In which our friends begin to investigate the doings of their patron’s arch-enemy.
Friday, August 31st
Wernhart visits Professor Bletzen
Wernhart asked Professor Bletzen to hide the suddenly mutated guard Wibeke until the next day, when he could return with more answers. The professor agreed and Wernhart hurried back to the opera.
The end of the opera night
Meanwhile, at the opera, Kethe had found another fragrant herb mixture smouldering in a flowerpot (this one in the box itself). She poured wine on it to put it out and went to report it to Frau Odette.
A pair of suspicious-looking opera lackeys entered and then quickly retreated – had they perhaps expected to find everyone knocked out? – and Kethe went after them, seeing them talk to a man in the outer gallery. When she approached the man, Wilhelm König, he tried to flee but was caught and brought to the Gräfin.
* * *
About 11 o’clock, the performance ended and the curtain fell to great applause. Most of the audience began to leave, but the Gräfin Marie-Ulrike and Kurfürstin Annika-Elise remained in their box for a while, ordering new refreshments and receiving visitors in the antechamber.
The witch-hunter
As the party finally left the opera house, about half an hour later, they found the witch-hunter Matthäus Hübkind and his hangers-on – including the note-taker and the man from the corridor – waiting for them outside. He stepped forward, greeted them politely and asked permission to ask the Gräfin a few questions. He had heard and seen very disturbing things that required an explanation: in addition to the previously-known – and “dismissed by the secular court” – accusations, he now had an eyewitness who saw a woman in the Gräfin’s colours, clearly marked by Chaos.
As a curious crowd was gathering, the Gräfin simply declared that she knew nothing about that matter, and anyway she was not prepared to discuss it all in public. When Hübkind remained insistent, the Kurfürstin, also coming out with her entourage, angrily asked who he thought he was, making accusation against the highborn.
The witch-hunter bowed to her as well and said that while he himself was an utterly insignificant servant of the Five, he did have the Kurfürst’s commission to investigate any and all cases of witchcraft in the city. The Kurfürstin lost patience and signaled to Ser Lucius; her bodyguard of knights quickly closed up, pushing the witch-hunter and his followers out of the way so they could leave undisturbed.
On the way, the Gräfin summoned the adventurers and asked if they, by any chance, had any idea what Hübkind was on about? She was noticeably irritated by this being the first she hird of the matter, and she expected a fuller report shortly. Right now, though, she and her closest retinue were joining the Kurfürstin to Niksehus for the after-party.
The pigeon in the window
With the rest of the night off, the adventurers headed back to Baumgarten Haus to make plans. They decided to:
- Check the “mailbox” for any reply to the letter Dominique Hervaux sent to her contact.
- Talk to the household staff of Freiherr Eberhard von Dammenblatz.
- Find out whether this Master André knew any useful gossip.
- Likewise, check out whether Aenlinn’s brother Wenzel had picked up anything.
In the bedroom, Wernhart noticed a pigeon scratching at the window, quickly checking whether it might carry a message. It didn’t, but before it flew off he got a glimpse of its strange, blood-red eyes.
Before going to bed, Wernhart wrote up an account of the events of the night, but made no mention of what happened to Wibeke.
Saturday 1 September
Investigations
The next day, Aenlinn went off to look for Wenzel, while the rest of the adventurers headed to the shop where they had left Dominique’s letter for their contact a few days ago. And indeed: there was a reply! The letter, signed only by “K.”, explained that:
- Although Bruno didn’t die, the poisoning did prevent from fighting for the countess, so she would get paid. “K.” could arrange the handover if desired.
- If she promptly wanted to meet her client herself, she could suggest a place.
They passed the letter to Dominique, but left the matter hanging for now.
To the house of Dammenblatz
Next stop would be scouting out the Dammenblatz residence in Grafsmund, the posh quarters in the northwestern part of town, near the palace. On the way, they passed not far from Niksehus, the family house of the Kurfürstin. Outside in the street, the street-preacher Bartholt Vleck was haranguing an increasingly angry crowd about the wicked lives of the rich and powerful. Kethe strongly suspected this was at least partly Hübkind’s work.
* * *
The Dammenblatz residence was a large, beautiful stone house with a walled garden. There were plenty of trees and shrubs along the walls, letting the adventurers discreetly stand and listen to what went on at the gate and in the garden. They heard an elderly servant talking to the gatekeeper about Herr Eberhard’s faltering health; apparently the whole affair with his father’s death and the trial had been hard on him. Still, he was planning to stay over the carnival, maybe all winter. They also got a glimpse of the baron himself as he, limping and leaning on a cane, walked in the garden with his daughter Magdalena, and the aging guard-captain Metternich.
The baron’s steward, the handsome Werner Markheim, left the residence and Marike “happened” to get in his way. They got to chatting on the way. Marike turned on the charm, he was soon flirting back, and they ended up agreeing to have dinner at the Showboat tomorrow night. Markheim didn’t seem entirely happy with his situation; he admitted in confidence that the baron was convinced that his champion Bernadette de Capricorne had thrown the fight, or at least surrendered too easily, and dismissed her without further ado. He thinks she ended up in the hospital at the Nurturer’s Chapel. After some further small talk, he excused himself and hurried eastwards; he had urgent business to handle.
