There was a short fight and the mutant was killed, and, when you inspected
the mutilated body of the Four Seasons coachman, you saw a crossbow bolt
through the neck has killed him.
You found his coach around the corner, overturned and with the
crew being eaten by other mutants. Killing
these, you inspected the bodies of the coachmen and passengers and were shocked
to find one of the passengers looked exactly like Richard’s character!
A blood-stained piece of parchment was protruding from the corpse’s
jacket - Handout 3: The Inheritance.
In
an inside pocket is another, unstained letter, Handout 4: The Affidavit.
You got the rest of the way to Altdorf without serious incident.
ALTDORF
The capital City of the Empire!
Stepping off the coach, the Characters are greeted by cries of ‘Angelino's, best grub in town!’ and ‘Stay at the Cat and Fiddle! Finest music and the best beds!’ The cries are accompanied by ready hands reaching to take any passenger’s luggage in order to lead them in the general direction of their chosen inn. Arguments soon break out, and fists clench. It is chaos.
Even before you manage to organise a place to stay, Amid the bustle of the square, two men approach. They look no different from anyone else in the crowd, but they act strangely. While one watches the crowd, the other scratches his left ear with the little finger of his right hand. As he does so, he stares straight at Richard, and they continued this until they gave up and wandered off, their expressions suddenly change from confusion to relief as they hurry over to where a stocky man stands near a doorway to a house. They follow him through the door, which is shut behind them too quickly for you to follow.
Checking in on the Wanted: Bold Adventurers advert, you discovered that the Crown Prince has already recruited a party and has left Altdorf.
Going for a pint, you finally run into a friendly face amongst the bustle of Altdorf. Josef Quartjin is an old acquaintance, and owns a river barge, The Berebelli, which he uses to trade up and down the Reik.
He is chatty and helpful, and delighted to sit down and catch up with his old friends at the Boatman Inn. He passes on some news and gossip:
- City folk are strange folk. Who wouldn’t be, living cooped up amongst buildings all day?
- All members of the nobility are mad; they’re all inbred and tainted by Chaos, as everyone knows.
- There have been strange goings-on at the University. It’s full of Daemonologists and Necromancers dabbling in things that are better left alone. Strangely-robed figures prowling the University cloisters late at night, accompanied by sounds of weird chants, clapping bells, and sinister howls!
- Mutations can affect you late in life. A boatman, who had worked on the river for 20 years or more, suddenly started to develop an oily, yellow skin and bulging eyes. The boatman is now dead, of course, drowned by his own companions.
Outside the pub, a skinny street preacher dressed in rags clutches tight to a scroll as he screams his prophecy to any who listen. As you pass, he points at you and screams ‘I see Darkness Gathering as the Last House of Joy Falls - beware, for Shadows Over Bögenhafen stir! Then Beloved Morr, resplendent in Vestments of Green, stands astride Sigmar’s Great River. Yea, I see Death on the Reik and I despair! For then the Stained Hand guides the Once Mighty Lord, and this Power Behind the Throne curses us all. Lo, the Horned Rat then claims the Broken King atop his Throne of Lies, and the White Walls Fall, leaving our Empire in Ruins! Tremble in fear, ye mighty, for the End Times have come.’ - you look at him as if he is insane.
Inside the pub, later, a couple of posh nobles enter and begin insulting everyone and vomiting over people. They have guards with them, who usher them our after an argument starts with you.
Leaving the inn, Josef leads the Characters to his barge. Along the way, you become aware of being followed, by the two men who were doing he weird signs on the square when you got off the coach.
As you are about to react, you see the two me suddenly cut down as a crossbow bolt slams into the back of one, and, as the other turns, another bolt thuds into his throat. Both are killed. There is no sign of the shooter.
A search of the bodies revealed no identification other than each had a small tattoo on the right breast, depicting a purple hand. You spend the night on Josef's barge. The two nobles who were vomiting over you in the pub are found dead the next day, and rumour is that they were seen arguing with your party and that the Watch would like to speak to you in connection with their murder! There are even Wanted posters going up!
Josef is heading out to Bögenhafen, and needs some crew... you decide it makes sense to head there as the Inheritance letter says to report there to collect a wad of cash, and there is a big annual fair on:
You hide below decks on Josef's boat until well outside Altdorf. The trip to Bögenhafen involves travelling the full length of the Weissbruck Canal from outside Altdorf to Weissbruck, where it joins the River Bögen.
Weissbruck
It is early evening by the time you arrive in Weissbruck. As you prepare to tie up the barge, you notice a shadowy, travel-stained character standing in the doorway of the Black Gold, a nearby inn. You recognise the stocky man as the one from the Königplatz in Altdorf, who somehow made the oddly gesturing men retreat - the same two men who were crossbowed to death on the night before the party eft Altdorf, and this man clearly has a crossbow slung across his back. It is equally obvious that he is watching the Berebeli tie up, but before anyone can approach him he turns and walks into the inn.
Following him into the inn, he is nowhere to be seen.. Getting information out of the inn’s occupants reveals the man is a bounty hunter who arrived in Weissbruck late last night.
