The Thrappled Lemmings and the Decanter of St Emilia: The Gatehouse (Rangers of Shadow Deep)

Time to start the Burning Light campaign from the main rulebook now. It's a trek into the Shadow Deep with a bunch of linked scenarios and limited opportunities to heal between them. There are also no reinforcements coming so any characters that die will not be replaced. It's all a bit nervewracking really.

I have no plans to make new terrain for this campaign, unless absolutely necessary, so a lot will be improvised. The same applies to the hostile figures. I'm going to use what I have as much as possible, which means that some figures will be recycled into different roles along the way. Also, apologies for the not-too-great pictures. I still need to work out the best settings on my phone for this, or not be lazy and go and fetch my actual camera.

 The Thrappled Lemmings had healed their wounds and were once more itching for action. Admittedly, by action they actually meant beer, but the Captain wilfully ignored that when she called Aethelwyrd to her office.

"Time for your lot to ship out again. Our rangers rescued a Lorenthian survivor, who told an interesting tale. The survivor has directions to the Convent of Saint Emilia in the Shadow Deep. More importantly, the Decanter of Saint Emilia is said to still be there. We want it. You and your patrol are going to go and get it. Speak to Sergeant Gunvold and the survivor and then grab your kit and get down there. It's will take you a couple of weeks to get there and back again so pack accordingly. Any questions?"

The Captain's face informed Aethelwyrd that she would not have any questions, so she left to do as told.

Eight days of sneaking and skulking through the Shadow Deep later, she outlined her plan to the rest of her patrol.

"Ok, Lemmings, we're going through the front door because we are not sneaking weasels," announced Aethelwyrd.

"Speak for yourself!" muttered Ash.

"I heard that! Just for that, Ash, it's your job to sneak us in through the front door. Lead the way!"

Ash grumbled but set out at once just the same. He charted a route to the entrance to the Convent of St Emilia that enabled the Lemmings to reach it unseen and unheard.

The heroes enter from the bottom of the picture. The exit is to the top. There is an ogre top right and a ghoul bottom right. The monk figures are clue markers and there is a locked door in the middle of the wall on the left.

"Ok, I've had a look," he informed the others, "There is a ghoul to the right of the main gate and an ogre on the far right. Looks like it might be guarding something valuable. There's a door on the left that I shall need to check out and what looks like the remains of several of the locals hanging from chains on the far side."

"Good job, Ash. You and Incunabulum go left. I'll follow with you to start with. You two will be scouting everything and looking for clues. The rest of you go right. Take out the ghoul and I'll meet you at the ogre and we can scrag it together. Then we break for the courtyard. We need to get this done before the Shadow Deep realises what we are up to."

The others grunted their assent and they glided silently through the main gate, taking up position before the hostiles knew what was coming. Like a smoothly oiled machine, the Lemmings worked together. Aelfwyn wounded the ghoul, which then charged Onund, who caved its head in. The ogre charged towards them, as the warriors regrouped further into the room. They heard a deep booming laugh and a second ogre came through the door they planned to exit through.

"Oh, shit!" cursed Incunabulum.

Aelfwyn put another couple of arrows through the first ogre but it just seemed to make it angry and it promptly smashed Onund and Kalfr as they attacked, badly wounding them. Incunabulum fired a magic bolt at the second ogre but merely grazed it. Meanwhile Ash had picked the lock on the door and was suddenly confronted by a room full of ghouls.

"What the flip!" Ash was seriously unhappy now.

Just at this moment, a giant vulture chose to fly into the gatehouse, following the second ogre. The fight was on in earnest.

Red dice mark the Health that the monsters have left. I keep track of the heroes' Health on their character sheets to the side of the table

One of the ghouls attacked Ash, who slew it and ran towards some bodies that were hanging from chains to check them out. Incunabulum let loose a fireball at the remaining ghouls but merely singed them. The others laid into the other monsters. It was a hard fight that saw Kalfr, Incunabulum and Ash all laid out cold, while Onund grabbed treasure. Between swarms of insects, an earthquake and some apparently living chains that wrapped Aethelwyrd up for too long, only Aelfwyn was carrying no wounds. With zombies arising everywhere, the Lemmings made tracks for the courtyard. They barely had time to bandage their wounds before the next fight began.

As they marched forward, Ash asked Aethelwyrd if she could read the scroll he had found. She looked at it and nodded.

"Yes, I think it's a clue to the location of the Decanter. It looks like the nuns and the Lorenthian guard just had time to hide it before the Shadow Deep took over."

Onund sidled up, "Hey, Ash, I found this and think it might be your style."

He handed a grey cloak to the scop. The pattern and weave of the cloak made it hard to focus on. Ash nodded. He recognised this as a Greyleaf Cloak that would help him hide. He suspected that he would be doing a lot of that as he tried to heal his wounds.

That started really well and then it all went to hell as the undead started to score heavily against the poor heroes. Worse yet, the Lemmings failed loads of tests due to random events and lost valuable actions that gave the monsters freer reign than they would otherwise have had. This also prevented Ash from moving out of trouble and stopped them grabbing the other treasure token in the scenario. Ah well, lesson learned: do not open locked doors! Let us hope that the next scenario is kinder to the poor Lemmings.

The Thrappled Lemmings and the WhoWolf (Rangers of Shadow Deep)

And back to Rangers of Shadow Deep. Let's see how this goes.

"So, you need us to go and investigate the creepy manor house?" queried Aethelwyrd.

"That's about the size of it," was the auxiliary commander's response, "We'll come with you, of course. Our company was mauled by a couple of werewolves and we set off after them. They appeared to be heading for Portals Manor."

"Ah, so it's not so much of a WhereWolf as it is of a WhoWolf," quipped Aethelwyrd, finding herself incredibly funny. Those around her just looked pained.

Aethelwyrd had set out with Onund, Ash and Incunabulum to deliver a message for her captain, leaving the rest of her patrol behind to tend to their wounds after the last mission into the Shadow Deep itself. She had encountered the exhausted auxiliaries along the way and had no choice but to help them.

"Meh, ok, I guess. We'd better get moving before they move on again."

The auxiliaries staggered to their feet and got ready to lead the way to the manor. It was night, but the full moon ensured they could see well enough as they slid through the rain and mud towards their objective.

The game set-up. The heroes are in the lower left of the picture, monster cards with spare monsters to the left of the playing area and the heroes' character sheets to the right

As they reached the edge of the home fields around the manor, they had a better view of the place. It had seen better days, but was not in bad condition. A ramshackle barn lay to one side. The manor itself was a low building and in better condition. It looked like someone might still live there. An eel pond lay nearby with a rowing boat drifting in its middle. To one side was a copse of woods.

Suddenly, a wolf's howl sundered the night's silence. The hairs on the back of Aethelwyrd's neck rose and a chill ran down her spine. This was definitely boding, and she really did not like boding.

"Everyone ready?"

They all checked their weapons and harness one last time.

