Where is Visby again?

[Nozbat]

Hans was worried that they might be accused of murder again. There was no evidence left that the two dead guards were killed by black snakelike creatures. On their deaths they’d melted into the floor leaving only a barely noticeable black mark. 

They were unsure what they should do now. They had no idea where they were or if they were in further danger. Their erstwhile allies, led by the grizzled Captain, were on a ‘don’t call us, we’ll call you’ thing. So as things go, there was unlikely to be any help that way.

There were more immediate concerns. The guards needed buried before they began to stink, and they should at least have a Priest to say the Last Rites. They felt because of the unholy and sorcerous manner of their death that the guards should be buried in hallowed ground. A quick scan of the horizon did not identify any church steeples nor sadly any other population centre. 

The second concern was who was going to do the cooking now that their cook was lying dead on the floor. None of them had ever had to prepare food, there was usually a servant who took care of that. It was a shock that it didn’t magically appear on a dish on the table. Jürgen, as eldest brother, told Hans, as youngest brother, that he was nominated as the cook. Hans was bewildered but thought he might cook everything by boiling it in one large pot. What could go wrong with that. There was always plenty of salted herring in Skåne and he thought he might add some root vegetables and cabbage to the pot. 

If Hans was the cook, Jürgen and Mathias were the burial detail. They agreed a shallow grave would save time as the bodies would probably have to be exhumed to prove their deaths by sorcery and they should be buried as soon as possible on holy ground.

They spent the next two days scouting around the area of the farmhouse and managed to bag some rabbits, which were cleaned and added to the pot of boiling water. None of them knew how to bake fresh bread and an argument ensued in which Hans threatened to quieten his brothers by putting the Juice of Poppy in their food. Jürgen thought that if he did so, at least they would finally have some flavouring to the food.

When the Captain returned with some armed men, they told him what had happened. They decided that they needed to leave the vicinity of Skåne urgently. There were reports that von Sennheim was scouring Falsterbo for them and had offered a reward for information. The Captain did not feel that he could keep them safe and their current living arrangements seemed compromised. 

Two men were sent to get a cart to take the bodies of the guards for burial and when they returned in the morning, the Captain took the brothers on horseback to Sommerveld at Skåne Markt. Jürgen was dubious about his horse but managed to look half competent. Hans, on the other hand, had been given an animal that must have had all the foul-tempered demons of Falsterbo living inside it. It bit and kicked everything that came within range, including Hans and he more than once was lucky not to have a serious injury.

Sommerveld wasn’t that happy to see them as it was only a matter of time before Skåne Markt would be searched. He decided to send them to Visby. Usually, the Journeymen that had excelled in their work were the ones who were sent to Visby and while they had been more than adequate, they would normally not have been chosen. Sommerveld’s evident fear of the consequences of the brothers being captured hastened their departure and they found themselves on a boat to Visby in Gottland. 

For those unsure of where or what Visby is, its situated on the northwest side of Gottland. It was once the jewel of the Hansa and a repository for its wealth, and its laws were used widely in the Baltic region until about 150 years ago, when the overbearing and aggressive Danish King, Valdemar IV sacked the city and tore down its walls. Although his actions brought down the ire of the Hanseatic League and he was subsequently forced by defeat into many concessions, Valdemar managed to retain Gottland as part of his realm. 

Visby’s next misfortune was to be the base of the renowned pirates, the Victual Brothers. Just over 100 years ago, maritime trade virtually having almost collapsed due to their deprivations, the Teutonic Knights decided to end it all by invading and putting a full stop to their sojourn on the island. Visby was again sacked by overzealous knights. However, the Grandmaster of the Order, Konrad von Jungingen, honoured the Kalmar Union and withdrew from the island leaving it once again under control of the Danish throne.

Visby’s final humiliation was expulsion from the Hanseatic League in 1470. Despite the loss of status, Visby retained its usefulness as a trade hub. Many of the Baltic tribes and even the Rus from as far as Kyiv and Novgorod sent their merchants there to negotiate deals. And of course, the Hansa were there too, in the shape of the elderly and pedantic Meister Burchard Hitzinger.

The Hansa Kontor in Visby was a sombre, spartan affair and the de Kveelders understood why when they heard the opening address from Meister Hitzinger. He pointed out that he was aware that they were not the Journeymen who got top marks in their field but refugees from some misdemeanour that necessitated a quick exit from Skåne Markt. It was only that he owed Sommerveld a favour that he accepted this chore. There would be no frivolous behaviour or misdemeanours under his watch. They were to settle down to hard and important work under his unparalleled and expert supervision. They might yet make adequate Hansa Merchants if they heeded his advice and guidance,

There would be no strong drink. No women. No untoward laughing. They would attend Matins and Vespers before and after work. In the evening, they would  continue their studies until the light failed. They would definitely not be using candles, they were much too expensive to waste on mere Journeymen. Civility and respect were the watchwords and faith in God and the Hansa, the bolster against a chaotic and evil world.

 

He doesn’t know why we were really sent here said Hans and they decided it had been a need-to-know business. Meister Hitzinger obviously didn’t need to know. They did wonder why they had been sent to another part of the Danish Kingdom however instead of back to Lübeck. 

