m AnAging tHE npc s
Tracking the actions and choices of the PCs along with all the Mutants, the fat priest, his assistant, and the Hammer Bearers is undoubtedly going to challenge your skills as a GM. To help you through the rest of this section, use the following general guidelines to adjudicate what the NPCs are most likely to do—assuming they survived the initial conflict (if there was one) with the Mutants. Make sure Father Johannes and Nils survive. These two characters have more of a role to play as the rest of the adventure unfolds.
Everyone else is expendable.
Father Johannes
The prospect of a Beastmen attack is more than the priest is willing to face and he orders his Hammer Bearers to make ready the carriage for their escape. Neither of the Hammer Bearers thinks this is a good idea, but they will abide by the priest’s orders unless the PCs convince the priest his idea is foolish—an Intimidate Test will do the trick. Even if the characters fail, it takes about 10 minutes for the carriage to be ready, and by then, the inn is already under attack. At this point Johannes flees inside the inn and cowers in one of the rooms until the attack is concluded.
Nils
At first, Johannes commands Nils to stay by his side, but once the fat priest flees to hide, Nils is left to his own devices. He follows the PCs’ orders and does his best to defend the inn.
The Hammer Bearers
Klaus and Ernst are sworn to protect Father Johannes and so their first acts are to safeguard the priest. Once Johannes locks himself in his room, the Hammer Bearers look to any obvious martial characters for orders—good choices include nobles, soldiers, and anyone else with fighting experience.
Lacking any such characters, the Hammer Bearers take positions on the walls to kill any Beastmen thinking to scale them.
Lorinoc
While he has little love for the PCs—including any Elves among them—Lorinoc realises he must pitch in if he would live through the night. He will accept orders from any clear leader in the party, but if no one steps forward, he races to the gate, climbs the guard tower and peppers the Beastmen using his bow.
The Mutants
The Mutants look to Feodor for guidance. If he’s still alive, he places his minions on the walls to fight back any attempts to scale them. If he’s dead, the Mutants look to the PCs for instructions. Lena, Feodor, and Piers all use the secret tunnel to escape if the Beastmen manage to break down the gate or pour over the walls.
r EsourcEs
There’s little of use in the inn; the Crusade took just about everything of value. In fact, the only real resource the characters have is the carriage.
While they could pile inside and make a break for it, they will have to protect the steeds from the cruel swords of the corrupted horrors outside.
B EAstmEn t Actics
Once the Beastmen arrive, they dispatch anyone outside of the inn’s walls and then push through the doors if open. Assuming the PCs closed the doors, the Beastmen break up into smaller groups. Six Gors and 3 Ungors or Brays each attack from the north, west, and south. The position of the inn within the walls makes penetrating from the east an unlikely approach.
The Beastmen start by tossing up the grapples and ropes and goading the Ungors and Brays to make the initial assault. If these lesser Beastmen fail, the Gors take their time, attacking in waves, one wall at a time, hoping to weaken the defenders until they can make another concerted strike. As the night progresses, more Beastmen arrive (in numbers of your choosing) to replace those who have fallen.
m AnAging tHE s iEgE
There’s a lot going on in this battle and if the PCs achieved at least a temporary alliance with the Mutants, they should be able to repel the initial attack. Otherwise, this desperate fight could spell the end of the characters, and the PCs will likely need to spend Fate Points to survive.
The best way to handle this fight is to keep your attention on the player characters. Describe the raging battle around them in a narrative fashion and don’t worry about making tests for all the combatants. To decide the battle’s progress, assume that for every Beastman slain, the Hammer Bearers each kill a Beastman and the Mutants kill 1d5 Beastmen. For every round in which no Beastman is slain, 1 Mutant falls and there’s a 20%
chance for one of the Hammer Bearers to fall. You can modify casualties based on other actions by the PCs, rewarding clever play and penalising the defenders for foolish mistakes.
Of course, you can, if you want, run this as a normal combat. Your best bet here is to divide up the Mutants among the PCs to control, giving the players something to do while waiting for their characters’ next actions.
