What We Do in the Realm of Shadows - Episode Seven

Previously, on What We Do in the Realm of Shadows... our "heroes" confronted a force of Maggotkin that were attempting to summon a Great Unclean One. They failed to prevent the worshippers of Nurgle from doing so and ended up fleeing the scene with Sir Raven's lifeless corpse in tow... 

They fled through endless leagues of foetid swamps, corrupted with the taint of Nurgle. 

Just when they thought they would never escape this recently mire, they spotted a mound rising out of the dank marshlands. Upon the mount rose a tower. It was an old stone watch tower, in a state of some disrepair, but still clearly in use as warm light shone through the upper windows. 

The Characters climbed the small hill and approached the front door - a large and heavy wooden door reinforced by many bands of steel. After considerable banging on the Knocker, the view port opened up and strange eyes stared at them, silently for an uncomfortably long moment. The Port then closed, followed by the sound of many locks and bolts being undone on the other side of the door and the door opened inward, creaking loudly. 

Inside was a warm and comfortable looking parlour, with plush couches and a raging fire in a fireplace warmed the entire building. From a massive old char, with it's back facing the door, an ancient vampire leaned around becoming the group to enter and warm themselves by the fire... 

None needed to be asked twice and all barged in past the extremely large doorman... and something immediately seemed... wrong... the Old vampire started laughing at them and then reality swirled and then turned black and all were falling. 

When they regained consciousness they found themselves upon an ornate platform surrounded by the blackest void... After some time, a glowing magical portal opened and all stepped through, as there was little else to do! 

in the room beyond they encountered several Tzangors, which attacked them... and were slain. 

Beyond that room was another filled with Karic Acolytes and gibbering daemons... they too were slain... The room was filled with piles and piles of coin which made traversing the room challenging - especially in high-heeled shoes the vampires like to wear! Sir Raven slipped and fell mid-combat! 

Beyond that there was a library occupied by a solitary Pink Horror, who was looking at books and muttering to itself... 

Sir Renmould charged in and chopped it to pieces before it could even say a word... 

Then a Tazangor Shaman and two guards, all on discs of Tzeentch, were battled... 

the pace was incredible as all charged through this maze of rooms. 

All were required to finish off the Tzangor Shaman and friends... 

That Shaman was hard to take down and dealt some damage... 

Finally they entered a great hall with large prisms focusing the light that shone from above that burned to a crisp anything the beam passed over... 

while dodging the beam, the group had to fight off another group of Tzangors... and dodge spells being hurled at them by an Ogroid Thaumaturge!  

Eventually they figured out how to turn the prisms and shone them both on the statue of the eldritch entity... and that cracked and the Thaumaturge disappeared and they met their host - a Gaunt summoner of Tzeentch who had trapped the group in his Silver Tower. The Deamon-Wizard gave them a fragment of a shattered amulet and said if they could pass the Nine Challenges and gather all the shards of the amulet, they would be granted a boon and released from the Silver Tower... if they failed, they would be trapped here for all eternity... and/or die...  

And that's where we left it with the Gaunt Summoner fading away laughing just as the ancient vampire did in the old watch tower they encountered at the beginning of the episode! 

If that weren't enough gaming for one day... afterwards we had some pizza then set up a game of Spearhead DOUBLES to try out those new rules...  

Still very behind on game reports... I've had very little time or energy for any hobby pursuits this past week or so as I've been adjusting to my return to school. Hopefully I'll get a few more done this weekend... but I will likely not be keeping up with the same level of gaming and miniature painting as I did last year...  

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!!

What We Do in the Realm of Shadows - Episode Five

This past Sunday we finally got in another game of What We Do in the Realm of Shadows - our Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Soulbound Role-Playing Game (making use of Champions of Death!! 

In our last episode, the group FINALLY made it back to their homeland of Neferatia in Shyish, the Realm of Death... only to find themselves in the middle of a battle between the Children of the Bell (Maggotkin of Nurgle forces) and a complete Stormhost of the Anivls of the Heldenhammer! Having fought their way free, we found them at the beginning of this episode fleeing into the nearby hills! 

Just when they thought they were out of harms way and stopped to take a breath, they heard the most horrific noise - a cross between the screaching call of a massive dragon and the terrified wails of a thousand dead souls! Neferata, herself, then swooped to the ground on her Dread Abyssal, blocking the path of the fleeing vampires and their companions...

Before speaking, however, Neferata maneuvered herself upwind of the group,covered, as they were, with the blood and gore and projected vomit and mucus and viscera (and Nurgle knows what else) from the scores of Daemons and Rottbringers they'd slain... 

She welcomed them all home but expressed disappointment at the lack of an ARMY they'd promised to raise and return with, centuries ago.... Perhaps when she ejected the Khorne-worshipping squatters on their lands she might have to give their keeps to... another... Perhaps their old rivals at court, Lady Simone the Deceitful and Count Blandula! 

