[[ Was thinking secret tunnels were traditional, as well ;-). Tho preventing attack through them is important. ]]

[[ Added: [[ The Residence ]] (just a summary of the specs at the moment). ]]

 Smiling, Brand says, "Perhaps the bank will listen to you when you next raise concerns. And the temple for that matter.'

"Did you manage to speak with them about Rawl?"

 [[ Ignore ]]

"I have a copy of the official report from the hand leader here," he says, tapping a piece of paper on the desk. "The man takes great pains to put the finger on Rawl, so I don't think there is any love lost there. He even goes so far as to suggest some haunts where Rawl might be found."

He then refers to the paper before saying, "There is also a detailed description of the chase he made after that fellow who escaped across the bridge; what was his name? Brax, or some such. Anyway, Jon has made sure that he will never be found, so we can happily let them chase their tails over that one."

Then, after referring to the report once more, he adds, "And the one body they have, they apparently know nothing about, except for the fact he is of Sorendenese descent and seems well travelled. There's also something here about one of the guards having to be cautioned about excessive use of their weapon, which I am a little unclear about."

Quote from AlaricBrand >>

[[ Was thinking secret tunnels were traditional, as well ;-). Tho preventing attack through them is important. ]]

[[ Added: [[ The Residence ]] (just a summary of the specs at the moment). ]]

[[When this is finished, I will transfer it to the world site, privy only to yourself and I, of course. If you have anything else you think should go onto the world site, please let me know and tell me where it is.]]

---

 Smiling, Brand says, "Perhaps the bank will listen to you when you next raise concerns. And the temple for that matter.'

"Did you manage to speak with them about Rawl?"

[[When this is finished, I will transfer it to the world site, privy only to yourself and I, of course. If you have anything else you think should go onto the world site, please let me know and tell me where it is.]]

[[ Will do. I need to look at some real house designs from a similar period, add stuff, then we should be good. ]]

[[ Don't know if you recall this dialog; relevant text:

"At least two of the guards on the river knew him: Eisdom, and the hand leader. The hand leader had a low opinion of him, and Eisdom as well I think. Eisdom has some sorcery and now has Rawl's magical dagger. I think it's fair he keeps it, but it -- and their deal to pocket a few coins each -- may be valuable leverage"

This is what Brand is referring to when he says:]]

"Have you yet had a chance to interview them regarding Rawl? I'm sure that they are riding high on their success; it probably wouldn't hurt to let them know that someone knows the full story...while at the same time thanking them for their dedicated work."

[[ If he hasn't, then Brand continues: ]]

"I have not been as successful as I would have liked today; but I do have some information you may find useful."

"I don't know what you requested from Haneena Salid, but I assume it was help and good will from the school. I gather that you tried appealing to her sense of patriotism. I am informed that she is likely to be more inclined to offers that appeal to her loyalty to the School. For example, funding for research that is independent of the King's patronage. I don't know how much the Empire can afford, or what the King pays, but another source of funds would, I am told, be appealing."

"Of course, one would need to be discreet, so I wondered if the following might work: We export wines to New Nineveh. We suffer 35%-45% spoilage [[ I made that up, but you knew that ]] due to rough seas or heat in the desert crossing, more for the finer wines which we are forced to sell at lower prices or, worse, discard. I am sure that there must be a magical solution to this problem; if there is, our profits would rise quite dramatically."

"We could engage the School to research this for us and, if some proportion of those funds were to be used for other works, everyone would benefit. Especially if the School were willing to help us into the future."

[[ Just because I will forget. Stuff to mention:
- Minton
- Glory
- Arthur
- Turtle
- Ezra (female?)
- ...more to come ]]

"All my man in the guards has been able to get so far is this," says Brand's father, indicating the report. "I believe he plans to approach hand leader Timon and the Eisdom fellow tonight when they report in for duty."

In reply to Brand's idea about making connections with the School of Occult Studies, Koric smiles and says, "That is a brilliant idea. Would you be able to make the initial contact on this? Sound them out as my representative?"

"Of course. What sort of funds would the Empire be willing to make available for this enterprise? And...do you know what the King's Patronage amounts to?"

Then he smiles, "And you will probably need to let me know what really you want in return, and what it was that you asked for earlier."

"Too soon to tell with regard to the funding, I will make enquiries," says Koric. "But all I'm after at the moment is someone who can keep me abreast of what is happening in the School and, perhaps more importantly, the archmagus's dealings with the king."

