Rowlocks surveys the scene and considereds his next move – there’s a lot to take in. The basement is carnage. Battles rage all round, bodies line the floor and the flagstones are slick with blood and mess.

Seeing Gnobar on his last legs going toe to toe with the horrific man with no actual face, he storms into the melee and lands a blow into the mutants side.
This gives Gnoblar his chance, his adversary is distracted as he turns to absorb the blow from Rowlocks. Gnoblar pulls back from danger and heads to the back of the room to start reloading his crossbow.

On the other side of the room, the roadwarden slams his weapon into Werner’s leg and the blade just manages to penetrate his armor causing a slight wound.

Wandy sees his opportunity, the guy with flesh dripping from his face has turned to fight Rowlocks, but hes stumbling all over. It’s a slim chance but he could finish him off! He readies his sword and charges him from behind.
KADOOSH! He manages to bury his sword between the mutants shoulder blades and he staggers forward and slumps to the ground – No Face Killer!!

The blue horror demon is in a frenzy and launches himself at the guy with the bulging eyes, he misses.

Goggle eyes has had enough, his mates are down, a demons on his case and things aren’t looking good. He tries to flee the demon, the demon swings as he runs but misses and big eyes runs behind Rowlocks up the steps.

Werner pulls an almighty swing of his axe at the roadwarden, it powers straight through his defences, through his leg amputating it immediately, the axe head carries on travelling due to Werners strength and goes up into his groin – he dies instantaneously of shock, trauma and blood loss and falls to the ground in pieces.

The demon looks round, he has a choice of targets, after a moment he runs snarling at Werner. He slashes him with his ridiculously long arms. Werner’s shield deflects some of the blow and his chain mail vest soaks up the rest.

Rowlocks turns to bulbous eyes to stop his escape and slashes him in the side, hes severely wounded.
Gnoblar fires his crossbow like he’s never shot one before and it completely misses everyone and everything.

Werner takes his blood stained axe to the advancing blue horror and takes a chunk out of him, but it’s still going.

Wandy, keen to enhance his kill streak, takes his sword and charges the demon. Miraculously, he yet again, makes contact with his blade. The demon swirls into a puff of smoke and leaves the dimension. Battle wizard.

Everyone is wounded, Gnoblar is heavily wounded and Reni is unconscious. All the bad guys are down except bug eyes.
He doesnt fancy his chances and is looking at the exit.

The party decide that they should interrogate him and before they can get any further he bolts to the door.

Rowlocks instinctively attacks as bug eyes tries to sidestep him. Before he knows it, he’s put his sword through his ribcage and he falls to the floor in bits. The rest of the party stare blankly at him for a second. He is no longer available for questioning.

It’s over. The place is a blood bath. Everyone takes stock.

Doc Gnoblar gets his medical bag out and starts bandaging and considers the surgical procedures required to sort out himself and Reni. He’s not been in the trade long and he can’t quite work it out.
Everyone else goes to untie the hostages.

There are four still tied up, and they are quickly freed but they are dopey, acting wierd and look terrified. They guy Wandy released earlier seems a but more with it but he’s still a gibbering mess.

The basement shrine isn’t the biggest of rooms, and there are now eleven dead bodies scattered around, body parts everywhere and large pools of blood – everyones keen to get out. Before they leave they search the place. They find a locked crate and small potion in a bag under a flagstone.

Unsure of what may be above, they carefully gather the hostages and creep their way back into the main pub.

They are relieved to find the place empty, everyone heads to the main lounge and begins to collapse onto the sofas and chairs. The wounded are laid down and everyone helps themselves to brandy. What a day this has been.

Gnoblar does his best to sort everyone’s wounds although its proving tricky. Wandy tries to magically unlock the box but he cant quite do it, he’s low on power.

After a while of rest, reflection and brandy the hostages start to come round. They have saved Thomas, whose inn this is, his wife, two servants and a coachman. Thomas and the others are extremely grateful. They definitely would not still be alive if it wasn’t for the intervention.

Everyone’s tired, wounded, traumatised, and generally fucked up. All the doors are checked and secured. The basement is locked and secured and everyone gets themselves a bed for the evening. The storm is still raging outside and everyone is quickly asleep. All except Werner, who sees flashbacks of the void from earlier, strange images, echo through his mind.

The next morning the sun breaks through and a hearty breakfast is served. Thomas explains that he doesn’t know what happened. The day before a bloke came in, the one whose now dressed as a roadwarden, and stayed for a few hours and had food and drinks. The next thing they knew is that they were tied up in the basement.
Thomas can’t thank them enough and reassures them that when the roadwardens come past tomorrow they will be able to explain everything and it will be fine.

The guys consider this prospect while they go check if the boats alright. The boats ok, and better still Elvis has found his way onto it. What next?
Being wanted in Aldorf and having general trust issues with the law, they decide that they definitely don’t want to be there when the roadwardens arrive tomorrow and they decide to go discuss this with Thomas.

Back in the bar, Reni is resting and everyone else is sitting quietly.
Wandy tries again to open the box and, seeing as he’s had a good sleep, the locking mechanism proves not to be a problem.

They open the box and it contains a substantial amount of cash, few hundred gold at least. Thomas, his wife and the coachman look wide eyed at the contents and the party quickly shut the box and decide that they earnt it.

Thomas does not like the new plan where the adventurers leave and he has to explain it to the roadwardens. How would he even explain it? It’s crazy, why not just stay and tell them what happened? Rowlocks tells him they are wanted men, they’ve saved the life of everyone here and the least they could do was not mention anything about them.

Thomas is beside himself, he doesn’t want to do it at all. Our heroes then decide that maybe he could be persuaded with some of the cash they just acquired. Haggling takes place, the gang take a bit of pity on him, and a sum is arranged and the plan is set.
Thomas, his wife and the others would do their best to make up a cover story and the guys would set sail on the Jolly Nobber long before the roadwardens are due.

The guys say their goodbyes, get packed up, grab Reni and head to the boat. While everyones clearing the barge of storm debris and making ready, Gnoblar wants to check the nearby forest for herbs and Werner goes with him.

On their way back from foraging, they both catch sight of a couple of shadows on the edge of their vision through the trees. They head back to the Jolly Nobber.
The lurking shadowy figures give the party a nervous edge and they spend the next hour or so searching the woods all around but to no avail.

It’s getting late in the afternoon now and the general consensus is – let’s get out of here. The Jolly Nobber is ship shape and they push back out onto the Reik and head towards Kemperbad.

They’ve had some heavy nights in the pub before but last night was something else. A day and a half of uneventful river travel is just what everyone needs and they relax, recoup and heal.

They arrive at the engineered cliff top trade town of Kemperbad and are pleased to be back to civilisation.
On the wharfside they witness the pomp and fanfare of the arrival of an imperial plenipotentiary.

Reni, whose still recovering, stays aboard with Elvis and the rest head up the lifts into town for beers, food, shopping and potential career changes.

Passing through the market, Werner, or should I say, Kastor, is pulled to the side by a shifty looking character and a warning is delivered. He needs to deliver or there will be consequences. This is all very confusing but he catches the others up and they crack on.

Shields are bought, armor is ordered, they browse the markets for some bits and Gnoblar hits the herbalist stall.

It’s a lovely spring day now, the town is bustling and for once the team is relaxed.

Werner decides he’s had enough of body guarding and heads to the city watch offices to see if there’s any bounties about. There is, a rogue creature is terrorising travellers east out of Kemperbad. Hmmm, bounty hunting, this might be right up his street…

Home Page
Session 10
Session 12

Following a hard weeks graft on the construction sight the gang are keen to get back to sailing up the Reik. The weather has taken a turn, dark clouds brood on the horizon and it’s been raining all morning.

Wandy’s in his cabin with Elvis flicking through his newly found book on astronomy and the erratic patterns of Morslieb, Gnoblar’s cramming hard on his medical studies and Reni is doing an inventory on her supplies. Rowlocks takes his usual place at the helm and Werner keeps him company on deck in the rain.

Shortly after lunchtime, the Jolly Nobber approaches a tight bend on the Reik and vision of the bend is obscured by the forest on either side. Before they know it a massive trade barge comes careering round the bend and its heading for the Nobber. Rowlocks takes in the river flow, trusts his instincts and pulls hard on the rudder. It’s close but his expertise allows him to swing the boat out of harms way. The big trader slows down, they exchange pleasentaries and continue on their way.

They continue up the Reik as the storm draws close, the rain intensifies and the wind picks up.

