Session Twenty-Two (Shadows over Bögenhafen)

Breaking and Entering

Thrumdorin, Ironbreaker-Soldier

Asterion, Wood Elf Hunter-Waywatcher-Scout

Thorvald, Human Roadwarden-Zealot

We join you in the cellar under the Teugen offices in some sort of dark magical circle. Considering your options you decided you needed to interrupt the circle somehow, so you bashed it up with Korden’s hammer until you could free a segment of it, which you pushed through the grille and into the effluent of the sewers. You’d wrapped the hammer in a cloak to keep the noise down, but it still made a bit of a racket.

You went back up to the offices and left via the open window and you just managed to avoid a watch gang that was going past. You headed back to Richter’s to speak to Esmerelda the housekeeper. She was still up, having tea with a friend. Thorvald convinced her he was on official business and that she should hand over all the magistrate’s papers to him, but she said it was too late as some people from the council had already been round to pick it all up. Thorvald warned her not to tell anyone about his visit and she seemed to be impressed.

You decided you needed to hide all the incriminating bits and pieces you had picked up under the Teugen offices. So Thrumdorin put them in a bag and tied them to a leg of one of the jetties and threw them in the Bögen.

So, you broke into the courthouse to see what stuff Richter might have left behind. This was a bit more difficult and meant you scaling walls with ropes, but you managed to get in without the watch spotting you. Inside the building you heard someone calling to you, and the sound of a dog approaching up the stairs. Thrumdorin whipped out some bacon which was enough to distract the dog for Thorvald to dispatch it with his sword.

A guard followed the dog up the stairs, but after a brief struggle you managed to subdue him. After getting him to tell you where Richter’s office was you tied him up and locked him in a cupboard. You found the office, but this had also been cleared out.

And so you decided to break into the Rathaus council chambers. You were getting quite good at it by now. You managed to find Richter’s stuff. There wasn’t too much of interest but you did find an abandoned letter from Richter to von Saponatheim telling him of the existence of the Ordo Septenarius and his suspicions that they might be up to no good.

And then you broke into the Steinhäger offices. You managed to find Franz’s office and you found the end of a note saying:

"...Braufest ends. At the twelfth bell our plan will come to fruition.

Johannes Teugen "

Judging by the date and the fact that the braufest was due to finish at the end of the month, you took that to mean that something important would be happening in a little less than 48 hours.

So we leave you in the Steinhäger office in the middle of the night, wondering where next to break into.

Excellent read as always – the Shadows over Bögenhafen stuff recalls very fond memories from my first encounter with the Warhammer world 17 years ago…

Session Twenty-Three (Shadows over Bögenhafen)

Meet the Teugens

Thrumdorin, Ironbreaker-Soldier

Asterion, Wood Elf Hunter-Waywatcher-Scout

Thorvald, Human Roadwarden-Zealot

Flan, Bright Wizard

We join you wandering around wondering what building to break into next. You decided to go back to the Teugen office, with a cunning plan. You all hid out in the secret passage between Johannes and Gideon’s rooms. You deliberately left the door down to the cellar ajar, and waited for Johannes to turn up in the morning. And then you grabbed some sleep.

Sure enough when Johannes arrived he noticed the door and went straight down to check out the cellar. As soon as he did, you all piled down and grabbed him before he could react. He protested but there was little else he could do. And down in the cellar no one could hear him scream.

You hit him a few times and demanded to know what was going on and what the Ordo Septenarius was and what had happened to Richter and who Gideon was. At first he claimed he didn’t know what you were talking about, but he soon admitted that something was up. He told you that the Ordo was a simple charity organisation that helped orphans and stuff, but you hit him again. And he told you that Richter’s death was of natural causes. And Gideon was just his cousin who was a bit of a silent partner.

You hit him a few more times and he admitted that the Ordo was about making a sacrifice to Handrich, the god of merchants in order to bring prosperity to the city. And that it would just be a normal religious ceremony. You hit him a bit more and he admitted that the dark gods might be involved, too.

You found some keys on him and Thorvald went up to see if he could open the safe. He could and found it contained, among the normal business papers, a bag of petty cash, a strange magical scroll and some sort of contract. It looked like the contract was signed by Teugen who seemed to have sold his soul in exchange for seven years of prosperity. And judging by the date, the seven years ended in a couple of days.

Flan checked out the scroll and it seemed to be a way to make a huge gate in reality leading to the realm of Chaos, which was undoubtedly a very dangerous thing to be doing. When confronted with his contract Teugen admitted that he had struck the deal with Gideon but that it would be ok, as he had found seven souls to take his soul’s place, and that would satisfy the dark gods, and Gideon. And he admitted that the whole event was a bluff to entice the Ordo to the ceremony, and they would all be sacrificed. Teugen seemed to think the deal might still be on and offered you a lot of gold to help with the arrangements.

You decided that you had the whole story and got Teugen to write a confession to cover your own arses. And then by order of Sigmar (kinda), Thrumdorin decapitated him in the middle of the magical circle. You put his head in a bag, and headed for the temple of Sigmar.

When you got to Gottenplatz there was a bit of a retinue dismounting outside the temple of Sigmar. It was headed by a witch hunter who had a large champion in tow, and some lawyer-y bloke, and a captured witch in shackles and a yoke, and four handgunners. They didn’t look like the folks to mess with. Thorvald, following his faith in the law, approached the witch hunter and gave him Teugen’s head and confession, and told him he needed to investigate these things. The witch hunter quickly ordered Thorvald and Thrumdorin to be arrested and thrown in the watch barracks jail.

Asterion followed them down and hung out inconspicuously outside the watch barracks, while Flan waited outside the temple to see what the witch hunter did next. It was not long before he headed to the Teugen offices. After spending some time in there, the witch hunter and his lawyer eventually emerged into the square, accompanied by (what seemed to be) Johannes Teugen himself. And they were chatting pleasantly.

Flan checked out the scene with his magical sight, and the strange Tzeentchian magic coming off ‘Johannes’ was so powerful it made him sick. Flan guessed this might be Gideon or some sort of changeling, and decided he needed to come up with some way to expose its true nature to the witch hunter. He ran across the square shouting something about daemons and threw his best fire at the guy. Immediately a pink glowing shield surrounded Gideon and his Johannes facade dropped to reveal a pink, sinuous, tentacled daemon thing. And Flan’s spell rebounded straight back at him, which hurt.

Gideon immediately fled and the witch hunter followed him back into the Teugen offices. After a few minutes the witch hunter emerged having lost his quarry. Flan introduced himself, and the Witch Hunter revealed he was the famous Magnus Felberg. Flan had heard of him as the Butcher of Bechheim, who had an entire village destroyed and one hundred villagers hanged and burned to make sure that a suspected cultist did not escape the village.

Flan had impressed Felberg enough that he went straight to the barracks and released Thorvald and Thrumdorin. You filled him in on your investigation and he seemed content that you were the innocent party. He did tell you that he was asked by von Saponatheim to come to Bögenhafen to arrest you for vague heresies. But you managed to convince him that perhaps von Saponatheim was not above suspicion. He explained that he was busy and in any case it would be a very delicate matter for him to investigate such a powerful noble, and that perhaps you could do the job, semi-officially.

You agreed, and Thorvald got an agreement from Felberg that if things went well then he might be admitted into the Order of the Templars of Sigmar. Felberg also drew up a letter for you explaining you were on Temple business.

And so after spending one more night in Bögenhafen you set off on the road to Grauenburg castle, the seat of the von Saponatheims. You began following the river Bögen up towards the mountains. Not too far along the road, you came across a young lady who seemed to be a bit sad, sat in the road crying. You asked her what the matter was. She spoke to you but it was strange. The words weren’t right. Thrumdorin was unimpressed by them, although they didn’t make much sense to him, but everyone else became thoroughly perplexed and unbalanced. Then the woman lunged at Thrumdorin with suddenly spiky teeth and a huge mouth. He managed to block the attack and hit her back. But the attack was strangely deflected back onto the dwarf and the woman’s facade faded so that Flan realised this was Gideon.

Despite the woman-monster’s strangely confusing words you managed to spring into action. Asterion shot several arrows at the monster, and Thorvald lunged at it with his two blades. And the thing disappeared into the aethyr.

We leave you on the road to Grauenburg, on your way to work out what’s up with, and to bring to justice, the most powerful political figure this side of Altdorf.

Session Twenty-Four

Room at the Inn

Thrumdorin, Dwarf Mercenary

Asterion, Wood Elf Scout

Thorvald, Human Witch Hunter

We join you on the road to Castle Grauenburg. You made a steady pace, mostly waiting for the dwarf to catch up with your horses, following the Bögen up into the Grey Mountains and staying at roadside inns.

On the third day of your journey you came across a small village, which seemed to have been recently attacked. There were damaged and burnt out buildings and no sign of anyone there. As you got to the edge of the place, a couple of arrows flew from one of the cottages and hit Thorvald. You quickly piled in.

When you reached the cottage the attackers had gone, but Thorvald saw a couple of figures fleeing towards the forest. One looked like a normal enough peasant hunter and the other a female villager. There didn’t seem to be anything much suspicious about them.

You fired at them and shouted warnings but they continued to flee. Asterion jumped on his horse and tried to run them down. He managed to shoot the hunter and immobilised him, while the woman reached the forest. He followed after her and tried to grab her but she evaded him. But Asterion picked up her trail and followed her more deeply into the woods.

