20th and 26th December 2020

The PC's decided to sail down to Grissenwald and Black Peaks to follow up Etelka Herzen, who they had found a letter from which indicated she had helped the Nobles in Bohennhaffen with the summoning ritual.  Along the way, Ron wanted to try and sell some brandy to Castle Reikguard.  Arriving there, they were turned away.  The castle’s battlements are thick with guards in shining plate armour, and cannon barrels could be seen poking through the crenels.  

They sailed on towards Kemperbad, and sold the brandy there and bought some armanents.  In Kemperbad, someone dressed in purple managed to cut of a chunk of Grimick's hair and escape into the crowds.

They picked up some rumours and did some shopping before setting sail for Grissenwald.  They now have fishing nets!

Rumours Heard

• People are whispering, with many a nervous glance, that something bad has happened to the Emperor. He hasn’t been seen for a long time now. Perhaps too long… 
• Crown Prince Wolfgang has not left Castle Reikguard for weeks. He must have the same affliction as the Emperor?
• Crown Prince Wolfgang has not left Castle Reikguard for weeks! He must be plotting to seize the throne! 
• The Emperor’s mutant edict is suspicious. Why does he love mutants all of a sudden? Has someone close to him developed a mutation? 
• The Grand Prince of Ostland is hiring mercenaries and levying troops for an attack on Talabecland. War could break out at any time.
• Mutant corpses are regularly found drifting down the Reik just south of Kemperbad. ‘Only the other week we pulled one out of the river with bright green fur, and four eyes on stalks.’
• River patrols have been recruiting wardens in all the towns between Altdorf and Nuln. Banditry and mutant attacks are threatening trade and the authorities have decided to act at last. Good thing too!

On the journey they passed Castle Wittgenstein, which broods ominously over the river.  As the adventurers’ boat passes beneath the castle’s gloomy towers, the adventurers are hailed by a passing vessel. Its crew warn the adventurers to keep to the east bank, and direct their attention to something floating in the water.

Once human, the floating corpse now resembles a bloated fish.  The party steered around it and continued their journey.

Finally arriving at Grissenwald, where they were unable to sell their cargo of arnaments, they were approached by two drunken dwarves who kept insulting Aeslor, calling him a "dead elf" because he "stank like one".  They seemed to have a lot of money as they slammed 10 GC each on the bar for whisky and were downing whole bottles.  

It seemed that the Dwarves were from Black Peaks mine, which had been bought up by a noblewoman.  Investigating, it seems that the tribe of dwarves had sold their gold mine (which turned out to only be a dilapidated old coal mine) to "That Etelka bitch who gave us a crappy price".  Investigating the mine, there was plenty of evidence that is had been overtaken by goblins, but the mine was empty.  The Dwarves have been accused of raiding farmsteads ("how else did they suddenly get all this money?") but all the evidence points to a band of gobling being the real culprits.  The Dwarves, though, are cowards and drunkards and refuse to go after the gobboes or even into the mine.  They do eventually reluctantly agree to give the adventurers directions to Elelka's house, though.  This is where we ended the session...

News, Rumours and Gossip Picked up During the Adventure

On this post I will compile the various bits of news, gossip and rumours you hear during your adventures.  Obviously, some will be true, some completely made up, some partly true but exaggerated.

Part 3 - Death on the Reik

Wittgendorf

• Altdorf Zoo's been shut for weeks. I heard Deathclaw, the Emperor’s Griffon, went on a rampage. Probably because the Emperor hasn’t been to see him for months.
• Castle Wittgenstein is an evil place, cursed by the gods in punishment for the unspeakable sins one of the family committed a century or more back. Old Dagmar was a wizard of the worst sort, and this current generation is scarcely any better. The inhabitants of nearby Wittgendorf have fallen prey to a terrible, deforming plague, and pass along appalling tales of degradation within the castle.
• The Emperor has called all the Elector Counts to Altdorf to discuss the situation between Ostland and Talebecland, as well as the reports of anti-Sigmarite violence in Middenland. The Elector Counts are usually slow to answer the Emperor’s call -  a reminder that he is an elected monarch and not an absolute ruler - but most agree that the situation is urgent: the meeting is expected to take place any month now.
• Crown Prince Wolfgang Holswig-Abenauer is being held prisoner in his own castle on the orders of the Emperor. This is because He’s contracted permanent Galloping Trots

Kemperbad 

• People are whispering, with many a nervous glance, that something bad has happened to the Emperor. He hasn’t been seen for a long time now. Perhaps too long… 
• Crown Prince Wolfgang has not left Castle Reikguard for weeks. He must have the same affliction as the Emperor?
• Crown Prince Wolfgang has not left Castle Reikguard for weeks! He must be plotting to seize the throne! 
• The Emperor’s mutant edict is suspicious. Why does he love mutants all of a sudden? Has someone close to him developed a mutation? 
• The Grand Prince of Ostland is hiring mercenaries and levying troops for an attack on Talabecland. War could break out at any time.
• Mutant corpses are regularly found drifting down the Reik just south of Kemperbad. ‘Only the other week we pulled one out of the river with bright green fur, and four eyes on stalks.’
• River patrols have been recruiting wardens in all the towns between Altdorf and Nuln. Banditry and mutant attacks are threatening trade and the authorities have decided to act at last. Good thing too!

