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[LordBucket]

she could start assembling a stable of apprentice wizards

It was established several pages ago that Aduial had trained a number of apprentices over her 30 years in Donhawice. I was thinking of contacting my students and explaining the situation: that I'm founding a library, acknowledge that it will be extremely primitive compared to what they're accustomed to. But...if they come here it will be an opportunity for them to be big fish in a little pond instead of a little fish in a big pond. It seems likely that a few might take me up on the offer. That would provide a few magic-capable assistants for whom questions of loyalty and treachery would be unlikely to be an issue.

If the wizard in question uses astrology then they will have a precisely tailored horoscope to the spell and wizard used in the transcription.  If they use alchemy they will prepare magical inks for specifically the spell and then transcribe at the moment of highest potency.

Ok. But if I'm working with my own apprentices then presumably they'll be using methods that I'm familiar with. There shouldn't be any need to go out our way to procure tools for astrological and alchemical methodologies if none of use use those methods. In the long term, yes, it will be good to acquire everything. As well completely non-magical books on things like art, history, etc.

But the first priority will be getting a functional and self-sufficient arrangement. There's no point in making things more difficult than they need to be. There will be plenty enough for us to do for ourselves before we need to worry about making facilities that are useful to the world at large.

Really efficient paper manufacturing of the east asian style doesn't exist is the point.

They are more akin to the library of alexandria then a library in the modern sense.

Yes, I'm expecting that the "library" will probably need to be on an acre or two of land, and have a lot of things that aren't conventionally library-ish at all. A goat ranch being the most obvious example. We'll want to become self sufficient in terms of parchment construction, and everything else that we can. There's no point paying for things we can have essentially free laborers do. Skilled work can be done by apprentices. That's just part of the standard deal. Unskilled work can be done by peasants. Again, just the standard deal. Might also be helpful to acquire a plot of agricultural land outside of town to produce food, textiles, etc. The goats don't necessarily need to be where the library is.

construction of a great building to actually house the library.

Land procurement will be first, but I have several options at my disposal to take care of that. As for construction, since Narseus has a well-established masons guild and the Mayor is their former guildmaster, it's very likely that brick construction is extremely common here. All the brick-making infrastructure should already be in place and there's probably a guild full of masons who'd be happy for work.

The initial building doesn't need to be a 10 story gothic cathedral with 30 foot ceilings. As rare as you've made out books and magic to be it's not like we'll need space for hundreds of bookshelves, or dormitories to house hundreds of students. Most of the space will be living quarters, private study rooms, and generally functional rooms like a kitchen, a dining area, etc. I'd expect we could have something functional built in a few months. Narseus is an entire town right here that's already been built. I'm assuming it didn't take years and fortunes for anybody else to build their guildhalls. Something the size of the Radhan house is probably plenty.

Speaking of which, it has occurred to me that if Baron Radhan doesn't survive, it would be very easy for me to arrange to inherit his land and property.

It would probably be a good idea for her to be a wizard of a bit more potency first however.

Well, as you say, it's a long term project. The physical construction of the building itself is going to take at least a month. If I'm leveling up at the end of story arcs, I'm kind of expecting to have gained a level or two by then. I'm guessing that this story arc will end within 48 hours of Petronius returning to Narseus. In the OP you list level 5 as a "Master" wizard. Obviously there's a big jump between levels 2-3 and level 5, but as a matter of game mechanics, I think it's pretty much fact-of-life that PCs gain levels more quickly than NPCs. I don't see any reason to wait to begin construction. The more relevant question, honestly, is whether this particular forum game will last long to see the end of the project.

[mainiac]

I had no idea who the guy was until he sent me a letter out of the blue saying that my help would be appreciated and that there was "much to be done." I was sort of expecting that he had things he wanted to talk to me about.

I had more intended that along the lines of "sorry I didn't drop by to say hello, I'm up to my ass in alligators".

But regardless, Aduial manages to track down the magistrate in between meetings when he returns to the town hall.  When she introduces herself he appologizes for being so hard to find and says that he can certainly spare time to talk with her if she is intent on solving the cities troubles.  When she asks for a private location he takes her to the boardroom of the town council.  The boardroom is a portrait filled hall containing an ornate table around which there are eight ornate armchairs.  Lesser seats line the walls.  Currently it is empty and Theon offers her a seat before slumping into one himself.

"Magistrate, many voices in the courts of His Majesty Hawice III, as well as the court of Count Dmarra have expressed a growing concerned over recent developments in Narseus. As you know, a significant portion of the trade goods flowing to rest of the kingdom comes through here. Anything that adversely affects Narseus affects other cities as well. And it seems that there are rumors circulating through Nossari that the Mayor and the council of Narseus have taken to allowing Marshal Lorsen to round up citizens in the streets like cattle. That he is beating merchants in the street, and holding unjustifiable executions. That he is imprisoning landed nobles on questionable charges. Some, even worse things have been said. And in the day since I've been here, most of these rumors I've heard have been confirmed. I've personally witnessed the Marshal's men take away merchants in chains. Baron Radhan is in custody on questionable charges, and is forbidden visitors. Even myself. And in that conversation I had with the Marshal in his home, I was physically attacked. Me, a noble, an advisor to the royal court, was physically struck by your Marshal Lorsen not more than two hours ago merely for asking questions he didn't want to hear. If such liberties are being taken with individuals such as myself, I cannot speculate at the indignities that the merchants and common folk of this town have been subjected to.

"Narseus is not a vassal state. It does not owe allegiance to any particular lord. But the fact remains that its neighbors will not allow this situation to escalate to the point that the free flow of trade to their lands is stopped. Some have suggested the possibility of war if the situation grows worse."

"War, Magistrate. Some of your neighbors are discussing war. War is bad for business. Very bad. And I am here to ensure that it does not happen."

The man shakes his head wearily at the news of this latest outrage.  "Please accept my deepest apologies for this transgression, m'lady.  The marshal has clearly gone too far this time.  I just don't know what is to be done.  I suppose..." the magistrate strokes his chin and makes a little frown as he contemplates something unpleasant.  "I suppose that you could find yourself a champion and demand satisfaction through duel for the marshal's actions.  It pains me to say it but such a duel could serve two purposes.  Not only would your honor be avenged but it might put an end to the marshal's abuses."
"If I might speak to you in confidence, the council seems to be intent on ripping this town apart at the seems, m'lady.  The marshal hasn't been arresting just anybody, he keeps going after respected craftsmen who have many people to speak on their behalf.  The guilds are the lifeblood of this town and he seems intent on driving them into a rage.  I have spoken to him several times on the danger of his ways after I had to calm the guilds but he doesn't trust me at all.  I think he doesn't trust anybody these days, especially not anyone associated with House Dmarra such as myself.  If you could put an end to the marshals destruction it could help the city calm down."
"I'm not happy with such a plan but it may be necessary.  It may prove to not solve our problems though.  Somebody keeps stirring up trouble by countermanding my orders.  The letters bear the mayors name but I don't think that man is even capable of writing at this point.  Who ever is causing these problems will probably still be around if the marshal was removed and may be able to push the man who replaces him into the same behavior.  I wish I could get to the bottom of this but I am busy enough as it is.  Not to mention that I am being laughed thanks to all this incessant meddling and I don't know how much I could find out.  It's all very frustrating and I don't know where to start."

"Thank you for your time. There is, incidentally, one other matter I was hoping we might discuss."

"I've been in Narseus only a short time now, but I find that it's growing on me. Oh, surely it has its problems, but what town doesn't? It's very likely that once the present situation is resolved, and both the Marshal and Mayor have been...dealt with, business in Narseus will return to its usual levels of health and prosperity. Of course, after this fiasco I'm sure His Majesty will want to keep a closer eye on happenings here. It wouldn't do to allow trade throughout the kingdom to suffer on the account of a few madmen. As one of the kings advisors I suppose I could put a word in to his Majesty to minimize the long term consequences, penalty tariffs, and the like.

Actually, (suddenly brighten) perhaps I could convince his Majesty to allow me personally to stay here as liason to ensure that things remain stable. As I said, it's a lovely town. I wouldn't mind settling here. (Frown.) Still, if I were to do that, there is one thing this town lacks that I would be hard pressed to go without. A library." (look thoughtful)

"A town this size really should have a library, don't you think? It seems a strange thing for such a critical trade hub to lack. Of course, (eye contact) I suppose we could build a library here. In Narseus. With me as its Magister. Or, "guild master" if you prefer that term.

"Of course, I understand that such a development would cause no end of trouble to you, and the town. After all, surely the inevitable growth in your power and importance would generate all sorts of new administrative work. You'd need to install a new seat for my position on your council, and I know how expensive the velvet on those cushions can be. To say nothing of all the new tax collectors you'd probably have to hire because of the new citizens and merchants who would immigrate over the next few years as the city's relative importance to the kingdom grows. You might even have to extend the city walls to accommodate all of them. So I realize it's a considerable undertaking that I'm proposing. For all of us."

"But I wonder, as representative of the guilds in this town, how would you, and the various other merchant and guild leaders feel about such a development...overall...were it to occur?"

The man seems skeptical at first but a smile crosses his mouth as Aduial talks.

"That's quite a dream you have there, young lady.  And yet... Narseus did once have a library, many, centuries ago.  Some people think that the city was unimportant until King Hwicce founded Nosarri.  But the cities history is actually a great deal older then that and the city once had a library that dates back to even before the elvish empire.  Quite a dream.  Let my lend you my seal.  It will make you welcome in the home of Petronious.  His study is the finest collection you will find in the region and the histories contained there may be of interest to you.  Shame the man is out of town right now, he would have been interested in what you had to say."

[LordBucket]

"I suppose that you could find yourself a champion and demand satisfaction through duel for the marshal's actions.  It pains me to say it but such a duel could serve two purposes.  Not only would your honor be avenged but it might put an end to the marshal's abuses."

: "I think that the spell I cast on the Marshal after his attack has adequately satisfied my honor. And if not, definitely my sense of humor. But if this can all be settled by a simple duel, I may be willing to consider it. Where would you recommend I find mercenaries up to the task?

One thing to consider, however: were the Marshal to be defeated, who would take his place? Isn't Sergeant Regdar a notoriously more cruel man than even Larson has become?"

It may prove to not solve our problems though.  Somebody
keeps stirring up trouble by countermanding my orders.

: "Yes, there is more going on here than is apparent. It's no coincidence that the Marshal, the Mayor and the entire council have all gone mad together. There is deliberate method at work here."

the city once had a library that dates back to even before the elvish empire

: "Oh? What happened to it?"

Let my lend you my seal.

Shame the man is out of town right now, he would have been
interested in what you had to say.

: "Ahh, thank you for this. Speaking of Petronius, would you happen to know where he's gone to and when he's expected to return? I've heard so much about the man. I've been looking forward to our meeting."


