Their Fated Travels…

RPG Party events as told By Lory Cozens
Second Treatment, plot co-ordinating, editing by Robert James Freemantle

Chapter 17
A Plot to Steal, to Steal a Plot

As the flame of Ulrich died down after cleansing the Temple of Khornite worshippers - from an enveloping flame that washed around everyone present - all of the doors to the main hall were finally breached by the large crowds outside.

Leading the group was Father Ranulf, High Capitular Stolz, Watch Commander Ulrich Schutzmann and a new face, a tall man with short brown hair and green eyes. He wore a huge great sword upon his back and was adorned in expensive looking full plated mail. A religious symbol of Verena was clearly etched onto a large ring on his right hand.

Rissandrea who was treating Tordrad’s wounds at this point looked up, as the expression on her face made it clear that she knew who the newcomer was. As she finished using both her medical knowledge and her lesser divine healing powers channelled through prayer, she set about cleaning the less life threatening wounds, keeping out any chance of infection from the Plague Lord.

Maestro and Tobias were explaining the events leading up to and the aftermath of the fight to the interested officials who had gathered.
Dieter was patting Ulger absentmindedly.
Rissandrea was engaged in inspecting the back of Tobias’s skull, as he had taken quite the blow earlier.
Tordrad was dulling the pain from his wounds that were now bandaged, with a swig of vodka from his flask. He was totally oblivious to the intense conversation going on around the room right then. All he cared about was that the daemon was at last defeated and if it showed up again he would send it right back to the pit it crawled out from.

Father Ranulf pinched the bridge of his nose as he closed his eyes in thought; the words of the unofficial journeyman wizard had begun to sink in. He took a deep breath before speaking, “Although I believe what you say is true, religion is a touchy subject, especially for those that are truly devout.”

Maestro waved a hand dismissively, chirping up in a holier than thou manner, “Well that’s not the kind of thing I’d expect to hear from a man of the cloth.”
“Aren’t you also man of the cloth as well Maestro?” Dieter asked looking around at Rissandrea, who was still attending to Tobias.
The wizard sighed “Dieter my man, do not confuse garbs of mad zealots with the robes of the enlightened order of thinking minds – Besides, religion is all just mad politics and fear like any other business.”
The majority of the room turned their faces towards Maestro aghast in disbelief.
Rissandrea shook her head, “Now is not the time to be talking about people’s beliefs, but rather what we need them to believe in order to keep the peace.”
Ranulf nodded, “As far as people should be concerned this was a ploy by the ruinous powers to divide us while we’re weakened and as such I must ask you all to not mention what happened here.”
The group were forced to agree and were not allowed to leave until they had.

Extract from the diary of Maestro:
Day 40
Well this has certainly been an odd night and I had hoped to be done with religion, but then fate wouldn’t want that and I knew it. A man approached us and I could see with my magical sensitivity the powerful energy that flowed off of him, it wouldn’t take a celestial wizard to tell this would only lead us to more trouble.

Extract from the diary of Rissandrea:
Day 40
Had I expected that we would encounter Brother Tristran of the warrior sect of Verena, I would have approached the temple before now and enquired for his help in our investigations. He always has a sense of justice and the need to uncover the truth, but now it seems he has come to ask for my aid. I dare say I will grow more intrigued to what needs to be done the more I learn of it.

Extract from the diary of Tordrad:
Day 40
Magic is women’s domain in Kislev and religion is mostly men! Sometimes I will see women, but only those that worship Dazh, as preserving the hearth is the duty of the house. But here in the Empire they do not care about who is in what position, least of all who is their ruler. Their Sigmar left no heir and they must vote for who is their Emperor from one of the counts. They even fight about which God is the stronger and should be worshiped more and now this man comes up to us. Rissandrea says he is a warrior priest, if he is warrior and priest then hopefully he knows which end of the blade he carries is which.

Extract form the dairy of Tobias:
Day 40
Now it’s a priest of the Goddess of justice petitioning for our help, or rather for Rissandrea’s help which of course means we will need to follow her to make sure she’s safe. This means I will have to be extra careful…with justice breathing down the back of my neck. Why…why did I write that? How strange.

Extract from the dairy of Dieter:
Day 41
I didn’t sleep a wink last night, which I am grateful for, I get a feeling that Verena has sent her agents to evaluate my progress. This Tristran fellow seems rather intriguing however. I get this odd feeling from him, like he seems too pure in spirit. I don’ know how else to describe it but it puts me at great unease. I’ve never felt anything like this from the Shallyan.

Extract from the diary of Tordrad:
Day 41
We were to meet this Tristran at one of the streets on the west side of city, something about plague blockades. I wonder why we must go where plague is said to be in abundance! I do not want to die like coward on a sick bed but rather with blade in hand on the battlefield! But something seems wrong with this supposed plague, especially since it’s in the district with the Goddess that is meant to administer healing for such aliments.

