Episode 1: A Rough Night at The Three Feathers Report

General Summary

The Gathering Storm Session 1: “A Rough Night at the Three Feathers” 10/25/2020; 2/26/2021; 3/11/2021   PC’s Jehan Schuster, Sleuth (Andy) Egon Rothenstein, Boat-Hand (Josh) Fritz Lander, Apprentice Artist (Sergio) Elodie Azucar, Hexer (Rex) Dieter Desch, Bodysnatcher (Matt H.)   6 Nachgeheim, 2512 I.C.   The guildhouse stands out, even amidst the hustle and bustle of a Market Day evening, as being the busiest and most boisterous corner of the Marktplatz.     While merchants are slowly folding up tents and canopies in the square, and odd groups of locals linger about, continuing conversations or arguing about which tavern to patronize, the entryway to the guildhouse is swarming with activity. A surly mix of carpenters, stonemasons, and bricklayers buzz about a web of scaffolding and construction dust while a host of finely clad merchants bark orders or voice disapproval beneath the building’s facade.     On a normal day, a group such as yourselves would have been stopped by a porter before you came within five yards of the front door. But today it’s easy enough to slip through the crowd of laborers, into the foyer, and be greeted by a different sort of activity.     On one side of a modest courtyard appear to be two stories of offices and conference rooms, and by the looks of the lamplight, shuffling clerks and apprentices, and muffled chatter, business is good. But the sounds and smells on the other side of the courtyard, home of the guild’s private club, are much more attractive. Laughter mixes with argument in a fog of roasted meat, heady ale, and fresh-baked bread, several loaves of which are pulled out of the outdoor oven before your eyes by a stout halfling with woolen gloves and quick feet.     A young porter is speaking with a slender merchant in his 50’s who sports a long blond mustache. They look up as you approach. The merchant is the first to speak.     “Ah. One of you must be Jehan Schuster? I am Frederick Reuter.”   Jehan introduces group and Herr Reuter prepares to lead them to the conference room to meet with Guildmaster Muller. Sorry for the haste -- she’s only available for a short while. Afterwards, the party is invited to lunch at the club, courtesy of Reuter.

• Elodie makes the connection between the elder Reuter and Rutger Reuter, the merchant who hired them to work on his mill in Grausee (and was subsequently killed by his partner).
• Elodie suggests that she knows Rutger, and the uncle’s reaction to the boy’s death is genuine, but Elodie downplays the connection that the party has with Rutger’s betrayer, Johanna Stiegler, and doesn’t mention anything about the dwarf that absconded with the paychest.

Party meets with Guildmaster Marta Muller, Sigmar Brauninger (senior member of the Guild), and an apprentice.

• Marta cuts to the chase and opens a metal lockbox. The PC’s have been booked on a Ratchett Lines coach for Stromdorf that leaves tomorrow at 8am from the Bridge House Inn. They should be in Stromdorf in two days, after a one-night stop at The Three Feathers Inn along the Teufel, also to be covered by the Guild (one room; dinner and breakfast).
• After that, they’re on their own: 40/- apiece to cover expenses. A purse of 30 GC if they bring back a missing merchant; 20 GC if they just bring back his signet ring. Brauninger and Reuter will explain more. Marta departs with her apprentice.
• Florian Wechsler is a merchant of good-standing here in Ubersreik. Up until the occupation, he had been a coal merchant who received coal from Jungfreud mining interests here in town, and sold it up north in Stromdorf. Horrible trade route, but the hardworking Wechsler knew a profit when he saw one. The rain-soaked Stromdorfers were always desperate for coal.
• Since the Jungfreuds were removed from power, and access to their mines was subsequently cut off, Ubersreik has been starved for coal, wood, oil, and pretty much anything that can burn. Understandably, if Wechsler could still get his hands on some coal, he’d be best served -- both from a standpoint of civic duty and of profit -- to sell it locally. But two weeks ago, Wechsler again headed north to Stromdorf, ostensibly to sell coal… and hasn’t been heard from since.
• The Guild doesn’t begrudge anyone the right to seek opportunities as they arise, or the right to turn a profit in challenging times… but if he is working with the Jungfreuds and intentionally diverting coal supplies away from Ubersreik, then that looks very, very bad for the Guild.
• The Guild would like him to return home to answer some questions. If it’s as they suspect and he’s working with the former ruling class to destabilize Ubersreik, then the Guild will revoke his membership and kindly ask him to hand over his signet ring. Considering everything that is happening right now, and the Guild’s position to become a true ruling power in a possible Freistadt, they don’t need people like Wechsler sabotaging efforts from within.
• Party asks a few questions, comes to the conclusion that Brauninger is a dick, and then is escorted to the club by Reuter: “Your friend already has a booth in the balcony snug. Order whatever you like. It’s on me.”

