Pearl of Struggle, A.pdf

A Pearl of Struggle

Preface

G reetings, treasure-hunter, and welcome to Mordheim, the City of the Damned! I hope

that you will enjoy your stopover here in this city - I have done what I could to make you

feel welcome here with this little campaign.

Campaigns, you know, are always much more interesting to play than one-off games,

especially if there is some kind of background behind it. It gives you a reason to fight, and

the background makes it all real and brings those small, dumb and maybe even painted

miniatures alive. I have always been a big fan of campaigns, and I wish that more people

would link their games together, knock up background stories for their warbands, write

more fluff and give the game character.

This campaign is an attempt to combine backgrounds with gaming. Here you are given the

backgrounds to the different battles, but the story itself is not told fully. Instead, the various

warbands have to finish the tale by throwing the gauntlet and line their warriors up to war.

I have tried to make the backgrounds as flexible as possible, and thus allowing any warbands,

regardless race or type, to participate. Any number of warbands can join the campaign, and

you will even find that the more warbands taking part the greater fun will you have.

Before you start fighting, however, I have a few pieces of advice.

Campaign Moderator

I suggest that you nominate a Campaign Moderator. He should keep track of all the

warbands and how they do. The Moderator should possibly be the most experienced

Mordheim gamer, and he could, if you agree, also join the campaign with a warband himself

as long as he does not take advantage of his position as a Moderator.

It is up to the Moderator to inform the players about when a round ends and a new round

starts, as you will see later. He should handle any problems that might appear - players that

should like to drop out of the campaign or new players that would like to join you in the

middle of the campaign, and he should make sure that the decisions are fair.

Warbands

I advice that you use new warbands rather than experienced warbands. If you use

experienced warbands, then some players will have big advantages while others might find it

hard to survive with good results. In addition, the warbands will most probably be spoiled in

the end, and thus I suggest that the warbands are disbanded after the campaign too.

If any characters did particularly good, then why not give them eternal life, write up a small

background for them, fix a fair cost and use them as special characters for the future? This is

great fun for all players, and it supports further campaigns.

Reading the Campaign

Although it may be tempting to read the entire campaign and study the special rules that are

to be used later, I highly recommend players not to do so. The Campaign Moderator should

be the only player who has read the whole campaign. Part of the exciting thing about

campaigns is that you never know what is going to happen. It is a bit like reading the last

pages of a great book - or knowing who is the winner of a sports game before you watch it.

And finally - feel free to change anything in this campaign until it fits your gaming group.

Nothing is written in stone - neither the Mordheim rules nor this campaign.

Enjoy!

Christian Ellegaard, Campaign Designer

Introduction

W alking around in a peaceful forest in the Empire, climbing the cliffs, bathing in the

cool streams that run over the landscape, listening to the birds' happy singing, feeling the

nice warmth of the sun in your face. As a first impressing, things look very idyllic and very

peaceful.

However, people who know the Old World are wiser. Even in the friendliest surroundings,

even in the coziest inn - yes, even in your own home - you are never safe. For death lurks

behind each and every corner - that is the most basic knowledge of the Old World. Whether

you are rich or poor, handsome or ugly, evil or good, faithful or heretic - one odd movement

might cause your certain death.

You never know what is hidden behind the next rock. Or what was that sound just behind

you? Every step you take takes you one step closer to death, and every second that passes

pulls your string of life until it finally breaks.

Things are rarely what they appear to be. Your friendly and open-handed neighbor might be

your murderer, the baker your assassin and your son your traitor.

The trees of the forests might suddenly surround you with their mighty branches, grab you

and eat you, and you never know when you've run into a hostile Goblin camp on the

warpath. The surface of the world is a dark, unpredictable and incredibly dangerous place to

be.

Now picture what the underground is like.

A place with no forgiveness, no respite and no mercy. This is where the very most evil

creatures dwell - creatures impossible compare with beasts that live on the surface when it

comes to terror, power and chaos.

Historians are still discussing when these Catacombs are established. Some even refuse to

talk about these, claiming them to be unreal and just a sick result of the imaginative mind of

a man. And true: There is no evidence that proves that the Catacombs are really there. It is

all based more or less on myths and old tales that have survived for thousands of years - just

like the mysterious Skaven, the Golden Dragon and other fabled monsters and places.

Whatever is the truth, mankind has experienced unimaginable horrors when having explored

lost and forgotten mines, abandoned sewers, deserted caves and other underground tunnels.

Of that fraction of survivors that have returned from such perilous journeys few have told

about the real Catacombs - the Catacombs that Man was not meant to know.

Mercenaries, the Dogs of War. If you want to find a Mercenary, go to where there are

treasures to uncover and gold to earn. If you want to find gold, go to where the Mercenaries

are to find.

Somehow these seasoned warriors seem to be attracted to wherever it is possible to earn

money or find wealth in ruins or dungeons, just as flies seem to be attracted to fresh crap.

