24: More Feathers

After a relaxing night at the inn in Kemperbad, with the rest of the gravin’s party, we were all fit and refreshed. I had to do some work on Solvej’s foot which was only slightly less unpleasant than the work I had to do earlier on Otto’s foot. I hoped we might steer away from foot injuries in future.

The gravin addressed us and congratulated Kurtis on the fight and on his engagement, and said that Gustav would pay us a crown each for our service. She also pulled me aside and told me that she had a small patch of land on the outskirts of Nuln which she would donate to be the site of the orphanage that she knew I wanted to build. This was a very generous gift from the gravin and I have always said that the nobility were an honourable class who always had the best interests of the people at heart.

This made me think that Shallya did have a plan for me, after all, and that the tribulations of the last few weeks were all according to her will. Having to leave Ubersreik in tragic circumstances had brought us into the company of the gravin, and the incident with the sinister scholars had steered us towards Kemperbad, and now we were heading to Nuln. Shallya does in deed move in mysterious ways. Perhaps she had even made Kurtis into a belligerent murderer to guide me towards Nuln, although that seemed a bit of a stretch.

Solvej and I decided to go to the courthouse and talk to the two scholars to see if they would be prepared to tell us what they knew about Gustav. I knew Solvej was very keen to use Gustav as much as possible to keep her safe and we already had some leverage on him, so a bit more wouldn’t hurt.

The guards at the courthouse wouldn’t let us anywhere near them but after I handed over the crown I had just got from Gustav they directed us to the back of the correct cell. I think that was probably a little generous for a simple bribe to guard, but I don’t really know about this sort of thing.

The scholar/cultists were reluctant to give us any details as there was nothing in it for them, but after I promised them a merciful release from their incarceration, they were more forthcoming. They told us that back when Gustav was at the University of Nuln he had been a member of the Ordo Ultimo, a group (I think cult) dedicated to the pursuit of enlightenment through pleasure. They said he was not brave enough to last long in the group. (Through my studies in theology this, to my mind, certainly pointed towards an interest in the Dark God called S__­___.) They also said that sensation transcends the self and frees the mind, which to my mind, sounded a bit like Father Gunther talking about flagellation. They did not make it clear, however, quite why they were so keen to get to Gustav. Perhaps simply leaving the cult was punishable by death, or they wanted him to re-join the cult.

I then offered the pair two of the poisoned darts that had been planted on Solvej, as their merciful release. I do wonder what Shallya would think of this. Offering people the option of suicide, even if they were cultists of the Dark Gods, could have put me in her bad books. It was a tricky theological issue I resolved to ponder. In any case, they did not accept the gift, and so it had no repercussions. Does Shallya make allowances for clever word play? I suspect not. That is one of the things I dislike so much about Verenans.

So we left the pair of them, still locked up and facing the death penalty. As we were making our way back, I heard a voice clearly whispering ‘We know your names.’ I looked at Solvej but she seemed as perplexed as me. She had not said anything, she insisted, and I certainly didn’t. Whose voice had we heard? Is this what happens when you pry into the machinations of S______? We resolved never to mention the incident again.

We had decided to stay with the gravin’s party and travel to Nuln. Kurtis was obliged to, and the rest of us were happy to, as we had been well fed and sporadically safe over the last couple of weeks. I knew Erhardt had business in Altdorf, but I think he can talk to mirrors or ride imaginary horses, or something, to stay in touch with his college. In any case we had all been changing our work practices recently, so it would probably be ok for him to work from Nuln.

Travelling towards Nuln, back the way we had come, was as leisurely and as relaxing as ever. Solvej was poring over the Fishrook Dalliance, learning to read. She was so bright that she would probably be reading like a six year old any time now. Otto caught some more rats, and then proudly presented me and Erhardt with our taxidermy rats. I pretended to like mine but Erhardt didn’t bother. I guess that’s why I’m a Shallyan and he’s a wizard.

During the journey, Otto had a word with Gustav, prying into his time at the university, though his attempt to present himself as a prospective university student was not that convincing. Gustav clearly didn’t want to talk about it and dismissed his past simple as falling in with the wrong crowd. Gustav offered Otto a job as a cleaner, more as an attempt to shut him up as a testament to his cleanliness.

Genevieve talked to Kurtis about getting a ring and said she knew several good jewellers. Kurtis mostly just wanted to talk about himself and his noble relatives. He may have exaggerated the standing of his supposed family, but Genevieve certainly seemed enamoured of the idea of becoming an Altdorf society noblewoman.

During the voyage, Kurtis had taken to sprinkling his conversation with various Classical words and phrases. I think he considered that this is how the true nobility speak but it was pretty clear to me, educated as I am, that he didn’t know what some of them even meant. In retaliation we took to addressing him in Khazalid, Bretonnian, Wastelander, and any other language he couldn’t speak. Kurtis Stultus Est.

After a few days on the river, we arrived back at the Three Feathers. The landlord, Stefan, was not happy to see us, complaining that since we left our room in such a mess the last time, he had to paint it red to cover up all the stains, and so although he would be happy to serve us in the bar he wouldn’t be allowing us to sleep at his establishment. This suited us fine as we had already had our places on the gravin’s boat. And Otto still got his usual gig of one pint per rat. Seedling was in the bar, too, but we chose to ignore her for now, but we kept on gnome alert.

