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While the butler and the maids were busy clearing out the basement, and Mr Baro and his team of builders were working hard to make the tower floors more inhabitable, Gnosha, Aered and Thefvae spent their time doing numerous small but important tasks. Gnosha felt that he still wanted Thefvae to accompany either him or Aered, not that he didn’t trust her, but more just in case someone from her past would find her and try to attack her. He of course preferred that in such a case, Aered would be her companion, but he knew that she was quite able to handle herself. He also knew that he himself was not that shabby dealing with bad guys, even though fighting wasn’t his primary choice, but often no other options were available in such situations.
Gnosha on purpose, kept himself away from the castle and away from duchess Maimux. The work he was tasked to do, required that the person, or persons, spying on Maimux, should be confident that Gnosha no longer worked for the duchess. By doing so, he thought he could lure them out.
One evening when Gnosha, Thefvae and Aered had dinner at The Lonely Duck, which had turned into their kitchen and dining room while the tower was in the state it was in, Gnosha said to the others: – “I’ve been thinking that we should open up for business here in Erast, take investigation jobs, work for other people, like merchants or other highborn people. We should of course do some work for the less fortunate, which would not make us money, but give us something equally valuable instead, contacts and friends. What do you say?”
Aered, with his mouth full of a roasted turnip and chicken, looked up from his plate and said: – “Mr Gnosha, you mean we should help the townguard and people solving mysteries? This sounds like fun, can we arrest bad guys and bring them to Mr Woode or Mr Heskan?”
Thefvae looked a little surprised and replied: – “I think this is an interesting idea, doing good in the city of Erast. I know there are always criminals in a city, some armed with knives or knuckle dusters, others live in nice large houses, with servants, but they are all equally dark and rotten on the inside.”
Gnosha replied to them both: –”It’s settled then. As soon as the tower is inhabitable, we can post notes in the different inns and taverns, telling people that we are taking jobs. But, I want to make one thing clear, we will be picky in what jobs we take. The jobs have to be something we believe in solving, otherwise it will quickly go downhill. The worst crooks would gladly try to hire us to do their dirty work, so we need to understand the clients.”
When they were back in the rented room, Aered said to Gnosha: – “But the work we are supposed to do for Maimux?” Gnosha replied: – “Aered my friend, we will do that, but what is a better excuse to poke into the secrets of this city, than solving other people's mysteries and problems. The whole idea is to help duchess Maimux in a way that no one expects us to do.”
Now, when the basement had been cleared out and cleaned up by the maids and the butler, Gnosha thought it would be time to investigate the iron bar grate in the basement floor, the one that he suspects that the ooze came in through. Where does it lead? Could it be used as a secret entrance to the tower to leave and come back to the tower unseen?
He told Aered and Thefvae about his idea in the morning, and after breakfast, they geared up and brought some torches for Aered, so he could see in the presumed darkness. Both Gnosha and Thefvae were gifted with low light vision, which made them see pretty good in darkness.
They climb down the stairs to the now rather clean and tidy basement, except for the broken table with some heavy rocks on, laying in the middle of the basement, covering the great to prevent unwanted visitors from entering the tower this way. They move away the table covering the grate, and Aered tries to open it, but it’s really secured well. Aerd tried a second time, with the help from both Gnosha and Aered, but the grate just refused to move even the slightest. Gnosha shouted for Mr Baro to come down with a few men, and tools, and quickly described what he wanted them to help him construct. He explains that he needs to construct a simple winch using a block and pulley to be able to lift the grate. When the basement grate was finally opened, Gnosha thanked Mr Baro for the help and called for the butler, Mr Beniers, to guard the opened grate while they were exploring, to prevent any unwanted visitors from entering the tower through it.
The hole beneath the grate opening leads down to a wide sewer, with walkways on both sides and a stream of dirty water in the middle. It’s about seven feet down to the water, and as the opening is over the middle of the sewer, climbing down will make you have to step in the water before you can get to the dry walkways on the side.
Gnosha secures a rope and climbs down, followed by Aered and Thefvae. Looking at the main sewer tunnel, Gnosha says it’s going in an east-west direction, and as the channel is to the west, they head off in that direction first.
The sewer tunnel twists and turns a little and they can hear the sounds of rushing water up ahead. After a short walk they see a sewer tunnel connection from the south, with more water and also another iron grate closing off the exit into the channel. Gnosha inspects the iron grate and notes that this grate is secure, nothing except rats can slip through.
They decide to follow the sewer to the south, and now they really smell the foul scent of sewage. Gnosha’s sensitive nose is almost overloaded by the stench. There is also more sewage coming through this tunnel, and Gnosha realizes that they will pass the rented room and after that comes the bathing parlor. Pipes from the ceiling occasionally drop things down into the sewer making splashing sounds. After a while they come to a large four tunnel intersection, and Gnosha decides to first follow the route leading west, to the channel.
The sewer ends with another grate with iron bars, but Gnosha sees that this grate has some missing bars, so someone his size could easily slip through, while someone like Aered would have to make some qualified acrobatic moves, and first remove any armor or other bulky equipment. On the outside, on the channel side, there is a narrow edge that is walkable, that leads to one of the many staircases leading down to the water. Gnosha estimates that they are now, on a north-south line, somewhere between the rented room and the Lonely Duck. They decide to follow the sewer tunnel leading east, in the direction of the castle. After a while, the tunnel splits into two, like a Y, and Gnosha looks at the walkways and sees that there are several tracks here, both from small feet and from larger feet, following the more southbound tunnel. Several people have been passing here within the past weeks. Can this be the route used by the spies in the castle?
After some more walking in the sewers, the sewer opens up with a tunnel going north, and several smaller tunnels going in different directions. Some kind of battle has taken place here. There are scorch marks on the walls, even some of the pipes from the ceiling have been burnt. Gnosha realizes that they are now very close to the Lonely Duck. There is some kind of natural cave here too, but before Gnosha can investigate it, something grabs hold of his leg. Ghosha shouts: – “Aered!”
Thefvae reacts fastest and casts the spell Heroism on Aered, to make him stronger and better. The ooze, Gnosha sees that it is an ooze, attacks Gnosha again and he feels that the touch burns his skin, and the ooze tries to hold him in a tight grip with its pods, and squeezes. Aered attacks with his sword and his shield and hits the ooze pretty good. Gnosha tries to fight off the grip the ooze has, with his rapier. He successfully breaks free and steps a few steps back, to raise his crossbow.
Thefvae steps forward, touches it with her hands to do some magical damage, then steps back again. The ooze now tries to grab and attack Aered, and hits him and tries to grab him, but Aered resists. Aered counters by striking back at the ooze with his sword and his shield and hits it again.
Gnosha tries to see if he can make a precision attack with his crossbow, but he sees no opportunity, so he throws an Alchemist’s Fire on it instead and it starts to burn. Thefvae steps forward again and touches it and uses her magic to make the ooze to feel sick, then steps back again. The ooze attacks Aered again and gets hold of Aered, and Aered gets blisters on his arms. Aered attacks back and shouts: – “Be gone!”, but the ooze is still holding Aered and he tries to break free again.
