Klex didn’t have much to say. The necromancer was severely beaten and the party only managed to get a few threats in before the city watch appeared commanded by one Sergeant Tenerfield. Tenerfield wasn’t up for much talking and after recognizing that the group was assisting Gunther Emming in solving the ghost situation the savvy Sergeant decided not to arrest them for creating a public disturbance. The Sgt did however threw the group of of the house as he declared it crime scene, berating his guuardsmen for “not working” in the process.

The party was disappointed in the fact that they weren’t allowed much time with Klex however they were overjoyed that in the time that Sgt Tenerfield was babbling on at them Ricknar was doing some solid looting of the basement area and managed to find the bones of the Schiergen family, the skull of Uwe and Klex Narscabber’s journal.

The party read the necromancers journal and were left with quite a surprise. According to Klex one day he was minding his own business when the pair of ghosts began “terrorizing” Ubersreik. The female ghost was haunting some small time noble and the male ghost haunted his house. Upon further investigation Klex stated that he found the skull of the male ghost dumped in his pumpkin patch. Klex asked his employee, a coachman by day, grave robber by night by the name of Vunter Morscheiver to recover the bodies in order to investigate them. Vunter did so and after some mild communication with the ghosts Klex had little clue to why someone had planted the skull causing the ghost to haunt him. Further consultation with a ghoul at the garden of Morr later in the week brought up the name Gorash but after some heavy research in the Verenan library he was yet to discover what that name meant.

The party flipped through some earlier journal entries and found out the Klex had found the tomb of a blood dragon located a short distance from Ubersreik and that Klex intended to control it somehow. Rickanr recalled the witch hunter’s logs of Thomas Farhoff stating that the Schiergen’s (before they were executed by Thomas) were found “bthed in blood worshipping a being called Sir Bandic the blood dragon”. Could this be Sir Bandic from 200 years ago? The party had no clue what a blood dragon was but if a necromancer wanted something to do with it it must be dangerous. The group headed to the Sigmarite library and did some research, only to discover that blood dragons were warriors without peer.

The party was worried that such a powerful creature existing less than a day’s travel from Ubersreik’s walls and decided if they were to slay this creature, that good deed may absolve Brieg from his impending necromancy charges. Anierra went to Schadrach Burke for guidance on the matter and found that the elderly priest had just returned from safely disposing the body of Gorash the Magnificent. Schadrach was alarmed and began to pack his equipment to assist in the destruction of Sir Bandic but Anierra talked him out of, practically begging the priest to stay behind. Schadrach Burke was flat out walking on the best of days and despite his priestly skills Anierra feared Sir Bandic would make short work of him. The elf also had an ulterior motive in keeping the priest safe, Schadrach could attest to several heroic deeds that Brieg has committed during his time in Ubersreik and those deeds could sway a judges opinion of Brieg was brought to trial.

Ricknar went to his master and asked for advice. Augustus was concerned for Ricknar’s safety and offered for Content Not Found: anders-eibach

10.12.2522 – 10.12.2522

The House

The Narscabber house was quite possibly a well to do residence at one point in it’s life, now it was ill kept and dilapidated and several hundred years out of style. The party coughed and wheezed, everyone except Klaus and Brieg had caught something the previous day and they were not feeling so great, Klaus and Brieg however were in rather good humour because of the situation.

Brieg knocked on the door of the house, waited and shortly after a gruff old man answered via a viewing slide. The party informed him they were here to assist him with the ghost problem but he said he was not interested, closed the viewing slot and walked off.

The party began calling out after him, saying that they were hear under official Sigmarite business but there was no response. Something was up, this guy was hiding something and the party wanted to know what.

They knew that the skull of Uwe Schiergen was here, why would he not mention it and why would he not show any reaction to the ghost? The party checked the door but it was barred from the inside and looked inside the windows to find a dusty moth ridden interior.

Brieg tried to pick the lock and but realised that he didn’t have any lock picking tools or any knowledge on lock picking at all still he persevered while Friedrich lit his pipe, watching him with disinterest.

Anierra and Ricknar went around the rear of the house to find a weed infested herb garden and a back door, Ricknar didn’t note anything sinister in the pile but he did mention that it was odd that he didn’t maintain his medicinal stock like most physicians would. Anierra tested the door and found it was locked as well.

Klaus, who was around the side of the house, found a coal chute which no doubt led down to the cellar. The zealot opened it and listened down, silence was his only response. The chute lead diagonally down and was big enough for a single man to fit down at a time and by the sloping angle of it it looked to be a one way trip.

Klaus called out to the party that he was going down the coal chute and before they stopped him Klaus grabbed his flail and began to slid down feet first. The chute was a tight fit, covered with coal dust and was hard to breathe in. The stocky zealot slide down at a surprising speed before being deposited into a large dump bin filled with corpses of varying levels of decay.

The Cellar

Klaus’s eyes widened but he kept his cool, the bodies looked to be unearthed from the Garden of Morr as they were well dressed, more alarmingly most of them showed signs of the ghoul pox but Klaus didn’t have time to worry about that as he heard the familiar sounds of the undead above him.

Klaus leapt to his feet and called out up the chute that there was zombies here, jumped out of the dump bin and engaged the closest moving creature near him, smashing the zombie’s leg apart with all of his might.

Klaus prepared for defence and took in his surroundings, he was in a large cage and surrounded by four decaying zombies. The other side of the cage appeared to be a twist between a laboratory and a morgue and Klex Narscabber stood there staring at Klaus with his mouth agape, his hand clutched a scalpel and he was in the process of dissecting a corpse but presently he was frozen in surprise at the zealot’s sudden appearance.

The zombies decending on Klaus in a feeding frenzy taking bites out of his legs, arm’s and shoulders and grievously injuring him, he had not yet fully recovered from his beating from Gorash the Magnificent and feared he would not last much longer by himself. Klaus forced down his rising panic and he heard the sound of banging from the chute, praise Sigmar! Someone was coming for him.

Anierra fell out of the chute and emerged from the dump bin of bodies and engaged the nearest zombie creating breathing room for Klaus. Anierra was not impressed with the situation but the elf fought down her rising fear and took it to her undead fiend with gusto.

Klaus received his second wind, Anierra was here and had broken up the zombies frenzy, the zealot gritted his teeth and smahed the torso of the zombie behind him, sending chunks of gore flying about the room while Klex Narscabber raised his hands and a postre of mock worship, Klaus was certain the physician, whom he was no doubt a vile necromancer, was casting some type of spell but Klaus could not see what.

The zombies swarmed in on the outnumbered pair, Klaus took a few more scratches but Anierra weaved her way past the zombies but to her horror more of the creatures rose from the pile corpses in the dump bin, Klex was raising more zombies!

The chute crashed and banged again and a black and dusty Ricknar emerged from it and into the pile of bodies in which one of them became animated! Ricknars eyes widened, he was in a pile of bodies with a zombie bearing down on him! Last time he encountered these creature he was horrifically gored and Ricknar high tailed it out of the bin as fast as he could and Anierra blocked the creatures pursuit.

Ricknar saw Klex gathering the winds of magic about him and Ricknar went into counter spell mode, removing the coloured winds that Klex was trying to gather and replacing them with others but Klex’s might was to strong and with a surge of blue electricity Klex shocked the well beaten Klaus with a doombolt.

Anierra and Klaus took two zombies down and they were no longer out numbered, Klaus was not doing to well but was still standing, he was covered and blood and scratches and was unsteady on his feet but was still there, the party had the advantage and Klex could see it clear as day.

The chute crashed and banged and Brieg fell out, paused in surpise and begen driving his dagger at the closest zombie with little effect and the party now out numbered their foes, Klex was finished. The necromancer began to rush to the door of the cellar and to his escape and Brieg called out up the chute hoping that Friedrich was still up there and able to cut the necromancer’s escape off.

The Chase

Klex couldn’t believe, these cretins had invaded is home and were killing his creations, thyy knew his face and he had to get out of Ubersreik fast lest he becomes destined for the high priest’s pyre. Klex ran to the door but several hot burning splinters fired into his back burning through his robes and into his flesh. Klex howled in pain and stumbled out of the room, curse that wizard! If he wasn’t there he could have done what he liked to that group and they would not have been able to escape that cage, oh it would have been so fun!

Klex ran out into the living paused and decided to go out of the back door, he had heard the shabby man yell to an unseen other through the chute whom was no doubt waiting for him up top, if Klex went out the back door he should be able to give the man the slip. Klex unlocked the back door and found no-one waiting for him. Success! The old man man a dash for the street and into freedom.

Klex heard the sound of running footfalls behind him. Curses! He was being chased by an officer of some sorts most likely a pistolier, this was not good. Klex looked back and smirked, he’d have a nice surprise for this one and he began to hastily gather the winds of magic about him, it was hard to do when he was running but Klex was confident of his abili – SLAM! Klex bounced of what felt like a brick wall.

The old man looked up and found large meaty hands on his cuff as the dock worker growled at him., this would not do! In his carelessness he was not looking where he was going and this oaf had him in his clutches, that pistolier would be on him in seconds! The Dockworker shoved him back and Klex felt his breath explode out of him as the pistolier tackle him to the ground from behind.

Friedrich grappled the old man, he had no idea what went on downstairs other than zombie call so was certain this fellow was an unsavoury chap. Friedrich warned Klex once and then blasted his pistol right into Klex’s leg. That’d stop him squirming! Klex screamed and clutched his wounded thigh and Friedrich looked up and found a crowd was forming around him, he stood up and assumed the most authoritative pose he could think of, “Nothing to see here move along” he said and tried to disperse the crowd.

The pistolier frowned at his slack jawed onlookers and unhappy with the amount of attention he was receiving Friedrich grabbed Klex by the collar and dragged him back to his home for interrogation, he probably wouldn’t have long until the watch showed up and he’d like to get answers out of this bloke quick.

End Session

9.12.2517 – 10.12.2517

The Frozen Marsh

Klaus grabbed the screaming ghoul by it’s smashed leg and dragged it next to it’s panicked friend. The group demanded the ghoul spill what was it’s business with the Schiergen ghosts and to show that they met business Klaus raised his flail and splattered the ghoul’s mate’s brains all over the cold white snow.

The ghoul was suitably panicked and was not very brave and after some serious threats via Anierra and Klaus it caved in and told the group everything it knew. The ghouls were commanded by their master, gorash, to unearth the skulls of the Schiergen couple, swap their jaws and place their respective skulls in the farhoff manor and a physician’s house in Ubersreik.

Klaus asked was his master like him and the ghoul replied (who’s name was Malgar) that his master was so much more than he. Anierra didn’t like the sound of that and when Klaus asked does he eat corpses like a ghoul the ghoul simply replied he drinks their blood. The group went silent.

After a short delay they asked whereabouts of master’s abode and the ghoul replied about a half day north of here, satisfied with the answers given Klaus gave the ghoul a moment to repent for it’s sins before smashing it’s head apart with his flail and leaving it’s corpse beside it’s dead friends.

Anierra and Klaus discussed their options and based on what the ghoul told them they had a tough choice. Ricknar told the group they were probably dealing with some type of vampire and besides from general folklore they knew absolutely nothing about them. The group knew that they were supernatural and dangerous and to kill them you needed to put a stake through their heart but to be honest they weren’t even sure if that was the correct procedure.

