Ashes of Middenheim

From Lexicanum

Murder in Middenheim

Having helped with the evacuation of Untergard, the Party escorted the refuges to the relative safety of the walled city of  Middenheim . Once the refugees were settled in an old warehouse, they made their way to the Temple of Sigmar, to discharge their obligation to Father Dietrich and handed over the icon to one of the priests, a Father Morten. The priest was delighted to receive the icon, exclaiming over its age and quality and offered the Party each a reward of 25 gold crowns and a gift of a small silver hammer – the mark of Sigmar.

Arriving back at the warehouse, after doing some shopping, they found two city  Watchmen waiting for them who “invited” them to visit their Commander  to report on the events at Untergard. While they were recounting the tale of their exploits, there was a knock on the door and a clerk handed the Commander a note. Informing him that Father Morten had been murdered and the icon was missing. The Commander's in initial response was to arrest them and hold them for questioning, but some fast talking from Fereal persuaded him instead  to recruit them to investigate the killing.

In possession of a freshly minted Warrant, they headed back to the Temple of Uric. On investigating the crime scene, Konrad found strange scratch marks on the window ledge. Berthold and Tondil discovered that the priest had been slain by a poisoned dart, which Tondil carefully removed as evidence. Mordrin meanwhile was sifting through the paperwork and found a sheet with indentations from where the sheet above had been written on. Using some charcoal he found on the desk, he managed to decipher what had been written but held his counsel on what was there.

Gloria asked to interview some of the other priests in the Temple, and was taken to see them but they knew nothing. Mordrin meanwhile,  “assisted” by Konrad peering out of the window at him and making helpful suggestions, searched the alleyway outside. He found nothing initially but after recruiting the help of one of the Watchmen who had escorted them to the Commander, they found a strange footprint near one of the sewer gratings.

A quick search revealed to them that the seal that had been placed on all of the sewer gratings during the recent siege, had been broken and covered up with dirt.  Returning to the Watch Headquarters  they reported back to the Commander who advised there had been three other murders of a similar nature. On telling him of the strange footprint he advsed from their description it was likely that of a  Skaven and their answer likely lay in the city's sewers. As it was now late, they decided to rest until the morning, most of the Party choosing to stay in the warehouse as it was free, while Fereal stayed in a nearby inn.

Next morning while the other went shopping for high-top boots and lanterns, Mordrin doggedly pursued the investigation of the other three murders. One near the Collegium Theologia, one near the Engineer’s Guild and one in an nearby alley. Tondil eventually turned up to help but they got little information other than all three had been killed by blowguns. Somewhat surprisingly, the third person who had been killed turned out to be a member of the Ordo Fidelis, a secret order of Witch hunters. Nearby the scene of the third murder they found a storm drain leading to  the sewer and discovered the bars securing it appeared to have been sawed through.

Gathering everyone together they headed into the sewers, where the stench particularly affected Tondil. Almost immediately, as they moved forward in the darkness, illuminate solely by Berthold's storm lantern,  Mordrin was attacked by a hungry ghoul, but the loathsome creature was quickly slain.

Sewer-rats

With no-one in the Party having any ability to track, they wandered the sewers randomly  for some time, enlivened only by Mordrin falling first into the sewage channel and then down a sinkhole, As Birgit Konrad and Tondil  tried to rescue the stricken, and somewhat truculent dwarf, Fereal managed to fall into the sewage. As the elf was trying to extricate himself, he was attacked by a giant rat. Calling for help, the elf swung somewhat ineffectually at the rat as it bit him on the leg. The other’s attempts to help the elf were somewhat curtailed  as several other rats emerged from the sewage and attacked. Fortunately for the Party, Brigit proved to be something of an ace rat-slayer!

In short order, the rodents were disposed of and Mordrin retrieved from the sinkhole, which he claimed to have gone down deliberately to investigate what was down there. Fereal, decided that jumping over the sinkhole was a really bad idea and lighting a torch headed off back the way they had come. This proved to be an even worse idea as he almost immediately stumbled into a pocket of sewer gas and lost not only his dignity but both his eyebrows in the resulting flash explosion!

Eventually, they moved on, motivated primarily by the fact the Mordrin had picked up the storm lantern and marched off, leaving the rest of the Party plunged into darkness! After some time wandering aimlessly through the tunnels,  they reached the point where the sewers went under the city wall and emptied out on the cliff face.  There they found a tunnel where someone had broken through into the sewers from a tunnel below, and went down to investigate.

The short tunnel led down to a wider complex of tunnels where they  were almost immediately confronted by three skaven clanrats, one of whom blew a horn to sound the alarm.

