I don't usually do much in writting this stuff, but my session last night was so crazy that I first of all thought I'd share it, so people can try'n avoid it happening, but also to get some tips on how to put them back on track.

I will though say, that Eye is one of my all-time favorite adventures, as I will explain further down this adventure is very very hard to ruin.

Okay, the party consists of: Ditriech Soldier, Sigfried Verana Initiate, Jörg Amber Wizards apprentice and Wolfgang Bounty Hunter. All at around 5 advances and all are brothers, which explains some behavior later on...

Everything worked great up and till they pushed a servant into the Sitting Room...

Up till this point they had found the Hammer, found the note about the Goose, Sigfreid had found a forbidden book (but he didn't complain when Otto took it and said he would burn it, he even left the room leaving Otto free to do what he wanted...), Jörg had discovered they had Schlaf in the garden (but discovered it by eating some, and thus falling asleep...), Jörg was 1 minute from finding the Hans' musket, but decided to check the garden first for clues (Amber wizards are crazy at finding stuff!!!).

I had up till this point played Gregor very well, so they had no suspicion of him yet. I did this by him faking to be very vain about his bandage (constantly fiddling with it, to make it look as good as he could...), so they thought he was just a vain buttler, and never suspected there being no wounds under it...

Okay... at this point I'm thinking "Oh my god! They're doing great, missing a few pieces, but doing great!!!", then this happens...

Ditriech and Sigfreid looks for servants not doing their job properly, first they find a female servant, and when she does a weak attempt at dusting of, they bombard her with words about her not doing a proper job etc... (remember, at this point they still think they're looking for lazy servants, and not really anything else). It ends with her running away crying about how she should have let that young farmer "bless" her, so she could have had a simple life as a farmers wife...

Okay, instead they find Todd, and Ditriech shoves him into the Sitting Room... Todd looks terrified when they close the door, and sets upon him to find out why he's lazy. At this time they notice the room is extremely cold... after a few slaps on his face (Todd pleads thatt they don't kill him...) they let him go, with the information that Andreas used to spend time in this room.

They then draw away the curtain, and Ditriech "wins" 4 stress (two banes...) and 3 fatigue, while Sigfried passes his test. Ditriech gets the insanity "Faded Memory", so when Sigfried pulls the curtain back again, Ditriech has forgotten everything about it... this poses a problem later on...

In comes Gregor and two servants, with Gregor abusing Ditriech about him slapping Todd, Ditriech (who has a notorious short fuse, and who is stressed) grabs Gregor and punches him in the face. One servant runs for help... so while Ditriech is threatening Gregor (who now fears for his life...), Doctor Sieger and some more arrives, the Doctor goes over to Ditriech and stabs him in the gut with a knife, which he hands to Josef to remove any evidence. The 5 wounds Ditriech suffer is enough for him to let go of Gregor...

All the while Jörg is sleeping in the grassy garden, oblivious to what is happening...

5 minutes later, everyone is gathered in the Great Hall, apart from Olver, Sister Sonja, Karla and Otto (and Jörg who is sleeping). Aschaffenberg is furious at Ditriech for hitting his Steward of the mansion, and does not calm down when Sigfried insists on showing him a forbidden painting in the Sitting Room, which is now gone due to Otto having removed it...

Ditriech is put at arrest, with the message that he'll be kicked out first thing tomorrow. This is no biggie for him, because all the guards like him (he rolled 5 succeses with Inspiring Words earlier on, to help inspire the soldiers to man up), so they don't even cuff him up.

Okay... I thought this can still be saved. The guards will be drugged, Ditriech will then be able to go freel back to the mansion etc...

But no... our session has now ended with the rest of them tackling Doctor Sieger, looking for evidence to him drugging everyone, Berthold ran with the Schlaf bottles, splintering them on the floor when Jörg tackled him, which was just before Jörg accusing Sister Sonja of stealing the hammer, and being the master behind it all (after all she could wield the painting freely, due to being blind, which is a very good observation, although wrong...).

So the scene is now, that they've assaulted the Doctor, the Schlaf is gone, and they've called Sister Sonja a witch (basically...).

