Serion and Dr. Schafer stand waiting for the three ogres to reach them. Torsten, seeing the oncoming danger pushes through the remaining crowd to reach his companions. Serion, having some knowledge of the more unique beings of the Old World addresses the ogres. Knowing that the one thing that ogres prize above all else is food, Serion decides that offering them food would be the best way to avoid conflict. Serion offers the ogres an oxen from the caravan but the ogres are not happy with this. They decide that they want more, maybe even some of the villagers. Serion makes a deal to let them have one oxen straight away then another oxen each if they accompany the villagers and adventurers to Breitblatt. Torsten is not happy about this, stating that the oxen are too valuable to be given away. Serion and Dr. Schafer both say that it would be better to give the oxen now than to have to fight three ogres and protect the villagers. The ogres discuss the proposal and decide to accept. The lead ogre, strides over to the nearest oxen and rips it from the cart it is tethered too. With one great bite, half of the poor oxen is gone. Two women from the group of villagers left on the road complain about the situation to Dr. Schafer. Luckily, the silver tongued physician manages to placate the women and they return to the caravan grumbling. The ogres, have a change of heart and decide that they cannot be bothered to travel to Breitblatt and will instead go to Talabheim. The trio, although annoyed at the ogres, are pleased to have left the encounter with just the loss of one oxen and no casualties.
Once the villagers have reassembled on the road the caravan travels on toward Breitblatt. As they travel, Dr. Schafer talks with a man from Hochland named Mattias Keller. He does not get much out of him other than that there is an intense rivalry between those from Hochland and Talabheim.
After lunch, Andreas is sober and chatting with villagers. Dr. Schafer is mingling with the travellers whilst Serion scouts ahead. Nothing happens for the rest of the day as the villagers travel unhindered along the road. In the evening the trio split watch over the camp. The evening passes quietly but in the morning Torsten is woken by the sound of wailing coming from the south of the camp.
The morning of the third day does not start well. The trio head to the source of the wailing. When they arrive they find a group of peasants surrounding a tent containing a bloody scene of carnage. The tent itself is slashed, inside are the bodies of a man, woman and child. All mutilated as if by a wild animal. Dr. Schafer manages to move the watching villagers on, allowing the trio to investigate the scene more thoroughly. Torsten looks inside the tent but can deduce no more than there are three corpses inside. Realising that he is probably more suited to the task, Dr. Schafer examines the bodies. He notices that although the bodies have been mauled, they have not been eaten, which he concludes a wild animal would have done. Serion searches outside the tent and finds tracks like a wolfs heading away from the camp. He realises quickly though that the tracks are badly faked and that the killer was most likely human rather than animal. Serion asks some nearby peasants who the dead people were. He discovers that they are the bodies of a Hochlander hunter and his family. Serion looks inside the tent and finds a silver sigmar pendant, the chain cut with a blade around the neck of the male and a small bag of pennies. Not knowing what else to do and their investigations at a dead end, the adventurers get some peasants to burn the bodies and say prayers.
The villagers move on towards Breitblatt until lunchtime when they all stop. During this time, Torsten wanders amongst the resting villagers listening to their chatter. An elderly woman approaches Dr. Schafer asking for his help. He immediately goes with her and does not return for some time. When Dr. Schafer rejoins his companions he reveals that one of the peasant children is showing symptons of the plague.
After lunch the travellers continue their journey. Andreas is drunk again, much to the annoyance of Torsten. He has also developed a cough like some of the villlagers. Dr. Schafer makes arrangements for the sick child to be taken the rest of the journey on one of the villagers carts.
The trio spend the rest of the afternoon trying to solve the murder in the tent from the morning. Serion realises that the faked tracks by the tent must have been made be a forester and that the dead man, being a hunter, had no bow. Dr. Schafer makes a search of the vllagers carts in the hope of finding the missing bow. In the evening, after having no luck finding the missing bow, Torsten decides to confront an old hunter. He demands to search through the mans belongings but like all other attempts by the adventurers, fails to find any clues to the identity of the murderer.
In the morning the adventurers decide to try and flush out the murderer and thief of the bow by holding an archery competition. They hope that the thief is arrogant enough to use the bow to win some money. Serion declares that if any man can shoot better than he, they will win a gold crown, giving them a good start to their new life in Breitblatt. Serion selects a tree and stabs his dagger into the bark. He proclaims that any man that can get closer to the dagger than him will win the gold crown. One by one the hunters and archers take their turn, some manage to hit the tree, a few even manage to get within a couple of inches of the dagger. Serion, feeling confident in his own abilities takes aim. He looses his arrow and it lands exactly next to the dagger, the crowd are amazed at the unbelievable accuracy that the elf shows. Graciously, Serion gives the runner up the gold crown. Unfortunately, and perhaps predictably, the trio fail to notice anyone using the stolen bow. Having reached yet another dead end, the adventurers concede that the case is perhaps beyond their investigative abilities and decide to stop actively trying to solve it.
At midday they finally arrive at Breitblatt. The few villagers living in Breitblatt turn out to greet the newcomers. The travelling peasants cheer the trio and thank them for their safe arrival at their new home. The trio and Andreas decide to leave straight away to return to Talagad, so after saying their farewells start the journey back.
On the first day of the return trip, Serion and Torsten start to develop coughs. They begin to worry that they have caught something from the peasants on their journey to Breitblatt.
On the second day, after several hours of carefree travel, Serion hears a rather unnatural bird call from up ahead. The adventurers quickly leave the road and hide in the bushes with weapons drawn. Eight beastmen head straight towards where they were on the road. Without a second thought, Serion launches an arrow into the right arm of a pig faced beastman causing it to drop the axe it was holding. In a blur, Serion nocks a second arrow and looses it into the crowd but it whizzes harmlessly through and into the undergrowth behind. Torsten levels his crossbox and fires into the crowd, but like Serion's second arrow it sails harmlessly past. Serion fires another two arrows, this time the first makes contact with the right leg of a dog faced beastman and the second strikes a duck faced beastman square in the chest. Having recovered from the intitial shock of the ambush, the beastmen refocus and start to advance on their hidden assailants.
Realising they are outnumbered, the trio drop their missile weapons and draw their respective swords, maces and daggers. As if from nowhere, a group of figures rise from the surrounding undergrowth. The men are heavily camouflaged and each wields a powerful looking bow. As one, they all let fire on the beastmen, felling each and every one without reply. Once the dead have been stripped of weapons and removed from the road the camouflaged men introduce themselves as Knights of the Verdant Field. They reveal that the rest of the way to Talabheim should be clear as they have travelled from that direction.
The travellers thank the Knights for their assistance and continue on their journey. As they walk, Dr. Schafer reveals that he is not actually a physician and that Axel Holst, the man he has been searching for was investigating chaos cultists in Talabheim when he went missing. Serion and Torsten laugh and reveal that they had already come to the conclusion that Dr. Schafer was not actually a real physician. They decide to refer to him by his real name, Johann.
As the evening approaches the travellers make camp and rest in preparation for the remainder of the journey. The night passes uneventfully until just before dawn when Serion is taking last watch.
In the morning mist, Serion sees several shadowy figures on the other side of the road. The humanoid figures disappear quickly into the trees. Serion quietly rises and nimbly crosses the open road. He finds the tracks left by the figures and stealthily follows them through the trees towards the river. He follows the tracks right up to the riverbank where he discovers large clusters of footprints and markings where sacks could have been dropped or dragged. On closer inspection of the scene he finds traces of a fine silvery powder on some of the rocks. Finding nothing else in the immediate area, Serion takes some of the powder and returns to Torsten and Johann, who have woken to find him missing.
