EPISODE 8: THROUGH THE RAT HOLD

Just over an hour before dawn the adventurers are woken by a knock at the door. One of the barmaids has been sent to wake them as they are due to leave an hour before dawn. Serion and Torsten are feeling particularly rough and both have developed grey blotches around their necks and chests. Serion is starting to feel weak and curses the filthy humans and their diseases. Johann is also starting to feel a bit hot and sweaty and knows that he has only a matter of days left until he develops the grey blotches as well.

The trio dress quickly and head down to the bar for breakfast before their journey. They are greeted by Otto, Karl, Andreas and Max. Over a meal of hard bread and cheese Andreas reveals that he has been hired by Adewald as an interpreter and thanks Torsten for all his help. Serion gives Otto and Karl a gold coin to remove any wanted posters they find around Talagad, with this they take their leave and head straight for the bar.

Once they have eaten and said their farewells to Andreas, Otto and Karl, Max takes the adventurers to warehouse fifteen. He leaves them outside and disappears into the pre-dawn gloom. Johann knocks on the door of the building and is greeted by a massive Norscan, at least seven feet in height with an equally massive sword on his back. He ushers them inside and bolts the door behind them.

Finch is waiting for them inside and is joined by a rather scruffy looking little man and a large black man with a scimitar. Johann hands over the fifteen gold coins to Finch whilst Torsten introduces himself to the other two men. The large black man reveals his name is Dubar but the little scruffy man turns away and refuses to make small talk. Finch then announces that the large Norscan named Sigleif and himself will be guiding the five travellers through the sewers under the wall into Talabheim. Sigleif then moves a large pile of crates to reveal a trap door in the floor. He pulls it open to reveal steps down into the sewers.

Finch lights up a torch and leads the way down into the darkness. As they head down into the gloom Finch asks Johann what their business in Talabheim is. Johann tells him that they are looking for an apothecary named Daubner.

After a while they reach a large chamber with several tunnels heading off in different directions. In the middle of the room are some barrows with old clothes in. Finch explains that they are disguises to make the men look like tanners and help them blend in when they leave the sewers. Torsten is not happy about the disguises and is reluctant to remove his armour. Serion on the other hand sees the sense in being disguised so changes quickly. As they debate the merits of looking like tanners, Johann and Serion both hear coughing from down some of the tunnels. Torsten then hears noise from a tunnel near him and turns to Finch and demands to know what is going on. Realising that he has lost the element of surprise, Finch shouts out for his hidden thugs to attack.

Finch draws his sword and charges at Torsten. He swings wildly and misses the mercenary. Torsten takes advantage of the miss and grabs his two handed mace and lashes out at Finch but misses in the poor light.
Johann manages to spin around just in time to meet a figure running at him from the tunnel behind. He too misses badly with his dagger in the gloom. Serion, unarmed, grabs his bow and quiver of arrows from the cart beside him.

Two more thugs appear from the darkness to attack Dubar and the scruffy man. The scruffy little man raises his hands in surrender immediately, which is met with a crack to the skull from the pommel of the thugs sword, leaving him unconscious on the floor. Another thug rushes from the tunnel by Torsten to help Finch.

The thug attacking Johann fails to hit as the darkness makes combat difficult. Meanwhile the thug that has just joined the fight with Torsten thrusts his sword at the mercenaries leg, opening a painful gash on his thigh. Finch follows this with a poor stab with his sword then a feeble backhand that clatters off of Torstens breastplate. Torsten replies, swinging his mace at Finch but missing the man by inches. His second attack strikes Finch on his arm causing him to back off in pain. On the other side of the room some quick attacking from Johann leaves the thug in front of him with injuries in both arms.

In the entrance to the room the large Norscan starts hitting himself in the face with the flat of his two handed sword blade. Realising that he will soon become beserk Serion takes action. He notches an arrow and fires it at the giant man hitting him in the right arm. The injury only serves to make the big man more angry and he starts to charge, so Serion fires a second arrow. The arrow strikes the Norscan between the eyes with such forces that it bursts through the back of his head. Sigleif crashes to the floor mid run like a giant oak being felled.

On the other side of the room Dubar trades blows with the two thugs facing him but neither gains an advantage. The scruffy little man pulls himself to his feet beside Dubar and after chanting something under his breath unleashes a storm of fire around one of the thugs, the man screams then falls to the ground burning. The remaining thug turns and flees at the sight.

Finch continues to attack Torsten. He brings his sword down on Torstens helmet, clanging off harmlessly. The thug next to him then catches Torsten badly opening up a serious gash on his shoulder and causing him to drop his mace. Torsten, now weaponless, lands a punch on Finch's chest. Serion seeing that Torsten is losing his fight waits for a moment then skilfully fires an arrow past Torsten and into Finch's shoulder, slicing flesh to the bone and causing him to drop his sword. Taking advantage of Finch's injury, Torsten punches him so hard in the head that he collapses to the floor unconcious.

Johann manages to parry several blows from the thug in front of him before stabbing his dagger into the mans leg. As the injured man drops down to one knee in front of him, Johann slashes at his throat then stabs him in the cheek. The thug grabs hold of his ruined face before falling dead to the floor.

Torsten, still facing an armed thug decides to grab hold of the man. Serion drops his bow onto the cart beside him and draws his dagger and runs to Torsten's aid. He tells the thug to surrender but the man stubbornly continues to resist. The fight all but over, Torsten releases the man who proceeds to run. Serion kicks out to trip the man but somehow manages to kick his own leg and ends up in an undignified heap on the floor whilst the man disappears into the darkness.

The fight over, Johann quickly stitches up the bad gash on Torsten's shoulder but tells him that he will need to look at it properly later. Serion makes the others swear to never tell anyone of his clumsy attempt at tripping the thug up. Torsten then searches Finch's body, finding a small amount of money and some rings. He also takes the two handed sword from the dead Norscan. Serion removes a silver Norscan bracelet from the dead giant which he slips into his bag.

As they are about to head off down one of the tunnels they hear a muffled voice from near them. On closer inspection they find several barrels, inside one they find a bound and gagged halfling. After releasing him from his bonds and giving him some much needed food he reveals that his name is Bogey Crumpot. Bogey tells the adventurers that he is one of the Terriers, sent into the walls to patrol and prevent smugglers and worse. In return for saving him from his imprisonment he offers to show them into Talabheim and not report them to his superiors. The three friends make sure they are well disguised as tanners and follow the halfling into the darkness.

When they arrive at the tanners district they say their farewells to Bogey and blend into the crowd of workers changing shift. They emerge into the light surrounded by people and push their cart down a side street. Dubar and the scruffy wizard head off into the city whilst Serion and Torsten change back into their normal clothes and Johann dresses as a doctor.

Just as they are moving the tanners clothing and cart into a dark corner, four watchmen and a judge see them and head straight over. The judge, noticing that the three men are new to the area starts a lengthy list of laws to be followed. Noticing that they are armed, the judge informs them of a weapon tax which they reluctantly pay. Just as the officials are leaving, Torsten manages to stifle a cough which would have attracted unwanted attention if it had escaped. Ditching the cart, Johann asks for directions to the nearest inn. He is told to head for the Three Apples, a preferred first stopping point when entering the city.

The Three Apples inn turns out to be a large comfortable building in the Old District of Talabheim. Johann manages to haggle the price of a room for the night with the landlady. They head to their room for well needed hot baths and a rest. A few hours later they return to the bar for some food. Torsten flirts with the barmaid until whilst leaning over the bar to get a better look at her curves, he realises that she is a halfling and the whole area behind the bar is a raised platform. The barmaid greets Serion in Elvish, which pleases him greatly.

EPISODE 7: JOB AT THE DOCKS

Having formulated a quick plan of action the adventurers move. Serion takes advantage of the cloudy night to melt into the evening shadows of an alleyway to the left. Johann does likewise on the right of the street. Torsten, Andreas, Otto and Karl take the chest down the street toward the waiting Brettonnians.

