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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 Desperate & the Dead
This is our third session from the Terror at Talabheim adventure.
Players:
Snorri, a Dwarven apprentice runesmith
Ronny, a Human initiate of Morr
Arwen, an Elven apprentice wizard
Yes, our Elf finally has a name! Ok, I told him he had to choose one. Mark (our dwarf) said "Yeah, if you don't find one we'll call you Arwen instead." Laughter all around so we settled it there and then, without the approval of the player.
As freshmen in the city militia they are presented three jobs: they can either help to remove the dead from the streets and get the bodies to the priests of Morr, they can patrol in the sewers or they can patrol in the Taalbaston tunnel system. Ronny decides to help the priests of Morr, Snorri and Arwen decide to patrol the Taalbaston tunnel system.
Ronny joins a group collecting bodies and helps dragging a cart. The other notice he's not well though and avoid him as much as they can. They load a few bodies onto the cart and follow the road to the burial place. Ronny is greeted by the priests who are happy to have an initiate of Morr helping out. They tell him of their concern of bodies gone missing. There are an abnormal low amount of dead bodies arriving in the garden of Morr. Certainly with the plague it should be more. They heard a rumor that someone is tossing the bodies over the Taalbaston. Ronny promises to look out for any strange activities.
Meanwhile Snorri and Arwen enter the tunnels of the Taalbaston with 3 halflings at their side. They are given some general directions by one of the main guards. Snorri assumes command and the others are happy to follow his lead. They follow the directions but stop now and then because they hear some strange sounds (except for the halflings who appear to be almost deaf). But they can't detect anything. After a while they end up in a cavern. They find some excrement and fabric but nothing else. The group decides to retrace their steps and Snorri orders the halflings to walk at the front. As they pass the first crossroad the halfling leading the group drops to the ground and starts shaking. Snorry and Arwen immediately think of a poisonous dart attack and get ready for battle. But the other two halflings explain that the first one has an epileptic seizure and there is no need for panic. They help him up and continue their way. They get back outside without any other problems.
The group gets back together at the Threeapples inn and tell each other what happened. Snorri does some more work on his axe to finish the rune while the other go to bed. He follows them shortly.
Next day they have the same selection of jobs and they also have the option to shoot any wild animal running from Taalgarten into the city. The animals are frightened of something and run into the city to escape causing havoc in the streets. The group proposes another job however. They want to walk up the wizard's way to the top of the Taalbaston and check if the dead are indeed thrown over or if it is just a rumor. The main guard agrees and accompanies them. They reach the top and see that Taalagad is almost destroyed by now. A lot of buildings are burned down and there is no life in the streets. They start patrolling the road on top of the Taalbaston, but can't find any evidence of bodies thrown over the side. They call it a day after a few hours and get back to the inn. Snorry finishes the rune of his axe and is happy to be able to use the weapon again.
The following morning they receive a message from the apothecary Daubler. Apparently he found a cure for the plague. They ignore the jobs for that day and decide to visit the apothecary instead. He greets them and thanks them for the information they gave him. Apparently the Grey Ague is a combination of a disease and a poison. He has three vials with a cure and gives one of them to Ronny. He isn't able to produce the inoculant en masse but the players are happy to help out. Daubler gives them another vial and the recipe and asks them to take this to the Shallyans in God's row. He also informs them the disease is spread in the drinking water. The source of the drinking water in the city is the fountain of Taal (I told them the fountain was also a spring).
They go to the Shallyans first so they can start working on the cure. The Shallyans are grateful for their work and they each receive some holy water and a healing potion. Next stop is the fountain of Taal. They can't find any evidence of tainting the water there. The water is redirected from the fountain to three basins spread around the city. Snorri and Arwen decide to guard the one closest to the Taalbaston during the night and Ronny decides to get some sleep at the inn (having no night vision at all, he's usually excluded from night duty). Snorri takes the first shift.
After a few hours he hears a sound and decides to wake Arwen. They both look around the corner and are terrified by what they see. Hundreds of Skaven in the streets, some even on the rooftops. They are coming from the Taalbaston and go in the direction of the city center, entering each house and murdering the people living there. Talabheim is under attack. They decide to run for it in the direction of the inn to wake Ronny. Meanwhile at the inn Ronny wakes up due to the noise outside. He also notices all the Skaven looking outside of the window. More and more people are waking up and people start panicking and are running towards the city center, trying to stay ahead of the Skaven. Ronny takes his belongings and makes a dash for it himself. He gets out of the inn just as Snorri and Arwen arrive (how convenient!). They join the citizens and run to the city center themselves.
