Hello everyone,

Long post incoming.

One of my player is playing a Witch Hunter (who has previously been in the careers Zelot and Flagelant). Now I'm thinking about the intiation rites into the Holy Order of the Templars of Sigmar (i.e. the order of Witch Hunters). I don't know if any of you've read "The Witch Hunter's Handbook", but I thought I'd make use of this book to make the intitiation a rewarding and interesting experience.

Well, as it is written in there are seven "mysteries", which are rituals/ceremonies of initiations to different levels of the order. The first mystery is briefly detailed. The candidate (or novice, intitiate) needs the following (the player will need to collect these things):

• A live boar with one tusk painted black (a domesticated swine does not suffice).
• A silver knife.
• A receptacle able to hold one pint of liquid.
• Three keys (one of which goes to the initiates home, one supplied by the order and one silver key)
• A white robe.
• A crop of leather and birch.
• A length of coarse rope.
• Bandages and smelling salts.

Well, there are a lot of things that could be done with these things. The book outlines briefly how the intitiation begins.
The silver knife will be blessed and then used to cut the novice's side, so that blood flows. They then apply a poultice to the wound, which is in fact a potent drug, which might affect the mind of the novice and might drive them quite mad/melancholic. If they resist this they have a strong enough mind to go on with the first mystery and will be interrogated by a senior templar of the order. The initiation will take a total of three days (and nights I guess).

I intend to let the player(s) know what items need to be gathered, many of them are easy to get a hold of in any town or city. While the players will know what items should be gathered they will not know what they will be used for during the intiation, and I hope that the players will speculate about the initiation and at least fear it somewhat.

After the initiation is complete I intend to give the Witch Hunter player the Sigil of Sigmar item card (which gives bonuses vs. corruption and disease).

The other items needed are not mentioned, so after this long introduction here are the questions:

• Any ideas what the other items might be used for during this rite of initiation? Preferably they should be used in some shocking, bizarre or otherwise interesting way.
• Any good ideas on how to collect the items? (mainly the boar and the keys)
• How can this be made interesting for the other player? I don't want to hurry thought the initiation, but I don't want the other players to get bored during the episode. A part of me feels that it's better done when only the Witch Hunter player and me are present. At the same time it would be fun to have all the players present, as they are sure to help in the gathering of the items and they will probably be interested in the initiation ritual.

I guess my initial post was to long? No suggestions on what a boar could be used for in the ceremony for example?

A long and rambling post follows. You have been warned.

Here are some suggestions. Most, if not all, of the required items are quite common so looking for them won’t probably be too exciting. I would have the Witch Hunter receive orders from the Order to acquire the items, but not share their significance with his friends. Then, while he tries to gather all the items covertly or doesn’t share with the other PCs why he is looking for them, the other PCs are left wondering what is going on.

Concerning the ritual. To start the initiation rite, some members of the Order come for the Witch Hunter-to-be suddenly and without warning. Without explaining themselves they whisk the character away to a small, hidden shrine or temple of Sigmar where the initiation begins. The other PCs are left wondering what is going on, where he disappeared and who took him.

As you write, the initiation starts with: The silver knife will be blessed and then used to cut the novice's side, so that blood flows. They then apply a poultice to the wound, which is in fact a potent drug, which might affect the mind of the novice and might drive them quite mad/melancholic.

I would probably have this drug affect the character so that he sees and hears a strange figure (hooded, wrapped in shadows, blurry etc.) talking to him during the ritual. The figure knows secret things about him and seems to be able to read his mind, and it seems no-one else is able to see him. The character might very well think he is going crazy. What is this figure then? Could be just a hallucination, or a mental image of his fears and dreams, or the first step in his journey towards darkness and insanity. (I would even use this figure much later – have the PC see it or hear it here and there, after he has killed alleged heretics etc.)

The initiation could then continue with a taking of an oath. A senior member of the Order has the PC swear an oath of loyalty. You could probably use the keys for this. After the oath the PC will be left in the shrine/temple for one day and one night. The day is reserved for meditation and quiet contemplation, and the night is spent in feverish prayers to Sigmar and self-flagellation with the crop of leather and birch.

The second day is for the PC to prove his martial prowess. First, wearing only the white robes, he must fight one of his brothers, then several, until finally he will face the most senior of the Witch Hunters present. This is not a battle for first blood, or a brawl. The whole situation is very ritualistic and rife with symbolism, starting from their attires, weapons, holy symbols and so forth. As the battles start the opposing Witch Hunter, or the most senior, reads passages from Sigmarite scriptures and the characters actions in battle must reflect these Sigmarite teaching as well as Sigmarite fighting doctrine. Every parry and riposte is of religious significance.

The further the process goes the more it becomes about Witch Hunters and their specific tasks as opposed to general Sigmarite doctrine. The character must prove his mental toughness, dedication, devotion to Sigmar, the Empire and the Order, as well as his incorruptible character. Once the fight against the most senior Witch Hunter is over, the tired and possibly wounded PC must face the boar in a barehanded battle for life and death. For his reward he will take white and black tusks (you can include some symbolism about right/wrong, justice/injustice, pure/unpure, the twin-tails of the comet here). The bandages and smelling salts are used after the fights.

The third day will test the characters ability to perform his duties when it comes to detecting heretics and the Enemy Within. First he is tested in the temple by his brothers who ask him question after question about mutants, heretics, Sigmarite beliefs etc. Then he is allowed to equip himself and they will go to an outside location. Here he will face the final stage of the initiation and his first task as a Witch Hunter. This final task will be to judge a mutant or an alleged heretic – and his friends.

When the PC was whisked away, the other PCs were left there wondering what happened. Soon after they notice a strange figure (the mutant/heretic) sneaking around and grapping something left behind the Witch Hunter character or his captors (this could be the key to his house). The other PCs then use the three days in their own adventure tracking down the mutant and trying to find out where their friend was taken. You can cut between scenes with the Witch Hunter and the others to keep things rolling and everyone involved. You could even have the Witch Hunter’s tests reflected in the other PCs’ scenes (for example, while he is proving his loyalty to the Order, the other PCs are betrayed by someone at the same time etc.).

The search leads the PCs to a warehouse or some other such location where they are about to confront the mutant. It is then that the Witch Hunters reveal themselves and the Initiate must judge the mutant (using the black and white tusks for guilty/not guilty) and this is also a way for the Order to see if his friends can be trusted. The coarse rope can be used with the mutant. If you make the mutant’s story touching or morally ambiguous, and then have the other PCs debate what to do with it while the Witch Hunters are listening in, it could make for a very interesting scene as the Initiate must prove that his friends can be trusted.

One of Sigmars earliest acts of note was his facing the huge crazed and ferocious Boar Blacktusk.

He stood in a river and out-stared it when it cahrged him, causing it to falter and halt before him. Sigmar then reached around the Boars head to its ears and pulled out a broken speartip that had been driving it mad. Blacktusk squealed and ran off to forage and did not trouble people after that.

I'm presuming the Black tusked boar is realted to that.

(See 'Life of Sigmar' for more details if you can find it. or the first Sigmar time of legends book.)