Cafe Prost and the Little Red Notebook

The Jackalope is here, and requires a SACRIFICE.

Anne requested the following gift:

The Coffee House - Cafe Prost!

It is well known in Regensburg, city of culture, that revolution is brewing. The Duke’s tyranny can only continue for so long, and the Secret Police can only stamp down so hard. The Coffee Houses are the breeding houses of these anti-establishment ideas, the most famous of which were penned by the Revolutionary thinker Jedermann Prole.

The Secret Police know this; Jedermann Prole is the pen-name for maybe a dozen authors, and their names are shared in the so-called ‘Red-Ledger’. If they can find this ledger, the beating heart of the revolution can be torn out, and the growing movement will be set back decades.

Cafe Prost is to be the scene of the pivotal moment, an exchange that will see the Red-Ledger disappear out of the city, unless the Secret Police can snag it first!

Rollen das Schauspiels

Offizer Armand Schnekt

Commander of the Secret Police, head of the Sting operation. Undercover as Ernando Teste.

Normally finely polished and pristine, but becoming more frazzled as the handover time approaches. Highly competent, if paranoid, and has a tendency to charge off alone and leave his supporting team behind.

He knows the Handover will be at the Cafe Prost!, and soon, but the exact time and the people involved are as yet a mystery to him.

Accompanied by two other officers, Yurgen Tauwen, and Thurn Ingmar; both reasonably competent, but crack under pressure.

Comrade Lucia Moll

The leader of the local resistance chapter. Will hand over the ledger to Comrade Neimor.

Tall, dark, confident. She dares not wear any Resistance iconography, and has slowly built up a believable pretence of being a struggling artist trying to write a book.

She knows who Neima Opell is, and will wait patiently for the perfect time to make the delivery. However, her over-caution might make her wait too long, and have to perform the delivery quickly if any trouble breaks out.

Utterly dedicated to the cause.

Comrade Neima Opell

Arrived on horseback this morning; is relaxing in the Coffee house before continuing on her journey, will carry the ledger out of the city in the morning.

Wiry and light, she can’t wait to be out of the city. She knows no-one in this town, or its chapter of the Resistance, she only knows she will be delivered a Red Notebook today, and where she needs to take it.

If trouble breaks out, she will wait for as long as she can to receive the Notebook, but will leave if forced; she won’t risk her chapter being exposed.

Utterly dedicated to the cause.

Comrade Karl Queitz

Having second thoughts, might sell out the resistance to the Secret Police.

Doing his best to keep it together, but his paranoia grows daily, and exponentially.

He doesn’t know who will take the ledger, but does know Lucia currently has it. As the Handover approaches, he will seek out the Secret Police and try to give them the information he knows in exchange for safety. However, he doesn’t know who the secret police are. He could well end up approaching the gangster Hanz Frommel, or the Party, if they look like what you might expect undercover secret police to look like.

Citizen Hanz Frommel 

Member of a local crime ring, the Blackstreet Brigade. Is attempting to intercept the Ledger to either ransom to the Secret Police, or extort the resistance, whichever pays better.

Slicked back hair, confident half-smirk, a couple of tasteful face piercings. Perhaps a little too punky to be obviously Secret Police, a little too much cruelty in his eyes to be convincingly Resistance. 

From an informant in the Secret Police, Hanz knows as much about the Handover as Officer Armand Schnekt.

