16: The Griffin and Hammer

So we were outside the von Bruner mansion wondering how to trap the Fishrook. In the end we decided to see if we could get hold of a coach and drive around and just hope we might be robbed by the ghostly or imposter highwayman. We also decided to get hold of a copy of The Fishrook Dalliance to see if there were some clues in that as to what was going on.

Otto still wasn’t recovered from his weirdroot radish trip and was unusually silent. We left Kurtis moping under an apple tree trying to write emotional lyrics for one of his songs. He said he might join us later. I wondered whether his new song was about Gutele von Bruner.

We managed to find a copy of The Fishrook Dalliance, but it was expensive as there had been a run on them recently due to all the excitement about his supposed return. Solvej thought she might use the book to learn to read. My feeling was that it was probably too late for her. When some types of people reach a certain age and are still illiterate it makes me think that they lack an enquiring mind and even the intelligence required to be able to read, but I said I would try to teach her, anyway. Just to be nice.

Solvej might not be one of life’s thinkers, but she did manage to haggle a bored coachman into taking us up the Bogenhafen road for a bit for fifteen shillings. Karl, the coachman, didn’t seem like he was that reliable and his coach was not in the best of nick, but that was the best we could do. I did wonder why the Fishrook would bother to rob us though, as surely there must be much better coaches, with wealthier passengers, using the road. But we set off for Karlstadt and Gulgad rode up top with Karl while everyone else was in the warm. Gulgad had a chat with the coachman about the Fishrook, but Karl said it was all nonsense and he didn’t believe in ghosts.

Meanwhile I read passages from The Fishrook Dalliance to everyone else, except Otto who had fallen asleep, to see if we could glean any clues about his activities. It seemed to me that the novel was actually rather bawdy and bordering on the indecent, so I was careful only to read some of the more innocuous passages. It surprises me that the general public are apt to read such rubbish, especially when there are instructive and wholesome texts around like the Book if Shallya, and Shallyan Fables, and the Children’s Book of Shallyan Tales.

After a while Gulgad did catch sight of what he thought might be the Fishrook. He saw a dark rider some way up the road, and as the coach approached, the horse reared up flamboyantly on its hind legs, framed by the moonlight, whinnied dramatically, and then rode off.

Then we came to the site of the historical Fishrook’s hanging, the Griffon and Hammer inn, and decided to stop there for a look. Otto woke up and had the idea to pretend to be a damsel in distress by sticking his leg out of the coach window. While I have to admit that there is something a little bit woman-like about Otto, especially considering he’s a rat catcher and doesn’t seem to wash much, I think not even a hundred-years-dead highwayman would be desperate enough to fall for his feminine wiles. No one was really surprised when the Fishrook didn’t turn up.

We decided to go to the Griffin and Hammer on foot and I managed to convince Karl to wait for us down the road a bit, but no one else really believed he would stay very long. The inn was a few hundred yards off the main road and had seen better days. It was now a total ruin with little of the second storey remaining. In front of the inn courtyard was the gallows where the Fishrook was supposed to have been hanged. Entering through the dilapidated gatehouse Gulgad disturbed a rooftile and it fell on his head but it just bounced off, really. I thought Gulgad might want me to see to his bleeding head but he didn’t seem that fussed about it. Otto peered through the darkness and spotted a wild pig, or something like that, in the stables, and seeing some other little glowing eyes, he guessed it might be trying to protect its young so it would be best to stay well clear of it. He threw the last bit of his pork pie at the creature to calm it down.

We crept towards the inn carefully, but then Otto noticed that there was a load of weirdroot growing all around the courtyard, so we all abandoned caution and began scrabbling around, filling our pockets with as much weirdroot as we could get.

Inside the ruin Gulgad found a trapdoor behind the bar leading to a cellar, so we all made our way down into the cramped darkness. Hidden in the cellar he found what looked like a very finely made Fishrook disguise. We decided this must be the Fishrook’s lair where he comes to put on his Fishrook costume.

We wondered what to do next. We thought of ambushing the fellow when he came back, but then we couldn’t decide whether to wait in the cellar, where It was already feeling was a bit too cramped and smelly for a comfortable wait. He might not even return for several days. In the end we decided to lay in wait around the inn complex, hiding among the ruins and trees.

So we waited for the few hours until morning and nothing happened. We waited all day and still nothing happened. We were getting very hungry and realised that none of us had any food, and our last meal had been fed to the wild boar. Being a monk, I was quite used to surviving on a limited diet, but the rest of them were starting to whine for food. Solvej went off to hunt for some food, but to be honest, the way she hunted, I would have been less surprised if she’d come back with the Fishrook than a couple of tasty rabbits. Then we remembered we had a huge stash of weirdroot. Gulgad and I of course demurred, but Solvej, Erhardt, and Otto tucked into their weirdroot. I would have expected this from Otto and Solvej but was surprised and disappointed that Erhardt should join them.

So, by the time night fell the three of them were tripping heavily. Gulgad and I quickly hatched a new plan which was for Gulgad to hide in the cellar while I did my best to keep the other three under control and out of sight. Despite our predicament, the three of them seemed to be quite content, chatting about nothing much, and generally relaxing in the woods, untroubled by the real world. It all seemed a bit unjust, to be honest.

At about midnight I heard the sound of an approaching horse, and a rider entered the courtyard. I did my best to hide, but I think the rider must have caught a glimpse of me, and quickly galloped away. Obviously, if the other three hadn’t been misbehaving like children and requiring constant attention I would have been able to hide a bit better, so I don’t blame myself for this. Mostly I blame Otto for being so keen on weirdroot.

But, there I was, cold and hungry, in the middle of the forest, with limited shelter, our transport no doubt long gone, having scared off our quarry, with no food, three misbehaving companions off their nuts, and an annoyed Dwarf. Still, it could have been worse; Kurtis could have been there.