Later that night, as you are in the barge, smoke starts to billiow from the stove - someone has covered the chimney! Opening windows for air are greeted by pots of burning oil thrown by thugs. You deal with this attack, killing the main attacker - the bounty hunter who shot the weirdoes! On the body is a letter, Handout 7. The drawing that accompanies it looks exactly like Richard's character.
Chapter 2 - Shadows Over Bögenhafen
The trip from Weissbruck to Bögenhafen takes four days. It is uneventful. The Berebeli puts in at Haagen’s Wharf. Josef and his crew deal with tying up and pay the mooring fees. The docks are relatively quiet, but sounds of merrymaking can be heard coming from the direction of the Schaffenfest, which has already begun. Josef explains that he has to go to the offices of a local merchant named Ruggbroder to collect payment for his wine and to arrange for its unloading by the local stevedores. He suggests the party takes the opportunity to look round the Schaffenfest, which is most definitely ‘not to be missed’.
Visiting the Lawyers
Enquiries along the Garten Weg will be a dead end; no one has ever heard of a law firm by the name of Lock, Stock, and Barl. Indeed, no one has ever heard of a law firm with offices on the Garten Weg. The letter is a hoax.
The Shaffenfest
The fair has many attractions and you explore these freely. Two things stick in your minds -
The Drunken Dwarf — You notice a drunken Dwarf in the stocks outside the Festival Court
The Runaway Goblin — You witness the escape of a three-legged Mutant Goblin from Doctor Malthusius’s Zoocopeia, and accept the job of going into the sewers to find it and return it to its owner.
During your search of the sewers, you fing the body of the Drunken Dwarf - The body is horrifically mutilated, and shows evidence of many knife-cuts. One arm is missing, and appears to have been torn or bitten completely off. The chest is torn open, and the heart is missing. You also find a hidden temple, inside which is a daemon, chewing on the remains of the mutant goblin, sat inside a pentegram that has the words "ORDO SEPTINARIUS" inscribed.
Defeating the demon and searching the temple turns up a monogrammed silk handkerchief - the monogram is the initials F.S.
The investigation following all of this reveals, in brief, that the temple is directly below offices belonging to one of the four major merchant houses, (Franz Sternheiger) the authorities in the town do not believe any tales of hidden temples, the authorities claim that the goblin was found dead in a warehouse, squashed by boxes, the ORDO SEPINARIUS is a charity run buy the top nobles in the city, but is actually a front for summoning a demon that will swallow the entire town...
Your characters investigations prove that the top officials in Bogenhaffen are in on this, though whether they know it is to summon a demon you are not sure: what is certain is that you manage to prevent the summoning, but not before being framed by a doppleganger demon named Gideon for the murder of one of the top nobles... the clues to all this were as follows.
Teugen is one of the top merchants
On the morning of the day of the ritual, one of the top nobles of the town - Magirius - contacts you. He looks pale and worried He insists on being taken to a place where they will not be disturbed or overheard, and only then does he reveal the cause of his agitation.
‘When Teugen came to us from Nuln, he told us that, with our help, his sorcery could influence the economy of the Empire. Bögenhafen would become great again — greater even than Marienburg — and we would all become rich beyond our wildest dreams. That is why the Ordo Septenarius was established, and the lower ranks are no more than a smokescreen.
‘Everything was going according to Teugen’s plans until you discovered the temple under the Steinhäger offices.
‘The ritual will take place tonight. I don’t know where yet, but I will get word to you as soon as I can. Teugen said that a human sacrifice is necessary to prepare the new temple, and that was too much for me. I didn’t realise anyone would have to be killed. You must help me. Going to the authorities is useless as Teugen and the Inner Council control them all. You are my only hope.’
Magirius then gives you a letter - Handout 10: Herzen’s Letter.
Later that day, you receive the following note from an errand boy.
Going to his home after you find him dead, and scrawled on the floor in blood by his body is this:
The next thing you notice is the errand boy who delivered the note is stood in the doorway laughing at you. He them shouts into the street: , ‘Help! Help! Murder!’ from the front door of the house. Looking out of the window, you see a four-man Watch patrol running towards the house. At the same instant, the servant appears in the room, apparently out of thin air — ‘You know,’ he says, in a multi-toned, resonant voice that is spine-quiveringly unnatural, ‘you really should have minded your own business.’ and vanishes again, but its deep, many-throated, mocking laughter continues for a few moments after it has disappeared.
You do manage to evade watch patrols and head towards the warehouses, in search of Warehouse 13, where you manage to prevent the ritual taking place and save the City!
However, there are several dead nobles, you are known in the town for going round making accusations against the leaders of this town, and you are wanted for the murder of Magirus...
Time to make a hasty exit!
We pick up the game at this point: You are all hiding below decks on the Berebelli, Josef is laughing at you and asking if you intend to be on Wanted posters in every major town you visit, and from here it is up to you exactly what you want to do.
During this game there is lots of rumours and gossip that you hear. I'll compile those into a separate post you can refer to - some will be true, some outright lies, some partly true, as with all news, rumours and gossip!
