Saturday 27 July 2024

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

 Battered and bruised after their entrance to the Convent, the Thrappled Lemmings pushed on into the courtyard. They figured that they could then branch off from here to most areas of the Convent as they wished. Within the courtyard were a couple of old shacks and a fountain in the center. There was a wagon on the far side, and a horde of skeletons between the Lemmings and the areas they felt they needed to investigate.

"Take it easy this time and stick together," Aethelwyrd ordered her patrol, "Remember to support each other and don't go rushing off. We need you all alive and mostly whole to finish this mission."

They all nodded grimly. Their entrance to the Convent had been hotly contested and they had taken it too lightly to start with. Not this time though. This time they would focus and make sure they did not get hurt.

"Looks like it's a ghoul's night out," announced Aethelwyrd, "Well, let's see if these ghouls just wanna have fun."

The others groaned and looked pained at the forced puns. The courtyard was full of skeletons, but they were not going to take time to correct her.They advanced in quickly. The good thing about skeletons, as they all knew, was that one good strike would crush them. The Thrappled Lemmings set to work doing just that. Aelfwyn's arrows struck repeatedly and to good effect. The others waded in, while Ash, who was trying to stay out of trouble went to investigate the shacks on either side of the courtyard.

As Ash investigated, more skeletons emerged from all around the courtyard. The Thrappled Lemmings continued to cut and slash their way through them but more kept emerging. As the fight raged, Aethelwyrd caught a nasty blow to the ribs from a Skeletal Knight, but then crushed its skull in retaliation.

Suddenly an eerie groan and howl rang out and the Lemmings' blood froze. They found it harder to fight and push themselves on as a Tortured Soul appeared atop a wagon in the corner of the courtyard.

Despite the ghost's presence, the Lemmings pushed on harder. Onund ran to investigate the wagon where the Tortured Soul had appeared. Crushed under it was a nun.

"Don't worry," he reassured her ghost, "We shall ensure that the Decanter is safe. You have done your job and there is nothing more for you here."

The ghostly howling died away as the Tortured Soul finally found rest. Rejuvenated, the Lemmings continued to cut their way through hordes of undead.

Investigating the second shack, Ash found a hound chained up inside.

"Who's a good boy then? Who's a good boy?"

The hound seemed pleased to see Ash and bonded with the bard immediately as Ash released it and it raced off to find a bone or three to chew on, destroying a couple of skeletons in the process.

"Aethelwyrd, I found a dog. I'm going to call him Doggo. Can I keep him, please? I promise to look after him properly."

The fight continued to rage on as the Lemmings made their way to the far side of the courtyard. They had found that a statue in the fountain in the middle of the courtyard had been broken up and one of its hands was now pointing towards the opposite side of the courtyard.

On reaching the far side, they found runes scratched on the wall.

"Aha, a veritable clue," Aethelwyrd informed the others, who could not read these runes, "Quickly! Follow me! We need to move out of here and get on with our mission. No time to waste."

She led the way towards an exit from the courtyard.

That was easier than the previous scenario. Ash found a pet hound, who got badly hurt by a zombie and will have to sit out the next scenario. Aethelwyrd took a nasty wound, but the rest of the Lemmings came through relatively unscathed, apart from the wounds they were carrying from the last scenario.

I now have a fairly solid idea of where to find the Decanter of St Emilia too, so The Thrappled Lemmings might be able to finish the mission quickly and return home for a well-earned beer. We shall see.

No comments:

Post a Comment