[WFRP] The Hour After Midnight

[-Sentinel-]

Raffy introduces himself. "Rafale's more formal. I go by Raffy, or some call me the Sparrowhawk."

Most likely, you call yourself the Sparrowhawk, thought Pieter.

He chose to say nothing. Snarky comments were not going to make things better between him and "Raffy".

He clears his throat, making sure no one is eavesdropping on the group. "Illiiya's wrong. I won't get angry to talk about worthy evidence. Maria Samtzunge is apparently the source or subject of some kind of magic. Illiiya can sense it. That means we need to consider her a suspect."

He looks pointedly at Illiiya. "And as with all suspects, we have to use sound reasoning. We don't know that she is involved."

He sighs. "Also, Marius ordered us not to investigate her, for fear of causing a scandal."

"Maria, eh?" Pieter frowned. "You're right... there must be a mistake. I know Maria. Not quite as much as I wish, maybe, but well enough."

For some reason, this troubled him deeply. He realized, despite the initial distrust Maria had inspired him as a noblewoman, that he was reluctant to view her as a suspect.

"I'm sure this will all be sorted out."

[Another_Poet]

Raffy the Sparrowhawk

((I think Lothar has called me Sparrowhawk, does that count? ))

Raffy almost laughed, but stopped himself, knowing that it's just as ridiculous that he himself knows Maria, as it would be for Pieter to know her. He simply asks, "You know her... from the Society? What makes you think she's innocent?"

[-Sentinel-]

The question caught Pieter off-guard.

"Call it instinct?" he suggested, rather unconvinced. "Listen, I know a thing or two about young women, and I simply don't believe Maria is the sort of person who'd get involved in grisly murders." He shrugged. "If Maria has anything to do with magic, I'm unaware of it. But even if she does, it doesn't mean much. Except to a witch hunter." He spat the words like a curse.

[Another_Poet]

Raffy the Sparrowhawk

Raffy should be relieved to have another colleague who's against investigating Maria, but he seems uncomfortable. He turns to Ith and Lothar. "Well, you know where Marius and Pieter stand. You know where Illiiya stands. I'm open to investigating her if we can do it quiet. Really quiet." He glances more at Ith on that note. "Is it worth it, or do we follow other leads?"

[BloodyAngel]

Illiiya Jaelrae

It wasn't an agreement... but it was something. He hadn't snapped or gotten angry at her, and he seemed willing to listen to her words, even if he still trusted her. A nagging worry in the back of her head told her that he might fall right back into furious defense of her if she was nearby... everyone she had seemed who was near Maria had been like kittens following their mother.

Still, it meant he trusted her... at least slightly. She had never had a human care about her before. Only Ithelus ever really looked out for her. Putting down Mr. Cat, she stepped forward and hugged Raffy. Seemingly out of nowhere.

Thank you. She said softly to him, F-for listening to me.

[Another_Poet]

Raffy the Sparrowhawk

Raffy seems startled and goes stiff as a board. "Uh, uh...." Then he remembers what it's like to have a girl depend on him and he wraps his arms around Illliiya, hugging her back. "'S no worry turtledove," he says with the brogue of a street boy again, a brogue he'd mainly flushed out of his voice in the years since. "We all stand 'agether in this one."

[-Sentinel-]

Pieter pretended to wipe a tear from his eye, then grew serious.

"I don't know what are your leads, but you probably have quite a bit more than I do. I have only two pieces of the puzzle: half a dozen horrible murders with seemingly random victims, and some mysterious apothecary who worships the Dark Prince. That means I'm hardly the one who can decide what to do next." He looked at Rafale. "Lead on, Kestrel."



OOC: I'm hoping the others come back soon. We can't rely only on Raffy to lead the investigation.

[Another_Poet]

Spoiler

Show

"Lead on, Kestrel."

lol!

