The Enemy Within (WHF Witch Hunter Quest)
- Thread starter Maugan Ra
- Start date
- Fantasy
somewhatLazy
Serial Procrastinator
- Location
- lurking
I'm also personally cheering for the really angry halfling lawyer with a dagger. Go, Ozzy, go! Vent out all that repressed rage! It's not murder if it's a daemon!
XIV - Daemonslayer
- Location
- London, England
XIV - Daemonslayer
The daemon is right; if you fight it here and now, people will die. You have come here with a band of aspirational fools looking for adventure led by a man with the seed of doubt in his heart, and none of you are ready for what this battle will cost. The daemon is right about these things, but it does not matter. The daemon wishes you to leave, to flee this place and return only in some hypothetical future, and that alone is enough to decide otherwise. You may fail, you may die, but you will not give a daemon that which it desires.
"This thing," you say in as stern a voice as you can manage, commending your soul to Sigmar as you lift your blessed sword in high salute, "is a threat to every living soul in Bögenhafen. It cannot be permitted to remain here, spreading its poison through the earth. Ready yourselves, and stand as Sigmar did."
Markus tests Leadership! Skill is 49+10 due to social status, so 59. Roll is 33, success with +2SL. All subordinates inspired to attack, gain +10 to resist fear for the first two turns.
The fear does not leave them, the quiet certainty of pain and death to come yet undeniable, but there is a grim edge to it now, a quiet resolve that sharpens the spirit like a whetstone does a blade. They raise their weapons and set their stances, and in that moment you have never been prouder of any man or woman born.
"Have it your way," the daemon laughs, the great billowing cloud of smoke expanding and growing, brushing against the ceiling as the shadowed form in the depths grows sharper, "meat."
Adhema is the first to charge - brave Adhema, the merchant who only wanted an adventure, throwing herself at a nightmare with nothing but a sliver of steel in her slender hands. Her blow passes through the smoke that veils the daemon and she staggers, wasted momentum combined with building nausea to send her to one knee, and the beast raises something that is not quite a claw over her head to strike back before a common pebble punctures the carapace with a crack like thunder. The daemon hisses, turning towards Banbury with murder in its glowing eyes, but you are there and Frederich too and it cannot win through.
The daemon is not a thing of this world, not entirely, and so it is not bound by the same rules and limits as a mortal beast. Frederich's blade passes through its central mass and out the other side with seemingly no effect at all, and when you pull the trigger on your pistol it seems to swallow the shot and powder alike to seemingly no effect, but your sword is a different matter. Plated in the purest silver and blessed by a high priest of Sigmar in the blessed waters of the Great Cathedral, it is anathema to this monster's very existence, and when you cut at an exposed worm-like limb the twisted flesh parts like rotten silk and black blood falls like rain across the floor.
The daemon screams, a hideous wailing noise that rings in your ears like a salvo of cannon, and when you stagger back it lashes out in vengeful fury. A serpentine tongue erupts like a pistol shot and sends Ozzy Banbury toppling to the ground with a grisly crunch, and Adhema has barely managed to pull herself upright when a flailing hoof-tipped limb crushes her into the ground with a distressingly wet tearing sound. Two of your companions are down in as many seconds, the others absent or ineffective, if you are to survive this it will be your actions alone that carry the day.
"Sigmar!" you roar, tossing aside your pistol and taking the blessed silver sword in a two handed grip, "Guide my arm!"
The Heldenhammer obliges, and with a final roar of effort you sink your sword into the creature's centre of mass and put all your weight behind pushing it home. Smoke swirls and water boils, and for one fleeting moment nine eyes meet your two, each seething with immortal rage.
"Sheru'tar Gee'taru will tear out your heart," the daemon hisses, and a moment later it is gone, falling apart into nothingness as the unholy magic holding it together gives way before your sword. With a brittle crack, the equine skull at the centre of the ritual circle cracks neatly into two pieces.
For a moment you just stand there, breathing hard and blinking in surprise at the unexpected nature of your victory, and then a low groan of pain snaps you out of your trance. The templars trained you in the basics of applied medicine, mostly for field dressings and assessing how much people dragged in for interrogation could be expected to bear, and while that is far from enough it is still the best that anyone present has to offer.
You begin with Adhema, who lies groaning on the ground clutching at the twisted wreck of her leg. It isn't broken, you assess, but it was badly twisted and bruised by being stomped on by something so inhumanly malevolent, and more critically there is a deep tear in her flesh dangerously close to the artery that runs through her thigh. You cut away her woollen hose to expose the wound and staunch it as best you can with a handful of bandages and improvised wadding, but by the time you've managed to get the bleeding under control Adhema has passed out from some combination of the pain and blood loss. Grimacing, you roll her cloak up and place it under her head to make her at least a little comfortable, then rise and head across the chamber to take a look at Ozzy.
The halfling is in a bad way, pale and shaking with pain and lingering fear, and his entire shoulder seems to have been dislocated by the blow the daemon landed on him, but ultimately he isn't dying right this moment. You'll need to reset that joint before too long, but doing so in these conditions while he is already on the verge of passing out would not be ideal, so you settle for crudely binding it in place and making him ready to move.
(The daemon said that one among you is already poisoned and dying - is it Banbury? The halfling fell into the sewage earlier, his head went below the surface, if anything were to afflict a man with lethal disease that would. There is nothing to be done about it now, but you cannot help but linger on the thought.)
