"Trespass of Drachenfels": Reikwald Journey Rules

Development at the "Merry Grim" Upon finishing either Memento Mori or Thaumaturgy Finals, the party returns to the Hofsstorstrasse tavern of Merry Grim. There their corresponding quest givers offer them a comment on their failure or success, and provide them with their magical talismans of protection. Armed with these, the player characters stand a chance against the willy wicked magics of Drachenfels castle. They are told that these will do only for a day of magical strain, and by midnight their magical protection will evaporate. Staying in the castle after midnight will drain the magical powers of the amulets and leave the adventruers vunerable to the terrible powers of the castle. Finding a Transport In order to transport the sculpture to back Altdorf, the party will have to find some kind of vehicle. Such may be bought at the market upon gossip and haggle roll. Another option is stealing one from one of the maps in the game. This is an aspect of the game where the party has to show some resolve. However, if the party is running out of time the old innkeeper from the Juggling Swine may offer up the halfling pumpkin cart. If the party asks for it, he allows them to take it, as it's not really his to keep. Each vehicle travels 15 miles on the road a day, 10 off road, 5 in the hills, and fewer than that in the mountains. Cart M-3 T-4 W-20 enc; 500 Coach M-4 T-5 W-60 passengers; 12, enc; 1000 Wagon M-3 T-4 W-30  enc; 1500 TIME CONSTRAINTS This part of the game is not played in a narrative turn basis. It takes place over a period of days during which the party travels from town to town, heading West, towards the Grey Mountains.

The game starts on the morning 16th of Vorgeheim in the "Juggling Swine", any dawdling in Altdorf, any failure to see the quest finished or time spent stinking drunk in stocks of Morrwies, subtracts from the total time. The date upon which the party is to deliver the statue from Drachenfels is the 3rd of Nachgeheim. The chronometer below allows the gamemaster to communicate the weather, time of day, week and month accurately and succinctly.

TRAVEL MECHANICS AND WEATHER Each day is divided up into four sections, morning, afternoon, evening and night. Each one allows to move through a single location on the map represented by the skull tokens. Every character not busy with driving the party mode of transport may spend their time reading or attending any other activities. Below are some skill uses which may be employed during the narrative part of the game: Outdoor Survival: Spending a night somewhere in the wild and scrounging up enough resources to get your wounds back. Failure means you've stayed the night but you do not benefitt from natural healing. Heal: You may heal a single character in the party. Animal Care: You may recover the wounds of the party beast of burden. Navigate: Finding alternative routes. (Skipping unfavourable locations) Drive: Going over obstacles with your cart/wagon/coach. This roll may be employed only by the designated driver. Trade (Carpenter +1o%/Cooper -1o%/Shipwright -1o%): With additional +2o% from the tradetools, allows one to recover wounds of the vehicle of choice, as if heal skill was applied. Overworking the Horse: If you have fodder for the day, you may roll for drive at any point in the day, on a success to move one additional location for free. Normally the horse simply grazes on the passing grass and weeds. In this condition it is not fit for such bouts of energetic travel. Provided with food it may shoot through the forest at a right speedy pace. Failure on the drive roll means you harm the animal with a S-1 hit of exertion. You can automatically move an additional location a day, if you are willing to roll S-1 hit for your horse's exertion. Shopping: Shopping in town also takes time, whenever visiting town, you may buy up to 12 types of objects from 4 different equipment lists for a quarter of the day spend shopping. You roll on every object for the availability to determine if the object is avialable as well as haggle to settle the price, as modified by the size of the town. Meaning that you may spend time looking for things unavailable in the given place. Gossip: Whenever in town or at an inn or other location with people, you may find some interesting things out on the road. It's a single roll +0% or +1o% if you're staying somewhere overnight. NIGHT TIME TRAVEL

You cannot travel at night unless it is a bright night. If it is a dark night you may try to travel with a -1o% modifier to tests with some source of light or night vision. You need a 6 hours worth of light to be able to take on the test without night vision. Anything less than a lantern or a torch is a -2o%. ROAD ACCIDENT TABLE Whenever a crossing or a threat drive test is failed, one ought to consult the chart below to find out the target of the acccident. A sudden slide down a ravine, collapse into a pothole or a hit may endanger the crew as much as the cargo. It's a S-1 hit. 1-2: Cargo 3-6: Vehicle 7-9: Beast of Burden 1o: Crew VEHICLE CRITICAL HIT TABLE Once your wagon reaches 0 hit points, below is a table reflecting the critical hits sustained whenever addditonal damage is dealt. An axel costs 1/10th of the vehicle, where as a wheel always costs 2 gc, with common availability. 1: Busted axel: It needs to be replaced, it won't go anywhere without an axle. 2: Two crushed wheels: It slumps to one side, both need replacing, they're of no use. 3: Crushed wheel: It needs to be replaced, it won't go anywhere without a wheel. 4: Damaged harness: Permanent -5% to drive tests. Unless repairs at -1o% are made. 5-6: Lose axel: A day's repairs or a -2o% Trade (Carpentry) roll, +0% with trade tools. 7-9: Broken frame: Lowers encumberance by a 1oo. Trade (Carpentry) +1o% but you need at least 10 nails and something to hammer with, +5% per every additional 10. 10: Lose wheel: It needs to be reattatched, quarter day's work or a successful carpentry test +0% and +2o% with Trade Tools. ROAD ENCOUNTERS The comforts of the cities, as well as some coaching inns provide the party with the comforts of a warm bed and some grub. These require a small fee, and their price may depend on the quality and region. When staying at an inn or hostel your party recovers wounds normally. The types of encounters are as follows: -Inn: Visiting inns is an optional activity. The party may always opt into staying outside, even within cities, rolling outdoors survival in the urban setting. -Vistas: These are usually harmless descriptions of the region. -Crossings: These are often dangerous rolls of drive, modified by the weather. They define how well one's managed to cross a difficult fording. Failure often means damage to the horse, vagon, cargo or even the crew. Rolls of navigate allow for finding alternative and easier crossings (+5% per every degree of success, -5% degree of failure) -Tolls: These require the party to pay, in order to travel through various estatses and fre cities. These may be navigated around, failure means the party failed to find an alternative rout. -Events: These trigger upon the party arrival, these are often harmless scenes. -Challenges: These require some roll to avoid damage to the horse, wagon, party or cargo. -Survival: These are good places to hold up for the night in the wild. -Threat: These are very dangerous events, which may be navigated around. -River Events: These trigger only if the party has taken the boat rout.

