The Enemy Within - Session 137

21/3/26

A Knight's Tale

On their day of rest on the 15th the dwarven miners share with the party news that they learned on their way here - that the Graf issued an arrest warrant for his son Baron Toddbringer on the 8th, for crimes of treason and conspiring with the enemies of Middenheim. They also hear that Weissbruck, where they met Blitzen and stayed in his tower has fallen to the Guardians of the Empire and declared itself a free town.

After breakfast on the 16th they say their goodbyes and make for Dunfurter Castle. Farfordda apologizes to Gaffer Mulderbrook for alarming him, then impresses upon him that he must lead his people through the terrible challenges to come.

They arrive at Dunfurter in the afternoon. Meyer is still absent, and its not known when he'll return. Ada joins them in the feasting hall - she's glad to see Magdalena but she's doesn't like her governess, Frau Martinez has a low opinion of her aunt and smells apparently. She's become friends with the cook Beth who has taken her under her wing and excitedly shows Magdalena a mirror that belonged to her Aunt Elena when she was a child, inscribed with her initials.

They ask around the castle for news of Holzbek and hear from Captain Nietz that Steward Meyer has got things under control in the town but at the cost of hanging Ulrican zealots and firebrands from Middenheim. The captain has been sending egular patrols to Unterfraus ensure that nothing malignant takes root in the desolate village. Magdalena asks him to provide martial instruction to Ada, saying she had begun such and it's good for a growing girl to have the exercise. The Captain looks skeptical but does not outright contradict her.

Ullman the huntsman returns, Carny, Norgrim's dog is with his pack - Ada having abandoned her dog training duties. Ullman says she had been pestering him but he has no time for looking after a high born child - the party are dismayed, it would be good for Ada to spend time hunting for him. Its dangerous out there, the Holzbek heir cannot have her life risked in mountain hikes - he saw a giant yesterday, a 20' tall monstrosity, 10 miles NE of here in the Taubertaal! 

Since they were last here Ullman has been back to Unterfraus. He found barrel fragments in the demolished mine bearing the Karzburdger coat of arms, odd given that these are Holzbek lands...

Farfordda asks if he'd take him out hunting and the pair of them along with Amos head out to see what they can bag before dark. They manage to take down a stag which Ullman and Amos return with leaving Farfordda to spend the night trying to learn another spell and consulting the Tarot. 

Back at the castle, just after sunset Magdalena and Norgrim are sat in the kitchen chatting with Ada and the staff when the captain interrupts and bids Magdalena follow him. In the stables stands a pale and weary looking Von Reiter, uncharacteristically dressed in muted traveling clothes rather than his Holzbek livery. 

He is glad to see Magdalena but says Steward Meyer sent him incognito with difficult tidings - yesterday Meyer received a letter from the Graf of Middenheim saying that it was known Holzbek harboured a fugitive and enemy of the crown, that if Meyer did not arrive with Magdalena within the week to answer for this iniquity then this combined with the recent dynastic contestation would lead to conflict. Von Reiter stresses how much the whole Barony of Holzbelk owes Magdalena but they cannot confront the might of Middenheim, at least not yet. 

Meyer must remain in Holzbek while he waits to treat with various envoys bound there, ideally Magdalena should wait here till he returns, but he understands she may not wish to do that. This being the case they must make out as though she escaped from here, so Meyer can play for time with Middenheim. 

Magdalena confers with the dwarves and they decide they will resupply and leave in the morning, then she will seemingly flee the castle an hour later and join them on the trail. Von Reiter says they will sound the castle bell and make a show of her flight, Magdalena tells him to thank Meyer for his discretion and leaves a letter with him to be sent on to her family. She is doubtful that their mountain adventure would grant her the luxury to face Middenheim anyway.