Thorvald and Thrumdorin reached the hunter and questioned him. Thorvald was particularly peeved about having holes in his new black coat. The hunter called you pigs and so you hit him a few times. You asked him what had happened in the village and he seemed surprised you didn’t know because he seemed to think you had something to do with it. You hit him a few more times and convinced him that you hadn’t. So he told you that von Saponatheim had been behind it all. He had arrived in Erental (for that was the village’s name) a week or so ago on his way back to Castle Gauenburg. As far as the hunter could work out, someone or something had upset him in the village and he ordered the place to be razed and everyone in it slaughtered. He indicated a load of fresh graves nearby.

Meanwhile Asterion was tracking the woman through the forest. She ambushed him with a knife but was no fighter and the elf managed to subdue her and drag her back to the village. She corroborated what the hunter had to say. In the end, Thrumdorin decided to give them some money and sent them off downstream towards civilisation, and told them to be careful who they told their story to.

You continued on your journey and around evening came across the Von Saponatheim’s Arms. The landlady seemed a bit worried that you might be on official business for von Sap, and you told her you were. So she gave you free beer and food and rooms and let you have the seats closest to the fire. She was very obsequious. This made Thrumdorin a bit distrustful and he refused to drink the best brandy she was giving you.

You had a decent nights sleep in the best rooms and she cooked you a good breakfast. Then the landlady nervously mentioned that von Sap had grabbed her daughter, on his way through last week, and insisted she come to work for him at the castle. The landlady more or less begged you to see if you could see your way to putting in a word for her to get her daughter back to the inn. Her name was Else. You told her that you would do your best. And you also began to feel sorry for her enough to pay for your stay.

The next day you soon left the Bögen (now not much more than a stream) behind, and started climbing into the mountains. About midday you were stopped along the roadside eating you dinner, when you noticed some riders approaching. As they neared you could see there were six of them and they were von Saponatheim’s soldiers, wearing the same green livery and stag’s head blazon you had been wearing back in Ubersreik.

They asked you what you were up to and you told them you were on the way to reporting to your lord like any loyal retainer. They didn’t seem to be too impressed, and left you alone, going back the way they had come.

After an arduous climb, shortly before evening you came to Castle Gauenburg. It was a spectacular sight, a tall fortress with many towers, built on a high outcrop of rock. There was a hundred feet around most of it, and you had to use a narrow drawbridge over a ravine to reach the gate. The gate was shut and a soldier asked you what you wanted. You told him you were here to see von Sap and after a bit of a delay he told you to go away. You insisted and after a bit more of a delay his captain came out to tell you to ‘Go away. His Grace doesn’t want to see you anymore.’ It was pretty clear they weren’t going to let you in, which seemed to be a bit cowardly of them as they had an army and a castle and you didn’t.

You retreated back down the mountain track and then nipped off to find a position where you could spy on the castle. You spent the night there watching to see if anything interesting was going on. During the night, Asterion noticed a few brief flashes of pink fire erupting from the keep.

In the morning you decided to head off back to the Von Saponatheim’s Arms. You spoke to the landlady and told her you needed her help to get her daughter back, and that you needed a way to get into the castle. You also told her to keep it secret that you were staying there. You had an idea that you might be able to hijack the supply wagon. The landlady told you that the wagons were due in three or four days. They usually had a couple of the baron’s men as guards. And that she knew the wagoneers, as they always stayed at the inn and also supplied it. She said that four barrels of beer were usually delivered to the castle, and that gave you an idea.

So, we leave you staying at the inn in secret, hiding in your rooms, waiting for the castle supply wagons to turn up.

Session Twenty-Five

Roll out the Barrel

Thrumdorin, Ironbreaker-Soldier

Asterion, Wood Elf Hunter-Waywatcher-Scout

Thorvald, Human Roadwarden-Zealot

Flan, Bright Wizard

We join you at the Stag’s Head waiting for the supply caravan to arrive. You spent the time hiding out in an attic room drinking as much as you liked and hatching several plans to get into the Castle Grauenburg. You settled on one that involved hiding in beer barrels.

When the caravan did arrive, you used the Schlaf you got from Grunewald to ensure the caravan guards and drivers got a very good night’s sleep and you set to work, helped by Ethel the landlady, draining the barrels and converting them so you could hide inside them. You couldn’t fit Asterion’s bow, or Flan’s staff, or Thrumdorin’s shield inside the barrels, so you strapped them to the underside of one of the wagons.

After spending several hours in your cramped barrels, you finally felt yourselves getting a move on, as the wagons set off for Grauenburg. It was bumpy and uncomfortable but on the whole you dealt with the journey pretty well. And after a very long day, you sensed the wagons stopping at the castle. Then the barrels got rolled off the wagons onto the ground then rolled for some yards, and then down some steps, which spun you around and disorientated you. Asterion screamed as he got rolled around, which prompted the porters to give his barrel a few kicks, but they eventually got bored and left the barrel alone. And you were left in silence.

Despite some of you being a bit stressed, you waited for a few more hours before finally emerging from your barrels and you found yourself in a dark cellar-like area full of supplies. After helping yourself to some food and drink, you climbed the steps and listened at the door. You heard something coming, and so quickly found hiding places. A servant boy opened the door and fetched something from the supplies and then left again.

After a few more minutes you left your hiding places and made your way out of the cellar. The door opened onto a corridor. One way ended in a door and the other led to the courtyard. You could see your wagons out there. You ducked back into your cellar briefly as two guards walked past and then you made your way towards the wagons.

Asterion sneaked up to them. They were in an enclosed courtyard with a gatehouse and overlooked by towers. You could tell you were under the keep at the centre of the castle. Asterion managed to sneak to the wagons, but found that the stuff you had lashed to the underside of one of the wagons was nowhere to be seen. You assumed that they must have fallen off sometime during your journey. Upset about the loss of his elven bow, Asterion ducked back into the corridor, and you all made your way to the door at the other end.

You came into a kitchen where three cooks were hard at work. Thorvald immediately tried to convince them, in his intimidating manner that you were there legitimately. Flan illuminated him in some fiery effect to make him more impressive. The cooks looked very scared and clearly didn’t want to cooperate, so you threw them in a handy larder and locked the door.

Beyond the kitchen you made your way up to a great hall, with a couple of long tables and a high table. There was what looked like the lord’s chair, and beyond that a door. There were several other doors off the great hall and a grand staircase leading up, too. You went through the door behind the high table and found yourself in what seemed to be one of the lord’s private staterooms.

There was another door beyond but that was guarded by a couple of men at arms. And they quickly moved to face you. You noticed something strange about them. You realised that you could not see any part of their body. Everything was covered up, even their faces, and you couldn’t even see their eyes behind their visors.

The two guards attacked. One joined Thrumdorin who dodged his attack and tried to grab the guard’s shield. The other smashed into Thorvald who took a nasty hit. The guard seemed to be much, much stronger than he should have been. They looked so dangerous that Flan decided to covered himself in a magical flaming shield, and Asterion used Throvald’s crossbow to shoot at them from distance.

After a fierce fight Thrumdorin and Thorvald were both heavily wounded, but you managed to bring down one of the strangely powerful guards. And you closed in on the final one. As you did, he (it?) seemed to erupt from his armour and sinuous limbs spilled towards you, lashing and whipping at you painfully, until it suddenly lay dead before you, a pile of grotesque, pinkish mutated flesh.

And so we leave you in the keep at Castle Grauenburg, before the very spawn of Chaos, searching for Baron von Saponatheim.

Session Twenty-Six

The Innocent Sleep

Thrumdorin, Ironbreaker-Soldier

Asterion, Hunter-Waywatcher-Scout

Flan, Bright Wizard

We join you in Baron von Saponatheim’s private quarters at Castle Gauenburg. Thorvald went back down and guarded the wagons in case you had to make a quick getaway. You made your way past the mutated form of the Chaos spawn guardian thing and through the doors that led to steps going up. There were similar doors on the next level which you decided to ignore and pressed on up the stairs.

And there were doors on that level too. You opened them carefully to find a long narrow chamber which seemed to run along one wall of the keep and end in a dead end. After some inspection you managed to find eye-holes in the wall that gave you a view of the darkened chambers on the other side. In one of them you could just make out a figure lying in a large bed. And you found a secret door that gave you access to one of these chambers.

You managed to open it and found yourselves in what looked like the office of an important noble. You made your way through this office as quietly as you could and into what you knew would be the bed chamber. You surrounded the bed and without waking the sleeper or checking you had the right man, you ‘bravely’ unleashed everything you had on the body. In moments the bed was a mess of bloody and charred sheets.

You barely had time to check the figure was von Saponatheim when two metal-clad guards rushed into the room. They moved strangely and their bodies were hidden by their armour, the same as the guards you had met earlier. Wary of them you retreated into another chamber, which seemed to be the Baron’s walk-in wardrobe.

You were hard-pressed but managed to defeat one of the knights by concentrating your fire, and soon two more appeared and charged you. You could also hear the alarm being raised throughout the castle. In a half-remembered struggle you managed to defeat the guards. You checked their bodies which, although not as hideous as the one downstairs, were strangely contorted and sinuous, and pinky-blue.

You decided to go through the Baron’s stuff and grabbed a box with a brace of pistols in, and his favourite long rifle. These all had the von Sap crest and motto etched on them.

When you had time to check out von Sap’s body, through the mess you had made of it, you could see that he was completely bald (he had a selection of outrageous wigs on the dresser) and it was hard to see which way he was facing. His body seemed to weirdly face both ways and he had a face on both sides of his head. One face you recognised as von Sap, the other seemed to be an evil, leering, caricature of that.