In the end it boiled down to two choices, return to Ubersreik and get help and run the risk of the Vampire escaping, or chase it down and engage it while they could. During the course of the battle with the ghouls several of their number had escaped in the direction which the ghoul had pointed them to and the group was certain the ghoul’s were returning to warn their master as to what had transpired, could that have meant a trap would be waiting for them if they proceeded?

After a few short minutes of discussion they all agreed on that they had come to far to turn back and by the sounds of it the cave was closer to their current position then Ubersreik and they were loath to spend another night out in the freezing cold again.

The Forest

The group set out with Ricknar as the guide, Klaus clearing a way for him through the knee deep snow, Anierra as the ever watchful scout and Friedrich as the party motivator and several hours later Ricknar turned around and said they were lost “that’s what you get if you get a guy who lives in the city to track” he said in an unapologetic tone.

The party were not impressed with each other as they went about collecting materials for a shelter and as the night settled in they hunkered down, (Anierra’s distressed state that she had to snuggle up to smelly human males lifted the mood somewhat) and they took turns throughout the night on hourly watches.

The night was brutal. The cold wind whipped up a fierce white haze and the night was riddled with bats, Anierra thought they were watching them, sinister dark eyes and black shapes flew overhead and coupled with the cold the party slept little. The morning after the group was a sorry sort, they had woken up freezing with early signs of frostbite and everyone except Klaus woke up with a viscous, raspy cough which felt like he sucked the life out of their very souls.

The party trudged onwards in the same roles as before but tensions were mounting. Anierra was certain that pervert Friedrich was rather liberal in his hand placements and the hopeless cold of the situation coupled with the situation of his missing friend Brieg consumed Klaus’s thoughts.

Eventually the group reached a clearing with dozens of ghoul foot prints and alert and ready the party advanced. The dark eyed sinister bats chittered overhead as the party advanced cautiously, troubled that the bats were still out despite the sun had risen well into mid morning.

The tracks appeared to come from all directions and the party surmised that they were in the middle of a crossroads of sort, perhaps the departure and arrival point for whatever ghouls this Gorash commanded and by the number of tracks, there were a lot of them. The group cautiously searched the area, picked up the trail and continued on.

The Cave

The group entered the ominous cave with weapons ready. The cave was huge and extended well into the earth and Friedrich’s torch, the only one they had, provided a warm glow which lifted the group’s spirits. The cave was eerily silent too and they felt like their footfalls echoed for miles down the dark interiors of this gigantic hole in the ground.

Suddenly from overhead a bat swooped the party, screeching loudly and startling the group. After the party composed themselves another bat did the same thing and then another. Suddenly the cave erupted in an explosion of deafening noise as thousands of bats awoke from their slumber and descended upon the group.

The party swung, sliced shot and burnt their way through the seething mass of swarming tiny bodies. The swarms were doing little damage but were tiring the group out fast, both mentally and physically.

After what seemed like an age the swarms dispersed and began to fly out of the cave and the party rested on it’s haunches, surrounded by the bodies of hundreds of the fiendish creatures. Now, with the advantage of surprise completely lost they gathered their wits and continued down into the depths of the earth, even more cautious then before.

Eventually the group reached a large flat open plateau, Anierra warned the group to be careful and as they set out onto it Anierra’s warrior instincts alerted her that they were being watched. Anierra called out to this mystery observer and demanded that they show themselves but their was no response, whoever was there did not wish to play their hand as yet.

The Fight

The group continued out into the middle of the cavern where they began to catch glimpses of ghouls darting about at the edge of their vision and as they readied there weapons a dark and sinister voice called out to them, it was the vampire Gorash the Magnificent. Gorash told the party that they were fools and they were doing out of order to his plan, the party (especially Klaus) was in no mood to converse with a vile fiend such as this and taunted the creature, daring him to attack. Gorash simply laughed and complied in earnest.

There was a pause and Anierra readied her weapon and suddenly she was reeling, dozens of years of study at the tower of Hoeth had given her an almost supernatural combat sense and before she even realised what she was doing she raised her weapon and hurled her body backwards with cat like reflexes as viscous black claws, as long as a man forearm racked across her Ithilmar scale.

Anierra’s eyes widened as she was suddenly eye to eye with the most hideous creature she had seen in her entire life. The creature was broader than Klaus and as tall as her, it’s hunched yet athletic frame was covered in dank grey skin and instead of fingers it had long twisted claws. The vampires face was perhaps worse of all with large bat like ears, red eyes, a canine snout and viscous fangs.

Anierra was about to ready her weapon in response when as quick as Gorash came he shot off like lightning, Klaus immediately broke ranks and charged off into the dark after the vampire, his party calling after him to stand firm and not to fall for the vampires trap of separating the group.

Anierra moved to recover the enraged zealot but was interrupted as several ghouls charged the party, the elf made the decision to provide muscle for Ricknar and Friedrich rather than save Klaus, not one week prior she had ran to Klaus’s assistance to the detriment of the rest of the group and she vowed not to fail them again and with a quick step she moved to engage the closest pinkish creature.

Klaus’s blood was pumping, he would bring Sigmar’s light to this foul beast and send it back to the hell in whence it came. The zealot spotted movement in the corner of his eye and swung his flail in response, feeling it’s iron spikes drive into the vampires flesh. Klaus stepped aside expecting the vampires response but quicker then he could see the heavy claws of the beast crashed into his chest and Klaus’s breath exploded out of him, it was as if had been ran over by a carriage and the zealot’s knees buckled.

Klaus could feel blood welling from his lacerated Skin beneath his chain mail, he had never been hit so hard in his life, finally he had found a foe worthy enough for his hatred. Klaus swung up and felt his flail connect and with smug satisfaction he moved forward to prepare for the finishing blow, no creature, man or beast had survived the second purification of his flail and Klaus was certain of his impending victory.

The Vampires dark clawed hands reached out and grasped Klaus hands, wrenching his flail away from him and with supernatural strength forced the zealot to his knees. Klaus could not believe it, the vampire lived and was forcing him down, nothing had done this before, ghosts, necromancers, goblins Klaus had defeated them all, had Sigmar abandoned him?

The Vampire grinned and bared it’s fangs, Klaus’s eyes widened, it was going to tear his throat out! This was it, the Von Meyer family would extinguish in a dark forgotten cave, food for an undead fiend. Sigmar had left him and soon his soul would be ripped from his body as the vampire would gorge on his flesh.

No.

Sigmar would never leave him, faith in Sigmar was the source of his true power, his strength and light in times of darkness. Klaus gritted his teeth and with a rising shout of frustration and fury he fought against the vampires death grip. Klaus could feel the blood of Sigmar coursing through his veins and despite all odds he rose from his knees and locked arms with the vampire in a wrestlers grapple, his face inches from the startled and furious creature as the two combatants screamed at each other.

Anierra rushed the vampire as it grappled with Klaus and with an artful slice ran Bondbreaker across Gorash’s side and as the great sword bit into the creatures, a blue spark ran down the wound and with a unearthly howl Gorash caught alight in a hailstrom of blue flame. Klaus released his grip on the creature and fell back, dusting his arms off lest he caught alight as well.

Anierra looked back at her blade, the elven sigil’s inscribed into the it glowed an iridescent blue. The elf had never seen bondbreaker do that before in her fifty years plus in possession of the blade. The vampire howled and flailed about and the party kept a shocked distance, the sudden and strange occurrence stunned them into inaction.

A gurgled war cry resounded over Gorash’s screams and out of the dark rushed a poorly dressed, grubby looking man wielding a broom. The party’s jaws dropped as their missing member Brieg leapt into the air and impaled his “weapon” through the vampires heart sending the burning creature toppling spread eagle to the ground, dead.

The party were stunned at Brieg’s return and informed him of Gunther Emming’s decision. Brieg was troubled at this as he was not looking forward to be executed but Klaus said he would do everything within his power to prevent this from occurring. The party searched the giant cave and found quarters for over forty ghouls, fortunately for them most of them were not present and were most likely out on various underhanded tasks or six feet under courtesy of the party’s previous meetings.

The group ransacked the vampires substantial horde of priceless artifacts and texts, cut of it’s head and made the long trip back into Ubersreik. The party showed Schadrach Burke the vampire head and asked the priest of the proper disposal method for vampires. Schadrach Burke was alarmed that a vampire was found so close to Ubersreik and was grateful that the PC’s dealt with it, Schadrach said he would lead a party to recover the vampires body and conduct the appropriate ritual to make sure the undead fiend did not rise again.

The party told Schadrach of the situation with Brieg and Schadrach said he was no friend of Gunther Emming. The party asked if they could leave Brieg’s broomstick in his possession and return for it later, when Schadrach asked why the explained that the guard would be looking for a man who carried a broom as that was Brieg’s only distinguishing feature, Schadrach agreed and when he took the broom from Brieg’s hand a small jolt of energy leapt between the two men.

The group didn’t know what to make of that and swiftly ignored it, asking Schadrach if he knew the address of the physicians house in which Uwe the male ghost was haunting. Schadrach gave the address and named the owner of the premises to be Klex Narscabber.

End Session

Character Logs

Anierra2

9.12.2517 – 9.12.2517

Anierra

Anierra waited at the door of Sere’quen Llefen. The elf was tired, unhappy, cold and largely unimpressed herself, especially since she was about to ask her childhood tormentor for a favour.
The elven servant from earlier in the night answered the door and Anierra entered for the second time in several hours.

The servant asked Anierra her business and Anierra wanted a room for the night without Sere’quen knowing. The servant smiled and asked what Anierra could provide and her eyes narrowed, she was being swindled by a common born! Anierra offered the servant gold but the servant laughed it off, saying she had no use for the filthy human currency and to Anierra’s surprise what the servant really wanted was her armour.

Anierra flatly refused this and the servant left to inform her master of “his ladie’s” arrival, leaving Anierra to stew in her decision and a short time after Sere’quen appeard, perverse pleasure written over his face that his wayward quarry had returned.

Anierra asked Sere’quen for a room and explained the situation in a very short manner. Sere’quen was very pleased with the situation enjoyed watching Anierra squirm, he was aware of Anierra’s hate for him and he wanted to drag her through the dirt before he made his decision and Sere’quen was getting the leverage over Anierra until the swordsmaster displayed her recent injuries.

Anierra had received a viscous bite off the ghouls earlier in the night and had requested for Sere’quen to provide medical attention. Sere’quen was doing his usual routine of baiting her rises when he noticed a droplet of blood forming on the edge of her glove.

Anierra noticed Sere’quen’s reaction and realised her hand was hovering over a rather expensive white couch and the swordsmaster smiled wolfishly. Sere’quen tried to hurry her along but she would not move, she then dipped her hand down low so more blood would gather on the droplet, increasing Sere’quen’s concern for his property by tenfold.

Anierra told Sere’quen to drop all of his ridiculous conditions for her to stay here and that the only thing she would agree to do was another night’s dinner, if he didn’t agree she might forget to move her hand in time before she stained Sere’quen’s priceless sofa.

Sere’quen agreed and showed her to her room, the servant from earlier dressed her wounds and after placing chair behind the door she disarmed and collapsed on the bed, falling asleep almost instantly.

