WFRP - (4) The Horned Rat

THE HORNED RAT – KARAK SKYGG 0

What do you… backed hand mirror is being used as a paperweight, but when a
‘Silence! Clever-smart, you-things. Creep-creep, get inside, hide- Character looks into the glass they see another pair of human
hide, no one see. Gnaw something here, burn something there. But eyes looking back at them — not their own. The glass shatters
plan still good. Maliss servants collect warp-stone from everywhere. immediately and the eyes disappear. They won’t discover this
Big-big amount of Warpstone spent, but spent to get the biggest until Empire in Ruins, but the mirror was an enchanted spying
chunk Warpstone. Know green moon? Yes-yes. Morr-libb, you-call. artefact employed by one of the Nine Eyes of Tzeentch.
Fear-fear. Good-fear, too — Morr-libb kill-kill this-night. Soon.’
What happens to
Not if we… the Moonbreaker Cannon?
‘Quiet mouth man-thing! Quiet or we hold it and stop you breathing!
Morr-libb Warpstone — you know, yes? Yes. All-same Warpstone. If the Players leave the gun intact, there’s a risk that Brokenclaw
Good-good Skaven, bad-bad you-things. Kill-you, twist-you, yes. will seize it for his master Zingetail. If Hetri or Janna are there,
Soon-soon Morr-libb break. You-things all-die. Great Horned One they insist that the cannon is destroyed — either by sabotage,
smile! Smile on Maliss.’ explosives or Janna casting T ’Essla’s Arc to detonate the fuel
tanks. It’s very likely that any cause of action will make the
As you can see, they won’t get much sense from Maliss. You cannon explode.
can use his ranting to fill in any gaps in the party’s knowledge
of his plans. If they meet him after sabotaging, destroying the If the Moonbreaker Cannon detonates under any circumstances,
Moonbreaker Cannon, or delaying the shot after Morrslieb’s it sends a searing hot blast through the upper strata of Karak
passing, he doesn’t say much other than scream — and he gains Skygg. Unless they’re some distance from the explosion or
the Frenzy trait. shielded in some way, the Characters all take 1d10+4 damage,
modified by Armour but not Toughness. If they’re very close
MOONSTRIKE! to the Cannon, they’ll only survive by spending a Fate Point.
Throughout the upper parts of the Hold, Skaven are incinerated
What happens if Maliss in their hundreds, and survivors scramble to escape the Hold in
gets close to success? terror. The vats in the refineries explode in turn, blowing a huge
hole in the side of the mountain.
As Morrslieb drifts into sight above the Moonbreaker, the bell
tolls 13 times as small adjustments are made to the cannon’s What happens if Maliss succeeds?
alignment. The tanks of Warpfuel begin to bubble and glow as
electricity sparks and charges the weapon. Maliss, now so close If the Characters fail to stop Maliss, the Moonbreaker fires a
to his plan being fulfilled, is agitated, peering at the moon and great jolt of warp lightning towards Morrslieb. Witnesses watch
then at a lever he has to hand — this conducts a burst of Warp as the Chaos Moon seems to reel like a living creature as energy
energy from his chamber to the firing mechanism, starting the sparks and leaps over its surface. Then there is a great explosion
reactions which fire the gun. as the southern pole of the moon shatters into thousands of
warpstone meteors. All round Karag Skygg the Skaven squeal
If it comes to this, the adventurers now have only moments in victorious delight.
before the weapon fires its volleys at Morrslieb.
Shards of warpstone trailing green fire plunge through the sky,
As the weapon begins to charge, even more electricity sparks raining down on the Old World. They largely scatter across the
and lighting crackles. The Players need to kill Maliss before he peaks and valleys of the Middle Mountains, but many of them
pulls the lever. If they attack, Maliss pulls the chain at his wrist fall down amongst the trees of the Forest of Shadows. A swathe
to summon Three-Eyes who arrives after two turns. of northern Ostland is reduced to an uninhabitable warpstone-
tainted nightmare and a particularly large stone turns the town
of Ferlangen into a hellhole reminiscent of the fate of forlorn
Mordheim.

