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Sunday, March 10, 2019

IHMN: The War of the Witches Season 4.3

Wicked! The War of the Witches is a series of adventures that take place in the fictional Victorian Universe of the the late 19th Century using the versatile rules In Her Majesty's Name. As we continue with Season Four, the Wicked Witch of the West (WWW) enters our world of 1894.



Season 4. Episode 407: There can only be One.



"Majesty!" panted Lindani as he ran in to the palace. King Mehluli turned his gaze upon him and stated,"What is it Commander of the Royal Watch?"
"She comes. The one Tarzan warned us about. She wants to destroy your kingdom and enslave our people."
"So, this Wicked Witch of the West, a being not of this world, wants to challenge Natagala?" queried Ntando of the High Temple.
"That is so", replied Lindani.
"Evacuate the city, engage all defenses, and bring me The Royal Staff of Big Whopping," replied King Mehluli.

 King Mehluli leads the young warriors to better make use of his Leadership and Inspirational talents.

 The Winged Monkies and the Montrous Gargoyle advance.

The Winkie Guard and The Wicked Witch of the West move to the right of the Gargoyle.  The Winkie Guard would fire but Ntando's mystical talent of Water Bullets will make them ineffective.

 "You Monkeys do not frighten me! I wear monkey tails to cover my vital parts."


 The Royal Regiment knocks the Gargoyle down.

WWW shows how powerful she is - even against the Staff of Big Whopping!

Flame attack from the broom!  Two are killed and one must put out the flames!  They don't call her Wicked for nothing.


  "Want some fire, Scarecrow, I mean . . . um . . . just die!"

 "Eat lead Ntando!" Not this time WWW as the The Royal Staff of Big Whopping approaches.

 The WWW has to flee with her minions as the Kingdom of Natagala prevails in the (too wet for her) jungle.


It's time for WWW to move to a drier climate . . . 

Season 4. Episode 408: The Templars Wild West Style
  
The Knights Templars have a small group of Masters that each have responsibility for a section of the world - so why not a group for the Wild West - especially now that the portals have been discovered by the Witch King and WWW in my little corner of my fictional world?
 Fighting evil throughout the world.
 Season 4. Episode 409: Miskatonic University
 When evil inter-dimensional alien bad meanies go bump in the night, there is a Ivy League University that can help!
Miskatonic University is a university located in Arkham, a town in Essex County, Massachusetts. It is named after the Miskatonic River which flows near the campus.  Miskatonic University is a highly prestigious university, on par with Harvard University, and that Harvard and Miskatonic are the two most popular schools for the children of the Massachusetts “Old Gentry”. 
 Dr. Francis Morgan is Professor of Medicine and Comparative Anatomy (or Archaeology) at Miskatonic University.  Also part of the trio that destroyed "The Dunwich Horror."  Loves large caliber bolt action magazine fed rifles and uses Cthulhu Cultists as target practice.

Miskatonic University is famous for its collection of occult books. The library holds one of the very few genuine copies of the Necronomicon. Other tomes include the Unaussprechlichen Kulten by Friedrich von Junzt and the fragmentary Book of Eibon. The faculty and staff are some of the most respected men and women in their fields; however, very few know that they are also part of the secret war against numerous inter-dimensional beings that seek to destroy and repopulate Earth . . . and the occasional human bad guy has been stopped by these academicians.
 One less Shoggoth pit to worry about . . . but why were they chanting Sokur?


"Welcome to Dodge City Grandmaster." Sir Hugues de Payens, the secret Grandmaster of the Knights Templars looked at Sir John Singleton, Master of the Templar Knights in the United States.
"So it is true Sir John. The Americans are moving the Helmet and breastplate of Jason of the Argonauts?"
"Yes Sir Hugues. But there is a problem. We suspect The Witch is after the helmet and we in America have little experience with these beings from other worlds and mystical powers."
"You are fortunate.  There is an English "practicing" detective who deduced who I was and shared with me some interesting information."
"And . . . ," Sir John's voice trailed.
"There is an American adventurer who has faced the Witch King of Sokur and lived.  We must find this Theodore Roosevelt."
"And should we find him?"
"Then we will do what we do best.  Kill monsters."
The train carrying the treasure.
 
 (L to R) Teddy Roosevelt, Sir Ralph, Sergeant Josiah, Grandmaster Sir Hugues de Payens and The Bounty Hunter.  Note the bucket of water in the background.  As they advance, Teddy states, "No man is worth his salt who is not ready at all times to risk his well-being, to risk his body, to risk his life, in a great cause."

 The forces of The WWW.

 "Dang it. I forgot Gargoyles could fly."

 This time the WWW remembers there is a -4 penalty against flying characters!  

 "Well lookie thar.  Flying mechanical monkeys."
 
 Battle is joined.

 "Foul Beast!  Come and meet your doom!"

 The Wolves of Oz!  Where did they come from?

 That's a big wolf attacking the Grandmaster.

Now that's what I call a melee!
 
Special Agent Sawyer moves to a more advantageous position to engage the Winkies and protect the treasure in the train.