Altdorf

• Crown Prinrce Hergard von Tasseninck has been killed while on an expedition in the Grey Mountains. He was the only son and heir of Grand Prince Hals von Tasseninck, the ruler of Ostland. Some of them that were with him came back raving about beastmen using guns! Have you ever heard such tripe!

• The Grand Prince of Ostland blames Grand Duke Gustav von Krieglitz of Talabecland for his son’s death. He says that an assassin working for the Grand Duke murdered his son. Gustav has long had designs on the Ostland forests. Everyone of consequence knows that.

• Two more coaches have been ambushed on the way into Altdorf in the last two weeks! That’s terrible! The Emperor hasn’t done anything so far, but some of the city’s adventurous young nobles are talking about an expedition to clear the roads of bandits and mutants. Good for them! 
• A friend of a friend (or a third cousin by marriage) works at the Temple of Sigmar, and says that the witch hunter Fabergus Heinzdork met with the Grand Theogonist about his destruction of the nearby village of Teufelfeuer. According to what was ‘o’er’eard by my sister’s cousin-in-law’s third brother’s friend’, the witch hunter said that the villagers were all horribly mutated, and were seen eating human flesh!
• Emperor Karl-Franz has not been seen in public for a few weeks. He’s supposed to be ill, but the palace is saying nothing.
• The Emperor’s edict on mutants is unpopular. Everyone knows about mutants! Everyone! And everyone knows they’re a right menace!

Part 2 - Shadows Over Bögenhafen

• Don’t buy any horses from the Schaffenfest. The Watch stopped a drover from Averland trying to sell a mare with nine eyes blistered in her mouth! She’s now hanging from the East Gate.
• The Countess of Nuln’s niece had a wizard murder a love-rival at a Black Powder Week party a few weeks ago. But that’s typical for Nuln, I hear.
• The river Bögen is plagued by mutants. Three barges were sunk on the stretch from Castle Grauenburg in the last month. The graf needs to invest more in riverwardens!
• There's a tale that a twin-tailed comet was spotted above Lachenbad, but seen nowhere else.
• The Duke of Midwald was found swinging from the High Oak of Bluttal, his eyes pecked free by ravens. His people hung him for having Ulrican sympathies after he returned from Altdorf with three new wolfhounds.
• The Emperor has turned his back on the Colleges of Magic, that’s why he commissioned the Imperial Engineers School to build his new messenger towers. It’s about time the Emperor saw sense and got rid of those witches!
• My cousin recently returned from Altdorf with black hair. But it was always blonde before that. She swears I’m lying, but I’m not!
• The hamlet of Stust was overrun by mutants and beastmen from the forests. All that remains are piles of skulls and broken bones.
• Councillor Teugen only attends guild meetings in the evenings. He’s had the entire Merchants’ Guild timetables reorganised to his nocturnal preferences.
• The mists down the Bögen are getting worse. Mark my words, that means trouble!
• The sewers of Bögenhafen are no longer patrolled! What is the town council doing? Things live down there now!
• Father Huss, a bear of a Sigmarite from the north, passed through Bögenhafen last month and demanded entrance to the High Temple of Sigmar. Who ever heard of a northern Sigmarite? Of course, he was turned away!
• If you see a crow, you take it down and nail it to a crow post! Crows are the eyes of the Dark Gods, don’t you know. But don’t get them mixed up with ravens. You don’t want to attract Morr’s attention!
• I saw a whole regiment of those Trott mercenaries marching south towards Schrabwald. There must be trouble brewing in the Vorbergland.
• The Emperor has issued a new edict declaring that there are no Mutants in the Empire. The practice of exiling or slaughtering those unfortunate enough to carry some sort of physical deformity purely because of their appearance is henceforth illegal and punishable by death.

