The schloss grausbad affair

 The Occult Verification Society Journal of Cordelia Higginbottom

 

My mother had now heard that Verity Eegre had disappeared and suspected that it had something to do with the OVS. She constantly tried to talk me into leaving them at every turn. The winter made outdoors ghost seeking particularly unappealing so I was glad to heed her objections. Doktor Nichtwissen went up to Scotland to investigate ghosts expected to appear over their New Year celebrations. In January I went to an OVS meeting where Leica told us she intended to take a trip home to Transylvania. Her Aunt Griseldis had received two letters from there one of which Leica had translated for us. It was from the Turk who had bought her family’s ancestral home.

 

To the Noble Rumanian Lady Griseldis Badamaru,

                                                                                    As you will know, I bought your former home the Schloss Grausbad from your brother Boris a couple of years ago. In accordance with my faith I restored it and built a minaret on top for the Muezzin. The first time he went to call for the afternoon prayers, a great djinn came and smote a mighty blow against the Schloss. A most beloved lady and two servants were slain and three others injured. The Muezzin did not make his call having to succour those injured. My people then fled away and reported to me. It was thought that your brother Boris may have called forth the djinn in order that I might abandon the Schloss and perhaps sell it back to him at a cheaper price. As a result the Pasha, the most noble and benevolent Shukem to whom I have the honour of being related, cast your brother into prison. Feeling now safe I ordered my people back into the Schloss. However they have reported that ghosts have now been seen and are mightily affrighted. Questioning the local serfs I discover that they think Boris has no magicks. They think that either you or perhaps the Christian fanatics of the St. Bogo order can have called up the Djinn. They say that you have great powers of the magicks. They think that if anyone can defeat a great Djinn it is you! I am a reasonable and generous man. It seems to me that if you can come here and conquer this Djinn you and your brother must be guiltless. Should you decline to come, the Pasha may well find your brother guilty and the penalty for black witchcraft is harsh. For now I leave the matter in your hands.

                                                                                    Asa Abdul Abu  

The other letter came from Leica’s Uncle Boris asking to be rescued. He had sent some money and Aunt Griseldis had demanded more to be collected at Alexandria. At first Aunt Griseldis was inclined to leave Boris to rot in jail but there are other Badamaru relations whose standing could be damaged by the accusations. Also Boris thinks that the Djinn could have been called by someone of the Von Hinterst family, hereditary enemies of the Badamaru. A Saxon family they seized the Badamaru lands centuries ago and built the Schloss Grausbad. Vetwic Badamaru re-captured it and it was held by the family until Boris sold it. Reiter Otto Von Hinterst is thought to be a member of the Order of St. Bogo, a fanatic Christian organisation whom might resent a minaret being built on the Schloss. Leica admitted that there was another possibility. At one time it was arranged that she should marry a Magyar knight Gyorgy Zrnyi. Schloss Grausbad is not far from the Hungarian speaking Magyar enclave in Transylvania. For some reason Gyorgy kept putting the wedding off. Then when the family lost face because Boris sold its home, Gyorgy announced that he would marry the Saxon Kata Von Hinterst instead. This he did but died when a coach ran him down on the Streets of Sovata soon after. The Magyar people in Sovata then began to accuse Aunt Griseldis of causing this to happen. This is when Boris sent her and Leica first to France and then to England. He sent them in the care of his servant the Butler Lazlo whom Griseldis did not trust. He died around eight months ago so Aunt Griseldis wanted some gentlemen to escort her and Leica to Rumania. Of course Leica wanted me to come with them as well. Professor Learning was eager to go as he was sure we would discover much of an occult nature there. Ronald Helping was much more reluctant, knowing little of ‘foreign parts’. He thought that with a variety of suspects Sherlock Holmes should be hired. He agreed to come if they were accompanied by the great detective and his partner Watson. Accordingly Griseldis and Leica called at Baker Street. But whilst Watson seemed attracted to the idea, Holmes himself said he had too many other important matters to deal with closer to home. However he agreed to seek out another detective to assist us.

    At home I broached the matter of going for a ‘holiday in Transylvania with Leica’. Mother immediately replied that it was out of the question! She needed me safely here! she said. She searched out Transylvania on the map and nearly fainted. “It is in the lands of the Turks! I would never see you again. You would be dead or clapped up in a Zenana!”

 “Nonsense Mother, Leica and Griseldis know their own country and we will have English detectives to look after us!”

