The Empire at War a New Finale to the Enemy Within Campaign
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A Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Scenario The Empire at War A New Finale to the Enemy Within Campaign By Alfred Nuñez Jr., Paul Adler, Timothy Eccles, and John Foody The Empire at War A New Finale to the Enemy Within Campaign By Alfred Nuñez Jr., Paul Adler, Timothy Eccles, and John Foody Additional Background by: Joe Coltman, Roderic d'Arcon, Simon Dennett, Clive Oldfield, Anthony Ragan, and Luke Twigger Edited by: Paul Adler and Annette Avila Nuñez Maps by: Alfred Nuñez Jr. and Ryan Wileman Altdorf Map: Copyrighted by Games Workshop (used without permission) Modified by Alfred Nuñez Jr., Arne Dam, and Roderic d'Arcon Artists: Christian Holm, Jesper Laursen Clipart: Woodcuts courtesy of www.godecookery.com Playtesters: Finland: Kai Harinen (GM), Markus Kortelainen, Esa Launis, Vesa Ojalehto, Sami Peltonen, and Timo Tarvainen United States: Erik A. Walraven (GM), Gerald Malloy, Amber Walraven, and Cheryl Walraven Layout: Annette Avila Nuñez Obligatory Copyright Statement Empire at War (EaW) is intended to be a completely unofficial conclusion to the WFRP Enemy Within campaign by Games Workshop (GW). All relevant trademarks and copyrights are used without permission and in no way meant to challenge ownership to them by GW. EaW fully recognises said copyright and trademark ownership. Where possible, EaW conforms to the 'official' nature of the Warhammer World, and does so with the full acknowledgement of the intellectual ownership and legal copyright ownership of that material. INTRODUCTION 1 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 1 GM NOTES 3 OVERVIEW OF THE SCENARIO 3 Return of the Knights Panther 3 Enter the Wolf's Den 3 Into the Maelstrom 3 War! 3 TEW TIME LINE 3 THE MACHINATIONS OF THE PURPLE HAND 6 ON THE ROAD TO WAR 7 IMPORTANT EVENTS 9 The Eimar Concord 9 The Bösel Massacre 9 ADVENTURE 9 STARTING THE ADVENTURE 9 THE STARTING POINT 9 RETURN OF THE KNIGHTS PANTHER 12 TRAVELLING 12 SMOKE ON THE WATER 13 It Takes a Thief 15 Hang 'em High 17 On the Waterfront 17 Howls in the Distance 18 ANOTHER BRICK IN THE WALL 19 Talagraad 19 The Captain 20 The Missing Heir 21 The Hangman's Inn 23 The Set-up 24 The Wait 26 The Bald Badger 27 OVER THE HILLS AND THROUGH THE WOODS 28 Hitching a Ride 28 Looking for a Few Good Men 29 At the Gates 30 THROWN TO THE WOLVES 31 A Night at the Bear's Bait 31 To The Well 32 SIDEBAR: THE SONS OF ULRIC 33 ENTER THE WOLF'S DEN 34 WHAT TO DO? 34 AT THE SIGN OF THE GOLD NUGGET 35 ON THE HUNT 36 Tracking Large Prey 40 SIDEBAR: HELMUT TODBRINGER 42 Meeting of the Minds 42 SIDEBAR: NEW ULRICAN SPELL 46 Murder in the Night 46 The Gathering 47 A Change in Plans 51 Ambush! 53 Knives in the Dark 54 ONWARD TO MIDDENHEIM 55 At the Sword and Axe 56 Secret Meetings 57 INTO THE MAELSTROM 59 THE PURPLE HAND 59 OF ALTDORF 59 ON THE ROAD TO ALTDORF 60 Something New 62 Night Moves 63 Get Back 64 The Banner of the Red Crown 66 Memories 67 ALTORF CALLING 67 When Things Go Boom! 68 Streets of Altdorf 73 Purple Haze 74 The Blackpowder Plot 76 There's No Place Like Home 78 SIDEBAR: THE SPEED OF NEWS AND RUMOURS 79 EVENTS IN ALTDORF 79 ONE WAY OR ANOTHER 82 It Takes a Thief 82 Magic Carpet Ride 84 Lost kin? 84 Word of the Wise 85 What's Going On? 85 SIDEBAR: THE MAGNÆRANS AND THE 12 HEXENSTAG 87 Other Lines of Inquiry 88 DEATH OF A GRAND THEOGONIST 88 A Brother in Arms 88 SIDEBAR: WHO IS BROTHER KARL? 88 An Agitator for All Seasons 89 Death of an Engineer 90 Five Easy Pieces 92 SIDEBAR: ANATOMY OF A MURDER 93 BREAKDOWN OF ORDER 94 What the Dead Tell 94 Someone is Watching 95 Damaged, but not Broken 96 Brother Marcus Returns 97 Looking for Herr Heinz 98 Requiem for a Martyr 98 Murderers Found 100 Burning Down the House 103 Unwanted Attention 104 A New Kid in Town 105 Interview with a Court Lector 106 Things Lurking in the Dark 108 Imperial Coup d'État 111 SIDEBAR: THE SCARLET MEMBER 112 House Call 112 Mind Games 113 This Masquerade 114 Breaking the Code 115 Late Night Visit 118 Abduction 119 Another Murder or Two 124 Crush the Wolf Worshippers 127 Desperate Acts 128 Escape from Altdorf 135 WAR! 138 RESTORATION 138 Arrival of the Emperor 139 In through the Out Door 140 Imprisoned! 