Bertoldo Vasari

Bertoldo Vasari

Bertoldo Vasari is a thief, or to be more precise, he is a rather unenthusiastic Tilean Burglar.
Born in the Tilean City State of Luccini about 20 years ago he was brought to Nuln just before his tenth birthday by his father Guisseppi when the Valentina family decided to open a business in the city.
His father is an enforcer for the family and had aspirations for Bertoldo to follow in his footsteps. But Bertoldo took after his mother Maria and remained annoyingly short in stature (only 5' 2") and so Guisseppi gave up on him. Which suited Bertoldo as he hated the violence and brutality, which the Valentina gang regularly use to enforce their contracts and was glad for the excuse to avoid getting involved.
Anyway, Bertoldo has other ambitions. In fact, he has had many ambitious most of which have come to nothing. At one point he dreamt of becoming a Reikguard or Knight Panther and earning immortal glory plus his father's respect on some distant battlefield. But initial enquiries at the local barracks were less than encouraging, in fact, the sergeant he spoke to was still laughing when Bertoldo walked out in disgust.
Since then he has had various ideas none of which have come to anything until a chance encounter with a man in The Blind Pig confirmed that the Imperial Army was always interested in recruiting spies.
Bertoldo lost no time and headed straight for the office of Heironymous Ostwald, the Personal Secretary to her serenity Countess Emmanuelle who had replaced Fritz Von Halstaft as head of the secret police when the latter was murdered by a rogue dwarf and his sidekick a few years ago. Herr Ostwald was a tall, lean man garbed in black with pale sallow skin and very white teeth. He received Bertoldo with courtesy, much to Bertoldo's surprise, and asked him a bit about his background before explaining that becoming a spy was not as easy as merely walking in and asking. There would be some checking to be done and some entry qualifications that Bertoldo would need to meet before he could even be considered for an assignment.
Bertoldo made a careful mental note of all that he was told and was so impressed with the apparent seriousness with which his enquiry was dealt with that he immediately determined that he was going to be an Imperial Spy.
Herr Ostwald had promised that he would initiate the necessary checks immediately and would be in touch if and when an opportunity became available. He also warned Bertoldo that there would be a series of acceptance tests before his appointment was confirmed and that therefore he should expect the unexpected.
Since then Bertoldo has been saving hard for the tuition he needs to meet the acceptance criteria. He has already paid for private tuition and has learnt how to read and write and is currently looking for someone who can teach him Bretonnian. Herr Ostwald explained that he would need a set of cyphers that would allow him to write secret messages that could only be read by the person to whom a note was addressed. Bertoldo assumed that cyphers were a sort of magic quill pen and bought one off a rather dodgy looking character at the local market for an extortionate price. Bertoldo has even taken to dressing like a spy, or what he thinks a spy should dress like, and has been practising his seduction technique on the girls at the local academy much to the amusement of the rest of the family.
So, it came as no surprise to Bertoldo when he was approached by the tall stuffy stranger in the Jolly Jester a few days ago who claimed to have a job for him. The man bought him a drink and took him to a secluded corner table. Here he explained that in a few days time a barge would arrive at the Oldenhaller Wharf carrying a green-clad archer called Falcozon a hunter formerly from the village of Grunberg. The stranger told Bertoldo that he wanted the man followed and required daily reports on his activities and where he was staying. He placed two gold crowns on the table and told Bertoldo that there would be another one every day that he returned with an update on the man's whereabouts.
Bertoldo was desperate to know why he was being asked to follow this man but realised that this must be one of the trials set by Herr Ostwald and that spies did not need to know the reason for their assignments. For the next two days, he waited around the Oldenhaller Wharf carefully checking the arrival of barges and the passengers they carried. Then at on Konistag the twelfth day of Sigmartide a barge moored at the Oldenhaller Wharf just before midnight and in the torchlight, on the quay, Bertoldo spotted his man step onto the quayside along with a dwarf, a female academic and a member of the barge crew.
Bertoldo followed them through the town where they met with a man Bertoldo instantly recognised as an agent from the rival Schatzenheimer gang and stupidly allowed themselves to be led into an ambush by four thugs outside The Blind Pig. The dwarf in the party easily chased the thugs off injuring one of them and then there was an argument following which Falcozon wandered off on his own and had a brief meeting with the local Lampmen before meeting up with the others back at the Oldenhaller Wharf.
Bertoldo was intrigued.
If this was a test, why the confrontation with the Schatzenheimer gang and why the secret meeting with the City Watch?
He was still wondering about this when the worst thing possible happened. After a brief conversation with a local ferryman, all four of the party stepped onto the ferry and disappeared over the river. Bertoldo couldn't swim and there was no other boat at the jetty. So soon the boat with Falcozon on board had disappeared from view and Bertoldo had lost his mark.
Bertoldo swore and paced up and down desperately trying to think of some way of renewing contact or working out where his mark might go. The bridge was too far away and even if he ran he would never make it to the opposite bank before the ferry. He swore again, his first big test and he was going to fail.
What could he do?

Bertoldo Vasari is a thief, or to be more precise, he is a rather unenthusiastic Tilean Burglar. Born in the Tilean City State of Luccini about 20 years ago he was brought to Nuln just before his tenth birthday by his father Guisseppi when the Valentina family decided to open a business in the city. His father is an enforcer for the family and had aspirations for Bertoldo to follow in his footsteps. But Bertoldo took after his mother Maria and remained annoyingly short in stature (only 5' 2") and so Guisseppi gave up on him. Which suited Bertoldo as he hated the violence and brutality, which the Valentina gang regularly use to enforce their contracts and was glad for the excuse to avoid getting involved.

Character Location

The Empire

Current Location

Nuln

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Alignment

Neutral

Date of Birth

Aged 20

Gender

Male

Eyes

Brown

Hair

Dark Brown

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Fair

Height

5' 2"

Weight

Slim Build