Warlock! (20/11/21)

 

Not entirely sure what put me on to Warlock! in the first place (though I would have got there eventually via the Mud & Blood podcast), apparently it single handedly created the #BOSR hashtag (British OSR), and is a completely understandable reaction by the author to the over-complex mess that is WFRP 4e. 

Warlock! takes the careers and ethos of WFRP and marries them to the simple stats of Fighting Fantasy (via Troika!), so you have simply Stamina, Luck and a bunch of Skills. The key departure from its inspiration is that its d20 based, roll + skill and score over 20 to succeed, with combat being simple opposed tests. Characters are rounded out with some OSR like career specific random details (What you’ve seen, Who you know etc). It makes me wonder if WFRP was a big influence on Electric Bastionland (re random careers and flavour).

If I had discovered this before I bought WFRP 4e I think I would have used this for playing The Enemy Within.

An elegant little detail I like; each career has its eponymous skill, so if you are a Beggar you get the skill Beggar and this is an average of all your career skills (careers are simply defined by their skills, starting possessions and the random details). Your Stamina increases by 1 when your career skill does (which amounts to every 5 improvements in your career skills). I like this clear indication of ‘level’, WFRP 4e does something similar, but nowhere near as clear or satisfying with no actual career skill. There's no explicit guidance on how to use this skill, but even if it was simply just to make money at your career that would be reason enough.

Combat is similar to WFRP but also feels like a cleaner version; damage done to Stamina is considered  just bruising and fatigue, but once Stamina is depleted every hit is a roll on the critical table with negative Stamina as a modifier. Stamina is regained quickly, criticals affect the character and take time to recover from or just outright kill.

All characters can use magic, they simply require the knowledge of spells via scrolls or books (Initiates & Wizards start with one random spell each). An Incantation Skill roll must be succeeded to cast and each spell consumes an amount of stamina whether successful or not. There is also a miscast table.

I just had a quick go at the combat right now, my Beggar equipped with a club vs an unarmoured, short sword wielding goblin. I did the goblin some damage but got butchered; the 2nd critical killed me after 5 or 6 rounds. It felt pretty fast. The attacker in the opposed roll gets a +5, which I was thinking in the case of evenly matched opponents would lend the combatant with  the initiative a big advantage, it didn’t help me too much though. I missed once with my 1d6-1 damage club when the goblin hit with his 1d6 + 3 shortsword. Our skills were matched and my Stamina (17) was almost double that of the Goblin (10), but the disparity in weapon damage was too much. 1d6-1 seems pretty stingy for a club! Also I’m surprised it doesn’t have critical hits on a straight 20, though the fight would have been even shorter then as that was one lucky Goblin.

I’d be tempted to use this for our WFRP campaign if I thought I could get it past the players, though keep WFRP Success Levels and make all weapons do their average damage plus the success level. Hmm.

I bought Warlock! from DriveThru

Lamentations of the Flame Princess (08-08-21)

 

I was very much looking forwards to reading this, having heard many sing it’s praises and listened to a great interview with the author. The presentation of the book is slick and oozes atmosphere. The subtitle is ‘Weird Fantasy Role-Playing’, it can’t be a coincidence that this would have the same acronym as Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play, right? I was very hyped for it, to the point of thinking that when I finally get around to playing something this would be a fine contender. The Rules & Magic core book is fairly short, 159 pages, just over a third of which are spell descriptions, I managed to get through it all today (I skipped the spells).

I was, perhaps a bit unfairly, a little disappointed. 

This is an OSR retro clone of B/X D&D set in the late middle ages/early Renaissance, although the setting exists really only in the equipment lists and the fact that there is an appendix on firearms of the period. It feels like a tidied up version of the Basic D&D rules with a hodge-podge bunch of house rules on top, to cover everything from ship combat to property management.

 My single biggest criticism is that I’m not at all sure about the organization of the book, it all feels a bit random (I would have less of an issue if there was an index), and I think the explanation of many of the rules could be clearer, it could do with bolding key terms. There is however no fluff and no explanations of context, the thing is what you can read from the rules and see in the art. I may be being slightly unfair, it’s possible that my knowledge of Basic D&D was getting in the way, like I have an expectation of what should be explained when etc and that could have been fighting with the text.
If I had not listened to that interview with Raggi I wonder if I would have found the inclusion of Dwarf, Elf & Halfling classes weird? I know he only put them there because of expectation, but they feel at odds with the tone, or would they have made me detect a different tone?

