Ferrugo Pass: Tor Megiddo - part 5

Baltaten Actus Pho - The Rustking of Ferrugo Pass

Servos groaned and whined as they moved the heavy door from where it had stood closed for decades. Diagonal beams of sunlight illuminated the orange dust that dry winds swirled through the open doorway.

The sound of distorted vox-chatter, a mix of static, binharic cant and low gothic, accompanied the clatter of metal feet uplon metal gratings. A small group of ParaSkitarii filed out of the doorway and into the daylight for the first time in many years. They scanned the horizon for signs of movement and unusual energy readings. When they were satisfied their leader keyed a rune on his augmetic mask and transmitted a code.

The towering form of the Rustking scuttled out onto the balcony and looked out across the desert from his vantage point, high in the tower that topped the immense Tor, known as The Cauldron. A mobile exploration, drilling and pumping platform the size of a city, that slowly lumbered across the sands of the Ferrugo Pass.

+++

The Rustking is the leader of the group known as Anomaly Protocol, a decaying Adeptus Mechanicus warband from Ferrugo Pass on the desert world of Tor Megiddo. He will take the role of an "End of Level Boss" type character for our open play Kill Team campaign that should start next month.

The WIP post for this model is here. The post about his retinue is here.

Update, 30th April 2019:

Ferrugo Pass: Tor Megiddo - part 4

Anomaly Protocol, Patrol 8

Red-orange dust swirled around the slowly lowering access ramp. It thumped onto the dry cracked ground and Ranger Patrol 8 emerged from the darkened belly of the gigantic Tor. They set off to search for replacement components - things that were always inevitably breaking down and failing.

Alpha Daktov gave a few curt commands in a mix of binharic cant and low gothic, distorted over the vox by static and interference. With a prayer to the Omnissiah, the small group marched out into the wilderness and they soon disappeared from sight in the dust clouds.

Daktov - Para-Skitarii Ranger Alpha

Daktov was a Strategic Chorister - Infobanks of oracular and tactico-predictive engrams allowed him to constantly exload optimal instructions to his comrades.

Tybar - Para-Skitarii Ranger

Tybar was never still, glorying in the perpetual motive force of the Omnissiah. He often impetuously rushed ahead of the battleline as a result.

Kasra - Para-Skitarii Ranger

With his noospheric intake corrupted by years of tireless service, Kasra developed biological glitches, tics and twitches he could not control. 

Decima - Para-Skitarii Ranger Sniper

Decima was Meticulously Observant - the slightest weakness in the enemy’s armour was laid bare to his augmetic perceptions.

Chulho - Para-Skitarii Ranger

Chulho was blessed with Binharic Piety - he was given to strident pronunciations in binharic cant whenever he acted in anger.

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As I have mentioned before, our next sortee into the red wastes or Tor Megiddo will be using Open Play style Kill Team rules, with warbands chosen to a total of 50 points and no faction-specific Stratagems. So this little group is going to include the profiles of both Adeptus Mechanicus Skitarii and Genestealer Cult Neophytes to represent the mismatched selection of weapons and equipment.

Spellbreakers at Realm's Edge - part 12. The campaign finale!

The Curse of Thelxinoe

Mogrum was subdued and quietly angry. Yesterday had not ended well: The ritual Mogrum attempted was interrupted and spoiled, the scrimshawed bone dissolved into dust as a storm of wild magic was unleashed from it. The crew were painfully aware of how dangerous he was at times like this so out of a sense of self-preservation they held their tongues for once.

A few hours before dawn the Cleavermaws found the wildly spinning Endless Spell Kaptain Mogrum had inadvertently created. Another two warbands had located it as well but the pirates were determined not to let anyone else harvest its energies.

Mogrum planned to destroy them with the very thing they pursued!

~ 🕱 ~

The Cleavermaws gathered in a low ruin. They were uncharacteristically quiet.

An abyssal Cerulean Sun of Shyish swirled and pulsed in the Duskhaven town square. Its dire rays stabbed out into the ruins around it, illuminating an open plaza with it's deathly light. 

The skeletal face that leered out from the broiling orb filled all who witness it with mortal terror.

The Hunters of Gloomfen huddled in a shattered house.

The Shadowflames approached the dire sphere, reinforced by a party of the otherworldly Shadowkin Stalkers.

Narlek Swiftblade, the first of the Shadowkin, stepped out of the darkness and mists of Ulgu and charged Bosun Higgs.

