Goblin Lands 2 Conquest Event 22: The Karovian Deathsquads

[Narrator]

Part 1: Rapi’og’s Last Stand

The Kolgul Militia almost felt proud. Their police action in the GulTor’Uf lands had been a complete success. A few wounded had been easily healed, and no casualties. Waynewright Heggle had been in the KGM since before Yaog’s ill-fated takeover and the sellout to the Elogans. During Yaog’s rule he was the first to talk about the tyrannical oppression. He also refused a haircut resulting in a long mop of fur sticking out from under his helm.
Then Filan Greybeard was deposed and Yaog was executed.
Waynewright cheered, and used his meager pay to buy all his squadmates big jugs of Maklal liquor to celebrate.
He liked Oliver. Oliver was a quiet Olgog. And very focused on rules and keeping up the appearance of the command structure. Oliver’s rules made sense whereas Yaog’s had just been to keep Yaog’s table full of food and loot.
When Waynewright heard about the attack on the Tor’Lallur religious site he was confused. Why would anyone attack a group who promised to keep all Olgog tribes from every getting dangerous diseases in exchange for the sniffles every now and then?
Then he learned from the Army of the True Flame soldiers during their march to Karov. Apparently the GulTor’Uf were proponents of some sort of religion known as Uhryu Reformism. They wanted to change everyone’s belief. The Uhryu Reformists wanted to let the Armorfiends and Swordfiends run free to eat whomever they wanted, and no one could worship any faith that the Uhryu Reformists disagreed with. At least that is how it was explained to Waynewright.
The deserts and canyonlands of Karov were picturesc. And the trip had been quick as marches go.

The battle had taken an afternoon, and the Uhryu criminals had been captured and killed during the battle. Their bodies had been gathered, and the rest left for resurrection by their fellow tribals.
Oliver had ordered the bodies of the Uhryus resurrected, but made it clear to Waynewright and his fellow guard if the prisoners tried to escape or even draw upon the Leyas, they had to be put down again. One by one over the two day ride, one after another Uhryu had made attempts. They had tried to leave artificed symbols to help rescuers track them. Oliver ordered them to put a springshot spike in each of their heads but leave the bodies intact for further resurrection. Waynewright definitely believed his CO wanted these Uhryus alive for their trial. They just had to make it out of Karov before more criminals attacked and tried to free them.

Other tribes had also joined their procession. The Outcasts, a group of Immutable Gunners from Unen had their trucks in a defensive formation around the Mak Hoblok drawn cart that held the criminals. Waynewright could tell many of the Outcasts were also former EEF soldiers. Waynewright had been in the New Vorik 27th Riflemen for four years, and flashed a few coded EEF hand gestures to the Outcasts which they returned. Good people, Waynewright thought, he was glad to have their defense.

On the second day of travel, they saw large sets of Robotic Armor fly overhead. Unlike the striders used by the EEF, these larger robots were not familiar to him. Waynewright did notice the markings of the Valley of Vegalia Comission on their shoulders. Seeing the heavy weapons carried by the Veskan Robot Armors, made Waynewright sudder a little. He had only heard myths and legends of the “Lost” Colonies. Their tech was impressive, almost as scary as the stuff deployed by the Iron Republic during their ill-fated invasion last year.

Five of the Robot Armors looped back towards their column. Their gatlin railcannons began to spin up, with a terrifying sound.

Waynewright saw Flora of the Outcasts flash a set of EEF Handsignals to her boss Urik. Urik looked upset and it made Waynewright quite concerned. Urik signaled back, wait till they engage.
Urik said aloud, “This may just be a show of force to have us stand down.”

Waynewright nodded and returned to his guard position. His fellow guard was a KGM raider he didn’t know that well. He vaguely remembered the guard as one of Gobbog’s honor guard back when Yaog ruled stuff.

Waynewright opened the cart and checked the criminals bodies. Except for stinking to high heaven, the bodies where still in good condition for resurrection. Job well done, he thought to himself, now we just have to avoid conflict with the Robot Armor.

With his back turned he never saw the moment when one of the Veskan Armor’s missile racks began to superheat. He spun around when he heard the explosion though. He heard Urik yell, “Who the hell fired? No order to fire was given!!!”

Outcasts were yelling back, “Boss, no shots fired, no shots fired.”