Then he responds to Brand's first question by saying, "Not sure how much the king's so-called patronage is, I believe it depends on how long they stay at the School." [[FYI, Look up 'king's patronage' under 'Magical things' on the world site.]]

"But all I'm after at the moment is someone who can keep me abreast of what is happening in the School and, perhaps more importantly, the archmagus's dealings with the king."

Brand grimaces, "If my advice is correct, then I am not sure Madame Salid will be inclined to help, at least if it is against the interests of the School: The School is, I believe, her first loyalty. What was it she refused to do earlier?"

[[ Can't really negotiate without knowing the end point of the last failure  ]]

Then he responds to Brand's first question by saying, "Not sure how much the king's so-called patronage is, I believe it depends on how long they stay at the School." [[FYI, Look up 'king's patronage' under 'Magical things' on the world site.]]

[[ I actually meant how much the King pays the school directly to support its existence. Or are they one and the same? If not: ]]

"Does the King provide funds for more than tutelage, or is that the only source of funds?"

[[ Questions re: Residence:

1. Is there any rock under house (this would be the core, if so)
2. What elevation difference between river and main house?
3. I think before we said it was mostly wood construction given soft grounds. Can I assume (a) sewer is brickwork like near Temples and (b) the cellar is surrounded by brick and is underground? Or is it so flat that everything is built up?
4. Or... have they done extensive work to build up the area the house is on? eg. by dumping lots of rocks and soil, and driving down rock pillars etc into the soil?

You've covered some of this before, https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d-beyond-general/play-by-post/[It's not rocky, but it does have its own well, and a servant whose job it is to make sure the water drawn from the well is clean and palatable.">here (notably mentioning a private well), but it's probably worth covering it all in one space.
]]

Koric chuckles and says, "Her reference was simply about an approach I had an agent make to her previously to act on my behalf, nothing specific."

"And with regard to the how much the Crown supports the School," he adds. "As far as I know, it only pays the annual stipends of the masters and the fees of those students studying there under the king's patronage. All other costs are paid out of the funds received from fee-paying students and the School's share of any consultancies performed by the masters... And I think there are some private benefactors, but I don't know the details."

Brand nods, "Very well. I shall see what I can do."

After scanning the report, he hands it back to his father, and continues. "As it happened, when I visited the School today, they Glory and her entourage were present. I avoided meeting them, but there were several things of note. I won't bother you with the blow-by-blow details, but I did determine the following."

He starts counting on his fingers,"First the simplest: it seems Ezra Serkin may in fact be female. This is still unclear, and confusing. Ezra is apparently both shy and, seemingly, secretive. Their magical specialty is Evocation, I am told. I have gained little more information. Everyone agrees he/she is strange."

"Second, that guard I mentioned to you -- who miraculously survived the falls of Last Chance -- and is now an Aiedan Hand Leader -- was part of her entourage. He's 20-25 years old, clean shaven(?), brown hair(?) and calls himself Arthur. I could not get a last name."

"Third, because of the manifestation of Aieda and because they are on the lookout for the Archmages brother, it seems that the Temples have placed the School under continuous surveillance."

"Fourth: the Glory does not have access to the Turtle carcass. She says that the Temple of Donnae will not grant her access. If you were able to get access, this may be valuable for her investigation, especially if Masters from the School could also inspect it. But it does seem odd to me that she was denied access. Do you know if that is likely? I thought she was in charge of the investigation."

[[ Brand waits for an answer if he has not already been interrupted ]]

Koric listens intently to everything Brand says only interrupting at the last to say, "What makes you think she was in charge of the investigation into the warlord's death? She has no jurisdiction here. The city guard, the army and the temple of Donai are supposed to be cooperating in the investigation, reporting directly to the king. If she is also investigating the death, then it is must be because of a private interest."

[[ I'm going to assume that the mistake is a result of my reading comprehension failure; please let me know if I should engage my search-fu! ]]

"That makes things even more murky: Ezra Serkin claimed to have an order from the King granting them access to Master Nathaniel -- and the Glory's purpose seemed wholly focused on investigating the Warlord's death."

"I should also mention that the actions resulting from their visit, in which they encouraged Master Nathaniel to seek the turtle by...magical means...almost killed him. He was attacked by some malicious spirit, perhaps one of the undead."

