(Wow, it's hard to believe, but we haven't played 7th Sea since 11/5/2007! Yeah! We played tonight, but only two of us, as the other two had a family thing to go to.)
So a couple of weeks went by, while we relaxed in Freiburg, when one morning we got up, Rowena decided it was time to take the girls shoping for some new clothing, and as Seig was their legal guardian he had to go with them (They were the two players that couldn't make it, so great way to put them out of the way while we played).
That left Rebecca and Renee seated at a table in the inn, deciding on what to have for breakfast, when the inkeeper who had been waiting for them to decide, looks out over behind them to the doorway and a weird look comes over his face, drawing their attention to look over to see what he saw. Standing in the doorway, trying to look humble and cleaned up, was Heinreich, with an imploring expression on his face, shuffling from one foot to another, when he notices that you have seen him, he gathers up his courage and comes over to the table, and clears his throat respectfully. "I-I know that we, that is, me and my brother didn't leave with you on the best terms, the last time an all, but he's disapeared now and I can't find him. I was hoping, that is, that you can help me look for him, being the right kinda folks and all, you know, the ones that help people." he saids, as humbly as he can. "I got money, and it's not even stoled money, but honest money I worked for, that I can give you, if you will help find my brother for me, please."
Rebecca and Renee look at each other for the moment, then Rebecca sighs, looks up at Heinreich and saids "Where was the last place you saw your brother?" Looking a bit embarrased, Heinreich replies "Well, uh, after you took all the bottles of gin out of the cellar, my brother started thinking that since that distillery was still there, and still useful, why not try to make some gin of our own to sell to some inns, and make some money the right way for once. We cleaned it up, and found some places that would accept some new brewed gin, and Jan sent me to get the ingrediants for the liquor, then he sent me back home while he said he would make the gin and that I was to come back in the morning to help bottle it up. So I went back the next morning, but he wasn't there. I checked all of our regular places, but no one has seen him. So, you'll help me find him?"
"Yeah. Lets start where you last saw him." Rebecca saids getting up and heading out the door. They make their way back to the Old widdow's home and down into the secret cellar, by the hidden door in the barn floor, without her seeing them. Inside the cellar, the distillary had been cleaned of the layers of dust that had covered it, and a large caldron of 'mash' sitting, waiting for a fire to be put under it. The collecting bin was missing from its regular place, but otherwise the place looked like they last saw it. The thing was, they noticed, that there was no exaust for the fire that would be lit, and when looking at the spot where the fire would be, it looked like there had never been a fire there at all. Nothing burned or discolored. How had the old man make all the gin he had, without using a fire? Looking the place over, we found the collecting bin knocked over, but still with some fresh made gin inside it. Rebecca dabs her finger into the gin, tastes it, and winces with the strong flavor, but nothing seemed wrong with it, and continues to look around the room. Renee picks up the collecting bin, and swigs down what was left in the bin, which was about a good mouthful. Suddenly her vision darkens, and she drops the collection bin, and she suddenly sees before her a huge tower of bones, that when she looks at it better, she can make out that it is the skeletons of two large dragons fighting, locked together in death, somehow still standing, even though no skin survives to keep the bones locked together. An urge to go up to the bones makes her start walking forward, when she her sight returns and she is still standing in the cellar. Rebecca meanwhile, still curious about the fireless gin, gives the room a good going through, and finds a strange clam-shell shaped object in the farthest corner from the distillary, tucked into the shelves so that it was almost unseen. Picking it up to look at it, it feels sticky, like it had once been covered in maple syrup, and let dry, but having a slight sticky residue. As she holds it, suddenly a hot burning pain between her breast causes her to gasp, and drop the item. It falls and rolls away, and the pain dimishes, as she reaches in to her cleavage and removes a small dagger that she keeps there for quick access, and protection. It is still warm, hotter than it should be, for being against her skin. She notices that the clam-shell item had rolled closer to the distillary, and they could see steam starting to rising from the mash caldron. So that was how the old man had made the gin, using what must be a Synerth item!
It is at that point that Renee returns from her vision, and looks a bit confused. Rebecca informs her of what just happened, and Renee decides that she needs to make another batch of the gin, to see if the same thing happened to her again, letting Rebecca know about her vision. She puts the collecting bin back in it proper place, then as quickly as she can, puts the clam-shell item under the caldron, but still gets a shock of heat across her shoulders as her daggers heat up being near the item. While they wait for the gin to collect, Rebecca decideds to see if she can find Jan by looking at Heinreich's fate line to him. She looks at the strong line that leads out from him, and as it heads towards the door, only to see that it cuts off before leaving the room, and the raw end looks like it was turning to dust. Gasping, she drops her fate-sight, and looks over at Heinreich, but doesn't say anything to him, yet she feels that the sighting was not very favorable.
Once the gin builds up enough again for a large gulp, Renee once more swallows it down, and once again has the same vision of the dragon-bone tower, but while she is having her vision, Rebecca and Heinreich watch as her as she grabs the clam-shell and stuffs it back to it corner, then turn around and starts to head for the door, before she once again wakes up, this time with the back of her hand burnt a bit from being too close to the hot caldron when she grabbed the Syrneth item. Nursing her hand, she informs Rebecca that the same vision had happened. Yet Rebecca tells her of what she did, and that what she did, she did with only a 'mouthful' of the gin. Jan had drunk about a good half gallon of the stuff, by the size of the collection container, so what must he have seen and done? Where could he have gone? Hunting for the tower? Still, her vision of the fate-thread made her uneasy as to any answer that could be given. Looking around the room again, they find on a back shelf, a wooden box with a felt lining, having a very unusual 'gel' feel to it, and from its size, looks like it was made to hold the clam-shell item inside it. Scouping it up off the floor, with the box, they find that it does indeed fit, and the felt completely covers and surrounds the shell item, and place it back up on the shelf, while they decide to try a couple of places to look for Jan.
