Prologue I: Portents of War

Skagrot's Bad moon Grots
Skagrot had been tasked with taking a small scouting party into the human territories, searching for locations of technological remains from the freeguild mechanicum cities, that would be ripe for plunder.
Accompanying him is his cave squig Gnasher, Wolf rider, grox 'Badrat' and his wolf, Ra'hul and a small rabble of his clans grots, including a basher and netter.

Grots

Winding their way through the desolate winter landscapes, Skagrot finds his warband on the edge of a property once infested with human wizards. Though many of the structures are broken and crumbling, the foul human magics have kept the garden in a state of upkeep. Skagrot decides that this would be a a good place for his clan to expand their travel routes though. Simple, effective demolition of the human buildings would be fast and effective. The moonclans' mekanikan grot allies would make short work of the area with their explosive devices and nothing would be so satisfying to Skag as too see that dreadful human tower blown high up into the air, reduce to a cloud of ash and dust.


 

 
As the warband surveyed the outlying area, a heavy mist had settled over them, common for the time of year. It parted just long enough for the Grots to spot the shimmering ethereal ruins beyond the wizards land and as the mist closed the gap once again, the shrill shrieks of a raising of nighthaunts could be heard. Skagrot readied his band for battle.


 


Taking position up in the wizards garden, the grots prepared to target the oncoming malignants. Skag using the dead tree as cover, letting Gnasher off his leash, who immediately bounded across the gardens straight towards the dire wolf.  Badrat rode his wolf hard, in hopes of getting behind the hexwraith before the damned creature could reach the rest of the grots.
 


The wraith had been too slow and badrat was able to get behind him. He launched attack after attack with his splitta, but the wraith cackle with every swipe passing through the trails of ethereal mist. But the laughter stopped as Ra'hul tore through it's mount, tooth and claw shredding the spectral creature to bits. Heavily wounded the hexwraith fled, coursing straight through body of grots in the courtyard. Yet, either through fearlessness or through stupidity, the grots stood their ground and the spectral essence passed them by, unharmed. 
The spirit host was peppered with shots from skagrots bow and was unable to pass the walls to the get to the grots- for now.



A ferocious battle between beasts took place at the far end of the garden. Gnasher was able to pin the direwolf down, gaining enough time for the rest of the moonclan to single out the pinned down spirit host, but he was unable to injury the beast. Eventually, the pseudo-impenetrable hide of dire wolf and the chocking mist of ethereal essence was too much for gnasher, and the cave squig tore back through the courtyard and fled back the moongrot camp, far beyond the woods.




With the hexwraith's maniacal movements forcing the grots to split across the grounds, and no longer able to focus their attacks, the warband began to fall one by one. Rather than face the hexwraith again, two of the grots charged the courtyard and with some unlikely bravery running through them, they were able to tear into the host. But even so, it wasn't enough. The netter and basher found themselves now trapped on both sides of the wraith, but it was no use. Only brave in the company of each other, split in two the pair could neither defend from the ghostly blades or from the spectral essence. With the warband quickly failing and the Malignants cosmic stench spreading across the garden, skagrot began to eye up his escape route.
 


With the undead regrouping, badrat took his comrades death as a chance to inflict one final attack on the spirit host, but even with the power of the wolf under him, it was too late. The last grot was torn to shreds and badrat knew he would be next. Turning tail he fled across the gardens.



Skagrot flung himself onto Ra'hul's back as he bounded past, the two grots escaping pursuit from the nighthaunts. With his warband in tatters, it would take more than a couple of barrelbombs to see this tower brought down when he returned, and return he would...

With the grots fleeing and the tower still seemingly unoccupied, the spirits broke apart and settled once again down in to the dirt, taking on the long rest that came for them between battles. No true rest for the ever being.



 
Epilogue: 
 


Sanders watched the on going skirmish in horror, realising that he had trapped himself in the wizards tower. With no sight of his people anywhere on the horizon, he resided to hiding up against the  ruined wall and drinking himself calm. He would have to allow the mist to clear before he could make a run for it, but he couldn't wait forever. He knew that those greenskins would return as soon as they could, but those ghosts had him too shaken to think straight ...

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