  Party’s “friend” is Ubersreik’s resident grey wizard, Christophe Engel. He is already familiar with Fritz, Egon, and Jehan, and asks to be introduced to Dieter and Elodie. He also explains that he influenced the Guild to hire them for this Wechsler business.

• “I thought it best to tell you why you’re really going to Stromdorf. Or, at least, why I influenced the Guild to hire you for their own purposes. I could care less about a missing coal merchant, or the Guild’s current power play, but, as you may well be aware, mercantile efforts are much more profitable than wizarding, and if I can find someone else to bankroll your trip to Stromdorf, all the better.
• “I find that I was quite lucky to have made your acquaintance after the Spittlefeld affair. Seems that when I ask favors of noble, adventurous types such as yourselves, the relationships don’t always endure. The last group I had engaged for heroic pursuits saw their home explode just last night! Of course, nothing like that is going to happen to you. Just need someone to satisfy some curiosity is all…
• “I’ve been in contact with a colleague of mine in Altdorf, a wizard of the Amethyst Order by the name of Gustav Weil. He is something of an expert in dealing with the undead, so I related much of what you told me regarding our recent vampire incident.
• “I’ve also been speaking with him about something else. You see, I am in pursuit of an ancient magical artifact that is divided into twenty constituent parts. Its existence was long thought to be mere legend, but recent discoveries have suggested otherwise.
• “I reached out to my colleague initially to inquire about a particular ritual I know to be housed in the Celestial College library in Altdorf. Hindemith’s Ritual of Rediscovery. To put it simply, the ritual is intended to help reunite disparate parts of connected magical ephemera. To the surprise of myself, my colleague, and, in fact the Celestial College librarian, it seems that the grimoire containing this ritual has been missing for some months!
• “Why does that concern you? Well, several nights aga I received word from another colleague, stationed at the Tower of the Vane, Sibylle Hagerdorn -- she commands the Tower, to be fair -- remarking about a mad influx of Azyr energy off beyond the Blitzfelsen Hills in the general vicinity of Stromdorf. Could be nothing… but then I got to thinking how, perhaps, this could be related to the missing ritual.
• “While I am pursuing my own leads to track down these artifacts, and my other group of associates either perished in a recent tavern fire or is simply missing in action, I would like you to investigate whatever is going on in Stromdorf. Put my fears to rest, I hope. And as you’re doing it on the Guild’s pfenning, as it were, all the better.”

  Christophe departs and the Party enjoys the Club’s generosity. They eat, drink, and mingle.   Fritz runs into an old client, one Elvyra Kleinestun of Weissbruck.

• She’s in town to visit her friend Cordelia, who hasn’t been well. Elvyra has telltale signs of weirdroot chewing.
• She bought an abstract, erotic sculpture of Rhya from Fritz’s master in Stimmigen last spring. She remembers him because his master wouldn’t let him initial the piece (as he was just an apprentice), even though he was solely responsible for carving it. The two of them met up at a tavern that evening, shared some root, and he etched “FLander” into the base.
• Elvyra shares her dragon-bag of root with Fritz, and this attracts Elodie’s attention, who joins them. Elodie immediately attracts Elvyra’s attention.

Party invites Bodo Kellner to drink with them. Bodo is a “merchant of distinction” from Bogenhafen, who is trying to set himself up in Ubersreik.

