The Emperor's Bones

*Ah my good fellow, so glad to make your acquaintance. I say, you are one of those fellows who digs around in the Imperial Dungeons, aren't you? Delightful! Oh yes, even in Vortigern we hear about these things. I was just speaking to the Earl of Balborough how brave people such as yourself and your comrades are, to risk life and limb for such uncertain reward.*

*Actually, speaking of reward, perhaps there is something we should discuss... as I mentioned, I am lucky enough to hold the title of Baron of Tain, having inherited it from my late father, Vaad bless his dear departed soul. My great-grandfather received the title of Baron from Basarab XV for a trifling service he did for him in administering some Imperial plantations near Wagdon, but I digress...*

*You see, dear sir, the fact is that while my great-grandfather was grateful for the bestowing of this title, it was not really necessary. It is well known within our family that my great-grandfather's own great-great-grandsire, Black John of Tain, was not the son of a mid-ranking Imperial courtier as history has recorded, but in fact the bastard son of John II, Kosmokrator and Emperor of the house of Basarion. That means that my family are descended, however humbly and distantly, from the Imperial line, which means we are nobility by right of blood - which in turn means that my great-grandfather's rank should been elevated from Baron to Count, not from nothing to Baron, when he was favoured by the Emperor.*

*I am sorry, I do not mean to bore you. The fact is, the house of Tain have long struggled to gain a title in keeping with our ancestral right. Unfortunately the records of the time before the Treaty of the Accord  are scattered and fragmented, and the matter of a bastard birth to an Emperor's mistress, while hardly unprecedented, was not exactly something anybody was keen to commit to parchment. Happily, a good friend of mine is an Archmandrite in the Church of Vaad, and he tells me that with the correct divine magics, he may be able to commune with the spirit of my departed ancestor and obtain his testimony that he did indeed favour my ancestor with his seed. This would no doubt persuade the Privy Council  that an elevation in my family to Comital rank is justified.*

*Ah, but what does this have to do with me, you are asking? No small amount, my good friend, no small amount. You see, we know where the body of John II lies - within the Imperial Crypts, of course! It is a matter of record that his son had his father entombed among his ancestors below the Imperial Palace long before that madman Basarab IX turned the Basarion family mausoleums into his own diabolical personal playground. We can only assume that, whatever sins that tyrant committed, he would not descrate the bones of his own progenitors - which means in turn that we fondly hope that the body of John II can still be found entombed somewhere beneath the Six Dragons Inn .*

*If you are able to extract the body of John II sufficiently intact for my friend to be able to use his divine powers to commune with the Emperor's spirit, my family would see no obstacle to awarding you a handsome reward, sufficient to keep you in the style to which I see you are accustomed for a good length of time.*

OBJECTIVE:

Retrieve the remains of Emperor John II **[ACHIEVED]**