"Let's move out. Incunabulum, you're with me. Also, you Seb with the axe and you with the bow. What's your name? Orla? Ok.  We'll circle round via the woods. Onund and Ash, you and those other two, Covin and Nicolan, wasn't it? You circle round via the barn and then towards the front door to the manor. We need to check there is nothing behind us before we move into the manor itself. Stick with your team and watch each other's backs."

The two groups slid silently through the night towards their objectives. As they did so, Orla spotted giant flies in front of the dilapidated barn and began firing ineffectively at them.

"Pah," muttered Incunabulum, "You literally cannot even hit the blooming barn door!"

Orla gave him a tired look and nocked another arrow to her bow.

"Werewolf!" yelled Seb.

"Where wolf?" responded Aethelwyrd.

"There wolf!" yelled Seb again, pointing towards the barn door. A werewolf had indeed just emerged from the barn.

"There wolf!"

As this went on, the giant flies buzzed toward's Athelwyrd's group, while a swarm of giant rats and a wolf were charging towards Onund's group, intent on devouring them.

Between them they slew the wolf and moved to engage the rats. The night was lit up suddenly as Incanabulum fried a fly and singed another with a fireball.

Rats! Why did it have to be rats?

A scream rang out and a young man emerged from under the wagon that the rats had been harassing. He looked panicked and unsure what to do.

"To arms!" shouted Aethelwyrd and her whole group rallied to her. Seb engaged a giant fly, as she did the same. Incunabulum blasted the werewolf with a magic bolt. It howled in agony. Orla missed the broad side of the barn again and nocked another arrow to have another go. She did not have time to shoot again before the werewolf was upon her and tearing huge chunks out of her.

"I've got you outnumbered 1 to 3!" cried the werewolf.

Meanwhile, Covin was beset by giant rats and being cut to ribbons too. Fortunately, Nicolan and Onund raced to help him and cut the rats down before they could kill the poor auxiliary.

As this was going on, Ash raced into the forest where the wolf had come from. He found the corpse of an auxiliary soldier with a long fang buried in its throat. This was a clear sign that the werewolf had been here and tracks suggested it had headed off towards the manor.

Aethelwyrd and Seb both slew their giant flies and moved to aid Orla. It was just as well. With their aid, she only just fended off the werewolf and then managed to slide her dagger in under its guard, opening a large would in its side. Just as well because the wound from the magic bolt was healing at a rapid rate of knots. Seeing the vile beast thus engaged and suffering, Incunabulum joined the fray too only for the werewolf's claws to cut a huge gash across his body. Blood sprayed everywhere as he was seriously wounded.

Ash raced off to the wagon where the young man was. Lying beside it was another horribly mutilated corpse.

"Are you ok?"

The young man nodded weakly. He looked exhausted.

"Stay behind us and we'll protect you."

From the other side of the home fields, Onund and his group heard a loud warcry. Aethelwyrd raised her sword and swung hard. With the aid of the others, she was able to bring it crashing down on the werewolf's head, crushing its skull and spattering brains all over her companions.

"Incunabulum, you and the other two go and check out the barn. I've seen something on that boat that I want to investigate. Onund's group moved purposely towards the manor as Aethelwyrd swam out to the rowing boat, where she found a dead dog with red hairs in its jaws. Incunabulum, Seb and Orla moved towards the barn as a wolf came charging in from just beyond it.

Cowering in the corner of the barn behind a hay bale was an old man.

"Too easy!" gloated Ash.

"You're safe now," Incunabulum told the man confidently, despite the bright blood all over his clothes and the weeping gashes in his side.

The old man looked sceptically at him but followed the conjuror anyway.

Ash moved up to the door to the manor house. He could hear whining and scratching from within. Testing the door, he found it locked, but not for long. Seconds later, as the rest of his group joined him, he was putting his lockpicks away.

"Too easy!" he announced to an unappreciative world.

As they gathered by the door, ready to enter, a giant fly exploded from a nearby corpse. Aethelwyrd rowed hurriedly to the shore and quickly dispatched it while Seb slew the wolf that had attacked him. As moved back and made space for Onund to enter the manor. Onund opened the door and was confronted by a hungry wolf. A quick exchange of blows saw this wolf slain, but another raced from the back of the manor house towards the hero.

Elsewhere, Incunabulum, Orla and Seb were returning with the old man to join their compatriots, when a giant fly erupted out of a dead cow and launched itself at the grievously wounded conjuror. Seb raced back to help. He and Incunabulum between the two of them slew the fly.

The wolf trapped in the farmhouse assaulted Onund and hurt him badly. Covin and Nicolan raced around the side of the manor house in search of another entrance.

A chilling howl rent the night air once more, causing Incunabulum to freeze.

Unaffected by the savage howling, a mighty blow from Onund's axe cleaved the wolf's skull, and he was able to enter the manor. The room he stood in was a mess with blood and clothes everywhere. Aethelwyrd following behind spotted a pair of Boots of Soft Tread among the mess and grabbed them. She then spotted a silver sword and seized that too. It would be useful when they found the last of the werewolves.

"We'll check the side door," announced Nicolan.

Ash raced past the pair and found a scared young woman in the next room. She stared at him fearfully but then with realisation that she might now be rescued. The relief was plain on her face.

"Yes, we're here to save you," announced Ash and struck a heroic pose that caused the young woman to laugh and relax. He was only a little miffed that she did not think him heroic enough.

He told her to wait where she was for the others and raced into the next room, almost tripping over a headless corpse there. In the meantime, Aethelwyrd had rushed into the last room of the manor. She found a bloody handprint missing a couple of fingers smeared on the wall and a silver dagger that she thrust into her belt. As she did this, there was a scream from outside.

"NO, COVIN! WHAT ARE YOU DOING? GET AWAY FROM ME!" Nicolan screamed.

Covin reveals his true colours

Covin's reply was a snarl, his eyes mad beyond all reason as his body swelled and changed into a man-wolf form. He leapt upon Nicolan, who defended himself like a man possessed. The werewolf's claws never once neared him as he drove his sword into the beast's body repeatedly, and followed up with an upwards stab that entered the werewolf's reddened maw, driving up into its brain. Covin slumped to the ground dead, his body returning to its human form as he did so.

The silence after the fraught investigation and fight was deafening. In that silence, the patrol gathered in the manor house, barring the doors and waited out the night, before continuing to deliver their message for the captain.

Wow, that was quite the dramatic ending. Nicolan won the initial melee with the werewolf and then scored a critical hit on his own activation. Very surprising, especially after the first few turns where no one rolled above a 6 and the only reason the heroes were not taking wounds was because the baddies were not rolling over the heroes' armour values. How humiliating would it have been to be defeated by giant flies and giant rats like a first level party?

That was yet another great mission. I loved the investigation mechanic that did not let me know who was the werewolf until the threshold was reached. It made it quite tense and had me thinking about  how I should position the auxiliaries as the threshold was neared so that my heroes would stand a chance. But then Nicolan took out the werewolf in one round and it all became moot. Great and heroic stuff. Perhaps Aethelwyrd should invite Nicolan to join her patrol.

