The Brood Mother heaved her bulk to a more comfortable position on the pile of rotting cushions and drapes that was her nest-throne. She turned her head towards the Ratkin that had entered the chamber and hissed her displeasure at being disturbed. The larger of the Ratkin in the party gestured to his two smaller companions and they push forwards a fourth Ratkin. This one was different to the rest of her Brood, different markings, different scent and it was dressed in a ragged purple tunic and, as it turned to chitter loudly at the one pushing it, she saw it had a large brass collar round its neck. This brought back memories of the SlavePits of the OverMasters and she felt a momentary burst of hatred and fear as she recognised it before she controlled her emotions and beckoned the ex-slave forwards. She cocked her head quizzically and the Ratkin answered “Skrith”.
“How? Where?” she chittered “Killed Master, Free Skrith” was the reply.
“Kill Master? No No” the Brood Mother shook her head and pointed at Skrith with one long razer clawed finger “Lie.”
“No Lie” Skrith retorted and gestured towards the larger of his guards “No Lie” he repeated. The Larger Ratkin stepped closer to the Brood Mother and held up an object he had been cradling.
The brood mother recoiled and hissed in alarm as she recognised the bloody, bearded head of an Abyssal Dwarf, its features twisted in anguish. Recovering herself She turned to Skrith with a new look in her beady red eyes.
Later
The Ratkin had turned one of the ornately carved pillared halls of the former Free Dwarf hold of Aelddu into a training ground for Newly spawned warriors from the breeding pits, crude weapons were arrayed around the hall and even cruder dummies and targets stood in the middle of the stone floor, a floor that was covered in the filth and ordure of its new Ratkin owners. A large number of Ratkin in crude clothing and armour with makeshift weapons were sparring with each other and hitting the dummies and targets under the supervision of several larger Ratkin.
All activity ceased as the Brood Mother hauled her bulky body through a doorway decorated with crude Ratkin glyphs, the new Ratkin warriors extending their snouts and sniffing the air to determine the mood of their leader as she waddled slowly to the centre of the room. She stopped and cast her red-eyed gaze around the assembled Throng of Warriors.
“Choose” she said to the ragged Ratkin beside her and she gestured towards the Warriors in the room “Choose Warriors” she repeated “Choose Well”.
The Ratkin known as Skrith went into the room and chose those he thought would serve him well, the largest, fastest and bravest of the Warriors until the Brood Mother decided he had enough and called him back to her.
“Chosen Well” she squeaked, “Chosen Well, Skrith BeardTaker!” and the Ratkin Chittered their excitement and fear.
Later Still
Skrith stood over the dead Abyssal Dwarf Halfbreed and examined the armour plate he had pried loose, since being granted Packleader status by his new Brood Mother, he had taken to raiding both the Abyssal Dwarfs and their cousins the Free Dwarfs in the valleys and passes of the Halpi Mountains. His experience and strength had grown and now he was a mighty Ratkin War Leader, garbed in Green with armour taken from his vanquished foes, all sign of the former slave having now disappeared aside from a scrap of his purple Slave Tunic and the bleached skull of his original Abyssal Dwarf Master hanging from his makeshift Back Banner.
A while ago I introduced Skrith Beardtaker, a character from my Free Dwarf Narrative campaign that started as a slave of the cruel Abyssal Dwarfs and then slew his master during a Free Dwarf ambush to escape and become a Ratkin Warrior. He impressed his new Brood Mother with his resilience and she granted him a small warband. Since then Skrith has been raiding and looting amongst the settlements in the Halpi Mountains, fighting skirmishes against both the Free and Abyssal Dwarfs as well as the Northern Alliance that border on the Domains of both.
I now feel it is a good time to expand Skriths role from that of a minor character that raids and ravages to that of a pivotal player in MYCOP (MY Corner Of Pannithor) and as such I have decided that he should be the Leader of my newish Ratkin Army.
