Episode 36: You've Got a Lotta Guts, Karl Report

General Summary

The Enemy Within: Death on the Reik
Episode 36 - “You’ve Got a Lotta Guts, Karl”
9/28/23 Post-Game Notes   Day 107 - Angestag 25 Brauzeit, 2512 IC
(picks up as Crew continues exploring the chambers under the Signal Tower)

• After magically unlocking the north door of the study, Beau kicks open the door to reveal a tightly packed library and at least two decrepit zombies shambling towards him. Still terrified, Beau steps aside to let Kris’s blade and God’s arrows polish off the pair of undead.
• Eventually Beau gets his shit together, and he enters the study to dismember some zombies himself. Four more dead shamblers, and two more of those five-star-shaped rods.
• Karl, who can’t muster a crossbow bolt through the narrow confines decides, fuck it, I’m going to take one of these magic keys and start exploring other rooms. He foolishly bravely and recklessly confidently ventures into the center chamber where he finds all the missing dwarves, dead and drained of life, bearing bite marks that fester a blackish infection. He also finds a metal rod, waist-high, that sticks out from the center metal column. Testing it, he realizes that its purpose is to rotate the wall. There’s a matching rod on the opposite side of the column. He just needs a bit more manpower.
• The others move through the library and enter the final perimeter room, a lab, and make short work of two more zombies, thanks in no small part to the courageous arrival of Karl from the opposite door. What a stalwart soul! One more key of the five-star flavor. They also find a handwritten leather-bound book full of notes written in Classical.
• With two people on either side of the center column, the Crew engages the metal bars and rotates the central wall to reveal an opening into very center of the secret lair: a six-pointed, slightly luminescent star, with keyholes at each vertex. Despite vehement protestations from Godabert (very un-Karl-like, God), the Crew starts plugging holes with the zombie keys until… uh oh… the master key has a six-sided profile and won’t fit into the last keyhole.
• Godabert uses a drop of Hans-Peter’s Hildemith potion to try and magically locate the missing key… his astral journey pulls him hundreds of miles away into what appears a rocky, barren land. He then (gleefully) gives his Crewmates the unfortunate news that they won’t be completing this little puzzle today.
• Beau goes back to the library, pocketing 10 books that seem of value, and God roams around the lair looking for other secret doors.
• They take two zombie keys, one of each type, seal up the lair, then head to the dwarves’ cabin to report on (some of) their findings. They show Anyjulls the dead monster in the signal tower but say nothing about the infected corpses or the secret rooms. She believes everything they say, including the reason why they never rang the Hungus Alarm. She pays them the six gold and offers the Crew room and board for the night in the cabin.

 

Day 108 - Festag, 26 Brauzeit, 2512 IC
Crew takes advantage of smooth sailing and makes it to Onling by the late afternoon. An inordinate number of river patrol boats are docked wharfside, and the local watering hole, The Turret’s Shadow, is jumping.

• Inside, the Crew learns that the Imperial River Patrol has been actively recruiting wardens and support staff up and down the Reik, trying to get ahead of rampant banditry, piracy, and mutant attacks. The response is generally favorable (although none of the locals seem too keen to sign up).
• Karl recognizes Wilgryn Augenlos, an infamous shipmaster from Kemberbad. His crew is buying drinks for everyone in the tavern tonight.
• The Crew is approached by Gertrud Schutzenberger, a young river patrol warden, who gives them a halfhearted pitch about joining their ranks. With equal parts charm and condescension, the Crew plants a seed about abandoning the restraints of the constabulary to enjoy life as an adventuring river-bound merchant. She seems intrigued…

 

