82: Friederik Denkhfel

Hello mum. I won’t bother asking about how you and the girls are because it’s all go here in Middenheim, and I don’t have time. But how are you? And how are the girls? I hope you’re well, anyway.

In the end Schutzmann and Ehrlich said that they would be able to get the graf to hold a court hearing to try Hoflich. But they said that that would involve us bringing all the evidence we could in order to convince the graf.

I wasn’t so sure. It seems that the graf is pretty ineffectual and whatever we did, and however good our case was, some courtier could just whisper in his ear, and influence him to ignore us.

I said we should just find Hoflich and do him in, and that would avenge Dreamy as much as anything. But Willow said that Dreamy wasn’t that sort of person (he’s not that sort of person – Willow) and he would want proper justice to be done. But I think Dreamy would be just as happy to shoot someone in the eye at thirty paces than go through proper legal channels (he wasn’t like that – Willow). (He was.) (No, he wasn’t – Willow).

Anyway, I didn’t really understand why we had to be in charge of bringing the case, when we had already told them everything we knew. But Guido said we would do it, because he likes that sort of thing, and was probably thinking about his career.

So, anyway, we hatched a plan to visit all the people we knew who might be able to vouch for us in front of the graf or support some of the evidence we had against Hoflich. Willow had about ten people to visit, and Guido had a couple, and even Blume had Prunkvoll to visit. And that made me realise I haven’t really spoken to anyone much for the whole of the carnival except to say good day, or to buy a sausage.

Schutzmann sent one of his men, Mueller to go to the house in Schwarzmauer Weg to check to see if any messages arrive by homing pigeon. And the other one, Denkhfel, was assigned to escort us. I’m not sure whether Schutzman thought we would not be able to look after ourselves, or he just wanted someone keeping an eye on us, as he didn’t fully trust us yet. Well, to be honest, I don’t fully trust Schutzmann, mum.

And, just so we had it all straight, we asked Ehrlich about Reya again. And he explained that she had been kidnapped a couple of months ago, and Hoflich had explicitly told him that if he didn’t vote for the taxes then he would never see her again. And if he did what he was told, then she would be released the day after carnival ended. Which meant, if he were telling the truth, that we rescued her only a day before she was going to be released, anyway.

We have found out a few things are due to end when the carnival ends. That makes me think that something big is going to happen before the end of carnival and those behind it have no interest in considering what happens beyond that. It reminds me of Boegenhafen.

I tried to explain to everyone that we had no chance of making a case that could convince the graf, and Denkhfel butted in and told us that he thought Schutzmann wouldn’t have asked us to do it if he didn’t think we had a decent chance. Not sure who asked his opinion, though. He’s not one of us.

We did have a chat with him, though. He was quite large, and looked like an experienced member of the palace guard. He said that he was now seconded to the watch and worked closely with Schutzmann. He said it was his job to keep Schutzmann safe, and that kept the city safe, which sounded like something Guido would say.

I said that as he was from the palace guard and then he had joined the city watch, that was a bit like me, as I was from the Mootland branch of the Stirland River Patrol, and had joined the Ubersreik watch. But Guido said that I was now a sewer jack, like it was an insult. Anyway, Willow interrupted our arguing to tell everyone all the people we had to contact and who should contact who. And I didn’t have anyone on my list.

By now Willow’s Ranny D had worn off and she was looking very haggard. And now the stuff wasn’t affecting her, she was beginning to feel the effects of the painful wound in her back, where the blunderbuss had got her.

We all split up and Denkhfel tagged along with Blume. Willow went to the Templar’s Arms to talk to Erina but when she saw Tiasmara and told her about Dreamy she just burst into tears, and they had a big hug. And she told Tiasmara that she had decided to stay in Middenheim and open her clinic, and Tiasmara said she could live at the Templar’s for a small rent.

Then she spoke to Erina and Erina agreed to support us at the court, and she said she would bring her sister along, too, and maybe some other wizards, and if what she heard rang true then we would have their support.

Meanwhile, Guido managed to find Dieter having a drink at the beer tent in the park and told him what had happened to Dreamy. He was very sorry to hear it and readily agreed to turn up and tell them what had happened with the hypnotism. (Although, now I think of it, mum, we should probably get him to the basement to see if he can pick out what Charlotte was wearing.)

Then Guido went to see Ar Ulric. He spoke to an underling and told him he had been sent by Ehrlich to see Ar Ulric over an issue concerning the big bad wolf and Em. It was certainly a bold opening gambit. And Ar Ulric turned up sharpish, with a couple of Knights of the White Wolf, and arrested him.

But Guido managed to convince him, in the name of Myrmidia and Sigmar, that he was not there to cause trouble but to help, and Ar Ulric let him have a few words in private. Guido explained that he knew very little of the issue but he did possess the letters, and he handed them over to Ar Ulric as proof of his sincerity.

He explained that we had a case that Hoflich was ultimately responsible for the blackmail and we wanted his support before the graf. Guido told him about Frau Kenner and Ar Ulric said that might be the same woman who was blackmailing him in disguise.

Guido said that if the matter was too delicate then he could just write a letter? Or if he wanted it to stay a secret then he could just vouch for our integrity. But Ar Ulric said no, it was about time he should face the truth, and he would go to the graf immediately. Guido thanked him, and said he wished that they had met on better terms. That sounded like more Guido careerism, but I think Guido did help Ar Ulric to see the matter in a new light, and face up to his responsibilities, so perhaps Guido isn’t just self-righteous and pompous, after all.

