10: The Daggers of Shapesh

Bezahltag 6th Kaltzeit

You're all licking your wounds after being forced to retreat from Drexol's fortress on Triesjaar Island. You left the Guild of Physicians and made your way in the pouring rain back towards the Hole. Zombrie went to the Temple of Ulric feeling that he should pay more attention to the needs of the dispossessed, or something.

On the way back Thijens started outlining what he understood of the situation and what you might want to do next. He seemed to think that Drexol might be attempting to achieve the means of animating or bringing to life Ofra's corpse, by means of a blood sacrifice (probably Ofra Cloos) and a ritual involving 6 daggers and other stuff. He suggested that if Cloos and Drexol used to share their booty then they may have split the daggers three each. This means that if Drexol had got hold of bin Sallah's dagger (which you feared he had) that would leave only two daggers unaccounted for. Klaus kept silent.

You got to the Hole and Felix informed you that two gentlemen had been looking for your friend Bart, or Bernt, or something. You told him if they came back he was to direct them to you. During supper (which was much better than breakfast) they did return and you retired to the bar to find that Johannes Jaeger had brought a colleague, Ernst Goffman to meet you.

Goffman was a studious looking old guy who seemed to know a lot about stuff. Haakon vaguely remembered some story about 'Goffman the mutant lover' and something about a controversial and scandalous court case. He had a chat with Thijens about the daggers of Shapesh and the Ushabti, but it soon became clear that Thijens' knowledge of Arabyan history left a lot to be desired. As if to show off, Thijens and Goffman carried out most of the conversation in Bretonnian.

Over a number of bottles of wine, and after scaring you with tales of the great power of the guardian Ushabti, Goffman seemed to remember there was an old Arabyan text detailing a way to help defeat them, called 'On the Construction of Immortal Guardians' or something. He could not remember exactly where the book was but thought it might be in a library, somewhere. Or, to be more precise, 'The Library' that he didn't want to talk about. As it was late he asked if you would escort him up to Suiddock to the library. Jaeger decided that he had much to do and made his excuses and left.

You went up to Luydenhoek with Goffman and he asked if you would wait for him while he went to 'The Library' and that it might take some hours. You didn't want to be sat in the rain all night and suggested the Kipper might be a good enough place to wait. When Goffman left the Kipper, Thijens made it clear he didn't completely trust the old scholar and tried to follow him, unseen. Unfortunately, he lost track of him pretty quickly.

Konistag 7th Kaltzeit

After Goffman didn't return for several hours you got a room at the Kipper and took it in turns to wait up for him. Klaus was questioned by the Black Caps for loitering, but they left without incident. Eventually, as the sun came up, Goffman returned but did not have the book. He explained that records were somewhat chaotic and there was a number of possible borrowers for the tome in question, or it may have just been lost.

The first suspect was a friend of Goffman's who happened to live very close by, so despite being very tired, and after a hearty breakfast, Goffman went with you to the house of Kunz Vogelsgesang. You woke him up, and when he came down you couldn't help noticing the old man's very large metallic eye patch, etched with some sort of design. He took Goffman inside for a few seconds chat, and then Goffman emerged and explained the book was not there.

Goffman really had to get some sleep. He left you with two names to check out; Joschka Barth of Guilderveld, and Hanif ibn Tuare of Arabierstad. He wrote the title of the book in Arabyan so you might recognise it and told you to wake him at his place when you had found the book.

Thijens spoke to him about the next day's court case at the Handelaarmarkt Magistrates. Goffman explained that he had been struck off and disbarred so wouldn't be able to defend him but would get his old student, a Gustav Andersen to turn up to defend him. Goffman also mentioned a few obscure legal acts and sub clauses to quote, should Andersen fail to appear, which would be sure to get the case adjourned for a further two weeks, unless the magistrate was in a bad mood, or something.

You all went off to have coffee in one of those new fangled high powered coffee houses near the 'Change building and decided all this saving the city was fine, but really you just wanted to go shopping.

You went down to the armourers on Wasplaatz, who had been finely crafting 'secrets' for you. Thijens secret didn't fit him at all, and Klaus' didn't fit him. Klaus' fit Thijens perfectly, though, and Klaus was asked to wait another day before Thijens' could be adjusted to fit him, or just hit with a hammer a bit. Klaus bought a load of crossbow bolts, too.

Then the two went up to the 'Flash in the Pan' to get stuff for the blunderbusses you looted from the Triesjaar Island guards. The gunsmith said he would offer you 20 Guilders for a Blunderbuss, or thirty Guilders towards the cost of new pistols. You bought a load of black powder and shot and stuff for cleaning the weapons.

Thijens went up to the Kruiersmuur watch station and grabbed a handful of wanted flyers, attempting to make a living as a bona fide bounty hunter on the side. Thijens and Haakon also went to see Ragnar to sort out their finances.