You quickly headed back downstairs and decided to check out the lower floor. It was arranged very similarly to the other one, and through the spy-holes there you could see a body lying in a huge four-poster bed. The bed chamber was obviously more feminine than the Baron’s. You went through another secret door and made your way to the bed chamber. On checking the sleeping figure, it seemed to be a normal woman (obviously Mrs. Baron von Saponatheim). But you noticed a strange movement under the bed clothes and a long, prehensile tentacle snaked out and pulled the bed-covers over a bit. You immediately destroyed her, as you had her husband.

You decided your work had been done and you needed to get out of the place as quickly as possible. But, getting to the courtyard, you could see that there were a good number of troops already manning the walls and gatehouse, and you had little chance of making a run for it.

Instead, you decided to address the troops. Thorvald stepped up (absently) and gave a rousing speech about how the Baron had been a bad man and how you had saved the barony from him, and how if a proper noble was put in his place, appointed by the Emperor then peace and prosperity could return, or something.

This did manage to convince the men, who had clearly been a bit spooked by the Baron’s recent behaviour, and they decided to spare you. Captain Stirlander came forward as the commander of the castle and told you he would keep the manor in shape in the absence of a lord.

So, mission accomplished, your thoughts turned to getting back your equipment (Thrumdorin’s shield, Flan’s staff and Asterion’s bow) that had been lost on the way up here. We leave you in Castle Grauenburg surrounded by half-grateful, half-wary soldiers, with you preparing to leave.

Session Twenty-Seven

Spiders!

Thrumdorin, Ironbreaker-Mercenary

Asterion, Hunter-Waywatcher-Scout

Flan, Bright Wizard

Thorvald, Roadwarden-Zealot-Witch Hunter

Ren, Human Pit Fighter-Smuggler

We join you in castle Grauenburg. It felt like months ago, but it was only last night you assassinated Lord Baron von Saponatheim and his tentacled lady wife. That was a very serious crime in the Empire would be certain to get you hanged, except you might have the (unofficial) sanction of the Templars of Sigmar and you had Thorvald’s assumption of righteous justice.

You found Else, the landlady’s daughter from the Stag’s Head. She was pleased you had saved her, and just wanted to get home. You decided to leave first thing, to hopefully find your stuff that fell off the cart on the way up. Thrumdorin went down to the kitchens to apologise profusely to the cooks, for locking them in the larder and to see if they would give him some provisions for the journey. They were not convinced but begrudgingly came up with some ham and cheese. And so you left Captain Stirlander to clear up the mess you had made in the castle.

After only a couple of hours on the road, Flan and Asterion noticed the signs of some sort of activity, with perhaps a scuffle in the dust of the track. There were many sets of shoe prints, which you recognised as probably goblin clogs. The tracks led away from the road, up into the mountains.

You followed them carefully for a mile or so. It was easy as the route soon joined the course of a mountain stream and the tracks the goblins had made were still wet. The stream had carved a ravine through the sandstone and your way was very sheltered, and ripe for ambush.

Suddenly you saw a gioblin legging it as fast as it could through the ravine in your direction. Although it was heading straight towards you, it didn’t seem to be that concerned with you, and it had a look of horror on its face. Thrumdorin decided it might be best to put it out of its misery, in any case, and axed it in the head as it ran past, killing it instantly.

You all wondered what might have made the goblin run, and you decided to spread out. Asterion climbed up one side of the valley, and Flan the other side, while Thrumdorin, Thorvald and Else waited until those two were in position before advancing.

From their vantage point, Flan and Asterion could soon both see the scene of a struggle down in the ravine. Five or six goblins were making a last stand, surrounded by many huge spiders. Several goblin bodies were already littering the ground. They could see one spider climbing up the ravine-side, heading towards a cave, carrying a goblin all wrapped up in spider silk.

Flan decided to take out the spider carrying the goblin with his fire. And suddenly, a couple of spiders emerged from cracks in the rocks and began climbing over Asterion. They bit him and then tried to stab him with a stinger, or something.

Thorvald and Thrumdorin emerged into the valley too, and Thorvald advanced, but Thrumdorin decided to be more cautious and to protect Else.

Meanwhile Ren began stirring from some sort of sleep. He found himself wrapped in silk in a dark cave, lying next to the paralysed body of Father Anders. He managed to grab his dagger and rip through the silk cocoon and seeing the light from outside the cave went to see where he was.

Meanwhile, more spiders swarmed over Asterion and one managed to stab him with its stinger. Asterion felt a cold sensation pass across his body and his limbs began to stiffen. He only had a few moments before he would be completely paralysed and at the mercy of the spiders.

Thorvald and Thrumdorin stood their ground and fended off the creatures. From his vantage point, Flan could see that the goblins were nearly defeated. But he also saw that they were carrying a bundle of stuff that looked a lot like his staff and the other possessions you were missing. Meanwhile Ren emerged from the cave and saw Asterion in big trouble, so he ran down into the valley and up the other side to rescue the elf.

With a last stab at a spider Asterion lost consciousness, but Ren had arrived just in time to fend off the spiders and grab Asteron’s helpless body. Then he began to carry him down into the valley towards Thorvald and Thrumdorin. And Flan ran down to get his staff. He picked up the items, from the midst of the spiders and used Thrumdorin’s shield to fend them off. And he too ran back towards Thorvald and Thrumdorin. With you all together the spiders seemed a bit more wary of attacking.

Ren explained that his companion, a priest of Sigmar, was still paralysed up in the cave, so Thorvald agreed to accompany him back up there to rescue the man, covered by Flan’s fire power. You got up to the cave and found the body covered in spider silk. Ren picked him up and Thorvald watched his back. As you tried to leave, you were jumped by a couple of spiders, but you managed to drive them away, and then run back down the slope to safety. And so you carried the priest and the elf back down the valley towards the road while the spiders tucked into goblin.

You soon arrived at the Stag’s Head where Ethel was delighted to see her daughter back safe and sound. The drinks were on the house. It was not long before the priest and Asterion returned to consciousness. Thrumdorin etched his rune on the shield which he had stolen from one of von Sap’s guards, and got Ethel to hang it behind the bar, as a trophy. So we leave you in the Stag’s Head, drinking and talking to Ren and Father Anders about how they had come to be captured by spiders.

Session Twenty-Eight (The Witch’s Song)

Once Bitten

Thrumdorin, Ironbreaker-Mercenary

Asterion, Hunter-Waywatcher-Scout

Flan, Bright Wizard

Thorvald, Roadwarden-Zealot-Witch Hunter

We join you at the Stag’s Head enjoying Ethel the landlady’s generous hospitality after you delivered her daughter to her safe and sound. Over drinks and stew Ren and Father Anders explained how they had come to be up in the hills captured by spiders.

Father Anders told you how a witch had attacked Fauligmere, his village, and it was urgent he find the witch hunter Magnus Felberg. He had heard he was in Bogenhafen or Ubersreik and Ren, a ‘guide’ he met in Eilhart, had taken him on a short cut. The priest said during the recent attack the witch had killed a couple of militia and injured others. And strange things had been going on in the village for a number of years and that the witch was the cause, and had to be dealt with once and for all. He told you that the village used to be a thriving fishing village but the fish had mostly disappeared about twenty years ago. Now the village survived through hunting bog octopus and exporting them to Marienburg.

Thorvald revealed that he was in fact a witch hunter closely associated with Felberg and would be happy to lead his band down to Fauligmere and sort out the problem for him. Father Anders was most grateful. He said he had vowed to find Felberg himself and would continue on his way, but if you could get to Fauligmere first, then that would be a good start.

Father Anders tried to negotiate some sort of payment, but Thorvald insisted it was Sigmar’s work and he would do it for free. But the rest of you managed to get 100 silver from the priest for expenses.

The next morning you set out early. Ethel had prepared some decent food, and offered her horse to Thrumdorin for saving her daughter. Thrumdorin accepted the generous gift and called it Else in her honour.

Guided by Ren, a couple of day’s largely unremarkable journey got you to Eilhart, the last big town before the marshes. And in another day you had made it to Fauligmere. The going on the final part was very heavy, and you got the impression it might have been better to go by boat than horse. Nevertheless, you must have looked the part because the wooden gates of the village were thrown open to greet you, and many of the villagers stood and watched your entrance. They were definitely wary of you but not particularly frightened and you got the general impression they were glad you were here.

It seemed that most of the villagers were extremely poor, and there was an air of decay and malaise about the place, and an overpowering stench of dead fish. It was so bad that Thorvald and Flan both felt rather queasy.

You were greeted by a tall, well-dressed fellow with a pigeon sat on his shoulder. He introduced himself as the Baron Eldred von Stauffer. He said he was glad you were here, and invited you to dinner that evening. And he directed you to the local inn, the Three Hogs, and said he was sure they’d put you up for free.

So, you had an hour to kill and checked out the Three Hogs. The landlord Tomas de Goede introduced himself and introduced you to his wife, his four young daughters, and his son. You scrutinised him but decided he might not actually have anything to hide. Tomas was surprised to hear that he had to put you up for free, but figured that he’d get the money from the baron, eventually. He asked if one room for the witch hunter and one for his retinue would suffice, and Thorvald agreed it would.

You noticed a couple of locals come in and give Tomas a length of tentacle in exchange for a beer. Thrumdorin asked if that was bog octopus. You could tell the pair were wary of you but they couldn’t resist a sarcastic reply. Thrumdorin decided to get out his crossbow and polish it menacingly and the two locals decided to quickly drink up and leave the establishment.

