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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Goonalan" data-source="post: 8992000" data-attributes="member: 16069">LETTERS FROM THE OLD WORLD.The continuing adventures of the usual bunch of miscreants this time playing Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play 4th edition, and The Enemy Within Campaign, of course.SESSION #03 Massacre on the Altdorf Road.The PCsFergus McClean, Dwarf Scout (Guide) played by Bear. Looks Like: Rough and ready-for-anything Dawi- a bit unkempt; constantly muttering and grumbling at Seamus his imaginary dog.Sounds Like: Northern 'I wur down t'mine', although taciturn, and always grumpy.[spoiler= Backstory]Fergus is a short embittered (divorced) Dawi from the mining village of Schwartzstein in the foothills of the Grey Mountains. That is until he discovered his best friend Seamus with his wife Cherrie. Fergus left his village and his old life behind and set off in search of adventure, eventually taking up Scouting as a living. He has business in Altdorf, and is at present journeying with three Manlings he has come to trust who are also on their way to the capital.[/spoiler]Frederich Hass, Human Witch Hunter (Interrogator) played by Jim. Looks Like: Thick-set, tall with a resting angry face, never too far away from a snarl, otherwise well turned out.Sounds Like: Whispering menace, accusatory- probing, but charming when he wants to be. Accent is brooding (intelligent) cod-Russian (like a clever but menacing Daktari). Note he sees the hand of the Ruinous Powers behind every untoward event.[spoiler= Backstory]Frederich and his brother Olek watched their parents burned alive, prior to this a normal childhood was in progress. The Cult of Sigmar (with the help of the state) who burned Ma & Pa Hass then took the newly orphaned pair in and raised them to be model citizens. The orphans are Sigmarite through-and-through, Frederich the crusader, he likes the power that it brings; Olek the instrument (or else Prophet) of Sigmar. They're not zealots, not warped and broken inside, no... not at all.[/spoiler]Lothar Jurgen Muller, Human Witch Hunter (Interrogator) played by Kev. Looks Like: Neat, tidy, clean-cut, perhaps even a little dashing- the boy next door, but doable- and always with a smile on his face, and often in his eyes. Lothar carries his own embroidered place mat with matching knife and fork. Manners and civility are so important.Sounds Like: Civil, polite, formal, caring- and entirely without menace. He's a Paladin doing Witch Hunter, which may yet prove amusing.[spoiler= Backstory]Lothar is a baker's son from Ubersreik that just happened to become a Witch Hunter, he didn't just drift into it, he has a plan (perhaps). Lothar however came to Witch Hunting with the thought that he could perhaps be of help- to the Empire, to his family, to the poor wretches that have fallen into corruption, and possibly to help himself (a little) along the way. He is resolutely nice in a world full of foetid stink and terror.[/spoiler]Olek Hass, Human Artisan- Blacksmith (Apprentice) played by George. Looks Like: Seven (plus) feet tall, and not too skinny with it- lithe and muscled, he's a giant- with wild eyes.Sounds Like: A camp Nazi constantly unfolding, expounding and explaining the mystery of ongoing events, and seeing the presence of Sigmar everywhere.[spoiler= Backstory]Olek and his brother Frederich watched their parents burned alive, prior to this a normal childhood was in progress. The Cult of Sigmar (with the help of the state) who burned Ma & Pa Hass then took the newly orphaned pair in and raised them to be model citizens. The orphans are Sigmarite through and-through- Frederich the crusader, he likes the power that it brings; Olek the instrument (or else Prophet) of Sigmar. They're not zealots, not warped and broken inside, no... not at all.[/spoiler]Here we go again.And as with the last session, much fun was had by all, and there's plenty of it- sorry.Although at the start of the session the PCs collective dice were broken, they didn't make a check in the first hour- any of 'em, at least not without the use of a Fortune Point or three.Then... their dice started rolling good.Real good.JAHRDRUNG, 2512.120 MILES TO ALTDORF.SCENE 1.To Altdorf, or at least the next coaching inn down the road.