We pick up this session with our heroes at a feast in a hunting lodge deep in the Reikswald Forest. They have just accused their host’s staff of being part of some kind of cult and attempting to poison them. While this might well have been true, they unfortunately had no proof of these heinous accusations, so their host, Lord Aschaffenberg, was outraged and ordered them to leave at first light the next day. The dinner ended suddenly.
As everyone stormed out, the Burgher stopped the doctor and began complimenting him on how well he played them. The doctor, flattered, and now already feeling the effects of the poisoned venison (which he had eaten to prove to Aschaffenberg that it wasn’t poisoned!), replied casually, “I haven’t the faintest clue what you’re talking about. We’re not up to anything. (Yawn) We’re not doing anything special tonight. This night isn’t important at all. I don’t know why you would think that we have something big planned for tonight, no nothing at all. Good night!”
Meanwhile, the hounds outside were barking, something was disturbing them. Perhaps the beastmen had returned? The soldier, who was not at the dinner, but instead was being “distracted” by one of the servants in her bedchambers (and also was plied with poisoned food by her). Being a stout lad, he not only withstood her distractions without fatigue, but also resisted the effects of the poison. He managed to extricate himself and ran by his room, grabbing his chain shirt and warhammer and heads downstairs to investigate the barking outside.
Now left alone in the Great Hall, our heroes considered their options and reviewed the mountain of clues (pink cards) and the maps of the grounds (realizing belatedly that they had missed visiting many locations in the Lodge and on the grounds).
They promptly chose the best possible option – split up! Not only split up into two groups, but everyone went off on their own. What could possibly go wrong with that plan at night in a manor filled with what they suspect are cult members and outside possibly beastmen besieging the lodge?
The High Elf Performer sneaks off to shadow the doctor up the stairs and keeps out of view as the Soldier comes racing down, still pulling on his chain shirt. The Burgher follows the Soldier, planning on heading over to the shrine, but stops when he realizes there might be beastmen about. He lingers by a tree, watching the Soldier ascend into the watch tower, listening to the hounds bark at the night and the kennel master, Olver quietly calms them and then emerges with them sniffing the air and moving straight to the wall.
The Dilettante meanwhile decides to investigate one of the paintings in the main hall, thinking this might all have to do with the religious division between the staff (Ulricians vs. Sigmarites). While removing it from the wall, he hears some noise in the library and, moving to listen in, catches the end of a conversation, “Now go get it and be quick about it!” He hears footsteps approaching so ducks into the study next door, but is just about to hide behind a desk when two of the servants enter. They ask him if they can help him and. embarrassed himself at being caught trying to hide, claims he’s looking for a drink and so one servant escorts him to the kitchen while the other stays behind.
Outside, in the watch tower, the Soldier tries to stir feelings of bravery in the beleaguered watchmen and then, fearing the beastman had returned, convinces them to all light crossbow bolts and shoot them into the forest nearby. The lights reveal a number of the foul creatures lurking in the woods. They now let out howls and charge the walls. More crossbow bolts fly.
The Burgher is distracted by a light in the sitting room window behind him. He turns and sees a servant has entered the room and then he sees the painting… the painting of the horrible, terrible eye. It draws him in and twists his soul. A little part of him breaks. Then, the servant removes the painting from the wall and leaves. Immediately, broken free of the trance, the Burgher races back into the lodge.
Meanwhile, the Performer has followed the doctor to the hospice and sees him there pouring something down the poor dwarf’s mouth. He steps into the room and the doctor turns suddenly, “Oh, I didn’t see you there, just um, pouring, um, some uh medicine in… (yawn), well, I really must be going,” and heads out. The Performer looks things over and confirms the doctor has poisoned the dwarf (again) with the soporific. Just then the nurse, a blind Sigmarite zealot enters and after talking with the Performer a bit, tells him to seek the Hammer, hidden in plain sight. He turns and races down the stairs to go to the Sigmarite shrine outside.
In the kitchen, the servant fetches some wine for the Dilettante then after pouring some wine, moves back toward the wall and grabs for a cleaver. As he turns, the Dilettante, realizing the jig is up, whips a knife at him, hitting his left arm, the servant lunges with the cleaver – the two are soon engaged in a scuffle, each trying to kill the other.
Across the hall, oblivious to the fight, the Burgher arrives out of breath to find the servant with the painting in the library with the rug pulled back and about the enter a trapdoor in the floor. He confronts the servant and the two are soon in battle, fighting over the painting and the servant stabbing at the Burgher with his knife.
