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V WA R H A M M E R FA N TA S Y R O L E P L AY

CHAPTER 5
THE FALSE INHERITANCE
Having arrived in Bögenhafen, our Heroes are no doubt eager lf you fear that they might leave with him and miss the
to find the law offices of Lock, Stock, and Barl to claim the adventure, he departs without telling them that he is going;
promised inheritance. However, they find things are not as after all, Josef is a rather unreliable itinerant, and he often lands
straightforward as they seem, and must survive a bounty in trouble with the local authorities.
hunter’s deadly trap.

VISITING THE LAWYERS


BÖGENHAFEN
Garten Weg is a narrow alley running eastwards from the Eisen
Bögenhafen is typical of many merchant towns on the Empire’s Bahn, a little way north of the Metalworkers’ Guild. Small, run-
great rivers. The Characters will encounter more of them down buildings flank it. A successful Easy (+40) Lore (Law)
in Death on the Reik. Bögenhafen is presented in detail in Test — or a successful Challenging (+0) Intelligence Test
Appendix 1, and you can refer back to the town description for any Burgher or Courtier Character — suspects this is not
whenever you need to present a trading town to the Players — a likely location for a law firm that handles noble titles and
in this campaign or others. estates.

Before running this chapter, you should take the time to read Adolphus Kuftsos rented a building about halfway down the
the remainder of the book thoroughly, becoming familiar with alley for his trap. The state of the building depends on whether
the town and with the events that are about to take place there. Adolphus survived the attack on the Berebeli in Weissbruck (see
The Characters can do almost anything in response to what they page 45).
uncover in Bögenhafen. These pages cannot provide an answer
for every situation — but if you are intimately familiar with
the town and the story you should have no trouble devising a A Dead End
suitable response even to the most unexpected Player choices. If Adolphus died in Weissbruck — and if he has no partner to
assist him (see page 35) — there is no sign outside, the windows
are shuttered, and the door is locked. There is nothing to make
The Map anyone think that this is anything other than an abandoned
Note that there are two maps of the town. The Bögenhafen building. Enquiries along the Garten Weg will be a dead end;
Player Map (see the back of the book) is for the Players to use no one has ever heard of a law firm by the name of Lock, Stock,
and shows those locations that are well known to any of the and Barl. Indeed, no one has ever heard of a law firm with
town’s inhabitants. The Bögenhafen GM Map on page 115 is offices on the Garten Weg. The Characters are advised to ask
for you, and has extra locations that the Characters may uncover at the Town Courts (see page 127), but if they do so they are
during the course of the adventure. All the important locations told that no lawyers with those names have ever practised in
are described in Appendix 1: A Guide to Bögenhafen on page Bögenhafen, and it is suggested that the letter is a hoax.
118.

It’s a Trap!
Arriving in Bögenhafen If Adolphus escaped, or if he has a partner to carry on his
The Berebeli puts in at Haagen’s Wharf (see page 127). Josef and mission, the bounty hunter arrives at the building ahead of
his crew deal with tying up and pay the mooring fees. The docks them. The shutters on the windows have been opened, the door
(see page 40) are relatively quiet, but sounds of merrymaking unlocked, and a sign above the door reads, ‘Lock, Stock, and
can be heard coming from the direction of the Schaffenfest, Barl. Lawyers, etc.’
which has already begun (see page 55). Josef pays the Characters
any wages they are owed. Inside, a young clerk — actually a law student hired by Adolphus
— sits behind a desk, writing in a ledger. He looks up when the
He explains that he has to go to the offices of a local merchant Characters enter, and upon being shown the letter and affidavit
named Ruggbroder to collect payment for his wine and to he smiles broadly.
arrange for its unloading by the local stevedores. He suggests
the party takes the opportunity to look round the Schaffenfest, ‘Herr Barl has been looking forward to meeting you, Herr Lieberung,’
which is most definitely ‘not to be missed’. If you wish to he says. ‘I will let him know that you’ve arrived.’ He takes the two
continue Josef ’s association with the Characters, he arranges documents and leaves the room through a back door. As the
to meet them later, either at the festival or back at the barge. door closes, several other things happen.
Otherwise, you can have him depart in a day or so, once the
Characters are committed to adventuring in the town.

