The Ogresuns in Animosity VII - part 5

In the stygian darkness, Wyrdtoof was distracted by the devices built into the horned skull atop his staff. He was trying to plot the pirates’ course through The Snarl but it wasn't easy. But he was wrestling with the calculations to account for the seemingly random nature of the fortress’ construction, and the aggressive fungal plants that seemed to be actively making his task harder.

He turned a brass dial on the outside of the aethergage, tightened a screw on the occultimeter, re-tied two knots in the red string, loosened a knot in the blue string, and pushed three sliders to their opposite positions.

When one of the deck-hands, Doubloon Dregg, accidentally bumped into him in the dark, he was about to launch into a colourful and scathing diatribe at the unfortunate orruk. He got less than a syllable out then stopped himself - he realised the jolt of his hand had turned the Bairdmeter off ... and suddenly all the other readings made sense!

So instead of lashing out at the deck-hand, he loudly thanked him. Dregg was confused, but he managed a self-conscious, toothy grin.

Wyrdtoof strode off in an unexpected direction, shouting “Now's the turn of the tide! We make way while the sun shines.”

The Ogresuns looked at each-other for a moment, then Krashhart shrugged and followed him. The others were right behind him.

"Sun? Which it ain't shining down here mate" muttered someone near the back.

+++

Churned Earth

The Ogresuns encountered Korzek Shadowkin and his warband of Chaos Legionnaires (allied to the March of Thunder): The Thousand Hands.

They met in a vast cave network that was infused with Death Magic. The thousands of skeletons buried beneath the cracked cave floors constantly grabbed at their feet and legs.

Half a dozen Glimmerings could be seen scattered across the chamber - the Ogresuns wanted them but the Legionnaires were enacting some kind of ritual.

As Hurdygurdy rushed forward and grabbed the closes Glimmering, Wyrdtoof's sorcery blasted a Hornshield.

But the Hornshield weathered the storm of green energy and charged Wyrdtoof.

A Hornhelm and another Hornshield rushed to help their companion, and they started hitting the shaman too.

Dubloon Dregg hurried to help as Badhook duelled with a Hornhelm, but Dregg was too late.

Krashhart slammed into a Hornhelm and crushed him against the side of the skull-carved stairs, with a sickening crunch.

Fishgutz howled as bony hands raked at his boots and legs.

When Krashhart rebounded, the Legionnaire slid down the wall, leaving a trail of gore behind.

Enraged, Korzek Shadowkin took his revenge on Hurdygurdy. The Glimmering that the Warchanter carried skittered down onto the ground as he fell.

Krashhart jumped down after the dropped Glimmering.

When a Fury joined the assault or Wyrdtoof, he was surrounded and finally overwhelmed.

As Krashhart called out orders to withdraw, Dubloon Dregg also fell. Krashhart ignored his own instructions; he rampaged into the Hornshield and took them down.

+++

Opponent: Joel (AKA Redmaw, AKA rapturousrex)

Deployment: Oblique Confrontation

Victory: Final Furore

Twist: Churned Earth

Despite taking down the same number of enemy fighters as Joel did, I didn’t score a single Wrath Point so I lost the game. Joel scored 3, by rotating his focus between my fighters and remembering which battlegroup they were it (Remembering? Is this some kind of sorcery? The worst part is that we even discussed how important it was to remember, before the game!)

+++

Grand Sacrifice

Wyrdtoof and the pirates found their way downward into a gloomy section of the underground fortress. The cavern was choked with broken altars and failing wards, lightning scarred the stones and had held the aggressive flora at bay.

There, they ran into Dolgul Ebonbaffla and the Shadowsplittaz - another band of Ironjawz, who were allied to the March of Thunder. The Shadowsplittaz had spotted that the Ogresuns had Glimmerings in their packs and were clearly out to rob them.

Immediately the two shamans, Ebonbaffla and Wyrdtoof, unleashed a tide of magical power at one-another.

Hurdygurdy started singing one of his horrible shanties - his voice echoed strangely in the deep dark. Krashhart took down the nearest Shadowsplittaz Ardboy, and knocked the Glimmering from his hands.