The other key thing which sets it apart from its origins is in its spells, well, one spell.

It has the usual D&D, Vancian inspired magic system with all the usual spells; Magic Missile, Cure Light Wounds etc. with one paragraph devoted to each. Then we plunge deep into Lovecraft with Summon, a 1st level spell which runs to 10 pages! A 1st level spell, which as I'd heard from several sources, can destroy a campaign if it goes wrong!

The details of what comes through from the other sides is a hideous concoction of random tables, a bespoke horror with potentially awful powers rather than just a random creature from a subset of the Monster Manual. One possible disastrous outcome is a bit meta; the player who failed swaps roles with the GM until conditions are met for reverting play to normal!

I should note that there are also a whole slew of rule tweaks which evoke a more low fantasy setting; only Fighters hit chances increase with level and there are no damage bonuses due to Strength or Dexterity.

Reading it has not really dampened my desire to try it, although I do feel like it could maybe use an extra class or 2 in place of the non-human ones, and maybe a few extra skills. Oh and possibly a Sanity mechanic.

It and its many amazing modules and source books can be got from the publishers website.

Prince Valiant (24-05-21)

 

Just finished reading today and generally super impressed with. I bought it in Forbidden Planet on my first walk into town (Newcastle) this year, 2 weeks after having covid jag one. The first I actually heard of it was in the same shop last year sometime, I picked it up and put it back; it was sealed so I couldn’t leaf through it and it looked more like an old Comic Book annual than a game. Then I started coming across references to it, hearing that it was the first proper storytelling focused rpg and revolutionary for the time, the first edition being created by Greg Stafford in 1989!

It’s clearly aimed at younger players, or at least people new to the hobby (interesting that it follows his considerably more complex Pendragon which we actually played back in the day), I think its notable even in the way that it approaches that, it reminds me of Ben Milton’s obsession with usable presentation. The first page says ‘try play this’ then presents ‘Encounter in the Perilous Forest’ to run immediately and uses this to explain the key concepts of roleplaying games. A few pages further on it provides a simple sample adventure to provide more depth, before getting into character creation. In that first encounter you are a Knight, and that is really enough information to start playing with. Then the Basic game rules (the first 50 pages or so) explain how to make up a Knight in more detail. You have only 2 stats Brawn & Presence, between which you allocate 7 points, then have 10 points to spend on 6 skills from a list of 14. Once you're ready for the Advanced rules you can choose to be something else; Merchant, Monk, Viking etc.

The game seems really elegant, it is in effect a dice pool system like VtM, except it simply uses coins! The difficulty of a task is how many heads you need to get, then you throw a number of coins equal to the relevant stat + skill. In combat it’s opposed throws with weapons, armour and potentially strategic advantage adding extra coins to the mix. The difference between you and your opponent's throw is subtracted from the loser's coin pool, then their Brawn once the coin pool is consumed, incapacitating them once this is depleted too.

Fame takes the place of XP and is awarded for your achievements, but since it is also actually fame it can potentially provide a bonus in social contests. At every 1000 Fame you get to increase a skill by one point or take a new one.

That pretty much rounds out the Basic game. The Advanced game adds a few more significant elements and prefigures much later games. Player’s can pick Traits for their character; Greedy, Loyal etc. These reward the player with Fame when expressed in action, the amount of Fame depends on the specific trait, so Chivalrous nets much more than Cowardly. I can’t remember who it was that I first heard say attach XP to the thing you want players to do in your game, but here is a perfect example. It also says players should initially keep these secret from each other and have them come out in play proper. You can also choose to make a trait an Obsession for double Fame, and encouraged to specify a target for the trait (so Lancelot has Love of Queen Guenevere (Obsession)).

Perhaps the most radical idea in the Advanced game is that players should take turns at being the GM or ‘Storyteller’ (although I think Ars Magica may suggest this too?) and it provides a mechanic to facilitate this somewhat akin to Apocalypse World’s Moves; Special Effects.  These are actions that an NPC can do without requiring a dice roll (albeit with some kind of frequency limit), from Incite Lust to Escape Bonds, Terrify to Find Something Hidden. Special Effects do actually exist in the Basic game, but in the Advanced game a player gets one for having taken a turn at being Storyteller; their character can now perform this as a one off action.

