The Enemy Within

[Sanzuo]

I am officially running my players through the apparently famous “The Enemy Within” campaign. This is a campaign for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. I'm sure many, many of you know a lot more about it than I do, but here's a wikipedia entry about it. For those of you who don't know anything about it, this should be fun.

As is my custom. I am maintaining the story and plot of the campaign as much as possible, but I will probably be making little changes to certain elements here and there to suit our style and make the game more fun for my players.

Apparently you're supposed to play this campaign with pre-generated characters, but screw that. My players know what kind of characters they want to play so I'm letting them. Also they've been playing these same characters for many sessions and are already on their second careers. They are somewhat more skilled and better equipped that was intended for the campaign, but this part was originally published in the late 1980s and we're playing with the latest edition of WFRP so... like... whatever man.

**If you are going to discuss events later in the module, please use [spoiler] tags for the people who haven't made it that far!


The Cast

Klaus Altman – A barber surgeon turned physician, Klaus comes from a market town in Nordland. He's been traveling with his two companions ever since he started adventuring and has A LOT of practice with his surgery skills as a result. He's getting better every day, though you wouldn't generally be able to tell he's a physician underneath all of that chain armor he wears. He recently had a lobotomy before starting this latest adventure and is recovering quite nicely.

Hargin the Knave – A dwarven outlaw-veteran originally from Karak Hirn in the Black Mountains. For some reason he has a habit of being near inns when they are burning down. Decked in armor he's mashed together and wielding his trusty axe, he's ready to kick ass and take names. He is also recovering from a recent lobotomy.

Laulran Bluewing aka “Lau” - An elven rogue who's recently chosen the path of the Estalian Diestro demagogue, Lau hails from The Great Forest like the rest of his kind. He ran into Klaus and Hargin just as the two were about to be murdered by bandits in the woods and saved the day. Strangely, Lau happened to arrive almost immediately after Klaus and Hargin's previous elven companion had just taken three arrows to the head. Lau hasn't had a lobotomy... yet.


The Set Up

The members of the party have recently spent a few pleasant weeks apart from each other before fate brought them back together.

They have each heard of a prince living in Altdorf looking to hire adventurers for a perilous quest into the Grey Mountains. While the peril is something the party could go without, the prince has promised a minimum twenty Gold Crowns a day for the work – a very attractive prospect. The party immediately met up and set fourth, their destination the capital city of the Empire – Altdorf.

[Sanzuo]

The Coach and Horses Inn

About two days travel from Altdorf, the party approached the Coach and Horses Inn just as it was getting dark. They were thankful for a sheltered place for the night as sleeping out in the wilderness was not a good idea. On their way in they were nearly flattened by a coach traveling as fast as possible out of the courtyard. They saw at a glance that the coach belonged to the Four Seasons Company – the most prosperous coaching company in the region.

Inside the courtyard to the inn the party noticed another coach, this one belonging to Ratchett Lines of Altodorf – another company. It looks like they might be able to catch a ride to Altdorf after all.

Inside the bar room of the inn they were greeted by a mostly pleasant atmosphere. Gusav the landlord greeted them warmly and immediately sat them at a table, seeing to their needs. Around the bar area the party noticed several other patrons around them.

There was a foppish looking gentleman at the bar wearing fine Bretonnian clothing and trying not to be seen observing the party. There were the two coachmen belonging to the coach outside sitting at their own table getting quite drunk and rowdy. There was what looked like a young scholar deeply engrossed in a book sitting by himself in the corner. Finally there was a beautiful young woman dressed in noble's clothing sitting with her attendants - her maidservant and her female bodyguard.

Klaus the physician immediately took an interest in the noble maiden and began making suggestive gestures with his mouth in her direction. The noblewoman was extremely offended by Klaus, however her shy maidservant was rather taken by him and took interest.

Lau the elf noticed this and – not to be outdone – stood up on the party's table and began going into a rousing tale of one of his more recent adventures. He captured the entire bar room's attention and delivered an impressive account of his bravery and heroism. He then met with some of the coachmen to arrange for a ride in the morning before moving to the maidservant's side and began putting the moves on her.

Klaus was not happy about Lau stealing his thunder.

Meanwhile, the foppish gentleman who had been watching the group since they entered invited himself to join Klaus and Hargin at their table. He introduced himself as Phillipe Descartes and asked if either of the two fancied a game of chance. Being the expert gambler of the party, Lau overheard Phillipe's proposal and brought himself and Jenna the maidservant over to the table.

