Session 45: Service Was Lacking

• The room had multiple windows overlooking the courtyard.
• The party already largely controlled the room, but the fight was not completely over.
• One guard was still engaged near Wanda and Huguette.
• Another guard had been shouting out the window and had proven difficult to hit during the prior exchange.
• At least one guard had previously jumped out the window and survived the fall.

The group clarified the current battlefield state before acting.

• A guard had fled or fallen out the window earlier and survived by landing on another body below.
• The room still contained at least one seriously wounded enemy and one enemy still on his feet.
• The shouting guard by the window had been difficult to bring down.
• The party recognized that the wider castle was likely aware that something was happening, given how much noise this combat had already caused.

At the top of the third round, Wanda acted first.

• Wanda attacked the guard in front of her with her Morgenstern.
• The guard successfully parried, despite the improvised and desperate nature of the defense.
• Wanda then attempted a takedown, trying to knock the guard off balance by lowering her shoulder and going for the legs.
• The takedown failed.
• Wanda saved her final action point for defense.

Qavitrae then dealt with the wounded guard armed with a knife.

• Qavitrae took a moment to aim.
• She attacked the already seriously wounded guard.
• The guard had no effective defense left.
• Qavitrae’s strike did 13 damage, which was enough to finish him.
• She ran him through with a lunge, and he collapsed to the ground dead.
• Qavitrae chose not to spend additional resources on the kill.
• Her initiative increased by 1 afterward.

Thindruk turned his attention to the remaining guard who had been yelling out the window.

• He first attempted Dirty Tricks, trying to verbally unnerve and distract the guard by accusing the garrison of failing a “security penetration test” and ordering him to do pushups.
• The guard resisted the attempt.
• Thindruk then switched to attacking with his rapier.
• There was brief confusion over the weapon’s settings, but the attack itself was a critical success.
• The rapier struck cleanly.
• Thindruk spent Fortune to explode the damage die, increasing the total damage.
• The result was a deep cut.
• Because the guard wore no armor, the blow also inflicted bleeding.
• The guard remained alive, but he was badly hurt and actively bleeding.

With the interior fight almost won, Felrick moved to the window.

• He looked down into the courtyard to assess the condition of the guard who had escaped earlier.
• He saw one of the men below climbing back to his feet atop another body that was not moving.
• Felrick aimed and fired his bow.
• The shot struck with devastating precision.
• The arrow went through the man’s eye and into his skull.
• The guard dropped immediately.
• This repeated Felrick’s earlier pattern of killing an enemy through the eye from range.

Nora finished the last active guard inside the room by driving him through the window.

• She noted that the bleeding guard was standing beside a window.
• Nora took aim, then used Athletics to shove him, using the flat of her sword and her momentum rather than simply striking him.
• The guard failed to resist.
• Nora drove him backward out the window.
• He fell headfirst out into the courtyard below.
• He hit the hard-packed earth and yard tools beneath the window.
• The fall did not kill him outright, but it inflicted an injury.
• Nora’s Soldier of Fortune ability applied, causing two injuries instead of one.

The grievous injuries inflicted by Nora’s shove were severe.

• The first injury was Mangled Organ.

  • He would require successful surgery or permanently gain the Eunuch drawback if the surgery failed.

• The second injury was Lame Foot.

• The description in play made clear that he landed especially badly among yard tools, including a shovel and other implements under the window.

• He was left writhing in agony in the courtyard, bleeding heavily and in no condition to continue the fight.

With the room secured, the party took stock of the fallen guards and noticed a disturbing detail they had missed in the heat of battle.

• All of the guards in this room appeared sick or corrupted.
• Their flesh showed patches of discoloration and putrefaction.
• Now that the fighting had stopped, the group could smell the rot in the air.
• This established that the defenders here were visibly afflicted by some disease or corruption.

The party then listened for signs of what was happening elsewhere in the castle.

• They made eavesdrop checks.
• Most of the group heard substantial movement upstairs.
• There were raised voices and the sound of many people moving above them.
• A small door in the room led to stairs going up.
• This confirmed that the upper floor of this building was occupied or mobilizing.

The group briefly considered making a stand or slowing the enemies upstairs.

• They discussed posting archers at the windows.
• They considered barricading the stair door with furniture and bodies.
• Fire in the hearth was suggested as a way to slow pursuit, but the group decided against using fire because it was too dangerous and too hard to control.
• They instead focused on making a quick barricade with furniture and corpses if necessary.
• The sense was that they had less than a minute before enemies upstairs might come down in force.

