After consulting with Delsoton in the high elf embassy, the group went to their safe house in Suiddock. The house turned out to be on a typical Mariënburger street. Vendors cried out about their wares against a backdrop of liquor stores, bakers and 'spice sellers'. Almost instinctively the members of the group devolved into the most primary human being there is: the tourist.
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| A random illustration of Skaven Gutter Runners. |
Drunk and drugged
Tillman ordered a special 'flying cake' from the baker, Gorgor the dwarf bought the strongest liquor she could find in the liquor store. Everyone in the group imbibed. Soon Barnard saw his god Sigmar waving and laughing at him from a street corner. With a screaming sound in his ears the priest was handed an amulet of a comet with two tails pressed. More misadventures followed and it was sheer luck that allowed the drunk and drugged group to reach their house.
Several suspicious events
Once there, several suspicious events followed one another. To make a long story short. The next morning the group woke up, lying on the floor and wooden bench in the hallway of a rather luxurious house. Tillman had impaled his own hand with his dagger, Barnard turned out not to have a comet, but his own tooth, as a pendant around his neck. Also the floor, walls (and here and there ceiling) of the hallway were covered with vomit and blood. Ostensibly the group's own.
The passive-aggressive maid
At this point the passive-aggressive maid presented herself. She had a clear opinion about the mess 'someone' had to clean up. 'No problem, who does not like cleaning up other people's vomit from a recently scrubbed floor?', she asked in a tone implying she did not. The group looked at the rest of the house. The hallway ended in wide stairs leading to a spacious living room, several bedrooms and an attic (for the maid). After a very necessary breakfast, the group started scouting the neighbourhood.
A clue
They went from café to café. Finally the rumor mill told them that a previously empty theater had recently started hosting performances again. The quality of the programming was such that only a few local thieves from the guild came there. They where attracted by the lack of audiences, making the theater a quiet place to do shady business.
The emperor, the merchant and the three witches
After some searching, the ramshackle theater was found. Placards at the entrance announced a show called 'The emperor, the merchant and the three witches'. It had clearly not been performed in years. Ronja sent her familiar through a dark alley along the side of the building to investigate. The creature came back and reported a side entrance and windows at the back of the building. It had crept up to the first floor. There the familiar had looked through a window and seen people walking around in a messy space.
Meeting Ludwina again
The group went into the theater. In the lobby they saw a lady with a hunched-back behind the till. The group recognized the cashier as Ludwina, a lady who had previously manned the register for 'The Merry Band' performers in Ubersreik. The lobby smelled of stale beer. The bar offered free but moldy peanuts to go with the obviously watered down swill. A rickety staircase led to a VIP balcony. The floor was weathered and moldy. Remembering the silver painted chairs in Ubersreik, the group decided to go for regular tickets this time.
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| A Screaming Bell does not appear in this story, but it is a wonderfully dramatic picture. |
In the theater itself they say two groups of shady looking characters in the audience. Both groups were in conferring among themselves, completely ignoring the stage. Aside from this the audience consisted of two elderly ladies sitting in the front row. They were laughing loudly at every joke made by two miserable excuses for clowns. One person was watching the show by himself.
Familiar faces
The group found their seats and recognized the dysfunctional clowns as the same ones from Ubersreik. Guarding steps onto the stage where the two thugs that had served as bodyguards for the fake Delsoton in the same place. On stage Isenbert the Magician appeared. He looked at the group, muttered 'not them again' and left the stage. After a short break a man stepped out from backstage. He introduced himself as Almut and declared he was an animal trainer. Unfortunately, he told his audience, all his animals where confiscated by the Town Guard. He then held a long tirade on the subject of 'how can I give a show without animals?
Horrible mutants
Meanwhile, Gorgor took a good look around the room. Her eyes fell on the catwalk above the stage. From in the shadows there a monstrous cross between a spider and a human looked back at her. The dwarf barely managed to keep control of het bladder. She started to point out the danger to her friend. The mysterious other visitor also noticed that something was wrong at that point.
The mysterious stranger
When the danger was pointed out to them Tillman and Barnard stormed the thugs at the stairs to the stage. Gorgor grabbed a loose rope and climbed like a madman towards the mutant on the catwalk. Ronja started throwing spells from her seat in the audience. The mysterious stranger jumped up and gave an inspiring speech. "Is Marienburg for humans or mutants?" The crooks present were taken in by the honeyed words and started stabbing the two thugs with their daggers.
