Episode 22: Hungry Bears and Other Tragedies Report

General Summary

The Enemy Within: Enemy in Shadows Episode 22 - “Hungry Bears and Other Tragedies” 2/2 and 2/16/21 Post-Game Notes   Day 78 - Marktag, 30 Erntezeit, 2512 IC   Crew departs Gramdorf and continues upriver, anchoring and rowing ashore for dinner in Neinleben   Josef chats up the Crew about life as a merchant trader; wants to know their plans post-Bögenhafen.   Crew gets wind of rumors surrounding the new signal towers being built along the Reik.   Day 79 - Backertag, 31 Erntezeit, 2512 IC   Crew departs Neinleben and continues upriver, anchoring just outside Trosreut, just on the Midwald side of the border with the Duchy of Saponatheim.   At The Dirty Fig, a roadside inn, Crew learns that folks from Midwald are generally resentful of the folks across the border.   Inn is abuzz with news of an imminent wedding between the Baroness Nastassia Saponatheim (daughter of the Graf) and Baron Karl-Heinz von Liebwitz of Ambosstein. Midlanders are making fun because the Saponatheims are unifying with a family rife with scandal:

• Emmanuelle von Liebwitz is a notoriously decadent purveyor of sin in Nuln and
• the Gravin Maria-Ulrike von Liebwitz is rumored to have recently paid off a wizard to murder Baron Otto von Dammenblatz at a Black Powder Week event in Nuln. She’s headed to trial! In Kemperbad!

  Day 80 - Bezahltag, 32 Erntezeit, 2512 IC   Crew departs Trosreut and continues upriver, passing the imposing Schloss Grauenberg (seat of the Saponatheims) perched high above the river, before anchoring just outside the town of Vorenau.   At The Flute & Fairy, a roadside inn just outside of town, the taproom is full of anxious, heated discussion about a recent attack on the hamlet of Stust, just to the south up the River Bögen.

• Some folks think it was mutants;
• Some folks insist that it was beastmen;
• One guy heard a rumor about a badass witchhunter rallying a posse of zealots to march on a long-lost and hidden Chaos herdstone to cleanse the countryside.

  Day 81 - Konistag, 33 Erntezeit, 2512 IC   Josef insists on a “night off” at The Old Bögenauer, a famous roadside inn en route to the big city. He rarely misses a chance to “visit the girls,” the two proprietors who inherited the inn from their uncle and have worked to transform it into a popular rest stop for food, fun, and libations.   Gilda insists that she and Wolmar will stay on the Berebeli and watch over the boat. “Bring me back a meat pie,” sighs a disappointed Wolmar.   Inside, the taproom is ass-to-elbows. The Crew grab some beverages and make the rounds.

• 
  Kris meets a drunk dwarf named Ludi who seems to be throwing a one-person party in the corner. Kris moves on to a table of merchants and attempts to ingratiate himself by hitting on the wife (Maria) of one of the guys (Harald). The third guy (Sebastien) thinks this is funny and pulls out a chair for Kris.
• Karl gets roped into a conversation with a curious merchant named Gurloes who, after a little prodding and negligible resistance, prepares to show Karl his meat. They make plans to head out to the coachhouse behind the tavern.
• Apparently this merchant has an impressive cargo of live… something… that he’s arranged to sell to a restaurateur from Ubersreik. Karl thinks he’s got himself mixed up in a fucking or a butchering, and he’s somehow cool with either.
• Godabert recognizes Carla, the pedlar they met in Geissbach, who is drinking with another woman introduced as Nooma. Together, they vend sundry goods and good times. Beau quickly swoops in to join the chat, not-so-subtly suggesting that he’s got something “delightful” on his person.
• Two chairs, four people? No problem.

Beau heads to the bar for a refill on the flagon of wine (next stop, the ladies’ room?) when the bartender, Joli, offers up some newly received bounty posters. The price on the head of “Bloody” Miranda and her gang-mates has gone up.   Suddenly, the most witch hunter-y witch hunter in the Empire bursts into the taproom, oiled pistols gleaming, helmet-shaped hat so stiff that it seemingly cuts the air. He is accompanied by four austerly garbed peasants bearing hand weapons and mean mugs.

