The Cursed Cavalcade
Grade: 1c
Source: Tuomas Pirinen (PDF)
Setting: Mordheim
Author: Tuomas Pirinen
Lore
The Doom of Mordheim
As the Imperial Calendar approached year 2000, a terrible civil war tore the realm of Sigmar as never before. The three claimants for the imperial throne vied for power and influence in order to claim the crown of the Emperors for themselves as the land of Sigmar suffered.
But in the ancient palace of Mordheim, count Steinhardt, the Elector of Ostermark, had slowly come to realize that despite his own noble lineage and the Runefang he proudly wielded, and the greatness of his provincial capital Mordheim, he nor his heirs would ever sit on the throne of Sigmar. He had sought a blessing from the Grand Theogonist to lay claim to the throne. But the High Priest of Sigmar had turned him away dismissively: the crown would go to Reikland as far as the leader of the Church of Sigmar was concerned. No little rural province would ever gain it. Regardless of the wealth and splendor of Mordheim, the count could not raise an army to match even the smallest forces of Middenheim or Marienburg. Dark mood overtook the ruler of Ostermark, once judged to be the best and noblest of all the Electors of the Empire.
As time passed neither song or wine nor exotic drugs from far-off lands of Araby could lift Stenhardt’s mood any longer. From melancholy he slowly descended into hate and from hate into torpor from which he rarely stirred. Soon his court fell into disrepute as he no longer tolerated anyone but flatterers and toadies in his presence. Elves of the Forest of Shadows, long-time allies of Ostermark, no longer visited his court. Since time immemorial the High Matriarch of Sigmar’s Rock had been the confessor and the closest advisor of the Elector Count of Ostermark. Now the count started to ignore the wise words of High Matriarch Cassandra, despite her well-earned reputation of prophetic powers. The revered blind Matriarch, an Augur since her youth, remained loyal to the count and Ostermark, but Steinhardt set her aside in his court, relegating her to purely ceremonial duties.
Years passed and Ostermark’s affairs were neglected and fell into ruin and decay. But then one night a man wearing a cloak red as blood, his face hidden by a hood, appeared at the Mordheim palace gates, requesting an audience with the count in order to lift him from his malaise. The protestations of the High Matriarch Cassandra of the Sigmar’s Rock fell on deaf ears when she demanded the Man in Red to remove his hood. For to surprise of many, the count did not turn the man away as he had done to all the priests, sages and doctors that had come before, but invited him to his private chambers instead, and dismissed his bodyguards. There the Man in Red produced a sliver flute from his robes and played a haunting, otherworldly tune for the count for what seemed like an eternity. Somehow, it roused the Elector from his torpor, and he returned to his duties as the ruler of the Province invigorated but changed.
From that day on, Ostermark had a new power that stood behind the throne. The Man in Red whispered into Count’s ear of a great power that could be achieved, enough might to humble the arrogant rulers of Reikland, Middenheim and Marienburg. Power aplenty to ascend to the throne of the Empire itself. With proper rites and incantations, a shard of the dark moon Morrslieb could be coerced into descend down to earth, and with it would come wondrous holy power to bend any man to the will of the one who summoned the comet. Beguiled by the soft voice of his new advisor and the mystical sound of the silver flute, the Count set the plan in motion. As instructed by the Man in Red, the count built vast goals deep beneath his palace, and a black slab to stand in the middle of the greatest catacomb opposite of his throne, their intended purpose unknown to the stonemasons who labored under the instructions of the Man in Red. The count commissioned great many masks, ostensibly for his private masked balls, but they were made of metal and forged to withstand any heat or cut of a sword. He gathered a great store of weapons to the catacombs, and one by one he introduced the most ruthless and ambitious of his nobles into his inner circle to carry out the rites required by the Man in Red.
Soon after street urchins of Mordheim begun to disappear from the back alleys during dark of the night. Citizens whispered of groups of richly-dressed masked men prowling the streets. The servants of the Elector Count gossiped how their master would gather his most loyal nobles into secret meetings deep beneath the palace. Muffled cries could be heard coming from beneath the ground on the nights when the dark moon Morrslieb was full. But such rumors were soon culled as the servants of the palace either disappeared, or started to wear red cloaks and hoods, marking them as loyal to the Man in Red.