Hitzinger was a hard taskmaster but to be fair he knew his business and he quizzed the brothers at the end of the first week. He judged Mathias and Hans just about capable of leading the negotiations with the Riga merchants. The Hansa were in a boat building phase, probably because war was likely with either Christian of Denmark or Henry of England. Both were reneging on hard won Hansa Privileges and may need to be taught a lesson to remind them who was the real power in the north.

The primary trade needs were bees wax, hemp for cordage and timber for ships. Other goods which the east Baltic tribes provided were also needed but the Hansa wanted to corner the market on all three of these items. Good quality furs, potash, tar, charcoal, honey and flax would also be acceptable. 

The Riga merchants were accompanied by two Teutonic Knights who stood to the side when negotiations were going on. Mathias was doing well until he made a mistake and fluffed his lines which was when things went downhill necessitating Hitzinger to step in and rescue the deal. Hans then drew up the agreed contract to Hitzinger’s muted satisfaction. Hans was particularly proud of his swirly lettering although he was reprimanded by Hitzinger for being too ostentatious.

Jürgen’s role was to observe and learn, but he took the opportunity to speak to the two knights. He asked them if they had known von Sennheim. The older knight, Herwig von Conztenz, was suddenly alert and asked why. Jürgen gave a short version of their dealings with von Sennheim and their worry that he was planning a demonic reprisal on the Hansa and particularly Lübeck and Danzig. Von Conztenz requested that they write an affidavit of their dealings with von Sennheim and send it to him at Riga. He confirmed von Sennheim had been tried by the Order for heresy and fraternising with the natives, but the evidence had not been enough to convict him. This new information will be added to von Sennheim’s records and a decision on action to be taken would be agreed. Von Conztenz was concerned that von Sennheim seemed to have the patronage and confidence of Christian of Denmark.

The next week was again spent studying previous  deals and contracts as a template on how to conduct trade deals. If the de Kveelders hadn’t been fascinated by such material it would have been a tedious week with no diversions. They were, however, able to agree that it was good to have servants to cook food and they were appreciative of daily fresh bread. 

Jürgen got the chance to lead the negotiations with members of the Novgorod Veche and the Mayor of the Veche or Posadnik, Kotyan Buyant. The negotiations went well and Hitzinger stopped scowling for a minute, which was all the praise he gave. Hans was nervous drawing up the contract and smudged the letters and spilt some of the ink in trying to correct his mistake. The mistake allowed Hitzinger the pleasure of telling him off. Buyant laughed at the contract and said that in Novgorod they sealed deals by drinking several bottles of korchma, a strong alcoholic drink distilled from onions. 

Mathias declined the offer with a sideways look at the thunderous face of Hitzinger, saying he was unable to take strong drink. Buyant said that he disliked making deals with men that didn’t drink and he felt he couldn’t trust men like that. Mathias who feared his Meister’s wrath, said he was willing to have a small drink to seal the deal. Matthias mistake was not considering Buyant’s definition of what a small drink might be. 

The day ended with Mathias unsteadily supporting his two brothers, both who had been violently ill sometime during the second bottle of korchma. Still, Buyant seemed pleased with the deal which was definitely in the Hansa’s favour. Hitzinger, predictably, was not happy about the consumption of strong spirits even though Jürgen was of the opinion that Hitzinger should be grateful that his doublet did not have vomit on it. Penance was agreed and the brothers went to bed.

Despite Hitzinger’s disapproval of the drinking episode, he seemed relatively pleased with the work the brothers did over the next two weeks. This is of course needs to be set in context, pleased means he did not complain about the quality of work and nodded in acknowledgement when he reviewed it. No criticism is praise enough.

The next major test was to meet the Danish merchants based in Visby and collate information on the trading going on. All the Merchants in Visby gathered at Sankta Marien Domkyrka in the centre of Visby. Trade was carried out but there was a lot of gossip and news from all over the Baltic. 

The brothers found it both confusing and interesting. Confusing to try and keep track of the varied languages, the sheer quantity of goods on sale and how to analyse and summarise what was happening. It was interesting also, the multi-national aspect of the Traders and Merchants meant that there was always some interesting bit of news. 

There were wars in the East between the Rus of Muscovy and the Crimean Khanate. Constantinople, a vast metropolis in the east, and bigger (if one could believe it) than Lübeck and Antwerpen together had sent merchants and priests to the Rus. The Silk Road (wherever that was) was under threat from barbarians of the steppes now that the Mongol khanates had collapsed. Merchants from Venice were said to be organising ways to bypass the warring tribes of Asia and had outfitted expeditions to secure the demand by Europe for silk.

All this was a different world that didn’t seem to revolve around salt and herrings, and which was hard to take in. That confusion changed quickly to terror when Jürgen suddenly recognised that the Dom might be the one that was the floorplan found in von Sennheim’s workshop.

They felt they had no option but to tell Hitzinger of their concerns. Hitzinger listened to their tale with growing anger. He did not think that good Christian men should be in fear of demon-summoning heretics if they were girded with the Breastplate of Righteousness or the Sword of the Spirit or the Shield of Faith. Or perhaps all three if he was a particular heretical heretic.