Ghosha shoots again, knowing aiming at the ooze to try to find a weak spot doesn’t work. He hits but the ooze still lives. Thefvae casts the magic spell Chilling Darkness and the ooze freezes to ice and dies. Gnosha picks up his healer's kit and heals Aered and himself.
After they have taken a ten minute break, they decide to continue to follow the tracks in the sewers. After another short bit in the sewers, they come to another four way intersection. Looking around, they see that about a half dozen bodies are laying outside a small door in the sewer wall. Gnosha quickly investigates the corpses, and they have been dead less than a week, and judging from their clothes, they look to be bandits. Behind the door is a small hideout, a typical bandit hideout, but the hideout seems to have already been ransacked, probably by those who killed the bandits. Gnosha decides to try to figure out who this group might be, maybe something has happened recently
Gnosha looks around, and finds a few pieces of parchment, some kind of price lists, and they are signed with a name, Hallod. Ghosha thinks this Hallod might be some kind of leader down here in the underworld. He tries to recall what he knows and has learned, but the name Hallod doesn’t ring a bell. They decide to head back to the tower, and on the way back Gnosha designs some kind of ladder in his head, for the grate, so they could enter and exit more comfortably this way.
Gnosha decides that they will need to find some kind of map of the sewers. He will draw a map of this expedition so they have a starting point. He also needs to ask his contacts, Captain Woode, Lieutenant Didadee and Sergeant Auberg, if they have any knowledge about this Hallod person, or if they know someone who does. He also has some other contacts that he has collected during his time here in Erast, and maybe someone can give him some leads.
In the morning, Gnosha decides to meet with some of his acquaintances here in Erast, to ask about this Hallod person, and also to find out if there are any known maps of the sewer systems. He decides to take Thefvae with him, and leave Aered to help out with the construction, as he needs his daily exercises to keep his strength and fitness at peak level.
He decides to pay his first visit to the south gate, to have a little chat with Sergeant Thomas Auberg. When Gnosha arrives, Sergeant Auberg shouts: – “Bonjour Gnosha, what brings you here this time?” Gnosha says that he is investigating a person that might be engaged in criminal activities, and that might go by the name of Hallod. Sergeant Auberg says that he knows everyone who has ever passed through this gate by name, but he has never encountered anyone that goes by that name. He asks if this Hallod person is a merchant, and Gnosha replies that he might be, but a merchant in stolen goods. The thanks Sergeant Auberg and Sergeant Auberg replies: – “But where is my reward?” Ghosha looks a bit puzzled and says reward, but Sergeant Auberg just laughs and says that he was just joking.
Next, Gosha decides that they pay Lieutenant Gidaadee a visit at the west gate. They take another quick walk across town, and when they arrive at the west gate, Lieutenant Gidaadee sees them and comes to meet them. She says, a bit surprised: – “Gnosha and Thefvae, good to see you, but why have you come here? Has something happened?”
Gnosha returns the greeting and replies that nothing has happened, but he is investigating a case, and a name has come up, a person name Hallod, and he asks if the name rings any bells.
Lieutenant Gidaadee asks them to follow her into her little office and she looks through some books and papers and says that they think he might be a local fence. His name came up after an arrest of a small-time crook named Fastom Buck, who was talking a lot about a probably stolen necklace in his possession. We did not pay that much attention to Mr Buck, as we thought he might just have been pulling our legs with a load of lies.
Gnosha replies that his name was on some price lists of probably stolen items. We found those lists when we were searching the sewers for clues in a case. Your conception of this Hallod person is probably correct. Thefvae is feeling a bit uneasy, the office of a law enforcement officer is not something she enjoys very much.
Gnosha says to Lieutenant Gidaadee that he is keen to find a map of the sewers for his investigations, and wonders if she might know anything about that. She replies that those sewers are a maze of tunnels and they were built a long time ago, by different constructors, Dwarfs, humans and other races. The only thing they know is that they all end one way or the other at the canal. Gnosha seconds that and says that this is also what they have found so far. He thanks Lieutenant Gidaadee for her time, and tells her that every little clue leads forward.
They now decide to walk to the office of Captain Woode, which is located at the north gate. They can just follow the outer wall, and pass the old cemetery, and the slums south of the north gate. This was where Gnosha found the closed down shop The Silver Yeti several weeks ago. When they arrive, they knock on the door to the town guard’s office building and a guard opens the door. He looks with harsh eyes on Gnosha and Thefvae and asks:
– “Who are you and what do you want?”
Gnosha replies: – “Just tell Captain Woode that Gnosha Curosinei is here to see him.”
The guard says: – “Noshi Curi..”
and Gnosha quickly says: – “Just tell him Gnosha is here to see him.”
The guard replies that Captain is a very busy man, and does not have time for meeting complete strangers, but Gnosha insists that he just calls for Captain Woode. The guard finally turns his head and shouts: – “Captain! There is a Mr Noshi here to see you, he insists.” Captain Woode replies that he does not know anyone named Noshi, but when he looks out from his office and sees Gnosha and Thefvae, he walks toward them shouting: – “Idiot! Do they need to spell out their names for you, soldier? Gnosha and Thefvae, welcome, follow me.”
When they are inside Captain Woode’s office, and Captain Woode has closed his door, he looks at Gnosha and says: – “How is the work progressing?”
Gnosha replies that things are slowly moving, and that he has a lead he is following up, that might or might not be of importance. He says that he has just spoken with Lieutenant Gidaadee and that she had a note about a person, suspected fence, that goes by the name of Hallod, that is hiding in the sewers. Captain Woode looked a bit upset and replied: –”So she shared that information with you did she? Yes, I’ve heard that there are petty criminals in the sewers. What was he selling or buying?“
Gnosha replies: – “It is not so much about what he is buying or selling, but more about what he might have seen.”
Captain Woode replies that if he gets someone by that name in his nick, he will immediately inform Gnosha about it. Ganesha thanks Captain Woode for his time and Gnosha and Thefvae leave.
It’s getting close to lunch time, so they walk down the northern bridge and over the canal then up to The Lonely Duck for lunch. When they arrive, Mrs Ilyana Reyqen greets them and says Gnosha, what can I tempt you with? Gnosha replies that they take two today’s lunch, whatever that is, and then he says that he has a question. He says: – “I have to ask you, have there been any trouble, incident or debacle here the past one to one and a half week?”
Mrs Reyqen replies that no, nothing out of the ordinary. You know, the people here are mostly poor, but when you mention it, there was a group of adventurers here. I remember then as they did not want any nightly companions, and I haven’t seen them since. Gnosha asks if she can describe them, if there was anything that stood out. Mrs Ilyana Reyqen replied that they were an interesting group; a cat, a hyena, a goblin lady and a guy with a ventriloquist’s doll. Gnosha thanked Mrs Ilyana Reyqen and gave her two extra copper coins. Ghosha thought to himself, ah, it was that group who killed those bandits in the sewers, explains it, I might need to talk to them sooner than I thought.
They now head back to the tower, bringing some food for Aered and some sweet bread as a treat for the builders. After Aered had eaten, Gnosha says: – “We will need to visit Elchfrild’s alehouse, and maybe a few similar establishments this evening to ask some questions to various people. I want you two to be close to me, but now too close if you understand, if something happens. We will have supper there, and see if I can find someone that can lead us to this Hallod figure.”