Serion looks back in the direction they came from. He sees four crossbowmen following them and decides to head down the alleyway to find a better vantage point. He disappears into the darkness and easily scales a fence to hide in the back garden of a nearby house. One of the crossbowmen heads down the alleyway, looking for signs of the elf. As he strains his eyes looking into the darkness, Serion launches an arrow into the back of his head. The arrow slices straight through the mans scalp stunning him as blood pours into his eyes. Instinctively he turns to the direction the arrow came from just as a second arrow pierces his open mouth, pinning him lifeless to the fence behind. Serion calmly walks over to the dead man, removes his arrow and drags the body around the corner to hide it from searching eyes.

Johann also realises that he is being followed, so quickly scans the alleyway for options. He sees a pile of rubble to one side and picks up a large chunk of rock and slips behind a fence. He lanches the rubble further down the alleyway as a distraction and a man with a crossbow runs towards the sound. Once the man has passed, Johann vaults over the fence to attack him from behind, unfortunately he knocks over a barrel as he jumps and alerts the thug. The man spins around and fires a crossbow bolt wildly into the darkness. Johann takes advantage of this and slashes at the man with his dagger but he manages to dodge the blow. The thug then swings his crossbow at Johann but the unwieldy weapon sails past him and the momentum causes him to fall over. Johann immediately lunges with his dagger catching the man in the arm, quickly followed by a fatal stab to the throat.

Whilst Serion and Johann make their way down the side alleys, Torsten, Andreas, Otto and Karl carry on towards the waiting Jorge Lappin with the chest. The Brettonnian calls out to the four men, telling them to only send two forward with no weapons or backpacks. Torsten shouts back telling them to leave their crossbows. Torsten and Andreas both hide daggers in their belts, take the key to the chest from Otto and start walking. Lappin turns to another man and speaks in Brettonnian, saying that the job will be easy as they have only been sent a one armed cripple and a retard. Andreas, understanding the foreigners lets Torsten know. As they near, Torsten asks Jorge if he is supposed to be the cripple or the retard. Jorge is taken aback and tries to move the deal on. Lappins henchman opens up a crate revealing bottles of Brettonnian brandy. Torsten opens the chest with the key, to his surprise, the chest is full of stones and not gold. Torsten curses under his breath, realising that Adewald has double crossed the adventurers. Jorge starts to get twitchy as Torsten closes the chest again smiling. Torsten hands over the chest and as Jorge opens it he gives Andreas a wink and they both draw their daggers. Jorge sees the stones in the chest then looks up to see Torsten and Andreas holding weapons. He too draws a dagger and orders his henchman to attack.

As Serion leaves the hidden body of the man he just killed he looks up and sees another on the roof of the building across the street and one on the roof of the house next to him. Both men are holding two crossbows and look as if they are targeting somebody in the street below. Serion, hoping that Johann is taking care of the other side of the street takes aim at the man above him. Serion aims at the mans leg, and lets loose his arrow knowing that if his shot hit correctly the man would fall backward into the garden and not down into the street. The arrow strikes the back of the mans thigh, he stumbles and falls backwards off of the roof into the garden in front of Serion. He cries out as he falls and Serion curses his luck at not making the perfect silent kill. Serion quickly takes aim at the downed man and fires a second arrow straight into the injured mans heart, killing him instantly.

Meanwhile, Johann picks up and loads the crossbow from the thug he has just killed. As he is about to move off he notices a man on the roof above him aiming a crossbow into the street below. Johann takes aim with his crossbow and launches a bolt straight into the back of the mans head. The thug stands motionless for a second then slowly topples backwards and slides down the roof before landing with a sickening crunch on the floor below. The crossbow he was holding and another land on top of his body with a soft thump. Johann drops the crossbow he has just fired and takes the other two which are both luckily still loaded.

In the street, Torsten and Andreas square up to Lappin and his henchman Henri. Henri grabs a sword from behind the crate of brandy and prepares to fight. Torsten lunges at Lappin with his dagger, piercing his leather armour and scraping along his ribs. Henri swings his sword at Andreas but the one armed mercenary manages to dodge to one side and then plunge his dagger into the mans neck killing him instantly. Andreas then picks up the sword. Torsten continues to look for an opening on Lappin and as the Brettonnian starts to back off Andreas swings his sword around, disarming him expertly. He follows up with a solid blow that connects with the mans right arm breaking it at the elbow. Realising that he cannot win the fight, Lappin drops to his knees and begs for mercy. As Torsten bends to pick up the defeated mans dagger the Brettonnian shouts out to hidden crossbowmen telling them to open fire. The remaining crossbowmen fire at Torsten and Andreas. A crossbow bolt glances off of Andreas's chainmail whilst Torsten is struck twice in the chest. Both bolts penetrating Torstens breastplate and causing damage beneath. The two men look at each other in surprise then with a roar charge past Lappin into the crossbowmen. Faced with two charging armed men, one of the crossbowmen turns and runs, the other desperately tries to reload his weapon. Before he gets chance to aim, Torsten slashes a dagger across his face. He swings his crossbow at Torsten but it is parried with Lappins dagger. Andreas then launches a punch at the man flooring him. Torsten lifts the man to his feet and tells Andreas to watch him. As they are doing this, Lappin makes a dash for an alleyway. Angry at letting the Brettonnian escape, Torsten turns to the captured man and slits his throat.

Johann slings both crossbows over his shoulders and proceeds to climb up the drainpipe of the house from which he shot down the thug. Once on the roof he sees the fighting below him. Not wanting to risk a shot into the combat beneath he turns his attention back up the road they came along and sees two men aiming crossbows at Torsten and Andreas. He takes aim at one of them and fires a bolt into the mans shoulder causing him to drop to the floor in agony. He then attempts to fire the second crossbow at the downed man but the bolt ricochets off of the floor in front of him.

Serion heads back to the alleyway and looks up at the building opposite where the other crossbowman was hiding. The man is gone and Johann is in his place holding on to a crossbow and aiming down into the street. Serion scans his eyes back the way they had come from for the other two crossbowmen that had been following. He sees one man slumped against a wall with a crossbow bolt sticking out of his shoulder and another man preparing to fire his crossbow down the street toward Torsten and Andreas. Serion quickly fires an arrow at the man, striking him in the chest making him drop his crossbow. He then fires a second arrow at the man, hitting him straight between his eyes, killing him instantly. The elf then quickly spins to look down the street and sees Lappin starting to run towards an alleyway. Serion aims towards him, hoping to hit the mans leg and knock him to the ground. The arrow flies true but its power is so great that it pierces the first leg and pins it to the other. Lappin suddenly finds himself falling midstride as his legs can no longer move independently. The arrow also manages to sever an artery and the man is dead before he hits the floor.

As scene calms down the trio loot the bodies of the Brettonnians. Johann and Torsten help themselves to several weapons and items of clothing whilst Serion is not interested in weighing himself down with extra equipment. He does however take a share of the silver shillings found on the dead men. They then load up the cart with the crate of brandy and chest of stones and head straight to Adewalds warehouse.

On arriving at the warehouse the adventurers meet a man who introduces himself as Max. Angry at being double crossed by Adewald, Johann manages to persuade Max into getting them into Talabheim. He agrees to set up a meeting with Finch, whom the trio failed to find at the Ten-Tailed Cat previously. Max tells them to go to the Crooked Shoe inn and Finch will see them.

Leaving the warehouse, they head to the Crooked Shoe inn.

