(A long update covering just about everything that happened, so that Daniel can catch up on what he missed)
The Party headed through the Forest with the Elves and the Priest and his retinue. Father Johannes constantly forcing Nils to carry all his stuff - especially his MASSIVE ceremonial gold and gem encrusted Hammer - much to Konrad's irritation.
Catching up with the Crusade who were camped just outside a small Farming village named Gotten, they saw Karl's power first hand when he spoke to a crowd of villagers (the Party did not want to get close enough to hear him speak), and most of the villagers instantly converted to worship Karl as the Son of Sigmar, and joined the Crusade. Johannes asked the PC's to kidnap the boy, and the Elves asked them to help them kill him, as power like this was dangerous. The PC's wanted to find out more, but the Elves did not want to enter the camp, feeling thirteen elves in one party (Lorianoc, Coriael as well as Mormocar) might draw too much attention in a mostly human crusade... The PC's were to find out what they could, and get as close to the boy as possible, and report back to the Elves so they could plan their attack.
The Crusaders camp was huge, lots of tents and so forth surrounding an inner Enclosure which was cordoned off by poles and sheets all the way around and guarded at the only entrance - they PC's travelled all the way around, but the area was too crowded to try to break into the Inner circle. The PC's were stuck outside in the main camp - huge and filthy, shite everywhere, and thousands of Crusaders.
They met Groff, the Camp Butcher - complete with hideous purple boil on his lip, but they didn't want to buy any meat (especially as they had just seen other Crudaders arrive with cows they has just stolen from the village and hand them over to Groff to kill).
They met a Strigany Gypsy boy named Ahmed, offering to sell them anything - they sent him away with a few shillings in his pocket, clearly thinking the boy may be a useful ally.
They met Rudi and Hannah Margelt, old owners of the Reaper's Bounty, now running an in-camp pub named Karl's Bounty (they has brought along some old Reaper's Bounty banners so the place was recognisable) - when he found out the PC's had visited his old place, he asked if they had found his old pipe... Mormocar was persuaded to hand it over and Rudi was so grateful he offered them free beer and told them about and empty tent (the old owners had died of the Yellow Fever (otherwise known as Pissing Disease) - other random people had also mentioned this as there was an epidemic of it around the camp - you have to drink and drink and drink non stop, but you could not pee, and you turned yellow and kept drinking till your bladder exploded and you died... not very nice.
They discovered that there were different ways people had of worshipping Karl - some just sang songs of praise to him, some believed they had to whip themselves and make sure they had constantly open wounds (these were known as The Brothers of the Unclosed Wound...)
Father Johannes had asked around and had found out a little about the four Crusade leaders:
- Helmut, the Sigmarite Priest from Marienburg who first proclaimed Karl Son of Sigmar after he killed the Chaos cultists with the hammer. Helmut started the Crusade.
- Jan Vanderpeer, a Merchant from Marienburg
- Krieger Brighalter, a Captain who had converted on meeting Karl
- Lord Wilhelm Eisenbach, a Nobleman
Then the ghouls and zombies attacked... hundreds of them. The PC's were caught up in the fight, as were the elves - zombies got into the enclosure but were driven out by guards - but as soon as they could, the Elves disappeared from sight before any of the Crusade guards could spot them. Then, one of the ghouls said, "The diversion is enough - let's signal the master..." and blew on a whistle (which made no sound the PC's could hear) - and then a bat flew into the Central compound and the PC's could hear shouts of "It's a vampire!" - and they ran in to confront it.
It was a huge 8 foot tall Strigoi, and it had gone into Karl's tent.
Suddenly, they saw the tent being ripped up and the Vampire was swinging the central pole as a weapon. The PC's attacked (once they had all gotten over their Fear...) eventually killing it, but not without losing several Wounds each and, in Mormocar's case, a Fate Point (instead of dying, the Vampire smacked him with the tent pole and knocked him 15 foot into the air - luckily the GM was nice and he managed a soft landing in a big pile of poo).
The guards on the Inner Circle, and Karl himself, were grateful to the PC's for saving the day, and Karl himself spoke to them...
