A Lustrian Dawn

In 6 or 7 weeks the Veneralble Mordheim Campaign will be moving into a new campaign cycle. Playtable and I have already agreed that it has been too long since we used our Lustrian terrain and Playtable has his Amazon warband painted and ready.
We have been enjoying Styro's Sartosa setting so we would like to take the piratey fun with us to the New World. Also we are really enjoying the added fun of ship duels so those must be included as well.
Ordinarily we don't mess with too much plot, we just pick a setting and add scenario tables and what happens, happens.

But I was thinking that with all the creative energy here on the forum, perhaps a bit more could be added.

So please contribute some ideas to our next campaign. We will be using the Lustria: Cities of Gold setting. We will add the option of pirates in some way. There must be a reason to use, and fight with, ships. There will be Amazons involved. I can play Lizards/Forest Goblins/Clan Pestilens Skaven. I have no idea what other warbands may show up.

Thoughts?

I could imagine that word has spread that a ruined city with tons of gold had been discovered, so loads of fortune hunters, pirates etc. set sail to find the treasure, while the amazons/lizardmen try to defend it as it's some holy place of theirs. As for the warbands showing up, this can be pretty much anything I think, Dark Elves, Norse, Pirates, Mercenaries, then there's the Zombie Pirates of crazed Luthor Harkon (if I remember correctly)...

The reason for ship battles in this case would be the ships either meeting on the shores of the new world, or going up the large rivers in the rain forests.

As long as things of value are transported across the Seas in ships there have been & will be pirates. HOWEVER, if you wish to do an alternative historical rationale for the Pirates/Privateers haunting the waters off the coast of Lustria preying on the Treasure Ships, it all began when The Grand Theogonist decreed that only the followers of Holy Sigmar were morally fit to deal with the Heathen Natives & Foul Magical Artifacts of the New World...not to mention ALL THAT GOLD; ergo, the New World was the Protectorate of the Empire & its Church [Real Life: the Pope, Leo I believe, divided the New World between Spain & Portugal]. The Rest of the Old World had some other ideas about just who had claim to the New World...AND ALL THAT GOLD, and some definite ideas about what the Grand Theogonist could do with his Decree, although perhaps physically impossible to achieve .
The rest of the nations started to finance Privateers to redistribute the wealth. Added to the licenced Ships of Prey, there were those natural entrepeneurs such as the Orcs, Skaven, et al who heard the Siren call of Profit.
How's that sound?

Thanks for the responses guys!
@Deafnala--Some how I had forgotten all about that particular bit of history. Thanks for reminding me!
I think we will use Protectorate idea but wait to see the mix of warbands before deciding which power issues it. A newly discovered city will probably figure heavily as well. I really like the Minor and Major Artifacts tables. I don't know if we need a specific treasure to search for, although clues are always a nice touch.

RL is rescheduling our current players so we may have a smaller group to campaign with.

Thanks for the start. Expansions on the above or other ideas are welcome.

The Water Cloud Hut
A Tale of Og Big Feather's Voyage

Og Big Feather paced the the pitted deck of the Water Cloud Hut.

"Steadee she go!" Bring 'er ta..."

Og looked at his hands. He wriggled his fingers. Og looked up. The rocky crag was still in front of him. Getting closer.

"Turn! Ya git!" Og smacked Snagga hard on Snagga's right ear. Snagga turned the big wheel for all he was worth to the right. The big ship swung slowly to the right. There was the sound of straining timbers and a couple of dubious crunches as the ship nosed past the crag, its bottom scraping on the rocky roots of the towering bluff.

There was a crack as a sticky out bit snapped off. A few more brushes with the overhanging banks and that wouldn't be a problem anymore.

"Aw Boss, wez loss da la'bard cat!" Snagga had a nasal whine when he talked.

Og thought about smackin' Snagga again as he looked to his right for the lost cat.

"Wez gotta git outta dese rock!" Snagga whined, "da hull will no take more o' dis!"

"Wut cat?" Og didn't see any sign of a cat. There was no blood. Well there was no fresh blood. Dose humies died hard. Cat might not taste too bad right now... There was still some monkey, but cat, Og hardly ever got any cat...

"Da cat-haid!" Snagga was pointing toward the ragged wooden stump off to the front of the ship.