Extract form the Diary of Rissandrea:
Day 41
The Westgate-Sudgarten. Apparently there is plague here - as such the district has been quarantined off and only those accompanied by a Shallyan priestess are allowed to enter. However if memory serves there should be a temple of Shallya in this district, so this should be under their jurisdiction, however High Priestess Evina Klug of the Verenan temple had even forbidden Tristran from following his investigation into the area, meaning he needed to gain the aid of a Shallyan from outside of the city. I was of course more than happy to be of aid, but I fear my companions are not so pleased with the idea of having been dragged along.

Extract from the diary of Maestro:
Day 41
Another day, another problem. It almost seems like trouble is following me or perhaps we are the ones following trouble. In either event, I get the feeling that we’re heading towards something that doest really concern us. But the more experience I gain out here the quicker I can head back home to all of my comforts and gadgets I suppose. I do so miss a good tinkering!

Extract from the diary of Dieter:
Day 41
This does not seem right, if plague was in this area then shouldn’t the doors be marked with something to show which houses are infected? It could be possible that the houses further in could be the only ones, but even so that would not give rise to the need to quarantine the entire district, maybe just a few streets at most.
I need to get some answers out of someone in this street.

Extract form the diary of Tordrad:
Day 41
Dieter seem curious with door across street, began shouting at person inside. I did not understand but he look funny doing it, he look even more funny when he put his blade to man’s throat as he answer door. We allowed inside house, Dieter want to look round and while he does, silly wizard say he see something outside.

Extract from the diary of Maestro:
Day 41
Then we were hearing that the Shallyans hadn’t even sent people to this house yet. Why would they declare a quarantine of the whole district without even checking to see how far it had spread, I’d say that’s pretty careless personally, but that’s what belief in gods will get you. Another odd thing is the man in robes hiding in the alley outside, he seems to be looking directly at the door of this house - I wonder what mess we’re in now.

Extract form the diary of Tobias:
Day 41
Maestro says he saw a man outside in an alleyway and that he is looking towards this house. This was rather strange of course, but nothing that warrants our attention, could just be a thief staking the place out waiting for the right time to empty the place of everything of value. Just the type of thing we should alert the watch to rather than anything else.

Extract from the diary of Dieter:
Day 41
I had the owner show me around, I don’t trust him however and I don’t trust this situation. There is indubitably more going on here. I suspect the priest’s suspicions are correct about a thieves’ guild in the area. It’s probably filled with short assed halfling bastards like our one. I of course checked the floor under the carpet and of course there was a loose floorboard, which I found housed a lever. The owner said he didn’t know anything about it. I of course did not believe him and as I pulled the lever I heard a click come from behind the wardrobe.

With some effort Dieter and Tristran we’re able to lift the wardrobe aside to reveal a door.
Tristran sighed, “Always behind a bookcase, fireplace or wardrobe, people are lacking in imagination these days don’t you think Dieter?”
Dieter was busy lighting a lamp but forced himself to reply, “Those are not the best places when they are overused so much, I would have chosen something a little more inconspicuous.”
“You sound like you’ve done this before.” The warrior priest stated sounding slightly suspicious of the man in front of him.
Dieter smirked but didn’t reply and just motioned the owner of the house to go first. He knew this man was in on whatever was going on here and he intended to find out what it was.

Extract from the diary of Rissandrea:
Day 41
I worry about what we will find here. I’m also worried about Dieter; he seems really on edge today, more so than usual that is. Tristran is very relentless in the same way as Malvanius was, but he possesses a kinder spirit than the witch hunter captain - although I would not want to be the subject of either one of their investigations.

Extract from the diary of Dieter:
Day 41
We made our way down a passageway, on a slight incline that slowly began to level itself out as we progressed. As we got further down we began to hear the sound of voices and sharp instruments on stone, Rissandrea commented that it sounded like dwarfish pickaxes. I do not know how she would know such a thing.

Extract from the diary of Maestro:
Day 41
Dieter and Rissandrea are taking their time. I’d prefer to get this out of the way as quickly as possible. If I could I would have already left Middenheim and been on my way somewhere else. This city has too much in the way of troubles with Gods, be they good or evil. Give me an engineering workshop any day over an altar.

Extract from the Diary of Rissandrea:
Day 41
We came across a small cavern at the end of the tunnel, in this cavern we found five men dressed in black outfits who I suspect are thieves. Also there were three dwarfs, chains on their wrists and ankles. This was of even greater surprise to me.

Extract from the diary of Dieter:
Day 41
Halfling or dwarf it does not matter to me, they’re both runty blowhards in their own right. I did enjoy seeing them chained up though - although judging from the look on the girl’s face, it appears I may have to deal with this situation before she gets herself hurt. She cannot heal me if she is healing herself…

Dieter sighed and took a step forward, lantern in one hand and machete in the other pointed threateningly at one of the men, “Answer my questions and I might consider healing you when I’m done.”
The men looked at each other and realising they outnumbered their foes, drew their weapons. Dieter shook his head and smirked as he placed the lantern on the floor.
Tristran turned to the man that had led them down here, “Still going to deny that you know what is happening here?” One hand had reached for the great sword on his back as the other was channelling a spell. The arcane words poured from his lips and hung there for a moment, like quickly melting frost relived by a summer’s day, which was taking longer than it ought to because of the plate that covered him. Armour interferes with the winds of magic that surrounded a spell caster, making it more difficult to focus on weaving the winds and performing the required incantation physically.

