Captain's Log: Still Kaldezeit I hope... 2514.
Had to get past Nuln as quickly as possible. The Comet makes fine speed as a vessel but by Sigmar the threat of impending civil war was all too real! We tried to not speak of such things on the boat, of course. I know I would keep the subject at the other end of a barge pole as much as possible. To the Mootland was our dear vessel headed, way down the River Aver. I've been trying to think of our journey as less of delaying looming doom and more of a kind of high speed delivery of, hrm, wine. The sort of wine that slays the wicked and then takes the, erm, holy bottle? I'm sorry I can't think of wittier comparisons. Gets hard when there's little proper sleep to be had. There are enchantments to keep the boat steady but none to soothe my harried mind, I'm afraid. The story we've been giving so far is that we are delivering The One to a place where she can perform all sorts of witchery. It's really good because when people sling questions you can just shake your head and say "Ooh I wouldn't dare ask about such things!".
We had slow rain and drizzle when we were setting sail from Kemperbad. Might as well tell you a bit about the crew since this part of the story isn't that interesting yet. I wish it would stay boring but then it wouldn't be worth telling! Adolph Rinner is our captain and a strong fellow. Doesn't look it, to be honest. He looks more like a sort of long haired child of druids. Like those tree people we once spoke to. Good folk but I'm not sure if I'd live with their odd customs. Then again, who in Sigmar's name am I to speak? I'm already both a knight of Ulric and Sigmar... might as well be a knight of bark while I'm around! He worships Mananan... Manannan... The Sea God. He also follows Sigmar but doesn't let that stop the muttered prayers and oaths he swears to The Sea God. Might become a knight of that one too. Sounds mighty useful on sea or river! Knight of the hammer, wolf, bark, fish...
Bruno, Olaf, Werner (not the Sir Marine Captain one) and Klaus were the rest of the crew. Olaf can be loose with his words, as we discovered later, and Klaus was always forced to stay on board because of his drinking problem. It's a terrible curse. Got to try my hardest to resist the stuff. They were an excellent crew nonetheless. I volunteered to work on the boat alongside them. Can't shake off old habits that easily! Idle hands, and so on. We ended up mooring near Castle Wittgenstein... what's left of it anyway. I don't have to tell you how much of a ruin it is. Digging through the remnants to find that blade and journal was a good day's work, I can assure you! We eventually ended up where we found the Devil May Care. That was the greatest boat I've ever had the honour of working on. I know that it was rebuilt, but by the hammer it's not the same!
One night we were all resting below deck. Blessed Jim had elected to keep watch above. He stood attentively with his bow, ready to launch arrows into any mutants or bandits that dare approach. Suddenly, arrows aflame were planted into the ship from the portside. If it were not for his sharp senses and speed Blessed Jim would have been struck by that vicious volley! The Ranger Captain quickly attended to the spreading flames and called for aid. Crew members quickly went for the buckets. I rushed up above and slid into cover, sword and shield in hand. I could not get my armour on quickly enough so that's all I could bring to battle. I looked over to Blessed Jim, keeping my head below those arrows, and saw a hideous blast of pink fire! This unnatural pink fire engulfed our battle-brother and caused him to collapse. I realized at that moment that he would not be only one to suffer a tragedy. A wicked arrow bit deeply into my shield arm and the blood flowed giddily from that accursed wound. Twice in recent memory had such a thing occurred. Damned be the dark gods!
My last memories of that ambush were seeing The One fly into the night sky, Werner rushing off the boat with Death Dealer drawn, and the screams of those bastards on the shore. He later told me that they were cultists of Chaos. He discovered this through inspecting the tattoos on their bodies. A vile wizard and a lunatic with blunderbusses and bombs. The rest had fled after their leaders were killed. Blessed Jim and I were placed in two cabins near to each other. I let the crew know of the sorrow of my wound, even though the man nearby had suffered all sorts of daemonic flames. Well, I mean, that arrow bloody hurt! Eventually reached Grissenwold after passing some glum barges. The usual sort of thing. The dwarf town had become completely deserted and the locals were very pleased. The local ruler had moved to Altdorf and people kept reporting having twin marks on their hands. I was going to mention The One's curious hand markings until I realized that a fair few witch hunters were around. I didn't want to delay the crew by drawing their attention. Their righteousness is needed where true evil lurks.
Sir Marine Captain Werner did a bit of investigating into the cults. He did all the hand signals and even shared drinks with one of the heretics a few tables away from us. Got on very well with that Chaos follower, actually... which proves just how good of an actor he is! We heard of vampires down by the docks, orgy cults, you know the rest. Grissenwold actually struck me as quite detached from the civil unrest. Almost too happy about it, if you ask me. Werner met up with us later and told us everything he knew. The Purple Hand had broken into several smaller cults. This included The Twisted Serpent, the scum that attacked our vessel, The Red Crown, and The Real Purple Hand. Departed from Grissenwold and soon arrived in Nuln. It was miserable and felt like the rain was constant... no, let me try to say all the nice things I can about the city. To be fair about it.
Nuln
...
So we stayed there for the day and kept our nose out of trouble. We made a note not to speak to the Oldenhaller family at all during our brief stay. Olaf spoke loudly about us to a couple dressed like witch hunters. You know, with the hats and pure clothing. They pointed to us several times as if we were odd animals to them. I was too busy working on the boat to confront them about it. After they left, we asked Olaf who they were. Old friends named Krumbach. A very stern looking couple that seemed ready to strike out at any little annoyance. They came back the next day, just as we were leaving. They brought a crowd too! Accused us of impurity in the eyes of Sigmar, or something like that. Said we were scoundrels for using The Comet without Arch-lector Kaslain on board. I had no hope of convincing them. They were too much in a frenzy and screaming for justice to be brought upon us. Just then, a small voice spoke up. She spoke of being saved by us when she was held hostage by... goblins? I looked over the portside to see Dumpling, the halfling cook from Grissenwold! The crowd tried to gang up on her so she fled towards our boat. Dumpling asked to be let on board but I had already extended my hand in welcome.
It's nice to have an old friend, and a great cook, suddenly join your crew!
- Johann Dasbuut.
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