She puts Ada down to bed, knowing this is likely the last time she'll see her and that tomorrow Ada will hear that Magdalena is a fugitive, a criminal feeling the Graf's retribution. She tells the girl a story about a Knight who spent her life fighting for good and justice, and kept on doing so even when others accused her of ill and spread lies about her. 

Shortly after dawn on the 17th the Dwarves leave the castle with 2 mules laden with tents, rope and their barrel of gunpowder. They meet Farfordda a mile or so out from the castle, and together they wait in the forest for Magdalena to join them, galloping from the castle to the sounds of alarm.

They begin their journey up the great valley of the Taubertaal. Farfordda tells them he consulted the Tarot last night; whatever the Skaven are up to does not involve the chaos gate, but if they are not stopped a terrible doom will befall the land, many will die. Hi ho, hi ho, they march on through a stormy day, it is not cold, but they are soaked several times before they make a fireless camp close by where they killed the goblins and rescued Ada. They mark the trees around with the sign of Taal in the hopes of meeting with Ingrid the hermit. 

On the morning of the 18th they reach the river Tauber, and begin to follow it up into the mountains. Farfordda remembers Ingrid telling him it is only navigable on the west bank as far as the ford which is close to both Karak Kazarak, home of the Red Tusk orcs and near her cave. The smart thing would be to break their travels early and find a concealed spot to camp and set as a base while they try find Ingrid and navigate Orc country. 

Mid afternoon, not far past the lake, just as they set about finding a camp-spot in earnest they happen upon a half dozen orcs. Farfordda spots them first, but as they are a mere 50 yards away and hiding with the mules, dog and horse would be a stretch at best, they bring their missile weapons to bear... 

The Enemy Within - Session 136

  

 8/3/26

Return to Oberholzbek

The decision is taken to head for Oberholzbek. They set off shortly after searching the brigands bodies, and critically after Norgrim imbibes their precious Panacea Universalis, which mends his fractured ribs and torn muscles, ensuring they no longer have to move at a snails pace. Belts are tightened though as other than a single apple found on the fallen they have no food. 

They trek south east, reaching the edge of the Sturmtaal shortly after sun rise. Another hour sees them on the banks of the Kleiflusch where they find a spot to camp and take some rest. After noon, following a fruitless attempt at fishing they push on. 

Propelled by hunger they cross the ford and manage to reach Oberholzbek by sunset - greeted at the newly constructed, almost finished wall by Holzbek liveried guards. There are ten of them, stationed since four days ago, they along with a posse of dwarves answering Norgrim's call to The Coppershiners made short work of what the locals had started.

Magdalena and Farfordda stay with the Mulderbrooks at their farmhouse - they are pleased to see the return of these heroes - especially as their two, ominously riderless ponies turned up here yesterday. 

The dwarves go straight to the Pit Prop - the village pub is heaving with dwarves, soldiers and locals and they receive an appropriately raucous welcome. The dwarves got here three days ago, and are happy with the prospects at the mine. Bardin Ironplough their burly leader explains he was sick of Middenheim anyway, they might have the right idea about mutants there but humans selling each other out turns his stomach. The gang tell tales of their exploits, everyone is eager to hear about the Two Fingers and the tale about the giant rat in the mine.

In the tamer setting of the Mulderbrook's homely hearth Farfordda answers the Gaffer's questions about the Two Fingers in a more guarded fashion - warning him of traps and ghosts and how the towers were built before the War of Vengeance. They learned that there is a great chaos gate beneath Karak Skygg, and it is this which lead to the dwarves abandoning Karaz Ghumzul, their kingdom of the Middle Mountains. 

They show him the scrawled map they found on Jakan's body - he suspects the location marked on it may be the dwarf temple he found in his youth. They conjecture that this is where the bandits who kidnapped Ada are camped, and why Jakan reacted so strongly to Amos mentioning that they were seeking an old dwarf temple in the mountains. Just as well we've built our wall says Johan, your wall's not likely to stop the horrors of the skaven says Farfordda, and lays on with menace connecting all the recent horrors, the skaven, the abomination in the mine, the abduction of Unterfraus and this recently learned of gate to hell beneath the mountains. Maybe mad auld Wullie wasn't so mad after all. Johan Mulderbrook will no doubt have a troubled sleep that night.

