The Tale of the Nose and Badge

As we walked down the road, we kept discussing the injustice of the whole situation.  Our reward for saving the town from chaos was to be thrown out without so much as a round of drinks.  At this point we realised that we couldn't continue as the 'Servants of Justice' and would spend some time as being swords for hire.  The Dwarf With No Name took exception to this as fighting for justice was part of the oath that he had taken.  An argument followed, which was not helped by Shaft the elf saying that a Slayer with Narcolepsy wasn't much use.  Eventually, an agreement was reached, The Dwarf With No Name would pursue one or two adventures on his own to bring justice to the world and then, with his oath complete, he would rejoin our quest for glory, wealth and a good place to sleep.

Not long after The Dwarf With No Name left, the remaining trio happened upon some travellers that were on the wrong end of an ambush; a short but violent battle ensued.  We can only presume that the recent argument with The Dwarf With No Name had wound Magnus up, as he proceeded to charge into combat and vent some fury with his fists, whilst Shaft disappeared into the treeline to shoot at the intruders.  Well, at least the wizard had the sense to fire some lightning at the bowmen in the woods on the way.  Once the dust settled and Magnus was covered in bandages, the only words he could say sounded like "bever a ben".  Although with a broken nose, we presumed it was more like "never again".

The group we had rescued was made up of some Shallyan priests and a gypsy cart with a strigani family of pedlars on board.  It appeared that the Shallyans had been removed from the local town of Hugeldal and were on their way to report the news.  The town had fallen under the spectre of an outbreak of ghoulpox and the towns leaders had banished the Shallyans after their failure to halt the spread of the infection.  Instead a band of physiks headed by Dr Willhelm had been installed in the town to tackle the situation.  The priests implored the group to carry a warning to the town elders that their decision to cast forth the Shallyan priests was not without risk and repercussions.  The bodyguard of the priests also advised the party that a local engineers Thorsten Wolfgardt had always been scornful of the Gods and had been advising the town leaders about the use of physiks. 

As a coincidence beyond measure, it appeared that the strigani pedlars were also carrying a package that they needed to deliver to the local postal/courier service.  It was addressed to Gromul the Dwarf as it was known he was travelling in the area.  With excited fingers, Gromul opened the package and he quickly realised that his application to become a fully fledged Roadwarden of the Empire had been approved.  The package contained his warrant of authority, a set of manacles (iron), two sets of manacle keys, a small truncheon (wood with several tooth impressions in it), and the silver badge that all Roadwardens wear with pride.  As Magnus and Shaft questioned the travellers further about routes and news, Gromul disappeared to polish the badge and find the most suitable spot to wear it on his tunic  Too high and he would not be imposing enough; too low and it would not be seen until the first blow had been struck .  This is a complex mathematical process which was beyond his capabilities, so he resorted to trying it on in different places and looking in a puddle.

After the discussions were finished, healing balms smeared, bandages applied and badge modelling completed, the gang of three set off down a woodland path discovered by Shaft.  Shaft managed to spot the old classic “tripwire and lots of rusty caltrops” trap.  After thinking about it for more than a short moment, he decided to inform the party so they could avoid it, tempting though it would have been to see if a rusty caltrop would go through the new badge that Gromul was messing around with…. The bandit camp at the end of the road showed signs of recently being vacated, particularly by a lone horse in the last few minutes.  Stopping only the loot the camp of a healing potion (quickly snaffled by the still limping wizard), the party headed off to the town.  En route, the party discovered a number of goblin bodies that had had their ears removed showing that goblin activity had increased in the area.

On arriving at the town, Gromul was quick to show off his new found authority and tried to impress the town guards at the gate.  He knew they were impressed as one of them stopped picking his nose, and the other actually looked at him.  Any thought that the (relatively) warm welcome given to the dwarf was because he was, by a simple process of elimination, less suspicious than the wizard and the elf accompanying him were given short shrift by the stout fellow.  They were directed to the local hotel/spa - or rather inn/large barrel of luke warm semi dirty water - called the Bucket o'Blood.  They took private lodgings, sharing common blankets on the floor of the common room in a pox ridden town not tickling their fancy, and told the landlord that the bill would be paid by The Dwarf With No Name who would be joining them soon.  After a night of rest, and further and extensive badge polishing the group pushed on.   

