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Enemy Within
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The log of the stories that have been run so far.
The year is 1702. The Holy Roman Empire has declared war on France over the Succession of the Spanish Throne, along with its allies England and the Dutch United Provinces.
Leon, Gert, Johanna and Bart are on their way to Bonn, to get involved in the Black Eagles mercenary group. Black Eagles are being funded by the Prince of Westland, who is generously supporting the war effort.
Leon, Gert, Johanna and Bart are taking the coach to Bonn. They arrive today in Frankfurt and hope to catch the 6pm coach to Bonn, but their coach has been delayed. When they arrive in Frankfurt at the Coach and Horses Inn, they are too late and the coach for Bonn has left.
They are forced to get rooms at the inn, where landlord Gustav welcomes them and brings them drink and food.
Also travelling on the coach is the well-dressed Lady von Struddeldorf with her entourage, a butch woman body guard and a tiny hand-maiden, as well as a young man who is studying a book.
While they pass the evening in the bar at the inn, a well-dressed man, Phillipe Descartes, asks if they want to take part in a game of cards. One of the coachmen in the Inn pipes up, asking if this obviously French person is a spy or a Catholic. Phillipe indignantly replies that he is a Huguenot and he left his country because they do not appreciate his religion.
They get down to a game of cards. Phillipe loses the first few games, but then begins to win money off the Adventurers. Bart cottons on that Phillipe is cheating and makes it clear he knows what the Frenchman is doing, without alerting anyone else. Phillipe begins to allow Bart to win as well and the two of them take money off the others, who soon stop playing.
As it gets late, Bart decides to go off with his winning to find a prostitute. He is followed and attacked. His attacker attempts to kosh him. There is a grapple and they draw weapons. The attacker is able to injure Bart, who then manages to break free and run.
Bart is sure the attacker was Phillipe the Frenchman. He decides to head back to the Inn, stumbling into Leon and Gert’s room. Leon give him some first aid for his wounds.
Bart then wants to go the Inn Keeper and ask about the Frenchman. Johanna asks why he does not get the authorities involved, which he responds saying the Frenchman maybe from around here.
The Barman tells Bart that the Frenchman is a stranger, travelling on another coach. Bart deicdes to stay up for him until the doors are locked, but the Frenchman does not return. Bart does not sleep in his own room that night, but the night is otherwise uneventful.
The coachmen stay up late that night, getting very drunk.
In the morning, the Coachmen are late due to being hungover. Marie, bodyguard to Lady von Struddeldorf, bullies them but they are still slow.
There are 8 people but only 6 allowed in the coach and two of the travellers will have to wait for the next coach. None of them are prepared to wait and there is an impasse.
Bart eventually breaks the impasse by bribing the man with the book 10 shillings to catch another coach, which he accepts. He them pays the coachmen extra to accept 7 passengers, but that means someone will have to ride on top.
Gerhardt and Leonhardt go on top of the coach and get rained on. They try to encourage the coach drivers to go faster.
Later that afternoon, the coach encounters someone standing in middle of the road, refusing to move. The coach pulls up. The man draws a pistol and shouts “Stand and Deliver.” Leon points his rifle at him. The highwayman tells him his friends from the trees will shoot him down.
Leon shoots the highway man. The coachman with a blunderbuss stands up, trying to see what is happening. He is shot from the trees and falls off the coach.
Leon goes after the shooter in the woods, firing at him. The man in the woods then flees. Gert goes after him. Bart checks the other side of the coach, but there is no one there and eventually he goes after the others.
There is a crashed coach and some dead bodies, which have been partially robbed.
There are some papers that have been discarded nearby a body with expensive clothes. While Bart rifles through the dead man’s pockets, Gert reads out a letter telling a certain Kastor Lieberung that he can claim an inheritance of 20,000 gold pieces if he comes to Boganhafen.
Bart and Gert discuss what to do about the dead man. Leon goes back to look after the wounded coachman, who is not that badly injured, though he sprained his wrist falling off the coach. Leon finishes off the Highway man he shot in the road.
Joanna wanders over and remarks at how similar Kastor Lieberung looks like Bart. Bart does not think he is a relation, but he does not know much about his family, so who knows.
Bart looks through the luggage and proposes taking it with them.