E scAping tHE s iEgE
The situation is particularly dire and unless the characters are all skilled warriors, they could very well meet their end here in this lonely inn. The PCs, understandably, may be inclined to flee. If so, they must escape the inn before the Beastmen arrive. Otherwise, their only real chance is to slip through the secret tunnel in the well. At first, the PCs should not be followed, at least until the Beastmen realise there is nothing or little of interest in the coaching inn. The Beastmen then fan out to round up and eat those who got away. Most of the surviving Mutants, if any, meet a terrible end as a Beastman’s meal. Depending on how the PCs treated Lorinoc, he may help them slip away and hide them in the forest,
giving them a chance to survive the night and the attack. Whether Father Johannes and company are included in this, depends on whether the PCs think to take them along and if they can convince Lorinoc to help—
requiring a Challenging (–10) Charm Test.
s AVEd !
Whether the PCs are still fighting the Beastmen at the Reaper’s Bounty or are running for their lives through the Drakwald, Beastmen hot on their heels, salvation finds them when the stormy night gives way to a rainy day. A group of Kithband warriors from Athel Loren have come into the Empire to learn the fate of those missing Wood Elves who were to return from their ceremony in the Laurelorn Forest. The Elves make short work of the remaining Beastmen—whether outside of the inn or in the forest harassing the PCs, peppering them with arrows and then, ghostlike, moving among them and cutting throats with their blades to put these abominations out of their misery.
Coriael
Male Wood Elf Captain (ex-Sergeant, ex-Kithband Warrior) Coriael has seen it all. He has fought Beastmen, Mutants, and Kurgan. He has been a liaison with Human leaders during the recent Chaos Incursion and has dealt with Empire and Bretonnians alike. He has just as much contempt for Humans as Lorinoc does, but he is resigned to the fact they’re not going away and that the Elves must remain on good terms with them to survive. He is not one to do anything rash, or that might upset his lords back home. He treats Humans with an aloof, condescending amusement.
WS BS S T Ag Int WP Fel
68 63 51 (5) 48 (4) 61 46 56 54
Skills: Academic Knowledge (Strategy/Tactics) (Int +10), Animal Care (Int), Command (Fel +10), Common Knowledge (Elves) (Int +10), Common Knowledge (the Empire) (Int), Concealment (Ag), Dodge Blow (Ag +20), Follow Trail (Int), Gossip (Fel), Intimidate (S), Outdoor Survival (Int), Perception (Int +10), Read/Write (Int), Ride (Ag), Scale Sheer Surface (S), Search (Int), Secret Language (Battle Tongue) (Int), Silent Move (Ag), Speak Language (Eltharin, Reikspiel, Tilean) (Int), Swim (S)
Talents: Coolheaded, Excellent Vision, Lightning Parry, Quick Draw, Rover, Rapid Reload, Seasoned Traveller, Specialist Weapon Group (Longbow), Street Fighting, Strike Mighty Blow, Strike to Stun Traits: Night Vision
Combat
Attacks: 3; Fate Points: 1; Movement: 5; Wounds: 18 Armour (Light): Full Leather (Head 1, Arms 1, Body 1, Legs 1) Weapons: Elfbow with 20 Arrows (1d10+3; Range 36/72; Reload Free),
Superior Hand Weapon (Sword) (WS 78, 1d10+6), Shield (1d10+4;
Defensive, Special) Trappings
Coriael wears a suit of dyed full leather, camouflaged to help him blend into his surroundings. He has a long cloak about his shoulders clasped in place with a silver pin. He travels light, having a sling bag filled with a few healing poultices, antitoxin kits, and dried foods. Coriael rarely goes without his band of loyal followers, which consist of ten Kithband warriors.
Kithband Warriors (10)
Male and Female Wood Elf Kithband Warriors
These warriors are capable and experience in fighting Humans, Beastmen, and other creatures that intrude into their woodland homes.