Being a Mercenary is not only about fighting - it is just as well about being all ears and get

the very latest rumors about hidden treasures and hoards. Every night, all inns around the

Old World are booked by the prying Dogs of War that all meet up hoping to catch a word

about huge buried treasures - rarely with any good result, though.

For the rumors are not few. The very biggest part of what is told is just made up stories,

probably only for giving the peasants something to talk about - but a very small part may

contain a nucleus of a truth, and that is what the Mercenaries are trying to catch up with. A

good Mercenary and treasure hunter has the ability of filtering the stories, finding out what is

true and what is false. For trusting in the wrong rumors may lead to the death of the

Mercenary rather than the richness and wealth that was promised.

Throughout the Old World there are numerous spots that seem to attract Mercenaries more

than others. Townsfolk and innkeepers feel that, and many a successful inn is situated

beneath a gold mine of hidden treasures and other secrets that can bring wealth and fame

with them. Amongst the most famous places can be mentioned many of the lost and

deserted Dwarven halls that are told to contain unimaginable amounts of gold; the ruined

temples of Lustria; the mountains around the Black Water where the former pirates had their

strongholds and secret haunts and many other places.

However, nothing seems to surpass the doomed city of Mordheim. Since the horrific tragedy

where a mighty meteor struck the city, myths and rumors have been running like a forest fire

telling about some mystical but extremely powerful stones. Many a soldier has entered the

city, mostly without any luck at all but suffering a slow and painful death while getting more

and more insane, but some have returned and achieved what they wanted.

The road to success is perilous. Apart from the many deadly monsters that lurk in the black

ruins there are countless other hostile warbands that are searching for the same thing. It is

impossible to trust in anybody - for the darkness and perversity of the city may drive even

the most down-to-earth soldier crazy, and treachery and heresy is all daily life in Mordheim.

Enter your darkest nightmares; imagine all the gold in the world and all the power in the

continent - enter Mordheim. Beware though, treasure-hunter, for this is not a dream...

Choose your Warband

Each player participating in the campaign should choose a warband now. Players are free to

choose between any races described in the Mordheim rulebook. Other warbands may be

used in agreement between all players and any campaign moderator that might be.

Chapter One

The Blue Sheep

B rombo Bluecap, the innkeeper of the famous inn The Blue Sheep, breathed and glanced

over the taproom. The room swarmed with life - people ate their supper, played cards,

played games, entertained each other, sipped their beers, told each other rumors and fair

tales - yes, no doubt that this night would bring profit once again.

"Phew," he said and dried his face with an old rag. "Rarely has this inn been that stuffed with

people. I wonder what is going on here in the neighborhood..."

He put the rag back in his breast pocket as traditional for the Halflings and stepped into the

crowd. The torches on the walls and the lanterns hanging in the loft lighted up the tap room

with a cozy, reddish light that only hardly penetrated the thick cloud of smoke, and the fair

tones of the elven troubadour that had been hired for the night almost drowned in the

laughter and tumult of the guests.

He began to pile up a couple of empty glasses on his coaster as a big, gloved hand suddenly

grabbed his shoulder. He turned around, a bit frightened, and looked into the face of a tall,

weather-beaten man.

"Greetings, halfling," he mumbled in his deep voice.

"Sire...? What can I do for you?" stuttered Brombo, looking around in panic to see if

anybody had noticed the big man.

The man bowed his head. "Can I just talk to you alone?" he whispered and put his hand on

the shaft of his long knife that in Halfling ranges was rather a long sword. Brombo nodded

nervously, put the coaster on one of the tables and followed the man into a small room.

"Sit down," commanded the man as if he had been the owner of the inn. Brombo obeyed

and sat down in front of his guest.

"I'm sorry if I scared you. I wasn't meant to be threatening you," said the man and leant

forwards over the table. "My name is Helmut Elmheim, and I am a Mercenary Captain from

Frossenhjem in the Middenheim district. I am leading a group of brave warriors from

Frossenhjem, and we have been journeying for many a week now just to reach Mordheim."

Brombo scratched his hair and shook his head. "You are not the first Middenheimer I've

seen here," he said. "Many warriors have come here to my inn and rested here for a day or

two before entering Mordheim. I do not dare to say that even a fraction has returned..."

Elmheim raised a hand. "I know the stories. I have been here in the town for three days, and

I have listened to every single rumor that has passed the lips of you guests. I know the perils,

I know the risks - but I am also aware of the wealth and power that is hidden in the ruins."

Brombo sighed. "It appears to me that people nowadays have nothing in mind but money,

money, money. You men are willing to risk your lives, your families, your friends -

everything, just for the sake of money."

"Have you ever heard about Ilhu's Pearl?" whispered the wanderer, staring deeply into the

eyes of Brombo.

"Er ... apart from rumors, no..." said the Halfling, faltering.

"Then you must have missed something." concluded Elmheim and knocked his fist into the

table.

"Ilhu's Pearl," he began, leaning back in the armchair. "Ilhu's Pearl is an incredibly valuable

pearl. It is smaller than the eyeball of a frog but of greater value than a pound of Wyrdstone.

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