Mutiny's End, Part 4

The higher you fly...

"Captain, that's not the entrance to the Hall of Drowned Gold", Bosun Mudrin was reporting in his usual matter of fact tone. "By the dead bodies we found, smugglers were using it as a stash until the Kruleboyz had some fun with them".
"Did the damn orruks leave anything of value?" Gudrun's voice dripped with frustration.
"Not much", replied the bosun. "Some barrels of grog, an old atlas of the Karkino Sea and this sash".
Gudrun took the sash in his hands. It was made of the lightest fyresilk, arcaic sigils embroidered in golden thread along its hem.
"A fine piece, indeed" muttered Gudrun. "Allright, bosun. The grog goes to the crew and that atlas might be of use to Captain Draketooth. I'll keep this", and saying so he wrapped the sash around his waist.
"Ayes, sir! Are we getting back to the Grudgebreaker?"
"Aye! Get the crew moving".

Mudrin and the party carrying the atlas had taken just a few steps out of the cave when barbed harpoons started to fly around them. The Kruleboyz were back.

"Oi! Dat's me loot!" the orruk leader yelled at Gudrun from a rock in front of the entrance to the cave. "You'z not goin' nowhere!"

The orruk leapt forward, skewering Gudrun on his harpoon and knocking him off with his choppa.

Bosun Mudrin engaged another orruk, keeping him away from the atlas, but his grot pet slipped past and finished off a deck hand already peppered by Kruleboyz harpoons.

More orruks burst out of the undergrowth, throwing their harpoons.

At the cave, the crew ganged up on the orruk leader, stopping him from chopping the unconscious Gudrun to pieces.

Mudrin held off the orruk and the grot, but his duardin were falling like flies.

Then he too fell and the Kruleboy stepped forward.

With the captain and bosun down, the Grudgebreakers fired their flares and their mates still on board immediately opened up with the ship's guns. In the smoke of the barrage, the duardin grabbed the wounded and fled, leaving the atlas in the Kruleboyz' hands.

Gudrun was limping up and down the command deck. His wounds were healing slowly. Too sloowly in fact. Surely the working of some damn Kruleboy poison. He'd have dealt with it soon. But now Illyana's orders had come. He stopped and turned to the crew.
"All hands on deck! Full speed ahead for the Maelstrom. We're going to crack ourselves a big grab and take its gold!"
He tightened the knot of his fyresilk sash and grabbed the ship's wheel. As the Grudgebreaker gained speed, the sash flapped against his wounded leg, sending a jolt of pain up his spine. What Gudrun didn't notice was the faint ruddy glow emanating from the embroidered sigils.

***
This was the last game I've played during the Animosity weekender and I played it back to back with the previous one, really enjoying how the two narratively fed into each other smoothly.

Mutiny's End, Part 3

Of monster hunters and treasures

The Grudgebreakers emerged in a clearing from where they could see the top of the rocky formation they were headed for. Orin had spotted it from the ruins, a massive opening just at its centre, big enough for Berejin's End to move through it. But it wasn't it that caught Gudrun's attention. Scattered around the clearing floor were the mangled remains of a massive jungle lizard, barbed spears stiking from its hide and crude, caked mud sigils smeared across its head.
"Watch out, lads!" the captain growled. "We entered the hunting grounds of some filthy Kruleboyz. Prep your guns and crossbows. We keep our heading, that cave must be the crab's lair. Stay sharp! We don't want to walk into their traps..."

The Grudgebreakers' scouts had already gained the top of the rocky formation, Bosun Mudrin barking orders at their back, when a foul smelling mist rised, many figures advancing under its cover.

The largest one parted the mist, a Rockgut Troggoth that lumbered forward to bar the entrance to the cave, Gutrippaz following close behind.

The Grudgebreakers immediately opened fire, wounding the foremost orruk. The others quickly drew back, looking for cover amidst the trees and mist.

Gudrun and the deckhands with him rushed forward to reinforce Mudrin's scouts.

The captain stoked his crew duardin-born greed and they laid such a withering hail of quarrels and shots that the Troggoth could not even regenerate the wounds. As the brute tumbled down the rocks, the orruk leader burst out of the mist.

Gudrun promised double share to the crew and the lean orruk disappeared again, this time in a cloud of gun smoke. Then, he was trumpled by the rushing duardin as they moved to secure the cave entrance.

For another hour, the orruk came at the Grudgebreakers. The few that survived the fire levelled at them were quickly finished with cutlasses and cudgels. The Grudgebreakers had the cave and nothing would have moved them from there until they had thoroughly searched it and secured their loot.

***
This was a proper game, played against a new friend I've recently met. As we drew the battleplan cards, I was reminded of the beauty of Warcry. It is simply amazing how, no matter what, the cards always end up fitting perfectly into your own narrative and even drive it forward.