Ricknar

Ricknar placed his hand on the Bright order sigil, and concentrated the winds of magic onto the door. The door swung open and for the first time Ricknar entered his home away from home, the town house which his master had hired out for his studies of the Ubersreik region.

Ricknar went upstairs and found out all the other apprentices were out on duties, the only one home was his master Augustus Tannenbaum. Ricknar explained the situation of the necromancer’s book, Brieg and the raid on the Red Moon Inn and asked for his master’s help.

Tannenbaum agreed that it was right to inform him of the situation and explained more about the nature of dark grimiores. The master wizard said there are normally three types of dark books which necromancer’s leave behind. The first is a rather mundane collection of magical spells and notes, these are relatively harmless to an everyday man who encounters them, the last two are much more dangerous.

The second involves a collection of spells which the dark wizard magically inscribes. The inscriptions on these allows dark magic to collect about the book that slowly corrupts the area and the souls within it’s reach. The Dark magic lures foolish victims into thinking they can contain it’s power and it’s at this stage which anyone who is not aware of it’s lethality falls to it’s vile charms but the book however is still an inanimate object and the dark magic which pollutes it is without direction or purpose.

The third type and worst of all is when a sorcerer, usually a necromancer, imbues part of his soul in the book. This type of grimoire is similar to the second however the book becomes self aware. The book can whisper in the minds of nearby men and show them their deepest desires and can even tailor it’s approach depending on who it’s seeking.

The victim is often unawares and is an unwitting pawn to the books desires and if separated from the tome for a period of time will reverse any ill affects. Tannenbaum said that they needed to locate Brieg and his book immediately but the first thing they needed to do was to prevent Gunther Emming from killing everyone in the red moon inn and to do that they needed the help of the leader of the magical community, a grey wizard by the name of Bruno Poelger.

Klaus and Friedrich

Gunther Emming stood before Klaus and Friederich, his face a mask of rage. Klaus had just filled the high priest in on the situation with Brieg and the Red Moon inn and Emming was ropeable. Gunter gave Klaus a sharp dressing down, belittling his traitorous family and idiocy in letting this heresy occur under his own watch.

Frederich however found this amusing and Gunter had a go about him too, saying he was a lay about failure that would never amount to anything, Friedrich then kept his mouth shut. Gunter however did agree on Klaus’s plan of action and high priest told the pair to meet him outside the red moon inn, Emming then left to gather up some watchmen to prepare for the raid in which he would lead personally.

The Red Moon Inn

The watchmen marched in unison led by Captain Andrea Pfieffer and approached the inn. The captain shot an icy stare in Klaus’s direction. Klaus remembered Captain Pfieffer’s parting words to him from earlier in the evening, “If you cause any more trouble in my town I will take you to the dungeon myself and drown you, High Priest be damned!” Klaus gulped as she marched by him.

The watchmen fell upon the inn, ejecting the tenants and lining them up outside for questioning. The innkeeper was distraught as his Inn was piece by piece being destroyed and upon sighting of Frederich lamented that the demons have returned to destroy his inn once more.

Gunter Emming was about the soldiers with a righteous fury, shouting for the men to find the accursed book and bring it to him at once while Andrea Pfieffer forcibly removed a large boisterous patron.

The light shifted and suddenly Ricknar and two old men appeared. One of the men, a grey cloaked figure marched straight up to Emming and the two began a shouting match. Klaus, puzzled as to what was going on asked Ricknar what was happening and Ricknar said this was his master and the leader of the magical community and that they were here to supervise and to assist searching of the book.

After Emming stopped protesting Poelger’s appearance the grey wizard and Tannenbaum used their magical abilities to assist in the search. Poelger searched the place thorough and concluded that the book was no longer here, the focus of the raid then switched to interrogating the staff and patrons of the inn.

Klaus and Friedrich questioned the owner heavily but the evidence was inconclusive and they were not able to find any lead on the books whereabouts. Emming and Pfieffer likewise turned up nothing in their questioning and approached Klaus.

Due to a lack of leads Gunter asked Klaus who was the last person to have contact with the book. Klaus replied saying that it was fellow party member Brieg who had mysteriously disappeared recently, Gunter then issued an arrest warrant for Brieg under suspicions of necromancy and that Klaus conduct his trial.

Klaus protested this and said to Ricknar and Friedrich that he would protect Brieg to the last but Gunter’s word was final, Andrea Pfieffer noted Brieg’s appearance from the group and circulated it around the guardsmen, there was now a witch hunt in town and Brieg was the quarry.

Ricknar asked his master of Poelger is there anything that they could do and Poelger stated that if Brieg were to do something heroic he may have a chance of surviving the Sigmarite’s farce they call a trial, in the mean time if Brieg was found they could keep him safe enough as they doubted Brieg had sinister motives and were certain he was the unwitting pawn of the evil grimoire.

Ricknar had enough of tonight and said he was returning to his quarters and that he’d meet Klaus and Friedrich tomorrow morning at the Garden of Morr to investigate the ghoul tracks, the pair agreed and split up to find their respective resting place for the night.

The Graveyard and the Forest

The party all met early morning outside the party of Morr and no-one was in a good mood. Friedrich filled in Anierra on the previous nights events and the elf was taken aback, why was the case of human idiocy so prevalent in the group she travelled with?

The group searched the area for tracks and evidence, they were keen to capitalise on the arrival of the ghoul’s last night and track them back to their hideout, there they were certain they would find the origin of the ghost hauntings and bring those responsible to justice.

The fresh snowfall which occurred early morning obscured what remained of the tracks but some handy spotting by Ricknar led them out in the forest. The group had some reservations about setting out an unknown forest in the middle of high Winter but Friedrich with his excellent outdoor experience said it would not be a problem.

The group then followed the ghouls tracks to a frozen marsh and encountered over a dozen of them camped on an island littered with the delug of their ill gotten gains. Ricknar melted a patch of snow so the party could manoeuvre effectively and the ghouls charged. Flail’s smashed, skin charred, swords sliced and pistols fired and soon the ghouls were either dead, captured or running in terror.

End session

Character Logs

Klaus2
Anierra2

8.12.2517 – 9.12.2517

The Street

Klaus stepped forward to interpose himself between Andre Vogel and Ricknar, he knew the witch hunter was here for Ricknar and as usual Vogel was not one for questions. “Stand aside, this foul wizard is suspected of necromancy” Klaus refused and the zealots fanned out and surrounded the party.

Vogel protested the insolent behavior displayed by Klaus and then the witch hunter’s eyes widened with hate as he realized who he was talking to. Vogel denounced Klaus as he the false prophet, the one who they had sent to replace him and began raging at the unmoving zealot.
The zealots stood by menacingly, Ricknar stood firm, he didn’t want to antagonize the dim witted fanatics by using any of his magic and with Anierra and Brieg watching out for him he should be fine. Ella Schiergen, began to wail and scream and floated her ghostly from through he ranks of the zealots who scrambled out of their way in fear, Andre Vogel did not even pay attention to the apparition and continued his shouting match with the resolute Klaus who was taunting Vogel about his incompetence.

The party began to hear the rhythmic march of soldiers approaching and Klaus hoped they could be used for their side. Klaus was on a mission for a high priest and even though Vogel was a Witch hunter, he was halting his progress. Klaus smiled and challenged Vogel to a duel, this should buy them some time for the soldiers to arrive and disperse the mob.

Anierra removed the skull of Ella Schiergen from Klaus’s belt and held it aloft stating that they needed to get the skull to the graveyard so the ghost will not plague the city anymore. Most of the zealots backed off as they were under strict instructions from Vogel not to cause a ruckus but one of them upon seeing the elf with the skull raised his weapon and charged.

Anierra stepped aside, avoiding the clumsy blow and the party stood firm, they would not fight back. Vogel, upon seeing his retinue break ranks began yelling and screaming. The soldiers the party heard earlier marched into view and at the head of them marched the guard captain who had processed their arrest only yesterday, her name was Andrea Pfieffer

Andrea was not amused at the disruption caused by the ghost and ordered it to be detained, much to the horror of her soldiers. Vogel tried to conscript Pfieffer into destroying the party but Pfieffer said they were all to lay down their weapons and be questioned. The party complied but Vogel began insulting the captain when they started disarming his men, Vogel drew a pistol and attempted to shoot a guardsman who was struggling with a non cooperative zealot. Andrea’s arm shot out as quick as lighting and pushed Vogel’s and the shot flew clear of her soldier and harmlessly into a nearby building, she then had him arrested and they carted the screaming Vogel and his gang of cronies to the dungeons.

Pfieffer questioned the group and said that she had orders to leave them alone while they were dealing with the ghost situation. The party explained why the ghost was following them and what they intended to do and Andrea said that seemed feasible however she also said that if they caused another disturbance in the city she would “take you to the dungeons and drown you, High Priest be damned!”

The Graveyard

Schadrach Burke looked at the skull and simply asked, “Where is the rest of it?”, the party did not know. Father Burke went on to explain that he would need all of what remained of Ella Schiergen in order to perform the damning ceremony and put her soul to rest once more.

Anierra and Ricknar reckoned that rest could be found at the physicians house, the one who was being haunted by the male ghost. Klaus left the skull of Ella Schiergen and the jaw of (presumably) Uwe Schiergen with Father Burke and Ricknar asked the priest of Morr if they could stay behind and watch the graveyard for a few hours.

Ricknar remembered the foot prints at the Farhoff estate matched those at the graveyard and he was keen to wait around and see of the grave stealing culprits returned. The night was already heading towards early morning and if he was a grave robber, around about now was the time he would strike. The suspect would be aware of the cult of Morr’s lack of staffing and would not be expecting four highly trained warriors guarding the fields and Ricknar was betting that over confidence would be their downfall.

The group spread about about the graveyard and waited into the dead of the cold’s winters night until Ricknar heard a noise. The wizard looked about into the dark, they had not lit any torches lest they were spotted by whoever would appear to haunt the dead tonight and it had looked like it worked.

Ricknar spotted Anierra as his closest ally, he knew the elf had little difficulty seeing in this low light particularly when the moon was as full as it was and he motioned that he saw something, he didn’t risk calling out to the rest of the group lest he drew attention and their quarry escaped. Ricknar advanced cautiously with Anierra parallel , he knew that one of them eventually would run into whatever was out there.

Ricknar spotted movement again and advanced cautiously when all went quiet. The wizard waited and still nothing happened, maybe whatever was out of there went to ground? Ricknar paused, gathered the winds of magic about and lit himself on fire.

The light exploded in the dark graveyard and Ricknar could see clearly what was in front of him, not fifteen feet away stood a pack of four hideous creatures. The creatures vaguely reassembled humans except they were hunched over and their naked wrinkly pink skin was a grotesque sight indeed.

Ricknar had never seen them before but he had studied them and their bat like ears did not sway him for he knew what they were and no ghoul would unsteady Ricknar Rithur. Ricknar booked it back to the safety of the party and they raised there weapons as the ghouls charged. Klaus swung and Anierra sliced while Ricknar gathered the winds of magic about him with catastrophic consequences.

