Saturday, September 25, 2004

 

Day Three

Now this is promising, it could be the big payday I've been hoping for. That social visit to Delinda and Loji will have to wait! It's not a job for Ashil, though a message he sent pointed me in the right direction, so, mid-morning, after I'd carefully polished my best leather jerkin and boots, and the gloves too, and climbed into a nice clean white leo, the sort of outfit that slows male opponents down by at least five seconds, I headed for one of the biggest houses in town, not far from the castle itself - the Restormel townhouse. The family have a castle and a town of their own, way off in the west I think, but they've handed that over to the eldest son, and set up here. And now Lord Restormel, Marius Restormel, has gone missing! His wife, Lady Restormel, is frantic, and she's hiring people to look for him, various teams are out searching the countryside in all directions - and now she's hired me, to see what I can find out here in town.

I have "connections", apparently... that's true, I've been here around Redwall for six months now and I know a good number of people - shopkeepers, tavern owners, other adventurers and mercs, bouncers, soldiers - ha, I've arm-wrestled one of the castle's watch-captains often enough, and wrestled more horizontally with the other one a time or three! I keep out of trouble inside the town walls, I help out, I smile... and if I have scaled the occasional house wall and liberated a few jewels from confinement in bedroom boxes, well, that just gives me some more connections, right?

Lady Restormel's chamberlain gave me a purse with plenty of silver in it, and I spent the afternoon and evening spreading that money among the undeserving poor, all in the hopes of a bigger return to come. I've made a completely honest list for the chamberlain, as that's the sort of thing he might even get someone to check, and tomorrow I'll go back to the townhouse, see if he wants me to keep handing the Restormel money out, hopefully get a refilled purse, and then start seeing what my dozens of new friends have got to tell me.

Admittedly, nobody so far has had a clue, but it will be a major topic of conversation in the cheaper drinking spots right about now. A lord doesn't just vanish like that! Maybe there's magic involved... almost certainly there's magic involved! This town has a couple of remarkably dull, respectable magic-users, a mage and a white witch, but there are hedge wizards, there are expensive charms and charmed weapons that any fool could use, and most non-mages that attempt to use magic are fools, believe me. I've been all round town, seen the castle from every angle...

Yes, the castle. I may well end up having to climb that wall, I suspect... if so, I think I'll spread a little more Restormel money around first. The more Restormel cash I spend, the harder I'm working, obviously. I may have something a good deal more exciting to report tomorrow night, if I don't break my neck before then...

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