Asaasination Attempt in Mirish

 It is the dead of night, two guards stand watch at the entrance to the tent of General Pereira.
 Fresh off his victory days before he is sleeping in his tent. But all is not well...

http://2hourblog.blogspot.com/2012/12/assassin-warrior-heroes-legends-aar.html

Summer 990 - Dear Barbax ...

Dear Barbax,

I’m sorry to hear of your recent losses. I too find myself basically homeless. It will be difficult to return even to Harbottle, my home of many years.

Life is not too bad as a guest of the Treyine. Brother Superior, the former head of the Brethren has recently taken up residence nearby and we have discussed the future. Following these discussions I have decided to set up an academy for training in the martial skills. This will be at the Brethren preceptory in Harbottle. They have given me command of it. This will mean I can still protect the people of the Border from attack by Orcs and Goblins. It will also mean that the Brethren can live on in this form and train young people in the ways of the Brethren.

As the old saying goes ‘every dark cloud has a silver lining’. I find myself short of riding and archery instructors. I would therefore like to invite yourself and some of your clan to come to Harbottle and help with the school. Not quite sure how this will fit in with the Brethren philosophy, but Brother Superior seems to think it is a wonderful idea. As we are going to have young boarders staying at the school it may be good to have a ‘mother’ figure as well as a father figure.

I must admit I miss your company as well. It would also be good for your daughter to be raised in a good family atmosphere, unless, of course, her father is finally stepping forward and looking after her and doing the decent thing toward you. I find his behaviour totally bemusing and if you would let me have his name I shall go and knock some sense into him.

Yours Faithfully,
Brother Cedric

Summer 990 - Dear Cedric ...

Dear Brother Cedric,

It is with heavy, but also glad, heart that I write you this letter. Many is the time we have talked of our future, but alas it is not to be. I have met my true love in the form of a Treyine nobleman, Sir Terence Bounder of Bounderingham and Caddington.

We could not help this. Our eyes met across my floury baps and we fell deeply in love. He is such a wonderful man and I’m sure you will like him, when you meet him. In fact he has arranged for you to be able to attend the wedding, so I hope you’ll come. Terrypoos says it would be a wonderful symbol of the Brethren acceptance of their friends from Treyine. I just think it would be nice.

Our wedding will be held in the Cathedral of Saint Martha the Submissive in Caddington. It’s what used to be the Cathedral of Saint Wilhelm the Vanquisher before its name was changed and it was re-consecrated.

Hope this letter finds you well,
Griselda

Spring 990 - Planting in Alwinton

Ragnar spent a peaceful spring helping in the village to replant the ravaged fields and fettle the apple trees. His people also helped to rebuild the houses properly. The village was back to its old self, but with slightly fewer people. Still the future was looking better now and the local militia were back training each week. With the worst of the Goblin depredations dealt with some of the young men took to thinking about revenge and asked Ragnar if there were room in his group for more warriors. Edmund and Alfred were the names of the two archers that joined the group. Perhaps, thought Ragnar, he should head out in search of fame and fortune once more come the summer.

Winter 989 - Oh Brother Cedric!

Dear Griselda,

Thank you for the bread you sent over. You are however going to have to be more careful while baking. There was a large piece of metal in the last loaf you sent. Fortunately one of the guards spotted it and removed it before any harm could be done.

It’s a strange place Treyine, with very bizarre customs. Last week the laundry woman came in and told me to strip her, tie her up and then put on her clothes. I immediately called for the guards and had the young lady thrown out. I know they say when in Tropilium and all that, but there is a limit.

The heads of the Brethren still seem to have a shortfall of money for my ransom. It has been a very expensive few years apparently. Still, they are hoping to hold a jumble sale in aid of my release later this month. It would have been earlier, but apparently Father Dugan’s donkey needs an expensive operation.

I am still being treated well by the Treyine. Although Lord Fondlegrew seems a little forgetful. Every time he sees me, he asks why I’m still here.

I was pleased to hear that the lads all got back safely after the battle. Although it must have chafed walking all that way naked.

Hope to see you again soon,
Brother Cedric

Winter 989 - Putting their feet up

The winter passed uneventfully for Ragnar. He remained in Alwinton working with the villagers to rebuild their shattered homes. It was a tough winter with no harvest to rely on but Ragnar was able to buy in some food to help tide them over and his negotiations with the local lord enabled further aid for the villagers.

The casualties of the previous adventure had obviously brought home to the locals how dangerous Ragnar's life was and he was able to recruit only one archer to his band this winter. Edgar looked a worthy fellow though, a stout Treyine Yeoman brought up from early childhood to use a longbow and keen to make his mark in the world.

