“I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.”

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The Great War has come to an end, but the world seems as much on a precipice as it did a year ago. The Russian Czar and his family have been executed by Bolsheviks while the flames of revolution have spread to Germany as well; There have been multiple coup attempts this year, French and German troops have occupied the Ruhr and both inflation and political violence are on the rise.

Against this backdrop, you have received a mysterious letter inviting you to a meeting of the ‘Nachtwache’ out the back, after the show at one of Munich's more infamous cabaret's. Apparently, someone has recommended you to them, though who that was and who they are, is a mystery…

Welcome to the Wild Beast of the Earth, a Gothic Horror inspired RP set in the interwar years with our first 'case' in the city of Munich. In this RP, you will take on the role of one of the 'Night Watch', or 'Nachtewache', tasked with investigating paranormal and occult phenomena and putting a stop to them.

Character death will be a real thing. While I don’t intend to play this unfairly, if you make a suicidal decision, the results will be predictable and, as such, I will recommend that people consider making a second character, just in case number one ends up getting eaten by an eldritch horror.

You will be outclassed by most, if not all, of the creatures you encounter, but you have a team at your back and by working together you should be able to prevail. There will also, usually, be more than one possible way to tackle the beast… provided you have investigated thoroughly.

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You can be anyone you want to be, provided the person is someone who could have existed in 1923 Munich. Perhaps your character is a big-game-hunter? A reporter? A demobbed soldier? A nurse? A member of the clergy?

The RP is set in Munich though I am very flexible about backgrounds. If you can write a reasonably sensible reason for them to be there though bear in mind their might be some bitterness against you if you were on the other side of the war (bear in mind the section on early 20th century attitudes).

I’m assuming everyone is generally competent, but depending upon your background, at certain points, I may give you with additional information that other people might not be able to glean on their own, so a mix of different backgrounds will make the team stronger.

The only limits to your character are:

• You are not a child. It doesn’t make sense for the setting – this is gothic horror, not an anime or YA novel.
• Magic users/carriers of magical artefacts are currently not allowed, though I may open these apps up later.
• You are not a supernatural creature. The supernatural monsters you will encounter are not misunderstood or secretly nice, they are hard-wired to want to kill you in creative and horrible ways.
• If you create multiple characters, make them separate, not people with pre-existing relationships. Feel absolutely feel free to make a pre-existing relationship with someone else’s character though!

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This section will be expanded as the RP goes on and you discover more about the world.

Monsters
There are monsters in the world. They want to kill you.

This section will be expanded with the information you learn from the various things you encounter in your travels.

Demons
Demons exist in Wild Beasts of the Earth and they are extremely dangerous. Demons cannot be killed though you can exorcise them or kill the host body. The exact wording of the exorcism is unimportant, though it’s likelihood of success depends upon the righteousness of the person attempting it.

Magic
Magic similarly exists in the setting and can, theoretically, be learned by people, though the spells are subtle and generally involve gathering ingredients before they can be cast. Similarly there are magical artefacts in the world, most of which are extremely dangerous to people unfamiliar with the mystic arts. Probably best not to play with them if you value your limbs or sanity.

Religion
The existence of demons and hell is established in the setting and some characters may decide that this implies the existence of a deity/force for good as well. That being said, there is no direct IC evidence for or against the existence of a benevolent higher power and you may realistically write a character of any religion or philosophical belief.

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While OOC, racism, sexism etc. is definitely NOT, in any way shape or form, ok, many forms of bigotry were alive and well 100 years ago. Hence why I've marked this as 18+.

While I do not, in any way, condone any of them, I also don’t think it is helpful to sanitise the setting and pretend they didn’t exist (there are literal Nazis in Germany at this time); that does a great disservice to all the people who campaigned against them over the last century. While the Night Watch, in this RP, is an egalitarian society, and the world is increasingly as well (for the most part - literal Nazis), some of the NPCs you encounter may display bigotry of one form or another (which might well be exploitable to a cunning character). Similarly, if you want to explore those topics in your own characters (an older gentleman being opposed to women’s suffrage, for instance), I’m not going to censor that, provided you do it sensitively.

