The Curse Is Lifted

 And here's the last of the boxed set Heroes for Warhammer Quest: Cursed City! Still have a bit of expansion stuff to go, but less than you'd expect ;) 

Qulathis the Exile

Octren Glimscry 

Dagnai Holdenstock

Glaurio ven Alten III

The End of the Performance.

 And that's it for Colette's Performers, until the new models drop in May! 

Angelica - Show MC and badass Henchman

Miss Tique - alt model for Carlos Vasquez

Colette DuBois, Smuggler

Damian Crowe, the snobbiest of patrons

The Return of Malifaux.

Well it only took 13 years but I finally finished up the core figures for my Performers crew. 

Collette du Bois and her Mechanical Doves

A pair of animated Mannequins

The vicious, elegant clockwork Coryphee, in solo and duet! 

Cassandra Felton, flanked by two Showgirls 

The whole crew, so far :) 

Who knows, I may even use them to play a game this week! 

Tales of the Ecthel Coast, Turn 26

The party travels to the Starridge mountain range in the south, seeking the valley in Yldris' vision. It turns out to be a tiny mining hamlet! The place seems abandoned at first, without a soul in sight, and all doors and windows shuttered. As they make their way carefully down the only street, they are startled by a sudden bang! as a shutter flies open. "Beware the Old Kin!" a crone calls out. "Ye'd best come in before ye become lizard food!" 

A warm tea and short chat later, the party learns that a raiding patrol of Old Kin has taken up residence in the mines adjacent to the town, which is called Saltshell. The mayor of the town hired a small group of adventurers to clear out the mine, but they haven't been heard from in some time, and subsequent attempts to approach the minehead were driven away by armed lizardmen. 

The adventurers look at each other. "Two birds, one stone," Bashir says, and shrugs with a rueful grin. 

With that they gear up and head to the occupied mine. 

The party makes its way into the mines

Diane moves deeper into the cavern

At first, all is quiet. Yldris stumbles into a toxic pool, whose caustic fumes trace angry burns on his legs. The elf winces but manages to stay quiet. 

Their way blocked, the party doubles back and tries a different passage. The alchemical light of magical runes glow at the end of the tunnel marks a chamber with exits in all directions, and perhaps contains the information they are seeking. As they approach, they hear the telltale sounds of a fighting patrol nearby. Brandishing swords and bows, Alcuin leads Yldris and Diane around the corner to confront their foe... 

The party confronts a lizard patrol

Diane downs the large lizard leader with a perfectly placed shot through the eye, but as they move in to fight the other lizardmen, she sees a glint out of the corner of her eye, and spies a slumping suit of metal armor behind them - guarded by three more old kin! The battle becomes desperate, its clashing din distracting Cordelia, who is unable to decipher the runes. 

Another patrol is sighted behind the party! 

Surrounded, the party fights back to back. Ocirne's incantation frighten away some of the foe, despite their implacable reputation, and swords and arrowshafts finish off the rest, but not before Jhonny Trinity is wounded by a vicious slash from one of their foes' curved daggers. 

Hearing yet another patrol coming their way, the party retreats deeper into the mines and sets up an ambush. 

The party prepares to ambush the remaining patrol. 

These last are caught unawares, and are cut down almost before they can respond. 

Moving carefully through the mines, they ensure that it is now clear of adversaries. Along the way, they find the bodies of the adventurers as well as the mayor who hired them, still wearing his heavy (and valuable) chain of office. As they are preparing to leave, Alcuin spies a short copper shaft among some debris; picking it up, he sees that it is a dart, whose fletches, shaft and head are all rune-inscribed copper. Admiring its beauty, he lets out a low whistle, and is astonished as the dart trembles and levitates, like a bird in his hands! 

Jhonny Trinity‘s gut wound looked fatal at first, but miraculously he is nearly unscathed! (-1 Luck)

2xp to all participants except Jhonny Trinity (1) and Alcuin (3). Alcuin and Ocirne gain a level!

Much loot is obtained: 

2x Partial Armor 

2x Helmet 

Fine Light Armor 

Strange Map (add an Unexplored Location) 

Penetrating Dart (R24, kill target to hit another within 4”) 

Jewelry worth 9 (!) gold 

Unusual Find: 2 Marks under a body

The Runes give the party the location of the Quest Finale! Also some extra stuff: 

-Evasive Silver (W) Enemy ranged attacks against the wearer will Hit only on the roll of a natural 6, however the effect ends for the rest of the battle if the wearer makes a ranged attack themselves 

-A bag of coins containing 2 Marks

The party returns to Saltshell to great praise and admiration. They are feted until the wee hours, and finally crawl into their cots, and a satisfied slumber. 

