Mordorheim - Zorelle of Minas Tirith

 And the roster of painted figures for the blog goes on! I wish I had some terrain or a mat to give the pics a  bit more color. In time...

For now, let's say that the world is slowly returning from a Limbo state. A new slate. Kind of like the mist in Dark Souls. 

And here in this post we have yet another strong female hero. A strange coincidence? Or has something happened in Middle Earth while we were away? Yes, this strange world lives on while we arent looking. We must decipher the mysteries of this place as we go along. In the previous world our focus was on the Dwarves and their journeys to reclaim their homeland. So in this new world we are finding a pattern emerging. Where are the men? Maybe the constant state of warfare has decimated the male population. It was called the War of the Ring afterall... Perhaps its climate change? Hormones? Saruman and his constant genetic meddling with his Uruk Hai has released magical pollution into the world. Or maybe its evolution itself twisting the lifeforms into something different. Afterall, in nearby Barsoom, the Warhoons have evolved to all come from communal eggs. Who knows? And we hear that Barsoom isnt so far from Mordor. Just a bit of a jog to the east. Maybe thats why the Easterlings keep coming our way. They were all being pushed out west by the Barsoomians. More mysteries for us to discover...

For now, lets bring our focus back to our latest female protagonist...

Meet Zorelle. From her hair you can tell right away shes a Targaryen. Somone should bring her a dragon egg and see if it hatches around her.

On her hip she carries a phial of some sort. It glows lightly at night especially when the stars shine. Or when someone whispers "Luthien Tinuviel..." It was a family hairloom. When she was young she heard that the phial might have been made in some ancient land called krypton.

Her childhood nickname was Kara. Yup, Kara.  Kara Zorelle.

She also carries an obsidian blade - The Black Sword of Erlech. Forged by ancient magicks from the Stone of Erlech. Many tales surround its properties that Zorelle knows nothing about. Yet.

Some one is coming! Zorelle has highly trained senses. She makes a good tracker. Or a "Strider" as trackers are known to be called in the common tongue.

Oh, its just Aly and a strangely dressed Witch of some sort.

Aly: Hey boss! I bring a friend and new recruit for our mercenary guild. And I havent found my lost pet yet. I ran out of "lost pet" posters when I ran into her. I need to print more copies.

Zorelle: Hail and well met Aly! And to you stranger!  I think I saw a Staples back there on Ithilien Avenue. Or it might have been an Office Depot. At any rate, its next to the Starbucks. This neighborhood sure has changed since I saw it last.

Istriya: I would like to join your gang. Err. Group. I need to make money quick. How do we do that?

Strange Apparition: I bring tidings to the Lady Elessar known as Zorelle of Minas Tirith. One, you are the One that has been prophesied about. The One who will bring peace to both Middle Earth and Barsoom. Two, your parents are just your foster parents - they only found you as a baby when your "ship" crashed on their farm. Three, your real parents come from Barsoom. Four, your last living relative has passed away in Barsoom and left you Castle Solitude near the City of Zodanga.

Istriya and Aly: And Five & Six, you now owe your soul and everlasting mortgage to the Bank of Gringotts. Yeah we get it! This bit is getting old.

Strange Apparition: Hey, its my day job. I am the Ghost of Mortgage Past, afterall. Dont shoot the messenger. You think I like bringing dark tidings to people day in and day out? 