NB: This is not an invitation for you to spout hate speech under the guise of pretending it's all IC bigotry. Remember that you are still writing in the 21st century and some words are ALWAYS unacceptable. If you have any doubts, ask.

The bigotry you almost certainly see in the thread is classism and (if someone brings in a character from the Allied Powers, particularly the French or Belgians) hatred of the people seen as Germany's oppressors... at least while we're in Munich.

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For those of you unfamiliar with Gothic Horror, Gothic horror deals with the superstitions and fears of a time past clashing with scientific enlightenment set against a backdrop of gloomy castles, back alleys and moors. It deals with themes of human morality, mortality, religion and human hubris. Deep desires, passions and cold, gathering dread.

If you're familiar with the stories of Dracula, Frankenstine, Nosferatu, the Woman in White or the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, you'll have some idea of what to expect!

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You will notice some things about this character application form aren’t normal.

First, I haven’t asked for equipment. When you go into a mission you will be given equipment from the Night Watch's armoury, so there is no need to say you have a pistol and six bandages before the thread starts up. The Order don’t want you to die and will give you the stuff you need to stay alive, if you ask for it. That being said, there is the option to list some personal effects, to help develop your character.

I also haven’t asked what your skills are. As I said previously, I’m assuming all characters are generally competent, however, what you’ve written in your background will determine whether I make things easier for you, or not, if you attempt something. For instance, a librarian might know how to use a rifle, but probably won’t be as good at hitting a moving or distant target as a former Ottoman sniper.

Finally, there is no personality section. Your backstory should give a good idea of how your character is going to behave, but more importantly, I don’t want you to feel like your character is fixed. In a good RP, characters grow and develop over the course of the story and might end up being totally different from how they started.

All of this is intended to make it easier for you to write an app… while also allowing me to throw an occasional plot curve-ball your way!

When making your app, delete the bits in parentheses - they are there to give you guidance.

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In short, just have common sense and be courteous to your other RPers and we will have no problems! But if you want specifics...

Decisions
My word and the word of any Co-GM is binding. If you don’t like a decision, you can, of course, ask for us to reconsider it. Once. If we made a decision you don’t like, complaining for pages and pages is not going to endear you to anyone. Not me, not the Co-GM and not your fellow writers.
On that note, I intend to run this thread as an anarcho-communist cooperative. This is an unnecessarily complicated way of saying that my word DOES NOT overrule theirs. If there is an appeal and a dispute amongst the Co-OPs we will take a vote on the matter.

Post Quality
I don’t have a problem with short posts but please use proper spelling (I don’t care what regional variant), grammar etc.
Ideally also try to include a 'hook' when you write a post, which is to say something that gives other people something to respond to. If your post is something along the lines of 'Bilbo Baggins stayed in his room and read a book while the world was ending', don't be surprised if nobody responds to you.

Posting Commitment
Nothing is worse than making an RP only for it to die. Please try to make at least one post every 48 hours or so. If you find yourself unable to post, please let me know in the OOC thread or Discord. If it looks like you've abandoned a character in the middle of a fight scene I might decide to kill them off. Which is great for the plot, makes the monster all the scarier... though potentially not great for you.

Posting Speed
On the flip side, blitz posting can also be infuriating. So, especially during the important scenes, I recommend giving your fellow players a reasonable time to make a reply. We all have real lives. That being said, if someone leaves everyone waiting for over 48 hours, and the rest of the writers are rearing to go, feel free to carry on the scene without them.

OOC thread Manners
Nothing annoys me more than bad manners on an OOC thread/the Discord. Swearing, passive-aggressive sniping or any other rude behaviour are not welcome. You will be warned once. If you can’t control yourself, slow-downs, temporary bans etc. may be applied on the Discord. If you continue to cause problems these may be made permanent. I don't want to do that, so play nice!

IC thread Manners
Remember, we are writing a story together, not playing to win.

Character Death
Player death is possible in this RP, though it will be avoidable if you play to your character's strengths, work with the team, investigate a situation thoroughly before running in and don't do anything too stupid. Likewise, if someone goes inactive in the middle of a fight scene without explanation and cannot be raised, I may decide to kill your character off.

