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Rise of Empires: Realm Hoppers Narrative Campaign


HobbyHammer

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The Rebellion of Khorne - Part 9

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Barruk paced around the grand hall, the Bloodthirster did not like to be made to wait.

It was five days since he sent a small warband of the Rebellion out into the southern depths of Aqshy. Talk had spread through the lower levels that a raiding party full of devoted Khorne followers had set upon the Realm of Fire looking to put an end to The Exiled One Skarbrand had been. Barruk took it upon himself to not bother his master, who was finding any reason to explode in rage recently, and send troops out on his own accord to put an end to this invasion before it could become a problem… But that was five days ago, and still he heard nothing.

"Where are they?!?" roared Barruk, the command echoed through the great hall. Heung, the Skulltaker Herald of the Bloodcrushers who was tucking into a recent victim looked up cockily. "You should've consulted with the master…" he quickly cut his sentence short as he took note of the piercing stare that Barruk was aiming in his direction.

The Bloodsecrator Ranuk took the chance to pipe up, though a little more gingerly than that of his Daemon "Maybe they found something else down there? Maybe…they found Sigmar's finest." Barruk spun round to the mere mortal, he could easily crush him with one hand but before he could react the door to the chamber came crushing open. A Bloodreaver, mattered in mud, blood and covered in cuts came stumbling into the chamber. The eyes of Skarbrand's council all turned to set eyes on the man.

"My lord…the forces…they…" The Bloodreaver struggled to get his words out, obviously too wounded to string a cohesive sentence together. Barruk got even more enraged, stomping across to the mortal and picking him up by the throat. "GIVE ME DETAILS NOW!!!" roared the Bloodthirster. The grip around the throat tightened as the man kicked and gasped for air. Ranuk quickly interjected "Barruk, he's hardly going to answer when you're squeezing the life out of him."

The Bloodthirster waited a couple more moments as the Bloodreaver's face went a deep shade of purple before throwing him to the floor. The man gasped and panted trying to breathe life back into him, Ranuk had got up from his seat and now loomed over the Bloodreaver. Helping him up he warned the man "speak now, or I'll take your head clean off myself."

Instantly the Bloodreaver explained about the warband heading South where they met what they though was the raiding party of Khorne. However it transpired that it was a mere scouting group for a much larger Khorne army that had took to the lands of Aqshy. The majority of the warband were cut down, but a mere few Bloodreavers managed to retreat back to the stronghold to warn The Council. As the Bloodreaver finished his story, Barruk instantly lifted his axe roaring at the same time "I will not have cowardice in this rebellion" and with that ended the life of the Bloodreaver, his head rolling across the floor landing between the feet of Ranuk.

The Council began to argue over what to do with the rest of the rabble that had retreated back to the Stronghold. Heung talked about making an example out of them, Ranuk wanted them to prove themselves in another battle, but Barruk was more incensed to just walk out there with his giant Axe of Khorne and let the blood rain. "Maybe I can be of assistance…" Sayl, the wizard that had somehow weaselled his way into the Council, emerged from the shadows, the other members of the council sneered towards Sayl. Despite getting Skarbrand's blessing a magic user still wasn’t welcomed by the rest of the army.

"Before you go out there and slay everyone, you need to think what The Exiled One will say if he gets wind of this. We need to make sure there is no evidence and I've got just the thing I've been working on, follow me." Sayl led the Council through the doors and ordered the rest of the men who had survived through the corridors. They reached one of the far corners of the stronghold and stood in front of a large metallic door covered in skulls, it was obvious that something lie behind it as the largest bar covered the entrance. With a whisper and a mutter from Sayl the bar started shifting without anyone touching and the door slowly creaked open.