Brand sighs, "I have my own suspicious about that, but as yet have found no evidence linking them to the attack on the master. I am not a great believer in coincidence." [[ Despite the game revolving around dice!]]

"Who is in charge of the investigation, by the way? And do you think it likely that they would have denied access to the Glory?"

"It does seem that wherever she goes, disaster follows. There are too many accidents occurring. Was she or her entourage anywhere near the race, when the Warlord died?"

"And why would the king grant her access to Nathaniel to find the Turtle, rather than just grant her access to the Turtle?"

 [[ Interesting Link on Wine transport ]]

Quote from AlaricBrand >>

[[ I'm going to assume that the mistake is a result of my reading comprehension failure; please let me know if I should engage my search-fu! ]]

"That makes things even more murky: Ezra Serkin claimed to have an order from the King granting them access to Master Nathaniel -- and the Glory's purpose seemed wholly focused on investigating the Warlord's death."

[[Please engage search-fu to find this reference, as I find it unlikely that I actually wrote the above. Ezra is a liaison for the Crown to help Glory Rahni—who being of one of the Nubian families is also likely to have political power in the Empire as well as religious power—during her time in Constantine, which should provide them with some access to places 'controlled' by the Crown. However, I doubt I was specific enough to say she had a document giving her direct access to Master Nathaniel.

Later: If you mean this. Then you are reading a lot more into what the assistant librarian said than intended. It could just be a general letter from the Crown along the lines of asking for all courtesy to be extended to this visiting dignitary, etc., etc., with nothing specific intended.

I'll stop here as you might want to change what Brand says.]]

"I should also mention that the actions resulting from their visit, in which they encouraged Master Nathaniel to seek the turtle by...magical means...almost killed him. He was attacked by some malicious spirit, perhaps one of the undead."

Brand sighs, "I have my own suspicious about that, but as yet have found no evidence linking them to the attack on the master. I am not a great believer in coincidence." [[ Despite the game revolving around dice!]]

"Who is in charge of the investigation, by the way? And do you think it likely that they would have denied access to the Glory?"

"It does seem that wherever she goes, disaster follows. There are too many accidents occurring. Was she or her entourage anywhere near the race, when the Warlord died?"

"And why would the king grant her access to Nathaniel to find the Turtle, rather than just grant her access to the Turtle?"

Edit I just remembered you said they came for the library, if so, change Nathaniel to Library in the first point.

Later: If you mean this.

[[ Yep, that's the one! Amended the comment. ]]

"That makes things even more murky: The Glory went to the School to visit Nathaniel/Library and her purpose seemed wholly focused on investigating the Warlord's death."

"I should also mention that the actions resulting from their visit, in which they encouraged Master Nathaniel to seek the turtle by...magical means...almost killed him. He was attacked by some malicious spirit, perhaps one of the undead."

Brand sighs, "I have my own suspicious about that, but as yet have found no evidence linking them to the attack on the master. I am not a great believer in coincidence." [[ Despite the game revolving around dice!]]

"Who is in charge of the investigation, by the way? And do you think it likely that they would have denied access to the Glory?"

"It does seem that wherever she goes, disaster follows. There are too many accidents occurring. Was she or her entourage anywhere near the race, when the Warlord died?"

[[ Back again (later): delete the last bit too I assume? ]]

"And why would the king grant her access to Nathaniel to find the Turtle, rather than just grant her access to the Turtle?"

"The investigation seems to be a joint effort by the city guard, the army and the temple, specifically the Temple of Donai as their seekers are the most experienced in hunting down practitioners in black magic. As to who is in charge... I suspect no one person is, but all those responsible will be accountable to the king in the end, I suppose."

He then shrugs and then adds, "And as to why the Glory was denied access to the evidence... I'm left wondering why would she be given access. She is not an investigator and she wasn't even in the city when the warlord died. Perhaps you should talk to her and ask her why she is so interested."

"Perhaps that's a good idea; though I doubt she would be inclined to talk to me without good readson, and I'd rather not meet her with her companions. Do you have any contacts who might be able to enquire?"

Koric thinks for a moment and then says, "Why don't we just invite her to dinner? She can hardly have a guard at table, and she will have no need of a liaison. What do you think?"

Brand nods, "That sounds like a simple approach, though i assume not tonight. Should we consider inviting others, perhaps from the School, or would that tip out hand?"