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 he
path tightened to a point where the
Dwarf Ironbreakers could proceed only
in a single-file line. Drokki Ironbeard
couldn't imagine how a manling could
possibly traverse these tunnels. He
pondered this as he cracked his fully
armoured head against a low section
of the ceiling for the third time
today. The metallic ring of his helm
made him feel as though his head were
trapped between a mighty anvil and
a descending hammer. He gritted his
teeth against the pain in his ears
and continued on.
"
Today" was a relative term here
in the Deep. Drokki knew it wasn't
yesterday or tomorrow simply because
he knew it was "today."
He felt it in his bones. He, like
all Dwarfs, intuitively knew what
time it was, just as the members of
his race know how deeply they have
traveled into the roots of the world.
Other races that care about the passage
of time on the surface would be lost
here - lost in eternal night. Drokki
held his slow-burning guano torch
higher as his companions took a hard
turn to the right and emerged into
a tunnel that was slightly less cramped
than the one they had been traveling
through moments before. He strained
his eyes, looking past the light of
the torch and into the inky black.
Drokki cursed an unoriginal Dwarfen
curse through his clenched jaws and
stopped in his tracks. He heard his
companion's iron-shod boots fall silent
behind him. He could have sworn he
saw beady red eyes. That's
when he heard the worst sound imaginable.
There was a feral chuckle, followed
by the sloshing sound of liquid trapped
in a metal container. Drokki's mouth
opened to yell a warning, to tell
his companions to retreat, but it
was too late. A squeaking valve was
opened, and liquid fire the colour
of precious emeralds filled the tunnel.
The last things Drokki saw before
his eyes burst and his face ran like
molten metal were the furred forms
of two celebrating ratmen bathed in
the hellish green light.
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We know you've thought about it. We know
it's crossed your mind. What does the Skaven
Under-Empire look like? How expansive was
the ancient Dwarf empire before it fell
into enemy hands? How would I fight battles
far beneath the sun-drenched lands of the
Warhammer world? Well, it's about time you
found out! The Denizens of the Deep offers
you a brand-new campaign setting to explore
at your leisure. Whether you plumb the dark
and labyrinthine tunnels with a small warband
or fight massive battles in caverns so vast
that the ceilings are lost in darkness,
it's all here. Navigating dense rock formations
 and
avoiding bottomless pitfalls are the least
of an army's worries. The Deep is where
the true monsters lurk, biding their time
in the all-consuming darkness and sating
their hunger on those hapless interlopers
that stumble too near. This campaign is
for all of you who fondly remember your
dungeon-delving careers of yesteryear or
just want to invigorate your games of Warhammer
with something different and new.
The Denizens of the
Deep is a map-based campaign based on the
rules in Chapter 2 of The General's Compendium
(TGC). This campaign is set underground,
and included here are special rules that
detail the mysterious, frightening, and
often dangerous realm beneath the Warhammer
world. Also included are special downloadable
map tiles that add a new dimension to the
map-based campaign rules from TGC.
As the players' banners explore the underground
caverns and expand their realms, more tiles
are added to the map to represent newly
discovered areas and formerly unexplored
territories. Players will require a copy
of TGC and the Warhammer in a Flash
rules found in White Dwarf 288 (pp.
48-51) to play this campaign. Unless noted
otherwise below, all of the map-based campaign
rules in TGC apply to the Denizens
of the Deep campaign.
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 Man
knows little of what horrors stalk the darkened
paths far below his feet. It is a strange
and magnificent place more perilous than
he could ever imagine. In this place of
dripping stone and black pits, of great
stalking beasts and evil-hearted monsters,
there are wonders, riches, and terrors that
mortal man has yet to discover. The Deep
is not a place to enter lightly.
However, the realms of daylight and those
of eternal darkness are about to meet, and
only evil can rise from such a union. The
Lord of the End Times is plotting his ascension.
However, he needs allies, and he has found
them in abundance. A pact has been formed,
sealed in greed, terror, and corruption.
The ratmen have accepted dread Archaon and
his gifts. Throt, master of flesh, bone,
and warpstone, performs his insane experiments
and returns Archaon's favors in kind. Horrors
yet unseen, led by the Dark Gods' chosen
one, will walk the Warhammer world, and
the earth will tremble and split.
Summon your wisest generals. Equip your
troops with the finest steel and send them
ever further into deepest tunnels of the
earth. They must plumb its depths and shed
cleansing light on its secrets, or the world
above may never be the same again.
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- Article by Rick Smith and Ken Kennedy
Thanks to playtesters Eric Sarlin, Ken Kennedy,
and Ty Finocchiaro. Special thanks to Eric Sarlin and Jeremy Vetock,
whose excellent advice and work on The General’s Compendium
guided our pens.
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