The boy looks up at Michal, alarmed at first but then he recoginizes the healer from earlier in the day and relaxes a little. He continues to stir. "'im fine, I s'pose. Tinking of Jehanne, why she dddd... didit? She semed fine erlier." The boys speech is garbled, wether from some speech impediment or something else is difficult to tell.
This message was last updated by the player at 20:32, Sun 06 Nov 2022.

Ragonde shrugs. "Not me, I spend most of my days in the workshop." She gestures to her sturdy leather apron, covered in a layer of fine stone dust. "Maybe some of the other day laborers would know." She turns and nods towards the men and women around the campsite. "There would also be notes in the seneschals book, if you can read. He keeps it in the mason's lodge." She gestures towards the other side of the build site where the workshops are located.

"I can read somewhat," Johann says quietly to de Serignac.

Quin gives Johann a look like the foreign knight has just declared - quite believeably - that he can fly or breathe fire somewhat, and gestures a mute 'go ahead' in the direction indicated. As for himself, he picks the woman or drudge that seems most likely to know laundry workers and descends upon them with the joyful haste of a hawk hunting for sport, despite the huge amount of horse in tow.

(13:34, Today: Johann von Fulda rolled 54 using 1d100 with rolls of 54.  Take a Look it's in a Book.

Johann's reading attempt is not as successful as one might hope. Any useful words he picks out?)

Michal nodded, and patted the lad on his shoulder.
"Listen, you knew her better than I did, or them ..." he said, gesturing towards the two knights, "can you think of anything that would help us figure out what happened?   Like anyone she might have spoken to, or who might have spent time with her this morning, before she came here?"

And then, "Or where she might have gone?"    (was she the one that ran off?

Ragonde shows Johann to a particularly narrow shed. Inside is a rickety wooden desk with a three-legged stool in front of it. On the desk is a stack of parchments and some basic writing utensils. One look at the parchments tell Johann that there's nothing in them listing any employees at all and certainly not any laundry girls. It is clear Ragonde have little grasp of what the sénéchal actually keep in his 'books'. Every inch of the parchments are covered in neat bookkeeping listing resources and expenses. As his eyes scan the rows of text and numbers he does note one thing that stands out: deliveries from the quarry have nearly halted in the last couple of weeks. A note in the margin indicate some kind of outbreak of disease.

--

Quin energetically moves from serf to serf without actually getting a lot out of them. Either they don't know anything or -much like the prey his hawk pursues- they're afraid of the high-borne man suddenly moving around their midst, asking awkward questions about their own.

You might roll Streetwise to try and attune your demeanor more to the common folks liking.

--

Michal speak with the boy and he actually seem to warm up the healers soft approach, though he barely knows more than he told them previously in the day. He knows that there's a street in town somewhere by the river where seamstresses ply their trade and he believes Jehanne takes their clothes there for mending and washing. Other than that he tells Michal the same thing, she ran off into the woods to the east after pushing the architect from one of the higher, near finished, castle walls.

[[Quin is not streetwise in any sense, but I rolled to see if he even notices:
23:15, Today: Quintillian de Serignac rolled 39 using 1d100.  Streetwise (default 24)

He does not. :D ]]

"Come now," Quin addresses a couple of nervous peasants who're trying to not draw his notice or indeed have anything to do with him, or Trouble, or both, "-if this girl has not returned to her home, she is rapidly in danger of remaining in the woods at night, and alone. Is there no pity in you?"

Johann is excited. An illness... that started at the quarry? This is definitely tied to the answers that he and his comrades seek.

It's also chilling, though. Until now, Johann didn't think this mystery smacked of the... well, the infernal. Now, he begins to truly wonder...

He goes to find de Serignac and the healer, to show them (and only them, for now) what he has found...

