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.
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.