Rangers of Shadow Deep: Whitbye

[Spinal Tap]

Introduction

Long have the animals of Albion heard rumours of a blight abroad, slowly expanding it’s borders, eating into the kingdoms of the great continent one at a time.

Such rumours though were a thing of myth and legend, not meant to be taken seriously; a distraction on dark winter nights, sat by he fireside of a local inn, warm, stomachs full of food and adding beer by the pint.

But now it seems the corrupting influence has cross the Narrow Seas, devoured the Southern lands and is pressing upon the borders of the Last Great Northern Kingdom.

Jorvik’s King, Brock Bloodaxe, has called for Rangers of the Kingdom to recruit and lead bands of beasts southwards to confront the approaching menace, seek clues to it’s source and hold the borders.

One such Ranger is ‘One Eyed’ Oscar, a brigand of the sea but an Otter of honour nonetheless. He was called to service in the fishing village of Whitbye and has recruited a number of other animals from the town to be on the King’s service.

It has been less than a week since the Shadow Deep commenced it’s journey across the island but, in that time, the world has seemingly gone mad with stories of creatures, both dumb and blessed, turning upon each other in fits of rage and destruction.

There are also stories that Roche Abbey is razed to the ground, some say by it’s own monks, who have become diseased somehow and taken up arms in service of an unknown deity.

Monks of Abbey of Whitbye set out last week with a Ferret Ranger named Aventine to investigate the stories but have failed to return; their first stop was to be at the village of Scoonthorp; three days away.

Oscar is determined to find what has happened to his fellow Ranger and has chosen a small group to accompany him consisting of Huey, Dewey and Louie, soldiers of the Town Watch, Abigail Whistler, a field mouse armed with a bow, Archibald Spearbeak, Kingfisher and Hazel Nutkin, a Red Squirrel Conjurer.   

He is also joined by his faithful old Caterpillar Bloodhound, one of the pack he keeps, much to the annoyance of the crew when away at sea.                               

As they walk into the village they notice an ominous quiet and the stench of death.

Reaching it’s centre they notice monks staggering slowly towards them and are about to shout a greeting when they notice two odd things.

The monks are covered in boils and sores.

And they are armed.


20230131_105421 by markndebs, on Flickr


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Turn One

Oscar searched the first area and discovered the body of Aventine by an old house; he took his sword, vowing to avenge him and to return and bury the Ranger’s body.

He exhorted his companions to defend themselves and, noticing giant centipedes, enraged like never before, charging towards them they killed them all with a combination of ranged weapons and melee.

All were uninjured except Louie, a Man at Arms from the King’s Army, who took 4 wounds from a centipede before it was felled. Luckily, although the creatures are known to be toxic, he did not become diseased.

As the 4 Plague Monks advanced towards the party another appeared in the North-Western region of the village.




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Turn Two

Three of the Monks were ended quickly, the fourth was engaged with both Dewey and Louie and another is moved across the ruined yard towards Oscar.

Abigail Whistler, a young mouse archer, managed to pick a lock on a house and found strange tracks inside. Although unskilled in tracking she was still able to make a successful identification of them as belonging to a spider, but one much bigger than anything she had ever known.

Two more centipedes have crawled from under houses to the East and, despite not having line of sight to any rangers, are uncomfortably close to the conjurer, Hazel Nutkin.


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Turn Three

Oscar moved into the house next to him, picked the lock with ease and finding a young field mouse rogue, Holly Greenfingers, who, despite being shook up, seemed fine and promised to join Oscar’s group if she survived the day.

Hazel was rushed by the centipedes but managed to kill both with a fireball; the lone Plague Monk continued to move towards the centre of the village where the heroes prepared to move out to investigate the remainder of the village.

A wave of terror passed causing the caterpillar a moment of panic, however the steadied himself and was good to continue (rolled an 18 on the Red 8 Terror roll).


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Turn Four

The final Monk is destroyed by a joint attack as Louie heads to the clue token in Scoonthorp South-East, Spearbeak quickly flies to the North West clue and Huey heads to the clue in the North East.

As Louie passed the corner of the house to investigate the clue, a centipede erupted from the ground and attacked him from behind.


20230131_105349 by markndebs, on Flickr




Turn Five

Louie managed to spin around and fell the attacking centipede with one blow, searched the clue and found a body with strange bite marks which he identified as being from a huge spider.

Hazel used her transpose spell to swap Dewey And Archibald’s place on the field putting him close to the clue; when he moved to it he found treasure.

Meanwhile Huey searched the last area and discovered a rare herb Philtre of Fairy Dust, which imparts magical qualities to weapons.

The rest of the party started to make their way out of the village as more Monks appeared to the far ends of the village.



20230131_155616 by markndebs, on Flickr




Turn Six

All the group except Oscar have left the village to head to the rendezvous point and more Monks appeared, again too far away to matter.




Turn Seven

Oscar followed leaving the remaining Monks with no target.

The Shadow Deep made one last effort to harm the group imparting disease to all those who had fallen to zero health – this had no effect on the party.