A Trogg lumbered forward and tried to block the Ogresuns path to a Glimmering, but Badhook stole it from under his nose.

The Shadowsplittaz' megaboss hook-punched Wyrdtoof with his off-hand, span the shaman round a full 360 and made his ears ring.

The megaboss watched Wyrdtoof wobble unsteadily for a moment then pushed him over dismissively.

Krashhart and the Trogg exchanged shockingly heavy blows, until finally Krashhart fell - what had seemed like a battle of attrition was not a balanced contest. The Trogg had been healing every wound that the orruk landed on him!

Fishgutz and Docker worked together to guard Hurdygurdy - they forced the megaboss backwards, away from their Warchanter, and with a flailing-cutlass-onslaught, Docker got in a very cheap shot, and took down the monstrous boss!

+++

Opponent: Julian (AKA Jam)

Deployment: Oblique Confrontation (again!)

Victory: A Grand Sacrifice

Twist: Warning Cry

+++

The Ogresuns in Animosity VII - part 4

The Ogresuns rushed through the battleground streets of 2nd House, weaving between streets, allies, canal bridges, and piazas. Avoiding the areas of the worst fighting, sometimes making their route much longer. They made it to the Nebularch Court but diverted a little to loot a nearby stronghouse.

+++

“Don’t step on da glyphs!” Wyrdtoof screeched, flailing his staff as the pavement rippled like water, engraved spirals glowing beneath their boots. “They’re thinkin’! You step on ‘em while they’re thinkin’ and they’ll bite yer future clean off!”

Kap’n Salty Ogbad didn’t pause. He stomped across the marble plaza, both pistols barking, scattering a clutch of Wolfram Arkanauts and some unfortunate git in silver armour and blue robes who had been chanting. Somewhere above, the celestite orbs rotated slowly - shifting alignment.

All around, the battle for Nebularch Court raged - Union hammers clashed against Wolfram gunwagons, while the March’s beasts slithered between domed manors, their claws dripping gore. Salty didn’t care, not really.

He had eyes only for the vault beneath the western dome, where Wyrdtoof claimed a stash of glimmerings was locked away - enchanted trinkets that could let them rewrite the outcome of one moment.

“You said dis place was a vault, Wyrdtoof,” Salty shouted, parrying a blade of burning script. “All I see is sparklin’ rocks an’ lads arguin’ over philosophy!”

“It’s a prophecy-bank!” Wyrdtoof hissed. “All da value’s in possibilities. They deposits possible futures!”

An explosion blasted a hole in the vault door.

“Well, my future’s looting it.”

He stormed in. The others followed. Outside, stars aligned. A moment later, they unaligned.

A death-knight from Wolfram roared skyward - falling in a sudden vortex of celestial gravity. Crystals screamed. A gondola sank. And somewhere deep beneath the Nebularch Court, the vaults’ layout… shifted.

The Ogresuns were inside and, whatever came next, they’d already made a withdrawal.

The Ogresuns in Animosity VII - part 3

Wyrdtoof hobbled up the gangplank, robes smoking slightly and eyes wild.

“Kap’n! Kap’n! It worked! It worked maybe a bit too good.”

Kap'n Salty Ogbad looked up from the map, spread out atop the aft chase gun. “What’re ye on about, Wyrdtoof?”

“The feint, skipper! I lit up da celestium like a lamp in a bugstorm, all shaking and humming and sparkling. Gravehunters bit faster’n a hungry squig. Even brought that fancy coffin-walker what smells like burnt roses.”

Ogbad grunted. “So they fell for it?”

“Like a corpse off a cliff. While they were busy lurkin’ in shadows an’ arguin’ over who gets to look moodiest, or whatever it is they do, the Boltbreakerz was free and clear to scupper the train.”

Wyrdtoof hesitated. His left eye twitched.

“But… uh… they did blow up me celestium. Gone. Shattered to glitterin' stardust, with a shrieking noise what still echoes in me teeth." Then half to himself, "I reckon it hated going. Maybe it were alive. Maybe it were me friend.”