They spend the following day recovering in the village, planning to head on to Castle Dunfurter on the morning of the 15th, with a view to striking into the mountains towards Karak Skygg the day after 

The Enemy Within - Session 135

21/2/26

The Better Part of Valour

As the spectral form coalesces, howling in the shaft high above the room, the party makes the snap decision to bolt. Norgrim passes the ring he took from the filthy skeleton to Farfordda and stumbles, impeded by his injuries towards the stairs. Magdalena rushes down followed closely by Amos, Thindra waits crossbow in hand for Norgrim. 

Farfordda holds the ring aloft and shouts at the swirling currents of dhar above "Praise to the Sun, Asuryan! Praise to the Moon, Liliath! I am Farfordda of the Laurelorn, son of Faranna - veteran of the War of the Beard who fought alongside the lord and lady that built these towers. I have come to honour that alliance..". 

There is no immediate response. He slips on the ring and focuses, falling headlong into a corrupted world of Necromancy. This is a ring of Nagash, forged from forbidden knowledge in the 9 books of Nagash. The wearer can, by simply looking, raise and control the dead within their sight. At the cost of corruption to their soul. 

He opens his eyes as the ghostly horror swoops at him, a translucent female human in tattered robes, her features worn away, eye sockets empty, glowing, her mouth contorted in a pained howl. Her touch is icy cold, he recoils and makes use of the ring, raising the broken-backed, rotten corpse of an orc by the stairs. It shambles uselessly forwards as the thing swoops at Farforrda again. 

He manages to dodge, and lacking any other magical means of attack lunges at it, casting Sleep. He is injured again by the simple contact with the deathly cold, but after the briefest clash of wills the ghost fades away. The Orc cadaver drops to the floor as Farfordda turns and rushes down the stairs to join the others, now all the way down at the ground floor hall, eager to escape. They have no idea how long the effects of the spell will last, or even what it did. What does it mean for a ghost to sleep?

They gird themselves with their shields to protect against aerial attack and head out into the cold clear afternoon. As soon as dwarven feet touch the ground the tower emits it's pulse. Birds squawk and take flight from the forest all around. 

They go as fast as Norgrim can, which is barely walking speed. A swarm of tiny razor-beaked birds comes buzzing at them from the trees, catching them before they can leave the clearing. They peck at Norgrim, causing little actual damage but infecting him with poison. The swarm dissipates as soon as the party reach the cover of the trees. 

Both Farfordda and Magdalena try treat Norgrim's wounds, but in the end it is his natural toughness that saves him. They have neither food, nor transport and all are exhausted. The decision is quickly taken to camp beneath the overhang where they sheltered from the rain on the first night of their hunt to rescue Ada, that should be a mere few miles to the north-east. 

Traveling at Norgim's leaden pace they find the spot just before sunset, and build a fire with the wood collected on route. Farfordda pushes against his exhaustion and hunts, coming back a few hours later with a brace of hares. Not enough to feed them all but better than nothing.

The overhang is on the north east side of the Two Fingers hill, more or less facing Zerlumptberg, or Karak Skygg. To the north west runs the high valley which eventually deposits into the road north of Lindenheim.  

Thindra, on third watch in the wee small hours, hears something among the trees nearby. She wakes the others as two arrows clack into the rock face behind them. Then another three. They grab their weapons as four armed men come rushing out of the trees towards them. 

It is a brief and bloody fight. Magdalena fells one and Thindra two, the archers in the trees come charging in to support their comrades, but change their minds when they see their leader fall screaming to the ground, his arm is severed. 