Time distorted and it was if Ricknar was operating in another dimension a half pace out of reality. Klaus looked over his shoulder at the wizard but was preoccupied with the ghoul trying to tear his face off and couldn’t interject, while Klaus was uncertain of the wizard’s ability he knew by the his reaction that this wasn’t normal and Klaus would not hesitate to kill if chaos took control of him.

Ricknar retreated to the rear of the party to concentrate on his channeling while Brieg stood watch for the ghouls in case they escaped Klaus and Anierra’s guard. Unfortunately for Ricknar his second spell went off worse than the first.

Ricknar cried out in pain has two huge bulbous fly like eyes erupted from his face while Brieg watched mouth agape. Ricknar’s first thought was Klaus’s reaction but luckily the zealot hadn’t noticed his change, despite Brieg’s attempts to call attention to them. Ricknar’s vision was improved and with relief he could feel that the mutation was only temporary, once the chaos energies dissipated out of his body he would return to normal once again.

Brieg stared terrified at the sight of the hideous creature that was Ricknar Rithur. The wizard had huge fly eyes and his body was burning all around him, Brieg had never seen a deamon before but if he did he reckoned it would look a lot like this wizard fiend here. Ricknar paused as if contemplating something and looked right at him with his hideous face and asked, “So Brieg, what did you do with my book?”

Oh no, he remembered! Brieg was supposed to give that book Ricknar gave him to his master. Why didn’t he do that? He couldn’t remember, he just started reading on the way and he forgot to take it to where he was instructed. Brieg frowned, if he gave the book back he couldn’t read it any more and he didn’t want that, the book was teaching him to read! Brieg would do anything for the book and now Ricknar wanted to take it back? Lucky he didn’t have it on him. “oh I forgot” he said sheepishly as Ricknar’s face returned to normal.

Klaus and Anierra had finished off the last of the ghouls and the zealot overheard the exchange and was furious. Ricknar explained that he found the book in Ondurin Vonrueter’s chambers and was intending to give it to his master so he could destroy it. When they were arrested by Andre Vogel Ricknar gave it to Brieg so Brieg could get to his master as quick as possible but now the book was must have corrupted Brieg’s mind somehow.

Klaus was could barely contain his rage. He knew Ricknar had that thing all along and he had not suspected it was an evil grimoire, they should have told him so he could have given to the church, the proper method of disposing of foul tomes. Klaus and Ricknar demanded to Brieg to take them to the book, Brieg was having a hard time remembering where he put it (much to Ricknar’s aghast and Klaus’s fury) but eventually remembered he left it at the inn he was staying in.

The Inn

Klaus stormed into the red moon inn, the party behind him. The inn keepers eyes widened and he yelled for them to get out, earlier in the day he had expelled them for consorting with a ghost and now they were back to cause more trouble? Not on his watch. Anierra tried to explain the situation but was cut off by Klaus threatening the man into submission, fortunately for him the inn keeper was a devout man and was more than willing to comply.

Klaus force marched the frightened Brieg upstairs and the party ransacked the room in search of the book. They couldn’t find it. Klaus threatened Brieg and insulted him, Brieg was lying, he had hidden it but Ricknar thought otherwise. Brieg panicked, he really didn’t know where it was and he really did thought he left it in the room.

Klaus marched the panicked Brieg downstairs and asked the innkeeper had any body been in the room from which he replied no, he told the innkeeper that should he see the whereabouts of Brieg’s book he was to report it to the cult of Sigmar immediately

Outside Klaus grabbed Brieg and pushed him into the wall and started shouting. Anierra and Ricknar were on Brieg’s side but Klaus would have none of it, justifying his actions to the skeptical Elf while a terrified Brieg sobbed loudly. Klaus redoubled his efforts on Brieg and suddenly he stopped. Brieg was telling the truth, he really didn’t know where the book was, it’s foul magic had played the simple minded man for a fool.

Klaus stormed off, he was going to organise a search warrant of the inn and he didn’t want to see Brieg’s face for the rest of the night. Anierra had enough of the group as well, in one day she had woken up in a jail cell courtesy of Ricknar, she had found out her hated future family lives in this accursed city and she had been attacked by ghouls. Anierra had had enough of Klaus and his band of fools and she stormed off hating herself for she was about to ask a certain someone a favour that she could stay the night, one she knew she would inevitably regret in the future.

Ricknar said he needed to talk to his master about the abilities of this grimoire, regretting his decision to give it to Brieg in the first place and took the teary eyed commoner with him.

End Session

Character Logs

Anierra2
Klaus2

8.12.2517 – 8.12.2517

Anierra

Anierra waited at the door of house Heirranai with somewhat trepidation, how could one be so lucky and yet not so at the same time? She couldn’t believe, house Llefen here in Ubersreik! The entire reason she exiled herself from civilized society was here waiting for her? She was about to resign herself to the inevitable before she had found out that there was another Elven merchant house in town, one that may employ her and halt her gradual decline into insanity caused by excessive human exposure.

The door opened and a elven servant answered, the slightest hint of distaste in her eyes at the sight of Anierra’s dirty traveler’s appearance. Anierra asked to see the Lord of the house and the servant showed her into a sitting room. The house was spectacular; there were was elven furniture, art, tapestries and other wonders that reminded of her at home. Once the initial home sickness subsided upon closer inspection the decorations were rather spartan for an elf and practically deserted compared to Lorith Silberleaf’s abode.

The servant asked if Anierra wished to have a drink and upon her approval poured a glass of Llefen estate rose. Anierra didn’t mind house Llefen’s wine, just the family and began to partake the heavenly beverage.

A tall, regal male elf dressed in exquisite flowing robes strode out to greet her, Anierra bowed in response and the elf introduced himself to be Caoifell L’eth Heirrannai, representative of his house for the region of Southern Reikland. After some friendly exchanging of pleasantries Caoifell politely asked why the scion of such an influential house would turn up unannounced to his doorstep, especially in the dank bog pit that was the Old World.

Anierra responded saying that she was seeking employment, she had left Ulthuan for her own reasons (in which Caoifell told her he knew why she had left) and that she was seeking employment within house Heirrannai. Anierra added despite her emphasis on martial prowess she was trained in diplomacy and courtly manners before she joined the order of the swordmasters. Caoifell responded that her employment within house Heirrani would be both a boon and a hindrance.

Caofell was well aware of the impending allegiance between house Ierroniessa and house Llefen and he knew that of Anierra was the seal to the deal. Caofill said it may cause factional difficulties back home if house Llefen’s prize was to be employed by a potential rival, especially when she could have sought after her future family for support. This however could increase house Heiranarai’s standing amongst other circles.

Caofell also expressed the lack of Elven labour in the empire and any elf willing to spend time in offshore financial operation were worth they’re weight in Ithilmar who were already there. The fact the Coefell had to rely on human’s so much pained him, they were clumsy forgetful and unreliable and for the most part were more trouble than what they were worth.

Coafell also told Anierra the downside of working in his business. House Heirrannai were silk merchants and at one point controlled over 90% of the silk trade in southern Reikland and Bourgon with high quality imported silks from Ulthuan. Over the past eighty years however Elven silk merchants in the empire have lost significant market share since the rise of the ogre kingdoms.

With territorial law and “civility” in this barbarian nation human traders from Cathay are more willing to brave the silk road and trade directly empire and because of their lesser quality they are able to sell at a significantly cheaper price than what any Asur would be caught dead at.

With a sigh Caoifell said he would not be able to pay Anierra what she was worth and he advised her before she made a decision to visit house Llefen and see their proposal, they were far more profitable then he and they were more capable of meeting the wage of such a influential elf such as she.

Friedrich

Friedrich stroked his beard and pondered. Clearly this Farhoff fellow was plowing his extremely attractive servant Hilda. Friedrich wasn’t one to judge on such matters as after all, a man has his needs but it was all rather unethical wasn’t it?

Lord Farhoff continued to show the pistolier about the house, Friedrich declined to comment about the lack of usage of the servants quarters and the overuse of the Lord’s bed but other than that the lodge was reasonably impressive.

Farhoff was a cavalryman, Friedrich could respect that but this rampant cowardice displayed by Farhoff in regards to this ghost could not be forgiven. The man was practically terrified of the thing! Sure ghosts and all are rather bad but showing fear in front of a lady? Far was worse indeed! Friedrich made a mental note to compliment Hilda when he saw her again, maybe she was into sharing eh?

The tour halted in the courtyard garden at the coal pile, Friedrich mentioned he knew a coal miner who was killed a long time ago but Farhoff wasn’t really listening as he noticed something was amiss. Farhoff spotted a disturbance in the coal pile and promptly informed Friedrich who lit his pipe, perceptive this Farhoff isn’t he?

Friedrich got down on his haunches and dusted the snow away from the pile and what was left was a partial foot print. More foot prints? Bloody hell this was getting to be too much thinking, by Sigmar he needed alcohol and fast! Farhoff called for Hilda, he said that they hadn’t had a coal delivery for weeks and Hilda doesn’t go about frolicking in the coal pile. Just in your bed eh? He thought as he tried to figure out what the devil this foot print was from.

Hilda appeared and noted the foot print, she said it looked like a humans with no shoe. What type of crazy man would get about without a shoe in the middle of winter, and then it struck him,. There were bare foot prints back at the Shiergen grave! Friedrich was thinking far too much so soon after last night’s bender and his head started to hurt, Sigmars balls he needed a drink but he was on the job. This was a time for ghost hunting, not alcohol intake!

Hilda said this was very strange and she had no idea who it could be, Frierich puffed his pipe and said he had no clue in what occurred here. He was offered a drink from which he gladly accepted and after complimenting Hilda on her figure he moved inside out of the cold and waited for the ghost to appear. Hilda said she needed to bring more coal in anyway since she was out here and went inside to grab a shovel and put some warmer clothes on.

Friedrich only had to wait for a short period for the familiar scream of the headless woman could be heard from outside the house and Friedrich jumped to action, finally! Something he could shoot!

Friedrich strolled confidently out of the manor house (noticing Lord Farhoff speaking out from behind the curtains) and confronted the creature. The headless ghost screamed a deathly hallow but this did not shake Friedrich in the slightest, he was a soldier dammit! No ghost would scare him! “I name you spirit as Ella Scheirgen!” he called triumphantly. The ghost responded briefly by pausing before continuing to scream. “Well that didn’t work” he said while ponderously stroking his beard while the citizens of Ubersreik ran in terror.

He drew his pistol and talked to the ghost again who simply ignored him. “Well, I suppose I should shoot it” he said to himself but he was interrupted by Hilda calling him inside. Friedrich rushed in and found Lord Farhoff and Hilda clutching an old looking human skull.

Hilda said she found it in the coal pile just then and that she had never seen it before , Farhoff also concurred and almost fainted when he touched it. Friedrich looked at the skull but didn’t know what to make of it and Hilda said it was a female skull but there was something wrong with the jaw as it was far bigger than what it was supposed to be, almost like it was replaced.

Ah ha!! Someone had planted this skull here and that was causing the ghost to haunt the place! These bare footed men were clever but why the Farhoff’s? Friedrich reached out towards the ghost with the skull. The ghost paused for a second and began to reach back before recoiling in fright and screaming again. Hmmm. He thought that the ghost would give out more of a reaction than that, maybe it wasn’t the skull of Ella Shiergen?

