Hard Boiled EGGS

The gangs of Emperor’s Getaway never pass up an opportunity to find loot.  If they hear about loot rumored  to be in abundance in one of the many pockets of the Underhive they head out to cash in.  This is how our intrepid not-really-heroes found themselves converging on an old administrative district. 

 

The Waste-Side Bears, Shrouded Path, Mischievous Misbehaviors, Pale Veil, and Wastoids all arrived in the area after hearing a tip from a merchant in Blightwater Borough.  The Slag Ratz with a Z for Maximum Doucheyness lost track of time and were running late 

There was indeed loot galore in the district.  There was also a lack of easily accessible exits.  This was a trap.

Barrister Kowlis McVallek had sworn vengeance on those that looted Hethel’s Bowl.  He had raided the abode of Aidus Johipok, the Archeopriest who had offered a reward for items found in that area, and recovered most of the items, but the Barrister felt that there needed to be consequences for those responsible for the looting.   He had offered compensation, albeit minimal for those that turned in the items found at Hethel’s Bowl, but only the Shrouded Path and Waste-Side Bears cooperated.

Barrister McVallek had also recently formed the militia known as the Emperor’s Getaway Guardian Service to help bring local order to the chaos of the Emperor’s Getaway.   This was a perfect chance to try them out.  The Auxiliaries of the Luminaries Guild, the militant wing of the light guild,  joined the EGGS in the hunt. One of the savvier Luminaries possessed an old Terra tome “Rouge  Traitors “ or some such and used old scrap to build what he called a Dreadnought, but was really just a crude engine stuck in some metal lockers.   The creation dubbed Billy Bot clunked along occasionally breaking down as the militia advanced   On the march to the cavern the inventor Luminary went on about his next project, a hover craft built using old odorous drums.

It was the agents of the Barrister who spread the word of loot in a cul de sac of a cavern near Jersey Sump.  It was The Emperor’s Getaway Guardian Service that followed the gangs and shut the trap.

The gangs arrived in a cooperative spirit as there appeared to be plenty of loot to go around.  They entered the cavernous chamber and spread out.  

While four of the gangs crawled about looking for goodies they didn’t notice that the Kroot of the Shrouded Path disappeared one by one from the cavern.  The Foot Captain of the militia Howl Neckbreaker arranged with the Kroot’s human  interpreter to allow the Kroot to leave the area before the shooting started.  The Shrouded Path was one of the gangs to hand over the Hethel’s Bowl swag to the Barrister, and although there were some dirty looks and unpleasant words from the Militia members aimed at the mutant scum, no violence broke out.  

The EGGS spread out and entered the administrative district.  The auxiliaries, an entirely Squat outfit climbed to the high ground to better position themselves. 

The booming voice of Foot Captain Neckbreaker, amplified by the Vox Staff of the Militia’s Caller, rang out.  “ Surrender and you will be given fair trial for your transgressions against the citizens of Emperor’s Getaway.”

The Foot Captain, The Caller.  One of the Cavaliers (with Bolt Cannon)

The militia advanced slowly and the Foot Captain made the offer one more time but it was ignored by the gangs who knew what Underhive justice looks like.

The remaining gangs began to retreat towards the rear of the cavern, taking time to loot as they went. The Waste-Side Bears who inexplicably had acquired a monkey they painted orange were farthest away from the new threat and calmly grabbed credits. 

The Pale,Veil, closest of all gangs to the advancing militia was more cautious.  

The Foot Captain huddled up his militia and barked out “ EGGS break!” and the guardians(foot militia)  spread out and advanced 

The four Cavaliers fanned out and hung back.  They knew they blocked the only exit. 

A word about the Cavaliers.  What would drive an Hiver to hammer out archaic armor and get on a horse (where did they even find a horse let alone four of them?) and go riding into the Underhive.  The answer is eccentricity.   Cavaliers are weird folks.  Often having some wealth and prestige ( at least for someone living below the Borderlands) the Cavaliers like to believe that they are like the knights of old.   They also like shiny things.  

One of the Cavaliers arrived mounting a Bolt Cannon to his arm and he was excited to use it.  Taking aim, the horseman spotted several Veilers running across a bridge.  He unloaded.  The first volley missed but a second volley dropped a Juve of the sneaky gang.  Excitement for the event may have slightly affected the Cavalier’s rationing of ammo as he emptied his Cannon and withdrew with a giddy smile on his face but a now useless gun.

