Further Adventures in The Scarlands - part 11, Cut and Run

Old Mudgob woke with a jolt and green lightning cracked and arced around him as he sat up. In the dim pre-dawn light the stone walls and timber ceiling of the unfamiliar tower room were hard to make out and confusing.

He rubbed one eye with the back of his gnarled hand and dropped heavily out of his hammock.

In his dream he had seen the ruins of an old building in the forest that had been fortified and used as a powerful warband's encampment. The fighters themselves seemed to be long gone - swallowed by some horrible forest monster no doubt - but their loot was still locked away inside their old bastion. He wasn't completely sure, but he had a very strong feeling that the Idol of Mork he wanted might be among the treasures.

"Avast there!" he called out of the tower's window. "The legend o'the Raven's Roar comes asking for bread. The Six and their followers always ate well."

In the ramshackle campsite around the tower a few of the pirates looked up to see what the shouting was about. Mainstay stopped his work for a few moments and his brow creased in thought.

"What'd he say?" he said to Barnacle Nog without taking his eyes of Old Mudgob. Nog just shrugged without looking up and continued his work re-tying the ropes that held a sailcloth awning in place.

"Sixworn lines ahead, sevenfar lines behind, and with a future what's yet to be. The last who sailed the Roar left a deal of shiny what needs to be taken." Old Mudgob continued loudly, as he gathered his gear, and ran down the wooden stairs that wound round the tower's outside.

Mainstay grabbed his own gear and followed the shaman. "Call Krashhart! Tell him Mudgob be off on one of his... junkets again!" he yelled to Barnacle Nog over his shoulder as he ran.

"They were all ate; all of the Ravens. But they weren't expecting the like, so the past that hasn't gone away was upon them afore they had unlocked it." Old Mudgob was pointing into the woods to the south-west as he jogged through the camp. He seemed slightly frustrated, unable to understand why the rest of the crew weren't ready to go.

Many of them had stopped working though, a few had started to gather their own weapons, equipment and supplies.

~ ⦽ ~

The party of Swordfyshes gathered at the treeline, their number a little depleted but they were emboldened by the company of their strange old friend. Krashhart slapped the Weirdnob Shaman on the shoulder.

"You be knowing what heading we need to set, so we'll go wherever you steer. You be our compass mate." the Warchanter said with a grin.

"A stumbling first step on the day what is false but seems real." said Old Mudgob as he strode purposefully into the trees.

~ ⦽ ~

When they came to a clearing after two hours of walking they found the Ironforged in the remains of a small complex of building. Two Gluttons occupied the largest portion of the ruins.

Mainstay and Flotsum rushed into the courtyard and tried to draw the ogors out.

Krashhart, Old Mudgob and Mr Flea approached from the east, noisily drumming and singing a shanty.

They already had their sights-set on Skargat, Krashhart hoped that together they could take the beast down.

Kaptain Battendown, Hook and Barnacle Nog approached more quietly from the west, the plan was for them to ransack the main building, looking for the hidden loot, while everyone else kept the ogors busy.

They snuck into the compound with toothy grins on their faces, very pleased with themselves that none of the ogors (or their pesky pet gnoblars) had so far seen then.

In the courtyard Flotsum was quickly overwhelmed and taken down by the Gluttons, so Mainstay disengaged and quickly clambered up onto a roof, hooting and jeering at them, to try to keep them focused on him.

Skargat took Krashhart's bait and came barrelling down at the pirates, he almost seemed pleased to see them.

A spectacular battle began, the Ironjawz used all the magical tricks they had; in Krashhart's hands sparks from the Gristle Grinder arced and crackled, green fire raged from Mudgob's eyes and a smoky-green aethereal Foot of Gork stomped on the Tyrant repeatedly.

Somehow the Tyrant weathered this storm of violence and committed some of his own - he knocked Mr Flea flying. Then Krashhart and Old Mudgob once more unleashed a thundering barrage on Skargat and he was finally overwhelmed and brought down! Hrothgur rushed to his boss's aid but he was too late and couldn't help.

Mainstay realised he was in deep waters and decided that he'd had enough ogor attention for one day.

