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| The Triple Square Inn |
The barrister, the priest and the smith
Drett, by now promoted to barrister, led a good life, dividing his time between locking up and defending unruly peasants. The priest of Sigmar Barnard was hard at work preaching to the populace that Sigmar did not just appoint barons at random. Gorgor the dwarf went searching for her roots at the forge. She started making her own coat of mail. Although quite satisfied with her own work, others quietly wondered if she hadn't used a bit too much metal in it.
Family visit
The relative peace was interrupted by a visit from Gorgor's family. These dwarves had purchased an old abandoned mine in Teufeltal from the previous baron and part of the price had not been paid yet. They could pay now with a golden artifact taken from a Skaven war party. On advice of a runesmith they had transported the artifact in a special rune-covered chest.
Micky the entertainer
After the dwarves returned to their mine, Micky the halfling appeared to summen the others to the baron's presence. In the intervening months he had become the baron's right hand man. Seemingly appearing out of thin air wherever angry words were spoken about the baron. Micky told the people the odd mage Otilla was full of good intentions. He also kept dispelling rumors that mistress LeBlanc and Andreas von Averbach had 'disappeared'. He kept telling people the two had just spontaneously decided to go travelling.
The precious artifact
The group answered the baron's summons and went to the darkened war room in Schluesselschloss. A chest covered in dwarf runes was placed on the large map table. In the chest was a golden plaque covered in an odd square runic script. With greedy eyes Kylael told the party he already had a buyer for the artifact. His money problems where now over. All he needed was a trustworthy group to bring the chest to the buyer.
To Ubersreik
Kylael asked his three former traveling companions to go to Ubersreik and hand the chest over to a High Elf named Delsoton. The group accepted the request. Otilla, the rather odd jade wizard they had rescued from Orcs, wanted more assurances. She demanded the three sign a document. Drett, always the lawyer, wanted to read the document first. He discovered the letters wouldn't stand still. After a sharp comment Otilla cast a spell to stop the letters moving. Drett proceeded the write an addendum indemnifying the group against unpreventable damages. After having the baron and Otilla sign that, the group signed the original document.
Written threats
After the last name was signed to the paper, Otilla told the group she would now know where they were at all times. This would last until Delsoton signed for receipt of the chest. The threat made little impression on the group. Gorgor told Otilla: "And then? Am I supposed to be impressed by that?" The baron quickly pushed a gold crown into every group member's hand and wished them a nice journey.
De Vreugde
After a long discussion about borrowing/leasing/purchasing with the intent of return a mule, the group decided booking a boat would be quicker and easier. By coincidence De Vreugde, a barge they had traveled on during their previous adventures, was in dock. The booked passage to Ubersreik.
The Triple Square Inn
In Ubersreik a jade wizard named Ronja was sitting at a table in the Triple Square Inn. Only sixteen years old, she was the youngest member of the college ever to claim the title wizard. She had recently had a vision and her peers at the academy in Altdorf had told her she needed to be in the Tripple Square Inn at the right moment. The fate of the world hung in the balance. She would know when the moment was and what to do. Ronja traveled to Ubersreik, rented a room at the inn and had been waiting there for about a week now.
A plethora of elves
That afternoon a high elf had entered the inn. Ronja saw the innkeeper greet the elf and escort him down to the basement. The two gentlemen had not returned from there. Meanwhile a second high elf had entered the inn. The fresh arrival was accompanied by two brutish looking men. Ronja thought the elf looked exactly like the other one but, having never met any elves, was unsure how to keep them apart. Her magic sight told her both the previous elf and this one where using a magical disguise.
Enter the witch
Tillman Aschenbrener stood on the streets outside. The young witch had fled a month earlier after discovering his master was planing to eat him. He had been staying alive by breaking and entering using his magic. He always had a nervous eye out for the temple of Sigmar. No one wants to be caught by a witch hunter, especially not witches.
The troubled circus
A man dressed like a circus ringmaster stepped up to Tillman and - tears in his eyes - asked for help. His circus was in deep trouble. The money was gone, the animals dead and he needed help. He told Tillman he had seen a high elf enter the inn earlier and was quite sure that if the elf saw the circus perform, he would become a sponsor. As his own talent for persuasion was limited and Tillman looked like a charismatic young fellow, he was sure he could convince the high elf to come. The ringmaster pressed his last coins into Tillman's hands and begged him to help.
The handover
Tillman agreed to help the ringmaster and entered the inn. Inside, the innkeeper turned out to be missing. While Tillman waited at the bar Gorgor, Barnard and Drett entered. Tillman dived out of sight of the priest of Sigmar. the rest of the group met with the High Elf. The elf identified himself as Delsoton and rather arrogantly told the group to hurry up. The group handed the chest over to the elf, he checked its contents, got up and left after signing for receipt. Tillman shadowed the elf and saw him leave in a rented coach waiting outside the inn.