WEATHER RULES; For every day of travel (Morning, Afternoon, Evening and Night) the game master would roll on the local weather table below. The outcome of which would be a temporary modifier to skills such as drive, survival and navigate. The weather conditions are all represented by the pictorial wheel on the time clock.

Bögen

1-1o; Bright Night&Day 11-5o; Mist 51-6o; Fog 61-7o; Overcast 71-8o; Drizzle 81-9o; Rain 91-0o; Storm Vorbergland 1-1o; Bright Night&Day 11-5o; Overcast 51-6o; Wind 61-7o; Drizzle 71-8o; Rain 81-9o; Storm 91-0o;  Fog Haggercrybs 1-5; Bright Night&Day 6-7o; Mist 71-8o; Fog 81-9o; Drizzle 91-95; Rain 96-0o; Storm Grey Mountains (Might cause you to wait for the right weather to scale the mountain) 1-5; Bright Night&Day 6-2o; Mist 21-3o; Fog 31-6o; Drizzle 61-8o; Rain 81-0o; Storm

FINAL ROAD SUMMARY: Below are the regional paths which may be taken by the party. Each lists the encounters on the way as well as the prices in the local taverns, and the size of the town (Important when the party decides to go shopping.) Whenever the party makes it to the token representing the encounter from the list below, consult the encounter section in an upcoming seperate article. TAHME PATH (6 days) Altdorf (Grand Principality of Reikland; More than 1o ooo) Leaving through West or South gate. (3 Quadrants) 15 miles 1-Amber hills & Bloodpine Wood (Vista) 2-Mandredhoff (Vista) 3-Patriotic tavern (Inn, Stay; 42+17p) -Bruckchön (Grand Principality of Reikland, Stay; 36+11p) Lavish Reikland Inn (Inn) Full house (Inn event) Philanderer (Inn event) Forgettable Hero Statue (Vista) (3 Quadrants; Normal day's journey would end here) 15 miles 1-Swine Farm of Reikwald  (Vista) -Wutrock Grand Principality of Reikland, Stay; 36+11p) Plague town (Threat), Plague tavern (Inn) Stone Bridge (Crossing) (3 Quadrants) 15 miles 1-Coaching Inn (Inn) 2-Precarious Gully (Challenge; Damage) 3-Toll Booth (Toll; 1 gold crown per wagon) -Tahme (Grand diocese of Niederthame, Stay; 36+11p)  Customs Census (Toll; only with a statue) Tower Toll Bridge (Toll/Crossing; 6 silver) Pilgrims’ House (Inn) (3 Quadrants) 15 miles 1-Roadside crossroads (Challenge;Tahme valley or Reikwald wilds) 2-Hunter’s Lodge (Survival) 3-Fell log bridge (Crossing) -Havelfurt (Grand diocese of Niederthame  Stay; 36+11p)  Broken Ferry (Crossing) Tent Tavern (Inn) (3 Quadrants) 15 miles 1-Collapsed Bridge (Survival) 2-Mud Ford (Crossing) 3-Ulgu Bound Bridge (Crossing) -Settenberg (Grand diocese of Niederthame Stay; 42+17p) Fool and Emperor (Event) Restored Bridge (Crossing) Famous Pub (Inn) (3 Quadrants) 15 miles 1-Crooked Tree (Vista) 2-Lumber Issue (Challenge; two time trigger) 3-Repaired Bridge (Crossing) -Schrabwald (Auerswald Duchy; Stay; 42+17p) Town Square Punishment (Vista) Roofed Bridge (Crossing/Survival) Beer Bathhouse (Inn) Burned Down Taphouse (Vista) (3 Quadrants) 15 miles 1-Wild Ford (Crossing) 2-Favourable Campsite (Survival) 3-Rickety Fence (Challenge) -Schfachof (Barony of Von Saphonatime  Stay; 36+11p)  Infested Mill (Survival), Sty Tavern (Inn) (Mountain ride to drachenfels) 5 miles -Grey mountains (Domain of the Great Enchanter) 1-Rocky Ford (Crossing) Abandoned Siege Equipment (Vista) Nightmares in the Mountains (Event at night) Poor Lost Soul (Vista) Rockside Cavity (Survival) 2-Marvelous yet Stark Waterfall (Challenge) Rock fall (Threat) Rope Bridge (Crossing/One time only) Legend of the Dead (Vista/One time only) Dark Mountain Stream (Crossing) 3-Echoing Screams (Challenge/One time only) Steep Ascent (Challenge; Gain a quadrant) Night Goblin Scarecrow (Vista; Optional/Two trigger) Village of Felsbrockenburg (Vista) Stubborn Beasts (Challenge) Two Approaches (Choice) -Drachenfells (Domain of the Great Enchanter) BÖGEN PATH (8 days) -Wutrock (Grand Principality of Reikland, Stay; 36+11p) Plague town (Threat), Plague tavern (Inn) Stone Bridge (Crossing) (3 Quadrants) 15 miles 1-Hollowed out Reikwood (Survival) 2-Mitenfurt (Grand Principality of Reikland; Arrival at midday) Bell Ferry Bid (Crossing) Traveling Judgement (Vista) Astromancer’s Tower (Inn) 3-Marked Trail Gramfort (Grand Principality of Reikland; Stay; 36+11p) Long Line for the Ferry (Challenge) Angry Aqshynar (Vista) Auld Alehouse (Inn/Novelty tavern?) (3 Quadrants) 15 miles 1-Smuggler’s Path 2-Friendly Ordinary Tavern (Inn) 3-Aqshynar Charcoal Kiln (Vista) -Weissbruck (Freistadt, Stay; 74p) Broken down Water Gate (Vista) Plumes of smoke from the Skaag hills (Vista) Burned Down Taphouse (Inn) (3 Quadrants) 15 miles