"Jus' da haid?" Og scratched his bald dome under the stiff leather of the hat. Snagga claimed to have served on a Water Cloud Hut before. Back before he'd joined the tribe. Snagga was a skinny git. Probably why he was still kickin'. No meat. Snagga had new words for everything. He named the Water Cloud Hut a SHIP. Og still thought Snagga might go in the pot. Maybe they eat Snagga, every git in the tribe have Snagga's words. Still wouldn't hardly be enough meat for everybody. Maybe with some cat..

"Take 'er inta da middle! Git out 'way from da rocks, Snaga!" Og clipped Snagga's right ear again. "Da 'ull will no take da rock, ya git!"

Og turned his gaze to the broad river. It was wide! Two, maybe three bow shots across. The Big Green rose above the rocky banks like a wall. Real hard to move in the Big Green. The tribe, they could do it, easy. And the little two-leg lizards, they was pretty good at it, too. For walking lizards. But the Outsiders, the Humies and the Pointy Ear Panzies, they had to ride the river. They had stuff, but they stay out on the river. The tribe mostly they can only catch a panzie or a humie on the beaches. But with a Water Cloud Hut...

Organizing the Campaign.
A couple of years ago I decided to try to combine all of the Lustria articles in TC into a cohesive book, a la Empire In Flames. Our campaigns tend to combine rules and scenarios from several sources and it was a pain to carry all the individual source books around. Then we had to remember which one had the rule we were looking for, more lost time.

For this Lustrian adventure I am adding a little of Sartosa, some Warhammer Ahoy! and Slippery Jack (who should perhaps have a more South American name...)

So more editing.

First the proposed scenario tables. As opposed to tables for locations these tables are meant to represent the journey or the expedition to the Lost City of ... TBA.

2 Player Scenarios.
Die roll (2d6) Ocean/River Exploration Scenario
2 Your choice of scenarios 3-11.
3 The Haunted Wreck
4 The Bridge of Doom
5 The River Temple
6 Island Hopping
7 River Skirmish
8 The Deadly Channel (Chance Encounter)
9 Duel on the High Seas*
10 The Lustrian Treasure Ship*
11 The Sea Wolves*
12 Your choice of any 2 player scenario.
*Players must use ships to fight the scenario.


Die roll (2d6) Jungle Exploration Scenario
2 Your choice of scenarios 3-11.
3 The Hunters become the Hunted
4 The Ghost and the Darkness
5 Dems My Gubbins!
6 Jungle Skirmish: The Fog of War
7 1-3-Skirmish/4-6-The Trail of Death (Street Fight)
8 The Signpost
9 Jungle Ambush
10 Mule Train (Town Cryer #14)
11 Secrets of Beujuntae
12 Your choice of any 2 player scenario.

Depending on the warbands participating in the campaign, the players must accomplish different things. Outsiders must win 3 Exploration scenarios before they can reach the Lost City. Natives may always roll on the Lost City table, but Lizardmen want to keep Outsiders and other Natives from the City. Most Natives have an edge when playing Exploration scenarios so it is to their advantage to keep the Outsiders from the City as well.

I am also thinking of continuing to use the Relics of the Crusades convention of attaching special rules and encounters to the scenario tables themselves. The Relics rules for Darkness annoy me slightly, but having the option to fight at night is very fluffy for Undead and other warbands.

Speaking of warbands our current mix includes Forest Goblins (Evil Ted), Necrarchs (Marneus) and Amazons (Playtable). I am riding the fence until the last minute. Lizards are under consideration, but so are Pirates and Clan Pestilens. Chris is waiting on his employer to decide when he has to work his shift and Linc is going back to school.

More scenario tables

Die roll (2d6) Lost City Scenario*
2 Your choice of scenarios 3 through 11.
3 The Vault
4 The Treasures of the Old Ones (Wyrdstone Hunt)
5 Defend the Find
6 Skirmish
7 Breakthrough
8 Surprise Attack
9 Chance Encounter
10 The Temple of Doom
11 Haunted Treasure
12 Your choice of any 2 player scenario.
*Your warband must have won at least 3 Exploration Scenarios to roll on the Lost City table.

The Lost City table contains the basic Mordheim scenarios plus an underground dudgeon crawl (The Temple of Doom) and a couple of my scenarios. The Vault is basically Hidden Treasure except the warband that finds the Vault has to enter it to claim the treasure chest. Haunted Treasure introduces a Strigoi Vampire and his ghoul court.

