From the Journal of one Wigmar Heck, pt 42 (Much to do on the home front)

7 Sigmarzeit 2499 (Wellentag), Übersreik

I have not written in some time. I take up the pen again today. It's Wellentag - Work Day - so it's only fitting I should be working on my journal. 

I'm sitting in the study of my Übersreik townhouse. The place has come a long way since I inherited it. Though I must say it could use some more work - it compares rather poorly against my newly acquired house in Nuln. But for a provincial city like Übersreik it will do just fine.

Life at home is pleasurable, but it is not an adventure. Neither does it in fact allow much time for writing. The life of a landed lord is not an easy one, I assure you. There are more creature comforts, but the duties never end...

I get up no later than noon, often closer to ten. After breakfast and attending my duties as a husband, I have meetings with this or that adviser, a merchant, some official from the city. So many faces, so many names. I look at the books (we have a dwarf accountant now), I ride the fields (wishing I had more), visit the village (how many years until it's a town?), and so much more. Then supper and more homely duties. It's often midnight before I hit the feather mattress - and that's when there are other duties to attend to (not with the wife, she I do during the daytime, like Ankh requires).

Summer draws closer with every day. The fields have been plowed and planted. The plague has not touched us (and I aim to keep it that way). My lands have increased substantially and I've been promised a baronial title in Reikland to go with the one from Wissenland. The first battalion and many of the headquarter troops are fully armed and operational (more or less), with more battalions on the way.

In all, life treats me well. This is what it feels like to walk in the light of the righteous sun, rather than slum around in the gutter with the northern gods. It's not like everything is just fine. The orcs are still out there, in the mountains, and in great numbers. But therein lies not only danger, but opportunity.

Matters of family

My Isolde gave birth to twins on Marktag - market day - the 3rd day of Ulriczeit 2498. She must haven gotten pregnant sooner than anyone realized. Perhaps even the first time we were together. Our first wedding night at the latest.

No one knew she was carrying twins. A boy and a girl as it were. They were joined at the hip when they were born. Herr Halmstad didn't go into further details, but it must have been grim indeed. Isolde very nearly died. As for the children they were... healed. My friend the wizard used the magic of the red stone and all his skill to separate the babies. They both live and are healthy, with no sign of deformity. We have called them Dagmar (after my Liberungen ancestors) and Talima (after some woman in Isolde's family).

Emmaretta has presumably also given birth. Hard to sure since she ran away back to the hills that spawned her. Damn that woman. And damn my entire hoshold for not stopping her and not having the balls to inform me. It would only have been a bastard. But bastards have their uses.

Matters of magic

My dear Anna remains apprenticed to Master Jürgen Halmstad (technically ex-master, since he's retired from the colleges). There was talk of sending her to Altdorf for advanced training, but Herr Halmstad feels she could benefit from some more basic tutelage. Perhaps next year she will be ready for advanced tuition. I think I would nather she didn't go at all. Better she study under Halmstad than learn necromancy - sorry, amethyst magic - in the stinking pit that is Altdorf.

I have not seen Anna since my return. She remains at the Tower with Hugg, keeping watch over its secrets while Halmstadt is with me. I will go to her as soon as can be arranged. I long for her sweet embrace and clever tongue. Hell, I been gone long enough that even her talk of women's rights will not bore me!

Annika is here in Übersreik with me. At this very moment she's sleeping in the next room. It got late and the eiswein flowed freely yesterday. She's apprenticed to Nacht still (I'm not sure they like each other but they seem to at least offer each other some respect) and now that the Imperial Envoy has returned to the city Annika has followed her bald mistress.

It is a good thing that I'm here to help take her mind of things. Her husband, Walter Müller, has... fallen ill and is currently being cared for in the Tower. No, what rubbish is this? Lying to my own journal? He is ill of sorts, but its no ordinary disease. According to Halmstad the man in a "sin-eater," a person with the ability to take upon himself the sins and corruption of another, absolving them. He was there when the children were born and he drew the poison from their bodies. And now he is... not well. Not well at all. 

