Summer 1221 - The Luminous Codex [Arduin]

[Grognardsw]

Pausing to Gertrude response to my last post.

[AleBelly]

Gertrude goes to the side with Arduin. "Yes, he may be. But out of pride. We do not have time for an etiquette lesson now, Arduin, but I will put it on our list of things to work on. Now I am going to pretend to remonstrate with you"

Arduin raised his hand in protest and he whispered reply to Gertrude in Latin.

“Gertrude, perhaps you have forgotten the role House Jerbiton plays? Though I have chosen a path less traveled by my noble Archembeau family, and Covenant practitioners are not known for their social skills with those we affectionately call mundanes, I am neither unfamiliar with noble etiquette nor lacking in social graces.”

‘In his current situation, Simon’s pride is haughtily misplaced and obstructive.”

"Yes, Arduin" Gertrude replies haughtily. "His pride may be misplaced. He may also have trouble placing trust in us given the upheaval of our times. Neither of these excuse bullying the head of a household that is giving us sanctuary. Do not forget that patience is a social grace, which you are failing to exercise. And let's not forget our precarious position. If we continue to be disagreeable, he would look more favorably on help from the Regency to solve his current problem. Think of how he could ingratiate himself by turning in a sworn enemy and a heretical magus."

I feel Gertrude would be a bit condescending to a 'minor' house of nobility, and would be trying to maintain good relations with previous allies. AleBelly thinks Arduin is being completely reasonable

[Keehnelf]

I like how she's threading that needle. Those are all good points (though it hadn't even occurred to Simon to consider such a thing, I could imagine him eventually leaning in that direction if pushed too far where he doesn't want to be).

[Grognardsw]

Arduin does not sew

[Grognardsw]

Arduin turned and addressed Simon.

“Simon, the cottage is at best the under the sway of a dark fey, and at worst an infernal force. Within the month your house will be overtaken by the brambles. If you wish to save the last of your wealth, this château, and what standing you have left, let us dispense with this parrying of pride. “

“Gold and sterling may be your currency, but knowledge is mine. I would survey your titles here, then move to interview the staff.”

“I am authorized to trade good coin for books. I would imagine that incentive, and the possibility of ridding your backyard of a supernatural threat, should make us all cooperative in our common goals.”

[Keehnelf]

Simon is irritated that this is still a topic of conversation, having been lulled by Gertrude's intervention into believing that Arduin would finally cease his pressure. He listens to Arduin through his short monologue, however, profoundly skeptical but still keenly aware that there might be something he's missing.

Arduin needs to make a Presence+Etiquette check with an Ease Factor of 11 to mollify and persuade Simon here--if the check succeeds, he's willing to share what he has. Otherwise, he's liable to get outright hostile in the face of what he considers boorishness. That check will be a d10 + your Presence + your Etiquette skill (with a +1 since your specialty there is Nobility and that's relevant). If the number on the die comes up 10, you need to roll a single d10 as a botch die. If that also comes up a 10, you botch your roll (critical failure).

[Grognardsw]

I think this is my first roll of the game. Arduin’s Pre is +1 and Etiquette +2. What die should I roll, and add +3?

[Keehnelf]

1d10+3 in this case (actually +4 since your etiquette specialization is in nobility)

[Grognardsw]

Not using the U.S. sheets, I realize I never got the campaign # to use the roller.

[Keehnelf]

1063

[Grognardsw]

[1d10+4]=9+4=13

[Keehnelf]

Somehow, to Gertrude's incredulity, Arduin manages to inflect his response to Simon with just enough affronted politeness that Simon hesitates, doubting whether he might not have been uncouth in his response to Arduin. He takes a long, quiet moment to compose himself, and then nods. "Well, as I say, I doubt there's anything you'd find interesting...but you would know better than I."

Indeed, there is little of real value in Simon's collection, and the impression Arduin is left with after a thorough review of his house collection is of a rather dreary man with low taste and even less imagination. Many of the texts are dry histories of the ancient world, and only one--a grimoire that is a bestiary, of sorts, as a companion to Greek mythologies--holds even the barest interest for a man of Arduin's proclivities. A quick inspection reveals that it is all rote stuff--one might study it to gain an understanding of certain folk superstitions, but that is of limited value.