The party catch their breath as the 3 remaining capable assailants flee into the trees. For the most part they have sustained only minor injuries, though Magdalena has lost her Myrmidian shield and Norgrim, having fumbled again has torn a muscle in his leg, how slow can you walk and still actually get anywhere? 

Amos checks the one fallen sword - it bears a Sigmarite symbol on the pommel in the same way as that carried by the trapper Jakan Trum and those of Ada's kidnappers. 

It is 4am on the 13th of Nachgeheim, cold and overcast, the party are tired and hungry... 

Cardboard Anxiety

 

I can't remember how I used to run games in the past, like what I found difficult or easy to GM, was I worried about being unfair or overly generous? I don't think I was ever a killer GM or terribly indulgent with the magic items and such. I was probably always earnest and a wee bit stingy, maybe a tad mudcore. 
Mind you, I do remember one time killing off the whole party so I could get back to playing Berzerk on my pal's Atari 2600, but hey I was a teenager and it was the 1980s.

GNS 

Coming back to it all as an adult I am more self conscious about GMing, whether that's age or because I  returned after reading so much about it online during the pandemic, I'm not sure. Discovering Ron Edwards (long after the end of the Forge) introduced me to the first RPG theory I think I'd probably read, his notion of  there being 3 approaches to play seemed compelling; Gamist, Narrativist and Simulationist. 

These map quite nicely on to our group, I sit squarely in the Simulationist camp. At least that's where I aspire to pitch my tent. I like to set the world going then see where the players push or get pushed by it, see where the momentum will take it. I like to be surprised by what they do even if it does mean binning a lot of prep. The thing I find difficult now, which I suspect bothered me less in the past, is making things happen which are supposed to happen because of the (purchased) adventure or because I want to contrive some particular situation.

The Enemy Within 

For the past 4 years we have been playing The Enemy Within, and to some degree it is a big chain of contrivances. I think at first I found it easier to go along with as I was just getting back into the hobby so maybe lacked the confidence to go off piste. I did feel really awkward about how forced some of it's situations were - i remember feeling an intense flush of cringe pushing the Max Ernst confrontation on the players in Altdorf. The PCs are in a bar and this guy picks a fight with them, but its a whole scene involving these 2 idiot nobles etc. 

It worked fine at the table, the players didn't bat an eyelid, besides due to a fluky dice roll Max Ernst got cleaved in twain and it was the first combat in a few sessions which spiced things up. But it only happens in order get the PCs into trouble with the authorities and push them out of town and on to the next encounter, and they will end up in that trouble regardless of what they do so they are forced to move on. It feels cheap to me and like a deception has taken place.

Pure Cardboard

Skip forwards a year or so and we're on part 2 of The Enemy Within, Death on the Reik. The PC's are on their barge sailing through some treacherous marsh, lead by a local huffer on a skiff ahead of them. For reasons I can't remember, possibly just pacing and world building, I wanted to have the players attacked by a River Troll. More specific than that I wanted the huffer to get killed and the PCs be on their own in the marsh. I wanted to describe this whole thing, the huffer being suddenly pulled from his boat to disappear beneath the misty surface, and not roll dice until the troll came for the PCs. 

By this point I had come come across  a potential solution to my narrativist anxieties. I suspect I had seen a few narrative control meta currencies before, but it was reading Flames of Freedom (a sort of descendant of WFRP set in revolutionary colonial America) which lead me to adopt this house rule: if I as the GM arbitrarily have something happen which would normally require a dice roll, the player's receive a Destiny Token, which can be used before the end of the following session to have the players' exercise some form of narrative control (such as - 'my character knows a reliable Fence in this town we've just arrived in'). So I gave them a destiny token (eh actually a Glen Marnoch cork whisky stopper) and the poor huffer bought it. 