Multi-player Exploration Scenarios
Die roll (2d6) Scenario
2 Your choice of scenarios 3 through 11.
3 The hunters become the hunted
4 The Secrets of Beujuntae
5 Lost Temple of the Slann
6 The Pool (Slippery Jack variant)
7 Jungle Skirmish: the Fog of War
8 The Great Beasts
9 The Lustrian Treasure Ship*
10 The Haunted Wreck
11 Ambush
12 Your choice of any multi-player scenario.
* Players must use their ships to fight the battle.

Multi-player Lost City Scenarios
Die roll (2d6) Scenario
2 Your choice of scenarios 3 through 11.
3 The Temple of Doom/Tomb Raid
4 The Secrets of Beujuntae
5 Lost Temple of the Slann
6 Tourists! (The Lost Prince)
7 Treasure Hunt
8 Street Brawl
9 Ambush
10 The Pool (Slippery Jack variant)
11 The Assault on the Temple
12 Your choice of any multi-player scenario.
* Your warband must have won at least 3 Exploration scenario games to roll on the Lost City table.

Slippery Jack hunts the pools of the New World as well.

Wow, sorry I didn't catch this post till after most of the work was done.

Lustria vs. Sartosa: My first thought is 'Vampires', which is definitely represented in your group having a Necrarch warband. Shortly after Master and I started on the Sartosa campaign, GW put out a 'Sartosan Vampire', with several other Piratey-Zombies. We considered not making the Ghost Pirates at all, but the idea of Ghouls running a ship, and 'Dire Wolves' on deck seemed... unpiratey, hence the Cursed and the Gibbets. 'Forest Goblins' also seemed a great choice (as war-painted natives have a place in every pirate adventure, and are more likely in the New World than in the Old.)

Great Beasts: I don't know this scenario, but I was about to suggest a Press Gang-style 'Beast Hunt' scenario, where you get money and experience by capturing jungle cats alive (again, use the v2.0 Press Gang rules, where the victim only dies if taken out on a critical hit.) Maybe even let the warband keep the animals after?

Slippery Jack: New name? Hmm. I can't think of any good Aztec names, but a few titles I can do. How about 'Marrow-Gorger', or 'Man-Feeder', or, in Aztec fashion, 'The Seven Deaths'.

Aztec-Vampires: By the way, the Aztec believed in Giant bat creatures of great terror. Almost 'Werebats'. Can't remember the name, but might make a cool scenario too.

You might also take a whimsical turn and, if you have any Blood Bowl players in the group, force your warbands to play the Aztec/Mayan ball game (you know, with the rubber soccer ball, and the hoop 8 feet off the ground?) It'd be the Lustrian equal to 'Last Orders'... low kill rate, all in good fun. Of course, the losing team has a random henchmen sacrificed to the Old Ones, but one casualty isn't all that bad, considering...

Speaking of scenarios, I haven't played it, but there's also the 'Life's a beach' scenario (taken form Albion, reprinted in Sartosa.) Looks fun on paper.

Also, in Port Scenarios, I can definitely see the 'Booty' rules still showing themselves up. However, given that there are fewer pirates around, that doesn't seem as necessary.

No worries. The scenario tables were all done 2 years ago for our last go round in Lustria. I've just made the River table into more of a River and Ocean table.
A draft for the new scenario The Sea Wolves is found here--

https://boringmordheimforum.forumieren.com/rules-and-gameplay-f1/duel-on-the-high-seas-ship-battles-w-mordheim-rules-t2003.htm#36237

I've got another 3 weeks before I have to worry about miniatures on the table-top. (Famous last words...)

I like the Giant Bat idea, I have several minis that would work well for it.

The Great Beasts is a Monster Hunt with a Tyrannosaurus (Carnosaur now) defending its young instead of a treasure trove... If you can herd the young beast off the board before Mamma comes home you win, otherwise you lunch. Nobody's beaten Mamma...

My take on Lustria is that there are a 100 ways to die before lunch. Scenarios that aren't lethal would be a welcome rest for the players I imagine. (Wimps, cry-babies and Mamma's boys the lot of them.) I am on the fence about using a settlement or port location just because I have 2 Natives already with the possibility of a 3rd. Fluff wise Amazons and Lizards would never enter an Outlander outpost except to raid it.