If the fight is going badly for the party, you can introduce Veterans of Death on the Reik are aware of the malign effect
Brokenclaw. Zingetail’s agent will appear, taking shots with his a single warpstone meteor can have on a region. Maliss has
Dart Ejector at Maliss. He cares for nothing but killing Maliss, scattered scores of much larger meteors around the Middle
and will try to escape once this is done, swiping plans from the Mountains.
Map Room before he goes.
The Skaven celebrate Maliss as a genius, and prepare to scour
If the party defeats Maliss, Three-Eyes and the Stormvermin, the wasteland that is now northern Ostland for the supreme
they can investigate his chambers. A peculiar artefact is bounty of warpstone it will yield to them.
amongst the papers, charts and purloined books. A small gold-
It’s carnage. The party needs to get out of there.

151

0 WARHAMMER FANTASY ROLEPL AY

ESCAPE TO VICTORY The towering noble is not alone in his balloon, as he is
accompanied by the equally massive Veiran Thugenheim. The
Escaping Karak Skygg is easier than getting in — the panicking light from the blasts of hot air reflects off Veiran’s armour and,
Skaven are not particularly interested in humans leaving unless and reveals his decorations as a member of the Knights Panther.
they get in the way.
Heinrich asks about the huge explosion they’ve just seen. If
There are several routes out: the Characters satisfy the initial questions (take a Challenging
(+0) Charm Test for the Character doing most of the talking,
Down the side — the winches and pulleys on the sides of the reduced to Average (+20) if the Characters provide plausible
mountain are perhaps safer than the exploding interior. With a or compelling answers), the dirigible descends to the mountain
little cunning and a head for heights, they can be employed in a so that the discussion can continue — Heinrich will not leave
similar manner to the Middenheim Chair Lifts. people to die in the mountains. However, Heinrich is suspicious
of everyone, especially given his knowledge of human cultists
The Gate of Grungni — Skaven are surging through the main who work for the Skaven. If Janna Eberhauer is with them, the
entrance and the party can join them. If they are willing to race Charm Test is not necessary.
through the Hold, past burning Skaven, through collapsing
tunnels and down to the Entrance Hall, they will need to fight With the dirigible moored, Heinrich continues to question
through d10 Clanrats to get out. the party, and any evidence they have to back up their claims.
All the while Heinrich is questioning the adventurers, Veiran
The Outflow — by the time the party reaches the Pit at the will lean in to whisper in Heinrich’s ear, shooting a glare at the
bottom of the Hold, the slaves have escaped. This is the safest party before walking back and forth on the deck of the dirigible,
way out of Karak Skygg. clearly annoyed by the delay in their journey. 

END IN SIGHT Ending the Adventure

With the destruction of the Moonbreaker Cannon, Maliss Empire in Ruins, the final part of The Enemy Within, carries
dead and Karak Skygg ablaze, the Characters are stranded in on directly from this point. If you plan on seeing the campaign
the Middle Mountains in the dark of the night, with bands through to its thrilling conclusion be sure to get your hands on
of terrified Skaven fleeing the area. It’s also freezing cold. that volume to find out what happens next.
Depending on how the events of the previous chapter played
out, the Charactersare looking up at a clear night sky illuminated Rewards
by the grimacing orb of Morrslieb, or possibly looking up at a
sky filled with fireballs as warpstone meteorites rain down on Good roleplaying and clever thinking should be rewarded, but
Middenland. there are additional XP for the following:

But soon a pinprick of light from the east grows bigger, Y 200 points and 1 Fate Point for preventing the
intermittently flaring, before appearing closer as something Moonbreaker from firing
rather miraculous — a dirigible — bearing the Todbringers’
livery. Y 80 points for slaying Maliss Manrack
Y 20 points for rescuing Hetri Bittercrag
NEED A LIFT? Y 20 points for rescuing Janna Erberhauer

