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Dawn of

the Duke

An Adventure for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay

by Claas Cassens

Foreword

The story of the Red Duke is told in many different ways, with different details, and in some stories the Red

Duke is not the heartless villain, as he is presented in others. But it is always a sad, a tragic story.

Even if the events reported in the following are entwined by the veil of time and were distorted by legends, a

conscientious scholar can reconstruct even today the actual circumstances and separate the facts from the

flowery paraphrases of the traditional chansons and ballads of Bretonnian minnesingers. What follows is

supposed to be the truth...

It was the time of the crusades, while Louis the Righteous ruled as the fifteenth king over Bretonnia, that the hot-

blooded arabians, led by their thrice cursed sultan Darius-i-Quabir, later also called Jaffar, made war upon

Estalia and endangered the freedom of the remaining world.

Under the knights, which opposed the intruders, was also the current Duke of Aquitaine with his following. An

impressive, powerful man, far and broadly known as a capable and skillful swordsman and knight. As the sons of

Bretonnia raised their swords against the unbelievers, he was one of the first, all the time ready to defend

Bretonnias honour.

During the war, which in the end liberated the Estalian Kingdoms and ended the evil dominion Jaffars, he

attained a lot fame. Many songs were composed, which sang of his victorious fights against the warriors of the

sultan. Then disaster struck.

During the siege of Lashiek, shortly after the walls had fallen, the Duke of Aquitaine disappeared traceless and

was seen as lost. For days rumours and speculations about his fate went through the encampment of the

crusaders, until he was finally found, heavily wounded and in delirium, but alive. The faithful followers of the

duke looked after him, and even as he fell into a deep coma, they didn't gave up the hope. They drew back home

instead, through scorching deserts and Orc ambushes. The whole time over they carried their dying sovereign on

a shady stretcher with them.

Finally they reached their home and bedded their lord to the deathbed. Darkness fell over the castle as the fallen

duke succumbed to his fever. His knights mourned for him and swore without a thought, to serve him beyond

death - words, which caused their own doom. They buried the duke under his castle, as it was usual in those

times, and sang a hymn for his soul long into the night.

He rested three days in his vault, and then in the midst of a dark stormy night, he awoke. He had become a

repulsive vampire, depraved from an unknown torture, but nevertheless he was the Duke of Aquitaine, a mighty

feudal lord whom dozens of vassals had sworn allegiance. If he was an arrogant and relentless sovereign in life,

who saw the peasants drudging on his fields solely as cattle, which none the less he cared for like a farmer does;

he was in undeath even crueler and saw in the common people just game, which he hunted and slaughtered for

pleasure like fair game in his forests years ago. He ordered his soldiers to carry off maidens from the many

villages of his dukedom to his castle, which were then never seen again.

His true name wasn't used anymore only shortly afterwards - instead most people called him the Red Duke from

then on, referring thereby to the blood that his actions adhered. Hundreds fled northwards to escape from the

horrors of their home, only to get into slavery or serfdom at other places in Bretonnia. The duke himself

seemingly never left his castle, only during the night he was seen in his carriage leaving the castle but even then

only with drawn windows. Despite all invitations to balls and banquets at the courts of other noble houses, the

duke was never seen on these social events.

Visitors and messengers visiting the dukes court always reported of an unreal sight. The castle guards are clad in

black robes and never show their faces. They move with measured tread and hold their weapons in a strange

rigid way. The castle is a place of darkness without being lit up by any daylight, but the interior is as if

illuminated by pale moonlight. The multiple invitation to the court of the king were also not pursued by him, this

however is valued as disregard of the kings authority in Bretonnia and counts as high treason. Therefore it didn't

last long for a herald of the king to appear at the dukes court and demanding from him to comply to the kings

order, and thus make the accusations against him ineffective. In his arrogance the duke killed all of the heralds

followers and sent the herald, blinded and drained of blood, back to his king.

The king was in rage, how could one of his vassals dare to put his authority in question to such an extent and

refuse a direct order in this way. He commanded one of his faithful vassals, the Duke of Bordeleaux to raise an

army and to send it against the Reds Duke, his former vassal. The objective was to take the duke in custody and

to bring him to the king, nobody knew to this time, that the rebellious duke was in fact a vampire. Duke Blanché

of Bordeleaux planned to occupy the land and possibly to set the castle in a state of siege, and secretly hoped to

be able to annex part of the dukedom Aquitaine to his territory this way.