Raffy does so. Ith checks the area for clues that less keen eyes may have missed, and Illiiya is asked in hugh tones whether she feels any magic here. Lothar and Raffy ask locals in the area what they saw or heard, making clear they're not with the Hounds or the Witch Hunter and that the info is safe with them.

As Raffy feels out Pieter and gets a better sense of who he is, he shares some of the basics of what the party knows, and asks Pieter what he thinks would be the best way to proceed.

[Exeson]

As Raffy hugs Illiiya a flash of jealous anger appears in Ithelus's eyes, his hand snaking to his sickle but then he shakes his head.

'Well, to be fair I'm stumped' he nods and walks up to the guard, 'So. What can you tell us?'

[LCP]

Looking sideways at the elf as if surprised to be spoken to, the guard looked him up and down, before his eyes slid sideways to his companions.

"'Ere," he said, "you're one of them lot the Captain hired, aren't you?" His face set in a steely frown, eyes locking onto Ithelus'. "Doin' our jobs for us."

There was an unpleasant pause - then the man grinned, shaking his head and thumping Ithelus on the shoulder. "Only jokin'. I heard about them mutants. Rather you than me, mate - 'specially with all these refugees for us to be herdin' round."

He gestured down to the remains of the bloodstain.

"Ain't much to tell. Bloke was found here last night, not long dead - some bastard had slit his throat, painted somethin' horrid on his face with the blood. Body's in the Temple of Morr now. We've just got orders to keep people from panickin'."

He shrugged his shoulders. "We ain't got a name yet for the victim, nor no witnesses to the murder. A bystander said they'd seen him at the North Wind shortly before the body were found, but we haven't got round to askin' any further."


Illiiya

Spoiler

Show

The flow of the Winds all around was far stronger than any residue specific to the crime scene. Nevertheless, there was something here, the merest shadow of a footstep of a power that had passed this way.

Whatever magic had been performed here, its power had ebbed, or moved on, or vanished in some way - what remained behind was the merest trace, as black and stagnant as every twist of the Aethyr Illiiya had ever known. Staring at the dried traces of blood between the cobbles where it lingered, the elf couldn't help but feel it was staring back - as if waiting for something...

[BloodyAngel]

Illiiya Jaelrae

No no no no no....

Illiiya backed away from the scene muttering to herself and hugging Mr Cat tight to her chest. She looked pale as a sheet. Impressive, considering she was fairly pallid normally.

N-no. No! Keep it away. I don't want to see it! It hurts! She mumbled in a panic, burying her head against the confused cat, Not again please.... please! It hurts...

[-Sentinel-]

His chivalric instincts taking over, Pieter took Illiiya by the shoulder and put himself between her and the blood stains.

"Calm down. Calm down. Nothing to fear. What's going on?"

Spoiler

Show

Fellowship test to soothe her. I know it's up to BloodyAngel to decide if it worked, but the test should at least give us an idea of how good Pieter is at calming down a traumatized Elf.

Target 51: (1d100)[79]

Edit: Apparently not very good.

[Exeson]

With a snarl Ithelus spins round. He shoulder's Pieter out of the way and scoops Illiiya up in his arms, 'I'm taking her away from here.' he is about to step of before he turns and nods to the guard, 'Thanks, sorry about this, she has her.... moments.'

With that he sweeps off down the street at a brisk pace, heedless if the group follow or not. Once he is a good way away he sets her down in and ally and crouches before her, placing one hand on her cheek.

'You ok lovely?'

[BloodyAngel]

Illiiya Jaelrae

Bad! V-very bad! She sobbed, holding tightly onto Ithelus as she pleaded with him in a panic, Ith... it was there. They... they were there. A s-summons or... or... they came... on their own. Please, please don't let them find me! Please! It hurts.... it hurts so much...

[Exeson]

Ithelus hugs her, 'Who was there? demons?'

[BloodyAngel]

Illiiya Jaelrae

Illiiya gave a shaky nod.

