Low Estate/Turns/Turn 4
- Aernoud van Nevel (josh_g): forest wanderer — FATE ▣▣▢▢▢ • Stress ▢▢ • Consequences unused (2), unused (4), unused (6)
- Antheunis Opgieten (lpsmith): slippery urchin — FATE ▣▢▢▢▢ • Stress ▢▢ • Consequences unused (2), unused (4), unused (6)
- Boudin Verdonk (maga): bravo and expeditor — FATE ▣▢▢▢▢ • Stress ▢▢▢▢ • Consequences unused (2), unused (4), unused (6)
- Mattius Rothmann (Fang): brutish warmage — FATE ▢▢▢▢▢ • Stress ▢▢▢▢ • Consequences unused (2), unused (4), unused (6)
- Willem de Vos (Jota): student magician — FATE ▣▢▢▢▢ • Stress ▢▢ • Consequences unused (2), unused (4), unused (6)
- Lazer Dennis (Rob): manic-depressive man out of time — FATE ▢▢▢▢▢ • Stress ▢▢▢▢ • Consequences unused (2), unused (4), unused (6)
Boudin, upper city promenade
As arranged, Boudin meets Lord H— by a large elm at the edge of the park. His lordship is dressed well but not too well, and his hat is drawn down low. "It was kind of you to see me on such short notice," Boudin says.
His lordship waves a hand. "I still owe you for your tactful handling of, ah, my niece some years ago."
Boudin nods. "The child is doing quite well, although I am told he can have a shocking temper. Now, if you wouldn't mind, perhaps I could tell you a little more about what has happened; I was obliged to be discreet in my note." He passes onto Lord H— as much as seems prudent, and then waits expectantly.
"I see," the man says. "I had heard something of this, of course, but I hadn't realized the extent. Well, a word in the right ear could send some guard patrols around the orphanage for a few weeks. Is that the sort of thing you had in mind, or did you want something else? It seems to me you'll eventually either have to kill Maldeghem or negotiate with him, and to do the latter you'd need to find something he wants."
Searching the manor and surrounds
Sister Marianne closes her eyes in thought for a bit at Willem's queries. "When we moved in there was a great deal of debris and mess in most of the rooms, and a few rooms were boarded up entirely. We burned the rubbish in the yard and piled the things that looked like they were salvageable in a few of the rooms. Some of the books went into the orphanage library, I suppose, and we sold some things to a junk merchant." She hands Willem a set of keys. "This one here is for the door off the boy's dormitory -- the other side has what's left of what we cleared out from the rooms."
Meanwhile, Aernoud and Lazer are wandering around outside. Lacking any magical training or ability, it at first appears to be hopeless, but Aernoud keeps finding himself drawn back to a long-dry fountain in the middle of a tiled patio. In the center of the fountain is a classical statue of a hooved piper, his gaze cast at the roof of the manor. "Why this patch of tile in the middle of the yard?" wonders Aernoud. "It just feels like it's the focal point, or deliberately shaped to .. but there'd need to be some sort of catch."
"What, like this?" asks Lazer, fiddling with a loose tile. The tile suddenly rotates and, with a scrape and a puff of dust, the fountain pivots, dropping the statue into a bow and exposing a set of stairs leading down.
Antheunis has been searching the manor's interior for a lab but with no luck. This new tunnel seems promising, however, and he heads down with a lantern. It's a narrow flight of stairs, but the tunnel widens as it goes down, and soon Antheunis stands before a door made of dark wood with inlaid brass. His hand goes to the knob but he draws back -- instinctively, Antheunis senses something beyond the door in the room on the other side, something deeply antithetical to his nature.
