As followers of the great Zig-mah the Vurm-tai fight to keep the beast free from the scar of Chaos and pure of any taint that would attempt to befoul it for they know of a great secret that lies within the beast. That said; as the worm travels towards Nassollotyl it passes through the Forest of Gorch, and the Spiderfang lairs that infest the forest now delay the nomads in their accompaniment of the worm.
Moonstalka was the first that foresaw the coming of the Blue Death. Raising the alarm, the grots of the Forest of Gorch now ride to war against an enemy they know they cannot defeat. But that matters not, for Moonstalka says that the great worm has eaten a great big shroom that will call the Great Spider down from the night. They need only find the shroom, and victory will come through fang and web.
The 5th Skalfhammer squad of Grundstok Co., contracted in service to the Sons of Bugman AEC and subcontracting shares to available surplus members of the Hidden Reserves’ arkanaut crew, were tasked with providing emergency and aerial support to the scouts of the True Aelf Phantasms, a difficult feat made only possible by one vibrantly dressed member of a troupe otherwise clad in deep greys matching the gloom. Still, with the two tightly crammed gunhaulers careening over the tree line like a couple of alesick drunkards after Academy graduation, it was an unpleasant assignment.
Then came the mist, and when aethersight binoculars solved that and duardin had relocated the colourful aelf once more, next came the ballista bolt that punctured through the hull. No longer just stumbling, the gunhauler plummeted through the trees. Split from the endrin by a tree trunk, the chassis gouged and stuck itself in the soft earth, its crash welcomed by deep, menacing chuckles beyond sight. The endrin, however, bounced and continued its momentum forward, eliciting a shrill shrieking from the mist and a loud metallic clang that triggered an explosion and an inferno as the fuel ignited from the sparks. The fire, fortunately contained by the endrin’s shell, greedily sucked in the obscuring clouds, and the dazed Kharadron marines saw their foes for the first time —
Orruks. Thin, gangly, toothy orruks who, after pausing briefly to see that the only casualties were their smaller, sallow-skinned allies, had themselves another round of dark laughter.
“Check weapons and form lines,” came the low gravel of Gunnery Sergeant Kodek ‘Old Boot’ Amberstock, who utterly refused to let centuries of discipline be eroded by cheap greenskin trickery. “You two as well,” he addressed the two-man crew of the gunhauler, directing them to secure the craft’s carbine, “we’ll all be needed here.”
With equanimity, the gruff greybeard took stock of the situation:
He noted how the greenskins were guilty of lackadaisical crossbow fire against his squad, seemingly to herd his troopers into obvious cover before lobbing grenades to flush them out again. Damage in these exchanges were superficial, for the orruk’s amusement.
He caught sight of, in the shadows behind the leering shields of the orruk battleline, some large nasty beast of Ghur, unwisely held back. It was the source of the greatest laughter. If that had already crashed through his line, he knew that this battle would have been over.
And he knew now that the crash had positioned the 5th Skalfhammer cleanly between these orruk and the Phantasm aelves who were carrying the Lady Fauncrest’s missive and aid to the waylaid worm worshippers. Their orders stood.
There was much here a few stubborn duardin could do, and great incentive to do it: a clear threat meant their actions were now mission-critical, multiplying their shares if they lived and their wergild if they didn’t. He already heard the profit-minded, debt-laden beardlings whispering that fact to one another as they clustered together in the safer cover they were now finding. Now forming gunlines in.
“Enough of that talk,” he spoke tersely as soon as he was sure they had all informed one another, before dreams pulled their minds away from the barrels of their guns. “We keep these orruk pinned. None of them are to pass. That’s the mission. Prime arms if you understand.”
His orders were met with discipline, as he liked it. Every weapon capable of doing so clicked in near unison, enough to make the laughter abruptly end. Too late, Kodek chided the orruk. Their lack of discipline had cost them the advantage, and now the 5th Skalfhammer was ready to reply to any brute charge with deafening thunder.
“Fire at will, the ancestors watch us now.”
[The Sons of Bugman AEC of the Kharadron Overlords succeed in holding back the Kunnin’ Ambushas of the Orruk Kruleboyz, making the path clearer for the Vurm-tai.]
The seventeen miscellaneous Aelves, forest cats large and lesser and wild verdhawk that constituted the remnant of Raedheil ‘Shorehaunter”s once glorious scouting force made excellent headway through the trees under benevolent the vigilance of the airborne duardin, meeting no orruk, grot, or arachnid resistance of significant note or threat.
The problem came when they reached the first of their appointed trysting places with the Vurm-tai nomads. Raedheil himself immediately sensed something…awry…about the tall, confident ‘human’ female who spoke for the otherwise cowled and silent ‘worm riders.’ As a result the aelves were put into a state of rapid but efficient readiness by the time the local Vyrkos forest baroness, and the skaven assassins she had transfixed or bribed into assisting her, sprang their ambush.
Raedheil’s own formal Shadowblade ally, an adept of Azyrite birth but Ulguan lineage, held the Eshin adept at bay, while the aelven captain and his own best swords, including a Wandering Wardancer and an outcast Scourge cousin, cut their way through Grave Guard towards the treacherous and bestial Soulblight.
