Eyes still wide with fear, the girl whispers
As far as I know, our group consists of Otto, Gregor, Bertoldt, Dr. Schreiber, Gunnar, Josef, Konrad, Albrecht and the cook.
As Hanna says this, Piersson growls defiantly, but stays where he is
Eyes still wide with fear, the girl whispers
As far as I know, our group consists of Otto, Gregor, Bertoldt, Dr. Schreiber, Gunnar, Josef, Konrad, Albrecht and the cook.
As Hanna says this, Piersson growls defiantly, but stays where he is
"Good girl " Mareike says with a small smile , then walks to Piers son and gives him a swift kick in the ribs "Quiet, dog"
Returning to Hanna, she grasps the girl by the chin gently, and looking her in the eye asks "Tell me now, how are the lord and the other servants being afflicted with the weariness?"
Rangnir answers the door in a loud, booming voice, his foot placed so the door can't swing open,
What is it? Do not hurry a Dwarf dressing for dinner!
Fernis stays relaxed. Years of hunting men and worse have given the dwarf a coolness in the heat of action. Awaiting the unknown visitor's response, Fernis prepares to strike.
Hannah rubs her eyes, you can nearly feel the conflict in her caused by the fear of you, Sigmar, the Ruinous Powers, Lord Rikkard and so forth...as far as you can tell, the girl rather accidentally got in contact with Chaos...
It's called Schlaf...a poison distilled from a certain plant that Bertoldt cultivates in the garden. The Doctor dries its leaves and extracts the poison, it's in the food, but only in the venison tonight.
From outside, you hear a slightly alarmed Vern Hendrick
Oh...I didn't want to hurry you, it was only, Lord Rikkard wanted to remind the dwarvish guests that carrying weapons, normally forbidden at a dinner table, meets his approval tonight, because of the special circumstances. The Imperial Protocol defines a situation as ours as a siege and by that allows weapons and armours at the table. And...uh...have you maybe seen Mr. Piersson? He wanted to talk to me about tonight's guest list again.
The steward? Nah, haven't seen him.
Fernis continues to listen quietly maintaining his position.
Franz freezes a moment at the knock at the door but the dawi quickly handle it. He keep his silence for the moment contemplating the long list of conspiritors Hannah names.
Ah well...then I will look for him in the kitchen...are you coming too? I mean, the dinner is nearly ready I guess.
Will come in a moment!
Fernis lets a slow breath out as he listens for any sounds in the hallway.
Splendid, I'll wait in the hall!
Vern calls back and Fernis hears someone moving away from the door (1 success).
Fernis signals to the others there are two bodies in the hall, one moving away.
Hannah rubs her eyes, you can nearly feel the conflict in her caused by the fear of you, Sigmar, the Ruinous Powers, Lord Rikkard and so forth...as far as you can tell, the girl rather accidentally got in contact with Chaos...
It's called Schlaf...a poison distilled from a certain plant that Bertoldt cultivates in the garden. The Doctor dries its leaves and extracts the poison, it's in the food, but only in the venison tonight.
"Well done, Hanna" Mareike says "Was the plan to conduct the ceremony after the poison was administered at dinner?"
"Ye can move, manling, Ah donna need yeh te listen to me gettin' my drawers on! That is, unless yer in to that sort of depravity.", Fernis bellows hoping to shock Vern's sense of propriety.
Hannah grips your wrist and stammers
I don't know...I remember that Piersson said that the eye is a portal for HIM, a herald of the Lord of Rage...Blood for the Blood God! Skulls for the Skull Throne! she whispers was what Piersson always screamed...
In front of the door, Vern Hendrick harrumphes a bit piqued and moves away.
Fernis curses at the mentioning of Blood God.
Hannah grips your wrist and stammers
I don't know...I remember that Piersson said that the eye is a portal for HIM, a herald of the Lord of Rage...Blood for the Blood God! Skulls for the Skull Throne! she whispers was what Piersson always screamed...
In front of the door, Vern Hendrick harrumphes a bit piqued and moves away.
Turning from the girl, Mareike hisses to the others "This eye seems to be key to their plans....it has to burn!"
Fernis turns to others then cast a an eye at both the girl and Piersson, "Better safe than sorry?", he says as he again cast a hardened eye to the cultist. "It's your duty to preside here, noble. These cultist are in your own family's home running a muck and servin' yer kin up to Khorne. Unless yeh plan lay on top of him, even then, I plan ta start fixin' things here and now."
