Sessions Forty-Nine and Fifty: The Parson’s Tale

The event that will one day be known as “The Battle of Turin” is joined. Conflict erupts on at least three fronts. The company acquits themselves well, but their foes prove deadly and numerous.

The Battle of the Sewerjacks

Cultists on the Attack!

Maurice, gagging and coughing, manages to stagger beyond the bounds of the toxic gas cloud. He is helped by a sewerjack, who fits him with a breathing mask. The sewerjack is quickly felled by the Night Shroud (Chaos assassin) who lobbed the poison gas globe initially. The Night Shroud hurls a dagger anointed with manticore venom, which sorely wounds the sewerjack and forces him to fall asleep to death.

As a ring of cultists rushes in to finish the job, Maurice readies his bow and tries to thin their numbers.

Inside, Pierre, badly afflicted by the poison, finds a trap door and raises it. He manages to get all of the sewerjacks inside to follow him, and they all retreat into the guildhall’s basement. As the gas pours in after them, the sewerjacks put on respirators, before similarly equipping Pierre and picking up their “poking poles.” Thus provisioned, they return to the surface in force.

They burst out the door of the guildhall, surprising the Night Shroud and several cultists. Pierre is wounded by the Night Shroud, who in turn suffers a savage drubbing from the angry sewerjacks. Maurice helps as he can, picking off the other cultists with his bow.

Pierre manages to get a telling blow on the Night Shroud as the assassin plucks something off of his belt…

The Battle of the Basilica

Sir Jean-Marc, atop Ambrose, gallops back to the center of the city. He soon meets up with Sir Henri, the Baron of Turin, and his knights, and the might cohort rides onward to the basilica.

They find the holy place in disarray, with commonfolk running around screaming and several of the Empire guards injured or slain. The surviving guards have taken up a defensive perimeter around the entrance to the Shroud’s viewing room, fending it off against attackers.

Eight cultists have mounted the altar of Myrmydia, and are in the midst of a blasphemous ritual as the knights ride in. The knights do not dismount, instead urging their horses to a gallop as the ritual reaches a crescendo. The cultists ritually stab themselves and call upon the name of Khorne as a mighty daemon steps into the world.

Sir Jean-Marc couches his lance and urges Ambrose toward the nearest cultist. He strikes true, piercing the cultist’s head and tearing it from his lifeless body. Sir Jean-Marc leaps from his horse, draws Loren, and charges through the gap to challenge the daemon. He trades blows with the abyssal nightmare, wounding it and deflecting its bloodied sword with shield and armor.

As the battle ensues, the surviving cultists on the altar flee screaming. 

The Daemon of Khorne

The baron and his knights are overcome by the daemon’s fearsome aura, too afraid to engage it. They do battle the retreating cultists, however, though one does manage to break free of their line and flee across the basilica’s floor.

Sir Henri, too, is overawed by the sight of the daemon, but upon seeing Sir Jean-Marc fighting so bravely, he recovers his courage, dismounts his horse, and charges into the fray. The daemon shrugs off his blows, seemingly uninjured by them, but does turn to face Sir Henri. A moment later, its features curl in an expression of disgust and hatred.

“GRANDCAMP,” it roars, recognizing Sir Henri’s colors. “HATEFUL ENEMY! I WILL DESTROY YOU AND YOUR COMPANIONS, AND REDEEM MYSELF IN THE EYES OF MY GREAT LORD!”

Sir Henri realizes that this daemon is all that remains of Louise, Baroness of Maisy. He redoubles his efforts.

The last fleeing cultist does not get very far. He runs smack in to Henri the innkeeper, who brains him with the haft of his borrowed halberd.

Baroness Louise, Pre-Makeover

The Battle of the Crypts

Far beneath the basilica, Renee, Garnier, and Sabina make ready for the skaven to break through the floor of the crypts. They are aided by a dozen Imperial guard, as well as a large cauldron of boiling water and a carpet of caltrops.

The skaven blast through the floor with a powerful explosive. Garnier, through some preternatural sense, knows when the explosion will come a moment before it does, and warns everyone to take cover. In the aftermath of dust and smoke, he kicks the cauldron over, splashing gallons of boiling water into the hole. There are satisfying shrieks and curses as the water scalds the skaven gathering below.

This gives the guard, Sabina, and Renee a moment to get ready. Thus prepared, they watch as wet and steaming skaven begin pouring through the breach. Several of the smaller skaven are afraid to brave the caltrops, but are kicked down onto them by their larger, more brutal comrades. Using the smaller skaven as a protective carpet, the larger skaven move to engage the guards.

This first exchange is bloody and swift. Several guards fall, but the initial swarm of skaven are pushed back into the hole. There is a moment where the companions think they might have repelled the onslaught, but then they hear cackling and the clanking of skaven machinery.

