Chapter 5 - The Secrets of the Erdstall
General Summary
As fall descends upon Wunschau, the latest outbreak of the Plague subsides, and both Cilly and Dietmar are on the mend. Reinhard has established himself at Ulrich von Rotz's shop, and has made some progress in studying his master's work concerning monstrous births. Having made a little of money, the group decides to follow up on some loose ends left over after their previous visit to the Sacristy of St. Beatus Church. Franz begins to question some of his comrades in the city watch about the existence of tunnels underneath the city. They tell him nothing of note, and soon Franz reckoning that their silence may be conditioned by the fact that he has shared nothing of the bribes he has received during the last month. Some gold then goes into the pockets of two of his closest associates - Erich and Johann - and at that point, they say that the place to check would be the cellars of Leonhardt - head of the Vintner's Guild, and a members of the Wunschau Rat, who lives toward the west end of town.
However, in light of what was learned at the bishop's scriptorium, a more promising lead is the Zwerghof - a compound in the same general area where a number of dwarfs reside, and it is there that the group decides to pay a visit. The compound is gated, and two city watchmen hanging around outside inform Franz that the gates are shut at night, and no one is allowed to exit - whatever business the group has in there better be concluded before that if they don't want to be stuck inside until morning. Franz bangs on the gate, and soon, a dwarf named Alviss emerges, asking the guests what they want. They tell him that they are here to see Brimir - the head of the Zwerghof, and after checking to see if the latter is receiving visitors, Alviss opens the gate, and escorts the group inside. There are a number of low-roofed buildings in the compound. Pigs root around in the yard, scarfing down apples that have fallen from the trees. Alviss leads the group to one of the bigger houses, where more than a half-dozen dwarfs are engaged in their days' work - polishing gems, counting up profits and losses on the abacus, stoking the large fire pits.
Brimir has his own private cabinet, and the visitors are ushered inside, though the doors are left open. He is an aged, spectacled dwarf, whose cabinet is littered with various scraps of paper and not a few books. The visitors greet him and introduce themselves. Brimir, wishing to know who he is dealing with, asks Reinhard to remove his mask, and after being reassured that the Zwerghof is plague-free, the doctor complies. Franz, along with Dietmar, Reinhard and Basil open by saying that they are here to protect the dwarfs from possible repercussions from a xenophobic town council, and demand that Brimir make a clear statement regarding his people's non-involvement in spreading the Plague, or, as some allegations found in the scriptorium had it, poisoning wells. Brimir replies that no one in their right mind believes is such obvious fabrications, which are concocted simply for the reason of extracting money, and using the dwarfs as scapegoats when it is convenient. Franz presses the matter, and asks whether Brimir is aware of the existence of other tunnels beneath the city which the walking dead can use to circumvent the city walls: sharing information will create goodwill toward the dwarves among the city notables. Brimir responds by saying that he himself is a scholar, not a merchant, but most of his people are in trade, and are used to making mutually beneficial deals, and building trust gradually, through incremental exchanges. Since the guests have come to him, business logic dictates that they make the first offer. Initially, they respond by offering Brimir to distribute the aqua vitae Cilly has been distilling, but the dwarf replies that his people do not buy finished foodstuffs and drink from the humans. Then, led by Dietmar and Franz, the visitors describe their visit to the sacristy, the discovery of Ruprecht's undead body, the crypt, the animate servants, and the imp. They also claim that they are soon to visit the margrave, and will put in a good word for the dwarfs, and perhaps get them in on a deal to supply the margrave with aqua vitae if Brimir offers substantial information on the existence of tunnels. Brimir seems to have been largely aware of the group's exploits, says that he will study his books to see if they reveal any information about tunnels, but he does suggest that the visitors begin by more thoroughly exploring the basement of the sacristy. Reinhard asks whether Brimir would be willing to send one of his dwarfs to help them search, and eventually, a deal is struck: Alviss will accompany them back to the sacristy for a modest payment of five gulden.
