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.