Inside the chamber was…well nothing at first. A wall covered in rocks to one side, and in the opposite corner was a pool of water. Sayl ordered the men into the chamber, at first they were hesitant to take orders from a wizard but with one threatening glance by Barruk they quickly made their way in. As the last man entered the door slammed shut, the bolt latching across. With a tap of his staff, the side wall next to the door now became transparent and The Council could watch inside. Slowly but surely, beasts, half-man, half-wolf emerged from the top of the rocky walls, bits of dead skin and blood dangling off their bodies. The Bloodreavers inside the chamber showed a look of pure horror.

"What are those?" Ranuk broke the silence between The Council. "They're the Forgotten" Sayl explained, six beasts came into view instantly leaping off the rocks onto the unfortunate souls inside the room. Instinctively the men ran towards the sealed up door, the banging on the metallic structure echoed through the corridors of the stronghold, their screams following suit.

Sayl looked impressed with his handy work as The Forgotten tore the Bloodreavers apart. "They were human mortals holed up in hiding and left behind when the Age of Chaos happened. Over time these men resorted to cannibalism and unfortunately for them at one point they ate unbeknowingly the meat and blood of a tainted Chaos warband. After a couple of weeks these monsters were the only remains of them. They seem to like wearing the skin of their victims afterwards. I hope in our fight against Khorne they might be of some use."

All eyes of The Council were on Sayl as he explained these monstrosities, the last remaining Bloodreaver cut down. Silence filled the surrounding area for a few moments, but that was short lived as the sound of The Forgotten skinning their latest meal echoed throughout the corridors….

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21 hours ago, HobbyHammer said:

YES, I am so happy you chose this! As a Stormcast player, I thought Mystic Shield would be too much of a dangling carrot not to take.. but in a narrative sense. Tricksters Brew is the one!! 

You win life!

That and my General always bloody misses. 

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My latest couple of units, had the first two done for a while but held them back while I did the Treelord for those sweet extra points! Think I've finally cracked (ha) Agrellan Earth on the Treelord's base too!
 
 
Since Drycha's rebirth, that malevolent one has held sway over the Dreadwood, herself and the Spite Revenants controlling what this once sombre grove will do. They know only war, and war is needed.
 
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However, there is another view within the wood, those older beings remember.
 
 
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Remember a time before this great war, a time when we lived in peace, at one with the land.
 
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A time before we took up arms against the foul one, and began to cast him out of our land. Drycha fights for vengeance, we fight for peace...
 
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Another 2 units painted. Also a bit of a backstory.

The Ice-touched are mainly from a temperate land. Vuillard the Dark was a gladiator who fought for the amusement of his captors, a motley band of Drake-spawn Templars. These templars would travel the lands, entering their warriors in underground dirty fights. Whilst in the land trapped in the Everwinter, Vuillard freed himself. This was nearly 2 years ago and Vuillard escaped using a piece of arm bone which he borrowed from an unsuspecting gorger opponent. Vuillard has not wasted his freedom.  

We have Vonspar and Vorake atop their thundertusk, Gummy (he lost his teeth when he tried to steal Vorake's mournfang pie). Brothers in arms, Vuillard freed them from slavery on his escape. They have been rewarded for their loyalty with Gummy, and named as Vuillards bodyguard.

The Ice-touched are also joined by bands of Ogor warriors. These have more anger than brains, and more brains than teeth (barely). 

All are loyal, all are grateful, all are hungry for war.

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An opportunity not to be wasted

As Esyae walked through the forest her mind started to wander, the memories of the last few battles forming as leaves on her canopy. She would never forget how her people had suffered at the hand of the followers of Nurgle.

But there was still hope. Although her Wargrove had suffered more than one defeat in the quest to find Phaendar, they had succeeded. Phaendar was once again amongst his people. The young Ancient had been captured by a human wizard, who had used Phaendars lifeforce to strengthen his own magic. Phaendar had almost been drained, his branches all withered and his limbs nothing but twigs. But Phaendar had still been able to call out to Esaye, she had heard his song.

Esaye had gathered a small warband consisting only of a few Dryads and some Tree-Revenants, and together they had searched the plains for the wizard.

