[Warhammer4Friends] Actual Play: The Siege

So two sessions worth of recaps this time. I've embedded the video play recordings here too. We had some pretty fun shenanigans, although our friend Brad had to drop out due to health/chemo awfulness.

The Siege
System: The inestimable Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (4th edition)
Characters: Boneshard, Norscan Berserker (marauder career); Regis d'Pubiens, Bretonnian Spy

Returning to the siege camp, Boneshard nurses his arrow wounds from the battle between Ermengard and Agravaine's forces. Agravaine has been driven back to his castle, on a hill overlooking the valley with the stream where the battle took place. Regis, gossiping in camp, learns the two sides agree to a prisoner exchange and that Duke Armand is coming to negotiate a peace. Ermengard comes to the characters, suggesting they would be well-rewarded if they killed Agravaine when he comes and removed that treacherous bastard.

About a week later, Lord Chrodegar asks Boneshard as a doughty guard to accompany him to the prisoner exchange, among them his son, Sir Chilfroy. There, Boneshard is called out by a brawny knight named Sir Bohemond the Strong, Honor Guard of Lord Agravaine.

After the exchange, the characters go to the feast with the Duke, Agravaine, and Ermengard in attendance. From their view at the low tables, things do not appear to be going smoothly. Lady Griselda, the adventurers' old sponsor, greets them, asking why they betrayed her. The adventurers make excuses, and Griselda informs them that she does not trust Agravaine and fears for the Duke. There is an arm wrestling contest between Boneshard and Sir Bohemond, ending in a close Boneshard victory, to the merriment of all.

After the feast, the heroes try to investigate Agravaine's tent, pondering following up on the idea to assassinate him. But Agravaine rides off to his keep with some horsemen before anything is achieved. Soon, they hear shouts from the Duke's tent, and discover he has been marked by an assassin, who escaped, with a triangle inside a circle, burned into his flesh. The Damsel Helvis has placed him into a magical slumber, delaying the deadly poison she believes infects him, but cannot heal him. Plans are made with Lord Ermengard to assault Agravaine's castle to kill him, while the host will assault the walls.

Entering the castle...

(Overall note: this was a really fun session for me to DM as it was action packed and the culmination of several prior sessions' worth of set up.)

Agravaine's Castle, side view.

The next session the adventurers, informed by a servant who was captured by Ermengard's knights, climb up the rocky clifface behind Agravaine's keep to several sewage grates for the keep. Hearing the sounds of assault on the walls, Boneshard pried off one of the grates leading into the keep's dungeon and they entered the darkness (they decided to shut their lantern). They heard the sound of breathing from beyond the shit they crawled through, and then were ambushed by something that could see in the dark while they could not. With luck, Boneshard managed to parry the sound of a swishing blade in the darkness.

Opening the lantern, they found themselves in a large cell with several ratmen, and a waking, hulking giant of a ratman - a rat ogre! They hew through the ratmen, and narrowly escape dying at the hands of the rat ogre by slamming the cell door shut and tossing a burning oil flask (molotov) onto him. They run away down the dungeon hall, heading for stairs and fling flaming oil towards their foes.

They then trick the two men guarding the dungeon door leading into the keep itself, they apparently being tasked with keeping the ratmen in. After bamboozling the knights guarding the door, the adventurers betray them and kill them. They then try to whistle their way out of the area ('nothing to see here boys'). After some quick exploring, they find themselves going down a long hallway behind the main feast hall leading to some stairs. At this point, both Boneshard and Regis are wounded.

Running down the stairs, Regis runs smack dab into the armored chest of Sir Bohemond, who is escorted two ratmen down the stairs. He slashes Regis badly with a sword before Boneshard tackles him. Regis lights two flasks with a burning wick. The adventurers then manage to wrench open Bohemond's facemask and smash a flask onto his face, while another flask is tossed into the ratmen. Bohemond runs screaming down the hall, the ratmen, one of which was clearly a sorcerer of some sort, scurrying after as the adventurers run up the stairs deeper into the castle.

After peeking into the throne room and seeing Lord Agravaine bent over a map table with his counselors, they decided the room's armored guards would be too much in their current state and climbed higher on the stairs. On the next floor, Regis snuck into the corridor to see a drowsy guard. He was not noticed, but his attempt to garrote the man fumbled terribly, the guard escaping and yelling alarums. The two high tailed down the hall, squeezing through a narrow window and swinging outside on a grappling hook. They succeeded in not breaking their legs (taking more wounds) as they swung onto the outer wall of the castle.