Klaus went to see Stubfoot and was welcomed in. He had little progress to report on the search for the sarcophagus, but Klaus asked if Drexol had been the client who had sought the artefacts. Klaus also mentioned that it was more than likely that Drexol had already got the sarcophagus without Stubfoot's help, at which Stubfoot suddenly realised he had been double crossed by Drexol and cheated out of his commission, or something.

Encouraged by Klaus, Stubfoot got really angry over the whole thing and then offered to attempt to get the stuff back. Stubfoot was pleased with this plan and offered a band of thugs and a boat 'with a cannon' to the cause, in return for all the loot from Drexol's place.

After meeting at the Hole, you all went up to Guilderveld to find Joschka Barth, a wealthy recluse, apparently. You found his place overlooking the Reik, an old and tatty building, rather bringing down the look of this swanky neighbourhood. The housekeeper (who sounded like a halfling) shouted through the door that Herr Barth wasn't to be disturbed. You managed to get her to ask him if he had the book. You slid Goffman's Arabyan writing under the door for her to take to Barth. After some time she came back and insisted Barth did not have the book. She slid the paper back under the door and to your surprise it was soaking wet, with what seemed to you to be canal water.

Your last hope was ibn Tuare of Arabierstad. You crossed the bridge into the ghetto thinking you'd ask a few people and easily find out where he might be. Very soon, however, you noticed a crowd gathering down the street a bit. They were looking ready for a fight and they were looking at you. They advanced slowly towards you. You drew your weapons and tried to stand your ground, but you realised that they could well have you down as murdering bin Sallah and those thugs the day before. You backed away slowly back towards the bridge with the mob following you. You managed to reach the bridge and they didn't follow you across.

Haakon decided he would be able to find ibn Tuare if he danced his way in and back again. He made his way through the district easily enough and spoke to some vendors in the bazaar who directed him to the religious school, just down the road. Therein Haakon found ibn Tuare who did have the book but would not agree to relinquish it, saying he had sworn an oath to keep it safe, or something. Haakon managed to convince the Arabyan that Goffman, a fellow member of 'The Library' should be allowed to come to the school and have a look through the book for a couple of hours that evening.

Haakon left Arabierstad and met with the rest of you, and you went to Goffman's place in Goudberg and woke him up. He invited you up to his library which was stuffed with all kinds of books. Thijens especially noticed that a number of the books had an owl motif stamped on them, and he also recognised the design which appeared a number of times at the Leaves in the Wind bookshop. He asked Goffman about it who explained it was a common symbol of Verena (goddess of knowledge etc).

Haakon escorted Goffman back to ibn Tuare's. On the way there, Goffman subtly brought up the subject of Haakon's talent and his general lack of education. Haakon was confident that he was adequately versed in the art but Goffman gave him a serious warning that he had seen people with less than half the talent of Haakon and more than twice the education and control fall victim to dark influences, and that Haakon should be very careful indeed. Haakon shrugged it off.

When they got to the school, Tuare welcomed them, and Goffman and ibn Tuare fell into lively conversation in a number of different languages that Haakon couldn't understand. They looked through the book together and discussed a number of points and referred to other volumes, until eventually seeming to come to agreement.

The gist of the book as it relates to the Ushabti suggested that the 'Name of the king should be thrice invoked' or something. Also, the body of the queen should not be disturbed or the Ushabti would animate. There was an interesting historical question however, over who was meant by 'king'. Nagash, Ofra's husband had been king of all Nehekhara, but had been deposed before Ofra's death. Lahmizzar was considered the king at the supposed time of Ofra's death and burial. As Ofra had lived the last of her life and been buried in Bel Aliad, then the king of Bel Aliad at the time could well have been used, Thanoset. Although the timing of his death was a controversial academic issue and indeed, Thanoseti, his son, could have been king at that time, by some accounts.

While Klaus and Thijens were waiting for Haakon's return at an inn near the Handelaarmarkt watch station, one of the Black Caps, drinking nearby, recognised Thijens. He came over and threw a few insults at Thijens. Thijens kept his cool and professed a faith that justice would be done and insisted that he too was an officer of the law, of sorts, connected with the kruiersmuur watch station. The Black Cap was unimpressed and determined to provoke some sort of reaction. In the end, Klaus stepped in and bought the Black Cap (and his twelve mates) a 'drink'.

When Goffman returned, Thijens reminded him of their agreement that Gustav Andersen would come to defend him in court the next day. Goffman had forgotten, and had been asleep all day, but promised he would try to remember to get Gustav on the case.

Thijens also went round to Jaeger's, apparently, to get him to draw a map of what he could remember of Drexol's residence, from his attendance at a couple of Drexol's parties on Triesjaar Island. Jaeger was happy to oblige.

It is about 6 o'clock on Konistag 7th Kaltzeit. You've got about four hours before you are due to meet Stubfoot's gang on Daankkanaal. You may wish to turn up at Triesjaar Island with a plan, this time.