The book also contains loads of great GM advice and although there are no actual random tables - the game doesn’t use dice after all - there are 20 pages of ‘Episodes’, or short adventures at the back of the book, each laid out in a super useful format and containing suggestions for how they might be linked to get you playing with minimal prep in no time.

Print copies of Prince Valiant can be ordered in the UK here.

Microscope (24-05-21)

 

Like Universalis this is as much a communal world building tool as it is a GM-less game.
I was led to it by watching my first Matt Colville video where he suggested using it to create the setting for, then running a West Marches style campaign D&D (which the Microscope designer Ben Robbins coined or at least has written extensive guidelines on).

The big difference with Universalis is that the players decide what the game will be about and how it begins and ends, then they take it in turns to fill in everything between, with each person in their turn adding a new period, an event within a period or a scene within an event (an actual scene in which everybody roleplays). 

There are less gamey features and rules than Universalis, there are no tokens for example and no dice in sight (not that there are in Universalis either). The rules take up  just over half of the small 80 page book, it is all very succinct. I would very much like to try it,  I especially like Matt Colville’s idea of using it to generate a setting, then playing another RPG within that setting, this sounds like it would be a great match for the whole FKR thing which I stumbled on recently...

 Microscope can be ordered from the developer's website.

 .

The Enemy Within 4

Sessions 14 to 18

Session 14 - The Golden Trout

Leaving Magirius shaking in his office they head back to the street, Gunther attempts to scope out the Golden Trout and discovers its a private members club. Raquel spots Sigmund of the Watch and hails him - inspired by Traitor he has bought a dog (Brandy) at the Schaffenfest. When he mentions the corpse found torn apart in the lane behind Garten Weg Raquel tells him that its Adolphus Kuftsos, a Witch Hunter - they came across the corpse and read a letter found on it, but no longer have.

Just after he heads off Pea appears, slightly hungover but thrilled to have her new fiddle, she insists on buying them lunch and pints for having helped her out at the card game. Then eager to make the most of the last day of the Schaffenfest with her new fiddle, she skips off down to the festivities.

They see the actual Mutant Decree, then just as they are about to leave the Inn they are passed a note which arrived for them that morning - its from Magistrate Richter and asks that they come visit him to clear up some details, apparently Dr Malthusius has been bombarding him with stories about his goblin being killed in the sewers. They go to the festival court to hear that they’ve just missed the Magistrate, he left with the Captain of the Watch a short while before.

A little while later they return to the Festival Court, this time hearing that Richter went home ill. They travel to his house and persuade his distraught old housekeeper to let them in just as the doctor leaves. Richter looks in a bad way, face swollen and discoloured, he is unable to talk.

They return to The Journey’s End and while Gunther gets bathed (in preparation for this evening's meal at The Golden Trout) Raquel sits in the yard to clean and oil Gunther's’ sewer soiled chainmail. While there, an excitable stable hand rushes in with news that Dr Malthusius was killed by his long haired ape during the final Zoocopia performance of the festival.

As Morrslieb rises huge and high over the town, bathing everything in an eerie green light, Gunther in Kastor guise and Raquel make for their dinner rendezvous with Magirius, only to find Johannes Teugen and his nephew Preston waiting at the restaurant instead. Teugen explains that Ordo Septenarius is a secret club within the Merchants Guild, that he founded to reverse the flagging fortunes of his family and make Bogenhafen the greatest trade hub in the Empire. He asks them what they want, Raquel says 300 gold crowns and points out that Kastor desires a barge. Teugen agrees to 100 gold and a barge with half a cargo of wool, provided that they leave town by the day after tomorrow. 

Session 15 - The Grey Lady

Raquel and Gunther are woken from disturbing dreams by Pea banging on the door and offering to buy them breakfast. She has been up all night, her fiddling went down well at the Grand Melee and she was invited to entertain at the noble party at Sapontheim ‘Castle’ by the Grand Countess of Averland! When that got too knighty for her tastes she wangled her way into Kleinwald manner and regaled the debauched Kleinwalds and their decadent party with her piano and fiddle skills. Here she was reunited with Von Arkenstein and witnessed Constantino serving, dressed as a maid as punishment for abandoning his post in order to watch the Grand Melee.

