A Film on the Well

The well at the grove has gone thick. Trunks weep a film that pits any blade left resting against them, and it’s spreading further every week. Find what’s seeping up from the roots and draw it out.

That’s the whole contract — no species named, because the clerk who copied it never walked the grove. A Film on the Well is the first fight on this site: the smallest job, and the clearest lesson in why ground matters.

The company

Three adventurers, not all the same level. The fighter is a Champion with Action Surge, one extra action, once. The cleric and wizard are still on their first spell slots; Bless and cure wounds are ready, Life Domain, heavy armor. The player controls the fighter — the cleric and wizard act on their own unless a player takes over.

The board is a real forest node. Old camp furniture and tree trunks occupy hexes, and the party doesn’t start bunched together. Gathering first beats splitting up.

What’s in the well

Three slimes, small and weak, packed into a tight cluster near the water. They pin whoever gets close and burn on a hit. Collecting all three onto one target drops that target fast — hold a line instead, keep the cleric mid-range, and let the wizard cast from a hex it can actually reach.

Dice land on a pad beside the minis. Hits show on the figures. The log states the result in plain sentences.

After

The next visitor finds the same thick well — nothing here is saved between sittings. If this felt easy, that’s the point: it’s the first rung. The brushline is next.