The ill-made and opportunistic compact of the dead and the rats soon found themselves outmatched and abandoned what turned out to be their intended prey – three half petrified, desperate survivors of the Vurm-tai, all too grateful to accept aelven protection. Radheil’s own had suffered many injuries in the skirmish but only two Shadow Warriors and, to the Wanderer beastmistress’s fury, the smaller tree cat were slain outright, all by Undead and two by the Vyrkos abomination herself. The Eshin leader was disarmed and injured by the Shadowblade, but its body was not among the fallen, while the Vyrkos retired unhurt to lurk for another day.
[The True Aelf Phantasms save three Vurm-tai nomads while foiling a Vyrkos-Eshin ambush.]
the forces of chaos intend to help the Spider fangs as they attempt the create a new nest atop the worm in hope that the city defenders are overwhelm fighting multiple army to once. sigmar sent strike force of iron Templar to stop the force of chaos
slave to darkness minor victory over storm caste eternal
In caverns deep under the Forest of Gorch, the Orruks of the Tooftakaz and the Grots of the Tunnelcrawl tribe gathered. Malrukh, leader of the Tooftakaz, had no memory of how he arrived here, or when he agreed to help the diminutive greenskins, only that the Webspinner shaman had reached out, and the webs of fate had drawn him here. It didn’t matter. The Orruks were hungry for a fight, and the Spiderfang grots insisted one was coming. Surrounded in a layer of mist called forth by their shamans, the combined forces marched out of the caves and into the forest, seeking the foes that would stop Moonstalka from climbing atop the great worm and claiming his prize.
It wasn’t long before the enemy was discovered. Noisely marching through the mist and trees was a company of freeguild soldiers, backed up by a well-armed group of Kharadron duardin. The grots, more at home within the web-covered trees, moved off and around, finding places high within trees to attack from, or climbing over ruins to shoot from crumbling windows. The tooftakaz moved instead to box the enemy in, building a shieldwall and slowly moving to encircle the forces of order. The trap finally snapped shut just as the forces of order made their way through the ruins of a small inn that the forest had long since devoured.
When the dust settled, and the Forest returned to its natural state of silence, the Orruks moved between the dead, pulling teeth from their kills to take as trophies, while the Grots carried on towards their fated destination atop the great worm, or within it. Malrukh had no memory of the details.
(The combined warbands of Tooftaka Kruleboyz and Gloomspite Gitz won a 2-v-AI warcry battle against a combined Freeguild/Kharadron opponent).
High Sister Yanva Thelveth reporting back to the Living City on behalf of Lord Calaec of the Ley-Finders.
As High Sister of the Ley-Finders, I am rarely asked to write progress reports. But with our Lord still in recovery and most of the forces on the mend, the task has fallen to me.
Our explorations of ancient ley-lines and fonts of magic have led us to the Forest of Gorch in the Realm of Beasts. One of the Great Worms of Ghur has been forced away from its migratory path and is moving through these woods as it nears the city of Nassolottyl. Unfortunately, the Forest has been despoiled by Grots, who are attempting to board the worm as it passes through. The Vurm-tai have asked for our aid in preventing the Grots from infesting the worm, like they twisted the woods that we find ourselves in.
Our scouts discovered a clearing in the forest where Grots had built platforms for their Doom Diver Catapults, in hopes of launching themselves onto the worm as it passed by. We managed to reach the clearing with our main force as the worm was about to arrive. As we readied ourselves to attack the Grots’ ground forces, we were unexpectedly flanked by roaming monsters who took out part of our Dryad forces as well as a significant part of my Sisters.
After dispatching these “surprises”, we focused on taking over the platforms to prevent Divin’ Grots from catapulting themselves onto the worm. Our forces met their match in the Grot ground forces trying to defend their catapults, with control of the platforms changing hands constantly. Before falling, Lord Calaec and his honoured retinue of Eternal Guards managed to take down several Trolls, an extensive force of Grots, as well as their Loonboss leader. Our Dryad forces confronted a drunk Giant under the shadow of their Wyldwood, but only mildly damaged the creature before falling to its blows. However, in a single strike our Wildwood Warden with just 3 of his Rangers quickly killed the monstrous abomination.
My Sisters and I took on a prancing Orruk Shaman who clambered onto our metalith. As I dealt him the final blow, I saw that I had lost all of my fellow Sisters. I turned my bow across the battlefield to aid the only ally left standing. Just before she was taken out, Willow-Baroness Adalanthel called forth a force of Dryads from the Wyldwood. With their aid, I managed to take out the last of the Grot forces and destroy their catapults. Though we defeated the Grots’ ground forces in the end, an unknown number of Divin’ Grots had already managed to fling themselves onto the worm during the battle. Let’s hope we can right this wrong once Lord Calaec has refound his strength.
(Pictures: https://twitter.com/WH_Narratives/status/1437975204781768712?s=19&fbclid=IwAR0B2VPUmk09Mcz5WxcnbNlwLVVXMN4PKNlihZMhhUb43ZQEdWSN8JkrDQA)