After Serion shares his findings with the pair, Johann tells them that it is most likely a chaos army sending scouts ahead to attack Talabheim. Torsten thinks it more likely that they are posioning the water in Talabheim, making people ill. Unable to prove any theory to be true, the adventurers prepare to carry on their journey back to Talagad.
When the adventurers arrive in Talagad, they find it to be full of ill people, more so than when they left. Andreas returns home to his family whilst Serion, Torsten and Johann head straight to the Eel Inn to collect their passes into Talabheim. When they arrive at the inn they discover that it has been returned to its normal state as an inn. There is no sign of the magistrate or anyone else that could give them their passes. They ask where Howenlow can be found, only to be told that he has fled the plague and is now inside Talabheim. The only option left for them is to try the Municipal office. On their way they stop at the Bald Badger, where Heinz tells Johann that the Wizards Way into Talabheim is closed because of the plague. Fearing that their way into Talabheim is barred they decide to carry on to the Municipal office to get some answers.
When they arrive at the Municipal office they find it closed and borded up. Johann sees movement inside so tells them to show themselves. Several men holding crossbows appear through a hatch on the roof. Torsten holds up the letter given to them by Howenlow and demands to be given his pass and paid his wages. A clerk pushes past the men with crossbows and throws down three purses containing the eight gold crowns owed to each adventurer. He then reads them a parchment stating that they have been granted entry into Talabheim.
Not knowing if they will actually be able to get into Talabheim the trio head to the Wizards Way to see if there is any way through. When they arrive, guards block their path and tell them that nobody is allowed in or out of Talabheim. Feeling cheated and at a loss for what to do next, they head to Skullys to see if he can help.
After a short discussion with Skully, he agrees to look into finding an alternative way into Talabheim for them. He tells them that the gangs in Talabheim are still smuggling goods in and out of the city so there must be a way in. They head back to the Bald Badger for the night. Johann asks Heinz if he can recommend a healer to take a look at Serion and Torsten as their coughs are lingering. Heinz tells them to try an apothecary named Widdenhoff near the Wizards Way. The adventurers decide to head straight there as they have nothing else to do for the rest of the day.
It does not take long for the trio to find the apothecaries house. They knock on the front door but there is no answer. Serion moves around the side of the house but can see nothing through the groundfloor windows. Torsten goes to the back of the house and finds a high wall surrounding the back yard. He pulls himself over the wall but sees nobody at the back of the house. Johann follows Torsten and tries the back door. Finding the door locked, he tries to pick it but fails. Johann moves to one side and Torsten slams his shoulder against the wooden door. The lock gives way and Torsten enters the back of the house.
Meanwhile, Serion has returned to the front of the house and is scanning the street for anything suspicious.
Torsten moves quickly through the house and opens the front door to let Serion in. Johann enters behind Torsten and leaves the house through the front door to stand guard whilst the other two search for Widdenhoff.
Serion enters a room to the right of the hallway and finds a body on the floor with its throat slit. Serion calls Johann in and the pair of them discover strange footprints in spilt flour on the floor. The footprints look like they were made by a large hunting dog with long claws and trail off towards the hallway.
Meanwhile Torsten heads left from the hallway into a study. He sees a body slumped over a desk. He is about to take a closer look when all three of the adventurers hear a thud upstairs. Torsten pulls out his mace and takes the lead whilst Johann draws a dagger and Serion prepares his bow. They head cautiously up the stairs. Torsten and Johann enter a room on the landing whilst Serion stands guard at the top of the stairs. As the pair enter the room something brown and furry darts from under a bed towards Torsten. Startled he raises his mace to end the creatures life, realising just in time that it is only a cat. Johann moves over to a wardrobe and careful opens the door with his dagger. As the door swings open, something heavy and soft falls onto him. Torsten laughs and removes the large coat that has fallen from the wardrobe from Johann.
From another room on the landing a black cloaked humanoid bursts from the darkness, dodges past Serion and leaps through a window before he even has time to react. Torsten runs to the broken window but the figure is already gone. Torsten cautiously enters the room the figure burst from. He finds that it is a herb room, Johann makes a brief search of the contents but finds nothing of interest.
Finding nothing else of interest upstairs they head back down to the study. Serion looks more closely at the body slumped over the desk and finds a throwing star in its back. He carefully removes the throwing star, finding on closer inspection that it has been poisoned. Lifting the slumped body they find he was probably Widdenhoff. He was reading about a disease called the Pale Shivers when he was killed...
Saturday, 13 November 2010
Tuesday, 9 November 2010
EPISODE 3: TORSTEN THE FIGHTER
On leaving the bloody scene of the raid on Wolfgang's house, Andreas heads to the river to clean the blood from his clothes whilst our trio of adventurers drag the semi-conscious form of Mikhail to a back alley for questioning.
Having woken Mikhail, Serion takes the lead, asking him if he remembers a raid on an Elven trade caravan some months before. Mikhail simply spits in Serion's face. At this, Torsten lands a fist against Mikhail's face to remind him who is in charge. Serion steps back and Dr. Schafer asks Mikhail about Axel Holst and his death. Mikhail says that all he knows is that he was killed in the sewers along with members of the Adewald gang and the Steinhold gang. The two groups were meeting about something but he had no idea what.
Serion moves in to question Mikhail about the raid on the Elven caravan again. Mikhail refuses to answer so Serion punches him in the stomach. Doubling over, Mikhail gives the name of El Torro in Middenheim. Serion, not satisfied with the answer punches him in the stomach again, Mikhail gives up the name of a man called Lukas Kruger in Talabheim. Believing this is all Mikhail has to offer Serion turns away, as he does so he notices an Elven dagger on Mikhails belt. Furious that Mikhail still has a stolen dagger from the raid and at the uses it had been put to since then, Serion asks Mikhail if he has anything else to say. Mikhail says no, so Serion draws his own dagger and whispers "this is payback" in his ear, before slitting Mikhail's throat. Leaving the dead man slumped on the floor, the trio head back to the Bald Badger for the night.
In the inn, Dr. Schafer starts chatting with Heinz the landlord. He buys him a drink and asks about the Steinhold gang. He discovers that the Steinhold gang and Adewald gang have worked together for some time, but has no idea how or why. As the evening draws on, the adventurers decide that they will stay at the inn for another night before heading to their rooms.
In the morning the adventurers head to the Eel inn to organise their passes into Talabheim. When they arrive there is a large crowd of peasants outside. Dr. Schafer marches straight through them and hands over his letter from the municipal office to the nearest guard. Unfortunatley the guard can not read, but Dr. Schafer manages to talk his way in to see magistrate Howenlow.
After discussion with the magistrate, the trio are offered a pass into Talabheim, if they first agree to escort a group of 100 villagers to the nearby village of Breitblatt. The adventurers are told that the journey will be a six day round trip leaving in the morning, and if they are successful they will receive passes into Talabheim. Having the rest of the day to themselves they decide to head to the docks (who knows why?). On arriving at the docks Dr. Schafer sees Pockets and the pair disappear into the crowd together. Serion and Torsten decide that as the good doctor clearly has other things to do they would go to Andreas's house to ask him to join them on their travel to Breitblatt. Andreas agrees and the pair leave him to go to Skully's to wait for Dr. Schafer. Torsten signs up for a fist fighting competition and Serion agrees to take part in a demonstration of his marksmanship.