But game-play-wise it would be a nice change of pace... maybe every 3rd week instead of every other week.

You've got all that BEAUTIFUL Tortuga scenery & you're NOT going to have a settlement. That's rather poor.

StyrofoamKing wrote:

Slippery Jack: New name? Hmm. I can't think of any good Aztec names, but a few titles I can do. How about 'Marrow-Gorger', or 'Man-Feeder', or, in Aztec fashion, 'The Seven Deaths'.

How about Xlippahruichakk? (Pronounced "Zlipper-Re-Chack"!)

WarbossKurgan wrote:

How about Xlippahruichakk? (Pronounced "Zlipper-Re-Chack"!)

Hee! Excellent! Xlippahruichakk, terror of the Seven Deaths!

@Deafnala--mainly its about Playtable having too much gorgeous terrain. I try to see that different parts of the collection see the light of day every couple of years or so. Plus I bought his old van so now he has to fit everything in the back of that muscle car!

Von Kurst wrote:

@Deafnala--mainly its about Playtable having too much gorgeous terrain. I try to see that different parts of the collection see the light of day every couple of years or so. Plus I bought his old van so now he has to fit everything in the back of that muscle car!

Hoisted on his own petard.

Locations: I haven't had a chance to try it yet, but one of the things that I've been wanting to try with the Athel Loren is that each warband-alignment has a 'Base' Settlement. It's kind of like the Relics 'Locales', but rather than moving from one to the other, it rather represents the equipment lists available to each group. For Lustria, here's an example:

~Port Town- Available: Black powder, mounts, 'Old World' goods, gromril
HS: Ogres, Big Game Hunters, Tilean Marksmen, Sartosa HS
Avail to: Mercs, Pirates, Dwarves

~Lustria Town- Available: Ithilmar, Lizardman & Amazon Equipment, Blowpipes, Cold Ones (warhounds & mounts), lesser magic items
HS: Path Finder
Avail to: Lizardmen, Amazons, Shadow Warrior

~Savage Village- Available: Drugs, Poisons, Dark Elf Blades, Pestilence Banners, Magic Tattoos (Relics)
HS: Dark Elf Assassin, Jezzail Gunner (Sartosa)
Avail: Chaos, Skaven, Undead, Orcs, Goblins

Or, you can use the ones in the Lustria book. An town for the Amazons/Norse/Marauders is also a good idea, depending on who's in your group.

Scenarios: Nearly ever fight takes place in the open jungle, away from any settlements, however on a random event (a roll of 2 or 12 on the Scenario chart; on a roll of 1-2 on a D6... or just 'every third week') one of the players has his Location raided. Choose the scenario and, depending on the scenario choosen, the 'defending' player has his location raided. So, a Forest Goblin as a defending player would have the Savage Village being attacked (with mud huts and skull totems everywhere.) If you want to, add rules for Encampments or 'Guards' as you wish (this is a good way of helping balance a fight between two differently raided warbands: the weaker is always the 'defender', with the aid of the villagers coming to their side.)

Now, it is possible for several warbands to have the same location... Whether or not they are similar 'types of towns' or whether they occupy the same space is up to your group. If you're tallying locations, like you did with sartosa, make sure that no single territory has more than 1/3rd of the entire group... if so, then they are split amongst a similar location of the same type. Thoughts?

That's...one-of-those-big-words-that-means-I-was-just-thinking-about-that-on-the-drive- home.
To clarify you would not have to go the locale just use its trading chart? I'm not sure about how the players will feel about another campaign of restricted supply and recruitment. We moved from Relics to Sartosa so its been nearly 8 to 9 months since a player could just open the rule book and pick an item to roll for.

On the other hand once we totally re-did Relics things have been pretty smooth in that regard.

I was thinking of a similar approach splitting the warbands into Natives and Outsiders and counting Natives as at home for trading when they are in the jungle or at the Lost City and counting Outsiders at home when they are on the River/Ocean and in port.

When in Lustria we use the Lustrian Hired Swords plus the Mordheim rule book plus some TC ones. I am thinking about writing or calling for ideas for more Amazon and Lizardmen Hired Swords since Amazons have none and Lizards only one from TC, 2 if you count the mounted Skink from the original campaign.

Which reminds me I asked this on the main campaign thread but where are the Slayer Pirate's rules published or posted? Link? Same for the Swashbuckler.

