The threat has always been looming in the little villages of Thorny Woods. Keep the goblins happy with forking over as much of your valuables and food as possible? They’ll leave you alone.
When they approach, you know that “taxes” are due. All while they have the thin, barely-there promise of “protecting” you from the outside world. Of course, how convenient that they only happen to be around when they’re ready to take.
Now, though, things have changed. A new, bigger, badder goblin is in charge. Gri, the latest Goblin King, is hungry for more. He’s tired of this pittance that he gets from these quaint villages. He’s ready for the big leagues. He’s going to take down Monarch City. And if the rest of the realm has to fall to make it happen? So be it. More shiny things for him to pick up along the way.
Goblins aren’t the problem any longer. Gri is the problem. And, he’s going to stay a ravenous, thieving problem until you and your fellow heroes take him down.
Gri’s Mechanics
The Shakedown
Gri’s razing of resources is represented by the coin that he collects from all of his minions. He’ll add more minions if there aren’t any, but he also takes any coin lingering in locations with goblins around to snatch it up for him.
He also gains coins for advancing as he trudges through the land, and as a counter when you attack him.
The Protection Racket
And all of that coin has to get spent somehow, doesn’t it? He can’t just hoard it all. No, he’s going to use that coin as protection. Something these mafia-like green menaces are oh-so-used-to.
When an attack is made on Gri, remove one coin. Then, re-roll the highest die that hits (at a 3+). This continues until either Gri is out of money to bribe his minions to protect him with, or until you’re out of dice that can be counted as a hit.
Let me tell you, nothing is more stressful than seeing a handful of 5+ dice dwindle down into absolutely nothing because Gri’s been allowed to accumulate so much gold. He might only have a max health of 10, but when he’s got that defense to get through? He’s a bigger threat than one might anticipate. He’s smarter than you think for a goblin, and he’ll use that to his advantage.
The Boss Loot
Of course, there’s also the loot. Gri drops three items that heroes may choose one of, or the standard 3 coins. There’s Gri’s Moneypouch, Shakedown Techniques, and Cheat the System.
You might have noticed that the rewards are purple rather than a specific color. That’s because purple is wild. These reward cards can be used against any boss at any time. All three of any boss’s rewards give your party an additional two dice to attack the next boss with. Don’t forget, these go directly to your hand when a boss is defeated!
Gri’s Goblin Minions
The goblin hooligans themselves aren’t anything to sneeze at either!
They may only have an armor of 3, but they fight back. Each one will attack a hero as a counter, so be sure to watch that health when you’re around goblins! Maybe you should take them out first?
But what to do about those imps we talked about last week… How are you and your band of heroes going to stop them all?!
Next time, we’ll be talking about Vitalia, our rogue who is a master of manipulating Darkness cards. What are those? You’ll just have to wait and find out!
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