1-Egregious Toll Bridge (Toll) 2-Riverside Tabern (Inn/ River event) 3-Broken Cart Ford (Crossing) -Trossreut (Grand duchy of Oberteufel, Stay; 74p+44p)   Bögen Justice (River Event), Old Bone Pikcer’s Barrel (Both ways Vista), Search Demand  (Challenge) Boat Ferry (Crossing) Humble Hostelry (Inn) (3 Quadrants) 15 miles 1-Reikwald Circle (Vista)/ Beastmen Fetishes (Challenge) 2-Riverwarden Search (River event)/ Grauenberg Castle (Vista) 3-Forest Emporium (Inn) 4-Bögenauer Ford (Challenge/Toll) -Bögenhafen (Barony of Von Saphonatime, Stay; 74p+44p) Crane Winch (River travel start), Slum Side Dive (Inn), Gambling Den (Event), Customs Census (Toll; only with a statue) Well Maintained Road to Wheburg (Vista) Bögenhafen Ferry (Crossing) Bögenauerfest (One time event) (3 Quadrants) 15 miles 1-Dwarf Bridge (Crossing) 2-Washed up path to Drackenburg (Vista) 3-Old Stone Bridge (Crossing) -Amchense (Barony of Von Saphonatime, 36+11p) Miner Locale (Inn) (3 Quadrants) 15 miles 1-Abandoned mine (Survival) 2-A Wheel Matter  (Challenge) 3-Ancient Potholes (Challenge) -Schfachof (Barony of Von Saphonatime) ... OR BÖGEN-TAHME ROAD, REIKWALD WILDS -Tahme (Grand diocese of Niederthame, Stay; 36+11p)  Customs Census (Toll; only with a statue) Tower Toll Bridge (Toll/Crossing; 6 silver) Pilgrims’ House (Inn) (3 Quadrants) 15 miles 1-Verena’s Gaze (Vista) 2-Roadwardens’ Head Quarters (Inn) 3-Forest Toll Booth (Toll; 6 silver) -Bögenhafen (Barony of Von Saphonatime, Stay; 74p+44p) (3 Quadrants) 15 miles HAGGERCRYBS DETOUR ... -Settenberg (Grand diocese of Niederthame Stay; 42+17p) Fool and Emperor (Event) Restored Bridge (Crossing) Famous Pub (Inn) (3 Quadrants) 15 miles 1-Morr’s Menhir (Crossing) 2-Whispering Fog (Challange) 3-Ruins (Survival) 4-Ruined Tower Bridge (Crossing) -Sidelung (Grand duchy of Oberteufel) Twained Tower (Vista) Trash Ford (Crossing) Draw Bridge (Crossing/Toll) Imperial Oak (Inn) (3 Quadrants) 15 miles 1-Vagabond Camp (Survival) 2-Rhya’s Effigy (Survival) 3-Peculiar Fields (Challenge; Drive/Navigate or lose quadrant) -Hopfberg (Barony of Von Saphonatime, 36+11p) Hopfberg Hopsfields (Event) Vorbergland Brewery (Inn) (3 Quadrants) 15 miles 1-Hops Pole Hop (Challenge) 2-Ill Omen (Challenge) 3-Rickety Vorbergland Footbridge (Crossing) -Schfachof (Barony of Von Saphonatime) (Mountain ride to drachenfels) 5 miles OR -Schrabwald (Aurswald Duchy; Stay; 42+17p) Town Square Punishment (Vista) Roofed Bridge (Crossing/Survival) Beer Bathhouse (Inn) (3 Quadrants) 15 miles 1-Crooked Tree (Vista) 2-Lebentrop’s Hut (Shop) 3-Ruined Tower Bridge (Crossing) -Sidelung (Grand duchy of Oberteufel Stay; 42+17p) Twained Tower (Vista) Trash Ford (Crossing) Draw Bridge (Crossing/Toll) Imperial Oak (Inn) (3 Quadrants) 15 miles OR -Schrabwald (Aurswald Duchy; Stay; 42+17p) Town Square Punishment (Vista) Roofed Bridge (Crossing/Survival) Beer Bathhouse (Inn) 1-Wild Ford (Crossing) 2-Bridge Remnants (Crossing) 3-Morr’s Garden Detour (Challenge) -Hopfberg (Barony of Von Saphonatime, 36+11p) Hopfberg Hopsfields (Event) Vorbergland Brewery (Inn) LIEZEN DETOUR (Only on return journey) -Tahme (Grand diocese of Niederthame) (3 Quadrants) 15 miles 1-Sheep Pens (Challenge) 2-Haggercryb’s Shephards’ bothy (Inn) 3-Cavern Path (Crossing) -Liezen (Abbey of Redlingen) Abbey of Redlingen (Vista), Drunk Friar (Event) ... (Inn) (3 Quadrants) 15 miles 1-Shepherds’ Path (Challenge) 2-Overrun Loggers’ Camp (Vista/Challenge) 3-Scout Blazed Trail -Bruckchön (Grand Principality of Reikland) (3 Quadrants) 15 miles TOWNS AND SETTLEMENTS: Reikland being one of the most urbanized of the Imperial provinces, it is seldom that one travelling through the regions find oneself further than a day's journey from a large town.

-ALTDORF; Upon recovering your arms at the toll house and leaving Altdorf in the direction of Vorbergland one can see the great stream of rural vegetable carts, making for the capital, with peasants in floppy outfits with evenly floppy expressions. Their wagons creaking on the cobbled stone roads, mounds of thick bloated pumpkin topping the wagons. The side of the road is splashed with pumpkin gore, as one travails, a rat scuttles from your presence through the rain channel erupting from the rotting carcass of an abandoned smashed gourd. The whole road from Altdrof through its outskirts and villages to Reikwald was smeared with road-kill pumpkin, giving the air a slight vegetably vapour, and the road an orange tinge. As your wheels ground the muddy pumpkin mulch, you're headed towards the dark enchanter's domain.

-Bruckchön (Grand Principality of Reikland) A small township, however quite well off. It is enjoying the proximity of the great city of Altdorf. The locals are quick to warn travelelrs about the plague raging in Wutrock.

