In the aftermath of the Storm of Chaos, the Empire is still beset by a thousand troubles: the elation of victory has faded quickly, as the people of the Empire buckle down for the onset of winter on the charred remains of a nation that has been brought to the edge of the abyss. Dark rumours beset the Old World: murmurs armies of daemons and the walking dead that still stalk the land, of plague and worse in the Reikland, even stories of the mythical Skaven. Whether the words of the soldiers and beggars are true or not, it seems that every party with a stake in the Empire’s fall is rising from the shadows, taking advantage of the situation to strike at the underbelly of an exhausted state.

In Sylvania, the people have always been willing to believe such rumours – and it is in their province that the tales are darkest. Peasants mutter that the Counts return, and that the most wicked of that vile dynasty is already abroad, having led an army of the unquiet dead into the turmoil of the northern fronts and emerged unscathed. Stories are told of isolated villages that have disappeared, their entire populations disappearing into the dark, leafless winter forests. Still more have been abandoned, homes and property left to the beasts of the wild as the peasants of Sylvania retreat to the larger towns, seeking safety in numbers against the armies of the dead – for after all, if Von Carstein found no satisfaction at Middenheim, it seems certain that he will return to the reconquest of his home. Even the usually half-derelict capital of Waldenhof is choked with pre-emptive refugees, preferring to risk their lives in the cold and damp of the city’s streets and ruins than outside its walls. Each knows the truth of their situation: none dare state it, as if acknowledging the vampire’s existence might give him a right to become more than a dark fairy tale.

With such a threat to occupy their minds, none think to guard against what may happen within their own borders…

Personal tragedy has struck at the Graf of Waldenhof, Reinhart Von Marienburg: the bone-chilled town is afire with the news of his daughter’s disappearance. Travelling on the road back from the court of a lesser noble, the Graf’s only child has now been missing for the best part of a week, with no news of delay or diversion reaching the city. Driven to distraction by the implications of her disappearance in these dark times, the Graf has made an impassioned plea for men of courage and enterprise to find his daughter for him: try as he may, he cannot induce his poorly-paid guardsmen to remain outside the walls of the town after dark, and all the ground within a day’s ride of Waldenhof has been scoured without success.

Your characters represent those who, for reasons of affection, obligation, or pure mercenary greed for the large reward offered, have volunteered to form part of the search party. The search is likely to take at least a week, with the land around Waldenhof heavily forested and blanketed in the deepening snows of the Sylvanian winter: those who have no reason other than the desire for the Graf’s reward are likely to be either sublimely over-confident or professionals with a healthy regard for their own abilities. The Graf is dearly liked among the people of Waldenhof, for whom a reasonably benevolent ruler makes a stark change: his daughter even more so, a beauty and a public symbol of the possibility of Sylvania’s return to normality and acceptance by the other provinces, as she was engaged to a Reikland noble of high standing, Ruprecht Van Dort.

The Graf will be looking for people with skills that will directly aid the search efforts: while he needs good swordsmen to protect such a small party in these times, he must hire those who will be able to locate his daughter for him and bring her safely back, not just fight off whatever the wilds may produce in the way of danger. Learning in outdoor survival, practical knowledge of the wilds and the ability to track may be more useful here than a strong sword-arm. Similarly, those who apply will have to convince him of their good character: he is unlikely to entrust his daughter’s safety to a parcel of openly unscrupulous mercenary dregs. An old man, he cannot accompany the search party himself – he must trust the in good conduct of those he chooses to employ.

If the enterprise succeeds, those who had a hand in the success will likely be applauded as heroes by the shivering masses of Waldenhof, aside from the sizeable reward the Graf has offered up for the return of his daughter. Failure in the winter wastes is an option that most would not like to think about…


Fully OOC: Hi, everybody! *Hi, Dr Chili!*

Well, I did promise a sequel to The World’s Edge, and here it is. As a matter of fact, this plot is also linked to The Shadows Beneath… which was also linked to the World’s Edge. Cunning, eh? Anyone who can work it out can have a pixelated biscuit on me (but PM me! Don’t spoil it for everyone else).