DeafNala wrote:

Hoisted on his own petard.

I had a petard for a while. Once it had hoisted me a couple of times (and always when it was most inconvenient) I sold it and bought a long nine.



(Edit: Sorry for the off topic - I've been at the Captain Morgan's )

Er, kinda. Basically, each alliance (?) has their own equipment list, and they get access to it after every game. Sure, it some instances it's restricted, but the Amazons are not going to mind not buying blackpowder, and the Mercs have no use of bolas, anyway. But, if you REALLY wanted something from another list (examble: your Amazons really wanted that Crimson Shade), you could have your heroes roll on another player's trading list. This increases the chance of your warband raiding/being caught in another player's location, changing the list of scenarios you roll on (examble: chance encounter, break through, encampment raid, ambush, etc.)

HS: Hmm. How about...

Chameleon Skink: Blowpipe (with double range, 16"), Infiltration & Great Hunter skill (-2 in cover vs. -1)

Zoat: Lizard-like centaur, with turtle feet. Saurus stats (except M7), and a 'Stomp' attack replacing the bite.

Beastmaster: can easily be an Amazon and/or Skink HS. Works like a Snake Charmer (Khemri), but you can also buy and keep Cold One Hounds (from the Lustria Dark Elf list.)

Amazon: Pigmy HS, maybe? Wouldn't be that great, but might be a New World equal to a Halfling Scout or Thief, armed with a Sling. Or, make him similar to the 'Chameleon Skink' above, make him blend into the undergrowth, and be really good with a poisoned Blowpipe. Maybe he has Knock-Out poison, too. A hit on a natural 6 causes the victim to be 'Knocked Down', no save. (If they have multiple wounds, any wound against them while they're down doesn't take them out of action, it only causes 1 wound.)

Slayer Pirate: I just posted on the other thread, but I can't find it online anymore. I can send it.

WarbossKurgan wrote:

DeafNala wrote:

Hoisted on his own petard.

I had a petard for a while. Once it had hoisted me a couple of times (and always when it was most inconvenient) I sold it and bought a long nine.



(Edit: Sorry for the off topic - I've been at the Captain Morgan's )

As I hit the "send" thingy, it occured to me that no one would understand the petard referrence...says I, "the Adm'rul will get it." The trade off on the long nine was a wise move although it lacks the possibility of an uplifting experience intrinsic to a petard.
Don't sweat the Captain Morgan; I'm designated Bosun tonight .

Petard is a fun word, but I can't hear it without thinking of Star Trek: Next Gen.

Thought of a new for Amazons and/or Lizardmen: Herbalist. Allows weapons to be poisoned (and a healer too.) For the amaons, call it a 'Cunning Woman'

Hm. I should probably start a new thread with these in the Rules section, shouldn't I?

@SFK--Nah, just include a short story with the rules!

Chameleon Skink is in the TC as a hired sword with similar rules. I had forgotten Zoats! hmmm. Zoats would give the women a Big Guy type that they have no access to now.

I like the Herbalist idea especially for the Amazons.

Beastmaster is a good one, in our campaign the Lizards can hire the one from the scenario The Hunters become the Hunted if he survives. There are all those Amazon with big cat models out there...

@Deafnala and Da Boss--arrg, ya comical gits! Ize needz Zoats an' ya brings me deese 'hoisted petards'! Now wheres Ize gonna fine a Zoat?
Ach, mind the zoggin' petard!

The Ritual
A Tale wherein Xlippahruichakk receives a Call.

The young priest looked out over the broad lagoon. The sea stretched to the far horizon calm and blue. He, Acacitli, the chosen of Tzunki would call the Old One. He glanced nervously around. The tall ceremonial headdress made his neck and back ache. He had been reciting mantras against boredom and muscle pain for the last eight spans of finite time. The Golden Eye had reached the proper place in the Sky-Dome-Sea. At last it was time to complete the ceremony.

Acacitli raised the Lesser Staff of Summoning and took the eight measured steps toward the altar. The foul furred mutant made some nonsense sound. It would not matter. Acacitli raised his left arm even higher so that the many facets of Tzunki caught the New Day light. His right hand gripped the Blade of Transcendence. Acacitli turned slowly to face each of the Great Directions. He named their formal names. Then he turned to the Chorus and waved the staff in the Sign of Tzunki. The Song of Calling began. Eighty skink scribes trilled to the Golden Eye. 40 Kroxigor beat the great drums in a slow rhythm.

