[WFRP] The Bloody Crown IV

[LCP]

The Bloody Crown - Continued

In that dread desert, beneath the moon’s pale gaze, dead men walk.

They haunt the shifting dunes of the breathless, windless night, brandishing weapons of bronze in mocking challenge and bitter resentment of the life they no longer possess.

And sometimes, in ghastly dry voices, like the rustling of sun-baked reeds, they whisper the one word they remember from life. The name of the one who cursed them to their existence of more than death but less than life.

They whisper the name, Nagash.

OOC (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?394884-WFRP-The-Bloody-Crown-OOC-IV)

While the others returned to the Harvester's Haven, Viggo headed off to play at the Duke. He didn't have much luck plying his trade there - though some of the patrons noticed him, what he overheard about their opinion of his performance wasn't good. Disheartened, he sidled off to bed.



Festag, 13th Pflugzeit

Rising early in the morning, Adelbert led the way back into the winding streets of the Old Town. The Red Moon was still where he had seen it yesterday, looking a touch less ominous in the bright morning light. He could hear stable-hands at work in the alley that led down the side of the old clay-brick building, and the chilly proprietress greeted him at the door.

"Ah," she said, recognising Adelbert immediately. "You're looking for Herr Klammenberg." She paused, running an eye over the others with him. "What shall I tell him your business is?"

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

"Scholarly matters Mein Fraulein," said Adelbert politely. "We are men of letters... well, some of us are in any case. Do you have anywhere we might might?"

[LeSwordfish]

Ludo tipped his hat at the lady, but let Adelbert do the talking. Announcing himself as a member of the Sermena Stubbs was probably unwise here.

[Northern Lad]

Viggo Hirtzel


Viggo woke quite late and breakfasted alone at the Duke, still trying to not let last nights' uninspiring performance ruin his mood. He still couldn't quite get over yesterday evening's revelations. Imagine old Stone Face marching around with a spear that could kill a God stuffed in his pocket all this time! He thought with a wry twist to his lips. Might be that we'll bloody need it too, if Elsa is serious about us going to this Gods' deserted Nath place! that prospect made him shudder.

Viggo couldn't quite remember where the others had said they were going today, but the way he figured it, he'd earned himself a bit of free time. He spent it looking for a new set of clothes. He'd regretted not having time to collect his new outfit from Fraulein Chiara before leaving Mirino and wanted to ease that pain by finding a new outfit here in Savonne. Place as big as this must have what I'm after.

OOC

Same as before: He's looking for a set of Best Clothes including cloak (all in bright red), boots and a Good red hat to go along with his new outfit (A la Robin Hood and Peter Pan!) :smallredface:

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

Sieghard rolled his eyes at "men of letters" but held his tongue.It may have been a fitting description for Adelbert, but it didn't really work for the rest of them.

[LCP]

No Viggos

"I'll ask if he's receiving guests," said the woman. "Herr Pfeiffer, wasn't it? From Altdorf"



Viggo

Wandering through the darkened streets in the shadow of the Rock, Viggo found his meandering path directed towards the South Market. There he found merchants selling all manner of cloth, from Sudenland wool to fine Arabyan silks. Drifting from stall to stall, he found it hard to keep his money in his purse.

OOC: You can buy what you like at rulebook prices, modified by Haggle.


He'd regretted not having time to collect his new outfit from Fraulein Chiara before leaving Mirino

I'm confused - I thought you collected that just before the festival.

[RossN]

Viggoless

"Er, yes, quite," Adelbert said, running his hand through his goatee in the manner of a refined scholar. He glanced at the others. "And associates."

[LCP]

Not Viggo

Giving Adelbert's 'associates' a last skeptical look, the woman invited them inside, into the cramped parlour Adelbert had seen last night. The sleeping gentleman with the long moustaches was gone, and the fire was cold.

At length, the woman descended the stairs again. Meeting Adelbert's eyes, she shook her head.

"Herr Klammenberg doesn't wish to be disturbed. If you want to leave a message, I can keep it for him."

[RossN]

Un-Viggoed

"I see...," Adelbert said slowly, sincerely surprised. For a scholar Klammenberg seemed remarkably incurious. If the woman had described him enough Klammenberg recognised him as Adelbert (despite his new facial hair), why would he not be curious Adelbert was operating under a different name? And if Klammenberg hadn't recognised Adelbert, surely he would intriguied who this stranger was?

"Well that is a disappointment. I do not believe I shall leave a message. Gutentag madam."

Turning, he lead the others outside. "Well, so much for that. Where now?"

[-Sentinel-]

Viggone

Elsa shrugged. "That was your idea. If you ask me, we're better off going on our way to our... destination without alerting him to our presence here."

[Northern Lad]

Viggo Hirtzel


Agreeing a price with a particularly stubborn trader who refused to part with the hat he wanted any cheaper Viggo couldn't help but feel the bounce in his step. Maybe it's these new boots! They are very comfortable! He felt a pang of guilt that he found his new boots a better fit than his old favourites.

He rushed back to his room at the Duke to change into his new clothes and then with nothing better to do with his day he set off in search of his friends. Taking a guess that sooner or later they'd return to the old priests house, he set off, nodding at the folk he passed on his way with a friendly smile and quick tug at the peak of his cap. Caring not a jot if anybody found his jarring scarlet clothes an eye sore or not.

OOC



Deducted 10gold and 10silver for his clothes and hat... all in bright red. Book prices didn't bother with Haggle.

Viggo collected his Entertainers costume but not his Best Clothes. Posts 696, 704 & 705 on this page http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?342019-WFRP-The-Bloody-Crown-III/page24

Also Note: In post 704, Viggo reminisces about his old horse that was stolen. That horse was called Magnus as is his new horse! I never picked up on that, but hey ho! :smallbiggrin:

[LeSwordfish]

Vigg0
"If he is interested in seeing us, let him know we'll be at the Haven for a few more days." Ludo said, without much hope, and followed Adelbert out.

---

"I'd like to speak to somebody at the Jeweller's Guild." Ludo said, tapping the folded paper in his pocket. "They might know what this means, apparently they worked with the dwarves." He cast around, looking for somebody who looked acquainted with jewellery.

OOC
Ludo will begin his path to the jewellers by making a Gossip test for their location, and if that fails going and looking around in the more high-class areas near the temple.

Gossip: [roll0] vs 47
Fate re-roll: [roll1]

[LCP]

Viggoless

The Guild of Jewellers and Mineworkers was easy to find. Their guildhouse was one of the oldest and largest buildings in the Rockshadow district, with guards in clean chainmail leaning on heavy halberds outside the doors. An elaborate coat of arms in the Old World style hung overhead; it showed lionesses' heads and golden orbs against a quartered purple field.

As the party approached, one of the guards stepped forwards. He had clearly seen Sieghard coming some distance away.

"No weapons inside the guildhouse, please," he said. "If you want to go in, you have to leave them at the door."



Viggo

Heading north around the castle walls, Viggo made his way back to the Old Town and Heironymus' house. Knocking, he roused the priest, who irritably told him that the others had not been there since yesterday. Clearly lacking patience for being treated as a talking signpost, he quickly shut the door on Viggo again.

[LeSwordfish]

Vig-out
Ludo had nearly forgotten he was visibly armed now. He pulled Al'Haik's Arabyan sword from his belt, and laid it on the ground by the door, before divesting himself of his dagger and sling. He pointed at the pile of weapons and looked sternly at Stoutheart.

"Guard."

Stoutheart flicked a fly away with his ear.

"Guard."

Stoutheart didn't move. Ludo decided to take that as assent. "Good boy."

That done, he stood and waited for his companions to follow.

[RossN]

Unviggoed

Adelbert glanced doubtfully at Stoutheart. He actually rather liked the animal (who was far more likeable than Manfred) but he had suspicions about his skill at guarding. Perhaps it would have been better to bring Kaja. With a sigh he removed his shortsword and left it beside Ludo's weapons.

[TheSummoner]

Two and a half men and a woman and a dog

Sieghard placed his weapons in the growing pile and followed the others inside.

[Northern Lad]

Viggo Hirtzel


With an exaggerated sigh at the tolerance of old men, Viggo set off in search of the Harvesters Haven. Grumpy old git could have invited me in for... Thinking about it Viggo was rather relieved that he didn't have to wait in the dusty book filled room under the scrutiny of the priests two pet owls. At least at the Harvester I might be able to make a coin or two whilst I wait for them to turn up.

[-Sentinel-]

No Viggo

Elsa likewise relinquished her weapons; in any case, they served more to convey a don't-mess-with-me message than anything else.

[LCP]

ViggNo

The two guards looked down at Stoutheart guarding the pile of weapons with skeptical expressions. They weren't about to disrupt their own entertainment in watching the little dog pull guard duty, though, and waved the others through.

Inside was a narrow entrance hall, with doors off to either side. Oil lamps hung from the walls, and carpets and tapestries with geometric designs reinforced the impression of wealth.

There was no-one in sight. Hearing a faint scritching noise through the door to his left, Adelbert cracked it open. On the other side was a small room, in which a small woman sat a small desk in the small shaft of sunlight that was entering through the window. She looked up in alarm at the sudden appearance of strangers in the doorway, knocking over the inkwell she had been working with.

"Ach - damn - sorry," she said, jumping up and grabbing for a rag to soak up the spreading black spill. In a couple of seconds she had undone most of the damage. "Is - is there something I can help you with?"

[LeSwordfish]

Viggo Mortisen't here
Ludo rushed forward to help the woman with her spill, managing to make some small positive contribution to the cleanup. He smiled, taking in the woman's details- some kind of scribe?- and began his spiel.

"Good morning, Ma'am. I was told that this would be the place to come if we wanted to find someone who spoke Khazalid."

[RossN]

Viggan't

Adelbert winced in sympathy at the ink spill and would have moved to help if Ludo hadn't beaten him to it. "My apologies for startling you Fraulein. I am a scribe myself."

[LCP]

Viggohome

"It's alright," said the woman, wringing the last dregs of ink out of her sleeve. She seemed a little disconcerted to have more than one offer of help at once. "It's fine. I'm sorry, I'm Katia. Are you - do you have business with the Guild?"

She was short, about a head shorter than Elsa. Her dark hair was cut in a sharp line just above her shoulders, and her accent and complexion made her origins difficult to place.

"You wanted someone who... speaks the dwarf tongue," she repeated, collecting herself. "Like a dwarf? They've all gone, I'm afraid."

"Some of the mineworkers know the dwarfish mine-sign, though. What did you want a translator for?"

[LeSwordfish]

Viggy Pudding
"We've got a rune that needs translating." Ludo said, pulling the note from his pocket. "And we were told a few people here might be able to help. I understand that you used to work with the dwarves, so even if nobody here is fluent, there might be a better chance."

[LCP]

Vi won't go until we've got some.

"I'm... not sure who might be able to read this," said Katia, looking down at the sign on the paper. "Just one letter?"

"I can ask Guildmaster Gisela. Who should I say is asking?"

[RossN]

Vi vi fo fum

"A party of interested scholars," Adelbert replied in measured tones. "We are new in town and I do not think our name would mean anything to the guildmaster."

After his brush off by Klammenburg Adelbert was feeling waspish.

[LCP]

I'm out of Viggo puns

"Well then," said the woman, not seeming troubled by this, "would you like to come with me and make your introductions yourself? It would save a lot of walking."

Leaving the small room where she had been writing, she led them up a narrow flight of stairs to a much grander door. Hesitating at the threshold, she knocked so quietly that Elsa doubted anyone inside would have heard.

"Enter," came a voice from inside - clearly belonging to someone with incredible hearing. Very gingerly, Katia pushed open the door and stuck her head round the corner.

"Some visitors here to see you, madame," she said.

"Show them in," came an equally imperious reply. Pushing the door fully open, Katia motioned hurriedly for the others to step through.

Inside was a well-appointed chamber, with sunlight slanting in through two large glazed windows in the north wall. There were an assortment of dark wooden chairs, a broad table, and a woman sitting behind it, surrounded by letters and ledgers in orderly stacks. An anaemic-looking man with a nose like a knife and eyes screwed up in a perpetual squint perched on a chair in the corner, a long quill hovering over a half-written page.

Guildmaster Gisela was a tall woman in her later years. What could be seen of her hair - she kept most of it under a green silk headscarf - was iron grey, and her eyes were a similar colour. They regarded the newcomers now with an inscrutable air.

"Good morning," she greeted them. "I don't believe we've met."

[RossN]

Also out of Viggo puns

"We have not madam," agreed Adelbert. "We are scholars from the Empire. I am Hans Pfeiffer, late of Altdorf. My companions and I were hoping you could translate a dwarf rune for us. I understand your guild had dealings with the dwarfs in the past?"

Adelbert resisted the urge to adopt an imperious tone himself but managed to keep his face and speech courteous.

[LeSwordfish]

Lightweights, I could Viggo all night.
Ludo raised an eyebrow at "Hans Pfeiffer" - because 'Beatrix' worked out so well for us- but had the common sense not to argue. He did bow a little at the imperious guilder, though.

"If you could be so kind," he added.

[LCP]

Oh no Ludon't

Gisela's face soured when Adelbert mentioned dwarfs.

"In the past, we did," she said, icily. "That was before they decided to take offence at the shape of the prince's ears and left." She tilted her head back, looking hard at Adelbert.

"Well," she said, impatiently. "What is it? This rune of yours, show it to me."

When shown Ludo's copy, the guildmaster squinted at it as if it had done her some personal wrong.

"This isn't part of their phonetic alphabet," she said, at last. "Katia, please fetch me Corvo's book."

Katia scurried off, returning shortly afterwards with a slightly dog-eared book in her hands. Taking it without a word, Gisela leafed through it as if she knew what she was looking for.

"There," she said, setting the book down and referring back to Ludo's scrap of parchment. "Dammaz. It literally translates as "grudge"."

She paused, the meaning of the word sinking in.

"Did a dwarf give this to you?"

[-Sentinel-]

No Viggo

"Did a dwarf give this to you?"

"No," said Elsa, seeing no point in elaborating further. "Why do you ask?"

[LCP]

No Viggos

"Dwarfs take grudges very seriously," said Gisela, handing the scrap of parchment back. "It's good that this wasn't a threat."

"If it wasn't from a dwarf, then how did you come by this?"

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"Do they?" Sieghard asked, remembering the slayer they had encountered in Alvarran. "How serious?"

[RossN]

Still Viggoless after All These Years

"We came upon it the course of our historical studies," Adelbert explained. "In fact I might have exchanged two or three words with a dwarf in my entire time in the Reaches - hence our need to find someone who knows their tongue. Languages are my specialty but I've never managed Khazalid, so we are grateful for the assistance madam."

[LCP]

No Viggos

"Well, next time look it up in a book," said Gisela, sharply. She didn't deign to answer Sieghard's question, clearly regarding him as hired help. "I'm a very busy person."

Closing Corvo's book, she looked back to Adelbert. "You're doing historical research into the dwarfs - I don't suppose it has any relation to the Dwimmulhold?"

[RossN]

No Viggos

"I doubt it," Adelbert replied, a little of his own irritation rubbing through his tone. He was not having a good time in Savonne. "We believe this mark to be very ancient and didn't know of Savonne's relationship with the dwarfs at all until we arrived here. Or former relationship I might say."