The plan was to visit the engineer in order to gain his help in persuading Lady Agnetha Von Jungfreud in allowing the Shyallans back into the town.  He was tolerant of the group, but was not interested in supporting them.  He advised them to see the work of Dr Willhelm before making too many judgments.  An audience with Lady Agnetha was granted; although she appeared to be unwell with a very strange cough for which she was drinking a strange grey coloured potion.  She informed the trio that the plague had taken her husband before the physiks had managed to cure the affliction and she wanted what was best for the town and could see that no real wrong with that.  With the message of warning delivered, the GFKNATSOJ (Group formerly known as the Servants of Justice) felt that they had discharged their duty. They then decided to go to see the Doctor and his hospital, and see if he was any good at resetting noses.  It was clear the pronunciation of certain smells (or spells) would be difficult for Magnus until his injury was treated. 

The trio walked passed a queue of people and went to see the receptionist.  The gambit of "Gromul, Roadwarden division" certainly didn't work (badge position needed further work) and the day was saved by the elf offering cash to jump the queue.  Once the receptionist left the room to see what she could do, Magnus and Shaft searched the doctor’s office for anything of interest (and healing potions).  They found a new batch of Ghoulpox antidote and an incriminating note (from the mysterious “F”) which showed that he was complicit in the death of the husband of Lady Agnetha and that the correspondent would send an agent to meet the Doctor as part of a travelling show on the morrow.  The group went back to the Bucket o'Blood for a rest and to plan the next day.  On returning to the pub, they questioned the landlord about the good Dr, which turned out to be a mistake…….

During the night, the GFKNATSOJ were awoken by 4 intruders in their room trying to kill them.  A short and vicious battle ensued, with Gromul not taking kindly to be woken mid dream.  The fighting left the landlord, one of his patrons and the bandit who had escaped earlier in pieces on the floor and the one remaining assailant cowering in the corner, scared witless by the fury of the battle (either that or the fact that a naked Gromul was wearing his badge through his left nipple).  Unfortunately, the remaining assailant managed to accidentally smash a vial of foul liquid that he had been carrying.  The stench smelled by each party seemed oddly to be the one thing they most reviled in the world and the elf and wizard were struck down with illnesses most grave…..

The cowering man was soon identified as Dr Willhelm who confessed to the whole plot.  He claimed that in order to further the cause of physiks across the empire he had entered into a pact with a correspondent of his, who he thought was a great doctor (the mysterious “F”) but who turned out to be a plotter in league with the chaos god of pestilence to help spread the Ghoulpox and remove the influence of the Shallyan cult in the town.  The other attackers had been his accomplices.  He had seen the error of his ways and whilst each step he’d taken had appeared reasonable at the time, looking back now, he realised he had been manipulated mercilessly.  He wanted to clear his name and offered to help the trio expose and defeat the nefarious plans of Chaos (as anything was better than being given to the witchhunters after all). The group (once dressed) frogmarched the Doctor to the house of the engineer, who refused to believe their claims (“You expect me to believe from three roving itinerants who just turned up in the town that the doctor who saved this town is actually in league with chaos agents and caused the plague?!?!?!?!?”).  They then decided to return to the inn for some more rest.

In the morning, the group decided to allow the Doctor to meet the agent of Chaos at midday as detailed in the note that they found.  The travelling show had arrived in the town and was camped outside the town walls, next to the Strigani camp, which the trio had briefly visited the previous day.  The meeting went ahead with the group trying to remain anonymous in the crowd (badge covering device in place).  After the meeting took place, the group escorted a pale looking Dr Willhelm to their room at the Bucket o'Blood.  He then told of the people he had met (distinctly unhealthy), the fact that something was hidden in one of the houses and that he had been instructed to take delivery of something at the hospital in about 30 minutes and that he believed the cultists to support the chaos god Nurgle.  At this point the Doctor erupted in a mass of boils and buboes and collapsed in a puddle and died.  He must have caught something truly horrible from his meeting with the cavalcade.

