Questions for the Professor

Professor Oscar Schmied is a boring man with a flair for unearthing interesting things. Rumours at the market suggest he's assembling an expedition to unearth something big this time: a treasure of astonishing wealth and power.

Two [intrepid/nefarious] parties of [adventurers/ ne'er-do-wells] decide to have a friendly word with Schmied concerning the approximate whereabouts of his treasure. They track him to a small encampment on the edge of the desert.

The minor plot points.

A thief who has been shadowing Schmied.

A lonely goatherd, but he may have seen something.

Clay jars bearing some curious inscription.

The game began with both sides advancing to the centre of the table.

The mad scientist and his minions.

The adventurers.

Meanwhile, members of each party peel off to grab minor plot points.

The rats interrogate(?) the goat herd.

The pilot gazes at the inscriptions on the jars.

The adventurers' dog is the first to make it to Schmied.

He doesn't get an advantage for long. He's soon joined by the hunchback and then the robot.

The dog is outnumbered but game, attacking the hunchback.

But help is on its way.

The dog goes down, but no one has been able to grab the archaeologist yet. The fight acts like a magnet, drawing characters from all over.

Fighters go down all over the place, but the leader of the adventurers grabs the archaeologist. 

The fight is made trickier when the leader encounters the black cat. For the way the cat works, see here: http://preacherbyday.blogspot.com.au/2015/02/the-black-cat.html

A desperate struggle

Finally, even the mad scientist joined the struggle, attempting to subdue the leader of the adventurers.

However, he shrugs off the attack and holds on to the archaeologist. Victory to the adventurers!