In which our friends return to Middenheim after fighting off an ambush and making some farewells.
Wednesday, September 5th
Morning in Kleeblatt
The adventurers had barely had time to fall asleep before being awakened by noise outside the chapel where they have taken refuge. Outside, some armed young villagers were wondering who the newcomers are. A little further away, more villagers, adults and some children, had started to gather and look curiously.
Soon Völker Hagmann, an elderly farmer apparently in charge of the local militia, arrived and questioned the adventurers. When he realized that they weren’t robbers, he welcomed them to Kleeblatt and referred them to the Ox tavern, where there would probably be breakfast soon. The adventurers were anything but rested, but Middenheim was at least eight hours of marching away, so if they wanted to get home tonight they had to get going. They decided to have breakfast and a short rest in the village before going on.
Over breakfast, they were joined by Hagmann and Henrika Hahne, the village headwoman, and told them they’d been to Oberholzbek and met beastmen on the way. The villagers had seen the Hand expedition pass here last week; among the other travelers who passed, they’d also noticed a couple of horsemen who had been passing back and forth several times in the past week. They claimed to be hunters but looked more like bounty hunters if anything, Hagmann thought. This was one reason for the villager’s vigilance – maybe the horsemen were scouting for a band of outlaws?
The road west
The adventurers went on the road again. Not having horses for everyone, Zima, Dmitri and Wernhart– the hardest hit – got to ride all the way while the others took turns riding and walking.
After a couple of miles across open country, they crossed a bridge over the Kleinflusch brook and, after another mile or two, passed the Cracked Shield Inn. From now on the road mostly passed through woods again.
Somewhere in the forest, wolves were heard howling. It didn’t seem to worry Emmelinde, and the adventurers recalled the wolves who came to her aid when they first met. Had they found her again?
Meeting on the road
A moment later, however, Emmelinde warned the others that she’d seen movement in the woods. The road was very winding at this point, making it hard to see far ahead. Nervously, the company continued forward and tried to listen; a bit further ahead, beyond a road bend or two, it sounded like there were people on the road – and a couple of dogs barking.
The adventurers decided to simply press on forward. Rounding the bend, they saw three riders with a few dogs further down the road. One of them was none other than Theodor Glückstein, the head of the Windhund Haulage Company. The other two – a man and a woman – looked like they might be drivers or stablehands from the Windhund. All three were armed with swords and pistols.
“Good morning, Frau Lieberung,” Glückstein said coldly, staring Marike in the eye. “Let’s not beat around the bush. You have stolen from us. You led the party that looted the Laboratory of the Ordo Terribilis.” A familiar-looking red-eyed pigeon settled on his shoulder as he was speaking. “The Magister wants the stolen goods back. Now.”
Marike, stalling for time, flatly denied this with feigned indignation. Glückstain admitted that he didn’t understand why she acted like this, but he knew what he knew. The conversation bought time enough for Emmelinde and Wernhart to have time to dismount and for Courage to lead the horses, as well as Zima and Dmitri, off into the woods off the road.
Soon, however, Glückstein lost patience and barked an order; a crossbow bolt flew out of the woods, across the road and buried itself in a tree on the other side. More people hidden in ambush, then.
Fight!
After a few further moments of hesitation, Glückstein concluded that the adventurers weren’t about to surrender, and released his dogs just as another half-dozen armed men and women on foot were appearing out of the woods.
Glückstein’s henchmen on foot
From the start of the fight, the adventurers were hard pressed. Kethe and Marike both got bitten by the dogs attacking them before putting them down, and Marike also took a nasty blow to the knee from a club; Wernhart was struck by a crossbow bolt but saved by his brigandine armour; and Emmelinde was shot down with a blunderbuss and left lying unconscious.
Upon seeing Emmelinde wounded – perhaps fatally – Klaus was seized by rage and despair and involuntarily began to assume wolf form. This helped turn the tide of the fight; not only was the werewolf a powerful fighter in itself, its sudden terrifying appearance intimidated both the villains and their surviving dog enough for them to fail to coordinate and properly exploit their superior numbers.
After the adventurers managed to beat off their closest enemies, they counterattacked with Klaus at the head. After another fierce fight, most of the attackers had been killed or wounded and the survivors fled (one of the horses bolting after Marike threw alchemical fire at its rider). As Glückstein saw his companions flee, he spurred his horse in a desperate charge straight at Marike. But, with unexpected accuracy, she managed to kill him with a pistol shot, and the horse veered past and continued along the road, its dead rider hanging from the saddle.
The aftermath
As Klaus set about quenching his bloodthirst by feasting on the fallen – a spectacle that made everyone queasy at best – Wernhart started patching up the wounded. Emmelinde’s blunderbuss wounds were nasty-looking but not deep; she was still in shock, but gradually starting to recover.
Marike’s and Kethe’s injuries also turned out to be fairly easily treated; the dog bites were superficial and Marike’s knee injury not as bad as it looked at first. Marike was in fact most upset about the embarrassing state of her tailored leather breeches – among other rips and tears, half the seat was torn off! How was she ever going to be able to show herself like this?? (The conundrum was eventually solved by covering up with a cloak.)
In addition to their weapons and some small change, the fallen attackers – three men and one woman were left dead, along with two of the dogs – each carried a small purse around their neck, containing a small knotted tuft of horsehair. Was this a symbol of something?
Returns and farewells
After some more resting and recovering – by now, Klaus had become human again and helped care for Emmelinde – they gathered up and continued their journey. Emmelinde was still weak, but able to sit on a horse with help leading it.
At the last major crossroads before Middenheim, Emmelinde and Klaus declared they wouldn’t accompany the adventurers back into the city. They had no more business there and they’d had enough of cities; they wanted to go back home where life is easier and freer.
The adventurers and the werewolf couple made their goodbyes, thanking each other once more for all the help and parted as friends.
In customs
The adventurers barely made it back to Middenheim before the city gates closed at nine in the evening, and they nearly got caught in customs at the gate tower when the guards discovered they were carrying a sack full of alchemical elixirs, ingredients and tools. Even with Marike’s license, bringing alchemical objects into the city was still subject to steep tolls. The guards ended up simply seizing an arbitrary portion of the sack’s contents, marking it with Marike’s name and address and giving her a receipt; she was welcome to visit the Commission on Sorcery if she wanted to redeem any particular objects. The contents will, of course, also be examined for any illegalities. (Thankfully, Wernhart had hidden the burglar’s Hand of Glory so well the guards didn’t find it.)
Finally they were let through and had to hurry up the long winding viaduct, just as the last stagecoaches were rolling into the city. At the gates, they were quickly waved through.
* * *
Back at the Baumgarten Haus, things seemed to be quite normal; their room had been aired out and cleaned and was habitable again. Frau Odette mentioned wanting a checkup on their assignment in the morning.
Just before bedtime there was a visitor. It was Renate Hausier, more frightened and shaken than they’d seen her since Bogenhafen.
“Haven’t you heard?” she gasped. “They’ve thrown Professor Bletzen in prison!”
The Enemy Within: Remixed 
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