[WFRP2e] The Saga of Jorunn - Part 1 - "That Which Remains"

[MrAbdiel]

You are running out of daylight - but fortunately, the flight of your last kill told you the direction to stalk the others; and sliding up into the wooded mountain slope again, you discover both the remaining beastmen hunkering behind a stone aside from the pathway not far from where you killed the mutants who attempted to kill you. This time, your approach is better executed; you come within charging range of the pair before they notice; and once this pair are dead beneath your blade, you will have atleast nominal safety to rest, and pursue the remainder tomorrow.

Spoiler: OOC: Attack!

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I rolled your stealth and their perception opposed off screen this time to speed it up; first you both failed; then they got a 20 and you got a 10, which is a pretty even showing; but given the bonuses you're getting from attacking from a direction they don't expect, I'm inclined to give the ambush to you. The two beastmen are adjacent to each other, with a stone axe each. Their initiative is (1d10+3)[13]. You get a surprise round to charge and, if you beat their initiative, another attack before they go; your mangy wolf and Marlene will join the ambush when you initiate. Last pair of beastmen and you've wiped out this secondary party of them!

[bramblefoot]

jorunn calls the wolf, and will move to attack a beastman. he narrowly misses the beastman as it flinches out of the way

(1d10+4)[10]

(1d100)[74]

(1d10+4)[12]

[MrAbdiel]

As you launch into combat, Marlene looses her first arrow from the looted hunter's bow; and the shot is good, plunking into the eye socket of the second beastmen and sending him reeling, bleating with outrage, scrabbling to keep his footing even with the shaft sticking out of his skull. The mangy wolf rushes into melee with you, instinctively circling your beastmen and menacing him by darting in and nipping at his ankles, creating openings for you without committing himself to immediate harm.

Recovered from their shock, the beastmen attack - the one with the arrow sticking from his head blowing past you to charge at Marlene; the one you duel struggling to lay into you and beware the hound at his heels!

Spoiler: OOC:

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Marlene commits a bloody good shot, but doesn't quite crit the second Gor. The wolf zooms in with you, giving you a +10% outnumbering bonus on the one you're duelling without succeeding to bite.

You outnumber because Arrow-Eye charges at Marlene, provoking an attack from you for free (which you ought to make first);

And Lucky-Gor who avoided your charge swings back at you with his crude axe. (1d100)[85], for potentially (1d10+3)[6] damage! Edit: WHIFF! Miss.

Your turn - make a free attack on the one Gor and then, if you like, a swift attack on the other at +10 for the wolf.

[bramblefoot]

jorunn will strike at the charging gor, and then make two attacks on the other one

(1d100)[43]

(1d10+4)[7]

swift attack

(2d100)[73][44](117)

(1d10+4)[6]
(1d10+4)[7]

[MrAbdiel]

You strike aside a parry, then manage to land a meaningful blow against your gor's shoulder; and while it reels back, you spin to smash your shield into the side of the one charging at your thrall, staggering it and numbing its arm so its axe blow comes sloppy and slow, easilly enough avoided by the bounty huntress. Your mangy wolf seems to find its courage and, with a growl, leaps up and latches on to the back of your opponent's haunch with his jaws, eliciting a bleating cry and a panicked spin and stumble from the beastman.

Now both goat-men are badly injured, and neither has landed a blow - may all your battles be so conclusive.

Spoiler: OOC:

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You slapped both beastmen this round, and the doggo managed to get a bite on; while both beastmen failed hard. So both are on death's door, and haven't managed a hit - a pretty good ambush considering!

You are clear to attack again, while Marlene keeps the other one busy! You still outnumber this guy for +10, so you're looking for.. what, 67? Nice.

[bramblefoot]

jorunn will drop two attacks into the beastman he's in combat with.

(2d100)[83][6](89)

(1d10+4)[12]
(1d10+4)[7]

[MrAbdiel]

Your flurry hacks the gor to the ground, leaving it wheezing and bleeding out against the snow in a tableaux of white and arterial red. The wolf releases as your prey falls, and instinctively launches after the still dangerous prey; and between his jaws on its ankle and Marlene's slashing with the skinning knife, this gor stumbles too - long enough that you are able to walk to it, grab its backwards-cranked wrist with the stone axe in it, drag it onto its back, and smash your father's axe into the front of its skull, splitting it open and destroying its foul brain. The other goatman has bled out by the time you turn back to it - but you know to make sure, and you do.

