Julian knocks on the front door, which is opened a moment later by an old man. He looks at Julian, and then says, "this is the Steinhager head office. What is your business here, sir?" A dog can be heard barking close by. "Be quiet, Fang!" the man shouts.
Julian explains that he is a guild engineer, and is offering his services protecting storerooms from damp.
"Well, I'll ask Mr. Steinhager if he's interested. I'll show you to a waiting room. This way, sir."
The front door opens onto a large, pleasant courtyard with an ornamental pond at the centre and doors on all sides. Julian counts eight doors in all. The doorkeeper leads him to a door in the corner to his right. It's a richly furnished room, and there's a decanter of brandy set out on the table. "Take a seat sir, I won't be long."
Julian is kept waiting for about ten minutes before the doorman returns. "Mr. Steinhager will see you now. This way please."
They return to the courtyard, and this time go through the first door to the left of the main entrance. The doorkeeper bows, and departs.
Julian is in another well-furnished room. It's paneled with dark wood, and has a huge and ornate desk in the middle. There's another door on one of the walls, next to a large painting of the town. "The desk is Cathayan wood," says the man seated behind it, "it cost a fortune to have it brought here! Well worth it though. I'm Franz Steinhager, the head of the Steinhager trading family. I'm told you can help keep the damp out of our warehouses? I've heard that one before, and we still have problems. I've never hired a dwarf before though. Perhaps that's where I've been going wrong."
Franz Steinhager is a grey-haired, rather fat man in his mid forties. He stands up, walks over to Julian, and shakes his hand. "Sit down, please."
He gestures towards a well-padded chair on one side of the desk, and then returns to his own on the other. As he sits down, Julian notices something among the papers piled on the desk - a letter written on parchment that has the words 'Ordo Septenarius' printed across the bottom.
Being careful not to let Steinhager see him, Julian tries to read the visible portion of the letter (the very end of the letter).
[Observe test, against I of 26, dice roll = 25!]
Julian is able to read the following:
...Schaffenfests ends, with the sound of the twelfth bell, our plan will come into fruition.
J. T.
As Steinhager sits down, Julian looks away from the letter, hoping he hasn't been noticed. He hasn't.
"Now," Steinhager says, "tell me about your proposal. If I am interested I may wish you to inspect the warehouses and provide me with a quotation."
He listens attentively.
