Subject: Legends of Callahan

At 01:17 PM 9/20/99 -0700, Tanri Silverharp wrote:

I read on the website that the next sword was *dissolved* at the will of Callahan. Tanri doesn't know all there is to know about this mythical figure, but the four-armed white ape at the Toad introduced the bar as "St. Callahan's". Before we leave the bar, _unless it would be a game action,_ I'd like to casually ask her (?) where one could find out more about St. Callahan.

The 4-armed white ape at the Happy Toad raises her eyebrows (sort of hard to see with a furry face) and whistle. "I've never heard him called "Saint Callahan" before. Was Mike beatified by some religion that I didn't hear about?

[Editorial note: DM thinks Tanri misheard the Happy Toad barkeep when she said, "This isn't Callahan's."]

"Callahan tended bar in the Imperial City of Enseljos for about thirty years at the time Necrodemus founded his Empire. Callahan's was the most happening place for Dreamers to meet-n-scheme this side of Watersea, and beyond. Mike had the best stocked liqueur shelf in all of Worlorn, a huge wine cellar, arrangements with all the beer and mead shippers, and knew the shipping schedules so he could be on the docks when the freighters came in.

"Mike Callahan even kept rooms upstairs with hot and cold running Water where the elite could sleep it off if they had too much to drink. Time Was that a Key card from the Deck of Many Things got you an all expenses paid Protected and secure room at Callahan's for life. How's that for Good Magic?

"Only trouble with Callahan's was that you had to get someone to take you there who's been there before already. No walk-ins at his place. I always thought that limits your clientele to word of mouth, but I suppose Callahan knew what magic was all about. His entire place was all get up like an Abelard Sanctuary. No one ever picked a fight in Callahan, and it wasn't just because the big guy would throw you out personally, if you catch my drift. Wrathman make Perfect bouncers, you know.

"No one knows where Mike sailed after he retired. They say when the Roke Mage Josie saved his life from the Emperor or something, she ended up dying in his place or exiled to Alexandria Troas or something. Well, it seemed that Callahan sort of lost his joi-de-vivre or something, his energy to live. He gave the keys to the wine cellar to Vic and vanished. This was after my time but I knew who got the bar. The bar was taken over by a guy named Trader Vic, who wasn't a half bad apprentice of Callahan's for about five or ten years, maybe even assistant barkeep by the time Mike left. Maybe Callahan was planning ahead; he was sneaky like that, with jokes set up to hit you a year after he started them. He also set up a few people who were said to fall from power... Anyways, Callahan probably was grooming Vic for years.

"I hear that like Mike, without you ordering anything out loud or by reading you with the lep, Vic can put your favorite drink in front of you first time he sees you, about nine out of ten times. Like Mike, Vic gives a way a free drink if he guesses wrong. Callahan was much better than nine in ten, of course, and Mike didn't give away but a dozen drinks (for that reason) in all the decades he was tending bar.

"Between you me and the dirt, Callahan was ears out in the Imperial City, for the covens, if you catch my drift. He was always up in the latest gossip, always knew where and which mercs were dragging for torcs, and always let his circle guests leave the back door when there was a bounty hunter in the front room. Although he never refused to serve anyone, some city folks who hated the Circle just ... suffered ... indignities after visiting Callahan's: people who said the wrong thing, wore the wrong weapon, or had the wrong vote in council, if you catch my drift.

Some say Callahan had a dark secret, like he was guardin' the tentacled sleeping god under the House Absolute, or something. I know for a fact that Callahan set his bar in Enseljos way before Necrodemus got there, way before that upstart wizard was shaving even. They say Callahan made a petition yearly to have Imperial Court moved to High Asgar, like it been before Necrodemus put the Orb together. I know for fact that the only thing ever scared Mike Callahan was first time someone told him that Necrodemus came home one day with a Morganti weapon. Mike Callahan pulled strings and called in favors until he got himself an audience with the Emperor that very night! Never seemed to stop Necrodemus from killing anyone with the Real Death, but Mike was stopped being panicked when he came back to the bar next morning.

"None of us ever asked him what freaked his mind, though, not unless that Emperor did. Mike's little brother never took a liking to people snooping Mike's rumors. Always seemed Harry'd come to town and stop em dead, if you catch my drift. Mike's secrets were the only thing in the world that would get Harry Callahan working out of uniform. Mike's secrets pretty much stayed Mike's secrets."

"Rumors do say that next time Callahan seen a Morganti weapon, he brought a pair of special flasks out of the back room where none of us employees got to go. He poured the black one over the thing and then he poured the white one over the thing, but you know what? None of us working that night ever remembered what exactly happened next.

"We had to be told the next day that someone had brought a Morganti Weapon into Callahan's Saloon. None of us remembered until they told us, none of us remembered what happened next even after they did told us, and of course none of us wanted to ask the boss. We just wanted out. Only Vic stayed on after that. What with Callahan messing with our minds, we all decided to quit while we could still remember what goes in a Harvey Wallbanger, or a Timyin Tin. No, thank you.

Most I can handle is like last night when that creepy dude with the carrion in his pipe comes in. After you left, he makes all the Kav Elfar swords glow green and them Kav Elfars each and he makes each and every one at a time stand up and say, Thank you, Lord." like he was doing them Kavs a favor. At least I remember it all, if you catch my drift. At least creepy dude didn't put a blind spot in my mind.

The barkeep withdraws now, and returns to her business.

Then, whether or not she has a useful answer, I want to go back to Maja's (provided the others are) and ask Maja and Maja's library as best I can about references to Callahan, his whereabouts when alive, and the sword itself. Next time I run into Enroth, I would ask him what he knows about the sword or Callahan-- but I'm not waiting on my other two actions if I can't find him right away.

Maja's shows you that her (Father's) library includes Place of Power Lore which lists Callahan as a wielder of two flags, the Flag of Rebirth and the Flag of Probability. Maja displays a collection of papers in Salt Peter's hand as well as in the hand of others.

• "Callahan's radius was off-center from the perfectly circular Walls of the Enseljos, with the Emperor's House Absolute at the exact center of the City. "
• "Callahan once said Place of Power control could not penetrate the Walls of Enseljos." The back of the same page reads, "if inside the walls, Callahan could control the city, outside he could control the forests, 20+ mile radius--(NOT a druid! Magnus bard = 23?) and outskirts, but his Probability Control and Rebirth powers don't operate through the mighty walls."
• A bloodstained note, appearing like a dagger was cleaned with it, reads in Salt Peter's hand: "Rebirth confirmed: when slain outside Enseljos, Callahan is Reborn within the Shando, not in his keep/pub."
• A clean note in Salt Peter's handwriting shares an envelope with a large lock of red hair. The note reads, "C Kin of Troy? Hair indicates coven line Bleys-Red Jenna-Arin-Mady. If C is not coven, then line of Fiona or Florimel. Kleronomas' brother?"
• Another note in Salt Peter's Hand: "A chance exists to see what a person wants most to drink? Skill or magic? Appears to know drink for people in Minor Globe, Globe, Mind Bar, Anti-Magic Shell, but NOT! Serten's Immunity."

  Enroth says of Callahan's, "He never met the Great Druid, but the legends of Callahan's City Hospitality were legion."