The party explored the immediate exits from the room.

• One nearby room contained a faded and rotten tapestry bearing the von Wittgenstein coat of arms.
• There was a door in that area that could be barred with a metal bar.
• Another nearby room was judged to be an empty storeroom.
• Mapping the structure remained confusing, but the group eventually established that there was no useful hidden route through these side rooms.
• Looking out from the building, they could see they were adjoining the outer gatehouse and the bridge leading toward the inner bailey.
• They concluded they would need to move physically across rather than relying on a connected upper path.

The group debated priorities and enemy numbers.

• They recognized that the main priority was the gatehouse between the outer and inner wards.
• If the inner bailey were sealed off, they might lose their chance to get across the bridge.
• They recalled that their earlier intelligence had suggested roughly 20 to 30 guards in the castle, plus beastmen.
• They also noted that the “guards” they had found earlier sleeping in a ruin did not look like actual soldiers, but more like pitiable mutants or castoffs.
• This left the true number of active defenders uncertain.

The decision was made to rush for the inner bailey rather than hold the building.

• The party concluded that speed was their ally.
• They had already alerted too many people.
• The inner bailey had to be reached before it was shut up.
• They ended combat mode and moved out.

The party had brought woodsmen or freedom fighters with them as support, and their deployment was clarified.

• Leopold had previously been sent back to tell the larger force to move into and occupy the first gatehouse, meaning the main gatehouse.
• They had not sent a second runner earlier despite some uncertainty at the table.
• This meant the support force should already have been moving toward the main gatehouse by prior instruction.

The party descended and crossed the short stretch toward the outer gatehouse.

• The gate was open.
• The corridor through the outer gatehouse contained a portcullis and heavy gates, all currently open.
• Beyond it stretched the bridge leading toward the inner bailey.
• The bridge and the far side were partially obscured by magical fog.
• Those able to see in the dark above ground were able to make out the structure in the moonlight.

As they advanced toward the intermediate tower on the bridge approach, the group made awareness checks.

• Thindruk noticed dim light and movement on the upper floor of the tower.
• Felrick also noticed movement, and with his critical success saw more than that.
• He realized that Wanda and Nora, who were running in front, had failed to notice a dangerous gap in the bridge.
• The bridge was weathered and damaged, with a missing section and only a makeshift warning barrier in place.
• Felrick rushed forward and attempted to grab them both.
• He rerolled with Fortune and succeeded.
• He stopped both women just before they would have stepped or plunged into the gap.
• After that, it was agreed that those who could see better in the dark should lead.

Alarm began to spread behind them as they ran.

• Bells were ringing from the outer bailey.
• The group trusted that their allied force behind them would have to handle the situation developing at the main gatehouse.
• They kept pressing forward.

The party passed through the intermediate bridge tower.

• As they moved through it, machinery clanked above them.
• A portcullis behind them began lowering.
• Another bell started ringing from the tower above.
• There was no time to stop and secure the tower at that moment.
• The group prioritized continuing forward into the inner bailey before the way ahead could also be sealed.

The party successfully crossed into the inner bailey.

• The inner gatehouse was still open.
• They passed through into the inner courtyard before it could be closed against them.
• Once inside, they received their first real view of the inner stronghold.

The inner bailey was surveyed from the courtyard.

• There was a large pit in the center of the courtyard.
• A glass-and-metal building stood nearby like a greenhouse.
• Another space was walled to about eight feet high but open to the sky, overgrown with vegetation behind an iron gate.
• A large main house or palace stood to one side, clearly more ornate and better maintained than the rest of the castle.
• A tall tower rose above the walls.
• Another temple-like building had the appearance of a Sigmarite structure, but it was obviously defiled.
• Its door stood slightly open.
• Lavender smoke was rolling out into the night.
• A strange reddish light glowed through stained glass that seemed to be coated red from the inside.
• From within came the sounds of laughter, music, festivity, and passion.
• The temple was immediately recognized as deeply wrong and likely the source of the revelry they had been hearing.

Before exploring the courtyard in depth, the group chose to secure the inner gatehouse behind them.

• They entered a southern door in the inner gatehouse.
• They went upstairs toward the mechanism and bell chamber.
• Thindruk dropped a bar across the lower door behind them to slow anyone coming after them, though the rusty fittings looked weak and only likely to delay determined pursuers.
• Near the top was a miserable sleeping nook with two simple pallets, moldy blankets, and evidence that two guards had been sleeping there.

