Thud & Blunder; The Chronicles of Tor-Senke. Cold Comfort For Kapitan Bittefeld

      Thud & Blunder; Chronicles of the Border Gate

     So, after too long a wait here is the next tale from the borderlands of the Duchy of Langenwanger. As you may recall, dear reader, these chronicles are centered around the doings of a troop of the Duchy of Langenwanger's Border Guard under the command of Kapitan Leopold Bittefeld. This tale recalls a raid by a...what's the collective noun for a small group of orcs? Small group will have to do for the moment, who are hell bent on desecrating the tomb of Duke Toby IV of Langenwanger. To game this I used the Break It Down scenario with the tomb taking the place of the statue mentioned in the scenario..

     And I say "I" for this was a solo effort as what else can you do in this time of self isolation and social distancing? I think Thud & Blunder is fine for solo gaming providing you don't subconsciously take sides which is what I didn't do; focusing instead on learning more about how to play the game, seeing what works and what doesn't and building the narrative history of my corner of the fantasy world of Thud & Blunder.....plus it keeps me off the beer....hopefully

     So to the story. This little skirmish was duked out between a detachment of Kapitan Bittefeld's command (the remainder of the garrison are guarding the Keep where they are...erm..garrisoned) and a Rage of Orcs (just googled it; a group of orcs is called a Rage. It's on the internet so it must be true) who are known to roam the borders of Langenwanger.

     

     The orcs, known as Gladizz's Gitz, are led by Gladizz Grabnutz, a young, female and very aggressive orc, who has fought her way to the leadership of her Rage by her fighting ability and much regarded underhand methods. In this she has benefitted from the guidance of an aged orc shaman, Wierd Wortz (so called as his magical talents began to develop in his youth around the same time his body became covered by unsightly warts. This had nothing at all to do with his developing magical ability but you try explaining that to his family and friends) who is convinced that all human grand tombs contain magical relics and so their quest to wreck and ravage the tomb of Duke Toby IV. The rest of the lads are just hoping for a chance to smash the "oomies" and loot their weapons. 

    

      Kapitan Bittefeld, guided by a premonition that his cleric, the fairly reliable Cornelius Coloredo, had had a few days before; a premonition that saw the tomb a shattered ruin, defiled by greenskins, had taken his detachment to the secluded glade where the tomb of Duke Toby is situated to guard it against any likely orc-ish depredations. This is a two day march from the Keep at Tor-Senke and, with the weather being particularly foul and with the king of all man-flu's in the offing, Bittefeld, doped up with Coloredo's potions and herbal brews to fend off the worst of humanities ailments, and his men arrive just before the orcs and take post to defend the tomb with their very lives.. 

     

Leopold Bittefeld, wracked by man flu but not complaining
too much, in the centre and his detachment. Serjeant Dudak
to his right and Cleric Cornelius Coloredo to his left

Gladizz and her Gitz. To her right is her goblin "favourite" Znitch
with his crossbow, and her left Weird Wortz the shaman.

The charming little glade that is the final resting place of the
Grand Duke Toby IV of Langenwanger

     Pulling his sodden, woollen cloak a bit closer around him, Kapitan Bittefeld peered into the woods surrounding the glade and called to the soldiers around him "Keep your eyeth pee-ed and sthand ready to fight!". Behind him, at the foot of the burial mound, Guardsman Henk Ninias exchanged puzzled glances with his friend, Guardsman Bjorg Menchervel. "What did the Old Man say, Bjorg?". "He said keep your bloody eyes and ears open, Guardsman Ninias; that is what the kapitan said, now do as he says. Them bloody orcs will be here soon" growled Serjeant Dudak. The two soldiers' heads swivelled towards the trees edging the glade and they peered with all the ability of men who know themselves to be under scrutiny of a much feared superior.

     Beneath his breathe Serjeant Dudak muttered "Gods be praised but where does the Border Guard get these cretins!". A veteran of twenty years in Border Guard, Georgi Dudak had thought he had seen it all; orcs, goblins, magicians, ogres and even a dragon but this chasing dreams; a premonition Coloredo had called it, was taking the...well, it was a bit much. For the last two days, through pouring rain and marrow chilling winds, the detachment had wound their way up the hills and down the dales of the Eastern March of Langenwanger to the tomb of Grand Duke Toby all because Cleric Coloredo had had a strange dream. A dream broiught on by the strange herbs Coloredo gathered in his travels and smoked in the tiny chapel in the Keep. From the smell of it, it was no wonder he had had seen things in his dreams. But it was enough to get the Kapitan worried. Old Toby's tomb was in their patch and woe betide them all if something happened to the tomb and the Old Man hadn't responded to Coloredo's mystic warning.