They dig graves and put the dead travellers and highway man in them. The uninjured coach driver looks after his friend.
Bart wonders if the dead man is a relative. He talks about sending a message to his house keeper to check, as she is the only one who knew his parents.
Lady Von Struddeldorf complaints at the delay and eventually the coach journey resumes. They will not reach Bonn today and have to stop at a waystation. When they do, they tell the militia about the highway man attack.
After Lady Von Struddeldorf kicks up a fuss, they are allowed to stay at the local inn for free.
Leon and Gert discuss whether to try to claim this inheritance and agree they should try. They ask about Boganhafen and someone tells them it is a small place east of Bonn.
The weather is sunny the next day. Leon and Gert invite Bart to sit with them on roof. They discuss whether to try to claim the inheritance. After initially feigning shock, Bart agrees to consider it.
They haggle over how to split the 20,000 Gold Marks. They eventually agree on 4,000 GM for Gert and another 4,000 GM for Leon, shaking hands on it. Bart warns that he will kill anyone who betrays him.
They arrive in Bonn in a large square full of people shouting. Lady Von Struddeldorf takes her luggage and leaves with her servants.
Bart, Leon, Gert and Joanna look around and try to become familiar with Bonn. Two men approach them from the crowd, looking at Bart and one of them scratches his left ear repeatedly. The adventurers try to ignore them.
Bart goes to steal a disguise and then heads over to the house where the strange two men disappeared. There is no sign of anyone in it from the windows. He talks to a local beggar asking about the house. It was rented recently by a tall man with a tall hat, who is armed. Bart pays him to keep an eye on the place.
Gert and Joanna go looking for an inn while Leon looks after the luggage. They find the Blue Moon Inn and decide to stay there.
In the morning, they learn that the Black Eagles Mercenary Group has already left for Flanders, the military situation there is challenging. It looks like they will have to seek other work.
Bart steals a ring from one of the young nobles as he passes him. It has a family crest.
The next day they learn there are ferries to Bogenhafen from Bonn and book passage on one. It will depart around lunchtime.
While booking the ferry, Johanna spots the strange man who scratched his ear. Bart grabs a disguise and goes after him, watching him and sees him go back to his friend. The man then meets a Tall Man in a tall hat. (Future note: This is Adolphus).
The Tall Man and the other man go together to the house Bart had the begger watch. Bart continues to watch the house. Later the Tall Man meets up with more thug-like man, making three of them plus the Tall Man. Together they leave the house and move to watching the ferry.
At Johanna’s suggestion, the Adventurers go and confront the Tall Man. He is surprised but unco-operative and says he is watching them. He calls Bart Magister Impediment but does not explain what he means.
Bart bribes a beggar to tell the authorities that the people in Adolphus’s house are Catholic spies, in league with the Witches to destroy the town.
The Adventurers board the ferry and after a while it begins to get underway. The Tall Man and his companions also board. The ferry travels all day down the river towards Bogenhafen, stopping at Weissbruck for the night. Bart gambles with the crew, cheats and wins well.
They go to an inn in Weissbruck, get drunk and have a good time. On the way back to the ferry they are ambushed by the Tall Man and his three thugs. They initially have a standoff, with the tall man holding a gun at Bart, telling him his “friends” in Cologne are dead, due to being members of a Satanic Society.
Drunken sailors stumble on the scene, causing the Tall Man to fire and miss. A fight breaks out. Leon shoots one of the thugs and Gert shoots the other. Johanna holds the third off with her gun while Bart and the Tall Man fight it out.
Bart is wounded and then Leon shoots the Tall Man in the neck. The Tall Man bleeds a lot and looks like he will die, but Leon is able to save him with some timely medical aid.
The militia arrive, looking to arrest the Adventurers, until Bart waves a ring from a rich family around. Bart tells the militia that the rest of the thugs went that way. The Militia Captain accepts they are the victims and goes after the thugs.
They go to a local doctor to pay for some further medical aid. The doctor helps patch up their wounds and he determins that the Tall Man will survive if he doesn’t get an infection, but he may never speak again.
Next day they continue their journey towards Bogenhafen. Leon looks after the badly wounded Tall Man. Bart drinks to get over the pain of his wounds. Gerhart feels sick due to the water.
