Shadows under Bogenhaced - Immortal... Immortal !

Last WE was one of those a few friends and I had been eagerly waiting for over the past year. We had the chance to have a rather long gaming WE (starting on Tuesday evening till sunday morning).
The game played was a Warhammer Fantasy Role Play (WHFRP) scenario, part of a broader campaign, this was my first game in this campaign while other players had already quite a few games under the belt but there was absolutely no way I could let this opportunity go to play with great people with excellent models on the most fascinating table I've seen !

As with most good french stuff, this all started with a big meal after the character sheets were checked and ready !

Now we were ready to play this scenario ! 

Author's note :  a LOT of songs and pretty bad ones were sung throughout the whole WE, I won't be listing them all but those able to stand shit french variety music can try and click the links, others should avoid.

Immortal...Immortal !

Gregor McConnor is a pit fighter working in Altdorf, he was born and raised in Bogenhafen buuuut... he might have found himself ending in the wrong squabbles and even worse, the wrong sheets.

With his line of work relying a lot on image and credibility, Gregor has decided to get some fresh air and travel back to his old place and start a new career with less hassle from local authorities.

As he was getting near the city, the familiar walls reminded him of his childhood memories, things didn't seem to have changed much, maybe he hadn't changed much either...

 

The city was peaceful with the agitation of the market and people living their ordinary life.

The city was guarded by the local authority, making sure things would stay peaceful.

The activity on the port was as intense as ever especially on market days and the weather was pleasant.

Gregor woke up in the Silver hook Inn by the docks, he had picked this one other the more fancy "crossed lances" mainly because it meant more booze money but also because he knew that would be the one with the most diverse crowd and therefore the most opportunities to find work.

Luckily, there was a rather loud adventuring party celebrating their reunion in the Inn and talking about going to the market, that meant they had money, and possibly work. Perfect.

When Gregor adressed them in his most obsequious manner, three of them turned to him and shouted "YOU ! HERE ! How the fuck do you even show your face to us now ! Give us the coffin back ! AND OUR MONEY !"
"Mmmm, that's rather surprising but I'm used to people having strong opinions about me. Can I help you with anything ?"

After talking his way out of suspicion or at least just enough to not get stabbed on the spot, the party agreed to keeping him under hand until they'd know what to do with him, on the other hand, Gregor didn't know who had robbed them but felt he actually owed him/her for the opportunity !

The party had decided to go to the market to buy equipment so he took the opportunity to go and give Mymidia a little prayer, as he went close to his patron's statue, he ensured noone was watching and lifted his eye patch, whispered a few words and put it back on.

After his prayers, Gregor got attracted by the cheering going on on the market place, there was a ring with a giant fighter and a man offering 10 gold crowns for whoever could last 3 rounds !

Gregor knew from his line of work offers like this are pure bait so he just watched a few fights instead, suspecting some magic or trick. At some point though he was forced onto the ring in an awkward position, having to use his fists instead of his weapons...
The result wasn't glorious but Gregor had already learnt a bruised ego only hurts those who let it.

Meanwhile, the mage Harandil had gone to the message board to try and get missions. As he was taking them all, a group bullied him and took one from him, quickly going to the docks afterwards.

The party carefully followed them to the docks

It appears the bullies were having a heated talk with a merchant in the 2nd warehouse when they left, talking about impossible deals and missions being too dangerous...

Meanwhile, one of the dockers was seemingly having a tough time for a an unknown reason, the elven mage Moyra put her dislike for his kin aside and helped the poor boy and healed him, thus gaining the respect of the dockers nearby.

With the other adventurers gone, Gregor and his companions took the liberty to ask the merchant for any quests or missions they could help with. It just happened he had one the others had declined so he handed them a message and a ring with an advance on the reward !
The message was asking them to go find a staff orned with a skull and they were also given another staff with magical words saying "travel" and a rune they couldn't read...

Now that was the kind of job Gregor liked so they immediately went to purchase the equipment for the mission and some more protection at the smith's.

"Hand me that helmet will you, yeah that one, mmmm perfect !"

Amongst, the missions taken from the board, Mother Macrèle had lost her cat Samba and was offering a reward for it, it did take a good day between all the other tasls but Thorbur Norgrim finally managed to catch the poor thing and the band could hand it back to its owner.

The old woman didn't have much but she did offer them a silver amulet that would probably find its use at some point...

On the second day, there was a lot of agitation on the market with several merchants complaining about thieves until the guard arrived with the crowd shouting at them for leaving the town unprotected.
Now the guardsmen certainly did not have the same philosophy about bruised egos as Gregor and when he taunted them for not doing their jobs, the conversation got pretty heated but Gregor managed to calm things down, so much for staying low profile with the authorities...
The party also took the opportunity to go check with the dwarven smith for the run on the staff and they learnt it meant "teleport"

Little visit to the message board, Sybile Larivière's brothel needed a new maid, all the guys turned to Moyra with a smile at the prospect of going there...

