The Night of the Sorowmœn
Kalyustar peered out of the stained glass window of the mausoleum he had come to call home.
The pale daylight of the Harrowmark was fading into night.
'Into a most auspicious night, don't you think, Soulchemist?'
"Yes, old friend. Soon the moon will raise, but tonight the Moon's Daughters are not with her".
'Did you ever wondered way it is so?'
"If we were to listen to the simpletons of the Harrowmark, the Daughters are the fragment of another moon that got shattered in some ancient cataclysm. It makes little difference to me".
'Then why are you interested in this night?'
"Because it was on a night like this that the Necroquake hit the Harrowmark. And if my studies are correct, tonight we'll hear an echo of that wave of necrotic energy. That is why on Sorowmœn the dead rest even less easily and the simpletons shut themselves in their miserable hovels".
'And so what, Soulchemist?'
'So, I'll be out there tonight, to capture and preserve that echo, so that I can use it to bolster my Company".
In the deep darkness of Sorowmœn, Kalyustar had followed the echo of the Necroquake to a pumpkin field. Leylines converged in its center and there he could hear the taumathurgic echo far better, although still faintly. The Soulchemist closed his eyes and started to recite the incantation that would have trapped that energy.
But guttural voices sounded in a mockery of a whisper. In fact being as loud as only orruk voices could be. The Rotmoons were coming, split in three groups. Kalyustar tried to use the energy he had harvested so far to summon reiforcement, but it was too little. No restless dead answered his call.
Crude arrows started to whistle by, some finding their mark into Kalyustar's body. The Soulchemist fell back to a point from where he could drew sorcerous energies from two leyline nexuses.
The Rotmoons closed onto the pumpkin field, cutting all but one escape route. But at that point Kalyustar finally managed to harness enough necromantic energy. Two Dreadwardens and a Seneschal rose from the pumpkin field.
With a might swipe of his graveblade, the Seneschal felled Awkwardo, but then three more orruks ganged up on him and brought him down.
The Dreadwardens swirled around DaLeeva and Francot, but one was soon banished by the Kaptain's cutlass.
Kalyustar felt a pulse of aetheric energies as a low moan seemed to came down from the moon and then the Dreadwarden reappeared behind Bortagno, its ghostly fingers clutching at the orruk's heart. Kalyustar poured all his spite into bolts of necrotic energy and finally the big orruk fell. But in the meantime, more arrows and El Doktoro's magic rained on Kalyustar.
Another Seneschal rose from the pumpkin field and was soon surrounded by orruks. Yet, it stood his ground.
Kalyustar realised there was no escape. Somehow, the echo of the Necroquake was far less powerful than he had expected. And now that the Rotmoons were disrupting the leylines there was little he could do. He tried to fleee, but Tambor and Parch caught up with him and pummelled him with batons and clubs.
***
'Wake up, Soulchemist!'
The Shadeglass Skull called Kalyustar back to consciousness.
'Fear not, Soulchemist! It was not your fault, and the Master knows it... Something has changed. At the hands of the pesky aelf deities, the Necroquake has been blunted'.
"It maybe so, but that doesn't change the fact that the Rotmoons have once again bested me. This has to stop! I just need a better plan!"
The Blood Moon
'It is time, Soulchemist!'
The Shadeglass Skull's voice called to Kalyustar, intruding into a dream of brightly uniformed humans cheering a masked wizard.
'Lunaghast is about to rise, Soulchemist!'.
The cheering faces turned into grinning skulls and the bright uniforms into faded blacks and yellows as Kalyustar opened his eyes. A grimoire, skulls and candles were laying on the lid of a sarcophagus. A lodestone laced with gravesand had been driven through the roots of a dark-barked oak. Skeletons stood at the ready all around.
'Everything is ready. Your servants prepared everything for the ritual. The Twisted Oak's power is yours to take, Soulchemist...'.
Memories came back to Kalyustar's mind. The search fo the Twisted Oak and its power, key to vengeance against Sigmar's servants that betrayed him so long ago. The attack of Alarielle's followers, the spear of the Kurnoth Hunter piercing his shoulder as he approached the bloated trunk of the Twisted Oak. And what else... Grellem Vallkern's blade flaring above him?
'This is of no consequence, Soulchemist!' the Shadeglass Skull voice came in imperiously. 'What matters is the will of the Master... and your plans for the Twisted Oak's power'.
"You're right, old friend. Grellem Vallkern, take command and let none come close'. The Wight King nodded and the skeletons jerked into positions around the Twisted Oak.
As he opened the grimoire, the dream he had been awakened from flashed into Kalyustar's eyes. Has it been a dream? Or was it a memory? Could it have been a glimpse of a different future?
'This too, is of no consequence, Soulchemist! What matters is the will of the Master. Begin the ritual!'
'Yes, old friend. Power and vengeance will be mine'. A ghastly glare sipped out of Kalyustar's mask eyeslits as he intoned the first words of the spell that would have siphoned the power of the Cursed Oak.