This Pea tells them over breakfast, in an Inn bustling with activity and excitement. Josef appears and thrusts before them the latest Imperial Edict - Ubersreik has been seized from the ruling Jungfreud family (the head of which was here until yesterday) by the emperor. Josef is preparing to leave as soon as he can, knowing that this event will throw all into disarray and that barges like his will be in danger of seizure by nobles or military. He offers them paid work again, but they tell him that Gunther has acquired a barge, so they’ll be taking to the river anyway, perhaps they can sail to Altdorf together.

Raquel and Gunther pay a visit to the Teugen Mansion to chase up their loot but are told they will be contacted later. The chaos that Josef anticipated is evident in the town as word of the Ubersreik Decree spreads. They run into Sigmund again, he and his unit are being mustered out to the borders of the Duchy. He tells them that he has since learned that Adolphus Kuftsos was actually a bounty hunter on the trail of a chaos cult called the Purple Hand, and says its such a shame they no longer have that letter, but either way it's yesterday's news now, what with all thats going on. The story being told around town is that the infamous Witch Hunter Faberguz Heinzdork was ripped apart in the back streets of Bogenhafen by a Demon that lives in the sewers.

On the way back to the Inn they are accosted by a well dressed young man who introduces himself as Hans-Peter Schiller, apprentice to Herr Blitzen, a wizard in Weissbruck. Hans-Peter has just booked passage on The Bererbeli with Josef and learned from him that they are the ones who encountered a Demon in the sewers, he knows his master will want to know more, so what can they tell him? Raquel obliges, including drawing the Octogram and a crude map of the sewers.

Around mid afternoon a Teugen servant appears bearing a note, a sealed letter and a bag of gold coins. The note says that Kastor must meet with the legal secretary at the Merchants Guild at 4pm to sign the deeds for the barge, then show these signed papers to the harbour master before sunset to be shown to his new property. The bag contains 25 gold coins and the note says the other 75 can be got by delivering the sealed letter to the Grubers of Weissbruck no later than 5 days hence.

They head to the Merchants Guild as instructed. There are now guards at the door and after signing the papers for The Grey Lady they encounter a nervous Magirius to whom Raquel apologizes for her violent behaviour the previous day.

From there it's on to the Harbour Master (where they learn berthing costs are paid up until lunchtime tomorrow) and then The Grey Lady, a medium barge with half a holds worth of wool. They fetch their belongings from the Inn and along with Pea spend the night on the barge.

After another night of disturbing dreams they awake to find a frantic Magirius imploring them to let him aboard. He confesses all that he knows, that tonight Teugen along with the inner circle of Ordo Septenarius plan to sacrifice someone in a ceremony that will bring great wealth to Bogenhafen. The human sacrifice is too much for Magirius, he begs the party to stop Teugen, and says he’ll send word of where the ritual is to take place as soon as he finds out.

Session 16 - "MG"

They decide to sail the barge out of town to make it appear as though they’ve kept up their end of the deal, meanwhile Pea will pay a visit to Lori to try enlist some help, then see if she can find Von Arkenstein.

A few hours later they dock downriver at Herzhald, pay the berthing fee for a day, load Gunther’s wheelbarrow up with pots of oil and head back to Bogenhafen on foot. They re-enter the town on its west side, cutting through ‘The Pit’ for the first time and take the ferry back across the river.

At the Half Measure tavern they meet with Lori who agrees to lend them some of her rogues in return for delivering a cargo for her on their new barge. She sends Ade with them to go pay Magirius a visit and find out where this ritual is to take place.

It is by now early evening and Morrsleib once more rises full, bloated and menacing, hanging over the town as though it might drop and crush everything.

Magirius lives in a 4 story terraced town house on the Adel Ring. There is no answer at the front door and as it is locked the party go round and try the back door with better luck. There is not a sound within so they split up and search room by room, floor by floor.

Magirius’ corpse is found behind his desk in the office on the first floor, lying in a pool of blood, his throat torn open. The letters MG scrawled on the side of the desk in blood mark his last act. They leave swiftly by the back door. Ade leads them through the back streets towards the Half Measure, plotting a course past the Merchants’ Guild in case this is where Magirius was trying to point them.

The building is locked and mostly dark, though some light can be seen between the shutters. While they are scoping out the area, a house Teugen carriage arrives and 2 men get out and enter the building. They send Ade to fetch the backup while they continue to stake out the location.