• He deals primarily in black-market weapons, but sells just enough to the occupying Altdorf force to avoid suspicion. Started his business when tensions arose between Ubersreik and Auerswald, and then things really took off when the Altdorf army rolled in.
• He sells a few things in the Marktplatz, but most “special orders” include a negotiated delivery. He has a few nice pieces left over from Market Day in the trunk of his coach, and he leads the Party outside to have a look-see.
• Party buys a ceremonial Tilean dagger (Fine/SB+3 dmg/still concealable a buckler; a leather skullcap; a leather jerkin; a set of manacles; and a freaking bomb with a quick-fuse. Bodo throws in a sword-breaker with the lot for seven GC.
• “They call them ‘ceremonial’ to distract folks from the fact that they’re fucking deadly.”

7 Nachgeheim, 2512 I.C.   Party departs Ubersreik from the Bridge House Inn in the morning and arrives at the Three Feathers in the late evening. Clock times are approximate timeline markers.   9:00 PM The Three Feathers is near-capacity and the taproom is packed.

• 
  The Gravin Maria-Ulrike von Liebwitz of Ambosstein and her retinue are in residence, en route to Kemperbad on some legal matter
• Her bare-chested champion, Bruno Franke, is arm-wrestling guards and coachmen
• A halfling, Seedling, and a gnome, Glimbrin, are playing cards with some servants at a nearby table. The Gravin sits with them.
• PC’s check in and grab a table for some supper
• Elodie immediately starts flirting with one of the barmaids, Lotte
• One of the PC’s coachmen, Mixo, wants to sit with them and gossip

9:10 PM Three scholars arrive, hang their coats to dry by one of the fireplaces, and secure a room. They keep to themselves at a table on the far wall.

• The Gravin heads upstairs with several members of her personal guard.
• Gossip: a noble from Dunkelberg was found dead in his punch bowl at a party during Nuln’s Blackpowder Week. The noble’s nephew accused the Gravin of poisoning him, or using some kind of witchcraft, and that’s why she rushed off to Ubersreik. Now she has to travel to the neutral city of Kemperbad to discuss the charges. She must be covering her bases, hence traveling with her judicial champion.

9:15 PM Mixo insists that the group isn’t really an investigative arm of the Merchants’ Guild (nobody really goes to Stromdorf), and wants to be let in on the secret. Jehan plays along, and invites Mixo to play detective and guess as to what they’re really up to:

• Jehan is clearly the leader of the group… Egon is the muscle… Dieter looks like the kind of guy you employ to open locked doors or slide daggers into someone’s back… Elodie and Fritz are the charmers, the “faces” of the group, one for each gender -- classic spies! You guys are headed to… Auersbad?! Some political destabilization?

9:20 PM A few PC’s play Scarlet Empress with Glimbrin, Seedling, and a few servants

• After a few rounds, the only winner is Glimbrin
• Egon accepts Bruno’s open challenge to arm-wrestle for coin
• Bruno wins in the first round
• A servant comes down and tells Bruno to stop gambling and come upstairs to bed. Bruno stands up and tells the servant to fuck off.

9:25 PM A small boat arrives carrying a well-dressed man (Johann Schmidt) and his female companion, along with two boatmen. They look and act like newlyweds. They book a room and hustle upstairs.

• Fritz starts sketching the trio of scholars sitting in the corner of the taproom.

9:30 PM The Gravin her damn self comes downstairs, with some guards, and orders Bruno to bed. He sulkily complies. A few other servants collect their food and beverages and follow the retinue upstairs.

• The PC’s supper arrives. Elodie keeps working on Lotte.