The EGGS cautiously advanced at the same time their quarry withdrew. The gangers headed for higher ground while the militia was split high and low.

A Mischevius Misbehavior either wasn’t paying attention or was feeling bold as he wandered onto a platform of a powering  tower and straight into the path of a militiawoman who wielding a Boltgun.  She shot the Juve and he fell to the floor bleeding from several holes in his body. 

The withdrawing gangs were taking the “ignore it and it will go away approach” and continued to load up on valuables. 

The wounded Misbehavior acted on this philosophy to the extreme when approached by two EGGS who offered aid if the little green guy would crawl to them. The grot looked at them and then crawled in the opposite direction toward a box of valuable booty. 

The gangs realized that it would babe unwise to fight each other so rhey acted on their live and let someone else shoot you dead philosophy.   They continued to back up but were running out of real estate.  They would have to turn and fight. 

 

Would the alliance hold? Could the gangs escape? Would Billy break down again?

To be continued..

The Beast Comes To Hive Decastus

 It’s time to introduce a new member of the Irregular(s) Wargaming group. Weighing in at a cool 27lbs and standing two foot tall, the newest piece of scenery is what happens when an idea comes from lack of scenery skills and teams up with a scenery craftsman.  

We introduce …

Some Background-Scenery for the sci-fi faction of the Irregular(s) usually germinates in the brain of the group scenery guru.  This is where the talent sits.  We get this…

                

The Hive Master(Game Master/Dungeon Master) has less talent…so much less talent, but has ideas.  A typical conversation is as follows.  

 

HM-Hey Scenery Guru i have this totally realistic and functional idea for scenery.  

SG-Ummm, that’s totally unrealistic and will cave in on itself within two hours of gameplay. 

HM- Nah (having no understanding of geometry or physics) it could totally work.  

SG-Sigh.. how about we do this instead.

HM-But I like my way.  

SG-…which won’t work.

Hm- You know you want to…

SG-I totally don’t

The end result usually meets somewhere in the middle.   This latest piece of terrain is the result of that teamwork.  And there was even no strangling of the HM by the SG even though there were thoughts.

The Piece-The newest terrain piece lacks the finesse of previous SG pieces but goes for practicality.   Each level of the piece is of uniform height and is built for modularity.   The first example of this can be seen in the fact that it’s actually two pieces.  Here we see the pieces naked and separated 

They are interchangeable.    They are also magnetized.   Those are metal pieces on the top and magnets are sunk into the bottom of each four level piece. 

Magnets are the key to the piece being flexible as scenery.  Every floor is metal.  We then add accessories.

We have ladders (two types-caged and ladder/hatch combos) and stairs.   We have railings.  We have various other items.  They are all magnetized.   They can be moved around as needed and moved out of the way when miniatures need to be moved.   All magnets are covered with a rubberized tape to limit magnet on metal scraping.  

We have the naked tower of doom

Then we add the various add-ones

The metal tops also serve another purpose.   We are clumsy gamers.  Entire gangs have gone overboard when a bridge holding them is bumped.  Now all bridges have magnets underneath. 

Old scenery is not magnetized in this way but any bridge touching the new piece will be secure on one end.  It’s a start.  

The piece is also practical with pass throughs on each level and the ability to have at least two methods of moving from each level.

Two additional components were added to the main build

The porch 

Who doesn’t want to pull up a rocking chair and gaze out over the hive bottom.  The removable porch was first attached with magnets under one of the ends.  It didn’t hold.   A brace was then added below; getting closer.  Finally two clips designed as fences were added and boom.  A porch. The hab is magnetized on the bottom and can be removed. 

The final touch was dedicating the beast.   We grabbed our tiny bottle of champagne to smash on the side of the structure and added a sign.

The sign is also magnetized for when a gang sells naming rights.  

So we now have a new piece of Necromunda scenery. Next comes playing with the beast.

Hethel’s (Dungeon) Bowl Part 2

 The gangs at Hethel’s Bowl were popping from teleport pad to teleport pad as they searched for items to sell for loot.   The focus was on finding rare sports memorabilia and not brawling until a four legged  fellow chomped on the leg of a Pale Veil ganger and made (minor) Hive Decastus history.