Unless anything especially noteworthy is said in his responses to the above, what I do next is contingent upon when Petronius is expected to return.

If he's expected back in the next day or so then go looking for mercenaries. There's no way I'm fighting him alone. Every indication is that's he has about 4-5 class levels divided between cleric and mage. I'm going to want two fighters of comparable level on my side for that battle.

If he's not expected back soon, head to his house, show Theon's seal, be courteous to his staff and ask to be shown the study. Do a thorough 5-10 minute [Search+7] of the place to get a sense of what it's in there. Look for anything that stands out, obvious signs that would indicate his magical or clerical abilities, secret doors, hidden stairways under the rug, 20 foot tall gold plated statues of demons holding the corpses of elves, etc. Be mindful of the possibillity of magical wards while I do this. Also...let's remember this time that Aduial's outfit includes silk gloves to the elbows. We both sort of forgot about that when she examined the knife. After the basic search:

First priority will be to look for written spell materials that would be personally useful to me.

Second priority will be looking for information on Xancoulpar. Even a generic description in a grimoire would be fine. Devil or demon, spheres of influence, historical notes, rank in the devil/demon hierarchy, etc.

Third priority will be looking for information that could possibly identify the nature of the mind control effects he's perpetrating on the townspeople, with a mind towards disabling it. I suspect it is not a magical spell effect. Because if it is, there's a massive disparity between me casting charm person and having to argue with you to get it to last five minutes, let alone the full stated duration of an hour...and his apparent ability to maintain mind altering magics on both Lorsen and the Mayor, as well as apparently the entire town council...for days or weeks at a time when he's not even here. If he's a level 923713298 mage, then I'm skipping town right now. The only other thing that makes sense is that he's not really the mastermind behind all this. A demon is, and that demon is using him and feeding him power and aid for its own reasons. Petronius is not doing this. He's acting as a conduit. If I can disrupt the conduit, possibly by doing something as simple as breaking a magic circle and smashing an enchanted magic macguffin in his basement...I may be able to shut down all the magic affecting the townsfolk.

Fourth priority will be looking for personal correspondence. If he has accomplices, I'd like to know who they are. If he's left letters laying about that would constitute definite evidence of his involvement with demons or cultists, I want to see them.

Finally, fifth priority is just to find any general information about what his plan is and what's going on. That's low priority because I'm not sure it really matters. If the day after tomorrow he's dead and I have his personal library, the gratitude of the town and a land deed signed by the mayor...I can accept the burden of not knowing how or why this guy was doing what he was.

[mainiac]

"I suppose that you could find yourself a champion and demand satisfaction through duel for the marshal's actions.  It pains me to say it but such a duel could serve two purposes.  Not only would your honor be avenged but it might put an end to the marshal's abuses."

: "I think that the spell I cast on the Marshal after his attack has adequately satisfied my honor. And if not, definitely my sense of humor. But if this can all be settled by a simple duel, I may be willing to consider it. Where would you recommend I find mercenaries up to the task?

One thing to consider, however: were the Marshal to be defeated, who would take his place? Isn't Sergeant Regdar a notoriously more cruel man than even Larson has become?"

Well that is one of my fears but Regdar isn't a popular man and hopefully wouldn't secede Lorsen if it came to that.  The other sergeants don't seem that bad.  There's even one of them, Valens, who seems quite- well he reminds me of how Lorsen used to be.

the city once had a library that dates back to even before the elvish empire

"Oh? What happened to it?"

"Well, that's a rather long story and I don't know it completely myself.  But I'm sorry to say that it seems the elves bear the blame.  When the elvish empire established itself in this region they didn't get along well with the halflings who ran the library.  That's when the decline started.  By the time of the deamonic invasions that drove the elves out of this land, the library was apparently no longer of note."

Let my lend you my seal.

Shame the man is out of town right now, he would have been
interested in what you had to say.

"Ahh, thank you for this. Speaking of Petronius, would you happen to know where he's gone to and when he's expected to return? I've heard so much about the man. I've been looking forward to our meeting."
[/quote]

"Well I was expecting him to return already.  He was supposed to be on a short trip to Donhawice to Kerrleeds to clear up a legal matter in a couple of days.  But he keeps reporting more and more delays.  I wouldn't expect him for at least a few more days, if not much longer."

((Kerrleeds is the fortress of an elven earl who rules an island that is the southernmost part of the kingdom of Nossari, a few days travel away.  Earl Albiaces of Kerrleeds is the highest ranking elvish noble in the kingdom and can actually trace his ancestry back to a governor of the region from the days of the elvish empire.))

Unless anything especially noteworthy is said in his responses to the above, what I do next is contingent upon when Petronius is expected to return.

If he's expected back in the next day or so then go looking for mercenaries. There's no way I'm fighting him alone. Every indication is that's he has about 4-5 class levels divided between cleric and mage. I'm going to want two fighters of comparable level on my side for that battle.

If he's not expected back soon, head to his house, show Theon's seal, be courteous to his staff and ask to be shown the study. Do a thorough 5-10 minute [Search+7] of the place to get a sense of what it's in there. Look for anything that stands out, obvious signs that would indicate his magical or clerical abilities, secret doors, hidden stairways under the rug, 20 foot tall gold plated statues of demons holding the corpses of elves, etc. Be mindful of the possibillity of magical wards while I do this. Also...let's remember this time that Aduial's outfit includes silk gloves to the elbows. We both sort of forgot about that when she examined the knife.

((Oh, she had the gloves on when she touched the knife.  It wasn't skin contact that made her so susceptible to it's power.  The baron touched it with his skin and was affected far less.))

Petronius' home proves to be a lovely little villa at the edge of town, pressed right up against the city walls.  The building is done in the style of an western elvish home built around an open air garden in the middle of the building.  With the master having been gone so long most of the servants seem to be departed but the butler welcomes Aduial into the home and upon seeing the wax seal of Theon he leads Aduial through the garden to the study in the back of the house.

Petronius' study is not a tiny affair like baron Radhan's was.  The bookshelves run ten paces long from floor to ceiling, perhaps half a thousand books.  Judging by the age Petronius is not only a collector himself but inherited many books from his father and grandfather as well.  Along the other wall of the study are workbenches on which she finds the glass and earthware equipment with which the man seems to have prepared magical inks for his craft.  An ornate desk occupies the center of the room, judging by it's skilled woodcarving Aduial imagines it is an imported elvish item.  Aduial notices a difference in the engraving at one part and carefully prods it to reveal a false panel.  She has to wait to investigate however until the butler leaves to get some candles at her request.  During his departure she pops of the panel to reveal a locked compartment.  With about half a minute's effort she is able to spring the lock and retrieve it's contents, three magical scrolls.  One is of scorching ray and the other two are of magic missile.

Aduial has hidden the results of her investigation by the time the butler returns, bearing a magical torch that burns without fuel.  He says that it was what the master generally used in the study but had been put in secure storage since the master was gone.  The butler proceeds to helpfully hang around in case Aduial needs his help or in case his watchful eye is needed.

First priority will be to look for written spell materials that would be personally useful to me.

Second priority will be looking for information on Xancoulpar. Even a generic description in a grimoire would be fine. Devil or demon, spheres of influence, historical notes, rank in the devil/demon hierarchy, etc.

Third priority will be looking for information that could possibly identify the nature of the mind control effects he's perpetrating on the townspeople, with a mind towards disabling it. I suspect it is not a magical spell effect. Because if it is, there's a massive disparity between me casting charm person and having to argue with you to get it to last five minutes, let alone the full stated duration of an hour...and his apparent ability to maintain mind altering magics on both Lorsen and the Mayor, as well as apparently the entire town council...for days or weeks at a time when he's not even here. If he's a level 923713298 mage, then I'm skipping town right now. The only other thing that makes sense is that he's not really the mastermind behind all this. A demon is, and that demon is using him and feeding him power and aid for its own reasons. Petronius is not doing this. He's acting as a conduit. If I can disrupt the conduit, possibly by doing something as simple as breaking a magic circle and smashing an enchanted magic macguffin in his basement...I may be able to shut down all the magic affecting the townsfolk.

Fourth priority will be looking for personal correspondence. If he has accomplices, I'd like to know who they are. If he's left letters laying about that would constitute definite evidence of his involvement with demons or cultists, I want to see them.

Finally, fifth priority is just to find any general information about what his plan is and what's going on. That's low priority because I'm not sure it really matters. If the day after tomorrow he's dead and I have his personal library, the gratitude of the town and a land deed signed by the mayor...I can accept the burden of not knowing how or why this guy was doing what he was.

Aduial is able to find two references to the daemon Xancoulpar.  The first dates back to the great daemon invasion centuries ago.  Xancoulpar was apparently a lieutenant of some sort in the daemonic legions.  He is mentioned as serving under a few different daemon generals during the earlier invasions.  He was apparently crushed under rubble and then burned to death during the first battle of Rarsokane, a city that once existed near where Donhawicce now stands.  His death was celebrated at the time but the celebration was short lived, the legions attacked again and destroyed the city.  After that his name disappears for centuries.

The second reference is in an unfinished manuscript written by Petronius himself.  The text is a discussion of the history of Narseus over the past century.  It is hardly the most well written text that Aduial has ever read but it is well informed about recent events.  Six years ago there was a cult that believed the daemon Xancoulpar could be summoned again.  They were in collusion with the orcish warlords (or at least Petronius seems to believe).  They planned to unleash Xancoulpar in prelude to the orcish invasion so as to distract the kingdom with his rampage.  For reasons that aren't clear the cult poisoned an elvish village near Narseus.  Among the casualties was a visiting townswoman of some stature, Lyanna, and her daughter.  Driven into a rage by his sister's death, a sergeant of Narseus named Lorsen personally hunted down the leaders of the cult and had them burned alive so they might share in their master's fate.  In his sisters memory Lorsen would go on to fight with great distinction in the north and emerge a hero.

Aduial decides to do a little discrete investigation of the magical abilities of the man who's study she is inhabiting.  She suspects that he is a great wizard and looks to collaborate that suspicion.  But if he is a great wizard then he hides it well.  The arcane texts that he studies are somewhat more advanced then what she herself has mastered but not so advanced that she can not follow.  He seems to be a rather astute journeyman but not a master, he has made no study into the most powerful tier of spells.  In fact the only magics he seems to have that are beyond Aduial's own abilities are the torch that burns without consuming and the more powerful of the scrolls she found in his hidden compartment.  Aduial imagines that she could have prepared such a scroll if she had long enough to work and a well stocked study like this to work in.  If she ever wishes to advance to advance farther in the wizarding ranks then preparing such scrolls would be the sort of practice she would need.  She finds no evidence at all that the man channeled divine powers, he has plenty of books on theology but he merely studied the divine, not channeled it.

((Getting pretty late so I'll finish this tomorrow))

[LordBucket]

three magical scrolls.  One is of scorching ray and the other two are of magic missile.

