Through the Drakwald

From Lexicanum

The Storm Passes

The Storm of Chaos had finally passed the little Middenland town of Untergard in the heart of The Empire. After two months of receiving more and more reinforcements from the Imperial Army as attacks from bands of Mutants and Beastmen got more frequent as the minions of Chaos sought safe passage across the River Taub that the town bridge guaranteed. With the army came Mordin and his militia unit. Bigit and Konrad, two thieves arrived in the little town of Untergard seeking opportunities in the tide of refugees and the assemmpled imperial troops. Also trapped in the town was Tondil, an elf on his way home from several years at sea, and Berthold formerly a baliff with little work for debt collectors in such perilous times.

Chaos had hit hard. The warhorde lead by the infamous Lord Khazrak One-Eye had made a surprise night time attack against the town, breaking the town walls and devastating everything. The defenders rallied at the bridge and the battle lasted for nine days, our heroes all acquitting themselves well as they helpoed defend the town. The eastern part of town turned to ruins and all seemed close to doom when the enemies suddenly seemed to lose interest. As the siege of Middenheim started in the north, the tactical position Untergard represented lost its appeal. So Khazrak left with it's followers to participate in that greater battle.

Having lost many to the forces of Chaos, the town's defenders were relieved simply that they had survived and the bridge and most of the townspeople still lived. One month after the end of the town's siege, there were few soldiers still located there, and those were the most injured in the battle. Supplies in the town were running low, and people wre living hand-to-mouth in the ruins.

One morning, a week or so later, as they awoke in the partially-ruined inn they were bivouaced in, there was some excitement in the ruined town’s square as rumors spread that the town’s military governor Captain Schiller was to make an important announcement. Assembling in the square with the other suvivors they heard many rumours flying around. Birgit and Konrad eyed the crowd watchfully, as they listened to a couple of townsfolk commenting on the fact that someone called Granny Moescher and the orphans were refusing to move into the town, but there were slim pickings indeed for a  couple of enterprising rogues. Mordrin, mustered-out after his unit was all-but destroyed, stomped about impatiently wishing he could stamp some semblance of order on the unruly citizens. Tondil and Berthold chatted with the townsfolk listening to the rumours swirling round the town square. Eventually the elderly Captain Schiller arrived and was just announcing the arrival of a food supplies sent by Count Todbringer when a shot rang out causing panic!

Konrad, near the edge of the crowd, spotted that the shot had come from a ruined building across the river and shouted out a warning, and again as he saw a small group of mutants charging across the bridge. As the crowd dispersed in panic into the ruined town,  Konrad, Birgit, Berthold, Tondil and Mordrin held fast against the approaching abominations! Battle was swiftly joined, but the club-weiding mutants had little chance, though Konrad was wounded in the encounter.

Untergard Shall Not Fall
 

The party barely had time to draw breath when Mordrin spotted that the supply barge sent by the Count was under attack. Calling on on the others to follow him, he dashed along the riverbank to the jetty where the barge was moored. Even though badly wounded, Konrad was first to arrive making a dramatic running jump onto the deck of the barge.

As the others arrived, taking occasional fire from the sniper across the river, three hulking mutants were in the process of untying the barge from its moorings.  Berthold and Tondil dashed onto the jetty to attack them while Birgit leaped onto the deck to help the injured Konrad. Mordrin, deciding his friends could handle four mutants decided to deal with the pesky sniper and headed back along the riverbank to the bridge. The battle on the barge was swift and brutal and somehow even the badly mangled Konrad survived – unlike the hapless mutants. The sniper seeing Mordrin marching determinedly towards him, fled.

Once the battle ended Captain Schiller and the townsfolk emerged from cover, this time accompanied by Father Dietrich, a cleric of Sigmar,  clad in full military panoply.

Father Dietrick, with Berthold’s help, began swiftly organising the unloading and safe storage of the supplies. Granny Moescher meanwhile tended to the wounded. As they  helped there was sounds of a disturbance at the main gate to the town and the headed there, hurriedly drawing weapons.

Fortunately it was not another attack but rather  Hans the Woodsman returning from a scouting expedition. He had with him a ragbag band of refigees, with fear in their eyes and their few possessions on their backs. Hans motioned to the refugees, introducing them as survivors he found wandering in the forest, having come from villages all over Middenland. Most of the villages in the local area had been sacked, and new Grmminhagen, the local squire Graf Elster Sternhauer had forted up in his keep refusing to help those in the surrounding countryside.He also told them he had seen signs of a beastman warband a few days to the south.