Up Close and Personal in Africa (Warfighter)

 It's been a while, so I dug out Warfighter instead of working on the terrain I need for the next Rangers of Shadow Deep mission. I regret nothing! I picked the French as the friendlies and the African warlord hostiles. This is still my favourite pack because it has the "save the elephants" mission. I also quite enjoy the extra challenge of the hot environment, which can slow you down.

The commander had ordered Sergeant Capron to take his fire team and clear out the poachers from the area. Grabbing Corporal Durand, and Privates Swift and Bertrand, he proceeded to brief them. The enemy was massing in the area, so they would have a tought fight of it. Worse yet, they had a ways to go, so they would have to pack light. Loading up for close combat, the fire team headed out.

The mission is close combat, which means that all the hostiles will duck up in the same location as the foremost soldier. Many hostiles have other rules for placement, such as being placed in the objective location or behind the troops or some variant thereof, but this mission means getting up close and personal with the hostiles from the second you start the mission. The objective for this scenario is to clear the objective location of all hostiles. That means it is going to get messy.

The fire team was barely out of the gates of the base before hostiles showed up. Half a dozen gunmen leapt out of concealment but the team's superior training and firepower told. Despite being outnumbered, the hostile gunmen and RPG crews were soon suppressed and then killed by a combination of rifle fire and thrown grenades.

Although they would normally have been placed in the grassy fields location that was the first area to move through, because of the mission conditions, all the hostiles were placed in the mission card with the fire team the second I placed the first location. That was scary.

As the team advanced across the grassy fields and pastures of a nearby village, they were assaulted once more by hordes of gunmen. Once more they laid down as much fire as they could before moving into the village, where yet more gunmen and machine-gun teams waited to ambush them. The team were running short on grenades now, and the heat was taking its toll and slowing them down, but their objective was in sight. They only had to cross the village's farmland, ford a river and they would be there. The water of the river looked enticing at this distance as the drained their canteens and prepared to advance.

Once more, the hostiles threw themselves out of cover and tried to slaughter the team. Capron took a bullet in the shoulder, but shook it off.

"It's just a flesh wound," he announced. The others could see that it was slowing him down though.

The team pushed on to the river. It looks quiet but appearances can be desceptive. More hostiles emerged and rained firepower down on the team. Suddenly, an unseen ambusher leapt out and fired a burst at Bertrand. The plucky private died in the middle of the river. The others cut the ambusher down in a hail of lead and emerged on the objective.

An IED went off startling them all. Fortunately no one was hurt and Capron was able to lead the team round some very hungry-looking hippos into the objective where a group of villagers were gathered, drinking sweet tea, singing and arranging flowers. Apart from the singing and the disgruntled murmuring of the locals, there was no other sound, and there were no hostiles either.

Capron reported the objective clear and led his team back to base.

Well, that was a first. It was a hard fight all the way to the objective and then the objective points requirement was met by drawing three event cards and no hostiles. The IED suppressed my troops, I spent experience points to avoid the hungry hippos, and the local meeting did not require me to do anything because I was in the final location I needed to move into and had plenty of time. That meant I just advanced the timer and the mission was over. I have no idea why the local meeting was so heavily guarded or even if the two things were connected, but it made an interesting finish to the game.

In subsequent missions, Capron and his team took out a poacher stronghold, used a dust storm to sneak up on some poachers and drive them off from the elephants they were hunting, and defended a local village against hostiles. As the team was retreating from the village they had defended, the poachers massed in strength and pursued them. It was a hard fought battle even with the armoured support that had turned up. Unfortunately, Capron died within sight of the base gates, the bodies of his team strung out along the route back from the huts.

I played half a dozen more missions with the same two player soldiers and mostly the same squad soldiers after the mission written up here. All went well until the escape mission where the team had the misfortune of suddenly discovering that the hostiles had set up two heavy machine-gun nests outside their objective. Between that and the huge number of reinforcements that appeared, they were overwhelmed and Capron was cut down one card away from his objective. It was a TPK. A sad end to a good series of games and my worst result yet in this game. On the other hand, if I won every time the game would get boring. I guess I can always run a rescue mission to free Capron, who, it unexpectedly turns out, was only wounded and was captured by the poachers.

I really do like how Warfighter generates interesting narratives through the play of the cards. Of course, I try to help it along by playing thematically appropriate locations too, rather than just looking at which locations offer the best advantage for me, but the random draws add an extra dimension to the stories that my soldiers will tell afterwards. Cracking good stuff that makes me feel like I am a movie action hero for a wee while!

The Thrappled Lemmings' Last Stand (Rangers of Shadow Deep)

As they made their way through the permanent dusk of the Shadow Deep that had once been Lorenthia, the Thrappled Lemmings came across a dilapidated farmhouse. It was a typical cob structure made of mud and straw on a stone foundation. Lorenthia did not generally have much good stone for building, so they had made do with what they could. As was also typical of Lorenthia, the outside of the structure had been painted in Lorenthian pink, a mixture of whitewash and pig's blood that served to protect the cob walls from the rain. Of course, it not longer did this, because the farmhouse had very little roof left, so the rain was getting in other ways.

Ash cautiously approached the ruined farmhouse, spotting movement inside. Whoever was inside had not spotted him by the time he was up close enough to hear human voices within.

"Lorenthia," he hissed just loud enough to be heard, and then repeated it.

There was a hurried conversation within and finally a voice called back, "Friends. Come ahead."

 Thus assured that these were friends, Ash continued, "We are scouting the Shadow Deep. Who are you and how are you still alive in here?"

A face appeared at a nearby window, whose frame and glass seemed to have been lost at some point in the not too distant past.

"We are Lorenthian soldiers and a group of civilians who have survived by staying hidden."

Ash called the others forward and all entered the old farmhouse. They shared their rations as the leader of the soldiers told their sorry tale.

"Right, we'd better see about getting you back to Alladore. Lorenthia is, alas, no more."

As Aethelwyrd said this, a hunting horn trilled its loud call. The infernal buzzing of giant flies was briefly heard, and the roaring of a troll as it smashed its way through the undergrowth. And then those noises were drowned out by a wall of ash blasting in on the suddenly heavy wind. All covered their faces as fast as they could with scarves and bits of cloth, but Aethelwyrd, Kalfr and Aelfwyn were too slow and inhaled some of the toxic ash.

Between coughing bouts, Aethelwyrd gave orders.

"Lorenthians, into the smaller room of the farmhouse. it should be easier to defend. Ash, get out there and be our eyes and ears. The rest of you take up positions in this room and be ready to move in a hurry. We're going to have to work quickly to survive this fight."

The Thrappled Lemmings knew that the fight would be thirsty work, so they each took a long swallow of ale and prepared themselves.