Other (Unaffiliated) Characters Of Potential Interest

1 - Brother Antalli and Brother Humvei: Foreign ascetic monks who have traveled far to meet each-other half-way between their respective homes. They sip curious beverages while they describe all the many wonders they have contemplated in their hermitages. Due to their shaky hold on the local language, and the esoteric topics they discuss, they could well sound like they are talking to each other in code. 2 - Citizen Shamvoelli: In the decades to come, he will be recognised as a titanic genius of literature. For now he is recognised as someone who pours his coffee on the floor if it isn’t brewed to his precise requirements. When he isn’t scowling out the window, he scribbles in note books. Today, it is a red notebook. 3 - The Industrial Spy: An Agent of Cafe Prost!’s biggest rival Cafe Enchante, out to discover the secret to Cafe Prost!’s success. Scours the room with their eyes, drinking in every detail, considering every possibility. In truth, there is no secret, the Revolutionaries picked it arbitrarily, with the side-effect of boosting Cafe Prost!’s prosperity. 4 - The Charming Cardsharp: Though well dressed, beautiful, and dripping with deliciously honeyed words, the Cardsharp runs a dreadful racket. Slowly, they will build up friendships with other gamblers, before viciously rinsing them for all they’re worth. Having finished their most recent con, they are on the lookout for new rubes. 5 - The Exhausted Baronette: Just, everything is going wrong for this guy, and his desperation is reaching a tipping point. He will tell anyone who will listen to the cavalcade of disaster that has befallen him, and eventually he’ll even tell the people who won’t listen. If prodded in the wrong way, he will cause quite the scene. 6 - The Merchant Venturer: Hardship has drawn harsh lines on their face, even as their sumptuous dress and expensive effects speak of a life of luxury. They seek couriers for a long and possibly dangerous trek, taking valuable documents to a distant country. It's merely schematics for an invention, but they are deadly secretive about it, on today of all days.  

General Patrons of the Cafe Prost!

	1	2	3	4	5	6
1	A well dressed couple, a pampered puppy at their feet.	A bald priest, reviewing a new edition of a prayer book.	A pair of young lads, eyeing up the pretty ladies.	An elderly gentleman, enjoys a cigar and a newspaper.	A group of financiers, haggard, downing coffee after coffee.	A sleeping nightwatchman, fresh from his duties, cold coffee.
2	A distressed alchemist, pouring over pages and pages of notes.	A member of the city guard, dressed in armour, off duty.	A doe eyed man, enraptured by a ruthless seductress.	Two illicit lovers share a pot of coffee, their time is nearly up.	A cat curls contentedly on a table with a well chewed fish.	A very nervous man, has been stirring his coffee for hours.
3	A natural philosopher, drawing a painstaking diagram of a butterfly.	A blind man and his caretaker clean up a spilled cup, apologising.	A small woman and a very large dog both sit politely at a table.	A stern eyed hawk sits proudly on the shoulder of its handler.	A stern man informs his younger friend, the letter must make it out.	Three elderly women, playing an unknowable card game.
4	Two young, recently married women, gossiping scathingly.	An elderly gentleman quietly reads, as a cage rattles beside him.	A pair of young ladies pour over a book of puzzles, engrossed.	A man, impeccably dressed, endlessly adjusts his attire.	A severe lady sips her tea, thin lipped, as her "friend" rambles on	A plain man and dull women, staring blankly at each other.
5	Two tired financiers, arguing over the details of a contract.	A widow, sadly sipping across from an empty chair.	An Artiste, sketching a delicate scene of the Coffee House.	Rich, young gents loudly bragging of the vast range of their travels.	A cold woman, a teary-eyed man, it will be their final meeting.	Two elderly men, playing an intense game of chess.
6	A heart- broken man, red rimmed eyes, cold coffee.	A factory worker, no coffee, whittling wood with a large knife.	Three school-age boys, buzzed off their first real coffees.	A demure mother and two demure daughters, sipping softly.	Clearly exhausted, barely presentable, staring at the wall.	A gaggle of university students, playing cards, bets of shots.

Moods of Cafe Prost!

1 - Light Rain, dark clouds. Punters pushed in by the cold and the hubbub drowns whispers. Everything is slightly too crowded, everything smells just a tiny bit damp.

2 - A Fresh Delivery. The rich, deep scent of coffee suffuses the air, and a little smoke has leaked from a roaster. A fine grain haze settles in the air.

3 - Beaming Sun outside means many customers sit outside at small tables. A few remain inside, but it is sweltering, even with the windows thrown wide.

