Ok so after doing 'A Day Late a Shilling Short' ( read about it here: http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp?efid=165&efcid=3&efidt=506864 )

But for a recap:

Our players:

Amroth the Wood Elf Hunter

Thorrbrand the Troll Slayer

Konrad the Initiate of Morr

My players raced through the beastmen and easily killed those facing them. But klaus von rothstein was a very stubborn merchant and even when they spotted the crate he wouldnt give it to them, infact when the reinforcement beastmen came he tried to flee into the woods with it but the wood elves tracking skills made it easy enough to find him. When they got back to the Inn Birgitta left with the injured Rutger to get him help and the players were left with Klaus. He refused to give them the crate and they had to take it forcefully from him. He fled and left the village. Inside the Inn my VERY paranoid and sceptical bunch refused to trust or believe Vaerun when he asked for his package so he told them about the scroll within and how it was a chaos document he had been sent to destroy. They had found out that Klaus was taking it to Grunewald Lodge and so when Vaerun says that his people are investigating the lodge they suspect something. They refuse to trust him still and so they admit to only go to the Lodge and investigate if Vaerun accompanies them.

And here is where E4AE begins!!!

They set out early in the morning on a cart, Vaerun at the front with his contact Vern Hendrick from the Lodge. By midday they come to the body of a horse, torn apart at the side of the road. They decide to continue on and a few minutes later they see a body being picked over and cut at by some ungors. They get close enough and find that it is Klaus and he had tried to escape to the lodge. The Wood Elf hunter tries to kill the ungors but only gets one before the other can blow its horn. 4 more emerge further down the road. The party had such good success against the beastmen in the intro scenario that they didnt worry too much about the ungors and just carried on riding the cart forward preparing to jump off and swing down at them as they passed by.

It was at this point that i had two Gors appear from the woods behind and charge towards the back of the cart. The wood elf continued her trend of being an amazing marksmen, picking off an ungor to the front and then putting an arrow into each of the Gors behind with rapid shot. As the ungors drew level and the gors closed in though it got abit worrying for the players. Vaerun cut one of the ungors in the back as it passed and severely wounded it. The troll slayer then tried to emulate this chopping down with his axe. He was successful in killing the two ungors with one swing but he got a chaos star on his roll, i had him fall off the cart with the ungors when he over extended his swing, the other PCs found that very amusing.

That was until the two Gors behind caught up to te cart and managed to grab on the back. The elf tried to shoot behind and kill them but missed completely and they grabbed her by the arms and pulled her off. They succeeded but with many banes and chaos stars. The elf fell on the one with its arrow, piercing its neck. It was at this point that the beastmens morale broke and they fled. The wood elf picked off the other Gor as it got up and tried to run. They then continued quickly to the Lodge.

They were welcomed by Aschaffenberg who was extremely friendly and won the players over. They carried his crates in for him and spotted Piersson in the window, they pretty much knew he was something to do with it from that point (i recommend dropping the seeing him in the window section it gives away too much if your players have common sense). They went inside and Aschaffenberg explained all to them about the strange goings on.

The wood elf decided to go out and explore the grounds on her own, she went to the wall and met the guards, noting nothing of import she then went to the stables where Hans Kurtz took her aside and asked her to find his Blunderbuss. She then went to the kennels and as a wood elf showed alot of interest in the dogs, so much so that Olver Gand showed her how he gets them so vicious, something she understood and approved of as wood elves hate beastmen with such a passion.

The troll slayer and initiate went to the infirmary first and spoke to Sonja. The troll slayer spent a little time with Korden and when he heard the ramblings about a book and an eye he became obsessed with finding a book. Silly fool thought that the dwarf must have it though and so went looking in the forge (why not look for a book in the library). While at the forge he finds an opened box with the indent of the hammer. Meanwhile at the hospice the initiate smells the unusual smell from the Dr and then decides to talk to Sonja more, as fellow priests they discuss alot and talk about Korden aswell. Sonja believing she can trust the Initiate tells him where to find the hammer. He goes off and finds it and hides it in his backpack. When he then meets with the troll slayer he doesnt tell him what he found and the troll slayer tells him he found a box but nothing about the indent, so currently the initiate is still keeping the hammer secret.