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S H A D OWS OV E R B Ö G E N H A F E N : C H A P T E R 5 - T H E FA L S E I N H E R I TA N C E V

WHAT'S GOING ON IN BÖGENHAFEN


Beneath the bustling, eve yday exte io  of Bögenhafen lies a deadly The o de  is headed by Teugen, with Gideon playing the  ole of
sec et; a sec et that may lead to the dest uction of the town and Teugen's distant cousin and adviso . Beneath these two comes the
ultimately th eaten the ve y existence of the Empi e. Councillo  Inne  Council of seven membe s, none of whom has an inkling
Johannes Teugen (see page 112), in an effo t to save his own soul, as to Gideon’s t ue natu e.
is unwittingly attempting to open a Chaos Gate in the town.
It is these seven whom Teugen plans to exchange fo  his own soul.
Teugen and Gideon The most impo tant membe s of the council, fo  the pu poses of
In the cou se of his studies at the Unive sity of Nuln, Teugen became this adventu e, a e Councillo s Steinhäge  and Magi ius (see page
inte ested in daemonology. This culminated in his summoning a 97 and 99). The others are wealthy and influential citizens of the
Daemon he named Gideon (see page 113). In exchange fo  fu the  town, but thei  identities need not be dete mined unless you need
knowledge of da k and fo bidden magical a ts, Teugen p omised to. There are also 49 rank-and-file members of the society — seven
Gideon his soul, which is to be claimed at the end of seven yea s. fo  each council membe . These people know next to nothing
about Gideon. They genuinely believe that the society p ovides a
He has profited greatly from Gideon’s teachings and aid, and not ha mless meeting g ound fo  well-intentioned me chants and is a
the least benefit was from the part the daemon played in the death wo thy benefacto  to many of the town’s dese ving causes.
of Johannes's elde  b othe , Ka l. When Ka l was st uck down by an
unknown and te  ible disease induced by Gideon, the way was opened What's Really Going On?
fo  Johannes's meteo ic  ise to powe  — but the end of his seven yea s The seven membe s of the Inne  Council believe that the society
is fast app oaching. has anothe  pu pose: Teugen has told them that he has the powe 
to influence market forces by the use of sorcery. He convinces
Teugen has one chance to escape f om the cont act. Gideon has led them that if they pa ticipate in a ce emony with him Bögenhafen
him to believe that if he can pe suade seven willing mo tals to take will become the commercial and financial centre of the Empire,
pa t in a pa ticula   itual, thei  souls will be taken instead of his own making them all untold fo tunes. Little do they know that Teugen
and he will be f ee. intends to sacrifice their souls to save his own.

The Ordo Septenarius Howeve , Teugen has been deceived in his tu n. Gideon is a
To this end, Teugen has established the O do Septena ius. On se vant of the Chaos god Tzeentch. Fa  f om saving Teugen’s
the su face, this is a ha mless o ganisation. Rec uited f om the soul, the ritual could in fact sacrifice the entire population of the
me cantile classes of the town, the O do Septena ius wo ks town and c eate a mino  Chaos Gate th ough which f esh ho des
sec etly to  aise money fo  a va iety of good causes and acts as a of Chaos c eatu es will pou . Then the Empi e will be caught
social club and a medium for confidential business deals between between the Chaos a mies th eatening Kislev in the no th and
its membe s. those issuing fo th f om the newly c eated gate at Bögenhafen.