Seeing the adventurers trapped on the mountainside, likely THE LAST WORD
waving for help, Baron Heinrich Todbringer drops an anchor
down from his dirigible, bellowing down to the party, ‘Who are It is intended that Characters who survive the events of The
you! What has happened here?’ If you have played through the Horned Rat immedaitely make their way to Middenheim on
events of The Power Behind the Throne, the Characters may Baron Heinrich’s balloon. With the Skaven dealt with the
have learnt that Heinrich has travelled to Wolfenburg to play political turmoil which has thus far been confined mostly to
diplomat and peacemaker in Talabecland and Ostland. They rumours and minor events will take centre stage. Ideally, you
perhaps have heard a description of this bastard son of Boris will have Empire in Ruins to hand when your group finishes this
Todbringer, or even seen a painting of Heinrich. part of the campaign.

However, if this is not the case you may wish to allow your
Characters time to travel and partake of other adventures for a
time before diving into the final part of The Enemy Within. If
so, try to have your Characters end up somewhere that Baron
Heinrich’s balloon might plausible find them once you are ready
to dive back in. Once aboard, the Baron will carry them off
towards Middenheim and into the final thrilling chapter of The
Enemy Within.

152



DECLARATION OF CHANGE My Dear Marshal.
SEEKERS AFTER TRUTH WILL SEEK Your errant Magister is now my
IN VAIN THE ARCHITECT OF FATE guest. I should think 1,000 GC would
HOLDS OUT 1 HAND BUT HE OPENS be a sufficient bounty to have him
handed over in return for our hard
9 EYES work in capturing such a dangerous
individual. When you are ready to
make payment, let Half-Nose know.
Words reaching his ears soon reach
mine.

Regards, a Low King

RKCAH NAOWZAO JKS WP OEYPU
AECDP OECEOIQJZSAC EJ KOOPKN. JK
KJA DANA GJKSO KB PDAI.
SA ZAWH EJ YKHZ XKZEAO KJHU!
U’CCNEHR PGWG PVAAJPYD!
REVEAN XDWN IKP

Herr Komissioner, EFGHIJK
We know your true heritage. If you wish to keep LMNOPQR
your secret, be at the Heaven’s Lament tonight
after midnight, ask for Herr Gelb. Bring Dagmar ZABCD
Wittgenstein’s diaries with you!
Your correspondent, Herr Gelb

WAREHOUSE MAP

RKCAH. DWRA WOOQIAZ YKIIWJZ. WPCSZPXEADAAZNAHZQWHH.Y.PPPPQKDXEOJQKIKJLPJAAKNOJHSE?WWJDJZLYBSUZAHPAPAAYPHNDWDWHAOALASAUPONKAQONLWNZKNZLAPAARZKODENBAAOPBJAN-.PDKANDIA
KLANWPEKJO NAOQIA EIIAZEWPAHU XG
YKNLOAO JAAZAZ BKN NAOAWNYD.
WYGJKSHAZCA WJZ WSWEP
EJOPNQYPEKJO U’CCNEHR PGWG
PVAAJPYD! REVEAN XDWN IKP

58

UNTERFRAUS 7 6 2 9
4
1. Temple of Ulric 9 1 9
2. The Stone 3 10
3. The Pick and Shovel 8
4. The Barn 9
5. The Mine
6. Foundry
7. Miners Cottages
8. Turnip & Cabbages
9. Farms
10. Cattle Enclosure

acquHAireadPscuhebxela,icmrkepevleeDasleionmfgoanthsSetrpaAeticnoiaentsobmhyiitehPerorotffoetswUsooNr reKEcuNennOitcleyW N Collegium Theologica library.
To SCIENCE – Rattus Homunculus Librarian Agnise Fuensterburg. Rare books.
Temple of Ulric, Lore House. Rare book.
free to all of a curious disposition See Brother Schlager.
Dr Isidore Kopernik, Freiburg.
At the Theatre of Anatomy, the Collegium Theologica. Astronomical research notes.
Doors open at noon on Festag. Otmar Zufall’s residence, Geldmund. Antique art.
The Royal College of Music. See Music Director
Amadeus Tonkunst. Rare libretto.

Fourth Stratum

Third Stratum
Second Stratum

Below Earth

First Stratum

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