Godmodding
In general the enemies in this thread should be treated as major threats, write that you took the shot on the vampire, not that you took the shot, killed it and everyone went home for tea and medals. I will, however, write damage for your character if you get into a bad situation with a eldritch horror. Depending upon how foolhardy you are, this could be pretty bad.

18+
18+ allows us to write a darker story, which is great in horror. I didn't pick it for erotica and/or gorn, so try to write tastefully. If I have to repeatedly ask someone to tone it down I will be displeased.

Banning Players
I really don’t want to be doing that but reserve the right to do so if you cannot follow the (hopefully, rather simple) rules above.

First!

Second and with a cs.

Sounds like we could do some monster hunting on the Isle of Man.

@Dyelli Beybi



For your consideration, boss, I noticed the discord link is not working. Could I get a new link for that, please?

Discord link not working? I'll see if I can scare one up if DB doesn't get it fixed beforehand.

Second and with a cs.

Aleyn Deyne [+]

Character Description

Name: Aleyn Deyne
Gender: Male
Age: 28
Nationality: British(Manx)
Appearance: Aleyn
Personal Effects: Pocket watch, Colt Model 1908 Pocket Hammerless, combat knife, flask(Filled with gin), A locket with a portrait of his family and a lighter

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Background:

What is your job Former Soldier
Backstory: Born on the Isle of Man in Douglas and the first of four. Aleyn had a normal life growing up in Douglas and grew close to his family. He was planning on being a craftsman like his father and inheriting the family business. It was while working at his father's store when he would meet his future wife, Paaie Hendull. Which the two were married in 1908 and moved out into the countryside. There, Aleyn would have three children and live a happy life. Then World War One reared its ugly head. Aleyn was among the first to be drafted for the war and would greatly miss his family while deployed on the continent. Four years on the Western Front proved to be a challenging experience for him. After seeing the horrors of war, and would fight in several battles. The biggest being the Battle of the Somme and he would later fight in the second battle of the Somme.

When the war was over and Aleyn was sent back to Britain. He was allowed to leave the army and return back to his home on the Isle of Man. Joyfully returning to his family, he thought that life would return to normal. That only lasted two months, for one day as the family was having dinner. The only warning they had was two loud knocks on the door before it was forced open. Soon a creature attacked them and Aleyn tried to protect his family only to be sliced up and tossed aside. Knocking him out, and the next thing he knew, he woke up in a hospital. Turns out one of his sisters was going to surprise Aleyn and his family with gifts that night. She would find him barely alive and rushed him to a hospital. When he inquired about his family, Aleyn was told that only he survived, and he was devastated by the news. He was not sure of what attacked his family, and he sounded kinda crazy about how he described the attacker. Aleyn tried to find any information he could find about what killed his family.

So far into his search, Aleyn could not find what killed his family, and it was during a bout of drinking alcohol at his home that a message came for him. A letter that told him that he was invited to a meeting of the Nachtwache. Curious about who would invite him and the nature of the meeting. Aleyn would travel to Germany to find out more about this group and see what they have to offer him.

looks good. One question thhough what is Aleyn doing in Munich now?

@Dyelli Beybi

Helmut Kürten [+]

Name: Helmut Kürten

Gender: Male

Age: 30

Nationality: German

Appearance: Helmut is about 6’1" with an athletic body. His hair is light blonde, and his cut is short. Helmut’s skin is pale white and looks quite sickly. His overall appearance is relatively lean; one would assume he has not eaten or slept. His whole body is adorned with scars from his time during the war. As well as having piercing blue eyes.

He wore a white shirt with holes and stains in his casual clothing. Dark green overalls covered the shirt and looked equally as ratty. He also wore black combat boots that he had worn during the war.

He wears his old soldier Outfit with a helmet and gas mask during his hunts.

Personal Effects: A pair of pistols ( Steyr M1912 pistols), A bible, A rosary with a cross on the end, garlic, holy water, a cross, silver bullets, Molotov cocktails, and a pair of trench knives.

Background:

What is your job: Formerly a soldier with the 54th Infantry Division. Now, he is a painter.

