[WFRP] The Bloody Crown XII

[LeSwordfish]

"Do we want to take it to Manaan's Keep?" Ludo asked. "Klammenberg wanted to get it to Nahorek, do we want to make that easier for him?"

[RossN]

Mirino

'I don't want to take it anywhere,' Adelbert clarified, 'But it is magically powerful and that means we'll have to be careful about how we destroy it - which means Elsa or the Temple or both.'

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache coming on. 'I better have a look at the rest of Klammenberg's baubles.'

[LeSwordfish]

"I think he's wearing the necklace that he used to turn into beetles before," Ludo said, leading Adelbert to Klammenberg himself, making sure his crossbow was loaded. "I've not touched it in case it's related to the curse on Petra, but if you think it's safe we should take it off him straight away."

[RossN]

Mirino

'I agree,' Adelbert replied. 'The last thing I want to see is Klammenberg avoiding the noose.'

[LCP]

Mirino, 32nd Brauzeit

The cell in which Klammenberg was being held wasn't very impressive as far as dungeons went, but did the job. With his hands tightly bound and a dirty cloth gag in his mouth, Klammenberg looked up as they entered. "Uh hhh wh hgh," he said as he saw Adelbert.

One of the Brotherhood swordsmen got him to his feet and pulled back his frayed jacket. A number of amulets and talismans were hanging around the necromancer's neck, each on its own cord. Adelbert could make out a sprig of dried graveroot, a preserved crow's foot, a hound's tooth, a smooth ball of pale stone, and what looked like a Nehekharan coin, marked with the hieroglyph of a single, staring eye.

None of the talismans seemed to him to hold the same awful power contained within the staff - but he knew that symbols like this held power in the invisible world, even just as badges of allegiance. Klammenberg held still and calm as the soldiers searched his sleeves and pockets, pulling a small silvered dagger out of his boot.

"Yhh mhm uh mhuh," he said. "Lh mh ngh nh wh hn hnh"

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[RossN]

Mirino

Adelbert ignored Klammenberg's gurgles and didn't even bother to look at the man as he examined the artifacts. 'A paltry haul, but we should burn it all anyway,' he muttered to Ludo. 'If that inbred vampire is using these tokens to track this idiot that is one less problem we should have to deal with.'

He looked up and Ludo and gave his friend a tired but genuine smile. 'I don't know about you but I'm sick of the smell here. Shall we have an ale and a meal at the inn? Amazing how you miss a place, even Mirino.'

[-Sentinel-]

"No, there are other letters. Does the accused wish me to read those as well?"

"I do not believe they are relevant," said Elsa, who recalled some of them including very personal things for her friends. "This letter you just read was written the night I rejected the... beings that were speaking to me. 'I just made a decision that they will not like.' I know now that I should have destroyed the letter a couple of days later, when the beings turned out to be powerless."

[LCP]

Manann's Keep, 28th Brauzeit

"You regret not destroying the evidence. You admit then, that you wanted to keep this from his Highness?"

Sforza held up a hand to let the doctor know he'd had his time. "Is there more you wish to say?" he asked Elsa.

[-Sentinel-]

"You regret not destroying the evidence. You admit then, that you wanted to keep this from his Highness?"

"Yes. Shocking as it may seem," said Elsa dryly, "I was not keen on telling people that I was hearing voices."

"Is there more you wish to say?" Sforza asked Elsa.

Elsa was silent for a moment. She did not really have anything to counter all the evidence. "I did not try to steal the Book," she said firmly. "You know I've risked my life protecting it; from the Norscans, and later from Nahorek himself. I've tried destroying it, and when that failed, I've always insisted to have it kept under close guard. Had I wanted it for myself, you wouldn't even know of its existence; or at least its importance."