In the evening, Dr. Schafer joins his companions at Skully's for the big event. Dr. Schafer asks Skully about the Steinhold gang and then buys an extremely expensive pack of cards from him. Dr. Schafer then proceeds to perform a series of rather unsuccessful card tricks for the regulars at the bar.
The big event opens with Serion. A young woman enters carrying three clay plates. Serion holds three throwing knives in his hand. The girl throws a plate into the air, Serion launches a throwing knife wildly past it into a wooden beam in the ceiling. The girl throws the second plate into the air, with the reflexes of a cat Serion launches his second knife into another celing beam. Things are not going well. The third and final plate sails through the air and like the previous knives, Serion's knife embeds somewhere in the gloom of the wall. Poor knife throwing from Serion indeed. Serion feels much more confident about his abilities with his bow however. A girl places a lit candle at the far end of the display area. Skully announces that Serion will shoot the flame from the candle. Torsten places a bet on Serion being successful. The crowd hushes. Serion draws back the bow string. Concentration. He steadies his aim and lets the arrow loose. The arrow flies across the display area and snuffs out the flame without so much as making the candle wobble. Expert shooting indeed. The crowd roars, Torsten smiles as he collects his winnings. Serion proves why the bow is his weapon of choice.
After a short interval Skully enters the arena to announce the main event of the evening. He announces that Torsten will be fighting the champion of the arena, Hrothgar, a rather large and imposing Kislevite.
Torsten and Hrothgar square up and Skully starts the fight. Hrothgar throws a punch at Torsten but misses badly. Torsten responds with a jab to the chest. Annoyed, Hrothgar throws a powerful punch but misses again, leaving him off balance. Taking advantage, Torsten throws a punch at Hrothgar. Hrothgar fails to dodge the blow, taking it square in the face. Torsten follows this up with right hook to the jaw. Things are looking good for Torsten. Hrothgar swings another wild punch at Torsten, missing badly again, spinning around leaving himself open. Torsten swings another punch into Hrothgars jaw. Hrothgar is getting angry. He launches a mighty blow into the side of Torsten's head. Torsten immediately counters with a punch to Hrothgars face, opening up a large gash on his cheek and breaking his cheek bone. Torsten, sensing victory squares up, unleashing a headbutt, Hrothgar raises his arms to just parry the blow. Torsten repeats the attack, Hrothgar scrambles a block at the last moment. With his opponent dazed, Torsten lashes a kick to Hrothgars groin, dropping him to his knees in agony. Torsten stands over the prone man, unleashing a fight ending blow to his face, breaking his nose. Torsten follows this with an elbow to the back of the neck, knocking Hrothgar to the ground unconscious. Torsten turns to the crowd and raises his arms roaring. The crowd cheers him as Skully takes him to one side to hand over his winnings and offer more fights in the future.
After all of the excitement, the trio head back to the Bald Badger to rest after their entertaining evening.
The next morning, the adventurers head out to find Pockets before finding provisions for their journey to Breitblatt. Dr. Schafer asks Pockets what he knows about the Steinhold gang. Pockets doesn't know much but sets off to find out for the doctor. They spend the rest of the day wandering around until Pockets finds them again. He confirms that the Steinhold gang and Adewald gang were smuggling in and out of Talabheim. He also reveals that Axel Holst was lodging at the Crooked Shoe inn. The trio head straight for the Crooked Shoe and question the inn keeper about Axel Holst. Dr. Schafer manages to persuade the inn keeper to let him look in the room Axel rented. After a brief search of the room he finds some silver shillings under a loose floor board. Not knowing what else to do that day they head back to the Bald Badger to prepare for the trip to Breitblatt in the morning.
The next morning the adventurers head to the Eel Inn. A clerk meets them and addresses "Baron Richthoffen" (as Dr. Schafer had called himself when visiting the Municipal offices earlier in the week). The clerk hands over a letter to allow the trio to travel unhindered to Breitblatt and tells them to travel on the old dwarf road. Dr. Schafer turns to the crowd of nearly 100 villagers to be escorted to Breitblatt and details where and how they would arrive safely at their destination. Andreas arrives just before they leave, steaming drunk...
On the first day of the journey Dr. Schafer, tired of carrying his equipment, pays a peasant to carry it for him. Andreas and Torsten take guard at the rear of the travellers whilst Serion disappears up ahead to scout the area. On one of the occasions when the travellers stop for a rest, a young blacksmith gets chatting to the adventurers. Serion wonders aloud if there will be enough room for 100 new villagers when they arrive at Breitblatt. He is suspicious as to the motives of those that decided to move the villagers on.
As they survey the crowd, Dr. Schafer and Serion both notice that some of the villagers are from Hochland, known to be hated by those from Talabheim. They also notice that many of the people are coughing and starting to look ill. Dr. Schafer begins to worry that illness is taking hold of them all.
On the second day Torsten finds Andreas drunk and unconscious on the back of a cart. He begins to regret asking him to join them. Meanwhile, Serion is scouting up ahead of the travellers. He sees a small group of ogres dressed in brightly coloured clothing heading towards them. He rushes back to tell his companions his findings. On hearing the news, Dr. Schafer begins to get the whole group to move off of the road towards the river by telling them they need more fresh water. Most villagers grudgingly start to do this.. A small group take so long to move that the ogres arrive at their location before they are clear of the road...
Having woken Mikhail, Serion takes the lead, asking him if he remembers a raid on an Elven trade caravan some months before. Mikhail simply spits in Serion's face. At this, Torsten lands a fist against Mikhail's face to remind him who is in charge. Serion steps back and Dr. Schafer asks Mikhail about Axel Holst and his death. Mikhail says that all he knows is that he was killed in the sewers along with members of the Adewald gang and the Steinhold gang. The two groups were meeting about something but he had no idea what.
Serion moves in to question Mikhail about the raid on the Elven caravan again. Mikhail refuses to answer so Serion punches him in the stomach. Doubling over, Mikhail gives the name of El Torro in Middenheim. Serion, not satisfied with the answer punches him in the stomach again, Mikhail gives up the name of a man called Lukas Kruger in Talabheim. Believing this is all Mikhail has to offer Serion turns away, as he does so he notices an Elven dagger on Mikhails belt. Furious that Mikhail still has a stolen dagger from the raid and at the uses it had been put to since then, Serion asks Mikhail if he has anything else to say. Mikhail says no, so Serion draws his own dagger and whispers "this is payback" in his ear, before slitting Mikhail's throat. Leaving the dead man slumped on the floor, the trio head back to the Bald Badger for the night.
In the inn, Dr. Schafer starts chatting with Heinz the landlord. He buys him a drink and asks about the Steinhold gang. He discovers that the Steinhold gang and Adewald gang have worked together for some time, but has no idea how or why. As the evening draws on, the adventurers decide that they will stay at the inn for another night before heading to their rooms.
In the morning the adventurers head to the Eel inn to organise their passes into Talabheim. When they arrive there is a large crowd of peasants outside. Dr. Schafer marches straight through them and hands over his letter from the municipal office to the nearest guard. Unfortunatley the guard can not read, but Dr. Schafer manages to talk his way in to see magistrate Howenlow.
After discussion with the magistrate, the trio are offered a pass into Talabheim, if they first agree to escort a group of 100 villagers to the nearby village of Breitblatt. The adventurers are told that the journey will be a six day round trip leaving in the morning, and if they are successful they will receive passes into Talabheim. Having the rest of the day to themselves they decide to head to the docks (who knows why?). On arriving at the docks Dr. Schafer sees Pockets and the pair disappear into the crowd together. Serion and Torsten decide that as the good doctor clearly has other things to do they would go to Andreas's house to ask him to join them on their travel to Breitblatt. Andreas agrees and the pair leave him to go to Skully's to wait for Dr. Schafer. Torsten signs up for a fist fighting competition and Serion agrees to take part in a demonstration of his marksmanship.
