"Get up you lazy scut!" Albrecht called through the stone linteled doorway. There was a groan from the pile of blankets that covered a pallet in the corner. Heartlessly the wizard, an old man with a bald patte covered in liver spots, began to bang his copper wrapped flaggon on the stones with a metallic clang. The groan from the blankets rose in pitch and a moment later a pale hand appeared, snapping like the arm of a trebuchet and launching a wooden soled shoe in the general direction of the door. Used to his student's tactics, Albrect stepped behind the door and waited for first one and then the second shoe to sail past, clattering against the stone wall beyond. When he poked his head around the corner, cautiously in case she had bottles or other such ordinance at her disposal, a young woman had appeared in the center of the mass of bedding, her golden blond hair cascading around her in an untidy mane and a thick blanket pulled up to cover her impressive breasts. She glared at him with blue eyes which were narrowed in peevish irritation.

"If you are quite finished Emmaline?" Albrecht inquired dryly. She spat a curse at him which would have been better suited to the Marienburg docks than to a wizards apprentice.

"That seems anatomically unlikely," Albrecht replied, "now are you going to get up or should I find a bell to ring?"

"Fine!" Emmaline snapped, pressing the heel of her right hand to her eyes and cursing the wine she had been drinking the night before. The rich Ostland vintage was a far less pleasant companion the next day it seemed. Once he was convinced she wasn't going to go back to sleep Albrecht turned and headed back the way he came pausing to call over his shoulder.

"Now get yourself ready, I think today might be the day Von Griffenbach bites!"


The dwelling, it wasn't really proper to call it a house, had begun life as a guard tower on the walls of Nuln centuries ago. As the city had swelled it had outgrown its old walls and they had fallen into disrepair. Vast sections of the old fortifications had been torn down, scavanged for their stones, but here and there vestiges like this remained. It was too cold and drafty to be an attractive dwelling for any but the most desperate. Cracked roof tiles let in the rain and ancient mortar allowed the wind to howl between stones. It had become their dwelling by virtue of being cheap and by appealing to a wizards natural inclination to a tower, though mostly the former. Albrect had used his magic to seal the worst of the cracks, and the fire they kept in the central room went some way towards banishing the chill, but Emmaline hadn't felt really warm since she had arrived in Nuln a month ago.

Climbing out of bed she crossed the room naked, casting a look to the door to make sure the lecherous old wizard wasn't watching. She was a statuesque woman, blessed with the large heavy breasts and broad hips of the Unborgen archetype and narrow waisted in a distinct hourglass. Her features were beautiful though perhaps a touch softer than what might be considered aristocratic. There was a lushness to her form that would have suited her as a model for a painter like Eichman or Van der Trat. Indeed she had modled for several artists in Altdorf in the last few years when money had been particularly tight. Having come to the College of Magic rather unwillingly at the age of sixteen she had been Albrecht's 'apprentice' for the past four years, though the old man had chosen her for her looks and her utility. Emmaline's magical talents were at best moderate, and Albrecht's instruction was patchy at best, more generally consisting of things he didn't want to do himself that could be fobbed off on his apprentice. The old man was a kindred spirit of sorts. They both had a taste for the finer things which they could not afford, and they both found it easier to use their gifts and cunning to make money rather than commit themselves to serious study. A little bit of magic could be very handy in convincing fools to part with their gold.

"Much as I appreciate the view, don't be all morning about it," Albrecht called from the doorway. Emmaline turned and made a rude guesture, refusing to rise to give her master the pleasure of upsetting her, it wasn't as though he had never seen her naked afterall. In the corner of the room stood a large tub fashioned from a halved gunpowder keg. The water inside was clear and though it hadn't formed a rhyme of ice, was freezing cold. Emmaline took a rock from an improvised shelf and began to chant, gathering the gold wind around her. After a moment she dropped the rock into the tub. At first nothing happened, but then the water began to bubble around the stone, warmth began to radiate from the tub until it was warm enough that Emmaline could step in without yelping.

