Battle Brothers: Senior Sergeant

Part of the Fate of Heroes series - spoilers ahead!

The remaining Spears from the siege use their pay first at the tavern, naming Sergeant Gander as the new commander since he's now the most senior (experience wise) in the company. Still reeling from the losses at Wiesendorf, he decides to take the company dire wolf hunting first, an easy job - followed by ousting some goblins at nearby ruins.

He doesn't look pleased at his promotion.

Carelessness leads to Fanatic being flanked at taking an arrow through the jugular, so after the victory Gander follows Sahkarov's advice in recruiting more men, gaining Raz the cat like sell sword and Harlech the incestuous bastard (not making that up).

The local councilman then pleads with the Spears to recover an artifact from the North Eastern mountains which might help in the war against the dead. With Majorn's reasoning still in his mind, Gander accepts and the company begins the long trek into House Grimmund territory.

Battle Brothers: The Nightmare Begins

Part of the Fate of Heroes series - spoilers ahead!

After a nightmarish sleep, Gander is woken up at the tavern by Stargazer who says refugees from all over are claiming the dead are rising across the land. Behind him are the new recruits, Agdan, a cultist friend of Fanatic and Sir Erland an adventurous noble and his squires Gillian Laddersmith and Reimund the Secret Son, a bastard child of the King. Not so secret if it's in his name I guess.

Nightmares involving Rome?

They immediately report in to Faltran, who is still deep in his cups, and decides to ignore the undead threat to do training missions instead: catching thieves and escorting a caravan both proving to be easy. They also accompany Sir Erland's friend Sir Siegfried Baranor of House Ruhmolt and his troops in hunting another nachzerer swarm in the swamp which again is relatively safe given the number of allies.

The newbies do pretty well, despite the "surprise" that any slain human raises as a zombie now and a small altercation between Raven and Sir Erland on who gets to eat first - low born or high born. Faltran lets them sort it out with their fists. Unconvinced by their new commander, Majorn has a quiet discussion with him and Gander or the duty of every living person to fight the undead.

His words took root because not a day later the Spears accepted a contract to defend the town of Wiesendorf from an undead horde marching towards it.

Battle Brothers: Relative Peace

Part of the Fate of Heroes series - spoilers ahead!

The days after the war are peaceful, with the roads patrolled by various House soldiers once more. The Spears help clean up the wandering brigand and orc groups, getting paid per head as well as hunting more direwolf packs.

In their down time, Mole helps a boy get a ball out of a tree, Raven's juggling entertains the troops, Big Mike plays more dice with Pioyer and Emile, Faltran manages to break his nose while training and Fanatic converts R4W3C to the cult of Davkul. Majorn also keeps busy burning random witches he finds in villages.

Sir Donatus Donbert of House Folsach then invites them to go on a nachzerer hunt with his legion and showcases how overwhelming numbers can handle even a swarm of over 20 of the ghouls. Big Mike is impressed.

I love the large scale battles!

Afterwards the company holds a meeting about what they should do next, and Emile comes up with the idea of exploring the Western wild lands, since some maps he's been stealing this whole time are not sufficient for cartography purposes. As maps might be valuable to the right person, Big Mike agrees and the Spears begin purchasing supplies for their adventure.

Battle Brothers: Good Times

Part of the Fate of Heroes series - spoilers ahead!

Despite the mounting injuries, the Spears take on a contract to eliminate a small orc encampment. On the way Majorn finds a necromatic site he declares they must cleanse, so the Spears take on the usual zombies and necromancer, but this time with two fallen heroes flanking the mage.

They are quite sturdy which is bad given the lesser zombies keep standing up, but Raven manages to axe the shield off one which enables the Spears to pincushion it to death. The other is peppered with arrows until Bes singlehandedly defeats it  - much to Sunbro's amazement.

Useful when you actually have people that can shoot.

At the orc camp the team encounters berserkers leading the regular orcs. These scary creatures don't wear armor though, making them prime archery practice. Fanatic was foolish enough to let one get close and knock him on the head, leaving him with permanent brain damage (ironically one of the best permanent injuries to have in this game).

Apprehending some thieves afterwards, Big Mike is happy to report to the company they now have over 50,000 coins in funding. Gander further cheers everyone up with a cow tipping session (lol) and as icing on the cake, Sunbro reports the nobles are discussing terms. The war is over!

When he asks with true concern if the Fabled Spears of the Church are now going to disband, he is met with laughter and cheer. "Not bloody likely!"

Battle Brothers: Davkul is Coming

Part of the Fate of Heroes series - spoilers ahead!

