Warhammer 4e - Old World Adventures - Something Knocking.pdf

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SOMETHING KNOCKING
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SLAUGHTER OF SPITTLEFELD
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SOMETHING KNOCKING
CREDITS
Design & Writing:
Robin Low
Illustration:
Ralph Horsley, Josef Kucera,
Roena I. Rosenberger, Sam Manley and Scott Purdy
Graphic Design & Layout:
Rachael Macken
Cartography:
Safary Levente
Editing:
Chris Walz
Managing Editor:
Síne Quinn
Developer:
Dave Allen
Proof Reader:
Tim Gray
WFRP4 Producer:
Pádraig Murphy
Publisher:
Dominic McDowall
Special thanks:
Games Workshop
Published by:
Cubicle 7 Entertainment Ltd,
Unit 6, Block 3, City North Business Campus,
Co. Meath, Ireland
CONTENTS
Introduction ....................................................................... 3
Adventure Summary .................................................... 3
Getting Started .................................................................. 3
Foreshadowing ............................................................. 3
Event: The Abandoned Patrol Boat ............................... 5
Event: The Travelling Shaman....................................... 5
Yevgeni Dostal ........................................................ 6
Part One: Something Knocking. ................................... 7
Conversations with the Undead .................................... 7
Permission to Come Aboard ......................................... 8
Further Conversations with the Undead ....................... 9
Klara von Holgau .................................................... 10
Shade ..................................................................... 10
The Other Ghosts ................................................... 10
Deadsight ..................................................................... 11
To the Island ................................................................. 12
The Skull of Bloody Klaas ............................................ 13
Part Two: Onto the Island ............................................ 13
The Spectral Kaye ......................................................... 13
Encounters and Hazards on the Island ......................... 14
The Pirate Settlement ................................................... 15
Pirate Cabins ................................................................ 15
The Lock-Up ................................................................ 15
Stores ............................................................................ 15
The Goat Pen ................................................................ 15
Graveyard ..................................................................... 15
The Chapel ................................................................... 16
Encountering Meinard Links........................................ 16
The Villain, Flusskapitän Meinard Links ................ 17
Destroying the Skull ..................................................... 17
Escaping from the Pirates ............................................. 18
The Pirates .............................................................. 18
In Pursuit! ..................................................................... 18
A Ghastly Cavalry ........................................................ 19
Good-byes .................................................................... 19
A New Day ................................................................... 19
Awarding Experience .................................................... 19
Last Edited:
April 2020
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otherwise without the prior permission of the publishers.
Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th Edition © Copyright Games Workshop
Limited 2021. Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th Edition, the Warhammer
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are trademarks of Cubicle 7 Entertainment Limited. All rights reserved.
2
SOMETHING KNOCKING
0
SOMETHING KNOCKING
•
INTRODUCTION
•
Adventure Summary
Over the last seven years a stretch of river has been subject to
mysterious pirate attacks. Boats are found drifting, stripped
of cargo and crew, only signs of violence remaining. Despite
patrols and several investigations, local riverwardens have failed
to discover the cause. In fact, a large party of wardens has
vanished recently, the deck of their drifting vessel found awash
with blood.
A cult of river pirates led by Meinard Links, a devout follower of
Khaine, are behind these attacks. Links possesses the enchanted
skull of the infamous pirate captain, Bloody Klaas. The skull’s
dark magic renders their island home and ship magically
obscured, keeping them safe from discovery. All the murderous
death in the area has caused concentrations of
Shyish
and
Dhar
to gather and stagnate, leaving many souls unable to move on.
These linger in the area as Undead creatures. The same magic
casts a pall of concealing darkness about the pirates’ hideaway,
and prevents the Undead from exacting their own vengeance.
One night, the Characters hear a knocking on the hull of their
boat. They must identify the Undead source of the noise and
find a way to communicate with the vengeful entities. With a
line of communication established and mutual trust in place, the
Characters are asked to find the pirates’ island and bring them
to justice. The Undead offer to help, but first the Characters
must get to the heart of the pirate’s settlement and destroy
the cursed skull, leaving them trapped and surrounded by
murderous pirates. Can they stave off the pirates long enough
for their Undead allies to reach them before it is too late?
