Email Session 4: Tales of Captain Stantiati

The mornings have become routine. You get up at sun up, eat a hopefully tasteless morning meal at the College, hail a boatman and sail to the Brush and Gull. Once in a rare while you get up early and study a little in the library before leaving for work, but most day you curse the rising sun as it signals an all too early end to your much desired rest. This particular morning life is good however. Perhaps your body is getting used to the magically induced fatigue. Surprisingly there is no morning fog, which causes you to speculate that mana in the swamps is sparser than usual. Profiting from the sunshine, you decide to eat your breakfast in Little Tilea, a part of Marienburg which is famous for it good eating. Also now that Sibo will not give you a raise and there is no way you plan on visiting Casanova, you are contemplating getting involved with the Tileans, especially that unnamed Tilean ex-captain boatman you met a couple of days back, perhaps a little contraband or something similar that will pay for your studies. Internally you smile at the idea, if your teachers could hear your thought they would really be in for a surprise. Instinctively you start counting and watch around you, but no one is staring at you. Good it would be unfortunately if the years of presenting yourself as the good student was wasted due to a misstep like that. Anyway getting a feel for the people may be a good idea. At least that is what you tell yourself as you escape the usual breakfast at the College.
For once you actively seek to hail a Tilean boatman, it is easy enough. You ask him to take you to a nice little Tilean restaurant, where you can eat breakfast in peace with a view of the Tilean quarters. The boatman lights up in a smile saying with a strong accent: ”I will take you to my family’s restaurant. It is the best place in Marienburg to eat breakfast on such a beautiful morning. I am going there myself. Just you wait till you have tasted my grandmothers cooking it is fabulous”. The last sentence is said with a proud and broad gesture and a telling look from under his considerable eyebrows. From his dark lines under the eyes, it is obviously the man has worked all night. You have heard rumours that the Tilean boatmen work primarily at night in order to avoid confrontation with the guild. You ask the boatman if this is true, but he vigorously denies it and claims to be a full member of the Boatmans guild. However he never shows you his license, preferring to avoid the issue. You do not press the point, instead you ask him whether he knows a slim boatman, who speaks wastelander like a native and who was a captain on his own ship back in Tilea. “Yes of course everybody knows Captain Stantiati. He used to head the local chapter of the boatman’s guild until it was closed down. ” Curious about the circumstances you ask why the Tilean chapter was closed down and by whom. “It is no secret. The boatman’s guild was unhappy with the many businesses who specifically asked for Tilean boatmen. It was hurting the other chapter houses. That is why they closed us down, withdrew all our licenses and required that we enlist in the remaining chapter houses as junior member. It is a great insult. I have been a boatman for 23 years. I know every canal in Marienburg. I am junior to no one. Furthermore junior boatmen have no say in the management of the chapter houses.” The Tilean speaks fluently and with less accent now. He clearly knows the law and the inner workings of the boatman’s guild. You want to ask him how come the businesses specifically wanted Tilean boatmen, but the journey has come to an end at a small Tilean restaurant. The name of the restaurant is in Tilean and make no sense to you, but the boatman has seen you studying the name and says with a proud smile and gestures towards the restaurant ”This is the Blossoming Sea Flower”. As quickly as you disembark, the boatman has secured the boat and together you enter the restaurant. The voluminous yet short owner greats you with a loud “Chiao Giovanni”. He and the boatman exchanges several kiss alternating between chins in what seems like every possible and impossible combination. The two gossips in Tilean for half a minute. “This is my sister’s husband”, the Boatman Giovanni introduces the owner, who shakes your hand “He does not speak Wastelander but I will translate for you. I have already told him that you want a true Tilean breakfast with everything, wine, sausages, eggs, fish, meat, more wine, herbs and bread of course. He wishes to know if you also want the soup? Today’s Special is a secret ingredient crab soup” Taken aback by the large meal and for safety reasons you decline the soup, much to the disappointment of the owner, but he has an impressive meal ready for you in mere moments. While waiting you ask Giovanni how come the businesses specifically wanted Tilean boatmen. The answer is prompt and without hesitation or irony “We simply do a better job. No cheating the costumers with expensive ‘shortcuts’ or kids in the boats without prober supervision. The regular boatmen are lazy. For them it is a job. For us it is a way of life. We have a love for the canals running in our blood. Many Tilean cities have canals like Marienburg.” You do not hear the rest of the lengthy explanation as you become hypnotized by the incredibly agile finger Giovanni use to lecture the entire city state of Marienburg about the merits of the Tilean boatman. After a while you regain your train of thought and notices that Giovanni has eaten about half the meal, but more interestingly he speaks with only a slight accent now. Interrupting him you ask him where the accent went. He stops perplexed and burst into laughter “Ok you got me. I must be tired. You know, I was born here. The accent is just a habit. Most costumers think they get better deals when they cheat a filthy foreigner and besides you would not believe the stories I hear when the customers do not believe that I understand them” He nods knowingly. “Even the ladies are not that ladylike when they think I do not understand… Anyway I really must go to bed now, otherwise I do not get to see my family before my shift tonight. It was very nice to meet you, Novice” As you watch Giovanni go up the stairs of the small restaurant you wonder if the Tileans would be just as approachable if they knew you were a newstaff. Fortunately it is very common for people to mistake newstaffs for novices as there are so many more novices and because the College is located in the same district as all the major strongholds of the clergy.
A little late you hail a new Tilean boatman (it is not like you have a choice as there are only Tilean boatmen here) and pay him extra to hurry you to the Brush and Gull for another day at work. Even though you know Sibo will dislike that you are running late, you are still in a good mood. This is what life is like when money is not an issue: Life is good. And now you know Captain Stantiati by name and reputation. He just might be the ideal business partner, if he is not spooked by magic, but you will have to find out later otherwise Sibo will really get mad.
