Ashes of Middenheim: Major Plot Points

Game 3: Through The Drakwald and Rats in the Walls

1. The PCs help a group of refugees escape to Middenheim. Along the way, the refugees' priest of Sigmar is killed. While he lay dying, the priest gives the PCs a small painting of Sigmar and begs them to return it to the Temple of Sigmar in Middenheim. The painting is small, made of wood bound with an iron frame.
2. The PCs arrive in Middenheim and return the icon to the Temple. While resting from their journey, they are detained by the watch as it appears the priest they gave the icon to has been murdered and the icon stolen. The PCs were the last to see him alive. Since it is readily apparent that the PCs had nothing to do with the murder they are instead deputized and asked to look into the killing.
3. The murder of the priest appears to be related to 4 other murders in the city over the last few days. On investigating the other murders, the party finds one that is particularly relevant. Apparently, a body that was sent to the priests of Morr for anonymous burial was identified by three men who paid for full Sigmarite services and a headstone. The murdered man was identified as Gerhard Kroen and the stone bore the twin-tailed comet of Sigmar and the letters O.F. (clearly not his initials).
4. Retracing the movements of Kroen based on where his body was found, the PCs discovered an entrance to the city sewers that led to a tunnel system. In the tunnels, the PCs found a skaven assassin's lair, defeated the skaven and recovered the iron frame that the icon had been in. The murders were solved but the icon was still missing. On searching the lair, the PCs found a great deal of graffiti in the weird scratchmarks that appear to serve the skaven as letters. Among the scratchmarks was a crude skull image rendered in blood. This was the only image like that among the skaven scratchings.
5. Impressed by the PCs success at retrieving the "frame", Claus Liebnitz, the Deputy High Priest of Ulric, requests their aid in a problem he's having. Apparently one of his priests, a blind man named father Odo has been having visions of a chaos hero entombed in the Drakwald forest. In the vision Odo sees that the warrior was buried with a relic of great power. Concerned that the relic might fall into enemy hands, Liebnitz commissions the party to retrieve the blasphemous thing for safekeeping. Father Odo will accompany them as a guide.

Game 4: The Shrine in the Forest

1. The party headed south into the Drakwald forest following the blind priest's directions. After three days travel they arrived at a clearing in the forest where a huge monolith stood. After defeating the beastmen and minotaur guarding the site, the group found the entrance to a tomb complex. After dealing with assorted nastiness in the tomb the group retrieved the object of their quest: an evil looking brass skull attached to an iron chain.
2. The party spent the next few days trying to get back to Middenheim without the skull escaping. I continually fell out of whatever container it was in, made strange noises, and seemed to be in some way alive. One night was spent trying to prevent Spam from putting the iron chain around his neck. During a fight, blood on the ground seemed to run uphill toward the skull.

Game 6: Deadly Cargo

1. After a brief diversion in a frankenstein castle, the group was accosted by a large group of beastmen. Just as the situation seemed most dire, with beat reinforcements clearly on the way, the foul creatures were dispersed by three men who rode in at the last moment. The three were clearly combat veterans and followers of Sigmar.
   These three identify themselves as members of the Order Fidelis and were the same three that saw to the proper burial of Gerhard Kroen (see item 3). They don't give up much information about themselves but it is very clear that these three are enemies of chaos.
2. The three Ordo Fidelis members escort you back to Middenheim and follow you far enough to make sure the skull is brought to the Temple of Ulric. They would have preferred it be delivered to the Temple of Sigmar for safe-keeping but they did not wish to arouse any suspicion by changing the plan.
3. After arriving at the Temple of Ulric, the party is enjoying some congratulatory wine when Father Odo started to get all weird and then mutated into a nasty pustulent pile of corruption. It seemed that someone had poisoned the temple's well with some mutating Chaos nastiness. Once the situation was brought under control, Deputy High Priest Liebnitz asks you to look into the matter and make sure this doesn't happen elsewhere in the city. If word were to get out that the wells were being tainted with chaos there would be a general panic. The only clue is a handprint left in some kind of purple paint.
4. On leaving the temple the party was met by the Ordo Fidelis guys again. You told them what you were up to and what had happened in the temple. They agreed that keeping the situation under wraps was a good idea and also agreed to help keep an eye on the city wells. They headed north leaving the party to watch the wells in the south.
5. After a while, the group spotted a likely sabateur and cornered him. He was not forthcoming with information but you did find a little map on him which led back to where he was based. The base was in some tunnels under an abandoned warehouse. In the tunnels the group found ample evidence that the purple handprint guys did their business there. The party raided the underground base, killed the cultists in residnece and recovered a small barrel of glowing green powder, an evil looking book, and weapons that were clearly of skaven manufacture.