They then met the wood elf who explained all she found and the unusual nature and laziness of the staff. They decide to go search inside and head to the library. They find the books there and although reluctant the librarian has to let them take them. The initiate still carries them in the bag with the hammer. When leaving the library they smell the kitchen and the troll slayer decides to follow his nose, they all follow and when they are rudely insulted and pushed aside by the cook so she can work. They spot the cellar though and the dwarf goes looking for beer. He finds some Bugmans but a chaos star causes him to drop it, but this causes him to look at the floor and spot the marks from the moving of the wine racks.

They follow the passage even through the protests of Karla and come to the temple, they realise what it is but know that dinner is about to be served and must go back to not cause their dissappearance to be noticed, they try one of the other paths and find themselves at the trap door under the library, they head out from there and go to the great hall where everyone is waiting for them.

The dinner:

When asked again what they wished to eat the slayer and elf chose goose instead, but the initiate still wanted venison. They all ate the soup, the troll slayer proved a point by drinking all his in one gulp. But when the meet came they noticed who had eaten goose and so the initiate decided to pretend to eat and hide the meat in his pockets. Olver Gand left to attend his dogs during this. When the meal finished they decided to accompany Aschaffenberg to his quarters but when they started to tell him about the goings on he fell asleep. They then thoroughly searched his room and found the passage to the temple. They went down and used stealth to get to the corner and look.

They saw that Piersson had a terrible mutation and was standing over the altar with a dagger. There were 3 robed figures around, the Dr and librarian are two of them, the third has his back to them. Then 3 servants and the Gardener bought in Todd Heistlenburger screaming his head off. At this point Gregor turns to them, as if knowing they had been there all along and looks at the initiate saying 'You have a book of mine, give it to me!' Then the third robed figure turns around, it is Albrecht Krug, he takes off his robe showing his mutated form and flesh and holds up the Blunderbuss at them, that they never managed to find.

Then a noise from behind them. They turn to see Vaerun standing a few metres behind them, his sword drawn.

This was where i left it for that session, we should be continuing the rest this week. So what do you all think, is Vaerun still a good guy arriving at the right moment, or is he an evil elf, or could he be something even more sinister, a possessed elf, something tzeentch in an elf form? I said at the end of ADLASS that the scroll in the box was a chaos document, i am really tempted to have Vaerun throw it to Gregor and it be the document he needs for the ritual, the book is what he needs to control the deamon and bend it to his will. So they will kill Todd, begin the ritual and then take the painting to the roof, but without the book the deamon will come out in a frenzied state and be uncontrollable. With Vaerun behind, a blunderbuss holding mutant and 6 other cultists to go through the party will have a hard time i think and it should finally give them a test.

I am also considering that it not be a deamon but be a deamonic form of Andreas von Bruner and the book is needed for the deamon, so he can unleash his full deamonic form. I am thinking this can lead to a nemesis enemy where the deamon Andreas tries to get back his book and if the party destroy it he follows them and hunts them down so he can get revenge, as they gain more powerful so will he and eventually become a deamon of Tzeetnch or a sorceror lord.

So what do you think?

Sounds fun. I like the outcomes of your encounters (falling off carts etc.). Hope the dwarf took 2 stress for wasting good dwarven ale (what could be more stressful to a dwarf?).

In terms of Vaerun, if it fits with (a) threat level your party can face; and (b) behaviour to this point, for Vaerun to actually be a Dark Elf would be fun. Add in a Dark Elf plot on some intersection course with the cult's activities (foreshadow Witch's Song even). For Vaerun to be a Dark Elf but not be proven one would also confirm all dwarf suspicions about elfs being untrustworthy etc. (yeah sure your evil twin race did it, not you, pull the other one).

nice report. In my game the players managed to get their dirty hands on the book, so the ritual was delayed a lot.