At the top of the inner gatehouse tower, the party found the source of the bell alarm.

• A door stood open.
• Beyond it, they heard two men moving and arguing.
• The guards were bleary-eyed and appeared to have been awakened by the alarm.
• They were debating whether they should close the gate.
• The party charged them before they were ready.
• The two guards were killed quickly and decisively.

The group then set about sealing the inner gatehouse from the castle side.

• They recognized that the inner gatehouse contained both heavy wooden gates and a portcullis.
• Lowering the portcullis in a controlled way required effort and the proper use of the mechanism.
• Wanda managed the portcullis partway while Qavitrae helped with the heavier work on the gates.
• Qavitrae assisted Wanda with an Athletics test to move the great doors into place.
• Together they hauled the large iron-banded wooden gates shut.
• They then lifted and slotted the heavy bars into place.
• Finally they got themselves under the portcullis as part of it came down.
• At the end of this sequence, the party had sealed a heavy wooden barrier and a portcullis between themselves and the rest of the castle.

Once the inner gatehouse was secured, the party reassessed the sounds around them.

• Because of the river wind and the layout of the gatehouse, the bell alarm did not seem likely to carry well into the inner bailey.
• The sounds of revelry from the temple also might mask the alarm from people deeper inside.
• The group concluded they might still be able to return to stealth, at least briefly.

The bodies of the two guards killed in the inner gatehouse were also visibly afflicted.

• They too showed signs of putrefaction and sickness.
• Qavitrae remarked that everyone here might need to be put to the sword.
• The party connected this to the earlier mounted enemies whose armor and helmets had hidden their condition.

The group then paused to choose a route through the inner bailey.

• They discussed proceeding building by building.
• They preferred not to enter the temple first, despite the obvious danger there.
• They wanted to locate the dungeon, the dock beneath the castle, and possibly their missing hireling if she was still alive.
• They also considered the possibility that beastmen were below in the dungeon or pit.
• They noted that it was still the same day their boat had been stolen, only many hours later.

The first area they examined from relative safety was the roofless walled garden.

• Felrick tried to look in from an elevated position.
• Even with a failed awareness roll, the group could make out that it was an overgrown garden.
• There were malformed fruits and vegetables growing there.
• The area looked neglected and overrun.
• There appeared to be a small shed or similar outbuilding inside.
• They decided not to enter it at that time.

The party then moved to inspect the greenhouse.

• The exterior glass was grimy and coated with mossy, mildewy growth.
• It was difficult to see inside from a distance.
• Qavitrae, Thindruk, and others got close enough to peer through.
• Inside were trees from warmer southern climates.
• The trees did not look healthy, but they were alive and growing.
• Perched among them were small humanoid bird-creatures.

The creatures inside the greenhouse were described in disturbing detail.

• Each had a human-like face combined with a bird’s beak.
• Feathers framed their faces.
• Their torsos were humanoid, but their arms were wings.
• Their feet were long and clawed.
• They were not full human size, but more like the size of children, though with adult faces.
• They were brightly colored.
• Thindruk, with the best look, realized there were well over a dozen of them inside.
• Most of them were asleep or resting in the branches, with their wing-arms drawn over their faces.

The group briefly considered trapping the bird-creatures inside the greenhouse.

• They checked the doors and saw that they could be latched.
• Qavitrae considered using her bandolier or other gear to tie the doors shut.
• The group then concluded that because the structure was made largely of glass, any determined creature inside could probably get out anyway.
• They chose not to waste time on the attempt.
• They left the creatures sleeping and moved on.

The next stop was the large pit in the courtyard.

• The pit looked roughly dug, likely by hand, with the surrounding paving stones broken away.
• It was approximately 15 by 10 yards across and about 20 feet deep.
• Downward-pointing wooden spikes lined the walls, clearly intended to make climbing out difficult.
• About halfway down was a metal grating.
• In the center of the grating was a heavy trapdoor.
• Nearby were a long hooked pole and a large wooden ramp.
• The setup suggested that the ramp could be lowered to the grating and the hook used to open the trapdoor.
• The ramp did not appear long enough to reach the bottom of the pit.

Looking into the pit triggered a horrifying reaction.

