Desert winds blew clouds of red-orange dust through the streets of Perishton. Debris tumbled over open ground and mack-shift metal shutters clattered against glassless window frames.
Kasra had been waiting, concealed in Perishton for weeks. Hidden in the industrial ruins of the shanty town, following the last orders he had been given when Daktov and the rest of his Para-Skitarii team left. He watched dozens of Yaike Yaike bands race off into the desert to look for Ferrugo Pass. He saw a few warbands return; battered and bedraggled form their failed expeditions across the Scorched Plains.
Then the purebred returned; triumphant and filled with tales of their victory over the fabled Rustking! He was shocked. The idea that the Rustking could be defeated turned his world upside down - it terrified him. He withdrew into the depths of the abandoned refinery, confused about what his future might hold. What had happened to the Cauldron? Would there be anything in Ferrugo Pass for him to return to?
When the signal from the Cog-Forsaken came it woke him with a start. He transmitted a homing beacon so they could come to his location. The binharic signal from the Cog-Forsaken was littered with venom and spite: They were furiously angry. They bayed for revenge.
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So here we are: the last game of the campaign!
The finale was played out with the Assassinate mission, from the kill Team core rule book. Great Father Arun was the target: Anomaly Protocol would win if he was killed, the Purebred would win if he was not.
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Kasra fired at jax, but missed.
Sek-M and Rho-2/5 swiftly moved around the shanty.
Rax-1/1 charged at Eshelon the Rider but his augmetics glitched and his run stalled.
Snapper charged at Rax-1/1, his augmetics suddenly came back online and he retreated, leaving Snapper in a cloud of dust.
Jax spotted Rho-2/5 heading toward Great Father Arun and Mahela, so he jumped off the refinery platform!
And landed in front of the Cog-Forsaken. Mahela clambered over the container to get away and fired her pistol wide.
Nyxos-1-3 and Rax-1/1 charged! Eshelon snap-fired at Nyxos-1-3 but his shot was poorly aimed.
Sek-M moved to intercept Yash.
Nyxos-1-3's chordclaw eviscerated Eshelon and his mutated mount!
The combat conditioning of Rho-2/5 kicked into high gear and he unleashed an unexpectedly furies attack on Jax. The Warfather was dropped where he stood!
Kasra had no targets visible so he quickly relocated as Nyxos-1-3 stalked across the sands toward the shanty.
Rho-2/5 leapt over the body of Jax and charged at Mahela, under the nose of Great Father Arun.
But the Great Father avoided the fight! Nyxos-1-3 charged, Arun counter-charged! The two leaders came together is a flurry of deadly blows.
Kasra approached, wandering where his opening might appear...
Nyxos-1-3 was finally bested by Arun!
Rho-2/5 made short work of Mahela. The Keeper of the Flesh fell screaming!
Arun charged Kasra, thinking to barrel-through the weakest of the Para-Skitarii. He underestimated Kasra's tenacity!
Rax-1/1 attacked the wounded dusthound and shredded the beast with his chordclaw.
Kasra managed to wound Arun and held held him at bay just long enough...
... for Rax-1/1 and Rho-2/5 to charged him!
Even the mighty Great Father could not withstand the brutal combined assault - the massive Yaike Yaike war leader fell! Kasra kicked him when he was down.
...
A victory for Anomaly Protocol, but a hollow one since it did not return the Rustking to them.
They fell back from Perishton into the desert. They crossed the Scorched Plains and started the journey back to Ferrugo Pass. They feared that the rumours spreading through the Yaike Yaike tribes and settlements had become accepted as widespread fact. They feared the truth about Ferrugo Pass was known, and that the Yaike Yaike raids would increase. They feared that they could no longer rely on hiding in obscurity and passive defences.
They had to prepare for an all-out war that they could not afford to lose!
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Viktor's version of this closing chapter is here.
So we have closed another chapter in our exploration of Tor Megiddo. This was such a fun campaign to play; the games were exciting and satisfying and often really close-run. We managed to get a good number of turns in each game and only had to split a couple of multi-player games over more than one lunchtime (we are lucky to be able to leave everything set up between sessions!). The games were so fast and satisfying using Kill Team rules, open/narrative-play warband construction with low points-values, and a bit of creativity for the really weird things like Rustmen. Picking missions to match the next step in the story was easy as there are so many to choose from. We only had to tweak them a couple of times but none of the changes were huge - mostly just to deployment or objective placement.
Our next campaign will be set entirely within the webway, in the dark Shadows of Commorragh, but we have already started talking about the next visit to Tor Megiddo. We can't let it go now - we have rust and oil in our blood.
