"Given the men who were around her, I expect they had a doctor who knew medicine but knew nothing of delivering babies."
Archimedes nods. "Foolish, but not surprising." He looks down at his notes, making sure he has all the information he needs for his reading.
"If you don't mind me asking, why where there rumors about the son of a butcher?"
The midwife grins "And you are a historian? The queen is 40 years old and has been married for 9 years with no children. Who wouldn't suspect something? Why a butcher don't know. but I can certainly assure you that she did give birth the boy. Constantine she named him."
Archimedes smiles back at her. "I am, among other things. This has been very interesting." He rises, putting his notebook away. "Thank you, Goodwife Rossi. I hope the coming year brings you good fortune."
He departs. He tries to find a shop where he can get an almanac with sunset and moonrise times, then goes to the inn where he paid too much for a room in a place fancy enough to have a rooftop garden. He sits in the garden with wine, bread and cheese, watching the sunset and making careful observations of the moon and stars, which he will do nightly until he has enough information to work backwards and figure out the correct information for the night of the 25th/26th.
in the 12th and 13th centuries clocks were defined by sunset and sunrise, but the almanac does contain other information regarding the astrological positions at sunrise and sunset that are equally useful to you...
After you have been in town for a day... maybe other player arrives?
Taliha
After an uneventful but thankfully brief voyage by boat from Venice to Ancona and overland passage from Ancona to Iesi, Taliha and Julia arrive later than they had hoped. With the hope that Julia might use her family links to the nobility of Venice and, perhaps, her less conventional ways of convincing to gain an audience with the queen. But first they must take care of their mundane needs and find a suitable inn that caters to a wealthier clientele with a pleasant rooftop garden. Late in the day, Taliha decides to go up and sit there.
[Am I correct in assuming Julia would have at least one servant with her? Also, not sure if Julia would join me on the roof or not/not sure how you wanna play her, as an NPC? Hope I didn't overstep with getting us both here.]
Xavi indicated you could play Julia, so feel free to do so.
You find the inn as sunset approaches, and notice a man making his way onto the rooftop.
A man comes up onto the rooftop, he sits on a bench at the edge of the rooftop garden, and starts leisurely writing in a notebook while he refers to another book and a notebook, snacking on bread and cheese. He's dressed in robes, with a mop of shaggy black hair going bald, piercing green eyes, and a huge beard covering his chest. His face is covered with more than a dozen scars, appearing as burns the width of a finger, lines that start in random spots around his face and disappear under his beard.
Taliha
Two rather small gentlewomen come up the steps holding their skirts as they go. One is quite dark, black hair, dark skin, and one can't tell whether she is from the South of Italy but her features seem... different, perhaps more like the moors. The other is quite a bit lighter and appears to be just a young maid.
As soon as they see the man sitting across the garden from them the younger woman turns to the older one and says, "We should avoid that man. He gives me an awful feeling." Which piques Taliha's interest.
"You stay here while I introduce myself. I am sure he can not be much trouble." And with that Taliha approaches the man, leaving Julia near the stairs. "Good evening. Such a beautiful night to..." and quickly glancing at his book, "the stars."
He looks up at her. "Yes, it is. A pleasant pursuit on any night, but with the balmy weather and important events happening it's even better. Are you a stargazer yourself? If you're interested, I have to take a fairly complicated reading, I wouldn't mind company."
[Perhaps their Parmas choose that moment to wink out?]
the timing is pretty much correct
[Oh, I was assuming she'd have waited to go up just after sunset hence the greeting of "Good Evening," after refreshing her Parma. Wouldn't want to have to do that in the company of some rando.]
in that case she would have done so, he would have refreshed his in the seclusion of the rooftop (or not refreshed it since he expected to be alone- in the open air, where anyone could target him... probably refreshed his as well)
Taliha
"Sometimes I do gaze at the stars... but in Venice they are not quite as clear as they are here and nowhere I've been do they shine as bright as in the desert of my childhood." Taliha takes a wistful breath, remembering the skies visible from her family's home near Tripoli. "I am Miss Fanak, by the way," offering her hand in greeting, "and you might be?"
[If Archimedes takes her hand she casts a fatiguing spontaneous, quiet (no negative due to Quiet Magic x2), gestureless (-5), Forceless, MuIm 2 (Base 1, Touch, Mom, Ind) spell to make Archimedes appear more red for a moment, trying to confirm if he has magic resistance.]
He takes her hand delicately. "I'm... Medes. It's good to meet you." He releases her hand. "The desert? You grew up in the desert? That's...um..." seeming at a loss for words, he bends to a pack underneath the bench, taking out some brass equipment. "Forgive me, do you mind if I observe while we talk? I'm trying to take readings for a night gone past, I have to measure the differences in angles and work backwards, I need to be precise with sunset." He begins measuring the angles of the first few stars from the horizon and noting them, still talking. "Desert... I've never been to a desert. I've been indoors most of my life, it's quite nice to be out and about." The stars are coming out slowly, so after a couple of notes he waits, and it slowly dawns on him what happened. "Just moment... did you..." He looks down at his hand, then up at Ms. Fanak. He has been speaking Italian, a northern dialect, but now switches to Latin. "That was very artfully done. Have you heard of a friend of mine, a man called Bonisagus?"
[He would have renewed his Parma if there was time alone, so he resists.]
[I rolled a total of 7 (forgot the divine aura of 3 in the roll on discord), divided by two is enough to cast a level 2 spell. Archimedes feels his parma resisting a spell. Taliha notices that he does not change colors. Let me know if you want to change your reaction knowing that he feels the spell being blocked.]
Taliha
A winning smile crosses her lips, "Why yes, of course I have heard of Bonisagus and his many friends, including Trianoma and," with an certain stress, "Bjornaer. Which of his friends are you most familiar with?"
He grins back, continuing in Latin. "Verditius, in fact, would be my closest friend among the founders. And it's really Archimedes. I'm one of those mage-errants you hear about. Are you as well?"
Taliha
"Yes, I passed my gauntlet three years ago and while I have been staying with members of my sept I do not, yet, have a covenant or lab to call my own. My friend over there, Julia, she knows some about me but almost nothing of the order. It is sometimes a wonder where one can get invited as the exotic pet of a well-bred woman. Do not mention her youth, she is older than she looks and can be quite sensitive about it. Are you also here to witness the first days of a great emperor? Perhaps his stars say something of his future."
Archimedes nods. "I don't know that he'll do much yet, but his birth is certainly interesting. Of course, the church is already meddling with the day. I was fortunate enough to get a first-hand account. That's the reading I'm doing right now, in fact. It's a bit of a drag to have to work backwards, but it's the only way."
He takes another reading, then glances over at the friend. He takes a sip of wine, then makes a sour face.
"She probably won't like me much. I find few do, who aren't protected by Bonisagus' ritual." He looks down at his wine. "For instance, I'm not sure this hasn't been... befouled. It's certainly not as good as what I paid for. Ah well." He looks back up at his companion.
"It is nice to wander after being cooped up, but finding a spot to settle in would be nicer still. I have some funds, but no prospects of any new spots. What about you? Any good leads on where to look? Would you like to join forces?"