Meanwhile, I wasn’t doing much, so I thought I would pop down to Schwarzmauer Weg to see if any pigeon post had arrived. Mueller was there, and he asked me if anyone had been moving the bodies. That sounded ominous and so I rushed down to the basement. Everyone was there, how we had left them, except Frau Kenner’s body had gone.

There was a smear of blood leading to her room and I followed that to find her bed had been moved revealing a hidden compartment. And on the floor were some empty vials. I had a look in the compartment, and there was a lot of gold and jewellery. Looking around I could see that some of the blood led back out of the room, but it was a lot less, as if whatever had been in the vials had stemmed the bleeding.

I gave Boy a sniff of the blood and he was off out of the basement and into Altquartier. We made a few turns and then found ourselves on the steps leading to the Last Drop. Then about half way up the steps we found another vial and the blood had stopped. Boy managed to follow the trail up into the Great Park and to the lake by the Showboat. And then he lost it. I asked the doorman of the Showboat if Charlotte had been in but he didn’t know who I was talking about.

This is really annoying, mum. I thought at least Dreamy had died for a reason, but now I’m not sure he did. I don’t really know what to do about it. All this messing around with court hearings and Frau Kenner is walking round Middenheim disguised as who knows who.

I went back to the basement. Mueller hadn’t done anything while I was gone. For some reason Denkhfel seems a lot more proactive than his colleague. I bagged up some of the more striking wigs and outfits, which might work as evidence, and then had a look at the gold. There was forty-five crowns, a heavy gold ingot, and a couple of sets of silver jewellery, so I took it all back to the Templar’s.

Meanwhile Blume and Denkhfel went to see Prunkvoll. Blume was moaning that he was boring, but I think she protests too much because she seems to visit him rather a lot. Blume was impressed that Denkhfel seemed to know a lot of the people they passed, but they were guards, and so is he. And when they got to Prunkvoll’s door she expected him to knock for her, like he was a servant but he didn’t. I suspect that Denkhfel has met a good number of people like Blume in his time, and he is not impressed.

Prunkvoll wasn’t interested in the taxes at all, but Blume appealed to his vanity and mentioned wizards, and so he said he would go straight to the graf to ask for an immediate court session. I’m not sure that meant he would actually support our position, though. Blume also mentioned something about the Ar Ulric letters, which was probably indiscreet, but Prunkvoll wasn’t interested in that, either.

Meanwhile, Willow managed to find Uli outside the Templar’s Downfall watching Wallenstein. She paid him and invited the urchins to Dreamy’s funeral. Uli said that Wallenstein had met a few more green people.

Willow went into the Downfall, which was heaving and rather riotous, and found Wallenstein. He offered her a drink and seemed quite inebriated. Willow told him that she knew they didn’t get on but asked if we could have his support for this one event, and then we could go back to not getting on, and she tried to appeal to his commercial interests. He asked what support we already had and Willow gave him a decent list of names.

When she mentioned Sparsam, Wallenstein said he was a good friend and so would be able to support us if we agreed to forget what we knew about him (I think he meant the dining with all the ladies, mum.) and she called off the urchins. Seeing as he was already unsteady on his feet, Willow told him to lay of the drinks because the court hearing was only a few hours away.

Then Willow went around to the other people we had met over the carnival and managed to get the support of Sparsam, Allavandrel, Rallane, and Pavarotti, but Bruno refused to go, which I think is probably a good thing. I think Willow is too nice to realise that the bigs can take against you just for hanging out with low-life drug dealers who paint themselves blue.

Meanwhile, Blume and Denkhfel went to see Chamberlain Bruegal. They told him what had happened with Reya, and Bruegal said that if Schutzmann was in charge then it was probably in good hands and that we should not trouble the graf about it. But Denkhfel said that he worked for Schutzmann and Schutzmann was clear that there needed to be a court hearing, and so Bruegal agreed to bring the matter to the graf.

Blume asked about her application to be a lady of the court, but Bruegal said that this sort of emergency should take priority and Blume reluctantly agreed.

Guido and Willow met up at the temple of Morr. Guido laid Dreamy’s bow across his body and Willow took his quiver as she said it might be nice to use it to keep mushrooms in. And Guido her all Dreamy’s money, and she said she would save it to but the house in Schwarzmauer Weg so she could have a clinic. And she gave Dreamy’s healing draught to Guido. Then she cut off his belt loop to wear as a ring so he might always be there to guide her.

Guido talked to Willow about the funeral. He explained that there was only three ways to deal with it in Middenheim. One was to be buried at the Temple of Morr which, because of the lack of space on the Faushlag, was very expensive. There was a cheaper crematorium, and the cheapest was just to have a quick blessing and get chucked off the cliff.

Willow decided Dreamy would like it best if we took him out to a nice spot in the countryside and had a traditional pie and pyre. And Guido assured her that he would be safe at the temple of Morr until we had a chance to do that.

And eventually we all met up back at the Templar’s Arms. I gave Blume all the gold and jewellery I had found, I’m sure she will look after it all for us. I showed Willow the vials, and she said they had contained some sort of healing draught.

And we got word that the court hearing had been arranged for five o’clock which was only about an hour away. I have hardly had any sleep over the past day, mum, and I wasn’t getting much sleep anyway, so I am very tired.

And I am thinking about Frau Kenner. She was obviously in on it with a bunch of rat people, so she is a rat, too. And after what she made me do to Dreamy, and the way she has escaped, I think I have only one thing to do. I’m even scared to close my eyes for a rest in case I see her in my nightmares.

I know it’s not nice to say things like this, mum, but I swear I will kill her if I can. And if I can’t, I want to die trying. So there, I’ve said it. Sorry if that upsets the girls (if you’re still reading this to them) but that’s how it is.