Session 3
Sunday, 25th Aug 13
The PCs have managed to gain entrance to one of the great cities of the Empire - a city sealed due to plague concerns, the very same plague some of them are carrying - and some of them don't have papers allowing them into the City. Getting caught is not a very good idea.
The marks the disease causes are readily covered by any clothing that covers the neck, but the coughing and shivering it brings are harder to disguise. They need papers, they need somewhere to hole up, and they need a cure.
They find themselves in the cramped “avenues” of the Ratholds - actually located within the walls of the Taalbaston itself. Scattered throughout the massive cliff face are holes, tunnels, and warrens carved into the living rock of the crater wall. It was once said that any poor man with a pickaxe and determination could make himself a home in Talabheim. Some of these cave-homes are surprisingly large three- or four-room affairs, having wood flooring and even plaster, but these are rare. Most of these homes are little more than caves branching off from the crude tunnel-alleys that riddle the upper wall side near the Wizard’s Way.
Some legitimate businesses occupy the caves, such as tanneries and dye works. These foul industries only add to the miasmic atmosphere in the caves. There are various tunnels and pathways used by criminal gangs to smuggle goods and people inside the city. Although the City Watch makes frequent attempts to close these down, they seldom keep them shut for long.
Few watchmen are comfortable going into the reeking dark of these tunnels, so a special squad of Halflings and Dwarves (alongside a few short humans) roam the numerous tunnels and warrens within the walls of the crater itself. Though officially known as the Taalbaston Tunnel Brigade, most (including themselves) call these guardsmen “the Terriers” for their mission is to “find and kill the rats in the walls.” The PC's encounter a squad of Halfling Terriers in the Ratholds, who recommend their brother's place as a good place to buy the passes half the PC's need to get anywhere beyond the slums in the City. The PC's go there and buy some very convincing looking ID, and manage to leave the Ratholds and Tallows area and into the Merchant's District.
Threeapples Inn
Situated immediately across from the main gate, Threeapples Inn is a three-story building crafted from dark wood, with wide, open rooms that can fit almost a hundred people at a time. The owner, a Halfling named Wanda Threeapples, prides herself on welcoming everyone into her business, regardless of station, ethnicity, or race. This is where the PC's decide to stay - for the first night in a common room, and thereafter in private rooms when they realised they were probably spreading the plague some of them were suffering from...
The PC's who were healthy explored the City a little whilst the rest coughed and spluttered their guts up in their room at the Threeapples (trying to make lucky charms to sell to people out of mattress straw, and not doing very well)
The Apothecary Daubler
When they located Daubler and got to speak to him, he sold them a cure for the Galloping Trots. They then mentioned Nierhaus and give him Widenhotf's notes.
“Do you know that the Captain is dead?” He rapidly scans over Widenhoft’s notes before saying, “This is Gotthard’s hand. Where did you come by these?” The scholar’s death takes him aback. “Gotthard was murdered? Ach, this is terrible. Who would do such a thing?” He agrees that Skaven did it “I think the vermin have tried this before, many times in fact. The history of our Empire is rife with plagues that come unexpectedly and weaken us at the worst possible time. I fear the rat folk have set their sights on Talabheim.” He agrees to work on a cure for the Grey Ague, telling them that the book they brought, The Plague & the Principality, will help him immensely. He tells them the Shallyans are working on a religious cure - and when they check this out, they discover that the Shallyans are relying on Holy water that they think may be contaminated, and they convince the Shallyans and the Judges in the Law Quarter to not use the water - and to only drink imported booze... the Judges agree to remove the Cup Tax on imported beers and spirits, to help the effort against the plague...
Daubler sets to work and the PC's set themselves to trying to live through the disease...
Saturday, 31 August 2013
Sunday, 18 August 2013
Terror in Talabheim - Session Two
18 August 2013
Return to Taalgaad
PC's (at start of session...)
That part last week where I asked what could possibly go wrong? The answer lies in this week's game diary.
As the party started out a new day, the two who hadn't managed to catch the Grey Plague yet caught it, and Urdithane the Elf lost a Fate Point to it. (Losing this Fate Point *did* cure him of the disease, though, so all wasn't lost...)
This means that both Gretchen and Ulrich are on Day 1 of the illness, Drong is on Day 4, and Adam the Halfling and Urdithane the Elf have recovered from it (at a cost of a Fate Point each). They are keeping a close watch on how long the disease lasts, in case that's important.
As they approach the Docks of Taalgaad, they can hear weeping and wailing coming from the town. As they come into the town itself, they are met with chaotic scenes.
The whole of the Port town is in the grip of the Grey Plague.
Rats the size of cats wander the streets, feeding on the dead and dying. Religious zealots and flagellants with flaming whips and torches also wander the streets, setting alight those who carry the disease.
