The Silver Shark

PROLOGUE

Tahllana watched as the intruders broke into the clearing. Their arrival was no surprise; the Elves had heard the brutish creatures crashing through the forest almost a quarter of an hour ago, and had been aware of their stench longer still. Her sharp eyes scanned the party: three enormous creatures– Ogres, from the look of it– and ten much smaller ones darting to and fro between their legs, squabbling the entire time. She looked to her right. Her two fellow Devoted stood just at the edge of the trees, muscles tensed in anticipation; several yards back, four Warriors knelt, drawing back the bolts on their repeater crossbows.

Suddenly, the hair on the back of Tahllana’s neck bristled, and a coppery taste filled her mouth. She spun, drawing her blades from their sheaths, and waited. Before her, the shadows seemed to waver, and then a slender silhouette broke from the darkness of the woods, followed by others. The narrow shoulders and sharp features of a beautiful woman trailed down to wicked-looking bladed arms and clawed hooves. Daemonettes? Had the Lady summoned them? Tahllana didn’t think so. She remembered what the Lady had been saying about this area– why they were here– and it was likely that the daemons had materialized on their own, seeking to protect their and the Druchii’s common interests. The daemons slunk to the edge of the clearing, where they stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the Elves. One of the Daemonettes drew next to Tahllana, flashing her a fanged smile. Tahllana shuddered in spite of herself.

The Ogres had come to a stop in the center of the clearing. Tahllana didn’t even have to signal the others. The warriors rose and brought their crossbows to their shoulders.

* * * * * * * * * *

Ogre Kingdoms Scouts (174 points):
-Tiduk the Cudgeler: Gutlord with heavy armour, great weapon (68)
-Gulg and Batu: Ogre Bulls with light armor, ironfist (43 ea.)
-Ten Gnoblar Fighters (2 ea.)

Cult of Slaanesh Pickets (125 points):
-Tahllana: Devoted of Slaanesh and two other Devoted (12 ea.)
-Four Dark Elf warriors with repeater crossbows (11 ea.)
-Three Daemonettes of Slaanesh (15 ea.)

Scenario: “Scouts and Pickets,”  The General’s Compendium, page 14.

Table: 36” x 36”; bordered on all sides by 6” of woods.  The table is otherwise clear of terrain.

Deployment: Tiduk, Gulg, and Batu stand in the center of the table, with their backs together in a triangle and ringed at even intervals by Gnoblars.  The Cult groups together at the southwest corner of the table, with pairings of Daemonette and Devoted separated by pairs of Warriors.  As per the scenario rules, the Cult has the first turn.

* * * * * * * * * *

The leader of the Ogres, a stern-looking, heavily armored beast known to his own kind as Tiduk the Cudgeler, grunted a quick order to his companions and they formed a defensive circle.  They had walked into an ambush!  With the Ogres and their diminutive followers confused and unsure where the attack would come from, the Devoted and Daemonettes held completely still except for the gentle undulating of the Daemonettes’ tendril-like hair.  The Warriors slowly and silently aimed their crossbows at the closest Ogre, awaiting the signal to fire; when Tahlanna gave it, a flurry of shots not unlike a swarm of enraged wasps flew into the clearing.  One shot bounced off the brute’s rusty metal gut-plate and several missed their target altogether (including two that struck the ground on either side of a terrified Gnoblar clutching a pointy stick), but one bolt penetrated the knotted flesh above the Ogre’s knee and one struck him in the face, dangerously close to the eye.  As blood poured from his wounds, obscuring his sight, Batu sank to his knees, roaring in surprised anguish.

Scanning the treeline, Tiduk could just make out some tall, thin shapes to the southwest.  Elves!  He gestured in that direction, then grasped his massive stone hammer in both hands and strode forward.  The other standing ogre, a lanky bull named Gulg, quickly moved around to the western flank of the scouting party.  The Gnoblars swarmed forward as well, some more cautiously than others, and even Batu stood back up once he recovered from the shock of his sudden injuries.  He wiped the blood from his face and moved into a position just behind Tiduk.