Aside from the fluff considerations outlined above, I do have a few conditions to specify re: character creation.
1. NO VAMPIRES. I know people like entering vampires, but this is set in Sylvania. No prizes for guessing why I’m not allowing vamps.
2. Make it dark. I’ve been trying to tone down the heroic, D&D-like element of my RPs as much as possible, as you may have noticed in TSB, going more for the Grim & Perilous feel of WHFRP. If you enter a Cathayan Death Ninja with mystic powers of telekinesis, no matter how rounded and well-written the character may be, he’s almost certainly not getting in. Consider the financial, social and geographical factors affecting your character: if he/she is signing up for this dangerous and potentially fatal task, then they’re not likely to be successful, respected & wealthy members of society: even if we were talking about a successful/experienced mercenary, he would probably have enough in the kitty not to have to take on such a task. Experienced fighters get that way through staying alive, and the characters can’t read the rules: they don’t know that, for the purposes of a good narrative, they are actually more difficult to kill than their opponents.
3. Related to no. 2 really: your character needs a strong motive to accept the Graf’s task. I don’t want a group of heroic adventurers popping up out of nowhere, accepting the “quest” because “that’s what heroes do”. It will greatly help your submission if I can see why they would be applying for this role, and it will help even more if you include an explicit reference as to why your character is in Waldenhof and why you are applying for the mission. Furthermore, I would be grateful if I could get a mix of characters reflecting the mix of roles required for the search party - i.e. a couple of sword arms, a tracker or two, possibly a healer, etc. I can always tack on an NPC or two to fill out any roles that do need filling, but if you could try and create characters who would think they have a genuine contribution to make through their "role", that would be good.
4. The party must be >50% human – ideally, >75%. This is just to make it seem realistic.
5. As always, you are under a solemn geas to check the thread at least once every other day, and give me notice should you be going away for a while – I will be as merciless as I can bring myself to be in destroying inactive characters (and in this adventure, that is going to be rather easier than in TSB). Should you break your oath, the life of your firstborn child is forfeit to Tzeentch…

However, there is one boon this time: Sylvania shares a border mit der Moot. So if anyone wants to enter a Halfling character, I have RasputinII’s rules for them, and will consider them – but you must remember that a Halfling will need even more convincing motives than a human, as the Moot is a relatively safe place to stay, untroubled by the desperation-inducing conditions of the humans in Waldenhof: the Halfling needs a reason to enter Sylvania in the first place. Oh yes, and anyone entering a LotR-style rustic Hobbit will be shot. WH Halflings are mischievous, gluttonous kleptomaniacs, and that’s the interpretation that I’m sticking to! Then again, this RP is meant to be mostly serious, so no “comic relief” Halflings either… you will need to convince me that any Halfling character you enter is not just going to loon about.

MARKING: I’ll be using me marking sheet as always; however, I’m introducing Brownie Points to help me decide in the event of a tie-break. Essentially, you get one Brownie Point for each of the additional questions I can answer “yes” to about your character. If you tie with someone for last place, I will then compare your BP totals to see who gets in: that resolves the tricky judgements I had to make last time without any agonising decisions on my part.

Cap’n Chili’s Marvellous Mark Scheme:

The Brownie Point List

You’ll notice that all the BPs are for non-objective, often GM-specific criteria, dependent entirely on my opinions and not the actual objective quality of the character submitted: a character who beats another character on Brownie Points is not, in my view, superior to that character, but merely fits better into my view of the WH world or to the specific needs of the adventure. The fifth question is another subjective jobby: sometimes I am simply struck by a certain realistic or exceptionally creative element of a character, which I am pretty sure might be rated entirely differently by others: again, if you score 1 for “wow” factor, that just means that your character appeals to my particular mindset, and not that he or she is objectively superior to a character who scored the same on the main mark scheme but achieved less Brownie Points. This is why I have deliberately chosen a deprecating/silly name for them, to mark clearly that they are only there as a utilitarian move to help me craft a realistic adventure and to avoid difficult decisions, not as another means of judging the quality of your characters.

So – get PMing! Remember (or, for those that are new, discover) that all character submissions should be sent to me via PM only; that I am perfectly happy to give feedback on a character and allow its alteration before marking it, and that marks will be released only on request, and via PM. I will never justify my choices in marking, because if you prove me wrong it would be very uncomfortable, and because I don’t want to get into arguments, and I will only mark a character once: either send it to me with an explicit request for feedback and redraft it and then ask me to mark it, or ask me to mark it straight off the bat. I will give feedback on as many drafts as you wish, within reason, but once it’s marked, I won’t allow further modifications to influence the marks.

