Jean suggests that we cut the tattoo of the woman’s head a bit so the location of the gem is obscured. We do this with an arrow. The plan is for Brokk, Tobruk and Geeves to deliver the woman’s head on the platter while Jean, Vedasi and Maruviel sneak into the basement.

Later that night we range the area to check out the topography. Jean writes notes about where things lie. We also realize that we will need to hire more staff to take care of the manor if we intend to keep it.

We wait until morning and head back to the inn. Vedasi checks the outside of the building but finds no way in, and the windows are barred. The dwarves head upstairs to see Count Von Drachensburg and present the head to him. He asks to inspect it. He gives us the money and lets us keep the platter, and we exit posthaste.

The elves head downstairs and look for Kellerman. The bartender, Klaus, shows them the way. But the man is sitting at his desk and he has been stabbed. They quickly close the doors and see if anyone else is coming after them. They take the bartender down to the cellar and explain that it’s the safest place for him to be. He agrees and reminds them that Kellerman’s associate was Bruno, the former chief torturer. In the cellar they find the diamond in a bag hidden by a dusty bottle of wine. Vedasi takes it and the bartender doesn’t notice. He places a rock in the bag so nothing looks off.

The elves and Jean say that this is a dead end and they have to go back upstairs. They give the bartender two gold crowns and tell him to go back up and keep working. He agrees. They scrub their tracks and head back upstairs. They go out of the window in Kellerman’s office. They leave his body where it is.

The dwarves come down the stairs and the others and their horses are gone. They saddle up and meet the elves a ways away from the inn and exchange information. The dwarves show everyone the money and the silver platter, and Vedasi shows the diamond. We determine that the diamond is worth more like 2400 crowns rather than the 1200 we were going to get for it.

We decide to head back to the inn and confront the Count and his men, if he is indeed a count. The dwarves go inside and Tobruk orders a cask of spirits and pays 10 silver for it. He smashes it to start a fire and chops at one of the guards with his axe. He and Brokk kill all three of the guards quickly and then walk out of the burning building as if nothing is happening. Tobruk casually tells the elves that it is “their turn.”

Patrons come pouring out of the inn, coughing, and the elves see a window opening on the second floor. A rope comes out and a man tries to descend. The elves shoot him full of arrows, and they get back into the window but that man falls down. The dwarves go back inside but the guards aren’t coming out this way. Maruviel goes around the building and sees another window. The man there is trying to get out without a rope and the elf shoots him in the leg and he falls to the ground and dies.

We hear calls from the inn, and they are saying that they give up. Brokk tells them to come out and that we won’t hurt them. Vedasi says not to kill the man-at-arms. Tobruk holds back as the guards come out, but as soon as the count steps foot out, the elf shoots him with an arrow in the shoulder. Brokk and Tobruk attack and nearly kill the man. He starts begging for mercy and the dwarves stop fighting. They ask him to confirm that he was about to murder us and after some coercion he agrees. He says that he doesn’t know where Bruno is, though. After that confirmation, Tobruk kills him by chopping his head off.

As Vedasi is turning out the count’s pockets, he addresses the stunned man-at-arms and asks him if he’d like a job. He looks stunned but agrees. Vedasi announces that he has ‘acquired’ the deed to the place.

We help put out the fire and start cleaning up, including taking the armor from the dead guards. Tobruk explains that the tavern is under ‘new management.’ He tells the staff to start working again now that Kellerman is dead and Von Drachensburg killed him. They seem to agree and Klaus agrees to manage.

The man-at-arms is working with Geeves to clean things up and lets him know that Von Drachensburg is not from around here, he has a minor keep in the Empire. No one will miss him.

We do a full search of the place and we find money in his desk. Also there is a compartment inside Kellerman’s false foot with a key in it. There is a strongbox and the key opens it. There is 1600 gold crowns in here, so we split 2100 total gold six ways.

We plan on spending some time here, potentially a few weeks, learning about the local area and allowing Jean to keep working on his maps.

We finish cleaning up the room and hiding the bodies, and Geeves recommends that we have more of a strategy next time. We agree and decide that the dwarves will go first to do close combat and the elves will cover us from behind.