[LCP]

Manann's Keep, 28th Brauzeit

"When you came into my service," said Sforza, "you were capable of little more than parlour tricks. You've come into a great deal of power very quickly." He drummed his fingers twice against the table, his expression stony. "Do you expect me not to believe that your intentions could have changed too? I am giving you the chance to defend yourself. Do not insult my intelligence."

"An attempt was made to steal the book. Three men are dead. My men. Your apprentice was involved." He drummed his fingers on the table again. "Doctor Bianco offers us an explanation of these events. Can you?"

[LeSwordfish]

Ludo pocketed the silvered dagger, though it did give him a certain amount of pause. It did seem to imply that Klammenberg might have been thinking of how to counter Nahorek, at least.

"I'm taken for dinner but I'm sure we have time for a drink. If you say the talismans are safe, best we get rid of them." He reached out and tugged the talisman chain from Klammenberg's neck.

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Pausing here in case they explode or something. If not, Ludo's going to burn them, probably in the first brazier or fireplace he sees.

[-Sentinel-]

"An attempt was made to steal the book. Three men are dead. My men. Your apprentice was involved." He drummed his fingers on the table again. "Doctor Bianco offers us an explanation of these events. Can you?"

"My best guess," said Elsa, "is that this was another attempt by the Architect of Fate to get the Book." She was not superstitious by nature, but the name of Tzeentch almost qualified as profanity among Collegiate wizards. "We battled his minions in the Lost Library; they were trying to break into the sanctum to get their hands on the Book. We stole it from right under their noses. The daemon we met in Nath looked very much like a servant of the same god, and so may have had the same designs as the daemons of the Lost Library."

[LCP]

Manann's Keep, 28th Brauzeit

"Your best guess?" said Sforza. There was a long silence, as if he was expecting something more.

Once the silence had stretched far past the point of comfort, the Prince of the Reaches stood up, pushing his chair back with a loud scrape. "Very well. If we've heard all we are going to hear for today, take her back to her cell. I will come to a judgement, and pass sentence tomorrow morning." He motioned to Elsa and Tatiana. "Take them away."

[-Sentinel-]

"Wait... WAIT!" shouted Elsa. "You can't possibly call that a trial!"

She straightened as much as she could. "Doctor Bianco here, has had days to review the evidence and build his case and rehearse what he was going to say. Me? I was bound and gagged and locked up in a dark cell without a word of explanation. I was only told the charges against me and my apprentice mere minutes ago, as I was dragged in here hungry and sore and bleary-eyed. I was not even allowed to read my own letters again. And you consider I've had my chance to defend myself?"

She turned to the priests and met their eyes; her speech was addressed to them as well, not only Sforza. She needed at least some of them to agree that these proceedings looked nothing like a proper trial. "We're trying to turn the Broken Reaches into something resembling a civilization. In a proper civilization, I would be able to summon people to testify on my behalf, look at the evidence, search for more. I would not be kept in the dark—literally and figuratively—until the last moment. Do we have a civilization yet, or do we not?"

She felt naive, speaking like a fresh-faced pamphleteer from Altdorf University. Also hypocritical, since what had drawn her to the Broken Reaches was precisely their lawlessness. But she hoped to at least sting Sforza's pride enough in front of the priests to force him to make a grudging effort to prove that he had, in fact, built a civilization.


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Charm 54, if it helps: (d100)[16]
Fortune: (d100)[67]

[LCP]

Manann's Keep, 28th Brauzeit

Sister Ioana looked a little miffed at Elsa's comments about 'proper civilisation'. Sforza just gave her a cold stare.

"You are an officer in my army, Holt," he said. "Or you were. Military justice is swift." He turned back to face her fully. "What is it you want?"

---

Mirino, 32nd Brauzeit

No ghosts or witchlights or flesh-eating beetles appeared as Ludo took the talismans away. Klammenberg offered a muffled protest, but the Brotherhood men held him still.

[RossN]

Mirino

Adelbert tried not to look relieved when nothing terrible happened. 'A drink it is then.'

