The Cruelwater Chronicles (Part IV) - Still Water Runs Deep

Janitor watched as the Clean-Up Crew readied their weapons for the ordeal to come. Sinister sporadically revved his chainsword, his jaw clenching each time he activated the weapon. Janitor's other champion, Dexter, checked his grenade launcher for the fifth time. The rest of the Crew went through various rituals to distract themselves from the tension they felt for the coming fight.

"Listen up lads." Bellowed Janitor. "We've already seen what this Puppet Master has.....a bunch of re-purposed Servitors and some lobotomised locals....if that's all he's got, he's already as good as dead."

He looked each member of his gang in the eye as he spoke.

"Now let's do what we do best and clean up this place!"

  

With two of the locations already scouted out on their previous expedition the Clean-Up Crew concentrated their forces around the centre.

The Voodoo Dolls loaded the Eastside.....

......with Longpoke Kari and her trusty Long-Las holding the centre.

Three Servo-Stalkers immediately moved towards the Escher.

As the Servo-Stalkers moved towards both gangs, a swarm of Skeetas was drawn to the commotion.

.....the lift descended to unload a Servo-Stalker amongst the Goliaths lines and the Skeetas swarmed in.

The Voodoo Dolls' predicament was no better as the Servo-Stalkers sprinted towards them.

Despite levelling most of their fire power at the Servo-Stalker, the Goliaths failed to stop it charging in

Two Skeeta swarms attacked Janitor, but they failed to hurt the Goliath leader and he swatted two  wounds from one swarm.

The Servo-Stalker took down one of the Goliaths, but his gang mate stepped up and tore away the mechanoids circuitry taking it out of action.

On the Southside, the young Juve Jinx charged into a wounded Servitor.....

.....blasting apart its cranium with her Stub Gun of all things.

The Goliaths fell back from the Skeetas, to give their gang mates a clear line of fire.

While the Goliath Leader stamped a Skeeta swarm into the dirt.

As both gangs started to make headway, they were assailed by Bomb Rats! Kimaris the Voodoo Dolls' champion blasted one apart with her Heavy Stubber but despite the Voodoo Dolls throwing everything they had at the Servo-Stalkers they couldn't stop Jinx being taken out by one of them.

The Goliaths received considerably more attention. A Goliath ganger on the gantry shot at one of the bomb rats and the resulting explosion took out one of his unfortunate gang mates.

Sinister charged over to help out his leader, distracting the swarm and allowing Janitor wipe out the troublesome bugs......

.....no sooner had he disposed of the Skeetas than he was assaulted by a Servo-Stalker. Fortune smiled on him though and he escaped with a couple of flesh wounds.

The same couldn't be said for the ganger on the other end of the gantry as he was charged by two Skeeta swarms and a bomb rat.......BOOM!

Sinister once again charged in to help out his leader, distracting the thing long enough for Janitor to put it down.

On the Southside, Sumpsnake Sully retreated from a Servo-Stalker, blasting away at it but failing to slow the thing's approach

She scrambled onto a roof, but her stalker was relentless. 

As the Servo-Stalker approached her, she jumped from the roof into the murky sump swamp below, leaving the murderous machine to find other prey.

The Voodoo Dolls' champion Kat charged into the Servo-Stalker that had taken the Juve out of action....

.....carving through its armour with her power sword before plunging her Stiletto sword into its flesh. She opened the door to a suspected entrance but found it contained nothing.

The Dolls' ganger Calypso opened a door to check for the entrance but found three Lurkers waiting for her!

Despite pumping shot after shot into them the Lurkers took her down....

With the threats to the Goliath's lines eliminated the Goliaths moved up on the suspected locations.

Kat was eager to test her skills against the Goliath leaders but mindful of the ganger Sabine's predicament she moved over towards the Lurkers threatening her....

Jumping off of the roof she assaulted the abominations.....

.....cutting all three of them down with contemptuous ease.

Inspired by her Champion's prowess, Sabine charged the final Servo-Stalker.....

.....plunging her Stiletto knife into its eye socket.

With the local threats removed, the gangs started on each other. Kimaris blasted away at the Champion Dexter with her heavy stubber, pinning the Goliath.

The onslaught of lead only stopped when the Dolls' champion charged him. Despite Kat hitting him four times, every attack failed to wound!

....Things looked bleak when the Goliath's fighting champion, Sinister charged in to help out Dexter. Kat dodged and weaved, parrying an attack and stepping aside from another to emerge with a flesh wound. She struck back, plunging her Stiletto sword into the champion and taking him out. Her previous exertions and the flesh wound were obviously taking their toll because the Dolls' Champion failed to wound Dexter with her three attacks and the Goliath champion took her out with his knife!

A Goliath ganger smashed open a door and finally found the secret entrance to Puppet Master's lair....

......as victory was finally in their grasp, more Critters appeared from the sump swamp. The Goliath leader found himself surrounded by 3 Hive Mites and four Sump Slugs. Although the Goliath's had found the location their nerve finally broke and they retreated.....leaving the spoils to the Voodoo Dolls

Phew....what a game! We rolled so many doubles for our priority rolls that we thought we were going to run out of Critters. We had swarms of Skeetas, Bomb rats (truly terrifying when they're running at you), Hive Mites, Sump Slugs, Servo-Stalkers and Lurkers jumping out from every shadow.
We both laughed so hard at our misfortunes that we were genuinely worn out by the end of the game.
I really thought the game was up when the Golaiths found the entrance but then the very next turn they bottled out and they were left with 3 models. Once the Sump Slugs and Hive Mites appeared right next to Rob's leader he quickly realised discretion was the better part of valour and voluntarily fled.
We both decided that the game was a draw in the end, but honestly neither of us cared....it was just so damned fun to play.

Who knows what the next instalment  will bring....maybe the Puppet Master will make an appearance or there may be more hoops for us to jump through before he shows up!

Until next time.....may Our Lady grant you her number! 😉