He did not however correct Gisela assumption that they were researching dwarfs. He glanced at the others in case they had anything to add.

[LCP]

No Viggos

"Then be off, unless you have something else to bother me with," said Gisela, seeming a bit put out. "I have little time for these distractions."

[RossN]

No Viggos

"Yes, I'm sure it takes time to get nowhere," Adelbert replied disdainfully. "Good day madam."

He was still fuming as the group departed. "Well, that well. I don't know about you but I believe I've had quite my fill of Savonne. Let's conclude our business here and leave."

Adelbert's expression darkened at the word 'Savonne'. His time in the town had been a bitter personal disappointment and he did not wish to stay longer than he had to.

[-Sentinel-]

No Viggo


"Let's conclude our business here and leave."
"Couldn't agree more," said Elsa, nodding. Though she quite liked the city, she was on a mission and did not care for delays.

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"We have the names of the wizards Father Heironymus mentioned," Sieghard suggested.

[RossN]

No Viggo

This was news to Adelbert. Lowering his voice he asked: "Oh, what wizards?"

[LeSwordfish]

!Viggo
"There were a few other possible wizards who could have taken the book." Ludo said. "We followed up on the sorcerors of Nath because they seemed like the best lead- most others were like Beatrix or Elsa, no real motive, no connection except for being wizards."

"I'd like to at least investigate the others a little. Perhaps we can stay a day or two?"

[RossN]

Non Viggo

Adelbert stroked his goatee, obviously stressed and unhappy. "Would Beatrix know of these other wizards?"

[LeSwordfish]

Not Viggo
"Maybe, but they were mostly historical. I'd rather just meet Hieronymous again."

[RossN]

No Viggos

Adelbert looks deeply irritated, obviously wondering why this hadn't been resolved at the last meeting with the priest and painfully aware he'd probably have to attend this one. "Fine."

LCP:
Hey, if you still have that way planned for getting back into Verena's cult I think I'd like to explore it after all if it is not too late? I still am interested in Adelbert pursuing the priestly career.

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"Something called the Karst Covens and another group called the Illuminated Order," Sieghard began repeating from memory. "A wizard from Ravenskird called Gilbertus, and another whose name he didn't know or didn't give. And Fassbender he mentioned, but I figure if she had the book, she would've attacked us just for knowing about it."

He didn't know what had Adelbert so frustrated, but decided better than to pry. "If we're going to see the priest again, probably better to fetch Viggo first so we don't have to explain things to him later."

[RossN]

No Viggos

"That makes sense," agreed Adelbert, rather concerned about these new groups and what their intentions might be. "Is he still performing at the Duke?"

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"If he had other plans, he didn't mention them."

[LCP]

Looking for Viggo in the Duke turned up no sign of him. One of the servants seemed to have the vague idea that he'd gone looking for his friends, and so they headed back out onto the streets.

After far too much wasted time, they finally found a bored-looking Viggo waiting at the Harvester's Haven. After some general grumbling, he looked surprised when they told him where they going.

"The old priest?" he said. "But that's the first place I looked for you!"

OOC: A note for the future: maybe when you guys split up, you should decide in advance how to meet back up?


~

When they came back to Heironymus' house, the priest was in the process of letting himself out. Spotting them on the approach, he straightened up to greet them, one of his owls perched on his shoulder.

"You again," he said, the words seemingly directed at Viggo. "And what can I do for you today?"

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"We were hoping to learn some more about the wizards," Sieghard replied. Lowering his voice, he added "The ones you said might have the book."

[LCP]

"Might have had," said Heironymus, unable to resist the urge to correct someone. "The only one of them who is still alive today is living in Painford, and I think if she had it someone would have heard."

"I was just on my way to the temple," he said, eyeing up the party with a cautious expression. As a rag-tag group of (mostly) heavily-armed malingerers, their appearance perhaps didn't inspire the most confidence. "Perhaps Master Stubbs or, um, Herr Schreiber would like to take some books on loan in the meantime?"

[LeSwordfish]

"That'd be very kind of you." Ludo said, a little distracted. "The ones you suggested last time, perhaps?"

[LCP]

"Quite," said Heironymus. "Wait here, I'll fetch them for you."

Going back inside, he reappeared with a small stack of books under his arm. "These are the volumes I picked out. I had something on the Illuminated Order, but I'd forgotten I already lent it out." He pressed the books into Ludo's hands, eclipsing the halfling's face behind them. "Now, I really must be off. Please return those as soon as you can - they're valuable, you know." A glimmer of the old man's curiosity made him hesitate. "And let me know if you find anything, of course!"

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

Adelbert looks awkward. "Yes of course... in fact if I get a chance to talk to that ancient priestess I'd welcome the chance to discuss theology with her." His expression grew wistful, his tone awed. "Imagine it, the voice of a servant of the ancient gods."

[LCP]

Heironymus paused again, looking perplexed.

"I'm sorry," he said, before trailing off, "...what?"

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

"Meskhenet, the priestess of Kheneb-Ptra-Urush, an ancient sun god I believe. Surely I mentioned her? We met her in the ruins near Caerfort. She lives still via powerful magic, though it is more of a curse than true life." Adelbert said and shivered at the memory. "She said her gods were long dead though I believe her to be in error. After all do the Kislevites not still worship the sun?"

He hesitated, then added with a gloomy edge to his voice: "Though of course I am merely a scholar, not a priest."

[LCP]

Heironymus still looked puzzled.

"I'm not sure what that has to do with what we were discussing," he said, uncertainly. "In any case, I must be off. Don't pin your hopes on dead religions, Herr Schreiber," he said, turning away. "You might count yourself lucky if you only find them to be worshipping false gods."

Owl on his shoulder, the priest headed off through the streets.

[LeSwordfish]

"I'M sure there's a printers around here somewhere here." Ludo said from behind the stack of books. "We could have handbills made, and be sure everyone knows that we work for the undead."

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

"When the priests of true gods don't even listen...," Adelbert muttered to himself unhappily as he watched Heironymus leave. With a sigh more felt than heard he turned to the others, ignoring Ludo's remark. "Well, let's go to inn and start reading."

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"Did you expect a priest to be anything other than touchy when it comes to the gods?" Sieghard asked with a smirk.

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

"I expected the priestess of the goddess of knowledge to be more curious about such a rare opportunity," explained Adelbert, heroically resisting the temptation to punch Sieghard. He turned and began walking back to the inn, intent on studying the books.

[LCP]

The books Heironymus had given them were titled The Life and Death of Gilbertus of Ravenskird, by Albrecht Larranscheld, and Witch Covens of the Black Karst, by one M. Thulmann. Heading back to the Harvester's Haven, the literate members of the party sat down to inspect them, while the others had the opportunity to wet their throats. Kaja peered over Adelbert's shoulder as he read, squinting at the letters.

The Life and Death of Gilbertus of Ravenskird
The Life and Death told the story of a Bretonnian who had apparently settled in the area shortly after the first crusade against Araby. Gilbertus had apparently been a learned man and a priest of Morr, and became a respected figure in the town of Pierreverte where he made his home. A little cross-referencing showed this to be somewhere in the Hidden Vale - Ludo suspected it was a previous name for either Handrich's Cross or Manann's Keep.

Around a decade after he had settled there, the Reaches were struck by an unusually fierce autumn of storms. Following the rains, Pierreverte was plagued by ill omens. Livestock gave birth to unnaturally twisted young, and many of the people were afflicted with a strange madness. Gilbertus himself lost his wife and his unborn child to a difficult birth.

Conferring among themselves, the villagers decided that the source of their troubles were the nearby ruins of Nath - which at that time had not lain ruined for long. As Morr's representative among them, Gilbertus was implored to travel there and exorcise the spirits of the Arabyan sorcerers who were now bringing these curses upon them - a task to which he willingly agreed.

Travelling into the Dead Hills alone, Gilbertus returned almost a month later, when the villagers had long since given him up as dead. The plagues of autumn had trailed off seemingly of their own accord, although none dared gainsay Gilbertus when he said he had brought an end to them. The priest now seemed a changed man, gaunt and forbidding, and he carried a heavy bag with him that the people of Pierreverte had not seen him carrying before. Some over-curious villagers listened outside his home at night, and claimed they heard other voices speaking when only Gilbertus had entered.

Gilbertus quickly grew angry with his prying neighbours and their impertinent questions, and left for the west. From that point on, the chronicle of his life grew more uncertain, with only scattered sightings of a thin figure in the dark robes of the Morrite priesthood passing among the farmsteads of the Downlands. Eventually, however, he reached the Bracken Mere, and made his home in the village of Ravenskird.

By now the character of the kindly priest had changed completely, becoming cold and imperious. He quickly overawed the villagers, and set himself up as their ruler. With a village of serfs at his command, he built a manse on the outskirts of the marsh, and secluded himself from everyday life, becoming ever more deeply immersed in strange studies. Even in his self-made stronghold, however, he could not maintain his isolation, as the lords of the neighbouring lands began to make demands on him and the inhabitants of Ravenskird. Though at first he grudgingly complied, their commands became ever more intolerable to him, until the sight of their heralds would send him into a black rage.

At last, Gilbertus openly defied the lord of Savonne, setting himself up as a border prince in his own right. The lord sent men-at-arms to drag the old priest before him, and was shocked to hear that the entire patrol had been destroyed at the outskirts of the village, cut down by sorcery. Gilbertus' long study had not been in vain, and he now displayed a mastery of the black arts that made him for than a match for border princelings. Further attempts to depose him met with similar disaster.

From his seat in Ravenskird, Gilbertus proceeded to terrorise the Reaches. He annexed a vast swathe of the Downlands around the lower Azril, and extended feelers south towards Caerfort and Last Water. The mercenary armies of the local lords did not have the discipline or morale to stand against dark magic, and for a while Gilbertus seemed poised to threaten Savonne itself. Fragmented accounts of the running battles that took place through the Downlands spoke of the sorcerer's forces as no better than packs of vagabonds and scavengers following in Gilbertus' wake, but their presence was hardly required - stories spoke of troops of men being aged forty years in an eyeblink, and a freezing wind that snatched away men's souls. Even when Gilbertus himself was not present, his followers would sometimes carry some fragment of dark lore taken from the trove he had amassed in his manse. The darkest stories said that the dead fought for the sorcerer, rising up as soon as they were slain to drag their erstwhile comrades down into the mud. Soon enough he became known as Gilbertus the Black, or Gilbertus the Ghoul.

Becoming desperate, the lords of the Downlands sent out word of a great reward for any wizard or priest who could unravel Gilbertus' magic. A loose coalition of hedge wizards gathered in Savonne, drawn by the lure of riches and recognition. Though none of them were individually a match for him, by working together they were able to turn aside the worst of Gilbertus' magic. Without sorcerous support, Gilbertus' rag-tag army quickly dissolved before its better armed and trained opposition, and Gilbertus was driven back to Ravenskird. Besieged in his manse, he defended himself with every last dreg of dark magic in his repertoire, emptying his reserves of tricks. Many men died trying to navigate his invisible defences, but at last the manse was stormed and Gilbertus was slain. Of the original nine hedge wizards who had opposed him, only three survived to see the end of the war.

Gilbertus' manse was demolished, and Ravenskird brought back under the rulership of Savonne. Tearing down the sorcerer's stronghold revealed catacombs beneath it, which the men-at-arms sealed as best they could. The three surviving wizards took those items from the ruins that they deemed dangerous or tainted, and promised the lord of Savonne that they would keep them safe, departing the city for a remote location in the Black Karst. This was the seed of the circle of mages that would later become the Illuminated Order - unfortunately, the book made no further mention of the Order or its history, instead devoting its final chapters to dwelling on the moral lessons of Gilbertus' fall from grace. The book was written in almost-modern Reikspiel and took a rather distant perspective, showing that Larranscheld must have written it some centuries after the original events.

Witch Covens of the Black Karst
Thulmann's book was both more recent and more tersely written than Larranscheld's, detailing the struggles between the people of the Shepherd's Valley and the Downlands and a group of Chaos-worshippers who made their home in the Karst, in the years leading up the Great War in the north. Rather than a potted history, it read almost like the field notes of a military commander, noting the names and hiding-places of the warlocks, and the occasions on which they had been run to ground.

The Illuminated Order was mentioned too - albeit grudgingly - as another opponent of the "witch covens", although that seemed to be Thulmann's term for them only. On one page he listed a variety of terms by which they called themselves - the Brethren of the Silver Tower being the most common. The list of sins he attributed to them was long and impressive, from the blighting of crops to daemon summoning and human sacrifice.

The Brethren had apparently first occupied a stronghold in the Karst named Harmugstahl. Around two-thirds of the way through his notes, Thulmann documented the destruction of Harmugstahl - supposedly by the Illuminated Order, although he recorded his own suspicion that the witches had destroyed themselves in some sorcerous ritual gone drastically wrong.

After that, some survivors had fled to a smaller bolt-hole, named Guldun. The Illuminated Order, Thulmann recorded with a vague sense of satisfaction, had by that time destroyed themselves also, although he did not record how, and so the rounding up of the last cultists fell to the honest people of the Shepherd's Valley. The Great War was over in the north, and Chaos had been thrown back - demoralised, the last remnants of the Brethren were cornered like rats in a hole, and butchered to the last man. Thulmann went into great and unnecessary detail about the final assault on Guldun, and the interrogation of the few prisoners they took before the captives were put to the sword. The common thread to their answers was apparently one of confusion and betrayal - they believed they had served "the Changer" faithfully, but that he had abandoned them at the hour of their promised reward.

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

Adelbert read aloud some of what he read to the others (with suitable euphemisms for things like the fall of Guldun for Kaja's sake - he was beginning to get worried about the boy.) "It seems to me that we have two lines of investigation then; Ravenskird to examine these catacombs or heading into the Black Karst and trying to track down the lair of the Illuminated Order." The scribe scratched his goatee thoughtfully. "I wonder if they are really are all gone, or if they ran to earth and still out there somewhere."

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

Sieghard half-listened as Adelbert summarized bits from the book. He didn't put much faith in the written word and seemed far more interested in his ale as a result. Even so, once Adelbert's retelling was nearly finished and he had a better understanding of how it related to finding the book, he became far more attentive.

"Whether any of them are left or not, their lair could be anywhere in the Karst. Without a better idea of where to look, we'd never find it before the end of the month," Sieghard said, "Best chance we have is to search the catacombs. If we can't find it there, we can tell Sforza about the Illuminated Order and go from there."

[LeSwordfish]

"Anyone who saw the book would know it was what they were looking for." Ludo said. "There's no way they'd have left it."

He bit back his other comment.

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"If they saw it," Sieghard replied, "Can't imagine Gilbertus would've kept something like that out in the open, and the Order wouldn'tve known about it so they'd have no way of knowing if they missed it."

[LeSwordfish]

"They were wizards, they'd have seen it a mile off. I suppose we could go there just in case, but i'd rather ask around to see if we could find the illuminated order."

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

"Perhaps they are taking recruits," Adelbert suggested, smile weary. "I've always wanted to learn magic and if Elsa can manage it. Well, I'm not confident of our chances of success but I suppose we have few other options. if the Karst plays such a big part in the history of the Order perhaps we should try Alvarann? it is nearly as big as Savonne and closer to what was apparently the heart of the war against the witches."