Aduial has hidden the results of her investigation by the time the butler returns

Much as I'd like to expand my repertoire, under the circumstances I think I probably would not have hidden them on my person. I'd have put them back in the compartment.

able to spring the lock

Not looking to undermine my position...but note that while I do have lockpicking skill, I don't actually have a lockpick.

((Getting pretty late so I'll finish this tomorrow))

Ok. Will wait for the followup post tomorrow.

Goodnight.

[mainiac]

Under the eye of the butler Aduial finds it difficult to read the masters correspondance without raising suspicion.  She does manage however to do a little reading on the side in the midst of her research.  There are only nine letters she finds in the desk, the others apparently left with the marshal.  Three of the letters are to family members.  Petronius has a wife named Maia and his brother in law apparently enjoys reminicing about the good old days in Donhawicce.  He has a son who went to Keerleeds two weeks before his father, apparently about the same matter, the terms of a debt owed by the Earl to the estate of a deceased merchant.  Three of the letters are correspondance with the capital about obscure legal matters that Aduial can't believe anybody would care about and doesn't waste time reading beyond one line.  One letter is concerned with a religious festival in a couple months. 

That leaves just two letters for more arcane matters.  Both are written by Kiro Tharad, a wizard of some standing in the capital who Aduial knows to be one of the realms athorities on enchantments.  The first letter is apparently in repsonse to questions regarding the hiding of objects from magical investigation, specifically a corpse.  Judging by the information Petronius described, Kiro suggests that the simplest information is that the corpse in question simply no longer exists.  He suggest that cremation would seem likely.  The second letter concerns itself with magically implanting suggestions in more subtle ways then spells of charming.  Kiro doesn't think that it's possible to use magics to force people to believe something is true and continue to believe that for days on end.  Perhaps a master wizard could develop such a spell but Kiro has no heard of such a thing.

In the midst of her research Aduial's sharp eyes catch one other thing by chance.  There is a rune of the unseen on the back of the shelf behind one of the histories she takes.  She looks closer and sees that there appears to be a tiny pressure plate there.  After temporarily removing the bulter from the room with an errand she presses the pressure plate and finds that the entire bookshelf moves at her touch now.  A long dirt passage is removed.  Not wasting any time she runs down it, opens the doorway at the end and finds herself in a field outside the city.  She quickly retraces her steps and hides the evidence before the butler returns.

It seems that Petronius does keep secrets like any other wizard but not the ones that Aduial was looking for.

[LordBucket]

finds herself in a field outside the city

Quick visual check for landmarks. I'm going to want to be able to find the forest end of the tunnel later.

the butler

Thank the butler for his assistance. Then say that I'm very impressed with his masters collection, and inquire as to when Petronius is expected to return, as I would like to meet with him when he does.

Then pen a letter of introduction for myself, explaining that I am a wizard from Donhawice, that I will be staying in Narseus for a while and that Magistrate Alexandrus mentioned his personal library, and that I'm duly impressed with it. Etc. Basically make it sound like a polite "hey, wizards are all alumni, and I'm saying hello because hey...we're both wizards. Let's hang out." Only more formal than that. Don't mention anything about current events or the Radhans. Especially don't mention that I'm staying at the Radhan estate.

Give it to the butler to give to Petronius when he returns.


Next:

 * Go find the exit point for that tunnel while the landmarks are still fresh in my mind. Not going in, just want to make sure I'll be able to find it later.
 * Go find a locksmith and attempt to purchase a set of locksmiths tools "for a retainer." All I really need is the basic hook, rake and tension wrench, but I'm willing to buy a more complete smithing set to maintain the illusion that it's actually for a fledgling craftsman rather than for picking locks.
 * Go to a scribal store and purchase a 100 stack of the "low quality" parchment mentioned here. (I've already used two pieces of high quality vellum I started with for unimportant purposes. Time to stop that.)
 * Attempt to procure a ninja suit. A head to toe sneaky black outfit with a facemask. or similar. Something that I can wear so that if I'm seen while wearing it, observers will think "female thief" not "female elf thief." Attempt to do this in a way that does not raise eyebrows. This might require some sewing on my part, but should not be terribly complicated. Worst case, buy a long sleeve shirt, sew the neck closed, cut out eyeholes and use the arms to tie it to my neck. it does not need to be beautiful. It needs to be functional.
 * Return to the Radhan estate. Politely and gently swear Erwin to secrecy about what I'm to tell him: Explain that both the Marshal and Mayor refused to allow me to see the Baron. But, that I "arranged" to see him anyway. Don't go into detail how. Explain that he seems to be in good health, though justifiably angry over his incarceration. Explain that I offered to free him, but that doing so would mean he would be a wanted man and would need to flee town, possibly with Lorsen's entire militia after him. So it was agreed that he would stay imprisoned while I attempted to clear his name. Point out to Erwin that I'm telling him this because he seems both a good and reliable man who is genuinely concerned for the Baron, but that it's in the Baron's best interest that he not tell anyone that I've seen him covertly.
 * Ask Erwin to arrange to have his 13 year old son (still needs a name) here tomorrow morning. I will interview him and if I find him acceptable, he may enter into my service immediately.

Have dinner. After that, assuming it's say...9pm, and assuming that crazy early-waking goat-herder people think dawn is what's meant by "in the morning" that gives me a good 9 hours to myself. So...let's invest 3 hours until midnight into "spell research/reagent processing/etc." do my elf trance from midnight to 4am. Then burn my daily prestidigitation to clean my clothes, and change out my spells:

Spell changes:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Cantrips:
 * 3x prestidigitaion
First level:
 * 1x Sleep
 * 1x charm person

Bathe, preen, weave my hair and then basically hang out, read and relax until Erwin's son shows up.



On apprenticeship

When Erwin's son arrives, I'm going to want to talk to him for about an hour in private to ensure that he is suitable. It was already said that he can read and write, and goatherders probably have an awful lot of time on their hands to think. So it's fairly reasonable that he might be intelligent enough to become an apprentice. But I'll want to talk to him to make sure. And get a feel for his personality. Make sure he's not angry or mean by nature, or a chronic lier, or anything like that.

Assuming I find him suitable, we'll need to establish rules, and come  to an understanding of what is expected of him. Here are the relevant points:

Circumstance of his service

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

He's a bit old for this. Ordinarily I would take a page around ages 10-12 for a year or two to build a relationship and get to know them before deciding whether to take them on as a squire around age 12 or 13. He's already 13. Good time to be made a squire, but a but late to start out as a page. I'm taking him because his father is a good man, and I therefore assume that he will be a good man too. (Make him feel good about it.) But, because of his age, while his title will be "page" I'm going to go ahead and give him the benefit of a doubt because of his heritage, assume that he will be a good and suitable squire once I decide to grant him that title, and therefore expect everything of him now that I would expect of a squire. Which means teaching him my profession, my trade, and a whole bunch of other things that probably never occurred to him. For example, being a knight means knowing a great deal more than merely how to fight. A knight has to know how to clean and maintain his weapons, how to show proper to respect to his liege, how to dance and court a lady....many things that have nothing to do with fighting. Similarly, there will be a lot of things I'm going to teach him that have nothing to do with my visible functions as a scribe and noble. I expect him to learn what I teach.

(Note: be careful to phrase this such that he does not get the impression that he is to be trained to be a wizard. That's exactly my intent. But don't tell him that's my intent.)

Rules:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

 * He must never lie to me.
 * He is to follow my instructions. Note that "follow my instructions" is #2. 'Don't lie to me' is #1. There might be occasions in which blindly following my instructions might become unwise due to unexpected circumstances. If I instruct him to go into town to deliver a letter, and when he arrives the town is being invaded by orcs, returning to inform me of the invasion might be preferable to trying to sneak past the orcs to deliver the letter. Yes, follow my instructions ...but be mindful of circumstance.
 * He is to be respectful and refer to me as either "My Lady" or "Lady Aduial" as the situation warrants. I expect decorum, but I'm not so conceited as to expect him to call me "master."
 * He is not to see me as an object of sexual desire. Just be blunt with him on this. Tell him that yes...it's entirely possible I might be the most attractive woman he's ever seen in his entire life. I understand. But regardless of what he thinks he sees, he needs to understand that I am not human. (Stand up, spread my arms and [Cast prestidigitation] to make a firework and swirly light display that would make the Great and Powerful Trixie proud) "I am a hundred year old wizard filled with the power of the cosmos!" (Turn off pretty lights and sit back down. Let's see if we can instill a healthy amount of fear so that he realizes I'm no mere mortal, but not so much fear that he decides he'd rather be herding goats.) Also, from previous experience I've found that it has seriously disruptive effect on a teacher/student relationship. So fantasize about other women. Not me.

 * If he gets anyone pregnant, his service will be terminated. If he seduces the maid, that's not my problem. But if he gets her pregnant, that's a problem. Simply explain that contrary to what his religious teachers may claim, sex is not evil, and this rule is not motivated by moral or philosophical positions, but rather because it can be terribly inconvenient, and that I'm not interested in inheriting the problems that come from it. Offer him the suggestion that if he needs release, he can take care of it himself in his room. Also point out that while that peasant girl he knows might seem awfully pretty now...after 10 years in my service it's entirely possible that he might be rich. Not that I'm going to make him rich, but that if he wants to be rich someday, it is an attainable goal. Point to the house and say that if he really wants he could probably live in a house like this someday. And while that might seem unimaginably optimistic now, the fact is that ten years from now he might not really care about things like owning a house like this. But that if he does, it can be arranged. And...if 10 years from now he's rich and has a house like this...suddenly his marital options will be quite a lot better than they are now. That peasant girl he's always wanted might seem pretty good now, but his station in life is going to rise, and that peasant girl might not seem so great once it does. The "don't get anyone pregnant" rule doesn't mean that he's entirely forbidden from "partaking of women." But it might be in his best interest that he doesn't if he wants to remain in my service. But if he really does fall in love with a girl so deeply that he's willing to give up the life I'm offering him...I'll understand. I want him to be happy in his new life and grateful for the opportunity I'm giving him. Not resentful that that he settled for transient things like power and prestige at the price of love. "You humans...live such a short time. It's best to remember what the genuinely important things are and make decisions accordingly. An opportunity is only as valuable as what is offered is desired."
 * He will be permitted to own money. I'm not going to be paying him, and it's unlikely to come up anytime soon, but over the course of his service, it's not unlikely that he may find occasion to offer some useful service to a third party who might be willing to pay him for it. If someone tips him a copper for carrying water one day while he's in town, he's not expected to hand it over to me upon his return. How to handle money well is something that I expect him to learn at some point. However, I may occasionally give him my money for the purpose of running purchase errands and he must be careful to never intermingle my money, with his money.
 * Don't interrupt my trance/spell memorization time unless there's a very good reason.