A short kerfuffle
After a short kerfuffle the main stage was free of scum. Gorgor had taken care of the spider-mutant and the rest of the group had walked into the backstage area. The mysterious stranger went with them, introducing himself as Friederich, a professional agitator. The group went backstage and tried a random door. It turned out there was a dressing room behind it. Some mutants were busying themselves with a game of cards. Apparently the noise on stage had made no impression. Friederich joined the mutants in a few games of cards. Aside from some gossip he learned that a mutated giant crocodile was locked up in the other dressing room.
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| More random Skaven. |
As Gorgor investigated the upper floor of the theater, she was joined by a few others. They found a room full of creepy, chaotic runes. In a large room they found the beds of the mutants of the Merry Band. There were a few mutants present so the group decided to keep quiet. In a smaller room they found the sleeping quarters of Ulrich Ehrenstein, ringmaster of the Merry Band. A search revealed the cult leader's diary. In it he had written where his travels took him and who he had left behind to proclaim the word of Tzeentch. The group also found the key to Ulrich's large safe. Unfortunately it turned out that this safe only contained the rotting corpse of the original owner of the theater.
Eye to eye with a horrific mutated giant crocodile
Suffering from some extra corruption due to the shock discovery, the group went downstairs. There Ronja, not up-to-date on Friederich's warning about mutant crocodiles, opened the door to the second dressing room. She was eye to eye with a horrific mutated giant crocodile! The beast growled a warning and got ready to attack. Ronja, unfazed, used a snuff on Skaven warpstone to overpower an animal friendship spell. It worked. The mutant crocodile went from attack mode to a loving gaze for his new best friend.
Warpstone
At the sight of warpstone Tillman, who by now had enough corruption in his body to be mistaken for a chaos-worshipper himself, decided it was time to leave. He legged it towards the safe house in Suiddock.
Into the vaults
The rest of the group discovered that a magician's disappearing trick trunk hid the entrance to the vaults of the theater. With the crocodile taking point, they entered the vaults. These seemed to contain a lot of antique props from the play 'The emperor, the merchant and the three witches'. A long corridor led to more rooms and ended in a thick iron-framed door leading to the deeper Marienburg sewers.
The Plaque of Quats
The group sent the mutant crocodile through a random side door. It revealed a large ritual space. Ulrich Ehrenstein, accompanied by eight acolytes, was performing a ritual on the Plaque of Quats. This golden plaque hovered in the air above a rune of Tzeentch.
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| A Skaven Stormfiend is also not appearing in this story. |
As the group stormed in through one door, a wall fell down in the other side of the room. A gang of black-clad Skaven jumped out. These Skaven were led by a bald assassin. It was none other than Zrel Crownflayer, chief Skaven assassin. Gorgor had had it with this fiend. Ignoring everyone else the dwarf charged and swung her axe. With a tremendous thump the Skaven's up-until-now healthy arm fell to the ground. It somehow managed to throw a smoke bomb and disappear (fate points for villains is a worthy cause).
Caught between a bloodthirsty mutant crocodile and a ruthless dwarf
Barnard fought Ulrich together with Friederich, Ronja ordered her crocodile to do something about the acolytes. They were quickly eaten by the vicious beast. Unexpectedly agile it jumped over Ulrich and charged the Skaven gutter runners still present. They had stopped their attack at the sight of their leader losing it's head. Between the bloodthirsty mutant crocodile and the ruthless dwarf the Skaven gave a quick spray of fear musk and ran off.
Into the sewers...
Ronja used her magic to dispel the force holding the Plaque of Quats aloft. As the group gathered in the artifact, they felt their corruption drain away. In the background, the mutant crocodile smashed the reinforced door at the end of the corridor. It slipped out of this opening to strike out on its own. With that the Marienburg sewer system was at least one giant mutant crocodile richer...
Back to the safe house
As the group surveyed the carnage they decided it was time to get the Plaque of Quats back to their safe house. They quickly checked another room in the vaults beneath the theater and found three bound and gagged victims the Merry Band had planned to sacrifice. One of them introduced herself as Jantien Zeemeeuw, the navigator assigned to an ill-fated Lustria expedition. The group took her along and went back to the safe house.
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