While the others do whatever they have to do until supper, Ghosha thinks out a plan. This person seems to be interested in jewelry, so he decides to say that he has a friend who has got his hands on an old necklace that he needs to sell as he needs money. The “I’m asking for a friend” approach will be perfect, Gnosha thinks.
They walk over to Elchfrild’s alehouse in time for dinner, and Gnosha buys some ale and duck wings with mustard sauce, and shares with other patrons at the alehouse, while discreetly asking around. Gnosha does spot something that is out of the ordinary, a handsome, well trained man in very nice armor, standing in the alehouse, but he suddenly is gone when Gnosha asks around and is talking with people. Gnosha estimates his age somewhere between thirty and thirty five years old. Gnosha thinks that maybe that was a knight to replace the wounded Sir Benoît van Panhuysen, but he cannot be sure.
Gnosha talks with a man who introduces himself as Geuward, but sometimes says Geward, which makes Gnosha suspect that it’s a false name, which is good. Gnosha tells him that he has some jewelry he is trying to sell for a friend, and the guy replies that if Gnosha gives him ten pieces of gold, a man will come and meet him. Gnosha replies that ten gold, you will get that when the man comes here, not before. I can give you five silver up front for your work. The man calling himself Geuward replies that five now and five when he is here. Gnosha looks him straight in the eyes and says that Geuward is a tough negotiator, two up front and the rest when he delivers. And shall we say tomorrow at this time? Geuward replies, when the moon is high he will come, and you should sit on that stool in the bar, and it’s four pieces of gold upfront, and seven when he comes. Gnosha says ok, we have a deal. He sits on the stool in the bar, Aered and Thefvae a bit away, but still close enough if something would happen. At midnight, when Gnosha is chewing on his last duck wing, a rather short and thin man arrives and stands beside Gnosha, and orders a cheap murky ale. The man takes a sip and says: – “Ah, anyone having something of interest to sell?” and turns to Gnosha.
Gnosha turns to the man and says: – “It may be so, with whom do I have the honor to speak?” The man looks Gnosha straight in the eyes and replies: – “What do you want to sell?”
Gnosha replies: – “A friend of mine, has recently received in his possession an old necklace.”
The man shortly asks what era, and Gnosha replies that it’s from the age of the emperor. The man quickly says: – “Ok, does it have the seals? Can I see it? Or were you smart enough not to take it with you? In these allies you can easily get your throat cut, and the last thing you will remember is the life leaving you through an open wound in your throat.“
Gnosha replies: – “But of course not, where can we meet?” The man replies: – “Wolf hours, in the alley behind the Silver Yeti.” Gnosha replies: – “I don’t know if I can wake my friend up in the middle of the night, I can be there tomorrow night.”.
The man replies with a short nod, and leaves. Ghosha signs to Aered and Thefvae to shadow him, while he will follow at a safer distance to avoid being seen. He makes a few turns around the houses in the slum and then he is gone. Gnosha returns to the alehouse, and the man calling himself Geuward stands outside and says: – “You thought you could get away without paying me?” and Gnosha replies: – “No, I just saw a friend I needed to say hi to, and now I have returned to pay you.”
Now Gnosha tries quickly to see if anyone is selling black market imperial age jewelry, that he could quickly modify, and he gets an answer from a shady figure known as Addan, pointing to a man known as Geuward, or Geward. Damn it Gnosha says to himself, I cannot purchase from the same gang I’m supposed to sell it to can I.
They head for bed, very late, and in the morning Gnosha by himself starts to check at the local stores around Five Markets that could sell something he needs.
He starts off at The Mad Chimera, and Mr Varalei, polite as always, greets Gnosha with a welcome back to my humble shop dear Sir. Gnosha tells Mr Varalei that he is in need of an imperial age jewelry, a necklace, that he urgently needs to impress an older lady of noble birth. Mr Varalei replies that he sadly has no such item in his store, but asks if he could interest Gnosha in a small fine silver ring instead. Gnosha politely declines the offer and excuses himself and heads over to Mandelin’s Magnificent Store. He runs the same story, and Mandelin replies no, and what is important is the seals, they prove the authenticity of the jewelry.
As a last resort, Gnosha goes to Mrs Balzac’s wagon on Five Markets, where he bought that ring that hides his armor and weapons for the common eye.
Gnosha asks the same question, and Mrs Balzac replies that she does not have that, but she has a brooch, picks it up and shows Gnosha the seals and the symbol with an officer’s rank. Gnosha thinks this will do, and asks how much, and Mrs Balzac replies twelve pieces of gold. He also asks if she has a thin, 2 foot gold chain, and she has, for only one piece of gold. Gnosha buys both items, and walks quickly back to the tower, where he uses his crafting skills to turn the brooch and the chain into a necklace. Sadly Gnosha realizes that goldsmithing is much harder than he thought, so the work can be described as horrible, at its best, but it has to do. He rubs the ring he attached to the brooch for the chain over and over with a dirty rag, to make it look old and used.
They all went back to the rented room, as their rooms still were not inhabitable at the tower, but soon, very soon. Before going to bed, Gnosha made a list of things to do tomorrow, and questions needing answers, as tomorrow would be another very busy day,
Why is someone gathering imperial jewelry, can it be Odan again? Ask Thefvae if she has magic to track an item at a distance, or if Mr Varalei at the Mad Chimera has something that can do that. And while at the Mad Chimera, ask Mr Varalei if he has a map of the sewers, at least partially. It would be a nice way to find the stash of jewelry, Mr Hoddan, and maybe even some of Odan’s men, and inform Captain Woode and Lieutenant Gidaadee about it, and help them make a nice arrest. Then Gnosha fell asleep.
In the morning, Gnosha, Aered and Thefvae had an early breakfast before they set off to the Mad Chimera. At breakfast, Gnosha asked Thefvae if she knew a spell that could be used to track an item at a distance, but she replied that even though she did know such a spell, it would only work as long as the item was within five hundred feet. On the way they passed a street food stand and Aered just had to grab a skewer to go, with porkchop, turnip and two potatoes.
When they entered the now familiar store of the Mad Chimera, Mr Varalei smiled, rubbed his hands and greeted them with his best smile, and asked what could offer this time? Gnosha said that he was looking for something, perhaps an alchemical formula, that could be used to track an object or follow it, and Mr Varalei happily replied that of course he has a very rare recipe, that Gnosha could purchase, for only ten pieces of gold, or he could purchase a vial with the elixir for only twenty five pieces of gold, a bargain.
Gnosha asked how much the ingredients would cost, and a batch of ingredients enough to make two batches would cost just twenty five pieces of gold. Gnosha thought that having that recipe could come handy in the future so he replied that he would take the recipe and the ingredients, thirty five pieces of gold that would be. Then he asked if Mr Varalei happened to have a map of the whole, or partial parts of the sewer systems of Erast.
Mr Varalei replied: – “I do know someone who might have just that. I’m not much of a cartographer myself, I do have some maps here as you can see on the shelf there, but they are maps of areas, like Dragonport, Erast, Bard’s Gate and even continents. The sewers of Erast are very old, older than many parts of the town itself. You should talk to Krotruhulda Cavehand, she’s usually at her workshop in the South Gate merchants district. If anyone has the maps you are looking for, it’s her.”