-Wutrock (Grand Principality of Reikland) The town is suffering a terrible outbreak of the Green Pox, the same malady that Morrowies district suffered. The party has to make a choice, if they wish to risk entering the plague stricken city, or maybe they ought to go around.

-Tahme (Grand diocese of Niederthame) The seat of the local Theogonist, an arch-priest of the Grand Diocese. Upon approaching on Festag one can hear the toll of the city bells from far away. A grand minster dominates over the rooftops of the town, standing the tallest, a hundred more symbols of the hammer and the twin-tailed commet are thrust into the heaven upon the city spires.

-Havelfurt (Grand diocese of Niederthame) A ferry town of ill repute.

-Settenberg (Grand diocese of Niederthame) A quaint little town, paying its taxes to the minster of Tahme.

-Schrabwald (Aurswald Duchy)  A town standing right at the mouth of Reikwald. The toll of the Aurswald duchy is an extortionate one, Graf Ferdinand von Wallenstein is the proprietor of the town and the small hunting castle standing over it. One Lebentrop a hedgwise has his hut nearby.

-Schfachof (Barony of Von Saphonatime)  The closest inhabited village to Drachenfels, and the last bastion of the Empire against the terrible domain of the Enchanter. Some of the fences and foundations of the huts here were quarried from the very Drachenfels itself. The daft yokels see no issue in that. From here one can take the rout along the farmland roads, along the streams, fences and furrows, toward the mountain peaks.

-Mitenfurt (Grand Principality of Reikland) A quaint little forest town with a huge queer magical tower being built in its midst.

-Gramfort (Grand Principality of Reikland) A small concentration of huts about a fording.

-Weissbruck (Freistadt) The water gates on the river are broken, right on the Lock House of the Weissbruck canal. Because of that a great congestion has grew in the city river, trapped merchants are awaiting  the repair of the water gates impaciently. Some of them angrily chucking their wares into the crowd of eager commoner hands in an act of self destructive wrath. Goods in the city are cheaper because of that and easier to acquire. Passing the Skaag hills one can see them and the far off Diocese of Fugger the Skaggerdorf giving off plumes of smoke, which later the party may find out is due to a nurgling legion that has grown from a dung heap where some unscrupulous adventurer had discarded a Chaos artefact.

-Trossreut (Grand duchy of Oberteufel) Foggy domain of Bögenauer. Here the Reikwald thins out by the barren approach to the treeless Skaag hillocks. The knolls of former mines rise tall in the north of the township. As you approach along the river side rout on the other side of the river bank you see an old giant temple bell, half submerged in the sand of the estuary. Passing the Skaag hills one can see them and the far off Diocese of Fugger, Skaggerdorf giving off plumes of smoke.

Grauenberg Castle; Great gonfalons flutter on the wind Von Saponatheims purple stag holds between its antlers the twin-tailed comet. The seat of the upstart noble family rises before you, showing little of their humble origins. Now an imposing and quite richly outfitted fortress.

-Bögenhafen (Barony of Von Saphonatime) A mercantile city second only to Altdorf in population and splendor, and first in shrewdness and business accumen, the rotund locals would argue. Shaken by the terrible events befalling the Teugen family. Merchants so business like, they were dealing with daemons. Great merchant masolea of grandure and pauper graves stand a grim reminder of the Bögenhafen mindset. Gold statues of Heinnrich the pecuniary god of mercantile class thrift, and the gaudy private chapels in the church of Sigmar, remind every visitor of the recently reawakened religious zeal in the locals. This spiritual reneissance comes as no surprise, now that every merchant family wants to emphasise its gods fearing and devout nature, in the wake of seeing their business rivals taken in witch-hunter irons.

-Amchense (Barony of Von Saphonatime) Dwarf silver was what brought these simple miners into these desolate hills. Sent here by a mining right contracted by the Steinhäger family, rich traders of Bögenhafen. The only sight in the desolate gray mountains valley. This failed and barely hanging on mining town is a depressing sight. Bands of tired miners turning shifts in the local hills walking the streets with the candles on their steel helms.

-Liezen (Abbey of Redlingen) In between the foggy Haggercrybs peaks a small shepherds village is nestled, standing at a foot of a Sigmarite abbey. Abbey of Redlingen is where monks take care of the ancient necropoli of the chieftains of Hunberokin, the ancestral kurgans of Sigmar’s kin, as well as brew mighty stout ale from a sacred stream that trickles from the hills. Thatched cottages, rife with sheep that chew on whatever they managed to get into their bottomless gobs. Stony fences and a burdola playing shepherds. A stocky palisade surrounds the village, and a single tower of a temple of Sigmar juts over the valley. A few Reikland pigs made their merry sounds behind a clumsy fence of their sty, they were the sole guard of the town gate it would seem. Abbey of Redlingen; A fat friar is seated by a window of the Liezen tavern, laughing and chugging down tankards of beer. A stout rundlet of ale covered in sacred seals of purity under his arm. He explains that he needs to drink enough at the tavern of Liezen so that the daemons on the road will not tempt him to look inside of the Redlingen Red Stout and he will deliver the rundlet to the seat of the diocese in Tahme. The thing here, so the round friar explains, he was visiting the Redlingen Abbey, which oversees the village from a high top perch on the valley descending from the Haggercrybs, so he points through the window, where you can see beyond the small wooden village, upon a mountainside overgrown with evergreen a tall monastery with tall stone walls. It’s a monastic order of the Anvil that runs the place and this village is its fief. So the merry drunkard explains, adjusting his brass headband between hiccups. Also, he elaborates, the monastery is a brewery too, a sacred stream drips from the Haggercrybs where the monks tend to the ancient kurgans of the Unberogen folk, ancestors of Sigmar. Which in turn bless them with the sacred spring, which sprang, so the folk tale goes, when Sigmar went about a quest of vanquishing the vile beast of the Haggercrybs, a corpse eating ghoulish giant, which claimed the ancestral kurgans for his personal pantry. Thus after a victorious battle against the beast and its slaves Sigmar struck the bloated fallen beasts head so harshly with his hammer, that the wall of the mountain cracked from the might of the strike, and gave a spring. Said sacred spring is the basis of the drink. Some say, thus he said in hushed tones, and it’s the godless grunt and laymen talk, that it’s the fact that the water washes over the bones of the mighty dead champions that it has such a neat strong and peculiar flavour, thus he erupts into a goliard laughter. The monastery however is closed off, they are a monastic order and tend to isolate. An odd cart from Hopfberg comes round about every hops harvest season, but the locals store the hops in the village and the mutes come down from the mountainside to fetch it themselves, brew their sacred drink and roll it out in barrels. Some say, that’s the gossip the friar caught from some higher ups in Tahme, so he claims, the little holy brothers are said to be seeking to increase their production, pop up a proper brewery up there and start a brand. They are willing to start talks with those godless Bögenhafen merchants if the diocese would not be willing to give them the loan they need to expand, they know what they want you gottta give them that, Saint Olga patroness of brewers bless them...