Now, we stopped here, which was a good thing, because I was kinda baffled at how to salvage it again

I'm thinking Aschaffenberg will put them on house arrest, saying that he'd rather have a staff of anarcists, than a staff of thugs... they'll be confined to the stables, with 1 guard positioned outside. From here, they'll then notice when the guard falls asleep, and can go back to the mansion again...

I am though, sorry they'll miss the whole dinner thing, as what will be left is really them fighting beastmen and likely a deamon to. Because they'll have no way of finding the hidden temple etc... they'll instead be fighting the summoned deamon.

I thought about introducing a passing merchant, and have Aschaffenberg forget everything that has happened, to entertain his guest. Saying "One can't be bothered with servants roughing it up, when one has such important guests?!" They'll then be asked to join the dinner, but under strong fírm warning that any weird behavior results in the whole deal being off, not even being paid for the first days of work...

One gotta love, and hate, players who derail the GM's campaign...

That sounds really cool. Shame about the dinner coz that's a cool scene, but it seems that it's all set up nicely for the evening, anyway. They probably already know enough of what's going on to make sense of what comes later.

Maybe if one or two of the PCs have distanced themselves from Ditreich, they could still be invited? And I imagine as soon as any serious trouble starts the guards will release Ditreich whatever.

hehe, I have no worries really, everything can be salvaged.

The trick is first and most importantly not to make it so they think I'm "saving" them. I've allways hated that as a player when the GM saved us after we did something crazy.

The merchant arriving could come out as being a "rescue the PC's", and I really want to punish them for assaulting servants, without thinking the consequences through first...

Hi Spivo,

Heh heh very good stuff, know how you feel. My players are similarly brilliant/awkward.

How nasty are you feeling for the next session? I'd be thinking first that the crew in the stables would be recieving some left over venison at the request of Aschaffenberg who would still not see them starve, and asks karla to bring them some food. This could be another clue for them as to the loyalty of the cook.

If they are in the stables you may want Krug to remove the stolen blunderbuss whilethey are eating, perhaps as a large bundle wrapped in a blanket? This could arouse suspicion if they have already ascertained there is a missing firearm.

Now if you want to play Gregor as a true evil bugger you could have him look for vengeance for the punch to the face. Instead of Todd being taken downstairs to the ritual, Gunnar arrives at the guardhouse and states that His Lordship wishes to speak to Ditriech immediately. As Pieter Koch will have finished his task re drugging the guards with the venison he can "volunteer" to escort Ditriech inside (maybe an obs test to notice a sly wink from Gunnar?). Then the poor stressed soldier is taken inside where Gregor and Konrad meet them and silently grab him, gagged and bagged downstairs for a good old fasshioned sacrifice. Can his friends save him? They may well have seen him being taken across the courtyard to the Lodge...

I wouldnt worry about missing the dinner, it seems like they have pissed off many of the guests anyway and it may feel a little forced. They will still be able to respond to the dogs in the kennels barking from the scent of the beastmen (incidentally my players suspected the houndsman and drugged his dogs with the schlaf so they didnt even get that warning!). It sounds like your next sessiion will be a fast paced action fest if your last one is anything to go by...

Some good pointers

I am feeling somewhat nasty, but not to much...

Jörg will now know the scent of the Schlaf (from eating the darn thing...), so Karla will bring the 3 of them dinner to the stables, and he'll instantly notice the funny sharp scent. Also they're not getting the initial spicey soup, so their senses will not be dulled.

For Ditriech, it is a very good idea, of course unless his brothers fail to save him... in which case it'll be quite harsh I also want the deamon summoned, because they have not deserved to ruin the ritual, unless they're very quick!

Perhaps I'll have the cultist guard eat goose, and then when the other guards starts to get sleepy, he'll pick up his crossbow, and say "Gregor says hello...". Ditriech is a trained soldier, so he should be able to overpower the guard, but that will be my revenge, if he wins, he deserved it, if not... that's Warhammer! Ditriech is not tied up (5 guards + closed gate = What would he do???, and they also like him), and there's shields/swords stacked up against the wall. Will be Soldier npc with chainmail vs. 5 advance 4 str/tou soldier without armor, seems like a fun fight

I'm not familiar with the adventure (haven't read through it yet), so I'm not sure how well this might work, but if the players have proven themselves to be pretty 'hard' then one of two things could happen to get them to the dinner.