[-Sentinel-]

"If the Karst plays such a big part in the history of the Order perhaps we should try Alvarann? it is nearly as big as Savonne and closer to what was apparently the heart of the war against the witches."

Elsa pursed her lips unhappily. "That's a pretty long trip for something that's probably not even related to necromancy. There are many evils in these lands, and not all of them are related to one another... I think Nath remains, by far, our best bet."

She started to suspect her companions were only grasping at straws, hoping for leads or hints - no matter how dubious - that would point at anywhere but Nath.

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

Adelbert looked at the others. Frankly he didn't want to go to Nath if he could help it but he had no choice but to go wherever Elsa went. At least if he ever wanted to return to Mirino, and he had to return to bring back Kaja. He sighed. "Well I guess Nath it is. We have to go south anyway, so let's leave as soon as possible."

As little as he looked forward to Nath he would not be sorry to leave Savonne, a town he had entered with high hopes that had left him humilated and disillusioned.

[-Sentinel-]

Elsa remained thoughtful. "How far's Alvarran, anyway? Not even that far, I think. We went a long way north." She counted something on her fingers. "We're not yet halfway through the month, right? And our employer will forgive us if we're a few days late, provided we're successful. We could make a quick dash to Alvarran, I suppose... but once there, where do we even start?"

OOC
So I took the time to read LCP's stories, and I see the point about the Illuminated Order being a solid lead... but I'm not sure where we go from here.

[LeSwordfish]

"The illuminated order were originally hired here, weren't they?" Ludo asked. "There's probably some information in Savonne."

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

Adelbert looked doubtful. "I'm not sure we can ask anyone we haven't already asked. Its true the priest of Morr here might know something but I doubt anyone is better informed than Heironymus and we've already spoken with him a lot."

[Northern Lad]

Viggo Hirtzel

Viggo has sat enraptured by the tale that seemed to spring from the scribbling and scratchings written in the books. He really did love a good story and despite Adelbert's and Ludo's best efforts, if that's what I can call these efforts, he still felt that there was something missing. He snapped his fingers and spoke out aloud. "An ending, it needs an ending." Realising, that that probably didn't make any sense, he grabbed at his ale and tried to say something that did.

"Didn't the Father tell us that he had a book on this Illuminated Order, but that somebody had already borrowed it?" He took a swig of ale. "Shouldn't we be trying to find out who else has an interest in finding these buggers?" His left eye rolled away aimlessly. "We should at least track them down and see if they'll let us look at this other book?"

"As for Alvarran, well, it may be the long way around back to Mirino, but I'd rather that than brave the Iron Claw Hills without an escort again." He didn't mention Nath, secretly he'd been hoping Elsa had forgotten that particular piece of wizardy madness.

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

Adelbert grimaced. "We can't interrupt Heironymus because he's at the temple now but I'd bet anything that if that book was lent to anyone it was Herr Klammenberg, the travelling scholar."

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"A scholar researching them would make more sense than most," Sieghard admitted, "That said, we really don't know enough to be certain."

[Northern Lad]

Viggo Hirtzel

Viggo nodded in agreement with Sieghard, "He's right, we don't know. Only one way to find out though eh?" He scratched at the side of his nose, seemingly deep in thought. "Klammenberg is an Empire name eh Adelbert? The Reaches aren't so big that I'd expect to find two roaming Imperial scholars poking around. You two know each then other and do you know where this chap is staying?"

Viggo pushed his new scarlet cap to the back of his head and picked at a button on his bright red coat. Nobody has even mentioned my new togs, bloody gits. He disguised the sour twist to his mouth with another swig of ale. "Would he lend us this book do you think or would we need to..." Viggo's voice lowered to an almost whisper. "You know... Remember the Pie Shop?"

[LeSwordfish]

Ludo blushed. "I'm sure there's a way to talk ourselves in to seeing him."

[Northern Lad]

Viggo Hirtzel

Viggo's eyebrows lifted, "What, you know this fellow too? Seems that this Kappenburger is a popular chap, I can't wait to meet him." His cheeky grin was firmly in place as he stood up, "Let's see why he's so interested in the Illuminated One's shall we... and if he can shed any light on what ever happened to them." He snorted at his own wit.

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"We tried talking to him already," Sieghard replied. "He wouldn't see us."

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

"Well... in that case we might have to find a way to see him some other way," Adelbert suggested meaningfully. "Anyway, let's go to the Moon to see if he is still there."

[LeSwordfish]

"What are you suggesting?" Ludo said, carefully packing Hieronymous's books into his bag, and making tracks to the Moon.

[Northern Lad]

Viggo Hirtzel

Slinging his lute across his back and sauntering out into the street with his friends Viggo looked down at Ludo, "If this fellow is so interested in The Illuminated Order that he's gone and borrowed a book about them, let's just tell him that we want to chat about them, that should do the trick!" Viggo winked at the Halfling and nodded in Adelbert's direction. "I've yet to meet a book person who doesn't like to ramble on about their favourite subject!"

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

"Well we don't actually know if he has it or not," admitted Adelbert. "And I don't trust his motives but I suppose it is better than nothing. We can say we have just come from Heironymous about a book, which has the advantage of being true."

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"And if he doesn't actually have it?" Sieghard asked.

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

"Then we are back at square one," Adelbert said, annoyed. "We don't currently have any other leads do we?"

Unless there were other objections Adelbert led the group to the Moon to try to get another audience with the elusive scholar.

[Northern Lad]

Viggo Hirtzel

Nodding in agreement with Adelbert, Viggo answered Sieghard, "Besides it's only a walk away, if he doesn't he doesn't and all we've done is stretched our legs a little. We'd just have to wait until the Father has finished at the Temple and ask him who he did give that book to?" He suggested.

[LCP]

Adelbert led the way back to the Red Moon. Nestled in the maze of alleyways and crooked streets that was the Old Town, the lodging-house was a crumbling clay-brick building with arched windows in the Arabyan style. From somewhere down a side-alley Ludo could smell the warm hay-and-dung stink of a stables.

Adelbert knocked on the door, and it was opened once again by the tall woman with the frosty expression who owned the establishment. She looked down at Adelbert from the raised doorstep as if he were a child begging for food.

"What do you want this time?" she sniffed. "I won't allow my guests to be harassed."

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

"Is Herr Klammenberg still in residence?" Adelbert asked, struggling to keep his tongue under control. Why were all the dimwitted, illiterate peasants of this backwater so convinced they could talk down to him? "We have recently visited Father Heironymus and wish to discuss matter of scholarship with him."

[LCP]

"Herr Klammenberg didn't wish to speak to you before," said the woman, her tone cold and precise. "I don't see why he'd wish to speak to you now." Her eye lingered on Sieghard. "Particularly as you seem to have brought a gang of ruffians with you this time. Good day."

She began to close the door.

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

Adelbert glared at her, but bit his tongue. After she had closed the door he turned to the others. "Well so much for that. I don't think we are going to get any further with Klammenberg." He rubbed his temples in obvious frustration. "Frankly I can't stand the thought of another audience with Heironymus, so you'll have to do that without me. I want to try the keep. Who knows, maybe the Elf would be willing to grant an audience.

[LeSwordfish]

"It's about the illuminated order." Ludo cut in as the door closed. "Tell him that, please, and see what he says."

[Northern Lad]

Viggo Hirtzel

Viggo was appalled at the woman's rudeness, he inserted his foot into the closing gap. "Now see here my good lady!" Viggo pointed down at Ludo and hoisted a thumb in Adelbert's direction. "The Halfling and the scribe here speak the truth. We are here on Temple Business see? Father Heironymus has asked us to collect a book from Herr Klammenberg on the subject of The Illuminated Ones." The lie slipped from Viggo's mouth easily, he hoped the others had the wherewithal to play along.

He placed his hands on his hips, and adopted a more friendly expression "Now if you want to go making scholarly decisions for Herr Klammenberg and Father Heironymus, well, that's up to you. But interrupting Temple business, and stopping folk from conducting it? Well that takes some guts!"

OOC


Charm Test:

FEL 43 - [roll0]
Re-roll - [roll1]

[LCP]

The woman looked down at Viggo's interceding foot with wide, outraged eyes.

"What - " she spluttered, " - you dare?" She gave Viggo a withering look. "Ya Homaar! You expect me to believe that you are working for the temple?" She raised her chin. "You are a pack of northerners if I ever saw one."

She slammed the door on his foot as hard as she could.

"Go!" she shouted. "Before I call the guard!"

"Hayfa?" called a muffled voice from inside. "What is it?"

Her tirade interrupted, the proprietor let the door open just a foot or so. In the gloom beyond the threshold, Adelbert could just make out a familiar face.

"These are the people who were asking for you before," said the woman, reluctantly. "I am asking them to leave."

"Wait a moment," said Klammenberg, approaching the door. Reluctantly, Hayfa let the door open fully, and the scholar squinted at Adelbert.

"Herr... Schreuben, isn't it? Hayfa, I met this gentleman in Alvarran." He furrowed his brow. "I thought you said his name was Pfeiffer."

"That's what he told me," said Hayfa, in tones icy enough to freeze a millpond.

As the exchange played out, Ludo, Elsa and Viggo got their first look at the scholar from Stirland. A slim man of medium height, he was younger than they might have expected, perhaps in his late thirties. He had the pale skin that Elsa thought of as typical for men from the eastern province, a rich crop of black hair, and a small pointed beard that neatly framed his mouth.

Elsa Only

To Elsa's eyes, the most striking thing about Klammenberg was not his face, but his hands. They were black to the wrists with soil, as if he had been rooting around in the earth. A breath of chill air seemed to brush across her cheek as the man approached, and the cold, sour smell of grave-mould lingered for a moment in her nostrils.

OOC: Can I get a regular Perception check (not Magical Sense) for Elsa please?

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

Adelbert managed to compose himself somewhat and even managed a smile of sorts. "It is Herr Schreiber in fact Herr Klammenberg. I apologise for the ruse over the names, but I have reasons, stemming from some personal business in Alvarran. I should also perhaps apologise to you Frau Hafya." The scribe gave a very slight, very formal bow in the direction of the landlady.

"As my companions have stated we were just speaking with the priest of Verena and knowing you to be in town and a skilled scholar we were hoping you could help us."

[LeSwordfish]

"Forgive our impertinence." Ludo said, stepping forward, his hand extended towards the scholar. "Ludovic Stubbs, of the Sermena Stubbs. We were hoping to meet with you, Herr Klammenberg. Your reputation has preceded you, and we were hoping to have a conversation with a fellow scholar. Are you available for a discussion soon? Perhaps we could treat you to some fine local food."

OOC
Charm! [roll0]

Fate: [roll1]

[LCP]

"Schreiber. That's it," said Klammenberg, with a wry smile. He scrutinised Adelbert's face for a moment. "Nice beard."

"I was just on my way out to deal with some business matters, actually. What was it you wanted to talk about?"

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

Adelbert stroked his goatee beard self conciously. "Well, it might be best to have a longer discussion later then, perhaps over dinner, but does the Illuminated Order mean anything to you? Seemingly they were a magical group operating in the Reaches and we're hoping you might know a thing or two."

[LCP]

Klammenberg laughed. "Well, if you're offering to pay, I wouldn't say no to a square meal." He looked over to the mistress of the house. "It's alright, Hayfa, I'll talk to these people. Thank you for your diligence."

With a haughty sniff, Hayfa retreated back inside. Klammenberg turned back to Adelbert.

"Been looking into local legends, then, Herr Schreiber? I thought your interest was from further afield." He nodded. "I've heard of the Order. Interesting story, although I'm not sure it's anything more."

He looked across at the others, taking in their faces one by one.

"Travelling with company? I don't think I remember your friends from Alvarran." He looked down at Ludo. "Always a pleasure to meet a halfling this far from home. I don't think I've heard of the Sermena Stubbs. Is that an Eicheschatten name?"

OOC: Eicheschatten is the capital of the Moot.

[-Sentinel-]

"Elsabeth Holt of Altdorf," Elsa introduced herself curtly.

She considered Klammenberg somewhat warily, though she was careful to seem polite. She had little reason to distrust the man, but if anyone posed a threat to their mission, it would most likely be a scholarly sort; one who knew the stakes involved.

Is it too late to re-roll Perception? I hate to fail those tests, and I don't have much use for my daily Fortune Point these days.

If so, target 45: [roll0]

[Northern Lad]

Viggo Hirtzel

Viggo had been hopping back and forth, scowling darkly at the Landlady whilst clutching at his foot and doing his best to muffle a stream of obscenities, when he realised that Klammenberg was stood there, politely engaging with his companions he blushed, cheeks nearly as scarlet as his new attire.

"Viggo the Magnificent." He joined his own introduction with the others, trying to turn is hopping into a neat bow. "of... well of, everywhere!" he declared proudly. "We were led to believe that Father Heironymus may have lent you a book on The Order?" He decided not to tell the scholar that it was Adelbert who had done the leading.

[LeSwordfish]

"Quite possibly." Ludo said cheerfully. "I'm afraid i'm local- a halfling community not far from Mirino. I believe our roots go back to the Moot, though."

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

"And this is Sieghard," said Adelbert introducing the mercenary. "And Stoutheart." He gestured at Ludo's dog.

"In any case even if you don't have the book I think we appreciate the chance to talk. I like to think we've learnt something of the Reaches ourselves during our travels."

[LeSwordfish]

Ludo resisted the urge to shift uncomfortably as Stoutheart- who had guarded the weapons inexpertly but well- gave a canine smile to Klammenberg. Naming a dog after an elector count was funnier when nobody else got the joke.

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

Sieghard nodded to acknowledge the introduction but said nothing, continuing to size up the scholar. Perhaps Adelbert was right and Klammenberg's knowledge might prove useful, but from what he could see of the man, he wasn't impressed.

[LCP]

"And I'm Kaja," piped up Adelbert's apprentice. The boy's cheeks immediately flushed red as attention turned to him, and he shrank down into his collar. Klammenberg just smiled.

"I did hear there was a halfling enclave in these parts," he said to Ludo. "I'm sure how your people got here must be quite the story."

"As it happens, I did borrow a book from the priest," he continued. "If that's what you want to talk about, perhaps I could meet you this evening at the Duke?"

Elsa Only

Klammenberg's eyes had lingered just a fraction longer on her than on the others in that first moment of meeting. There had been a glimmer of something in his eyes that could have been recognition.

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

"Certainly, this evening then," agreed Adelbert, feeling a little guilty for forgetting his apprentice. He glanced at the others to check they too agreed.

[LeSwordfish]

"Oh, it's quite a tale," Ludo said, relaxing a little. Herr Klammenberg wasn't nearly as scary as Adelbert had made him out to be. "Traditionally told over a meal, though, so I'll save it for the evening."

[Northern Lad]

Viggo Hirtzel

Viggo smiled broadly at mention of The Duke. "Ah a man of fine and refined tastes! I have a room there myself at present." Viggo struck the type of pose he imagined a man of sophistication and breeding might take, whilst talking on important matters. His voice had suddenly taken on a more mellow tone, his accent not dissimilar to the one Elsa was always so keen on hiding.

"Could I ask that you bring the book with you, or perhaps I could be impertinent and ask to borrow it now? The Illuminated Order make for a fine tale and as you know any good story must have a least a kernel of truth to it." Viggo flashed another smile. "We'd return it to you this evening of course. If we are to discuss the Order over a meal, we can at least do a little research of our own before we do?"