I think we might have used this mechanic a couple of times, but the players would often forget about it and ultimately it just didn't feel quite right. Having the game move along through contrived events in the official adventure was bad enough, adding my own extra contrivances was just too much. Actually back in the day we had a name for this - when a player character did something which everyone regarded as out of character, they were accused of 'being cardboard' - I guess as in a cardboard cut-out rather than a three dimensional person, they were not believable. The GM would be accused of this too if the world behaved in an unbelievable way - 'that's pure cardboard!' would go the cry. 

Somatic Components

As the campaign has gone on I found have myself instinctively trying to minimise all the many deus ex machina, playing it as much like a sandbox as possible. Death on the Reik in particular is full of things which happen conveniently just as the players show up. Where possible I added some kind of conditional logic to these, like the ghost at the comet crater in the Barren Hills only appears when Morrsleib is out, and the Skaven will only break into the cave when the ghost is present. Consequently the players never met the ghost or ran into those Skaven. And when they arrived at Wittgenstein I rolled a d6 to see how many days it would be before the Skaven blew the whole place up. 

I should say I do all my rolls in front of the players, I might not tell them what the roll is for, and more often than not I will get them to roll the actual dice. This way I need to adhere to what the dice say, it keeps me honest. They can't really complain if a failed roll results in character death - it was the dice that did it, see - not me. Is this just abrogation of responsibility? The dice wot did it. 

No its about impartiality and the believable, and playing to see what happens, resisting the urge to shape things towards the story you want to tell, or the story you find easiest to tell. This attitude is clearly a bit Quixotic when it comes to running an off the shelf campaign as story driven as The Enemy Within. Still you live and learn. Now if I'm unsure about something, or even if have a thing I want to happen, I'll set the chances and roll the dice. Sometimes it will give me the drama or convenience I'm after, other times not so much. For me that's the price I need to pay to create the magic circle. The campaign has taken some seriously unscripted forks, but nearly five years later we're still playing it.

The Enemy Within - Session 134

 25/1/26

The Tower of the Sun

 The party decide to rest in this large chamber with the circular stone table. They set guard shifts but leave out Farfordda as he goes back down the vast spiral stair to meditate in the hall below. As the sun goes down and the dim light fades they place their 2 Sunstones in a lantern and set it on the table. Amos takes the first shift. Norgrim and Thindra moan and turn in their sleep, the sounds echoing around the tower. This is clearly no place for Dwarves to rest.

Norgrim is exhausted when it comes to his turn, he takes some valerian to wake him. An hour into his shift he hears shrieking echoing down from above and wakes the others, but the bestial noise fades away. 

As sunlight filters down through the tower they all rise. Thindra takes the last of the Valerian, and they breakfast on their final day's rations. They should fetch their horses from the forest, but the dwarves ought not to step outside until they must, so Magdalena goes down the stairs to fetch Farfordda. He is still sat on the bottom step, deep in a trance. She wakes him. He is exhausted as he emerges from a night of intense holy visions.

He tells them that this is the Tower of the Sun, it is dedicated to Asuryan, head of the Elven pantheon ('Emperor of the Heavens', 'Keeper of Balance', the creator god), it was built over 4000 years ago, before Farfordda's people became Wood Elves, before the High Elf exodus. It was built during the War of the Beard, to keep watch over the Dwarven Kingdom of Karaz Ghumzul, to send messages to Kor Vanaeth. It was built by a Dragon riding Elf couple, Eltharion Pyrehand a warrior and Bellepheron Windcall, a wizard.

Kor Vanaeth was an elven settlement on a great river, its towers constructed over a powerful Arcane Fulcrum, a site of magical research, where Altdorf now stands. He saw its glittering towers toppled by the dwarves after an awful siege and the Tower of the Sun was thus cut off. The couple build another tower, a sister to this, the Tower of the Moon, dedicated to Lileath, goddess of the moon, patron of prophets and wife of Asuryan. This tower could communicate with Ulthuan, home of the Elves. 