 “Believe you can and you're halfway there.”
Theodore Roosevelt 
  
In the conclusion we learn:

1. The Winkies are definitely not the red shirts of the WWW's company.
2. Gargoyles are made of rocks.
3. The treasure is grabbed and there is nothing like a poisoned broom stick to mess things up.
4. "Hey, where did that water come from?  And me without my bathing suit."
5. That Google can give you a lot of Teddy Roosevelt and Wyatt Earp quotes.

Season 4. Episode 411, The Season Finale: Teddy Roosevelt and the Wild, Wild, Wicked Witch of the West.

In our last episode we were at the half-way point in a game between the Wicked Witch of the West (WWW) and the Knights Templar supplemented with some heroes including Teddy Roosevelt, Special Agent Thomas Sawyer, Marshal Wyatt Earp and the Bounty Hunter. The Knights Templar would be tasked with killing WWW while the WWW company would need to recover the treasure of the  helmet and breastplate of Jason of the Argonauts.  Both sides received reinforcements: the Templar reinforcements were on the train and the WWW reinforcements were the dreaded Wolves of Oz arriving from from the North edge of the board. 




he Bounty Hunter puts out the fire on his duster and confronts WWW: "I don't think it's nice, you laughin'. You see, my hawk don't like people laughin'. Gets the crazy idea you're laughin' at him. Now if you apologize like I know you're going to, I might be able to convince him that you didn't mean nothin' by it..."


Wyatt Earp: "All right, Mr. Gargoyle ... you called down the thunder, well now you've got it! You see that? (pulls open his coat, revealing a badge) It says United States Marshal! 
Gargoyle: RRROOOAAAARRR!!!!
Wyatt Earp:  You die first, get it? Your friends might get me in a rush, but not before I make your head into a canoe, you understand me? POW POW POW POW KACHING! (That's the noise pistols make when you roll two "10's" and you are shooting using the gunslinger talent.)
 WWW decides to fly away as that water gets a little too close for comfort . . .
 The Winkie grabs the treasure while Teddy Roosevelt (just barely seen) tries to stop another Winkie
  “When you're at the end of your rope, tie a knot and hold on.”
  "One bullet riddled wolf. Having the armor helped too."
 You have got to be kidding me!  The monkey wins?
 WWW just remembers that a flying mechanical monkey might be better at getting the treasure away instead of a walking Winkie.
  “A man who has never gone to school may steal a freight car; but if he has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad.”  TR takes out the last mechanical monkey and Winkie.

"So, you won't take warning, eh? All the worse for you tin man. I'll take care of you now instead of later."  WWW knocks Wyatt Earp unconscious with her poisoned broom.

"Witch. I will not suffer your evil to continue."
 Discretion being the better part of valor, WWW disengages and flies away on her broom screaming, "Curses, curses! Somebody always helps that girl. Shoes or no shoes. I'm still great enough to conquer her. And woe to those who try to stop me!"

The monkeys used to be the red shirts of WWW's company but came into their own (-4 to hit while flying) and the Winkies are more durable than imagined.  The surprise attack of the wolves almost tipped the scales but the battle started to slip away from the bad guys when Wyatt Earp gunned down the gargoyle. The question is, with the Witch King locked up, WWW loose and the Professor pulling the strings from the center of his web, where will evil strike next?  Will the ruby slippers and a certain consulting detective show up soon?

Next with Season 5: From Dr. John Watson's Private Journal: The Legends Project orchestrated by my good friend Sherlock Holmes was our last, best hope for peace. It failed. But, in the Year of The War of the Witches, it became something greater: our last, best hope... for victory. The year is 1895. The place . . .






Thursday, March 7, 2019

IHMN: The War of the Witches Season 4.2

The War of the Witches is a series of adventures that take place in the fictional Victorian Universe of the the late 19th Century using the versatile rules In Her Majesty's Name. As we continue with Season Four, a evil discovers the path to our world as the Western Powers start to coordinate through Mr. Sherlock Holmes. The crew of the Audacity show up and Mr. Sherlock Holmes is also afraid that he might have to coordinate with his greatest adversary . . .



Season 4. Episode 406: The Legion Does not surrender!

 From the private journal of Dr. John Watson, MD:  Through a series of contacts Mr. Mycroft Holmes had discovered that there were waypoints, or doors to put it plainly, that allowed the Witch King to move around our fair land and others with ease.  With the enemy stopped from entering Oz, it was imperative that the portal leading back from the Burning Desert be discovered and hopefully, hope beyond hope, the Witch King would be trapped.  My good friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, was away with the mysterious "Doctor"  so it was with some surprise, therefore, that I saw him walk into my consulting room upon the evening of April 24th. It struck me that he was looking even paler and thinner than usual.

 The Witch King emerges from one portal with his company only to see the French Foreign Legion defending the other portal.