Either, something else happens that really frightens their host (e.g. arrival of someone very scary that he can't not invite to the dinner) - and makes him strike a deal with the characters: I don't take legal action any further if you act as my guards for the rest of the night, and leave - no questions asked - first thing in the morning...

Or the second option is a bit harder - and that's to have the players notice something that threatens the host and offer to do this deal themselves. Of course, you don't want to look like you're spoon-feeding your players, so if they fail to realise that this is a possibility, then it's not much of an option.

It seems to me that your players have set themselves up nicely for the end of the adventure.

Imagine the tension when they notice that the guards have fallen asleep... maybe as they try to escape... then the dogs go crazy as the beastman do their thing... then you could have them get caught up in the beastman attack... if they fend that off then they will have to deal with the demon... nasty with two fights like that one after another (especially if it appears they are beating the beastman and then a daemon bursts from the mansion... I can imagine their faces now! ).

No need for any save .... I think you have the making of a great last session with playing the adventure through to it end with out any further additions thanks to the players actions.

Munchkin said:

Seconded. In fact, I would perhaps suggest simply holding off on the beastmen attack alltogether.
Make it a suspense-session rather than anything else.
Have a way for them to get out of the jail, have most people drugged up completely, and simply have the dogs go nuts from some sense of foreboding.

The mansion still, apart from the barking of the dogs after a while, barely anybody awake, apart from maybe a single soul.

And as the party wander out to check on the dogs, they might turn around and see the ritual on the roof ending, with the Daemon emerging.
And if you really want to make it nasty, that's when the Beastmen charge is set in motion.... >:-)

Possibility at that point for the already-drugged-once party member to try and wake some of the guards on the wall, so they won't be completely alone to fend of the wave of beastmen would be advisable though.

Some very good ideas, thanks

Will have to consider what I will do...

I agree to just go with it. It works out well for Gregor.

Gregor has venison only sent to the PCs, since they are under arrestin no position to request what dinner they want.

Gregor has no need to send a cultist after the PCs for revenge, he should be confident that the Demon, once summoned, will take care of the PCs for him.

Most likely, yes, the PCs will miss dinner as well as potentially stopping the summoning, especially in the basement. I'd suggest giving them hints of flashing lights to chanting coming from the roof once the cultists get up there for the second part of the ritual.

I concur with slowing the beastman attack and instead letting them get back into the mansion with everyone missing or asleep.

If you need a way to force the jailbreak then having the guard/cultistperhaps the mutan with tthe blunderbuss (krug?) attack them in the cells on Gregor's orders....if they get into trouble with this perhaps the hounds and the handler arrive to help them?

at that point the hounds can start to bark and the handler can go off and investigate while suggesting the PCs go and inform aschaffenberg about what has happened....

then everywhere they go they find nothing but sleeping people they can't revive, tension increases and the mansion seems quiet and scary... in the distance they hear chanting, coming from below or from the roof depending on whether you want to give them the option to save Toddnot; perhaps kill him and make it clear that they would have had the opportunity to save him had they not got themselves arrested...

my group tarried too long (although not by being arrested, they just barricaded themselves in a bed room expecting to be attacked)Todd got butchered so i gave the party the demoralised condition for the rest of the adventure to highlight to the players that their characters feel bad about their inaction caused the death of an innocent man.... my players weren't that bothered by Todd's death but applying conditions to their characters are a good way of making them care!

I know this will sound wierd but the word "and" and the word "or" are being removed from my posts whenever i publish them!

I am having to go back and edit my posts to add them back in!!!

why is the wordnot in this post?

pumpkin said:

that originally said why is the word and not in this post?

seriously wierd and I'm not making it up... has April 1st come early?

This is a testtest

Edit: me too

Hey Pumpkin,

Maybe Tzeentch has got into your computer?...

All those missing words will be returned when you least expect it!

I've given it much much thoughtcame down with two posible ways of handling it.

First of all, you're right that this is actually in no way de-railed, they've positioned themselves for a very nice finale, with tons of frustrations being released. For one I can see Ditriech going completely mental on Gregorthe Doctor, it will be a total blood-fest... This also goes to show how solid this adventure really is, it's actually quite hard to ruin it!

