Friday Night Features

Not abandoned

2004-05-14T18:40:58Z

This journal isn't abandoned, but I won't be updating it again until early June. We are still playing weekly. But the preperation is taking up my time, and I don't have any left for the tangy blow-by-blow recaps here.

Might of Heroes Part I. April 2, 2004. Nachgeheim 17, 2523

2004-04-04T15:15:47Z

The Elector Countess of Nuln informed her court wizard, Manfred, that he needs to show Rose Briana the ropes. (She is a budding Bright Wizard from Talabheim who ended up in Nuln in something of a refugee situation, but a very competent and court-experienced wizard. And a hottie.) He agreed and began her training.

The evening started in Ubersreik, where the company gathered at the behest of Elsbeth, who was consecrating the new Morrspark that Baron von Hettrikite had commissioned and created on her behalf. The ceremony took place on the first day of autumn, at dusk.

The event was well attended. Zimmerman and Arbogast came on behalf of the Morrspark in Middenheim, accompanied by Fanmaris. Elsbeth and Eustace attended, along with Helmswift, Manfred and Kat, and Liselle and a few of her entourage.

Her consecration went on for four hours, then they had a huge feast followed by some more private parties.

The Company returned to Nuln. Kat got sent on an espionage mission to a party Kelria was throwing. She discovered that Rupert, the Duke's son, was working with an Estalian assassin to poison Manfred and Rose and then arrange them together in a compromising position, clearing the court wizard and heir apparant to the position in one fell and easily explicable swoop. She got out with her dire knowledge undetected.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Company attended Helmswift's Arming Ceremony, where the priests of Sigmar clad him in his armor once more. At the end of the ceremony, Lord Mauritas prophesied that the darkness was coming to break across them, the time was soon. After that the Sigmarites spent the night in prayer and the rest of the Company slipped away, having had enough of sermons for a while.

Manfred, Kat, and Liselle were summoned by Kimmalet around midnight. They arrived, and she told them about the plot on Manfred, adding that the assassin's name was Nethelis and he was staying in the Crooked Moon tavern.

In addition to that heinous plot, more was brewing in Kelria's scheming mind. He brought in a wizard from Marionberg originally, currently a darling in the Altdorf court, named Jaan Kriedman. Currying favor locally, Kriedman stood to be shooed into court wizard position, a man loyal to Kelria right at the Countess's back.

And still more! Kelria currently entertained Graf Albreich Haupt-Anderssen of Stirland, bringing the young Graf in to entertain him and also to try to persuade him to marry his daughter Amelia. Were that alliance to be sealed by marriage, Kelria's power north of Nuln would balloon, he would be related to one of the Elector Counts by marriage, and combined with his own prestige and prowess and long history of service he would have a number of unsettlingly powerfully positioned levers to use against the Elector Countess of Nuln, virtually assuring his replacement of her one way or another.

Kimmalet made it clear to them that this could not stand. The Countess Emmanuelle was shaken, angry, and convinced that a very clear message needed to be sent to the Duke for his arrogance and his audacity.

Manfred's task was to publically confront and break Kriedman, to send an unmistakeable message to the court. Liselle and Kat were to engage in the darker side of politics; nab the assassin, sneak him into Kelria's estate, put him in a compromising position with Amelia, the Duke's 17 year old daughter, (preferably using Kelria's sword as the killing weapon,) then see to it that a Stirlander is first on the scene so the rumors about Kelria's temper and disregard for his own flesh and blood spread in the right circles.

Without going into too much detail, both parties succeeded in their distasteful tasks; the wizard was set aflame and nearly killed, and while there were a lot of complications, the two women managed their dark and dasterdly deed. Liselle gained claustrophobia as a result, too. She still feels half choked by the pillow she used to end Amelia's life...

With all the action around Nuln, it was thought that the Company would be well served by a short trip, a vacation of sorts. They headed to Boroch on Aver, always nice this time of year. They took Agatha and Max along as well.

Upon arrival, they found that a pack of bandits were tolling a bridge on the road to Averheim. They were unsettlingly gleeful at the notion of dissuading them. There are always troubles with ruling; the dwarves were slowed by a lack of skilled labor, and they might not have enough fighting men to meet the levy Baron Willis might impose on Boroch.

Helmswift did go down and assess the twenty current militiamen, and gave them the beginnings of some more skilled training. Their leader, Kane, was a former infantryman in Altdorf's military.

They headed to the roadblock; easy things first. After the bandits had blocked them onto the bridge and charged their toll, Liselle convinced them to at least consider joining up with Boroch's fighting forces and live in the village, pardoned. They sent a contingent back. Their leader, Kiplinger, sent Temsel back with a group.

The reception went fairly well, and the rest of the bandits moved in as part of an uneasy truce between the villagers and the outlaws. If nothing else, more people to send in the levy...

The adventure ended on Nachgeheim 28, 2325.

Showdown. Edge City. March 26, 2004 IRL. Monday, April 26, 2004.

2004-04-02T12:52:04Z

Alex Carmichael got a visit from his sister, also a wizard, who brought him a gift and a warning about enemy wizards in town. They parted amicably.

An immortal named Feldman tracked Mellisand down at the Sky Platter restaurant and challenged her; he dispatched her easily, but Shelm was on the scene, so Feldman backed off. Mellisand was, however, grounded.

As Maggie oversaw her club, Sanctuary, a man on the dance floor made eye contact with her. He touched her mind, told her to run while she still can, it's almost too late. Then he vanished into the crowd, leaving her unsettled.

The Gray Ghost summoned them to the dome of the Edgarton Museum of Fine Art. A hidden meeting location that was outfitted something like a crypt was there. They combined information.

The Dusk Society is planning a big offensive against the Shell Clan. While they are out with the best of their warriors, the Gray Ghost feels it will be time to strike. She coordinated things with the police, and she knows they have a lot of unfenced stolen goods so they might go to court if caught.

Also, they hired some muscle to help oust the Shell Clan of ninja then go after the Dusk Society's other enemies, including those assembled. Abel Moghri, a powerful wizard, and his familiar and bodyguard Aelus.

The Gray Ghost mentioned that this might be their last jaunt together. No explanation was forthcoming.

They headed to Lowry's Junkyard and engaged the ninja. The evidence was blown up, but a thug was persuaded by the Mist Knight to reveal that fireproof safes were hidden in the wreckage so the good stuff could be retrieved after the fire. By the cops, rather than the ninja, after that little revelation.

The Jonin engaged Mellisand and escaped. She did, however, slay a second wizard on the premisis after a brief and decisive battle. She also sparred with the Corax familiar Aelus, but that was indecisive. And she had a bit of fun with nerve gas.

The Mist Knight chased off a lot of thugs and blasted Aelus with crippling damage, putting him out of the fight. He chased off Moghri and told the police where the evidence was.

Morrigan took out the ninja sniper lookout and shot out the boobytraps that had been laid for the SWAT team and was otherwise helpful.

There were a few ninja on the premisis, but most were in training or just thug wannabes. Many escaped, but quite a few were captured, and the Dusk Society base of operations was compromised.

After a job well done, they retired for the evening.

Later, firebombs exploded throughout a building in Midtown. Working together, the heroes managed to clear the building and minimize loss of life. A hunched man in goggles was spotted escaping a viewing position on the roof, leading to speculation.

Edge City. The Light Before the Shadow. March 20, 2004. (March 18, 2004)

2004-03-22T12:44:02Z

Carmichael was walking a lovely lady named Gina Twilleger home from their date when a man stumbled up to them and collapsed. He looked like a drunk bum, then Carmichael saw all the shuriken sticking out of him.

Ninja warned him off, but he didn't listen. He chased them off, sending Gina home. The bum grabbed him by the shirt, insisted that there be no hospitals, and gave him a rough-cut shuriken with an email address engraved on it. He wanted Carmichael to send a message; the Smith needs help. And he passed out.

Carmichael cleaned him up, finding that he carried tools in a carpenter's apron, and a small sledge.

Meanwhile, to stay busy while in Edge City, Mellisand started reviewing tourist attractions and restaurants and clubs for the Edge City Review put out by Leshram International. Shelm also advised her that if Leshram International is to grow in Edge City, it would be most useful to have the vigilante protectors of the city with them so they didn't end up against them. Her mission? To get friendly with the locals. They lucked out in that she already has an "in" with the Gray Ghost and Morrigan and the Mist Knight.

Carmichael leaves the Smith in his loft apartment in Midtown and goes to Sanctuary, where he borrows a computer to send an email to the mysterious address. Maggie goes home with him to help look after the Smith; she detects that they're being watched, finds the ninja camped on the opposite rooftop listening to every word they say. As she was a crow at the time, he didn't know he was being eyeballed at close range by the enemy. He even shared his McDonalds with her.

As per the email, they rendezvous with Blake of the Shell Clan at Sanctuary at 5. The club was not yet open, but they found a piece of newspaper weighted down with a rock in the middle of the floor telling them to meet him at the 46th Street subway station.

Then the stain glass window shattered as ninja swung in, and more poured in the sides. Mellisand cut a hoarde down, Carmichael got the Smith out, and Maggie sought cover then shot them to pieces. In the alley there were more, but they were defeated soundly.

Now in rush hour, they manage to get the Smith to the subway station. There is a note to leave him there, and a whisper in the darkness lures Carmichael away to have some words with a figure he could never quite see. The Shell clan resolved to go into hiding until this blows over.

That excitement was over. For now.

A few days later they read in the paper about a gang of thieves stealing the Edgarton Museum of History and Arts of its collection of original reels for Beatles tunes, the uncut and unreleased studio recordings. Mellisand investigated by doing a piece for the Edge City Review on the museum, and getting in good with the curator. He showed her around; the electronic system was scrambled, then uncanny strength and pre-planned precision removed it.

The Mist Knight also ghosted onto the scene and picked up a few clues. Probably three of the perpetrators. Metal armor.

Three days later, another heist. A Stradivarius violin worth 12 million was stolen from a collector named Migswell. Mellisand checked it out, agreeing to go to dinner with Migswell's dandy son, and discovered that the violin was in a room in the center of the house, in a clear plasteel safe that had elaborate protections.

The Mist Knight stealthed to the scene later, finding where they burned down through the roof in a blind spot in security and took it from there. A scary combination of strength, computer expertise bordering on unnatural, and precision planning made this gang effective.

The thieves work fast. A few days later there was another heist. They tried to steal a digilog audial processor developed by Chase Multinational. The Gray Ghost caught them in the act, capturing two of the gang. One fled the scene.

Archibald Rimround was captured. He was famous as a sound collector, he loved digital and analog sound and could imitate any sound he could hear. He made a fortune selling collections of music put out by his band, Audiotronic.

The other captured thief was Bollux, a dapper Englishman with a talent for scrambling and persuading computer systems; a meta. Wreck, the fellow in power armor, got away. They figured out that Numbers Malone was planning the scores.

Numbers and Wreck hacked the broadcasting system and sent out notice of an illegal bounty to Edge City as a whole: they found a fence, $12 mil for the Strativarius. That $12 mil will be given to the one who can get them an an audio recording of the Gray Ghost begging for mercy.

Of course, that precipitated a rush of a tide of scum to a very excited Edge City underworld. Rumors fly about hit men and costumed freaks with reputations heading into town. Within 24 hours they already checked with their contacts and knew to expect Painkiller, Malady, Bladespinner, and the Director on the costumed freak end. Also Ike the Pick, Dexter Walgreen, and Earnest Calavaras as top dollar hitmen.

They just make it to Take Two, a comedy club in Midtown, as the Director finishes giving marching orders to the army of thugs gathered there. They break up the party; Morrigan got one shot on the Director then fled in a hail of hot lead. The Mist Knight battered numerous thugs down and stalked through the halls after the Gray Ghost fired teargas through the system. Mellisand slashed and hewed at fleeing thugs, cutting them down and killing a few, letting those who could stagger off do so, shrugging off gunfire.

Three armored cars fled the scene. Morrigan trailed one of them, the Gray Ghost blew up another and dragged the occupants out. The Mist Knight found the back door the Director escaped through and triggered the explosive left as a boobytrap. He was fine.

Maggie traces them to the Director's Cut theater, and she summons the others. They go in gangbusters. The Mistknight had a run-in with Painkiller, who actually broke his shield with explosives. He stopped the giggling madman, injuring him badly. Painkiller doped himself up to attack again, but he botched and hit himself with his stun baton. Night night.

Meanwhile, the Ghost triggered the boobytrap on the back door at a distance, then charged in with the others. Malady was playing on the piano, making everything difficult, but a little magic blast and teargas put an end to that. The group engaged the hit men and masked freaks in hand to hand and took them down. A quick interrogation gained them nothing, but one of the hit men had a lock pick gun and two numbers written on his arm. Train station lockers!

Meanwhile, the Director hijacked Dingo Recording Studios and broadcast that he would kill a hostage every hour until the Gray Ghost surrendered to him. His thugs with video cameras kept an eye on the area.

