The Grimy Jewel Campaign: Session 2 Report

"My first thought was, he lied in every word,
That hoary cripple, with malicious eye
Askance to watch the working of his lie" 
-- R. Browning

Three bands of warriors approached the barrow wastes cautiously. Unbeknownst to the others, each had been approached in the city of Vildeburg by a gnarled stranger clad in rags. Filthy bandages were wrapped haphazardly around a withered leg, and the figure had crabbed and lurched toward them across the cobblestones in horrible locomotion. Yellow eyes turned towards them, and the slit of a mouth opened from his ludicrously aged countenance. "Heard ye of the Eyes of Silence?" rasped the grotesque. "Old Harba himself … he knows…"  Lured by rumors of wealth untold, the warbands converged on the ruins and barrow mounds the dotted the hills just beyond the High Road to the Wilderlands, just southeast of Vildeburg.

Game 1
Tim, Joe, and Jon rolled the "Gemstone Hunt," an objective-based scenario with the goal to take and hold treasure placed throughout the ruins during setup. The warbands quickly advanced towards all four of the ‘Eyes of Silence’ gemstones hidden within the ruins and cairns. Tim’s forces were known (and avoided) far and wide as "Rufus’s Enduring Expedition" quickly advanced towards two of the ‘Eyes’ on the western end of the map, while Joe’s mounted captain, knight, and men-at-arms moved to claim the jewels on the eastern side. Jon’s warband "Caliban’s Cursed" found itself split and arrayed against both Tim and Joe’s forces. 

Caliban led a force of three skeleton warriors and another warrior (with a cursed visage like Caliban himself) into the western ruins and clashed against Rufus's minions. Broderick the Lightning Warrior and James the Gnome (calling him a lawn gnome to his face is not recommended) moved in and claimed the gemstone 'Eyes' before Caliban's Cursed could collect them. A fierce melee ensued -- Tim’s assassin Tindae struck with quick, silent slashes, and Niphrid the Autumnal Spellcaster summoned forth a Wall of Fear. Caliban’s mutant and skeletons shrugged off the attack with effort. Tim’s warrior Ebufurth the Caveman Berserker found himself surrounded by skeletons and was stuck down by the aptly named Slack-Jaw.

The skeleton Bonehead likewise dispatched Daichi the monk in a gruesome manner, causing much of Tim’s warband to disperse in disarray, with gemstones in tow. Caliban attempted to raise the berserker with necromantic arts, but was unable to do so before game's end.

On the eastern side of the ruins, Oinkos the flying mutant warthog was able to swoop in and gather both of the gemstones in the area over the course of several turns.

Fluffy the Giant Scorpion blocked ingress via a narrow path and faced off against Joe’s men-at-arms and crossbowmen. His armor deflected arrows and strikes alike for multiple turns and stalled forward advancement. Using Fluffy as a defensive front, Medusa hung back taking shots at billmen and knights while slowly advancing, but she was unable to pierce their armor.

Despite multiple knock downs, the scorpion only managed to slay a single billman in the broiling combat.  Rolling three failures on activation on his final roll ensured he was unable to remove any additional opponents and laid the foundation for his demise. Additional billmen and the mounted lord moved in each turn until the even the massive insect's reflexes were overwhelmed by multiple opponents.  Fluffy was severely damaged and slunk defeated from combat to nurse his wounds.

The same turn, Joe's billmen and knight were able to break through to Medusa. While shielding his eyes from her baleful glare, the knight was able to fatally pierce her scales, removing her as a threat

The end result found Tim in control of two gemstones, Joe with no gemstones but two kills worth seven victory points, and Jon with two gemstones and three kills totaling nine victory points, and leaving Jon in control of the scenario by only a couple of points. The giant scorpion will miss the next campaign round due to injuries, and Medusa will have to roll at the start of each game for how her "brain injury" will affect her performance during that battle. Should make for some interesting gameplay...

Old Harba's mad eyes gleamed with feverish guile watching the departing warbands. The Eyes of Silence loose again in the waking world?! "... Never ye mind the curse..."

Game 2
While the three-way melee was going on the other side of the table, Kevin and Karl faced off in an urban battle. The object of their game was to be the first to reach an alley in the center of town, read a vital clue and then deface the wall before the opponent could do the same. In this case, the alley was a small brambly patch between the local church and watchtower.

Though Kevin fielded some fearsome foes, victory would be mostly a matter of speed and maneuver. With a few lucky moves (or perhaps because the objective was next to a church) Karl's ecclesiastical followers rushed forward and filled the alley. Despite facing generally tougher foes, they managed to read the message and deface it before taking too many casualties.

For winning the scenario, they received the "Strange Map," which they can use in the future to modify an exploration roll. While exploring, they were ambushed but they fought bravely and slew an evil shaman. Unfortunately, luck was not entirely with them this week, and one of their angry townsfolk succumbed to his wounds. Though having lost two warriors, the Bishop's Crusade carries on in its quest to bring the light of truth to Qaarra.

-- Jon, Chicago Skirmish Wargames club member