Challenger Campaign

040909          Volume IV, Episode 6: The Baron

Note: Barry was not present for this run. The GM played Penrington.

London, Anglia. Spring.
Forester answered Homme's question: there is a gypsy moth but there is no gypsy beetle.

It had been noted on the trip that there were three choices of routes out of Amsterdam:

• Germany - to find St. Germain
• Switzerland - to find the maker of the mechanical beetle
• France - to board the not-quite-completed Orient Express to find the dagger in Turkey.

McGregor had once stayed in Amsterdam for a weekend and told Voronika that he looked forward to introducing her to the local "Blue Hour". As no one else had local experience, the Scotsman was deemed guide. A 10-mile carriage ride through fertile farmland dotted with windmills and laced with canals brought the group to the capital, a city of concentric circles alternating streets (over sewer lines) and fresh water canals. The frugal Scot brought them to the "adequate" hostelry he had lived in before.

In due time, the sun started to descend, the atmosphere took on a bluish cast, and the streets filled with jovial pub-goers. Later generations would term this "Blue Hour", "Happy Hour".

Penrington had caught a slight cold in the Crossing and so decided to stay in his rooms and nurse it with the hotel's housekeepers "medicinal" potation.

Miss Costorari, Mr. McGregor, and Mr. Steele took the Party's funds and headed towards the local gem merchants to find a raison de entrée for St. Germain.

Mr. Forester, Sister Sunshine, Mr. Homme, and Mr. Ramsey decided to visit the local museums.

The merchant returned with a heavy lead box. Inside was a fist-sized roughly pyramidal-shaped lump of black with white specks. It was ugly.
Merchant: "This one is not rich in radium and so is not particularly useful for scientists."
Voronika expressed disinterest and the merchant brought other stones, one at a time. The gypsy's attention was, briefly, attracted to a spectacularly coloured emerald, but was discouraged by the price of 2000 pounds.

Forester and Sister Sunshine checked the Greek and Roman collections. In that catalogue they saw that #555 was a piece featuring Zeus and Hera amidst a group of nymphs, one of whom, at the god's feet, held the goddess' attention. That nymph - the catalogue said - was depicted with sharp incisors and a hand on a wolf's flank. The seller of the statue was "anonymous". The catalogue entry author was one Professor Michaelmas Ryn of the University of Amsterdam. "Preclassic from a Macedonian (northern Greece) temple ... slightly repaired along two shoulders... An absolutely unique piece."
Homme, hand at the marks on his throat: "The wolf is suggestive. And the fangs. Something like that could have...."
Sunshine: "The term Mr. Smutts used, No-soph'-o-rous, is Greek. We know the Plague Carrier wasn't originally Egyptian. It could have come from ancient Greece, from before there was a Greece. Macedonia is the crossroads between Greece, Turkey and Eastern Europe."
Homme: "This may be evidence that Nosophorous was known in that area. We should ask about the restoration. Perhaps the arms have been changed significantly."
Sunshine: "We should visit Herr Professor at the University."

The conversation turned to the golden falcon.
Voronika: "How can you know it's the right one?"
Ramsey: "I can't. That's why I have to go back tomorrow to find out if they will show it to me... let me hold it."

Herr Ryn was the University's expert on Art and Archeology. He cheerfully admitted that writing for the Auction catalogues provided welcome supplementary income. But he had trouble remembering the piece as he had written about it over a year ago. Mr. Homme and Sister Sunshine described. He did not know where or when it had been restored. However, he knew it's theme was a fight between the goddess Hera and the nymph Lamia who had attracted Zeus' "admiration". The cult of Lamia involved the ritual drinking of blood at night.

Prof Ryn referred the group to the University's teacher of mythology and to a different teacher of Egyptian history. As for the Auction House items: "They tend to sell privately. The action is only for those things that don't sell otherwise.