As usual Herr Südenwald greets you at the door of the Brush and Gull and escorts you to the room. Sibo does not mention the fact that you are a little late, but goes straight to work. In the pauses you are both silent each contemplating on his own. The mood just seems different and silence the order of the day. It is not until lunch that you break the silence “Sibo, I do not want to disturb your, but I want to clarify that I am certainly not quitting mid-project. Perhaps I was not clear enough the other day.” Sibo turns to look at you and states “I know, but you are unhappy and the work does not pay well enough to pay for your studies, so you are very keen on trying something else.” You cannot help thinking that he might be reading your mind and starts to count. “You are right on every point, Sibo” you acknowledge “How long do you need my services and is there something more I can do?” Sibo responds “Well you still have to teach the customer about Throwing Lightening.The pay is the same but maybe you can do both jobs simultaneously if you are disciplined.” You complain that you are unskilled in the art of Throwing Lightning, But Sibo dismisses your complain as irrelevant as the customer is even more unskilled. “I have already arranged the first meeting. It is in two days. Have you heard about Clara de Roelef” While you have not heard much about Clara you know that the last name as one of the ten, you have never heard of Clara. “She is the Niece of Director de Roelef, and we want to keep him happy!” Sibo get up indicating that lunch is over and it is time to get back to work. The mood is better, lighter now that the air has been cleared.
In the evening after a very long day, you decide to go to Little Tilea in order to invite Captain Stantiati to dinner. You hail a boatman and as he is not Tilean he insist on dropping you off just shy of Little Tilea. Walking around in little Tilea is slow as there is simply too many people in the very small streets. However, this means that there are many people to ask whether they know the Captain Stantiati. About half the people speak wastelander and among these most either have not heard about Captain Stantiati or is unwilling to help a wastelander. Several have heard his name before but do not know of his whereabouts, while some suggest you ask one of the boatmen, whom are everywhere on the small canals. Directing your questions towards a boatman proves very efficient. The very first one takes a close look at you and asks “Who is asking?”. You present yourself and try to explain how you know the captain, but the boatman cuts you short by claiming “Yes the Captain has told us to look for you should you find your way to Little Tilea. I will take you to him.” Once you have entered his little craft, the boatman start to negotiate his way along the busy canals. Before long you have entered and exited several miniature canals, where there is only room for one way traffic. You suspect most of these canals are private as they tend to enter a private garden or dock with two exits. Fortunately these canals see little use and no angry owners confront the boatman even though you are spotted many times. You wonder how things would have fared, had the boatman not been Tilean, while you survey the backside of Little Tilea as it flow by you. Everywhere it is filthy and busy. Unlike the greater canals and streets, there are not many flowers here, but the smell of exotic spicy food is the same everywhere. Soon you arrive at a small restaurant with a private dock. Once again the name escapes you. The boatman points at the restaurant and say “The captain works here.” You get out of the boat and enter the restaurant, not really knowing what to expect. It turns out to be a simple, yet clean, place. There are no fancy decorations, no Mafiosi bodyguards and nostalgic bartenders talking about the virtues of the ‘Old Country’. It is more like a work place where every booth offers privacy and in each booth one, two or three Tileans concentrate on whatever they are doing. The place hums with whispered conversation, much like the library study room back at the College. As you enter everybody looks up for a moment, but as Captain Stantiati gets up and walks towards you, everyone returns their attention to their own business. Stantiati greets you, graping your right hand with both of his, shaking it vigorously. He smiles and says “I was hoping you would return. I had a feeling about you. Thanks for coming. Let’s sit down over here.” As you sit down on opposite sides of the table in Captain Stantiati’s booth, he asks you whether you have ever tasted coffee. “It is a wonderfully invigorating spice from the New World boiled in water, you should try it. Miguel makes the best coffee in Marienburg” He signals the bartender, who brings you two cups of coffee. “So what is on your mind, Newstaff?” Surprised that the Stantiati did not make the same assumption most people do and a little disturbed by his seemingly omniscience you ask him: ”How did you know that? Most people assume I am a Novice.” “Well while we spoke you did not invoke the name of the gods at any time and besides that staff is too well made for the average Novice”, he replies calmly, probably well knowing that you will press the point: “So you are not afraid of us?”, you say referring to student of magic in general. “Of course I am, any sane man would be. But I need your help. I need magic on my side of the coming storm.” As he can ses you hesitating, he elaborates after tasting the coffee “The boatman guild will not let us operate freely outside Little Tilea and we can neither tolerate the humiliation of junior membership in the guild or sustain ourselves in Little Tilea alone, so a struggle is certain to come and it is a struggle that I will win.” You suddenly get the distinct feeling that it is most likely uncomfortable to have this man as an enemy. Stantiati continuous: “You need money which unfortunately I cannot provide, but I can get you a text from the Old Country on the secrets of the Clouds. This will save you a lot of money in tuition, right?” You know that you are showing an interest and a little too much. It is a poor negotiating strategy, but you cannot help it, buying time you say “I will need to see the book and know what you want from me in some detail. Also the time span in which you seek my services is important.” Stantiati nods approvingly and says “It is only reasonable. I need you to infiltrate the Guild-we-have-heard-of. Casanova stands firmly behind the Boatman guild and the Stevedors. Without an inside man it will be an uphill battle to win, but with an inside man I have a plan and better than a fighting chance of taking down the racist Boatman guild. What say you?”