ZWEIHÄNDER Session #4: Rats in the Walls

The fourth session took place on the 27th of January, 2018, with the following player participants:

• Agonia Gimdinasdotr, a dwarf adherent of Valaya, quick to help those in trouble.
• Blitzkrieg, a dwarf slayer, a sucker for disease, wound infection, and critical hits.
• Päther von Sternwart, a human astrologer, proud of himself for defeating a foe all alone.

With Blitzkrieg's injuries healed and Päther's spell arsenal expanded the party was ready to descend into the sewers under the Labyrinth, one of Nuln's poorest quarters. Blitzkrieg and Agonia bought some rat poison and a few wheels of cheese with themselves, hoping they can use them as bait. The party broke into the sewers through the sewerjack's entry. Agonia and Päther stole their boat, and with Blitzkrieg guiding them on the sewerside, followed the path the cultist told them about during the interrogation. There were swarms of rats everywhere. When they scurried away scared there was a bell tinkling in the distance, but the adventurers couldn't figure out what it was.

When the party reached the breach in the wall they were looking for, the boat bumped into something. A skaven with rebreather jumped out of the water and attacked the boatman. After getting an axe into his face and realizing the numbers are not in his favor he threw a smoke bomb and tried to escape, but Päther pushed the boat forward and blew the ratmen's head off with magick missile. The adventurers looted the various poisons, and warpstone dust from the corpse.

At the end of the short tunnel behind the breach stood a crappy door improvised from trash. After listening and hearing nothing Blitzkrieg took the poisoned cheese, smeared warpstone dust on it to make it extra desirable, put it in front of the door, knocked, and ran away. A minute later the door slowly opened, and after some hesitation someone grabbed the cheese. The party took its time, then entered the room. Inside they found hammocks, crates, simple tables, two huge wooden barrels, and two doors. In the center of the room someone sat on a chair. It was the cultist from last time, with a Colombian necktie. This time the adventurers also noticed the a houselike symbol and the letters ADA painted on his wrist.

When you have so much poison on your blades even
their vapor is deadly.

Faint groaning was coming from one of the barrels. The skaven that ate the cheese was lying there tortured by stomach pains, until his head was cut off. Blitzkrieg smashed the other barrel to find another skaven who was probably planning an ambush. This one held his ground against the dwarf until his comrades arrived and joined the fray - including the Gutter Runner Snikt Snikt, master of oriental martial arts, who is also known as Totenkopf for the many skulls decorating his armor and cloak. By the end of the battle Agonia was losing her sight because of poisoning, and Blitzkrieg's right arm was useless. The slayer just shrugged, muttered something about ambidexterity, and continued fighting with his left handed axe. By some miracle Päther stood his ground against Snikt Snikt and managed to damage him badly with a magick missile. After a smoke bomb the leader fled. Päther tried to stop him with a spell but failed and he collapsed with the wind knocked out of his lungs. Blitzkrieg chased down the last skaven, and after he finished the ratman he returned to Agonia and gave her  his antidote.

The rest of the base was empty. The skaven expected an attack and only left a few assassins behind. They took their prisoners and equipment with themselves, although a prisoner left a diary written in blood behind a brick frequently mentioning the name Ludwig Müller. There was also a closed door with a lock. After opening it black gas bursted out, but it didn't effect anyone - it was probably meant to keep skaven away from the room, which based on the notes and diagrams within belonged to Whitespore. Päther took the plans of a rocket, while Agonia took a plush rat - after removing the warpstone from it. Several letters about human trafficking pointed to a man named Ludwig Müller, again.

Our adventurers returned to the street shivering from sewer fever. After some discussion they agreed that the fever can wait, they should continue their investigation and find out who this Ludwig is. Information from Don Cornetto led to a homeless shelter on the edge of Nuln, lead by an old nun called Theresa Anjürük. The lady knew very well who the party was talking about. She said Ludwig used to transport the mentally ill to the mental health institute Asyl der Angst (ADA in short), but it probably had a bad effect on his mind because he was incarcerated there too a week or two ago.

The asylum was on the edge of the city, a cold grey building hidden by trees, eyes flashing behind barred windows, and the sound of violin coming from within. Blitzkrieg sent a poisoned cheese with a thank you message to the institute, which the others agreed to be a stupid plan. Päther went to the university to find Shultz Brenner. He gave him the plans he found in the sewers, told him they are going to the ADA, and asked him to report their plans to Heinz von Tomatenhaus if they don't return in 24 hours.

The good professor.