The remaining Veskan Pilots didn’t wait to find out it wasn’t the KGM and Outcasts who fired upon them. They keyed up their targeting arrays, and even Waynewright saw a targeting laser flicker across his chest.

“Incoming!!!” Waynewright yelled.

The first missile arced off another Veskan Armor streaking towards the truck carrying Urik. Waynewright was sure the Gunner’s boss was dead meat, but an igloo appeared around the truck, deflecting the missile blast backwards. When the smoke cleared, Urik and the truck were fine, if covered in a sheen of ice splinters.

Waynewright saw from their flanks as summoned Chimeras and air, earth, water, and fire spirits swarmed down from the landscape. Among them ran Karovian nomads, and Waynewright recognized the Chieftain Rapi’og among them. Rapi’og saw he was spotted and disappeared behind a Chimera, as his Ur Maks moved forward under cover of the summoned creatures.

“GulTor’Uf, GulTor’Uf Flankers! Flankers!”, yelled Waynewright.

The Outcasts and the KGM turned their rifles on the attackers. Heavy fifty caliber rounds punched through Chimera pelt, and Olgog hide equally. The smell of blood and death filled the air.

[Narrator]

Waynewright was knocked off the cart by a Chimera. The lion head bit down on his shoulder and the KGM soldier yelled out in pain and rage. He placed his hand on the creatures head and blasted it clean off with a gout of acid. The creature fell backwards, its goat and serpent head screaming in pain.
Before it could tear him apart, Waynewright watched as it was leapt on by an Earth Elemental.

A strange dirty gog helped Waynewright to his feet, obviously putting most of his concentration into controlling the Earth elemental which battered the Chimera into submission. Waynewright recognized him as Tor’og master hunter of the Tor’Lallur. Before he could thank the pit-worshipper, Tor’og was gone back into the swirling melee between Spirits and Chimeras. More and more Earth Elementals rose in defense of the KGM and their allies.

All around him, lightning arced, and fire breath cooked the air. Waynewright ran across the dusty sand, trying to catch up with the cart. He saw his fellow guard was missing…was he also a casualty of the battle?

One green furred hand out ahead of him, Waynewright finally caught the lip of the cart’s edge and pulled himself up. Lifting himself onto the wooden slates, he saw Urik fire a trio of grenades into the heart of the attackers ranks. Explosions followed by the bellowing of dying chimeras and bits of green fur filled the air.

Waynewright saw smoke billowing from inside the cart. Had it taken a hit from one of the Veskan missiles? Or from one of the Chimera’s fire breaths? No he realized, the outside was unharmed.
He quickly fumbled with his keys and opened the locked door. Heat greeted him and the smell of burning flesh. Inside was a Red Fur??? What was a Pit Mongrel doing here? The bodies around him had been burned to ash, nothing remained to resurrect.

With a roar of futility, Waynewright raised his sidearm and put a pair of springshot spikes through the pit mongrel’s legs and locked the monster inside. He may have failed at guarding the Uhryus but someone was going to trial, even if it was the Pit Mongrel.

The battle continued to rage around him. One of the Outcast’s Missiles took out the last remaining Veskan Armor, which crashed a few feet away. Metal shrapnel peppered the side of his face, and Waynewright reached up and felt blood pooling. Everything began to go dark, the suddenly Oliver was there, healing him yelling, “Don’t you die on me!”

Suddenly from the west came the sound of thundering hooves. Waynewright hoped they were on their side, as twenty five knights in shining plate rode down the dunes, crashing into the summoned entities.
Swords rang out as they clashed against Chimera claws, and some of the swords shattered into tiny pieces. Fire was everywhere, and bodies burned, and the smell was as bad as the worst of the fighting Waynewright had experienced during the Border Wars.

Oliver finally helped the KGM raider to his feet. The pair looked out across the horrific battlefield.
So much blood it was impossible to know where one chimera began and the olgog bodies ended.
Oliver also saw most of his own Olgogs were dead, killed by the ferocity of the GulTor’Uf flanking maneuver, and consumed by Chimeras. Only Oliver and Waynewright remained. It was the first time Oliver had ever lost so many of his own troops and tears welled in the corners of his eyes.

