Hans Baumer, Woodsman

Text partially extracted from "Through the Drakwald" adventure, in the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay book.



A tall, bearded man in his thirties, Hans is one of the forest-dwellers who came to Untergard for safety. He is a quiet man, preferring the solitude of the wilderness to the bustle of town. He spends his days out in the forest, hunting and scouting for the approach of any hostile forces, returning to the town only at dusk. The samll game he occasionally brings back helps to supplement the meagre living provided by the townsfolk's fileds and livestock, altough Captain Schiller has voiced the fear that anything caught in the forest might now be tainted by Chaos, so some people prefer not to eat it. So far, though, no one has shown any ill effects from eating game.



Hans Baumer's Stats:



Human Woodsman



WS42% BS25% S41% T34% Ag35% Int33% WP38% Fel25%

Att 1 W 14 M 5 IP 3 FP 0



Skills: Concealment, Follow Trail, Gossip, Perception, Secret Language (Ranger Tongue), Secret Signs (Rangers), Sacel Sheer Surface, Silent Move, Speak Language (Reikspiel).



Talents: Acute Hearing, Fleet Footed, Resistance to Disease, Rover, Specialist Weapon Group (Two-Handed).

Granny Moescher, Town Caregiver

Text partially extracted from “Through the Drakwald” adventure, in the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay book.

Granny Moescher is the oldest inhabitant of Untergard and serves as a healer and general wise-woman for the town. Shw appears to be about 60 years old, but the talk of the town said that she was older than that. No one in Untergard can remember a time when Granny was not around.

Granny Moescher provides a political counterpoint to Captain Schiller, leading efforts to restart farming and create some kind of normal life again. Despite her title, Granny is a vigorous woman with a no-nonsense manner and an eye for practicalities. She is one of only a few people who live outside the town walls. Captain Schiller has tried several times to get her to move to the centre of the town, but she refuses to leave her home.

Among other things, Granny has been instrumental in seeing that the orphans left by the attack are looked after; she has farmed several of them out to surviving families, and at any time there will be from three to six orphans living in her house and helping out with chores.

Granny Moescher's Stats:

Human ?, ex-?, ex-?

WS28% BS30% S30% T31% Ag35% Int56% WP53% Fel45%

Att 1 W 13 Mag ? IP 5 FP 0

Skills: A. Know. (?) +10%, (Theology), Animal Care, Charm, Charm Animal +10%, ? +10%, C. Know. (the Empire), (the Wasteland), Gossip +10%, Heal, ?, Perception, Read/Write, Search, ?, S. Lang. (Classical), (Reikspiel).

Talents: ?, ?, ?, Night Vision, ?, Savvy, Strong-minded.

Father Dietrich, Priest of Sigmar

Text partially extracted from “Through the Drakwald” adventure, in the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay book.

Father Dietrich was sent from Altdorf to guide the masses when Untergard's town Priest was killed during the big battle. As the only non-local, and a sigmarite, most people prefer to go to Granny Moescher with their problems. But Father Dietrich is treated with respect, if not warmth.

As Untergard's temple was detroyed along with the rest of eastern half of town, Father Dietrich established a makeshift shrine close to the western end of the bridge, where he conducts service. The most educated person in town, he also serves as an advisor to Captain Schiller on spiritual and magical matters. Father Dietrich tends to be humorless, but he is honest, forthright, and extremely devoted to both Sigmar and the Empire.

Father Dietrich's Stats:

Human Priest, ex-Initiate

WS37% BS27% S41% T37% Ag24% Int30% WP48% Fel43%

Att 1 W 13 Mag 0 IP 3 FP 0

Skills: A. Know. (History), (Theology) +10%, Charm, Heal, Perception, Read/Write, S. Lang. (Classical, Reikspiel).

Talents: Public Speaking, Resistance to Magic, Strike to Injure, Suave, Very Strong, Warrior Born.

Gerhard Schiller, Watch Captain

Text partially extracted from “Through the Drakwald” adventure, in the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay book.

A grizzled veteran of about 50, Schiller was the highest-ranking survivor in Untergard after the siege on that town laid by the Beastman Lord Khazrak One-Eye. It was he who organized the townsfolk to defend themselves, and oversaw the repair on the town walls. He ruled the town during the martial law that followed the siege largely because the other residents have come to look to him for leadership.

Schiller is tough, but fair. He may come across as gruff, but he cares about the people of Untergard (currently dispersing as refugees in Middenheim, some leaving to other destinies, while some still try to stay together as a comunity) and will do his best to protect them.

Gerhard Schiller's Stats:

Human Captain, ex-Sergeant, ex-Watchmen

WS50% BS46% S43% T44% Ag4% Int42% WP45% Fel50%
Att 2 W 15 IP 4 FP 0

Skills: A. Know. (Law), Command +10%, C. Know (Empire, the Wasteland), Dodge Blow, Follow Trail, Gossip +10%, Intimidate, Perception +10%, Read/Write, Search, Secret Lang. (Battle Tongue) and Speak Lang. (Reikspiel, Tilean).

Talents: Coolheaded, Disarm, Menacing, Savvy, Street Fighting, Strike Mighty Blow, Strike to Stun and Very Resilient.

Berthold Brecht

There are not so many things that keep the Empire people together. One could argue, specially if using the knowledge of the elder races, that humans have a natural tendency toward conflict. The people of the Empire come from very different cultures, and even if they share many things in common, there is very close amount of things in which they differ.

