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Wouter Dhondt
Belgium
Anzegem
My armor is contempt. My shield is disgust. My sword is hatred. In the Emperor's name, let none survive.
When I now saw this Coppelius, the frightful and terrific thought took possession of my soul, that indeed no one but he could be the Sandman.
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The docks of Taalagad
Players:
Snorri, a Dwarven apprentice runesmith
Ronny, a Human initiate of Morr
Hugo, a halfling rogue
An Elven apprentice wizard (name as of yet unknown)
It seems Hugo won't be playing for a while, but we let him tag along as an NPC. It's fun having him in the group as you'll probably see in this report.
We're back right where we left off last time: the players are still in the Von Speiers family mausoleum having just defeated Wilhelm Hollenbach. Snorri and Ronny barely survived the ordeal. Lucas has a smashed leg but is still conscious. He tries to bribe the party but none of them want anything to do with that. Ronny, the initiate of Morr "accidentally" drops his weapon on Lucas' head giving him a nasty head wound and causing a discussion of what to do with Lucas. They decide to pick up Lucas Von Speier and take him to Zecharius Lauer, the town Stewart. Zecharius Lauer is grateful for their help and sends someone to tend to the wounds of Lucas, Snorri and Ronny.
Zecharius: "We haven't heard from the pigeons so your papers are still at Talabheim. You're probably better of getting them yourself cause the administration of Talabheim is known to be slow. Of course you won't be able to enter Talabheim right away. When you get to Taalagad, seek my friend Sorland Hohenlohe. I'm sure he'll get you into town without delay."
They start the long trip to Talabheim, passing through Altdorf on their way. There they get some help from the priestesses of Shallya and with some rest they are as good as new. After a few more weeks they finally arrive in Taalagad, which is the port of Talabheim. Talabheim is a big city inside the walls of a crater (the Taalbaston) and access is limited. You can only get into Talabheim from Taalagad following the "wizard's way" and you need to have some paperwork done first.
Apparently, Taalagad is Talagaad on the map.
They ask for magistrate Sorland Hohenlohe and find out he's in a tavern called "The Eel". They explain their problem to him and he's happy to help them out. It will "only take a week" to get a two days pass for Talabheim.
Sorland: "But maybe you'd be willing to do a job for me and earn some gold in the mean time? There are too many refugees in Taalagad , trying to get into Talabheim. You'd be escorting a group to the village Breitblatt, where they can stay. We need our guards in Taalagad so if you're willing to do the job meet me in two days outside of the Eel". The PCs agree and arrange a place to stay for the night. The elf decides to sleep in a tree outside of town. Next day the initiate decides to do some praying while the others walk around town. They discover a place called Skully's which is a gambling den that has pit fighting as well. Snorri the dwarf decides to join the pit fighting (of the non-lethal kind) for some gold. None of the others put money on him. But the fight goes well for the dwarf and after a few hits the other pit fighter drops to the ground with massive internal bleeding. Ronny joins them and after some beers they decide to call it a day.
On the second day they meet the Taalagad guards outside the Eel where a group of 100 refugees assembled. The group consists of adults and children, along with some livestock. The elf notices that some are separated from the rest and these look to be Hochlanders. They ask the group to follow them to Breitblatt and start to lead the way. The trip is pretty uneventful the first day. The PCs notice a lot of the refugees have some kind of disease. It looks like the weevil cough so they aren't too worried. They stop at nightfall and light some fires. three of the PCs alternate keeping watch at night. Ronny doesn't join them as his night vision is non-existant.
They get up early and continue the trip to Breitblatt. The elf is chatting with the refugees (particularly to a young blacksmith with a small mule carrying an anvil) but learns very little. After a few miles they see 3 ogres in the distance. One of the ogres walks up to the group and introduces himself as Thurgredd Heartseizer.
Thurgredd: " Oi, slims. Lads and I reckon you all have a right fine herd here. We was wondering if you might be willing to help fix us up a breakfast". The ogre clearly indicates he wants some of the children as breakfast. The PCs have a problem with this and they ask the Ogre if he'd be ok with an ox or two instead of the children. The ogre shrugs and walks back to his compatriots. They argue a while and Thurgredd returns telling them they'd be ok with two oxes. The ogres pick them up and leave.
The refugees are very grateful that the PCs helped them with the ogres and that they didn't lose any children. The group continues their journey and creates a new camp at nightfall. Again three PCs alternate the watch that night. Snorry is first, then the elf and finally Hugo the halfling. During the last watch everyone wakes up as they hear a woman screaming. They rush to where the screams are comming from and see a tent. The woman explains she found her husband murdered when returning from the woods for a sanitary stop. The PCs turn to the halfling that should've been keeping watch. He simply shrugs and tells them he couldn't resist going after the woman in the woods. The PCs investigate the scene. They quickly discover that what looks like an attack by wolves at first sight is actually a cover up for a murder. They ask the woman if anything is missing from the tent and she claims her husbands bow is missing.
The elf comes up with a "devious" plan. To keep the spirits up he decides to hold an arch shooting competition. Ten refugees step forward, each carrying a bow. When asking what they are going to shoot at, the elf points to the halfling and shouts "RUN Hugo" at him. Hugo jolts off while ten refugees take aim and try to shoot him. One of them hits the halfling in the ass and is declared the winner. Of course, this refugee happens to own a bow that looks exactly like the one from the murdered man. They put the man in shackles and tie him to the mule carrying the anvil. They get ready to continue the trip when an elderly woman approaches Ronny.
"Please help me sir. My son is very ill"
"Is he dead"
"No, but I don't think he's going to make it"
PC points to the raven on his clothes. "I'm not interested if he's not dead"
And with that they are back on the road. After a few hours the woman is back.
"Please sir, my son, I think he's dead"
"But you're not sure"
"If he isn't it's only a matter of minutes"
"Ok, let's have a look"
The young man looks almost dead. His body is covered with grey blotches. The initiate informs the woman there is nothing he can do. But being so close to the man he is now infected with the Grey Ague as well. (for now, he only has a small cough. I will inform the player of the gravity of the disease next session).
A few more hours further and they arrive in Breitblatt. They deliver the murderer to the local authorities who execute him on the spot. They rest little and decide to return to Taalagad as soon as possible. The rest of the journey is pretty uneventful, except for the initiate who is starting to show signs of the disease. It is dark when they are near to Taalagad and see some figures in the distance running at incredible speed. They decide to check it out and only see some tracks in the mud. One of them recognizes the tracks and informs the others that they are Skaven tracks (note that the PCs encountered Skaven in the first session so they would recognize the tracks without much problems). They are able to follow the tracks to the river and see that the Skaven where carrying something. They can also see a strange powdery substance on the rocks. The elf decides to look if he can see anything underwater but he doesn't see a lot.
They decide to continue and enter Taalagad and go straight to the Eel for magistrate Sorland Hohenlohe They want to get payed and their paper to enter the city. But the magistrate isn't at the Eel. The PCs are informed he left Taalagad and entered the city of Talabheim. The city is completely shut of from Taalagad cause of a plague running rampant in the port town. So they have no way to enter the city. They go to the gate at the Wizard's Way but the guards refuse to let them in. Not knowing what to do the PCs return the the Skaven tracks and decide to guard the area there till morning light. And that concludes this session.
First session: A merry bunch visits the old world: character creation and their first adventure.
Second session: Of Chickens and Vampires (a merry bunch visits the old world , session 2)
All images are (c) Black Industries
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