What We Do in the Realm of Shadows - Episode Six

 While Orion was still in town we got in another episode of our What We Do in the Realm of Shadows campaign...

The characters conti -  ued to wander through the foetid swamps despoiled by Nurgle in an attempt to locate the Maggotkin forces and... somehow... "deal with them" so as not to be a distraction for the Stormcast Eternals that Neferata was trying to convince should aid her in the destruction of the forces of Khorne that have squatter in Angaria for far too long...

They did note the trio of Fell Bats still following them from the distance - sometime "friends", sometimes rivals from the court in Nulhamia - Simone the Deceitful, Count Blandula, and Jarred the Silent. They ignored them and carried on. 

Eventually they started to wonder if they were going in circles, as they were eventually so far into the tainted lands that EVERYTHING looked tainted and they were no longer sure they were heading towards more tainted stuff.. because it was ALL bad... so Lady Esmerelda took on her bat form and with Harald the Spirit torment tried flying ahead to scout things out. 

It was Harald that finally spotted a large concentration of the Maggotkin... and there were a LOT of them... and it looks like they were building something... perhaps a ritual site...?

This could not mean anything good and when Harald reported back what he'd seen... everyone was quite concerned that they'd been sent on a suicide mission. Harald pointed out that there were THREE VAMPIRE LORDS that were also vassals of Neferata following them and perhaps they could be convinced to join them. Lady Esmerelda and Sir Raven said they would rather DIE than owe any of those three any favours or to have seemed so weak as to need their help... especially since the three had boasted that Lady Esmerelda and Sir Raven were no longer in Neferata's favour, having failed to raise the army they'd promised, and that when the Legion of Blood took back Angaria from the Khorne horde, that their keeps would be awarded to those that were in favour Simone and Count Blandula! 

Harald went and tried to convince them anyway... unfortunately Harald, being a Spirit Torment, the only method he really had for trying to convince anyone of anything was INTIMIDATION... and that did not work... 

After returning to the others, Harald pointed out that if they DID NOT secure the vampires aid, they would surely die and then Simone the Decietful and Count Blandula would FOR CERTAIN steal their ancestral keeps! 

And so Lady Esmerelda made a pitiful attempt to ask the trio for their help... and hey declined... 

So it was up to them to stop this ritual on their own.. 

As they approached, most were involved in the ritual or watching the ritual... 

A few Nurglings were capering about, acting as sentries, of a sort. Harald flew up and pulverized a pair of them with his lock and chains. They burst like giant balloons filled with puss and gore.. but not before they squealed (it was unclear if it was terror or delight...?) and alerted the followers of Nurgle of their presence. 

Before they could act, Sir Raven rode down an entire unit of Plaguebearers! Slaughtering the lot of them smashing them to bits and being sprayed with more gore and puss and rancid fluids... 

This got the attention of the Pusgoyle Blightlord who charged Sir Raven, dealing the vampire some serious damage! 

 A Lord of Plagues, the Putrid Blightkings and another horde of Plaguebearers turned and shambled towards the interlopers,

Harald quickly found himself surrounded by Putrid Blightkings! 

He slipped away and attacked a Daemon of to the side that seemed to be directing the Plaguebearers. 

Sir Renmould stood guard, ready to defend Lady Esmerelda. Lady Esmerelda began throwing spells at the Sorcerer leading the ritual...

The Lord of Plagues charged in first bashing Sir Renmould HARD... 

Sir Raven charged down the other group of Plaguebearers, destroying them utterly! 

Then all fell back to try and deal with the Lord of Plagues and Putrid Blightkings first, before trying to assault the Sorcerer and the Lord of Afflictions protecting her... 

The battle was long and savage. At one point Sir Renmould seemed like he might be mortally wounded... and would have surely perished, were it not for the magiks of the Necromancer, Waldron! 

The Lord of Plagues absolutely obliterated the necromancers private guard of Deadwalker Skeletons... then proceeded to smash through all of his zombies... 

At that point the Necromancer cast one more spell healing the damage he could, and then fled! 

Around this time, Sir Raven was cut down by the three Putrid Blightkings he was fighting!

Things looked dire, indeed! 

Luckily, just then, when things were looking super bad... a large Fell Bat swooped in at attacked the Lord of Plagues! 

The bat turned into Count Blandula! He was soon joined by another Fell Bat. 

The second Fell Bat, they had earlier claimed to be Jarred the Silent who had been "stuck" in bat form for some time, was slain by the Lord of Plagues... and turned out to be just a Fell Bat!? WHERE WAS JARRED THE SILENT!? 

After that they were finally joined by Lady Simone the Deceitful, who killed the Pustule Blightlord and helped finish off the Lord of Plagues.

Alas... it was too late... 

The sorcerer successfully summoned the Great Unclean One into Shyish! 

Simone the Deceitful and Count Blandula looked at each other, then looked over an the other vampires... the simultaneously yelled "BAT!" turned back into their bat forms and flew off... 

Lady Esmerelda did the same... but tried to carry off her sometimes lover and possible sibling, Sir Raven... as awful as her unlife was with him... she could not imagine unlike WITHOUT hime... 

Sir Renmould had to just flee on foot, hoping to keep the vampires in sight as they flew off... 

How would they keep the Stormcast from finding out about the Great Unclean One and pivoting their forces to come and deal with it! How would they explain this all to Neferata!? Could Sir Raven be reanimated!?

find out next month, in the next episode of What We Do in the Realm of Shadows!!