Hello

The Pale Veil was, in the short campaign so far a cautious bunch who didn’t like to fight when they didn’t have to do so.   The Shrouded Path would claim that the Kroot hound would just not listen.   The little fella popped out of a nearby teleport pad and seeing dinner, charged.  The hound had horrible scars and the  sprint skill. The juicy Pale Veiler watched in horror as the toothy beast charged.  The Veiler failed his leadership test and broke but the hound was too quick and brought him down.  It was with this action and resulting consternation on the part of the fellow members of the chew toy’s gang that resulted in the hound to be christened Pale Tail.

Elsewhere, the Wastoids became aggressive.  A sniper with a long rifle shot down a Kroot who just previously was completing a happy dance after finding swag in a chest.  The same sniper also shot down a Waste-Sider who was caught in the open.

The very same sniper later after teleporting away

The Mischievous Misbehaviors finally showed up, and the Ratz bailed out.   This left the Bear who was pushing the crate without a partner and thus stuck. 

Sad trombone

The Bear would soon receive help from a Misbehavior who popped onto the nearby pad.  They worked together to push the giant crate of jerseys..until they realized that they could only move the jerseys by throwing the crate onto a teleport pad.   Thus, a crate of Hethel Hydra jerseys spent the rest of the scenario teleporting from spot to spot as it was bumped by teleporting gangers who tried to hunt it down…by teleporting.  It would be one of the last acts of the event when a Pather and a Wastoid worked together to haul it away.

The Pale Veil were succeeding in bringing off loot.  They didn’t make much use of the teleport pads and moved as a pack.

The Wastoids, Shrouded Path and Waste-Side Bears clashed in small skirmishes that broke out whenever they popped up on teleport pads near each other, and casualties among the Bears were starting to grow. 

Dungeon Bowl, as our gangs were finding out involves looking for a football (or footballs) hidden in chest(s.). Other chests have bombs in them that explode when the chest is opened. This very thing happened to several gangers from various gangs as they searched for loot.   But where do the explosives come from?   They must be stored somewhere before being loaded into those individual chests. 

A Mischievous Misbehavior solved this riddle.

See that Waste-Side Bear? Keep an eye on him.

One of the smaller green fellows must have been tickled to come upon a giant storage crate. His fellow ganger recently helped drag a crate of loot that had come out of a similar container, but imagine his surprise when he opened the large metal door only to find barrels of explosives.  The last thing he was heard to say before his demise was “that doesn’t look stable….”

The explosion rocked the entire dungeon stadium.   Fire and smoke billowed from the container and the blast carried across the cavernous bowl.  A Waste-Sider was thrown from a nearby walkway (no safety rails) to the floor several stories below, and almost the entire gang of Pale Veilers were pinned when the concussion hit them as they were going about their loot collecting. They were largely uninjured due to their distance from the blast, but one Veiler was struck down by debris.

The large explosion signaled the beginning of the end.  The teleport pads began to go haywire tossing those standing on them from pad to pad. Then, one by one, the pads began to shut down threatening to trap gangers in otherwise inaccessible nooks and crannies. 

During the chaos, two gangs decided to go to war.   The Pale Veil were smarting from the hound bite and the Shrouded Path felt the Veilers were escaping with too much loot and too little hassle.  A Kroot with a frag grenade snuck around some debris in hopes of flanking the Veil, but was caught out by a Veiler with a hand flamer who recognized the danger and struck first.   The big bird was fried like some kind of winged meal.  The fire breathing pet worm of the Veil charged another Kroot and was soon joined by his human companion.   The Kroot was deft with his newly acquired power sword and struck down the worm, but was in turn taken out by the club wielding human. The Kroot had loot which the pale fellow picked up and carried off.

A hand flamer wielding Pather leaped across a perilous gap and surprised a young sneaker who was suddenly running around on fire.  The run was short.  The fire extinguished as the lad dropped and was taken out of action. 

Two very young and very inexperienced Kroot Juves were struck down and killed by Pale Veil guns and clubs before both sides called it quits and fled the chaos that was Hethel’s Bowl.  One by one, the gangs had experienced enough sport for one day and left the dungeon.

The adventure had been fruitful for the gangs.  They had escaped with a hoard of artifacts that represented Emperor’s Getaway high culture.  

