Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Pulp => Topic started by: Trooper on 24 November 2009, 05:13:10 PM
-
The Lost City of Fhagash
Chapter Two: The Cursed Valley.
Some four months after the incident at the Lost City site and the attack of the Toerags, our gallant heroes have set up camp at the Tomb of Sycophantus deep in the so called “Cursed” Valley some three miles from the City. Beaten off by a heavy air attack led by Capt. Richard D'Astardly, who returned in the nick of time with the Vulture Squadron, Nazdi Rash and his surviving tribesmen have returned to their mountain fortress. The tomb of Sycophantus was discovered by a group of French adventurers in the eighteenth century, however the expedition was never heard of again. Their disappearance then, was attributed to hostile local tribes and investigated no further.
For a month now the team has been hard at work and has uncovered the tomb entrance and its surrounding stonework, and were lucky enough to discover what they believe to be the smaller tomb of Queen Nipiteety, sister of Ramitoop III. Her beauty was legendary and in ancient texts there has been found mention of a liaison between her and Sycophantus. It is thought that it was she who had Sycophantus entombed after his downfall, having saved his corpse from the rampaging mobs. Her tomb was built nearby so that she could be with him for eternity.
Having found ancient papryi at Fhagash, Dr Buffalo Jackson centred his effort on the Cursed Valley tomb, and was rewarded with the finding of another entrance which he suspects leads to Nipiteety's own tomb. This long hidden entrance also yielded another fantastic find, A brown pyramid shaped stone covered in intricate carvings and heiroglyphics, which could only be the long lost “Bel-Re-Toon". The engravings and heiroglyphs matched those found on a small stone tablet found at the Fhagash site, and this tablet could unlock the mysteries of the Bel-Re-Toon. As Buffalo is about to order one of his diggers to fetch the tablet from the campsite, a strange wind stirs the sands, and dark smoke curls out from the entrance to Sycophantus' tomb. The party stand spellbound and awed as a group of figures emerge from the tomb entrance. These creatures with their birdlike heads stand a good 7 feet tall and are armed with long vicious looking spears. They start to approach Jackson and his group, black smoke wreathed about their feet. The native diggers start to tremble but are calmed by their overseer Omar Ghidi Arnt, a much respected tribal elder and his two tough looking henchmen.
Meanwhile another party of diggers led by Aswan Dam are hard at work at the smaller tomb entrance, when there is a crackling noise as of the creaking of bones. Openmouthed they see the sands move and skeletal heads erupt from the surface. A party of skeletal creatures draped in rags of Ancient Egyptian design climb from the ground and form into a menacing band of fighters. A larger figure, dressed as an Egyptian Queen, it's bones covered in fine blue cloth, joins the skeletons. It is holding a staff surmounted by a gleaming jewel. One of Aswan Dam's Police bodyguards, Abdul, turns to open fire on the gruesome sight. As he does so a pale blue beam strikes his eyes. “The Glamour of Nipiteety”, Aswan mutters under his breath. But the bodyguard does not succumb to the spell and fires his Thompson at the apparition. Sadly his aim has been affected and his bullets go high. His companion, Ali, is more succesful, although only armed with a pistol, he fires true and the strange figure drops as if punched to the ground. As if it were a signal, the skeleton warriors approach Aswan Dam and his party. They are trapped by a high mountain wall behind them, and although they panic, there is nowhere to run to. There is a burst of automatic fire from behind the skeleton warriors as Dwight Schmutt drops three of them with a well aimed dose of BAR fire. The remainder now charge into Aswan Dam and his group and a fierce melee ensues.
Buffalo Jackson and his party are now in hand to hand combat with the towering mummified guards of Sycophantus' tomb. Jackson's group does have a numerical advantage and are holding their ground. By now the rest of the camp has been alerted to the attack, and Mustafa Lukrahnd, Aswan Dam's assistant has grabbed the tablet frantically trying to decipher it for help. The two Rawlinson girls, Regan and Goneril race to the vehicles with the intention of fetching help. The girls fire up their vehicles, a Crossley Tender and an old Rolls Royce and head of in different directions, Regan to the airfield and the Vulture squadron, and Goneril to Fort Farenuff and Captain Tenille and his legionaires. Jelhi Belhi, the camp cook, makes straight for the tethered camels with escape on his mind. Another group of skeletons emerge from the shifting sands, these are armed with bows and start an ineffectual fire on the camp, and Buffalo Jackson's party.
Aswan Dam's group puts up a fierce resistance, but are overwhelmed. Aswan being the only survivor, though he has been knocked to the ground. Before the death blow is struck the remaining skeletons turn and walk towards the main tomb entrance. Other sinister skeletal warriors have joined the scene, and lumber towards the tomb entrance as clouds of black smoke whisp out of the open and dark entrance. A tall mummified figure emerges and walks purposefully toward Buffalo and his surviving friends. Jackson and his group have managed to destroy their attackers, but most of the diggers and some of the Europeans lie on the ground bleeding from many wounds.