9:35 PM Three robed and highly decorated clerics of Morr arrive, carrying a coffin, and check in. The entire tavern watches in hushed tones as the creepy trio head up to their room.   Other gossip, on the trail of Florian and his bodyguard:

• a lot of people leaving Ubersreik in the last few weeks; hard to remember specifics. But yeah, we know Olaf (one of Wechsler’s bodyguards). He’s a big gambler, and makes a lot of noise when he’s in the taproom. Might’ve been… two weeks ago?
• It’s been a rough month! As if the occupation isn’t bad enough -- the Marktplatz riot, the murders on The Hill… there’s even a rumor going around that the Watch had to cordon off part of the city because of the plague!
• We hear that Ubersreik has a huge rat problem. That’s why I’m headed there to sign up with the new ratcatchers’ guild.

9:45 PM A tall, muscular, intimidating-looking woman arrives and heads to the bar. A patron accosts her, and she decks him with one blow. The woman, Ursula, scowls at everyone but smiles at Fritz and accepts his invitation to join them.

• She speaks with a slight Kislevite accent, and explains that she is originally from Ostland, lives in Nuln, and is delivering a message to Ubersreik.
• Elodie makes a bit of a fool of herself trying to impress Ursula.
• Fritz stops sketching the scholars and starts sketching Ursula.

9:55 PM Johan comes down to the bar and asks the bartender for a bottle of wine. One of the Gravin’s servants (Erpresser) accosts Johan and a heated conversation ensues. Jehan catches bits of the conversation: the servant seems to know something and is threatening to expose Johan. Johan angrily hurries back upstairs with his bottle.   10:00 PM One of the Gravin’s servants comes down and orders the rest of her retinue to bed. They’re starting out early tomorrow.

• Some head upstairs; others head to the dormitory, north of the taproom.
• The front doors are locked for the night.

10:10 PM Bruno comes back downstairs, grinning broadly and looking around with theatrically exaggerated caution. He orders a mug of ale, tells the barmaid to “keep ‘em coming,” and sets up at his old table for more armwrestling.

• After seeing Bruno make short work of a few boatmen, Ursula finishes her beer and heads over to challenge the champ to the tune of ten shillings. Egon heads over to watch.
• Fritz and Elodie start hatching a plan… see, first I pull a crow out of my skirt…
• Dieter has had enough of this socializing and decides to go outside to take a poop (really he’s going to start prowling around the building!)

10:15 PM Bruno beats Ursula (but he broke a sweat -- lasted longer than any of his other bouts) and Egon and Fritz lose the money they bet on Ursula.   Fritz challenges Bruno -- accepted. Fritz banters successfully as a distraction while his partner in crime gets busy.

• Elodie casts Produce Small Animal and yoinks a crow from out between her legs.
• Bar is busy and most folks are focused on Bruno’s table, but one coachman espies the avian manifestation and sputters in alarm.
• Jehan, who was conscripted into covering the ruse, tries to convince the coachman that he must have drunk too much and is confused. Jehan is quite charming and succeeds at convincing the coachman that he was seeing things.
• Elodie goes to the stair landing and casts Animal Friend on “Mr. Crow” and lets him loose in the taproom.
• Lotte, the barmaid, brings a tray full of beers to Bruno’s table. Everyone grabs a mug.
• Someone at the table makes a comment about those awful Morrites losing control of one of their crows and Ursula is very interested.
• Fritz gets the upper hand… Bruno counters… Fritz draws even… Mr. Crow attacks Bruno’s head! SLAM -- Fritz wins!
• Cheers! Deion, one of the coachmen, coughs and chokes halfway through his chug and then collapses to the floor, clutching his chest.
• 
  Egon is the only one who notices a busty brunette, near the bar, take off with a very concerned look, after Deion passes out. She runs into the dormitory.
• One of the Morrites, who was heading downstairs just at this time, sees the dying Deion on the floor and mumbles under his breath, “Shit -- this is all I need.” Fritz overhears him. The Morrite goes to confer with the proprietor.

Outside, Dieter can’t seem to find a good spot to scale the wall...   10:20 PM Egon excuses himself, steps over the dead coachman, and pursues the brunette.

• Fritz gets Ursula’s attention, ignores the dead coachman, and inquires about the “weird Morrites.”
• Hans Orff, the proprietor, hustles over with some of the help to drag Deion off to the larder for safekeeping.