So after tidying yourself up a bit (Asterion put on his best thneed), you went to the baron’s. On the way over, Thorvald took a peek inside the temple of Manann to see why it was so rundown. He noticed the priest there was stumbling around the place looking the worst for wear, drinking like a fish.

At the baron’s, a doddery old butler admitted you and showed you through to the dining room. You couldn’t help noticing the many pigeons flying about the house, and the many droppings all over the place, and the servants’ uniforms. The baron greeted you friendlily, and cursorily introduced his mother and his wife, but he seemed more interested in the pigeon on his shoulder, who he introduced as ‘von Schnell.’

You had bog octopus for starters, and bog octopus for the main course, and for desert there was bog octopus surprise. You asked if there was anything else to eat, and were told that you could have pickled sea slug if you fancied it. This didn’t help those of you who already felt queasy.

Nobody brought up the witch, over dinner. The baron was mostly interested in talking about his pigeons. His mother didn’t seem interested in talking to you at all, and the one time his wife engaged in polite conversation with Thrumdorin, the baron, irritated, talked all over her. He did mention that he had an elf as a house guest. She was too busy to come for dinner, however, as she was poring over treasure maps, or something. You arranged with the baron to talk to her tomorrow if possible.

Once the meal had ended and you retired for brandy, you did talk about the witch. The baron said he was glad you were here and that he was organising a hunting party that would go out into the Cursed Marshes in a couple of days and stay out there until they had tracked the witch down and killed him. Thorvald expressed doubts that they would be able to track someone like that in marshy terrain but the baron said he had some of the finest bog octopus hunters in the Empire at his disposal and sounded confident it could be done. You did commit yourself to joining the baron’s men on the hunt, but remained sceptical.

Although the baron had apparently led the defence of the village and was in the front line of the battle, he didn’t really get a good look at the witch, he mentioned one of the militia who had been injured by the witch had survived, and though badly hurt he would be able to give you a better description . You also asked the baron about the rotting-fishy smell. He said you would soon get used to it, and that it had been around for many years. You suggested about twenty years, and he agreed.

After a pleasant enough night’s sleep at the Three Hogs you were happy to have eggs for breakfast, and Flan was feeling less queasy. You decided to split up with Thorvald and Flan talking to Voluria, the elf, and Thrumdorin and Asterion going to see the injured militiaman, Pirn van Beek.

Pirn was alone in his house, barely able to move. He was lying down and was heavily bandaged around his waist and side , but the bandages were surprisingly clean. He explained that Saskia the local healer woman was looking after him. You asked him about the witch while he won some silver off you at backgammon. He told you the witch looked like a young lad with wild eyes, who was unkempt and dressed in rags and furs. You asked about how old he might have been, and Pirn said quite young, and you said about twenty and he said yes.

Then you were interrupted by Saskia who had come to change Pirn’s bandages. She had an array of salves and lotions with her. She asked you to step outside while she worked, but Asterion convinced her he had enough medical skill to help out.

And so Saskia removed the bandages and turned to sort out her stuff. Meanwhile you decided to inspect the wounds more closely. Thrumdorin pointed out part of the wound to Asterion, but as he did so accidentally touched Pirn’s flesh. He was very shocked to see a fanged mouth appear through the mangled flesh and ooze and bite the top of his finger off.

Thrumdorin immediately grabbed his axe and apologised to Pirn for what he was about to do to his neck. Before he could land the killing blow, however, Asterion managed to grab the weapon, and there was an unsightly scuffle between the two of you, while Pirn tried to see what was happening, wondering what the Sigmar was going on. As Saskia turned to see the mutated wound, she looked shocked and surprised. Thrumdorin took the time to check out her reaction, and decided it was genuine.

After a few moments impasse, Asterion insisted he could try to save Pirn, and Thrumdorin said he would give him a few moments. The elf gave Pirn some wood elf medicine to help with the pain, and then began to try to cut out the mutation. After a few loud screams, the man was dead.

Meanwhile, Thorvald and Flan were being received by Voluria at the baron’s mansion. She was tall, eerily beautiful and silver haired, wearing a dress in the Imperial style which you guessed might be one of the baron’s wife’s. She seemed surprisingly friendly for an elf and explained that she was on the hunt for a wreck from the time of the dwarf wars, which might contain great treasures and that she was working on behalf of the elves of Marienburg.

You agreed that if possible you would help her with her search for the wreck but your priority was the hunt for the witch. She promised you a share of the spoils if you did help. You also asked her about the witch attack, but she explained that she had not yet arrived in the village at that time.

You all met up outside Pirn’s while Saskia dealt with the body. Asterion went up to the guardroom to sort out some training for the militia, which you thought they might need if they were to help with the hunt. They seemed to respond well to the training, even though it was done by an elf.

The rest of you decided to check out the Priest of Manann, whose sermon was just about to start. There was a decent attendance but the sermon was poor. Thorvald could tell the stories were all mixed up with important bits left out, and Flan realised the guy’s theology was all over the place. You noticed that the baron’s mother appeared rapt and impressed throughout, but there was not a lot of enthusiasm among the rest of the congregation.

During the service, Flan grew suspicious of von Schnell sat on the baron’s shoulder and scrutinised it magically, but he decided the creature was just a normal bird!

You waited for Father Salzig afterwards when everyone was gone and Thorvald confronted him about his appalling service and with his suspicion that he wasn’t a real priest. Though insisting he really was, the man soon broke down. He explained he was always useless and the bottom of his initiate class back in Marienburg and never seemed to get anything right, but he was happy here and doing a good job for the village. Then he admitted that he wasn’t actually doing a good job. He told you that the baron’s mother had hired him and seemed to think he wasn’t too bad. And you noticed that the wine he was drinking was the same stuff that you had at dinner the previous night. Salzig said that the baron’s mother gave it to him as a bonus.

Thorvald told him to buck his ideas up and stop drinking. Salzig promised he would never touch another drop, and that he could be relied on in future and that he wouldn’t let you down. And he thanked you for the second chance. You also asked him when he started as priest in the village, and he told you about twenty years ago.

And so we leave you in Fauligmere in the middle of the Cursed Marshes, getting to know the locals.

Good stuff, Bog Eel Surprise!

I love the players suspecting the pigeon. Wrong adventure for it to be the bird.

Rob

Session Twenty-Nine (The Witch’s Song)

Mud

Thrumdorin, Ironbreaker-Mercenary-Tomb Robber

Asterion, Hunter-Waywatcher-Scout

Flan, Bright Wizard

We join you in Fauligmere in the Cursed Marshes. You’d just been having a word with Father Salzig about conduct becoming a Priest of Manann. Asterion was at the guardhouse instructing the village watch.

You noticed there was a bit of a crowd gathering outside Pirn van Beek’s. Thrumdorin and Flan went to see what was happening. You also decided you needed another word with Saskia about other people who might have been injured by the witch. She told you that Pirn was the only surviving victim.

Thrumdorin asked the villagers what was going on like he didn’t know the elf had just ripped Pirn’s guts out trying to save him from being decapitated by Thrumdorin, and he managed to pull off the respectful tone. Thrumdorin told the villagers that Pirn had been touched by Chaos and it had been your duty to end his life for the greater good. He invited the villagers to inspect the corpse to see that you spoke the truth. Thrumdorin also organised a proper funeral, drafting in some of the watch as an honour guard. They put Pirn’s body in a small boat and set fire to it as it drifted away into the marshes.

Then Flan went to the baron’s again, to tell Voluria that you might have some time after all to look for the wreck she had told you about. Though when she learned that Thrumdorin and Asterion would be with you she declined the offer.

You had a notion that you should send out octopus hunters to look for witch signs, and this would greatly help the baron’s hunt in a few days. You went to tell the baron of your plan. You could tell he wasn’t too interested but told you you could do it if you really wanted to. Thrumdorin decided that meant he was giving you the full baronial authority to organise hunting parties and so you headed off to the jetty to find some octopus hunters.

Crossing the village square you noticed some old lady trying to get a bit of octopus tentacle from her dog. She couldn’t catch him, but Asterion managed to catch the animal without getting dirty at all and hand the lady back her tentacle. You then noticed Emma de Goede (your landlady) get involved in a scuffle with some dark-haired woman over a dropped bucket of snails or something. You decided it was a local matter for local people.

When you got to the jetty, you spoke to one old hunter called Steffan who told you about octopus hunting and he agreed it might be worthwhile sending all the hunters out to keep a look out for the witch. You decided it would be better to have a proper chat about organising the octopus hunters and that you’d meet him at the Three Hogs later.

On returning to your inn you noticed that Emma and her daughters were all upset. She explained that Tomas and Karel had been out all day looking for octopus to feed you and they hadn’t returned and they shouldn’t be out this late, just as night was falling. You told her not to worry and that as soon as Steffan arrived you would all go and search for him. You asked her to get your dinner meanwhile, but she told you she only had one egg left.

So when Steffan did turn up, you all left again on an empty stomach. You decided you were probably the worst people in the entire village to be going out into the marsh like this but you had promised the man’s wife you’d make an effort. You followed the trail that Tomas usually took and went past farmer Fleiss’s place. You knocked him up but he said he hadn’t seen anyone all evening. After a while you managed to pick up some tracks and a bit later you found Tomas lying in a pool of blood in a ditch, clutching a broken spear.

Flan made a pretty good job of patching him up, but he was barely conscious and muttered something about Karel. You checked around the area and found the conspicuous tracks of some two-foot long foot prints which you recognised as probably river troll. The troll also seemed to be dragging something bloody with it, which you thought might be Karel. You took Tomas back to the safety of Farmer Fleiss’s before heading back into the marsh to look for Karel.