 Zorelle: I can see now why we all need to go questing for gold. 

 ~~~~~~~

A bit of social commentary seems to have crept into our imaginary world. Pardon me. But its true! The Illuminati controls everyone! In case you hadnt heard the Illuminati is made up of Doctor Strange (who isnt a doctor at all, but a secret Istari wizard and a famous detective in his spare time), Iron Man (of House Stark), and Professor X (leader of the Dagorlad Marsh Mutants). Some real smart think tanks there.

So, Zorelle is a Kryptonian, Targaryen, Dunedain-ian, and Barsoomian messiah of some sort or another. Make sense since she seems to be the leader of our little group. And she carries a lot of heirloom level items and weapons. Is that the Phial of Galadriel? And is that sword... Stormbringer? So add Melnibonean to that long list of genealogies.

Our blog fluff is getting quite convoluted. If I make a mistake Im sure someone will point it out to me.

Cheers, Mar

More Mordorheim Characters - Aly

Hey buddies,

This coming weekend a battle report is coming to the blog!

Its going to be a small game or three using Sellswords and Spellslingers.  And perhaps a game of Nightwatch by Patrick Todoroff. I havent played these games before but Ive read Sellswords. I do like the premise of Nightwatch, just not sure about the actual rules system itself. But yes to small warbands of heroes fighting against the fiendish creatures inhabiting the dark corners of the world.

Here is another hero for our Mordorheim blog setting...

Meet Aly, an elf ranger. 

Aly is distantly related to the Record of Lodoss Elf known as Deedlit. Hence why her outfit is the same colors as Deedlit's. And there is no fan service allowed here on this blog! *sarcasm*

Aly spent many years in Mordor and found a larval stage Screamer on the beaches around the Sea on Nurn. She raised the Chaos tadpole to adulthood and named it Cosmo. It followed her on her many adventures in Mordor for the next several centuries. Centuries, you ask? Elves live a long time, as well as Chaos spawn creatures like Cosmo. They were instrumental in bringing peace to the Dark Lands, yet again. Their adventures were written in a book called "The Chronicles of Nurn-ia"

But tragedy struck when Cosmo was lost chasing after a Wainrider. Aly hopes to find her lost pet someday. In the meantime she has joined a mercenary troupe travelling across the lands of Middle Earth. Putting up "lost pet" posters everywhere in her spare time.

Aly: Halt, Witch! Have you seen a Screamer of Tzeentch chasing a speeding Wainrider?

 Istriya: Is this a riddle of some sort? I would need more clues...

Strange Apparition: Take heed, daughters of  Middle Earth. I have news for the She-Elf known as Aly... One, your full name is Aly Greenleaf. Two, your ancestor was King Thranduil of Mirkwood. Three, he become a pawn of Thanos, but was blasted to bits by an Infinity Stone. Four, he left you Mirkwood Forest...

Istriya: I know how this ends, Aly.. Five and Six, Mirkwood is mortgaged and now you must must pay Gringotts or lose your forest home as well as lose your soul.

Strange Apparition: *nods*

Aly: All I really want to know is...  where could I find my missing pet, Cosmo.

Strange Apparition: *slaps her forehead*

 

So Aly is a descendant of the Greenleaf family of Mirkwood. Yes that means Legolas is one of her ancestors as well as his dad - The Elven King Thranduil. So Thranduil became a pawn of Thanos and was overthrown by a Mirkwood Were-Raccoon and a Shambling Mound. But that is a story best told elsewhere. Or Nowhere. Errr, I mean Knowhere. 

Cheers, Mar

Mordorheim is here!

If you do something well, do it better and do it often.

So... I just cant leave fantasy in Middle Earth like this. Whew. But the focus of this blog will change. The Moria Reclamation Project is now Mordorheim. 

So we move the timeline forwards to the future of Middle Earth, where its no longer so much in the Middle. Late Earth doesnt have the same ring as Middle Earth. Maybe Mid To Late Middle Earth.

Oh lets just say its now either the Fourth or Fifth Age and the forces of Evil were defeated and the Dwarves eventually reclaimed their great kingdom. To recap, gone were both Sauron and his master Morgoth. And the forces of the Dwarves had to battle a coalition of both Men and Elves. Again. Yup, sounds like the Hobbit but even more death and sorrow and yes... inevitable impending doom.

Why? Because the Dwarves distilled the power of the One Ring into the form of Bugmans Beer.  Thats right! The most powerful magic item reduced to a formula for an ice cold refreshing beverage. So of course the allied powers were concerned. On top of which the Dwarf Hero Balin and his mighty paladins were discovered to have become Chaos Dwarves.

To prevent total war, Balin and most Dwarvenkind elected to walk into the Void where both Sauron and Morgoth were cast.

Many years pass in peace, most of Middle Earth forgets the events of the past.

Enter Mordorheim... Its Mordor... Its Mordheim.

Small bands of adventurers face new horrors in a slew of new wargame rules loosely providing a new story for this blog!

And here is our first protagonist....

Meet the orphan witch known as Istriya. They call her the Witch of Pinnath Gelin. She studied at the Academy of Unseen Arts in Greendale. Her best friend forever was Sabrina Spellman, whose aunt had an uncanny likeness to Eowyn. Ahem - Miranda Otto. (See everything is indeed connected! Im not seeing conspiracies everywhere, really im not.)

She wears a flowery hat made of Black Lotus Giganticus. Apparently its a very rare Alpha card for MTG whatever that means. And she has a flowery dress to match. And a flowery spellbook. Her cousin is said to be the Knight of Flowers. Istriya is apparently a Tyrell.

But she has left Pinnath Gelin, her hillside homeland in South Gondor, to search for adventure and gold.

She hopes to use her witchy powers to set things right in the land and earn some coin while shes at it. And boy will she soon learn she needs to start making lots of coin.

What is that ethereal tentacly thing that has materialized behind her?

I don't know anymore
Are the neighbors watching me?
(Who's watching?)
Well, is the mailman watching me?
(Tell me who's watching?)
And I don't feel safe anymore, oh, what a mess
I wonder who's watching me now (who?), the IRS?

Strange Apparition: Istriya, Witch of Flowers, take heed! I am the Harbinger. I bring you tidings. One. you are not an orphan afterall. Two, your long lost uncle has passed away. Three, you are now the owner of Isengard Tower. Four, your uncle mortgaged Isengard to the Bank of Gringotts. Five, you owe an "indeterminate" sum of Gold Pieces to pay the monthly mortgage. Six, if you fail to pay it monthly you will go into default and lose both the property and your very soul.

 Istriya: Great so I just discovered a family that I always wanted and lost it. Inherited a castle and am about to lose it. I better start making some money. Thank you ghostly apparition. Um do you have a name I can call you besides Harbinger? or Strange Apparition?

Strange Apparition: I was once called Kyra...  (longtime readers of this blog can guess who this is. or can they?)

 More pics of this mysterious Kyra...

Has some seriously creepy veil face, right?  Does no one remember laughter? She once haunted the ruins of Ost-In-Edhil.

Apparently in the Mortal Realms she is known as Lady Olynder. But what do Stormcast know...

Well Lady Olynder has a brother known as Ollivander who owns a Wand Shoppe on Diagon Alley. Which is where Gringotts Bank is! Which makes sense since this Lady Olynder is delivering messages of them.

Told ya! Its all connected.

And just like that... Shes gone. And so is this post for now.

 

