City Guard of Nuln, Precinct 24
9th of Brauzeit, 2602

Record of the arrest and interrogation of Degenhard Selig

The citizen Selig stands accused on several accounts of forgery, swindling, fraudulent impersonation of a sanctioned wizard, embezzlement and contempt of the court. The suspect turned himself in today one hour after mid-day, and hasn't opposed any kind of resistance, physical, verbal or magical. The interrogation is conduced by Inquisitor Volkmar Kranz, of the Talabecland Chapter, and by Detective Temerario Falzano, of the 24th Precinct of Nuln City Guard, and transcribed by Assistant Detective Engelbert Totleben of the 24th Precinct of the Nuln City Guard The questioning starts at one hour before sunset.

Volkmar Kranz: State your name and profession
Degenhard Selig: Degenhard Selig, performer
V.K.: Performer, Mr. Selig?
D.S.: Yes, I am a stage magician. I use light tricks, prestidigitation and other special effects to simulate the use of magic for the entertainment of a public. Hence, I am a performer
V.K.: Do you exercise your... job under another name?
D.S.: Yes, I have performed under the stage name of Sempiternal Zacharia, Balthazar the Majestic, Ellyrion the Amazing Half Elf and many others that I can't quite remember right now
V.K.: I'm sure that many of your former employers would be quite enraged by your self-definition, Mr. Selig
D.S.: And why would that be?
Temerario Falzano: Don't play stupid with us, Selig. You know full well that you pretended to have magical powers and a College training to con money out of many individuals and society. Just be a good boy and confess, so we can kick you in a jail and forget you even existed.
D.S.: I'd like to remind you that I came here unsolicited and that I've promised my full collaboration. In fact, I'm here to clear my name and seek protection under this honorable institution.
T.F.: Protection? CLEARING YOUR NAME? Confess, you thieving piece of shit, and maybe we won't throw your mangled body to your "former employers" so they can finish the job!
D.S.: I won't be insulted any further! I've always stated my qualifications up front and clearly to any potential employer and you don't have any proof...
T.F.: Ah, cut the act! You were the one who took the money from the Dragon Hawks! I was there at the stadium, just confess already!
D.S.: If the owner of any professional team has any complaint after misunderstanding the nature of my services, then it is none of my bus-
T.F.: MANSLICER IS DEAD BECAUSE OF YOU! COME HERE-

After an heated exchange, lasting about half an hour, detective Falzano is asked to leave the room. The external bleeding of the suspect is stopped and Inquisitor Kranz resumes the questioning alone.

