Session 3: Arriving in Bremen

Bremen is a prosperous trade town built at the junction of three roads. The party delivers the Count and Countess to a townhouse in the merchant quarter. Aldric pays without warmth, takes the trunk inside, and shuts the door. Sable lingers on the step and looks back at the party with those watchful eyes. She doesn’t say goodbye — she just looks, as if memorizing them. She will remember every one of them.

The Bremen Town Musicians

Baa directs the party to the headquarters of the Bremen Town Musicians Travel and Transport Company — a large, cheerfully chaotic building on the market square that smells of hay and instrument polish. The Bremen Town Musicians are exactly what they sound like: a donkey, a dog, a cat, and a rooster who, after various misadventures, settled in Bremen and founded a transport and courier company. They have been operating for thirty years and are inexplicably successful.

The donkey — who goes by Heinrich and does most of the talking — looks you over with large, patient eyes. ‘Baa says you did good work on the mountain road. We’ve got more work, if you want it. Courier runs, escort jobs, the occasional bit of… let’s call it investigation. Pay is fair. Hours are whatever the job requires. The cat handles accounts; don’t argue with the cat about accounts.’ He pauses. ‘You’ll want to talk to Jack Benimble about the Guild while you’re here. He’s expecting people with your… profile.’

NPC	Description
Heinrich (Donkey)	Spokesperson. Patient, methodical, speaks in full sentences. Secretly the most strategically intelligent member of the organization.
Bruno (Dog)	Security chief. Enormous, gentle, deeply loyal. Will offer to accompany the party on dangerous jobs. Retired from a life as a hunting dog; has opinions about wolves.
Muriel (Cat)	Accounts and intelligence. Small, grey, speaks rarely and precisely. Knows considerably more about what is happening in Bremen than she lets on. The books are immaculate.
Rudi (Rooster)	Communications. Handles messages and scheduling. Extremely punctual. Takes personally any suggestion that roosters are not useful in a transport company.

DM NOTE

The Bremen Town Musicians are a recurring resource. They have contacts across the region, can arrange transport and lodging, and occasionally have jobs that feed into the larger arc. Baa continues to work for them as a field agent. The party can check in with the Musicians whenever they pass through Bremen.

The Adventurers Guild

The Bremen Adventurers Guild is housed in a converted mill — its wheel still turns, but now it powers a mechanical lift that takes members to the second-floor lounge. Guild Master Jack Benimble is a small, wiry man in his sixties with an enormous mustache and an even more enormous opinion of himself. He is, despite all evidence to the contrary, genuinely good at running the guild.

Jack Benimble places a brass candlestick in the center of the floor. It comes up to knee height on most of them and burns with a flame that is somehow green. ‘The Candlestick of Foresight,’ he announces. ‘Old tradition. You want to join the guild, you jump the candle. What you do in the air — that’s your future speaking. Don’t overthink it. The candle always knows.’

Jumping the Candle — Fortunes

Every party member jumps the candle. The style of the jump reflects the character — graceful, clumsy, athletic, over-thought — and the candle responds to who they are. Use the fortunes below as a framework, or improvise based on what you know of each character’s arc.

Jump Style	Fortune Approach
Failed or clumsy jump	‘Challenges ahead. Many of them. Some of your own making.’ — Hardship fortune; lean into whatever the character most fears about themselves.
Graceful or showy jump	‘All your goals will be achieved — and then some. Mind what grows in the space beyond what you wanted.’ — Ambition fortune; plant the seed of overreach.
Practical, workmanlike jump	‘Things work out. Someone in this group will help you find balance — whether they mean to or not.’ — Relationship fortune; tie it to another party member.
Technically correct, joyless jump	Silence. The candle says nothing. Jack clears his throat. ‘That’s… also a thing that happens.’ — This character’s future is already decided by something larger than the candle can show.
Spectacular, unexpected jump	‘You will be remembered. Whether that is a gift or a curse remains to be seen.’ — Legacy fortune; useful for characters with unclear motivations.

DM NOTE

The fortunes are real — they foreshadow actual arc outcomes. Assign them thoughtfully based on each character’s trajectory. The ‘silence’ fortune is the most frightening of all: it means the candle sees something it cannot show. Reserve it for a character whose divine parent is known for hidden agendas or predestination.