So, giant flies, an ash storm that injured three of the heroes and reduces visibility massively so my archer advantage is pretty much gone, and a troll. Well, I should just be glad that it is not a two-headed troll, I suppose. And it is bound to get worse from hereon in.

It begins!

Seeing the Troll coming, Aethelwyrd moved to support Onund and Incunabulum who were on that side of the building. In theory the giant flies should just be a nuisance, so she could leave the others to deal with them. Incunabulum had a clear shot and blasted the Troll with a magical bolt that blew chunks of rock off it as it advanced.

"Take that, you fiend!" he cried as he saw the results of his shot.

As the archers took shots at the flies, Kalfr joined Onund and Aethelwyrd to try to kill the Troll before things got too much worse. At this point, an Orc patrol appeared, following the Troll.

Reinforcements

Aethelwyrd went all out to kill the Troll. Her frenzied strike seemed to amuse it more than hurt it, but it was sufficiently distracted that Kalfr managed to get in a good, solid blow to its vitals and it fell. As the Orcs approached, Aelfwynn suddenly found himself beset by flies that had flown over the ruined walls of the farmhouse. Desperately, he struck at them with his dagger, managed to fend one off and kill the other. The Lorenthian soldier came to aid him and quickly found himself bleeding and hurt as the fly got the better of him. Incunabulum blasted the oncoming Orcs with a fireball, but it barely singed even one of them.

Then more Orcs appeared approaching the farmhouse.

As Aelfwyn dispatched the giant fly, the Orcs reached the house. The gathered at the doors and windows, and swarmed up the walls. Kalfr slew the Orc that had entered the farmhouse. He and Onund raced to aid the Lorenthian archer that was being attacked by the Orc leader, only for Onund to take a huge wound. Blood spouted everywhere. In the face of the Orc's fury, the Lorenthian archer also fell. Could nothing stand against this Orc and its mighty cleaver?

Incunabulum raced out and caved in the head of an Orc archer with his staff. He looked almost as surprised as the Orc did at this outcome!

No room for passengers here

As the civilians climbed the walls to attack an Orc archer, the fight became a desperate swirling melee, and still the enemy came on, as three zombies appeared out of the ash storm.

Onund fell to the Orc's cleaver as did the Lorenthian soldier. Aethelwyrd was attacked by the four new Orcs, but slew three in quick succession and wounded the last one. The civilians worked together to slay the remaining Orc archer, although one was wounded in the process. And more zombies appeared out of the ash.

Aethelwyrd slew the remaining Orc warrior. The Lorenthian archer slew the Orc leader, working together with Incunabulum and Kalfr. The heroes breathed a sigh of relief. They had thought the leader was nigh invulnerable. As the Orcs were felled and zombies started to fall, a giant spider emerged in the corner of the farmhouse.

"Honestly, could this day even get any worse?" wondered Aelfwyn who was not a fan of even small spiders, and then it sank its fangs into his side and oblivion took him.

Arachnophobia!

Seeing this, the brave group of civilian survivors ganged up on the spider and crushed it, although one of their number took a nasty bite and was poisoned. As the fight raged on and the heroic defenders tired, a swarm of stinging insects swept through and bit at Aethelwyrd, who was fortunately unphased by this.

As zombies swarmed over the walls of the farmhouse, the civilian contingent fled to the other room. Kalfr and Incunabulum turned to face them, only for Kalfr to be badly wounded by one of them.

An earthquake shook the whole house and most of the Thrappled Lemmings fell over. Some of the monsters did too. Two zombies used this pause in the action to climb into the farmhouse and attack Incunabulum, knocking him out of the fight.6

As everyone picked themselves up, more giant flies could be heard approaching. They spotted Ash, and he was soon badly wounded. The zombies knocked Kalfr out of the fight and things were looking dire for the Thrappled Lemmings, as the remaining Lorenthian archer was now also wounded by a zombie.

Annoyed at having his doublet ruined by the flies, Ash fought back hard and swatted both. The Lorenthian archer slew the zombie that was attacking him and the civilians ran in to support Aethelwyrd. The enemy was being thinned out, but most of the Thrappled Lemmings were down or badly hurt, and two of the Lorenthian survivors were clearly dead. As Aethelwyrd surveyed the carnage, more Orcs were spotted approaching.

Between them, Aethelwyrd and her cohort disposed of the last zombie. The farmhouse was strangely quiet, but slippery with blood everywhere. Good job the earth floor soaked it up quickly!

Crashing noises could be heard outside. Another Troll had been drawn to the battle.

"Quickly," Aethelwyrd ordered, "And as quietly as you can. Slip out the back door there and make for the woods. I think we have thinned them out enough that we can escape. Ash, take the lead and make sure everyone stays with you. I'll take rearguard."

Escape

The battered group made their way through the storm, praising it for once because it hid them from enemy eyes. Kalfr was badly wounded and had to be supported but the others were well enough despite their wounds.

What seemed like an age later, they made it back to Alladore with the four civilian survivors and the one remaining Lorenthian soldier. The intelligence they returned about the Shadow Deep was gratefully received, and the survivors were welcomed. They would be able to live out their lives in Alladore for as long as the kingdom remained. As the Lemmings were debriefed, Ash produced a magic sword and an amulet from his pockets.

"Hey, I found these on the battlefield. Anyone want them?"

Even in the middle of a desperate fight, the young rogue could not resist looting. The sword was especially light, while the amulet turned out to be an Amulet of Leadership that Aethelwyrd immediately claimed.

It would be a while before all their wounds healed, but the Lemmings knew the best way to treat their sores. The Unstable Unicorn was the less-than-impressed recipient of their custom.

"A toast," declared Aethelwyrd, "To the Thrappled Lemmings, who have been into the Shadow Deep and returned. We shall defeat this threat yet!"

A chorus of assent followed from the others, followed by a long discussion about whose round it was next.

That was a tough fight. I did not think anyone would survive because the monsters kept rolling really well. Funnily enough, it was the civilians who turned the tide. By ganging up on monsters they were able to hold back the tide, and the civilians were the only ones to score any critical hits on the heroes' side. The monsters seemed to do better on that front, hence why my tough heroes were taken out by monsters that should really have been a nuisance rather than a threat. Aethelwyrd got some good licks in though. Taking out three zombies in quick succession really helped. I'm just glad that I got lucky taking out the first Troll and that the second one only turned up on the last turn when it could be easily avoided. If it had turned up earlier, things could have gone a lot worse.

The Thrappled Lemmings and the Swampland (Rangers of Shadow Deep)

 Aethelwyrd observed as her warband bandaged their wounds and sorted themselves out. They only had a brief time to prepare for the next part of this mission, and then they must be off. Ahead she could see various points of interest that she should map, but there was deep water between the Thrappled Lemmings and those. Worse yet, there looked to be something like zombies in the way too.

"Ok, my Lemmings, we need to get going. This mission is not going to complete itself."