General expectations. What I expect and what he can expect:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

 * This is a standard unpaid intern/servant deal. He does menial labor. I make sure that he is fed and clothed, and teach him a useful trade. It lasts until either I release him from my service, or I wake up and find him gone. Preferably the former, but if he sneaks off in the middle of the night I'm unlikely to drag him back in chains. Assuming he does well and I decide to grant the the title of squire, it will probably last at least 5 and no more than 10 years. However, I generally stay in contact with my students if nothing else because you humans are so painfully short-lived.

 * He is my page. He follows my rules, and he is answerable to me. If I say one thing and his father, his preacher and his friends all say something else...I expect him to listen to me. The rules for a knight, a peasant, a merchant, or king are all different, and what may be a crime for one person might not be a crime for another. He's part of my world now, so he is beholden to my rules. Not the rules of his former life.

 * Warn him that it will be very much like engaging in an entirely new physical activity, and that he might be sore a lot. When he first started herding goats, his muscles probably took time to adapt. This will be similar. It may take him a few weeks of being uncomfortable before he adapts. And many of the "muscles" I ask him to use are going to be mental muscles. To be useful to me, he's going to have to learn a great deal.

 * Sleep. He's probably been taught that waking up with the sun is healthy, wise, morally proper, and all sorts of other silly things. Acknowledge that in his former life, waking early and sleeping at night might have served some purpose. It doesn't in his new life. I really don't care when he sleeps. If he's up until dawn doing something important and then sleeps until noon, I don't care in the least. It will be up to him to choose his own sleeping schedule. Or to not have one. However, explain that when I require him, he will need to be available. And if that means waking up after 2 hours of sleep to run errands for me...so be it. Point out that as a "a hundred year old being filled with cosmic power" I don't actually sleep myself. I meditate to rest my mind for magical work, but if I go several days without doing so, it's not really a big deal. Consequently, if he tries to always be awake during the day...it's possible he might not get as much sleep over the next few years as he's had over the previous few. On occasion it's possible my work will not even begin until after dark. He's advised to get sleep when he can. If that's at night, so be it. If that's sleeping a few hours past sunup, that's fine. If that's taking a midday nap while I'm away, whatever.

 * Physical exertion. Acknowledge that his new life will probably not be as physically demanding as his old life. His father spoke well of him, and described him as a boy who was "not afraid of hard work." But that as far as I'm concerned, if it's hard, you're doing it wrong. Yes, there will be plenty of errand running and grunt work, but he will be a riding horse, not a plow horse.

 * Cleanliness. In general I don't expect him to clean up after me. I don't sleep, so I don't soil bedsheets. And I use magic to clean my clothes, so cleaning up my messes just isn't something that's likely to come up very often and it certainly won't be part of any daily routine. However, I do expect him to be clean, and I expect him to keep his clothes clean. There are two reasons for this: 1) much of my work involves very expensive writing materials. Amongst the things I will be teaching him, the "trade" of being a scribe is one of them. Writing materials are sensitive to dirt. It's important to not smudge them. 2) I am, as mentioned, a hundred year old being filled with cosmic power...and it happens that my sense of smell is considerably more keen than humans. And honestly...it bothers me when you people don't bathe regularly.

 * Downtime. Fact is...he's going to have a lot of downtime. As a goatherder, you probably don't often have days off. As my page, the actual "work" is likely to be irregular. There will be times when he has more appointed tasks than he can complete in a day, and other times where he has no appointed  tasks at all. It's going to be inconsistent. It will generally be expected that that downtime be filled with "private studies" but I understand that it may be impractical to sit and "privately study" for 12 hours at a time simply for lack of mental endurance. There may occasionally be days like that, and it will be up to him to fill that time in a manner that causes no one any trouble.

 * Protection. It's not really his job to protect me. Again...100 year old wizard. I'm not claiming to be invincible, but I'm not as delicate as I look. If we should happen to find ourselves in a life threatening situation, and he has an opportunity to flee...go for it. If the black knight tries to stab me...don't jump in the way of the sword. And no matter what you do, never put me in a situation where I need to endanger my own life to rescue you from some situation that you got yourself into while trying to rescue me. I have 107 years more experience getting away from precarious situations than you do. If we're facing down a dragon and you see a chance to escape...escape and plan to meet up with me later because I also escaped. Don't plan to come back and rescue me from the jaws of death. Because I probably won't be there anymore by the time you do.

 * Decorum. He is to be polite. Not only to me,  but others as well. His conduct will reflect on me. So speak well and act well.

 * Quality of life, and instability of life. Explain that his quality of life is likely to massively improve. He will probably be eating better, living better and dressing better than he ever has. Point to the platinum and gold jewelry I wear. "Tonight you will sleep in a bed and your own father will probably serve your meal. You'll need to be comfortable with that kind of thing."

"However...you can't get too comfortable with it. I am, amongst other things, one of the kings advisers. You, until today, were a peasant. But...while the life of an adviser on the surface appears to be much nicer than the life of a peasant...everybody always needs peasants. If the king were to be deposed tomorrow, the new ruler would still need people to herd goats. I, on the other hand, would be out of a job. Peasants are never run out of town for being decadent. Nobles like myself sometimes are. The life of a goat herder is always stable, provided he cares well enough for his goats. The life of a scribe, a scholar, an adviser, a noble, a diplomat...is not so stable. One of the trades I will teach you is that of a scribe. If one day nobody buys goats, a goat herder can still drink milk and eat cheese. If one day nobody needs scribal work done...parchment doesn't taste very good. Appreciate your quality of life, but don't become so accustomed to it that you can't live without it. Even I have occasionally slept on the ground."

 * Journal. I expect him to keep a daily journal. I will supply him with writing materials, and he will be expected to write every day. Partly this is to "work the muscle" of writing, as...again, learning the scribal profession is one of the things I will teach him. Partly it will also be for him, as years from now he may wish to look back on his thoughts from these early years. From my point of view it's not really important what he writes in his journal. He can write about what he did that day. He can write love poems for peasant girls. He can write about what he wants his life to be like in the future. Whatever. But he must write.

 * All questions are valid. He is permitted to ask me anything on any topic. Understand that there is a proper time for questions. If he has something delicate to ask, ask when we are in private. But understand that no topic is forbidden. He might have been embarrassed earlier to have a lady such as myself speak so frankly with him about sex, pregnancy and masturbation earlier. But ours is a profession of knowledge and truth. These things are not accomplished through secrecy, or by hiding behind pride or tradition. If I instruct him in some task that he does not understand or disagrees with, it is better for him to ask me why than to simply take it on faith that I'm right. I may well be right. But it will become important for him to understand why things are as they are just as much as it is to understand what they are.

 * I'm no slave driver, and I'm not big on punishment. I expect that he will be useful to me. And he in turn will receive a great deal of knowledge that can change his life for the better. It's a relationship we both benefit from. It doesn't benefit me to work him so hard he breaks, and if he misbehaves to the point that punishment is required, then I'd rather simply dismiss him than waste my time bending him to my will. He needs to choose to be here.

With all that said, if I feel he's suitable, and he agrees to abide by my rules and to serve me well, then *poof* I make him my servant/page/squire/thingy. Take him out and introduce him to his father as "name" the page, servant of Lady Aduial of Lalatho-dor. Ask Erwin to give him a bedroom in the house, and tell the boy he has half an hour to eat and bathe if he hasn't already. We're going to town.

[mainiac]

((Note about those laundrt spells you cast every day: they're counting less then the usual prep time because they are cast without time constraints and are getting only light use.  So normally Aduial puts about 10 hours (a days work according to a decadent wizardly standard of living) into a spell at her highest level.  A level below that takes about a quarter of the time (if she had more levels it would be 1/9th for two levels below, 1/16 for three levels below).  So while prestidigitation would take her 2.5 to cast normally it's only taking her about half an hour of work because it's only being used briefly and immediately after preparation.  It still counts against the daily spell slots normally though.  But while impressing the boy required a bit of work she isn't wasting many hours of work doing the laundry in case you were wondering.))

The butler basically gives the same answer that Guild Master Theon gave, he expected his master to be back by now but there keep being delays.  Aduial heads out into the town and acquires the desired items discretely and without any fuss.

She then heads out the east gate of the city and tracks down the exit that she had previously discovered.  It's a false celler door hidden among the crumbling remains of some old stone building.  But while she was able to easily open the doorway from the inside, she can't budge it from the outside.  If there is a pressure plate like in the study, she is unable to find it's hiding place.  With the hour getting late she heads back to the Radhan estate, going around the city as the gates have already closed for the night.  She arrives to find that a meal is ready and waiting for her.  Erwin apparently decided to compensate for his earlier poor showing by preparing some freshly procured choice cuts of meats served with the proper breads and cheeses.  There isn't' a vegetable to be found on the plate as befits a noble feast for one.  Erwin is delighted with the news that his master is alive and well and asks permission to pen a letter to the mistress.  He expresses admiration that Aduial was able to contact the man so quickly.

The next morning Erwin introduces his son Winston after serving the lady with breakfast.  The lad seems a bit on the small side for 13 but he at least knows how to contain his shyness despite being obviously quite nervous.  Despite his peasant background he is well groomed and dressed, his clothes seem so smartly done that Aduial suspects his mother was up all night making them.  The father leaves and the lady get's a sense for the lad's abilities.  He seems pretty bright.  When she asks him what he thinks of the life of a page he describes the typical duties but says that he suspects she wants him to be an apprentice wizard as well but he doesn't know what an apprentice wizard does.

The boy is obedient enough to listen attentively and no ask any stupid question as Aduial explains his new life to him.  He meekly accepts everything she suggests ((event the squiky bits that the GM really didn't need to know about...)) and is appropriately grateful for the terms and conditions that she lays out.

The boy is introduced to his father as Page Winston of Aduial.  The father courteously bows to the lady and the page in turn in a courtly fashion before resuming his proper stance and asking if anything else will be required as is his duty.  But his proper manner can not hide the joy he feels for a smile creeps onto his face despite his discipline and his eyes water just from glancing at his son by the lady's side.  The two of them leave the beaming father behind and head into the town.

When they arrive at the stables outside the gates they all but one of the stablehands has departed and there is a clanging bell coming from inside the town.  Winston's eyes widen at the sound and he excitedly informs Aduial that he knows the sound.  "That's the bell atop the tower of the guardhouse, mistress!  There must be a fire in the town!"

[LordBucket]

normally Aduial puts about 10 hours (a days work according to a decadent wizardly standard of living) into a spell at her highest level.  A level below that takes about a quarter of the time

...what purpose does it serve to have requirements like this? My present allotment is 3 cantrips and 2 level 1 spells per day. Using your numbers, it would take 27.5 hours of prep time to prepare my daily spells. At level two it will take 40 hours per day. I understand that this is "unspecified reagents and special inks" prep time rather than spell memorization time, but simply looking at the basic numbers it would be completely impossible for a mage to cast their daily allotment of spells every day. Even working 12 hours a day it would take a level 2 mage more than 3 days to prepare one days' worth of spells.

she isn't wasting many hours of work doing the laundry in case you were wondering

...see, that's the thing: it never occurred to me to think she might be spending hours of spell prep to do her laundry until this post just now after two weeks of gameplay that you're telling me it's the exception that it not take that long.

