Episode 23: Maybe the Witch-Hunter Has a Point Report

General Summary

The Enemy Within: Enemy in Shadows Episode 23 - “Maybe the Witch Hunter Has a Point” 3/5/21 Post-Game Notes   Day 81 - Konistag, 33 Erntezeit, 2512 IC (continued; picking up in the late evening)   Episode opens with Kris downloading his intel to Godabert and Karl, while Harald the mutant cultist is planted in his table against the back wall.

• That guy is definitely a mutant, and I’ve convinced him that we have a way to sneak out of the inn, and… that’s as far as I got in my plan. Braintrust, take over.

Meanwhile, upstairs, Beau, who is testing door handles and snooping through the hallway of private rooms, bumps into Sebastien and Maria at a hallway intersection.

• Sebastien starts blathering to Beau, setting up a screen to allow a suspicious Maria to slide down the adjoining hall to the other wing of rooms.
• Maria keeps addressing Seb in a language that Beau can’t understand.

Beau pretends to be on his way, but crouches in the corner and sees Seb and Maria go into separate rooms. Maria had keys to both rooms.

• Beau stealthily listens at both doors: nothing in Maria’s room. Inside the room that Seb entered, however, are sounds of rustling, rummaging, and scraping. Then, abruptly, “I found it!” followed by steps towards the door.
• Beau scrambles around the corner again, and overhears Seb being allowed into Maria’s room. Seb excitedly begins to explain that he found “Harald’s amulet,” before Maria scolds him into reverting to the foreign language.

Downstairs, Godabert, looking over Kris’s shoulder sees Harald, eyes closed muttering something to himself. Behind Harald, through the casement window, Godabert catches sight of an ominously almost-full Morrslieb and the coalescing of disparate Winds of Magic.

• Guys, I think Harald there is in the process of casting a spell.
• With zero hesitation and even less subtlety, the three Crewmates leap on a shocked Harald to Kris’s cries of “Mutie! Mutie!” (which is terribly offensive, by the way).
• Godabert flails about to Harald’s left, distracting him, while Kris bodyslams the cultist unconscious with a punishing blow from his right. Karl buries his dagger point in the wooden table to emphasize who, now, is the captain.
• Beau, from upstairs, hears the sounds of barroom brawling and delightedly scampers down to the taproom.

Kris quiets the crowd as Godabert pulls back Harald’s sleeve to reveal the forearm eyeball, still rolling in its fleshy socket despite its human being unconscious.

• Kris: lemon wedge!
• Joli, from the bar, flings a chunk of citrus at the table. In one fluid motion, Kris snatches it out of the air and squirts the foul ocular mutation with stinging vengeance.
• The Crew, now with Beau’s intel, explain to Joli, Felda, and the Helgas, that they now have cultist suspects to turn over to Malthus.

Joli would like it if the Crew, accompanied by one of the Helgas, delivered Harald to Malthus while the other Helga and some others went upstairs to collect Harald’s compatriots.

• Beau believes that they’d have better luck just going up in a small group to collect Seb and Maria. He makes a convincing argument, so Karl and God hang tight in the taproom with Harald, while Kris accompanies Beau upstairs to coax the cultist down.

Upstairs, Kris and Beau round the corner to see Seb, standing in front of the open door to their room. Behind him, in the room, with her back to the hallway, is Maria, contemplating an amulet or bauble of some sort.

• As soon as Seb sees our heroes, he starts tracing an arc in the ground with his sword, point down, while wiggling his fingers and chanting in a very suspiciously magical way. (Power of Chaos!)
• Beau charges and knocks Seb to the ground.
• Maria whirls around and casts a spell at the two standing men, power emanating from the amulet in her right hand. A multitude of strange voices come out of her face and hit Beau and Kris with a wave of confusion (Word of Tzeentch!)
• Kris and Beau, stunned, collapse to the ground. Maria tries to revive Seb.
• Unsuccessful after a few moments, Maria turns to the casement, opens the shutters, and prepares to step out onto the roof ledge outside her room.
• Kris shakes off his confusion (and manages to avoid an instant mutation) and lunges after Maria, following her onto the ledge. He spies her greenish glowing amulet and grapples with her to disrupt an incantation.
• Seb comes to, and chases after Kris, waving his sword out the bedroom window.
• Beau shakes off his confusion (and also dodges an instant mutation) and gives Seb a faceful of Mace Windu, shattering the bastard’s teeth and knocking him out (again).
• In their struggle, Kris and Maria fall off the roof ledge on top of the mob of zealots below. Kris, descending like a cat, has his fall broken by some poor sot, and executes a nimble roll. Maria is not so lucky. She’s probably dead.

