In which a close encounter with the Hand at Sonnstill brings delirium and distress, and our friends finally get the elusive Etelka Herzen in their sights.
Friday, June 22nd, 2512 (November 10th, 2019)
Back to Kemperbad
The adventurers decided prudently to go ashore and make camp some distance outside Kemperbad, both in order not to be seen needlessly and to keep an eye on the approaches back to the city in case Etelka Herzen and her cronies should turn up. Outside the city walls on the same (eastern) side, a midsummer fair had opened and would last for three more days.
Saturday, June 23rd
The appointment
The adventurers sent one of Said’s boathands with a message to the hatmaker, Frau Selter, asking her about the meeting she was supposed to set up between “Esther Lieberung” and the “Acolyte”. They received a reply giving an address – 18 Gartenstrasse – to appear at at 8 PM the next evening, asking for “Herr Kohl”. Aenlinn, Dmitri and Wernhart went into town to scout.
Scouting and fighting
On the way, they visited the midsummer fair. Aenlinn entered into a wrestling match and after a very tough fight defeated the champion, “Crusher” Braugen. Wernhart and Dmitri, who had been less noticed, continued into town and scouted out the address, which turned out to be a cellar entrance in a quiet part of town. There were also a few good observation spots in nearby alleys.
The edict
The main talk of the town was the Emperor, apparently recovering from his illness, having decreed that killing or persecuting mutants only because of their appearance was henceforth forbidden. The edict even suggested that in the Emperor’s opinion there was no such things as “mutants”. It read, in full:
By Order of His Imperial Majesty,
Karl-Franz, I. of his Name,
Prince of Altdorf and Grand Prince of the Reikland,
Warden of the West, Defender of the Faith,
And the exalted Ruler of the Holy Empire of Saint Sigmar
Be it known to all the Emperor’s Subjects that henceforth the despicable Practice of killing, exiling or otherwise mistreating those Unfortunates heretofore known as Mutants shall cease.
Those who have committed no Crime but the Misfortune to be born with, or later in Life develop, bodily Deformities shall not be treated as Criminal, nor be blamed for sundry Superstitions. As none in the Empire shall be above the Law, none shall be below Her.
It is His Majesty’s considered Opinion that there are no such Things as Mutants, and applying such a Nomenclature to the Ill or Deformed is henceforward illegal.
There was much speculation about this “oddly progressive” (as Aenlinn put it) decree, but many townspeople were of the opinion that this would go by with no more of a trace than several of the Emperor’s other brainwaves.
Sunday, June 24th – Sonnstill, or Midsummer’s Day
The Midsummer Fair
At the request of the bored Marike the adventurers spent much of Midsummer’s Day at the fair rather than holed up in their camp (except Dmitri, who volunteered to keep the post and watch the roads).
At the fair, they picked up some more news and rumours:
- Apparently there had been brawls and riots spurred by religious bigotry in several Middenland towns. The Curians, in the minority up north, claimed to have been persecuted by Ulricans.
- There were contradictory rumours about the Emperor’s health. Some claimed that he had recovered remarkably and been seen riding around Altdorf in full armour, others that he was still bedridden, perhaps even getting worse.
The meeting at 18 Gartenstrasse
In the evening Marike went to the appointed address followed by Aenlinn, Wernhart and Courage; Zima and Dmitri crept up ahead and took up lookout posts in the alleys. Marike’s company knocked at the cellar door and were let in by a servant. The companions were to wit in a wine cellar, were a table was set up with food and drink, while Marike (addressed as “Magister Lieberung”) was instructed to put on a crimson robe and a white mask, and to follow a similarly dressed woman through a secret door.
She was gone for nearly an hour before emerging, seeming somewhat light-headed and absent – and her hands were covered in blood (not her own, as it turned out). They quickly cleaned her up and left. Shortly after returning to the street, Marike collapsed, half unconscious.
They dragged her over to the Beekeeper’s Table inn, where the maid Annike (an old friend of Aenlinn’s) managed to find them a small room. Marike was delirious, mumbling about ”Esther” and frantically scrubbing her hands. Wernhart, examining her, concluded she’d suffered a severe shock of some kind and also come down with a high fever. Courage and Dmitri returned to camp, while the rest of the party spent the night at the inn.
Sunday, June 25th
The patient
Marike was still ill and delirious. They brought her to the barge and eventually had one Pastor Kenncher from the nearest Ulrican church – Zima, suspecting possession, insisted on bringing a priest over – and another old friend of Aenlinn’s, the surgeon Hans Klappmesser, to look at her. Both confirmed Wernhart’ diagnosis of shock and mental trauma but suspected the condition would pass naturally – if not, Kenncher recommended bringing her to the Convent of the Nurturer in the city, while Klappmesser suggested judicious bleeding. The adventurer decided to wait and let her rest another day first.
The arrival of Etelka Herzen
Meanwhile, Dmitri and Courage had seen none other than Etelka Herzen and her companions – Ernst Heidelmann, the valet Saskia Fuchs and two apparent mercenaries – come riding into Kemperbad from the east. They checked into the White Horse Inn in southern Kemperbad.
The adventurers sent Dmitri and Zima to keep an eye on them. Dmitri, who had worked for Etelka earlier on, was spotted and invited to their table. Etelka, as cheerful and charming as ever, repeated her offer to hire him on for her research expedition – they were regrouping now after the trip to the Barren Hills turned out to be something of a dead end, but they had more leads to follow. If he wanted in, he needed to be ready to set out at 11 tomorrow. Etelka was coy about exactly where they were heading next, and Dmitri soon sensed his questions had made her, or at any rate her companions, suspicious. He excused himself and promised to consider the offer.
Another familiar face
On the way back, Zima and Dmitri noticed a grey-cloaked mendicant friar they thought they’d seen earlier days as well, who might be following them. Zima turned to confront him and engage in conversation; the man backed off and retreated, but she got a glimpse of his face under the hood – he looked like none other than Willfried Kühn, the survivor of the two men who had spied on the adventurers earlier on. He quickly disappeared town a side street.
War council
Back aboard the barge the party held council. Marike was starting to recover, but was still weak and could remember only fragments of her meeting. Some thought Dmitri should take Etelka’s offer and infiltrate her company, but he felt that was a bad idea since he sensed they were already suspicious of him.
They didn’t know for sure where Etelka was heading next, but agreed she was most likely heading south – either back home to Grissenwald, or to Castle Wittgenstein in case she had also, like the adventurers, found clues leading her there. Considering what they had seen and heard in the Barren Hills, and what they’d heard of the Imperial Barony of Wittgenstein, they agreed it seemed likely that Dagmar von Wittgenstein brought the baleful meteorite with her home after finding it.
Eventually they settled on sailing south, heading Etelka off and trying to ambush her along the way south.
The hired boathands were paid off (by this point Said had finally managed to sell of his cargo of porcelain) and Madame Boulette, too, stayed in Kemperbad. As the sun was setting, the Esther once more sailed south along the Reik.
The Enemy Within: Remixed 
Another great report, Once again loved all the artwork.
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Etelka looks great in her adventuring garb! The portrait of Ernst is spot on as well.
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