Chapter XII: Through the Drakwald
Should they still refuse to go, have Captain Schiller send out some of the younger lads to scout around for her. After two hours they will return to the camp, covered in wolf bites and gibbering about witchcraft. If this fails to get them interested, simply skip to the end of the adventure and dock 50 xp from their rewards. T he r ITual The PCs will need to retrace their steps to Fahndorf, this time in the dark. The journey takes about 2 hours. The ruins of Fahndorf are a quarter of a mile from the crossroads. Granny is easy enough to find.
In an empty field you can see a huge bonfire, circled by dark animal shapes. Chanting drifts across the air as the flames dance. A shadowy shape is tossing things into the fire, causing it to change colour from red to blue to green. Magic is in the air.
At this point Granny is nearly finished with her ritual. The PCs have 3 rounds to stop her or the Daemon will appear. A successful Perception Test identifies the animal shapes as wolves (Granny is a Beast Mage after all); there are four of them. Any character with Speak Arcane Language (Magick) recognizes the chanting as being in the Lingua Praestantia . Granny, it seems, is full of surprises. The ritual can be stopped in three ways: • If Granny can be distracted enough (by quick-thinking diplomacy, taking damage, or other methods), she’ll have to make a Channelling Test or the interruption will ruin the ritual. Dousing the fire. This option is quite difficult considering the circumstances, but if creative players can figure out a way, it works. The wolves attack any interlopers and do their best to protect Granny. Depending on how many PCs are in your group, you may want to add of their number. One per PC is a reasonable number. Stats for wolves can be found on page 233. Since Granny is at the scene of her father’s murder for the first time in a century, she is filled with rage. While she likely has kind feelings for the PCs after the journey, she will not let anyone stop her from taking her vengeance on the Sternhauers. It is unlikely but possible that one of the PCs could convince her that murdering the Sternhauers is not the answer but it would require quite a performance. This is not something you want to determine with a die roll but with roleplaying. The argument needs to be very convincing indeed to get through to Granny in her current state. If Granny is slain, she’ll say, “I’m sorry father, I failed you,” before dying on the same ground as he. Should Granny survive the encounter, she’ll retreat into herself and go nearly catatonic. Within a week, she dies of grief (or, if the ritual was foiled, due to the consequences of the ritual; see the Magical Tome sidebar). Should the PCs fail to stop the ritual, a winged Daemon appears in the bonfire and takes to the skies. The PCs later hear about the slaughter at Sternhaur Keep, in which the entire family and all its retainers were wiped out by a flame-wreathed Daemon. Finishing the ritual taxes Granny beyond her endurance and she dies a round later, a smile on her face. • Killing Granny Moescher. •
o n To m IddenheIm ! The rest of the journey to Middenheim is uneventful. As you get closer to the city, you see more military patrols and the threat of the Drakwald seems to recede. At last you see the Ulricsberg, the great rock on which Middenheim is built, in the distance. It heartens you to see the flags of the Emperor and Count Todbringer flying proudly over the battlements, but as you get closer you can see the devastation that Achaon wrought here. Mass graves are everywhere, the walls are pitted and scarred, and half the city seems in ruins. Even in Middenheim, it seems, life is a struggle. You can only wonder what awaits you in the City of the White Wolf.
This concludes Through the Drakwald . The adventure continues in Paths of the Damned Volume 1: Ashes of Middenheim . The PCs have discharged their obligation to the people of Untergard (for which Captain Schiller and indeed all the refugees thank them), but they still have Father Dietrich’s relic and Fate has a lot more in store for them. e XperIenCe p oInTs
The PCs receive 125 xp for surviving the adventure. They gain another 50 xp if they stop Granny Moescher from completing her ritual. You can also give out 5-30 xp to each character for good roleplaying.
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