CHAPTER FOUR
With hesitation we enter the dark and damp cellar and quickly light our lanterns and torches. We then proceed down a long and slowly descending passageway, every step echoing horribly. Suddenly, we find ourselves in a large banquet hall which may, many years ago have belonged to a Dwarf King, but has been forgotten in the mists of time and fallen to Evil. We are given little time to take in our surroundings before we are set upon by a horde of squealing goblins. The prove easy meat for the brave Warriors in our group and we quickly finish them. Despite this, we are not out of the ‘soup’ yet. Attracted by the sounds of combat, and possibly by an alarm some Black Orcs arrived to join the slaughter…………of themselves! Over their previous victory, my fellows blood was up and they, with a skill denied to the foul green-skinned scum, deftly ended their pitiful lives. No sooner had the last Orc body hit the floor, than we were quickly searching the room for bounty. I found a number of magical scrolls, and Molotovo found some magic arrows. Following this ‘exercise’ we proceed through the only door available to us. We proceed through it and nearly all fall into a pit which crosses the room like a chasm. Two Orcs guard the pit’s inhabitant, a Manticore, which does not seem too pleased with its accommodation and treatment by the Orcs. The Orcs proceed to attack us, but are cut down by a hail of arrows. The Manticore however, is another story…… It is slowly climbing out of it’s pit, with claws that tear great holes in it’s prison. I cast fireball after fireball at the beast, always injuring but never killing it. My comrades fire arrows at it, but suddenly it is among us, tearing, slashing, biting with teeth, claws, and its awesome Scorpion tail. I prove a weak opponent for it at close quarters, and fall unconscious to its claws, and to my satisfaction Molotovo also falls bleeding to the ground. Despite the injuries it inflicts amongst us, my comrades manage to slay the creature and revive Molotovo and myself. When conscious, I heal who I can, and also severe the Manticore's dangerous tail for us in my own poison. Recognising our injuries and our temporary weakness, we flee the dungeon to a nearby village for respite. Here we find a surgeon to heal our wounds.
19 Semmerzeit
Whilst we are away form the dungeon Argon decides to visit his Parents in Middenheim, just a short trip away. To our annoyance, we arrive on Market day and are surrounded by people from the country trying to sell us their wares, eggs, cheese, fish, milk, goats, pots, pans, fruit, vegetables. You name it, they tried to sell it to us. We finally ‘fight’ our way to the right house. Argon knocks on the front door. It is opened by his father, who welcomes him with open arms and welcomes us into the house. We learn that Argon’s brother is working for Commander Morgan Flameheart (who is an acquaintance of ours and brother to a comrade of mine), in his Grey Death Legion in Maryinburg. The state of the war is as follows:-Maryinburg is captured by the Alban forces and is under siege by the Emperor, and the coast is held by the Albans, but it seems that Imperial troops are regaining that.
Whilst in Middenheim, I decide to seek the Priestesses to increase my mental strength against the creatures I will be forced to face in the months, and hopefully months to come. At their Temple, I make a small donation, and wait. When I see the Chief Priestess, she can do nothing to help me, and so I depart. As I leave, a knight strides past me and enter the grand Lady’s office. A heated argument occurs about the release of a man called Jeremy, who is the knight’s master.
We return to the Inn and rest for the night. Early the next morning we rise and leave for the dungeon to finish what we began!
We enter the passages and light our lanterns and torches once again. As me move down the passage we find a lone Orc blocking our path. Argon raises his crossbow and fires……and misses. The Orc continues to lead a charmed life when Kairn’s charge also fails to even injure the Orc. His luck ends as Molotovo steps forward and messily rips it open with his mighty blade. Only the do I notice the streaks of blood on the floor leading into the depths of the dungeon. Possibly foolishly we decide to follow the trail, which leads us to what is apparently a prison of sorts. The blood trail ends in one cell where all the bodies of our previous victims lie in a pretty heap. In another cell sits a chaos Warrior. In return for his release he swears to help us kill the Orc Warlord called Snotringer. This we agree to, and release him. He then introduces himself as Dre the Slayer. We follow a damp and stinking passage until it comes to a stout oak door. From the other side we can hear the horrific sounds of some slobbish monster with a severe body gas problem. Bursting through the door, we find the source of the stench. An ugly, slimy, green troll. Argon and Dre charge into beast and literally have to hack it apart, using their swords for axes. This finished, we hear the sounds of running feet coming towards us through another door. Feeling it to be as good a time as any, I pour the thick Manticore poison onto my blade. This done, as if waiting for a que, Orcs burst in. The fight is brief and ultimately victorious for us, but the Chaos spawn Dre fell and died to an Orc blow, passing into the grip of his God, to be tormented for all eternity. After a brief and silent prayer for his soul, we continue on our way down the passages. It leads us to a throne room occupied by an Orc Warlord, presumably Snotringer, and two minions. Molotovo, with the sophistication of a brick sneers a challenge and charges at the Orc guards, but even his ‘mighty’ fail to inhume the Orc. The thief-guard Kairn aims his crossbow and fires. It came as a great shock to us all that he actually hit someone - an Orc Guard whom he kills (I believe he was aiming for the warlord). Argon charges the other guard, and misses totally. In return the Orc hefts his might axe and swings it at Argon, who steps nimbly aside as the Axe flies past, and at he same moment parries a blow from the Orc Warlord - My comrade, I salute your skill. Molotovo then steps in and pierces the Orc Lord from Stomach to Spine, spewing blood and it’s breakfast over the floor. In true adventure style, this done, we steal any bounty we want!