• 
  The hunter, Malthus Brunner, loudly proclaims to a now-hushed taproom that after seeing the things he’s seen, Sigmar certainly wouldn’t begrudge him a cup of wine.
• Beau kisses up to Brunner and, after some introductions, Brunner makes it clear that he already knows who Beau is. Beau is the guy who captured his former colleague, the witch hunter Hannah Baumann, in Ubersreik. Awkward.
• Brunner takes his wine and circulates through the taproom, haranguing the patrons and daring them to make eye contact, until he kicks open the door to the private snug and invites himself inside.

Gurloes takes the opportunity to draw Karl out of the taproom and through the inner courtyard to their rendezvous in the back. Outside the inner door, they see a crowd amassing: peasants and other zealous Sigmarites grumbling and sneering. Helga says not to worry -- happens from time to time when the locals think their baron or lord is inside; they’ll disperse.   Kris is intrigued by the bundle of bumpkins encroaching on Beau & God’s good time, and comes over to the bar to powwow. Beau and Kris gossip with Joli about what this burgeoning mob might be up to.   Gurloes shows Karl just what he’s got locked up: the biggest fucking bear Karl has ever seen. Had it not been for that stout iron cage, he might’ve soiled his leggings. Apparently Grumbles here had been “liberated” from the Altdorf zoo. Or, upon further inquiry, he was scheduled to be put down after attacking other animals and his keepers, and Gurloes struck a deal to “get rid of it.” Seems the chef of the Pegasus Arms in Ubersreik has a Sylvanian clientele that misses bear meat.

• After Karl declines the offer to feed Grumbles, Gurloes (who is actually more uncomfortable and nervous around this creature than would be expected) reaches into a bucket of cow offal and tries to sidearm a hunk of meat between the bars of Grumbles’s cage. He misses. The meat splats just outside the cage and the bear goes apeshit, threatening to burst its confines.
• Karl attempts to placate Grumbles and grabs a fresh slab of beef. His attempt to toss food to the animal is even more embarrassing: a limp-wristed off-hand flick that somehow manages to fling the bloody bovine bits backwards all over Karl’s face and then down the sleeve of his tunic.
• Grumbles is not having this taunting, and he crashes into the bars of his cage with even more ferocity, dragging the cage inch by roar towards the pair.
• Karl and Gurloes run like hell.

The inn’s other proprietor, Felda, comes out of the rear door of the snug and tells her sister that they may have a problem…   Brunner bursts from the snug pursued by an irate merchant, covered in wine, and his bodyguard. Brunner laughs it off, gathers his zealots and heads outside. With everyone at rapt attention, Brunner explains that he traced the instigators of the Stust massacre to this tavern, and he and his followers have come to enact righteous judgement.

• The irate merchant mouths off, and in the blink of an eye he, and his bodyguard, are snatched by the mob and pulled towards Brunner. The witch hunter, just as quickly, empties his pistol into the bodyguard’s face and the merchant, body now painted with his pal’s insides, is dragged breathlessly into the crowd. It’s now apparent they’re building a bonfire.
• “This is the price of filth and heresy! Make your peace with Almighty Sigmar this night, for if the evil hasn’t been rooted out, I put the torch to this den of sin at the light of dawn!” Reactions are varied.
• Godabert: Let’s get the fuck out of here!
• Kris: Cool! A mystery!
• Beau: I’m not getting any action now, am I?
• Karl: Huh? Wha? No, this isn’t my blood…

Inside, the taproom becomes a mix of hysteria and confusion as folks eye one another and start making wild accusations.

• Hansel, the geriatric porter, is singled out for cursing a merchant into stubbing his toe. This is promptly dismissed.

Kris enters the snug where a bastion of wealthy merchants and elites (and Josef) are discussing a plan to force everyone in the inn to make a speech defending his or her innocence.

• Kris counters with a plan to offer a “cultist test” to everyone, one by one, and gauge reactions (using one of the unidentified vials from Ernst Heidelman’s pilfered bag).
• Kris is roundly dismissed. He must have appeared too poor to take seriously.

Beau goes looking for Karl, and finds him -- along with Gurloes -- running the opposite way, back to the taproom. Beau continues into the rear courtyard where he meets Grumbles (whose cage is now much closer to the coachhouse doors) and Pronch, the groom, who is having a helluva time calming down the horses.

• Beau tries to help, doesn’t, then leaves.