Gnosha looked happy, and asked if Mr Varalei had the recipe and ingredient for the Bookthief brew, and he had, just one piece of gold for the recipe and three pieces of gold for the ingredients. I take that too, here is thirty nine pieces of gold.
The group set off towards Mrs Cavehand’s workshop, and the closest route was passing the South Gate. When they reached South Gate, Gnosha asked Sergeant Thomas Auber if something interesting had happened since they last met.
Sgt Auber replied: – “Mais oui Monsieur Gnosha, but nothing funny has happened. Many monsters have been slain in the lands south of the gate. And I spoke with a mate, he spoke about a large man who introduced himself as the son of von Kettling. he was in his early thirties, he was tall, strong and looked like a real hero. He stayed at the Silver Unicorn inn. And I heard the duchess took someone called Mr Relac Jouns to the castle dungeons. He was captured by a dog, a cat, a goblin and a doll master.”
Gnosha replied: – “I thank you for this valuable information, Sergeant, continue the good work and keep your eyes and ears open.” They continued the walk to the workshop, which was less than a five minute walk from the South Gate.
On the way to the workshop, Gnosha could not stop thinking. Could someone have hired this person to play the role of von Kettling junior, a von Kettling hier that von Kettling the older did not mention or even denied the existence of. Could be the works of Odan, or the Bald Wizards Circle, Could also be someone impersonating using a magically changed appearance. This has to be investigated, but one thing at a time.
They continued and followed a narrow alley street to the north east, in the direction of the workshop of Mrs Cavehand. They arrive and the building is a magnificent four story stone building, where the ground floor seems to be a store and a workshop with a large arched opening and a small door. There are some people here, browsing the store of iron works, tools and other things. An elderly dwarf stands at a counter outside, waiting for someone to make a purchase.
Gnosha could hear the sound of work from inside the large open arch and headed in that direction, when the old dwarf intercepted him and asked: – “Are you here to purchase stone, projects or tools?”
Gnosha replied: – ”I am looking for Krotruhulda Cavehand for a conversation of great importance. My name is Gnosha Curosinei. Is the master stonemason available at the moment?”
The old dwarf replied: “That sounded very flattering sir, but she is already married, so just forget to ask for her hand!”
Gnosha was quite shocked by that answer and said: – “My apologies, I must have been very unclear, this is purely a business related visit.”
The old dwarf laughed a roaring laugh and said: – “I was just playing you, got ya!” and Gnosha replied: – “Indeed you did, you got me real good dwarf.” The dwarf waved to Gnosha, Aered and Thefvae to follow him and said: – "My name is Brommonlir Barrelgrog, pleased to meet you, now follow me”.
They entered through a door at the back of the store and went up a staircase. Gnosha saw that this was top notch stone work. The walls were two feet thick, and everything was perfectly masoned and the details were superb. Everything was beautifully crafted. The dwarf knocked on a thick stone door and shouted in his deep dwarven voice: – “Madame, you have visitors”, and from the inside they heard a voice with a broad dwarven accent saying: – “send them in”.
They entered a large room with a high ceiling, and in the center of the room was a large stone table in perfectly polished marble. Behind the table, a dwarven woman was working with a lot of drawings, calculations and notes. She looked up, and when she saw Gnosha she said: – “Gnosha Curosinei, welcome, you finally made it here, have you finally decided to properly fix your tower? You know that the tower is unstable, and can collapse into a pile on the ground any day. The support bedrock needs to be reinforced. There was a reason it was left empty, they never told you that did they?”
Gnosha, who was caught off guard by this witty dwarven lady, replied: – “Yes, I have thought about exactly that, and I really like you to visit my tower to make an inspection so you can give me an offer on the work that needs to be done. But, that’s not why I am here today. I have learned that you have in your possession, maps of the old sewers under Erast, and I would very much like to see those maps, and with your permission of course, make copies of them, to use in my research.”
Mrs Cavehand replies: – “If we can find those maps, yes, with the right payment, and a promise that you will not pass those maps to someone else without my permission, we can reach an agreement. It would certainly not be good for my business if those maps ended up in the hands of the competition, for example the Brass Badgers.”
Gnosha replied: – “That sounds very reasonable, I am sure we can reach an agreement that is mutually acceptable. Aered here is a Paladin, and he will guarantee both his and my words.”
Mrs Cavehand: – “When shall we book a meeting to look at those maps then?”
Gnosha replied: – “The sooner the better.”
Mrs Cavehand: – “Do you have time now?”
Gnosha: – “Absolutely, I am very pleased with your helpfulness.”
Mrs Cavehand: – “I can come to inspect your tower tomorrow, that will be ten pieces of gold, up front.”
Gnosha: – ”Perfect, my butler will be there and taking care of your needs, just in case I am off on a mission.”
The group leave the room and take another beautifully decorated staircase down to the basement where a large archive room is, full of movable shelves with documents and drawings. Gnosha was very impressed by the ingenious way of storing documents and books this way, as it required much less space. The invention really should be brought to the royal archives at the castle, he thought he should bring it up next time he met Duchess Maimux.
While she is looking for the drawings, Mrs Cavehand says: – “There are so many problems with the sewers. Some parts have been built in modern times, and some parts have been redesigned. There is not one single map, there are several layers of maps.” Gnosha replies: – “This sounds very exciting and interesting, let’s have a look”. Mrs Cavehand continues: – “So, what is this worth for you, how much are you willing to pay?”
Gnosha replies: – “If the information leads to the arrest of a threat to Erast, this is worth thirty pieces of gold.” Mrs Cavehand replies: – “Deal, and we do have the tower to work on. Now, what part of the town are you interested in?” Gnosha replies: – “The tower area, and the area around the old cemetery and the Silver Yeti, even if that has been closed down.”
They finally find all the maps. The tower area has six map overlays and the Silver Yeti area has ten different layers.
Gnosha realizes that he only has two doses prepared of the Bookthief brew, which is fourteen doses short. He says to Mrs Cavehand that he wasn’t prepared for the sheer amount of maps to copy, and copying by hand would take way too much time, so he asks if it is ok to come back tomorrow and use an alchemic brew to copy the drawings? Mrs Cabehand replies that that is ok, as long as it will not damage the original maps, but Gnosha assures her that no harm will come to the original maps.
The group went to have lunch at the Double Otter Inn, as it was on the way to the Silver Unicorn. They made some plans for staking out Mr von Kettling junior. After lunch, the group went to the Silver Unicorn, which is located on a street with a small market square on each side. Perfect for a stakeout. They placed themselves two people on one square and one on the other, then one of them moved over to the other square, passed the Silver Unicorn, and another one went back. This way the same person passing the Silver Unicorn in was not happening too frequently. After an hour or so, Ghosha got tired of this and he took the group and they entered the Silver Unicorn and went to the innkeeper, and Gnosha said: – “Good day sir, we are here looking for a von Kettling who are staying her and we would like to meet.”
The Innkeeper snarky replied: – “And who are you? Do you have any documents with you to validate your whereabouts? We have many important guests here, merchants, members of the nobility, and we cannot disturb them when common people like you, a private investigator, come here to harass my guests. I bet you are here trying to spy on some harmless infidelity, trying to cast bad shadows on my honest guests. Now, get out, be gone!”