Jean listens at the door and doesn’t hear anything except the wind. It seems to open to the courtyard. Tobruk goes first and hugs close to the wall. Jean listens at all of the other doors. He smells animals at one and another seems to be a kitchen.

We decide that our target is probably upstairs, and devise a plan to keep all of the doors down here closed so they can’t flank us. We use the manacles from the jail and tie ropes across the courtyard so the doors keep each other closed. No one seems to notice our little

Then we head upstairs. This is a middle level with stairs to the battlements on the south side and some other rooms. We hear voices but from upstairs several more. There seems to be a hall up there. We attempt to tie these doors closed as well.

We head up the stairs and there is a landing here with a large door to the south. We hear at least half a dozen voices from the room, and they are bragging about people they stole from recently. Tobruk kicks the door in and we advance immediately. There are eight of the Black Arrows in this room at a large table. Tobrok chops one of them in the chest and kills him instantly. Brokk stabs one but he crawls away. Three of them rush to get bows off of the wall but Vedasi throws a bomb into the back of the room and it explodes on them. There is a big cloud so it’s hard to see what is going on.

One of them slices Brokk in the arm. One runs away from Tobruk and he slices him in the leg, and the man falls and dies. Tobruk runs across the room and takes out another one who was near Brokk. Maruviel puts an arrow into the cheek of the one who stabbed Brokk, and he falls to the floor and drops his sword.

Brokk and Tobruk crawl under the table to set up their next attack (not to retreat!). Suddenly a woman appears and rides the chandelier down onto the table. It breaks and lands on top of Brokk and Tobruk, knocking them to the ground. She has a bomb with a long fuse in her hand and she threatens to blow everyone up if we don’t throw down our swords. The elves keep firing their arrows, however, hitting her in the face a couple of times.

Tobruk heaves upward and knocks her off of the table but she manages to keep her footing. She tries to hurl the grenade but the fuse has gone down too much and it explodes in her hand, turning her arm into bloody pulp. She crumples to the ground. Tobruk comes up and chops her leg off and she perishes.

Brokk runs and restrains one of the men coming in the south stairwell and as he lifts him up, Vedasi puts an arrow in his face. Maruviel hits another one right in the face. No face is safe!!

Geeves drinks a healing draught and runs forward, chopping another one down.

The fight is done and we search the woman. She has a key in her pocket and some weapons but nothing more.

We head upstairs holding shields. We see a landing with a double door to the south and a spiral staircase. The man has come through the doors and is getting medical attention by two others. We take them out and continue up the spiral staircase.

At the top is the Black Arrow’s room. The chandelier was suspended from this loft which is how she got all the way down. We find a chest under her bed and we smash it open. It has gems and coins but no diamonds. 200 gold crowns and 100 gold worth of gems.

We find words tattooed on the woman’s head in Breton (which Jean can read) and it shows the heraldry of the crossed lances in a nursery rhyme that warns children that if they aren’t good they will be locked in the cellar. We see that as a clue that it may be hidden in the cellar either here or at the crossed lances.

Looking through the rest of the keep we find no one else. There are stables on the bottom floor and four horses. We go into the kitchen and we hear whimpering from the cupboard. We coax him out and it is a fat halfling named Sleeves. We ask him to stay and cook for us and he is astonished that we were able to get rid of the Black Arrows. He seems to be the only one here. Tobruk gives him a silver piece which is more money than he’s ever seen.

The halfling cooks us dinner and we invite him to eat with us. He says that Annalisa kept all of her valuables in her room, so no leads there. He says that he worked for the previous Black Arrow which was Kellerman, and after he was injured by bounty hunters, he left and made the inn.

The second floor has six beds with foot lockers, and 100 crowns more. The pantry has beer and some sundries, and there is a well. There are food and supplies for the horses as well.

We offer Sleeves one silver per month (1/30th of the going rate) to help keep the place up and he is ecstatic. Searching the rest of the place, we don’t see any sign of the diamond. It is probably at the Inn in the cellar.

We stay the night here and plan to leave in the morning.