After basking in their dismay, Neferata gave the group a new mission. She explained that the Stormcast Eternals engaged in the battle behind them would soon defeat the servants of Nurgle and plans were already set in motion to turn them against the Horde of Khorne across the mountains to the East... but then MUST NOT GET DISTRACTED. There were MORE Nurgle forces to the Southwest and The vampires and their servants were to ensure that the Stormcast DO NOT find out about them and turn that way instead!!

So off they went, skirting around the battle and made their way in the general direction they supposed the other Nurgle forces lay. 

Along their travels, they encountered a Duardin necromancer they recruited to their task with the promise of MANY FRESH CORPSES to ply his trade upon! 

Later they noticed they were being followed by three Fellbats. After about a day or so, the Fellbats swooped down to confront them and it turned out to be Lady Simone the Deceitful and Count Blandula, who'd come to taunt them and ensure them that they would FAIL and that they, Lady Simone the Deceitful and Count Blandula, would soon have castles of their own! 

After another day's march, the group encountered a pair of patrolling Pusgoyle Blightlords and decided to kill them... 

Pusgoyle Blightlords engaging the player characters over land grown foul by the taint of Nurgle! 

The Pusgoyle Blightlords were terrifying opponents, but were eventually overcome... 

And that's where we ended things... 

What We Do in the Realm of Shadows - Episode Three

With Orion off work this week, we were all finally able to get together for another game of What We Do in the Realm of Shadows. 

Our adventure begins where the previous episode left off - in Ghyran, the Realm of Life. Having just murdered three Dryads the woods around them came alive with activity! 

Lloyd, the abducted guard from the village they were forcing to guide them to the realm gate, screamed and ran off into the woods... only to get chopped in half by a Kurnothi Hunter with a great sword. 

Harold, the Spirit Torment, attacked the Kurnoth Hunter that chopped poor Lloyd in two... 

At the back of the caravan, Sir Remould was horrified to see a bunch of vine like roots rise up from the ground, twist around a half-dozen of the Deadwalkers Zombies they were using as porters, and then drag them down into the earth. A number of similar vines rose up and trapped Sir Renmould, luckily he was made of sterner stuff than the shambling zombies! 

A Branchwych tried to conjure up a storm of brambles that would have just shredded almost all of the remaining Deathrattle Skeletons and Deadwalker Zombies... but Lady Esmerelda was able to unbind the Branchwych's spell before it did any real damage! 

Another trio of Dryads attacked Sir Raven, seeking vengeance for their sisters he'd just killed... instead Sir Raven chopped them to bits with his insanely sharp and sturdy sword... 

Sir Raven then chaged off into the woods after the Spirit Torment to engage the Kurnoth Hunter - upon skewering on on the end of his lance (and getting it well and truly stuck on there!), he realized there were MORE Kurnoth Hunters here, who started taking shots on Sir Raven and Harold with their mighty great bows! 

A group of absolutely savage Spite-Revenants appeared out of the undergrowth and completely shredded the rest of the skeletons and zombies. They also killed poor Nuillermo... 

and set Muillermo to flight! 

He did not make it far before an absurdly huge arrow from a Kurnoth Hunter's great bow struck him in the neck, taking his head clean off. Blood geysered out of his neck due to the extremely high blood-pressure Muillermo was experiencing at the moment of his demise... 

Having dealt with the minions... the Spite-Revenants spread out to attack the surviving members of the party. Luckily, Sir Renmould had just freed himself from the entangling roots of the Tree Lord. 

The Tree Lord moved to attack Sir Raven, who seemed the biggest threat - just as Sir Raven was cutting down the last of the Kurnoth Hunters... 

The Tree Lord destroyed Sir Raven's mount in the same manner as all the zombies! Roots rose up from the jungle floor and entwined themselves up around the mounts legs and into it's rib cage... and then tried to yank it all down into the ground. 

One minute Sir Raven was on his mount... then next he was standing on the ground amongst a pile of broken horse parts, feeling not a little bewildered and disoriented! 

Sir Raven also cut down a Spite-Revenant that moved into his way... 

Two of the Spite-Revenants attacked Lady Esmerelda, giving the Branchwych a chance to get away! They ended up in a protracted fight which ended with Lady Esmerelda finally managed to set one alight with a series of Arcane Bolts! 

Sir Renmould was also engaged in a desperate duel with two of the Spite-Revenants and eventually cut one of them down, then the other fled off into the dense underbrush! 

Sir Raven and the Harold the Spirit Torment went a few rounds with the Tree Lord. The Spire Revenant was injured somewhat in the encounter. Sir Raven was gravely injured... 

Then, as suddenly as they'd attacked, the forest spirits disappeared into the woods and left the party along amongst the shattered remains of their servants... 

Unburdened by the painfully slow skeletons and zombies (and the few mortals that kept needing "rest") they made much better time! Though they were harried by the Sylvaneth all the way to the edge of the woods... 