The Chivalier de Sérignac is fairly easy to find as soon as Johann sees Etienne: the big horse turns an ear to the foreign knight as he approaches. Quin himself seems to be obliviously terrorising the peasantry like a falcon hatched by a farmer's hen trying to greet a farmyard, the workers he currently has cornered looking to Johann in the hopes he might be distraction enough to let them escape.

Johann, with clear excitement, shows Chevalier de Sérignac what Johann has been reading. "Look, look. Here-- there is nothing listing verkers nor laundry girls, but deliveries from a quarry haff almost entirely stopped in the last couple of veeks-- and it has something to do vith an outbreak of illness." Johann lowers his voice a lot, so that only the Chevalier can hear his next words. "Could some sort of fever or other illness be driving people mad? To kill?"

The workers sigh in relief and scurry off to their chores as soon as they can. Quin and Johann find themselves alone by the river bank, the sound of work resuming on the other side of the newly started wall construction at this side of the site.

The boy that spoke to Michal also finishes his meal, leaving the healer by the dying fire.

Quin dutifully looks at what's presented to him, even squinting at the mysterious symbols that seem to subtly shift and even reverse themselves when he makes any attempt to focus on their exact forms. That Johann possesses the skill and sheer mental power to make the written words stay and speak clearly impresses him mightily; he glances at the knight and listens carefully, matching his murmur.

"Bewitchment could easily be taken for illness at first...are the sick killing random people, though, I wonder? We need to find this girl and question her."

He tilts his head, gesturing at the paper and speaking a little louder, now all peasants appear to be out of easy hearing anyway: "Do the papers tell you anything of one who wanted work here stopped, through some complaint or simply from obscure malice?" Quin looks troubled.

"I do not believe my lady has such enemies as would plan to capture her household by main force, but it would be of high advantage for anyone with such notions to keep her without fortifications by subtle means...poison, perhaps, if not witchcraft. We must find out what links this spate of fractiousness and falling murders, but yes, this is very good." He strikes Johann's shoulder in a comradely fashion, grinning at the achievement of this man who can read.

Johann replies at the same very quiet level. "I thought of that too-- the involvement of the infernal."





"I think that is a good point. I think it is... more than random killings of opportunity."




"...I am sorry, but I do not discern any such information along those lines. Of course it does not mean that there is no such person vith such a motiwation-- just that-- I do not read any such here."




Johann smiles a bit, and nods, appreciating the moment of camaraderie.

Michal wandered over to where the knights were discussing their matters ... though he stood nearby to await their acknowledgement rather than interrupt their conversation.
He  did, though, listen carefully to what they were saying.


When invited to join the conversation, he said, "Good Knights, I am aware of a place in town to where Jehenna may have fled, should she have returned from the woods on her own.
At that place, she may have found friends and allies, who may be willing to offer her some sanctuary.

Two knights arriving may give them pause, but one such as I may go somewhat unnoticed among those throngs. In fact, if some illness is involved, I may provide sought skills in that environment.
May I ask permission to investigate that option, if you two intent to search the woods?"

Michal gets an accipitral headtilt from Quintillian. "Should she be at home, there's hardly any reason for us to be combing the woods for her, being in turn difficult for yourself to find and report to," he points out, "-but if you think she might seem clearly sick or her parents be willing to excuse the murder, then by all means, tell us the place and we shall wait at a little distance."

He nods a little. "If you are content that she poses no danger to yourself, I would allow you to be the one to stay in and conduct an interview as to her reasoning, alone - only if she's not there, have some signal ready to give at the nearest door or window, or we shall surely lose the light before we strike the forest."

Quin throws an enquiring look to Johann, in case he might have some comment or better idea, or else be ready to leave as soon as Gunther is at hand.

edit: formatting
This message was last edited by the player at 23:16, Sun 27 Nov 2022.

"Zis plan seems sound to me. I trust your judgement."

"I feel I may have miscommunicated, sire", said Michal, with a apologetic bow of the head, "thus is not the girl's home.   It is region of the city where she goes regularly in conducting her business.
But if she has returned from the woods in stealth, it may be in that part of the city that she has fled to seek shelter and sanctuary:  for she knows the area well, and the people.

