Game Log

The Sword of St. Pierre

Game Date: 08/04/06
The Sword of St. Pierre, a.k.a. Desco's Blade, a.k.a. the Imperator's Sword, is recovered. But who took it, and why?
Story Bonus: Letters between Angelo and Beatrice.

Father Tancredo was obviously attached to the sword. After all, it represented his especial charge, and it might mean the loss of his job and station... sounded like Coins. It would be a very difficult reading to make, between the sword being an object, not being present, and Gianina only knowing it by reputation. But was she a Lachesis, or wasn't she? She concentrated, and the thin golden line revealed itself.

After that, she had to keep Father Tancredo in view. He was overjoyed to hear that she could track the sword, any scruple about using sorcery overshadowed by the good news. They arranged for a cart because of Tancredo's crutches, and soon the group rumbled off along Numa's cobbled streets.

The Coins strand took them to the Church's premier smithy, Antone Soloman's, where the famous serpentine Swords of Soloman were forged for the Inquisition and other militant orders. It was, alas, closed for the night. Tancredo's plan was to walk in the next morning and get the sword back. He didn't really suspect the smithy of any wrongdoing - rather, his instinct was that the sword had been hidden here or perhaps sold. But in case the thieves intended to return for it that night, they watched the building all night. (Lady Donati fell asleep, and had to reacquire the strand in the morning - it was slightly easier now that she'd seen it once before.)

Someone appeared, unlocked the front door and entered the shop. He wasn't too keen on letting in any customers, but between Angelo's smooth talk and Tancredo's increasingly frothing threats, he was persuaded. Gianina went straight to the gladius - surrounded by twenty-three identical gladii.

That wasn't a stolen sword, the smith insisted. He'd gotten a commission from Alumno Desco to forge replicas of the Sword of St. Pierre for them, and he'd taken detailed drawings of it at the shrine. He'd made two dozen, and two dozen were here. Ergo, none were the stolen weapon. (If he'd examined it closely, sure, he could have determined that it was the original. But if he'd done that, he wouldn't make the money he was about to make.)

Tancredo pulled at his hair and offered to buy the sword. No can do - the Desco had been told their order was filled and were expecting it today. Tancredo growled and offered an obscenely large amount of money, which the smith gladly took in exchange for the sword. The group hurried back to the library and set the sword back into its place.

Tancredo thanked the Donati profusely. He hated to ask, especially after their long night, but if there was one other thing they could do...? A stiletto had been found in the shrine after the theft. It was an old one, very ornate, and the well-known possession of a elder nobleman of Numa. The gentleman, Taddeo Bolani, was, moreover, a rabid collector of Numan antiquities. However, he was also an acquaintance of Tancredo's, and the priest didn't believe he was responsible. For one thing, he wouldn't have done such a job himself, and for another, he wouldn't have left his stiletto behind if he had. It smelled of a frame. Who had done this, and why?

Angelo was still willing to help his old mentor. Tancredo drafted a letter of introduction and handed over the stiletto. Eyes drooping, the Donati left - but went first to Il Gigante della Pietra, the rocky island that contained Numa's prison and the headquarters of the city guard.

Captain Vincente Favero himself saw them, since they were nobles. At their request, he reviewed the claims of stolen property that he had received in the past two days. No stiletto matching that description. He took the stiletto and laid it next to a sheet of paper, ready to make a report. He asked, and was told, Father Angelo Donati's name, and it clearly got his attention. Not a local? No, an out-of-towner. Heading home soon? Relatively soon, yes. Where to? Monfalcone. Ah, well. Check back before you leave, and if the knife is not claimed, you may have it.

Then it was to Taddeo Bolani's. His villa was in Dioclasian, the same walled, upper-class neighborhood where the Donati's hosts lived. The seal on the letter of introduction got them into the vestibule of his sprawling home. Even the entryway was loaded with broken bits of Numan statuary, and its walls were painted with dark-toned murals in the imperial Numan style.

