Benvolio is standing with a mug in his left hand, about three paces behind Marcus. He's telling a dirty joke to a nearby redcap, but seems to be keeping an eye on the magus in case anything bad happens.
Guccio is concentrating on the food and conversation, trading gossip from Naples and Sicily while pointedly not mentioning anything about the Malta covenant though he acts curious if anyone else mentions it, going so far as to ask what the other redcaps think will happen if the Roman tribunal decides to settle in Ifriqya. During all this he is stealing glances at the many pretty women but does not engage with them as he is unsure how his brother-in-law might react.
«Are we done with the meal, Guccio?» Marcus asks. «Should we withdraw to talk business for a while? Or do you want to party, and leave the business for the morning?»
"Since we haven't had much discussion of exactly what we might need to do, heading up to discuss in private is probably for the best and we can return later if there seems to be time to enjoy ourselves or need to ask for the opinion of locals."
"Let me just refill my ale then we can head to the room." at which Guccio nods to the person serving ale and waits while they come by to fill his again. he then pays for their party's meal and heads up to the rooms, ale in hand.
«You too, Piero and Benvolio? Are you ready to join us upstairs?» Marcus asks as he rises to leave. Passing the woman redcap, he smiles, and says, «see you around».
Upstairs, he waits for the party to gather before he starts the briefing:
«Essentially, there are two things we are after. Firstly, we are in the aftermath of the march against Leo. In all likelihood, he had one or more hide-outs in Pisa, and I hope there is soom loot to find. We were very successful in Palermo last year. Secondly, our covenant had business here, and only Leo knew the agents. We need to recover the agents before we lose the business.»
«We have four leads to work from. (1) We know several aliases and identities that Leo used in Pisa, and we can ask about those. (2) We have the arcane connection that Leo used to Leap to Pisa, and I know the location it links to. In all likelihood this is near his bases. (3) We have the name of the lawyer who handled the business on his behalf. (4) We know of a certain brothel where he used to rent a room as his courtesan persona, Jasmine. All these leads are worth pursuing I think.»
«We have to approach the lawyer at some point, but I have not decided on how, yet, or what to tell him. Whether we claim to have been sent by the courtesan, or if we say that she is dead. If we find her rooms, we may learn a little more.»
«What do you think? Any preference as to where we start?»
Benvolio never stopped bodyguarding Marcus, he has stayed behind him unobtrusively the whole time and is always there when he looks around. He followed upstairs as well.
"Sir, wouldn't it be simplest to contact the lawyer? You can just say you're managing the estate and tying up loose ends. If he's honest, that should be enough, if he's not, we're going to have a hard time getting the company no matter what we do."
"If we can learn further information about the Lawyer before we approach him I'm sure that would be quite helpful. Since there are four of us one could do the snooping or, more directly, just approach him with a mind to learn more of him and his business previous to Marcus approaching him as the manager of Leo's estate."
Marcus listens attentively to Benvolio and Guccio, and looks at Piero for his opinion.
Piero rolls 17 on Int+C&C Law including +1 for spec. Property Law. What possibilities can he see for what claim we or the covenant could make on the courtesan's estate?
there will be number of issues:
- the courtesan is not officially dead. Her body was never found, and she was known to have disappeared for periods of time
- there is no official will stating that anyone in particular is her heir, or at least none you are aware of
- woman are not allowed to own real property in Pisa, including land and direct investment in company interests. Property may be placed into a trust for their benefit to be managed by a male heir or appointee, or in a similarly affected dowry, or they may invest in mutual funds which will have a male manager. Accordingly whomever is 'watching out for' her estate might provide some degree of resistance to it being claimed for the covenant, depending on what can be worked out.
«Thank you, Piero. How would such mutual funds work? Would there be a charter to control her use of the funds in every eventuality?»
"Basically the fund has a charter, which describes its management, the same as any other company, but women may invest because the only real property the fund owns are the shares of other companies it invests in. To be considered a mutual fund there must be a minimum of four investors, and as I said the funds, aside from the decision to invest or withdraw from the fund, are under the control of the manager. The shares in a mutual fund need not be equal, and selection of he manager is likely proportionate to how much one has invested, unless the fund was set up by the manager in which case the manager is likely to be immutable."
«I see. I think. It is a good idea, as you suggest to let some of us enquire with the lawyer without revealing the affiliations before our real representative approaches. Yet, I would prefer to learn as much as we can before stirring any of Leo's agents. That means going after her possible apartments first. There is the brothel. There is the tavern close to his arcane connection spot. And we can ask around for him in the neighbourhoods, using some of the known aliases.»
«Tomorrow. Let's start with the area where I arrived, and ask around to see if anybody knows Leo's personæ. OK? I'll give you the name he used,» says Marcus, and starts leafing through the letters, reading each name associated with Pisa.
There are only two personae associated with Pisa- Jasmine, with her assorted aliases, and DuMonde, a German nobleman of a fictional estate.
"Well, I think you know best. I can help us get around here in Pisa but I am unsure if my knowledge is much more useful than that, outside of those useful skills I have learned in my travels such as negotiating good rates and the like. And this good man," Guccio indicates Piero, "has a much better knowledge, it seems, of the legal workings of this sort of thing." Turning to Piero, "At some point I would love to ask you your opinion on some ventures I'm considering.*"
* I don't really have an idea for particular ventures and don't really want to take up text with it, it's more a way for Guccio to express being impressed with Piero's knowledge and, perhaps, to segway into a correspondence upon Civil & Canon Law in downtime.
«But Guccio, all three of you will do a much better job asking around than I will. And there are enough people to ask, I think, that it pays to be three. Let's go tomorrow to the neighbourhood where I arrived, ask at the tavern and maybe others we find. I am pretty sure either Jen ... euh» He looks at the papers, «Jasmine or ... DuMonde must have lived in that area. I'll join you, but I should stay in the background as usual. Maybe, before we leave, we can find out where the lawyer ... euh ...» He consults the papers again, «Connor Pascarata lives. He seems to be quite a respectable fellow, so maybe the tavern keeper knows. Or do you, Guccio?»
If nobody objects, that's what they do, asking the tavern keeper about the lawyer, and the location of the brothel in the morning, and then they leave for the AC spot.
"Connor Pascarata? Aye, I have heard of him. He is a local lawyer who runs several mutual funds, though I believe most of them have a single primary investor. The major thing, and the reason I have heard of him, is that he is willing to help women invest, and treats them as equals when determining their investments. Many of our non redcap clients come here from his recommendation, and many of the redcap women have their investments with him. I understand he has even been willing to help hide a woman's investment assets from her husband, through layered investments and other methods."
That's the proprietor, a retired redcap and member of the Order, speaking, right? If not, scratch this post.
«That explains a lot. Does he happen to abuse the precarious situation of his lady clients? Or does he give them fair terms with reasonable fees?»
" He gives them discounted rates, and does not abuse them in other ways either. There are rumors that some woman has blackmail material on him that forces him to behave in such a way, but personally I suspect that those rumors were started by him to prevent the men of the city from burning his business down. "