With your two most injured companions at least stabilised, you are finally able to turn your attention to the rest of the chamber. Spätin and Frederich have evidently been busy searching the place while you worked, and when you straighten up they both turn towards you.
"Nothing in here but a bunch of robes and an old knife," Spätin says, holding the lid of the small cabinet you noticed earlier so you can look inside. You frown at her, less than pleased with her utter failure to contribute to the fighting earlier, but she seems nervous enough to understand her error and so you elect not to press.
"Cults often disguise their identities, even from each other," you say instead, shaking your head and turning away, "as for the knife… leave it. Nothing good can come of a tool doubtless used for evil. What of you, Frederich?"
The road warden grins triumphantly at you, his dark hair fetchingly askew, and thumps the nearest portion of the stone wall with the butt of his sword. It makes a dull echoing noise, quite unlike anything you would expect from an actual wall, and you raise your eyebrows in surprise.
"Secret door," Frederich says cheerfully, "No idea how to open it, but I knew there was no way they'd build this place with a bolt on the only way in and out. Oh, and here, I found this lying in the corner here."
He hands you a scrap of bright purple fabric, which upon unfolding turns out to be a silk handkerchief stitched with golden thread. Such things are far too expensive for any but the richest kind of merchants and most prominent nobles to own, and after a moment you see that the owner of this one has even helpfully monogrammed his initials in one corner. You're not sure who exactly 'F.S' is, but you very much want to talk to them. You expect it will be a fascinating conversation.
"Well done," you nod to him, tucking the evidence away in your coat pocket and heading over to inspect what remains of the summoning circle. You don't have a particularly in depth knowledge of ritual magic, but that is hardly required in a case like this. The paint will be almost untraceable, you expect, and black candles are often made as more sinister fashion trends sweep the land every few years, but a copper ring three paces wide is far more interesting. Someone must have commissioned this work specifically, and it is unusual enough that you expect the metalsmith responsible will remember it. "It is perhaps less important, but did anyone find proof of the beastman?"
"I think this is a pig skull?" Spätin says in a dubious tone, holding up a chunk of bone still half-covered in blood and scraps of brown-gold fur, "Kind of small, though."
"It will suffice," you nod, though some part of you wonders at the evidence of a daemon butchering a beastman like that. Are they not all meant to be the children of chaos? "Now… Spätin, you will hold the torch and lead the way. Frederich, you and I will help to carry our injured comrades. We must return to the surface."
"Sure, sure," the road warden says, nodding as he kneels down next to Adhema's unconscious body, "Don't know that we can get these two up a ladder, but the sewer is open air near the poorer districts, so we can probably just walk out there. Though, uh… not to be greedy, but you did mention payment…"
"A gold crown apiece, yes," you nod, grunting as you lift Ozzy Banbury up onto your back, wincing at the little whimper of pain he makes, "Hells, you stood with me against a daemon, so make it two. Just need to make it back to the surface and contact the circus owner who was supposed to be controlling the beastman."
Moving awkwardly beneath your burdens, your small band moves back towards the sewers, leaving the ritual chamber behind with nary a backwards glance. You are proud of what you accomplished here today, but so too do you feel curiously filthy and unwell, the temple staining your soul as the sewer stains your body. You can but hope that a hot bath and a vigorous scrubbing will leave you feeling at least a little better.
-/-
It takes you upwards of an hour to make your way back out of the sewers, laden down by excess weight and guided by a single flickering torch as you are, and by then everyone is filthy, exhausted and desperately in need of a drink. The springtime sun has already begun to set, and while the growing gloom does nothing to dissuade the locals from their celebrations it does mean that your formal investigations will need to wait until people can once again be found at the proper places.
There is only a single Temple of Shallya in town, run by a solitary priestess of the order, but while Mother Rubenstein is displeased to have a party of stinking adventurers from out of the sewer show up on her doorstep, you are able to explain the situation and persuade her to offer beds in the hospice to both Banbury and Adhema. Perhaps more importantly, she and her assistants - local widows and grandparents for the most part, devout members of the laity willing to volunteer their time to help the priestess attend to the sick and needy - are able to help you all wash the worst of the stink from your bodies and clothing before you must head back out. Indeed, some of them are a little too enthusiastic with the buckets of water for your liking, but if it means you can regain a sense of smell you cannot complain too much.
Doktor Hollseher is disappointed to learn that his exhibit was slain before it could be recovered, but you get the impression he wasn't really expecting anything else, and that his promised payment of ten gold crowns was really more in aid of buying off your ire than a considered judgement of value. It works, however, and after paying Spätin and Frederich their pair of crowns each you circle back around to the Shallyans and donate two more in gratitude for the assistance they are providing, which of course you take out of their patients' cut. Then, all but dead on your feet, you return to the Berebeli to rest for the night.
Josef is a little surprised to see you, and downright disgusted by news that you have been crawling around in the sewers, but aside from insisting that you sleep under a sheet on deck rather than stink up his cabin makes no greater issue of the whole affair. Max Ernst is already there, sleeping off a drunken binge that you expect will do nothing for his temper come the morning, and despite your fatigue it takes you longer than you would expect to fall asleep.
Morrsleib rises full and fat in the nighttime sky, smaller than its more wholesome twin but undeniably present, and your thoughts as you drift off to sleep are filled with the daemon's laughter and your suspicions for the days to come.
