Editing The Damnation And The Glory (section)

==Session 4==
In today’s update, I introduce you to the group. Mainly because Saturdays are spent variously hanging out, seeing movies or just partying. Only rarely do we spend our Saturdays gaming. After all, we do have lives.

Taking the role of the GM is, of course, myself. A 6’ ''Warhammer'' affiliate who works part-time at a pub and splits his free time either with his girlfriend or referring to himself in the third person. It helps to pass the time.

Gudlauz is played by the resident Emo, the only female housemate and probably the most violent of the lot of us. She cuts, she smokes and we have a sneaking suspicion that she takes illicit drugs on a regular basis. But she plays and mean game of Halo and likes to play. More a [[rollplaying|rollplayer]], but I won’t complain about that. We play [[Battlefleet Gothic]] constantly, always the same forces, always the same scenario. Her character is just trying to become more powerful, but still makes for an entertaining personality.

Hrothgar/Uh’iuv’u is played by the token Gay. Eccentric and friendly, he’s easily the best gamer of the lot of us. Only roleplays, but he is great at it. He also paints figurines with me, and has entered [[Golden Daemon]] more than a few times. Hell, maybe one of these days he’ll win it. His character is, to date, running the game, and is trying to become a Champion Of Slaanesh.

Wolfgar is played by my best friend, a computer technician and an artistic genius. If you’re a fan of Dream Theater, you can see a little of his work on the cover of Portnoy’s new DVD. He is more a /v/ gamer, but I got him interested enough in this game to take part. His character is looking to seize control of the warband, and he may even challenge Hrothgar to get it.

Skeld and Eydis are both played by my next closest friend, a great guy trying to join the police force. He plays a dash of ''[[Warhammer]]'' and [[/v/]] games, but is far from being a true fa[[/tg/]]uy. Also a huge Firefly fan. His character is trying to become a Sorcerer of Slaanesh, and by all means he seems to be progressing faster than Hrothgar.

The last dancer in this little routine is the oldest of the housemates and a freelance video-game designer (if his words are to be believed). He plays Buliwyf and, after me, is the greatest one steeped in ''Warhammer'' lore, even owning a limited edition release of the Liber Chaotica. He also gets his OM NOM NOM on with a growing but strong ‘Nid army. Buliwyf now just seeks to slay Hrothgar.

Today we spent some time discussing the game, the story, where we’re going with it and any flaws that have popped up in the story-line. Hrothgar and Buliwyf’s players were who I discussed with, as of all of them they are the most immune to the lure of meta-gaming.

We worked our why the Elf Princeling had a map to the Tear of Lanshor, what exactly the Tear of Lanshor was, why Hrothgar needed to get it and what he would do with it once he had it, where it would be found and who else was searching for it, as well as working out the first ‘Boss’ of the game. I won’t release all this info just yet, in case people want to be surprised as the game progresses, but if asked I will post details.

Other topics discussed were character relations, and how strange it was that everyone blindly followed a 16 year old slave – even if he was blessed by the Gods, when a more powerful sorcerer was clearly the one leading the game. Then we remembered how luck he is. In spite of some lack luster stats, he has taken everything that has been thrown at him with excellent rolls and beautiful criticals.

His luck has seen him retain control more than his power or his charisma, and to this extent the player decided that next session he’ll relinquish one of his fate points for a roll on the Chaos Rewards table. However, we’ve agreed that, given the length of time he’ll be away from the warband for, Skeld’s little coven will no doubt take this opportunity to seize control of the warband.

Buliwyf also came up in conversation, as the next few sessions may see the group mingling in a city setting, and for the most part the mutations the group has are easy to hide. But Buliwyf’s face is a flaming skull with great rents in it that constantly bleed and grant him a strange visage similar to a bloodletter. Short of having a bag over his head, we’re not sure how we’ll get him into the city.

The last subject we discussed was Skeld and his power gaming. Of all the characters, he has progressed the fastest (thanks to some lucky starting rolls and clever selection of experience advancements). We’re working on how he might interact with the ‘Boss’ character, because depending on if he chooses to; a) Be his enemy b) Be his ally c) Be his minion or d) Be his master, it could conceivably change the course of the game. We can’t talk to him about this, as he is a meta-gamer in the first degree, and can use any knowledge so subtly and intelligently that you wouldn’t even realize he was doing it.

Any suggestions will be greatly welcomed.