A game of cards was played. Phillipe wasn't doing well and Klaus was having a bit of beginner's luck. Suddenly the game turned in Phillipe's favor. Hargin, who had opted out of the game, happened to notice Phillipe deftly slipping a card out of his sleeve and adding it to his hand.

Hargin called Phillipe out, to which Phillipe denied vehemently. After an argument, Phillipe attempted to leave the table, however was blocked in by Hargin. Phillipe seemed to sigh in defeat when he suddenly produced a pistol and aimed it at the dwarf's head.

Hargin quickly deflected the barrel with his hand and the shot deflect off of his breastplate and into the wall. Lau (now quite drunk) unsheathed his rapier and made a few sloppy swipes from across the table as the maidservant ran screaming. Klaus merely scooped up his winnings and kept his head down. (I guess Lau went for the cash while Klaus stared at the ceiling or something.)

Phillipe slipped from the dwarf's grasp and made a run for the stairway.

Confused and bewildered, Gustav the landlord appeared with a blunderbuss and aimed the weapon at the general bar area. Hargin rushed Phillipe as Gustav fired the blunderbuss at the both of them. The blast deflected off of Hargin's armor and ripped Phillipe's arm to shreds. Gustav was knocked senseless after firing the weapon – clearly inexperienced with it.

Klaus rushed from the table with his mace to support his friend Hargin, who was now grappling with Phillipe. Phillipe escaped from Hargin once again, pulled out his longsword and attempted to back away from the group while parrying their blows. Klaus landed a solid hit with his mace, shattering Phillipe's elbow and causing him to drop his sword. Phillipe fell down and surrendered to them.

The group apologized to the other patrons for the disturbance and took Phillipe outside where they deliberated what to do about him. Eventually they stripped him of all his belongings including his clothes. Then, Phillipe screamed and pleaded for his life while Hargin axed him to pieces and disposed of them in the woods.

Back in the inn, Lau resumed macking on the maidservant. Everyone else eventually decided it was late and retired for the night. Hargin cleaned and sharpened his axe and Klaus brooded about Lau who had his way with the maidservant right there in the common room.

[Dr Simon]

Excellent! I ran this campaign way back when it first came out - great fun all the way up to Power Behind the Throne. Of all the "You meet in an Inn" openings, the fun NPCs given for this one make it one of the best.

[Sanzuo]

Originally Posted by Dr Simon

Excellent! I ran this campaign way back when it first came out - great fun all the way up to Power Behind the Throne. Of all the "You meet in an Inn" openings, the fun NPCs given for this one make it one of the best.

I wonder if poor Phillipe has ever survived this section of the adventure!

[Sanzuo]

The Journey

The next morning everyone was up bright and early to take the coach to Altdorf – only to find that the coachmen had not yet risen and were sleeping off massive hangovers. Hargin the Knave went upstairs to rouse the coachmen and told them if they did not get ready then the coach would be his. This got them moving albeit slowly.

The coach went underway with Hargin and Klaus sitting inside with Lady Isolde von Strudeldorf, her servant, bodyguard, and the quiet scholar from the previous evening. Lau rode on top with the coachmen, Gunnar and Hultz.

The coach was moving a bit too slowly for Lau's liking, so he decided to take his hand at the reins. Before too long the coach was bounding across the road at a respectable clip. However, after about an hour of this treatment the coach decided to lose a wheel. The front left side of the coach took a dive into the hard ground as the wheel came loose and the entire coach capsized. Lau managed to land on his feet, but everyone else managed to injure themselves in the crash. (Except for Hargin who cushioned his fall in the Lady Isolde's bosom.) Gunnar, Hultz, Hargin, Klaus and Marie the bodyguard all helped lift the coach back onto its wheels. After about ten minutes of wheel repair the coach was ready to be on the move again. Lau took the reins once more, though everyone pleaded with him to drive more slowly. He sort of listened to them.

Then it started to rain.

Several hours later the hurt, soaked and miserable group drove past another coaching inn, but this wasn't their destination. They were seeking the Inn of Seven Spokes – another coaching inn still a few hours away. They rode past without stopping.