On the ground outside the inn, Malthus orders his zealots to grab Kris and Maria. Kris isn’t having that, so he swings his sword and takes out a zealot or two before Malthus levels his pistol at Kris and tells him to drop the sword and stand down.

• Kris sheathes his sword, and explains the situation. She’s a cultist, and we’ve got two more that we’re bringing out.
• Beau calls down from the room above, dangling Seb’s body out the window, blood pouring out of his mouth. Yes sir Mr. Witch Hunter sir! Right here sir! Be right down sir! Got you a nasty cultist right here sir!
• Inside the taproom, alerted by Felda that there’s trouble brewing outside, Karl and Godabert drag Harald through the courtyard.

In possession of the three suspected cultists, Malthus finds an unusual ring on Maria’s finger, sneers, and removes it. Kris catches sight: silvery-red, with a red jewel in the middle.   Malthus and crowd strip Seb and Harald. Besides Harald’s obvious mutation, the two also bear unique “fiery crown” tattoos.

• Beau: “We haven’t stripped the lady cultist yet, y’know.”

Malthus seems satisfied, and tries to coax a confession from one of the cultists. Harald, the only one who wakes up, rails against the witch hunter:

• “We bear the lash of scorn and fear willingly, for it strengthens our souls for the glory to come! At the appointed time we shall pour forth from the forests to slay and burn. Our brethren shall rise from their secret places and throw down the towns and cities of The Empire. Chaos will cover the land and we, the chosen servants, shall be --”
• Harald is cut off by a backhanded smash from Mathus’s pistol.
• A zealot recovers Maria’s amulet on the ground and brings it to Malthus.
• Delighted, Malthus declares, “By Sigmar’s Holy Fire be cleansed!” and he tosses the amulet into the fire.

The flames quickly take on an evil pink glow and balls of fire erupt into the crowd. The Crew avoids getting hit, but two bystanders end up ablaze.

• 
  Three tendrils of flame leap onto the cultists, burning their bodies instantly while accompanied by screams of exquisite agony. Their blackened skin peels away like dust, revealing three horrific -- yet somehow alluring -- daemonettes.
• The daemonettes start lopping off heads right and left.
• Beau and Kris are overwhelmed with fear and retreat; Karl gets his shit together and pulls out his crossbow. It promptly breaks as he tries to load it. Malthus tries to keep his troops together, but panic sets in.
• Godabert, hiding behind several women, notices that the skin of the daemonettes seems to flicker and undulate in concert with the flames of the bonfire. He uses his commanding voice, and mobilizes inn staff to bring out buckets of water to put out the fire.
• Kris snaps out of it, and uses his even more commanding voice to rally a bucket brigade that includes the zealots. Some of them start kicking/shoveling dirt onto the fire to help.
• Beau is still terrified.

Malthus goes head-to-head with one daemonette and is almost killed, but manages to inflict some damage. Godabert puts an arrow through its chest and it evaporates in a silent scream of pink flame.   Karl and Kris leap into the fray and combat the second daemonette.

• Karl is severely wounded but, after receiving back-up from Kris, delivers a killing blow to the daemonette. It, too, evaporates as the flames of the bonfire diminish.

