Overview
Duchess Haselschwanz is a Dormouse noblewoman in Claudia Braun and the Disappearing Sable. She is the Duchess of Käse and the public leader of a diplomatic tour connected to peace, tradition, and budget reform.
At Plumwald Station, the Duchess is surrounded by attendants, luggage, royal guards, and other nobles. Her rose-pink luggage publicly announces her name, while her bright dress and high, sharp voice make her easy to recognize.
Public role
The Duchess’s tour is visible in station news and public conversation. One account connects her visit to improved relations between Siika and Dormouse after a pavilion event and an aviator’s appearance. Her presence at the international platform gives the station an unusual concentration of guards, onlookers, and noble travelers.
Despite the public setting, the Duchess’s most important business is private. She has brought Aleksei Oblaka into Dormouse as part of a secret attempt to ease tensions between Dormouse and the Khomyak Empire.
Access to the Duchess
Claudia cannot simply walk up to the Duchess. Royal guards block most direct approaches, and The Spotted Baron and his entourage obstruct access to the international platform area.
The player can guide Claudia toward the Duchess by learning the guards’ password from Escamoso at the Station Café, or by using first-class lounge gossip about the Spotted Baron to make him leave for the king. Once Claudia reaches the Duchess, the crucial test is whether she can provide Aleksei’s full name. The surname alone is not enough to make the Duchess reveal the truth.
Outcome
In the successful ending, Duchess Haselschwanz brings Claudia and Marnie Stout into her private rail car. Away from the public display around her tour, she explains that Aleksei is Prince Aleksei and that his presence in Dormouse is part of a delicate peace effort.
The Duchess offers Claudia a place in domestic intelligence after Claudia solves the case. Claudia declines.