The trio enter the Crooked Shoe and are greeted by a man who introduces himself as Finch. Finch is asking  for twenty gold coins from each man to get into Talabheim. After several rounds of negotiation and haggling Johann gets the price down to ten gold coins each. Realising that Finch is not actually bothered how much he is getting paid and that he is mostly likely doing it because he has been told to, Serion knocks him down to fifteen gold coins for the three of them. Finch tells them to meet him at warehouse fifteen in the docks district an hour before dawn and leaves.

Deciding to settle down for the night the adventurers ask about rooms. As they are speaking to the barmaid Serion and Torsten start to cough and she immediately tells them that there are no rooms available. Deciding that she is lying, Torsten grabs the girl and Johann whispers something into her ear that makes her eyes widen in fear and she changes her mind instantly.

Having acquired a room for the remainder of the night, Johann sets to work healing the two puncture wounds in Torstens chest from the fight with the Brettonnians earlier. Serion gets himself comfortable and is asleep in minutes. Satisfied with his healing, Johann sits on his bed and mixes up various herbs to make a poison for one of his daggers. It is not long before the remaining two adventurers are asleep and resting before their journey into Talabheim in the morning.

EPISODE 6: PAYING A DEBT

After making their escape from the disaster at the Ten-Tailed Cat, the trio meet up by the river. The ferries are not running anymore so they make their way across the bridge back to the Bald Badger. Serion and Torsten are starting to feel quite ill from what Johann believes is the early stages of the plague that all are suffering from in Talagad.

Just as they are nearing the Bald Badger, they come across a religious zealot preaching to a crowd. The zealot is preaching about cleansing Talagad of the plague. He whips the crowd up with chanting and shouting before setting himself on fire and screaming for all signs of the plague to be treated likewise. At this the crowd goes beserk. Locals run off searching for people with signs of the plague to 'cleanse' with fire. Just as the adventurers are thinking that they should be making an escape from the madness, four flagellants wielding burning flails head their way.

Torsten instinctively reaches for his two handed mace. Serion disappears down a side alley, not fancying being an elf with the plague facing a crowd of hysterical zealots. Johann takes a different stance and immediately joins in the chant of "burn the unclean!"

The flagellants continue to advance on Torsten and Johann. Torsten swings his mace at the nearest flagellant, the hard metal crunching against the side of his head opening a cut down the side of his face and spinning him around. The remaining three attack Torsten. Two miss completely, the third glances a blow off of Torstens helmet, the sticky burning pitch from the flail leaving a burning patch on the metal.

Johann stabs one of the flagellants twice in the back causing a large amount of damage to the unarmoured flesh. Serion, realising that nobody had followed him down the alley, stops and makes his way back to the fight, drawing his bow as he jogs.

Torsten brings his giant mace down from above his head onto the flagellant in front of him, striking him with so much force on the shoulder that the mans arm is torn off. The flagellant looks at the gaping mess where his arm once was then falls to the floor dead.

The flagellant facing Johann swings his burning flail fiercly, catching him on the arm but luckily not setting him on fire. The two flagellants fighting Torsten are a bit more cautious after seeing their companion bludgeoned into two pieces by the man in front of them. They swing their flails but miss badly.

Meanwhile, Serion emerges from the alleyway he disappeared down. Seeing Torsten with his head on fire and Johann being struck by a burning flail he immediately nocks an arrow and fires at the flagellant in front of him. The arrow fizzes past Johanns arm with mere inches to spare and strikes the flagellant in the hand holding his flail. The arrow severs two of the mans fingers, causing him to drop his flail in agony.

Johann leaves the disarmed (disfingered) man and moves to help Torsten. He stabs another flagellant in the back with his dagger, opening up a large bloody wound in the surprised man. He then plunges his dagger into the mans left arm so hard that it slices through muscle, sinew and blood vessels. The flagellant can take no more punishment and collapses to the floor dead.

Torsten swings his mace at the remaining uninjured flagellant. Again, he launches the mace down from above his head with such incredible force that when it strikes the flagellant on the shoulder it shatters it, causing the arm to hang limply and useless by his side. The flagellant collapses to the ground and twitches before dying. On seeing the rest of his friends being crushed so emphatically by the adventurers, the flagellant with the severed fingers turns and runs into the crowd.

Serion waves at his friends and they join him in the alleyway before the crowd turns on them. As they run down the alleyway, Torsten manages to remove the burning pitch from his helmet, cursing at himself for getting hit on the head in the first place.

The adventurers continue on their way back to the Bald Badger without incident, but as they near the inn Johann starts to get a bad feeling. Serion scouts ahead to see if there is anything happening. As Serion get near the inn he sees two watchmen talking to Hans the landlord. Serion sees the watchmen ask him something and then Hans shrug his shoulders. The men then nail a poster to the wall and leave. Once the area is clear, Serion heads over to Hans and looks at the poster. He sees that it is a wanted poster for the murder of Apothecary Widdenhoff and the men wanted for the crime are himself and Johann. Serion calls over Johann and Torsten to show them the poster. Johann is impressed at the likeness of himself.

The trio make their way to the kitchens at the rear of the inn to meet Hans. Serion looks through the kitchen window and sees Hans talking to a barman. Torsten enters the kitchen and tries to explain what happened at Widdenhoffs. Hans agrees to say nothing to the watch seeing as the adventurers have been nothing but good guests previously.  The men decide that it is best for them lay low in their room until their job at the docks. After a meal and several drinks, Johann tells Torsten and Serion that he has been tracking a spy who had infiltrated the Adewald gang. The man then became an informant for the corrupt Talabheim secret police before disappearing. Johann has been sent to find out what happened and why.

The next evening they eat their last meal at the Bald Badger and give Hans a handful of shillings to compensate for any trouble caused before Otto, Karl and a man called Max arrive. Max appears to be in charge and tells the trio that he has been sent by Mr. Adewald. He tells them that they are to exchange a small chest with some Brettonians at the docks on a road called Cheap Street. He also tells them that it may be difficult for them to get to the docks due to the unrest in Talagad. Johann tries to persuade Max to help them find a way into the city in return for them completing the job. Max says he will see what he can arrange if they are successful. Torsten heads out to get Andreas as he is fluent in Brettonian and would be a good translator.

Once Torsten and Andreas return, Otto and Karl lead them off to the meeting place. Johann has another bad feeling as they near their destination. The trio quickly discuss a plan of action as they arrive at Cheap Street...

EPISODE 5: HOW TO GET INTO TALABHEIM?

The trio, faced with two corpses, most likely assassinated by an unknown humanoid, decide to do the only decent and sensible thing. Splitting up, they decide to search the rest of Widdenhoff's house. Naturally, if any loot were to be found, then it would need to be dealt with.

Johann looks more closely at the book that Widdenhoff was reading. He finds that the book, "Plague and the Principality" is written in a classical script, but from what he can translate he discovers that the it is about a disease called the "Pale shivers" and that the disease is known to be non-fatal. The plague affecting Talagad, although similar is fatal. Johann believes that somebody has been adding something to the water to make the disease more potent.

Meanwhile, Serion finds samples of liquids and a powder similar to the silvery one he found on the road to Breitblatt. He also finds a letter from someone named R. Nierhaus. The letter details the samples in Widdenhoffs possession and also instructs him to tell nobody about them. Johann looks through the samples and finds a vial of a blueish liquid, which he believes could be a possible anitdote to the plague.

Whilst Serion and Johann search downstairs, Torsten heads upstairs. He is drawn to a small guest room by a strange smell. He calls for Serion to join him before entering. Serion enters the room first and after a quick search deduces that the window had been forced carefully open recently. On closer inspection he finds several thick brown spiney hairs caught in the door frame. He takes them for a closer look later.

Johann is working his way around Widdenhoff's house, taking as much as he can carry, hardly the behaviour of a respectable man. By the time he has finished downstairs he has already filled a sack with "borrowed" items such as herbs, scientific apparatus and books.