There was, however a decision to be made.  A recent edition of the Grimfish Harbor Howler reported that the leader of Blightwater Borough, Barrister Kowlis McVallek had threatened that if any items recovered at Hethel’s Bowl were not handed over to the council, there would be consequences.  The gangs had three choices.  Hand over the items for a much reduced amount of five creds per item, give them to the Archeopriest for a higher sum, or sell them on the side for possibly more and possibly less than their value. 

The Waste-Side Bears and Shrouded Path turned the items in.  The Wastoids, Shrouded Path and Pale Veil sold them to the Archeopriest, consequences be damned.

One final note. Over time, a tradition has developed in fights in the EG that when fighters go out of action they are placed on the bridge of death (usually a nearby shelf or spare table space) in a line to await their fate.   When the scenario is finished, the after-battle injury rolls are made amidst taunts and pity by the group.  It just so happens that the scenery guru surprised the group this session with a bridge of death in real form.  

It quickly filled up.

Hethel’s (Dungeon) Bowl Part 1

 Hethel’s Bowl is located near the outer hive a day’s travel from Grimfish Harbor.   It sits just above a large missing chunk of Hive Decastus where an event known as the Cataclysm was centered.   Hethel’s Bowl avoided the devastation that struck other places closer to the epicenter of the blast that eliminated Fern Settlement from existence. Hethel’s Bowl wasn’t untouched and was subject to the same cave-ins that hit other areas of the lower hive.  These cave-ins cut off parts of the area that makes up Hethel’s Bowl.

More recent minor quakes have opened back up a part of Hethel’s Bowl.  The Gangs are headed that way. 

Game Note- The gangs were again given the five possible locations to explore.  They chose Hethel’s Bowl because-we kid you not-one of them read it as Hethel’s Bowel and giggled like a child until convincing the others to go there.-End of Game Note

It just so happens that none other than Archeopriest Aidus Johipok (often misspelled Johipak) the Emperor’s Getaway historian has a special place in his heart for this location.

That’s right   According to Johipok’s records, Hethel’s Bowl is one of the past cultural meccas of Hive Decastus.   Or so our gangs are led to believe…

High Culture is in the eye of the beholder.  Hethel’s Bowl is actually one of the former homes of the Society for the Reenactment of Dungeon Bowl.  Specifically, it is where the Hethel Hydras used to play.  This group read ancient texts about fantastical creatures using magic to teleport around a dungeon in an attempt to find a ball in a treasure chest and carry the ball  into something called an end zone   The Society was able to recreate this fictional (?) game using teleport technology and low amounts of explosives.

Game Note-In this scenario the gangs have stumbled upon a derelict Dungeon Bowl stadium.  There are cultural artifacts to be found. They just happen to be sprinkled amongst chests with bombs in them in true Dungeon Bowl fashion.  When the gangs arrive, the thirty teleport pads are turned off and they need to figure out how to turn them on to reach the sweet sweet booty. 

Some rules- there is a three digit code that when entered, turns the teleport hubs on.  Once per turn a model who began the turn standing on the pad can enter a digit 0-9 in one of the three slots.  The same code is used for all pads and all players will know what numbers have been entered.  Once a correct number is entered into a slot, it turns green and locks.  Once all three numbers turn green, the teleport pads activate and anyone standing on a pad is teleported.  This is done in the order that models stepped onto a pad.  Off they go.

- models standing on a pad cannot shoot or be shot  

-when a model stands on a pad, that model is teleported and their turn is done. A model that is teleported by a chain reaction from another ganger’s action is not considered to have taken an action that turn.

-models teleport by rolling a  D30 (that’s right..the beast that is the 30 sided die) and moving onto the appropriately numbered pad. If that pad is occupied, the model occupying the pad immediately teleports by rolling a D30..  This can cause a chain reaction of teleportations.   If a model rolls the number corresponding with the pad on which they are standing, they are teleported to the local pub and are out of the scenario.(example- Mo is standing on pad 18 and rolls an 18)

A model or models can charge a model who is standing on a pad to engage in hand to hand, but if the charged model is teleported away by a chain reaction the attacking player must attack the newly arrived model even if it’s a friend  (momentum based aggression is a hell of a thing.)

A model who starts the turn on a pad can jump off and jump back on using normal teleportation rules.

-End of Game Note

Five gangs arrived at Hethel’s Bowl. The Misbehaviors became lost and arrived late.   The Majestic Twelve, more casual group of friends than gang, were also not present.   