Friedrich decided his best course of action was to return to that scruffy chap they called Brieg and to decide on the best course of action. Friedrich exited the Farhoff manor and set off down the road and to his surprise the ghost began to following him. Well well! Looks like this was Frau Schiergen after all! It was good to be right.

Anierra

The house Llefen servant ran her accusing eyes over the disheveled Swordsmaster. “I will see if master Sere’quen Llefen Sere’quen is available, please come in” she said flatly. Sere’quen. Anierra knew Sere’quen Llefen rather well as a certain someone’s favourite cousin.

Anierra had met Sere’quen before, eighty five years before in fact and still her memory of the elf was bitter. Sere’quen was a snake, a predator. Anierra remembered all to well his lascivious eyes running over her teenage figure at her offering to house Llefen, his suggestive tones whispering in her ear and his wandering hands all over her young body. Sere’quen was an elf over five hundred years, he had no business with a fifteen year old child like her but Anierra practically had to fight him off at the time. She had never mentioned it to anyone else let it brought shame upon her and her house but she had never forgotten how close it came and she never will. Anierra reached back, her hand running over the hilt of Bondbreaker “Guess what Sere’quen, I’m not fifteen anymore anymore” she said with a viscous smile and continued waiting, her dread replaced with macabre determination.

The elven servant returned and said Sere’quen would see her shortly and asked Anierra if she wished to “freshen up”, when Anierra declined the servant said it was master Sere’quen’s wishes Anierra replied disdainfully and agreed.

The servant lead Anierra into a wonder to behold, something so alien to her eyes that she forgot it even existed. A actual bath house. The floor was ordained in beautiful porcelain tiles that shimmered a thousand lights and the steam created by the elven woman as she poured the steaming hot water into a dedicated bath was enough to make Anierra swoon.

She couldn’t believe it, she was about to have a bath in a real bath! Not a tub, not a barrel, not a bucket with a sponge, a real dedicated bath and when the servant sprinkled in a handful of Caledor rock salt she almost died. This was it. She could give up right here right now, leave this awful country and return to splendor that was her homeland. Anierra disrobed and sunk into heavenly bliss. The servant brought out a glass of white wine and a bottle of Lothern shampoo and a short time later Anierra’s hair was clean for the first time since she set foot upon this cesspit continent.

The servant supplied Anierra with an alternate dress which master Sere’quen personally requested she wear tonight. Anierra eyed it over and despite it being slightly revealing she didn’t care, this was heaven! She donned the smooth silk gown and the servant did her hair and makeup, and after all that Anierra looked in the mirror and was surprised at what she could see.

She was beautiful.

Had she forgotten she was beautiful? So many years in the Swordsmasters could do that and Anierra hadn’t seen a mirror since she arrived in the Empire. She looked long and hard at the Asur goddess that stared back and something caught her eye.

Bondbreaker.

There it was, sitting on a chair on the other side of the room next to her Ithilmar scale. They were judging her, her sword and her amour, and she knew they were ashamed. Anierra hardened her nerve. No matter what looked back at her in the mirror she would never forget who she was and why she was here. Bondbreaker would be with her forever, long after this floozy of a dress ever would. Bondbreaker was more than a sword, it was her freedom. As long as Anierra wielded it’s shining blade she could not be touched. House Llefen wanted her freedom and to do that they would need to go through Bondbreaker first. After that, when all is said and done, maybe then they’ll take her, but only after they ply her sword from her cold dead hands.

The servant girl showed Anierra through to the main room where she met Serequen for the first time in almost a century. Serequen as a physical specimen was a poor excuse for an elf. For starters he was only 6ft, Anierra was pleased that she was stood a full six inches above him making him look up at her now. His face and features were not high or angular, making him look almost human in appearance, a sign of ugliness within the Asur and his small dark eyes shone with a hint of malevolence.

Serequen expressed his delight at seeing Anierra again and kissed her hand (a little too long in Anierra’s opinion) and they sat down over a meal of roasted duck and a glass of semillon. After some not so pleasant pleasantries Anierra basically said she was here upon Caoifell Heirranai’s request that she come here and see what house Llefen could offer her. Anierra made it obvious that she wanted nothing to do with Serequen and his cousin and at the first able opportunityshe would work as an envoy for house Heirranra during her stay in Ubersreik. She said she would never return to Ulthuan while house Llefen had a hold on her.

Coafell responded by saying that should she disregard her soon to be family and seek employment elsewhere he would write home to his cousin in regards to her whereabouts and he would no doubt employ some unscrupulous types who would bring her back by force. Serequen however who was not unreasonable said that there were benefits for working for him.

Serequen was willing to offer her a position of envoy at a wage far higher than what house Heirranarai could pay, he was also willing to give her all the creature comforts but more importantly, he would not tell his cousin that he had seen her.

Anierra said she must think on it and showed herself out, Serequen said she could keep the dress as a gesture of good faith and Anierra gathered Bondbreaker and her armour and left the building. She considered changing back into her armour but the feel of elven silk against her skin persuaded her to keep it on just a little longer, after all, what would be the harm in that?

Brieg

Brieg finished his second meal for the night. He was staying at the red moon inn and after ordering a meal a fight broke out. Two men were thrown out of the tavern and Brieg stealthily commandeered their dinner plates. He promptly canceled his meal and ordered a drink of questionable ale to which he thought it was delicious.

Ever since he became an adventurer things were looking up for him. The goblins burning down his farm got him down but when he found Klaus and the gang his fortunes had been rising and rising. Sure he had been attacked by goblins, ghosts, bandits, monsters, zombies and crazy people but that’s what happened when you were an adventurer. The book he “borrowed” from Ricknar was really helping him as well. Almost two weeks ago he couldn’t form a single letter but now he could read whole pages if he concentrated enough. The subject matter was a bit strange, too many words about dead bodies and other macabre but any knowledge is good knowledge right? Especially if it helps you to read! Sometimes he dreamed he was reading the book to and when he was alone the words would whisper in his ears. Reading was great! If he knew it was this fun he would have started reading much earlier in his life.

The party seemed to have a new fellow in it. Lord Friedrich something von something-rauch was his name. He was one of those fancy Lord types but he didn’t act like it, rich people were weird. Brieg took another sip and waited, the mean elf would probably be coming back anytime soon as well as Klaus and Ricknar so he he decided to play it cool until they arrived. Yep. Adventuring was a pretty good indeed.

Brieg heard screaming from outside the inn, he had heard it before it was the ghost of Ella Schiergen! Friedrich stumbled into the inn with a mighty grin and greeted him with an appraised look. Brieg looked past him and could see the tavern’s occupants recoiling in terror as the ghost wailed and waited outside the inn, “Don’t worry” called Friedrich with nonchalant amusement, “She’s with me!” Wow. Friedrich was weird.

Friedrich produced a skull and showed it to Brieg who looked it over with a puzzled expression. Brieg told him that the skull was a female but the jaw was male, like someone switched them. Friedrich’s eyes brightened and told Brieg that the skull was Ella Schiergen’s and he would bet his monthly stipend that the jaw belonged to Uwe, her husband, the second ghost.

A group of men began to surround them and the inn keeper told them to throw Brieg and Friedrich out as they would have no part in black magic. The men grabbed Friedrich and Brieg and strong armed them out, Brieg managed to grab a tankard of ale on the way out and was pleased with his results.

After the unceremonious exit of the red moon inn Friedrich and Brieg stood outside wondering what to do. Brieg removed the jawbone of the skull and asked Friedrich to walk in an opposite direction to him. Friedrich replied and to his amusement the ghost followed Brieg. The absurdity of situation kicked in and the pair began to laugh out loud much to the aghast of terrified on lookers. Several guardsmen were standing away from them and one of them ordered another to go get help, it was time for the two of them get moving.

Friedrich said if they returned this skull to Morr’s field that should stop this ghost’s haunting and the two set off before they started attracting even more attention. The pair headed down to through the merchant quarter before Brieg saw a peculiar sight. An elf was heading down the street dressed in an extremely attractive dress, almost scandalous actually. Did all elves look like this? Anierra didn’t for sure, she was all mean looking, how come this elf looked so nice?

Friedrich let out a cat call and the elf looked straight at them and began approaching them. Oh no, Friedrich had antagonized it! It was probably going to bewitch him or whatever elves do, Brieg was a bit worried and the Elf greeted them like it knew them.

Friedrich’s jaw dropped, “Anierra?” he stammered. Anierra responded in her usual condescending manner. Brieg look confused while Friedrich baited the Elf which responded by a series of threats. That probably was Anierra then, she does that.

Brieg leaned forward and got really close to Anierra who looked at him puzzled, “Anierra” he whispered, “You don’t have to look like a prostitute”. Anierra’s face reddened in rage and she replied back to him but Brieg wasn’t listening, he was more worried about the what he could see approaching them.

Striding down the street at the head of a retinue of zealots and guardsmen was Andre Vogel .

Character Logs

Anierra2

Anierra and Klaus stood outside the temple of Sigmar and discussed their options. The ghost haunts every day at early evening so they had plenty of time until they meet it again , they eventually decided to check the garden of Morr.

The pair made their way to the garden outside the city and was suprised it was in poor repair. The once proud walls were falling apart and it was evident that the bodies of the poor were improperly buried. The party found the chief priest of Morr, an old morose man by the name of Schadrach Burke, and they were surprised to find he was the only one left.

Father Burke explained that the recent outbreak of Ghoulpox which originated in the nearby town of Hugeldal had a terrible impact on Ubersreik. The plague wiped out a good portion of the cities poor and in handling the disease many of the tending priests were carried off as well while handling the dead. The only people he had left other than himself were two grave wardens and they had recently employed a hireling by the name of Vunter but let him go when the work died down.

Father Burke mentioned that the dead had to be buried in shallow graves to keep up the demand and due to the poor status of the wolves they have had problems with feral dogs digging up the bodies and carrying them off, with only two grave wardens left it was impossible to keep watch every night.

The party asked to see the graves of the spirits as they were known to originate from here. Father Burke agreed and told them that they rise every day at sunset and return several hours later. The father explained that five days ago the spirits graves were dug up and their bones were stolen and the spirits rose and began haunting the town. Father Burke showed them to the grave where the spirits rose from and in the process met a pistolier by the name of Friedrich Nöbbelmeis von Baumenrauch with a severe hangover.

Frederich was looking into the hauntings under his own accord and aside from being jovial, he was not particularly helpful. The tombstone at the head of the grave read “salvation by fire for witching – Uwe and Ella Shiergen – 2502”. Anierra asked what that meant and Klaus replied when heretics are burnt they are purified of their taint by fire, the elf replied in it’s usual sarcastic condescending tone about the validity of the claim but was ignored by it’s fellow party members.

Klaus investigated the area around the grave and found several sets of footprints all about the garden. The first set was a pair of booted prints, they were the least common and were evident near the Schiergen grave. The second were many different sets of bare human prints, mainly evident around the hastily dug brass tier grave sites and dug up graves while the third set where wolves or feral dogs Father Burke had mentioned.