Franz replies to the dawi. "Dealing with the wicked is needed. I'd not like to lose this place, if for no other reason we need it to defend from without, even while it rots from within. I need to go to the current lord, he's held this estate for only a few weeks. I hope he can be awakened, and then we get the reliable people and take the others. This will be difficult, but not impossible with the lord's aid and the uninvolved guards. We should not go alone anywhere now though, the dawi are a team and needed here, so who of Mareike or Zad goes with me as I see his lordship?" The foppish lordling looks over the two wondering which would be better to take with?
Satisfied that the dwarves will guard the two cultists, Mareike says " I'll come with you. I'll need to get my mail from my room first."
First though, she stuffs a rag into Hanna's mouth and binds her tightly.
"Be swift about it, Fletcher. But would it not be better to send the priest with ya?"
"Zad'd be less suspicious than Marieke going with me, would be worth it if we can leave them uncertain one last time. I think they are setting their hopes on the poisoned dinner. So Marieke get armored up and I'll take Zad and go see mi'lord. With that we should rally the good people here and take the heratics. I'm tired of sneaking about, not very good at it anyway."
Franz will take off with Zad to Lord Rikard's room at a purposeful walk, after seeing that Marieke gets to her armor and brings it to the room with the dawi and company, making sure she is not ambushed in her room or something.
Ready to bristle in indignation at the dwarf's suggestion, Mareike is mollified by Franz's reasoned response. She nods to Franz and departs with him to her room where she gathers up her belongings.
Returning to the room, she again notices the difference between the condition of her mail shirt and those of the dwarves. A young girl's shyness comes over her before she summons the courage to say to the dwarves "Master Dwarfs, I can only do Sigmar's will if my armor is whole. I'm a feared that mine may eventually fall apart if I don't learn how to keep it. Would you, after we've burnt this chaos pit to the ground, teach me how to properly care for it?".
The dwarves can tell it took a lot for her to ask.
Rangnir, who first ignored the strange girl completely, then, puzzled yet inrigued heard her hint at prior experiences with beastmen and with chaos, seems to fight his own pride of place. Seeing the pityful state of the armor grinds his nerves, but in the end, he nods.
Will do, girl!
Together with Zadluzeny, Franz makes his way to Lord Rikkard's chamber. Upon knocking, it takes several moments until a bleary eyed Lord von Aschaffenberg opens the door
Ah Franz, it's you and...*yawn*...a servant? Well, never mind, already dinner time?
Rangnir, who first ignored the strange girl completely, then, puzzled yet inrigued heard her hint at prior experiences with beastmen and with chaos, seems to fight his own pride of place. Seeing the pityful state of the armor grinds his nerves, but in the end, he nods.
Will do, girl!
Mareike nods her thanks. She then finishes adjusting the mail shirt so that sits more comfortably on her wounded shoulder.
"Now, daughter of Sigmar, this is why I had you stay with us. These two tried to escape and we now must deal with them to keep the word going out too soon. I figured you of all the manlings would not want to have missed such an opportunity. Franz may not have the stomach for it, but I am sure you do. Praying for your lord's demise the way they do an' desecrating his image. Time to strike. Do so without remorse and be true in your blow." With that, Fernis crosses the room with a stern look upon his face. Standing before Piersonn he raises is axe and says, "You have chosen poorly, weakling." With that he lets his blade fall with masterful precision.
Fernis' words ring in Mareike's head, the truth of them sending a shiver of righteousness through her slight frame. Eyes blazing she watched as the dwarf dispatched the odious steward.
Walking up to Hanna, she hefts her Pa's axe "You did good telling us what you knew, Hanna, it may have saved your soul, Sigmar willing. But you fell in with chaos, and as Fernis said, you chose poorly." With a twitch of her shoulders, Mareike swung the axe up and over her head, then down upon the head of the helpless lass.
Turning to the dwarves, "Sigmar be praised! "
"Greeting, Mi'lord, lets us into your chamber, we must talk quickly and in private." Franz all but hauls his lordship into the bedroom chamber and closes the door when all are in.
"I am sorry, mi'lord, but it's worse than we thought, there is a chaos altar in a hidden chamber below, and a chaos cult of the Blood God here.