In the evening, Dr. Schafer joins his companions at Skully's for the big event. Dr. Schafer asks Skully about the Steinhold gang and then buys an extremely expensive pack of cards from him. Dr. Schafer then proceeds to perform a series of rather unsuccessful card tricks for the regulars at the bar.
The big event opens with Serion. A young woman enters carrying three clay plates. Serion holds three throwing knives in his hand. The girl throws a plate into the air, Serion launches a throwing knife wildly past it into a wooden beam in the ceiling. The girl throws the second plate into the air, with the reflexes of a cat Serion launches his second knife into another celing beam. Things are not going well. The third and final plate sails through the air and like the previous knives, Serion's knife embeds somewhere in the gloom of the wall. Poor knife throwing from Serion indeed. Serion feels much more confident about his abilities with his bow however. A girl places a lit candle at the far end of the display area. Skully announces that Serion will shoot the flame from the candle. Torsten places a bet on Serion being successful. The crowd hushes. Serion draws back the bow string. Concentration. He steadies his aim and lets the arrow loose. The arrow flies across the display area and snuffs out the flame without so much as making the candle wobble. Expert shooting indeed. The crowd roars, Torsten smiles as he collects his winnings. Serion proves why the bow is his weapon of choice.
After a short interval Skully enters the arena to announce the main event of the evening. He announces that Torsten will be fighting the champion of the arena, Hrothgar, a rather large and imposing Kislevite.
Torsten and Hrothgar square up and Skully starts the fight. Hrothgar throws a punch at Torsten but misses badly. Torsten responds with a jab to the chest. Annoyed, Hrothgar throws a powerful punch but misses again, leaving him off balance. Taking advantage, Torsten throws a punch at Hrothgar. Hrothgar fails to dodge the blow, taking it square in the face. Torsten follows this up with right hook to the jaw. Things are looking good for Torsten. Hrothgar swings another wild punch at Torsten, missing badly again, spinning around leaving himself open. Torsten swings another punch into Hrothgars jaw. Hrothgar is getting angry. He launches a mighty blow into the side of Torsten's head. Torsten immediately counters with a punch to Hrothgars face, opening up a large gash on his cheek and breaking his cheek bone. Torsten, sensing victory squares up, unleashing a headbutt, Hrothgar raises his arms to just parry the blow. Torsten repeats the attack, Hrothgar scrambles a block at the last moment. With his opponent dazed, Torsten lashes a kick to Hrothgars groin, dropping him to his knees in agony. Torsten stands over the prone man, unleashing a fight ending blow to his face, breaking his nose. Torsten follows this with an elbow to the back of the neck, knocking Hrothgar to the ground unconscious. Torsten turns to the crowd and raises his arms roaring. The crowd cheers him as Skully takes him to one side to hand over his winnings and offer more fights in the future.
After all of the excitement, the trio head back to the Bald Badger to rest after their entertaining evening.
The next morning, the adventurers head out to find Pockets before finding provisions for their journey to Breitblatt. Dr. Schafer asks Pockets what he knows about the Steinhold gang. Pockets doesn't know much but sets off to find out for the doctor. They spend the rest of the day wandering around until Pockets finds them again. He confirms that the Steinhold gang and Adewald gang were smuggling in and out of Talabheim. He also reveals that Axel Holst was lodging at the Crooked Shoe inn. The trio head straight for the Crooked Shoe and question the inn keeper about Axel Holst. Dr. Schafer manages to persuade the inn keeper to let him look in the room Axel rented. After a brief search of the room he finds some silver shillings under a loose floor board. Not knowing what else to do that day they head back to the Bald Badger to prepare for the trip to Breitblatt in the morning.
The next morning the adventurers head to the Eel Inn. A clerk meets them and addresses "Baron Richthoffen" (as Dr. Schafer had called himself when visiting the Municipal offices earlier in the week). The clerk hands over a letter to allow the trio to travel unhindered to Breitblatt and tells them to travel on the old dwarf road. Dr. Schafer turns to the crowd of nearly 100 villagers to be escorted to Breitblatt and details where and how they would arrive safely at their destination. Andreas arrives just before they leave, steaming drunk...
On the first day of the journey Dr. Schafer, tired of carrying his equipment, pays a peasant to carry it for him. Andreas and Torsten take guard at the rear of the travellers whilst Serion disappears up ahead to scout the area. On one of the occasions when the travellers stop for a rest, a young blacksmith gets chatting to the adventurers. Serion wonders aloud if there will be enough room for 100 new villagers when they arrive at Breitblatt. He is suspicious as to the motives of those that decided to move the villagers on.
As they survey the crowd, Dr. Schafer and Serion both notice that some of the villagers are from Hochland, known to be hated by those from Talabheim. They also notice that many of the people are coughing and starting to look ill. Dr. Schafer begins to worry that illness is taking hold of them all.
On the second day Torsten finds Andreas drunk and unconscious on the back of a cart. He begins to regret asking him to join them. Meanwhile, Serion is scouting up ahead of the travellers. He sees a small group of ogres dressed in brightly coloured clothing heading towards them. He rushes back to tell his companions his findings. On hearing the news, Dr. Schafer begins to get the whole group to move off of the road towards the river by telling them they need more fresh water. Most villagers grudgingly start to do this.. A small group take so long to move that the ogres arrive at their location before they are clear of the road...
Sunday, 31 October 2010
EPISODE 2: WOLFGANG
Serion, Dr. Schafer and Torsten are back at the Bald Badger inn. Having arrived in Talagad that morning and dealt with Andreas's debts they are in need of rest and ale.
Torsten gets talking with some locals and ends up taking part in a drinking competition with one of the inns regulars. Always confident in his own abilities, Torsten bets a gold crown that he can beat the hardened drinker. Meanwhile, Serion buys an ale and takes up a table in the corner of the inn. He just sits observing the crowd, coming from an elven settlement, he is curious about the ways of humans and why they drink such swill. Dr. Schafer is chatting with the barman when a woman approaches him. She is clearly a lady of ill repute and a white dove tattoo on her face catches the good doctors eye. She explains that she has the tattoo because she is owned by Wolfgang from the Adewald gang. Being the expert detective that he is, Dr. Schafer decides that the woman may know something. Unfortunately the woman refuses to talk and will only do "business" with him. Dr. Schafer reluctantly gives in and pays the woman for her "services" in the hope he will be able to get information out of her. He hands over the money and she takes him outside to "conclude business" in an alleyway.
Whilst Dr. Schafer is talking with the woman, Torsten is trying to outdrink the local. Unfortunately, the ale in Talagad is a bit stronger than he is used to and after several pints he is a bit worse for wear and is getting aggressive. Conceding that he has lost he hands over his gold crown before passing out on the table.
Outside in the alley, Dr. Schafer is trying to extract information from the prostitute. As she stops to finish businses Dr. Schafer gets her to walk a bit further along the alleyway, as it is too public where they are. All the time he is asking her about a friend of his that was killed recently. The comedy stopping and walking on just a bit more continues for another 100 yards until she has had enough of his stalling. Dr. Schafer gives in and tells her to kneel before him and shut her eyes. At this, Dr. Schafer, being the legendary womans man that he is, turns and sprints as fast as he can up the alleyway and back into the inn as fast as he can, leaving a confused, yet happily paid prostitue on her knees and alone.