Brokk is still talking with the Heathen, who says that his name is Geeves.

The barman takes the rest of the group through a door behind the bar to meet Mr. Kellerman. They see two people in the room behind, a fat bearded man with a well-muscled man beside him with a wooden peg for a foot. The shutters are closed and bolted behind them. The man with the peg foot introduces himself as Kellerman.

Jean inquires about a job and Kellerman says that he has information on a diamond called the Blue Flame that has been lost for some years. He asks if the group is interested and they hem and haw a bit. He seems unwilling to divulge anything without confirmation that they will take the job. He says that the job pays 200 crowns.

Jean discusses with the group and he says it does pay quite well and it would give him the opportunity to go through the countryside. However, it will be tougher since the man doesn’t have a map.

Jean assures Kellerman that we’re sincere and that we’ll take the job. Kellerman agrees and begins telling us about the blue flame. Otto Kessler is the man who stole the gem, but he is now deceased. After the theft, he hid the jewel and supposedly never told anyone where. He says that his friend Bruno (the man sitting next to him) has cast some doubt on the claim. Bruno was the chief torturer to Count Von Drachensburg who captured one of Kessler’s old companions. Bruno interrogated him but didn’t tell the count. The man said that Kessler’s daughter named Annalisa, now known as The Black Arrow, knows the location of the gem. Bruno came to him and told him about it. Kellerman used to lead the Black Arrows before he lost his foot and knows where their hideout is.

The Black Arrows are in a castle deep in the forest, which is secret. He knows of a secret passage into the keep that he will tell us so we can gain entry. Once inside we’ll find out from the Black Arrow where the jewel is, then let Kellerman know. The castle is 35 miles north of here and there is a hollow oak tree 100 yards southeast from the entrance that leads to the dungeons. Jean freehands a rough map of the area for us.

Kellerman agrees to pay our room and board while we are here. Tobruk asks if he wants to buy the tortoise shell that we have and he declines. It’s too late to set off for the castle tonight, so we stay at the inn for the evening.

The route is slightly winding past a toll bridge and then later a bridge that goes across a large chasm. We’ll continue from there to the forest and castle.

We are reveling through the evening and one of the well-armed men from the corner come over and demand that we come to speak with their master. Most of the group declines even though they are urging insistently. Brokk and Geeves agree and go upstairs. The others go next to the remaining guards in the taproom so they will be at a tactical disadvantage. They order ale for the guards.

Inside the private room upstairs, it has a similar layout to Kellerman’s office. We see a gentleman leaning against a table and four more guards. He introduces himself as Count Amadeus von Drachensburg. He asks us to find the leader of the Black Arrows, named (unoriginally) The Black Arrow. He is offering 500 crowns for the head of the Black Arrow — on a silver platter. He even gives us a platter. We start asking more questions about where this person is, or who he is, and he says that he has no information. He says that we can find the band of rogues almost anywhere around here. We continue asking and he kicks us out of the room. As they go back downstairs, Brokk and Geeves comment on what a good negotiation they’ve done.

Meanwhile the other party members have been feeding the guards ale and they are stone drunk. One of them vomits and passes out, and the other thinks that Tobruk is his best friend. The man says that he is from Drachensburg, 20 miles east of here.

We retire early to our rooms and Tobruk takes first watch in the hallway. We stoke the fire and cover the windows. Maruviel is on third watch and hears a window crashing, and also someone laughing maniacally and saying “My friends, your time has come!”

Vedasi awakes to see a bomb with a lit fuse in the middle of the room. He quickly grabs it and throws it out the window and hears a bang and a scream. Jean is also awake and comes to the window with his bow ready, but he doesn’t see anyone. Geeves in the other room wakes up as well.

Geeves, Vedasi, Maruviel and Tobruk go down to the courtyard and see what remains of the man who let the group back to the back room and Vedasi had shown his back to him. They find some loot from him including a couple of bombs.

We decide to leave early since most of us are already up. We pack things and have some breakfast before we head out. There are enough horses for all of us and Geeves’ old mare goes along as a pack horse.

