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.