This week, as implied last time, I was paired against the Circle Orboros played by Harry.  The Grimkin followed Aelrik’s zombie to the resting place of his magical sword, and when they arrived, the Blackclads were waiting for them…

As the Grymkin approached the stone statue of Aelrik, Bradigus and his wolds wasted no time in setting up to protect the site.  The Dread Rots came on first, slowly, but advancing on Bradigus’s line.  Bradigus was going to have none of that though, and created a rift in the center of their ranks, decimating them and leaving nothing but a smoking pit in the ground.  He also summed the mystic wards of his brotherhood, denying magic to those enemies near him.

Bradigus’s Woldwyrd came on next, taking a few shots at the Gorehound, but failing to bring it down.  Instead, the Gorehound charged and reduced one of Bradigus’s Shifting Stones to rubble.  The Child’s Rattler also charged destroying another stone and moving on to the Woldwatcher, just as it was moving in to the melee.  By the time the Rattler’s momentum had played out, the Woldwatcher had crumbled at his feet.

With the initial rush of their smaller beasts over, it was time for their larger beasts to being their assault.  Bradigus’s Woldwarden made the melee first, squashing the Gorehound and engaging the Rattler.  The Child had other plans though, engaging the Woldwarden herself, while her Skin and Moans loosed its wrath on Bradigus.

Bradigus would have fallen then, but instead he only smiled as the ley line activated, and he, Talus, and his remaining wolds teleported away.  The Grymkin had achieved what they needed though; they had found the Sword of Aelrik.  It was not, however, as they had supposed, a gleaming metal sword.  Instead, it was a sword of stone, an artifact more than a weapon…  …It would have to do.