Acacitli placed the Staff in the socket at the foot of the altar. Gripping the Blade in both hands, he made the ritual cuts in the mutant’s flesh. It added its screams to the Song. The Harmony built. Acacitli could feel the Power gather. At its apex he held the mutant’s heart aloft and sang the Summoning.

Xlippahruichakk hear me!
Old One return!
Xlippahruichakk hear me!
Taste the offering!
Become the Song!
Xlippahruichakk hear me!

Acacitli sprinkled the heart’s last drops to the Great Directions. He counted as the stream of foul blood flowed along the worn grooves toward the lagoon below. On the eightieth beat the blood reached the water as the Golden Eye cleared the rim of the Spitting Earth Dragon of Ebon Wrath. The lagoon shimmered with reflected light. It was good.

I started thinking about a sentence or two of fluff for the Cunning Woman, when the start of a short story entered my head... and like many things, once I get inspired, I can't say no (curse you, Von, as if I didn't have enough things on my plate. ;-P ) Here's Part 1.

Ulli stared out into the dark jungle, scanning every moon-flicked frond for movement. She distrusted every swaying shadow, and couldn’t help but hold her breath at every snapping twig. The fire burned low to her back, tingling her pale skin with its burning glow. The front half of her was numb from the gentle mist that floated downward from the heavens, drenching Ulli’s hair and cheeks. A single drip of moisture hung precariously from the end of her nose… whether it was a collectionof rain, the run off from her nostrils, or a mixture of both, she could not tell. She squeezed the leather bindings of her spear until they bit into her palms. The pain kept her alert, and helped her focus on something apart from her desire to face the fire, thawing our her numb pate and digits. To do so would render her night-blind, endangering the entire Rainbird tribe.

…Or what was left of the tribe. Ulli’s mother had been leader once. It was hard to imagine that it was only barely a cycle since then, back when all they had to worry about were the Scaled Ones and Ratspawns.

Then, the bad times came. Greenhides from the islands were growing bolder, no longer content in eating fish, frogs and… well, each other. The Point-Ears, the subject of many beautiful songs, were appearing in the flesh for the first time since the Founding. Their clothes and their voices were indeed fairer than the stars in the heaven, but their eyes were cold, and their cruelty was exceptional. Stranger still, from the far horizon, there were the pale visitors journeying in canoes the size of houses, their very bodies wrapped in smoke and silver. They were so much like the Amazons in many ways (minus the bristly faces and chests like 10 year girls)…. But in other ways, they were very different from the Amazons. Deep in her soul, Ulli knew to fear them, despite- or, perhaps, because- she felt the urge to trust them.

…And then there were the Deadeaters. They were not merely cannibals, like the
Greenhides, who feasted on their enemies as a ritual of strength. They ate the dead of any and every thing they encounter, fishing them the surf and breaking them from the Scaled Ones’ tombs. Some were monstrous, hunchbacked creatures, more ape than man. The worst were the chiefs, which looked like eastern men on the outside, but were nothing but stretched shadows beneath.

These new threats had taken their toll on the Rainbird tribe one by one, raiding their camps, ambushing their hunting parties, feasting on their game. Ulli’s mother, Barda, Skuld, and nearly all of the other Immortal women had been killed. Of the Eagle Warriors. only Ixla and Urd remained, and the latter was slowly dying from a Ratspawn wound. Over the week, the gaping hole had turned from red, to brown, and finally to a rank green, darker than a snakebite. She had howled for days on end, cursing the gods of the Amazons and the ratspawn in her semi-consciousness. This morning, her ague grew worse, and Urd closed her eyes for the first time since the skirmish. In a bizarre way, Ulli missed her wailing… it was easier to stay awake at the watch, especially after going four days without sleep.

The rest of the village had given up on Urd, and were waiting for her to die once and for all. Skatha, the current chief, and the other remaining Immortals were relieved when her lamentations stopped, and wore placid grins, as if a patient that dies quietly is almost as good as a cured one. Skatha, the Danceweaver, had been foretelling doom this cycle, and the younger sisters listened to her. They seemed to forget that Skatha had ‘forseen’ doom in every season, and had been wrong 28 out of the last 30 years. The fact that the tribe was near the brink of death seemed to delight Skatha in a perverse way, and she flashed Ulli a taut, smug grin at every chance she could. Ulli gripped her spear tighter at the very thought. Skatha knew nothing of healing, and her full ‘treatment’ of the wounded Urd consisted of a few dances, some off-pitch singing, and some old clichés about ‘the will of the Gods’. Skatha had no desire to treat the wounded, she desired only an audience.

