Warhammer Quest - Duellist

Warhammer Quest
Duellist

Introduction
Midnight exactly. Vespero stepped out of the shade of the old belltower and entered the moonlit square. Tonight was for fun rather than honor with nothing at stake but an old map, but that didn't mean he left his punctuality at home, nor his swordsman-skills. He had met Geraldino at the local market when an old merchant was trying to sell him a bit of paper he claimed to hold the key to the mystery of Belisario's Chapel. He didn't believe the old tramp for a penny and was about to offer him half a ducat if only the man would leave off of him when Geraldino entered the scene and showed an eager interest in the old man's paperwork. Now to be bothered by a tramp was one thing, but to let Geraldino have his way without some trouble... the temptation proved just to much for his adventurous soul. And all of a sudden Vespero acted out an immense interest in the old chart offering one ducat above every bid Geraldino came up with. And so, before ten minutes had past, the merchant left the market praising this beautiful day and his overflowing wallet, and had Vespero and Geraldino made their appointment to let the naked steel decide who would leave the town owning the small, hardly readable map......

This warrior was inspired by the miniature "Vespero" of the Dogs of War regiment "Vespero's Vendetta's.
Whether for folly or for life's sake, taking an opponent on "man to man" is the only timepassing valued by The Duellist. Deep inside he believes this is what men are born for: to take on every challenge, to run the gauntlet of life for better or for worse; never to turn your back on any other living thing, never let anything dishonorable stain your name, and always suck the marrow out of live.. as long as it lasts.
The Duellist Stats
Title : novice
Wounds : 1D6+6
Move : 4
Weapon Skill : 3
Ballistic Skill : 4 +
Strength : 3
Toughness : 3 (4)
Initiative : 5
Attacks : 1 (special)

Equipment : Death Mask, causing fear 4+;
Weapon : Duelling Sword, causing 1D6+3 damage; Left handed Dagger causing D6 + 2 damage
Armor : Cloak resulting in +1 toughness
Pinning : Special

Special Rules
Left handed Dagger
The additional dagger helps The Duellist to get the better of his opponent. Whenever he succeeds to parry his enemies attack with his sword, (e.g. the to-hit roll of the monster is short by 1, worse rolls are considered to "slice up the air" ) The Duellist has a chance to retalliate using his Left handed Dagger. The dagger suffers a -1 strength modifier because The Duellist has to use part of his strength to keep hold of his blocking Duelling Sword. Note that this attack thus takes place during the monster phase! The Left handed Dagger cannot be used simultaneously with a shield or a two-handed weapon.

The one-on-one rule
The Duellist is a man of honor. The rule of one-on-one is as inherent to his character as is his flair and his fighting spirit. The Duellist prefers to fight an enemy on his own.
He will not attack a monster already in combat with another warrior unless his companions are in danger and ask him to help them. In that case he will join the fight reluctantly, and will not take any gold found on the body in case he kills the monster. Instead half the gold value is noted on his account as blood-money and can only be used to go up battle levels. (e.g. "in combat" means here: already attacked by the warrior. When one of his fellow adventurers is under attack of more then one monster, The Duellist may interfere freely to restore the balance)
Neither will he ask his companions to help him in battle. If they do enter the duel and kill the direct opponent of The Duellist they gain only half the gold value of the monster. (Again, when the Duellist is confronted by more then one opponent, his collegues may help him out by attacking any monsters not yet attacked by The Duellist without gold-penalty)

Missile Weapons.
The Duellist will not use missile weapons with one exception: to fight a missile duel. In that case he singles out a target that also carries, and can use, a missile weapon. The two opponents fire both at the same time (the monster therefor takes its turn in the warrior phase! ) and the damage is calculated simultaneously.
Pinning
In addition to the rules mentioned above, The Duellist will never quit a duel (e.g. a one-on-one fight). He cannot escape from pinning in that situation, neither does he want to. Only when the fight is disturbed by other warriors or monsters he can use his agility to step back and engage another, more worthy battle to fight. In this case The Duellist needs a 3+ to escape from his multi-fighter battle.

Settlements

The Secret Garden
No townmap in the empire shows it, yet every substantial place has one: the favorite hang-out of young men The Secret Garden. Here both friends- an enemies-for-live meet to discuss townlife, exchange gifts or insults, practice useful yet deadly skills and, every now and then, risk anything they have in a duel over a women, a piece of treasure, a grumbled curse or over nothing at all.