The bonfire is completely extinguished, and the third daemonette, who had been cutting a deadly swath through the mob, starts to flicker and become incorporeal. Godabert puts a precision shot through its body, and the last daemonette vanishes.       Interlude:   As the inn’s patrons retreat back into the taproom, prompted by Joli’s declaration that this “deserves a round on the house,” and the handful of remaining zealots gather up what’s left of their decapitated or dismembered brethren, Malthus Brunner, the somber witch hunter, stands, hands on his sides to staunch bleeding wounds, and addresses the Crew.   “You three comported yourselves like true sons of Sigmar.” Malthus readjusts his wide-brimmed hat, its oiled black leather reflecting the eerie moonglow of Morrslieb.   “Uh, four. Four of us.” Beau shuttles over to the group assembled around the smoldering ashes of the bonfire. “Yeah, see, we work together, Sir. Sir Witch Hunter. We met earlier. I’m Beau. We’re all true sons. True sons of Sigmar, absolutely.”   “Yes, the four of you. You have earned my respect.” Malthus scans the crowd for what remains of his Sigmarite army. “And a place alongside my soldiers as we continue to root out the evil that is infecting this land from within.”   “No offense Malthy, but your soldiers seem a touch ill-equipped to deal with this sort of evil.” Kris shrugs at a farmhand who is holding up two stumps for arms.   “Which is why I sorely need your help! This attack on Stust is just the most recent and most brazen of assaults. And while vile people of this ilk…” Malthus holds up the ring he pried from Maria’s finger. It is a silvery metal, tinged with red, cradling a red gemstone. The ring itself is in the shape of a pointed crown. “...continue to spread their demonic influence on the land, man and beast alike seem to heed their call. We must fight back.”   “What’d you have in mind, Mr. Witch Hunter?” Beau asks, and is then is given a shut-up smack to the ribs with the back of Karl’s hand.   “I seek the legendary herdstone of Midwald. A focal point for the vile creatures given life by the ruinous powers. If you brave men would join me…”   “Fuck this and fuck you.” Josef, angrier than anyone has ever seen him, comes storming out of the inner courtyard. “Boys, I’m signaling Wolmar to pick us up. My evening is RUINED because of you --” Josef sticks a portly digit in Malthus’s face. “-- and MY crew and I are headed for Bogenhafen in the morning.”   “Sorry Herr Brunner, but we do have a job to fulfill. Killing demons and mutants may be something we’re good at, but it doesn’t really pay the bills.” Godabert gives the witch hunter a little pat on the shoulder as he follows Josef to the river road.   “I understand. And, truth be told, I was headed to the merchant town myself for the purpose of tracking down defilers before recent events altered my focus. You will continue to work in Sigmar’s name in that den of iniquity, I know.” Malthus reaches out to Beau and presses the silver ring into his hand. “Take this with you, but keep it secret. A hunter such as yourself may find it a useful clue. Show this to no one you don’t trust, and feel free to speak my name as an allied combatant of Chaos.”   * * *   Back on the Berebeli, Josef and the Crew prepare to catch a few hours sleep before setting out for Bogenhafen at first light. In their cramped cabin, Beau smiles while gazing at the ring, turning it over delicately with his fingers.   “Congratulations, Beau.” Kris stretches out and kicks Beau’s heel. “Your boyfriend is quite a catch. I’m sure he’ll make you very happy.”   Godabert, eyes closed while trying to sleep, chortles. Beau gives Kris the finger. Karl, however, keeps staring intently at the ring.   “There’s something about that design, guys. I’ve seen it before, and it’s been bugging me since we saw those tattoos.” Karl gets up and starts rummaging through their belongings, corded down in a corner of the cabin.   “I remember now!” Karl pulls a black leather case from the bottom of the pile. “This is the traveling case that the creepy medical student left on the coach at that inn north of Altdorf. The one who ran off.”   Karl opens the latches and flips open the case. The extra clothes had been thrown away, and the main compartment is empty. Karl fingers the back of the case and pops out the false bottom to reveal the compartment in which were stored those mysterious vials. Inside is a small bundle of weirdroot.   “Hey --!” Beau recognizes the bag.   “Sorry. I knew you’d chew it all if I didn’t save some.” Karl tosses the bag to a delighted Beau, and then smooths the lining of the compartment. “I knew it looked familiar...”   As Karl’s hand brushes over the interior, a sueded inset becomes more visible. Inside the secret compartment of the student’s case is a reddish-leather detail of a three-pointed crown.   * * *  

Rewards Granted

XP:

• 35 for a riveting session full of pathos, mirth, and triumph
• 15 for surviving the night
• 10 for not turning over any innocent people to Malthus
• 15 for catching Sebastien and Maria
• 25 for preventing the ritual
• 15 for taking down the Daemonettes of Slaanesh

• Godabert: 115
• Beau: 115
• Karl: 115
• Kris: 115

Loot:

• A reddish-silver ring with a red gem (see interlude)

Character(s) interacted with

Locations scouted and new NPC’s engaged:   No new contacts