On the blasted heath of Dark Morr stands the lonely but imposing residence of the Baskervile clan, an ancient family of Ostarian extraction, long settled in Albion. Hefty bribes have kept the family free from the unwelcome attentions of the authorities during the Mordredian Wars, however the recent disappearance and brutal murder of a fair orcish lass has led to an investigation by those renowned detectives Sherloque Homes and Dr Watsorc.
Their snooping has uncovered the Baskerviles dark secret – Spotte, a young scion of the family only recently out of puppyhood, whose monthly bouts of lunacy have him strip off and run naked with the wolves by moonlight. Suspecting Spotte is guilty of the murder, Holmes, Watsorc 3 local Flayers have track him down to his lair on the moor. Little do they know that the real perpetrator, the legendary Beast of Dark Morr, has also smelt out Spotte and his pack and is after a tasty treat! Set up The Dark Morr moor is scrub, but Spotte’s lair is a cave in a rocky outcrop (in the centre of the table), otherwise there is no terrain of note. It is night and an oppressive fog shrouds the landscape. Visibility is reduced to 12cm, so no one may fire at a target beyond that range. The Beast and the Dire Wolves ignore the visabilty reductions for their tests, as they are use to the conditions on the Morr and have excellent night vision. Holmes, Watsorc and the Flayers enter the table from one edge, the Beast from the opposite edge, and Spotte and his pack start in the cave. Holmes, Watsorc and the Flayers Sherloque Holmes [Veteran Regular Orc]
Sword, Standard Pistol
Holmes is a master swordsman and has an additional +2 bonus with the weapon. No morale checks as is totally selfconfident. 15% chance that he is on laudanum, +1 range to all shooting, +1 to melee bonus.
Dr. John Watsorc [Experienced Regular Orc]
Standard Pistol Flayer Hodd [Average Orc]
Standard Pistol, Rifle, Club (Small Improvised Weapon) Flayer Odd [Raw Orc]
Standard Pistol, Rifle, Club (Small Improvised Weapon) Flayer Sodd [Raw Orc]
Standard Pistol, Rifle, Club (Small Improvised Weapon) Their objective is to kill the Beast and capture Spotte, leading him off the table. Capturing Spotte Capturing: To try and capture someone a character must engage them in hand to hand combat and declare before rolling the die that they are attempting to take them prisoner rather than kill them. If at least one wound would be scored they are considered captured, the miniature is then controlled by the capturing player but must stay in base to base contact with the capturing miniature. Escaping: If a character holding a prisoner is pushed back, knocked out of action or killed then control of the prisoner passes to the original player. During the movement phase a character can let a prisoner go as a free action, if this happens control passes back to the other player immediately.
Movement: Whilst escorting captured prisoners, a character must use the walk rate for the prisoners race. Spotte and his Dire Wolves Spotte has a pack of 6 Dire Wolves. Spotte [Average Dog]
Standard pistol, Sword.
Spotte’s lunacy makes him a fearsome opponent in close combat. He gains an additional +2 modifier on all close combat rolls. Whilst he is free and alive the wolves may be controlled by the player for all their movements and attacks. However if Spotte is killed or captured, the wolves each react as per the reaction table below. For the rules on reaction tables, use the Wilde Thinges article (available on this website, here) Dire Wolf | Defense Factor | 2 | | Wounds | 3 | | Prowl | 6cm | | Run | 22cm | | Charge | 32cm | | Melee Modifier | 3 | Roll | In Melee | Wounded Last Turn | Shot at This Turn | Firing / Fire Within Run Speed Distance | Enemy Within Run Speed Distance | Enemy Beyond Charge Speed Distance | | 1 | F | R | R | F | R | R | | 2 | R | R | H | R | H | H | | 3 | A | P | P | H | P | P | | 4 | A | A | A | P | A | A | | 5 | A | A | A | A | A | A | | 6 | A | C | C | A | C | C |
Results
A = Attack. Move at run speed towards nearest opponent and engage in melee.
C = Charge. Move at charge speed towards nearest opponent and engage in melee.
H = Halt. Make no movement, defend itself if in melee.
F = Flee. Move at half Charge speed away from opponents. If this is impossible then treat this result as an attack (A) result.
R = Retreat. Move at 75% run speed away from nearest opponents. If this is impossible then treat the result as an attack (A) result.
P = Prowl. Move in a randomly determined direction (roll d12 and use a clock face) at Prowl speed, fight if in melee. Spotte’s objective is to kill the Beast (which threatens his pack) and escape off the table without being captured by the Flayers and Holmes. The Beast of Dark Morr The Beast is a Jabberwocky, who uses the standard Jabberwocky statistics and reaction table from the Wilde Thinges article (available from this website, here). The Beast is not controlled by either player and simply uses the reaction table to determine his actions. The Beast is rather tough and both players will probably need to co-operate to kill it. The key is how long their work together before betraying each other in best Orcish fashion. Acknowledgements For consistency, I have used the statistics and name spellings for Holmes and Watsorc from Phil Sherlock’s article, “Sherloque Holmes and the Case of the Dastardly Doktorov”, from this website. Watsorc is however without his trusty Elephant Gun as with it the Beast doesn’t stand a chance! The rules on capturing prisoners come from the Reloaded version of my Tales of Albion scenario "The Blackleg Miners". Webmaster's Notes An Orcs in the Webbe exclusive ! The above was written by Matthew Hartley exclusively for Orcs in the Webbe, specifically for it's 2008 Advent Calendar. |
