Out of the Paladin and into the Friar

General Summary

We head from the paladin’s fortress to a very different building. The Barefooted Friars live in a simple building open to all, and as we arrived there were serving lunch to the indigent and offering us food. “We can pay for our food,” Lili said offering coins. “We have more than enough,” the friar answered looking over the room, “Give it to someone here who has need. There are always more to help.” His voice shifted as he looked over our group, “You seem out of place, what led you here?” “We were just over at the Messene George chapter hall. We are going to help them with a problem up by Murkeep and heard you also had something going on up there. We were told to ask after Father Rentel to find out more.” “I am Father Rentel,” he said. “There’s something going on up North. To get there you will need to travel up through Brandenheim and talk to Duke Richard Brandenburg. He’s a bit of a unique gentleman. He was an adventurer in his younger days, but the death of his older brother meant he inherited the estate. Of course, now he’s in his 70s, so most of his adventuring takes the form of funding trips to find out more about the Manni and their history. He’s always on the lookout for some new scrap of information.” As he speaks, he carefully washes up the bowl he’s working with and his sleeve pulls up. I see another one of those strange tattoos we saw while underground with Rory. “I’m sorry sir, but what is your tattoo?” I interrupted. “A recent friend of ours had that tattoo I think, and I’m curious what it is.” Father Rentel self-consciously pulled his sleeves down and made quite sure his arms were covered. “An indiscretion from my youth,” he carefully smoothed his habit and glanced to the side. “I was intrigued by some of the clubs that form in the empire. This particular one was enthralled with protecting humans from the monsters by enhancing them.” He rubbed his hands together as if washing them, “They were well-meaning, but I realized faith in the Creator is the true protection. Youth are given to firm passions.” As he finished talking a sandy-haired boy ran in excitedly shouting, “Father Rentel! Father Rentel! I’ve got news from the Choir! The outpost at Brackenwell was attacked. A messenger said the Thirteenth legion was attacked and march to Gofur.” Father Rentel tried too late to stop the boy’s enthusiasm, “I apologize for this interruption. You might as well hear the rest since he has already decided to tell you the little bit he has.” He turned to the boy, “You were saying?” “The Cantor has called a week of prayer for the entire island. The Choir is going to acclaim. She’s ordered the Twelfth to march to Gofur to reinforce the Thirteenth. We are all to pray for them and help them, and to make sure we all spend time in prayer she is closing the Ports. “The Cantor isn’t supposed to be giving orders to a secular army,” I frantically whispered to Cap’n. “This is a huge power play. We have to get off this island before she succeeds. If she closes the port, the Duke of Brandenburg won’t know of the orders, and his frontier could be left unguarded.” “I do be thankin’ ye for this talk, but with the news of the Choir, we must be getting back to our hosts,” Cap said and we politely thanked Father Rentel and left the Barefoot Brotherhood. “We have to get any of our last-minute shopping done now,” I said quietly. “Will the Thane be ready to go now?” “He said, it’d be a week or so,” Cap answered, “Maybe if the Creator be smiling on us.” “I think we should pick up some bells and flutes for us to give to any particularly religious officials we might encounter to grease the wheels,” Lili mused. “I’ll go do that.” “I be needin’ to pick up me armor,” Cap mused and turned to Milli, “Can you go back to the toy shop and get me a reminder of Rory?” “I’ll do that,” she said and scurried off. “I’ll get us all packed up and meet everyone at the docks,” I said.
“Of course, my ship isn’t ready to go,” Thane Grontre roared, “It’s only been two days. I’m still waiting on the timber.” “It’s now or never Thane,” Cap said. “The Cantor be closing the ports for a week, so if you want to sail, it has to be now. We can bail and put tar on for you.” “All right you scurvy dogs,” Thane bellowed. “It’s time to get out of here. You lot start baling. You slap tar on any exposed seams as fast as you can.” We fell in bailing and slapping tar on the new planks. Lili worked with her staff to maneuver the winds in the most helpful manner possible, so it was only three days later that we pulled into the cove.
“We be needing a way upriver,” Cap said looking over the barges around us. “That ‘ne looks good.” We walked up to Samuel Clemens River Boat and were met by the captain. His formal white suit and shockingly white hair were out of place amongst the grungy workers, but he offered us a fair rate and we took off upriver.
The journey was a nice reprieve of quietness, and I slept quite well for being on a boat. We pulled into Brandenheim and the captain courteously saw us off the boat, and we were given directions to a reputable inn called Penultimate Vial. “The streets are unusually clean,” Lili commented as we made our way down the river street. “I think we stand out a bit with our dirty clothes and travel odor.” “I guess a bath will be in order,” I replied. Not too surprisingly the inn had some impressive baths to offer with lots of different scents and possible ways to clean ourselves off. When I emerged from the bath much later than I originally intended, my clothes were laid out, and I came downstairs much refreshed to a simple meal. “I do be thinking,” Cap suggested, “We should send a note to the Duke with a page from the journal to whet his interest, and arrange a meeting to inform him of the happenings.” We all nodded agreement, and Cap waved the innkeeper over. “Do you have a message boy here?” “Of course I do,” the innkeeper answered. “My son here runs messages for the guests.” He waved over a teen boy, and the boy waited patiently as Cap instructed him on delivering the message and to wait for a response. “For your trouble boy,” Cap dropped a gold piece in his hand. His eyes widened and he grasped it firmly, “Thank you, sir! I’ll get your answer right away.” We ate a leisurely meal, and the boy returned surprisingly fast. We read over the message on the card.
Dear sir, The Duke is experiencing some health problems, and so I regret to inform you a meeting is not possible at this time. He looks forward to meeting with you to discuss your message when he is feeling better. Lady Cassandra D’Faulte “Please return this message to the Lady Cassandra,” Cap relayed to the boy, he dug in his pouch for another coin. “No need sir. I’ll run that right away.” The boy ran out the door evading a young woman who looked astonishingly like him. “What’d you write?” I asked. “I told ‘er about the events on the Holy Isles and how it may change her plans for the near future.” The boy returned with a new note, “We will have an audience for you with the Duke in 30 minutes, here is a pass for you to visit.”