Entry points into the scenario are varied, although you should
choose a stretch of river that is fairly well-travelled yet relatively
remote from larger settlements. The Characters could be familiar
with the region and its reputation (from previous adventures or
foreshadowing), but equally it could be quite new to them. It’s
probably best if they are boat owners themselves, as persuading
others to pursue the adventure might be challenging (though fun
for some groups). They might be professional riverwardens or
have been hired to investigate the problem by local authorities.
It’s even conceivable the Characters are river pirates themselves,
though ones who operate through cunning and honest thievery,
or want to secure a hideaway for themselves.
Foreshadowing
There are two kinds of foreshadowing: rumours and events.
If
Something Knocking
is used as a side-adventure within a
larger campaign, such as
Death on the Reik,
there is ample
opportunity to slip them in here and there earlier in the
campaign. Save some for this scenario in case the Characters go
seeking clues or folk wisdom after first hearing the knocking.
Alternatively, if you are playing the scenario as a one-off, one of
the events can be used to introduce the adventure.
Getting Started
This scenario benefits from foreshadowing. Rumours and
passing encounters taking place during earlier adventures help
establish the mysterious disappearances and offer ideas on how
to interact with the Undead. Ideas to help the GM are described
in
Foreshadowing.
3
0
T
ales from The
r
iver
B
ank
– r
umours
SOMETHING KNOCKING
0
Riverfolk love ghost stories as much as anyone, and many are
willing to share their own experiences if prompted. Most are
superstitious and believe in ghosts, but some prefer mundane
explanations for any experience. Talking about the knocking
or the supernatural in general leads to ghostly tales, some
suggesting ways to communicate with the dead, the etiquette
of interaction, and the risks and possible benefits of doing so.
If the Characters are part of a larger campaign, it would be
good to have them hear some of these rumours during the
sessions leading up to this adventure. These rumours could be
interspersed with ones from your main campaign, and picked up
whenever the Characters stop at a town, riverside inn, or meet
fellow travellers on the Reik.
If you are playing the adventure as a standalone, this information
could be imparted by people encountered as part of the events.
It is particularly important to prime the party with knowledge
that the ghosts of the river can be communicated with.
0
‘It’s a bad river for disappearances. We find the boats drifting
or caught up, but nobody on board — just blood and robbed
holds. Sometimes even stoves and furniture are gone. A
wedding boat full of nobles vanished last year — a whole
minor house just gone! Strigany, too, and probably more than
we know about, since they’re none-too fond of us. You find the
occasional mutilated body we can link to a particular boat, but
mostly people just disappear. Been going on six, maybe seven
years and no sign of the culprits. You’d think it was ghosts!’
(Told by a riverwarden)
‘Used
to be an island in the river where they buried the dead,
so they say. Kept bodies safe from wolves, see? Don’t know
if it was upstream or downstream. Vanished, see? River fog
swallowed it up one night, and it ain’t never been seen since.
Proper spooky! When did this happen? Only a half dozen or
so years ago. You ask around, you can find people who tied up
there.’
(Told by an old herbalist)
Yes, I remember an island in the river. I tied up there one
misty day and had a look round. Rough ground, little chapel
of Morr in the middle, and old gravestones. Don’t think it
was still in use. Thing is, I’ve been up and down that stretch
and it’s just not there now. Maybe I’m muddled in my old
age. Maybe it was a phantom. Maybe I’m thinking of another
river.
(Told by a bargeswain from Marienburg)
‘You
don’t want to tie up at the bend by the willows on that
stretch of the river. Not at night, no-ways. Something not
right in the water. You hear things there. What sort of things?
Not rightly sure. Never tied up there myself. Not at night, no-
ways.’
(Told by a young fisher)
Knocking on your hull? It’s driftwood. Or sleeping Reik
turtles. Don’t you mind any o’that ghosts nonsense. No such
thing. I saw a walking corpse one, though. Should never
have married him in the first place!’