Torsten and Serion remain upstairs searching. Serion looks through the front upstairs window and sees several watchmen gathered on the street at the front of the house talking to a man. Realising that if the watch caught them inside Widdenhoff's, the bodies and general looting taking place would not look too good. Serion and Torsten signal Johann then run out of the back door.

Serion leaps effortlessly over the back wall of the garden whilst Torsten makes it after scrambling up with some difficulty. As they leap down from the wall they see two watchmen enter the alleyway. Splitting up, Torsten hauls himself back over the wall and into the house whilst Serion makes a dash down the alleyway away from the watchman. As Serion is just climbing over a wall at the end of the alley his foot is grabbed by the chasing watchman. Serion kicks the man off but in doing so his hood falls back exposing his face.

Torsten passes Johann in the hallway. Johann runs to the back garden, sack of loot over his shoulder. He swings the bag over the opposite side of the wall taken by Serion and nimbly scales it before dropping to the alley on the other side and making his escape. Meanwhile, Torsten carefully opens the front door of the house and seeing only one watchman with his back to him, casually walks out and returns to the Bald Badger.

On his way back to the Bald Badger, Torsten bumps into Pockets and asks him if he can find out who R. Nierhaus is. Serion manages to walk in in dog shit whilst Johann narrowly avoids getting run down by a man on a horse. After several curses and insults both Serion and Johann continue their journeys.

A short while later the trio are reunited at the Bald Badger. Johann produces a vial of a mysterious liquid which he assures everyone is Mother Melchins draft, a tonic to give everyone a pick up. Unsurprisingly, nobody is willing to risk drinking the unknown potion. Luckily for everyone, Pockets arrives and tells the adventurers that R. Nierhaus is most likely Captain Rudolf Nierhaus of the guard. Having nothing else to do, they go to bed.

Johann decides not to go to sleep straight away, he sits on his bed and starts to mix some of the herbs stolen from Widdenhoff's. Serion and Torsten fall asleep quickly so Johann works quietly with no distractions. He manages to prepare several different poisons, but as the light dims and Johann starts feeling tired he accidently poisons himself. Falling back on his bed he is in a deep poison induced sleep instantly...

In the early hours of the morning Torsten wakes with a start. He sees five cloaked figures standing over the adventurers holding daggers to their throats in their sleep. After being woken and encouraged not to do anything foolish, the trio are invited downstairs by their cloaked guests. Heading down the stairs in their underwear the trio are greeted by the sight of a beaten inn keeper propped between two thugs and several large men blocking the exits. The trio are guided to a snug in a corner of the inn where they are greeted by an imposing looking man who introduces himself as Mr. Adewald, head of the Adewald gang.

Adewald offers the adventurers a deal. In order to compensate him for the deaths of several of his gang members, most notably Wolfgang and Mikhail, he wants them to meet with some Bretonnians delivering a shipment at the docks. Serion asks Adewald if he could also secure them passage into Talabheim, at this, a rather unpleasant looking thug punches him in the side of the head and tells him to speak only when he is spoken to. Having no option but to agree to the deal, the adventurers head back to their rooms and Adewald and his goons disappear into the night.

In the morning they awake and decide that seeing as they have some time before they need to meet with the Bretonnians, they will try to find Captain Nierhaus and ask him about Widdenhoff. After a quick breakfast they head to highwatch to find captain Nierhaus. As they arrive at the gates they are greeted by a line of guards with crossbows. A sergeant steps forward and demands to know their business. Johann produces the note from Nierhaus to Widdenhoff. The sergeant takes it and after a quick inspection leads them inside. They move through the Talbastion to a guarded, heavily reinforced  door. The sergeant knocks, opens the door then ushers them in. As soon as they are all in the room the door slams shut and they are greated by a man aiming two pistols at them and looking very on edge. He introduces himself as captain Rudolf Nierhaus.

The adventurers tell Nierhaus that they found the note at Widdenhoffs home and that he had been murdered. Upon hearing this, Nierhaus goes very pale. Johann shows him the samples they retrieved from Widdenhoffs and tells him that they need to get into Talabheim immediately.

Nierhaus thinks on the news for a while then tells the trio to take the notes and sample to a physician in Talabheim named Daubner. They are to go to an inn named the ten-tailed cat in the Talagad docks and meet a man named Finch who will be able to help them get into Talabheim. He then calls the guards and Serion, Johann and Torsten are guided back out of the Talbastion. As they are about to leave, Johann manages to bribe a sergeant to make sure there are minimal guards on duty at the docks that evening.

As they head back into the town they see a group of flagellants throwing bodies onto a fire. Deciding that it would be best not to incurr their wrath, the trio head down a side alley to avoid any trouble. Heading out of the alleyway they see a young boy being attacked by what at first looks to be a dog, but on second glance is a giant rat. Shouting to try to scare off the rat only manages to attract eight more giant rats to the scene. Torsten runs in and kicks the first rat hard in the head. Serion draws his bow and with lightening speed looses two arrows, striking two rats stunning them. Johann slashes at a rat with his dagger missing narrowly. The rat facing Torsten rears up on its hind legs and rakes its claws down his breastplate impotently. A rat leaps at Serion, having just fired his arrows, he is taken off guard and the rat claws his face badly. Serion kicks the rat back and fires an arrow into its abdomen killing it instantly. He quickly fires a second arrow striking another rat stunning it. Johann stabs a rat in its shoulder with his dagger whilst Torsten stamps on the injured rat in front of him, cracking its ribs, then kicks it in the head, breaking its neck with a sickening crunch. A rat runs towards Serion gnashing its teeth, Serion nocks an arrow and looses it at the rat, it makes contact with the rats stomach, punching through its back and severing its spine leaving a twitching rat corpse on the ground. A rat lunges at Johann from the side but he manages to force it back with his dagger. Johann catches the rat on the snout and it turns and runs. Seeing the rat flee, the remaining rats capable of running take their chance and all disappear into the shadows.

Johann tends to Serions wounds whilst Torsten speaks to the child. The child introduces himself as Yankel. Yankel insists that he take the adventurers back to his home so his mother can thank them herself. They agree to join him and he leads them to the Kislev district. When they arrive at his home they discover that his mother is dead, and has been for a day or two. Yankel thinks that his mother is just asleep, Johann breaks the sad news to him. The adventurers are now stuck with a young boy with nowhere to go. They decide that the best option is to take him to the temple of Shallya. On their way through Talagad to the temple they find a large group of Hochlanders charging up the wizards way trying to break through into Talabheim. As the charging men get close, a barrage of cannon fire erupts from the walls and when the dust settles, all that is left of the Hochlanders is a heap of mangled broken bodies. Things are not looking good in Talagad.

When the trio reach the temple Johann manages to persuade the priestesses to accept Yankel. Having done their good deed for the day, the adventurers head back to the Bald Badger for a much needed drink. They take lunch at the inn, pay for rooms for the evening. After their rest, they head off to the Ten-Tailed Cat to find Finch. When they reach the inn they decide to head in and split up. Johann and Serion head to the bar and get an ale each. Torsten makes straight for a table surrounded by gamblers and joins in. Johann takes a sup from his ale then asks the barman about Finch. On hearing the name Finch, the barman looks to several large intimidating men at the end of the bar. Oblivious, Johann tells the barman that Captain Nierhaus sent them to find him. The barman tells them that anyone working for Nierhaus is not welcome in the Ten-Tailed Cat. Serion and Johann feel strong hands grasp their shoulders, and they are forcibly removed from the inn. Torsten glances up then continues with his game of dice...

Furious that he has been thrown out of the inn Johann draws his dagger and begins to apply poison to it. He is so angry that his hands slip and he very nearly manages to poison himself as well.

Torsten chats with the other men playing dice inside the inn. He finds out that Finch works for the Adewald gang. He continues playing and starts to build up a decent pile of winnings.