Then we return to the Prison to explore the remaining passages. To our surprise a message has been scrawled on the door we wish to pass through:
CHAPTER FIVE
In spite of the warning we pass through the door. On the reverse, an Orc has been crucified. We descend a flight of rickety stairs and pass through a thick door. As a reception committee are spawn of Undead, skeletons. I capture the mind of one, and the others are cut down easily.
Entering the next room I send my skeleton in front of us, in case the enemy lie in wait. A sarcophagus makes the centre piece for the room, which in true style opens, and a Mummie clambers out. Kairn the Inept, as he is now known, fires a burning crossbow at he monster which burst into flames and explodes - will wonders never cease.
We follow another passage and after another skeleton confrontation enter a store room where we ‘acquire’ equipment. Entering the next room my skeleton falls down a pit until it crushes itself several hundred feet below. This kind of thing is doing nothing for my nerves!
We carefully avoid the pit and pass into another room, but get caught in cob-webs. We set them alight, and only just manage to escape before an enormous spider would have caught us. We enter a side door……
A large well built and obviously expensive throne stands on a dais at the far side of the room, guarded by two zombies. But they are not the most imposing objects in the room. Sat casually in the throne is a figure. A Vampire by his deathly paleness. A tall and imposing figure dressed in rich and attractive clothes. In his hand he holds a large jet-black blade. He raises a richly decorated hand and fires lightening at Molotovo. From whom the rancid smell of burning flesh and cloth becomes evident. He rasps in pain and staggers. The same occurs with Argon and Kairn who all react similarly. He then turns his attention and resting his sword on his knees he raises both hands and fires a powerful bolt of White flame at me erupting from his fingertips and striking me full in the chest. Blackness envelopes me.
From the depths of my pain and agony, I hear the clashes of steel. And blades biting into flesh, though who did what I could not even guess. I became aware of some strange wetness, and I begin to feel myself gradually drowning as water rises about me. Suddenly Molotovo is dragging me upright and leans me on the wall. He then turns and finishes the Vampire off by removing it’s head. Suddenly an immense ‘coldness’ flows into the dungeon and the water begins to increase at a faster rate. We decide to leave, but not before I retrieved the Vampire’s dark blade for my own. We step out into the corridor which leads us deeper and deeper into the water. The water is an unnatural cold, biting into the very depths of our bones. Above us we find a grill with ‘old’ light shining through from the outside world. I force it open and clamber through followed by my companions. The narrow passage leads to another grill which I again force open. We clamber through into a cellar. Cold, wet, bleeding and stinking, we clamber up a small ladder into a kitchen. Only when a woman, a cook, screams in shock, do we realise where we are. By some strange reasoning we have ended up in the kitchen of the "Prancing Pony", our Inn of residence. After brief apologies and a ‘token of good will’ we retire to our rooms to wash change and finally sleep.
CHAPTER SIX
13 Vorgerheim
As I come down for breakfast one morning, the large innkeeper (and they are all large), handed me a note. In it were details of the Knights Templars shareholders meeting later in the week. I go to find my old companion Kirigi, which I do, in the Livered Frog Tavern. As I stroll down the street towards the afore mentioned Inn, I am passed by a unit of the fearless Alban Warriors. As I enter the tavern I see Kirigi, and, to my delight, I also see Taxulu (from our conquest of the Vampire Isabell’s mansion). After fond greetings and drinking, I leave to consult my adventuring partners. We decide that we will attempt, once more, to get to Marienburg. We gather our supplies and set off. As evening approaches on one of the evenings our ‘Point’ spots a lone figure coming towards us. It turns out to be a Dwarf, bleeding to death. His message is garbled but mentions some caverns where his party was ambushed and killed, except for him. I try to administer healing, but he dies during the process.
As we descend into the caverns we see the body of a half-eaten Dwarf, obviously a companion of the other. We light up our lanterns, load our crossbows and draw our swords; Nikolus’ and mine glow an eerie blue and hum almost inaudibly which grwos louder as evil approaches. As we move down the damp passages we enter a circular room with several passages leading off from it. Also in the room, we see another Dwarven corpse. We follow a trail of blood down one passage, and hear, ahead of us, a howl. In the wall, ahead of us, Kairn spots a loose brick, and he pulls it from the wall. Suddenly there is a bang, and flash - a trap, but luckily no-one was hurt. We continue on our way which leads to a stairwell. We descend... At the bottom is another circular room with a Dwarf body. Also around the room are several statues of Gods, including Lykin, Slaanesh, Nurgle, Ferengsi, Tzeentch, and Dracul. The Lykin statue wears clothes of the Alban race, and the Dracul, of the Old World. We follow a cob-webbed passage, which leads onto a ledge which leads into a pool of water and after about twenty feet, leads out. On a stand on this side of the water is a large magical book. As I pick it up, the water begins to bubble and swirl and 4 repulsive entities emerge. Argon charges, blade spinning, and slices two of them to shreds. Then Molotovo charges his twin blades moving like a blur to finish of the rest. Hurriedly I cross the pool, and on the other side and find a magical emerald. The pool ripples again and more of these beasts emerge. They are quickly dealt with. However, no sooner have they been dealt with, than more figures emerge, but these are humans - Samurais from the East. They say that the pool is a gateway, opened when the magical artefacts are moved, and instruct me to replace them. Tired, hungry, and injured we are forced to return to Altdorf.
So far my students of magick, that is all i have written up. The creation of spells and the defeat of daemons doesn't leave me much room for anything else, but never fear, I will get around to it!!
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