You followed the tracks through the marsh as best you could as it was getting very dark by now. After a good while the tracks disappeared at the edge of a pond, and you could see a body or something bundled up in a short tree on the other side of it. You scouted around the pond and Asterion climbed the tree ready to lower the body down. You were expecting something to emerge from the pond, and sure enough a river troll erupted from the water, disturbed by your presence.

You hit it with everything you had and the poor creature, pierced, smashed and immolated, screamed and fell to the bottom of its pond. As it did so, another troll crept up behind Thrumdorin and tried to grab him. It missed, and it was not long before you had sent this one the way of the first.

Asterion gave first aid to Karel while they were still in the tree to make sure he wouldn’t injure him further as he lowered him down. Karel looked like he’d survive, but you needed to carry him. And so you set off back to Farmer Fleiss’s in the darkness.

After a while you saw a light in the distance. You decided it was much too soon to have reached the farmhouse. You thought it might be a lantern or something by the way it moved and changed direction. So Flan and Steffan stayed with Karel while Asterion sneaked after the light, with Thrumdorin following behind. As they approached the light, Asterion and Thrumdorin found themselves up to their knees in thick cloying mud and as they struggled to be free of it, it just seemed to suck them in deeper.

Thrumdorin managed to keep himself level but Asterion was sinking fast and beginning to flap. Thrumdorin called for help and Steffan and Flan came running. Flan decided to try to pull Thrumdorin out first so that the dwarf could help with pulling Asterion out. And Steffan reached Asterion and threw him his octopus net. As Flan dragged Thrumdorin to safety, Asterion disappeared beneath the mud, never to be seen again, until Steffan pulled him back to the surface. And then Steffan was joined by some other mysterious figure and the pair of them pulled the elf to safety.

You looked at your strange companion. He gestured to you silently to follow him, and after grabbing Karel you did. You followed him through the marsh in the darkness for a while and eventually came to a wicker shelter which was surprisingly comfortable inside. The man was quite old and dressed in rags and furs. You thought it might be the witch at first but decided he was much too old. It looked like he had been living out here for quite some time. He gave you some octopus and some warm tea, but never spoke the whole time, instead communicated by gestures.

He gestured that you could get some rest and gave his bed to Karel, but you were a bit uneasy and decided to take it in turns to keep watch. You noticed a pendant around his neck which seemed to be a rough wooden carving of a Shallyan dove. Flan regarded the man with his magical sight but discerned no trace of magic around him. Thrumdorin decided he had the bearing perhaps of a Shallyan monk, or something, and that he could be trusted.

So we leave you there, in the hermit’s shelter, in the middle of the night, in the middle of the Cursed Marshes.

Session Thirty (The Witch’s Song)

Calamari

Thrumdorin, Ironbreaker-Mercenary

Asterion, Hunter-Waywatcher-Scout

Flan, Bright Wizard

Thorvald, Roadwarden-Zealot-Witch Hunter

We join you in the strange hermit’s wicker hut as the sun begins to rise on the cold and misty Cursed Marshes. The hermit was up early preparing you a moss tea, octopus, and snail breakfast which was better than it looked, though Flan eyed it suspiciously for signs of taint.

Karel woke up and though still injured was looking much better, he thanked you for saving him and you told him his father was safe too. Soon the hermit gestured for you to come outside and follow him through the marsh. So, you all, with Steffan and Karel in tow followed the hermit.

After about half an hour of walking, the hermit became suddenly still and gestured for you to stop and be quiet. And in a few moments you saw something long and thin snaking through the water. You recognised it as the sort of octopus tentacle that was the staple food around the village, but you could tell that if the tentacle was an indication, the octopus it belonged to must be at least four or five times bigger than the ones you saw hung up in the village shops.

You all tried your best to be as still as possible while the tentacle groped around. Silently and carefully, Thrumdorin and Thorvald began to load their guns while Flan concentrated on his magical power. Unfortunately Thorvald made an involuntary movement, which the tentacle thing seemed to sense and it quickly slithered along towards him.

Asterion quickly drew his bow and fired at the tentacle. He managed to hit it, and sever it, but in doing so, made enough movement himself to attract another tentacle from the swamp. As it moved towards him, Thrumdorin shot it (and managed to keep still) but did not destroy it. The tentacle wrapped around Asterion’s leg and dragged him under the water.

Flan fired his magic at the tentacle and frazzled it. But all Asterion’s struggling attracted another tentacle which grabbed him and dragged him under the water again. Meanwhile a fourth tentacle slipped around Thorvald and dragged him into the muddy water. Flan once more burned the tentacle around Asterion, and Thrumdorin managed to beat back Thorvald’s tentacle which slithered off into the marsh. And you never got to see the body of a thing that could have such large tentacles.

After Asterion had seen to his wounds, the hermit pressed on silently into the marsh and in another half an hour you could see Fauligmere through the thinning mist. The hermit gestured for you to continue and then quickly turned and walked back into the marsh.

Back in the village Tomas was at the Three Hogs with Emma and his daughters and they were extremely happy to see Karel safe and sound. Emma cooked you the egg she had been saving. Saskia was there too, tending to Tomas and she set to work on Karel and Asterion. Asterion was very interested to know about the various healing salves she was applying to him, thinking he could learn a few things about the marsh healing plants and their preparation. Saskia told him some of the stuff she knew, but Asterion was unconvinced. It seemed to him that she was talking nonsense.

You considered going back out and training the militia some more but decided they were in as fine a shape as they were ever going to get, and that your time might be better spent in the Three Hogs all afternoon. You were quite popular in the inn and sat around talking about the witch with the locals. One of them, Seth, seemed a bit ready with accusations of witchcraft. He accused several villagers of being the witch, as well as yourselves.

At nightfall the inn began to empty and lots of villagers headed out to their boats. You went out to have a look and it seemed like nearly all the village was heading off into the marsh. This was a bit strange. Seth said they were off to call down the dark gods and that he wasn’t invited because he was a Sigmar-fearing loyal citizen of the Empire. He said that the baron wasn’t invited either, for the same reason. You also noticed Father Salzig a bit the worst for wear, and it seemed he also had not been invited.

You decided to take a closer look at what the villagers were up to and got Seth to row you out into the dark marsh, following the lights of the villagers. You soon came to a round pond, which the villagers had all surrounded. They were singing hymns and holding hands to leave you in no doubt it was some sort of worship. Seth said they were going to call up a dark god from the pond but Flan had a good listen and decided the hymns were to Manann and entirely proper. The villagers started throwing small offerings into the pool which Seth said was to wake the dark gods but Flan said it was typical of Manannites to throw small objects into the water as a sacrifice. So you decided this was a proper service to Manann and you headed back to the village. To get Seth off your back you told him to keep a look out for the dark gods and if he saw anything suspicious to leave you a message at the Three Hogs.

You decided you had to go and sort out Salzig before you left. He was drinking from a bottle of wine at his altar. Thrumdorin fired a shot from his long rifle and burst the bottle from his hand. Thorvald told the shaken priest that he had had enough chances and that he wasn’t going to get anymore. You told him to leave the village and never come back. The priest was pretty pathetic about it and nearly burst into tears. You told him he had to write a letter to Marienburg requesting a replacement priest and leave it in the inn for you, and then go and tell Lady Theodora that he was leaving. And then you smashed up all his wine bottles.

The next morning the small band of militia the baron had managed to assemble were parading in the village square before heading into the marsh. You had a word with the baron who was inspecting his troops. You told him again how you thought his plan of marching around in the marsh was doomed to failure. He told you he expected you to join him regardless. You said you’d follow them at a distance because you didn’t like all the noise they’d be making, and that if he required you, to blow three times on his hunting horn.

So you watched the baron’s men leave rather sneeringly from the village palisade. Flan and Thrumdorin noticed Voluria desperately trying to secretly attract Thorvald’s attention from behind the watchtower. Eventually Thorvald did notice and went to see what she wanted. She told Thorvald that further research had led her to believe the treasure ship was inside a cave called Morr’s Mouth somewhere in the marshes. She told him that if he discovered anything like this then he should report back to her and would be richly rewarded. And she told him not to tell anyone else. So Thorvald went back and told you all about it.

After leaving it about half an hour you followed the baron into the marsh. You could just about see them in the distance but could follow their trail also. After a couple of hours of wading, you saw where the militia had walked straight through a patch of spineweed, which was pretty stupid, and must have hurt quite a bit. But not before Thrumdorin had stepped on one and hurt his foot, too.

And so we leave you in the middle of the Cursed Marshes once again, trying to catch a witch.

Session Thirty-One (The Witch’s Song)

The Prisoner

Thrumdorin, Ironbreaker-Mercenary- Tomb Robber

Asterion, Hunter-Waywatcher-Scout

Flan, Bright Wizard

Thorvald, Roadwarden-Zealot-Witch Hunter

We join you following the baron and his retinue through the Cursed Marshes in search of a witch.

You trailed them for several hours. The marsh flies buzzed around you getting in your faces and being annoying. After a while Asterion mentioned that this was the sort of place you often get fleshslugs, and sure enough, you checked and Thrumdorin and Flan both found a couple on them, sucking their blood. Flan burned them off, but they disturbed Thrumdorin and he was not happy about wading through the marsh with them around.