Accompanied by Alviss, the group returns to Ruprecht's cellar, and then, the crypt. The place appears to be undisturbed since their last visit. Dietmar begins to scan the crypt, but Alviss takes just a few moments to locate a secret exit opposite the one used to access the crypt from the cellar. Beyond it is a long, narrow, low tunnel laid out with well-fashioned and smooth stones, and Alviss confirms that this is most likely dwarf-built. Looking around at the start of the tunnel, Franz finds a skeletal dwarf-sized footprint, embedded in the dust and dirt on the floor. At the end of the passage is a narrow, 10-foot-deep shaft, and another passage running in the same direction. At this point, the decision is made to return Alviss to the Zwerghof to build goodwill, and to fetch a ladder. The group then returns to the cellar with a ladder, and begins making a difficult descent down the shaft. Reinhard, however, insists on bringing his pack along, and, being large of frame, gets stuck in the process of dsecent. Franz and Cilly attempt to wrench him free, then push him back up, but Franz ends up having to cut the straps on his pack to try to create more wiggle room. Down below, the sounds of creaking emanate from the end of the passage, and off to the side, and soon, two short, squat skeletal figures armed with axes emerge. Dietmar has the misfortune of being face-to-face with them. The skeleton that comes in from a side shaft climbs atop the one who barrels straight down, and both try to chop the friar to bits. Dietmar steps up and rebukes the walking dead, and the mount skeleton flees in terror (though by the sounds of it, there are others who were beginning to emerge from the shaft that leave as well. The skeleton riding him seems unaffected and presses the attack, and it takes some time for Dietmar to change place with the others so he can attend to his wounds. Eventually, he is replaced in the front by Basil, and ultimately, Franz makes it to the front to smash the thing with his sword.
The difficulty of getting through these small passages, and for most, being able to see, presents a dilemma. But Reinhard, still stuck in the shaft, eventually wriggles free enough to climb back out. He refuses to heed calls to climb down again, but soon, an owl appears, which the doctor declares to be his eyes and ears. The owl flies down the far shaft, and somehow, is able to relate what it sees to its master. In the meantime, Reinhard's companions inspect the near shaft where the particularly belligerent skeleton came from, and see that it was only a pit that didn't lead anywhere. The owl eventually returns. It has shown Reinhard that the tunnel at the bottom runs into a dead end, but that there is an intersecting passage leading off to the left. It winds around, branches off a few times, and then ends. The remaining skeletons - five of them - are huddled at the end of that little complex.
Reinhard and Dietmar say they have had enough, and have no desire to confront more skeletons in the narrow tunnels, but Franz says he feels confident that he will be able to handle them. Basil and Cilly accompany him - the three indomitable veterans of the fight against the walking dead that escaped from the sacristy are reunited. They climb down the shaft most of the skeletons emerged from, and proceed until they find another tunnel on the left. When that one turns, they climb a small ledge, and as they reach a bend in that tunnel, they are confronted by the rest of the skeletons, some armed with axes, some with long awls, some with hammers. Initially, two are able to attack Franz at the elbow, but he makes his way past them so that his companions are fighting only one at a time. Cilly helps out from the back by rolling previously prepared balls of acid, which spray a solution that dissolves bones. Basil, meanwhile, hurls insults at the creatures. Unused to this sort of treatment during their long confinement, they are bewildered - one becomes so confused that it turns on its comrades. But the barrage of abuse is not cost-free to Basil himself. At one point, he sees one of the skeletons turn into Ruprecht, float up to the ceiling, and begin laughing back at him. Though none of his companions seem to notice, Basil is frightened out of his wits, and runs back toward Dietmar, yelling that Ruprecht has returned, and asking the friar for aid.
In the meantime, Franz and Cilly finish mopping up the rest of the skeletons. They inspect the weapons, which seem to be a bit warped, and quite old, and the tunnels, whose curves appear to serve no rational purpose whatsoever. The cul-de-sac behind the last skeleton contains a small bench-like structure with a flat surface, but its purpose is unclear. There are no inscriptions anywhere. After finally wedging Reinhard free, the group decides to return to the Zwerghof, to see if Alviss would return to look through the rest of the tunnels, and to see if he could identify anything that needs to be identified. Once they get there, however, the dwarf refuses - he was there only to look for secret doors in the crypt, and has no interest in entering tunnels infested by walking dead - the party doesn't have enough money to pay him to do that.
But the final conversation with Brimir proves more productive. He tells them that long ago - perhaps as long as a millennium, before humans began to establish cities here, his people built a multiplicity of such complexes in the area. He himself claims to be unsure as to their purpose - perhaps they had some sort of ritual, mystical significance, perhaps they were used as hiding places from invading humans. But there are more of them in the area. He recommends that the party make measurements to see if any of the tunnels run below the city walls. As for looking for much of such "earth stalls", he suggests that they look into places with deep cellars - Leonhardt's first and foremost (especially, as he adds, because Ruprecht was a big drinker). But in exchange for this, Brimir extracts a promise: the companions are not to tell or show the authorities what they have found in the tunnels, nor to tell them what they have learned about their builders. With this, the party takes its leave of Brimir, expressing hope that they will be able to work with him productively on other occasions.
Missions/Quests Completed
- Erdstall underneath the St. Beatus Sacristy cleared of skeletons
Character(s) interacted with
- Erich and Johann from the Wunschau City Watch
- Other guardsmen in front of Zwerghof
- Alviss
- Brimir
Report Date
20 Oct 2020
Primary Location
Secondary Location
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