Please give your submissions roughly according to the following template:

Name:
Race:
Age:
Height:
Personality:
Appearance:
History:
Equipment/trappings:

If you feel that this is binding/restricting you in any way, feel free to modify it slightly or to tack additional information onto the end. Remember, no rules-shuffling or strategic selection is necessary on your part: you give me the creative concept of your character, and I translate it into rules terms.

I set no deadline for character submissions: however, I will set one if we end up waiting for someone after everyone else has submitted a concept they are happy with. Essentially: let me know you’re going to be submitting a character if you want me to wait for you, and don’t make me wait too long!

Good luck: if the quality of RPing in TWE and TSB was anything to go by, then I shall be looking forward to this chapter very much.

Ze Chiltren of ze Night… vot beautiful musik zey make…

So no pressure or anything for us then. ;)

Right, I'm in the process of creating a character at the moment. I'll PM it you when it's done. This way, you'll have something to use if not enough experienced RPers enter.

PM sent.

Well, now I need to go read TWE and TSB from start to finish to figure out the links between the three games.

And type up a character I guess...

Right, mine's been PMed. Hope he makes it :thumb: .

Sign me up mate! I'll have a character by nightfall to enter (note that's eastern standard nightfall).

Wow - it's still daytime over in America?

Sotek damn it, it's been dark for two and a half hours over here, and it's only 6:30 :(

Eastern Standard Time nightfall is about 5 o'clock or so actually, so RG had better step it up if he wants to get his character in on time :P.

umm... actually it's 2:36 here people.... and I realize I said by nightfall, but seeing as I've been impressed into the service of... yard work, how bout I have it up but the end of the day (ie by midnight).

Cut me some slack Dr. Chili, I have a cold (or the Avian Flu, can't tell)... and I'm being forced to rake leaves... and, and... my children were eaten by wolves... dire wolves, at that!

I have an idea for a character. I'm not sure if I'll expand upon it and enter it, or if I'll keep the idea and use it in a later one.

How long are you planning to keep this open Chill? Before you take no more entries.


EDIT* Just read the stuff you said about deadlines. Don't wait specifically for me in that case, but keep an eye open. ;)

PM sent.

Can we post our character in the thread too, so that others may see it?

I might have a few other n00bish questions at the beginning. This is my first RPG.

If you want to. The reason I usually say PM is that a good proportion of PCs have secrets which should only be known to the player and the GM. However, if your character had no hidden parts to his past, then there would be no problem with posting it here: it might be quite a good idea, if you wanted to get feedback from lots of people.

NOTE: My character will be the slave or servant of one of the other characters. If you want Ivan to be your slave, mail me your own hero's informations and I'll see if it's okay. Ivan's master must be a ruthless mercenary. He must be a harsh master and feel no remorse when he sends the boy to an almost certain death or beats him up. The only reason he keeps Ivan around is because of his spell-casting abilities, and in fact, no other character pays much attention to the slave, except to tell him "Fetch some water" or "Clean the dishes". But Ivan admires his master and would never try to betray him or escape.
I know my character might look pitiful in comparison to the skilled fighters and tough warriors you guys will probably have, but I'm sure he'll be able to be helpful with his magic.



Name: Ivan.
Race: Human (Kislevite).
Age: 13.
Height: Small, of course…
Trade: Slave or servant.
Personality: Ivan is a calm boy who doesn't speak much, but he's braver than he looks, and also very intelligent. He never complains of cold, pain, starvation or anything else despite his early age. Being a slave, he's of course very obedient.
Appearance: Small and lean boy with large blue eyes and extremely pale, almost white hair. He looks innocent and not dangerous at all from the outside.
History: Ivan is an orphaned boy born in Erengrad (Kislev). He was one of the numerous beggars of the city, and the only thing that kept him from dying was his magical abilities that enabled him to light fires to have some heat during the harsh Kislevite winters. He developped his powers as he grew, but he was still poor and even had to steal to survive. One day, when slave dealers from Tilea came and took almost all the beggars of the city, Ivan was captured and brought to the Republic of Verezzo. There, he was put in a slave market and sold to a mercenary who passed by. But Ivan proved to be worth more than the four silver coins the man had paid. When he discovered the boy's abilities in magic, the mercenary found that Ivan was more useful than he looked…
Equipment/trappings: Not much since he's just a slave. A few dirty rags, a rusty shortsword, a pair of old sandals and a few worthless things and trinkets he stole or found here and there.

