[CLOSED] HARE COURSING

[sulahnan]

WHO: Athessa, Byerly, Edgard, Erik, Mado, Noon, Sawbones, Sidony, Vanadi
WHAT: The Gang Solves A Murder
WHEN: Early Drakonis
WHERE: The Gallows, Kirkwall
NOTES: Content warnings will be employed in subject lines, blanket warning for violence/murder, mention of sexual assault, corruption in the City Guard, etc.

I. A COMMOTION IN LOWTOWN

Erik, Noon, and Vanadi hear a struggle near the Alienage and when they go to investigate, they happen upon a shadowy cloaked figure trying to make off with Saoirse, a fifteen year old elf girl from the Alienage. The cloaked figure flees. Erik decides to stay with the girl while Noon and Vanadi take off after the cloaked figure. The perpetrator takes a dagger to the shoulder and Vanadi gets a signet ring off him in the ensuing chase, but ultimately the villain gets away. Erik finds out from the residents of the Alienage that there's another girl missing, and that the City Guard have done nothing to help find her.

II. A GRIM DISCOVERY

Elsewhere in Kirkwall, Edgard and Mado find a dead body buried in the snow. The cold has preserved the body in such a state that they are able to determine the most likely cause of death to be strangulation, judging by the bruising on the young woman's neck. It looks like whoever did the strangling was wearing a ring. There will also be a copper button, presumably from some article of clothing, clasped in the dead girl's hand. She clearly put up a fight against her attacker. Mado is able to smell faint whiffs of expensive laundry soap, cologne, pipe tobacco, and whatever other normal not-clue things on the button. Seems the owner of the vest this button came from is rather well-off.

III. WHILE THE CAT'S AWAY

Sidony and Sawbones will be tasked with acting as Byerly's attachés while following up on a number of petty grievances cited by the citizens of Kirkwall, during which they will overhear gossip (unrelated to the grievances):

• Talk of disappearances from the Alienage that the City Guards are doing nothing about
  
• Two City Guards talking to each other about the body that was found, and how strange it is that not even the Guard on duty saw anything
  
• Mention of a cloaked figure seen outside The Crimson Cat at night
  
• Rumors that Madame Lette, the bawd from The Crimson Cat, has found a new financier
  
• A general consensus that something isn't right about The Crimson Cat; it used to be more like the other brothels in the city, but after Devigny was killed in a robbery gone wrong, things have been different.

IV. AMBROSE WARRICK

After some sleuthing it's found that the ring that Erik, Noon, and Vanadi got from the would-be kidnapper most likely belongs to a man named Ambrose Warrick, a nobleman with a modest estate in Hightown. He confirms that the ring was his, but that he gifted it to Giordano Allard, a friend of his. The servants at the Warrick estate will be reticent to speak to anyone, but some light eavesdropping will reveal that some weeks ago, Ambrose returned home late, disheveled, in one of his moods, and demanded that the buttons on his vest be replaced with gold instead of copper. He also sent the signet ring to the jeweler's to be polished the next day.

Comments

QUESTIONS

[sulahnan]

[ Don't be shy; I'm here to help! Feel free to request info or even ic assistance from Athessa at any point in this plot. ]

a commotion -- erik, sol, and vanadi

[highborn]

[ It's been, Vanadi must admit, a pleasant evening. Good company, decent drink, an excuse to get out of the Gallows. He's in a high mood, improved when it was suggested they make this a traveling pack of drunks, and not just the sort that sits in the corner chuckling amongst themselves. He'd lead the way out of the tavern, mentally sorting nearby options -- there's not much class to be found near the Alienage, but surely he can dredge up a place or two ...

That's when a flicker of movement catches his slightly unsteady eye. Two figures, violent motion. A struggle? They jerk out of sight around the corner of a building before Vanadi can be sure. He's stopped, though, and stares with unease. ]

Ah -- I don't suppose either of you saw that?

[ Please tell him he's imagining things, he'd love that. ]

[noonrodeon]

[ For as much alcohol as the big man put away, Noon sobers up pretty fast. ]

Better check it out. [ Is the only warning he gives before he sets out toward the corner in question. ]

[clawings]

Yup, [ Erik pats Vanadi on the shoulder, not hard enough to make the man stumble but hopefully enough to get him moving again. ] Looks like trouble, someone make it double.

[ He snorts at his own badly-timed Pokemon joke, and heads off after Noon. ] C'mon.

