It’s been many months since I provided an update. The blog receives little attention mostly due to time and priorities, but the games are very much alive and well. There’s been about 13-14 sessions so far of the Ghum’zul dungeon (2-3 sessions per month). I was way off on my early prediction of finishing this dungeon by April/May. Way off.
This isn’t my first dungeon that I designed but it is by far the largest that encompasses 25ish scenes (each scene being a map/transition image) with some very large maps thrown in there. I’ve had to cut some encounters/scenes because they felt out of place or the pacing was wrong. It was a careful balance of making travelling/exploration meaningful and dialing down the amount of small encounters but making large encounters more impactful (the goblin one was a lot of fun).
Ghum’zul started off slow, emphasizing the lore by including elements in scenes for the group to learn more about Ghum’zul. Etched stone tablets and old dusty rotten tomes to the Line of Kings engraved in a grand hall of old gold. The sense of abandonment coupled with the sprinkling of a ‘natural’ encounter here and there; by natural, something mundane such as giant cliff spiders or plague rats (small kind), nothing that would suggest the place was teeming with horrors. Not yet anyhow…
What the party learned was that Alaric Rognisson (Alaric the Mad) came to this hold to entrust the Nemesis Crown to his kingly brother, Barak Rognisson. More detail about this can be found in – https://periloustales.wordpress.com/2023/04/26/karaz-ghumzul/
Ghum’zul, once a mighty dwarven fortress with deep mines, had fallen into dispute with the High King during the War of Vengeance, also known as the War of the Beard by the elves. The noble founders of Ghum’zul, the Magnusson kings, died out when the last of the line King Durak ‘Thunderfist’ Magnusson perished. So began the line of the Rognisson’s, which started with Borri Rognisson who refused the call to war against the elves. As a result of this, his line was forever-known as the ‘Low Kings’; an insult that they wore with pride.
Low King Barak Rognisson is presumably the last King of Ghum’zul, but no evidence of his fate or what happened to him has emerged. The party have discovered however that he very likely was the last one to have had possession of the Crown.
It doesn’t take long however for the tempo to change. I can only summarize some of the events/encounters that took place, because to write about a few months worth of sessions would require too much time.
After they leave the Hall of Ancestors, which was a golden hall that had engraved dedications to their most worthy of fallen as well as the full Line of Rulers of Ghum’zul, they are forced to head up, not down because Azhag the Slaughterer had forced a cave-in on a passage way heading down to prevent would-be pursuers.
The Black Hearts encounter starved-harpies who bear horrific mutations as they swoop down and try to snatch a few of them for din-dins as they cross an open-air segment of the hold high above. Luckily the harpies proved to be more of a dangerous nuisance than a real threat, but it did require extra effort on their part to rescue the halfling Frilda Lightfoot who could have easily ended up as a snack.
Later on they run into a considerable volume of dark magic lingering about in a dark chamber littered with dwarven bones. Strong traces of Dhar hovered around the place. Deep down in a well situated in the center of this chamber was a chorus of deathly cries of despair. Looking down, they could see ghoulish features staring back up, thin fragile bodies desperately trying to scramble up the wall but failing. These were undead, perpetually doomed to exist. Whatever caused the intense concentration of magic here was not known. Dangling over the well tied with rope upon a wooden beam was the remains of a dwarven skeleton, and around his neck was a strange key. Xaltach braved climbing up to grab the key. It was clearly dwarven made, but it’s purpose was unknown. As he pocketed the key, the scattered bones around him began to slither and move, connecting joints before rising as one-whole body. They battled the undead, but they kept on coming and coming, so they made a hasty retreat and collapsed the tunnel behind them.
Then they enter the Ghum’zul quarters.
What ensues is a deadly and long fight for survival against a strong nest of night goblins that have settled here. Avoiding traps (and in some cases, springing them and declaring an ouchy), the party find themselves in a truly desperate fight with their backs against the wall (quite literally) as Squigs and goblins bearing poisoned tipped arrows and flinging nasty little bombs took their toll on the company. A goblin shaman proved to be no match for Ifaris, but it was the shaman that allowed the goblins to bust down the reinforced iron doors with Greenskin magic.
Six Blackhearts (npc’s) would lose their lives in this fight, one of them an officer; Corporal Archibald. With no time to mourn, they fought on and even had to contend with a mighty Stone Troll that had wandered into the fight, smashing goblins and anyone in his path. The Blackhearts make a desperate mobile advance as they find a way forward while fighting along the way. They do eventually find a path forward and take it, only to trigger a deadly boulder trap; suffice to say Ser Smoff, the Ogre, took the brunt of that boulder and suffered greatly for it, but alive nonetheless.
They continue with haste and discover a way out; old dwarven steam-run elevators, two of them; one for ferrying cargo down into the deep mines and another for non-cargo. They use the cargo elevator and with a bit of luck and some grease, begin their descent into the deep mines.
In the deep mines, they travel for several days. Supplies are getting thin and it won’t be long before they are out. Some limited foraging buys them some time but very little is found to be edible down in the deep mines.
