Spellbreakers at Realm's Edge - part 3

A Storm of Magic

Buzzing things annoyed the orruks as they stumbled around in the steaming jungle. The air was full of crackling green lightning that arced uncomfortably across their skin every time they touched anything.

The sky above was a worrying shade of turquoise and weird shaped clouds roiled and billowed all around the horizon. The Cleavermaws muttered to each other and pointed, describing the evolving phenomenon using deeply technical, but completely wrong, magical terminology.

"Looks ta me like we're gonna be awash wiv maleficium pentaclisation any minute now." said one, eyeing a particularly ominous cloud.

"Aye." said another "and probably a deal of thaumaturgistical undertow an'all."

Their shipmates nodded sagely.

Kaptain Mogrum sighed and tried not to listen to them.

After the disaster trying to bind Terpsichore's Terror the Cleavermaws and the Shadowflames were scattered across the Wilds of Keromuru, at Realm's Edge of Ghyran.

Kaptain Mogrum tried to gather his crew and summoned some serious firepower from the ship Snaplock Harald arrived hefting a cannon from the ship's battery!

A good number of the Cleavermaws managed to locate each other and bunched up around the Captain. But the destabilisation and subsequent explosion on the Malevolent Maelstrom had unleashed a Storm of Magic on the Keromuru region!

The Shadowflames had fared less well; they were scattered far and wide.

The Cleavermaws spotted Laelanyel the Mistweaver Saih, trying to hide among some rocks that glimmered with eldritch energies.

Kaptain Mogrum and Snaplock Harald crossed the little river with Mr Sludga and Double Barrel.

Mr Deadwood, Oiler Tunn and Weatherly Deg were not far ahead of them.

Laelanyel, the Mistweaver Saih, found herself beset by Deadwood and Tunn. But she opened a glimmering Mirror Pool...

And disappeared into it!

Then reappeared amongst a clump of trees a hundred yards away!

Bosun Higgs joined the kaptain and his group.

Ledger Nud was jumped by a fyreslayer, but the Kaptain's Clerk had a few tricks under his wig!

Snaplock Harald levelled his cannon and tried to blast a Slayer who was creeping up behind the crew, but his powder was damp from the humid jungle air and the gun went of with a dull thump, rather than the usual deafening boom. The Slayer counted his lucky stars and hid behind a ruin!

Liberty Snik fell but...

Ledger Nud just tutted and finished the entry in the ship's log as the Slayer lay at his feet.

While it took the combined assault of Double Barrel, Oiler Tunn and Mr Deadwood to bring down another Slayer!

The orruk pirates chased after the Mistweaver Saih, once they realised where she was.

Snaplock Harald moved to get a better shot at the cowering Slayer but the duardin took a risk and charged the ogor from a very long way off.

And made it!

The approaching pirates made Laelanyel nervous and she tried to open another Mirror Pool, but the raging Storm of Magic unstabilised her spell and it wracked her with arcane energies!

Aef-Grimnir The Runefather stood between Laelanyel and the orruks. His Latchkey Grandaxe laid waste to them.

Harald's cannon rang like a bell when he smacked the speedy Slayer round the head with it!

~ 🕱 ~

This was "Clash at Dawn" Skirmish Battleplan with the "Storm of Magic" Open War twist card. The Cleavermaws managed to edge into a minor victory by just breaking the Shadowflames. Viktor's telling of this story is here.

Spellbreakers at Realm's Edge - part 2

Terpsichore's Terror

The Cleavermaw sailed low and fast, weaving between the jungle-covered hills of the Wilds of Keromuru, at Realm's Edge of Ghyran. It took all of the small crew's continuous concentrated effort to wrangle the ungainly sky-vessel round the turns required to avoid the vine-covered rocky outcrops and hills. Sometime they just didn't bother and just scraped over them!

The lookout at the masthead started; he had spotted a plume of smoke on the horizon between the slopes of two hills. He called down to the deck below and the crew ran to the gunwales and leapt into the rigging to see. Mr Deadwood, the master-at-arms, sent a deck-hand below to wake the kaptain.

~ 🕱 ~

Kaptain Mogrum stood upon the rocky ledge and peered through his brass spyglass. His beard and robes writhed with magical energies, as if they were living things. Tiny green sparks arced and crackled across his skin. The rock itself seemed to be charged with arcane energies, it didn't even require his new mystical sensitivity to know this hill was a site of power, a nexus of ley lines.