Kalyustar's voice sounded loud as the reddish hue of rising Lunaghast started to tinge the night sky. Suddenly, the raucos warcries of the Rotmoons boomed out of the canopy as the orruk approached the ring of skeleton sentries around the Twisted Oak.
Blades rang as the frenzied orruks charged forth, rusty nails held in their chunky fists. The line of skeletons held true, not even the massive Kaptain DaLeeva breaking through.
Kalyustar kept his attention on the ritual, the necrotic energies held by the Twisted Oak starting to flow through the loadstone and into the skulls lined on the sarcophagus.
Grellem Vallkern and the Seneschals came forward, bolstering the skeletons' line and holding back the second wave of the Rotmoons.
More power flowed through the loadstone, enough that Kalyustar could divert his attention to raise back some skeletons to pin down DaLeeva.
The Cursed Company started to buckle under the unrelenting assault of the Rotmoons. Even though some more orruks were felled, Dragante managed to open a breach into the skeletons' line.
To Tambor's maddened drumming, DaLeeva and El Doctoro barged through the breach and reached the loadstone, hammering the rusty nails down with their bare fists.
The sorcerous backlash almost stunned Kalyustar, but the necromancer stepped back from the sarcophagus and redirected the wild magical energies against Awkwardo. The orruk withered in seconds.
Bortagno felled anther skeleton while Dragante barged Rhedgar aside and drove another nail into the loadstone.
Kalyustar rushed back toward the sarcophagus, desperately trying again to prevent the backlash to disrupt the ritual.
It was too late. The loadstone cracked and splintered, magical energies starting to flow back into the Twisted Oak's trunk and roots.
'Grab what you can, Soulchemist! Lunaghast is setting and the orruks had the best of you... again...'
"Do not mock me, friend! But you are right. Cursed Caompany, retreat!"
As the Cursed Company filed away Kalyustar spied the orruks putting their axes to the Twisted Oak. Vengeance against the men that bretrayed him was still his goal, but now he had one more score to settle with DaLeeva and his brutes.
***
Saul's version of the story is here.
Piercing the Veil
The rout at Freebooter's Tower had costed Kalyustar many days. Unable to clearly match the indications in the map to the overgrown paths of the Harrowmark, he and the Cursed Company had slogged on slowly, often having to backtrack once realising they had taken a wrong turn. Worse still, discordant shanties and guttural calls had regularly reached Kalyustar's hears over the constantly howling winds. The Rotmoons were following them, never getting close enough to be confronted.
But now, the Cursed Company was close to their objective, the Charybdis Occolum. According to the map, the Twisted Oak was near the arcane observatory, the final clue to its location hidden in the ruin’s engravings.
'How do you intend to deal with the orruks, Soulchemist? They seem to have outsmarted you over and over again recently...' cold sarcasm tinted the Shadeglass Skull's voice.
"They have not! I listened to those that are below me and cared for the safety of what are nothing but minions..."
'And once again, you were left with nothing but thy soul to keep. So I ask you again, what do you intend to do now?'
"Follow the teachings of the Master. Be merciless and cunning and patient". Coils of Shyishian magic writhed around the necromancer. They latched onto Grellem Vallkern and a clutch of skeletons, puppeteering them back into the deep of the woods.
"They will slow down the orruks. Failing that, I'll call upon them to secure the Twisted Oak once I decyphered the arcane inscriptions on the Charybdis Occulum".
'Good Soulchemist, good'.
As he approached the Charybdis Occulum, Kalyustar felt dark energies emanating from the gnarled saplings growing around it. The wood of only one of them would act as a thaumaturgic compas to the Twisted Oak, said the map. One, dripping blood-like sap, was already within his soldiers' reach.
As expected, most of the Rotmoons showed up, immediately rushing around one of the sapling crawling with poisonous spiders.
Intoning Van Hel's Danse Macabre, Kalyustar sent his skeletons to clash with the incoming orruks, securing a third sapling emanating an aura of palpable dread and protecting the gore soaked one.
Kaptain Da Leeva and Dragante climbed up the Occolum platform, stopping Rhedgar and a swordmen from reaching the sapling feeding on the arcane energies of the observatory.
Ignoring the fights, Kalyustar approached the walls and started reading the inscriptions. From now on, the Cursed Company only had to keep the Rotmoons where they were, even if that meant they were crushed to boney dust.
Krunti and Tollich joined the fight on the Occulum, but Dragante and the Kaptain fought with typical orruk fury. The skeletal duardin, Rhedgar and an halberdier were quickly smashed to pieces.
Another skeleton fell to the Rotmoon deckhands defending the dreadful sapling.
Only around the gore soaked sapling, the Cursed Company managed to fend off the orruks' attack.
Finally, Kalyustar found the answer he was looking for. The arcane inscriptions couldn't be more clear. Poisonous is the sap of the Twisted Oak and poisonous creatures will lead to it.
