The three of you head down the street to the inn that was picked out. It takes a while to rouse someone, but there is an unoccupied room with three beds and the sleepy innkeep grumpily lets you have it. After a quick meal from your packs, you get a short rest. Typical noises from the inn and from the street, and the warm sun streaming in through the window collaborate to wake you much too soon.
You pack up quickly and head out of the inn; Andreas pays off the innkeep on the way. Waiting until you're all in the now-busy street, Stefan asks, "What should we do, sir?" Based on the sun's height, you judge that it is mid-morning. "If we are to make it back to Fengheld tonight, we must catch a wagon ride in the afternoon," he adds.
"Let's visit the wine merchant first, he's doing his business at his warehouse am I right ? If that's the case, We'll try to pretend we're interested in buying a barrel of wine. You'll have to do the talking this time so I'll explain how we'll proceed in advance. We'll let him make a few business proposal and we'll ask if he still sells Peter's wine pretending we heard it was the best around. We'll see how he reacts. At some time before the deal is concluded we'll ask to visit the warehouse. Assuming he accepts, Andreas will purposefully pretend to lose his way and go to the room with the magically protected barrel. Does this seems doable in your opinion ? "
he waits for Stefan answers and continues
"Assuming we learn something of interest we might give the abbess a visit after. Do you think we'll have time before the wagon leaves ?"
"Yes magus, I think we can do this. But what is Andreas to do with the barrel?" He begins walking towards the warehouse district.
"We should be able to stop by the Abbey on the way home. It's not exactly on our way, but we can have the driver make a detour."
As you are walking, you see a man step out of the wine merchant's house further down the street. He is short and stocky, and dressed in dark burgundy clothes with a black hat worn at an angle. He glances furtively in your direction, but doesn't appear to see you among the other people. He is unshaven and has a pronounced underbite. He starts off down the street in the same direction you are going.
"Andreas just has to go there, maybe ask why there a single barrel in this room. This is a way to confront the merchant with the reason he's got such a stange room in his warehouse."
He stops as he notices the man stepping out. "Is he our merchant ? He doesn't look in a very good shape..."
The man ends up turning off the street you are walking along, and you lose sight of him in the traffic. To get anywhere, you must thread your way between stopped wagons, scampering children, and large housewives going about their business. Eventually, as you leave the center of the town where you stayed the night, the traffic thins. Several streets before you reach the warehouse, you catch sight of the man again, ahead of you. Sure enough, he makes for the same warehouse you scoped out the night before. Pulling a key from his bag, he unlocks the two large doors at the front of the warehouse, and swings each of them open, one at a time. Then he enters, sits down at a bench and table not far from the entrance, empties out a coin purse in front of him, and starts idly building towers from the coins. As you approach, his bushy-browed eyes lock onto you and follow your progress, while the tower building continues. The grim expression on his scruffy face doesn't change.
What's wrong with this guy, thinks Renatus. "Greet him and present ourselves as pentential buyers. Ask him how is the business going, we'll try to keep with the plan we discussed earlier"
Stefan steps up to the merchant and speaks to him for a bit. After several phrases, the merchant's demeanor changes visibly. His regard becomes much more pleasant toward the three of you, and he exchanges some words with Stefan. Then Stefan turns to you and translates, "I told him you are a merchant from Spain (I hope that's ok), and that you are interested in purchasing some of Peter's wine, which you had heard about. He said you are welcome to sample what you like, and that you can talk price and quantity once you've had the chance to taste the quality..."
The merchant interrupts Stefan with a question. Steffan then states, "He just asked why we are talking in Latin, and if you are a churchman or something." The merchant scowls at you.
Renatus tries to appear as trustworthy as possible using body language like open hand, appropriate distance, eye contact and a smile "Tell him I'm not a churchman, but more of an educated scholar who unfortunately doesn't speak German yet and Latin is the only language we both share so you act as a translator. Ask him why he seems to be distrust churchmen who are some of his clients, is this because of the abbess that seems to be actively fighting alcohol in the town ?"
Stefan speaks to the merchant, who doesn't respond immediately and keeps his eyes fixed on you. He finally answers, and Stefan translates, "First he said, merchant or educated scholar, which are you? Then he said that it doesn't really matter. If you are interested in buying his wine, then he would be happy to sell to you." Despite these words, the merchant doesn't look happy. He then speaks again, and Stefan again translates, "The abbess is a meddlesome do-gooder, merchant's words, not mine, who should keep her nose out of his business, and she's not the only one. He doesn't know what you've heard, but his wine is the best, and that he can hardly keep his warehouse stocked." You know this last claim to be a lie, of course.