The daemon is right; if you fight it here and now, people will die. You have come here with a band of aspirational fools looking for adventure led by a man with the seed of doubt in his heart, and none of you are ready for what this battle will cost. The daemon is right about these things, but it does not matter. The daemon wishes you to leave, to flee this place and return only in some hypothetical future, and that alone is enough to decide otherwise. You may fail, you may die, but you will not give a daemon that which it desires.
"This thing," you say in as stern a voice as you can manage, commending your soul to Sigmar as you lift your blessed sword in high salute, "is a threat to every living soul in Bögenhafen. It cannot be permitted to remain here, spreading its poison through the earth. Ready yourselves, and stand as Sigmar did."
Markus tests Leadership! Skill is 49+10 due to social status, so 59. Roll is 33, success with +2SL. All subordinates inspired to attack, gain +10 to resist fear for the first two turns.
The fear does not leave them, the quiet certainty of pain and death to come yet undeniable, but there is a grim edge to it now, a quiet resolve that sharpens the spirit like a whetstone does a blade. They raise their weapons and set their stances, and in that moment you have never been prouder of any man or woman born.
"Have it your way," the daemon laughs, the great billowing cloud of smoke expanding and growing, brushing against the ceiling as the shadowed form in the depths grows sharper, "meat."
Adhema is the first to charge - brave Adhema, the merchant who only wanted an adventure, throwing herself at a nightmare with nothing but a sliver of steel in her slender hands. Her blow passes through the smoke that veils the daemon and she staggers, wasted momentum combined with building nausea to send her to one knee, and the beast raises something that is not quite a claw over her head to strike back before a common pebble punctures the carapace with a crack like thunder. The daemon hisses, turning towards Banbury with murder in its glowing eyes, but you are there and Frederich too and it cannot win through.
The daemon is not a thing of this world, not entirely, and so it is not bound by the same rules and limits as a mortal beast. Frederich's blade passes through its central mass and out the other side with seemingly no effect at all, and when you pull the trigger on your pistol it seems to swallow the shot and powder alike to seemingly no effect, but your sword is a different matter. Plated in the purest silver and blessed by a high priest of Sigmar in the blessed waters of the Great Cathedral, it is anathema to this monster's very existence, and when you cut at an exposed worm-like limb the twisted flesh parts like rotten silk and black blood falls like rain across the floor.
The daemon screams, a hideous wailing noise that rings in your ears like a salvo of cannon, and when you stagger back it lashes out in vengeful fury. A serpentine tongue erupts like a pistol shot and sends Ozzy Banbury toppling to the ground with a grisly crunch, and Adhema has barely managed to pull herself upright when a flailing hoof-tipped limb crushes her into the ground with a distressingly wet tearing sound. Two of your companions are down in as many seconds, the others absent or ineffective, if you are to survive this it will be your actions alone that carry the day.
"Sigmar!" you roar, tossing aside your pistol and taking the blessed silver sword in a two handed grip, "Guide my arm!"
The Heldenhammer obliges, and with a final roar of effort you sink your sword into the creature's centre of mass and put all your weight behind pushing it home. Smoke swirls and water boils, and for one fleeting moment nine eyes meet your two, each seething with immortal rage.
"Sheru'tar Gee'taru will tear out your heart," the daemon hisses, and a moment later it is gone, falling apart into nothingness as the unholy magic holding it together gives way before your sword. With a brittle crack, the equine skull at the centre of the ritual circle cracks neatly into two pieces.
The Daemonic Guardian has initiative 35. Consequently, combat resolves in the following order:
When combat begins, we must calculate advantage. Markus' team begins with 2 advantage for the weight of numbers, while the Guardian starts with 1 advantage for the sheer danger it poses.
Turn One
Spätin
At the end of the turn, Markus and co have 5 advantage (they started with 2 and then Markus, Ozzy and Adhema all hit the daemon or dodged its attacks), while the daemonic guardian has 3 (it started with 1, spent 1, hit Ozzy and defended itself from 2 attacks)
At the end of the round, Adhema has zero wounds and a bleeding condition, so she tests endurance to not pass out. She rolls her skill of 35 and gets 03, managing to stay awake. She then tests again to resist infection, at -10 due to her bleeding condition, and rolls 34. This is a failure, and so Adhema has a festering wound.
- Spätin
- Ozzy
- Adhema
- Daemonic Guardian
- Markus
- Frederich
When combat begins, we must calculate advantage. Markus' team begins with 2 advantage for the weight of numbers, while the Guardian starts with 1 advantage for the sheer danger it poses.
Turn One
Spätin
- Wishing to approach, Spätin tests Cool against 30+10=40. She rolls 77, and fails. Due to Fear, Spätin cannot approach the daemon.
- She instead falls back to near the doorway, hoping to be out of line of sight in case she needs to use her magic.
- Produces a sling and small collection of stones from his person, then flings one at the daemon. He gets +40 to this test (20 for size and 20 for short range) but suffers -1SL due to fear.
- Skill is 70, roll is 09! Success with +7SL, reduced to 6SL by fear
- Daemonic Guardian rolls it's Daemonic (8+) trait. Roll is 5, fail.
- Damage is 6+6SL = 12, reduced by toughness 4. The Guardian takes 8 wounds.
- At the end of the turn, Ozzy rolls Cool against Fear. His skill is 35+10, he rolls 90 and fails.
- Wishing to approach, Adhema tests Cool. Her skill is 35+10, she rolls 24 and succeeds by enough to move despite her fear. She charges the daemon with her dagger.