The gates into the City are locked, and the Watchmen and Magistrates have gone back to the City and locked themselves in. No-one is allowed in or out of Talabheim, passes or no passes.
A visit to the Municipal Entry Office confirms this - but they do at least get paid their 9 GC's each (not the Elf, as he wasn't hired in the first place) and are given a two week pass (all the guys that are left there are authorised to give) which isn't much use as the gates are locked... but it's the thought that counts...
Wandering around looking for medical aid from the Shallyans (they hear that they are in the town helping people, but haven't discovered where just yet), they see a young boy, carrying a bucket of filthy water, being attacked by what looks like a large dog. The PC's come to the rescue, only to see that it is in fact a very large rat. As it turns on them, ten more rats scuttle out of the shadows and join in the attack (These are smaller - only cat sized...)
In the ensuing battle, the Elf plays dead after losing a Fate Point, and Adam the Halfling has his head bitten off and dies, before the biggest rat is killed and the rest scurry off into the darkness.
PC Death: RIP Adam the Halfling: head bitten off by giant rat. He was the only member of the party able to read...
The lad they rescued is grateful, and tells them his Mam is ill and is being looked after by the Shallyans who have set up a makeshift hospital in a dockside warehouse. The lad leads them to it.
Just outside the warehouse / hospital, the PC's encountered a young Priestess of Shallya, who they heard muttering, 'It's a curse. A curse. Not a disease at all. I'm lost, lost.' before several of her fellows arrived and comforted her and removed her from the scene. One of the Shallyan Priests said that her name was Kristiane, just arrived from the City and was now locked out, though her father, a Watch Captain named Rudolf Nierhaus could no doubt get her in if he wanted. The PC's offered to fetch water for the hospital, and Ulrich went off to a well. On the wall of the well he discovered a silver-grey powder, and carefully scraped this up using his wooden cutlery. He was not comfortable at all with giving any of this water to the Shallyans until he knew what the powder was.
Asking what assistance they could be, the Shallyans asked the party to go and fetch a healer called Widenhoft from his shop - the Apothecary near the Wizard's Way in the nicer part of Taalgaad - he may know some herbal remedies or at least be able to offer help. So off they went.
Finding the front and back doors reinforced and locked, they saw a small open window at the back of the house on the upper level. After a few failures in climbing up the ivy, and several grappling hook-on-a-rope failures, and after Ulrich getting stuck in the window (finally getting through with a surge of strength when the Elf started feeling his backside) they managed to get into the shop only to find Widenhoft dead, slumped at his desk among his notes and books, which none of them could read. Sticking out from his neck was a strange 3 bladed throwing knife - like 3 blades stuck together in a triangle shape - which they wisely did not touch.
Returning to the Shallyans with all the books and with the news of Widenhoft's death, they find none of the Shallyans are able to read the notes either as they are written in Classical. The only part that can be read is a note written in the Reikspiel, which says: "In the water it was, but why? Only tempor,,," followed by a long ink blotch - he must have been writing this note as he died.
The Shallyans suggest two people who may be able to read Classical - the Magistrate who hired them to take the refugees to their town, but he's back in the City, or Kristiane's father, Watch Captain Rudolf Nierhaus, who is also in the City but who guards the gate at the end of the Wizard's Way. Taking Kristiane with them, they approach the gate to the City.
And they are let in to see the Captain with no real drama. They tell him about the death of Widenhoft, and he seems quite shocked. He says, 'They know. Taal's blood, they know!' When asked 'who knows?' he replies, 'The rats that walk as Men.' He reads Widenhoft's notes, translating some of the passages thus:
When the Captain translates some notes relating to a silvery grey powder being "not an inoculant - an antidote!" Ulrich quickly licks clean the powder he had collected with his wooden cutlery, happily stating, 'Now you have to keep me alive for my antibodies!!' - sure enough, all trace of the Grey Plague immediately disappears. Until the next morning when it comes back... oh, well.
Captain Nierhaus concludes their meeting by telling them they have to get into Talabheim, but that they cannot go through the main gate as no-one is allowed in or out, and even he cannot swing that. He says they will have to sneak in another way - and that they will need to go to the Taalgaad docks, and seek an Estalian man named Eladio, and tell him, "These must ride the Dragon's tongue" - he will then guide them through secret ways into the City. He tells them, 'When in the city, seek out the apocathary Daubler.' The PC's leave.
Clarify - ask the PC's if they left the notes from Widenhoft's study with the Captain, or if they took them back
On their way to the docks, they encounter a group of crazed flagellants with flaming whips who are out setting fire to anyone they think is carrying the Plague. This fight proves to be costly to the PC's, claiming the life of Urdithane.
PC Death - Urdithane the Elf - Burning-Whipped to death by a priest.
