Strange But Fortuitous Day
Everything’s upside down today! Crespin kept going on about honorable liars and thieves at breakfast. What nonsense! And if that weren’t enough, Katia tried to convince us that Ms. Emagunda was actually a man! How ludicrous! Meanwhile we’re supposed to investigate a dwarf who gives great deals to humans while hating their guts! An Ubersreik dwarf who appears to be a nefarious cheat! What is the Empire coming to…
I went off to do the first part of the morning patrol on my own to clear my head from the breakfast absurdities. I was walking by the northern docks thinking about getting a drink somewhere and what do I see but one of Barlin’s stodgy dwarves heading towards Hitzkoph Hinfaller’s wine shop. I was able to sneak up behind him and snatch his satchel. I was so stealthy that he didn’t even notice he had dropped it when he tripped in front of the store. By the time he realized he was missing it, I had dashed away without a trace.
I met up with Katia and Arina, and the Bretonnian by the southern docks and told them about the contract I found in the satchel I nicked. It appeared like a standard legal agreement between the merchants and Barlin. But there was one section in Khazalid, that stated that in event of a merchant’s death, Barlin would not need to return the invested money to the shops or next of kin, nor would he need to fulfill the original part of the contract and provide any of the goods promised. We all thought it sounded pretty ominous. We decided to go back to Ms. Emagunda’s to try to find out more and to warn her.
What followed was another series of backward logic. All three humans were now in agreement that Emagunda was a lady-man. So the plan became that Crespin poses as a man-lady and seduces her. He agreed to it without nearly as much complaining as he usually does. Young Katia gave Crespin her bra to wear. And Arina started smiling! I don’t think I’ve ever seen her NOT cranky, especially while on duty. If the day keeps going like this I might become best friends with an elf, shave my beard, and swear off drinking ale! Speaking of which, I wish I still had some of that Bretonnian brandy on me…
I will not describe the circus that ensued, but the plan worked. Sort of. Ms. Emagunda agreed to have us accompany her to a meeting with Barlin tomorrow. We’ll be wearing…. disguises. Just so Barlin or his cronies don’t recognize us. That’s why we’ll be wearing disguises. Yes.
At the point I was ready for a whole cask of skull splitter ale. We started heading out towards a tavern, and had a stroke of luck! We intercepted a package delivery to the precinct addressed to Klumpenklug. It turned out to be the preserved troll head! The troll that we, not him, defeated a few nights before. We took it discreetly to Siegfried Holzenhauer and traded it for some potions and some favors. We got to keep most of the troll teeth, and I convinced the rest of our team that I would be able to make something out of them and sell it for a hefty price as a necklace or a bracelet. Crespin kept one tooth, though I can’t imagine what he might want to do with it. And after today, I don’t really want to think about that... But he did buy us some meat pies at Om and Nom’s. That kind of unordinary behavior from him I will happily tolerate.
We separated again and I went off to Grettir’s, where I finally got a drink I so desperately needed since breakfast. I showed him the teeth and asked if I can use his shop and his tools to work on making something out of them. He reminded me that Belorn’s 60th birthday is coming up next week, and that Gudrum might be willing to pay a hefty price for a troll memento for his son. Perhaps that can take care of part of Crespin’s debt at the Crooked Hammer. And I finally have a chance to craft something of my own and impress my uncle. It seems that both, Grungni and Sigmar smiled on me today.
I decided to stay at the shop to clean the teeth I have and to start making some designs for the troll tooth necklace. I still can put in a few hours of good work into this before our midnight meeting with Meingott.
