Although we had our weekly Warhammer FRP session yesterday, I unfortunately spaced out, and forgot to hit record on the cameras. Everything was working, this was just my own memory. As an alternative, I will try to provide a short synopsis of the story instead, since our video chronicle will now have a gap.
At the end of the prior session, we had ended with the group preparing to leave Middenheim, to travel west in pursuit of the missing Erick Kalzbad, the missing Senior Clerk of the Chancellory. They had been tracking his actions for the last several days, always apparently just one step behind due to other distractions. All indications were that he had reserved a coach, and left Middenheim that morning, with tickets to Diense 7 days west.
For the start of the session, the group spent a bit of time and a lot of coin, securing all provisions and supplies for their trip and generally over-preparing. Chancellor Sparsam provided tickets to and from Diense, given his interest in finding the clerk, now accused of various conspiracies. However, the group has a second motivation, they have a side quest from Madam Eva of the Red Moon Inn to recover a sizable sample of the black stone from the Schadensumpf swamp. They also have some concerns that Kalzbad actually has headed to Kammendun, which they had found was his original home.
The travel west was fairly uneventful, though it doesn’t leave until the following morning, and the group eventually finds themselves at an unmanned coaching station on the edge of the swamp. From there, the road continues west, but a small hiking trail leads south to Kammendun, a full day’s hike across the wilderness. After doing to digging and searching, while the coach rested the horses, the group concluded that Kalzbad and his mercenary retainers had departed the coach and taken the hiking trail about a day before.
As a result, they bid farewell to the coach and begin the trek to Kammendun, making sure to avoid the berm that drops down to the swamp. A short way down the path, they come across a gibbet, suspended at the edge of the path, and swung out over the swamp itself. The old iron cage contained the bones of the last poor prisoner, now bleached in the sun.
Never one to pass up an obvious trap, the group approached, with several of the smarter ones staying back or in the treeline. The physician and the bounty hunter both approached the gibbet, pulling the chains to pull it back over the path. Then checking the corpse for any valuables, they validated that it was indeed dead, after removing one of the leg bones. Casually, they discarded it in the swamp, while the halfling began carving his name into the post of the gibbet.
However, in a twist that surprised almost no one, the noise in the water attracted a beast from the swamp, a creature used to the easy meals. As most of the group was distracted, what the group referred to as a “bogtupus” stretched out its tentacles towards the noise and attacked. The initial surge was fast, and managed to all but disable both the physician and the wolf-kin, while the elf began volley after volley of arrows. Very quickly, the bulk of the immense creature came into view from the fog, all mud, teeth and tentacles in the swampy water.
The halfling managed to hold his group against the pull of the creature, while the bounty hunter and iron breaker came to his aid. With combined effort, they managed to eventually sever the tentacle, and free the little adventurer, all scrambling back away from its reach. Meanwhile, the wolf-kin fared worse, and was dragged down the side and into the water. As the creature lifted him up, preparing to drop the meal into its mouth, the wolf-kin embraced the teachings of Ulric and entered a beserker frenzy (a tactic highly discouraged by the group). With adrenaline fueled strength and rage, he forced the tentacles to release him, dropping with a splash next to the creature and driving his battle axe deep into its side. Unfortunately, his rage limited his perspective and defenses, and he was almost immediately wrapped up in new tentacles immediately after. All strikes from the group seemed ineffective versus the bulk and side of the creature, just so many tiny needles against a vast elephant.
We wrapped the game for the night there, after running about an hour long (and realizing in the last 30 minutes I had forgotten the recording). Our next session is on Wednesday next week, where we will determine how many are pulled into the waters of the Schadensumpf