She led the way into the brackish water and hoped that none of the Lemmings would sink. As they descended the last part, the choking fumes from the swamp started to take their toll. Kalfr, Aelfwyn and Ash were all overcome by them and started to look distinctly peaky.

Swimming lessons for the Thrappled Lemmings

Despite inhaling too many noxious fumes, the Thrappled Lemmings started out making good progress with their doggy paddle across the deep water. However, the zombies spotted them and started shambling in their general direction. And then a patrol of Orcs appeared. This was not looking good.

Aethelwyrd, Onund and Kalfr were the first to make it to land. As they did so, they came under fire from the Orc archers, and the Orc warrior charged towards Onund waving its spear wildly and yelling obscenities in the peculiarly musical Orc language. The hostiles advanced faster, and an Orc shot Incunabulum, but fortunately, it was just a flesh wound. Ash managed to reach the shore and quickly threw his throwing knife at an oncoming zombie. He scored a hit and part of it fell off. Meanwhile, Aelfwyn and Incunabulum were struggling in the water.

Incunabulum and Aelfwynn were not paying attention during swimming lessons

Kalfr quickly disposed of a zombie, and Onund slashed the Orc warrior across its chest so that blood spouted from it. Aethelwyrd charged the injured zombie and quickly found it tougher than she though as she received a bad cut from its filthy claws. Kalfr then disposed of another zombie while Aethelwyrd was wounded again, and the Orc warrior managed to wound Onund. Aelfwyn made it to dry land, but Incunabulum continued to struggle in the water, finding that the reason was a zombie trying to drag him under.

And then they heard buzzing as a giant fly had followed them down the stairs. Aethelwyrd and Aelfwyn still faced the unusually strong zombie, but not for long as Aelfwyn fell and left Aethelwyrd to face it alone. Kalfr disposed of the Orc archer facing him but fell almost immediately to an arrow from the other archer. Ash managed to slay the Orc warrior, while Incunabulum and the zombie continued to wrestle in the mire with neither gaining the advantage. As Incunabulum struggled, another zombie emerged from the muck to try to drag him under.

Aethelwyrd finally slew the zombie she faced and turned to survey her companions with a feeling of dread. As she did so, she saw Incunabulum dragged beneath the water by the two zombies. He did not resurface and they lost interest in him, turning instead towards her. The giant fly attacked Ash, who swatted it and Onund charged the remaining Orc archer. As he reached it, he suddenly found he had stepped in a sinkhole. As he struggled to free himself, the Orc archer felled him. Aethelwyrd and Ash had both spotted points of interest and were racing towards them, pursued by the zombies. And then it started to rain heavily.

Aethelwyrd's target turned out to be a corpse wearing a signet ring. She took it to return to the next of kin. Ash found some strange flowers that they could study later if they survived. As Aethelwyrd prepared to move on, a sinkhole opened up under her. She was pinned and struggled even as a zombie approached. As if that was not bad enough, the Orc archer had started shooting at her.

Time to skedaddle

She managed to break free and turned her attention to the nearest zombie, which she cut down. Then she raced away as Ash did the same, pursued by Orcish arrows.

Much later, the group straggled in to the point they had agreed they would meet at if separated. It was fortunate that the zombies could not tell an unconscious person from a dead one, so they wandered off once the warband had stopped moving.

Incunabulum was the first back. He was dripping wet and exhausted but otherwise not seriously hurt.

"I knew training to hold my breath for ten minutes would come in handy!" he announced, undaunted by his near death experience.

Kalfr was twitchy and unhappy when he returned. He was clearly doing badly from a psychological perspective. Onund and Aelfwyn were unhappy, but seemed none the worse for their ordeal. As the others drifted in, Aethelwyrd made notes in her journal about the route they had taken and studied the flowers. She made notes about them too.

Finding a quiet place to rest up, the Thrappled Lemmings prepared themselves for the next day and a hike further yet into the Shadow Deep. They were not looking forward to the ordeal, but at least they had reached the edge of the swamp so their feet could remain dry.

Oh boy, that was rough. From failing swimming rolls to getting beaten up by zombies to falling into sinkholes, if anything could go wrong, it did. Some days you just cannot roll well to save your life! And now Kalfr has a psychological trauma that reduces his Will by 1 point. The only thing that helped was the rain, which spoiled the Orc archer's shots. Hopefully, the next day will be better for our heroes.

The Thrappled Lemmings and the Broken Stairs (Rangers of Shadow Deep)

 A couple of weeks after the events at Tor Varden, Aethelwyrd strode into Rangers headquarters.

"Aethelwyrd, I have new mission for you. The information you brought back from Tor Varden showed that there is a fissure opened up into the depths of the earth. Go and find out what that is about."

"So, we're to go into the Shadow Deep itself?"

"Yes. Pick your team and get going. And, hey, be careful out there. We need to know what is going on and how we can strike back."

Aethelwyrd left her captain's office with all the information he had on the fissure and went to collect her warband.

...

"And I tell you that Bergsveinn is not coming with you!"

Brigid was in fine form yelling at Aethelwyrd.

"Just look what happened to him last time he accompanied you! My poor, little boy!"

After a while of being shouted at, Aethelwyrd gave up and went in search of the others.

...

"I hear you are recruiting for a dangerous mission. I am Incunabulum the Thrice-Blessed, conjuror to the Rangers of Alladore. You will not regret taking me with you."

The tall, lean man with the dark hair that was greying at the temples in a distinguished fashion certainly carried himself like a conjuror and looked competent enough. Aethelwyrd wondered briefly why anyone like that would seek to join her crew of misfits. Ah well, she could not afford to be fussy.

"Great. We look forward to having you aboard. Grab your gear and be ready to leave at noon. Fill up on supplies. We don't know how long we shall be gone or even if we can forage once we have descended into the Shadow below."

...

Early the following day, the Thrappled Lemmings had reached the fissure. Stairs descended into the depths below. They were clearly not a natural formation, so this must be one point of egress from the Shadow Deep to the world above.

The road represents the stairs. The top of the picture is the top of the stairs and should be imagined to be at about a 60 degree angle slanting down towards the bottom of the picture. The pig is a treasure marker. It amuses me to use livestock as treasure markers.

"Form up and go carefully. We don't know what we shall face. Everyone ready? Ok, follow me down and keep your eyes open."

They began the difficult descent of the stairs. Ahead they could see giant flies emerging from nest holes in the ground. The flies buzzed angrily towards them as Aelfwyn tried to shoot one but missed. Incunabulum chanted a few brief words. There was an electric sizzling noise and one of the flies exploded in mid-air. Suddenly, a waft of noxious fumes passed up the stairs from below. Ash stood there choking on the fumes for a while.

Onund and Kalfr surrounded the second fly and swatted it hard with bladed weapons. Aelfwyn's second shot was better and the third fly died too. He grabbed some torches from his backpack and headed towards the nearest fly hole. As he did so, another giant fly emerged from the hole he was heading for. Onund rushed to aid him and the fly was soon dead too. The others continued down the stairs. As they did so, they heard a faint rumbling. Large rocks started falling in a cascade from above. Fortunately, they dodged them and were able to continue.