No, she did more, Ulli recalled. Skatha performed sacrifice… upon sacrifice, upon sacrifice. When they could not find live enemies to offer up, Skatha demanded they hunt for game and leave it on the altar. Exhausted warriors, with nothing in their stomach but air and pain, hunted for meat… all so it could rot in the hot sun amongst the baubles and plaques. The Rainbird Tribe was starving, and the only hopes the elders could glean were to journey back to Azemandu in shame and beg for asylum, or to trust ‘the will of the gods’.

When Urd fell injured, Ulli was made Leader of the Hunt. While the elder council still had final say over most matters, Ulli now had a say in the heat of the moment. Making Skatha step down as the acting Priestess was unthinkable (despite the fact that Zula, Skatha’s shy daughter, was far more capable than her birth mother.) Ulli knew, however, that in times like these, additional help would always be welcome in the tribe… and if the council didn’t welcome it, it was always better to ask forgiveness than permission.

Von Kurst there was extra material that came out we the Lustria supplement about 5 years ago. There was Marco Polo or whatever that guy's name was for GW Fantasy and Harkon, a vampire.

I was always wanted to do a campaign where you had to find some many pieces of an artefact to control the world type thing.

Marco Colombo! Yeah I think the Necrarchs will be working for Luthor Harkon. I'm using the maps from that supplement and the ones from the new army book.

@StyrofoamKing--Nice start mate. Part 2? (Hee, hee.)

Dawn Raid.
A Tale of Mayhem on the Shore of the Great Pond

Acacitli, the chosen of Tzunki, peered into the inky dark. His body told him the Golden Eye waited just over the horizon behind him, but for now all was the Realm of the Light Devourer. Acacitli prayed to Tzunki that the Great Crest, Chicomecoatl, had made landfall and led his patrol to the western jungle. The Warm-Blood-Two-Leg females must be taught that this coast was the land of the True People. None of the False People were allowed here in the land of the Ancestors.

Acacitli signaled the helmsman to leave the center of the channel. The time to strike was now! Chicomecoatl must be in place, but if he had failed, so be it. Off in the dark his sensitive ears heard the low cry of the Bird of Purple Hue. The patrol was in place. Acacitli mimicked the call and hissed orders to his crew. The galley swung athwart the current into the morning wind. Acacitli could make out the dark bulk of the Warm-Blood-Two-Leg’s warboat. His Spawn-Sibling brought the bow alongside the Two-Legs quay and his warriors in the bow secured the ship to the stern of the enemy vessel.

Suddenly there were warcries and screams all along the nearby coast. The warriors in the bow swarmed over the rails of the enemy ship. In the red light of the new dawn Acacitli saw an arrow fell one of the Warm-Bloods. His warriors were fighting in the waist of the enemy ship and along the dock. A dull boom distracted Acacitli for a moment. The Warm-Bloods had Thunder Wagons! He would have to see to this once the fight was won. Acacitli could see many Warm-Blood females rushing out of their huts to the north. Some were fighting Alt the Totem Warrior of the Eternal Legion, but several of them were rushing to the aid of the hapless sentries on the ship. The lead Two-Leg fell when an arrow struck her a glancing blow. Acacitli chanted litanies to Tzunki and Chotec to urge his warriors on, but a near miss from one of the Two-Leg’s Bright Light That Kills Sticks kept him from joining the fray personally.

Atl was surrounded by Two-Legs. His roars of challenge were a joy to Chotec! Chicomecoatl and Chimalma fell upon the Two-Leg's flank and the females began to wail. His warriors had cleared the ship of Warm-Bloods. The Warm-Bloods that had been running toward their ship had turned to run back toward Alt and the struggle near the huts. Their indecision meant that his warriors on the ship and the patrol in the jungle were able to catch the Warm-Bloods in a crossfire. The Warm-Blood-Two-Legs broke and ran for the southern jungle. The Hungry Children of the Fertile Green would take care of them…

It was a good day.