(Being a series of quick game notes trying to account for the events of many sessions of playing through The Enemy Within using the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 1e rules.)

Session 40

Power Behind the Throne

• Wilhelm [Wizard] – I 55
• Wilfried [Forger] – I 53
• Larry [Mercenary] – I 48
• Gottlieb [Assassin] – I 43
• Othmar [Spy] – I 46
• Brother Nate [Cleric] – I44

Backertag – Day 4 of the Carnival

Today’s scheduled events:

• Challenge to the Champion – Square of Martials – 11am to 1pm
• Firebreathers – Bernabau Stadium – Noon to 1pm
• Druidic Life Sculpting – Royal Gardens – 2pm to 4pm
• Horse Fair – Great Park – 2pm to 6pm
• Dwarven Valley Choirs – Royal College of Music – 3pm to 5pm
• Snotling Football – Bernabau Stadium – 3pm to 5pm
• Snotling Football – Bernabau Stadium – 6pm to 8pm
• Elephant Show – Square of Martials – 5pm to 7pm
• The Barbarian Of Seville – Royal College of Music – 7pm to 10pm

The day’s events begin of course at the Square of Martials where Larry is to defend his title against a Knight Panther and then in a final rematch against Dieter Schmiedehammer for the title of Graf’s Champion. Unlike the first match which went on for many rounds of blows, counterstrikes, and parries, this was over in a few seconds as Larry delivered a powerful blow to Dieter’s head, knocking him out.

Having acquired (expensive) scalped tickets to the Snotling Football matches that afternoon, and with an hour or two to burn, the group heads out to find Gotthard Goebbels / von Wittgenstein. Niether the Merchant’s Guild nor the Offices of the Komission for Commerce, Trade and Taxation offices know where he is. However, at the Komission offices Gottlieb snuck upstairs to check the offices out to see if Gotthard was just playing “hard to catch”. While he didn’t find Gotthard, he did come away with a collection of paperwork and stamps of office that can be used to improve Wilfried’s forgeries.

At the snotling football matches, the party nearly universally bet on the long odds teams competing, and lost every single bet. However, during the second match Branebreaker the dwarf found them. It seems he was uncomfortable with a few… misconceptions… the dwarves had allowed the party to have upon their late-night meeting under the city.

While the dwarves do indeed maintain a number of undercity passages, these are small in number and link between the various dwarven establishments in town and an escape passage should they need to slip their kin in or out of the city. The extended catacombs where Branebreaker had found them are supposedly sealed and are not actually cleaned and maintained by the dwarves (they don’t have nearly the dwarfpower to handle that kind of work, especially with so many leaving the city to avoid the dwarf tax). So it looks like everything the party feared about the undercity is true. But before returning to the catacombs, it might be a good idea to recruit a non-local dwarf to help them… Like Glugnur, the troll-slayer currently sobering up in the watch gaol.

Larry’s connection to the commander of the watch easily paves the way to the group buying off Glugnur’s bail and getting the angry gristly blue-haired monster back on the streets.

But then the next issue came up. Glugnur is a combat drug junkie. And he’s all out Whiz…. But he knows were to score more. A hole in the wall basement tavern known as “the Pit” – obviously an establishment of the highest standards. In order to avoid getting caught in such a compromising place, both Larry and Othmar sit out the attempt to acquire more drugs.

The Pit is by far the foulest bar the group has ever seen – which is impressive. Buried in the Alquartier, the walls and ceiling are covered in grime and filth… the floor is probably worse, but is covered in sawdust (although puddles of stale beer and… second hand beer… are everywhere). The air is blue with smoke, and everything else is best imagined than described.

Within the Pit they find Bruno, the local drug “pusher” and Glugnur’s source of whiz. In a moment of clarity, the group also asks about the “tonic” that Chancellor Sparsam is hooked on. A bit of wheedling, discussion, and money trades hands before they ascertain that it is most likely the drug known as “laughing powder” (or “Ranald’s delight”). Bruno sells them some, and arranges that he will bring a week’s supply the next day… With some bargaining (as Bruno has figured out that if he gives up this customer to the party, she likely will never buy from him again – not because she’ll learn of his treachery, but because he expects she’ll be dead) Bruno sells out that this is the same amount of laughing powder a woman buys from him once a week on Festag (which matches up perfectly with Frau Kenner’s deliveries to Sparsam scheduled for roughly an hour later, every Festag night).

And that’s when the watch breaks down the front door announcing a raid on the establishment.