Journal of a Warmachinist: Khador at the Haven

• Burn the Lich!
• Khador at the Haven

Burn the Lich!

"Form a line in front of the mercenaries, bane thralls approaching," bellowed Luka Vavilov. The kovnik clicked his axe cannon closed, a fresh shell in its barrel. He knew what it felt to be in the cleaving end of those Cryxian war axes. He remembered them as he sees their advance towards his line, appearing and disappearing into a darkness that seemed to constantly follow them.

"Tartarus is with them," Eiryss spoke, seemingly with no trace of emotion at all, "attack first or your men will be slaughtered."

Luka suppressed the urge to slap the elf, using such an insubordinate tone. He has always despised the High Kommand's use of mercenaries, but as a true Khadoran, he follows orders without question. The kovnik ignored the mage hunter and saw that his demolition corps line was formed.

The manhunter that came with them bounded behind the demolition corps line as well, Luka assumed he was positioning for a counter-attack. The kovnik also disagreed with fighting with manhunters. They may be Khadoran, too, and loyal to the Motherland, but their lack of discipline did not sit well with Luka. Again, he reminded himself to trust his kommanding officers' judgments.

Personal differences must be put aside for the greater glory of Khador Motherland.

But what he did not understand even more was the inactivity from the Widowmakers positioned behind them. They should have moved to a better firing position. Their sniper rifles would have taken out the ogrun bokur that strode alongside Tartarus. Or the Skarlock that shadowed the Iron Lich. The kovnik drew a quick glance across the battlefield.

He has always been assigned to Prince Vlad or Kommandant Irusk. It was his first time to have been fielded by the enigma, Zevanna Agha. The Old Witch of Khador. Doubts began to swim in Luka's mind. Can she really command a wargroup? Where is she now? She should be in combat with the Lich now, as there is no other way to rout this Cryxian force in front of them.

With an abrupt whir of gears and a hissing gust of steam, the Old Witch's scrapjack leaped across the battlefield with astonishing speed. It was headed for one of the Lich's deathrippers that approached the Khadoran right flank. When the two jacks collided, a sickly green glow surrounded the scrapjack, which quickly spread outwards from it.

Luka has heard countless stories about how the land obeyed the Old Witch. The stories told about the ground bursting with shredding spikes that would tear flesh from bones and armor from warjacks. All doubt that he may have considered dissipated quickly from his mind. The Cryxian advance halted as they found themselves within the grasp of the ensorceled land. Luka imagined that the approaching bane thralls be torn asunder by deadly talons which erupted from the ground, as were told by the stories.

But the axe-wielding thralls advanced not an inch further as they were swept away by the darkness towards their baneful lord.

+++

It was then that Luka felt the presence of the ancient warcaster behind him. He turned and saw her weaving her arcane power in the air, a sickly green glow surrounded her hunched form. The kovnik ignored the smell of burnt flesh and seared metal. His comrades have fallen as the lich unleashed a frightening barrage of arcane magic that brought down his entire demolition corps. The mangled form of the manhunter was thrown at the wreck of the stalker which he recently destroyed.

The destroyer emerged from their left flank. It did not seem to be clumsy and blunt as it usually was. The kovnik knew that the Old Witch extended her influence over the heavily-armored warjack. With a low thunk, it launched one of its deadly bombard shells towards the Iron Lich itself. Even with his man-o-war armor, Luka was deafened by the thunderous boom as the shell hit the Cryxian warcaster.

Eiryss suddenly leaped forward and unleashed one of her crossbow bolts at the thinning smoke. Simultaneous rifle fire signaled that the Widowmakers did the same, not waiting for the Iron Lich to emerge from the shallow crater.

The skarlock clutched at the fallen form of the lich protectively as the smoke finally cleared. The bane lord was already directing a withdrawal as pistol wraiths covered their retreat.

"The battle is ours," the Old Witch commanded the kovnik, she was resting on her withered staff, "see to our komrades. I will try to revive our manhunter."

Luka obeyed unhesitatingly. As there were no more doubts in his mind about the Old Witch of Khador, he felt a growing sense of pride in his heart.

+++

It is done. The Lich has fallen.

Kommander Sorscha Kratikoff felt the Old Witch's words in her head. Clutching Frostfang in her hands, she surveyed the field in search for her adversary, the dwarf warcaster, Gorten Grundback.

As the empress commands, she thought to herself, we must continue our advance. Anything that stands in our path must bow down. Or be crushed without mercy.

Khadoran. It was the voice of Gorten in her mind. Withdraw your forces immediately. We have no quarrel with you.

Bow down, again she thought to herself. Bow down or be crushed without mercy.

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Khador at the Haven

Yeah that Beckoning ability of Tartarus was an unexpected surprise. My mistake there was not being too close enough to include the bane lord in Zevanna's Field of Talons. Need to work more on positioning with the Old Witch and her Scrapjack.

I also got to play against Zig, the dude who used Drillers and Gorten. Yeah I used Sorscha, although EJ said I shouldn't have. I dunno. I guess it's not in me to underestimate opponents. Zig was relatively new to the hobby, so I heard, but I don't want to play half-hearted against anyone. I will give my best game always, noob or no noob. Besides, if what I did was a morale-crushing win, then I'd have more respect for the guy if he willingly fights me again.

I was sharing some thoughts on Karchev with Chico. Four models is tremendously hard to play with, and I hope the stuff I told him would pay off somehow.

Arvin was also supposed to apply for Press Ganger, but being store staff threw in several complications. So we kinda decided to have Pork as our Press Ganger. I don't think I'd have the time to pressgang. Would have been fun though.

I also think WMPH needs to be active more in Fortress and HH, too. New blood springing up just by seeing us play often. Nice.

Will also be making the posters for the Brass Balls league, kinda like a WM-version of Gladiator that Arvin cooked up. Hope I get those done soon.

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