With these blows, and with these clumsy weapons taken for the other thralls, you reunite with your group and give the go-ahead to make a fire - there will be no sinister beastmen watching from the shadows tonight, looking to snatch up your shivering flock from its light. With all the killing of the day, Marlene has been unable to hunt game, and the others have not succeed in her absense... but the warmth of fire is welcome enough, and the rations are sufficient to calm the outraged stomach.

Spoiler: OOC:

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Planning to stalk the rest up higher into the mountain tomorrow? And if you do, did you have a plan in mind? You may win a conflict against an ungor, 5 gors and a bestigor with your full force unleashed - but it's far from certain. Are you seeking to divide and conquer - or just to follow them up to see where they go, ultimately? Or something more cunning still?

[bramblefoot]

jorunn will take the beastmans horn, and rub it on the mark on his arm. after that, he'll gather the troops and mention the plan. "i just wanna get a scouting run on what the beastmen have up that hill. lets avoid combat, unless there is no other option"

"lets scout at first light, and see what we can find. push comes to shove, make a lotta noise. with any luck, some gors will flee "

"any volunteers to try to lead some away? i wont force you, but if you survive, youll be looked upon highly"

Spoiler: ooc

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i wanna get a good feel for the camp, maybe have a my fastest individuals attempt to lead some of them off

[MrAbdiel]

The experimentation with the horn on the mark is novel... but provides no effect. So far, nothing you do to it seems to be impacting it. So what is it doing? Tracking something else? Protecting you? And if you can't find the answers, who can?

Your thralls listen sceptically to your plan about the day to come, though they have no alternative but to go along with it. When you offer an extra credit assignment, Marlene is about to pipe up; but Ortel, the initiative, surprises you by piping up. "I'll do it. If we survive... can we have proper warm clothes...?"

It's a big ask. An appropriate set of furs might be six sceatta, - you that's enough for two more thralls, in a bloated market like this. Such reasons are why tribes tend to use up these pathetic schmucks then throw them away. But if you intend to furnish loyalty in them, making a promise you intend to follow through on - even much later - may be wise.

[bramblefoot]

"i will do my best to get you warm clothes" jorunn says honestly. he sets the watch, himself first watch, marlene second, and ortel third

[MrAbdiel]

A quiet night, and a grim morning; a light snowfall has refreshed the ground, covering all your old tracks and making a stark canvas for the new ones. You and your thralls, now armed with crude beastmen spears, approach your quarry's camp. You hope as you approach you will encounter a search party looking for the others; but they are not compassionate enough creatures to care about their lost brethren so much. When you find them, they are crowded into conference with one another; five gors, the ungor and the bestigor. The captured human lies on the ground near them, insensible with shivers from the cold. You and Marlene lay in wait, hoping the pack will split on its own; but after this scenario does not avail, you execute your plan.

The initiate, Ortel, shows remarkable courage - a credit to his god - as he slinks up to visual range of the goatmen... then decent acting skill as he releases a startled bark, as if he had just stumbled upon them before taking off down the hill at full pelt. A flurry of brays and bleats erupts, and (1d5)[1] of the gors break from the group and give chase while the remainder of the herd looks on with curious detachment.

The time to strike has come again; and your blood is up and ready for it.

Spoiler: OOC:

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You've succeeded in a bunch of stealth alright, and these guys aren't expecting to be hunted because they had scouts out; so you don't need to roll to pull of the ambush. Perhaps the last fight in this beastmen saga - and the enemy will act on (1d10+3)[8]. Charge the big Bestigor, the little Ungor, or one of the remaining Gors - and if you beat their initiative, you can have an immediate follow up round.

"Dammit", Byjan hisses, preparing his weapons; "Not nearly enough. Alright, we're all going in. Run and they'll run you down. Fight defensive and let Jorunn work through them. When they know they're losing, they'll break."
Your wolf, and your three additional thralls, brace to charge in with you.