Three PC's are now left alive, and they are all wounded. Because of this, when they saw hundreds of refugees charging up the street toards the Wizard's way and the gate to Talabheim, they stepped out of the way and let them pass, to be massacred at the gate by the guards on the rooftops with their crossbows, cannons and boiling oil.
They see a fair number of rats around the city, and drong tries to kick one. It dodges his kick and sinks its teeth into his throat, not causing any Wound damage, but giving him a case of the Galloping Trots. The other PC's are asked to remind the GM to apply the effects of this disease to him in the next session.
They returned to the pub where they met three new guys interested in adventuring (well, more likely they were interested in getting the hell out of this disease ridden port and safely into the City...)
New PC's
They encounter and kill a group of Skaven in the tunnels, but don't search them. Eladio thinks they were running away from something, but fortunately they don't need to go in the direction the Ratmen had come from...
The session ended with the following.
Return to Taalgaad
PC's (at start of session...)
- Gretchen Muller, the only female in the group. She's a Human Soldier from Ostland
- Adam, a Halfling Barber-Surgeon from The Moot
- Urdithane, an Elf Vagabond from the Reikwald Forest
- Drong Bormson, a Dwarf Marine from the World's edge Mountains, known as Karaz-a-Karak in dwarvish
- Ulrich Hortwig, a Human Bounty Hunter from Middenland
That part last week where I asked what could possibly go wrong? The answer lies in this week's game diary.
As the party started out a new day, the two who hadn't managed to catch the Grey Plague yet caught it, and Urdithane the Elf lost a Fate Point to it. (Losing this Fate Point *did* cure him of the disease, though, so all wasn't lost...)
This means that both Gretchen and Ulrich are on Day 1 of the illness, Drong is on Day 4, and Adam the Halfling and Urdithane the Elf have recovered from it (at a cost of a Fate Point each). They are keeping a close watch on how long the disease lasts, in case that's important.
As they approach the Docks of Taalgaad, they can hear weeping and wailing coming from the town. As they come into the town itself, they are met with chaotic scenes.
The whole of the Port town is in the grip of the Grey Plague.
Rats the size of cats wander the streets, feeding on the dead and dying. Religious zealots and flagellants with flaming whips and torches also wander the streets, setting alight those who carry the disease.
The gates into the City are locked, and the Watchmen and Magistrates have gone back to the City and locked themselves in. No-one is allowed in or out of Talabheim, passes or no passes.
A visit to the Municipal Entry Office confirms this - but they do at least get paid their 9 GC's each (not the Elf, as he wasn't hired in the first place) and are given a two week pass (all the guys that are left there are authorised to give) which isn't much use as the gates are locked... but it's the thought that counts...
Wandering around looking for medical aid from the Shallyans (they hear that they are in the town helping people, but haven't discovered where just yet), they see a young boy, carrying a bucket of filthy water, being attacked by what looks like a large dog. The PC's come to the rescue, only to see that it is in fact a very large rat. As it turns on them, ten more rats scuttle out of the shadows and join in the attack (These are smaller - only cat sized...)
In the ensuing battle, the Elf plays dead after losing a Fate Point, and Adam the Halfling has his head bitten off and dies, before the biggest rat is killed and the rest scurry off into the darkness.
PC Death: RIP Adam the Halfling: head bitten off by giant rat. He was the only member of the party able to read...
The lad they rescued is grateful, and tells them his Mam is ill and is being looked after by the Shallyans who have set up a makeshift hospital in a dockside warehouse. The lad leads them to it.
Just outside the warehouse / hospital, the PC's encountered a young Priestess of Shallya, who they heard muttering, 'It's a curse. A curse. Not a disease at all. I'm lost, lost.' before several of her fellows arrived and comforted her and removed her from the scene. One of the Shallyan Priests said that her name was Kristiane, just arrived from the City and was now locked out, though her father, a Watch Captain named Rudolf Nierhaus could no doubt get her in if he wanted. The PC's offered to fetch water for the hospital, and Ulrich went off to a well. On the wall of the well he discovered a silver-grey powder, and carefully scraped this up using his wooden cutlery. He was not comfortable at all with giving any of this water to the Shallyans until he knew what the powder was.
Asking what assistance they could be, the Shallyans asked the party to go and fetch a healer called Widenhoft from his shop - the Apothecary near the Wizard's Way in the nicer part of Taalgaad - he may know some herbal remedies or at least be able to offer help. So off they went.
Finding the front and back doors reinforced and locked, they saw a small open window at the back of the house on the upper level. After a few failures in climbing up the ivy, and several grappling hook-on-a-rope failures, and after Ulrich getting stuck in the window (finally getting through with a surge of strength when the Elf started feeling his backside) they managed to get into the shop only to find Widenhoft dead, slumped at his desk among his notes and books, which none of them could read. Sticking out from his neck was a strange 3 bladed throwing knife - like 3 blades stuck together in a triangle shape - which they wisely did not touch.