"Maybe you could make yourself useful and get me some breakfast?" Emmaline suggested, the now hot water easing away the chill in her bones and banishing the last of the alcholic fog which had clung to her mind. Albrecht snorted in disgust.

"Sounds like something an apprentice should be doing," he huffed. He smoothed his trousers removing the evidence that he had indeed been enjoying the view. He tried to haruumph with offended dignity but it was only partially successful.

"Well the apprentice is taking a bath and then she will have to wash her hair, and then squeeze into a corset, and then..."

"Yes, yes by Ranald's Balls," he grumbled, before turning he added, "I think we have some bread and cheese back here..."


____________________________________

The con was, at its heart, a fairly simple one, but then all tricks were simple once you knew how they were done.

"Oh Otto darling, are you sure?" Emmaline asked. She was dressed in a gown of current Altdorf fashion, embroided red velvet over a white underlayer with a long skirt of alternating black and gray. Although she wore several pieces of jewelery, the gown was the most expensive article of the ensemble. Gold they could fake, good quality fabric they had to buy. Her hair was done up in an elaborate series of curls that had taken her most of the morning to achieve without the help of a maid. Otto Von Banstuf, a slightly pudgy man in his late thirties, patted her arm reassuringly.

"If my master engineer here can assure me that we can reopen the mine, then I think I may be able to strike a bargain with this Pendergast fellow," Otto drawled self importantly. Pendergast of Altdorf was a respected member of the Imperial Metallurgical Society, well known in the small circles in which he ran. Of course he would probably be horrified to learn he was being impersonated by a disreputable wizard to swindle the gullible. Emmaline had come to Nuln two weeks earlier than Albrecht, passing herself of as Marguerite von Vissenbach, an entirely fictitious young aristocrat, the the von Vissenbach family was real enough. They had recently been lifted from obscurity by a renewal in their long dissipated family fortune. The source of this newfound wealth was the source of much speculation. Some claimed they had become secret favorites of the Emperor's advisers, others claimed they had made a dark pact with the followers of Chaos. The reality was that they were secretly funding expeditions to Lustria and were growing fat on the gold that came back over the seas, but for an Imperial family of the von Vissenbach's antiquity, openly admitting to 'trade' was unthinkable. There was another rumor going around, in very limited circles in Nuln, that they had been able to make their ancient tin mines turn a profit by producing modest amounts of silver. Emmaline knew of the last because she and Albrecht had been carefully spreading it around for Otto's benefit. When Otto had finally approached her at a rout three nights ago, she had feigned reluctance to discuss it, making on the sparsest of illusions which would convince him of what he wanted to believe. 'Marguerite' and 'Pendergast' where never seen together, though when sufficiently plied with drink and compliments Marguerite admitted that she had heard of such a man calling on her father.  When Otto had finally sought out the faux Pendergast, Albrecht had been equally reluctant to deal with the ambitious Von Banstuf, pleading that he was far to busy and had too many other commitments. Finally, 'reluctantly' he had agreed to inspect some of the ore from the ancient and played out mines that Von Banstuf held the title too. Miraculously the ore had turned out to be perfect for Pendergast's new mining technique and he had demonstrated it to Otto. In reality one of the liquids used in the process was a silver vitriol compound which had been used to plate a pebble infront of Otto's eyes. Albrecht had then used simple slight of hand to switch the pebble out for a small nugget of real silver in the same shape. Otto had it tested by a silver smith and had been amazed that it was genuine. Now all that remained was to convince him to reopen the mine and put Pendergast in charge of setting up his new process. Unfortunately, Otto had insisted on consulting an engineer about the project before he would hand over a single Imperial.

"All we need to know, is can the old sawgrass mines be reopened, even partially," Otto repeated to the engineer. Emmaline smiled behind her mask of vapid amazement. He was on the hook, and with any luck they would be able to rob him blind before ever he knew what was going on.