Autumn 989 - Goblins, sah, fahsands of 'em

Summer had passed in an endless march through the Goblin lands but now Ragnar had trailed the Goblins that had raided Alwinton to their home, or so he thought. Certainly this is where King Rech had told him they would be. Unfortunately, as he approached the goblin settlement hordes of Goblins poured out of the place to form up in front of him and his company. Worse yet, they were led by not one but two Ogres and half the Goblins were mounted on Terror Birds. Things were going to get messy very quickly!

Ragnar deployed his crew in line among the boulders that dotted the area outside the Goblin village. They would provide good cover. The main Ogre had the majority of the Goblins around him, presumably to provide alternative targets. Ragnar could see over on his right flank that an Ogre and a Goblin Archer had emerged from the village onto the road directly opposite the vile King Rech and his chariot.


The battle began with missile fire. The desultory fire from the Goblins' side seemed designed to show only that they were doing what they were meant to. The shooting from Ragnar's crew told on the Goblins. The first Goblin fell to an arrow in his chest and pretty soon his compatriots were all fleeing. Ragnar laughed grimly as he nocked another arrow. These Goblins were spineless and the Ogre in command now stood on his own in the centre of the battlefield with only a couple of cowardly Goblins peeking out from behind his skirts. Ragnar did not know that a mounted force of Goblins was riding around on his flank at this point.


King Rech, on the flank was busily shooting at the Goblin Archer that was accompanying the Ogre. When he finally hit it, he killed it and the Ogre routed immediately, so he decided to advance up the road. After all, it was safe enough now!


With the Goblins in the centre scattered, Ragnar ordered his troops to concentrate their fire on the main Ogre but to little avail. It advanced amid the hail of arrows, apparently unconcerned by those that had impaled its hide. Then it paused, suddenly appearing unsure right at the moment when it was about to charge. Ragnar's crew fired everything they had at it and Barak finally managed to find a weak point, his arrow taking it in the eye and driving up into the Ogre's brain. It fell dead immediately and all the remaining Goblins fled. The village was Ragnar's. Time to search it.

This was a Pitched Battle scenario that I fought solo, because Steve could not make it through. I rolled that Ragnar had found the object of his quest but that he had to fight through to it, so Pitched Battle followed by a Raid if he won the first battle.

The Ogre was a particularly nasty Big Bad with Rep 6 and Hardiness 7. Yet, when Barak hit it, it managed to roll too many 6s to survive. No one is invulnerable in this game! Rather than allow Ragnar to choose all his reactions, I rolled for him on the Test of Wills and Charge tests. We have found that Free Will starts to break down in these tests once characters become as powerful as Ragnar and Brother Cedric. I still used it for other tests that he is allowed to choose. I treated the Big Bad Ogre as a character in the same way as Ragnar is.

Now that Ragnar has won this scenario, he moves to a Raid scenario to try to find the lost villagers. Let us hope that there are no more Big Bad Ogres in this village!

The Raid
As Ragnar congratulated himself on the bloodless victory; well, bloodless from his side of things, he saw a dust cloud approaching. What looked like a large Goblin war-party was returning to the village. Blast, he would have to fight his way through the village now. He quickly ordered the group to advance. No point in holding position when they could get into the village and start looking for the villagers from Alwinton. King Rech remained on the road in his chariot, shooting at the Goblins on the Terror Birds, while the others used their bows to try to whittle down the Goblins, but to little effect. Nothing for it but to charge.


Ragnar, Barak and Grim Redshirt all charged the Ogre. Suddenly Barak and Grim Redshirt were lying in pools of blood. The Ogre's giant axe had sliced both of them in two and Ragnar was backpedalling towards Armand, who had not made it into the fight. As he came level with Armand, this latter thrust at the Ogre and distracted it. Suddenly it was the Ogre that was backpedalling, before slipping in Barak's blood and getting cut down by Ragnar.


The others had charged the main body of the Goblins and were not faring too well. Although experienced warriors, they were outnumbered and it told. Although they held out as best they could, Hildigunn and Drogo were soon too badly wounded to fight on. Worse yet, Richard had been wounded by a Goblin arrow and was sitting by the altar staring at the hole in his side.

King Rech was firing arrows for all he was worth. He slew one Terror Bird and another routed. Then he charged the remaining one, only to find his chariot cut from under him by the Rider's fierce fire. Undaunted he charged on fought, only to be cut down and slain where he stood. The Rider turned and prepared to charge Ragnar's crew in the back.

Ragnar and Armand now charged the Goblins in the flank. In very short order the Goblins were soon cut down or routing, demoralised thoroughly by the grim efficiency with which Ragnar wielded his axe.