As they head out leaving Heinreich behind to wait incase Jan should returned, Renee notices the Die Watchturm, and a shiver runs down her back. Going on a feeling, she informs Rebecca and they head over to it, to talk to the guard outside. He informs them that they can't come in, but when they ask if anyone else had tried to get into it lately, he informs them to check the local jail, for all the recent crazy people that had tried. The jail isn't too far away, and after talking to the guard, and slipping a couple of guilders to him, they are allowed to come in and 'visit' to see if the person they are looking for is being held there. It had been one place that Heinreich had not checked, because he was afraid that he would be arrested, having a couple of warrents out for him and his brother. As they are being given a tour through the cells, the guard points out several people that were recently arrested, but of course they can't be who we were looking for, as one was a Castillian, who when you look in to see him, is so beaten up, you can barely tell he is human, nevermind Castillian. "Musketeers are having us hold on to him til he wakes up, or if he wakes up." The guard tells us. "S'post to know of a Montaigne ruffian that they are looking for, is, and they are waiting for him to tell them. I think his name is Leandro Cortez. But like I said, he's Castillian, and your not looking for one of them. The next is a woman, and she's really gone crazy, just listen to her." He saids as they walk by the next cell. The woman does come to the door and begings ranting about a 'barrier' and that 'they' are coming, that 'they' are here, and that we are all doomed! "See, a real crazy one. Let's move on." he saids as they continue walking. "This here one, we don't know his name, but that's because he can't tell us, as his tongue has been cut out. He's not who your looking for? Ok, well, there's one more at the end here. We can't get anything out of him either, so we don't know his name, but he just walks back and forth in his cell, and looks out the window." Looking in the last cell, they see Jan, but a different Jan than they last remembered seeing. Something doesn't quite look right. Renee calls out to him "Jan!", but he just continues to pace back and forth and look out the window. Rebecca decides to look at his fate lines, and when she does, sees something staring back at her that is pure evil, and she screams, falling to the floor, as she cuts off her sight vision. The guard looks at her strangely, but Renee helps her up, and she whispers to her, "That's not Jan! It can't leave here!" she saids. "What?" Renee replies. "Let's get out of here first. We got to talk to someone about this." Rebecca saids. They have the guard take them back, and they give him ten guilder to hold on to 'Jan' for another day, until they can come back for him, they tell the guard. Leaving the jail, Rebecca informs Renee of what she saw when she viewed his fate lines. "I don't know what it was, except it was as much evil as evil could be considered! It can't be let out, but I am not sure if we can even kill it, or would want to. Right now it is being held captive by Jan's body, but if he should be killed, I don't know if it will go away back to where it came from, or if it will just release it into freedom in our world!" She explaines to Renee, who is unsure about this, but then again, she had also had the vision, so maybe this was related somehow, as Jan had also drank of the gin, and more than she had. "I don't even know what to tell Heinreich," Rebecca continues, "Gee, sorry, but your brother's dead, and some evil creature is using his body. Let's not tell him anything, and go back for that box, to see what the Explorer's Guild has to say about the item, it may help us to know what to do.
They are greeted at the guild by one of the underlings, who inform them that the Guildmaster is busy, but they may make an appointment and might get to see him next week sometime. Rebecca, who is carring the box, cracks it open just enough that any metal around the man heats up, and he winces in surprise. "I think that your head-master may want to see us now." she saids. "Uh, yeah, yeah, I'll take you too him now!" the man saids, "He will definitely want to see what you have there!"
The Guildmaster is a older man with greying hair and a kindly smile. He greets them cordially and has them sit down while he serves them some wine. Rebecca once again barely opens the box, so that he can see the item and it's effect, and he studies it carefully, while asking them what they knew of it. He informs them that they would have to study it of course, in a protected area, before he could tell them much more about it, and that it definitely is a Syrneth item. That the Explorer's Guild would be happy to take it off of their hands, even though it seems like a minor item, for 500 guilders. Renee looks at the box with more interest, now that it can make some money for her, but she has other ideas she would like to use it for, one would be getting her friend Leandro out of the jail. That had been a shock, seeing him there and not being able to do anything for him. But for right now, she needed to learn what the Guildmaster could tell them about the item. She is disapointed when he tells her that they would have to study it, but as he continues talking, another item catches both of their attention. "Yes, it is definitely a Syrneth item, and one of the few I have seen, the others being a couple of items while on hunts and also this city's famous dragon boned church, bridge and of course the Die Watchturm. "What exactly is the story of the Die Watchturm?" Renee asks the Guildmaster. He tells them that it is a tower that was built around the skeletons of two large dragons that had died locked in combat, and for some reason had never fallen from their stance. The tower was built around them about 500 years ago. The woman looked at each other, and then Renee tells the Guildmaster of her visions, and how they happened, and what they believed happened to Jan. Rebecca tells this part of the story, and they can see that the Guildmaster is having a hard time beliving it, but the woman are determined that someone besides themselves needed to know about the creature inhabiting Jan. "Do you know what a Fatewitch is?" Rebecca finally asks the Guildmaster. "Yes, I know about them and their sight." he replies. "Then would you doubt the word of a Fatewitch if she tells you what she saw?" Rebecca states.
It is here that we had to end the game for the night.
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Fate, a four letter word, with a lot of strings attached.
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"We Pay to Plunder!!"
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The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.
Henry David Thoreau
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Do not mettle in the affairs of Dragons...for you are crunchy and tastey with ketchup.