Outside, Serion leaves Johann and walks off back to the Bald Badger to wait for the others. Meanwhile, Johann finishes poisoning his dagger. With a deranged look in his eyes he walks over to one of the bouncers and lunges at him with his dagger. The first strike glances harmlessly off of the bouncers chainmail. The second strike is parried by the bouncers hands. The third strike punctures the chainmail, the dagger parts the soft flesh beneath and the deadly poison silently mixes with the unfortunate bouncers life blood. The bouncer quickly falls to his knees and Johann turns and flees from the scene, two guards chasing him...

EPISODE 4: RETURN TO TALAGAD

Serion and Dr. Schafer stand waiting for the three ogres to reach them. Torsten, seeing the oncoming danger pushes through the remaining crowd to reach his companions. Serion, having some knowledge of the more unique beings of the Old World addresses the ogres. Knowing that the one thing that ogres prize above all else is food, Serion decides that offering them food would be the best way to avoid conflict. Serion offers the ogres an oxen from the caravan but the ogres are not happy with this. They decide that they want more, maybe even some of the villagers. Serion makes a deal to let them have one oxen straight away then another oxen each if they accompany the villagers and adventurers to Breitblatt. Torsten is not happy about this, stating that the oxen are too valuable to be given away. Serion and Dr. Schafer both say that it would be better to give the oxen now than to have to fight three ogres and protect the villagers. The ogres discuss the proposal and decide to accept. The lead ogre, strides over to the nearest oxen and rips it from the cart it is tethered too. With one great bite, half of the poor oxen is gone. Two women from the group of villagers left on the road complain about the situation to Dr. Schafer. Luckily, the silver tongued physician manages to placate the women and they return to the caravan grumbling. The ogres, have a change of heart and decide that they cannot be bothered to travel to Breitblatt and will instead go to Talabheim. The trio, although annoyed at the ogres, are pleased to have left the encounter with just the loss of one oxen and no casualties.

Once the villagers have reassembled on the road the caravan travels on toward Breitblatt. As they travel, Dr. Schafer talks with a man from Hochland named Mattias Keller. He does not get much out of him other than that there is an intense rivalry between those from Hochland and Talabheim.

After lunch, Andreas is sober and chatting with villagers. Dr. Schafer is mingling with the travellers whilst Serion scouts ahead. Nothing happens for the rest of the day as the villagers travel unhindered along the road. In the evening the trio split watch over the camp. The evening passes quietly but in the morning Torsten is woken by the sound of wailing coming from the south of the camp.

The morning of the third day does not start well. The trio head to the source of the wailing. When they arrive they find a group of peasants surrounding a tent containing a bloody scene of carnage. The tent itself is slashed, inside are the bodies of a man, woman and child. All mutilated as if by a wild animal. Dr. Schafer manages to move the watching villagers on, allowing the trio to investigate the scene more thoroughly. Torsten looks inside the tent but can deduce no more than there are three corpses inside. Realising that he is probably more suited to the task, Dr. Schafer examines the bodies. He notices that although the bodies have been mauled, they have not been eaten, which he concludes a wild animal would have done. Serion searches outside the tent and finds tracks like a wolfs heading away from the camp. He realises quickly though that the tracks are badly faked and that the killer was most likely human rather than animal. Serion asks some nearby peasants who the dead people were. He discovers that they are the bodies of a Hochlander hunter and his family. Serion looks inside the tent and finds a silver sigmar pendant, the chain cut with a blade around the neck of the male and a small bag of pennies. Not knowing what else to do and their investigations at a dead end, the adventurers get some peasants to burn the bodies and say prayers.

The villagers move on towards Breitblatt until lunchtime when they all stop. During this time, Torsten wanders amongst the resting villagers listening to their chatter. An elderly woman approaches Dr. Schafer asking for his help. He immediately goes with her and does not return for some time. When Dr. Schafer rejoins his companions he reveals that one of the peasant children is showing symptons of the plague.

After lunch the travellers continue their journey. Andreas is drunk again, much to the annoyance of Torsten. He has also developed a cough like some of the villlagers. Dr. Schafer makes arrangements for the sick child to be taken the rest of the journey on one of the villagers carts.

The trio spend the rest of the afternoon trying to solve the murder in the tent from the morning. Serion realises that the faked tracks by the tent must have been made be a forester and that the dead man, being a hunter, had no bow. Dr. Schafer makes a search of the vllagers carts in the hope of finding the missing bow. In the evening, after having no luck finding the missing bow, Torsten decides to confront an old hunter. He demands to search through the mans belongings but like all other attempts by the adventurers, fails to find any clues to the identity of the murderer.

In the morning the adventurers decide to try and flush out the murderer and thief of the bow by holding an archery competition. They hope that the thief is arrogant enough to use the bow to win some money. Serion declares that if any man can shoot better than he, they will win a gold crown, giving them a good start to their new life in Breitblatt. Serion selects a tree and stabs his dagger into the bark. He proclaims that any man that can get closer to the dagger than him will win the gold crown. One by one the hunters and archers take their turn, some manage to hit the tree, a few even manage to get within a couple of inches of the dagger. Serion, feeling confident in his own abilities takes aim. He looses his arrow and it lands exactly next to the dagger, the crowd are amazed at the unbelievable accuracy that the elf shows. Graciously, Serion gives the runner up the gold crown. Unfortunately, and perhaps predictably, the trio fail to notice anyone using the stolen bow. Having reached yet another dead end, the adventurers concede that the case is perhaps beyond their investigative abilities and decide to stop actively trying to solve it.

At midday they finally arrive at Breitblatt. The few villagers living in Breitblatt turn out to greet the newcomers. The travelling peasants cheer the trio and thank them for their safe arrival at their new home. The trio and Andreas decide to leave straight away to return to Talagad, so after saying their farewells start the journey back.

On the first day of the return trip, Serion and Torsten start to develop coughs. They begin to worry that they have caught something from the peasants on their journey to Breitblatt.

On the second day, after several hours of carefree travel, Serion hears a rather unnatural bird call from up ahead. The adventurers quickly leave the road and hide in the bushes with weapons drawn. Eight beastmen head straight towards where they were on the road. Without a second thought, Serion launches an arrow into the right arm of a pig faced beastman causing it to drop the axe it was holding. In a blur, Serion nocks a second arrow and looses it into the crowd but it whizzes harmlessly through and into the undergrowth behind. Torsten levels his crossbox and fires into the crowd, but like Serion's second arrow it sails harmlessly past. Serion fires another two arrows, this time the first makes contact with the right leg of a dog faced beastman and the second strikes a duck faced beastman square in the chest. Having recovered from the intitial shock of the ambush, the beastmen refocus and start to advance on their hidden assailants.

Realising they are outnumbered, the trio drop their missile weapons and draw their respective swords, maces and daggers. As if from nowhere, a group of figures rise from the surrounding undergrowth. The men are heavily camouflaged and each wields a powerful looking bow. As one, they all let fire on the beastmen, felling each and every one without reply. Once the dead have been stripped of weapons and removed from the road the camouflaged men introduce themselves as Knights of the Verdant Field. They reveal that the rest of the way to Talabheim should be clear as they have travelled from that direction.

The travellers thank the Knights for their assistance and continue on their journey. As they walk, Dr. Schafer reveals that he is not actually a physician and that Axel Holst, the man he has been searching for was investigating chaos cultists in Talabheim when he went missing. Serion and Torsten laugh and reveal that they had already come to the conclusion that Dr. Schafer was not actually a real physician. They decide to refer to him by his real name, Johann.

As the evening approaches the travellers make camp and rest in preparation for the remainder of the journey. The night passes uneventfully until just before dawn when Serion is taking last watch.

