Werner Bauer

Overview Werner Bauer is one of twin brothers serving the Brotherhood as hired muscle and grave-robber. He and his brother Klaus procure bodies from morgues and cemeteries for use in Engine component

Overview

Werner Bauer is one of twin brothers serving the Brotherhood as hired muscle and grave-robber. He and his brother Klaus procure bodies from morgues and cemeteries for use in Engine component acquisition. They are not ideological members of the Brotherhood — they are mercenaries willing to perform illegal and morally reprehensible work for payment (approximately 50 gulden per delivery).

Quick Facts

Role: Grave-robbing, body procurement, intimidation
Cost: 50 gulden per corpse delivery
Motivation: Money, not ideology
Morality: None; will do anything for adequate payment
Weakness: Money is his only real loyalty — better payment elsewhere can turn him

To Develop

Full stat block, detailed personality, combat capabilities, interaction guidance, appearance details.

Session 8 Update — Location Confirmed (August 8, 1814)

In the morning of 8 August 1814, Dr. Fischbein delivered confirmed intelligence to Freddy_Cavendish establishing the Bauer brothers’ current location and the documentary chain that put them there:

Klaus and Werner are quartered at the Black Bear Tavern on Taborstrasse, second floor.
They were released from Geheimpolizei custody on a release order personally signed by Captain Vogel. Fischbein has the signature confirmed against three other Vogel signatures from prior cases.

This is the first time the party has had a hard, current address for Werner. He is now actionable.

Tactical Profile (Session 9 Encounter Notes)

Quartered with his brother Klaus on the second floor of the Black Bear. Operations against the brothers must consider that they will reinforce each other.
Mercenary, not ideological. Werner has no commitment to the Brotherhood beyond payment. The right offer or the right threat can flip him.
Brother bond is real. Werner will fight to defend Klaus and break to save him.
Knows the body-procurement chain. Same intelligence value as Klaus — graveyards, morgues, hospitals, possibly Polizeidirektion evidence stores.

Status (top of Session 9)

Physically: Alive, at the Black Bear Tavern, Taborstrasse, second floor
Operationally: Compromised — the party has his location and the proof of his Vogel connection
Politically: Unaware that he is now a known target

[!info] Keeper Only Treat the Bauer brothers as a single operational unit unless the party deliberately separates them. Their value is intelligence on the cult’s body-procurement chain and as the legal lever against Vogel; their threat is two competent thugs in a building full of civilians. The right approach is patient — the wrong approach gets a tavern full of locals killed.

Session 11 Update — Captured at the Black Bear (Evening, 10 August 1814)

Freddy, Adrien, and Thomas raided the Bauer brothers’ room at the Black Bear, Taborstraße. Thomas kicked the door in. Werner lunged for a pistol on the table. Freddy shot at him but missed, blowing a chunk out of a table leg. Werner threw himself to the floor, grabbed Thomas’s foot and yanked him off his feet. Adrien pistol-whipped Werner across the skull, dazing him. Werner was then knocked unconscious when the table collapsed on top of him during the struggle.

Werner was bound and dragged out past the conspicuously incurious landlady, loaded into the party’s carriage, and taken to Thaliastraße 12.

Current Status (night, 10 August 1814)

Status: Captured, bound, unconscious → prisoner
Location: Thaliastraße 12 safehouse
Injuries: Pistol-whipped across the skull, table collapsed on his head
Brother: Klaus is dead — killed by Thomas in the same fight
Intelligence value: Werner knows the Brotherhood’s body-procurement chain, the University basement layout, and the cult’s operational methods. With Klaus dead, he is now the sole surviving source of this intelligence.

[!info] Keeper Only Werner’s interrogation is a high-priority action for Session 12. He has seen the University basement (the hand-drawn map was his), he knows the guard routines, and he knows how the body procurement works. With his brother dead in front of him, he has no loyalty left to sell. The question is whether the party interrogates him before or after the strategy session with Major Volkonsky, and whether the intelligence he provides changes the assault plan.

Session 12 Update — Interrogated at Thaliastraße 12 (Morning, 11 August 1814)

Werner was interrogated at Thaliastraße 12 by the investigators on the morning of 11 August. With his brother Klaus dead, he had no loyalty left to leverage and cooperated fully.

Intelligence Provided

University interior layout: Medical wing on the south corridor, ground floor. Caroline Hartley is held in that wing. The anatomy theatre is accessed through the cellar, via a service corridor.
Guard patterns: Five external guards on rotating shifts. Werner knows their faces, their routines, and how the shifts change.
Herzfeld’s schedule: Herzfeld has not been sleeping. He is accelerating preparations and spending more time in the sealed theatre than his usual evening pattern.
Timeline shift: Werner confirmed evidence that the ritual date has moved from August 15 to August 13.

Assigned Role in the Assault Plan

Werner is assigned to dismiss the five external guards on the night of the assault (pre-dawn, 12 August). His role: approach them with pay and a cover story about changed orders. This is the asset from his mercenary relationship with the Brotherhood — he is a known face, not a threat. The success of the external clearance depends on his compliance and credibility.

Current Status (11 August 1814)

Location: Thaliastraße 12, in custody
Status: Cooperative prisoner, assigned operational role
Disposition: No loyalty remaining. His only currency now is usefulness.

Session 13 Update — Task Completed; Fled Vienna (Pre-dawn, 12 August 1814)

Werner carried out his assigned role in the University assault: he approached the rear exterior guards and successfully dismissed them with a cover story about changed orders. The rear guard was cleared without violence.

His task complete, Werner ran. He fled Vienna — abandoning the scene before the assault teams entered the building. His story arc with the party is concluded.

Current Status (12 August 1814)

Location: Unknown; fled Vienna
Status: Gone. No further operational role.
Disposition: He did what was asked of him and took the first exit available.

Relationships

Brother of Klaus Bauer — Twin brother; works alongside Werner
Serves Albin Herzfeld — Hired muscle; no ideological commitment
Subject of War Council Heuriger Aug 11 — Intelligence extracted from Werner at Thaliastraße 12 formed the basis of the war council assault plan