Signor Bolani appeared, having read their letter but only having understood half of it. They asked him about his collection and he nattered on for quite some time, happy to postpone whatever business they had with him to talk about it. Angelo noted that he was carrying a stiletto identical to the one they'd left with the guard captain and asked about it. Bolani sourly said it was an heirloom, one of a pair now sundered. He'd lost the other nearly a month ago at Signor Morosini's party. Angelo said that the very dagger had been found at the library yesterday morning. A light went on in Bolani's eyes and he reread the letter of introduction - suddenly some of Tancredo's sideways allusions were making sense. It appeared that there had been a theft...

Elsa shouted and told them all to move. The alert mercenary, who was tolerating all of this nonesense primarily because she was being paid to, heard the sounds of a fight outside that was moving this way. Within seconds, two plainly-dressed men armed with gladii burst through the door. One leveled his sword at Signor Bolani and demanded that he "return it." Bolani ran. Father Angelo asked, "Return what?"

The two men glanced at each other and nodded; one continued after Bolani and the other paused to address Angelo. "Desco's Blade," he said, then corrected himself, "The Sword of St. Pierre."

"Oh," Angelo said, as Elsa body-blocked the other man. "We found that this morning. It's back in the shrine."

The two fighters paused and looked at each other again. If that was true, there was no cause for further bloodshed... and besides, their quarry was probably well away by now and summoning more of his guards. Surprise lost, they retreated.

Signor Bolani timidly reappeared. When it was clear the men were gone, he became very angry, ranting about the invasion of his home by "Alumno Desco," apparently a local vigilante group. The Donati calmed him down enough to talk about the missing sword, and why he might have been framed for it. Was it something he'd be interested in?

"The Imperator's Sword? Well yes of course... in theory, but I wouldn't steal a holy relic that's already on public display." He had a business enemy, Lanzueli, who might be interested in getting him in trouble, but he was already suspecting Signor Morosini, at whose home he'd lost the stiletto. He had the idea that Morosini had some influence with the Alumno Desco, too... If the Donati would please excuse him, there were people he needed to talk to. In fact, one of them was Father Tancredo and the Society of St. Tobias. If they could see that this letter got to him?

The Donati took the letter, but had it sent over to the library with a servant. They were all very ready for some sleep. They also told the servant to make sure Tancredo was alert to a possible leak - he'd said earlier that he'd hushed up the theft. So how did these Alumno Desco people find out about it? They also asked about the Society of St. Tobias, and were told that they were a group of priests who were agitating for the Hierophant to return to Numa.

Angelo also posted a letter of his own.

By the time they woke up, most everything had been resolved. The sword having been recovered made it all much easier.

The official story would be that there had been an awful mix-up during the shrine cleaning. Someone thought the sword was supposed to go to the smithy for cleaning and sharpening and took it there without telling Tancredo. That didn't quite explain why the leak, one Brother Panfilo, had gone and alerted Alumno Desco, but Tancredo was reluctant to go into that. Signores Bolani and Morosini had been called to the library and reconciled. The matter of how Bolani's stiletto had managed to find itself in the library was also explained away. Panfilo, a hardworking but not very bright man, had picked the dagger up in a pawnshop, not recognizing it as Bolani's. He'd just dropped it at the shrine, and of course Tancredo hadn't told anyone that he'd found it, to keep Bolani's name out of it. Morosini promised to discover if any of his servants had stolen the dagger and pawned it a month ago, and all was made well.

In gratitude, Tancredo offered the Donati gifts. To Elsa, he gave a beautiful suit of Numan lamellar armor. To the others, he offered his services as a librarian, should they ever need them. The Numan Library contained much half-forgotten knowledge, and Tancredo was a gatekeeper on deciding which bits should stay forgotten. There were some things the Church wanted kept quiet - but for his friends, the librarian could look the other way.

Good deeds done, the Donati continued home to Monfalcone.

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