In the morning mist, Serion sees several shadowy figures on the other side of the road. The humanoid figures disappear quickly into the trees. Serion quietly rises and nimbly crosses the open road. He finds the tracks left by the figures and stealthily follows them through the trees towards the river. He follows the tracks right up to the riverbank where he discovers large clusters of footprints and markings where sacks could have been dropped or dragged. On closer inspection of the scene he finds traces of a fine silvery powder on some of the rocks. Finding nothing else in the immediate area, Serion takes some of the powder and returns to Torsten and Johann, who have woken to find him missing.

After Serion shares his findings with the pair, Johann tells them that it is most likely a chaos army sending scouts ahead to attack Talabheim. Torsten thinks it more likely that they are posioning the water in Talabheim, making people ill. Unable to prove any theory to be true, the adventurers prepare to carry on their journey back to Talagad.

When the adventurers arrive in Talagad, they find it to be full of ill people, more so than when they left. Andreas returns home to his family whilst Serion, Torsten and Johann head straight to the Eel Inn to collect their passes into Talabheim. When they arrive at the inn they discover that it has been returned to its normal state as an inn. There is no sign of the magistrate or anyone else that could give them their passes. They ask where Howenlow can be found, only to be told that he has fled the plague and is now inside Talabheim. The only option left for them is to try the Municipal office. On their way they stop at the Bald Badger, where Heinz tells Johann that the Wizards Way into Talabheim is closed because of the plague. Fearing that their way into Talabheim is barred they decide to carry on to the Municipal office to get some answers.

When they arrive at the Municipal office they find it closed and borded up. Johann sees movement inside so tells them to show themselves. Several men holding crossbows appear through a hatch on the roof. Torsten holds up the letter given to them by Howenlow and demands to be given his pass and paid his wages. A clerk pushes past the men with crossbows and throws down three purses containing the eight gold crowns owed to each adventurer. He then reads them a parchment stating that they have been granted entry into Talabheim.

Not knowing if they will actually be able to get into Talabheim the trio head to the Wizards Way to see if there is any way through. When they arrive, guards block their path and tell them that nobody is allowed in or out of Talabheim. Feeling cheated and at a loss for what to do next, they head to Skullys to see if he can help.

After a short discussion with Skully, he agrees to look into finding an alternative way into Talabheim for them. He tells them that the gangs in Talabheim are still smuggling goods in and out of the city so there must be a way in. They head back to the Bald Badger for the night. Johann asks Heinz if he can recommend a healer to take a look at Serion and Torsten as their coughs are lingering. Heinz tells them to try an apothecary named Widdenhoff near the Wizards Way. The adventurers decide to head straight there as they have nothing else to do for the rest of the day.

It does not take long for the trio to find the apothecaries house. They knock on the front door but there is no answer. Serion moves around the side of the house but can see nothing through the groundfloor windows. Torsten goes to the back of the house and finds a high wall surrounding the back yard. He pulls himself over the wall but sees nobody at the back of the house. Johann follows Torsten and tries the back door. Finding the door locked, he tries to pick it but fails. Johann moves to one side and Torsten slams his shoulder against the wooden door. The lock gives way and Torsten enters the back of the house.

Meanwhile, Serion has returned to the front of the house and is scanning the street for anything suspicious.

Torsten moves quickly through the house and opens the front door to let Serion in. Johann enters behind Torsten and leaves the house through the front door to stand guard whilst the other two search for Widdenhoff.

Serion enters a room to the right of the hallway and finds a body on the floor with its throat slit. Serion calls Johann in and the pair of them discover strange footprints in spilt flour on the floor. The footprints look like they were made by a large hunting dog with long claws and trail off towards the hallway.

Meanwhile Torsten heads left from the hallway into a study. He sees a body slumped over a desk. He is about to take a closer look when all three of the adventurers hear a thud upstairs. Torsten pulls out his mace and takes the lead whilst Johann draws a dagger and Serion prepares his bow. They head cautiously up the stairs. Torsten and Johann enter a room on the landing whilst Serion stands guard at the top of the stairs. As the pair enter the room something brown and furry darts from under a bed towards Torsten. Startled he raises his mace to end the creatures life, realising just in time that it is only a cat. Johann moves over to a wardrobe and careful opens the door with his dagger. As the door swings open, something heavy and soft falls onto him. Torsten laughs and removes the large coat that has fallen from the wardrobe from Johann.

From another room on the landing a black cloaked humanoid bursts from the darkness, dodges past Serion and leaps through a window before he even has time to react. Torsten runs to the broken window but the figure is already gone. Torsten cautiously enters the room the figure burst from. He finds that it is a herb room, Johann makes a brief search of the contents but finds nothing of interest.

Finding nothing else of interest upstairs they head back down to the study. Serion looks more closely at the body slumped over the desk and finds a throwing star in its back. He carefully removes the throwing star, finding on closer inspection that it has been poisoned. Lifting the slumped body they find he was probably Widdenhoff. He was reading about a disease called the Pale Shivers when he was killed...

EPISODE 3: TORSTEN THE FIGHTER

On leaving the bloody scene of the raid on Wolfgang's house, Andreas heads to the river to clean the blood from his clothes whilst our trio of adventurers drag the semi-conscious form of Mikhail to a back alley for questioning.

Having woken Mikhail, Serion takes the lead, asking him if he remembers a raid on an Elven trade caravan some months before. Mikhail simply spits in Serion's face. At this, Torsten lands a fist against Mikhail's face to remind him who is in charge. Serion steps back and Dr. Schafer asks Mikhail about Axel Holst and his death. Mikhail says that all he knows is that he was killed in the sewers along with members of the Adewald gang and the Steinhold gang. The two groups were meeting about something but he had no idea what.

Serion moves in to question Mikhail about the raid on the Elven caravan again. Mikhail refuses to answer so Serion punches him in the stomach. Doubling over, Mikhail gives the name of El Torro in Middenheim. Serion, not satisfied with the answer punches him in the stomach again, Mikhail gives up the name of a man called Lukas Kruger in Talabheim. Believing this is all Mikhail has to offer Serion turns away, as he does so he notices an Elven dagger on Mikhails belt. Furious that Mikhail still has a stolen dagger from the raid and at the uses it had been put to since then, Serion asks Mikhail if he has anything else to say. Mikhail says no, so Serion draws his own dagger and whispers "this is payback" in his ear, before slitting Mikhail's throat. Leaving the dead man slumped on the floor, the trio head back to the Bald Badger for the night.

In the inn, Dr. Schafer starts chatting with Heinz the landlord. He buys him a drink and asks about the Steinhold gang. He discovers that the Steinhold gang and Adewald gang have worked together for some time, but has no idea how or why. As the evening draws on, the adventurers decide that they will stay at the inn for another night before heading to their rooms.

In the morning the adventurers head to the Eel inn to organise their passes into Talabheim. When they arrive there is a large crowd of peasants outside. Dr. Schafer marches straight through them and hands over his letter from the municipal office to the nearest guard. Unfortunatley the guard can not read, but Dr. Schafer manages to talk his way in to see magistrate Howenlow.

After discussion with the magistrate, the trio are offered a pass into Talabheim, if they first agree to escort a group of 100 villagers to the nearby village of Breitblatt. The adventurers are told that the journey will be a six day round trip leaving in the morning, and if they are successful they will receive passes into Talabheim. Having the rest of the day to themselves they decide to head to the docks (who knows why?). On arriving at the docks Dr. Schafer sees Pockets and the pair disappear into the crowd together. Serion and Torsten decide that as the good doctor clearly has other things to do they would go to Andreas's house to ask him to join them on their travel to Breitblatt. Andreas agrees and the pair leave him to go to Skully's to wait for Dr. Schafer. Torsten signs up for a fist fighting competition and Serion agrees to take part in a demonstration of his marksmanship.

In the evening, Dr. Schafer joins his companions at Skully's for the big event. Dr. Schafer asks Skully about the Steinhold gang and then buys an extremely expensive pack of cards from him. Dr. Schafer then proceeds to perform a series of rather unsuccessful card tricks for the regulars at the bar.

