The Enemy Within - Shadows over Boganhafen - part 2

Our hero's - Solomon, Walter, Esmerelda, Joten and Herdan.

I recorded the session I ran in November on my phone and edited it using Audacity. To keep the file size small some quality was lost and yet in the end I think things turned out fine.

Here is a link to part 2 of the recording. Part 1 can be found in this post. A summary of the key points in the second recording are below:

• The three legged goblin, bleeding from being stabbed earlier in the day by Joten the dwarf, was tracked through the sewers. A large explosion sent several of the group tumbling into the effluent. Their torches had lit a dangerous pocket of methane gas.
• The goblin fled to a door set with a barred window. Esmerelda's witch sight made out several spectral goats with slit throats, then she saw blood running down the walls and finally a ghostly dwarf whose heart had been cut from his body. The dwarf looked familiar as the group had earlier seen him in the stocks but had ignored his cries. Given the manifestations it was clear to Esmerelda that something terrible had happened just beyond the door.

• Through the grill in the door the band saw a circle of copper marked with arcane symbols and the words Ordo Septenarius. About the circle were 5 black candles. Walter the halfling smuggler, got the impression that he could find the building directly above them thanks to his superior spacial intelligence. They would later learn the building above was the Steinhager merchant families offices. Needing to find the goblin to claim their reward, the group had Joten hack the door down .



The minor demon in the temple looked a bit like this.

• Upon entering the room a demon materialised. It's appearance spooked Esmerelda who fled back through the sewers. Unfortunately she slipped during her frantic escape, ending up in the brown. Joten was also spooked but stuck around to fight it out. < I am using the Dark Heresy fear rules which provide more interesting results than Warhammer's own.> Herdan and Joten flanked and destroyed the demon. It had the ignominy of being slain by a halfling's sling stone.
• With the demon defeated the group found a handkerchief with the initials F.S, a locked iron box and pile of goblin bones. They retrieved the goblins three socketed pelvis and smashed the lock off the box. Within was a bloody Kris knife and a skull riveted with a iron band across the temple. They also find a one way secret door.
• Whisking the evidence away, the group sought out Albrecht the High Priest of Sigmar. They told him the full story and leave the evidence with the priest for safe keeping. Albrecht agrees to accompany the group to the building with the secret basement. They agree to set out in the morning.
• The morning of day two of the Schaffenfest saw the group approach Dr Malthusius to claim their reward. They are evasive with the Dr, not telling him what really happened. The Dr is not happy with just the three socketed pelvis as he wanted the goblin alive. The group insist they be paid and extort half payment on the condition that the group, in particular Walter, do nothing to spoil the remaining Zoocopia shows.
• The Dr tells them he received a report that the goblin had been crushed by a falling crate in a Warehouse. Surely the watch, who told him this, had been mistaken.
• Financially frustrated, the group visit Magistrate Richter hoping that he will at least pay them. He wont, on orders from the Town hall. He apologises on behalf of not only Bogenhafen but also on behalf of the unjust Warhammer World. The group, unsure if they can trust the Magistrate, eventually tell him all that unfolded. Richter promised to look into their claims.
• High Priest Albrecht, flanked by Watchmen, accompany the group to the Steinhager offices. They are led to 'the room'. It's been cleaned up yet the corruption from the rituals committed is plain to those sensitive to magic. Albrecht orders Franz Steinhager be brought to the temple to face questioning. He asks that the group meet with him once he is finished with Franz and he will ensure that the group is rewarded. Once a reward is mentioned Walter is sure Albrecht will die, he's learnt that in the Old World people promise to pay you but rarely get the chance.
• While leaving the Steinhager offices they were approached by a servant of Heinrich Steinhager who tells them his master wants to meet with them to discuss his brother Franz's unusual behaviour. Feeling suspicious and suspecting a conspiracy, the group insist on a meeting Heinrich in a public place, the exclusive Golden Trout.
• Heinrich tells the group how he disproves of the way his bother does business. He muses that business would be better if his brother was 'gone'. He has his own suspicions regarding the 'charitable' Ordo Septenarius. The group have misgivings around Heinrich's motives.
• With brunch done and some time before visiting Father Albrecht, the hero's head to the warehouse where the goblin was meant to have been crate crushed. They met the nightwatchman who 'found' the goblins body that had subsequently been tossed in the river. His story was light on detail and he claimed to have clubbed the goblin to death, which contradicted the crate fall story. They did learn from the warehouse foreman that Gideon Tuegen, of the Tuegen merchant family, was around that morning.
• Their midday trip to the Temple of Sigmar was spoilt by the fact that High Priest Albrecht had taken ill immediately after a meeting with the Watch Captain and Franz Steinhager. At the conclusion of their meeting it was noted that the Watch Captain was uncharacteristically happy. The Watch Captain was commonly known as the grumpiest man in Bogenhafen.
• A visit to Albrecht's home saw the group discover evidence of poison. Solomon visited his thief contacts at the Crossed Pikes tavern and convinced them that a poisoned High Priest would be very bad for business what with Imperial Officials sniffing around the place. It was in their interests to provide a cure. The guild agreed. Esmerelda brewed up the necessary components saving Albrecht from a magical poison known as 'Purple Brain Fever.'
• Temple guards were posted at the High Priests home. The Watch, and in particular the Watch Captain, are suspected. 
• The party ponder their next move as day three of the Schaffenfest approaches.