That said: it has been tested and is playable. It should be considered a "lighthearted, thematic romp" rather than a "hardcore, blood-drenched adventure." Something to be played with friends (or solo) on a lazy weekend afternoon. Players who are looking for more difficulty will find plenty of options scattered through the rules for achieving that. The mission, without applying any options, is not terribly difficult for a party of 4, but certainly can be for a party of 2.
Management summary: the Adventurers want to start their own Herbal Remedy Shoppe but require seeds for exotic herbs in order to do so. To that end, they must collect at least one of each Region's local herbs and bring them back to their hut in the woods near Witch Hill.
This mission requires the Herbal Remedy mini-expansion. The players may optionally use the Meatshields and/or Hirelings mini-expansions. Those two expansions are particularly recommended if this mission is played with only 1-2 Adventurers.
This mission takes place before the Necromancer plagued the land, and thus the Hand of {:DOOM:} plays no role. The Doom Track, however, records the overall level of Heat (as in the {:LAW:}), and if the Heat gets too high (as it were), the mission ends in disgrace.
The **Bounty Level** starts off at 1.
For more challenge, start the Bounty Level off at 2 or 3.
The Adventurers all start at **Witch Hill**. If using the Meatshields expansion, each Adventurer may optionally start the game with a single random Meatshield, drawn in MRL order (highest to lowest).
Remove the **Imperial Paladin** card from the Law deck. Many posses includes an **Imperial Paladin**, and this card is set aside for use in such encounters.
Remove all four **Herb cards** from the Loot deck, as described by Herbal Remedy expansion.
**Optionally remove the {{i}}Doombringer Horn{{/i}}** Epic Loot from the game. It serves no real purpose in this scenario. If this Item is kept in the deck, its on-card effect is ignored, but it may be sold.
The **Plague rules** (from the *Mean Streets* expansion) are *not recommended* for use with this mission. At the players' discretion: 1) Remove the 3 Plague-related Danger Cards from the Danger Deck. 2) When a Plague-related Item or Encounter is drawn, the players should discard and re-draw it. 3) Monsters with Plague-related effects simply do not apply them.
**Clues 1-4** represent wandering Law posses on the lookout for any do-badders, including those who would attempt to steal any of their Regions' valuable plant life. **The Clues are placed in numeric order at the Crossroads (Lowlands), Pigskin Port (Highlands), Goblin Fortress (Badlands), and Stone Circle (Wetlands)**. These posses wander around the board using rules described below, but each is restricted to their jurisdiction (their starting Region) and may never leave it.
**Clues 5 & 6** are "extra-jurisdictional" posses which have the authority to scour all of the board in search of do-badders. They both start the game off-board, and are added the moment the Bounty Level is increased to a level equal to their Clue value. If the Bounty Level is later decreased to lower than the Clue's value, the Clue remains active on the board. **When the Bounty Level reaches 5, Clue 5** is randomly placed at either Last Chance (Badlands) or Bandit Camp (Highlands). **When the Bounty Level reaches 6, Clue 6** is randomly placed at either the Catacombs (Lowlands) or Black Tree (Wetlands). If a Clue is already in the target space, place Clue 5 or 6 in a randomly-chosen adjacent Space. Like posses 1-4, these also move around, but are not restricted to any specific Region. Unlike posses 1-4, these two move every turn.
If the party ends its movement on Witch Hill with at least one Herb from each Region in their possession, they win the mission.
Each Clue token represents a posse which is out to stop do-badders. That includes, as one might expect, anyone who's out plucking up certain varieties of local plant life.
**Any Space containing a posse is considered to be a {:LAW:} Space.**
**Posse Movement:** Each turn, after the players have moved but before the Danger Phase, all eligible posses move in numeric order (lowest to highest) as described below.
**Clues 1-4 only move if a {:PARTY:} is in their Region.** Select a *random direction* from the posse's current location and move that posse one Space in that direction. Any route which would take them out of their own Region is not considered valid for movement purposes - do not include such routes in the random selection. These posses may use {:RIVER_PORT:} or {:LAKE_PORT:} travel only along paths which would keep them in their own Region. If their movement would place them in a space with either of Clues 5 or 6, they instead stay where they are. If they start in the same space as a {:PARTY:}, they move normally. A {:PARTY:} *may* Force March past a posse.
(RECOMMENDED) If a {:PARTY:} is carrying any of the current Region's Herbs, count the path which leads most directly to them *twice* when determining the odds of posse movement. e.g. if the posse has 3 movement options, count it as 4, with the path leading most directly to the party as 2 separate paths for purposes of random selection. Thus the posse would take that path 2 out of 4 times, rather than 1 out of 3. When two equal paths lead to a {:PARTY:}, randomly determine which one to count twice.
**Clues 5 & 6 move every turn after they come into play.** They move exactly as for mobile Epic Law Monsters (rulebook pg. 23) targeting the nearest {:PARTY:}, except that they never occupy the same space as another posse: if movement would cause them to land on another posse, they do not move. If they move into a Space with a {:PARTY:}, or they start a Danger Phase in the same Space as a {:PARTY:}, they end their movement in that Space resp. do not move at all.