Aelfwyn dropped a burning torch down a fly hole to close it. Incunabulum raced nimbly across the broken, rocky ground towards another fly hole while Ash raced to catch up but fell. He tumbled hard past Aethelwyrd before he could stop and pick himself up.

Bruised and bloody, he stated for all to hear, "I meant to do that!"

Ignoring Ash, Aethelwyrd pointed at something she had seen, "Hey, what's that over there?"

A dead Lorenthan soldier lies near the stairs

She went to investigate what turned out to be the corpse of a Lorenthan soldier carrying a single dose of Fireheart Green and a love letter. She pocketed both. Kalfr had also spotted a possibility for treasure and was off like a shot to see what it was. He grabbed it without checking and put it in his backpack to peruse later.

Aelfwyn cursed as he tripped while rushing to catch up.

"That hurt!"

Another fly appeared from the remaining fly hole. Aelfwyn quickly killed it. Kalfr raced forward to try to close it off but fell over and tumbled to the bottom of the stairs, ending up in dank, stinking water. He spluttered to the surface and tried to catch his breath. Ash raced down the stairs to him and helped him onto dry land again. By now, Incunabulum had closed up another fly hole by virtue of dropping a large, burning torch down it. While rushing to catch up, he managed to fall over his own feet and ended up sopping wet, just like Kalfr.

As Onund approached the last fly hole, another giant fly emerged. It buzzed angrily towards Onund, who crushed it without even pausing as he moved to the hole and dropped a lit torch down it to close it off.

With the holes closed off, the Lemmings were able to get to the base of the stairs where they dressed their wounds and checked their loot. Kalfr had found a magical two-handed axe. While the others cooed over their loot, Aethelwyrd made notes in her notebook, recording the journey and mapping they route they had taken. As she did so, she looked around to see where they must go next. The stairs had ended in a swamp. It looked like they would have to swim at least part way now. She had never liked swimming.

It was a bit of rush to get all the warband off the table by the end of the scenario, but it helped that some of them failed their Climb rolls and actually fell to the bottom faster than they could have run. I think we pretty much scored all the points for this scenario without losing anyone. I was a bit lucky with the random events as only Ash suffered from them, and the giant flies were more a nuisance than a real threat. The time pressure to get off the table and score points kept things interesting.

The Thrappled Lemmings on top of Tor Varden (Rangers of Shadowdeep)

 "Onund and Kalfr, you're with me. We go up first. Rest of you follow on our heels. Any questions?"

The Lemmings looked blank. They knew that Aethelwyrd already knew their only question, which was always about who was paying for this round of beer.

"Ok, if there's no questions, let's go."

The roof of Tor Varden. The area delineated by the fences is the central platform. The outer part is an unstable wooden walkway

She, Onund and Kalfr climbed up through the trapdoor to the roof of Tor Varden. What they saw horrified them. A prisoner was bound to a huge pyre in the centre of the tower roof. This was the beacon fire meant to warn of enemy attack, but clearly the undead monstrosity near the pyre had plans to change that. Archers manned (Orced?) the walkway around the tower and a single Orc soldier stood ready to support the Shadow Knight in its evil endeavours.

"Charge!"

The three heroes raced forwards amid a hail of arrows from the archers on the walkway. Bergsveinn and Aelfwyn could follow up and take care of the archers, leaving them free to save the poor soldier chained on top of the pyre. Time was of the essence, so they just had to trust their comrades.

Ganging up on the bad guys

As they rounded the corner of the huge beacon fire, the true monstrosity of the Shadow Knight became apparent. Bits of flesh hung from the mouldy bones of its body. It's armour glimmered with the same eldritch light that emanated from its core. It was so obviously a product of the Shadow Deep. By comparison, the Orc next to it was completely mundane, a normal being caught up in the Shadow Deep's nefarious evil.

The Shadow Knight and Orc charged towards the heroes and a large melee began. Aethelwyrd only just managed to roll with the punch and avoid having her head taken off. As it was, she was bleeding heavily from several cuts as the Shadow Knight focused its eldritch ire on her. The Orc put up a good fight too, despite being outnumbered. As the rest of the Lemmings emerged onto the roof, Aelfwyn was struck hard by an arrow but managed to hurt his opponent too.

Suddenly a phantasmal green light erupted on nearby Tor Dargos. Waves of eldritch energy rolled over the heroes. Kalfr, Ash and Bergsveinn suddenly felt ill and struggled to keep going.

"Focus! We have them right where we want them!" yelled Aethelwyrd.

As she yelled this, Kalfr and Ash worked together to badly wound the Orc warrior. In return, the Orc felled Ash.

"No! You'll pay for that!" cried Aethelwyrd.

Drawing on reserves of strength that few had, she struck at the Shadow Knight with her magical sword. It's edge, undulled by any of the many combats she had seen, struck true and she unleashed a deadly strike that cut the Shadow Knight in two. The Orc redoubled its efforts as Onund focused his attention on it, and it badly wounded him. An Orcish arrow then struck Aelfwyn, taking him out of the fight. Another arrow badly injured Bergsveinn whose return shot missed. The Orcish arrows badly injured Aethelwyrd's companions as she slew the Orc warrior. The others charged towards the archers, intent on making them regret their choice of sides.

Carnage!

Suddenly, phantasmal green light light up from Tor Hammel and a wave of weakness swept over the surviving Lemmings. Their blood up and their ire aroused by their fallen comrades, all of them shook it off immediately. Shaken by the ease with which the Lemmings had shaken off the sorcerous weakness, the Orc's hands shook and their shots went wild. Then the Lemmings were attacking them in hand-to-hand combat. The archer that Aethelwyrd attacked proved tougher than expected and she was soon pouring blood from a dozen wounds. The others went a couple of rounds with their foes before they slew them and began to move to aid Aethelwyrd. But it was too late. The Orc felled Aethelwyrd even as she got a strike in against it. Even as Kalfr and Onund raced towards the Orc, Bergsveinn finally got his eye in and put an arrow through the Orc's head.

The Thrappled Lemmings had retaken Tor Varden. Now to free the poor soldier chained to the top of the beacon fire and to pay the butcher's bill. Fortunately, it was a light one. All of the Lemmings were hurt but would make a full recovery. The looted the tower and returned to town as quickly as they could. On the way to their barracks, they encountered Bergsveinn's mother.

"What have you done to my son?" she shrieked in horror on seeing the disfigurement to his jaw line. he had been unprepossessing before, but now his face was badly broken.

"I think it adds character, and you might consider that he got it in service of Alladore successfully fighting back the Shadow Deep," muttered Aethelwyrd as she and the rest of the Lemmings scuttled past and away from Brigid, who continued to berate them as they disappeared into the distance.

Bergsveinn straightened his back and managed to look a little less unprepossessing at Aethelwyrd's words.