When they finally arrived at the wizard tower they were ambushed by Free-Guild humans and a Beast from another realm. The Beast, a huge Oruuk of the Ironjaws had decided that the rock between the Sylvanteh and their foe, was the perfect place to sharpen his axe, and he would not be persuaded to leave. Esaye and her warband did the best they could to defeat him, but the Free-Guild humans had some how mistaken the Sylvaneth for Daemons and did all they could to hinder their advance. Esyae had to retreat and leave the Orruk to the humans.

The Sylvaneth had waited until nightfall before they returned to the battlefield. There was no sign of the Orruk or the humans apart from the torn limbs and broken weapons of the Free-Guild. The Sylvanth moved on, and reached the wizards tower. It was all crumpled and broken apart. A fell voice hung in the air, and warned them not to come closer. Esaye used all her protective spells and send the Dryads forth, they were hit by a massive shock wave coming from the tower. It was as the tower was alive crackling with un-natural energy, the old stonework was possessed by the spirit of the wizard.

Esaye lifted up the Moonstone of hidden ways, she felt its power strengthen her song. The earth itself started to shake and move as branches and roots sprung from it. She felt him, she heard him, his whisper growing into a roar, it was the Warsong of Phaendar. The Moonstone had freed him from his imprisonment under the Wizard's tower, and Esaye watched as roots and branches formed into a  mighty Treeman, Phaendar the Ancient of the Silveroak glade was amongst them again. With a  bolt of energy from his staff Phaendar hit the tower and banished the wizards evil spirit.

 

The song had grown stronger since that day, and along with the return of Phaendar, the Silveroak Glade had grown in strength and numbers, the Kurnoth Hunters had joined them and the ranks of the Dryads had grown considerably.

As Esaye continued to walk through the forest, she noticed that something else had changed, the living forest was slowly returning to Ghyran.

The only thing that really troubled her, was the fact that the last time they had encountered the Rotbringers, they had gotten away with some shard from a Dark Crystal. Esaya had a strange feeling that the Crystal could still strengthen the Lord of Decay and help him spread his pestilence. She needed to secure more allies to stop the invaders.

And Although the Free-Guild and even the Stormcast had been seen roaming the lands, she knew that Phaendar would never trust them, not after been held captive by a human, he hated humans almost as much as he hated the followers of Chaos.

The Silveroak Glade was still gathering its strength and did not yet have the forces to win this war.

Esaye had heard wispers of a small group of Fyreslayers entering the realm, they were probably hunting the Orruk that she had earlier encountered?

The Fyreslayers were noble warriors, and if they could be persuaded to join the fight, they would make formidable allies.

Esaye called out to her Dryads, they would be commanded to seek out and locate the camp of the Fyreslayers, and bring back word of there whereabouts to the Branchwych.

This was an opportunity not to be wasted.

 

 

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The Rebellion of Khorne - Part 10

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The Realmgate deep inside the Khorne Rebellion rippled, over time it was as if the centre of the portal had slowly syphoned up the pools of blood in the vicinity and now resembled a rippling pond of crimson. Skulls littered the surrounding floor and steps around the realmgate, it seemed whatever unfortunate and unwelcomed guests appeared through this realmgate found themselves cut down before they could ever explore Aqshy

Barruk stepped forwards almost mesmerised by the waves of blood stretching out by their own accord waiting for some unfortunate victim to veer too close and get sucked straight into the gate. Sayl stepped forwards and Barruk gave a unwelcoming snarl, after witnessing The Forgotten rip apart the cowardly Bloodreavers a few nights ago, he still didn't trust Sayl; he did not want to think what other tricks this wizard had hidden throughout the stronghold. Not that a Bloodthirster of his stature and power would be caught out by such a sorry excuse for a mortal.

"You may want to step back" warned Sayl, "What I'm about to manifest is extremely volatile and it's going to make the realmgate unstable, the last thing we want is for you to be pulled into this." The sarcasm in Sayl's tone was apparent but Barruk didn't react, he was still transfixed with the swirling blood in the realmgates, after a couple of moments the great Bloodthirster snapped out of his trance and stepped back.

