11 Pflugzeit
Just before dawn, a horrific, blood curdling scream wakes us all, and we all rush into the corridor to see the excessively large Innkeeper pointing a trembling finger into Graham Francis’ room. Upon investigation, it turns out that during the night, he was staked to his bed, his throat cut, and blood sprayed around the room. Also during the night, one of the Mercenaries fled. Marcus Nixon the takes supreme command of the expedition.
We prepare for battle!
By early afternoon, Nikolus has raised a Skeletal Champion from the Earth and, we all is ready we leave our horses in the Inn’s ample stables, and set off for the Mansion. As we travel towards the Mansion, our intent obvious to the villagers we pass, the Sun seemingly sinks and an Evil and Eerie darkness descends on us…… As we close to the gates of the dark Mansion, we see a lone guard quietly smoking and sheltering in his hut. To prevent him raising the alarm, an arrow quickly silenced him and we proceeded into the Mansion. We enter the Hall, and seeing it empty, we proceed into a small ‘off-room’. This turns out to be an armoury and we acquire any extra equipment that we might need. We then return to the Hall. The Hall is now busy with soldiers. Some are running from our right from the direction of the dining room whilst others are waiting on the stairs. A man at the top of the stairs, clearly the Guard Commander levels and fires a blunderbuss, the discharge of this tearing a large hole in the Templar Al Fredo’s chest, spraying Marcus with blood and lung. Molotovo swings both a sword and axe and flings himself at the nearest guard. With his two weapons he cleaves through the man’s arm and into his chest, killing him instantly. As he slumps to the floor, Molotovo gives a brief shriek of glee - Sadist!! Marcus leaps to Molotovo’s side and with a smooth skill cuts down another guard. The Skeletal Warrior clatters forward and with somewhat jerky motions cuts a guard in two. Duncan the Giantslayer gives a mighty battle-cry, and rushes into the dining room, closely followed by the indomitable Gotrek. Falling back on my main skill, I hurl a fireball at the Guard Commander as he fervently reloads his fearsome gun. The fireball envelops him and he falls backwards in flames. Also his gunpowder ignites, failing to kill anyone but setting fire to the Sigmar Tapestry. This reveals a small passageway.
Suddenly the hall is empty, and the sounds are the heavy breathing of the live, and the sobs of the dying. Driven by an insatiable curiosity, we ascend the smouldering stairs and investigate the passageway revealed by the now destroyed Tapestry. The door is encrusted by heavy runic symbols, and are obvious, even to the untrained, that they are magical, by the magical glow. Being unable to enter at this point we return to the hall. Only there do we notice another man in the room; the Butler. He cowers in an alcove by the stairs, shivering with fear. Argon Darkstryde takes it upon himself to question the man, "Where are the Vampires?" He asks sharply, and grabs the man by his shoulders. The old, frail man emits a short squeal of fear before answering, "In the M…M….Mansion." Surrounded by Amateurs, I push my way forward and gently prise the man’s hands free from the banister rail, before speaking to him slowly, so that he cannot misinterpret me, "Where. Exactly. Are. The. Vampires?" He pauses before answering, "The Hell Daemon is behind the Sacred door, and the Master is downstairs." "Take us to the Master!" I demand and straighten up. He turns around and then takes us through the dining room into the kitchen. From there he walks into a Pantry and opens a trapdoor, "H….H..He’s i…..in there." "Then after you, if you please." I say to him politely.
