Warhammer Quest

Vampire's Eye

by Chris Bradley


This quest picks off exactly where the redemption of Randon Keeg left us, where the warriors had just allowed their Liche companion to pass into death. Unknown to them, the throne room where their companion passwed away was built around the crypt of a long dead mercenary named Derl Xian. Derl was a ruthless killer who used to torment those he was hired to kill before tearing their throats out. When it came to be his time to die, the Dread King made a pact with him that he would go on living as long as he would serve Van Damneg. Derl Xian, being the murderer of Keeg, is not about to allow him to get off that easily. Prey is stilll prey, and Xian, even in death, delights in the torture of his quarry. Stirred from his dormancy by the released life force of Randon Keeg, Xian takes the realeased soul of Keeg and traps it in a gem known as the Vampire's Eye. Derl is taking this gem to the gateway to Hell, deep within the caverns of the dead, upon which his tomb is built.

 

This quest begins in the Dread King's throne room, where a door is placed connecting the throne room with the tomb chamber (place the door at the back of the room where a door probably shouldn't be). The tomb chamber was Derl's resting place, and contains Derl's pets: 12 giant bats, 2D6 giant rats, and 2D6 tomb gaurdians. If the Luther card (or another pre-determined card) is drawn at any time from the event deck, the warriors have caught up with Derl!. He can perform one vampire attack before vanishing into the shadows, in much the same manner as Luthor. On a roll of one after the Vampire's appearance, the Warriors manage to keep him in sight, and he fiths on as normal. On any other rolll he flees, returning, like Luthor, when the next event is sprung. Derl Xian uses the "Turn to Smoke" vampire ability to escape. When he is reduced to zero wounds before the objective room, he turns into a cloud of foul smelling smoke and drifts away. The warrios gain gold for killing him as normal. Only in the Firechasm can he not use this ability, the hellish powers sucking him in when he is defeated.

If any of the warriors are reduced to zero wounds in the same room as Derl, then they are in trouble. There is a chance the Derl will consume their living spirits as they fall defenseless to the ground. As soon as a warrior is reduced to zero wounds, before he does anything else he must take a Catacombs of Terror counter (or devise another approach using a D6 roll or something). Whatever that number is, the warrior must lose 1D6 times that many permanent wounds. If the warrior draws the skull counter, Derl Xian totaly consumes their life force and they may not be healed in any manner. Luck, etc. may be used to re-roll the D6 permanent wounds but not the initial counter draw.

While in the objective room if Derl spends any single turn when he is not attacked in any way (Magic, missile, or melee) he hurls the Vampire's Eye into the flames and Keeg is lost forever. If not, then the warriors may retrieve the gem upon the instance of Derls death. Each warrior recieves 1 objective room treasure card for this adventure.