Never have I been so lucky in a game, every roll killed the enemy outright, every skill test was passed with ease and the cards which might have caused problems either appeared right near the end or not at all.

104XP to spend, Aventine’s sword for the next scenario, can create a magic sword for Oscar plus an extra 10XP for the treasure found.

I doubt my luck will last – probably a total party kill next time.

[Grumpy Gnome]

Looks great and and sounds like it was fun! Quite some luck! 👍

[Manchu]

Lovely write up and wonderful to see your beautifully painted B&B minis from Oathsworn!

[Spinal Tap]

The Rangers followed the spider tracks at a good pace and came across a glade full of trapdoor tunnels hidden amongst the trees.

Whilst Oscar and a few fighters concentrated on battling the relentless flow of giant spiders and plague monks before checking the nearby holes, Archibald flew to the trapdoors by the trees then was transposed with Louie by Hazel.

He moved along, luckily not accosted by evil beings, and closed off 3 trapdoors.

A treasure appeared to the West and along with a plague monk, whilst the monk rushed Oscar, Hazel grabbed the treasure and prepared to flee the field.

As the last trapdoor was cleared the party had found no survivors, only one dead body and lots of plague monks.

All the spiders were destroyed and only one monk was left, so Oscar called for the heroes to retreat to safety, leaving just Abigail, Huey and Louie to take their last move in the next turn.

Unfortunately, Abigail ended getting stuck in a web and the monk moved in towards her, Huey missed his shot and held his ground with Louie to protect Abigail.

In the next turn two spiders moved into the clearing near the remaining heroes.

Fortunately, the next shots were both good and and Louie used his halberd to split the monk in 2.

The following turn the three left to join the others.

Post game the crew check their treasure and find it's a Spell Shield pendant, they killed 9 spiders and 5 plague monks, sealed all the spiders trapdoors and checked the whole area for survivors.

On returning to Whitbye Oscar makes his report and gives Aventine's sword to a courier to send to the King.

Oscar retires for a rest, knowing his work is far from done.


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[Warren Abox]

This is so great.
Even more fun to read when you can compare approaches to everything from terrain to model choices to tactics.
Gorgeous tables and figures.

[PineyPhantom]

I LOVE this. A good batrep never goes amiss and the recasting of rangers as a "Redwall" type setting only makes me want to play it more. You figures and terrain are gorgeous! Can't wait for more!

[Spinal Tap]

This is so great.
Even more fun to read when you can compare approaches to everything from terrain to model choices to tactics.
Gorgeous tables and figures.

Thank you.

I never realised I had tactics 

I LOVE this. A good batrep never goes amiss and the recasting of rangers as a "Redwall" type setting only makes me want to play it more. You figures and terrain are gorgeous! Can't wait for more!

Redwall was definitely the prime inspiration although the enemies are either 'turned' in some way or insects/grubs, although there are good caterpillars too, full detail of my project is here:

 https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=135630.0


Also need to note that your Second Songs project has got me looking towards doing my first proper army build, especially after you wisely chose St Crispen's as the name of your chapel.

[PineyPhantom]

Also need to note that your Second Songs project has got me looking towards doing my first proper army build, especially after you wisely chose St Crispen's as the name of your chapel.

Aww shucks, glad I could be an inciting incident! Are you going to do a whole burrows and badgers army?

[Spinal Tap]

Aww shucks, glad I could be an inciting incident! Are you going to do a whole burrows and badgers army?

I've got 20 Burrows and Badgers minis done for this skirmish project plus the ghasts which play some of the bad guys.

For the army I'm thinking of moving out from them, been looking at a few rulesets where I can model a predominantly human army with some fantasy elements, a bit like yours really.

[PineyPhantom]

For the army I'm thinking of moving out from them, been looking at a few rulesets where I can model a predominantly human army with some fantasy elements, a bit like yours really.

I very much look forward to seeing what you concoct, and very probably borrowing some of your ideas for mine own ends!

[Spinal Tap]

The Bridge Guard

Oscar had barely any rest before a messenger of the Guard was hammering at his door with a message regarding the Tower at Tor Varden.

It appeared that contact had been lost and the powers that be believed it had been overrun by agents of The Shadow Deep.

Oscar is to travel to the tower to ascertain the current situation and, if necessary, destroy whatever now dwells there.

He is acutely aware that this is likely to be a long trip full of dangers and combat; he is also aware that the team he took out to find the missing are shattered as is he. However, he has no choice in this but he does need a crew who fresh and won’t shirk at a dirty fight.

To this end he travels to the docks and enlists the aid of his old crew including The Sea Shanty’s cantankerous Captain, Herbert Hacker.

When finally prepared the team consist of Captain Hacker, Archibald Spearbeak, ‘Mad Jack’ Brown, Fergus O’Connor, Cecil Spiteclaw and Blood, Oscar’s Loyal Caterpillar.

He is also obliged to take along Poppy Papaver, a mouse Arcanist, simply because she paid him handsomely for the experience – she might come in useful.


