Stefan tells Andreas what you said, and Andreas hustles off toward the single barrel room. Stefan steps over to a nearby barrel and tips it over on its side to move it into the doorway. The merchant has managed to hack open the barrel he was working on, and the wine formerly within begins to pool into the room. He moves over to a second barrel and begins hacking at it. In the gloom, you can make out a large dog-sized, pinkish, wine-stained mass lying in the debris of the first barrel. It twitches, and then sits up. Then it laughs in the same drunken way that you heard the night before.
He stares at this creature with disgust for a split second and grabs Stefan's shoulder pulling him gently out of the doorsway.
"What the heck is this creature ! Stefan, the devil is at work in here, we're leaving this place at once ! Tell Andreas we're leaving NOW ! Demons don't reveal themselves to the crowds, we'll go to the center or to the church whichever is closest as soon as possible. Don't fight these things, unless you have too. We cover for Andreas, ready your bow just in case..."
(ooc : I can't really use magic here, I need 1 turn to change into bird (which might fail), one turn to cast voice of bjornaer (which i'll probably fail because of the aura of the town) and then I've got only spell that will probably fail because of the aura again. So We'd better flee...Sorry if you planned a nice encounter)
((No problem! The encounter was optional.))
As you and Stefan run through the hallway to get Andreas, you hear a second laugh join the first. Andreas pokes his head out of the doorway of the single barrel room, looking at you questioningly. Stefan yells, "Lauf! Schnell weg von hier!" and Andreas rushes into the front room with you. You hear even more laughter now, coming from within all the barrels. You scamper out into the street, run a few blocks and turn around. Everything is quiet. Nothing has followed you.
"Alright, we're safe now. I had a bad feeling about this town being under the influence of the infernal, the amount of wealth for no reason, the amount of alcool. Now I'm certain. I guess that's something... . Did Andreas had time to break the ward with his war-hammer ? Anyway We shall leave as soon as possible to tell Peter about this. The covenant has to do something about it ! The abbess might help, but that's too much responsibilities for me to take alone. You've both been brave, I'm proud of you Stefan. Your father shall be too"
Yet I'll have to make Andreas examined to check whether he's under the influence of a curse from the wine. I suspect the doesn't last but we never know. Those cities! my pater was right, they bear the seeds of corruption...
"No, Andreas didn't have time to break the circle," relates Stefan. "Maybe it's better that he didn't. One less thing for that creep to be angry at us about. Would you still like to stop at the abbey on the way home magus? I'm assuming we are to get out of town quickly and go tell Peter what you've uncovered?"
Renatus face shows conflicting thoughts : [b]"Well, on the one hand, this is an opportunity to solve the case before we reach the covenant and get all the credit for it, on the other hand this might be considered mundane interference... If I was certain the abbess was really on our side and blessed with divine powers, this coud be a decent choice. Humm...That's the only explanation that makes sense considering her intervention on the 2 drunkards... she removed the curse on them with divine intervention by speaking Latin to trigger the intervention... Yes that's the only logical explanation.
Let's go strait to the covenant. I can still meet the abbess tomorrow if I need to. It not like the wine problem has just appeared"[/b]
The three of you head to a place where Stefan claims that a Fengheld wagon will pass, and sure enough one does. The driver is reluctant to stop, however, not recognizing any of you. But eventually Andreas and Stefan convince him to do so. You reach the Covenant later that evening. Peter, who has apparently been keeping an eye out for you, greets you close to the gate.
"Renatus! Stefan, Andreas! Any news?"
"News there are plenty master Peter, but my guess is that you won't like them... Maybe we shouldn't talk about it in the outside."
Reaching a more private place, he continues his conversation with Peter and both grogs.
[b]"i'll try to separate facts and speculation so that you can make yourself your own opinion on the matter. I was stuck by the city's unusually wealth and nocturnal animation, which might look like a detail but probably isn't, remember this when we get to my conclusion. First we went to the warehouse of your wine merchant the evening we arrived, we heard a wicked drunken laughter in the inside, We decided to get in to investigate without leaving any clues of our passage, in that we succeeded. I'll tell you later what was the origin of the laughter, you won't like it...