Honestly it feels like you're changing the rules on me. I understand this was supposed to be a "low magic" campaign, but the entire premise of the story arc appears to be that a roughly level 2 mage is casting custom spells of about level 4 or 5, that would typically require he be level 7-9. That this is possible is something you didn't feel the need to mention until yesterday when I pointed out the multiple-orders-of-magnitude discrepency between the duration of my charm and the charm affecting the townsfolk. Magic items were supposed to be so rare that you came up with the knack system, but nevertheless halfling merchant caravans are transporting magic anti-elf weapons, and Petronius has a permanently enchanted light. Because it makes so much sense to invest what must have been months and months of enchanting time to save the couple coppers he would otherwise have spent on lamp oil.

You're trying so hard to make magic rare...but the way you're applying it is very inconsistent. And having things come up after weeks of gameplay like "oh, by the way all your spells that you thought didn't use reagents actually do" and "oh, by the way a level 1 spell takes 10 hours of prep time" is jarring.

Erwin apparently decided to compensate for his earlier poor showing by preparing some freshly procured choice cuts of meats served with the proper breads and cheeses.  There isn't' a vegetable to be found on the plate as befits a noble feast for one.

Take care to make sure he feels appreciated, but politely let him know that as an elf an all-meat meal like he's prepared is not exactly palatable. Aduial isn't a vegetarian or anything. Sure, she'll eat meat. But "slab of steak" and "leg of mutton" to her is probably about as appetizing as "bucket o' lard" might be to you.

Apologize for not mentioning it earlier. Invite Erwin to join me for the meal, as surely he would enjoy it more than I. Make little sandwiches out of the bread, meat and cheese.

Erwin is delighted with the news that his master is alive
and well and asks permission to pen a letter to the mistress.

Don't refuse him persmission, but point out that if the letter is intercepted and word gets back to the Marshal...the man will probably be moved to a more secure cell and it will be more difficult for me to see him again. Erwin knows the Radhans far better than I do, and he knows the circumstances in which the mistress left. So if she's spending her days crying oceans of tears, convinced her husband is going to be executed...it might be worth the risk. We don't want to free the Baron only for him to find that his wife has committed suicide out of grief.

Make it clear that I think it's a tactically unwise thing to do, but allow him to make the decision.

"That's the bell atop the tower of the guardhouse, mistress!
There must be a fire in the town!"

Stop. Look at him.

"We covered this, Winston. You are to refer to me as "My Lady" or "Lady Aduial." In certain situations other titles might also be appropriate. "Mistress" is not.

There must be a fire in the town!"

Appear nonplussed. Shrug, and acknowledge to Winston that this might be something I'm unlikely to be of much help with.

all but one of the stablehands has departed

Ask the stablehand what the commotion is about before deciding whether to enter town. If it's just a fire, go ahead and go in. Be very mindful of the fact that there are a number of reasons for sounding the alarm that have nothing to do with fire.

[mainiac]

normally Aduial puts about 10 hours (a days work according to a decadent wizardly standard of living) into a spell at her highest level.  A level below that takes about a quarter of the time

...what purpose does it serve to have requirements like this? My present allotment is 3 cantrips and 2 level 1 spells per day. Using your numbers, it would take 27.5 hours of prep time to prepare my daily spells. At level two it will take 40 hours per day. I understand that this is "unspecified reagents and special inks" prep time rather than spell memorization time, but simply looking at the basic numbers it would be completely impossible for a mage to cast their daily allotment of spells every day. Even working 12 hours a day it would take a level 2 mage more than 3 days to prepare one days' worth of spells.

It's intentional that it would take several days to cast a single days worth of spells, that's what I set out to arrange.  I didn't want to nerf a wizards daily spellcasting (making them underpowered) but am trying to explain why wizards are sparing enough with their magic to make this a low fantasy world.  In normal DnD it makes perfect sense for every adventurer to have an ever burning torch, any 3rd level wizard could churn out 300 of them a year in his spare time.  That everburning torch in Petronius' library represents a substantial commitment of time from a pretty senior wizard.  Aduial is currently using magic at about the sparing pace that I consider appropriate to the setting.  She doesn't go tossing it around for nothing but breaks it out when it's useful enough to justify it.  I'm just trying to explain why every other wizard is doing the same because I want the pieces of the world to fit together if possible.

Honestly it feels like you're changing the rules on me. I understand this was supposed to be a "low magic" campaign, but the entire premise of the story arc appears to be that a roughly level 2 mage is casting custom spells of about level 4 or 5, that would typically require he be level 7-9. That this is possible is something you didn't feel the need to mention until yesterday when I pointed out the multiple-orders-of-magnitude discrepency between the duration of my charm and the charm affecting the townsfolk. Magic items were supposed to be so rare that you came up with the knack system, but nevertheless halfling merchant caravans are transporting magic anti-elf weapons, and Petronius has a permanently enchanted light.

I will tell you right now that spells of level 4 or 5 played no role in any of the events described so far.  Don't think about magic in the sledgehammer approach.  Does it take level 4 spells to drive a man mad with anger?  A man with a history of having previously exacted a bloody revenge on his enemies?  Magic is useful for the task but it could have been accomplished without so much as a cantrip.  Nobody is mass charming the townsfolk, they are simply the victims of politics.  My grandfather went to his death thinking that Richard Nixon was misunderstood and lied about.  It wasn't magic, it was identity politics.  Marshal Loresen was the hero of the city, that's why the populace is so slow to move against him.  Yes there was an everburning torch, but that was a prize possession of a man who comes from a line of wizards and has a villa with tons of expensive books.  And yes there was the magical dagger, but that's a very, very special item, the kind that power-hungry wizards covet and sensible wizards destroy at once.

I left open the possibility of level 4 or 5 spells because they might be cool campaign possibilities for later adventures.  You had been talking about libraries and that got me thinking about epic magics.  That's how this works, I keep hashing out the future of the setting as I go along.  If you think I'm making a bad choice then please speak up, nothing is set in stone.  And I'm quite faliable, I make mistakes and don't always realize when something might be jarring like the investment of time that spell casting represents.  But I promise you that the crux of the mystery you are investigating is not an asspull or dues-ex-magika.  The man behind the curtain is playing by the same rules, he isn't overpowered and none of the addendum I've written so far have been to help him.

Again, if this is confusing to the part where it's sapping your desire to continue the game just say that it's confusing and I'll do my best to fix things.  I'm liking the dynamic where you play the role of the active explorer in the world but there is a danger of you getting buried in the details.

Erwin apparently decided to compensate for his earlier poor showing by preparing some freshly procured choice cuts of meats served with the proper breads and cheeses.  There isn't' a vegetable to be found on the plate as befits a noble feast for one.

Take care to make sure he feels appreciated, but politely let him know that as an elf an all-meat meal like he's prepared is not exactly palatable. Aduial isn't a vegetarian or anything. Sure, she'll eat meat. But "slab of steak" and "leg of mutton" to her is probably about as appetizing as "bucket o' lard" might be to you.

Apologize for not mentioning it earlier. Invite Erwin to join me for the meal, as surely he would enjoy it more than I. Make little sandwiches out of the bread, meat and cheese.

Erwin is delighted with the news that his master is alive
and well and asks permission to pen a letter to the mistress.

Don't refuse him persmission, but point out that if the letter is intercepted and word gets back to the Marshal...the man will probably be moved to a more secure cell and it will be more difficult for me to see him again. Erwin knows the Radhans far better than I do, and he knows the circumstances in which the mistress left. So if she's spending her days crying oceans of tears, convinced her husband is going to be executed...it might be worth the risk. We don't want to free the Baron only for him to find that his wife has committed suicide out of grief.

Make it clear that I think it's a tactically unwise thing to do, but allow him to make the decision.

Erwin is disappointed in himself that he has dishonored his guest for two nights in a row now.  He promises that he will do better in the future.

He is a bit unsure of himself as he accepts the lady's permission and hears her explain why the letter might not be a good idea.  Disappointed he agrees to the sensible nature of her plan.  The baroness will just have to wait for any news, she isn't the foolish type to go throwing herself off a bridge.

"That's the bell atop the tower of the guardhouse, mistress!
There must be a fire in the town!"

Stop. Look at him.

"We covered this, Winston. You are to refer to me as "My Lady" or "Lady Aduial." In certain situations other titles might also be appropriate. "Mistress" is not.

"I'm sorry, M'lady, it won't happen again." Winston seems properly contrite about it but doesn't waste any time groveling.

There must be a fire in the town!"

Appear nonplussed. Shrug, and acknowledge to Winston that this might be something I'm unlikely to be of much help with.

Winston seems rather taken aback by this response.  "I thought a wizard could just summon a magical wind or- but I don't know anything about magic, My Lady."

all but one of the stablehands has departed

Ask the stablehand what the commotion is about before deciding whether to enter town. If it's just a fire, go ahead and go in. Be very mindful of the fact that there are a number of reasons for sounding the alarm that have nothing to do with fire.
[/quote]

The stablehand seems excited and just as curious about that question as you are.  He figures it must be a fire because the bells only ring in times of invasion or emergency.  He has been trying to yell to the gate guards, who could probably see a fire anywhere in the town but he can not leave his post to get close enough for them to hear him.

[LordBucket]

the kind that power-hungry wizards covet and sensible wizards destroy at once.

Woot. I'm a sensible wizard.

If you think I'm making a bad choice then please speak up

The man behind the curtain is playing by the same rules

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I'm operating under the disadvantage of not knowing preceisely what's going on. It's very possible that explanations could exist to reconcile these issues I'm bringing up. But...if the same rules apply, if there's no double standard here, if a low level wizard can cast level 4-5 spells simply by investing the time, if having an adequate research library allows these special spells to be made, etc. just keep in mind that a few weeks from now I might have that research library, I might have the very specific spell recipe that Petronius used (I'm making some assumptions about that)...and as a simple matter of game mechanics, if I decide to lock myself into privacy for a month to do some particularly epic piece of game-breaking magic, we're unlikely to roleplay out that entire month. It would be a fast forward just like we say "ok, now it's the following day."

The precedent that's being set here is that I myself could cast a level 4 or 5 spell right now if I wanted to just by investing the time.

I will tell you right now that spells of level 4 or 5 played no role in any of the events described so far.  Don't think about magic in the sledgehammer approach.  Does it take level 4 spells to drive a man mad with anger?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

"Induce anger" for one hour per level duration? No, that would be more like a level 1 spell. But what about compelling him to act in accordance with your wishes even when they're contrary to his usual nature and with diminished mental capacity...for at least days at a time with no further input from you?