I do not profess to understand how such a thing is possible. Even Herr Halmstad had only read about such things, never thought them possible. I must go to the Tower to see Walter. See what state he is in - and determine what his fate will be.

The ring I wear is a Jade Ring of Cathay. It protects against magic. It can suck in magical energies - up to an unspecified limit - thus rendering the wearer immune to many direct-effect spells. I think it served me well in the battle against Hertzen. A wizard can use the stored energy to cast spells of his own. I cannot. I can only wait for the ring to explode if it consumes too much. For now I've had Ankh drain it. It's a powerful talisman, but I must be careful with it or it'll be my death.

The crown is the Crown of Command. It lets the wearer compel those of weak will to do his bidding. It's uncertain how this is done, but Halmstad said practice is key. The big drawback here is that wearing a golden crown is treason. Not even the mad sorcerers of the Wittgenstein clan dared use it!

Matters of faith

Ankh is weaker now, but nowhere near as feeble as he was going to see von Liebwitz in the south. His cheeks are shrunken, he's got rings around his eyes, and his back is stooped. Yet for all that there is a clarity of mind and purpose that's rarely been present. He's focused and his talk is easy to follow, not filled with riddles and contradictions. Less talk of the old times and what has been. More about the now and the future. He's become studious too. Quite the little scholar. First the dwarf texts in Karak-Azgaraz, now everything that's in my library.

I think all that Ankh needs is power. And the Doomstones could be the key to that power. If he's allowed to feed off the Stone of Fire, who knows how powerful he could become? And what if we get hold of the Stone of Earth as well? What if he consumes them both? We're ridding the world of danger and giving life to the Ankh at the same time. What could go wrong?

For my own part I walk in the light and will continue to do so. The sun god has done more for me and my men in an year then all the gods of the Old World have in all my life time. It's not that I do not belive in them or do not honor them. It's more that I hold Ankh above all others and what I do I do in His light.

Matters of the land

Herzog Sigismund von Jungfreund has returned to Übersreik. His quarrel with the Emperor seems to be over - for now at least. He spent a letter inviting me to Übersreik. I had little choice but to go. It was either that or try to have the man removed. But in the end I decided to talk first.

I know little of why he fell out of favor. Something to do with political differences in the Reikland Diet I've been told by my peers. Disagreements over taxes (the Dragon wants even more gold) and legislation (there have been some strange edicts in the past, though none quite as colorful as the "specials" act). But I've also heard rumors of darker things: of corruption and armed revolt.

I know equally little about how he was able to get back into the Emperor's good graces. I can guess at gold. Black Rock is said to be rich. But if it's just the gold, why now and not before?

Speaking of gold: Sigismund has graciously covered all my bills when Nacht's credit dried up. Somewhere between four and six thousand crowns. Do we really spend that much? I guess we did. 

Even more importantly he's offered to pay for another battalion of troops. Pay for their mustering and pay for their upkeep. I accepted, of course. It's too good an offer to pass over. But it begs the question: what does he intend to use my troops for? War against the orcs? Something else? With Nacht it was simpler: the troops would watch the von Jungfreund's... but that's hardly on the table anymore. What if he has another falling out with the Emperor? I must remain ever vigilant.

Perhaps the old traitor sensed my reluctance. Maybe that's why he offered to treble my lands? I don't think it was my tales of fighting orcs in the mountains. I will be named Baron of the Grausee. The plague has taken the old rulers and brought new opportunities. All the farmlands along the Verfelfluss and the Grausee. Thick, black soil, level terrain. Cultivated for generations, well drained, picked free of the larger rocks. Well watered and sunny. These are the great grain fields that I have so few of. How can a Reikland boy say no to lands like that? Oh, and I get tax rights for both the Verfelfluss and the road south, and fishing rights for the Grausee.

Nowhere near enough to support full battalions of soldiers. That goes without saying. But should I ever tire of war my lands offer sufficient income for a baron and his family to live in comfort.

