A small group of goblins are standing watch over the makeshift siege engine and the team led by Jörg sneaks forward, intent on ambushing them. Sören impulsively has a “great” idea and decides to sneak around, then draw attention.
The skirmish breaks out and ends very badly for the goblins, with the survivors and their accompanying militia archers overwhelming the cowardly little creatures. Even still, the goblins manage to get a warning blast on the warhorn … one that is returned from the east.
Upon defeating the goblins and rescuing the captured human carpenter, Jörg orders the militia to get him back to Geissbach while they rush to assist the other team.
They reach a fortified goblin camp to discover that the attack has gone poorly: only a single roadwarden is still upright and is feverishly trying to stay alive; the five survivors attack in force and are able to crush the surviving goblins and their orc overlords. There are no survivors.
Back at Geissbach, the survivors are acclaimed as local heroes.
GM Notes:
The core elements of this session comes from Cubicle 7’s adventure, “Mutiny and the Beast” taken from Ubersreik Adventures III.
I wasn’t actually expecting the PCs to immediately rush to join the other team at the goblin camp and originally determined how that fight played out using Mass Combat: that ended … poorly for the villagers.
Christoph’s player will be out the next session due to other obligations … just as we’re getting into the actual adventure. 🙂
16:30 – Most of the survivors have their meals and upgrade their rooms. A local gambler joins them and they chat about recent events. Outside, Coppertong and Jörg observe an exchange between some hunters and the innkeeper about the lack of venison, and hear that a “monster” is haunting the area.
17:00 – Jörg enters the inn and says hello to Sister Brigitte who is here with a young noblewoman whose coat-of-arms identifies her as a von Strudeldorf. He then joins the others of his company and they begin gambling with Phillipe. In the process, they speak with Jost Uberlaufer, a representative of House Ruggbroder out of Bögenhafen. Local farmers begin entering the inn, including Hans Swartz, the village elder, who has a mutual antipathy towad Jurgen Horst, the innkeeper.
17:30 – Lord Amadeus von Strudeldorf enters and has a loud, angry argument with his sister. By context, it appears that he expects her to marry one of his friends, but she is going to Altdorf to speak to their father instead. No one wishes to get in the middle of two nobles arguing.
18:00 – A young woman name Heidi enters the inn with a heavy, padlocked box that she claims to contain a small basilisk. Over the next ten or fifteen minutes, she charges people to take a peek, though several of the PCs realize that the whole thing is a scam and Sören attempts to blackmail her. One of the drunk drivers causes the box to get smashed, revealing her deception. Hans and Jurgen issue contrasting punishments, and the town is confused over what to do. The PCs are equally split, though Sören confuses the matter by spending a whole crown to keep everyone intoxicated. Heidi spins a tale of woe that enthralls everyone, then sneaks out when no one is paying attention.
19:00 – Two road wardens arrive, dirty and tired, though one of them thinks he recognizes Sören. The farmers begin returning home. Several of the PCs learn about the “monster” and begin asking about it.
20:00 – There is a disturbance at the village gate and, upon investigation, they discover it is Heidi who reveals she just saw a bunch of goblins to the north and heard a monster! She looks disheveled and terrified. The road wardens declare that they will lead the local militia to investigate tomorrow, but several of the more impulsive PCs urge moving now. The whole group heads out with them.
20:30 – Nearly a mile to the north, they find tracks and the road wardens split up the militia, sending some of them with the PCs and taking the rest in the opposite direction. The PCs lead their group west and discover a rolling goblin siege tower in a forest clearing…
GM Notes:
The core elements of this session comes from Cubicle 7’s adventure, “Mutiny and the Beast” taken from Ubersreik Adventures III. Amusing, my F2F group passed through this village when I originally ran “The Guilty Party” from Ubersreik Adventures I which takes PCs from Ubersreik into the 1st part of “Enemy in Shadows” (although this adventure wasn’t out yet.) Since Gigermann is part of the F2F group, I had to change it up a bit.
Grognards will recognize both Lady Isolde and Phillipe from the first part of the Enemy Within adventure. I intended to do more with them, but ended up pulling back because we’re 7 episodes in and still haven’t gotten to the actual Enemy Within adventure …
Fleeing from the site of zombie attack, the survivors retreat to the relative safety of their inns where they can lick their wounds. Meanwhile, riots engulf Ubersreik and, upon the morning, they learn that the “necromancer” was captured when she tried to flee in her boat. The witch hunters have already taken her into custody and are looking for any others involved.