With a sharp crack, a bolt of emerald light flashed from Mudgob's eyes, over the head of the gnoblar on top of the bastion. But he shrieked and flattened himself on the timber roof, out of the firing-line.

At that signal, the "surprise party" appeared round a corner and rushed headlong into the ruins.

A gnoblar ran into the firing-line to prevent Battendown from getting to the bastion. Hook raked his eponymous prosthetic across an ogor glutton before him.

Mainstay jumped down from the walkway and sprinted toward the bastion. He hoped to get into a safer position but the way was blockaded.

The glutton and gnoblar withdrew to safety.

Hrothgur took out his frustration on Krashhart and pummelled him to the ground. The flat of his axe caught the Warchanter on the side of his head, with a clang like a bell.

The glutton on the walkway simply dropped down onto Mainstay and flattened him by shear weight.

The Ironforged Ogors in the bastion outnumbered the Swordfyshes so the pirates disengaged, taking their wounded with them. On the journey back to Brackenthorn Tower they sang Krashhart and Old Mudgob's praises. They had already begun to weave the tale of their mighty battle with Skargat. Since Krashhart and Mr Flea were both out-cold and Old Mudgob didn't seem to be seeing the same world as the rest of them, there was no-one to tell them the story was wildly inaccurate!

~ ⦽ ~

Later that evening Hook and Barnacle Nog went out on separate sorties into the woods, to see what treasures they could find. They returned to Brackenthorn Tower with only an unpleasant-looking Itxi Grub between them.

On the way back to camp Hook came upon a group of pirate Brutes, from the crew's anchor-watch. They were singing a shanty while they threw large stones into a small river: Bulkhead Krug, Lugger Dag, Yardarm Gark, and Leeway Ruk had apparently spent their time while off-watch blocking the river waters, and a large pool had formed upstream of their piled-up rocks.

Hook stopped in his tracks to watch them for a few minutes before they noticed him. They looked at each-other, laughed, the explained they had been given the task by Krashhart, and told not to ask any questions.

~ ⦽ ~

Deployment: Stranglehold

Victory: Bring to Ruin

Twist: No Respite

Another fun and close game - with a single different choice I might have been able to force a draw, but winning looked harder and harder as each Round progressed after the second.

In the after-game sequence Krashhart, Mainstay, Mr Flea and Flotsam all got off lightly - two with very minor injuries, and two with loss of Renown - and those that lost Renown got it back a few steps later! I sent Hook forth to further my Quest for Treasures of Gorkamorka - Idol of Mork, and rolled an average 3 (Viktor was the Attacker and I lost the game, so that was my lot for quest progress this week!). I sent Barnacle Nog forth to explore the woods and found a minor artefact. I added another Brute to my roster.

I think for the next game I will try a warband of both Heroes, all 4 Brutes and just one Ardboy.

Dramatis Personae

The Swordfyshes, a crew of pirate Ironjawz

• Lord Krashhart - Warchanter Explorer
  Agile Warrior, 2 Renown, The Gristle Grinder (+3 Damage on Hits and Crits)
• Old Mudgob - Weirdnob Shaman
  1 Renown
• Kaptain Battendown - Ardboy with a cloak and a squig-parrot
  2 Renown
• Lugger Dag - Brute, pair of Choppas (2 swords), red bandana
  Itxi Grub (Consumable, bonus action. Heal D3 damage)
• Yardarm Gark - Brute with Pair of Brute Choppas (axe and sword), blue bandana.
• Hook - Brute with a hook hand
  3 Renown
• Flotsum - Brute, pair of Choppas (axe and sword), blue bandana
  Carnosaur Elixir (Consumable, 1 activation, Crits on 5+)
• Mr Flea - Ardboy Drummer
• Dakmeff - Ardboy with a barrel on his back
  1 Renown
• Barnacle Nog - Ardboy with a bag of bones
  3 Renown
• Mainstay - Ardboy with red shoulder-plate and bandana

Reputation: 4

Glory: 7

Quest Progress: 3 out of 15

Treasures of Gorkamorka - Idol of Mork

Viktor's side of this tale is here.