He is in the room above, a council chamber, there are elves all around the great stone table and a fierce argument is taking place. The Dwarves of Karaz Ghumzul have ceded from the Karaz Ankor, the dwarven hegemon of the Old World. Eltharion believes it is the combined power of their two holy towers and the great Lorelorn beyond which has cowed the dwarves into submission. Belephron disagrees, she has had a vision, which sears into Farfordda's soul - the dwarves of Karaz Ghumzul have discovered a Chaos Gate deep beneath their holds, they cannot fight a war on two fronts and choose to face the greater threat. We should declare a truce and make common cause with the dwarves. The argument culminates in Eltharion banishing Belephron from the tower of the sun. It is at this point Magdalena woke Farfordda...

The pair of them leave the tower, out into a cold clear morning, the broken shape of Karak Skygg distinct and looming over the forest in the sharp autumnal air. They left the horses tied a quarter mile back in the trees, but all that's left of them are the savaged remains of Farfordda's horse (the one they borrowed from Chaplain Lader to pursue Ada's abductors three weeks ago). Farfordda intones a valediction and they return empty handed.

The party let Farfordda sleep for 3 hours before recommencing their exploration of the tower, hearing the bestial shrieking from above more than once in that time.

Up the stairs they go. The room above is the same size as the council chamber, its ceiling 20' from the ground, with a glass panel allowing light from above. The walls of the room are like a honeycomb of stones boxes or shelves. A rusted metal ladder hangs from a track above them. The lower shelves, like the room itself contain nothing but dust and the vague mulch worn down by time of whatever was once stored here. Farfordda tries climbing the ladder to look into the higher shelves, but abandons this when one of the steps breaks away.

The next floor is similar, only there are 3 stone tables here, no ladder and the shelves are not empty. Bottles, retorts, rusted metal stands and tongs pepper the stone boxes. Norgrim identifies some ancient lens working tools. There is more evidence of damp here, a little moss on the floor and walls. They decide its worth searching the higher boxes so Farfordda gets climbing. An hour or two yields a mortar full of crushed black opal and 3 rubies.

It is mid afternoon by the time they enter the floor above, the 4th above the ground. Although also 20' from floor to ceiling this one is a little different. For one the stairs do not continue on directly ahead after a 15' break, but rather start a quarter way back around the chamber and rise along its circumference with no banister or wall. In the center of the room is a shallow pool of foul smelling stagnant water, flies buzz above it, chunks of moss covered glass break the surface, and a mess of organic matter rises in the middle. 

The ceiling is missing the glass panel they've seen in every other room and reveals a shaft rising to the sky overhead. There are several decayed bodies laying close to the stairs and on the other side of the room lies a grubby metal structure, a little like that found in the council chamber below. The walls themselves are covered in moss, it looks as though huge paintings or tapestries may once have hung here, around these empty patches are fine knot-work of some much tarnished and overgrown metal. 

Magdalena and Thindra keep an eye on the exits as the others search. The metal structure is a large, but delicately made cage, like a bird cage, as tall as a human. Some careful scraping by Amos reveals it to be made of white-gold. Of the bodies, 2 are human and the other orc. Farfordda reckons the most recent is from the past year. Around them lie rotten rope, a crowbar, dagger, some coins and other burglar's tools. He cannot tell how they died.

Norgrim investigates the pool in the center. The water has clearly dripped down from above. A ragged set of ribs and a moss encrusted skull poke out from the organic mass. He sees an ornate but tarnished dagger in the gunge and then a ring, pristine and miraculously free of filth among the bones. Scooping it up he touches the bones, and all five of them freeze as a blood curdling howl echoes down from the shaft above. It is mid-afternoon on the 12th of Nachgeheim as some spectral shape coalesces thirty foot above them, screaming as it forms...

The Enemy Within - Session 133

9/1/26 

The Ruins of the Two Fingers

 The party rush for the ruined tower, Farfordda gets there first and starts hacking his way through the overgrown doorway with his axe. Magdalena drops her spear and draws her Liuye Dao as she runs, it makes short work of the thorny vegetation and along with the dwarves they get inside the tower before the flying swarms reach them.