Enfys and Sören visit the temple of Shallya to get some magical healing, while the others start discussing an exit plan to ensure they’re not blamed. Conveniently, Drori Stonebeard approaches them and explains that he’s sending two wagons of goods to Bögenhafen and would like to hire the survivors as guards. They quickly agree.
The following day, the two wagons set with Gunnar and Hultz driving the wagons. This is expected to be a six day trip, with stops at the coaching inns along the way.
At around noon, Gunnar cries out in alarm: goblins! A large group of them are crossing the road ahead of the wagons, and the survivors leap off the wagons, ready to defend. Christoph looses an arrow that misses, while Coppertong charges forward. A quick skirmish ensues, but it goes ill for the goblins as five of them, including their apparent leader, falls, while the unarmed ones (oddly carrying stacks of wood) continue fleeing to the north. Things do not go entirely the survivors’ way – Jörg’s zweihander breaks in the fight (exactly like Coppertong said it would!) and he takes a spear thrust to the belly.
Several hours later, the two wagons reach Geissbach, a small farming village where the coaching inn, The Halfway House, is the largest building present. The caravaners begin making plans for the rest of the night.
GM Notes:
The core elements of this session comes from Cubicle 7’s adventure, “Mutiny and the Beast” taken from Ubersreik Adventures III. Amusing, my F2F group passed through this village when I originally ran “The Guilty Party” from Ubersreik Adventures I which takes PCs from Ubersreik into the 1st part of “Enemy in Shadows” (although this adventure wasn’t out yet.) Since Gigermann is part of the F2F group, I had to change it up a bit.
No one was expecting Jörg’s sword to break. A critical failure at the worst possible moment for Gigermann. And now comes the monumental task of figuring out how much time and material is required to actually repair it…
My brain stopped … braining at the end of the session and I realize how crappy my notes were. Planning on fixing that in the next session.
Enfys’ player was out for the session due to other obligations.
Snarling unintelligible Words of Power, the necromancer casts a great spell and zombies begin pulling themselves out of the river.
Sören attempts to flee after spearing the still beating heart on his sword, and Enfys follows more slowly which results in the latter almost being swarmed by a large number of the Undead.
A stranger carrying the box that was left in Enfys’ room also approaches, but he drops it upon seeing the zombies and charges forward; Jörg will end up engaging this man in a duel and realize that he is facing another of the Undead!
Christoph and Coppertong engage as well, and the skirmish is right hot, with both Enfys and Sören grievously wounded. Enfys ends up plunging into the dirty river, overcome by his wounds and deeply unconscious, but the others begin converging upon the foul necromancer pursuing him.
After narrowly evading Jörg’s swing, the necromancer flees via Magick, snarling out another Word of Power and vanishing. His wight bodyguard, badly injured from his duel and Christoph’s arrows, throws himself into the river as well.
Christoph and Sören leap into the water, intent on rescuing Enfys, and together, they pull the wizard’s apprentice out.
And throughout Ubersreik, riots erupt as the dead walk once more…
GM Notes:
The core elements of this session comes from Cubicle 7’s adventure, Deadly Dispatch. Apart from Elke’s name, it was mostly used as-is though as I said last time, I wasn’t expecting the PCs to end up triggering the fight right there. Luckily for me, the necromancer – named Rule Leidtragende in the adventure, though Gigerman joked that he should have been named Romero and I’m super tempted to rename him as Georg Rosmarin as a result – managed to escape so I can use him later when I want to attack.
As I feared, the entire session was eaten up by the big fight. Alas…
Enfys’ player will be out for the next session due to other obligations.
The survivors recover: Queen Coppertong is retrieved from the place where she fell and treated; the two hostages are discovered to be Sister Brigitte Traue of the Cult of Shallya, taken when the bandits first went on their rampage that caused this, and Lord Rickard Aschaffenberg, taken from the massacre three days earlier; the long abandoned tower chosen by the bandits is explored and a way out of the mountains is discovered; the two surviving bandits are interrogated; Fat Farlsbag is decapitated and his head put in a box filled with ice and snow.
