A wasted journey and ominous events in Bögenhafen

After leaving the church [editor's note: etter første spilling, hvor vi fikk undersøkt liket til den påståtte broren til Rigo], fortune has us run into of Rigo's old friends, one Josef Quartjin. He informs us that our journey here has been for naught! The heir to Ostermark has already left town with a hired retinue. I figure it must be Sigmar's way of telling us we were not meant to join that particular adventure - and it saves us from the headache of trying to get Felman accepted by the heir.

Josef takes us to one of his and Rigo's old haunts by the rivers. I suspect they're more drinking buddies than friends, but Sigmar's strictures luckily don't mention spirits so yet again I fail to see a problem. Turns out that mr Quartjin owns a river boat and is heading for Bögenhafen next day. Now if THAT isn't a sign, I don't know what is! There is certainly nothing in Sigmar's strictures about ripping up a golden ticket landing in your lap, so we resolve to go there and cash in on Rigo's good fortune.

As we're getting deeper into our tankards, a couple of young nobles barge into the bar, stinking drunk and looking for trouble. Given that they have four bodyguards and the local thug-in-charge seems to be connected to them somehow (Josef informs us he's named Max Ernst), there's a decent chance they'll be able to stir up something too.

After roughing up the local patrons for a while, one of the nobles saunters over towards us and pukes all over Reinhardt. He didn't exactly aim for him, but he didn't avoid him either. He finishes off the childish display by emptying his tankard of ale all over him, laughing uproariously. I can feel myself boil over inside, and nobility be damned - who does this whelp think he is? I stand up, shoving my Sigmar symbol into his face and ask him to respect a man of the cloth and his friends enough to avoid such disrespectful behavior. The cold look on my face and Sigmar's touch must have sobered up him for a split second, and he backs off. Gods, that felt good! I am filled with resolve to always tackle situations like this head on.

After another half hour of making a fool of themselves, the nobles leave. We decide to tuck in for the night. However, we notice one of the shady characters from Köningsplatz keeping an eye on us. Yavandir sneaks out the back and follows the stalker. He takes up watch near Josef's boat, and Yavandir climbs onto a nearby roof to keep watch on him. On the boat, we come up with the most cunning plan of using Rigo as bait and trying a pincer maneuver on the rogue. I'm all for aggressive plans and concur.

The plan would surely have worked, if not for the fact that Yavandir sees him talking to someone, then a crossbow bolt sprouts from his throat! We rush over there and find two dead guys, both with a ring with a symbol of some kind and poison inside. They might be the guys trying to signal Rigo at Köningsplatz.

I spot a drunkard not far away, and command him in the name of Sigmar to tell us what happened here. Sputtering, the wretched creature says that a big man clad in black chainmail killed the two rogues. Hm, intriguing.

We naturally go to find some guardsmen to report the foul crime. Me and Felman soon come across a group of six, who are slightly suspicious but they're naturally convinced once they see my holy status. They inform us they're looking for a group of six containing a dwarf and an elf who have murdered a nobleman. I truthfully report that I know of no such group.

The river 

The next day, I undergo my initiation at the church. I am filled with pride of finally having been accepted into the church as a full-fledge initiate. I am most eager to continue eradicating the foes of the Empire from the face of the earth in the name of Sigmar!

For the next 3 days, we travel on the Altdorf canal, leading into the river Bögen, before we arrive at the small town of Weissbrück. Me, Felman and Rigo head to the local bar, where Rigo notices a suspicious character trying and failing to hide that he's watching us. I storm over, grab a fistful of his shirt and demand he tell us why in the name of SIGMAR he's watching us. Naturally the coward breaks and tells us a big man in black armor asked him to watch us and leave a note at a certain location if we appeared.

We try to stage an ambush, but Reinhardt is spotted and the killer gets away. We go to the few inns in the town and find where the killer, who's named Adolphus, and his band of five men are lodged. Unfortunately they've managed to sneak out the back door, get their horses and ride away. Damn. Caspar secures entry to their room, where we don't find much but we DO find a bounty hunter badge. Okay, why in the nine hells are we being hunted by a bounty hunter?!!? There's not much more we can do, so we just resolve to travel onwards and be on watch for an ambush.

The ambush

Not entirely surprisingly, we're ambushed the next night. 3 of the 6 are carrying flaming barrels of oil, clearly intent of sinking the ship and forcing us into the water, making us easy targets. The man who must be Adolphus roars that Rigo's the main target. An arrow wedges itself deep into Rigo's chest, blood exploding out from his back and he goes down. The battle is hard, but luckily we manage to take out the flaming oilers before they can torch our boat. Rigo barely manages to pull through, and both me and Caspar are heavily wounded as well.

