Of Hallowed Script and Profane Scholars
Fourteenth Day of the Ninth Month 293 AC
Though you seriously consider Ser Richard's concerns and ponder contacting Danelle rather than the archmaester you can see no simple path to gaining her trust and making use of her influence, now and in the future. Were you to contact her in your true form that would be one more actor who would
know that you are moving in Oldtown in the prelude to the Conclave, whereas if you came before her in dissembling guise that lie may well come back to haunt you and for what? She is already inclined to speak for a more tolerant Faith, her arguments different in detail but not in substance from the ones you would give as Dywen. So long as she stands with Kyle and the Chosen are as divided as the Faith is you have no need to show your hand to ensure it. Better to leave that meeting for another less tumultuous time.
Marwyn by contrast is an unknown actor, a powerful one if he has indeed stolen from Lucan, besting the vigilance of angels. Even if he is not inclined to work against you there are many ways in which he might tangle your plans. On the other hand if he could be won over as an ally he would serve as far better leverage against the conspiracy in the Citadel than his nominal superior Grand Maester Pycelle could ever hope to be.
"You've been staring at those books for a while now, fancy reading them the usual way?" Dany's jest interrupts your thoughts.
"Just thinking..." in truth you had momentarily all but forgotten about the scrolls and books you had laid out upon the table before you, tales of saints and tracts of learned theologians. With a silent
invocation of power you touch them each in turn, allowing the words within to pass into your mind like stones sinking past the surface of a river.
"Ironic that you should use sorcery to learn the message of the Younger Gods, given that they are so opposed to its practice," Leto notes with cool amusement.
"True," you shrug. "Yet it is an irony neither sweet nor bitter upon the tongue, simply the fastest way to see the task done."
The Fury nods thoughtfully, seeming mildly surprised with the answer, watching you with particular interest as you lay down your reasoning for seeking out Marwyn. In the end even Ser Richard reluctantly agrees that it is better to find the man on your own terms rather than risk stumbling over him on his.
Alas that actually finding the archmaester proves more difficult by far, rumors of his doings are everywhere to be
plucked from the air and stones tell you little of the man, and all of it tangled and old:
...they say he took ship for the Summer Islands... he's been to Valyria long before those Lannister bastards I tell you... prays to black gods... strangled the Squisher right there with his bare hands he did... I ain't scared of no chained man... you should be... I heard he danced with faeries under the hill... fiends from hell they are.... don't look into his eyes.
"There is too much to be heard and none of it useful," you sigh, letting the babbling wind fall silent.
"Could he have planted all those rumors of his doings on purpose?" your mother asks. "Knowing that such things could be gathered by sorcery perhaps?"
"Perhaps in part, but I think it is fair to say we are dealing with a man who lived an interesting life
long before magic returned to the world," you reply before quieting your mind to attempt another spell, a hunter's
working, a whisper carried to all green growing things. The clink of of a maester's chain, the glint of dragonsteel you seek.
The whispers are less tangled and far fewer in number, but one by one you find them lacking, each maester with a link of dragonsteel in their chains but none the one to bear mask, rod, and ring. You mark them still for they might be worth conversing with and then you carry on.
"We are going to have to actually look for the man it seems." Truth be told the idea has a certain allure, to walk the streets and know the hidden places of the city, far from the gaze of priests and lords. Dany looks just as excited at the notion, your mother markedly less so. Ser Richard and the Hound only exchange resigned looks.
***
'Worm's Way' is the sort of place where knights hold fast their swords for their titles will serve them little. Cobbles lie crooked under the feeble light filtering through the overhanging roofs that reveals weather worn signs from the banal grape bundles to sinister crossed daggers to others that would be obscene were they not drawn with such a lack of skill that one must use a great deal of imagination to realize what they are supposed to be representing.
"Whores, sellswords, and petty conjurers, not the place I would imagine finding a skilled mage," you note. Still, this is where Tobyn had said you are most likely to pick up Marwyn's trail if he is indeed back in the city, and you have no reason to doubt the Lantern Bearer. He had suggested making it known that you want to talk to 'the Mage' at a pawn shop with the mark of a two-headed camel swings above the door, saying that Marwyn would find you there.
What do you do?
[] Try to obtain Marwyn's location or the means of contacting him from the pawn shop
-[] Write in
[] Follow Tobyn's suggestion
-[] Write in
[] Write in
OOC: Poor rolls all around this time I'm afraid, Marwyn was not standing near any plants when you cast Forest Sense and the diplomacy checks for Ears of the City were a 3 and 5 unmodified.