[bramblefoot]

jorunn will charge the bestigor, axe flashing

(1d100)[32]

(1d10+4)[10]

Spoiler: ooc

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my second round action is to shift to my were form

[MrAbdiel]

In you go; your axe hacking into the Bestigor's shoulder as it turns and roars, its impressive rack of antler-horns shaking with its rising outrage at the ambush. The whole herd seems in disbeleif, as you slam in and especially as you begin twisting and changing, your muscles bulking out and straining, even tearing your clothes; your body covered in snow-white fur soon to be matted with beast-blood. The four gors before you seem shocked and alarmed by your transformation. The bestigor seems almost thrilled by it; and the ungor is in such a state of perpetual abuse that it is somehow unmoved by you arrival and the danger it permits. The small-horned beastman hops at the fringe of the combat, stalling his engagement and wondering if this is a good moment to escape as you and your allies lay in; but the other beasts begin to fight for their lives.

But the battle swings immediately, hard, in your favor. The mangy wolf scores a bite on the Bestigor's leg, weighing him to one side and spoiling his reprisal swing against you so the stone head of his great maul crashes into the trunk of a tree beside you. Down the line, Byjan engages one of the gors and they trade gauging blows without landing hits; and Leibwen, the mediator, manages to draw the short straw and duels two of the beasts - but he conducts himself with courage born of his current predicament, swinging the spear by its base to create a hazardous zone and forcing the two gors back from him, preventing either from landing a blow. Marlene does the best - the momentum of the charge carries her in, and the crute tip of a spear that just yesterday had been thrusting at you now plunges through the thigh of a gor and sends it to the ground, where she is able to finish it off with a second, more vicious stab still. Your allies have killed one of their number; and none of them have landed a retort.

And they haven't yet even felt your ursine rage.

Spoiler: OOC: State of Affairs after Surprise Round and Round 1.

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Byjan: Uninjured
Marlene: Uninjured
Leibwin: Uninjured
Mangy Wolf: Uninjured
Ortel: Offscreen.

Bestigor: 9 Wounds (Lightly Wounded, Engaged with Jorunn and Mangy Wolf).
Ungor: Refusing to engage.
Gor1: Uninjured, Unsettled (Engaged with Byjan)
Gor2: Dead (Killed by Marlene!)
Gor3: Uninjured, Unsettled(Engaged with Leibwin)
Gor4: Uninjured, Unsettled(Engaged with Leibwin)
Gor5: Offscreen.

Your turn, then your allies, then the beasts again. You are free to attack with your... three bloody swift attacks and improved Were-bear profile! You have +10% to hit because you and the wolf are engaging the bestigor together.

[bramblefoot]

jorunn will make three attacks on the bestigor, claws flashing. the first claw swings over his shoulder, but the second bites deep. the third is little more than an annoyance

(3d100)[92][28][58](178)

(1d10+5)[14]
(1d10+5)[13]
(1d10+5)[6]

[MrAbdiel]

Your swing over the shoulder draws the Bestigor's guard up; but then you smash your shield into its thigh with such force that the femur audibly snaps and it collapses, the bone protruding in a gout of blood and affording you an arterial spray baptism as you drop down to execute it. The ungor takes this as its cue and starts to make its escape - hauling the numb and confused prisoner away from the combat, as your snarling wolf compatriot gives chase.

Meanwhile, the line holds. None of your thralls manage to land telling blows in the following exchange; but Liebwen, valiantly defending himself against two, takes a bruise from a thrown bestial elbow but keeps his feet. Marlene closes on the next gor in line, ganging up on it with Byjan and leaving room for you to charge and work your way through this one, too. If things keep going like this, these vaunted beasts will be scattered and gone in short order.

Spoiler: OOC: State of the Combat after Round 2

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Byjan: Uninjured
Marlene: Uninjured
Leibwin: 1 Wound (Lightly Injured)
Mangy Wolf: Uninjured
Ortel: Offscreen.

Bestigor: Dead (Killed by Jorunn!).
Ungor: Fleeing! (Engaged with Mangy Wolf).
Gor1: Uninjured, Unsettled (Engaged with Byjan, and Marlene)
Gor2: Dead
Gor3: Uninjured, Unsettled(Engaged with Leibwin)
Gor4: Uninjured, Unsettled(Engaged with Leibwin)
Gor5: Offscreen.

Your turn, then your allies, then the beasts again. You made short work of the bestigor! You have a couple of options. If you join in the gang-bash on Gor1, Marlene and Byjan will give you a +20; though you could otherwise join Leibwin to take the pressure off him at his end of the combat.
You can charge or move into either of these combats.