- Her skill is 30, +10 for charging, +10 for size. She rolls 89, a failure by -3SL.
- The Guardian has weapon skill 50 and rolls 39, parrying the attack.
- Adhema was stunned by her failure on a physical roll due to her Nausea.
- At the end of her turn, Adhema tests an extended cool to resist Fear (2). She rolls 01 and shakes off the fear entirely.
- The Guardian attacks Adhema with its claws. It has a skill of 50 and rolls 66, a fail by -1SL (and also a fumble).
- Adhema tests her dodge skill of 40, reduced to 30 by stunned, to defend and rolls an 11, succeeding with +2SL. She manages to evade the swipe.
- The Guardian spends one of its advantage points to make a tongue attack against Ozzy. It has a skill of 50 and rolls 42, a hit with +1SL.
- Ozzy rolls dodge 40, getting 71, a failure by -3SL.
- The base damage of the attack is 6, plus 4 net SL, plus 2 from impact (due to the size difference). Ozzy has a toughness bonus of 3, and so takes 9 wounds. As he already had four wounds from the encounter with the bats, this reduces him to zero.
- 42 (reversed to 24) means Ozzy got hit on the left arm. The daemon rolls 1d100+10 for the critical hit and gets 88+10=98. This results in a Dislocated Shoulder. Ozzy is stunned until he receives medical attention, and cannot use his left arm until the shoulder is reset.
- Wishing to charge, Markus makes a cool test against his skill of 61. He rolls 19 and succeeds.
- Charging the daemon, Markus starts with an attack from his sword. His skill is 58, +10 for charging, +10 for size, total 78 (no bonus for outnumbering against a large target). He rolls 45, a success with +3SL, increased to 4 by dual wielder, reduced back to 3 by Fear..
- The Daemonic trait does not protect against a blessed silver sword. The daemon rolls to defend itself with a skill of 50 and rolls 91, a failure by -4SL.
- Damage is 7 base +7 net SL -4TB. Markus inflicts 10 wounds on the guardian daemon. It has nine wounds left.
- With dual wielder, Markus now fires his pistol against the daemon. His skill is 58, +20 for size (he gets no range bonus while engaged). He reverses his earlier roll to get 54, a hit with +2SL, increased to 3 by the dual wielder talent.
- The guardian rolls for its daemonic (8+) trait and scores a 10, negating the pistol shot entirely.
- At the end of the turn, Markus rolls an extended cool test against his skill of 61. He gets 26, successfully shaking off the Fear trait.
- Wishing to charge, Frederich rolls cool against his skill of 40+10. He rolls 34, succeeding.
- Frederich has a skill of 45, plus 10 for charging. He rolls 93, a failure by -4SL.
- The daemon defends with its skill of 50 and rolls 65, a fail by -1SL but still enough to parry the attack.
- At the end of the round, Frederich rolls against fear with his skill of 40, he rolls 29 and so no longer takes fear tests this combat.
At the end of the turn, Markus and co have 5 advantage (they started with 2 and then Markus, Ozzy and Adhema all hit the daemon or dodged its attacks), while the daemonic guardian has 3 (it started with 1, spent 1, hit Ozzy and defended itself from 2 attacks)
- The daemon spends 1 advantage to make a stomp attack, targeting Adhema. It has a skill of 50 and rolls 18, a success with +4 SL. For damage purposes, this counts as +8SL due to the size difference.
- Adhema rolls her dodge of 30 (accounting for stunned) and rolls 99, a critical failure by -6SL.
- The damage is 4 base, +14 net SL, -3 toughness. Adhema takes 15 wounds, putting her down to an effective -3.
- The daemon rolls 1d100+30 for a critical hit to the left leg and gets a 14+30=44, thigh strike. Adhema gains a Bleeding condition. As she is on zero wounds, she is also prone.
- Markus spends four advantage to gain a new action and attack again.
- He makes a sword attack at skill 58+10 size = 68 and rolls 15, a success with +5SL, increased to 6 by dual wielder.
- The daemon rolls its defence of 50 and rolls 70, a failure by -2SL.
- Markus has a base damage of 7, +8 net SL, -4 TB. He inflicts 11 more wounds.
- This reduces the daemon below 0 wounds. As it has the daemonic trait, it does not take critical wounds, instead dissipating instantly.
At the end of the round, Adhema has zero wounds and a bleeding condition, so she tests endurance to not pass out. She rolls her skill of 35 and gets 03, managing to stay awake. She then tests again to resist infection, at -10 due to her bleeding condition, and rolls 34. This is a failure, and so Adhema has a festering wound.
For a moment you just stand there, breathing hard and blinking in surprise at the unexpected nature of your victory, and then a low groan of pain snaps you out of your trance. The templars trained you in the basics of applied medicine, mostly for field dressings and assessing how much people dragged in for interrogation could be expected to bear, and while that is far from enough it is still the best that anyone present has to offer.
You begin with Adhema, who lies groaning on the ground clutching at the twisted wreck of her leg. It isn't broken, you assess, but it was badly twisted and bruised by being stomped on by something so inhumanly malevolent, and more critically there is a deep tear in her flesh dangerously close to the artery that runs through her thigh. You cut away her woollen hose to expose the wound and staunch it as best you can with a handful of bandages and improvised wadding, but by the time you've managed to get the bleeding under control Adhema has passed out from some combination of the pain and blood loss. Grimacing, you roll her cloak up and place it under her head to make her at least a little comfortable, then rise and head across the chamber to take a look at Ozzy.