Finding another necromantic ruin in the swamp, Majorn is pleased when he and the Spears wipe out the zombies and their necromaster while suffering only minor wounds against a force twice their number. While camped, Fanatic converts Kamots to the cult of Davkul which leads to blows against Sahkarov who still had hope for the poor fisherman. Not anymore.

I'll beat the heresy out of you!

By happenstance the company also runs into a blood sacrifice to Davkul on the way back to town. The man, another cultist named Mole, is bleeding and speared to the ground but not yet gone. Gander removes the spears while Fanatic urges him to join the Spears so he does.

To combat the growing number of cultists in the ranks, Big Mike recruits Raven Fatbastard - a merchant business acquaintance of Sid as well as Emile the thief and Bes, a retired soldier. Together they defeat more bandits and wolf packs. On their journeys Faltran notices House Grimmund forces taking Wiesendorf village from House Folsach. Mike reminds all of them to march on and to not get involved.

Luckily they run into a troupe of traveling performers whom Sir Julien convinces to perform for free. This greatly raises in the morale of the troops.

Battle Brothers: Dogs of War

Part of the Fate of Heroes series - spoilers ahead!

After Big Mike berates Donk79 for trying to beg for coin from the new recruits, he purchases six war dogs who are summarily lost over the course of the next few missions - most while defending a town against goblin raiders.

As expected they are fast but physically weak, relying on poisoned arrows and flanking tactics which are negated by the hounds in this case. Big Mike can tell it would be problematic if they didn't have the dogs to run down these vermin but at the same time didn't want to get more since they all ended up dying on the field.

Instead he hires an odd cultist named Fanatic, and when the team comes across a merchant of wild, caged maltreated beasts - including a ragged jungle man, they set them free. Russ the wild man joins the Spears and Tolik gains a falcon fried which is useful for battle field scouting (somehow).

The most dangerous animal.

At the next town Faltran is pleased to learn that the Spears are now famous, while Majorn stops a witch burning when his senses detect the torch bearer to be some sort of demonic puppet! Majorn slays it in single combat.

Thea: No Safety

[Part of the Darklands of Arkania Story.]

With no time to waste, Team Talarian escapes from the dragon's lair and rushes back to the village but at each turn are faced with hostiles coming out of the wood work. Monstrous bats swarm Alysir and drain him dry and try the same to Ravanel Rising, but since she is undead they instead opt to lift her high into the sky and let gravity finish her off. Needler is swarmed by skeletons at is basically boned to death, and Light Falls is caught and used as food in the web of a dragon spider, which I can only assume is a spider the size of a dragon.

Team Talarian makes it back to man the walls just in time as a group of dragon spiders attacks the village. The arachnids are slain but at the high cost of Fanatic Sword, Spiral Star, Moxie Pally, Burning Octopus and Graev. There are werewolf sightings in the vicinity soon after but before a team can be assembled to hunt them down a fierce storm hits the village leading to more injuries.

Your reward for saving the land! Lol.

With the werewolves out of range, a rebuilt Team Talarian (Talarian, Tacktix TLC, Ardwulf, Ancient Gamer) opt for a lightning raid against some nearby slavers instead, rescuing two children and the witch, Natalie Patalie. They then return to the Memorial Ground and all pitch in to construct stronger defenses, improving the wall just in time to thwart a striga attack. Establishing his position as chief, Talarian Design dictates that no one leave the village walls for their own safety.

Thea: Zmey You

[Part of the Darklands of Arkania Story.]

Back at the Memorial Site, the number of villagers grows rapidly as a chef healer named Belly Rumbles joins as do the brothers Keen and Graev, and the warriors, Light Falls, Ardwulf and Tyranno Dorkus, come of age. They are also attacked by a strange undead creature - a Viescy, who slays one of the other children.

Team Talarian is sent on the case to stop it, finding its actual grave and then performing a magic ritual to destroy it. The ritual doesn't actually do that, instead it cleanses the monster into a regular person who now wishes to repent and joins the team as Ravanel Rising.

Viescy's are pretty scary!

Ravanel proves her worth as she leads Team Talarian to some nearby slavers whom they easily dispatch and save a captive child. With this sudden influx of people Talarian decides it is time to take the fight to Zmey, so his team returns to the village and leaves only Thorgrim, Belly Rumbles, Curian, and Rhino to be defended by Ardwulf and Tyranno Dorkus.

Needler, Striga Syl, Moxie Pally, Fanatic Sword, Tacktix TLC, Ravanel Rising, Izlain Backwood, Pineconettes, Spiral Star, Keen, Graev, Light Falls gear up and follow Talarian to Zmey's lair for an epic showdown.

As epic as a card game can be anyway.

