GM Blog: Episode 8 (Patreon)

Time for some more GM Blog goodness!

As was the case for Episodes 6, and 7, I was very ill in this episode. The antibiotics had yet to resolve my issues and the codeine I was on was barely sufficient to see me through. This was doubly the case as the temperature was waaaaay too high in the livingroom for this sesh (I'm Scottish and it was a UK heatwave - not a good combo). But roleplaying is my destressing time, so there was no way I was missing it. It was nevertheless a tough, tough episode to get through. And little did I know it was going to get worse! For Episode 9 I was even more ill and had to change the intended content for that episode. Fortunately, Lukas stepped in to help me there, but more on that in the next blog!

First up, we have the first episode of the Death on the Reik arc. After the expected beginning with a mutant attack, we then headed off in a very different direction.

Unlike Enemy in Shadows, the revised Death on the Reik has had minimal development from me as a producer, so it is not in the shape I needed for this playthrough. So, expect several changes ahoy! Beck when I was the WFRP producer, Graeme Davis and I discussed what was required for me to develop the adventure with new content. We chatted for many months about what he was going to do (re-edit the text into a new order and add some Grognard boxes), and what I was going to do (add a slew of updates and add some appendices).

We had lots of fun discussing what a new Death on the Reik could contain, but I resigned before all the extras I was intended to add were written. So, obviously, that means my bits are missing from the current book - that said, the printed version does include some decisions Graeme and I made together, so it's not devoid of my influence.

What we have in the published Death on the Reik is largely what Graeme submitted to me to expand. It's missing all the extras I would have added for alternative routes through play, including stronger links between the plot beats, additional details for key events, and expansion to the core areas visited (much like I expanded Bögenhafen and its surrounds in Enemy in Shadows, for example). It also includes a section I intended to move and revise in the Death on the Reik Companion (everything after Castle Wittgenstein), so the content is quite far from what I need for my playthrough.

That brings us nicely to what we're doing for the LAWhammer version. For our playthrough, I intend to install large chunks of the original material, as you'll see over the following blog posts. However, I still want this playthrough to be relatively close to the printed adventure - it is a classic, after all - so we won't be going wildly off-piste.

Yet.

And with that in mind, to the bullet-point-mobile!

• Lukas on the Mast. We started the session with Lukas captured and attached to a barge's mast. This is an obvious trap, and it was set by Tzeentch Red Crown cult. Knud, the same mutant who killed Kastor Lieberung in Episode 1 (blog here for deets), is back! Since we last met him seven episodes ago, he had returned to his masters, reported the unexpected news that he'd spotted a second Kastor, and received new orders: kill the second Kastor.

• What Does the Red Crown Want? In this case, a dead Kastor Lieberung. The Purple Hand have been moving against Red Crown interests, thus Kastor is a marked man. Knud's masters have concluded that the real Kastor was probably a decoy, and that Gerhardt is the real 'Kastor' (or possibly a mutated double - still, he needs to be killed). So, Knud is sent to find and kill Kastor.

• Knud's New Party. Knud is accompanied by a new band of mutant followers and soon learns Kastor's party is travelling by barge. He tracks the PCs to the River Bögen and raids some barges there in the hope of randomly encountering Kastor. This, unsurprisingly, fails. It was a desperate plan, and he knows it - it also triggers a rumour that barges are being sunk on the river Bögen. Yumi receives that rumour when in Bögenhafen (a handout after a Gossip test back in Episode 4). Unwilling to enter Bögenhafen for fear of being spotted as a mutant (Knud surmises, correctly, that the Mutant Edict is not likely to protect him if he saunters around town with his super-scaly face!), he patiently camps in the Reikwald and spies on the barges coming into and out of Bögenhafen. And it's there that he spots poor old Lukas.

• So, What Happened? When Lukas left Bögenhafen on Gerhardt's command, he found most of the barges that were claimed to be moored outside the town had already moved on because of the Morrslieb problems (only witnessed within Bögenhafen, but still terrifying to most). This left Lukas in a bind as Josef, who he intended to meet, wasn't there. So, Lukas befriended one of the remaining bargees and paid him to wait for an extra day. That evening, Knud and his cultists attack and capture Lukas and the barge. Knud then learned that the party was likely to follow Lukas 'You better let me go - my employer will be here soon!', so he laid his trap. The following morning, the party arrived, and found the barge where Lukas was tied up lodged in place with logs that Knud and his mutants put in place to stop the barge from floating downriver. Knud's mutants killed all who resisted him, and left the rest in the rope store at the 'butt' (thanks, Yume, for that term) of the barge's hold as additional bait. Knud himself avoids being on the barge as he's already seen just how deadly Gerhardt's bodyguards can be.