Session 17 - The Calm

The door entered by the coach occupants is unlocked, so Gunther sneaks in and creeps upstairs. He steals a map from the Charts room, then from an unlit balcony looks down on what during their previous visit was the trading floor; the chalk boards and tables have been pushed back and an octogram with candles set at each point now dominates the chamber. Red robed cultists greet more of their number who have just arrived. Hearing the name ‘Kastor Lieberung’ mentioned Gunther edges forwards on to a creaky floorboard. The voices suddenly cease, but as luck would have it the bells on the High Church of Sigmar ring out marking 9 o’clock, he seizes this opportunity to flee downstairs and hide in a room near the door where he entered.

 

As soon as Guther made his way inside Raquel began walking a slow circuit of the Guild. As she completes her first lap she sees a figure standing, waiting in the doorway taken by Gunther. She walks on past and finds a position to observe from round the corner. A group of thugs arrive and speak with the figure at the door who directs them to take up positions at the either end of the alley.

Raquel moves to the other side of the street, into the shadow of the Temple of Verena and waits and watches for Ade. In her impatience she is seen and 2 thugs approach, she steps out to meet them, and at the same time sees Ade approaching. She confronts the thugs, making out that she is some bodyguard of Teugen's and that they should go and let her do this job. They are not convinced so she tries buying them off, and succeeds to the extent that 4 of them take her gold and leave the area.

Ade has brought 5 halflings with him, Traitor and Gunther’s wheelbarrow with the oil. A quick plan is hatched to have 3 halflings try to draw off as many of the guards as possible while the remainder rush the building with Raquel. Just as they put this plan into action a wagon draws up behind the guild…

Session 18 - The Storm

Two of the thugs chase Ade and the first group of Halflings while Raquel, Traitor and the others rush the one remaining. He is cut down in seconds, but 2 more jump from the wagon, and another rushes from the end of the street.

Meanwhile Gunther, hiding within the building hears the commotion outside and decides to take this opportunity to regain his advantageous position upstairs, but as soon as he steps from the room he sees  the backdoor open and a big man carrying a wriggling sack rush into the building. He crouches behind the statue of Bogenauer, and as the figure goes past leaps out and cuts him down with his axe.

In the street the thugs don’t fare well against halfling sling stones and Nordland steel, but another opponent, the one seen directing from the doorway earlier, steps into the alley, into a shimmering magical haze they conjure. From here they work further magic, sending vivid pink lightning arcing at Raquel. It misses, and as the one thug still standing decides to flee it hurls a ball of blue fire at the group. It strikes one halfling taking him down and splashes infernal fire onto a grievously injured Traitor, Raquel and another halfling. As they fight to extinguish the flames, Lobwillow, their sling-armed comrade at the rear, strikes this magical opponent with a critical, breaking ribs and stunning them…

Gunther finishes his big foe with another swing of the axe, but the cultists within, knowing nothing of the violence close by, hear this noise and Johannes Teugen steps into the other end of the hallway calling out ‘Gideon, what’s that? Gideon?’
Gunther snuffs out the one candle illuminating the corridor, sweeps up the wriggling, person sized sack on the floor, and dives for the back door.

As soon as she’s able Raquel surges forwards, loading her crossbow as she runs. Penetrating the swirling, sorcerous haze she fires at point blank range, but the bolt passes clean through her stunned target without so much as leaving a mark. He staggers back towards the door, attempting to escape the onslaught, but it bursts open as Gunther comes barreling through.
The sorcerer hits the ground and in shower of pink and blue sparks reveals his true form; the demon Gideon, a tentacle headed, razor mouthed monstrosity, but stunned and impotent in the swirling storm of sword and axe that come crashing down upon it.

‘Gideon!’ howls Teugen from the passageway, as he sees his diabolic companion disintegrate. He calls upon his blasphemous masters and attempts to hurl a bolt of infernal energy at Gunther, but something goes hideously wrong, and he is left winded and staggering. Within seconds he meets the same fate as the Demon, as Gunther and Raquel rush into the building, blades swinging.

