WHFRP Reboot Recap

8/10/07 Prologue

One fine night Dementis and his friends had stayed out late drinking. Having been kicked out of the bar but still being full of ale and good cheer they took a rather long way back to their circus tent. However, they came across a very peculiar site. A young emancipated man was taking various things out of his pockets while a city guard shouted at him.

This poor young lad looked as if he had no idea what was going on and may be touched in the head. Dementis was quick to tell the guard that this strange youth was actually a freak in their circus that bit the head off of rats. With this the guard quickly released the strange youth whose name it was later learned was Elrin.

Elrin ran with the circus for awhile. Now as you may know Iron Fist is the bear wrestle of the Floating World Circus… oh what? I didn’t mention that? I’m sorry I could have sworn I did. Anyway, one day the bear must have had an extra ration of spicy meat because this bear just gave it to Iron Fist what good. Now a doctor was going to be needed, as the bite on Iron Fist was a nasty one. Luckily there was a man in the audience who went by the name of Borobro the Carver. He went right to work on ol’Iron Fist with just a little bit of interference by Elrin who had actually saved Iron Fist by throwing shit on the bear. Elrin may be touched in the head but for some reason he seems to know when his lads are in trouble.

So Borobro ends up staying with the circus as a doc and a barber. And he did a fine job at both I should say.

So Elrin disappeared after that, not really sure where he went. As the circus kept up its travels the group encountered for the first time… the plague. An entire town, wiped out. Borobro, or as he likes to be called, Bro, went in there to investigate. He came back saying he’d never seen anything like it. Well we or uh... they traveled on and found a group of priests of Sigmar with a witch hunter! So after awhile they were free to go, had to make sure they weren’t carrying the horrible thing.

The troupe came across another dying group of people. This time however it ended up being an entire family! Well Borobro went to work on them as best he could. But they were too far gone; in return for a promise to bury them they gave the circus all their worldly goods. Borobro cleaned off what he could and well the circus took the items. Seems low doesn’t it? Times were hard then dear sirs and madams. And let me tell you they were buried proper and to this day I’ve not heard one ghost story coming from that area. You know that means their spirits are at rest.

So they continued on, and after having so many run ins with the plague they decided to hold up in a forest. But trouble found them, plague victims. Ripe with the disease and clearly driven mad. They seemed eager to spread the horrible thing. Borobro took one look and realized these people were beyond help. So the circus had to put them down. And who should show up to help? Well it was Elrin! Introduced himself by taking down one of the poor creature in one shot. Course not long after that he disappeared right back into the trees. An odd one that youth is, but skilled with a bow. And so as years passed Borobro and Dementis left the circus to make their own way. While sitting in a bar one night who should come in and sit down next to them? None other then Elrin! Looking much better the he ever had. Fed, clean, and not too crazy. Well as they sat there catching up on ol’times and just enjoying the tavern Elrin overheard two people talking. Something about an “it” and getting it somewhere. Well, Elrin, being Elrin, decided to enter himself into the conversation.

Before you knew it all three were involved in smuggling! Well I won’t go into details here, more because I hear all 3 can be quite harsh on those who leak their secrets, even heard they may have some other member... Needless to say I’m sure they are still smuggling right now! Making sure we can get those cheeses with-out them criminal taxes!

8/31/07 Pinched

The scene opens on our band of rogues making their way through some scenic foothills. Borobro drives a small cart laden with travelworn wooden crates, Dementis pipes a simple folks tune from the back, Elrin trots along on his trusty steed and Shang rides along silently, ever alert for danger. Movement is spotted in the brush lining the road ahead and the group comes to a stop and calls out to whoever hides in the brush to reveal themselves. A man emerges and proceeds to thank Dementis for his music and demand a toll on their wares for safe passage. Elrin swiftly slays him with two arrows before his speech is even finished and bandit arrows are soon darkening the air from an ambush alongside the road. Borobro and Dementis drive the cart out of the fighting to protect the goods while Elrin brings swift death to all his attackers, although not without suffering grave wounds in the process. Shang is not idle, and accounts for two bandits spitted like wild boars upon the point of his sword.