Dieter is still scuffling at the wall.   10:25 PM Egon can’t find the woman in the dormitory, and heads outside to the courtyard.   Ursula follows Hans back to the bar, asking questions. Fritz shadows, and oversees Ursula exchanging coins with Hans for information:

• the Morrites are expecting a boat tonight; alert them when it arrives;
• Morrites are in room nine…

Dieter finally gains purchase on the exterior facade, climbs up to the second story, and shimmies along the north side of the building, trying to get back to some lit windows on the west wing of the Inn (which is the wing rented out by the Gravin’s party).

• 
  Egon sees Dieter and helps to distract a dwarf boatman working in the courtyard, keeping his attention averted from the creeping creeper.
• Dieter sees Johann and his ladyfriend locked in carnal activities;
• he sees two of the Gravin’s maids gossipping in their room;
• he sees one of the Gravin’s employees (Gustaf Rechtshandler) dressing out of his nightgown, about to leave his room.

10:40 PM Egon goes back inside taproom, joins Jehan, Elodie, and Fritz, and they head up to their room. Egon wants to convene and let his compatriots know about the busty broad and the apparent poisoning-gone-wrong. He also points out the window.

• They all look out their bedroom window, across the courtyard, to see their pal Dieter perched outside someone’s window.
• Elodie produces a ferret, thinking that will help somehow. She names it Basel.
• The four leave their room to see if they can provide a distraction or some assistance, and they run into Gustaf as he is heading downstairs. The barrister regards the quartet with disdain.

After Gustaf vacates his room, Dieter cat-burgles into the room and starts snooping around.

• He can’t read, but he ascertains that Gustaf is a lawyer for House Ambosstein.

10:45 PM Jehan follows Gustaf into the taproom where, after the lawyer orders a brandy and is headed back upstairs, Jehan waylays him to ask a few questions.

• Jehan describes the bosom-y woman, claiming that she owes him money from playing cards, and asks Gustaf where she can be found.
• Gustaf clearly knows who Jehan is talking about, but blows him off regardless.

One of the three scholars makes a beeline upstairs, seemingly triggered by Gustaf’s arrival.

• Jehan tries the same tack with the scholar. The scholar doesn’t know the woman being described, and simply explains that he spotted an old friend, and he’s headed upstairs to talk to him.

10:50 PM Fritz and Elodie are snooping around at various rooms on their wing of the building. Basel is friendly. Dieter hears someone approaching and quickly hides under Gustaf’s bed.   10:55 PM Gustaf returns, with his brandy, unaware of Dieter’s presence.

• There is a knock at Gustaf’s door, and Dieter overhears a muffled, tense conversation. The newcomer drops phrases like “you have no choice” and “you belong to us” to which Gustaf responds with “never again” and “absolutely not.” There is a brief scuffle, a cry of pain, and the dead body of a scholar falls to the ground inches from Dieter’s face, victim of a well-placed stab by Gustaf.
• Elodie, Fritz, joined by Jehan and Egon, are playing with Basel in the main second-floor corridor, which has piqued the interest of the guards stationed at the front of the Gravin’s wing.

11:00 PM Gustaf drags the body of the scholar out of his room. Dieter stays put. Johann comes out of his room, pulls Elodie aside, and offers her five shillings to deliver a message to one Hans Erpresser in the dormitory: tell Hans that “Schmidt” would like to speak with him.   11:05 PM Before Dieter can figure out if he should get out from under the bed, Gustaf re-enters the room and is overheard calling out for a servant.

• Servant arrives, and Gustaf instructs him to locate his “old friend,” in the taproom. Never mind his name -- he’s about 5’10” with black hair and grey eyes, and he’s wearing a bowler hat. Tell him Gustaf would like to speak with him. Dieter realizes that Gustaf is describing Jehan and decides to wait to see how this plays out.

In the PC’s room, Elodie tells the group about her message-delivery job, and Jehan agrees to accompany her.   Egon and Fritz remain vigilant at their window, watching the room entered by Dieter to keep tabs on him.   11:10 PM In the taproom, Elodie flirts with Lotte and learns that Hans has retired to the dormitory. In the dorm, Elodie has a little face-off with Hans.