Thus the times of troubles brings at least this one thing in favour of the Empire: it unites it's people. And one tool for this union happens spontaneously: the social representation of a hero. Because it must be another natural human trait, to expect the solution to come from another person.

Throughout the Empire there are some men who are seen as heroes by the common folk. They arise in this needy times, feeling the expectations for something that must be done and gaining people's love and admiration in return as if wearing some automatically recognisable sign.

Berthold's father was one of these men. Borned in Ostland and carrying the famous practical, objective and single-minded stubborn Ostland way, he had also and incredible ability to give himself openly to the danger of combat and getting away with it in some close form to “one piece”. So he travelled the northen Empire land fighting the minions of Chaos as they showed themselves, selling his arm and weapons and gaining fame.

But one thing that Berthold could say about the social representation of a hero is that it never gets the whole painting of the man. Because, even with all the good his father was able to give to a lot of people by helping them with his talent in combat, he would also deliver a lot of suffering to those closer to him through his close-minded behaviour. And, of course, his compulsion for alcohol.

So it was up for Berthold and his mother to see and live with the bad side of his father. And even if things got tough one time or another, his mother would always come to comfort him and make he look bravely to the future. Because she always said that it is impossible to know what's behind the next hill, and even if one should pray for Shallya's mercy, it would do more good to do it with Sigmar's courage and Verena's understanding. And she had plenty of it all. A lively woman from Hochland, his mother met his father in one of his adventures and, being in love, went with him to Ostland when the time came. There, even if the people saw things and acted so differently, she could nevertheless find some happiness as she was always able to affect people, no matter how serious they were, and grow her children the way she saw was best.

Berthold grew with this comforting side of his mother. He inherited her inner strength, as well as her appreciation for understanding. From his father he got the practical and objective behaviour, as well as a matter-of-fact way of seeing things. And with this practical view, he could never understand his father's behaviour. Even with the seemingly unending understanding of his mother. Because the old man, the veteran warrior, was apparently incapable of finding peace within himself. Maybe the things that he saw in his life experience were really hard to overcome. But Berthold could not excuse him for trying to wash it away with liquor and spirits, only to bring it out in his family. And Berthold, being the eldest son, probably got the worse of it all.

It was the same way when the Storm of Chaos announced itself. His father could almost taste the battles in the air. It was not clear to Berthold if what excited him so much was the perspective of helping people with what he knew how to do best, or the simple perspective of bloodshed.

“When someone comes to close to Chaos, even if fighting it, one has to be extra careful not to become Chaos himself”, said Berthold's uncle once. And, listening to this wise man words, he did not think careful could describe even the small bit of his father.

His uncle, on the other hand, was a man that inspired Berthold. He too had a talent for combat, but not so obviously expressed as his father. He used it rationally, and for that he commanded the watch of their town when his older brother went searching for fame and gaining it.

So it was in the hopes of becoming his uncle follower that Berthold sign in to fight against Chaos. But his father would not have seen any of that. He made him become a soldier, for he thought that a man of courage should show it being at the front of any army. It was unexpected that Berthold showed such a talent for long rage weaponry, and he could not deny the gleam in his eyes when he holded the gunpowder rifle and remembered all the histories that his mother told about his Hochland grandfather.

And there he was, serving the Empire as one soldier of the artillery battalion. And they marched north, and then west, as they met with a large contingency of retreating Empire forces. It seemed that the Armies of Chaos marched unstoppably, following different routes, flanking the Empire defences and rarely stopping to finish any siege. They went on and on, aiming just one final objective without any hesitation. So this group of army soldiers were retreating, losing battle after losing battle, to a more defensible position.

They joined forces and went on. More then once they shared spilled blood with Chaos outriders and frontmen. And it was in Wolfenburg, joining forces in this great city defence, where they met their destiny.

The forces of Chaos did not take long to fall on them with all they wrath. The siege was a mighty one. The defenders fought as they could, but they wouldn't be able to stop the inevitable. It was a massacre. And Berthold, fighting with everything he could from the top of the city's walls, saw his father laying down a lot of Chaos minions, only to be butchered by a fierce Chaos Warrior.

The only luck they had, for Ranald had seemingly fled the place long before, was in their enemies hurry. So, even if the Chaos troops went inside the city's walls, terminated their defences, ruined it's buildings and murdered most of it's people, they left some standing. Berthold was one of them. And what God smiled at him, only to let him see the terrible thing Wolfenburg became, he could not exactly say. But anyway he thanked Shallya for her mercy, Sigmar for courage to go on, and Verena… for the opportunity to learn.

So he went on, after healing from the wounds of battle. He felt strangely relieved after his father had died. Of course he fell sad. It was a very odd mixture of feelings. But he chose to stay with the relieveness at the moment, because it reassured him, and let him know how much pressure it was to be his father son.

He went to the place he knew the Chaos forces aimed. He went to Middenheim, but got there too late. Fortunately he did not meet with the armies retreating from the greatest siege the Empire had ever seen. He had gone too far to the south to pass by his mother's land, even if not stopping to see if he could find his grandfather. And when he finally got to the capital of Middenheim, the city was already rebuilding. And then he saw his opportunity. He still wanted to follow his uncle's path. He wanted to fight with his brains in favour of his sword and pistol, not, as he perceived it, against himself. And when asking for an inscription in the city's watch force, he was directed to the Temple of Verena, as a place where he could start learning about the city's laws. There, he was presented to a foreign Initiate named Chades Knigway, who would start teaching him how to read in exchange for his service as man-in-arms. And that was the way Berthold joined his group…

(Berthold is played by Chico, our samurai motorcycle man, and rules expert.)