WS BS S T Ag Int WP Fel
40 54 31 (3) 34 (3) 48 41 39 24
Skills: Common Knowledge (Elves) (Int), Concealment (Ag), Dodge Blow (Ag), Follow Trail (Int), Outdoor Survival (Int), Perception (Int), Scale Sheer Surface (S), Search (Int), Silent Move (Ag), Speak Language (Eltharin, Reikspiel) (Int)
Talents: Excellent Vision, Marksman, Night Vision, Rapid Reload, Savvy, Specialist Weapon Group (Longbow)
Combat
Attacks: 1; Movement: 5; Wounds: 12 Armour (Light): Leather Jack (Arms 1, Body 1)
Weapons: Hand Weapon (Sword) (1d10+3), Dagger (1d10), Elfbow with 10 Arrows (1d10+3; Range 36/72; Reload Half; Armour Piercing) Trappings
The Kithband warriors wear boiled leather jacks underneath their forest green cloaks. They have fine swords and daggers in sheathes hanging from their belts, and quivers of arrows slung on their backs.
d EALing WitH tHE W ood E LVEs
The Wood Elves—there are ten, both male and female—confront the PCs. Their leader is Coriael, a proud, cold-seeming Kithband warrior whose black hair hangs down in front of one eye. If Lorinoc is with the PCs, he says “Friends, you are in danger here. More Beastmen are coming.
Many more. Come with us and we will lead you to safety and see to your wounds.” Otherwise, Coriael regards the PCs coldly and then withdraws into the forest, without extending the offer, though the PCs are free to follow and the Wood Elves move slow enough to let the PCs keep up.
The offer of assistance, whether spoken or implied, does not extend to the Mutants, and any that attempt to follow are shot. The Elves allow Father Johannes, Nils, and the Hammer Bearers, if any are still alive, to accompany them.
If the PCs had any sympathy for Lena or the other Mutants, and press Coriael to let the Mutants come along or baulk at the violence against them, Lorinoc answers that Mutants are a distortion of the natural order, and must be cleansed. “Their lives are a misery. It would be a mercy to end them.”
If they ask him why he’s intervening on their behalf, he says the Elves have always honoured their alliance with the Empire. “We would not let innocents die when it was in our power to prevent it.” Elves in the party are entitled to a Challenging (–10) Intelligence Test to realise that the Elves hide something.
Two degrees of success tells them the Wood Elves don’t like Father Johannes.
If there are any Elves in the PC party, the test is Average (+0).
d EVELopmEnt
The characters have two main options. They can accompany the Wood Elves or they can go their own way. Father Johannes is grateful to the PCs for their valiant efforts and follows their lead. He’s not particularly inclined to follow the Elves, considering them tree-worshipping heathens not to be trusted. He says he knows the tales of men being taken into the woods never to be seen again, so he doesn’t want to go with them. The Wood Elves couldn’t care less if the PCs accompany them or not, but if they are favourably disposed to the characters, they may mention that there are more Beastmen about when Father Johannes asks the Hammer Bearers or PCs to get the coach ready and take him to the next town.
Confronted with this, Johannes may become more amenable to the idea if the characters succeed on a Charm or Intimidate Test.
r AciAL A nimosity
Because of their instinctual mistrust of all Elves, any PC Dwarfs should probably suspect the Elves of duplicity no matter what. In turn, the Wood Elves treat Dwarfs like strange, untrustworthy wild animals. They not only dislike them, they fear them. Most have never seen one in the flesh.
Regardless, Father Johannes offers them gold to be his bodyguards. “I do not want to go on alone. I will give each of you a ring from one of my fingers.”
A successful Evaluate Test reveals his rings average 5 gc each (1d10gc) and he has plenty to go around.
It’s not necessary for the PCs to accompany the Wood Elves; they will encounter them again later in this adventure and further down the road in the campaign. Beastmen are indeed haunting the Drakwald, and the PCs may have a few more encounters with these horrors on their way to Altdorf at your discretion. Not long after the characters set out, the PCs come across the Crusade’s encampment as described in Part Three. Father Johannes decides that he needs to look into the matter of the Crusade, so he and the surviving members of his entourage follow along, and Johannes may offer to hire the PCs as bodyguards as described above.
A J ournEy t HrougH tHE W oods
The Wood Elves lead the PCs north and east through the woods, at first paralleling the road, which they say is being watched by Beastmen, and then continuing straight as the road curves south. They move swiftly and silently, without torch or lantern, through the dripping woods, travelling ahead and behind Johannes, Nils, and the PCs. Johannes slows very quickly. He can barely walk in the best of circumstances, and this is difficult terrain. He leans heavily on his staff and Nils, who is already overburdened by the Hammer of Office.
If the PCs help him, things go quicker, but it won’t be pleasant work.