It’s nearly dusk. The storm catches up with the party and unleashes all its energy. Thunder booms, lightning cracks all over, the wind rages and the rain becomes torrential.
The party members downstairs are getting thrown about, Elvis whines whilst Rowlocks and Werner are battered by the storm on deck. To make it worse, ominous sounds can be heard from the forest along the banks, strangled baying and howls. Shapes flicker amongst the shadows. Rowlocks and Werner start to get a bad feeling about their current situation.
The river is raging, swollen and surging and Rowlocks is commanding the vessel with all of his skill.

It’s now dark and Rowlocks only has the dim moonlight and the lightning to navigate with. All of a sudden a massive lump of debris, a log from a fallen tree, speeds down the torrent heading straight for the Jolly Nobber. Rowlocks slams the boat to the side, avoiding the debris but losing control as the Reik takes over. He draws on all his experience and battles to regain the barge. Its heading for the bank as he just manages to pull her round.

The forest edges become even more foreboding, with beastial cries, shadows and movement. The river is out of control and the storm is furious. Decisions need to be made.
No one wants to get off the boat, what lurks in the forest? Fuck that, let’s sail on.

They press on, their lives essentially in Rowlock’s hands, but theres no better man for the job.
Just then, a vicious side wind catches the main sails and threatens to pull her over into the blackness of the Reik. There’s seconds before the plunge but Rowlock’s instincts kick in and he’s up and pulling down the sails before the boat tips. He and Werner manage to save the vessel and it’s back to the rudder for Rowlocks.

Half an hour of battling the ferocious storm in the dark and the swell on the river drags the boat threatening to smash it into the bank. Rowlocks loses control, Werner braces and shouts but at the last min the experienced boatman once again drags the barge away from danger by a sliver.

There’s no reprieve, if anything the rain gets worse – this cant go on..

Just then, the lightning seems to illuminate a building in the distance by the edge of the river. Focusing his eyes through the rain, Werner can just about make out some candle light in what appears to be windows.

They heads towards the silhouette, desperate for some sanctuary.
Theres a wharf next to a decrepit ferry and within a second Werner and Rowlocks are securing the Jolly Nobber to it as best they can. They head downstairs and rally the troops. No ones staying on the barge, they grab their cloaks, coats and weapons and jump off onto the wharf.

Just next to the wharf is a small building that Werner heads into. It’s been turned over and theres signs of a struggle, he finds a small purse and relieves it of its contents. Gnoblar follows a trail of blood that looks like someones been dragged out, but the trail goes cold in the rain and mud. They head towards a small side door in the 12 ft high wall. The door is open.

Now closer, they can tell it’s an inn – The Hooded Man.

Theres a selection of standard coaching inn type buildings but they decide to head straight for the main bar, lights and merriment can be heard from inside although the windows and doors are firmly locked, drawn and bolted.
Werner bangs on the door. The laughter stops, scraping sounds can be heard from inside but nothing happens. He bangs again.

The door unlocks and unbolts and slowly opens. A grotesquely fat blob of a man pulls open the door with a look of surprise. The party plea for shelter and he shows them into the bar. A man, dressed in a roadwarden’s uniform suspiciously eyes them as they enter and draws on his pipe.
“We don’t want any of you adventuring sort round here tonight,” says Otto the fat bastard. A big eyed individual thumps a mop around near the back of the bar.

The guys insist, and explain that the storm is raging and they simply seek shelter. Otto begrudgingly displays the worst customer service ever and goes to fetch them the drinks. Elvis shakes himself dry and further annoys the already annoyed landlord. The roadwarden wants to know what they’re doing here on such a night?

Werner calmly lies and explains that they are simple traders heading to Kemperbad. The roadwarden quizzes them about bandits in the area, they convince him they’re not bandits and Otto brings the drinks in dirty tankards.

“I suppose you want feeding too?” Says Otto and stomps off back towards the bar.
“I’ll have some stew!” Shouts Gnoblar – he likes his food. Some of the others are not sure about the current situation.

The storm was intense but the party feel far from relaxed. The roadwarden heads off through the back of the bar and the guys have a quiet chat.
It seems no ones hungry and suspicions are rife. Reni’s freaked out and doesnt like the place. The blood outside? None of it feels quite right.
They decide Gnoblar should head up to the bar and see if he can check out anything that’s going on. It’s a good idea and he overhears the conversation in the back.
“Dont panic Otto, they’re only travellers, Tzeentch will be pleased to have their souls as well.”
Shit.

The roadwarden emerges and stares at Gnoblar, Gnoblar says he wants a drink and tries to look as much like hes innocently waiting at a bar as possible.

The evening continues and eventually they are shown upstairs to the dirtiest common room ever. They hear the door quietly lock.

The storms still battering the pub from the outside and everyone is a bit on edge. They decide to wait it out for a bit. Werner offers to take first watch, but no ones really sleeping. A while later, Werner hears footsteps outside the door and some goings on. He keeps listening.
Half hour or so later he can just perceive a strange, distant, discordant chanting. No one seems keen to leave the sanctity of the room. After a while, Werner has had enough, let’s go see. Seems the situation is getting steadily worse so they decide to do something about it.

Wandy rolls up his sleeves, closes his eyes and the tumblers in the lock turn. Let’s go.
Werner takes point (as always) and they head out into the corridor. They bypass the other top floor rooms as they are keen to get down stairs and closer to the chanting.

Down the stairs they creep, but the bar is empty and the sound is louder.
They head into the kitchen and notice a mop and bucket full of blood but nothing else. Rowlocks realises hes stood near a hatch to what must be the cellar. Down is always bad, so it must be down there.

They head down into the cellar and find the usual inn type stuff. They do notice a blood trail. Gnoblar follows the trail and finds a paving stone, a loose one, and they prise it up. The chanting is loud now and a ladder leads down into a very small room with an ajar door.
They pack into the room leaving Elvis above. Werner peeks into the next room and sees the source of the chanting. The “roadwarden”, the horrendously fat landlord, the guy with the eyes, another bloke in a cloak and there is some, what appears to be, tied up hostages,

Everyone steels themselves, Werner steps into the room.

The chanting reaches a raucous level and now he’s inside the room he can see what’s going on. The strangers are all hailing a large shimmering statue on a plinth.

Werner looks into the shifting void and the void stares back. The switching, shifting, colour changing, mutating swirl of symbols and shapes enters his mind. As the others pile in, the roadwarden plunges a knife into a bound victim at the front.

All hell breaks loose as the statue explodes into reality in the shape of a pink horror. With its head inside its chest and it’s long spindly, suckered arms, it screeches, twists and roars as it jumps straight at the roadwarden.

Werner, Rowlocks, Gnoblar and Reni are rooted to the spot in fear – but not Wandy. Wandy’s not fucking scared of demons.

The attention of the bad guys is the demon. Wandy bravely runs to the other side of the room and starts to untie one of the hostages. The roadwarden attacks the horror and the other bad guys move forward towards the demon.

Rowlocks snaps out of it, grabs his bow and heads to the steps at the back of the room to get a shot on the demon but its chaotic and they whistle past.
Gnoblar is next to pull himself together, he joins Rowlocks on the steps and fires his crossbow into the fray. Otto joins the roadwarden with the creature,  and big eyes heads to Wandy.
The demon slashes Otto across his midriff and blood and fat pour out. The roadwarden smashes the pink bastard in the arm and it reels.

The cloaked figure turns to Rowlocks and Gnoblar on the steps. He has no face and scraps of skin hang from his skull, the two archers loosen their grips on their weapons and are overcome with fear.

The released hostage is paralyzed with trauma and whimpers in the corner. Wandy takes in the scene. He focuses hard, draws back his arms and unleashes a blast of wind at the Roadwarden and the demon knocking them off balance and blowing dust and shit everywhere. Elvis barks.

The sounds of battle and screams of his friends pull Werner out of his trance and he springs to action. Sword and shield in hand he charges into the melee with his axe held high intent on bringing it down on the demons head. He’s in the mood for it and with two almighty axe attacks he cleaves the beast in two, smash!!! Hooray!!!

Instead of dying, the horror splits into two, blue smaller versions of itself. Fucks sake.

Wandy continues his wind power on the demons and the roadwarden. Otto slams his club into Werner crumpling through his armor. The roadwarden also swings his sword at Werner but the blow is absorbed by his shield.
The man with no face slices his long sword into Gnoblar with a massive hit, almost dropping him to his knees. Reni can’t move. Elvis stops barking

Big eyes battles his way towards Wandy fighting through the wind. Werner now has Otto, the roadwarden and the two demons surrounding him.

The imminent danger brings Gnoblar to life. Gnoblar hits out at no face and swings past him. Reni then rushes in, hysterically fighting through the tears and tries to stab him, but it’s a wild shot going wide.