Enraged by the deaths of his comrades, Ragnar barged into the first hut and cut his way through the Goblins that were lurking in it. He repeated this process for the remaining huts and eventually found the target of his raid in a cellar beneath one of the stone huts. The villagers of Alwinton were all but saved. Now all they had to do was get home before the worst of the winter set in.

The raid was tough. Ragnar and his crew rolled poorly to start with and the ease with which the Ogre killed Barak and Grim was frightening. I really thought Ragnar had met his match here. Fortunately he was driven back next to Armand who was able to join the fight and help him to beat the Ogre.

After the battle I rolled for advancement. Ragnar lost one point of Hardiness. Drogo lost a point of Rep and is now Rep 2. I think he will stay with the villagers and not come on adventures any more. Richard also lost 1 Rep and is now Rep4. No one gained anything, except the villagers, who did not get eaten.

Spring 989 - Elf Risks

There was a man called Ragnar, the son of Ketil, son of Grim, the son of Ragnar, the son of Einar. Ragnar travelled north through the Border Kingdoms, which lay far to the east of Mirholme, in search of the villagers of Alwinton, whom he had sworn to protect. Ragnar was a great warrior ...

"Black Moon Elves," spat Ulf, as he espied an enemy threat approaching. The northern mountains of the former Border Kingdoms were an unpleasant place to be at the best of times but, with the nation overrun by Goblins it had got worse. Outlaws and followers of the Dark Moon were rife everywhere. The ruined farmhouse ahead of them proved this. Its former owners were nowhere to be seen. Only the Elves occupied the area now.
"There are not many of them," announced Ragnar, "Gunnvora, Hildigunn, Redshirt and Drogo, come with me. Let us try these Elves and see if they can face the arrow storm as well as we can. The rest of you stay with the Goblin and make sure he does not escape. We need him as a guide and cannot risk him in this fight."

Ragnar and his band sneaked up to the edge of the farm buildings. Only a single Elf was on guard and he appeared to be unaware of their approach.

After a quick reorganisation, Hildigunn and Grim stepped out from behind the cottage and loosed arrows at the lone Elf sentry. He fell immediately with two arrows through his heart. As they did so, Ragnar burst through the cottage door and came face to face with a big mean Elf. He immediately charged and a desperate fight ensued. The Elf was nearly as good as Ragnar, and Ragnar's followers, though well meaning, kept getting in the way.

All too soon, Gunnvora lay dying on the floor, her body destroyed by the Elf's glaive. Drogo lay near her, wounded but breathing still. Ragnar bellowed his rage and drove the Elf before him, out of the cottage. Now the Elf was on the defensive, bleeding from wounds that would have killed a lesser Elf. Grim and Hildigunn sought to help, but Ragnar told them to search the other cottages instead. He was afraid that they would go the way of Gunnvora.

Soon the Elf was exhausted. Ragnar had driven it back to the stream and its blows were getting weaker. Reversing his axe he pounded the hammer head against the Elf's skull and it collapsed into the water, still breathing. Quickly Ragnar bound it as a should went up from the stable. A wild Elf had been hiding there but Hildigunn and Grim demonstrated their archery skills once more. As the Elf fled they feathered its back with arrows, an ignominious end to a life poorly led.

While the others were spitting the Elf, Ragnar entered a small hovel across the stream, where the sentry had been. Another of the Elven brethren was within. With a roar of rage Ragnar raced to rend the reiver and redden his blade once more. A furious fight ensued that first saw Ragnar driven back and then the Elf. It was close fought as Ragnar was pushed back out of the door and then forced his way back in.

Soon the Elf was tiring though, while Ragnar's steel thews were still strong. He drove the Elf backwards once more into the wall of the hovel. Dust showered from the beams at the force of the impact. Then, stepping back, he raised his axe over his shoulder and drove it down through the Elf's body, cleaving it from shoulder to hip. The Elf lay dead on the floor as Hildigunn and Grim ran to aid Ragnar.

With the Elves dead or captured, the group were able to revive Drogo using the last of Gunnvora's potions of healing. She would not be making any more of those. With the battle won, they searched the hovels and cottages. In the cellar of one cottage a lone youth hid. He told them the tale of this farmstead, a not uncommon tale as it was. The Goblins had fallen on the area and taken all into slavery or eaten them as was their wont. The youth, Guillaume by name, had survived by snaring game and hunting with his sling, but then the Elves came and he had to hide. They had remained there several days and he had hidden all that time, until Ragnar rescued him. In gratitude he swore to join Ragnar's band and aid him in his quest to free the people of Alwinton. Perhaps in doing so he might also find his own family.