They set out upon the morrow, using a wagon and donkey discovered in the camp, and head on toward civilization. Sören feigns friendship toward the bandits to learn more, but he cares little for them upon learning that they did in fact assault the beautiful Sister. From them, he learns that Farlsbag was obeying a nameless wizardess who filled him fear; her description sounds to Enfys as that of his brother’s mistress which troubles him.
At Ubersreik, they are lauded for their actions and awarded the bounty. The two captured bandits are tried, sentenced and executed. Time flashes by as the survivors celebrate their victory and obtain replacement gear. Nearly a month passes.
A courier finds them in Ubersreik’s Artisan’s Quarter. He is seeking Enfys Loom with a package. This package eventually turns out to be filled with necromantic paraphernalia and Enfys decides to seek out the true addressee, someone named Elke Loom. Sören knows a guy and leads the entire group to meet him. This fellow is a panhandler who points them toward Mistress Elke’s boat, The Deft Dancer.
And then, in a sudden fit, he grabs Sören’s hand and exclaims in a voice not his own:
‘I see Darkness Gathering as the Last House of Joy Falls – beware, for Shadows Over Bögenhafen stir and the face of the enemy is your face! Then Beloved Morr, resplendent in Vestments of Green, stands astride Sigmar’s Great River. Yea, I see Death on the Reik and I despair! For then the Stained Hand guides the Once Mighty Lord, and this Power Behind the Throne curses us all. Lo, the Horned Rat then claims the Broken King atop is Throne of Lies, and the White Walls Fall, leaving our Empire in Ruins! Tremble in fear, ye mighty, for the End Times have come.’
Disturbed, the survivors reach the docks where Enfys and Sören advance forward to speak with Mistress Elke while the others loiter behind. The riverwoman is visibly disturbed, moreso when Enfys reviews an urn he took from the box. A struggle ensues over the urn, but this causes it to be dropped where it shatters and reveals … a still beating heart.
Mistress Elke lets out a horrified gasp, then turns and dives into the river, just as a wizened figure wearing dark clothes and a strange glowing eye piece emerges from her boat. He is visibly enraged and snarls something terrible at them.
Violence ensues.
GM Notes:
Second part of the session is from Cubicle 7’s adventure, Deadly Dispatch. Apart from Elke’s name, it was mostly used as-is. The panhandler’s prophecy comes directly from Enemy in Shadows, though, so we’re finally getting into that.
I originally expected to be done with this entire adventure in one session, but we spent more time on the “Wal-Mart d6” than I expected/wanted to. I also ended up super frustrated with myself because I completely dropped the ball with the hostage NPCs or even Drori.
Grognards will recognize Enfys’ brother’s wizard mistress from Death on the Reik which is intentional as I wanted her to have a presence from the get-go.
Unfortunately, Enfys’ player will be out for the next two sessions, so … guess I need to incapacitate him at the get-go.
The following morning, after a long, cold night, the PCs turn their attention toward exiting the mountains and returning to civilization. They angle toward the elevated watchtower observed the previous day.
As they approach, Christoph and Sören sneak forward as scouts, noting the sounds of a woman in pain. Christoph identifies a guard and this watchman immediately calls out the alarm when the other PCs approach less than stealthily. This poor unfortunate fellow promptly gets an arrow for his troubles.
With the armcry raised, a fierce fight ensues with more bandits rushing out, led by the original target of this expedition, Fat Farlsbag himself! In the ensuing melee, Queen Coppertong is grievously injured and falls from the side of the mountain, seemingly to her doom though Christoph and Jörg will later find that she is a mere 10 yards down, unconscious and bleeding. Farlsbag himself is felled, as are most of his bandits, and it is little surprise that the two who surrender are already bearing the brands of cowards on their faces.
There are two hostages in the camp, a beautiful young woman wearing the (now dirty) habit of a Shallyan nun and a nobleman the PCs vaguely recall seeing in the bounty expedition. Both are badly beaten, with the nobleman so grievously injured that it is a wonder he is still alive. The Sister recoils away from all of the men and glares hotly at the bandit who was standing watch over her and the nobleman before Sören captured him.
GM Notes:
As expected, this session was just one long fight. Not sure why it dragged as long as it did although to be fair, there were a lot of hostiles (8) and five PCs. Plus, it lasted 12 rounds or so. Almost got my first GURPSHammer fatality! Alas…
There was some brief offline discussion of trying to stabilize Fat Farlsbag, but with the Bleeding rules in effect and him having taking a vitals strike, I think he’ll probably bleed out before anyone even tries to save him.