The halfling is in a bad way, pale and shaking with pain and lingering fear, and his entire shoulder seems to have been dislocated by the blow the daemon landed on him, but ultimately he isn't dying right this moment. You'll need to reset that joint before too long, but doing so in these conditions while he is already on the verge of passing out would not be ideal, so you settle for crudely binding it in place and making him ready to move.
(The daemon said that one among you is already poisoned and dying - is it Banbury? The halfling fell into the sewage earlier, his head went below the surface, if anything were to afflict a man with lethal disease that would. There is nothing to be done about it now, but you cannot help but linger on the thought.)
Markus has a heal skill of 40. Since Adhema runs the risk of death from her bleeding condition, he rolls an average (+20) test to treat her condition first. He rolls 84 and then 14, so it takes him two rounds to stabilise her.
Adhema rolls her endurance of 35 and gets a 70. She falls unconscious on the first round, before Markus stabilises her. She will be unconscious until she regains at least one wound from healing.
Markus then moves to attend to Ozzy, who has a dislocated shoulder. He begins with a basic +20 first aid check, getting 97, spending fortune to reroll and… get the same result. This is a failure by -3SL, which is thankfully just slightly too little to cause further injury. However, Markus cannot apply first aid again. He elects not to risk the extended test necessary to reset Ozzy's shoulder.
Finally, he moves back to Adhema and attempts the first aid check on her, testing against 60 and rolling 87. He spends fortune again and… gets 94. This, again, fails but does not make things worse at least.
(For reference, you can only apply one 'first aid' check to heal wounds per encounter, so having failed this, Markus cannot heal Ozzy or Adhema himself. They will need rest and long term medical attention.)
Adhema rolls her endurance of 35 and gets a 70. She falls unconscious on the first round, before Markus stabilises her. She will be unconscious until she regains at least one wound from healing.
Markus then moves to attend to Ozzy, who has a dislocated shoulder. He begins with a basic +20 first aid check, getting 97, spending fortune to reroll and… get the same result. This is a failure by -3SL, which is thankfully just slightly too little to cause further injury. However, Markus cannot apply first aid again. He elects not to risk the extended test necessary to reset Ozzy's shoulder.
Finally, he moves back to Adhema and attempts the first aid check on her, testing against 60 and rolling 87. He spends fortune again and… gets 94. This, again, fails but does not make things worse at least.
(For reference, you can only apply one 'first aid' check to heal wounds per encounter, so having failed this, Markus cannot heal Ozzy or Adhema himself. They will need rest and long term medical attention.)
With your two most injured companions at least stabilised, you are finally able to turn your attention to the rest of the chamber. Spätin and Frederich have evidently been busy searching the place while you worked, and when you straighten up they both turn towards you.
"Nothing in here but a bunch of robes and an old knife," Spätin says, holding the lid of the small cabinet you noticed earlier so you can look inside. You frown at her, less than pleased with her utter failure to contribute to the fighting earlier, but she seems nervous enough to understand her error and so you elect not to press.
"Cults often disguise their identities, even from each other," you say instead, shaking your head and turning away, "as for the knife… leave it. Nothing good can come of a tool doubtless used for evil. What of you, Frederich?"
The road warden grins triumphantly at you, his dark hair fetchingly askew, and thumps the nearest portion of the stone wall with the butt of his sword. It makes a dull echoing noise, quite unlike anything you would expect from an actual wall, and you raise your eyebrows in surprise.
"Secret door," Frederich says cheerfully, "No idea how to open it, but I knew there was no way they'd build this place with a bolt on the only way in and out. Oh, and here, I found this lying in the corner here."
He hands you a scrap of bright purple fabric, which upon unfolding turns out to be a silk handkerchief stitched with golden thread. Such things are far too expensive for any but the richest kind of merchants and most prominent nobles to own, and after a moment you see that the owner of this one has even helpfully monogrammed his initials in one corner. You're not sure who exactly 'F.S' is, but you very much want to talk to them. You expect it will be a fascinating conversation.
"Well done," you nod to him, tucking the evidence away in your coat pocket and heading over to inspect what remains of the summoning circle. You don't have a particularly in depth knowledge of ritual magic, but that is hardly required in a case like this. The paint will be almost untraceable, you expect, and black candles are often made as more sinister fashion trends sweep the land every few years, but a copper ring three paces wide is far more interesting. Someone must have commissioned this work specifically, and it is unusual enough that you expect the metalsmith responsible will remember it. "It is perhaps less important, but did anyone find proof of the beastman?"
"I think this is a pig skull?" Spätin says in a dubious tone, holding up a chunk of bone still half-covered in blood and scraps of brown-gold fur, "Kind of small, though."
"It will suffice," you nod, though some part of you wonders at the evidence of a daemon butchering a beastman like that. Are they not all meant to be the children of chaos? "Now… Spätin, you will hold the torch and lead the way. Frederich, you and I will help to carry our injured comrades. We must return to the surface."
"Sure, sure," the road warden says, nodding as he kneels down next to Adhema's unconscious body, "Don't know that we can get these two up a ladder, but the sewer is open air near the poorer districts, so we can probably just walk out there. Though, uh… not to be greedy, but you did mention payment…"
"A gold crown apiece, yes," you nod, grunting as you lift Ozzy Banbury up onto your back, wincing at the little whimper of pain he makes, "Hells, you stood with me against a daemon, so make it two. Just need to make it back to the surface and contact the circus owner who was supposed to be controlling the beastman."