The party split up. The Ghost called the police and called in a favor to have them get to the station right away. Mellisand called in a favor to get the press over there at the same speed. Morrigan shifted to a raven to get there first and make sure the Strativarius was there; if there was no collatoral, then there could be no bounty, end of situation. The Ghost and the Knight raced to the recording studio.

Morrigan ran across Bladespinner guarding the lockers, and shot him up some. He almost got away, but the police caught him; Morrigan worked fast to open the lockers and make sure ther was no booby-trap; the press went live with the finding of the violin and Beatles reels.

The Director sardonically bowed out, announcing "cut". But, to keep them from chasing him, he also told them that the CEO of the studio was in the basement with a bomb strapped to him. Then he exited stage left.

The Ghost chased him, and the Knight sprinted to the basement and found the terrified CEO with the bomb ticking down. Only his super-human brilliance let him carry the day, but he defused the bomb. The Dirctor, unfortunately, slipped away in the confusion.

They were content to have a happy ending, leaving a sequel to another day.

A Head Shorter. March 12, 2004. (March 10, 2004)

2004-03-13T13:08:48Z

The Sanctuary is a nightclub in upper Midtown that used to be a cathedral, but the faithful thinned out so they had to sell the building. Now it is a nightclub, and Maggie is their head bouncer. So when one man came in to hassle another man, she supervised as they took it outside. They looked reverberating and strange to her eyes, but she shrugged and let it go; live and let live.

Then the explosion of light in the alley, and, well, one of them didn't live. He had his head chopped off and left in the alley. From an upstairs window she saw the victor limping away, but by the time she shifted to a bird to follow, he was gone.

Meanwhile, Mellisand got a call from Leshram, who runs Leshram International. He asked her to go investigate the slaying of Wilson King, one of his best troubleshooters, of whom he was quite fond. Of course she complied. Arriving, she met with Shelm, the Immortal who ran operations in Edge City. He supplied her with a limo and a driver, Luke. They went to check out the Sanctuary club where he was killed.

Mellisand inspected the crime scene, then used her assets to be invited in by an exciteable bouncer. He got Maggie from upstairs, and Maggie revealed what she knew. Obviously the church was no longer Holy Ground, thought Mellisand.

They also had the pleasure of meeting FBI agent Turley, who hinted at decapitated employees of Leshram International turning up here and there, and was effectively ignored until he went away.

In the meantime, the Gray Ghost summoned Carmichael to inspect the blast residue. Like no emp or concussion grenade the Ghost knew of; Carmichael ruled that it was energy but not magic. He went inside as the club opened, and found Maggie and Mellisand.

The Ghost slipped into the balcony of the Sanctuary, as usual, and found them there. Told them that a man matching the description seems to have busted up Corner Pocket, a bar in the Torpedo Bay district, last night. Perhaps they should check it out. The Ghost also made it clear that she doesn't like the idea of anyone in town chopping anyone else's head off.

At the bar, Mellisand fended off some hungry thugs and dealt with the bartender. Carmichael chatted up a cigarette girl, and Maggie went upstairs to have a word with a nervous gang holed up in an office. Together, they found out that Walter Blade was the name of the big guy that busted the place up last night. He took the leaders of the Spitting Dragons and the Skulls with him when he left; a number of people were killed or hospitalized. He took a shotgun blast to the chest, bled, didn't seem to care overmuch. A gang war is getting ready to start, and there's a big meeting in the Core tonight.

Unfortunately, upon finding out the name is Walter Blade, Mellisand is able to connect that alias with Cord Avery, an old rabblerousing Immortal. They realize Shelm is in danger too late, but the Gray Ghost races off to save him as they prepare to go into the decaying and abandoned slum core of Torpedo Bay known as the Core.

Something flings throwing stars at them as they leave.

They arrange to be mugged by gangers, and they dispatch them in a single round and take enough of their uniforms to pass. Maggie scouts the place out as a crow, and reports back. Then they all head in, moving past the ganger barricades with hardly a second glance. (Except at Mellisand's butt.) Maggie draped them in urban mufti and they keep their mouths shut.

Once inside, Mellisand realizes that one Immortal is upstairs and one downstairs. Upstairs Blade is railing at the mob, whipping them into a frenzy, something about sacking City Hall. They go downstairs, and Carmichael's magic persuasion gets them past the guards and into the basement where Chalm is being held.

Working quickly, Carmichael preps the guards at the back basement entrance to believe he is in charge, then a mix of magic and bluffing lets them untie Chalm and get him out the back, up the stairs, and over the barricade.

Of course, they are pursued, but Maggie's precision shooting and Luke's mad driving get them out of that. They retreat to the Leshram International offices and load up with weapons, then head out to confront the mob of gangers that Blade has brought here to bring Chalm and Mellisand to him so he can behead them properly, like he did the gang bosses so he could take control.

In a blaring battle, the security forces of the complex lose their first wave, and the Company stands in the breach and pushes the mob back, breaking their spirit and chasing them off before the city's SWAT team or the special security forces at LI can react. Blade reluctantly leaves; there will be another day. He has time, after all.

The victorious Company has a drink at Sanctuary and then parts ways, job well done.

Edge City characters

2004-03-13T12:50:13Z

Edge City is a amalgam city that incorporates 20s style interior decoration and architecture, a comic book feel reminiscent of Batman, and stuff ranging from The Mask to Turtles to Highlander to any of the comic books, with wizards and big robots and pretty much whatever I feel like. It's a slightly crazy city where every game session is an episode.

Built on the Aberrant engine with a lot of house rule tweaks, Edge City is designed to address some of the trouble I have with the overall setting and more specifically nova fixation of the original to take it into a more comic book style setting with my own unique feel. Here are the characters, in order of creation.

Alex Carmichael "Mist Knight"
A gifted and tremendously skilled wizard, Carmichael comes from a shadowy past to apprentice himslf to Athria. Athria was a long-time defender of Edgarton (Edge City) and he introduced Carmichael to the burg and to its principle defender, the Gray Ghost.

Carmichael has been involved in several threats to the city and its occupants, and he has an analytical mind that likes to piece clues together to unravel mysteries. Recent enemy-making activity has led him to consider taking up a secret identity for the protection of himself and others. His potent magics lend mystic defense and attack as well as persuasion and charm to those he teams with.

Magdelene (Maggie) "Morrigan"
Maggie was living an abusive life on the streets when her mentor swooped her up and took her under his wing--literally. She is one of a rare breed, the Order of the Corax, who shift their shapes into those of crows. Half-familiars, merged with humans to make them more useful to their wizard masters, her people rebelled and some of them escaped the slavery to wizards.

Maggie was running from a wizard who killed her master when she found her way to Edge City, and now she's established as the chief bouncer at Sanctuary, a nightclub in upper midtown. Her love of shiny objects extends most definitely to guns and bullets, and she weilds them with superhuman skill. She is also an excellent scout, and she knows the street and the people that live there.

Mellisand Delaney
The nineteenth century was dawning bright and full of promise the first time Mellisand was killed, but she never regretted it. Immortal, she found herself in a world within a world, where the Game is all to the immortals who stalk one another through the mortal waking world. Sheltered from all that in the service of Leshram, a very old immortal, she was content to watch glassy time slip by like the surface of a river. Eventually, though, she wondered where all that time was going, and the present became like a foreign land to explore.

Now out in the world with her blade to protect her, she contemplates whether to join the Game or leave it to predators and simply try to live content with what life she already has.

Wittgenstein Walloping. March 5, 2004.

2004-03-06T17:37:09Z

They slaughtered Doctor Rosseaux, and torched his house and brewery. Appetites whetted for slaughter, they spent the night around the tomb of the Sigmarite paladin interred beneath the temple.

The next day they followed the bandits around to a cleft in the rock under the Outer Baily of the castle. They fought their way to a staircase, cased the joint, and snuck all the way in to the Inner Bailey and the keep itself without raising the alarm. After all, they have a scarf that allows one of them to look like whatever can be imagined, so long as its humanoid, and it was pouring rain.

They kicked off the slaughter, and from there it was pretty much a blur for them as they plowed through horrors and enemies aplenty. In the end, they slaughtered the garrison of the keep, put their rulers to the sword and flame, and relinquished command of the Outer Bailey to the outlaws led by Sigrid.

She commanded that the bridge to the guard house and inner bailey be dropped, and that area isolated. They will defend the Outer Bailey until the Emporer sends them new rulers.

Honor satisfied, the party returned to Nuln.

It's Who You Know. February 27, 2004. Vorgeheim 30, 2523

2004-03-02T03:43:19Z

(This one makes use of materials in Death on the Reik, again heavily adapted.)

Elsbeth decided not to answer the summons of the Elector Countess, staying for a while longer in Ubersreik with von Hettrikite and his new son, Neiner. She was also pleased to see Elben Schrieber, born to Westeria and Aldarin (the Steward of Ubersreik.)

Kat's son Max was doing well, Agatha having some trouble adjusting. Kat studied with Agatha learning to read from the nanny, Karen. Kat's captain, Elsa Perch, exposed her to a merciless and unending stream of social functions. As a musketeer, she is obliged to pick up some polish or die trying.

Helmswift spent the time studying and training with the Sigmarites, planning on taking the vows to be sworn into the cult of Sigmar out of Nuln.

Liselle settled into Boroch on Aver, pleased to be home. She met with the Grand Countess Ludmilla von Alptraum of Averland and her charming daughter, Baronness Marlene. She discusses how the territory Liselle was granted is a forebearance to Nuln from Averheim because of the assistance with the ork war, but it could be contested at some point in the future. Just FYI. And the village of Boroch on Aver finally built rudimentary defenses, indicating the villagers would fight instead of flee if it came to it. That's encouraging.

Manfred not only caught up on the backlog of wizardly duties that awaited his return to the court, but also took responsibility for breaking in Rose Briana, another wizard, to stand in for him while he was about the Countess's work elsewhere.

After another interminable dinner with the Countess, one that included Graf Albreich Haupt-Anderssen of Stirland, Emmanuelle summoned Manfred and Kat. She told them that the Wittgensteins are protected by special Imperial charters. Being in the Reikland, they are under the direct supervision of the Emperor, who for various political reasons could not deal with them. Everyone suspects them of foul play, but no one can act.

So she invites them to consider taking a personal interest without telling her, and not involving any of them in a professional capacity. Though, for their own protection, they'd need a templar or witch hunter to verify their observations of Chaos should it come to a burning.

Delighted by the prospect of unsanctioned violence, Manfred gathered Helmswift and Liselle into the affair, and Liselle involved Estelle and the crew of her yacht. Manfred arranged for a sizeable river craft with a load of cotton, and they were ready to set sail disguised as lowly merchants.

They set sail, delighted to have a day on the river where they could enjoy themselves and engage in simple work to tire the body and refresh the mind. That night they landed in Grissenwald, where they avoided a fracas with dwarves and had a pleasant evening of getting totally plastered on the boat.

The next morning as they sailed downriver towards Wittendorf, they saw a couple dwarves trying to hitch a ride. As the dwarves were collared by their foreman, the party responded to an invitation to parlay and pulled up by the sandy spit around the corner.

Turns out the foreman dwarf, Isembeard, is supervising the rebuilding of a wizard tower for Magus Gohburis, a wizard in Altdorf. The ground floor foundation was intact, so they're building on it. But workers have been taking sick and vanishing, so they're very worried. The Company agrees to protect them overnight for a Crown each.

That night they are attacked by a ghoul. They slaughter it, finding a trapdoor down into the foundation. They kill all the undead lurking in the old wizard lair, and find five star-ended cylindars that fit into slots in a six pointed star outlined on the floor. The sixth rod is missing. A five pointed rod opens a secret door to the outside, and also the trapdoor.

They find a map that points to a meteor strike near the headwaters of the river Narn, and file that away for future action. Between the necromatic text and warpstone and evil staff, they know that the wizard behind this tower was an evil git.

They empty the library into the boat, then bid the dwarves farewell and continue on towards Wittendorf. They finally sail past the Castle Wittgenstein as dusk creeps up on them, then they moor the boat at the rotting dock of Wittendorf.

They are duly unimpressed by the village of the damned. Fending off beggars (and having a run-in with lice), the Company seeks information on how this town came to its rotting and decrepit state. They entered the Shooting Star Inn, discovering that the biggest house in town belongs to a doctor, and that the shadowy stone building on the edge of town is a temple to Sigmar.

Then Captain Kratz, a man in black field plate, leads his bullies into the tavern looking for someone to tell them where the outlaws are hiding. They get no satisfaction, so they drag an old man outside, hang him from a tree, and slit his wrists. Then they tromp off.

The Company snapped into action, binding the old man's wounds and magically healing him, getting him down from the tree. He escapes back into the tavern; nowhere is safe.

Impressed by their heroism, a young woman named Hilda offers to lead them to the outlaw camp. They swiftly agree, anger slowly churning to a head.

They get their weapons from the boat. Then they tramp through the diseased, filthy, hateful woods. They come to a normal area of woods and meet Sigrid, the beautiful woman that leads the outlaws. They satisfy her that they are not villians, and she tells them that if they will take the Outer Bailey and the Guard Tower, her bandits will back them up so they can charge into the Inner Bailey and the Keep...