First option:

Is the easiest one really. I put the last 3 players in "stable"-arrest, with one guard outside. This will agitate Albrecht greatly, as the musket will be inside now... will continue later...

At dinner time a servant will appear at the stable with venison for the ones in the stable (and the guard outside), he will say "The chef is out of goose", because he doesn't know the players never got to chose. This is a HUGE hint that the venison is not very good...

At the same time the guardsDitriech will be brought venison as well, while one guard (the cultist) asks for goose, jokingly saying that he doesn't trust eating stuff that has lived in the wilds.

Shortly after the guards, apart from that one guard eating goose, will fall asleep,the same goes for the guard outside the stable. The cultist guard will then pick up his crossbow,say "Gregor told me to return your compliment...", Ditriech now has very little time to react. Remember this guard is a sadist, so he wants to scare Ditriech, maybe even have him beg for his life before shooting him.

At the same time, the guard outside the stable falls asleep,Albrecht comes to the stable for the musket... he thinks the pc's are asleep, but will still move as silent as possible up for the musket... I might have Hans be here as well,if they saved him from eating Venison, he will help them vs. the beastmen (and be quite angry with Albrecht for stealing his musket...)

And at the same time as well... the cultists will prepare for killing Todd in the basement.

Depending on reaction,speed (and Chaos Stars), the players will have some time to find the basement, but if they're delayed much, the next they'll see is Gregor standing on the roof.

The beastmen attack will also needed to be timed, because the group can't fight both deamonbeastmen, but Olverhis hounds will be helpfull here...

Second option:

Enters the merchant from Ubersreik... he's an important merchant,one that can affect Aschaffenbergs further progress upwards. The first thing he notes when entering the courtyard, is how few guards the mansion prides... Lord Aschaffenberg then gives the 3 characters looking the most combat like, the option of dressing up as guardsbe given 20 silver when leaving the mansion the next day (can be bargained up to 30 each).

This suddenly puts the characters in a position to fight the beastmen when they attack!

This will also give the players an ally to give them the job of finding Weschler in Gathering Storm...

option one seems to have much more thematic potential to me and one that will give the WFRP system a chance to shine.

There just doesn't seem to be much to option two IMHO.

If you want the weschler link, then you could still have the merchant arrive and have him drugged at the meal just like everyone else; once the PCs have forced a jailbreak and hopefully rescued some of the staff and the lord and the visiting merchant, you can still have the merchant state something like "I could use a group with "talents" like yours...." or some other such corny line to introduce TGS.

Also even if they do the jailbreak and get back into the mansion, you can still run the beastman attack and in fact its a good part of the scenario if a little bit tricky to run, when both events kick off together and the PCs struggle to deal with preventing the ritual while also ensuring the mansion isn't over run with beastmen!

EDIT: why is this forum still removing the words "and" and "or" from my posts!?!?

I agree that option 1 better preserves the essence of player character choiceconsequences. I think there are lots of ways to introduce new plots aswhen necessary, so the main advantage with going with option 2 is if you really want the players to be present for a special scene that they would otherwise miss (such as the dinner).

Not being familiar with the scenario, I can't say how important that is vs how important it is for the PCs to suffer in prison for what they've done.

And or,or... test...

Anyway, option 2 would of course include everything (or most) from option 1, just didn't want to write it all up again...

But I like option 1 best, as it gives a lot of suspence,also lets me "punish" the players/characters by the guilt they'll feel that Todd (and likely others) dies, because they couldn't save them.

For going from Eye to Storm, I'll just have Aschaffenberg recommend them to the merchants guild.

Crazy how it guts every second "and""or"...

Heh. I am actually running the adventure for a pair of players right now (the first time any of us have played the game). They have managed to muck it up pretty badly too.

They were actually doing pretty well, at first. One is playing a wood elf thief, the other is playing a dwarf gambler. Because I only have two players I gave them an extra 5 points at character creation (so that they could handle the challenges I throw at them without me having to seriously dumb down the challenge level/encounter makeup of the game). The dwarf gambler doubles as an axe/hammer wielding thug (not in game terms, just in terms of him being a very solid melee combatant). The elf thief makes a pretty decent archer (he doesn't have any training in ballistics, but he has an agility of 6). As a result, they got through the beast man encounter without any problems. The dwarf got pretty badly beat up (8 woundsone critical wound), but nobody suffers too much stress/fatigue.