Backstory: Helmut was born in the city of Fehrbellin. At a young age, he was reticent and shy. He mostly kept to himself and played his made-up games to keep himself busy. He kept himself busy with drawing and painting. As a boy, he was skilled at using pencils and brushes. For most of his childhood and teenage years, he was a loner. As a teenager, his paintings and drawers were quite disturbing. The images depict grotesque violence and horrible-looking creatures. He sees some of these in his dreams and the waking world.

As the Great War was beginning, he was drafted into the war. During his time, he participated in many battles. While fighting in Romania, his company was attacked by a group of vampires. During the carnage of this and a brutal battle, he was significantly injured. One of his legs was blown off, and there was a large amount of shrapnel in his body. A witch named Jana helped him with his wounds. He was told that he had a special connection with the supernatural. He was given items that could help him deal with paranormal creatures.

After the war, he returned disillusioned and suffering from immense PTSD. He went back to painting, drawing what he had seen during the war, his dreams, and hallucinations. At night, he would go out and hunt creatures of the night.

For your consideration, boss, I noticed the discord link is not working. Could I get a new link for that, please?

I'm assuming he's got a wooden leg now?

So, within the context of the RP any character is hopelessly outclassed by any creature they encounter. That being said, I'm happy for Helmut to have some affiliation with the Night Watch already... if you got onto the Discord, we should brainstorm how to make that work

And I think I've fixed the discord link... hopefully

Name: Quinn O'Hearn/Sophie Quincy
Gender: Female (presents as male to avoid discrimination)
Age: 24
Nationality: American
Appearance:
Hider [+]

Quinn is 5'4

Personal Effects: Men's suits in various styles ranging from a casual Norfolk suit to a formal Mackinaw jacket or summer white with cane, M1917 (S&W) revolver in .45 ACP, a locket with a picture of a woman in it, a lighter engraved with Tank Corp's insignia and a pack of cigarettes.

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What is your job Former soldier (Cpl., 1st Tank Brigade, 344th Battalion, Fifth Corps)
Backstory: Sophie Quincy was born in central Indiana to a less than well-off family not too far from Indianapolis. Life was relatively unassuming until she was sent to Catholic school where she met a girl and suddenly found herself burdened with a dark secret. The two of them had a friendship that... went beyond the bounds of polite society and very dishonest in the eyes of the church, so neither of them were keen on letting anyone in on it. They were willing to keep living their lie as normal until the war in Europe was getting close to dragging America into it, and Sophie's friend joined the Army Nurse Corps out of a sense of obligation to her country. Sophie didn't want to be a nurse, but she also wasn't ready to be left alone while her lover went to Europe without her, so she altered her appearance and faked her name to impersonate a man so she could join the Army. Now using the name Quinn O'Hearn to lean into her Irish heritage, she was sent to Bourg, France as a student of Captain George Patton's experimental tank school. She was assigned the Commander/Gunner role of the Renault FT, and given to the 327th(later reorganized to the 344th) Tank Battalion where she saw combat from Saint-Mihiel through the Meuse-Argonne Offensive all the way to Lorraine. While they didn't see each other often, Quinn being frequently on the front and her paramour being at field hospitals behind it, the Army made it very easy for letters to be exchanged quickly between the two.

After the war was over, the pair didn't feel like they were ready to go back to the United States, having been fascinated by the big city feel of European metropolises like London and Paris. They would spend some time in the UK before returning home to their small town, if they ever could. When a mysterious letter awaited them at their hotel asking for a meeting, Quinn was sure she'd been found out, and she'd do anything to stop someone from spilling her secret.

<Snipped quote by Theyra>

looks good. One question thhough what is Aleyn doing in Munich now?

Waiting for the meeting or looking for the meeting location? Is that good enough, or does there need to be a better reason?

I was hoping they might have some reason to be in Munich prior to the invitation arriving

I was hoping they might have some reason to be in Munich prior to the invitation arriving

Ah, perhaps his own investigation on what killed his family brought him to Munich?

