In which our friends discover something disturbing underneath the glorious surface, a friend and an enemy are both rescued from an awful fate, and the Kurfürstin’s Grand Masquerade goes out with a bang.
Friday, September 7th
The adventurers’ masks and costumes
Hide and seek
Aenlinn, Kethe and Wernhart stuck together and headed upstairs to hide. Gradually, the sounds of people running everywhere, giggling, hiding, laughing and groping drunkenly, seemed to fade away, the darkness being accompanied instead by a spooky silence. Narrowly avoiding Frau Sylvia von Hantzsch, who passed the corridor with a candle to capture a pair of other guests, they hid out in a guest room. Kethe, who had picked up a phobia of darkness since their adventures underneath the Windhund, was close to panic a couple of times but Aenlinn kept her in check.
The vision in the tower room
Meanwhile, Marike, Ranveer Lafari the court minstrel and Courage had made their way to the tower room, where there was plenty of furniture to hide behind. Moving along the wall, Marike happened to touch one of the mirrors, and suddenly she seemed to see something else in it.
In the reflection, the room suddenly seemed more illuminated – still not daylight, but evening or morning, with lights on in the room. Looking around, all was dark and quiet in the actual tower room, but in the mirror she could see a scene unfolding.
Two men entered the room. One was elderly and gray-haired, with an elegant mustache; he was wearing what looked like a nightgown and coughing. The other man was younger, tall and fit, wearing a torn shirt and breeches. The younger man was wearing a mask, but long blonde hair was visible under it. He had a long scar over his right shoulder down to his chest, and seemed to be supporting the older man.
The younger man led the older to a table with a large punch bowl and several jugs of drink. He poured something into a cup and gave the older man a drink… but suddenly, he grabbed his neck, pushing his head into the punchbowl with his full weight.
As the younger man was drowning the older, Marike caught a glimpse of a face in a doorway – a young long-haired woman in some kind of cloak and hood, who stared in horror and then disappeared from view. A moment later, the mirror went dark and the vision was over.
Shaken, Marike backed away from the mirror. Had she just had a vision of the death of Freiherr Otto von Dammenblatz? Not unthinkable – the man who was drowned did look a bit like an older version of Freiherr Eberhard. If so, then he was murdered after all. But who was the killer?
Her racing thoughts were interrupted by Ranveer, asking in a whisper if she was all right. Still shocked, she joined him and Courage behind the sofa.
* * *
Some 20 minutes before midnight, they were finally discovered by Ser Lucius von Harwitz, the leader of the Princess’ bodyguard. (Marike couldn’t help but notice his having long blonde hair and being built much like the man in the vision.) He explained the terms: They were each to give up a small token, which they could reclaim at the supper in exchange the forfeit of carrying out a command of the Kurfürstin’s choice.
After they’d each given away a trophy – Marike, who was not amused by the game, only left a coin, while Ranveer boldly left a ring – Ser Lucius escorted them back to the great hall. On the way, they passed the antechamber with the basement stairs, and Marike noted that it was no longer guarded.
The night before Saturday, September 8th
Midnight and reunion
The others managed to stay undiscovered until the clock struck midnight, and headed downstairs to the great ballroom, now fairly well-lit. Tables had been set up with light food, and people were milling around the room.
Just as they entered, the Kurfürstin Annika-Elise took the stage and welcomed her guests back.
“The midnight hour has struck,” she explains, “and you are all free to remove your masks and reveal yourselves – but whoever wants to can keep it on. At Nikse House, everyone is entitled to their secrets. But now it’s time to eat, drink and be merry as long as you please. My home is yours until dawn!”
Frau Sylvia held up a large basket with seized “trophies” from the hide-and-seek game; those who wanted their tokens back would have a chance to reclaim them.
* * *
Gräfin Marie-Ulrike was near the stage, and as the Kurfürstin stepped down, they had a whispered but apparently heated argument. Elsewhere in the ballroom, the adventurers spotted Freiherr Eberhard von Dammenblatz with his entourage – the Freiherr seemed to be drinking bravely – and nearby, his steward Werner Markheim talking quietly to Eva Dietrich; shortly after, he kissed her hand gallantly and retreated.
Kethe approached Eva, who was pleased to see her “bold masked brigand” again, and asked the singer if she has seen Hanna? Well, she was here a while ago, with Jungfrau Blanca Emrich. Nowhere to be seen now, though. Kethe had a bad feeling about this.
Supper in the library
The Gräfin and Frau Odette repaired to the library with Captain Hölder and some servants to have their supper somewhat in private, and the adventurers joined them. None of the ladies seemed in a much of a party mood anymore.