The Enemy Within 3

Sessions 6 to 13

Session 6 - To Altdorf

They journey out of the Drakwald and across the Altdorf Flats with Gunther riding shotgun (as Ernst fumbled healing Gunnar), arriving at the vast white walled capitol of the Empire via the Wolftor gate by sunset. They see a great parade with the Emperor at its head in the Konigplatz and Pea's fiddle is stolen in the commotion. Raquel and Traitor fail to catch the thief and Pea heads off to the Grinning Moon somewhat dejected.
Meanwhile Gunther finds himself being signaled at oddly by two strangers, who follow another who signals back to them, into a bar. This third individual turns out to be the bounty hunter Adolfus Kuftsos, although this is a detail they will not discover till much later. An attempt to catch up with them proves no more fruitful than that to catch the fiddle thief, so they head on to the Grinning Moon, though the confusion of Altdorf's teetering streets ensures that this takes longer than they would like. When they arrive they hear that Pea has gone to try find her cousin Bart who disappeared a few days ago (he was last seen playing cards in some tavern down by the docks).
They spend the night in the inn common room and in the morning go to the docks to try find Pea or her cousin. No joy on the Pea front, but they do run into Josef, a barge captain and old friend of Raquel's, who they arrange to meet for drinks in The Boatman tavern later.

Session 7 - The Big Smoke

A trip to the market finds them a fence willing to buy their ill-gotten gains from Erinsclaw (it just so happens Jimmy One-eye knows Gunther's family back in Middenheim).

Their social rendezvous with Josef turns out both useful and eventful, he is traveling to Bogenhaffen with a full cargo of wine for selling at the Schaffenfest and offers to take them on as help, to which they readily agree (they want to get to Bogenhaffen anyway to follow up on the inheritance). Then a couple of pissed nobles create a scene involving Max Ernst, a notorious local protagonist. Raquel, provoked, kills Max Ernst in dramatic fashion and Traitor takes a chunk out Monty Von Ostbrun's face. 

On the way back to the barge (where they will spend the night, the plan being to depart at first light) they are followed by two unfortunates who wind murdered up by some unseen third party armed with a crossbow.

Session 8 - Altdorf to Weissbruck

Following a night of intense dreams they awake on the barge to discover that Raquel's shirt has inexplicably turned pink overnight.

The voyage to Bogenhafen begins, the Berebeli sails out into the Reiksport, threads through the waterways of the Altdorf Flats then joins the canal to Weissbruck. Gunther decides to take this opportunity to begin a new career as a boatman under Josef's expert tutelage. From a passing road warden patrol they hear that a noble and two artisans were killed in the Altdorf docks last night.

Three days later they arrive at Weissbruck, as Gunther ties up the barge he spots Kuftsos for the second time, watching them from the doorway of a riverside inn.

Session 9 - Weisbruck to Bogenhafen

Enquiring at the Inn they hear that Kuftsos is a bounty hunter who arrived the previous day. They check at the other Inns of Weissbruck; The Happy Man and Trumpet Inn but find sign of him.
The next morning their departure is delayed by a River Warden patrol who come aboard and apparently find a cache of Ranalds Delight on the barge. It takes till lunchtime to get underway.

Finally they are on the river Bogen, it is a four day journey to Bogenhafen which takes them past the impressive castle Grauenberg and pillars of thick black smoke from what they later hear is the village of Stust being sacked by Beastmen (they catch a glimpse of a winged humanoid among the trees close to the smoke).

Session 10 - The Schaffenfest

More strange dreams then they arrive in Bogenhafen on the first day of the Schaffenfest.
Gunther purchases smart clothes from a high class tailor and they check in to The Journey’s End.
They head into the festival, an ill-fated beggar advises them to see Mystic Megret who reads Raquel’s fortune: a dark watery place with death.
They visit the Festival Court to pay the fine to have Gottri Gurnisson (a very drunk alcoholic dwarf) released from the stocks.
They see Primus Von Bildhoffen, heir to Middenland, have a beggar beaten to death.
Raquel spots the Zweinhilde coat of arms (an enemy from her past) among the pennants at the Jousting.
They watch Dr Malthusius’ Zoocopia show, Raquel catches his 3 legged Goblin on its first escape attempt.
The Goblin manages to escape on its second attempt, and our northern duo are swept up by the Watch and taken to Festival Court. Dr Malthusias offers to pay 5GC for safe return of the Goblin, Magistrate Richter says the town will match it, Raquel and Gunther accept the commission...

