The Deepwood Rangers
It has been over 2000 years since goblins and gnoblars allied and enslaved the orc and ogre population. Their alliance has grown stronger and stronger ever since they started training their captives to fight for them. Today together with some small snotling tribes they rule the known world, or at least the most of it, some remote places are still too far away for their tiny feet. Places such as the frozen mountain range in the north, the central areas of the Lustrian jungle, some high towers in Ulthuan and the deepest forests of Athel Loren. Yes, even the mighty Athel Loren has fallen in the hands of goblins, gnoblars and snotlings. The forest of Loren was the last place they conquered. They entered the forest countless of times with clubs and torches before they realized it couldn't be invaded with brute force. It would take brains to get in alive, and the brain count was quite low among the little green men. But there was one wise goblin, the oldest of them all, and also the tiniest. Fortunately the only size that mattered was of his brain, and it was big. Together with the gnoblar elder he created a cunning plan to get hold of Athel Loren once and for all. They knew the forest was a living thing of its own and if they could turn it against the elves, they'd only need to stand by and watch them fight each other.
The Green Alliance, as they called themselves, finally had a plan. They launched their biggest assault yet to Athel Loren, hoping that the high priestess would show herself. And of course she did. With some wicked mushrooms and nasty spells the goblin shamans cursed her blood and mind, causing lots of disturbance in the forest and making it mad. The Green Alliance had to retreat, but so had the elves, only they had nowhere to run with the forest attacking them on the other side and the green horde on the other. Every spellweaver alive was summoned to the pools of Crystal Mere to calm the forest, but their power would soon run out if nothing was done to restore the peace inside the woods. The goblins, gnoblars and snotlings only had to wait and they soon would have the forest...
The elven high council gathered together to decide what to do. There was not much time until the forest went mad again and their options were low. Summoning Orion or any other god for that matter was out of question since it was not guaranteed they would be friendly. After a short while they came to a conclusion; they would have to brake the ancient laws and do the one last thing that could be done. They would have to contact Tuhis the Mighty and his Rangers. A lot easier said than done since the Rangers live inside the hidden paths. Normally you could just open a path and chant it to connect to other paths, eventually hitting the right one, but now the forest being so unstable the only way was to travel to the deepest glades in the deepest parts of the Deepwood.
Five highborns were chosen for this quest for hidden paths. They travelled deeper and deeper into the woods, so deep that they actually came out of the forest and had to turn back. When they finally found the place where no light could enter, they new they were there. The heart of the Deepwood. They could not see anything but they sensed someone's presence. The highborns could hear them, the Rangers, weird people able to use the paths to travel back and forth in time and place, and now they had to make a deal with them. Good thing was that they were no longer in a hurry, because they were practically inside the hidden paths where time loses its meaning.
After hours of negotiating with the Rangers' leader, the highborns finally got what they wanted: Tuhis would take his finest men and travel back in time to stop the whole goblin and gnoblar alliance. In exchange he would be given full leadership of the whole Deepwood once Athel Loren was restored to normal. So the Rangers went and returned in an instant, all while the highborns exited the Deepwood with a small grin on their face.
Tuhis didn't realize he was fooled once again. At the very moment when he destroyed the goblin rebels in the past, the future was changed to a better one. The Green Alliance was never formed and Athel Loren never invaded. The highborns did not travel to the Deepwood and did not make the deal with the Rangers. You would think this means that the Rangers never left and thus never changed the past, creating a paradox, but that would get way too complicated. The Rangers have lived in the hidden paths for thousands of years, they were there even before any other elf had stepped to the forest of Loren. They aren't restricted by time and space like other mortals, and therefore are not affected by anything that follows from time travel. Living inside the paths has it advantages and disadvantages, you can save the world and get nothing in return. But the Rangers are used to that. They have saved the world many times before and will continue doing so in the future (and the past)!
THE RANGERS
- Tuhis the Mighty (Wood Elf Noble)
-Wild Rider Kindred
-An Annoyance of Netlings
-Ruby Ring of Ruin
-Anne the Elk (Elven Steed)
- Glade Guard (14)
-Musician
-Standard Bearer
- Dryads (8)
- Tree Kin (3)
- Wild Riders (5)
-Musician
- Waywatchers (5)
- Great Eagle
- Awesome Eagle
Seriously though at this point level I don't see the benefit of getting a wizard. I could spam tree singing and get +2 to dispel rolls but yeah, that's it. With the wild rider hero I can spam the ruby ring till I miscast and make the wild riders a bit more dangerous. And a lord level wizard is out of question, too many points. Characters don't win the small games, it's the units and how they work together. Or that's how I want to believe.
Now that it's done I have time to concentrate in the modelling and painting part of this challenge.
