Chapter 3: The Purple Sheep

((My thoughts are to ask Praetor Renatus if he knows roughly where rumors of the purple sheep were heard, and then go talk to the locals there. Plenty of opportunities for wild goose chases, but maybe the search party will get lucky and find a good lead. If they do, and it leads immediately to the sheep, then Ludovicus will decide whether to go for the capture or to go get Renatus Ibis.))

(In that case, the grogs could probably start by getting together with Martin to learn more about what he's learned. Would you all like to play this out? Since the grogs, are not tied to seasonal activities, it is much easier for them to investigate each lead, possibly getting into smaller adventures in the mean time, then report back to the magi. I am putting this as an opportunity to have some action mixed into the saga, with a magus occasionally joining in for a particularly good lead. This can even take place over several seasons.)

Yes, let's do that. We can have the grogs do the leg work.

I'll play Giuseppe, since Andreas is probably too lazy to take the initiative in the investigation.

It's Guiseppe that is the lazy one. Andreas is the big-but-not-too-smart one. :wink:

Also, Guiseppe still only has a limited knowledge of Low German (score of 2), so having him lead the team is going to be problematic. Though that and his laziness would explain the slow pace of progress. :laughing:

I want to post something about the various levels of knowledge in languages work, so that this can be role-played reasonably well.

I don't know if Andreas is any better. I can't find his stats to see what languages he knows.

That reminds me, I ought to post Gerhard in this forum. How should I advance him for the time spent since I made him?

Standard 15 xp per year for advancing grogs. That can be boosted when they actively participate in a story.

I updated your post here to include the stats that Andreas and the other Fengheld grogs have at the moment. These are of course incomplete and will be bonified as they are played, but that is a start. So Andreas knows Low German 5 (from the standard grog package) and Latin 2.

(Bump?)

(Have we switched to a 3-grog story then? If so, I could go with Ruk or Andreas.)

Having been told that they were going to investigate sheep, Andreas gathers together a pack that he thinks will be useful for that purpose. Some hay, a set of knives he supposes could shear a sheep, and a stick for poking the sheep to keep them in order. It's not a very good bunch of stuff, but it's what seems best to him. After that, he waits for word from Ludovicus as to what the next step is.

(In Latin) "I applaud your initiative Andreas. I hope we can soon put these items to good use. Let's go wrangle up some provisions and our third party member, and then let's go find us a purple sheep." Ludovicus gives Andreas a lopsided smile that is meant to be friendly, but ends up seriously creeping Andreas out.

Burkhard picks his travelling equipment and joins the party before they meet Martin.

German Greetings magus, Shall we meet Martin now ?

(bump bump bumpy)

(Martin joins you. Ask away.)

"We're gonna hunt for those purple sheep we heard about," Andreas says eagerly to Martin. "Can you tell us where we can find them? I ain't never saw a sheep that wasn't ready to be caught."

In heavily accented German, Ludovicus asks, "Purple sheep graze mens?"

Martin's German also bears a noticeable accent, but a French one. "I don't know where to find them. I heard about them as I was scouting out the region, spending some time in small villages. There are tales of shepherds disappearing sometimes, and of sheep dogs being killed. Some shepherds are said to have spotted a purple sheep killing dog when startled in the morning. One claims to have seen it from a distance, and that its pelt was indeed purple."

"Most tales seem to be from villages to the north, in the heathland there. Plenty of small villages there, many shepherds with sheep grazing."

"Can you tell us where they found the purple pelt, at least that's a place where I can begin tracking"

"Sheep eating men," Andreas says with a laugh. "That's silly talk."

"Pelt? They didn't find one, just saw it from distance. Many years ago." He cannot explain exactly where that small village is, as it is very small and doesn't have a name, but he could lead you there.

(German)"I need to talk to those guys up north, but of course that's our lord magus that decides" He tries to smile at Ludovicus but isn't convincing at all.