Re-read the conversation with the mayor. He was not merely angry. He was basically feebleminded (level 5) and acting on a suggestion (level 3) that was still in effect days after the presumed casting time. If the mayor were merely "made angry" for an hour spell duration several days ago at casting time...he wouldn't have been talking to his plants and acting like the village idiot when I spoke to him days later. Nor would he have parroted like a zombie his line about how "we" don't like the Radhans or used his personal dislike as an excuse to refuse me access days after a hypothetical "make target angry" spell would have worn off.

Additionally, standard players handbook mind controll spells have caveats about compelling people to do things they would generally be unwilling to do. Marshal Lorsen did not merely "get angry," He physically attacked a lady who was a noblewoman and the king's adviser. Is that something that he would do while not under the influence of magic? For that matter was it even part of the spell effect that he do it? Did he get a will save to resist being compelled by his anger to attack someone who minutes prior he agreed was being both reasonable and helpful to his cause? I'm guessing not. Erwin, Theon and the Baron have all pointed out that the behavior of these people is materially altered from the norm. They're not merely following suggestions on a specific topic. Their entire personalities and minds have been significantly altered.

The mayor is going in and out of lucidity, the marshal was dazed when I first met him...and both of them appear to be under the influence of an extremely long duration suggestion spell. But even reading the spell description for suggestion, it would not do what we're seeing here, it would not have these kind of vast reaching effects, and it would only last hours, not days.

So...what level spell do you think it would take to accomplish what we're seeing? Because it looks to me like a superpowered suggestion spell strong enough to ovecome the target's nature, with limited feeblemind side effets and massive duration on the order of 50+ times the norm.

Don't think about magic in the sledgehammer approach.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Ok. That's fine. But just remember this conversation when I try to use the mage hand cantrip to kill a level 20 fighter by applying 5 lbs of pressure to his esophagus causing it rupture so he suffocates. Remember this conversation when I use the light cantrip to permanently blind people by casting it on their eyeballs. Remember this conversation when I use the message cantrip to remotely drive people to suicidal insanity by having voices talk to them, or to give the village priest personal instructions from his god.

If Petronius is not casting level 4-5 spells, and instead he's simply cleverly using level 0 and 1 spells to get high level spell effects...that's totally ok.

But just remember that you're the one who set the precedent.

Again, if this is confusing to the part where it's sapping your desire to continue the game just say that it's confusing and I'll do my best to fix things.  I'm liking the dynamic where you play the role of the active explorer in the world but there is a danger of you getting buried in the details.

I've pretty much lost interest in the official story arc. I have no idea what's going on anymore. I had a bunch of theories at one point, but it's been a few days since I've had any theory that adequately explained all the evidence. A week ago I was thinking "it's either A, B or C. And if I do X and get this result, I can eliminate possibility A." Now...I don't see any action I can take to reasonably eliminate or confirm possibilities. I don't have any possibilities at all that explain everything that's going on. You say there's no asspull or deus-ex-magicka here, but those are the only working theories I have left that makes any sense.

Honestly, I kind of feel like you had a general idea of what the situation was, and every time I pursue a reasonable hypothesis, you eliminate it as a possibility. It's like there never was an answer, so I'm not eliminating incorrect choices, but rather I'm handing you things so that you can decide they're not what's going on. I don't see any way to get a positive result. There have been a couple times that I said in the thread that I thought something was probably true, and then BAM your next post something happens to make that very definitely not the case. And consequently, I kind of feel like what I do doesn't really matter because whatever I choose to do is going to be wrong as a result of you becoming aware that I considered it a possibility. And worse, this has been going on long enough that I get the impression you've started to forget some of the clues you've dropped, and I no longer see any possible resolution for all of this that won't result in me saying "but that can't be true because of this, this and this." That kind of thing has already happened a couple times for sure. Remember, we apparently had different ideas about what my entire circumstances of my being here in the first place was. When such a major misunderstanding has occurred about something so plot pivotal, it's difficult to take any of these myriad smaller clues very seriously. I'm totally convinced that when I finally do find out "what's going on" I'm going to ask you about all the piles of unresolved threads and breadcrumbs left lying over the place and you're going to say "oh, that was absolutely nothing at all. That was just something I threw out there but you never pursued it, so it was never developed and had no meaning whatsoever." And if that's the case, and only the things I choose to pursue will be developed, then I don't really care anymore about Lorsen or the mayor or what Petronius is up to or why he's not here in the midst of some some vague and unspecified plot to do something for some reason.

So...again, losing interest in the story. Pretty much ready to just kill these people, forget about the official questline, and do my own thing. That's why I'm starting a library. That's why I spent two hours typing up rules and conditions for Winston. I really don't care about Lorsen or the mayor anymore. Petronius is just a guy I have to come up with an excuse to kill so I can steal his books. There might or might not be cultists out there. There might or might not be a demon. Petronius might or might not be the mastermind behind some plot. Or he might be a puppet. Or not. The customs master might or might not be the mayor's mind control handler. And honestly I have no idea what Baron Radhan has to do with any of this, whether he's relevant to the plot or just some random guy who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I don't see any way to find out any of these things for sure.  And now you're throwing out new plothooks about scrying-proof corpses, merchant debts and secret tunnels. So yeah...I have no way to know what's relevant anymore. Feels like a treadmill. As soon as I exhaust one train of possibilities you just toss a bunch more clues onto the fire to lead things in a new direction. And if that's really what's going on, I'd rather choose my own direction.

Winston seems rather taken aback by this response.  "I thought a wizard could just summon a magical wind or- but I don't know anything about magic, My Lady."

Ahh. A proper apprentice question. Though be it implied rather than asked.

: Well, yes. Under the right circumstances it is possible to do such a thing. But the workings of magic is not so different from the workings of the mundane. You might as well say, for example, that "knights can use lances." And yes, there are plenty of knights trained in the use of the lance. But what if a knight has trained only with swords, bows, maces and shields, and has never trained with a lance? If one day you put that knight on a horse, give him a lance and send him to a jousting tournament, he's probably not going to do very well. Magic is similar. Yes, there are wizards able to conjure up magical winds, but I happen to not be one of those wizards. My skills lie elsewhere. Additionally, magic needs to be specifically prepared in advance for a particular purpose. Imagine, for example, that the knight was trained in the use of a lance. But nobody told him about the tournament that day, and he showed up to town carrying only his sword and shield because he didn't think he'd need it. Would he be able to compete without a lance? Magic is similar. Even if a wizard has a particular skill, he must still be properly prepared to actually use it.

Also, one must be very careful in the application of magic. Even if I were to conjure up a magical wind right now, doing so would be unlikely to put out the fire. Fire feeds on air. If you've ever seen a blacksmith at work, you'll remember that they use a bellows to feed air to the fire to make it burn more hotly. Conjuring up a huge blast of wind would most likely simply make a townfire burn with more intensity. Exactly the opposite of the desired effect.

He figures it must be a fire because the bells only ring in times of invasion or emergency.

...yeah, that's not particularly encouraging.

I assume Winston and I have separate horses, because he obviously didn't walk five miles and riding on one horse with me between his legs isn't exactly keeping with the spirit of previous conversations.

question: Do we see smoke?

Take the horses into town. Attempt to identify the cause of the alarm.

: Winston, we don't yet know if there is a fire. And even if there is, we don't know who or what started it. Dragons start fires. Orcs start fires. Rebellious mobs start fires. Successfully summoned demons start fires. This may turn out to be simply a spilled oil lamp, but if it turns out to be more than that, you are to flee and return home.

[mainiac]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I'm operating under the disadvantage of not knowing preceisely what's going on. It's very possible that explanations could exist to reconcile these issues I'm bringing up. But...if the same rules apply, if there's no double standard here, if a low level wizard can cast level 4-5 spells simply by investing the time, if having an adequate research library allows these special spells to be made, etc. just keep in mind that a few weeks from now I might have that research library, I might have the very specific spell recipe that Petronius used (I'm making some assumptions about that)...and as a simple matter of game mechanics, if I decide to lock myself into privacy for a month to do some particularly epic piece of game-breaking magic, we're unlikely to roleplay out that entire month. It would be a fast forward just like we say "ok, now it's the following day."

The precedent that's being set here is that I myself could cast a level 4 or 5 spell right now if I wanted to just by investing the time.

Well a level 1 wizard preparing a 4th level scroll would take about 90 years.  Stuff would keep happening in the meantime.  If Aduial had first showed up in town and then spent a week not investigating then by the end of the week Xancoulpar would be rampaging through the town.

I will tell you right now that spells of level 4 or 5 played no role in any of the events described so far.  Don't think about magic in the sledgehammer approach.  Does it take level 4 spells to drive a man mad with anger?

[spoiler]
"Induce anger" for one hour per level duration? No, that would be more like a level 1 spell. But what about compelling him to act in accordance with your wishes even when they're contrary to his usual nature and with diminished mental capacity...for at least days at a time with no further input from you?

Re-read the conversation with the mayor. He was not merely angry. He was basically feebleminded (level 5) and acting on a suggestion (level 3) that was still in effect days after the presumed casting time. If the mayor were merely "made angry" for an hour spell duration several days ago at casting time...he wouldn't have been talking to his plants and acting like the village idiot when I spoke to him days later. Nor would he have parroted like a zombie his line about how "we" don't like the Radhans or used his personal dislike as an excuse to refuse me access days after a hypothetical "make target angry" spell would have worn off.

It's possible for a 10th level wizard to cast feeble mindedness but it's also possible for a level 1 character to poison an old man so that dementia sets in if he has the poisons and the man's trust.  It's possible to drill ideas into a crazy old man's mind, especially if you have the means to make him lucid from time to time.  It would probably require somebody close at hand though.

When I was saying "don't think of magic like a sledgehammer" I didn't mean that spells of cause aneurysm were the logical thing to do.  I meant that sometimes magic is the best way between two points but it's best when targeted carefully.  Marshal Lorsen is carrying around ghosts from the past and somebody knows what his issues are.  That's what makes him manipulable.

I guess in general I've been too obscure though.  I don't fault you, I'm trying to maintain an appropriate level of mystery and guess I overshot the mark.  I'll try to make things less ambiguous going forward.

-------------------------

Winston nods to Aduials instructions and gives a simple "Yes, My Lady."

Aduail and Winston leave the horses with the stablehand and hurry to the front gate where they can look into the town and see smoke over the roofs of the town.  It's looks like it's coming from a bit west of the center of town, in the neighborhood of Marshal Lorsen's home most likely.