Berthold's current Stats:

Human Soldier
Male, 5'6'', 130Lbs, pale grey eyes, yellow hair. 22 years old, has a missing nail. Star Sign: Mummit The Fool.

WS48% BS48% S33% T36% Ag43% Int32% WP38% Fel27%
Att 2 W 13 IP 1 FP 2

Skills: Gossip (+10%), Intimidate, Perception, Ride, Search, C. Know (Empire), Dodge Blow, Heal and Speak Lang. (Reikspiel).

Talents: Lightning Reflexes, Mighty Shot, Quick Draw, Rapid Reload, Savvy, Sharpshooter, Special Weapon Group (Gunpowder), Strike Mighty Blow.

Experience Gained: 1150.

Chades Knigway

Chades was born from a wealthy family that lived near the Imperial Capital of Altdorf. His father was not just a farm investor, renting his vast lands to many common farmer families and buying their grains with exclusive prices, he also was the proprietor of a large amount of windmills that processed the grains to sell them to the capital.

So Chades grew up very comfortably. He attended the nearest town school, for his father and mother, as typical Reiklanders, valued education a lot. There, he would sometimes be mistreated by his poorer classmates, but, for the importance his family had in the region, even more vicious students had to respect him in front of the teachers eyes, for he would always be protected. But soon he wouldn't need this special protection, for Chades grew larger and stronger than the other children, and his brothers, all of them older than he, were always teaching him how to defend himself.

For, even if his father valued education, good planning and focused thinking, he valued fighting skills in equal degree. Typical Reiklanders in this too, there was a strong spirit in his family of being ready to answer any call-to-arms to help the other less-fortunate Provinces. It was tradition to remember the times of Emperor Magnus, even if he wasn't himself a Reiklander, to state that Chaos was always waiting at the farther borders.

It was a discourse tradition, of course. None of Chades' family members had fought against Chaos, only maybe some help in organizing the region's peasant and farmers into eradicating some small Beastmen threat. Even so, Chades saw almost all of his older brothers go to Altdorf to Military School, even if they were frequently back to celebrate family weekends.

But for all the talk they had about fighting Chaos, they weren't ready for the fate that waited them. Because when it came, Chaos didn't come in the form of armies or warbands of Beastmen. But in the form of a terrible plague that fell killing almost all of the harvest.

It was as if devastation had come from one day to another. Many farmers quickly embraced Morr in sickness, but really the worst of it targeted the harvest. And since Chades' family were no nobles, his father didn't have much to support this darker times. He was an investor, and was not prepared for a whole year without anything to sell. Misery was at their door.

Holding what they could, their only chance was to sell everything they had for a very small price and migrate to the capital. Chades' brothers went straight to their military careers, and his father having some favours owned to him, they made to middle and high ranking posts quite fast. Chaos was already strengthening to the north, after all, for those were the years of the decade before the Storm hitted.

To the youngest son, there was not a clear path to follow. Chades was in his twelve spring and yet ready to follow his brothers. So his father made a choice and sent the boy to an internship school. The one that was faster available to him and had the highest prestige possible at the same time was a school conducted by Vereneans Professors.

At first, Chades had to count on a lot of effort to adapt to this new reality. Even if intelligent, he was not the brightest student at the school, and Verenean Priests were really hard teachers. He even despised it all from time to time, but by letters his father urged him forward, telling him that, in those troubled times, every one of them should use all of their strength to succeed. He would also affirm that he foresaw a great exit for his boy, for if he was the better educated than them all, imagine what he could do!

That made Chades persist. And as the years passed, he developed likeness for it all. Even more. As his persistence was based on the direction that he had to exceed himself, and that his path would lead him to a better world through understanding of things, eventually Chades became almost religious about it.

The greatest turnover of his life was yet to come, nevertheless. And it did when he was about 17 years old. What happened was that he dived in thoughts about the time he and his family lived happily and wealthy. Hadn't they always prepared for the worst from Chaos? Hadn't his ancestors fought alongside great generals and overcame every threat? What was the thing that his family failed to perceive that doomed them all?

The answer was an easy one, even if hard to face. They had always imagined Chaos of coming though it's minions. What they lacked was the perspective that Chaos is everywhere. And the only way to fight it, Chades thought, was through the utmost study of it's ways. Was through the understanding of it's schemes and tactics, in every aspect that they showed themselves. And to do this, one should be protected. Divinely protected, for hadn't they heard a lot of stories about good men who came to be embraced by Chaos in their genuine attempt to help everyone? And so there was one Divine Entity that could answer his call, for She was the one that lead all her followers through the paths of understanding. And She was the one who went to catch the holy sword of truth to slice every lie, every Chaos doing. And She was Verena.

It was like having an illumination. From this day forward, Chades worked very hard to be accepted in the Order, eventually becoming an Initiate. And as his training wa almost over, he had the chance to ask permission for a year as a wandering priest. This was viewed in good eyes by his superiors, as they understood only the practical study of the world could teach with the coherence needed. And as Chades path seemed a strange one, for he showed a lot of interest in studying the ways of conflict and war, the Priests tought this was even more truth in his case.