He scratched his chin with a gnarled finger. Then he was suddenly animated again:

“But seen things when it went, I did. Visions. Like maps made of stars. There’s more celestium, skipper. Bigger lumps. Ones what dream. We just gotta find 'em afore the skele-boyz do.”

Ogbad spat into the canal.

“Well,” he said, grinning, “I hope they dream o’looting and smashing stuff.”

Wyrdtoof grinned back, sparks crackling from his hair.

“Oh aye, Kap’n. They dreams of WAAAGH.”

+++

Wyrdtoof had left his celestium lantern under Krashhart's watchful eye while he went to "Have a look at them leylines, yonder."

As expected, the device drew the attention of agents from Wolfram Industries.

Krashhart recognised the Soulblight Vampire leading them, called Tempest, with a growl.

Krashhart rampaged toward him and their heavy, concussive weapons clashed.

The vampire countered the pirate's frenzied assault skilfully, but the hulking orruk overwhelmed him with sheer brute force.

Wyrdtoof and Bad Hook arrived, a little late. Wyrdtoof unleashed a blast of green lightning that took down one of the skeletons bearing a sorcerous device designed to drain the power from Realmstone. 

But a Dreadwarden swept down on the dropped artefact and dragged it to the celestium lantern.

The feedback loop overcharged the Gravehunter's artefact until both it and the celestium lantern disintegrated one-another!

The Ogresuns in Animosity VII - part 2

Dramatis Personae

+++

Wyrdtoof is part wild prophet, part junk-scavenger, and all pirate. Once marooned on a forgotten metalith island in the hinterlands of northern Thondia, he survived for years on raw cunning, instinct, and stubbornness. His isolation warped his already volatile mind further, deepening his connection to Gorkamorka’s brutal mysticism.

His wild mane of hair and beard dance in an unfelt wild, alive with crackles of unspent Waaagh! energy. His right leg ends in a battered wooden peg, a rough-cut replacement from his time fighting off the monstrous dead things that infest the Harrowmark - he still mutters curses about "da bleedin' grave-things what had too much teefs and not enough skin."

Wyrdtoof wears ragged blue and white striped trousers and a cloak stitched from the scaly hide of a Thondian predator. His staff is a mismatched contraption, parts of several Kharadron navigation tools under the skull of a horned beast, etched with crude glyphs and half-burned sigils, lashed together with string.

His bags bulge with scavenged relics, mostly Kharadron tech - empty aether-canisters, battered tools, broken endrin parts - all of which he claims have “proper mojo if yeh squint at ‘em right.” Some of the Ogresuns are half-convinced he’s got a working thaumaturgic compass in there, but he just grins and cackles if asked.

Wyrdtoof rejoined the Ogresuns in the Harrowmark, descending from the sky aboard the very skyship he lured with a jury-rigged aethergold beacon. Whether it was luck, fate, or the hand of Gork (or possibly Mork), he arrived just in time to fry a vampire with a blast of crackling green energy and cackle:

"Ahoy there ladz! Ya miss me?"

+++

Kaptain Salty Ogbad leads the Ogresuns. He's a Megaboss with a taste for wild adventures across the Mortal Realms. He must have been in some wild fights and perilous situations since the Harrowmark Run, to have become so massive!

Through Hel and High Water - a Path to Glory Ravaged Coast campaign, part 4

The Rotmoon, 26th day of Sorows

Helbridge

We reach Gnaw’s Edge these week and it as worse as we've expecting. The weathers are unremitting bad, in fact they seems worse by each day. So, we head inland for site of power, where El Doktoro has tell us Emberstone are.

+++

The blood-hued skies of Aqshy roiled with storm clouds and smoke. Lightning leapt in crimson arcs, striking nearby volcanic ridges with blinding fury, illuminating a narrow land-bridge that jutted across a churning sea. Crusted in soot and salt spray, the Rotmoons charged.

Kapitan Alunzo daLeeva led the way, black coat billowing behind him, gold trimmed armour dull under the ashfall. The blade of his sword, Shipwrecka, seemed to ebb and flow, reacting to the power at the land-bridge’s far side. A brace of battered pistols clanked at his side. Behind him came the others; loud, mad, and hungry.