VISITING THE DUKE

We pass through the city, and again I notice how very clean it is. The Duke’s keep is on the far side of the island from our inn, and we pass through a gate and start climbing an impressive set of stairs carved into the rock. I would not want to be the invading army attempting to take this fort, it’s a murder field. “Lili before we go in,” Cap says and he casts a spell on her, “hopefully it’ll help our cause in talking to the Duke.” “Halt, who would visit Duke Brandenburg?” a guard clad in lorricae segmentae greeted us. We all introduced ourselves and he nodded to us all with a special smile for Lili. She can have that effect on men sometimes. “You must surrender your weapons before you pass these halls.” Slowly we took off all of our weapons we brought with us, and Lili hesitantly passed over her staff. “If you’ll follow me please,” he politely gestured, and we followed him through a short stone tunnel into a larger stone courtyard with several soldiers practicing. “I count 20 soldiers on the walls,” I whispered to Cap’n. “I counted 20 more in the courtyard,” he whispered back as we climbed up a spiral staircase into a wood-paneled room covered in tapestries. The sergeant escorting us knocked on the door, and a female voice said, “Enter.” “Lady Cassandra D’Faulte may I introduce the Ladies Lili, Milli, and Addie,” his voice held all the right formal tones, but managed to convey a slight dislike of Milli and I, “and Captain O’Leary.” He bowed slightly to her after delivering the introduction. Lili, Milli, and I follow his lead and bow to the lady. Cap’n salutes her and she noticeably is colder to him as she asks us, “I read your message and am most curious to hear the important news you bring from the Holy Isles.” Lili and I explain the recent events on the Holy Isles and the Cantor’s plans for the legions. “I admit I’ve heard news recently of orcs being a bit bolder recently, but we have not yet received word of any mass movements in the region,” Lady D’Faulte responded. I glanced at Lili, and the Lady caught it, “Do you have an explanation for the recent events?” “Yes ma’am,” I answered. “A few months ago, no almost a year ago in the town of Talador a band of orcs was able to seize the Dark One’s Own. We met another band of orcs marauding the town of Tinhold and when they heard news of the scythe they left to try to gain it for themselves. That is why the orcs are probably being a bit braver right now.” “I see,” she said hesitantly, “Tell me, why does the Duke have such helpful friends? I can tell by your accents you owe no allegiance to the Duke, and your story tells me you are not tied to any one location, why are you helping us?” “We hope to travel up to Murkeep to help the Messene George and to look for an herb found in that area. Would you have a suggestion of an alchemist we could consult with?” Lili answered. “Yes,” Lady Cassandra said rifling through some papers on her desk, “As you are no doubt aware this area is known for its alchemy, and the head of the alchemists guild is treating the Duke. I will tell him to expect you in the morning. I warn you not to go too early because he will be up most of the night treating the Duke. Is there anything else you need?” “No that is more than enough ma’am,” Lili answered. “Then I thank you for your information and I need to get back to work,” she glances down at the desk and the piles of paper. “The sergeant will see you out.” We all bow or curtsy to her, again the captain does not and her eyes narrowed as she noted it.