The group continues safely to an abandoned farmstead outside of Kreizhofen where Borobro pours some draughts down Elrin's throat to ease his pain, then goes with Dementis to meet Councilman Helmut Schwer. The pair soon find this to be a more difficult task then expected, and after about an hour of traveling the town, finally locate Schwer's house and attempt to either wake him or gain entrance. Accosted by Watchman Gottlieb, Dementis feigns drunkenness and leaves with him under pretenses of obtaining a spare key to the house and Borobro is instructed to remain where he is. Dementis cleverly distracts the watchman with a false alarm and stealthily returns to Schwer's house. Meanwhile, Borobro finds the door unlocked and carefully enters to find the dead body of Helmut Schwer, as well as a pair of mysterious notes. Borobro returns to the doorstep, careful to leave no hint of his entrance, and is re-accosted by another Watch patrol, this time a sergeant and watchman. After explaining his presence, Borobro is left under the watchful eye of Grolsch and soon sees Dementis returning. Dementis pounds on the councilman's door and forces it open. The group enters in and discovers the body, Dementis notices the notes and secrets them on his body before he and Borobro are placed under arrest for the murder of Councilman Schwer.

At the Watch barracks, Borobro gives a semi-truthful statement, leading the Watch to send a patrol to the farmstead where Elrin is sleeping under some hay. The Watch spots him and the crates and drags him out to be questioned. While Shang comes along quietly, Elrin makes a break for it near some woods and proceeds to both elude and stalk the patrol, killing his pursuer, then three others back at the farmstead. Elrin flees with the crates, but later abandons them when he has difficulty driving the cart, taking only some of the wine bottles inside. He also throws away a small tin containing a mysterious and foul-smelling black substance. Back at the Barracks, the Watch Captain, widely renowned for his unwavering morals, grills Dementis and Borobro and quickly establishes that while they are unlikely to have actually committed the crime, their whole story rings less than true. He has them spend the night in jail and soon sets them up at a pre-trial to have them work for him in finding out who the actual murderer is in return for sparing them their own trial.

We end with Borobro and Dementis working to gather rumors and leads, establishing with some certainty that the councilman was last seen around 3 days previous, and that the main suspects are Gunther Goldfahren and Eduard Wiessnicht. Dementis attempts to start the rumor that Hans is the actual culprit. Mysterious notes are also pocketed on Dementis by parties unknown appearing to invite the group to a party down at the docks. Rumor establishes this as the kick-off party for the Black Shepherds competition, a well-known smuggling event to establish reputations and positioning for the coming year, thrown by Gunther Goldfahren, self-proclaimed 'Smuggler King'. Helmut Schwer and been planning on sponsoring the characters as a means to expand his own network of contacts, as he had recently broken away from Goldfahren. The scene ends with Dementis and Borobro carefully plotting their next move, and Elrin wandering about the woods outside Kreizhofen.

OR.....
Elrin Hwai What a beautiful day. The sun is high in the sky. Out for a ride with my friends and look, a bird! Good old Silver, she's been my trusted friend for years now and she lets me ride on her back. And who's that guy stepping out of the woods? talk talk talk something, take our stuff? Well, OK Dementis, if you say so....and he's down. that was easy. Oh, more of them! ouch. a little help here? why is Dementis hiding? Ouch! and Bro just leaving us behind, Silver?YOUCH!

bleeding, must patch it up, damn, not so good. try again later, maybe Bro will help me, he's a doctor or something. no? climb into the cart....hide....bleeding. cart's bumpy, it hurts the arrow hole in my leg a lot at every bump. why won't Bro stop and help me? ouch, still bleeding. wipe it off, i feel faint. Now it's almost dark, there's a barn and we're stopping. hide myself, there's a pile of hay, get underneath, hide.

Finally, Bro helped me, bleeding stopped and where are they going? I'll just hide here. Silver likes the hay. yawn.

