| Stealthy, the black clad figure moved like a shadow
through the tunnels beneath Troj. The ceiling, floor and walls were riddle
with cracks in the dry earth, and threatened to collapse any year now.
There was no illumination, but for Massoeh, who had walked in dreamlands
where the sun had been swallowed by the void, the lack of light was no
problem. He could see through hearing and other extra sensory perceptions
that pitiful mortals never had time to develop in their brutally short
existence. He could locate without difficulty the blind, viscous
millipedes oozing through the walls and the small but toxic spiders that
prayed on them following swiftly. Eventually, the tunnel came to an end,
but this was to be expected. Beyond the rocky face, he could hear far-away
sounds echoing through the tunnels, and he could feel the light on the
other side. Gathering his supernatural strength, Massoeh pulled back his
fists and then smashed them into the tunnel’s façade. It took several
blows for the rock to crumble enough to that he could slip his decayed
body through, and the Necrarch immediately sought out the shadows in this
new, torch lit tunnel. The torches were set 10 meters apart, so simply
putting one out allowed him plenty of room to hide from the incoming
footsteps.
“I could have sown I heard something around here.” “Me too. It sounded like a cave-in… There! Some rubble.” The two halberdiers came into view then, rounding a bend and jogging towards the entrance Massoeh had made. Despite the darkness, their bright red and yellow uniforms immediately identified them as part of the Trojan-Imperial army. They bent over the fallen stones, noticing that it was darker than it should be. “Hunh. The torch went out here.” “There must have been a natural gas explosion. Once you spend more time down here you’ll become more familiar with them. Basically a tunnel fills with gas, then a rock falls which sparks and sets off the whole place. See, here there was a tunnel, and the explosion blow out the little rock between it and this passage. The force also put out the torch.” “So… what do we do now?” “We tell the Dwarf engineers over at HQ that a section of tunnel fell out, and they’ll come and reinforce it. Put up beams of metal, they will.” “And the torch?” “The torch? I guess they’ll re-light it while they’re working on the tunnel. It’s not important anyway. Come one, the shift is almost over and I’m hungry.” Once the two men had left, Massoeh re-emerged from the shadows and started down the corridor. He could have killed both easily, of course, but there had been no need. Unlike Vampires of other bloodlines, Necrarchs did not need to drink the blood of humans to sustain themselves. Killing the pair would only have put the other soldiers in the catacombs on alert to his presence when the two failed to report back for lunch. Eventually, he came upon the town’s main tourist attraction: the Underground Gardens of Troj. The bizarre, giant fungus life flora that mysteriously flourished down here drew curious gawks and scholars from here to Altdorf. Massoeh never so much as glanced at the vegetation, fixed on his goal: the central gateway. The ominous series of portals distributed throughout the gardens were the greatest mystery left by the ancients of Yr. Where the portals led to were a mystery, because no one had never come back through the gates. They were two-way, however, because entire enemy armies had come pouring through these portals twice, once during the Age of Heroes, and again at the beginning of the last century. But it was neither the Gate of Blood or the Gate of the Rat that interested him. He wanted the central gateway, made entirely of silver. He ducked through the overgrown vegetation of the garden, careful to keep out of sight of Trojan-Imperial soldiers posted at various gates and intersections. After the attack of the Skaven that had destroyed Spar, there had been talk of destroying the gates. Instead, Magistrate Aenas of Remas had settled on posting Trojan-Imperial guards as an early warning system, and having the dwarfs install cave-in systems that would block off the gardens in case of an invasion. Shining in the light of the torches, Massoeh finally caught sight of the Silver Gate. He had been working on his theories for centuries now, and he believed that the mist shrouded island depicted in the hieroglyphics on the portal, which was presumed to be Albion, was in fact somewhere else entirely. He spotted guards, but oddly he could not detect any life from them. On closer inspections, it seemed that the men in the Trojan-Imperial uniform had been dead for at least an hour now, but re-animated and standing guard as if alive. Before he could do anything, the gateway flared to life. Swirling blue tendrils of energy formed and lashed out at each other, then exploded outwards, forming a form of membrane over the portal. With a sucking sound, a figure stepped out. It was tall, dark, and dead. It’s face was a skull, and when it’s shining red eyes fell upon Massoeh’s hiding place, the Necrarch fell to his knees and, in awe, whispered the great Necromancer’s name. “Nagash…” |
As the Warriors slot the last of the batons that they found in the Vampires’ lair, they hear a soft clicking sound. Some hidden machinery in the walls, ceiling and floor begin to grind away, squeaking as if they had never been used before. The massive skull-adorned doors swing upon, revealing a continuing passageway that descends into the darkness. Wary from the late Kluega’s warning, and their own experience against the Wheel of Fortune Syndicate’s leaders, they bring their weapons up and tentatively walk into the lair of the creature called the Newborn…
All of the abilities given to the Warriors by the Wheel of Fortune suddenly become active again as they enter the Newborn’s layer. A player with Necrarch abilities may roll another D6 for spells (note that unused spells from the previous adventure may not be carried over to this one). Again, the player may exceed this number, but beware the consequences of over-using Necromantic magic…
All the creatures in this dungeon were sealed in a year ago when the Syndicate’s HQ was first built. The Monsters inside were kept sentient and functioning by powerful Necromantic magic, but their bodies were not preserved are have become little more than skeletons. Though they still possess all their previous statistics and abilities, they additionally have Fear 5; Regenerate 1.
