In which our friends finish their business with their hosts and shake the dust of Schloss von Reuter off their feet.
The night before Sunday, October 7th
Konstantin’s study
After tying the still hysterical Sanne von Reuter to a chair with Aenlinn‘s rope, the adventurers made a quick search of the study.
Lying open on the desk was a book of necromantic spells; surely very valuable but also very illegal to possess. Marike found a number of bottles of alchemical elixirs, which she stuffed into her bag to examine later. Wernhart bagged the spell-book and also picked up a small book of short biographies of “Necromancers and Magicians of Ill Repute”, illustrated with macabre woodcuts. It had, among other things, chapters on Imperial Baroness Dagmar von Wittgenstein and on Heinrich Kemmler, the Lichemaster of Nuln.
On the bookshelves, they also found several titles they recognised from the libraries of Dagmar and her descendant Margrethe von Wittgenstein, about alchemical necromancy and transformations. There was also a, no doubt valuable, first edition of Kemmler’s anatomy textbook, which was mentioned in the biography.
In a desk drawer they found some accounting papers. Most of it wasn’t very illuminating, but a couple of letters indicated that Konstantin had done some business with the Kepler family in Middenheim.
* * *
At this point the adventurers were starting to consider what to do next. What were they going to do with the rest of the family? Sanne obviously couldn’t take care of herself and needed to be taken somewhere where she could be cared for, and that might or might not be true for Anya as well. They couldn’t just leave Jonathan here to starve to death either. And what were they going to do about little Elena, who might not even be a real child? This adventure probably wasn’t quite over after all…
Like father, like son
The adventurers took Sanne along – by now, she’d calmed down considerably, apparently going into a near-catatonic state – and went back downstairs. When they come outside, they heard faint noises and shouting from the stables, where they had left Anya von Reuter and Courage. With a bad feeling about all this, they hurried out through the gate in the low stone wall around the courtyard, towards the stables.
The stable doors flung open and Sebastian von Reuter, Konstantin’s son, came riding out in full armour on his black warhorse, his lance pointing skywards. He was dragging Anya behind the horse, her hands tied to a rope secured to the saddle horn. The horse was going forward at a leisurely walk, but its much longer legs meant she had to almost run to keep up. Walking behind Anya with light steps was her sister Mina, a dagger in one hand and a torch in the other. Upon seeing the adventurers, they halted.
“I am my father’s only son,” Sebastian called out loudly and clearly, “and so it falls to me to avenge the dishonour you have done to us. Our false-hearted sister has betrayed us and helped you insult our house and transgress its laws. All your lives – and hers – belong to my father!”
“Come, Sebastian,” Mina said, her voice deceptively soft and sweet. “I’m sure we can reason with our guests. Nobody is going to do anything stupid, are they?” She stepped close to Anya and held the dagger to her throat.
Thinking quickly, Aenlinn realised she had to try to make Sebastian lose his cool and forget about his hostage, so she stepped forward and declared, just as loudly, that she just killed his father. “And what are you going to do about it?”
The taunt worked; Sebastian flew into a rage, closed his visor and lowered his lance. “Sebastian! No, wait!” cried Mina, but in vain; oblivious to everything but his desire for revenge, he spurred his horse and charged at Aenlinn. Poor Anya was thrown head over heels and dragged across the ground as the horse broke into a trot, but now at least Mina’s knife was not at her throat anymore.
Aenlinn waited until the last moment before dodging out of the way of the charging horse. The lance thrust still struck her helmet and she stumbled backwards a few steps, but managed to keep her feet, while Sebastian held in and turned his horse.
Kethe dashed past them, cut the rope holding Anya to the horse, and stood between her and Mina. Anya moaned and remained prone on the ground, but she didn’t appear to be seriously injured. Mina, seeing her position rapidly and drastically deteriorate, gasped, then turned and ran. Kethe, thoroughly fed up with this family by now, gave chase, caught up and ran her through with her rapier.
Meanwhile, Aenlinn had gone on the counterattack against Sebastian. She aimed a sword cut at his horse, wounding it lightly on the flank; it reared up in a panic, and with a little more help from Wernhart throwing a couple of distracting rocks, threw off its rider and bolted. Even thrown to the ground, the fully armoured Sebastian was a tough nut to crack and continued to put up a fierce fight, but finally Aenlinn dropped her shield, took her sword in a half-sword grip and managed to drive it deep into his armpit, mortally wounding him.
After the battle
Courage was lying on the stable floor, bruised and bloodied, but Wernhart soon revived her and Kethe told her Anya was safe. Courage told them she shot Sebastian with her crossbow, but his armour stopped the bolt and he threw her against the wall, knocking her out. Wernhart attended to her injuries; it might be a slight concussion, but she’d bounce back.
Anya was shaken and bruised but not seriously hurt, and she seemed both impressed and a little frightened by the adventurers’ violent progress. When she realised that they had indeed finished off her father and his creations, she nearly collapsed with relief, but soon recovered and thanked them profusely. She agreed the best thing they could do for her mother and Jonatan was to take them somewhere where they could receive care or at least be minded. She didn’t want to stay here herself either, although strictly speaking she was now the owner of Schloss von Reuter.
The adventurers quickly searched the dead siblings; Sebastian was wearing only his clothes, weapons and armour, but Mina, in addition to her jewelry, also had a key. Anya suspected it might lead to Konstantin’s laboratory in the cellars.
They also noticed that the lights in the forest, the ones that looked like eyes, had gone out.