Further information.
Nosophorous was general depicted as a woman shape in rags with rats around her. Such images were usually found on friezes that recorded a disaster.
Three years ago, the Auction House had a triptych depicting the entire reign of a king, including a marker for a plague that swept northern Greece.

Mr. Homme invited the talkative professor to a pub. The Dutchman admitted the Auction world was "a dirty business" where every piece "is exquisite". He was very sure that the Auction House kept very good records of who buys and who sells what, and that those records would be for sale as well. "Lots of Adventurers bring trinkets for trade."

Voronika became increasingly frustrated at the unavailability of "interesting" gems for a reasonable price. It had become clear that Lord Truro's accountant was tracking every penny and, as the destruction of the Plague Carrier had nothing apparently to do with his Lordship's desire to recover some remnant of the Library at Alexandria, any such expenses would have to come out of the Party's own pockets.

Mr. Ramsey eventually found an Auction House employee who admitted that the falcon was "already sold". Nonetheless the Egyptologist left his card, unable or unwilling to take advantage of the flunky's hints that further information could be made available. He had become aware that his reputation as a pro-Egypt archaeologist had made its way to Dutch ears.

Understanding the problem, Miss Costorari (escorted by Mr. McGregor) visited the Auction House to find out who bought the bird and the King Miguel statuary. An older gent matching Ramsey's description of him came over quickly and said, icily, "May I help you?"
Voronika: "It's distinctly possible. The person I represent is interested in some pieces in your catalogue."
Merchant: "It is so unusual to get one of your kind in here."
Voronika: "Do you have a problem with that?"
Merchant: "It's unusual."
McGregor had moved in close, stick at hand. However the place was manned by several quiet but large Dutchmen. Voronika established that she had real guilders to spend and the merchant's attitude soften slightly. He invited the pair to a "quieter" conference room for discussion. Glancing around the room, Voronika suspected that the painting opposite her concealed watchful eyes. She ignored it. Her interests were:

• Who bought the bird
• Who bought the King Miguel triptych
• Who bought the Lamia statue group
• Did the Auction House carry anything decorated with unusual gems. Guilders were put on the table before any information was released.
• For £20, the bird was purchased by a Spaniard named Quexana.
• For £15, the triptych was purchased by a Frenchman named Des Jardain.
• The merchant recommended a smaller house that specialized in be-gemmed goods.

McGregor growled: "I dinna like that one little bit.
Voronika smiled viciously: "I think we should have beat the information out of him."
McGregor, regretfully: "He had friends."

At the smaller Auction House, Voronika convinced them that she was Spanish and things go more amicably. She avoided handling the items shown and thus learning of their traumatic pasts. Unfortunately she found nothing truly impressive but managed to bargain down a £800 blue aquamarine to £310.

Penrington roused himself enough to Check the Streets for information on Quexana. He realized that he was being followed as he wandered and reported back to the group, "Quite peculiar; someone is watching us."
Voronika muttered: "Probably Lord Truro's accountant."
Penrington: "Oh, yes. Quexana left for home last week."

Mr. Steele's observations of Dutch life led the group to understand that the Netherlands was lower than the rest of Europe, resulting in over-silting of the Netherlandish end of many rivers. There was a continuous effort to dredge out the silt and use it to extend their lands into the abyssal plain. Quite ingenious, really.

Mr. Homme's twinges still pointed south. At least one wolf could be heard every night.

The innkeeper's boy willingly showed the group the graveyard and St.Germain's tomb. The dates graven in the stone were 93 years apart. Voronika saw no spirit. "Some say he was German, some say he was from far eastern Germany," the boy reported.

Sister Sunshine visited the local druids with whom she could not communicate. The dark forest where they resided, too, was both peaceful and disquieting. Dark Power resided therein, very unlike Anglish groves.

Penrington's cold had worsened with exposure so he and Forester stayed in the Inn, playing cards. "Never play for money," the hunter told the younger man.