Day 109 - Wellentag, 27 Brauzeit, 2512 IC

• That morning, Gertrud shows up on the dock, ready to be hired on for service on the Crew’s boat. There is some haggling, and consultation of prevailing wages, but they settle on a probationary offer of five shillings until Kemperbad, at which point the two sides can try to come to an agreement.
• Just as the sun begins to set along the calm east-west bend in the Reik, a haunting lute melody floats towards The Wrecking Ball. Soon, a gaudily festooned Medicine Show barge approaches and an elven musician, her hair covering her eyes and much of her face, engages the Crew.
• Her name is Lorelei, and her captain, Doktor Sigrund Dopplewasser, is headed to the next town to set up shop and sell his wares. After Kris impresses the bard with his own lute-playing, they are soon joined above-deck by the good doktor.
• Not only does he have an impressive stock of various herbal remedies (both legal and otherwise), he also has some rare concoctions “sourced from The Border Princes.”
• Crew buys two doses of Griffon’s Gulp (in a scrape, fight with the speed of two men!), one dose of Shadowmoss (in low light, appear invisible!), and a dragonbag of wyrdroot.
• They continue on to Diesdorf, stopping at Dies Gasthof by late evening.

  Day 110 - Aubentag, 28 Brauzeit, 2512 IC

The Wrecking Ball reaches Kemperbad by late afternoon. For God, Kris, and Beau, who had only ever heard stories about the great Freistadt on the Cliff, it is an awesome first impression. For Karl, who had been on the run from his hometown for several months, it is time to come clean to his comrades about the Strudels, the Schnitzels, and the Belladonnas. Oh, and one of two guys he can trust… Guido, bartender and fence at The Cask Falls.

• The lifts and cranes are all tied up with some sort of hard-to-distinguish noble entourage at the north side of the wharf. Talking with Frederick Poons, one of Karl’s old cronies, reveals that the Gravin of Ambosstein and her retinue have tied up all the services. She’s in town for some big trial…
• Beau draws a comparison to the mist-like fog that keeps conveniently masking the nobility to the shadowmagic that Christophe’s little gnome friend employed back in Ubersreik.
• Karl slips Frederick some coins to move them up the queue, and The Ball gets parked, unloaded, and lifted within a couple of hours. Kris receives the bill of lading for their cargo, and the Crew heads to see Karl’s friend at The Cask Falls.

The bar is filled with shifty, armed bruisers, all of whom quiet down and eye the Crew as they enter. Soon, Guido Fumetti appears from the back, and approaches with two brawny thugs. He greets Karl with a, “slimy, double-crossing, no-good swindler” line before giving him a big hug and welcoming him to his new bar. Guido has moved up in the world, and he’s now managing The Falls.

• Crew gets some gossip on the Gravin, who’s in town because Kemperbad has been chosen as a neutral site for the trial between her and some other noble with a beef.
• City has been a bit crazy even before this, what with the recent purge of corruption within the Watch’s ranks. Some cultists called The Sanguine Brotherhood had infiltrated the Watch and had been torturing and brutalizing citizens.
• More on that later… right now, let’s get you guys in the snug for a sumptuous, private meal!

The snug, secured by curtains and a dense void of ulgu-smoke, again reminiscent of shadowy shenanigans, turns out to be an ambush of sorts (Guido: “I had no choice. They arrived right before you did.”) Glimbrin, the grey-magic-wielding gnome in question, alongside six heavily armed Ambosstein guards and a lawyer who introduces himself as Gustaf Rechtshtandler, greet The Crew.

• Gustav explains that Glimbrin caught sight of them at the wharf, and together they determined how The Crew might be of use. If they wouldn’t mind accompanying them, the Gravin would like an audience.
• Feeling like they have little choice, the Crew dons black hoods and allows themselves to be carted to an upscale neighborhood and into the sitting room of a posh mansion.

The Gravin, who they last met at the Holzenhauer party in Ubersreik, greets them.