The party then decided to head back into town and do some research on the Schiergens at the temple of Sigmar, on the way they ran into Brieg whom they had not seen since they were arrested yesterday afternoon. Brieg had apparently done some high quality adventuring work in their absence and had found out several leads and one of them he was about to act upon it. Brieg had heard that the ghost of a woman (whom the party believed to be Ella Schiergen) was haunting the Farhof manor, Brieg knew where that was when he followed the ghost the previous night.

The party looked on with jaw dropped. Brieg had followed the ghost about town and said it like it was no big deal. Frederich was impressed, either this poorly attired filthy man was too stupid to show fear or he was far more brave and intelligent than anyone he had met before.

The party headed off to the Farhoff manor where they met Hilda (a very well dressed servant) and Lord Jacob Farhoff. Lord Farhoff was wintering inside the city but when these hauntings occurred he sent his wife and children out to their riding ranch in the hills and remained behind with Hilda to get to the bottom of the supernatural situation.

Lord Farhoff (as politely as he could) told the party of the haunting by the headless woman and that he would pay the group a week’s mercenary wages if they were to stop them. Frederich said he would do it for free to help a fellow nobleman out to Lord Farhoff offered him a discount at his ranch. The meeting continued with Anierra asking vague favours from Lord Farhoff and Brieg’s innocent disregard for his betters and his prioritisation of hunger almost brought the Lord to a fit of rage. Luckily for the group Klaus’s forthright and zealous nature struck a cord with the Lord and he kept his rage in check, besides Lord Farhoff needed all the help he could get.

Throughout the discussion the party learned that the original owner of the establishment was Thomas Farhoff, a famous witch hunter who operated in the region around the time of Magnus the Pious (the group making a mental note that that that was around the time of the Schiergen burning and assumed it was Thomas Farhoff who passed judgement on the restless occupants of the Shciergen grave). Klaus said he would stay here the night and watch the ghost, Lord Farhof hesitantly said he could arrange for him to stay, Anierra quietly assuming the connection between the master and his servant was slightly more then professional.

Suddenly everyone else in the group wanted to stay overnight for their own separate reasons and Lord Farhoff threw a tantrum at the sheer audacity of the group. Klaus practically threw his fellow party members out of the house in a shameful rage and told the Lord that he would be back in sunset. Lord Farhof nodded in reply, grateful that Klaus had rounded these disrespectful louts out of his vicinity and went back to his business in the sitting room. Anierra had a few more words to Hilda on the way out, trying to gauge the Lord’s connection with his beautiful and well dressed “servant” but did not press her heavily on the matter.

Outside the estate Klaus was ropeable. Frederich was too chummy, Anierra was presumptuous and Brieg was outright rude to Lord Farhoff. This was not the way to deal with a serious situation or how to talk to a fine Lord such as Farhoff, regardless of their social station. Klaus stormed off and commented that he was off to the temple of Sigmar to research the Schiergens and did not wait for the rest of the group.

Anierra said that it had some personal things to take care of in the city. Brieg asked Anierra why she was so mean to Klaus all the time which confused Frederich as he assumed that Anierra was a he and had heard Klaus refer to Anierra several times as a he. Frederich then asked if Anierra was in fact a she like Brieg thought or a he like Klaus thought. Anierra stood shaking in rage and Frederich assumed the elf’s constant bad temper was the caused by “that time of the month” and took Brieg with him leaving the elf by itself.

After terrifying a local while asking directions Anierra found itself before a strange sight. In the market square was a grand old manor house adorned with the banners of the Pheonix King. The door of the manor was carved from Laurelorn oak and the elf assumed this was where it’s dreaded past would catch up to it, the Elf was lonely for it’s own kind and that glass of wine given to it by Lord Dickow brought everything back, why in the entire Old World had house Llefen settled here? By some sick foresight had they planned there wayward prize would stumble back into their arms, long before it had ever dreamed of escaping? No matter where Anierra hid it’s responsibilities came back to haunt it. It was time to front up, take responsibility and at least make it’s presence known after all marriage was inevitable. It’s not like Anierra could wait for it’s future to spouse to die of old age, they were elves after all.

Anierra knocked on the door and was greeted with surprise by a High Elf servant whom led the Elf into a ornate sitting room. There Anierra was greeted by Lorith Ayane, envoy of the Pheonix King whom Anierra bowed deeply (and sighed with relief uponj seeing). Lorith (who had called herself Lorith Silverleaf as she disapproved of the bastardised pronunciation of her last name by the local humans and dwarfs) introduced herself and asked of Anierra’s business in Ubersreik. Anierra basically told Lorith (who was surprised that the eldest scion of such an influential family was wandering around a land as distasteful as the Empire) that the Elf was lonely and wished to seek employment out of it’s own kind. Lorith apologised as she had no positions available but directed Anierra to the two elven merchants in town. House Llefen imported Ulthuan wine and is almost solely responsible for the entire supply of elven wine in southern Reikland while house Heirranai imported Elven silks and traded with southern Reikland and across the border to Bretonnia.

Anierra inwardly died that it’s suspicions were confirmed about house Llefen’s presence in Ubersreik were well founded but was intrigued about house Herainai. The elf thanked Lorith who replied that her doors were always open to a Swordsmaster of Hoeth and bid Anierra farewell.

Klaus, Brieg and Frederich were hard at work at the the temple of Sigmar’s library. Gunther Emming had given them access to the historical confessions given by those who confessed heresy and witch craft to templars of Sigmar before they were executed, records which went back over one thousand years. Gunter had also lent the party an initiate as for the most part the current party members researching were basically illiterate. With diligent work by Dieter and Klaus (Klaus being the only one who could effectively piece together a sentence) the party discovered some interesting facts.

The trial of the Schiergens was conducted by Thomas Farhoff and there confessions were laboriously. The Schiergens were quote “Bathed in blood and were worshipping a being by the name of Sir Bandic the Blood Dragon”. The second part of the confession detailed alledged plans to over throw the cult of Sigmar in Ubersreik and some minor details about a hairy, beast-like man. Frederich gave Dieter five brass for his troubles and the adventures mused over the day’s events.

End Session

Character Logs

Anierra2
Klaus2

Lord Dickow’s hunting lodge was a fair sized log cabin half buried in the snow in te middle of the forest around a day’s coach from Ubersreik. Dickow was delighted to have guests and showed the party around his lodge. The party was particularly impressed with Lord Dickow who appeared to be the jovial type. Dicjkow told the party of his time adventuring in his youth, his service in the Order of the Broken Sword and his substantial hunting exploits. The latter impressed the party insurmountably as Dickow proudly showed them his Beastmen head collection which he had “caught himself”, the prize of his trophy room was the head of the largest Wargor the party had ever seen, Dickow chuckled at their reaction.

Dinner was served shortly after and the party were plated with a hearty stew. Dickow asked the party of their various exploits and histories and was pleased with the company he had gained for the evening, when the topic of Anya came up he diverted attention elsewhere as he didn’t want to be improper at the dinner table in fron of the women. Dickow was so impressed with the group that he shouted them a bottle of lleyin estate Shiraz, wine from the Elven wine merchant’s in town.

Upon seeing the estate label on the bottle Anierra dropped a few shades of colour and blustered out about how nice the wine was, failing averting attention to itself. Dickow dismissed Anierra’s odd behaviour as “elves” and they continued on with the meal, everyone agreed how nice the wine was except for Anya who apparently after having her first taste of wine ever, didn’t like it. Small talk continued and after dinner Dickow invited the males (leaving Anya with his wife) to the prize of his hunting lodge, a steam sauna (which he got the idea from his time spent in Norsca as an adventurer), possibly the only one of it’s kind in Reikland outside of Altdorf.

Anierra, upon discovering the sauna and watching as Lord Dickow and it’s fellow party members stripping, dropped colour once again. Lord Dickow jested about Anierra’s apparent homosexuality and a naked Klaus insisted that the elf take it’s clothes off and join them as it is improper to decline a nobles request. Anierra stammered out a response and whispered something to Dickow who immeadiately turned bright red and began apologising profusely, Anierra promptly left the change room while under a barrage of questioning glances from it’s party members.

The sauna was incredibly relaxing and Dickow told the party of the real reason why he had left Ubersreik. Two ghosts had began haunting the town at night, floating through the streets screaming. Dickow thought it was improper that a ghost might frighten his wife so he took her on a holiday while the Cult of Sigmar dealt with the problem, unfortunately Dickow had little faith in the solution.

High Priest Gunther Emming had dispatched a crazed witch hunter to solve the hauntings by the name of Andre Vogel. Vogel was insane and well over the hill, while Dickow believed in the witch hunters Vogel was causing more harm then good, as far as he could tell Vogel has done nothing but stand in the market square and accuse passer by’s of sinful behaviour and heresy.
Klaus offered to solve the hauntings and Dickow said he’d be grateful as he currently had more faith in the party he had just met then a watchunter with more than twenty years experience.

Dickow also told the party of the power struggles within Ubersreik between the Holzenhauers, Aschaffenbergs, Von Bruners, Von Saponatheim and Von Jungfrieds. Rumour has it that Karl Franz was to negate Ubersreik right of maintaining a free city and install a liege lord and the noble houses just met a fighting a war of politics and shadows to reap the spoils of Ubersreik leadership.

After the sauna Anierra asked Dickow if Anya and itself could use the sauna and Dickow agreed blushing heavily, still embarressed from his earlier realisation. The party then had a nice glass of port, hit the hay and for the first night in days had an uninterrupted, good nights sleep.

The next morning the party headed out to Ubersreik and arrived late afternoon, early evening in the market square, the centre of business within Ubersreik. There they found the witch hunter Andre Vogel spouted religious scriptures and calling for Ubersreik to repent it’s sins and there they saw evidence of the haunting in full motion.

The headless ethereal body of a woman burning in ghostly flames floated through the town square screaming. What few citizens who had remained outdoors panicked and fled while Andre Vogel continued his rapacious damning, seemingly oblivious to this ghostly figure. Ricknar outstretched is hand and shot a handful of burning splinters at the creature, the attack passed right through it and the splinters landed with a pronounced thunk into the side of a nearby house. Andre Vogel leapt off his stand he was preaching on, drew his weapon and charged the party, calling for the citizens to aid in his offence against the vile witch of chaos.

Klaus drew his weapon and interposed himself between the witch hunter saying that Ricknar was a sanctioned wizard and that he should be worrying about the ghost(whom at this time floated right by them and out of the square). Anierra moved up and stood menacingly next to Klaus but Vogel didn’t care and nor was he listening. Vogel demanded death for the wizard and Ricknar responded by arguing against deaf ears. Vogel assumed that the elf and the tall man were in league with the witch and proclaimed them heretics and demanded their surrender. By this stage several watchmen had come to his aid and were staring menacingly at the party from behind their halberds and had them squarely surrounded.

Klaus threw his flail to the ground in defeat, went down on his knees and put his hands on his head and suggested the party do the same, he was confident of the groups innocence and said compliance was their only option. The witchunter agreed, “comply and burn later or stand and die in the street” was his words. Anierra was next to give itself up although required several threats from the guardsman to relinquish Bondbreaker.

Meanwhile standing slightly away from the group Brieg was stood mouth agape with slack jawed wonder, looking like half the filthy peasants in the market square and not interposing had caused the witch hunter and the watchmen to completely ignore him. Brieg then started sweeping the cobblestones with his broomstick to aid in his subterfuge, feeling twice as clever as everyone else in the party.