That evening the ferry arrives at Bogenhafen. They pay a porter to get their gear off the ferry on a rickshaw and take it into the town,
They go to the local Inn and arrange two rooms for three days, one three person room and one two person room.
Gert and Johanna go down and take part in the festival. They learn about a “goblin” or twisted boy from the local Freakshow has escaped and fled into the sewers. There is a reward for his re-capture.
Leon continues to look after the Tall Man.
Bart is wounded and stays drinking in his room but eventually goes down to the bar and asks about the Lieberung Estate in the Inn, but no one has heard of it. He asks about the solicitors mentioned in the letter, but they are not known either. There is just the printers Schein and Friedman.
The Tall Man awakens but weak and can’t talk. Leon mushes up some food for him to try to swallow.
Leon finds documents on the Tall Man confirming his name is Adolphus von Drakwald. He has the warrant of an Imperial Witch Hunter. He also has co-despondence with someone about hunting down the Magister Impediment in Frankfurt in the Ordo Diabolis. They have a break through and find the man’s name is Kastur Lieberung and they decide to smoke him out with “the Bogenhafen Plan”.
Bart gets himself a disguise and goes to investigate the address of the solicitors in the letter. He finds shops, houses and the Carpenters Guild but no solicitors.
Bart asks a beggar but he do not know any solicitors on this street. He leaves instructions if anyone asks about Kastor Lieberung, to tell him first and there will be a reward.
Bart marches back to the Inn and bursts in on Leon and Gert. They have all realised the inheritance is a rouse.
They are gutted and do not know what to do next. They begin to argue.
Adolphus overhears that they are not who he was hunting. He cannot speak, but writes that he has money if they let him go. An extended conversation then ensues, with Adolphus writing down what he cannot say.
Adolphus tells them he is on a mission, hunting for the Magister Impediment and the Magister Templus, who are senior members of a cult of Devil Worshippers. There is a 100gp reward for a Magister Impediment and 500gp for the Magister Templus. Then he passes out again.
The Adventurers discuss their future plans. Adolphus will need some bed rest to recover before he can travel further. They will need to stay in Bogenhafen for a few days.
Bart goes to the bar to drown his sorrows at not being able to get any of the 20,000gp. The rest decide to go to the festival and see what is here. They leave a note for Adolphus and take his money and his Imperial Witch Hunter Warrant.
Leon, Gert and Johanna go to the City Watch asking about the Goblin in the sewers and are told Councilman Richter is offering a reward. He is at the Festival.
They decide to to the the Festival and talk to Councilman Richter. Richter tells them that a Dr Matheus is offering 50sp plus another 50sp from Bogenhafen Council for the capture of the escaped goblin.
They go to the Freakshow and speak with Dr Matheus. They ask what the Goblin likes to eat. A dwarf, another member of the Freakshow, tells them he liked cheese.
Johanna offers to draw a picture of Dr Matheus and his freaks for a poster for a price. She will return with some ideas.
Bart tries to rob a noble but the noble does not engage with him. Bart tries another noble, from the Teugen Family, with his friend Gideon. He tries to befriend the nobleman and get an invitation back to his house, but he is not cultured enough and does not impress the nobleman.
So Bart steals the nobleman's purse, but his friend Gideon catches him and flashes a disturbing, magical look in his eye. Bart tries to talk his way out, but Gideon is not having it. Bart lets the purse go and backs away. Gideon returns the purse to his friend, telling him he accidentally dropped it.
Bart then robs someone for a few shillings quickly and heads back to the Inn.
Once Bart joins them, the Adventurers leave the Inn to being their search for the goblin. They get some waders from the river docks, then go into the sewer via a manhole cover, as the place the goblin used is only 18 inches wide. They consider splitting up but only have one map so the go left, following the sewers along the edge of the town. Johanna slips into the effluence and has to be helped out.
They reach junction and find a body - a full-sized man. Its heart has been cut out and eyes removed. Symbols cut into the flesh, including an upside down pentagram on the forehead. This suggests the murder was satanistic in nature.
They decide to drag the body the way they think it drifted, back to the manhole cover.
Bart finds tracks that look like a Goblin fell in the water and climbed out. The tracks leave the main thoroughfare and leadto a door, where the iron bars have been removed.