(Told by a scorned
boatwright)
‘Have
you heard it, too? The knocking on your hull below the
water? It’s drowned children, you know? Trying to find their
mothers. Poor little mites. Light a candle for them.’
(Told by
a young, cowled hedge witch)
‘You
ever see glowing lights in the water, not on it, deep down
in it, you steer clear, right? Ghosts they are, river ghosts. Get
too close and they’ll pull you down with them!’
(Told by an
orphan)
Ghosts are one thing. It’s the bodies you got to watch for!
Bloated and hungry! Clambering over the gunwales with
leeches all over their pale skin. Eels for tongues!
(Muttered by
a washed up drunk)
‘Lots
of ghosts in the river. Drownings, accidents, murders.
Then there’s the Janni Verdtfang and the Naiads. Won’t come
aboard though, not unless you invite them. Just stay out of the
water. Wouldn’t even trust rowboats. That’s where they’ll get
you.’
(Told by a Halfling cook)
‘One
knock for “yes”, two knocks for “no”. Three knocks for
“”don’t know”. You can use a flame in a closed lamp, too, just
watch for flickers. One flicker for “yes”…
(Told by a fortune
teller, for a few pennies)
‘Oh,
ghosts can get aboard, even if you don’t invite them. Can’t
get you though, you’ll just hear slow footsteps and creaking
boards. Sometimes you’ll see wet footprints on the decks. You
have to invite them aboard if you want to talk to them, so they
say.’
(Told by an unlicensed ‘physician’)
‘You
invite them aboard, they’re guests and have to behave.
There are rules, see? Mind you, there’s a lot of argument over
what the rules actually are…’
(Told by a Strigany trader)
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0
0
0
0
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4
SOMETHING KNOCKING
0
e
venT
: T
he
a
Bandoned
P
aTrol
B
oaT
e
venT
: T
he
T
ravelling
s
haman
The Characters discover a drifting boat, clearly a riverwarden
vessel. There are no signs of life aboard, but gobbets of
congealed blood are spattered about on the deck. A log book
reveals the vessel’s home port (a coat of arms on the cover helps
the illiterate), which ought to be a destination large enough to
support its own river patrol (if you are playing
Death on the
Reik,
Altdorf ’s Reik River Patrol Terminal is the most likely
home port). The log contains details of an ongoing investigation
into the disappearances of river craft on this stretch of water.
The book is stained with blood and water, and most of the entries
are illegible, but a recent one reads:
‘Knocking was heard again
last night. We spoke with a travelling trader today who claimed that
she and her family often hear it, too. She insisted that the noises
were made by the spirits of the drowned. She said that there might
be ways to talk to these spirits using Morrite rituals or contraptions,
but hasn’t the skill to do so herself. I pray to Morr that he take these
unquiet dead before I ever have to speak with them!’
Towing the boat back to its home port yields the Characters
a finder’s fee of 5 gold crowns. This makes a good scenario
entry point: whether immediately or at a future date, a senior
riverwarden asks the Characters to discreetly investigate the
stretch of river where other boats have been found drifting,
sharing with them details from the logbook if they cannot read.
An unusual battle cry alerts the Characters to a conflict along
the river. They spy a tall, lean man in a rowboat fighting for
his life against some aquatic beast, such as a Bog Octopus.
Assuming they come to his aid and drive the beast off, they
become the friends of a boatman named Yevgeni Dostal. He
hails from the far-off marches of Kislev. Yevgeni has the habit
of referring to folk from the Empire as
chegan.
A Character who
passes a
Hard (–20) Language (Kislevite)
Test understands
that Steppe Nomads use this term to describe ‘worthless people’
they take offence, he laughs and treats them to a hearty slap on
the back. Despite this habit, Yevgeni is friendly and appreciative
of the Characters for providing him with assistance. If asked
why he is so far from home, he explains his tribe’s shaman Dafa
told him he had things to do in this far land. As well as being a
mighty warrior, he tells them, he was also an apprentice shaman
and can commune with the spirits.
This encounter can be run before this scenario, with Yevgeni
going his own way afterwards. The Characters can track him
down later. Alternatively, it can take place early in this scenario.
5

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