While Pineconettes and Striga Syl are slain in the fight, the battle is won and Zmey and his snake minions are defeated. Talarian then chooses to plant the cosmic seed to return the world to the light and it immediately becomes shielded by a magical field. During this time, the orc witch is seen on the opposite side of this field trying to break through to no avail. Talarian knows that this will eventually doom her race to be hunted once more but he doesn't care. Victory for the light! VICTORY FOR TEAM TALARIAN!

Thea: Team Talarian

[Part of the Darklands of Arkania Story.]

With Cooper dead, it now falls on Talarian - the most veteran of the Memorial Ground villagers to form a squad, and so Team Talarian is born: composed of Harika, Striga Syl, Korima, Moxie Pally and Tacktix TLC. On their first outing they find a magically shielded tree and attempt to dispel the shield. Striga Syl succeeds, teaching Talarian some magic in the process and finding that the shield was actually protecting Spiral Star and Pineconettes who happily rejoin!

They then find the new lair of Zmey, and this time, since I'm not using auto resolve - I see just how overpowered the great serpent is. Without a hope to defeat it just yet, Team Talarian backs off and instead focuses on neutralizing the numerous abomination army camps that are becoming prevalent in the region. During one such assault, Harika and Korima are slain.

It's not good news at Memorial Ground either where a drake has captured and consumed two of the children. Rhino spotted which direction it fled in though, so after Team Talarian switched out Moxie Pally and Spiral Star to village guard duty for Fanatic Sword and Izlain Backwood, they were hot on the trail of the winged beast.

It looks kind of cute!

Thea: Child Care

[Part of the Darklands of Arkania Story.]

Not long after settling in, a letter from a nearby dwarf smith arrives asking for assistance. Cooper Team is happy to oblige, learning that the dwarf basically wants a date with a raven haired rusalka and will give some good gear in exchange. The rusalka isn't that keen however, asking Cooper Team to first rescue her children from some orcs. Sure enough, they find that orc witch again with kids in tow but convince her to hand the kids over peacefully.

The most plain (and clothed) rusalka I've ever seen.

Of course those kids don't actually belong to the rusalka. She just wants to drown them which then makes them rusalka too. Cooper will have none of this, and basically threatens the bitch to "Date the dwarf or die - the kids stay with us!" Surprisingly, this actually works. The dwarf isn't too happy with the approach but gives over the payment of gear anyway. Some of the said children grow up pretty fast, and the village gains the warriors Fanatic Sword and Tacktix TLC as well as Rhino the worker.

Breaking Dawn

My journal through Stalker Soup - a mega mod for Shadows of Chernobyl! You can follow the rest of the story here!

The sun had begun to rise as I made my way towards the small stalker camp North of the rails where I met "Guide". The asshole didn't want to help me unless I got him a Tunder rifle though so feeling dejected I came back the way I came, sniping a few soldiers and wiping out a large bandit crew that had taken a farmstead before reaching the newbie village. Got a bunch of rewards from Sid, and handed in the laptop to Fanatic who then told me that opening a portal requires an artifact, and to open the next portal I need another laptop from the other lab. Bastard. Fortunately I had the "soul" artifact he wanted and he opened up the warp North of the railtracks (ofcourse, because putting it right there would be too easy). Sure enough I found it there, and after eliminating the pack of dogs wandering around it I stepped through to find myself at the Army Warehouses which was now the Freedom base. Seems that portal was a one way deal - typical.

The Freedom guys were quite passive, not caring if I took all their food and stuff though I did make a point to restock on VOG grenades from the people that had them. Outside the area was littered with anomalies and I found a neutral stalker camp led by Wolf (finally handed in his quest) in a metal scrap yard. Part of his group was "Master" who I also had to take out, so I punched his lights out too. He managed to stand up with his exo suit though but wasn't fast enough to retaliate. My next task here was just over the nearby hill covered in mist - to eliminate a bloodsucker village. Once I got up there my radar was just going crazy with how many of them there were. As soon as I opened fire, seven of them (and two zombie rats) rushed the hill I was on - stopped only by Saiga shells to the head. There were six more in the village as well as two Izolm. The radar adjustment ensured that none of them could get the drop on me anymore.

With that clear I did a West-East sweep of the region and decided to hike up to the next area called Radar. Before I got there I reached an Freedom outpost called "the Barrier" that only had two living soldiers left. They asked me to help them against an incoming wave of monolith troops. I looted their buddies and took up position watching the road. Soon enough three squads of Monolithians came charging down, but not one of them got past the makeshift fence. Can't speak for the two chimeras that wandered in afterwards though. After two trips back to the warehouse to sell loot I decided to push further into the next area known as Radar. It was foreboding that the road there was guarded by eight izolms.

Monolith is out there, and they don't like trespassers.

