GM Blog: Episode 12 (Patreon)

I've just finished off another section of RPG rules that I'm building for the Rookery, so it's time to celebrate by writing Blog 12! This is a pretty easy one as not too much happens in this episode - we resolve Grissenwald then head down the Reik to Kemperbad then the Great Circle - but there are several things worth discussing along the way.

So, make yourself comfortable as we dive through Episode 12. I rather enjoyed this one, as it was the first episode in a long time where I didn't feel ill and the temperature wasn't too high. To begin, at least. By the end I was dying a small death, overheating and feeling super poorly. But I was having too much fun to pay it that much attention (although you will find a fan is out in force for most of the last half of the episode).

Before we begin, remember any mentions of 'A/E' is a reference to any Allies or Enemies that party secures, as discussed in Blog 11.

Got that? All right, let's go!

To the bulletpoint-mobile as we take on Episode 12!

• Lindsay's Birthday! Yay! 18 again! But, that's not adventure-related, so let's move on swiftly and get to the important stuff.

• Dumpling is BAD. Did I stress she was eating people before the episode began? Yes. Did that make a difference to the PCs? Apparently not. Cultist, meet our Glorious Heroes. Glorious Heroes meet (the very talkative) Dumpling, Cultist of the Red Crown.

• What Does Dumping Know? So, what did Dumpling actually know about where Etelka and her crew went? Not enough. She was sent to spy on Etelka by her Red Crown superiors and was very annoyed that her 'mistress' up and left without taking her along. Or even informing her that she was leaving. Realising that Etelka and her companions could have gone anywhere after Grissenwald, Dumpling decided it was better to raid the tower for clues. After consolidating her hold over the 'cultists' in and around Etelka's Tower, Dumpling's investigations acheived only minimal success: one of the cultists overheard they were leaving for the 'Bare Pills'. Not very useful.

• Dumpling Tells All. In the hope of securing an ally to hunt down Etelka, Dumpling spills her guts and tells the party everything she knows once it becomes clear what the party is doing. Well, almost everything. She decided that telling the truth (if not all of it) was the best option just in case the party had a method of determining truth from falsehood. As soon as it was certain that the party was hunting Etelka, Dumpling was ready to do whatever was needed to join the party. Fortunately for her, Gerhardt was in search of a cook. And Dumpling can really cook!

• Gerhardt Seeks Democracy. Gerhardt starts asking the group to reach a consensus for a decision rather than just doing the noble thing and taking charge. This leaves everyone a touch confused - including Gerhardt - and will likely be a source of several issues in the coming sessions. Should Gerhardt just take command or not? We'll see...

• Prolonged Audience with the Dwarfs. Did the Dwarfs purposefully prolong the first meeting they had with the party because an Elf was included as Luitpold surmised? Yeah, they kinda did. Anything to annoy. But, equally, Dwarfs do complete their business at a different rate to others, and they are often patient to the point of irritation.

• Elrick Destroys The 'Symbol'. A symbol of Tzeentch on the floor of Etelka's tower was destroyed by Elrick's magic. Great, right? Well, yeah, nah... not so good. Elrick's lack of Lore (Chaos) is in evidence here. I rolled a die to determine what actually happened, and the symbol will be back within the day. And stronger. And tainted. But, because of events to be discussed below, this is not as much of an issue as it could be.

• 'Are you a Gnome?' DING! DING! First mention of Gnomes in the game. And from Dumpling. She was fishing to see if Ume knew about them (she didn't actually think Ume was one). Dumpling was once tasked to find out about Gnomes 20 years ago by her cult, and failed.

• Dumpling's Toothy Smile. Yes, Halflings have more teeth than Humans. 36 to a Human's 32. By comparison, Elves have 34. Dwarfs have even more at 40! And let's not discuss Ogres.

• 'Sigmar's Party.' The Dwarfs referring to the group as 'Sigmar's Party' was an important change of tone. Amongst other things, it demonstrated that the Dwarfs were according the party the respect they now deemed was due to these representatives of Sigmar. Sigmar was a noted 'Dwarf Friend' whose actions 'saved all the Karak Ankor' (the Dwarf Kingdoms), meaning he would be forever respected by the Dwarfs, as would his honourable heirs. So, as Sigmar's representatives, the party was treated better, a benefit that will be retained until the party does something to show they are not worthy of following in Sigmar's footsteps.