After that the two of them nearly derailed the adventure right off the bat. They speak to Lord Aschaffenberg, who bids them to carry his things up to his room. They decide they are going to "get lost" while carrying the lord's things to his room, in order to explore the manor. I raise an eyebrow,politely remind them the reason why Vern Hendrick hired them. I note that if they start acting weirdsuspicious as well, there is a good chance Aschaffenberg will not respond kindly. He has hired them because he is already fed up with the odd behavior of the staff. So, the elf then decides that he wants to trypick the lock on one of Aschaffenberg's chests, right out in the open, on the wagon, in plain sight of Albercht Krug, Hanz Kurtz, Heiko Dieter,Franz Lange, with Vern Hendrick possibly coming back any time to grab another chest himself. At this point in time I warn them that every reaction has an equalgreater reaction,I don't plan to pull any punches; if they do stupid things they will find themselves suffering from serious consequences; stealing from Aschaffenberg, in plain sight, considering the circumstances, is likely to get them thrown out of the lodgeleft to walk home alone, unguarded, through the beastman infested woods.

They get the picturestart playing a lot smarter. They finish carrying the chests up to the room. Once they get there Aschaffenberg reiterates what they were told when Hendrick first hired them in Ubersreik. The lord, seeing the dwarfs wounds, suggests that he begin his part in the investigation by getting some care in the hospice. The two go to the hospice. While there they chat with Sonja, Dr. Seiger,Korden; they ignore Bertoldt Granhof. The elf manages to offend Sonja (he introduces himself politely, talks to her a bit, but when she asks if she can feel his facebecause she can not seehe first refuses,then, after having shook her hand, makes a point of noting that he wipes it on his pants afterwords, as if he had touched something dirty. Of course, she hears the gesture,wants nothing to do with him afterwords as a result). The dwarf, however, speaks to both KordenSeiger. Korden drops some hints amidst mad ramblings. Meanwhile, Seiger drops the first real clue to the dwarf. Because he is treating the dwarf, Seiger takes the opportunity to drug the dwarf with "painkillers" (schlaf). This gives the dwarf a firsthand experience of some of the goings on at the lodge. The elf, meanwhile, intentionally steps on Korden's toes as he walks by him. This starts the dwarf howling, gets Sonja fuming mad,results in the two PCs getting kicked out of the hospice.

Next the dwarf goes to the stables to play some cards (he saw Krug, Kurtz,Dieter playing earlier),the elf begins to search the manor. The elf searches the dormitories, finds a locked room, picks the lock, finds Seiger's room, takes some time to track down the source of the odd smell in the room,finds the bins with the green sludge under the bed. He steals a bit of the sludge, though he has no idea what it is exactly. He then goes down to look through the main floor of the manor, happens upon the study, catches ToddGunnar dustingclearing, talks to Gunnar a bit, notices Todds drugged state,finds the note (The Goose is Good) dropped by Gunnar (though he does not notice who dropped the note, only that it was dropped by the two of them as they left the room). The dwarf, meanwhile, plays a few hands at cards. He looses one hand, wins one hand,then intentionally looses his last hand. Meanwhile, he notices Kurtz's odd symptoms, starts to feel very similar odd symptoms himself, talks to Kurtz about his symptomsDr. Seiger's treatment, puts twotwo together,realizes the doctor drugged them both. Krug, (who hears the conversation), however, comes to the doctor's defense by noting that it is pretty common for painkillers to make someone drowsy.

The dwarf is not convinced. After talking with the elf they decide to go speak to lord Aschaffenbergtell him their suspicions, that the Dr. is intentionally drugging the staff. First they speak to Hendrick, who thinks they are daft. However, the dwarf uses his impressive guilesocial honeyed words to convince Hendrick that there is a chance they might be right. Hendrick suggests that they speak to Sonja bout the substance the elf found,he does not recognize it, but the two insist on speaking to Aschaffenberg. They luck out, as Aschaffenberg recgonizes the sludge for what it is. They have now effectively proven that Seiger is drugging the staff. But, they still don't know why. Schlaf doesn't exactly kill people. Aschaffenberg still doesn't know just how sever his punishment of Seiger should be. He asks the two to continue their investigation,to continue to do so incognito.