After a brief battle the skaven guards were slain and they continued on, being attacked by more skaven as they had found one of the clan's  sleeping areas. The skaven were quickly killed and the area searched revealing nothing but a few copper coins, some glass beads and some polished shards of shiny metal. Konrad spent some time looking at some shallow carvings on the wall of the cave, but was unable to decipher any meaning in them.

Rats in the Trap

Heading deeper into the warren,  the Party fought off occasional assaults by increasingly desperate ratmen. Eventually they reached an area where the tunnels widened, but Mordrin suddenly spotted a 3ft high crawlspace and  decided  that was much more interesting  than the main route. He managed to persuade Tondil and the elf began wriggling into the narrow gap. Despite being near as wide as he was tall Mordrin followed - almost immediately  getting stuck!

Fortunately Berthold was able to push the dwarf forward and free him from his predicament. Looking at the narrow gap  and measuring it against his own  frame, wisely the bailiff decided not to follow his friends, but rather  await their return. From the tunnel he could hear grunts and curses as his friends moved forward. The narrowness of the passageway made the going tough for Tondil' s lithe form and he lost several patches of skin going through  narrow gaps. Things were even harder for the stout dwarf, particularly as he had a halberd strapped to his back, who got stuck several times. Eventually the passage led to a small chamber that was empty save for a small chink of  light near the roof. A bloody and abraded Mordrin joined him and gave him a boost up to the narrow crack, through which he could see down into a cave  below where three Skaven stood, one of whom had a curious long tubular  object slung around his back. Somewhat reluctantly they made their way back through the narrow passageway, losing more skin, and re-joined Berthold.

Together once again, they moved through the wide passage, Tondil taking the  lead.  Mordrin suddenly spotted a narrow tripwire strung across their path -  just as Tondil tripped it. The air was rent by a long clanging sound and a crossbow bolt whizzed out of the darkness hitting the elf in the head!  Realising their chances of sneaking were gone they charged forward into the  cave beyond.  Tondil and Mordrin were immediately engaged by two clanrats  while Berthold attacked a third in the centre of the cave. The third skaven  raised the long tube to his mouth and blew - a small dart flying out and striking Berthold, for a moment  the bailiff felt a bit woozy but shook of the effects  and fired  back with his bow. A second dart from the skaven however caused him to pass out and almost die from the effects of the poison, only Fate intervening to save him. Tondil and Mordrin swiftly dealt with the clanrats before
finishing off their leader, just as Berthold came to.

Searching the area they found the frame the icon had been held in, but the icon itself was missing. On their way back, Tondil collected the left ear  from the Skaven corpses and when they returned to the Watch handed them in  for the bounty. After cleaning up they went back to the Temple of Sigmar to  report  back and return the frame. The priests there seemed impressed by  their efforts to-date and offered them healing from the Temple, which they
gratefully accepted.

The Shrine In The Forest

 A couple of days after their delightful trip through the sewers, a young acolyte arrived from the Temple of Ulric advising that the priests had requested their attendance. On arriving at the temple they were ushered into Father Ranulf’s chambers, he a blind priest Father Odo with him. He told them that Father Odo had had disturbing visions of a chaos warrior bearing a golden skull. Father Ranulf  said that they believed this was somehow connected to the theft of the icon from the Temple of Sigmar. He asked the Party to accompany Father Odo to investigate, to which they agreed.
 
He gave them a pouch containing 20 gold crowns to cover their expenses and later that day, Father Odo in tow, they set off southwards. They stopped that night at the coaching inn at Schoninghagen. Next morning they continued southward, wisely staying on the main road and stopping that night in the coaching inn at Grubentreich, Mordrin still grumbling about the early start that day. Next morning they set out early again, Fereal ensuring Mordrin was ready to go at sun-up, much to the dwarf’s disgust. That day on the road they were passed by a troop of imperial soldiers heading southward at some pace, but buy the time they reached the coaching inn at Malstedt they had seen no further sign of trouble. Their final days travel led them to the inn at Sotturn after which they headed into the darkness of the Drakwald Forest, the blind priest leading their way.
 
They camped that night in the forest, maintaining careful watches and next morning headed deeper into the trees. An hour or so into their trek they were attacked by a small band of ungors. The Party rallied round Father Odo, protecting him from their attacks and swiftly killed their opponents. Later that afternoon, Father Odo suddenly stopped, and pointed to where a large stone obelisk stood atop an artificial-looking mound. Before the Party could do anything, a large minotaur charged them, knocking father Odo to the ground. Mordrin and Tondil immediately stepped forward and attacked, Ulric’s Fury was with the elf and a mighty blow for his blade caused the minotaur to retreat back to the mound, bleeding heavily from a wounded arm. Standing on the mound, the minotaur raised a horn to his lips and blew.
 