The party discarded the option of sneaking in, and chose to enter the asylum through the front door. They introduced themselves as relatives of Ludwig. After a couple of minutes they were greeted by prof. Philippe Neugirig. They had a short discussion about the patient's health, and how madmen can be reintegrated into the society. Philippe allowed the PCs to visit Ludwig. He sent Igor, a hunchback halfling with a wounded right hand with them. They descended through the stairs to the farthest wing's deepest level.

Ludwig sat in his cell, mumbling to his visitors about how the patients are used for skaven experiments, what kind of horrific images the doctors use to brainwash them into Yellow Fang cultists, and how he ended here thanks to an unsuccessful blackmail attempt against prof. Neugirig. The adventurers soon realized that they are trapped here: the massive door on the next level is closed, and the inane Igor had no key to open it. A psychopath called Grinning Walter told them Igor was wounded because he bit his hand not so long ago, and got the door's key without Igor noticing it. He is willing to tell where it is if they torture Igor in front of him. The adventurers didn't want to do that. Päther convinced him that he is a palmist, and asked Walter to show him his hands so he can tell him the future. Päther noticed there was rust on Walter's hands. They went on to explore the level, passing through a cell with a crying ogre that kept complaining about the things inside him.

Leaving the cells they found the medical room (which they looted for medicine and tools), a store room with various tools (didn't bother with this one), the rubber rooms (someone broke his nose here), the spartan bathrooms (didn't bother with this one yet either), and finally a big room with chairs and some strange devious device with a lens, and a canvas in front of it. They realized this was the projector Ludwig mentioned earlier, that shows them nightmarish pictures. While they were curious about the images in the end they all agreed their sanity is more important. Then something started ringing in the next room.

There was a large booth with a conch-like tool inside - another devious device of the vile ratmen! Päther was brave enough to pick up the conch. Someone started talking from the device. They were called by Qiree, aka. "Palemaster", a skaven of utmost importance, who wanted to have a word with them. He knew they were in the asylum thanks to prof. Neugirig. He was angry for the adventurers foiling his plans several times. They stole the red ring, and now Oldenhaller is out of town, who knows where. They killed a rat ogre, and his most brilliant inventor, Eesk, aka "Whitespore". While he managed to get his head back, the brain damage was irreversible, so Eesk's engineering knowledge is useless now. Qiree did salvage what he could though, and his punisher is on its way to the asylum. Our heroes have one hour left.

A thing you don't want to see in your toilet.

The party started searching for ways to exit. They found a rusty drainage in the bathroom, with the key under it. Unfortunately it didn't open the door - Walter was lying, and just wanted them to torture Igor. Agonia got bored of the ogre's cries and checked him out. The ogre was sure that ratmen have violated his private parts, and put rats inside him. Päther made the ogre fall asleep with his spell, Agonia pulled a glove, and checked the ogre's behind - then screamened when she pulled out an ugly wriggling rat from him. Believing the ogre's tales now they woke him up, asked him if he's okay, and asked where did the skaven do this to him.

Following the ogre they returned to the bathroom, taking the scared Igor and Ludwig with them. Meanwhile they could hear the door above opening, and the thumping of mighty footsteps approaching. Blitzkrieg checked out what's coming, and saw an abomination that shouldn't be alive: the skaven put Whitespore's head on the body of his beheaded rat ogre! It also had a flame thrower on his right hand, and a big barrel in place of his belly. Blitzkrieg took out his last wheel of poisoned and warpstoned cheese, rolled it into the corridor, and ran back to the room hoping the bait will work.

The bathroom was loud from the adventurers trying to break through the freshly found one-way secret panel. Suddenly the ogre got sick and collapsed, then a swarm of mutant rats bursted out of his chest. There was a  huge bump on the corridor too, which shook the whole level. Päther and Blitzkrieg looked out and saw the abomination lying on the ground in agony: the bait worked! Blitzkrieg wanted to go there and behead him, but the creature with its last breath pushed a button. Green flames bursted out of his weapon and barrel immolating everything in their path. It was a miracle Blitzkrieg and Päther could jump back into the bathroom in time!

The survivors didn't waste more time, they entered the hole in the wall, and spent hours wading through the sewers until they could surface. Päther reported Heinz von Tomatenhaus about what was going on in the asylum, while the others returned to the Reaver's Return with their new companions.

ZWEIHÄNDER Session #3: Feuer Frei!

It seemed impossible to organize a single session of anything in November due to people being busy or ill, so we didn't have the third ZWEIHÄNDER session until the 25th of November. This time I didn't run any classics, but something entirely of my own. The group was made of the following ne'er-do-wells:

• Agonia Gimdinasdotr, a dwarf adherent of Valaya who is a magnet for flammable ammo.
• Blitzkrieg, a dwarf slayer, sworn enemy of everything rodent.
• Päther von Sternwart, a human astrologer who just found a proper master.