He then descends the steps. When he reaches the bottom, out of the darkness a crossbow bolt fires, striking the Butler in the chest. He scrabbles at the bolt and screams horribly before dying. A maniacal laugh echoes from the darkness. Nikolus directs the Templars to search the rest of the Manor with the others, leaving Molotovo, Argon, Nikolus, Kairn, myself, his Skeleton and himself to deal with whatever or whoever lurked below. Nikolus hefts his shield and leaps down the steps, cowering behind his shield, and waits. But nothing happens, and so with our Resin torches spitting we warily descend the cold stone, and now blood-stained steps. Kairn who is coming up the rear, feels a tap on his shoulder, he turns to see a figure dressed in full plate armour. He hurls Kairn out of the way and proceeds to march towards Nikolus, as we watch dumbfounded. Once there, he calmly reintroduces himself as Isabell. In reply, Nikolus smashes a reasonably large bottle of lamp oil into the Vampires face, and lighting it. Isabell reels from the blow, shrieking terribly and clutches at his face to try and quash the flames. Gotrek appears at the top of the steps and, seeing Isabell, charges down the steps and embeds his axe in Isabell’s leg, through the armour. Isabell whips around as he experiences a new level of pain, and seeing Gotrek through the flames that engulf his face, proceeds to rip his face out………with his bare hands! Only then do the rest of us react. My comrades slice at him with swords and whilst distracted by about a total length of 12 feet of steel, I plunge a sharp wooden stake into his chest. Then whilst he struggles against the paralysing effects of the steak, I swing my sword around like a Forester and severe head from body. Suddenly, before our eyes, he crumbles to dust.
CHAPTER TWO
With time to pause, we shine our torches around the dark cellar. It reveals a number of doors leading of it. Thus, with the spirit of adventure in our hearts, we investigate. Nikolus, with his immense shield held before him, opens the first, and we hear a ‘whooshing’ noise. When we look at the shield, we see it has been rendered useless by a magical ward, which melted it, but not Nikolus. This room turns out to be a Laboratory. To prevent any further use being made of the room, we smash or burn what we can before leaving it. Upon careful examination of door number two, we find no traps of a magical nature, and so we hurl open the door, and stand aside in case of non-magical traps; there are none. This room is an immense library, and all of the books are magical, but written in a language unknown to any of us. Therefore, we take a sample of them for future study. After this, we move into another room, this is quite obviously a bedroom, and equally as obvious is that it belonged to Isabell. A large four poster bed stands proud in the centre of the room, with gold leaf finishes on nearly every wooden surface. Upon a brief search we find a small chest, which after being opened reveals a small fortune which is split between us. When we search the remaining room, this is also a bedroom and we find another chest of gold. The search complete, we burn every room, and after leaving the cellar, bar a Vampires descent into the cellar by placing a Silver Crucifix on the steps.
We then immediately go back to the Tapestry and after wracking our brains, Nikolus and I manage to translate the strange runes. Though we could not establish what one of them meant, we did find out where it was from: One is the horrific symbol of Tzeentch, and the other is in the Alban tongue, and is a direct copy of the runes on Aldric’s blade, "Widow-maker".
After this revelation we decide it is time to open the door. This we do without too much effort and immediately raise our weapons for an ambush. I peer into the chamber…… It reveals a large Octogram scrawled on the floor, an altar, and two figures. One of these figures wears a brown cloak which completely covers the figure as it climbs the seemingly smooth wall and out through a Sky-light. As it clambers out, it turns and sneers defiance at us before disappearing from view. It was Graham Francis! Twisted and evil, the look in it’s eyes was that of Death and to gaze upon those eyes again would root me to the ground in fear. The other figure turned as we entered and could be recognised as Luigi. Hideously deformed, and hunch backed from severe burns inflicted by myself the previous evening. With a speed that could never have been anticipated by a mortal, he rushed at me and threw me to the floor with an amazing strength with a snarl of pain and anger. Only after this minor victory does he realise the problem with his current position. He stands in the midst of my companions, all filled with a blood lust for Vampires. Kvorchek, with the grace of a swallow brings his crossbow to bear on the Vampire. At point blanc range he fires a burning bolt into the unfortunate Vampire’s face, setting what remains of his facial skin and hair alight. Despite this, Luigi draws a slim sword and lunges at Kvorchek’s chest. He, un able to dodge, takes the blade in his side as he twists to the side. Nikolus grabs a torch in the midst of the pain and lights Luigi’s garments. From the rest of the ‘team’, Luigi becomes a living(?) pincushion as they fill him with arrows and bolts. Finally the figure of Luigi stops writhing and his head is swiftly removed from his shoulders by Nikolus. We briefly congratulate each other and then prepare ourselves for the remaining skirmishes with the forces of Darkness.