[ATTACH=full]281906[/ATTACH]That's an Old World style coach down at the bottom of the image, I didn't want the PCs thinking it was some posh/ornate/fragile horse drawn carriage as seen in costume dramas. It's a tank, or rather an APC.And at last the two coachmen are awake, they slept through much/all of last week's coach-bound activity, even when the PCs had to change the wheel- the coachmen snored on.So, Gunnar & Hultz (the coachmen) are happy to show Olek and Lothar the ropes, how to drive a coach, this in case they want to take any ranks in the skill later.The coachmen however are also keen to stop at the next inn along the track- the Five Brothers Inn, they want to make sure that Olek's wheel repair is good, and to get fresh horses- so that they can put a final spurt on for the day, and get as close as they can to Altdorf for the final run to the capitol tomorrow.And so that's what happens.Although, gaining the entrance to the Five Brother's Inn is made a little more complicated, while turning into the compound Olek (at the reins) spots that there's another coach coming out of the compound at full throttle. Olek, with help from Lothar (& Gunnar and Hultz) manages to avoid the collision.“Get out of the way you blithering BLUDDY idiots!” Comes the cry from atop the emerging coach, which is... the same Four Seasons coach that nearly ran the adventurers down way back at the Coach & Horses.The two parties exchange insults, albeit briefly, as the Four Seasons coach clatters off up the road.Then, an hour's break at the Five Brother's. The newly repaired wheel is checked over, Olek did a fine job, the apprentice smith helps out at the forge here, but alas his rolls are... bad.Meantime Frederich tries to soften Lady Isolode's attitude towards him a little, while Lothar tries to engage Ernst in conversation. Ernst is a fellow passenger on the coach, the young lad with the book- he's always reading. Fergus heads to the bar for a pint, and once there attempts to overhear any fresh rumours of the road ahead, and...Every roll they make is pants.I don't remember one success here, and Fortune Points were spent, by at least three of them.An hour later, and none the wiser- save to say that the adventurers have learned that the Four Seasons coach they keep bumping into is having a bad day too. The late running stage has broken down at least twice, hence the coachmen's hurry. The PCs on their Ratchett Lines coach, with all it's passengers aboard, depart the Five Brothers Inn.At speed.SCENE 2.Two hours later, and it's still full pace all the way, although the coach slows to round a bend and...There's a fellow a little way up the road, bent over something... or somebody.The two coachmen, with Olek sharing the bench with the pair, and Fergus perched atop the luggage are the first to spot the dishevelled fellow, although their shouts bring Lothar (inside the coach) to the window to witness what happens next.Which is...The foul fellow in the road spits something from his mouth (a severed hand several of them make out- that's not good) and then rushes the coach, or else rushes the horses, brandishing a dagger and making grunting feral sounds.“Row! ROW! ROW!”[ATTACH=full]281907[/ATTACH]The horses panic and bolt, snapping the traces, Hultz- arms wrapped in the reins, is wrenched off the coach and then dragged kicking and screaming in to the dark of the Drakwald by the team of four.Gunnar slams on the brake.The coach slews to a halt, stopping just short of the trees.Those atop the coach cling on.Those within the coach tumble about, or else Lothar does- the Witch Hunter plunges head-first into the bosom of Lady Isolde (it's his turn it seems).Then, the disheveled mutant clambers up the side of the coach and stands aloft, menacing the driver, and now for all to see.This foul fellow's flesh is pocked, ripped and scarred- exposing the body's mechanics to the world in places. Furthermore the foul mutant's eyes exude a green ichor which flecks, spits and seems to glow in the mawkish light.It's overcast now, and raining- of course.