Heinrich, Julian, Mortus, Klaus and Max finish their breakfasts, get their things together, and leave the Surprised Goat. On their way out, the innkeeper says to them, "I'll hold your room for you, don't worry. I'm afraid I don't have another bed for the young gentleman though - will he be happy sleeping on straw?"
Max nods emphatically.
"Lovely! Well, enjoy your day and I'll see you tonight, I hope."
It's around nine in the morning, but it's already very hot outside. The filthy streets outside the inn are full of people hurrying toward the fair, complaining about the unseasonably hot weather.
The group soon reach the Dreieckeplatz, the administrative centre of the town. Many of the buildings have elaborate facades with decorative columns and arches, and statues of the town's patron deity Bogenauer. The area is full of people of all classes: beggars clamoring for a few coins; entertainers juggling, breathing fire, playing instruments and singing songs; lawyers and councillors bustling importantly around; agitators handing out pamphlets and making speeches, and food vendors selling pies and sausages.
The town hall itself is at the heart of the square, and is a large and magnificent building.
The group enter the town hall, passing a pair of halberd-wielding guards who glare at them suspiciously, and find themselves in a large entry hall. There are a number of desks set up in the hall. Seated at one of them is a grey-haired woman who addresses them in a strident voice, "You there, what's your business here?"
Julian explains that he wants to see Ludwig Stumpf, the vice-under-secretary of sanitation. She studies him for a moment, and then says, "You look like a respectable engineer. Very well: up the stairs on the right, turn left, turn right, third left, second right, fourth door on the left."
She then looks more closely at the rest of the group - she raises her eyebrows when she see's Max's salve-smeared chest - and says, "You will be held responsible for the actions of your...
companions, however."
Julian leads the group to Ludwig Stumpf's office, knocks, and they go inside. "Ah, good morning!" Stumpf says, "my dear friend the engineer! And - oh my! What a very colourful group of associates you have with you today! Ha ha!" Ludwig mops his brow. "I'm told your trip to the sewers was unnecessary after all - quite a disappointment, I'm sure - since the goblin - wasn't it a goblin? - found its way out through a river drain and got into one of the warehouses at the waterfront. Killed there by... oh, I'm not sure. Someone. Ha ha! Still, I'm sure your practiced eye saw some little problems in need of a good engineer, Mr. Stonebridge? If so, the town will be able to compensate you for that at least."