Moving awkwardly beneath your burdens, your small band moves back towards the sewers, leaving the ritual chamber behind with nary a backwards glance. You are proud of what you accomplished here today, but so too do you feel curiously filthy and unwell, the temple staining your soul as the sewer stains your body. You can but hope that a hot bath and a vigorous scrubbing will leave you feeling at least a little better.
Personal combat with a daemon is considered a Moderate source of corruption. Markus must test his Cool skill in order to keep his soul free of taint. His skill is 61 and he rolls 68, a failure. He spends fortune to reroll and gets 75, still a failure. Consequently, Markus has two corruption points.
(It was at this point that I swapped the dice I was using)
He is in no danger of mutating or being mentally affected until he gets a total of (toughness bonus + willpower bonus) points, in his case 10. Extended penance or holy deeds may reduce the current total… as may 'paying off' the hook in your soul by doing something unwise, when the QM offers it to you in votes.
Tests were made for the others present as well. Don't worry about it.
(It was at this point that I swapped the dice I was using)
He is in no danger of mutating or being mentally affected until he gets a total of (toughness bonus + willpower bonus) points, in his case 10. Extended penance or holy deeds may reduce the current total… as may 'paying off' the hook in your soul by doing something unwise, when the QM offers it to you in votes.
Tests were made for the others present as well. Don't worry about it.
-/-
It takes you upwards of an hour to make your way back out of the sewers, laden down by excess weight and guided by a single flickering torch as you are, and by then everyone is filthy, exhausted and desperately in need of a drink. The springtime sun has already begun to set, and while the growing gloom does nothing to dissuade the locals from their celebrations it does mean that your formal investigations will need to wait until people can once again be found at the proper places.
There is only a single Temple of Shallya in town, run by a solitary priestess of the order, but while Mother Rubenstein is displeased to have a party of stinking adventurers from out of the sewer show up on her doorstep, you are able to explain the situation and persuade her to offer beds in the hospice to both Banbury and Adhema. Perhaps more importantly, she and her assistants - local widows and grandparents for the most part, devout members of the laity willing to volunteer their time to help the priestess attend to the sick and needy - are able to help you all wash the worst of the stink from your bodies and clothing before you must head back out. Indeed, some of them are a little too enthusiastic with the buckets of water for your liking, but if it means you can regain a sense of smell you cannot complain too much.
Doktor Hollseher is disappointed to learn that his exhibit was slain before it could be recovered, but you get the impression he wasn't really expecting anything else, and that his promised payment of ten gold crowns was really more in aid of buying off your ire than a considered judgement of value. It works, however, and after paying Spätin and Frederich their pair of crowns each you circle back around to the Shallyans and donate two more in gratitude for the assistance they are providing, which of course you take out of their patients' cut. Then, all but dead on your feet, you return to the Berebeli to rest for the night.
Josef is a little surprised to see you, and downright disgusted by news that you have been crawling around in the sewers, but aside from insisting that you sleep under a sheet on deck rather than stink up his cabin makes no greater issue of the whole affair. Max Ernst is already there, sleeping off a drunken binge that you expect will do nothing for his temper come the morning, and despite your fatigue it takes you longer than you would expect to fall asleep.
Morrsleib rises full and fat in the nighttime sky, smaller than its more wholesome twin but undeniably present, and your thoughts as you drift off to sleep are filled with the daemon's laughter and your suspicions for the days to come.
Article: You have a number of leads that you could potentially pursue in Bögenhafen to continue your investigation. Choose TWO of the following to prioritise during the morning of day two.
[ ] Visit the High Temple
Brief the local sigmarite clergy on the daemonic presence, and see what aid they can provide. While there, see what else they can tell you about the Ordo Septenarius.
[ ] Visit the Magistrates
Brief the relevant local officials on your investigation and see if you can obtain additional support, from legal counsel to town watchmen, for your investigation.
[ ] Investigate the Silk Handkerchief
Someone very wealthy with the initials F.S dropped their handkerchief in that temple. Find a list of the most wealthy and powerful souls in Bögenhafen and see which of them it might belong to.
[ ] Investigate the copper ring
Speak with the local metalworkers guild and see if you can identify who commissioned a copper ring for use in the ritual, and perhaps where it was delivered.
[ ] Locate the temple
With maps and the aid of locals, see if you can identify which building the hidden shrine lies beneath. Once you know that, you will have the legal justification for a raid.
[ ] Write In
Please provide a description of what leads you intend to pursue and what information or other advantages you hope to gain from it.
-/-
Markus currently has 350 unspent xp. In the following spoiler boxes are options which I have pre-costed for your convenience. Please distribute your xp according to a plan vote among those options. You do not necessarily need to spend every last point if that would be too awkward.
Spend 350xp
[ ] Write in (Plan vote)
The following options will cost 50xp each
[ ] 5 advances in Endurance
This skill is rolled to heal from injuries, and to resist poison, disease, stun effects and physical corruption.
[ ] 5 advances in Lore (Chaos)
This skill is rolled to reflect your knowledge of daemons, mutation and evil cults of all kinds.
[ ] 5 advances in Dodge
This skill is used to avoid harm, whether from an enemy attack or simple environmental dangers.
[ ] Charm (from +10 to +15)
This skill is rolled for all positive social interaction, creating a good impression and making people think well of you.
