Today, we returned to playtesting my Fantasy rules with another Conan adventure.
The Scenario:
Conan stood by his beloved Bêlit on the afterdeck of the Tigress, watching as their small boat returned from the Stygian coast bearing the strange little man they had rescued from his pursuers a few minutes previously.
Soon he was aboard, pleading his case before the Queen of the Black coast,(who's first thought upon finding nothing of value on him had been to feed him to the sharp fins which cruised nearby, even more elegantly than her Tigress!)
Conan watched bemused as his beloved was cajoled by the strangers clever banter, and soon they were heading back to the coast in search of 'the fabled treasure at Jahine'.
Bêlit had detailed four of her crew guard her captive, and they, and about thirty of her crew went ashore...
Conan took the right and Bêlit the left
Bêlit told the stranger what would happen to him if he proved to be lying!
The little man just smiled...
Ahead lay light jungle, but no signs of the warriors who had pursued their guest.
Both Conan and Bêlit detached a few men as flank guards.
On they marched.
The scouts checked a bunch of thickets.
Nothing there!
I was testing my new virtual D6, and 'Rolled' a '1', so no contact!
(The Portal marker jumped 12" away)
Still no contact, things were going well.
Oops! - a band of warriors appeared to their front.
They advanced towards Bêlit.
Conan deployed out to the right to protect that flank.
Bêlit brought up her reserves to support her outnumbered scouts.
Conan's instincts were good, as more warriors appeared to face him.
Bêlit's scouts held a gap in the foliage to funnel their attackers.
Bêlit attacked and slew her first enemy!
Some latecomers appeared to support the force attacking Conan...whoo, scarey!
Conan's men began chanting 'Amra!, Amra!, which means 'Lion' - their name for their mighty Cimmerian leader!
Bêlit's men were getting the upper hand in their battle.
Bêlit was, as normal, doing as much as the rest of her men put together!
The warriors were losing steadily and began to retire.
They were cut down ruthlessly.
Conan was doing quite as good as Bêlit.
Bêlit was attacked by a second band of warriors.
These failed even easier than the first group...
Bêlit, in an uncharacteristic fit of mercy, let the last one run!
Conan's men quickly surrounded their opponents.
They were quickly dispatched.
Bêlit waved her blooded men to follow her towards some mounds she had seen through the trees.
Skeletons were sprouting from the ground!
Each mound began to erupt.
Amidst a village surrounded by the mounds, 2 lines of undead warriors were forming...one apparently raised by a Wizard in the village, and the other by the stranger they had under guard, who was chanting lines from the book he kept so close to him.
Conan's men only had one line, facing them!
Conan had seen the Wizard in the village, at a table, and surmising he might have raised these horrors felt killing him might solve their problem.
Conan's men clashed with the undead.
Bêlit saw her 'guest' waving the nearest skeletons to attack the ones in the village. She attacked with them leaving her uneasy men in reserve.
On Conan's flank, the fighting was brutal, but the living were beginning to best the dead.
Conan began to cut his way through the elite guards, the Wizard looked uneasy!
Bêlit began to get the hang of fighting the boneheads!
The Wizard was running out of warriors!- but one managed to lightly wound Conan, but he hardly noticed!
Bruised, cut and battered, Conan's men were slowly winning.
At least no new monstrosities were appearing to support the undead!
Bêlit's forces now joined the fight and began to drive their enemies back.
Suddenly, the Wizard dashed to the back of a grotesque statue...
...and dove into it!
For a short time nothing happened.
Suddenly, the enemy skeletons began collapsing!
On Conan's side as well!
All the crew of the Tigress let out a roar of victory, the warriors fighting Conan melted away. The crew got together in the village, nursing their wounds, but where was their captive, who was clearly also a Wizard of some kind?
He was nowhere to be found.
Unfortunately there was no sign of any treasure either! - An angry Bêlit led her brave pirates back to their ship...
Back in the village, a small figure appeared in front of the strange table that even Conan couldn't lift, and took his 'rightful' place as Maahrok, Lord of the Temple at Jahine.
He took a moment to quietly chuckle to himself before immersing himself in the book of Lore his old master used to torment him with...
