Serving Notice

From "The Warren Percy Affair", by Oathsworn Games, along with all artwork 

Sometimes, you just had to grit your teeth, and do what needed to be done, however painful or distressing  you found it personally. For the good of the Kingdom. It wasn’t easy, of course, but then what important  decision was ever easy? He was a prince, after all, and princes had responsibilities. Not as many responsibilities as a king though, that was true. And there was the problem.

He’d been a prince for such a very, very long time.

Prince Reinert Othyr turned to Knight Grand Master Coelbert. ‘Is he secured?’
The armoured hare gave a terse nod. ‘Yes. Sergeant Mulgert and twelve of our most highly trained knights have him, and are setting out now for Tynemouth. He’ll be on board the ship and bound for the continent by daybreak.’
Reinert inclined his head slightly in acknowledgement, and waved a paw in dismissal. Getting the support of the Order of the Ebon Rose had been surprisingly easy; a simple guarantee of royal favour and patronage was all it had taken. The Grand Master was an ambitious hare, and he understood the need for a certain… flexibility in political matters. He’d organised the ship, the overseas accommodation, the long-term staff and guards; everything they needed for the King’s exile.

The rest had been rather harder to arrange. King Redwulf Othyr was a wily otter, and he hadn’t kept his paws on the crown without being both ruthless and a touch paranoid. The sleeping draught had needed to be colourless, odourless and tasteless, so as to be undetectable in his wine. It also needed to be both powerful and rapid enough to overcome the King’s iron constitution, yet slow enough to leave the King’s taster unaffected for sufficient time to allay suspicion. That had been an almost impossible combination.
Almost impossible, but not quite. One beast had the requisite skill, and the kind of morals that made weight of coin the balancing factor on the scales of right and wrong. And those scales had needed a lot of balancing; Yarrow de Goulby’s alchemical abilities didn’t come cheap. But then, de Goulby was the greatest alchemist the Fellowship could boast, and probably the only one in the country who could produce the sleeping draught successfully. So much coin, though. He’d cost Prince Reinert so much coin. And now Yarrow de Goulby was going to cost him even more; tying up loose ends was never cheap. Reinert sighed, and motioned to his Chamberlain. ‘Show her in.’

Lady Jayne De’ath had been a difficult choice; deadly enough, certainly. But also, if the rumours be true, a touch insane. Or more generously, as she was both noble and rich, a touch eccentric. Looking at the beautiful vixen standing before him, an innocent smile on her face, but with that strangely intense, unblinking stare, the Prince found himself sighing again. He’d have much preferred to use the Thorns for this. But their contract was with the King, and this was not the time to be inviting awkward questions. No. She’d have to do, risky or not. Once she’d killed de Goulby, this whole distressing business could be put behind him. Announce his father’s sudden, unexpected pilgrimage, assume the Regency, and take complete control of the realm. The otter smiled to himself. This wasn’t how he’d wanted things to go, he told himself; but of course, sacrifices had to be made. For the good of the Kingdom.

And besides, he’d been waiting for the throne for such a very, very long time.

 

BACKGROUND

"Lovely little village, this, Warren Percy. Been here since 611, when it was just a warren, founded by a colony of rabbits, but it grew into a thriving place housing all manner of beasts. Of course, it’s currently benefiting from extensive investment and redevelopment work. The landowner’s always keen to make improvements, with no thought for the costs to himself; such generosity!"

"While the work goes on, we’ve naturally ensured that the residents have been removed; concern for their safety, and so forth… all in accord with the Ordinances of Ownership and Fealty, of course. Unfortunately, there are a few recalcitrant townsfolk who are… less respectful of the law, and are simply refusing to leave. They need… encouragement. Your first job here will be to provide that encouragement." 

AIM 

The Hired Paw must round up as many of the townsfolk as possible, after which they will be turned over to the law enforcers that have arrived and supplanted the sheriff.

The other player, rather than using his own band, plays the villagers in this Quest, using the profiles provided.  He also chooses one of the models from his band.  The unfortunate fellow, having licked his wounds and drowned his sorrows in the village tavern, has been caught up in the rapidly tightening net.

TERRAIN

Set up on a 48" by 24" table, representing a part of the decent sized village of Warren Percy.

Place six buildings on it, three placed by one player and three by the other.  They may distributed as you see fit.  Roll the strength of their door (see Special Rules below). Add a couple of isolated trees and some random village paraphernalia. 

SIDE QUESTS 

Both bands have one Side Quest.  For the townsfolk, it automatically applies to Erenthal's man, if a model needs to be chosen. 

BANDS AND DEPLOYMENT ZONES

The villagers are the Defender.  Place one villager in contact with a different building.

The Hired Paw are the Attacker.  They set up their models within 2" of any table edge, split up between multiple table edges if they so choose. 

Erenthal's man can be set up within 2" of any villager. 

SPECIAL RULES AND RANDOM EVENTS 

The Townsfolk

The Townsfolk cannot be killed, but must be taken alive; they cannot be Shot, or Wounded by Spells; all Attacks against them must be non-lethal, and count as Unarmed. Do not keep track of their Wounds from Turn to Turn; any time a Townsfolk model suffers Wounds in a single Turn, they make a Fortitude Roll-off at the end of the Turn, against a Target equal to the number of Wounds suffered. If the Roll-off is failed, they are Knocked Out. Remove the model from the table. 

Doors and Windows 

Before the Quest begins, roll a D10 for each building : this is the Tough(X) value of its door.  If it is four or less, the door cannot be locked at all.

If a door can be locked, the model that begins next to the building has the key.  Locking a door requires an Interact Action, with a Dexterity roll-off difficulty 5 (remember all those movie scenes where the character desperately fumbles for their keys under pressure...).

See the Appendix p.257 for the rules for knocking down locked doors.

An unlocked door can be held shut by up a models, whilst another model can try to push it open.  An Interact Action is required to do this, followed by a Strike vs. Fortitude Roll-Off.   Two dice must be rolled by the model that has the smaller base size (if any), and the lowest roll only counts.  If a door is successfully pushed open, the model that was holding it is pushed back 2", and is Stunned if the push back move cannot be fully completed.

Windows are WYSIWYG.  A model can enter or leave a building through a window, but it generally counts as a Narrow Gap (p.23). 

STARTING THE GAME

Do not use the normal Initiative rules : the Hired Paw have the initiative on the first turn.

ENDING THE GAME

The scenario has Variable Length.

Neither side can rout during these scenarios, voluntarily or otherwise. 

VICTORY

The Hired Paw are victorious if all the Townsfolk are captured; this does not include Erenthal's man.  If not, their rivals are victorious.

All captured townsfolk will be deported by Snook and his cronies.  Any townsfolk that escaped have gone to ground within the village, and will be available to assist the liberation of Warren Percy in future scenarios. 

REWARDS

Experience 

+1 : Survives

Treasure 

Monetary rewards are to come...for now, the warband will have to wait !

POST-BATTLE PHASE

Ignore Steps 4 and 6 to 9 after this Quest.

Models never regenerate their Fate Points during the Warren Percy mission, although they may regain some during the scenarios.  

AFTER ACTION REPORT...