As the Party began to move forward, looking to protect the fallen Father Odo, two bestigors and two gors charged in from the trees. Mordrin and Berthold engaged the bestigors while Tondil took on both the gors. The minotaur raised the horn to his lips and blew again, two centigors answering the call this time. Although it summoned help, the sound also brought Fereal’s attention back to the minotaur and the elf unleashed an arrow. Uric was with him and the arrow hit the minotaur’s leg causing him to fall to the ground bleeding heavily from a severed artery.
 
The beastmen proved ferocious opponents but, despite their own wounds, the Party prevailed. Tondil went to check Father  Odo and managed to revive him with some strong spirits helping to bring him round.

The Burial Mound

 
While Mordrin maintained a watch on top of the mound, tracking small parties of beastmen moving round the forest, the others began searching for a way into the burial mound. Fortunately Fereal stumbled on the entrance almost immediately – a small cave clogged with vegetation and debris. Calling on the others to help, they soon cleared a way to find the way forward hampered by a large stone block with a strange carving on it. Eventually after a couple of abortive attempts to describe the symbol to Father Odo  the cleric eventually identified it as the symbol of Khorne.
 
Fereal and Berthold searched the area for an opening mechanism, but there did not appear to be one, the block was wedged into the earth walls of the tunnel. They Party then discovered they were woefully unequipped, as no-one had brought any useful dungeon delving tools!  While Berthold held the lantern and Fereal and Tondil used daggers to try and dig into the side of the huge block, Konrad was despatched to the forest to cut a branch to use as a lever - as there was not a single 10ft pole among their paltry equipment. As he headed into the trees, Mordrin shouted from above asking what was happening. Unfortunately this drew the attention of some nearby gors who charged in. After summoning the others to help, the gors were swiftly despatched. Returning to the excavation Tondil and Fereal eventually managed to get the stone block moved sufficiently for them to squeeze past it.
 
Beyond the stone block was a T-shaped corridor of worked stone, the walls heavily carved in skull motifs. There were no apparent exits, so Fereal and Tondil began searching for secret doors to the south while Berthold followed holding the the lantern. Mordrin relying on his dwarven sight searched the northern passageway. Suddenly Fereal felt the flagstone beneath his foot shift triggering a spear trap which also caught Berthold. Fortunately Fate was with the elf as he managed to twist out of the way at the last second rather than being transfixed.
 
With a series of clicks, the trap reset itself.  Fereal crawled forward,  discovering a secret door at the far end of the corridor whoch Konrad eventually worked out how to open. The door revealed a corridor heading off at 45 degree angle. They moved down the corridor cautiously, but suddenly they were attacked by two bloodcursed, loathsome creatures of the Blood God. Overcoming their fears, they eventually destroyed the creatures, though it was a close thing.
 
The passageway  led to a triangular room, dominated by a fountain. Atop of the  fountain four carved skulls disgorged what looked like blood into a pool below. As the Party moved in the skulls suddenly began spinning rapidly, spewing a fine bloody mist through the room all over everyone. Most fled the room, traumatised and drenched, but Konrad, either made of stauncher stuff or completely mad charged forward and began hacking at the fountain - getting even more soaked in blood. Eventually the others  ran forwared to help him, and destroyed the fountain, all getting completely soaked in blood.

The Brass Skull

Moving forward, Father Odo pointed them in the direction they needed to go, Konrad found and opened a secret door. This led to a large chamber dominated by a statue of Khorne sitting on a brass throne surrounded by piles of bones. The aura of evil was palpable here and the members of the Party struggled to force themselves forward, made worse when several skeletons animated from the file of bones and attacked.  Berthold was badly wounded in the fight with the undead but eventually the Party prevailed. As the last two skeletons fell, a grinding sound announced the opening of doors to two side passages.

One passage let to a chamber full of war trophies, from which Konrad and Fereal retrieved a number of interesting artefacts - a torn and bloodied banner, a great helm and a broken dwarven hammer. The other passage led to a burial chamber where a stone sarcophagus  stood surrounded by a pool of blood. Fereal and Tondil quickly found out the blood was highly dangerous, seeping though even the stoutest of boots. The lid of the sarcophagus was very heavy and it took all of them to remove the lid, after which most of them were suffering wounds from the poisonous blood.