Wernhart discreetly showed the jade sceptre to Marike, who had read about similar ritual objects from the Far East – they couls be used as magical aids, or just as a symbol of power. She also whispered to the others about her vision in the tower room.
* * *
The Gräfin waved the adventurers to her and asked if they’d seen or heard anything disturbing that she would need to know about. Marike refrained from telling the Gräfin about her vision – she had not talked about her psychic gift before, and feared she would be distrusted – but Kethe pointed out the oddity of both Hanna and her husband being invited and not seeming to know why. She also began to tell about what she’d heard from Eva Dietrich, that it had begun to cast some doubt on the circumstances of Freiherr Otto’s death, and Eva’s hints about the princess’ “private party friends”.
The Gräfin seized on the last point. “What do you know about the Society?” she asked, her eyes narrowing. The adventurers looked at each other awkwardly, but then repeated what they heard from Eva. The Gräfin nodded, looking uncomfortable, but signaled for them to get closer.
In a lowered voice, she says that she did attend one of the “Society’s” gatherings – it was the night after the opera – but she didn’t much care for it, and she had declined to be “initiated” into the Society. They were not only engaged in worldly indulgence but also in some “foolishness” – some kind of blasphemous ceremonies – which in the Gräfin’s opinion were extremely inappropriate, especially as delicate as the situation was now. She did not believe it was anything serious, but it was really not the time for such a thing now when you had witch-hunters breathing down your neck.
The Gräfin asked the adventurers to be extra vigilant but also discreet – she absolutely did not want any scandal.
One of the red-clad courtesans, Amanda, entered and discreetly pulled Wernhart aside. She thanked him for helping her colleague – apparently named Jürgen – and it seems she had more to say. Wernhart found the timing bad and suggested that they meet next night at the Templar’s Arms taproom and talk more then. Amanda nodded and disappeared again.
The hidden rooms in the basement
The adventurers crept down into the cellars and soon found themselves in a large cellar vault with macabre Gothic decorations on the walls – lots of skeletons and skulls – and the entire south wall decorated as the front of a mausoleum. They found no way to open the “mausoleum” even though it had realistic “doors”, but a regular double door led north. Beyond the double doors was a slightly smaller stone vault decorated with a large table and shelves with what looks like embalming equipment.
Examining the wall decorations in the first vault more closely, Kethe finally noticed that one of the sculpted skeletons on the west wall appeared to be “holding” one of the torch sconces in the wall. She pulls on the sconce and indeed: a secret door opened onto a dark corridor.
* * *
The corridor ended at a closed but unlocked door. Beyond it, they found an unexpectedly cozy room with a couch, table, fireplace and a closet, and another door leading on. However, the impression was not only convivial; the floor was covered in a mosaic depicting wildly dancing demons and witches, and the fireplace was macabrely decorated with skulls, demonic figures and three blinded maidens with painted bleeding wounds on their necks. The wardrobe turned out to contain a few dozen black cloaks and simple white theater masks.
The prisoners of the red vault
The next room was… red. It was a largish stone vault, the floor covered by thick red carpets and the walls by crimson velvet curtains. Between two pillars was a small marble altar, decorated with several symbols the adventurers recognized from the chapel in Castle Wittgenstein and the cult site in the forest near Kröte. Also on the altar was a figurine of a horned, androgynous figure holding a sceptre – it also resembled the statue Marike saw in her vision in the chapel in Wittenstein – and some ceremonial objects: black candlesticks, a dagger with a wavy blade and a golden goblet on a plate. Along the walls were several small statues of satyr-like figures; scattered on the floor along the walls were cushions and pillows.
Behind the curtains, they found a couple of doors, both barred from the outside. Kethe opened one of the doors and found a dark little stone cell inside. Sitting on a carpet on the floor was a nearly unconscious man. It was Thomas Goldwasser! He seemed unharmed, and didn’t resist being helped to his feet and pulled out of the cell, but he seemed insensible and unresponsive.
Kethe shouted for the others to open the other door, and inside they found Hanna, apparently asleep. They managed to wake her up, but she was as uncommunicative as Thomas. Wernhart guessed that they both been drugged as well as thoroughly wined.
The adventurers argued about what to do, but decided the first priority was to get Hanna and Thomas out of here. Both had lost their masks; the adventurers borrowed a pair of cloaks and masks from the closet in the anteroom and put on them, then dragged them up to the library.
Reassembly
The adventurers told the Gräfin of their findings, and she tersely confirmed also having seen the red vault. She also found herself reluctantly nodding at their suspicions that it genuine dark sorcery was being planned, and that everything pointed to the Kurfürstin and people close to her being actively involved. She did not want to believe it, but it did seem that “Nikki”, as she calls the Kurfürstin, had gotten herself into some very bad things.