We discovered that the warehouse had a special room that was filled with a single barrel inside a circle on the soil that filled almost the whole room. My guess is that this is a magical ward, to enchant the barrels. This was a barrel wearing your mark in the inside. I wasn't willing to cross the ward at that time so we got out and headed towards the merchant house to continue the investigation. But I brought you an arcane connection from the doorway of that room in case you want to use intelligo spells to investigate further. We were provoked by drunkard in the street where the merchant leave, next to a public house they were very sticky but I chose to ignore their provocations. We also crossed a hooded woman on this street and as we were sneaking into the wineseller's garden, we didn't knew at that time but It turned out she was the Abbess... We heard the group of aggressive drunkards beginning to bother the abbess, she then spoke Latin I believe and the guys fell on the floor. Only to get up a few seconds later. She reprimanded them and they left apparently sobered. At that time I believed she was a wizard using mentem magic.
So we tried to follow her during the night but she obviously noticed us and turned around in the streets for a few hours before I decided to take my chance and talk to Her. I might have made a mistake there, by introducing myself by my real name I confess. I believed she was a maga of the order the so this seemed natural.. But when she introduced herself... I wasn't sure if she really was the abbess or a magus impersonating her so I tried to hint that interfering with mundane was a bad Idea in cover words only to be understood by a magus while covering my identity in a shell of lies. She was giving a lot of attention to the influence of wine in her city so we talked a bit and she left without providing any information, she hasn't really bought the false reason I gave her to take interest in wine. I didn't want to mention your name and my real mission as you'll certainly understand. Anyway, my guess is that this wasn't hermetic magic but some kind of divine magic I'll explain you why later.
It was already very late so we took a little sleep and went to meet the merchant at his warehouse pretending to be buyers, I must tell you he looked terrible, unshaven, grim, with an underbite...I was surprised such an individual was your most successful merchant.. I thought the wine was enchanted so I decided I'll be the one to try It, at least I'm protected by my parma magica and indeed the wine was magic ! I sensed a wet presence attempting to take control of my thoughts but It was indeed blocked by my parma as I expected. Now certain that something was won't we confronted the merchant with that fact trying to seize him but he went mad,rushed into a room and began to break barrels with an axe and from each barrel, a dog sized pinkish mass emerged. This is when we decided to flee.
To me this is clearly evil and that's why I believe the abbess was working divine magic to clear the curse. I wasn't sure what to do with the merchant... My pater has a bad reputation for mundane interference so I prefered to wait your advice on the matter. For what it's worth, the Abbess is probably willing to help and said I could visit her If I wanted to give her the real reason of my interest in wine."[/b]
Renatus then asks to talk to Peter in private and tells him that Andreas has drunk wine and should probably be checked for residual magical effect.
Peter appears stunned after you recount your adventure. He looks down for a moment, rubbing the back of his head and collecting himself.
"Firstly, you have my utmost gratitude for what you've done. It sounds like you were at considerable risk in dealing with this merchant, and things could have gotten ugly had you not wisely avoided a confrontation. It's clear from what you said that our merchant is diabolist - likely a summoner, considering the barrel in the circle and the abominations in the barrels. My guess is that he summoned minor demons and then bound them to the barrels. These demons would then infect the drinkers of my wine with strong urges to drink more, and the amplified consumption of wine lead to the merchant's success and wealth. I am disgusted that my wine was adulterated in this way. Absolutely disgusted..."
"In any case, considering the volume of wine he distributed, and the correspondingly large number of demons he must have had to control, the merchant must be quite powerful. I'm not entirely certain how to deal with him; this matter will best be raised before the Council. Our shipments to his warehouse will certainly stop. But beyond that, I must first see what others think we should do."
"The information regarding the powers of the Abbess is also new to me. It might be beneficial to work with her to drive the remaining effects of the merchant's infernal influence out of the town. Again, I must consult the Council. By the by, the wealth that you saw displayed has long been an attribute of the towns - even before the merchant came, Quedlinburg, and to a more or less equal extent, Neustadt, have enjoyed much financial and tax freedom because of their link to the Kaisers of the Holy Roman Empire. The abbey was founded to memorialize the first Kaiser, Otto I, and more recent Kaisers occasionally spend Easter in the town, bringing their retinues and money with them. But the poor behavior of the drunks you encountered was certainly infernal in origin."
Peter pauses and shakes his head. "I can't believe that I was so careless. Well. We all learn from our mistakes, do we not? Thank you again Renatus. I am certainly in your debt; if there is ever anything you need that is my power to give, you shall have it. Now, before doing anything else, I must first see where Andreas has gone and figure out how to tell if he is indeed infected by a demon."
He lightly bumps the top of your shoulder with the bottom of his fist as he walks past you. "I hope you've decided to join us and that I'll see you at the Oath swearing," he says in parting.
((Fin))