Surprises in the Swamp

My journal through Stalker Soup - a mega mod for Shadows of Chernobyl! You can follow the rest of the story here!

My reward for the defense task was that Fanatic could create a teleport from here to the Army Warehouses in the distant north. The only catch was that I had to bring him a laptop from lab x-18, where I had just come from in the Dark Valley. Yeah, maybe some other time. First I wanted to properly scout out the base to the south. There were many soldiers and they had a tank, as well as chopper support. While navigating terrain to try flank the place I came across a small path that lead to the next area: Swamp. Curious, I followed it and at a nearby ruins found a small squad of four Clear Sky stalkers who apparently control this territory. They asked my help in rescuing one of their dudes from a strong bandit position at a large church, and I agreed. I didn't realize they intended for me to go right now in the dead of night though. The commander stayed behind while his troops forged on ahead into the darkness, so I could do little but follow.

Quickly recognized that there were plant anomalies here that do -severe- bleeding damage and learned to avoid those, then about halfway to our destination gunfire erupts. The guys had run into an Izolm being eaten by something I'd never seen before. It looked like a towering, hairless and very ugly gray monkey. Oh crap, yes I have - I only realized it now as I type that.

It was a librarian from Metro 2033!

The creature ripped 2 of the soldiers into shreds and the third one simply bolted, leaving me to deal with it. Great. :/ Fortunately I was way too awesome and made sure it didn't even touch me as I emptied two clips from the Saiga into the freak. Once it was dead I hoofed it to catch up with soldier #3 only to find his bullet riddled corpse near the church. I took up position at the broken wall near his corpse and engaged the bandits from there and they put up a really good fight despite only being around 8 of them. There were 4 more, the strongest ones in exo armor, napping at the church once I managed to breach it. Had they come out I probably would have been in trouble, but since they didn't it was easy Saiga headshots all around. I rescued the captive once all hostiles were dead and we both made our way back to the first guy who gave me the location of the Clear Sky base. It was again through a teleporter at a distant farm. Geez, don't people just walk anymore?

Decided to try return to the previous mission with the military base in Cordon but when I returned from the swamp I must have gotten lost because I appeared in a mine field, within range of their guns and tank, and as soon as I returned fire they sent their helos to get me. With no choice I backtracked into the Swamp.

Escape from the Dark Valley

My journal through Stalker Soup - a mega mod for Shadows of Chernobyl! You can follow the rest of the story here!

As I made my way out of the lab I encountered a small squad of military guys raiding the facility. It was nice to see the poltergeists throwing crap at someone other than me for a change. Killed them swiftly and exited that haunted place only to learn via comms that the military were performing a massive raid on the area, focusing primarily on the bandit base to the North. However they also blocked the path to Garbage which means my only exit was the South road but first I had to get out of this building. I had a feeling that the army guys were here in force so I didn't bother taking the main door out and instead took stairs up where I fought past another team before reaching the roof. Thankfully there were no helis in sight. By taking the back, slightly broken, fire escape I managed to flank the next two teams who as I thought were watching the main door.

Made my way out of the gate and sure enough the choppers were doing their thing at the bandit base. Didn't want to get involved with that so I hoofed it South, sniping two more soldiers guarding a small bridge and just as I am nearing the border I get a warning that a mechanized spetznaz unit was spotted coming my way. "Mechanized?," I pondered to myself as I kept on walking down the road until the south gate suddenly exploded open as five dudes came marching through, and behind them was the answer to my question.





Merde.  Quickly took cover behind a tree, narrowly evading a shell that flew past and gunned down the foot soldiers. I had been reading recently that while tanks are the behemoths of the battlefield, they are not as effective without a supporting ground squad. This proved true, as I managed to move up the tree line into a position where I could lob grenades at the bastard who was content with staying put. In the end I ran out of grenades, but he ran out of life. Kaboom! Victorious, I looted what I could and pushed on back into Cordon.


At the Newbie Village I sold off what gear I could, including the broken bandit-exo and the empty tommy gun and got a few weapons from Sid for completing various side quests (including punching out a dude in town) for which I was given a Saiga 30 clip, auto-shotgun. He did also have a new task for me, to sneak into the military base to the south and retrieve some documents. That wasn't going to be easy. Before that however, a new stalker named Fanatic was in town and he asked me to help protect the place from an incoming band of mercs. Ofcourse I agreed and took up position on one of the rooftops. It was storming heavily when they arrived, but between myself and Fanatic not one of them even breached the perimiter. The small group was just a scouting party it seemed as the remainder were still camped out in a field nearby. Took the liberty of Saiga-ing them all before they could reach for their weapons, or stand up. All mercs dead, village casualties zero.