Unseen hands outside the building throw the shutters across The adventurers are still trapped in the building and must find
the windows, plunging the room into gloom. Bolts can be a way out. The doors and windows are bolted (TB 2, W 6), but
heard being drawn across the windows and both doors. The can be broken down fairly easily. If the Characters look in the
Characters are trapped! alley behind the building, they will find the heavily mutilated
body of the stocky man whom they glimpsed in Altdorf
The Bounty Hunter and Weissbruck.
After a moment, a voice calls through the back door.
The fresh corpse seems to have been torn apart by some kind
‘Kastor Lieberung! Otherwise known as the magister impedimentae of monster. Its chest and belly are ripped open and the heart
of the cult of the Purple Hand! In the name of the Emperor, I arrest is torn in two. The body lies in a pool of blood and looping
you and your companions for conspiring with Chaos, murder, theft, intestines as its empty eyes stare in horror at something that is
and other crimes hereinafter to be enumerated! Lay down your no longer there.
weapons and surrender!’
A search of the mutilated body turns up the letter from ‘Q.F.’
There is a pregnant pause as the Characters weigh their (Handout 7: The Letter, see page 153). If the Characters do
options — and then a terrible sound is heard from outside. not immediately search the body, then a corner of the letter is
Screams echo off the surrounding buildings, accompanied by seen sticking out of the dead bounty hunter’s boot. The letter
sickening rending sounds. After a few seconds, everything falls will answer some questions, but it will leave the party with just
quiet again. as many more.

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V WA R H A M M E R FA N TA S Y R O L E P L AY

OPTIONS: THE EVIL VILLAIN


Anyone who has played the o iginal Shadows Over Bögenhafen will  emembe  that Johannes Teugen is the villain of the piece, and that
he is assisted by a daemon named Gideon. The efo e, you may want to use a diffe ent cha acte  as the head of the O do Septena ius,
so that the Playe s a e still challenged and su p ised by the conclusion.

The e a e seve al possible candidates fo  a simple name swap. F anz Steinhäge  and F ied ich Magi ius a e the most obvious,
though events at the Festival Cou t could take on a diffe ent complexion if Magist ate Richte  is sec etly the head of the O do
Septena ius. Instead of being st icken with a magical illness (see Richter’s Chambers on page 87), he simply pretends to be sick
and wo ks in sec et to cove  up the sec et temple and move the location of the  itual. Hie onymus Ruggb ode  might be a vocal
opponent of the Ordo in public, but he could secretly be its leader, leaving a figurehead — perhaps Steinhäger or Magirius — to
lead the Inne  Council. O , some hithe to unknown me chant f om a mino  family might be the sec et chief, living a quiet life in
public to avoid att acting attention.

Fo  g eate  d amatic impact, Johannes Teugen could be a talented but completely innocent me chant whose d amatic success since his
 etu n f om the Unive sity has p ompted the town’s othe  me chants to band togethe  in o de  to avoid being d iven out of business.

The leade  of the O do might be planning to f ame him fo  mu de , so ce y and othe  c imes, in o de  to dis upt his
business fu the . Ka l Teugen might have been killed as a pa t of this plan, o  the O do might simply be capitalising
on his death f om natu al — but ve y unpleasant — causes.

An ente p ising GM could use all of these ideas, and add new ones, so the Cha acte s a e conf onted with a daunting
a  ay of suspects, with ve y little time to so t the innocent f om the guilty and discove  what is going on befo e the
 itual takes place.

Gideon on Guard
At this point the Characters have no idea of how or why the
bounty hunter died, but they may have the opportunity to find
out later in the adventure. Gideon, the Daemon of Tzeentch
working in agreement with Johannes Teugen (see page 112),
learned that a bounty hunter had arrived in Bögenhafen and
was making enquiries about followers of the Lord of Change.
Concluding that this newcomer could be a threat to his plan,
Gideon followed him to the building on Garten Weg and,
reverting to his Daemon form, ripped him apart before he could
do any damage to the Ordo Septenarius.

Gideon has no idea who the Characters are, or what the bounty
hunter wanted with them, and at this point it does not care. The
fact that it inadvertently saved the very people who will prove
to be the biggest threat to his scheme is simply dramatic irony.

RESOLUTION

Rewards
In addition to the standard XP you provide for having a fun
time roleplaying, or any you provide for other reasons, XP
should be awarded for the following:

YY 5–10 points each for avoiding or surviving Adolphus


Kuftsos’s attack

YY 20 points each for defeating Adolphus Kuftsos.

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