Another Shadowkin Stalker, Iyshak, appeared in a ruined building ahead of the pirates.

Shadowkin Stalker Bekliel tried to hold up the Hunters but he was swarmed and overwhelmed by them.

The Cleavermaws dealt with the Shadowkin (Harald smashed it with his cannon) and watched as the Shadowflames and Hunters fell upon one-another in the darkness.

Kaptain Mogrum seized control of the Cerulean Sun while the Aelves fought and sent it careening through the Aelves of both enemy warbands! A Khinerai of the Hunters was consumed by it.

Arrows darted out from both warbands...

Tark fell in a cloud of arrows.

Harald grunted his disapproval. He wanted to be the one to shoot the Slayers again!

The vicious close combat escalated. Laelanyel single-handedly killed two Hunter Reavers and a Witch Aelf.

And the terrifying aura of the Cerulean Sun took its toll.

Laelanyel the Mistweaver opened a Mirrorpool and fled from the Hunters.

But she appeared too close to the orruk sky-pirates and Mogrum charged her, with a few deckhands in tow. Kutlasses flashed in the gloom.

The short fight was frustrating for the Orruk Weirdnob Shaman pirate as the Mistweaver fell, not to wounds inflicted by his bladed totem-staff, but from the Hunters sorcery, placed upon her earlier in the battle!

The pirate orruks looked on in satisfaction as the Aelven warbands disappeared into the shadows, leaving them in possession of Duskhaven. They could capture the Cerulean Sun in the Dead Man'd Chest at their leisure.

This expedition had started badly but it had turned out to be quite profitable. They only needed to meet up with those merchants who had promised to buy the spell-energy once it was captured and bound into Realmstone in the Dead Man's Chest...

~ 🕱 ~

This was "Dangerous Hunt", a Skirmish Battleplan from White Dwarf (January 2019) with the "Dead of Night" Open War twist card added. Every time we rolled to see if the night lifted the dice failed us, so it stayed pitch-dark for the whole battle, with just 12" visibility for ranged attacks and spells!

The only way to score Victory Points in this Battleplan is with casualties caused by the Endless Spell. As luck would have it, I got to go last in the first battle-round, control of the spell fell to me. So I smashed it through both enemy bands! Happily (for me!) the deaths caused by that were the only ones from the spell as no one else managed to take control of the Cerulean Sun of Shyish! The rest of the game for me was just a matter of making something exciting happen for the sake of the story. I could have just stood back and watched the Aelves kill each other but we wanted Mogrum and Laelanyel to have a final showdown.

~ 🕱 ~

So that wraps up the Spellbreakers at Realm's Edge campaign! It was a lot of fun for such a simple narrative idea: Bounty hunting wizards!

Back in May we read this snippet in the Endless Spells Rules Preview on the Warhammer Community blog, and it caught our imagination immediately:

Endless spells are one of the unforeseen consequences of Nagash’s machinations in Shyish. Where previously spells would dissipate naturally, many now take on a life of their own, roaming the realms and accumulating power almost indefinitely. Some wizards in the Mortal Realms have even taken up work as bounty hunters, tracking them down and dispelling them, while certain examples are as notorious as any dragon or beast that lives in the woods, like the legendary Phantom Blade that cleaves through Ulgu.

Our next campaign will be a return to Tor Megiddo but we will inevitably be back in the Mortal Realms fairly soon after that.

Spellbreakers at Realm's Edge - part 11

Erebusia Unbound!

The shadows of Ulgu darkened into what passed as night, if such a thing existed in Duskhaven. Kaptain Mogrum, Weirdnob Shaman, stood in the ruins of the Wizard's Mansion with the scrimshawed bone in one hand and his totem-covered staff in the other. His steel skull-mask hid his face but his eyes were closed and he was lost in an internal struggle. Most of the crew waited on the floor below, kept out of earshot of the Kaptain by Sludga and Deadwood. Only a couple of deckhands were anywhere near him and they were only there to hold things for the boss.

The ritual was long and complex and any number of things could go wrong but the Shaman hadn't "learned" how to perform it... he sort of just... knew. Maybe it was the scrimshawed bone that put the knowledge in his head? Maybe it was the accumulated sorcerous energies swirling within the Dea Man's Chest? 

Or maybe it was given to him by Gorkamorka? He liked that version best, so that was the one he was hanging on too. The others weirded him out too much.

