1×08: Dark Paths

• The battle with the suspiciously rat-like beastmen is over and the PCs turn to patching up injuries. To Jörg’s confusion and mild frustration, Christoph is resistant to providing any aid to Witch Hunter Albrecht, which results in Jörg having to do it. Once roused, the witch hunter dispatches Christoph to the temple to bring reinforcements. The scout (and secret hedge-witch) grudgingly obeys.
• Once he is gone, Sören breaks into a cabinet at the witch hunter’s direction, discovering a scroll, a sacrificial knife and a strange piece of greenish crystal that he discreetly pockets. Surely, this won’t come back to bite him in the butt.
• At the temple, Christoph must interact with the younger Witch Hunter’s grim father who stares at him coldly before leading a team of warriors and priests into the sewers where they take over the investigation, focusing upon the possible secret entrance that Jörg thinks he has found. Healing is dished out save to Coppertong who refuses.
• A secret path is revealed and leads upstairs to the offices of House Steinhäger. A brief confused fight breaks out but is over before the PCs follow, with every one of the merchants seized and arrested. Notably, the elder of the House, Franz, is not present, having fled the building moments earlier. The PCs are ordered away, though the senior witch hunter watches them all suspiciously.
• After a brief check-in with the Watch, they go off shift and Sören shows the green rock to Christoph and Enfys, the latter of whom nearly panicks at the sight of raw warpstone. They agree that it must be gotten rid of and, after a few too many pints, they hit upon breaking into the Steinhäger building and leaving it (along with Christoph’s irritating ring) there.
• This B&E goes surprisingly well, though their last minute decision to fit the ring around the warpstone catches the GM completely off guard. They return to the tavern, pleased at having evaded the patrolling witch hunters, and discover Sergeant Rudi Klumpenklug, their ostensible commander, at the table with Coppertong and Jörg. More notably to Sören is that the tavernkeeper, Franz Baumann, whom Sören knows to head the Rainaldan thieves guild, is staring intently at Klumpenklug, an odd expression on his face. When Sören meanders over for a refill to ask why, Baumann tells him he needs to see something.
• In the cellar, Sören warns Baumann about the witch hunters exploring the sewers and the other man scowls before revealing that they fished a body out: it turns out to be none other than Rudi Klumpenklug, clearly dead for several days … and missing his heart…
• Upstairs, Enfys staggers to the jacks and as he is buttoning back up, a familiar voice calls out his name. He turns … and everything goes black…

GM Notes:

• Very late recap. I have no one to blame but my own laziness.
• For old school grognards, the changes here are definitely noticeable. Steinhäger and the Ordo Septenarius were heavily involved in the original game, but mine has evolved a bit, mostly due to that assassination of the witch hunter (that I totally intended on being a session in and of itself until the player jumped the gun and caught me flat-footed).
• Nosh is unavailable for a number of weeks due to work, so I decided to have Enfys abducted and will turn his disappearance into the investigation for the PCs while the witch hunters tear apart the town, looking for Franz Steinhäger and dealing with Ordo Septenarius stuff. I’m sure there isn’t a secondary plan going on somewhere…
• Players always confound and the decision to (A) steal the warpstone and (B) to put a magic ring onto it and (C) plant it in the Steinhäger building definitely caught me by surprise, which is why that entire sequence is garbage. That said, I had Christoph make a “universe reaction roll” into the dice tower to see what happens with the ring & warpstone … the results will be observed next session…