The big event opens with Serion. A young woman enters carrying three clay plates. Serion holds three throwing knives in his hand. The girl throws a plate into the air, Serion launches a throwing knife wildly past it into a wooden beam in the ceiling. The girl throws the second plate into the air, with the reflexes of a cat Serion launches his second knife into another celing beam. Things are not going well. The third and final plate sails through the air and like the previous knives, Serion's knife embeds somewhere in the gloom of the wall. Poor knife throwing from Serion indeed. Serion feels much more confident about his abilities with his bow however. A girl places a lit candle at the far end of the display area. Skully announces that Serion will shoot the flame from the candle. Torsten places a bet on Serion being successful. The crowd hushes. Serion draws back the bow string. Concentration. He steadies his aim and lets the arrow loose. The arrow flies across the display area and snuffs out the flame without so much as making the candle wobble. Expert shooting indeed. The crowd roars, Torsten smiles as he collects his winnings. Serion proves why the bow is his weapon of choice.

After a short interval Skully enters the arena to announce the main event of the evening. He announces that Torsten will be fighting the champion of the arena, Hrothgar, a rather large and imposing Kislevite.

Torsten and Hrothgar square up and Skully starts the fight. Hrothgar throws a punch at Torsten but misses badly. Torsten responds with a jab to the chest. Annoyed, Hrothgar throws a powerful punch but misses again, leaving him off balance. Taking advantage, Torsten throws a punch at Hrothgar. Hrothgar fails to dodge the blow, taking it square in the face. Torsten follows this up with right hook to the jaw. Things are looking good for Torsten. Hrothgar swings another wild punch at Torsten, missing badly again, spinning around leaving himself open. Torsten swings another punch into Hrothgars jaw. Hrothgar is getting angry. He launches a mighty blow into the side of Torsten's head. Torsten immediately counters with a punch to Hrothgars face, opening up a large gash on his cheek and breaking his cheek bone. Torsten, sensing victory squares up, unleashing a headbutt, Hrothgar raises his arms to just parry the blow. Torsten repeats the attack, Hrothgar scrambles a block at the last moment. With his opponent dazed, Torsten lashes a kick to Hrothgars groin, dropping him to his knees in agony. Torsten stands over the prone man, unleashing a fight ending blow to his face, breaking his nose. Torsten follows this with an elbow to the back of the neck, knocking Hrothgar to the ground unconscious. Torsten turns to the crowd and raises his arms roaring. The crowd cheers him as Skully takes  him to one side to hand over his winnings and offer more fights in the future.

After all of the excitement, the trio head back to the Bald Badger to rest after their entertaining evening.

The next morning, the adventurers head out to find Pockets before finding provisions for their journey to Breitblatt. Dr. Schafer asks Pockets what he knows about the Steinhold gang. Pockets doesn't know much but sets off to find out for the doctor. They spend the rest of the day wandering around until Pockets finds them again. He confirms that the Steinhold gang and Adewald gang were smuggling in and out of Talabheim. He also reveals that Axel Holst was lodging at the Crooked Shoe inn. The trio head straight for the Crooked Shoe and question the inn keeper about Axel Holst. Dr. Schafer manages to persuade the inn keeper to let him look in the room Axel rented. After a brief search of the room he finds some silver shillings under a loose floor board. Not knowing what else to do that day they head back to the Bald Badger to prepare for the trip to Breitblatt in the morning.

The next morning the adventurers head to the Eel Inn. A clerk meets them and addresses "Baron Richthoffen" (as Dr. Schafer had called himself when visiting the Municipal offices earlier in the week). The clerk hands over a letter to allow the trio to travel unhindered to Breitblatt and tells them to travel on the old dwarf road. Dr. Schafer turns to the crowd of nearly 100 villagers to be escorted to Breitblatt and details where and how they would arrive safely at their destination. Andreas arrives just before they leave, steaming drunk...

On the first day of the journey Dr. Schafer, tired of carrying his equipment, pays a peasant to carry it for him. Andreas and Torsten take guard at the rear of the travellers whilst Serion disappears up ahead to scout the area. On one of the occasions when the travellers stop for a rest, a young blacksmith gets chatting to the adventurers. Serion wonders aloud if there will be enough room for 100 new villagers when they arrive at Breitblatt. He is suspicious as to the motives of those that decided to move the villagers on.

As they survey the crowd, Dr. Schafer and Serion both notice that some of the villagers are from Hochland, known to be hated by those from Talabheim. They also notice that many of the people are coughing and starting to look ill. Dr. Schafer begins to worry that illness is taking hold of them all.

On the second day Torsten finds Andreas drunk and unconscious on the back of a cart. He begins to regret asking him to join them. Meanwhile, Serion is scouting up ahead of the travellers. He sees a small group of ogres dressed in brightly coloured clothing heading towards them. He rushes back to tell his companions his findings. On hearing the news, Dr. Schafer begins to get the whole group to move off of the road towards the river by telling them they need more fresh water. Most villagers grudgingly start to do this.. A small group take so long to move that the ogres arrive at their location before they are clear of the road...

EPISODE 2: WOLFGANG

Serion, Dr. Schafer and Torsten are back at the Bald Badger inn. Having arrived in Talagad that morning and dealt with Andreas's debts they are in need of rest and ale.

Torsten gets talking with some locals and ends up taking part in a drinking competition with one of the inns regulars. Always confident in his own abilities, Torsten bets a gold crown that he can beat the hardened drinker. Meanwhile, Serion buys an ale and takes up a table in the corner of the inn. He just sits observing the crowd, coming from an elven settlement, he is curious about the ways of humans and why they drink such swill. Dr. Schafer is chatting with the barman when a woman approaches him. She is clearly a lady of ill repute and a white dove tattoo on her face catches the good doctors eye. She explains that she has the tattoo because she is owned by Wolfgang from the Adewald gang. Being the expert detective that he is, Dr. Schafer decides that the woman may know something. Unfortunately the woman refuses to talk and will only do "business" with him. Dr. Schafer reluctantly gives in and pays the woman for her "services" in the hope he will be able to get information out of her. He hands over the money and she takes him outside to "conclude business" in an alleyway.

Whilst Dr. Schafer is talking with the woman, Torsten is trying to outdrink the local. Unfortunately, the ale in Talagad is a bit stronger than he is used to and after several pints he is a bit worse for wear and is getting aggressive. Conceding that he has lost he hands over his gold crown before passing out on the table.

Outside in the alley, Dr. Schafer is trying to extract information from the prostitute. As she stops to finish businses Dr. Schafer gets her to walk a bit further along the alleyway, as it is too public where they are. All the time he is asking her about a friend of his that was killed recently. The comedy stopping and walking on just a bit more continues for another 100 yards until she has had enough of his stalling. Dr. Schafer gives in and tells her to kneel before him and shut her eyes. At this, Dr. Schafer, being the legendary womans man that he is, turns and sprints as fast as he can up the alleyway and back into the inn as fast as he can, leaving a confused, yet happily paid prostitue on her knees and alone.

Dr. Schafer bursts through the inn door then composes himself before he and Serion gather up a semi conscious Torsten and head up to their rooms for the night.

Yet again our adventurers have left their mark, Dr. Schafer has paid a prostitute for nothing, perhaps creating a dubious reputation for himself as the man that "couldn't do it" and Torsten as the "man that can't hold his drink". Perhaps only Serion has avoided making a spectacle of himself so far, but that is only because he was sat alone in the corner of the inn all night.

In the morning the party decide that they need to gain entry to Talabheim and must therefore obtain papers to allow access. So Dr. Schafer (dressed as a well-to-do nobleman), Serion and a hungover Torsten head for the Municipal office. On the way Dr. Schafer decides to go to the watch barracks first to try and discover what happened to his friend. After discussing the matter with several watchmen he finds that his friend, a member of the Adewald gang and two other men were pulled dead from the river recently. Uncovering no further leads, the party head on to the Municipal office.

