Part 2: Arrival in Thurmaster

[PaulH]

Hi

IIRC Carmen is the local Lord who probably literally owns this place......

He's also the local magistrate, etc.

Cheers
Paul H

[Balgin Stondraeg]

It is but a short walk across town (well, across the village really) to the Carman mansion. A small bell rope beside the door summons a manservant in impressive looking livery who ushers them inside to a waiting room. The room is furnished with a sofa and comfy chairs (not the comfy chairs!) and has expensive, but somewhat garish adornments (such as silver candlesticks displayed on the mantlepiece).

The manservant is middle aged and has a distateful expression on his face (clearly he does not approve of his nouveau riche master) and, walking to the door, speaks a few words to a passing maid (those with good hearing will observe that it's along the lines of sending her to inform the master that his uncooth visitors are here).

After a few minutes a tubby fellow nearing the latter end of middle age enters the room. His garments whilst costly are not in the best of taste and the more astute members of the gathering would probably recall that Millbourne contains The Craman Smithy, The Carman Grannery and even The Carman Warehouses. The words "new money" are probably what the manservant would disparagingly use to describe his master and it shows. If it was happening nowadays you could almost imagine Carman in a shelll suit or puffa jacket with oversized jewelery but he's not a chav, more of a 1980's/90's lower class man who's made a lot of money and likes ot show off a lot.

Darius Carman invites the group to make them comfortable and sends the manservant out for drinks. The manservant makes a point of casting his eye over the more valuable contents of the room before departing, so he'll know if anything's missing on his return.

"Well now gentlemen I trust you'd all like to know why I called you here," drawls Carman," it seems this here town's got itself a little problem you might be able to look into what with you not havin' much success findin' this here girl an' all." And with that Darius Carman settles himself in a chair by the fireplace where he lounges in anticipation of his drinl's arrival. Clearly he is a man of some substance within the community and it may not be wise to press him on the matter before refreshments arrive (especialy since the business may be concluded before such refreshments have been fully enjoyed if it is begun prior to their arrival).

When I last played this Darius Carman was supposed to come across as a laid back Bill Clinton (maybe doped type of laid back) type but the players said he sounded like a Texna mafia boss so that's what he sort of turned into. Make of him what you will.

[Woojitsu]

Shen speaks up quickly, prickling at the perceived insinuation that he and his companions are not qualified for the search. "With respect, sir, we haven't given up on finding Chenna just yet."

Carman actually reminds me a little of Harry Morgan's character in Support Your Local Gunfighter.

[PaulH]

Garrick finds somewhere to sit, preferably only in the perifery of Carmen's vision.

(I might need to cast Charm Person on the quiet, but I'll wait for a distraction so Carmen's looking somewhere else).

[PaulH]

Hi

Carmen's probably more of a 'Del Boy' after they sold the watch.....

Cheers
Paul H

[Balgin Stondraeg]

Hi

Carmen's probably more of a 'Del Boy' after they sold the watch.....

Cheers
Paul H

Not far off actualy. Just imagine him a bit younger, less cheery and less into family values and you'd be pretty close.

His "mum" is not a "big fat female dog" (I think that horrendous cartoon series began a few years after the adventure came out so he's definately not a tribute character).

After a short wait refreshments arrive. There are drinks of mulled wine, spiced with herbs, and small sweat meats and other delicacies (although there aren't very many of them, implying that maybe Carman isn't quite as opulent as he might look, but he's still the richest man in the village).

Once everyone's settled down comfortably Darius Carman outlines his problem.

"Gentlemen," he begins, "as you may be aware the mire, that heap of swampy bogland south west of town here ain't exactly been there for years. In fact it used to be good grassland. Now, the year before last the ground became all waterlogged. The rotos of plants rotted in the ground and they withered and died. Now Hog Brook hadn't overflowed or anything and things went from bad to worse so I got to wondering if there might not be magic involved."

He casts his eyes about the assembbled company, "you're alright dealing with magic aren't you? Not scared or anything? Anyway, I sent a messenger off to the closest city to find a half decent wizard so he could shake his wand and look in his crystal ball and whatever it is they do, and maybe tell me what's going on. Well, fat lot of good he was. Cost me an arm and aleg and all he could tell me was that there was magic involved but it's not evil nor wicked neither."

The butler grimaces at the way his new master's murdering grammar.

"All he could say was he couldn't tell what the magic was supposed to be because it was going wrong. SO wrong he couldn't even work out what it was meant to be doing. Wrong?! Wrong?! I could've told him that. Thrtee or four farms ruined and all he can say is something's going wrong?"

He takes a few breaths to calm himself before continuing. "I want you lot to look into this for me. I'll be happy to pay you fifty gold each for two weeks' worth of investigations with a thousand, not each, if you can sort it out for me. I wouldn't be surprised if it started in the Patchwork Hills. Afterall the land there's always been fertile and never ahd any shortage of water. So what do you say?"

[Woojitsu]

Turning to the others, Shen opines, "I do not see why we could not look into this matter while we continue our search for the missing girl. If the magic that has changed the land comes from the same source as that which took her, we may, as the halflings put it, slay two birds with one stone."

[PaulH]

"If we agree to do this task, when we should be looking for a missing young woman, we'll need some help from you up front. Not just expenses, but any maps etc that you might have. Also, any information you might have on the local area, no matter how unusual or insignificant it might seem to you..."

"Do we have a deal"?

Garrick looks around the others, then back to Carmen.

[Rod the Worm]

Hasta nods.  "Magical happenings are unusual enough that the two could well be linked.  Chenna's safety is the more time-critical matter, but we can certainly investigate this at the same time."

[PaulH]

"Yes - a map could help us solve these problems that bit quicker............."

Garrick looks across to Lord Carmen, as if to emphasise his point.

[Balgin Stondraeg]

Carman frowns, "maps? Maps? Why would we have any maps? It's just a swamp now. Now we might have some old maps from before the mire began to spread but they'd be pretty useless now." He strokes his chin thoughtfuly for a few seconds then, "I tell you what we do 'ave 'though, " at this he helps himself to a long swill from his drink before continuing, "there's this boy, Gurn, always up to trouble that one, if his mother's word rings true. Anyway, this 'ere Gurn says he was playing down near the mire when he saw some giants or somesuch. Now, 'course we didn't believe 'im but I s'ppose you might want a few words with him before you set off."

[PaulH]

"And where might we find this lad...."?

[Balgin Stondraeg]

With a slightly surprised expression, Carman explains that the boy's probably with his mother at this time of the evening. If asked where she dwells he'll shrug and say "I don't know, somewhere in the village. Ask around a bit. I don't know, I hire you to investigate some strange disturbances in the landscape and you can't even find out where someone lives."

Before letting anyone go he seeks confirmation of wether they're taking the job or not.

[PaulH]

Garrick says:
"Yes - I'm sure the others will join me & help you aout. So - fifty gold each for some scouting, and bonus of one thousand gold if we fix he problem.."

"Ok guys..."?

Garrick looks around for confirmation.

[Rod the Worm]

Hasta nods - the offer's generous and doesn't conflict with their current search.  "Agreed.  Let's go find this Gurn then."