• Baron Eberhardt von Dammenblatz has accused the Gravin of killing his father, Otto, at a party in Nuln (“The drunk old cunt passed out in his soup and drowned”).
• After months of wrangling in Nuln, a trial site has been selected in the free city of Kemperbad, and the council has agreed to accept the Gravin’s right to trial by combat.
• Unfortunately her preferred judicial champion, Bruno, was assassinated in a riverside tavern some months ago and her replacement, a one-eared thug from Ubersreik, never quite lived up to the training (and has been recently poisoned… but he’ll be fine).
• So far, between the magic of Glimbrin and the security of Herr Georg Sfartz (in whose mansion they currently reside), her situation has been obscured from her enemies. But they need to present a champion to the courts tomorrow afternoon, with the trial set for the following morning. The Crew’s arrival in town seems quite timely.
• She points directly at Beau: “I want you to be my champion. Win, and I will reward you with 50 GC. Lose, and you lot can share ten gold and my profound disappointment.”

  Interlude:
Godabert, not uncharacteristically, is the first to break the silence. “With all due respect your, uh, Graviness, while I’m quite familiar with my friend Beau’s martial prowess… you seem to be placing a great deal of trust on someone you’ve never really seen in action…”   Beau tosses God a glance that seems both insulted and concordant. “Yes, well, I place a great deal of trust in my advisors. Glimbrin speaks quite highly of your crew,” the Gravin looks over in Gustaf’s direction. “And my counsel assures me that even if we were to lose this trial, there are other tedious appeal processes or concessions that can be made. And, frankly, I’m running out of options. Dammenblatz’s retinue doesn’t know about any of you, so there’s much less of a chance that you’d be murdered before the trial.”   An unease, usually reserved for audiences with demons or the undead, creeps across Beau’s face. “I’m honored of course, but I will still need to think about it. We were just in town to conduct some business, and…”   “You have until tomorrow morning,” Gustaf cuts in. “I or my agent will call on you at your inn and await an answer. Should you agree, you will need to proceed with us to the courthouse for the trial certification. And then all of you will accompany us back here to the Sfartz Manor for the duration of the Gravin’s time in Kemperbad. We will also cover your dock fees and drayage.”   “The rest of you will have an important job as well, of course.” The Gravin stands and prepares to leave. “Keep him alive,” she points at Beau, “until the trial.” She waves her hand while searching for a number. “Five gold apiece for roughly twenty-four hours of guard duty. Yes, that sounds right.” She and two guards exit the room while Gustaf motions the Crew towards the service doors.   The Crew walks through the courtyard toward the waiting coach and a guard passes out hoods. Gertrud turns and asks, “Herr Rechtshandler, just to clarify… that’s five gold for me as well?”   “You are in this crew, are you not?” Gustaf seems annoyed with the question.   Gertrud half-shrugs and looks towards her compatriots. “Yeesss…?”     * * *

Rewards Granted

XP:

• 25 for killing all of the zombies and recovering the keys (all)
• 10 for discovering the hidden central chamber (all)
• 15 for resolving the construction site situation to Aynjulls’s satisfaction (all)
• 10 for magnanimously and wisely adding manpower to their party (Kris, Karl, and Beau… oh, okay, God too)
• 5 for using his contact to secure early access to the lifts in Kemperbad (Karl)
• 30 for a slick session

  Godabert: 90
Beau: 90
Karl: 95
Kris: 90   Loot:

• 10 ancient books of indeterminate value
• Another handwritten notebook, this one written in Classical
• 2 Griffon’s Gulps
• 1 Shadowmoss
• 5 sticks of wyrdroot

Character(s) interacted with

Locations scouted and new NPC’s engaged:
The Turret’s Shadow, Onling

• Wilgryn Augenlos, River Patrol Shipmaster
• Gertrud Schutzenberger, River Patrol Warden (and possible merchant sailor)

Along the Reik

• Doktor Sigrund Dopplewasser, purveyor of medicines
• Lorelei Tigerblossom, elven minstrel

Kemperbad

• Frederick Poons, dockworker and informant

The Cask Falls, Kemperbad

• Guido Fumetti, bar owner and fence
• Gustaf Rechtshtandler, legal counsel to the Gravin of Ambosstein