Dr. Schafer bursts through the inn door then composes himself before he and Serion gather up a semi conscious Torsten and head up to their rooms for the night.
Yet again our adventurers have left their mark, Dr. Schafer has paid a prostitute for nothing, perhaps creating a dubious reputation for himself as the man that "couldn't do it" and Torsten as the "man that can't hold his drink". Perhaps only Serion has avoided making a spectacle of himself so far, but that is only because he was sat alone in the corner of the inn all night.
In the morning the party decide that they need to gain entry to Talabheim and must therefore obtain papers to allow access. So Dr. Schafer (dressed as a well-to-do nobleman), Serion and a hungover Torsten head for the Municipal office. On the way Dr. Schafer decides to go to the watch barracks first to try and discover what happened to his friend. After discussing the matter with several watchmen he finds that his friend, a member of the Adewald gang and two other men were pulled dead from the river recently. Uncovering no further leads, the party head on to the Municipal office.
Upon arriving at the Municipal office the adventurers discover that they are required to fill in numerous forms and join several lengthy queues to obtain passes into Talabheim. Deciding that this was not really what they wanted to spend their day doing, Dr. Schafer puffed out his chest, headed to the nearest official and loudly proclaimed that he was actually Baron von Ricchthoffen and was not prepared to queue, and that he and his bodyguards would need to be dealt with immediately. Amazingly, this plan seemed to intimidate an official sufficiently enough for him to tell the "Baron" to head to the Eel inn where the magistrate would expediate their passes. Pleased with their progress the group decide to head back to the Bald Badger for lunch before going on to the Eel inn for their passes.
Just as the group sit down to their lunch, a woman bursts in to the inn. It is Alexa and she looks extremely upset. She heads straight to the party and explains that her daughter Hanna has gone missing. She was last seen heading to the fish market last night but never returned. Her husband Andreas was already out looking for her but with no luck so far. The adventurers agree to help with the search and head off (after Dr. Schafer changes back to his physicians clothing).
Being the last place she was seen, the party start at the fish market. Unfortunately there is no sign of her there. Dr. Schafer and Serion get talking to a pedlar selling religious trinkets. Serion discovers that a Kiselvite man is selling Elven trinkets in Talagad, this appears to interest him geatly though he does not tell the others. Dr. Schafer decides to buy several trinkets, in fact he buys one religious trinket for each of the major Empire gods, saying "you can never be too careful".
The adventurers head to the Kislevite district but having no idea where to look or even speak Kislevite they just wander the streets. Heading down one particularly rough street they are confronted by several Kislevite thugs. Torsten simply pulls out his two handed mace and they realise their error and disperse immediately. Shortly after this the trio hear a commotion and the watch arriving so they make their exit hastily, not wanting to be involved in the ensuing riot that looks likely to occur.
Not having any luck so far the party decide to head straight to Skully's, as Wolfgang would be there playing cards, and had previously threatened that the matter of Andreas's debt was not over and he would pay.
The adventurers head straight into Skully's and up to Wolfgang. Torsten angrily demands that Wolfgang tell him where the girl is. Wolfgang simply laughs so Torsten threatens to kill him. sensing things could get messy in his club again, Skully and his bouncers break up the two groups. Torsten and Dr. Schafer leave but Serion takes up a seat in one corner of the club and watches Wolfgang. After a short while Skully comes over and offers Serion and Torsten a chance in his pit fighting arena. Serion declines but says that Torsten may be interested. Serion then leaves and meets back with Torsten and Dr. Schafer.
Having reached another dead end the trio decide to head back to Andreas and Alexa to see if they have heard anything. As they cross the bridge back over the river they see Hanna. She has hollow, sunken eyes and a the same white dove tattoo on her face that "Dr.Schafer's prostitute" had. Realising what had happened to her the adventurers take her straight back to her family. Andreas is beside himself with anger and vows to kill Wolfgang. Torsten gives him his mace and the four head to Skully's to find Wolfgang.
On arrival at Skully's the would be heroes decide that storming in through the front door could be a bad idea. Torsten, Andreas and Dr. Schafer wait at the front of the club whilst Serion moved around the back to try and find a way in. Whilst Serion was looking for a way in, Dr. Schafer decided to just walk straight in and find Wolfgang. Torsten remained outside trying to persuade Andreas not to charge in and start a fight. Serion gave up looking for a way around the back and went through the front door after Dr. Schafer. Unfortunately Wolfgang was nowhere to be seen. Serion asked Skully if he knew where to find him, Skully was more than happy to give away the location of Wolfgang's home.
Sometime later the four men arrived at Wolfgang's home. Two guards (the two thugs collecting money from Alexa previously) were at the front door. Torsten and Andreas scouted around the back of the house, seeing a barrel by the back door. Much time was spent debating the use and contents of the barrel before it was decided that it didn't really matter anyway. Serion, being the agile elf that he is climbed the next door building and lept across to the roof of Wolfgang's home. Dr. Schafer decided that the guards at the front door needed to be distracted, so feigning a drunken state sidled over to the two thugs and started a conversation.
Serion made his way over the roof and expertly swung down and through a window on the upper floor, nimbly leaping off of a table inside the window without making a noise. From downstairs voices and laughter could be heard. Dr. Schafer continued to distract the guards at the front, skillfully averting a mugging attempt with his quick wit. Torsten and Andreas maintained their silent wait in the back garden, waiting for a sign from Serion to attack.
Serion made his way across the upstairs room to a door on the other side, hoping to be able to make a signal to his waiting companions. Carefully opening the door he discovered a couple in bed, "busy at it". Not sure what to do, Serion stood quietly in the corner.
Having grown impatient at the wait Torsten and Andreas moved up to the back door. Preparing to kick the door off of its hinges, Torsten thought twice and tried the handle. It was unlocked. Opening the door, Torsten and Andreas burst in knocking a weasly rat faced man to the floor unconscious before dispatching another guard by knocking his teeth out with a mace.
Meanwhile, Dr. Schafer continued his pretend drunken conversation with the guards. Serion, having stood in the corner of the room whilst the two humans continued their activities decided to make his presence known. As the two lovers turned their attentions to the black clothed elf in the corner of their room, he ordered them to be silent, whilst he tied their hands together with a belt from a pile of discarded clothes from the floor. Hearing that the attack had started downstairs before his signal he quickly drew a dagger and throwing knife and made for the stairs.
Torsten and Andreas were making good progress downstairs, clearing the kitchen before moving into the main living room. Inside were a mixture of thugs, prostitutes and of course, Wolfgang. Torsten's skills with the two handed mace proved too great for the guards and they quickly surrendered. Serion appeared at the bottom of the stairs and launched a throwing knife at a thug stood near the front door of the house. The knife flew true, but at the last minute the guard moved and it glanced off of his arm harmlessly.
The two guards at the fron door, hearing the commotion deicided they should investigate, Dr. Schafer, realising that his drunken charade had taken him as far as it could, waited for them to turn their backs on him before drawing his dagger and holding it to the back of the unfortunate guard in front of him (the same guard that also had a dagger held to his back by Serion at the Broussard home the day before, unlucky). Dr. Schafer calmly suggested that it would be in the guards best interest to leave now and go home as there would be ten hardened warriors waiting for them inside. Agreeing, the two guards fled the scene, leaving Dr. Schafer an open door to enter the house.