Character Description

Name: Quinn O'Hearn/Sophie Quincy
Gender: Female (presents as male to avoid discrimination)
Age: 24
Nationality: American
Appearance:
Hider [+]

Quinn is 5'4

Personal Effects: Men's suits in various styles ranging from a casual Norfolk suit to a formal Mackinaw jacket or summer white with cane, M1917 (S&W) revolver in .45 ACP, a locket with a picture of a woman in it, a lighter engraved with Tank Corp's insignia and a pack of cigarettes.

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Background:

What is your job Former soldier (Cpl., 1st Tank Brigade, 344th Battalion, Fifth Corps)
Backstory: Sophie Quincy was born in central Indiana to a less than well-off family not too far from Indianapolis. Life was relatively unassuming until she was sent to Catholic school where she met a girl and suddenly found herself burdened with a dark secret. The two of them had a friendship that... went beyond the bounds of polite society and very dishonest in the eyes of the church, so neither of them were keen on letting anyone in on it. They were willing to keep living their lie as normal until the war in Europe was getting close to dragging America into it, and Sophie's friend joined the Army Nurse Corps out of a sense of obligation to her country. Sophie didn't want to be a nurse, but she also wasn't ready to be left alone while her lover went to Europe without her, so she altered her appearance and faked her name to impersonate a man so she could join the Army. Now using the name Quinn O'Hearn to lean into her Irish heritage, she was sent to Bourg, France as a student of Captain George Patton's experimental tank school. She was assigned the Commander/Gunner role of the Renault FT, and given to the 327th(later reorganized to the 344th) Tank Battalion where she saw combat from Saint-Mihiel through the Meuse-Argonne Offensive all the way to Lorraine. While they didn't see each other often, Quinn being frequently on the front and her paramour being at field hospitals behind it, the Army made it very easy for letters to be exchanged quickly between the two.

After the war was over, the pair didn't feel like they were ready to go back to the United States, having been fascinated by the big city feel of European metropolises like London and Paris. They would spend some time in the UK before returning home to their small town, if they ever could. When a mysterious letter awaited them at their hotel asking for a meeting, Quinn was sure she'd been found out, and she'd do anything to stop someone from spilling her secret.

so question - why are they in Germany? :D

Nikolai Freiherr [+]

Character Description

Name: Nikolai Freiherr
Gender: M
Age: 37
Nationality: Russian (Baltic Germanic)
Appearance: A rugged but surprisingly scrawny man, Nikolai has unruly blonde hair and blue eyes. He is pretty tall, well over six foot and borderline lanky. He keeps himself moderately well groomed.
Personal Effects: Mauser Pistol, A journal, 3 hardcover books without titles, couple changes of clothes, dress uniform and sabre, some fine jewelry, and opium

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Background:

What is your job: Soldier turned Socialite, Nikolai has been trying to carouse his way into the graces of the Junkers to limited success.
Backstory: Nikolai has been a man whose life has always been a bit supernatural. Born a lesser Estonian Noble in Austria to a German Mother, he was raised in an island castle with pseudo-medieval outlooks with pseudo-medieval sensibilities. Their militarist stylings resulted in Nikolai going to military schooling, where some minor sociopathic tendencies presented themselves in terrorizing his fellow students before going to university at St. Petersburg, where he was introduced to Theosophy and Mysticism, something that would remain strong in his life. His studies were interrupted by the Russo-Japanese war, which he enlisted for when his school refused to send him as an officer.

In the far east, his occult curiosities were only encouraged, and war proved a natural environment for his newfound practices. He saw combat during the battle of Shaho, and earned some distinction. Returning to Saint Petersburg at the age of 20, he was regarded as a war hero, which while overblown was enough for him to eventually graduate with a little distinction. More distinct was his ties to the occult community in the region, which was growing in the face of perceived decadence.

Upon earning his commission, he volunteered for a station in Manchuria, where he would be able to explore his perverted faith, further develop his occult reputation both locally and back West, and enjoy the privileges of rank. Taking up command of a Cossack unit, he became an enthusiastic and creative cavalry officer. He would advance for nearly a decade to a company rank of Sotnick before the outbreak of a war that was not kind to cavalry officers.