We return to the main hall-way, and we hear the sounds of armoured men coming towards us. We turn weapons raised, but it is only the Templars and other comrades, numbering only four. Marcus carries a mortally wounded Mercenary over his shoulders, and is accompanied by one other Mercenary and the Physician, who carries a smoking pistol in one hand and a burning torch in the other. After telling of the Vampires that we disposed of, they inform us that only LeStadt remains. Suddenly, with a spark of realisation, I remember the real reason for our journey to the Border Princes, "Comrades, in the heat of battle, we have forgotten the true reason for our journey: To retrieve the Horn of Valair!" Having searched the ground floor, we then proceed to search the upper stories of the mansion. After a brief search, I locate the horn in a brass bound strong-box. As we move back to the hall, a terrible scream makes us quicken our pace. We arrive at the stairs to see LeStadt emerge from a side passage in full armour of the Alban Nations, he then flees from the mansion. Behind him staggers the Physician emerges with a gut-wrenching slice across his skull, revealing his brain. I rush forward to use my Healing Spells upon him, but it is too late, and he slumps to the floor and dies.
After another search of the enormous mansion, we leave the place of evil, with the horses and carriages stolen from late Vampire, and return to the Inn. As we approach the village we are staying in, the strange darkness lifts, and the Sunlight reveals the early evening, with the Sun shining a horrible blood red colour on the clouds. Upon our return to the Inn, we find all of the inhabitants dead, except my guide Kirigi and a few other armed men. (Kirigi was unable to join us for the killing spree due to broken arm.)
Marcus tells us that he is to stay in the area and finish off the hunt for the Vampires and other spawn of Undead, with a number of other Mercenaries who remained in the village.
After a brief respite, we prepare ourselves for a long journey to Karabkarn, where we will gain River transport to Nuln.
CHAPTER THREE
13 Pflugzeit
DURING THE NEXT TEN DAYS OF TRAVEL, ONLY A SMALL NUMBER OF INTERESTING EVENTS OCCURRED, I WILL THEREFORE, ONLY RELATE THESE OCCURRENCES
We travel on a well used road with deep ruts carved there many generations ago by cart travellers and farmers, and this makes our travel slightly more durable. On the third day of our journey, we see ahead of us a group of horsemen milling around in the roadway, blocking it. The see us as well and wheel their mounts to watch us approach. As we near them, we see them to be heavily armed. I rein in my might war-horse by one of the men, "What is your business good sirs, that you need to block one his Majesties roads?" The man turns in his saddle and says, "We are but humble Warriors, sir, who offer our assistance to travellers who might need our aid. These roads can be very treacherous at this time of year, but I see from the look of you that you are enough to guard to gentleman in the coach, and it seems to me that you need no help." With that the man signals his silent companions to move out of the way, and we ride past, followed by the cumbersome and bouncy coach. It is my believe that these men were Highway robbers, but fearing our greater number and skill, left us alone.
18 Pflugzeit
We arise at dawn, and scatter the fire that had long since dwindled to nothing but a smoking ash and set off. The road we must take has become nothing but a beaten track, used occasionally by travellers. It leads through a thick forest, and fearing for lost time, we urge our mounts and carriages into it. The sunlight suddenly blinks out as we plunge into the wood, and we are forced to light our lanterns to illuminate the way. Travelling for some time in the cheerless darkness, our Elven leader informs us of a Green-skinned foe that has been moving in on us for some time. An arrow thuds into the coach, and it’s team of horses, startled by it leap forward. However, the team catches the coach on a large tree, and it overturns with a groan. From inside it, Kairn groans. An Orc leaps into the lantern light, and bares it’s ugly brown teeth at Molotovo, who kicks his horse forward, and beheads the Orc with one slice. Argon also heels his mount to another Orc and tramples it beneath the Horses hooves. As the Orc tries to stand, he wheels his horse around and disembowels the Orc. Nikolus lunges at another Orc who sluggishly tries to move out of the way. But no fast enough to avoid the three feet of steel which punctures kit’s throat, send a fountain of blood 10 feet into the air. Spinning my horse to search for the Boss, I find him preparing to leap at Molotovo. I scream a challenge at him, and it looks up startled before grinning it’s stomach turning smile, and moving towards me. It moves no more than two steps before I hurl it backwards into the bushes consumed by the magical flames.
