Salundra's Story

The next eight months led Salundra and Gunnar down the River Teufel to Grunberg where they met the mysterious [Pieter Verstohlen] the so-called 'Grey Man'. Who recruited them as agents and set them a task of discovering the truth behind the growing tensions in the Teufel Valley and why the army has been dispatched so far from Altdorf the Imperial Capital.   Salundra and Gunnar spend the next eight months wandering around Altdorf trying to resolve the mystery with little real success even volunteering as members of the Citizen's Vigilance Committee in the hope of uncovering some criminal conspiracy on the streets of Altdorf. They meet a lot of characters but fail to find anything that might explain the dispatch of the Army to the west.   In the end their time in Altdorf is cut short by an urgent letter from the Duchess Anya urging Salundra to return home as soon as possible. Something is wrong in the Duchy of Drakenburg.

Salundra and Gunnar spent the winter of 2507 in Drakenburg, placating the fears of her mother about the accusations being made about her family.   Gunnar kept himself busy stalking goblins in the woods around the castle, whilst Salundra tried to cope with the political issues that beset the Duchy. As usual her older brother Konstantin was nowhere to be found having ridden off on another one of his debauched expeditions to the flesh spots of the Empire. Whilst her younger brother Brunner seems unable to think of anything constructive to do.   Then came the first plague. 'The Bloody Flux' stuck the Duchy laying hundreds low and leading to widespread panic amongst the people.   Salundra was kept busy organising funeral pyre's to try and clear the dead and control the infestation. Until she finally went down with the disease herself along with her mother and Gunnar was forced to become a nursemaid.   Salundra was to recover only to have the stoic Gunnar go down with the plague and their roles reversed.

The following year news reaches the Duchy that a mighty army of pestilence led by Tamurkhan, The Maggot Lord, has invaded the Empire and was sweeping across the Mountains of Mourn from the Dark Lands into the southern provinces of the Empire.   The Imperial Army which had been patroling the Teufel valley for years now marched south and for a while the imminent threat of annexation by the Emperor subsided.   Then news reached Drakenburg that a monster had been spotted in the woods to the south of the castle and Salundra and Gunnar hurried south to investigate together with Claudin de Chegney and two Bretonnian Knights who were part of the escort to the Vicompte de Chegney who was visiting the castle on a diplomatic mission.   Salundra's party tracked down the so-called monster to the Ostdraken Valley, but was disappointed to discover that it looked more like a wizened old man than a daemon.   However, the old man appeared to be in the process of poisoning the Ostbrook stream and Salundra believing that they had finally found the Chaos Sorcerer who was responsible for the last two years of pestilence attacked immediately and cleaved the old mans head in two with a single blow.   For a moment it seemed as though the matter was resolved and the cause of the pestilence finally purged. But then from the body of the dead sorcerer a monsterous creature rose and battle was renewed on again the banks of the Ostbrook and only resolved after an epic struggle which cost one of Claudin's companions his life.

In the fall of 2510 a deputation of elves arrived at Castle Drakenburg led by a merchant prince called Sullandiel Goldcrest They claimed to be on a diplomatic mission to offer the The Duchy of Drakenburg their assistance in purging the recent corruption and pestilence and restoring the Duchy to wealth and prosperity.   The Duke was less than impressed pointing out that the pestilience had largely passed and the Duchy did not really need their assistance. However, the elves persisted in their proposal claiming that they could offer the Duchy a bright new future in return for certain concessions that would allow elven traders free passage across the Dukes land.   When this also failed to persuade the Duke they became more aggressive in their negitiations pointing out that the Dukes family were under threat of annexation and offering to return the Drakenburg Pledge Ring if the Duke agreed to their terms.   They also mentioned the sword which they knew was still in the Dukes possession claiming it was their families property and demanding that it was returned forthwith.   The Duke remained firm and as the elves became more aggressive, so he became less inclined to co-operate and in the end the elves left having achieved nothing. Except to imply that they had access to The Drakenburg Pledge Ring which was still creating controversy at the Imperial Court.

Salundra, Gunnar and Else travel to Bogenhafen with the intention of delivering the malign sword to Lector Ludo at the Grand Temple of Sigmar for purification.   They are accosted on the road by yet another elf. This time alone, who warns them that the sword is emitting a malign aura which is visible to those like him who are able to sense the Aethyr.   He tells them that if he can track the sword it, then is likely that others with more malign intentions may also be doing so. He also tells them that there is a dark shadow over Bogenhafen and that they should be wary.   Salundra and her party are not sure what to make of these foreboding predictions but thank the elf for his advice and continue on their way.   However, despite the elven warning. on entering BÖGENHAFEN they fail to deliver the sword immediately to the Temple and instead head off towards the Dreiecke Platz intent on looking for a tavern that sells decent ale.   This proves to be a mistake, as alerted by the malign aura of the sword, they are now being stalked by a powerful entity intent of its possession. It is not clear what this entity was but it seemed to have the ability to impersonate anyone of its choosing and appeared to the party in the guise of Hunter Heinzdork the local Witch Hunter.   Heinzdork offerred to take the sword off them and deliver it to the Temple himself. So that they could get a drink and something to eat after their long journey. However, the party were suspcious as Heinzdork was behaving oddly and most importantly didn't seem to know who they were even though they had worked together in the past.   They refused to hand over the sword but did agree to go with Heinzdork to deliver it in at the Temple. However, just before they reached the Temple, Heinzdork (or the creature posing as him) suddenly attacked Else and dragged her bodily off her horse, whilst at the same time trying to cast a sleep spell on her.   Else resisted the spell and tried to rise, whereupon the creature cast a stun spell on her that kept her 'hors de combat' until it could rifle through her saddle bags and retrieve the sword.   Gunnar realising something was wrong charged Heinzdork and managed to inflict some minor damage to its arm. But by then the sorcerer had retrieved the sword and in order to escape cast 'Mystic Mist' which engulfed the entire square in an impenetrable fog enabling him to evade the dwarf and escape with the sword.