I chose to use only part of Ragnar's band for this encounter because I do not have enough Dark Elf figures to face the whole band. This proved unfortunate for Gunnvora, the group's healer. The fights were tough, especially against the Big Mean Elf (Rep 6 Big Bad, AC4, H4, CV9). His hardiness meant that he shrugged off most blows, while still being able to kill Gunnvora OD and put Drogo OOF. Rather than kill him though, Ragnar has taken him hostage. I hope to develop this side of things as a later scenario. You can find details of Ragnar's band HERE. In WHAA you can recruit once per month instead of doing an encounter, but we are playing turns of three months (one season) to match the WH campaign. Therefore we allow recruiting once per season. Thus, Ragnar was able to recruit a new band member. I rolled for him on the Border Kingdoms table and assumed that he was the last surviving member of this farmstead.

House Rules 3 - Free Will

Stars no longer get to choose their results on the Charge test. This is to counter the effect we have noticed that high Rep Stars can rout huge numbers of enemy without ever having to fight.

Winter 988 - Wandering in the Wilderness

The wind howled across the wasteland that was once the Border Kingdoms. Entire villages lay in ruins, pillaged and burnt by the invading armies. Among them lay Alwinton, Ragnar's adoptive home. The blackened ruins were now dusted in snow, a starkly contrasting testament to the life that once populated the village. The tracks leading from the village had proved that some of the villagers still lived as captives of the goblins. Ragnar thought bleakly on this as the goblin that styled himself King Rech led Ragnar's group onward. It seemed that the goblins were taking the villagers back to a base far into Zog-Rot itself for they had not stopped at any of the goblin villages along the way. Their purpose was clear to Ragnar for he knew that the goblin gods demanded sacrifices and dined on still beating hearts. He only hoped that he would get there in time.

Ragnar had no encounter this season.

Winter 988 - The Further Misadventures of Brother Cedric

The Scene: St Lindorf's Square, an island of serenity in the middle of the bustling city of Little Tutting in the heart of Treyine.

The Time: Early morning, just before dawn.

Brother Cedric approaches the Church of St Lindorf, having fought his way past the guards on one of the bridges over the canal that rings St Lindorf's Square. His objective is to enter the church and recover The Spear of St Lindorf. This sacred relic is valued by all followers of the Red Sun and he has been charged with returning it to the Grand Prior of the Brethren.

For the prelude to this misadventure, read THIS POST. All terrain featured in this report is from Worldworks Games. You can see more photos of this terrain set-up in my Photobucket Album.

The merry band cross onto St Lindorf's Square


Dear Griselda,

It is with some sorrow and yet pride as well, that I have to tell you of the deaths of Brothers Konrad and Siegfried. Both have gone to be at His side and prepare for the coming battle. Brother Konrad will be sadly missed, especially by many of fatherless children, a lot of whom came to look on him as a well almost father figure. His ministrations with the young mothers, would have put many a saint to shame, often carrying on well into the night and the next morning.

Siegfried with his funny way of slurring his words and only drinking from his own canteen, with it’s special mix of herbs. His healing skills were legendary, all he seemed to have to do was breath on you and the pain ebbed away.

I feel honoured to have served Himself with them.

I had best tell you of the events that lead to this sad event. Leaving the injured Brother Klaus to hold the horses, we quickly made our way to the cathedral entrance. Brothers Konrad and Leelove with Herman the Spearman and Henning broke into the side through a window, well several windows to be precise. They made their way towards the altar. The remainder of our band approached the main entrance, causing the guards to flee in terror.

Breaking in


As the other party reached the altar several archers on the balcony open fire injuring Henning and causing the others to take cover. We, meanwhile, rushed up the stairs and slew the vile archers. After chasing away a second group of guards we joined the others in the crypt. It was at this point we realised, none of us had bought a guide book, in the shop, giving the location of the Spear.

Dealing with those pesky archers


We carried on searching the crypt, Brother Konrad narrowly avoiding one trap, but at the second trap he fell onto the spikes below. We knew we had to carry on in his memory.

The Crypt


We entered the crypt itself and found it full of Treyine soldiers, by this point my blood was up and after a few half hearted bowshots, they fled. After searching the crypt, we continued into another room with a large hole in the middle. As the others searched the room I watched the hole, where upon a snake like creature appeared, took one look at us and disappeared, never to be seen again.

The Undercrypt


Eventually we went down the hole and arrived in a room, which while it contained the Spear of St. Lindorf also contained rather a lot of Treyine soldiers and a stout man with a bald head. He radiated the words wizard or wargamer.

