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.