-Sidelung (Grand duchy of Oberteufel)  In order to pass the river Tahme with a dry foot one has to enter the town through its drawbridge, otherwise one may use the fording near the village outside the town. A tall peculiar twained tower stands in the middle of the town, rising tall above the rooftops, very top of the tower splitting along the middle, a long crack runs through the tower. It’s only held together by an ungodly amount of chains and good will.

-Hopfberg (Barony of Von Saphonatime) Landscape about town is that of hop poles in their plenty jutting from the Vorbergland’s verdant bloated hillocks. The origin of most Reikland’s beers. Thick hop stilts are planted deep in the verdant soil, all tied with thick ropes and banded with spiked iron bands. Thick bundles of hops hanging off of each pole, trailing as far as the eye can see. RETURN JOURNEY The same map is used on the way back, it is even more important on the return journey, as the statue can suffer damage during transit, and some locations have two parts to their story. OBEREIK PRIZE If the party arrives before Geheiminsnacht: "As you ride over the Obereik cobbles, driving through a street between the narrow fenced off mansions, you ride into the mansion you were destined for. You see the garnders, servants and pumpkin carving lamp ligthers hard at work. Turning from his labourers the steward welcomes you, greeting you with a smile of relief "You're early!" When the party arrives on the day of the celebration: "Your cart's wheels trundle on the cobbles of Obereik's fine streets, town's guard scream after you as you pass them without a word, you slam your horses into the gate of the mansion riding into the courtyard, horses whinnying. All the rich guests gasp in amazement. The dramatic entrance under the green glow of the moons made quite the impression. Merchants and nobles with goblets of wine, dressed up in fancy masks of various monsters looked on from the garden and hedges, as the servants unloaded the great sculptures in the shadow of the great mansion. The gawking host came on to glare at the true masonry of the great enchanter's palace. True remidner of dread on this day, dedicated to Morr. Pumpkin lamps shone bring with crooked smiles all. You were lead away by the steward, who took you to his little office to talk about your reward. The Gehamnisnacht ball was made quite memorable this year, thanks to your timely arrival. If you're late: You see that the mansion has enjoyed a fine Gehamnisnacht ball. The head shaped pumpkin lamps rotted and stoved in in a nasty bloated fashion, their mischivious faces deformed. The steward sighs seeing you arrive. He takes you to his office to talk your prize. You arrived late, but nevertheless you brought the sculpture, you're obliged for some compensation, your merchant employer demanded it. It was a gamble after all." GOSSIP: Listed below are all the little snippets of gossip encountered in different towns. The game master should feel free to cater to what the players are interested in. However the "Adventurer's Lot" should be one of the foremost, as it foreshadows a quest in Drachenfels. Otherwise the players have to encounter the bodies first, to come to a conclusion that they're lost souls in need of burrial and saving. This gossip gives them a head start in that questline. Schrabwald ”The town belongs to Graf Ferdinand von Wallenstein proprietor of Aurswald. You know, the funny town built on stilts. That Graf of ours tends to spend his time on the courtly pleasures in Nuln and Altdorf, it’s his uncle, lord Adelbert an old austere warlike man, who tends to visit the town from time to time midway his expeditions, with freshly cut off heads of either goblins or bandits strapped to the breast of his warhorse. He makes sure that the rule of law is instituted and he moves off, can’t really complain. He’s recently been busy cracking down on crime in Auerswald, breaking up a certain halfling smuggler gang, but now the issue is, where can he find gallows small enough?” Haggercrybs ”Better to keep away from those forested foggy hillocks, they bring little good, only drunk shepherds with their droves of kruts ridden sheep, and spectres at night...” This peace of news can be obtained only during the return journey: ”Folks say that there is trouble ahead in the towns, but one can take a rout through Liezen, a rough shepherds path can lead you off into the road twain Fielbach and Altdorf, a well quick cobbled Imperial road that...” Adventurer’s Lot (Side Quest) ”Couple of years ago or so, a band of adventurers much as yourselves set out into the accursed castle, following into the footsteps of the Crescent Moon tavern heroes! A pleasant enough lot for the adventuring sort. I’ve met them. They’ve even spent a few night in my tavern. I was hoping for some publicity you see. But they were never seen again.  There was a six of them. That’s what I said then, it’s a bit of a crowd. I guess it’s never too many hands on deck when facing a living undead daemon castle of eldritch evil. They had a wizard with them. An elf he was. A proper wizard, not those pipsqueak apprentices that have little to no bearing on life. An easy going fellow. For an elf... and a wizard... he asked for wine I remember, and kept asking where I got it from. And had us prepare him a bath in his room for him. He carried with him this odd looking jet black staff he kept at his side all the while. There was this hulking dwarf following them about. As big and sturdy as a stone outhouse. Old Meister Goldhand. He bore great runic hammer with him and seemed to know all about these mountains. Over a pipe and a mug of ale he told me tales of the terrors that dwell in those mountains, which he came to encounter in his days as a gold prospector. He was the party guide into the mountains. Also, they had priestess of Verena. I guess even the concoction of arcane protection and the blessing of the lady of wisdom wasn’t enough to take on the castle. One Erszebet Lauschenberg from Middenheim, I remember vividly. She spoke of some moral duty that drove her to that accursed castle. She was very adamant about it. She bore a magical horn at her side. There was this huge portly local Reikland lass. Huge she was, Heidi her name. Very jovial. She wore a full plate of mail and a great sword upon her back. She laughed so hard the whole tavern shook. She seemed oblivious to the infamy of the castle, and eager to give it a look. They had this other elf with them... Toenail I think his name was... an unimposing sort of fellow, but when he walked not a board squeaked under his shoe. There was also this Brettonian. A charming type. They took him on as he was a fence specializing in the market for magical artefacts they were planning on peddling off after plundering the castle. He was very eager to tell me about it. Even sold me a protective medallion of his. I keep it still. They all sat in that corner yonder and spoke of murder all... each of them covered in protective magical trinkets and swords shimmering with magic which they showed off to the other patrons whom gawked with amazement at otherwordly shimmer. Not to worry you good folk but they seemed more experienced, and outfitted for such a venture than you. Their gear was dripping with enchantments. If you come by them, or rather, whatever is left of them, do me a favour. Burry them outside of the castle. I can’t stand the notion of their souls being lost to that damned place. As I said, they were a decent enough lot." Reikwald Circle ”Folks say the wizards are taking some interest in the stones of the Reikwald Circle, since the beastmen started appearing in groups round about there, themselves adorning them in all amounts of foulness. Soldiers of Von Saphonatimes are supposedly mustering to help them with the matter...” ”All the recent folks been whispering about beastmen prowling our Reikwald unchallenged as if it were the days of the bray-herds, hunting down coaches and making bone fetishes out of good hard working farmers! No goods is afoot, everyone knows that Grauenberg castle’s been stocking up lately...” ”Folk’s been saying that a great deal of magister-druids from Altdorf have been seen making their way to castle Grauenberg, and I doubt it’s some harvest rituals they’re bothering old Graf von Saponatheim about...” ”I’ve seen the most strange thing the other day, I was riding along from Trossreut to Bögenhafen as I often do, and then upon the roadside I saw a great party of men emerging from the woods. Army folk, with von Saponatheim banners, but amongst them a great hulking bearded wizard rode, in white a toga wearing brambles in his hair as if he fell into a hedge from that great white horse of his. And he rode barefoot too! These wizards are a strange lot, getting rich on the blood of us hard working normal folk, but they won’t even spend it on some good riding shoes!” Castle Grauenberg ”A beautiful mean old castle that Castle Grauenberg! Graf Wilhelm keeps its armoury well stocked with mean spiky halberds, sharp as a razor, and nasty sorts of munitions to hold off a lengthy siege. With its host of well trained militia and soldiers, two years ago they did show them stuck up Brettonian lords who rules in the Empire, taking Helmgart as they did, trying to turn decent townsmen into indentured serf! My brother in law serves in the ranks so I know what I’m talking about. He saw personally how a band of knights of Brettonia charged a steam tank, the mad primitives, and how it ended up for them...” Castle Drachenfels ”It’s been well a decade since that vile Castle was laid waste to by the local grafs and barons. Their soldiers have left little of the castle, a fief of a traitor that it was. What I mean is, after Oswald von Königswald the terrible traitor claimed to have slain the vile enchanter, the castle was granted to him by our gracious emperor through a gesture of good will, he turned it into a theatre you see. After the attempted assassination of our gracious Emperor there was little beyond rocks where the castle once stood...”