OOC


Charm Test if Reqd

FEL 43 - [roll0]
RE-roll - [roll1]

[LCP]

"I'm afraid I can't part with it at the moment," said Klammenberg. "It's rather useful for my own research." He didn't seem apologetic, but raised his eyebrows at Viggo. "Perhaps we can discuss it more this evening?"

"You'll excuse me, I have to be on my way." He gave a momentary smile, and made to head out. "Got to see a man about a boat."

[LeSwordfish]

Ludo stepped aside to let Klammenberg go. "Until this evening, then, Herr Klammenberg."

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

"Indeed, guten tag Herr Klammenberg."

As soon as the scholar was out of earshot Adelbert quietly said to the others: "I don't know about you but I don't entirely trust that man. Still we are not flush with other options."

[LeSwordfish]

Ludo shrugged. "He seems very nice to me. Very happy to help, and all he wants in return is a meal and a good story. I can sympathise with that."

[-Sentinel-]

"I don't know about you but I don't entirely trust that man. Still we are not flush with other options."

Elsa nodded slowly. "I'm not sure I like the look he gave me. Almost like he knows me, or knows of me. I hope the meeting isn't some kind of trap."

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"You've never met him before, have you?" Sieghard asked. "How would he know you? Is it possible he was in Mirino at some point but we never saw him?"

[-Sentinel-]

Elsa shook her head. "I don't remember ever meeting him. But given the, ah, circumstances that caused me to leave the Empire, it's possible my name and description have been circulating..." She bit on a fingernail. "And I gave him my real name... Stupid. Maybe it's better if I sit out the meeting and sleep at another inn. We'll see if he cares about my absence."

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

Adelbert looked annoyed by this suggestion but bit his tongue. "Well we shouldn't decide any rash measures just yet. We still have a wait before our meeting so hat now; I should give Kaja a few more lessons, I've been neglecting that of late but if we have any other pressing business we should handle that."

[Northern Lad]

Viggo Hirtzel

The sour twist to Viggo's lips gave away his feelings over the scholars reluctance to part with the book. It was a totally reasonable request. He thought grumpily, No need to be so bloody stingy with a book is there?

His eyebrow's raised when Elsa voiced her concerns. "You could always share my room, hide away up there until he's gone?" he reddened, when he realised he might be misconstrued. "I mean, Err....Only if you want to stay close by, so we can discuss.. err I'd sleep on the floor...obviously." He looked like he was about to choke. "... You know what I mean!" He thew a quick wary glance in Sieghard's direction. "Just an idea." He added hastily.

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"Not sure if all of that is necessary. Even if he does know who you are and why you left, he'd have a hard time dragging you back with the rest of us around." Sieghard said. "But if you'd rather not take chances, do whatever you think is best."

[-Sentinel-]

Elsa smiled tolerantly at Viggo's verbal stumble.

"Oh, I don't think Klammenberg is, all by himself, much of a threat to us... I'm more worried about him getting the authorities on his side."

Although, she mentally added, perhaps the Elf in charge isn't really much of a burn-the-witch type.

"I know what I'll do - I'll be at the inn, but I'll be just a bit late to the meeting. If Klammenberg asks about me or seems concerned not to see me, one of you will say some kind of agreed-upon code phrase when I arrive, so I know to be on my guard. I'll need to know all of the inn's exits beforehand, in case of emergency..."

She remembered all too well the time Arnulf and Fauchard had caught her at an inn, and she had not dared to make a break for it because she was not sure the inn even had a back door. This time at least, she would know exactly how many exits the inn had.

[LeSwordfish]

"What about, 'we thought you weren't coming'?" Ludo said.

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

"Alright, we'll go with that. For a code phrase lets go with something simple. Say, if Klammenberg seems concerned I'll ask you 'white wine?' when you arrive Elsa. If he hasn't reacted I'll ask 'red wine?' instead. So white for panic, red for all clear."

[Northern Lad]

Viggo Hirtzel

Viggo spun his cap on his finger briefly before, placing it back on his head at a jaunty angle. "So that's, we didn't think you were coming for white wine. Got it." He chuckled to himself as he set off with the others in the direction of The Duke.

[LCP]

Returning to the Harvester's, Adelbert sat down to go through another lesson with Kaja. The boy had fairly devoured the work Adelbert had set him while the scribe went about his own business, and seemed to be coming along fairly fast. The lesson was disrupted, however, by Kaja's intermittent enquiries about Klammenberg and their plan - all the talk of code words had clearly caught his attention.

OOC: Will Kaja be tagging along to the meeting at the Duke?


~

Dusk was creeping across the sky when Klammenberg arrived at the Duke of Aquitaine. Quietly letting himself in, the scholar immediately spotted the table the party had chosen and headed over to join them.

"I hope you've ordered food," he said, taking a seat. "I'm fairly famished." He looked around. "Your friend from Altdorf isn't joining us?"

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

"Ah yes Kaja, not a word of this to Herr Klammenberg right?" Adelbert told his apprentice. Kaja's cleverness could be a mixed blessing at times. "Elsa... that is Mistress Holt has concerns that are not for us to know. The ways of wizards are strange but she is my friend, so we'll be careful."

Hoping the boy would keep quiet Adelbert led him to the Duke, figuring that the good food there might take the boy's mind of other matters. The parsimonious scribe was already gloomy about the damage this evening would do to his purse.

"We were waiting for you to arrive Herr Klammenberg," Adelbert stated as the scholar arrived. "Sadly our friend had other business to attend too so couldn't make it here."

[LCP]

"A pity," said Klammenberg. He didn't seem overly concerned.

"So, you were wanting to talk about the Illuminated Order," he said. "What's your interest in them?"

[LeSwordfish]

"We're following the trail of an artefact." Ludo said. "We think it might have ended up in their possession."

[LCP]

"I'm afraid your trail may have gone cold, then," said Klammenberg. "The last time any of them were seen alive was more than two hundred years ago."

"What kind of artefact are we talking about?" he asked, and then sniffed. "And is that quail they're cooking? Smells delicious."

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

"I suppose it might be quail," Adelbert said unhappily. He was on a bread diet, and not for reasons of health. He sighed and beckoned over the barmaid before turning back to their companion.

"We were looking for a book," he said as casually as possible, "with religious and mystical signifigance. Perhaps the Order might be gone, but you don't know anything of where they lived do you?"

[LCP]

"All you've heard is the name, then?" said Klammenberg, with the same distant curiosity as before. His attitude seemed very different from Heironymus' enthusiasm for every scrap of new information. "I thought when you asked that you'd heard some of the old legends at least."

"The place they lived vanished with them. For the same cause, the stories say. You've never heard of the Lost Library?"

[-Sentinel-]

Elsa caught Klammenberg's last words as she walked down the stairs to join the conversation.

"The lost what, now?"

She was hardly bookish, but that did sound interesting.

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"I have," Sieghard said, breaking his silence. He had planned on making a sarcastic remark about old wives tales, but remembering what they were searching for and what they had encountered in the ruins, he was more willing to entertain the possibility of the library being real. "I thought that was just a story mothers used to keep their children to keep them from getting themselves lost. What makes you think it's anything more?" he asked, keeping his tone neutral.

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

"Red wine Elsa?" Adelbert asked, a little waspishly. He was already wondering just how much this evening would cost him. "So, did this Lost Library actually exist. Sometimes legends are simply that."

Despite his money woes he was indeed interested. Unlike Elsa he was bookish.

[LeSwordfish]

"Let me get this for you." Ludo said to Adelbert, sotto voice. He turned back to Klammenberg. "I knew the name, but it wasn't even a story I was told. Was that where the order was based?"

[LCP]

"It appears so," said Klammenberg. "The story's had two hundred years to change, but it matches the facts. I take it from your questions that you know a little bit about the Order already?"

He shrugged.

"They defeated Gilbertus the Black, and inherited whatever bag of tricks he had stashed in Ravenskird. The lords of Savonne gave them that one opportunity, but a pack of hedge wizards wouldn't trust the rulers in these parts to keep their word. From what I've seen of it, the Karst is a ready-made maze. The perfect place for a hideout."

"They vanished around two hundred years ago, when the Great War was at its height. And after they'd pitted themselves against a coven of Chaos-worshippers, too. The winds blew strong from the north then, strong enough for them to try feats of magic that might have been beyond them before. Or maybe it was their enemies. Either way, they simply drop out of the history books... such as they are."

"And then there's the names. The Lost Library. The Illuminated Order." He looked around expectantly at the others, a half-smile on his pale face. "I can't be the only one who enjoys a good pun, I'm sure."

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

Adelbert couldn't see the puns at all himself, but that might have been due to his frustrations. Wearily he nodded. "Well so much for that. Thank you Herr Klammenberg, I do appreciate what you've told us but I suppose we were hoping for something... more."

[-Sentinel-]

"Red wine Elsa?" Adelbert asked, a little waspishly.

"Um? Oh, sure," said the pyromancer, sitting down.

Actually Adelbert himself said the code would be white wine if Klammenberg inquired about Elsa's absence... but since it didn't seem to bother Klammenberg, it doesn't matter much.


"Either way, they simply drop out of the history books... such as they are."
Ugh, gonna need that wine, thought Elsa, frustrated. Was it even worth it to pursue that lead, given how limited their time was?


"I can't be the only one who enjoys a good pun, I'm sure."
Elsa gave Klammenberg a blank stare. "Uh-huh," she said, not getting the pun any more than Adelbert did. "So I take it there's no point in asking where something called the Lost Library might possibly be, right? Otherwise it wouldn't be called the Lost Library."


OOC
Perhaps Klammenberg is just trolling us with that pun thing.

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/no_pun_intended.png

[LCP]

"The legend says that it appears on particular nights of the year... but then legends are hardly reliable. The book has some more details," said Klammenberg.

"If you really want to find the place, there are some other ruins that might hold clues to what happened there," he continued. "Harmugstahl, and Guldur. You've heard of them? The Order was fighting with the people who lived there just before they disappeared." He raised one eyebrow. "Some people might call the timing suspicious."

[-Sentinel-]

"Harmugstahl, and Guldur. You've heard of them?"

"I haven't," Elsa admitted, perking up with interest. "I'm new in these parts."

[LCP]

Klammenberg shrugged.

"As am I," he said. "They're old ruins, as far as I understand... but made that way by the Order, at least in part."

[Northern Lad]

Viggo Hirtzel

Viggo sat listening intently, until his meal arrived, it was indeed quail and was as fine a food as he'd ever eaten. "So what are you.. studying.. all the way down here in The Reaches Herr Klammenberg? The whole region seems a little rough and ready for a man of learning if you don't mind me saying so?" Viggo spoke between shoveling food into his mouth and stabbed a fork in the scholars direction, "You're obviously interested in The Order yourself if you're out borrowing books on them?"

Viggo rolled an eye involuntarily, "You thought about having a poke around for this Lost Library yourself then?" he asked.

[LCP]

"Nothing so adventurous," said Klammenberg, tucking into his own dinner with well-mannered enthusiasm. "No, I'm here on behalf of a patron. Following one the branches of the family tree, so to speak." He smiled to himself as if at some private joke. "The Order are a peripheral connection."

He popped a quail's egg into his mouth and munched happily.

"Mm, apparently they had quite a collection of odds and ends. One of them may have been an heirloom of my patron's... extended family." He dabbed at the corner of his mouth with his napkin. "Of course, the Library is probably just a legend... far more likely they just blew the place sky-high with their tinkering than that it vanished into the aethyr."

"Still, if you were to find anything matching the story, I'd be very interested to hear of it," he added. "I have a small fund for expenses... enough for a modest reward, I'd think."

[LeSwordfish]

"If we happened to be passing that way we could look for it." Ludo said. Stoutheart whined at his feet, but it felt like an inappropriate setting to slip him a chunk of quail. "What are you looking for?"

[LCP]

"I'm afraid I'm not at liberty to tell you," said Klammenberg. He looked across at Adelbert. "You know how at is with these nobles. They ask you to look up some obscure point of genealogy, and then they use it to lay claim to some other fellow's lands." He smiled again.

"I'd be happy to pay simply for information about the library's whereabouts," he said. "I don't know how much longer I'll be in Savonne, but if you were to write to Hayfa at the Red Moon, I'm sure I could arrange for her to send it along."

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

"Er yes, I know those nobles," Adelbert lied as he fondly imagined himself serving such a noble. It sounded a safer lifestyle than the one he was currently embarked on, and not that much less ethical.

"Truthfully we won't be in Savonne long ourselves," he explained, trying not to sound too thrilled at leaving this place where dreams went to die. "But of course we can send mail on. I'll most likely be in Mirino next."

[LCP]

"Mirino?" said Klammenberg. "I hear that's a pleasant place. Sunny." He paused, eating. "But then it's generally sunny here, isn't it? In Maylhof it used to rain all the time. When it wasn't snowing, in winter."

Carefully dissecting a wing, he glanced up at the others. "This is an excellent bird," he said. "Anyway, is there anything else I can do for you?"

[-Sentinel-]

"The two ruins you mentioned..." said Elsa. "Do you know where they are? Are they in roughly the same region?"

They might be needing a good map before long. In fact, they should have acquired one a while ago.

[LCP]

"Also in the Karst," said Klammenberg. "East of here, I believe. You'd have to ask a local for more specific directions, I'm afraid."

[RossN]

Adelbert Screiber

Adelbert had some choice words to say about Mirino and especially her current ruler but realised that Kaja was present so held his tongue. Instead he gloomily watched Klammenberg devour his quail.

"Well thank you Herr Klammenberg but I believe that is all at least for the moment."

[Northern Lad]

Viggo Hirtzel

Viggo rushed to finish a mouthful of food and just managed to avoid embarrassing himself by resisting the temptation to wipe his mouth on his sleeve. "Hang on, these other ruins... That's where the book you borrowed from Father Heironymus reckons we should start looking is it?"

The young lad eyed his friends before returning his attention to Klammenberg, "I'd rather not go rooting through every wreck of a castle between here and Mirino looking for clues." Viggo remembered with awful clarity what had happened the last time they undertook a similar task. Nothing bloody good is what sodding happened! "Surely that book holds more of a clue than that miserly snippet?" He took a large swig of ale to wash down his excellent dinner, "When did you say you'd be finished with it Herr Klammenberg?"

[LCP]

"I didn't," said Klammenberg, setting down his knife. On his plate, the picked-clean bones of the bird were now laid out as neatly as an anatomist's sketch. "My research is keeping me in Savonne for the moment. I'm going to need to hold onto it until the current line of enquiry is resolved."

Viggo's 'miserly' comment didn't seem to have ruffled his feathers, but it certainly hadn't inclined him to help.

"There is one thing, actually, that is slowing me down," he added as an afterthought. "A delayed delivery. Perhaps if you and your friends could... straighten things out for me," - he glanced at Sieghard - "I might be able to return the book sooner?"

[Northern Lad]

Viggo Hirtzel

"Depends on what is going where and to who I'd guess?" Viggo shrugged, as far as he was concerned Klammenberg hadn't been very useful in their search and he saw no particular reason to help the scholar. "We're pushed for time a little ourselves truth be told."