Then one night the prophetic powers of Cassandra woke her from her bed in the Count’s palace where she had been tending to the spiritual needs of the few remaining inhabitants of the palace who still prayed to Sigmar. She had seen a true vision, and knew that all those nobles who still followed the patron god of the Empire now lay dead, assassinated in their beds, and that she was to be the final victim, tied to a stone slab in the catacombs deep beneath the count’s palace. She escaped through the night with the masked killers of the count in hot pursuit. She only barely made it to Sigmar’s Rock with the poisoned bolt lodged in her back. With her dying breath she summoned sister Bertha Bestraufung, and made her the new High Matriarch and the abbedissa of Sigmar’s Rock. From her robes Cassandra revealed a blade she had taken as she fled from the palace: She entrusted Bertha with the Runefang, one of the twelve blades of Sigmar (for the count no longer could stand to touch it), and told the new High Matriarch of the vision she had seen in his sleep of the coming destruction of Mordheim before she perished. So under the orders of the newly appointed abbedissa, the great gates of Sigmar’s Rock were closed and barred. Despite the demands of the servant’s count who accused the Sisters of stealing the holy Runefang, the impenetrable gates remained locked, as the Sisters set themselves apart from the corruption that spread throughout Mordheim as the common people started to imitate the unhealthy lifestyles of their rulers. Vice of every kind took root in Mordheim, and soon the city descended into state of unnatural, vicious frenzy.
Within weeks the situation took a turn to worse when the twin-tailed comet appeared in the night sky high above Mordheim. As the tale of this wondrous sign spread throughout the Empire, the population of city swells as people came from far and wide to witness the miracle of the twin-tailed comet. The great ritual of the Man in Red was to be soon completed, and the pace of disappearance of people from the streets of Mordheim increased.
Then came the fateful night when the comet fell upon the city. After ascending to the balcony of his highest tower as the Man in Red had suggested, Count Steinhardt realized his folly at last –but it was all too late: instead of power to rule the world, the comet had come to bring the wrath of Sigmar on Earth. The count and almost all of the people of his city perished screaming in flames, as the fiery comet plummeted down to earth with unimaginable power and shattered into millions of pieces.
And yet all did not go to the plan of the Man in Red. Thanks to the ceaseless prayers of the Sisters of Sigmar, a handful of men and women survived the coming of the comet. Thus the Great Sacrifice had not been completed: Instead of staying whole as the Man in Red had intended, the meteor shattered into untold number of pieces, and the dark shadow riding on the comet across the gulf of space that the Augurs of the Sisterhood had seen in their dreams was now trapped inside the crater left by the comet: without nourishing magic crystals the entity that was powerless to travel across the land of men.
So in the catacombs below count’s palace, the corrupt nobles and their servants gathered around the empty throne, where Man in Red sat, smoldering in rage, for his plan had failed: he had hoped to control the entity and the power of comet. Instead, the man across the Empire he had planned to use as his invincible army lay dead: the magical comet was shattered, the creature of great power he had planned to command was unshackled, and had begun to draw servants of his own. No doubt the great powers across the Old World would soon gather here to vie for the shards of the wyrdstone.
Then the Man in Red grasped his flute and played a harrowing, terrible tune, his sibilant voice bending the great men of Mordheim and their entourage to his will. If the comet’s shards could be collected, the nobles of Mordheim could still grasp victory from the jaws of defeat and utter ruin. With enough magical stones the Man in Red could still command the fell creature that came with the comet and lead the nobles in the conquest of the Empire. Caught between the sorcerous tune of the flute and the reality that they could never again escape the attention of the Witch Hunters, the nobles donned their masks and gathered their few remaining corrupt servants, armed themselves and headed out to the ruins in small groups.
So now from underneath the catacombs the masked bands of nobles venture out, under the bidding of the magical flute of the Man in Red which can be heard eerily playing in the air where-ever they appear. They hunt the dark ruined streets of Mordheim, killing all those in their path, and tirelessly collect the shards of magical stone, taking it back to the vast underground throne room where the Man in Red sits on the throne of the count of Ostermark, as the wyrdstone shard plies grow around him, glowing sickly in the darkness.
The Cavalcade
The Warbands that have traveled deep into the twisted heart of Mordheim tell tales of foes that are unlike any other in the City of the Damned. The hushed whispers of those who have lived to tell the tale (and even then often only induced by a stout drink) talk of groups of masked men emerging from the polluted mists of Mordheim: silent, terrible men whose appearance is heralded first by a distant music and laughter, as if a party of the damned was being held near- by. They attack any and all intruders to Mordheim without warning or parley, without asking or giving quarter.