Oliver’s eyes grew dark as he said, “Last time we left parts for the GulTor’Uf to resurrect. They repaid us by killing my men. This time, there will be no second chances. Every Olgog body that is not claimed by the Outcasts as members or marked as Tor’Lallur, will be burned to ash. The Uhryus will be told of this when we resurrect them at the trial. I will take responsibility for this order. ”

“Sir,” said Waynewright, “The Uhryus have already been granted final death. A Red Fur sneaked in and did it during the fighting. But I caught him in the act. He’s in the cart.”

Oliver snarled and said, “Then there will still be a trial. No one gets in the way of KGM justice. In either way, by freeing the prisoners or by killing them.”

[Narrator]

Part 2: Rapi’og’s Final Moments.

A few moments earlier.

Rapi’og had never felt a fifty caliber round before. The shot had punched through the Chimera he was using as shield, and severed the lower half of his body. Another round had severed his arm at the shoulder. The pain was unbearable, and his eyes traced the horizon for any of the adepts who should be healing him.

He thought back to Bill, kindly old Bill who had always told him to seek peace not war. In those last moments, Rapi’og finally understood how his pride, his desire to be right and never compromise had forged this moment. Right and wrong mattered little when your lifeblood was spilling across the sands.

All those beatings from Bill hadn’t made him better. They had only reinforced that Might makes right.
That he could batter his way into leadership. That he could batter his way to “justice” for his captured Uhryus.

An Ur Mak stood over him saying, “Chief, Chief, the Uhryus have been burned. Given final death…we failed. Chief can you hear me? Chief?”

Rapi’og’s eyes looked past the Ur Mak at the horizon. It was so beautiful, the sky above Karov. If he could do it all again, he would have embraced the nomadic ways. He would have honored his allies and enemies equally and kept to his own lands and enjoyed the plentiful hunts and open sky.

The blue sky to the south seemed to glow red for a few moments, but Rapi’og couldn’t tell if it was a trick of his vision.

Tears tumbled from his eyes. His remaining hand reached up to the Ur Mak, even though his eyes never left the horizon “Tell them that peace cannot exist without compromise. None may have all they want. But we can lessen…we can lessen the suffering…we can make it better. The strongest cannot lead, and neither can the wisest. We have to form a consensus of agreement and try to forge ahead with the path of least suffering for all. The beauty and plenty of the world is here for all…if only we can find a middle ground… A place of all. We have to respect even those we disagree with…
Knowing you are right is not consolation when the world burns anyway…”

The Ur Mak held him close, trying to draw enough Leyas to convert his lifeforce to save his Chieftain. Tears streamed down the Ur Maks face as the light went out Rapi’og’s eyes. Then a trio of strange unfamiliar metal orbs (grenades) landed next to them. The Ur Mak’s eyes never even looked at them, he simply cradled Rapi’og’s head and cried.

Then there was nothing left of either of them.

[Narrator]

Part 3: The Toxic Barge

The Dead soldier stood before Captain Castiel at attention.

“Report,” said Castiel angrily.

“Our peaceful withdrawal failed Sir,” said the Dead Soldier, “We were under constant attack from Earther Robots. We carefully withdrew in pairs as ordered. It would have taken many hours, and the Robots’ Pilots were happy to pick us apart. They were unaligned with the Olgogs, but there was also UtR treachery underfoot.
While we were distracted by the Robots, the Yagogi ignited a barge full of chemicals and petrol recovered from Unen.”

“We had air superiority with Maliff the Warbird? How did they get the drop on you?” asked Castiel stroking his snout while he looked at a map of Yagogi Lands.

“A single Yagogi hurled a sword at Maliff. I’ve never seen a single sword do what that sword did
to her. It ripped her entire spirit apart and consumed her, parts and all,” said the Dead Soldier, “We were more concerned with that sword than we should have been. It was an excellent distraction.”

Castiel had heard the Yagogi had taken the Sword of Mag Buskt. A sword forged by the Nightmare Lords could definitely do that level of damage. One of the many reasons all the Warmongers Dead had been proud to wipe out the Nightmare Lords so many aeons ago. He sighed. This was why the Warmonger Cultists were always preaching against mercy he supposed. The Olgog actions made no sense to him. Did they want to escalate this into an unending war?

“The barge…it must have been full of toxic chemicals,” said Castiel, “Are they suicidal?”

“They had spirits, air spirits, cleaning out the toxic chemicals from the sky,” said the Dead Soldier, “The air is safe to breath.”