Bulging eyes takes swing after swing at Wandy but he cant touch him through the wind blast vortex.
Werner makes a tactical choice and takes a few steps back narrowly avoiding slashes from the blue horrors and lashes out with his axe at Otto. Otto is waddling around clutches his already wounded stomach. Werner shows him no mercy as he launches his axe into the side of him with enough power to slice through the fat. Otto slumps to the floor oozing.

Rowlocks flicks into action, drops his bow and comes down the steps at skull faced man catching his leg.
The man with no face backhands Reni with his sword and knocks her to the floor and she’s not getting up. The roadwardens sword cuts into Werner, as Werner cuts down one of the demons.

Without warning, from the ladder where they came into the room, comes a hideous figure of a man with spider like legs with suckers on the end. He bursts into the room and goes straight at Rowlocks hitting him in the side.

The remaining demon battles it’s way towards Wandy whose being attacked by the man with big eyes. Wandy’s holding his flank with a mixture of wind power and luck.
Werner and the roadwarden are going toe to toe in a brutal clash of sword and axe.

The grotesque man with no face takes a look at the heavily wounded Gnoblar and drives his sword towards his neck! It’s definitely going to kill him when it’s almost fate itself steps in and at the last possible moment, no face stumbles, slips slightly, and the blade narrowly nicks Gnoblar’s neck. Shitting hell!

Rowlocks slices at spider boy and its wincy, wincy spider as he takes a blow to the torso. Werner and the roadwarden continue to battle it out in a exceptional display of hand to hand combat.

With the demon and goggle eyes at his feet, Wandy drops the tornado and heads to no face to slash him from the back.

With backs to the wall, Rowlocks surges forward and drops the spider with a flurry of blows.
Reni groans.
session ends

Home Page
Session 9
Session 11

A cloudy spring day and the Jolly Nobber continues to sail south up the Reik. About 15 miles from Castle Reikguard the party sees an incongruous sight. Perched on top of a small hillock is a construction site. One of the Emperors new fangled signalling devices is being built on the ruins of an old looking base of a tower and dwarves can be seen working away on the surrounding scaffolding.
As the Nobber rounds the bend and they draw closer they can see two dwarves stood on the wharf waving and shouting, wanting a lift and waving a coin purse.
Wandy is keen to keep pushing on, but after a discussion they agree to pull over and see what’s happening.

They want a lift to the nearest city and they seem to in a hurry. Whilst negotiations are taking place, another red faced gasping dwarf comes running down the hill bollocking them and ordering them back to site.
He introduces himself as Aynjulls Isenbeard, hes obviously under a lot of stress and he’s got problems. The gang enquire about goings on and learn that his reputation as a master artisan is in jeapordy as half his crew has gone missing or they’ve been injured. He’s very keen to pay for assistance to help complete the project, especially when he learns of Werners carpentry skills.

A team meeting ensues and after some consideration, they agree to help, not before pressuring the desperate guy into paying a higher fee upon completion. They peruse the blueprints, Werner grabs his tools and off they go, although Reni explains it’s not really her line of work and she offers to stay on the boat and look after Elvis.

Rowlocks decides he wants a different perspective of events and goes to talk to the other engineers. They’re essentially besides themselves with worry about their missing comrades and clearly cant wait to get off the job.
Evening follows and decisions need to be made about where to sleep. For a while, the party cannot decide wether to sleep on the barge or stay in the tower with the dwarves and the decisions go back and forth. Rowlocks wants the mystery of the missing engineers solved and after a debate, they all agree to stay on site with the dwarves. Wandy casts some protection on the barge and explains to the others how draining the process of magic can be.

After a few pints and some storytelling everyone gets settled for the night. Rowlocks takes first watch and nothing happens. He swaps in for Werner after midnight, and the rest get some sleep.

During his shift, Werner sees the floor move and a silent trapdoor swings open. Before he knows what’s hit him a creepy, undead ghoul springs out and sets upon him, swinging wildly with his arms. Werner’s up and on his feet in no time and dodges the incoming blows, whilst shouting everyone to get up!

The dwarves awaken and begin to immediately panic. Wandy, Rowlocks and Gnoblar wake and take in the scene. Werner hits back with his trusty axe and the ghoul takes a couple of blows to the midriff, cutting him deep.
Rowlocks grabs his sword and comes at the creature from his right flank. Wandy runs to the trapdoor to try and close it but it wont budge! The terrified dwarves run out of the tower.

The beast once again swings a couple of attacks at Werner but he is able to manoeuvre out of the way. Rowlocks smashed the ghoul in the side of the head with his sword and he winces and shrieks!
The creature, knocked back and wounded sprints for the trapdoor, which slowly begins to close behind him.

Instinctively, without even thinking our heroes all scream, “quick!! After him!! GET DOWN THERE QUICK!!!” FUUCKKI

They drop into a small hallway, the trapdoor closes behind them and they stand in complete darkness.

Wandy sparks a magic flame in his palm and they see they are in some ancient, cobwebbed, dusty, structure, that looks like it hasnt been disturbed in centuries. It’s a bizarre build with disorienting perspectives, but they press forward.

Rowlocks tries the door in front of them. Locked.
He tries the door to his right, turns the handle, Wandys flamelight fills the gaps  and he steps into what appears to be an old study with desk, drawing board and chest.
In the middle of the room stands a most disgusting sight. A humanoid creature, decaying flesh dropping from his skull like face, turns to face Rowlocks and shambles towards him. The stench of death hits Rowlocks in the face, but hes not afraid.

He sprints straight towards the walking mess, swings his sword right into the zombie with an almighty crunch and drops it to the floor.
Everyone enters and they search round the room. They find some ancient maps, Wandy grabs an interesting astronomy based notebook and a funny looking staff and they look over the portraits of the strange people on the wall.

They gather at the most northerly door and Rowlocks opens it and stride forward into the semi darkness of an old library.
He freezes on the spot, overwhelmed with fear as three more walking corpses turn and lurch towards him. Wandy and Werner, keen to see what’s in front of Rowlocks, stand like statues petrified by sight of the undead.
Gnoblar is not scared of fucking dead things.
With his friends rooted to the spot, and the sight of impending doom, he thinks on his feet. He jumps into the room, grabs Rowlocks and drags him back into the study, slamming the door being him and holding the door.

Bursting through the door behind them comes the injured ghoul from earlier and hes accompanied by another rotting corpse.
Werner and Wandy are overcome with fear and rooted to the spot, they’ve never seen anything like it!
The ghoul and the zombie head straight for Werner and he takes a blow to the side. Gnoblar let’s go of the door and rushes to attack.
Rowlocks shakes himself awake and readies his grip on his sword.

The party are surrounded and with two of them being shit scared, things are looking sketchy.
Rowlocks takes a couple of hits, some of which is soaked up by his chain mail coat, but he’s wounded and fighting for his life.

Gnoblar does what he can and continues to stab at the enemies to the other flank. Werner takes more damage while he’s in a state of fear. The battles continues and is hard fought on all sides, Rowlocks is warmed up now and fells a couple of the zombies that came in through the library.

Gnoblar the battle medic sticks his sword into the arm of the nearest undead and drops him.

Wandy snaps out of it and considers his options. He runs out of the action, past the fray and back into the hallway they entered in, taking his flame with him. This plunges the room into darkness and Rowlocks fights on blind.

The wounded ghoul swipes at Gnoblar hits him in the arm, the wound bites and burns as Gnoblar feels his whole body enter a state of paralysis and he drops to the floor.

Rowlocks is in the pitch black fighting on all sides, Werner has never been so scared in all his life and cant pull himself together, Gnoblar is frozen and Wandy has left the room. Rowlocks is sweating now!

Then, as if by magic, Wandy, the bravest wizard in the Empire, runs back into the study and tries to use his magic flame to light the back of the ghouls jacket. It’s a ridiculous plan, with almost no chance of success!

BY SIGMAR!! He lands the almost impossible blow, the beast screeches in pain as the flames jump up his tinder dry jerkin!! He runs round in circles writhing and twisting.
As the room bursts into light Werner comes round, adjusts his axe grip and wades in crushing a zombies leg with a blow. As the tide of battle turns Rowlocks runs through the last remaining enemy and they stop and look round. That escalated quickly.

They look over their wounds and the carnage around them and notice the now smoking ghoul has a strange key like thing around his neck. A search of the other now dead again zombies reveals four more, slightly different keys.
Wandy magically locks the door behind them and they cautiously push forward into the ancient library by the light of Wandys flame. Werner picks up Gnoblar and carrys him along, with Rowlocks on point.