Introductions
The group settled down at a table in the Triple Square Inn. The innkeeper reappeared and brought them drinks. Gorgor and Barnard where talking about beer. Ronja introduced herself to Drett. Tillman sat one table down from the group and listened in on the conversations.
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| The Skaven Gutter Runners turned out to be quite dangerous. |
The door to the inn opened and Delsoton the High Elf walked in again. This time without brutish bodyguards. He walked up to the group and asked them for the chest. The group looked a bit surprised and told him they had already given the chest...to him. Ronja checked the elf with second sight and discovered that this one had a magical disguise as well. The elf was angry and opened his mouth to voice his displeasure, but only blood bubbled out. A throwing star sticking into his throat turned out to be the cause of that. Five Skaven, dressed in black rags, jumped down from the chandeliers!
The mangled hand
The leader of the Skaven demanded the group hand over the chest. He was not willing to accept that the chest was gone. A hard fight ensued. One by one the Skaven threw smoke bombs and disappeared. Their leader was critically wounded. He left one finger on the floor of the inn, later on the other four fingers of his right hand where found forming a trail to the basement door.
The beginning of a beautiful friendship
The group managed to kill one Skaven before it could 'smoke bomb' its way out of the inn. They looked around. Ronja was lying on the floor in a pool of her own blood. Only intervention by Gorgor, feeding Ronja a random Orc potion, gave the mage a chance to use regeneration magic to heal herself. Banard had been burning the Skaven with the holy fire of Sigmar, wounding Tillman the witch as well. He decided to heal himself by magically draining life from the priest of Sigmar. Only healing by Ronja managed to cool tempers somewhat.
Lost in the sewers
Gorgor spotted a large rat's tail slipping through a crack in the basement door. Together with Tillman she went after it. The searched the basement, only finding supplies and lots of beer. Then they heard feet softly tripping by a back door leading to stairs onto the streets. They set off in pursuit. Following a Skaven through the streets of Ubersreik and into a sewer. The two adventurers promptly got lost in Ubersreik's sewer system.
Crawling tattoos
Upstairs Drett was examining the dead high elf. In dead the elf had turned into a slightly overweight human with a patchy beard. Lifting the man's coat Drett discovered a body covered in tattoos that crawled over the skin. Hearing soft voices in his head, the lawyer felt unclean and stepped away from the corpse.
The tied elf
Barnard, Drett and Ronja also entered the basement. Barnard immediately spotted a fake panel hiding a secret room. The room's main feature was a gigantic rune of the chaos god Tzeentch inlaid on the floor. A high elf was tied up and placed in it's center. Ronja knew this elf was wearing a magical disguise. The group decided to free him anyway. As the ropes where cut the elf started morphing and turned into a human woman.
Meeting Rosalinde
The woman introduced herself as Rosalinde, a magister from the Celestial College. She had heard a high elf named Delsoton was after an artifact called the 'Plaque of Quats'. The stars had told her that this artifact should be in human hands. To accomplish this she had kidnapped the high elf and taken his form. Unfortunately she had never guessed the innkeeper would ambush her and tie her up.
Crawling runes
Drett searched the ritual room and found a closet. It contained nine purple robes covered in pink runes that seemed to crawl over the fabric. He hear more frightening voices in his head and felt even more unclean. Drett decided to ignore the ritual dagger lying on the bottom and quickly closed the closet.
Fleeing the watch
Back in the basement the group heard the city watch entering the taproom above. They quickly took the back door out of the inn. With a few streets between themselves and the watch they spoke to Rosalinde again. Just at that moment a sewer lid moved aside and Gorgor and Tillman rejoined the party.
Joining Rosalinde
Rosalinde asked the group to follow her home. She offered to pay them if they'd help her recover the Plaque of Quats. The group looked at each other and decided they did not trust the mage at all. Lacking a better alternative they followed her into the night anyway...
GM's perspective
My previous Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th edition campaign was a rework from a 3rd edition adventure. For my new campaign I wanted to create a story that was entirely my own. As I actually hope I can offer it up for download at a later stage (assuming Cubicle7 doesn't pour cement shoes on people for hobby-publishing modules*) I sat down and emulated the style of older campaign books. Right now my preparation for this one sits at 17.605 words and I still need to finish chapter three and write the final chapters four and five (and some appendixes).