Matters of war and commerce

My brother's trade ventures continue to generate a modest income. There is room for further expansion in the future. For the time being, however, I've decided to invest my savings (some 15000, channeled through my contacts in Bögenhafen) in the grain and livestock trade, through my Adlerverein friends. If my hunch is correct, it'll be a great investment.

That hunch has to do with the orcs and what happens when the snows melt and the passes are open for travel. Karak-Azgaraz must be kept safe, as must Übersreik and my own lands, but I can scare be held responsible for protecting the entire Vorbergland. Orks will invade the Reikland, I'm sure, and when they do, Baron Wigmar and his men will be ready to defend the Empire (for a price) and ready to supply grain and livestock to those with coin.

Matters of vengeance

There is also the Purple Hand and the last of the Wittgensteins to consider. Middenheim is high on my list of places I need to go. But I cannot leave now, not with the greenskin threat looming and so many other things to attend to. As soon as can be managed is all I can say. But I have forgotten nothing and forgiven even less. By the Light, a reckoning is coming.

From the Journal of one Wigmar Heck, pt 41 (The Road Home)

14 Jahrdrug

The storm's over. Eight days it lasted. The world is covered by snowfall at least a meter deep, much more in places. The dwarfs are confident no more orc armies will appear. We are snowed in and so are the greenskins.

Well, nearly snowed in: we have the tunnel which leads to the Holdfast. From there it's possible to follow the snowy road down the valley to Blood Keep. It'll take time, but its possible.

Ankh

He's weaker now. 

I know why: he's been feeding off the magical energies left by the stone of earth. That's interesting. Maybe if we get him to the stone of fire he could feed on it's energies? Maybe he won't die at all? Maybe he can live forever if he gets enough power?

Weaker or not: every morning he gets up and goes up on the mountain to greet the sun.

18 Jahrdrug

The dwarfs have gifted me a suit of armor. Nothing fancy, just high-quality dwarf steel. Suitable for wearing on travels or in battle. 

Nothing like my gromnil knight's armor. When I get it from Nuln I'll be well protected. Gromnil is indestructible. Or so I've heard.

Speaking of gromnil: the rune axe I got from the ogre is made of the material. Does that mean it can cut through anything? And what happens when a gromnil weapon strikes gromnil armor?

31 Jahrdrug

The 7th Nuln Guards, the first battalion to be fully equipped in the new manner, arrived today. We are already packed and ready to march. We shall leave in the morning.

33 Jahrdrug

We reached Drumstrang's Holdfast. The men put sleds on the cannon and the road has been cleared all the way down to the Keep.

3 Pflugzeit

We reached Blood Keep. Captain Grüber is still in charge of the place.

We will march on the day after tomorrow. Tomorrow is for celebrating our victories and honoring our dead.

5 Pflugzeit

We crossed the bridge into the Reikland.

A detachment of soldiers were camped on the other side, unwilling to cross into Wissenland uninvited. I bad them join the forces at Blood Keep. They complied.

7 Pflugzeit

We reached Dunkelberg.

There are patrols out, watching for signs of orcs. There's been a few raids which they have stopped, but no major attacks. I told them more orcs are coming. They seemed unconvinced.

10 Pflugzeit

We passed Stimmigen. 

Got invited to dine with the local lord. He set a fine table  and his wife had a nice cleavage, but took my orc warnings a little too lightly for my taste.

13 Pflugzeit

Weather is sometimes fair, sometimes not. Some nights are cold, others not. The cold nights are the best; it leaves the roads less muddy. The rainy days makes for hard going and miserable nights.

Marched past the village of Grausee on our way home. Some sort of winter plague had taken hold and the place was under Reiksguard quarantine. 

I left Sigrid with a troop of pistoliers to reinforce them. Don't want no plague on my lands.

A few hours later we were riding across Liberungen lands... finally!