The crew below deck started muttering a bit too loud about whether this was an abjuration or conjuration. Sludga slapped them about a bit to stop it becoming another fight.

~ 🕱 ~

As Snaplock Harald loaded his cannon, Bosun Higgs spotted something and wandered over to him. He asked "What are you using for grapeshot?"

"Just these shiney rune-things. I found a whole load of 'em when we stole them crates from the skyship dock in Wortbad. They don't look like real gold but they have sharp edges and they make a real mess of those Slayers!" said the Ogor with a deep laugh.

Higgs looked worried but he wasn't going to argue with the Ogor.

~ 🕱 ~

Mogrum held the Scrimshawed Bone aloft as wave upon wave of sorcerous energy poured out of it.

The Sunken Gate shimmered and the Hunters of Gloomfen spilled out.

Mistweaver Saih Laelanyel and Auric Runefather Aef-Grimnir approached from the opposite direction.

Harald's gun spoke and everyone jumped as the reported echoed through the dark streets. Black smoke curled into the Duskhaven mists.

The Hunters swept across the cobbles - two Thralls charged Lost Uzzog the Shaman and four Reavers headed for the rest of the crew. Arrows hailed into the walls of the house, one found its mark in Sludga's shoulder.

Seeing that he was already wounded yet still likely to be the toughest of the crew, the Namarti Reavers pounced on Sludga and finished him off.

Lost Uzzog was shocked that he survived the attack by two Gloomfen Namarti Thralls, but he managed to cast Gaze of Mork and incinerated two of them and wounded the Tidecaster!

The Cleavermaws were emboldened by Uzzog's power and lept into combat with the Hunters...

... and they cut down another Thrall.

The orruk pirates that had headed for the Shadowflames were less lucky and the Runefather smashed Dogwatch Fug to the ground.

The orruks in the Wizard's House cheered as...

... the Hunters of Gloomfen fled through the Sunken Gate.

The orruk pirates consolidated their position in the ruined house.

Mr Deadwood and his small group held out for a few minutes, their luck would not last long against that blade though.

Mogrum completed the first step of the ritual! Amethyst energies from Shyish coalesced around him.

The Mistweaver used a darkening flame of Ruin to strike down Ledger Nudd and Double Barrel!

The Sunken Gate shimmered again and three Fyreslayers emerged!

Throwing axes whizzed across the harbour and Oiler Tunn fell with a cry of indignation.

The Runefather smashed Deadwood to the cobbles.

Harald climbed down and fired on the Slayers as they rushed along the jetty.

Tark fell (again!) to the hail of glittering shrapnel.

The orruk pirates charged and clashed with the Fyreslayers in the shallow dark waters.

One after another the slayers fell to orrukish kutlasses. The orruks had cleared the burning Locus of Energy of enemies but Laelanyel still controlled the Dead Man's Chest!

And the crew hurried back to the house, mindful of their duties for once. They were excitable and raring for another fight.

Lost Uzzog hid in the dark of the Wizard's House, and sent searing blasts of green lightning out of the windows at the Runefather and the Mistweaver.

Harald fired another blast then charged through the powder smoke!

The crew cheered him as he lumbered forward.

But Aef-Grimnir  was ready for him and swept his Latchkey Grandaxe low.

The Runefather and Mogrum hacked away at each-other but Mogrum managed to keep most of the thaumaturgic threads of the ritual in place.

The Cleavermaws arrived and piled-on the duardin.... 

The orruks overwhelmed the Runefather finally but it was a few moments too late!

The sapping of energies from the two loci by the aelves and the wounds the Shaman suffered combined to untether the feylines that Mogrum had gathered and woven together.

The clouds overhead roiled and twisted in on themselves. Magical energies started unravelling and a terrible rumbling sound started to build up, just beyond hearing....

~ 🕱 ~

This was The Ritual from White Dwarf (January 2019). Viktor and David were the Assassins with 200 points each, and I had 400 points. We changed the rules slightly, instead of rolling a D6 to complete the Ritual each turn we decided that it could not be completed in the first three turns. Each successful roll would add an amethyst crystal to Mogrum, each of which would add +1 to the Ritual roll at the end of turn 4.

It came down to Mogrum needing a 5+ at the very end of the last turn and I rolled a 4. Viktor had caused more than 3 wounds on the Shaman so he scored a Minor Victory!

Viktor's side of this tale is here.

This was the penultimate game of the campaign  - so there is only one game left! We want to get all four of us playing in that one.