[*] Plan Stick To Work Now, Be Blushing Maiden After Work
-[*] Discuss the latest infiltrators with Van Hal, focusing on what they might be and what their objective could be.
--[*] On their nature, they are clearly as intelligent as any human, do not seem to be significantly impaired by sunlight and are superhumanly swift. Yet they are common enough to employ in numbers, considering you found at least two in rapid succession, if the things discovered in the walls previously weren't more of their kind.
---[*] It would be difficult to pick them out without some kind of supernatural tell, you only caught the first one because he tried to use a personal acquaintance of yours for his cover story, and the second one when she tried to pick the lock to the sealed room.
--[*] On their objective, if their main mission was assassination, you fear they could have long accomplished that by drugging the food and drink, so you suspect it's mainly information gathering, as servants pass unnoticed.
-[*] Discuss countermeasures for cases of future infiltration.
--[*] Most of the key staff in the castle are without personal security. While your can't feasibly be escorted everywhere and still do your job effectively beyond getting some security for interviews, the others should not be too impeded. Particularly those without much personal combat ability.
--[*] Some way of relaying messages covertly between the council would be valuable. However, that turns up the issue of what if they were compromised like the past Marshal and the code leaks. Maybe if the cipher was regularly changed?
---
Okay. Just a regular private debriefing with oh god no, of all the words to use - okay, a private meeting with your liege. And you've got a topic of great import to discuss right at hand. No need to focus on your state of undress or how you're going to be barricaded in this room together and alone for almost an hour. Power through the awkwardness.
"So," you begin. "Infiltrators."
Van Hal grips the lifeline you've thrown out. "Yes, right, infiltrators." He takes a moment to gather his thoughts. "Was there any change in their appearance when they displayed inhuman abilities?"
You think back, and shake your head. "No, completely normal."
"And still alive, based on the blood you mentioned." He glances back over to you, and then away. "Could they have cast a spell?"
"Not without me noticing."
"That eliminates a lot of the possibilities. Not vampires, not shapeshifters, not creatures under an illusion... possibly humans enchanted ahead of time, possibly mutants... empowered mortal servants of the vampires, perhaps? I've never encountered a Von Carstein that bothered, but some of the other bloodlines do. Once the castle is secured we can investigate the source of their abilities. For now, it's irrelevant. What do you think their goal is?"
"If it was assassination, they could have succeeded already," you say doubtfully. "They've had plenty of time to drug or poison you."
He snorts. "They would have, if I actually ate or drank anything prepared in this castle."
"Okay, so it might be assassination, in which case they'll definitely try an attack. But I suspect it might be gathering information - keeping an eye on us for whoever their true master is."
"We're going to have to do more to vet the castle staff," he says, frowning. "How did you uncover the one that attacked you, anyway?"
"He claimed a relation to one of my informants, but I knew their family tree well enough to know it for a lie."
He looks over at you and raises his eyebrows, clearly impressed. Then his gaze flicks down before he hurriedly looks away again. "We'll have to try to find a more reliable way. Between the two you found, hopefully we should be able to find something that gives them away." He looks at the door, rubbing the stock of his rifle distractedly. "I'll have to keep the Greatswords closer at hand," he says thoughtfully. "I've been throwing them at any problem that needs military might, but that means they're not acting as bodyguards. I'll have to cultivate some other unit to act as the elites of the Army of Stirland." He stares into space. "Three shifts... call it six platoons a shift, leaving two left over to fill in or supplement as needed. One platoon with myself, two at the gates, and a squad for each member of the council, maybe. I'll have to work out the details with Markus..." You're glad that he reached that conclusion yourself, because you were trying to think of a way to tactfully suggest it. He's silent for a moment longer, then he changes the subject. "So, how are we going to prevent this from happening in the future?"
---
For most of the next hour, you discuss various possibilities to vet the castle staff, ranging from personally investigating the family links of every single candidate, to importing an entirely new staff en masse from a distant and randomly-chosen town so that it would be impossible for someone to infiltrate them ahead of time, to doing without servants entirely and just having soldiers perform all the menial tasks of the castle. There's no practical solution, so you bandy around impractical ones, each more outlandish than the last. Have apprentice priests who've taken vows of humility rotate through the castle to do the work? Hire a small army of halflings? Force the castle staff to never leave the castle? Send away to distant Cathay and purchase, at outrageous cost, a small handful of terracotta automatons to act as servants?