A short ways up the road they were halted by something. They saw a figure in the road hunched over the corpse of what seemed to be a coachman. The figure turned and to everyone's horror it seemed as if his skin was melting off his body. Also he was eating the dead coachman. Lau happened to notice that the man was Rolf Hurtsis, a man he had met in the past. The mutated Rolf drew a knife and charged the coach.

Before anyone could react the horses panicked and broke loose from their bracings. Hultz quickly grabbed the reigns from Lau, but got dragged off his seat and into the forest behind the fleeing horses. Gunnar jumped free from the coach and Lau simply stood on his seat and reached for his bow and arrows in his pack next to him.

Gunnar pulled his blunderbuss from his back and leveled it at the charging mutant. At the last instant the mutant jumped to the side and the cluster shot from the gun flew harmlessly into the woods. Then, an arrow fired by Lau caught the mutant in his shoulder, throwing him off-balance. This gave time for Gunnar to dodge the mutant's charge and fumble for his sword. As the mutant raised his knife again to plunge into Gunnar, Lau's second arrow pinned the mutant's wrist to his head and the mutant fell over dead. Gunnar complimented Lau on his marksmanship.

By then Klaus and Hargin piled out of the carriage with their weapons, but the fight was over. A battered and bloodied Hultz soon ran back out of the woods pleading for the others not to shoot him.

Everyone could hear screaming further down the road around the bend. They decided to investigate. After Klaus looted the dead coachman's sleeved mail shirt, Hargin, Klaus, Gunnar and Hultz proceed down the road.

Ahead they saw carnage. There was an overturned coach in the middle of the road, a huge mutant with a tiny head hacking away at two screaming horses with an axe, a mutant with dog-like head laying on the ground screaming, blood pouring from his leg while a pointy headed mutant tries to bandage it, a mutant with cloven feet feasting on the body of a child and a human with scaly skin and a crossbow looting the many bodies littered about. They hadn't immediately noticed the four watching them.

Hargin and Klaus whispered quickly to one another about what to do while Gunnar and Hultz stared in abject horror. Then the scaly human noticed them and yelled at the other mutants. Hargin, Klaus and the coachmen turned and ran back towards their coach.

At the coach the four of them stopped and turned around to face the mutants pursuing them. The tiny-headed, pointy-headed and cloven-footed mutants ran around the bend wailing with their crude weapons raised high. A short ways behind them the scaly human with the crossbow followed.

Lau, who was still standing on the coach, immediately drew and arrow and fired at the scaly man. Lau's shot missed and hit the road but managed to gain the man's attention. Klaus and Hargin met the mutant's charge and ganged up on the cloven-footed one, battering it savagely with mace and axe. Gunnar fired his blunderbuss at the group of mutants and managed to wing the tiny-headed one, but only slightly wounding him. The already wounded Hultz lost his nerve and stayed back to protect the carriage.

The scaley crossbowman fired a bolt into Lau's shoulder, nearly throwing him from the coach. Lau recovered and managed to return fire, but missed again. Klaus takes a spear through his arm from the cloven-footed mutant, then Klaus and Hargin smashed and hacked him to bits while fending off the other two mutants. Gunnar drew his sword and joined the melee. Lau continued to exchange fire with the crossbowman but still couldn't find his mark.

Klaus and Hargin made short work of the pointy-headed mutant and then Klaus, Hargin and Gunnar surrounded the tiny-headed mutant from all sides. The scaly human decided then that he had lost and fled into the thick brush. A frustrated Lau took it out on the last mutant, putting an arrow into its arm as the three surrounding it cut it down.

The battle won, the group decided to investigate (loot the crap out of) the ruined coach ahead. Unfortunately, it seemed the bodies had already been well looted by the scaly man before the group arrived.

Just then, Klaus spotted something in the brush. It was the body of an artisan, perhaps missed by the mutants. He pulled the body out of the foliage and made a horrifying discovery - the dead man was an almost exact likeness of Klaus! Except for a few minor details, he could have passed as Klaus' twin brother. After searching him and finding a pack of documents, Klaus discovered the man's identity.

The dead look-alike was a man named Kastor Lieberung, who was apparently on his way to a town called Bögenhafen to claim an inheritance – an inheritance which included an estate and no less than twenty thousand Gold Crowns. This was written in a letter which included an affidavit verifying Kastor Lieberung's identity, and Klaus was an exact match for the dead man.

Klaus looked at Hargin and Lau knowingly and pocketed the documents.