Palmaz strode along the sand, voice raised in a shanty so horrible the storm itself seemed to wince. El Doktoro the shaman trotted barefoot beside him, red eye-glass lenses glinting like twin embers above his grubby ruff, singing quietly and off tune in a language only he understood. And towering above them all Ogdrog stomped, his massive axe slung over one shoulder, smoke wafting from the muzzle of a Kharadron rifle he'd had modified for use like a pistol.

But theirs was not the only storm to make landfall. From above came the lightning - true lightning, shot from the heavens - and in its wake came the Stormcast Eternals, gold-clad sentinels of Azyr. Both warbands had the same aim, albeit with different motivation: to reach the sacred ground at the far side of the land bridge and hold it against all comers.

There would be no flanks, no escape, and no room for subtlety. Just orruk steel, celestial wrath, and a causeway too narrow for anything but blood.

A binding of Soulsworn Questors translocated, from their lightning-borne arrival point, to the sacred ground objective.

The Weirdbrute Wrekkaz rushed ahead of the rest of the Rotmoons. Eager as always to start the fight. The Oddmoonz raced in front, but the Weirdmoonz were close on their heals.

Ogdrog and Roggriguez's Brutes made short work of the Vanquishers who had struggled to cover ground in claggy sand.

The rest of the crew did their best to keep up, but something moving through the smoke behind them caught their attention.

El Doktoro cast Bash'em Ladz on the Oddmoonz and Ogdrog roared encouragement: Both the Wrekkerz mobs charged and crashed into the Soulsworn (despite the craftily giving ground to confound the Wrekkaz)

Accompanied by the clash of weapons and armour Palmaz' shanty rang out across the battlefield, casualties fell on both sides, but the Wrekkaz wounds knitted closed and they leapt back into the fight. Soulsworn held their position despite atrrition slowly eating away their advantage.

Supported by El Doktoro's magicks, Dragante's watch turned, and ploughed into the Prosecutors who'd appeared behind them, dropping out of the storm.

A dragon swooped toward Bortagno's watch, as the Stormcast were reinforced by a band of Annihilators who translocated onto the only Emberstone Cluster in sight. But they abandoned it, without harvesting the precious realmstone shards, and thundered into Ogdrog and his hefty ladz.

Vigilors struggled through claggy sand to close on the pirates, but they peppered them with arrows from long range.

The Oddmoonz took advantage of the cover provided by a squall of soot rain and disengaged from the Soulsworn. 

They'd spotted the Annihilators moving away from the Emberstone and sprinted to claim it for themselves.

(The Annihilators headed for the sacred ground after they dealt with their first quarry, but that had nothing to do with the Oddmoonz choice....)

Even without them, the Weirdmoonz felled the last of the tenacious Soulsworn and captured the sacred ground.

The last Prosecutor fell and Dragante urged his watch to regroup and help their shipmates.

While El Doktoro and the dragon rider exchanged blasts of magical fire, Kapitan daLeeva dived for cover behind the rocks...

... as the dragon took a deep in-breath.

Dragante's watch were again hit by Vigilors' arrows, but either most glanced off armour or were redirected by the pirate's lucky trinkets.

So bows were swapped for swords.

The dragon swept around the rocks and Kapitan daLeeva charged! He drove Shipwrecka deep into the beast, wounding it severely.

But he was immediately swathed in a jet of seering flame...

+++

The Stormcast had gained the upper hand: Their losses were less significant than the Rotmoons' overall. When the Annihilators re-took the sacred ground, it was clear the pirates would continue to be worn-down if they attempted to contest it again.

So Palmaz called for a retreat, and the Rotmoons fell back to the ship with (a not insignificant) three shards of Emberstone in-hand.

+++

Opponent: Daniel

Faction: Stormcast Eternals

Battleplan: Storm the Land Bridge (1 Objective)

Twist: Ash Storm

Emberstone Clusters: 1

Points Values: 1290 vs. 1720 (Stormcast stalled reinforcements = 230+ points)

+++

Result Loss

Added to Emberstone Vault +1 shard from the captured cluster, +2 from the post-battle D3 roll.

Total Emberstone Shards Gained Overall = 12

Campaign Battles Fought = 4