"Do not forget Barruk, whoever the Spawn of Chaos sets eyes on first will be deemed their owner. Skarbrand has trusted you on leading us, god knows why, so you must be the first to see the beast; but if he rejects you…" Barruk seemed to take offence to where Sayl was going with that statement, "And what makes you think he'll reject me?"

"Nothing" retorted Sayl, "Chaos Spawns are unpredictable beasts, and not a single one is a like. So just be ready for whatever comes out of that portal." Sayl looked down to the ground and started chanting, a green glow emanated from ground of where the wizard's staff touched. Uneasy with the constant use of magic Barruk held aloft his giant axe of the false god Khorne just as a precaution. The tendrils of blood moved and swayed as the chanting grew louder, suddenly a full screen of blood filled the realmgate, face like shapes pushed up against the blood before retracting back. After a couple of moments a mutated beast started to make its way out of the realmgate, it's jaw split in two and a long slathering tongue dragging along the floor, one of the arms had a hooked claw and the other seemed to have a mind of its own as it wriggled around like some sort of serpent daemon.

This spawn almost had made its way out of the realmgate before a large talon came smashing through the portal, piercing the back of the spawn and dragging it back into the depths of whatever realm it was coming from. Barruk readied his axe, whatever was coming was not a normal spawn of chaos. Slowly but surely this huge, colossal, spawn with two heads started pulling itself through to greet the Bloodthirster. Pointed bones pierced the arms and back of this beast and two huge talons were attached to arms almost as long as this spawn, Sayl continued the chanting staring down at the floor as Barruk took a step forwards towards this Giant Chaos Spawn. The two beasts locked eyes, almost a battle of endurance of who would crack first.

The spawn let out an almighty screech but Barruk matched it with a deafening roar, with the Spawn now inside the stronghold and locked almost face to face with the Bloodthirster, Sayl took this as good an opportunity as ever to get out of the summoning chamber. The two monsters continued their shouting match for a good couple of moments, until the Spawn lowered its head towards Barruk almost in a bow. The Bloodthirster took this as an indication that it had succumb to him and thought it better to test it out, he ordered it to move and it moved, he ordered it to shout and it shouted, he told it to follow him to war and it followed him to war….   

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Another two units painted!

The Ice fiends of Iskhtar were Vuillards enforcers. He had first spotted the the Yhetees as he led his band through the land of the Everwinter and tracked them for 3 weeks. Yhetees were formidable foes and they led the Ice-touched through slippery frost-rich hills and trap filled woods, hoping to feast on ogor flesh. Vuillard was no fool, though, and laid traps of his own. As the Yhetees grew bored, they let the Ice-touched get too close and were themselves ambushed. Instead of punishing the Yhetees, Vuillard decided to employ them as his ambushers.

No terrain is safe, the ice fiends are always hungry.

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2nd unit is my mournfang.

Walking in the land of Everwinter is a fools errand. Vuillard lost a lot of ogors to the cold before he learnt to tame the wild beasts who roamed the land. On one long hunting trip, the Ice-touched were constantly eluded by two mournfang (of decent size) who demonstrated formidable speed over the rocky terrain. Vuillard was frustrated by his scouts who could not catch the evidently smarter mournfang. He gave the scouts one last chance to find and kill the beasts. Eventually the scouts cornered and wounded the pack of mournfang. Instead of killing the beasts, Vuillard decided that both the scouts and mournfang should be rewarded and also punished for their resilience. He deemed that whoever won a battle of strength would be allowed to live and he would dine on the flesh of the other. 

As the gods would have it though, neither attacked. Instead the mournfang led the Ice-touched scouts to a herd of rhinox. The mournfang helped kill the rhinox and take the meat back to Vuillard. Scout and mournfang became an efficient team after that and Vuillard let both live and serve as his scouting party. 

He preferred the taste of rhinox anyway.

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