A Dwarf Tale


My name is Karzak Gurnissan. These last few weeks have been so trying that I felt the need to record what has happened. At least this way should I and my mine fall to the forces of Chaos there will be something to be found, so that the Grudge may be settled.



It all began a few weeks ago when reports came into our stronghold of a Chaos Warhost sited in the lands surrounding us. We had several mining encampments and two breweries located in these lands.


Immediately my Lord Gortenk mustered our warriors and we marched out to remove this Chaos stain from our lands. It took us two weeks to locate them, and then another week of careful preparation to lure the Chaos to our artillery. That first fateful day did not go well.


As the massed ranks of Chaos approached us our Artillery and Handguns opened up as soon as they good, scores of Chaos scum fell to our shots, but always there were more to replace them. The dreaded Chaos knights charged Lord Gortenk and his personal body guard. Despite the ferocity of the charge Lord Gortenk and his Runic Hammer soundly beat them, sending them fleeing away from us. Alas my brethren were unable to keep pace with the Chaos knights and destroy them utterly.


It was at this point that their Giant revealed itself, outflanking my Lord and his kin, forcing them to regroup and meet its charge. One of our cannons took aim and managed to hit it full in the body, although the giant looked grievously hurt it kept moving inexorably towards my Lord. It bore the cursed mark of Slannesh and struck with astounding speed. When my Lord was able to attack it, his blows had no effect. Then it made the most awful sound I have ever heard. Whenever I think of it I have to drink several Mugs of Ale to steady my hand even now. I have seen many things in my time, but never before I have seen my Lord or his men run from anything, this time they did. The Giant with a look of glee on its face chased them down, scattering the bodyguard, my Lord and his shield bearers.


During this fight I was with the Longbeards, we had manoeuvred and lured the Chaos General into combat. He challenged me and I willingly accepted. The fight didn’t last long as he and his steed could not find their way round my armour, the blows I landed however were far more effective. I slew the scum with two resounding blows, the first removed his shield and the mutated arm that held it, then second took off his head. After that success we moved forward and engaged a unit of Chaos Warriors in combat, destroying them as well. Those were the two high points of the battle for us, after this the Chaos forces had destroyed most of our forces, they then moved on, obviously seeing us as no threat.


Thanks to the hardiness of our kind we did not lose too many lives. One of the hardest deaths to take was that of my Lord. The Giant caused him too many wounds even for a Dwarf to survive. Upon his death the remaining ten members of his body guard took off their armour, storing with our food supplies. They then sought out the Dragon Slayer Glakor. Under his instruction they have taken the path of the slayer. They did want to leave us to seek their doom away from the clan. I convinced them to stay pointing out that I aim to hunt down the Chaos scum, and that would present innumerable opportunities for them to seek their death. While losing the Skills of the Hammerers is a severe blow. Replacing them with our Slayer kin may make up that loss.


At the next Outpost we found we left the Hammerer armour with them, they will arrange its delivery back to the Clanhold so it can be re used, and hopefully absolved of the shame it was discarded in. At this outpost I managed to bolster our numbers back to where we had been before the battle. We did not lose any full fighting unit, but nearly all of them required reinforcing.


I managed to requisition an additional unit of Warriors along with Thane Grungi Hammerblow. When I say requisition I mean just that it cost me a small fortune in treasure to convince them to join us as the grudge was not theirs. All in all our force should now be capable of crushing the Chaos scum when we next meet. As a gift I presented Grungi with my lords Runic Hammer, something I was not yet ready to wield.


Runesmith Varek survived the battle although he had to drag himself from under a pile of bodies. During the battle his Rune of Spell Breaking was destroyed, and he does not have the time to replace it. It does mean we may be vulnerable to magic in our next encounter but the Chaos followers did not have a wizard with them.


We are trailing the Chaos army after we found a destroyed mining camp. They are not trying to hide their presence so they must be looking for a fight. Something I am going to be very happy to oblige them with…



Comments

RTGamer said…
Nice dude... I love fiction from the setting... Is this from a game? if so get your game with Shaun written up too I'd love to read it!
Kraggi said…
It is from a game I had against my brother around a year ago.

Will try and pen the game I had against Shaun... it was one of the best I have had in a long time.

I do wonder if it was a stupid tactical mistake that made me draw rather than win, but thats all part of learning.

Will be posting a battlereport of the game after Christmas anyway.