Entry 7: The 30th Day of the 11th Month of the First Year of the Third Millennium     The last few days have been very busy. As we had spread out to search a sprawling and relatively open area of town, we found ourselves beset by the living dead. Only Jean deVrai, the Center Guard, and the unequipped Henri were in the direct vicinity being attacked, and they were set upon quickly.     A vampire immediately charged one member of the guard and rendered him unconscious. The other member of the guard pulled off a bowshot, taking out one of the human scum that associates itself with the dead, but a necromancer quickly felled this guardsman with a bowshot of his own.     Serge Le Swifte was near enough to hear the commotion and ran to the scene, charging the necromancer, but failing to injure it, He was promptly swarmed by zombies and taken out of action. In the meantime, Jean deVrai wounded the vampire, but he quickly decided the better course of action was to sound the retreat. In my absence he gathered himself with Henri, and they fled away from the scene, leading the dead and their followers as far away from our fallen as possible.     This was a good decision, and well executed, for both of the center guardsman were able to recover themselves and flee the scene. Serge also staggered into camp some time later, though he bore horrible scars from the hands of the zombies that mauled him. My initial disgust has been overcome with relief for his health, but these are scars that will stay with him, and most of my men find his visage quite unsettling.     However, my deeper fear is that the living dead seem to roam this damnable city on a more regular basis than I thought possible. The description provided by my men of the necromancer and of the band’s composition convinced me that this is not the same band of undead we had encountered some weeks back. All Hallows Eve does not seem to have been a singular time for their rising. I find this, above all, most discomforting.     On a positive note, we found 5 shards of wyrdstone, and I found the pendulum to have come in handy, as I am convinced it has helped me sense where some of the stuff is. We were able to sell this plus the two shards we already had for 110gc. We also found 6gc in some hovels buried in the rubble of the area. I have noticed that Louis Le Vite, who I remember being somewhat frail, is now looking more hardy and strong from the exercise of searching through the rubble. We were able to find 5 rabbit’s feet at a local shop, and we also equipped Henri (much to his relief) with a sword, buckler, and bow - leaving our treasury at 48gc. He above all was most indignant in having been chased by the dead with nothing but a dagger with which to defend himself.     Later that same day as we were resting, one of my men spied the same undead band who had ambushed us moving towards a sparsely built up section of the town. We had Louis and Henri follow and try to spy on them, and they were able to overhear the dregs bragging of building rife with wyrdstone just a ways ahead. Between the desire to exact some revenge on these walking dead and the desire for more wyrdstone, we set out to beat this slow-moving band to their obvious destination.     Having to take the long way around to the isolated buildings meant that we actually arrived at close to the same time as the dead. We began advancing on the structures, noticing that the undead were already infiltrating them. We took a few potshots at dregs and ghouls as they were moving between buildings but then quickly lost sight of them in the shadows of the oncoming dusk.     Louis, Serge, and Henri had taken a flanking maneuver to the left, Jean and one of the Center Guard entered a small, ruined home, and the rest of us moved to different sides of the main set of buildings, which were arranged as in a dead end.     We heard sounds of combat to our left, and then we spied a mass of zombies hiding in the shadows of a building to our right. Jean took one out of action with his pistol, but then they were upon us. We fought long and took out all the zombies, but not before Jean deVrai and a pair of our marksmen were felled. As the zombies and the few dregs who had come to help thinned out, we noticed that the necromancer had been firing on us. We began to return fire, and the spellcaster withdrew to safer shadows.     In the meantime, I learned that Gaston and a swordsman had been charged by the vampire and had fought valiantly, being knocked down several times but hanging in there and ultimately defeating the beast. After this they advanced out of the building and did battle with a pair of ghouls, ultimately taking one out - and while Gaston was stunned and knocked down, he once again persevered.     Louis, Serge, and Henri fared worse. They were ambushed by a pack of dregs and ghouls, and while they took one or two with them, they were put out of action all.     When the battle was over both sides - battered thoroughly by the combat - withdrew. We found that one of the marksman was mortally wounded and could not be revived! Equally bad, we could not find Louis Le Vite at all!! As we enter this night our spirits are low, but we must go about the necessary business of searching this area before we withdraw completely. The undead were certainly seeking this peninsula of ruined buildings for a reason.     We were able to find 5 shards of wyrdstone, of which we ended up selling 3 for 60gc, plus 9gc more in a market hall - not a bad find, overall. This puts our treasury at 117gc.     Later that night as we kept was, a dreg approached our camp with a message: they had Louis alive. While I had always thought that undead would simply feast on the living and create more of their own, this did not seem to be the case. They sought gold for his life. Perhaps this band did not have the skill to raise new armies (after all, what kind of necromancer shoots a short bow at his enemies?), or perhaps they were just desperate for gold. We settled on a price of 37gc, and executed an exchange back in the middle of the town. When we indeed saw that Louis was safe and in our midst, we were much relieved and talked well into the night. Louis’ fear while in the midst of his dead captors prevented him from making any observations about them that we might find useful, but no matter - we have him back safely and we are well pleased.     