Returning to the Shallyans with all the books and with the news of Widenhoft's death, they find none of the Shallyans are able to read the notes either as they are written in Classical. The only part that can be read is a note written in the Reikspiel, which says: "In the water it was, but why? Only tempor,,," followed by a long ink blotch - he must have been writing this note as he died.
The Shallyans suggest two people who may be able to read Classical - the Magistrate who hired them to take the refugees to their town, but he's back in the City, or Kristiane's father, Watch Captain Rudolf Nierhaus, who is also in the City but who guards the gate at the end of the Wizard's Way. Taking Kristiane with them, they approach the gate to the City.
And they are let in to see the Captain with no real drama. They tell him about the death of Widenhoft, and he seems quite shocked. He says, 'They know. Taal's blood, they know!' When asked 'who knows?' he replies, 'The rats that walk as Men.' He reads Widenhoft's notes, translating some of the passages thus:
- Some notations written in Classical in the margins of a Tilean book called "The Plague & the Principality" say, "Enchanted how? To what purpose?"
- A note at the end of the same book is the one written in Reikspiel which the Shallyans have already read to them - "In the water it was, but why? Only tempor,,," followed by that long ink blotch
- Several sheets of notes in Classical that the Captain cannot figure out
When the Captain translates some notes relating to a silvery grey powder being "not an inoculant - an antidote!" Ulrich quickly licks clean the powder he had collected with his wooden cutlery, happily stating, 'Now you have to keep me alive for my antibodies!!' - sure enough, all trace of the Grey Plague immediately disappears. Until the next morning when it comes back... oh, well.
Captain Nierhaus concludes their meeting by telling them they have to get into Talabheim, but that they cannot go through the main gate as no-one is allowed in or out, and even he cannot swing that. He says they will have to sneak in another way - and that they will need to go to the Taalgaad docks, and seek an Estalian man named Eladio, and tell him, "These must ride the Dragon's tongue" - he will then guide them through secret ways into the City. He tells them, 'When in the city, seek out the apocathary Daubler.' The PC's leave.
Clarify - ask the PC's if they left the notes from Widenhoft's study with the Captain, or if they took them back
On their way to the docks, they encounter a group of crazed flagellants with flaming whips who are out setting fire to anyone they think is carrying the Plague. This fight proves to be costly to the PC's, claiming the life of Urdithane.
PC Death - Urdithane the Elf - Burning-Whipped to death by a priest.
Three PC's are now left alive, and they are all wounded. Because of this, when they saw hundreds of refugees charging up the street toards the Wizard's way and the gate to Talabheim, they stepped out of the way and let them pass, to be massacred at the gate by the guards on the rooftops with their crossbows, cannons and boiling oil.
They see a fair number of rats around the city, and drong tries to kick one. It dodges his kick and sinks its teeth into his throat, not causing any Wound damage, but giving him a case of the Galloping Trots. The other PC's are asked to remind the GM to apply the effects of this disease to him in the next session.
They returned to the pub where they met three new guys interested in adventuring (well, more likely they were interested in getting the hell out of this disease ridden port and safely into the City...)
New PC's
- Gustav Olbricht - a Human Servant from a Middenland pig farm
- Mr Perfect, a Human Pit Fighter from a small town in Ostland
- Mo, and Elf entertainer from the Great Forest
They encounter and kill a group of Skaven in the tunnels, but don't search them. Eladio thinks they were running away from something, but fortunately they don't need to go in the direction the Ratmen had come from...
The session ended with the following.
Saturday, 10 August 2013
Terror in Talebheim - Session One
New Adventure
Starting 11 August 2013
Game Date:
IC 2522
Session One
These are the characters...
They have all decided to go to the City of Talebheim to start their adventuring careers, and take the boat at quite a lot of expense. Below is their introduction to the campaign, and a couple of images of the Port of Taalgaad, and a tourists map they were given.
Once in the Port, it became clear how difficult getting into this City was going to be. After paying to cross the river to even get to the gate, then queuing for the best part of 16 hours, and being passed from the City Gates to the Watch House (the local Watch Men are called Dogfaces, apparently) to the Municipal Entry Office, to see Magistrate Hohenlohe, they were finally allowed to pay to apply for 3 day passes into the City. They would have to wait a few days (or weeks, the officials couldn't be exact) - checking posters of names on the Watch House wall every morning to see if their passes had been issued yet. This was going to be a pain in the arse.
To ease the wait, they took on a job: Escort a hundred or so refugees who were being sent home back to their village. They received 2 GC each up front, with the promise of another 9 on return, plus Magistrate Hohenlohe would arrange a year's pass into the City.