This way, he went north with a battalion of Reiklanders answering the Emperor's call to arms, not without saying goodbye to his father and mother, who were proud of him even if they didn't understand exactly what he was up to. In this time they were working as merchants in the city, and could live by with some moderate richness.

After fighting some small battles in the way north, eventually Chades's battalion got to a small town called Untergard, in the middle of Middenland territory. There they joined other Imperial forces in the defence of the town, for it holded a bridge that was safe passage through River Taub. Resisting violent battles against the great warband of the Beastman Khazrak One-Eye, the protectors managed to hold long enough until their enemies abandoned the attack to go north help in Middenheim's Siege. Even if losing a lot of his original comrades, Chades met others that would eventually help him protect the good townsfolk in a later escape through the Drakwald Forest. This new companions were Thorne, a young Hunter from the woods, and Magnus, a Roadwarden who helped bring an army contingency from Middenheim to help in the city defence. And after some missions, not long after Magnus left their group to get married, other three joined them: Lenora the Vagabond young woman, Galith the Dwarf Miner and Berthold the Ostland Soldier. It is with these companions that Chades currently fights Chaos, and is about to discover how right he was when he imagined… Chaos is everywhere…

(Chades is played by Dani, the big fellow who will still rule the world. And for the good of it all!)


Chades' current Stats:

Human Verenean Initiate
Male, 1,90m, 110kg, Brown Eyes, Black Hair. Star Sign: The Limner's Line.

WS46% BS39% S41% T46% Ag34% Int41% WP41% Fel39%
Att 1 W 13 IP 4 FP 4

Skills: Charm, Gossip, Perception (+10%), A. Know (Astronomy), A. Know. (Theology), C. Know (Empire), Heal and Speak Lang. (Reikspiel).

Talents: Excellent Vision, Public Speaking, Very Resilient, Very Strong, Warrior Born.

Experience Gained: 1185.

Galith

Maybe it can be said that tradition fades within the dwarven people, as more and more dwarfs have been moving from their ancient homes to live in human settlements since the beginning of Sigmar's Empire. Maybe dwarven society is becoming a thing of memory, something to be celebrated and kept in an increasingly “appearance-only” way, since the majority of the dwarven people that are born in this century did so completely immersed in human society, as did their parents and their grandparents.

If this is true, then Galith is a living exception. Born in a traditional dwarven miner village in the all-Empire territory of the Middle Mountains, he never knew anything but dwarven tradition since very recently. The only contact he had with human society was with the military outpost and the rare highlander villagers that lived in the surface of the mountains. Trained in the millennia old dwarven miner way of life, Galith aspired to become a dwarven engineer to help his people even further.

But the Storm of Chaos changed everything. Having already had serious trouble with the passing incursion troops that charged through the north and south of Middle Mountains, after the siege of Middenheim was broken the largest contingency of the Chaos Armies retreated exactly there, to the higher defensible territory where the dwarfs made their home since immemorial times.

There was nothing that could stop them. The dwarven people, always ready to take arms, organized what defence they could to protect their weaker brethren and the human allies in an emergency escape. The older and the more stubborn stayed to prevent what ancient places they could from being defiled by the corrupt power of the Chaos minions. It was a lost case.

Even if wanting to stay with his father, Galith was charged one of the protectors of the fleeing. And that he did the best he could. It was a mad run, end everything seemed to fall apart over and over as they went north looking for the end of the mountains.

When they exited the tunnels and descended the mountains' side, less than a third of all the dwarfs that lived in this ancient place remained living. Their community was destroyed, their homes now inhabited by the worst creatures the world could possibly know.

Galith had lost his entire family. And it grieved him so much that the moment he led his charges to safety in a still standing human hold, he departed west.

He walked alone for almost a week, feeding very little. Turning northwest he reached the Sea of Claws and Nordland's chores, which is mostly a descending wall of stone. Galith has never seen so much water in his life. But his grieve prevented him of enjoying the grandness of it.

But the cold and grey aspect of the Sea of Claws, the wind always blowing and sometimes bringing dense mists with it, together with the desolate terrain of Nordland slowly made Galith's mood turn from grieve into sadness as he continued to walk west. He would sometimes scream in the vastness, or during a storm, but mostly he just went on, letting things settle inside of himself. The constant thoughts of the massacre and the escape were leaving him as if carried by the wind, letting space to nothing but quietness.

And so he eventually got to a small fishing village that standed at the chores, high above the wall of rock. Strangely this people did not fish anymore, but made trades with vessels of the northern savages, exchanging salted fish for potatoes, some vegetables and coal.

Seeing this as an opportunity to wash his sadness with good work, Galith decided to adopt this poor and ignorant people, teaching them how to mine properly. Even if he knew they would be utterly incapable of reproducing the artwork of a dwarf, they could certainly improve their terrible work. The way their were doing it, Galith felt really sorry for the mine, as she was certainly suffering at the hands of these… humans.

Even if the villagers eyed the dwarf with suspicion, there was none bold enough to stop him from working at the mine. And as he was able to bring more and more quantities of coal than many of them together could ever be able to, they gave him their thanks and a house to live.

Within the passing of a month, Galith's sadness had almost completely left him. And that quietness that filled him was giving space to wonderings about the future. He felt good working at the coal mine and helping this ignorant people, but he could not feel at home – and the villagers wouldn't ever drop completely their suspicion of a foreign, specially a dwarf foreign. More than that, he was starting to want more things of his life.