Tales of the Ecthel Coast, Turn 25

 

The party spends some time in Lighthaven to rest and recover from their defeat at the hands of the Duskling war party. After a few days, Orirne, still limping from his injury, pulls first himself and then the rest of the party together.  They discuss exploring some of the unusual sightings spotted on the trip to town, but at Jhonny’s urging decide to follow up on some new rumors of an object of arcane power somewhere in the Eastern Forest.

The trip east is swift and uneventful. While foraging and scouting some distance from the road, Yldris finds a midden containing valuable ambercat, which he takes along despite the acrid smell.

 After a few days, the last spent filtering through the northern reaches of the Eastern Forest, the party reaches a low rise overlooking a modest homestead long abandoned by its original owners, thin smoke rising to indicate that it nevertheless remained occupied. Nearby, a dim yellow glow signaled the source of the arcane power; even if it hadn’t, the copse of dead trees surrounding dead trees surrounding it was as unnerving a telltale.

Wasting no time, the group advances silently, leaving only Alcuin behind to guard the burro and cart. Their alert action catches the new denizens of the homestead by surprise, but soon enough the party spots a half dozen wretched outlaws advancing carefully through the brush in a loose skirmish line. 

Planting her feet, Diane fires at a target in the open. Her shot flies true, but rings off the outlaw’s helmet, only stunning him. Ocirne casts a spell on Bashir, who moves up with Cordelia and Jhonny, while Yldris dashes pell-mell for the dimly-glowing crystal in the center of the clearing, his Fey Boots granting him preternatural speed as he nearly flies over the underbrush and tangled roots that would impede a normal man.

Now aware of the impending danger and trying to get a fix on the party’s position, the outlaws race to envelop the party, dagger-weilding ruffians moving up behind the cover of the same number of archers, whose desultory fire with small arrows fall well short of their targets. Now close enough to see their foes, the party prepares to move up in pairs to confront the enemy – until Yldris, still dashing to the clearing, reaches out to the fey crystal entangled in the stump of a tree.

 

Well that was easy

A bright, silent flash bursts from the crystal, dazzling everyone nearby and distracting those farther away. Yldris immediately begins to run back to Ocirne, panting, “I got it I got it I got it” while arrows rained around his feet. Ocirne calls to the rest of the group to retreat, but as Cordelia rises to leave her position in the underbrush, her eyes widen in alarm. A second group of outlaws, nearly as large as the first, emerges from the woods to her right! Spotting her they begin charging towards her, savage weapons brandished.

 

But it was too little, too late. Cordelia finds that she is faster than her pursuers, and with the rest long gone, she is able to evade them neatly. 

Cordelia returns to the laager a few minutes later to find the rest of the party already gathering, and Alcuin loading a pile of cured pelts onto the burro’s back. “Where did you get those?” Cordelia pants, but Alcuin just grins. Finally, his task complete, he dusts his hands and chortles, “Making Marks while you all try to make your mark! They were just sitting around for the taking!”

He isn’t the only one with a silly grin plastered on his face. Yldris, nearly babbling, reports to the group the vision that the eldritch crystal imparted on him. “we need to go to Starridge,” he says, over and over, gesturing at the far-off mountain peaks, clearly delirious with the arcane power of the crystal. The party manages to calm him as they slink away from the homestead and its dangerous current residents, into the safety of the dark wood. 

The adversary: Bestiarum Miniatures thugs and bandits

Inn, complete

 Reconquer Designs has been making some lovely building stls, including this lovely medieval tavern. 

I still have a bit of work to do, including the sign and interior details. I will also probably put it on a base for ease of transport. I am beyond pleased with the results so far, despite my numerous build errors. 

I can't wait to have adventures in and around this piece! 

Cursed City: The Unveiling

 Took me two years, but I have finally painted enough Cursed City figures to show the game to others. My first game is tonight - I hope it is worth the effort! 

The Vargskyr

Bat Swarms

Rat Swarms

Dire Wolves

Kosargi Nightguard

Vyrkos Bloodborn

Vyrkos Bloodborn

Vyrkos Bloodborn

Watch Captain Halgrim

Gorslav the Gravekeeper

Cleona Zeitengale

Emelda Braskov

Jelsen Darrok

Brutogg Corpse-Eater

Mysterious Objects

Deadwalker Zombies

Ulfenwatch