16: Arno Cloos

Marktag 9^th Sigmarzeit

Balden was having breakfast at the Hangman and Rotter was telling him about how the rest of the group were doing a warehouse job for him. And said that Balden should come down with him to the warehouse to check on them. When they got there they could see how the warehouse door had been smashed in and when Rotter saw the broken sarcophagus lid he was really annoyed.

You explained to him what happened, but he wasn’t very sympathetic and told you you would have to go and explain it to Cloos as it was your fault and he didn’t want it reflecting badly on him. He even blamed Balden who hadn’t even been there.

So you went up to Schattinwaard on the north islands to Cloos’ town house. You were feeling wealthy enough to take a river taxi instead of bothering with the Hoogbrug traffic jams.

Cloos had a very nice house on the waterfront overlooking some of the docks of Arabierstad, the Arabyan quarter, and you could see lots of exotic people and food stalls, and boats of an unusual design. You stopped to have some mahshi, Vegetables stuffed with rice, and decided it was nicer than Frau Koester’s gruel. Cloos’ house had a couple of ancient looking cat sculptures in front and lots of strange carvings and glyphs on the walls.

Johannes Jaeger admitted you into a reception full of Arabyan and Nehekharan statues and artefacts. It was an opulent house but you got the impression it had been empty for a while until recently. It all looked impressive but you didn’t really understand much of it, although Dietrich said he had studied Nehekharan stuff at the Amethyst College but had fallen asleep during that lecture.

You told Jaeger about the break in and the monster, and it didn’t seem to surprise him too much. He said that Cloos was ill but you should talk to Frau Cloos. So you went in to tell Ofra. She apparently didn’t speak much Wastelander and so Jaeger had to do a lot of translating between you. But you managed to convey what had happened and she said that Drexol was probably responsible for the theft and it was up to you to get it back.

Then she suggested one of you should go up to talk to Cloos, but only one because he was so ill. So Dietrich went up. And then Jaeger told Balden and Max that he wanted to show them some artefacts.

So, Heinrich was left in the room with Ofra Cloos and she suddenly spoke reasonably good Wastelander and told him that the hearts of the mummies held the secret of life and offered a way that two people could live forever, and that if he helped her get the hearts it could be the two of you. And she offered him a couple of rubies, too. But she told him not to let the others get in the way. And Heinrich agreed that he would bring the hearts of the mummies back to her.

Dietrich entered Cloos’ room and it was dark and shuttered. Cloos was in bed and he could see that his skin looked dusty, almost like stone. He was obviously very ill and he told Dietrich that the hearts of the mummies needed to be retrieved and there were dangerous magicks at play.

Then he lapsed into sleep and Dietrich studied Cloos’ body and saw that dark and sickly green magic mixed with the amethyst winds around his body. And looking around the room he found an ancient Nehekharan bell with carvings of jackals on it.

Meanwhile Jaeger was showing Max and Balden a load of old Nehekharan stuff and they both got the impression he was just wasting time to get them out the way.

When you all met back up Jaeger said he would take you to Drexol’s by boat. On the way he explained that the company was in limbo at the moment and that was probably why you outsiders were being employed to do the dirty work. Everyone, including him, was still officially employees of Cloos and Drexol, even though they had fallen out and were arguing about how to divide the company. The ship they had sailed back from Araby in had still not been unloaded and was moored on Suiddock and he took you there first.

The Far Swan was guarded by a couple of guards who recognised Jaeger. The hold was full of crates which you assumed contained the sort of artefacts you had seen at Cloos’ house. And in the middle of the hold was another sarcophagus and this one’s lid had also been removed and it was empty.

And not that far up the quay was Drexol’s house, and once Jaeger had pointed it out to you, he sloped off. You could see it was more a warehouse with a dwelling on the top floor, than an actual house. You went round the back alley and found a door. Dietrich did a spell and the door magically opened. The Balden tried to light the way for you using his magic, but that didn’t work and so Max lit his lantern.

Inside, the warehouse was mostly empty and you had the feeling it hadn’t been used much for a good while. You found a trapdoor leading down to a cellar and so you opened it and you all went down leaving Balden to guard the door.

And you could see in one corner of the cellar a couple of mummified bodies surrounded by a circle of black sand. Heinrich and Dietrich tentatively approached and Dietrich cast a spell on the sand to determine whether there was some sort of trap, but he decided it was safe. He warned Heinrich not to disturb the sand and they both stepped into the circle.

Then some bloke (it was Frederik Drexol) came down the steps from the floor above and demanded to know what Balden was doing in his warehouse and he was carrying a meaty looking Nehekharan style Khopesh. Balden’s reply was antagonistic and so Drexol attacked him with the blade. Balden tried to entangle him with his magic, but failed and the Khopesh slashed his left arm.

Max heard the commotion and so climbed back up the steps looking to get a decent shot at Drexol. Meanwhile, Dietrich and Heinrich decided they needed to work as fast as possible and so just stabbed into the mummies cutting through the bandages and trying to get to their hearts.

While Balden and Drexol were fighting each other Max managed to get a pistol shot in. It looked like the shot might hit Balden, but Max called for some help from some dubious source to help him aim and managed to hit Drexol instead. Meanwhile Heinrich had managed to dig a large red stone like an uncut ruby out of one mummy’s chest.

And Balden was realising that Drexol was an experienced fighter and he got stabbed again and beaten to the ground unconscious, while Max was trying to reload his pistol. Then Dietrich managed to dig something out of his mummy. It was an earthenware jar with a lid and decorated with carvings of a jackal. And you decided that it looked like the ruby would fit neatly inside.

Up in the warehouse, Max managed to dodge a blow from Drexol and shot him again with his pistol. He angrily shouted ‘Necromancer’ at Max and then retreated through the front doors of the warehouse calling an alarm. So you decided to escape out the back door carrying Balden. You grabbed the ruby and the jar, and Dietrich scooped up a bagful of the black sand as you left.

And you fled into the maze of alleyways behind the warehouses until you were lost and satisfied you couldn’t be found. Then Heinrich did his best to deal with Balden’s wounds and you made your way back to Frau Koester’s for the night.