     And in the rush to depart from Tor-Senke they had forgotten to pack enough pipe tobacco and ale and this neglect had added to the soldiers woes. It was nearly quarterly payday and the harvest fair was only a week away and the men were looking forward to the event; a chance to let their hair down and have a bit of a frolic. And now this, some half mad cleric's herb addled dream and a captain, riddled with a strong sense of duty and wracked by a fever and, two sodding, sodden days later, they were standing guard at the tomb, soaked, miserable and desperate for a pipe!! It's enough to make you want to quit the Guard and take up basket weaving! Dudak spat and searched the shade beneath the trees once more. 

The Border Guard take station around the tomb of the long
deceased duke

     Gladizz's wiped the dripping water from her face and sniffed the cold, damp air and she grinned "Oomies" she growled to the ancient orc beside her. Behind her the rest of the orcs had also gotten wind of the presence of the soldiers and they began to growl and stamp their feet. "Shuts up, you idjits!" spat Glazizz, turning on them. The orcs immediately fell quiet. Mostly young orcs, they were well built for their age but the smaller, fiercer female orc scared them witless. Her very name told of her nasty reputation. All of them had witnessed Gladizz in action when she took control of the roaming Orc Rage from Hrenj, their previous and now very dead leader. They recalled the fight between the towering, over confident and now very dead male orc and the swift (for an orc), vicious female. How Hrenj appeared to have the upper hand in the struggle and his look of shocked, dumbfounded terror, his ear piercing shriek and how quickly his body had gone from extreme tension to limp death and the sight of Gladizz'z bloodied hand; the one that hadn't been around Hrenj's throat during the final stage of the fight, when she shoved Hrenj's bleeding corpse off her.

    They had all felt Hrenj's pain and feared to share it. So Gladizz, young, female, tough and quick witted (for an orc) had taken over the group. That had been last summer and since then, they had been roaming and ravaging and gaining loot and a reputation. Then they had fallen in with the shaman, Weird Wortz, and he really put the willies up them. Especially as Gladizz and Weird Wortz were thick as thieves.

     And they were going to smash up some oomies' grave and get lots of shiny weapons and armour which would make them the top orcs around these parts or so Gladizz said. They didn't see it that way but had gone along with the plan sullenly. Where was the fun in that? That was the sort of thing stupid, sneaky goblins did. But now there was a chance of a fight...and now Gladizz was talking to them; something about a plan and that little goblin git, Gladizz's spy, Znitch, taking them around behind the oomies and surprising them...

The orcs attack from three sides

..but first blood goes to the Border Guard as an orc succumbs
to an arrow in the gizzard....

Znitch the goblin, Gladizz's favourite, climbs a nearby outcrop
and starts raining down crossbow bolts on the enemy, and anyone
else who gets in the way

With the odds in their favour, Coronedo, Dudak and the Border
Guards feel confident they can defeat their foes

..however, with the guardsmen drawn away from the tomb it's
up to the lone archer to fend off two orc archers from the tomb!
Which, incredibly, he manages...just...but not for long

     Shivering and sweating profusely, Bittefeld parried the orc's attack. It was all he could do to fend off the stinking, hulking green beast's blows. He cursed the flu and the ineffectiveness of Coloredo's herbal brews and he cursed the greenskins for their temerity in coming to desecrate the Duke's tomb. Beside him, one of his men, he couldn't tell which so concentrated were his efforts fighting the orc before him, gave a cry of victory and the orc he was fighting with fell dead. The soldier immediately turned his attentions to Bittefeld's foe. The orc uttered what seemed like to Bittefeld a growl of pleasure as the guardsman joined in. This was the orc's undoing; distracted briefly by the other soldier, Bittefeld fended off an a blow with his shield and, putting the last of his strength behind his sword, thrust its point through the orc's throat. Somehow the orc managed to look amazed, disappointed and annoyed in it's brief, final seconds, a sight Bittefeld had seen many a time but it never failed to amaze and amuse him each time. He struggled to pull the glistening sword point from the orc's throat and the guardsman beside him cried "Kapitan! Kapitan! The orcs! See, they are on the tomb!" Turning slowly and propping himself up with his sword, Bittefeld wiped sweat from his eyes and looked at the burial mound. Sure enough there were two orcs on the top; one of which looked like a bent old man with a crook. Unlike any bent, old man Bittefeld had seen this orc was fending off attacks from one of his soldiers with a dazzling display of  skill with it's staff..

