S3E20: Power Behind the Throne, Part XX – Loose Ends

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The Garden of the Stranger (Art by JG O’Donoghue)

In which our friends finally lay a ghost to rest and take a trip to find out about their friends.

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Thursday, August 30th

 

The funeral of Johann Niederwald

Father Dieter (Art by Peter Paul Rubens)

On their way home, the adventurers took the remains of Johann Niederwald to the Chapel of the Stranger, a small black stone building at the northern edge of the Fremderpark cemetary in Südtor. The priest on duty, Father Dieter, calmly pointed out that if they had found a body they should report it to the Watch, but didn’t press the issue further beyond asking whether they, as the apparent closest mourners of Johann, wanted to pay for a burial spot for him.

After some arguing and soul-searching the adventurers decided to pool money to pay the 2 Thalers for a spot at the Rabensfeld, the modest cemetary near the foot of the Fauschlag, including the burial mass. (Spots in the Fremderpark itself being prohibitively expensive, and they felt putting him in a free mass grave at the Aschenfeld might run the risk of him not finding proper peace and continuing to haunt them.) Father Dieter held a short ritual and blessed the body in order to prevent evil spirits from possessing it; after which he commended Johann’s soul into the care of the Stranger. Wernhart helped him carry the body over to the ossuary.

The Chapel of the Stranger (by unknown artist)

On their way from the chapel they ran into a Watch patrol. Wernhart told them they’d found a dead man with a severed hand in the streets and turned the body in to the chapel.

 

A final greeting

The ghost of Johann Niederwald

Soon after the Watchmen left, the hair on the back of everyone’s neck stood up again and Johann’s ghost faded into view, looking calmer and no longer in pain. “Once more, thank you so much for your help,” he said. “I listened to the service; quite moving, actually. Now I can rest in peace. May you never suffer as I have.”

Just as he’s beginning to fade away, he seems to just remember something he’d forgotten. “Oh, that’s right,” he says in a whisper. “If you should ever pass by Uldorf, my sister Gretel lives there. Tell her I’m dead, give her my regards, and tell her I want her to give you a package, which she will find in a hidden compartment behind the third wall board on the right in my old chamber. If she doesn’t believe you, mention the time when I was six years old and she saved me when my horse had bolted. Then she will know that the message comes from me.” Even as he’s speaking those last words he fades away – perhaps for good.

Finally, the adventurers return to the Baumgarten Haus to wash off and sleep.

 

 

Friday, August 31st

 

Off to the Dancing Bear

The next day, Wernhart and Aenlinn intended to go to the Dancing Bear inn with Emmelinde and Klaus to find out more about what happened to Zima, Dmitri and Etelka Herzen. Marike, who was planning to stay to analyse the finds from the laboratory, impulsively decided to join them; Courage remained in town, as did Kethe, who was still recovering from the underworld ordeals.

Emmelinde

Klaus

They set out in the morning; the Dancing Bear coaching inn was about 10 miles from Middenheim, along the southeastern main road to Hochland, in a wood the road was running through. The road was well-trafficked and they passed a number of villages before finally reaching the inn, just in time for a late lunch.

The Dancing Bear coaching inn

Erbse, and what she saw

Erbse (Art from the Enemy in Shadows Companion)

Upon a small raised stage in the tap room, the adventurers were somewhat shocked to see what they first thought was a small child juggling with knives to musical accompaniment. The juggler, however, turned out to be the fully-adult – but only 4 feet tall – entertainer Elli “Erbse” Breslauer. The adventurers made her acquaintance over lunch; despite having lived a harsh life, she was a cheerful sort.

It turned out Erbse, having stayed here for a few nights now, had seen Dmitri and the others! Two days before, he and Zima had arrived at the inn with a few others, two of them called Isabel Wegner and Hanno Schieffer. They mostly kept to themselves, Isabel being the only cheery and extroverted one of the bunch; her description sounded not unlike Etelka Herzen, and “Schieffer” might be a disguised Gustav Klöcker.

They had met up with a few other guests who had arrived the day before: one Reverend Skarabus, one Lieutenant Simona Schwerter, and a page with them. Klaus started at the description of Lieutenant Schwerter; she sounded like the officer who had picked him up from the gaol in Schöninghagen and brought him to his underground prison in Middenheim! After this, the whole party travelled on together; Erbse thought they rode east but she wasn’t quite sure.

 

Going further and going back

Now what? Aenlinn, Marike and Wernhart had to go back to Middenheim, being expected to accompany the Gräfin to the opera tonight. Emmelinde and Klaus offered to track the suspected party further east and return or send a message as soon as they found out more on where they’d gone. The adventurers gratefully agreed, leaving them with some money for expenses.

The return trip was mostly uneventful; about halfway, they met an engineer’s family traveling by cart, having left Middenheim protesting the unreasonable new taxes and hoping to start a new life in Bergsburg or Talabheim. Marike innocently inquired about who might know something more about these unjust taxes and who’s behind them: the engineer, Paul Weiser, suggested they go to the Guild of Engineers and talk to his cousin Tobias, the secretary at the Guild.

The engineer’s family (Art by Jon Pintar)

The Goldwasser affair

Back in Middenheim, they found out that Thomas Goldwasser had made his visit earlier in the day and talked to Hanna, but she had stood her ground – thanks in part to the moral support of Kethe and Courage – and declared she preferred to stay in the Gräfin Marie-Ulrike’s service for now.

Thomas Goldwasser (Art from Rough Nights & Hard Days)

Hanna Kohl-Goldwasser (Photo by Elina Nurmi)

Gräfin Marie-Ulrike von Ambosstein (Art by Theo Axner)

Goldwasser was willing to quietly divorce her, but he would then “have no choice” but demand back the considerable sums Hanna’s parents owed him. The Gräfin, for her part, had declared that if she is pleased with how the adventurers deal with their new mission – that is, digging up dirt on the Baron Eberhard von Dammenblatz – she’d be willing to lend Hanna’s parents enough to pay off their debts to Goldwasser, in practice buying his claims on them. With that hurdle cleared, a divorce should be manageable enough to sort out.

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GM’s notes (spoilers)