The Thrappled Lemmings and the Inescapable Trap of Inevitable Incineration (Rangers of Shadow Deep)

 The Thrappled Lemmings awoke in a dim chamber with rocks and rubble all around them. Checking themselves over, they realised that none of them were seriously hurt, although they still bore wounds from the last fight. Despite being overwhelmed, they had been lucky, but they wondered why they were still alive. As their eyes adjusted to the darkness, they searched amid the rubble around them and recovered their weapons and equipment. One unexpected surprise was the presence of Bergsveinn.

"What are you doing here?"

"I was sent after you with a message from the Captain. Unfortunately, I arrived just in time to see you getting captured, so I tried to sneak away to let the Captain know. Unfortunately, I got caught and thrown in here with you," he slurred through his badly broken jaw, "My mum's going to kill me!"

Suddenly, the Lemmings found themselves blinded by torches springing into life some distance away near a door on a ledge on the far side of the cavern. Where there was a way out, there was still hope. Then they spotted the skeleton warriors guarding the door. Never mind. They could fight their way through. Then the flagstones behind where they stood started to drop into a great lake of lava below.

Skeletons bar the way to a high ledge and the door out. Please note that the ledge is far away, not small.

"Run!" yelled Aethelwyrd, "Get to the ledge as fast as you can!"

The Lemmings did not need telling twice. They sprinted for all they were worth towards the ledge as the flagstones behind them fell away. Aelfwyn and Bergsveinn fired at the advancing skeletons on the run, but missed.

Suddenly a massive boom echoed through the chamber. The skeletons retreated towards the ledge and a huge part of the floor just behind Aelfwyn and Bergsveinn dropped away. Aelfwyn cursed.

"Don't let my mum hear you say things like that," squeaked Bergsveinn, "she'll wash your mouth out with lye and that is not a pleasant experience, I can tell you!"

Aethelwyrd led Onund and Incunabulum onwards. Incunabulum launched a flaming ball of fire at the oncoming skeletons and fried one to a crisp but was wounded by another skeleton that charged him while he was doing this. Aethelwyrd and Onund were also beset by skeletons, but as each approached her, Aethelwyrd cut it down. Onund was not so lucky, slaying one and being wounded by another. The others continued to charge forward as fast as they could.

A skeleton arose from the rubble just as another huge section of the floor fell away. Incunabulum was wounded again as he desperately fought the skeleton before him, but Aethelwyrd slew it. Ash had found something in the rubble but was attacked by a skeleton before he could investigate it. He slew the skeleton and found a dead Alladorean soldier. He grabbed the silver Star of Alladore from the corpse to return it to the Rangers' headquarters and sprinted over to the ledge. Kalfr and Bergsveinn chased after him.

Meanwhile, Aelfwyn had founded a wounded Lorenthian guard.

"Come on, mate," he reassured the guardsman, "We'll get you out of here."

A much smaller section of the floor suddenly fell away as a giant fly buzzed in above the lava.

As the floor falls away, the giant fly pursues the fleeing Lemmings

The Lemmings raced for the ledge, hoping they could climb it in time. On the way, Onund found a Potion of Healing. Ash started scuttling up the wall like a spider, while the others sought to get a purchase and begin the climb. The fly buzzed closer. An undead ogre crawled out of the rubble right next to Onund. A bit more of the floor fell away. The Lemmings could feel the heat of the lava on their backs now.

Incunabulum blasted the Ogre with a bolt of eldritch lightning and ran round it to the wall up to the ledge. Aethelwyrd followed this up by charging in and slaying it. Ash scuttled the last bit up the wall and raced to the door.

"Dammit, it's locked!"

Kalfr finally got purchase and started climbing. Aelfwyn helped the wounded guardsman get started climbing. The others were still trying to get started. Another skeleton climbed out of the rubble as a massive chunk of the floor fell away once more.

Aethelwyrd finally reached the wall up to the ledge and started climbing. The fly and the skeleton attacked Aelfwyn, who was wounded by them. More of the floor fell away as the Lemmings struggled to climb and then two robed acolytes pushed through the door, whose lock Ash was trying to pick. Too quickly for Ash, the door clicked closed once more. The acolytes cackled.