Who's that? how did they find me? It's the watch and we've got bad things in the cart and they're into them. They take me away but won't let me take Silver! They said they were going to pound her! Get away. run. he's still following. ha! he can't see me in the dark, I'll just ... one.... two. easy pickins. and he's got shiny! back to get Silver. Won't let them take my friend. Just two? they're so slow, lost one in the woods. go back for Silver. that one shot at me! he's dead now. the other one! ha! thought you had a pretty face, but now it's a ruin!

Dementis said the cart had illegal stuff, I should hide it. but it's so slow going. gotta hide myself. let the cart horse go, it's only nice for it. ooooohhh! good wine. I'll take that. and that. and that. maybe something better in here? that looks neat, black and shiny. now, run! Hi ho Silver! Away!

9/14/07

(Please fill in the blanks, guys, I can barely remember everything!)

We opened as the steam was rising off the corpse of one "Weissnicht" Edouard, killed in a trial by combat he had opted for against the merciless Shlange "Shang" Scholt. The Victor, in his success, was rousted off to the Two Fingers tavern for a night of drunken debauchery and cries of "All hail the Victor!". Holly Fuchs was obviously disappointed in losing her enforcer, Tonio had news that Edouard's bandits would soon be demanding monies from the Victor, and one Donatello Konig went out of his way to mention to Scholt that people in Nuln do sometimes enjoy watching a good bout of fisticuffs. The night's festivities, however, could not have hinted at what was to follow...

The next few days saw a great deal of politicking and intrigue by all of the Carver, Herr Albrecht (known to some as Ignotus), and not least the Victor, Shang Scholt. Borobro, concerned over the legal status of our band, worked his trade to find someone in the town whom he could beg a little legal advice of. He found such a person, one Leopold, and volunteered to help the poor scribe with his clerical duties, which were considerable, given the recent death of Helmut Schwer and the limbo status his estate was in. It was mentioned in an offhanded, hypothetical fashion, that it would be tragic, but ironically convenient, if the house were to catch fire or some such. The next day, while exhuming the now foetid corpse from the estate, one of our band must have accidentally knocked over a lamp onto what must have been strategically placed accelerants, and the house went up in flames. All three of the Carver, Albrecht, and Scholt barely escaped! By the next day, he was in the parlor of Steward Rausch, appointee of the Count, explaining matters.

In the meantime, Schang Scholt was not idle in his judicial victory. Immediately he seeked to impress upon Holly Fuchs his usefulness as a surrogate for the late, lamented Edouard. Holly was understandably hesitant to employ the man who killed her man, and said a show of both loyalty and competence was required. Shang, not one to stay idle, left, and began ensuring (through brute intimidation and subtle threats) to the lowlifes of Kreutzhofen that there was a new resident sociopath. To make a long story somewhat short, he replaced the bouncer of the Roaring Griffon, the tavern in which most merchant deals are cut, with two of "his" men, employed the man he had replaced for surplus muscle, found of a shipment of wool travelling through Holly Fuch's "territory", and gained the confidence of the very bandits that Edouard had used to terrorize said territory.

Albrecht aka Peverell busied himself with easing Schang's rise to relative power, and with strengthening the ties between the band and Hans Steinman...

And this is to say nothing of the excitement at the Black Shepard's kickoff party, or of the heist of a carts' worth of woll coming down the road from the Border Princes!

9/21/07

"Albrecht" caught a renewed interest in one Furchtmann, who was seen at the scene of the murder of Helmut Schwer. He caught up with, then questioned the man, and was later ambushed at the supposed meeting! How he escaped is murky, but Furchtmann seems to have forgotten all about him.

Dementis put further work into solving the militia, finding out that they had not yet been hired this Black Shepard's, and also getting into a protracted fistfight with one militiaman. Offering the olive branch of alchohol, Dementis plied his erstwhile opponents for information, afterwards planting the seeds for a showdown between the watch and the militia.

Borobro, after acquainting himself with the Laggard's Corner for a time, pursued knowledge from Leopold the town scribe about the proper channels to establish legitimate local businesses.

The whole group, through collective effort, discovered that Count Pfiefracher's claim on his lands was under attack from the Baroness von Toppenheimer.