 “Yes, I have been using myself up rather too freely,” he remarked, in answer to my look rather than to my words; “I have been a little pressed of late. Have you any objection to my closing your shutters?”
The only light in the room came from the lamp upon the table at which I had been reading. Holmes edged his way round the wall, and, flinging the shutters together, he bolted them securely.
“You are afraid of something?” I asked.
“Well, I am.”
"What is it?" 
“You have probably never heard of Professor Moriarty?” said he.
“Never.”
 “Ay, there’s the genius and the wonder of the thing!” he cried. “The man pervades London, and no one has heard of him.  My dear Watson, only that man could mathematically discover where the way point is and I am afraid I have made a deal with the devil himself.  Be as it may, the portal is in Algeria and I sent an urgent telegram to Lieutenant Colonel Jacques Duchesne to secure the way point and prevent the Witch King from entering."
"What was his answer?"
"The Legion does not surrender."
  Troglodytes are dropping like sand fleas as the superior fire power and training of the legion takes its toll.

 (Large crackling lightning like zap noise)  So, the arc pistol does work.

 On the last turn the Witch King fails his pluck roll to get back up and is captured.  Now what we do with him?

The Witch King is taken into French Custody and guarded by the Guard Zouaves.


Season 4. Episode 406: Professor Moriarity

 "Well, well, what do we have here?" muses the Napoleon of Crime.

"But in calling Moriarty a criminal you are uttering libel in the eyes of the law—and there lie the glory and the wonder of it! The greatest schemer of all time, the organizer of every devilry, the controlling brain of the underworld, a brain which might have made or marred the destiny of nations—that's the man! But so aloof is he from general suspicion, so immune from criticism, so admirable in his management and self-effacement, that for those very words that you have uttered he could hale you to a court and emerge with your year's pension as a solatium for his wounded character. Is he not the celebrated author of The Dynamics of an Asteroid, a book which ascends to such rarefied heights of pure mathematics that it is said that there was no man in the scientific press capable of criticizing it? Is this a man to traduce? Foulmouthed doctor and slandered professor—such would be your respective roles! That's genius, Watson." — Holmes, The Valley of Fear.







Professor Moriarty is highly ruthless, shown by his steadfast vow to Sherlock Holmes that "if you are clever enough to bring destruction upon me, rest assured that I shall do as much to you".  Moriarty is categorized by Holmes as an extremely powerful criminal mastermind who is purely adept at committing any atrocity to perfection without losing any sleep over it. It is stated in The Final Problem that Moriarty does not directly participate in the activities he plans, but only orchestrates the events. As Holmes stated above, what makes Moriarty so dangerous is his extremely cunning intellect.


Baron Maupertuis

Captain Cold
 


COMMUNICATIONS FROM LIEUTENANT COLONEL JACQUES DUCHESNE
No. 156893

RECEPIENT: MR SHERLOCK HOLMES
221B BAKER STREET WESTMINSTER LONDON ENGLAND

WITCH KING HAS DISAPPEARED -(STOP)- ZOUAVE GUARDS FOUND DEAD WITH NO APPARENT CAUSE -(STOP)- I APOLOGIZE ON BEHALF OF THE HONOR OF FRANCE -(STOP)- BE CAREFUL MON AMI.

LIEUTENANT COLONEL JAQUES DUCHESNE
 
 Børglum
 
 Erik gathers his most powerful companions and goes to kill Surtr or forever dwell in Valhalla . . .

The forces of Astragard are decimated by the Witch King
 
 BWAH HAH HAH!  WE WANT BAMA NEXT! (for my friends not in the United States that is some collegiate American football humor)
 
COMMUNICATIONS FROM MR SHERLOCK HOLMES
No. 159387

RECEPIENT: CAPTAIN J. T. KIRK
FORMERLY OF THE USS AUDACITY PORTSMOUTH NAVAL YARD ENGLAND

I AM CONFRONTING THE PROFESSOR -(STOP)-YOUR SERVICES ARE NEEDED IMMEDIATELY -(STOP)- I WILL SEND DOCTOR WATSON TO EXPLAIN -(STOP)- THIS MAYBE A NO WIN SCENARIO -(STOP)- GOOD LUCK AND GOD SPEED.

SHERLOCK HOLMES
 
 
COMMUNICATIONS FROM CAPTAIN J. T. KIRK
No. 161478

RECEPIENT: MR SHERLOCK HOLMES
221B BAKER STREET WESTMINSTER LONDON ENGLAND

I DON'T BELIEVE IN NO WIN SCENARIOS -(STOP)-

CAPTAIN J. T. KIRK
 
Season 4. Episode 407: To Trap a King

Captain's Log October 26th, 1894.  Soon my crew and myself will jump by luft harness from the HMS Swordfish onto the mysterious island of Astragard.  I have familiarized myself with the files provided by Doctor Watson on this "Witch King" and have planned appropriately. Our species can only survive if we have obstacles to overcome. Without them to strengthen us, we will weaken and die. I will stop this obstacle. Sometimes a feeling is all we humans have to go on . . .








Time is up for the Witch King as the Warriors of Astragard arrive in overwhelming force and he is thrown in prison with "magic" chains to hold him in place.

Next:  A "Wicked" Threat