His service in the war and the following revolution became a blur of blood and steel, one he is very guarded about and often contradictory. All that is known is that he served on the Caucasus front until the revolution, where he then joined the white army. He fought until 1921, leaving him one of the last diehard holdouts to eventually break. He escaped Soviet persecution, and returned to the land of his mother.

For the last two years, he has ingratiated himself with anti-communists and freikorps members, and has even managed to restore some ties to his occult fellows who were not purged by the reds. The instability in Germany is of grave concern to him, and he remains a staunch monarchist, which has earned him the somewhat-good graces of benefactors. It is hard to tell how much of the man is a myth, but he asserts himself as an honest man.

looks good!

Looks like another fellow in need of a good debunking.

@Pragia12@Theyra feel free to put your characters on the character tab! I was going to start building a link thingee in post zero.

Name: Charlotte “Lotte” Treich
Gender: Female
Age: 20
Nationality: German
Appearance: Charlotte is a small, thin woman, standing just at 4’11”


Personal Effects: A suitcase of clothes, both plain and for performance. A collection of letters, mostly from her fans. A Fritz Mann 6.35mm.

Background: Singer
Backstory: Charlotte Treich was born to a family of urban poor in Berlin. Her childhood was spent in want, and oftentimes pushed to desperation even in the years before the war even with a large family. Though she received compulsory education as required, hunger pains hobbled academic success despite best efforts to apply herself through classes in her early years, though she took to music quite well privately and at church, proving to be a lifelong habit of hers.

Then the Great War broke out, and disrupted what dynamic the family managed to create. Her eldest brothers were both drafted to the front early in the conflict, only one of whom would return, while her father worked ever longer hours in an attempt to make ends meet under the Allied Blockade. The Hunger Years of 1917 and 1918 proved particularly difficult for the already strained family, and Lotte herself turned to underhanded methods to secure scraps of food.

Life after the armistice proved little easier, at least initially, the Spanish Flu robbed her mother and father and youngest brother from her, leaving Alois, her demobilized brother to return as head of a much quieter home. However, this did not change the circumstances of the family as much, and they still resorted to theft to help make ends meet. These years of malnourishment and desperation taught the girl what it was like to be unnoticed, and how to move as such, and gave the skinny girl a surprising speed on the run and a sense of environment to make use of it.

The Bloody Week of 1919 in Berlin ultimately saw Alois killed in the extrajudicial violence carried out by the Freikorps, once more robbing the Treiches that remained in Berlin of their primary breadwinner, forcing Charlotte, now 16 to take to the streets to find what work she could. Fortunately for her, Charlotte found work as a dancer at one of Berlin’s cabarets.

This would ultimately prove to be the start of Charlotte’s lot improving. Pretty, if stunted in terms of height and seemingly naturally talented at dance, the young girl caught the attention of the manager as a background dancer. From there, she spent the next two years improving and developing her abilities with the hopes of eventually headlining her own act.

As of present, she is still a minor name, but it is a growing one in Berlin and its suburbs. She is not without her fans, of course. One incident stands out, however, when she found a black lacquered jewelry box with floral gold inlay waiting in her little dressing area with a letter written in the most elegant print Charlotte had ever seen. In contrast to the penmanship, the woman found the contents to be a painfully boring and generic love letter, but the box still held her attention.

Opening it, she found a simple gold chain, supporting a rather large red crystal pressed into an archaic style of pendant. Curiosity pressed her on, and grabbed the pendant. She found it to be ice cold, and noticed that the gem reacted to her touch as though there was a fluid within the deep crimson. A deep wave of nausea swept over her as she placed it over her neck, causing Charlotte to stumble from her chair. Hellish screams bombarded the young woman’s senses as she felt cold spread out from her chest. Instinctively, she reached for the necklace and attempted to rip it off to no avail.

As the cold burned into her hand and spread to her neck, she tugged with all the strength she could muster and finally broke the thin chain as she wrenched the necklace free. Quickly, she tossed it away. Charlotte proved keen on forgetting the event, and another letter waiting for her carried good news.

Her sister was to be married in Bavaria, just outside of Munich.

@Bingelly looks good to me!