The Red Duke was aware of the kings power and asked a mighty sorceress, living in a tower in the forest of

Chalons at the foot of the Orcal Massif mountain range, for help. The tower was a very old, decayed ruin, which

lay at a focus point of magical force and had been left by the elves millennia ago. The Red Duke asked the

sorceress Isabeau for an alliance, with the hope to be able to challenge the royal troops with her help. Isabeau

ostensibly agreed. She recognized his megalomania and saw the Red Duke as what he was - an inhuman

monstrosity from the realm of death. Nevertheless Isabeau tried to subject the half-daemon with enchantments to

her will for her own purposes. She realised however, that the duke already had pulled the attention of about half

the kingdom on himself and in so far wasn't such a good subject, let alone ally. Isabeau finally tried to bind the

bloodsucker to her will, and underestimated thereby the magical abilities of the duke, who became aware of

Isabeaus plan and sent his undead servants to her tower in prospect of killing her. He avoided the direct

confrontation with the sorceress, he was arrogant and megalomaniac, but not careless. There were moments

when he was considering to make her his companion, in conclusion however he did not thought her to be worthy

spending the eternity with him.

As the servants of the Red Duke reached the tower, Isabeau was in trance, as she prepared to enslave the duke

with her enchantments. She did not suspect the danger, but awakened just seconds before the undead creatures

reached her tower. Weakened due to the spell preparation, Isabeau fled, only to be torn to pieces a few hundred

meters away from the tower in the forest of Chalons by the dukes dire wolves. As the Red Duke arrived on the

scene she was only barely alive, blood ran from her throat and dozens of other wounds. Her torn up body lay in

an unnatural twisted position and the last thing she perceived in life was the Red Dukes harsh voice: "If you

refuse to serve me in life, you won't in death."

It did not last long for the royal army, led by Duke Blanché to march into the dukedom of Aquitaine. The Red

Duke force marched with his army against them, because he wanted to evade a siege. The peasant levies

marched alongside their master, fighting for him, as they would for any other overlord. These degenerates were

accompanied by ghouls and wights and other darker things. The Duke of Bordeleaux ordered his troops to attack

in the moment as he discerned the abnormal horde and a dreadful battle erupted over the fields of Ceren. Little is

known about this battle, in the end however the Chevaliers d'Honneur broke through the center of the troops

from Aquitaine. The Red Duke was heavily wounded, pierced by dozens of lances and arrows from the royal

army. He fled to his castle, where he was destroyed only shortly afterwards as three pious locals chased him to

his crypt and staked him. Along with him, the fate of his unholy army was sealed, his followers were destroyed,

his castle burned to the ground and salt was scattered over the smashed ruins.

It would have surely been advisable to burn the remains of the Red Duke, as it was demanded by the dukes

clergy. Despite everything this wouldn't be appropriate for a Bretonnian of noble blood, was the opinion of the

nobility. In spite of the recent events, they still saw him as one of their own and didn't wanted to degrade him

with a cremation. In death the Red Duke appeared as during lifetime, like the other noblemen knew him and any

suspicion, he could be a creature of darkness, was instantly disregarded. He was buried in befitting style in a

vault, which was sealed with holy symbols on pressure from the clergy. After that the true name of the duke was

deleted from all records, so that this incident of rebellion has officially never occurred.

However the Red Duke was not dead. His body might be torn up and his will temporarily broken, but he had

made plans for such an occurrence. He had taken care that part of his essence was bedded in a crimson red jewel,

created with the blood of innocents and pure black magic. Long were the years, which he required for the

regeneration of his body, however he finally awoke once more and prepared himself to smash the stony portals

of his vault. However this time the Red Duke was the one left standing. The magic seals held the heavy

flagstones in place and the Red Duke locked in the interior. For years he raged in anger through the vault, which

had become his prison. Whenever he tried to open the flagstones with his supernatural strength, the holy signs

and protective seals burnt into his hands. He cast countless magic, to free himself and used his whole subtlety, to

call upon unholy creatures from the realm of death, which could help him, but nothing could move the seals,

which had been placed on the doors. The protective spells, which held him in place, were much too powerful.

Even though the red jewel preserved his unholy life, his thirst for the blood of mortals increased, until it drove

him into a state of insanity, from which no escape seemed possible. He could do nothing besides calling out his

anger loudly and swearing bloody revenge, until he finally fell into a cataleptic state.

So the centuries passed, and the people gradually forgot the legend of the Red Duke, until one day...

Introduction

The PC's get into the wake of the following events, as they cross the duchy of Aquitaine on their way to

Bordeleaux. Stopover is a village named Mercal. Here is a ferry, which leads over the Morceaux, a river taking

its course from the Massif Orcal through the Aquitanian hill country into the direction of the ocean.

