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Welcome to On a Storyteller's Night

09:38, 28th March 2024 (GMT+0)

On a Storyteller's Night

A campaign set in the Old World of Warhammer around 2515IC.

Strictly Canon it is staged in the years after the Civil War (i.e. after 1st Edition Enemy Within Campaign) but well before the Storm of Chaos.

Specifically it occurs in southern Wissenland and Sudenland.

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Growing tensions in the northern Empire between provincial rulers as well as the cults of Sigmar and Ulric broke out into a brief war in 2512- 2514. Though the battles were limited to the north, the southern provinces provided some support to the provinces nominally backing the Sigmarite faction.

In particular, Wissenland troops were committed to fight alongside those of Stirland in southern Talabecland without the approval of Grand Countess Emmanuelle von Liebewitz, Elector of Nuln and nominal ruler of Alt Wissenland. This act resulted in a political falling out between Grand Countess and her regent in Wissenland, Count Bruno Pfeifraucher. The end result was that the Grand Countess re-exerted her authority as ruler of Wissenland and stripped her vassal of his position. Granting leniency to the still powerful Count Pfeifraucher, Grand Countess von Liebewitz allowed him to retain his holdings near Grissenwald and Kreutzhofen. Throughout this challenge to her rule, Grand Countess von Liebewitz maintained her Court in the Stadtstaat of Nuln.

Life in Wissenland has begun to settle down. On the heels of the war in the northern provinces, famine and economic ruin are becoming commonplace in many parts of the Empire. With the ending of winter, a number of people are on the move, looking for greener pastures and a way out of their dreary existence. Many find nothing more than squalor, especially in the overcrowded cities and towns in the west. Some find death on the roads and rivers of the dangerous and desperate Empire.

As a result of the fragile peace in the land, unemployed mercenaries roam the countryside as little more than armed groups of bandits, especially in the war-ravaged provinces. Bands of emboldened goblins raid and terrorise the populace from their lairs in the forests and hills. There are even rumours of more twisted and evil creatures lurking in the remote and dark places, snatching unwary travellers who are never seen again.

On a more mundane level, the realignment of provincial borders is new and causes great confusion among the populace. Old prejudices die hard and bitter feelings lie beneath the surface for many folk. The rumoured events that led to the Civil War – such as the attempt on the Emperor’s life – and the recent deaths of the Grand Theogonist and Ar-Ulric have made the people of the Empire even more suspicious and worried about those “shadowy” individuals who would seek to gain from anarchy. Many of the authorities – such as the Church of Sigmar and Witch-Hunters – endeavour to root out and bring justice to such elements.

Recently, news has made its way to Sudenland that the Lector of Middenland was selected to become the new Grand Theogonist and adopted the name of Volkmar to mark his rule over the Church of Sigmar. It is said that he has even reached an accord with the Ar-Ulric of Middenheim to turn away from their religious differences and re-direct their respective cults’ activities towards hunting down the hidden enemies of the Empire.

The relations with the neighbouring country of Bretonnia have seen a severe cool-down. Border conflicts among petty nobles have increased to a point where it has caught the attention of more important nobles and the small skirmishes of before have fledged into something not actually war, but definitly not skirmishes either.

Count Pfeifraucher has seen fit to move more state troops to the border and Kreutzhofen has suffered from these additional aggressive men. The village headman Sigismund Klippel has already sent an offical complaint to the Count to send men who control his soldiers but his messenges have been ignored. And so brawls and general bullying and harrassment have become daily business for the small town guard unit.
Naturally, the rumours of war have caused trade to deteriorate massively, and even though trade from Tilea is still fairly constant, the populace is beginning to feel the antagonism towards the wester nrealm. Bretons who have lived for generations in Kreutzhofen suddenly find themselves the targets of physical pranks of former friends. Some have already left, but most cannot accept the loss of all their belongings and so they continue to suffer.