The doorway gives entry to a room the entire width of the tower, it is choked with vegetation, every surface covered in moss and creepers, debris litters the ground, a precarious looking spiral staircase laps around the internal wall disappearing through an archway high above. Everything is lit in a dim green lit filtering through from a vegetation throttled hole in the ceiling. In the center of the room stands a dilapidated fountain, a 12' high crumbling elf maid tips an empty amphora from her shoulder. Also webs. There are big thick webs everywhere.

Before fully comprehending this vista the party are enveloped in webs discharged by two giant spiders far above. Farfordda is caught, and tries to free himself. Thindra and Amos release their crossbow bolts into the nearest one doing it awful damage. Norgrim tries lashing out with his whip but fumbles and shrieks in pain as he undoes all the results of his recent convalescence. The spiders scuttle back up the walls and through the archway above.

As the party gathers their breath and Farfordda extracts himself from the web they can hear the bird things squawking round the outside of the tower for a minute or two then dissipate. Thindra and Amos train their crossbows on the archway above as Magdalena and Norgrim search through the detritus and Farforrda climbs the stairs to get a better view of the room as a whole. 

Skulls, human, orc and animal are found along with a few weapons, coins and a Sigmarite pendant. It looks as though the walls may be decorated in fine script beneath all the creepers and moss. The tower is clearly High Elven in design, Norgrim reckons it could be as old as The War of Vengeance.

They take a look back out the doorway. The swarms are gone, but mist has gathered, the other tower can be seen clear enough but the mountains in the background and even the trees fringing the clearing have disappeared into the white. 

Farfordda exams the door on the other tower with the telescope, he can make out delicate decorative swirls beneath the vines and creepers but no keyhole or handle. 

After much deliberation they decide to head up the stairs, Norgrim first. As he hacks his way through the web choked doorway he is smothered in web projected from above, binding him to the spot. One great spider drops down to take a bite at him, Farfordda manages to hit it with an arrow. There is more struggling and web discharged, Magdalena tries to cut Norgrim out, injuring him in the process, and one set of venomous mandibles manage to make contact before the party retreat back down the vertiginous spiral with a sticky, lightly wounded Norgrim. 

They rest some and think again. Time to try the door of the other tower. 

Farfordda sprints across the gap between the towers. There is no pulse, all is calm, though Magdalena can just about hear a high pitched screeching from high above. Farfordda clears the creepers from the door's surface, Detect Artifact reveals that the door is magical, and locked - but his Open Lock spell does the trick. It glides inwards, revealing a vast chamber like that in the ruined tower but in good condition. He motions to the others to follow and heads inside. 

Magdalena rushes across the empty space, but as soon as Amos' dwarven feet touch the ground he sees the sorcerous pulse emanate from the full tower once more. They all sprint, hearing the birds squawking and shrieking in the depths of the mist.

The atmosphere in the tower is still. Although there is some moss, and a little damp and detritus from once organic constructions, the interior is much like it would have been several thousand years ago. The walls are covered in fine eleven script of inlaid silver. There is no water in the fountain, but the statue is complete, and like its ruined sister all is bathed in a soft green light from above. Here it is easier to tell that there is a circular glass panel set into the highly polished pale stone ceiling.

They climb the stairs and enter a great web free chamber, this time with a crossbow bearing Amos on point. Like the floor below this is one vast chamber faintly lit by green light from above, though maybe half as high and with its spiral stairs sheathed behind a stone curtain. A great circular stone table is it's dominant feature, followed by a huge silver housing, like a giant lantern or vast bracket lying in the center of the room, presumably having fallen a long, long time ago from the ceiling above. The party take a breather. It is late afternoon on the 11th of Nachgeheim a few hours before sunset...

