Storming of the Oldentown Castle

Greetings!

This post marks the end of the year-long Streets of Oldentown campaign, as the two leading warbands clash in the shadow of the district's castle. The combatants must fight the neutral forces of the Oldentown Garrison in addition to clashing among themselves, and the warband with a model within 3" of the door to the Castle Tower at the end of any battle round is the victor.

And on we go to the battlereport! Below you'll find a collection of atmospheric pictures and descriptions from the fray, along with the story that concludes this campaign.

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A beautiful Marktag turns into a hazy evening in the Oldentown District of the capital city of the Puffington Empire. Workers, merchants and artesans all make their way back home for the night, flowing along the cobbled streets like living streams of duardin, aelves and humans.

Darkness begins to grip the edges of the horizon as the twin suns of Ghur descend towards the distant treelines, the massive city walls hiding the final warming rays from the tucked-in populace of the City of Order.

However, as the shadows gather and the streets grow quiet, sinister plans are put to motion right under the noses of the City Watch...

Chief Baker Tchednik senses there is something evil afoot in the city, calling in his citizen militia and setting out from their base at Puffington Muffins & Puddings after the last of the day's customers have gone home. If there is an evil plan underway, these vigilant citizens would get to the bottom of it!

...And there is evil afoot indeed, as Ghoul King Blardah gathers his ghouls, zombies and other nightly horrors in the shadow of the Oldentown Castle. With his recent capture of the refugee camp outside the city, Blardah was in the process of "rehabilitating" its occupants when the opportunity arose to execute his plan ahead of time. To make up for the lack of zomb... err, rehabilitated refugees, King Blardah opened his bottomless coffers and paid a band of ruthless thugs to join him tonight. While they caused mischief in the streets, Blardah could focus on the Castle itself!

In the Oldentown Castle the garrison was sleeping, gambling and idling away their remaining work hours. The commanding officer was on a two-day leave, and the unenthusiastic conscripts were not inclined to wander out into the dark streets to keep order, as there was no-one to force them to it!

But then, before the suns had entirely descended out of view behind the city walls, the a group of Merry Muskrateers appeared at the Castle gates, claiming they had urgent business to discuss with the garrison. Knowing the chivalrous ratmen to be good law-abiding citizens, the soldiers let them in and listened to their plea. The Muskrateers claimed that a certain "King of the Night" was planning something for tonight, and that the garrison needed to send patrols down into the streets to keep an eye out. At first, of course, the soldiers objected, but roused by the fiery speech held by Muskrateer Francois they agreed to send two detachments into the city!

As the patrols made ready in the castle courtyard, the forces of night already prowled the streets and alleys. Sounds of shattering windows, breaking doors and screams of civilians indicated that the Blardah's hired thugs had already went to work!

The castle gates creaked open in the distance as the first patrol was dispatched, but for now the only hope of Oldentown civilians laid with the brave Puffington Muffins & Puddings Militia. Local goatmen guides and the bakery's guard dog plunged into the fray without fear, followed by the bakery's burly bouncers in their colourful armour, taking the fight to the rampaging ghouls and thugs!

Slowly but purposefully the garrison patrols snaked down the castle causeway, while in the darkness of the streets weapons clashed and the wounded wailed in agony.

At first it seemed like the better armament of Tchednik's militia would allow them to prevail over the masses of their ragged opponents, but one axe-stroke at a time the odds began to turn...

...and they turned to the favour of Blardah's motley crew! For each thug and ghoul that was brought low by a disciplined blade-strike from a militiaman, two more leaped in to take their place. Little by little the overwhelming numbers of Blardah's lackeys took the upper hand in the skirmish.

Before the patrols had even left the causeway, a flock of strange daemons assailed the soldiers. A giant, flying sting-ray glided into the castle, while pink and blue Horrors began dragging down the men on the road. One member of the bakery militia rushed in to aid the beleagured soldiers, but his axe somehow often seemed to slip and strike the men of the garrison instead of the Horrors!

Chief Baker Tchednik made his way to the gate and demanded to be allowed inside, claiming the streets were in turmoil and he needed to deliver an urgent message. The guards at the gate were both regular customers of the Puffington Muffins & Puddings and they knew Tchednik personally, but they had strict orders not to let anyone in...

Then a giant ghoulish monster climbed the causeway and attacked Tchednik at the gate, smashing one of the guards aside as a child would discard a broken doll. Tchednik's escort, the axe-wielding militiaman, was being 'pacified' by the patrol and was not able to help his master, even when a ferocious half-dead corpse-hound joined in to attack the baker!

Meanwhile in the streets the Puffington Muffins & Puddings Militia was getting beaten up, their numbers dwindling under the pressure of the thugs and ghouls, led by none other than King Blardah himself! Even the Bakery Knights' charge down the alley had been stopped by an impromptu shieldwall formed by the cursed thugs.

The garrison began to panic as the assault on the castle itself grew in strength, turning their weapons even against the bakery militia that tried to help in containing the ghoulish assault. The flying stingray got shot down by the soldiers, only for a flying ghoul Flayer to drop in from the skies to harass the guards.

At the gates one of the soldiers had been pulled down in the maelstrom of the fighting, leaving Chief Baker Tchednik to answer for the gate's security along with the remaining guardsman. The towering ghoulish monster was a fearsome foe, it's giant bone club missing Tchednik's skull by mere inches more than once!

Gathering all his magical might, Tchednik was able to blast the damned thing into oblivion, the ghoulish horror dropping dead on the flagstones far below the causeway.

Turning about to drum his staff on the gates, Tchednik's sword unfortunately slipped and sliced open the throat of the remaining guard, such was his haste to get in and warn the garrison of the coming foe! The gate was opened after a brief silence, but before the Chief Baker could get in, a fiendish warcry sounded across the scene.

Ghoul King Blardah leapt onto the causeway and began laying about him with his huge baroque sword, cleaving apart the remaining Muskrateers and soldiers at the gate. Chief Baker Tchednik got buried beneath a mound of corpses, from where he snuck back to his beakery later in the night. But, seeing the awesome destruction wrought by Blardah, the remaining castle garrison threw down their arms and surrendered.

Thugs and ghouls prowled the streets of the Oldentown District all night, stealing and burning to their heart's content, while King Blardah took his rightful place in the captain's quarters of the Oldentown Castle. What dark times lay ahead for the population of the district, and whether there is any help on the way from the metropolitan city's other districts, only time will tell!