Kalyustar turned to the sapling crawling with spiders. With glee he saw the Rotmoons had left only Awkwardo to guard it. With an imperious tought, he summoned Grellem and his skeletons to emerge from the woods behind the unaware deck hand.
Then El Doctoro came forward, Waaagh! energy fizzling around him and his mates. They were headed for the dreadful sapling.
Kalyustar summoned Rhedgar back onto the Occolum platform, just in time for the Skeleton Champion to be felled together with Tollich by the raging Kaptain and Dragante.
Kheinrich stood alone, surrounded by el Doctoro and his crew, amidst the scattered remains of two skeletal henchmen.
At the gore drenched sapling, a single swordmen still hold on, his companion's remains crushed under a fallen orruk.
Leaving the minions to be pummeled by the orruks, Kalyustar strode confidently towards Awkwardo. Grellem and his retinue shambled forward, leaving only one escape route to the terrified orruk.
As Awkwardo disappeared in the undergrowth, Kalyustar unstoppered one of his vials. The smoke emerging from it coiled around the sapling, killing it and scattering the spiders. After a few seconds of frantic scuttling, the critters formed into a compact swarm and crawled away.
With a chilling laughter, Kalyustar started to follow them, the Cursed Company behind him keeping the Rotmoons at a safe distance.
***
Saul's side of the story is here.
The Crow's Nest
For days the Cursed Company had tried to find the path shown on the map. The endless forest of the Harrowmark seemed to constantly shift, as if willfully trying to stop Kalyustar from reaching the Twisted Oak. Then, for the first time since he had been bonded into service, Grellem Vallkern spoke to the Soulchemist.
"Ascension is the path through darkness".
"What do you mean, servant?" Kalyustar snapped at the Wight.
"From the heights comes illumination. This I learnt from my enemies in Hysh".
'He might be right!" the Shadeglass Skull's whisper prevented Kalyustar's frustration at the Wight's aphorisms from exploding into a sorcerous blast. 'Reach a high point, and from there read the map, Soulchemist'.
"Yes! How come I couldn't think of it? Cursed Company, we march upon Freebooter's Tower!"
The night was nearly over when the Cursed Company reached Freeboter's Tower. Guttural voices rung in alarm from the ramparts and the hulking shape of Kaptain da Leeva emerged in the light cast by a lantern.
"The brute blots the light with his lack of wit. He belongs to me", rattled Grellem Vallkern.
"So be it!" in spite of the Wight's annoying aphorism, Kalyustar was starting to appreciate his qualities. "Take an elite party with you and assault the main door. I will lead the common soldiery to storm the walls".
Summoning all the Seneschals and Skeleton Champions to his side, Grellem Vallkern advanced towards the tower. A lone orruk sentinel was mercilessly trampled over by the advancing skeletons.
With the speed of the race it once belonged to, Thronir reached Kaptain Da Leeva, its rusted spear ripping through the orruk's great coat. In return, the pirate's cutlass smashed the aelf skeleton to pieces.
El Doctoro and the rest of the Rotmoons rushed to the ramparts. Unable to draw a bead on Kalyustar's party in the faint light of dawn, they taunted the necromancer.
Da Leeva made a sortie, vaulting over a stack of empty barrels to impale Rhedgar and then leaping back to safety.
Behind the Kaptain, Bortagno retched violently as he tried to keep down some Troggoth Guts he had greedily swallowed.
Kalyustar intoned Van Hel's Danse Macabre and the skeletons rushed forward, inaccurate lead shots whistling around them. The Necromancer then read from a Scroll of Summonation found at the Hurricane Bell. Kheinrich answered, rushing past the orruks at the base of the tower and reaching the balcony.
Grellem Vallkern raised Rhedgar again and sent it against Da Leeva together with Tollich and Krunti. They carried with them Gallowbark Splinters, and Corpsebloom coated weapons and Krunti read from a Scroll of Abasoth's Withering, weaking the massive orruk Boss.
Still they could not bring Da Leeva down. Though badly injured, he fell Rhedgar again. Only Grellem's intervention stopped him from smashing the others.
Kalyustar took a couple of glancing hits from Bold Rikk's pistols, but stood firm. Sorcerous blasts scorched the ramparts, but not the orruks sheltering behind. In a last ditch attempt before sunrise, Kalyustar intoned Van Hel's Danse Macabre once more.
The skeletons jerked forward, the weakened Bortagno overwhelmed by the frenzied tide of bones and rusted metal. But only the Skaven made it past the ramparts.
As the sun rose, the orruks brought all their guns to bear. In the cloud of black smoke and splintered bones, Kaptain De Leeva still stood defending the main door. Noisily sung shanties signaled the arrival of the Rotmoon reinforcements.
'The day is lost, Soulchemist. Swallow your pride and retreat!' the Shadeglass Skull's command broke through Kalyustar's astonishment.
"Swallow my pride? That's all Grellem's fault! This siege was his idea! Why am I surrounded by incompetents?"
***
Saul's side of the story is here.