The arrival of the gangs brings with it the atmosphere of the day.  Will the gangs feel out their surroundings and abide by an  unsaid truce as they determine if there are any external dangers, or will they shoot each other in the face.   The Waste-Side Bears chose the latter and immediately tried unsuccessfully to shoot down a Ratz.   Nothing came of this and the gangs were sufficiently spread out to avoid any shared space.   Each gang crept forward exploring the surroundings and headed towards the softly glowing circular pads that populated the catacomb of Hethel’s Bowl.

The individual gangs approached the pads with similar tactical philosophy, throw a Juve onto the pad and see what happens.  Soon, a dozen or so of the accessible pads were occupied and the nervous Juves began pushing buttons to see what would happen. The three digit code which initially read as XXX in red soon began to change as the buttons were pushed.  A green four popped into the first slot after several other numbers failed to turn green. This was  followed by a green nine in the second slot and finally  the third number turned green.   

    A scratchy loudspeaker sounding like an unserviced animatronic bear at a Chucky Cheese pizza joint called out “Welcome Sports Fans, This is Dungeon Bowl!”  Gears cranked, lights flickered and with a sudden whoosh, every ganger standing on a pad was hurled via teleportation to another pad in the bowl.

Reactions to this event were mixed.  One Bear immediately teleported out of the bowl and to the nearest pub after a malfunction (he rolled the same number as the pad on which he was standing,) while other gangers were all business and kept from their destination pad and bolted towards the nearest chest of possible loot.  Some unlucky gangers appeared in the middle of groups of unfriendly rivals with usually predictable and violent results.

The Shrouded Path closed in on one of the many blood bowl chests first.  In blood bowl, some chests have a football within that is the whole point of the game.  Find the football, carry it to the end zone and score the point.   In this case the football is a collectors item worth creds that can be used to feed the gang.  Other chests contain a small explosive bomb.  Dungeon Bowl creators were a sadistic bunch.

The Kroot who opened the first chest did not find a ball…

The chest…to the left.  No football inside. Boom.

Along with numerous chests of footballs and bombs, there sat scattered through the bowl, crates of other historically relevant (read profitable swag) artifacts.  The Pale Veil popped one of these open and found the first collectible   

A Hethel Hydra banner.

The first truly bizarre event of the day (night? morning? Who can tell) played out between the Ratz and the Wastoids. A newly recruited Rat exited his teleport destination to claim a chest when a Wastoid materialized behind him on the pad from which the Rat had just exited.   Ratz can be territorial, so the young lad pivoted and charged the Wastoid  

As the Rat closed in a pop and fizz lit up the pad and the Wastoid disappeared and was replaced by another Rat who moments ago was standing on a pad halfway across the bowl.

A shared look of confusion spread across the face of both the newly teleported Rat who didn’t understand why his compatriot with whom he probably shared a nice breakfast, was now coming at him with malicious intent, and the charging Rat who was in mid swing at the lovely chap with whom he had that very morning shared a scone (probably) and not the Wastoid who he had been seeking to behead.

Then it got strange.  The freshly teleported Rat disappeared with a ‘pop’ and was replaced by the original Wastoid who had been bounced by yet another teleportee back to where he started-that is to say in front of a club wielding and quite confused charging Rat. The fight was inconclusive and both combatants withdrew.

Elsewhere, fighting was minimal as gangers explored isolated areas of the catacomb/sports arena/historical site.   One particularly resourceful Wastoid grabbed a giant Hydra banner and a Hethel Hydras collectible poster and was headed for the exit,

The score of the evening so far was found in a giant shipping container.  A Rat popped open the door of the big box and lo and behold found a giant Hethel Hydras foam finger.   He also found a crate of souvenir Hydra jerseys, but there was a problem.   The crate containing the jerseys was secured by one of those annoying security locks that you can never open without destroying the merchandise inside  (you know what I am talking about-stupid Sam Goody and your crappy CD cases.)   

This conundrum required a solution. Two gangers would have to work together to move the crate.   It just so happed that a Bear popped onto a nearby teleport pad.  And so it was that two gangs who had been shooting each other earlier ( well, the Bears shot-the Ratz did not) lugged the crate along the top of a building both thinking of ways to eventually double cross each other and how good they would look in that official Hethel Hydra number nine jersey.

The day was peaceful so far.   Minor dust ups, usually when a rival popped onto a teleport pad too close for comfort were infrequent but that might be changing soon.

Meanwhile

To be continued…

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