Around the neck of the chaos champion within lay the brass skull that Father Odo had seen in his vision. Despite the strong sense of evil Tondil reached in and removed it, noting as he did that the amulet was heavier than it should be. They immediately left the tomb, and were amazed to find that, although it had only seemed a short time since they entered, it was now night time. Rather than risk wandering the woods in the dark, they decided to camp and settled down for the night, Fereal volunteering to take the first watch. An hour or so later,  something awakened Tondil, and he noticed that not only was his backpack opened and the contents strewn around, but Fereal - and the skull amulet -  was missing. Shouting to awake the others, he grabbed his sword and charged off  after the elf.

He found the elf nearby, wandering through the forest in what appeared to be a trance, the skull amulet around his neck . Charging forward he grappled the elf to the ground and began wresting , trying to remove the unholy artefact. Fereal, still in a dreamlike state, resisted furiously and it took some time before Tondil was able to remove the necklace and wake the sleepwalking elf. Returning to the camp, Tondil secured the brass skull in his backpack and they settled down to rest, Mordrin taking  over the watch.

Next morning, Tondil was astonished to see the skull amulet sitting on top of his backpack staring unseeingly at him with its brass eyes. Mordrin was sitting nearby, slumped over his halberd snoozing, so obviously he hadn't seen anything. They wakened the others and prepared to head off back towards Middenheim. Fereal appeared to be in a foul mood and stormed off in the middle of a discussion about the way they needed to head to get back to Middenheim. Unfortunately for the elf, he stormed right into a couple of squig, uncharacteristically he bellowed a war-cry and charged forward  - only for one of the squigs to bite his arm off!

As the elf lay bleeding heavily on the ground, dying, the others caught up, charged forward and destroyed the two squigs, but it was too late for poor Fereal!

A Restless Night

 The Party spent the next day moving cautiously through the Drakwald avoiding small groups of beastmen. Fortunately they managed to avoid any encounters and settled down to rest in small clearing that evening. Konrad was first to awake next morning, noting with shock that Mordrin, who had taken last watch, was missing! The militiaman’s gear had been neatly stacked atop his bedroll, his clothes, including the ones he had been wearing, neatly folded with military precision. The brass skull sat atop the lot, and Konrad fancied it grinned eerily at him, but of the militiaman there was no sign. Wakening the others, they searched the area for some time, even backtracking their route from the previous day at Berthold’s insistence,  but found nothing.
 
Eventually they had to give up, and Tondil shinnied up a tree trying to identify the best way for them to go. He spotted what looked like a road in the distance, pointing it out to the others. It took them longer than they expected to reach the road, but eventually they found themselves walking along it, finding a milestone which told them they were a couple of miles south of the village of Malstedt. Heading for the village, they decided to spend the night in the coaching inn.
 
The innkeeper, Friedrik, was pleased to see them advising them it was a quiet night and there was only one other guest, pointing to a hooded man in the corner hunched over a tankard. The Party order food and drink and Brigit booked a private room while the others plumped for the common room. They also purchased a stout chest to keep the brass skull amulet in. Konrad after chatting to the barman for a while, approached the other guest who introduced himself as Siluvaine. Konrad after a few more beers began relating the whole sorry tale of their recent misadventures . On being told that they were heading for Middenheim, Siluvaine asked if he could join them on the rod the next day there being safety in numbers. The meals arrived, and after a few more beers, people began to drift off to bed, Konrad and his new friend being the last to leave.
 
As he settled down to sleep on his pallet Tondil though he could hear faint chanting sounds, but sitting up abruptly could hear nothing and settled back to an uneasy rest. Something however woke him an hour or so later, a faint sound outside the common room. Waking Berthold next t him he threw open the door, surprising a Skaven in blackened armour just about to open it. Shouting a warning to those still sleeping he and Berthold blocked the doorway as other ratmen joined the first. Siluvaine leaped from his pallet and grabbing a pouch from his belt cast a magic dagger spell at the ratman. Across the inn, some sixth sense woke Brigit as a Skaven dagger plunged into the pillow an inch from her head. Leaping to her feet she grabbed the axe next to her bed and struck back – hard!
 
As the first Skaven was despatched and a groggy Konrad was rising for his pallet, Tondil suddenly smelt burning . Leaving the others to despatch the remaining ratmen- Brigit in particular cutting a swathe through them, the elf dashed next door where flames were beginning to spread up the wall form a pile of firewood that had been set alight. Konrad, somewhat groggily went to help, heading for  the bar and grabbing the slops bucket, stepping over the body of the night watchman. Charging back, he saw Tondil beating out the flames with a curtain he had pulled down and chucked the contents  of the slop bucket over the flames. He then headed outside, heading for the for the well in the courtyard . Siluvaine went to protect Father Odo, spotting as he did the skull amulet sitting atop the locked box they had left it in. The rest of the Party ensured remaining ratmen were slain and the fire extinguished. They then awoke the innkeeper, who was suitably grateful.
 