Johannes stinks from his unaccustomed exertions, and he is ungrateful as well. “Watch where you’re going! Lift! Higher! Hold me steady, Sigmar curse you!” On top of this, Johannes seems to have caught a cold from the rain. He sneezes at regular intervals. The Elves are strangely patient with Johannes’s progress. There may be contempt in their eyes, but they say nothing.
Eventually, after a few hours of travel, the Wood Elves settle in a clearing.
Lorinoc, if present, confers with Coriael and may vouch for the PCs here.
He imparts his tale and the deaths of his comrades, and then tells the captain anything the PCs told him back at the coaching inn about their purpose in the Drakwald, being especially sure to relate their interest in the Crusade should he know about it. When he finishes, or if Lorinoc isn’t present, Coriael questions the PCs to get their stories, asking about where they came from, where they’re heading, and what they’re about. Coriael is trying to discern whether or not the PCs can be trusted and if they’re worth recruiting for the scouting mission. Evasive PCs are eventually cut loose after receiving a healing draughts each and sent on their ways.
Otherwise, the Coriael invites the PCs to accompany his men, sensing that non-Elf characters can infiltrate the encampment better than his team and then report their findings to him. Coriael is disappointed if the PCs refuse but lets them go on their way regardless.
c AtcHing up WitH k ArL
Whether in the company of the Wood Elves, with the priest, or on their own, the PCs should eventually catch up with the Crusade and continue on their way to Altdorf. The Crusade is currently settled just outside of a tiny town called Gootten.
Evidence of the cult’s recent passage is everywhere, and easy to follow;
angry farmers complaining of stripped fields and pilfered livestock, inn owners missing half their staff, cult symbols, and pamphlets painted and plastered on every barn side and tree.
Father Johannes is absolutely exhausted, and if the PCs want him to keep up, they are going to have to take turns helping poor Nils carry him. Johannes is not in the least grateful, complaining at every bump and lurch. Finding him a cart would be a blessing. It might be difficult though. The Crusade already took everything along the way that wasn’t nailed down.
PCs in the company of the Wood Elves find their new companions do their best to conceal their features beneath the hoods of their cloaks and keep their distance from other travellers. If the characters want to join up with other travellers, the Wood Elves refuse and may go their own way.
t HAt o Ld t imE r ELigion
A few hours after noon, the party reaches Gootten, a small farm town in a patch of cleared forest, a mile off the main road. The Crusade is camped on the far side of the town, in fields surrounded on three sides by forest, and on the fourth by the town. It is a sprawling, messy sea of tents, wagons, and horses that the PCs can see beyond the town.
Most of the Crusaders seem to be in the town, however. Roughly a thousand people—fanatics and townsfolk—congregate in the central square. The town is tiny, having fifteen widely spaced buildings at the most, and the PCs can see the crowd and the square from far away.
Farmers and other locals travel towards the town in twos and threes to see what all the fuss is about. Father Johannes wants to get closer too. This phenomenon, after all, is what he was sent to investigate.
A wooden platform and a round blue tent have been set up in the square.
Four Crusaders in robes with blue sashes kneel with a Dwarf shield on their shoulders. Another man, (Helmut, though the PCs don’t know this yet) walks a small figure out of the tent and helps him onto the shield.
The four Crusaders stand and mount the platform so everybody can see the figure, who is, of course, Karl. Even the sight of him sends a ripple of wonder through the crowd.
The PCs can’t hear Karl’s words unless they come within 20 yards. If they do, they must succeed on a Very Hard (–30) Will Power Test or fall under his spell (see sidebar). If there are any PC Elves, they sense and hear him 40 yards out, and must pass a Routine (+10) Will Power Test or fall under his spell. The test is Easy (+20) for Dwarfs and Average (+0) for Halflings.
When Karl raises his arms and speaks, the crowd becomes utterly silent, straining to hear every word, then cheers him lustily when he finishes, instantly converted. A very few townsfolk are not converted and argue, trying to snap their friends out of their delusion. A few violent arguments break out as the Crusaders usher the Child back to his tent.
In the background, the newly converted villagers eagerly give the Crusaders the contents of their larders and their barns. Even a stern looking priest of Sigmar is bringing the mob all his temple’s finery.
In the background, the newly converted villagers eagerly give the Crusaders the contents of their larders and their barns. Even a stern looking priest of Sigmar is bringing the mob all his temple’s finery.