This book could be read over a season to provide 1 point in the Folk Ken ability, if one did not already have Folk Ken at level 1 or higher. That is its only virtue, for a Magus

Lodged between a couple pages of one of the books, though, a volume on the prehistory of Hibernia, Arduin finds a single pristine dried and pressed four-leaf clover. Simon admits to not having read that book before, and in fact is not sure where it might have come from, since he didn't recall its presence among his collection. Arduin perceives that if the clover is kept intact, a single pawn of Herbam vis could be extracted from it.

[Grognardsw]

“Ah, you have the farming classic “Furrows of Fortune: Agricultural Advancements in Feudal Realms.”

Arduin puffed away on his long pipe.

“And the seminal Equites, Equivocatores, et Reges: The Triumvirate of Medieval Society.”

“A keen mind indeed sir is reflected on these shelves.”

Arduin puffed up Simon’s ego.

The magus perused the bestiary but found it did not contain lore he was not already familiar with.

Arduin held up the four leaf clover. “A lucky sign! Perhaps it will aid in confronting what dwells in your cottage.” Arduin pocketed it.

“Well, let us move to interviewing your staff.”

[Keehnelf]

Whom would Arduin like to interview first? The gardener, the manservant, or the cook?

[Grognardsw]

“Let us start with the gardener,” suggested Arduin.

[Keehnelf]

Simon calls for his manservant, who after a few minutes ushers the gardener into his study. The man is graying, perhaps fiftyish, with a shorty patchy beard and bright, twinkling brown eyes in a heavily tanned and lined face. He doffs his white linen cap and stands, awkwardly, before Arduin and Gertrude, his sweat-stained shirt caked at the cuffs with years of residual soil. He shifts uneasily from foot to foot, then bows deeply, introducing himself simply as "Amis", awaiting the visitors' questions.

[Grognardsw]

Arduin observed the gardener, taking stock of the man's face, behavior and reactions as they talked.

"Good afternoon Amis, thank you for talking with us. My name is Arduin, and this is Gertrude. Here, sit down and relax for a bit. Would you like a drink?" Arduin tried to make the gardener at ease.

"My mother enjoyed gardening. I have fond memories playing and planting with her," the magus lied, though he often dreamt this. His mother had died giving birth to him. "I've always felt close to nature."

"We were wondering about the cottage and the strangeness going on back there." Arduin proceeded to discuss and ask a questions, following tangents and follow-ups as necessary...

1. How long have you been tending to Sir Simon's gardens?
2. When did you first notice unnatural growth in the area vegetation?
3. What was the pace of unnatural growth since it started?
4. What happened when you tried to cut back the brambles?
5. What other efforts were made to curtail the growth, and how did that go?
6. Has the soil changed?
7. Do the vines, branches etc. exude any unusual ichor or sap?
8. Have you felt any strange or unnatural presence in the area? If so, what, when, how often, and were there particular times of day, or triggers, etc.?
9. Does the strangeness happen in certain cycles of the moon?
10. Have you seen or heard any unnatural creatures? If so, what/when, did it threaten, take action or talk to you, etc.?
11. Does natural wildlife seem repelled, or act oddly, in the area?
12. Are there local legends about the dark woods atop yonder hill?
13. Has anything like this happened before in the area?
14. Are there any local druids who practice in the area?
15. Are there any gypsies who frequent the area?
16. Did you ever go in the cottage? If so, what did you see?
17. Why have you stayed in Sir Simon's service, when most other servants have left?
18. What religion are you?"

Arduin looked to Gertrude to add any questions or comments during the conversation.

[Keehnelf]

The gardener politely declines Arduin's offer of a drink and remains impassive but deferential and agreeable as Arduin offers his aspirational fibs about his background and interests.

He seems eager to have help in resolving this issue, and from Arduin's estimation, such as it is--and having no Herbam skill or lore in other areas to measure it against, has no basis to evaluate any of the gardener's claims about regular or irregular behavior of the plants in question.

What he offers is the following:

-Amis has been gardening for Sir Simon since his thirteenth birthday, apprenticing under his father, also Amis. He's now forty-six, which makes at least twenty five years by his reckoning.