Next morning they headed out along the main road northwards to Middenheim, after an hour or so a high pitched screaming started coming from  Tondil’s backpack. Tondil tried to hush it up but there was little he could do, and some time later, as they neared a bridge over the river they were attacked by some ungors and centigors. They also saw more  beastmen arriving on the far side of the bridge.

The Unquiet Death of Father Odo

Ahead of them on the bridge, they could also see another traveller who looked like he was about to be swamped by the bestigors charging towards him, but there was little the Party could do as they were themselves attacked by the leading line of centigors. As a furious melee ensued, the travelled suddenly dashed back across the bridge trying to reach them and the relative security of numbers against the beastmen. As Berthold and Tondil swung their blades to great effect, Siluvaine managed to take out one of the centigors with a sleep spell. Konrad charged forward next to the bloody stranger who quickly introduced himself as Jhared. Suddenly, as it looked like they might be slain the tide of battle changes as three strangers charged into the beastmen from behind, cutting a swathe through them with remorseless efficiently. Disheartened by the arrival of reinforcements the remaining beastmen fled into the forest.
 
The three strangers turned out to be Witch Hunters of the Ordo Fidelis who said they had been trying to find them to find out why they had been investigating the murder of their brother Gerhard. After many explanations back and forth, fortunately backed up by Father Odo’s testimony, the Witch Hunters offered to escort them back to Middenheim. The remainder of the  journey back to Middenheim was more or less uneventful, but as they slept in the coaching inns along the way their sleep was troubled by strange dreams, Konrad and Berthold being particularly badly affected by night terrors. On arrival at the Temple of Ulric they were met by Father Ranulf who instructed them to return in the morning while he and Father Odo made preparations to store the skull amulet securely.
 
Next morning they arrived at the Temple bright and early and were ushered into a room where Father Ranulf and Father Odo waited, in front of them was a wooden box banded in brass and inscribed with runes and holy seals. When the amulet was placed within , the tension in the room palpably lessened. Father Ranulf offered them wine, watered of course as it was still early. They waited while a glass of plain water, requested by Father Odo, was fetched from the kitchens and then Father Ranulf offered a toast to their success. As they drank, Father Odo suddenly collapsed to the ground convulsing, Berthold and Konrad followed shortly afterward. Suddenly Father Ranulf leaped back as his friend’s form was twisted by chaos energy into a hideous monstrosity - who immediately attacked.
 
As Tondil, Siluvaine and Jhared fought and ultimately destroyed the chaos spawn that had been Father Odo, Berthold and Konrad fought their more personal battle with Chaos as they writhed in agony on the floor. Fortunately Fate was with them, and they managed to withstand the chaos energy attempting to warp their forms into hideous mutations. They barely had time to catch their breath when a disturbance outside announced more trouble. They charged out to find two more chaos spawn clawing their way through a group of acolytes attempting to restrain them. With the help of the Party the chaos spawn were slain and order restored.
 
When things had quietened down Father Ranulf ushered them to the rooms of Deputy High Priest Liebnitz . After much discussion, arguments  and acolytes running about, it was eventually discovered the Temple’s well had been polluted, most likely with warpstone. Liebnitz then asked the Party to  find out discretely who had done this terrible thing.

Poison in the Well

The Party immediately started their investigations into the well poisoning by heading for a nearby inn, The Scholars, and booking in! Konrad, wanting to experience something more expensive for a few days, booked into The Harvest Goose in the Grafsmund-Nordgarden district. Berthold and Tondil then headed off to do some shopping while Siluvaine and Konrad settled in to sample the bar.

Next morning as they ate breakfast the three members of the Odo Fidelis arrived saying they had heard there had been some trouble at the Temple of Ulric and offering to help. Matthias managed to convince Tondil to tell them what had happened and the witch hunters offered to help. they decided to split the task, the witch hunters would survey the wells on the north of the city while the Party would survey those to the south.
 
Tondil and Berthold headed down to the Southgate-Ostwald district and began searching the area and talking to the denizens in local bars. Siluvaine and Konrad lingered a while in the bar of The Scholars  before joining their friends. They located a couple of potential targets and set up a stake-out, making sure they showed their warrant to the local Watchmen.
 
In the small hours, long after curfew, Tondil spouted a hooded figure approach the well bearing a small sack. The figure stopped near the well and on opening the sack the tell-tale  green glow of warpstone came from inside, immediately Tondil and Berthold charge in. On a nearby rooftop, overlooking another well, Konrad’s six sense was warning him something was up and charged across the rooftop, calling to Siluvaine. They arrived just to see the hooded figure toss his sack of warpstone powder over Tondil who collapsed as if pole-axed and began writing in agony. The hooded figure began to flee, but a thrust in the back from Berthold’s halberds brought him up short, allowing Siluvaine to cast a magic dagger spell that finished him off! Searching the body they noticed that on his right hand he had a small tattoo of a purple hand and on the left hand a strangely disconcerting curved design .