What could possibly go wrong?
Aside from some Ogres wanting to eat some of the kids the PC's were looking after (the PC's managed to kill one of the Ogres, so they ate him instead...), a murder among the refugees (which the PC's figured out easily) and a slight case of Grey Plague some of the PC's caught off the refugees (the ones who had been inside the City) which has so far taken a Fate Point from the Halfling, and has severely weakened those who have caught it, not much did go wrong.
PC Fate Point: Adam the Halfling
They have decided to seek a Temple of Shallya for a cure when they get back. That should be easy...
We left the session with them in sight of Taalgaad again, about to return and collect their cures from the Priestesses of Shallya and their cash and free passes into the City from Magistrate Hohenlohe...
Starting 11 August 2013
Game Date:
IC 2522
Session One
These are the characters...
- Gretchen Muller, the only female in the group. She's a Human Soldier from Ostland
- Adam, a Halfling Barber-Surgeon from The Moot
- Urdithane, an Elf Vagabond from the Reikwald Forest
- Drong Bormson, a Dwarf Marine from the World's edge Mountains, known as Karaz-a-Karak in dwarvish
- Ulrich Hortwig, a Human Bounty Hunter from Middenland
They have all decided to go to the City of Talebheim to start their adventuring careers, and take the boat at quite a lot of expense. Below is their introduction to the campaign, and a couple of images of the Port of Taalgaad, and a tourists map they were given.
Once in the Port, it became clear how difficult getting into this City was going to be. After paying to cross the river to even get to the gate, then queuing for the best part of 16 hours, and being passed from the City Gates to the Watch House (the local Watch Men are called Dogfaces, apparently) to the Municipal Entry Office, to see Magistrate Hohenlohe, they were finally allowed to pay to apply for 3 day passes into the City. They would have to wait a few days (or weeks, the officials couldn't be exact) - checking posters of names on the Watch House wall every morning to see if their passes had been issued yet. This was going to be a pain in the arse.
To ease the wait, they took on a job: Escort a hundred or so refugees who were being sent home back to their village. They received 2 GC each up front, with the promise of another 9 on return, plus Magistrate Hohenlohe would arrange a year's pass into the City.
What could possibly go wrong?
Aside from some Ogres wanting to eat some of the kids the PC's were looking after (the PC's managed to kill one of the Ogres, so they ate him instead...), a murder among the refugees (which the PC's figured out easily) and a slight case of Grey Plague some of the PC's caught off the refugees (the ones who had been inside the City) which has so far taken a Fate Point from the Halfling, and has severely weakened those who have caught it, not much did go wrong.
PC Fate Point: Adam the Halfling
They have decided to seek a Temple of Shallya for a cure when they get back. That should be easy...
We left the session with them in sight of Taalgaad again, about to return and collect their cures from the Priestesses of Shallya and their cash and free passes into the City from Magistrate Hohenlohe...
Thursday, 13 December 2012
Session Seventeen
Sunday, 9th December 2012
Final Session
The PC's wandered the Womb, fighting everything they encountered and finally getting the three keys they needed from the Mother, the Maiden and the Crone.
The Womb was a maze. The full map can now be shared.
Final Session
The PC's wandered the Womb, fighting everything they encountered and finally getting the three keys they needed from the Mother, the Maiden and the Crone.
The Womb was a maze. The full map can now be shared.
Sunday, 2 December 2012
Session Sixteen
Sunday, 2nd December 2012
Chapter IX:
Womb of the Black Witch
Part 1
The Party spent a bit of time on the ledge, wondering how to find their way into the lair of the Black Witch after Karl. Mormocar decided to take the rowing boat out to the middle of the slime covered pool - despite not knowing how to row. He managed to drop the oars into the water and drifted randomly before falling in when trying to row using his sword. He was immediately attacked by a big one eyed serpent and a Nurgling...
Meanwhile, up the path towards the rest of the PC's trundled what was left of Tobias from earlier in the campaign - (Session Eight - "As Tobias died, a strange alien like organ tore free from the dead flesh, sprouted limbs, and escaped through the hole in the back wall...") - only now, it has degenerated into a barely humanoid mass of bone, tumours, and hair - Tobias' face sometimes pushes out of the skin on its body and silently screams. It attacks and the PC's kill it.
Mormocar is wounded by the one eyed serpent, and fighting underwater alone is taking time - he manages to kill the serpent and spots at the bottom of the pool a thin membrane, covering what looks like a cave mouth... everyone else dives in and battles a serpent and a nurgling but all get through the membrane relatively unharmed. Ish. Gregor does get a nurgling touching him which then absorbs into his body completely, but aside from that and a Wound or ten they are mostly OK.