[Dr Simon]

Originally Posted by Sanzuo

I wonder if poor Phillipe has ever survived this section of the adventure!

Well, I don't recall my players systematically dismembering him but I think he fell out of a top-floor window trying to escape, and got winged by a blunderbuss.

I still get inspiration from the catalogue of "small disasters" that beset the party the next morning, up until the mutant attack*. Hungover, lazy coachmen, a crash, rain, plus other stroppy NPCs, all greatly infuriating problems that can't be solved with a sword.

*

*The mutant attack motif does get a bit overdone by the final chapters.

[Sanzuo]

Originally Posted by Dr Simon

Well, I don't recall my players systematically dismembering him but I think he fell out of a top-floor window trying to escape, and got winged by a blunderbuss.

I still get inspiration from the catalogue of "small disasters" that beset the party the next morning, up until the mutant attack*. Hungover, lazy coachmen, a crash, rain, plus other stroppy NPCs, all greatly infuriating problems that can't be solved with a sword.

*The mutant attack motif does get a bit overdone by the final chapters.

Do please spoiler that last part, lest my players read this!

[Iron Sky]

One player is reading it at least.

A few notes about Lau:

In the first session, while Klaus and Hargin were taking on Phillipe in the stairs, it was Lau that dove for the money on the table. That was his big contribution to the whole fight.

In the second session, when Sanzuo says "bounding along at a respectable clip" it means "Lau whipped the horses until they were physically incapable of going any faster."

Lau also "helped" right the carriage after it tipped over by encouraging everyone from a clean distance.

When "everyone" went to investigate the screaming up the road, Lau stayed behind with his bow "to guard the carriage."

I also spent two fate points trying to take down that crossbowman and, in 5 rolls, couldn't roll under a 75.

Lastly, Hargin is a raging badass. With his 5 Toughness and (now) Full Plate, he negates 10 damage! As we were chatting after the last game, it's really cool how everyone in the party has a very distinct role:

Hargin is the warrior extraordinare: Gruff, tough, and brutal. Partially because there's nothing we fight that he can outrun, so he has a "fight to the end" mentality.

Klaus is the healer and all-around-useful one, with decent combat ability and a few social skills so he can help Lau and Hargin. Having a dedicated physician travelling with you in Warhammer is some awesome that can barely be put into words.

Lau is the face, charming the locals with tales of his heroics (and his "sidekicks"), haggling prices, and gathering the gossip. While he occasionally gets the group in trouble (or at least to the edge of it), he's at least moderatly combat-worthy and can pull a bit of wait when it comes down to swords.

I'll pretend I didn't see Dr Simon's comment. Considering how (in)frequently we're likely to be playing this, I'll probably have forgotten by the time we play again.

[Dr Simon]

Oops, sorry! I've gone back and bolted that stable door now...


As far as spoilers go, though, it's pretty minor. I mean, I could mention how the ****** is a ******, and how when they find the ****** in the ******* it leads them to ******


5 Toughness plus full plate at this stage in the game? Blimey! I recall it took "Sharp" Spike, the Pit Fighter, at least until the end of Death on the Reik to become as indestructable in my game.

[Sanzuo]

Originally Posted by Dr Simon

5 Toughness plus full plate at this stage in the game? Blimey! I recall it took "Sharp" Spike, the Pit Fighter, at least until the end of Death on the Reik to become as indestructable in my game.

Yea, like I mentioned these characters played a few long sessions before this campaign started and are on their second careers. Hargin happened to start out as an Outlaw which went right into Veteran, so that helped.

Also I have no idea how economy is supposed to work in this game. When the players loot a pile of hand weapons and a few chain mail shirts, that adds up to quite a bit of money going by the prices set in the book. Logically I figure a vendor would buy those items from the PCs for about half of what they're worth if he figures he can sell them.

But as one of my players put it; if the vendor lowballs the PCs too much (either he doesn't have the money to pay what the PCs want or they're simply not worth that much to him) what's stopping the PCs from hanging on to all that crap and becoming vendors themselves, selling it to other adventurers who are just crapping money as well?

I figured I would use the middle ground to keep the game moving along. Roleplaying the players setting up their own "Used Armour Shoppe" might be realistic but it isn't terribly exciting.

[doghead]

I played this so long ago I can't remember any of this so far. I don't even remember my character. I do remember an elven duellist, but he was in the Doomstone series.