Before they go, they determine that they should have a look around town a bit more first. They return through the woods, casually slaughtering a few beast men that have the poor judgement to jump into the path of their weapons.

The temple to Sigmar is infested with cannibalistic miscreants, but they are fended off and Helmswift vibes with the templar who defended this shrine once. He also has a vision, a moment of contact with Sigmar's will. He will answer the call that rolls out from the holy statue, holding the Wittgensteins accountable for the evil they have wrought here.

He discovered the crypt of the templar, and borrowed his sword to avenge his honor and once again protect the people of Wittendorf from the malignant evil of the castle and the corrupt nobles.

Then as they began to read the journals of the last priest to inhabit the temple, others of the Company mounted an expedition to go have a word with the Wittgenstein's pet doctor, who ruled the town and subjected it to their vile will.

Next week: Chaos burns. Stay tuned. A storm is building. Tomorrow night, Geheimnistag, will be the night of judgement.

Marionberg, the Forgotten One, an arc.

2004-03-02T03:18:21Z

This adventure was not a favorite with the Company. Kepling's knee gave out, and they waited two weeks before setting out. (This adventure was very loosely based on "Dying of the Light". VERY LOOSELY. Other unused material in the book may crop up later.)

Long story short. They got to Marionberg, found a man who claimed to be Vogelgesang. He predicted the coming of a disaster, in a book that had a chunk of it missing with a demonic tooth inside. He sent them to get an intact copy, over the wall into the section of town tainted by Abadamirth when he attacked. They get to the library of a collector as they go through the part of town that was built over an Elven burial complex. They escape with the book in time to return and protect Vogelgesang from some assassins.

They find out he's really Goffman, not Vogelgesang, but he's hiding Vogelgesang as they try to figure out Morrsleib's erratic orbit and when it will eclipse the sun. They must find the Egg, the vessel that the Forgotten One will inhabit to bring ruin down upon the city. They escape town, hiding out in some smuggler caves until Vogelgesang can cipher out the prophecy.

The halfling cook, Jemima, drugs them and makes off with the book. They send Helmswift to take Vogelgesang to Middenheim, and they take off after the halfling. Once in the city, they rescue an elven mage, Amarin, from a mob. He takes them to Telestia, the elven ghetto in Marionberg. Most of the elves have fled, but he's trying to find a solution. In Telestia's Tower of Stars they find a pipe that is vibing with the same energies as the Tooth.

Emboldened, they set out across the sea to the Westland. They find cultists, and set upon them. Chasing the survivors, who have the tooth, they finally catch up with them and shed much blood. The leader, bearing the Tooth, escaped.

As they pursued him they found a peculiar piper, who creeped the hell out of Liselle and set them on the right track. Finding the cult leader, they managed to slay him even though he turned himself into a portal to release a Bloodletter champion. They recovered the Tooth and continued on towards the Egg.

They fend off a bog octopus and discover that them tentacles is good eatin.

They find the wreckage of a savage fight and a suicide, a girl protecting herself from being taken alive by monsters in the mist. In the town, they are detained to help fight off the mist demons. They escape, and fight the fimir out on the road in the mist. They are victorious, and they continue on, following the emanations of the Tooth until they find a village.

This was the site of a meteor crash from Morrsleib seven years ago. They talk to the locals, including a paranoid druid who commits suicide after telling them of the Quiet Herald. He does not want to live in a world consumed by demons. Undeterred, they continue on towards the homestead where the meteor fell. They find dead librarians of the Order of Enlightened Readers, who sent assassins after Goffman too.

The Order snatched the Egg, a little girl. The party raced after them in a mad chase across the Westland, boarding their ship and heedlessly crashing across the water to Foyle's Rock, the Reader's base, hoping to stop the Readers from slaughtering the girl in a gristly fashion.

Meanwhile, Vogelgesang escaped Helmswift, who returned in time to help Marionburgers fight off a Fimir attack. Helmswift met Amarin, discovered the fate of his friends, and returned to the Tower of Stars. There he had a dream of Foyle's Rock in the grip of demons. He determined to set sail and do what he could, even if it meant his life.

So he reached Foyle's Rock as the cultists and demons assaulted the Readers, then the rest of the Company joined the fray. The Readers were beyond reason, and the cultists were clearly mad. Eustace lost his right hand in the battle, and Estelle was nearly killed.

Undaunted, the party slaughtered their way through the numerous obstacles and managed to do battle with the Readers, finally plunging the Tooth in to the Egg at the precise moment to free her of demonic taint. Defeated, the Forgotten One roared in fury, killing von Kepling and collapsing Foyle's Rock. The Company narrowly escaped, but no cultists or readers survived the cataclysmic destruction.

Now a (badly spoiled) 7 year old girl, Egg was saved by the party. She was renamed Agatha, Agatha van Louen as she was more or less adopted by the only member of the party with the patience to suffer her antics. Kat determined to take responsibility for her after they returned to Middenheim and turned her over to the Sigmarites, who wanted to kill her to make sure of ending her threat.

Manfred became a 3rd rank wizard upon his return. Elsbeth made sure von Kepling got a proper burial in the Middenheim Morrspark. Then she went to Ubersreik on an overdue errand to bless von Hettrikite's child as the rest of the Company returned to Nuln.

Upon returning to Boroch on Aver with Liselle, the Company discovered that beastmen infested the quarry, slowing the work of the dwarves. Liselle led the charge and rightously lay the smack down upon the transgressors. The surviving beastmen, if there were any, quietly left.

The only concern left nagging in the minds of the party was the fact that the Forgotten One and the Quiet Herald were both demon princes exiled by Khorne. They destroyed the Forgotten One. What was the fate of the Quiet Herald, winning a contest centuries in the struggle? Energies rested unquiet in the North.

Seek and Destroy. January 16, 2004. Pflugzeit 2, 2523

2004-01-22T13:04:55Z

Liselle took her money and left Middenheim, taking Krieger with her as she headed down the long and dangerous road to Boroch-on-Aver. She decided not to take a lot of protection, as the mage guild disguised the gold as sacks of wheat and she did not want to attract unwanted attention.

Kat was having a quiet drink in the Wolfrunner inn when she overheard a bit of grumbling about the Windhund Haulage company, but she was sufficiently bored to take absolutely no interest in it. Soon enough she returned to Manfred and guarded him against threat.

An Initiate of Sigmar delivered a message to Helmswift where he was staying with the Knights Panthar recommending him to an audience with the High Capitular of Middenheim, Werner Stolz. Helmswift joined him at the temple and they discussed weighty matters. Helmswift, newly aware of certain dangers, agreed to move his quarters to the Sigmar temple complex.

Elsbeth returned from a night out with Fanmaris to find that her roommate took a message from an ugly pug-like halfling woman. Elsbeth examines the abused parchment to find an alchemal formulae for something.

Elsbeth located Manfred, Kat, and Liselle in Manfred's quarters in the Friedberg district. Manfred could tell at once that the alchemal potion was an illegal concoction that a necromancer would need, made of dragon's blood and manbane and other ingredients, to restore vitality lost to the leeching darkness of necromatic energies.

Disturbed, Elsbeth took the parchment to the High Priest of Morr, Zimmerman. He examined it, and told his halfling to help her find the other halfling; Agostond (the roomate) remembered that the pug halfling's name was Karbunkle. Zimmerman's pet halfling housekeeper knew the name, and offered to lead Elsbeth to her shop in the morning. Since the shop was in the Old Quarter, she didn't feel safe going at night.

The next morning the city was in something of an uproar. Overnight, forces of evil had infiltrated the Graf's palace and kidnapped the Knight Eternal! As long as the Knight Eternal stands in Middenheim, it cannot fall. But with him disappearing... panic began to surge in the streets, moving abou in whispers and growing exponentially as fear of this portent moved the outwardly cynical but inwardly superstitious people of Middenheim.

Elsbeth kept her appointment with the halfling and went to Velma Karbunkle's alchemy shop, the Bunkleshop. The basement shop's door was open, the halfling tortured to death and pinned to the counter with knives through the eyes, and further investigation revealed a mutant halfing that was chained in the basement; an unlawful and traitorous secret Velma had kept hidden that may have led to her being blackmailed.

Elsbeth found the local Watch fortress, and as she went to report the crime Margaurite Letha von Schlock came out with a patrol. House to house searches for the Knight Eternal were ordered, and the Watch was going to have a fight on their hands in the Old Quarter, where it was sometimes difficult to get to all the houses as they no longer had entrances to anywhere but obscure alleys, or they had been built together, etc. etc. etc. and all of them were potentially packed with criminals.

The Watch looked over the sorry scene of slaughtered halfling, but there wasn't much they planned to do about it. They found a witness that said two men with red hoods left shortly after the screaming started; the Watch knows of a guild of legbreakers in the Old Quarter that answer to that description. Elsbeth left them and headed for the Temple of Sigmar, figuring that's where von Kepling would go.

Meanwhile Fanmaris hoped to redeem his reputation as a hunter after the disasterous boar hunt for the spring festival. He went to the Temple of Sigmar hoping to connect with witch hunters; he hunts animals, they hunt men. He thought they could combine forces. There, he met Helmswift, and they waited until Elsbeth showed up. Then they arranged an audience with the High Capitular to share what they learned so far and see what information was moving in higher circles.

von Kepling was already meeting with the High Capitular. von Kepling came to Middenheim tracking a minor wizard, Adain Frockman, who was associated with the Theological College. He was murdered two weeks ago, and some thugs took his notes after killing him. They wore red hoods, and von Kepling traced their gang to a pub in the Old Quarter, and from there tracked a few of them to the Windhund Haulage company. He delivered his findings to the High Capitular, who then granted audience to the Company. A raid seemed in order; von Kepling offered to stay on the edges and nail escapees rather than go in the front door.

Just in case they were wrong or there were traitors in the Watch, the company decided to go alone. They had faith in the righteousness of their cause AND their smackdown, so they walked up to the obliquely arranged front door of Windhund and asked audience with the head of the company. The three men that ambushed her inside should have remembered that witch hunters have iron will and are unnaturally canny, plus elves can see in the dimness where they waited. The encounter was not all they had hoped.

Attacked in low and cowardly ambush, the company outside the gates slew their attackers. They needed a bit of time to recover, then they met up with Elsbeth. One of the dead cultists had a birthmark that identified them as members of the Purple Hand, definitely cultists of the Changer of Ways.

In their investigation of a warehouse they discovered barrels and bolts of cloth that hid prisoners, who were senseless with odd leeches attached behind their ears keeping them quiescent. The warehouse was otherwise a front, and the false books could be deciphered; they seemed to be in a code of some sort.

The Company descended through a secret tunnel into the network beneath the complex, where doubtless most of the cultists had fled. Below, they fought modified undead; dark and foul experiments. They won through, surviving flaming formaldehyde and bone walls of the dead, as well as regenerating zombies. Then they cornered the evil necromancer himself, Salahd-Barr, and as he tried to raise a handful more zombies they bashed him brutally; Elsbeth hurled him to his doom down a deep shaft into water that was not entirely unoccupied.

That room held a lift, and Helmswift applied his strength to helping the Company make use of it. They discovered the other side of the door leading to the chamber they had previously discovered, and deeper in the shaft they found a room with the hidden drawer from the room above and the Knight Eternal.

As they returned to the light of day bearing the Knight Eternal and further evidence, they were heroes. The Watch had investigated the gunshots and found the carnage outside the gates, then burst into the abandoned complex and found the evidence the Company had revealed.

They returned to the temple of Sigmar and the High Capitular. They presented their evidence and it was well taken, while all those with leeches were swiftly carted off to the Temple of Shallya.

As the Sigmarites tried to make sense of the cult materials delivered to them, von Kepling addressed the party. He was tired. For months now, Chaos has been goading its minions to action; not necessarily brilliant coordinated action, just ACTION, like this poorly-thought-out attack on the Knight Eternal. He's been going nonstop and he's tired.

He's headed to Marionberg next, to try and find Kunz Vogelgesang. He suspects this scholar is tied up in the cultic net, but he's not sure if he's a center of evil or its witless pawn. He's getting closer to the heart of the contagion with every network smashed, but there's so much... and he's going to be out of the Empire. He asked the party to go with him, and they agreed.

To Marionberg!

On Guard. January 9, 2004. Jahrdrung 1, 2523

2004-01-10T15:01:31Z

After Liselle got her halflings squared away and the dwarven team of engineers started on rebuilding the stone of her chateau, she took Krieger with her and took her yacht, newly christened "Journey's End", to Nuln.

There she met up with the rest of the Company to attend Oakfield's funeral on a foggy day in Morrspark. Elsbeth conducted the ceremony.

Helmswift also joined them there; as it turned out, he fell against a secret door in the masonry that shut behind him. It dumped him down a chute into the drains of the city that were too narrow for him to employ his two handed weaponry. He fought squigs, goblins mounted on rats; he doesn't remember much of the rest, but there was a bright light, he knows that; Sigmar looked out for him, and two days later he woke up on the edge of the Moot. He hastened back to Nuln, arriving in time for Oakfield's funeral.