• A gray mist obscured the lower depths of the pit.
• The bottom could not be clearly seen.
• A rising moan emerged from below, building into a scream.
• The sound was inhuman, but just human enough to be deeply unsettling.
• It sounded layered, as though multiple voices of suffering were blended together.
• It reminded the group somewhat of the unnerving voice of the little girl they had encountered earlier, but louder, worse, and more crowded with voices.
• The entire group made stress tests in response.

The mental effect of the pit was significant.

• Wanda failed the stress test and took 7 mental peril, though this did not exceed her threshold.
• Nora initially had an especially bad result and rerolled with a Fortune point to avoid passing out.
• The group did not recognize the voice of their missing hireling among the sounds.
• They concluded that whatever was in the pit was terrible, but they did not descend into it during this session.

The party next approached the main house or palace.

• The building’s grand façade bore the von Wittgenstein coat of arms above its main doors.
• The heraldry was faded, chipped, and worn.
• The double doors were large, ornate, and rusty.
• Heavy curtains blocked the windows from the inside.
• Thindruk judged that a plainer adjoining section was probably a servants’ wing.
• From the inside-courtyard side, the building was not especially defensible compared to a true keep.
• Even if the doors were locked, entry through the windows would have been possible.

The group chose to enter the main house through the front doors.

• They ignored the strange brass knocker, which was shaped like a many-toothed creature.
• The doors were checked and found to be unlocked.
• Pulling the handle and working the mechanism opened them.
• The party entered quietly, treating this as the beginning of a stealthy internal sweep.

Inside was a great hall.

• The floor was oaken and had once been polished, but was now greasy and grimy.
• A great dining table stood in the center.
• Old food lay rotting upon it, dried, cracked, molded, and clearly long abandoned.
• The state of the food suggested it had been left there for at least a week or more.
• Two mahogany staircases rose at the rear of the room to a balcony.
• The balcony overlooked both the river side and the great hall itself.
• A central, steeper stair also connected upward beyond the balcony.
• The hall was large, impressive, and obviously intended for noble entertaining, but it had fallen into decay.

While the group was taking in the hall, they detected movement.

• A soft shuffling sound came from behind the stairwell.
• The noise was moving in their general direction.
• Qavitrae raised her crossbow.
• The party positioned themselves only a little way into the room, not yet fully committed.
• Thindruk, with his superior dark vision, could make out the approaching figure.

The approaching figure was not immediately attacked because Thindruk intervened.

• He saw that the figure was slight, elderly, and dressed in a servant’s uniform.
• The servant moved slowly and seemed to be heading toward the door.
• Before Qavitrae fired, Thindruk called out in an authoritative noble voice.
• He complained that the hospitality of Castle Wittgenstein was not what it once was and asked where the servants were.

The servant responded and revealed more of the castle’s current condition.

• In a bleary, creaking voice, he apologized and said they had not known guests would be arriving.
• He invited the group to enjoy the meal and offered to prepare rooms.
• When asked about the Baron and Baroness, he said they had retired for the evening in their rooms.
• When asked about Lady Wittgenstein, he indicated she was likewise indisposed and jokingly or suggestively wondered whether Thindruk was “another suitor.”
• During this exchange, he reflexively covered his mouth with one hand.

That movement exposed the servant’s mutation.

• The hand he used was not normal.
• It was a full bird claw.
• He quickly tucked it back into his clothing, implying he had been trying to hide it.

Qavitrae killed the servant immediately after the mutation was revealed.

• The servant was old, frail, and standing still.
• Qavitrae shot him with a crossbow bolt.
• The bolt struck cleanly.
• He fell without any real resistance and made no further sound.

After killing the servant, the party interpreted the implications.

• Thindruk noted the obvious bird-like corruption now appearing in the castle staff.
• The group connected this to the bird-creatures in the greenhouse and the broader corruption of the household.
• They concluded that everyone in the castle appeared to be afflicted in some way.
• The immediate plan became to head upstairs and try to catch the Baron and Baroness in their rooms.

The session ended with the party inside the great hall of the von Wittgenstein house.

• They had secured the inner gatehouse behind them.

• They had identified several major threats or mysteries in the inner bailey:

  • the defiled temple with smoke, music, and red light,
  • the greenhouse full of sleeping bird-creatures,
  • the pit containing something that screamed with many voices,
  • and the mutated household inside the palace.

• The party was preparing to go upstairs next.

At the end of the session, the group received 100 reward points.

• The major milestone recognized was successfully reaching and securing access to the inner bailey.