But I do remember it was a really good series. I also came a really good time in our gaming, we were beginning to experiment with the idea that the characters, while they all worked together, were not all of one mind on all things. Its not a particularly novel concept now, but at the time it was, at least for us, an interesting departure from the all for one and one for all style we had played thus far.

Looking forward to finding out what happens again.

doghead
aka thotd

[Sanzuo]

Sorry, I've been putting off the update for a while because we haven't gotten a session in so far this week. I might be getting a new player and it's hard getting everyone together.

I've got another post coming up though, you'll see it within the hour.

[Sanzuo]

After an encounter with a group of Roadwardens who had apparently heard of the attack somehow, the party repaired their coach once again and continued on their way. Late that evening they finally arrived at the Inn of the Seven Spokes. The party had some much needed rest and left for Altdorf the next day.

They arrived at Altdorf's famous Königplatz and said goodbye to the coachmen. (Actually, Hargin said something like “remember, you owe us...”) Agents from various inns around the area came at them trying to gain their patronage. Lau decided to play with them a little and organized a dancing contest to gain the party's favor.

While this was going on, Klaus noticed two men staring at him. They appeared to be artisans and one of them was doing something odd. He scratched his left ear with his right hand. Then repeated the gesture several times. Klaus tried repeating the signal, but it did not satisfy the man. Klaus tried something else, but the man grew more frustrated. Just then the two of them seemed to notice something and ran to a nearby house. Klaus saw them enter with a stocky, ominous-looking man and close the door behind them.

The incident was strange but the others didn't care, they shook the inn agents and sought out the residence of Prince Von Tasseninck to see if he would hire them for his expedition. Lau held an impromptu quiz contest with the crowd. One passerby answered the question correctly and his prize was to show the party around the capital. The party was led to the local residence of Prince Von Tasseninck, however they learned there that the Prince was no longer hiring and had already left for his expedition the previous day.

The party was dejected, but all was not lost. They still had a goal – Klaus “Kastor Lieberung” Altman's inheritance in the town of Bögenhafen. They decided to spend their time in the Imperial capital hocking their loot they've acquired so far. Klaus chose to buy some more respectable clothing for a man of his stature and Hargin bought more even more armor. Hargin was now wearing full leather underneath full chain mail underneath full plate mail covering his whole body - making him even more difficult to injure.

While shopping, the group happened to run into another old acquaintance of Lau's – Josef Quartjin, a boatman. Josef was a friendly fellow and offered to take the party to Bögenhafen on his barge as he happened to be going in the same direction with a shipment of wine. He then takes the party to an inn for drinks and dinner.

At the Boatman Inn, the party drank and celebrated until a mysterious man dressed from the neck down in leather armor entered late in the evening. He claimed a table from another group of patrons and began drinking. Josef identified him as Max Ernst, an infamous protagonist. Soon after, a pair of nobles and their four bodyguards entered. The nobles began to talk down to the patrons of the inn and harass the party in particular. Eventually one of them vomited beer on Lau (who was in the middle of one of his stories.)

As Lau moped in the corner, Max approached him and began picking a fight. At first no one reacted, then the man in black knocked Lau on his back and laughed at him. Hargin got out of his chair and buried his axe in Max's back. Max managed to turn around and draw his sword before Hargin and Klaus came down upon him and killed him on the bar room floor. The rest of the patrons (including the nobles) started applauding.




Lau picked up Max Ernst's severed arm and hurled it at one of the nobles in retaliation. It smacked the noble right in the face. The noble was drunk and hardly noticed, however. The two nobles then left the inn with their bodyguards after having their evening's entertainment.

The party then decided it was time to leave and spend the night on Josef's barge. On their way to the barge in the night, Lau realized the party was being followed. He grabbed his bow and drew an arrow in the direction he sensed their followers.

The two men that revealed themselves turned out to be the artisans from earlier in the day that tried to get Klaus' attention. One of them was about to speak when a crossbow bolt hit him in the back from the darkness. The other turned and was hit by another crossbow bolt right in between the eyes. Both strangers lay dead and the party stood dumbfounded.

That didn't last long, however. The party grabbed the corpses and looted them. They happened to find that both the men had tattoos on the right side of their chests that looked like purple hands. The pondered about this only briefly as they tossed the bodies in the river.

That night on the barge they slept like babies.