Lunch with the professor
The party bought some food and brought it to Professor Bletzen. Over lunch, they discussed Wibeke’s condition – she was still asleep – and what might be done. The Professor could keep her in for another night or so but after that she’d need to go somewhere else. She knew about a surgeon, one Stefan Hochen, who might be the right man to speak to; he had a reputation for treating innocent mutants. First, however, they’d have to see whether her sudden scaly skin transformation would begun to recede by itself. If it’s permanent it would probably cover too much skin for an operation to be possible. Either way, the adventurers felt they had done what they could for the unfortunate guard.
Professor Bletzen was also curious whether the adventurers had begun to study their loot from the secret laboratory yet. She suggested that the Master Apothecary Ebn al-Azir might be approached to translate Alkazan’s notes; he knew the language and understood the value of discretion.
The former champion
While Marike returned to the Baumgarten Haus to deal with the stuff from the laboratory, Kethe, Wernhart and Courage headed to the Chapel of the Nurturer. On a bed in the hospital wing, they indeed found Bernadette, still with her injured leg raised up, distractedly reading a booklet illustrated with naughty woodcuts.
Bernadette turned out to be mightily pissed off at Baron Eberhard, who both cheated her out of her promised payment and then slandered her. She was quite willing to contribute what she knew if it could help bring him down – “and if it pays the bills”. Wernhart promised to talk to the Gräfin and bring some better erotic reading on their next visit. Bernadette pointed out that she was getting low on brandy as well; Courage swiftly helped with this by handing over a pocket flask.
The agitator
On the way home, they passed another speaker inciting a group of labourers. This agitator, Knut Leiber, didn’t look like a priest; he was a well-dressed young man with an eye-catching red hat.
“We’re all sinners,” he began, “but we, the honest people, are not hypocrites. We are what we are and don’t pretend otherwise. But look at those rich hypocrites who pretend to be holy and noble, but are worse than any of us. Good master Bartholt is right! You saw Father Bernt and his mistress being run out of town for their sins? It’s a start, but it’s just the top of the anthill. And honestly… it’s small fry. When will we see the righteous wrath brought down on those who truly deserve it? The whoremongers and witches and poisoners in their palaces and fancy churches? No, we know who we’d really like to see run out of town. She and all her lovers and her poisoner cousin and Kovetous Kepler and all that scum… ”
At this point he was interrupted by an older man whispering something in his ear. Nodding slowly, he changed his track. “And all the Sigmarites and idolators from the south can join them for all I care,” he resumed. “Long live the righteous and down with the wicked parasites!”
The labourers were cheering and shouting agreement throughout the speech, but many were starting to look thoughtful towards the end. Knut was, at the last moment, averted from pointing out the Kurfurstin by name, but it was quite clear who he was referring to.
Report and interrogation
Back at the Baumgarten Haus, the adventurers took the opportunity to make their report to the Gräfin. They didn’t mention Wibeke’s fate or wherabouts, but Wernhart put forward the theory that the fumes, the “servants” and Wilhelm König were connected, and that the letter from Dominique’s contact was another clue. He also reported having been in contact with Bernadette and Werner Markheim. The Gräfin was pleased with the progress; there were already several indications pointing in Dammenblatz’s direction, even there was no real “smoking gun” yet. She encouraged them to keep digging and inform her or Frau Odette as soon as they found out anything else of interest.
In the meantime, Captain Hölder had interrogated König. He had, like Dominique, quickly accepted the Gräfin’s offer of not pressing any charges if he cooperated. He repeated to the adventurers what he’d told Hölder:
- He had been hired through his contact “Kricket” – identical to Dominique’s “K.”, perhaps? – by an anonymous client. He was to plant false evidence of the black arts on the Gräfin; as an added bonus, he had free hands to rob her entourage.
- He had only met the client once. The client was masked, but limped noticeably on one leg.
- The two “servants” had been brought in by the client; König had not worked with them before.
The Gräfin was even more pleased to hear this.
An audience with Master André
Next, the adventurers headed back to the Breton House in the Altquartier and got to meet Master André, a rather unsavoury character: his nose was cut off, his breath reeking of cheap spirits and his voice a hoarse whisper. But with the offer of drinks, he was willing to entertain their company and sell them some answers to questions.
It quickly turned out, however, that André wasn’t specialised in gossip about the rich and powerful, but he did know someone who was: his “colleague” Justus would be the right man to ask. For 2 shillings, the adventurers were told you should ask for him at Koch’s tavern in Ulricsmund; they paid 3 more for André not to mention them asking this question to anyone else.
For 6 groschen more, they also learned that “Kricket” was the one to turn to if you wanted to hire a killer and could afford to pay for quality. He could be reached by letters left with the innkeeper of the Brown Owl.
The party thanked André for his time and headed towards Koch’s tavern.
GM’s notes (spoilers)
The Enemy Within: Remixed 
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