D.S.: He broke my nose! I will have a complaint sent to the Burgmeister office, you have no right to treat me like this! You have no proof of my involvement in any kind of crime! You-
V.K.: Silence. Mr. Selig, I think you are under the impression that you could come here and simply be assigned some sort of escort and leave as a free man with no pending charges. Of course, that will not happen. I have read your "contracts" where the fine prints were so small I had to use a microscope to see them. I have a hard time believing that this constitutes "stating up front and clearly your qualifications", but even if I was so inclined I have the signed statement of twenty-three witnesses of your swindling of the late Baroness Gunthilde Knauer, and several other episodes that are questionable at best. Now, I would argue that this constitutes sufficient proof, indeed...
D.S.: I-
V.K.: I said SILENCE. Of course, since your crime is considered quite minor and doesn't constitute any kind of immediate threat to the public order, I have no power to pronounce a sentence right here and now. So, if you wish, Mr. Selig or whatever you want to be called these days, you are free to go. However...
D.S: But-
V.K.: Try to interrupt me one more time and I'll have my servant Sachso cut your finger one by one because of your uncooperativeness. However, I am under the impression that you have come here for a reason today - namely, to get some protection against what I can only assume is the rightful revenge of some of your victims. So, Mr. Selig, I am willing to give you such protection in exchange for a full confession. Of course, this will have the unfortunate side effect of momentarily ending your life as a free man, a condition that I still deem preferable to having your life ended forever.
D.S.: Er...
V.K.: The choice is yours. You may speak now, if you wish.
D.S.: Sigh, fine. I confess. I have done everything written on that file.
V.K.: Care to expand a little?
D.S.: I have started by getting some little "magic" in some taverns around Mittelweg. Of course, I have no actual magic power nor training, but I was an actor as a child and I've always been good with some hand tricks. I've tried cheating at cards, but there's always someone with good eyes. With magic it's different, they never question what they see. And that's why it's so easy if you're good, and trust me, I am good! In time, I got to act for much richer customers as a travelling hedge mage. Some knew I was just a smart guy with some flash powder and quick fingers, others did not. However, I don't think you could track any of them, as in the end all got what they wanted: a magic show!
V.K.: So why did you try to get some more illegal money?
D.S.: Because I am good, that's why! Why doing something for cheap if you can be paid much more? The idea came to me after that old bitch...
V.K.: Language.
D.S.: Ow, ow, ow, ok, that fine noblewoman came to me, covered in jewels, after a show I made in a merchant house in Marienburg. She was so full of gold, and yet so stupid! It felt so natural to just keep the act and relieve them of some undeserved riches...
V.K.: And so you've began your life of crime, I see.
D.S.: Yes, poor and rich, it was so easy to trick them. But you see, the problem is that with ability comes overconfidence. Soon, the money I earned being someone's court magician just wasn't enough. The problem, of course, is that the richer a person is, the more likely it is to not be a complete idiot, or at least to have some advisor who isn't a complete idiot. And that's where Blood Bowl comes into play: you see, while the selection for Designed Sorcerer might be strict, that of the supervisors isn't, and some wizards are quite easy to convince if you know their favourite wine; getting on the list was quite easy, all things considered, and the teams pay well - and always in advance.
V.K.: I'll of course need a list of your accomplices
D.S.: Of course, even though I'd say accomplices is a bit too much. And it probably won't be necessary, as I'll explain. Anyway, that's where my trouble began, because you can make something that sounds and looks a lot like a fireball spell, but you can't easily trick your way out of doing some real damage. But I just kept going, changing identity as need be. Little did I know that I would regret it. You see, there are some... things that have a way of getting information. After I swindled some Chaos team in the CabalVision league, I started having some strange dreams. Dreams of a creature with wings like a bat, something that should not be in this world. At first, I didn't connect the dots, but the dream kept going, becoming more unnerving by the day. At some point I came out of hiding, since I needed more money. My tastes have become quite expensive, you see. So, I got to my usual contact, but when I met him he was a wreck, a broken man. He almost had drunk himself to death, and was lying feverish in some dingy watering hole in Altdorf. When he saw me, at first he didn't recognise me. But when he did, he started screaming. I will never forget his word, in the screeching voice of a men bereft of any sanity: "Ah, curse ye! Curse ye who have brought a fate so foul upon me! Death comes on leathery wings, for you, for me, for all! You are doomed, Degenhard, doomed! The Master knows your name and the many you hide behind, and He has sent a terrible servant to retrieve you! Behold! Here comes Yibb-Tstll, the Cackling Nightmare, the Flying Hound! He tortured me many nights to punish me of this unsavoury friendship of mine, but that's nothing - nothing compared to the suffering your soul will endure! Many nights are to come, many nights where the night is broken by the sound of a mad laughter, and the rustling of membranous wings. Ah, I pity you... I pity you... on leathery wings it comes." And then, right after he stopped speaking, he died.
V.K.: Unnerving.
D.S.: Yes indeed, but at first I didn't think too much of it. Until, that same night, I heard once more the sound of the wings fluttering in the night, but this time, after I woke up sweating, I heard a laughter. Faint enough that I didn't know if it was real, but it was definitely there. Night passed, and every time I fell asleep, there it was, mocking me and chasing me. I started changing location often, until I was a man on the run, but the nightmares didn't stop. So I stopped sleeping. At first it worked, but soon I started seeing things, shadows in the corner of my eye. I couldn't quite make up what it was, but soon I didn't need to try and keep awake, I just couldn't sleep anymore. I was too afraid of what might come. Then one day I caught a glimpse of something behind my reflection in a mirror. A beast, not fully bat, not fully spider. Something unlike I have ever seen, safe for one time: on a Blood Bowl pitch, playing for that Sigmar forsaken team in Kislev. I heard the laughter once more, this time clear as day - it was nowhere, everywhere, inside my head. It was at that time I knew I was doomed.
V.K.: Oh, please, do you sincerely expect me to believe such a scare tale? This sounds like an awful lot like something out of an Inquisitor manual, some story from the Old Days when Chaos ran rampant and heresy was everywhere. This is such a blatant attempt at titillating my curiosity I'm tempted to schedule you for the pyre just for the insult!
D.S.: Please, no! You have to believe! I don't know if what I saw was real or I'm just getting insane, but you need to help me, even if I'm just seeing things! I'm begging you, protect me! Just throw me in jail, but don't let me alone at night!
V.K: Don't push my patience. Of course, if you accept to plead guilty for all charges, I will make sure that a guard controls your cell at every hour, if that makes you feel better.
D.S.: I accept, even though I hoped it wouldn't come to this.
V.K.: Perfect. Totleben, make him sign the papers. We are finished here.

The above report is faithful and accurate. No parts have been omitted or altered.
Signed,
Inquisitor Volkmar Kranz
Temerario Falzano, City of Nuln Detective
Degenhard Selig


ADDENDUM
The citizen Degenhard Selig has been found dead inside his cell at dawn of 10 Brauzeit 2602 by Willibald Fürst of the City Guard of Nuln. The cause of death has been identified by apothecary Friedwart Weizenbaum as a heart attack, possibly from a grave scare. Fürst mantains that he has kept a close guard on the cell for the whole night, however, upon further and more vigorous questioning by Inquisitor Kranz, the guard admitted to have dozed off for a couple of hours around midnight. Citizen Ludolf Buhler, currently detained in the cell adjacent to Selig's, has told us that in the middle of the night he heard the deceased whimper and mumble some words ("On leathery wings...") in his sleep. After a couple of minutes, Buhler heard the prisoner scream and call out for the guards, while vigorously shaking the bars of his cell and his chains, although apparently neither Fürst nor the other guards present seemed to hear anything. After the noise from the other cell ended, Buhler swears that he heard a high-pitched laughter coming from the other side of the wall, and flapping of wings.
It should be noted, however, that Lutdolf Buhler is a notorious drunkard and that he was detained for public disturbance and for drunk and disorderly behaviour, as such his testimony is probably spurious.
It is the opinion of this bureau that the death of Degenhard Selig is to be considered a natural occurrance.

Signed,
Temerario Falzano, City of Nuln Detective

To the Grand Inquisitor Wolf Roesler of the Talabecland Chapter,
for your eyes only