Viggo had been mulling over something Klammenberg had said earlier, "You mentioned that the Library only appears once or twice a year? Does the legend say which nights that might be or where that might be?" Viggo's brow furrowed slightly as he regarded the scholar's meticulously laid out plate of leftovers. "Seems to me it'd be pointless looking for a place if you could walk right passed it without ever knowing you had?"

[LCP]

"Perhaps it would be," said Klammenberg. "If people knew exactly when and where it appeared I dare say it would have been plundered years ago. If it exists at all." He shrugged. "As I said, it seems as likely to me that the wizards simply blew themselves up."

"The book records things in a little more detail, of course," he added. "As for my errand - it's just a small thing. A box, about this long." He spread his hands to the length of his forearm. "It was supposed to have arrived by now, but the fellow I ordered it from has been putting me off. I worry that he might be trying to sell to someone else. He has what you might call an office down in the docks." He nodded to Ludo. "A halfling, like yourself. If you could expedite the delivery of that box... perhaps I could expedite the delivery of the book."

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

Adelbert's lip twisted and he flicked sour eyes down at Klammenberg's cleaned plate. "I see... I take it sorting out this delivery will require more skill than simply asking?"

[LCP]

"I've already asked," said Klammenberg. "It might be that he's being honest about the delay, but I'd appreciate having someone to... check the facts. It would be very frustrating to lose it now, just because some dockside entrepreneur thought he could find a higher bid."

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

"We'll have to discuss this," admitted Adelbert looking at the others before looking back at Klammenberg. "Could you perhaps give us a moment to talk amongst ourselves?"

[LCP]

"Of course," said Klammenberg. "Will it take long? You can always get a message to me at the Red Moon. Well, for now at least."

He put the plate to one side. "Thank you for the supper. That was delicious."

OOC: Don't wait for a "Klammenberg leaves" post - I'm off to catch a train.

[Northern Lad]

Viggo Hirtzel

"No thanks needed Herr Klammenberg, it was our pleasure." Just before he sidled over to confer with the others Viggo turned back, "What was this chap's name, down at the dockside? If we do go looking for this box of yours it'd help to know who had it last."

He lowered his voice to a whisper when addressing the others, "Is he talking about us stealing this box." He nodded at Ludo, "He seems to assume old Ludo 'Lightfingers' here is as pilfery as those Halfling's back home." Viggo realised that might hurt Ludo's feeling's, which certainly was not his intent. "Sorry Ludo, no offense meant." He added in rush.

[LCP]

"No thanks needed Herr Klammenberg, it was our pleasure." Just before he sidled over to confer with the others Viggo turned back, "What was this chap's name, down at the dockside? If we do go looking for this box of yours it'd help to know who had it last."

"He's called Jasper Greenapple," said Klammenberg. "Has something of a reputation as a trader, which was why he was recommended to me. I believe he's from these parts too," he said, nodding again to Ludo.

"I've already asked him about the delay - all I need is for you to have a nose around, make sure that he actually has it." Klammenberg smiled. "Maybe scare off anyone else who might be angling for it. I'm sure you'd be up to the job."

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

Adelbert glanced at Ludo to see if the name meant anything to the Halfling. Quietly he said: "I have doubts about our friend Klammenberg but at the same time that book would come in handy. I suppose we could at least ask around and see what we are dealing with. Or at least some of us could. Elsa has mentioned looking for a cartographers and if anywhere in the Reaches has a bookseller this will be the place."

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"Can't imagine it too hard," Sieghard said. "How will we know your box when we see it? If he has it and hasn't given it to you yet, I doubt he'd just fetch it for us if we asked. Surely there's something more you can tell us than the size of the thing."

[LCP]

"Can't imagine it too hard," Sieghard said. "How will we know your box when we see it? If he has it and hasn't given it to you yet, I doubt he'd just fetch it for us if we asked. Surely there's something more you can tell us than the size of the thing."

"Well, what's important is what's inside the box." Klammenberg paused. "It should contain a large... tooth. But my name should also help you identify it. I asked Master Greenapple to procure it for me specifically."

OOC: RossN: not sure what's going on with Adelbert's whispered conversation, but it's impossible to speak for that long in front of Klammenberg without him noticing!

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

"A tooth?" Adelbert asked, obviously intrigued. "As in dragon?"

He glanced at the others. "As I was saying I better go looking for that cartographer, but I think we can see about this."

OOC:
I sort of assumed from Viggo's 'conferring' that Klammenberg had stepped away for a moment there, sorry.

[LCP]

"Exactly so, as a matter of fact," said Klammenberg, raising his eyebrows as if impressed. "Good guess."

[LeSwordfish]

"We can look into it." Ludo said happily. "Anything else we need to know? Want us to try and find the name of the other buyer too?"

[LCP]

"I don't even know whether another buyer exists," said Klammenberg freely. "It's pure worry on my part. Just see to it that the tooth gets to me, and I'll make sure you get the book as soon as possible."

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

"I think we can agree to that Herr Klammenberg," Adelbert said offering his hand to shake on the deal. He was still impressed by the item that they were after. "A dragon, the emperor of beasts... to see even one small part of one would be wondorous. I have heard it said that there is one in the Imperial Menagerie in Altdorf but then some people will say anything."

[LCP]

"That they will," said Klammenberg, shaking Adelbert's hand with a curious smile. "Well, I'm glad we could be of use to one another. Let me know as soon as you have any word. You know where to find me."

Nodding his head to Elsa, he took his leave.

Elsa Only Elsa couldn't help but feel the man's curious half-smile had been aimed at her. To her sight, he still seemed to have the curiously blackened hands as he left.

[Northern Lad]

Viggo Hirtzel

Looking around the common room of The Duke, Viggo decided he'd try his luck once more, as he unslung his lute and tuned the strings he addressed Sieghard. "So maybe you and I can go and have an ask about this Greenapple chap in the morning eh? See if he really does have this dragon's tooth?" Now that would be a thing to see!

He frowned as an errant note, sounded discordantly. "Maybe somebody should go and see if Father Heiroynmous knows anything about this Lost Library too?" Viggo had already decided he'd try see what the common folk thought of the place too. That's the thing with Legends, even the goatherd might know as much as the scholar.

OOC


Musician Test
FEL 43 - [roll0]
Re-Roll - [roll1]

[LeSwordfish]

Wellentag, 14th Pflugzeit

Fat with quail, Ludo had overslept and woke late on Wellentag morning, the last to rise in the Harvester's common room. He headed out into the street quickly, and before long was wandering through the market with a pie in his hand, asking questions of dubious pertinency about dark magic. It wasn't a bad start to the day.

[RossN]

Wellentag, 14th Pflugzeit

After a nights sleep and inexpensive (if admittedly bland) breakfast in the Harvester's Haven Adelbert led his apprentice in the direction of the market.

"Now Kaja we are looking for a bookseller, that is a merchant who sells books and a cartographer who makes maps. Scribes like us are not the only ones who work with ink and quill and a big city like this is the place to find them."

He didn't have the heart to tell the boy that Savonne would merely be a large rural town in the Empire. Undoubtedly to a young boy from a tiny hamlet like Mirino Savonne was the centre of the universe.

[-Sentinel-]

Elsa only
As Klammenberg departed, Elsa gave him a wary nod - then, on an impulse, struck the wind of Aqshy without trying to shape it into a spell; the mystical equivalent of throwing a pebble into a pond instead of scooping up water. She watched the man carefully for any sign that he had noticed the disturbance.



"So maybe you and I can go and have an ask about this Greenapple chap in the morning eh? See if he really does have this dragon's tooth?"
Elsa grinned wolfishly. "Ooooh, let me help. I love to make people piss their breeches. I'm also pretty good at it."



Wellentag, 14th Pflugzeit

As always, Elsa arose rather late and disheveled, albeit without the usual hangover - the Duke's prohibitive prices were a good incentive to reduce drinking. As Adelbert took his leave in search of a bookseller, she called out after him:

"Buy more than one map if possible. I'll pay you back if you bring me one."

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

Sieghard sat in silence, trying to decide the best way to retrieve the tooth as the others finished. When Klammenberg rose to leave, he spoke up.

"One last question before you go, Herr Klammenberg," he said, "This dragon's tooth of yours. How much did Greenapple ask for it, and have you paid, either part of the cost or all of it?"

[Northern Lad]

Viggo Hirtzel

Viggo greeted Elsa and Sieghard with a welcome grin, he was in an excitable mood, it's not every day you get a chance to see a real to life Dragon's tooth! and was keen to get on with the day's proceedings. "Come on you two! I bet even you've never seen an honest to God's Dragons tooth eh Elsa?!"

As they made their way through Savonne, Viggo took the opportunity to chat to the locals, he asked just about everybody they passed what they knew of this Jasper Greenapple chap and had they ever heard of The Lost Library legend? He was liberal with his smiles and if truth be told he seemed to be strutting somewhat more than usual, flourishing his new bright red cloak at every available opportunity.

[LCP]

Festag, 13th Pflugzeit


"One last question before you go, Herr Klammenberg," he said, "This dragon's tooth of yours. How much did Greenapple ask for it, and have you paid, either part of the cost or all of it?"

"How much he asked and how much I eventually agreed to pay are quite different," said Klammenberg, with another wry smile. "The final sum was eighty crowns. I've already given him twenty as a down-payment."

Something appeared to distract him for a moment - he glanced briefly in Elsa's direction. Whatever it was, it didn't keep his attention long - with his train of thought seemingly broken, he said his farewells.

OOC: The unmarked timesplitting's getting a bit out of hand. No more, please.



Wellentag, 14th Pflugzeit

Ludo & Adelbert
Ludo had a strikingly successful morning trawling the streets of Savonne for tall tales. Humans didn't seem as hostile to questions from a halfling as they might have from their own kind - at least when the questions didn't concern them personally.

"The Lost Library? Everyone's heard that story. Why're you asking about old folktales? You want to hear about that, you should speak to Griswold at the Rockside Tap. Old drunk says he's seen it."

"You're looking for who? I'm sorry, no, I've never heard of any... 'Illuminated Order'. Perhaps you might ask at the Temple."

"Guldur, that's those ruins in the Karst. Heard the Count's men chased some greenskins in there not long ago. Left 'em to rot after they started to turn on each other."

"Nahreq, yes, he's a useful spirit. My mother gave me this charm," said a plump woman in a butcher's apron. Fishing down the front of her blouse, she pulled out a jackal's claw on a leather cord. "Keeps the rats away."

"Nath? Gods above, little man, what are you asking about that place for?" The elderly baker Ludo had asked shook his bearded head. "You stay away from there, master Halfling. Nothing good ever came out of the Dead Hills."

Gilbertus took a little more asking - most of the people on the street drew a blank at the name. Considering how long ago the priest had lived, it wasn't surprising. Ludo finally had some luck with a merchant near the docks.

"Gilbertus, aye, I've heard of him. Big name down in Ravenskird. You talk to the locals there, they're all Gilbertus this, Gilbertus that. They're a superstitious lot - think his ghost will haunt you if you don't follow all their funny customs." She paused to shout at a dock-worker who was making a hash of unloading her cargo. "The Morrites don't like it, but nobody pays those swamp-pickers much attention anyway."

Adelbert, meanwhile, had been focusing on finding the documents they were after. Soon enough he had three names - two booksellers and one chart-maker.

The booksellers were a woman named Al-Khansa in the Old Town, and a man by the name of Fulk who kept a shop in the Warren, just behind the Great Hospital. The cartographer, Leufred, apparently resided at the castle in service to the Prince.



Viggo, Sieghard & Elsa

Heading down to the docks, Viggo didn't learn much more from the riverside traders than he already knew about the Lost Library. Nevertheless, he managed to hunt out Jasper Greenapple without too much of a fuss.

The halfling was standing at the end of a rickety pier, overseeing a team of men who were unloading sealed barrels from a low river barge. "Careful with that, Muhsin!" he called out to one of them. "You drop that in the river, it's coming out of your pay."

As the three of them approached, the halfling turned to face them. He had the appearance of agreeable middle age, with well-tailored clothes and a touch of grey in his hair. The look that crossed his face as he spotted them was one of measured curiosity.

"Good day," he said, brightly. "Jasper Greenapple, at your service. I don't think I've seen your faces in the docks before?" He gave them a brief smile. "What can this lowly halfling do for you?"

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

Adelbert was very aware he did not carry much gold (or own much, sadly) but he thought he better at least check. Al-Khansa first then. That sounded an Arabyan name, though hopefully no relative of Abdul Al-Makir who was no friend of Adelbert Schreiber!

Accompanied by Kaja he made his way to the Old Town.

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

As they made their way to the docks, Sieghard explained his plan to the others. "Probably better not to mention Klammenberg until we see the tooth," he commented when they spotted the halfling in at the end of the pier.

"What can this lowly halfling do for you?"

"You've got quite the repuration, Herr Greenapple," Sieghard said, "It's been said that there's no trader in the Reaches more capable when it comes to finding rare goods." He paused a moment, trying to determine if Greenapple was the sort to let flattery go to his head. "Our employer likes to collect that sort of thing, and if what I've heard is true, you have something he'd be willing to pay well for... A certain tooth."

If you didn't read it before, the plan I'm referring to is this (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=18700277&postcount=1487).

[roll0] vs 15 Charm. Not Sieghard's strong suit, but no harm in trying to flatter him a bit.

[LCP]

Ludo & Adelbert

Al-Khansa's bookshop was a small place, crammed into the corner of one of the agglomerations of old buildings that seemed commonplace in the Old Town. The shop front was in shadow from a covered bridge that leapt across the street to connect the upper storeys of the buildings on either side. Directly beneath it, a beggar with strange, red-stained teeth held out lined hands imploringly to Adelbert as he passed.

Pushing open the door, Adelbert stepped inside. The small shop was meticulously clean, with a couple of shelves of second-hand volumes stacked against the far wall. In the corner was the familiar tilted silhouette of a drafting table, of the kind Adelbert had spent many an hour slaving away over back home. The familiar smells of vellum and glue lingered on the air.

Near the window, a woman in a dark, plain dress straightened up to look at her visitors. She had been re-binding a damaged book, and still had the knife in her hand. Short, dark-skinned and surprisingly young, she had an overabundance of brown, frizzy hair that fell into her eyes as she turned her head.

"Bon matin, messieurs," she said, brushing back a stray strand. She paused as she saw the blank look on Kaja's face. "Um... I mean - good day?"



Sieghard, Viggo & Elsa

The halfling raised his eyebrows.

"Someone said all that?" he said, with good humour. "How nice of them." He paused, taking in the varied appearances of the three humans standing in front of him. "Collector of dentures is he, your employer? You might tell him next time there's no harm in coming to see me in person."

Looking back to the dockworkers unloading his cargo, he clapped his hands. "Muhsin, take charge! I've got to speak to these fine people. I want this all squared away within the hour, you hear?"

Turning back to Sieghard, he said: "Shall we discuss this in my office? Less noise indoors, I find."

[RossN]

Adelbert & Ludo

Adelbert laughed. "Mes excuses, Madame." He smiled. "My apprentice knows only Reikspiel."

He looked around the shop memories flooding back. It looked and smelled so familiar. "I should introduce myself; I am Adelbert Schreiber and this is Kaja. We are scribes although Kaja is still a very short scribe. I was wondering if you could help me; I'm looking for books on legends or histories of the Reaches, particularly anything dealing with the Illuminated Order or their enemies. I'd also be interested if you had any books on theolgy."