”Folk say it’s surrounded by seven towers of evil, each correspondent with a deadly sin! Clutching at the heavens like a skeletal hand, trying to pluck the very sun from the heavens to plunge us into eternal darkness!” “Aren’t you a poet now, don’t mind my companion he had a few too many...” "The castle of Drachenfels is no mere thing, it is a daemon in and of its right, for all the undead souls that infest it, the sacrificial blood it was seeped with, and daemon fumes it ingested. The wicked place is weakened, half-dormant but it still desires to entrap your soul in its dark bowels. "They say Drachenfels’ laugh is akin to a breaking of some accursed Imperial college of engineering machine, choking up as its gears devour a young engineer, gory, hollow and metallic. At least that's what I've heard." "Drachenfels The Great Enchanter, the Eternal Champion of Evil, the Darkness Who Would Not Be Defied... the more I learn about him, the less I care for him!" "Not only was it harried by crusaders but also it was destroyed during the scuffle during the theatre fight with Drachenfels himself. The place is bound to be a ruin!" "Drachenfels was destroyed, and his ravaged corpse cast for the wolves to feast upon in the gorges of the Gray Mountains. But the ranger-folk have been saying that they died after eating of him, but then returned, possessed and rotting blood thristy beasts!" "The spirits of the dead swarm about the castle like flies, trapped by its wicked will." "A visit to the castle induces hallucinations through evil glamour." "Each of seven towers is supposed to fulfil a defensive role but also be a transmogriphic symbolic representation of one of painful emotions and experiences, showing the artistic side of Drachenfell's design. A soul of a deamon traitor, but also a poet." "Not only was he a wicked wizard, but also a daemonomancer! No mere slave to darkness mind you, he'd treat with all the four Daemon kings like an equal. But also had treaties and pacts with plathera of lesser Daemon princes and beings of sheer evil. Not only that! He'd wake the dead from their slumber and do against Morr's will at his leissure! A trully wicked sorcerer was he, good riddence I say!"

