Alette Riese could barely make sense of what was happening. She’d come to Suderberg to escape her overbearing father, but he’d sent her brothers with her to “watch out for her”. More like not let her have any fun at all.

Alette knew all the village boys liked to look at her. She didn’t make nearly the fuss that Herzog girl did about her appearance, and they still wanted to dance with her. Most wanted more than that. She just laughed at those boys. She knew what she’d wanted before she even headed into town that night with her brothers. His name was Erich, and she’d seen him plying his trade near the Drakwald. The way his strong arms had swung that wood-axe, the way the muscles had rippled in his back.

She’d been worried about what he might think of her being too forward though. So she’d waited until it seemed Eliza Herzog wasn’t showing up to spread her nasty rumors about the Riese girls before approaching. His arms had felt like a dream around her, and she’d loosened up with a little drink as well. Grungul’s hard ale was very good.

Everyone had seemed a bit on edge, though. And that pale lady’s eyes had unnerved her. Then everything just went crazy. The fellow who had returned from Middenheim had run off screaming. That silly dwarf that had asked her to dance started dancing with the poor fat girl; everything had seemed okay until she started throwing up blood. It had been disgusting.

The burly guardian of The Lantern had proclaimed the silly dwarf and his mother witched, and gotten the new priest of Sigmar all worked up. The priest and his men dragged the two off to the temple, to be burned. Erich and the charcoal burner had decided to gather some wood for the burning, and Alette had decided to go along just to be close to Erich. The burning thing made her pretty nervous though. After all, everyone in the village said the Rieses were different.

Her head was still spinning when they arrived at the temple. Erich’s arm was still around her, and she pressed against him firmly, so that he would take note that she was a woman. Then the… thing lunged out from the shadows at the front of the temple and crushed the temple guard’s head with its maces.

Where were her brothers?