Theres nothing but hundreds of old books of all types and languages, and although Wandy would love to read them all, they decide now is not the time and crack on.

Without any deliberation, Rowlocks opens the door to what they believe to be the central chamber.
Inside they find a central core of what appears to be solid steel. Two metal poles protrude on either side of the large steel cylinder. The party concludes that they must have to push them. Gnoblar comes round.
Werner and Rowlocks get on either side and heave. The central part of the room does, indeed, begin to rotate until a previously unseen entrance is revealed to the inner chamber. Inside, glowing hexagram can be found on the floor and Rowlocks spots some tiny holes that are about the same size as the heads of the keys they have just found.
6 keyholes, 5 keys.
Not sure of where the other key might be they decide to open the only room they havnt yet been in.

Inside is an alchemists lab in which strange calculations have been scrawled over all surfaces. They turn the room over and Wandy claims a large leather bound book.

With no obvious way out or in, the wounded, traumatised party head back to the entrance hall.

To their surprise both the trapdoor and another concealed door open. Through the outer door they can see the Jolly Nobber, the dwarves and Reni at the wharf.

They meet at the wharf and the gang give Aynjulls and the other engineers a full debrief in the aftermath.
Aynjulls is relieved, the rest feel slightly better and they all get some rest.
They agree to help finish the building work and see out the next week on site whilst healing their wounds. They set up watches every night but no further attacks or mysterious disappearances occur.

At the end of the contract Aynjulls is overjoyed with the assistance of his new work mates and insists they look him up next time they are in Altdorf.
After what turned out to be a hard week of graft, the party wave goodbye to the dwarves, unhitch the Jolly Nobber and push off into the main current of the Reik.

session ends,

Home Page
Session 8
Session 10

The weeks rest while they wait for Gnoblar turns into two, after Gnoblar calls in a favour from Elvyra to have a word with the local Physician. After handing over some cold, hard gold, Gnoblar begins a weeks intensive training with the local doc while everyone else continues to take it easy on the barge.
Once Gnoblar completes his studies, he returns to the Jolly Nobber, loaded up with books to continue his academic pursuits. The crew get ready and begin to sail up the Wiessbruck canal and on to Altdorf.

When nearing the capital, Reni pulls Rowlocks to one side. On the side of the river, stuck to a tree next to a busy road, is a wanted poster and it looks like it’s got Rowlocks and Wandys face on it.
Rowlocks and Wandy dive under deck and Reni wants to know why 2 people, who look just like her new found friends, are wanted in connection with a murder of a noble. The guys explain the events from a few weeks ago, more or less as it happens and, although slightly puzzled Reni gives them the benefit of the doubt.

The Jolly Nobber continues its course into the metropolis when they see the river patrol heading their way.
Spooked by the posters, Wandy and Rowlocks head into the hold and hide amongst the sacks of wool.
The river sergeant shouts “standard inspection, prepare to board!” As Werner, Reni and Gnoblar try to look as inconspicuous as possible.
They are questioned about their cargo, destination and purpose, and after a series of stutters, pauses and general unconvincing statements from Gnoblar and Werner the river patrol sergeant orders the boat to be turned over.
Having stated that there was no one else on board the river patrol are amazed to find two dodgy looking characters hiding in the store rooms and they are quickly frog marched onto the deck.
During the garbled explanation Werner decides to send some the wierd gestures hes been experiencing towards the river patrol boss. The sergeant stares at Werner for a period of time.
“Right, what shall we do with them boss, they’re liars! Put em on our boat and impound the barge?”
The sergeant takes a moment..
“Come on lads, let’s not keep these good folk any longer weve wasted enough of their time.”
The river patrol subordinates all look confused, they look at the Wanted Rowlocks and Wandy, look at the sergeant.
“But…but…”
“Sorry to keep you, enjoy Altdorf, get off the boat lads, weve got inspections to carry out!”
And with that, the sergeant forces the rest of the patrol off the barge, gives a little wave and they apologise and carry on their way.

Rowlocks and Wandy keep their heads down as they steer the barge into Altdorf and head to the short stay dock near the main plaza.
The bustling wharf is a hive of activity and as soon as they pull up they are approached by one of the riverside traders, Herr Hohenzoll who immediately enquires about their cargo. After an inspection, he offers to take their 75 sacks of wool for a nice tidy sum of 950 gold. Completely stunned at this amount, the group are taken aback! Gnoblar, at this point, begins to haggle and they finish at 1000 for the lot. The local labourers begin to unload the cargo as the gang split the cash and cant quite believe their luck!
Next – shopping!

Werner and Gnoblar head into the main shopping market with the intention of buying supplies with their new found wealth and also some shady hooded cloaks for Wandy and Rowlocks who remain hidden on the Nobber.
Gnoblar gets the medical tools, vials and beakers required for his new professions and some bits and bobs while Werner loads up on arrows, bolts and other supplies and they head back to the barge with the intent of leaving Altdorf as quickly as possible. They jump back on the Jolly Nobber, unload the supplies and they’re off once more, homeward bound.

The weathers not too bad and the gang sail quite happily towards Delberz taking the river Talabec out of Altdorf. Theres some general river traffic, the odd barge and fishing boat, occasional running.mage for herbs on the riverside, but generally it’s easy going.
About a day out of Delberz and just when mooring up for the night they are hailed by a small trader asking for a favour.
The guy doesnt have time to make his drops and he asks them to take a small crate to the pub in Delberz for a delivery, 25 gold now and 25 on delivery. The guys decide to help him out, take the crate and bid him farewell and settle down for the evening.

The next morning, as they head into Delberz they see their friend from the previous night. His boat is being ransacked by the river patrol, hes being questioned as he tries not to look at the Jolly Nobber as it breezes past.

They hook the boat up at the docks and without further ado, head with Wandy to go see his master Heironymous while Reni heads into town to get some bits.

The team approach Heironymous’ ramshackled house on the outskirts of town and find the gates swing open as they approach.
A knock at the door brings Hans-Peter Schiller (Heironymous’ other apprentice) to greet the visitors. He seems slightly surprised but not overjoyed to see Wandy return with his new friends. With a hint of begruding flavoured with jealousy he shows the party through to the master wizards study.
Heironymous is very happy to see his favourite student return with his new found mates and immediately gets Hans-Peter to bring drinks and snacks as he insists that Wandy tells him all about his adventures since he has been gone.

They smoke pipes, drink brandy as they tell all to Heironymous about all that has happened. The mutants, Kastor Leiberung, events in Altdorf, bounty hunter at Weissbruck, and Bogenhafen while the whole time Heironymous tinkers with a cuckoo clock. As soon as talk of demons and chaos moon occurs, he stops and listens intently, his expression of his face turns stern. They describe the events in great detail, all about Teugan, Gideon, the town and the rituals. They hand Heironymous the evidence they have collected and eventually give him the letter that Magirius gave them prior to his murder, which he studies closely.
It is from Etelka Herzen. The wizard knows of this woman, foul sorcerer, agent of chaos and dabbler in the dark arts. This is serious, she has enabled the events of Bogenhafen, and god knows what would have happened if the ritual had not been stopped by our heroes.
These are grave events, Heironymous is particularly disturbed by the movements of Morslieb the chaos moon, Etelka Herzen must be stopped.
Heironymous implores the group to go after her and see what she is doing and stop her, they have an address from the letter saying it was posted from Grissenwald, nearly 300 miles away up the mighty Reik river.
Discussions continue into the evening and they agree to seek out the doer of evil.

Over the next three weeks, Wandy trains intensively with his mentor honing his skills. Although he does find some of this tricky, he makes the grade and leaves Heironymous a fully fledged wizard, ready to head out into the world and seek more experience.
The guys also drop off the crate (without looking in it) they are to deliver to the local inn and collect their 25 gold for delivery.
Gnoblar and Werner spend the downtime at Werner’s mum and dads Inn in Mittlemund just outside Delberz, Reni and Elvis chill on the barge while Reni does some peddling while Rowlocks visits old friends and goes to his favourite local pubs. Werner also uses his carpentry skills to fix a secret wall section in the boat for sneaky storage purposes.

With everyone sorted, the boat in good form and loaded with supplies the party set off on their journey south, down the Reik towards Grissenwald to find that bitch Etelka.

They sail down the Talabec to Altdorf, head swiftly through the capital, but as they pass the main square they see a familiar face. Sat in a four seasons coach, ready to pull off is the guy with the book from the Coach and Horses from many weeks ago. He spots them, as they do him, he promptly buries his head in his book and bangs the side of the coach in an attempt to get the drivers to leave.