Interesting character, @ztech. I'm not sure about his personality though, you describe him as being intelligent, yet you also say that he admires his master and would not try to escape. Now, it's not unheard of for some slaves to feel strongly loyal to their master but if they do it's usually because they recieve good treatment and some degree of respect. From what I can gather Ivan's master does neither of these things and is rather harsh with him, a situation practically anyone in Ivan's position would want to get out of. For Ivan to tolerate something like this unquestioningly he would have to be very simple-minded or autistic, an impression I don't get from his personallity or history. the fact that he's had a fair bit of experience committing petty crime only makes it seem more likely that he would try to escape at the earliest oportunity.
I'll admit that there's lots of potential in your idea but I think you really need to give this a bit more thought.

I'm in accord with Spire on this one. You have a very strong concept, in my opinion, that could do with some expansion. I think maybe if you add more to his history (what was his childhood like? When did he realize he had magical powers? etc.) Just some elaboration I think could bring the concept to the next level :thumb: .

Good point. I didn't bother writing a long history, so there are a few things I still have to explain. The mercenary probably saved Ivan's life more times than the other way around. During all their adventures, they ran in lots of dangers, after all. There's also the fact that the mercenary is the one who feeds Ivan and gets him some clothes. It's still better than begging in the cold of a Kislevite winter, don't you think? Ivan never had a father or a big brother, so it's natural that he stays loyal to the only one who ever cared for him.

And in fact, even though the master is harsh with his slave, he still likes him. It's very far from a father/son relationship, but he'd still be (a little) sad if Ivan died, though he would never admit it (not even to himself).

Finally, I would add that Ivan is still young. He's intelligent, but there's still some innocence in him.

I shall submit mine soon, just need a little more time and don't have enough right this minute.

@ztech: It’s a fascinating idea, and one that, done well, could be very good indeed.

These are the things I think you should think about when developing the character: they’re not criticisms, as such, just the questions that come into my head when I read your character sheet.

1. Why has he not been persecuted for his magical powers? In the Empire and most of the Old World, magic outside the strictly licenced magical institutions is a heinous crime. Untutored mages are dangerous, potential vessels for Chaos: the common people fear them, and the authorities hunt them. While your village hedge wizard or witch might keep the villagers’ loyalty by providing healing, wisdom, and generally being a valued, respected member of the community, Ivan’s a boy: I can’t see why anyone would go out of the way to protect him or keep his abilities secret. It also puts rather a question mark over the “trusted servant” thing – discovering that your servant had magical powers would not make most Old Worlders say “What a useful chap.” The average Empire citizen would think “Argh! Keep it away!”, and hand him over to the nearest lynch mob.
2. How much of a slave is he? Slavery is not technically legal in the Empire, although there are servants galore: one would think that an Empire-born master would at least pay Ivan something, even if it was a pittance.
3. What kind of abilities in magic does he actually have? How have these manifested themselves… loudly, or subtly? Since he’s not a College-trained magician, how much actual control does he have over his spells, and has he had any unpleasant consequences yet from using “raw” magic?

I’d also put in a word of warning: you seem to have a pre-conceived notion as to what Ivan’s master is like, and yet you are looking for another player to be the “master”. Chances are, most of the people entering are going to have their own ideas about what they want their character to be like, and it would be best not to set anything in stone about the master-servant relationship just yet – ‘twould be better to find someone who will agree to playing the “master” role first, and then work it out through consensus, as they may have a very different idea about where they want their character to go in terms of attitude and personality. If you develop Ivan based around this harsh, ruthless master character, and then the PC who ends up being the master isn’t very harsh or ruthless at all, then things will look a bit… odd.

Of course, if you want the harsh & ruthless bit as an absolute requirement of the character… then you’re going to have to make sure that you grab someone before they put pen to paper and agree with them that they will create a character to suit both your needs. I’ve got to say that I don’t think any of the concepts I’ve received so far would really fit the mould for Ivan’s master as you’ve pictured him here.

To Chili's questions:


1. You're right, I've thought about it, Ivan has probably managed to conceal his powers. Or maybe he has been feared and loathed because of his magic; that could be one of the reasons why he was a beggar and is now a slave. But he was born in Kislev, and people from Kislev might view magic in a different way.
And I think a lot of dangerous characters would find magic useful for all sorts of things. The mercenary we're talking about has probably travelled everywhere in the Old World and might not be as afraid of magic as the superstitious men of the Empire are.