* * *
Along with Anya, the adventurers – except for Marike, who stayed with Courage and the bound Sanne – made a quick round of the house. In Mina’s room, the only trace they found of Elena was a pile of ashes on the floor by her clothes; it seemed she was also one of Konstantin’s creations whose “life” was tied to his. Anya guessed that this was probably what warned Mina of what was going on.’
The laboratory in the cellars
The adventurers decide to explore the cellar laboratory as well and eventually found their way there; just in case, they didn’t bring Anya down there (and she was just as happy about that). A short, damp stone staircase ended in front of a massive iron door. Down here, the air was cold, wet and stuffy.
Mina’s key fit in the door and they entered a large cellar vault; to their surprise the room was not entirely dark, but bathed in a pale yellowish glow from what appeared to be glowing, sulphurous censers hanging from the ceiling. Standing in the middle of the room was a bloodstained marble table with a rusty iron lever next to it; a lone door in the far wall lead on.
Along the walls were rows of cages with monstrous things that leaped to their feet as they spied the adventurers. One of the creatures was a nightmarish hybrid of several dog bodies stitched together, its fur peeling off here and there to reveal red wet muscles, and its many yellow eyes staring madly. Another was once human, but had had so much muscle tissue grafted onto it that it looked deformed. Two emaciated corpses slithered across the floor of another cage, gnawing at the bars, no flicker of intelligence behind their dead eyes. The stench of decay mixed with an acidic, pungent smell of chemicals.
The adventurers recoiled in horror, but quickly recovered their senses. They decided, with some disgusted reluctance, that the only thing they could do for these hapless necromantic lab animals was to kill them as quickly and painlessly as possible; thanks to the cages, they could shoot at them from a safe distance. The grim task of slaughtering the vivisects took some time, and they were both shaken and nauseous, but at last it was finally over.
* * *
They quickly searched cellar vault and found a number of bloodstained surgical tools (of the highest quality) and a cabinet of hideously deformed animals preserved in chemicals in glass jars. In one of the cells they found an almost complete, severed female arm still wearing a fine silver bracelet; in another a tattered, bloodstained diary, the last few pages of which were still legible. It confirmed the adventurers’ suspcicion that they weren’t the first people Konstantin had lured into the same trap.
The operating theatre
Beyond the laboratory was an octagonal vault where dozens of preserved body parts hung in chains from the ceiling — arms, legs, heads; all with a ghastly bluish-gray hue and dripping a faint drizzle of yellowish preservative fluid. A pair of raised slabs, stained with dried blood and scarred with deep cuts, stood side by side in the centre of the room. Manacles at the head and foot of the slabs suggested that those operated on or dissected here had to be held in place.
A bizarre collection of complicated machinery stood between the two slabs; its many tubes and cogs also stained with gore. The whole room reeked of powerful chemicals; the fumes were almost overpowering.
The adventurers gritted their teeth and searched the vault. In a secret compartment under one of the stone slabs they found a blood-red wax candle in a small holder; Wernhart recalled reading about enchanted candles that provided some kind of protection as long as they burned – perhaps this could be something like that?
Over in the far wall, Aenlinn found a cavity where a stone appeared to have come loose. Inside the hollow she found a lever; as she pulled it, a section of the wall swung open with a grinding of stone, revealing a narrow, dark, slimy tunnel sloping slightly downward.
The escape tunnel
The tunnel eventually led to a large cave, carved across the tunnel by a fast-flowing underground river; its exit was blocked by thick, rusty iron grates, but the tunnel continued on the other side.
With some trouble – Kethe had to swim across the rushing, freezing river with a rope that the others could then use to cross – they managed to cross the river and continue. The tunnel was sloping gradually upwards now, and after what seemed like an eternity it emerged onto a deserted moor, just outside the woods surrounding Schloss von Reuter. An escape tunnel of some kind, apparently? There didn’t seem to be any more to do here, so they returned.
Sunday, October 7th
Finishing business
By now the sun was rising. While the adventurers explored the cellars, Anya gathered what she could find in the way of money, easily transported valuables and other things that might be needed to start a new life elsewhere, and loaded a cart into the stable. She gratefully explained that if the adventurers found anything they had use for, it was theirs. Aenlinn kept Sebastian’s arm and leg armour to complement her own; she also took his longsword, while Wernhart called dibs on his fine rondel dagger. Anya packed the rest of the armour and weapons to sell.
The adventurers and Anya agreed to travel together back to Bergsburg. There they could leave Sanne and Jonathan with the Hospital of the Nurturer, where they could hopefully receive treatment, and they could report to the church and to the Margravine who resided there – the von Reuter estate should be within her territory – about what they found and witnessed. Anya could also settle there if she wanted, or travel further.
They finished their business at Schloss von Reuter by going to the tombs and, keeping their promise to Sven Feuerschild, taking the remains of his wife and daughter to bury them elsewhere. They also looked into Sven’s tomb and found his ghost was nowhere to be seen; maybe he had at last found peace now.
Finally they retrieved Jonathan from his prison, put Aenlinn’s manacles on him – despite his constant, calmly reasoned protests – and loaded him onto Anya’s cart along with the still-catatonic Sanne.
By mid-morning, the small caravan – the adventurers on horseback, Courage and Anya each with a cart and the rest of the family’s horses – was ready to set off. It was a warm and sunny autumn morning, and with a collective sigh of relief they left Schloss von Reuter behind, hopefully for good.
The Enemy Within: Remixed 
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