The Company was treated to dinner at the Paddlewheel, courtesy of Kimmalet. They decided to head to Nuln. Liselle had some money to pick up, Manfred was given leave by the Elector Countess because he needed to renew his license, and Elsbeth needed to renew her witch hunting license in Altdorf on the way. Helmswift thought it would be good to see old friends again in the city of his origin. Kat was assigned to be Manfred's bodyguard.

Elsbeth and Helmswift rented a barge with Elsbeth's promise to conduct a funeral for the owner of the barge at some future point. They wanted to take their horses along. The rest of the Company, including Estelle as Liselle's handmaiden and Gretel as Estelle's handmaiden and cook, took the Journey's End north to Altdorf.

The Company briefly overnighted in Altdorf, staying at the Burning Steak again. Elsbeth met up with Klaus von Kepling, who just broke up some cultist action in Altdorf and was tracking a possible connection through Middenheim towards Marionberg. She agreed to take him along. She also had the elven sword that she had recovered from the goblin warboss in the North Tower of Crag Mere identified. Velfirduanta, Blaze of Velvan. It can create light and speed the swiftness of the attack.

While Helmswift and Krieger and Elsbeth swapped stories with grizzled and scarred Templar and witch hunters, Manfred and Kat crossed town (through a scuffle with footpads) and solicited the use of a coach from the Wolf Runner line, which Kat used to work for.

Helmswift got to be in on a midnight vespers led by the Grand Theogenist himself; it was a religiously moving experience in a side chapel of the vast Temple to Sigmar.

The next day, bright and early, the Company set out. Manfred and Kat steered and guarded the coach, Helmswift and Elsbeth rode along with their warhorses, and everybody else piled inside; Krieger, Liselle, von Kepling, Estelle, and Gretel. Gretel, of course, didn't take up much room.

After a three week trip that passed fairly uneventfully, they rode into Warrenburg in the afternoon. There they got in on the end of a celebration; Hostledoff had led a contingent of Knights Panthar halfway down the road to Marionberg and cleared it of mutants and beastmen by luring them into traps and ambushing them. Hostledoff gave a short speech, and there was celebration abounding.

This was timed to be a kickoff of sorts for a massive party for the Mitterfruhl Spring Equinox celebration. The city bustled.

Elsbeth went to check on Zimmerman, the head cleric of the Morrspark of Middenheim. He was planning a funeral for Dom Hockland, who died in his sleep. As she was leaving, she met Fanmaris, who staked the location out when he heard she was coming to town. They had a very nice dinner and then she went home with him to the palace to see his collection of trophies. One thing led to another.

Meanwhile, Helmswift and Krieger and Estelle and Liselle and Gretel got settled in the Templar's Arms, where the Knights Panthar went to party after the celebration. Kat and Manfred stayed in Manfred's apartment in the Friedburg district.

The next day the Company was invited to join the Graf himself on a boar hunt. Fanmaris was uncharictaristically late, but the Company decided to go on the hunt.They were accompanied by the Baron Heinrich Toddbringer, a grumpy hulk of a man; the Graf himself, and a few ladies.

Fanmaris led them to the king's hunting preserve, and they wandered for hours with no sign of a boar. This was most tiresome, and Fanmaris was surprised when a boar burst from cover and charged. Heinrich's bold action slowed the boar and injured it, then Helmswift swatted it and Fanmaris peppered it with arrows. The Graf brought it down with a masterful shot with his gun. There was much rejoicing, except for the loss of Heinrich's horse. It had been crushed by the boar. Still, at least the hunt was finally over and they could get cleaned up in time to go to Dom Hockland's funeral.

Krieger and Estelle didn't go on the hunt. Krieger shadowed Estelle as she went to a house and looked at it, then put a pressed black rose on the Countess duMarch's grave in Morrspark.

After the hunt and before the funeral, Manfred visited his family and discovered that his sister, Letha, was now a Serjant in the Watch. She specialized in cracking down on prostitution and vice in Southgate, so the house had to be protected by the Watch. Manfred gave his little brother Michael his arquebus.

They reached the funeral, that Elsbeth helped officiate under Zimmerman's direction. During a break in the four hours of action, Eric Hockland (who was the sole inheritor of his father's estate) was met and greeted by the party generally but Helmswift specifically; Helmswift threatened him obliquely, and Eric didn't take kindly to the insinuation of future violence. The Company was politely invited to leave.

After the funeral, they spent the night in an inn Hockland had rented for the occasion, free of charge. The next morning they returned to Middenheim for the rest of the celebrations.

Liselle got enough jewelry to make the noble thing look good, and dropped it off with the mage guild, and her other possessions they held (including 5,000 crowns.) Krieger acted as a purchasing advisor to her, steering her towards good deals (and decent fashion sense.)

Helmswift got past the crowds and met with the High Priest of Sigmar for Middenheim, got to worship in his private chapel.

While Elsbeth was out riding in the woods with Fanmaris, Manfred purchased some rather fine jewelry for the Elector Countess. He was intercepted by Uru Moklish, a beard-chewing tunnel fighter. Moklish wanted to talk somewhere private.

By this point much of the Company had met up together in the Friedburg district, so they all headed to the Mage guild together. Liselle dropped off her possessions and Krieger was seduced by the power of Fitzroy, a somewhat charming wizard. Those that made it out of the wizard's guild in a timely fashion went to Manfred's apartment in the Friedburg distrect to hear the dwarf out; he seemed agitated.

Moklish approached his subject with some trepidation. It seems his alarm had to do with a plushly appointed and strongly locked room in the midst of unmapped tunnels inside the Fauschlaug, below the sewers but above the ground. Too richly outfitted for mere criminals, he worried that it represented a conspiracy to Chaos or political destabalization among the rich, so he didn't know who to trust with the information. Especially since knowledge of the tunnels wasn't widespread and shouldn't be.

The party agreed to check it out after the magical display of the Black Pool Illuminations. Lacking only Elsbeth, they trooped down into the darkness after the Dwarf later that night. After passing through a dizzying array of architecture and abandoned tunnels, they came to the thrice-locked and warded room.

Once they had forced entry, they were astonished by the wealth of the decor. They de-magicked a cabinet that began to shake, so they sent for Elsbeth. In the meantime, they found the symbol of a purple hand worked into the surface of a desk, backed by a subtle pattern of the Changer of Ways. Also, a somewhat amature summoning-binding circle in chalk and blood under the carpets, and a cell block with the remains of forgotten sacrifices or prisoners.

A table was used for sacrifices, a desk had removeable drawers that must contain the damning evidence they sought. On one wall was a modified Dwarf map from the original excavations that had been updated with activities, presumably of the cult of the Purple Hand.

Once Elsbeth arrived, they breached the cabinet after a brief chat with a demonic intellect within. They realized that the demon trapped in the cabinet was partly through a portal, so they could have been chatting up any number of things through the muzzy barrier seperating the Warp from reality.

A mutated creature of the Changer of Ways came at them with green flame spurting from its pink stumps, but they vanquished it thoroughly. Unsure of what to do next, they decided to bring a number of important people down to see this, so that they were guaranteed not to get only cultists and sign their own death warrants.

They managed to roust the Magus of the wizard's guild, the High Priest of Sigmar, and Ar-Ulric, plus Baron Heinrich to represent the Graf. The evidence was laid before them all, and the Company was sworn to secrecy as that august gathering decided what to do. Those who had touched the Chaotic monster were examined thoroughly for signs of corruption and declared clear of it. They were granted Purity Seals for their brush with Chaos.

The Company took a deep breath at their close call, but had no strong urge to immediately leave Middenheim. It's a nice place in the springtime, after all.

Halls of the Mountain King. January 2, 2004. Hexenstag, 2523

2004-01-09T13:51:07Z

Everyone who was anyone and some people that weren't attended the Elector Countess's fabulous ball on Hexenstag.

Elsbeth ran into von Kliestman, who was preparing to journey to Zhufbar to return an enchanted dwarven axe that had been recovered from the entourage of one of the necromancers serving Abadamirth.

The Elector Countess gave Manfred some confidential documents to be delivered to the Thane of the Gate in Zhufbar.

As Liselle is now one of his vassals, Duke Kelria gifted her with a fine (if nameless) yacht to travel back and forth to Nuln with. She was delighted with her gift. To break it in, she decided to sail to the Moot to gather some household staff, and she was then persuaded to continue on to Zhufbar to see if she could get some architects and so forth to rebuild her half-ruined estate.

Lord Mauritas sent Helmswift to Zhufbar to pray in the temple to Sigmar that the dwarves built to honor their human guests as a gesture to reinforce their ancient alliance.

There is some uncertainty to causality between these events, as there always is during one of the Elector Countess's parties...

As they prepared to set out, a busy Shanweck rode around the city dropping cryptic hints, so that one way or another two groups ended up heading out towards Zhufbar.

von Kliestman, Elsbeth, Helmswift and his borrowed squire Pymrose, and some Kislevite horsement in von Kliestman's service departed along the road towards Zhufbar.

Liselle, Manfred, Oakfield, an intenerant entertainer named Krieger, and a crew given to Liselle by the Duke set out up the river.

The group on horseback was again attacked by the mysterious assassins that plagued them in the summertime. The group that traveled by river had no more peril to deal with than a halfling feast.

Liselle arranged for the services of the Mika family.

They eventually reached Zhufbar, with similar timing. They met with the Thane of the Gate, after which they were shown to human-sized barracks. Helmswift went in to the chapel of Sigmar, an alien tribute to the most human of gods. A book and an eye-gem were missing from that silent place, but he wasn't sure whether they were supposed to be or not until the dwarven delegation came to talk to them in their quarters.

While their numbers were down and the greenskin dander was up, during the Abadamirth debacle where a dwarven army marched to assist the humans, night goblin spies slipped into Zhufbar and stole one of the Eyes of Sigmar and the Book of Stone.

Crag Mere is virtually abandoned after the undead were defeated, and this is the time to explore it. Unfortunately, dwarven forces are tied up resisting the pressure from the north as goblins pour back south to re-fill Crag Mere. If they are willing to look for those relics, they might be in the North Tower, under the care of the Gashed Eye clan.

The Company agrees to the task, and they took Palnod Urup with them. He was a professional dwarven runner, familiar with the ways and means of secret dwarven travel under the mountains.

The Company set out, spending days of ceaseless travel beneath the senseless stone, bereft of sun or tells of the passage of time. Eventually they reached the outer corridors of the suburbs of Crag Mere, and they cautiously made their way towards the North Tower.

To do so more quickly, they crossed the open courtyard, again under the sky at dusk. As they crossed a narrow walkway between a pool and the sheer fortification wall, they were attacked by a vile tentacled thing that they managed to defeat mostly through the prowess of their wizard.

Crag Mere was mostly cleared, but it was not empty. The calls of goblins raucously echoed and screamed from the hollow halls, and as they gathered their forces the Company backed into a small defaced shrine to rest. Helmswift went to investigate a noise, and he vanished without a trace.

The Company knew they could not waste time searching for him; in this endless labyrinth of goblin-infested stone, they could search for weeks and not find a trace. Gritting their teeth and hoping Sigmar would look after his own, they continued.

Krieger, the entertainer, had been searching their resting place. He found a secret passageway that runes seemed to imply led to a cache of confiscated elven weapons that dated back to the Beard War. The Company swiftly slipped away down the ladder and closed the passage behind them, leaving a mystery for the goblins.

Below, there was quite a bit of flooding, but the paths were safe enough and as yet undiscovered by the goblins. Urup found a gem-set wall map that was directions for runners for how to move about the inner secret passageways, and the Company at once set out for the base of the North Tower.

Blind things scuttled in the dark, they skirted tomb areas, and it was generally a nerve wracking day in the darkness. They did not find the Library of Anaan, for they did not feel they could spare the time. Liselle began to wonder if the sun had gone out in the world above. Then they finally reached the tower.

They slaughtered goblins and wolves, the wizard's flame not at all unhelpful to that end. Then they left von Kliestman and his Kislevites to guard the door, so they would have a way out, and they drive up the stairs into the tower, fighting cornered goblins.

The fighting was fierce and desperate, and they were nearly driven back. Once Oakfield fell, his eye torn out; they managed to save him in time. At least, until they faced the goblin warboss at the top of the tower.

Then, as battle raged, Oakfield fell once more beneath the goblin blades. Manfred himself suffered a vicious dislocation of his wrist. The entire party was battered and bleeding as they fought valiantly through the goblins and the guard to reach and slay the goblin warboss.

They recovered the Eye and the Book, and then staggered out of the tower dragging Oakfield's body and wondering about the fate of Helmswift. Most of the Kislevites had perished in the battle as well.

The squire, Pymrose, had brought the Company's horses. They mounted up and journeyed back to Zhufbar.

The Thane of the Gate was delighted to see them again; as delighted as dwarves get, anyway. He commissoned a team of dwarves to go and get Liselle's quarry started again, to rebuild her house.