"Get that damned door open!" yelled Aethelwyrd. That was all the encouragement he needed. With a slick twist of his wrist, Ash tumbled the lock and the door swung open. The acolytes looked dismayed. They looked even more dismayed as Aethelwyrd tumbled over the edge of the ledge, rolled to her feet and advanced on one of them snarling.

One of the acolytes cackled as he attacked Ash and struck him to the ground. The other cackled as he attacked Aethelwyrd only to be slain in a frenzied attack by the ranger. The skeleton and the giant fly attacked Aelfwyn who dealth with both as if he were born to fight hand to hand. The last of the floor fell away. Incunabulum and Bergsveinn managed to grab hold of the wall and start climbing. Alas, Aelfwyn plummeted towards the lava with the floor, unable to get a purchase on the wall.

Aelfwyn plummets while Bergsveinn and Incunabulum climb (the dice represent how far they have climbed. Appearances to the contrary, the ledge is 6" high, but the special effects budget did not run to that).

Aethelwyrd and Onund attacked the remaining acolyte, who responded with fury and cut Onund down. Kalfr ran in and avenged his comrade, kicking the acolyte's body into the lava below as the others all raced to the door. The guardsman managed to scramble through just before the cavern shook once more. Those remaining on the ledge wobbled and nearly fell, but managed to stay upright and not fall back into the lava. Two acolyte archers emerged through a hidden door and drew a bead on our heroes.

"Get through that door!" Aethelwyrd commanded.

The others did not need telling twice. They grabbed Onund and Ash bodies and dived through, shutting the door behind them. Aelfwyn piled through the door just before it shut. He was scorched and half naked but still alive.

Get to the choppa door!

"Managed to grab a hold on the wall before I fell but I lost half my bloody gear," he announced to those present, "and I feel like barbecue!"

"There's nothing wrong with barbecue," Bergsveinn replied. He did not get to finish what he was saying before Aelfwyn cut him off.

"Really? Have you ever been barbecued?"

Aelfwyn's acerbic response was cut short in turn as the Lemmings took note of their new surroundings.

In the interests of getting this game to the table rather than faffing with terrain and figures, I decided just to move the frame I use to define the playing area instead of making a lava base for the Lemmings to fall into. This had the disadvantage of leaving me guessing where the Giant Fly should appear, but it worked out ok in the end.

That was a close one. Most of the Lemmings are reduced to 1 or 2 Health for the next scenario, but at least all of them survived, even if Aelfwyn did lose all his non-standard gear. Can the Lemmings find their way out next time, or are they all toast?

The Thrappled Lemmings and the Menagerie of Doom (Rangers of Shadow Deep)

 I've not finished all the stuff I need for this mission, but here's the first part, and I hope to have the rest done in time to play the second part next week, if the Lemmings can survive a midnight assault while they were sleeping.

It had been a hard scouting trip through the Shadow Deep and the Lemmings were tired and hungry. Their supplies had run out the day before and several of them were complaining about the lack of food and decent water. They were a grumpy lot who bedded down for the night in the stone circle that seemed to provide the best cover. And the night was only going to get worse.

Onund hissed a warning to the others, "Incoming enemies!"

Bears and tigers and beast handlers

Aesc mumbled in his sleep, "Just five minutes more, Mum."

Temple Guardians

Kalfr rolled over and buried his head under his sleeping roll.

The enemy approaches as Aesc and Kalfr sleep on

Aethelwyrd, Aelfwyn and Incunabulum leapt to their feet and faced outwards from their camp. Lizardpeople were approaching from one side. It was hard to make them out in the dark but their hissing cries made it clear who they were. A bear, a tiger and other denizens of the Shadow Deep were approaching from the other. As they closed, it was clear that they were as surprised to find the Lemmings there as the Lemmings were to be so rudely awakened from their sleep and more of the Shadow Deep's beast handlers were following closely behind them too.

Fortunate it was that Aethelwyrd had slept lightly and awakened quickly, because the bear was on her in a heartbeat. As Aelfwyn shot an arrow straight through the heart of the oncoming tiger and raced to help Aethelwyrd, she roared a challenge to all approaching and cut the bear nearly in half with her sword.

Crikey, two critical hits in a row and two dead beasts! Let us hope this luck continues.

Then the leading Lizardperson was on Aesc, who stumbled groggily to his feet only to be cut down instantly before he had even got his bearings.

I guess the luck did not continue that much after all.

