Fifth battle of the Wolf of Vengeance campaign.
Here we start the Path of the Winds. This is a cryptic name, compared with the others. There's a reason for that: everything will became clear...
Path of the Winds Game 1
The Moot
November 29, 2020
Briefing
Before dying in the snow of the Grey Mountains, Heglestein gave you, Rhobar, a key: it opens the house of an Halfling named Hugo, in the Moot, the home of the Halflings of the Empire. You don't know why this is important, but so far Heglestein guided your steps and brought you to some achievements... even this mysterious mission is worth a chance.
The fracture caused by the civil war that spread some years ago throughout the land excluded the Moot from the New Empire, and so going there means crossing the border and the trenches which still the rebel soldiers patrol. A little contingent would be easier to manage, so you select some of your men and reach the Moot directly from the Reikland, following the river Aver northward. You heard stories of a green land full of little cottages and pretty groves, but maybe this was true before the war: you see a devastated province, where the armies of every opponent ravaged here and there, and the Halflings took refuge in the two or three still standing cities.
You easily find the house you're looking for, but something's not quite right here. In the spectral silence something is moving near the corner... Undeads! Sure an evil power is awakening them, but any Mage is in sight. Only a towering Black Knight seem to guide the aroused Skeletons...
***
Empire vs Vampire Counts. Skirmish
The armies
The good ones
Empire Team
The little contingent is a versatile miscellanea of Empire troops: Spearmen and Halberdiers, some Crossbowmen, two Knights (one is Rhobar's second in command, Von Horrocks), an Outrider and Rhobar himself.
The bad ones
Undead Team
On the battlefield there are some Undead horrors, such as Ghouls, Zombies, Skeletons and Dire Bats. One lethal Black Knight dominates the scene, but apparently there isn't any Vampire or Necromancer in sight. In fact, a Necromancer is hiding in the rubbled house near the centre of the village: he's commanding his troops, unseen. Maybe he'll need to reveal himself to cast an appropriate spell at the right time...
The game
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| The Undead attack from the devastated houses. Rhobar's men set up to fight |
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| Rhobar and the Black Knight are going to duel in the centre of the field... |
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| ... but our Hero succeeds! And he concentrates on that Giant Bat over there |
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| We're near to the end: the Imperial troops dominates the battlefield and Rhobar is Necromancer-hunting in the rubbles. The evil mage eventually revealed himself by casting a spell |
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| The Hero said: "Damned bones return to your grave and rot!" The Hero thought: "The rib bone is connected to the the arm bone" (100 points for getting this reference) |
Hugo's house is surprisingly tidy, given that the surrounding village is completely wiped out. No one here, but every rooms reclaims the mysterious voyages he must have lived throughout the years: maps, strange books, exotic weapons are on shelves and walls in every corner.
One room in particular catches your attentions: in a small semi-circular chamber there is a big tome on a bookstand, three other books on a shelf, each with a small crown on the spine, and eight recesses in the wall. In the recesses there are some apparently random objects: a pin, a dagger, a clip... only the last space is empty. You realize probably you'll need some time in this room, so you reach your men, cremate the bodies (bury isn't guaranteed as definitive, here), and close the door of Hugo's house while you feast with his wonderfully well-stocked pantry. You hope he'll not mind.
Full of pies, in the evening you return to the chamber and open the tome, reading its title: The Sage of the Night Winds. During the night you learn a lot: the Night Winds were eight Adventurers who lived in the times of Magnus the Pious, the Great Emperor, more than a hundred years ago. In the end of their path they collected eight items, called the Eight Secrets because no one but them knew their form, fitted out with an unbelievable power, yet extremely mysterious. Apparently, Hugo mast have regained them, a part from one: in its recess you find a little note written in an elegant handwriting: "You'll need all eight of them!". You're looking for a hint that would indicate where to find the last Secret, when you notice that on the note there's a little crown... the same crown of the three books on the shelf!
These are three volumes of different topic: the first is a Bretonnian chansonnier, full of fairytales, the second is the biography of a Kislevite gentleman thief (a story full of vodka and winter damsels - need to read that!), and the latter is called The Dörthagen Chronicles, the history of this village in the Empire. You don't know we're to start, when you spot in the three book covers an ancient map of Dörthagen and two leaflets with two little holes each. After some tries you manage to fit the holes in the right spots on the map and find a specific place there: maybe this is the location of the eighth Secret? You think so.
You call your men and decide to head to Dörthagen at dawn. You remember that place: you fought here ten years ago during the civil war, because the village unfortunately was exactly along the trenches that divided the Empire between the Reikland and the Talabecland, respectively the loyalist and rebel province. It became a dreadful place, full of deserters become bandits or desperates become mad from the horrors they had seen during the fratricidal war. Not a nice place for a trip: however, there you must go.
You take everything from the chamber: it appears that Hugo thought about everything in advance, so you're sure he won't mind. While you take the tome about the Night Winds, a little charcoal drawing slips from the pages, and there are depicted five smiling people dressed like adventurers: two Elves, male and female, an Halfling, a nobleman and another colossal man wearing a black armour. You recognize two of them: the Halfling must be Hugo the Halfling himself, and the guy in black armour seems to be Magnus, the Knight of Morr whose grave you defended and from whom you took part of your equipment. These must be the Adventurers Heglestein told you about, the ones that killed the Lady of Lubrecht, the most powerful of the four Oligarchs. Your story intertwine with theirs, and with the story of the Night Winds apparently. You want to know more about each of them, but not now: now some haunted ruins are waiting for you...
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