 

The Enemy Within - Session 132

 2/1/26

The Trail of Death

 The party push on up the trail. Going at Norgrim's belaboured pace they are confidant the orcs will stay ahead of them. The mist restricts visibility for the whole day and they camp, still some way behind the orcs, in the forested valley of the Sturmtaal. 

They wake to heavy rain, the mist has cleared to a stormy sky and they can see Karak Skygg in the distance behind them and catch occasional glimpses of the Two Fingers looming out of the forest ahead.
By mid morning they leave the valley of the Sturmtaal and embark on the trail over the hill which should eventually lead to Lindenheim, the route they took in reverse some 2 weeks ago. 

An hour or two up the trail and Amos spots faint, purple wisps of Shyish off to their left. He and Farfordda investigate, finding a sword among the undergrowth (the twin tailed comet carved in the pommel) and signs of a struggle which they follow to a tree, where a corpse slumps in the branches. 

Farfordda climbs up and pushes the corpse out. It is Jakan Trum, the filthy, suspicious trapper they met in Oberholzbek, the body bears hideous gashes to the torso and arms and looks like its been here for at least several days. They find a crude map and a telescope in his pockets, then moments later hear sounds from the trail ahead. 

They just manage to get the horses deeper into the forest in time, with Norgrim calming them as best he can as a party of Orcs come crashing down the hill. One of them shoulders a great beast's head on his back, all are heavily armed and thunder past oblivious to the party. 

They wait a while then leave the corpse and head on. The storm rages all day long. They are not far from the Two Fingers, and thinking to make camp soon when Amos once more spies traces of Shyish drifting through the trees, heavier this time. Once again he, Farfordda and Thindra investigate while the others look after the horses. 

In a clearing they find a shallow cave gouged from a rock face and a scene of carnage. There are signs of struggle all around and the cave contains a number of bodies. There's an orc, several humans and 2 skaven, not to mention the bones and remains of many animals. But the biggest corpse is that of a huge, decapitated and mutated Griffon. Its wings are horrifically seared, almosty burnt off and a gaping hole in its flank is ringed with tiny mouths, reminiscent of the wound on Baron Holzbek. It reeks of corruption, the body also displays corrupted musket shot wounds, as though shot with warpstone.

They leave the grisly scene and push on another mile or so to camp.

The storm eases off to be replaced once more by thick mist. Another fire-less camp. On his shift late in the night Norgrim hears distant drums from back the way they have come. The next morning is cold and clear.

They reach the clearing with the Two Fingers by mid morning, leaving the horses tied up a quarter mile back before they scrambled up the final steep slopes of ancient woodland. The two towers rise from a wide clearing, 100' of ground clear ground surrounds them, and they sit 100' apart. 

One tower is just over 200' tall, and the other partially ruined is about 3/4 of that. White stone covered in ivy and creepers over most of their height, with the lower parts sunk into brambles and bracken. 

They do a circuit of the clearing without leaving the shelter of the trees, inspecting the towers with Jakan's telescope. The ruined tower has an overgrown and empty doorway, the only windows on either tower start more than half way up, there are 3 floors with 2 groups of 2 windows oriented in different directions on each floor. The full tower although complete looks like it may be roofless with vegetation growing from the top, it also features 2 balconies on the top floor, one facing east, the other west, both with what appear to be ivy smothered statues on them. Subtle traces of the winds of magic eddy around the full tower.  

They break the treeline to better investigate and as they do so Farfordda and Amos see a pulse of magic emanate from the full tower. They hear the squawking of birds and shrieks of animals as it passes out into the forest around. As they close in on the towers they see that there is a door on the full tower, flush with the white walls and obscured by vines and brambles. 

Four swarms of tiny bird-things come bursting from the treeline and the party rush for the overgrown entrance to the ruined tower. It is late morning on the 11th of Nachgeheim, cold and clear and 13 days before Geheimnistag...