That was when some diplomatic incident occurred between the villagers and the savage traders. Galith could not understand exactly why it had happened, but apparently the savages were accusing the villagers of sending some curse on them or any other nonsense this humans could think about. He preoccupied about the safety of the villagers, however, as the savages were threatening burn them all, and even if he was a dwarf that wasn't much he could do against a whole tribe of barbaries.

So he was glad when two other foreigners went to the village to offer their help: a young human knight of some strange southern Goddess, and a very savvy Halfling, some type of ever-children human that Galith has never seen before.

And one week after the arrival of these two, came other group of entirely different people: led by a Verena Initiate named Chades (what this humans got with Goddesses anyway?, he wondered) they were Thorne, an expert hunter, Berthold, an intelligent soldier, and Lenora, a very young (and dirty) woman vagabond that showed them all how to get there. Eventually Galith helped all these people save the villagers through an absurd plan made by the Halfling. He then decided to go south with them, feeling he could save those other humans from further messes, and understanding that doing so he would be at the same time helping the world get rid of the same forces that murdered his family and enjoying some more of his own life.

So Galith, the grumpy young dwarf, is the strongest and most naturally-born close combat fighter the group has – even if lacking the training and technique of others. He is also kind of slumpy, and socially he is a mess. But, as well as his temper can annoy the others at a difficult time, it can also boost strength and joy to everyone as his mood changes and he utter them forward or make some probably out of place joke.

As things go on, Galith is walking a path that leads him to a more combat oriented career than he used to imagine himself doing when still with his family at the dwarf village. So he is probably going to evolve into being either a mercenary or a traditional dwarf shieldbreaker.

(Galith is played by Bera, the kindest of us all.)


Galith's current Stats:



Dwarven Miner
Male. Star Sign: The Greased Goat.

WS55% BS27% S45% T50% Ag24% Int37% WP43% Fel21%
Att 1 W 13 IP 0 FP 2

Skills: Animal Care, Drive, Evaluate, Perception, Scale Sheer Surface, C. Know (Dwarfs), Speak Lang. (Khazalid), Speak Lang. (Reikspiel), Trade (Miner) and Trade (Smith).

Talents: Dwarfcraft, Grudge Born Fury, Night Vision, Orientation, Resistance to Magic, Special Weap. Group (2 Handed), Stout-Hearted, Sturdy, Very Resilient and Warrior Born.

Experience Gained: 940

Thorne

Young Thorne cannot say exactly how many Winters he has lived, even if knowing that it must be around 15, or maybe 16. Being an intelligent person, it is not his fault. It is only that his family did not had the tradition to mark birthdays, and thus they did not had the tradition to celebrate namedays each year. And maybe that's not as strange as it looks if you understand that they did not followed the Imperial Calendar as in every Imperial town, but only the annual seasons cycle.

Incidentally, his family did not lived in any city or town. Instead of the protection of these far more common ways of living, Thorne's ancestors chose to go to one of the most dangerous and wildest places in the Empire: the Drakwald Forest. That is, chose to go, or to remain there.

Being in a long line of hunters and forest dwellers, Thorne probably is an almost direct descendent of the oldest human tribes to arrive at this part of the world, humans who lived among nature instead of trying to change it aggressively. Practical followers of Taal and Rhya, they inhabited simple houses and shacks, had a community organization with a organic hierarchy based on age and value, cultivated some food and handled some animals. Mostly they lived on collecting from the forest and hunting. That is to say, hunting a lot.

More than that, they went to the towns nearer to them to exchange or sell salted meat and skins for diversified food and manufactured equipment. That was the way Thorne knew empirically that existed other forms of living, and that these other forms knew of Thorne's family, a strange group of hunters who chose to live resisting beastmen as an impossible deed (that nonetheless they apparently were able to do) and at least did some good bringing excellent quality skins and leather for very low prices thrice a year.

Perhaps more importantly, that was also the way Thorne survived what happened at the time. Because if it was for some years now that the foul beastmen grew perceptively in numbers, strength and violence throughout the forest, it still seemed very sudden when from a day to another they were organized as a vast and terrible army. Oriented to destroying every den of humanity in and around the Drakwald Forest, it was not long when some group of the terrible chaos minions attacked Thorne's family place in the woods.

But he was not there at the time. The young lad had gone hunting with his father for some days, as the older man usually took one of his children or nephews when he wanted to teach specifically. It was not very long, however, until hunter and apprentice noticed that something very wrong was going on. Suddenly they found beastmen trails everywhere, and the sounds of war drums were not far away.

The two of them runned home as fast as they could without stopping being very cautious. The only thing that they found when they got there was what was left of their houses as small piles of wood on flames.

That was nothing more to do but hope for the best. Maybe their family had foreseen the danger, running away just after setting the houses on fire to prevent the enemy from getting any benefit of the place. But maybe worsen things had indeed happened.

They did not had any time to wonder about these things. The war drums were getting closer and closer, and if they could clearly see that some beastmen had already passed through there, it was something not smaller than a warband what approached. And their escape was so close and so tense, filled with hours of hiding and just few minutes to cross long distances, that the two of them eventually got separated.

Not being able to find his father and not risking calling for him, Thorne did the only thing that he could, something his old man taught him his whole life: focused on surviving. So he went on. Eventually he got to the fortified town of Undergard, where he found a large contingency of Imperial soldiers ready for battle.