[LCP]

Adelbert & Ludo

"I have some second-hand books," said the bookseller, pointing with the hand that held the knife towards the shelves at the back. He wasn't sure if she'd forgotten it was there. "Or If you want a book copied, I can make it for you."

Her accent was reminiscent of Abdul's, but much less strong. Heading over to the shelves, Adelbert looked for titles that might be of interest.

Around a third to a quarter of the books seemed to be in the Arabyan script. The others were a mixture of Bretonnian and Reikspiel, with Bretonnian perhaps having the upper hand. Adelbert found a couple of titles that looked like they contained some local history:

Savonne: The Greatest Town in the Border Princes
The Legacy of the Crusades in the Broken Reaches

And a few more that seemed to have a bearing on theological matters:

The Lady Wills It - The Pursuit of Honour in Foreign Lands - written in archaic Bretonnian and looking like a third or fourth generation copy of the original.
The Book of War - chronicling the twelve great battles of the goddess Myrmidia.
The Seven Blessings of Azriller - a thick book, written in Classical.
The Witch Hunter's Handbook - a dog-eared copy that looked as if it had come a long away to end up on the shelf. There was a stain on the back cover that looked a little like blood.

[RossN]

Adelbert & Ludo

Adelbert smiled. "Thank you but I like to do my own copying. Though I suspect you get better business here than I do in Mirino!"

He browsed happily for some time, making a mental note to learn Arabyan at some point. After careful thought he settled on Savonne: The Greatest Town in the Border Princes which sounded somewhat more current. "How much for this, The Seven Blessings of Azriller and The Book of War?" Adelbert very much doubted he could afford all three but he felt he might at least ask.

In particular The Seven Blessings seemed intriguing. The river goddess was a fascinating enigma.

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"Collector of dentures is he, your employer?"

Sieghard smirked. He was beginning to like this halfling. Hopefully Klammenberg was worried over nothing and they could get the tooth without any trouble. Given the choice, he'd prefer to not have to use force against someone who amused him.

"Shall we discuss this in my office? Less noise indoors, I find."

"Of course," Sieghard replied, following the halfling's lead.

[LCP]

Adelbert & Ludo

The bookseller came over to look at the books Adelbert was talking about.

"Knopfel's book," she said as she recognised the book on Savonne. Taking it from Adelbert, she turned it over in her hands. "For this, twenty-five crowns." She glanced at the others. "Twenty for the Seven Blessings, seventy-five for the Myrmidians' book."

She gave him a curious look, perhaps not having taken him for such a big spender.



Sieghard, Viggo & Elsa

"This way, then," said Greenapple.

The halfling's office was located in an old, sagging house overlooking the docks. Surrounded by sheds and warehouses made from old, splitting timbers, it didn't look like much from the outside - but inside, the place was surprisingly well-appointed. Rich carpets, fine furniture... and a huge, looming presence waiting just inside the door. Viggo had thought it was a big door for a halfling to use...

"Morning, Kragg," said Jasper cheerfully. The ogre, stooped a little under the low ceiling, put two club-like fingers to his boulder-like forehead in a casual salute. "How's tricks?"

The ogre gave a bass rumble that might have been words. Jasper chuckled.

"Glad to hear it. You keep up the good work, there'll be a goose in it for you."

Kragg rumbled something appreciative.

"Yes, well, try not to leave the feathers everywhere this time." Jasper looked round at his guests. "Please, come this way."

Upstairs, away from Kragg's distracting bulk, Jasper showed them into a cosy study. Taking a seat, he opened a drawer and pulled out a tray of pastries.

"Can't go eating in front of poor Kragg," he said, "but it's been a while since last breakfast. You want any?" he asked, as he cut open a rock cake and began to spread butter on the halves.

"Now," he said, through a mouthful of crumbs, "I won't pretend I don't know what it is you're after. Got a few interested parties there." He swallowed. "Technically, though, this wasn't supposed to be open for bids. Don't know how word's got out." He grinned in a way that suggested the exact opposite.

"So, what's your employer's interest? My favourite so far's been the lads who think they can make some kind of aphrodisiac out of it. Far be it from me to discourage them, but I'd like to see how that one ends."

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

Adelbert visibly winced and pointed to the book on Savonne. "This alone please."

The scribe open up his money pouch and poured the contests on the nearest table, glanced at it a moment, then sadly pushed nearly all the gold over to the bookseller, taking the remainder back into his purse.

"So do you do much business with the Conclave?"

[-Sentinel-]

Elsa, Viggo and Sieghard

Elsa threw the ogre a sullen look as they filed into the old house. Of course, the halfling had a bodyguard, and one who was probably too stupid to be bribed to look the other way. Why was nothing ever simple? Though she tried to look confident, she was glad to leave the ogre's sight.

I suppose the Frightening rule only applies when the creature is hostile?

"So, what's your employer's interest?" asked the halfling. "My favourite so far's been the lads who think they can make some kind of aphrodisiac out of it. Far be it from me to discourage them, but I'd like to see how that one ends."

"Not gonna work at all," drawled Elsa, making it up as she went and trusting that her facial tattoos lent her some authority when it came to obscure knowledge. "That's a common myth, but it's been debunked time and again by reputable people. Of course, when your buyers inevitably fail to make their aphrodisiac, they're more likely to think you supplied them a fake tooth than admit they've been fooled by quacks."

This is a long shot, but untrained Charm 17: [roll0] - Yeah, doubt it.

[LCP]

Elsa, Sieghard and Viggo, In Spoilers And All That

Having just taken a bite from his bun, Jasper stopped in mid-chew to look quizzically at Elsa. Swallowing and coughing, he glanced back to the others.

"I don't think you've introduced your, ah... charming friend," he said, in carefully diplomatic tones. "Well, Fraulein, I'll bear that in mind. But you still haven't answered my question - what's your interest in this?"



Adelbert & Ludo

Seeming pleasantly surprised at being paid the asking price, the bookseller was nonetheless all too eager to take Adelbert's money.

"I do a little business with the priests," she said. "Making copies, teaching their initiates. They used to give a lot of business to my father. Me, not as much."

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"He thinks it can be used to extend his life," Sieghard replied. "Grind it, mix it with some herbs and the gods know what else. I think he's listened to too many tall tales and will probably just end up making himself sick, but it's no surprise that an old man with money would be willing to try."

"And that's Elsa," he added. "She's here to make sure the tooth is real." If she was going to claim to be knowledgeable about dragon teeth, it was a good excuse to get the thing where they could see it.

[RossN]

Adelbert & Ludo

"Competition from other booksellers?" Adelbert asked. He'd kick himself if it turned out he could have found the work cheaper elsewhere. "Do you know where the priests live... er, other than Father Heironymus that is. He and I have already met."

[LCP]

Adelbert & Ludo

"Not to my knowledge," said Al-Khansa, a harder tone entering her voice. "They respected father. I think they have a hard time believing that I'm better than their initiates."

She clearly wasn't keen on continuing this line of conversation. "The Morrites have quarters at the temple, and the Shallyans live at the Great Hospital. I think the monks of Azriller have a chapter house down in the docks. Those are the only ones I know." She cocked her head to one side, looking curiously at Adelbert. "You can always talk to them at the temple, you know. That's what it's for."



Sieghard, Elsa & Viggo

"An expert, is she?" said Jasper, looking over again to Elsa. "Well, maybe that's a good thing for both of us."

"I'll tell you the truth, I don't like going back on a deal. Wouldn't have dreamt of it normally, if it weren't such a strange order. The fellow who asked me to get it for him, he spun me some story about needing it to prove that some inheritance back in the Empire was going to the right man. I asked him, why don't you just fake one, and he says no, it's got to be the real thing."

"He drove a hard bargain too. Another thing I don't like, selling something without knowing what it's really worth. It wasn't cheap, getting hold of a thing like this, you understand? Had to beg favours of dwarfs, and you know what they're like. Next thing I know they'll be turning up at my door, demanding I help them go take back some mountain or other."

"So I put out a few feelers, just asking - what's the real value in a dragon's tooth?" He raised an eyebrow at Sieghard. "I suppose that's how you heard about it?"

[RossN]

Adelbert & Ludo

Adelbert bristled at Al-Khansa tone. He'd paid her a small fortune in gold for a second hand book afterall and if she objected to his questions she could have said so at the beginning. Why was everyone in this town so intolerable? "Well, maybe you aren't better than their initiates. Gooday Fraulein."

Still fuming he took his book and stormed out and decided to walk in the direction of the docks. Perhaps he could still catch up with the others.

[LeSwordfish]

The History Boys
Ludo looked up guiltily from where he'd been poking through the witch hunter book. He hadn't seen what had upset Adelbert.

"Sorry about that," he said to Al-Khansa. "He's been having a bad time recently."

He nodded a goodbye, placed the witch hunter book back on the shelf, and trotted after Adelbert, making sure both Kaja and Stoutheart were following.

[Northern Lad]

Elsa, Sieghard & Viggo



"So I put out a few feelers, just asking - what's the real value in a dragon's tooth?" He raised an eyebrow at Sieghard. "I suppose that's how you heard about it?"

Viggo had been quite up to now, rattled at the unexpected Ogre in the shack. Elsa and Rockface seemed happy enough though and the Halfling was bloody eating cakes, so it obviously wasn't going to up and start throwing them into cooking pots just yet.

"Just so, Just so. But worth and value are all in the eye of the beholder my dear fellow, wouldn't you agree?" Viggo's voice had taken on that upper class accent again. "Least favourite grandson of their rather aged employer." He said by way of an introduction, smiling as broadly as ever. "Such things as worth and value can be addressed once we have... checked.. this Tooth perhaps? Grandpa would have me stuffed and mounted if we were to return with say.. an Ogre's tooth instead!" Viggo placed a hand on Elsa's shoulder, "Do you have it here? If it's not too much trouble will you allow.. Janey, here to give it a quick once over?" Viggo didn't know if Elsa wanted to keep her real name hidden, so used his Aunty Janey's instead.

OOC

Charm Test if req'd:

FEL 43 - [roll0]
Re-roll - [roll1]

[LCP]

Viggo, Sieghard and Janey

"Janey?" Jasper furrowed his brow and looked over at Elsa. "Is it Elsa, or Janey?"



Adelbert & Ludo

Heading down to the docks with his new purchase clasped tightly under one arm, Adelbert strode through the streets in silence. He could feel Kaja's hesitation as the boy trailed behind him - clearly his apprentice could sense that he was in a foul mood.

Asking after Jasper Greenapple proved surprisingly simple. Soon enough, they found themselves before a large old house overlooking the waterfront, nestled amid warehouses and piers populated by rough-looking stevedores.

Despite its slightly decrepit appearance, the house's front door was tall and thick. Reaching up, Ludo knocked, and heavy footsteps followed from inside. Very heavy footsteps.

The door creaked inwards, pulled open by a huge hand that held the doorhandle between finger and thumb. A boulder-like head leaned down to peer at them under the lintel. It was an ogre, at least as big as any of Gorg's mercenaries.

"Yur?" he rumbled, looking down at the trio on the doorstep with a mildly curious air. Adelbert had to fight the feeling that the ogre was wondering what he tasted like. At ankle-level, Stoutheart had begun yapping excitedly. "Whatchoo want?"

[RossN]

Adelbert & Ludo

Adelbert did feel somewhat concerned he was making a bad impression on his apprentice, but at the same time he was still irritated over the booksellers attitude. Was she related to than appalling mining guild woman or the proprietress of the Red Moon?

Adelbert glanced at Ludo, then back at the ogre. He had to crane his neck. "We... uh, are looking for some friends of ours who had business here with your boss. Two men and a red haired woman with a tattoo. About so high."

He held out a palm to indicate Elsa, Sieghard and Viggo's heights.

[-Sentinel-]

Elsa, Viggo and Sieghard

"Is it Elsa, or Janey?"

"Elsa," said the pyromancer with only the slightest hint of annoyance. No real point in trying to explain Viggo's blunder; she was a poor liar at best. "May I have a look?"

[Northern Lad]

Viggo, Sieghard & Ja..Elsa


Ignoring the irritation in Elsa's voice, Viggo winked suggestively at Jasper, "Janey is just my pet name for her." He most definitely did not look in Sieghards' direction. If they want to take offence they'll just have to wait until we're done here!, he thought ruefully. "You now how it is when you're young eh?" he squeezed Elsa's shoulder companionably, hoping beyond hope that she wasn't so irritated that he'd end up as a pile of ash.

[LeSwordfish]

Ludo & Adelbert
Ludo raised his hat politely to the Ogre. Sure you wouldn't rather deal with hieronymous, Adelbert? He yanked stoutheart back and shushed him. Evidently Greenapple was a big player. His old salesman's instinct was twitching like a hazel rod.

[LCP]

Ludo & Adelbert

The ogre squinted at Adelbert from beneath his craggy brow. Turning side-on to squeeze one of his massive shoulders through the doorway, he leaned down until his face was level with the scholar's, and sniffed loudly. There was a loud rumbling sound that Adelbert sincerely hoped was not his stomach.

"You wait here," said the ogre, pointing towards the ground at Adelbert's feet. Sidling back through the door, he shut it hard enough to rattle the frame. Shortly afterwards, the two of them heard his massive footsteps plodding deeper inside.



Sieghard, Viggo and Elsa

Jasper raised an eyebrow. "I see," he said. He said nothing more, but it was clear that he didn't quite believe the path from 'Elsa' to 'Janey'.

"Well, I'd be happy to let you have a look at the goods. Provided, of course, that I could be sure that your - ahem - grandfather - that he's serious about making a bid. A piece like this, I couldn't see letting it go for less than two hundred. Just wouldn't be profitable otherwise, you understand?"

They were interrupted by a tremendous creaking from the staircase. Soon enough they heard Kragg's plodding footsteps on the landing, their heavy rhythm making the old house shake.

A ponderous knock shook the study door. Frowning, Jasper got down from his chair, and opened it. Touching his forehead to his boss, Kragg let out a bass rumble that he probably thought was a hushed whisper. Jasper murmured back in quieter tones, and clearly got some kind of answer. Whether it was in Reikspiel was something that Viggo was quite unable to tell. Kragg's voice sounded like someone rolling a barrel full of rocks down a hill.

Returning to his desk, Jasper looked up at his guests with a sunny smile.

"Kragg says there's some people at the door. A man, a boy, a halfling and a dog." He tilted his head to the left, looking at Viggo. "More friends of your grandfather's?"

[RossN]

Adelbert & Ludo

Adelbert waited till the ogre was gone before turning to Kaja to check the boy hadn't be frightened. Goblins were one thing but that was a big ogre.

"Still, more polite than most people we've met here," he suggested quasi-jokingly to Ludo. He suggested softly however, just in case the big brute was coming back.

[LeSwordfish]

Ludo and Adelbert
"It's strange how much nicer you are to ten-foot ogres than small women selling books." Ludo said, a little testily.

[RossN]

Adelbert & Ludo

"It is strange how ten-foot ogres are nicer to me then are small women I've bought books from," Adelbert replied.

[LeSwordfish]

Ludo And Adelbert
"You asked her why her business was failing and then got cross when she suggested you might find priests in a temple."