These warbands have earned many nicknames in the settlements around Mordheim: They are called "Masks" and "Faceless" and yet it is their unnerving way of moving and fighting that has led men to call them the Cavalcade.
These masked warbands are somehow beautiful yet eerie sight: they appear to be dressed in bloodstained and tattered finery of the richest nobles of Empire, and many say their decayed garments carry the coat of arms of the house of Ostmark and the personal heraldic device of Elector Count Reinhardt of Mordheim who was taught to have perished in the cataclysm. To hide their visage, they wear incredibly elaborate masks of porcelain, gold and silver, adorned with great headdresses. It is as if they’ve come to a masked ball instead of battle, for these are clothes associated with the depraved revelries and festivals of them that the nobility of Mordheim indulged in the final days before the city perished. Those who have gazed at the eyes of the masked warriors tell that no eyes have looked back at them. Instead, they have seen only darkness. But despite their finery, the weapons and armour of the Cavalcade are of first order, as if looted from the palace of the Count himself and from the surrounding villas of the nobles families.
In stark contrast of the decayed opulence of these men and women are their companions: for with the Cavalcade fights a multitude of exotic animals: great cats from the far-off lands of Araby, enormous snarling bears whose movements seem to mimic ponderous steps of a dance, fierce falcons and other birds of prey that hunt from the skies, wild boars with tusks glided with gold, and even great black apes with white teeth red tongues with strength and speed unmatched by humans. Many beasts are said to bear the brand of the famed menagerie of Ostmark, for the Count Steinhardt was said to have been fond of matching a man against a beast for the cruel amusement of his highborn guests. Be as it may, both the men and beasts of Cavalcade fall upon the intruders with unreasoning cold fury, yet working in concert as if they could read each other’s minds. And as the Cavalcade engages in battle, all around them the haunting tune of distant revelries grows ever louder as the Warband battles their enemies.
Mercenaries describe how it din makes them lose their concentration, as if they were fighting in a thick fog. Witch Hunters curse the sound as sorcery, as it seems to hold an irresistible lure to even their most faithful War Hounds. All agree that the longer the engagement lasts, the worse toll the sound takes from the enemies of the Cavalcade.
None can say what truth lies behind the masks as the Cavalcade spares no effort to recover the bodies of their fallen warriors, and even when they have to abandon the field, a multitude of beasts of Mordheim swiftly emerge from shadows to consume those of the Cavalcade that have fallen, taking the secrets of these men into abyss with, as if the city itself had swallowed them. But what the men who face the Cavalcade fear the most is that instead of giving their defeated opponents the swift mercy of death, the masked warriors always drag their unconscious and wounded enemies with them to the inner city. Most are lost forever, while one or two have returned, their faces twisted into permanent grimace that is neither horror nor joy, their mind lost to them, their lives ruined as they claw their own flesh until their skin lies in tatters.
And even worse, now and then men swear that they’ve recognized a tabard or shield emblem or recalled a familiar gait in one of the masked men they battle when they’ve had the misfortune to run into the Cavalcade in the dark heart of Mordheim.
Special rules
Foolish Nobleness: Even if all non-animal member of the warband are Human, the distorted and perverted power of the dark gods bent the morale and psyche of these men beyond any imaginable level, even for the most tolerant of mercenary. For this reason, the Cursed Cavalcade is treated as an Evil warband, and, similarly to the Cult of the Possessed, for all game effects purpose (such as, for example, for the effect 333 - Prisoners, on the exploration chart). They cannot hire any Hired Sword or Dramatis Personae, other than the Crow Master and anyone that specifically says otherwise.
Capture!: If a Hero takes Out of Action an enemy human Henchmen model with a Misericordia, and you have less than 5 Captured Thrall in you warband, roll a die: on a 5+ the model is captured. Enemy Heroes can only be Captured as a result of a roll of “61 - Captured!” on the Serious Injuries Table. It’s not possible to Capture more than 2 model per game. If you already captured 2 henchmen, or already have 5 Captured Thrall in your warband, reroll any result of “61- Captured!” for the heroes.
The Throne of Worms: The most horrible end for an enemy of the Cavalcade is not death but capture! Captured models are brought down to the Throne of Worms and abandoned to the judgment of this abomination. Only a few survive this madness but they emerge lost forever!