First off, the Gräfin asked Captain Hölder to take a couple of guards and escort Hanna and Thomas to the Baumgarten Haus. They could sleep there tonight, and would hopefully in a position to answer questions tomorrow. Hopefully, their “disappearance” would also mean that whatever was planned in the cellars was prevented.
The adventurers did some scouting in the ballroom and other public spaces: it seemed that the Kurfürstin had “retired” to her private rooms, no visitors allowed. Some of her closest people, such as Frau Sylvia and Sir Lucius, were also nowhere to be found. The other ladies-in-waiting, however – Manuela, Petra, Natascha and Kirsten – were all left in the ballroom, entertaining different guests. It was now a little past one and some guests had started to drop off, but the after-party was still in full swing. Some of the red-clad courtesans, including Amanda, were also missing, but some remained – including Jürgen, who seemed to be recovering. Wernhart noted that he was talking to Werner Markheim for a while.
Somewhat unsure of what to do next, the adventurers spread out a bit. Kethe and Aenlinn went off to the antechamber to keep an eye on the basement stairs. Eventually, Jungfrau Blanca Emrich, with whom Hanna hung out earlier in the evening, and Herr Felix von Rosam, a jovial round-faced gentleman, came up the stairs. Both seemed drunk, Blanca giggling uncontrollably to herself. Kethe stopped them and asked if she has seen Hanna. No, she got lost somewhere, and Blanca didn’t know what became of her – “but the replacement worked great, too!” Kethe also noted that Blanca’s magnificent dress had dark stains of something she hoped was wine. She decided to let them pass without making a scene.
Elsewhere, Councillor Gotthard Kepler had also reappeared but appeared to be leaving. The Kurfürstin has also returned to the ballroom, seemingly more elated and giddy than ever. The Gräfin went up to (discreetly) confront her, politely but firmly suggesting they take a walk in the garden to talk.
The avenging of the late Freiherr Otto
They didn’t get far, however, before being disturbed. A furious and very drunk Freiherr Eberhard von Dammenblatz, who had been talking to Markheim and a tall, still-masked man, came limping towards them and started yelling at the Gräfin.
“I know everything now!” he roared. “My father was tricked into your web, and he was murdered for what he saw and learned…”
The Gräfin was annoyed by the inconvenient interruption, but the Kurfürstin just laughed her girlish, teasing laugh at Dammenblatz.
“Now look, Herr Eberhard,” she said. “I invited you here in the hope that you might contribute some entertaining buffoonery, but this is getting more than a bit tedious. Don’t you have anything new to say? Even your old father (rest in peace) was more amusing company than this… ”
As the Kurfürstin addressed him, something seemed to break in Dammenblatz – or was something occurring to him? He stood silent for a moment, his gaze darkening. “You…” he almost whispered, then raised his voice. “YOU had my father murdered!”
The Kurfürstin, annoyed, gave a signal, and Lucius and a couple more of her knights advanced from different directions to seize Dammenblatz and throw him out. But before they got there, he drew a loaded wheellock pistol from under his coat, shouted “For Otto!” and fired.
The shot thundered through the ballroom, every head turning. Half a second later, the knights were upon Dammenblatz and forced him to the floor.
But it was too late. The shot had gone straight through the Kurfürstin’s heart, and she dropped dead to the floor in a growing pool of blood.
Aftermath
At first, panic threatened to break out among the remaining guests. Ser Lucius did nothing to bring peace and order – on the contrary, his own men had to prevent him from killing Dammenblatz on the spot. Marshal Maximilian von Genscher assumed command and had messengers sent to the castle; after a while, the Kurfurt’s guard-captain Ser Marie von Hirsch also arrived with a troop of Knights Panther and foot guards.
Order was restored; since the murder took place in front of dozens of eyewitnesses, the captains were content to take the names and addresses of all the remaining guests. Witnesses and possible accomplices would be summoned for questioning shortly. Dammenblatz was securely tied and imprisoned to await trial.
Eventually, the adventurers and the rest of the Gräfin’s entourage were also released and began to return to Baumgarten Haus. Along the way, the Gräfin explained that she did not intend to stay in Middenheim: she had more enemies than she expected, and she feared that this murder might just be the first step in a major purge. In addition, she risked being implicated as an accomplice to whatever the Kurfürstin had been doing.
However, she understood the adventurers had their own business in the city. She freed them from her continued service, but offered them another two weeks’ salary to stay in Middenheim over the carnival, keep an eye on developments and send a report to her estate in Middenland, where she intended to go now until things cooled down a bit.
The Enemy Within: Remixed 
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