• Hans is coy and smug about his “valuable information” regarding “Schmidt”
• In one quick motion, Elodie grabs Hans’s head with one hand, and jabs the fingers of her other hand up his nose. The other folks in the dorm want no part of this, and ignore the activity.
• Hans confesses what he knows: “Schmidt” is really Baron Friedrich von Pfeifraucher of Ubersreik and that woman is another man’s wife. He had planned on blackmailing the Baron.
• The Gravin’s servant finds Jehan in the dormitory and delivers Gustaf’s message. Jehan, deciding that Elodie has this under control, leaves with the servant to speak with Gustaf.

11:20 PM Elodie produces her deadly Tilean dagger and, with the blade pushed against the small of Hans’s back, escorts him slowly through the crowded taproom with intentions to confront “Schmidt” upstairs. Upstairs, Gustaf welcomes Jehan into his room.

• Gustaf apologizes for being so brusque earlier, and explains to his “friend” that he is being blackmailed by the scholarly robed travelers in room ten. He offers 20 GC if Jehan and his associates will dispose of these two women.
• Dieter chooses this moment to burst out from under the bed, scaring the shit out of Gustaf in the process.
• In a sinister mixture of intimidation and persuasion, Jehan and Dieter get Gustaf to increase his offer to 40 GC, with an immediate down payment of 15 GC.

Egon and Fritz see action in the lawyer’s window, so Fritz decides to casually stroll down the halls to see what’s up.   11:25 PM As Elodie is edging Hans across the taproom, avoiding suspicious (jealous?) eye contact from Lotte, a great hammering is heard at the Inn’s locked front door.

• Hans and a servant open the door, and in barrels a well-dressed -- but fairly drunk -- mustachioed man (Thomas Prahmhandler) accompanied by three aggressive-looking thugs. He demands to know in which room is Friedrich von Pfeifraucher.
• Fritz hears commotion and, lured by that delicious din of an imminent barfight, decides to head downstairs.
• A brawl breaks out as the Inn’s staff and several patrons try to stop Prahmhandler and his goons from getting upstairs.

11:30 PM In the middle of this, inexplicably, Elodie casually slices Hans’s throat. She tosses his body on the floor of the brawl, bleeding out amidst breaking chairs and tumbling bodies.

• As one brawl erupts in the center of the taproom, Fritz teams up with Mixo, at the base of the stairs, to fight back two of the thugs (Crazy Lars and Big Curls).
• Mixo turns out to be an inspired combatant, dodging blows and landing punch after punch on Lars, eventually dropping the thug.
• Fritz fares a little worse and gets popped by Curls a few times before Mixo comes over to help out.
• In the upstairs corridor, Dieter and Jehan meet up with Egon and explain the assassination job. Egon: down with cold-blooded murder. He’s in.

11:35 PM With Mixo’s help, Fritz puts down Curls and they turn their attention towards Thomas and the other thug (Uncle Mho). Egon, Dieter, and Jehan take advantage of the distracted guards and pop into the scholars’ room (door was unlocked). They take two defenseless women quite by surprise.   11:40 PM Thomas, Mho, and Lars are all bested, and they retreat from the taproom, dragging Big Curls out with them.   Lotte discovers the dead body of Hans and screams.

• Proprietor: add him to the larder. Let’s get those Morrites to help out.

Elodie discovers that, in the midst of the brawl, she lost her Tilean dagger.   In the scholars’ room, the three fledgling assassins interrogate the two women, Helga and Elphoise, trying to learn the nature of the dirt that they have on Gustaf.   11:50 PM Elodie explains the Hans/”Schmidt” situation to Fritz, and they decide to go confront the Baron.   Getting nowhere with the ladies (something about Gustaf leaving an organization without permission), the three murderers strike.

• Egon misses with a boathook swipe, but she leaps right into Jehan’s dagger.
• Dieter subdues the other woman, but can’t provide the killing blow. Jehan obliges and cuts her throat.

