Jean the Banker of the Cauldroneers is rewarded with an antique longsword for his work on a contract. Polishing it he notices a loose pommel and with in is some cryptic clues dated 1597 written by Viscount de Gabriel promising wealth to his descendants.
Pooling the research expertise of the team – Joesph and Baron Sordeau’s Court contacts, Antoine underworld knowledge, Jean’s bureaucracy and the Baron’s knowledge of church records they uncover the following:
- The Viscount was a strategist in service of Henri IV, a sadist given to games of cat and mouse
- He was arrested in 1596 and executed in 1598 for treachery in service of the perfidious English
- His lands and title where forfeit except for a villa granted his widow – its lies abandoned since her death.
- The abandoned villa has been raided by villains several times but no rogues have ever returned from such burglary.
- The only survivor of his line, is his grand-nephew Victor De Gabriel – interred as a lunatic to the care of Dominican brothers in 1619 but escaped in 1621.
They travel to the villa. Following a clue they find a ring in the base of a garden statue of a Roman god and despite Antonine suffering injury in a tiger trap hidden in a maze they get a set of keys of a statue of Pan in a hedge maze. They find in the tiger trap a tunnel leading to the villa.
Antonine carries out reconnaissance and escapes being killed by a crossbow trap in the wine cellar. The rest of the party joins him. Uncovering rough ground they find small sealed cases of gunpowder and a silver case containing red spectacles.
What wealth lies in the villa? Will the Cauldroneers survive ? Who will be foiled by these meddling swordsmen ?
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