Meanwhile, two beast handlers were on Aethelwyrd and Aelfwyn. Aethelwyrd cut the first one down while Aelfwyn was winning the other fight but struggled to strike a telling blow. Incunabulum blasted the attacking Lizardperson with a magical bolt, grievously wounding it. Onund found himself hard beset by beast handlers and the archer he had charged. The fight was not going well for him. Kalfr had finally woken up though and ran towards him to help. And then another tiger appeared out of the darkness.

Aethelwyrd joined the fray and slew Aelfwyn's beast handler, giving him the chance to race over to help the others. Even though it was a hurried shot as he slid into cover behind a monolith, it still told. The Lizardperson archer was hard hit by his arrow but fired a solid shot at Aelfwyn that left him both bleeding and cursing. By this time, Onund had found his rhythm and was hurting his attackers right up until the Lizardperson archer smashed him across the head and felled him, while Kalfr was badly wounded by the Lizardperson attacking him. Incunabulum unleased a fireball at the archer nearest him, but hit everything around the archer, while leaving him unhurt by it. As all this happened, an Orc warrior appeared out of the darkness.

"Is there no end to these fiends?" muttered Aethelwyrd.

Incunabulum hurriedly enchanted Aethelwyrd's sword before haring off towards a promising looking pile of boxes. Unfortunately, all he found was Shadow Deep Temple uniforms, and not the food he was hoping for, and then the Orc warrior was upon him. Aethelwyrd charged towards the main fight on the other side of the camp. As she did so, Kalfr cut down a beast handler and fended off the tiger's attack for a short while, but soon fell to its claws. The Lizardperson archers' arrows flew wide of their mark but so did Aelfwyn's. The Lemmings were now reduced to half their normal numbers and their only seemed to be more enemies arriving as more Orcs emerged out of the darkness.

Things are not looking good for the Lemmings!

Aethelwyrd charged one of the Lizardperson archers and cut him down just as Aelfwyn took a careful shot at the other and put an arrow through his heart. The Orc warrior batted Incunabulum out of the way without missing its stride and rushed towards the remaining two Lemmings as the other Orcs headed towards the camp fire. The tiger turned its attentions on Aethelwyrd now, who managed to parry its strikes but could not find a gap in its defences. A roar filled the air as another bear emerged from the night.

The enemy charged as the tiger mauled Aethelwyrd. Fortunately, she was able to roll with the punch and was not as badly hurt as she could have been. The Orcs were all charging towards Aelfwyn, and more were appearing even as he fought desperately for his life.

A choking ash cloud suddenly blew across the battlefield. It mattered little to Aelfwyn, who had been cut down by an Orc, and Aethelwyrd succeeding in holding her breath long enough for it to pass even as she cut down an Orc sergeant and the tiger. However, she was no bleeding from a dozen wounds and not certain that she could hold out much longer.

Still, Aethelwyrd took up position between two standing stones and cut deep wounds in the Orc before her, but the bear behind her clawed her once more. The camp was filling up with Orcs waiting their turn to attack her. She fought heroically and slew Orc after Orc, but in the end their numbers told and she fell into darkness as the bear mauled her one more time.

Epilogue

The Thrappled Lemmings awoke in a dim chamber with rocks and rubble all around them. Checking themselves over, they realised that none of them were seriously wounded. Despite being overwhelmed, they had been lucky. As their eyes adjusted to the darkness, they suddenly found themselves blinded again by torches springing into life some distance away. The torches illuminated a door on a ledge on the far side of the cavern they were in. There was still hope. Then they spotted the skeleton warriors guarding the door and the flagstones behind where they stood started to drop into a great lake of lava below. They would have to move quickly.

Conclusion

That was a tough fight and the first proper defeat for the Lemmings. They started with some great dice rolls, but in the end they were overwhelmed by poorer dice rolls and being outnumbered by the enemy. Fortunately, all of the Lemmings passed their survival rolls with flying colours, so they are all ready to take on this next challenge. In retrospect, I should probably have withdrawn the Lemmings to stand in the centre and let the enemy approach, rather than rushing out to attack, but here is a reason they are known as the Thrappled Lemmings.

On the plus side, this diversion will give me more time to get things ready for the second scenario of the Menagerie mission. If the Lemmings survive the prison, they can head off and seek out what the Shadow Deep is doing with all these creatures.