TEWR Ep 35 - A Bone to Pick

The Enemy Within Revisited Cast:
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Gustav Myrthenbaum the Dilettante (Davy White)
Hargrin the Troll Slayer (Kevin Bronakoski)
Bran the Amber Wizard (David Crapper)
Rutger Horstmann the Zealot (Chris Taylor)
 
If this craven narcoleptic ratcatching excuse for an apothecary ever wakes up, boy have I got a bone to pick with him…I grumbled to myself as we counted our losses following the Skaven attack. I should have chosen my words more carefully. Because that’s when the skeletons attacked. A bone to pick – Oh the irony, given that the Skaven skirmish was swiftly followed by a skeleton attack and now here we are fleeing the Devil’s Bowl with more vicious ratmen in hot pursuit.
 
I know it’s a team effort and the makeup of this strange band of individuals is often greater than the sum of its parts. But I didn’t realise that running away would be chief among Falco’s dubious skills.  I guess I should be relieved that I’m not the one having to carry Falco. For that and for keeping us alive in that battle we have Hargrin the Trollslayer to thank.
 
Or rather it is Sigmar whom we must thank for bringing us our Trollslayer. For a time it appeared that the fight would go against us as a series of our most well aimed attacks were repelled or missed their targets and we in turn were taking serious damage. Until the Mohican sporting stone like fighting machine finally got into his rhythm and laid about the creatures, recklessly cleaving the ratfiends in twain with abandon .
 
As I surveyed the scene the Trollslayer was panting heavily but had begun to calm from his almost manic melee state and was cleaning the blood from his fearsome looking axe blades. With Gustav waking from his concussion just as Falco slipped into one it appeared the worst of it was over. But we didn’t figure on those damn skeletons.
 
It’s not that these undead were particularly hard to kill (I mean they were begging for a fatal release from their undead state) but by chaos they were sure relentless. No sooner had one emerged rattling it’s bones than another clattered through the opening after it. Then another, and a fourth. Luckily there wasn’t a fifth since one of our number was currently slumbering (curled up in the foetal position and muttering something about his mother – or someones mother).
 
In any case I digress. With the undead finally vanquished there was nothing left but to search the belongings of the unfortunate and long lost hiking party. Some peculiar potions that we’ll run by Falco, when he’s caught up on his beauty sleep and some maps which even without Gustav’s reading skills are clearly duplicates of maps we’ve already found. But what’s this? A strange cylindrical necklace. Just like the one that was missing from the Observatory we visited prior. So it looks like we’ll be heading back to the Signalling Tower for more undead and ghoulrot action. Yes Gustav in particular seems about as delighted by that news as a mutant speaker would be at a Witch Hunter conference.
 
So here we are again. On the run with no time now to rest, reflect or plan our next move. Simply fight and flight. Bran’s bird call filled the air and announced. "More Skaven are coming." We chose to fly. So here we all are panting heavily and gasping for air and running as fast as our legs will carry us. While Falco is…sleeping. Sigh! It’s gonna be a long, long road ahead. 

​by GM Noely