The Performer, running down the stairs, misses the scuffle in the library, but hears something in the kitchen and arriving there finds the Dilettante in desperate battle with a servant, his clothes slashed and bloody, trying to draw his rapier as the servant is about to land a death blow. The Performer rushes forward with his blade and thrusts it deep into the servant, who collapses to the ground in a heap.
The Performer declares he has to get to the shrine and rushes off, again missing the confrontation going on in the library. The Dilettante does see it though and sees that the doctor has joined in the fray, cornering the Burgher. The Burgher takes a chance and smashes the painting on the doctor’s head, knocking him out and destroying the frame. The painting (as Fate or rather, Chaos would have it) lands face up just as the Dilettante arrives and he is exposes to the horror that is the painting of the eye, terrifying him to the core of his soul, just before the servant grabs the painting and jumps down the trapdoor into the darkness.
Meanwhile, outside beastmen are battering the gate and the guards are raining down crossbow bolts. The Soldier, a poor shot, decides his talents are better served elsewhere. Looking back into the courtyard, he sees that some of the creatures have broken through ruined parts of the wall and the kennel master and his hounds are desperately outnumbered. He races down the stairs to help and is soon engaged in battle with one that slipped past and was headed toward the lodge’s open front door.
The Performer, having reached the shrine sees all the symbols of Sigmar in this little outdoor temple, including a replica warhammer, covered in dirt and grime. He pulls it out and cleans off the dirt, revealing that it is in fact a real Dwarven warhammer. He takes it and runs back to the lodge, passing the Soldier who has just taken out the beastman in front of him, throws him the Dwarven warhammer and the two of them run inside.
Inside, the Burgher, without a second thought, leaps into the trapdoor to the amazement of the Dilettante. He lands in a narrow stone passageway, mildewy and stale air, but can hear something vaguely up ahead with dim light showing around the corner. He runs ahead and turning the corner, he sees a large room filled with robed cultists chanting over an eight-pointed star painted in blood with the steward of the house, Piersson conducting the ceremony and another of the servants prone on an altar in front of him.
Piersson though has removed his eye patch and now the Burgher sees his horrible mutation, a large bulbous black orb in place of the eye. Immediately, he pulls back and races back to the trapdoor and calls up urgently, “Get the others, fast!” just as the Soldier and Performer arrive.
And with that, the session ends.
NOTES
This was an awesome session. It started with the players puzzling over the various clues they had uncovered and feeling a little lost. At first their splitting up seemed insane, and in fact it could have led to a near TPK, but they in fact covered a lot of ground in very little time and by the end of the session were all back together ready to face the cult in the cellar, which will be where we resume next session.
At one point, we were spread over almost three tables with the map of the lodge, the gates and the cellar cult room all going at once. Thankfully, it was a quiet night at the game store. It certainly felt epic as battles rages all over the place.
I thought it might be difficult to keep everyone engaged as the group split up, but it worked well and once combat began with each of the groups, it was as simple as dealing cards to everyone (as per the initiative system taken from Savage Worlds) and counting down, each player and NPC going on their card as if they were in one big encounter.
I also experimented with using the Plate Mail Games soundscapes in the background. It was quiet enough at the game store that we could hear it and everyone liked how it added to the (major!) tension through this session. My playlist included the following tracks (you can guess when each was used):
We’re all looking forward to the big finale next session.
Justin Schmid
Justin started tabletop gaming in 1983 with Basic D&D (red box) and never looked back. He runs and plays in a wide variety of games, including Savage Worlds, Dungeon World, Trail of Cthulhu and many, many more.
He also writes professionally for role-playing games, including writing and creating Night's Edge an Alternate Reality Universe for Cyberpunk 2020. He went on to write eight more adventures and sourcebooks in the Night's Edge line, adding vampires and other supernatural perils to the already dangerous world of Cyberpunk.
As a freelance writer, he wrote The Bermuda Triangle for Call of Cthulhu, Shadows of the Mind, and Psi Wars for Conspiracy X and contributed to Last Unicorn's Star Trek RPG, as well as to Cybergeneration sourcebooks, and many other games.
When he's not creating imaginary worlds for his daughter, he's running games for his friends and writing new adventures or designing new game systems. He currently lives in Vancouver, B.C., Canada.