Suffering from man-flu, it's all that Bittefeld can do to hold his
own against the hulking orc. 

The tables turned. The orcs now hold the top of the burial
mound...but for how long?...

...not very long, as it turns out as Bittefeld and his comrade
join the fray

     Gladizz's arms were a blur as she swung her short sword and cleaver deftly at her opponents. These oomies were good but not that good, not as good as orcs at fighting, the two bloodied bodies at her feet were proof of that. Okay, 'Airie Krak, one of her orcs, was also lying, dying in a pool of his own blood but what did that matter? She could handle these two on her own; already she could smell the fear of one of them, the one with the sword...

     Serjeant Dudak side stepped the hefty cleaver that the orcs swung at him. The cleaver rang off his sword, numbing his arm and causing him to cry in pain. He looked up as the cleaver came flashing at his head; a back handed smash, the blunt edge of the heavy weapon struck his helmet and sent him reeling backwards. He tripped over the recumbent form of Coloredo and hit the ground with a thud; blacking out as he did so.. 

Gladizz holds her own against Serjeant Dudak and one of
his guradsmen

Weird Wortz and his chum are surrounded

      

From the top of the rocky outcrop, Znitch fired his crossbow once more. He was doing well; so far he had hit one of the oomies and then Big Erk, one his most hated tormentors in the Orc Rage. He couldn't decide which kill had pleased him most; probably Big Erk. He watched as yet another oomie fell forward on his face with one of Znitch's crossbow bolts sticking out of his back. Enjoying the fight or at least his part in it, well away fro the action, Znitch was aware that things weren't going the Orc Rage's way and he began to make a plan for getting away with a whole skin. In the meantime, he cranked his crossbow once more

Another of Znitch's bolts finds a billet

     As the giardsman beside him gave a cry and fell forward, Bittefeld lunged at the last of the orcs on the burial mound; the old, bent one withe the quarter staff. Bittefeld didn't like the aura around this old orc; he sensed this was one of the orcs abominations; one of their witches, one of their shamans. They still succumb to good, Langenwanger steel, thought Bittefeld as he lunged at the ancient orcs back. There was a flash, a puff of foul smelling smoke and the ancient orc was nowhere to be seen. Bittefeld and the remainder of his men looked around in amazement and wonder.. 

The burial mound cleared of greenskins, only Gladizz fights on

     Gladizz caught the flash of light on the burial mound out of the corner of her eye. So Weird Wortz had gone; the only other orcs she could see where the dead and dying members of her Rage. The guardsman's spear came straight at her face. Dropping her sword and cleaver she grabbed it, held it then kicked the surprised guardsman between the legs. As he fell, howling, she grabbed up her weapons, ran to the edge of the treeline and turning, screamed her defiance at the Oomies then disappeared beneath the dark canopy of the trees.

     

     Well that was a blast. It played out really well all things considered and it adds a bit more to the narrative of the Duchy of Langewanger . 

     Though I was rooting for both sides I was amazed and amused at how badly Bittefeld rolled in combat, consistently rolling low dice for his attacks on his opponent. Fortunately for him he had a couple of hero points that meant re-rolled saves. 

     Also, on reflection I should have given Weird Wortz some more powerful magic; something that could have cracked Old Toby's tomb. Though in saying that, he wasn't particularly effective when it came to actually casting his magic; at one point rolling consecutive 1s and losing his main shooting power when he was on the top of the burial mound. 

      Both magician's powers (they are both classed as Adepts) need fine tuning as some of their powers were useless for the scenario. A more thorough reading of the Magical Powers chapter is needed, methinks.     

     I plan to get another game in this week and, if I get them painted up in time, this time it will be my brigand Free Swords that join the fray. In the meantime, if you have made it this far, thanks for reading; feel free to add any comments below,

pip pip,

The General