4 - Thick Cloud has settled over the city, and the humidity has risen to just become uncomfortable. Less coffee is being served, but they are making a killing on chilled drinks.

5 - A Slight Chill in the air means that pots of steaming coffee are being ferried out at a prodigious rate. With all these servers rushing about, it's a wonder no-one’s fallen yet. 

6 - A Quiet Day, for whatever reason. The loyal regulars remain of course, but the floor is mostly empty, and the staff are relieved to have a chance to clean things properly.

What the Party May Know

In general, they should have the general idea of what’s going on. They probably won’t know who is who, but given that the most likely way they will be brought into this is through one of the Factions involved, they will probably know those people.

If brought in by the Secret Police - they will know Armand Schnekt. They won’t know the appearance of the Notebook.

If brought in by the City Resistance - they will know Lucia Moll, and might know Karl Quietz.

If brought in by the Resistance from outside the City - they will know Neima Opell.

If brought in by the Gangsters - they will know Hanz Frommel. They won’t know the appearance of the Notebook.

It should be about 3 days before the handover when the party first discover it. For each day of reconnaissance performed, roll on the following table.

If a result indicates something the party already knows, they then discover that their foes have found this out as well.

D6\D6	1, 2, 3	4, 5, 6
1	The identity and motives of an Unaffiliated Character, ruling them out.	The identity and motives of an Unaffiliated Character, ruling them out
2	The Secret Police are sending three undercover officers. Their leader doesn’t work well in a team.	The Secret Police are sending three undercover officers. The two lackeys crack quickly under pressure.
3	The Leader of the local resistance is the one handing over the Notebook.	The Leader of the local resistance is disguised as an artist of some kind.
4	The Resistance Courier is called Neima Opell, but her appearance is a mystery. She is paranoid about being caught.	The appearance of the Resistance Courier, but her name and role are a mystery.
5	Karl Quietz is a member of the local resistance, but is beginning to have doubts about the whole thing.	One of the Resistance members is looking for a way out, and is willing to trade valuable information for it.
6	One of the Gangs of Regensburg have learned about the handover, and want to intercept it.	Hanz Frommel is out to collect the Notebook, but no-one really knows which side he’s on.

When the day comes, each faction should know some people of the other faction, but no-one should have all the information.

Everyone wants the Notebook, and everyone is willing to do desperate things to ensure they are the ones to get it.

Eventually, chaos must break out, and the future of the Duchy will rest on one small, red notebook.

10 + 2 Animal Kings

A long time ago I wrote about some kinds of spirits which dwell in the untravelled places of the world. I don't know how much I still like the idea of basically everything being a spirit of some kind, but hey-o, here are some spirits in the shapes of animals! They are the exemplars of their kinds, mostly-natural, that warp the world around them to better reflect their needs and natures. 

Here are the first 10 (plus 2 silly ones) I've been able to churn out.

Ankhegs - Growth
The Queens of Ankhegs are almighty insects, legs like tree-trunks and shovel-ended. Their mouths drip with Alkahest, the universal solvent, and their piercing cries can shatter glass at their highest and split the earth at their deepest. Thankfully, they are really quite lazy and love to luxuriate deep in the earth. They bully other Ankhegs into serving, and carve out enormous cave systems with grand pillars and vast halls. They are spirits of growth, and their lairs are always overflowing with plants which constantly fight  the long slow wars for light and nutrients that plants always fight, but in a constant, furious slaughter, fueled by the presence of the Queen of Ankhegs.
The heart of her lair is so choked with vines and roots and creepers that moving through it is more like swimming or digging like the worm does, and with her acid-slathered maw, the Ankheg Queen most certainly can dig through it quicker than you can...