The place was nicely decorated, with flowers hanging from the storeys.

A quick chat with Sybile taught them the job had been taken but Ungrim learnt the woman who had taken it was one he had encountered in a previous adventure and that she could possibly have things for him in the future...

The boxer was still on the market place on that day and Harandil the elven mage wanted to check the ring and boxer for any magic, the bookmaker cunningly pushed him up and declared the fight on !
The dwarves and Gregor couldn't help but smile at the idea of the poor elf getting his ass severely kicked...
That was until by an odd turn of events he actually landed a punch that took the giant down with the whole crown silent and scratchig their head.

Now with everything they needed, the party decided to leave town to try and teleport with the staff to avoid using magic in teh middle of the town.
They each hold the staff and hit it on the ground...

  

...to appear in the darkness of a cave !

The party lit a few torches and lantern to realise they were surrounded by skeletons ! The undead were not attacking them though and one just asked "PAY YOUR TRIBUTE IF YOU WANT TO MOVE FURTHER"
After giving the undead guard coins, an amulet and several other things with no effect, they finally left and explored the rock bowels.

They reached a bigger room with an atrocious stench and weird looking statues...

The dwarves who both had experience in mining confirmed their worst fear : those statues had not been carved from stone, they were living beings turned into stone !

 

Finding a fresh nest in this circumstance was obviously not what they wished for...

The exploration of the room did help them find objects, potions and parchments (probably left by the unfortunate predecessors)...

 

At this point though a terrifying roar confirmed whoever was living here was back with some appetite !

The creature was as they feared a basilisk, now the dwarves had already had a glimpse of its deadly gaze and were only saved by a miracle, they knew they had to take it down quickly but couldn't afford to look at it !
Gregor and the dwarves charged head on though, relying on their ears entirely !

Gregor managed to hit the creature with a mighty thrust from his giant sword, making the beast flee until  they caught up with it and ended it for good !

The exploration continued with traps and enigmas to solve until the heroes reached the final chamber and claimed the Staff with skull head.

On the way back, our poor heroes had to go through hazardous caves with luring mithril ore but dangerous fumes that got them into a critical situation...

And with the skeletons now attacking !

The heroes fought to the bitter end and while two of them were knocked out, the rest managed to get them to safety, ending in a dense forest where they all got a vision from a threatening decaying figure telling them they would soon all be dead...

After teleporting back, the 2 injured were put to rest and helped with magical means to speed the recovery up.

The morning after, you could feel a tension in the air, the mood was heavy throughout the whole city.

The heroes had opted for the "crossed lances" this time, to get as much rest as they could, the breakfast (lard and potatoes) was welcome to soothe both hunger and stress.

But of course fate always has weird schemes and as Gregor was stepping out of the inn, the guards caught him and took him to their barracks because of the trouble the day before.

Gregor once again talked his way out of trouble for the short time and even managed to suggest helping the guards for off record missions and jobs, trying to get connections and earn his way in more secret places...

Now the party still had to give the staff back to their client. Several of them had had dreams of a revenant holding that staff and all were having doubts about wether to give it back or not.
They did come up with a plan to give a fake and get their next mission but when the trick was revealed, they had no choice but give it back because one of them was held hostage. That little trick didn't please their client and they now only had 2 days to accomplish their mission, knowing they were now working for the wrong kind of people...

For their next mission, they had to retrieve some automaton and deliver it to the crypt at the border of town, now they knew the Ture brothers, a trio of dwarf smiths had it but they couldn't tell wether it would be in the docks (south of the map below) or in their smithyard (brown cottage north of the picture below).
They had previously managed to visit 3 out of 4 warehouses so that left one.
From the previous missions (especially the one involving finding the cat), they had gained the certainty there were secret undergound passages between some houses and the sewers.

Ungrim decided to enrole for a rat catcher position to gain some insights and although he didn't get a map he did learn how sewers were connected.

Using a silent zone spell to enter the sewers at night, they quickly made their way up to the hidden passage that led them to the vault underneath the forge.

They could see the automaton pieces they were meant to retrieve but the gates were shut. They remembered they were given a magic ring so they asked the automaton to build itself and it did !
Following the other order, it opened the gate for them to get in and they barely managed to escape befaore getting caught by the smiths.

After disassembling the automaton in the cemetary and leaving the heavier parts in a tomb, they took the limbs with them and headed back to the inn for one well deserved night of rest !

Now the morning after, the weather was even worse with a storm approaching and the sky darkening. Things were getting a bit familiar, the guards were outside waiting for Gregor and his friends again ! The captain shouted to the mercenary "I told you to stay out of trouble McGregor ! Now where's your dwarf friend with white hair ? "
Sensing trouble ahead, Gregor tried to save some time for his friends : "DO YOU MEAN, MY DWARF FRIEND WITH WHITE HAIR, WHO WOULD THAT BE ? OH YES! MY DWARF FRIEND WITH WHITE HAIR. I DON'T KNOW, HE'S DEFINITELY NOT HERE ANYWAY."

