Crossing the Cygnar countryside shouldn’t be a problem, right? This part of Cygnar does not have the greatest Duke, so things are not as stable as you might expect. The countryside is used to occaisional Cryx raids, so the towns are defended and mistrustful. This game was to describe two days of travelling across the countryside. There was in-between cutscenes and dialogue, but it was mostly just a cross-country travel montage.
First encounter was a Tollbooth set up by the local Duke. A simple pole gate was dropped across the main road. It cost five gold to lift the gate, and as many can pass through as they like. There was a full unit of Trenchers, and a unit of Long-Gunners, and the leader was marshalling a heavy warjack. The party simply paid the gold and went on.
Second encounter was also a tollbooth, but this one was more of a private enterprise. The colors were Cygnar, and the warjack had gold swans painted on it, but it was actually a creative bandit group getting easy money. The party started to give them the gold, but then changed their mind and attacked. The leader and his marshalled heavy warjack went down quickly, and the units scattered. Not much of a fight, and the party recovered a pouch of 75 gold, the spoils from previous travelers.
Finally the big encounter came at night. The message that Cryx was trying to send to Five Fingers was passing the party in the night, in the form of an official Cygnaran military dispatch. There was a unit of Stormblades, a unit of Trenchers and a unit of Gun Mages protecting two light warjacks and a mounted warcaster. Naturally, the party decided to ambush them.
A big fight, bursting out of the woods to attack the force as it walked past. Most of the infantry went to engage the party, while the warcaster sent his ‘jacks to engage the party’s ‘jack, and the ‘caster himself made a run for it. The ‘caster was mounted, and very nearly got away. The Party has some very fast moving Players and enough ranged attacks to bring him down before he could escape off the board. A lot of damage was done, and the Player’s ‘jack was heavily damaged, and several Characters only survived due to Heroic Dodges.
The message itself was interesting. It was a message being sent from a powerul merchant in Ceryl to another merchant in Five Fingers. The use of a military dispatch was approved by an officer in Ceryl. The message itself seemed inocuous, which makes it even stranger for it to use a military dispatch. It was to be delivered to a merchant named Asherath Scarrow, a name that is familiar to the mercenaries working out of that city.
During the fight, the Players’ warjack was damaged. However, one of the light warjacks was almost completely undamaged. The party transferred the Univseral Cortex to the new chassis, and are now armed with a shock lance and arc node! One of the points of damage, however, was one point of Cortex damage. This may have interesting effects, especially since the party can not repair the Cortex quite so easily.
Two XP for everyone! They are now up to eight Experience Points. Players got to add two Occupational Skill points.