Part 1 - Mistaken Identity

• The village of Blutroch was wiped out by a mysterious disease that causes people to break out in red blotches. Make sure you stay well clear of anyone with red marks on them!
• The Emperor has a sister who is hidden in the Great Hospice north of Altdorf. She's the secret shame of the Empire!
• The road to Altdorf is troubled by bandits. Only last week, a coach failed to get through. These are troubled times, and it's about time that the Emperor started looking after the common folk.
• A holy White Wolf of Ulric was spotted in the Drakwald Forest not far from Delberz. Priests of Ulric are in the area looking for it.
• The village of Teufelfeuer was recently burnt down by Fabergus Heinzdork, the witch hunter. He discovered the villagers were in league with Daemons — something to do with them eating raw meat!
• The roads are getting worse because the Emperor is not bothering to maintain them any more — he is too busy spending money on the State Army to fix problems like the mess in Ubersreik.
• Last time I was in Altdorf it… it felt strange. It’ll be those wizards. Too many wizards in the capital, I say.
• Altdorf Zoo's been shut for weeks. I heard Deathclaw, the Emperor’s Griffon, went on a rampage. Probably because the Emperor hasn’t been to see him for months.
• The weather is going to take a turn for the worse, and it’s going to rain tomorrow.
• Don’t stray off the roads into the woods. Those who do never return: eaten by Beastmen or something far worse.
• The mayor of Grunburg was burnt at the stake a few months ago for being in league with Chaos. He was overheard talking to his cat, and fed it human blood in its milk. More than one witness testified that the mayor told his cat to: ‘Stop yowling and drink your bloody milk!’
• Strange lights have been seen in the sky to the east. They look like fire Daemons dancing among the stars.
• Colonel Sievers of the Imperial Ostlanders has returned from the Border Princes. The Greenskins must have been defeated! It’s a great victory for the Emperor!
• The road wardens are all corrupt and can't be trusted.
• This year's Schaffenfest is stated to be the biggest, most profitable, most entertaining (and probably most dangerous) yet!

13 December 2020

 After a break the saga continued.  

 The PC's playing today:

• Alan: Ron "Foul" Guttermann, a human who is a rat catcher by trade, and has a small but vicious dog named Dog.
• Ali: Aeslor Arha, a Wood Elf who is a Wizard's Apprentice.
• Cassandra: Fayth, a Human Initiate of Shallya who is fed up of religion.
• Daniel: Grimmick Grimjaw, a Dwarf who is a Student Engineer.
• AJ: Harbul Junior, a Halfling thief.

Harbul joined the party from the boat after they had defeated the ghoul and rested to heal some wounds.  Aeslor had taken the cylindrical five pointed star key which opened the trap door and everyone went through it.  The trap door led down to a secret workshop / library which was guarded by five zombies, each of whom were carrying a cylindrical six pointed star key on leather thongs around their necks. 

One of the rooms is a laboratory and is littered with alchemical apparatus. Benches are piled with beakers, retort stands, odd-shaped jars, lumps of different ores, and so on. Various esoteric calculations have been chalked on most surfaces: the walls, ceiling, floor, and bench tops. A gargoyle-shaped lectern bearing a large, leather-bound book stands in one corner.

The book is hand-written in Classical language and has copious marginalia and multiple revisions.  It contains research into the summoning and control of skeletons, zombies, and ghouls. they have not had time to read it properly.

In a study room they find a large desk, a plans chest, and a drawing board. Various ancient portraits hang on the walls.  The potraits are labelled as being the Von Wittgenstein family and the books and papers identify this secret place as belonging to Dagmar Von Wittgenstein.

Opening the desk drawer resulted in Harbul getting covered in purple ink, which exploded into his face when he pried it open.  Inside there were quills, bottles of ink (many dried up), and parchment. There is also a battered notebook with yellowing pages covered in complex calculations and notes written in a

spidery hand. Anyone with the Lore (Magick) Skill quickly works out that the calculations are to do with the orbit of the Chaos moon Morrslieb. The moon is mentioned several times in the text.

The plans chest has several antique maps showing various parts of the Empire, the Reikland, and the western marches of Talabecland in particular.  All the maps have a number of intersecting lines carefully drawn on them. One intersection in the Barren Hills has been roughly ringed.  Fayth and Aeslor  recognise that the lines of the triangle trace Morrslieb’s erratic orbit. 

Propped in one corner of the room is an ornately carved staff. It has a strong magical aura coming from it. Aeslor took it.

The books in the library are written in a variety of mundane, secret, and arcane languages. They cover many subjects, from alchemical treatises to ‘novels’ of a somewhat insalubrious literary nature. 

The circular inner wall at the centre has two 18-inch-long bars attached to the wall at waist height, one at each end. If any two adventurers push on these bars, the entire wall rotates so that a gap in this wall will align with the central accessway.  The floor here is inscribed with a glowing hexagram, or six pointed star.  There is a hole at each point of the hexagram. These holes are star-shaped, and the right size to accept the keys carried by the five zombies. There is a trap door in the centre of the hexegram but no way to open it or smash through it.  Of course, being a hexegram, with six points and the adventurers only having found five of the six pointed star keys, one key is missing.

The adventurers took some time to try and figure out where the circled area on the map they found was.  The map we were using from the 4th edition of the games was not very clear, so I swapped it with the original first edition one.