Apes - Fire
The King of Apes, unlike it is commonly supposed, are not much bigger than their lesser cousins. They still need to climb, but they will still stand head and shoulders above other apes. The most marked difference will be their pair of extra arms, and the flames they hold in their second palms. They are mysterious, and hold deep loves for their flames, which they protect with all their might. Some say they are care-takers of the forests in which they live, and decide when it is time for fire to ravage the land, that new growth can begin. Their families are sometimes described as being almost entire cities of apes, with the Ape-King sat in meditation, clasping its flame in the highest branches of the mightiest trees.
The oldest legends say that it was the Ape-Kings who first plucked fire from the heavens, and shared the gift with man, but man spurned their generosity, and turned against their cousins, leading to their long divisions. More reliable sources suggest that, since of course Monkey's can't talk the whole story is ridiculous. The Ape-Kings are certainly not about to tell, the only interactions between men and Ape-Kings anyone knows about all end in charred and ruined villages, and haunting choruses of ape-song.

Badgers - Luck
Badger Kings are admittedly, pretty big, and they have great ridges of bone all along their arms and backs and flanks, the better to scour out their tunnels. Supposedly custodians of that most precious and mysterious resource, Luck, they hoard it like gold in their lair. You can't quite see it, but still, if you were to delve deep into their lair, you would find it, shimmering and glinting. The Badger-Lord guards it jealously, and its blood-lust is surprising and deadly. And they are quiet.
So very, very quiet.
As long as you do not threaten them in their lairs, Badger-Lords are somewhat amenable, even friendly, and there is more than one story about a wanderer clutching a badger-given charm which grants extraordinary luck.
The stories almost always end with the Badger-King coming to claim back the luck, with interest, with particularly deadly consequences, one way or the other.

Bats - Curses
Bat Kings are lazy, lazy creatures, content to while away days and days at a time in quiet contemplation, wrong-side up to the world. Easily the size of a man, they choose great caves in cliffs and mountains to hold their courts, and even men are sometimes permitted to enter to ask their questions of the Lords of Night. They pronounce curses, upon you, upon others, upon whomsoever they please, though mostly it is on the deserving (from the Bat-King's point of view). They aren't above bribery; and if caught in a relatively congenial mood, they might be offered full-blooded and vital livestock to break curses you happen to bear, or perhaps as an 'incentive' to speak against your enemy. Rarely do they take to the wing, but when they do, it is best to stay inside and look not at the sky for a day or two. The Bat-King can only Curse you if it sees you, though sometimes it can be very forceful in the matter, and its screech can stun even the largest beast.

Basilisks - Stone
Basilisk Kings are great wurms, snaking along the earth on tree-thick legs, dragging their mighty bellies, scouring the earth clean beneath them. They are like immense fleshy centipedes, pulling their lizard-bodies along on many many legs; claws like boulders, scales like breast-plates, gaze like a hurricane.
For the most part, the eyes of a Basilisk Lord are closed beneath stone lids, or what appears to be eye-lids at least. Their powers of petrification are so strong that they petrify everything they see, the ground, the trees, mud, man, monster alike. Even the air is susceptible to the gaze of a Basilisk Lord, and when a Basilisk Lord does release its eyes from their lithic prisons, it is a like twin spiraling coils of rock erupt from their heads, smiting all it touches to rock and covering the area in rubble, petrified air flaking and filling the atmosphere with dust.
Thankfully they wake but rarely. Like the rock itself, they see in the tectonic inevitabilities of stone and awaken only for those things that they believe must happen.

Bears - Strength
They almost seem to be made from stone, so tough is their hide, their fur is like bark and twigs, knotted and cruel. Teeth long as swords, claws like spears, and their eyes are glossy and black.
Twice as tall as even the largest of their mundane cousins, their treads shake the ground as they casually tear trees out from the earth and toss them aside like garbage.
Their strength is, needless to say, ferocious. They shred plate armour-like tissue and batter stone to rubble under the immense pounding of their wrath. Despite their utter dominance, they are not wicked; they are mostly content to sit and chew up bushes in their great mouths and guzzle cows. People have even been known to approach them, and with proper gifts (very large gifts) and demonstrations of strength, they have been known to teach even humans the ways of the forest.
But that's also not to say that they never get angry.