Just as the adventurers have quartered themselves in the local inn, begin the omens of a reascending horror. A

storm starts to whack the region, and the Morceaux breaking its banks forces locals like travellers to remain in

the village, while the mischief takes its course.

A headless herald, who should not exist, is galloping through the village, graves are broken open, and the first

vampire victims announce the renewed arrival of the allegedly centuries ago staked Red Duke. What kind of old

curse are the sinister villagers trying to hide? And what kind of goal pursue the strange guests in the tavern?

What dismal mystery lies in truth upon Mercal?

Dawn of the Duke is sort of an investigative adventure with a sinister brooding atmosphere suited to characters

in their first or second career, but it can in fact be used for characters with any level of experience. The adventure

combines elements of intrigue, conflict and suspense as well as the undead and the supernatureal.

Prologue

After the dukes former mentioned mysterious recovering from his deathbed after the crusades, things changed

drastically from bad to worse. Respectively around the winter and the summer solstice the duke kidnapped a

maiden from the many villages of his dukedom to his castle, which were then never to be seen again. At the

same time many travellers disappeared in the wooded surroundings, and nobody knew to say, whether they had

become victim of the duke or the ever increasing wolf packs.

After only about two years the fourth maiden disappearing was the daughter of the then local bailiff and knight

Pierre d’Arden. The man was full of sorrow, being only hardly able to remain composed. Since the death of his

wife ten years ago, he counted his whole love to this girl. Thus Pierre rode westwards to meet with the royal

army being in encampment at the dukedoms border and made a deal with Duke Blanché. Pierre led the army

through his homeland straight into the direction of castle Chantrau, but met with the Red Dukes horde. The story

of this battle is told elsewhere. However in the end the Red Duke fled heavily wounded from the field of battle to

his castle, only to be chased by Pierre and two companions, the Morr priestess Emanuel and the young knight

errant Henri.

So the fate then took its course. With the courage of despair the three ventured at dawn into the castle following

the trail of the duke and surprised his three first feminine victims, all of them vampires lying in dark oak-coffins.

All three had a golden key around their necks, their meaning was learned only shortly afterwards. The Red Duke

itself lay in a vault, which was to be reached only through a magic door with three locks. Owning all three keys

was the only possibility of advancing to the duke itself. The three also took this obstacle and surprised the duke

in his stony sarcophagus and rammed Pierre’s enchanted blade into the chest of the vampire.

The reaction was indescribable. The wounded duke howled in agony, and it appeared as if the dying duke

wanted to take his tormentors with him into the grave. Fires flared up at all places of the castle, stones broke

from the masonry, however the three managed to leave the place of mischief behind. Solely a ruin was remaining

on the next day where the castle had been. Nevertheless it wasn’t a delightful victory. The bailiff had found his

daughter lying beside the duke and had taken her along, however two unmistakable bite-marks on her throat

thereupon pointed to the fact, that his daughter had irretrievably become a vampire. A cruel staking of his own

daughter was out of question for the father, and so they agreed onto another solution. Still at the same evening

the girl was buried on the local cemetery. Around her neck is a strong amulet of banishment from Emanuel since

this time. Until today it prevented her awakening from the unholy sleep .

It is said the time heals all wounds. Each of the three took one of the keys. In part as memory of these ghastly

episode in their life and in part to prevent others from finding the entrance to the Red Dukes remnants. Henri

moved a year later into a neighbouring village on the other side of the river Morceaux and became the local

knight bailiff, he had a peaceful life and was buried 40 years later. Along into his grave was put a strange golden

key, which he had wore his whole life. Emanuel moved to Luccini in Tilea four years later as she became an

appointment at the great Morr cathedral there and wasn’t seen anymore from then on. Only Pierre remained

faithful to his home. He remained for twenty years as the bailiff and then died too. On his deathbed he gave the

key to his grandson, who in turn did the same on his death and so the key went down through many generation.

Today it is in the possession of Pierre’s great-great-great-...-great-granddaughter Latitia, who is 90 years old.

However the adventurers will find that out later.

The dukedom Aquitaine, which had been ruled by the Red Duke was since this time without a direct sovereign.

No nobleman dared to challenge Duke Blanché as he annexed the former dukedom to his domain, thus it was

controlled and inherited by the Lord of Gascogne reigning from his palace in Bordeleaux since.

Once each year they pay their tax to the lord, who didn’t care himself much about this particular part of his

realm, as it was quite poor to this time.