[highborn]

[ Damn, he was afraid of that. Vanadi sighs, but does indeed get moving again under that pat. He'd not be eager to wander onto the scene of something violent while less than sober, but Erik and Noon seem to be holding up well enough. He falls into step with Erik, just behind Noon. ]

Who is it doubling it? [ That's a quiet, puzzled murmur. ] If it were us, that would be a triple, no? And if it's--

[ He's interrupted by a shrill, panicked shout, cut off suddenly, and Vanadi breaks from a hurried walk into a run. ]

[noonrodeon]

[ Noon's only half paying attention to the conversation behind him, on the alert to the scuffle in front. And yup, that's bad. He breaks into a loping run, turning the corner sharply. Two figures struggle in the dim light of an alleyway. ]

We got two here. [ Noon grabs the larger by the back of their cloak, hauling them up and tossing them in the direction of a wall. He glances back at Vanadi and Erik. ] Check on the kid over there for me, willya? Don't know who started what, but I got a hunch.

[ Particularly since the kid in question is a young elf girl. ]

[clawings]

Mhm, we'll come back to that, [ he says to Vanadi, because it was a mistimed joke but a good one, and he could talk about Pokemon for apparently a while (after he's gotten some alcohol in him). Though the girl covering her throat and sobbing against the opposite wall has got him sobering up, more than a little bit. ]

Don't let that asshole get away, [ is yelled to Noon, and crouches in front of the girl, keeping his hands where they can be seen and trying to make himself not seem intimidating ]. Hey. You okay?

[highborn]

[ Noon is a big man with a good throw, but mysterious cloaks have many uses. One of them is preventing a very good grip, which Vanadi knows, because he wears his cloak for a similar reason -- but nonetheless it catches him by surprise when he pounces on the thrown man and, after a brief wrestle, the man slips away and into a lunging scramble down the alley.

He mutters a curse under his breath and pulls a dagger out of some hidden sheath. That doesn't stop the man either, when it flies to thud into his shoulder, but between that and Noon's throw, it should at least make him easier to keep up with. Vanadi takes off after him grimly. ]

[noonrodeon]

[ Noon sighs and follows the chase. He's slower than Vanadi, but bigger and an intimidating presence as they pound through the backstreets. He plucks a barren flower pot off a window sill and chucks it at the figure's head for good measure.

It does not hit the man's head, but it does bounce off the hilt of Vanadi's dagger. The strangled scream and the loud crash of the pot are violently loud in the near silence of the streets. ]

[sulahnan]

[ The girl, no older than fifteen, nods despite the tears and snot running down her face. Not only is she crying, but it's cold out, which only makes everything worse. Valiantly, and only a little blubbery: ]

I will be, I think.

a grim discovery -- mado and edgard

[lumelume]

It's been an evening of carousing as lighthearted as any: some drinking, some smoking and loud singing of pub songs, and Mado is as unsinkable as ever as he swirls through the street in an impromptu dance routine. He sings along in lyricless, nonsensically syllabic self-accompaniment, completely absorbed in the spirit of it until, suddenly, he gasps.

Stumbling so abruptly that snow sprays all about, he throws his arm back toward Edgard in a wild beckoning gesture as he creeps forward to kneel next to the dead woman in the snow.

"You poor thing," he breathes, "--Edgard, help, she's..."

He reaches for her wrist out of habit, as if to feel for a pulse; but between the cold and the length of time before she was found, there's no need.

[muckspout]

Edgard continues singing loudly and tunelessly walking ahead, unaware of anything amiss when he realizes Mado is no longer with him. He doubles back and notices the body. He's silenced at once. He stands staring for a moment or two.

Mado saying his name focuses him and he crouches down. He sees Mado's hands on her wrist.

"Is she--?" He knows the answer, it's obvious to look at her, but he can't quite say it. Instead: "How long?"

He looks around warily.

[lumelume]

"A while," Mado whispers, at least based on how the snow has gathered around her; some has fallen since after she did. He begins to dig at it with one hand, trying to clear it, his other still holding hers.

"Look at her throat," he says in the same low whimper, "someone did this to her."

No matter his city of origin, a homeless musician will have seen his fair share of bodies: particularly those of other cast-offs, souls assumed inaccurately by their murderers to go unnoticed, un-missed by those who love them.

"Help me dig?"

[muckspout]

"Dig?" Edgard frowns not understanding, but helps him dig nevertheless. He scoops the snow away from her body on the other side. He looks at her throat just for a second before shuddering slightly and looking away. He shuts his eyes, steading himself, thinking quickly.

"Shouldn't we look for someone? The person who did this or--whoever is missing her?"

As Edgard moves the snow away from the hand Mado isn't holding, he notices its gripped. He doesn't touch her.

"Mado, her h-hand." He whispers.

