S6E14 EIR- Conclusion

PCs: Agnes (Duane), Mor (Bill), Gary (Matt), Venegral (Tony), Katja (Geoff), Ymath (Brian)

Pre-Ceremony: Days needed to gather the council electorates to attend the ceremony. Already in Altdorf were: the Grand Wizard (Thirus Gorman), the Grand Theogonist (Yori the 15^th), Emperor Franz, and his son Crown Prince Wolfgang. Already suspicious of events (such as the lustful gleam in Wolfgang’s eyes when he first touched Sigmar’s hammer), Agnes’ Orphans inspected the Throne Room where the ceremony was to take place.

In no time, they found the wooden display case to hold Ghal Maraz suspicious: a trap door and room beneath. Surely Gideon’s work; who else was involved?! “Who oversaw the construction of this case?” Yann Zuntermein! All envisioned the threat to the emperor and the unifying ceremony to politically restore/bestow his rule from the hands of the current Crown Prince. The palace guards wouldn’t let them dismantle nor replace the case; so, they disabled the trigger and pinned the hinge and even enlisted a dwarf to brick up ceiling in the room below while setting their own trap.

Behold the Hanner of Sigmar: But that didn’t ease their concerns as the day of the ceremony arrived. The Throne Room was filled with elected officials and electorates. The emperor/Thirus/Yori stood near the throne as Wolfgang stood mid-court to accept the hammer brought in by Agnes. Most of the heroes positioned themselves close to the case to best see the trigger to catch Yann or his associate(s) in the act. The elf stayed back near the double-doors to best see everyone. As the Prince received the hammer, he brought it forward for Yori to inspect and declare “This indeed is Sigmar’s hammer!” He transferred it to the cradle in the display case and called the Emperor forward to begin the proper words.

And that’s when Yann raised a hidden crossbow to twang a bolt into the case. Maybe he expected to jar the trigger button into action. Agnes’ Orphans snickered at his surprise that nothing happened. But they were even more surprised when they heard cackling and laughter from behind as Gideon stood at the double-doors with his hands held high as he intoned “Ik- Zak- Yatzi!” 

And that’s when… Crown Prince Wolfgang split in two as The Lord of Change (TLOC), a greater demon of Tzeentch) emerged into the world!! [Fear and Broken conditions] Pandemonium spread as fast as TLOC’s wings. Patrons backpedaled, fell, scrambled and crawled for escape. TLOC feasted upon their pitiful souls as the heroes charged into action. Thirus was broken but not afraid and stood his ground to do battle beside his emperor who grabbed Ghal Maraz.

Except, The Lord of Change (TLOC) was a living gate to hell from which Pink Horrors appeared in court. As Yori ducked and dodged the snapping maw of TLOC, Agnes engaged the closest Pink Horror. Gideon channeled and raised his hand to cast but was interrupted by Mor’s ‘fast shot’ arrow. Instead, Gideon charged the elf who surprised the caster with a damaging riposte. Gary quickly raised a pistol and shot the towering Chaos god (now only 329HP remained). Venegral tried to blend into the stampeding crowd to cast ‘Banishment’, only to realize THIS foe too powerful.

As one Pink Horror decimated nearby humans, the other attacked Agnes. Yori charged TLOC and even struck a mighty blow (absorbed by its daemonic trait) only to be backhand swatted and eviscerated. Thirus cast bolts as Franz swung Ghal Maraz that was blocked. Katja loosed a bolt at Gideon before rushing to the aid of Venegral from the other Horror. TLOC gutted the pesky wizard Thirus and followed-thru at the emperor who ducked. Meanwhile, Agnes defeated her Pink Horror foe and readied for the expected arrival of the gated Blue Horrors from its demise. Gary blasted TLOC again before engaging the nearby Pink Horror, all while trying to evade the towering chaos god.

Mor unleashed a flurry of blows (3) against Gideon (melee: absorbed, Furious Assault: crit, 4 Advantage: blocked). Venegral cast ‘Entangle’ to slow and blind TLOC before running to distance himself. His nearest allies dispatched, Emperor Franz faced TLOC alone in melee. By the power of Ghal Maraz, Franz opened a mighty wound before the chaos god (backhand riposte) knocked him 20 feet backwards against the throne-room wall. Franz slumped to the floor unconscious [Fate to avoid certain death]. Meanwhile, Gary and Agnes battled their threatening horrors as TLOC waded thru the crowd of pawns to get at the true threats. At least Mor kept Gideon occupied in melee such that he couldn’t cast lethal spells.

CLIMAX

[Resolve] TLOC broke free of its entanglement and continued its rampage while summoning 2 more Pink Horrors. More chaos foe to occupy the heroes! Gary used those moments of change (when Pink Horrors died and sprouted Pink Horrors) to distance himself from TLOC. Agnes used the moment to rush toward the unconscious emperor and pick up the discarded Ghal Maraz. With the hammer of Sigmar, she plowed thru the summoned horrors. Gary reloaded his pistols and blasted away at TLOC. Mor finally dropped Gideon and turned his arrows against the chaos god. [By banishing Gideon, Mor made the Lord of Change vulnerable.] Thru resolve and fortitude, Agnes’s Orphans were able to dispatch The Lord of Change back to the daemonic plane.

EPILOGUE

Healers were called forth to tend to the many wounded. Agnes and Venegral rushed to the aid of Emperor Franz. It was days before he was healthy enough to rightly resume his reign. Agnes returned Ghal Maraz to his hands, “Forget the pomp-and-circumstance my Lord; by the powers of Sigmar and blessed by the fires of Ulric, YOU are our emperor!” Emperor Franz decreed a new knightly order and commissioned Agnes’ Orphans to its ranks. To Gary, he granted the province and castle of the Wittgenstein. To Agnes, offered lands and treasure for her to build her own Shallya order of battle priestesses. Katja became the Altdorf Marshall while Venegral was bestowed High Wizard. Mor was declared the Grand Hunter of the Drakwald Forest. And Ymath: councilman for the Labor Guild… in charge of boxes.

PLOT STORY

Back in Castle Reikguard, the 9-Eye Tutors had successfully transformed Prince Wolfgang into a vessel gate to bring forth a greater daemon of Tzeentch.

Gideon wanted to free the Lord of Change who Sigmar (per Ghal Maraz) had imprisoned eons ago. No followers of Chaos could touch the hammer; so, Gideon manipulated events so the heroes would rise in society and then discover where the hammer was, thus releasing the TLOC.

[Tzeentch is very fractious in its cults] Yann Zuntermein was also a follower of Chaos, but he planned to steal the hammer and use it to overthrow his rival Gideon. Gideon planned to wall the hammer up in the wine cellar so neither the heroes nor emperor could retrieve it before the TLOC had slaughtered everyone.

And so ends our 2-year exact campaign!!! Amid cheers and fanfare, "What's next?!"