In their downtime Agonia helped the Shallyans in a local hospital, Blitzkrieg got drunk and well known in the Reaver's Return for his incredible tales about the vile skaven, and Päther found himself an arabyan Celestial wizard for teacher called Abdul al Sahir.

"Sir, a half-naked dwarf with orange mohawk
wants to have a word with you."

After listening some rumors about missing sewerjacks and the mysterious hulking monster in the sewers Blitzkrieg found out that the tilean crime lord Don Cornetto has a bounty on Emilio Valentina's head. He went to the Blind Pig tavern to meet him. Agonia followed him, but remained outside of the dirty establishment, not suspecting at all that the slayer won't return for hours. Blitzkrieg not only earned the gratitude of the mob, he was also invited for a lunch, and got a new task fitting his taste: the Cornettos are looking for information about the Yellow Fang cult's hideout, who are becoming stronger day by day.

Back in the Reaver's Return they met a young man was looking for them. Schultz Brenner was a student of the University of Nuln. He was working with the Imperial Gunnery School on a new invention with some of the most talented smiths and physicists of the empire: they were building a self-propelled flying missile (aka rocket)! One day during the late hours he was still in the Imperial Gunnery School, and noticed some shady figures tinkering with the huge missile. He checked out what's going on, which ended with a chase, and the storage burning down with green fire. Schultz was sure he saw ratlike humanoids, but naturally no one believed his story, and was fired. Rumors about their last adventure led him to the party. The rocket will be tested in public tomorrow, and he is afraid the vile ratmen will sabotage it in some way tonight. He wants to check if everything is okay, and if they manage to meet his nemeses, then so much the better: he can finally clear his name!

A place of learning and bang bang.

Of course the best way to get into the school was through the sewers. Thanks to the rumors the mood was already a bit tense, then panic erupted when waves started rising in the sewage and the tunnels started shaking. A huge but skinny rat ogre appeared, still following his last order tirelessly from last adventure. Schultz failed his resolve test and leaked into his pants while climbing on a nearby ladder. The rat ogre attacked Blitzkrieg who dodged the blow, then Päther cast Sleep with success, and the slayer finished the beast by hacking off its head (which he naturally kept as a trophy). 

In the university Schultz realized he lost his key, so Blitzkrieg had to bust down the door. The party ended up in a large hall. Schultz was scared when he saw the rocket was gone. Then something moved under the sheets covering some device. Blitzkrieg tore the sheets down and found a naked and scared couple. The boy turned out to be Schultz's classmate Otto, who was having a rendezvous here. While Blitzkrieg kept terrorizing the girl with his creepy behavior, Hans told the adventurers that the rocket was already moved to Aver Isle, and they were hiding because earlier some creepy cloaked figures were searching here for something too.

On the way back they saw a dark cloaked figure shadowing them. Päther tried to hit him with the crossbow and Blitzkrieg charged, but they couldn't hit the running figure until (to everyone's surprise) Schultz took out a pistol from under his coat and shot. The spy stopped with hands in the air, so Blitzkrieg could finally wrestle him on the cobblestone. It was a member of the Yellow Fang, who was not only scared shitless, but was also a coward, so told a lot to his enemies. Our heroes learned that a squad of skaven is already on their way to attack Aver Isle. They weren't planning to sabotage the rocket: they wanted to steal and study it, so they can build one, fly to the Morrslieb, and have an endless supply of warpstone. There was a force of skaven and Yellow Fangs moving towards the island via boats, the barracks were rigged, and Whitespore (whose skull Agonia bashed on her last adventure) is alive and well. He even told where the hideout is, although the adventurers were skeptical about his realiability.

After the interrogation our heroes discussed what to do. Blitzkrieg hurried to Don Cornetto and told him about the coming Yellow Fang attack, plus left the cultist there as a gift. The Don gave a dozen of mercenaries to help the group. Päther gave a karl to a boy on the Marktplatz to send a message to the Aver Isle guards about the bombs. After regrouping they hurried to the island. When the company reached the end of the bridge the barracks blew up with green flames, but fortunately there were no casualties: the city guards were already outside mounting an attack against the invaders.

Maybe next time they will bring out the big guns.