11:55 PM Outside “Schmidt’s” room, Fritz and Elodie try to shake down the Baron. He keeps shushing them and demanding that they get to the point. Are they blackmailing him too…? Are they asking for compensation for killing Hans..?   12:00 AM There is a loud scuffling and tremendous shouting from room nine, the one belonging to the Morrites. People start to gather. The Baron, Elodie, and Fritz are distracted and likewise creep closer to the door. Egon, Dieter, and Jehan take advantage of the hubbub and sneak out of the scholars’ room. Hans comes rushing upstairs and tells people not to worry -- he was told that the priests would be noisily praying and should not be disturbed!   A woman screams from the Gravin’s wing!   12:05 AM The PC’s join a small crowd around one of the Gravin’s rooms. Bruno is dead, with a dagger embedded between his massive shoulders.

• A guard pulls out the dagger and Lotte cries out, “That’s Elodie’s dagger!” She immediately claps her hands over her mouth as she realizes what she has done.

12:10 AM The guards round everyone up and folks are assembled in the taproom. More dead bodies are discovered (three dead scholars).

• The Gravin proclaims that the PC’s should be locked in their room until the morning, when she shall decide further how to proceed. Their equipment is confiscated and guards are placed outside their door and below their window.
• She points at Egon. You, however, will need to replace my murdered champion.
• Egon, also weaponless, is to spend the night in Bruno’s room.
• Jehan makes a compelling argument with the other PC’s to see how this plays out. They decide to follow orders.

12:45 AM PC’s locked in the room:

• Dieter: should I climb out the window? NO.
• Fritz: should we chew all this weirdroot? YES.
• Elodie: spends most of the time suggesting one dumb idea after another, mostly having to do with small animals.

1:20 AM A guard knocks on the PC’s door and asks them to follow. They’re going to speak with the Gravin.

• In her room, the Gravin explains that while she knows they couldn’t have possibly murdered Bruno, she needed to make a show of this in an effort to catch the real killer.
• She assumes Dammenblatz is behind all this… She explains that she’s headed to Kemperbad to combat allegations made by him.
• Egon explains the suspicions around the gal with the great big Fellowship stats, who they now know to be a maid named Eliza. The Gravin instructs two guards to investigate.
• Meanwhile, the five PC’s will spend the remainder of the night in Bruno’s room, in the dark, with one weapon apiece, as bait…

2:00 AM In the pitch dark, the only one who hears the stealthy assassin approaching from the chimney is Dieter. He calls out and Elodie quickly casts Flame to illuminate the room.

• A heated battle erupts, and Eliza proves a challenging combatant.
• The PC’s finally best the deadly assailant, with Fritz providing the final blow by way of a table leg to her face.

  8 Nachgeheim, 2512 I.C. The next morning.

• The Morrites are discovered dead and decapitated in their room. Their coffin was opened and it, too, contained a headless victim.
• Ursula is long gone.
• The Gravin’s retinue prepares to leave.
• On their way out, Gustaf makes eye contact with Jehan and then motions over at a pile of rubbish and a splintered chair at the corner of the bar.
• Jehan investigates and finds a bag of 25 GC.
• Mixo is super ready to get on the road as well. It’s been a rough night...

  * * *

Rewards Granted

Loot: Items purchased from Bodo (see above) Gustaf’s down-payment for cold-blooded murder (15 GC) Final payment from Gustaf (25 GC)   XP: 120 for three swell sessions. 10 for ingratiating yourselves with certain members of the Ubersreik Merchants’ Guild 10 for opposing Prahmhandler as he attempts to confront “Schmidt” (Fritz) 10 for beating Bruno in an arm-wrestling match (Fritz and Elodie) 10 for distracting the lone patron who saw Elodie’s crotch-crow (Jehan) 10 for disposing of Gustaf’s enemies (Dieter, Egon, Jehan) 40 for capturing Bruno’s murderer   Fritz: 190 Jehan: 190 Elodie: 180 Egon: 180 Dieter: 180