by Legolas105
I know that this is something that might belong on the expansion page, but being that I am using this outcome as part of a larger battle that does include units from this set, and that this page generally has the Heroscape traffic, I should post here.So I decided to revisit my Heroscape collection again today, and I really felt the desire to play through the campaign. However this time I decided to do things similar to the D&D Campaign: You can continue as long as you have one Hero remaining, and you get one Phial of Resurrection.
Also, I wanted to do these campaigns as part of a larger, custom campaign/battle for Heroscape: The outcome of the campaigns in the master sets (Destroying the hive and capturing the portal, or a failure of one or both of those tasks) will give one side an advantage in the final Battle or Campaign.
Anywho, I’m getting ahead of myself here! Here is the story of the assault on the Marro Hive…
Part One: Ominous Beginnings
Sgt. Drake, Raelin, and Sonlen took position in preparation to escape to the other side of this narrow passageway. A passageway right into the heart of the Marro Hive. Sgt. Drake Moved Forward, confident in his ability to dodge the ranged shots of the Marro. The Marro Drudge responded, moving forward into position, taking full advantage of their tunneling ability. Raelin moved forward, but in response the Drudges opened fire, landing a couple shots to the kyrie.
However, Sonlen wasn’t afraid. He moved forward, dispatching one of the Marro. Both sides assessed the situation, but the Marro were the first to act, hitting Raelin yet again. But Sonlen retaliated, healing Raelin, then killing one Drudge while his Dragon killed the other. The Marrden Nagrubs moved forward, providing cover for the Stingers to later get into position. In just a short time a nagrub and a stinger lay dead. But the Stingers would make the sacrifice worth it. They took the risk and charged their weapons. It was a success, and they opened fire on their slightly more potent weapons. Raelin took a glancing blow with one shot, but she was thrown off balance enough so that the second shot slammed into her torso and pierced her armor. She fell to the earth, dead.
Sgt. Drake cursed in anger, but between him and Sonlen, they dispatched the remaining Marro in the time that followed. Understanding the power of her aura, the Elf administered the Phial to Raelin to help her fight another day.
“Let’s move” said the Elf quickly. “We must head this way, to the Marro Hive.”
Raelin almost laughed bitterly. “I wonder how many intelligent beings have ever said that out loud.” She thought to herself.
Part Two: The Unexpected Capture
The three warriors arrived on the scene, surprised to hear that Shiori had fallen into enemy hands. She was too valuable a warrior, and she would be needed after this mission was complete. She may not be the best warrior, but everyone there knew that when Einar needed someone dispatched, Shiori always displayed deadly potency in any mission of subterfuge or assassination. She had to be freed.
The warriors let out a cry to distract the Marro. Shiori took the opportunity and slipped away from her guards, killing a Nagrub with a shuriken while she escaped. They horribly underestimated the power of the drudge though. They immediately went after her and opened fire. The Drudges were lucky, and Shiori was helpless in the massive gunfire of the Marro. By the time their assault was done, she fell to the ground motionless. The remaining warriors vowed to bring the remaining Marro down. Major Q10 opened fire with his pistol, but failed to kill more than one Marro. The Drudges repositioned themselves and fired on Major Q10, who suffered two hits in the volley despite Raelin’s aura and his height advantage.
Raelin now acted, flying up and positioning herself next to some Marro who were grouped together. With her Whirlwind assault she killed two out of three Marro. The Stingers got into position and opened fire, but scored only one glancing hit to the kyrie. Sonlen moved forward, healing the Soulborg and killing another Drudge. But the stingers charged their weapons, and successfully so.
They opened fire on the kyrie yet again. She dodged one shot and was only barley hit by the second, but the third shot was a direct hit, and yet again Raelin was felled by the vicious Marro Stingers. (She had taken a surprising 4 damage, 1 from one stinger and 3 from the other). Major Q10 retaliated with his pistol, and was much more successful, killing 3 Marro with his assault. In doing so, he crippled the effectiveness of the different Marro squads.
