Session 23 - Plots in Hirschenwald and Willmar
General Summary
The group on the roof with Reinhard don’t see his supposed powerful ring. Rodrick and Uisce resolve to go swimming in the morning.
The next morning, Winifred awakes and ponders further plans. She can stay at the Blue Angel Tavern, though the hostess informs her that a dwarf has arrived, but is being placed safely in the stables, so as not to mix with the goodfolk. After some asking around, she and her companions learn that the dwarf is Austri, from Fallsmar. She then meets with Reinhard, whom she tells to wait until she gets approval from Dagobert, and then to bring a large quantity of alcohol for a pre-wedding feast at Schloss Hirschenwald. Meanwhile, Kaleb wakes up, inspects the sign outside the tavern, and tries to detach it. He is assisted by a departing Winifred, who then leads him, Edmon, and Manfred back to the castle. After she and company return, they walk in on a late breakfast. Winifred and Wigand talk a little more about Reinhard. Kaleb goes to the stables and harasses the Kennel Boy again. Winifred, Manfred and Edmon then enlist Dagobert in the coming fight against Reinhard, despite his reservations. She explains her plan to get Reinhard, Wigand and his men incredibly drunk, and then lock them in the dungeon to be handled.
Uisce and Rodrick prepare to leave in the morning to go swimming. They talk further with Bernard the Fowler, who unbeknownst to them is Reinhard in disguise. Reinhard asks the pair to tell the local Nixies he’s around. Uisce and Rodrick ask for gold to give them as a show of being good neighbors. Reinhard doesn’t give it. The pair go off to go swimming. Uisce keeps the water warm. Over pillow talk, the pair discuss the possibilities and repercussions of having Reinhard as an ally. Uisce decides to go further away in the water to see if she can find the Nixies. In the meantime, Reinhard finds Rodrick again and begins to talk to him. They talk about Rodrick’s studies in angelology, and travel in other realms. Reinhard mentions he has a family member who traveled the realms - he asks Rodrick if he would like to do the same before leaving. Uisce, meanwhile, finds the other Nixies. They are offput by Reinhard’s greeting and seem afraid of him. Afterward, Reinhard and Uisce debate whether they should tell Reinhard about finding the Nixies. They go back to the inn and find Reinhard with Augur poets , who are reciting dirty poetry. Again they speak of the Nixies, with Reinhard offering what they understand to be cursed gems to give to them to beguile them. The pair lie and do not reveal to Reinhard they found the Nixies. In passing, Reinhard implies that his “Family” includes the witches Helga and Matilda.
At the castle, Manfred is approached by the majordomo, who asks him to ride out with him. The majordomo makes a plea to Manfred to get Winifred to think of a more reasonable course of action in dealing with Reinhard than to invite him back to the castle and use a risky ploy to take him after plying him with wine. When they return, there are wandering monks who ask for refuge in the castle there. Manfred recognizes the voice of one as that of Heinrich Stürmer - one of the knights who were with Sigisar at the chapel under Schloss Herbstfroh in Brillig. Fearing they might be enemies or inquisitors, he tells the majordomo to turn them away. Manfred then goes and raises the concerns of Dagobert to Winifred, but she is unswayed from her original plan. They depart with a hug.
Kaleb is causing mischief by bringing dogs into the keep, and is chastised by Dagobert, who yells at him. Kaleb takes the dogs with him to visit Winifred. He tells her that petting the dogs might make her feel better. Winifred tells Kaleb to take the dogs down to the dungeon to look for rats to eat. He does so, but soon hears scary snapping sounds in the walls. He encounters a voice that identifies itself as Engelbert Humperdinck, and tells Kaleb he doesn’t belong there. He causes Kaleb to incorrectly think he is Winifred’s dad. Kaleb tells the voice a rambling story of his origins. He then goes back upstairs and brings Winifred to talk to the voice in the walls. He leads her down a tunnel to a door with no handle. She addresses the presence, and Englebert responds by claiming to have been in the castle since long before Winifred was a child. During this time he claims to have put various curses and blessings on the family. He threatens take away the family’s riches for all the noise they have caused since Winifred arrived again. He apparently believes that Kaleb has been brought to take his place, and he will not have it.
The next day, the time of the hastily scheduled party arrives. Winifred parties with her uncle and describes Engelbert, who suggests he may be a Heinzelmensch. Kaleb, who had been spending more time in the dungeon with the dogs, was ordered back up by a servant. But Winifred bid him and Dagobert to go back down with the dogs, seemingly wanting them there for her future ambush. As the feast unfolds, Rodrick and Uisce arrive, and Uisce is asked to perform. Wigand and his men become increasingly drunk, and enamored with Uisce. Winifred pulls Rodrick aside to try to enlist him in the ambush. She isn’t sure what to offer him. Rodrick seems to suggest nothing in her regular library is of interest to him. She brings up helping find perhaps the occult book Narcissa was after. Eventually, she promises him carte blanche to do what he wants with any corpses that may be produced by the fight, and her mother’s crown for Uisce. They also briefly discuss Reinhard’s family connections, and Rodrick says that “Betrand” says hello.
Edmon steps outside for a bit and encounters one of the Knights of the Tomb. He reports this to Winifred, who says he should go and get them - they might help in the fight against Reinhard. Rodrick and Manfred have a discussion of Uisce’s beauty, which prompts Manfred to watch her performance a bit more closely. This fills Winifred with jealousy.
Despite the party being in full swing, and Wigand and his men becoming quite drunk, Reinhard is nowhere to be seen.
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