The PC's have a number of clues to go on - well, not so much clues as names:
Ruprecht. Tobias. Ansel in Altdorf. Estelmann.
The first thing they do, after hitting the shops, is to introduce themselves to Lord Frederick. After hearing their tale, (and being a little surprised to find them all worshiping Karl) he asks them to find the boy, as power like his cannot be allowed to be controlled by Chaos. He has never heard of Ruprecht, and Ansel could be anybody as it is such a common name. He does know that Estelmann is the name of a book shop dealing in rare books, and gives them the address. On the way to Estelmanns, the PC's are approached by a badge seller (selling tin badges, mostly of religious symbols) before noticing smoke coming from the direction of the street they are heading to.
Estelmann's bookshop is alight, and the houses next to it are beginning to catch, too. Residents are forming bucket chains to try to put out the blaze, and the PC's help, until a large group of witch hunters turn up and stop them from firefighting, telling them to 'Let it burn.' as they suspect the owner had been dealing in forbidden books. The witch hunters will not listen to reason, and become threatening when the PC's try to convince them to allow them to save the buildings next to the shop - they are adamant: Let it burn. They do not leave until the shop is burned to the ground. The PC's question the crownd to find that Estelmann himself is still alive - came crawling out of the shop early on in the fire and is now being looked after at the Shallyan Hospital.
They visited the hospital, convinced the Sisters there that they were friends of family, and the closest to family that Estelmann has, and were allowed to visit him. They spoke to Estelmann, watched from the windowsill by a big black pigeon.
When asked about Ansel, Estelmann becomes hysterical, saying he already told the other man all he knows, and the other man still broke his legs and set his shop on fire! He names the other man as Jan, also called Tobias - who wanted to know about Ansel.
Ansel was one of Estelmann's best customers, buying from his special stock... he has to give Jan / Tobias a list of his most special customers. But at this point a load Hunters turn up and Estelmann begs them to kill him. He tells them hurridly that in the cellar of his shop is a trap door, leading into the sewers. If they follow the sewer North, they will come to an iron door, seemingly rusted shut. He gives them a key to this door from around his nexk - this is the secret store of all of Estelmann's special books. He also tells them that there they will find, on shelves, the names of all of his special customers - the same names that Jan / Tobias has got. The PC's kill him before the Witch Hunters get hold of him, and manage to get out of the hospital without them withc hunters seeing them.
They went straight back to the burned out shop, spotting the black pigeon several times along the way, and found the ruin was being watched closely by the Witch Hunters. They snuck up one one, Ralf grabbing him from behind, and warned him off. They mentioned the name of Osric, a fellow witch Hunter, and told the guy to tell his boss they were working for him. The Witch Hunters dispersed. This bought them time to explore the secret book room in the sewers without the Witch Hunters involvement...
Getting there was a minor pain, as the floor of the book shop was dodgy and collapsed. But they found the room - the iron door already prised open - and the room was empty. They did find the strips of paper glued loosely to the shelves, though, bearing the names of Estelmann's best customers:
Investigating the names on Estelmann's list was not easy - Lord Frederick told them that all were of Noble birth, but many were dead - at least six murdered by a serial killer in the last year, who had been named The Vengence of Sigmar. The Vengence exposed people as Mutants and killed them, nailing a tin badge of Sigmar's Comet to their foreheads. The PC's immediately thought of the badge seller they had met before - a Mr. Dibbler... Lord Frederick also pointed out the name Ansel Vorman on the list, as they had asked him before about an Ansel. Vorman was a Sigmarite priest - skinny fellow, big scar on his forehead.
They finally tracked him down, but found him lying curled in a pool of his own blood, moaning softly. He is naked and horribly mutilated. He is also mutated - feathery diagonal gills under each arm open and close as he breathes, making a doggish snuffling sound. He is barely, mumbling half coherently under his breath.
"Sigmar, Don't let me die wearing these marks of chaos"
The team tried to speak to him, he slowly woke from his reverie. Ansel weeps, then speaks, as much to himself as them, "Waiting for me. I tried not to tell him, but I... the pain was too much. He knows where the necklace is. He knows the lncantation..."