After a few miles they reach a barricade. Apparently the city watch has sealed of the street in front of them. Citizens trying to get over the barricade are killed on the spot. Also, the watch is firing arrows into the crowd. They don't seem to care if they hit the citizens or the Skaven. As long as no one crosses the barricade. They quickly enter a building close to the barricade and block all entries into the house. They hear the sound of fighting just outside the door but stay put. The sound of fighting stops after an hour but they decide to wait till morning light before opening the door and getting out. Outside they see Skaven and humans lying dead in the street. The barricade is guarded and several bows are pointing in their direction. They explain the situation and the main guard recognizes them and orders the guards to let them through to their side.
Snorri sets up a strategic defense plan with the main guard. They decide to blow up some of the houses in front of the barricade using gunpowder. They also create two pyres in front of the barricade, ready to set them on fire should the need arise. He also sends some scouts to check out the Skaven activity, and apparently the Skaven are preparing defenses as well. They rest the remainder of the day, expecting the Skaven to come back fighting at night, keeping half of the city guards at the barricade. Night comes fast and they join the guards at the barricades, but there is no Skaven activity. After a few hours, they hear a woman screaming from behind them, closer to the city center. The PCs decide to leave the barricades to see what's going on.
It's easy to find the source of the noise. A few streets away 3 zombies are attacking a woman and a man, the man apparently trying to defend the woman but failing miserably. The PCs charge the zombies right away and have no problem defeating them. The initiate investigates the zombies and discovers a mark on their body: a "G" that looks like an artist's signature. They decide to follow the trail of the zombies when a street urchin runs up to them, yelling that he needs their help. There are more of these zombies in the Taalgarten, and the priests fighting them are having some problems. Snorri is not happy leaving the barricades in the hands of the guards, but they decide to go anyway. The boy was right about the undead, but apparently there are a lot of priests of Sigmar, Taal and Morr fighting the undead. It doesn't look like they need their help. Certainly not when a dark cloaked figure appears turning the undead into dust, simply by touching them. The fight is over soon and the figure introduces himself as Paul van Soleck, a member of the Augurs of Morr. He ignores the questions of the PCs but he does have a cryptic message for them.
Paul van Soleck wrote: This is nothing. A distraction. The true test will come soon enough. Run when you must, fight when you can. These bodies are marked. An artist's mark. She takes Van Hel's dance too literally, I think. Though she, in turn, dances for Steeleye. Perhaps we all will.
The PCs try to discover the source of the undead and follow the tracks through the Taalgarten right up to the entry at the Manor district. The tracks disappear there and they are unable to follow them any further. They ask around if anyone knows the sign and the citizens point them toward the central registry in the law district. They should have a book about these kind of signatures. So off they go. They find the central registry without any problems. The problem is the registry itself. There is one desk and a line of 30 persons waiting their turn. This is going to take long. A boy approaches the PCs and asks if he can hold the line for them. Ronny refuses the offer. The others figure Ronny wants to wait so they go to the local inn and drink some beer instead.
After four hours waiting he finally arrives at the desk.
"How may I help you"
"I need to see the artist's registry"
"Ok. Please fill in this form. Sign here and here and get a stamp in the Hall of Records."
Ronny does just that but tries to skip the stamp and returns.
"I'm sorry. This form needs the correct stamp"
"Can't you just skip that?"
"I can't. It's the law. Don't be afraid. To help our citizens we're open 24/7"
So Ronny gets the stamp and return. Apparently it's a different clerk this time.
"Hmmmm. What is this for?"
"The artist's registry."
"Ah, I see what happened. My colleague gave you form 712B, and you need form 712C. Please fill in this form. Sign here and here and get a stamp in the Hall of Records"
"Arghmbl!"
Meanwhile Arwen and Snorri are bored of waiting so they walk around the Law District. Suddenly Arwen notices a statue on a base that has the same "G" as the zombies. They ask a noble if he knows who made the statue.
"Ah yes, that's a piece by Doctor Gugula Skell. Not her best work. You can find her in the Manor district".
They save Ronny from the bureaucracy and plan to pay the doctor a visit.
All our previous Warhammer 2nd edition sessions:
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)
Third session: The docks of Taalagad (ambvtow session 3)
Fourth session: The Port & the Plague (ambvtow session 4)
All images are (c) Black Industries
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