• 'Large winches that pull the sails into place.' This was a line I dropped near the beginning of the stream. It's absolute nonsense. The winches I pointed to on the map are used to raise or lower the barge's leeboards. Soz.

• Corruption Points. So, there were many Dark Whispers offered in this episode, and there was a source for this: an observing Cabalist (and one who knows Lukas! but more on that in a later GM blog). She first attempted to influence Gerhardt's corrupted heart to reduce Elrick's effectiveness as she wished to see how Elrick coped when under duress. But, Gerhardt resisted. This was handled by the offer I made Gerhardt to reduce his current Corruption points in return for dampening down Elrick's shoulder braziers. The Cabalist was surprised when Gerhardt resisted her wishes. So, she tried again, this time expending a significant effort to force Gerhardt to kill Lukas with an offer of a 4 Corruption point loss for the deed. Then 5. Gerhardt refused both offers. The Cabalist is interested by this (for all she would have preferred Lukas to be dead - the man represents something to her that she would rather not confront), and decides to watch more closely. Just who is this Gerhardt? As the fight developed, the cabalist also attempted to influence Alamennowyth, and was again rebuffed. The cabalist gives up trying to force anyone's hand and decides to simply watch instead.

• Wait... What? Is That How You're Using Corruption Points? In this case, yes. There are some spells that can use Corruption in our game. I planned to add these to WFRP4, but I was gone before the Magic book was finished.

• So, What's a 'Cabalist'? This is a huge question and one the party has been considering in the streams. To cut a long story short, it's another 'cult' that is nominally aligned to Tzeentch. Most of its members are wizards who were trained by the Colleges of Magic. A cabalist was observing the barge ambush, using a spyglass so she could keep her distance. She was here to monitor and potentially recruit Elrick. Elrick was recently spotted in the Amber Hills by another cabalist who was tracking a Light Wizard from the 'Ancient Library' that lies outside Carroburg. For more on that, check the Tales of Altdorf City episode, Graduations. The Cabalist wanted some of the party out of the way to isolate Elrick, and hoped Knud's ambush was at least partially successful.

• Lukas Reveals Gerhardt is the Target. When Lukas is eventually freed, he tells everyone that Gerhardt is the target of Knud's attack as he'd been listening to the mutants' plan. That detail was important to make clear to the PCs so the unfolding events weren't seen as just a random occurrence that only occurred to keep the story moving.

• Luitpold Mistakes a Corpse for a Living Creature. Luitpold, a Seer who was blind and largely deaf at this point, was relying on his 'supernatural senses' to 'see'. He attempted to sense potential enemies, but instead sensed a corpse below decks. The corpse still had its soul intact because it had refused to move on. If the corpse is not tended to by a cleric of the Cult of Morr (the God of Death), an angry ghost will result. Luitpold immediately understands what is happening when he draws closer to the corpse (I did a secret Lore (Theology) test for him and he passed - this meant he also knew he did not have the necessary rites to resolve the problem himself).

• Gerhardt Saves Yume. Gerhardt stepped in to attack the tentacled mutant assaulting the Yume, which really impresses Yume as will be noted much, much later in one of the Tales of the River Reik episodes. Luitpold also steps in to save Yume, but he's super old (25!) and not a noble, so Yume pays less attention to him...

• Fate Points. Yume spends a Fate point to stop multiple broken bones and Birdie spends one to avoid her left arms being torn to shreds. Shame...

• Can't Use the Heal Skill in Combat. I remembered that rule in this episode. I will forget this in a later episode - I'll point out when I screw up when we get there.

• Knud Flees. Knud, after being charged by Luitpold and Elrick, and having already been shot by Allamennowyth, and having heard/seen most of his mutants killed, flees. It was clearly not his day. Allamennowyth tried to stop him with a shot and lodges an arrow in his arm, but the mutant crits his Endurance test to ignore that and dives into the river.

• Luitpold Prays and... Luitpold attempts a prayer to stop Knud, but it is stopped by one of Knud's Mutations, Favoured Slave, which causes miracles to fail against them on an Endurance test. And apparently, he crits those!

