Then suddenly fire burst from the Meneltarma, and there came a mighty wind and a tumult of the earth, and the sky reeled, and the hills slid, and Númenor went down into the sea, with all its children and its wives and its maidens and its ladies proud; and all its gardens and its halls and its towers, its tombs and its riches, and its jewels and its webs and its things painted and carven, and its laughter and its mirth and its music, its wisdom and its lore: they vanished forever. And last of all the mounting wave, green and cold and plumed with foam, climbing over the land, took to its bosom Tar-Míriel the Queen, fairer than silver or ivory or pearls. Too late she strove to ascend the steep ways of the Meneltarma to the holy place; for the waters overtook her, and her cry was lost in the roaring of the wind.
–Akallabêth
The Drowned Ruins Stats
- Groups registered: 11
- Total attempts: 13
- Most attempts: 2
- Average attempts per entry: 1.2
- Total number of wins: 10
- Win-rate: 77%
- Average opinion on the quest: 2.9
Campaign Mode
Achievements
Here are the achievements we had for this quest:
But I Don’t Even Have My Swimsuit On Yet!
Setup: Search the encounter deck for a copy of Drowned Cave and make it the active location.
Professional Diver
Explore an Underwater location while it is in the staging area.
Nightswimming [Dream-Chaser Campaign Guide Achievement]
Win The Drowned Ruins after flipping an Undersea Grotto to its Underwater side in three consecutive rounds.
Encounter card Opinions
There was a two-way tie for favorite encounter card: Ancient Depths and Undersea Grotto. Both of these cards can make this quest pretty easy. Ancient Depths, while it does potentially add a hefty bit of threat to the staging area, doesn’t force you to travel to the Underwater location it adds to staging. Underwater locations are only nasty if you travel to them, and this card allows you to explore those locations while they are in staging, effectively making it so you don’t need to engage with the quest’s core mechanic. Undersea Grotto, on the other hand, allows you to really easily stall and build up your board state before you start going to underwater locations.
The only card to appear on both lists was Ancient Depths. I’m not sure whether this received a vote for least favorite because it can make the quest too easy, or if certain players who don’t bring staging area location control don’t like the threat hit.
Just like last week, there were a lot of cards nominated for least favorite card, and none of them got more than two votes. The only two cards to get multiple votes were Into the Abyss and Tangling and Grasping. Into the Abyss is an interesting one because (contrary to what I would consider good encounter design) it hits you hardest at the beginning of the quest, and is kind of a soft-ball later on. Early on you want to make sure to set up your allies and attachments. This card can make you discard some really key cards for your engine. However, later on in the quest, when you are unlikely to be able to even play allies and attachments because you are going to underwater locations, you can just keep all your events and not really worry. Tangling and Grasping is a nasty card that can cause your willpower to dip and can snipe some of your characters if they don’t have enough health or you haven’t been keeping up on your healing.
Things worth sharing from the games
It was a long journey to the Shrine to Morgoth… endless, waterlogged halls flooded with annoying but mostly harmless enemies. The quest felt like it would never end. The one bright spot was dealing with the Curse of the Downfallen. With all my allies costing 3 or more, that treachery turned out to be a welcome surprise, a rare moment where the darkness worked in my favor.
I was able to discard Starla to A Very Good Tale, giving me three allies from it, which was fun. I quested well with Visionary Leadership on Boromir. I could generally quest with everyone except Denethor each, then ready Boromir via Heir of Mardil and an ally through Faramir if an enemy came out, allowing me to deal with the enemy the same turn it came out. As a result, most turns I was questing for 20-30 all game.
Tangling and Grasping hit me multiple times, endangering my heroes. Swarmed by enemies at the end, and Ominous Fate hit me in the last round. However, made it out of there alive, ready for Cobas Haven! (Which is my favorite quest)
I completely emptied the Grotto deck, but wasn’t able to pull off the 2 XP exploring Shrine to Morgoth trick.
I was able to clear the Shrine to Morgoth before it flipped to its Underwater side!
Missed with my Throwing Axe, then realized I should’ve saved it for the Revenant. A fully scaled Starla was great for my mining deck, free 3/3/3/4 ally with a good response to boot.
7 completed rounds, 6 completed side quests, 6 underwater locations in the victory display (thank you ancient depths + northern trackers!), 5 resources on Na’asiyah, 4 decks at 12 or less threat at the end of the game, 3- times Starla would exhaust each round, 2 plays of Lords of the Eldar…… And a partridge in a pear tree!
A solid run although it took some time to get set up. I had a fantastic very good tale-pull getting a free treebeard and Jubayar out. Was happy to see the revenant twice for some action.
Decklists used
Caldara on a bit of a journey
Lady in Red (Eowyn, the Wander Woman): https://ringsdb.com/decklist/view/43894/ladyinred-1.0
Mono Leadership Gondor (Denethor, Boromir, Faramir)
Riddle-Game Dunedain: https://ringsdb.com/decklist/view/59013/riddlehowmanyattackscanyoutakewithoutexhausting-1.0 Last Alliance of Rohan and Dunedain for Side Quests: https://ringsdb.com/decklist/view/59014/weregoingonasidequest-1.0
Storm-Chasers (https://ringsdb.com/decklist/view/43973/stormchasersrco-1.0) – an #RCO Noldor deck featuring Cirdan, Erestor, and Arwen & “(Skyward) Volley!!!” (https://ringsdb.com/deck/view/597751) – a direct damage deck designed to take advantage of Skyward Volley and some other lesser-used direct damage effects.
Harabbits: https://ringsdb.com/decklist/view/59216/harabbitsemissaryoftheeast-1.0
https://ringsdb.com/decklist/view/57834/thespirityearnsfortheminesrcofriendly-1.0
Noldor Dreams of Discard https://ringsdb.com/deck/view/600283
Corsairs are massing for a naval assault on Dol Amroth, the city of the Swan. Muster your forces and prepare your fleets! This will be an epic battle! Once you have completed A Storm on Cobas Haven, please fill in this form: https://forms.gle/Djfy8WR93SZeoyW36
And for achievements for this quest, this is what we have:
Armada of the Free Peoples
Have at least X ships under the players’ control at the end of the quest, where X is 2 more than the number of players.
Was That It?
Destroy the Raider Flagship before stage 3.
I’m on a Boat (or Five) [Dream-Chaser Campaign Guide Achievement]
Win A Storm on Cobas Haven while having one player control both Dol Amroth Warships and both Corsair Skirmishers at once.
Vision Of The Palantir 