Day 219 - Stormhaven - Caradoc & Garaf

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Caradoc & Garaf
Day 219 (19th September) – Party Staying At Broken Wing Hostelry in East Stormhaven
The Royal University
Caradoc and Garaf join the queue to enter the Royal University mid-morning, even at this time of day there are a lot of coming and going. Entrance to the University is funnelled through a narrow doorway and it is made blatantly obvious that entrants are magically scanned. (Given Caradoc thinks he is carrying three major artifacts their security is clearly bloody useless.) 
The university is obviously busy, carrying on as in it role as an academic institution under the new regime. As such it takes over two hours, much of it sitting in waiting rooms, before you are able to meet up with a researcher, a bard by the name of Led’m who is apparently one of the weapon enchantment specialists.
Led’m is Human, very tall and broad, almost looks like he could be a Giant.
Led’m: “I was told that you had some weaponry that you would like me to take a look at, and some other questions. Luckily for you, I have this hour clear in my calendar, but there will be a consultation fee of 10 silver”
Caradoc hands the money over.
Led’m: “Right, what do you want to know, what do you want me to look at”
Caradoc: “Well first things, do you know of a Bard named Phinon, based up in White Beach at the Halls of Song?”
Led’m: “The name rings a bell certainly, why do you ask?”
Caradoc: “He helped us out with some research and was killed by the Solarans for his trouble. We understood that he would be raised, and wanted to check if that had been done. Quite liked the guy actually.”
Led’m: “Ah, yes I do remember hearing about that, all the evidence pointed towards a Solaran assassination team being involved.”
Garaf: “You say, all the evidence, but…..”
Led’m: “I don’t know all of the details, it is all being handled out of the Halls of Song, but I did hear that a couple of people up there felt that pointing the finger at Solara was just a little bit too convenient.” (Who else – the elves we “rescued”, Wyldwood, Saratak?) 
Led’m: “But certainly Phinon walks amongst us once more.”
Caradoc: “You know there is a Wyldwood Shrine there now?”
Led’m: “Yes, I am aware of that, not really sure why White Beach – again not my field. The popular theory doing the rounds down here is that it is something to do with the island to the North of White Beach. You would need to talk to a specialist, but Wyldwood does have a habit of moving around.” (If Wyldwood moved a major shrine there to oppose Salahan, planning it from many years before, Caradoc suspects that the Universal Church will know something given their vocal opposition to Salahan.) 
Caradoc (bringing out a goblet): “Have you seen one of these before?”
Led’m moves closer to examine.
Led’m: “Well weaponry is my speciality so to be honest I’m at a bit of a loss here. It is obviously pretty old, from the look of it – part of a set, and I would guess Universal or Dekatur church involvement.” (the hobbit/dwarf story of their origin didn’t seem to have any obvious religious affiliations) 
Caradoc and Garaf spend a few minutes explaining the background of the Goblet and the 3-Piece drum set, and what they know about the Five…. And their theories.
Led’m: “Intriguing….. again, not my field – or should I say fields, this crosses a lot of boundaries. I would guess that you aren’t comfortable leaving that piece with the University?”
Caradoc: “Not for the moment, until we understand exactly what the University could do with it.”
Led’m: “Well let me think about this one, given the nature of the problem this is a case of the less people who know the better……..however you need as wide a research coverage as possible or else will miss something important.”
Caradoc: “Okay, well we can pick that up another time. Now about these.”
Caradoc brings out the stilettos and lays them out on the table.
Led’m: “Now these are definitely in my field of interest.”
Led’m picks up the daggers and examines them closely.
Garaf: “We have identified them, and read the runic script – it says……”
Led’m: “Mmm mm”
Caradoc: “We believe they have some major role to play, particularly around the Red Titan – which is something to do with the Lizardfolk”
Led’m: “Quite possibly…..”
Led’m obviously has paid Garaf and Caradoc no attention for about 10 minutes, at that point he returns the daggers to the table.
Led’m: “Fascinating, very rare to see joint workings, particularly Elven and Dwarven, normally with such paired items, one comes first and the other is in opposition. But these were made by two master craftsmen, working together, and there are signs that a third maker was involved as well – but I am not certain of that at this point.” (how would you get an elf and a dwarf to work together for a lengthy period of time – either you convince them that you have something to teach or you are so powerful they don’t have a choice – Caradoc goes with the third party “in charge” theory” and hopes the LL will tell us who or at least point in their direction) 
Caradoc: “Would you be able to formally assess these, we think we need to do something with them soon”
Led’m: “Certainly, although I will pull in some help to review and analyse the inscribed writing, and I cannot simply opt out of delivering my classes so will have to call in some favours.”
Garaf: “How much cost are we looking at here please?”
Caradoc: “…and how long?”
Led’m scribbles some numbers down on a scrap of parchment.
Led’m: “Normally it would work out at 12 Gold per day, but given the other information you have provided I can offer 10 Gold per day, I would guess we would be looking at up to ten days to complete the investigations. Thankfully the Northlake archives are not due to be returned for a couple of months so that will help.” (Caradoc pretty sure the Northlake archives all went off to Alvera so this may be a red flag of some description) 
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