He then looked at the PC's and said, confused, "No, Tobias. Your tortures won't work now - I am beyond pain..." Mormocar tried to heal him, whilst not having the Heal skill or any healing potions or magic. He died. The gills under his arms close and are still.
They did find a set of diaries in his apartment, Volumes 5 to 13, but Volume 10 was missing. He had been stabbed his apartment robbed, and had crawled away to die - he was also a mutant - with gills on his sides. These gills helped him to sniff out other mutants...
From the small northern town of Keck, Ansel was a bright, lonely merchant's son with an aptitude for magic. In his teens he fell for a wood carver's daughter. When she spurned him he ran away to Altdorf determined to join the Colleges of Magic. intending to find a magical way to make his love fall for him. When his teachers wouldn't tell him what he wanted to learn, he began looking in forbidden books. He ran away from the Colleges and studied on his own, buying books from Estelmann until the witch hunters came for him. He ran to Marienburg and fell in with Ruprecht, who promised him the power to win back his lost love.
Ansel didn't like Ruprecht or Tobias, who also assisted Ruprecht, but the promise of knowledge kept him in the sorcerer's service. Two years ago Ruprecht acquired the Necklace of Unfailing Loyalty -a necklace that would make the wearer love whoever placed if upon them. Ansel decided that he would steal it and use it on his lost love.
What happened next is in the missing Volume 10 Volume 11 starts wirh Ansel in Altdorf ~ repenting his investigations into rhe dark powers and mourning the death of his love. He doesn't say exactly what happened, but it is dear the Necklace killed the girl and gave him his scar and Mutation. His mutation is
both a blessing and curse. He hates his gills and prays to Sigmar to take them away, bur they also help him. He has decided to make his penance to Sigmar by killing as many Mutants and Sorcerers as he can, and his
gills can smell other Mutanrs. He uses this power to hunt down and kill them. On the last page of the journal is a final passage:
They took this book and info back to Lord Frederick, who was aghast. "This is terrible! If this sorcerer binds the child to him with this ritual then the cult will be firmly under the control of the ruinous powers. The Emperor must be warned Come with me!" Frederick was holding onto the journal as they all ran from his house. As he stepped out of his mansion to his coach, Frederick. the guards and the PCs are attacked by a flock of pigeons, including the black one, and men in black, who steal the book then run for the wall of the estate.
At the wall, the thieves throw the journal over and escape onto rooftops, the PC's hot on their trail. A big rooftop chase ensued, until a Lahmian Vampire turned up and took the journal from the thieves and handed it over to her lady who had just arrived in a big black coach with a coat of arms full of pictures of bats...
The young vampire was in fact a Thrall named Sophia, and the Lahmian Countess introduces herself as Baroness Theodora Margrave. She thanked the PC's for doing all the running around and getting the book, and points out how she had helped them via her pet pigeon, and throws them a purse with 500GC in it before driving off. (Ralf tried jumping from the rooftops to the roof of the coach and battling Sophia alone on top of the moving coach - he ended up minus one Fate Point, upside down in a big pile of shit, just his feet poking out the top... The Lahmians rode away leaving the PC's alone and without the diary. And then the Witch Hunters showed up again...
After a brief discussion along the lines of "Why are you not going after those vampires???" ("What vampires?" "They are in a bloody black coach with bats on the coat of arms!!" "Oh, that's the Baroness - very important family. Love bats...") - they managed to confuse the Witch Hunters enough to have them arrest their own leader as he was carrying a forbidden Grimoire which he had confiscated from someone else... the PC's managed to get this Grimoire and leave the withc hunters to decide whether to burn their leader or not....
They have a long trip ahead of them if they are to get this necklace, Lord Frederick gives them some money toward the trip and begs them to get the necklace and return it to Altdorf - it is clear that Tobias has left the City with the Child and the description of the ritual and a good idea of where to find the necklace - and the Vampires have the same information, though for what possible use they have no idea - this is now three different Vampire Clans (Blood Dragons, Strigoi and now Lahmians) they have encountered in this mystery and one Chaos Cult (Nurgle) - what is going on?
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