And all four of them immediately and completely realised he was indeed Sigmar's son and heir, and they needed to worship and protect him. This also meant that they now hated those Elves who wanted to kill Karl...
They were given some healing, and jobs in the Camp as Guards, and were allocated a tent within Karl's Compound.
Then they were told that some idiot had bled all over the dead vampire, and it had turned into a bat and flown off. (probably one of the Brothers of the Unclosed Wound, though I didn't point this out during the game ;P )
Father Johannes also recognised Karl as Sigmar reborn, and ordered Nils to present the boy with his Ceremonial Hammer - Nils said, "But... he's not the Son of Sigmar.. he's just a kid" which earned him a slap. He did as Father Johannes asked.
Karl himself was interested in the PC's adventures - wanting to know if they had killed Orcs and Beastmen, and if they had loads of money from their adventuring. He also asked them if they could tell Helmut that he didn't need any boring lessons: Helmut insisted he did, though.
What was agreed after some arguing was that they would head straight to Altdorf and would not recruit at any more towns along the way. Karl wanted to get there quickly so they could move on towards Kislev afterwards, to fight evil.
The next morning, as the Crusade marched towards Altdorf, they were approached seperately by Jan and by Helmut, both of whom thought that there was a Chaos spy in the camp - and as the PC's were new, they might be best to investigate who it might be. Jan thinks it might be Krieger.
Ahmed appears again and the PC's give him some shillings to find out what he can about the Leaders. As they talk to him, some of the other Crusaders accuse him and his father, Ali, of being stinking Strigany Gippo's, who had probably brought the Vampire here! Konrad sends them packing.
Later on, they spot that they are being spied upon by a straggly looking young woman with a huge boil on her lip, but she spotted Ralf when he pursued her and she disappeared into the crowd. Throughout the day, they spotted other people with boils on their lips watching them, but they made no move.
Ahmed returned with camp gossip about the Leaders.
- Helmut: is a bit old to be leading them, but as it was him who started the Crusade and first declared Karl Son of Sigmar, everyone is loyal to him.
- Jan: A merchant from Marienburg - more interested in money than in Karl or Sigmar.
- Krieger: Bit of a loner. Was originally sent to kill Karl, but once he met the boy joined the Crusade instead, along with most of his men. By all accounts a fine soldier. Likes to go off alone at night to walk in the woods.
- Lord Wilhelm: More of a farmer than a soldier, and annoyed with Altdorf who he feels owe him money for using his land during the Chaos Incursion.
The next day they overhear Krieger asking his guards if anyone had seen his glove - he lost it last night. They also overhear two men talking about Krieger - how he had wandered off into the woods last night - and went right past the latrines - makes you wonder what he's up to. The second man said he just has a lot on his mind and that he can go walkabout if he wants.
The PC's decided to investigate while everyone else was having breakfast. They headed out past the latrines and saw a trail of heavy boot prints. Following these, they came to a clearing, marked with what looked like black runes (Mormocar did not recognise these runes, and did not have a writing kit to copy them down) - closer investigation found that these runes were covered in buzzing flies. Mormocar pushed a hand in to find - the runes had been made out of slime and shit. Mormocar has a thing about getting covered in poop.
Also in the clearing, they spotted a dead sheep - but it was unwounded. It looked to have died from disease - its face covered in angry red and purple boils. Instead of hooves, it has tiny shriveled baby hands - (Insanity Points handed out for failed WP tests here...)
They also found in the clearing a man's gloved covered in slime and shit. Things were not looking good for Krieger.
Once they had reported back, Krieger pleaded his innocence but could not deny the glove was his. Hew and all his men (who were guilty by association) were imprisoned in a large tent (number 2 on the map), under heavy guard. The PC's were rewarded with 5 GC each and had their probation lifted - they were free now to leave the central compound if they liked.
That afternoon, Ahmed arrived with a fine sword, trying to get the PC's to buy it - but before he could make the sale, and angry Crusader saw him and shouted at him to give his sword back. Ahmed dropped the sword and ran off, the man cursed thieving striganay gippo scum, shouting that it was probably them that let the vampire in - Konrad stood up for Ahmed and the Crusader called him a stinking gippo lover, probably in league with them. Konrad sent him on his way.