Andreas made for Wolfgang, the pair trading blows but neither gaining the upper hand. Torsten, having bested the thug by him, charged straight at Wolfgang, Andreas stepped to the side, clearly a manouevre from their days together as mercenaries. Torsten swung his mighty two handed mace and connected with Wolfgangs face, making a sickening ripping sound as a large flap of skin and flesh hung loosely, leaving a terrible wound. Wolfgang's resolve held, and he held up his arms to defend himself, at this, Andreas swung his mace and struck him square in the hip. Wolfgang's body stiffened as his pelvis shattered, blood spurting from the wound, spraying Torsten and Andreas and most of the room. Wolfgang slumped to the floor dead, a large pool of blood forming where he lay.
The shock of their leader dying in such a way dissolved any loyalty that the remaining thugs had as they ran for their lives.
As Torsten and Andreas gathered themselves, Serion made for the kitchen where he found the Kislevite "Mikhail" unconscious on the floor. He tied the thug's hands together with his belt and gagged him. The rest of the party joined him in the kitchen. Dr. Schafer suggested it would be best if they were elsewhere when the watch arrived. The adventurers and their captive disappeared out of the back door of the house to find somewhere suitable to interrogate him...
Torsten gets talking with some locals and ends up taking part in a drinking competition with one of the inns regulars. Always confident in his own abilities, Torsten bets a gold crown that he can beat the hardened drinker. Meanwhile, Serion buys an ale and takes up a table in the corner of the inn. He just sits observing the crowd, coming from an elven settlement, he is curious about the ways of humans and why they drink such swill. Dr. Schafer is chatting with the barman when a woman approaches him. She is clearly a lady of ill repute and a white dove tattoo on her face catches the good doctors eye. She explains that she has the tattoo because she is owned by Wolfgang from the Adewald gang. Being the expert detective that he is, Dr. Schafer decides that the woman may know something. Unfortunately the woman refuses to talk and will only do "business" with him. Dr. Schafer reluctantly gives in and pays the woman for her "services" in the hope he will be able to get information out of her. He hands over the money and she takes him outside to "conclude business" in an alleyway.
Whilst Dr. Schafer is talking with the woman, Torsten is trying to outdrink the local. Unfortunately, the ale in Talagad is a bit stronger than he is used to and after several pints he is a bit worse for wear and is getting aggressive. Conceding that he has lost he hands over his gold crown before passing out on the table.
Outside in the alley, Dr. Schafer is trying to extract information from the prostitute. As she stops to finish businses Dr. Schafer gets her to walk a bit further along the alleyway, as it is too public where they are. All the time he is asking her about a friend of his that was killed recently. The comedy stopping and walking on just a bit more continues for another 100 yards until she has had enough of his stalling. Dr. Schafer gives in and tells her to kneel before him and shut her eyes. At this, Dr. Schafer, being the legendary womans man that he is, turns and sprints as fast as he can up the alleyway and back into the inn as fast as he can, leaving a confused, yet happily paid prostitue on her knees and alone.
Dr. Schafer bursts through the inn door then composes himself before he and Serion gather up a semi conscious Torsten and head up to their rooms for the night.
Yet again our adventurers have left their mark, Dr. Schafer has paid a prostitute for nothing, perhaps creating a dubious reputation for himself as the man that "couldn't do it" and Torsten as the "man that can't hold his drink". Perhaps only Serion has avoided making a spectacle of himself so far, but that is only because he was sat alone in the corner of the inn all night.
In the morning the party decide that they need to gain entry to Talabheim and must therefore obtain papers to allow access. So Dr. Schafer (dressed as a well-to-do nobleman), Serion and a hungover Torsten head for the Municipal office. On the way Dr. Schafer decides to go to the watch barracks first to try and discover what happened to his friend. After discussing the matter with several watchmen he finds that his friend, a member of the Adewald gang and two other men were pulled dead from the river recently. Uncovering no further leads, the party head on to the Municipal office.
Upon arriving at the Municipal office the adventurers discover that they are required to fill in numerous forms and join several lengthy queues to obtain passes into Talabheim. Deciding that this was not really what they wanted to spend their day doing, Dr. Schafer puffed out his chest, headed to the nearest official and loudly proclaimed that he was actually Baron von Ricchthoffen and was not prepared to queue, and that he and his bodyguards would need to be dealt with immediately. Amazingly, this plan seemed to intimidate an official sufficiently enough for him to tell the "Baron" to head to the Eel inn where the magistrate would expediate their passes. Pleased with their progress the group decide to head back to the Bald Badger for lunch before going on to the Eel inn for their passes.
Just as the group sit down to their lunch, a woman bursts in to the inn. It is Alexa and she looks extremely upset. She heads straight to the party and explains that her daughter Hanna has gone missing. She was last seen heading to the fish market last night but never returned. Her husband Andreas was already out looking for her but with no luck so far. The adventurers agree to help with the search and head off (after Dr. Schafer changes back to his physicians clothing).
Being the last place she was seen, the party start at the fish market. Unfortunately there is no sign of her there. Dr. Schafer and Serion get talking to a pedlar selling religious trinkets. Serion discovers that a Kiselvite man is selling Elven trinkets in Talagad, this appears to interest him geatly though he does not tell the others. Dr. Schafer decides to buy several trinkets, in fact he buys one religious trinket for each of the major Empire gods, saying "you can never be too careful".
The adventurers head to the Kislevite district but having no idea where to look or even speak Kislevite they just wander the streets. Heading down one particularly rough street they are confronted by several Kislevite thugs. Torsten simply pulls out his two handed mace and they realise their error and disperse immediately. Shortly after this the trio hear a commotion and the watch arriving so they make their exit hastily, not wanting to be involved in the ensuing riot that looks likely to occur.
Not having any luck so far the party decide to head straight to Skully's, as Wolfgang would be there playing cards, and had previously threatened that the matter of Andreas's debt was not over and he would pay.
The adventurers head straight into Skully's and up to Wolfgang. Torsten angrily demands that Wolfgang tell him where the girl is. Wolfgang simply laughs so Torsten threatens to kill him. sensing things could get messy in his club again, Skully and his bouncers break up the two groups. Torsten and Dr. Schafer leave but Serion takes up a seat in one corner of the club and watches Wolfgang. After a short while Skully comes over and offers Serion and Torsten a chance in his pit fighting arena. Serion declines but says that Torsten may be interested. Serion then leaves and meets back with Torsten and Dr. Schafer.
Having reached another dead end the trio decide to head back to Andreas and Alexa to see if they have heard anything. As they cross the bridge back over the river they see Hanna. She has hollow, sunken eyes and a the same white dove tattoo on her face that "Dr.Schafer's prostitute" had. Realising what had happened to her the adventurers take her straight back to her family. Andreas is beside himself with anger and vows to kill Wolfgang. Torsten gives him his mace and the four head to Skully's to find Wolfgang.
On arrival at Skully's the would be heroes decide that storming in through the front door could be a bad idea. Torsten, Andreas and Dr. Schafer wait at the front of the club whilst Serion moved around the back to try and find a way in. Whilst Serion was looking for a way in, Dr. Schafer decided to just walk straight in and find Wolfgang. Torsten remained outside trying to persuade Andreas not to charge in and start a fight. Serion gave up looking for a way around the back and went through the front door after Dr. Schafer. Unfortunately Wolfgang was nowhere to be seen. Serion asked Skully if he knew where to find him, Skully was more than happy to give away the location of Wolfgang's home.
