Captain's Log, by a mind clear as day!
I stepped off that horrific vessel with my crew and was faced with a large cavern. The moaning and cries of pain from the stalactites shocked me to my very soul! Dwarf prisoners of a foul Chaos magic were imprisoned within those hateful hanging spires, stone faces twisted by agony and horror. Werner was the first to suggest walking around these cave horrors as much as possible. I was the first to audibly gulp in fear. Creeping around and avoiding walking under the stalactites proved to be the best course of action until we found that the exit was blocked by the damned things! The One and Werner ran forward and were met with hideous blasts of flame. These things could breathe fire like a dragon! Luckily they both successfully leapt out of the way of that peril. I could not see Dumpling making the same kind of maneuver so I pondered for a moment how to deal with this. As soon as she was ready, I picked the halfling up with one arm and lifted my shield with the other. The singeing was painful but it was better than a cooked cook!
A long stone corridor to the north, with a constant feeling that you were being watched by dwarves. Very peculiar. It must have been the spirits of the slain that still reside within these halls. Suddenly, we were besieged not by ingenious dwarf traps but rather gigantic, hideous worms that burst through the walls! Our marine was thankfully in front and thus ensured that we would quickly have a bountiful supply of fish bait. After that flurry of sword strikes we would be faced with a trial that harries many a strong swordsman: a riddle! There were black iron twin doors with a lock but The One's magic immediately undid it. The two giant dwarf statues would not allow our passage so easily. They asked us who we were and I spoke frankly to them. They would not budge.
"I AM SIGMAR AND I SEEK THE HAMMER!"
No response.
"IN THE NAME OF FARGAZER, I SEEK THE INNER SANCTUM!"
No response.
It went on like this for some time. Possibly hours. We thought about just striking down the statues at one point but, erm... I just really wanted to solve the riddle. It was annoying me to no end and I refused to give up! Many, many names were used. Eventually Werner pointed out that I should be using the other god, not Sigmar. It took me a good minute but then it struck me: "WE ARE THE SERVANTS OF GRUNGNI AND WOLFRAM!" The dwarf statues finally stood aside. They took a second to make me doubt my answer. Bastards. Beyond that door was what was once probably the finest smithy in all of the Empire, now abandoned and left to rot. Dwarf symbols and reliefs on the walls depicted pickaxes, dwarf beards and other celebrated parts of their long-lived culture. There were three doors, one to the north, east and west. To the east was a workroom that was utterly ruined. A pile of wood, stones and dust. The western room was locked but... you know how we solved that problem! A library of scrolls and books, most were too old and decayed to read. Or to look at the nice pictures, for that matter. The One found a note and read it aloud. By the hammer it got my attention! Sigmar himself was down here and brutally fought some kind of fearsome abomination, casting himself into the home of all daemons to do battle with them forever! I think.
We were suddenly aghast by the appearance of the ghost of a dwarf scholar. In my head I could hear him, ranting endlessly about how the place is cursed, he is cursed, I am cursed, she is cursed... it would drive any man mad! We drew our weapons and cut into that groaning spirit several times but he would not die properly. Hammers, tongs, and an anvil were compelled by the ghost's magic to attack us. I was lucky to narrowly avoid a dropped anvil as it seemed an ill fitting, absurd end to this tale! Werner and I barged into the north chamber to chase down that loathsome dwarf and there it was. Stuck in the wall in a giant crater was the very thing that had driven us for miles and miles, through pain and terror, through despair and sorrow... Ghal Moraz, Skull Splitter, the hammer of Sigmar! Werner revealed something to me about his... emotional state from the journey and I wept as he gifted me his knife. Jim ran ahead and grabbed the hammer while I fought that damned ghost for the last time. Tears of... joy were in my eyes as I backed away from its chilling touch. Obtaining the hammer sent a wave of power through the chambers and both the tools and ghost were banished. Hideous laughter and the stench of death surrounded us. We bolted with the hammer as fast as humanly, and halflingly, possible.
One of the stalactites fell upon The One and nearly killed her, piercing through her leg. I suffered a stalactite's acid vomit that would have killed me if I had not ripped off my breastplate. I carried her to the boat and looked back at the caverns. The dwarf chambers were unraveling before me, as if they were but an illusion. Blessed Jim handed me the hammer and I finally felt peace. A clarity of mind and purpose that I had sought for so long. I felt less reliant on the Mad Man's Cap after that. It was the greatest honour I have ever received, even if we all end up dead before we can save the Empire. No, that seems impossible now. A blessed light brought us into Yodri's cave. He was mangled on the ground but still barely alive. He whispered something about being betrayed by the dragon, requested to be brought to his cairn up above, and quietly passed away. The immense sadness of his death lasted until the night, where we became amazed at the last gift he had left for us. The twin tailed comet passed through the sky and the whole mountaintop glowed as brightly as pure moonlight. Stood beside that cairn was a man surrounded by holy light. The avatar of Sigmar himself. I nearly fainted. He told us to seek Wolfenburg and to "Look to the head of the Empire, a burnt land of desolation, the final battlefield where there are beastmen and figures of Chaos, a dragon swoops down and flies over the city of Altdorf, now look to your own actions, the
Skull Splitter freed the way but the Daemon stalks the land, what has been done cannot be undone. Bring it to the Empire to the North."
We shall do just that, mighty foe of Chaos!
Now that I think about it, he looked a lot like... what's his name, the Toddbringer... Heinrich!
- Johann Dasbuut.
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