Under the Undercrypt


So, we meet at last, Brother Cedric


Thinking a change of tactics were in order we charged straight at them. The other were driven back, but I fought my way towards the wizard. The others came back at them, but soon Brother Siegfried had fallen mortally wounded and Brother Leelove was unconscious. We fought on valiantly particularly young Herman, who slew an undead the wizard had summoned. Just as we were gaining the upper hand and I had gained the dais, the wizard disappeared in a puff of invisible paisley smoke.

We quickly dispatched the remaining guards and carrying the Spear and our fallen headed towards Klaus and the horses. We are now rushing back to the Borders to return the Spear of St. Lindorf to its rightful place.

Hoping all is well at home.
Brother Cedric

PS Has Barbax stopped sending me horses yet?

Yet another great game with tragedy and triumph. The only problem we are finding now with WHAA is that a Rep7 star has it too easy. Groups of enemy troops will almost always rout as soon as he charges at them, unless they are led by a similarly high Rep star too. Still, we are considering a variety of ways around that. In this scenario, the villain was a Rep7 Wizard with the Star ability, so that counteracted Brother Cedric in the final encounter, until the wizard teleported away and left his minions to die. Also, the archers on the balcony were a useful tactic for this. In this case, Cedric could not charge them immediately, because they were out of reach, so they were able to loose a few arrows first.

Coming Soon: Brother Cedric Rides Again

Treyine soldiers stand guard, unaware that Brother Cedric has dispatched their comrades and is heading their way. Can he fight his way past them and into the crypts below where the Spear of St Lindorf rests? And who is the mysterious Drogo de Beauvriere in reality?

Tune in this time next week to find out.

Winter 988 - Chaaaarrrrggggeeee!!!!!

Once more Brother Cedric chases the Spear of Lindorf. He is close to his objective now. We rolled that he had found it but must first fight a pitched battle before conducting a raid to retrieve it. I shall let him tell it in his own inimitable words. Click the pictures for larger versions of the images.

The terrain is from various WWG sets: Streets of Himmelveil, Himmelveil Canals, Castleworks Ultimate, Villageworks, Cathedrae Noctis and Requiem. Some of the buildings are items I picked up elsewhere but cannot remember.

Dear Griselda,

I’m sure this is all a mistranslation. The gift of a dozen horses, left with the Lodge Master by the Hykar delegation, must have been to celebrate Barbax’s soon to be born child. Undoubtably she has sent such gifts out to many people. Fancy thinking I could be the father. Still the hierarchy of the Faith seem very happy with our good relations with the Hykar.

The Church of Saint Lindorf in Jellsway.

I’ve finally arrived in Jellsway. The journey was fairly uneventful, with Sir Ashby along. After spending a couple of days scouting around the cathedral, or ‘the seeing of sites’ as Sir Ashby called it. We decided the weakest point, of the cathedral’s defences, was the rear. To the right of the road was a guard house, which would be our main worry. To the left a recent building called ‘Ye Newe Gifte Shoppe’. The commercialisation of religion is quite sickening in the Treyine Empire and most especially in the capital. I’ve enclosed a snowglobe of the cathedral for you, containing genuine ashes from Saint Vesta, hopefully it survived the journey.

Brother Cedric deploys his troops.

We finally decided on the night, and after Brother Siegfried slipped Sir Ashby a sleeping draught, we headed towards the cathedral and the Spear of St. Lindorf. Our attack would be two pronged. Brothers Konrad, Siegfried, Klaus and I would head straight down the road on horseback. While Brothers Wilfred and Leelove, together with Herman and Henning would approach from the left side, on foot.

Guards stumble bleary-eyed and half-dressed (I did not have time to finish them before the game) from the guardhouse, while Brother Cedric demonstrates all the tactical acuity of a sledgehammer cracking a nut.

Well we could probably have timed it better, as we hit at the same time as the guard changed. They came out into the street en masse, but fled as we thundered towards them, singing ‘See the holy angels burn the sinner’s eyes’. After this Brothers Siegfried and Klaus charged the remaining soldiers at the guardhouse, while Brother Konrad and I charged the ones at the bridge.

The battle near Ye Newe Gifte Shoppe (a waystation for pilgrims to the Church of Saint Lindorf, where they may purify themselves before entering his holy shrine).

Henning, meanwhile, was firing at some archers near Ye Newe Gifte Shoppe. He kept them occupied until Brothers Wilfred and Leelove were in a position to charge them. They soon had one down and the others running for their lives.