And indeed battle there was. A huge warband commanded by a beastman warlord called Khazrak One-Eye lay siege on Untergard, trying to control the safe passage through the River Taub the town's bridge represented. But the forces of the Empire were successful in holding their defence until Khazrak got impatient and went north to help his lords on the siege of Middenheim.

Eventually, the Imperial forces started to move away from the city, they too going north, but to defend the capital. Hurt from helping in the battle and feeling lost about what to do next, Thorne remained in Untergard to recover. He had made some friendship with the townsfolk, having their gratitude and feeling some for them as well. And there were two even more out-of-town people than him with which Thorne had gotten acquainted and was about to become companion: the Verena Initiate Chade and the Roadwarden Magnus.

The three of them ended up helping the townsfolk escaping another siege of beastmen (see Through the Drakwald adventure in Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay). They went north to Middenheim, where a High Priest of Verena assigned a mission to them in a small village to the west. After that, Magnus left the group and, when they had to go north to Nordland to resolve what appeared to be some diplomatic problem among the people of a fishing village and barbarians from Norsca, they were joined by a soldier named Berthold and a vagabond named Lenora, just to come back with yet another companion, a dwarf miner named Galith.

Since then, the five of them are trying to resolve increasingly difficult problems in and out of the city. And from these experiences Thorne is evolving into being the person to keep the group alive when in the woods (with great help in navigation by Lenora and Galith) and the greatest range combat specialist of them all.

He still is a young man. And even if by luck or fate his mind is holding straight after all he is going through fighting the abominations of Chaos, Thorne is becoming an increasingly careful person, if not to say a sometimes frightened one. His archer borne talent does not stop to get better with skill, and his training in the wild is getting him to become a scout of potential.

Thorne is a practical person, always trying to focus in what works. He is not an educated individual, but tends to look at things in a manner as his family taught him: what could be explained as a “pack manner”, which is high intelligent sometimes. Nevertheless, the poverty of the world and the injustices he has seen (in the form of the poor people always getting the baddest of the bad times) made him get his attention to the way society is organized. For a time, Thorne considered joining a friend he met in the streets at Middenheim, another young man who would go to the Platz talk to people about injustice and rebelling against it. For that, he started to have lessons on reading and writing with Chades, and even got himself a law book.

But even if these problems of the social system have his attention, Thorne doesn't seem to be able to deviate from what is his natural path. And so he evolves. Maybe, if he proves to be capable of keeping this path and at the same time opening himself to new fields of knowledge, he will be able to learn how to read. And then, not only he has much to understand about law from one book, he has one other volume, secretly in his possession as a gift of a strange and small acquaintance, that could teach him a lot of the ways of a social worker…

(Thorne is played by Wal, the man, the legend.)


Thorne's current Stats:

Human Hunter
Male, 1,78m, 70kg, grey-green eyes, black hair, pale skin. About 15 years old. Star Sign: ?

WS34% BS58% S33% T46% Ag52% Int40% WP31% Fel31%
Att 1 W 14 IP 1 FP 4

Skills: Concealment, Gossip, Outdoor Survival, Perception, Search, Silent Move, Swim, C. Know (Empire), Follow Trail, Speak Lang. (Reikspiel) and Secret Signs (Ranger).

Talents: Hardy, Lightning Reflexes, Marksman, Night Vision, Rapid Reload, Rover, Spec. Weap. Group (Longbow) and Very Resilient.

Experience Gained: 1345.

Lenora

Lenora is a young woman (having lived something around 13 summers), although, depending on the day, some insensible passerby could easily mistake her for a young boy. She is not ugly, mind you. It's only that she is very far from being focused in her appearance. Easily to say, she couldn't care less.

And that's not difficult to understand, given her history and background. She was born in some forsaken village in the region of Nordland. But very soon she was forced out of there and into the world. The reason for this is not very clear, maybe not even for herself. Os perhaps it's just her manner to show that she never has the will to speak about her past, or about anything concerning her intimacy. What can be nonetheless imagined is that either the person responsible for her did something very wrong (or very frightening) that resulted in the expulsion of the whole family from the village, or the village itself ended up seeing the wrath and the blood greed of the Chaos creatures, being attacked and maybe destroyed.

What can be said is that very soon in her life time Lenora found herself wondering through a very poor and very cold part of the Empire. And what she could do was try to survive.

That she did. And in a very adapted way. Because what was soon clear to her was that the thing that seemed almost as ever present on the Nordland landscape as the cold was the remains of conflict. And slaughter. Because that was the years before the Incursion of Chaos led by the Chosen Archaon, and even if his name and existence still wasn't known in the Empire, something of him was already felt. For everywhere the creatures of Chaos were breeding, getting bolder and showing themselves more and more. And whenever this happened, there was slaughter.

But for someone who knew how to hide herself and keep an ever present cautious behavior, there was some profit to be gaining at that time. That is to say, one could learn how to survive if one could move constantly, being careful and lucky enough to avoid the beasts and desperate men that seemed to grow on trees with the worsening situation, and then find the leftovers of the times when those same beasts and desperate men did encounter with the innocent and the weak.

It is a cruel world. And it seemed to be getting crueler. Very few would speak it aloud, a lot would feel it, but nevertheless ignore it in the blind hope it would go away. Young Lenora saw this, and even if she did not had the means to make some reason of it, she reacted the way she could. She survived.