The Jolly Nobber and crew sail on, and take the mighty Reik river south out of Altdorf as it cuts through the Great Forest and Reikwald forest. Rowlocks is in his element in the command of a barge down one of the Empires most famous and biggest waterways. The Reik is longest river in the Old World stretching for 750 miles from its source in the Black Mountains to the sea at Marienburg. The Reik and its tributaries are the arteries of the empire, flowing through dark forests to link it’s great cities.

Traffic is light and the weather is cold and rainy as they spend a few days travelling south, but they do speak to the odd fisherman and traders about local news and rumours.

After a few days travel they pass Castle Reikguard one morning, the home of the crown prince Wolfgang, the emperors chosen heir. The castle looks foreboding on the cliffs as it bristles with bombards and the glints of light reflecting from suits or armor. The Jolly Nobber sails past as the party take in the scene.

Session ends

Main Page
Session 7
Session 9

The birds tweet, the water ripples and the sun shines on a nice spring day on the river Bogen. Rowlocks, Werner, Gnoblar, Wandy, Renate and Elvis all sit on the deck of the trade barge, exhausted, bleeding and traumatised. It’s been a long few days.

After a short getting-to-know-you chat with Renate and a reflection on the events on the barge they all agree that it’s a good idea to let Renate travel with them, for a bit at least.

Rowlocks needs some serious medical attention for his demon gash on his arm. Being still a day away from Weissbruck, Gnoblar offers to put Rowlocks out for 24 hours using his last dose of Tarrabeth, which, although it wont completely heal him, should do the trick and reduce the need for doctor. Rowlocks goes off to his cabin for a big sleep and the others have some downtime.

They sink the two rowing boats, and set about cleaning up and sorting out the boat. Gnoblar and Renate hop off and head into the forest in an attempt to restock some of Gnoblars dwindling herb stash. Werner, whose been rowing through the night, takes to a bed in a cabin absolutely shattered. Wandy sits in the sunshine on the deck with Elvis at his feet and begins to study Teugan’s spellbook.

Later that day, Gnoblar and Renate return, having been reasonably lucky and Renate sets about saying thank you to the guys by generally being helpful, washing and darning their clothes and cooking some dinner.
The following day, Rowlocks wakes up feeling a lot better and they sail the barge towards Weissbruck.

They pull up at Weissbruck with the plan of Gnoblar, and his bodyguard Werner, heading into town and see if they can find Elvyra. Gnoblar had hit it off with Elvyyra at the Schaffenfest, and she had offered to teach him the ways of pharmacy if he was ever passing through. The rest of the gang remain on the boat.

They are immediately accosted by a pair of street peddlers keen to show them the benefits of their wares. Whilst one is sales pitching Gnoblar, the other begins to surreptitiously signal Werner in a weird manner. Werner is confused. After some deliberation, Werner repeats the symbols back to the peddler, who nudges his mate and begins to quickly leave, but before they do, he outstretches his hand to Werner. They shake hands and they disappear into the crowd.

Werner and Gnoblar then set off to Elvyras.
On the way, Werner notices his palm is now purple, which adds to his confusion.

They follow the directions to Elvyras and as they approach the cottage which they believe is hers they notice a broken window and a smashed window box. They cautiously approach the cottage and peek through the broken window and see signs of a struggle. They call out, but nothing.

Gnoblar climbs through the window and Werner stands outside the house on guard. Gnoblar searches the trashed parlour and just sees a slip of paper, which he reads. It says – bring the goods to the red barn at midnight. He continues the search and opens the door to the also trashed kitchen.
Nothings getting past Gnoblar today and his ultra keen senses pick up a draft coming from behind a cupboard. He shifts the cupboard out the way, which is not easy for a halfling, and a hidden door is revealed. Narrow stairs lead down into the darkness of a cellar. Something makes him jump! A quick flash of movement is seen before it moves off into the darkness.

Luckily, Gnoblars brought his torch! He sparks it up and descends into the cellar, narrowly dodging a missing step.
In the depths of the cellar, Gnoblar is surprised to see a small scruffy girl cowering in the corner.
Being a friendly chap, he calls out, trying to reassure the girl that hes a friend and here to help – shes not having it. He tries again, stating he’s friends with Elvyra but the girl doesnt want to know.
As Gnoblar moves round to slowly see what’s in the basement the girl bolts for the stairs! In a split second Gnoblar drops the torch and grabs the young girl round the waist. She bites him and struggles like fuck, but Gnoblar holds on gently reassuring her that it’s alright.

After a while she calms down and opens up. Elvyras been arguing with some people, there was noise and shouting, then she was gone. The girls called Liza and Gnoblar and Werner dont know what to do with her. They decide to head back to the town centre and the boat and drop her off with the town watch.
A change of plan occurs and they take Liza to the boat, where Renate comforts her as they get the squad together to think about a rescue.

Rowlocks, Wandy, Gnoblar and Werner leave the boat, but being the highly suspicious types, and only having just met Renate, Wandy places one of his newly learnt magic alarms on the rope that’s attaching their newly named barge ‘The Jolly Nobber’ to the wharf.

They head to the market where Werner buys some carpentry tools he needs to do some repairs to the boat, and some new snazzy gloves that he needs to hide his purple hand.

He doesnt wear the gloves or attempt to wash off the purple and they ask about Elvyra and a red barn, but they dont get very far and no one really helps.

Fresh out of ideas they initiate their favourite plan of ’let’s go to the pub’ and they head to the Happy Man for a pint and some food.
Following some stew and beers they get talking to the innkeeper who directs them to Otto the potman. After financially assisting him with his diet, his lips loosen and he gives them some info about a red barn. Werner tries further bribery about his purple hand, and although he doesnt get anywhere he learns about 3 blokes who were at the pub last night with a wheelbarrow and a large trunk. They conclude that these guys stuffed Elvyra in the trunk.

The boys find the dilapidated barn and hide in the bushes.
Rowlocks stealths through the undergrowth and does a lap of the building. He sees a man, asleep on a chair with half a chicken and bacon sandwich in his hand, but nothing else inside of note. At the back of the barn there are big doors on the first floor. A plan forms and Rowlocks and Werner head to the back doors as Gnoblar and Wandy wait in the bushes.

As quietly as possible, Werner boosts Rowlocks up to the first floor and Rowlocks opens the door.
Inside two rough looking blokes spin round and are surprised to see the ranger jumping into the room. Rowlocks draws his trusty sword and launches at the closest one cutting him deep in the side!
He then sees Elvyra bound and gagged on a chair in the corner of the hay loft.
The two thugs strike back at Rowlocks. He manages to dodge one blow but is crunched badly on his bad arm by the other. Elvyra starts to rock around on her chair as Werner uses his expert climbing skills to jump into the loft.

Wandy and Gnoblar hear the sounds of combat and decide to head into the barn via the main doors where they run into the newly awakened sentry. Wandy tries to hit him with a sleep spell but misses the touch. The sentry whacks Wandy in the chest with his club but the blow is fortunately absorbed by his freshly donned leather jerkin.
On the other side of the barn. Werner runs round the back of the two kidnappers and slams one in the arm with his axe.
Rowlocks, annoyed at being hit in his arm again thrusts his sword at the already wounded thug. It punctures his belly and he drops to the floor. Werner attacks again at the thug and floors him with a blow to the knee. He then sprints off to Wandy and Gnoblar, shield and axe in hand.

Rowlocks starts to cut Elvyra free.

Now surrounded, the sleepy guard bottles it and makes for the door. As he turns his back, Werner cuts him down.
Gnoblar rushes to see Elvyra and shes never been so happy to see a casual acquaintance before in her life and hugs are thrown about. With Elvyra keen to be reunited with Liza they leave the barn. All except Werner.

Darkness descends as Werner gets the 3 dying men and lines them up all next to each other and cues his axe. He brings the blade down and after a few swings chops off all their heads. The beheaded corpses are rolled out in the hay, covered over and he rejoins the others.

Back at the Jolly Nobber, spirits are high as Elvyra and Liza are reunited and the gang celebrate their successful rescue mission.
Over the next week, Gnoblar gains a crash course in Pharmaceutical matters as the rest of the party relax on the boat, go to the pub and do general maintenance. Wandy returns to reading through Teugans spellbook and stroking his dog.

session ends

Home Page
Session 6
Session 8

The sun has set in Bogenhafen, the cheers and celebrations from the last night of the Schaffenfest can be heard in the distance, as the fog from the river Bogen begins to roll in over the docks. The town is in chaos with the alarm raised, buildings on fire and lynch mobs but all is silent on the Ostendamm.
Inside warehouse 13, our party sit in darkness, having taken up positions amongst the crates as they wait for the ritual to begin. Werner and Rowlocks take front positions standing on crates, with Gnoblar and Wandy further back.
They wait.

