Welcome to the fourth part of our narrative battle report of mission 3, part of our ongoing play through of the Rangers of Shadow Deep campaign!
You can read the rest of the campaign from the beginning here!
The Ravens of Alladore: Rangers of Shadow
The challenge this time around was making the board match the setup from scenario 2 as closely as possible!
Here’s a picture of the survivors of the last stand…
Return to the swampland:
Rushing headlong into the perpetual night of the Shadow Deep, the Ravens began a flight for their lives, the inhuman howls from behind a reminder of the certainty that the enemy was not far behind them. For what seems like hours the Ravens have ran from the ruins of the farmhouse and the scene of their last stand, delirious and reaching near exhaustion.
Fighting back the pain of her wounds, Freja tries her best to keep the pace of the rabble of survivors going forward. Twice now the elderly Greta has stumbled in her step and the party has had to draw to a nervous halt. The Ravens have had little chance of reprieve, Tristan and Arthir have taken the rear, glancing back warily into the gloom. Meanwhile, Ilyse has seemed to fall quiet, mopping a fever at her brow and coughing into her sleeve intermittently. For the last half a mile or so, Rejinalt has carried Siarah’s oldest child on his back, the child’s weak form clinging desperately to his ragged tunic.
With no Thressalia to guide them and scout ahead, the Ravens have only the hope that they don’t run into an enemy patrol and Kris’s vague memory of the landscape to lead them on. Freja begins to worry that if they do not find their way soon, the refugees will not last much longer and with their pace driven to a stand still, the Ravens will be caught by the evil forces of the Shadowdeep.
Slowly, a now familiar stench begins to reach their senses, the thick and ruinous trees give way to the boggy mires of the Swampland at the foot of the cliff. Slowing to almost a halt, the refugees struggle through the mud. Robirt and Grieg hang by lady Ailice, whilst Greta almost falls again. Pulling her upright, Ren shouts in dismay, “We can’t possibly go much further through this swamp, we are old and spent and are now surely undone!”
Tristan turns to respond, but before he can, Kiera at his side speaks up to all the refugees, “Heed these words and don’t yet despair fair Lorenthians, the ground may be difficult, but we near our destination, we have but one more obstacle to overcome and we can leave this cursed place for good!”
As if in response, the low groans of the undead are heard in the fog ahead. The Ravens quickly form a column to protect the vulnerable refugees and draw their weapons…
The heroes enter the swampland…
As the shapes of the shambling zombies begin to emerge from the gloom, the Ravens find new resolve and spring into action. Running forward as fast as they can in the mud, Freja, Tristan and Rejinalt form a loose defensive line to protect the civilians…
Freja leads the heroes in forming a defence
Frowning as he notices some subtle and unexplained changes in the landscape, Kris cautiously tries to flank round the enemy position and fires an arrow across the swampy expanse. Cursing he sees it fly long of it’s target. With precious few arrows left, he can’t afford to keep missing.
Kris flanks the enemy but misses his shot!
Finding steady ground on a small rock, Ilyse steps in behind Rejinalt’s shield and readies a spell. However, her magical bolt misses and she feels drained and weak.
Ilyse fails her spell as the zombies advance
Forming a rearguard, Robirt and Grieg quickly accept Kiera’s natural lead and the apprentice ranger directs them into a defensive line at the rear of the civilians, fearing that more foes may catch up with them soon…
Kiera leads the defensive line at the rear
As Freja engages the first of the undead assailants, the other zombies close in towards the Lorenthian’s driven forward by the scent of their former kinsmen.
Dodging out of the way of the zombie’s clumsy swipes, Freja remembers the strange bone hilted short sword in her belt. Driven by some strange instinct she draws it. As her opponent is distracted by Rejinalt charging in to Freja’s left, she lets loose a tremendous strike with her sword, slicing the zombie in two!
Rushing forward she blocks the advance of the next enemy. Following in her stead, Tristan blocks another, as the civilians shout in panic and watch on.
The Ravens engage the undead to cut a path!
