[coronatiger]

Thoughts on July 21st

I woke up in a strange bed at the Red Mansion. Although I’d had an amazing night, it didn’t pay off, because my companion would be leaving the city soon, and wouldn’t be back in time for the auction.

I climbed the stairs to the attic on leaden feet and confessed my sin to Olivia. Torn between guilt and desire, I admitted that I still wanted to get someone to take me to the auction. Olivia asked if there was any other way to get in, but I couldn’t envision Lady Karita trying to seduce anyone, and having heard about Kine’s clumsy distraction during Lady Karita’s break-in to the courthouse, I thought she was too much of a blunt instrument to achieve the subtle manipulation required.

Knowing that I wouldn’t be able to restrain myself, now that the idea had taken root in my mind, Olivia reluctantly gave me her permission to proceed. We both knew that I’d still be miserable with guilt, but at least it wouldn’t destroy me, and that would break her heart, causing a vicious cycle which I fear would only end in death. Vowing to myself to do something romantic as well, I got down to business and unleashed wave upon wave of ecstasy on my darling Olivia.

When I’d given her as much as she could take, we cuddled for a while, and she told me the that she’d followed my suggestion and found someone at the herb store who could teach her more about how to treat illness and injury, and that she’d like to go there for a few hours each day for a while. As neither of us wanted her to fight or to brave more hazards than what would be necessary to follow safely behind the rest of us, this would be a good way for her to contribute to the survival of the adventuring party.

We got dressed, and Olivia went to her teacher. I found Lady Karita and Kine, who told me that they’d shared a few drinks with the other adventurers at the inn last night, in remembrance of Magnar. Lady Karita had told the innkeeper to make sure Kine didn’t have too much again.

Lady Karita went to see her lawyer, and learned that the judge who was supposed to have peer reviewed the Law of Mineral Quotas had been murdered before he could do so. Four dwarves, who all during the trial claimed to be innocent, had been accused and found guilty. Bloody clothes and weapons had turned up when their homes were searched. Two of the witnesses attesting to the dwarves’ guilt had been found killed some time later. Since the judge’s murder was ruled a random robbery gone wrong, the authorities claimed to have no reason to believe his work had gotten him killed, and as peer review wasn’t strictly necessary, the law had been implemented without further ado.

Kine went to the market to ply her trade for a while, and was confronted by someone from the merchant guild who wanted her to pay the membership fee. She refused, wanting the representative to bring her documentation that she was on their membership rolls. She didn’t want to risk going into the guildhall.

Back at our guild, I tried my luck with another high-ranking adventurer. I could see that he was attracted to me, but I soon found out that he didn’t want to risk his girlfriend finding out that he was unfaithful. I found yet another guy, and while I learned that he also was spoken for, I proved too alluring for him to resist. He told me that there would be serious repercussions if he was discovered revealing guild secrets, but after I had shown him the limits of what his bed could handle, he was putty in my hands, and promised to take me to the guild to see the list tomorrow. Unfortunately, he wouldn’t be in town for the auction, but there’s still more than a week for me to find someone who’s going to go. A thought struck me, that Olivia would be pleased with: I’m going to try to find out if my mark will be in Garuk at the time of the auction, before I start flirting with them.


Thoughts on July 22nd
Before going to see the list, I had to talk to Olivia, of course. She was going back to the herb store as planned, and while I could see that she wasn’t very keen on the idea of me having to seduce even more adventurers, she was glad that I’d decided to get whatever information I could before I started sleeping around again.

I didn’t dare to take notes while perusing the list of sales objects, but I tried to remember the items that would be of interest to us, and that I thought would be affordable. There is a ring and a necklace with protective properties, but I think the initial bid prices are a little steep. If we all pool our gold together, and Lady Karita and Kine have a little more than I think they do, we might be able to get one of them, but there were other items that were a lot cheaper, and possibly more useful. There is a blackjack that appears in your hand when you need it, a whip that makes it easy to hit, as well as exotic leather armor that is supposed to be both light-weight and sturdy. Of those things, the armor and the blackjack are what I’m interested in procuring for myself, but I don’t think I’ll be able to afford both, and I’m not sure if my style of unarmed fighting allows for the use of a blackjack, so I’m just going to bid on the armor. I suspect Kine would like the whip.

I told Olivia and Lady Karita what I could remember as soon as we met for dinner at the inn. Lady Karita told us she had confronted her relative, Karl Morgenstern, today, and asked him whether he was afraid, disloyal or just incompetent. He finally admitted why he hadn’t been very successful in investigating the mineral export monopoly: His wife and son had been kidnapped, and were held captive to ensure his cooperation. Unless they were returned to him, he wouldn’t do his job.

While we were eating, a couple of finely dressed gentlemen approached our table and served Lady Karita with a subpoena for the day after tomorrow. Kine had tried to break free a group of slaves last night, but had failed and was arrested. As she was a slave, her owner was held responsible for Kine’s actions. It turned out her owner was Lady Karita. I was stunned.

Lady Karita ordered the innkeeper to move our meal to a private chamber. On our way there, Olivia whispered to me that there was an elf woman whom she thought had been watching us for a while. We finished our meal discussing what to do.

There are four exits from the common room of the Red Mansion, two doors leading outside, a staircase up to the second floor where we were sitting, and a door leading to the kitchen. Lady Karita ordered Olivia and me to climb out the window and block the two entrances from the street while she went down the stairs to confront the elf. I took Olivia’s hands and lowered her as far as I could reach. The rest of the distance wasn’t large enough for her to hurt herself. I jumped after her and went to the door closest to the elf’s table, figuring that if she tried to escape from Lady Karita, it would be better if she tried to go through me than through Olivia.

The elf made no attempts to flee, and everyone eventually sat down at her table. While Lady Karita interrogated her, I seized the opportunity to discretely place my hand on Olivia’s lap, tickling her gently. Olivia promptly crossed her legs, trapping my hand and preventing me from going beyond her ability to keep a straight face.

The elf revealed that she knew Kine from before, but wouldn’t say anything about how they knew each other, or why she’s been watching us, except that it has something to do with whether the cat considers herself a member of the merchant guild. She didn’t want to tell us her name either. After we let her go, the staff at the inn told Lady Karita that she had been there several times in the last weeks; we suspect she was looking for us.

The men who had subpoenaed Lady Karita had insinuated that things could be handled out of court if she went to see them tomorrow, so I told her that I’d stay in the common room tomorrow morning, in case she wanted or needed anything before going to see them. Then Olivia and I said good-night to her and went upstairs.