Session 11 - A Dark Watery Place with Death

Racquel leaves Traitor with Sigmund the Watchman and they descend into the sewers.
After hours of wading through and falling in sewage they track their quarry to a bolted chamber.
They break in to find goblin remains in the middle of a octogram inscribed with the words ‘Ordo Septenarius’, bloodstains are pooled around a metal cabinet at the back of the room.
In a gout of thick black smoke flecked with pink and blue a demon manifests in the chamber.
Raquel fires her crossbow at it before feeling in terror.
They retrace their steps and leave the sewers.

Session 12 - The Inheritance

The following morning they head back into the Schaffenfest and visit Dr Malthusias who tells them that Snotty was killed in some warehouse, Raquel tells him that no, the goblin was eaten by a demon in the sewers, giving him the 3 socket pelvis found in the octogram as proof. Then forces him to (partially) pay up  at sword point.

They then call in on Magistrate Richter. He tells them that yes the goblin was killed under falling goods crates in Steinhager warehouse #4. He says he cannot pay them but on request writes a letter for them to present to the council.

A visit to the Council chambers yields another partial reward, while Gunther waits Raquel goes to scope out Garten Weg where Lock, Stock & Barl are located (the lawyers handling the inheritance) - a narrow street of run down houses in the Altstadt, an unlikely locale.

Gunther gets a tattoo of a Purple Hand on his chest, then dresses in his recently acquired finery and they head to the lawyers office where Raquel announces Kastor Lieberung to the secretary. The secretary leaves with the letters and the doors and windows are suddenly bolted from without.

Kuftsos has them in a trap, he arrests Kastor Lieberung, Magister Impedimente of the cult of the Purple Hand in the name of the Emperor, for crimes of consorting with Chaos, murder and kidnapping! Or he would, if he hadn’t been suddenly torn to pieces by something in the street. They find a letter on what remains of his corpse (explaining that this was all a set up to catch a senior chaos cultist), then hasten back to the Inn where they drown their sorrows, until they are unexpectedly reunited with Pea. She has come here wasting time before doing a job that she requests their help with…

Session 13 - The Kleinwald Caper

Morrslieb has risen full, bathing the town in green light as Raquel, Gunther (dressed as Kastor) and Pea head to Kleinwald Manor in the Adel Ring.
Pea has to steal a key while a card game takes place between the servants. She is doing this for Lori Lowhaven as payment for a new fiddle, and is nervous about the whole affair.
The Kleinwalds are not at home, and the servants take full advantage of their absence, only tonight they don't have as many players as usual due to all the Noble and Merchant parties taking place on account of the Schaffenfest.
Raquel wins the game and Pea manages to steal a key.

Fabienne the Steinhager housekeeper, on hearing of Ordo Septenarius tells them they should go speak to Magirius at the Merchants Guild, that's what her master always tells enquirers. She says it's something to do with the Merchant guild and is horrified at their tale of a Demon in the sewers.

Ade, a halfling at the game sent by Lori insists that they all go visit his boss. He and Pea enter the Half Measure Tavern by its low front door, telling the Raquel and Guther to wait by the docks and he’ll come get them.

At the docks they spot the Steinhager warehouse where the Goblin was apparently killed and question the watchmen who claims he beat the Goblin to death with his club. Anton the Goblin Slayer.

Ade then leads them into the Half Measure by an elaborate back entrance through another building and several locked doors.
They meet Lori Lowhaven, 'Aunty', a matronly halfling gangland boss, in her low ceiling office. She offers to pay them to ingratiate themselves at the Crossed Pikes (where the Watch drink she says) and they accept.

The next morning they go visit Magirius at the Merchants Guild, confronting him with the story of  the demon in the sewers and Ordo Septenarius. He offers to take them to dinner this evening where he will explain everything. Raquel puts her sword to his throat and  demands to know the names of the seven inner members of the organization. Terrified, he blurts out Johan Teugen and Franz Steinhager before somehow convincing them to leave.

Part 4

The Enemy Within 2

Sessions 4 & 5, Blood on the Road

Raquel & Gunthar arrive at the Coach and Horses.
They pay to join a Ratchet Lines of Altdorf coach which is staying over at the coaching inn on route to Altdorf.
They meet, to varying degrees their fellow passengers;

• Isolde von Strudeldorf a young, stuck up Drakwalder noblewoman traveling with her maid and bodyguard.
• Ernst a studious young physician’s apprentice returning to his studies at Altdorf University
• Pandora ‘Pea’ Lostpocket, a halfling fiddle player and entertainer on the way to the Schaffenfest, an annual festival in Bogenhafen.