[lumelume]

"We can't just leave her here," Mado whispers, but pauses his digging when Edgard says his name, looking up at him and then following his gaze.
Seeing the button, he looks up at Edgard again, then sits back on his heels to glance around. The street is empty: it's safe to shift, and investigate the best way he knows how.

[muckspout]

Edgard notices Mado glancing around. He also looks around, trying to see what Mado is seeing.

"You suggesting we leave and take her with us?" He asks warily. That seems like a bad idea to Edgard.

[lumelume]

"We can bring her to a morgue," Mado considers, "and ask around in the neighborhood, brothels and pubs and things, to see if anyone's been missing."

It's not the most sensible plan, perhaps, but it beats any further degradation for the poor woman, being left out in the snow.

"...if we left her, someone might..." He fights with himself for a moment, then shakes his head. "...we can't." He knows people too well.

iii. while the cat's away / sawbones.

[indissection]

Sidony is well versed in acting as a great deal of things for Byerly these days - loving wife being the most paramount, but that is as far as her falsehoods with him goes. The rest is all to real and, at times, she wonders about her reliance on him, the concerns she has and the uncertainty. She ought to branch out more, find more, but her discomfort with the unfamiliar is still hanging on her skirts like a real weight.

She gathers information and brings it together as much as she can, ending up sitting outside the Alienage with her notebooks, leaning back and pretending for all intents and purposes that nothing is bothering her whatsoever. She would go inside and speak to some of them, but she recognises how little that might help. Elves are unlikely to trust a human outsider, certainly one that speaks with the high born accent she can't - and doesn't want to - get rid of.

Turning a page, she scowls.

"I suppose we ought to visit the Cat." The horror. Her, stepping inside a place like that.

[okayimin]

On the other end of the spectrum is Sawbones, who has only recently emerged from the Alienage gates. Likewise scowling, though for different reasons. The Alienage has its midwives and attended by the sort of grimly dogged Sisters who believe in the mission of the Chantry to provide aid, even as it fails them entierly, but still Sawbones touches base with them. Particularly now.

"Seems we should," she says, "I don't know who's attending the workers there these days, anyhow. We can make sure they're stocked on all the necessaries while we're there." There was no particular reason for a brothel to run out of witherstalk, but that never stopped Sawbones from worrying.

[indissection]

Sidony hums, thoughtful for a moment. She might be able to make a few other things for the ladies there, the kind of things she's never personally needed herself. Her marriage is not one that has want of an heir and she's more than happy with that arrangement.

All the same, she purses her lips and looks down at her skirts, lips twisting a little. She is not looking forward to this particular venture.

"We can make some things together," she nods. "They should have a good supply, even if they're left alone for the most part."

[okayimin]

"Excellent." Sawbones Greatly Approves.

"Reckon we can at least get a few things done if we're on a wild goose chase for some cloaked Duster." She's significantly more amenable to the task, though she still frowns a little, "Don't know how useful looking for a cloaked figure around a brothel will be though."

[indissection]

"Perhaps some of the women there will notice someone irregular," Sidony shakes her head, brushing off her skirts for a little distraction. It's not the same as what she's used to wearing, but at least she is doing her best to blend in.

As much as a clearly noble Nevarran might be able to manage.

"Have you heard any word from the others?"

o.

[sulahnan]

[ Erik reporting the evening's goings-on to Byerly ]

iv. ambrose warrick

[sulahnan]

It doesn't take long to determine that the ring dropped by the cloaked figure belongs to one Ambrose Warrick, a nobleman with an estate in Hightown.

Stone steps lead up to the great wooden double-doors that comprise the entrance of the main house, and before the Riftwatch agents can even raise a hand to knock the doors swing open to admit them. A servant greets them and leads them to a sitting room to wait for Ambrose to join them.

The sitting room is furnished with chairs upholstered in royal purple, the dark cherry frames gleaming with fresh polish, and one wall features an alcove entirely comprised of floor-to-ceiling multi-paned windows. Sunlight streams through the glass, bathing the room in a warm glow. Nothing, not a single book or serving tray or candle is out of place, testament to how hard the servants work to keep everything pristine. It speaks not of dedication on the staff's part, but of Warrick's exacting standards.

"Do you require refreshment while you wait?" The servant is a harried-looking elf man of middling age, his dark hair greying at the temples. His hairstyle has the distinct look of one that starts out neat and gets messier as he runs his hands through it with each aggravation. His tie is similarly askew from adjusting it many times, pressed collar rumpled.

[clawings]

Erik decides to remain standing, untrusting of this man and his entirely too pristine house. His eyes cut over to Vanadi but then Erik shakes his head a little. "I think I'll be fine, thank you very much."

He suspects that these servants are not going to have a great time of it... whatever 'it' happens to be in this case.