9/28/07

Eh, well good mornin’ to ya! At first it seemed the same old same old around town until a certain visitor showed up. Some pompous holier then thou tavern inspector. So far he seems determined to track from bar to bar insisting in the true Reikland spirit of asking for "their papers". Well after I got done instigating a fight between the watch and militia, and learning the story of a hobo, I headed over to a bar where he was. He asked to see my performer's license so I after thinking about it I went ahead and threw my meal in his face and ran out. Later on I guess Ignotus made friendly with the inspector while Bro got some seals made.

Oh right, so get this, the town scribe, you know, Bro's friend? Well I was sweet talking his pretty little secretary and she brings up she can't do anything that night because she has church... Well I think this is weird right? So I go to the church and nest up in the bell tower. Great view by the way. So I'm watching the girl's house and come late at night she heads out North instead of where I am. So I jimmy down the roofs of the church and follow after her. She goes into the forest, and low and behold she is part of a cult! Not only that but Furchtmann, Gorbad, and Henry are all part of it too! There were seven total but I couldn't stay any longer. Chanting and putting black hands on each others’ chests they was. By Sigmar I ran off. I really think these cultists need to be taken care of. Can't have them spoiling our city right?

• As told by Dementis, he wasn’t around the other characters very much

10/05

Led to cultist gathering by Dementis and fail to approach stealthily enough. Detected and battle engaged. 4 cultists slain, the remaining 4 fled but their faces revealed. Roust Judah and co. to come and find out what's going on. Give statements and clean blood off clothes. Find notes in the houses of some cultists and steal a chain shirt. Go investigate a cave at the head of a tributary to the Sol river and find evidence of battle. Go into cave and find ways blocked, push boulder out of the way and try secondary entrance. Assaulted by bestial forms and poisoned throwing stars. Retreat and inform Judah again. Hired to transport a crate from Kreuzhofen to Nuln by Steinman. Ignotus finds that it contains the drugged and bound form of a man. Steinman also passes on the name of Robschein to Borobro for the buyer of his poison tin, along with the offer of 50gc (finder's fee of 10gc). The group plus 'Schlange' Schulz sets out preceeded by a decoy cart with some of Schultz's men. Find the decoy cart hit with all hands dead. Encounter a "toll collector" along the way and run into an ambush by a small group of firearm-equipped mercenaries. The mercenaries fail to inflict serious damage, including an attempt to blow up the cart with a bomb. The group makes it off with some serious lootz. The group ends in Wissenburg, near their goal of Nuln, preparing to make the final push and sending Schultz off to confirm the attack on the group to the local Roadwardens.

10/12

After posting a watch, the characters were awakened by Elrin, who had pulled an Aedil and opened the crate; he was now screaming about the fact that a man was contained in the box, holding a small pillar. Ignotus admitted to having pulled an Aedil earlier and opened the box himself, but that he did not have a problem with making the delivery. After some argument about the ethics of human cargo, it was decided that the characters would continue with the delivery but investigate carefully as to the purpose/meaning of said delivery. After arriving in Nuln, the characters first made the drop of the poison to Robschild, who asked borobro to return to his manor at a later time. Schang pumped the Overland Merchant Concern's secretary for information, while Ignotus watched the wagon. In the morning, Ignotus went to investigate the "Northeast Star import company" and discovered that Helmut Schwerr had transported a sum approximating 250gc from Nuln to Kreuzhoffen a few months previous. After that, the characters transported the crate to the drop point, where they were met by a strange fellow with 4 "students" in armor under their robes. The characters negotiated for a 500 gc payment for the delivery, and after verification, the man checked the merchandise, there was a bang, after which the guy in the box ran out, dropped the pillar on the floor, and swooned, after which one of the students promptly gutted him. A fight ensued, with Schang and Elrin holding off the enemies after Ignotus had been thoroughly brained. After recovering, Ignotus snuck into the back room, and, finding the leader unconscious, executed him before he could cause more trouble. Upon returning, the group had achieved an uneasy peace with the "student" mercs, whom borobro convinced to join Schang's gang. After searching the place for clues as to wtf was going on, the group retreated. as it turns out, the house actually belonged to a rat men cultist, while the shadowy dude was a black hand guy. Borobro and Ignotus have discussed matters and think that what is going on (at least ignotus does) is that there are two cults, one of the black hand and one of the rat men, who want some of the same things but who hate each other and are battling it out in a couple of arenas. It appears that both sides are trying to weasel their way into power: notably, the rat folk appear to be trying to gain access to the public works, presumably for some sort of poisoning/plague spreading attack on nuln. Bro and Ignotus are currently trying to follow up on that. In addition, we now have a sizeable amount of money and Schang's gang now includes 3 at least moderately (1 highly) competent mercenaries. Ignotus thinks that we should give (yes, give)) the guns Elring found to these fellows and have schang train them to use them: this will give us by far the most dangerous muscle in Kreutzhoffen. He also thinks that we should not divy up the 500 gc, but rather save most of it and use some of it to outfit our fighters with better armor (plate arms for Schang, whatever elrin/dementis want/need within reason). Right now the money is in a bank. Borobro currently has the pillar: Ignotus plans to have a few replicas made. The 40gc that we get to keep from the poison have been divied up evenly (so Gabe, you get 8gc, for now).