Before long, you've almost forgotten that you're in mortal peril and your underwear. You haven't spent that much time with Van Hal, considering you've been working for him for going on three years now, and he surprises you in just how much he varies from what you'd expect from a Witch Hunter. For one thing, he's a veritable font of obscure lore when it comes to magical constructs and nightmarish creatures and how to identify and counter them, far from the 'set them on fire and let Sigmar sort them out' you feared when you first laid eyes on him. And for another, he's actually kind of really bad at espionage and sneakiness.
Oh, he's got natural paranoia and decades of experience to draw from, but every suggestion he comes up with for a body of servants that couldn't be infiltrated has flaws that are immediately apparent to you but invisible to him. When you tactfully point them out, he furrows his brow and thinks of a workaround that just opens more holes. That it took this long for you to realize this is a testament to how far confidence and authority can take someone.
Then your bonding experience is rudely interrupted as the thud of flesh on wood reverberates through the room as someone, or something, tries to bludgeon down the door.
You weave Ulgu into your flamberge as Van Hal readies his Runefang.
And then you wait. And wait some more. And awkwardly lower your flamberge again as Van Hal sighs and takes a seat.
It's the door. Van Hal had it installed himself the first month after he arrived. Six inches thick, made of solid hardwood, and with steel hinges driven into the stone of the doorframe. Completing the picture is a very well-made Nuln-made lock and a bar you'd struggle to lift without help, all topped off with your spell making the bar and lock all but immune to brute strength. Whatever it is that's bashing away at the door is strong and tireless beyond the abilities of a human, but it's just not enough.
The worst part is, it's too loud for you and Van Hal to continue your discussion.
It continues on for what feels like forever but was probably more like ten minutes, until it suddenly stops, and the reason is immediately obvious - without the constant percussion of flesh on wood, you can hear yelling and the clash of steel boots on stone floors coming closer at speed. You hear a surprisingly human yell of frustration, and then footsteps retreating away.
It's over.
---
Van Hal lent you his coat for the walk back to the interview room to retrieve your robes, but the looks you get wearing his coat are almost as bad as the ones you would have gotten in your underwear. When you got to the interview room you had the Greatswords escorting you open it up carefully, but the woman you locked inside was still out cold, which you're pretty sure is a bad sign for her continued well-being, but at least she's still breathing. You gratefully wrap yourself in your familiar grey robes once more, uncaring of the blood.
Naturally, an emergency session of the Council is being called right there and then as Greatswords sweep the castle and round up all the servants in the Great Hall. You're annoyed that the notes you were preparing for it are still at home and there's no time to go fetch them, but you remember them well enough and you can give them to Van Hal later.
---
[] Write in your report
[] Write in a report on the incident that just occurred
[] Write in a private report on the Marshal candidates
[] Write in a one-on-one report (optional)
Possible orders for the next turn (new ones up top, old ones below):
Only one will be chosen, as in previous turns; they're just organized differently because they're starting to add up.
Investigation:
[] The servants. Is there even any reason to suggest any other course of investigation? (NEW)
[] Drakenhof. You almost hesitate to suggest it, but... surely this must be investigated.
[] The disappearance of your predecessor is very concerning, especially since he's actively trying to sabotage the hunt for him. He must be found, and you've got a lead: Julbach.
Infrastructure:
[] The Stirlandian League is a cancer eating at Stirland's economy, and it must be destroyed.
[] The Stirlandian League is a gold mine of information, and it must be yours.
[] If you had proper facilities, you could do better work. Would Van Hal fund renovations to a base he's never seen?
Influence:
[] You've got the town of Biderhof eating out of your hand. If you could think of a reason to justify it, maybe all the taxes from it's lumber sales could flow into your pocket instead.
[] The Wurtbad Thieves Guild is basically a church group right now, instead of an actual organization. If you started throwing your weight around, that could change. Imagine the power you would wield if the criminal underworld reported to you. However, imagine how much more damage they'd do to Stirland if they were united... and you're not sure that Van Hal would be easy to convince.
[] Your grip on the Wurtbad Watch is extremely tenuous, but with official backing you should be able to tighten it. (NEW)
[] You've got a whole bunch of friends now, but you could always use more!
- When reporting on the incident, you may include whether you think Kasmir was negligent for missing what you found.
- When reporting on the Marshal candidates, it would not be unexpected for you to include a personal recommendation.
- Van Hal's Suspicious trait has been eating up a lot of his actions, but it's finally paid off. Things may have been different if you had tipped off whoever or whatever you're facing by closing the gates and visibly locking down the castle. But then again, you may have cause to regret not doing so when it comes time to investigate.
- Van Hal's character sheet under Dramatis Personae has been updated with what you've learned of him. Specifically: Intrigue 8, Learning 16.