Gnosha calmly replied: – “My name is Gnosha Curosinei, and I might be a private investigator, but I have legit reasons to see Mr von Kettling.”
Innkeeper: – “Gnosha Curri-what? If Sir Heskan or Captain Woode came, I might have let them in, but you, I told you to be gone.”
Gnosha, still calm as a summer night, replied: – “Then I will have to ask Sir Heskan for a letter of commendation. But, Sir Heskan is a very busy man, and I guess he might be quite upset when he learns that I had to take up his valuable and busy time to write such a letter just because of you being stubborn.”
Gnosha could see pearls of sweat suddenly rolling down on the Innkeeper’s forehead, and he clears his throat quite stressed and the innkeeper asked: – “Who did you say you were looking for?”
Gnosha calmly replied: – “Mr von Kettling, a man in his early thirties.”
The innkeeper looked through the ledger and replied: – “No one is checked in by that name, and the old man is in his seventies.”
Gnosha said calmly: – “Then someone has checked in under a false name, or has given a false name at the towngate. This does not look good, not good at all. Do you have a checked in man, early thirties, strongly built, a typical hero type?”
The innkeeper looked at his ledger again and replied: – “We had a man with that description here, he checked out yesterday. He was checked in under the name of Galledd.”
Gnosha smiled and replied: – “Thank you for your help good Sir, that wasn’t that difficult was it? I will put in a good word on your behalf to Sir Heskan the next time I meet him, what is your name, so I will give the right credits?”
The innkeeper replied: – ”Thank you, my name is Jorne Wijngaarden, and I sincerely hope that we do not have to do business ever again.”
The group left the Silver Unicorn and Gnosha decided they should head up to the North Gate to see if Captain Woode or Lieutenant Gidaadee were there, to brief them about this new development. When they arrived at the North gate, they walked towards the commander's office and knocked on the door. a guard opened the door, saw Gnosha, and said: – “Gnocca Kurrestell?” Gosha replied: – “Hello, I’m looking for Captain Woode or Lieutenant Gidaadee, are they nearby?”. The guard replied: – “Sorry to tell you, but Captain Woode is at the training facility training new recruits again, and Lieutenant Gidaadee is at the West Gate, where she usually is stationed these days.” Gnosha gave the guard a salute , said thank you, and told the guard that they would walk over to the West Gate.
A quick walk to the West Gate, just about fifteen minutes away, and when they arrived, they saw Lieutenant Gidaadee standing together with some guards. Gnosha shouted to Lieutenant Gidaadee and asked if she had time for some quick words, and she waved to Gnosha and said that they should come to her office.
When they were inside the office, Gnosha said to Lieutenant Gidaadee: – “A person who has given the name von Kettling, as the son of von Kettling, has been staying at the Silver Unicorn under the name of Galledd, but checked out yesterday. The person is in his early thirties, strongly built. I have a bad feeling about this, something is afoot.”
Lieutenant Gidaadee replies: – “What are your suspicions?”
Gnosha continues: – “Someone is trying to pretend to be the hier of von Kettling, and plan to take over the von Kettling estate when von Kettling passes, and that this has to do with Odan one way or another.”
Lieutenant Gidaadee replies: – “What you are saying sounds serious!”
Gnosha continues: – “If I hadn’t felt it was serious, I would never had bothered you with the information in the first place.”
Lieutenant Gidaadee replies: – “I think this could be the same person that was causing a ruckus at the Castle, demanding an audience with the Duchess Maimux, but was thrown out by the palace guards, your descriptions of the person fits.”
Gnosha again: – “The reason this is important, is that von Kettling told me personally, that at his passing, the von Kettling estate will fall back to Erast control as he doesn’t have a heir after his daughter was murdered. He told me very directly that he did not have a hier.”
Lieutenant Gidaadee: – “Hmm, I understand now, someone is trying to create a rift between Erast and von Kettling. Who do you suspect?”
Gnosha replies: – “Yes, and I suspect Odan or the Bald Wizard’s Circle, or both. I want you and your guards to be observant, and if you see this person trying to leave Erast, arrest him and inform me directly.”
Lieutenant Gidaadee: – “I understand, but where was he?”
Gnosha replies: – “He stayed at the Silver Unicorn, but checked out yesterday.”
Lieutenant Gidaadee: – “Then he might not still be in Erast, he might already have left, but I inform the guards to keep an eye after this person going either by the names von Kettling or Galledd.”
Gnosha thanked Lieutenant Gidaadee for her time, and then they group decided that it was time to head off to the tower as Gnosha needed to inform the butler Mr Beniers that the stonemason Mrs Cavehand would show up tomorrow to inspect the tower, and he also needed to make that alchemic tracking mixture. Then they needed to get some early supper, before sleeping a few hours at the rented room, as at wolf hour, they had to be at the Silver Yeti to sell the necklace to that shady Mr Hoddan.
Gnosha goes to his alchemic laboratory to prepare the elixir of tracking. It is a rather simple formula, but it always takes time to prepare a formula as it has to be done exactly as the recipe says, and it involves waiting time, but he had set off an hour and it was almost the time it took. When it was done, he applied some of it on the fake necklace, and some on the napkin like piece of cloth he would use to wrap it in .
Now it was time, Gnosha, Arered and Thefvae headed out from the tower and to walk in the direction of the Silver Yeti. They first had to go south, all the way down to the first bridge over the river, then up north again to the Silver Yeti. The weather had turned into a thick autumn fog, so dense it was almost impossible to see anything. The torches used to light up the streets by night just looked like small flickering balls of yellow light in the thick dark fog. As it was very late or very early, depending on your preferences, not many people were out in the streets of Erast. While coming closer to the bridge, in the distance they could hear the sound of some people who were staggering back from some alehouse, having difficulties to even know in which directions they were heading.
They walked across the bridge, and they met a town guard patrol, out to keep the streets of Erast safe, and looking for people too drunk to get home, that they would put into the drunken brig to sober up till the morning comes.
When the town guard patrol came closer, the patrol leader politely said: – “Good evening Inspector Gnosha, lovely evening indeed don’t you say sir?” Gnosha smiled and replied: – ”Indeed good sir, indeed. It’s reassuring to know you are patrolling the streets of Erast to keep it safe.”
When they finally reached the Silver Yeti, Gnosha kept him self about ten paces ahead of Ared and Thefvae, as the fog provided excellent cover, both for them, but also for any ambushing attacker.
Gnosha searched with his eyes for Mr Hallod, not Hoddan as Gnosha has been calling him. Before leaving the Tower, Gnosha took another look at the letter they found in the sewers, and realized he had remembered the name wrongly when he wrote it down in his notebook. Gnosha excused his mistake to himself as the signature was quite messy, and it had been a day when he put everything down in his notebook. He promised himself he should never ever make such a beginner’s mistake ever again.
As he didn’t see anyone, he knocked on the door, even though it was nailed shut and barricaded with several sturdy pieces of wood. As he did, lights became visible from a window beside the door, and a voice said: – “This way”.