“Primitives…they probably poisoned their own damn groundwater,” said Castiel, “Serves them right. How bad were our losses?”

“Bad sir,” replied the Dead, “Very bad, and the Yagogi made sure it stuck by using healing on any undead that wasn’t fully consumed by the explosion.”

“They knew what they were doing,” said Castiel, “This was a message to us. Were the other UtR soldiers involved?”

“I don’t rightly know sir,” said the Dead, “They had Lur Union aircraft acting as spotters during our ordered withdrawal. Moments before the attack, the Lur Union aircraft linked up with the remaining Veskan Robots and moved north. It seemed like a pullback but then the explosion happened. Sir it was like nothing I’ve ever seen.”

“That is because you have never seen an Earther Atomic,” said Castiel, “But a barge of fuel, that is quite the explosion…”

“Our scouts as far away as the Ruins of Karov saw it on the horizon,sir,” said the Dead.

“Give me some good news,” snorted Castiel.

“The EEF, the Lost Colonies and the UtR are working together to hunt down and innoculate all Mag Der’al in the Karovian zone. This should push more of the Mag Der’al to our side. We also recovered five of the downed Veskan Robots. The power supplies are damaged beyond repair, but the weapons seem functional,” said the Dead.

Castiel was not happy at all. It was a small benefit and did not offset the immense loses they experienced. He knew many of the Dead and had served with them for a long time. This was a day he would not soon forget.

[Narrator]

Rewards

Urik’s Outcasts gain 1 Set of VofV Robot Armor with no weapons. They also gain one Galting Railgun and power supply that can be mounted on a vehicle.

Tor’Lallur gains Master Hunters, Masters of Summoning. Each one gains +1 to their summoning Leyas level.

Lord Grimaldus gains Durandal’s Riders gain +1 to their riding skill and +2 to their Move when making a charge.

GulTor’Uf gains Rapi’og’s Final Stand. Rapi’og is dead and has been granted final death along with all Uhryus and many others on this mission. The only survivors are 5 Adepts, and 10 Ur Maks. All others are granted Final Death. The GulTor’Uf tribe has been nearly wiped out. They suffer a loss of 1 Emotional Control to all members except Bill. Bill gains 1 Emotional Control as he warned Rapi’og nothing good would come from this course of action. They must also declare a new Chieftain.
(other unexpected effects of this will play out in the Museum mission)

The Bladed Sun gains 1 Magi Cannon for Uruf 3d6 Energy dmg, x4 to Vehicles and Structures.

The Ka Gor Tribe gains Nefarious Plots Play out. They have held the GulTor’Uf lands and the Feral Reservation. They successfully wiped out the GulTor’Uf Uhryus. However Gorkaog is now on trial in the DC and UtR for Murder and Final Death of Criminals Awaiting Trial. (NO ONE KNOWS Gorkoag and Army of the True Flame are linked)

Lalder and Gangs of Uf Mag’og gains Success in Having the VofV Ignore the UtR forces. Gains Rebuilds the Relationship with UtR and Lost Colonies. Tor’ab and Urog each gain Charisma +1 and Etiquette (Lost Colonies) of 4.
Lalder and Gangs of Uf Mag’og also gain exclusive rights to the Kali Devorah VofV Representative Thread and only they may invite others to this thread.
(assuming they listened to Yagogial warning they take no losses. If they decided to ignore Yagogi they lose all vehicles sent into Karov. Narrator note: Option 1 is what we are going with unless you decide otherwise players).

Yagogi’al gains Made the Dead Feel it. The Sword of Mag Buskt has killed the Warbird.
All other tribes now have Fear of how far the Yagogi will go to hurt their enemies. All enemies facing the Yagogi count “as if” their emotional control is 1 point lower (to a minumum of Em.C. 1).
However by tilling the land infected by the toxic chemicals of the exploded barge, long term birth defects will occur to all children born in the Yagogi lands, but that will not be discovered for many many months…(narrator will advise when this aspect is discovered)

Unit 7756 gains Astounding Betrayal In our One time of Peace. Loses 70 Standard Warmongers Dead and all Gear for those 70. Also loses Maliff the Warbird to the Sword of the Mag Buskt.
However also gains 5 sets of damaged but fully armed VofV Robot Armor that require a new power source. (may be altered into Necrotech vehicles by the tribe’s dead surgeon)