Bart climbs through the doors and finds behind it is a temple, dedicated to worship of the Devil.
Bart sees the remains of a ripped up Goblin scattered around the floor. Smoke rises from a central pentagram, slowing forming a face with glowing hypnotic eyes. Bart backs off but when he looks into the thing’s eyes, a voice tells him to stay, it is hungry. He is caught unable to leave but won’t go any nearer.
Johanna leans her head in and realises Bart is acting strange. She starts to talk to him and try to snap him out of the stupor. She then sees the strange, demonic face, which is now forming into a humanoid shape with horns and clawed hands in the pentagram. Johanna gets Bart to follow her away from the Temple.
Leon and Gert reach the manhole with the body. They climb up and are challenged by the guard watching the manhole. After a painful conversation they are able to persuade him to go and get the captain as they have found a dead body – of a human not a goblin.
Johanna gets Bart to climb up with her to talk to Leon and Gerhart. They return to the hotel. Bart slowly recovers from his experience and tells them about his odd experience with Councillor Teugen and his disturbing friend.
Johanna goes to the bar and asks the locals about Councillor Teugen. She learns he is head of the family, having taken over after brother died. He is a popular and generous man and successful business owner. He is also Master of the Merchant’s Guild.
Bart talks to local beggars on the street about Cllr Teugen, but they like or know little about him. One mentions he is generous to beggars on occasion. Bart then tries to meet beggar leader but told Mr Schroeder is not available.
Gert and Johanna identify where in the city the temple is below from a map. They go check the area out and find a Teamsters house and an empty house that is owned by the Merchant’s Guild. Johanna remembers that Cllr Teugen is Master of the Merchant’s Guild.
Bart disguises himself as a beggar to watch the suspected Marchant’s Guild house. A beggar protecting his territory confronts him and Bart agrees to pay him and leave any money he makes in a crack.
He stays late and sees a group turn up around midnight dressed in black lead by the man with the funny eyes who was a friend of Cllr Teugen. He decides to leave and head back to the hotel for the night.
In the morning, Bart tells the others what he saw.
Leon goes to the local Protestant church. Johanna encourages everyone to go to church because they have seen evil things. She did not sleep well after seeing a devil-like figure in the smoke, so all but Bart go with him.
The verger of the Church approaches Leon, offering to sell him an “authentic” holy cross or special glass veils for Holy Water. The price is very high and when Leon shows him (Adolphus’s) Witch Hunter license, the price comes down. The verger is concerned when he is told followers of the Devil are active in the town and agrees to tell the Father.
Bart does not go into the church but goes back to the inn and preys to Mecca. Then he heads to try to meet the Beggar King and this time manages to talk his way in.
He tells the Beggar King, a leading member of the Thieves Guild, that Councillor Teugen is a Devil Worshiper and he wants to break in. The King tells him Councillor Teugen is under the protection of the Guild so he cannot help him. He does accept some money to ensure his men will be drinking and looking the other way when Bart tries to break in that night.
Bart returns to the Inn and talks with the others about breaking into Councillor Teugen’s house. The others want to check out the Merchant’s Guild house above the temple. They agree to go there first. The others are not sure about breaking into a nobleman’s house.
They plan how to break into the Temple. They include Adolphus as he has experience with dealing with evil. His voice is very weak but he can make some sounds.
They decide to cleanse the evil with Adolphus’s help then arrest any Devil Worshippers who come to the place. Adolphus practices walking that day to strengthen himself for the evening.
They wait until the evening after 8pm and then head towards the Merchant Guild house above the Temple. Bart heads to the house early and picks the lock, leaving it unlocked. He meets up with the others and they head to the house.
Bart breaks into the Teugen House on his own. He uses Laudanum in stolen sausages to drug the dogs and a couple of the guards. He manages to enter the house and uses the dumb waiter to get upstairs. While in there, he overhears Gideon and Councillor Teugen talking about their plans. He hears that they are concerned about the strangers in town, but the “Brotherhood” arrives tomorrow, they can deal with them. There is a hint that Councillor Teugen has sold his soul for wealth and power.
Bart returns to the Inn, managing to avoid the guards, who are suspicious because someone has drugged the dogs.
In the morning, Bart tells the others what he heard. They ponder what is going on.