From the Journal of one Wigmar Heck, pt 40 (Second Battle of Karak Azgaraz)

 

2 Jahrdrug 

It is clear that we will have to remain to defend the dwarfs. If we leave and the orcs come back it's game over for them. I've dispatched letters stressing the need for reinforcements. I've also taken the opportunity to write my Adler associates. If war comes to the Reikland and beyond we must be ready.

3 Jahrdrug 

Ankh's situation is much improved. He's no longer the lethargic man waiting to die. He's back to his old self and it pleases me greatly. It is strange though - he seemed so certain he would soon die and that we would meet again when he was reborn. And I believed him. I guess even Ankh cannot foresee everythig.

5 Jahrdrug

The orcs came in force today. A vast horde of orcs, black orcs, goblins, and wolves. They even brought some trolls. We fought them as they came up the causeway. In their hundred they rushed at us and we shot them dead. Even their black orc shield wall could not stand against ball and canister. The trolls caused some trouble but we dealt with them as well. Before the end of the day a thousand or more greenskins were added to the piles of dead. Surely we have slain more than two thousand by now, maybe more.

We suffered casualties, but again not more than we can handle. We are, however, running low on shot and powerder. We could repel another assault like this, maybe two. But if then thousand comes we will run out and be undone.

6 Jahrdrug

There is a blizzard. Strong winds, heavy snows. The dwarfs say it could last a day, two days - or ten. Impossible to tell. While the blizzard lasts no orc assault can take place. 

The Doomstones

I have spoken at length with Diirk's father, Faust Wife-stealer, the Runemaster. He's one of few elders to have survived the orc onslaught - the loremasters were all slaughtered in the Hall of the Ancestors.

From what I understand the Zul character wielded a powerful artifact of his own: the Stone of the Earth. The one I found is the Stone of Fire. Two more the dwarfs made in the elder days, before the War of the Beard, and together they grant master over the four elements. Each stone is powerful on its own - and also dangerous to the wielder - but when brought together their power grows even greater. If all four gems are united there is nothing their master cannot do. 

How or why the dwarfs of old made these stones - fit for use by wizards and sorcerers - no one could say. Seems the height of folly to me. Dwarfs probably figured that out too, because they split up the stones - now called the Doomstones - and scattered them far away from each other.

One stone resides beneath Karaz-a-Karak, the great dwarf hold in the World's Edge Mountains. One was given to the elves for safekeeping. These are the stones of air and water, though there are no records of which is where. The stone of fire was sent to the far north - how it ended up in the Grey Mountains is not known. The stone of earth was carried to the west, perhaps to the Grey Mountains, to Karak Kulgan. It's now in Zul's possession I believe.

Zul is clearly trying to get to the rest of the stones. or the one that's accessible to him - the fire stone. A single wizard has no hope of breaching Karaz-a-Karak or making it to Ulthuan.

From the Journal of one Wigmar Heck, pt 39 (First Battle of Karak Azgaraz)

 

27 Nachhexen

After a night spent huddled in the dark we marched on, following rough tunnels that ran through the heart of the mountain. 

Only a few groups of greenskins opposed the relentless march of Reiklanders and Wissenlanders. None can stand against the might of the Empire united. 

Furak Stonesplitter led us to Karak-Azgaraz before the end of the second day, knowing exactly which way to take. 

I wonder how many such tunnels exist beneath the Grey Mountain? Diirk Thunderhammer said something about there being fewer than in the World's Edge Mountains. And also haunted by orcs and worse. This particular stretch should have been safe enough, but that was before the orc horde descended upon Karak Azgaraz.

The journey would easily have taken two or three times that long on the surface - in the summertime. In winter I'm not sure it can be done at all - the cannons and the wagons would have to be abandoned and that would turned my force into nothing more than dead men walking, rifles frozen, powder damp.

Strange. I am now closer to home than I have been for half a year. All that stands between me and my holdings is a grey wall of rock, covered in ice and snow, that reaches so high it touches the clouds. To reach human lands you must either go south to Blood Keep - a road rarely travelled anymore says the dwarfs - or north, to the Grey Lady Pass and from there to Bretonnia or Übersreik.