~~~~~~~~

So will Istriya make her monthly payments for Isengard? 

Is Kyra aka Lady Olynder friend or foe?

Find out in the next post!

Cheers,

Mar

 

Raise Dead Spell Succeeds or How I Rolled My Saving Throw

Hello all, Mar here. Just wanted to post an update about me and my return to hobby things.
2020 was a bad year for me. I lost my sight and couldnt focus my eyes for months, was bed ridden and couldnt walk either. And I also had a hard time speakingl. But miraculously my sight returned somewhat and now I can walk without a walker and I think I can speak clearly. For the past few weeks Ive moved from California to Florida and now I live in Virginia. I live close to Joe P (AKA Bibliophile on LeadAdventureForum). So I have a new gaming buddy. And will hopefully join him and his gaming group and their game convention. Im grateful for being alive and functioning, but sadly The Moria Reclamation Project is still not going to be resurrected, since all my minis and terrain for it were sold last year. Im going to be a commission painter / ebay seller once again, since I cant work anywhere else for a living. I will be starting a new project here, though I dont know if if will be a new post because it could be middle earth related somewhat. I was thinking about MUSKETS IN MORDOR as the title. Or it could be a new blog about sci fi/ fantasy in the black powder era - BARSOOMIAN CITY STATES (warfare on Burrough's pre apocalypse still lush world of Mars). I just wanted to drop in and say hello again to everyone. Especially in my favorite forum. (waves to the LAF) Oh and  I have figures kitbashed and primed but not yet painted. Pics coming soon.