Sister Sunshine and the others climbed to the entrance to Castle Eckrenford where the druidess gave over an explanatory note for the baron. In time, a medievally-robed functionary invited the group in. Lungta was made comfortable in the castle stable. Mr. Homme volunteered to stay with the pony but the druidess assured him that his abilities as a translator might be needed in the castle.

Sunshine was presented to an old man attired in rather a lot of velvet and an antique sword. Without waiting for an introduction to the rest of the group, the baron drew the druidess out into his garden. As the follow, some in the Party note that the 3rd painting in the Castle gallery showed a baronial ancestor accompanied by a gaudy companion festooned with gems. That baron wore only a plain ring as decoration; a ring - that might possibly be similar to those worn by Druid Woodward, Mr. Smutts, and - according to the druidess' observation - Detective Gregson. It provided good contrast to St-Germain's flashiness.

Shortly it became clear to the group that, while his flunkies tried to distract them and separate them from the baron, Baron Eckrenford was definitely trying to sweep Sister Sunshine away romantically. The druidess did manage to glean a few facts.

• "The one currently calling himself St-Germain -- he can't be the same one who came here in my father's time - is just a charlatan."
• The current St.-Germain shows up on the Paris, Vienna, Berlin social circuit; he had never presented himself at Eckrenford.
• There's a local legend of one Peter Staub who made a pact with a dark power. He changed into a wolf that fed on the young - women, children. The townsfolk eventually caught a wolf who changed into a man, a villager like them. It is said that children of his pack live on. Some say that burning wasn't enough. The legend is at least 200 years old. The tale may first have come from Cologne.
• Concerning the wolf legend, Sister Sunshine recognized that "Peter Staub" might have been a shape-shifting druid; but it would seem, a druid gone bad. Akin to the "dark side" she felt in the Dark Forest Grove in this vicinity.

• First, for the cost of "funeral for my guest."
• A month later there was a note for "transport for my guest": three horses, packs, a manservant.
• Then there was a note of receipt of funds, though, uncharacteristically, there was no source mentioned.
• A note: "The guest got one of the new waltz scores. I didn't care for it, but my guest expressed much appreciation at its playing."
• A doodle of a triangle containing half a curve. It might have been an incomplete [Illuminati} symbol like that on the book Mr. Steele could not decipher.

Penrington: "Slightly repaired along two shoulders - did the statue have wings once?"
Steele: "I admit I had problems with that whole section during the Auction House group's tale, because somehow I never caught that it was a sculpture being described, and thought it was a painting. Indeed, Sister Sunshine started off talking about museums of paintings, and didn't actually say that the Auction Houses have other fare.
I do like your idea that the statue had wings, though I'm not sure what that would imply. I wonder which figure has the repaired shoulders?"
McGregor: "It would be highly unusual to have a statue with Zeus and Hera (the main figures) depicted with wings. Since it is Hera and Zeus side by side on the statue, it is (from the point of view of the statue) the right arm of Hera and the left arm of Zeus that were repaired.
While it may be impossible at this point to determine whether or not the repairs used the original arms or some substitute, it doesn't seem particularly relevant."

Penrington: "I seem to have been searching the streets for information on Quexana, but this name doesn't ring a bell, and is not otherwise referred to. Who is this?"
Steele: "Miss Costorari learned from the Auction House for $20, that the golden Egyptian falcon was purchased by a Spaniard named Quexana."
Sunshine: "I don't believe any of us has ever heard that name before this."

Penrington: "Was the current Baron is wearing the "special" ring, or only the baron in the painting?"
Steele: "The ancestral baron in the painting seemed to be wearing that special type of ring. No one knows whether the current baron still wears it occasionally; he certainly was not wearing it during our visit."

Steele: "Do we have any pointer to Vienna? I'm wondering the new St-Germain's circuit has any extra significance."

Next Run: South

(a) Cumulative (b) Cumulative since Volume II (c) Cumulative since Volume III

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