Jürgen was insistent that they see if there was a lodestone concealed in the Dom which in his view would prove his point. Hitzinger, for once was taken aback by Jürgen’s passion and reluctantly  agreed that he would introduce them to the priest in charge of the Dom. 

Visby and Gottland was yet to get its own Bishop. The Bishop, whose Diocese Visby fell under, lived faraway in Linköping and would not be much use in providing either temporal or spiritual support. Hitzinger introduced them to Father Klaus von Rotenstain, an older priest who might have been a boy when the Dom was built. Father von Rotenstain was unaware of any lodestone and could not say if the Dom had been built on a previous pagan site. Hitzinger was incredulous that they might even think that a Dom could be built over a pagan site, but the elderly Priest confirmed that it was often the case to nullify the power of such places.

Jürgen constructed a lodestone detector by tying a small sliver of iron to a piece of twine. The device was not activated anywhere in the Dom until the Priest took them to the crypt below the choir. There, the device clearly showed the presence of what they estimated to be a large lodestone under the crypt.

It only remained to find out if there had been a previous pagan temple on the site and so Father von Rotenstain graciously allowed them to access the ancient church records which stretched back over 300 years to the founding of Marienkirche by the first German merchants in Gottland. It took almost three days to find proof, but it was incontrovertible, a merchant called Bärtz had bought the land for the building of a church. It had previously been a temple of Þórr. 

And then came the thunderbolt, maybe sent by Þórr himself, when on the way home they saw von Sennheim, riding through Visby with his guards and some other nobles. When they inquired who the other nobles were, they were told that the man in the fancy clothing was none other than Søren Norby, Governor of Gottland. Norby was a villain in the eyes of the Hansa. He was fiercely loyal to Christian of Denmark and had been given Letters of Mark by the Danish King and he preyed on Hansa shipping from his castle at Visburg. The Hansa considered him a pirate and the brothers despaired that he seemed to be on best of terms with von Sennheim.

The shock of all the elements coming together was immense. They just did not know when the summoning was to occur but when they discussed it, the old Priest, who had spent his youth in the East Baltic, was able to tell them that the Eve of the World was what the pagan Baltic tribes called Dziady and the Christians call All Hallows Eve, that is tonight.

Jürgen asked Hitzinger if they had any Hansa soldiers based in Gottland to protect the merchants. Hitzinger said he’d find that funny if it wasn’t so serious. The Germans were not allowed to keep any soldiers in Visby, the responsibility for keeping the peace lay with the Governor, Søren Norby, a man they concluded had a dislike of the Hansa and was likely to help von Sennheim in his plans. 

Jürgen thought they might get help from the Teutonic Knights who had been with the Riga Merchants, but they had already left three days before. Jürgen attached a postscript to his completed  affidavit asking the Teutonic Knights to send support to Visby and gave it to a Ship’s Captain who was leaving on the ebb tide. Even if they acted immediately, it was likely that there would be no support for 10-12 days.

There would be no help other than what they had themselves.

[rsanford]

Very nice! I’m going to have to look up the Renaissance setting, as it’s been a while. Is this straight Renaissance or is clockwork involved (if you can say)?

[Nozbat]

I'm using the Renaissance Deluxe and Renaissance 1520 rules in the main. I haven't used any of the Clockwork & Chivalry yet but might use some of the ideas as the campaign progresses. I've mentioned in other threads that I'd like to use Gran Meccanismo, where Leonardo's drawings of war machines, submarines, helicopters have been realised. That might take things in a whole different direction.

Mostly it's a low magic world, though after last nights session, I'm not sure my players might necessarily agree. On the other hand, if ringing Church bells is the significant factor in stopping a ritual that was going to cause an earthquake in the Baltic,  then magic might not be all that powerful?

It's my first time using Black Powder in a game and it's amusing. However, I like the setting. There's a good mix of investigating situations, a reasonable level of literacy for researching, and enough weirdness to keep the interest. Interesting real world characters that can be mixed up with my made up protagonists. There's also mundane things that need to be done. Family politics with a maybe sociopathic father? and a beautiful and possibly scheming step-mother? City politics and regional politics. Other regional powers that despise and are jealous of the Hansa trade rights. Church Prince-Bishops who have their own long running agendas. So much to explore. 

And comedy.. thats always a good ingredient. When faced by what you consider as an ultimate evil, why not sing your epic love song to annoy them? (It's called 'She heels my sole", in case you were wondering. A love song for the Master Shoemakers daughter).

I think I'd like to develop the magical side a bit more but there'd still not be instantaneous magic. Rituals and ceremonial magic and possibly some innate abilities of some of the Otherworld people. We'll see how that goes. I'm a great fan of Poul Anderson's Broken Sword, Three Hearts and Three Lions and The Merman's Children and I'd like to integrate a fading Faerie world with real world. Magical items might come into play, certainly alchemy would have a roll in that. 

[Nozbat]

I should also make the Game reports a blog.. rather than a post.. but that would take some time and organisation.