Grundarkjell, the Demon Dragon

*"Not like it was a 'good guy' back then, but it was way more dangerous to them than us. Kinda tragic." - Irk*

In ancient times, Grundarkjell could repel a typical Massive Darkness almost singlehandedly. Alas, with his imprisonment and transformation to the very evil he once thwarted, the Great Dragon of Night Mountain is now the Demon Dragon of Hell. If anything, the beast has only become more dangerous, adding soul-rending magic to its already potent fire breath. If Grundarkjell escapes to the surface world, the already beleaguered Lightbringer ranks may buckle and shatter, dooming the world to an eternity of fiery torment.

## **Gameplay**

Gigantic, furious and breathing fire, fighting the Demon Dragon is a most epic encounter! Let’s get started: boasting a whopping 40 Health per Hero, 3 Orange attack dice and 3 dice per activation, Grundarkjell is a powerhouse by itself. With its Inferno passive ability starting from the 3rd round onward, the Demon Dragon intensifies his fire breathing and starts dealing additional fire with his attacks. Its other passive ability, Followers, allows him to bring back his cultists every so often to whittle down the Heroes.

Grundarkjell’s most basic attack, Fire Breath, is a powerful area-of-effect special ability that adds Fire to all Heroes: 1 if they’re adjacent to Stones (marked on the tile) or 2 if standing on the stones themselves. The Demon Dragon’s Tail Strike hits all Heroes that are behind it and adds more fire if the strike is successful. But things only get nastier from here. The Demon Dragon relies on his cultists and is able to Sacrifice them to regain lost Health. Last but not least, with its ultimate ability, the Demon Dragon deals and then immediately consumes all the fire it has spread on the Heroes with hellish intensity, creating a frightening inferno around it.

## **Draconic Corruption**

When playing with the Draconic Corruption rules, players use the Cultists Mob, the Draconic Mark dashboard, the Draconic Mark tokens and the Demon Dragon itself. The Draconic Marks represent how much of the Dragon corruption a Hero has, and while it confers power it also makes one more susceptible to the Dragon.

During the Level Up phase, players can spend Draconic Mark tokens to get unique Draconic Skill, which are uniquely power skills cards. Beware: the stronger the Skill is, the more power Grundarkjell may hold over the Hero.

When the Dragon track requires players to summon a Mob, if the Draconic Cultists are not in play already, they are summoned instead of drawing a random Mob.

Every time the Track Token advances into a space with the Dragon Icon, the Dragon attempts to control each Hero that has at least one Draconic Skill card. The Dragon rolls the listed amount of Monster dice for each Hero and checks for Monster Icon results on each card. According to the results, the Dragon Control effect (listed in the bottom part of the Draconic Skill card) takes place immediately. Note that as the game advances the Dragon rolls more dice, which makes it easier for him to control Heroes.

As the Draconic Marks start appearing, the urge to tap into Draconic power grows stronger and if the call is not attended, the Draconic Marks start hurting their owners. At Rounds 5, 9 and every other Round after the 10th players take wounds equal to the amount of Draconic Marks Token they have.

If at any point the players have collectively reached a number of Draconic tokens, the Demon Dragon itself gets released! The Lightbringers are taken to the Dragon’s lair and immediately start a Boss fight against Grundarkjell. During that battle, if any Hero is defeated, the Scenario is lost! However, should the Lightbringers triumph against the Dragon, they return to their Quest and gain additional Draconic Skills. Moreover, the Draconic Track gets replaced with the Darkness track and the Heroes no longer have to worry about being controlled by the Dragon, who’s gone back to lick its wounds and awaits for another Quest.