But also, you could perform what I am inclined to call the Gimgroth Maneuver on account of how often Lars used it; which is to use a half-action to walk into engagement with one of the enemy groups (thus forgoing the +10 for charging) but then spending a Fate Point to gain an extra half action for the turn and swift attacking! That said, the combat is going very well for your side right now and you can decide if you want to conserve FP for "oh sheet" scenarios or capitalize on your strong position.

[bramblefoot]

jorunn will capatalize on our strong position and do a swift attack, claws biting deep into beastman flesh

(3d100)[52][12][40](104)

(1d10+5)[9]
(1d10+5)[8]
(1d10+5)[14]

Spoiler: ooc

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the 9 and the 8 go on one beastman, and the 14 goes on the other

[MrAbdiel]

Beastman blood splatters the snow. You wade into the melee with the tiring Mediator, backing off to let you have room to work; your axe biting into the gors with your mightly blows and splattering their blood as they strain to fend you off with their spears. Their attention goes to you, naturally - one making a good strike that might even get past your guard, while Marlene and Byjan crowd and batter down the one gor between them. The ungor continues to flee; you hear your wolf barking and snarling as he gives chase around the bend of a hill.

Spoiler: OOC: State of the Combat after Round 3

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Byjan: Uninjured
Marlene: Uninjured
Leibwin: 1 Wound (Lightly Injured)
Mangy Wolf: Uninjured
Ortel: Offscreen.

Bestigor: Dead (Killed by Jorunn!).
Ungor: Fleeing! (Engaged with Mangy Wolf).
Gor1: 7 Wounds, Lightly Wounded, Unsettled (Engaged with Byjan, and Marlene)
Gor2: Dead
Gor3: 9 Wounds, Heavily Injured (Engaged with Leibwin and Jorunn)
Gor4: 10 Wounds, Heavily Injured, Unsettled(Engaged with Leibwin and Jorunn)
Gor5: Offscreen.

I'll give them one more round to do something lasting otherwise these mooks are breaking and running. But before that, you get one more round of ripping heads off; there's two heavilly wounded gors in melee with you and Leibwen, so no gangup bonus in there.

One of the Beastmen actually hit! It's a hit on you for (1d10+3)[4] damage to the arm, though you are entitled to parry as normal.

Edit: Lmao. Well, I guess that just dinks off your hide!

[bramblefoot]

jorunn will attempt to finish off the two gors.

(3d100)[12][74][24](110)

(1d10+5)[14]
(1d10+5)[11]
(1d10+5)[13]

[MrAbdiel]

These, too, you hack down; driving them to the ground with ruinous wounds to their bodies, where Leibwen can finish them off as you round to the remaining gor. It has managed to defend itself from Byjan and Marlene, but makes its break to run - though beast-swift as it is, so are you, and its flight is to no avail. You drive it to the ground and bash the life out of it while nearby the mangy wolf chomps and shakes at the neck of the now still and silent ungor, his shivering prisoner pressed back against a tree in shock; and down the slope, you see your thralls falling on the gor that had followed Ortel away and all the way back. The attack is a massacre; the entire party of beastmen wiped out, with only superficial wounds on your side. For a moment, it's almost like having an actual warband again...

The woman, whose skin is so pale it is almost translucent, looks at your blood-spattered fur and waits to die.

Spoiler: OOC:

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Gain 200xp for culling this herd! And now, you have freed this captive - she bears no thrallmark, so is theoretically a free woman of the Skaeling clan, for whatever that means to a Bjornling like you! But she, clearly, thinks you are another, worse kind of beastman.

[bramblefoot]

jorunn will shift down to his normal form, and let the mediator deal with the terrified woman. he congratulates his thralls on a job well done, and will take the bestigors head for his skull collection

[MrAbdiel]

It's been a while since you've taken a skull. You spend a little time to yourself meditatively scoring the skin on the bone, peeling it off in strips and digging out the eyes and corners of meat wedged in its cervices; hooking grisly strips of brain out through the nasal cavity Over the next few nights, you will let the scavengers worry at it to clean it some more, and there will be some additional preparation for the trophy. But it adds to your saga; a hunting pack you and your thralls dismantled piece by piece, and you will carry this skull with pride.