It was there... I f-felt it. Strong... Don't make me go there... please. It hurts. She begged, hugging onto Ithelus tightly and burying her head against his neck, They'll see me... t-they'll... c-come for me.

[-Sentinel-]

OOC: Going back in time a little...

As Raffy feels out Pieter and gets a better sense of who he is, he shares some of the basics of what the party knows, and asks Pieter what he thinks would be the best way to proceed.

"Pilserier has been poisoned in his cell, you say?" said Pieter with interest. "Someone wanted to silence him, no doubt. In whose custody was he? The Church or the watch?"

[Exeson]

Ithelus look Illiiya directly in the eye, 'how many? what did they look like?'

[BloodyAngel]

Illiiya Jaelrae

Don't know... didn't see them. T-they... they were there. Something strong... was there. I felt them. She stammered, Please don't let them get me!

[-Sentinel-]

Pieter looked at Illiiya with pity. He wished he could do something to help her, but it was clear that Ithelus would not let him. Better let the Elves take care of each other, he thought.

"In whose custody was he? The Church or the watch?"

"Pilserier was in the guard house?" Pieter grew thoughtful. "Good news, I guess. Our next step should be to question the guards. We must find out what Pilserier was involved in and who wanted to silence him."

A Slaaneshi cult, possibly, he thought, remembering the apothecary's heretical books. Oh great, now I'm thinking like a witch hunter.

[Exeson]

Ithelus pats Illiiya on the head, 'It's ok, we wont go back there,'

Ithelus turns to the rest of the group, 'Ok, so what now? I'm suggesting we try and find out who this 'mmandrake man' is.'

[-Sentinel-]

Pieter raised an eyebrow.

"Mandrake? What's this about mandrake? I found a whole chest of it in Pilserier's wagon."

He reached into his boot and produced a tiny mandrake root.

"I don't suppose that's a coincidence?"

[goblinpaladin]

"I doubt it." Lothar scratched at his beard. "Look, we need t' find the writer o'the note- and best way to do that might be t' find the 'mandrake man'. I figure that we ask around, see if there are any addicts in M-- the lady's social circle. Especially if they match those common initials, aye? Maybe someone in the market -or the doc!- knows some poor strung-out chap who came to Pilsier's caravan a lot."

He paused and nudged at a cobblestone with his boot. "I doubt this poor sap is gettin' gutted by the same as the other lot, seein' as how it's a different kind o' murder. We don't have anythin' on either killings, so we should look into what we do got- the mandrake man."

[-Sentinel-]

"There was a ledger in Pilserier's wagon," Pieter remembered. "His recent customers. No details about what they bought, though; just their initials." He frowned with mild annoyance. "But what's this 'mandrake man' you're talking about? What does he have to do with anything?"

[Another_Poet]

Raffy

"Well, let's go check the ledger," he says to Ithelus and Illiiya, possibly including Pieter in the invite as well.

"Lothar, you get on with that doc pretty well, you want to pay him another visit? I bet he misses you by now."

If the team agrees to the plan, he tosses a bottle to Lothar. It appears to contain some fine liqueur, though it's been partially consumed already. "Maybe you ought to share a little treat with the doc, since we keep bugging him," he says.

[LCP]

Lothar

Spoiler

Show

Treading the now-familiar streets towards Rasen’s surgery, Lothar found the narrow building empty, its windows dark – a passer-by noticed him looking up at the door, and volunteered her advice.

“The Doctor’s out on his rounds, dear. Headed down to Helstrum’s Ward, last I heard.”

[hr]

Others

Spoiler

Show

Heading back to the Guard House, they found the wagon still unattended (for now) – darting inside, Pieter emerged with the slim, black ledger. Ithelus recalled it from his own search of the cart – it had not seemed terribly interesting at the time.

The book’s contents were simple enough – two columns, one of initials, and one of payments. One set of initials seemed to be repeated fairly frequently – “F.L.”