Crabs - War
Great living fortresses with shells of coral-reefs and claws the size of people, though often much of their features are covered in the mighty swarms of mundane crabs that cover them thickly, and that swarm about their feet. In great sideways drifts they march along the sea-floor, conquering all in their way. Once a slaughter is completed, and the flesh of their foes eaten, great shrine-piles of bones are built and set to wander the sea, tumble-weeds of the dooms of hundreds.
The Crab Kings love war beyond all reason. Only twice, two Crab Kings were seen to be fighting each other, two-hundred years separating both sightings. It was the same pair of Crab Kings, fighting the same war.
They are not totally belligerent though. They have been known to enter into mercenary contracts with devastating efficiency.
The rate with which they turn against their old masters at the end of said contracts does not bear thinking about.

Goats - The Occult
Horns that spiral endlessly (literally), cloven hooves that spill smoke from their contact with the earth, eyes which branch in fractal patterns. Their fur ruffles forever in an endless ethereal wind, and comes in all manner of shades darker than black. They are not bigger than other goats, but you would not need that to recognise that they are something other. Proud they walk the depths of the woods, supremely confident in the power and worth of the dark secrets they know, written in the empty spaces behind their eyes.
Sometimes, they share their knowledge with the outcast and the vulnerable. Sometimes, they share their knowledge with the greedy who bring them many gifts for the knowledge the goat holds. Sometimes, they step into the darkened cells of the condemned, and off them them power and the means of revenge. Whenever they release their secrets, it is always in the name of chaos and tragedy.
Once in a hundred years, all 13 of the Goat Kings will commune together at the top of a hill crested and crowned with great stony spires.
No-one knows what they do. Perhaps we should never know.

Owlbears - OH GOD NO PLEASE
YOU THINK REGULAR OWLBEARS ARE BAD OH BOY HOWDY DO YOU HAVE SOMETHING COMING THINK HOW CRAZY A REGULAR OWLBEAR IS HOW THIRSTY FOR BLOOD IT IS HOW THE RAGE CLOUDS THEIR EYES IN A OWLBEAR KING THE RAGE SPILLS LIKE MIST FROM ITS SOCKETS BLOOD SPILLS ETERNALLY FROM THEIR CLAWS THEY WADE THROUGH MIST AND BLOOD TO SLAUGHTER AND KILL AND DEVOUR HOW DID THEY EVEN GET ANIMAL LORDS OF THEIR OWN THEY ARENT NATURAL THEYRE MAN MADE OH GODS SAVE US PLEASE

Rocs - Wait, hang on
Hey... these are just Bird-Kings. What are you doing putting this in the list? Surely there can't possibly be birds even greater than Rocs? Preposterous.

Scorpions - Fear
Look, Scorpions are terrifying as they are. Twinned claws, arcing sting, many many legs; it isn't hard to see why Spirits of Fear take this form. The first sign you will see of a King of Scorpions is a strange pillar of stone, curved in a quite improbably way jutting up out of the sand. Perhaps there will be other such stones just protruding from the dunes. They like to bury themselves in the sand whilst they are dormant, and burst forth to destroy trespassers and prey. Their legs are many more than other scorpions. Their sting strikes with such speed that it needs no venom, and turns the very desert itself to glass when it strikes. And their claws snip through stone as easily as flesh. Oh, and don't look at their mouths. Please. Luckily for us, they are few, and they are mostly loners, and rarely encourage great swarms of their lesser fellows. Rarely.

Sharks - Death
Normal sharks can taste death on the water, Shark Kings can taste the intent of death, even hours before it happens. Dread omens of slaughters yet to happen. Large even as Sharks are large, they lead great demon-packs of deadly predators in slaughters of blood and frenzy, even tearing out the bellies of ships in their blood-lust. At least, only some of the time. Long days will pass when the Shark King and its court are content merely to swim long, lazy circles. The Lairs of Shark-Kings are mighty coral reefs of sunken and ruined ships, spires of shattered masts and halls of splintered hulls. It doesn't bear thinking of what they used before ships were made...