The Company again split, with von Kliestman and the Kislevite heading north along the World's Edge mountains. Elsbeth rode back to Nuln, and the rest of the Company took the yacht downstream, moving much faster. Krieger decided to join Liselle's entourage for a while.

Their midwinter jaunt was over; time to rest up for what spring might bring...

Just Desserts. December 26, 2003. Brauzeit 31, 2522

2004-01-02T20:10:48Z

Helmswift rode in to Nuln as darkness fell, bringing not only his warhorse but Elsbeth's warhorse from King Rion's kingdom in the land of the Border Princes. He reported to the Elector Countess with news of how the princes banded together and managed to fend off the advance guard of the undead army. He slew the manticore the necromancer that led the advance guard was mounted on.

After making his report, he was made a Templar of the Order of the Fiery Heart, dedicated to Sigmar and set against all greenskins. He is told by Lord Mauritas, Head of the Chapter in Nuln, that he must ride to Pfeildorf in Wissenland. Once there, he is to find the Chasm of Uradel and clear the way to retrieve the swords of the Templar that have been taken by the guardian. This must be done before the first day of winter.

The rest of the group was ready to head out with Kimmalet, assistant to the Elector Countess, who planned to accompany Liselle to her new lands. They waited for Helmswift to be ready, then they departed.

At the request of the Elector Countess, Liselle took Chester Oakfield along. He was an inventor with the Engineering Collage, and he needed a country retreat when the urban pressures mounted. Liselle is to provide that for him.

As they ride towards Boroch-on-Aver, Liselle's new holdings, they are intercepted halfway there by Baron Nevill Willis's troops and taken to Archent, his fortress that overlooks the Aver river. He is not thrilled about his new vassal, assigned to him by the Countess. But he'll do his duty. The Baron Willis had only one leg. He answered to Duke Kelria, so through the net of homage, so too does Liselle now.

After overnighting, and after Kimmalet showed Willis the documentation titling Liselle, Kimmalet rode back to Nuln. Kat was assigned to protect Manfred, the Court Wizard of Nuln, so she rode on instead of returning with Kimmalet.

Uthrum, one of the Baron's men, was assigned to guide them for the rest of the trip. Uthrum is nervous because the place may be haunted, is certainly abandoned by Sigmar fearing folk, and probably stuffed with bandits.

As they approached Boroch, a teenage woodsman accosted them and led them on a secret path to a cave above the quarry. From there, they met Wilhelm Schmidt, an ancient groundskeeper, and his son Anders (who led them in.)He sheltered them, explaining that Black Henk did indeed lead a band of rogues that took over the abandoned house.

He also briefly told them of the Stormchaser line and their mysterious "end". After that story, the intrepid group ascended through the woods up to the house and began slaughtering startled bandits, culminating in breaking the defenses Black Henk had around himself. The villian himself escaped.

Prisoners were found and released and sent back to Nuln. The West tower was found to be hopeful for restoration to winter in, and the East tower selected for Oakfield's laboratory.

Liselle set in motion plans to get the place back on its feet. She also discovered the odd Norscan great hall in the house. Spurred on by the impatient Templar, they determined to return to Nuln at least briefly.

Upon finding their way to Nuln, they met with Eustace and Estelle. Eustace was offered directorship of one of the libraries in the University of Nuln, and he accepted the post graciously. Fanmaris brought them, but he headed straight on to Middenheim, hoping to arrive in advance of the first day of winter.

The Company continued on to Ubersreik, except for Craddoc and Helmswift. That pair found the Chasm of Uradel. Helmswift defeated the Guardian and reclaimed the Swords of the Templar.

In the meantime, Kat got her child and the company spent a bit of quality time with the Baron von Hettrikite and his family as Eric Hockland returned to Middenheim to report to the Pistoleers.

As a bit of winding down, the group rode out to meet a group of bandits that were putting their own toll on the Imperial Highway. After settling their hides, they returned to Ubersreik. Elsbeth stayed, offering her spiritual advice to the von Hettrikites and generally resting after a long span of traveling.

Manfred and Helmswift and Kat returned to Nuln, expecting to have a useful winter. Manfred planned to entertain the Elector Countess and discharge his responsibilities as court wizard, while Helmswift trained with the best warriors in the Empire and studied the Lore of Sigmar. Kat arranged for her household to be set up and settled in to get aquainted with her child.

Liselle traveled back to her lands, determined to come up with a plan for turning a virtually abandoned strip of war-torn land into a prosperous territory.

Bottled Up. December 19, 2003. Brauzeit 16, 2522

2003-12-20T14:41:47Z

The griffons circled down towards the Imperial camp. The company noticed at once this was no usual army. Nearly ten thousand had been pulled together in a swift Imperial muster. The Emporer himself, accompanied by the Reiksmarshall, was there. Along with several elector counts, including the Elector Countess Emmanuell and her Duke Kelria, and the Elector Count of Middenland, and of Stirland. An august gathering.

The Emperor's griffon mount Deathclaw rose to meet them, guiding them down to land in the paddock surrounded by twitchy handgunners. There they were met by the Reiksmarshall Helborg and taken to where they could talk.

The undead army was up in Blackfire Pass, in pursuit of the company. The Imperial goal must be to prevent the army from re-entering the Empire. The company was split out; Manfred was sent to join the Imperial College contingent of wizards, Elsbeth to the Ubersreik contingent, Liselle to the quarentine area where nearly a thousand were already laid low by the Red Pox, and Katrina found her way to the artillery train's horse contingent. Craddoc mounted up with the Imperial Altdorf Cavalry of the Reiksguard, as there was a shortage of cavalry for him to join in the Ubersreik company.

They also met Shanwek, the Gray Wizard. His machinations were not yet complete.

After some of the drudgery that is life in a military camp, the group settled in for dusk. With the dusk came an unnatural fog, rolling out of the mountain pass and laden with death magics. While the wizards grouped to dispel its power and to blow it away with mystic winds, the artillerists cursed because their cannons were useless if their visibility was 15-20 feet.

In that fog the undead attacked, hurling countless ranks of skeletons against the Imperial defenses. The army fought valiently, but the eastern flank buckled under an assault from much more potent undead and necromancers, blasting through the Carroburg line. The army kept up the fighting with disposable troops as the bulk of the army slipped away through the hole in the eastern flank, evading the Imperial blockade. Harpies attacked the artillery train, and the cannon crews were hard put to survive the assault. The Emperor himself engaged Abadamirth; Karl Franz on his griffon Deathclaw, Abadamirth on the rotting carcass of a dead dragon.

The musketeers included Kat now, for she had her commission, and after a bit of friendly fire opened the ranks she and her companions poured in and drove the dead back. She slew a wizard that was controlling a mass of skeletons, and they took the fight to the enemy. Elsbeth also pushed through to slay one of the necromancers, and Liselle backed her up while defending the Ubersreik standard. Manfred fought madly to protect the artillery train and its people.

The Emperor was unwilling to abandon the massive plague camp that was a part of their force, so he sent most of the Nuln army back with them, keeping only the artillery train and Duke Kelria's forces. Then he took most of the rest of the army and marched east, following the undead hoarde. There was some speculation that Abadamirth was headed for Crag Mere, but that made no sense, since it was infested with orks and he'd have to slay all of them THEN be ready to endure an Imperial seige.

The witch hunters scouted ahead along with Kat, who had accepted a commission in the Elector Countess Emmanuel's Musketeer corps. She followed the witch hunters to act as scout and messenger, the purpose for which she had been left. A number of musketeers and witch hunters stayed with the army, meeting to share information then splitting back out to support the other units as runners or spiritual guides.

Meanwhile Shanweck and Manfred rode swiftly, aided by magic, to Zhufbar to tell the dwarves what was going on. Then to the Moot. Then back to the witch hunters.

The orks had been roaring in preperation, not battle... Shanweck surmised that Abadamirth would offer them a chance to meet the Emperor himself in combat on the field of battle. Sure enough, the ork hoarde marched out of Crag Mere, leaving it mostly to Abadamirth and his undead.

It was mid-day when the Imperial army faced off with the assembled might of Crag Mere's greenskin forces. This time Commander Gwyith, who led the Ubersreik forces, mounted his command. He had Liselle and Manfred adn Elsbeth with him. Kat and Craddoc rode with the Imperial cavalry.

After artillery softened the enemy up and destroyed a seige tower the enemy was using, battle was joined. As the Ubersreik company struggled through fanatics and goblins and the black orks behind them (Elsbeth hewed down the black ork leader and Manfred plied them with fireballs until even their iron will could not hold) the Emperor flew to the ork warboss and fought him.

The cavalry plunged recklessly through the ranks to reach their leader as the cannons boomed unceasing and the handgunners and halberdiers fought with iron tenacity. The orks and Imperial wizards struggled for control of the magic that flowed around the battlefield. The Winds of Chaos were split into spells, and the peculiar energy of the Waargh countered it as the orkish numbers went up against the discipline of Imperial wizardry.

In the end, the ork leader was slain and the cavalry burst the defenses, the cannon made a mess of the enemy, and the orks were routed.

By the next morning, they received word that a warboss had already emerged from the ranks, gathered a mass of the hoarde that escaped, and marched north into Tabacland.

Shanweck proposed a small group aided by dwarven rangers slip into Crag Mere and try to assassinate Abadamirth while a show of force was made in front of the walls to distract the army of the canny necromancer. The Emperor gave him leave to do as he felt best, and sent Duke Kelria's army and a contingent from Altdorf led by the Reiksmarshal to make it so. Meanwhile he took the rest of the force and pursued the orks, vowing to bring them to heel and this time slaughter until they had all fallen to his blade instead of relaxing when they were simply broken.

Shanweck gathered the Company once more, and they rode north of Crag Mere, where they headed up into the foothills and met with the dwarven rangers. After countless hours moving in the secret dwarven roads in the mountains, they finally reached the borders of Crag Mere.

Where they should have had to fight their way in, they found that most of the greenskins had marched out to make war on the Imperial army. Therefore they found their paths led to the secret tunnels above the throne room, where they suspected Abadamirth would lair.

Drifting down lightly as a result of Shanweck's magic, they finally landed in the dim shadow-wreathed throne room. Abadamirth was meditating alone, and when they came he roused and flung wraiths at them. They charged him, reckless and desperate. As Shanweck fended off his magics and the Company dispersed his shadows with mystic violence, Liselle got close enough and thrust her mystic blade into him.

He was startled as it scattered the undead energies he had so jealously hoarded, the energies that allowed him to move and fight in the world of the living. Furious, he burned her with his searing grip even as he was scattered by the Winds of Magic. As Abadamirth fell, so too did his army.

The Company and the dwarves cautiously exited Crag Mere to meet the Reiksmarshall Helborg in the courtyard, inside the walls. Between Abadamirth, the Imperial army, the Company, and the Dwarves, Crag Mere was virtually defenseless for the first time in decades. The battle ended on Brauzeit 19, 2522. So passed Abadamirth.

The rest of it passed in something of a blur. Liselle fell ill with the Red Pox, but wizards and doctors tended her and she came through it fine, without a scar. They traveled to Altdorf, where Manfred was granted the Jade Auctoris to honor him as a battle wizard. Elsbeth was granted the Iron Cross for valor in battle, and the Baron von Hettrikite's lands were expanded.

Then they traveled up the river to Nuln, where the Elector Countess granted Katrina formal commission in the musketeers and a home near the barracks that was hers for as long as she kept the Countess's favor.

Elsbeth was honored by an expansion and refurbishment of the Morrspark in Nuln, which was already one of the finest (if not the finest) in the Empire.

Liselle was granted the title of Lady, and given lands to the east of Nuln. As for Manfred, he was offered the position of court wizard to the Elector Countess. He accepted the post graciously.

So ended the tale of Abadamirth's destruction; it began on Nachgeheim 24 and ended on Brauzeit 19. Took almost two months. If you ask the Company, they might tell you it's not the years; it's the mileage...

Room to Breathe. December 12, 2003. Brauzeit 10, 2522

2003-12-14T02:19:49Z

The land lubbing Imperials did not do so well on the river. Eustace and Helmswift broke their boat and had to be rescued; having lost most of their supplies and one of the boats, the company grimly continued. After two days on the river, they reached a dam made of materials that had been brought some distance by something strong.

They spotted two river trolls waiting, guarding the dam and using it to disrupt traffic so they could pounce. Wisely avoiding a confrontation, the party traveled several miles to a ruined tower.

This area of the Border Princes wasteland was a flood plain where raging rivers in the springtime wandered their own random courses, jumping their beds swiftly and easily. Because of that, the few fortifications that were possible were rapidly destroyed by orks and goblins who used them as rallying points for their otherwise chaotic efforts.

The company found the ruin of one such tower and camped there even though it stank of goblin and wolf. Sure enough, near dawn six riders returned on their wolves and were summarily hacked down in swift and relatively stealthy ambush.

The party also hacked down a few night goblins as they approached the formidable walls of Barak Varr, the only dwarven fortress built as a seaport, and also the only dwarven fortress not built into the mountains. Its sheer size staggered the company's imagination as they approached a fortress over the Skull river that served as a gateway into the main fortress itself.