You let the shivering Leibwen, who held his own against the beasts until you could relieve him, speak with the poor captive; and Ortel comes to assist also. Once you've done your cleaning of the skull and left it for the blood flies to strip, you find her with your thralls huddled around a new fire.

Her name is Thrud; she a homestead back off the road down the way you travelled to get to the thrallmarket. The hunting herd must have swept in while they were snowed in and not expecting attack, driving off and hilling her own thralls and livestock, taking her as captive. The way she tells it, they took two of her thralls also; but they didn't make the journey.

"Th-they s-seemed to a-argue about whether to e-eat m-me but the b-b-b-big one wouldn't l-l-let them...", Thrud stutters through her shivers as the fire's warm gives her back her life.

Marlene inteprets, relieving her of the need to keep struggling the words out. "So they were going somewhere they needed you alive, but didn't expect to find food on the way, or even there - thus splitting up to hunt. If there was a herdstone up there, it would be different. Maybe they have some kind of... mad, beastman shrine that requires sacrifices...."

The assembled, shivering thralls and the recovering prisoner consider this in dread reflection, while chewing on strips of venison that Marlene was, this day of all days, able to rustle up.

As you camp for another night, you consider the next day. With this obstacle removed, you have a straight shot higher into the mountain and can do so with a reasonable expectation that wherever they were going is accessible soon, since they were dragging a live prisoner which do not historically go well up vertical climbs. But it is getting more cold and bitter of a climb - it will be very difficult for the thralls to proceed, from here.

Spoiler: OOC:

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Estimating one more day of travel to your destination and unsure what to find there, you may choose now which thralls, if any, you intend to bring. Lacking good cold weather clothes, they (even Marlene) are at considerable risk any higher than this; but their skills may still prove useful, and the alternative is leaving them here under probably Byjan's supervision.

What's the call? Ascend solo, or take some friends? Either way, can you go ahead and roll me a Scale Sheer Surface roll at flat, and a Move Silently roll at +20%!

[bramblefoot]

jorunn will consider to himself around the fire. he has thralls, and like it or not, he's begun to warm to them. do i risk their lives for extra muscle, or go it alone? he ponders. in the end, he comes to a decision, and will take marlene and ortel up the slope along with the wolf

silent move (15 in ooc)
(1d100)[92]

scale sheer surface
(1d100)[11]

[MrAbdiel]

With the light of the morning, you take Ortel and Marlene, and your mangy wolf who is growing in confidence, further up the mountain. At times you are required to climb against the snow-slick sides of the rock, where there is very little slope; but you navigate it easilly enough, as does your party behind you - though your four legged member bounds off into the snow and rejoins you up at the next level having found his own way around. A perfectly sheet wall you might have been able to climb; but this incline is about what the goat-men might manage with a prisoner dragged on a chain behind them. Marlene helps you choose between alternate paths at some points towards the most likely, and you are gratified as you clear to a plateau that you do not need to ascend all the way to the summit. A spar of rock hides a great tall cleft in the stone leading to an interior cave, just as cold as the outside but insulated from the wind chill; and your companions huddle within trying to get warm while you stalk further inside.

Your night-eyes work here in this darkness, with just fragments of light draining into the depth of the cave where it winks of condensed and frozen moisture on the walls; and your instincts prevent you from stepping on ground too crunchy or kicking loose rock. Just as well - after winding through the dark passage, you emerge into a great chamber which seems to be the source of the problem... and the reason you came up here. There are two creatures in the room, though there have obviously been more; the stone floor at the entrance is black with frozen blood from many slayings, fragments and bonechips scattered around all that remains of other prisoners dragged up this way. A huge, bulky rests against the interior wall; a mount of fat, and flesh, and furs; an ogre if you're not mistaken, with beard and moustache grown long and wild and crusted with frozen blood; the hides of mismatched creatures strewn stinking and heavy over his shoulders; a great hammer with a wedge shaped, bone-white head gripped in one sleeping fist. This, it seems, is the creature that has required feeding, and whom the beasts have been bringing captives to - not a sacrifice to dark gods, but to feet this glutton from the far east. Why they would feel a need to serve such a creature is beyond you. But the ogre is not the whole story.