Since the death of the bloodthirsty vampire centuries ago, only few remember the old mythos and even fewer

believe it to be true. But anyway the legend describes, that the Red Duke had threatened his three opponents

revenge for their deed. At some time or other so the account, he will be resurrected; his arrival will be announced

by his headless herald and initiate an era of fear. Nobody could foresee, that this prophecy would start to begin

already so soon ...

The whole scenario begins about a year before the appearance of the PC’s. On a walk in southern Aquitaine the

young Necromancer Renar made the acquaintance of the ageing Morr priest from Mercal, who was on his yearly

pilgrimage to the Bordeleaux temple. Because the Necromancer had his destination in the same direction he

pretended to be a pilgrim himself and joined the priest.

On the way both were exchanging stories, and as Renar heard the legend of the Red Duke, his interest in Mercal

suddenly awoke. Since his youth he dreamt to find one day a way to immortality. As he had won a deep insight

in the world of darkness due to his obscure studies, the thought did not frighten him to reach this goal through

lycantrophy or vampirism. On the contrary - the thought fascinated him more and more. He was given more

information by the priest about, where Mercal was to be found, and promised with false kindness, that he would

visit him once. Then the ways of these unequal persons separated. Renar made inquiries and saw the reports of

the priest confirmed. The Red Duke apparently seem to have been a mighty vampire indeed. The Necromancer

concluded to revive the myth - and that in the truest sense of the word. Renars goal: To reach immortally through

the bite of the Red Duke!

A couple of weeks later he travelled unrecognised to Mercal and waited for a favourable point in time, to start

his sinister plan. Since he knew from the priest, that in the Morr temple were some documents about the vampire

and its castle to be found, he summoned a small invisible imp, which he sent into the temple. There a fair was

conducted in honour of the God. In the moment, when the old priest admonished his congregation, to remain

pious and virtuous, so that Morr do not admit an adversity like that of the Red Duke once more, the fragile old

one received a push from behind, and the priest fell, to the horror of the persons present, down the steps to the

pulpit and broke his neck.

The PC’s will certainly meet one or the other villager describing this mysterious occurrence. The inhabitants sent

a report to Bordeleaux at the next opportunity and asked therein for a new priest for their village. Exact this was

Renars plan however. The young priests, who was sent some weeks later to Mercal, never arrived there. Renar

ambushed him and took over his role.

About four months ago he arrived in Mercal and mimes the dutiful Morr priest. In truth he searches through the

notes in the temple since this time, as he had to ascertain in the past, that the access to the castle and especially to

the burial chamber of the Red Dukes is restricted with a couple of obstacles A month ago he had found a

reference to a hidden secret entrance to the grave chamber. A passageway making it possible, to enter the vault

from a well camouflaged lead-in in the forest.

It’s a day before the arrival of the PC’s in the village, when the false priest at full Mannslieb begins with the

resurrection ceremony in the castle vault. From now on he requires the blood of three maidens, which must be

added to the dust of the vampire in the rhythm of 24 hours, beginning with the first night after the uncanny

invocation of dark forces. Then the conjurer has reached his goal. Then Duke re-awakens to unholy life. The

PC’s therefore have - the evening of their arrival not calculated - a period of two days and nights, to thwart the

sinister plan of the false priest.

At the same time one of the strange guests of the only local tavern, has plans of a similar kind. The

inconspicuous adventurer Gerard. His mystery: He is a relative of the long ago emigrated Emanuel, one of the

three, who once have destroyed the duke. Indeed Gerard is of completely different character then his long dead

relative. He earns his money through grave robbery. Since he heard at the deathbed of his old grandfather of the

vampire story, his thoughts incessantly circle around the treasures, which could still be hidden in the castle.

Emanuel bequeathed his granddaughter the golden key, which she had in his care. In property of this heirloom

Gerard set out to Aquitaine, to get the other keys. Two days before arrival of the PC’s in Mercal, he broke open

the grave of Henri in the neighbouring village on the other side of the Morceaux. So he also gained the second

of three keys. He hopes to get the third one in a similar way. Then nothing would stand in the way to the

expected treasure …

The Arrival

It is late afternoon. The PC’s are on a small path through the forest, which should lead, according to the

information of a helpful peasant, directly to Mercal. They want to reach the village-ferry, which should transport

them over the Morceaux. To their regret a cold wind is roaring over the treetops for quite some time now, so that

one or the other of them is tightening the coat against the chill. As the companions finally after two hours of

difficult walking reach an elevation, one of them notices the ruin of a castle on a hill in the distance. Mercal can’t

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