We pass the toll bridge and come to the river without difficulties. The river starts to go downhill to a chasm and there is a rickety bridge that spans the chasm. We go across and soon we are at the hollow oak where we need to enter. We go in and follow a tunnel, and at the end see a flagstone. By lifting it we see a tunnel ahead of us. Vedasi hears a scratching sound. We see a long reptilian tail and whatever it is appears to be walking on two legs away from us. The thing is about five feet tall.

Tobruk is shoved up into the cavern and he attacks the lizard. Brokk goes up after him and hits him with his sword. Jean pops his head up through the hole and covers us with his bow. They see guards above and both Jean and Vedasi fire arrows into him. A couple of guards appear Tobruk smites the lizard down to the ground and as he reaches up to swipe at us, Brokk cuts his right arm clean off, killing the lizard and sending a spray of blood up at one of the guards, blinding him.

The guards try to swipe at us through the grating above, but it is 10 feet and their swords can’t reach the diminutive dwarves. One of them takes an arrow in the leg and goes down. The other one, not being very smart, opens up the grating to try and attack us. As soon as he opens it, Vedasi puts an arrow in his head.

We climb out and search the dead guards. They have some money, armor and shields as well as a ring of keys. There are bows and quivers of arrows as well. Jeeves and Brokk take the armor and shields, and Geeves takes one of the bows. We also take the black masks, but they smell awful. We open up the cell furthest away from the room’s door and put the dead guards in there. Also, we hide the body of the lizard in the pit.

Brokk looks after Tobruk and heals his wounds. We continue our journey down the Khyprian Road. After a while we come upon a small hamlet called Freistadt. It is basically a couple of small buildings and one large building. The large building is a coaching inn, which is a mini fortification where you can stable your horse, a tavern, an inn and a fence around it to keep some form of protection. They are common throughout the Empire. The inn is called the Crossed Lances.

There is a small gathering of peasants that are watching something happen. They have someone lashed to a stick and someone is addressing the crowd. The man is wearing armor and weapons, and has a wide-brimmed hat. He has four henchmen along with him.

The dwarves head into the crowd and try to see what is going on. The man is going on about how “We have tracked this foul creature of darkness through forest and mountain, across our great lord Sigmar’s empire to this savage wilderness. He thought he could escape Sigmar’s wrath, he thought wrong!” People in the crowd are chanting “Burn him!”

Brokk asks one of the townspeople who the heretic is, and they say they don’t know. They just arrived in town with him.

The heretic speaks up, saying “Oswald, you fool, you know…” and doesn’t finish as one of the henchmen clocks him with a club. He has longer hair and looks sturdy, but is really beaten up. He seems like a Norska, with a Scandinavian look.

Tobruk asks one of the other townspeople what he did, and she says that he was communing with the devil. He and He then approaches the witch hunter, which and the man greets him warmly. He says that Sigmar favors dwarves. Tobruk asks if the man could be put into service instead of burning him, and the man laughs.

We start thinking that the witch hunter does not have any charges because he is being very vague. Brokk tries to turn the crowd from being rabid into questioning the witch hunter but it doesn’t take. He continues chanting “Where’s the proof?”

Tobruk asks the man if he’s done anything, and he responds that he was just helping in the fields and they arrested him. The thug goes to hit him with the club again and Tobruk goes to stop him. The witch hunter whirls and draws his rapier, his eyes ablaze. The man who was going to strike the prisoner tries to hit Tobruk and misses.

Jean, the cartographer, moves away toward the tavern.

Brokk steps in between Tobruk and the witch hunter and says that he is Brokk’s prisoner, so the man can’t touch him. He sneers at Brokk.

Tobruk is hit in the chest by the guard he is near, and hits him in the chest. Tobruk grapples him. One of the thugs takes two arrows, one in each arm, and then a third in his chest, breaking his ribs.

Maruviel looses an arrow and hits the witch hunter in the chest, but it doesn’t wound him much. He retreats and fires his pistol at Brokk, hitting him in the arm. Brokk turns and hurls his bola at the man, trapping him.

Tobruk slashes the guard in the leg and he falls. A second blow hits him in the gut and destroys his internal organs, killing him instantly. “We’ll make kidney pie later!!” Tobruk says.