That night there is a massive commotion from the Tent where Kreiger and his men have been put under guard - they have hacked their was out - unarmed - and are attacking the guards! The PC's rush in to fight them - they are covered in boils and are starting to sprout hideous mutations - the guards shout that here is proof of their being in league with chaos! One by one they start dropping dead as the boils explose in fountains of blood and pus - the PC's continue fighting, their blows immediately killing an of the men that are touched at all, and even men not fighting were dropping to their knees and dying of the boils bursting. Krieger himself shouting out, just before falling down dead, "A rat! A rat! Villainy!"
Rolf went into Kriegers tent, and there was indeed a rat in there - fleas jumping from it. There was also a slash in the back wall of the tent. As Rolf had to dodge the fleas, he used his sling to kill the rat and then they set the tent alight. Jan said that the rat was probably Krieger's Familiar.
The next day the Crusade arrived at Altdorf. Helmut, Eissenbach and Jan went to the gates along with several of their Knights, but they were sent away. Altdorf are refusing to let the Crusade enter the City. They pitch camp outside the City, setting up a stage for Karl and fairground type stalls for when any of the Altdorfers come to see what is going on.
That's when they overhear Butcher Groff talking to one of Jan's men.
"Tell Tobias the soup is ready. the Death has become the Plague - When should I make the meal?"
Jan's Guard replies, "I'll ask him and tell you when I come for the meat order."
Jan's guard goes directly to Jan's tent, then comes back immediately and says to Groff, "At the last rally before we leave Altdorf. And six lamb chops, please."
The PC's report this back to Helmut and Eissenbach, who give them permission to question Groff in any was they deem suitable. Turns out Konrad's idea of suitable is pushing Groff's head into his own stew. This gets him some information - Groff is under orders to feed tainted meat to Aldorfers, which will spread the Yellow Death (now stronger than ever) - but Karl will then heal them (well, not Karl, but someone named Rupecht will, and Karl will be given credit for curing the plague and will be accepted as Sigmar's son by the Emperor!) The PC's decide it is time to confront Jan, and want to take Groff to him. But Groff bites down on his boil on his lip, causing him to instantly start projectile vomiting blood and excreting pus from the eyes and nose, and dying.
They continued on to accuse Jan in any case, but as they had no proof, and Jan would not submit to being searched, they were a bit stuck. Getting his guard in (the one who had been talking to Groff, and who had a huge purple boil on his lip) and questioning Jan and the Guard in front of Karl, had them both denying everything to Karl's face - the PC's are aware that they find it impossible to lie to Karl, and felt that Jan and his guard would also have to tell the truth to Karl.
Further questioning resulted in Jan's guard biting down on the boil and suffering the same fate as Groff. Konrad's attempts to implicate Jan by association (as had happened with Krieger's men) did not work, and the PC's were arrested for accusing one of the leaders and put under guard for the night. Karl argued for them to not be arrested, but he was overruled.
That night, under heavy guard in their tent, the PC's were awoken by the sound of tearing - someone has slashed their tent and had thrown in a flea-ridden rat! They all had to roll for being bitten (they were told to roll a D10 , and that they did not want a 7) - they all passed this roll and then Konrad threw a heavy blanket over the rat and stuffed it into a bag, so it and its fleas could not escape. The next morning they were released and told that Jan, some of his men, some of Karl's guards and Karl had gone into the City in disguise. The PC's used this absence of Jan to search his tent, and found a book praising Lord Nurgle. Oops. Helmut and Eissenbach were mortified, and asked the PC's to go into the City and find Karl and Jan.
They head into Altdorf, (using their letter of introduction to Lord Frederick to get in as the City is not letting any crusaders in). They soon run into a commotion - a big fight is going on. They recognise some of Karl's bodyguard fighting Jan and his men - Jan is using magic! They are too far away to intervene immediately, but they spot Jan kill one of Karl's guard, who grabs something tha looks like a piece of parchment from Jan's jacket as he dies - Jan escapes into some back streets, pulling a small coffin behind him - his men escape with him.
Arriving at the scene, it is clear that Karl had been snuck into the City inside the coffin, and Jan has escaped with him. The PC's take the piece of parchment from the dead guard's hands.
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