[ATTACH=full]281908[/ATTACH]Here we go, our first combat proper, and this after a thorough re-reading of Fate, Fortune, Resolve & Resilience; followed by the rules for gaining and losing Advantage.The mutant however is a fearsome sight (Fear 3 to be exact).The PCs however are clearly unimpressed, in what follows all four adventurers accumulate the three Success Levels they need to overcome the Fear in their first turn (three of them as soon as they see the mutant).That was three rolls of '0-something' on their respective Cool Tests.Fergus charges into action but alas flails wildly at the mutant- Miss, spend Fortune Point- Miss again, succumb to the Whispers of the Ruinous Powers (gain a Corruption Point) to get a re-roll and- Miss again.Olek stabs the mutant- as he screams for Lothar and his brother-“CORRUPTION BROTHER! A FOUL MUTANT MENACES US!”Olek's a big lad but with a sub-optimal combat ability (and low Strength), the mutant is unperturbed by his attack.It ignores Olek and stabs the Surprised coachman, Gunnar, in the thigh- he immediately gains a Broken condition, and moments later whilst voiding his bowels and bladder, Gunnar tearfully attempts to crawl away from danger. Screaming all the while-“NOOOOO! SIGMAR! NOOOOO! Please, I don't want to die...”Gunnar gets stabbed again, in the arse this time, he's not doing very well.And now the mutant has got a couple of points of Advantage.But not enough.Frederich climbs out of the carriage-“I will be back in but a moment lady... Lothar, would you care to join me on the roof. We have work to do.”The surly Witch Hunter then clambers up onto the roof of the coach, there he spots the feral fearsome mutant (and rolls '04' on his Cool check).“It is time for you to die!”He strides over and stabs, and Crits (double roll), the mutant (also reducing it to 0 HP).Frederich's sword almost severs the creatures shoulder/neck.There's blood everywhere, an artery is hit.The mutant tumbles off the carriage and thumps down into the solid wood of the yoke.He's just in time to encounter Lothar.The second Witch Hunter, face still stinging from Lady Isolde's slap, exits the carriage-“My apologies my lady, I must redeem myself...”Lothar strides out, spots the mutant, rolls '06' on his Cool check and then smashes his mace repeatedly in the miscreant's face.He doesn't stop smashing.Even when the mutant, scrabbling and flailing, shouts out....“LOTHAR! LOTHAR! I'VE CHANGED!”It's only afterwards that Lothar confirms that this ugly fellow is indeed his best friend from Ubersreik, Rolf Hurtsis.No tears are shed.Note, three of the four PCs were given the names of folk (one NPC each) who they would encounter during this adventure, these folk were their friends- they could be trusted, relied upon etc.Note, the last PC is looking for someone.But, we'll get to this.Well, here's Lothar's drinking buddy- Rolf.Or rather, here was Rolf.Note we played the combat out in full, Rolf went unconscious because he was left with 0 wounds and several Bleeding conditions, and then Lothar arrived to finish the job.There follows lots of activity, briefly-Olek apologises to the coach passengers for the temporary delay, Lady Isolde is very calm- she however insists that the coach be made road-worthy (i.e. get the horses, and the other coachman) as quickly as possible.The two Witch Hunters discover, simultaneously, that there's another dead body in the road- a coachman (Four Seasons, wouldn't you know it). This poor fellow has a crossbow bolt through his neck. He does however have a leather jack and a sleeved mail shirt- the pair (who have no armour) divvy up the spoils.I believe Frederich punched the air.Hardly seemly.Note, the pair discern that this fellow is one of the Four Season coachmen that they have encountered twice already on the road.The pair next discover that the coachman has a full money pouch (well, relatively 10+ shillings) there follows a bit of debate about whether this money should be taken. Oleg, who has wandered over to help out, is against it- everyone else is for sharing out the loot. Sense prevails and the adventurers are a little richer.Then, Fergus- keeping watch, spots that something is coming at speed towards them, crashing through the woods, the adventurers make ready to receive.But...