Turn 1 - Days 1 to 8 - The Shroud

 

"Drake's Seven" - there is always room for one more - follow the lead given by the monks of Mankhandun, and head north.  Skirting the Hissing Wood, they cross low, barren hills and eight days later, arrive in the south-eastern reaches of the White Hills.  The journey itself is uneventful, if often unpleasant, although Parthghimeos is enthralled by every encounter with strange flora and stranger fauna.

It does not take long to hunt down the source of dread.  Cresting a low hill, the company could see, on the horizon, a mound covered with blackened, glistening rock, surrounded by twisted and dying vegetation.  It was a stark contrast with the chalky colour of the White Hills.  "Like a shroud over the deadly white mask of death", whispered Parthoghimeos, spirits low.

During what was left of the light, the company edged slowly closer and that night's camp was sullen, without fire and without song, a dark mood and a sense of impending danger laying across the land.  Kehar woke the company just before dawn, to show them a mist, the colour of despair, seeping from the mound.  To everybody's surprise, Parthoghimeos slid from the back of his tortoise and scouted forward.

"It is a burial mound" he told them, even his high-pitched voice now subdued.  "Ancient, for sure.  I wouldn't be surprised if it was Taran.  There is a necromancer here".  Parthoghimeos was a thaumaturge, a mage of light, and death magic was his nemesis.

The company crept forward and before long, were coming across the ruins of shattered gravestones and markers.  "These are Tollonian religious symbols.  Far more recent".  Radovan surprised everyone with that observation.  When he was sober, it seemed he had a lot of insight.

"No doubt", squeaked Parthoghimeos, "the aura of the barrow attracted to it the burial grounds of some long-lost Tollonian town."

"They will soon be regretting their acts of faith", Radovan muttered.

The mist was seeping through the shattered stone remains, making the ground treacherous, and the going slow.

Krikgxlyhk lifted up one of his six arms in a universal gesture of soldiering.  Everybody dropped to the ground.  No more than thirty yards ahead, an eerie group emerged from the midst, then shambled on, the grey curtain spiralling around them and hiding them again from view.  Walking skeletons.  The Roaming Dead.  They were all carrying weapons, and some wearing rusting armour, and all bore signs of violent death.  Didn't take a genius to figure that the mound covered the dead from some battle of forgotten times.  A battle, that meant a pile of dead, and that was worrying.

"He is there", whispered Parthoghimeos.  "You can't see him, but I can sense him.  Up on the summit of the barrow.  There is some sort of altar there, that he has corrupted. The mist is his, it is rendering the sleep of the dead restless and calling them from their graves.  He hasn't yet bent them to his will.  When he does, they will stop shambling and come to add us to their numbers".

"If you can sense him", began Godric, but he only needed a glance at Partho to see that he had guessed right.  "Krik, we'll have to drop the necromancer before he does get control of all those piles of bones.  Kehar, you are by the far the swiftest among us, try and find out more about this place.  From the little I've heard, the Tarans do not seem to have been an evil folk, maybe something around here can help us.  Ash...what is it ?".

The Lorenthian soldier was hunched over something on the ground.  Tracks.  Odd-shaped ones at that....and almost certainly leading up to the summit of the barrow-mound.  Godric cursed.  The Jungle Deep had not let their corrupt sorceror come to this forsaken place alone.

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Scenario Parameters :

The Unexplored Location turned out to be a Haunted Site that the company decided to investigate. 

The foe are Roaming Dead.  They roll as ten strong, but as they have the Unknown Enemy trait, seven begin around the barrow, and an Unknown Enemy marker is placed on the table edge.  They have a Lieutenant (p.123) as well.

The cause behind their awakening is a Corrupt Sorceror (p.124), although his particular motivations remain unclear [NB : this was actually a mistake, when I got to "Step 5" I read it to mean that there was always a Unique Foe.  Still, the result was so perfect, it must have been destiny !].

Suspicious Tracks (p.143) are found by Ash.

Terrain is set up as per the generic rules (p. 128-129).

The scenario is a Site Battle, see p. 142 for the scenario rules concerning it.