Within a few moments of pause the thieves, who thought nothing was happening, decided to rush the group. As they made their way forward, one of their number suddenly stopped, as if he was pulled back by invisible chains.
Dieter raised an eyebrow, “That sword just for show then priest?” he had plunged his scalpel into the shoulder of one of the other men rendering his arm temporarily unusable, as he dropped his sword. Ulger bit the ankle of another man making him fall to the ground where a more delicate target on the man’s body had presented itself.

Rissandrea of course had very little means to fight the thieves off with other than her quarterstaff, as her pistol ‘Redemption’ was only to be used on those that were truly corrupt to their very soul. She parried the man that had swung his club at her and smacked him around the back of the head with her quarterstaff. Fortunately this was all that was needed to knock the man out.
The last of the five thieves tried to make a run for it but was stopped as the blade of Tristran’s sword was at his throat “You can’t run from justice” he started, “Verena may be blind but we priests are her eyes.” His voice made it seem like there was nowhere to run or hide.
“L-listen I’ll tell you everything.” The fear in the thief’s voice was noticeable as he began to back up, only to walk into Dieter.

Extract from the diary of Dieter:
Day 41
That was a good workout to say the least and we found out that these thieves were digging a tunnel into the temple of Myrmidia, a foolish idea to try and rob a temple. Maestro will not be pleased to hear we need to get involved in more religious matters, neither am I however.

Extract from the diary of Maestro:
Day 41
About time those three got back. Apparently this house is a base for the thieves. I knew this would be more trouble than it was worth - getting involved in religious matters again. Now it seems we need to find the guild headquarters. I think the man outside would be able to lead us there. Dieter seems more agitated however and he seems to be regularly eating some sort of biscuit from what I can tell.

Extract from the diary of Rissandrea:
Day 41
With a little bit of trickery, Dieter was able to capture the thief hiding in the alleyway outside and also gain information for us to find and enter the thieves’ guild. I hope this goes well, for fighting an entire guild of thieves and possible assassins perhaps could spell even more trouble for us in the long term. I pray to Shallya that she shows compassion and mercy upon our small group.

Extract from the diary of Tordrad:
Day 41
Bah thieves, cowards that live in shadows no better than men of chaos. Now they try steal from Temple, they asking for divine wrath! We are to track down their guild. I not know what priest plans to do to them but I expect it be good fun.

Extract from the diary of Tobias:
Day 41
Damn these robes. I don’t know why I even have them on, it makes it harder to move about and actually hide effectively since they stand out so easily. Perhaps I can take control of this guild we’re tracking down. It would be a good start to my plans in the future. In any case we found the building without much trouble, it was decided that I was to climb up to the top and sneak my way in. An easy task but Maestro decided he should try flying up to join me, a feat he kept failing at miserably. I fail to see why he is a wizard sometimes.

Extract from the diary of Maestro:
Day 41
Just when I think I’m getting the hang of this spell casting lark a new hurdle gets in my way. I feel like the winds of magic are constantly shifting around me, as if trying to avoid me at times. Was it something I said?
It is annoying to say the least, but I don’t have to worry about Tobias writing it in his book during the night which is probably for the better, as I believe he has only written down my failures rather than successes. Saying that, even night time Tobias is as verbally displeased with me. You would have thought I would stand a chance with the alter ego at least!

Extract from the dairy of Dieter:
Day 41
I just knew this would happen. The guild master is another of those blasted moot dwellers. It seems everywhere I look I find a midget of some sort or another. However, I had to use some form of diplomacy here.
I look more the part than the rest of the group at least, which was rather unfortunate for the priest of justice, as I had to work with him in a joint initiation into the guild…
Maestro caused a disturbance, which gave me time to tell him my plan, although Tristran was reluctant to agree at first, it was the only way I could get him in alive with us. What a messy infiltration this is.

Extract from the diary of Rissandrea:
Day 41
Dieter can be rather the diplomat. Yes he has a silver tongue when it suits him. But my fears for Tristran were correct, his contact with Verena caused a problem with our ‘joining’, and I use the term as loosely as possible - of the thieves guild. Dieter was forced to temporally damage one of his arms. I saw what he did. Anyone without medical knowledge would not be able to tell that the wound was just for show and no damage would be permanent.

Extract from the diary of Tobias:
Day 42
It seems now that the group have proven themselves. They are to assist with the current job that will take place at the end of the week, I’ve kept myself hidden and it is easy to hide without my robes. I can’t find them anyway so it does not matter. I just hope Dieter knows what he’s doing, as he’s been picked for a special job. I did not like the tone of the leader’s voice when he called Dieter to his office this morning. I hope I will get a chance to ask him about it later.