Sometime later the four men arrived at Wolfgang's home. Two guards (the two thugs collecting money from Alexa previously) were at the front door. Torsten and Andreas scouted around the back of the house, seeing a barrel by the back door. Much time was spent debating the use and contents of the barrel before it was decided that it didn't really matter anyway. Serion, being the agile elf that he is climbed the next door building and lept across to the roof of Wolfgang's home. Dr. Schafer decided that the guards at the front door needed to be distracted, so feigning a drunken state sidled over to the two thugs and started a conversation.
Serion made his way over the roof and expertly swung down and through a window on the upper floor, nimbly leaping off of a table inside the window without making a noise. From downstairs voices and laughter could be heard. Dr. Schafer continued to distract the guards at the front, skillfully averting a mugging attempt with his quick wit. Torsten and Andreas maintained their silent wait in the back garden, waiting for a sign from Serion to attack.
Serion made his way across the upstairs room to a door on the other side, hoping to be able to make a signal to his waiting companions. Carefully opening the door he discovered a couple in bed, "busy at it". Not sure what to do, Serion stood quietly in the corner.
Having grown impatient at the wait Torsten and Andreas moved up to the back door. Preparing to kick the door off of its hinges, Torsten thought twice and tried the handle. It was unlocked. Opening the door, Torsten and Andreas burst in knocking a weasly rat faced man to the floor unconscious before dispatching another guard by knocking his teeth out with a mace.
Meanwhile, Dr. Schafer continued his pretend drunken conversation with the guards. Serion, having stood in the corner of the room whilst the two humans continued their activities decided to make his presence known. As the two lovers turned their attentions to the black clothed elf in the corner of their room, he ordered them to be silent, whilst he tied their hands together with a belt from a pile of discarded clothes from the floor. Hearing that the attack had started downstairs before his signal he quickly drew a dagger and throwing knife and made for the stairs.
Torsten and Andreas were making good progress downstairs, clearing the kitchen before moving into the main living room. Inside were a mixture of thugs, prostitutes and of course, Wolfgang. Torsten's skills with the two handed mace proved too great for the guards and they quickly surrendered. Serion appeared at the bottom of the stairs and launched a throwing knife at a thug stood near the front door of the house. The knife flew true, but at the last minute the guard moved and it glanced off of his arm harmlessly.
The two guards at the fron door, hearing the commotion deicided they should investigate, Dr. Schafer, realising that his drunken charade had taken him as far as it could, waited for them to turn their backs on him before drawing his dagger and holding it to the back of the unfortunate guard in front of him (the same guard that also had a dagger held to his back by Serion at the Broussard home the day before, unlucky). Dr. Schafer calmly suggested that it would be in the guards best interest to leave now and go home as there would be ten hardened warriors waiting for them inside. Agreeing, the two guards fled the scene, leaving Dr. Schafer an open door to enter the house.
Andreas made for Wolfgang, the pair trading blows but neither gaining the upper hand. Torsten, having bested the thug by him, charged straight at Wolfgang, Andreas stepped to the side, clearly a manouevre from their days together as mercenaries. Torsten swung his mighty two handed mace and connected with Wolfgangs face, making a sickening ripping sound as a large flap of skin and flesh hung loosely, leaving a terrible wound. Wolfgang's resolve held, and he held up his arms to defend himself, at this, Andreas swung his mace and struck him square in the hip. Wolfgang's body stiffened as his pelvis shattered, blood spurting from the wound, spraying Torsten and Andreas and most of the room. Wolfgang slumped to the floor dead, a large pool of blood forming where he lay.
The shock of their leader dying in such a way dissolved any loyalty that the remaining thugs had as they ran for their lives.
As Torsten and Andreas gathered themselves, Serion made for the kitchen where he found the Kislevite "Mikhail" unconscious on the floor. He tied the thug's hands together with his belt and gagged him. The rest of the party joined him in the kitchen. Dr. Schafer suggested it would be best if they were elsewhere when the watch arrived. The adventurers and their captive disappeared out of the back door of the house to find somewhere suitable to interrogate him...
Wednesday, 27 October 2010
EPISODE 1: ARRIVAL IN TALAGAD
Our three adventurers are all aboard the Maria Borger, a riverboat sailing the Talabec river towards Talabheim. Each are on the boat for their own personal reasons, each are heading toward the city of Talabheim. Having spent several evenings drinking and sharing stories a bond has formed between the travellers.
On arrival at Talagad, just outside the city of Talabheim the three friends disembark from the Maria Borger, thanking captain Strauss for his hospitality and start looking for lodgings. At the docks the trio are met by a young boy going by the name of 'Pockets'. Torsten asks Pockets if he has heard of a man named Andreas Broussard, a former mercenary comrade who was forced to retire due to injury. Pockets agrees to enquire into his whereabouts and in the meantime suggests they try the Eel inn for somewhere to stay.
On arriving at the Eel inn the adventurers are met by two surly soldiers, barring the way into the inn. It turns out that it is being used by the authorities for dealing with immigrants resulting from the wars in the North. Torsten and Dr. Schafer decide to wait at the Eel inn for Pockets to return whilst Serion goes off to secure lodgings for the party elsewhere. About half an hour later Serion returns after renting a room at the Bald Badger inn. Shortly after this Pockets arrives with the location of Andreas Broussard's house.
The adventurers head off to Andreas's house. Upon knocking on the door they are met by his wife Alexa, his 13 year old daughter Hannah and 5 year old son Sigfried. Alexa explains that Andreas has taken to gambling and drinking since losing his arm and being forced to retire from his mercenary unit. He has been out drinking all day and should be back soon. She offers the adventurers fish stew which they readily accept and wait for Andreas to return.
About an hour later there is a knock at the door. Alexa goes to answer it, cursing Andreas for forgetting his key. The adventurers hear an argument coming from the front door and then a thump. Torsten leaps to his feet and rushes to see what has happened. He discovers Alexa lying on the floor, obviously as a result of being punched in the face. A menacing thug is stood in the doorway, with another thug brandishing a club behind him. Torsten wastes no time in launching a head butt at the thug, followed by a kick and a punch. Meanwhile, Serion disappears out of the back door and Dr. Schafer pulls Alexa to safety and protects the children.
Torsten continues to fight the thug in the doorway, like a ghost, Serion appears behind the thug with the club, having circled around the house. The thug with the club feels a dagger point against his back and Serion tells him to call off his friend. The thugs realise that they are outmatched and leave, saying that Wolfgang wants his money from Andreas. Whilst Dr. Schafer tends to Alexa's wounds she reveals that Andreas owes a money lender called Wolfgang 20 gold crowns. On hearing this, Torsten produces a pouch of 20 gold crowns that his mercenary unit had donated to Andreas to help with his retirement. The party offer to take the money to Wolfgang to settle the debt. Alexa is grateful and tells them he can be found at a club called Skully's on the other side of the river.
The adventurers head straight to Skully's to pay Wolfgang what he is owed. Skully's turns out to be a bit of a dive and is run by a rather unpleasant halfling called Skully. The party leave their weapons at the door with two rather large and intimidating bouncers. At one end of the club, sitting at a table with a weasley rat faced man and several other men is Wolfgang. Torsten leads the way over to Wolfgang and says that he has brought the money owed by Andreas and is paying in full. Wolfgang takes the money then claims that as interest on the money owed and he will be collecting that later. Torsten is quick to anger and refuses to pay any interest and threatens Wolfgang. At this, Wolfgang and his cronies rise and he declares that the issue should be 'sorted out' outside. Skully intervenes and asks for there to be no trouble inside. As the group of men start to leave, Torsten grabs a chair and smashes it over the head of one of the thugs. Dr. Schafer, thinking on his feet, grabs hold of a nearby woman (most likely of ill repute) and throws her into the path of another of the thugs. Serion grabs a wine bottle from a table and swings it at a thug, missing several times. Torsten, left with only a broken chair leg in his hand, proceeds to hit another thug around the head. Realising that things are going to get messy, Skully and his bouncers step in and the two groups separate. The trio of adventurers decide that it would be wise to walk away from the fight and head back to let Alexa and hopefully Andreas, know that the debt has been settled. Torsten catches up with his old comrade, Andreas and offers him work. Once the adventurers have visited the Broussard household they head back to the Bald Badger for a well deserved rest and some food. Welcome to Talagad lads!