At long last we could see a little light in the distance and feel cold, fresh air flowing from outside. We extinguished all light and crept forward. The tunnel deposited us on a stone bridge spanning a gorge. On the other side a stout stone door of dwarf make. Not the main entrance to the dwarf city, but a lesser gate that Diirk called the Copper Door. 

We made ourselves known and were let inside.

There was no time to waste. To orcs had breached the gate and broken the defenders. Even as we rushed inside, the dwarfs were being slaughtered. We fought the greenskins tooth and nail, shot and steel. We met them in pitched battle in the airy Chamber of Welcomes, killed all we could and pushed the rest out through the main gates and onto the plaza. There we slaughtered the rest, set up cannon and muskets to guard against further incursions, and started the process of rooting out whatever orcs and goblins remained within Karak Azgaraz.

We were too late to save the their King, Zaladrin Blood-beard. We found the high lord surrounded by his guards and courtiers in the High Hall of the Kings. Many columns had shattered and great slabs of rock had fallen from the roof, crushing the king and those closest to him.

When the battle was over only five hundred dwarfs of fighting age remained, maybe twice that number of women, children, and the elderly. A grievous loss for the dwarfs, but as was pointed out by their war-leader Thuringar Orc-heawer, infinitely better than total annihilation.

30 Nachhexen

We have repulsed a few orc probes as they tried to send scouts to determine the situation within the Kaer. We are entrenching and will not be moved. Inside the mountain the last greenskins have been dealt with. Groups of my men, guided by dwarfs have proven effective at the task.

The is no new king as of yet: the dwarfs must elect one from among their number. I suggested Diirk, being young, dynamic and well versed in Reikspiel, but this was immediately rejected. He's at least a century too young and also an illegitimate child.

The orcs were led by a human wizard going by the name Zul. An eye witness described him as strange looking. Sounds like a Kislevite or some such to me. He had led the orc horde to Karak Azgaraz, he had broken the gates with magic - despite their warding runes. He had gone to the king and demanded a heart-shaped red gemstone. When then king could not comply - that stone is in Halmstad's handed - he had brought down the roof and stormed off...

On war

Muskets and bayonets are relatively well suited for tunnel fighting. Smoke becomes a problem after the first volleys are fired, but as long as the tunnel is straight you don't really need to see the enemy to kill him. Just keep firing and eventually the survivors - even orcs - will either flee or run onto bayonets.

Grenades can be highly effective but care must be taken when employing them underground. I knew that from the sewers of Nuln but the lesson has been relearned many times in the past few days.

It was a resounding victory of the Empire and my tactics. My own men suffered less than ten percent casualties, the men of Nuln two or three times that, but still acceptable. We hold the battlefield and I expect many of the wounded to recover. We have brought healers and medical supplies, and we know what to do to combat the filth the orcs cover their blades with.

From the Journal of one Wigmar Heck, pt 38 (Grey Mountains in Winter)

 

15 Nachhexen cont.

We took up concealed positions some six hundred feet from the road. We had an excellent vantage point and a line of retreat. Hit the column with shot and arrows as soon as the vanguard came into view. Those orks are hard to kill, I'll tell you that. More heavily armored than your regular greenskin, and large shields too. Hard to tell if I got any hard kills, but at the very least there are a few orks that will carry bullet scars until their (soon to come) dying day.

After some confusion, the orks sent three groups on foot towards us. Twenty-something in total. The rest of the column, at least five hundred in number, marched on. Hard going for the orks, literally an uphill struggle on snowy grown, with a master marksman and his witch elf raining death on them every step of the way. Not every shot a kill, but out of formation opportunities for crippling shots to arms and legs (and  heads) did present themselves.

Not a single arrow shot back at us - a marksman's wet dream. The center group started to falter. We fell back to avoid the flankers. A spear came sailing out from between some white-cloaked boulders. Not orks, but a rugged-looking band of dwarfs, seven in number (like in the fairy-tales).