• 'We Won't Forget This.' After the party passes over the legal documents concerning Etelka's Tower, Greathammer 'summoned the throng' to reclaim the mine. The party did the Dwarfs a great favour by allowing them to take back what they considered to be theirs. And Greathammer tells them this directly. That being the case... A/E: Dwarfs of Khazid Zlumbol are now Allies. DING! DING! DING!

• Dwarf Manourvres. The Dwarfs head out to reclaim their mine, take Etelka's Tower, and wipe out any Cultists of Beatmen they find on their land. This reduces the strength of the Red Crown, even destroying the re-incorporated Chaos Symbol mentioned in Elrick Destroys The 'Symbol' above. A/E: The Red Crown Enemy gained during the last episode is reduced in strength. I'll cover this more when I discuss the Red Crown in a later blog.

• Karak Zanda. The Dwarfs of Karak Zlumbol claimed to be from 'Karak Zanda'. If the party can tell other Dwarfs who hail from the same hold what they did for Greathammer, they will be received with welcome arms (well, as welcome as any Dwarf arms ever are). There is also some extra discussion about Karak Zanda in Blog 11 and the WFRP Starter Set.

• 'Grey Mountains, Somewhere.' Luitpold tries to determine where 'Karak Zanda' was sited. He concluded it was probably somewhere in the Grey Mountains. If you're interested, Karak Zanda was once sited just to the east of Axe-Bite Pass, relatively close to modern-day Helmgart in Reikland. As a small aside to this, the hold was first introduced to the lore by Steve Savile in the Vampire Wars novels under the transliterated name 'Karak Sanda', and was developed from there by me in a few other books. You can see my online chats with Steve on Inside the Rookeryhere (our first ever episode!) and here (our one hundred and first episode).

• Kill Her. The party, having already done the Dwarfs a great favour, are tasked with killing Etelka Hertzen by Greathammer. If they do this, killing the witch that betrayed them, Greathammer will be VERY thankful. A/E: Dwarfs of Khazid Zlumbol can be moved from Allies to Friends if our Glorious Heroes kill Hertzen.

• Lawyering Cultist? Was the Lawyer a Purple Hand Cultist as the party suspected? Yes. He was. And he understood the 'PURPLE' reference in the letter he copied and tried to obscure it. If the PCs had intervened with the lawyer and... well... killed him, local Purple Hand activity would have dropped further - but they did not.

• Conspiracy Board! Hahahahah! When Lindsay and Sage pulled out their conspiracy board I couldn't help but laugh. It was so much fun for them to make and update. Arguably a bit useless, but it's tremendous fun!

• Dumpling Taken On! Dumpling, the ranking Cultist of the Red Crown, is taken on as a cook. Whoops. I tried to warn them...

• Tahme Ignored A Bribe. A small detail, but Greta confirms that her father, Duke Zenechar Trott, turned down bribes from House Pfiefraucher as he had already taken a contract. This story is true and speaks to his personal honour.

• The Giant's Stump. The story of the giant and the flat-topped mountain in the Barren Hills told by Alamennowyth is a legend that's based in fact. The Giant's Stump was an ancient meeting point (Moot) of the Grunfelds, a great druidic family (Elrick's family). The stump was mostly destroyed when the Grunhugel was ravaged by warpstone meteorites, becoming the Barren Hills. A legend persists that 'Sigmar will be Reborn' from this spot. This is because Sigmar had a child with the Grunfelds when mortal and his blood is still in that family.

• Rhana Dandra. This term, mentioned by Alamennowyth, may or may not be familiar to you. Rhana Dandra is the Elf 'Last Battle', a concept that was first introduced in Warhammer 40K. But if you thought 'Rhana Dandra' was a 40K thing only, you need to check the Warhammer 8E Elves - the term is used a lot. The final battle of Elves vs Chaos is very much part of Warhammer, too, as Alamennowyth discusses at length. In the version she cited, it is the time when the Elven Gods return to the Mortal Realms to war against the Chaos Gods in an epic final conflict that conclusively determines the fate of the world.