23 Pflugzeit
Finally we arrive in Karabkarn, but the hour is late, and we immediately book ourselves into an Inn. Whilst my colleagues prepare to turn in for the night, I go in search of transport for the morrow. After much haggling, I secure us passage on the Karl Franz Cruise Liner, which will take us to Nuln.
24 Pflugzeit
We rise at dawn, and make our way to the liner, where upon we climb the wooden ladder and are greeted by the Captain, Von Esling. He takes us down to our cabins, and then introduces us to some of the other passengers: Most of the other travellers are Merchants, however, one passenger is a General in the service of the Emperor Karl Franz, named Von Keizenber. After one hour of waiting, the ship casts off. The first day was uneventful, however the next day was very different…… We were woken by the Captain himself whilst the Sun Was only just contemplating the idea of rising. He tells us that a crew member has been viciously clawed to death on deck, with no sign of the attacker. We begin a search of the ship and upon entering the cargo hold, find a mummified body belonging to the Cult of ‘More’ (Death). After this revelation, we decide to interview each passenger. As we move through the First class passenger’s cabins, Nikolus hears a disturbance coming from General Von Keizenber’s cabin. We rush in, and arrive just in time to see him being attacked by black-clad men, whom we later discover to be the Cult of ‘More’. We intervene in his attempted murder, and, although we save his life, the Cultists manage to escape into the waterway. However, the general can tell us nothing of why they tried to kill him. Nikolus decides to go and check the hold again for any more clues. When he gets there, he finds the Mummy gone, and he knocked unconscious by an unknown assailant. During the rest of the journey we find nothing out and we put it down to a freak occurrence that will no longer concern us once we have left the boat.
13 Sigmarzeit
We arrive in Nuln, at last, bright and early in the morning, just as the city begins to wake up. We purchase provisions in the city for our journey to Altdorf. We decide to aid in the war effort by escorting a cannon to Altdorf on the way. On the journey we are set upon by Alban Taulauf Assassins - they do not appear friendly. An archer kills the cannon’s officer and we make a break for it, but they are too quick. They slaughter our horses and move in for the kill. Suddenly more Albans appear and one of them shouts for our attackers to stop. The shouter turns out to be Aldric. He greets us warmly and then, politely, tells us to Sod Off! We carry on to Altdorf.
30 Sigmarzeit
We finally arrive at the great city, but we do not stay for long. I rescue my war-hound from the Innkeeper where it had been staying, and we stock up on supplies. This done, we carry on for Middenheim.
12 Semmerzeit
We arrive in Middenheim after an uneventful trip and proceed immediately to the Witch Hunter’s Guild. There we reported the murder and resurrection of Graham Francis, and also of Marcus’ stay in the Border Princes. However, Francis had got there before us, and declared us for heretics and spawns of Chaos. Despite this, we are believed over the Witch Hunter and we travel on to the Mayor of the City. We are taken straight through to the Mayor’s chambers but he seems nonplussed about the horn, due to the enormous number of forgeries he has been presented. Once he read the inscription on the side however, he leapt around with joy before giving me the 1000 gold pieces. Then he says to me, "Prince Helgard will be escorting the horn to the Emperor with reinforcements. By the way, you and your comrades are invited to a Ball tonight in celebration of the occasion."
That evening we go to the Ball. The events is confused due to the enormity of the occasion, but the summary of what occurred is stated: Nikolus is nearly killed by an Alban assassin, but the assassin is killed instead by Argon and himself. From there and by other strange quirks of Fate’s cruel imagination, we all end up on the roof of the Palace. My mentor, Balthazar is there also. He mumbles in the ancient and mysterious language of Magic, and summons a mighty Red Dragon. It dives out of the clouds and flaps down to us with great gale causing wings. Then we all mount up, with a visible hesitation. The Dragon casts some strange, and to me, unknown, spell sending us into a deep sleep filled with disturbing dreams of LeStadt, Prince Helgard, and other fiends of Chaos.
The fearsome beast sets us down outside a dungeon embedded into a tall and fearsome looking mountain, and in a booming and terror filling voice commands us to clear the dungeon of creatures.
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