About two weeks ago a new rumour has made its rounds and it persists: Rumours of a plague in Bretonnia !

It is Jahrdrung 2515IC
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A Foul Mystery (Session 01-04, 12th Jahrdrung - 09th Pflugzeit 2515)
The Group has investigated and ended a disease in southern Wissenland (near Kreutzhofen), ending a ritual that corrupted an ancient elven holy site and spawned Nurglings and Plaguebearers to spread the disease. The group has taken some elven artefacts from the site which seemingly had been used in the thwarted ritual. They wanted to learn more about these artefacts. The disease seemed to have originated in Bretonnia but the Montdidier Pass has been closed off by both the Elves of Athel Loren and the Dwarves of the nearby holds.

A Dead Boy (Session 05-07, 12th Pflugzeit - 15th Pflugzeit 2515)
The Group thus headed east to Sonnefurt where they investigated a murder mystery and saved the scapegoat murderess. Everyone then believed the true culprit had been killed, everyone but the characters. But they were unable to unravel the uneasiness they all felt about a potential man behind the scene and travelled on to Wusterburg.

(Session 08-, 17th Pflugzeit - 2515)
current storyline

The Group is currently at Wusterburg, it is 20. Pflugzeit 2515 I.C.
West, at the edge of the Barony of Mackensen was a mystery forest that few people dared to enter as rumours of elves and other strange faeries abounded that did not allow entry into their wood, much as in Athel Loren, the large realm of the Wood Elves between the Empire and Bretonia.
However, a prospecting party of miners had actually entered at the beginning of spring and returned with news of rich ores to be found beneath the dark canopies. The rumour spread quickly and the surrounding nobles were each claiming the forest to be within their own borders. Obviously, there was truth in that, as seemingly the forest was large enough to touch each of these baronies. Each noble has sent armed forces to enforce that claim.
The forest seems to have spread further as trees now cover regions that were previously barren land and plains. This has effectively closed down any traffic (and thus trade) with the settlements upriver as any river barges are being ambushed, the clear intent being murder and not robbery.
Baron Von Eigenhof's soldiers were slaughtered by creatures of the forest, Von Kalb's mercenaries have turned into marauders and harrass the southern lands of the Barony Mackensen, seemingly for private reasons as the captain of that force had previously been loyal to Mackensen but had been dismiseed from service. Of the other two factions no news were heard.
The group also learned that the prospectors venturing into the Forest of the Lost had retrieved magical items.
Consulting with a scholar and a wizard the group learned the Forest of the Lost, also called Athel Brocelon, seems to be ruled by a Dryad Queen who is vengeful and hates humans. Clearly the Queen is angered by the intrusion of the prospectors and more so by the armies closing in on her realm and she intends to fight back.
 The dryads are a dying race and the Queen used to change human children to become dryads with her magic and an artefact, the Lute of Wisdom. There is a myth that the Lute of Wisdom was stolen a long time ago by one of the changed. The time scope is a mystery, however.
The Elven Artefacts retrieved by the group at the very edge of Wissenland more than a month ago have been investigated by both the scholar and the wizard. Clearly the symbolism involved is of growth, health, recovery and fate. And they are magical, though also tainted by the ritual of the Nurgle sorcerer.
 The group also learned a seeming resolution of the murders in Sonnefurt. All along they had suspected that the Freiherr Bader was involved in the murders and in Wusterburg they learned that the war hero is homosexual and may have murdered in Sonnefurt out of fear that his tendencies become widely known. The group has learned that Baroness Katarina von Heisenberg's soldiers are led by the Freiherr and maybe the hated noble comes within their reach again.
Meanwhile, a murder occured in the dock area of Wusterburg. The victim a prostitute who has unearthly traits and was obviously much older than she appeared to be.
The group intends to venture forth into the Forest of the Lost to offer the Elven Artefacts to the Queen of the Dryads, hoping to appease her to relent from waging war on the humans.