Thorbur heard the loud voice of his human companion and tried to get out by the back door with others...
But other people were waiting at the back as well !

The god point for our heroes is that several factions were waiting outside and it didn't take much to make them lose their focus into fighting each other, creating an opening to flee !

Sensing he would not talk his way out of trouble this time, Gregor quickly retreated inside the inn and tried to leave by the back, taking the automaton parts with his friends (you never know).

Outside, the guards got busy with a very different and unexpected threat outside, some form of spectral shape was draining the life out of the guards, floating above the ground and the dwarf brothers quickly ran away !

Meanwhile, the undertakers were quite irritated by someone closing a tomb they had just dug the day before, only to find weird mechanical pieces in it !

This is when a frightening pale figure made its way with two acolytes to the cemetary gates.

The city was getting mad and in utter mess with deads raising and walking amongst the living !

The undead were just killing anything living in sight at this point !

And the dark necromancer Magnus had found his target !

Gregor found a cart and a mule to take his companions out of trouble but he got properly ignored by the stupid animal, leaving the fighter and his friends with their legs and hopes !

The safest place they could think of at that point was the huge Temple of Sigmar.

They made their way in with a few more citizens.

The Necromancer had found (sort of ) fresh combatants for his dark plans !

The necromancer sent his newly raised agents towards the temple of Sigmar where his last opponents where trapped.

Our heroes had grouped in the temple roof and were trying to come up with a plan. The monk in charge had barely anything to help but he did manage to provide some holy water to prevent the zombies from coming back endlessly and he mentionned a possible way out of the temple...

In the Streets, the frightening warrior the adevnturers had seen intheir dreams was now crossing the market place, heading for the Temple as well !

With the Necromancer heading ther as well, this would be the last stand !

The heroes split into two groups, one defending the temple and the other trying to find a way out and get the necromancer from the back.

The group heading outside found a hidden passage on the first floor...



...and after a short time that felt like years, they found their way out through the crypt at the back of the cemetary !
With the parts for the automaton in hand, they managed to assemble it back and took care of the zombies outside.

The temple was safe for now but the city was still under threat !

With the Necromancer around, the zombies, soon started to walk again and come back for the heroes, that's when Ungrim sneakily climbed to the rooftops...

He took the opportunity he had to take the Necromancer down and didn't think twice, he leaped from the roof edge right onto the evil mage !

Author's disclaimer : Now I know "and then I rolled a 6" stories can be boring but once in a while, when dice gods reward utter stupidity or audacity with against the odds critical results, I do get a tremendous satisfaction because he does make the story better (having the dwarf land flat a few feet from the Necromancer would have been great as well mind, it was a win-win situation).

 

Wanna see a happy dwarf player (and a perplex GM) ? Here's a happy dwarf player (and a perplex GM).

Meanwhile, Gregor and Harandil were trying to go around the building and get the villains from the rear, dodging zombies in the process.

The dark lord was not happy though, his servant lying flat in the ground with a dagger in the top of the head and good number of zombies taken down with him !

He decided it was time to stop playing and get the job down himself like any classical villain. He chopped down several heroes in no time and despite Gregor's efforts, the pit fighter escaped death twice but felt uncounscious before his friends could finish the monster...

A healing potion later, the party knew where to look, they had been suspecting the local doctor for a while now so they decided to pay him a visit to get the last word on all that !

The doctor was here, utterly drunk, looking after a strange corpse resembling the revenant that had been floating in town, taking people's lives !

They found a locker with a beating heart in it (and another full of gold crowns) and destroyed the heart making the body disappear in fumes and a hissing curse "I'll be baaaaack !"

The threat was now over, our heroes had saved the day ! There were still many things to come and they would face them all !

Let me present you the main characters of our story !

You can see below Moyra, Thorbur, Ungrim, Gregor, Tauron, Harandil and their companion the automaton !

And a few of the characters they had to deal with like the Ture brothers, Erik, the ratcatcher, the mad doctor and the guards.

And the big villains of course !

We had an amazing time, laughing, singing pretty much all the time and we had all we needed to do so !

The immersion thanks to the models, scenery, details and soundtrack was just perfect, we even had to play the cave part in the dark with lights as torches !
There were well over 200 models on the table and we played about 25 hours total without realising how time was flying !

Our missions were parchments with riddles and everything you need :

And in the end all these extra efforts added up for the best experience possible. I feel very lucky to have taken part in this one, I've rarely had that much pleasure playing a RPG and I owe it to our wonderful piece of human being Cédric, love you mec <3 <3 <3