One Man's Trash is Another Man's Battlefield

[Searos]

Yesterday I played the first game of a 6 week campaign. It was Joss vs Candy playing Turf War. Joss came out on top 9-6 but Candy got the wandering relic. By the end Joss, Howard, the gunsmith (Percy), and metal gamin (Oliver) controlled the turf. Anyway here's One Man's Trash is Another Man's Battlefield 

 

 

One Man’s Trash is Another Man’s Battlefield

 

Joss crested the hill overlooking Junk Valley, a large ditch in the Wastelands that was mostly filled in with piles of scrap metal and spare parts. He began to look around for anything useful to the Arcanists. After all that’s what he came here for. With a number of loud clicks, clangs, and scrape of metal legs on metal the steamborg executioner, Howard Langston, clambered up the hill followed by Percival Grey and his trusty metal sidekick Oliver.

“‘Ey boss.” Howard called out in his rough voice “What’re we even lookin’ for here? Ramos just told me we’re here to pick up supplies. Anything in particular?”

“‘Re you blind Hank? This place is practically a gold mine! If we control these hills we’ll have enough resources to last us years!”

Percy piped up, “There’s gotta be something worthwhile in here. Maybe something for Oliver.” The subsequent whistle of excitement from Oliver made the whole crew chuckle. “There are also rumors of a gun in these piles of scrap. If I remember correctly it’s name is Edict. I’m going to get my hands on it if at all possible. This old thing has served me well, but I think it’s time for an upgrade.” Percy looked down at the custom side arm on his hip.

“If that rumor is going around all of Malifaux we’d better be prepared for a fight to keep it,” Joss said with his back to the group. Suddenly a high pitched, ethereal laugh rang through the air. “Neverborn,” Joss said with disdain

“We can take ‘em,” growled Howard. Out of the corner of his eye Howard saw a small girl in a dress holding a basket. “Candy… This can’t be good”

“Let’s go boys! Percy, you take the high ground,” he pointed up a tall pile of scrap.

Howard smiled and skittered off towards the little girl as Percy clambered up the junk pile. When he reached the top he could see the whole yard. A woman in a black hooded coat with a rifle was standing just behind a smaller pile.

“Angeleyes.” Percy growled knowing she had to be killed. His own personal hatred for the Neverborn was enough to put rage in his heart. In addition she had to be here for Edict. “Oliver! Find the gun!” The little construct started scrambling around looking for the gun. Joss smiled and charged towards the little girl with his arc axe raised high. Howard stood directly in front of Candy towering high over her. With a grin he let loose with a flurry of claws. With his first strike he slices across Candy’s chest and she falls. Pulling a small stone out of her basket she squeezes it to her chest and her wounds begin to heal. She looks up at Howard with large, innocent eyes and suddenly his metal heart softens and he stops. Candy’s look of pain and sadness turned into a grin of malice as she held up a hand to Howard and suddenly he found himself unable to control his own claws.

“What? What’s goin’ on?” with a slash and a scrape howard embedded his own claw into his chest. He watched in horror as his other claw swiped at his neck but by sheer force of will he was able to hold it just inches away from it’s target. Seeing two ghostly green forms phase into view through the piles, Joss shot a blast of arcing energy towards the first Sorrow striking it in the chest.

Angeleyes knew she had to find an optimal position to take out the steamborg monstrosity attacking Candy. As she climbed to she felt a searing pain in her shoulder as a bullet pierces her flesh. Black blood begins to pour from the wound as she looks to the origin of the shot. A young man crouched behind a stack of rubble was pointing a pistol in her direction. She lifted her rifle and loosed a shot back in his direction but it fell short and ricocheted off a metal plate in front of him.

Percy smiled. His experimental razor shot had worked. He could see the blood running down her arm. He shot again but the bullet whizzed past her head.

“Alright, Poppet. Playtime’s over.” Howard slashed at Candy and cut her down. Her small body fell to the ground unconscious but still breathing. When their leader fell the two sorrows were immediately on Howard, clawing at him with their ethereal talons barely making a dent in his armored legs. The gash in his side continues to bleed but his resilience is enough to keep him standing.

With a resounding bang Angeleyes falls from a bullet to the thigh, the pain driving her into unconsciousness. Percy smiles thinking she’s dead. Suddenly with a green flash a sorrow is upon him clawing at his chest. He switched his gun to his left hand and drives a bullet through the spirit. It’s incorporeal form flickered and starts drifting away slowly. Not dead but badly wounded. Out of the corner of his eye Percy sees a horned figure with purple skin in regular clothes holding a shiny, glowing pistol. A bloodwretch that had been sneaking around the junkyard to find the very thing the neverborn were there for while the rest distracted the arcanist band. It began to run north through the Wasteland being chased by Langston, Joss, and Percy. Oliver trailed far behind as he was much slower than the rest. Eventually the trail of the bloodwretch went cold.

“We should head back and collect the scraps we came here for,” Joss said begrudgingly. The party trudged off back to junk valley. Upon returning they found the bodies of Angeleyes and Candy had disappeared.

“Where’d they go?,” Howard grunted after looking around the yard

“They’re gone, Hank,” Joss sat on the discarded carapace of a Peacekeeper. “Doesn’t matter. We came here for the scrap not for the gun.”

“We just need better equipment. It should be fairly easy to find. After all this junkyard is our turf. With our mechanical knowledge we can easily make something out of the materials here,” Percy said fiddling with the hammer on his pistol.

“Yeah. You ‘n’ Doc Ramos can figure out how to use this crap,” Howard said pulling an old machete out of the pile to his right. “‘Ey I kinda like this” he chuckled

The team gathered the best of the materials they could find. Percy and Joss began to tinker as Howard and Oliver began building a shelter. “We could stay here a while to make sure nobody takes anything else,” Howard suggested. “Like a kind of hideout.”

“Not a bad idea Howard,” said Percy as he placed an arachnid resembling one belonging to Viktor Ramos. It gave a little whistle that resembled a bark. “Hey! It works!” a bit of the body fell off leaving a spot on it’s side. “I’ll call it… Spot,” Percy chuckles.  The steam arachnid walked in a few tight circles before plopping down and rolling onto it’s back.

“He’s like our own junkyard dog” Joss chuckled.

Percy spoke up, “Well, one man’s trash…”