The Army itself has a long history but very little background. After Mantic released their new plastic Ratkin Sprues I started collecting them, buying a few here and there, picking up sprues as part of Goodybags and other freebies and taking advantage of Sales at Mantic to build up the Collection. They were originally bought to be used as Slaves in a Ratkin Slave army that would be developed from the sprues I bought and my Azghars Hellforged Legion of Brass ( don’t know who they are ? Read the back posts on this blog to find out !) but as the Narrative developed and the army size grew I realised I should form them into a full on Ratkin Army. Skrith would be the Leader of this army and I would use the Multibasing of the Kings of War units to continue the Narrative story of Skriths Raids on the Holds of the Free Dwarfs and his former Masters the Abyssal Dwarfs and his occasional skirmish with his competitors, the Goblins. I now have somewhere in the region of 20 Sprues of Ratkin Warriors and can print any of the Ratkin extras from the vaults to tart up the units on the tabletop.
I have never had a Horde army for Kings of War and so the plan is that the Ratkin will have plenty of troops as they flock to the banner of a successful Ratkin Warlord. I am a big fan of the Tech part of the Ratkin lore for underground fighting and so I think that will need to be incorporated. In the Narrative campaign the Goblins use Mincers in the larger tunnels and so I may “convert” some Goblin Mincers to be Ratkin Tunnel Runners along with a Death engine or two, I love the Tangle model and so one of those has been printed ready for Skrith to recruit and the plan is under way to make the basing of the hordes and regiments tie in together and with the underground theme of Dwarf Holds and blasted underground caverns with the occasional foray into a snowy Mountainside to fight with the ever present Raven Clan Rangers on the surface. Bringing those diverse elements together in one army may be beyond my skills but you will be able to follow the attempt within the pages of this Blog never the less. I have visions of Dwarf corridors and Sewer infiltrations by Ratkin Warriors. Plenty of pavement and rock texture with interesting scenic additions. I also had the idea of cramming models together on the bases as if the Ratkin are huddled together as they fight which I think is in keeping with their lore.
The Exploration of the UnderWay.
The Ratkin shivered, not from the cold as its heavily furred body was quite immured to that, but with repressed excitement. It had crept silently along the ancient stone pipe, taking care not to splash in the water running along the bottom of the dwarven sewer, until it could see the glow from the tunnel mouth ahead. It paused, flicking its sensitive whiskers forwards to test the air currents and listening with its large ears. It could just about make out the low rumble of dwarven voices echoing down the tunnel, slightly amplified by the stonework. It couldn’t tell what was being said but the very presence of Dwarfs was enough for the Ratkin Scurrier to draw back further into the tunnel, its mission was to report on the presence of their enemy and remain undiscovered and that is what it intended to do. As the Ratkin turned to leave, the hilt of its jagged knife, scabbarded over its shoulder, caught against the curved edge of the tunnel with a metallic rasp. The Scurrier froze, slowly sinking down within its cloak and listening fearfully over its shoulder, there was no sound at all, which made the scurries eyes widen in fear and it crouched, ready to spring away when there was an ear-splitting crash and a flash of light.
When the echoes of the sound had nearly died away, they were replaced by the shuffling sound as a large shadow detached from the tunnel wall further towards the light, it holstered its heavy Pistol and drew an axe before making its way stealthily down to where the Ratkin lay. There was a flash of light as a tinder was struck and then a lantern lit, the light of the lantern reflected in the black orbs of the Scurrier’s unseeing eyes staring back at the Dwarf.
“Bollogs! Bloody Ratkin! others won’t be far behind” As the Dwarf Tunnel Engineer turned around he could hear the sound of furred bodies swishing on the Tunnel walls accompanying the last echoes of his Pistol shot from the distant Passageway connected to the sewer Tunnel. He turned and ran, surprisingly swiftly down the tunnel towards the glowing exit, leaving the Scurrier’s body lying in the fetid water at the bottom of the channel.
Skrith had heard the shot, thundering along the sewer Tunnel one of his Scouts had taken, telling him where the Dwarfs were as surely as a report from the Scurrier himself, Skrith bared his incisors with glee, now he knew where they were he could rid himself of the Dwarfs in this Level. He swiftly sent a company of Shock troops down the tunnel from where the shot had come while his Tunnel Runners headed further down the passageway looking to turn into a connecting passage and cut off the Dwarfs from their hold. Skriths conquest of the Free Dwarfs relied on secrecy and he needed to stop the Dwarfs from reporting back to the hold about how this was no raiding force of Ratkin but an Army of Conquest!
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