Freeing his leg from the grasp of the sodden earth, Tristan knocks his enemy back with a mighty kick. Stumbling backwards, the zombie tries to right itself. Seizing his moment, Kris quickly looses another arrow, which finds its target. The zombie falls forward into the mud, an arrow protruding from its skull.
Kris ends the zombie with a well placed shot!
Warily, the rabble of civillians moves forward, relieved that the enemy seems to have temporarily been subdued. Lady Ailice composes herself and offers words of encouragement to the others.
Moving forward behind Freja, Ilyse has started to feel the effects of her fever take hold. A pounding migraine distracts her and she wonders whether she had inhaled too much of the ichorous black smoke back in the farmhouse. Trying to keep step with Freja, she realises that she is beginning to falter…
Ilyse succumbs to a disease!
Stepping back as the third zombie lunges towards her, Freja pounces forward, sweeping her sword in front of her in a savage arc, slicing through the zombie’s chest, it writhes around on the floor before coming to a stop at last.
Freja kills again!
With the immediate threat of the undead vanquished, the heroes re-form into a column, cautiously casting their eyes about for fear of another attack.
Arthir is the first to spot another zombie, it’s red eyes piercing the darkness behind them. Though not normally quick, experience has taught the Ravens not to underestimate the zombie’s uncanny ability in moving through the marsh.
Having not yet joined the others, Kris spies something in the dirt. Kneeling down and brushing some foliage away, he finds a small discarded box and picks it up.
As the zombie gains on the rear of the column, Ren and Greta look back in panic, but Arthir encourages them to keep moving forward. Grieg and Robirt, halt, find some footing and fire a volley of arrows towards their enemy. Riddled with arrows, the zombie staggers backwards before righting itself and charging forward with renewed fury.
As the vast pool at the bottom of the cliff face comes into sight, Tristan hurries the party forward. Just then a horn sounds in the distance as a pack of gnolls emerge from the ruins to the North! The heroes begin to panic as they realise that the enemy is catching up with them!
Turning to face the enemy, Freja nearly trips over a small ruined column. Steadying herself she stops to examine it, she notices small arcane sigils that have been crudely scratched in its surface. Before she can ponder the mystery any further, a gnoll arrow flies past her into the night and she draws her shield.
Struggling in the mud, the gnolls bound forward, loosing more arrows towards her. Almost hit by one of the cruel barbs, Freja’s instincts kick in and she throws herself down into the mud, narrowly dodging the shot.
Meanwhile, at the rear of the column, the zombie let’s out an unholy roar and rushes into the heroes. Bracing themselves, Rejinalt and Arthir raise their shields to batter it back, but are unable to finish it off!
Sprinting to their aid, Kiera charges into the side of the monster, knocking it to the ground before piercing it’s rotten skull with Aventine’s sword!
As the rest of the party rush towards the dark pool up ahead, Robirt stops to loose a quick arrow toward the gnolls, unfortunately missing his targets in the darkness.
Tristan is the first to reach the pool and almost jumps as Kris comes rushing in through the mist to his left. Just behind him, the civilians have drawn to a halt staring at the dark pool ahead of them in dismay and disbelief.
“Surely we can’t hope to cross that filth! We will drown!” Speaks lady Ailice, airing the concern written in the faces of all the survivors. “Yet cross it we must, if we are ever to leave this place” Tristan rebukes. “Follow our lead, we’ve lead you true so far and we won’t see any harm come to you yet. Kris, help them across!” With that he turns and is the first to wade into the depths.
As the civilians nervously edge towards the water, Freja picks herself up out of the dirt. The gnolls ferociously bound towards them through the marshland. Robirt fires again and sees an arrow plunge straight into the chest of the leading monster.
Following Tristan’s lead, Lady Ailice tries to encourage her countrymen, with a joke and unconvincing smile, “Come on, we can’t be outdone by Alladore now can we!”. She awkwardly pulls up her ruined dress trail and wades into the pool.
Encouraged by their progress, Tristan wades deeper till the water is up to his waist. Suddenly, with a spray of black water, the surface is disturbed as a Zombie bursts out of the water and grabs hold of Tristan!