The Marro attacked the Elf now, and he suffered dangerous injuries, but ultimately the warriors cleared the remaining Marro without any further casualties.
However they knew that this rescue attempt was completely botched, as the one they intended to rescue lay dead, and they had lost another in the ensuing battle.
But, they were now upon the Marro Hive.
Part Three: Source of Corruption
The group of warriors, now down two members, began their assault on the Marro Hive. Major Q10’s pistol fire brought the hive nearly to destruction. However, in this battle, destruction of the Hive would not be enough, as the Marro leader could repair the damage done to it: they would need to kill the Hivelord as well, and then to escape destroy his Marro warriors.
The Hivelord roared in rage at their unpreparedness for this attack, leaving the Hive virtually defenseless. Marro Drudges surged forward, but unable to do anything due to Sgt. Drake capturing the Thorian Glyph. Sonlen moved forward and finished off the hive. The Nagrubs leapt up, intending to do some damage to the warriors. Major Q10s attacks to the Nagrubs were unsuccessful. They retaliated on the Elf, but only one was really able to get into position to do any damage. After two of the Nagrubs were killed off, the Drudges moved themselves next to Sgt. Drake. The protection the glyph was giving his allies was far too powerful to ignore. They pulled out their Marro battle knives and landed two minor slashes to the Sergeant’s upper thigh and right arm. Sonlen came to his aid, killing one of the Marro. But while the other two Drudges worked together to land another gash to Drake’s side, yet another Marro Drudge ran toward the fray.
After Major Q10 killed one of the Drudges, the Hivelord decided he would start to become involved in the ensuing conflict. The drudges attacked yet again. Drake was confident he could survived for this wave, as he had only three injuries, but the wickedness of the marrow was too great. One marro landed a blow that slashed his Achilles tendon. He roared in pain and was thrown off balance, giving the Marro a chance to slam his battle knife deep into Sgt. Drake’s chest, fatally wounding him. Sonlen cursed in frustration, as he had expelled much of his energy so Drake could act this turn, but he was killed before he could do so.
The Hivelord marched forward, and confronted the Elf Wizard. Sonlen, with only one minor injury, felt ready to face this beast with Q10. However, not even the Hivelord anticipated what happened next. The Hivelord brought down its right leg upon sonlen, injuring him as he tried to roll out of the way, and killing his dragon. Sonlen cried out in anger, but his cries were cut short when the massive spear was launched with a force so deadly that it impaled through the Wizard and slammed into the dirt of the ledge behind him. When the weapon was withdrawn, Sonlen fell, unmoving. Major Q10, knowing he probably wouldn’t survive, faced the Hivelord…
Raelin woke up, a surging pain coursing through her chest. She looked around the room she was in. She had no idea where she was. Then, a kyrie like the ones they had seen flying above them on their journey came into view.
“You were badly injured when we recovered you, Warrior of Jandar” said the Kyrie in a warm tone. “You and your friend are lucky to be alive.”
Raelin had a million question, and she didn’t know where to begin.
“Who else is here!” she cried out. “The female assassin who we found with you.” Replied the Kyrie. Raelin was almost afraid to ask, but she did anyway: “What became of the others?”
At this the Kyrie solemnly lowered his head. “They were killed trying to destroy the Hive and its Hivelord, Tor-Kul-Na.” Raelin shed a tear in sorrow and anger. “Did they succeed?” She asked angrily. The Kyrie shook his head. “I am afraid not. They did destroy the hive, but the Hivelord survived, and he will be able to quickly repair it to full strength. For what it’s worth though, the Soulborg came within inches of killing the Hivelord. One more blast would have probably killed the monstrosity.”
Raelin found no help in the words of the Kyrie. Three of the best warriors of the Valkyrie died for nothing. She looked at Shiori, who came over to comfort Raelin. “We will need to evacuate shortly” said the Kyrie of the moon tribe. “Utgar’s retribution is swift, and a horde of Marro will soon be upon these lands.”
Raelin and Shiori nodded, and prepared to leave. They had no idea how they were going to tell Jandar the outcome of this failed operation.