The Objective Room is the Idol Chamber. As the Warriors enter, they are stunned at the lack of enemies. Usually by this time skeletal monsters have jumped them and they are in the heat of battle. The small crescent like indentation in the floor, which had run from the altar and followed them into this room, seems to disappear under the Idol. Unsure as to what they should do now, one Warrior finals reaches the end of his or her patience and strikes the statue in frustration. The stone skin breaks off, and pretty soon all of the darkish material recovery the Idol falls off. Inside, smaller than the Idol but still larger than the Warriors, is a twisted, miss-shaped beast. It seems malformed, with the skeleton exposed in places, and with no skin to cover an imposing musculature. His face is stretched and poorly defined, making it look like a skull with some kind of blackish, oozing covering. As bones, laying hidden in the corners of the room, come together to form monsters, the Warriors get the sinking feeling that they’ve just found the Newborn…
Nagash the Great Black Necromancer had imparted a task upon Massoeh: he wished to create a new breed of vampires, one more powerful than all of the previous bloodlines combined, which would become a great weapon and an instrumental part of some future invasion or war. To do this they required one Vampire from each know bloodline, and of sufficient power. Once the quartet had been assembled, each of the four was to commit regular ritual bloodlettings, at a specific time and place indicated by Nagash to Massoeh. It was the Dark Lord’s minions who built the Syndicate’s headquarters, together with the sorcerous setup that would give rise to the daemonic power of the Newborn. Luckily for thew Warriors, the rituals and bloodlettings were far from complete, and the Newborn has been awaken before he could reach his full potential. But even in this weakened state, he is a powerful foe…
The Newborn has the same profile as a Vampire Lord. His special abilities are the bloodline powers of Summon Bats, Nehekhara’s Noble Blood, Heart Piercing, Innocence Lost and two new ones: Hive of Bones and Corrupter’s Touch. Once the Newborn is killed, the Warriors may retreat through the dungeons of the Wheel of Fortune Syndicate. No monsters attack them, and the Warriors believe that killing the newborn might have effectrively ended the threat of the Undead in this region. Whether this is true still remains to be seen, but in the meanwhile the Warriors are rewarded with 5000 gold.
The Newborn’s necromantic skills are almost instinctual. It has a powerful command of all undead in the area. Thanks to its dark mind, it can control the actions of its minions through tendrils of dark magic. Any undead creatures in the same room as the Newborn have the same Initiative as the Newborn.
The tendrils of dark magic surrounding the Newborn will actively seek out corruption in the living to make them their vessel. If any of the Warriors have received the ability to cast Necromantic abilities from the Wheel of Fortune, and have then exceeded their D6 number of free spells, they become the servants of the Newborn, and will fight against their ancient companions. If there is a GM then he takes control of that Warrior. If not, it is up to the player to make sure he/she does everything in the Warrior’s power to thwart the other Warriors.
…
Nagash stared without ever moving at the events unfolding in the headquarters of the Syndicate. Neither the distance nor the walls and earth between the two affected his vision in any way. When the terrible beast fell under the weapons of the mortals, he finally moved, lifting his withered yet powerful body towards a black orb set on a stone pedestal. With a simple motion of his hand, the orb came alive with an unearthly glow and an insect like creature appeared within.
“The Newborn has failed.” The Great Necromancer projected (having long since lost any vocal cords).
The creature in the orb hissed and spat, it’s mandibles clacking together furiously.
“It was instrumental to open the portal,” spat the creature in a high pitched voice.
“I will find another ingredient,” Nagash projected, then flicked a bony finger and shut down the sorcery that controlled the orb. He then returned to his contemplation of death, war, invasion and revenge…