The pond is really a water-filled pit that’s wider at the top than it is at the bottom. A pale slime covers the rocky walls, and about 5 yards below the surface is a strange spongy section of wall, about a yard wide and two yards tall. The surface is elastic and gives to the touch. Putting any kind of pressure on the wall enables a character to push through it and enter the opposite side, thus entering the Lair of the Black Witch. As they pass through the membrane, it closes behind them, so when a character finally reaches the other side, a brief squirt of pond water accompanies him before the hole closes again.
As soon as they are through, Gregor vomits out the Nurgling, which has doubled in size. It calls him 'Mummy' and jumps into his arms - but it does not live very long as the characters all attack it.
Light is needed, so Mormocar casts Marsh Lights before realising they are the size of fireflies, and then he casts magic light.
Ralf lights a torch. They are inside the Black Witches lair...
It’s humid, and there’s a disgusting stench here - an uncanny blend of rubbish, excrement, and decay. The walls, floor, and ceiling are a dull grey colour, slick with condensation. A closer look reveals they are riddled with tiny blue, red, and brown striations.
Hanging from the ceiling in places are spongy orange tendrils, sort of like roots but more fleshy. Black oily water collects in puddles here and there, and things move in them, sending ripples across the surface.
The PC's explore this strange environment, losing Fate Points and plenty of wounds along the way. They manage to pick up several keys in several rooms, and kill two Vampires - Lord De Trois and Lydia Von Carstein - and collect keys from them, too.
They managed to explore maybe a third of this place, and left plenty of caverns unexplored. In one strange chamber the PCs hear whispers in their heads (which cause a few insanity points...) This small room is dark.
When the PCs enter this area, among the whispers they hear:
Chapter IX:
Womb of the Black Witch
Part 1
The Party spent a bit of time on the ledge, wondering how to find their way into the lair of the Black Witch after Karl. Mormocar decided to take the rowing boat out to the middle of the slime covered pool - despite not knowing how to row. He managed to drop the oars into the water and drifted randomly before falling in when trying to row using his sword. He was immediately attacked by a big one eyed serpent and a Nurgling...
Meanwhile, up the path towards the rest of the PC's trundled what was left of Tobias from earlier in the campaign - (Session Eight - "As Tobias died, a strange alien like organ tore free from the dead flesh, sprouted limbs, and escaped through the hole in the back wall...") - only now, it has degenerated into a barely humanoid mass of bone, tumours, and hair - Tobias' face sometimes pushes out of the skin on its body and silently screams. It attacks and the PC's kill it.
Mormocar is wounded by the one eyed serpent, and fighting underwater alone is taking time - he manages to kill the serpent and spots at the bottom of the pool a thin membrane, covering what looks like a cave mouth... everyone else dives in and battles a serpent and a nurgling but all get through the membrane relatively unharmed. Ish. Gregor does get a nurgling touching him which then absorbs into his body completely, but aside from that and a Wound or ten they are mostly OK.
The pond is really a water-filled pit that’s wider at the top than it is at the bottom. A pale slime covers the rocky walls, and about 5 yards below the surface is a strange spongy section of wall, about a yard wide and two yards tall. The surface is elastic and gives to the touch. Putting any kind of pressure on the wall enables a character to push through it and enter the opposite side, thus entering the Lair of the Black Witch. As they pass through the membrane, it closes behind them, so when a character finally reaches the other side, a brief squirt of pond water accompanies him before the hole closes again.
As soon as they are through, Gregor vomits out the Nurgling, which has doubled in size. It calls him 'Mummy' and jumps into his arms - but it does not live very long as the characters all attack it.
Light is needed, so Mormocar casts Marsh Lights before realising they are the size of fireflies, and then he casts magic light.
Ralf lights a torch. They are inside the Black Witches lair...
It’s humid, and there’s a disgusting stench here - an uncanny blend of rubbish, excrement, and decay. The walls, floor, and ceiling are a dull grey colour, slick with condensation. A closer look reveals they are riddled with tiny blue, red, and brown striations.
Hanging from the ceiling in places are spongy orange tendrils, sort of like roots but more fleshy. Black oily water collects in puddles here and there, and things move in them, sending ripples across the surface.
The PC's explore this strange environment, losing Fate Points and plenty of wounds along the way. They manage to pick up several keys in several rooms, and kill two Vampires - Lord De Trois and Lydia Von Carstein - and collect keys from them, too.
When the PCs enter this area, among the whispers they hear:
- “The keys fools, the keys! They are the answer!”
- “Seek out the Maiden, the Mother, and the Crone. They offer the true path!”
- “Orcs are funnnnnggguuussss… fuuuunnnnggguuuuusssssssss!”
- “Beware the Halflings’ pies!”
- “Her remains… destroy her remains…”
- “Eat not the yellow snow!”
