January 4, 2X26
There is a tension in the air. My time of waiting, of watching, has concluded. I am restless. Istreus, Master of Secrets, is usually content to let me ghost through the halls and streets of the city but there is now pressure to move, to act, to seek. I welcome the change after these many years.
It is the eve of the full moon and as such there is a gladiatorial event at the arena. The energy of the city draws me there and I find myself watching the crowd rather than the pedestrian battle on the bloody sand. I sense a desperation, a bloodlust, a frustration in the people of Allegany, Citizens and peasants alike. I do not know why.
As the crowds depart, I find myself deep in thought, contemplating what catalyst of unrest that hides from me. We meander out and disperse, many if not most diverting to the west and back to their peasant hovels while the Citizenry remains east of the river. A forceful shove knocks me from my thoughts as a brutish man, not so tall as me but much heavier, barrels past. The tension remains and I follow in his wake, curious but cautious.
The ruffian causes no small amount of offense, forcing his way through the crowd who for the most part grimace and mumble about low-born disrespect. I find two others stirred to action, a dapper performer, maybe even a skald by his arms and armor, and a small but fierce young woman bent on murder by the glint in her eye, apparently caused by the piece of jammy toast knocked from her hands. The fates are rarely kind, and this time is no different, the glistening sugary treat lying tragically jam-side down on the cobblestone of the avenue.
The bard, Slaid, is a local and driven to the edge of patience by the recent increase in hostility and uncouth behavior seen in the city. He accosts the offender, chastising him in every way short of physical violence, but is rebuffed by the scar-faced brute's remorseless indifference. The young woman, Sloane, grips her sword hilt and accuses him of ruining her lunch, to which he shrugs.
It appears we all share a common local pride in Allegany and a Citizen's duty to see the city prosper and I find myself suggesting to the man that he at least apologize to the lady for the jostling. He flicks her a copper piece with a smirk and departs. I am surprised to find Slaid nocking a quickly drawn arrow to his bow and I place my hand on his forearm to dissuade him from murder in the street, careful not to impede his aim should he choose to loose anyway.
Restraint and civility prevail, for now, and the bow is lowered. We follow the man into the Black Horse, a rough establishment frequented by brawlers and grapplers. Slaid is apparently no stranger to the place and takes the small stage, singing several songs aimed to publicly shame Scarface, who has joined two compatriots we dub Chucklehead 1 and Chucklehead 2. Sloane and I get drinks at the bar and try to learn a little about the unrest from the barkeep.
It does not take long to learn of the exploits of Scarface and his friends, troublemakers from across the river who spend their time around arena days scuffling, insulting, and disrupting the good Citizens of the city. We also learn there has been an increase in incidents, westerners evading the guard posts and crossing the river to the dismay of the easterners.
Slaid is a talented performer and the patrons of the tavern already hold a grudge against Scarface and his Chuckleheads. It does not take much to rile the mob, so to speak, and Scarface senses the danger. He and his friends back towards the door but Slaid dives off of the stage to thrash the man, landing a glancing blow with his elbow of all things before he is joined by the mob and the men are restrained.
The bard is like a dog chasing a cart, unsure of what to do should he actually catch it, but he recovers quickly enough and encourages the frustrated Citizens to drag the men outside and humiliate them by beating them with their own belts across the backside. He and Sloane confiscate their weapons and pocket lint and march off to the nearest Guard station to turn them in. I follow.
Harold and Sven the Guards know the men as regular troublemakers and agree to take the items to the Temple of Turas, forcing the men to make right their wrongs before their property is returned. Harold is a young man, excited to meet the neighborhood celebrity Slaid. Sven is older and strikes me as... off. I do not like Sven and do not care for his tone during the interaction. I suggest as much to the others as we depart, our civic duty concluded.
Slaid offers to ply Harold for information, leaning on his influence as a performer, to ease our suspicions regarding Sven. We learn that Sven takes frequent and unusual breaks during his shift, which the younger Harold is simply forced to cover for. We decide to establish a stakeout to see if Sven is up to no good.
Sven leaves and visits a shop on a street just the other side of the Wall from his post. Slaid is able to eavesdrop a little and it is as we suspected. Sven is clearly involved in illicit behavior, complaining of his bribes coming late and warning the unknown third party within of the attention garnered by Scarface. We even witness Chucklehead 2 visit the shack and collect their things, circumventing Slaid's clever plan for justice and implicating Sven even more.
January 5, 2X26
Slaid, Sloane, and I report to the Temple of Turas our findings regarding Sven and learn that the Guardsmen have been ineffective in policing this very issue as posed by the Lord of Law. The corruption may run deeper than we know. We are tasked with investigating and reporting our findings to which we dutifully agree. It is somewhat challenging to keep Slaid from reaching his hand out for payment every other word.
We establish a watch schedule, utilizing a room in a bathhouse across the street from the soap-maker's shop in question. We settle in for a stakeout, a long and boring but necessary process, and keep careful logs of the comings and goings from the place. Slaid infiltrates the staff, seducing one of the shopkeepers, and comes up with a rubbing of a key. The administrator at the Temple is able to have the key reproduced.
We also identify a shady figure who comes around late at night, entering through a wagon dock in the back of the building.
January 6-7, 2X26
Our stakeout continues. The shady figure visits regularly and we are establishing the targets' patterns of behavior. Slaid reports laborers seen in the back of the shop during his visits, one of them resembling Chucklehead 2, but if they come and go we cannot place how.
January 8, 2X26
Slaid, using his copied key, infiltrates the rear of the building through the dockside door. He overhears some chatter but is forced to leave before being discovered. He narrowly evades the shadowy figure on his nightly visit. We choose now to act.
We set an ambush one block from the shop along the figure's known path and easily subdue him, my ability to channel Istreus' will neutralizing him before he even knew we were there. We then move on the rear of the building and make entry. We quickly subdue the two other men in a central room, Chucklehead 1 and 2, again with my magic, before we clear the rest of the house and discover Scarface asleep in the basement.
Searching the building reveals all the trappings of a soap-maker's shop covering over a poison manufactory, primarily wolfsbane. The sprigs of wolfsbane found in Scarface's pockets after his humiliation now make more sense and a dread thought occurs to me. What if the wolfsbane is for more than poison? What if he uses it to protect himself from Lycanthropes? What if this cell is part of a larger attack on the eastern side of the city?
I rush with all of our evidence to the Temple and rouse the sleeping administrator. I am proud to say the priest represents his calling well, dispatching two of his Top Guys with doctor's bags full of werefighting implements. You see, we expect the proprietor of the shop to return on its opening in just a few short hours and aim to cut the head from the snake. Or wolf. Or rat. The werewoman, we are sure.
We stage the scene in the front of the shop as a customer, played by myself, chatting at the counter to one of the captured shopkeepers, pressed into service of the cell by the kidnapping of their son. She is all too willing to help since we aim to free her kin as soon as possible. The ambush awaits in the depths of the building.
Our target enters and begins making her way to the back which appears to be her routine, but something tips her off and she approaches me. No fool am I, I swat her on the nose with the bundle of wolfsbane held by my side, praying to Istreus that our suspicions are correct and she does not just stick a poisoned blade in my belly. Welts spring from her face and she flees into the building and the waiting arms of my comrades, who subdue and capture her with silver-lined shackles and the like. She is a lycanthrope, the cell is captured, and interrogation is to commence immediately to learn more of the operation and especially where the child is being held.
Musings
Slaid - Bard 1
Sloane - Fighter 1
Caldor - Nobiran Wonderworker 1
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