-The growth happened all of a sudden. He doesn't remember exactly, but it was overnight, and it was sometime shortly before Michaelmas of last year (which happens in late September).

-There hasn't been any new growth since the unnatural surge--it grew to encompass the little vale and then stopped. The only new growth is replacing vegetation that has been removed or damaged.

-The brambles grow back overnight. Amis stayed up overnight to watch and see a couple of times and observed that the regrowth always takes place in the hour after midnight, quite rapidly.

-In addition to cutting, Amis has tried burning with the same results. He also once tried uprooting some brambles and salting the ground where they were--it didn't prevent regrowth, but he did wake up with a terrible, pox-like rash on his face and arse the following morning, so he hasn't tried that tactic again.

-The soil does seem a bit darker than before, if he's remembering right, but related to his salting experience, he saw that the effect of the salt had been entirely eliminated overnight, so something seems to be happening to the soil too.

-When you cut the brambles, they do give off a sticky sap--that smells incredibly sweet. Amis is superstitious about it, so has avoided coming in contact with it, but he reports that the cook wasn't able to resist having a taste and she passed out cold right then and there, not waking up for a full day and a night afterward with no memory of the experience.

-Amis doesn't feel anything untoward, though it's obvious there are demons haunting the grounds now. Not that they'll scare him off from his Master's service.

-The birds that habitually roosted in the area still sing, and he sees them among the brambles and also in the grove. Nothing new showing up that he's noticed.

-The grove up top is just a grove--nothing unusual about it until last fall. It got dark, and now if he tries to approach it from another side where the brambles aren't, he seems to lose his way somehow and never quite make it there. Maybe the hill's just steeper on that side than he remembers from his childhood.

-He hasn't heard any legends or tales of similar happenings elsewhere in the area.

-This area is home to God-fearing folk only, thank you very much. The piety of the local folk should be obvious from their stern action against even a man of the cloth.

-Sir Simon's family have been the lords of this land for four generations now, and Amis's family has been in their service since the beginning. He takes great pride in that, and in his work, and won't let some passing imp stand in the way of that. A legacy and tradition of that longevity can't just be started over, you know.

-Amis is a devout but ignorant and superstitious Christian man. He crosses himself regularly throughout the conversation, whenever a reference to anything remotely unnatural comes out of his mouth, and seems sure that God or Sir Simon will sort this mess out eventually.

[Grognardsw]

“What makes you think demons roam? Have you felt, seen or heard things?”

Arduin considered Amis’ words. The magus was glad to hear the force (fey, infernal?) radius was limited, judging by the brambles presence in just the vale. The force seemed strongest in the hour after midnight, considering that was when regrowth occurred. A daytime approach may be advisable.

We should collect soil and sap samples for further research back at the Covenant, thought Arduin.

“Thank you Amis, you have been helpful,” said the magus, dismissing the gardener.

“Simon, did you acquire any particular occult or mystic book and place it in the cottage shortly before Michaelmas last year? Did you have any unusual visitors there in that timeframe? Such a book or visitor may have been the trigger of this strangeness.”

“Amis said the piety of the local folk should be obvious from their stern action against even a man of the cloth. Is he referring to the priest we saw in town who is going to be hung? What is that about?”

“What think you Gertrude?” the magus asked his companion.

“We can see your manservant now,” Arduin said to Simon.

[Keehnelf]

Simon frowns. “No, I’ve been in such a gloom since my return, and the climate so precarious, that I’ve not set foot once in the cottage. And my material circumstance has not lent itself to the procurement of any new items: it can be an expensive pastime, you know”

He fiddles with the hem of his shirt as he considers the question of the priest. “As for that matter, much depends on what you believe. There are many stories going about, but the most likely, to me, is that he became entangled with one of the local women and her husband found out. Easier to preserve the family dignity if no trace of the offense comes back to you, if you understand.”

After a few solemn moments, Simon calls his manservant, Hubert, in. Hubert is a decade younger than Simon, straight-backed but obsequious, dressed in a style that mirrors Simon’s but humbler and in similar repair. He stands at attention, in his usual spot near the door, ready to receive any questions.