They also meet Harken Rouge, a bounty hunter on the trail of Maud Shay, leader of some gang of thieves who murdered Baron Fielbach’s heir while robbing an Altdorf jewelers. Believing his quarry to have headed north along quieter trails he is journeying next to Erinsclaw, when he overhears that Raquel and Gunthar have just come from there he joins them to see if they have any useful intelligence. Raquel tells the tale of their bloody exploits to the evident horror of Gustav the landlord who absents himself for the remainder of the evening.

It's a late start the next day as Gunnar and Hultz, the two coachmen over indulged the night before and now suffer mighty hangovers. Heavy rain christens the journey along with heavy bickering from Isolde who is affronted at having to share the interior of the coach with commoners. Raquel joins Gunthar on the roof and charges Pea to look after Traitor inside.

Mid-afternoon they round a bend to see the grisly sight of a leprous like mutant feasting on a coachmen laying dead on the road. He springs up on to the coach, the horses panic and manage to break their traces and drag Hultz off with them into the trees, a stunned Gunnar is stabbed by the mutant as the coach veers wildly and crashes on its side.

Raquel is fast to her feet and dispatches the mutated assailant in 2 blows. An awful bestial howling can be heard from around the bend as the disheveled occupants clamber out of the coach. Raquel instructs Ernst to help Gunnar, then she, Gunther and Pandora (equipping herself with Gunnar’s blunderbuss) head off to investigate the cries. They cut through the trees, up the hill that forces the bend to see a scene of mayhem and carnage.

A Four Seasons coach lies on its side, its 2 horses are still trapped in their harness, one contributes to the cacophony of pain as a huge mutant with the head of a baby cuts it with his axe. Another dog faced abomination sits on the ground by the coach, screaming as blood pours from his leg while a third mutant with a weird conical head attempts to stem the flow with rags. The bodies of the passengers are scattered across the road and being searched by a fourth figure, who at range looks human, but close up displays skin formed of thorny scales. This one carries a crossbow.

Raquel and Traitor rush as quietly as they can towards the one armed with the crossbow, while Gunthar lopes towards the acting medic. Pea curves around the scene to approach it from the opposite direction.

Cone-head turns on hearing Traitor’s chain being loosed and yells a warning before a great swing of Gunthar’s axe removes his left arm in a spray of blood. A blow from Racquel’s sword knocks her target down, just before a ferocious bite from Traitor finishes him off.

Dog-face dies where he lies, a chop from Guthar’s axe shedding fingers and splitting bone. Baby-face tries to run, and gets about eight yards away before Raquel, sweeping up the fallen crossbow, takes him down with a quarrel.

The searching of the bodies begins. Gunthar starts on that furthest from the coach, a burgher judging by the clothes, face down with a bolt through the neck and another in the back. He turns the body over and manages to stifle his reaction; the corpse looks exactly like himself, as though it were his twin. A better dressed twin. He searches the pockets of the coat to find a letter from a Lawyer explaining that Kastor Lieberung has come into an inheritance, and finds another note, a signed affidavit declaring the bearer to be Kastor. Gunthar shows Raquel, then thrusts the papers in his pockets as a patrol of Road Wardens arrives.

Raquel quickly convinces them of what took place. Magnus their leader says he’ll need to take sworn statements, but at the next Inn down the road. The coaches are righted, the bolted horses recovered and split between the coaches with all of the corpses piled into one.

By nightfall they reach the Seven Spokes, an inn much like the Coach & Horses, but busier as there are 3 coaches worth of travelers here, not to mention the posse of Road Wardens. News of the carnage spreads quickly around the bar, helped on by Pea with her fiddle, regaling the clientele with the tale of Gunthar the limb lopper and Raquel true shot’s derring-do. There is much talk of mutants and ill things abroad, and rumours that Faberguz Heinzdork put Erinsclaw to the sword and flame as folk there were in league with mutants. Magnus takes down the statements and the bodies of the mutants are burned, whilst those of the victims are prepared for the arrival of a Doomsayer.

Part 3