Visitors to the Guild of St Hermes...

The Guild of St Hermes has its headquarters in a rather run-down area of Tradgardstadt. The shabby door onto the grubby street prepares no one for the glories (albeit faded and tatty around the edges) that lie within. The fresco paintings of a winged messenger flying over the Duchy of Tradgardland dominate the main room. Executed in the very best Baroque style by a fashionable, if disreputable, painter of unknown origins this visual display hammers home for all to see just how self important the guild members are- at least in their own eyes. 
Two gentlemen have arranged to meet on the door step of the Guild Headquarters.They are recent visitors to the Duchy of Tradgardland( from Wolfstein and Humperstein) and have become firm friends.They have become intrigued by their strange encounters of late and have decided to try and discover more...

Many felt it was somewhat strange,if not heretical ,to have a pagan god as a patron saint but the Guild Master and members just accepted it as a sign of continuity and of the divine nature of their work. The Guild were responsible for all licensed message carriers, be they on foot, horse or even boat. They held a monopoly with regard to the breeding, maintaining and usage of carrier pigeons not to mention the ill –fated attempt to organise carrier hares some years ago…
As  a strange encounter took place in the Grotto of  Mercury (the statue gifted by the Guild in memory of  deceased members) the Headquarters seemed to be a good place to begin to try and solve the mystery.The gentlemen open the door and go in and inquire of a clerk if the Guild Master is at home. Without a word they are beckoned to follow and are shown into the Guild Master's study...