Martin “Fat Pappy” Braun
Meeting Fat Pappy Braun
As I continued my labourious trip towards warmth and a roaring fire at the University, an enormously fat man sauntered towards me. I was astonished by the girth of the man, and totally engrossed in curious contemplation on how he could have grown to such a size that I totally missed his uniform. He was a man of the Watch, and evidently he had witnessed the whole falling down incident, and the theft of my book. Enraged I called out and confronted him, asking why he hadn’t given chase.
“Pfui, too much hard work. We won’t catch the Collector that way,” was the lazy answer I got.
“The Collector?”
“Aye, sire,” he replied in a deep and booming voice. The fat man probably had a good singing voice in there somewhere. There was room enough in there for sure. “He steals books. We gather that he collects them himself, since none of the tomes have turned up in any of the bookshops or pawnshops.”
I debated with the man for a full half hour but got nowhere. He wouldn’t give chase, and if I wanted the book back he suggested I put up posters offering a reward.
“But you are the City Watch!” I burst out.
“Aye, sire. We keep the peace. But we don’t around solving crimes. Imagine how that would be, we’d have no time for anything else!”
Adolphus Altdorfer
Angestag, Nachexen 3, 2522 IC
Our poor scholar was unfortunate enough to run into Fat Pappy Braun. He is infamous in Friedwang for his enormous belly, his equally voluminous wife and their litter of children. Fat Pappy is also one of the laziest Watch Men in Altdorf, and easily bribed. The fact that he can keep his job is telling of the state of the City Watch in the capital. They are there to keep the peace, which they most often do by banging two heads together and dragging the unconscious unfortunates to a cell for the night. The Watch Men have few or no investigative skills, and the task of actually investigating crimes are given to specially formed commissions or one of the numerous Kabinetts.
Today our dear Adolphus was unfortunate, since Friedwang actually is one of the most peaceful Bezirks in Altdorf. About the only spot of trouble is the Collector, a mysterious man who steals books. This is a source of much frustration in the Bezirk, since it is inhabited ta large extent by scholars and scribes. The Collector steals any book he can lay his hands on, but favours hard bound books with plenty of colour illuminations and fancy letters.
Magnus
Cold, slippery and dark
I left The Burning Table and dragged my suitcases after me. It was rather empty on the streets, since it was fairly early. Mostly deliveries and the occassional Watch Man. As I was at the edge of the Friedwang Bezirk and wanted to get to the Univserität Bezirk, I could either take the main street down until I saw the university and then turn right, or cut through Friedwang. It was snowing lightly from grey skies and the cobble stones were wet and slippery so I decided to take the shortest route. Which of course turned out to be a mistake. As I made my way through the buildings in the Friedwang, I stumbled and slipped. As I fell down I landed on my suitcase with reading materials and it split right open, spilling books and papers into the street. A man hurried towards me, and I anticipated help in gathering my materials before the wind carried them away, or they became ruined by the wet snow. I was thunderstruck as the stranger picked up a heavy tome, and then ran for it. All I could do was shout for help, but no one seemed intent on aiding me. And I couldn’t leave my other books for fear of losing them as well. I quickly gathered my possessions, closed the suitcase again and started towards the University. I was cold and wet, and I’m sure I cracked a rib landing on the hard stone cobbles.
Adolphus Altdorfer
Angestag, Nachexen 3, 2522 IC