He watched as Ricknar finally went down on his knees and the watchmen roughly hauled them up and began to march them to the town barracks for imprisonment, although rather amused that the big shots had gotten themselves arrested he would have to think of a way of getting them out, he was about to follow when he noticed Ricknar had dropped a book! Strange, he must of hidden it under his robes when he went down on his knees but why would he do that?

(The book was a necromantic grimoire written in dark tongue and classical which Ricknar picked up from Ondurin Vonrueter. Obviously Ricknar didn’t want to get caught with that on him because if he did all the fire in the Bright College couldn’t prevent him from being hung drawn and quartered by the zealous witchhunter.)

Brieg picked up the book and was about to call out that Ricknar had dropped it before it dawned on him, Ricknar wanted Brieg to have it! Brieg was beginning to think that Ricknar wasn’t as clever as he thought he was, everyone knew that Brieg couldn’t read, so why leave him a book? Admittedly Brieg did like books, especially books with pictures so out of curiosity he opened it. The text was even more weirder than what books normally were, although the book had plenty of pictures they weren’t very nice, all pictures of body parts and stuff. Brieg closed the book and sought after his party members, he’ll return it to Ricknar, or at least see what Ricknar wanted to do with it.

The party were dumped into the watch barracks and aside from a guards explorative hands on Anierra’s rear they were relatively unharmed. The party was not very impressed with the situation and at each other and they were joined in their cell by a large man by the name of Big Pete, who actually turned out to be a rather friendly when he wasn’t aware he was being made fun of.

Brieg popped his head up between the windowed bars which accessed the street and Ricknar told Brieg that he was to give the book to his master on Wizard’s Way and that they should be released once the guards search their goods and find Ricknars writ stating that he was college wizard.

Brieg, book in hand, began to make his way to Ricknar’s master before running afoul of the they met earlier in the square, this time accompanied by a trail of barking dogs. Brieg decided to follow the ghost for a while until it stopped at house, circled around a few times (and in the process scaring a dog to death) before continuing on it’s journey. Brieg tried to interpose himself between the ghost and scolded it, saying it shouldn’t go around scaring people. The ghost replied by screaming “It’s burning, it’s burning” before floating away. Brieg made a mental note of the house and out of curiosity had a quick glance at Ricknar’s book again.

This time for some reason the book was very interesting although he didn’t know why. Suddenly Brieg didn’t want to return it straight away, maybe he’ll borrow it for a while before returning it right? Like one of those library things he heard of, a place were somewhere let you borrow something for free? Surely things like that only existing in the land of the gods! Brieg soon decided food and sleep were next on his priority list and after eating a meal which may or may not have been a cat, he booked a room at the red moon inn and retired for the night to read his new book (and gained corruption because of it).

The next morning a High Priest of Sigmar called Leopold that Klaus had met several days prior got them released and took the party to the temple of Sigmar. Leopold who was joined by Ubersreik’s High Priest Gunther Emming discussed the situation with the party. Gunther was pleased to tell the party that Rutger Lurchen and his family were to be executed next week, including their children. Klaus was pleased but Rutger and Anierra barely contained their rage. Leopold then offered Klaus entrance into the Knights Templar of Sigmar if they solved this haunting as Andre Vogel was becoming a liability. Klaus’s uncle Walter Von Meyer was a famous witch hunter and Klaus’s father was a Lector in Altdorf, Klaus’s pious zeal was well known and Leopold could vouch for him considering he delivered the heretical Lurchens to the church.

Anierra was silently horrified that Klaus could soon wield a position of authority soon and made a personal vendetta against the church to free the Lurchen children Fritz and Estelle from their fiery death not one week from now. Gunther Emming berated the party, he hated the Von Meyer family with a passion and tried to goad Klaus into a rash outburst but Klaus was unusually diplomatic, Gunther then told Klaus to curb his elf and curb his wizard as if they were pets to further antagonise the son of his enemy.

The party left the temple of Sigmar with mixed opinions. Ricknar raged against the machine, fuming at unjust bureaucracy, Anierra left with a cold assurance that the Elf would see that the children were saved no matter the cost and Klaus left with his head held high, the star of the Von Meyers rising ever higher into glory.

End Session.

Klaus2
Anierra2

Klaus and Brieg ventured into the dark corridors of the Vonrueter’s extension. Brieg took the zealot to the spot where he heard the child Elena’s footsteps and sure enough they could hear the undead girl pattering about. Klaus drew his flail and took lead, Elena stayed well beyond their sight and lead them down some cold stone stairs. Klaus was weary and warned Brieg of an ambush but all they found at the end of the stairs was another hallway.

The pair continued on until they found a bolted wooden door and from their surprise a plea for help emerged behind it’s iron frame. Klaus was suspicious of more necromantic tricks and warned Brieg as he opened the door. A ragged, bearded and filth encrusted man burst forth thanking the party for saving him and then proceeded to jump about in a crazy manner.

The party questioned the man and although it took awhile he eventually recalled that he was Jonah Vonrueter and that he was the eldest child of the Vonrueter family. Jonah said his father had locked him in this prison a long time ago and he had no idea how long. Klaus ran through the list of family members and Jonah did not recognise Anya’s name, Klaus then deduced he had been locked away for over 16 years. Brieg showed sympathy for the crazed son but Klaus was more suspicious as something seemed a little off with this eldest child, while he definitely had the features of a Vonrueter why was he locked up in such a manner and why for so long.? Gustav had been murdered and had his soul farmed out by his father, Anya was kept in a prison without walls and was permitted to communicate so why had Jonah had nothing but an iron door and cold stone to keep him company? Why not kill him and use him as he had done Gustav? What purpose did he have?

Klaus put these machinations behind him and the three of them set out, while suspicious Jonah’s crazed antics were entertaining enough and he decided to leave him be for now. While maneuvering throughout the hallway Jonah smashed an oil lantern hanging on the wall spreading fore throughout the corridors, he then whooped for Joy and ran down the hallway, the fire blocking the parties pursuit. With much huffing and puffing Brieg and Klaus doused the flames but not before Jonah knocked over another oil lantern, igniting the hallways once again.

Klaus told Brieg that they should forget about Jonah and let the crazy idiot burn the house down around himself as Ricknar and himself were planning to do it anyway. Brieg however wouldn’t stand for it and was determined to save Jonah and rushed after him. Brieg arrived at the scene of two large fires freshly caused by Jonah’s destructive antics and dove through the flames after him, sustaining some mild burns. Jonah was resistant to Brieg’s rescue attempts but an iron grasp on Jonah’s hair and some swift punches to the face the crazed Vonrueter was subdued.

Klaus had gathered Anya and the rest of the party members and they had ran there way out into the freezing night. Brieg soothed his burns in the cold snow and they subdued Jonah by putting a rucksack over his head. Anya didn’t like the look of her new found brother but kept quiet, heartened that she was finally escaping the nightmare of her family.

The group trudged back to the main road in the darkness, the sun began to rise and they reached the spot of Gustav’s demise, Gustav’s body, sword and the Beastmen tracks were nowhere to be found, he truly was a tortured soul who’s spirit was bound to his evil father. The party removed Jonah’s restraints and the man laid eyes on his sister for the first time, Jonah shot the girl a predatory glance, his eyes dark pits of violence and evil and Anya recoiled in fright. Klaus was starting to realise why Ondurin had locked his son up, he was dangerous.

Brieg pushed Jonah away from Anya and made him lead, Brieg would make sure that Jonah couldn’t get his hands on Anya no matter what, Jonah lost his glance and put his crazy face on and once again they continued on the road to Ubersreik but several hours later they came across a group of shabby bandits in the process of robbing a private coach.

The bandits had ejected the four servants and were in the process of searchong them. Two bandits were standing watch while their leader, a much older man than the rest of them was arguing with the occupants of the coach. Klaus, Brieg, Anya and Jonah rolled off the road and into the snow to plan their action, they had not been spotted.

There were six bandits in total and four of them were distracted, they did not appear to be well equipped and all seemed very young, except for their leader who was in their late forties. Klaus said they needed a distraction and Brieg shoved Jonah their way while Klaus moved through the forest on the right, Brieg following him soon afterward.

Jonah ran forward in a crazy manner, jumping and shouting and generally making a nuisance of himself drawing the attention of the bandits who were wondering what the hell was going on. Klaus snuck his way just sort of charging distance to the bandits leader before being spotted, the bandits milled about and Klaus used their confusion to his advantages, “Surrender we got ten other men in these trees!” he shouted. Brieg rushed out of his concealed position, engaging a frightened bandit in order to re-confirm Klaus’s bluff.

The bandits milled about in confusion, some panicked some moved to engage the foes, Jonah was pushed over into the snow, barely resisting as a bandit shoved him down to get closer to Brieg. Klaus raised his flail and charged, an arrow glancing painfully off his chainmail as he ran out of the cover of the trees. Brieg swung his dagger like a mad man, he was no combat aficionado but fortunately for the commoner his foe was just as inexperienced as he and with both Klaus and Brieg distracted they both realized they’re fatal flaw.

Jonah jumped to his feet with cat like efficiency, murder plainly written plainly on his face. Jonah then tore off with blazing speed in the direction of Anya, whooping loudly and laughing manically. Anya jumped from her concealed position on the side of the road, screamed and ran into the woods with Jonah in close pursuit.

Klaus swung his flail wildly, smashing skulls and breaking bones as a bandits fell before him. The bandit leader rallied his group and charged into the fray ducking and weaving before launching a cut at Klaus’s chest, Klaus raised his flail to defend and in the process, fell for the ruse. The bandits blade slammed down on the flail and at the same time with his other hand the bandit grasped the flail’s handle, leaving Klaus struggling to regain control of his weapon. The bandit then lashed out and with a mighty kicked and smashed his hobnail boot into Klaus’s kneecap, an audible crack ringing from the Zealot’s patella.

Brieg on the other hand was slashing ferociously and with reckless disregard, he had taken a few blows off the bandit but he no longer cared, he needed to save Anya and fast. The bandit however was far worse off than Brieg and after a swing which almost took his hand off he decided banditry wasn’t all it cracked up to be and ran off screaming.

Brieg spun around and began to give chase to Jonah but was interrupted by an arrow sizzling past his face, he looked to his left and saw another bandit knocking an arrow and cursed. Brieg would have to deal with this one too, if he ran off now he’d have nothing to show for but an arrow in his back and Anya would be as good as dead.

Brieg raised his dagger high, charged and wildly swung at the bandit who simply stepped aside. Brieg stumbled into the snow onto his knees before jumping up, Rutger Lurchen’s broom in hand. The bandit seemed perplexed that Brieg had foregone his dagger for a dust broom and was soon on the receiving end of the broom which had destroyed six goblins only four nights before. The bandit stumbled back and he watched as Brieg beat a retreat into the direction that the crazy man had chased the girl too. The bandit notched an arrow, took aim at Briegs back and was about to shoot until he saw the giant man with the flail cave in his boss’s skull and the bandit had a sudden revelation that living was the most important thing he could do and he broke and ran from his comrades.