After a few more hours there was a sudden disturbance up by the baron’s men and a couple of stifled blasts on the horn. You ran up there as fast as you could to see the marsh itself seemingly attacking the militia. The monstrous shambling form was made from weeds and decaying matter and its limbs from dead trees. Some of the militia were struggling to fight it, and the rest were fleeing. As you got nearer you could also hear a strange singing sound on the air, though it was unclear where this was coming from.

Thrumdorin and Thorvald hung back a bit trying to think of what sort of creature the thing might be, while Flan immediately blasted it with fire. As if in response coloured fire came out of the air and hit Flan. Asterion could see what looked like a skull in the middle of the marsh monster, with two glowing red eyes within it. He fired his arrow at that and hit it directly, and the creature suddenly lost all form and returned to the swamp. The flames then attacked Asterion but he managed to dodge them.

Flan wrapped himself in shielding winds but something strange began to happen to him. His limbs became all long and weirdly distended as he lost control of his magic.

Thrumdorin spotted someone lurking in the marsh and decided that was where the singing was coming from. He directed Thrumdorin towards it. As the dwarf approached he became tangled and trapped by marsh weed as if the plants themselves were trying to drag him back. He managed to break the hold but fell flat into the water. Thrumdorin charged the withc, hit him and he seemed to surrender. But Flan was not sure whether he had given up and so hit him with some magical fire, and the man collapsed in a heap.

Flan quickly explained that it must have been the witch’s perverse magic that made him appear strange, and not him losing control of his own magic or anything like that.

You were pretty sure this was the witch as described from the attack on Faligmere. Asterion and Flan tried to see to the man’s wounds and decided it was serious but he would probably live. Saskia rushed over to help, too. Flan managed to get in Saskia’s way as she was trying to see to the witch, and Thrumdorin asked her to move back, because you did not trust her healing potions. Flan checked them out, and he could see that they were glowing with a slight magical taint.

The baron came over and told you how wrong you had been about the hunt, and capturing the witch had proved he had been right all along. He wanted to head back to Fauligmere straight away but as you knew you would not be able to get back before nightfall you told him it would be better to camp right there for the night, and he agreed.

So you went about setting up a camp and gradually the militia returned from whence they had fled. Saskia made some sort of tea which she described as a healing potion which she handed out to everyone. Flan looked at it with magical sight and he could see it was tainted, and so threw it away when she was not looking and got the rest of you to do the same, though the baron and the militia all drank theirs.

As night fell the witch regained consciousness and you questioned him. He didn’t say much at first but, supported by Saskia, you learned that he had only come to the village to warn the villagers and hadn’t wanted to fight them; they attacked him and he had only reacted in self defence. You asked him what he wanted to warn them about but he said that it did not matter now. Thrumdorin promised him that if he did have a very good reason for coming to the village then he would make sure he was not burned as a witch, but that did not move him.

The guards and the baron all seemed to be fast asleep by now, and you let the witch get some rest and guarded the camp. Saskia came to Flan and told the story of when she had been lost in the marsh and that the witch, he was called Krijn, had saved her from certain death. She told Flan that knowing this he should let Krijn go, because he was a good guy and didn’t deserve to be burned by the baron. Flan could see her point of view but refused to release Krijn.

Flan also told Saskia about the tainted medicine that she was using and told her she shouldn’t use it again because it was that which caused Pirn to grow the mutation. She was very shocked to learn this.

Then Saskia went to Asterion and gave him the same story. He said that he would let Krijn go if he got the chance. Saskia said she would try to create a diversion to get the attention of the others so he could do it.

Thorvald told Saskia that there was no way they could even think about releasing Krijn if they didn’t know why he had come to the village and what danger it was supposed to be in. Saskia urged Krijn to reveal this. The witch eventually told you that he had met an elf who had tortured him to find the whereabouts of a cave she was looking for. He did not know the cave, but she did not believe him. He managed to get free and fight her off, and she had fled to the village. He had gone to the village to warn Saskia. He said the elf had been dressed in black leathers, but you concluded that it probably was Voluria. Thrumdoirn had to admit that this was a good reason to come to the village and remembered the promise he had made Krijn.

You decided between you that it might be better if Krijn was released, but you knew Throvald wouldn’t go along with that, so you hatched a plot whereby when he was out of sight, you would release the witch and pretend he had escaped. You cut Krijn’s bonds and Thrumdorin took a blast of witchfire in the face to cover your story. And Flan fired some fire into the marsh in the opposite direction of Krijn’s escape.

When Throvald came running Thrumdorin explained that Krijn had somehow got free and attacked you before running off, a story which Thorvald believed. So we leave you camped in the middle of the marsh again in the middle of the night, guarding some sleeping militia and the baron.

Excellent, I assume the players are good at "siloing Player from PC information"?

So the heroes are now all Rank 3. How are you finding balance issues etc? I'm finding at Rank 2 that the wood elf with Rapid Fire is a deadly machine.

Thorvald's player was there while everyone was trying to work out a way to solve the problem. He didn't really contribute to the scheme except to confirm that he'd be fine with it. Because of Flan and Thorvald there is often a bit of ooc talk about how to avoid the two coming to blows. Amusingly, even though he has higher Willpower and I require a more difficult check for Flan, Thorvald has actually suffered more corruption from all the crap that Flan is carrying around with him, than Flan has.

Thorvald's player decided that he would roll to see if Thorvald would see through Thrum's story, and although the odds favoured him, he failed the roll. I think if he had succeeded then there would have probably been a big fight there and then.

Yeah, the rapid firing wood elf did come across as a bit over powered. But this was mostly earlier on in the game, when he was still first and second rank (because we'd played some sessions before this log started, Asterion had 38 exp, iirc, by this stage). Since second rank the fire wizard has probably become the most powerful weapon, but he is of course more reliant on everyone's protection.

Thorvald is probably a bit underpowered, in melee, but he still has had his moments in the sun. And also, as a witch hunter he is probably the most powerful entity, per se, in the party. Thrumdorin is the most interesting build. I have no idea what he is or how he is built, but he holds the party together in combat. He just stands in the middle, singing songs and watching people's backs and makes them cohesive and very hard to break down. When he doesn't manage to do that, they are all much weaker.

Session Thirty-Two (The Witch’s Song)

Witch Hunting

Thrumdorin, Ironbreaker-Mercenary- Tomb Robber

Asterion, Hunter-Waywatcher-Scout

Flan, Bright Wizard

We join you in the middle of the marsh on a dank misty morning. It was an uneventful night. The militia slept like logs thanks to Saskia’s potion. When they did wake up Flan explained that it was probably the marsh gases that had made them all so sleepy. You had to explain to the baron that Krijn the witch had escaped. He tried berating you about it, but Thrumdorin swiftly turned the tables on him and made him see that it had all been his fault for sleeping on duty.

In any case, the conversation was interrupted by the arrival of von Schnell, the baron’s prized pigeon. It seemed it was able to home in on him. He read the note attached and explained that his mother was insisting he return home immediately. You told him that you would head off and look for the mysterious cave that Voluria had been on about. The baron told you that a witch hunter had arrived in Fauligmere and arrested a load of peasants and he had to go back. You decided that was a more urgent problem than finding the cave and so accompanied the baron back to town.

Flan decided to hide his bag of interesting items in the hollow of an old tree outside town, just in case the witch hunter got the wrong impression.

Before getting into town you could see at the jetty a big black barge flying the banner of the Templars of Sigmar. And at the town gates a tough-looking black-robed soldier demanded you hand over your weapons. Flan managed to take his staff with him, and Thrumdorin told the guy to take good care of Korden’s hammer. Even the baron had to hand over his stuff.

You went straight to the manor house, passing a huge pyre that was being constructed in the village square. There was not a single pigeon flying about the manor, but there were many feathers scattered over the floor and the whiff of pigeon pie came from the kitchen. Witch Hunter Felberg emerged. The baron confronted him angrily but the witch hunter pulled rank and sent him to his room. You saw that Seth was with Felberg and had clearly been telling him about all his suspicions of witch craft and dark gods. And Father Anders was there, too.

You talked to Felberg about your mission at Grauenburg and he seemed pleased with your conduct there, and amused at the coincidence that brought you together again in Fauligmere. You explained that the baron had lost the witch and Felberg seemed to buy that, and he revealed he had already found a mutant in Fauligmere that you had missed. But you told him you had discovered one, already. You agreed to work for him here, of course, and you went back to the gatehouse to get all your weapons back. He told you to relax this evening and get ready to go through the village searching out witches and mutants early the next day.

Thorvald stayed with Felberg talking about important stuff while his lowly helpers went back to the Three Hogs. Tomas and Emma fed you and filled you in on what had been going on. The witch hunters had arrested Granny Eidelbroek for being a mutant and all her family for harbouring her. The family were due to be hanged in the morning, and the mutant burned later.

You got directions to granny’s house and went there straight away. Flan could sense some sort of vague magical presence there, which he associated with tainted magic and mutation. He also found an empty bottle which he recognised as one of Saskia’s, and which had a trace of the dark magic within it.

You went to see Saskia. On the way there you asked one of the Templars what was up with Granny Eidelbroek and he said she was half bog octopus, or something. Saskia told you that she regularly gave Granny Eidelbroek a tonic to help with her flexible joints. Thrumdorin said she probably had more flexible joints than Saskia had anticipated. You told her to stop giving out her and insisted she hand over what stuff she had. And, under the ruse of a toilet stop, Thrumdorin took them out into the marsh and drowned them. You also warned Saskia to keep clear of Seth.

