[being a Battle Report for Game 1 of Heirs of Blood + Lair of the Wyrm and Manor of Ravens shuffled into the base set. Written in dramatic style, continued from introductory flavor text.]
“…This way!” The boy called, pointing down the overgrown path leading away from the ruined supply wagon he had taken cover behind. Goblin arrows hissed through the forest around him.
Avric Albright could just make out the wounded clergymen the boy was pointing at. Holding up his shield he rushed forward, taking the boy’s outstretched hand and protecting him with his own body.
“Come, boy!” Avric said, taking him to the elder priests.
At the sight of the Hero rushing to aid their quarry a wail came from the goblins. The volleys of arrows stopped.
“They’re massing for a charge!” High Mage Quellen said, frowning. “But they boy is right. We must save the clergy and slay the Barghests if we are to win the day.” The Elven Mage then hurried past the wagon, stopping for a moment to take a useful item from the overturned wreckage.
“Slaying the Barghests will mean little if the monastery does not get this shipment of supplies.” Alys Raine called after him. “Without this shipment they’ll not hold out against another attack! You and Avric find those Barghests! We’ll hold against the charge!” She moved to take a defensive position against the goblin arrows… and promptly fell into a shallow pit that had been intended for the beasts pulling the wagon.
Alys, cursing viciously as she scrambled out of the hole and into cover then watched as Reynhart stepped into the open and blew a note of challenge on his horn.
“Are you mad?!” She scolded.
“Let them come!” Reynhart laughed, spinning his blade dramatically. “We shall stem the green tide or die in the attempt!”
Alys’ sarcastic reply was drowned out by the screaming of the goblin vanguard coming from the woods in a frenzied dash, spurred on by the howls of the Barghests that lay deeper within the wood. Heedless of their own safety they came, barely acknowledging Reynhart, and ignoring his challenges as they crashed through the forest and leapt upon the piles of spilled supplies littering the underbrush.
The metallic taste of geomancer magic filled the air, and the earth rumbled as the High Mage called forth a Summoned Stone. With a contemptuous gesture his magic coursed through the Stone and burst into a nearby goblin, sending its lifeless form cartwheeling into the foliage. Quellen then advanced past the wounded clerics to seek out the source of the maddening howl that was driving the goblins berserk.
“Be with you in a moment!” Avric called out, bashing his mace against the head of a goblin lurking on the outskirts of the clearing. He turned to follow the elf, but was met by a sea of injured faces that he could not ignore. A pair of goblins appeared from the bushes behind him, leaping toward his back, each brandishing an iron dagger.
Alys grabbed the first by the neck and dashed its head into the side of a nearby oak, and then brought her great hammer down upon the skull of the other. She shared a nod with Avric, who then turned back to tending the wounded.
Reynhart had managed to intercept a large goblin and prevent it from scrambling past. It recoiled from him and hissed as its green blood splashed into a nearby creek. It thrust high, ducked low, then rolled between Reynhart’s legs, dropping its dagger and drawing a bow and stopping only briefly to fire an arrow at Alys on the way to the wagon.
“More Goblins!” Reynhart called as two more goblins came down the path. The first stopped to fire an arrow into the chaos, while the other ran straight for the wagon.
“Go!” Avric called to Alys. “I’ll handle these goblins. You and Reynhart find where they’re coming from and cut them off!”
Reynhart nodded and cut down the foolish goblin that stopped within his reach, and then advanced up the path to another large clearing, laying about with his blade whenever a goblin presented itself.
“I think I see where the Barghests are!” The lilting voice of the High Mage came from further down the path beyond the wounded clergy. “Hurry, Avric!”
Avric swung at the first goblin, but narrowly missed it as it ducked beneath his mace, and though he landed the return swing on its shoulder it cried out in pain but stayed up. The large, already wounded goblin was filling its pockets with loot from the carriage just out of his reach.
