[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

[sulahnan]

No! [ She insists with all the sense of a teenage girl. Does she want his help? Or does she want to be left alone? She only seems to deliberate about that after speaking, and sniffs wetly. ]

No, I...I'm scared to go alone and I just know I'll get in trouble if I turn up like this— [ Her words tumble out, increasing in speed as soon as she admits that she's scared and soon giving way to incoherent blubbering. ]

[clawings]

That's fair. I'll walk with you, okay, and if any of the grown folks around got questions I can answer, I'll answer 'em.

[ He puts his hands in his pockets to keep from being too aware of how cold it is without his cloak. Poor girl needs it more than he does. ]

Sound good?

[sulahnan]

[ She nods and wipes her face on her sleeves, one hand swiping with her palm and the other balled into a fist.

The walk to the Alienage isn't more than a modern city block, but it was already curfew by the time the trio managed to thwart the girl's would-be kidnapping. When they arrive, the gates are shut. The girl jogs up to them and almost looks as if she's about to try and shove her face through the bars, looking desperately for someone on the other side to open up.

A young boy hurries as best he can while hauling a bucket of water from the well across the square, and stops when he sees the pair at the entrance. The girl calls out to him in a stage whisper: ]

Hey! Psst! Iowan, go get my ma, ok?

[ The boy, Iowan, looks down at the bucket in his hands, not sure which task has priority. ]

Just go get her, Iowan! [ At that, the boy scurries off, leaving the bucket on the cobblestones. While the girl and her savior wait, she turns her head and keeps looking around, searching. Something isn't right. ]

There's usually a guard on duty...

[clawings]

[ Erik doesn't run when the girl reaches the gate. Instead, he's looking around too, unable to shake the feeling that it's oddly quiet, even for this hour. Is that his paranoia or the drink talking, or some combination of both? Hard to tell.

At least the boy moves with some purpose. ]

Fuck, [ he mutters, trying to narrow down where someone might come from if the guard suddenly 'appeared' or someone else decided to bother the two of them.

He doesn't draw a weapon, for now, but he's feeling itchy. His fingers twist around the crystal in his pocket. ] Tell me if you see or hear anyone coming on this side we're on. [ If her mother comes, all the better. She'll open the gate for her child, most likely. ]

[sulahnan]

[ It's a few tense moments before there's any sign of anyone on either side, but then: ]

Saoirse!

[ An elf woman, clearly the girl's mother judging not only by her calling out to her, but by the features they share. Much like the girl, the woman's nose slopes down in a handsomely aquiline fashion and is dotted with freckles even in the middle of winter when there's no sun to be had. The same bright eyes, too, though...maybe that's just an elf thing.

Accompanying the woman is an older elf, dressed not in finery, but in neatery. He clearly isn't rich, judging by the quality of the fabrics his clothes are made of, but he's taken pains to be neat and clean, suggesting that he deals with the public or at least with people whose opinions he cares about. He walks with a cane, and sorts through the keys on a big silver ring, looking for the one to the gate. Beside and behind him are two younger kids, a girl and a boy respectively, with the same spate of freckles and similar noses. Siblings, probably.

The girl, Saoirse, answers to her name with a cry of maaaa! and her mother looks past the old man to Erik. Suspicion furrows her brow, but considering the state her daughter is in, she opts for ask questions first. ]

Who are you?

[clawings]

[ Well shit. He'd actually prefer to have someone to fight because this girl's mama looks pissed, but Erik pulls it together and gives a little bow. ]

Erik Stevens, ma'am, with Riftwatch. Me and two of my friends were out, came across your daughter being harrassed by someone; the two of 'em went after him, and I stayed with your girl here to make sure she got safely home.

[sulahnan]

Riftwatch? [ She seems surprised to hear it. Not delighted, per se, but a little taken aback. Nobody would expect Riftwatch to have anything to do one way or the other with the Alienage. ]

Well, messere Stevens, the name's Maeve. I'm grateful to you for returnin' my Saoirse to me. She's a good girl, see, doesn't get to no trouble even on bad days, I don't mind tellin' you.

[ The old man says a soft ah as he finally finds the right key and it clanks and jangles in the lock as he opens the gate just wide enough to allow the girl through. The first thing Saoirse does is run right into her mother's arms, face full well disappearing in the fabric of Maeve's shawl. ]

Your friends. If they catch whoever was givin' her gaff, what're you going to do with 'em?

[clawings]

[ At the question Erik nods; he's not exactly surprised by the reaction but it doesn't say much good about the Riftwatch, in his opinion. He knows they're all big picture and whatever, but if the poorest people in the immediate surroundings can't depend on them for help... well. ]

I dunno, ma'am. We didn't chat about it beforehand just kinda... went off. [ He pauses as if considering when really he's trying to figure out the best way to put it. ] Probably beat the brakes off him, but we've got a way of communicating between us all, so if there's something specific you've got in mind?

[ He'd normally be like 'yes, the city watch!' or whatever at least in a show of good faith but first of all, there's clearly something is happening there, because where's the watchman who is supposed to be here, and second of all, folks in the hood don't trust cops to settle hood business and he doubts that's gonna be much different for folks here. ]

[sulahnan]

If you lot see fit to get the Guard involved, you just make sure it don't trace back to us. We don't want any trouble.

[ The old man nods his agreement of what Maeve said, and speaks with a voice as smooth as sandpaper. ]

We've all seen what good it's done for Elain's family. Dreadful, simply dreadful.

[clawings]

[ Erik nods, spreading his hands in a gesture of goodwill. ] That's fair. I see no reason to drag y'all into it.

But... if you don't mind my askin', what happened to Elain's family?

[sulahnan]

Poor dears.

[ The old man shakes his head slowly, regretful. When he doesn't explain, Maeve sighs, clearly of the opinion that this isn't the business of strangers. ]

Elain went missin' more'n a month ago. Good girl, that Elain. Not the sort to run off.

'S what the Guard seem to think she did, though. Say she's gone and joined a Dalish clan. Utter bollocks, if you'll pardon my language, serrah.

[clawings]

Huh.

[ Erik frowns, fingering the crystal in his pocket again. He should call the others and check in with them. ]

Thank you, for the information. I'll do everything I can to keep your family out of this matter if the watch is involved, ma'am, you have my word.

[sulahnan]

[ Maeve nods her thanks while the old man locks the gate once more, and she begins to usher her three children home. Saoirse stops abruptly, remembering that she's wearing Erik's cloak, and returns to the gate to pass it through the bars to him. ]

Tell your mates thanks too, if you would? You lot saved my neck. [ She ducks her head, realizing: ] Literally.

[ With that, she hurries to follow her family back home, leaving Erik outside the still unguarded gate. ]

[clawings]

[ Erik doesn't say anything to Saoirse, just nods and takes his cloak back, fastening it around his neck and walking away from the gate. He doesn't want to be here whenever the Watch finally decides to get its head out of its ass and check up on what's happening in the Alienage. ]