Campaign semi-pro tip #1: writing a back story helps
Preparing a campaign is equal parts fun and panic. Ideas tend to flee when confronted with a blank word document. For this campaign I had a vague notion of a central subject and a finale. In the end I just sat down and wrote a backstory first, adding the encounters that make up the adventure after this was completed. It works quite nicely and it informed the opening 'Quintuple Cross at the Three Square Inn' quite nicely.
The Between Adventures mechanic in 4th edition
The crossover of characters from the previous campaign gave me a chance to try out the 'Between Adventures' mechanic in the core rulebook. It seemed a bit brutal to take all the character's money at first, but there's actually a mechanics that lets them keep their ill-gotten (or not so ill-gotten) gains. In all it turns out to be a very nice system to quickly play of a few weeks (or months) passing in an adventure. I will be using these mechanics in the new campaign, especially if characters decide they need to have armor made, or want to go for long research in a library.
A bulky mail coat
One of the fun aspects was the dwarf deciding to use her Trade (Smith) skill to make a Mail Coat. She did not quite get enough successes for a regular one, so we picked a flaw for the armor and made it bulky. It adds a nice piece of story and gives the equipment sentimental value. It also reflects quite nicely on the versatility of the new ruleset. Both conditions (for characters) and item flaws and qualities help to quickly apply a rule to a situation.
The Old World is not as big as I thought
The ambush part of the encounter required design of four Skaven Gutter Runners and one Skaven Assassin. I consulted older army books and the ancient first and second edition sourcebooks to flesh out their design. One thing that I've noticed while working on this and quite a lot of other parts of the campaign is that there is a lot less Old World background (and rules) than I thought. To my surprise quite a lot of in my mind 'staple' first edition bits can only be found in nineties army books. Even second edition does not cover quite as much as I would've thought. For instance not even the Skaven sourcebook (Children of the Horned Rat) for second edition features NPC profiles for Gutter Runners.
Creating Gutter Runners
Luckily the new core rulebook makes it quite easy to transform a clanrat into a gutter runner. I used statistics from an old army book as a guide to transform the statline. This turned out to be the easiest way to get my gutter runners combat ready. One rule I had to write myself was for smoke bombs. A wounded Gutter Runner (or in one case a Gutter Runner that failed an opposed Intimidation check) can throw a smoke bomb as an action. His opponents make an opposed test of their Perception versus the Gutter Runners Stealth of 45 (with an automatic 3SL bonus). If the Gutter Runner succeeds he 'fate points' out of the encounter otherwise the player gets a free attack on the fleeing gutter runner.
Combat is lethal
All but one of the Gutter Runners managed to make a getaway with the smoke bombs, but not before doing some horrific damage. The party of five had one member (the jade wizard) down on the brink of death with two critical wounds. The lawyer had resilienced himself back onto his feet with 1 wound and had a critical wound himself. The priest of Sigmar was down to his last wound. Only the dwarf was almost unhurt. Mostly because the Skaven had all decided to pick a weaker target. Smart cowards...
Group dynamics
The witch was a special case. The priest of Sigmar has a Soulfire miracle that affect 'enemies of the Empire'. As a witch counts as an enemy of the empire I decided to have the area of effect spell wounded the witch as well. The second blast of soulfire almost killed that player's new character. And he responded by casting a Steal Life spell on the priest using Witch magic. It will be interesting to see how the impossible relation between a priest of Sigmar (sworn to root out witches) and a witch works out within the party.
The Orc potion
During my previous campaign one of the characters took a handful of orc brewn potions from an orc shaman's table. These have turned out to be true deus ex quality story aids. I use the old 2nd edition Realms of Sorcery potion table to randomly determine what the potion does and apply some spoilage effects (occasionally in secret). With a bit of dice-fudging and some improvisation this works like a charm.
Old rules, new system
Although the new system does not fully match up with the old (the Attacks characteristic is no longer there for instance). Adapting old rules to the system is usually a breeze (+10 WS is +10 WS). Sometimes it only takes a bit of improvisation (and a condition). For instance I've introduced a Chaos Weapon that used to add extra attacks to the new system. Now it adds attacks to a combat where each participant usually only has one. But each extra attack gives one Fatigued condition (and is at -10). The wielder can at most make WS Bonus extra attacks. It is a magic sword that can be wielded into unconsciousness if you're in a real pickle. I already have the older mutation rules ready (both RoC and Tome of Corruption) as the current corruption section in the core rulebook desperately needs an expansion.
The Triple Square Inn
All in all it was a great start to a new campaign. To my taste, having three different NPC's disguised as a fourth showing up to a respectable inn that actually houses a temple of Tzeentch, kicked things off in a decidedly nice Old School Warhammer direction. As a bonus I could point out at the end of the evening that three squared is nine, the number of Tzeentch, making the name of the Triple Square Inn a nice hint of things to come...
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