Story : After the service

From Ars Magica

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Revision as of 10:21, 28 April 2006

A Plan

Warren moved out of the small church with the mass of other villagers, glad that he decided to attend the service today. It was clear that their arrival had made an impact in the hamlet, and not the best kind of impact to have. He knew this this information would have to be passed on to Phaedrus, and soon, but he had no idea where to even begin looking for him. He knew, though, that as long as he could find one of the mages, like Marcus, he could find all of them. And Marcus had heard the same announcement that he had. He would have to track down the monk later today, or perhaps on the morrow, and discuss these developments.

Brother Marcus was doing something right though, for him to be so ingratiated to the community that he be permitted to assist in leading the service like that...of course, that could just be the cloth, but Warren suspected it was more personal than professional. He thought that perhaps it was time for him to do the same. The real action seemed to be in the either the archbishops castle or the manor castle. And the only way to find out what was really happening in a place like that was to get to know the staff. Over the next couple days, Warren decided, he'd start to snuggle up to a maid or two from the castellan's estate.

Today, though - was a day of rest, and he would make no progress on that front, so he decided to see if he could get Marcus away for an hour or so after he came out. So, as the majority of the crowd filed past him, he stood to the side and watched the town pass him by and rush off to their homes.

in the village proper, more than a couple of homes have had their doors kicked off the hinges when the knights had difficulty gaining access otherwise. A couple of families have a variously burnt meal to look forward to.

As the last of the congregation passed him by, he fell in behind them, matching pace and staying alert. It wasn't far from the church, down the path to the village proper, and Warren could tell by the way that families were moving in and out of their homes, or congregating around the doors, that something was amiss. Upon closer, but circumspect, examination, he could see that more than one of the homes have had varying levels of damage done to the doors and frames, and one house had smoke pouring out of the open door. The man of the house emerged carrying a large cauldron billowing smoke from some overdone meal.

The soldiers had been through here, that much was certain, and they were neither gentle nor subtle about their work. The thought occurred to Warren than perhaps the homes with the greater damage somehow correlate with how much of a troublemaker the occupants are. That is the kind of thing that he might overhear at the Inn, if he paid attention.

Warren followed the thinning crowd as they went through the town, a few peeling off here and there as they arrived at their homes. With each reduction, Warren noted who lived where, and more importantly, who was continuing towards the castle.

If there is no one from the Castellan's manor amongst the church goers, please me me know.

 The lord and his entourage left the church together with Marcus and entered the manor.  
Those who were not with the lord had leave to attend to duties within the manor.  
I'll attend to Warren's part in this thread once the manor part has moved on a bit more.

After picking out the few faces and people that he would most benefit from associating with, he decided it would be best to let Brother Marcus know that he's like to meet. Setting down at one of the tables in the Inn, he took a piece of parchment and writing tools and scratched a quick note to Marcus:

Brother Marcus,

I was very impressed with today service at nones and would love for a chance to discus it with you in greater detail. I only regret that my good friend Phaedrus was too far away to benefit from its lessons. I'll abide at the Three Lions in hopes of receiving word from you on when we might fellowship.

Sincerely,

Warren Osborn

He knew that, because Marcus was in the company of mages last night, he might be under the eye of the bishop, so he had to be a bit surreptitious. He hoped that Phaedrus' name had not become well known amongst the searchers, but some things could not be helped. He took the quarter sheet and rolled it carefully, securing it with a small piece of twine. He stepped over to the door and called out to the first urchin he saw - apparently this child was still awaiting his meal - probably burned to a crisp. With a copper coin, and the promise of another from Brother Marcus, he sent the boy on his way to the church and to find the good Brother.