Kurtis was a bit put out to find that there was already a fellow, called Gregor, in the bar playing the lute. And Genevieve seemed impressed by him, too. Kurtis challenged him to a lute-off over ‘Good Morrow to the Ladies.’ After a while, and after a bit of dodgy playing, they had bonded over the instrument and decided to do some duets. I thought this made Genevieve feel left out and so I encouraged her to join in with her harp, which she was happy to do. Unfortunately, Genevieve’s classical grounding and her instrument jarred a bit with Kurtis’ and Gregor’s more urban lute sound, and I could see Kurtis was getting a bit annoyed by it. Start as you mean to go on.

Then a couple came in and, quite loudly, booked a room for Johann Schmidt. This is a joke name in the Reikland, so common is the name Johann Schmidt, and so frisky were the couple, that I could only assume the name was an attempt to keep their flagrantes private.

After Johann Schmidt and his ‘wife’ went up to their room, three priests of Morr entered the bar carrying a coffin. They propped it up on the counter while they booked their room. This seemed to me to be a bit disrespectful to the dead, but then I suppose Priests of Morr know more than me about respecting the dead. Two of them went up to their room and took the coffin with them while the head priest stayed talking to the landlord in a bit of a conspiratorial way. Otto interrupted them, asking about his dooming. He asked the priest what she thought his dooming that told him to beware of babies meant, and the priest told him that he should probably beware of babies. Otto had to admit she had a point.

After a bit, in walked a well-dressed, battle-ready woman, who we later found out was called Ursula Kopfgeld. She was certainly striking and one of the gravin’s manservants got a bit handy with her. Quick as a flash she had grabbed him and slammed him into the floor, and I imagined he was now reluctant to act so rudely in future. I could see that Solvej was impressed and Kopfgeld noticed too and complimented her on her looks. I think she must have just been being kind because I can tell you Solvej never gets complimented on her looks, even when she scrubs the mud off, which isn’t very often. Kopfgeld told Solvej that she was full of the brightness of spring, which may have been a reference to the mud.

She told Solvej that she was a messenger and was travelling from Kemperbad to Nuln, but that was all she could say about her journey. She did reveal her room number, however, and suggested that she and Solvej could talk there later if she fancied it. And Solvej changed the subject. Then, who should enter the inn, but Ursula Marband. She had a few words with Erhardt, but then went to sit with Kopfgeld and Solvej. Solvej wondered whether Marband and Kopfgeld knew each other before. They said they didn’t but explained that some women prefer the company of other women, so Solvej was happy to be in the company of these other women, and said it was refreshing and inspiring to be in the company of strong and ambitious women, and men often ignored this. Not all men.

Meanwhile Otto presented his rat taxidermy of Genevieve to Genevieve. She thanked him politely, but I could tell she was not impressed. I lost track of the rest of the rat taxidermies over the course of the evening, but I think Erhardt gave his rat to Kurtis who tried to give it to me, but I refused as I already had one. I’m not sure what Kurtis did with it, but I think his behaviour was very rude. As simple as Otto is, he put a lot of time and effort into his rats, and I will certainly take care of and treasure mine. Even if it is a bit shit.

Johann Schmidt came down for some wine and had a heated conversation with one of the gravin’s  servants, and Otto, feigning drunkenness, managed to overhear them. It sounded like the servant was blackmailing Schmidt and threatening to tell people what he didn’t want told. When Schmidt was gone Otto decided to get a piece of this action and talked to the servant, Beornie. They went outside to talk in private but Otto asked Gulgad to stand by the door just in case things went wrong. Beornie seemed quite impressed with Otto, probably because of the group he was hanging out with than any sort of impression Otto himself gives, I would think. He seemed flattered that Otto would want to get involved in his scam and they agreed to split the proceeds 70-20 as Otto said he was doing it for the fun and not the money.

The head Morrian came down and had a word with Stefan. Erhardt overheard her asking about their boat. Apparently they had been due to meet a boat here but it hadn’t arrived yet. The Morrian also told Stefan that there may be some loud or strange noises happening over the evening, but he should ignore them as they were part of important Morrian rituals.

Beornie sent Otto outside to make sure Johan didn’t escape through the window and went up to talk to him. He came back and explained to Otto that Johan had paid up and Otto’s cut was five shillings. Otto generously gave me one shilling towards my orphanage. It was dirty money, but I don’t think Shallya minds that as long as it’s going to a good cause. Otto also noticed rat-Erhardt had been left on the table (presumably by Kurtis) and he picked it up and went to give it back to Erhardt, who pretended to be pleased. Then Kopfgeld went off to the stables to check on her horse. Solvej asked Otto to follow her, but when he got to the stables there was no sign of her.

Then an angry man burst into the bar with three thuggish looking men behind him. He demanded to know where his wife was and made his way up the stairs. We heard a loud commotion coming from Johan Schmidt’s room and Gulgad, Erhardt, and Kurtis felt obliged to make sure everything was alright.

The four men had got Herr Schmidt naked on the bed and were doing a Father Gunther on the poor bloke, while the erstwhile Frau Schmidt was screaming. Kurtis moved in to calm it all down and get them to stop, but they wouldn’t so Gulgad had to resort to violence. Erhardt also distracted one of the thugs by throwing his rat-Erhardt at them. This was either a very clever tactical move, or just another attempt to get rid of the thing. After a short struggle most of the thugs were injured and the wronged husband was leaving. They were thanked by Johan Schmidt, and then the gravin turned up to declare that she knew Johan Schmidt as Baron Frederick and she invited him into her room. Gustav explained that if we hadn’t seen anything then all well and good but if we had thought we had seen something they we definitely hadn’t. The wife, Hannah, was left sobbing on her bed, and Kurtis did the decent thing to stay and comfort her.