The two decide that their next step should be further discussion with ToddGunnar. Further discussion turns into outright interrogation. Todd is too drugged to be of any use. Instead, the two attempt to intimidate Gunnar. They succeed. Additionally, the dwarf catches Gunnar in a lie by noticing that Gunnar recognizes the note about the goose despite his unwillingness to admit to knowing anything about it. But, Gunnar is too scared (and loyal) to betray the cult. Instead he tries to run. The dwarf manages to grab himthrow him up against a wall before he can get away. From there things spiral out of control. First the elf tells Gunnar everything (including who hired themwhy). When this attempt to win Gunnar's trust doesn't work (because he still claims to know nothing,now has some great information to relay to Gregor) they threaten to kill him. That sort of works. Gunnar admits to knowing that the Dr. is drugging people with schlaf, but claims that he was too scared to tell anyone. He says that the two, however, have shown him the error of his ways. He agrees to admit everything he "knows" to the steward, Gergor Pierson,suggests that three go see him right away.

They find Gregor in the kitchen talking with the cook about dinner. They head over to the study. The two don't trust Gregor, for some reason, but it is too late to change their course of action. Gunnar tells Gergor what happens,"confesses" what he knows about Seiger. Gregor says that the allegations are very serious,asks what proof the two have. They tell Gregor about the schlaf Seiger is making under his bed. Gregor commands Gunnar to go fetch Pieter the guard. Together the five of them go up to Seiger's room. There they find the schlaf. Gergor has Pieter "arrest" Seiger. This commotion attracts the attention of Aschaffenberg, who learns that the PCs have spilled all the beans (without ever finding out why Seiger was doing what he was doing). Aschaffenberg, very upset, but not willing to show it, ironically thanks the PCs for their hard workreturns to his room (while Hendrick rolls his eyes at them).

That is where we left off. I know exactly what will happen next. But, wow... just wow... the dinner is about to be served. The dinner, already cooked, is already drugged. The two failed to find proof that the venison is cooked. Their little note about the goose doesn't prove anything, except that someone likes the goose more than the venison,no connection between Seigerthe cook was formed. Meanwhile, the PCs have completely given themselves (and Aschaffenberg) away to the cult. They have also managed to completely sour their relationship with Aschaffenberg. I am very curious to see how this will all play out...

Hi,

Yeah, option 1 looks like it has great potential for a quality story. By the sounds of how some of your players react to confrontational interaction the dinner may well turn into a punch up anyway. Not that that would not be entertaining but looks like you have plenty of fun scenes coming with out the dinner. I like the potential for a dirty street fight with the sadist guard, players who punch cult leaders should be prepared for consequences...

Incidentally, in case this is of any help, they way I finished Eye was to have the cultists steal a coach/cartdo a runner after summoning the demon. The players had a rough time with some of the cultistsa rooftop scrap with the demon,were in a bad way when the beastmen attacked. So I had Gregor, Konrad, HannahAlbrecht break free of the Lodge using the demon to clear the way as the beastmen skirmished the walls. This let the players team up with the remaining loyal staff against the beastmenthe finale was the battle against WargorGor bodygaurds as the gates of the lodge fell. It then left me with an immediate plot feed to TGS as the bad guys got bogged down in Stromdorf and the players hunted down the scum over the next few days. Also let me run a nice series of investigative sessions as they tracked down the cultists hideout and meeted out justice.

Hope that helps.

Oh yes I found these are they yours?

and, and, or...

Blast.

The and/or bug has got me too!

That'll teach me...

My suggestion is possibly to use Sister Sonja. Since they think she is the mastermind behind everything, have her bring them food and confide in them. If she frees them and arms them, she can prove her innocence, or failing that pray for a sign from Sigmar (a blessing, and usually a forthright indication that she may not be the cultist they think she is. Also demonstratable as a comet on an observation/insight check showing her devotion). If she helps them, they may even be able to corner Aschafenberg and appologize to him, and demonstrate some of the things they've learned, possibly even getting him on their side to set up the dinner party.

Then, there is always option 2, which is the PCs running amok during the invasion by the beastmen.