The “Coward” or “Deserter” brands I stole from the Codex Alera books by Jim Butcher. I liked the idea and it fits the Empire here.
Some of the aftermath stuff is information I intended to relate following the end of the fight, but we were running late so instead I’m putting that here for proper flow.
After several hours of rest, the PCs descend down the ramp into a long abandoned Dwarf complex. The destruction they find is widespread.
Inside a great chamber, they discover the fractured remains of an Anvil of Doom and Coppertong gathers up many of the larger fragments, intent on using them to forge her own personal anvil.
Beyond a great door, they find the shattered remains of an orc camp, with many such greenskins smashed or burned or even melted. Among the bodies, they also discover Beastmen who appear to have been fighting the orcs.
Two surviving orcs try to flee past them, but one is incinerated by a great Dwarfish automaton that has a cannon for an arm, though it spews molten magma instead of balls. Coppertong realizes that the runes animating the automaton are corrupted, and one of the orcs is struck by the cannon. It dies almost instantly.
After a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse, the PCs manage to evade the automaton and escape from the complex where they spend the rest of the day (and into the early evening) slowly descending to the mountain pass where they settle in to create a rudimentary camp for the long, cold night…
GM Notes:
This was one of those encounters that looked better on (digital) paper than it actually played out. I got too focused on the round-by-round minutiae which reminds me once again: GURPS needs an intermediary time. A “Quick time” or something that isn’t quite combat rounds, but is Action time.
I did manage to remember to show that the automaton was probably too dangerous to fight head-on with it blasting one of the orcs in the beginning so the PCs got to see how much damage the arm cannon thing did.
My expectation was to complete “The Cold Bounty” with this session but the above-mentioned “too focused on…” prevented that from happening. Ideally, we’ll finish it next week.
The vile bandit known as Fat Farlsbag, already notorious for the kidnapping and murder of dozens of good folk over many years, has struck again, but this time, he’s gone too far. He abducted Lady Adelheid von Tussen-Hochen mere days before her wedding to Graf Konrad of Hopfberg. The Graf placed a massive bounty on the bandit’s head but that only caused Fat Farlsbag to murder the poor girl and flee south into the Grey Mountains, laughing that he would never be caught. A hundred Men and Dwarfs marched into the mountains to bring him to justice …
The PCs were among them, hungry for justice, vengeance, or just their part of the bounty.
But things went ill.
The PCs consists of:
Christoph Jäger : A dark-eyed tracker and ranger (and secret hedge-wizard) who prefers cities and easy jobs (legal or not).
Jörg Lange : A tireless and grim veteran; known for his days as a war hero but now disgraced and currently looking for a new purpose in life.
Queen Coppertong A mildly delusional Dwarf merchant who has lost everything thanks to that foul bandit and now wants blood-soaked revenge.
Sören Roth Friendly rogue originally from Bögenhafen with sticky fingers and a fast mouth.
0x01: The Cold Bounty, Part 1
The PCs appear to be among the sole survivors of a terrible battle that just transpired, where greenskins – orcs, goblins, snotlings – swarmed down out of the mountains and attacked.
Picking through the carnage, they discover a Dwarf named Drori Stonebeard who is lightly wounded and somewhat dazed. More importantly, they note the approach of a terrible storm and seek shelter, locating a cave that will serve.
Inside this cave are three dire wolves and they attack. Two of the wolves are slain and a third flees.
Deeper in the cave, they discover an ancient Dwarf doorway, long since frozen over, and Enfys spends some time melting the ice so they can open it. Beyond the door is a spiral ramp that leads down into the darkness…
GM Notes:
Major elements of The Cold Bounty adventure written by J.C. Connors and found on 1shotadventures.com are used for this opening adventure. The characters are based on the pregens found there, tweaked and adjusted to fit the campaign and the setting.
At least one of the players has run the above adventure, so the ramp leading downward should have caught him by surprise.
I expected to get slightly further along and I don’t know why, particularly since there was a fight. This is the very first session so most of the players still haven’t gotten a feel for their characters yet. And I had to relearn the “don’t ask the group what it’s doing; ask individuals” lesson all over again.
My intent is to do a couple of sort of mini-adventures that leads into “The Enemy Within” proper, although I’m making a bunch of fairly major tweaks to that campaign for the Grognards out there who have run/played it in WFRP.
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