Then, suddenly, Tahlanna raised her voice in an ululating war-shout and the fight was joined in earnest.  One of her fellow Devoted broke into a run at a Gnoblar lugging around a bear-trap, and another of the ugly little creatures found himself suddenly confronted by a terrifying naked woman with multiple breasts and wicked talons, the sight of which was simply too much to take standing up – so he crouched low to the ground and tried to hide under the animal pelt tied to his back.  The rest of the Devoted and Daemonettes also came out from their hiding places in the woods and stalked toward their brutish enemies.

Meanwhile, the Dark Elf Warriors maintained their positions and once again rained piercing steel from afar.  No fewer than six bolts struck the mighty Tiduk, but only two were able to penetrate his thick hide, and the wounds were not serious.  The Ogres’ leader bellowed in rage and plucked the offending darts from his skin.

The Devoted in combat with Trappy slashed at him repeatedly with her long, curved daggers, but the Gnoblar’s warty green skin was tougher than it looked.  Frustrated, the Devoted finally just kicked her prey in his bulbous nose, sending him sprawling on his back.  The Daemonette fighting Wolfy, however, suffered no such frustrations.  It cocked its head to one side like a curious bird of prey, appraising the strange little thing in front of it, then slowly closed its clawed foot around his neck.  It cooed softly in delight as the bones cracked in its grasp and the Gnoblar stopped moving.

While the Devoted watched Trappy scrambling to his feet, she was charged by his “friend” lurking nearby, who was carrying what might have passed for a sling if it weren’t so tattered and worn.  Four Gnoblars slunk further southwest as three more turned to face the Daemonette who had just killed Wolfy, and all of them began to retrieve sharp rocks, rusty knives, and gnawed bones from their pouches.  Tiduk and Gulg continued to press southwest as well, and Batu turned to face the same Daemonette the Gnoblars were eyeing.

The Gnoblars screeched and shouted incoherently as they began hurling their improvised missiles at the nearest targets they could see.  A Daemonette and a Devoted each got hit with flying debris, but the Gnoblars’ weak attacks failed to make an impression on either of them.  The single melee going on, between a Devoted and a pair of Gnoblars, was likewise indecisive.  The Devoted landed a few blows, but could not seem to hurt the wiry greenskins; the Gnoblars themselves were simply too clumsy to strike the Devoted in return.

Tahlanna had been waiting for the right moment to attack, and it seemed she had found it.  That big Ogre with the red-plumed brass helm and huge hammer was bleeding worse than he realized, so with a shrill cry of exhortation to her companions, she leapt forward.  Suddenly, Tiduk found himself fighting not one, but two scantily-clad she-elves and one of the handmaidens of Slaanesh.  The other two Daemonettes charged Batu from different directions, but in a surprising (and probably accidental) show of bravery, the Gnoblar with the pointy stick intercepted one of them.

Gulg and the four Gnoblars following him were getting uncomfortably close to the cover of the trees, so the Warriors opened fire again.  This time, though, not a single shot inflicted any damage other than causing one of the Gnoblars to trip and fall over.

Things were not going well for the Devoted fighting Slingy and Trappy, either.  The beastly little things had become adept at staying out of harm’s way thanks to a life amongst the Ogres, and while she could hit them easily enough, she was having trouble making her attacks count.  What was worse, she seemed to have lost sight of one of them.  Before she had time to wonder how this was possible, however, the one with the sling bit her on the knee, causing her to curse and step backwards – onto the pressure plate triggering the other Gnoblar’s oversized bear trap.  She heard the creak and snap of the jaws springing shut, but she was unable to leap out of the way in time and with a sickening crunch, her leg was shorn off above the knee.  She was in too much pain to scream, but she stayed conscious long enough to see her enemies begin chewing on her severed leg.

The other combats going on were indecisive.  One Daemonette knocked Pointy to the ground, but did not seriously injure him.  Another failed to wound Batu, who in turn failed to wound it, and the third Daemonette was struck a glancing blow by Tiduk’s hammer and fell down, moaning unsettlingly.  Tahlanna and her cult-sister were able to dodge Tiduk’s clumsy attacks and strike him back, but their wild slashes only scratched his boulder-like flesh or were turned aside by the dented metal plates covering his body.  Not too far off, Tiduk’s personal Gnoblar dropped his own weapon, a scaled-down version of his master’s formidable hammer, and collapsed in a giggling fit to see his master getting beaten by a bunch of girls.