Vedasi shoots one of the guards right between the eyes with an arrow. The prisoner, Geeves, breaks out of his bonds. The witch hunter drops his pistol and gets out of the bola. Vedasi fires an arrow at a fleeing thug and kills him. Jean shoots Oswald in the right arm and he drops his rapier. He goes further insane (he was already doubly so) and now thinks that he is worthless. Tobruk chops that same arm right off and he falls to the ground, dead. The last guard is shot dead and the group checks all of the bodies. We take a bunch of their equipment. We notice that they have scars on their backs but don’t realize that they are probably flagellants. Brokk heals himself.

Jean reads the witch hunter’s book and they are insane ramblings, about how he is going to conquer the world with his mental powers. He also has a thigh bone with him with a stylized hammer on it, the mark of the Cult of Sigmar. We pile the bodies into the burn pile and set it ablaze.

Geeves, the man who was about to be burned, goes to the stables and finds all of his stuff. He comes back and asks help to be healed. Brokk says that we should go to the inn and he will help him. Geeves introduces himself and says that he is a traveler who was working as a farmhand nearby and was arrested for no reason. Brokk heals him quite well.

We head into the taproom. There are men playing cards in the corner. Tobruk buys a round for everyone in the bar and explains that they were madmen, and apologize for the mess. They seem to accept us.

We speak with Greeves and he says that he came from the north and was captured by a neighboring clan. He was a captive for a long time until they got raided and then he fled south. He has some skills with healing and alchemy. Brokk gets to know him a bit and they sit and eat.

The others get up and check to see if one of the other bar patrons is Wolfgang Kellerman, as he might be the one who could give us a “quest for hidden treasure” as the note we found had said.

The year is I.C. (Imperial Calendar) 2521. The Empire of Man teeters on the brink of Armageddon, as a great Chaos Horde led by the dreaded Chaos Champion Archaon: The Three-Eyed King, Everchosen of Chaos, and Lord of the End Times sweeps southward into the Empire from the northern Chaos Wastes. The vast horde made up of forces loyal to all four of the Ruinous Powers has ravaged the northern kingdom of Kislev, sacking their two greatest cities Praag and Erengrad, pressing further south into the northern lands of the Empire. The eastern and western borders of the Empire have been assaulted as well by lesser Chaos Champions.

To the east, the forces of Crom the Conquerer have eradicated the war band of the Black Orc warlord Grimgor Ironhide in High Pass, laid siege to the Dwarven hold of Karak Kadrin, the Slayers Keep in the Worlds Edge Mountains, and have even entered the lands of Sylvania, home to the Vampire Counts.

To the West, the Witch King Malekith has broken through a nigh impenetrable High Elven naval blockade and has landed on the shores of Ulthuan.

The Storm of Chaos is upon us…

Which means extremely little to the inhabitants of the largely lawless, frontier known as the Border Princes, or the Borderlands. It is more or less business as usual south of the Empire. Surely the Emperor, and his alliance of Elves and Dwarves will be able to stop some filthy savages and Chaos-warped freaks from making it this far south. As a matter of fact, the influx of Imperial residents fleeing southwards into the Borderlands to escape the ravages of Chaos offers more opportunities for fleecing, robbing, and general exploitation than usual. This may prove to be an extremely profitable time for the residents of the Princes…

———

Tobruk Tobrukson of Clan Iron Cleaver (Bill), a dwarf from Karak Norn, was to make a high powered alliance for his family through betrothal, but the family was double crossed and the bride was given away to someone else. Tobruk still crashed the wedding, and although this is not unusual in the dwarf world, the Stone Biter clan used it as a reason to throw him in prison. With his honor lost, he knew the only way to atone was to seek a glorious death.

Brokk Udo of Clan Ashen Forge (Jon), one of the jailers of the prison, fully believed that Tobruk was being framed for political reasons, and disenchanted with his own lot in life, sprung the dwarf from his cell on the condition that they leave the dwarf holds in seek of adventure (and glorious death) elsewhere in the Old World.