Crater to crater, bunker to bunker the party advanced through the firing range until they reached the rocket. Blitzkrieg attacked the cultists and skavens loitering around the stands that kept the rocket upright. From the stands Whitespore looked down to check who is disturbing his work. His head injury was covered by a metal plate, and when he saw Agonia he lost his mind and started firing at her while screaming, which set the dwarf's clothes on warpfire. She quickly undressed and continued the battle in her undergarments. Thanks to the soldiers and the mercenaries the skaven were outnumbered and started retreating. Schultz shot Whitespore, whom Blitzkrieg beheaded to make sure he's gone for good. At the end the guard captain Heinz von Tomantenhaus thanked the group for their help. The guards started cleaning up, the surviving mercs returned to their boss, and the tired heroes went back to the Reaver's Return.

Schultz's name was cleared, thus he could resume his work at the University and the Imperial Gunnery School. Blitzkrieg proved his stories to his drinking buddies by presenting Whitespore's head, which later was stolen from his room somehow. When the trio met again they were planning an attack on the Yellow Fang hideout the cultist spoke about earlier.

All in all it was a fun and smooth session. I was satisfied how well the players used their resources to save the guards and gain advantage in the forthcoming battle, and it was good to see that they want to put an end to the Yellow Fang menace because "it's personal now". There are still many other questions they want answered though. Who stole Whitespore's head? Who framed the party when they arrived to Nuln? What's with Oldenhaller's promised info? What were the halfling and the squire doing in the meantime?

ZWEIHÄNDER Session #2: The Oldenhaller Contract

After the first session's mayhem I introduced some optional and house rules to speed things up. First, cannon fodder foes will follow the underling rules: they can't save action points for reactions, and after a serious or bleeding wound they will die or retreat. Second, good old swift attack makes a return, so players can attack multiple times with an increasing penalty to their attack rolls. Third, following the rules about opposing skill tests (a bonus to your skill check means a penalty to the opposing check, and vice versa) leads to petty spells being harder to dispel or resist than greater spells. I changed that by giving the dispel or resist test the exact bonus or penalty the caster gets to his invocation test. I also promised my players I won't use Misfortune Points until they learn the rules properly, but in truth I just simply keep forgetting about them.

These changes worked like a charm - the game run much smoother. Unfortunately two players couldn't come, so the group for the session held on the 8th of October was:

• Agonia Gimdinasdotr, a dwarf adherent of Valaya, who turned into a fucking warmachine.
• Blitzkrieg, a dwarf slayer, still suffering from his broken ribs, and a glutton for punishment.
• Päther von Sternwart, a human astrologer looking for a proper master.
• Sternchen, an ogre hedgewise, who plans to write a gastro journal.

After an exhausting journey with the roadwardens the party finally reached Nuln. There they wasted half a day with passing the gate, and answering the roadwardens on the interrogation. When the four of them were released Hans Ernst, a roadwarden they befriended on their journey told them that someone is trying to bribe some big dogs to blame the whole incident on them, and put a bounty on their heads. He asked them to meet him next morning in the Reaver's Return, where the innkeeper still owes him a favor.

On their way to the inn a man named Grolsch van Eyke invited the party to an elegant club, but after some discussion they ignored him and moved on. In a dirty alley they found the Reaver's Return. After accidentally breaking through the stuck door they met the angry innkeeper, Rudolf Grasser. Mentioning Hans Ernst calmed him down. Rudolf gave them dinner, and showed them the best room he could offer - with a nice view of the canal. Someone noticed the bolts weren't fastened, which was quickly fixed. Closing the dirty windows turned out to be a good idea: during the night a cat burglar tried to break in, but had to flee when he realized the windows are bolted, and someone is awake.

Good old Oldenhaller, the first employer of many WFRP characters.

Hans arrived during the breakfast, and told the group a councillor called Albrecht Oldenhaller might be able to help, in exchange of some services. Oldenhaller lived in the fancy Altestadt, and knew everything about his new employees already. He offered 100 crowns each and information about who wants to frame the group for recovering a long lost family artifact: a red ring held by the Schatzenhaimer gang, who didn't deliver it to Oldenhaller. A servant lead the adventurers to the entrance of the Asylum, an underground complex made of interconnected cellars and sewers, and inhabited by three bands.

The Schatzenheimer door had a notice asking visitors to knock and wait. Following the advice had no results, so Blitzkrieg opened the door, and fell into the pit trap under the carpet. The Schatzenheimer HQ was full of corpses. After some search the party found a wounded man called Ulrich Vogel, who almost attacked them with his crossbow. While Agonia took care of his wounds, Ulrich told the visitors about how the tilean Valantina gang raided the Schatzenheimers not so long ago. He also remembered his boss, Kurt Holger wearing a red ring, but he couldn't recall any deals with Oldenhaller. In Kurt's room the party found a small box with a layer of lead within, and the corpse of Kurt, which showed the signs of the Red Death, and was missing a finger. The party took the box, and a notice from a Valantina corpse, which had today's password.