• Fireball to the Back. Elrick strikes Knud in the back, badly burning the mutant's scales and causing a Critical Hit, which causes huge scarring and slow-healing wounds.

• The Cabalist Has Seen Enough. Having seen Knud's Red Crown cultists roundly defeated, the Cabalist, somewhat frustrated, leaves, casting spells to remove herself as she has no desire to be seen or detected. However, unknown to her, Alamennowyth is close enough to detect the spell use and attempts a dispel. The cabalist did not expect this, and the intrusion of some grey magic to interrupt her spell alerts her to Alamennowyth's presence. This intrigues the cabalist, so she decides not to leave, but to move position to get a better handle on who or what has uninterrupted her spell. Given the spell she cast was a teleport from one of the Cabalist Lores of Magic, she uses that to reposition, which leaves traceries of rainbows and the smell of roses in the air. This moves a few hundred paces away, where she returns to watching the party.

• The Barge Fight Ends. The fight between the PCs and the mutants was cautious but eventually resolved with the party winning easily. The mutants were relatively coordinated, but that seemed to make little difference. A mixture of weapons, faith, and magic drove back or killed the mutants on the barge. Knud was not killed (but was very badly wounded), so he will be back. His tentacled partner wasn't killed either, so he will also be back. Next time, Knud intends to be better prepared and more strategic. Assuming he ever catches up with the PCs, that is - they have a barge now!

• Elrick Remembers Hearing of the Cabal... Elrick remembers a story that claimed a third of the Colleges rebelled and joined the Cabal? WTF! Is that true?
  Yes.
  The Cabal in our game have a long history. It is our version of the Rainbow College of Magic from the original Colleges of Magic article that can be found in White Dwarf 113, page 12. The College in that article is symbolised by an Ouroboros and it uses multiple Winds of Magic. The same is the case for our cabalists. You can be guaranteed that more will come from the Cabal later.

• The Cabalist Tries Again. The Cabalist, back to watching, again tries to influence Gerhardt using Corruption points to kill Lukas (whom, as mentioned, she would rather was dead), but is again rebuffed. This resistance interests the cabalist, as does the arrival of Allamennowyth on the barge. An Elf witch, too! The Cabalist is now interested in the party as a whole, not just Elrick.

• Barge Occupants. The barge had three occupants left alive in the rope store. First is Renate from Death on the Reik, p12 (and I purposefully went for a different pronunciation here - re-NAYT rather than RE-NA-TAH - as our Renate is very different to the printed version, and I wanted to mark this for players who had played Death on the Reik before). We also have Dr Pflaster (an upgraded version of the NPC found in Enemy in Shadows, p31), and Bluthilda, a bargee.

• Renate. Our Renate barely features in our playthrough; so far, at least. Not only does she not offer the PCs the Weissbruck side-quest (Death on the Reik, p13-19), she doesn't ask anything of the PCs at all beyond a lift down the River Bögen, which she is supplied. So, she hitches a ride, and is swiftly gone...

• Dr Pflaster. Dr Pflaster is on the barge for one reason only: Gerhardt needs a tutor to become a Physician, Ed's preferred direction for his character. Ed and I had discussed at some length where he intended for Gerhardt to go, Career-wise, and Dr Pflaster is the potential answer to his needs. However, Pflaster will still need some persuading to provide Gerhardt with the teaching he so desires, as will become apparent.

• Bluthilda. Bluthilda was brought in for three reasons: 1) Birdie needed someone to teach her more about Barges (and this will come at a cost, just as Dr Pflaster's training will, too); 2) the barge needs at least two crew, preferably 3, to sail (which will also come at a cost); and most importantly 3) one of our Hero of LAWhammer patrons asked to have Bluthilda, her PC in another game, included as her 'Special Walk-on'. Indeed, she asked to cash in all her future 'Special Walk-ons' in exchange for the NPC becoming a series regular. I thought that sounded awesome. So, everyone, meet Bluthilda! Expect to see her a lot over the next few episodes. In exchange for helping the PCs with their barge, she fully intends to take an equal share of it!

• A Sudden Rise of Ghyran? Elrick spots a large rise of Ghyran. This was caused by the cabalist who was flooding the barge with the green Wind of Magic to see if there was a response from Elrick. She suspects Elrick can already channel multiple winds, and wants to see if he responds by attempting to channel it himself. Elrick did no such thing, which frustrated the cabalist a little.