The only thing I would do different: Only with boons the dwarf would see the marks, but nice report!

Well my players are a paranoid bunch as it is and they asked me before is he definitely a high elf, can we tell if he is. I responded saying he was dressed in high elf clothes wearing white and blue and gold so looked the real deal. Not sure whether to have him as a Dark Elf because i am not sure how he would fit in with a Tzeentch cult and their raising of a daemon? Why would a Dark Elf be helping raise one?

I like the point you bring up about it proving the Troll slayers hatred of elves right, but i also have to take into account that the hunter in the party is a wood elf and they already have problems getting on when it comes to social interactions. Not sure whether deepening his hatred of all elves will be a future detriment to the party tension and cohesion.

I was also thinking with the hammer and the chaos books both in the priests bags i wanted something to happen with them. As they are so close to the ritual i am thinking the daemonic power in the book will increase but the hammer will fight against this and the bag will get extremely hot and the priest will either have to drop it or it will ignite as the hammers power fights the daemons power in the book. That pulls the book away from the priest slightly, and besides i am pretty sure he is encumbered at the moment with a hammer, 2 books and his scythe on him so if he wants to fight effectively or use do anything other than stand and pray then he will have to drop the bag.

Any other ideas of what Vaerun could be or opinions on these?:

• He is GOOD. He IS a high elf and a friend and has arrived at just the right time to help the players.
• He is a Dark Elf dressed in a disguise, after a small explanation of what and why he has done this he gives Piersson the scroll from ADLASS so that he can finish the ritual.
• He is something Tzeentch, perhaps a Tzeentch sorcerer who has the ability to change his form (seems like a suitable Tzeentch ability) and he is the actual leader of all of the cult, he is at the lodge to help out with this sect of the cult's ritual.
• Add more if you have any, i welcome all ideas :-)

I also liked when i had them drag the wood elf of the cart, and the troll slayer getting pulled off when his axe got stuck in the ungor. I think they were perfect examples of how under the dice system you can succeed at an action but still have something go wrong.

My players are quite combat centric so they can handle a dark elf behind and 4 of the cultists to the front, depending on how successful the blunderbuss shot is. If Vaerun is evil and gives Piersson the scroll then i will set up a tracker and if they cant kill him in maybe 4 or 5 rounds then he will finish the ritual from the scroll and kill Todd, then run away with the painting, heading off towards the roof. If i have Vaerun as evil he will block and dodge then try and escape backwards and get away. The potential for nemesis and reoccuring enemies should be quite large from this scenario.

Vaerun could be an antagonist without being a Dark Elf (although you might be able to tie things to Witch's Song more easily if he is as Valvorik mentioned). Perhaps he isn't even evil he's just engaged in a far reaching plan to do...who knows what lurks in the alien recesses of an elf's mind? Lots of room for shades of grey between high and dark elf.

Maybe he's just in it for the books that the cult has (their books may have snippets of ancient lore that Vaerun is looking for that the cultists don't even realize), and as such he could assist the PC's against the cultists as long as they are winning , and if things turn sour on them perhaps he'll just make a grab for any one of the books and bolt (to be a reacurring pressence in the future), leaving the PC's to their fates.

Maybe he wants to control the daemon and is letting Piersson do the dangerous summoning part (where the bad things typically are most likely to happen) and then he wants to take the daemon and do...seriously who knows what the heck a kooky elf might have dreamed up?

Then again he could just be showing up to actually help. You could use this to catch your paranoid players off-guard. They'll stress and worry that he could turn bad-guy at any moment and then he just...doesn't. Also since he's an NPC you don't need to have him win the day for the PC's if the fight starts feeling too easy, just have him be about as useful as a grass skirt in a sandstorm. Still, its his attempt at bravery that should hopefully keep the PC's from swiss-cheesing him.

Whatever the case, make sure to fill us in on how it goes next time.

Well we decided to end our session on monday as it was getting late and i said i just need to set a scene for you, which was them walking into the temple. The Vaerun bit just came to me and i ended our session once i told them he was behind them. They wouldnt stop asking me if he is good or evil and what he is doing there. so much so that we are having the final E4AE session on thursday evening (2days from now) so it wont take long before i can fill you all in

The players all need to take a Terror check from the sight of the ritual as soon as we start the next session, and then we will roll for initiative. With a mutant with a blunderbuss to their front and the 6 other cultists and Gregor i dont think they will have much time to have a discussion with Vaerun about his motives. If i drop Vaerun down the initiative track i can see how the PCs act first, i doubt the blunderbuss shot will kill them, but i think it will definitely make them realise the danger to their front and focus on that. If the initiate does drop the bag, which i will push him to do (as described above) then he might turn round to find the elf and the books gone. That way i dont even need to tell them whether he is good or bad.

I've not read much into the further stories/expansions/campaigns, i see alot of people recommending gathering storm or edge of night after E4AE. If cultists escape or the daemon Bruner escapes i may need a session in between to tie up loose ends, but do you think witch's song would be a more viable campaign to flow into? The initiate player has shown an eagerness to look into a magic user as a backup character if the initiate dies so a magic related campaign could also be considered. I think i also read somewhere that one of the sections of the gathering storm has a necromancer in it which would be very suited to the initiate of morr if he lives through E4AE.

Ok so we had another small session today, and progressed a little further with the story.

Last session ended with the PCs standing at the edge of the temple as the ritual was taking place and with Vaerun standing behind.

This session started with the players taking terror checks from the sight of the ritual, suprisingly the troll slayer and wood elf got frightened by it, but the priest of morr did not, they all managed to pass and stay sane.

The wood elf started by trying to end the ritual immediately, shooting pierson, she used ranged shot and hit him for alot of damage, i reckon she could have maybe done even more with sniper shot or rapid fire though. From there it went badly for the players, a blunderbuss shot to their front damaged the priest and slayer, and then onslaught from around 5 cultists hit them hard.

That was when Vaerun became active, he threw a scroll to Piersson, the one from ADLASS, the priest tried to jump in and intercept but failed dramatically. This allowed Piersson to finish the ritual killing Todd and getting away with the painting while the other cultists held up the party. The players realising how bad their situation was knew they had to do better and their luck changed dramatically as they cut through the cultists to then get out of the temple. As they were doing this Vaerun managed to spend alot of time in guarded position dodging everything nearly, until he got his chance, took the books from the priests bag and got past the wood elf with a well place feint and dodge and a little exertion to get out of sight and away.

They travelled up through the house with little hindrance other than a drunken attack from Karla Wagner who they easily killed, but they spent ALOT of time discussing where to go and what to do, and i mean ALOT. i had to remind them twice that their is a cult ritual going on right now and they are standing their having a discussion.They managed to get up to the roof where they found Piersson over the painting but their blunderbuss shot was too late and killed Piersson as the ritual finished. I used the more powerful version of the Deamon but even with use of his ACE he wasnt able to get very high in initiative and the Wood Elf was VERY lucky with rapid fire, hitting him constantly and doing alot of damage, then the deamon managed to completely miss the elf, terrible roll from myself. The priest then gives the hammer to the troll slayer who does a troll feller strike on the deamon finishing it off with ease.

We finished with the players standing at the edge of the roof looking down at the gates as the guards tried to hold back the beastmen assaulting the lodge, the slayer and priest close to passing out from their wounds and them being able to see a dark horseman riding off at speed futher up the road.

Just abit of cleaning up to do for the players now, closing up the gate and getting rid of the beastmen in the grounds. Going to have a witch hunter arrive their in a day or two so it will be interesting for my players to have a social encounter with him. How many corruption tokens/points would you allot to the players from being at the ritual and the summoning of a deamon? Also the priest had the two chaos books in his bag for a whole afternoon, they would have had an effect on him in that time yeh?

With Aschaffenbergs backing they can now go off on many more adventures and with Vaerun as a nemesis enemy i can bring back later on there alot of potential to be had.