For each enemy captured, instead of rolling on the Serious Injury Table after the battle, roll 1d6:
1-2 The warrior is swallowed up forever by the Throne of Worms. Remove the warrior from the original warband’s roster.
3-5 The warrior completely loses his mind and is submitted to the power of the Throne. Remove the warrior from the original warband’s roster and You gain a Captured Thrall for your warband.
6 The warrior is sacrificed with a ritual to the Throne. Remove the warrior from the original warband’s roster and a random Hero in your warband gains 1 XP.
Note: this replaces the Captured! standard rules on the Serious Injuries Table for Heroes.
Choice of warriors
A The Cursed Cavalcade warband must include a minimum of three models. You have gold crowns available to spend. The maximum number of warriors in the warband may never exceed .
- Aristocrats: Each warband must have 1 Aristocrat: no more, no less!
- Companions: Your warband may include up to 2 Companions.
- Twisted Scholars: Your warband may include up to 1 Twisted Scholar.
- Cursed Pipers: Your warband may include up to 1 Cursed Piper.
- Thralls: Your warband may include any number of Thralls.
- Captured Thralls: Your warband may include up to 5 Captured Thralls.
- Great Bears: Your warband may include up to 1 Great Bear.
- Wild Beasts: Your warband may include up to 2 Wild Beasts.
- Fighting Apes: Your warband may include up to 1 Fighting Ape.
Starting experience
- The Aristocrat starts with 20 experience.
- Companions start with 8 experience.
- The Twisted Scholar starts with 4 experience.
- The Cursed Piper starts with 6 experience.
- Henchmen start with 0 experience.
The Cursed Cavalcade Skill Table
| Combat | Shooting | Academic | Strength | Speed | Special | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aristocrat | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Companion | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Twisted Scholar | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
| Cursed Piper | ✓ | ✓ |
The Cursed Cavalcade equipment lists
Heroes Equipment List
Hand-to-hand Combat Weapons
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Dagger | 1st free/2 gc |
| Misericordia | 5 gc |
| Sword | 10 gc |
| Club, Mace or Hammer | 3 gc |
| Double-handed weapon | 15 gc |
| Lance | 20 gc |
Missile Weapons
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Long Bow (Long Bow) | 15 gc |
| Duelling Pistol (Duelling Pistol) | 25 gc (50 gc for a brace) |
| Hunting Rifle (Hunting Rifle) | 200 gc |
| Blunderbuss | 30 gc One per warband |
Armour
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Light Armour | 20 gc |
| Heavy Armour | 50 gc |
| Shield | 5 gc |
| Buckler | 5 gc |
| Helmet | 10 gc |
Miscellaneous
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| boar spear | 30 gc Aristocrat only |
| cathayan quilted silk armour | 15 gc |
| Superior Blackpowder | 30 gc |
| Nightmare | 95 gc Aristocrat only |
| bird of prey | 30 gc Aristocrat only |
Thralls Equipment List
This list is for Thralls only.
Hand-to-hand Combat Weapons
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Dagger | 1st free/2 gc |
| Club, Mace or Hammer | 3 gc |
| Club, Mace or Hammer | 3 gc |
| Axe | 5 gc |
| Sword | 10 gc |
| Spear | 10 gc |
| Double-handed weapon | 15 gc |
Missile Weapons
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Short Bow (Short Bow) | 5 gc |
| Bow | 10 gc |
| Crossbow | 25 gc Max 3 per warband |
Armour
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Light Armour | 20 gc |
| Shield | 5 gc |
| Helmet | 10 gc |
Heroes
1 Aristocrat
70 gold crowns to hire
The Warbands of the Cavalcade are led by one of the fallen nobles that were part of the inner circle of Count Steinhardt. The Aristocrat might have been a castellan, a knight or a baron or even one of the sons or daughters of Count Steinhardt himself. Bitter, haughty, and cruel, they wear opulent masks to hide the burns of the comet that will never heal.
| Profile | M | WS | BS | S | T | W | I | A | Ld |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 8 |
Weapons/Armour: Aristocrat may be equipped with weapons and armour chosen from the Heroes Equipment List.
