Ferrugo Pass: Tor Megiddo - part 6 - Opening Moves

The Tors were dying.

The Cult Mechanicus did their best: They made repairs. They replaced failing components. They said the holy rites. They applied the sacred oils. They appeased the decaying machine spirits.

But it was not enough.

The repairs did not last. The new components were just as old as those they replaced. They did not understand the holy words, so the memory of them was fading and their recitals were jumbled and misspoken. The sacred oils were diluted with raw unprocessed promethium, because that was all there was.

The Tors were dying.

They sent out expeditions into the red deserts; to find more replacement parts. To find pure sacred oils. To find uncorrupted machine spirits. They were not Tech-priests. They were not Skitarii. They did their best but the Tors were dying.

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The Ferrugo Pass is a winding path through the arid mountains in the far north of the Rhossum Primus continent of Tor Megiddo. The battles of the Yaike Yaike tribes across the Scorched Plain, before the last Red Wind, caught the attention of the Rustmen who ventured out onto the Scorched Plain to investigate. No-one remembered a time when so many of the revered Rustmen came down from the mountains in one go. When the battles were ended by the next Red Wind the Rustmen walked back to the mountain pass, heedless of the dust storms that can strip the flesh off a human in less than an hour.

When the Red Wind subsided again and another new year began, the Yaike Yaike once more emerged from their hiding places beneath the burnt ground, inside the ruined hive spires, within the bellies of long-dead gods of war.

Rumours of what dwelt within the rocky cliffs and fissures of Ferrugo Pass started to spread. No one knew who started them but all knew the Rustmen had come from somewhere, and they had gone back to wherever that was. The rumours said that the Ferrugo Pass was the domain of half a dozen Tors that ranged in size from the smallest; walking colossi (that dwarfed even the greatest of Rustmen!); to some that were the size of cities. Stories began to circulate that most of them were still mobile and at least partially functional.

The Yaike Yaike tribes, the Flesh Barons, the Red Church, and many others, all coveted the Tors for the wealth and power that controlling even one such legendary living god-machine could bring.

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The Para-Skitarii of Anomaly Protocol Patrol 8 spent some time observing the local Yaike Yaike tribes before setting out into the shanty town.

Lurking in the shadows of the shanties were the Purebred...

... and the Stash Riders.

The Para-Skitarii cautiously advanced, staying close to the reassuring might of the ruined refinery machinery. Davtov transmitted a burst of binharic to the warband and they spread out.

Tybar sprinted to the objective on their left flank, hoping something useful was inside. 

Gudget readied his Caliver and blasted the Purebred's mutant hound.

The Stash Riders hunkered-down in a makeshift bunker picked-off one of the Purebred fighters.

Daktov made a dash for the central objective.

Gudget and Decima steadied their weapons and prepared to fire.

Draktov (briefly) held the central objective....

Kasra had his eye on the objective in the pumping-station, while Tybar held the one on the near-left. One of the Stash Riders lurked behind the ruined bulkheads.

Yash the Blemished charged Daktov! Warfather Arun climbed into the back of the abandoned truck.

The Stash Riders sniped at Arun and he went down.

Yash the Blemished struck down Daktov!

Mahela, the Keeper of the Flesh, scared one of the Stash Riders with her vicious assault! The 'Rider fell back and gave her the objective.

Beetle - the leader of the Stash Riders sought to dislodge Yash from the central objective.

Tybar hunkered-down behind the heavy steel door while Kasra ticked and twitched as he prepared himself to make a dash for the objective in the pumping-station.

Gudget rained fire at the Purebred. Decima was wounded and shaken.

As Kasra sprinted across the red sand Murdock blasted him in the back!

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So! We are back on Tor Megiddo for another campaign. The Tor Megiddo Tarot was consulted: We expect this one to last at least 6 weeks and we have sketched out a story and the missions to represent it (you can read it here), but the action on-table may take the story in a different direction... we will have to see!

The first mission was Recover Intelligence. This was used to represent the frantic gathering of supplies needed for the desert-crossing expedition to Ferrugo Pass. There were five objectives, one in the centre and one in each quarter. The central objective was worth 3 VP each turn it was controlled, the others were worth 1 VP per turn.

The final tally of Victory Points was:

• Anomaly Protocol - 3
• Stash Riders - 2
• Purebred - 8

The Purebread were broken and battered but still managed to gather the most supplies and score a victory by a wide margin.

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Viktor's intro to his Ferrugo Pass adventures is here and his version of this encounter is here.