A Changeling in the Nobility

The players are called upon to investigate the child of Hundi & Aelyth Gunthr. The young baby does not seem 'normal' according to them, and seems to have developed a strange birth mark. There is small lumps under the skin on the back of each shoulder, and tiny slit-like scars appearing on his neck.

Plot points/Scenes

The players are tasked with going to Father Tossil, and then the Gunthrs, to examine their child, a new baby called Alric who is only a handful of months old. The child seems strangely unresponsive to the couple, with a strange miniature lump on the back of each shoulder. Also, small slit-like scars have appeared on either side of his throat. Both parents & Father Tossil are calling the child a Changeling and blame a strange incident that occurred to Hundi. He had been overseeing the building of a more permanent bridge over a part of the Danube, and his sword fell in. When he went to retrieve it he heard a child crying, and felt something grab his arm & try to drag him under.
Now their child is marked differently for the past month, and they are looking for him to be blessed & baptised in the Wein cathedral.
The players have to quickly hunt around the river area of the bridge & it itself to find any clues. 
When doing so there is a chance they will see a pair of eyes peering out from the river. Also, there is the chance that they may find the remains of children, and the odd adult buried nearby that have been found in the river bank & river itself. If any locals (farmers, fishermen, etc), are asked, they will say that that part of the river is a gateway, and the bridge is built to make it easier to get across. By doing so, there has been recent disturbances in and around the river, with drownings & disappearances. The 'Little People' of the river has been seen more frequently since construction began.
Most will speak that an old pagan ritual may need to be invoked, and a sacrifice of equal measure to the drowned in the river is to be found & used. Exactly who or what this sacrifice is, is another matter entirely.
The players may approach this a number of ways:

• They can murder someone by drowning them in the Danube. This would likely lead them to being lawbreakers with heavy punishment, or worse.
• They can offer to be sacrificed themselves. No real comeback.
• They can sacrifice a condemned man or woman, and use this to solve two problems at once.
• They can try to lure out the Little People, and try to bargain with them to leave the area, and switch back the children.
• They can kill the Little People if they find out who or what they are, and where they are.

In most cases they may try to find some way of sealing the way through from the Feywild. This still need to do something to appease the members of the Unseelie Court as this seems to be caused by them. Doing so they may end up making a few enemies in that court.  If Alfre is present, she may fill out more information about it too, and most of the players at present will have at least some basic knowledge that it is one or more Nixies causing the problems here. Alfre can certainly help to communicate or deal directly with any Fey here, though she may demand an exceptionally high price for this.
If a sacrifice is to be made the Nixies may demand full payment of nine lives. Exactly what these nine lives are is another thing.
In any case, someone or some group is going to be extremely pissed. And they the players may end up paying the ultimate price if all goes sour.

Themes

The players have to work out the safest path here to get the babies switched back, and be mindful of the price of both failure & what lasting repercussions may happen. Is it clearly an open or shut case, or can they actually make things worse? And in the latter, who eventually pays the price?

Plot type

Investigation, and a bit of possible swimming.

Related Characters

• Alfre
• Hundi Gunthr
• Kulug Jocki
• Priest Father Tossil

Related Organizations

• Franks
• Germanic Paganism
• Roman Catholic

Related Locations

• Wien