18 Pflugzeit
On the last day of the Schaffenfest, the town of Bögenhafen went mad...too much happened to record it all in my journal, so I'll have to limit myself to the essentials:
I woke rather early. Too much lovemaking, schnaps, and letter-writing makes you wake early - where is the logic in that? I went downstairs to order a chicken prepared for breakfast. Only commoners eat herring every day. Nobles have better fare. My fair elven maid was there, a bit worse for wear, head bandaged and all that, but on her feet again. I was very glad to see her - almost gave her a hug. Good thing I didn't - she'd surely stab me if I tried. A noble scion should always have his warrior princess guarding his back. I hope she never leaves!
There was a lot of stuff to juggle. Errands and visits. Swung by the temple of Verena and spoke with the priestess in charge, Greta Harbokka, a greying lady that was more librarian than priestess. She did know of Bova von Dunkelberg. That convinced me to show her the dagger from the sewer temple. She inspected the runes and declared them to be of the darkest kind - symbols of Chaos, drawn by a sorcerer. If there was any doubt about the nature of the chamber (I was never in doubt myself) the dagger laid the matter to rest. I left the accursed weapon in a lead box and raced off for my appointments with Lady Isolde. Should we marry? I think we would make a fine couple. The pride of Ubersreik. She'd teach me the fiddle and we'd entertain guests and fuck all night.
The joust. An impressive, if pointless, display of archaic strength at arms. Then Isolde's final performance at the fair. Had a nice chat with Doctor Mathusius regarding his creatures and business. He's not such a bad sort. A con man and a charlatan trying to make his way through the world by giving the commoners a sprinkle of wonder in their dreary lives in return for their hard-earned silver. Some of his freaks may not be entirely legal - but until they run away and kill people where is the harm? He got the rat-ogre-man-thing from another freakshow down by Nuln. Kept it docile by feeding it a potion a day. Only the stupid dwarf assistant had mixed up the potions and the thing had gone mad. Good help is so hard to find.
Chief Magistrate Richter had fallen ill the day before and when I went to see him, he was faring no better. He was well on his way to Morr's gardens. Perhaps I should have seen him earlier, but my schedule was so frightfully busy. Fortunately, Anna was able to diagnose him with Purple Brain Fever, a rare terminal disease. With the aid of a local (grossly incompetent) physician, we gained access to a pharmacy and were able to save the man's life by brewing the correct medicine. I say "we" but in reality, it was A&A who did the work on that one.
It was already rather late when I brought Ulfberth to see the Steinhägers at their office. Closed up and everyone gone home except the nightwatchman - and Heinrich Steinhäger, younger brother to Franz, the head of the trading house. This should turn out to be a most fortunate meeting. He listened to my questions - and answered some of them, rather vaguely and not to my liking. After a tiny bit of confusion where I considered using his head as a battering ram to uncover the secret passage to the ritual chamber, he set my head straight and then left the officers, leaving me free to search for evidence. And evidence we found. Some of it rather circumstantial, clues about a secret order - the Ordo Septinarius - and a clandestine meeting. The hidden grimoire was rather more of a smoking gun.
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