In which our friends question an assassin, research the undercity, and attend a fine dinner.
Wednesday, August 29th
Assignment: Dammenblatz
After collecting Marike’s alchemy license at the Commission of Sorcery and leaving a message for Emmelinde at the shelter she’s staying at, the adventurers reported to Frau Odette to be briefed on their mission to find all the dirt they can on Freiherr Eberhard von Dammenblatz.
Odette gave a quick rundown on what was generally known about House Dammenblatz already:
- An ancient noble family of the duchy of Middenheim.
- They had a country estate northeast of the city, but the family spends a good deal of their time in Middenheim, where they have a townhouse in Grafsmund.
- The Freiherr is a widower; his closest living family is his mother Violetta (the widow of his father, Freiherr Otto) and his daughter Magdalena.
- The Freiherr has made some investments in trade, but Odette didn’t know the details.
* * *
They started off by seeing the assassin Dominique Hervaux (alias the maid Elina), who they wounded and captured at the Three Feathers and who had preferred to stay as the Gräfin Marie-Ulrike’s “guest” and cooperate rather than being turned over to the law and tried for attempted murder.
Dominique was held in a garrett in Baumgarten Haus; now back on her feet but limping slowly with a crutch. She made a sour face upon seeing Aenlinn, but otherwise neutrally awaited the adventurers’ questions. She confirmed that:
- She’d been hired by a masked man a few months ago to infiltrate the Gräfin’s retinue and await further orders; the order to assassinate her champion came later but not altogether unexpectedly.
- She’d only met her mysterious patron once; they were put in touch by her “contact” in Middenheim and met at the Brown Owl inn in Ulricsmund – a popular place for discreet meetings, as they innkeeper famously never asks questions or gossips about their guests. She was never told his name, but he was clearly a gentleman of refined manners, and used a seal with a sun for his messages.
- Thus she had no way of directly contacting her patron, but her contact might be able to reach him.
Dominique was anxious that no one find out she’d been leaking information to the Gräfin’s people, and she was unwilling to reveal her contact for the same reasons. The adventurers, for their part, didn’t trust her enough to set her free. Eventually they agreed for Dominique to write a letter to her contact and put it in a few layers of envelopes with different addresses, and for the adventurers to pass the letter to the outermost one.
About the Undercity
After this, they had to prepare for the underground expedition that was looking increasingly inevitable; the evidence suggested that the laboratory of the Hand was underground, perhaps underneath the Windhund Haulage Company. Wernhart, who grew up in Middenheim, knew already that the city sported not only an extensive sewer system – water mostly being supplied by aqueducts from a huge reservoir in the mountains – but a multitude of catacombs, tunnels and caverns in the rock beneath the sewers.
In order to do some more research, they visited the Chapel of the Arbiter, which sported the largest semi-public library in Middenheim. Fortunately, Dean Edel Müller was there and agreed to let them use the library to research the sewers and the Undercity; she even helped them dig out an old plan of the city with a fairly detailed map of the sewer system. Further research suggested there might be tunnels dug from the sewers to the rich catacombs underneath the cemetery, and that there might still be secret entrances to the tunnels near the foot of the Fauschlag that might, by way of tunnels and shafts, allow access to the city from below.
Dinner at the Showboat
In the evening, cleaned and dressed, they went to the Showboat restaurant in the Great Park for their dinner with the Jungs. As implied by the name, the Showboat was built to somewhat resemble a moored houseboat on the shore of the Black Pool.
Hieronymus Jung and his niece Ulrike and nephew Bertholt were outside already.
They were soon joined by their cousin Kirsten Jung and her fiancé, Ser Elke Wensmann, the Kurfürst’s master-at-arms. They were accompanied by two other friends, both foreign-looking courtiers of the Kurfürst; the dark and handsome court minstrel Ranveer Lafari, apparently of Indish extraction; and the Kislevite-Ungol Aliya “Fenya” Fenyatovna, Mistress of the Hunt. Ranveer and Fenya greeted the adventurers and the Jungs politely before moving on together.
The Showboat was a pleasant and cozy place, its peaceful and intimate atmosphere only underscored by the string quartet playing in the gallery. The food was excellent as well and the company pleasant; Kirsten, somewhat taking the role of hostess, asked to hear more from these adventurers her cousins had already told her so much about. She and Elke – who seemed a bit reserved at first, but soon loosened up – were also nice people, happy to tell their company about themselves. During the pleasant evening conversation moved back and forth among several subjects:
Buildings and engineering of Middenheim: This turned out to be a major interest of Ser Elke’s; she was very proud of Middenheims defenses and architecture, and greatly admired its famous engineer corps. At first, Kirsten seemed slightly worried she’d bore the company with this, but both Aenlinn and Wernhart were interested enough and joined the conversation.