 “How on earth are you going to get there? Look at all the countries in the way! It will take months! No I am not letting you go!”

 At that stage I had no idea how we were going to travel there and it was an enormous distance. A couple of days later I was able to tell mother “Lady Griseldis has arranged for us to be taken to the Black sea on Viscount Limeswold’s steam yacht. His son Captain the Honourable Alfred Dorset will be in charge, with the detective Mr Ferdinand Finder, Professor Learning and Mr Helping with some servants too, to escort us! I am sure dear papa would say that I could go.” I was expecting still to be over-ruled out of hand but Mother held back saying she had not fully made up her mind. The yacht was a good idea but she wanted to make some enquiries first. This meant chatting with some of her afternoon tea cronies in whose opinions I had scant confidence.

   That evening she says, “I am led to believe Captain Dorset is not married?”

 “I do not know mother?” My heart sank, I expected her to say that even with old Griselda and Leica to chaperone me, she thought it improper for me to travel on a ship with a bachelor! “Well I have been thinking Cordelia and it should do you good to travel in foreign parts. Mind you keep yourself more presentable at all times than you do at present. We will need to buy you some new clothes, perhaps a ball gown.”

 “Mother I do not expect to be going to any balls. Wind and weather proof wear will be far more to the point! But thank you for letting me go all the same.”

It was some time after this that the penny dropped. Mother hoped that I might marry the Honourable Captain! I did not think that there was the least likelihood of that. My only real suitor had been the son of a colleague in father’s Tea Company. He was rather brainless and going off on a tiger hunt, had died of a snake bite. It had been a bit disappointing at the time but really I am not all that keen on losing my freedom. A husband might interfere even more than Mother in my hobbies! Anyway no heir to a Viscounty was going to look twice at the plain Jane daughter of a Cit who sold tea! Still it was best to leave Mother to her romantic dreams, since it meant I could go on this potentially exciting adventure. In fact I suppose Leica as a gentlewoman of independent means would stand more chance, apart from her aggressive attitudes repelling most men. Anyway as it happened we did not get away until March as Lady Griseldis was ill. Leica told me in confidence that it was a diplomatic illness. To regain her magic powers Griseldis needed to immerse herself in the Festus shrine bath on the Heilig Tiech near her castle. There was no point in going there until the snows had gone and the pond had thawed! Eventually we did get away and an account can be found in my daily journals of the time. In the event Doktor Nichtwissen returned in time to go whilst Ronald Helping had too many engagements to come with us. I think he was too afraid. Not only Griseldis but all of us were very seasick. We suffered gales in the Bay of Biscay, two parts of the Mediterranean and the Aegean! Had we been on a sailing ship we must have been wrecked but the Steam Yacht ‘Nightingale’ battled on and through all. At Alexandria Griseldis found that her brother Boris had telegraphed through sufficient money for us to proceed on the mission. She had threatened abandoning him to his fate if he had not!                        

We went on through the Dardanelles to Constantinople and then through the Bosporus into the Black Sea. Our voyage ended at Constanta where we boarded a train to Bucharest. That was not too bad but after that we had an interminable journey on slow trains that stopped at every station and had very hard wooden seats! We spent the night in a flea infested hotel in Brasov but then more of the same until we reached the end of the line at Sovata on the 31st March. This is where the Asa Abdul Abu resided and having received a telegraph from Captain the Honourable Alfred Dorset, he came to visit us in the hotel. He spoke only with Lady Griseldis, Captain Alfred and Mr Ferdinand and left Ibrahim Tok one of his servants to escort us. Job Pewter, Captain Alfred’s First mate hired another man as an additional guide. I gathered that Captain Alfred did not wholly trust Asa Abdul or his servant!

There were so many of us we needed two carriages to take us to the Schloss Grausbad estate. Captain Alfred, Mr Ferdinand, Job Pewter, Makepeace (the Captain’s valet) Ibrahim, Finkelstein (the guide) were in one carriage and  Professor Learning, Doktor Nichtwissen, Manko, Lady Griseldis, Oryana (her abigail) Leica and myself in the other.