 

There are no Adventure Point gains from a Haunted Site.  However if the adventurers Hold the Field, they can lay these restless spirits to peace and claim 1 Story Point, and whist doing so, benefit from an additional Loot roll (p.96).

If 5+ figures are defeated, the company gains 1 Adventure Point (p.156).

Under Siege (p.219) is in effect, so if the Corrupt Sorceror is not slain, a roll must be made on the Enemy Plans Table (p.207).

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Kehar sped off into the mist, to a lower hill that a brief gust of wind had revealed.  Reaching it, he found some sort of stele.  Was it supposed to represent Taran culture ?  With Hu-Mans in some sort of chariot ?  Now that he thought about it, those skeletons looked pretty much Hu-Man too.  In any case, something emanating from those gargoyles was making him queasy, so the Tiger sprinted away.

Parthoghimeos, Radovan and Ash had gone the opposite way, to intercept a group of skeleton that were making for the mound, no doubt summoned by their new master.  Better to get them first.  Radovan approached one of the tombs, which suddenly exploded.  Whatever the necromancer was up to, it was bringing up some very chaotic magic.  The blast sent Radovan sprawling, and impaled him on the vicious spikes of one of the trees.

Someone had gotten close enough to the hilltop to see who the sorceror's companion was.  Of all things, one of those giant were-hounds, that the Rangers call "Ogres".  A truly dread opponent.  

The company decided to wait a little, to see where the group of undead, led by their old lieutenant, would head next.  They got lucky, the skeletons roamed back down the slope, away from the heroes.  They were taken down piecemeal, although Ash was uncautious and went down to a sword blow.

Now all the heroes had to do was entice the Ogre off the hill....Krikgxlyhk and Godric Drake had moved into position to do that.

Meanwhile, Kehar was using his speed and the undeads' stupidity to the company's advantage.  He made himself seen and drew the whole lot of them away from the barrow.  While the Ogre charged down the slope, Parthghimeos picked his way cautiously and quietly up the slope, to confront the Necromancer.

Two of Kriks' arrows had wounded the Ogre [we use the optional rules for multiple wounds, which we really like], but his charge was relentless, and although Godric got the first stab in, he was sent spinning over with a mighty blow from an axe butt.  The Ogre's momentum carried it into Krik, but blow after blow bounced off the insect's chitin, leaving a few deep grooves to remind him of the intensity of the fight.

The insect dweller of Nar used a lull in the combat to draw his bow back once again, wounding the Ogre a third time....still not enough !  Another flurry of axe blows were driving Krik back towards oncoming skeletons, which definitely would be his end.  A deep breath in, a final shot...straight through the Ogre's tough skin and into its heart !

Up on the hill, meanwhile, Parthoghimeos, suffering from the deathly emanations of the battlefield, was not faring well against the Necromancer.  Luckily for him, Kehar had left the pack of enemies behind and sprinted up the hill.  It took a few exchanges, but he managed to duck under the necromancers defenses and decapitate him with a vicious blow.

There were far too many skeletons gathering for the heroes to remain, so everybody slipped away, carrying the wounded.  The barrow would remain for now, but with the necromancer dead, it seemed unlikely thay any more dead would rise.  What those already wandering the face of the world would now do was anyone's guess.  Have to worry about that later !

The company made it to safety, pushing deeper into the White Hills and putting a good two hours between them and danger.  Godric had soon came round, the only side effect of his mishap being a whopping headache.  Ash and Radovan were a different matter, and could no longer be carried.

The jackal-archer had a deep gash in her shoulder, but once the bleeding had been staunched, it was clear that she would live [4 campaign turns to Recover].  Radovan was a different matter.  The impalement had missed any vital organs, but whatever had twisted the tree was twisting the weasel's mind and body too.  Death was approaching, pale as the gibbon moon.  Parthoghimeous tried some Silvertree Leaf whilst Kehar poured some brandy over the wound....and suddenly, to everyone's surprise, the weasel just sat bolt upright.  Guess no-one will ever know which of the two medicines did the trick !

It was time to take stock.  Krik and Kehar were the heroes of the day, of course.  Kehar had somehow found the time to loot, picking up some beautifully carved and ancient statuettes of semi-precious stone, and some fine arrows.  Krik had found enough time to strip some of the armour from the fallen Ogre.