The group decided instantly that the room was definitely on The Dwarf With No Name’s tab and they didn't care about the mess (especially as they’d killed the landlord the previous day).  They then decided to head to the hospital where they tricked 3 men from the cavalcade into thinking they were part of the plot.  The three men were accompanying a mutant of some sort, and together they herded it into a prison cell for the insane.  Perhaps this was part of a further plot to incriminate the cult of Shallya?  Suspicions were confirmed when the 3 cultists turned on the adventurers to “complete the plan” and a battle ensued.  The party were prepared for battle this time and dealt with the cultists in short order.  With the clock ticking and no time to waste, the GFKNATSOJ headed to the travelling show to confront the cultist leader.

The elf managed to persuade the strigani to allow him to shoot from a hideout in their camp, from where he shot down a guard running across to raise the alarm.  As Gromul and Magnus entered the camp site, the doors of a caravan were flung open and a Chaos Cultist Sorcerer of Nurgle pushed a fully formed Nurgle Plaguebearer (Pneumoshudder the Mephitic) out to confront the brave heroes.  Arrows pierced the air as Shaft rapid fired at the plaguebearer, all to good effect.  The sorcerer then started to weave mysterious patterns in the air as he started to cast a spell at Magnus, who immediately tried to counter this.  Our greatest fears were realised as although he would have managed to defeat the spell before it could be cast, a "broken nose induced mispronunciation" rendered him unable to complete the complex counterspell and the illness afflicting him suddenly worsened, gaining a new and vile symptom and it’s ravages rendered him unconscious, leaving only 2 to carry the day.

Gromul charged forward and hit the Plaguebearer with all his might causing him significant damage.  The plaguebearer swung and missed allowed Gromul to dance round him and charge the sorcerer.  Arrows again rained in from a strangely retreating elf as the sorcerer and Gromul exchanged blows.  The plaguebearer slashed Gromul, causing a critical wound and with his second blow coming to within one wound of downing the stout chap, but he called upon his ancestors and the might of the daemon hating hammer that he wielded and banished Pneumoshudder from the mortal plane (after using 2 members of the town watch who appeared on the scene to help as meat shields).  A miscast by the nurgle sorcerer (one of three he managed from 4 spell attempts!) caused him to levitate and made him a plum target for Shaft (still hiding safely a medium distance from the action whilst the rest of the party got battered to within an inch of their lives) and Shaft made the most the opportunity to turn the filthy sorcerer into a pincushion.

The guards carried news that a senior member of the Shallyan cult had appeared in the town in response to the news of their representative being thrown out.  The guards went away and brought the priest to the scene to tend to the fallen wizard and a very injured Gromul, who also appeared to be falling ill with new boils appearing on his skin. 

Despite reassurance from the priest that he could treat both of them, his ministrations were effective in curing the physical wounds afflicting the party, the antidote offered no relief from the disease, leaving the life of Magnus in the balance as his symptoms worsened further during treatment......

The Gathering Storm - Finale

The adventurers were now mighty suspicious of Niklas Schulmann, and whilst they passed the remaining parts of the stone to him, they stayed close to observe him. He raised their suspicions further by his nervous, twitchy actions that they took back all of the parts of the stone and passed them to a local academic, Professor Kopfchen, who they had previously befriended.

Alas, whilst seeking healing for their ailments, the adventurers were betrayed by the academic who took the pieces of the stone straight to Schulmann, who had bribed the academic with promises of untold riches if he aided him!

The first thing they knew of this was the disturbance in the winds of magic which caused sharp pain to Magnus as the other celestial wizard made his escape.....

The party followed and the trail led to the local lake, where they commandeered a little boat that had seen better days in order to follow Schulmann out into the lake.

With the physical efforts of the dwarves to keep the boat steady in the increasingly inhospitable water (which seemed to be responding the to chants and magic of Schulmann) and the accuracy and magic use of Shaft and Magnus respectively, the errant celestial wizard was knicked from his perch and into the water where the last the adventurers saw of him was his hand, holding a pendant with a comet inscribed into it above the roiling waves. The party clapped each other on the back in triumph (Gromul caught and saved Shaft after the Dwarf With No Name nearly knocked him over the side with an enthusiastic backslap) and sank to the bottom of the boat with exhaustion, pleased with a job well done…….

……Until they saw the huge comet that Schulmann had clearly managed to summon heading straight for them!

Some measure of panic ensued as they grabbed the oars and rowed, quite literally, for their lives. They just managed to reach the shore when the comet hit, delivering grievous damage but leaving them to struggle back to Stromdorf, getting more and more excited about receiving the cheering crowds plaudits for saving their town and the area. And as a bonus, the storm had abated and the rain had finally stopped!