On arrival at Talagad, just outside the city of Talabheim the three friends disembark from the Maria Borger, thanking captain Strauss for his hospitality and start looking for lodgings. At the docks the trio are met by a young boy going by the name of 'Pockets'. Torsten asks Pockets if he has heard of a man named Andreas Broussard, a former mercenary comrade who was forced to retire due to injury. Pockets agrees to enquire into his whereabouts and in the meantime suggests they try the Eel inn for somewhere to stay.
On arriving at the Eel inn the adventurers are met by two surly soldiers, barring the way into the inn. It turns out that it is being used by the authorities for dealing with immigrants resulting from the wars in the North. Torsten and Dr. Schafer decide to wait at the Eel inn for Pockets to return whilst Serion goes off to secure lodgings for the party elsewhere. About half an hour later Serion returns after renting a room at the Bald Badger inn. Shortly after this Pockets arrives with the location of Andreas Broussard's house.
The adventurers head off to Andreas's house. Upon knocking on the door they are met by his wife Alexa, his 13 year old daughter Hannah and 5 year old son Sigfried. Alexa explains that Andreas has taken to gambling and drinking since losing his arm and being forced to retire from his mercenary unit. He has been out drinking all day and should be back soon. She offers the adventurers fish stew which they readily accept and wait for Andreas to return.
About an hour later there is a knock at the door. Alexa goes to answer it, cursing Andreas for forgetting his key. The adventurers hear an argument coming from the front door and then a thump. Torsten leaps to his feet and rushes to see what has happened. He discovers Alexa lying on the floor, obviously as a result of being punched in the face. A menacing thug is stood in the doorway, with another thug brandishing a club behind him. Torsten wastes no time in launching a head butt at the thug, followed by a kick and a punch. Meanwhile, Serion disappears out of the back door and Dr. Schafer pulls Alexa to safety and protects the children.
Torsten continues to fight the thug in the doorway, like a ghost, Serion appears behind the thug with the club, having circled around the house. The thug with the club feels a dagger point against his back and Serion tells him to call off his friend. The thugs realise that they are outmatched and leave, saying that Wolfgang wants his money from Andreas. Whilst Dr. Schafer tends to Alexa's wounds she reveals that Andreas owes a money lender called Wolfgang 20 gold crowns. On hearing this, Torsten produces a pouch of 20 gold crowns that his mercenary unit had donated to Andreas to help with his retirement. The party offer to take the money to Wolfgang to settle the debt. Alexa is grateful and tells them he can be found at a club called Skully's on the other side of the river.
The adventurers head straight to Skully's to pay Wolfgang what he is owed. Skully's turns out to be a bit of a dive and is run by a rather unpleasant halfling called Skully. The party leave their weapons at the door with two rather large and intimidating bouncers. At one end of the club, sitting at a table with a weasley rat faced man and several other men is Wolfgang. Torsten leads the way over to Wolfgang and says that he has brought the money owed by Andreas and is paying in full. Wolfgang takes the money then claims that as interest on the money owed and he will be collecting that later. Torsten is quick to anger and refuses to pay any interest and threatens Wolfgang. At this, Wolfgang and his cronies rise and he declares that the issue should be 'sorted out' outside. Skully intervenes and asks for there to be no trouble inside. As the group of men start to leave, Torsten grabs a chair and smashes it over the head of one of the thugs. Dr. Schafer, thinking on his feet, grabs hold of a nearby woman (most likely of ill repute) and throws her into the path of another of the thugs. Serion grabs a wine bottle from a table and swings it at a thug, missing several times. Torsten, left with only a broken chair leg in his hand, proceeds to hit another thug around the head. Realising that things are going to get messy, Skully and his bouncers step in and the two groups separate. The trio of adventurers decide that it would be wise to walk away from the fight and head back to let Alexa and hopefully Andreas, know that the debt has been settled. Torsten catches up with his old comrade, Andreas and offers him work. Once the adventurers have visited the Broussard household they head back to the Bald Badger for a well deserved rest and some food. Welcome to Talagad lads!
Meet the Protagonists
Before the adventure starts, it would be foolish of me not to introduce the protagonists in this merry tale of drink, women, general debauchery and dogs.
Overseeing the whole affair is the shadowy "Gamesmaster" None may see his face or utter his name as his is a secretive order of disciples. He attempts to guide our protagonists during their journey. Sometimes they even listen to him...
Our first adventurer goes by the name of Serion Nellithar, an elf from the Laurelorn forst, dresses more like a dark elf to the casual onlooker, dark and brooding he obviously has issues that may become apparant during his journey. Favouring stealth and using a bow above pure aggression he is the quiet member of the party.
Our second adventurer is a strange one. Dr. Johann Schafer, an ex barber surgeon hailing from Marienburg dresses somewhat eccentricly, alternating between a bizarre hook nosed face mask that he insists "protects him from casual diseases" to anything from a well to do noble or a village idiot. Schafer favours the use of distraction and persuasion over physical force but is not afraid of getting stuck in when needed.
Our third and final adventurer is Torsten Eberhart from Altdorf. Torsten, a mercenary, is the classic fighter, strong, brave and loyal. He is always the first one to leap to combat and will stand up for what he believes in with fierce determination. Favouring a large two-handed mace means that he wins most arguments he gets in, but don't be fooled, even without a weapon in his hand he is still a force to be reckoned with.
So there you have it, our merry band is formed.
Stay tuned for the first episode of the adventure TERROR IN TALABHEIM...
Overseeing the whole affair is the shadowy "Gamesmaster" None may see his face or utter his name as his is a secretive order of disciples. He attempts to guide our protagonists during their journey. Sometimes they even listen to him...
Our first adventurer goes by the name of Serion Nellithar, an elf from the Laurelorn forst, dresses more like a dark elf to the casual onlooker, dark and brooding he obviously has issues that may become apparant during his journey. Favouring stealth and using a bow above pure aggression he is the quiet member of the party.
Our second adventurer is a strange one. Dr. Johann Schafer, an ex barber surgeon hailing from Marienburg dresses somewhat eccentricly, alternating between a bizarre hook nosed face mask that he insists "protects him from casual diseases" to anything from a well to do noble or a village idiot. Schafer favours the use of distraction and persuasion over physical force but is not afraid of getting stuck in when needed.
Our third and final adventurer is Torsten Eberhart from Altdorf. Torsten, a mercenary, is the classic fighter, strong, brave and loyal. He is always the first one to leap to combat and will stand up for what he believes in with fierce determination. Favouring a large two-handed mace means that he wins most arguments he gets in, but don't be fooled, even without a weapon in his hand he is still a force to be reckoned with.
So there you have it, our merry band is formed.
Stay tuned for the first episode of the adventure TERROR IN TALABHEIM...
Adventurers Tales History
This is a blog to keep track of the adventures of a group of friends. We have been consorting with the darkside of adventuring for many years now but this is the first time that the events that transpire will be recorded for posterity.
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