As Tristan struggles to free himself, the rest of the Ravens prepare to fight off the advancing gnolls. Freja has an idea and shouting to Ilyse begins to trace a magical sign in the air. Seeing her meaning, Ilyse joins her and they cast a pair of burning marks ahead of them.
With a furious hatred, Tristan pushes the zombie away, frantically draws his sword and slices outward, cleaving the zombie’s head in two. With a sudden splash the monster falls backward and sinks below the surface.
The gnolls have almost closed in on Freja’s position and the heroes can see their snarling teeth and evil red eyes through the fog. As the gnolls run forwards, they howl in surprise as a pair of simultaneous explosions blast through the earth. Chunks of dirt are thrown all about in great clods and one of the gnolls is blown in two, it’s torso thrown clear into the darkness. Another catches fire and screams in animalistic pain as it tries to beat out the flames.
Alerted by the flash of fire and thunderous sound of explosion in the distance, another former lorenthian rises in undeath from the mud, staring vacantly it begins a march towards the heroes.
As the gnolls advance is brought to a terrible halt, the heroes see their chance! Raising her sword aloft, Freja charges forward and Rejinalt follows suit, crashing into the smouldering form of the burning gnoll before him.
Rejinalt quickly dispatches the piteous gnoll with his spear, before stepping back in disgust at the smell of the charred monster hits him. Freja is less fortunate, slashing out in furious blows, she fails to find her mark as the hapless gnoll archer panics and springs back in fear.
The gnoll seems to panic but strikes back with its knife. As Freja falters in the mud, Kiera and Arthir charge round her flanks. As they join the melee the gnoll yelps and a flurry of blows quickly end its life.
Having dispatched the zombie, Tristan continues to swim to the shore line, the civillians struggling on behind him, treading water slowly. Kris has swam into the lead, but as the water begins to become more shallow, he curses their bad luck as a bloated giant fly buzzes out from behind a rock.
Pushing his weary limbs as hard as he can, Tristan pulls himself up onto the slippery rocks. Unwilling to give in, so close to leading the Lorenthians to victory, he smashes the fly out of the air with the pommel of his sword. As the wounded thing lies twitching on the rocks, Tristan stamps his boot down hard with repeated blows till the vile creature stops moving.
Hurriedly, Kris takes to the shore and stretching his arms out, begins to pull the civillians up out of the water one by one.
After defeating the gnolls, Freja and the other Ravens catch their breath. Wincing, Freja feels down to her leg and feels blood, her cut having been reopened by the strain of the battle. Stumbling towards the water, the Ravens prepare to swim. As they do a lone zombie continues it’s ceaseless advance.
Kris continues to help the survivors out of the water. Suddenly, Ren shouts out in panic, his arms waving and splashing wildly! “Help, help!! My foot is stuck”! As he flounders, he nearly knocks over poor Siarah, who is struggling along behind him holding her baby aloft, her other child clinging desperately round her neck. Ilyse swims in closer to try and help, gasping through her fever.
Drawn on by the splashing and shouting, the zombie reaches the water and prepares to attack. Ilyse grabs hold of the child and Ren is able to free his foot.
Kiera and Arthir, bringing up the rear of the group, see the zombie reach the water and charge in, shouting as they quickly cut it down from behind!
With that the rest of the heroes reach the shore, and make a quick shelter at the bottom of the cliff. Ilyse creates a small fire to light and dry the assembled heroes, before casting herself to the floor exhausted and feverish. Rejinalt checks over the children and the heroes begin to catch their breath.
Tristan addresses the weary crowd:
“We have one last push left before the safety of Alladore, stay true Ravens and we will yet make it out of the Shadow Deep alive. People of Lorenthia, while you still breathe the enemy cannot claim victory over you. We have almost made it, just stay strong a little longer and our ordeal will be over…”
Outcome:
Phew! By keeping the heroes in a circle around the civillians, we were able to prevent them coming to any harm. The gnolls appearing was cool and thematic and once again the zombies became quite deadly with their advantage over the terrain. Kris found some herbs, Sarah rolled another critical hit and we’re almost ready for the final battle….
Next: The dramatic conclusion of our Mission 3 battle report series, as the Ravens begin their last push for freedom!
Ravens of Alladore 