Game 7: Panic in the Streets, Trial of Fire, Corruption's Journey, and The Truth Will Out

1. Laden with a small barrel of glowing green powder and an evil looking book, the group headed back to Temple of Ulric to report their findings. Along the way it became apparent that things around town were not as quiet as they were when the party headed underground to deal with the cultists. The party was able to foil the poisoning of one well but clearly others had been tainted as cases of mutation were popping up all over the city. Some folks were clearly taking advantage of the situation: the group found a mob preparing to lynch the neighborhood moneylender who had been fitted with false horns and a crudely drawn sign that said 'beestman'. Well as far as you know, that's what Joey said and given that most of you are illiterate, you had to take his word for it. Spelling matters?
2. A tense moment ensued as the party attempted to rescue the moneylender from illegal (if not undeserved) prosecution. Promising to escort the moneylender to the authorities the party continued their journey to the temple with the beaten and bloody banker in tow. No sooner did they clear the first mob, the party came across a group of watchmen chasing down a little girl who seemed to have sprouted a second hand from her right arm. Cornering her in an alley, the watch patrol was prepared to dispatch her when the party moved to stop them. There was a moment of confusion as the watch were unsure if the party were looters, rioters or Chaos cultists. Cooler heads prevailed and the party thought to show the watch sergeant their deputisation credentials which defused the situation somewhat. Still nervous and expecting to be reprimanded, the watch sergeant decided to take everyone into custody: the party, the moneylender, and the girl, and deliver them to the watch headquarters where they good all be sorted out.
3. On their way to the watch headquarters, the motley bunch was waylaid by Claus Liebnitz and a patrol of his Tuetogen Guards. With a wink, Claus offered to 'take custody' of the party members and escort them to the temple 'for questioning.' Not one to argue with the Deputy High Priest of Ulric, the watch sergeant reliquished his custody of the party and made off to headquarters with his mutant and 'beestman'. Liebnitz and company led the party back to the temple and then into the dungeon where he relieved the party of their belongings and unceremoniuosly dumped them in a filthy, stinking cell. Liebnitz then left but not before making it clear that the party had 'outlived their usefulness' and would be 'dealt with properly at a later date.' Meanwhile they were to enjoy his hospitality, blah, blah, typical snide evil antagonist blather.
4. While trying to decide what to do about their predicament (and for once Bol Peen regretted the stone-masonry skills of dwarfs) the party noticed that the cell across from them contained a battered and broken Matthias Hoffer, the leader of the three Ordo Fidelis witch hunters they had met earlier. Hoffer had been captured, brought to the prison and 'questioned' until he collapsed. Hoffer revealed that Jakob Bauer, one of the other O.F. fellows had been dealing with a chaos cultist lair in another part of the city. Bauer was found by the watch, bleeding badly, and carrying a terrifying blasphemous book. The notion that Bauer was taking the book back to the Temple of Sigmar for safekeeping was dismissed and Bauer was thrown in jail. According to Hoffer, Bauer was being held pending a trial for heresy. The third Ordo Fidelis member, Ulrich Fischer, had escaped and was holed up at the Temple of Sigmar.
5. With some luck and cunning, the party was able to escape their cell, retrieve their belongings and release Hoffer. Escaping the Temple of Ulric the party made their way to the Temple of Sigmar where they met Fischer and High Capitular Werner Stoltz, the highest ranking official of the Sigmnarite church in Middenheim. Stoltz explained that the situation was very serious. Bauer was being held on charges of heresy and would have to stand trial. Things in Middenheim were getting out of control and the Temple of Sigmar couldn't be seen allowing a suspected heretic go free. The last thing anyone needed was for the Temple of Sigmar to be accused of harboring heretics. Bauer would have to stand trial and be exonerated the old-fashioned way. Stoltz asked Hoffer to explain as best he could what Bauer was up to in hopes that the party could retrieve some sort of evidence that could be used at trial to help prove Bauer's innocence.
6. The group headed over to a tavern in a rough part of town called the Sword and Flail. It was mid-morning and the tavern was closed. Sneaking through an upper story window, Spam was able to get in and open the front door for the group. Booby trapping the stairway lest the owner wake up, the party headed down into the cellar and found the ever-present trap door in the floor leading to the cultist lair below. After dealing with the two mutants guarding the place, the party not only found evidence of Bauer's attempt to destroy the secret temple, they also found a witness in the form of Johann Opfer. Opfer was being held for blood sacrifice (so he was told) and saw Bauer come in and trash the place. Bundling up Opfer, the party headed for the surface, said a few words over the body of the tavern owner who had found the booby traps, took the owner's money, and marched off to the trial.
