Burning Down the House

After defeating the demon and saving the Emperor, the Chimera Legion received a well-earned rest. But as autumn approaches, fell tidings arrive from the northern border. Raiders are sacking the frontier settlements. The Emperor sends the Legion to deal with the threat.

Note: As usual, I took a few artistic liberties when telling the story.

A Settlement Struck

The Legion sends detachments to some of the remaining settlements to defend against attack.

Not long after arriving, alarm bells ring out at the town of Drakovar. A swarm of hideous, monstrous creatures rush the settlement, clambering over the walls, and destroying everything in site.

One of the bestial creatures - a pig-faced orc!

Basilius is onsite with a detachment of legionaries. Accompanying the detachment is a scout named Jayden Rannal, recently hired to help locate the raiders.

Basilius forms a shield wall, which holds back the raiders. The legionaries then step forward, their sword stabbing and slashing, dropping orcs left and right. Meanwhile, Jayden shows off his archery skill, picking off the enemy in droves.

But there are just too many orcs. They hammer against the shield wall. Legionaries fall until there are gaps in the formation. The orcs surge through the gaps and into town.

Soon, it is an orgy of slaughter and arson. Panicked, the townsfolk flee through the southern gate. The remaining legionaries act as rearguard, protecting the survivors. The orcs are too busy stealing the town's crop of turnips to interfere.

Scout and Retrieve

The next day, a company led by Ulveblod arrives. He tracks the raiders into the wilds beyond the frontier. He catches up with a band of orcs, burdened by plunder from the town.

Ulveblod orders a charge. His men rush into the orc camp, hacking away at the enemy. In the heat of battle, Ulveblod is seriously wounded. His men falter. But then Ulveblod calls upon the power of the amulet awarded by the Emperor. This artifact instantly heals him.

Rejuvenated, Ulveblod leads a fresh attack. Victory looks imminent.

But then they hear the sound of a horn. An orc horn! Reinforcements are coming.

Ulveblod orders his men to grab sacks of the plunder, especially the prized turnips, and retreat back to Imperial territory. The orcs rally and pursue, but the Legion stands firm and drives them off.

After a harrowing journey, Ulveblod's company arrives at the nearest settlement, where refugees from the destroyed town huddle miserably. At least they will have some food to get them through the winter.

NOTES

As mentioned, I took some artistic liberties. We only had 4 players, so I exaggerated for dramatic sake.

We actually ran Ulveblod's scouting mission first. I scattered a bunch of spell balls around. Brett had to gather them while Robb and I, as orcs, tried to stop him. He managed to return all of them to safety. He did use an amulet he received for saving the Emperor. This allowed him to finish the job.

We played the attack on the settlement afterwards. RJ arrived, we sparred one-on-one with him a bit, then decided to do a 2v2 scenario. I came up with the settlement attack on the spot. It is essentially a ring the bell scenario for the orcs. Robb and RJ defended while Brett and I were orcs. We actually ran the scenario twice and the orcs won both time.

Once again I forgot to take pictures. Pity, Robb looked really good.