[center][u]1230: Human Trafficking, Exploding Cabbages, and Fairy Negotiations[/u][/center]
Karl flies out to Transylvania, specifically the Laniena covenant, to both deliver his agreed upon item to the Primus of Tremere and be physically present to bid on more Black Cloaks. It's been 9 years since the last batch was trained from childhood, and the dhampir trainer, a half-century old dwarf with a missing eye and a history of his own.
The cabbage wand's function is displayed on a recently captured practice dragon who's had its Might drained to nothing for proper display. After the creature was killed from enough exploding cabbages, Poena thanked him for his work and promised to keep him in mind for future jobs.
And so the Black Cloak auction began. Every interested party secretly submitted the number of Black Cloaks they would buy at the current price (starting at 4 pawns of vis each). If the combined totals ended up being greater than the number available to purchase, they would increase their price by one pawn, then ask for everyone to readjust the number they wished to purchase. This continued until the Black Cloaks reached 11 pawns of vis each, where Karl purchased nine of them.
After his return, they go to have another visit with the King Beneath the Dandelions, and discover another player has entered the field. A human diplomat by the name of Galchobar, bearing the branding of a brawler upon his cheek. Despite the clothing and gait of a street fighter, his eloquence is superb, and runs circles around even Alfonso in the court. He represents Jehan de Braine, the Count of Macon & Vienne, who wishes to obtain the rights to the vis produced in the dandelion field. There's some investigation on the part of Alfonso, and the diplomat's backstory checks out, the Count being a bit of a poet. Before Alfonso has a chance to speak with him as a human, he's already left on business in England for the next year. So, they just leave a passive threat with Galchobar in regards to muscling in on their vis.
The covenant considers their options over the next season, having managed a stay of decision-making. Petrichus is seen entering the faerie regio by one of the Black Cloak guards, where Alfonso keeps an eye out while spending time in the court, finding out that Karl's parens is actually performing negotiations with Galchobar rather than the King himself. There's some terse pleasantries with Petrichus after his departure from the fairy regio, along with a list of put-downs on Karl's arcane progress.
Oh, they also find out the nature of the wand, which adds to the seriousness of the matter. It was part of the original treaty, an invested item that will kill anyone the bearer has an arcane connection to as well as able to extinguish all fires within 50 paces. It's named in older texts in the King's library as The Snuffer.
After a season, Karl & Alfonso begin negotiations with the faerie lord. Galchobar offers the following for the vis, along with production and delivery to evade tolls; permission to send a child-snatcher once every five years to the Count's lands (his own children exempt), two pure-white horses every three years, and yearly poetry written in the King's honour. This leaves the magi scrambling for ideas, their initial ideas grossly out-done by Galchobar's initial offer, until Karl comes up with something. He offers to bear the King Beneath the Dandelions an heir, and for the covenant to provide the child an education. The king loves this idea and agrees to bequeath access to the dandelion vis for as long as his heir lives and he wears the crown. This contract will be signed and initiated within the season.
After Galchobar leaves in barely controlled rage, they begin negotiations for the rest of the treaty for when the original expires. After some debate, it's settled that the king will be the judge for an open competition of elegiac comedy in Andresina's amphitheatre, which will be restored and decorated in the King's honour before the first one. The competition will be every 8 years, and the prize will be sponsored by the covenant. There will also be the general consensus of non-aggression, expanded to include animals and protected guests. Finally, in exchange for fairy ingredients for the magi's labs, each lab to receive the ingredients are to leave a mouse-size portion of cheese at dawn; the collector will be given a token to permit entry, and must not be witnessed in the act of their duty. Any lab that misses a day of cheese or gazes upon the collector will lose the benefit of fairy ingredients via this method.
After the negotiations have completed, they head out to the court proper to bid Galchobar farewell, who raises his hand to strike Karl in anger. He holds back, but coughs painfully, and seems to drop into a much more rough dialect. Karl insults him, and gets hit for a fatigue level of damage, to which he commands the diplomat's body to have him hurt himself before the lot are told by the king to leave before he becomes angry. They leave, and a bruised Galchobar is escorted by a pair of burly Black Cloaks.
One of Gotvinus's agents happens to be the carriage driver for Galchobar, who ends up returning empty-handed, seeming to have not a whit of his silver tongue expressed back in the fairy king's court.