Still not bothering to acknowledge Klammenberg he strolled out of the makeshift cell to head off and supervise the burning of the necromancer's rubbish.

[-Sentinel-]

"What is it you want?"

"Ludovic Stubbs," said Elsa without a moment's hesitation. "Get him here. Let him speak for me."

Though naming the halfling as her advocate might put him on Sforza's bad side, Elsa knew for sure that Ludo would be greatly hurt if he learned that she never called upon him in her moment of need.

"Military justice is swift," she agreed, after a pause. "But she is not military." She inclined her head towards Tatiana. "And since it seems we're being tried as a pair, it stands to reason that this court is not, in fact, a court martial."

She had no idea if this argument held water from a legal standpoint, or whether the law had anything to do with this trial, but it seemed like a reasonable point to make.

[LCP]

Manann's Keep, 28th Brauzeit

"She was your responsibility!" said Sforza, bringing his fist down hard on the table with a sudden, startling vehemence. Elsa got the feeling she might have pushed her luck a little too far. "Officers take responsibility for those under their command."

He let the silence settle. "Stubbs," he said at last. "Where is he?"

[-Sentinel-]

Elsa chewed on her lip. Perhaps it was best if she answered in a minimum number of words from here on out.

"Lu – Stubbs headed to Last Water with some of his men to chase rumors about Klammenberg," said Elsa.

[LCP]

Manann's Keep, 28th Brauzeit

There was a loaded silence while Sforza thought.

"I have dispatched orders to Last Water," he said, "calling our troops there to Manann's Keep. If the halfling arrives with them, he can speak for you."

Bianco looked mildly surprised. Irene started to say something, but her husband held up a warning hand to show he would not be interrupted. It seemed to Elsa that he clearly didn't want to be here - anybody who drew his attention right now was likely to draw his anger.

"If the halfling arrives with them, he can speak for you," he repeated. "If not, we will not wait for him." He snapped his fingers to the guards. "Take them back."

The Iron Company men stepped forward, taking a firm hold of Elsa and her apprentice.

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Breaking here in case there's anything more Elsa wants to say before the gag goes back on.

[-Sentinel-]

That... did not go as badly as I feared, thought Elsa, as they gagged her again.

[LCP]

Manann's Keep, 28th Brauzeit

Elsa and Tatiana were marched out of the audience chamber, and Sforza's court began to rise. The Prince was one of the first to leave, turning and and stalking out of the open door. His wife tried to fall in beside him as he left, but he brushed past her without a word.

Irene recovered her composure quickly, turning back and drawing Doctor Bianco aside for a quiet word. As the others began to filter out, Skorgrund got to his feet with a creak of his old knees and gave Urgrim a hard look.

"Did you know about this, Jotunnsson?" he asked. "Besides the daemon."

[Thragka]

Urgrim – Manann's Keep, 28th Brauzeit

"Did I know about what?" Urgrim replied bluntly in Khazalid. He had a scowl fit to match the Elder's wrinkles. "About the goat girl Holt took on as an apprentice? Aye. I helped the umgi track her down. I wasn't about to let a witch-child wander this country and fall under the Black Hound's sway. Slew some grobi that kidnapped the waif and wanted to feed her to a Wyvern, up in the Teeth, near the Tusk. A good night's work, that was.

"About Holt's recklessness, and arrogance? Aye, I knew that too. She's more sun-touched than most of her kind, witch or not. She acts without thought of consequence, or the effects her decisions have on other people. She's barely an adult, even by their standards, and as headstrong as any beardling. But I've seen her try to grapple with her nature, too. She knows she has to control her witchraft, or it'll control her. And she feels some responsibility, some duty, to fight for this land and its people. Because she's one of the few of us who can.