Beyond him, dominating a massive cavern glittering with frost and icicles illuminated by shards of light bleeding in through cracks above, is a massive, scaled form the likes of which you had previously only seen carved in wooden relief and described in great sagas. A colossal dragon of pale blue scales sleeps here; drawing in breath and breathing it out with the tang of ozone flushing the room each time, each cycle of breath taking a minute to fill and drain the huge lungs. You don't know much about such legendary beasts - only that they are intelligent, and that they predate the coming even of the gods to the world - but your best guess is that it is in some kind of deep hibernation sleep like a bear, or a snake; it may require more than noise to wake such a beast. Just as well - the ogre, who is not hibernating but just sleeping a fat man's sleep, snores like a lion roars.

You've gotten this far without waking the ogre up. You might manage to get close enough to strike a mortal blow, if you so desired - its hammer looks valuable indeed. But perhaps it will starve, now that you have slaughtered its caterers? And what to do about this massive wyrm?

[bramblefoot]

jorunn will shift silently into were form, sneak up, and make three attacks on the ogre

silent move
(1d100)[24]

(3d100)[36][15][25](76)

(1d10+5)[13]
(1d10+5)[11]
(1d10+5)[13]

[MrAbdiel]

You lope towards the sleeping ogre, feeling the blinding pain of the change that brings your radical strength. You're as quiet as you can be in the buildup, but there's no stopping your heavying breath and hungry growling, and by the time you are upon the ogre, he has ceased snoring, woken with a bellow, and flailed to defend himself. Your blows hack at him, and he raises his left arm to defend himself, forcing your father's axe to chop into the meat and fat of that huge limb as he hauls himself to his feet. Blood falls from the cuts, freezing in droplets and dancing off the floor of the cavern like scattering rubies as he raises himself up howls in, of all languages, cracked Tilean.

"AaaaRGGh! You come to feed? I eat your heart instead!"

The dragon seems unbothered by any of this; sleeping away, thankfully.

Spoiler: OOC:

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The Ogre is lightly wounded. Frenzy isn't quiet, but I gave you the move up to him and a free superior initiative. This turn, the Ogre is standing, and taking a parrying stance so he can defend himself against your next attacks! That's all he can do this turn - you're up to attack again!

[bramblefoot]

jorunn will make three attacks again, axe flashing as the ogre staggers to his feet. "come and try!" he growls.

(3d100)[39][100][42](181)

(1d10+5)[6]
(1d10+5)[14]
(1d10+5)[15]

[MrAbdiel]

You hack, chop and maul; the red crowding in your vision and darkening the periphery outside of this context of brutality. In this form, you are the ogre's match for size and brawl; which makes the matchup possible at all... but the maw-warrior takes your blows to the arms, to the thighs, and bleeds and grunts... but does not fall. Indeed, he seems committed to fight to the death here - there is hunger in his eyes which matches your bloodlust, and with his flagging reserves of strength, he brings his hammer crashing down at you...

Spoiler: OOC:

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Vs46 - (1d100)[73] for (1d10+6)[10].
Vs46 - (1d100)[9] for (1d10+6)[16].
Vs46 - (1d100)[63] for (1d10+6)[15].

[bramblefoot]

jorunn easily parries, seeking to get a chop into the ogres heart

(3d100)[1][42][33](76)

(1d10+5)[11]
(1d10+5)[15]
(1d10+5)[12]

[MrAbdiel]

Your father's axe clonks into the ogre's skull. Its bite is disappointing shallow in the thick bone; but it splashes blood in ogre's eyes, and affords you a window to lunge in with your ursine snout and tear out the ogre's throat. It crashes down with a ghastly gurgle; its own blood splashing down its open neck into its stomach and, you swear, providing some strange relief in its eyes. But your opponent is dead, and your body cracks and shifts back to its natural form, leaving you spitting foul blood and wiping it from your facial hair. Looking up, you see dragon is just as asleep before - and the hammer, which appears to you now to be a finely worked handle and a massive, sawn off tooth or tusk with the flat top used as the hammer's face, clatters to the ice.

It is yours to take, now - though so far the reason for this weird coalition of ogre, beastmen and dragon remains less than obvious.

[bramblefoot]

jorunn grabs the hammer and heads out to his shivering thralls. "any idea what this hammer was doing with that ogre in there?" he asks, giving the hammer a few experimental swings well clear of his thralls