Brother Klaus took a wicked blow to the head and tumbled from his horse, while Brother Siegfried made a valiant stand. We soon routed the soldiers on the bridge, including the vicious looking fellow in the middle who soon turned tail and ran. A blow finally knocked Brother Siegfried from his mount. I leapt from my horse to rush to his aid, while Brother Konrad headed towards two archers fleeing the other battle.

Snipers! (In the windows if you look closely)

We soon had the situation in control and the enemy fled. Brother Klaus was still dazed and so we left him in charge of the horses ready for our escape. Brother Siegfried soon roused after we gave him some of his healing potion, although his comments about it tasting like horse urine could only be blamed upon himself.

We now steel ourselves for the final push towards the cathedral and the spear. Hopefully I shall be returning to Harbottle soon.

Brother Cedric and companions steeling themselves:

Regards
Brother Cedric

To be continued ...

So, the first part went well for Brother Cedric, possibly better than the paternity suit that will follow just as soon as I get some suitable 28mm Hykari. Let's see how the second part goes. I had better get the interior of the church finished now. I must admit that I thought Brother Cedric would have a hard time with this game, but his high Rep and star status combined with low rolls for the Treyine troops saw them routing in the face of his charges. Attacking at night helped too, even though there were street lights around the town. The reduced visibility meant that the archers could not shoot before Cedric charged, which was a major advantage.

Autumn 988 - Brother Cedric hits town

Dear Griselda,

Hope this card finds you well, your letters to me appear to have gone missing. Hopefully they will catch up with me before too long.

I did however get a strange letter from Barbax, you remember the nice lady I met last year. Well it appears she has misplaced her husband and, if I’m translating correctly, though I might know where he was. All very strange. I mentioned this to Brother Leelove and he slapped me on the back and smiled.

Anyway, we have just passed through the village of Clegthorpe and were minding our own business, preaching to the locals, when a band of armed men arrived. It looked for a while as if there might be trouble, there were an awful lot of archers. Fortunately, Sir Ashby de Clegthorpe, their leader, was a pious man and once I explained we were on a religious quest, he threw his lot in with us. Obviously I was a little vague on the nature of the quest. I can’t see him stopping with us long once he knows we are after the thing we are after. Maybe we will have to leave him somewhere before he cottons on.

We shall continue to search the countryside of Treyine, until the above not mentioned item is found, and can be returned to it’s rightful place.

Regards
Brother Cedric

This was another Talk the Talk encounter. Brother Cedric swept young Ashby off his feet, and so Ashby decided to follow Cedric for the rest of his current adventure. Ashby does not know what he has got himself into though! Mind you, neither does Cedric really.

Autumn 988 - Ragnar's Adventure in a Goblin-Filled Land

Ragnar stood in the ruins of Alwinton. The Goblin horde had torn through here like a hot knife through butter, if one wished to use a tired cliche. Where once the church had stood, there was now a ruin with a blood-spattered altar raised at its centre. Rotting remnants of the villagers that Ragnar had once thought to protect lay around and on that altar. These were the ones that had failed to get away. Fortunately, Ragnar had been able to lead many to safety in Treyine. There they could rebuild their shattered lives. Meanwhile, Ragnar was looking for revenge but all he could find was this one Goblin, who styled himself King Rech. He was not much of a king to look at for he had only three followers, even if he did have a chariot and driver too.



Ragnar stepped forward and approached the Goblin leader. He would speak to the creature first before killing it. King Rech was obviously calculating his chances here and coming up short, so he too drove forward, eying the Mirholmen archers that stood behind Ragnar warily.

"Speak, monster," yelled Ragnar, "Why should I and my warband not kill you where you stand?"
"Your miserable curs are nothing to me. I do not fear you." The Goblin was determined to put a brave face on a poor situation, but the whites around his eyes gave away the fear he really felt. " You should not kill me for I know where those villagers that live have been taken. I shall guide you there and grant you free passage through my lands."
"Very well. You may live. Show me to my friends and we shall have a truce for the time being."

Muttering from behind Ragnar indicated that some members of his group were unhappy about this, and Ragnar was not particularly happy either. An alliance with a Goblin was not really a good thing, but it might well speed up the process of rescuing those that had been under his protection. Then he could escort them to Treyine where they might make new lives for themselves.

