Thy Soul To Keep - part 16. The Finale!

The Skydock Siege

(Battleplan - Coalition of Death: King of the Hill, GHB 2016)
Admiral Grungi Gunnerson has become way too powerful, and his plans have almost come to fruition. Can the other warbands be trusted, if such a dangerous individuals is offered on a silver plate? Or will a traitor be double-crossed in turn?

The Rotmoons
83 Renown (Portents: The Black Void, Signs from Gorkamorka)

Kapitán Alunzo da Leeva - Orruk Warboss 

El Doctoro - Orruk Great Shaman

Bolet Ghosteater - Fungoid Cave Shaman
Rockeye Fuerte - Ogor Leadbelcher Thunderfist

Dragante - Orruk Boss

6 Orruk Privateers

Don Snotto - Grot

~ 🕱 ~

Ancient ruins towered up from the forest like the bones of long-dead cathedrals, scraping at the ink-black sky. All was silence and stillness here. A heavy doom-laden quite had descended on the forests and mountains of the Harrowmark since the Necroquake had passed through. The denizens of the blighted village of Wӧrtbad knew that the worst was yet to come and there was nothing they could do to stop it.

Bolet groaned as he picked himself up off the forest floor where he had slept the night, among the wreckage of half-eaten fungi. His head was pounding and his vision swam for a minute or two. He hunted through pockets and pouches as he hobbled out of the small clearing and along a narrow winding forest path. He needed something to dissipate the crackling arcs of amethyst and teal energy that constantly and painfully popped and sparked across his hands. Small pebbles and leaves floated for a moment as he passed. The skulls that lined the graveyard walls chattered and rattled as he wandered. Strange visions drifted through his mind unbidden. He needed it all to stop!

With a squeak of triumph he located a small grey-green mushroom and popped it into his mouth. A wave of blissful emptiness passed through the grot as he chewed and he checked his moon-sickle and staff and then strode purposefully into the village.

~ 🕱 ~

The Rotmoons gathered between a monument to a long-dead hero and the back of Fallow's End House: Kapitán da Leeva, El Doctoro, Bolet Ghosteater, the ogor Rockeye, Dragante and a handful of the crew.





On the other side of the village the Gilded Hand and their heavily armoured reinforcements looked to the Witch Hunter Pieter van Toorn for leadership, while Kalyustar was safely ensconced in the Rose & Scythe inn.



An'sec and the Riders of Ordeschal drifted through the pumpkin fields.



The Raidho Orthalas has realised that all of their former allies had now turned against them. The waited impatiently at the Skydock for their ship to to come.



A thunderous volley of gunfire rang out as the Heralds of Nagash charged the south wall of the Skydock. An Arkanaut fell beneath their ethereal hooves.



An invisible gheist assailed the Aether Chemist.



The Raidho Orthalas on the north wall blasted the Gild Hand troopers as they advanced through the forest.



The Rotmoons braced themselves for a fusillade that never came as they rushed across the open ground between Fallow's End House and the Skydock.



Kapitán da Leeva, Bortagno and Rockeye charged ahead, leaving the rest of the crew behind. They burst into the building and set about the Kharadron they found there: the Aether Chemist and an Endrinrigger.



Bortagno got ready to join the fight.



Da Leeva killed the Endrinrigger and wounded the Chemist.



The Soulblight Vampire known as the Whyte Lady, and Lord Radclyffe his Riders of Ordeschal, slew three Arkanauts.



An invisible gheist tried to take a bite out of Bolet but the cave shaman fended it off with his protective charms and crude totems. He blasted a Hexwraith with a crackling teal Arcane Bolt.



Another invisible gheist snapped at the Aether Chemist.



Kalyustar watched the battle unfolding from the safety of the Rose and Scythe Inn.



The Raidho Orthalas were embattled on all sides!



The Whyte Lady took a fearful toll of Kharadron!



The Raidho Orthalas fired on the Gilded Hand again as the mercenaries charged the north wall.



The rest of the Rotmoons closed in on the Skydock.





The Whyte Lady wounded the Aether Chemist with her dark magic.



Kapitán da Leeva finally killed the Chemist - the Kharadron hero had withstood over two dozen wounds from blade and spell and gun, but he fell at the end to crulely wielded orrukish steel.



The second wave of Gild Hand troops hit the north wall and navigator fell - the Kharadron lines buckled and broke. As the Arkanaut Frigate descended from the low clouds only a single Arkanaut Company crewman was left to be rescued!

~ 🕱 ~

The Raidho Orthalas were unable to hold out long enough to be rescued. The Heralds of Nagash and the Gilded Hand were evenly matched in their kill-tally at the last. So the two "Death" factions formed an uneasy alliance - Kalyustar knew he had a lot to learn from An'sec.

Trailing in third place the Rotmoons just held the Skydock at the end. Battered and bruised the orruk privateers went back to waiting for another skyship that hey might be able to capture, to replace their shipwrecked vessel as another storm approached. As the curtain closed on the final chapter of the campaign Bortagno went off into the woods to find his old mate Dragante...

~ 🕱 ~

Viktor's side of this tale is here.