4: The Piper
Bezahltag 4th Pflugzeit
Back at the guest house for breakfast, Frau Koester was dishing out gruel for Heinrich and Max. She asked what you had been doing with all the books and papers, and the telescope, and Max explained that they were just text books and notes to help him with his studies.
And you talked about the two figures who you had noticed watching you from the other side of the canal as you came in. You wondered whether they had actually been following you, and whether they had anything to do with the group you gave the ring to.
The books you had were the following:
In Reikspiel:
"Die Geheimnisse der Sternenwanderer" ("The Secrets of the Star-Wanderers")
"Himmelsrad und Sternzeichen" ("Sky Wheel and Star Signs")
"Das Verborgene Wissen der Astrologen" ("The Hidden Knowledge of Astrologers")
In Wastelander:
"De Sterrenkaart der Zeevaarders" ("The Star Chart of Mariners")
"Hemelwijsheid van Oud" ("Heavenly Wisdom of the Ancients")
In Classical:
"De Orbibus Coelestibus" ("On the Celestial Orbs")
"Astrologiae Arcana" ("The Arcane of Astrology")
You also noticed that the first page of each book had been stamped with a picture of an owl with one eye open and one eye closed. You didn’t know what this meant, although you knew that the owl is the symbol of the cult of Verena, the goddess of knowledge and justice.
Max also found a few interesting letters among the notes:
Dear Vogelgesang,
I trust your researches are going well. However, as you well know, the item was not intended as a gift. No matter how it improves your apparatus, you must return it to me or I will take steps to retrieve it myself. And it will not be pleasant.
Mag. X.
Vogelgesang, this is your final warning. Bring the ring to the Brotherhood immediately.
X
Dear Kunz Vogelgesang,
Thank you for the introductions you made for me. I cannot tell you how much of a privilege this is, for me, a humble clerk to have that array of knowledge and insight at my fingertips. I promise you I will keep one eye open and one eye closed, and if there is anything you require of me, do not hesitate to ask.
Gustav Andersen
(owl symbol)
My Dear Kunz,
I have done what you have asked. I made the filing under my own name so you and Goffman will not be dragged into this. Hopefully the council will take this in the right spirit and this will not affect my career. But, as you say, the people need to know. I think we did the right thing.
Gustav
(owl symbol)
You decided that you would get the best price for the books in the area around Baron Henryk's College of Navigation and Sea Magicks in Tempelwijk, which was to the far west of the city. And on the way there, you picked up quite a few supplies with your new found wealth.
You found the Quill and Badger, a studenty pub on the edge of Tempelwijk which you thought might be a good place to start asking for somewhere to sell the books.
You got chatting with some students and they told you how yesterday there had been riots in the area of Hightower Island around the ‘Change (The Marienburg Export-Import Exchange). It was a bit vague but it seemed like there were rumours of an impending eclipse, or comet, or sea monster, or something, that was going to destroy the city. And the ‘Change were going to report on it, but at the last minute the report was suspended for being faked. And then a load of commoners rioted because it was the end of the world, and then a load of students rioted because the report was withheld. And apparently someone had been arrested for making a fake report.
Max wondered whether the report might be the same one as mentioned in his letter by Gustav Andersen.
Then you went further into Tempelwijk and found Josef van der Wolle’s Academic Books and Paraphernalia which seemed like the perfect place to sell the books and telescope. Max decided to keep "The Star Chart of Mariners" in case Kristoff found it useful, and to sell the other six.
You handed over the books to van der Wolle and he started flicking through them, but it was pretty obvious to Max that he recognised the owl logo and became suspicious of you. He told you he wanted to have a look at some of the books in his back office. You sat there and waited for him to return but after a few minutes you began to suspect that he might not come back, and sure enough a few minutes later some blue caps (the magic-area watch) turned up.
They asked you about the books and you stuck to your story (which to be fair was actually true) and they said they would contact you later but meanwhile all six books were confiscated. And van der Wolle came back and sort of apologised for calling the watch but said the books didn’t belong to you. And he gave Max a weird sort of long wink.
On the way home you stopped off in the Hangman and had double brandies to make you feel a bit better.
You bumped into Johan Rotter who said he might have some work for you the next day, and you should pop back at nine in the evening. He also said that a couple of Remans had been in looking for you (they had described Max, Heinrich, and Kristoff) and he told you that the Reman gangs were dangerous and so you should go careful.
And then you decided to stop in the Black Ship for some cards. It was still early and so the high stakes game wasn’t happening, but you found some locals playing Scarlet Empress for one shilling antes. You played a few hands, and although Heinrich got a big win, you both ended up losing money on the game. They invited you back for the big money game later (ten shilling antes) but you thought better of it and went to bed.
Guiltag 5th Pflugzeit
The next day you decided to head back to van der Wolle’s to find out what the book incident was all about. You didn’t want him to run away this time, so Heinrich hid round the back of the shop while Max went in the front. But he was happy enough to talk about it.
Van der Wolle was keen to know where the books had come from but Max insisted they were his. Van der Wolle said he was trying to help and something about if Max didn’t want to become the owl’s prey then he should offer up a better meal. So Max told him about Katarina van der Post and her husband Kunz Vogelgesang. Van der Wolle said that he knew Vogelgesang and he wasn’t married. But he was happy with the information and agreed to pay a finder’s fee of one guilder for each of the books.
On the way back, walking along the Suiddock you noticed that there was a huge mob going on about the end of the world and trying to force their way across the swing bridge to get to the ‘Change. A band of black caps were on the bridge stopping them, and there was a bit of an impasse.
Down the alleyway the dancers were getting increasingly carried away, and you noticed rats were coming out of the sewers and joining in the dance. And the dancing turned into a bit of a fist fight.
With a great force of will Max managed to overcome the urge to dance and follow the piper. And one of the other dancers tried to punch him, but he avoided the blow.
The dancing was getting a bit frenzied, and you felt odd about it, and so Max, having come to his senses, decided to shoot his pistol at the piper. He aimed through the crowd and thought he had got a good hit on him. And suddenly the music stopped and everyone stopped dancing. And the dancers just sort of drifted away and all the rats scurried off, leaving no sign at all of the piper.
You felt like this was weird, and needed to be reported, but the local watch were preoccupied with the mob, so you visited a local watch station on the way to Kruiersmuur. You gave a painstaking account of the incident to the black cap who took care to write it all down, and he assured you that the watch would investigate it. And as you were leaving the watch station you noticed the black cap shake his head and throw the report in the bin.
Comments
Post a Comment