Even as the Gnoblar called Clubba shrieked and howled with malicious glee, Slingy and another little runt, this one with a pillow strapped to his chest like armor, jumped into the fight between Pointy and the Daemonette, and almost all the others accompanied Gulg to the edge of the woods, just west of the crossbow-armed Warriors’ position.  The Gnoblars tried to pelt the closest elf with an assortment of vaguely weapon-like items, but again their attacks proved futile.

The beautiful and deadly creature that now found itself surrounded by three stunted, grey-green creatures hissed irritably.  It easily side-stepped an attack from Slingy, shrugged off an ineffectual swat from Pillow, and groaned blissfully as it impaled Pointy on one of its long, spear-like claws before he could get to his feet.  Elsewhere, Batu and his Daemonette continued to slug it out.  Batu deflected what would have been a killing strike with the heavy spiked gauntlet on his left hand, but the Daemonette’s unnatural aura likewise protected it from Batu’s huge sword, and the two remained locked in their heated struggle.

Tiduk, meanwhile, was on his heels.  He had knocked down one of his assailants, but the two elves still standing were much faster than he was, and seemed to exude a heady musk that muddled his senses and made him drowsy.  He shook his head and blinked several times, feeling himself relaxing against his will, and as he watched his mighty weapon drop from his hands, he barely felt the cruelly-barbed daggers of Tahlanna and her fellow Devoted plunging into his sides and back – they each stabbed him twice with little effect, then Tahlanna drove her blade deep and hard into the side of Tiduk’s chest and twisted it.  She felt the edge of the dagger scrape bone, and howled her triumph to the skies as the Ogre’s blood gushed from his body to soak the forest floor.

The whole Ogre scouting party turned and watched in horror as Tiduk fell, and the rest of the fight was over almost immediately.  Tahlanna, fully in the throes of bloodlust, leapt at the nearest Gnoblar, while her companion charged into the combat between Batu and the Daemonette.  Gulg engaged another Daemonette in combat; the two circled each other, trading light blows, neither one gaining the upper hand.  All over the clearing, Gnoblars were being hacked apart, and the few that weren’t fighting up close were keeping their heads down because of the near-constant barrage of crossbow fire.  The battle was ending as quickly as it had begun.

* * * * * * * * * *
RESULTS

Horrible, awful, crushing defeat for the Ogres! The Cult of Slaanesh will be allowed to choose its deployment zone and whether or not to place the first unit in the upcoming battle.

* * * * * * * * * *
EPILOGUE

Gulg struck the Daemonette with a solid backhand blow from his iron-clad fist, sending it to the ground. As he raised his rusty scimitar above his head to deliver the killing blow, a cloud of black bolts erupted from the nearby trees. Barbs peppered the broad chest of the ogre and rattled off the metal plate strapped around its enormous stomach. One shot struck him in the eye, rocking his head back; the next shot buried deep into his throat. He fell to the ground, a weak gurgling sound escaping his cavernous mouth.

Nearby, Batu fell to his knees, hamstrung by the Devoted dancing about him. The daemon standing before him cleaved his head off with one swipe of its glistening talons, moaning throatily as the blood fountaining from his body showered its lithe form.

When the tiny greenskins swarming around the feet of the Ogres saw their masters felled, their nerve broke. They fled to the other side of the clearing, back the way they came, stopping only to liberate the lightest items from their fallen comrades. Tahllana watched them flee into the woods, then called forth the Druchii warriors with a sharp gesture of her lissome arm.

“Follow them. Find out why they’ve come– what they know, if anything.”

The warriors nodded curtly and fell into silent pursuit, loading fresh magazines of bolts into their crossbows. Tahllana crouched over the body of the gnoblar at her feet, and lazily traced the symbol of their lord Slaanesh in the blood drying on its head.

“We cannot afford any interruptions... not this close to the ceremony...”

She stood, flicked the blood from the tip of her finger, and turned to face her sisters.

"I will notify the Lady at once," she said.  "Prepare the others for battle."

Next: Closing the Snare (coming soon!)