In the morning as you went up to the manor house you could see them preparing the gallows on the witch hunter’s barge as you passed. You asked Felberg if you could inspect Granny Eidelbroek, which he agreed to. You went down to the cellar with Geier, Felberg’s expert torturer. After a brief inspection you had to admit she really was a mutant. She had four long tentacle-like appendages growing from her waist. You asked her about it and she told you she had them for a year or so and didn’t know why she had them; she didn’t worship the dark gods. She told you she had been hiding it from her family. Thrumdorin told her off for that.

You believed Granny that her family had not known anything about the mutation, but you resigned yourselves to not being able to save them. So you went to the river, where most of the village had turned out to watch Granny’s son and daughter and son-in-law (and dog) being hanged.

Then you had to start work. Felberg gave you a street to go through, visiting every house and sniffing out signs of dark gods, mutation and witchcraft, and putting the sign of Sigmar on the door if you found the place to be clean.

You visited a good number of houses, questioning the occupants and checking them for mutations and satisfying yourselves that they were free of dark influences. About midday you visited the van Berkels. Nadia van Berkel told you that she had proof that the de Goedes (your landlords) were in concert with the dark gods. She said that Emma de Goede regularly sent daemons to haunt her dreams at night.

You recalled that this Nadia was the woman Emma had been having a fight with in the village square and you supposed that she had an axe to grind. You interrogated her about the dreams and the daemons and you didn’t find it very convincing, but decided you had better go to the Three Hogs and check it all out.

So you got the de Goedes together and went through your witch hunting routine. Emma was not very pleased and told you that you were just as bad as Felberg’s lot. Flan went through their private quarters sniffing out magic and he did sense some traces. Emma told you that Saskia had given her some medicine for something or other a few weeks ago. You decided not to report the de Goedes but neither did you paint the sign of Sigmar on their door.

You had finished your street and decided it was time to see Voluria. She was still at the manor house staying mostly in her room. She told you she was getting along fine with her research and asked you if you had found her cave yet. As you talked, Flan got an air of something strange and magical from her and it seemed to be in her bag. You got a bit heavy handed with her, and Thrumdorin emptied the contents of her bag out onto the floor and sorted through it with his foot. She was being remarkably tolerant of you.

The magic came from a round metal device, which had the elven runes for ‘sea wraith’ etched upon it. It opened up to look a lot like any navigation compass, and it seemed to be pointing northwards. Voluria explained that it always pointed to her ship, the Sea Wraith. Thrumdorin had a look through her maps and stuff, and you talked about her hunt for the cave. Voluria said she had narrowed down the area in which it might be. Although you had serious suspicions about the elf, you felt you didn’t have much evidence of anything.

Heading back to the Three Hogs you learned that the de Goedes had been taken in for questioning. Nadia van Berkel had gone over your heads and complained directly to Felberg, or someone. Karel de Goede was being questioned by Geier down in the cellar when you got to the manor and you asked if you could participate.

When you got there, Geier was asking Karel about the witch and if he knew where he was. The lad did well to withstand the torture, but eventually he admitted that he had been rescued by some wild man in the marsh and he could have been a witch. Geier asked who else knew about him, and you had to give Karel dirty looks to stop him dropping you in it. Eventually Geier got Karel to agree to lead the witch hunters to the marsh-man’s hut.

You volunteered for the job. You suggested that you bring Karel’s mother, in order to keep her safe from Felberg’s interrogation, pretending she might be used as leverage over her son. Felberg insisted that you be accompanied by four of his best men but Flan managed to convince Felberg that you were all competent enough that the soldiers could be put to better use in the village. And so you agreed to take Karel and his mother into the marsh the next morning to look for the marsh-man.

Thrumdorin decided that as Nadia van Berkel had been seeing daemons, that she should be arrested too, and made sure she was.

So we leave you in Fauligmere preparing to get a good night’s sleep before going back out to the marsh looking for witches once more.

Session Thirty-Three (The Witch’s Song)

Up the Creek

Thrumdorin, Ironbreaker-Mercenary- Tomb Robber

Asterion, Hunter-Waywatcher-Scout

Flan, Bright Wizard

Thorvald, Roadwarden-Zealot-Witch Hunter

We join you in Fauligmere in the morning getting ready to go out and find the hermit, with Karel and his mother. Thorvald had agreed to come with you, but wondered why you were going after a harmless old man who you had already met, and decided he wasn’t a witch. You explained about the torturing of Karel and said you decided it was the easiest way to save the de Goedes.

Thorvald wasn’t convinced and went to tell Felberg it was a waste of time. Felberg still thought it would be worth doing and asked Thorvald to go along. He said he trusted Thorvald but had some doubts about the rest of his retinue. We also learned that Thorvald had told Felberg about his suspicions of Saskia’s medicine and so Felberg declared she would be arrested.

So you wandered out into the marsh. You found it pretty straight forward finding the route back to the hermit’s shack and got there in a couple of hours. You called for the hermit to come out and although he looked a bit wary he was happy enough to see you. You told him you had to take him back to the village to be questioned. He didn’t seem to know what this was all about and didn’t want to come, but you insisted.

You also asked him if he knew where Morr’s Mouth cave was, and he indicated that he did, and that it would take four or five hours to get there. And so you had the notion that Felberg wouldn’t mind if you took a day-long detour to check the place out. The hermit led you deep into the marshes, and then eventually to the bank of the Reik, and then into the river delta. It was hard going, being on foot.

Eventually you found a cliff that rose up out of the marsh and one of the distributaries of the Reik flowed straight into it. You found the cave opening to be difficult to pass through without a boat, the river filling up most of the cave. So you popped back to a small fishing village you had passed on the banks of the Reik and purchased one of their fishing boats, for a fair price.

Thrumdorin rowed you back to the cave. The hermit refused to enter it, gesticulating that it was the road to the afterlife, or something. And Karel and Emma decided it might be safer to wait for you outside, too. And so just the four of you rowed into the darkness. It was remarkably still and calm inside, and the only movement seemed to be you disturbing the water. You rowed for some time, half an hour or so, until the narrow course opened out into darkness and what seemed to be an endless cavern.

Flan illuminated the place with his fire, and you could make out that this was a huge underground lake. The river seemed to continue on through an opening on the far side. Near the middle of the lake was a jut of rocks forming an island, and there was a large rusting thing upon it. And closer to you, you could see the tips of two damaged masts emerging from the water, which you thought could be elven craftsmanship.

Thrumdorin decided that the pile of rust was a dwarven vessel and rowed towards it. As you got closer you could see it seemed to be the front half of a ship (the other half somewhere at the bottom of the lake, no doubt) of ancient dwarven manufacture, wrecked against the rocky island. At the prow stood a large bolt thrower.

You landed on the island and checked out the wreck. Thrumdorin recognised the runes upon the thrower’s bolts as a powerful fire rune. You checked out the rest of the ship but it was a big mess. Hardly anything of use had survived, and you realised that if it did date back to the War of the Beard then it would be thousands of years old. Thrumdorin went below decks and waded about in the murky water and did manage to retrieve a fine silver tankard, but that was about it.

You then headed towards the elf ship, but before you could reach the masts, a gigantic tentacle emerged from the depths and smacked your boat over, sending you all into the water. Other tentacles wrapped themselves around Thorvald, Flan and Thrumdorin. Asterion swam to the island easily enough.

Thrumdorin managed to prise himself out of the giant octopus’s grasp and swim to the island despite his heavy armour. Thrumdoinr extricated himself from his tentacle, too, but couldn’t manage the swim. He was able to struggle out of his armour, though.

Flan was caught fast and tried to summon some fire magic. As he did so, though, something went strange. ‘Unpredictable’ magic reached out towards Asterion and somehow Flan and Asterion changed places. Flan was suddenly on the safety of the island while Asterion was caught by the octopus.

Another tentacle grabbed Thorvald and dragged him down into the depths. It was squeezing him tightly and he couldn’t break free. Meanwhile Flan blasted Asterion’s tentacle and the elf managed to swim to the island.

Thorvald lost consciousness as the tentacle pulled him towards the creature’s maw and it was clear he would die in a few moments. Asterion grabbed his slackfungus, dived into the water and swam down as quickly as he could towards the octopus. Unfortunately he couldn’t get the stuff into the creature’s mouth.

Flan used all his power to burn the tentacle holding Thorvald and he incinerated it, despite it being under water. Now free, Thorvald’s body floated limply away. Asterion managed to grab it and swam slowly up with it towards the surface, exhausted himself. You managed to pull the body onto the island, and inspected it for signs of life. You could see that the witch hunter was still breathing very, very faintly.

So we leave you on the middle of the island, in the middle of the lake, in the middle of the cave, in the middle of the cursed marshes...

Session Thirty-Four (The Witch’s Song)

We’re gonna need a Bigger Boat

Thrumdorin, Ironbreaker-Mercenary- Tomb Robber

Asterion, Hunter-Waywatcher-Scout

Flan, Bright Wizard

Thorvald, Roadwarden-Zealot-Witch Hunter

We join you on the island in the middle of the underground lake. Thorvald just about gained consciousness but he was in a bad way. Asterion attached a rope to his arrow and shot it into your damaged rowing boat and dragged it to the island. It was bashed up a bit but you decided it should just about carry you above the water.

Asterion dived down to swim around looking for the treasure that Voluria had been on about. He saw the octopus cowering in the wreck but couldn’t find anything that looked valuable and didn’t want to swim too close.

Your rowing boat had a large hole in but it still floated, and so you put Throvald’s body across the upturned hull and swam alongside it back towards the cursed marshes. You barely managed to avoid tipping the whole thing over.