• Bluthilda's Note About Bögenhafen Salvage Rights. Bluthilda's speech about salvaging the barge was marked to have been added to Death on the Reik to make sense of what amounts to the theft of a large barge by the PCs. A simple Writ of Salvage, as mentioned in Death on the Reik, p19, doesn't cut it as it would be used for piracy everywhere, and would be shut down by the Merchant Guilds.
  So, in our game, Bögenhafen has unique salvage rights for abandoned vessels born from the Ordo Septinarious's influence on the Bögenhafen Town Council. So...
  In The Duchy of Saponatheim, a 'wreck' is defined as any property that has no existing or obvious owner that either sinks to the riverbed or floats on the surface of the water. The term encompasses the hull, all fixtures, and any object aboard, or once aboard, a vessel, such as cargo or personal effects. All wrecks can be 'salvaged' by any party, who must lodge the wreck with the Bögenhafen Town Council for a 5 GC fee, either in person or through a legal document submitted through a Reikland-based Merchants' Guild, alongside at least four witnesses who can claim that the salvaged property matches the Bögenhafen Town Council's definition of a wreck.
  This is a highly controversial law, and it has caused some merchant houses to refuse to trade within Saponatheim waters.
  'Wrecks' come in four forms:
  Flotsam. Goods that sunk and later returned to the surface. Commonly, this is cargo from a sunken barge that has floated free of a cargo hold.
  Jetsam. Any goods that were intentionally discarded from a vessel or wreck that is floating on the surface.
  Derelict. Any vessel or cargo that has sunk to the bottom of the riverbed or is otherwise abandoned, and is unmarked.
  Lagan. Any vessel or cargo that was intentionally discarded and has sunk to the bottom of the riverbed, and has also been marked with a buoy or other floating marker.
  All flotsam, jetsam, and derelicts in the Duchy of Saponatheim can be seized as detailed above. Contentiously, all lagan that has been abandoned for a week or more can also be seized.

• Merchant License. This is another addition for our game. To legally buy and sell on the Reik, you must have a Merchant License, which will also be needed to sell at any Merchant Guild Hall in Reikland. The details behind this are a touch more complicated than this blog can detail, so I'll whip up a Barge Life pdf detailing everything a bit later.

• New route! Our PCs avoid going to Weissbruck and Altdorf, which is the next step in Death on the Reik, (because, really, given what the PCs know, why would they ever want to go to Altdorf?). Instead, the party takes a route down the River Bogen, up the River Blut, up the River Tahme, then into the Vorbergland canal systems. This potential was added by me in WFRP2 (in the WFRP Companion) for exactly this reason. The Enemy Within, the original 1E version, benefits from having a route from Shadows Over Bögenhafen to Death on the Reik that doesn't involve having to move through Altdorf. Why? Primarily, because the PCs are likely wanted in Altdorf and because the city is potentially an enormous time-sink full of interesting stuff that can easily interrupt the adventure's pacing! Also, if you use Enemy in Shadows, Altdorf is clearly just wrong. Things are changing there, and the PCs likely know this (although the new Death on the Reik seems to have forgotten it). The PCs would have to be somewhat desperate to sail through the capital. Fortunately, that's not an issue my PCs faced as Bluthilda made clear with her suggestion to travel to Wissenburg through the Vorbergland.

• But, Weissbruck! Yeah, I cut that entire section (Death on the Reik, p13-20). It brought nothing particularly useful to the table, so was easy to drop. Any Purple Hand shenanigans it offers I can include anywhere on the Reik river system.

• So, heading straight to Grissenwald, then? Yup. We'll be heading to our version of Death on the Reik's Chapter 3 as our first step in the adventure. The Kemperbad and Observatory sections will come later. Noice!

And that's Episode 8 covered!

Our PCs are now heading towards Ubersreik and a meeting with Gerhardt's dad, which will all be covered in the Tales of Ubersreik (all of which are now online!).

As always, if you have any comments or questions about this blog or feel I missed some important stuff from Episode 9 that needs to be discussed, post here on Patreon, where the PCs can't see, or in the #all-access-lawhammer channel in LAWhammer, where, again, the PCs can't see!

I'm already working on the next blog, so looking forward to posting it, as Episode 9 is... very different!