**Misdirection:** after a movement path is selected for a posse, the Adventurers may collectively spend a total of 1 {:LUCK:} per character in order to either change that posse's movement direction to one of their choice or to force it to stay where it is (investigating local rumors of do-badders).
If a {:PARTY:} is in the same Space as a Clue token at the start of the Danger Phase, then draw a Danger Card and apply its Danger Level effect, but ignore the bottom half of the card. Instead, the {:PARTY:} must encounter the Clue...
**Stealth (Optional):** a {:PARTY:} in {:CAUTIOUS:} Stance may attempt to evade the posse using Stealth. Test for Stealth as normal (against PER) except that if the current Space is {:EXPLORED:}, each character may roll an additional die and discard one of their choice. If all characters succeed, they evade the posse: move the Clue one Space in any direction which would be legal movement for that Clue (their search for the party has led them astray). If any characters fail their Stealth Test, the {:PARTY:} must encounter the posse...
**If the {:PARTY:} has no Herbs in its inventory from the current Region**, the {:PARTY:} Leader may optionally roll a die: if it is higher than the Bounty Level, the {:PARTY:} will be searched by the posse but not attacked. Any character may spend {:LUCK:} to re-roll the result. *Before rolling the die*, the {:PARTY:} may "grease the palms" to add 1 to the die roll for each full 2 {:GP:} per Adventurer "contributed" to the posse. (The gold need not be paid evenly by the {:PARTY:} members, but the total must be 2 per {:PARTY:} member per point of die roll modification.) If they roll higher than the Bounty Level, they have avoided a Fight and may move the Clue token one Space in any direction which would be legal for that posse. If they roll equal to or lower than the Bounty Level, or choose not to roll, their options become more limited...
**If they are carrying any Herbs from their current Region**, or failed (or chose not to make) the Bounty Level check described above, the party has but two choices: 1) surrender to the Law, ending their dream of starting an Herbal Shoppe (the mission ends in defeat), or 2) fight. Obviously, unless the players are extremely bored or exhausted, they're going to choose to fight. Draw one Law Monster per {:PARTY:} member, then, if any {:DOOM:} tokens match the current Region, add 1 Law Monster to the group for each such token, with the caveat that the *Imperial Paladin* will always be the first such addition to the group. e.g. if the Adventurers encounter a Clue in the Highlands and there are two yellow (Highlands) {:DOOM:} tokens on the track, add two Law monsters to the group: the *Imperial Paladin* and one drawn at random. Then play out the combat like any other combat encounter.
**Posses 5 & 6 always include an Imperial Paladin.** Regardless of whether or not a {:DOOM:} token for the current Region is in Play, these two posses always include an *Imperial Paladin*. That is, these posses include an *Imperial Paladin* whether there is zero or one {:DOOM:} token for the current Region.
**If the posse defeats the {:PARTY:}**, all Defeated Adventurers are arrested - they are removed from the mission and hauled off to Brüttelburg. If the entire party is Defeated, the mission ends in failure.
**If a posse is defeated**:
Any {:PARTY:} {:CAMPING:} in {:BOLD:} Stance in a Space with Herb tokens in it may search for Herbs: in *reverse* MRL order (lowest to highest), each Adventurer *who does not already have an Herb token from this Region* may make a PER Test. On success, they take one of the Herb tokens into their inventory and *they have depleted the local supply of Herbs* - no other character may take the Herb-searching PER Test this turn. From that point on, the Herb token is counted like any normal inventory item. The Herb token may be used for the effect shown on its corresponding card, but not on the turn it is harvested. When any Herb token is removed from the party's inventory for any reason (e.g. sold, used for the effect described on its card, or confiscated by a posse), it is {{u}}*removed from the game*{{/u}}. If all copies of a given type of Herb token are removed from the game, the mission immediately ends in defeat.
Herb tokens are immune to Monster/Encounter effects which steal or destroy inventory items (e.g. the *Acidic* Monster ability).
When playing with only 1-2 Adventurers, the player(s) may optionally decide to increase the Herb limit to 2 Herbs from each Region per character, or even to remove the limit altogether.
A character finding an Herb does not "deplete the local supply," so other characters may collect Herb tokens on that turn.
The party arrives back at their hovel, weary from their travels, but the most difficulty part of their journey is yet to come: they must resist the temptation to consume all of their hard-fought Herbs before using them to seed the crops they'll need for their Herbal Remedy Shoppe!
And they lived high ever after until, of course, the Necromancer came, but that is another story entirely...
**Sneaking Around:** when a party evades a posse using Stealth, the party may move either the posse's token, as described above, or the entire party may move a single Space in any direction.
**Fewer Herbs required:** fetching all four Herbs is challenging, especially with a small party. Optionally reduce the number of distinct Herbs required to some fixed amount, or an amount equal to the party size.
**MOAR Law:** when a party defeates a posse, add a token of the color matching the current Region. Because this could easily lead to filling up the {:DOOM:} Track, either eliminate or double the Doom Track limit. (Remember that posse size increases as the number of {:DOOM:} tokens increase!) Using either approach, the game ends in failure if a {:DOOM:} token of a given color would be required but none are left in the box.
**Varying Victory Levels:** the party may decide to return to Witch Hill at any time, so long as they have at least 1 Herb token. Their level of victory, however, depends on how many types of Herb tokens they recover: