The group of intrepid explorers were accompanying a cart through the foothills of the Grey Mountains and into the forests of the southern Reikland. Those on the cart found its steady trundling soporific, being jolted back awake only when the wheels struck one of the many stones littering the dirt track roads that led from their starting point in Ubersreik, whilst their colleagues walking alongside had little to keep their attention but the dull ache of their limbs after many long, slow hours of walking.

Casting their minds back to how it began, they recalled the High Elf mercenary bringing them all an advertisement he had found pinned to a noticeboard in the town square. One Herr Hendrick was seeking assistance and was willing to pay what was a decent daily wage, albeit less than a seasoned mercenary or skilled artificer might command. Less than attractive, perhaps, but work was light and purses were empty and so the party found themselves in the Red Moon Inn discussing the opportunity with a middle-aged, balding and decidedly miserable Vern Hendrick. Nursing a bandaged hand, this scarce made his mood any better - from a scuffle with beastmen, so he said, though he was at pains to stress how exceptional this was and that the party themselves would scarce have need for arms or armour in the task at hand.

Under the disguise of porters, they were to investigate the risk posed by allegedly mutinous staff in the Grunewald Hunting Lodge, recently bequeathed as a wedding gift to Lord Rickard Aschaffenburg on his marrying into the great Ubersreik noble family, the von Bruners. Pietr, the Roadwarden, recalled stories some years past, his many miles on the road giving him knowledge of stories and gossip from all across the Empire. Several years ago, Andreas von Bruner was very much the young man about town, until he was quite suddenly withdrawn from Ubersreik and dispatched by his family to Grunewald lodge. Whether he had upset the wrong person, spent an evening with the wrong maiden, or spent a crown more than his family could bear, no-one would say, but his disappearance from town was immediately noticed. Which explains why, some short years later, his reported second disappearance, this time from Grunewald lodge, circulated quickly amongst the scurrilous gossips of all the provinces. Still missing, Hendrick admitted that this mystery also interested Lord Aschaffenburg, who wondered how much might come to light from any investigation of the staff.

Hendrick explained that the staff had been there all along, maintaining the lodge in the time between Andreas von Bruner's disappearance and the arrival of Lord Aschaffenburg, and that they seemed a mostly diligent and loyal bunch - hence his continuing insistence that neither weapons nor coats of mail would be needed, as well as explaining why he accepted what he himself described as a green group of adventurers for what in all likelihood would turn out to be little more than a few days portering luggage and a dozen or so free meals.

Of course, the ambush by a pack of beastmen, just as the group saw the welcoming if slightly crumbling walls of the lodge before them, did at least throw some of Hendrick's comments into sharp relief. Surprised by the strength and ferocity of the beastmen, the Elf Mercenary and Dwarf Coachman found themselves on common ground, both suffering serious injury from the initial onslaught. Gradually, however, they regained ground, though the Roadwarden found himself frustrated that every bolt fell short and every blow was swung just too late, the Agitator's axe was notched in striking the horns of one of the larger and more ferocious beastmen, and the Mercenary's halberd was broken in two as he attempted to use it to make an acrobatic pole-vault attack against a snarling opponent. And credit to Rabe, the Initiate of Morr, who provided able support, including relieving the mental strain on an Elf who generally found the battle rather more stressful than he anticipated.

As Hendrick fearfully steered the cart through the Lodge gates, the last of the beastmen fled and the group, tired but intact, rearranged their humble porters' smocks to begin their already unconvincing subterfuge as humble luggage carriers.

* rolled Double-failure on the challenge die for virtually every attack roll he made
** rolled 2 Banes and a Chaos Star, I figure breaking the haft of the halberd was decidedly generous given he was already on 2 Crits, and although had Agility 4, had no Athletics or Coordination skill.

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First session after many months of buying way more WFRP stuff than I really need :-)

Went very well, spent 90 minutes finishing up characters and then 2 hours or so on the introduction and first encounter in an Eye for an Eye (which I've had to rewrite as one of the players may have already gone through the adventure in another group some time ago). Have already decided wound cards for non-critical wounds is just a pain in the backside, and makes it hard to see how many wounds have been taken. Have also noticed how much the system rewards tactical play and working as a team. It's a nice change of pace to play something that actively rewards player / PC team work, rather than just assuming PCs cooperate out of a sense of narrative.

We have also decided to double the XP reward for each session. As a group we play lots of games, with everyone contributing as GM at different times. By increasing the XP reward we get to explore the full length-n-breadth of the system, see how well it functions at mid- and high-ranks, and also get to use up more of the stuff I've bought!