“Don't SHOOT! It's Hultz!”The second coachman is badly wounded and also Broken. He screams, snivels and generally behaves like a man way out of his depth.Frederich tries to Intimidate Hultz better.It really doesn't go well.Hultz crawls under the coach to cry and shiver.Note, earlier Frederich tried to salve Gunnar's wounds with a Heal check, the result- another wound for Gunnar, he makes the ailment worse.The coachmen are not in a good place, and both of them are terrified of Frederich.He seems to have a way with folk- even when he's trying to be nice, also on these occasions his dice hate him.Then, because Lady Isolde is really starting to get fractious-“Lothar, THE HORSES! LOTHAR!”The PCs, of course, have worked out that the coachman was shot with a crossbow, mutant Rolf was not armed with a crossbow, and there's no crossbow to be found hereabouts, therefore... someone else shot the coachman.The PCs are wary.Which isn't helped when they plunge into the woods,[ATTACH=full]281909[/ATTACH]The Drakwald is... dark.There are odd noises here and... it's really not a pleasant place.Fergus, the Guide, leads the way.Eventually, after five minutes of wandering- stopping repeatedly after hearing crashing noises, and at last into a clearing.The horses are here.They're spooked but Frederich has Animal Affinity, and the other PCs help out, soon after all four horses are calm and being lead back into the road.There the (still) snivelling coachmen get on with reattaching the mounts, while Lady Isolde has another word with Lothar, in the PCs absence every now and then, she explains, there's a noise, a strangled cry from further up the foggy road.Note, the road here is in effect a long bend, and what with the rain and fog there's not much ahead to be seen.Thirty seconds later and the noise comes again.Fergus thinks it sounds like a horse in pain, dying.The PCs decide to investigate.SCENE 3.Cutting through the woods the PCs discover-[ATTACH=full]281910[/ATTACH]The rest of the Four Seasons coach and its crew, the road is littered with dead bodies, two of the carriage's horses have been slaughtered while the remaining two beasts, still attached to the wagon, are being attacked by a giggling, dancing pin-headed mutant with an axe.A dog-headed mutant is slumped against the overturned carriage, clutching at his badly wounded leg, while another mutant with a cone-head tears off rags to bind the wound.A tough-looking scale-skinned mutant, armed with a crossbow, searches the bodies, while a little way further down the road a goat-legged mutant capers in delight as it tears chunks of flesh from one of the fallen.“Knud, KNUD! This fellow tastes absolutely delicious!”The mutant adds in a cultured accent.We review the rules for Surprise, the book says the mutants are Surprised for two rounds in this tutorial combat encounter. I say the PCs can have one turn with Surprise (to throw stones, they don't have any other missile weapons) but on the second turn the Surprise condition goes away (immediately) when a mutant is attacked or else takes a hit.The PCs also pour over the Combat Modifiers sheet to see what other help they can get, eventually figuring that two of the PCs can get close enough (and still be in cover) to be a Short Range for their stone flinging.It goes a little like this...All four PCs take a moment to aim and then fling their various rocks- all at Knud, who they have identified as the leader of this band. Note, Knud is also the only one of the mutants that isn't wounded.Further note- I doubled all of the mutants wounds remaining. So, if it said 3 wounds left in the book, I made it 6.It didn't help any.Three stones hit Knud- two of them big hits (Fergus & Lothar) and the mutant leader is reduced to just one wound remaining before he knows what is happening.Frederich alas conjures a '99' on his stone throwing attack, and is already out of Fortune Points, and doesn't want any Corruption, we therefore roll on the Oopsie Table. The Witch Hunter tears a muscle (minor) in his off-hand.Then Fergus rushes in and more or less decapitates Knud (with a '98' on his Crit). The big fellow gains 4 Bleeding and is on 0 wounds. Knud goes unconscious moments later and Fergus finishes the job.“Reet. Wha's next?” The Dwarf declares.Meantime Frederich rushes in and Crits (that's a rolled Crit- a double) the pointy-headed mutant, leaving it Stunned and Bleeding (and on 0 wounds). Seconds later his follow up shot ends the beast.Lothar is equally abusive to the pin-headed mutant who is still flailing wildly at the horses- his first attack reduces the creatures to 0 wounds- a Crit is rolled and the mutant collapses beneath the legs of the wildly bucking horses.