The second wave bursts up from below, accompanied by a skaven in heavy armor and wearing a tank on its back. This tank is connected, via hose, to a nozzle-like contraption, which drips liquid flame as its bearer climbs into view. The skaven is about to unleash a jet of Warpfire onto the companions, but a lucky crossbow shot from Renee pierces the tank. It explodes in a massive fireball, obliterating its wearer and every skaven nearby.

The defending guards are, fortuitously, only slightly singed by the explosion.

There is another moment of eerie calm, but this too is shattered when a skaven of massive size and strength claws its way out of the hole in the floor. It lets out a roar of rage and hurls itself at Renee, its claws gleaming with impregnated Warpstone.

Requiem for a Warpfire Thrower

The Sewerjacks Triumphant

The Night Shroud, wounded and facing two angry sewerjacks and Pierre, throws a smoke bomb and flees. Pierre takes a swing at him as he retreats, but injures only air.

The remaining cultists also turn tail and run, leaving Pierre and Maurice unsure of what to do next. There is a suggestion that they follow the cultists and finish them off, but this idea is quickly abandoned.

One of the sewerjacks approaches Pierre and says, “so. Skaven in the sewers, eh? We should clean them out.”

The Fires of Myrmidia

The battle within the basilica continues. The baron and his knights recover their courage and press the advantage, but the daemon’s otherworldly hide is immune to their mortal weapons.

Sir Henri, whose mace also does nothing to the daemon, spies the great brazier of Myrmidia burning with the goddess’ holy flame. Throwing down his mace, he pits his strength against the weighty brazier, tipping it toward the daemon. The daemon screams as the sanctified fires of Myrmidia incinerate it. Thrashing and begging for Khorne to save her, the daemon dies.

The last of the cultists in the basilica fall to its guards and the pilgrims. For a moment, it seems that the trouble is over. The brief respite is broken when a guard, breathless and bloodied, staggers up the steps from the lower levels. He says that he has been sent by Renee, warns that an army of skaven are burrowing up from below, and calls for reinforcements.

Sir Jean-Marc and Sir Henri answer the call, racing down the stairs to the catacombs.

The Slightly Overcome Baron of Turin

Garnier Has a Gun

The massive rat ogre slashes at Renee, attempting to rip her to pieces with its claws. Meanwhile, another band of skaven come up through the hole in the floor. A small squad of them quickly assemble a jezzail and prepare to fire it at the party.

The rest of the defenders hold their own against the advancing skaven and are aided in their efforts by Sir Henri and Sir Jean-Marc, who come barreling into the room to enter the fray! Meanwhile, Garnier uses his skills and stealth to creep as close as he can to the jezzaliers.

When the jezzalier team is at last ready to fire, Garnier seizes the far end of the barrel and pushes it in a slightly different direction. When the jezzail goes off, it strikes the rat ogre instead of Sir Henri, blowing its head clean off. Sir Jean-Marc, recalling his encounter with the minotaur, steps deftly to one side before the headless corpse lands on top of him.

The jezzaliers are surprised that they killed their rat ogre ally, but also quite impressed with themselves.

A Dreaded Rat Ogre

The Sewers

Pierre, Maurice, and the sewerjacks enter the storm drain near the river. They follow the sounds of battle until they reach a sewer tunnel where a horde of skaven are massed at the far end. The skaven are trying to force additional troops and equipment through a hole in the ceiling.

The rearmost skaven notice the new threat and squeak a warning. Several skaven rush forward to deal with Pierre, Maurice, and the sewerjacks. Another jezzalier team quickly assembles their heavy weapon and opens fire on the heroes.

Maurice and Pierre soak one of Maurice’s arrows in oil and proceed to light it on fire. When Maurice fires this arrow, he aims not at the skaven, but at a barrel of warpstone powder in their munition stores.

The barrel detonates, killing most of the skaven downstairs and forcing the surviving skaven upstairs to drop their weapons and flee.

As the defenders upstairs pull themselves out of the rubble and dust themselves off, Maurice pokes his head through what remains of the hole to greet them.

Reunited and victorious, the company returns upstairs.

Skaven Jezzaliers are No Match for Their Own Munitions Stores

A Lull

The company return to the basilica to the acclaim of the exhausted and battered defenders. Bishop Isidore thanks the company profusely, and informs them that the Shroud has escaped harm. The baron of Turin also congratulates them on their battle prowess and bravery, and promises to give them many honors for their services to Turin.

The celebrations are interrupted when a badly wounded guard rides into the basilica on horseback. She apologizes to the baron and the bishop, saying that though she and her comrades defended the city gates as best as they could, enemy forces have broken through. She warns that a powerful force of undead and sorcerous might now marches to the basilica. The guard is able to say little else before her wounds overcome her. She slips off her horse and falls lifeless to the floor of the basilica.