Café de Nuit

Adam wrote:Bennedict looks confused for a second, but the wires connect eventually. "Oh, I thought he meant how would the weather be this season. It's certainly a lovely day outside right now."

''Yes. Sarai tells me it's been even warmer on the East Side. Downright muggy, and too much smog. I guess from the refugees' cook fires, or something."
Charlotte watches her husband's face.
'You don't recall her? You know, Ottokar's wife. I met her at the River Market today."

Bennedict waves a hand. "Yes, yes, weather. Very interesting."

He moves on.

Raen smiles. He knows a topic Bennedict would love to discuss.
"So, have you read any good book recently? Something that expanded your knowledge of the world?"

The old book collector smiles. "I don't have as much time for recreational reading as I once did, but I've heard rumors of a first edition of one of Van Richten's guides in the city. I have a few feelers out to try and find some sign of it." He sighs, eyes wistful. "I've often tried to emulate the techniques of the old monster hunter. To have a copy of something he wrote himself..." he drifts off before coming back to the party. "It would be worth nearly anything."

"A good copy would be as good for me. I don't care if it's penned by Van Richten himself or it's a printed copy, as long as it helps put monsters out of people's lives. Beautiful thing these printing presses, and not too hard to make. I'm surprised they're not more widespread. But I digress. Which guide was it that you had in mind Sir?"

Dorgio's ears fairly prick up when he hears Raen and Benn discuss a Van Richten's. "That would be a rare find indeed. But there are times when I wonder, perhaps it is no accident the guides are not more common. We've all seen enough to know that there are...agents who would want that knowledge suppressed."

Kat pricks up her ears at the 'worth nearly anything' remark.

"Who is this van Richten then? perhaps I could put out a few feelers myself. You hear a lot in an inn.."

She has deposited a bottle of wine on the table, but seems more interested in sampling the nibbles than the drink.

Bennedict collects wine glasses for anyone else who is interested and pours out some wine from Kat's bottles. "Van Richten is almost a mythical figure among those of us who hunt the things that go bump in the night," he explains, "As much good as he did on his own, perhaps his greatest achievement was penning a series of books detailing these creatures and shining a light on their abilities and weaknesses." He strokes his mustache, easily falling back into his old lecturer routines. "Even the number of books he wrote is debatable, and there are a number of imitators who have tried to copy his works (with mixed results,) but his treatises on vampires, the walking dead, and lycanthropes are particularly enlightening."

He gestures. "I've been fortunate enough to study copies of these, though I admit it has been some time since I've had the opportunity. I should admit, they were a source of some somewhat forbidden joy in my youth. My parents were scandalized, of course, but the beat up old copy I managed to come across in a library filled many an evening's reading."

Adam wrote:Bennedict collects wine glasses for anyone else who is interested and pours out some wine from Kat's bottles. "Van Richten is almost a mythical figure among those of us who hunt the things that go bump in the night," he explains, "As much good as he did on his own, perhaps his greatest achievement was penning a series of books detailing these creatures and shining a light on their abilities and weaknesses." He strokes his mustache, easily falling back into his old lecturer routines. "Even the number of books he wrote is debatable, and there are a number of imitators who have tried to copy his works (with mixed results,) but his treatises on vampires, the walking dead, and lycanthropes are particularly enlightening."

He gestures. "I've been fortunate enough to study copies of these, though I admit it has been some time since I've had the opportunity. I should admit, they were a source of some somewhat forbidden joy in my youth. My parents were scandalized, of course, but the beat up old copy I managed to come across in a library filled many an evening's reading."

Charlotte smiles.
"I recall Master Sancerre had some old books sort of like that stuff. But I never did more with them than peek at the title letters and woodcuts in them, while dusting his study."
She sips wine.
" What I really liked were Miss Evie's chapbook romances; she used to read them aloud to me, acting out the different characters with different voices. "
Her eyes brighten. She sniffs and turns away to gaze up at the waxing moon though the branches of the garden's maple.

Bennedict puts an arm around her shoulders. He gives her a wistful smile, his own mind wandering back to the same bad memories, and sips his wine with her.

Adam wrote:Bennedict puts an arm around her shoulders. He gives her a wistful smile, his own mind wandering back to the same bad memories, and sips his wine with her.

Charlotte snuggles in close to her husband.

Raen nods. "For all the good Van Richten has done, either he, or the ones pushing his book, have made some... unflattering references for several powerful figures of our world. Back in Darkon, there is a special, secret force loyal to Azalin Rex that is above and beyond the local constabularies, baronial guards, town-watch etc. The Kargat. Not the most pleasant fellows if even half the stories are right.
Let's say the Kargat would not appreciate anyone having those books in his or her possession and when the Kargat doesn't appreciate someone's efforts, that someone usually disappears."
After a moment he adds. "They are part of the reasons I prefer to stay here than go back to Darkon"

Lorna (Dorgio's young wife ) says, "I went to his shop with my mother, once, when I was a little girl living in Mordentshire. Doctor Van Richten. But he wasn't in. Some clerk or apprentice filled our order. It's all a bit hazy, and maybe what I really remember is being told about it, later. I was small. I do remember our neighbors talked a lot about his skill at medicine, and not so much his adventures, except to say he poked into things best left alone."
The slender, raven-haired woman pushes closer to her husband, shivering despite the lingering warmth of the late summer evening.

Raen turns to Lorna. "Interesting. I would like to meet Van Richten if he's still alive. You said his residence is in Mordentshire? Do you know if he's still around or he passed away?"

alhoon wrote:Raen turns to Lorna. "Interesting. I would like to meet Van Richten if he's still alive. You said his residence is in Mordentshire? Do you know if he's still around or he passed away?"

Lorna says,
"I only know he disappeared years ago. I had just started working for the Wigots then, in the kitchen to start. The Doctor being gone just sort of slipped by a while... until people realized he was not coming back. You see, he'd leave town
for weeks, months, a year. But he always returned before that last time. As for me, I haven't been back to Mordentshire since getting married. I'd like to go, though. Even though my parents passed away before I left to serve the Wigots, I still have some distant relations and a few old friends to look up."