Their leader was one Furak Stonesplitter of Karak Azgaraz, envoy of King Zaladrin Blood-beard to Karak Norn, the great dwarf hold in the southern Grey Mountains. Sent to summon aid for the increasingly besieged Karak Azgaraz (other envoys had been sent to other holds - but none to human lands), he'd set out with a party of twelve, but five had died to ork attacks on the way back. 

Since there was little hope of actually getting back to the Kaer with an army of orks swarming the mountains, Furak's party made common cause with us. Between us we lured the remaining orks to their deaths. Not all the orks, of course... the ones sent to kill us.

We spent the rest of the day pursuing the ork horde down the valley. We stayed off the road. Hard going, but worth it. We managed another attack on the rear of the column. Predictably, they sent a platoon to deal with us. We fought a mobile battle, weakening them with missile fire until they were weak enough for the dwarfs to slaughter those who remained. Glorious. My load of powerder and shot is running low; I only have enough for another of these little skirmishes. Same with Thes; she's recovered some arrows, but some break and others are lost.

Note to self: These 'black orks' have almost no missile weapons. Some have spears and throwing axes, but nothing that can compete with elf bows and human rifles. I would hate to engage them in melee. Better to whittle then down with missiles!

16 Nachhexen 

We continued to hound the orks with some success. We can hardly kill them all. But we can slow them down. Struck the column several times, halting it. But we retreated before a real battle could develop, using the opportunity to get ahead of the orks to set yet another ambush. Fewer dead orks that way, but we buy more time for fewer shots fired.

Before dark we staged a more serious attack on the orks, attacking their lead elements from an advantageous position. Much bloodletting there was. We then retreated into Blood Wood. The orks followed as the pale creatures watched from the treetops. Deep in the wood a dread knight awaited our coming. We parlayed and it was agreed: we would be granted safe passage, the orks would not. In return: Blood Keep would be handed over to its "rightfull owner" when this debacle is over.

We reached the Keep, save a single unfortunate dwarf, some time during the night.

Had some words with Sister Superior Anastasia regarding the thing in the basement. A bastard of the highest breeding, from back in the day, when  the Dragon collected cunt, not gold. Sent away to rot in the dark when he started to change into... something special. Somehow I don't think twenty years locked in the basement of Blood Keep did the poor sod any favors!

Note to self: I sincerely hope my men got Ankh's message and are riding hard for Blood Keep. If not, we may be in real trouble. I also hope the light will forgive this alliance with the dead. It was entered willingly, to save the living from the orks.

17 Nachhexen

The orks made for the bridge, not the keep. Maybe they don't know we're here? Put a few shots into their backs. That got their attention. A company charged right up the path to the keep and went at the gate with massive axes. We kept at them but those damn shields and that armor make them painfully slow to kill. Before the gate could be breached, we welcomed them inside, then cut them down with a fusillade of fire.

As soon as could be managed I set out with Ulf, Thes and my five riders. The remaining orks, at least three hundred in number by my count, had split up, with one group going towards Königsdorf on either bank of the river. I sent Thes and Ulf to watch the southern group, then crossed the bridge and took the north bank myself.

We didn't kill too many orks. Maybe ten dead and twice as many wounded. But we got them to chase us back towards the bridge. They took up position in the woods, afraid to cross out into open ground. Wigmar has the orks running scared!

I sent riders to the north to see how far my troops had come. They could be here soon. On the other hand, things never go according to plan, so maybe not.

Thes and Ulf returned later in the day. The weakened ork horde had been pushed back by the local lord commanding a mix of militia and house troops. The orks had retreated - in good order - back the way they came: into Blood Wood. Ah, another night of terror for the greenskins. 

18 Nachhexen

My riders finally arrived at Blood Keep. The rest of the army is still days away. The orks north of the river are nowhere to be found. Retreated into the forest they have. Good luck with that my green friends.

23 Nachhexen

The rest of my army has arrived. A little worse for wear than the riders, but looking good. A day's rest and they will be ready to march towards the Karak. Outriders report no significant ork activity along the road into the mountains.