Tuesday, 27 November 2012
Sessions Fourteen and Fifteen
Sunday 18th and Sunday 25th November 2012
Kislev
These two sessions were just the party getting to Kislev, and travelling North after the Crusade (they got into a lot of fights along the way, notable with a witch and a vampire, and they kept seeing a giant black dog covered in ice in the distance which would howl at them then run North. they later found this dog was named Black Ice, and he belongs to the Black Witch who lives in the mountains to the North.
They finally found the remains of the Crusade in a town called Zhidovsk, which was full of disease and vampires - the old leaders of the Crusade were all gone - dead of disease - so they asked after Karl and found he had gone to the mountains in the North to 'look for his mother' - at the Crags of Shargun, and so they didn't stay in town for more than five minutes.
Eventually, the PCs come to a place where the ground rises sharply. Huge rocks stained with droppings and smeared with moss jut out of the loose soil. The Crags rise above the characters, and travelling much further is impossible without climbing. A few steps later, the characters find a large pond covered by a skin of green algae and speckled with dead flies. The skin is broken in places to reveal black waters beneath. Of far more interest, at least for now, is a dark cleft in the face of the rocks of the Crags that rise up on the other side. Tied off there, the PCs clearly see a small boat.
The party had been beaten there by the remnants of Lorianoc's Elven Kithband Warriors. The party killed them and were left alone with a pool covered in slime, a boat, and a cave.
Searching the cave turns up nothing, aside from a pile of old bones and an impressive cave painting that stands at least seven feet tall. Painted in charcoal and smeared with blood, it depicts a shadowy woman with a pale face and black eyes. Konrad touched the painting and found his fingertips covered in black dust that won’t come off.
This is what the crags and pool look like.
This is where we left them...
Kislev
These two sessions were just the party getting to Kislev, and travelling North after the Crusade (they got into a lot of fights along the way, notable with a witch and a vampire, and they kept seeing a giant black dog covered in ice in the distance which would howl at them then run North. they later found this dog was named Black Ice, and he belongs to the Black Witch who lives in the mountains to the North.
They finally found the remains of the Crusade in a town called Zhidovsk, which was full of disease and vampires - the old leaders of the Crusade were all gone - dead of disease - so they asked after Karl and found he had gone to the mountains in the North to 'look for his mother' - at the Crags of Shargun, and so they didn't stay in town for more than five minutes.
Eventually, the PCs come to a place where the ground rises sharply. Huge rocks stained with droppings and smeared with moss jut out of the loose soil. The Crags rise above the characters, and travelling much further is impossible without climbing. A few steps later, the characters find a large pond covered by a skin of green algae and speckled with dead flies. The skin is broken in places to reveal black waters beneath. Of far more interest, at least for now, is a dark cleft in the face of the rocks of the Crags that rise up on the other side. Tied off there, the PCs clearly see a small boat.
The party had been beaten there by the remnants of Lorianoc's Elven Kithband Warriors. The party killed them and were left alone with a pool covered in slime, a boat, and a cave.
Searching the cave turns up nothing, aside from a pile of old bones and an impressive cave painting that stands at least seven feet tall. Painted in charcoal and smeared with blood, it depicts a shadowy woman with a pale face and black eyes. Konrad touched the painting and found his fingertips covered in black dust that won’t come off.
This is what the crags and pool look like.
This is where we left them...
Tuesday, 6 November 2012
Session Thirteen
Sunday, 4th November 2012
Wedding Bells in Sylvania
The journey between Siegfriedhof and Helfurt tooks 2 days by the main road, skirting the southern edge of Hunger Wood. The Tunelway Coachmen refused to take them into Sylvania, so as the PCs were travelling without escorts they were attacked by Wraiths, Ogres and Giant Bats soon after departing Siegfriedhof.
This took Fate Points and left them heavily wounded.
They arrived in Helfurt, and stayed at the Hotel Mistgarten.
Mistgarten is operated by a cranky innkeeper called Bärzil and his nagging wife Prunehilda, and a waiter named Manuel, who was from Estalia. Bärzil is a toad-like snob with a pathological desire to please anyone he thinks is a Noble, so Sir Ralf was welcomed as soon as he knew he was a Sir.. Bärzil generally believes no customers of Mistgarten are actually worthy to stay there. Prunehilda is quite the opposite, and she is grateful when rare guests happen by. Bärzil and Prunehilda bicker constantly, bully Manuel, and generally make lives a misery for their guests...
Bärzil is stressed, but also pleased, because Mistgarten has the job of providing food for a wedding at Helfurt Hall tomorrow - Lady Lydia Plicticos is marrying a boy who was brought in by the Strigany's who are camped at the edge of Town...
They went over to the Camp and spoke to Mama Raluca, leader of the Rumanyik Strigany Clan.