Wolfgar: “Do you take salt in payment?” GM (as Trader): “No, but we accept gold, copper, silver and large bags of shit.” Wolfgar: “…hum-“ GM (as Trader):”Horse. You better be saying horse.”

Yes, you guessed it, it’s time for another harrowing installment of the adventures of Hrothgar The Freed and his miserable band of miscreants, marauders and murderers. Last time we left this lucky group, they had just left (along with a handful of their finest warriors) for the Kislev plains from Norsca in search of the alleged resting place of the chaotic artifact, the Tear of Lanshor – the reason for which they are retrieving it unknown, save to the daemon-dreams of Uh’iuv’u who isn’t feeling in the mood to share the information just as yet.

Oh yes, it turns out that Hrothgar was gifted with more than just the name of a daemon, but the sleeping essence of a daemon itself. It’s far from being Exalted, but the sliver of daemonhood is in there, and at night he dreams of the realm of Chaos, where he speaks with Uh’iuv’u and learns of things that were, are and will be. Needless to say, Hrothgar wakes up foaming at the mouth most days. And not in a good way, either.

Deciding that it was safer, as well as saner, to travel by horse to their destination, as opposed to risking pirates, elves and the navies of men that would threaten them if they chose to go by sea. It was a dull and eventless journey, with a few weeks spent huddling around a sullen camp fire, fighting off the cold and praying that those on watch wouldn’t slip up and let a hungry wolf into the camp to have it’s wicked way with them.

Skeld decidedly hated the journey, being the main advocate of a ship-bound approach. For a Norscan, he didn’t take too kindly to the wilderness, constantly bitching about the lack of fine food and strong mead, to an extent that had even the loyal marauders fingering their weapons and looking edgily at the powerful sorcerer.

The most interesting event of the dour trip was an argument with a traveling trader, after which the warband ended up with a metric-dogfuck of extra supplies and the world with a few less traders and mercenaries in it.

Wolfgar was very happy. Buliwyf was let loose amongst those who chose to flee and were caught. We had gotten bored and wanted to bump the game rating from PG to R. If I were to draw this, I’d need at least 14 shades of red, and a minimum on 1 blue.

It was upon a night dark and dreary, with Morrslieb hanging low in the sky, bleeding its evil grin out across the wide, grassy plain, that this motley crew came upon their target. They brought their horses around and examined, with some depression and annoyance, at the sight that greeted them. They were swiftly thankful that they had approached the final destination in the depth of the night.

A fortified town, probably once a home for a military garrison (if it did not still house one) stood smack-fucking-bang on top of their prize. Everyone was, understandably, miffed at this turn of events, and some grumbles were heard through out the minion marauder community.

Only Hrothgar was comfortable with this turn of events, thanks to his inner daemon he had been forewarned that his prize lay under the feet of his enemy. After some annoyance, Hrothgar admitted that it was hidden in the mausoleum of Heinrich Tottengrotter. The fact that he had not shared this information earlier came as an annoyance to the rest of the cast.

Of course, a new problem had arisen. They had a mighty need to check out those graves and find the right one. And that would mean going down into the graveyard and passing by Kislev peasants without arousing suspicion.

Let’s look at the cast, shall we?

*Buliwyf – A giant of a man, whose head is a flaming, bleeding skull. He’s been spending the last month of travel with a bag over his head. Do you have any idea how funny it is to watch people trying to figure out how to flame-proof a bag?

*Hrothgar – A 16 year old who is just as tall as Buliwyf, with claws splitting his fingers and the symbol of Chaos melted into his flesh.

*Wolfgar – A one armed man who has never, to date, taken off his semi-broken daemon mask. People are actually starting to make bets about what’s actually under there.

*Skeld – A hunched mutant sorcerer who is only growing in power. The less said about him, the better.

*Eydis – See Skeld’s description, but make it a woman.

*Gudlauz – An 18 year old, formerly Kislevite pleasure-slave girl who is blissfully mutation free.

I wonder who the most qualified character is?

Gudlauz’s player was a littler worried concerned, as she has not played much character-development material to-date, but she’s looking forward to some one-on-one time with me and her, trying to find a mausoleum that may well be a secret shine to Chaos, hidden on the outskirts of Kislev. But, so far so good, and I’m currently working on the town’s details now. We didn’t play long this game, as I had some business to attend too, as did most of the other players.

Again, any comments are warmly welcomed.

Gudlauz: “I scream and leap at them, whirling my axe in an over-head arc, aiming to remove the soldiers head from his neck. I rolled a... 72. Fuck.” GM: “How do you like your pwn’d? Medium or fucked over?”

