No more muscle-searing treks through wild, savage lands. No more descents into darkness. No more confrontations with the Chaos-worshipping minions of obscure cults. No more adventures.

He wouldn’t have to put up with Gotrek’s sullenness or his whims any more. He could forget his oath to follow the Trollslayer and record his doom in an epic poem. The promise had been made when he was drunk; surely it didn’t count? He would be his own master. And yet, something held him back.

“I’ll have to think about it,” he said.

“What is there to think about, man? You can’t actually tell me that you prefer being a sewerjack to being a merchant, can you? Most people would kill to be given this opportunity.”

“I said, I’ll think about it.”

They ate on in uncomfortable silence. After some minutes, the door to the great room opened and a tall man was led in by the servant. He was clad in black and his monkish robes made him seem out of place in his opulent setting. His face was thin and ascetic, and his black hair ended above his forehead in a widow’s peak.

As he crossed the room, silence spread in his wake. Felix saw that the wealthy diners were afraid of him. As he passed close to the table Felix was shocked to recognise him: it was unquestionably the man he had seen in the sewers with the skaven. His mind reeled. He had assumed that the man was some kind of sorcerer or renegade. He pictured a cultist or a desperado. He had not expected to see him here in the haunts of Nuln’s wealthiest and most respectable citizens.

“What’s the matter, brother? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“Who- who is that man?”

Otto let out a long sigh. “You don’t want to know. He’s not a man that you ask questions about. He asks them about you.”

“Who is he, Otto? Do I have to go over and ask him?” Felix saw a look of alarm and admiration pass across his brother’s face.

“I do believe you would, too, Felix,” he whispered. “Very well. That is Chief Magistrate Fritz von Halstadt, the head of Countess Emmanuelle’s secret police.”

“Tell me about him.”

“There are those who see him as the enemy of corruption everywhere. He is hard-working and no one doubts his sincerity. He sincerely hates mutants and for that reason he has the backing of the Temple of Ulric. His home is guarded by their Templars.”

“I thought the Temple of Ulric had no power here, that the countess disliked it.”

“That was before von Halstadt’s rise to power. He came from being a minor court functionary to the most powerful man in the city-state very quickly. Some say it was by blackmail; some say his enemies have a habit of being found dead under mysterious circumstances. He’s risen far for a man whose father was a minor nobleman in an out-of-the-way province. A callous cunning old swine, by all accounts.

“Von Halstadt is cold, cruel and dangerous, not just because of his influence. He has a deadly blade. He’s killed several people because they’ve insulted the honour of the countess.”

“I would have thought her brother, Leos, did enough of that without him having to.”

“Leos is not always about and rumour has it that our chief magistrate would be prepared to fight him over the countess.