Warhammer Quest

The Dark Dwarf Part Two
Or
The Day of Ghazhaan the Twisted
An Adventure for BL 4-6 Warriors

By Peter Haresnape July 2003

    The warriors have made an enemy of a strange and unpredictable foe. Not quite a Chaos Dwarf, not quite a servant of the Chaos Gods, the one known as Ghazhaan the Twisted follows a path of his own, which makes him doubly dangerous.
    The warriors have been contacted by Ferrune, a rune scholar and the agent of the Hammerhall clan, a few days after they returned from their victory over Ghazhaan. It wasn't an easy victory, or even a complete one, as the enemy leader managed to escape. However, the warriors killed most of his servants and drove off the rest, forcing them to abandon their base, which had been intended to be the base for an invasion. In the process of hunting the leader, the warriors killed four dæmons, who had been ambassadors for a Chaos coalition that had sent aid to the evil dwarf. Their actions caused the forces of Chaos to retract their alliance, removing Ghazhaan's support. In the ruins of his base, the warriors managed to recover the Tablets of Steel, an ancient magical device the Hammerhall clan had lost during the same raid that had led to the abduction of the dwarf children, and the start of Ghazhaan's dark journey.
    When the warriors meet up with Ferrune, he has several dwarfs with him, serving as bodyguards. He carries the precious Tablets, and explains to the warriors that he has managed to find their primary function.
    "The Tablets contain many details of daily life and the state of affairs in the dwarf empire several centuries ago, when they were made. Of great interest is a catalogue, incomplete, of dwarf settlements, mines, colonies and so on. This will be of great interest to our mapmakers, as much knowledge has been lost over the centuries. However, one section is of particular interest." The dwarf pulls open a chain-link bag, and withdraws one of the Tablets, somehow detached from the others. He places it on the table and traces a pattern on it. Suddenly, a red glow appears, tracing lines across the steel surface, and when it dissipates, the surface appears to be engraved with a map of the Old World. Ferrune, his eyes gleaming, points to a section near Norsca.
    "As you can see, several settlements are clearly marked- some of them major ones! We dwarfs have often debated whether these places existed, and whether they exist today, and this is proof!" He leans back a little and looks around the warriors before continuing. "The thing is, Ghazhaan has left behind a number of clues suggesting that he is searching for these lost settlements. In fact, we think we may have found his route! We would like you to track him down, at the very least discovering exactly where he has retreated to." The dwarf hands you a map showing a route to reach a small hill range. There, the map shows a tunnel, part of the dwarf underpass system, heading north to the abandoned fortresses. It seems that the warriors have found another job…

 

Mission One- Find the Entrance

The warriors are in an old hill fortress, once used by the dwarfs to control one of the entrances to an underpass. The place has fallen derelict, and is inhabited (believe it or not!) by monsters. Play a normal dungeon with the Tomb Chamber Objective Room.

The Tomb Chamber

The warriors enter on the upper level. Place all of the monsters on the lower level, unless they overlap. The four tiled squares on the lower level contain the trapdoor tile.

The warriors see a cluster of monsters on the lower level of this chamber. They can also see a large trapdoor, perhaps the entrance to the underpass.

Fight as normal, awarding an Objective Treasure each at the end.

 

The warriors could potentially go back to the Settlement at this point, returning to the Underpass Entrance when they are kitted out again.

The trapdoor is rusted and bolted, but the warriors manage to get it open, disarming the warding runes as Ferrune showed them. They drop into the small chamber below, and lower the trapdoor after them. Blazes of red show as the runes rearm themselves. The warriors are now committed to the Underpass.

 

Mission Two- The Rearguard

As the warriors travel through the disused halls, they begin to sense that they are not alone. Red eyes stare at them from the shadows, and dim noises seem to seep through the rocks. Scouting ahead, the warriors stumble across a corpse, a few hours old. The dead Chaos Dwarf has many rents and holes in his armour, and his throat is torn open. As the warriors approach it, they have a split second of panic, as they are ambushed by swarms of vermin.

Place the Circle of Power board piece, and allow the warriors to position themselves. Each warrior generates 1D6 Giant Rats, which make an Ambush, Magic A attack. There are also 1D6 Giant Spiders.

Fight the combat as normal, but do not generate any treasure.

As the warriors take a moment's rest, they examine the corpse. It seems to be a lower ranking fighter, the sort used as cannon fodder by the Chaos Dwarf leadership.

Any warriors with Initiative of 4+ should roll 1D6. On a 5+, read the remainder:

It is likely that the dwarf was a member of a rearguard, attacked by the same vermin that the warriors have just fought.

If the warriors can find the rest of the rearguard patrol, they can follow them back to Ghazhaan's secret fortress, or at any rate capture some maps.

 

Put all of the Dungeon Room and Corridor cards (excepting the Circle of Magic) into a pile and shuffle them. Add the Fountain Chamber card, as well as any Special Rooms. Shuffle the lot and get going! Each room that the warriors enter will contain an event, generated using the tables in part I of the Dark Dwarf. However, before you generate it, roll 1D6. On a 1-5, generate as normal. On a 6 the warriors have caught the patrol, fight two groups from the table. This roll is a 4+ in the Fountain Chamber. If the warriors catch up with this group, they must fight them. At the end of the battle take an Objective Room Treasure. Read the following:

The dead patrol leader has a small satchel that contains a number of parchments. Many seem to be dispatches and letters, but there are also maps showing the local Underpass system, as well as a route north to Norsca. The maps do not detail the exact location of the fortress- the warriors will have to search the mountain ranges. Go on to Mission Three, even if there are still cards left to play. The remainder of the Underpass journey is effectively uneventful, though it takes quite a time, several weeks.

 

If the warriors reach the end without meeting the patrol, read this instead.

The warriors carefully climb out of the exit shaft, following the tracks of the rearguard. They have been gaining steadily for some time, and now emerge into the sunlight for the first time in something like twenty days. Ahead of them is whiteness- the snow decorating the peaks and the ice all around. The main blotch on this is a great plume of black smoke coming from a short way away. As the warriors watch, a group of Chaos Dwarfs mounted uncomfortably on war boars pass across a ridge. The warriors have tracked the army all the way to the frozen north. All that remains is to track the enemy to their remaining base, in one of the far off mountains. And, of course, to confront them and kill their leader…

Go onto the Dark Dwarf III, skipping Mission Three, as the warriors have no need to search the mountains.

 

Mission Three- The Crevice

The warriors, armed with their maps, have been trudging across the ice wastes. It is likely that they are somewhere in Norsca, but they have no real way of finding out. Occasionally, they find a mess of hacked trees and ash, presumably where the Chaos Dwarfs made camp. As they approach the mountains where they think Ghazhaan the Twisted has his base, the warriors find a long crevice in the ice. Reasoning that it will allow them to approach unseen, the warriors begin the perilous journey.

The warriors are out in the open, travelling between two walls of ice. This crevice is apparently the safest way to their target, but there are actually a large amount of nasty monsters betwixt themselves and the end of their mission (so what's new?).

This is the perfect mission to use the Norsca Tiles (ice caverns), as well as the Norsca Monster Tables and so on. If not, use a normal dungeon table. There will, however, be no 'E' events, only 'M' events.

At the end of this mission, the warriors must fight through monsters from two rolls on the Chaos Dwarf table, as they hack their way into the mountain. The warriors can take treasure as normal, with a single piece of Objective Room Treasure available at the end. The warriors cannot go to a Settlement after this. However, they will start the next Mission (Dark Dwarf III) with some additional supplies.

Once the warriors have managed to break into the fortress, they may begin the Dark Dwarf III.