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.