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More from Sofia's diary:
4/4 - Uncle questioned Decimus, his secretary, and the libararian in my
Zone of Truth spell. It turns out that the librarian has a liasion with
one of the kitchen staff Uncle brought with him from the villa, who is very
outgoing and has already made a friend in the market. He spoke carelessly
to her, and she appears to have spoken carelessly in turn. I fear this
particular lead will peter out quickly; but Tamara is going out, with
Decimus to look after her (and thus already looking much more cheerful), to
meet this person and see with whom she discussed our business.
Later - Well, well! The chain is shorter than anyone expected! It seems
Flavia, the friend from the market, works for a certain green-eyed,
black-haired grain merchant! His name is Manius, and she bragged a lot
about how *close* she is to him etc. In order to stay close to Tamara and
not inhibit the girl talk, Decimus used alter self to make himself female
(a fact we are refraining from mentioniong to Alfredus and Robyn, who spent
the afternoon buying horses and equipment), and this curtailed the
conversation, since he could only maintain the pose for 30 minutes. They
have an appointment to meet again tomorrow; I have told Decimus, who did
not participate much in the conversation, to taunt her as a braggart and
try to draw more specific information out of her. He can prime the pump
with some of the things I picked up talking to patrician women yesterday.
If she's curious about his job, he's to claim to be my lady's maid. If she
actually has instructions to carry information on us to Manius, this
supposed position could be useful in future. We discussed planting false
information, but we may have a specific use for this conduit at some point,
so we can save that.
Unfortunately, this does not help us learn how the mage who initiated the
trade found out about the book; but perhaps that will be forthcoming. Is
it possible Manius informed him of the book in order to prompt the trade,
with the intention of robbing both parties at once? If so, he's a nastier
customer than I thought.
4/5 - The second conversation with Flavia went well enough. Tamara and
"Deccie" didn't get anything about Manius's immediate plans, but they got
names of his associates, which may be useful in future; they spotted a
merchant who seemed peculiarly interested in the conversation, which may be
the mage's source; and they picked up Gaius. Gaius says rumors are flying
all over town about what Uncle might have found and what he might do with
it, but his information on patricians is limited. We described the walking
mountain who accompanied our mage, and he identified a "visiting wizard" as
the only person whose bodyguard fit the criteria. "Milo" is interested in
who initiated the attempted robberies, since they were not arranged through
him. I told Gaius that we would give him, not only cash, but the identities
of the men Milo wanted if he brought us the identity, location, and
information methods of the visiting mage. He seemed to think this a good
bargain, and went off happily enough. I think Decimus slipped him some
expense money.
We have begun moving into Uncle's new villa. Gaius will report there, and
if we have already left, will see Uncle's secretary, who has instructions
to pay generously and give him V's and Manius's names. I'm not sure the
librarian will still be here when we return; he seems subdued, and Uncle is
understandably annoyed with him.
Uncle kindly let me select my own room. It is spacious and well-located,
with a nook for Scipio; but I must see the decorators before we leave...
4/6 - Upstream and uphill, to the mountains of the south. We are in the
town where Tamara and Robyn wasted so much time, and Tamara is in the sulks
again. So far, so good. Robyn has done an amazing job of provisioning -
we have a rowboat, a cart, a burning fire (with fuel!), and a horse, with
riding gear and saddlebags, all in miniature and inactive against
emergencies. Waterproof boots, insect repellant, climbing tools, first aid
kits all round, everything you could want (except a bathtub). Xenophon is
doing some errand for Uncle, and departed before I could give him his
healing potion. I pray he will not need it.
4/10 - Last real city before the wilderness. Our sleep was disturbed last
night by thieves rummaging through our rooms. Robyn and Tamara woke
spontaneously. Tamara woke me, Primus woke Decimus, and Robyn never tried
to wake Alfredus, who met some countrymen and came late to bed, perhaps
having drunk a shade too convivially. Robyn got the drop on his
set, subdued one, and frightened the other away, suffering only minor
injuries. Decimus stunned his set with color spray and woke Sir Otto to
bind them. Both Robyn and Decimus came to my and Tamara's assistance,
which was welcome, for I of course am no good in a fight even when I have a
weapon, and they were pressing Tamara hard. She fought bravely and
effectively with the sword she keeps in bed beside her (*what* was this
girl's life like before she came to us, that she has such a habit?!?), but
two to one is great odds. I was able to call a blessing to assist her,
and knock one miscreant off his feet with a spell, but my spell of holding
failed completely, and I could only command one of them to surrender. This
surrender turned into an attempt to flee after Robyn and Decimus came in,
with staff and spells; but he ran into the arms of Sir Otto, who quickly
captured him. Relieving the miscreants of what they had taken, and
determining that they bore no signs of being more than common sneak
thieves, we summoned the innkeep, who was mortified and insisted that our
stay be free. We were up half the night with the vigiles, and slept late.
4/11 - Tomorrow, the frontier. Everyone in this garrison town seems
anxious to know our business, though in truth it seems they are merely
concerned for our safety. Not only did the innkeep tell us horror stories
of tattooed barbarians and owlbears, but the garrison tribune came round to
warn us that we proceeded at our own risk. However, he mentioned no
specific reasons why civilian traffic should be halted and refrained from
using his authority to restrain us. I begin to wonder how Uncle can hope
to claim the desired real estate effectively in this howling wilderness,
but determining that is part of our job.
It was good to hear another patrician voice, and we had quite a pleasant
visit with the tribune once his warning was completed. I sent some
sketches of the latest styles to his wife. I wonder if I will have time to
call on her before we set out tomorrow? Robyn will be purchasing grain and
foodstuff to carry us through, and we are hoping Xenophon will catch up to
us. We have orders not to wait, though. I suppose I had better not try,
though it seems rude to hurry off without meeting her.
Last Updated:
Saturday, 26-Apr-2003 21:25:59 CDT
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