Blimey, that was brutal. None of the warband had more than 2 Health left by the end of the scenario. Despite ganging up on the Orcs, the Lemmings nearly had their arses handed to them. Just as well that Aethelwyrd was able to roll a critical hit on the Shadow Knight, and had a magic sword to use, or it could have gone a whole lot worse. Well, they are all still alive, so we shall see what awaits them next.

On a side note, I bought a laser-cut MDF frame that Sarissa Precision sells for their terrain tile system, and I am very pleased with it. I cannot see using their terrain tiles, but the frame is brilliant for outlining areas of varying size on my table, as you can see in the photos above. It makes it much easier for set-up and game play. I just need to work out how I want to decorate it now.

The Thrappled Lemmings Enter Tor Varden (Rangers of Shadow Deep)

Hagbard the Guard had led them true. Before the Thrappled Lemmings lay the beleaguered beacon tower of Tor Varden. A muffled scream was heard.

"Sounds like there is someone still alive in there."

The Thrappled Lemmings responded. Battered, bloodied and beaten after their last encounter, they still stood taller, checked their weapons and necked a quick swallow of beer before sneaking up to the main door. They had the keys, so getting in was easy and they were fairly sure no one had spotted them.

"Kalfr, you, Hagbard and Ash guard our backs. Follow us in and provide support once we see what we face. The rest of you are with me. Let's go"

Aethelwyrd shoved open the doors to the tower and steeled herself for what she might find. They were entering through the storage room. It was piled high with crates and supplies. There were four Orcs in the room that would need clearing out of the way before they got to the next door.

A storage room

"Lemmings, Go! Go! Go!" Aethelwyrd called her little group to action and they all burst through the doors. Aelfwyn dashed in and took up position on the left. A hasty shot badly wounded one Orc. Bergsveinn moved into cover to the left and let loose a wild arrow shot. Aethelwyrd and Onund moved together down the centre path. The two Orcs in the centre of the room charged the two heroes and were cut down in two strokes of Aethelwyrd's sword. The other Orcs moved towards the fight.

Aethelwyrd and Onund charged the nearest Orc. Aethelwyrd received a sword cut to the ribs but rolled with the punch.

"'Tis but a scratch! Onwards Lemmings!"

Bergsveinn had moved up to support them but his arrow went wild again. The Orc took umbrage at this and charged him. While it was busy trying to kill Bergsveinn, Aelfynn ran up and slew it in one blow.

The others then rushed through the door to join them. The fight was short and the Orcs were soon dead, giving Ash and Bergsveinn the chance to loot the room as the others grouped by the next door. Onund pushed it open. A scene of bloody horror greeted them. On a bloodstained altar in the centre of the room lay a sewn together corpse. Beside it, an Orc shaman was chanting while two Orc guards stood between the Lemmings and the table.

The shaman's workshop

Aethelwyrd, Onund and Aelfwynn charged into the room. The others followed and a hard fight began.

"Stick it to 'em, Lemmings!" yelled Aethelwyrd, who was wounded in several places. Hagbard was green around the gills after the shaman's poisoned dagger found a home in his shoulder. Onund had a bad wound in his leg. But the Lemmings had managed to surround the Orcs and cut them all down very quickly. The raced on to the next room. Time was of the essence if they were to rescue any surviving prisoners.

"Together, Lemmings ho!" cried Aethelwyrd as she opened the door into the next room.

The torture chamber/barracks

The floor was bloodstained except where bloodstained rugs had protected it. Stairs to the roof of the tower were in one corner and there were beds, tables and torture devices scattered around. A lone soldier was only just holding off a large Orc, whole two other Orcs looked on at the bleeding, desperate warrior. Two prisoners were shackled to the wall on the far side.

As one, the Lemmings charged into the room, intent on rescuing those within. The distraction was just what the beleagured soldier needed. As the big Orc glanced at the intruders, the soldier stepped in under the Orc's massive sword and landed a vicious blow to the throat that left the Orc choking to death on the floor. Aelfwynn shot the farthest away Orc and wounded it and the others took up position in the room to support each other as Aethelwyrd engaged the closest Orc. Onund was the first to reach the big Orc and loot it.

"Hey, look, this Orc's carrying Olde Kingdom Golden Beer!"

With the big Orc down, the other Orcs were easy meat, as the Lemmings surrounded and cut them down, although the Orcs still put up a fight and wounded Aethelwyrd.

"Hey, Onund, let's see that beer."

Onund passed it other to Aethelwyrd unthinkingly. She chugged it down.

"Ah, that's better!"

Onund started to protest and then thought better of it.

"Right, free the prisoners and bandage your wounds, Lemmings. Let's go. Chop, chop!"

"Thanks for the rescue," the soldier said gratefully.

"Just doing our job, sir. Now, what's your name?"

"Atli, ma'am."

"Right, Atli, you and Hagbart can escort these two back to town. They won't make it on their own. We're heading up the stairs to see if we can rescue anyone else."

As Aethelwyrd instructed Atli and Hagbart, the others were looting the place. They found a Potion of Healing and a Potion of Wraithwalk. There was nothing else of any real value here.

"Come on, you lot," Aethelwyrd ordered, "grab a swig of beer and let's get moving."

She led the way to the stairs.

Well, minor injuries all round, a ridiculous number of critical hits by the Lemmings, including one by the unarmed soldier that killed the Orc Sergeant in one blow, and the Lemmings are ready to move on up. That was quick, bloody and very exciting.

The Thrappled Lemmings and the Bridge Guards (Rangers of Shadow Deep)

  "Bergsveinn Brigidsson, get back here right now and do your chores!"

"Mum, I'm a Thrappled Lemming now! I'm going on an adventure!"

"No, Bergsveinn, do as you are told and come back here! No adventures for you until your chores are down!"

The angry woman yelling in the street bore a strong resemblance to Bergsveinn the Grubby, and she was clearly unhappy with her son. Aethelwyrd pondered this fact.

"Maybe you should return to your mother. Family is important," she suggested tentatively.

"NO!"

Bergsveinn practically stamped his foot but held himself at least a little in check.

"Look," he continued, "I know the commander of the Rangers has ordered you to investigate Tor Varden. I know the way there. Do you? I hunt the forests round here and know all the routes."

Aethelwyrd pondered this fact too. She knew roughly where Tor Varden was but her knowledge was all drawn from maps. It would definitely be an advantage to have someone who knew the area with her warband.

"Hmm, OK."

She turned to Bergsveinn's mother.

"Brigid, mother of Bergsveinn, we need to borrow your son and will pay well for this."

This last was only a small fib. After all, if all went well there would be minions of the Shadow Deep to loot and Bergsveinn as a Thrappled Lemming would get a full share. The question really was whether he would live to collect his share of the loot. Still, it seemed to sway Brigid.

"Hmmph, how do I know you are telling the truth? And if you don't pay him well, I'll make you do all of his chores, see if  I don't! I'm not afraid of you. I know you for the scum you are."

