Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Rangers of Shadow Deep- First Mission.

Hezekiel Headtaker answered the summons bringing with him his trusty Archer Larkin, and Hod, the worthless Recruit saddled on him by the Commander.  They were to locate a missing Ranger in a remote village.  Two other Rangers brought a pair of Swordsmen and a Conjurer to accompany them.  The group set out in silence and kept it that way for most of the long trek.  Eventually, they found themselves in the center of the nameless village, and quickly realized that something was very, very wrong.

Scenario 1
In the center of the village, by the statue of some long forgotten knight, Hezekiel and his companions sense that something is very off in this village.


They gather around the statue, facing out in all directions.  Soon they discern low, guttural moans and a high pitched skree sounds coming from the outskirts of the village. 


A Swordsman rushes out to face the shambling zombie.


The other Swordsman does likewise.


 She dispatches the zombie and then rushes to investigate a strange sound in the hay stack.  The zombie surprises her as it emerges from the hay, and takes her down.


Larkin the Archer fears being overwhelmed by zombie and giant rat.  He retreats, then turns to fire.


Meanwhile, one of the Rangers kicks open the door to a house.  The Conjurer remains near for support.  Inside they rescue a survivor, who is too traumatized to recount the horrible events that killed most of his neighbors.


Larkin the Archer and Hod the Recruit struggle to fight off the Giant Rat.  The remaining Swordsman rushes in to aid them.


 The sound of fighting draws more zombies to the village.  They approach from all sides.

Hezekiel and Hod take on a zombie while Larkin shoots at another approaching from the rear.  The party fights it's way out of the village and regroups for their next task.....



Scenario 2
Clues have led the Rangers to a grove overrun by Giant Spiders.  Cocoons of previous victims litter the clearing near the nesting trees.


Some spiders remain near by, as if guarding their lunch.


The Rangers will have to remain vigilant when facing such a cunning foe.


The Rangers decide to stick to one flank and sweep in towards the nesting trees.  Hezekiel cuts open a cocoon and discovers a young boy and girl.  Meanwhile, Hod gets himself caught in a web and struggles to break free. 


Leaving Larkin with the children, Hezekiel forges ahead.  He finds himself locked in a prolonged battle with a spider that refused to die.  Other Rangers came to his aid least he find himself overwhelmed by the creatures.


 Elsewhere a Ranger searches a cocoon while the Swordsman faces off with a spider.


Yet another Ranger fires his bow as the spider approaches, but the creature is too fast and is soon upon him.  His Swordsman comes to his aid and they quickly kill it.   They then continue to burn the nesting trees the spiders emerged from.


Elsewhere a Swordsman falls to the spider's bite.


One cocoon contains a human transformed into a zombie.


It shambles after Larkin, who yells to the nearby Ranger for help.


As the nesting trees burn and the last of the spiders and zombies are killed, Hezekiel rescues another survivor from a cocoon.  The Rangers lead the survivors to safety and then return to base to report their discoveries to the Commander.  No doubt other missions await them in the near future.

2 comments:

Khusru said...

Very nice. Did you get the name Larkin from Gaunt's Ghosts?

David said...

No, I am not familiar with Gaunt's Ghosts. I will have to look that up. I took the name from a band that I like, Larkin Poe.