[ ] Intimidate (from +10 to +15)
This skill is rolled for virtually all hostile social interactions, or those based on fear and coercion. It is also your earning skill, responsible for your income endeavours during downtime.
[ ] Cool (from +10 to +15)
This skill is rolled to resist fear, psychology and social influence. It is also rolled to lie with a straight face.
[ ] Melee (Basic) (from +10 to +15)
This skill is used to attack and defend with the most common types of melee weapons, including swords, spears and axes.
[ ] Ranged (Blackpowder) (from +10 to +15)
This skill is rolled to attack people with blackpowder weapons like pistols, and also to repair and rapidly reload them.
[ ] 5 advances in Consume Alcohol
Like the name suggests, this skill is used to resist intoxication and can also substitute for other social skills while sharing a friendly drink.
[ ] 5 advances in Heal
First aid and basic medical treatment comes under this skill.
[ ] 5 advances in Intuition
Reading people, discerning their mood and detecting their lies. Also used to detect threats via the Nose for Trouble talent.
[ ] 5 advances in Perception
Examining your surroundings, noting points of interest and opposing hostile stealth rolls.
[ ] 5 advances in Gossip
Used to gather information from other people, whether seeking specific answers or just listening to local rumours.
[ ] Fearless (Witches)
This talent allows you to make a single average (+20) cool test to ignore all fear, terror and other psychological effects created by a hostile spellcaster for the scene.
[ ] Relentless
This talent allows you to disengage from enemies without requiring a roll, and effectively means you cannot be kept from your chosen prey by intervening bodyguards or minions.
[ ] Strong Minded
This talent gives you an additional resolve point, which may be spent to automatically remove any one condition (such as stunned, ablaze or poisoned) or to become immune to psychology for a round.
[ ] Increase Weapon Skill by 5 (200xp)
This attribute is used for all melee combat, both offensive and defensive.
[ ] Increase Ballistic Skill by 5 (200xp)
This attribute is used for all ranged combat, and is only rolled to attack.
[ ] Increase Toughness by 5 (200xp)
This attribute is your resilience and ability to resist harm. It increases your total wounds.
[ ] Increase Willpower by 5 (200xp)
This attribute increases your strength of mind and spirit. It increases your total wounds.
[ ] Increase Fellowship by 5 (125xp)
This attribute increases all of your social skills and also dictates how confident and appealing you are.
[ ] Repurchase Menacing
You gain an additional +1SL on all intimidate checks, or +2 if the test was successful.
[ ] Repurchase Resolute
You increase the damage dealt by your charges by one (full disclosure I forgot to apply this during this combat)
[ ] Repurchase Dual Wielder
You gain an additional +1SL on all successful tests made when attacking with two weapons.
- Location
- Germany
We don't really sleep on deck while Morrslieb is bright, right?
That would be unhealthy, especially after this encounter.
[X] Visit the High Temple
Brief the local sigmarite clergy on the daemonic presence, and see what aid they can provide. While there, see what else they can tell you about the Ordo Septenarius.
I would really like some aid.
Brief the local sigmarite clergy on the daemonic presence, and see what aid they can provide. While there, see what else they can tell you about the Ordo Septenarius.
I would really like some aid.
- Location
- London, England
By default they'll be hanging out around Bogenhafen for the next few days, and if you wanted to write in a follow up with them that would be allowed, but by default they don't have anything especially notable to contribute to your current investigation.
Some of them might show up in future updates depending on where you go to investigate on their own initiative.
That is a possibility, but not as part of a standard xp vote. You'd want to spend time at the temple or otherwise open yourself up to more spiritual contemplation or the like first.
Morrsleib being bright is generally considered a poor omen, but right now it isn't doing anything especially unusual (by the standards of a weird green moon that follows no set course), so Markus isn't going to worry about it.
- Location
- being near locations is my passion.
Can you tell us what 'Holy Visions' is please?
(And if it's cool, can we vote here to hold the XP cost for it until such time as we gain narrative access to it?)
- Location
- London, England
Holy Visions is a talent that allows you to automatically sense when you enter consecrated or unhallowed ground (an area associated with a given divinity). It also allows you to make intuition tests in those places in order to receive, well, visions - typically of something significant that occurred there in the past, or a vision of the future that the god in question considers it important for mortals to know.
Should Markus reach the necessary level of spiritual connection in this quest, I won't put it up for a vote or require you to spend xp on it, it will just be a thing that you get (there might be a vote on whether to stay a witch hunter or switch over into a full time Priest of Sigmar, miracles and all, though).
Wade Garrett
Just trying to do the right thing
- Pronouns
- He/His/Him
[X] Investigate the copper ring
Speak with the local metalworkers guild and see if you can identify who commissioned a copper ring for use in the ritual, and perhaps where it was delivered.
Feel like this is a more promising lead than a handkerchief, those can be stolen or even lost (and later planted aomewhere else) without too much trouble, a big honking metalwork job on the other hand...
Yes, any Chaos Cult that isn't trying to get itself killed off in an elaborate ritual sacrifice is going to take steps to conceal who and what the ring was for but once you get money changing hands, custom work being commissioned and heavy objects being lugged around town it becomes a lot harder to conceal all traces of your actions.
Speak with the local metalworkers guild and see if you can identify who commissioned a copper ring for use in the ritual, and perhaps where it was delivered.
Feel like this is a more promising lead than a handkerchief, those can be stolen or even lost (and later planted aomewhere else) without too much trouble, a big honking metalwork job on the other hand...