Alys watched as Avric struggled against the goblins on one side, and glanced back up the pathway leading to where she heard Reynhart blow his horn again. This time it was answered by a sharp, canine howl of challenge. She struggled with indecision.
“Blast!” She said, finally, and turned back to the wagon, finishing the goblin facing Avric with an upward blow to the base of the skull and then turning and bringing that momentum to bear atop the head of the larger goblin. The large goblin collapsed under the impact, the embossed shape of the crown on the head of Alys’ hammer imprinted on its skull.
Reynhart neatly fended off the flashing fangs of a sickly looking wolf as big as a pony, his blood singing in his veins. In a flash the beast was down and he struck a triumphant pose over the corpse of the Barghest as two goblins crashed into the clearing and skidded to a stop, fear emblazoned on their features. Reynhart’s grin died upon his lips at the sight of even more goblins closing the distance behind them.
“Avric!” Quellen called again, already bleeding from several small wounds. Magic energy coursed from both his hands and his Summoned Stone as the rest of the Barghest pack advanced upon him. “There are too many of them!”
The two goblins edged to the side, ready to run past Reynhart and steal the supplies as an unstoppable tide of green flesh threatened to overwhelm him. They heard Quellen’s calls for aid suddenly fall silent, only to be replaced with gladdened infernal howling. They had mere moments to decide the fate of this battle, to kill the Barghests and break the spirit of the Goblins or gather what they could carry and flee with those that could walk or could be carried.
“I can’t stop the goblins!” Reynhart cried. “And the mage is out!”
“We must flee!” Avric yelled. “Take what we can and live to fight another day!”
“No!” Alys replied. “We can still win this, if the Gods favor us! By the Lawbringer I’ll not give up! I have a plan!”
“Reynhart!” Alys shouted. “Get to the Barghests and strike what blows you can!”
Nodding, Reynhart leapt over the body of the slain Barghest and dashed down the path from whence it came. Squeezing past some large stones he came upon the rest of the pack as they prepared to feast upon Quellen’s body.
“Quellan still draws breath!” He called, and brought his blade down upon the exposed flank of the rearmost Barghest, severing it nearly in half.
“Give me the boy and get to Quellen.” Alys said. “He will want vengeance I am sure.”
Avric sprinted past the remaining injured clergy and found Quellen’s recumbent form. The Barghests had turned to face Reynhart and took no notice of him until he channeled healing energy into the elf and helped him to his feet.
Quellen saw that Avric had pushed himself to his limit to save him, and was newly invigorated by his friend’s efforts. Drawing upon his deepest reserves he once again raised a Summoned Stone, brandished his Stasis Rune, and poured hostile magic into the two remaining Barghests. The smaller of the two was blasted into cinders and ashes. The pack leader wilted under the eldritch assault, but did not fall.
As cries of victory began to echo from the goblins in the forest and the great Barghest drew forth a breath to howl in triumph, Alys Raine charged grimly up the path, leaping over the clawing underbrush that would bar her way, half-dragging the young boy behind her, and sprinting with all her effort, until letting fall the final hammer blow that would decide their fate.
Time seemed to slow. The world held its breath. It was as if the gods themselves had wagered on this outcome and waited on the edge of their seats for some final, unseen throw of cosmic dice to tumble and then come to rest.
The rising cries of goblin victory died in green throats, replaced by wails of fear and the sound of many small bodies fleeing through the forest. The coming howl of triumph turned to a final, rasping last gasp from the collapsing Barghest.
The weary friends who had so narrowly snatched victory from the jaws of defeat cast their gazes back at the young boy, the priests they had rescued, and the much needed supplies that would now reach the monastery safely.
The Heroes had won the day.
[Heroes win! Overlord ends the game 1 token shy of victory and multiple goblins within easy striking range of the scoring tile. Deciding attack roll against the final Barghest succeeded on the final action of the final Hero Activation by exactly the amount of damage done necessary to kill it. This game was as down-to-the-wire as it can get.]
- Falling Twilight