At about 7 or so, they here a coach arrive and the door opens. In comes, who they now know to be Steinhager, and two bruisers. The heavies drop a sack and leave and Steinhager begins to set up the the ritual.
They wait in the darkness.

After a while, Teugan and the other merchants arrive, they chat and begin to get their robes on. The party are getting twitchy but..
They wait

More heavies arrive and drop off a sack. A sacrificial woman is bound and gagged and after a while brought to the centre of the pentagram. Things are ramping up now as the cultists take their positions and begin to chant. Teugans in the middle standing over the victim.
They’re seriously thinking about it but…
They wait.

The chanting reaches a weird, loud discordant cacophony, Teugan begins to raise the knife high up in the air over the dark haired woman and…
THEY DON’T WAIT!!

THWANG Rowlocks unleashes a shot from his Elven bow and hits Steinhager in the leg. Another shot rings out from Wandy in the darkness at the back of the warehouse and hits Teugan in the shin and he drops to his knees. Teugan looks round in a panic as the chanting stops. Werner jumps down from the crates and charges the inconspicuous man standing near the door and slashes him wildly with his axe hitting him in the shoulder! KERTHUNK
Teugan stands and him and Gideon, who Werner just wounded, begin incantations and gestures.
A few moments later, both Rowlocks and Werner are drooling, gibbering idiots, licking the crates and picking dirt up off the floor.
Teugan yells his friends to avert their eyes as Gideon begins a grotesque metamorphosis from man to winged demon. The merchant cultists all listen to him but one, who is frozen to the spot in fear. Gnoblar cant see from his position, but Wandy witnesses the change. Wandys not fucking scared of demons.

Gnoblar stealthily makes his way across the warehouse and tries to shake Rowlocks out of his state. Wandy fires his crossbow again but the bolt whistles into the wall. Gideon runs to the back of the warehouse screeching and snarling. He scans for threats.
The cultists begin to bottle it and start heading to the door. Teugan is almost hysterical as the holds the door shut and screams for them to remain and finish the ritual. Steinhager and Teugan have a row.
Rowlocks begins to come round as Gnoblar throws down his crossbow and grabs his sling. He winds it up and unloads a sling bullet which flies straight for Gideon and hits him between the eyes.
Gideon sees Gnoblar in the darkness and unleashes a fireball towards him. Gnoblar is officially the luckiest halfling in the Empire as it just manages to singe him as he dives behind a crate. Meanwhile, the cultists try to push and pull Teugan from the door.
Werner finds a small beetle on the floor squishes it up his nose.

Rowlocks brings himself to his feet, jumps down from the crates and charges Teugan whilst drawing his sword. Rowlocks dishes out the damage as he critically wounds Teugan, slices his finger off and blood splurts all over the shop. Teugan screams and once again drops to his knees.
Another bolt from Wandy whistles through the chaos.

Gideon races back to where the action is and immediately starts to attack Rowlocks cutting him deeply with his claws.
Teugan writhes around on the floor bleeding and shouting.
Wandy and Gnoblar rush to the front of the warehouse. Gnoblar tries to snap Werner out of it but Werner’s having none of it. Wandy checks the girl, looks at Teugan and joins the battle with Rowlocks against Gideon. Surprisingly, Wandy hits Gideon with his sword and hurts him. Gideon hits back wounding Wandy. He then takes a chunk out of Rowlocks arm injuring him heavily. Gnoblar joins the fray hitting Gideon.
Steinhager and the rest of the panicking cultists throw open the door and flee out onto the dockside. Teugan bleeds out, the girl is paralysed with fear and Werner starts to wake up.
Rowlocks, clutching his gashed arm, swings at the hell beast and connects with an almighty blow, cutting deep into his flank and putting the bastard down!
Now Werners mad. He grabs his axe and walks slowly and purposefully towards the contorting demon.
Gnoblar unties the girl as Wandy tries to speak to Teugan. Teugan bleeds out.

Werner grabs the fiend by a horn, raises his axe high and brings it down clean slicing the head from the monster.
Gideon’s bodie smokes and bubbles as it
becomes a screaming vortex that siphons up the world around him.
Thugs from outside the warehouse appear and start to look at each other confusingly whilst surveying the scene.

The heroes begin their exit strategy. Grabbing their stuff, they try to take the unwilling sacrificial victim to the door. She is out of her mind with trauma and is proving difficult. Rowlocks’ wounds are pouring and he is heavily wounded and in pain, Gnoblar is burnt and Wandy is injured.
QUICK! To the dockside to steal a boat!!

They leave the girl and rush to a small rowing boat, Rowlocks drags himself aboard, Gnoblar follows and begins to immediatly bandage him up. The town watch are streaming down the main street to the docks as more thugs appear! Wandy and Werner sprint to the boat, Werner jumps in and starts rowing like fuck. The watch swarm the wharfside and there is shouting, screaming, bells ringing and a whole host of carnage.

The rowing boat is about 10 ft from the dockside, when, out of the fog comes a whelping which turns to a bark. Standing on the edge, with sad dog eyes on full blast is Elvis, Wandys friend from the Schaffenfest!
The boats pulling away when Werner stops rowing and looks at Wandy. Rowlocks is bleeding out with Gnoblar furiously trying to staunch his wounds. Werner and Wandy, despite the immediate life threatening danger begin the “here boy, come on boy, come on Elvis, here boy!” process.
Hes thinking about it, the river bogen is black and rolling, Werner starts to grab a rope, the watch are heading their way screaming for them to halt.
It’s a 50/50, will he or wont he, then, at the last possible second, Elvis plunges into the darkness and doggie paddles to the boat. Wandy grabs him, Werner again rows like fuck, Elvis shakes and sprays the team with Bogen water, the watch and the people on the docks continue to shout halt! as the small rowing boat disappears into the darkness and the fog.

The lights, noise and smoke of Bogenhafen begin to retreat into the darkness and soon become a dot on the horizon, as Werner pulls the group further down the river. For the first time in a long time our heroes draw a breath.
They made it.

Werner (with a little help from the others) rows through the night.
Bogenhafens most wanted (three counts of murder, arson, theft, resisting arrest and a host of other offences) see a peaceful sunrise on the river, the birds tweet and the wind rustles through the forests on either side.
Just as they begin to relax, they see a body floating towards them riddled with crossbow bolts and they are once more on their guard.

Round a bend in the river they see a barge, apparently adrift. No signs of life.
They tentatively bring the rowing boat along side and they all hop on apart from Werner.
Within seconds they are set upon! A winged beastman swoops from the trees as two wounded other beastmen burst from below. Wandy is pinned in by the winged bastard as heavily wounded Rowlocks finds himself, once again, in battle.
Werner jumps onto the barge and begins to unleash his pent up bodyguard frustration.
Wandy is wounded by the winged mutants spear as tentacles burst out of the water and try to drag Gnoblar down into the murky depths – he evades them skilfully!
Werner and Rowlocks start taking chunks out of the beastmen as Gnoblar once again evades the thrashing tentacles from the river.
Seeing the tide of battle turn, and nursing their wounds the beastmen turn and dive into the water fleeing the scene.
The party take stock, the barge is littered with bodies. They begin the rifle through the corpses and shove them into the river when they hear a sound from below.
They head down, weapons drawn, and they find, hiding in a box, a terrified woman.
They reassure her, bring her upstairs and she introduces herself as Renate. She is incredibly grateful and informs the party of the events on the barge when the beastmen attacked.
The, wounded, exhausted, dirty, smelly outlawed, and generally fucked group of ragtag friends sit in the morning spring sunshine. Wow. What a few days it’s been
Rowlocks decides that the outlaw life might just suit him after all…
session ends

Home Page
Session 5
Session 7

We rejoin our heroes in the dead of the night, under the cover of darkness as they stand inside the Steinhager offices, in the main office, after breaking in and finding the secret door. They decide a swift exit is required and they slip out into the side street, covering the tracks of their criminal activities.

With no base or inn, and wanting to keep a very low profile they head east back to the Crossed Lance’s to see if their mate Frans at the thieves guild will put them up for the night. Paying over the odds they manage to secure a room and get some rest.

The next morning over breakfast, heavy discussions take place while the team plot what direction to take, which leads to follow and what to do. This proves difficult and many different possibilities are mulled over.