They wandered in the shadow of the fortress, slightly bewildered now that they had reached the objective they had set out for from Middenheim. A secret door opened on the outer dock and dwarven rangers hustled them into the stone.

A brief confrontation led Manfred to produce the papers they had been given by the Middenheim guild explaining their credentials and purpose. The dwarves led them through extensive defenses, deep into the fortress to the Thane's throne room. There, Manfred sang an account of their journey, noting the points the dwarves would find of interest. After history, they met the Magus of the Middenheim safehouse, Schen Ellither.

The dwarves ruled the fortress, and the fortress's tower belonged to the mages. Dwarves and elves and humans all worked together in this rather dangerous place to survive.

At the top of the stairs, Ellither accepted Eustace and Estelle into the guild's protection. Then he tested Manfred, who passed and became a second ranked wizard.

The party took a day of much-needed rest, then Ellither told them that the safehouse was in a percarious situation and they had just been discussing rash and unadviseable actions to remedy it. Perhaps the party can help. Eyes rolled all around the party.

Three sluiceways drain three rivers into the headwaters of the Black Gulf. The sluiceways and their exchanges were the lifelines of the city, and remained the lifelines of its ruin. Skaven controlled one. Skaven and goblins fought over the one that emerged from beneath this fortress, known as the Tower sluiceway.

The third was the Anvil sluiceway, which was infested with a nest of trolls. The skaven didn't need to disturb the trolls; they had one sluiceway already and they preferred rousting the goblins to get the second, after which they could pick off opposition at their liesure.

The safehouse required a certain balance between the skaven and goblins and whatever else, so they were busy enough with each other not to bother with this trifling gate fortress. Therefore, if the company could slay the troll nest, then the goblins could snatch up that sluiceway. One for the goblins, one for the skaven, and one for them to fight over and therefore keep their numbers down. An elegant solution.

The party agreed to go troll hunting. Lens, a wizard, guided them through the goblin lines with minimal bloodshed. Then they spent hours picking their way through the forgehall district, ending at the complex ventilation and drainage system above the Anvil sluiceway.

They descended into darkness and made mighty war upon the trolls, slaying four and losing none of their number in the process. Considering that a sufficient gesture, and not particularly willing to go looking for more trolls, the party hustled back as fast as they could; they raced dusk, when both skaven and goblins would be out in force.

Stinking with vomit and slime and acid and other unmentionables, the company was MOST pleased to clean up and have their weapons and armor cleaned and repaired after the foul battle. Then Murtan Sleft, Keeper of the Armory, gifted them.

Manfred got the Staff of Ellither (previously, when he passed his test.) Kat got a cloak of invisibility, the Caul of Zethik. Elsbeth got a new Chaos Cross made of black steel thorns, called the Cross of Thorns. Liselle got a black shortsword that was oblivion to demons and the dead, the Fang of Khuria. Helmswift got a mighty dwarven warhammer called Sigmar's Glance.

Fanmaris got an Aetherstone; when used to whet edges and points they can affect incorporeal or magic only critters. Craddoc got a greatsword, Scyther, that slays men as though they were stalks of wheat. Eustace got spectacles that read languages, and Estelle got a matched rapier and parrying dagger.

Thus rewarded, the party rested yet again after hearing that the necromancer Abadamirth was marching his army into the Blackfire pass, followed by the Imperial muster to keep him out. Ellither summoned griffon mounts for them to return to the Imperial command to tell of what happened and to do what they could to stop Abadamirth.

Helmswift and Fanmaris's griffon swooped down towards the Border Princes, for their services were needed there more. The rest of the company, minus Eustace and Estelle, flew over the pass and through their sentry nets to approach the Empire once more, and the greatest war of their lives.

Exiting the Empire. December 5, 2003. Erntezeit 32, 2522

2003-12-14T01:56:47Z

The Red Pox was stopped in the Moot, and while the halflings were sad to see the company go, they sensed the purpose that hung around the grim and determined group.

The company rode out of the Moot, headed south to the Blackfire Pass. Apparently all of Abadamirth's scouts had been wiped out or were not strong enough to attack the group, for they met with little resistance as they pushed for their objective at the base of the mountains.

The party was somewhat in awe as they climbed ever closer to the roof of the world, up into the three day journey of the pass across the mountains, the famed Blackfire Pass that was the genesis of most ork invasions.

They saw blasted fortifications, scars of ancient magic contests, swelling piles of bones picked clean by the years. All in all, it was very scenic for a three day journey.

As they descended on the far side of the mountains, the Border Princes' territories sprawled before them. They missed the deep and hoary forests of the Empire as they regarded the scrub and stunted trees that dotted the open space of the rocky plains below.

As they neared the end of the pass they were intercepted by a pack of riders who spoke with Helmswift long enough to assure him they knew nothing of the company's quest and did not pose an immediate threat.

The horsemen escorted the party back to the fortress of King Rion, who ruled as far as his horsemen could enforce his will. King Rion welcomed them in the calculating way of nobles in a bad spot. After sharing with them the best hospitality his nervous seat of power had to offer, he let them spend the night in locked rooms.

The next day he outlined their situation to Helmswift. King Rion was reluctant to allow the group to leave, because a warboss shaman named Gutmash was preparing to ride against his kingdom and smash it. Knights and wizards could shift the tide of the battle. Helmswift grudgingly agreed to stay and help, as long as it would not take a long time.

The party learned through various means of the hard life here in the borderlands. They were not entirely unsympathetic to the plight of those trying to be strong in a land where strength was the only law.

The orks came, riding against the fortifications of Rion Castle. The small border army fought valiantly, and as the horsemen charged the warboar cavalry, magic and missile fire broke up the groups charging the walls.

By the time it came down to single combat between Helmswift and Gutmash the outcome was by and large decided. Gutmash was unceremoniously hacked down by Helmswift's righteous axe.

King Rion's gratitude was a fairly intangible thing, as they had little riches in that princedom. However, he agreed to stable Helmswift's war steed and provide the company with boats to sail down the Skull River, speeding their travel south and minimizing the danger from attacking tribes on either shore.

With that, the party set sail on the river, speeding ever closer to their final destination.

The Three Towers. November 28, 2003. Erntezeit 23.

2003-12-14T01:43:23Z

They were camped outside the Moot. A concerned delegation came to them; red pox had broken out in the Moot and perhaps a physician could treat it and assist with the quarentine. Helmswift agreed to stay and assist, and Fenschwig needed to be headed back north anyway. Helmswift and LIselle headed down to the Moot to handle the plague.

Eric was standing second watch alone. In the dead of the night, he woke Estelle and played upon her trust to get her to quietly leave with him, mount horses, ride off until she was nervous enough for him to have to take stronger measures. He stole her from the camp, from the company.

Kat, who had the third watch, noted that Eric and two horses were missing, but she didn't think much of it. She wasn't woken for her watch, but her internal clock roused her and she stood watch until dawn.

In the morning, Eustace notes that Estelle is missing. He heads down into the Moot with Craddoc, in search of Estelle (and Craddoc in search of breakfast.) After they left, Kat mentioned somewhat tentatively to Manfred the matter of the missing traveler and horses. Manfred immediately assumed the worst and took Fanmaris to follow the muffled hooves of the horses Eric stole, every sign pointing towards disaster.

Meanwhile, a traveling musician named Krieger discovered Eustace and Craddoc in the Moot. Krieger had been entertaining the halflings with his stories and songs, and he made himself a bit of a name as one who finds things out among the halflings. So they asked him about Estelle. He didn't know, but he was more than willing to go with them, though he didn't mention why. They decided the extra weapon and pair of eyes woudld be useful. They had to leave at once.

Fanmaris, huntsman for the Graf of Middenheim, was not fooled by Eric's skillful dodges putting trackers off his trail. The company assembled, except for Liselle and Helmswift, and rode after Eric. Word was left that Helmswift and Liselle should meet the party as soon as possible at the obilisk at the foot of the Blackfire Pass.

Three days of swift tracking led them ever closer to a dark place of legend, a place with three names. Some of the locals in the Moot called the place the Three Towers. Also known as Crag Mere, the ruin's official name was Karak Varn, a dwarfhold that fell to goblins after the Great Catastrophe. Once again, everyone was glad Eustace was along, though they curtailed his somewhat voluminous explanation.

They found tracks indicating Eric and Estelle had been ambushed; the shape of the feet and condition of the hand-stitched boots indicated Night Goblins. Now seriously worried, the party pushed ahead until they ran into their own ambush.

After slaughtering the goblins that dared attack them, they discovered that the goblins had crossbow quarrels and elf coin on their persons as trophies. This puzzling bit of information did not raise their spirits.

Having taken a prisoner, they interrogated the goblin to find that Shoobchik, a pathetic sort of warboss, was "guarded by trolls" and hiding over the next ridge in a cave. They proceeded to boldly assault the goblin cave, still a couple miles from the actual gates of Karak Varn. They were totally unsurprised to find that the goblin had been bluffing; Shoobchik wore a Dark Elf helmet.

The frightened goblin told them that the dark elves had come to trade for slaves, a small party. They had traded Eric and Estelle and a few others to the dark elves in exchange for quarrels and trinkets at the prices the dark elves set. They headed north and east, along the World's Edge mountains.

A dozen dark elves, led by Shootfist (in the goblin tongue). The dark elves also traded for slaves at Karak Varn, so they were in possession of nearly thirty. The dark elf leader rode a Cold One. Having no further use for the goblin, the party slaughtered it and moved on, sick to know that Estelle was only worth a handful of coin and a quarrel or two.

After a harrowing chase up into the mountains, ignoring the dead that litter the path because they could not keep up, the company ran across the dark elves in the mist. Dwarven rangers ran across them at the same time, and it became a bit of a melee. The rangers gave the company the benefit of the doubt and did not attack at once.

In the battle, the Cold One was slain along with most of the slaves and dark elves. Only a few from the command broke free and headed up into the mountains further. The Dwarves grudgingly give the party leave to pursue them, after hearing a recessitation of their deeds and honor.

Krieger stayed behind with a human nobleman slave who had escaped in the confusion, comforting him and preparing him for the trip back to human lands.

Altitude and cold took their toll as the party grimly chased the dark elf slavers, knowing that at any moment Estelle's strength could give out and she would be killed. They finally outpaced the slavers, catching up in the misty mountains.

The dark elf leader challenged Elsbeth to single combat, and after a breathless duel, the slaver was victorious. Elsbeth dropped, saved from death as the killing stroke was turned aside by her Chaos Cross, splitting it but mitigating her grevious injury enough to save her life.

The slaver then ran through a hail of projectiles and felled Fanmaris before being hewn down by Manfred's icy blade. As Fanmaris and Elsbeth were treated, the remaining slavers were intimidated into leaving their surviving prisoners alive. The company did not pursue the dark elves further into the mist.

As they caught their breath, they discovered a crow that approached and turned into a wizard. Cryona was his name, he volunteered, and he had approached Eric. They thwarted him this time, and he asks for the girl and is, of course, rebuffed. He warns them that he will get them, and then escaped. They did not choose to turn it into a direct battle at that point.

The Dwarves agreed grudgingly to let them shelter for a few days in the outskirts of Zhufbar, the dwarven fortress they were protecting. A ranger was sent to the Moot to ask Helmswift and Liselle to wait there, as the party would head down the Stir river from Zhufbar in sturdy dwarven boats after taking a day or two to catch their breath.

As for Eric, they discovered that Eric felt they would all die if they passed through the Blackfire Pass into the lands of the Border Princes and beyond. When he was approached on his walk by Cryona, he was assured that if Cryona was given Estelle he could conduct a ritual that would kill her but hurt the necromancer, making the suicide run over the mountains unnecessary. It seemed like a good idea to him, though he knew the company would never agree to it. So he did what he felt he had to do to save his own life and maybe theirs.

Repulsed by his interpretation of honor and his love of his own life above all else, the party acknowledged that he bore them no malice even if he seemed stupid. So they let him go, warning him that they did not wish to see him again. He didn't make an issue of it, he just struck out on his own. Kat wrote him off completely; he escaped with his life but little else.

Shell Game. November 21, 2003. Erntezeit 11, 2522

2003-12-12T02:36:32Z

After a brief and heated discussion in the Dragon's Claw tavern in Herzgig, the party decided to split. Manfred and Liselle would head into Talabheim, up the narrow channel of rock called the Wizard's Way that led up to the basin of Talabheim surrounded by natural rock walls augmented by fortresslike defensive structures.

Helmswift, Kat, Eric, Eustace, and Estelle would wait at the Dragon's Claw across the river in Herzgig. Meanwhile, they all waited for Craddoc, Fanmaris, and Elsbeth to catch up. The trailing party was not expected to have much trouble as the beastman threat had been crushed for the moment.

Manfred and Liselle passed over the Talabec river, through the Outer Gate, up the Wizard's Way, through the Inner Gate, and into the sunny fields and towns of Talabheim.