Konrad also found a sketch map that seemed to show the location of the well they were at and a route traced back to somewhere in the Southgate district. Leaving the body to make it look like the victim of a mugging, they liberally doused Tondil and the general area with water from the well to dilute any warpstone dust.

The trail led them to a ruined warehouse where after a brief altercation with some giant rats, they found a trapdoor which opened to reveal a shaft descending downwards, a rickety looking wooded ladder attached to the side.

Purple Hands in the Dark

The Party gazed uneasily at the rickety ladder that descended down the steep narrow shaft before them. Knowing that the Ulricsberg was riddled with tunnels and passageways, this could lead anywhere! Tondil volunteered to go first - after trying a rope securely round her that Siluvaine and Berthold held the other end of. One by one they made is safely down, Konrad, as the best climber, going last as there was no one to hold the rope for him. As they stood in the darkness of a narrow cave, Berthold got out a lantern while Konrad lit a small candle from his pack. As the cave was illuminated they could see three men with loaded crossbows emerge from the darkness and fire at them. Battle was joined and the three cultists were swiftly slain. Each were marked with two tattoos on their hands similar to the poisoner.

Pressing on onto the darkness they bested several more cultists before reaching an area where a rickety looking bridge spanned a wide crack in the floor of the cave. Several more cultists were here who, surrounding a somewhat portly figure, made a break for freedom. Their break was short lived, even though one of the group was a magic user and in short order the cultists were killed. Searching the body of the portly gentleman Siluvaine found a book, the Liber Mutandis, which he claimed for himself - as a scholar of course...

Searching the area they found a barrel which contained powdered warpstone and a small cache of what were obviously skaven-manufactured weapons. There was some debate about  what to do next, Tondil and Berthold both having bad experience with warpstone, being somewhat reluctant to carry a barrel full of noxious powder up the rickety ladder and then though the city streets.

A City Divided

 
The members of the Party came-to in a dark room, lying on a cold stone floor on what feels like straw. Every part of their body ached, and they were pretty sure a couple of ribs were cracked and some teeth were definitely loose! Gradually their memory of last night’s events returned. They had left the warehouse to find the city in chaos, obviously the cultists had poisoned other wells and mobs were roaming the city hunting down those poor unfortunates transformed by warpstone.

It was only a matter of time before they ran into one of the mobs, about 50 strong, flaring torches held high. For a moment there was a standoff, them some ignorant peasant spotted the elves in the party and shouted “Look at their ears – mutants! Fortunately at that point a City Guard patrol arrived and managed to calm the mob by agreeing to take them into “protective custody”, which was fine until one of the guardsmen found the copy of the Liber Mutantis, that Siluvaine was carrying and shouted “Cultists!” That was all the excuse the mob needed. By the time the guards restored some semblance of order, all the Party were battered bruised and badly beaten. The guards tied them up and began escorting them through the streets. Fortunately, or so they thought, they ran into Deputy High Priest Liebnitz accompanied by some Teutogen Guards. Liebnitz persuaded the City Guard to hand them over and took them to the Temple. Unfortunately, rather than releasing the Party, the Deputy High Priest had them beaten and  thrown in the cells with the comment “I believe you may have outlived your usefulness!”
 
The Pary began talking back and forth between cells, quickly discovering that a bady wounded  Matthias, one of the Ordo Fidelis was also imprisoned there. He told them that Bauer too had been arrested after they had raided a cultists den under a pub in the north of the city, though Fischer had esaped. Konrad quickly fashioned an improvised lock-pick from the small piece of metal in the heel of his boot and the hammer of Sigmar around his neck. Once out, he quickly freed the others, and they began plotting their escape, Tondil goivng MAttias a healing draft that curesd the wprst of the wounds from being tortured.

Siluvaine and Tondil headed down the corridor where, after despatching a couple of jailers they found most of their gear, but not their weapons! Another two groups of jailers were quickly dealt with and they found two possible exits. One a stairway leading up which was guarded by a Teutogen Guard in full armour and the second that led out into the sewers - presumably where they disposed of the bodies! After some considerable debate, they decided on the sewers.

