6 Short Stories You Should Read – No Quarter Collection 1
Skull Island Expedition presents six tales of Adventure, Revenge, and Skullduggery – Aaargh Me Maties!
Privateer Press and Skull Island Expeditions recently released No Quarter Collection: Volume 1, an anthology of six short stories published over the past decade. Most of these stories come from early issues of No Quarter dating back as far as 2005 and present narratives from a variety times, places, and points of view.
“Better Left Forgotten” and “Dead Stop” –
The first two stories, “Better Left Forgotten” and “Dead Stop” deal specifically with the Witchfire, the necromantic sword most often associated with Alexia Ciannor. The first story, “Better Left Forgotten” by Doug Seacat, is about the recovery of the Witchfire from a ruined stronghold in Cryx by the Cygnaran High Inquisitor, Dexer Sirac. The story itself predates the current storyline by nearly two decades, happening several years before the Lion’s Coup wherein High Inquisitor Sirac sets out on an expedition to plunder the castle of the long-dead pirate king, Lord Borges Moorcraig when sources indicate that the long-missing Witchfire blade lies forgotten in its chambers. Those familiar with Warmachine will recognize the now-fugitive Kell Bailoch among his coterie as well the presence of an unnamed, but easily identified Cryxian Lich Lord.
“Better Left Forgotten” does a fine job of painting the dread and paranoia inspired by the Vinter’s now-dismantled, but still-feared, Inquisition while also giving the reader a nice view of the more disreputable elements of Cygnar’s criminal underbelly, not to mention the peril one might find themselves in while prowling the islands of Cryx for plunder.
The second story, “Dead Stop” by Aeryn Rudel, takes place in 604 AR, four years prior to the current storyline after Alexia lost the Witchfire to the Order of Illumination after her defense of Corvis from the now-deposed monarch Vinter Raelthorne’s Skorne invasion of northern Cygnar. It tells the story of an armored coach shipment traveling from Corvis to Caspia. While the details of what is on board the coach are unknown to the mercenaries making the delivery, their employer and escort are made up of members of the Order of Illumination, the branch of the Church of Morrow tasked with rooting out and hunting down necromancers and infernalists, leaving the mercenaries with a well-placed sense of foreboding over what to them would otherwise be a routine job.
The story is largely told from the perspective of Imos Decklan, a discharged veteran of Cygnar’s Third Army Trencher Corps who suffered the loss of his leg when battling with Cryxian interlopers. Despite his injury, he has managed to find work as a bench gunner on an armored coach, a job well-suited to his condition as well as his training.
“Dead Stop” does many things well as a story, from its portrayal of Alexia Ciannor as a reluctant villain to the way in which the story itself is almost framed like a roleplaying combat encounter, an ultimately appropriate, if amusing, thing given the source material.
“Inner Sanctum” –
The third story, “Inner Sanctum” by William Shick, is told from the perspectives of two members of the Retribution of Scyrah. The first is Helyoss, one of the soulless Iosans devoid of emotion and viewed largely with disdain and contempt by the rest of Iosan society. The second is Eyre, a veteran mage hunter whose view of the soulless is as to be expected. When Helyoss requests to take a solo mission to infiltrate a Grey Lord stronghold in search of intelligence on the arcanist cult, Eyre and a fellow mage hunter assassin, Aysha are tasked to accompany him, much to Eyre’s reluctance. Despite Eyre’s abhorence for soulless, Aysha seems to look on them with a sense of kindness, if not one viewed as naive by her compatriots.
This is arguably my favorite story of the collection. Will Shick has written several stories in the Iron Kingdoms setting that are fine character studies, not unlike “Conversion” from No Quarter #50. He does a fantastic job of characterizing the soulless, giving what I would consider to be an interesting view of a rather uncommon and misunderstood group of people. “Inner Sanctum” seems to be required reading for anyone wishing either play or involve a soulless Iosan in an IKRPG game.
“Prey” –
The fourth story in the collection is “Prey” by Aeryn Rudel. It is a short narrative told from several different perspectives: a wounded trollkin champion, his fiercely loyal daughter, and the foreign totem hunter seeking to finish off his quarry. Following a skirmish between trollkin and the minions of the dragon Everblight, Agnar Stonebones is ambushed by a totem hunter, the Iron Kingdoms equivalent to a Predator. Lying prostrate and dead-to-rites at the hands of his attacker, Agnar is rescued by his daughter and two of her trollkin kinsmen. Mortally wounded and in need of greater medical care than those present can provide, the trio must carry Agnar through a dangerous forest to the safety of the gathered kriels.
“Prey” grants some insight into the mind of the totem hunter, which is about as foreign a creature as you will find in the Iron Kingdoms, as well as a look at trollkin familial culture.
“The Shae Mutiny” and “The Better Part of Valor” –
The fifth and sixth stories, “The Shae Mutiny” and “The Better Part of Valor” by Doug Seacat, are two stories about Phinneus Shae and his intrepid band of pirates. The Shae Mutiny is the amusing tale of Shae’s former position as a warcaster of good standing hired by the Cygnaran naval shipping conglomerate, The Mecarian League, to serve aboard and defend the crew and cargo of the Exeter. When Shae innocently looks into an incident onboard the Exeter involving his drinking companion Lord Joln Rockbottom, the paranoid captain of the Exeter has Shae thrown overboard and to his demise. When Shae survives, he is forced to fight against the ship’s captain and become an outlaw.
The Better Part of Valor happens some years later when Shae and the crew of the Talion hear news of a massed fleet protecting the supply fortress, Fort Lamis. Needing the aid of other allies lacking the scrupples that would normally dissuade someone from attacking a Mercarian League fort, Shae enlists the help of lively Broadsides Bartolo Mantador and the Thamarite warcaster Fiona the Black. When the reach Fort Lamis, what they discover is not at all what they expected.
These stories do a fine job of illustrating the various colorful personalities that one might expect in the Iron Kingdoms, and make for a great ensemble cast for what I hope to be a preview of further storytelling. The attention to detail and incorporation of steampunk elements into nautical warfare make these stories an excellent read for anyone wishing to take their Iron Kingdoms game to the high seas of the Meredius.
The Verdict –
Overall, I found these stories to be a nice collection of narratives from the Iron Kingdoms. The prose is generally fairly good and what I have come to expect from Privateer Press’s collection of excellent in-house writing staff. As I mentioned earlier, many of these stories can act as great source material for people wishing to run or participate in Iron Kingdoms campaigns of specific natures, most specifically games involving Ios and the Retribution of Scyrah or games with strong naval elements.
No Quarter Collection: Volume 1 can be found at Skull Island Expeditions in various eReader formats as well as for Kindle and Nook. Stay tuned to Bell of Lost Souls for more coverage on all things Privateer Press!
