Further Adventures in The Scarlands - part 6, Into the Woods

The Bleeding Wilds

In a time beyond memory - maybe even before the Age of Myth, the great dragon Maudra Rua was divided and imprisoned, Split between Ghur and Chamon, by a mismatched band of champions known only as The Six. Her soul was trapped in an ancient mountain range in The Badlands of Lahar, Ghur. Her physical body was encased in a substance that became known as Dragonmetal, and buried under a new mountain range in Silverside, Chamon. The new mountain range echoed the shape of the one in Lahar almost exactly and created a bond between two Realms.

Maudra Rua’s imprisonment was supposed to last all of eternity, and it might have done, if something catastrophic had not happened. As it is, she was freed after only a few thousand years.

Not that long ago the Ur-River was dammed by the actions of a powerful ritual down-stream, in another Realm. The Ur-River burst its banks and flooded Silverside where Maudra Rua’s body was imprisoned. The magical interactions between the river and the dragon, two powerful sources of energy, caused a phenomenon called The Bleed.

The Bleed flowed like a tidal wave over the areas and linked the Badlands of Lahar and Silverside in a violent and unpredictable way. For a while it was possible to walk from one Realm to the other, through a flowing wall of magic. Many were caught unaware as the tide of the Bleed washed over them and transported them to the other side without warning. Lahar and Silverside were called, collectively, the Bleeding Wilds.

While the tides of the Bleed ebbed and flowed, the Realms started to change each other. Chamon poisoned Ghur: Ghur made Chamon wilder and more predatory. The Realms went to war against one-another in a battle for survival.

For a time there was a mad scramble to explore this strange and shifting environment. A number of coalitions struggled for dominance. Each coalition was made up of a wide range of warriors, explorers, hunters and fanatics and each coalition was trying to control the Bleeding Wilds and the fate of Maudra Rua for their own ends.

But the Bleed eventually dried out and most of Silverside was lost forever. When the tide of the Bleed receded only a few areas of Silverside remained, and those that did were wholly transferred into the Badlands of Lahar.

At the height of the Realmwar the Mindstealer Sphiranx Nashwar and her followers performed a ritual of transference. They placed Nashwar’s mind and soul within Maudra Rua, as the great dragon broke free of her prison she shattered the mountain range in Lahar, split the land asunder and left a vast chasm where the mountains had been…

Nashwar Rua - a three-eyed dragon godbeast - was created, and in triumph she soared up through the Realmsphere and out into the Aetheric Void beyond.

The Scarlands

In the aftermath of the Bleeding Wilds the Badlands of Lahar became known as the Scarlands. At the same time a New Six formed, to try to recapture or kill the dragon and prevent her from unleashing her terrible power upon all the Mortal Realms. Their first act created a network of new geoglyphs and ley lines across the Scarlands that tapped into the power of Ghur and focused it to their own purpose. Each of the New Six were given demi-god-like powers with which to pursue and battle Nashwar Rua.

The Prowling Forest

In the east of the Scarlands there is a vast predatory and primordial jungle; wild and overgrown and teeming with huge reptilian monsters.

The forest itself ensnares passing wildlife (and explorers!) that linger beneath its leafy bowers. Fast-growing vines tangle the limbs of its victims and drag them to openings to be consumed in the wells of digestive fluids within the tree trunks. There is a convergence of geomantic ley lines in the Bleakwood Grove, on the southern edge of the Prowling Forest. The foreboding woodland is filled with all manner of strange and magical wildlife: animal and plants. At its heart is a crumbling stone ziggurat that is almost entirely lost to the trees and vines.

The Ruins of Qul'takteq

The remains of a city from the Age of Myth still persisted within the Prowling Forest. Most of the buildings had fallen, crumbled, overgrown; reclaimed by the earth and the trees over the centuries. Scattered shells of stone-built walls were all that stood, fragments of larger structures, obscured by the tangled trees and undergrowth. But there was still a chance that hidden within and beneath the ruins there were treasures beyond imagination: Relics from the time of The Six. Relics that have been dormant for centuries, but have been awakened by the apocalyptic events of the emergence of Nashwar Rua and the creation of the New Six.

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So, our next Warcry campaign starts in earnest this week - although we have been playing Open Play warm-up games in this setting for the last few weeks, so the place and our warbands will be familiar:

What has gone before:

• Part 1, The Swordfyshes
• Part 2, Warhammer World Meet-Up
• Part 3, Ley Lines
• Part 4, Reapers
• Part 5, Brackenthorn Tower

~ ⦽ ~

We have drawn up 1000 point Narrative Play rosters, picked the first Quests for our warbands and Heroic Traits for our leaders.

Krashhart's Heroic Trait is Agile Warrior (+1 Move) and my first Quest is Treasures of Gorkamorka - and the Swordfyshes will be searching for the Gristle Grinder (+3 Damage to hits and Crits!).

Viktor has chosen Resourceful (+1 Wild Dice in the first round of each battle) a Skargat's Heroic Trait and the Ironforged have Secure a Powerful Ally (Add one Ally, Thrall or Hero to the roster) for their first quest.

We will be playing the updated campaign system (almost!) straight out of the book, with just a slight change of location for our story. We will still be in Ghur but instead of the Gnarlwood in Thondia our games will continue our post-Animosity IV narrative in the Prowling Forest, in the eastern Scarlands.