The Cleavermaws assembled around him, eager to get started. They had found there was good money to be made from the bounties paid for getting rid of Endless Spells, and more from robbing other bounty hunters when they were more successful! Most wizards didn't put up much of a fight - it only tended to be their bodyguards that caused the Cleavermaws and problems.

Mogrum knew the Malevolent Maelstrom known locally as Terpsichore's Terror was close by.

But so were The Shadowflames! An alliance of Aelf sorcerer and Duardin warriors was not to be underestimated.

The Cleavermaws raced forward as Terpsichore's Terror moved away from them, toward the Shadowflames.

Mogrum summoned a huge spectral Foot of Gork, that plummeted from the roiling clouds above in a swirl of green lightning. But Laelanyel, the Mistweaver Saih, dissipated the thaumaturgic stomp before it reached the tree tops!

The Fyreslayers watched the approach of Terpsichore's Terror with close attention, three of them managed to bind the Maelstrom and the pulled it nearer to them, away from the orruk pirates.

The Cleavermaws split into two groups - half went to fight the Fyreslayers, half went to wrangle the Maelstrom from the duardin binding it.

Mr Deadwood and Bosun Higgs pushed through the jungle with their ensorcelled pistols ready.

The Fyreslayers made short work of the orruks - the Maelstrom fed on their unfortunate souls and became unstable.

The three Cleavermaws hiding in the trees managed to bind the Maelstrom and they held it in a stalemate, so the Fyreslayers could not move it!

~ 🕱 ~

(We tracked the souls and spells that Terpsichore's Terror had consumed with crystals on it's warscroll)

~ 🕱 ~

The Fyrslayer that was not busy binding the Maelstrom charged into the jungle to sort out the troublesome orruks.

Aef-Grimnir, the Runefather, was surrounded by orruks, including Mr Sludga the Ardboyz Boss.

The Runefather sent two more orruk souls into the Maelstrom and turned his attention on Sludga.

But Terpsichore's Terror was now brimming with unstable energies, more than was safe.

The Maelstrom exploded! A devastation wave of Death Magic blasted the jungle - three more orruks fell, along with 3 Slayers, and Laelanyel the Mistweaver was wounded.

~ 🕱 ~

Spellhunters (from Malign Sorcery) is a great Skirmish Battleplan! If either of us had managed to draw the Endless Spell to our objective marker we could have scored a Major Victory. If we had wiped out the enemy warband or the Spell was closer to our objective at the end of five Battle Rounds we could have scored a Minor Victory. But as the spell destroyed itself we called it a Draw.

Viktor's side of this tale is here.

A Champion Emerges. The Season of War - Game 2

Adm'rul Kurgan swaggered from the lines of Orruk Pirates and Privateers. He stood head-and-shoulders taller than the orruks, even the Kaptains, who followed him. He hefted his huge enchanted choppa, [i]Da Kutlass[/i], on his right shoulder and casually swung [i]Deeptoof[/i], his lucky broken anchor, with his left hand. He sauntered up to the agreed meeting point, full of his usual piratical overconfidence.

He squared up to Cargo, the Ogor Tyrant, and said "So mate, you ready for dis?"

"Ready." said Cargo simply and dived at Kurgan with his massive cutlass. The Adm'rul dodged the thrust and sliced, backhanded, with da Kutlass in reply.

The two of them hacked, parried, cut, feinted, kicked, blocked and bellowed at each other for a good few minutes before the rest of their respective armies remembered they were not just there as spectators!

The Rotmoons ran toward the Grudgebreakers, the starboard watch took cover behind a rocky hill on their way.

Both the champions had landed blows on their opponents by now, and the Adm'rul was very slightly worse off than the Ogor.

Cargo seized the initiative, landed a nasty headbutt on the MegaBoss and floored him.

The orruks bellowed in rage and charged.

They fell upon Cargo with their full fury, the Kapitain, El Doctoro and the port watch all unleashed their anger at the insult.

The starboard watch ambushed the Stokers and the Sea Wizard.

As the last of the port watch fell the orruks disengaged and fell back. They had lost the battle but they retained their pride!