Talabheim was once the capital of Tabacland, but it won the independent status of city state. So Tabacland's new capital is Castle Schloss outside Herzgig. Both Tabacland and Talabheim have Elector Count rulers, and they are tangled closer than most on the family tree, so they are continually vying for honor. This was only understood in a vague way by the party at the beginning, though it slid into tighter focus before the adventure was over.

Manfred and Liselle found the tower that had the address that Shanweck had given them. Entering the tower, they met a knockout wizard's apprentice named Rose Briana. They asked for Avery, the name on the paper, and she was amused.

Apparently Avery is the cat that belongs to Garniwold Thendris, Wizard of the Bright Order, of the 4th Rank, court wizard for Grand Duchess Elize Krieglitz-Untermensch of Talabheim. The name was enough to get them in without announcing much about themselves, and when Briana found out they were from Middenheim she fetched Thendris at once.

He grumped and was conflicted; the Grand Duchess was calling for all those from Middenheim to be brought before her for arrest, but he felt the charges were thin at best and spurious at worst. By directing them to Thendris personally, Shanweck saved them the capture they would otherwise have endured.

An Imperial spy from the court in Altdorf named Gestlan came to the Krieglitz rulers of Tabacland and Talabheim and set it to them as something of a contest to see which of them could produce the Middenheimers, to curry favor with the Emporer himself.

Of course, Helmswift's merry band in Herzgig didn't know that. So when Captain Logrant, a Greatsword representing Grand Duke Gustav von Krieglitz himself, gave them an invitation to Castle Schloss there was no graceful way out of it. Especially considering the ample and heavily armed military company Logrant brought with him.

Upon seeing those in the company that were brought before him, the Grand Duke von Krieglitz was delighted and he ordered them locked up and the preperations for a feast to be made, in honor of his capture of the wanted company.

Up into the most secure tower in the Drakwald forest the captives went, through layer after layer of security to a very safe prison. Helmswift, Kat, Eric, Eustace, and Estelle had time to think about what they were going to do, especially after the Imperial spy Gestlan tried to pry the information out of them quickly but without torture.

Naturally, Thendris heard of the Grand Duke's celebration at Castle Schloss. He hatched a plot with Manfred and Liselle to rescue the company and escape; a plan that only he could assist them with. He did spare the energy to curse at Shanweck for involving him.

Before they set their plan in motion, Thendris gave them traveling papers so they officially represented him as purchasers. With those papers, they could brush off road wardens and outriders and others who might make their lives difficult, at least as far as Wurtbad.

While Fenschwig, who was still in cahoots with Shanweck, intercepted Elsbeth and Fanmaris and Craddoc, Manfred and Liselle snapped into action.

Manfred had Liselle's scarf of disguise. They slipped into the party, and Manfred got a sample of the Grand Duke's speech and manner and appearance as the Grand Duke practiced his new dances so he would be up to date in the Altdorf court.

Then, giggly Bretonnian mistress on his arm, Manfred masqueraded as the Grand Duke until he reached the top of the prison tower. Putting a furious last spin on the deception, the pair managed to dispatch the guards nonlethally just long enough to get the imprisoned company out and gathered.

That's when Thendris's plan kicked in. Manfred cast open the stone that was one end of a warp tunnel that led to Thendris's conjuring room. As Thendris bent his will to fold time and space for them, the company escaped into his house, vanishing from the tower in a blast of sorcery and enjoying the ride down the frail thread of sanity that connected the two points through the warp.

Reunited, the group rode out quickly and quietly, finally all together outside the walls of Talabheim.

The plan was to ride 200 miles south on the Old Forest Road to Wurtbad, the southernmost town on the Old Forest Road that was still in Tabacland. From there, if they skirted the western edge of Sylvania, they could go another 150 miles to the river Aver. They could cross to the Moot, or to the ork-ravaged city of Averheim.

They traveled the road, deflecting outriders, and finally got near to Wurtbad. As they approached the last half day, Fanmaris finally admitted that he had felt a threat approaching. Sure enough, something moved in the woods. While this forest was not as forboding as the northern forests, it was a far cry from safe. That was BEFORE they were ambushed by wraithlike shadows that flitted through the dimness, with lethal pale blades.

Knowing they couldn't all outrun the wraiths with the wagon and a number of horses, they gave Estelle to Eric. As a masterful traveller, Eric didn't spare the spurs as he forced his horse into a gruelling race through the shadowed forest trails as a wraith on a wyvern tried to stop him by smashing trees in his path. Katrina rode behind, to pick up Estelle should the worst befall Eric, for she was a traveller too.

The rest of the group circled up back to back in an attempt to hold the wraiths' attention long enough to spare Eric and Kat and Estelle the time they needed to get away. Behind Elsbeth's protective magics, they waited.

It came down to magic weapons, and they were not found wanting. They drove the wraiths off.

Meanwhile, after a harrowing chase the travellers were riding hard towards the walls of Wurtbad. As the wyvern slung in low, a shot rang out from the walls with precise enough placement to back the wyvern off.

Kat and Eric and Estelle were delighted to meet up with Ariel Pinter, a musketeer of Nuln. She was waiting for them; Shanweck told her that Elsbeth, Kat, and Liselle were in trouble and she could help them. Since she is a personal guard of the Elector Countess of Nuln, she felt her employer would like very much her to help three women that Emmanuel has a soft spot for.

She decided to follow their trail up to Talabheim and check on the fallout of what transpired there. In the meantime, the rest of the party gathered at the Stunted Hoof and kept their heads down, resting before the next leg of the journey. Eric, ever the moody type, wandered the town several times during their stay.

After leaving Wurtbad and crossing the river, they found themselves traversing much more open ground. Not far from Wurtbad they found a battleground, with slaughtered troops from Nuln on the field against undead, everything unmoving but the crows. Even dead wizards in the mash.

One dying man had enough life to tell them that they tried to stop the Necromancer from reaching the Cursed Tower, an ancient place of haunted lore that could only increase his power.

On their ever faster way to the Moot, they were assaulted by a spellcaster on a wyvern and his mass of harpies. They engaged and destroyed the harpies, driving off the wyvern. They warily approached the Moot and discovered the hospitality of the short fat halflings. Resting in tents outside the Moot, unable to be trusting, they prepared for the push to the Blackfire Pass.

They met Stoutheart personally, little guessing that the fat gardener holds an Electoral Vote. Their host became Chap Urbuck, an adventurous halfling sheriff.

That is where they came to rest.

Long Hard Road. November 14, 2003. Nachgeheim 27, 2522

2003-12-12T01:46:59Z

They camped when they could ride no more after escaping the town that had already been overrun by forces of the necromancer Abadamirth, demonstrating his long reach.

The Old Forest Road that defines a border between the Drakwald forest and the Shadowed Wood is not an Imperial road; that means no tolls, and no road wardens, and few inns.

Okay, as for geography, this gets a bit tricky. To the east of the Old Forest Road is the Barony of Hochland, to the west is the Grand Duchy of Middenland. The Shadowed Wood is reputed to be the most haunted in all the deep forests of the Empire, while the Howling Hills got their reputation not from the stereotypical wolves you'd expect, but from warring tribes of beastmen that dare to war upon each other for territory beneath the eves of this cursed wood.

Then there's the fastness of the Drakwald forest. Political boundaries aside, it's a huge forest out here and imaginary jurisdictional lines mean very little.

Before embarking on this heinously dangerous road, the party conferred and decided that Middenheim's authorities must know of the necromancer's attack. Craddoc, Elsbeth, and Fanmaris turned back to carry word. The idea was, the three of them could travel fast yet have the woodscraft and raw combat ability to fend off any would-be attackers.

Fanmaris was very specific. Do not leave the road.

After the Middenheim group took off and before the rest of the company prepared to leave around dusk, a rider approached them.

He was Klaus Fenschwig, an outrider for Tabacland. As a part of their military, he was trained as a wilderness scout. (Tabacland is at the southern edge of the forest, before it crosses the Talabec river.) He told them that he would escort them south, as he knows the road and just traveled it. Reluctantly, they accepted his help.

They stayed in a few woodcutter's huts on the trip; they were once ambushed by forest goblins who were immediately and thoroughly sorry.

The real excitement of the trip was when they passed into beastman territory, and they were attacked. Moadan was killed doing battle with a mighty minotaur. Helmswift killed both minotaurs with a little help from his friends. As the company desperately defended Estelle, who still took a grevious wound, Manfred ended the encounter in single combat with their shaman.

While he was badly injured in the exchange of violence both physical and mystical, he carried the day and they were victorious against the brutes. They finally managed to finish the trip and end somewhat triumphantly in Herzgig, on the Talabec river.

Once there, they met with an old man. A gray wizard. He identified himself as Shanweck, and they discovered that he was the one who had sent Klaus to find them and bring them this far. He claimed to be a Wizard of the Gray Order, a rather shifty college of color magic. The going notion is that if the Emporer trusts them everyone else supposes they should too. But Gray wizards are notorious busybodies and agitators, and secretive to boot.

Shanweck gave them an address in Talabheim and a name, then vanished into thin air. The party was somewhat conflicted as to what to do with the lead, and that's where we left them.

Beginning at the End. November 7 2003, Nachgheim 22, 2522

2003-12-11T12:59:05Z

This is the adventure that kicked off the current quest. I'm starting far enough back that we can have the entire quest recorded here. So the beginning material will not be directly relevant, but you can see how it came to pass.

Liselle, Manfred, and Elsbeth caught up to the tattered remains of the military returning to Middenheim after the Battle of Nuln.

Gonally took Liselle to Altdorf and she took the examinations, qualifying as a Physician of Altdorf and paying her guild dues. Gonally stayed in Altdorf, but he sent some books and a surgery set and a healing kit with her.

As they passed through Altdorf, Elsbeth found a charged atmosphere at the Burned Stake (a witch hunter and templar hangout / fortress / inn in Altdorf). Witch hunters were gathering in groups to go out and try to bring down a 400 year old necromancer named Abadamirth, who forsook his Bretonnian lair in Mousillon and is abroad once more. Since plague erupted in Marionberg, they suspect he has come to the Empire.

ARRIVAL IN MIDDENHEIM

The military is marched to the Square of Marshals and welcomed back as heroes, with a short speech from the Graf. Widows search the ranks vainly for those who will not return. The regiment is disbanded back to base units in the Middenheim defenses; Fitzroy relinquishes command to the Graf in a ceremonial display.

Eric's father greets him, and Eric brushes him off to report to his barracks. The old man is not amused.

Eustace and Estelle are doing well; Eustace is the Dean of Relics at the Theological College, Estelle is getting high marks and working in the library. She's looking forward to travelling when she hits sixteen in the spring, but Eustace is cool to the idea.

Liselle was tasked with concealing a small fortune of the Countess duMarch's when she had to flee into hiding, presumed dead. Liselle just now got back to finding out what happened with it; it was hidden in the Swan's Wing, a tavern in Warrenburg, as a temporary measure.

Full of trepidation, Liselle took Elsbeth and Manfred and Helmswift with her to investigate. Upon reaching the terminus of the viaduct from Middenheim to Warrenburg, they find the Swan's Wing demolished and a swanky inn in its place called the Golden Coach.

Inside the refurbished and most pleasantly decorated edifice, they find a dangerous dandy named Pyman running the place. The old inkeeper died over the winter, nasty fall. Or something. Anyway, the sumptuously appointed inn was made with funds Pyman inherited; he went from seedy fortune seeker to well-to-do innkeeper overnight, and he has no recollection of a wagon of gold in the stable.

Manfred menaced him by implying that the money was owed to the Wizard's Guild of Middenheim; that intimidates the innkeeper, who arranges to have payments made to the guild directly. Satisfied that the inn is sort of an investment that they can squeeze for payments until the original amount is returned, the group returned to Middenheim without a blow being exchanged.

Back in the Knights Panthar compound, Helmswift found that his old friend Helgloc returned, with his squire Craddoc. Helgloc was chasing the rumor that the Countess duMarch, his lover and potential mate, might still be alive. All he could find were tantalizing rumors, and he decided that his quest was futile. If she lives, she is beyond his reach.

Two days after Helgloc returned, Craddoc was knighted with pomp and ceremony, into the order of the Knights Panthar, sworn to protect the Graf of Middenheim. Hostledoff, amused by the ceremony, decided he liked his more informal knighting and told Helmswift so. Afterwards, a party at the Harvest Goose.

THE TROUBLE STARTS

That night, Estelle was working late in the basement of the Theological College. Manfred was let into the library on Eustace's authority, and as they perused the tomes they heard a scuffle. Manfred checked it out, to see a cadre of one-handed cultists capturing Estelle. He beat them about the head and shoulders, keeping one alive for questioning.

Of course, the library security clamped down and only the Wizard's Guild authority sorted things out. The Guild claimed the bodies. After the investigation comes to the attention of Magus von Echrikage, head of the guild, he is most disturbed.

The cultists all die (the survivor willed himself to death instantly, another indication they are a death cult) and their tattoos are runic, they mean "Minion of Nagash". Abadamirth is known to have a cult known as the Animates, cultists who will live or die at his whim. Their missing hands all have weapons mounted on their wrist stumps.

