[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]

"B-because he told me not to," the man says, and the way that he almost relaxes, and the way he looks askance, says that this is a nerve-wracking but familiar conversation. It says he finds comfort in predictability. It says Ah, I've been here before.

Meaning: this Reynard fellow coerced him into keeping mum about deaths just like this one.

[muckspout]

Edgard sighs.

"So you think Reynard sent someone to check to see if you're keeping quiet?" Edgard rolls his eyes.

"Listen," He intones deeper. "You tell us what we need to know and Reynard won't need to hear about anything."

[sulahnan]

"He won't hear about anything because I've nothing to tell! N-now just l-leave well enough alone and the body with me so I can do my job."

[muckspout]

Edgard changes tack. This is clearly not working. He sucks in air menacingly and then hollers at the man in a deep dark voice, quite unlike Edgard's usual tone.

"NO! YOU TELL ME WHAT'S GOING ON HERE OR I WILL TELL ANYONE WHO CARES TO HEAR IT THAT YOU KNOW SOMETHING ABOUT THIS THAT YOU'RE NOT TELLING ANYONE!"

It bursts out of him. He breathes heavily. The knife is still in his hand, but its mostly forgotten now.

[sulahnan]

The man stumbles backwards, startled and blinking rapidly behind his spectacles. He presses a hand to his chest. His eyes bulge with fright so much that it seems like the blinking is purely to keep them contained within his skull. Egad.

He rebounds quickly, stooping from his bean pole height to beseech Edgard.

"Shhhh! Please, k-keep your voice d-down!" His bony fingers tremble as he reaches out in a submissive gesture, showing his palms. It isn't visible, but there's sweat on those palms. Cold, clammy, nervous sweat.

"I d-don't know any s-specifics," he urges, voice hushed. "A-all I know is that Reynard offered me m-money to k-keep q-quiet. Alright? And yes, there h-have been others like this one, b-but j-just because a few elves turn up s-strangled over a few m-months doesn't m-mean they're c-connected! L-like I t-told you, I'm only s-supposed to k-keep the bodies off the street, I d-don't investigate the c-cause! That's up to R-Reynard and the r-rest of the Guards."

In a truly pitiful display of desperation, the man balls his fists into the fabric of Edgard's jacket and sinks to his knees. Snot and tears dribble down the man's sallow features as he blubbers incoherently about how he has debts to pay and how was he supposed to know that Reynard was up to no good and please just let him do his work, he promises he won't say a word about this to anyone and he vows to forget both Edgard and Mado's faces.

He has clearly been reading too many pulp crime stories.

[muckspout]

Edgard doesn't move away from the man, but his face grimaces in disgust. He sighs and whispers,

"I won't tell Reynard anything, on two conditions." Edgard holds up one finger. "First, you tell me how many elves and when and anything you can remember about them." Edgard holds up a second finger. "Secondly, give me your best guess why Reynard is paying you to keep quiet about it."

A lump forms in his throat. He's not sure if it's over the idea of this happening more than once or the cowardice he's witnessing.

[sulahnan]

The Sallow Man agrees to tell him after they've removed the body from the street, which doesn't take long. He procures a cart from the morgue and uses it to wheel the corpse down to where it'll be dealt with (see: burned) and tells Edgard and Mado about the spate of murders that have been something of an open secret in Kirkwall over the past year.

The body count was fairly low to start, but in recent months there have been not only more murders, but also more near-misses, with people on the streets talking about a cloaked figure that has been seen around the Alienage and The Crimson Cat. Some have been accosted by this figure, but by and large their reports to the Guards have been written off.

"You don't actually know Reynard, do you?" The man asks, his voice barely echoing in the cold and dimly lit morgue. It's just a quirk of the architecture that the sound is so dampened here. It's still spooky, though. "Who are you?"

[muckspout]

Edgard's answer is automatic. "Mains invisibles." He catches himself and closes his eyes for a moment, sinking. After a breath, he flicks his eyes open, emerging, and responds again.

"It doesn't matter who we are. Reynard won't hear of this."

Edgard doesn't know if he can keep this promise, but it's the least he can say. This Reynard can't have expected this man to keep his mouth shut.