The next morning we found 4 lucky charms and another rabbit’s foot at a nearby shop. We will save the remaining 30gc we have in our possession. I have noticed that this encounter has changed a number of us for the better. Henri Ferrette seems to have been hardened by the terror of the encounter, and some others are exhibiting an increased respect for his leadership. Serge Le Swifte seems now able to keep up with Louis Le Vite when sprinting - a feat none of the rest of us can accomplish. Jean de Vrai seems to have increased the number of attacks he can execute in our training exercises, and Gaston de Forte is now hitting targets with his pistol at significantly greater ranges, much like our eagle-eyed Jean can do. If we can continue improving our skills in these ways, perhaps we may survive in this city a bit longer than most.     Later that same day we had moved ourselves to a hilltop from which we spotted a densely built-up area that seemed to emanate the dark glows of wyrdstone. Unfortunately, we were not alone. Down the hill to our right was a sickly contingent of rat-men, which included a rat-beast of ogrish size, and beyond them was a none-too-small band of Orcs. These skaven were not of the green flame, but I was certain we had seen and battled them before.     We attempted to advance down the hill quickly to win the race to several of the glowing points of darkness, but most of us tripped and fell down the hill, knocking ourselves down (though I believe Serge actually stunned himself). Henri was sent to the left flank, on the edge of a deep gorge, but where there were no enemies detected. The Center Guard and both of my Champions took up position in a largely undamaged, square temple part of the way down the hill, with Gaston taking possession of a shard of stone.     When I got up, I saw the rat-ogre charging up the hill at us - by Sigmar how I hate those beasts! It felled Louis right away, after which we proceeded to pelt it with missile fire. I am certain we wounded it, though it slowed it not a bit. The skaven handler that charged up the hill with the beast engaged a marksman directly to my left, flinging him farther down the hill. I trained my crossbow on him and sent him down the hill as well. In the meantime, Serge had been attacked by the rat-ogre and was constantly getting knocked down and then crawling away just long enough to let us send another round of arrows, bolts, and bullets into the beast. We wounded it again, though we could not fell it. Fortunately, as Serge got himself seemingly injured while failing to crawl away from the beast, the beast, its handler, and the rest of the skaven fled the field of battle.     The orcs persisted in recovering another shard of stone that had been dropped by the skaven, and we fired upon them. However, they then seemed to pull back until we could not see them. When we had recovered the last of the shards to which we could lay claim, we searched the town and became convinced that the orcs had withdrawn. Gaston unfortunately was caught in a graceful moment when climbing down from his perch, falling on his face, and knocking himself unconscious. At first we were afraid, but it soon became apparent that he would be just fine. With Jean de Vrai and the Center Guard both there to witness the event, I believe Gaston will have a hard time living this down.     As we searched the area, we found 5 more shards of wyrdstone - to add to the three we had found in the buildings and the two we already carried. We sold 7 shards for 110gc and found another 8gc in a market hall. I found a local shopkeeper who sold me a set of tarot cards and spend some time educating me in the mystical liturgies associated with their use. I thought this to be most significant; however, of even greater luck and importance was our encounter with a peddler who carried a reasonable supply of goods and seemed to charge only about half what we had seen as the prevailing rates throughout the shops of Mordheim. From him, we purchased one hammer, two helmets, 2 sets of rope & hook, 2 lucky charms, 3 sets of hunting arrows, and 2 doses of black lotus poison, costing us 80gc - far less than one would expect for such equipment, and to find such quantities of hunting arrows and black lotus in one place was more than we could have dreamt for! The peddler also carried a dose of dark venom and a single dueling pistol at excellent prices, though we had not the money left for these things. After this we made camp for the night.     This morning, we purchased an additional hammer to equip both our marksmen with them, and I began to observe our band as I prepared to write my journal entry. Gaston’s seemed to steel himself against the barbed comments of his peers and hardened himself against the thought of our more fearsome enemies, for if the same damage could be inflicted by a mere misstep, how could one justify fear. What Gaston lacks in logic he surely makes up for in spirit - I like his attitude. Henri seems to be getting quick with his sword now that he is properly equipped, Serge seems to have improved as a bowman, and our marksmen seem to have improved with their swords. I also have seemed to develop a greater understanding of the network of merchants and shopkeepers in this town, as well as a deeper rapport with their kind than most others have. This street knowledge will undoubtedly come in handy while looking for ever rarer items.     Three encounters in the last two days puts our band in great need of rest, and I intend to avoid conflict for the next week or so as we recover and resume our training regimen. I also need time to reflect on all that has happened and to make sense of the ever increasing cast of races that plague this city and threaten our lives for purposes unknown... Turn the page. Back to the previous page. Close the journal.