They encounter a ambushing Giant Spider that manages to ensnare one of the black hearts, but in doing so, revealing he is a mutant and appears to be turning into some hideous fish-like creature. He’s quickly abandoned to his fate. They discover some disturbing evidence that Thaggaraki (skaven) were down here a long time ago, the remains of a rat-like skull. The dwarves (Mallus & Magda) are not that surprised but it does make their travels a little more tense; the others don’t know what Skaven are and are under the belief that it’s just some other kind of beastmen. Everyone is on their guard.
Further travelling leads them into a cavern system with natural crystal growths. But it is here that they encounter their most deadly foe yet.
A Shard Dragon.
This massive snake-dragon-wyrm like monstrosity with razor scales and a monstrous beak and teeth that can snap gromril in half is a foe unlike any they’ve encountered so far. It’s favourite meal is metals and raw ore, but it craves one thing above all; Gromril. Unfortunately for the Blackhearts, Mallus Gundersson is decked out in full Gromril plate. Despite their best attempt to stealthily avoid this monster, with early success, it soon catches wind that there’s a juicy meal nearby.
What begins as a cat an mouse chase ends in a grueling battle for survival over the course of 3 maps as this thing pursues the company as they run and travel through the mines. Eventually the chase ends with it catching up to the company. A truly desperate struggle to defend themselves unfolds. Brannigar the Bull charges forward with Hope of the Mountain, a dwarf rune forged blade that was discovered earlier, meant to serve as a gift for a local tribal kingdom of men. The blade’s magic does wonders as it pierces the near impenetrable hide of the Shard Dragon. Ifaris casts Gehenna’s Golden Hounds as two almost demonic metal-encased hounds cast in a gold aura appear by his side and charge forward to snap away at the Shard Dragon.
Most of the black hearts are fleeing, in sight of the Hounds and the Shard Dragon; those few who fight a struggling battle remain to hold it off from pursuing the men.
Brannigar falls from a swipe to his gut, he is dead instantly as he is torn open and falls. Magda picks up Hope of the Mountain and swings the giant blade, albeit clumsily. Mallus tries to lure it away from Magda and he does so successfully, beating his plated chest. With the thing trotting towards Mallus, Captain Rylan shoots at it to draw it’s attention. It works if barely, and he narrowly avoids a strike that would have killed him in an instant; but with Rylan dodging out of the way, it turns back to Mallus. It sweeps Mallus up in it’s jaws and bites down hard. There is a crack, almost like thunder, as the Gromril shatters and breaks.
The Shard Dragon attempts to make a retreat with it’s meal, but Ifaris’s hounds prove far more troublesome. It stops its escape and drops Mallus to gnash at one of the golden hounds. To Ifaris’s surprise, the hound gets chomped and vanishes; the Shard Dragon has a fearsome bite indeed… With one hound remaining and napping at it, the Shard Dragon, wounded and bleeding, makes a retreat by diving into a tunnel it had come out of from earlier.
The party are left to mourn their fallen comrades…
Mallus, at first considered a goner, is treated by Eadulf while Magda kneels at his side. (Player of Magda opted to using his own fate point to spare Mallus; something that I normally don’t allow but I allowed it here as it was a nice gesture and it made thematic sense)
Mallus is severely wounded, and his gromril rendered useless; but he’s alive.
Brannigar on the other hand…
The Bull is gently lowered down into a nearby cavern stream as the Blackhearts give a hasty farewell; the current takes his body downstream and he disappears into the darkness.
The company moral is at its lowest and is not likely to recover; Rylan faces an uphill battle now on any attempt to guide the company and keep cohesion together. With the officers gone, leaving only himself and recently promoted Sergeant Eadulf, it will be a struggle to recover. All they can do now is stride forwards. They are lucky in the sense that staying together in a group is their only option; otherwise a few would have abandoned all hope and fled by now…
GM NOTES
Another post will be due to cover a few more events not covered here.
I’m really enjoying 4th edition Warhammer now (and my group appear to be enjoying it). I’m glad I waited however for Winds of Magic and for some of the rules to be updated before diving in. I do believe if I had started it earlier I would have been turned off by the system. I’m a little bit worried that Cubicle Seven will cut down on plans or even abandon the 4th Ed line with their focus on Old World, but here’s hoping that won’t be the case as there’s still a lot more to do (and fix) for 4th Ed.
As for the Blackheart Campaign – I’ve really enjoyed this campaign so far and it has been a challenge since it’s a fully custom campaign with zero reliance on guidebooks. This was meant to replace the poorly received Something Rotten In Kislev campaign and I think my version is of equal size. This is also helping me setup future things beyond the Enemy Within campaign (plans within plans) but is for the most part a standalone affair with some elements that will be tied into the final chapter.
We are nearly done with Blackheart campaign, and once we are, it is into the Empire On Edge. A custom campaign with elements sourced from the campaign book Empire In Ruins and elsewhere, but for the most part, an ending to the grand Enemy Within campaign that is suited for my game and for where my players will be.
It will also be a whole new party; none of the PC’s in the Blackheart campaign are going to be featured as playable. Possible cameos may exist depending on survivability but no promises on that front.
That’s it for now!
A Journey Into The Dark Grim World of Warhammer! 