When they describe Karl to her, she says no - the boy they have brought to marry Lydia is Ahmed... who they have brought from Marienburg...
Lydia refuses to see the PC's , so they wait till the next day and while she is getting married to Karl at Helfurt Hall, they search her castle for clues as to her being a vampire - and find plenty.
Most notably, in a secret room off Lydia's bedroom, they find Rows of bookshelves line the walls, and the desk is piled high with scrolls and ingredients. Wires dangle from the ceiling.
The following items were found here:
Lydia’s translations provide clues about the words encrypted on the triptych panels.
Together with the Book of Nagash, and the Code of Nines handout they have, these notes give the PCs enough information to unlock the words on the triptych.
There are portraits of various Von Carstein vampires lining the walls, and there is a clear family resemblance with Lydia.
The PC's hurry back to Helfurt Hall and immediately attack Lydia, who, after a couple of hits turns into a bat and flies away. The boy she is marrying is Ahmed from the Crusade camp...
Just then, though, some Raven Knights and Black Nights from the Abbey at Siegfriedhoff arrive, demanding the PC's step aside and allow them to kill Ahmed, a foul scion of Nagash.
Ahmed hides behing Mormocar begging the PC's to save him, but Konrad chops off Ahmed's head.
The Black Knights / Raven guards continue to insult the PC's and accuse them of being in league with Vampires... so Konrad and the PC's kill their leader and a couple of Knights before the rest retreat - leaving the PC's to figure out the clues they have and figure out where to go next...
End of Session.
Wedding Bells in Sylvania
The journey between Siegfriedhof and Helfurt tooks 2 days by the main road, skirting the southern edge of Hunger Wood. The Tunelway Coachmen refused to take them into Sylvania, so as the PCs were travelling without escorts they were attacked by Wraiths, Ogres and Giant Bats soon after departing Siegfriedhof.
This took Fate Points and left them heavily wounded.
They arrived in Helfurt, and stayed at the Hotel Mistgarten.
Mistgarten is operated by a cranky innkeeper called Bärzil and his nagging wife Prunehilda, and a waiter named Manuel, who was from Estalia. Bärzil is a toad-like snob with a pathological desire to please anyone he thinks is a Noble, so Sir Ralf was welcomed as soon as he knew he was a Sir.. Bärzil generally believes no customers of Mistgarten are actually worthy to stay there. Prunehilda is quite the opposite, and she is grateful when rare guests happen by. Bärzil and Prunehilda bicker constantly, bully Manuel, and generally make lives a misery for their guests...
Bärzil is stressed, but also pleased, because Mistgarten has the job of providing food for a wedding at Helfurt Hall tomorrow - Lady Lydia Plicticos is marrying a boy who was brought in by the Strigany's who are camped at the edge of Town...
They went over to the Camp and spoke to Mama Raluca, leader of the Rumanyik Strigany Clan.
When they describe Karl to her, she says no - the boy they have brought to marry Lydia is Ahmed... who they have brought from Marienburg...
Lydia refuses to see the PC's , so they wait till the next day and while she is getting married to Karl at Helfurt Hall, they search her castle for clues as to her being a vampire - and find plenty.
Most notably, in a secret room off Lydia's bedroom, they find Rows of bookshelves line the walls, and the desk is piled high with scrolls and ingredients. Wires dangle from the ceiling.
The following items were found here:
- One of the Nine Books of Nagash. Written in High Nehekharan. Lydia has underlined encrypted words throughout, and the last page is annotated in Reikspiel.
Lydia’s translations provide clues about the words encrypted on the triptych panels.
- The two missing Zandri Scrolls and Lydia’s translation notes.
Together with the Book of Nagash, and the Code of Nines handout they have, these notes give the PCs enough information to unlock the words on the triptych.
- Assorted stone tablets from Mistgarten, many of which are cracked or pieced together from fragments. The runes resemble those found at the Styrigen Mound near Siegfriedhof.
- Ancient hieroglyphic tablets , in surprisingly good condition. The hieroglyphs are in High Nehekharan.
- The Sigmar panel of Lanfranchi’s triptych.
The PC's hurry back to Helfurt Hall and immediately attack Lydia, who, after a couple of hits turns into a bat and flies away. The boy she is marrying is Ahmed from the Crusade camp...
Just then, though, some Raven Knights and Black Nights from the Abbey at Siegfriedhoff arrive, demanding the PC's step aside and allow them to kill Ahmed, a foul scion of Nagash.
Ahmed hides behing Mormocar begging the PC's to save him, but Konrad chops off Ahmed's head.
The Black Knights / Raven guards continue to insult the PC's and accuse them of being in league with Vampires... so Konrad and the PC's kill their leader and a couple of Knights before the rest retreat - leaving the PC's to figure out the clues they have and figure out where to go next...
End of Session.
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