We have also been joined by Captain Kurt Grüber of the Nuln 5th Heavy Foot. It's a mixed battalion, half gunners, half heavy infantry. I will leave the captain and the regulars at Blood Keep, take the rest of the foot and horse and guns into the Grey Mountains. In the middle of the winter. Ulric, favor the faithful of thine brother. Failing that, Ankh, please provide sun and warmth.

24 Nachhexen

We set off into the mountains. A battalion's worth of gunners, a brace of pistoliers, and four cannon. The dwarfs came along of course. 

Two days of hard going along the snowy road but if it doesn't get worse than this, we'll managed. 

26 Nachhexen

On the third day, it got worse. Out of the valley we were now high up in the mountain. No trees, no protection from  the elements. Only grey rock, snow, and unrelenting wind. It would be slow going in the terrible cold. Five days by my best guess. We'd be completely ragged by the time we arrived, not accounting for ork attacks.

Dwarfs had a better idea. Take the underground road from the Holdfast of Drumstrang to the keep: a tunnel cut through the stone between a hidden outpost and the main dwarf town. We had no real choice, so Drumstrang it was.

The place was dead, it's location uncovered by the orks, doors broken, inhabitants slain to the last dwarf. We killed a few stray greenskins, then descended into the earth...

     

From the Journal of one Wigmar Heck, pt 37 (Blood Woods)

 

13 Nachhexen

The White Oak Sanatorium of the Mentally Diverse. Hidden away from prying eyes in the ruins of old Blood Keep, once home to both knights and vampires. A joint Shallyan and Sigmarite venture, paid for by the great Lutipold III, long may he reign. Fifty or so patients, twenty-odd clerical staff, and a few able hands besides. Their leader is Anastasia Krilenko of Erengrad. Appointed by none other than my old friend, Emmanuelle Nacht. I guess that Empire isn't that big a place after all.

Why this sudden charity on the part of the good Emperor? Well, he does seem to have an unusual interest in the Diverse and the Special. Why that is I cannot say. But there is a pattern nonetheless. Maybe it has something to do with the mutated monstrosity special diverse person they have locked up in the basement? Dieter it named itself. It was articulate and spoke a Reikspiel dialect that would no have been out of place in a major Reikland city. Twenty years locked up in the dark. The very first patient to be brought to Blood Keep. What makes him so special he warrants such a prison - yet cannot simply be put down with a bullet to the head or axe in the neck?

Sitting in the glass-roofed winter garden Ankh appeared calm and content. His health is not good. You don't need to be a doctor to see that. He's still just as big as he always was but he seems weaker, less substantial, as if life has already started to leak out of him. But this life, Ankh say, is only the beginning of our journey together. To the light, death is no barrier, it is a doorway to the next life.

Speaking of life and death: the elixir I got from the Countess is the real deal. It's the Elixir of Life, the one Ankh gave to the kings of old so that they could lead long, healthy lives. It's also the first step to damnation: a long life is never good enough for mortal men. Always they crave more. And thus the undead came to be. When I see the Countess next I must ask here more about how they came into possession of those scrolls and how they managed to distill the elixir. Ankh seemed very surprised that they had actually managed to get it right.

We will have to be careful going forward. Ankh's light will protect us and guide us, but the clerics of the other gods will not understand. So we must lay low and bide our time. And we must strengthen the ties between the other gods and Ankh. Ulric is his brother - and by extension Taal - surely there must be other connections to old and classical gods.

Ankh will attempt to bring word to Liberungen about our situation. A dream or omen of some sort. If it works it could shave many days off the time needed for my men to reach Blood Keep.

Night raid

Set out with five good men (plus Ulf and Thes), in the darkest hours of the night, with nothing but starlight and elven eyes to guide us. We found the tracks of the orc that got away during our previous skirmish with the greenskins. Found it disemboweled and beheaded among the trees.