Jean Christophe Moitessier (John), a Lyonesse cartographer from Bretonnia, has been commissioned to draw maps of the region known as the Border Princes for the purpose of setting up new trade routes. His patron, Duke Adelhard, reached out to a local KithLord from Athel Loren and asked for a guide to take John through the mountains to the Border Princes territory and assist him in his mission. An elf named Vedasi Avalmon (Paul) was assigned for this duty.

The two set off from Athel Loren, and later they met an elf mercenary named Maruviel (Matt) who also agreed to come along. As they moved south into Karak Norn, they happened upon the two dwarves who were traveling in the same direction. The elves and dwarves came to an agreement to assist Jean Christophe on his way through the mountains, and an unlikely alliance was formed.

———

Vedasi Avalmon has light blondish brown hair with icy/crystal blue eyes. 5’10” with a medium build. Woodland colored clothes (greens and browns) Leather Jerkin. Finely carved Elf Bow and a long sword that looks rarely used.

———

We come through Winter’s Teeth Pass and arrive in the Border Princes region on the 15th of Borgeheim, during summer.

On the northern side of the trail, we see something huddled in the brush. Tobruk goes to investigate, but Maruviel immediately shoots an arrow into it. Tobruk sees that the man now has two arrows in him. The other one is a black arrow with a note attached to it. The note reads “REWARD! Three hundred crowns to whoever can bring the head of the dastardly brigand known as The Black Arrow to his Grace, the Count Amadeus Von Drakensberg. His Grace has means of detecting substitutes.”

After checking the man, he has been robbed almost completely but a secret pocket is found with a rolled-up notice that says “Heroes wanted to go on a quest for hidden treasure. Some danger. Great reward. Contact Wolfgang Kellermann at the Sign of the Crossed Lances.”

Maruviel finds a trail that goes to the direction we were heading. The Cartographer reads out the note and says that it may be of interest. We continue west along the Khyprian road until it begins getting dark, and then we make camp for the evening. The place we find has probably been used as a stopover before.

During the night, while Vedasi is on watch, he hears something moving nearby. He kicks Maruviel to wake him and they hide. They see some orks and goblins coming by, and Maruviel is pretty sure that they saw him as well. Vedasi takes a couple of shots with his bow and the others wake up soon after. The greenskins start charging us but they come to a stop after they see that we have two elves with us. Apparently goblins are afraid of elves.

Vedasi moves up into the woods and sees that there is an ogre crashing through the trees toward us. He comes back to the campsite and sees that a goblin is coming toward Jean. He fires an arrow into a goblin, killing it instantly.

Tobruk slashes at the ork with his greataxe, severing its arm. Maruviel fires arrows at one of the goblins. The goblins and the ogre try to attack us but all miss. The ork dies from blood loss. The goblins are taken out in succession.

Tobruk moves up to attack the ogre and swipes at him with his axe. Vedasi shoots him with an arrow directly in the hand, which is made useless. Maruviel hits him in the leg and it turns into a bloody mass. He falls to the ground. Maruviel says “It looks like we got off on the wrong foot.”

Jean shoots an arrow into the goblin attacking Brokk and he stands there stunned for a moment, then dies. Brokk thanks him, and he replies “In my country, we all this a coup de grâce.”

The ogre doesn’t die immediately but Tobruk swings his axe again and smashes his face, killing him instantly.

We search the bodies and find that the goblins are of the Yellow Eye Tribe. The ork is a black ork, which is strange because they generally are not in this area. They have basic armor and weapons on them. We find a crumpled up piece of paper on the ogre that has a recipe for sheep’s bladder soup. The ork has a tortoise shell box that seems well made on him. Tobruk says that we could ask between 150-200 gold crowns for it. We also come up with 35 gold crowns from the other corpses. The coins are mixed denominations and types of currency.

Jean keeps the shield that the ork was using even though it is huge. It almost covers him and his pony as well.

Tobruk says to Vedasi that he didn’t need help killing the ogre, but that was good shooting. Vedasi nods, and Tobruk grunts and walks away. It may not seem so, but a great deal of respect was shown here.

The greenskins all killed, we bed down for the rest of the evening.