After a few hours travelling Oscar hears the roar of the Enthel River but also the guttural yells of a sizable number of Plague Monks.

Making his way towards the Varden Bridge he spots a number of Monks and, to the far side, a camp consisting of a few tents, a fire and some interesting looking crates.

Oscar returns to the crew and they plan their attack.


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‘All right’ says Oscar ‘we are going in stealthy. I want to see the whites of their eyes before we unleash our attack’.

He moves forward quietly into cover and is followed by Fergus who settles behind some trees and raises his telescope.

‘Ahhh, I can see the whites of their eyes’ he says and fires at one of the Plague Rats but misses.

‘Bugger’ thinks Oscar as ‘Mad Jack’ Brown also fires with his crossbow, also missing – so much for stealth.

The Monk, seemingly an Acolyte judging by his staff, raises the staff, mumbles a word and a magic shaft, not unlike an arrow heads towards the Fergus the Mole who ducks back just in time.

The rest of the Plague Monks move randomly, seeking targets to either run towards or fire at.


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Oscar shouts for his crew to advance and they move forwards, seeking cover where they can.

As they settle behind trees and boulders a shadow passes over. Looking skyward they see a Vulture which is heading North at some pace cheered on by the Monks.

Oscar and blood move further towards the river as Fergus looses another shot off, again missing.

Both sides are moving towards each other seeking to kill the other as the Vultures continues it’s lazy flight onwards.


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Captain Hacker piles into a Plague Monk Sergeant and kills him with one blow as Poppy skitters forward with Cecil and ‘Mad Jack’ who still needs to reload his crossbow.


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Spearbeak flies across the field to provide support for Oscar and Blood, he also has half a mind on flying high and attacking the Vulture.

Fergus fires at the Vulture but misses, Oscar attacks and seriously wounds a Soldier Monk,  Cecil engages a Plague Monk Acolyte in melee to stop it firing off it’s Magical arrows; it fights back and he kills it with a single flash of his sword.

Another Acolyte manages to shoot Oscar causing 4 wounds whilst it’s colleagues seek to engage the remainder of Oscars crew.



20230412_121811 by markndebs, on Flickr


Blood seizes one of the Acolytes and inflicts 6 wounds whilst Spearbeak tries to reach the Vulture.

Hacker reloads his crossbow at last as Poppy joins Fergus and Spiteclaw not far from the river.

A Soldier Plague Monk erupts from the ground near the centre of the field and moves towards Jack.

Jack shoots causing 5 wounds then reloads, Fergus shoots at the Acolyte near the camp but misses.

Vulture continues forwards as fighting goes on all around, with Blood finally killing the Acolyte he had previously wounded. His friends cheers turn to groans as another Acolyte puts him out of action with a fiery bolt of light.


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As fighting continues on the ground Spearbeak finally reaches the Vulture though does not cause any damage.

Cecil bravely runs across the bridge as Poppy crosses via the ford, both seeking cover to avoid the attentions of the Monks around the camp.


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Oscar is forced to use his Parry skill against a particularly vicious rat whilst other battles across the field cause little to no damage.

Fergus runs onto the Bridge to support Poppy and Cecil but fluffs his shot at the nearby Acolyte.

‘Mad Jack’ has better luck killing another Monk with his crossbow, scoring a direct hit.

It starts to rain heavily, reducing the range and effectiveness of bows, crossbows and Acolyte staffs but Fergus, skilled as he is, still inflicts 4 wounds on another Plague Monk.

‘Mad Jack’s next shot isn’t quite so good and he misses by a long chalk, prompting Oscar to run across the bridge and directly engage the final Acolyte in paw to paw combat, stopping ti from making any further ranged attacks.

Most all those on the field of battle are now engaged in direct combat with some suffering minor wounds on both sides.

Poor Cecil though is felled by a massive blow from a sword as Captain Hacker finally succumbs to a succession of small blows.


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At this point Poppy makes a dash for the Clue and reads the scroll helped by her skill at ancient lore, ‘Mad Jack’ decides to make a run for it and Oscar finally kills the Monk in front of him.

Oscar moves to wards the treasure and is well placed to search the chest once he catches his breath.


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As Jack leaves to the West, Poppy does the same to the North, Oscar finds the 'so-called’ treasure, a bloody herb pouch.

Fergus finally falls to the onslaught from 2 Plague Monks and Spearbeak kills the Vulture.

As the crew leave the field they have achieved all their objectives but at what cost.

Regrouping close to the thicker forest it’s apparent that Cecil has succumbed to his wounds and will take no further part in the adventure; Spearbeak is to fly back to Whitbye with the news of Cecil's death and to seek another volunteer to join the party.

Hacker is also in a bad way, seriously wounded; he will be able to continue but will either have to sit out the next battle resting or risk engagement with less than optimal health.

Once everyone is rested and a replacement for Cecil arrives Oscar plans to move forward, cautiously, towards Tor Varden. He intends to have a quiet word with the Rogue Mole about what exactly the phrase ' the whites of their eyes' actually means.