One Night in Mordheim

The cursed city of Mordheim

The heroes gathered outside the gates of the cursed city, trembling with fear but drooling with greed.  The mad Count Grishnak had offered a 100 gold crown purse to whichever pair of heroes could survive the night unscathed.  As if giddy with anticipation the heroes could sense the air of the living city breathing restlessly through the gates, as if it knew that there were fools to be devoured this night.  But as all intrepid explorers of Mordheim know, nothing speaks louder then gold crowns jingling in your pocket.  And so the warriors crossed the threshold into the city, and chaos was unleashed....

The participants:
Count Chetcula (Pestilens Skaven): Abbot Typhax the Plague Priest & Brother Emanittix the Sorcerer
John (Undead): Count Ladislav the Vicious (Vampire) & Dr. Hermann West, Necromancer (and his warcat Fluffy)
Luke: (Possessed): Elkazar the Magister & The Clawed One (Possessed)

Count Lucius advances upon the Skaven

Heading into the city the deck seemed to be stacked against the Clan Pestilens Skaven.  In addition to being severely outclassed by the elite heroes of the Undead and Possessed, their poor leadership was certain to be called into question against their fear causing opponents, as well as the random happenings that would be occurring on each players turn, as the city has come alive and is looking to enjoy the delights of having a night of fun at others expense.  To make matters worse for the Skaven, but brighter for the Possessed, the first random happening of the game brought a Pit Fighter wandering through the ruins who decided to help in the service of the vile chaos worshipers.

Vampires to the left of me, Possessed to the right...

But the Possessed's good fortune would not last, for at the start of their first turn the Clawed One, already possessed by a vile demon of ill repute, found itself fighting off an attempted possession by a second spirit, which managed to spitefully gain control of the monsters large right hand and slap a wound out of the combat beast before being expelled by the original demonic owner of the human vessel.  As the Undead and Possessed advanced upon the weaker Skaven heroes, high winds picked up rendering missile fire useless for the round, further impeding what little advantages the Skaven might have been able to find.  And sure enough, as the Undead further advanced upon the Plague Monks, Dr. West conjured a vile spell that stole a wound from Brother Typhax, who was then stunned upon the spot.

Saved by the fog

The disasterous turn for the Skaven continued as the building closest to their location burst into flames, blocking their only avenue of escape from the rapidly approaching Possessed and Undead heroes.  Brother Emanittix noticed a silvery pool in his panicked scouring for an escape route and foolishly looked too deep into it's depths, seeing his own demise approaching with alacrity.  The terrified sorcerer then failed his attempt at magically working his way out of the dire situation.

Eeek!  Spiders!

But just as the Undead were about to unleash unholy hell upon the Skaven a fog rolled into the city, limiting visibility and preventing the vampire, who could smell the terrified rats as sure as day, from seeing the cowering prey, so he advanced closer to where he thought they would be.  As the Possessed worked their way towards the area of conflict, also prevented from seeing the Skaven by the fog, they heard a skittering behind them and were fortunate to be just out of the path of a gigantic spider crawling it's way through the ruins looking for it's evening snack, as in the distance buildings could be heard to collapse.

Brother Emanittix bests the Clawed One in close combat

With his back against the wall and his leader knocked down, Brother Emanittix summoned the magic that only a rat facing certain death can accomplish, and used the Black Hunger to turn himself into a fearsome beast and suicidally charged the Clawed One, hoping to get in one last bite before he himself was devoured.  But the Great Horned Rat fiendishly smiled upon the sorcerer, as he bit and clawed the possessed demon to death, much to his great surprise after he morphed back into manrat form.  Abbot Typhax slowly stood up from the his stupor, and was greatly shocked to see the dead Possessed lying at the feat of Emanittix.

Count Ladislav, sensing the nearby combat, cursed the fog that prevented him from seeing his prey.  It was a certainty that if he could just close with the enemy, he would feed on them and drink them dry.  But the cursed fog again prevented him from laying eyes upon his foes.  Dr. West too was out of range for his magics, but he vowed to himself to get close enough to rip the flesh from the bones of anyone he could.  As the enemies closed quarters, in the distance the sound of scurrying rats could be heard above the din, as it seemed a very large rat swarm was rushing across the city nearby, an omen perhaps?

Momentarily stunned by seeing the Possessed model go down to the ratman, the Pit Fighter recovered his wits and jumped through the flames of the burning building to avenge his fallen ally.  But the city of Mordheim is cruel, and although he outclassed the rat sorcerer in combat skills, he was felled by a critical wounding from a diseased dagger in a desperation attack.  At this point in the distance could be heard the moaning of lepers and plague victims making their way towards the conflict, in search of hope for their rotting disease, not knowing they would find no succor once they arrived.

Suddenly confident in his abilities after somehow managing to elminate two vastly superior opponents, Brother Emanittix summoned the powers of the Horned Rat and cast Gnawdoom upon the closing Count Lucius, and the rats gnawed at his undead flesh to the tally of two wounds, slowing down but not stopping the combat behemoth.  Sensing the rage emanating from the vampire Abbot Typhax beat a hasty retreat, hoping to be saved by the fog one last time, and praying to the Horned Rat for blessings as his fur stank of fear.

Elkazar, moments before being devoured by Fluffy the warcat

As if in answer a great storm of chaos came down from the skies and knocked the vampire down where he was standing, as furious winds ripped through the city.  The winds carried the Possessed Magister directly into the range of Dr. West and his warcat, which who sent the cat after the chaos wizard and watched with grim satisfaction as it's giant fangs ripped the worshiper of the pit to shreds, thus ending the Possessed's foray into the city.  Giving one last gasp, the chaos storm sent a rain of fish down upon the heads of the remaining heroes, adding insult to injury for their thinking they would be able to withstand the city.

Seizing the advantage that the chaos storm had brought to bear, Brother Emanittix yet again summoned a horde of rats to gnaw the madly cursing Count Lucius to death as he struggled vainly to stand up.  Attempting to close with the shocked necromancer, Abbot Typhax was slowed by grasping hands of stone erupting from the ground, impeding his progress and allowing Dr. West to escape the suddenly ascendant Skaven.  Dr. West, still shocked by the senseless and entirely unforeseen death of Count Lucius, didn't see the sinkhole underneath him as he attempted to cross a bridge, and fell into it, trapped and unable to move.  Abbot Typhax, blessing the name of the Great Horned Rat and the plague, slew Dr. West's helpless warcat and then proceeded to finish the job and smite the trapped necromancer, thrusting his diseased blade deep into his gullet whilst reciting the holy words of the Liber Bubonicus.  The night was nearly over, and against all odds, the pair of plague monks had survived.  Praise be the Great Horned Rat!

Abbot Typhax & Brother Emanittix, the victors!