It would not be her home, or one place in particular, that I'd need to gently search through to find if she is there.

I just ... surmise ... that a city girl, as she is, will prefer to find shelter in the city ... in a part of the city she knows better than we do ... than hide out in the woods.

But, there is the chance she is still out there," Michal said, glancing to the woods, "perhaps having flew towards said quarry, if the illness is influencing her actions".

Quin's eyes narrow thoughtfully, de Fenster's words touching on his concern for a child - even a murderous one - potentially alone in unfamiliar woodland overnight. "Hmm...and you would go alone there?" he asks, not quite suspicious but unsure if the healer might be heading into hostile territory of some sort. "In what wise would you let us know if you found her?"

The sun is still high in the sky but will start to set within on hour or so. As is the reality in these times, the streets will soon be dark and the respectable residents of the town of Saint Volusien will be indoors where there will be lit fires and candles to protect them from the horrible darkness of the world.

If anyone looks back at the workers they can see that Ragonde occasionally looks up from her work and watches you thoughtfully.

The area Michal is speaking of lies to the south of town, on the west bank of the river. You're at the castle northeast of town and the women of the town use an area at the far southwest on the map to clean where there are piers and decks built for this purpose. It is not very far and there is still time to make a visit there before dark but you will probably not have time to do anything else before the sun sets.

Whet do you do?

If you look at the main game map you can see which way you have to go.

"I ... am not sure, Sire", Michal said with a shrug, "any more than you might get word to me if you found the girl.
Perhaps we all agree to reconvene at the Lady's manor come dawn with any news we have?"

Truth was, as much as he wanted to find the girl, he was also driven now to investigate this mysterious illness ... and hoped that the knights might return with news from the quarry at that time.

"There do tend to be rather more watchmen in town than wandering about the wilderness," Quin points out blandly.

"-von Fulda, if you'd sooner accompany him or do something more sane with the coming evening than poking about our woods in farrow season, I leave it to your judgement. If you'd like to hunt a small murderer and perhaps some wicked forces with me-" here the grin is back, mocking his own youngest-son propensity to gravitate towards danger, "-then please get our acting Master Mason to show you the spot where the girl entered the forest or indicate someone who can, since she seems to like you better than me. I'll ride back for the men I set in readiness for tracking and join you swiftly as I might."

Johann thinks de Serignac can take care of himself, but he also thinks the medic doesn't need a bodyguard right now... and de Serignac's direction seems more exciting. "I will go with you," he says to de Serignac.

Johann goes and does as de Serignac asks-- asks to be shown where to try to start tracking the girl...

As the armoured duo heads off to begin their search of the woods,  Michal turns his steed back towards town.

Unless anything hindered his path, he intends to head into the southern parts of the city and begin a cursory wander about that area where the laundry merchants operate.

At first he will not initiate any queries or direct questioning ... he will simply get a feel for the area, and its layout.   And, of course, be on the look out for any girl who fits the description and profile of Jehanne (possible feeling a little scared and overly anxious about being found).

Young Guillaume was not able to tell Michal a specific location, other than 'a street in town somewhere by the river where seamstresses ply their trade and he believes Jehanne takes their clothes there for mending and washing', so he knew this would be a search that would require some reconnaissance.
He'd leave the Lady's horse at a stable (and make it very clear to them to whom it belonged; so that they knew the gravity of its care, and where to return it if he didn't come back for it)  and continue on foot, once he got into that area.

The Chivalier de Sérignac himself does as he had proposed, heading off in a heavy thunder of hooves to fetch the Lady Trencavel's men to hunt. Part of him misses Lady Maria and wants to take the sparhawk out for the chance of a dusk kill as they go but most of him is focused on speed and efficiency, sweeping along the river road towards the his lady's hall like the wind through the valley.