Manfred is sent to look after Eustace, but Estelle is to stay the night at the guildhouse. They'll discuss the implications of this attack after Morrslieb, the chaos moon, is safely below the horizon.

Meanwhile, someone has set Eustace's tenement on fire...

The next morning, the Head of the Inner Circle of Knights Panthar, Lord Bern Haputerman, summons Helmswift. After speaking with Moadan, he believes it is time for Helmswift to undergo a trial to gain his templar honors. He sends him with a note to the head of the Wizard's Guild.

Elsbeth also receives summons, as the matter involves necromancers and cults and she is, after all, a witch hunter.

Helmswift, Moadan, Manfred, and Elsbeth are gathered to talk to von Echrikage. He asks them if they care for this little girl. She is in mortal danger, as is anyone near her. Abadamirth is capable and willing to raise an army to assault Middenheim with disease and death and foulness and undeath. There is nowhere she can hide in the Empire as long as Abadamirth lives.

As a side note, the history of Abadamirth. 76 years ago Magus Furibaldin discovered that Abadamirth needs to sacrifice a member of Chard Belman's line once a century or he falls to dust. In studying what they could find of Estelle's history overnight, they realized that she could very well be the hidden heir of Belmen, who was the first wizard to fell Abadamirth in the first place. Abadamirth cut a deal with Chaos as he fell, to survive. This is the price. He will do anything to recover her so she may be sacrificed properly.

The Middenheim Wizard's Guild maintains a top secret safehouse outside the confines of the Empire for emergencies like this. It is in Barak Varr, the only sea fortress the dwarves ever built. It was and is vast. The dwarves maintain a small foothold in it, much of it is overrun. In one of the towers, the wizards have secured a safehouse. If the group can get Estelle through the Empire, down Blackfire Pass, and across the lands of the Border Princes to the headwaters of the Black Gulf and the fortress of Barak Varr, she should be safe.

But, the Magus continues, powerful magic and large armies attract a lot of attention. Their best bet is to move fast with a small group. The Knights Panthar identified Helmswift (and so Moadan assumes he's going to supervise his trial.)The Magus assigns Manfred to this as their representative, and Elsbeth wants a shot at the undead and the necromancer.

The Magus gives Manfred a token to give to Murtan Sleft, so he will be given what he seeks when he reaches Barak Varr.

Eustace, upon finding out that there is a quest to take Estelle somewhere, adamantly demands he be included, position be damned. He leaves his whole life to go along, because he swore to protect Estelle when he adopted her and he's not going to back down now. He wants to take Liselle, a doctor and bodyguard, who has traveled with them many times before. He argues that his lore will be useful and dares anyone to naysay him, and they take him along.

Kat and Manfred arrange for Fitzroy to release Eric from the Pistoleers Corps so he can go with them; a traveller with skill in riding and shooting can only be helpful on such an endeavor as this.

Manfred approaches Bart, who can't go because he has his own responsibilities that he can't neglect at this point. Bart gives him his good will and a spellbook he has carried since his university days at Nuln.

Craddoc is approached, now that he's a knight, and invited along. He doesn't care how dangerous or where, he's a wanderer with a taste for danger. He's in.

Estelle gets a pageboy haircut to make travel easier; she'll be disguised as a boy, which is still possible at fifteen if she wears baggy clothes and keeps her mouth shut. She gets a fencing sword from Eric. She's excited and scared all at once; she believes they will protect her.

The Graf's huntsman, Fanmaris, jins them if they'll have them. The Graf has given him permission, and he would protect his adopted home. They'll need a guide in the woods, and he knew the Countess and he regrets her fate. He would protect her daughter.

They get a blessing from the Temple of Ulric, and as they're leaving an Animate is caught and killed. Time to go...

THE ROAD TO TALABHEIM

So those who ride out: Manfred, Liselle, Moadan, Helmswift, Craddoc, Elsbeth, Estelle, Eustace, Kat, Eric, and Fanmaris.

This group is known for travelling from Ubersreik and Nuln up to Middenheim through Bogenhaffen and Altdorf. This time they should go a different way. So they set out on the Old Forest Road through to Talabheim. Fanmaris is familiar with the road.

As they ride, they note a raven fighting off crows in the trees. This sight is faintly chilling, though they don't know why.

The first town they ride into is boarded up, the survivors hiding. Dead lay where they fell, a sudden plague hit the town. The huge party boards themselves up in an inn and waits nightfall's coming. Of course, they are attacked by cultists and some of the dead get up.

Rather than being beseiged, the party rides out. A cloaked shadow on a horse bars their way until Manfred blows him up, then they ride for the open road.

The Warhammer Lineup, as of November 2003 (Erntgezeit 11, 2522)

2003-11-23T17:38:07Z

The game is set in the Empire. Herein is a listing of player characters in order of creation.

Manfred Hellsibut. Originally a coachman for the Cannonball Express, running the route from Bogenhafen to Nuln, he was accused of aiding and abetting a necromancer. He escaped, taking one of the passengers, Liselle, with him. That began his dizzying fall from the normal life and his peculiar ascendance to the ranks of wizardry. After spending a time in the entourage of the Countess duMarch as a bodyguard, he successfully won a place in the Middenheim Wizard's Guild apprentice pool. Instructed by Bartholemew Perigrew, Wizard of the Second Order, he completed his journeyman apprenticeship in Ubersreik in time to be commissioned in the military to beat back an ork invasion around Nuln. As an agent of the Middenheim Guild, he is now engaged in the defense of the Empire as a Wizard of the First Order.

Liselle. An immigrant to the Empire from Bretonnia, Liselle made as good a living as she could on the streets of Nuln as a burglar. After running afoul of the Nuln guild of Marketers, she was fleeing for her life when she happened to be in a coach with the dying apprentice of a necromancer. Charged with assisting a necromancer, she fled with Manfred. Rescuing the Bretonnian Countess duMarch from the lair of the necromancer, she joined a noble entourage that gave her a taste for the finer things. After her somewhat rough around the edges compatriots taught her how to properly defend herself and the Countess, Liselle was well on the way to finding a place in the properly fed classes. Everything fell apart when the Countess duMarch was assassinated: or SEEMED to be assassinated. Charged with the guilty secret of concealing the Countess's survival, Liselle saw her dreams crumble. Numb with the shock of the social dislocation, she wintered with several others in the castle of the Baron of Ubersreik. There she became the apprentice of Gonally, a physician. He taught her the basics of the healing arts, and when she had learned enough he introduced her to the Physician's Guild of Nuln. Now she is a Guilder in Nuln, and she has made her peace with the Market. Everywhere she has been, scandal haunts her steps, but even such discouragements have not prized her eyes from the golden promise of nobility... one way or another.

Elsbeth von Kliestman. A foundling elf left in the Nuln Morrspark, she spent the first seventy years of her life in quiet contemplation and inner vision. Then, something shifted in the Aether, and she found herself set upon a path that would lead her to take up arms against those who stir the dead to fresh action, disrupting Morr's holy rest for them. Upon proving her religious fervor and devotion, Elsbeth realized there was more to be done. Taking on the Empire's most sacred trust, the inhuman woman now encases herself in the black armor of the witch hunter, wears the silvered Chaos Cross of the Hunter, and hones herself for the task of ridding the Empire of undead. She serves as the spiritual advisor for Baron von Hettrikite of Ubersreik, and while she has only one elven friend she has managed to have Allavandrel Fanmaris, Huntsman for the Graf of Middenheim, as a confidante. Time will tell where her burning religious conviction takes her.

Katrina. Originally a boat pilot in Marionberg, Katrina ran afoul of corrupt authorities in her home city and fled to Marionberg where she worked in a warehouse. Because she knew the faces of both her employer's daughter and the rival merchant's thug that stole her, she accompanied a band of adventurers sponsored by the Countess duMarch on a ride that changed her life forever. Finding a sealed off walled city to be constrictive, and the lure of danger addicting, Katrina learned the ways of the coachmen and developed a reputation as a woman coach driver. Once the acrid tang of gunpowder was in her nostrils and the thrill of riding a swift steed in her blood, there was no going back as her Kislevite heritage echoed down her mixed bloodline. Finding peril became Katrina's knack as she was swept into a dalliance with a somewhat disreputable Middenheim nobleman, Eric Hockland. As their romance continued through his arranged marriage, she learned from him the ways of the Traveler, sweeping along game trails and back roads with a finesse and ease that left panting road wardens frustrated and empty handed. She has a child, Maximillian, who is Eric's bastard son. As his wife is now expecting a child, Katrina's position becomes ever more complicated. She has not forgotten the open invitation of the Elector Countess Emanuelle of Nuln to join her elite corps of women defenders, should things become too dicy.

Kurik Helmswift. Born and bred in a minor noble family in Middenheim, his family fell on hard times and then was swept apart to their seperate interests elsewhere in the Empire. Only Kurik remained to become a squire, then a knight in the elite Knights Panthar. He served for many years, faithfully patrolling the roads and hunting the mutants that plagued the dark forests and protecting the Graf with his blood and his blade. When the Countess duMarch was slain by a cowardly assassin, Helmswift was pulled in to the investigation and pursuit of the assassin as his boon companion, Sir Helgloc, pursued phantom rumors of the Countess's survival. Helmswift found fast friends in the companions, and has since traveled with them to winter in Ubersreik and also joined them in the defense of Nuln as one of the commanders of the Middenheim force that was sent to assist the beseiged city. On the road back he met a Templar of the Order of the Fiery Heart, a Sigmarite order dedicated to making war upon all greenskins. Impressed, Helmswift had many involved discussions and training sessions with Moadan on the long road back to Middenheim. During the swift journey south to Blackfire Pass, Moadan met his end at the hands of a huge, vile minotaur. Now Helmswift carries his pendant and dreams of induction into the order to continue the tradition and uphold Moadan's honor. Helmswift has graduated one squire, Hostledoff. Helmswift rides a steed, Faran, who is vicious and a true warhorse; violent, ill tempered, and just plain mean.

(They have met with other player characters on the road, who will be mentioned in adventure descriptions or in subsequent updates. These five are the primary characters in the group.)

NON PLAYER CHARACTERS CURRENTLY TRAVELLING WITH THE GROUP. IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER.

Estelle March. At age 15, she has a slim strong figure and a pageboy haircut. She was born a noble in Bretonnia, but her mother took her from an extremely abusive home and brought her to a travelling lifestyle in the Empire, settling in Middenheim from time to time. She believes her mother dead, and she is honing herself for the times that lie ahead. She wants to become an adventurer. Currently she is being hunted by a 400 year old necromancer, Abadamirth, who must slay her. She is the last descendant of Chard Belmen, who slew Abadamirth long ago. Once every hundred years, one of the Belmen line must be sacrificed if Abadamirth is to continue. So they spirit her towards hoped-for safety, and she gets a foretaste of the adventuring life from a most dangerous seat...

Eustace Williams. He was in the fateful coach that was stopped and all inside accused of assisting a necromancer. His career in Nuln abruptly shattered, the scholar travled at loose ends for a short time with his companions Liselle and Elsbeth and Manfred. He served as Estelle duMarch's tutor. Upon reaching Middenhiem, he settled into the duMarch household. Then the Countess was slain. Bewildered, Eustace adopted Estelle. He sought and gained successive academic posts at the Theological College, and he insisted Estelle remain studious. When her life was threatened, he gave up his position in Middenheim to go with her on the road. Fate conspires against him; he wishes to be a venerated scholar respected and known and tenured. Instead, he finds himself dodging a past with such titles as "The Butcher of Bogenhaffen" and memories of a charge involving necromancy.

Eric Hockland. His father is an old military man who disapproves of his son's loose living and continual riding in the woods. When Dom Hockland arranged his son's marriage, he hoped that would settle him. But still he carried on with his personal coach driver, barely bothering with a veneer of secrecy. Enraged to find that Eric's wife was with child and STILL he dallied, he determined that his grandson needed a more disciplined and responsible father. He compelled his son to join the military or be totally cut off from all inheritance. Desperate but not willing to surrender his share of his father's estates, Eric joined the Middenheim Pistoleers and quickly rose in the ranks due to his incredible skills with pistols and his ability to ride a horse through any obstacle in any conditions. Eric has many decisions ahead of him as to how he will deal with his paramour, his wife, his child and his bastard son, not to mention his father and his military situation. Bitterness rankles him, and he has a derisive laugh for those who envy the easy life of nobles.

Craddoc Perigrew. Now a full-fledged Knight Panthar, Craddoc was never able to hold still for very long. A wanderlust burns in him that won't let him rest. He traveled to Middenheim with his brother, Bartholemew, who is a wizard. Craddoc weilds a greatsword and has honed his accuracy to nearly inhuman levels with projectiles. He joined up as a squire in the Knights Panthar and accompanied Sir Helgloc through many perils, emerging a Knight in his own right. His greatest downfalls are not apparant by viewing his fighting prowess or his personal morality, but in his foul mouth that is always ready with a few more searing oaths.

That's a start!