged in and slew the beast, allowing the Knight to be saved, although he was gravely injured and would take many weeks to fully recover.

This assassination attempt did not bode well. Not long after, a rider arrived to report that an enemy army had mustered in the North and was at this moment heading for Tintagel. There was no time to inform Arthur and recall the army. Thebalt would have to muster a defence and defend Tintagel.

Thebalt used every moment he could spare to raise more troops. Trenches were dug and hidden beyond the walls. Cavalry were hidden in the nearby forests to mount a surprise rear attack. When the attack came it was closely fought. Thebalt was able to win, but just barely.

Shortly after the battle word came that Arthur had also been victorious. Theblat was summoned West to report in. On arrival, Thebalt learned that victory had only been possible when Arthur had begun using Avalonian magic against them – his army had been shocked to see it and many priests had protested. Thebalt wasn’t particularly opinionated one way or the other – it was something to worry about after victory in the war had been won.

The King’s next task for Thebalt was to journey South West and find out what had happened to the King’s sister, Morgaine. She had never arrived from the mainland, and many now thought her dead. However there had been a recent sighting of her galley off the coast.

Thebalt travelled to the coast, and found the ship hidden in a cove. It had clearly been deliberately beached and left there. Thebalt searched the deserted ship. At first it looked like it had been attacked, but Thebalt got the feeling that had been staged. The blood splatters had a pattern to them, the damage looked artificial, and he doubted the Captain would have had the time to neatly write in the ships log the fact that it had been attacked in clear, legible prose.

On the shore, Thebalt found wagon and horse tracks leading East. Travelling East to the settlement of the barbarian tribes, at first they denied them entry. They pointed to the many heads impaled on spikes around their perimeter and told Thebalt he would be next if he did not leave. Thebalt clearly and eloquently explained that such displays may have been intimidating on the mainland, but here on Avalon, with its wyrdness and monsters, the spikes barely roused Thebalt’s notice. The guards were confused, and decided to let Thebalt in to talk to their Chieftain anyway.

The Chieftain explained that Morgaine and her entourage had come and paid to buy fishing boats some time ago. They had paid too much, but the Chieftain had let them do it and watched them sail to the cursed island to the East.

Thebalt summoned his ship and sailed to the island himself. On it was a labyrinth-like necropolis. It took some time to map out, but eventually Thebalt found Morgaine’s laboratory within it. Morgaine explained she simply wished to carve out a part of Avalon for herself where she could work in piece and not be hidden in Arthur’s shadow. Thebalt explained that Arthur was begging her to return and be by his side. Morgaine agreed to return to Arthur, so Thebalt escorted her and her court back to Tintagel.

King Arthur tasked Thebalt with nothing less than leading a direct assault on the main entry into Tuathan, drawing out the main Fore-Dweller army. Thebalt was then tasked with retreating to a nearby hollow, where he would then hold them in battle until Arthur arrived. The plan was deliberately missing details – Arthur had learned that the enemy could read thoughts, so Thebalt couldn’t know the full plan. Still, Thebalt feared he and his army may be sacrificed. But there was no choice, so Thebalt led his army North.

Thebalt knew that Fore-Dwellers were weakened by the presence of charged Menhirs, so he took the time to thoroughly explore the North of the island and activate every Menhir he could find, before assaulting the mouth of Tuathan.

His army arrived and formed up by the entrance, yet no army marched out to reach them. Thebalt tried a day getting his army to goad them out with archery fire, insults, even bad bag-pipe playing and rude jokes. On the second day he sent in a lone formation to lure them out. The poop people got a few hundred yards in and then seemed to become confused. Their formation broke up and they began to wander randomly. Barely any mad it back and still the enemy did not attack. Finally, Thebalt ordered the construction of an outpost so they could hold this position and wait longer. As soon as workmen began to try and break off parts of Tuathan’s great wall for building materials, an army began to march forth from the Wyrdness. It quickly became evident that the army was far too big for Thebalt’s force to stand any chance against.

Thebalt and his army withdrew to the South as fast as possible, to the designate battle point. There they formed up at the rear of the hollow, with a forest to guard their rear, boulders to take cover behind, and forcing the enemy to march uphill to attack them. Despite all these advantages, the battle was beginning to drag on and go badly. Thebalt held on to the hope that Arthur would arrive. Eventually he did, with his army and the Pale Lady with him too. The Pale Lady used magic and then the hollow began to flood with water erupting up from the ground. The plan then became obvious. Both human armies withdrew to the brim of the hollow and focussed on trapping the Fore-Dwellers in place. They may be big and physically powerful, but that meant they struggled to swim. The result was a massacre, with on a small number of Fore-Dwellers being able to break out and make their way back to Tuathan.