The train groans away from Platform 3. Beside the rails, the Austrian Policeman keeps Milan Jovanović in an arm-lock while fallen luggage and a toppled porter’s cart choke the concourse edge. Fraulein Doktor has the travel case and dispatch envelope within reach.
Milan Jovanović
The case is not the source. It is only the route by which the source travels.
Franz Hinkel pushes through the staring passengers, his eyes fixed on the envelope. He points toward the side passage, where the Station Clerk strains toward the platform office.
Franz Hinkel
That clerk can match the envelope to its sender. No other official here can do it.
The Station Clerk
The ledger is in the platform office. I can reach the entry, if the policeman keeps him there.
The clerk reaches the ledger and turns several pages with shaking hands. The dispatch mark matches an entry made before dawn, logged from Belgrade under a railway forwarding seal. Beside it is a second notation: delivery to Sarajevo, Appel Quay, by instruction of a sender recorded only as B. Radić.
+ New Item Acquired
Travel case
+ New Item Acquired
Dispatch envelope
“"Hmm, that's not much help. There must be hundreds of Serbs named B. Radić. Perhaps we should ask our suspects about it." She looks around for Mata Hari.”
SUCCESS (Great Perception, rolled -1)
Fraulein Doktor
Hmm, that's not much help. There must be hundreds of Serbs named B. Radić. Perhaps we should ask our suspects about it.
Fraulein Doktor scans beyond the steam, the ticket windows, and the jammed concourse, searching for Mata Hari rather than the departing train.
A flash of pale gloves appears beside the station café. Mata Hari stands half-hidden behind a newspaper kiosk, watching the platform office and the arrested messenger.
Mata Hari
There you are. I have been keeping company with a gentleman who knows the name Radić.
She lifts one gloved finger toward a seated railway porter near the café, then lowers it before he can notice. Her expression remains composed, but her posture signals caution.
Mata Hari
He was asking whether the ledger had been removed. Shall I bring him here, or shall we question Milan first?
✓ Quest Accepted
Learn the identity of B. Radić
“"Milan isn't going anywhere. Let's see if we can find your new friend."”
SUCCESS (Great Agility, rolled +2)
Fraulein Doktor
Milan isn't going anywhere. Let's see if we can find your new friend.
Fraulein Doktor crosses the concourse at an angle, using the café tables and drifting steam as cover. Mata Hari slips around the kiosk to meet her halfway.
Mata Hari
He is the porter with the brass badge, by the window. Do not look at him directly.
Fraulein Doktor reaches the café window without drawing notice. The seated porter rises as though to collect a cup, then stops with one hand on the chair.
Petar Kovač
Mata Hari said you were looking for the sender. I know the name B. Radić, but I will not say it beside the platform.
Petar Kovač glances toward the station office, where a clerk carries a ledger beneath one arm. He lowers his voice.
Petar Kovač
The ledger custodian is due here now. If you want the entry, decide whether we speak here or follow him before he reaches the office.
“"The more the merrier. She gets up to follow the ledger custodian.”
SUCCESS (Great Agility, rolled -1)
Fraulein Doktor rises and moves after the ledger custodian, taking the longer path behind the café tables.
Her parasol catches the edge of a fallen valise. It strikes the floor with a sharp crack, and two passengers turn toward her.
Mata Hari
Keep walking. I will make them watch me instead.
Mata Hari steps into the passengers' sightline, unfolding her newspaper with theatrical calm. Fraulein Doktor reaches the platform office behind the custodian before the door closes.
The Station Clerk
You followed me. That ledger is not for theatrical agents.
Inside the office, the custodian sets the ledger on the counter. Its Belgrade entries are within reach, but the clerk's hand remains planted on the cover.
The Station Clerk
If you want the Radić entry, tell me why I should let you see it before the police arrive.
“"The police will be here soon. Do you wish to be caught with incriminating evidence in your hands?"”
SUCCESS (Great Persuasion, rolled +0)
Fraulein Doktor
The police will be here soon. Do you wish to be caught with incriminating evidence in your hands?
The Station Clerk's fingers tighten on the ledger, then release it. Their eyes flick toward the open doorway and the sound of boots beyond it.
The Station Clerk
No. The entry says B. Radić, sender's forwarding mark, Belgrade Central, before dawn.
They turn the ledger toward Fraulein Doktor and open it to the marked page. The ink names the sender as Branko Radić, with delivery instructions for Appel Quay.
The Station Clerk
That is the name in the record. I never met him. A railway agent collected the forwarding notice, and I was told not to copy the details.
The clerk tears a narrow carbon slip from beneath the ledger's cover and places it beside the entry. Then the office door begins to swing inward as uniformed footsteps stop outside.
Identify the railway agent who collected the forwarding notice
Quest Complete
Learn the identity of B. Radić
Attribute Upgrade: Agility Great→Superb