Upon arriving at the Municipal office the adventurers discover that they are required to fill in numerous forms and join several lengthy queues to obtain passes into Talabheim. Deciding that this was not really what they wanted to spend their day doing, Dr. Schafer puffed out his chest, headed to the nearest official and loudly proclaimed that he was actually Baron von Ricchthoffen and was not prepared to queue, and that he and his bodyguards would need to be dealt with immediately. Amazingly, this plan seemed to intimidate an official sufficiently enough for him to tell the "Baron" to head to the Eel inn where the magistrate would expediate their passes. Pleased with their progress the group decide to head back to the Bald Badger for lunch before going on to the Eel inn for their passes.

Just as the group sit down to their lunch, a woman bursts in to the inn. It is Alexa and she looks extremely upset. She heads straight to the party and explains that her daughter Hanna has gone missing. She was last seen heading to the fish market last night but never returned. Her husband Andreas was already out looking for her but with no luck so far. The adventurers agree to help with the search and head off (after Dr. Schafer changes back to his physicians clothing).

Being the last place she was seen, the party start at the fish market. Unfortunately there is no sign of her there. Dr. Schafer and Serion get talking to a pedlar selling religious trinkets. Serion discovers that a Kiselvite man is selling Elven trinkets in Talagad, this appears to interest him geatly though he does not tell the others. Dr. Schafer decides to buy several trinkets, in fact he buys one religious trinket for each of the major Empire gods, saying "you can never be too careful".

The adventurers head to the Kislevite district but having no idea where to look or even speak Kislevite they just wander the streets. Heading down one particularly rough street they are confronted by several Kislevite thugs. Torsten simply pulls out his two handed mace and they realise their error and disperse immediately. Shortly after this the trio hear a commotion and the watch arriving so they make their exit hastily, not wanting to be involved in the ensuing riot that looks likely to occur.

Not having any luck so far the party decide to head straight to Skully's, as Wolfgang would be there playing cards, and had previously threatened that the matter of Andreas's debt was not over and he would pay.

The adventurers head straight into Skully's and up to Wolfgang. Torsten angrily demands that Wolfgang tell him where the girl is. Wolfgang simply laughs so Torsten threatens to kill him. sensing things could get messy in his club again, Skully and his bouncers break up the two groups. Torsten and Dr. Schafer leave but Serion takes up a seat in one corner of the club and watches Wolfgang. After a short while Skully comes over and offers Serion and Torsten a chance in his pit fighting arena. Serion declines but says that Torsten may be interested. Serion then leaves and meets back with Torsten and Dr. Schafer.

Having reached another dead end the trio decide to head back to Andreas and Alexa to see if they have heard anything. As they cross the bridge back over the river they see Hanna. She has hollow, sunken eyes and a the same white dove tattoo on her face that "Dr.Schafer's prostitute" had. Realising what had happened to her the adventurers take her straight back to her family. Andreas is beside himself with anger and vows to kill Wolfgang. Torsten gives him his mace and the four head to Skully's to find Wolfgang.

On arrival at Skully's the would be heroes decide that storming in through the front door could be a bad idea. Torsten, Andreas and Dr. Schafer wait at the front of the club whilst Serion moved around the back to try and find a way in. Whilst Serion was looking for a way in, Dr. Schafer decided to just walk straight in and find Wolfgang. Torsten remained outside trying to persuade Andreas not to charge in and start a fight. Serion gave up looking for a way around the back and went through the front door after Dr. Schafer. Unfortunately Wolfgang was nowhere to be seen. Serion asked Skully if he knew where to find him, Skully was more than happy to give away the location of Wolfgang's home.

Sometime later the four men arrived at Wolfgang's home. Two guards (the two thugs collecting money from Alexa previously) were at the front door. Torsten and Andreas scouted around the back of the house, seeing a barrel by the back door. Much time was spent debating the use and contents of the barrel before it was decided that it didn't really matter anyway. Serion, being the agile elf that he is climbed the next door building and lept across to the roof of Wolfgang's home. Dr. Schafer decided that the guards at the front door needed to be distracted, so feigning a drunken state sidled over to the two thugs and started a conversation.

Serion made his way over the roof and expertly swung down and through a window on the upper floor, nimbly leaping off of a table inside the window without making a noise. From downstairs voices and laughter could be heard. Dr. Schafer continued to distract the guards at the front, skillfully averting a mugging attempt with his quick wit. Torsten and Andreas maintained their silent wait in the back garden, waiting for a sign from Serion to attack.

Serion made his way across the upstairs room to a door on the other side, hoping to be able to make a signal to his waiting companions. Carefully opening the door he discovered a couple in bed, "busy at it". Not sure what to do, Serion stood quietly in the corner.

Having grown impatient at the wait Torsten and Andreas moved up to the back door. Preparing to kick the door off of its hinges, Torsten thought twice and tried the handle. It was unlocked. Opening the door, Torsten and Andreas burst in knocking a weasly rat faced man to the floor unconscious before dispatching another guard by knocking his teeth out with a mace.

Meanwhile, Dr. Schafer continued his pretend drunken conversation with the guards. Serion, having stood in the corner of the room whilst the two humans continued their activities decided to make his presence known. As the two lovers turned their attentions to the black clothed elf in the corner of their room, he ordered them to be silent, whilst he tied their hands together with a belt from a pile of discarded clothes from the floor. Hearing that the attack had started downstairs before his signal he quickly drew a dagger and throwing knife and made for the stairs.

Torsten and Andreas were making good progress downstairs, clearing the kitchen before moving into the main living room. Inside were a mixture of thugs, prostitutes and of course, Wolfgang. Torsten's skills with the two handed mace proved too great for the guards and they quickly surrendered. Serion appeared at the bottom of the stairs and launched a throwing knife at a thug stood near the front door of the house. The knife flew true, but at the last minute the guard moved and it glanced off of his arm harmlessly.

The two guards at the fron door, hearing the commotion deicided they should investigate, Dr. Schafer, realising that his drunken charade had taken him as far as it could, waited for them to turn their backs on him before drawing his dagger and holding it to the back of the unfortunate guard in front of him (the same guard that also had a dagger held to his back by Serion at the Broussard home the day before, unlucky). Dr. Schafer calmly suggested that it would be in the guards best interest to leave now and go home as there would be ten hardened warriors waiting for them inside. Agreeing, the two guards fled the scene, leaving Dr. Schafer an open door to enter the house.

Andreas made for Wolfgang, the pair trading blows but neither gaining the upper hand. Torsten, having bested the thug by him, charged straight at Wolfgang, Andreas stepped to the side, clearly a manouevre from their days together as mercenaries. Torsten swung his mighty two handed mace and connected with Wolfgangs face, making a sickening ripping sound as a large flap of skin and flesh hung loosely, leaving a terrible wound. Wolfgang's resolve held, and he held up his arms to defend himself, at this, Andreas swung his mace and struck him square in the hip. Wolfgang's body stiffened as his pelvis shattered, blood spurting from the wound, spraying Torsten and Andreas and most of the room. Wolfgang slumped to the floor dead, a large pool of blood forming where he lay.

The shock of their leader dying in such a way dissolved any loyalty that the remaining thugs had as they ran for their lives.

As Torsten and Andreas gathered themselves, Serion made for the kitchen where he found the Kislevite "Mikhail" unconscious on the floor. He tied the thug's hands together with his belt and gagged him. The rest of the party joined him in the kitchen. Dr. Schafer suggested it would be best if they were elsewhere when the watch arrived. The adventurers and their captive disappeared out of the back door of the house to find somewhere suitable to interrogate him...