A Maximalist Adventure

The entry for the top-right drawer of the Margrave's writing desk. 

A loose button
Rattling around in the back of the drawer is a large button made of horn. It has two large holes in it for attaching to garments or upholstery. It is well worn and shows signs of repetitive rubbing, as though from a thumb and forefinger. There are no obvious matches to it in the household.

Heron blood pen
An elaborate horn dip pen with an incongruously normal tip. Contrary to its name, these pens do not necessarily hold heron's blood, any ink will do. They are used for their qualities of mitigating excess plasmic backlash from ill will held by recipients of written correspondence. The truth of this is uncertain, but it is a common tool for the magically inclined, regularly despised, or excessively superstitious. This pen tip is stained red and the reservoir is quite crusty.

A bunched up handkerchief
Sloppy yet vivid colour stains this silk kerchief in deliberate swirls common of the dyers of the coast. Crushed chromatic squid. The corner is embroidered in traditional style with the words "If I cannot have you, let me die M."
    Inside the cloth is a folded envelope, inside of which is a collection of 12 painted fingernails of uniform size and texture. Painted white. When unfolded, the envelope shows regular distortions, as though it contained something thick and square at some point. It is addressed to the Margrave, using his given name and no tittle.


Pots of ink
Two black, one red, one blue, and one brown, all trapezoidal in shape. Unlabelled. One of the blacks is empty and crusted dry, inside is a shrivelled chestnut, smelling of vinegar — a hole straight through, with a length of twine passed through and knotted on one end — the other is almost empty.
   The red (used only for signing death warrants and land leases) is full. The blue is half full and the lid has not been screwed on fully — 1 in 2 chance of spilling it, covering and possibly ruining d6 items.
   The brown smells of iron and the end of a thunderstorm. Anything written with it will disappear after drying. only reappearing while read aloud. The recipients of these "invisible" letters are usually pre-informed of a "lead-line" to start the process, they then read the fuse-like progression of words aloud quickly and in private.

A false backed drawer
It is easily spotted if the drawer is removed that in between a panel and the back there is a hollow nook. Found wherein is a selection of 7 thin, square, wooden slates. On each is expertly burned an erotic scene. All the faces are of the same woman.
   The first shows a woman in recline. Its artist has definite priorities, showing exacting detail of the breasts, especially the disk-like nipples. No hair nor bump nor pustule is exempt, while the rest is outlined in only vague terms.
   The second is a view from behind, arms outstretched. The artist has captured the rolls of skin in detail and is on the whole suggestive of a seductive decay, supported from above as though hung.
   The third is from above. The woman lays on crumpled sheets with long hair covering her as though thrown about. The detail is of hair and a blank, unfocused gaze.
   The forth is of feet being caressed by hand not belonging to the owner of the feet. The feet are unblemished, the hands are cracked and rugged, bedecked with rings and long well-kept nails.
   The fifth shows a female figure in symbolic resistance to three other — male and erect— figures around her. All possess the same face: female and of calm indifference.
   The sixth shows the woman figure straddling a naked male. The male is muscular but unengaged in the scene, looking away from the illustrator, all features obscured by wild and youthful hair. The woman is in rapture, her hands in the air at peculiar angles, the fingers arrayed in very specific and carefully illustrated arrangements. Her left has her thumb and ring finger forming a loop with others splayed. On her right, he little and ring finger are crossed while the index and middle form a loop with the thumb.
   The seventh is a low view of a woman giving birth, all that can be seen past her groin is swollen breasts and belly. The head of the child is emerging face first and it is of the woman.

A letter, written and ready to be sent, but unsealed

Wyfe I have resevyd your lettar of your gyrrelles hande rehersenge your wantes

I wyll souply them all I can I have cent you abuke adosen of pegens whyche were cent me this daye & for plate I wyll sende you ij basons & ewares more & all the cylvar plate I mene trenchares if I hadd more you shuld have it

I have cent you Abyllyment Ihone Knyfton brought by gylbard pryse xxjli strengar & sandes Ryse & nusum I have cent vnto you to wete

I wold have wrytten more but my hedd Akes fare well my good wyfe

Youres
G.S

It is written in black ink in a steady hand bereft of superfluous style. There is still some remnant of the sand used to set the ink.

A woollen pouch
The pouch is rough and cheap. The texture is unpleasing and it smells soil and dogs and damp hay. Inside it are two gold coins and a brass monocular.

Two gold coins 
The coins inside are recently minted and so still possess their original shape and lustre. Both show the profile of War-Pope Benefactus with his traditional long hair, lank with the blood of apostates. His face is at ease with a knowing benevolence. The opposite sides differ. One displays the arms of the Imperator, a rampant otter in full armour, standing tall though wounded with an arrow. The other is marked as being from the House Absent, possessing a simple image of an orb hovering above waves.

A brass monocular
Well oiled and clean, it has many small scratches and dents from repeated use. It consists of three segments that can be extended or contracted for ease of transportation.

Tiny skull of St. Ruskus
There are many like it, sold at street corners by vagabonds claiming to be of the families that slew the saint, and the the lucky holder of one of his many heads. They'll tell you of the secrets this or that one knows if you put it under your tongue and swish it around like a boiled sweet. Ruskus' thousand tiny heads are popular, there's nary a household without one. The majority are varying qulities of fake,  but some are not. This is one of those. It was cut from the armpit of the roiling saint and has approximate knowledge of the names of birds and local sumptuary law. It is a human skull the size of a marble, but its appearance is that of a wax model left in the sun; painfully distorted, it's jaw is fused, it's teeth flow into its cheekbones. You can't imagine how this looked in the flesh.

Loose Nibs and reservoirs
13 copper nibs, 5 copper reservoirs, uniform in original design, that of a typical writers sort. However all are bent or splayed from misuse, stained with ink and unusable. They rattle around loose in the bottom of the drawer.