They notice that a group of monks, called the Brotherhood of St Signus, have arrived in Bogenhafen. They go out to listen to what they are saying. Apparently that are on a holy quest to find “the Mac-E”, whatever that is.
Bart heads out to speak to the Beggar King again. He is left waiting a long time, but eventually gets an audience. He tells the King that Gideon, Councillor Teugen’s friend, is the Devil worshipper and is going to collect the nobleman’s soul. The Beggar King is spooked by this, as he is quite superstitious. He tells him Councillor Teugen is on his own before / after / during Council meetings, in the hope that the Beggar King takes some action.
The rest of the Adventurers discuss the situation with Adolphus, while Bart is away. Adolphus suspects that Teugen has sold his soul to the Devil for seven years and now he has to pay.
When Bart returns, he suggests that they to talk to Teugen on his own and confront him. The others agree and discuss how to approach him. Leon and Gert decide to try to join the Merchant’s Guild as a way of getting an audience.
They discuss how to confront Councillor Teugen at a Council meeting. Bart considers kidnapping another Councillor and disguising himself as that Councillor at a meeting. The others dismiss this suggestion.
They decide to go to see someone at the local Church to try to recruit him on their mission. Perhaps they could lure the Councillor to a meeting at a Church and then confront him.
They discuss getting round to renting a house. Bart can’t help financially, as he’s spent it all on bribes. Gert asks who he has been bribing, but Bart tells him to “Never you minded.”
They decide not to stay at the Inn that night. They book another night with the Inn Keeper and state publically they are staying, but they sneak out the back way with their luggage and go to stay in the Merchant Guild house they broke into the previous day, assuming that they will not want to go back there as it is a known location.
That night, Bart is having a dream about someone trying to find him. The eyes of this person are very familiar, but he does not find Bart. During the dream, Bart calls out in his native Romanian, but no one understands it.
They leave before dawn. Adolphus suggests they go to the Church and pray. Bart stays outside on “watch”. Adolphus starts to become suspicious of him.
They stay for a few hours, until the morning service starts, which they take part in. Then Leon convinces the verger to get them an audience with the priest. Gerhart learns that Father Luther does not have a lot of time, as he needs to be at the Council meeting this afternoon.
Father Luther agrees to see them and Adolphus starts introducing himself as a Witch Hunter.
Leon tells Father Luther that Councillor Teugen has made a pact with the Devil. He is shocked and incredulous, asking for evidence. Barts says he overheard him talking. Leon focuses on Gideon as the main cult member and wants to have an audience with the Councillor without Gideon being there.
Then they tell him about the Satanic Temple they found in the sewers and that it has been cleansed.
Father Luther says he can’t act on these allegations without evidence. They say all he needs to do is get them an audience with Councillor Teugen. He is concerned but reluctantly agrees to do so, but will do no more.
He reluctantly agrees to have the verger look after their luggage, then sees them out. If they are in the lobby of the Council House, he will send them a message when they have an audience with Councillor Teugen.
Gert goes to rent a house, taking some of Adolphus’s money. Bart effortlessly “relieves” a merchant who is doing well for himself of his excess money.
They go to the Council House and wait in the lobby. There are others waiting to see Councillors about various issues and they overhear some gossip that the Empty Glass Inn was broken into that night.
Various Councillors arrive and are pestered by those waiting, including Councillor Teugen, who Bart hides from.
A clerk comes down to tell Adolphus von Drakwald his appointment with Councillor Teugen is now. They are escorted into the Council House to Teugen’s office.
They are shown into his office and he asks them what is this important Religious issue that they want to talk to him about. They tell him bluntly they know about his pact with the Devil and Gideon. They want to help him. When he denies this is true, Bart starts to threaten him. Teugen then becomes angry, drawing a pistol and telling them to leave. They decide to leave.
Bart distracts the clerk who was to escort them out and sneaks into a post room. He then persuades the Postman to finish for the day and let him do what he wants. Bart looks through the post box for Councillor Teugen and takes the post for him, but his literacy is so poor he picks up the wrong Councillor’s post.
Bart tries to hang around looking like he should be there until the Council meeting starts.
The others see Councillor Teugen leave the Council House, escorted by two guards. They follow him back to his house.