142 Triumphant Return 143 SIDEBAR: OF MICE AND MEN 145 Resting at the Imperial 145 PURPLE RAIN IN ALTDORF 145 Into the Void 145 Passing Time in Altdorf 146 First Strike 148 Seeking Information 150 The Return of Doktor Fassbinder 151 A Time to Kill 152 Had Enough 155 Altdorf Burning 156 LAST MAN STANDING 162 A Call to Duty 162 A Short Errand 163 Death in the Drak Wald 164 Escort Duty 165 Return to Altdorf 169 On the Talabec 170 Consequences of War 173 SIDE BAR: WAR IN THE EMPIRE - A SUMMARY 174 Abandoned Ship 175 Captain, There Be Pirates! 176 On the Run 177 Horse Trading 179 Into the Warzone 181 A House Divided 186 The Road to Peace 187 Back to the Talabec 187 Alone in the Woods 189 The Final Enemy Within 191 EPILOGUE 195 EXPERIENCE POINTS 197 AFTERMATH 200 KARL-HEINZ WASMEIER 201 THE CULT OF THE PURPLE HAND 201 CULT OF THE RED CROWN 201 CULT OF THE SCARLET MEMBER 201 SONS OF ULRIC 202 CHRISTA FELDMANN 202 PRIVATE WARS 202 COUNT HELMUT FEUERBACH 202 GRAND DUCHESS ELISE KRIEGLITZ-UNTERMENSCH 203 MARIUS LEITDORF 203 COUNT ALDEBRAND LUDENHOF AND HOCHLAND 204 GRAND COUNTESS EMMANUELLE VON LIEBEWITZ 204 GRAND THEOGONIST VOLKMAR 204 Introduction The Beginning of the End “The Empire at War” is designed to replace Whatever adventure is used, the thing to keep the old GW publication “The Empire in in mind is that it need not be directly related Flames” as the finale of “The Enemy Within” to TEW campaign. There is a view that holds campaign. Why bother rewriting the finale the whole idea behind SRiK was that powers given that second edition WFRP will be set in Middenheim needed a place to send the nearly ten years after most of the events in the PCs to be rid of them. The hope was the PCs original WFRP campaign? The answer is would be unlikely to survive the rigours of two-fold. First, a significant amount of the Kislev and, with their deaths, the secrets Warhammer background has changed since exposed in the PBtT would be extinguished the early 1990s when EiF was released, with the newly inducted Knights Panther rendering much of the events in that (incidentally, each PC should wear a publication obsolete. Second, there is a need medallion which identifies them as members among us old folk to have a more plausible of the Knights Panther). That the PCs transition from the “old” background to the (mostly) survived will impress certain “new.” influential and powerful people in Middenheim. Perhaps the PCs could be put to Some may wonder why we didn’t just take the use to further the interests of Middenheim, if outline of the proposed “Empire in Chaos” not the Empire? manuscript that James Wallis so graciously made available to many rabid fans and use it as a basis for a more finished adventure. Simply put, that outline belongs to Herr Wallis and is not ours to do what we can with it. Moreover, there are certain aspects of the plotline of that draft which we do not believe is consistent with all that has gone before. That said, it is our intent to use some of the subplots he added to “The Power Behind the Throne” supplement. The “Empire at War” (“EaW”) adventure assumes that the players have spent most of the year (2513 I.C.) completing the task set before them in “Something Rotten in Kislev.” We know there are those who are not particularly keen on that series of scenarios as written (including some of the writers for this project), so it may come as a pleasant surprise that Simon Dennett is working on a piece for Warpstone which will provide some modifications to that supplement. In addition, some might want to modify Tim Eccles’ “A Pass Too Farside” to use in place of SRiK. In any event, the PCs need to be removed from the Empire for the year between PbtT and EaW. Empire at War 1 A lone figure sits at a desk in a darken room scribing a message. A door opens and another person enters the room. “You summoned me, m’lord?” “Indeed. I have a message for you to deliver to our associate in Altdorf. Wait after you’ve delivered it for a return response. See to the delivery yourself.” “Yes, m’lord.” “And take an armed guard with you this time. The Altdorf-Middenheim Road is getting increasing dangerous and I do not want anything to delay you. Take Konrad and Fritz with you.” “Very good, m’lord. On another topic, Natassia Hess has been dispatched to meet with the peasants in Talagraad.” “Excellent.” “If I may speak freely, m’lord, I do not think that these transients should be entrusted to carry out any task that you are planning for them. I believe that their elevation to the Knights Panther by the Graf was a mistake. They have forgotten their place.” “That may well be, my friend, but by all accounting they have proven resourceful.