7. The trial was held in the Square of Martials, just in front of the Palace. Presiding over the trial were the three Law Lords of Middenheim, The High Priestess of the Temple of Verena, and Commander Schutzmann of the City Watch. Claus Liebnitz spoke for the prosecution while High Capitular Stoltz spoke for the defense. It was purposely set up as a public spectacle, no doubt by the scheming Liebnitz. After much mucking about the party was able to get Opfer up on the stand where High Capitular Stoltz had him give his testimony which proved that Bauer was not a heretic. Not to be outdone, Liebnitz called Stoltz to the stand. From nowhere Liebnitz suddenly produced the icon of Sigmar that was stolen way back in Game 3. Liebnitz asked Stoltz if the icon in question was indeed the property of the church of Sigmar. Stoltz replied that it was and wondered how Liebnitz came to have it. Liebnitz turned, reversed the icon, and showed the crowd that it had the symbol of Khorne drawn in blood on the back. Pandemonium ensued.
8. The judges, watchmen, prisoner, various retinues and hangers on (including the party) retreated to the palace and relative safety. It was decided that the trial could be resumed behind closed doors in the morning. Once the people in the room manage to get Stoltz' hands off of Liebnitz' throat, everyone retired for the night.
   In the middle of the night, the party was approached by Father Ranulf of the Temple of Ulric. Ranulf brought the box that contained the brass skull and asked the group to make their way across town to a Professor Albrecht Zweistein at the Collegium Theologica. There, he hoped, someone would be able to find a way to destroy the thing.
9. Dodging angry mobs and watchmen, the party made their way to the Colegium with the box. They presented the box to professor Zweistein who asked some questions and then opened the box to see what was inside. Unfortunately, the box no longer contained the brass skull. A human head had been substituted: the head of Johann Opfer. Clearly Liebnitz, the last one to have hold of the skull, made the substitution.
10. Dismayed but undaunted, the party made their way back to the palace to alert Commander Schutzmann and hopefully convince him that Deputy High Priest Liebnitz was not what he seemed. On their arrival, they discovered that Liebnitz had left the palace and had gone back to the Temple of Ulric. Fearing the worst, the party set out to follow him while Schutzmann gathered the troops.
11. The party arrived at the Temple and talked their way past the watch only to find Liebnitz already in the middle of some sort of blasphemous rite. Barring their way were elite Tuetogen Guards. These particular guardsmen were corrupted by Chaos and moved to kill the characters. Deciding that the best weapon to used against heavily armoured Chaos-tainted warriors is a clothesline, the party managed to subdue their attackers and enter the temple sanctuary. While the fighting was going on, Liebnitz was busily sacrificing him men in some insane blood ritual. Upon reaching the sanctuary, the brass skull began to emit a bright blood-red light which coalesced into an horrific daemon. Liebnitz collapsed bleeding profusely from his nose and mouth. The party engaged the daemon which fought ferociously. The daemon had managed to incapacitate most of the party members when Schutzmann arrived with soldiers and a couple wizards. The wizards threw spells into the daemon, severely weakening it. Dragging his bloodied carcass up for one last strike, Bol Peen struck the killing blow, sending the daemon back to whatever Chaos Hell it came from. As the daemon faded away the brass skull blackened and cracked, falling to pieces.
12. Mortally wounded but not quite dead, Liebnitz graced the party with one last gurgling taunt before he expired. He laughed and told the party that they had allowed part of a powerful deamon named Xathrodox the Red Flayer back into the world. Part of Xathrdox's essence was trapped in the brass skull and was released when the skull was destroyed. Now there were two more parts which contain the rest of Xathrodox's essence. When those pieces are found, the remainder of thes essence would be released, join together and Xathrodox would walk the earth once more. He promptly expired, right on cue.
13. As if that wasn't enough, the great pillar of fire that occupies the center of the Temple of Ulric flared and blossomed forth in a great spray of silver-white flame, washing over everyone and everything in the temple. The body of Liebnitz, the sacrificial victims, the blood, and the skull pieces were all utterly consumed. The fire did no harm to the party at all, a fact that the onlookers outside found very significant. In their heads the party members heard, or more accurately felt, what could only be the voice of Ulric, "You have protected my temple and my people. Let strife be put aside, as the true enemy is confronted. Let this mark be a sign to all."
    With that, all the part members felt a searing cold on the back of their right hands. Looking, each one now bore a mark, white as a scar and sharp as a tattoo, of a bear rampant holding a warhammer in its paws: the two symbols of Ulric and Sigmar.