Fortunately they didn't meet any of the sewer's denizens and leaving by an exit some streets away, they made their way to the Temple of Sigmar to find it surrounded by a baying mob who had chased Fisher, the third member of the Odo Fidelis. Fortunately Matthias knew of a secret entrance and managed to lead them there. They were ushered in and taken to meet Fischer, who then took them  directly to the office of the High Capitular. The High Capitular told them that Bauer’s trial was set for the day after and he feared that Liebnitz was using it as a political ploy to undermine and discredit the Church of Sigmar. In the current circumstances, that political maneover could split the entire Empire. He went on to say they urgently needed evidence that exonerated Fisher, and the only place they were going to find it was in the cultists hideout.
 
The Party agreed to investigate and after healing up, eating, and resting they headed to the Flail and Hammer that evening.

The Trial of Lukas Bauer

 After stopping in for a beer or two to familiarise themselves with the layout of the Flail and Hammer, the Party departed shortly before closing time to take up positions in nearby alleyways. They waited till around three in the morning, managing to avoid the Watch patrols, which got noticeably less frequent as soon as the rain began hammering down. Konrad led the way, picking the lock  on the front door with contemptuous ease. While he searched the bar area, Tondil was despatched upstairs to deal with the publican, finding him  fast asleep and snoring his head off. Reluctant to dispose of even a possible cultist in his sleep, Tondil instead stacked a pile of crates in front of the bedroom door, blocking the exit.
 
Finding nothing of interest in the bar area they headed down to the cellar, where Konrad spotted a noticeable cleaner area where some empty barrels were stacked. Moving the barrels they found a shaft descending downwards into eh Ulricsberg. They headed down cautiously finding a small set of caves below, and signs of a recent battle. In one of the larger caves they found a makeshift temple to Khorne guarded by three mutants. The mutants were swiftly dealt with and in another smaller cave the found a prisoner Johann Opfer, whom they quickly freed, discovering he had been there during Bauer’s attack the day before and was more than willing to testify in return for being rescued. They headed back out, and making their way cautiously through the streets reached the Temple of Sigmar around sunup.
 
The Temple was strangely quiet and they quickly ascertained that  everyone had headed off to the Square of the Martials as the setup was underway for Bauer’s trial. Making their way across the city once again, they found their way blocked by crowds as the City Watch had blocked the streets surrounding the Square as it was already crammed with people. Somehow they managed to blag their way past the guards and Johann in tow managed to get to the edge of the square. The far end of the square had been roped off, the area guarded by watchmen, a makeshift courtroom had been erected, surrounded by several pavilions and in the centre a huge pile of firewood surrounded a wooded stake!
 
Konrad began ducking diving and weaving through the press of people, while Berthold, halberd clenched in his fist began forcing his way through the others following in his wake. They mostly managed to avoid trouble, although both Konrad and Berthold both took tumbles and got a little trampled underfoot, and reached the area near the pavilion where they could see High Capitular Stoltz. They managed to attract his attention mostly by jumping up and down and shouting “Yoo-hoo!” and he despatched a junior cleric to see them. On hearing that they had a witness who could back-up Bauer’s story they were summoned thorough, just as the trial got underway.

While the Law Lords of Middenheim took their places, Leibniz took on the role of prosecutor while Stoltz led for the defence, after opening statements, witnesses began to be called, including Berthold who gave an account of their recent involvements with the Ordo Fidelis in the city and  in the Drakwald before. Finally Stoltz called Johann to the stand, who’s testimony caused an uproar when he corroborated Bauer’s story. For a moment it seemed that Leibniz had lost, but then the Deputy High Priest pulled his masterstroke, summoning Stoltz himself to the witness stand. The questioning started innocuously enough around the role of the Ordo Fidelis in the Church of Sigmar but suddenly the questioning began shifting toward the icon that the Party had delivered and then had been stolen. Leibniz suddenly produced the icon, asking Stoltz to verify it’s authenticity. As he did, Leibniz slowly revealed the back of icon revealing a symbol of Khorne inscribed on the back, accusing the Sigmarites of having being infiltrated by the Cult. At this accusation, chaos broke out in the crowd and small skirmishes between followers of Sigmar and Ulric rapidly escalated into a full-scale riot. The Watch, struggling to maintain control, evaluated the dignitaries back to the Palace, where the conflict outside was echoed, albeit in a more restrained and less violent manner.
 
That evening the arguments were still going on , as was the rioting across the city between the two faction. The Party had been put up in servants quarters and were settling down to sleep when there was a knock at the door. Opening it revealed Father Ranulf, carrying a bulky object wrapped in what looked like a rug. Lifting the corner of the rug he revealed the chest covered in Holy Seals and Arcane Sigils in which they had placed the Bronze Skull. Father Ranulf told them that believed the malign influence of the skull was affecting Leibniz, and indeed everyone and asked that they take it to Professor Zweistein at  the Collegium Theologica  who would know how to destroy it. Well aware of the skull’s malign nature the Party agreed to help. Berthold insisted on telling High Capitular Stoltz while the others took the chest and made their way across the city.
 