The two Magyar carriage drivers warned us that they would be leaving us on the main road (Main track is a more accurate description!) as the Grausbad estate is cursed! Leica said that this would not matter as it was not a long walk to the Schloss. Lady Griseldis said that she was going to the Heilig Tiech first! If she was to discover any djinns she would need her powers restored first! Leica had told me that this meant a boat trip to the island where there was a bath in the Festus shrine. She would be taking a dip herself as Griseldis maintained that she had a weak magic power ability too. It was supposed to enable her to spot undercover vampires and werewolves by colouring their eyes red or green. She had first dipped in the bath when she was ten but whether she had the power or not she was not sure, as she had never met a vampire or a werewolf! But it would be silly of her not to take advantage of the opportunity when it occurred. I knew Captain Alfred was intending to head straight to the castle to present Asa Abdul’s letter of authority to the Steward, so that Mr Finder could start asking questions. So some accommodation between the two of them would have to be made.

Lady Griseldis carries the letter from Asa Abdul as authority to investigate the Djinn strike, with translations in English and Rumanian.

 It is a cloudy day with heavy April showers likely. The action starts at 1100hrs.

The snows having only recently thawed the ground is soft (-1” off the tracks)  

You start at the track coming in from the main road with Captain Alfred’s party. 

 

Lady Grisdeldis Badamaru Lea, Activist, Mo 5”, Fa 1/1/2, Ag –3, Th –2, Me –3,

Wand Bst –2, Spells for calling up & exorcising demons & ghosts etc: if powers restored

Class VII, (VI) PI Respectable, Charm M -2, F -1, Coercion +2. Watch, 

MC D52 – 2q – 6m Speaks Romanian, French, German (P) English (P) Magyar (P) 

Maid Oryana WA, Mo 5”, Fa 2/2/3, Ag –1, Th –1, Me –2, knife Pst –2, Class III, (II) PI Respectable, Charm M 0, F -1, Coercion 0. MC 8 – 2q – 8m, Has First Aid Kit,

Speaks Rumanian, Hungarian (P), French (P) English (P)

Professor Able Learning VLe, Activist, M0 5”, Fa 1/2/3, Ag -1, Th 0, Me 0, Silver cross of St Patrocles Bst –3, Deringer 2 silver bullets 3” 4+ st 0, 6” 5+, st –1, 11” 6+ st –2

Bag of reference books. Scroll of exorcism. Bottle of holy water.

Class VI, PI Respectable, Charm M0, F 0, Coercion -1 MC £2 – 7s- 8d

Speaks English, Latin, Romanian, Greek, French, German, Russian & Italian.

Miss Leica Badamaru Activist, Mo 5”, Fa 2/3/4, Ag –1, Th –1, Me –1,

Dagger Pst –1, 3 pepper sachets R 2” D10 -2 rounds blinded sneezing Mo & Me –2.

Deringer 2 silver bullets 3” 4+ st 0, 6” 5+, st –1, 11” 6+ st –2 (10 lead bullets)

Class VII, (VI) PI Respectable, Charm M +1, F +1, Coercion 0. Watch, Bullseye lantern

MC D22 – 2q – 6m Speaks English, Romanian, French, 

Miss Cordelia Higginbottom Activist, Mo 5”, Fa 2/3/4, Ag –1, Th –1, Me –1, Dagger Pst –1, Class VII, (VI) PI Respectable, Charm M +1, F +1, Coercion 0.

Hand crossbow 3” 5+ Pst –1 6” 6+ Pst –1, 11” 7+ Pst –2. 3 silver tipped darts

Deringer 12 lead bullets 3” 4+ st 0, 6” 5+, st –1, 11” 6+ st –2

MC D11 – 7q – 5m Speaks French (P) English Chinese, Notebook & pencil

Short besom for sweeping pentacle area. Cloth, Mirror

Herr Doktor Sigismund Nichtwissen Activist, Mo 6”, Fa 2/3/5 Ag +1, Th 0, Me +2 hazel rod Bst –3. purple candles, gypsum, matches. Watch

M. Revolver BSt –2 Firing 3” 5+ Pst 0, 6” 6+ Pst 0, 11” 7+ Pst 0, 5 rounds.

Class VI, PI Respectable, Charm M-1, F 1, Coercion 0 MC D13 – 3q- 7m

Speaks German, Latin, French, English, Polish & Italian.

Manko WA +1, Mo 6” Fa 2/5/7 Ag +1, Th +1, Me +2 cudgel Bst –1. Class III

MC D3 – 1q – 8m, Has 2 Na K’uei bronze disks 3” 3+ Bst –1, 6” 4+ Bst –2

PI Respectable Speaks German, English (P) Length of rope.

 

Introduction

Gunter

Ottomans

Investigators

The Game

Umpire

Magic and Extra Rules

Player Accounts

How to make Rumanian Cottages

Rules

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