Altdorf ”From what I’ve heard the Emperor, blessed be his hide, is busy with his personal retinue culling goblins in the Amber hills. A bit of a sport you see. He has a right to a pastime, he’s an Emperor for Sigmar’s sake! The whole Empire upon his shoulders, the man deserves some time off...” ”Folks say the Emperor is off hunting goblins in the Amber hills, with his picked Reikguard lads. Smashing together tankards of good cold beer, beer-maidens in tavern haystacks and a few goblin skulls to boot, our Emperor is a great lad...” ”Imagine having your house taken over by the giant spider riding goblins like the ones from Amber Hills, fighting them out of your place is half the trouble. The webs on the other hand are a different matter all together...” ”Folks say that these goblins the Emperor went off to hunt, are no mere goblins one can see slaving in the camps of the wicked orc hosts. These, so I’ve heard, are the kind that mount themselves on ungodly sized spiders in the darkest of the forests, and are said to flatten their skulls with boards by strapping them unto them as they’re still small, so their heads end up flat like a table, to what end I cannot say, but I’m not messing around with ‘em...” Mandredhoff ”Oy, that creepy old castle, where screams can be heard night and day, that’s where the witch hunters hide out that is. I’ve heard of a guy who’s been there, three times even... a vile place, you don’t want to stay there for the night I tell you that much.” ”Unlike that mean old Grauenberg that belongs to Von Saponatheims, this castle is not as imposing, one could take it for a ruin from far away, and I’m afraid that’s what they’d prefer you to think, they like to mess with your head like that. The witch hunters don’t need walls to defend them, their reputation is enough. Who’d be mad enough to willingly stroll into their castle?” Skaagendorf ”People say great plumes of smoke have been coming from the Skaag Hills of all places, old Skaagendorf is burning. I’ve heard also darker rumours, of witch hunters surrounding the town, and daemon incursions... makes your skin crawl to think, beastmen running the forests, and daemons coming into town on a bright sunny day! What a times we live in!” ”A few frightened refugees have made it over the river, whispering about dung daemons and who knows what, before being snatched away by the witch hunters, not good tidings if you ask me” ”A small army went by the other day, handguns, halberds, big flags of black and red with skulls upon them, lead by the grim witch hunters of the Mandredhoff castle, dour on their dark steeds under their buckled hats. All in their hurry they went up in their plenty towards Skaagendorf, and it’s been aflame for a day now. No good that bodes I tell ye” Weissbruck ”That old Weissbruck water gate was broken the other day, half way through the channel, ships piled up in a great big heap. They are waiting for it to be repaired, but they'll wait a while before the dwarves get their spare parts down from the mountains!” ”Folks say the dwarf master engineers have built the canal on an ancient Unberogen burial ground, and that it’s haunted. That’s why I don’t use it.” ”The Weissbruck water gate is busted they say! And the dwarfs are sending some spare parts all the way down from Karak Azgaraz to fix the bloody thing. It will take a while before those stunted beards will abuse their highland ponies enough so to wheel those heavy cogs down from their hillocks. There are some dwarf busy bodies already launching an investigation into this, they are talking of sabotage, threatening grudges, saying it’s no common malfunction but an act of treason...” Bögenhafen ”You know what they say about them Teugens, the whole merchant family gone, driven out of Bögenhafen in spiked cages by the witch hunters as if they were no better than some witches! Dabbling in daemon worship and dark magic they was dabbling in. Trading with the daemons, anything to turn a profit, for them Bögenhafen lot!” ”They say the fat rotten merchants dabbled in daemon’s craft to attain their wealth. Don't seem too unlikely to me, with their high lofty ideas about self governance, speaking with lords as if they’re equal just cause they have the same amount of gold. It just ain't proper.” ”Let me relate to you the story of the Teugen family. An ancient and rich family of note still some years ago, shaking the whole of Bögenhafen they were. Through some other parties they were accused of cahooting with the daemons in human form. One of them that is, the young one. Returned from his university days he took over the business from his deceased older brother. Under him the family fortune turned over night. They broke the monopoly of a cadet branch of the Haagens. For this accused of Dark Magic and daemon worship by the peer houses. To everybody’s surprise Johannes suddenly disappeared some five years ago. Such accusations are cast at anyone doing well in business. But it wasn’t long before the rest of his family was unceremoniously put into spiked cages and driven off to Mandredhoff... a lot of strange things were taking place in the city at that time and in the empire at large. All their business was taken over by the witch hunters who peddled what remained of the Teugen property off to the remaining merchant houses. Their seat at the council was abolished. And that was that. The merchant houses were little chuffed about it, but there was nothing they could do.” ”Ruggerbroders made their wealth on the dismemberment of the Teugen family, mark my words! Five years ago they were nothing but three brothers peddling grain on the outskirts of the city. Now they hold the monopoly on trading of perishable goods with Brettonia, and that includes brandy! But the recent scuffle with Brettonia put them back in their place, they are trying to get back on their feet however...” ”They say old Heironymus Ruggerbroder is a dark wizard himself, so long lived... he’s bound to his bed however” ”Steinhägers are a merchant house of great class, they trade with all the little outposts of Grey Mountains. And with all the dwarf cities, they carry their ore off to Nuln forges. They’ve tried their own mining ventures in the mountains, but if the dwarfs can’t find much, humans surely won’t find anything...” ”Heinrich the current patriarch of the Steinhäger house is non too pleased if one mentions the Teugens about him, tis said that his brother was murdered by the young Johannes Teugen during a daemonic ritual! Sacrificed on an altar in a store house, like a lamb they say...” ”Haagens are a a cadet branch of the Marienburg Hageens, a very well off merchant family, running nigh a fleet of sailing barges bound for Marienburg. It was them who made popular the worship of that stout golden globe of lard they call Haendryk! The rise of Teugens shook them harsh, but they’re coming back after the Ruggerbroders had a tough couple of years. It’s hard to go wrong when you have patrons back in Marienburg.” Wutrock ”From what folks been saying Wutrock, right on the edge of the Grand Principality, was stricken by some cursed malady. I hope it’s nothing serious, we don’t need another plague. But I’d keep away from the town if I were you, just to be sure.” Hedge-talk ”To get to the old wyrd’s cottage you need to go ten miles to the West along the forest rout, until you come upon that queer tree. When you do, turn North and head into the forest along the gully, then you will come upon the hut. The hedge master’s name is Lebentrop, he’ll help you as long as he can, bring a rooster or some eggs as a gift. He does not accept coin.” ”You need magical aid... I see... you seem the honest sort so I’ll help you out, but don’t go babbling about the town what I told ye. An old coot lives south-west from town, takes care of all sorts of odds and ends. When the local farmer, one by the name of Dietrich, had his pregnant cow nigh go under from some strange ill, he done went to that Lebentrop, and found him a solution. Twas constipation in the end it turned out, but who knows what the old coot has in his pantry of tricks...” ”I’ve heard an old hedge wizard lives near Schrabwald. He’s said to cure all sorts of ailments and take care of magical problems people seem to be having. A love potion or a hex, or even talking with them dead, he has you covered they say. I keep away from this sort of strange folk, but they say that when you’re in a right pickle the Schrabwald charlatan has you covered...” ”Did you hear about that forest creeping hedge coot from Schrabwald? They say he meets with the mutants of the forest to give them garments, but no one knows why... How do I know? Better don’t ask... My cousin went a hunting the other day with his mates in the forest, and came upon such a scene, he had to hold unto his bonnet he shook so hard, he thought they’d hear his hat’s plume flutter...” ”You in a need of a wizard? There is that guild in Sidelung, a big old tower that is split in the middle, a very strange sight, no doubt you won’t miss it even from afar. Never been to the wizard, nor have I had dealings with the folk that did. To be frank, I’m not so sure anyone really lives in that bloody thing come to think of it.” Morrslieb Touched Root (False Rumour) ”Folks say that they found a big ol’ turnip or a really big radish, memory fades... Can’t recall, the real matter is that the darned vegetable had gone and grown a face! You hear me right, Ol’ wickedness of Morrslieb in action that. The fellow on whose lot it grew out is said to have been put in a really mean spiked gibbet at the town’s very centre. But it’s not a matter of overzealousness this one. I’ve met a traveller, you see, who’s been in Bruckchön when the thing was being displayed by the witch hunters, held up by its leaves. The darned thing had a nose, and a pair of working peepers! And that’s not all, it done and winked at the audience and at some point even blew kisses at good Sigmar loving folk! Hellish root that was alright, after that the witch hunter stuck it in his sack and that’s the last folk have heard of that peculiar root, they say they are going to burn the fellow. The chap that recounted the tail had said that the old proprietor of the field cried that it was his tenant farmer that did sew this seed that grew all daemonic like. But who knows how it really was?” Legends of Drachenfels ”Leper’s Pavanne, was an event which took place a thousand years ago, or so. Boris Goldgather clumsily ruled over the empire at the time. It took place in that accursed castle on a stormy night. It was then, when Drachenfels the Vile, invited folks of all stations from neighbouring lands to attend his great ball. Throng of folk of the Empire and Brettonia were brought to enjoy drink, food and pleasure at the castle. But magically, he made them dance. They fell into such maddening dance, that they danced away until begun to die and their flesh came off of their dancing legs, to his own sick pleasure! That’s what happened during Leper’s Pavanne.” ”They say that the great enchanter is not slain, but rather entombed in the bowels of his forsaken castle, awaiting to be reborn once again. All he needs is a right host...” ”Did you ever hear of the stories of Oswald the accursed? Folk seldom speak of this traitor... once the greatest son of the Empire, presumed to be a favourite of the line to the Imperial Throne. To fall so low! He's burried in some unmarked grave in the mountains. No one knows where.” "In 2480 Oswald von Königswald led a party of adventurers from Crescent Moon tavern into the bowels of Drachenfels castle, where in he slew the vile Enchanter. After that Emperor Lutipold led a host of Imperial Army to destroy the castle, but Oswald demanded the castle as his own personal fief. Reclaiming some infamous dramatist from the bowels of Mundsen Keep, he had a grand theatre performance prepared for to celebrate his victory by staging his overcoming of the Great Enchanter in his own home. Once the great guests made their way into the castle, it all proved to be a trap set by the grand enchanter himself, who possessed Oswald whom he defeated those twenty five years before. Thus once he was slain, the electorate of Ostland was lost to the Königswalds and von Tassenick took over. A trully grim day for the Empire.” ”They say a band of bandits dwells in Gray Mountains. It is lead by a particularly nasty escaped convict of Mundsen Keep. They say these bandits had worked out a deal with Drachenfels, and in order to survive in the harsh climes of the mountains, they eat those travellers and pilgrims that they kill in their robberies!” ”They say that after they slew the great enchanter they cast his body into a ravine where he was ate by the vile wolves of the mountains. These same were slain by the putrified noxious cadaver, and rose from the dead to hunt the living! If ye hear a ghostly howl in the mountains know that thou art doomed!” A tavern wench tells you a tale. "I've heard tell that the terrible Enchanter had a high priestess of Morr elope with him. Breaking her sacred vows by being enamoured in this great hulking, monstrous sorcerer! They'd spend night and day torturing the local peasantry and desacrating Gardens of Morr, her former ward. Ah... how I'd love to elope with someone like that... maybe slightly less evil... I do wonder, what was her ultimate fate?" STATUE VALUE Wounds of the statues represent their value in 2 gc Rubble of Drachenfels- TB 5 Wounds 25| enc; 200 Headless blood imp- TB 2 Wounds 50| enc; 200