Which proved to be the problem. It turned out that the townsfolk had grown quite accustomed to, and proud of, the weather around them. They felt it marked them out from the other “soft” areas of the Empire. And the adventurers had stopped it. So now they were just another two horse town in an unremarkable area of the Empire.

The final ignominy for the adventurers was to be whipped out of town, the catcalls of the townsfolk ringing in their ears. This most definitely was not what the servants of Justice had signed up for……..

The Gathering Storm, part 5 - the Green Menace

Waking after their adventure against the Undead, the valiant party’s thoughts turned to how they would obtain the next piece of the elf seerstone.

They were summoned by the mayor, who seemed much recovered now he had learnt the fate of his illicit love. The party declined to tell him that they were holding the pendant obtained from the Necromancer, Lazarus Mourn, which Magnus suspected contained part of the foul necromancers essence as he was curious to see what he could do with the pendant in future.
In fairly short order, the mayor asked for the adventurers help in investigating strange goings on in a farmstead near Stromdorf. The investigators, being Servants of Justice, agreed readily and didn’t haggle (much) over the cost of their services….

After an uncharacteristically quiet journey to the farmstead (these are adventurers for whom danger lurks around every corner after all) they discovered that there was foul sheep and cow rustling going on, draining the lifeblood of this vibrant, inbred community.
The plucky adventurers, being partial to spending the odd night alone with livestock, came up with a plan to watch the fields from where the animals were being taken. Ignoring the incompetence of the local farmhands who fell to foul gas from the rustlers, they spied the foul Goblins behind the theft. Taking up the chase they forced the panicked goblins to run as fast as their little green legs would carry them!

It quickly became apparent that the previous night spent drinking thunderwater ale in the Inn was having an impact on the legs of the two Dwarves, so much so that they had to fall, vomiting, by the side of the path created by the goblins flight (but they claimed it had nothing to do with the ale consumption, naturally). Fortunately, the Elf and the wizard had contented themselves with sharing half a bottle of a light, sparkling Elvish wine that Shaft had brought with him from Athel Loren and so their legs carried them inexorably towards the Goblins, eventually catching them and slaying them where they stood.

After the bickering stopped when the Dwarves finally caught up, the somewhat perplexed adventurers eventually agreed that the best course of action was to follow in the direction that the goblins had been fleeing, these not being the brightest of creatures. Luck was with them and they happened upon an occupied farm full to bursting with the foul greenskins.

The dwarves were keen to regain their honour and the Dwarf with no name wanted to wade into the fight to find his doom. The other party member managed to convince him otherwise through the use of Dwarf logic, making pretty lights appear to distract him and treating him with haughty arrogance (no prizes for guessing which party members used which….)

Goblin patrols were out in force and so they hatched a plan that during the coming night, Shaft, being the only one capable of not sounding like an entire regiment of elephants when moving quietly, would create a distraction that the others would use to make their way to the house.
Through some extremely stealthy movement, the Elf managed to get up to the barn and to his relief had remembered his tinderbox and the remaining half bottle of Elvish wine and used them to set fire to the barn.

As a distraction, this was second to none and allowed the adventurers to get into the farmhouse. The sound of their investigation was covered by the racket ourside….. Until they happened across the troll that the goblins were probably trying to keep fed by stealing livestock!
The troll vexed them mightily, with the Dwarf With No Name being made unconscious at least once by the mighty beast. The noise was so high at one point that Goblins in the courtyard started to notice – but Shaft, who, in what was to become his trademark, had kept well away from the close combat action and was keeping an eye on the goblins and took them out calmly as they heard the noise.

Eventually the Troll was slain, but its deathcry alerted the goblins in the courtyard (along with the growing pile of corpses that Shaft was creating around the house) and they stormed the house. The dwarves bravely held the stairs and were knocked unconscious at least once each – but the ministrations of the wizard saved them all. Magnus and Shaft managed to kill the ringleader (a goblin shaman) from their perch at the windows on the first floor and the goblins fled, the heart having left them…..

The adventurers triumphantly took the two remaining parts of the elf waystone and carried them back to Stromdorf (only being struck by lightning once before they remembered the danger).