[WFRP] Down and Out in Altdorf

[Blackrat]

Norgrim eats and drinks heartily, taking good care of the innkeepers gratitude and hospitality. Finally, as he is almost bursting and nearly passing out, he stumbles up to speak with the innkeeper. "So. Who were thos' ruffians anyway? The' 'ad sum dark magics with 'em, that's for sure. No way the' could've beaten me that easy without." He is about to get a good bragging on the way, but sudden wooziness forces him to sit down...

 

[Walking Dad]

Gustav looks at the inn-keepers wife.
"When you gat any problems with those drunks, tell me. And can I get another soup before good nights rest?"

 

[Hella_Tellah]

Norgrim eats and drinks heartily, taking good care of the innkeepers gratitude and hospitality. Finally, as he is almost bursting and nearly passing out, he stumbles up to speak with the innkeeper. "So. Who were thos' ruffians anyway? The' 'ad sum dark magics with 'em, that's for sure. No way the' could've beaten me that easy without." He is about to get a good bragging on the way, but sudden wooziness forces him to sit down...

Staring out the front door into the inky black of night, the innkeeper sighed. "Them was Vitaly Gorbechav's men. Bloody Kislevite son-of-a-squig has made it his business to round up every two-bit sellsword in the Lower Wards and send 'em out hasslin' th' tradesmen and innkeeps fer 'protection'--meanin' a sack o' karls each month in exchange for the safety of our wives an' daughters.

"Those that go ta meet with 'im--them that live ta tell of it--say 'e keeps a mean batch o' personal guards. Orc guards. If 'e was fool enough ta truck wit orcs, Sigmar knows what manner o' devilry 'e could have a hand in. Could be th' dark arts, as you say."

Gustav looks at the inn-keepers wife.
"When you gat any problems with those drunks, tell me. And can I get another soup before good nights rest?"

"Ah, thank ye, love," said the innkeep's wife. She finished dragging a passed-out halfling to a cot, then breathed a sigh of exhaustion. "I'll get ye that bowl o' soup."

She returned from the kitchen with a stout wooden bowl. The soup was lukewarm, and with a bit of congealed broth on it--the last dregs of the kettle. It wasn't tasty, but it was chunky and filling.

 

[Blackrat]

Hrmph! Norgrim exlaims as the man speaks of orcs, and then spits on the ground. Orcs. Better ta sleep good then. Thar's a battle 'morrow. With that he scampers up and carries himself to bed to sober up.

 

[Hella_Tellah]

The next morning, they awoke to a piping hot breakfast of gritty coffee, runny eggs, pork scraps, stale biscuits and thin gravy. Helmut and his wife sat with them, but try as she might, Helmut's wife couldn't get him to do more than push his food around his plate. He was well dressed for the occasion: full leather armor with a thick skullcap, a pistol, and a bandoleer full of ammunition.

As they finished their meal, Helmut spoke up, unsure at first, but with growing courage. "I wanted to--ah--to thank ye all, yes, thank ye fer comin' along wit' me on this. Ye din'a hafta--what I mean to say is, ah, yer very kind to do this. This Gorbachev an' 'is men, they's a mean bunch, fer sure, an' a tough bunch, but if we keeps our heads on a swivel we'll get through 'er right. An' if they gives us trouble, well, I gots me grandpappy's old revolver here, and won't no Kislevite nor Orc get ta me an' mine wit'out a shot 'tween th' eyes."

Helmut stood, his back to the front windows of the Laughing Goblin. The light from the window, glowing out around his helmeted head, lent gravity and purpose to his words. "An' somethin' else I'll tell ye! We goes to give 'em th' money, sure, but it's not the last they've 'eard of ol' Helmut, no sir. By th' Sword of Verena, we'll break Gorbachev's grip on th' lower wards! Once we've got me daughter back, I mean war!"

Helmut coughed, sat down meakly, and asked someone to pass the butter.

 

[The Digger]

"Well said, Helmut" Solveig ate as if she was starving. Her life on the road had brought it home to her always to eat and drink when it was available. You never knew when there may be none.

She did not own any armour so she had re-strung her bow and was prepared to put an arrow where it would do the most good.

"Are we nearly ready to be off?"

 

[Walking Dad]

"I wish I had more things to do to prepare. But als, let's hope our meager resources are enough." Gustav says, putting a last bit of a pork scrap.

 

[Hella_Tellah]

After breakfast, Helmut led the group through the streets of Altdorf's lower wards for a few miles. The cobblestone streets were puddled with rain and crowded with the hungry and desperate. Beggars clammered for alms, shaking their lead cups and shouting, "Clink f'rus, guv'nah!" Under dark gray storm clouds, they approached a dilapidated wooden apartment building. Helmut, carrying a jingling brown sack slung over his shoulder, rapped on the door.

A panel in the door slid open to reveal a pair of shifty eyes. "State yer bizniss."

"Here for me daughter," said Helmut. "I've brought th' money."

The door unlocked, and opened, into a dark hallway lit only by the dim daylight through the front door and a window at the end of the hall. Doors along the hall were marked with simple drawings--a sword, a bed, a frowning face, a large red X. The guard, dressed in leather armor with a dark green cloak, motioned for the group to follow, and led them to a door marked with a purple sickle. Solveig and Norgrim recognized it as the symbol of a Kislevite crime syndicate, the Bears of Winter.

[sblock=Knowledge rolls]
Solveig: 1d100=28, Albrecht: 1d100=86, Norgrim: 1d100=11, Gustav: 1d100=95[/sblock]
The guard opened the door, and motioned for the group to enter. The fat man in furs, Vitaly Gorbachev, sat in a high-backed wooden chair, flanked by two orcish guards in leather tunics, holding large, pitted axes. The room smelled of fish, sweat, and cheap liquor.

"Ah, good," Gorbechav began. "De leetle innkeeper sees his mistake, and he comes to apologize. You have brought Vitaly nice present, no? Yes, good." He waved to the human guard, and the guard came back with Helmut's daughter, Daisy, in tow.

Daisy was tied up, crying, and screaming through a gag. Helmut dropped the sack of coins and ran to embrace her, but the guard held him back.

"Not so fast," chuckled Gorbechav. "Let us count de moneys first, yes?"

One of the orcs picked up the bag of coins and brought it over to Gorbechav. He began to count out gold coins from the bag in neat stacks with a heavy CLINK, CLINK, CLINK. "Fifty Karls, eh? Good for a month of protection, sure. But doesn't buy back de girl. De girl for another fifty."

Helmut lashed out at Gorbechav, but his guard held him back. "Tha' weren't th' deal, ye Kislevite bastard! Tha' bag there is all we 'ave! I swears to Sigmar, I'll--I'll--"

"You vill do vat, leetle man? Nothink is vat you vill do. You vill bring fifty more, or you vill vatch your daughter die."

 

[Walking Dad]

Gustav looks at the others. He will not be the one, starting a fight with the inn-keeper's daughter's life at peril.

I think I don't like this people...

 

[Blackrat]

Norgrim spits to the ground and looks at the innkeeper. "It's yer decision. I'm ready to pound thar faces, even if they have black magics."