This was a Talk the Talk encounter in a village. With the Border Kingdoms being overrun by the Goblins, we decided to have Ragnar returning to his village to see what had happened. Here he encountered a small Goblin warband and succeeding in sweeping the enemy leader off his feet. As a result, the enemy joined him for the adventure, which will be a quest to rescue some of the captured villagers. Ragnar also received an additional advancement roll. Upon rolling for advancement, his Rep went up 1 to 8, while his Social Status went down one to 4. I used the extra advancement roll to try again and it succeeded at increasing it back up to 5. Clearly recruiting Goblins is a social faux pas. Rolling for the other characters, Gunnvora the Winged, Grim Redshirt and Drogo all decreased in Rep, while Ulf and Richard increased their Rep. Ulf, one of the lowliest of my starting characters now has a stellar Rep of 7! Gunnvora, one of the better starting characters, now has a Rep of 3! Clearly Gunnvora, Grim and Drogo are discouraged by the inclusion of a Goblin in the warband, even temporarily.

Full details of the Ragnar's warband may be found on the Wargods of Valhalla wiki.

House Rules 2 - New Encounter Tables

With the realignment of the borders, Talomir is changing. The Border Kingdoms are no more, while the Brethren now have their own kingdom. Therefore, it seems appropriate to re-work the encounter tables for some areas. The following tables indicate changes to the standard encounter tables and show the appropriate lists to roll on.

Goblins
Humans in the Border Kingdoms have largely left the area and fled to Treyine. Those that remain are fighting a low level guerilla war against the Goblins.

1 - Border Kingdoms (freedom fighters)
2 - Brethren
3 - Treyine
4 - Black Moon Elves
5 - Orcs
6 - Special

Special encounters remain the same

The Abyss (Brethren Kingdom)
The Brethren hate Goblins and all followers of the Black Moon. Therefore, it is assumed that they are resettling Border Kingdoms citizens in the Goblin areas to enhance their control of them, while Goblins that live there have fled to Goblin-controlled areas instead.

Encounters with the authorities = Brethren
Other encounters with locals = Border Kingdoms

1 - Goblins
2 - Goblins
3 - Treyine
4 - Treyine
5 - Hykar
6 - Special

Special Encounters
1 - Mountain Giants
2 - First Ones
3 - Beastmen or Serpentmen
4 - Giant Serpents
5 - Centaurs
6 - Robber Knights (1-3 Border Kingdoms, 4-6 Ekra)

Ekra
Ekra's Borders have retreated significantly so its encounter table needs to be amended.

1 - Altengard
2 - Altengard
3 - Treyine
4 - Treyine
5 - Treyine
6 - Special

Special encounters remain the same

Summer 988 - Cedric Spends An Uncomfortable Night

Dear Griselda,

I hope you are keeping well.

We’ve managed to avoid having any more dealings with Wizards since my last letter. Last week was quite exciting as we got to go on a big boat across the Sea of Stryfe. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience, but several of the others didn’t. Herman seemed more convinced than ever, that we were going over the edge of the world. Brother Klaus again seemed upset by the food on the boat and turned a strange shade of green before being violently ill at each mealtime. Apparently there was an accident with the boat after we landed, I’ve drawn a picture. Brother Klaus tried to help put out the fire and had his beard singed.

Our quest continues and we are now in Tropilium in the town of Herculepoirotium. It’s a nice town on a bay with a large flat topped mountain behind it. I think Brother Klaus is suffering again, as I keep smelling sulphur.

We met some strange, but nice people yesterday. While out in the market, several people rode in on their ponies, all gaily decked out with ribbons. It was obvious these were important women, albeit from some barbarous tribe. As they circled around one of their horses stood on my foot. I pointed this out to the young lady on the horse and said I would speak to her father, or whoever was in charge of her, when he arrived. She said she was in charge, at which point I laughed and said, "Don’t be silly."

Well, can you believe it? She actually was in charge! In her country things really are run by the women. How strange! Fortunately I have the ability to quickly grasp a situation and calmly talk my way out of things. This is exactly what I did, as we all lay nursing bruises, in the local constabulary cells. The next day we were all released after paying a fine and Barbax Gutripper, the Hykari noblewoman I had spoken to, invited us back to her camp for a meal.

It was strange being served by men, as the women sat and ate, but when in Tropilium …, well, you know. They served a kind of drink made from fermented milk, which was more potent than I had at first thought. When I woke in the morning I found that Barbax had kindly given me her bed for the night. This was a very kind gesture, although it wasn’t very comfortable really. I felt dreadful that morning, as if I had ridden all night.

After thanking them we left to continue our search. All the others must have found comfier beds, because they all looked happier than they had for many months. They all were loath to leave the Hykari and all promised to visit soon. I’m sure you would have liked them too.

Best Regards
Brother Cedric

Cedric travelled to the border country of Treyine near the site of the battle at Snakeye Woods. While at the town of Herculepoirotium he scored a Talk the Talk encounter with a Hykar noble. He beat her by 1 success and chose the extra advancement roll because he had lost one as a result of being rendered out of the fight at the end of last year. When rolling for advancements, he gained nothing but lost 1 point of Hardiness. How did that happen? Oooerrr, is he telling Griselda the whole truth about what happened?

