Fragment - Cologne 1686 - You are female (Standardversion).

The year is 1686. You stand in the center of the French army camp, your muscles still aching from four days of hard riding along the winding banks of the Rhine. The white tents of the Bourbon lily form straight lines on the grass, shimmering in the twilight. You remember the death of your father, Nicolaus Gülich, a rich merchant from Cologne. He expected the city to save him from some merchant kidnappers years ago on his way to the Leipzig Feir. The law obligated the city council to pay for the release of every innocent citizen arrested. The council kept the money. They refused to pay the kidnappers. Instead, you had to gather the gold to bring him home. Your father was in rage about the council. He wrote a paper about the corruption in Cologne and led a revolt against the council. He took the leaders and put them under guard. But Emperor Leopold I in Vienna feared losing control and losing Cologne to the French army. He sent a decree. The decree made your father a man without rights and home. Main followers turned away from him. You saw the blade fall on his neck on the field near the river. You saw the soldiers put his head on a wooden pole to demonstrate something to the city. Now, you walk toward the large tent of the French leader. Two guards stand at the entrance. They wear blue coats with red collars, white waistcoats, and a grey tricorn on their head. There crossed pikes block your path. You stop in front of them. "I seek the leader," you say. "I have information about Cologne." The guards will scrutinize you from head to feet. One guard enters the tent. He returns and moves his pike. His hand points into the tent. "Captain Charles de Gramont awaits you." Charles de Gramont sits at a table. He wears a blue coat with gold buttons, a silver waistcoat and a black tricorn. He has a map of the Rhine river in front of him. He looks at you. "You have information about Cologne," Charles says. "Tell me." "Cologne's walls are strong; they have repelled many raids," you say. "But I know the path through them." Charles leans forward. He places his hands on the map. "Many people tell stories to get something. Why do you tell me this secret?" "The council killed my father," you respond. "They broke the law of the city. They stole his life and his honor. I want the council to die. I want the name of Nicolaus Gülich to be clean again." Charles looks at the map. He moves a finger over the lines of the city. "King Louis XIV wants the city. If you show us the path, the city falls." "I will show the path," you say. "But you must promise that my father will get honored again." "I care about the city, not the renown of a dead man," the Captain says. "If we enter the gates, we will take care of the council and your father's name." Charles turns his head toward the back of the tent. "Jacque," Charles shouts. "Stop your work and come here." A young man walks into the light of the lamps. He carries a rapier in a leather scabbard and looks at you. The man is dressed in the same coat like the captain with a silver waistcoat. His gaze immediately meets yours and he takes off his black tricorn in greeting, a smirk on his lips. "This woman knows a way into the city," Charles tells him. "You will take enough supplies for the journey and follow her alone. Never leave her side until the gates are open for the regiment.." Jacque looks at the captain. He grips the handle of his rapier, his smirk vanishes. "I wanted to lead the charge on the field father," he says. "Now I am a guide for a merchant's daughter?" "You will do as I say," Charles says. Jaques turns to you.