Sometimes traveling alone, sometimes with groups of other poor people, Lenora carefully went through every battlefield or destroyed farm gathering what she could find of some value to sell in places where people still lived with some security and blind eyes. She did not try to convince anyone about what she saw was going on. She automatically knew it was useless. After all, what she was selling was the remains of dozens of massacres and no one asked about it. No one could see that if those things could be brought from the farmlands to the city, then something very wrong was probably happening.

And as the years passed, Lenora survived every winter the way she could. Even if she made her living in a way very close to that of a bone picker, sometimes she was walking with camp followers, sometimes with other kinds of people. She did everything she could. And the way she did it, always walking on the edge of civilization, always on the frontier of some way of living and the other, always being herself (even if in a low profile self way) and no one else, made her the vagabond that she is.

But things would get worse on that part of the land. With the advent of the Storm of Chaos, Nordland entered what was probably the direst time ever seen since before Sigmar's days. Whole cities were destroyed or got very close to it, countless villages were burnt to the ground. What was once bands of beastmen now had being transformed into armies of those creatures, with other, more sinister ones, to defy men's sanity.

In these darkening times, lots of people went south looking for some way to be secure. This no one could find. But some people did find a city that was so fortified that was said no force could possibly destroy it. That great city that was build to celebrate and protect a flame brought to the world by the hand of a God, as was the legend of the Ulricsberg. That great city was Middenheim, capital of the neighbor region of Middenland.

Lenora was among these Nordland people. And, not having much fate, she almost despaired at the siege that surrounded Middenheim, at the proportion of the battle that happened there. Soon, the greatest fortification of the north of the Empire seemed not so strong, and the minions of Chaos looked like a giant hand that is about to crush some bug.

But the city survived and the siege was broken. Lenora never understood exactly how this had happened. She did understood quite quickly that she had to make some living. And the things that she brought with her from the battlefields on the road were ending, and soon she would be without anything to sell, and no money to buy food or drink.

It was this way that she joined this small group of adventurers who were about to go to Nordland, one month after the Middenhein siege was broken. They had some mission there, said one of them, and they needed someone who could guide them trough that forsaken part of the Empire. Lenora did not know if it was luck or if it was Ranald's mockery, going back to the land where she had fled of the worse danger of her life, and where she had seen countless lives wasted by this same danger. But she it was worthed good Crowns. And she knew she needed it very badly...

(Lenora was played by Gi, but she left the game indeterminably in the middle of the second chapter. Lenora is currently an NPC, and will remain until Gi can come back to us – and we know we miss the lady!)


Lenora's current Stats:

Human Vagabond
Female, 13 years old. Star Sign: Grugni's Baldric.

WS39% BS35% S26% T34% Ag45% Int40% WP32% Fel36%
Att 1 W 12 IP 1 FP 2

Skills: Gossip, Haggle, Outdoor Survival, Perception, Silent Move, C. Know (Empire), C. Know (Kislev), Heal, Navigation, Secret Lang. (Thieves), Secret Signs (Ranger) and Speak Lang. (Reikspiel).

Talents: Orientation, Resistance to Disease, Rover, Seasoned Traveller and Strong Minded.

Experience Gained: 730.

Magnus “Nightwalker”

Being the first son of a travelling Middenland merchant, Magnus was born in a small military settlement by the hands of a Priest of Sigmar who was trying to expand the influence of his God in this Ulric country. The Priest was not having any success, but somehow the hard labor-helping work softened the hearts of soldiers about him. They wouldn't ever bow so deeply to Sigmar as they did to Ulric, but as the Priest had to battle so much caring for the lady and child, he won the soldiers' respect. So, when Magnus' father asked which name should he give the child, one drunk soldier suggested that the second most famous Emperor's name, the one who followed Sigmar but had the bless of Ulric, should fit perfectly.

And so young Magnus lived all of his childhood going from small settlement to town to village with his father and mother. It wasn't until his second younger sister did born that his family decided to settle in a town and start selling goods in a more geographically and socially fixed way.

But Magnus grew hearing about the soldiers' camp in which he was born. He also saw lots and lots of these camps as he travelled with his family, and sometimes they would also pass moving regiments, groups of watchmen guarding some city limits, or even some knight or another. And he was fascinated with it all. So even if part of him was happy when they stopped travelling so much and settle, for then he would finally be able to make lasting friends, he was also very sad he would not have the chance of seeing getting to know such wonderful and adventurous people.

So he grew imagining himself becoming a soldier, a hero that would eventually save the Emperor's life and become his protector knight. As he beared the name of such a wonderful Emperor, it made sense that he would protect another.

Of course things couldn't be so easy. Primarily, there was no regiment allocated in his town, and Magnus did not see himself becoming a small city watch or guard. No, he wanted to go further, to be a national hero. Perhaps it was his days of travelling, when so young and so influenced by what can be described as a magical way of viewing the world. He had seen much land to let his dreams be trapped in just a small part of it, anyway. But his father, a peaceful man, and one that had seen much more than Magnus, and then had different eyes on the world, was against his son's dreams.

When he became of age, Magnus started to travel to the near cities to sell and buy goods for his father. This was a way to let his dreams grow and still be in peace with his old man. More than that, he enjoyed travelling a lot.

But to travel in such a dangerous land as Middenland was far from a safe task. As his mother and father worried, Magnus used to arrange his travels in the company of moving soldiers, other merchants and sometimes roadwardens. That too was a good strategy to at the same time appease his father's worries and walk further in his dream's path. It was in that time that he gained his nickname, “Nightwalker”. Some say it was because Magnus always wanted to keep walking, or riding, even if it was dark. Others said it was because he dreamed so vividly he used to walk in his dreams. But there's a different tale, known only by his closest friends, to whom he supposedly told it.