• 'The Aethyr Forecast'. Hahahaha, what a silly term! But, the point Alamennowyth was attempting to make was sound. Alamennowyth Rootweaver, an ancient Elven Seer of the Laurelorn, 'forecast' the end of the world. Further, after much investigation, she determined her forecast was 100% accurate. So, Rhana Dandra was coming. The final End Times were coming. All futures scried were the same. But Rootweaver was not to be defeated. Once she realised all paths led to the same end, she attempted to find a route to a future that was impossible for anyone, even the gods, to predict. And it is there she divined a possible way to avoid Rhana Dandra. A couple of centuries later and we have Alamennowyth 'Shadowvale', an Elf walking in the footsteps of 'Ladrielle', a Goddess whose followers cannot be seen by any scrying, spells, divinations, or otherwise. And Alamennowyth intends to do something, anything, that can break the inevitable chain of events that leads to the end. Weighty stuff.

• Bluthilda Joins Up. Proper paperwork for the party's barge is secured, a 'company' is formed, the barge is named the Footshover, and Bluthilda is made an equal partner. So... A/E: Bluthilda is secured as an Ally, potentially also securing the Empire's 1st Fleet as an Ally, as discussed in Blog 11.

• Imperial Plenipotentiary. An Imperial Plenipotentiary, a representative of the Emperor, was massively disrespected by the locals of Kemperbad as the Footshover pulled into port. This is clearly not wise, politically, for Kemperbad, but there is a reason it happened. The folks responsible were paid by agents of the Purple Hand who are seeking to force deeper divisions between Kemperbad and Altdorf. The PCs choose to ignore this event. A/E: The Imperial Plenipotentiary is ignored and is neither secured as an Enemy nor an Ally. The impact of this will not be known until deep into part 5 of the campaign, Empire in Ruins.

• The Great Circle. The truth behind this will be coming up later. So, I'll cover it then. For the moment, simply accept that the Great Circle dampens aggressive emotion almost to zero and is flushed full with Ghyran, the Green Wind of Magic. And another wind, too. But the PCs can't see that one. All this means that life in the Great Circle is... different.

• Here's Your Morning Tea, Sir! Dumpling ingratiates herself with Gerhardt when possible. And it works. To quote him: 'THIS IS FANTASTIC!' And that was just for some tea! Easiest. Infiltration. Ever!

• 'That's the real Enemy Within.' Tax. I quote this again as it made me laugh at the time. A quality line from Andy Leask, there.

• Greta has Dealmaker 7! Yup, she's in her element when it comes to doing business. She used to represent Trott's Marauders to courts across the Old World. Also, seeing NPCs with these bonuses stands as a constant reminder to the players that their Talents being taken once or maybe twice is small beans in comparison to many NPCs out there, and that they should consider their XP expenditure.

• Corrobreth. Corrobreth, an old Druid, is approached by Elrick. The two have history, already. Corrobreth was in attendance during Elrick's disastrous 'Coming Out', and knows Elrick was later sent to the Colleges in disgrace because of that event. More on the 'Coming Out' will be covered in later episodes.

• Wait? A Druid? Yup. Our Corrobreth is a Druid. Not a Jade Wizard. A Druid. A proper, honest-to-goodness Druid. A follower of the Old Faith, of the Great Mother, who uses an old form of Human magic that is deeply illegal. Not that the party seems to mind...

• Will We See More Of Druids? Yes.

• Daemon's Bowl? Not Devil's Bowl? Yup. I changed the name to be a bit more Warhammery in language. If you don't like that, tough. I do. :D

• Lukas and Pflaster. Lukas gently shows his concern for Pflaster at the end of the episode. He has been having a relationship with ever since Ubersreik, but he's not the type to share this openly. That said, Alamennoywth and Greta already know about it as they share the cabin next door to the good Doktor, and Lukas isn't quiet enough...

That's it for Episode 12. The party is now set up to canoe up the river Narn to the Daemon's Bowl and Episode 13! Woot! I'm sure that will go swimmingly...

And before I sign off, I'd like to add that I kinda loved the scene with Greathammer leading his throng forward, a single tear of deep emotion in his eye as horns blared and drums beat. A nice moment that the PCs earned through their choices.

Dwarfs are ace.

As always, if you have any comments or questions about this blog or feel I missed some important stuff from Episode 12 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!

Until next time!

Andy