[RossN]

Adelbert and Ludo

"She told me her business was doing worse than in her father's day and so I enquired why. In case you haven't noticed I am in that business myself," Adelbert said, "and I think it would be beyond obvious that someone asking about priests would already have tried the temple. Frankly I didn't care for her tone, or yours Stubbs. In fact if it bothers you so much, you deal with the others. I will go back to the inn and read up on this tome to see exactly how much your beloved bookseller overcharged me for. Come along Kaja."

Still fuming Adelbert strode off towards the Harvester.

[LeSwordfish]

Adelbert And Ludo
Ludo was taken aback by Adelbert's sudden anger, and by the time he'd cleared his head enough to consider shouting an apology, Adelbert was gone.

[-Sentinel-]

Elsa, Viggo and Sieghard


"A piece like this, I couldn't see letting it go for less than two hundred. Just wouldn't be profitable otherwise, you understand?"
Elsa's eyebrows nearly jumped out of her forehead. That was more than twice the agreed-upon price of eighty crowns claimed by Klammenberg. "Nobody's going to pay that much," she said bluntly, "even if we could be sure the tooth is the real thing. Not your friends who want to make an aphrodisiac, nor anyone else. If you paid anywhere near that price for it, my friend, you got swindled and it's your problem, not ours."



"Kragg says there's some people at the door. A man, a boy, a halfling and a dog." He tilted his head to the left, looking at Viggo. "More friends of your grandfather's?"
Elsa did her best to mask her irritation. Things were going fast, and she was not good at thinking on her feet in social situations.

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

Sieghard had been reaching for his coin purse as the halfling spoke. He set it on the table, having assumed showing a bit of gold would be enough to convince the Greenapple that they were truly intend to purchase the tooth and had the means to do so.

"I couldn't see letting it go for less than two hundred. Just wouldn't be profitable otherwise, you understand?"

He let the purse open a bit, showing the coins inside before snatching it back.

"Two hundred? Are you selling a tooth or the entire skull? Perhaps you could get fifty for it. If the buyer was a fool. And if the tooth was particularly large."

There was more he had planned to say, but the sound of the ogre approaching made him hold his tongue.

"Kragg says there's some people at the door. A man, a boy, a halfling and a dog. More friends of your grandfather's?"

"The dog is friendly enough," Sieghard responded curtly. He kept his answer vague intentionally, but the annoyance in his voice was real. If the others were foolish enough to mention Klammenberg, he wanted the option of pretending they were rival buyers.

[Northern Lad]

Viggo, Sieghard & Elsa



"Kragg says there's some people at the door. A man, a boy, a halfling and a dog. More friends of your grandfather's?"

"The dog is friendly enough," Sieghard responded curtly.

Viggo snorted back a guffaw at Sieghards' deadpan delivery, "Friends of mine I suppose Master Greenapple. The Halfling, Ludo, is our guide to the Reaches. The man, Herr Schreiber is a man of letters and learning, a rarity in these parts I'm sure you'll agree, useful to have around when tracking down rare artifacts and the such." He replied loftily whilst still retaining his affable tone.

Viggo made a consolatory gesture with his hands, "Perhaps we can begin our negotiations after we have seen the merchandise?" He nodded towards Sieghards purse and continued. "As you can see we are quite serious about our interest."

[LCP]

Elsa, Sieghard & Viggo

Jasper laughed as he saw Sieghard and Elsa's reactions.

"You're very confident in your appraisal, considering why you're here. How would your employer feel if you told him that you'd turned down his elixir of youth because it was too expensive?" He leaned on the arm of his chair. "Two hundred crowns to stave off death for another year or two, I'd say that's a positive bargain."

He waved to Kragg. "Show them up," he said. "Let's have your friends join us before we go any further. You should know, though, that the tooth isn't all there is to that number. My reputation's on the line if I sell this to anyone but the original buyer. Making me disappoint him, that carries a premium. You understand?"

The house began to shake as Kragg lumbered off down the stairs.



Ludo, Elsa, Sieghard & Viggo

The door opened, and Ludo found himself looking up once more into the craggy face of the ogre. Narrowing his eyes, the ogre looked around for any sign of Adelbert.

"Gone?" he rumbled. He didn't wait for an answer - stepping partially out of the way, he reached out with one long arm to shepherd Ludo inside. "Jasper see you now."

Having to carry Stoutheart in his arms to stop the little dog going crazy as the ogre herded them up a creaking flight of stairs, Ludo did his best to take in his surroundings. The house was surprisingly well-furnished given its run-down exterior. Crossing the landing with the ogre in tow, he found the others waiting in a lavishly appointed study, in front of a fine walnut desk. Behind the desk, a halfling in his middle years sat in a comfortable chair, halfway through a small cake.

"I thought you said there were two?" he said, raising an eyebrow to his bodyguard. The ogre rumbled something apologetic, and Greenapple shrugged. "Come in, come in. Have a seat. Would you like a scone?" He offered a tray in Ludo's direction.

There was something about Greenapple's face that Ludo found faintly familiar. The feeling was clearly mutual, as the trader sized up Ludo's own features for a moment or two. "You're one of the Sermena boys, no?" Finishing his cake, he dusted the crumbs from his fingers. "Good to see you stretching your legs outside Last Water. Good for you."

Coughing a little to clear his throat, he turned back to Viggo. "Now - you were asking about the merchandise. One moment."

Hopping down from his chair, he headed over to a cupboard in the corner. Crouching down, he reached underneath it and brought out a long wooden box with a sturdy lock.

"I think you'll find," he said, producing a delicate key, " that it's quite genuine." Plonking the box down on the desk, he opened it up. Inside, padded by scraps of sackcloth, was a great black fang.

It was almost as long as Ludo's forearm, from its sharp tip to the base of its deep roots. Cracked and darkened, but smooth like stone, it conjured up an immediate picture of the size of the creature to which it must have belonged.

Elsa Only
Elsa had some feeling of what was in the box when Greenapple fished it from under the cupboard, but when he opened the lid she almost had to cover her eyes against its sudden radiance. The wind of fire flowed around the tooth in blazing ribbons, thrilling to the memory of past flames. Looking at it, Elsa could almost hear the rumble of the dragon's breath, and feel its furnace heat.

At the back of the room, even the ogre craned his head to look.



Adelbert

If anything, Kaja seemed a little disappointed to be prised away from the parade of ogres and halflings, but he dutifully followed his master back to the Harvester's Haven. Secluding himself in a reasonably quiet corner, Adelbert began consulting his new purchase. It at least seemed to be in good condition, having been recently re-bound.

OOC: What are you looking for?

[LeSwordfish]

Fangs for the Memories
Ludo shuffled awkwardly, attempting to shake Greenapple's hand, take the proffered scone, and keep Stoutheart calm at the same time, eventually deciding the scone wouldn't be possible. "Ludo Stubbs, of the Sermena Stubbs. A pleasure to meet you, mister Greenapple, although I'm afraid my friend and his apprentice have been called away." He avoided eye contact with the rest of the party as he said this.

When the tooth was brought out, Ludo gasped a little, but remained silent with an effort. However his friends were handling this, he didn't want to mess it up.

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

Adelbert studied the book, seeking any mention of Gilbertus, the Illuminated Order or Harmugstahl or Guldun.

[-Sentinel-]

Elsa, Sieghard, Viggo and Ludo

Elsa did her best to look unimpressed with the tooth, though she could feel at once the power that radiated from it. Better to keep the smarmy seller in doubt as to his treasure's true worth.

The pyromancer's eyes flicked to Ludo. <"Pretty sure that's the real thing,"> she said in Classical, her tone carefully neutral. <"What now?">

[LeSwordfish]

Ludo etc
<"See what price we can get."> Ludo said, deciding not to reveal their true purpose in case Greenapple also spoke the language.

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

Sieghard glanced from Ludo to Elsa with a raised eyebrow.

"Well?"

[Northern Lad]

I Promise to Speak The Whole Tooth..

Viggo felt his breath catch as Greenapple produced the huge fang. Imagine the size of the beast that used to have a row of them! However, he followed Elsa's lead, doing his best to not seem overly excited about a real life dragons tooth sat in a box right before him. He nodded along as Elsa and Ludo started babbling, pretending he could understand every word. "Hmm, yes just so."

Viggo tapped his lips, pretending to be deep in thought. "Well Herr Greenapple, I did say I was his least favourite grandson if you recall?" Viggo grinned broadly. "My stern faced friend here is correct," He inclined his head in Sieghards' direction. "Fifty crowns would seem like a most reasonable price. If I may be so bold, how much have these desperate lovers offered you and for that matter the original buyer? I only ask so as to know whether or not we'd be wasting each others time here." Viggo was actually starting to quite enjoy playing this part. This posh accent suits me I think, lends me an air sophistication!

OOC


Charm Test to see if he'll reveal those prices?

FEL 43 - [roll0]
Re-roll - [roll1]

[LCP]

Viggo, Ludo, Elsa & Sieghard

Greenapple gave a dry chuckle, and closed the box.

"Well, you're certainly wasting mine with fifty," he said. "I told you my price. Now you can either make me a reasonable offer - and I mean reasonable - or you can take your money and go." He took the box down off the desk. "I only put this out there because I thought I wasn't getting paid what it was really worth, I'm not about to take less."

OOC: Jasper's a businessman, he has no reason to reveal that information just because you asked nicely.

The skill you're looking for is Haggle!



Adelbert

Skimming through the book, Adelbert caught a glimpse of Gilbertus, but nothing of the Karst Coven or their strongholds. Perhaps he'd just missed them, but they certainly weren't prominently mentioned.

OOC: Give me a Read/Write test please.

[Northern Lad]

Viggo, Ludo, Elsa & Sieghard


Viggo winced and replied carefully, doing his best to appease the diminutive merchant. "As with all negotiations Herr Greenapple, this is just a matter of finding a price that is reasonable for both parties, don't you agree? A man of your shrewdness will obviously not end up concluding a deal for less gold than he has already been offered eh?" Viggo took a couple of paces backwards and forwards, trying to look like a man who shopped for dragon's teeth everyday.

"Which is why I asked what these other offers were, it gives the pair of us a starting point from which to begin no?" Viggo's left eye turned away from the Halfling, seemingly already bored of the proceedings. "But to help things along the way I propose a price of seventy five gold crowns." That seemed like a huge amount to Viggo, but since I have no intention of buying the damn thing, the price hardly matters does it?

"I'd be very surprised if either of your potential buyers have offered that much for this item?" He crossed his arms and regarded the Halfling, hoping that he came across as more astute than his years might imply.

OOC

Untrained Haggle Test:

FEL 21 - [roll0]
RE-Roll - [roll1]

[LCP]

Viggo, Ludo, Elsa & Sieghard

Greenapple sucked in air between his teeth and shook his head.

"I'm afraid you're going to have to do better than that," he said. "The original buyer offered me ninety."

Getting stuck into the cut and thrust of negotiation with some enthusiasm, Viggo managed to haggle the halfling's asking price down to a hundred and sixty crowns. Below that, Greenapple would not budge.

[Northern Lad]

Viggo, Ludo, Elsa & Sieghard


Viggo was left feeling like he'd been put through a mangle. Even though no money was actually going to exchange hands he felt it only right that he put up as good a show as he could offer up and he was positive, that if the negotiations had been real, Greenapple would have had the shirt off of his back. Gods alone know how traders do this every bloody day! he wondered wryly to himself.

"A shame Herr Greenapple," Viggo concluded, "but it appears as if we will not be able to conclude this business today." Viggo adopted a mournful expression. And then an idea struck him. Risky, but maybe worth a shot! "If I may be so bold Herr Greenapple, I'd recommend that you take the ninety you were offered. The price is right and you won't be running the risk of having a disappointed lover on your hands as Elsa here pointed out!"

He cast a crafty glance back to the merchant. "Besides I have not been totally honest with you sir. You are not the only person selling a dragons' tooth in Savonne, as odd as that may seem. I myself have a contact who has tentatively agreed a price of only one hundred crowns. I was hoping to capitalise on their seeming abundance by purchasing yours at a cheaper price." Viggo spread his hands wide in a gesture of long suffering patience. "Alas, it was not to be! Seems I'll have to seek out this Klammenberg fellow and take him up on his offer."

[LeSwordfish]

With that roll, it's nothing but the tooth
In Ludo's official salesman's opinion, Viggo was either a genius or a madman. For now, he transferred his force of will into not raising his eyebrows or rolling his eyes.

[LCP]

Viggo, Ludo, Elsa & Sieghard

Frowning, Greenapple looked hard at Viggo.

"You're saying someone named Klammenberg has tried to sell you a tooth like this?

OOC: For crafty lies it is Charm.

[Northern Lad]

Viggo, Ludo, Elsa & Sieghard


Viggo did his best to seem surprised at Greenapple's interest. "Well, not as such. For a start I hardly know if it is a tooth exactly like this when I have yet to see it and secondly it is more a case of me trying to buy than him attempting to sell."

He shrugged, as if to say what will be will be. "But I am more than confident that he will agree to our terms, he seemed amenable in our..." Viggo searched frantically through his brain for the right word.. "Correspondence?" The young lad raised a questioning eyebrow, "Why do you know the chap? Perhaps you could point us in his direction?"

OOC


Charm Test:

FEL 43 - [roll0]
RE-Roll - [roll1]
Edit: ooooh that hurts! :smallfrown:

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"Heard about this Klammenberg from the same man who told us about you," Sieghard said, fighting to hold back a powerful urge to punch Viggo.

"If you aren't willing to sell for a reasonable price, we'll just track him down and pay him a visit. If what we were told is right, he has no reputation he's so worried about protecting that he'd demand such a ridiculous price for it."

[LCP]

Viggo, Ludo, Elsa & Sieghard

Greenapple squinted long and hard at Viggo, as if trying to read something written on the back of his eyeballs.

"Klammenberg," he said, "is the name of the man who asked me to get this thing for him in the first place. I didn't get the impression his interest in it was just in the resale value."

"So let's get this straight. You say you - your grandfather - wants to buy this piece, but my price is too high. You'll say you'll go to Klammenberg, the man who asked me to get it in the first place, and you'll buy from him. Meaning either that you're just paying him to be the middle-man, or Herr Klammenberg is just rolling in dragon teeth." He tilted his head to one side. "Either way, that doesn't seem to hang together."

With a sigh, he sat back in his chair. "Look, friend, my cards are on the table. I'm in this to make a profit. If you don't think it's worth any more to you than it is to him, I'll sell to him. Maybe that is what it's worth. I thought if I was missing something about the true value of this thing, maybe putting it on the market would bring out someone who knew. Doesn't seem to have happened so far."

He spread his hands. "So, do we have any business to discuss, or don't we?"

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"Klammenberg is a buyer?" Sieghard asked, feigning confusion "Not another seller?"

Sieghard shook his head.

"Not for a hundred and sixty. The lad made his offer. A dragon's tooth might not be the easiest thing to find, but for more than that we can look elsewhere."

[LCP]

Sieghard, Viggo, Ludo & Elsa

"Please, feel free," said Greenapple, extending a hand in the direction of the door. Behind them, the floorboards creaked as Kragg got 'quietly' to his feet.



Adelbert

Savonne: The Greatest City In The Border Princes was a book that believed in its title. It appeared to have been written fairly recently, in the immediate aftermath of Prince Belehir's rise to power, and the author - one Lena Knopf - took great pains to set out how the great city of Savonne deserved to throw off the nickname of "Wolf Pit".