In this tale, the person that gave Magnus the nickname was an old man, a veteran of the roads. He was more than a traveller, though. He was a man surrounded by mistery, but with a deep understanding of the motivations of those arround him. And, hearing about Magnus' dreams, he named him “Nightwalker”, because only a man that walked at night would be so uncomprehensible of the path that lied ahead but the nearest things his light could iluminate. And then the only hope he could have of not falling to some obstacle was that his light was strong enough.

Even if this tale is true, it did not kept Magnus from pursuing his own path. But the moment for him to make a turn in his life did not come lightly. Because, even if immersed in his dreams, Magnus could still see the presence of Chaos' minions growing in the days right before the Storm of Chaos. His travels were getting more and more dangerous, attacks of beastmen and mutants ever more frequent. No one seemed to agree with him, depicting it all as the foolishness of some boy who used to get into fantasy too easily. Their eyes were closed because the truth was too dire, but it angered Magnus anyway. And when he and some fellows were attacked in the road by some vicious beastmen, having to flee for their lives while some of them could not make it… That was the last drop for Magnus.

So he announced to his family he was going to Middenheim to become a soldier. He boldly told his father that, even if he never became the hero he dreamed about, he could still make more for all of them this way than walking the same path of the old man and eventually being murdered as some of his friends did. His father disagreed. He said that was another way, and he could settle down as he did, staying with his family and living his life safely. But Magnus feeled that would not be safely anywhere anymore. Even if he couldn't imagine how right he was, he was not exactly foreseeing the next Chaos Incursion. He was only reacting to the feeling of lost that came when his views of a magical world collapsed in that escape. When people he cared about actually died. And he would not sit and wait for it to pass.

His family grieved as he went away. He felt for them, but could not turn away from his dream anymore. And his dream had changed, hammered by the cold steel of reality. That day he vowed he would not come back to his family until he had made something useful of his dream.

When he finally got to Middenheim, he went straight to the military settlements to apply. It was already apparent to the forces in control of the city that Chaos was rising, even if they saw only the beastmen threat at the time, as Khazrak One-Eye, the Beastman Lord, coordinated bolder and bolder attacks throughout Middenland. Upon hearing about Magnus past and experience, the Sargeant with whom he was talking saw not a soldier, but an opportunity to increase the military mobility. So he sent Magnus to register as a Roadwarden.

Even if it was not exactly what he wanted, Magnus was glad about his position. He saw it as a way he could really help, and thus maybe a faster way of getting known and rising further, thus helping further too. Anyway, he still liked to travel a lot, and was not exactly sure about his qualities as an order taker, such as a soldier needed to be.

His first assignment, then, was to escort a regiment of soldiers from the capital to a small town named Untergard to the south. It was a strategy position, since the town holded a bridge which was a safe passing route through River Taub. He was there to see the town be attacked over and over by a ever larger contingency of bestmen, as it got more and more soldiers from the rest of the Empire, until the enemy had flanked every route there and the siege was formed. There he fought alongside the Verena Initiate Chades and the young Hunter Thorne, as well as many soldiers from all over the north regions and some brave locals. The town held until the beastmen gave up, going north to fight in Middenheim Siege when the Storm of Chaos was already upon the capital.

Magnus joined his two foreign fellow-in-arms helping Untergard people flee the city when, a month after the beastmen had left, a great warherd was seen getting there, maybe to another attack. After getting to Middenheim, he was assigned to help Initiate Chades in a mission in a small village three days to the west of the capital.

It was there that Magnus got to the wrong side of a very short tempered, not to say utterly mad, Witch Hunter. He almost died in a public torture to remove the devilness out of him. After he and his comrades helped the villagers saving their Chaos afflicted children by stopping a ritual being made by a Beastman Shaman, and thus driving the Witch Hunters out of there, Magnus was in need of some time out. He had seen more horrible things in these past few months than in all of his previous life. And then he had met the daughter of the village only innkeeper, which seemed to him a very beautiful young woman.

He went back to Middenheim with his friends once more, but it took him just a few days to make up his mind. Apparently giving up on his dream of becoming a hero – at least for the rest of the world –, Magnus decided to ask for his retirement as a Roadwarden as soon as he had gotten Crowns enough. Then he would go to the village, where he was a hero already, to marry the girl and to live a quieter life, as his father once prayed he did. And it is probably there that he can be found now, if some of his comrades-in-arms ever decide to look for him…

(Magnus was played by Andre, who is famous for making his characters say “How dare you [something]!” to characters not so safely confronted, such as Witch Hunters. He left us for Japan, damn him, and we constantly celebrate for him, even if we miss the bastard so much.)


Magnus' Stats (when the group last saw him):

Human Roadwarden
Male, 1,78m, 70kg, Light Brown Eyes, Black Hair, 20 years old. Has a scar on his left cheek. Star Sign: Dragomas the Drake.

WS45% BS44% S33% T31% Ag37% Int38% WP33% Fel31%
Att 1 W 11 IP 1 FP 2

Skills: Animal Care, Drive, Gossip, Outdoor Survival, Perception, Ride, Search, C. Know (Empire), Follow Trail and Navigation.

Talents: Coolheaded, Luck, Quickdraw and Sp. Weap. Group (Gunpowder).

Experience Gained: 580.