Special Rules
0 – 2 Companions
45 gold crowns to hire
Many men-at-arms, Judicial Champions, Duelists and Knights of lower orders who followed Count Steinhardt in the path of depravity and were cursed along with their master. They now have one last chance to regain their dream of ruling the Empire: to gather slivers of the Comet and make it whole once more. Though they all know it is akin to finding a needle in a haystack for a thousand time, their pride and the knowledge that they may never return to the fold of Sigmar drives them on.
| Profile | M | WS | BS | S | T | W | I | A | Ld |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 7 |
Weapons/Armour: Companion may be equipped with weapons and armour chosen from the Heroes Equipment List.
Special Rules
0 – 1 Twisted Scholar
25 gold crowns to hire
Count Steinhardt initiated many wise men and scholars of Ostmark into the secrets of the Cavalcade. Now these twisted philosophers, blasphemous sages and sadistic physicians who’ve turned their skills into torture have been cursed alongside with their master, and travel to the ruins of Mordheim desperately looking for Wyrdstone shards in order to heal the Black Heart of the Comet.
| Profile | M | WS | BS | S | T | W | I | A | Ld |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 7 |
Weapons/Armour: Twisted Scholar may be equipped with weapons and armour chosen from the Heroes Equipment List.
Special Rules
0 – 1 Cursed Piper
40 gold crowns to hire
Many of the great thespians, flutists, and other entertainers were easily lured into the fold of Count Steinhardt. They are now compelled by their curse to play the tune of Danse Macabre as the Cavalcade fights with the scavengers of Mordheim for the scraps of Wyrdstone.
| Profile | M | WS | BS | S | T | W | I | A | Ld |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 7 |
Weapons/Armour: Cursed Piper may be equipped with weapons and armour chosen from the Heroes Equipment List.
Special Rules
If failed, the warrior is cursed by the Danse Macabre loses control of his body and forced to dance under the Piper’s will. The Piper can move the enemy model in any direction he wishes also out of close combat or force him to fall from height.
At the beginning of the enemy’s turn, in the recovery phase the warrior will have to pass a Ld test or will continue to be under the Pipers’ control and cannot shoot, charge or cast spells. If engaged in close combat the model cannot attack (it is too busy dancing!).
Only one enemy warrior at time can be controlled by the Danse Macabre. If the Piper targets another warrior the previous one is immediately free from the curse.
Henchmen
(Bought in groups of 1-5)Thralls
25 gold crowns to hire
These are the miserable men and women brought to the catacombs forced to sit on the Throne of Worms and judged to be worthy to serve the true rulers of Mordheim. They are initiated to the very lowest ranks of the warbands, forced to sleep in the worst cages and animal pits, they wear metal masks just like the rest of the Warband, but far simpler and cruder in design, until they finally prove their worth.
| Profile | M | WS | BS | S | T | W | I | A | Ld |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 6 |
Weapons/Armour: Thrall may be equipped with weapons and armour chosen from the Thralls Equipment List.
0 – 5 Captured Thralls
0 gold crowns to hire
Once a member of some mercenary warband, maybe a pirate or a knight, the only thing they are now is humble servitors of the ruler of Mordheim.
Their skin is burned and scarred with the flame of the Throne, forever marking them as the members of the Cavalcade, unable to escape and return to their former lives. They wear really simple masks, more to hide their former identity, rather than a sign of devotion to the Throne. Their destiny is to serve until death arrive on them.
| Profile | M | WS | BS | S | T | W | I | A | Ld |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 |
Weapons/Armour: Captured Thrall may be equipped with weapons and armour chosen from the Thralls Equipment List.
Special Rules
0 – 1 Great Bear
140 gold crowns to hire
These huge beasts captured from the vast forests of the Empire are prized as the jewels of Count Steinhardt’s menagerie. Goaded to fight with humans as part of the dark ritual to summon the comet, and corrupted by the flame of the Black Heart, they are extremely dangerous creatures, especially if their blood is drawn.
| Profile | M | WS | BS | S | T | W | I | A | Ld |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 6 |
Special Rules
0 – 2 Wild Beasts
45 gold crowns to hire
These can be Wild Cats from the deep jungles of the south or far-off Lustria, Wild Boars captured by hunters of Ostermark, or some other exotic animal bred for battle.
| Profile | M | WS | BS | S | T | W | I | A | Ld |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 5 |
Special Rules
0 – 1 Fighting Ape
95 gold crowns to hire
Brought from the far-off lands to the menageries of the Imperial nobles, these man-like creatures have been trained by their keepers to attack.
| Profile | M | WS | BS | S | T | W | I | A | Ld |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 5 |
Special Rules