Epilogue

After proving Liebnitz's accusations false and then finding out that Liebnitz himself is a minion of Chaos, the powers that be in Middenheim had a bit of a public relations disaster on their hands. It was all well and good that the accusations of Chaos taint among the Sigmarites proved false but the idea that a high placed servant of Ulric was himself a minon of the ruinous powers would be just as disastrous and lead to even more violence. They choose to do what all good politicians do: they covered it all up.

The party was sworn to silence and the rumor was spread that Deputy High Priest Liebnitz had suffered a mental breakdown and was now being treated in a remote convent hospital by the priestesses of Shallya. The tainted icon of Sigmar was quietly deposited in a vault deep in the Temple of Sigmar, never (hopefully) to be seen again.

Father Ranulf was elevated to the position of interim Deputy High Priest of Ulric and put out a joint proclamation with High Capitular Stolz of the Temple of Sigmar and Watch Commander Schutzmann stating that the whole controversy was part of a plot by the minions of Chaos to undermine the unity of the Empire and weaken it for further attacks by Archaeon and his surviving allies. Religious tension in Middenheim subsided somewhat, aided by the highly visible presence of Watch patrols \ on the streets.

The trial of Jakob Bauer was completed in the palace in sequestratio. Thanks to the testimony of Spam Gangree and the unfortunate Johan Opfer, he was acquitted of all charges. Bauer, Hoffer and Fischer left the city to smite Chaos elsewhere. If nothing else the party gained a powerful ally in the Ordo Fidelis.

All the various vile books found over those few days were quietly donated to the Collegium Theologica for safekeeping. Albrecht Zweistein is the keeper of the restricted collection and therefore the books are in good hands.

The synopsis is continued in Spires of Altdorf