Adolphus is carrying a letter from one Q.F., saying that Rigo's brother [???] supposedly is a [???] in some sort of organization. Mysteries upon mysteries. Well, at least we all get a chainmail out of the deal, Sigmar be praised!

Bögenhafen

The festival is well underway when we arrive. After some recon work we discover that the letter about the big inheritance is 99% certain to be fake, since Adolphus was the one who ordered them from a printer. So...we're left with really nothing to do, and since we're in the middle of the festival we might as well hail Sigmar by partying like only his disciples can? I am pretty sure that was covered in "Daily life as a Sigmar priest" back at school. We consume an outrageous amount of spirits, and by some miracle none of us end up dead in an alley. An unqualified successful evening, my Lord be praised!

The next day we go to check out Schaffenfest. After dealing with a weirdly pathetic dwarf determined to drink himself to death and failing even at that, we attend the tent of freaks. Rumors abound of mutants...which must obviously be dealt with. Turns out that there is indeed a mutant - a tiny goblin with three legs. In the middle of the show he manages to run away and escape into the sewers. Both the owner and the local magister offers 50 gold coins for his retrieval. As it is our duty to hunt down and control Chaos, no matter how tiny and insignificant, we naturally accept.

The sewers - Chaos confronted

Reinhardt leads the way, absurdly at home in the disgusting sewer pipes. Several of us empty our lunches into the sewer. I look at Reinhardt with new eyes - slightly more respect, but also more disgust. We try to locate where the little goblin might be when we're attacked by some sort of gelatinous blob. It attacks by trying to engulf us...but luckily we disperse of it before someone experiences the inside view of the ooze. I have a feeling it would make dispersing my seed among the town's bar wenches a bit more challenging.

Yavandir and Reinhardt manage to find the goblin's tracks. After a while we come upon the corpse of one of the street urchins at Schaffenfest, the very one Rigo for some reason paid 1 gc for I can't even remember what. Anyway, he's not only dead - he's been gutted and his heart is gone, and the octogonal star is etched into his flesh. Our hairs stand at end - surely this is Chaos at work! I am briefly afraid, before I'm filled with a righteous rage and joy at the thought of smiting whatever foul being is behind this. Sigmar's glory!

Yavandir is certain the boy hasn't been dead for more than a couple of hours. After following the trail further, we find a pool of green blood and a fake cover blocking a sturdy door. Caspar puts his considerable bulk behind a solid bull rush and the door is smashed open. Inside, a large chamber reveals itself. The octagonal star is etched into the floor with black candelabras and candles at each intersection between the star and a circle made of copper dust or the like. The beast skull is drawn in the middle and a bunch of tiny bones, including a three-legged pelvis is piled on top of the drawing. Rest in pieces little mutant, hahaha!

In the back of the room is a locked iron closet and a puddle of blood, presumably from the urchin. Reinhardt finds a very luxurious-looking handkerchief with the initals "F.S." stitched into it. Hmmm...might it belong to one Franz Steinhager, one of the leading nobles in town? It is not at all uncommon for Chaos cults to be led by corrupted nobility after all.

Suddenly, black smoke starts whirling from the black star, and a gate to Hell opens and a Chaos being emerges. Several of us, including to my shame myself, freeze in fear, unable to act. The battle is fierce but short, and none of us are seriously injured before we banish the beast back to whence it came, kicking and screaming.

After some struggling we manage to open the cabinet. Inside there's a silver platter covered in blood, a nasty-looking skull which Caspar promptly smashes and a serrated dagger we presume was used to kill the boy. There are no tracks and no entrance nearby. After some fruitful searching, we decide to call it quits and go up topside to wash up and sleep.

Conspiracies

The next day, Caspar goes to the best tailor in town and gets confirmation that the handkerchief belongs to Steinhager. Good enough evidence for me! We also discover that the dagger might be from Nuln.

We report back to the magister, who informs us that our mission is now over since one Johannes Taugen, leader of the local merchant guild, reported the goblin found dead in one of his warehouses. Most interesting...

We track the urchins in Schaffenfest. We're told the dead kid went to buy pastries from Hausmann's bakery. We talk to Hausmann, who remembers the urchin being dragged into an alley and talked sternly to by someone wearing the symbol of house Taugen. Rigo goes back to the boys and asks them to keep their ears to the ground.

We're somewhat at a loss as what to do - we're working in the dark without some local contacts. The ruling council is made up of local nobility and traders, with the Verena and Shaela priests working as advisors. Obviously, the council is led by Steinhager...By Sigmar, I prefer demons over dealing with the politics and treachery of nobility!