Thieves of Stamford
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Date: Spring 1203 Fredegisa, the Quaesitor residing at Schola Pythagoranis, wrote to Sandre asking for his help investigating a burglary where some valuable property of Voluntas was stolen while en route to the covenant. Fredegisa was busy that season binding her familiar, so she asked Sandre to investigate. There were other magi Fredegisa could have asked for help, but Sandre was the first one she turned to.
Sandre and his bodyguard, Bloody Bill, traveled north to the town of Stamford in Northamptonshire to investigate the strange burglary.
Background
There has been long-running tension between Voluntas and another northern covenant, Oswald's Haven. The precise nature of the conflict was unclear to Sandre at the time, but there is an ethnic element to it. Voluntas is a covenant of Norman magi practicing Latin magic, and Oswald's Haven is populated by Saxon magi practicing Germanic magic.
Approximately once a year, Voluntas purchases costly laboratory supplies and equipment from France and has them shipped to England. This year, the shipment arrived in London and moved a great distance over land from London toward Yorkshire.
The Burglary
The burglary occurred at an inn called the Horse and Hound, about ten miles south of the town of Stamford along the King's highway. The goods -- Venetian glassware, Arabian spices, precious dyes, ostrich plumes, fine vellum, and the like -- were being transported by Philip, a companion of Voluntas, and four armed grogs.
Because the inn was crowded, Philip thought it best to bring the two chests of cargo into his room, rather than draw attention to it by leaving it under guard in the stable. He brought two grogs into his room and left two downstairs in the common room. In spite of his precautions, thieves broke into his room while he and his two grogs were sleeping. They moved the two heavy chests through a small room past Philip and two men, down the stairs, across the crowded common room where a dozen travelers were sleeping, and out into the stable -- all without waking anyone!
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