Entering the Valantina territory was easy: not only did the guards accept the password, but they were awaiting for some workers, because they were busy moving. The notorious Yellow Fang gang showed up and attacked the neighbouring Huydermans base. The Valantinas quickly killed the Huydermans messenger who asked for help, built a barricade, and wanted to leave as soon as possible. The Yellow Fangs are weird people they don't want to mess with. After asking around a bit more the adventurers met Emilio Valantina's bodyguard, Sebastiano Sansovini. He told them to wait until Emilio finishes his prayers, but after some waiting he got nervous and opened Emilio's office. The Valantina's leader was dead. The ring was missing, his head was missing, and blood trails lead to a secret door that opened to the sewers.

Following the sewers the party found a large area with mine carts and rails leading down. Someone was lying in one of the carts. It was the fresh corpse of Emilio's assassin. He had the ring and the head with him, and was full of rat bites. Seeing the growing and closing swarm of chittering rats the adventurers got into the carts, and released the breaks. The rails went down to the loading bay, and the carts hit the buffer thanks to the broken breaks. There our heroes met the wastelander Huydermans, who greeted them as friends.

Their leader Dirck Huydermans told them how they were attacked by the Yellow Fangs, who are waiting at the cove for something at the moment. There were two options for escape: through the Valantinas, or through the Yellow Fangs. The first offense through the Valantinas was a failure: the tileans used explosive barrels to seal the tunnel.

The second had more planning, and included the group using another mine cart to roll into the cove, attack the Yellow Fangs, while the wastelanders covered them from behind. In the meantime the party eavesdropped some discussion between a foe and their leader about an incoming reinforcement. The skirmish started with rather amusing results. Agonia jumped off the cart and killed one of the ragged bandits with ease, Blitzkrieg hurt himself while jumping off but killed another, a third one was hit by the cart, and Sternchen fell into the sewers after the cart hit the buffer.

Hits like a truck, loyal as a dog, dumb as a brick.

Soon the adventurers realised the Yellow Fangs weren't mere criminals: they spoke strangely, acted crazy, and were lead by a ratlike beastman wearing gasmask, a metal tank, and two pistols connected to the tank. Blitzkrieg immediately recognized the skaven and attacked with frenzy, only to get burned by warpfire, and suffer a deadly blow to the shoulder from behind. Fortunately he had a Fate Point to burn... Agonia charged the skaven, who burned her before suffering a deadly injury to the head. While the rest of the cultists were taken care of Päther heard the sounds of struggle from behind. The reinforcements have arrived: a rat ogre charged mindlessly into the chamber! He rushed through the ogre, into the sewage, and continued running forward, into the dark...

With the rat ogre gone the struggle didn't end. Rats swarmed into the cove. Päther took down the tank from the skaven engineer, then with Sternchen's help they tried to start the engines of the weird skaven boat they found, while Agonia was throwing rats out of the vessel. Finally the engine whirred, and the boat bursted out of the cove with insane speed. The sewers ended, the boat jumped out unto the Reik, and almost collided with a ship.

After the exciting boat trip the adventurers drowned the boat, put the barely living Blitzkrieg in the Reaver's Return, then visited Oldenhaller. They told their employer that the ring is infected, asked for their rewards, has some chit-chat, then went back to the inn. During the night they learned that Hans Ernst was probably helpful out of remorse: secretly he and his friends took the bounty for Hans Jinkerst, who was actually killed by our heroes. They also learned that Ulrich Vogel's head is worth a few crowns too (whom they saved), and there are crime leaders who will gladly have the head of Emilio on their walls (which is rotting in one of their backpacks).

And somewhere in the sewers of Nuln there is a rat ogre still charging forward, following his last order...

The Oldenhaller Contract is a classic Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay adventure. It is the introductory adventure at the end of the 1st edition core rulebook, and thus it was the first experience of many WFRP Game Masters and players. It might be a bit dated, it might be rather linear, but it introduces many of the Warhammer Fantasy tropes I love, and quickly teaches you that the Old World is not Faerûn. It is also an urban adventure, so I thought it would be ideal as the second part of our campaign. I made some changes to it of course: I replaced the Nurgle cultists with skaven and their slaves, I changed when the ring's powers are revealed along with the protective device, and altered the beginning to link it to Night of Blood. I was satisfied with the results: we had fun, and a lot of hooks were introduced I can use in the future.