OUR ROOMS AT THE INN

“Sarthus, I have need of you,” Lili commanded the air. With a smell of brimstone something appeared in the room, as usual, I couldn’t see whatever it was she was talking with, but it was obviously unhappy because I could see clawmarks in the floor and a small scorch mark appeared in the middle of the floor. “Yes, yes, I understand. Now I want you to go check on Aldaber, he’s an alchemist here, and we need to know about him.” The smell of sulfur increased briefly and then it slowly dissipated. “Can I come in?” Cap’n asked as he knocked on the door. I opened it and stepped aside. “I see your troublemaker has been here,” and Cap’n waved his hand and muttered something, and the gouges and burn marks disappeared. “I just wanted to let you know, I’m planning to spend some time outside under the moon tonight to see if that helps me better understand my shield. I be shovin’ off now.” Through the closed door, I heard him clomping down the stairs to the outside. “You’re back!” Lili exclaimed as the sulfur smell came back again. It was just going away. Lili listened quietly for several moments, “That is all I need you for now. You are done.” “Well, what did the stinky beast have to say?” I asked. “He reports the man has his shops on Rue de Collun. He’s a thin man with red hair and something is wrong with him and disturbs Sarthus.” “I guess we can find out more about him after we visit the Master Alchemist tomorrow,” I replied.

CRONBERG HALL

The doors were a large heavy wood grain, that thudded when we pushed them open the next morning. We introduced ourselves to the doorman and he asked us to wait while he got his master. We waited patiently and looked around the room full of odd jars and bubbling decanters. Several minutes later an old man walks in feebly leaning on his cane with exaggerated care. “Jonas, get me a tonic, you know the one,” the old man commanded. The boy brought him a large mug with a heavy fog pouring off of it. Lili sniffed delicately next to me, “Cinnamon, tea, and a sweet smell, maybe honey?” “Are you here to steal my secrets?” the man demanded crotchetily. As he drank the concoction we could see him becoming younger, and his limp clothes filled out as his muscle tone increased. “Not at all,” Lili answered. “Just curious what you’re drinking. We actually are here to speak to you about a different matter. We are trying to find a large quantity of leaf mold oil, and were wondering if we were to bring the leaves to you if we could make a deal to have it processed?” “Leaf mold oil, eh?” he may be younger-looking, but he was still crotchety. “Useless stuff. Some hedge witches swear by it for medicinal properties. We haven’t found any such uses. I suppose it could be helpful to show my students how to make it, but it’s not really worth our time to do so.” Cap’n pulled out his last jar of explosive oil, “What about if we traded you the rights for this?” as he offered the jar to Mr. Cronberg. Cronberg took the jar and started to peer at it. “Be careful with it, if thrown and the jar shatters it will catch whatever it touches on fire, even water.” “Interesting,” he mused as he carefully pried the cap off and peeked inside, “and what would you want for this jar? It could be very expensive to learn to duplicate the process, and it may not be duplicatable. I mean, if anyone could do it, it would be me, but I might spend months researching for no profit.” “I’ll make you a deal,” Cap said, “In exchange for this jar you process our leaf mold oil and we will get 40% of any profits you make off this oil. Do we have a deal?” Cap held out his hand. Cronberg’s eyes narrowed and he glared at Cap’n for a long moment before he thrust his hand forward, “Done. I know a trustworthy individual in Murkeep, now you know that area is restricted right? If you’ve got clearance I know a reliable person in the area who can help you with the initial processing and identify where you should look first. It’s up in the mountains of Orcberg somewhere, I don’t know more specifics because as I told you, the oil is useless for what I do. You’ll want the base of the stalk, much like rhubarb, but do not get the roots. Let me make that very clear, you do not want the roots of the plant. Those will cause you problems.”

Report Date

21 Dec 2021