To enter here The Duellist must spend 50 gold worth of gifts to persuade some local daredevil to introduce him. Once on the grounds many opportunities come up. Once during the visit to a town or city The Duellist may enter The Secret Garden (If he can find this Special Location) and roll a D6 on the following table:

-1 A duel planned to take place that night is canceled: one of the challengers fled town. One of the seconds already prepared some silk bandages for his master. He has no need of them anymore and offers them to The Duellist. You gladly accept 1D6 silk bandages, each restoring two wounds. They are delicate but weak and only last for one adventure.
-2 There is a champion duellist on the grounds and he accepts your invitation for some friendly duels. On the way you learn some new tricks from him. You may add +1 to any one characteristic for any one turn during the next adventure.
-3 There is a hero duellist on the grounds and he accepts your invitation for some friendly duels. On the way you learn some new tricks from him. You may add +1 to any two characteristics for any one turn during the next adventure.
-4 There is a lord duellist on the grounds and he accepts your invitation for some friendly duels. On the way you learn some new tricks from him. You may add +1 to any three characteristics for any one turn during the next adventure.
-5 Lucky you! Just this night the celebrate the founder of the town. When you leave the garden the next morning, you are just awake enough to take with you some of the left-overs: D3 bottles of fine liquor. every bottle restores D6 wounds when drunk, but also results in a -2 modifier on both weapon skill and initiative
-6 Why sleep in an old Inn and pay for your living-expenses when there is a beautiful young lady to court? She is clearly impressed by your flair and fighting skills and invites you to be a guest in her fathers house. Her father.... the local preacher. You don't have to pay any living-expenses from this moment on, and do not have to roll on the settlement-events table as you spend all evenings at her home playing scrabble with her six younger brothers and sisters. Her father gives you his blessings as you leave, and once during the next adventure a blow that otherwise would have killed you is mystically deflected.
But gee was she pretty!

Uneventful days
Whenever an uneventful day is rolled The Duellist gets bored and therefor has a high risk to run into trouble. He must roll a D6, and on a 5+ treat the uneventfull day as if the event DUEL was rolled. Yet, whenever the DUEL event is generated this way, change the entry in the result table for a "1" into:
-1 Your opponent is clearly one-up on you. After e few minutes he thrusts his sword into your body and leaves you for dead on the street. Luckily the stab didn't hit any fatal organs, and you recover form this wound one scar richer, but permanently one Starting Wound poorer.

Training
To go up in battle levels The Duellist must spend some more serious efforts than just play around in The Secret Garden. He has to hire a professional Teacher, and spend a week at his place to gain enough progress. Below you'll find the Advanced Battle Level Table for The Duellist, and a list with the skills available to him. Most of this skills are taken from other warriors and are therefor not explained.

Advanced Battle Level Table for The Duellist.

Level	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Title	Champion	Champion	Champion	Hero	Hero	Hero	Hero	Lord	Lord
Wounds	2D6+6	2D6+6	3D6+6	3D6+6	4D6+6	4D6+6	5D6+6	5D6+6	6D6+6
Weapon Skill	3	4	4	5	5	5	6	6	6
Ballistic Skill	4+	4+	4+	3+	3+	3+	2+	2+	2+
Strength/Dice	3/1	3/1	4/1	4/2	4/2	4/2	4/2	5/3	5/3
Toughness	3	3	3	4	4	4	4	4	4
Initiative	5	5	6	6	7	7	7	8	8
Attacks(special)	1(s)	2(s)	2(s)	2(s)	3(s)	3(s)	3(s)	4(s)	4(s)
Skills	1	2	2	3	3	3	4	4	4
Luck	1	2	2	3	3	3	3	4	4
Willpower	3	4	4	4	5	5	5	6	6
Pinning(special)	3+	3+	3+	3+	2+	2+	2+	2+	2+

Skills
To find out what skill The Duellist has learned during his trainingtime roll 2D6 on the following table.
-2 Reaction strike (barbarian)
-3 Killing blow (dwarf)
-4 Endure (dwarf)
-5 Evade (elf)
-6 Parry (elf)
-7 Leap (elf)
-8 Dodge (elf)
-9 Blademaster (wardancer)
-10 Deathdealer (wardancer)
-11 Dirty blow (witchhunter)
-12 Trading flair (see below)

Trading Flair: With his usual flair and smooth talking The Duellist is an expert in bargaining with the local tradesmen. He frequently manages to cut the process down, and they are always prepared to take an extra look in their storage room to see whether a certain item is available or not. The Duellist can reroll any in-stock roll once when it comes up short. Also, on a roll of 5+ he gets a 20% discount on anything he buys.

Swords flickered in the light of torches and fireballs. Shrieks, cries, deafening roaring and the hollow laughter of a chaos sorcerer. The map he so easily won from Geraldino was correct in its geographical instructions, but lacked one precious piece of information: the fact that Belisario's Chapel wasn't deserted anymore! Vespero blocked the attack of the Bloodletter by catching the hell-blade with his left handed dagger, and with a fast counter-attack drove his sword in the belly of the foul creature. He stepped back for a moment to watch the scene of the battle. Krug was busy trying to keep two other deamons at bay and seemed to manage pretty well. Calculus featured one of his rare brain-waves and strove with the evil sorcerer for control over the Winds of Magic. Suddenly a load cursing attracted his attention. A Chaos Champion entered the hall from one of the dark tunnels. Vespero rejoiced, finally some fun! "He you, louse of Khorne! Come over so I can rid the world of your existence! " , and with his cloak flying behind him he jumped forward, both blades ready for slaughter.