Eventually, Gnoblar suggests that they head to the main square and seek out the madman doom sayer they had heard about the other day.
They had passed through the square a few times recently but not seen a madman, but today he was in full swing and easy to spot.
After listening and taking note of his ravings from afar they decide to approach. He looks through the groups faces, fixes his glare on Werner and states “the mark is upon you bringer of chaos!” Before looking terrified and running through the crowd.
Luckily Rowlocks is able to track him and they give pursuit only to see him just hop on the ferry to the pit at the last moment. The guys wait for the next ferry.

Once in the pit they immediately feel and look out of place in the slums. They ask some of the locals about the distinct looking madman but are met with distrust and suspicion and no one wants to talk to them.
They decide to head to an inn to try their old favourite trick of greasing the palms of the innkeeper.
The Frogs Head is officially the biggest shithole in the whole of the Empire but they have a pint and manage to loosen the lips of the staff and find the whereabouts of the madmans hovel and head there immediately.
Our team cautiously surround the hovel and Werner knocks the door. No answer so they push it open and head in. They find the madman facedown in his pad with a missing throat and flee the area not wanting to be incriminate.
From the pit the guys head back across the river and go to check out the warehouse where Richter told them the goblin had been found.

A knock on the warehouse door brings the door keep and they lie saying they have been sent by Richter to enquire. He regales them with his epic tale of bravery and how he clubbed the goblin to death, they ask a few more questions and he asks them to leave. They snoop around the outside of the warehouse just to see if there is anything out of the ordinary, which there doesnt seem to be.
Pondering what to do next, frustration begins to set in and they decide that a scrawny alcoholic would be the ideal person to rough up and they knock on the warehouse door again.
Alchoholic Anton answers and an arguement ensues ending with Anton telling them to “check the fucking warehouse yourself then” Finding nothing, our “heroes” decide to beat him up. All 4 pin him down but he sticks to his story. Werner pulls a blade and sticks it to his throat and after a nick of blood he spills the beans telling them that Richter put him up to it.

Armed with this information the gang storm back east through the town, through the hustle and bustle of the final day of Schaffenfest to the festival court.
Outside the court, they see the armed court guards and re-evaluate there plan and decide to go see Doc Malthusius instead.
Hes happy to see them and they have some pipes and brandy while they catch him up to events. The only thing the Doc has found out is that, when asking about the Ordo Septenarius, is that anyone making enquiries is to be sent to see Councillor Magirius at the Merchants guild. They head there straight away.

After a short wait at the Merchants guild they are lead in to see Magirius. He listens to what they have to say but insists he doesnt have time to speak to them right now and they arrange a dinner date at the plush Golden Trout for later where Magirius ensures them he will clear the matter up.

The team dont get dressed for dinner and head to the nicest place in town. After a delicious feast and a few drinks Magiruis explains the ordos charity based activities and explains why they insist on secrecy. Not believing a word of it, they enjoy their date and say goodbye to Magiruis.
Rowlocks tails Magirius and the others tail Rowlocks back to the Adel ring. The adventurers notice him drop a small note detailing a meeting to take place tonight at Teugans house.

Its stake out time as the guys inconspicuously hang about in the Adel ring dodging watch patrols and laying low. They see Magirius leave and head to Teugans along with other posh looking folk. Werner is concerned that something big is happening and they evaluate storming the building. The bodyguards, guards and watch patrols, along with cautious words from Rowlocks lead the adventurers to continue to stake out Teugans.

After the meeting they follow Magiruis home and hide in the park all through the night taking turns to guard and watch the house.
In the morning they are approached by a servant of Magiruis and they are quietly ushered to a secluded part of the garden.
Magirius has bottled it, no longer wants any part of Teugans plans and doesnt want people to die. He pleads with the team to stop the ritual and they go their separate ways with Magirius promising to contact them later of the details of where the new ritual is to be held.

Sensing the impending doom and being scared of the moon, the gang head to the merchants quarter to stash up on things they will need for a big fight. They buy helmets and spend time trying to acquire rare goods which they dont manage.
In the late afternoon they get word from Magirius messenger to come immediately to see him. They head straight over.

The servant shows them in and they head into the office.
A gruesome sight greets them, Magirius is freshly dead and as they are trying to look at the scrawled message written in his own blood as he lay dieing they hear the servant shouting for the watch as a murder has taken place. The servant materialises in the room to take the piss for a moment and then vanishes.
It doesnt look good and the guys have most certainly been framed. They quickly weigh up their options and leg it out the  back door as the watch come in the front. Hiding at the backdoor they are confronted by a 10 foot wall. The watch begin to turn over the house.
Panic sets in as they look for an escape route when Werner suddenly remembers hes good at climbing.
They head across the garden to the back wall and the watch spot them through the window and give chase.
Werner skillfully climbs the wall and then hoiks Rowlocks up to join him as a 4 man watch patrol burst out the back door. Both Gnoblar and Wandy jump to grab Werners hand and both fall to the ground as the watch are literally feet away. One last chance. Both Rowlocks and Werner lean down to help their companions and in a last ditch attempt at freedom Gnoblar and Wandy leap and ‘just’ manage to grab hold. They are pulled up the wall as the hands of the law slip inches away from their boots.

Bogenhafens most wanted sprint for their lives as the watch begin to raise the alarm and step up the pursuit.
The chase is on and watch patrols appear all over as the companions weave through the streets of Bogenhafen using all their luck and cunning, narrowly avoiding arrest.

Puzzled by their cryptic message from Magiruis they once again head to the Crossed Lance’s to see if Frans knows what it could mean.
At the pub, Frans explains that it’s a common abbreviation of Warehouse.
Now with a location for the ritual identified they attempt to make their way across town.
They dont get very far before they see a burning building in the distance. Bizarrely, round the corner, comes, what appears to be an exact copy of Gnoblar, who grins and runs off. Following him are an angry mob who are accusing him of torching the building. The party try to hide Gnoblar from the mob but he is spotted and once again the guys are being chased thro the towns streets. They gain ground as the mob inform the watch and now it seems everyone is after our heroes.

Ducking and diving back the way they come they head towards the manhole cover where they first entered the sewers. Figuring they would be spotted, they once again head to the Crossed Lance’s to seek aid from the thieves guild.
With half the town after them, Frans is less than impressed, but offers to shelter them for a completely extortionate small fortune. With the pressure on and all hell breaking loose they reluctantly agree to pay and are led to the safe room.

With the clock ticking they leave the pub through the sewer door and retrace their steps to the temple they found.
With only a minor mishap, leaving Werner covered in shit and piss, they find the temple completely empty.
From here our companions head north toward the Ostendamm with the intention of heading to the warehouse.
They emerge from the sewers near the river and head to check out both warehouses as they dont know which one is the right one.

They conclude that the one with the cleared space at the front, with the sign of the red rose must be the place. With the building empty, they sneak inside and hide amongst the crates

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Session 4
Session 6

So, after a long and disgusting night in the sewers, the team get washed in the river and head to the Journeys End to get their heads down. After a well deserved lie in, they head down for breakfast and are surprised to learn that the Inn expenses are not being covered by the town council as expected. The innkeeper explains that since the goblin had been killed in a warehouse on the other side of town, they had failed in their task and therefore their expenses had not been covered. Baffled by this information (as they had recovered the 3 pocketed pelvis from the temple) they finish up breakfast and decide to go speak to magistrate Richter about what had happened.

The second day of the Schaffenfest is in full swing as they made their way to the festival courts, trying to avoid any sort of drama at all.
At the court they are told Richter is presiding over a case and they should come back 15 mins later. They decide to hang about in the vicinity and wait. During this time Rowlocks spots a young thief attempting to loosen a nobles purse. He gives the noble the heads up, the thief runs and the noble continues his chat with friends.
Gnoblar, for the first time since coming to Bogenhafen, hears what appears to be genuine sales patter from one of the herbalist/tonic stall. Intrigued, he heads over for a chat. His natural charisma and sociability skills kick in and he strikes up a good rapport with the stall owner. She informs him that if he should seek to expand his career into pharmacy he should seek her out in Weissbruck, he thanks her and the squad head back to the court.

They are shown in to see Richter who commiserates them on their failure and thanks them for their efforts explaining that the goblin was killed in a warehouse in the Ostendamm shortly after they entered the sewers. Concluding this to be lies, our party immediately distrust Richter and decide to not tell him the full story or show him the Pelvis. They push him for further details and he gives them the address of the warehouse where the goblin was killed and they leave.