"But about these other books of hers, or any wretched, treacherous plan, to betray us all and side with dark powers? I'd heard none of this nonsense before today. She's not blameless, I'm sure. She's neglectful, and stupid enough to have kept the book and written those letters and believed exactly what she says of them. But that almost speaks in her favour, more than against her. And the manling's claims don't add up. And the Princess never took a shine to Holt. My gut says there are plenty of reasons to be glad the Prince won't pass the sentence tomorrow."

~

After speaking to Skorgrund, Urgrim sought out Sieghard. He waited outside the man's rooms a little stiffly, not allowing himself the familiarity of entering, unbidden, as a friend. When Sieghard came to the door, the first thing the dwarf did was slowly salute.

"Commander. I had no idea of any of this," he said weakly. "I told Sforza, and Father Heironymous, exactly what you said. I did try to look for your horse in the city, but only halfheartedly, I admit. I was up and down the Rock, speaking to the Rinn and the clan elders about the Jackal. I know you won't be happy I told them about the spear. But they agreed to muster, obviously. More'n that, I've got some Dwimmulson volunteers for Ludo's plan – to go back to the ruins and try to get to the priestess."

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

Sieghard stared silently for a moment. More than anything, he looked tired. "There's bigger things to worry about right now than the horse or the spear or the ruins, don't you think?"

He walked back into the room and gestured for Urgrim to follow. "What do you think about all this? Do you think she guilty of what they say?"

[Thragka]

Urgrim – Manann's Keep, 28th Brauzeit

Urgrim scratched his beard. "Look ... she's a witch. Far as I'm concerned – far as any dwarf's concerned – her days are numbered. The dark gods count every witchery she performs, all the while their servants weigh down on her, and in the end her soul'll be divided between 'em. So ... it's hard, for me, not to see something like this as an inevitability. Can't say I think she's free of guilt in gen'ral. She's led us all into danger, sent innocent folk to their deaths. The fire –" Urgrim fell silent. His fists were tight balls. An angry spasm flickered across his face.

He looked away, and calmed himself with a deep breath. As he turned back to Sieghard, he waved his hands in a wiping-away motion. "But. I also know we'd all be dead many times over without her. I might not like witchcraft, but I'm just as sure I owe my life to her – and that we won't beat the Jackal without her." He shrugged. "Can't speak to whether her witchcraft was the good witchcraft or the bad witchcraft according to human laws. Bloody hell, I've seen Schreiber wavin' his arms about and talkin' to things that aren't there. That's how he talks to his goddess – and I b'lieve he does talk to her. He cured the blight, I saw it. If Holt speaks to invisible things, doesn't mean she's gone bad just yet. Her letters could say the truth." Urgrim sighed. "You know her better than me, better'n any of us. It doesn't make sense to me that she'd throw everything away. Not yet, anyway. Not for the reasons we've heard."

Spoiler: OOC

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Belshazzar was a dwarven king; Babylon, the Karaz Ankor. Darius sounds like an elvish name anyway, doesn't it.

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

Sieghard glared daggers at Urgrim. Whatever he had been hoping the dwarf would say to ease his mind, talk of his lover's soul being quartered and snatched up by the dark gods was about as far from it as possible.

"That fire started while we fought Nahorek," he said, his tone like ice. "If we had succeeded in slaying him there and then, Caerfort would still exist." He let his words hang for a moment, daring Urgrim to argue. "She's many things, but daemon worshiper isn't one of them. I wouldn't be surprised if they've tried to tempt her... They're daemons, tempting folk to go astray is their nature. She's reckless, but she's not an idiot. She wouldn't fall for their lies. Daemons have wanted that book longer than we've had it in our care. Elsa had nothing to do with the one who one who tried stealing it."

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Is that "The dark gods count every witchery she performs, all the while their servants weigh down on her, and in the end her soul'll be divided between 'em." line a reference to something or did you come up with that? It's the last thing Sieghard wants to hear, but it's a damn good line.

