Bitter dregs of Ulric's Fury!
So, oaths sworn, Schutzmann takes the PC's into the basement of the Watch HQ, where the full horror of Morten's death is revealed to them. Pledging to pursue the matter to its inevitable conclusion, the PC's end up back at the warehouse where they're staying in their capacity as guards of the citizens of Untergard. They bed down for the night.
Cue an uneventful watch with the twitchy Otwin.
It all got a bit confused the next day. I was tired, the PC's insisted on splitting up all the time, and I'd fiddled with the plot:
1. with 2 dwarfs in the party and a dwarf murder victim, well I'm sure you get my drift...
2. the missing person turned out to be a member of the Untergard party- young Gismore- who hadn't returned after setting out to "get some more bread," the previous day.
Confusion led to complication. Choosing to investigate the death of Gismore, Alane and Berthold headed for the Temple of Morr, where they met mad mortician Abelard, to whom they generously paid a tidy sum for Gismore's funeral. Returning to the warehouse they confirm the bad news to Schiller. Cue weeping mother, etc. Unfortunately, when Schiller's party arrived for the dead son of Untergard, they found that he had already been buried... by a bunch of mysterious strangers who just turned up, got the job done- "no questions asked, OK...?" and left.
At first rebuffed by the dwarfs of the Engineers' Guild, Grundi and Mordrin somehow or other managed to get themselves into the position of being able to inspect the dead dwarf- in the same Temple of Morr IIRC. Unluckily the plague of disappearing corpses struck the dwarfs too. Even as they were gaining permission to conduct their morbid examination, the dead dwarf's keepers came to collect their kin for burial. All our dwarfs saw of their quarry was a funeral carriage carrying another clue into the wide blue yonder.
In the end though, the PC's found Gismore's grave, and lo and behold- Berthold recognised the symbol of the Ordo Fidelis. This led them back to Schutzmann for another briefing, from where they made their way to the scene of the murder of the unfortunate Gerhard Gismore Croen, who had fallen prey to something that had ruined his life already.
Quickly finding the sewer, the PC's took one long look down into its murky depths. It was night. They had none of the necessary equipment for the task at all. Fortune points were out or low, having been lavished on holding the investigation together. Time for bed they thought.
Even Grundi, axe-wielding maniac with a taste for Ulric's Fury and a lust for Skaven blood was content not to charge down into the depths in blind heroism. But then Grundi had at least smote with Ulric's Fury and poleaxed a young librarian of the Collegium Theologica. An unprovoked vicious attack.
Antony had been really spoiling for a fight all day, just like last week, so at some point I'd just quipped, "You can always just walk up to someone and hit them, y'know." I then forgot all about it. I never really expected that he would. Or, I mean, I never thought the mighty slayer of wolfs and mutants, righter of wrongs, defender of women and children, would work out his frustrations by cold-cocking an innocent young librarian. It's just too funny for words.
It all started off with a simple failed Gossip test. Pursuing a lead late in the day, the roll to get the information the easy way failed. The PC's had to get the information the hard way, which narked the poor librarian, who narked back. Then:
1. Grundi waits till the other PC's get out of sight...
2. "Thank you for your 'cooperation'."
3. Smack!
Just like that, just like a frustrated pig.
I gave the guy an Ag test to react and defend himself. Instead he went down KO'ed at 0 wounds as brave Grundi smote him with Ulric's Fury, just right out and punched him. Since Grundi had been sensible enough to lurk behind at that point none of the other PC's actually saw anything: although some did hear the sounds of violence; Alane did run back into the Temple of Morr (to use her healing potion on the poor sap naturally enough) after Grundi had exited; and Grundi did confess in vague terms to some great misdeed.
The talkative Antony and Grundi both were strangely quiet after that.
The other PC's started keeping their distance.
The delicious irony is that Antony had been doing really well up till then. I mean to say, the youngest and least experienced in a group of longtime gamers all much more immediately at home in the Old World than himself, he faces the problem of being the oldest character by far, and that against a true dwarf. But as they were drawn into planning their moves, he was able to develop his character's authority because he's no numpty, and a good roleplayer to boot.
I was beginning to notice how well this was working, when he went and hit someone for the sake of sheer mindless violence, pure and simple- and rolled his second Ulric's Fury! All his good work, shattered with a single moment's stupidity and 'lucky' dice.
Oh how we roasted Antony about that. How we laughed! Slayer material indeed!
Meanwhile, I wonder how our hapless heroes will fare tomorrow:
Marktag 18th Erntezeit 2522 I.C.?
Time- and the dice- will tell I guess. Mwah hah ha, etc. ;)
Related@RD/KA!
Grundi Smites Again
- #1 "You're in"
- On the perils of 'splitting the party'?
- Index:- My little Old World: Ashes of Middenheim
EDITS (6/9/05)
1. I'd written 'Mordrin' a couple of times where I meant Grundi. This just had to be corrected.
2. GM's snafu on the dates: the next session began on Konigstag 13th, not Marktag 18th as I'd noted.
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