2. When I say "slave", it doesn't necessarily means that he's completely under his master's rule. But it's true that he's not paid at all, just fed and clothed. He could perhaps decide to quit his master, but then he would starve to death. So he prefers to be a humble servant, but have at least something to eat and to wear.

3. I've thought about that too. He has many abilities, but most of them are not directed toward killing. He's not the kind of guy who would throw fire balls. He can heal wounds, light fires and such. He can also read in peoples' minds. This doesn't mean that he can read thoughts, but he can, for example, see if someone is good or evil, or if he's lying, or if he has magical powers too. Ivan can also communicate with animals. His magic is not basically evil, but he can still use it to kill, though he has never done it. But he will probably do it a few times during the RPG.



I'm surprised that you didn't get entries for ruthless mercenaries yet, because it's the kind of character that you asked. You said that you wanted to avoid righteous and honorable heroes. It's probably a matter of time before some swine who thinks only about money (Han Solo-like) is entered in the RPG, and that's exactly the kind of character I want to be Ivan's master.

If no such guy is entered, I can still adapt the boy's story. Any wandering adventurer who's almost too cruel or merciless to be considered as a good guy will do all right. It might also be a bitter Dwarf slayer, a Bretonnian questing knight who has become spiteful during all his years of travelling, a ruthless bounty hunter, or perhaps even a witchhunter who uses Ivan's magical abilities to hunt down or identify other wizards and kill them.

Aye, I wasnae saying that the submissions I'd got were nice... just that they weren't that evil. There are many different forms of "dark", and I'm not sure I can guarantee that there'll be a character to fit that mould. But provided you'd be willing to adapt it, there's not much of a problem there.

It would probably be interesting to take a single "theme" for his magical abilities, related to the way he discovered 'em. Did he realise one day in a marketplace that he was hearing peoples' thoughts? Did he start speaking to an animal a la Harry Potter? Did he heal a friend when placed in a crisis situation (i.e. the friend/other person was dying). Magic is an incredibly broad field, so having a "magical talent" doesn't necessarily say it all... what links his abilities together? Is he one of the few born as natural wizards - in which case his abilities will be somewhat limited unless he can receive training - or is he drawing his power from somewhere else? A godly patron, perchance? Talking with animals points to the favour of Taal/Rhya. Healing people points to Shallya. This kind of ground would probably be a good area to develop the character: where and when he discovered his magic, how he uses it, and how it has affected his life up 'til now.

I'm going to stick my standard disclaimer on the end at this point, as I'm starting to suggest add-ons and changes... everything and anything I say here is my own personal opinion, which is probably worse than yours when it comes to evaluating and developing your character, since you know where you're taking him, and I'm looking in from the outside... barring you typing out every thought that crosses your mind at lightning speed, I'm never going to understand as much as you do about your character :). So take everything I say here with a pinch of salt, and if you disagree with me, assume I am wrong.

On a different note: you'll probably need to wait to find out about the "master" character before you can pin down too many specifics, to allow that player some leeway as well. Would you prefer to discuss the concept in the meantime, or would you rather wait until you knew exactly how you were going to work that part of his persona out before any of us said any more?

Why not have Ivan accidentally kill his master before the story began? Like getting angry and accidentally setting him on fire, summoning a daemon nearby or something.

As others have said, it might be a little weird working him in as another character's slave. Still, he sounds like the sort of person who NEEDS to serve someone, so he might wind up with a master-servant relationship with someone anyway.

Huh... I don't like that idea. But Ivan's master could have died not long ago, anyway. Or I could create another character, some mercenary who would be Ivan's master, and make him die early in the story.

Yes, perhaps. Maybe someone who would have saved him from whatever killed his master.



But finally, no need for a mercenary or bounty hunter to be Ivan's master, any adventurer who's not as honorable as the average Grail Knight will be alright.

But I'd like to see what the other characters look like.


EDIT: Ivan could also be Reinhart Von Marienburg's servant, and be sent by him to help the other characters in their quest. Yeah, I think that'll be the best way to put him in the story. I'm currently writing a longer story for Ivan.