[Thragka]

Urgrim

Urgrim held his tongue. The dwarf had shared his truest conviction and opinion with Sieghard, and he didn't regret doing so, but he could see that what he had intended as an act of friendship had hurt the human. He wasn't going to argue the point. He just nodded. "Then there you have it, Commander. You don't think she's guilty of what they say. That's good enough for me. I'm standing with her, with anything I can do to help."

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I was throwing out a reference to the writing on the wall at Belshazzar's feast, in the Book of Daniel's depiction of the fall of Babylon – glad you liked it!

[LCP]

Urgrim, 28th Brauzeit

"But about these other books of hers, or any wretched, treacherous plan, to betray us all and side with dark powers? I'd heard none of this nonsense before today. She's not blameless, I'm sure. She's neglectful, and stupid enough to have kept the book and written those letters and believed exactly what she says of them. But that almost speaks in her favour, more than against her. And the manling's claims don't add up. And the Princess never took a shine to Holt. My gut says there are plenty of reasons to be glad the Prince won't pass the sentence tomorrow."

Skorgrund listened closely to Urgrim’s appraisal. “Manling politics, then,” he said at last. “Perhaps we’re well out of it.”

His gaze slid sideways to where Irene was whispering with the doctor. “The witch might have a head full of rocks,” he said, “but that one’s a snake. Watch how you tread, Jotunnsson.”

Straightening out his old back, he hobbled off out of the audience chamber.

---

Elsa Only, 28th Brauzeit

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The soldiers escorted Elsa and Tatiana back over the bridge and down into the stone-walled cellar beneath Oberth’s workshop. The trapdoor slammed behind them once again, and Elsa and her apprentice were left in darkness.

Hours passed, or so Elsa thought - without any window to the outside world, it was hard to track time. At last, she heard footsteps and muffled voices above her, and the trapdoor creaked open again. A familiar pair of feet descended the steps. Tattie lifted her bedraggled head as Irene Sforza entered the cellar.

Two Iron Company men were with her, one of them carrying a lantern. Looking around the cellar with an expression of disdain, she waved a hand to them.

<Leave us.>

The guards seemed reluctant.

<She’s bound and gagged,> said Irene. <What do you think she’s going to do, headbutt me to death?> Her voice dripped with scorn. <Leave us, now.>

Leaving the lantern behind, the soldiers trooped back up the steps. Sweeping the dust off one of the steps, Irene daintily sat down.

“Well,” she said, looking back to Elsa. The grave expression she’d been wearing throughout the trial was giving way, and an irrepressible smile was creeping its way across her face. “Here we are. If I’d known it would be this easy to get rid of you, I’d have had the maids go through your rooms months ago.”

---

Sieghard & Urgrim, 30th Brauzeit

The days following the trial seemed to pass in something of a blur. Drifting through the hallways of Evatt’s fort, Sieghard once again heard the familiar sounds of the Sforzas’ arguments - though unusually, only the Prince seemed to be the one raising his voice. When he saw him in person, Sforza seemed determined to talk about anything except the trial. Here again was the veteran of the campaign trail, with maps, and lists, and little wooden figurines to make his battle plans.

“There are hills overlooking the ruins, yes?” Sforza asked Sieghard, at one of the first war councils he was asked to attend. “We’ll pitch our siege camp there. Bring up the artillery and flatten the place before we even set foot inside.”

“The terrain is rough,” Al-Makir observed. “No roads for us to bring Alvarr’s catapults along.”

“Then we’ll make one,” said Sforza. “In the meantime, I want eyes on the enemy.” He looked for a moment to Sieghard, but seemed to think better of it. “Falkenwald. Your men can move fast, and know their business. Can you get some scouts up to these ruins?”

Falkenwald nodded. “Should be no trouble, your highness,” he said. “I’ll have a patrol out this afternoon.”