Gnosha went to the window, signalled to Aered to stay close behind, and Gnosha saw that even though the window was barricaded, it opened inwards. He looked inside and saw a a lot of dusty empty shelves, but in the center of the room was a nicely dusted table, and behind the table sat a woman, with dark makeup in her face. In a corner, about fifteen feet from the woman, stood a very tall humanoid figure, almost 8 foot tall Gnosha estimated, wearing a black helmet so his face wasn’t visible, but hidden in shadows. Gnosha did not see the person he met at the bar yesterday evening that he thought was named Hoddan or Hallod. Gnosha climbed through the window, and the woman said: – “Sit, you have something I require.”
Gnosha sits down, and asks politely: – “Who do I have the honour to speak with?”
The woman replies: – “Lorisa Saeunn, now, hand me the item.”
Gnosha takes the napkin out of his pocket and hands it over to Lorisa Saeunn. The figure in the corner stands absolutely still, with his hand on the sword. She scrutinizes the necklace very carefully for some time, then she looks at Gnosha and says: – “You know that this is not what I expected. it has been altered some time ago. How much did you say you wanted for it?”
Gnosha replies: – ”Oh, I didn’t know that. It’s my friend who needs the money. He said he wanted fifteen pieces of gold for it.“
Lorisa Saeunn replies: – “Fifteen? I thought ten, but I could go half way and give you twelve for it, but where does it come from?”
Gnosha, feeling a bit stressed now, replies: – ”My friend won it in a game of cards, you see, he do have a bit of a gambling problem. He does owe some very nasty people fifteen pieces of gold, but they didn’t want this necklace, they wanted fifteen pieces of gold.”
Lorisa Saeunn replies: – “Friend? Come on! Who would be an item like this in a card game?” She makes a sign to the figure in the corner, who starts to slowly draw his sword.
Gnosha replies: – “Considering his social standing, he would rather be anonymous.”
Lorisa Saeunn replies: – “You give it to me and your friend will not get any money. I know you are lying, you have stolen this from a grave.”
Gnosha stands up and starts to go towards the window, when Lorisa Saeunn says: – “Not so fast, what is your name?”
Gnosha replies: – “My name is Gnosha Curosinei”
Lorisa Saeunn replies: –”You want to make me believe that you, an agent that works for Duchess Maimux, would sell this for a friend?”
Gnosha calmly replies: – “First, I no longer work for Duchess Maimux, my mission is completed. Secondly, during my investigations, I have met numerous people in and around high society here in Erast. As they now know me, they assign me different small tasks and missions. A man has to make a living, even a former agent in the service of the Duchess herself.”
Lorisa Saeunn looks a bit puzzled by Gnosha’s reply, and says: – “What a shame you don’t drain the Duchess treasury any more, but remember, you will never see me again.” A door opens behind them, and Lorisa Saeunn and the tall figure exit through it, leaving Gnosha alone in the room, which he exits through the window.
When outside, Gnosha sniffs in the air to see if he can pick up the secret scent from the tracking formula, but nothing. He asks Thefvae if she can track it using her Locate Object spell, and Thefvae senses that it is moving north.They continue north through the folly night, and here, there are very few lit torches, and soon they reach the old cemetery, which is located just south of the North wall. Thefvae cannot really sense the direction of the necklace. Gnosha thinks, as Thefvae cannot track it anymore, it is possible the item is below us. They look at the dark, unfriendly cemetery, with tombs, mausoleums and old tombstones as this is where prominent citizens of Erast were buried during the times of the Empire. Gnosha decided it was time to follow this lead, to enter the cemetery.
Ghosha throws a Thunderstone in the direction of the closest town wall watch tower, hoping it will alarm the town watch. Birds are woken and fly up, startled by the sudden sharp sound, and dogs start to bark in alleys and houses. People light candles in some buildings trying to see what caused that sound that erupted in the middle of the night, disturbing their sleep.
Gnosha opens the gate to the old cemetery and they walk in. Ghosha looks for signs around the three large mausoleums of recent disturbance, as the graveyard is quite overgrown. He sees that there seems to have been some recent activities close to the largest mausoleum, as the grass is worn down by boots. Gnosha points at the largest mausoleum and says quietly to the others, let’s go there. There’s a second iron fence around the mausoleum, and a small gate, which is locked. Gnosha tries his rather basic skills in lock picking, but the lock is very simple and opens easily, and they carefully walk through the now opened gate.
Gnosha looks at the mausoleum, and it says HILDEBRAND, and there is a heraldic shield next to the name. Gnosha thinks, yes, he knows, Hildebrand is, or was, a famous family known to have founded Erast some hundred and fifty or more years ago. He recognized their heraldic symbol, a griffin. The Hildebrand family line died out about a hundred years ago. They all look for doors, opening or trapdoors in the mausoleum, but Gnosha doesn’t see anything, but both Aered and Thefvae do. Thefvae uses some magic and some pink smoke flows from her and disappears under a piece of the wall where there is a door. Gnosha was just about to say that they should open the door silently and with stealth, when Aered grabs the door and shouts: – “Who desecrates this sacred resting place?” So much for stealth Gnosha thought to himself. Aered pulls the door hard as it looks stuck, but it flows up with ease and Aered almost loses his balance by the surprise.
Behind the door it is pitch black, so Thefvae lights a finger to provide some light. Behind the door is a stair leading down, down and further down. Gnosha sees that there are muddy footprints on the smooth gray stone steps.
They walk slowly and silently down. Aered first, the Gnosha and Thefvae with the light at the rear. The staircase ends and a room opens up in front of them, and they see a soft light ahead, Gnosha uses his nose, and he smells both the scent of the woman he just met, and the smell of that tall guardian she had. From the left he smells the smell of fresh mud and clay,
The group moved slowly forward. They see torches in a larger opening ahead, and to the left a muddy and freshly dug tunnel. To the right is a door. When they move a little closer, they see that ahead is a wider tunnel that turns a bit further, and they also see the big scary dude and the woman Lorisa standing behind him. Gnosha fires a bolt from his crossbow in the woman’s back, then he reloads his crossbow, and fills up the Alechemist’s fire in it. The big scary dude draws a gigantic two handed sword and stands in ready stance, protecting the woman, Thefvae uses some magic and Gnisha hears a faint echo in his head but can’t figure out what she was doing. Some beams radiated towards the big scary dude. Aered draws his sword and charges the big scary dude and attacks him and hits him. The woman casts some spell at Aered, but he blocks the magic with his shield, then the woman runs around the corner in the tunnel.
Gnosha tries to look for an opening to hit the big scary dude, but sees none, so he fires his Alchemist’s fire bot into the tunnel to get more light. The big scary dude slowly backs through the fire, which seems to not bother him at all. Thefvae uses some more magic, and the big scary dude looks like he is a bit unsteady on his feet. Aered stomps on the fire and attacks the big scary dude with his sword, and he hits, but it doesn’t seem to do anything, there is no blood.
Gnosha fires another bolt at the big scary dude, but misses, then he reloads his crossbow again, and takes a few steps forward. The big scary dude attacks Aered with his huge two handed sword, then grabs Aered's throat with one hand and tries to strangle him.