[LordBucket]

Aduail and Winston leave the horses with the stablehand

That's very specifically what I said to not do. There is reason to believe there might be a demon. A demon with a special dislike of elves. I can't outrun a demon. We're taking the horses. If anyone files a complaint I'll pay the fine later.

and hurry to the front gate where they can look into the town and see smoke over the roofs of the town.  It's looks like it's coming from a bit west of the center of town, in the neighborhood of Marshal Lorsen's home most likely.

*shrug*
 Ok. Go look. Maintain sufficient distance from the fire to avoid spooking the horses. If we arrive and Lorsen's house itself is on fire, tie up the horses a reasonably safe distance away, tell Winston to wait, and go in. In particular I'm looking for two people: 1) Baron Radhan 2) Marshal Lorsen. While I do this,  pay attention to whether anyone else is around to see me go in.

[LordBucket]

As per PM, here's my running list of unresolved questions:

Running theories
 * There is probably really a cult.
 * Petronius is probably involved with that cult. To what extent is unclear.
 * The mayor and the marshal are probably controlled puppets.
 * The customs master is probably involved somehow, but the extent of his involvement is unclear. Most likely guess, he's the mayor's handler to make sure things continue according to plan while Petronius is away. He might or might not actually know anything about the cult itself.
 * The "plan" of the cult might be to sacrifice the child with the knife to a demon to summon it to this plane. The recovered writings are the only evidence to support any of this. But the theory does reasonably explain certain puzzle pieces like the existence of the knife and the child that don't particularly fit anywhere else and it doesn't appear to contradict anything.

Unresolved questions
 * Why does anybody think halflings are involved in the cult? The only evidence of it at all is vague "he said she said he saids" from people who are far more suspicious. When a guy walks into a diner with blood on his jacket and slurring his speech like he's on drugs, and says to call 911 because two guys who were definitely not him murdered a man for the $104 he had in the wallet in his left back pants pocket...that's not exactly convincing.
 * Why were both the Marshal and Mayor exhibiting dazed/zombified symptoms? You've implied while in "out of GM mode" that the mayor was being poisoned and the marshal was being manipulated. But both of them went in and out of acting lucid and rational. Why?
 * If there was no magic at work, how do you justify that the Marshal, who NPCs have described as a good man, physically attacked a 1) Lady 2) Noblewoman 3) The king's adviser 4) Who was being helpful to his cause 5) Who he had specifically acknowledged was operating within the bounds of law 6) Who he had minutes prior acknowledged was giving him good advice  7) Who he had just minutes prior expressed pleasure to discover that she was not allied with his enemies in Dmarra? Because it does not make sense to me that he would do such a complete 180 like that just because "oh, well he was angry."
 * If there was no magic at work and Petronius was just using poison and/or manipulation on the Marshal and Mayor...then why did the entire town council blindly go along with what was going on? It was explicity stated on multiple occassions that they did. Theon specifically complained that they were trying to run the town into the ground. Why? Or was Petronius poisoning the entire council too?
 * If the Marshal was not under the effect of magic, why did he refuse that same noblewoman/helpful/king's adviser/etc. access to Baron Radhan, despite apparently wanting things to turn out well for him because they were war buddies? The "official" reason he was denied visitors was that they might relay messages back to the cult. But, as king's advisor/etc. who had just said "hey, yeah...we totally need to destroy that knife...cultists are bad" I was just about the last person in the world he should have suspected of secretly being a cultist. And according to Tadderness, the origin of the "no vistors" rule was Lorsen himself.
 * What's the significance of tattood child? Why did he have tattoos? Why did he speak a variant of my native elven dialect? Why did it matter that he wasn't from the northern wastes?
 * Why was Petronius out of town? Where was he? You would think that with the child and knife arriving, if he had some plot going on that involved those things he would want to be there. The only thing that makes sense to me is that when Lorsen captured both child and knife, he gave up and decided to skip town with no intent to return. But if so...that means that nothing was really wrong at all going into this in the first place. The bad event had already been thwarted and the bad guy left. Why was I ever involved?
 * Why was Baron Radhan so emotionally attached to a halfling glassmaker who was always rude to him? He claims they were doing a "spying" thing together. That doesn't explain the emotional attachment, and from what EWrwin said it appeared that he'd been in the Baron's emply for years before the spying thing ever came up. Why did the Baron hire someone who hated him to do work that he had no use for until a cult conveniently shows up? Why would a minor land baron without even a carpenter or blacksmith hire a glassmaker?
 * Why was that glassmaker always rude to the baron? The stated reason was that it was because Radhan was a half elf. SO what? Why did he care? Why did he choose to work for somebody he didn't like?
 * Why did anybody care about the Baron at all? I understand that he was imprisoned because he was found under suspciious circumstances...but how did it go from him being arrested to multiple mindcontrolled authority figures conspiring to keep anyone from seeing him while in custody? The Baron has to be important to somebody for some reason for all of the attention paid to him to make sense.
 * Who is the girl the Marshal was freaking out over?
 * Why was it "not safe" for me to be in town on day 1 if the Marshal was going after halflings? I am obviously not a halfling. And yet there did appear to be an anti-elf knife. Was I supposed to conclude that Erwin was in on the whole thing because he knew about the anti-elf stuff when there was no reasonable way for him to know about it? How did Erwin know I was in danger?
 * Why did the knife have an anti-elf enchantment on it? At first I assumed that Xancoulpar didn't like elves for some reason and the knife was intended to kill an elf for a sacrifice to please him. But 1) You made it clear on multiple occassions both in and out of "GM mode" that there was a major enchantment on that knife, and there would be no need for an enchantment of any kind to perform a sacrifice, let alone such a major one. 2) There was no indication at all ever, even when I specifically looked up his history, that Xancoulpar cared one tiny bit about elves one way or another.
 * What was the significance of Petronius having spent six years in the clergy? He apparently wasn't a cleric, and he apparently had something to do with a demon. How did that happen?
 * What was the connection between the Mayor, as former mason's guildmaster, and the current guildmason expeting money undisclosed reasons and insisting that the mayor was fine? What was going on there?
 * What was Taddnerness' role in all this? My first impression was that he was in on the conspiracy, and was the guy that Petronius left in charge to keep things running smoothly while he was away. But so far as I can tell he never actually did anything ever at all except give me a dirty look and fail to be bothered when I stared at him. Did he do anything? What? Did he matter? How?
 * Who is Cagny Lorsen and why was he discretely added to the "town council" list two weeks into the game with no actual appearance in-game? Did he have anything to do with anything? Is he just a body added to give room for future expansion? Did he have some pre-determined role that I just never found out about?
 * were there ever any cultists, or was it just Petronius doing all this? Or was petronius a puppet himself for somebody else I never saw? Because if after almost a month of gameplay it turns out that the big bad was somebody who never even alluded to...yeah, that comes across as a last minute asspull. (After much trial and tribulation it is time for the big reveal, and  the real secret bad guy is...Bob. What? Who?)
 * Who/What/How/How was the caravan transporting the knife involved? Were they merchants? Were they cultists? Were they halfling merchants trying to make an innocent buck? Did they know what was going on and just not care? How did they get the knife? Where did it come from? If they weren't actually cultists themselves and were trasnporting it for money, how did they come to be the middleman? How did they find out that there were buyers in Narseus? Did Petronius put out an ad on craigslist "WTB evil knife will pay well." But if they were cultists, then how exactly did they come to be in the posession of an entire merchant caravan and why did they go to all that trouble to transport it so slowly and conspicuously by caravan rather than simply sending one or two guys on horseback? Or better yet, by boat...since Narseus is, after all, a major port. None of this was ever explained.
 * How did the knife come to be in Lorsen's possession? It was stated that it was being transported by the caravan. Ok...how did he get it?
 * What was the significance of halflings at all? Were halflings cultists? If so, why were they apparently being led by a human? Were they incorrectly implicated because they were innocently transporting the knife for profit? Was there prior history? What?
 * What was the significance of the Petronius family debt?
 * What was the signifiance of the money exchange that Theon was asked about? Why did it not happen? What did it have to do with anything?
 * Was the secret tunnel the asspull/false lead it appeared to be? Because Petronius' books were hundreds of years old. He obviously inherited/acquired it somehow. And it seems pretty reasonable to guess that the building the books were in was also something that he acquired.  That tunnel was already there when it came into his possession. He obviously didn't build it for the sole purpose of transporting bodies out of town.
 * Why was Petronius interested in scry-proof corpses? Was he trying to find a corpse? Was he trying to hide one? What corpse? Why? What did it have to do with anything?

[mainiac]

Running theories
 * There is probably really a cult.
 
 - Well if there isn't then someone kidnaps children and acquires evil artifacts recreationally.  (Note, don't take me saying "artifact" to mean that the item is CL 15 or anything.  It's considerably lower, I'm just saying the knife is pretty darn unusual)
 
 * Petronius is probably involved with that cult. To what extent is unclear.
     * What was the significance of the Petronius family debt?
     * Was the secret tunnel the asspull/false lead it appeared to be? Because Petronius' books were hundreds of years old. He obviously inherited/acquired it somehow. And it seems pretty reasonable to guess that the building the books were in was also something that he acquired.  That tunnel was already there when it came into his possession. He obviously didn't build it for the sole purpose of transporting bodies out of town.
    * Why was Petronius interested in scry-proof corpses? Was he trying to find a corpse? Was he trying to hide one? What corpse? Why? What did it have to do with anything?
   
 - What nefarious deeds has Petronius done that make you suspect he is up to no good?
    * Take why he is out of town for instance.  The Earl Albaices of Kerrleeds owed money to a man of Narseus who is now deceased.  It's in the interest of the town that the estate collect on the debt because that brings wealth into the town.  It's a pretty legitimate and pretty mundane reason for Lorsen to be gone.
   * Yes, the tunnel is pretty old.  He wouldn't have built it for one simple nefarious aim.  Rather his ancestors built it because they're wizards and wealthy and established in the community and wizards like to have secret stuff.  The reason you found it is because you rolled a natural 20.
   * As for the reason why Petronius was looking for corpses, I'm just going to point out that Lorsen is rather obsessed with finding someone and for all you know that person might be dead.  Why he'd be asking about scrying proof corpses is presumably because he can't find the corpse if it exists.
 
 * The mayor and the marshal are probably controlled puppets.
 
 - There is evidence that they are being 'manipulated' but 'puppets' indicates that someone else can control their every action
 
 * The customs master is probably involved somehow, but the extent of his involvement is unclear. Most likely guess, he's the mayor's handler to make sure things continue according to plan while Petronius is away. He might or might not actually know anything about the cult itself.
 
 
 * The "plan" of the cult might be to sacrifice the child with the knife to a demon to summon it to this plane. The recovered writings are the only evidence to support any of this. But the theory does reasonably explain certain puzzle pieces like the existence of the knife and the child that don't particularly fit anywhere else and it doesn't appear to contradict anything.
 