As the womenfolk of the town took in the survivors and saw the newcomers were fed and watered, a debate raged between Hans, Captain Schiller and Father Dietrick . Hans was keen on evacuating the town and moving everyone to the safety of Middenheim, Dietrick was keen on standing and fighting. Mordrin and Konrad proposed an alternate strategy of gathering up the people and heading south to meet the beastmen in combat, but no-one seemed particularly keen on this. Eventually, it was an impassioned plea from Birgit that swung the case for staying.

They spent the rest of that day preparing the ruined town for the oncoming assault. Mordrin overseeing the building of a barricade on the bridge while Birgit undertook a survey of the walls and appropriated the local smithy to fashion additional crude weapons.

As sun fell they found one of Granny’s orphans crying in the square. Mordrin, unused to children managed only to scare the child further, but Tondil managed to get out of her that Granny had not returned from seeking herbs in the forest despite promising to be back before sundown. getting one of the older children to lead them to Granny’s cottage they headed in to the forest to try and find her – quickly realising that none of them had any skills in the matter.

It was Mordrin who stumbled across her – being confronted by three elves with bows drawn and nocked. He barely had time to take this in before another form ghosted out of the woods and he felt cold steel against his throat. It was clear that the elves seemed to think Granny was some kind of Chaos sorcerer and were on the point of loosing their arrows when Tondil arrived and managed to defuse the situation.

When told of the beastman warband to the south, the elf commander gather up his kithband and promised to scout to the south. The party, with a grateful Granny in tow, returned to the town.

Battle of the Bridge

Preparations continued for the upcoming battle, most of the elderly, sick and children were evacuated upriver using the supply barge sent by the Count Todbringer. Mordrin, with some assistance from Tondil and the remaining townsfolk, constructed a makeshift barrier of rubble across the bridge and a secondary redoubt constructed primarily of barrels and broken furniture scavenged from various ruined buildings. Birgit busied herself in the smithy while Berthold strode about the area working out the best fields of fire along the probable route the beastmen would take.

The next morning an elf, clad in a bright green leather tunic, arrived on the south side of the bridge and after protracted discussions with Tondil, who was on Watch, was allowed past the defences after somewhat reluctantly agreeing to help defend the town. The newcomer introduced himself as Gloria and told them that he had been sent by the elf kithband to the south to warn them that the beastmen were only a few scant hours away.
Final preparations were made , Birgit and Mordrin crafted large steel spikes and drove them into the bridge, and assisted by Konrad and Gloria, piled wood around them to be set alight. Bertold and Gloria then took up position on a partially burned-out jetty just upstream from the bridge, while Konrad, after setting light to the wood piled on the bridge, Brigit and Tondil took up positions on the barricades. Captain Schiller accompanied by the  surviving town watchmen and Hans took up their positions on the north palisade, Father Deitrick took up position near the jetty the barge had been moored at, while Granny Moescher and the remaining townsfolk took up positions in the buildings around the Ackerplaz. and Finally Mordin arrived dragging a chair and a barrel of ale - ensuring he had a ready supply to keep his tankard refreshed – fighting being thirsty work.

As Tondil spotted the shapes of beastmen emerging through the smoke, they suddenly heard a shout from their left from where Father Deitrick, had spotted beastmen scouts swimming across the river. Konrad, Gloria and Berthold moved to support the elderly cleric, but although he defended himself valiantly, he was swarmed by six of the beastmen  and went down. Meanwhile on the bridge, the first wave of beastmen had arrived at the barricade. Birgit and Mordrin (after some difficulty) clambered up onto the barricade and began to repulse the attack.

 
The battle raged back and forth, with Tondil, Konrad and Gloria all being badly wounded in the exhanges. The beastmen scouts were all killed and the first wave of attackers on the bridge repulsed. A secod wave, this time heavier armourd and led by a hulking brute with a greataxe charged in. Their leader vaulted onto the barricade, but as he landed Birgit struck him with a fearsome blow and following which Mordrin calmly stepped forward and felled the brute with a second mighty blow. 

Having disposed of the scouts the others moved to support their friends at the barricade, however the beastmen kept coming at them through the smoke, looking to swamp their defences by sheer weight of numbers. Things were starting to look  bad for the defenders when suddenlty a hail of arrows swept out of the skies! The elf warriors who had been shadowing the beastmen had finally decided to intervene! With the elves timely help, the tide of battle turned and the beastmen, assauted on two fronts were slain or fled the battlefield.

As things quietened and Granny Moescher began tending the wounded, Kopnrad went to where Father Dietrich lay, somehow the cleric was still clinging to life and, with his dying breath, charged them with delivering an icon of Sigmar he held in his bloodied hand back to his Mother Church.