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June 4 - Sent a messenger bird ahead so that the villa would have time to
be prepared for us - and for the pony!
June 5 - Home again - or one of them. One thing about being gone so long; my room is now exactly as I wished it, without the disruption of being here when the decorators were working on it. Someone has taught Scipio to say "You messy bird!" He's said it several times, apparently under the impression that it means "I'm delighted to see you." Robyn has shut all of his father's heirlooms - a ring, a brooch, the dagger, and a tartan - into the vault, and he and Tamara are watching Cicilius Minutius's house. Gaius has been asked to recruit other street boys to supplement them. Decimus is already putting the potion lab to rights and soliciting requests and cash. I should make some scrolls and potions myself, after I call on the Archbishop and... (social and professional matter snipped) Notes on Robyn's crest, library references snipped: A tribal or family symbol of a clan which used to contend with the Harwynns for control of what is now Caer Harwynn, down south of the Valley of the Living Wind. This family was descended from an Aechean/Gaelic hero - Aechean sources call him a demi-god, but Gaelish ones say he was a Gael who married an Aechean woman. Either way he performed an assortment of heroic deeds and amassed a great treasure, including many enchanted items. The wizard who assisted the Harwynns to gain control of the area 40 years ago wanted this treasure as his reward, but it was never found. June 9 - I expected Robyn to have confronted Cicilius Minutius by now, but they're still watching the house. They have only identified one repeat visitor, an ex-soldier with expertise in the gladius who may or may not have anything to do with our matter. There's also someone they call "the chubby man" who has only appeared once; and today a halfling with access to magic was watching the house, too. Decimus gave Gaius his shield bracelet today. He is immensely proud of it, and is currently engaged in encouraging the other boys to throw things at him so he can bounce them off his invisible shield. I'll give him until this charge runs out before I give him the "not a toy" speech. June 15 - Finally, they've managed to follow that halfling, to the house of one Marcus Lepidus Otho. He is an ambitious young man often seen in the vicinity of the Governer's Mansion. I'm sure I can find an excuse to scrape his acquaintance. June 16 - That was distinctly unpleasant. I was having a perfectly satisfactory conversation with Lepidus Otho, getting hints dropped about this great discovery he's going to make, and his name with it; and was on the verge of wangling an invitation to his house, when a voice in my head told me to go home, make excuses, and go to bed! And I did it! The voice was male, Tarantine, and well-educated, but I don't think it was Otho. In the middle of the night the same voice instructed me to get up. I tried to wake Greta, but was forestalled; tried to walk loudly and sing as the voice guided me to the vault; but not until it bade me open the vault and remove Robyn's goods did I break the influence. I went straight to the major domo and instructed him arrange for maximum security, so that no single person could gain access to the vault, and then woke Robyn. We are trying to compose an adequate message to my uncle, one that will tell him what he has a right to know without prompting him to drop his war work and come home. I can't think properly. The *idea* of using a dominate spell on me - that's what it was. I've never seen it done, but the effects can't be anything else. I think I'll go to the chapel for the rest of the night. My brain feels as though someone left dirty fingermarks all over it. June 17 - No message to Uncle yet. I think I'll send by normal messenger, just to keep him informed. We can handle this. At least my abrupt departure yesterday provided an excuse to visit Otho and apologize. I expressed surprise to find where he was living, and explained that, in the course of a business affair we were currently conducting (leaving the "we" to his imagination), we had observed a halfling watching the same establishment we were, and had followed him here. In the interest of not stepping on each other's toes, I elicited the information that Otho expects Cicilius to lead him to a great treasure - the name-making discovery he hinted at yesterday. I assured him that we were not interested in treasure and held out the possibility that we might be mutually beneficial, without committing myself. If Robyn is descended from this Gaulish-Aechean hero, it is not for me to barter away his heritage! The halfling has observed the urchins, but not Robyn or Tamara. He has also noticed, as they have not, an elf he described as looking "like a predator," who dresses like the worst sort of plebian. Gaius doesn't know this person, but then he hasn't been in town lately. He said he would ask around. Meanwhile, Decimus and Robyn, with the major domo, withdrew his father's goods from the vault and did a scrying spell. Robyn's father appears to be a hermit reading Leaguer philosophical tracts in the basement of a fortress in the desert! Robyn is going to find out if he can identify the fortress, but is disinclined to make the effort to contact his father without more reason to believe that he would have something useful to say. After all, we don't want to trouble my uncle to send us behind enemy lines in order to find out that he bought these items from a traveler at an inn in Vircorum! Robyn also says he has no objection to going into partnership with Otho and letting him have the lion's share of the treasure, but only if he has sufficient resources to give us value in return. In pursuit of this, I visited Domina C------, who is stuck in town this summer with every one of her eligible daughters, and who I knew could be trusted to know, down to the penny, the resources and background of every marriageable man in Brigantium. She did not disappoint me, once I convinced her that I was not in the least interested in marrying him myself. I am now committed to holding a party, to which Dominia C, all her daughters, and Otho will be invited. Otho has an informal bodyguard of friends, a halfling friend who is a sorcerer, a moderate income, and a good deal of ambition - not a bad candidate for her younger girls, and reasonably serviceable to us, though we might well do him more good in this case than he can us. We'll have to evaluate his companions, too. And, if his ambitions are realized due to our assistance, it never hurts to have a grateful patrician lying around. Robyn does not wish to confront Cicilius in his den, but would prefer to do so on our own turf. I don't have any direct acquaintance with him, but the social circle is so circumscribed here in summer, I'm sure I can dig someone up who will introduce us or bring him as an escort. It's stooping a bit, but if he's the social climber Tamara's information indicates, he won't be able to resist a party at Villa Simpronius. It will have to be informal - evening - perfumed fountains - sherbert - can I swing an ice sculpture? - not much time at all - I must go speak to the cook. Solstice is the most proximate occasion for a party, but can we afford to wait that long?
Party invites should include:
Last Updated:
Saturday, 21-Jun-2003 23:38:06 CDT
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