Aethelwyrd was a little hurt to be called scum so openly. Most called the Thrappled Lemmings that behind their backs and in hushed tones, just in case they were in the area. As the old saying went: Speak of the Lemmings and they'll appear. She pretended not to hear it and hurried the Lemmings out of town.

As they crept stealthily through the thick brush and rocky ground, Aethelwyrd commented, "I had my doubts about you Bergsveinn, but at least you do seem to know your way around here."

Bergsveinn had led the group unerringly on the path less travelled towards Tor Varden. Ahead was a bridge and an Orc encampment. All the Thrappled Lemmings had to do was defeat the bridge guards and the route to the tower would be open. In open skirmish formation, the warband crept forward.

Overview of the terrain. Blue arrows show the Thrappled Lemmings initial movements. Red arrows are the Orcs

The Orcs seemed more intent on the far side of the river as they patrolled near their camp, rather than into the woods itself. Only two archers seemed to be actively looking for enemies. The rest seemed to be guarding their treasure from their fellows.

The Orcs guard their treasure. The pig is a treasure token

Bergsveinn cursed as he nearly stepped in a trap left by some previous hunter or perhaps a more cunning Orc than the usual.

Aethelwyrd moved into the cover of a large standing stone carved with runes: Gunnvor built this bridge for the soul of her husband Karfi. Hroerekr carved them.

Whoever Gunnvor was, she had arranged for the bridge over the river to be built, replacing the ford that was marked by ancient pillars that indicated it was once roofed and perhaps had been a bridge in its own right.

The Orcs continued to patrol near their treasure, but the Lemmings' luck had run out. The two Orc archers moved directly towards her hiding place, spotted her and loosed arrows. She easily ducked the shots, but the Orcs were shouting the alarm in their fluid language that seemed to contain no consonants.

"To me, my Lemmings!" yelled Aethelwyrd, there being no reason for stealth any more. The other orcs might not react immediately, but the two archers needed dealing with.

And that is how the fight started. Purple dice are Orc hit points remaining

Bergsveinn fired an arrow that nicked an archer. Aelfwyn shot another archer and wounded it badly. The others leapt on the two archers that had spotted Aethelwyrd but the archers defended themselves well and no advantage was gained. Aethelwyrd leapt into the fray and badly wounded the Orc, which then slashed Aelfwyn with its dagger. The Elven archer fell to the floor blood gushing everywhere. The archer that Bergsveinn had wounded shot and pierced the spotty youth through the torso. Bergsveinn collapsed to the ground with a moan of pain.

Two Orc attacks. Two 20s on the attack roll! Ouch!!

The other archer managed to carve a scratch on Kalfr's arm but it was not serious. By now the other Orcs were becoming aware of the Lemmings' presence and half of them started moving towards the heroic warband.

Everything's funny until someone gets hurt!

Galvanised by seeing their fellows fall, the remaining members of the warband went to work on the archers with a will, and both archers quickly fell. Meanwhile, a battered looking man-at-arms emerged from the woods near the Orcs' camp. He was immediately attacked by an Orc spearbearer and soon bore several wounds. Aethelwyrd was heavily wounded in the fight with the Orcs and Kalfr too. The Lemmings were very much getting the worst of things. Worse yet, more Orcs were crossing the bridge towards them.

Some days you just can't roll high to save your life. sigh

Reinforcement

Aethelwyrd redoubled her efforts and managed to slide a blow past the Orc's guard. It died on the end of her blade and she moved to aid Onund. As the fight got more desperate and more Orcs joined the melee, the Lemmings fought even harder and more Orcs fell. The guard from Tor Varden slew his foe in a swift cut and thrust of spearfighting.

And then some days you score well.

A hard-fought fight with more Orcs on the way

As the melee continued, the guard from Tor Varden raced to aid the Lemmings, ducking shots from the last Orc archer. Kalfr fell to a blow from an Orc spearbearer but was immediately avenged by Aethelwyrd. Ash took two heavy blows from the Orc leader, but Onund returned that favour. The only people left unwounded were Onund and the Orc archer. And then it started raining heavily. Bad enough having to fight, but doing it in a heavy downpour was just miserable. At least the Orc archer would have a harder time of it now.

The dice giveth, the dice taketh away.

The life of a Ranger of Alladore is hard and bloody

Aethelwyrd's sword sliced across the belly of her one remaining foe and the Orc died even before its entrails hit the ground. She raced over to aid Ash and Onund. Ash, though badly wounded managed to manoeuvre into position, and his dagger found a vital spot on the Orc leader and blood began to gush from its side. A second strike at the same spot left left Ash covered in blood and the Orc dead. The man-at-arms, seeing that the bridge was now clear turned to engage the last remaining Orc, while Onund rushed into the enemy camp.

Aethelwyrd rushed to aid the man-at-arms, who had badly wounded his opponent, but was felled by a heavy blow in return. Ash raced into the enemy camp to investigate it. He was too badly wounded to do much else. Onund grabbed the Orcs' treasure sack and headed off to aid Aethelwyrd.

"Ware!" yelled Ash, "More Orcs!"

An Orc spearbearer had appeared wandering through the forest back to camp.

None shall pass!

Aethelwyrd and Onund charged the Orc archer and slew it with ease. Ash searched the camp and found a set of keys that he recognised as being to Tor Varden. As the new Orc approached, Aethelwyrd and Onund took up position on the bridge to face it. Ash muttered something about scouting ahead and headed off in the direction of Tor Varden.

Portents!

A harsh cawing noise was heard as an extremely large raven appeared from the direction the Lemmings had come.

After the hard fighting previously, this new Orc was easy meat and Aethelwyrd cleaved it in two with a single blow.

"Quickly," she said to Onund, "Let us gather our comrades and move out. Those ravens are birds of ill omen. I fear we must outrun whatever they portend."

The Thrappled Lemmings tallied their injuries and bandaged them as best they could. Aelfwyn had lost some toes and would limp for the rest of his life. He was more worried about his damaged boots leaking, but managed to get a new pair that fit well enough from an Orc. Bergsveinn's jaw was smashed and his face disfigured but they were able to fix him up well enough to carry one. Kalfr was badly wounded and needed bed rest, but they were in the field so he would just have to be careful instead.

"You, what's your name?" barked Aethelwyrd.

"Umm, Hagbard, ma'am!"

"Congratulations, Hagbard, you are now a Thrappled Lemming. Come with us. You can show us the best route to Tor Varden."

First time playing Rangers of Shadow Deep for a while and I had a couple of false starts with this scenario. In the end I got the rules right and the scenario was good fun. I love the sneaking up phase and wish I had done it better so the warband could have taken out the Orcs (standing in for the Gnolls listed in the scenario) one by one in sneaky weasel fashion. Maybe next time I play this scenario, I can manage that. Now to finish making the interior terrain for Tor Varden so I can play that scenario.