And I am back, after a disgusting plunge into realms of insanity that would make the most dedicated Slaaneshi squirm with discomfort. Seriously you guys, why did you ask me to join? Why? Years of therapy to kill that side of me, and you go and drag it back up. Now the world around me is fucked over until I can convince myself that there isn’t a Slaaneshi-esque daemon watching over me and that I really should be keeping it in my pants.

So, without further mind-raping adieu, I bring to you the latest update for your perusal and reflection.

In our last thrilling installment, we reveal that the artifact that the players are seeking is hidden in the mausoleum of a man named Heinrich Tottengrotter. Hrothgar had known this, but conveniently chosen NOT to tell the rest of the group, a fact that has everyone more than a little miffed and has only served to encourage players thoughts of mutiny and revolution. Wolfgar has been toying with the thought particularly, but it’s in Buliwyf that the real problem is had, as the Player has made it painfully clear that if anyone but his character struck down Hrothgar, Buliwyf would definitely seek revenge against those who took away his chance of Khorne-fueled pain dealing.

Skeld is none too pleased with the possibility of a mutiny, as it would mean he’d have to exert his dominance over a new player, a change he is not at all relishing given his current situation of his magic not being as powerful as it would be further north. The player came to the sudden realization that relying on the eddies of the Winds Of Chaos is all well and good when you’re up to your next in it, but when you start traveling towards the Old World, that magic? Not so readily available. Eydis is just being his magic-bitch, and the Player is planning on sacrificing her to boost his powers. Whilst I allowed him to play 2 characters for the sake of character development, I am not going to let him use it as a power boost.

Of course, I’m not going to tell him that until AFTER he sacrifices her.

Now we skip back to the main focus of this session, Gudlauz, who after a quick costume change is now posing as a Kislevite peasant, after getting a crash course in basic Kislev so she knows roughly what to say if/when she gets caught snooping around the grave yard. Lucky that bastard Skeld took Kislev as an additional language.

After a particularly harrowing moment trying to get into the town, when it was revealed clearly that she could not speak Kislev by the town-guards, she managed to get in only by handing a hastily scrawled note that detailed that she was visiting the grave of her father. Fucking Plan B. Not only did she get in without a hitch, the fucking helpful towns-guardmen leads her right to the fucking grave.

It’s at this point that they executed their cunning plan, which I was not privy to. It’s best if I just put it in dot points.

* Gudlauz drops her guise and makes it very, very obvious that she’s a worshiper of Chaos. The town-guard obviously cries for help. Hearing the cry, a few locals rush to the man’s aid, including the remaining gate-keeper (rolled vs. intelligence to think against this, failed, he rushed to his aid) 
* Seeing the sign, the fucking warband which had been kept ready attacks. A few rolls of Leadership later and Hrothgar’s command for the entire warband to stay as silent as possible is followed almost to the letter. 
* Gudlauz virtually rapes the first towns-guardsman, then proceeds to play "Follow the Leader" in the cemetery, screaming her longs out and making damn sure that anyone who is in a position to defend the town is following her, rather than manning the walls. She runs like buggery through-out the town, before losing them and donning her disguise once more. 
* Buliwyf hits the town first, actually running faster than Chaos Steeds. He proceeds to fuck up everything that gets in his way. 
* Wolfgar and Hrothgar move to the cemetery to give Gudlauz back up. 
* The Chaos Marauders follow Buliwyf and proceed to make a giant shit-fuck out of the entire town. 
* The meager town defenses are easily overcome by the Chaos Warriors. I could go on in gore inducing detail over how many they killed (Buliwyf personally tallied over 3 dozen) and in the explosive ways that it was done (Wolfgar crushed a fucking peasant woman with a grave stone) but I think I should leave that to your imaginations. 
* Wolfgar, Hrothgar and Gudlauz made a stand against the bulk of the defenders at the cemetery, and proceeded to show them why they were the Chosen Of Chaos. It was nice to get back to good, healthy gore after last-nights…episode.

The session ended when the players, sans Buliwyf, entered the mausoleum. Buliwyf blacked out rather cinematically from a blow he never saw coming. More on that in coming installments. As usual, I will answer any questions, and if you want more detail on exactly what happened, then just ask. No-one lost any limbs, though Gudlauz got more than a lil’ cut up. So, comments?

END O’ SESSION 5

[[Category:Roleplaying]]
[[Category:Stories]]