"Tell him that ever since I arrived, and even before, he seems to be angry, and to be honest his best behaviour isn't the only problem, he looks grim, he's unshaven, and I highly doubt his warehouse is empty but maybe he can give us a tour ? Also he's not very good at hiding that there's bad rumors about his wine and by the way he piles up coins he appears to be either obsessed with money, either counting his last remnant of fortune. So maybe "HE" should explain to us, who's putting her nose in her business and why he's in such a state instead of being picky about his customers"
[edit : forgot there's door on ware house, modified message
]
Stefan relays your words, and the merchant sneers some words at you as he's getting up from the bench. "He says, once you taste the wine, there will be no more problems. If you want a tour, you will get one." The merchant gestures into the large room full of barrels behind him. You recognize that the hallway you were in the night before is to your left, through an open doorway inside the large room. The room with the single encircled barrel would be at the front left corner of the warehouse, as you are facing it. Behind the merchant, you see a tapped barrel resting on another table, along with some wine glasses. "There is no fee for a tasting," Stefan adds.
'Alright, let's take the tour, It's always interesting to see how the wine is stored. Then we'll do the tasting, I'm not a crook if we buy tasting will be free If we don't I'll give you a compensation for what we'll drink."
Renatus thinks The wine might be magical in some way, but if the magus has half a brain if will have no penetration... Let's do this.
I grab the glass and point the mark and thank him (In German with a terrible accent, I assume "Danke" isn't that hard to remember even if I don't have a a score in the language) (in latin) "I recognize the mark, I was given a description of it. This is Peter's barrel" I then look at the wine at the light to evaluate it's color, turn it slowly in the glass to smell it and finally take a sip, keep it for a second in my mouth to appreciate all it's flavor and then swallow it."
I try to recognize Peter's wine and to spot any spells magical effect blocked by my parma.
As the wine flows into your mouth, you feel a slippery, wet presence attempt to grab a hold of your thoughts. But it fails as it meets the resistance of your Parma Magica. The wine tastes good, much like the sample Peter gave you.
Waiting to be deeper in the warehouse before taking action, Renatus tries to appear very entousiastic and suggest : Guile 1 + présence 1 - gift 31d10-1=9 botch j'imagine ?
(latin) "The wine is very good ! Alright, let's take the tour before we discuss the price. I'm sure we'll find an agreement !"
He thinks I have to be careful of Andreas he might be under the effet of the spell
When they enter the warehouse, and are not visible from the outside Renatus confront the merchant trying to appear scary (latin)"Stefan, ask him when he was going to tell me that the wine is enchanted by magic ? And tell him that he'd rather find a good explanation for this or else...Also don't let him flee or ask for help, gag him if needed. We'll visit the single barrel room then so He can explain us what's happening there."
I don't have leadership skill so I rolled presence 1 reduced by 3 by the gift (not sure if this applies to trying to intimidate, i let you decide. I'm hoping for situationnal bonuses with 2 armed guys ^^ 1d10-2=0
((Rolled 3 botch dice, but no botch; final total = -1))
Stefan translates your praise of the wine and the merchant looks confused for a moment.
Then his face clears and he smiles for the first time, causing his chin to jut out even more. "Gut, gut," he says, and then motions for you to follow him.
((You make a Per + Folk Ken stress roll = 0+1+2 = 3; it appears that the merchant is eager to make a deal.))
He takes you back into the hallway that you were in the night before and begins leading you toward one of the other rooms full of barrels. At this point, you tell Stefan to threaten him. Stefan walks quickly to catch the merchant, and grabs his arm to turn him around. He then relays your message, and the merchant laughs (the threat was lost in translation), shakes off Stefan's grip, and says something back. "He says he's dealt with your kind before," translates Stefan. Meanwhile, the merchant turns back toward the room he was about to step into. You remember that this room did not have an exit, as far as you could see last night (which was pretty far, considering your Ibis Eyes of the Cat).
(latin) "Mind for traps in the room" he says "There might be an hidden exit, try not to let him go but don't take too much risks, even if he escapes that's not a big deal, after all his shop will not disappear... "
The merchant snatches up an ax that was propped up against the inside wall by the door, and runs to the back of the room (it is about 30 paces deep, and roughly square). It is hard to see him, as there is no source of light other than the little sunlight that shines through gaps between the boards making up the wall, and from behind you in the hallway. He begins hacking at one of the many barrels stacked against the far wall. The left and right walls also have barrels stacked against them. Stefan and Andreas move into the room carefully, keeping themselves between you and the merchant. "Magus, what should we do?" asks Stefan.
Renatus watches the guy, he seems very surprised by his behaviour " I have no Idea what He's doing, but my guess is that he tries to get a massive amount of magical wine on the floor, maybe the amount increases the potency of the effect. Don't come into contact with the wine. I don' t want to risk casting spells in town so we'll let him do his mess and we get out of this room. You block the door with barrels. This will buy Andreas time to destroy the magical circle in the other room with the single barrel by hacking though it with his warhammer. I'll take a sample of wine from the barrel in Andreas's leather flask at the entrance and get away from this place before he unleash whatever ill-intended effect he's working on... Make it fast."