Alternatively, we can just divy up the 500gc, and keep whatever people don't spend in the bank account collectively. That might actually make more sense...so effectively everyone walks away with 108 gc from last session: however, any money not taken out in Nuln will not be accessible. Ignotus has 50 gc on his person from the 2nd deal (of which he's spent 10, which is essentially his portion). he'll take these 50 with him and split it up amongst everybody, so that way everybody gets 18gc from this session, unless they buy stuff in Nuln. I think that Schang would go buy plate arms and maybe a chain coif, if he doesn't have it already, but that's just me.

10/26/07

The characters hung around Nuln pursuing their individual interests or politicking or buying stuff. Dimentis showed up and was going to go to some party. The absent Shang introduced us to one of his buddies.

What about our moneys?

1/4/08

The characters recieved a threatening note from Gunter Golbsfahren, promising bodily harm if a certain fireworks party was carried out as planned. Rather than turn tail and run, rather than wait for a fair fight, the characters gathered their allies and assaulted the man directly.

They consulted with what's her face, the other upity up in town (the pripriotor of The Shang Co., which is Goldfarb Jewler's rival). The characters promised to back her as she took over the mantle left in Goldfarb's absence.

In a fight where the odds were probably even, the players took not even a single casualty, and butchered Golbsfahren and several mercenaries, and impressed upon the surviving rabble of smugglers, mercenaries, and Town Militia that by Sigmar, things were gonna change!

1/29/08

With the news of Salud-al-Din's march on the sanctity of the Inner Empire, the strange arrival of a berzerker scout to Kreutzhofen, and the "Gang of Five"'s symbolic victory celebrated with the fireworks party, the group realized there was much left to do.

For the most part, all of the group pursued their own agendas: Dementis brokered a tentative alliance between the Baroness von Toppenheimer and the substantially more chilly Count Pfeifracher; Ignotus/Albrecht concerned himself with arcane studies and the development of Kreutzhofen's engineering and military capacity; Borobro looked to gather resources for the development of poisons and/or healing supplies, doubtless to be useful in the trying times ahead.

From these efforts, interesting leads developed: The Baroness is looking to hire a mercenary army to aid in the war effort (and likely gain in the Emperor's eyes as well). The only problem is that the mercenary army is in Tilea. Any basic calculations show the Southern Horde having fought its way into the Inner Empire by then; the Baroness surely knows this, and yet has sent Dementis to recruit this force. Compounding matters further, Pfiefracher has agreed to let such an army use Kreutzhofen as a staging ground, but on condition that his son (who has so far eluded a meeting with any of the Gang) lead the army to glory personally, and emerge from the battle unscathed. Additionally, preparations are underway to fortify Kreutzhofen - both a stonemason and an engineer are expected to arrive any moment.

What all of this means is still unclear, and unwritten....

3/7/07

Investigated the river of echoes. met cthulu and elrin got eaten but carved his way out with Mizuno's magic sword, then dissolved