“One last thing before you go to your room, how are things going with the escheator?”
“Well Ruston Calving should be finished his survey of the Barony in five days and then, of course, the procrastination will begin.”
“I prefer to think of it as a delaying tactic, how long do you think he will keep it up and what is his end game?”
“The usual I imagine, the largest bribe from you he thinks he can get away with though I imagine he is hoping Eugene might cough up something to delay the process as long as possible. I do not claim to know Eugene in any way so I imagine you would have a better idea about the likelihood of that occurring. As to the size of the bribe, you’ll end up paying until he makes his first offer it’s hard to say.
He hadn’t even raised the possibility with me, not even when I told him you had recalled me for consultations. But then I imagine that he was as aware as I was what your opinion of me and my family was likely to be, that my service with the barony was coming to an end and thus I wouldn’t be playing any part in future negotiations.”
“So from your reading of his character should we bring up the subject or wait for him to make the first move?”
“I’m afraid the ball is in his court now, best to wait at least a full week after he finishes the survey. If by then he hasn’t made an approach Tagas or whomever you send will have to. I know you don’t want to hear it but it could take a whole lot longer than you might be comfortable with to sort this out.”
“Hopefully it won’t come to that but I am aware of the possibility and have taken it into account. I don’t know what level of day to day contact you had with each other but did he ever talk to you about previous Escheats he has undertaken or his service as sheriff?”
“Why yes he has, mainly anecdotes about his time as sheriff but he did mention ever so briefly the first escheat he undertook. A pretty standard affair apparently with no surprises but other than most of our interactions with each other were of a professional nature. I cannot say either of us got to know the other all that well though his Bailiff was another matter, a very talkative fellow especially after a drink or two.
Didn’t complain about his boss at all surprisingly enough but everyone else was fair game, especially Ruston’s clerk. Now those two didn’t get on with each other, not at all, something to do with some whore I gathered. I tried asking both of them about their master’s practices but they seemed loyal to their master so nothing ever came of it.”
“Alright, you may go Gru unless you have anything else to add?”
“No I have said my piece, good luck with it all, you’ll be needing it I think.”
Once Gru had left I asked a page who was waiting outside to send for several individuals to join me for a meeting to discuss the Escheator. Fifteen minutes later everyone that I had invited had arrived and the meeting got underway. Join me where the soon to be new Seneschal and Steward of Membe, Elias Labil who whether he knew it or not was soon to become constable of Membe Castle, Mavin Abela and Marke Alfara.
“Alright I’ll get straight to the point, the Escheator will soon finish his survey of the Barony and he will want to be bribed and we will then have to pay the relief he sets before I am invested as Baron. I have already set aside more than enough to pay twice the amount of relief I am expecting him to set. Now what size of a bribe can we expect and what is the best approach for raising this matter with him?”
“Of all those present today I have had the most interaction with him and while I cannot claim to be an authority where he is concerned I believe it is best to give him time to raise the matter with us and only if he does not do so within a responsible amount of time then take the matter into our own hands. It should only take a day or so for Gru to brief me on the finer points of my new role and after that, I feel I should return for the last few days of the escheat and however much longer it takes to sort the whole thing out. I will try and keep the time required for that to a minimum but it’s really up to the Escheator to decide that. The bribery process itself should not take too long I imagine once he comes to a final decision, he will want things taken care of quickly. As far as I know, his services aren’t currently required elsewhere so that may delay things.”, said Tagas
“All right unless someone objects I think you should proceed as indicated.”
This was met with silence.
“In that case how much of a bribe should we be willing to pay?”
“I believe the going rate for this kind of thing is between one and two-thirds of the relief levied. circumstances being what they are I expect he’ll be looking for the higher end of that.”, stated Marke.
“I concur.”, was Elias only contribution to the discussion.
“If he looks for more than that, try to bargain him down would you Tagas?”
“I’ll try my best.”
“One last thing, will he be looking it paid in cold hard coin or some other way?”
“I can’t see him looking for alternative means of payment but I’ll raise the matter with him if you think it prudent.”
“No, coin would be best, I think, alright that’s that taken care of, Elias do you mind staying behind I want a word with you in private.”
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