Corumallen visits Curugil
elendor2 - Sunday, March 22, 2009, 1:19 AM
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Daytime on Hevensday, Day 29 of June.
Execute the +TIMEFRAME command for year information.
Real time is: 00:37:15 MDT on Sun Mar 22 2009.
The High House of Lore is quite busy this day as loremasters, scholars, pages, and others move to and fro. Among them, and giving direction to several young pages, is the Loremaster Curugil.
"No you see the inflection is with the i vowel, not the e..." he says. A lesson on language apparently.
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A well-dressed man, armed, and by all appearances an escort to some noble, is ushered forward to interrupt. "Good day sir, are you the Lord Gildring, Curugil? My master has come to see - I believe he sent a messenger to notify you this morning." The man gestures toward the door, where a small gathering of men, dressed as he is, are assembled.
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Curugil turns to the man and says, "Yes, of course. Show them in."
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In short order four men come forward, at the first man's behest, bearing a large sedan chair on their shoulders. Seated on it is an age fellow, obscenely obese, waving his swarthy face with a broad fan. Eagerly peering about as they pass through, as if he takes great interest in what is contained within the Houses of Lore, he soon faces Curugil. "Ah, is this the esteemed scholar I have heard of?" His tone is bright and cheerful, voice like that of a castrado. "Marvelous! Good afternoon Sir, I am Corumallen Lothron, a merchant of Pelargir, and amateur pupil of the arts!" He beams proudly, we scarcely concealed excitement.
The Lord of the Gildring smiles pleasantly enough, "Such kind words you say dear sir. How may the High House of Lore be of service?"
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"Actually, I had hoped to be of service to you. You see, all my life I have been a patron of the arts in Pelargir, but as I am no longer in residence there, and as you have so recently been the target of the most dreadful of treachery, I would like to make a large donation to your efforts consisting of both money, and some servants of mine who may be able to assist you." He gestures two men forward, both quite old, and adds, "This random NPC is a scholar of Tengwar scripture and he, another random NPC, is an adept lecturer on Gondorian and Numenorian history. They have been my tutors up until now, but I would like to give them to you, on my payroll of course." After a moment of pause, he adds, "Also, I have separate plans that may interest you, two in fact."
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"As to that," replies Curugil. "The High House of Lore is not above accepting donations in both coin as well as kind. I am very happy to see a man of wealth take interest in our activities. Yet tell me, what are these plans of yours?"
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Waving his hands exuberantly two men come forward, each bearing a handsome wooden chest which they set on the ground before Curugil and open the lids, so as to display the contents. The first, smaller, is a chest of coin. "Ten thousand florins," announces Corumallen, "no small sum even for me - I trust you will put it to good use in your restorations and teaching." In the second, larger, an array of carefully packed scrolls, "And that, is a part of my private collection of artifacts. I have studied them all myself, and as such have no use for them anymore, I hope they will be a blessing to you." He smiles giddily and continues, "As to my plans, the first is to establish some manner of scholarship fund for new students of Lore, (I intend to offer the same to the good Healers of Minas Tirith,) in which case I ask that you select your best students, either those you currently have any that may apply in the future, and pay their room and board, and whatever other expenses they have, on a tab which I will pay. The reason, of course, or my hope in this, is that it will extend an opportunity for learning to the lower classes who do not belong to Houses which can afford them a proper education. Intelligence interest potential - all terrible things to waste!"
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Curugil rubs his chin, "So you wish to establish an endowment"
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"Yes indeed. I will trust your recommendation, any student you deem worthy, within reasonable limitations, I will gladly support. My second plan, is to fund an expedition for a bit of proper archeological study. I have not yet had an opportunity to speak with your sister on the matter as I have been in the procees of moving my estate, no doubt she and her contacts would be of great use. I make no pretense at claiming what a worthy expedition would consist of, indeed, I must admit it is rather little more than a boyish dream. But, does it not sound like a grand adventure!" Corumallen rumbles with a laugh and adds, "Of course, in the meantime until plans are final, once I have found a house in the city, you are most welcome to peruse my collection at any time. I look forward to learning from you, as I have a number of items I cannot properly date or identify."
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The Lord Gildring arches a brow and says, "Your intentions are most noble Master Lothron, but these things cannot be done at a nonce. As I am sure a man of your merchantile background will attest, contracts must be set up, plus the endowment must be properly invested as well as the creation of a board of trustees for the donation. In addition, do you have an accession list of these scrolls that you are bringing to this House of whose value I know little and expect me to organize these things for you. We get many such donations and they are often of great value to the owner, but perhaps of little value to the researcher. Have you men send me a list of the contents of these boxes and also, draw up a deed of gift and then we can talk about establishing a formal endowment. And 5,000 Golden Florins is a tidy sum. I suspect you can buy half of Pelargir for that amount. Where are the coins to be kept as well?"
There is a pause followed by a sigh, "We cannot accept at face value your offer until legal stipulations are made."
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Corumallen's face falls, "Oh, yes, yes. Good things are always spoiled by such nonsense. Very well, I will take these things back with me and send an inventory of my donation, as well as a formal contract for the endowment - I will send a representative to manage these details on my behalf once everything has been made available." With a sad expression he ponders the matter for a moment and asks, "Are you in need of any additional staff?" A disappointed sigh follows and he adds without even the slightest hint of umbrage, "It is certainly not my intention to burden you."
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Curugil places his arm on the merchant's shoulder, "Never in life my dear sir! It is just important to do these things through proper channels. I cannot simply take a gift at face value. Certainly you must understand that. Of course this should go well, but we must be cautious and meticulous. This is no impeachment on your character of course."
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Corumallen is visibly comforted by the Lord's words and responds with a chuckle, "Well, I should prove myself more competent if were ever discuss matters of economics, or lore itself, of course. This sort of thing," he flips a hand nebulously, "is so distasteful - lawyers wrangling for advantage and so on. This is why I have always entrusted such matters to advisors. I hardly give it any thought at all. Whatever happens, I will most pleased to have assisted a young person in acheiving their dreams, especially if they otherwise never could have hoped those dreams to be realized." A lip quivers, evidencing the extent to which he emotionally affected, before he offers Curugil a broad smile, "Anyhow, I shall not detain you any longer. I look forward to seeing you again, and discussing things in more detail. Rest assured, in any event, that I am your ally and that I look forward very much to working with you on /something/!" Another raucous laugh ushers from his bovine lips.
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Curugil sees Corumallen to the doors and says, "I look forward to it. Fare you well!"
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Corumallen says, "Farewell!"
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