Bust of a Bloot-Teufel- TB 2 Wounds 50| enc; 200 Blood imp- TB 2 Wounds 80| enc; 250 Vandalised Bloot-Teufel statue- TB 3 Wounds 100| enc; 1000 Mossy Bloot-Teufel statue- TB 3 Wounds 125| enc; 1000 Preserved Bloot-Teufel statue- TB 3 Wounds 150| enc; 1000 Statue of Constans Drachenfels-  TB 4 Wounds 200| enc; 1500 Reward- If you haggle over the price of the sculpture at the end of the day, for every point of success on the roll you gain 1o% of the value of the statue. For failure you suffer -1o% of the value per point of success. With evaluate you can make up for the difference by adding a 1d10 wounds to your statue per success. Bringing it before hand grants you a hefty +25 gc, making it right on time the same night grants you a bonus of 5o gc which bonus is added to your prize after calculating the haggling bonus, being late costs you 5o% of the reward. Reikwald Journey (1oo xp) Role play- For roleplaying ideas (5xp) Globtrotter-  For every road you've travelled through (1oxp/ max 20xp) Riverman-  For taking the ship down the river. (2oxp) Bögenauerfest-  For spending a day at the festival. (15 xp) Haggercrybs- For braving the haunted Haggercrybs. (1oxp) Shepherd Paths-  For using the secret shortcut. (1oxp)

Townies-  Sleep only in taverns throughout your travels (15 xp) Vagabonds- Sleep only in the wild during your travels (15 xp) Hedge talk- Finding the secret hideout of Lebentrop the Hedgewise (10 xp)