Dramatis Personæ

Brother Mendel (Herodian)
Dane Sardock (Winston)
Gabriel Auditore (Rigil Kent)
Gestlin the Unpredictable (CommJunkee)
Magnifico the Clown (Feste)
Rainald North-Hammer (Gigermann)

Of Rumours and Questions

22 Apr 2014

In the morning, the Heroes split up.

Rainald went to the docks to help the crew with the ship’s maintenance, and help them get Gestlin’s wagon unloaded and reassembled for Magnifico, along with the flimsy, makeshift cages for Primus and Secundus—designed for onlookers’ peace-of-mind rather than keeping the dragons restrained. Between work shifts, Rainald made his way up and down the river’s docks and spoke with the sailors there about whatever might be of interest, and perhaps any sightings of Lord Wallace or the Merry Weather, the barge that had brought him downriver through Craine. Later in the day at some of the sailors’ suggestion, Rainald visited the office of the port authority. Given the impatient, agitated patrons loitering in the office lobby, he was surprised to be served so quickly—perhaps a perk of his status as Lord of Rainaldsheim? The small, well-mannered clerk led him to the archives and pulled down from the shelves a massive folio containing the port records for the specified period. Rainald realized then that he should have brought along someone who could read, and informed the clerk that he “would have to do the honors” for him; the clerk read aloud the pertinent information: the Merry Weather had indeed stopped in Craine for a couple of days about a year ago, though no accounting of passengers was available, nor its business at port. The clerk politely and professionally refused Rainald’s gift of a silver piece for his aid until it was “carelessly” dropped on the floor; Rainald helped the clerk put the heavy record-book back in its place, thanked the man again, and took his leave.

Gabriel and Gestlin made their way to the city’s market districts to ask after encounters with Lord Wallace when he undoubtedly stopped in Craine. The two both spotted a familiar sigil, that of House Berd, which belonged to the Lord of Fordham in Caithness, above the door of the hall of the Aldenard Trading Company. Thinking Lord Wallace would surely have done business with fellow Caithnessers, they strode up to the door and knocked. They were met at the door by a clerk, who led them into the lavishly-decorated lobby, full of rare curiosities from all over the known world (which Gestlin managed not to knock over). Upon inquiry, the clerk informed the two that this company was owned and run by Hagen Berd, nephew to Lord Fordham, and traded in various goods, but his master was unavailable to meet with them; he instead offered to give his master word of their desire to speak. Gabriel sensed the man was hiding the truth, and taking care that his dragon tattoos were visible to him, forcefully demanded again to see his master; the clerk took umbrage and demanded the two leave the premises. Gestlin made a valiant attempt to defuse the situation, but the clerk would not budge an inch, promising only that the master would be informed of their wishes, and that they would be contacted at their lodging when he became available. Seeing they would learn nothing more from the man, the two left; Gabriel told Gestlin of his suspicions as they returned to the square.

Magnifico, along with Brother Mendel, had borrowed Gestlin’s wagon intending to take the dragons on a street-tour of the city in advertisement of the show he intended to perform that evening, expecting someone would stop him and tell him where he needed to go to obtain proper permission for such an event. The spectacle drew throngs of onlookers immediately—a dragon of any kind was a rare sight indeed—and they were stopped by the city guard, who were rather less informed regarding administrative matters than Magnifico had hoped. They instead turned the wagon about and headed in the direction of the city’s arena, followed all the way by a crowd of the curious. But when they arrived, they saw that the arena was vacant—an off day—and the playbill indicated no shows to be performed therein this day. Then they continued to the town hall, crowds still following, and begged an audience with the city’s masters. The audience was granted, and they discovered that permission to perform at the arena would be ludicrously expensive, especially on such short notice as this, but as the administrators were eager to disperse the crowd, they settled on a permit to perform in the market square in the evening for five gold marks; between the Magnifico and Brother Mendel, they gathered and paid the fee, and went their way, expecting to recover their money and much more.

Dane spent the day relaxing at the Crimson Mug inn, listening, carefully and discreetly, to the conversations amongst the soldiers and mercenaries drinking and eating there throughout the day. As afternoon approached, the rest of the Heroes began to trickle in from their business in the city to join him. Rainald told of his findings at the port authority. Gabriel and Gestlin told of their experience at the guild-hall. Magnifico and Brother Mendel were the last to arrive at the inn, and as they did, they informed the others of “the show”; Rainald volunteered to help manage the crowd, and there was talk of enlisting Gestlin’s magical talents for the performance. (Also, they discussed the need for a collapsible “stage” to be added to the wagon for future occasions such as this.)

Some time later, a well-dressed man claiming to be Hagen Berd arrived at the inn and found the Heroes at their corner. They invited him to their table and asked what business he might have done with Lord Wallace, and when he might have seen him last; he, in return, asked many questions of them, about what they knew or didn’t know, but in turn revealed little, raising much suspicion regarding his motives. Then, a very drunk man at a table across the room spotted the man and waved in a friendly manner, calling out his name as “Valorus”; the man who had claimed to be Hagen Berd quickly excused himself and left the inn in a hurry, ignoring the drunk man’s attempts to get his attention.

Gabriel left immediately after, and discreetly followed behind “Valorus” as he hurried down the street, constantly looking over his shoulder. Gabriel observed as he met with a man garbed in the uniform of a Templar Knight, who then escorted “Valorus” back to the Aldenard guild-hall before leaving him there. Meanwhile, back at the inn, the others bought the drunk man another drink and attempted to coax from him more information about this “Valorus” fellow and what he might have been up to; he didn’t know him well—just drank with him sometimes—but he did confirm that it was not Hagen Berd they had spoken to. This man, a furrier by trade, had been commissioned on a number of occasions to make fur coats for Master Berd’s many mistresses, though he had never met him in person, nor knew any more of his dealings.

Some time later, Gabriel returned and shared his discovery, and Dane began to put the pieces of the puzzle together: Lord Wallace had a long-standing grievance regarding the appointment, against his many objections, of the royalist Lord Fordham as regent of the Caithnesser kingdom on the Huallapan world after the Crusade’s end, and there had been no love lost between them since; also, the Templars had not much of a presence in Caithness until the appointment of the late Bishop Zabka, a Templar agent, to the Archdiocese of Photius, and could gain much standing both in Caithness and the Otherworld through collusion with Lord Fordham, and the rebel Lord Wallace’s popularity could interfere with their backing of the more sympathetic royalist barons. Between the two factions, there was certainly plenty of motivation to do Lord Wallace harm. But “the show must go on,” and so, the Heroes discussed what to do next.

Notes

• This is the first time Rainald’s illiteracy actually reared its head in-game
• Brother Mendel’s player was late this session, or he might have gone with Rainald earlier; worked out anyways, since he’s an integral part of the traveling dragon show (that keeps getting bigger every time we stop)