Buffalo and his group are overpowered by the skeletons, attacking from behind, and confronted by the fearsome mummy of Sycophantus, who gestures to his skeletal warriors. The group are seized and carried toward to tomb entrance. Other skeletons lift up the pyramid shaped Bel-Re-Toon and carry that reverentially toward the tomb entrance. In the distance Jackson, Cordelia and Rick hear the sound of aero engines, as the Vulture squadron fly in from the north, but for now it is too late, and Buffalo, Cordelia Rawlinson, Rick O'Donnell and the two surviving diggers are carried into the tomb, the dark smoke closing and folding around them. An eerie quiet descends on the campsite and only the purring of the Sopwith's engines are heard...........................................................
(http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg223/timhall1955/001-11.jpg)
A view of the camp site, showing the entrance to the tomb of Sycophantus.
(http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg223/timhall1955/003-10.jpg)
The smaller tomb of Nipiteety.
(http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg223/timhall1955/004-9.jpg)
The camp and transport.
(http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg223/timhall1955/005-12.jpg)
(http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg223/timhall1955/006-12.jpg)
Sycophantus' mummified warriors emerge from the tomb.
(http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg223/timhall1955/020-8.jpg)
The skeleton warriors rise up from the sand.
(http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg223/timhall1955/011-9.jpg)
Despite Dwight Schmutt's BAR fire the skeletons press their attack.
(http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg223/timhall1955/017-7.jpg)
The melee at the tomb entrance.
(http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg223/timhall1955/026-4.jpg)
Buffalo Jackson and his companions are overwhelmed.
(http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg223/timhall1955/035-4.jpg)
The arrival of the Vulture Squadron.
To be continued......................................
-
Love that table, its fantastic. Having used a similar method just to do some LPL shots and then got it in the neck from her indoors for the mess I made I think I had better not try to copy your idea for a full table ::)
-
Bloody marvellous, looks spot on, love all the ruined bits and bobs and the archeologists camp. ;D
-
Excellent stuff! Looks really like the Mummy Returns. Very inspirational. Many thanks!!
-
Is that real, loose sand? Lumme! Looks bloody great but I don't fancy that myself. All that abrasive material in such close proximity to my beloved little men? Not to mention the mess! :)
Superb.
-
That's a great looking table! Inspirational for my own Wargods games!
-Alex
-
I love it!!! :-*
-
I love the sand table.
And the minis
And the story...
Ok, I love everything I see :-*
-
Whoa!!! :o
A real sand table! With great mini's and terrain.
Really envious here. :-*
Great report and photos. Thanks bunches!
And... looking forward to the next installment.
-
Excellent! Great table and game!! :-*
-
Awesome all around, miniatures, board and battle report (love your battle report style BTW.) Thanks again for sharing and looking forward to the next installment.
-
Awesome!
-
Altogether awesome - the actual sand table, all the details, the names of most of the characters and places! lol
I love the "skeletons emerging from the sand" bases, I think they're my favourite small detail.
"Mustafa Lukrahnd"... :D
-
Another great table setup in that sandbox. I´d love to get a glimpse of Nipiteety when she were alive...
-
Thanks for the comments, it was a pleasure to return Trooper's hospitality. One advantage of having the same inevitable Copplestone characters is that I had the same 'cast' ready to continue the adventure. Skeletons are by GW, mummies and Nipiteety by Crocodile, The Mummy by Reaper, Legionaires (not shown- another late re-enforcement) by Artizan. The diggers are Artizan Berber javelin men armed with stuff from my bits box, along with some from WestWind. Various scenic items from Alternative Armies.
The boards are a couple of office noticeboards from the local tip painted up. There isn't actually that much sand there, it was simple enough to clear up. The sand is fine play sand apart from some builder's sand by used by the road. My main fear was that the two giant avatars of Basti that I live with would assume it was a giant litter tray!
Scenery is by hurst (hirst?). The big tomb is scratchbuilt from balsa and expanded foam. The smaller from balsa with plaster. The hills are cut from polystyrene and covered with plaster, pva and sand (as is just about everything). The tents were made from card and masking tape. The Queen's head is one of those black resin ones that came from a monthly magazine some years back (picked up in a car boot and sawn up). Vehicles by Matchbox and corgi. Planes by NewRay.
The skeletons raising were in order to give warning of arriving undead rather than just plonking them on the table. I thought the heroes could get some shots in first. Likewise, the mummies had a fair distance to cross against firearms before contact. However, Trooper was so in role playing character that he held off firing until he knew that their intentions were hostile, showing that Buffalo is truly a man of learning and history and not just the leader of an armed gang. Likewise, the Rawlinson ladies ran about the camp in panic for a while before driving off to get help. There was a very strong sense of watching a story take place.
Cairo the dog survived.
-
Amazing table with even more amazing details. Very convincing archeological site.
Thanks for sharing. :)
-
WOW :-* :-* :-*
What a board. The details are amazing :o :o :o
The Hirst arts stuff works really well.
Really like the camp, the vehicles, and digs sites, the temple, the figures, on well everything :D
Looking forward to the next installment.
-
Curse you Mr Dodo and your tempting bazaar of delights...I am filling the van with diesel, donning my anti-pheasant armour and driving the 3 hours to Dodo Island....tell the fiendish Dr Love Bunny to put on a pot of Russian caravan tea!
-
Lovely. Quite the thing. 190 Proof. This is what Lead Adventure is all about, if you ask me.
-
Lovely. Quite the thing. 190 Proof. This is what Lead Adventure is all about, if you ask me.
Agreed. Outstanding!
-
Absolutely amazing game!!!! ;D ;D ;D