After a day or two they DID make it to the edge of the woods... and beyond that was the most rank and foetid marshland they'd ever encountered. Harold and Sir Renmould seemed unaffected by it, but the two Vampires were deeply disgusted by miasma of decay and decomposition that hung over the place - not to mention the endless clouds of disgusting flies that swarmed them getting into every exposed orifice; eyes, nose, ears, mouth, puncture wounds from the Tree Lords massive impaling talons...  

Into the marsh they strode, however, because it was in the middle of these that they would find the Realmgate back to Shyish, the Realm of Death... 

Stay tuned for Episode Four... in three weeks...! 

What We Do in the Realm of Shadows - Episode Two

This week we played the second session in our new Soulbound RPG campaign - What We Do in the Realm of Shadows -  picking up from the Previous Week... 

This week the retinue filed through the realmgate, past the slaughtered Duardin garrison of the small fort that had been built around both sides of the realgate. 

Luckily, the fort on the Ghyran side seemed just as remote as the one in Ulgu. 

Unfortunately, they had no idea which way to proceed. When last they'd passed this way, the area had been an open, marshy plain... but was now dense jungle. 

Eventually, Harald the Spirit Torment found a track leading away from the small fort and it was decided that all should follow that. The track was clearly not often used and the going was very slow as the deadwalker zombies and deathrattle skeletons had an especially difficult time navigating the rough dense marshy terrain. Many toppled over into the mud, dropping the baggage they were carrying - ruining many of Lady Esmerelda's best gowns and dresses!

After a LONG days march the pathway lead to a small settlement in a more open river valley. They decided to wait until after nightfall to approach... which wasn't that far off... 

Once it was fully dark, Sir Raven the Dour galloped up out of the dark on his undead nightmare mount... He skewered one of the nightguard at the town gate on his lance. His momentum carried him clear to the center of town, where the dead guard was dropped and he galloped back towards the gate and abducted the second guard and cantered back to the jungle where the rest of the group waited... 

Lady Esmerelda then put on her charms to get the guard to tell them where the realmgate was. He claimed he'd heard of a realmgate to Shyish, and knew the general direction from town, but said no one ever went there because it was in the "tainted lands"... Then the group insisted the guard to join their retinue (or die!) and lead them to this realmgate. 

There was some discussion about what they should call this new member of their retinue, who had identified himself as... Lloyd... perhaps...? It was generally concluded that they should use the same naming conventions they used for all their mortal "familiars" - who were all named after their original familiar named Guillermo... but they changed the first letter and cycled through the alphabet. As they currenlty had two Duardin names Muillermo and Nuillermo, some though he should obviously be names Ouillermo, but Sir Renmold thought that silly and they should skip vowels and just call him Puillermo... 

I'm not sure the matter was ever fully settled...? 

They waited until daylight and then set out with the guard leading the way... Some Deathrattle skeletons were assigned to march with him, a few to guard and make sure he didn't run off and others to try and chop a trail though the dense undergrowth. 

Harald the Spirit Torment, who was unhindered by the dense terrain, wandered hither and thither, scouting ahead and to the flanks of the slowly moving column. 

Later in the day, he spotted a trio of three small, weird-looking trees directly in their path. After a moment he realized they were Dryads. Harald told them to move out of the way and be gone! The trio did not move a branch. They remained standing where they were and continued to stare at the spirit torment. 

Harald decided to rush at the Dryads in hopes of scaring them off... 

The Dryads interpreted this move as an attack and took a defensive posture slashing at Harald with their wicked sharp branches as he sped past them. They did little damage to Haralds etherial form. Harald fought back bashing one to splinters with his massive chains and locks.

Then smashed a second one to kindling. 

Sir Renmold of Sylum Field, who was at the rear of the column, had absolutely NO IDEA anything was going on at the front! 

(So Finnegan described how he was taking one of the Duardin swords and using it to pin one of Lady Esmerelda's dresses to a deadwalker zombie that was having a really hard time staying on it's feet while carrying the dress - and making special care to not further ruin the dress, but strategically pierced it to make it more of a deeper, plunging v-cut front)

The guide/guard and skeletons heard some commotion ahead, but had no idea what was going on. 

Lady Esmerelda just barely made out what was transfolding and ordered all the zombies and skeletons forward, though they shambled very, VERY slowly... 

Sir Raven the Dour galloped forward, as best he could, only barely not being swept off his mount by low branches and vines... and utterly destroyed the third Dryad... 

There was some discussion of whether the "blood sap" of the dryads (and other sylvaneth) was sustaining to vampires... or if it was more like maple syrup and would cause violent vomiting like other normal food...? 

After the third Dryad was destroyed the jungle around them came alive with activity and noise and i was clear there were many, MANY more Sylvaneth that had been stalking them! 

And that's where we had to end it... 

Who or WHAT is lurking out there in the Jungle!??

Will they EVER make it back to the Realm of Death!?  

Find out next week on the next episode of What We Do in the Realm of Shadows!