Thefvae tries to weaken the big scary dude with magic, but she fails, and she also steps a few steps closer. Aered tries to get out of the grip and succeeds, then he attacks with his sword, but misses. The door to the right, now slightly behind Thefvae and Gnosha slams open, and the woman rushes out and starts to run up the stairs. Gnosha tries to get a good shot, but can’t , so he fires at the big scary dude instead and hits, but he seems to ignore the burning fire. The big scary dude grabs Aered and throws him at Thefvae and both falls, then the big scary dude moves towards Gnosha. Thefvae stands up and tries to catch the woman with a magic rope, but it falls short.
Aered stands up and strikes the big scary dude in the back with his sword, while the woman disappears up the stairs, out of sight. Gnosha fires a bolt without Alchemist’s fire this time at the big scary dude, and hits, he then draws his rapier and stands in a defensive stance. The big scary dude attacks Gnosha with his big sword and hits, it hurts really bad, then he turns around and faces Aered again. Aered attacks and hits the big scary dude hard in the chest, then Thefvae hits the big scary dude with a magic arrow in the back of the head. Gnosha now attacks the big scary dude from behind, and sees a perfect opening in the armor. The rapier goes in , and the big scary dude falls backwards over Gnosha. Aered quickly rolls the now dead and less scary big dude away from Gnosha. They all rush up the stairs and when they exit through the mausoleum door they see torches and lanterns, and a voice shouts: – “Who is there? Who is disturbing the night peace? Show yourself!”. Gnosha replied: – “I am Gnosha Curosinei, stop the fleeing woman Lorisa, she is a death cultist! We have a slain monstrosity down in the mausoleum. Someone should take a look.”
The town guards look pretty nervous until Aered says: – “I can go with you, what is your name?” and taps his hand on the scared townguard’s shoulder. The townguard replies:
– “My name is Syllas, Syllas Zincan, and I can go with you.” Aered and the townguard Syllas with a lantern walks down the stairs again.
While Aered walks down the stairs into the crypt, Gnosha says to Thefvae: – “In which direction is Lorisa?”, as Thefvae still could track that fake necklace he made. Thefvae concentrates for a few seconds and points almost north, towards the city wall behind the cemetery, there.
Gnosha shouts: – “Guards, she’s heading in that direction!”, pointing to the north with his whole hand. Thefvae and Gnosha dashes off while a townguard corporal gives orders to search north. After a short run, they arrive at a building between the cemetery and the town wall. All the windows of the three story building seem to have been nailed shut with iron bars. Gnosha doesn’t see anything special, but Thefvae notices that the bars are loose on one of the ground floor windows and you can easily open them and then push the window open and climb in. Without any hesitation they both enter the building through the window, and all they see is a narrow spiral staircase leading up. The door from this small room has been nailed shut with sturdy planks. They pass two floors where doors have been nailed shut and blocked with planks, but at the top of the stairs is a small attic room, with a bed and an open window. Through the window you can climb onto the roof, and from the roof top, you could jump onto the city wall, a jump requiring acrobatic skills that Gnosha no longer has, as he used to say, except Gnosha has never had those acrobatic skills. Gnosha says: – “This is how she escaped, onto the wall, we must alert the townguards”.
They go down the stairs and meet several townguards, and some lower rank officers, corporals. Gnosha describes the situation, and some runners are sent to the watchtowers to check the wall, but no one has passed the doors. After some searching, they find a rope leading down on the outside of the wall. A corporal cuts the rope with his knife and says: – “This will be reported!” and another corporal says something about this is not his wall nightshift, it is not his fault. Gnosha realises that there will be some hard words from Lt Gidaadee or Captain Woode tomorrow.
A corporal informs Gnosha that the building is supposed to be shut down, except the floor level, which has been used as a temporary storage by the townwatch. The staircase was blocked last time he checked, some months ago. Aered and the townguard come back, Aered carrying the body of the big no longer so scary dude. Gnosha and some townguards examine the newly dug tunnels, and one goes under the Silver Yeti, and the other, only 30 feet long, and where they were working, seems to lead so it would pass right under the townwall.
Gnosha says: – “Someone has been setting up a smuggling operation here, right under the nose of the townguards.” He then examines the big dead dude. He is weird, not undead, but he wasn’t really living either, something in between, he needs to learn more about that, he wrote down in his notebook. And this has to be reported to Lt Gidaadee or Captain Woode, the tunnels, the use of the building.
Gnosha thought to himself, I need to make some kind of alarm, or trap, if that woman comes back. I might need to discuss that with Mrs Cavehand tomorrow. The Night sergeant, Radmer Groeneveld shows up again, and Gnosha gives him more information of the night’s events and instructs him to report without delay to Lt Gidaadee or Captain Woode, then he says: – “We really need to get back to get some sleep, it has been a long night and I have to wake up early tomorrow.” They set off in the direction of the rented room as the tower is still not finished, and might even be unsafe according to Mrs Cavehand.
The fog is thick and all over, you can see only a few yards in front of you. It's way beyond midnight, and the group walks along North Gate Street in the direction of the temple square in the town centre. The city is empty, in the dense fog, Aered spots a night snack seller on the temple square, and as usual, Aered could not resist a late night snack before going to bed.
When Gnosha and his team walk towards the upper bridge along the northern side of the market square,which is empty, they are about to walk past a place Gnosha has thought of visiting many times, the Scroll Keep Tower, the public library of Erast. It's a three story tower holding a lot of knowledge and other important information. Gnosha sees two men looking like guards talking with a woman in front of the large double door entrance to the library.. One of the guards looks like a regular town guard, the other like one of the auxiliary militia guards. Gnosha can hear that the woman's voice is strained, almost like she is in shock. Gnosha quickly walks closer, bringing Aered and Thefvae with him. He hears the woman say: -”He is dead, he is dead, can’t you understand?” The auxiliary militia guard says: – “Calm down, we take care of this, just go home.” and the townguard says: – “The Night Sergeant is occupied with something, I need to find backup.”
Gnosha comes closer and asks what has happened? The auxiliary militia guard replies: – “We don’t need any help, you can just leave, official Erast business.” and the townguard says: – “Gnosha, stay here, I need to find the Night Sergeant.” Gnosha replies to the townguard: – “The Night Sergeant is at the tower close to the old cemetery. Aered and I will take over here, we have a mandate from Captain Woode and Sir Heskan.” Gnosha looks at the auxiliary militia guard and asks: – “What is your name and who is your commanding officer?”
The auxiliary militia guard says: - “Eh, sorry, I just remembered I’m needed at another location.” Aered looks straight at the auxiliary militia guard with his hand firmly gripping the handle of his sword, and the auxiliary militia guard replies, almost whispering: – “Bhatanis Brus, and my commanding officer is Herman Gild Huml.” Gnosha says to Mr Brus: – “Thanks, dismissed.”
Gnosha now turns to the woman and says: – “Please tell me exactly what happened and show us the location.”. The woman says that it happened here, and shows the group to the small alley beside the tower, where the door to a side entrance is open. She continues: – “I saw that the door was open, I work here as a librarian. I went to Elias’ room, he was dead, I ran out again shouting for help. Elias Fornwood, scribe and archivist, works late sometimes.”
Gnosha replies: – “very good, now we know what and where, now we take it from here and do this the proper way”. Gnosha says to Thevae, lights please, let’s go and investigate the scene of the crime.