Next port of call is to see Doctor Malhusius at the freak show. He greets them warmly and they enter his trailer for brandy and tobacco. Initially he doesnt believe our party’s story, but after seeing the pelvis, they start to piece together the parts. The authorities wont release the body to the doc, because they dont have one, there is some kind of cover up. The doc is distraught at the thought of the demon infested underground temple but is reluctant to put himself in danger, although he wants to help. They press him further, he suggests maybe speaking to the thieves guild or having a look in the library at the temple of Verena. The guys persuade the doc to let them keep the pelvis, they reassure him that they will return it and leave.

An in depth discussion is required and our heros try to piece together the information they have. A whole host of leads, ideas and opportunities present themselves and our party decide to try and trace overland their steps in the sewers to locate the building which would be above the temple.
After some confusion, Wandy pinpoints the Steinhager offices as the place. Rowlocks suggests that he stakes out the building while the rest of the team head to the temple library.

At the temple, Werner, Gnoblar and Wandy have a good chat with Greta who runs the temple. Greta, having lived in Bogenhafen all her life, proves to be a great source of information. They learn of the merchant families of the town, connect the warning of the red rose from the fortune teller to House Teugan, learn that the ordo septenaruis is a secret society to do with the merchants guild and that Franz Steinhager matches the initials seen on the hanky in the temple. The plot thickens as they realise the connections with the steinhager offices being above the temple. Werner concludes that the founding of the ordo timeline matches Johannes Teugans return from Nuln and his take over of the House Teugan.

Rowlocks continues his stakeout of the offices and sees various merchants come and go.

After retrieving further details from Greta, Wandy and Gnoblar decide to conduct further research in the temple library and as Werner cant read, he heads off to see what Rowlocks is doing.

Rowlocks and Werner take up the Thieves guild lead and head to the general area they presume is above the secret entrance they found in the sewers. Werner guesses that it will be a pub and they spot the Crossed Lance’s tavern and head in. Their suspicions are confirmed when they see their “friend” who they met the other day at the bar. They discover that gold helps loosen the lips of the barman and he provides information that confirms their suspicions about the temple and the goings on over the last 6 months, many more connections are made and the pieces of the jigsaw begin to slot together. The lads have a pint then head back to the temple to see how the others got on.
The chaos moon, Morrsleib, has been acting bizarrely over the last few days and the academics find info in the library relating the unnatural events of chaos and the coming of the great mutator. They also find suspicious accounts of the death of Johannes Teugans brother and him having received the mark of chaos.

Now evening time, our heros decide to call it a night and pick up their investigations the next day. At the last minute Gnoblar suggests that they break into the Steinhager offices under the cover of darkness and see what they can find.

Our party waits till midnight, get in the mindset of burglars and head to the offices. Wandy magically unlocks the outside door and they sneak in. Inside the courtyard they are immediately set upon by a guard dog who the pacify and befriend with food. They then begin a thorough search of the offices. Behind the first door they find a sleeping man in bed. They do not wake him, quietly close the door and place Werner outside to make sure he doesnt wake up and the others continue their search. After finding not much in most of the place they find the head office and begin to turn it over big time. They find in the desk drawer a note from Teugans, details of warehouses and links to the ordo septenarius. Rowlocks, not being happy with finding just that, takes the desk to pieces. Behind the draw, hidden at the back they find a leather bound book with the name of Teugan on the front. Wandys skill at reading arcana concludes that it is a spell book and he takes it. Even though they have broken the drawer, they carefully place everything back, and continue the search of the room. Behind one of the wooden panels they find a secret hidden door. They conclude that this is the secret door to the hidden temple.

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Session 3
Session 5

So, our 4 friends spent a lovely few days on the Berebeli with Josef and the crew and arrived at Bogenhafen early morning on the first day of the Schaffenfest, the town’s annual fair and sheep festival!

From the docks, contingency plans were made with how to deal with collecting the inheritance and our team went looking for the lawyers. After talking to some of the locals they drew a blank. Wandy came up with the genius idea of seeking out the printers who made the inheritance letter. From talking to the printers our team concluded that Adolphus, the bounty hunter, had printed the letters. Why tho, still remains a mystery.

Disappointed and lacking some direction, our heroes revert to their default state of – fuck it, let’s have a beer, and head to the festival.

At the festival, excitement and merriment are everywhere and our team take in the sights and sounds. They stop at the livestock market and Werner nearly buys a flock of lambs and Gnoblar has an arguement with a medicine merchant. Drawn in by the crowd the guys head to the wrestling ring and Werner decides he can take the champ and steps into the ring to the enjoyment of the crowd! After a round or so it becomes apparent that the champion is not as tired as he appears. Werner gives him a blow to the right leg, and then he looks angry. A couple of blows later Werner taps out and hobbles out of the ring, much to the disappointment of the crowd.

Our crew continue thro the festival towards the freak show. On the way Wandy decides to have his palm read, the fortune teller offers some words then becomes agitated and gets him to leave.

At the freak show the guys assist in capturing one of the escaped exhibits, much to the gratitude of the showman and they recieve free tickets and top seats for the main event.

Whilst waiting for the show, Werner heads off to seek treatment for his leg and Gnoblar, Rowlocks and Wandy head to the beer tent. Rowlocks heads to the bar and uses his charm to avert a brawl, Werner gets healed and heads to the beer tent and Wandy befriends a mangy looking dog. Wandy checks his coinpurse to find he is short of 3 crowns. Wandy is very sad about this.

The freakshow is thoroughly entertaining but ends with drama, the goblin escapes again into the sewer system, the party and Doctor M are taken to the festival court to explain to the magistrate what happened. They are then hired to solve the problem.

They are given accommodation at the town’s expense and the team prepare for a trip into the sewers.
Lanterns, food and water purchased the guys head to the manhole. After some serious skill by Gnoblar, the ladder is placed and they enter the disgusting horrible mess that is Bogenhafen sewer system.

Our team head east looking for the breathing hole the goblin entered. On the way they decide to investigate a minor sewer in which they find a weird door etched with a symbol. Wandy uses his powers to silently open the door and they enter a cellar in which they find 3 blokes.

Before they know it they are trapped, bound and gagged and find themselves being talked to by there new “friends”. After complying with their requests, they are escorted back to the sewers and continue looking for the goblin.
They pick up a trail of goblin blood from the breathing hole and follow it thro the sewer system which leads them to a door. With no other option they break down the door and enter what appears to be a underground temple to the ruinous powers of evil.

Before they have time to take in the scene a demon manifests itself and the party are gripped by fear. After a short interaction they turn and run, grabbing the 3 socketed pelvis on the way out and make their way to the nearest manhole.

Down the main sewer they come across a swarm of rats. Werner throws food across the channel, the rats take the bait and the party head to the manhole. With no ladder, it’s down to Werner to climb up and secure a rope.
After several dunks in the shit river he manages to secure exit for the party and they once again breath clean air and they head to the Journeys end inn. The landlord wont let them in, so they head to the river, get cleaned down and then go back for a rest as the sun comes up.

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Session 2
Session 4

After a harrowing journey our heroes eventually arrived at the gleaming metropolis of Altdorf. After a bizarre series of interactions the guys got their heads down for the night. In the morning, they spent a few hours shopping in the Mercantile area then headed off to find the expedition. Too late, the expedition had already left!

Whilst wondering what to do our party bumped into an old friend of Rowlocks, Josef Quartjin, and they hit the inn once more. A fun night of drinking ensued, with a bit of a twitchy end. Some drunken nobles with big bodyguards set about obnoxiously insulting the party, and were then joined by a nasty protagonist. Not wanting any trouble the party left sharpish and headed to Josefs boat (after witnessing some murder on the way). During the evening, Josef asks if they will help him crew his barge on a trip to Bogenhafen to deliver some wine – this happens to be the place where they need to collect the inheritance, with Werner still pretending to be Kastor Leiberung. They agree as they are also prepared to work for gold.

In the morning, Josef returns to the boat with news that the nobles from last night are dead and the gang are the prime suspects. They set sail up the Wiessbruck canal to Bogenhafen whilst hiding from the road wardens after being accused of a crime they did not commit.

That night in Wiessbruck they are attacked! Luckily, a watch was posted and a battle ensued. The Berebelli is set on fire and the bounty hunter Adolphus attacked. The battle was bloody and went to the wire, everyone was wounded, Werner was on his last legs. With Josef and the crew, they set off in the middle of the night on the smouldering barge, the Berebeli.

They had taken some prisoners aboard but they did not see out the night, and their corpses were gently slipped into the river.

Our 4 friends now sit on the deck of the barge, in the middle of the night, licking their wounds and discussing what the fuck is happening. Werner, feeling his time as a carpenter is over, now works as a bodyguard for his friend Gnoblar.
Onwards, to Bogenhafen…

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Session 1
Session 3