Urgrim, meanwhile, was spending most of his time outside the fort. He was still getting to know his volunteers for the expedition to Kheneb-Ptra-Urush, and some of them were impatient to be underway - not least because while they were still in Manann’s Keep, Grunlok had every Dwimmulson working at ‘improving’ Sieghard’s earthworks.

“What do we need to talk to this manling soldier for, anyway?” asked Lunn in a break from the digging. Urgrim suspected the fair-haired dwarf was the least comfortable with his leadership: both he and Rollik were experienced fighters, and seemed to feel on some level that they should be the ones in charge. “It’s the grombolgi we’re waiting for, no? Stubbs.”

“Aye, and he’s off holidaying in Last Water,” said Skorgrund, who was watching the work from a seat on a tree-stump. He had produced a pair of woolly fingerless gloves that looked like they’d been knitted some time last century, and was puffing on a long pipe ‘to keep warm’. “This Sieghard was the one who found Zonbrynaz, so you might as well hear what he has to say.” He took another puff. “Even if he’s got the manners of an urk.”

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I’ll leave it between you guys as to when/where the meeting happens and what you discuss.

On his way back from the works, Urgrim spotted Bianco emerging from an apothecary’s shop. The doctor was alone: heading out of the side-streets, he crossed the town square and ducked into the Star of Marienburg. It was still a little early in the day for drinking, besides which Urgrim had never seen the sober-looking physician touch a drop of ale. More out of curiosity than anything else, he peered in through the leaded windows of the tavern as he passed.

Bianco was sitting at a corner table, with three others who seemed to have been waiting for him. Two men Urgrim didn’t recognise, and a woman that he was pretty sure was Falkenwald’s second-in-command, Gunda. What they were talking about, he had no idea - but whatever it was, they seemed to be discussing it intently.

---

Bezahltag, 1st Kaldezeit

Ludo & Adelbert

Ludo and Adelbert made their preparations to leave on Backertag morning, delayed a little as Ludo might have expected by his father’s fussing. While they waited, Adelbert took the opportunity to check in on Krucke, who pretended not to remember him and then accused him of “sniffin’ around after me new fortune, eh?”. Deep down, though, Adelbert suspected the old man appreciated the visit.

Valdes had seconded them four men from the Volunteers to bolster their guards on the journey back, who were waiting at the gate with Klammenberg. Petra stopped for a moment to stare at the necromancer, who looked dispassionately back.

“That’s him?” she asked. One of the Thorns nodded, and she looked troubled.

“I don’t remember him at all,” she said, in a quiet voice. “How can I see him and still not remember?”

Leni wished them a slightly tearful goodbye, and they set off east again. With Klammenberg blindfolded as per Adelbert’s instructions, it was slow going down the Winding Pass, even with two soldiers to guide him. The necromancer still had a bandaged wound in his side where Ludo had shot him, and as the day wore on, Ludo noticed a developing limp in the leg they’d shot him in on Geheimnisnacht. Klammenberg’s walking stick was among the effects they were carrying with them, but for him to use it they would have had to untie his hands.

It was very late on Bezahltag when they at last saw the empty tower of Caerfort on the road ahead. The moons were already coming out over the Mere, and their captive seemed about ready to collapse at the sight of shelter. As they drew closer, however, something caught Ludo’s eye - a glimpse of movement among the abandoned hovels...

[LeSwordfish]

Ludo held out a hand for a halt. "You saw that, right? Something moving in the town?"

He unshipped and loaded his crossbow. "Rike, Hans, Johan, forward with me. Probably just some refugees looking for a place, but I don't want to take risks."

Leaving Moltke and the brotherhood men to defend Klammenberg, he advanced slowly, peering in the half-light.

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Perception vs 68: (1d100)[52]

[RossN]

Adelbert and Ludo

Adelbert was feeling footsore and tired himself when they shuddered to a halt. He was left blinking as Ludo moved, then drew his own sword and waited with the other guards.

'Be careful Ludo! If it comes to it we'll destroy the staff and kill Klammenberg.'