[ATTACH=full]281911[/ATTACH]The Witch Hunter smashes the mutant's legs, the only bit he can reach, while the horses stamp the foul fellow's tiny skull to pulp.Olek rushes in and barges past his brother- to the dog-headed mutant, already badly wounded and now trying to regain his feet. Olek's attack reduces the mutant to 0 wounds, which turns into a Crit that leaves the mutant's already mangled left leg a bloody stump.The Bleeding condition causes the mutant to fall unconscious, Olek doesn't stop stabbing- climbing up the mutant's body using his small piercing blade like an ice-axe, screaming all the while-“SIGMAR TAKE YOU FOUL ABOMINATION!”The mutant dies.Which just leaves the goat-legged mutant a little ways back down the road.All four PCs race to see which of them can get there first.Note, the last mutant is no-longer Surprised, he has however also got the lowest Initiative.[ATTACH=full]281912[/ATTACH]Frederich gets their first, and rolls another Crit, and another double, '88' from memory- Fergus and Fred were both on 5 Advantage each at this point, Olek & Lothar with 4 apiece.Note, I've capped Advantage at 5, the only way you can get more- have an Initiative bonus that's greater than '5', that's the N/PCs max Advantage.Frederich severs goat-leg's right arm, and reduces him to 0 wounds and with Bleeding conditions, soon after the Witch Hunter decapitates the last mutant the hard way- holding his blade two handed (one hand on the hilt, the other on the tip of the blade) and pushing/sawing the weapon through goat-leg's neck.It's not pleasant.The massacre is complete.At which point the PCs see what they have wrought.And then roll for Corruption, from memory only Frederich ends the session without a single stain upon his character, his Witch Hunter honour intact- not a doubt in his mind. Fergus, Lothar & Olek have one point of Corruption each.But that's as far as we got tonight- we spent a good twenty minutes chatting about how combat went and what lessons the players have learned. George (Olek) summarised it best- 'get in early, get on the front foot and never let up.'In truth both combats were short and brutal, although the second one took maybe eighty minutes to play out two-and-a-bit rounds of action. The PCs never suffered a hit, not even an attack.In the first fight I figured that Rolf's Fear effect would keep a few of them at bay, I didn't account for three of them rolling '0-something'. Still, I managed to get a couple of points of Advantage on Rolf by stabbing the coachman Gunner- but then Olek stabbed Rolf and away the Advantage flew, and then Frederich hit with a massive Crit.The second fight... the PCs just did the math, and built their Advantage; the fact that the mutants were all Surprised (save the last one) for their first melee attack, coupled with the fact that they were all (except Knud) wounded. Well, all of the mutants took a Crit in their first unopposed attack. The PCs were clever, of course, to target Knud- but they had all of the clues due to making good Perception and/or Intuition checks before the fight kicked off.All of the PCs used all of their Fortune Points again this session- that's fantastic.There was lots of laughter in this one.The final XP table is below, note the PCs will each receive 5 XP when they meet their friend (see previous). Alas Lothar's friend turned out to be a mutant, you just can't trust the Old World. Oh, and I gave a bonus 1 XP for every mutant slaughtered. The 'Vs Rolf', 'Mutant Ambush' and 'Session XP' columns were, of course, as voted by the PCs. Nothing to do with me.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         �<table style='width: 100%'><tr><td>PC</td><td>Vs Rolf</td><td>Lothar's Friend</td><td>Mutant Ambush</td><td>Dead Mutants  </td><td>Session XP</td><td>Total</td></tr><tr><td>Fred (Jim)</td><td>5</td><td></td><td>10</td><td>2</td><td>45</td><td>62</td></tr><tr><td>Fergus (Ben)      </td><td>4      </td><td></td><td>9      </td><td>1      </td><td>45      </td><td>59      </td></tr><tr><td>Olek (George) </td><td>4</td><td>      </td><td>9      </td><td>1      </td><td>40      </td><td>54      </td></tr><tr><td>Lothar (Kev)      </td><td>4      </td><td>5  </td><td>8      </td><td>2      </td><td>40      </td><td>59      </td></tr></table>It's a cracking game.Stay safe and well.Cheers goonalan et al.</blockquote>

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