Hi guys,

I love the friendly atmosphere of these forums and enjoy reading everyone's feedback and take on individual story ideas.

My idea for an adventure is based around the natural assumptions that players make about groups of people in the Warhammer and roleplaying world. I wanted to write a story in which there are three societal groups, that are neither good nor evil but have their strengths, flaws and sympathetic traits. The idea is that the players have to uncover the truths about each groups whilst dealing with their own prejudices and those of the other groups. The adventure culminates with the arrival of a threat so huge that there is no hope of defending all three groups and the players are forced to make a moral decision as to which group they will lend their strengths to.

The context of my take on the adventure is in my player's current campaign which has moved to Lustria, but it could easily be set anywhere. The back story is that the players have become separated from the main body of the expedition and are journeying through the vast jungle trying to find a human settlement.

The Three Groups

Human Settlers

The players encounter a group of Human settlers that have broken away from the main human settlements on the coasts of Lustria. The Humans have an uncharacteristic relationship with gold and wealth for their race and so have been unmolested by the Lizardmen and allowed to live deep within the dangerous wilds. They are however afforded no such protection from the natural dangers of the jungle, they are hunted by predators and stricken with unfamiliar diseases.

The group has been forced to flee persucution in the Empire and been exiled by the Lustrian expeditions for their deviant religious beliefs. The group does not recognise Sigmar as their patron god. Instead they worship the Elven race as living gods. They believe that Elves are the children of the gods and that Humans are descended from them and more importantly that the Human gods are in truth the same pantheon that the Elves worship. These beliefs have seen them hounded and treated like pariahs. The group is still not as altruistic as the Elves and do not live amongst nature but attempt to use it like all Humans do.

Native Primitives

The fertile lands that the Humans have chosen to colonise in truth is the hunting grounds of a race of native Halfings (Pygmies). The tribe revere the Lizard as their gods and all reptiles are sacred to them. They harrass and attack the Humans relentlessly and are trying to force them off of their ancestral lands. The tribe live at piece amongst the rain forest and do not disturb its natural patterns in any way, they hate Humans for their destructive nature and their stripping of the forest's resources. The religion of the tribe is primitive and borderline heretical. They practice sacrificial rituals and have cruel and torturous solutions to disease.

The Undead

Both other groups are fearful of a vile necromancer that lives in the area. He launches raids on any fleets of ships that pass by the coast and attacks the settlers with forces of Zombies. The natives have positioned protective wards that force the Undead from their lands and they are tested from time to time, the Necromancer seemingly waiting patiently.

In truth, their is no Necromancer. The lands of the coast were cursed by an ancient Skaven ritual that went astray during their war with the serpent god Sotek. The foul magics that have permeated the lands cause the remains of any Humans to reanimate, coming back to life as Zombies. These Undead are not true Necromantic Zombies and retain some of their previous intelligence. They wander the forest vaguely remembering their former existences and mourn their inability to regain a normal life. Some strike out in anger against the living and some scream out in warning to them. With each "death" that they suffer more of their humanity is stripped away and more of their bodies decay. They are tormented and driven insane, unable to live or die.

There is a shadowy figure that pulls the strings behind the activities of the Undead, but his motives are for more sincere than is expected. Centuries ago when Man had just learned the secrets of shipcraft, a fleet of raiding war ships patrolled the northern seas around the Empire. Amongst the crew in the fleet was a young priest of Morr. He held a senior advisory position with the commanders and watched over the dead seamen. However the priest saw Manaan as a cruel and capricious god and forbade the captain of his vessel from offering tributes of catch and coin to the god. To further anger the god, the priiest prevented any that died at sea from becoming one with Manaan's kingdom, recovering their bodies from the water and waiting to bury them back on dry land. The sea god sent a mighty storm to have his vengeance on the fleet of which the only survivor was the priest. As punishment for his prideful ways, Manaan cursed the priest with immortality so that he would never enter the realm of his patron and never achieve his destiny. Unable to die the priest wandered the lands of the living following armies and plagues and tending to the dead. On his travels, the priest discovered the cursed coast of Lustria and vowed to watch over the undying, those that like him could not enter Morr's realm. Now that the living have arrived he is determined to drive them away from these lands and suffering his fate.

The Threat

Once the players have discovered the truth about the three groups, a war fleet of norsii ships breaks through the Undead blockade and lands on the coast of Lustria hell bent on war and destruction.

The Norsii are from the Nargoth tribe whom worship Neragal, the god of death and disease. Their god promises them invulnerability and immortality and whispers to them of a kingdom where they will be undying able to reap destruction and misery in his name for eternity.

The army is too vast for the players or any one of the groups alone to repel and all three groups lie in the path of devastation.

I hope that this will raise questions for the players. Who will they ally with? Could they split themselves up? Could they make alliances between the groups. Do any of them deserve saving?

Please let me know what you guys think. I'm hoping for ideas on how to flesh this idea out and any key events that could happen.