The Carnival: The teenagers, of course, wanted to know all about the great Carnival due to begin in a week and a half. There seemed to be plenty of things happening: fairs, a beer festival, music, theatre and opera performances (both visiting opera players, and even one opera put on by the city garrison!), jousts and fencing challenges, the Kurfürst’s Garden Party (an exclusive event, and thus important to be seen at if you want to “be someone”), sporting events and fireworks.
The Kurfürst’s family and court: After some cajoling Kirsten had to admit the truth of the gossip that the Kurfürst’s marriage to the Kurfürstin Annika-Elise was not entirely happy; he was much older and in poor health, and the young Kurfürstin wanted to be surrounded by excitement and glamour. Her family owns a townhouse outside the palace area – the Nikse Haus – where she’d thrown some of her parties. The Kurfürst seemed to have gotten worse lately, and he rarely ventured outside the palance – the widespread unhappiness about the new laws presumably hadn’t helped. Elke used to spar and practice with him regularly, but it hadn’t happened for some time now.
The new laws, and other politics: Ser Elke spoke surprisingly (especially considering her admiration of the engineers) in favour of the Engineer’s Tax: “The Engineer’s Guild is wealthy, they know to charge for their services. They can afford to pay a bit extra.” She said this in a somewhat flat and dull tone, as though it was a rehearsed line. Kethe was suspicious right away – had she been bribed? Kirsten didn’t look happy about it either.
Exactly who suggested these new laws seems somewhat unclear, but the Kurfürst approves and passes all new laws. Whose advice would the Kurfürst listen to? Marike asked innocently. Kirsten and Elke weren’t quite sure, but they agreed on a few people they believed to have the Kurfürst’s ear:
- High Shepherd Jarrick Valgeir, who was also technically the court chaplain and chief spiritual advisor.
- The military commanders: the Marshall, Freiherr Maximilian von Genscher; the garrison commander, Oberst Johanna Schulte-Brockhoff; and the city watch commander Ulrich Streiffer (whom the adventurers met earlier today).
- The Law Lords, of course – Regina Ehrlinger, Joachim Hoffmann and Karl-Heinz Wasmeier. They are also the ones to formulate and finish any proposed law.
- The first minister, Lord Chancellor Josef Speermann.
- Ser Elke used to be friendly with the Kurfürst and he would often ask and apparently listen to her opinions, but she wasn’t so sure anymore.
- The Kurfürstin, on the other hand, apparently rarely discussed politics with her husband.
House Dammenblatz: Freiherr Otto, Eberhard’s late father, was often at court; he was a cousin of the Kurfürst and they were old friends. Eberhard himself had no foothold in the Kurfürst’s inner circle, though.
Otto and some other nobles were rumoured to plot to remove the Kurfürstin’s influence on her husband or even get him to disown her. Still, he went to a few of her parties and it was on one of those he had his fatal accident. Kirsten was not present at this party, but she was sure at least one or two of the Kurfürstin’s other ladies-in-waiting – Manuela Baader, Petra Liebner and/or Natascha Kessler – must have been there.
The Keplers: Gotthard Kepler was now one of the four Mayors of Middenheim, and apparently had the favour of the Kurfürstin. Elke said he was a crook and muttered about a horse deal he swindled her in some time back.
* * *
As the dinner drew to a close, the adventurers noticed their table neighbours – a pair of rough-looking fellows called Waldo and Mannfried, who had been drinking all evening – were getting even louder and rowdier. Apparently they had been doing very good business lately, and they mentioned something about a “special delivery” to the Windhund Haulage Company. Marike joined them briefly to find out more, but they were secretive about the exact nature of their business – it was clearly something not entirely legal, and “prices had been rising” on whatever they were supplying. The adventurers suspected it might be some sort of illegal alchemical supplies.
The return
About 10 in the evening, the adventurers took their leave and returned to Baumgarten Haus. Marike proposed that if they were going to try to get in under the Windhund to save their friends… why wait? Why not strike tonight? Kethe agreed enthusiastically; the practical Aenlinn suggested they get a few hours of sleep first.
Outside the Haus, they were met by a haggard-looking Emmelinde. She had found out there had been more newcomers disappearing in the Wynd, but found no more traces of Klaus. Wernhart suggested Klaus might have ended up in the very laboratory they were about to go searching for later tonight. Emmelinde would be more than welcome to join them.
Suddenly, everyone felt a cold shiver down their spine, and Marike felt the severed hand rattle and twist in her bag. Before them, blurry and glowing with a dim bluish light, the ghost of Johann Niederwald was once more fading into view.
Emmelinde shied away in shock at first, but soon gathered her wits and as she looked closer at the ghost her eyes narrowed and she shot it a hateful look. “You!!”
The Enemy Within: Remixed 
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