TEWR Ep 8 - Uninvited Guests

A brush with the law & the lawless.

Photo Credit​​Thief by Idriu95 @DeviantArt​      URL: http://idriu95.deviantart.com/art/Thief-273628434

by GM Noely
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The Enemy Within Revisited Cast:
Gustav the Dilettante (Davy White)
Smof the Ogre Maneater (Sedrick Galamonte)
Wolfgang Krieger the Sigmarite Zealot (Taj Wood)
Leoven Milner the Apprentice Wizard (Chris Beard)

After the strength sapping slog through the sewers on a fools errand last time I remember thinking if I never saw another sewer again it'd be too soon. But less than 24 hours later and here I was again.

We’d barely even had time to rid ourselves of the stench of the previous day before we found ourselves up to our necks (in the Dwarf’s case quite literally) in the shit again. 

It was deemed necessary by some of our group (no essential even) for us to retread our steps  back to the godforsaken temple. Never mind that we’d been warned by the hideous demon not to return upon on pain of death this time they were going back with the express intention of confronting said beast. I fear I may have taken up with a group of fools or masochists or worse. But Bogenhafen seems an increasingly dangerous place and I feel safer in their presence (though only just) than I feel about wandering the streets solo. I must exercise caution however since it seems there are some gung ho characters among our number that could well get us arrested (again) killed or even worse. 

Yes you heard me right, arrested. I’ve only been in this fair city a matter of days and have already been hauled up before the courts on charges of public affray. Both of which I deny vehemently (and besides, they started it). In the end the young magistrate (in the absence of the regular magistrate who seems to have disappeared let us have our liberty for the scandalously inflated price of 2 gold crowns. Of which I have no doubt that a princely portion will end up in the pocked of said magistrate. Such is the way of things in a place such as Bogenhafen. Ah, how the narrow eyes of my innocence have been opened by recent events. 

In any case the return mission to the sewers proved fruitless (at least in regards to the temple). Upon our 2nd visit we discovered that it had been cleared and there was no sign of either the pentagram or the profane furnishings that had previously tainted this subterranean chamber. Some of our party (in particular the Ogre) seemed genuinely disappointed that the hastily demonic form was no longer present. The more sane of us drew a sigh of relief at it’s non appearance a 2nd time. If I never see another ghastly abomination again in my life It’ll be too soon. I fear though that our present course of actions is likely to lead us closer and closer to the roots of such chaos spawn than farther away. 

With the sewer abandoned prudence might have suggested we leave the subterranean stinkhole but no, we set off in pursuit of some vagrant that Smof had seen lurking. Sure enough this led us (as I predicted) into more trouble. This time our encounter was with the criminal underworld rather than the law. 

We stumbled upon a door within the sewer that was probably best left alone. But once the Ogre had battered down the door we found ourselves inside what appeared to be a cellar storeroom. A wiry fellow was across the room and he welcomed us with a large grin even as he was pulling a lever for a trapdoor which suddenly opened beneath our feet. We were set upon and bound and gagged before we had chance to react and then led back up for a meeting with the grinning fellow. 

He introduced himself as one Franz Baumann the leader of this motley crew of thugs and rogues. It seems that we’d gatecrashed the headquarters of the Thieves Guild. And Baumann left us in no doubt that as uninvited guests our lives would be in great peril if we were to reveal the location of said lair to anyone. The manic long haired one, appeared to test the resolve of the Thieves Guildmaster. An unwise move if you ask me. 

But noone does ask me. And surrounded as I am by a fortune teller that dabbles in the magic arts, a dilettante who enjoys swimming in sewage, a zealot who it seems fights more than he prays and an Ogre that wants to fight demons, 

I’m beginning to suspect that I may in fact be the only member of this party without a deathwish. 

In any case it seems there is a political game being played out, a game in which we are at best pawns until we know who the key players are. Why the cover-up about a goblin the remains of which we clearly found? Why was there a demon in a hidden temple beneath the city and worryingly where did it go? It's clear there are dark forces at work and that the powerful merchant Steinhager is somehow connected. His warehouse, his monogrammed hanky! But how deep does his involvement run? And what or more importantly who are the Ordo Septenarius? 

Our party think that perhaps Franz Baumann may have some answers. So that's where we're headed now. Yes you read that right. Franz Baumann. The Thieves Guildmaster who bound and gagged us last time we met. We're going back to pay him a visit. I told you...death wish the lot of them.