When you emerged into the light the hermit, Emma and Karel were still there waiting for you, relieved to see you alive. You headed back to the fishing village and gave them their boat back, which they thought they’d be able to repair easily enough. They let you stay the night, but you had to sleep in the bait room, which was very smelly and not good for Thorvald’s wounds.

You wondered about the hermit and why he had not run off when he had the chance but it seemed to you that the man was resigned to his fate and actually seemed to want to be punished, for some reason.

When you got back to Fauligmere you could see they had finished their huge pyre and even extended it. Felberg explained that he had followed the lead discovered by Thorvald and traced everyone who had imbibed Saskia’s Chaotic potions. They were all locked in the cellar and due to be burned the next day. You decided that there was not much you could do about it, and some of you thought the action was probably just, in any case.

Felberg asked you all whether you had taken Saskia’s brew which you all denied, because you hadn’t, except Asterion who had and his denial was not convincing. Felberg threatened to have him thrown in jail and burned the next day, but Throvald managed to persuade him that he was a loyal witch hunter and the safest place for him would be at Throvald’s side where he could keep an eye on him.

You decided you wanted a word with the baron’s mother and went to see her. At first she stood up to you, but you managed to bully the story of her past out of her, and her relationship with Father Salzig. She admitted that her son had fancied one of the local girls but she wouldn’t allow them to marry and so she had her run out of town. You guessed that the girl was pregnant and that the son was Krijn.

You went to ask the hermit about this, and seeing that his story was out, he gave up his vow of silence in order to tell you the whole tale. He explained that he was Theodora’s bodyguard and that she had ordered him to take the baron’s girlfriend, and the priest of Manann who had secretly married them, out into the marsh to kill them. He did kill the priest but felt sorry for the pregnant girl and had let her go. He couldn’t return to the village with his guilt and so vowed to stay in the marsh and keep silent about his crimes until Shallya had judged him. He seemed to think he deserved to be burned the next day. You left the hermit alone with Theodora to see if any natural justice might occur, but the hermit’s vows to Shallya prevailed.

And so you confronted the baron with this new information. He got very angry with his mother and banished her from the village forever. You left him to come to terms with the idea that his son was actually the witch of Fauligmere.

So you went back to the Three Hogs and helped yourself to free beer and food from the de Goedes who were in the cellar waiting for their execution.

So the next morning you turned up in the village square. Many villagers were led out to the pyre, including Saskia, Granny Eidelbroek, Tomas and Emma de Goede and Karel and his four sisters, Nadia van Berkel, the hermit, Steffan the octopus hunter, farmer Fleiss and his family, and about thirty other villagers. The witch hunters lit the pyre and you watched the fire burn and all the villagers dying in agony until Felberg had had enough and retired to the manor house. You didn’t want to appear undedicated or squeamish by watching for less time than he did.

Then you decided you should confront Voluria but she was nowhere to be seen. Felberg told you that she had left town first thing, before the burnings. He explained that she had been very keen to interrogate many of the villagers herself, especially the octopus hunters, and had been particularly good at it, getting many confessions. Apparently she had discovered stuff about her elf treasure and went off to find it in a hurry.

You decided she must be going to the cave and so you borrowed one of the many, by now, spare boats hanging around the jetty grabbing the biggest one you thought you could manage to sail between you. You loaded up with harpoons, octopus nets, pitch and rope and set off for the Reik. On the way you managed to spot an erstwhile hiding place on the side of the river, which could have hidden a small boat. You guessed this was where Voluria might have kept her boat.

In a few hours you got to Morr’s Mouth cave but there was no sign of Voluria. You rowed into the darkness and when you came to the lake were careful of the giant octopus, but it didn’t emerge. You grabbed the fire-rune bolts from the dwarf vessel and Thrumdorin decided there was a chance he could save the ancient bolt thrower, and using all his skills as a smith, rather miraculously managed to get it working. You loaded it on board your boat and carefully made your way to the other end of the lake.

You found where the river continued its course through the rocks and followed it. Your journey through the darkness and silence was very eerie and went on for many hours. Eventually you saw light at the end of the tunnel and you emerged into what looked like an inlet of a huge tidal estuary. You assumed it must be the Manaanspoortsee to the north of Marienburg.

You wondered what to do next. There was no sign of Voluria or where she might be. But then, coming from the estuary a strange mist seemed to be drifting towards you. Flan recognised it was magical of a similar type to the magic of Voluria’s compass. And as the impenetrable wall of mist drew nearer, three leathery-winged, monstrous, flying creatures emerged from the cloud, shrieking and coming straight for you.

Session Thirty-Five (The Witch’s Song)

Fire in the Hull

Thrumdorin, Ironbreaker-Mercenary- Tomb Robber

Asterion, Hunter-Waywatcher-Scout

Flan, Bright Wizard

Thorvald, Roadwarden-Zealot-Witch Hunter

We join you somewhere on the shores of the Manaanspoortsee in your fishing boat. A dense magical mist was approaching you, out of which three monsters flew, looking like they were about to attack you.

Asterion quickly nocked an arrow and hit one of the monsters sending it crashing into the sea. He took out the second one, too, and winged the third. Thorvald managed to hit the third and so all three harpies were swiftly dealt with.

But the impenetrable mist kept closing. You had time to prepare yourselves before you became engulfed by it and so steered the boat as close as you could get to the shore. Thorvald shot a crossbow bolt into the mist and heard a yelp of pain in response. The yelp was due to Flan using wizard-humour. But encouraged by the sound, Asterion followed Thorvald’s lead and shot some arrows blindly into the mist. And Thrumdorin fired a couple of the magical fire-rune bolts from the bolt thrower.

And then the mist engulfed you all. Inside you could just make out a large vessel of some sort bearing down on you. It was dark and looked a bit elven. On the prow you could see it had its own bolt thrower, and there were a number of figures on the deck. As it closed you could make out a cage-like thing near the stern with some female figures around it and a body imprisoned within it.

Flan immediately tried to blast the ship with flame but his powers failed him. And some strange purple shape spontaneously loomed behind him, as if a magical shadow of his very being, or something. In response, the bolter from the ship shot straight into your boat, making a mess of the decking and sending up sharp splinters.

Thrumdorin shot one of the fire-rune bolts at the elven ship and hit it squarely, just above the water line. The bolt burst into flames, which caught hold of the ship. Then a sudden, magical chill wind passed across all of you, momentarily freezing you to the bone. Thrumdorin reloaded the bolter and Thorvald fired it at the ship. It was an even better hit and the flames erupted from the impact. You could see a number of elves running around amidst the flames trying to put them out.

Asterion fired a couple of shots at the female elves at the back, killing them both. While the elves on deck showered you in a hail of crossbow bolts hitting most of you and getting Asterion the worst. You noticed a long boat setting off quietly from the back of the boat, attempting to sneak up on you, and it looked like Voluria might be in it with another couple of elves.

Concerned that another hit with the bolt thrower would sink your little boat, Thrumdorin fired the last of the fire-rune bolts at the enemy bolt thrower. He hit it, and it went up in flames, with the two crew diving out the way to save themselves.

Flan could see Voluria approaching and hit her with some fire. Then you noticed a new elf appear on deck, lit up by the raging fire that was destroying her ship. It was a tall female who seemed to be wearing very little save for a white fur coat and a big muff. She was flanked by two bodyguards. She fixed Thrumdorin with a stare and tried to destroy his mind with hers, but the dwarf was too strong for her. Asterion shot at her, but at the last moment, one of her bodyguards seemed to step in front of the arrow and save her from it.

Thorvald shot at Volruia and finished her off. But the two elves with her reached your boat and managed to board it. They were wearing strange dark armour and scaly lizard-like cloaks and wielded two jagged dagger-like blades. Thrumdorin and Thorvald faced them. Thrumdorin managed to avoid the blows against him. Throvald got hit but soon had the better of his opponent.

The witch-thing on deck aimed a dark magical bolt at Asterion and hit him squarely, sending him to the deck, unconscious. In return Flan sent his own magical bolt against the witch, but, again her body guard stepped in the way, taking the force of the blast, and sacrificing himself.

At that moment, the burning elf vessel reached your own boat, ramming into it and pushing it onto the shore. More bolts rained from the crew, most of them hitting Flan, who was saved only by the protective fires he surrounded himself in. The witch fired magic at Thrumdorin again, but he resisted her powers. Thrumdorin boarded the elven vessel and approached the witch, striking down her last bodyguard.

Flan fired a storm of flames at the elven crew, plunging the vessel into even more flames and scattering the remaining crew.

Thrumdorin and the witch were left on the deck facing each other with the fire raging around them. The dwarf hit the witch across the deck and into the fire, and she disappeared into the flames to the sound of terrible screams.

The surviving crew either fled in a long boat or desperately tried to reach the shore. Thrumdorin made sure none of them made it. Flan checked out Volruria’s corpse and liberated her compass. And you managed to get your own boat a safe distance from the burning wreck.

So we leave you on the banks of the Manaanspoortsee watching as the once mighty Sea Wraith burns up and slowly sinks beneath the water.

WoW...great wrap-up as usual!!

Shame on me who had not found this topic before finishing to run my copy of the witch's song....

Is it a pre-release test of this adventure or just your own twist on the published material? i ask so because it seems to fix some of the biggest unexplainable things i've found running it....like voluria involvement or all the mouth of morr thing...

Thanks. Yeah, we played it as part of the playtest. I tried to keep as close as possible to the given manuscript. Next we played Crimson Rain, but, partly because it wasn't part of the playtest, our adventure had very little to do with the one in the box.