There is something else out there in the woods. It's not us and its not ork. A dark shape among the great trees of Blood Wood. One that not even elven eyes can see. Only by the light is the sun it is revealed. A tall, gaunt shape, cloaked in dark light. It didn't speak, nor did it attack. It fled as soon as it realized it had been spotted.

The orcs had put up a roadblock a bit further up the alley. Curious behavior of orcs. They had an ogre and numbers, so I summoned the rest of my carls and pistoliers. We cut them all down with only a handful of casualties on our side.

The asylum should be safe for the time being. No need to evacuate as I had originally planned. Not now anyway. It's for the best: how do you shepherd fifty of the insane through the freezing snows? And what of the monster below? 

I will take Ulberth and Thesalva and a few of the soldiers deeper into the mountains. We must see where the rest of the orcs are and if possible determine the location and status of the dwarf hold.

14 Nachhexen

It's cold and windy. Light snowfall. We push on. The road is the only way forward, snows are too deep to muck around. Ulfberth is laughing and telling us to bring "skis" next time. Planks of wood you strap to the feet. The man is insane. In a good way.

I feel like we are being watched. On the other side of the valley a figure, mounted. How does it keep up with us? There are no roads there. It's impossible to see who or what it is. The distance is too great, the weather poor.

We made camp where we found a couple of dead and mutilated dwarf runners. Orcs had caught them and tormented them horribly. Herr Malthus was right: never be taken alive by orcs. Fight to the last drop of blood.

15 Nachhexen

A dead knight approaches at dawn. Literally. Undead, surely, but he did not attack. Instead, he turned his dead steed around and left. I'm not sure what he wanted. But I'm pretty sure the dead knight was the rider I saw yesterday. Has he followed our progress all the way from the keep?

Around midday we spotted an entire battalion of black orcs coming down the valley. So many black orcs this close to the Empire? Where did they come from? Herr Malthus always said they come from the East, from the World's Edge.

I will take Thes and continue up the valley. We must know more. A small group is less likely to be spotted. Ulf will take the outriders and head back to the keep and send word to the local nobles. They must prepare for war.

From the Journal of one Wigmar Heck, pt 36 (Blood Keep)

 

10 Nachhexen

Set out from my new Nuln townhouse - previous owner: the late Hult von Liebwitz - in fine, if unusually cold, winter weather. 

I've set all my affairs in order: the tab at the Vine & Grape settled (and arrangements made for my future visits to town), Magister Frimm in full swing with refurbishing the Nuln army, a suit of gromil armor worth a baron ordered from the dwarfs, the riverboat is undergoing repairs, and the manor is adequately taken care of.

Now it is time to return home and see what has become of my family, friends, and fief. Buy the time I reach my own hall I shall already be a father twice. My heir has already been born and probably Emmaretta's bastard too.

11 Nachhexen

It's cold, really cold, like winter up north. Ulberth just laughs at us and says we've never had a taste of real winter. Cold is better than wet though. Cold also means the roads are rock solid, not drop of mud on my boots. With a fur coat and good gloves the cold is your friend.

And at day's end you can find room at an inn and enjoy a brandy before the fireplace and an elf on a feather bed. Truly, life is not so bad. Not all of the time anyway.

13 Nachhexen

We reached the village of Königsdorf late in the day. Pretentious name: saw no kings, only a sleepy village. The bridge had been destroyed by floods some weeks before. Braving the rapid icy current of the River Wut was out of the question, so we decide to head west, towards the old dwarf-built stone bridge beneath Blood Keep.

Blood Keep turned out not to be uninhabited at all. Met a Sigmarite monk, brother Jäger, chopping firewood. Would have moved on, but two things happened: a dwarf runner, telling of a great greenskin assault on Kaer Azgaraz, and Ankh-Akh having sought sanctuary at the monastery.

After slaying a few orks scouts hot on the dwarf's heels, we went to say hello Anastasia Krilenko, an old Shallyan priestess overseeing the sanatorium nestled among the ruins of a the old keep. Ankh was there, Ulfberth and the doctor too. They should have been home by now, but Ankh needs his rest.