Breaking in to the Collegium, they eventually found their way to the Professor’s rooms, where he didn’t seem particularly surprised to see them. He listened to their story and examined the chest carefully for some time before cautiously and with many muttered prayers, beginning to remove the Seals. Eventually opening the chest, he took a step back and summoning them over saying, “ I believe that whatever is affecting Deputy High Priest Leibniz, has gone far beyond malign influence!” Within the chest there was no Bronze  Skull, just the severed head of poor unfortunate Johann!

The Daemon in the Skull

The Party, urged on by Siluvaine, decided immediate action was required and headed back to the palace. They arrived after driving off some rioters who had the misfortune to pick on them only to find themselves unable to persuade the guards to let them back in. Fortunately Berthold and Jharek heard the disturbance outside and were able to persuade the guard to allow them entrance. They immediately sought an audience with the High Capitular, finding Father Ranulf there and explained what they had found in the box. Needless to say  both clerics were highly concerned, Father Ranulf exclaiming that Leibniz had left for the Temple of Ulric with a small party of Teutogen Guards. The High Capitular advised that this presented them with a significant problem. If he lead a contingent of his troops to the temple of Ulric it would inflame further the religious divide already tearing the city apart and he looked to the Party as neutrals to resolve this dilemma. Without further ado they agrees, the High Capitular agreeing to gather his forces and hold them back in reserve .

The Party made their way across the city, there were no rioters left in this part of the city and they managed to avoid any Watch patrols maintaining the curfew. They arrived at the Temple of Ulric to see it guarded by two Teutogen Guards, and could hear the faint sound of chanting from within. As they pondered their action an unwholesome red light burst from within the temple suppressing  the ever burning Fire of Ulric. While Konrad and Jharek stood rooted in fear, Siluvaine immediately strode forward attempting to use his magic on the guards. Unfortunately the guards resisted and swung at him with their greataxes, badly injuring him. Berthold and Tondil immediately leaped to his defence. The Guards proved formidable foes, but the Party were aided when one finally succumbed to Siluvaine’s spells. The were now confronted by the locked doors, and the fact that Konrad, the only one with any facility with locks, was still frozen in fear across the square.

Jharek was first to span out of his fear and began trying to rouse Konrad with several slaps. It took some time but eventually Konrad summoned enough courage to cross the square whereupon he made short work of the lock. Within there were three more guards who moved to block them and beyond them they could see five more Brothers of their Axe, standing in a circle, their surcoats defiled by the symbol of Khorne and clad in the black and red robes of a priest of the Blood God over his armour, Deputy High Pries Leibniz. On the altar of Ulric in front of him the brass skull proved to the source of the dull red light defiling the temple.

As the Party engaged the three Teutogens, Leibniz began walking round the circle, slitting the throats of the five men. Jharek seeing this, dashed forward and began firing arrows, several hitting Leibniz which he simply ignored continuing his gruesome ritual. As the rest of the Party fought their way in, the final Teutogen in the circle fell. The light from the skull began to coalesce, taking on a hideous shape that of a Bloodletter, a Daemon of the Blood God. This was too much for Jharek and Konrad who fled before the daemon, leaving Tondil to face it alone. While Berthold dealt with the last remaining Teutogen. Siluvaine, creeping up a side passageway, began hurling spells at the daemon.

The daemon proved a formidable foe even when Berthold, and then Jharek and Konrad, having recovered their nerve, joined the fray. Several members of the Party were wounded near to death relying on their good Fortune and the vagaries of Fate to save them before the daemon was destroyed, letting out an ear splitting shriek and dissolving into a red mist. As the demon vanished the brass skull blackened and cracked, falling to pieces. As it did Leibniz, somehow still alive, spoke his final words -  threatening them with two further artefacts which would ensure the return of Xathrodox the Red Flayer in his full strength.

As the Party stood over Leibniz’s lifeless body the great fire of Ulric blossomed forth in a spray of silver-white flame, cleansing his temple of the taint of chaos as the bodies of the Teutogens and Leibniz were consumed. The Party were not harmed, but rather healed by the Fire of Ulric and then a great voice resounded in their heads. “You have protected my temple and my people. Let strife be put aside, as the true enemy is confronted. Let this mark be a sign to all”. As the voice faded they each felt a searing cold touch on the back of their hand and each now bore a mark of a white wolf standing rampant and bearing a great hammer in its forepaws. A sure sign that the followers of Uric and Sigmar should unite against the common enemy.