Summer 988 - Once More Into The Dungeon

Goblins are an ever-present nuisance on the border near Alwinton, so Ragnar decided to lead a punitive raid against them for what they were almost certainly about to do. Leading his small band into the border country of Zog-Rot, he soon located the entrance to one of the goblins’ underground lairs. Ragnar quickly gave orders to his troops, formed them up and they entered the goblin lair. Ragnar was surprised that there were no guards or traps present in the outer chamber of the lair; Goblins are sneaky and often rely on traps to discourage their enemies. These goblins were very slack!

As the group advanced further into the lair, Hildigunn disarmed several traps. So, the lack of traps in the entrance was just a ruse to lull you into a false sense of security, eh. Well, Ragnar was not going to get caught out like that.

Eventually they found their way into a large chamber. It was filled with goblins. There was only one thing to do. Ragnar ordered his group to charge. Several of the goblins fell immediately, and their chief did not last much longer as Ragnar charged him. The remaining goblins fired a few desultory arrows, which unfortunately wounded Drogo and Hildigunn but the sight of the huge, red-bearded Mirholmer soon had them running for the doors. This was just as well since a new group of goblins joined the fray shortly after that. Fortunately Gunnvora and Grim were in place to guard the door. They prevented the goblins from entering the room for long enough that the rest of the group could aid them. After this the goblins had to wade through their own dead to reach Ragnar’s people. This was too much for them and they fled. After a thorough search of the rest of the lair Ragnar’s group found little treasure and no more goblins, but they feasted well on ripper beast and mushrooms from the goblins' farm before returning home to Alwinton.

This was a fairly standard raid scenario and is the last of my solo campaign scenarios. From now on Ragnar will be rolling as normal for new scenarios and I hope to include pictures of the games.

Spring 988 - An Affair at Alwinton

Upon reaching Alwinton in the Border Kingdoms, Ragnar was relieved to be able to rest a while. Their journey into Zog-Rot had been profitable, but the need to set guards every night and the constant cold weather had been wearing. Now he could relax.

As he lounged around in the pub swilling ale, Ragnar suddenly heard shouts from outside. He knew those noises. They were the shouts of people under attack. Ragnar quickly called his group together. Moving to the window, he looked out to see who was attacking. The innkeeper told him that it was Lord DeVries, a neighbouring lord, who coveted Alwinton’s apple orchards and sought to tax the village despite the fact that it belonged to Lord Beauvriere. Ulf was the first to spot the enemy. He fired and killed the sole archer with this contingent of DeVries’ men. Ragnar led his people out into the street and lined them up. They formed a living barrier across the street, blocking it, and used their new bows effectively to shoot down several of the enemy before they had to grab their spears and shields. As they did so another contingent of DeVries’ men appeared. There were now half a dozen mounted knights and two dozen infantry. Fortunately there were very few archers and Ulf was able to pick them off easily before they could do any damage. The knights charged the shieldwall but it held firm for the most part. Barak and Gunnvora were driven back by one knight and Barak was laid low, but Hildigunn soon came to the rescue and the shieldwall was repaired. The knights fought well, but their palsied leader was not up to leading the charge and Ragnar soon cut him down. At this most of the enemy fled. One brave knight tried to rescue his lord but died in the process. Some of the enemy infantry dithered as they tried to work up the courage to charge. Ragnar charged them first and had cut down two of them before they knew what was happening. The third fled. So it went with the remaining troops. Without their leader they did not know what to do and so they died or fled.

Lord Beauvriere was pleased with Ragnar’s work and granted him the position of honorary protector of Alwinton. He also granted him leave to recruit troops from the village and surrounding farms in return for protecting the village. Lord DeVries, who was only wounded in the fight, now languishes in Lord Beauvriere’s dungeon until his relatives can raise the ransom. After seeing the fight, three of the village guard volunteered to join Ragnar’s band. The group now numbers 9 hardy souls and plans to set out on a raid in Zog-Rot soon.

Winter 987 - Brother Cedric Lies Around A Lot

Brother Cedric had been lucky. The arrows had caused serious but not fatal injuries. His followers carried him to the nearest preceptory, where he lay in a fever for weeks. The Brothers at the preceptory were scandalised by his ravings about Griselda's baps and buns but they put it down to the wound-fever. Slowly he responded to their treatment and slowly he recovered. As he did so, he ranted and raved much less and eventually, towards the end of winter, his rational self returned. He began to exercise and recover his strength and, by spring, he was ready to resume his quest.