A Tale Of Two Tortles: Game 11

 OK, so I played through Turn 22 of my ongoing Five Leagues From The Borderlands campaign, resulting in the eleventh tabletop skirmish. It was Market Day at The Crossing, but we did not take the opportunity to try and buy Rare Goods. We helped the Town Guard and visited the Blacksmith to repair those damaged weapons... I was hoping the Crafting skill would enhance the roll enough to let both weapons get repaired, but then I rolled a 12! Repairs for everyone! Our Connections resulted in a Contract, but we declined it. Instead, we would combat an Enemy Threat!

We had heard the rumors and seen the signs of the Gnawling Horde, but never fought them in open combat. Now, they had revealed themselves and seemed to be hunting our little warband. We would be investigating, looking for clues as to where they might be found. Instead, they found us! They were The Silenced, notorious assassins. Further, a Duskling Champion had joined them!

They got the drop on us the first turn, rushing forward in a chittering wave. There were eight of them plus the Duskling. Six of them made tracks towards Weppi, Tundaline, and Brarkisy, while the remaining three moved towards Plog The Elder, Morgan, and Grushnag. Weppi and her team moved forward, while on the other side Plog The Elder tried to get up a Wall of Fire but couldn't quite get it lit. Morgan and Grushnag moved forward to protect him.

Turn Two saw things get very messy very quickly. Weppi lunged forward to engage the Duskling Champion and felled him after a few exchanges (Meta-game: that +1 to Wound with the Bastard Sword came in handy!) The rat-men rushed forward, one knocking Weppi out of the fight and another died trying to fight Brarkisy. Tundaline was engaged, but managed to repel all of her attackers. Morgan too went down beneath the blades of The Silenced. Tundaline, now unengaged, uncovered one of the clues they were looking for. Plog The Elder was able to Summon a Construct, which then moved forward and killed another Silenced. Finally, Brarkisy leapt over her dead for and Weppi's inert body and killed another enemy. Seeing the carnage Our Heroes were causing, one of the rat-men promptly fled the scene.

On the third turn, Our Heroes gained some momentum. The Silenced were unable to effectively land any blows, and our follow ups killed three of them, including Plog The Elder's first-ever melee engagement (I think.) Brarkisy investigated the second clue, thereby securing our Victory Condition. There was one bad guy left. I rolled the dice and got three ones. He decided to leave before we could catch him.

Turn Four opened with us Hoding the Field. The skirmish was over and we had been successful in gaining some valuable intelligence about the Gnawling Horde.

After the game, we gained seven Adventure Points, and I burned one of Weppi's Luck points to survive unscathed. Morgan, however, would be out for two turns recovering from a Moderate injury. We were able to loot a Bastard sword, and reduced the Gnawling Horde Threat level by one.