Ah - would you like me to send you some brief sketches of the characters I've received so far? Obviously I wouldn't be able to tell you any secrets they might have, but if you were looking to ask for a master, rather than be asked, that might be helpful.

Here's Ivan's story, and now I'm not going to modify it anymore. I had to change a few things (all right, a lot of things in fact), but the character stays pretty much the same.



Few things are known about Ivan's early childhood, but as far as himself can remember, he had always lived in Erengrad, a wealthy city of Kislev. He had no parents and was forced to beg food and money in the snowy streets of the cold city or even to steal. He was only seven when, chilled to the bone, he lit a fire directly on the snow with absolutely no wood and found out that he had special powers that people called magic. He was intelligent enough to conceal his abilities, for he knew that they could get him in trouble. Ivan slowly developped his skills, and it is possible that without them he would have starved to death or died during the harsh winters of Kislev.

He was only nine when people became aware of his powers, the day when he commanded a wolf to let alone a young girl it was about to kill. Despite the fact that he had saved a life, he was ordered to quit Erengrad at once, during one of the coldest winters Kislev had ever known. Alone in the icy wastelands, Ivan had to struggle every hour just to survive. Without food and with not enough strength in him to light fires, he was almost dead when he reached the Empire. He walked South for three months and it was spring when he reached Sylvania. But his adventures were only beginning, for he was captured by a powerful vampire count who lived in a grim fortress in the middle of a dangerous forest.

The darkest part of Ivan's life began. The boy was the count's slave for several months and his master was extremely cruel. When he was thirsty for blood and had no victim at hand, he fed on Ivan while being very careful to keep him alive and not transform him into a vampire who would have no more blood. Yet since that time, the boy has pale skin, snowy-white hair and eyes that see better in the darkness than in daylight. One day, after a week of plotting, Ivan decided to flee and gave his master some wine in which he had put a soporific pill he had secretly created with the count's alchemy kit. The vampire felt the drug, but he did not fall asleep, for he never slept. Just to see how far his slave could flee, he faked falling into unconsciousness and let Ivan sneak out of his castle. Then he woke up and sent his bats and his hounds after the boy. Ivan ran in the forest for very long. Normal people would have gotten lost, but the boy was guided by his inner strength and went in a straight line. He had to stop several times to fight his former master's undead beasts. He fled and fought for a whole night before reaching, completely exhausted, the city of Waldenhof.

Ivan became Reinhart Von Marienburg's servant. The Graf was a harsh and stern master, but at least, the boy was decently fed and clothed for the first time of his life. When Reinhart learned about the boy's magical skills and that he had managed to escape a vampire count, he saw that his new servant could be very useful. He taught him how to read and made him study old books of magic. Now, Ivan is thirteen and has become very skilled in magic, as well as being one of the Graf's most trusted collaborators.





"Ivan, clad in his usual old gray clothes his master had given him, was nervously raking his forever dishevelled white hair with his fingers. It was only morning, but he was very tired, for his nightmares had been terrible this night. He had had nightmares every single night since he had escaped the vampire count's castle, but never as dreadful as tonight. He felt that something wrong was happening somewhere nearby. Despite his hunger, he hadn't eaten much of his gruel. His master, the Graf, had summoned him for an extremely important matter, and Ivan was waiting outside the nobleman's bedroom. Reinhart von Marienburg was very busy today and had spoken with several people, mostly members of his personal guard. All had quit his room with a worried look, and Ivan, who was no fool, knew that his master was about to tell him bad news.

The captain of the Graf's soldiers finally left Reinhart. Like all others, he was ashen-faced and was muttering curses under his breath.
"Ivan! Come in here!" the nobleman called from his room.
The boy entered the room. Reinhart was pale and his eyes were nervous, but even then, he looked majestic in his plain black clothes. He was a tall and bulky middle-aged man with gray hair and dark eyes.
"Master?" Ivan said respectfully, bowing.
"I've been waiting for you, boy. I have an important task for you. But first, I must tell you what is happening…"
"I gathered that the Mistress has disappeared," Ivan said.
"Exactly. My daughter has not been seen for two days now. And I can't send my soldiers looking for her, unless civilians are willing to defend themselves the town against zombies."
"What do you want me to do, master?"
The Graf sighed, then took a breath. He knew that Ivan wouldn't like what he was about to say.
"I'm offering a bounty. Soon, mercenaries and warriors will come here to begin to search. They will roam the dark forests around us to find my daughter and bring her back. But as we both know, the forests are haunted. Because of some unknown magic, people who enter it get lost and are almost never able to get out."