 -Well at least I wasn't being obscure about everything

Unresolved questions
 * Why does anybody think halflings are involved in the cult? The only evidence of it at all is vague "he said she said he saids" from people who are far more suspicious. When a guy walks into a diner with blood on his jacket and slurring his speech like he's on drugs, and says to call 911 because two guys who were definitely not him murdered a man for the $104 he had in the wallet in his left back pants pocket...that's not exactly convincing.
 
 - It's not like Lorsen doesn't have any evidence at all, he did find the child and the knife.  But there's also a degree of trust because there isn't a sort of professional heirarchy to watch over him.  Who watches the watchman here?  The mayor?  The other members of the town council are either out of town, drowning in work or suspicious themselves.  So the most likely people to reign him in aren't able at the moment.  There are other people to reign him in but a noble with the backing of the king and a powerful count isn't a bad candidate.
 
 * Why were both the Marshal and Mayor exhibiting dazed/zombified symptoms? You've implied while in "out of GM mode" that the mayor was being poisoned and the marshal was being manipulated. But both of them went in and out of acting lucid and rational. Why?
    * If there was no magic at work, how do you justify that the Marshal, who NPCs have described as a good man, physically attacked a 1) Lady 2) Noblewoman 3) The king's adviser 4) Who was being helpful to his cause 5) Who he had specifically acknowledged was operating within the bounds of law 6) Who he had minutes prior acknowledged was giving him good advice  7) Who he had just minutes prior expressed pleasure to discover that she was not allied with his enemies in Dmarra? Because it does not make sense to me that he would do such a complete 180 like that just because "oh, well he was angry."
    * If there was no magic at work and Petronius was just using poison and/or manipulation on the Marshal and Mayor...then why did the entire town council blindly go along with what was going on? It was explicity stated on multiple occassions that they did. Theon specifically complained that they were trying to run the town into the ground. Why? Or was Petronius poisoning the entire council too?
    * If the Marshal was not under the effect of magic, why did he refuse that same noblewoman/helpful/king's adviser/etc. access to Baron Radhan, despite apparently wanting things to turn out well for him because they were war buddies? The "official" reason he was denied visitors was that they might relay messages back to the cult. But, as king's advisor/etc. who had just said "hey, yeah...we totally need to destroy that knife...cultists are bad" I was just about the last person in the world he should have suspected of secretly being a cultist. And according to Tadderness, the origin of the "no vistors" rule was Lorsen himself.    
   
   
 - Well how dazed were they?
   - The marshal seemed perfectly lucid and rational up until you asked about one simple and specific matter, the woman he is searching for.  Yes he seemed under the weather but that could just be lack of sleep and/or stress.  But when the woman is mentioned he became not just angry but downright irrational.  That's the only thing you've seen that makes him irrational.  But he's done plenty of other irrational stuff.  He wants to bust this cult but he imprisoned his best source of information.  He didn't trust and old friend.  It's more then just angry, he has a paranoid obsession that makes him dangerous.  If you could alleviate his paranoid obsession then he'll probably be back to being a normal, helpful guy.
   -As for the 'whole' town council, well count the council members.  The mayor is behaving senile.  Lorsen is paranoid and dangerous.  Petronius was out of town during the worst of it.  That leaves Guild Magistrate Theon and Customs Master Taddernes.  Guild Magistrate Theon claims he's cut out of the loop.  Customs Master Taddernes on the other hand is hanging around the mayor and presumably knows there's fishy stuff up.
   -Lorsens "no visitors" rule is pretty stupid and counter productive.  But as soon as it was broken Radhan told you about the missing relative that Lorsen is trying to find.  Lorsen clearly doesn't like people asking about that.  Go back to the clearly not acting rationally about that matter point.
   

 * What's the significance of tattood child? Why did he have tattoos? Why did he speak a variant of my native elven dialect? Why did it matter that he wasn't from the northern wastes?
 
 - The significance of the child's dialect is that it shows that he comes from from a distant land and was smuggled to Narsues at great inconvenience.  They didn't just pick any child for what they are planning, for some reason they went to considerable effort to get one from distant lands.  The tattoos show that they've had their claws on him for a while.  These aren't necessarily the most important details however.
 
 * Why was Petronius out of town? Where was he? You would think that with the child and knife arriving, if he had some plot going on that involved those things he would want to be there. The only thing that makes sense to me is that when Lorsen captured both child and knife, he gave up and decided to skip town with no intent to return. But if so...that means that nothing was really wrong at all going into this in the first place. The bad event had already been thwarted and the bad guy left. Why was I ever involved?
 
 - Safe to say that the problem was not resolved before you arrived.
 
 * Why was Baron Radhan so emotionally attached to a halfling glassmaker who was always rude to him? He claims they were doing a "spying" thing together. That doesn't explain the emotional attachment, and from what EWrwin said it appeared that he'd been in the Baron's emply for years before the spying thing ever came up. Why did the Baron hire someone who hated him to do work that he had no use for until a cult conveniently shows up? Why would a minor land baron without even a carpenter or blacksmith hire a glassmaker?
 
 - Was he emotionally involved or was he agitated because Lorsen had just ruined all their careful work?
 
 * Why was that glassmaker always rude to the baron? The stated reason was that it was because Radhan was a half elf. SO what? Why did he care? Why did he choose to work for somebody he didn't like?
 
 - The glassmaker would work for someone he wouldn't like for the money most likely.
 
 * Why did anybody care about the Baron at all? I understand that he was imprisoned because he was found under suspciious circumstances...but how did it go from him being arrested to multiple mindcontrolled authority figures conspiring to keep anyone from seeing him while in custody? The Baron has to be important to somebody for some reason for all of the attention paid to him to make sense.
 
 - The baron's informant was right on the verge of cracking the case open when he got set up.  He also knew about the Marshal's obsession.  Those make him pretty important.
 
 * Who is the girl the Marshal was freaking out over?
 
 - Good question.
 
 * Why was it "not safe" for me to be in town on day 1 if the Marshal was going after halflings? I am obviously not a halfling. And yet there did appear to be an anti-elf knife. Was I supposed to conclude that Erwin was in on the whole thing because he knew about the anti-elf stuff when there was no reasonable way for him to know about it? How did Erwin know I was in danger?
 
 - Erwin thinks that it's not safe because he is the patriarchy.
 
 * Why did the knife have an anti-elf enchantment on it? At first I assumed that Xancoulpar didn't like elves for some reason and the knife was intended to kill an elf for a sacrifice to please him. But 1) You made it clear on multiple occassions both in and out of "GM mode" that there was a major enchantment on that knife, and there would be no need for an enchantment of any kind to perform a sacrifice, let alone such a major one. 2) There was no indication at all ever, even when I specifically looked up his history, that Xancoulpar cared one tiny bit about elves one way or another.
 
 - Xancoulpar was an officer in the demonic legions against the elvish empire centuries ago.  So he probably isn't exactly honky dory with elves.  But also keep in mind that Aduail is more then just an elf.  She's also a student of magic.  A student of magic who was currently using a spell to detect magic then picked up an object of considerable evil.
 
 * What was the significance of Petronius having spent six years in the clergy? He apparently wasn't a cleric, and he apparently had something to do with a demon. How did that happen?\
 
 - I'd say roughly the same as the significance of Mayor Dailgon having previously been guild master of the masons.
 
 * What was the connection between the Mayor, as former mason's guildmaster, and the current guildmason expeting money undisclosed reasons and insisting that the mayor was fine? What was going on there?
 
 - This falls into the "town falling apart" category.  Guild Magistrate Theon has 99 problems but the mayor never helps.  But the current masons guild master is the mayors son and the mayor is fine whenever the son shows up.  It's safe to say that if the mayor was like you saw him then his son wouldn't be saying he was fine.  So who ever is poisoning the mayor knows how to neutralize the poison when the son shows up, and presumably for an extended period of time.
 
 * What was Taddnerness' role in all this? My first impression was that he was in on the conspiracy, and was the guy that Petronius left in charge to keep things running smoothly while he was away. But so far as I can tell he never actually did anything ever at all except give me a dirty look and fail to be bothered when I stared at him. Did he do anything? What? Did he matter? How?
 
 - Well what was he doing in the mayor's home anyway?
 
 * Who is Cagny Lorsen and why was he discretely added to the "town council" list two weeks into the game with no actual appearance in-game? Did he have anything to do with anything? Is he just a body added to give room for future expansion? Did he have some pre-determined role that I just never found out about?
 
 - Cagny would be the first name of Marshal Lorsen.
 
 * were there ever any cultists, or was it just Petronius doing all this? Or was petronius a puppet himself for somebody else I never saw? Because if after almost a month of gameplay it turns out that the big bad was somebody who never even alluded to...yeah, that comes across as a last minute asspull. (After much trial and tribulation it is time for the big reveal, and  the real secret bad guy is...Bob. What? Who?)
 
 - You've met the man pulling the strings already
 
 * Who/What/How/How was the caravan transporting the knife involved? Were they merchants? Were they cultists? Were they halfling merchants trying to make an innocent buck? Did they know what was going on and just not care? How did they get the knife? Where did it come from? If they weren't actually cultists themselves and were trasnporting it for money, how did they come to be the middleman? How did they find out that there were buyers in Narseus? Did Petronius put out an ad on craigslist "WTB evil knife will pay well." But if they were cultists, then how exactly did they come to be in the posession of an entire merchant caravan and why did they go to all that trouble to transport it so slowly and conspicuously by caravan rather than simply sending one or two guys on horseback? Or better yet, by boat...since Narseus is, after all, a major port. None of this was ever explained.
 
 - The entire cargo was cultist paraphanalia so it's presumable that the merchant Orsi Stoutfoot is either a member of the cult himself or was hired by them to carry a cargo for them and make it look legit.  And it wasn't such a bad plan, nobody would suspect him carrying yet another cargo into the town.  He did make it into the town and got busted only after making his delivery.  It was even mentioned to Aldun Sharp that some items were taken out of the cargo before it was seized.  Now combine that with the fact that Aduials inspection showed that most of the cargo that she saw seemed to be chosen more for appearances then for actual utility.
 
 * How did the knife come to be in Lorsen's possession? It was stated that it was being transported by the caravan. Ok...how did he get it?
 * What was the significance of halflings at all? Were halflings cultists? If so, why were they apparently being led by a human? Were they incorrectly implicated because they were innocently transporting the knife for profit? Was there prior history? What?
 
 - The marshal arrested the halfling merchant Orsi Stoutfoot and seized all his cargo.
 - The significance of halflings is mostly that the marshal is kinda racist too them, but I never put him in a room with a halfling to show that.  My bad.

 * What was the signifiance of the money exchange that Theon was asked about? Why did it not happen? What did it have to do with anything?
 
 - Falls into the category of "the town is being run into the ground and nobody but me cares."  The town had promised payment for services to the guilds.  The guilds did the work and then the money got delayed.  The guilds don't like that.