...if anything, the temporary troubles caused by Duke Wulf's illness have led to a lot of empty houses for new arrivals to move into, and the Great Fire of 2520 has cleared out most of the rats in the west quarter...

Once you got past the writer's enthusiasm and eccentricities, however, the book did seem to be fairly rich in information. Unfortunately, the excessive focus on Savonne - and how great it was - meant that details of historical events beyond the city walls were incredibly sparse by comparison to the obsessive cataloguing of local characters and landmarks.

Reaching Knopf's description of the war with Gilbertus, Adelbert was unsurprised to see the renegade priest painted as a dyed-in-the-wool villain. More interestingly, Knopf had the names of several of the other players in the war against the warlock - Savonne's ruler of the time, and a few of his advisors who Adelbert thought might well be among the founding members of the Illuminated Order. Knopf didn't paint them as such, but then Adelbert wasn't sure she quite understood the assistance these "sages" had given against Gilbertus. It would make sense for the Order's formation not to be common knowledge...

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

Given the dating the book was written, at most, three years ago and given the content Frau (or Fraulein) Knopf could hardly be living elsewhere than The Greatest City In The Border Princes, so...

Adelbert closed the book and stood up, looking decisive.

"Come on Kaja, we have an author to find." Adelbert led his apprentice out of the inn and towards the market.

OOC:
Adelbert is looking to find info on Lena Knopf and, if she still lives, her address. He'll ask around places that probably deal with scriviners - anyone selling ink or paper in the market, an out and out scribe if he sees one and Fulk's shop in the Warren.

Gossip test: [roll0] vs. 36
FP re-roll if needed: [roll1] vs. 36

[LCP]

Adelbert

At this time of day, the flow of people heading back into the city through the north gate was quite dense. Adelbert had to shoulder his way through the crowd to make progress, Kaja trailing behind him through the gaps he made.

Skirting the high walls of the castle, Adelbert reached the busy square that did its best to contain the city's central marketplace. Beginning his enquiries, he didn't have much success - for once, he found himself missing the provincial scale of Mirino, where everyone knew everybody else's name.

A trader who dealt in inks and dyes had never heard the name of Knopf, but did her best to convince Adelbert to buy some of her wares. A man selling sheepskins and parchment was similarly nonplussed, and offered Adelbert a fine woolen rug, half price. By now thoroughly jostled and turned about by the punters at the other stalls, Adelbert abandoned the square and went to try his luck at Fulk's instead.

As a neighbourhood, the Warren lived up to its name. Ramshackle clay-brick houses leaned close to one another, dividing the muddy streets into a maze of dirty alleyways. Keeping the distinctive belltower of the Great Hospital on his left, Adelbert kept Kaja close to him as he headed into the slums, stepping around puddles of stagnant water and less pleasant things. There were far more beggars here than in the Old Town, many of them with the same strange red stains around their gums he had noticed on the man outside Al-Khansa's.

Fulk's establishment was nestled in an extremely narrow street behind the hospital, the buildings crowded so close to either side that it was sure to be in shadow any time that the sun was not directly overhead. Picking it out by its faded sign, Adelbert pushed open the peeling door and stepped inside.

The shop was dark and dusty. Books stood in stacks, many with cracked spines and shed pages in a shameful state of decay. There were no shelves, just piles of the things, sometimes tied together with string into tall blocks. A single fallen candle and the whole place would surely go up in flames.

Peeking up from behind a dusty wooden counter like a mouse edging cautiously out of its hole, a little wiry man in a leather cap peered at them, perhaps hoping they hadn't yet seen him. With a pinched face full of stubble, he might have been anything from twenty-five to forty-five. As he squinted at the newcomers, Adelbert had a sudden image of what Herr Krucke might have looked like in his younger days.

"Mon dieu! Customers," exclaimed the man, straightening up and scuttling over towards them with an eagerness that was as alarming as it was sudden. He spoke with a thick Bretonnian accent, but his Reikspiel seemed passable. "Please, please, come in. Look around." Shifting a stack of mouldering volumes that was blocking Adelbert's path, he dusted off the front of his clothes and took a good look at his visitors. "What is it Thibault can do for you, messieurs?"

Getting straight the point, Adelbert asked the shabby bookseller if he could direct him to Lena Knopf. Fulk put his head to one side and looked puzzled.

"Of course, m'sieur, it would be my pleasure to assist you - but that is not a name I am, ah, familiar with, you say, yes?" He glanced around him. "This lady, she lives in these parts?"

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

"Well so I assumed," Adelbert admitted. "Perhaps it is a pen name. Monsieur Fulk, do you know of any writers who might have had a hand in such a work?"

He handed over the copy for the bookseller to investigate.

[LCP]

Adelbert

Fulk took the book as if he'd been handed a brick. He turned it over, but didn't open it.

"I - ahem - I don't know if I can help you, m'sieur. I don't know who makes these things, I just sell them." Peering at the book's cover as if he could read it all from there, he nodded sagely before handing it back. "Perhaps, if there is a book like it you would like to buy...?"

He let the sentence trail off hopefully, eyes flicking sideways to the mounds of mouldering paper all around them.

[Northern Lad]

Sieghard, Viggo, Ludo & Elsa


"It's as he says." Viggo indicated in Sieghard's direction. "It appears it would be cheaper to have Herr Klammenberg act as a middle man than to ask you to risk your reputation." Viggo spread his hands wide an innocent look upon his face. "No harm done though Herr Greenapple eh? At least we have been able to confirm that the tooth is real and now you know you're not being bilked on the price?"

Viggo cast an uneasy glance at Kragg. "At the very least, we have hopefully.. Expedited.. the deal?" He'd heard Klammenberg use the phrase the night before and although he wasn't exactly sure what it meant, it was obviously the type of thing an educated sort of fellow might say. "The sooner you sell to Herr Klammenberg the sooner I can get back to my Grandfather." Viggo paused as if pondering. "If I were to pay your price Herr Greenapple, the crotchety old miser would only use his extra years to moan about their cost! I shall seek out Klammenberg and tell him to pay you a visit at once."

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

Trying to hide his disappointment Adelbert smiled and shook his head. He was nearly broke as it was, though at least this bookseller was less rude than the other one.

"Thank you but I will have to discuss matters with my companions. I'll probably be back though."

Regretfully he returned to the inn to await developments from his companions. Knopf's trail had run cold but he'd try the cartographer in the morning... after getting money from the others. Adelbert was beginning to wonder if he should look at renting a stall; it certainly seemed like he'd need to actually make money if they were to stay in Savonne for another few days.

[LCP]

Viggo, Sieghard, Elsa & Ludo

Greenapple peered at Viggo for a moment or two, as if the entertainer were a puzzle he was trying to piece together.

"I don't know what your game is, young man," he said at last, "but I'm happy to leave you to play it with yourself." He pushed himself back from the desk. "I think our business here is done. Good day to you, friends."

[LeSwordfish]

Tooth
Ludo sighed. "What a shame that the name of Greenapple is no longer to be relied upon in such a way. I don't look forward to informing Tallbert that once again a halfling in the reaches will throw away his reputation for money."

He stood. "We'll have to tell Herr Klammenberg that he was right."

[Northern Lad]

Viggo, Sieghard, Elsa & Ludo



"I think our business here is done. Good day to you, friends."

"Indeed it is Herr Greenapple, I thank you for you patience." Viggo made an elaborate bow, red cloak flaring out behind him. "As I said we'll go and find Herr Klammenberg and point him in your direction."

Viggo placed a hand on Ludo's shoulder and looked down at him sympathetically, "Worry not Ludo, I'm sure Herr Greenapple's intentions are all above board." He turned to leave but then turned back to the merchant. "Just out of interest, who were these lads who were going to grind the tooth down? I'd like to have a word in their ear about what a waste that would be! Elsa here, can probably name a dozen better love potions for them to try first!"

OOC


Charm Test:

FEL 43 - [roll0]

Edit: Yeah... I'll re-roll that OOC! :smalleek:

[LCP]

Ludo, Viggo, Elsa & Sieghard

Raising a forestalling hand to Viggo, Greenapple furrowed his brow at Ludo.

"Sorry," he said, "right about what?" A suspicious expression crossed his face. "This is all starting to smell damn fishy to me. What's your connection to him?" He paused, Ludo's words clearly having thrown him off-balance. "And Tallfellow? Talbert Tallfellow? What's he got to do with this?"

A subtle shift in Kragg's stooped posture implied that perhaps they were no longer welcome to leave.

[LeSwordfish]

LVES
Ludo had the horrible feeling, familiar to all halflings, of having put his foot in something sticky.

"Herr Klammenberg suspected you were selling elsewhere, that's all, though those weren't the words he used. And Tallfellow, yes. I won't pretend that I had any reason being here other than what my friends have already explained... but I was curious to meet one of the remaining Greenapples. Talbert has... strong words about the halflings outside Last Water in the reaches."

[LCP]

ELVS

"I've never known Talbert have strong words about anything," said Greenapple. "Has he got pompous as well as lazy, then? And after all I've done for him."

Getting down from his chair, Greenapple disappeared for a moment behind the desk, before walking around to stand face-to-face with Ludo. He examined the younger halfling's face with interest. Though still suspicious, he didn't seem angry.

"Well, you go back to Herr Klammenberg then, if you're such good friends with him. Tell him the goods have arrived." A small smile quirked the corner of his mouth. "Oh, and tell him the price has gone up."

[LeSwordfish]

LEVS
"Such is business." Ludo said sadly. He looked at the others, to see if they were done.

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

Without another word, Sieghard grabbed Ludo and Viggo by their shoulders and pulled them towards the door.

He held his tongue until they were well away from the docks before rounding on the two of them.

"You," he said glaring at Viggo, "What the hell did you think you were going to accomplish mentioning Klammenberg!? I said not to say anything about him before we even went in. What made you think bringing him up was going to help!? And you," he continued, turning to Ludo, "Failing to get the damned tooth would've been one thing, but because you opened your fool mouth, he raised the price! As far as he knew before that, we were just other buyers who only knew about Klammenberg through word of mouth."

[-Sentinel-]

Elsa, Sieghard, Ludo and Viggo

"I don't think there's much point in arguing over it now, Sieghard," said Elsa wearily. "All I can say is that the tooth is real enough. Never seen one before, but I could feel it was real."

[Northern Lad]

VELS


"No need to get all shouty is there?" Viggo grumbled sullenly, rubbing at his shoulder trying not to pout as the grizzled mercenary delivered his admonishment. "You could end up breaking a chaps shoulder dragging him about like that."

"I thought I was doing the right thing?" Viggo's voice still sounded petulant "You know... expediting.. it? Like Klammenberg asked?" Seeing an opportunity to shift the blame, he pointed an accusatory finger at Ludo. "And I was going alright too, until Ludo decided to tell Greenapple who we working for!"

Viggo shifted uncomfortably under Sieghards gaze. "Besides" he mumbled. "We did what were asked to do. Find out if the Halfling has the tooth, he asked us, and that whats we've done." Viggo's cheeks reddened. "No need to mention him raising the price on our account is there?" he finished in an embarrassed rush.

[LeSwordfish]

Ludo etc
Ludo huffed bad-temperedly at that, but otherwise let it go. Today was proving to be a waste of time.

"Adelbert's probably gone back to the inn." he said bitterly, and started leading the others in that direction. "He's not in a very good mood so-" avoid him? ask him how his day went? poke him with a stick? "-be nice. I suspect he wants to get out of here soon."

OOC: Requesting check on IC time, please.

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"Tell Klammenberg and tell Schreiber however you want to," Sieghard grumbled, "It's not my mess to clean up."

Fine with regrouping if that's Ludo's suggestion.

[LCP]

It was past noon by the time Sieghard and the others caught up to Adelbert at the Haven. The scribe had evidently been out and about on errands on his own, and looked to have only just got back.

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

Adelbert's mood had improved a little and he quickly greeted them before dropping his copy of Savonne: The Greatest City In The Border Princes on the inn table. "It has a few items of interest, like the names of Savonne's ruler at the time of the war, and a few of his advisors who I suspect were among the founders of the Illuminated Order. I know this book was written recently so if we could somehow track the author, this Lena Knopf, she might be able to tell us more."

The scribe paused, looking pained before reluctantly adding; "I'm almost out of money though. How has your sidejob gone?"

[-Sentinel-]

"Not well," Elsa growled. "The dragon tooth is real enough, but the seller is a smarmy little cheat. With an Ogre bodyguard."

[Northern Lad]

Viggo Hirtzel

Frowning at Elsa's assessment Viggo also answered. "We've seen the tooth, pushed him in the direction of selling to Klammenberg, discovered he had other folk interested and were going to see if we could maybe track them down." Casting a guilty glance at Sieghard he quickly added in a sullen tone. "But it could have gone better I suppose."

Viggo took in Adelberts morose demeanour, "Is that why you've been so bloody dour since we arrived in Savonne? Because you're short of a coin or two?" Viggo considered himself to be quite well off, despite having his purse lightened somewhat, Al-Makir was still holding onto a fortune for him back in Mirino. "If you need to borrow just ask. That's what friends are for." He reached for his purse, eager to put a smile back on Adelbert's face.

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

Adelbert looked deeply uncomfortable at Viggo's gaucheness. While the loss of his gold still stung bitterly (and one day he'd see Sforza pay very dearly for that) and his current lack of funds was an issue, it was not really the cause of his discontent with Savonne. "Er... yes. Well there is another book seller, this Fulk. While he knew nothing of Knopf he did have plenty of books so we might want to have another look there in case. There is also a cartographer in the palace, presumably a member of the court."

He frowned as he digested the information they'd given him. "These other buyers... Elsa this dragon tooth business smacks of magic does it not? Is it possible that some fragment of the Illuminated Order survived? From what we've heard they were magic in the Reaches."

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"The only other buyer he mentioned was an impotent old man who thought it would help him please his wife," Sieghard scoffed, "Mighta been someone else he didn't mention, but if there is, I doubt he'd be willing to tell us," he said with an annoyed glance towards Viggo.

[-Sentinel-]

"These other buyers... Elsa this dragon tooth business smacks of magic does it not? Is it possible that some fragment of the Illuminated Order survived? From what we've heard they were magic in the Reaches."
"Bit of a stretch if you ask me," said Elsa dubiously. "Many, many people would like to get their hands on a dragon tooth... not only wizards, but also fools who believe that anything sufficiently exotic must have whatever magical properties they wish."

This was actually a source of frustration in the wizard community of Altdorf - whenever someone put a unicorn horn or warpstone crystal on sale, wizards would try to outbid one another to buy the item for legitimate arcane purposes, but were often beaten by some superstitious noble or merchant who thought he could brew an elixir of youth with it. For quite some time, the Colleges had been trying to petition the Emperor to outlaw the sale of some goods to anyone who did not hold a magic licence.

[LeSwordfish]

Ludo checked the position of the sun. "I'm going to keep following leads. I heard about a drunk who thinks he's seen the library, so i'll talk to him, and maybe I can ask Al Khansr where the author lives. I'll meet you back here at sunset, shall we say?"

He headed off in the direction of the bookshop, turning as he left. "You'll be okay to tell Klammenberg what happened, right? Great."