He paused, then said:
"You can find your way in the forest, can't you?"
Ivan became even paler than he already was. A quick flash of sheer terror passed across his eyes, but disappeared instantly. The boy steadied himself, but his voice was trembling:
"Well… I did once. But I wouldn't go back in that forest. Not ever. And if my former master gets his hands on me, he'll skin me alive. I saw him do that to one of his slaves once."
"And I can't force you to go there," the Graf said, "because it's going to be extremely dangerous. I just want you to guide the adventurers through the forest and assist them with your magic. You'll also be their servant. You can cook very well and do a lot of other things, so you'll be very useful to them. And if they're satisfied with you, and if you come back here safely,…"

He thought as moment before saying:
"…I'll free you, give you enough gold to survive several years and register you in the nearest College of Magic. You will never have to beg anymore and you will be free for the rest of your life."
Ivan's blue eyes widened.
"You would really do that, master?"
"Did I ever lie to you, boy?"
"Never, master."
"Then what's your answer?"
Ivan grinned.
"I'll go pack my equipment for the travel."
Then he bowed and left, closing the door behind him."

OK, statted and marked. For the information of everyone: I have received completed characters from

Spire
Kael Anduar
Swordsalot
@ztech

I have received concepts from

Rogue-Gladiator
Xarhain
Luc Arkhame
Lord of Nonsensical Crap

and I know Goblit is entering.

If there's anyone else out there thinking of entering, let me know... once I have received the completed concepts from the last five, I'll probably be making my selections and starting in pretty short order, so do give me a PM to tell me to wait for you if you are working on a character but aren't on this list.

Update: Xarhain's character is now completed, and Cal has told me he is entering.

I know I said I probably wouldn't but I started getting an idea for a character, then Chili was helping me and I woulda' felt guilty not entering after the time & effort he put into helping me with accurate background info on the warhammer world and reviewing my character.

So to hell with it. Go NOW!!

Further update: Have received finalised characters from LoNC & Luc. Only waiting now on Cal, Rogue-Gladiator, & Goblit... if there's anyone still waiting in the wings, let me know so that I don't start the thing up before I've had a look at your character.

Lordchilleppa, I would like to have a chance to enter this rpg as with all the rest of the rpg you have made.

I will send a pm to you later regarding my character.

Hmm. I have this annoying tendency of my internet connection failing me or real life interfering or something, but Chili's RPGs always look so FUN.

I'll submit a character. Don't keep the lantern's alight for me, though: there are plenty of other contenders which are more reliable than my onesy, so that's okay.

And I won't mind if you count me out due to 'unreliability factor;' I would by now.

Besides, making characters is fun.

If I counted people out due to that, then if Aesgareth were ever to show up again I'd have to exclude him... I'd be very happy to have your character on board, Benedictus.

PM unleashed.

Goblit's character is complete: I wait upon Rogue-Gladiator, Benedictus, Tombguard321, & Cal. Ideally, I would like to be able to start this thing before my holiday is gone: if everyone could make an effort to have their characters completed by the end of this coming Monday, that would be appreciated. If any of you really need more time, then I'll consider shifting it, but for now, 12:00 midnight, on Monday 3rd January is the deadline. If I can get all the characters in before the London time version of that deadline, then I will be able to tell people who's in immediately at 12 - however, I understand that at least two of the people I'm still waiting for might just be waking up or getting back from work at my midnight in their particular part of the world, so I won't actually cut things off 'till I wake up on Tuesday morning.

Just out of interest, how many characters are you planning on taking this time? The normal seven, or less?

Seven is standard. At the moment, I am considering eight... I have a character who is on the edge, but who I really don't want to exclude. The problem is that I'm not sure eight is really workable... in lots of situations, I would have to weight for four to five responses before I could do anything GM-wise.

Expect seven. If I can see a way to wangle it, I may do eight... it all depends.

*whew*

PM sent, but by god did this character take some plotting to figure out!... I don't know if I'll get in or not, but, hey, we'll see!

I trust you got my email, Chili. If not, I can resend.

Erm... the original email I got. If you're talking about that one, I sent a reply... if you sent another reply, then that hasn't come through.

How irritating. I'll PM you now AND re-send.