Yes, any Chaos Cult that isn't trying to get itself killed off in an elaborate ritual sacrifice is going to take steps to conceal who and what the ring was for but once you get money changing hands, custom work being commissioned and heavy objects being lugged around town it becomes a lot harder to conceal all traces of your actions.
somewhatLazy
Serial Procrastinator
- Location
- lurking
@Maugan Ra , did we tell anyone else about what we discovered below the sewers? I want backup but am concerned about what might happen when the cult discovers that we've discovered their daemon.
Dutch
Bored Spearman of the Wind
- Location
- CET
On a more investigative note. Josef has been running this route for a long while right? And should have somewhat ear on the ground and know who the most respectable people in town are. Regardless of what we settle on for the rest of the day, can we ask him about the local merchants in the morning?
Last edited:
[X] Investigate the copper ring
Adrian XXIV
Average User, from Poland
- Location
- Poland
- Pronouns
- He/Him
@Maugan Ra Do you have any "list of submitted characters"?
- Location
- London, England
You haven't told anyone else yet, no, though both the magistrates and high temple votes will involve Markus informing the (respectively temporal and spiritual) authorities.
This is a fair point, I'll have Josef provide you with a general summary of the local merchants/other useful details at the start of the next update regardless of which option wins.
As in, the other adventurer concepts? No, there's no central list for those.
[X] 5 advances in Lore (Chaos)
[X] Relentless
[X] 5 advances in Endurance
[X] Melee (Basic) (from +10 to +15)
[X] Relentless
[X] 5 advances in Endurance
[X] Melee (Basic) (from +10 to +15)
somewhatLazy
Serial Procrastinator
- Location
- lurking
If the cult's advanced enough to start summoning daemons, it's become a problem that we need to inform the local clergy of... and hopefully get some backup and information at the same time. One blessed sword is good... two is great.
Once we have the heavily-armed backup we need, we can start moving on to the most time-sensitive parts of the investigation. Once the cult figure out what we found (if they haven't already from any contingencies to alert them of the daemon's banishing), they'll start trying to get rid of their evidence. The metalworkers are the most fragile and the most likely to have evidence linking more directly back to the cause of the rot, so I'd say we visit them first.
[X] Visit the High Temple
[X] Investigate the copper ring
As for our advances... on the fluff side, I definitely think that killing our first daemon is something that should be celebrated. Markus's heart may be consumed by doubt, but when he was faced with Sigmar's greatest enemy, he still had the strength to strike it down with but two swings of his blessed sword.
Thus, Strong Minded. For what can mortal terrors mean to a man who has slain a daemon? Furthermore, given just how clearly his instincts as a warrior-aristocrat have stayed strong even with the wavering of his heart, I choose Melee (Basic). Finally, Lore (Chaos) to represent an increased interest both after his first encounter with a daemon and his visit to the Menagerie. Perhaps by understanding more about the enemy, he will understand why the edict is not heretical...
Or perhaps that is simply a foolish wish that will take him down the same path as his father. Either way, it'll be entertaining for s.
[X] Plan: Daemonslayer (250xp)
-[X] Lore (Chaos) (50xp)
-[X] Melee (Basic) (100xp)
-[X] Strong Minded (100xp)
Also, Strong Minded seems like a very useful talent to get rid of really bad status effects like Nausea.
Once we have the heavily-armed backup we need, we can start moving on to the most time-sensitive parts of the investigation. Once the cult figure out what we found (if they haven't already from any contingencies to alert them of the daemon's banishing), they'll start trying to get rid of their evidence. The metalworkers are the most fragile and the most likely to have evidence linking more directly back to the cause of the rot, so I'd say we visit them first.
[X] Visit the High Temple
[X] Investigate the copper ring
As for our advances... on the fluff side, I definitely think that killing our first daemon is something that should be celebrated. Markus's heart may be consumed by doubt, but when he was faced with Sigmar's greatest enemy, he still had the strength to strike it down with but two swings of his blessed sword.
Thus, Strong Minded. For what can mortal terrors mean to a man who has slain a daemon? Furthermore, given just how clearly his instincts as a warrior-aristocrat have stayed strong even with the wavering of his heart, I choose Melee (Basic). Finally, Lore (Chaos) to represent an increased interest both after his first encounter with a daemon and his visit to the Menagerie. Perhaps by understanding more about the enemy, he will understand why the edict is not heretical...
Or perhaps that is simply a foolish wish that will take him down the same path as his father. Either way, it'll be entertaining for s.
[X] Plan: Daemonslayer (250xp)
-[X] Lore (Chaos) (50xp)
-[X] Melee (Basic) (100xp)
-[X] Strong Minded (100xp)
Also, Strong Minded seems like a very useful talent to get rid of really bad status effects like Nausea.
- Location
- London, England
Resolve points are useful like that, though I should note that Markus actually has three of them already.
He just... keeps consistently passing any test or avoiding the kind of damage that would allow me to actually demonstrate/explain their use in the updates, which is honestly funny (and also frustrating).
Strong minded is still a good talent because it's the only way to increase your stockpile outside of, like, acts of great personal and spiritual significance, I just wanted to highlight that.
Dutch
Bored Spearman of the Wind
- Location
- CET
Neat. On a similar note. While Max was most likely paying more attention to his cups, cards and coins, and was in no position to talk to us in the evening. Did he pick up anything interesting while walking the town?
Last edited: