Abnormaliroll - Fighter Part 5

It was no use. The thick wooden support pole of the tent showed no signs of breaking or even cracking. The ropes around her neck and wrists was also thick and tough, not something that could be easily snapped. Reezka growled loudly in frustration, earning a sideways glance from the disheveled monk bound to a neighbouring pole. But she had to do something! Come the dawn Reezka, Verina and Stei were facing the very real threat of execution. She didn’t know where Asla, Machi, Hesh or Badger were but she hoped that if they were killed, they had at least taken a few cultists with them. Or maybe there was the slim chance of a rescue….

They had all taken a rest after the battle at the ridge. Feeling some of her strength and vitality returning, Reezka had scanned the surrounding area with a wary eye. As good as the rest felt, they couldn’t afford to let their guard down too far. Her instincts seemed to be correct when the sound of stealthy footsteps could be heard coming up the path towards the group. Wheeling around, one hand on her axe, Reezka was relieved to see the slight form of Stei heading up the slope towards them. Badger wasn’t with him however and Hesh had quickly slipped off to see if he could pick up any trace of her, he had more chances of avoiding any patrols that might be in the area after all.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy: I finally did another event!

 So I finally went to my first Malifaux event in ages. Over 4 months since my last proper ranked event. I haven’t been playing much Malifaux in the last few months as I have been fairly focussed on Guildball, which has taken over as my main competitive game. But as this was a tournament at our LGS Dark Sphere run by the lovely Tom Skitt, I wanted to go along and suprport it. I had been planning on going solo Pandora as the strat/scheme pool wasn’t bad for her and I haven’t played her much this year and always enjoy running her out. But the night prior to the event I realised I wasn’t actually looking forward to playing. I think bringing out a Master I used to be quite competitive with but was very rusty with and was realised the idea of losing games with her because of lack of practice would frustrate me. So I brought this issue into the Abnormalifaux group chat and our resident Guild expert Francois offered to lend me a Guild crew as he was playing Yan Lo for the event. I’ve been meaning to try Nellie for ages and thought trying something new would let me have a fun day without putting pressure on myself to do well. So I went into the day with Nellie and my own Lucius stuff just in case (tho I did end up sticking to Nellie for all 3 games). Brought a few of my favourite mercs along as well (Burt, performer, sue, McTavish, etc.)

MACHI TOKAI AND THE SLIGHTLY MUCH MORE BETTER DAY.

This is a write up of the events of week four of our new Dungeons and Druids Dragons 5ed campaign.

It makes a nice change form carrying the heavy bag of Malifaux stuff.

I've created a nice Druid character, called Machi Tokai Lautaro. He is not a traditional "Wise old beardy forest bloke type." He is more of a "drug addicted shaman type." Not crazy, but definitely a fish out of water. If only his companions realised that being bitten by the scared snakes was his way of healing them! He's genuinely baffled by why they won't try his mind expanding cactus juice and mushroom strew.

Still he has a good (well neutral) heart and a complete lack of understanding of civilisation on the Sword Coast. Despite everything he tries to keep calm and chop on a hallucinogenic mushroom when times are tough. That way he can be sure of pretty colours and perhaps a chance to play with pink fox.

At a later stage, I'll go through the design mechanics and some of the choices I've made for him in terms of background, abilities, equipment and things like that.

Abnormaliroll - Fighter Part 4

The sound of an oath cut through the air, making Reezka pause in cleaning the blood from her axe. Quickly glancing around she realised that the source of the noise was Asla, being jolted back into consciousness by Machi and his snakes. Suppressing a smile, Reezka went back to removing the clotted blood from the edge of her axe, and honing it back to the original sharpness. The druid’s methods were not the most orthodox but they did seem to get results. Hesh and Verina had joined her, Machi and Alsa on the small rocky plateau, which was now littered with bodies. Perhaps now would be a good time to decide on their next move, possibly by the time they had decided, Stei & Badger would have rejoined the group. That would definitely be an advantage, Reezka was sure that there would be more of these ambushes set up to try & discourage them from following the cult members. She was determined though that nothing would keep her from finding Cyanwrath. She was so looking forward to returning his sword after all…..

Abnormaliroll - Fighter Part 3

After what had seemed like the longest walk of her life, the group had made it back through the tunnel and back into Greenest Keep. Governor Nighthill had met with the group & asked for a recounting of the events at the mill. Reezka, leaning heavily against the wall had listened to Verina tell him what little they had learned while reassuring him that all the cultists and guards at the mill had been dealt with. Nighthill seemed relieved that there was no immediate danger to the town’s grain stores and had given each of the party a healing potion as a small token of thanks. He told them that not much had changed while they had been away, the dragon was still circling the town whilst making the occasional sweep down towards the top of the keep.There had been sightings of a potential leader though; a woman in a large headdress and vivid purple robes. She seemed to be in charge but she was surrounded by a large group of heavily armed guards. Nighthill’s frustration was clearly visible - his town was under siege from a host of creatures and he wanted answers. Pacing distractedly back & forth he had asked the group if they could bring in a cultist alive - perhaps then they could get an idea of why this group was here and what their purpose was.

Suddenly there was a shout from the floor below where they were standing and a cultist darted across the floor from a side door. Before Reezka could even react, Nighthill’s hand moved like lightning & the cultist fell dead, a gleaming silver knife embedded in his skull. The Governor had whirled around to face the group and snapped out an order to go and find Escobert and capture a prisoner they could get answers from.

Abnormaliroll - Fighter Part 2

As they slowly limped & hobbled their way back towards Greenest, Reezka's mind was running over the events of the evening. The meeting with Governor Nighthill had gone well once Asla had managed to convince him they were here to help. He'd asked them to go and see what was the cause of the flames at the town watermill and to save the grain that the population would need in the coming months. Reezka had wanted to go right away - she knew the long hours and toil that would be required even to attempt to replace the lost supplies. But with the howling mob of kobolds outside the keep and the ever circling dragon above them, how could they get there?!
It was Nighthill who had had the idea - an old,disused passage that led from the keep & out to the stream. From there they would be able to follow the stream all the way to the mill. The only problem though was that no-one knew where the tunnel was. Except....maybe Escobert the Red, the dwarf archivist who knew more about the keep than any other inhabitant of the town.
As they made their way down the stairs to look for Escobert, there was a ringing shout from somewhere above them. Reezka looked up to see a hero, clad in shining armour, standing on the battlements taunting the dragon. In the blink of an eye the dragon dived low and let out an intense cone of heat and flashing breath. The hero didn't even have time to scream before he was completely annihilated. Reezka insitnctively flung up her shield but as quickly as it had come, the dragon flapped it's mighty wings and soared off again into the night sky.

AbnormaliRoll - Monk

It had been a more interesting start to his time away from the monastery than Stei had expected. Despite the tales of adventure and other exotic races he had heard, he had been warned that the most likely experience would be to spend a year doing odd jobs and meeting other humans, rather than the variety which he had found himself among with this group.

AbnormaliRoll - Fighter

The keep door swung shut with a heavy thud, just as several arrows buried themselves in the thick oak planks. Reezka stopped. gasping a little for breath, and absentmindely swung the small child down to the ground. Strange, she thought, that the child had no fear of her. Most humans were at the very least wary of her. Despite the orcish blood not being the main component of her heritage, it certainly showed stongly in her features. The sloping brow, large frame and blunt tusks were more than enough to make most humans approach her with caution.
She glanced over at her newly acquired companions. How did they feel about the half orc? So far no-one had seemed hostile or attempted to injure her, but there was definitely some wariness there. The Druid had stared openly when they had first come across each other. He hadn't said much, which suited Reezka fine, but he didn't seem to be familiar with orcs. Maybe they didn't have them where he came from.

AbnormaliRoll - Druid

As the door of the keep slammed shut behind them, Machi Tako paused and rested his hands on his knees and took a deep breathe. He was not having a good day he decided. It had started well. He had travelling companions. That was good. They seemed able to fight, that was also good. Still, he was slightly worried. The northlanders were so different. They way they seemed to act and think was alien. He had grown up in a small village by the sea. He had dug the dust and fished with his father before his wanderlust had driven him to the mountains in the furthest south. He felt he understood the silver haired woman, Asla, best. She followed a goddess of the sea and nature. She liked the sea as he did. That was good. He could sense her nervousness, her feeling of being an outsider. That meant nothing to him; to be a druid was to be an outsider. She would learn in time to rejoice in the power such freedom gave. Outsiders didn’t have to dig the dust after all.