Kris tries to sell his plan, once again, emphasizing his history as a champion mutant-killer and cultist-hunter, to the people gathered in the main room.

• Some people are intrigued, but many are still dismissive. He must have appeared too drunk to take seriously.
• Godabert scans the crowd for reactions to Kris’s speech and singles out several individuals who seem particularly nervous about the prospects of being “tested” for cult associations.

Beau’s got plans too!

• What if we all split up and scour different parts of the inn, looking for clues, or cultists-in-hiding? No, no thanks.
• Okay how about this -- we slip some Ranald’s Delight into a t-bone, feed it to the bear, and unleash the bastard on the mob. Then we run. Also no.
• Fuck you guys, I’m trying.

Sebastien has an idea that some folks are into: go out to the inner courtyard and start praying to Sigmar for deliverance, maybe placating the zealots. Several people follow him outside to participate. Beau follows to see how it plays out.

• The prayers are half-assed, and the mob outside the gate starts throwing rocks. One rock knocks down a wasp nest, and four of the prayerful are stung mercilessly, including Sebastien. They go back inside, whining.

Godabert makes the rounds, and, with his signature blend of charisma and empathy, starts vetting a number of suspects.

• Old Hamish is just an old, retired soldier. Clear.
• Goswin and his bodyguard are just obnoxious elites. Mostly clear.
• It’s gotta be that fucking halfling. Why are we even letting her live?

Beau likes his first plan, and to hell with everyone else. He starts snooping around the compound.   Karl is getting tired of explaining to people that it’s not his blood. Just help him clean it off.   Ludi, the dwarf, starts ranting about getting drunk and dying in a fire. Then he starts telling a story about his granduncle and the manling he used to adventure with.

• Harald recognizes the name of the “manling” as his great-great-grandfather’s half-brother.
• This starts a fight. Apparently that guy is in Ludi’s family’s Book of Grudges.
• Harald opens with a half-hearted swing, and Ludi counters with a swift elbow to the manling’s kneecap. Harald goes down like a rag, knocking his head on a bench and ripping his shirt sleeve.
• Kris jumps on Ludi and, in an impressive show of strength, grapples the dwarf into submission.
• Maria mediates a cease-fire by paying off “the cost of a full pouch of tobacco.” She leaves her idiot husband and checks on Sebastien.

Kris, in the aftermath of the brawl, notices an eyeball growing on Harald’s arm. He quickly brings the newly identified mutant over to the table and starts plying him with a fake plan of escape.

• After placating Harald, Kris grabs Godabert and loops him in on the news and the plan.

Meanwhile, upstairs, Beau is snooping around the private rooms as several patrons converge from the opposite end of the hallway. Among them are Maria and Sebastien...       Interlude:   “Well you two look like a lovely, mild-mannered couple.” Beau smiles. In the flickering candlelight of the second-floor corridor of the Old Bögenauer, the scowls on the faces of Maria and Sebastien look anything but mild...   * * *

Rewards Granted

XP:

• 70 xp for a good pair of sessions
• 5 xp for not throwing poor Hansel to the wolves
• 10 xp for breaking up a fight and subduing Ludi (Kris)
• 10 xp for sleuthing and clearing several innocent denizens (God)
• 10 xp for bringing the fun to fumbles (Karl). We might need to start calling them “funbles.”
• 10 xp for deciding to go off on his own, get cornered by cultists, and set up what promises to be a very entertaining start to episode 23 (Beau)

• Godabert: 85
• Beau: 85
• Karl: 85
• Kris: 85

  Loot:

• Wanted posters

Character(s) interacted with

Locations scouted and new NPC’s engaged:   The Life’s Short Tavern in Neinleben   The Dirty Fig in Trosreut   The Old Bögenauer en route to Bögenhafen

• Joli and Felda, proprietors
• Nooma, pedlar
• Harald, Maria, and Sebastien (cultists?)
• Malthus Brunner, witch hunter
• Goswin Samter, wealthy barrister from Hallt
• Maria Braund, Goswin’s bodyguard
• Old Hamish, retired soldier
• Pandora Lostpocket, halfling entertainer
• Gurloes, meat seller
• Pronch, groom
• Ludi, the dwarf
• Grumbles, a bear
• Hansel, the porter
• Helga Schauer, guard
• Helga Brun, other guard
• A dozen other patrons whose faces may be familiar, but names were not shared