Brieg ran through the woods as fast as he could, huffing and puffing as blood ran from his wounds, he would not let that murderer touch a hair on her head! Brieg saved him! He had given him a chance and this is how Jonah repaid him? By murdering his own sister? If anything happened to her would never forgive himself, it was all his fault, he should have listened too Klaus and let the crazed man die in the fires he created.

Brieg reached a clearing and his heart lurched, he was too late. Jonah was on top of Anya, the weight of him sinking Anya deep into the snow. Jonah’s hands were around her neck, his wiry muscles buldging under exertion as he choked the life out of his sister, and just as Brieg feared the worse Anya feebly raised a hand and pushed weakly at her brother, she was alive! Brieg’s elation turned to blood curdling fury and we swung his broom as hard as he could, knocking Jonah off Anya and into the snow.

“How dare you interrupt me with my little slut!” he growled and leaped at Brieg, punching him in the gut and the face. Brieg responded with a solid thwack with his broom while Jonah rushed him again but Brieg somehow stumbled out of the way. Jonah laughed manically and took another swing, Brieg used his broom like a quarter staff and smashed the handle into Jonah’s oncoming fists, causing him to howl in pain. Brieg swung again and took Jonah down by one knee before driving the broom into his head, caving in his skull. Brieg dropped to his knees, horrified at what he had done and Klaus arrived on the scene and checked Anya.

Anya was alive but not entirely well. She had heavy bruising around her face and neck but other than that she was unharmed and her clothes were still in tact, it seemed Jonah was more interested in murder rather than baser pursuits. Klaus brought Anya back to the coach while Brieg followed quietly, mewling over the first human death he had directly caused.

The occupants of the coach had exited and out the front stood an old noble couple. The man was waving his arms about frantically to one of his servants who was standing impassively to one side, apparently well suited to his lord’s mannerisms. Klaus approached the Lord and went down on one knee, the Lord laughed told him to get up and whole hardheartedly thanked them, he introduced himself as Frank Dickow Dick as he licked to be known. Dickow payed the group a meager fee as he didn’t have that much on him but as he did they heard the sound of horse riders approaching, Klaus ordered everyone to get back while Dick looked on disapprovingly. The riders turned out be a pair of road wardens and upon sight of the party drew the pistols and assumed they were bandits and told them that they were under arrest. Dick said that they were bloody stupid and useless and that he was lucky that these fellows had done their job for them. The road wardens who knew Lord Dickow well told him to stand asside while they arrested these scoundrels. Dick marches up to spouting profanities before pulling one of them from his horse and booting him in the arse, he then made the other one right up a letter of bounty for the party so they could collect it when next in Ubersreik.

The road warden’s remounted and made their way back to Ubersreik with their tails between their legs. Lord Dickow invited the party to a night at his hunting lodge which was only an hour away as he was on the way to it when he was attacked. Lord Dickow said his servant whom he sent ahead a few days ago to prepare the lodge was skilled at medicine and first aid and she could tend to Brieg and Anya’s wounds, the party agreed.

End Session.

Character Log

Anierra1
Klaus1

The group entered Anya’s room. The room was a pale shadow of Wilhelmas, where Wilhelma had fine furniture, Bretonian stylings and a roaring hearth Anya had broken ramshackle furniture, mildew rotting through the walls and a glassless window giving the winter night’s chill free reign about the room. Anya had been crying and was surprised to see the adventurers alive, she said she was tired of her father murdering innocents and she feared for her life. Anya said her father killed Gustav because he was wayward and refused her fathers gifts and she feared that it would only be a matter of time until he killed her for the same reason.

Based on the belittlement of Anya during the meal and Wilhelma’s attitude towards her the party assumed that she was an unwilling participant and needed to be rescued. Anya said she didn’t know how to escape as she was rarely allowed to leave her room (the party noticed that her door locked from outside) but she knew how to get to her father’s quarters as she used to go there and beg him to stop each time he had captured new travelers. Anya said the only way to stop the horrors of the mansion was to kill her father, that way the beasts in the woods would disappear and they could make it out of the forest. The party offered that Anya go with them and she readily agreed.

Anya gathered her meager belongings and led the party through the extensions and to Ondurin’s room and they confronted the necromancer. Ondurin said they were fools for not recognising true beauty and tried to reason with the party to willingly submit but they would have none of it. Ondurin raised three zombies and began gathering the winds of magic around him.

Klaus leaped into to action, springing forward with his flail to deal a fiendish blow against the foul creature, so resolute in his faith that not even the sight of the undead could shake his determination. Ricknar let fly with his magic, setting a zombie alight but the unholy foe soon retaliated. They launched themselves at the party, Klaus fended the beasts of with ease but Anierra and Ricknar did not fair well taking several minor wounds.

Anierra swung bondbreaker in a precise swing, dealing a viscous slash that would have killed a normal man. The zombie stumbled back and prepared for another assault, Anierra raised the blade to defend when fear gripped the bottom of the elf’s heart. Ondurin raised his hands and the lights in the room wavered and withered (Dread Malaise). Purple tendrils seeped from the sides of the walls and wrapped around Anierra and Klaus, icing their souls with images of pain and terror and sapping their strength and will out of their souls.

Ricknar’s zombie took advantage of the situation and grasped the frightened wizard taking a bite out of his shoulder and Ricknar pushed the zombie back in desperation. The bright wizard’s channeling was failing him, he could not gather his thoughts effectively and he knew his time was running out if he could put the beast down in a timely manner. The wizard hit the zombie with his staff and stepped back in an attempt to gather his thoughts.

The blade licked and the flail smashed as Anierra and Klaus set to work in a viscous manner. The contrast in style and skill were evident but the end result was just as effective, regardless of ability. Where Anierra fought with a skill and grace, Klaus would reply with wild swings and brute force. When Bondbreaker slashed and sliced with the elegant finesse, the iron flail would crash and wreck with uncouth savagery and Klaus’s zombie soon fell from the zealots onslaught, a bloody mess of rotting flesh and bone.

Ricknar called out to Klaus that Ondurin was tapped and now was his chance. Klaus readied the charge but was halted by a mad Sanne Vonrueter, bursting from the shadows in defense of her husband. While some men would hesitate in striking a lady, Klaus was no such fool. Sanne was a creature of the dark gods and must be destroyed, Klaus had already killed two women in the past three days for (arguably) following chaos and he wasn’t about to stop now! With a mighty side swing Klaus’s flail crashed dramatically into Sanne’s hip, catapulting the beleaguered woman into the wall and leaving Klaus unopposed to face Ondurin himself.

Anierra looked past the zombie and at Ondurin, attempting to find a weakness that it could exploit but was forced down to it’s knees as the zombie took a viscous bite out of the elf’s head, blood obscuring the elf’s vision. At the side of Anierra’s eye the elf could see a beleaguered Ricknar set a zombie alight yet it continued onwards biting and scratching the wizard who appeared to be in serious trouble. Ricknar was the last and only line of defense for Anya Vonrueter and if he fell the defenseless girl would be next.

Ondurin taunted Klaus as he launched sinister bolts of electricity (doombolt) at the zealot, shocking and burning him the process. Klaus powered on through the onslaught but was still accosted by images of pain and fear from Ondurin’s magic and his mind snapped and suddenly he was unsure of himself (acquired the nagging doubts insanity and some critical I forget).

Klaus pushed onwards through the dark and painful storm set upon him, he could feel is skin crackle and his insides burn as the electricity arched his way through his body. Ondurin taunted the zealot, laughing manically and this was his mistake. Klaus drew strength from his faith in Sigmar, raised his flail high and with a mighty warcry brought it back down on Ondurin’s head, sending the necromancer reeling.

Anierra lifted Bondbreaker up, cutting the zombie in two and was presented with a choice. Behind him Ricknar was being overwhelmed by a zombie and in front Ondurin Vonrueter stood at death’s door. Anierra weighed the odds, if the elf killed the zombie Ricknar would be saved but Klaus would take the glory, and if the elf killed Ondurin Anierra woukd take the glory and the zombie would unanimate and Ricknar would be free. Anierra charged Ondurin but the elf’s vision was obscured by it’s own blood and Bondbreaker missed it’s target.

The zombie overran Ricknar, pinned him to the ground and began trying to rip his throat out. Anya sprang into action, desperately trying to save the panicky wizard but the Zombie proved too strong for her feeble arms and the undead creature threw her off. Ondurin launched more dark energy at Klaus (arcane bolt) but was interrupted by Klaus’s flail explosively dismembering his head, showering the zealot and swordsmaster in blood and brains.

The zombie atop Ricknar collapsed into a lifeless pile and Anierra rushed to Ricknar’s aid, assisting him in providing urgent medical attention. Klaus sheathed his weapon and strode over to Sanne Vonrueter who was lying by the corner nursing her broken hip. Klaus kicked the woman on her back, put a boot to her throat and pressed down with all his weight until he heard that satisfying snap of a chaos worshiper’s neck.

Sigmar would be proud of this day.

Anierra and Ricknar looked over in horrified disgust. Klaus was out of control and the three of them began shouting. Klaus had killed three women without asking questions, Sanne could have been under the influence of a spell and Klaus killed her outright? Klaus killed Wilhelma only one hour prior without asking her any questions and determining facts. Klaus was a serial killer hiding behind the church and he must be deal with. The argument came to an end when a resigned Anya told them it doesn’t matter at the moment and they had to get moving, the entire argument she had been sitting next to her mother’s body and crying softly.

The party came to their senses and decided to put their affairs aside for their moments, Anya’s safety and their escape were their primary concerns. The party searched Ondurin’s chambers, keen to gather items of value which would pay for their lack of reward which was offered to them by Gustav. The arty recovered some physicians tools, strange stuffed animals and a peculiar book. What Ricknar did not tell them that the book was a necromantic grimoire bound with human skin that whispered dark thoughts inside his head. Ricknar had no intention of clashing wills the the foul tome but wished to turn it into his master in Ubersreik for safe disposal, or at least that’s what he told himself.

Anierra and Brieg raided the kitchen and the elf even found a bottle of reasonable red wine, something which had been lacking in it’s life ever since it left Ulthuan. The party decided that escape from the manor at this time would be unwise, although with Ondurin’s death the beasts in the forest had been destroyed there was several hours until daybreak and the winter night was freezing. Neither Klaus nor Brieg were not keen to spend another night out in the cold and with Ricknar in such a bad shape and Anya in tow they decided a night in the elements was not the best idea.

The party was troubled at the lack of appearance from Sothelin, Anya said she didn’t know where he stayed but he did say he was very loyal to Ondurin. Klaus also stated that Elena, the undead child was still on the loose and may cause issues. The party decided that the safest place for them to be was the bunk rooms in which they stayed in earlier, if the kept watch and all stayed together they would be safe and then could make their getaway at first light.

The group settled down with Anierra and Brieg taking turns on watch. Anierra’s stint was uneventful but Brieg heard strange noises and ventured out into the extension by himself. The rooms were dark and foreboding and all around him Brieg could hear the sound of children running, Elena! Brieg hurried back to the bunk house and woke up Klaus and the two of them ventured into the extensions to hunt the Vonrueter’s undead child.

End Session

Character Logs

Klaus1
Anierra1