The side entrance leads to a staircase that leads directly to the third floor. They walk up the stairs and follow a corridor where they see an open door and lights from an oil lamp coming from the room. They look into the room. In the centre of the room is a scribes desk, and bookshelves along the walls, except for a small narrow window on the wall opposite of the door. A man is laying over the scribes desk, his lips are blue and Ghosha sees foaming around his mouth. A half full cup of wine stands on the desk, and he is still holding his pen in his hand. The inkwell has been tipped over, but not over the paper he was writing on.
Ghosha realizes that this man, Elias Fornwood, has been poisoned. He looks for a wine bottle, and an almost empty bottle stands on the bookshelf. The bottle has recently been opened, and the wine is Ostielais Pétillant according to the label on the bottle. Thefvae says: – “That is a nice bottle of wine, nothing you find at a common tavern in Erast”. Gnosha looks for, and finds the cork and seals the bottle. Then he picks up a small glass bottle and fills it from the cup. He pours some wine from the bottle into another cup, and he makes a quick poison test with his alchemic skills. After a few minutes he can see the result, Shadowbloom, a poison with a horrible taste. The poison was both in the bottle and in the wine in the cup, so the conclusion is, the wine bottle was poisoned. Gnosha looks at Aered and Thefvae and says: – “The poison is Shadowbloom and the poison is in the bottle. Shadowbloom is a very slow poison. It takes a few hours for it to work, and it is very seldom used as it is slow and tastes very bad”.
Gnosha thinks, where does the bottle come from? Why was the side door open? Was the bottle poisoned before it was opened, or after it had been opened? Thefvae interrupts Gnosha’s thinking by saying: – “Don’t you smell it? How can you have missed it?” Gnosha smells the wine with his sensitive nose, and it smells like magical sweetness, and Thefvae confirms that the wine’s taste has been magically altered. Now Gnosha understands how Elias Fornwood could have been drinking the wine over a period of several hours without tasting the awful taste of Shadowbloom. Gnosha goes to fetch the woman who reported the crime, Madelaine Fladin from downstairs, when Aered investigates the scribe's desk. He sees a list of recent book loans from the library. The latest book is an ancient book on elven curses, borrowed by Lirael Sylvanie. There is a big splotch of ink over the signature making it unreadable. When Gnosha comes back Aered shows him his findings and Gnosha puts the list in his notebook, and quickly looks around the shelves for obvious empty spots, if someone quickly grabbed some other books, but nothing obvious.
Gnosha asks Miss Fladin if it was common for Mr Fornwood to drink wine while working late, and if she noticed anything out of the ordinary recently. Miss Fladin replies that it wasn’t uncommon for Elias to drink wine when he was working late. Also, when she thinks about it, she heard Mr Fornwood argue with Dorin Ironfist, the dwarven smith. They were shouting at each other, then Mr Ironfist left.
Gnosha thinks, who is this Lirael Sylvanie? He decides to ask around, but after midnight, there aren't many people out, but after half an hour he finds out that Lirael Sylvanie is an elven apothecary that has her little pharmacy on the south river bank. Gnosha tells Miss Fladin to go home, then they set off across the bridge to the south bank and a bit east to the pharmacy.
They arrive at the pharmacy and Gnosha knocks on the door. At first nothing happens, but after a while they see that lights are lit and after some time the door opens and an elven woman looks tired at Gnosha and his friends and asks; – “What brings you here in the middle of the night? Stomach pains that prevent you from sleeping?”
Gnosha replies: – “I have to ask, are you Lirael Sylvanie?” The elven woman replies: – “Yes, look, the sign here says so, who are you and why did you wake me up in the middle of the night?”
Gnosha continues: – “I am Gnosha Curosinei and I am investigating a horrible crime. Have you recently borrowed an ancient book about elven curses from the library at Scroll Keep Tower?” Miss Sylvanie replies: – “Why do you want to know what books I have borrowed? That is a matter for the library, who are you really?”
Gnosha says: – “I am a crime investigator and a murder has been committed, and the last thing written on the list found beside the dead body was your name and the name of the book you borrowed. Can you explain this?” Miss Sylvanie replies: – “OK, I borrowed the book, but I do not have it, I have lent it to someone else. I know you’re not allowed to, but I have.”
Gnosha says: – “To who?” and Miss Sylvanie replies: – “Mira Quickwit, she’s not in town at the moment. She’s a travelling bard, and as she doesn't live in Erast, she’s not allowed to borrow books. I have only borrowed the book for four days.”
Gnosha, suspecting that Mira could be Lorisa, said: – “Can you describe this Mira Quickwit?” Miss Sylvanie replies: – “She’s a Gnome, just like you, but with purple hair, she performs at different taverns.” Gnosha replies: – “Thank you so much for your help. By the way, do you know the wine Ostielais Pétillant?“ Miss Sylvanie replies: – “Yes, it is a finer wine, you can usually order it at the Silver Unicorn Inn.” Gnosha replies: – “Excuse me once again for troubling you, I buy three small chafing ointment bottles, if you have that, I might need that.”
Miss Sylvanie tells the group to follow her inside the shop. Gnosha sees a flowerpot with a Shadowbloom standing on a shelf in the small pharmacy. He quickly and discreetly waves to Aered to come a bit closer, then he says: – “What kind of plant is that? It looks interesting.”
Miss Sylvanie replies: – “That mister is a Shadowbloom. The pollen is very bitter, and in small doses it helps when you have belly sickness. It tastes really awful though”. Gnosha quickly replied: – “When did you last sell that medicine, and to who?” Miss Sylvanie replied that she sells stomach drops every day to several customers. You take a drop in the evening when you feel ill. Gnosh replied: – “Have you sold Shadowbloom pollen to anyone?” Miss Sylvanie starting to get a little annoyed replies: – “No, there is no purpose with that, no one has ever bought Shadowbloom pollen.” Gnosha continued: – “Have you had a breakin, had anything stolen recently?”, and Miss Sylvanie is getting really annoyed and replies: – “No, I am an honest elf! Why all these questions suddenly?”
Gnosha says: – “Now, what has happened is that a scribe at the library has been poisoned and murdered by Shadowbloom, so you can understand why I ask these questions.”
Miss Sylvanie reacts with surprise and replies:– “What? Is this why you are here? No one can ingest Shadowbloom in a lethal dose, it tastes so horribly bad. What makes you think it was Shadowbloom?” Gnosha replies: – “The wine was magically sweetened and my alchemical tests showed that it was Shadowbloom.”
Miss Sylvanie is quite angry now and says: – “And you think it was me? I would never use Shadowbloom. There is so much better stuff if you want to poison someone, fast and without any taste at all.” Gnosha replied: – “No, I just wanted to cross you from the list of possible suspects. Your name was on a list.” All Miss Sylvanie could say was What, wait, but..,. before Gnosha gave her a piece of gold and told her thank you for your troubles. Miss Sylvanie replied: – “Thank you, and good luck finding the murderer.”
Gnosha, Aered and Thefvae finally left Miss Sylvanie’s pharmacy and once they were outside, Gnosha told the others that now it’s time to visit the Silver Unicorn.