17: Showdown


Backertag 10th Sigmarzeit

You came down for gruel in the morning as usual. You wondered whether Frau Koester would be getting tired of you turning up, beaten up and bruised, at all hours but she didn’t seem to mind. Heinrich saw to Max’s wounds from the previous day, and Dietrich stayed in bed saying he needed more sleep.

You discussed the mess you were in and wondered what to do about it. You thought about handing over the hearts to Ofra because she had already offered Heinrich a couple of rubies for them (and the promise of eternal life) but you had a feeling that she might be up to no good. And Drexol’s accusations of necromancy made you wonder who the necromancer was.

In the end, you decided to go to Rotter and ask him to invite the two parties to a meeting where they could sort out their differences peacefully, and you could perhaps make some money from it.

You went to the Hangman and after interrupting his dodgy wine and cheese deals, explained to Rotter everything that had happened. He didn’t really want to know any of the details, especially the strange necromancy bits, but said you could hire the warehouse for five guilders or ten per cent of the profits, whichever was more. He said he had just forked out three guilders for a new warehouse door, any way.

So you drafted letters to the Clooses and Drexol inviting them to a meeting Rotter’s warehouse at three to sort out the matter between you all peacefully.

Then you went to the warehouse and set up a table and chairs and some crates around the trapdoor to the secret canal, which you thought you might use if you needed to make a quick getaway. Heinrich emptied his bag so that it contained only the two ‘hearts.’

At three o’clock Johannes Jaeger entered the warehouse followed by Ofra Cloos and three guards. Jaeger didn’t look too aggressive but Ofra was looking stern and she sent a knowing look at Heinrich, which he noticed, and he nodded back conspiratorially.

Max and Balden were sat at the table, while Heinrich was hanging back in the shadows. Jaeger approached and explained that Arno Cloos was ill, and then Ofra offered a bag of rubies (you guessed about one hundred guilders worth) there and then to do the deal. Max told her not to be so hasty and said he wanted a peaceful outcome that suited all parties.

Things were getting a bit tense when Drexol turned up with two guards in tow. He was looking the worst for the fight you had had with him the previous day. But then Balden and Max weren’t feeling too great, either.

Drexol called you all necromancers and Max tried to explain that he wasn’t. And when Drexol wondered why you were siding with necromancers, Max pointed out that he had used a spell to animate the mummies, and that had made him one too. And he said that he was just using whatever tools he had to stop the evil.

Drexol tried to appeal to your sense of decency and said he wouldn’t be offering to buy the items but he trusted that you would do the right thing, and he called Ofra a witch. And then Ofra demanded that you hand the items over as their powers belonged to her, and she looked a bit manic.

Then she said nothing would stop her from getting hold of them, and certainly not you. Max said that people had crossed you before but they had all ended up dead. It was an attempt to de-escalate, but it didn’t have the desired affect, and Ofra ordered her men to attack.

Max covered them with his blunderbuss, which made two of them hesitate, but the third guard attacked Balden. Getting a good hit on him. Then Jaeger, sort of reluctantly, attacked Max. So Max let them have it blasting Jaeger and a guard with his Blunderbuss, and Balden sent one of the guards to sleep, and he fell to the floor, but as he hit the ground, he woke up again. Heinrich took a pot shot at Drexol, with his bow but missed.

Ofra was gathering some purple magic together, and the guards piled in for another attack, sending Balden and Max to the floor, and they eventually lost consciousness. Seeing this, Drexol and his men made their escape out the front door.

Ofra dissipated her magic and Heinrich was left facing her and all her men. He lifted up his bag and told her to leave Max and Balden alone. Ofra said she didn’t care about them and just needed the hearts. And so they tentatively exchanged bags, with Heinrich letting Ofra grab his bag as she let her purse fall to the floor.

Ofra told Heinrich that she would enact the ritual that night, at midnight, and that he could share in her immortality. Heinrich said he would be there, and Ofra and her men left.

Heinrich grabbed the rubies and went to work on the wounded. He couldn’t do much for Balden but patched up Max, and the two of you carried Balden back to Frau Koesters. Balden didn’t regain consciousness until about ten, and said he wasn’t in any state to go to Ofra’s. Max said he probably wouldn’t be much use, either, and recommended against Heinrich doing any more deals with Ofra.

And so towards midnight Heinrich wandered up to the Cloos house. He didn’t go in, but just watched the place for about an hour. And there was not much to observe except the normal running of the house. And eventually he made his way back to Frau Koester’s, still mortal.

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