Otto Geizhals, the librarian, Gregor Piersson, the Steward, Bertoldt Granhof, the gardener, Dr. Schreiber, the doctor, Gunnan Wetzel, Josef Vacmark, Konrad Voss, servants, Albrecht Krug the coachman, Anton Richter, a guard,and Karla Wagner the cook, are comspirators. Hanna the servant girl was bullied into assistance as well. I have seized Piersson and Hanna, under my authority as an Imperial Officer; I'll need your commission to rally the good people here and get the other evil-doers. You and others have been poisoned by the doctor, cook, and gardener, using a plant grown here, the meal tonight was to be their final move, drugging all the innocent, and they would then summon the beastmen to complete some ritual. I don't really get it all but we can learn more later if needed, regaining control of this estate is what is needed now."
I suppose this will require a charm check, or maybe leadership, either one is 4 blue.
One fortune point remaining as I recall.
Current status for reminder.
St:3, To:3, Ag:4, In:3, Wi:3, Fe:4 -- Def:0, Soak:0, Wound Threshold 12 - Wounds:0, Corruption Threshold 8 - Coruption:0, Fatigue:1, Stress:1 --
Stance:Neutral (Reckless - default) -- Current Action: none ; Recharging Cards: none
Other available action : Extreme Shot -- Action Recharge: 0 (This action is my only non-basic action card.)
Maybe it's the status of dizziness that has befallen Lord Rikkard or just the horror of your accusations, either way, it takes several heartbeats of silent staring until Lord Rikkard slowly rubs his face
I see... he says gravely. His voice sounds clearer now and you can literally feel the discipline it takes him to sort his thoughts Franz, you seem to know how to handle this, what is your advice? Shall we pretend to fall for their trick or attack?
------
The fountain of blood that errupts from Piersson's skull as the blade of your axe cleaves into it, is of an evil supernatural quality. It doesn't ebb away, instead the blood gushes out in a quantity that would have fitted to an ox or large bear!
It also has a rather dark hue, smells sulphurous and tastes metallic...maybe a mutation of unknown purpose...
Herregud...that looks bad... Rangnir tries his best to avoid the gushing blood.
Franz thinks for a minute. "Hmm, Mareike and the dawi are fully armed and armored, not inconspicuous, but neither Zadluzeny nor I have armor. I guess it might be best if we joined the dinner, the others fashionably late, and take the cultists then. But we need to get word to the houndmaster, the guard captain, and Herr Hendricks, to be ready, and the cultists already suspect us of being trouble. However I get the impression that they may wait for Piersson before acting and we have him already. Perhaps we can go see the loyal together, we should never be alone any more. I like tryng to surprise them again but on the other hand acting at once could work well. Zad, as the representive of the gods, what is your advice?"
"Well that's new....", Fernis says at the torrent of blood. "Avoid it if possible."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
You should read Grudgebearer sometime if you have not done so,haha.
Lord Rikkard isn't able to suppress a yawning and shakes his head
Wait, a benediction? Would these chaos lovers not refrain from such a thing? Or I'll just tell everyone to swear an oath to Sigmar in the face of the upcoming battle? That would surely unmask them, hah.
Lord Rikkard grins and is obviously quite proud of his simple plan.
Anyway, Franz is right, we have to inform Olver, Capt. Blucher and Vern...quickly.
"They will be lookin' for these two soon enough. In fact, I am sure they already are. We need to hide these pay days till later. Given the amount of blood, we just need to get them out of plain sight and leave something of our's soaked in the stuff so whomever they send a lookin' will hopefully think one of us got whacked." With that, Fernis begins looking about for a place to stuff his bounty.
Shaking the blood from her axe, Mareike's lips curl in disgust at the fetid blood that came out of the steward "So, was he turning into one of those beastmen?"
She then begins to shove Hanna's body under the nearby bed, careful to avoid the steward's blood.
"Lets search them to see. He may already be a beastman. They are not all Gors." Fernis draws a dagger from his belt and begins cutting away the clothing in search chaos touched skin.
I am worried for tonight. If they planned to poison us at the dinner, chances are they are already using poison and that is the reason for much of the lethargy around. If the beastmen attack again, the guards could be too tired to make their stand if they get another dose of that stuff, tonight!