Spoiler

Show

As they left the yard, however, they noticed something else: a small group of people had clustered around a wall on Heiligen street, just behind the Guard House. It didn’t seem a particularly unusual wall – except, that was, for the crumpled handbill that looked like it had been recently hammered into it with a single, rusty nail. It was this that the half-dozen or so civilians were looking at: approaching closer, it was easily visible. By the way the ink had smudged in places, it looked like it had been printed very recently.

Spoiler

Show

[-Sentinel-]

"F.L.," noted Pieter, his eyes skimming the ledger. "One F.L. is Pilserier's most regular customer. Um, and he spends a lot, too... more than I've earned or spent in my entire life. Rich fellow, no doubt."

Then he saw the gaggle of people clustered around a sheet nailed on the wall. He walked to it with curiosity and read the text aloud for Rafale, Ithelus and Illiiya. Today, he remembered now, was the day the Society of Free Men were planning to distribute their pamphlet. Only yesterday, he was looking forward for it.

But now the time is wrong, he thought glumly. Innocents are being murdered, people are scared, a witch hunter is in town and dozens of zealots are about to break out the torches and pitchforks. Why try to cause unrest now? Why can't they wait?

Things were about to get much more complicated than they already were, but it was probably too late for him to do anything about it.

[goblinpaladin]

Lothar

Spoiler

Show

"Oh. Uh- do you know when he's due back?" Lothar was clearly hesitant to go into a plagued district on a hunch... but then again, time was running thin.

[LCP]

Lothar

Spoiler

Show

"Don't know, I'm afraid, love," said the woman, hurrying on her way. "Just saw him leave, is all. Could be a long time yet."

Biting his lip, the soldier reluctantly began to make his way towards Helstrum’s ward. Lothar quickly recognised the change in his surroundings: the cramped, cheap architecture of the Lower Town only becoming more so as it segued into the muddy lanes and tumbledown, overhanging houses of the Ward. Finding his way to the square yard where they had met “Mr Cat,” he stopped as he saw Doctor Rasen standing in the middle of it, by the well – he was talking loudly with another man. Two hopeless-looking members of the urban poor stood behind them, watching what was clearly by now quite a heated altercation.

The man currently holding Doctor Rasen’s attention was a huge specimen – barrel-chested and bushy-bearded, his grizzled black air spoke of approaching age, but there was no sign of infirmity in his posture. Wearing a heavy black coat and hat, he seemed much too well-dressed for this part of the town, while at the same time eschewing the elaborate frippery so many nobles seemed to drape themselves with.

“Mr Helstrum,” came the Doctor’s voice, with an edge of patience under heavy tension, “unless this well is properly dredged and cleaned, I give you my word that this sickness will continue to spread.”
“Well then!” boomed the broad-chested man, his voice gruff and abrupt. “They had better dredge it, hadn’t they?” He hefted the heavy-handled cane in his right hand, as if ready to turn and leave. “I don’t see what it has to do with me.”
“Mr Helstrum, these people are your tenants. This well is your property.”
“Indeed it is,” said Helstrum, still affecting an air of semi-sarcastic innocence. “And it was clean when I built it, Mr Rasen. If my tenants have fouled it, it is their fault, not mine.”
“You know perfectly well they cannot afford to,” said Rasen, practically through gritted teeth.
“I hardly see that that is my responsibility. Now, if you are finished wasting my time,” he said, “I have some pressing business on Manor Row.”
“Mr Helstrum!” Rasen called after him – the man stopped, looking round with a dark expression on his face.
“Yes?” he growled, in an exasperated tone of voice.
“Mr Helstrum, if you will not have this well cleaned, Gulli and Hans here will have to board it up.”
“Good. They can befoul someone else’s well.”
“Mr Helstrum, your tenants are dying,” snarled the doctor. He checked himself. “Isn’t that bad for business, too?”
“In case you hadn’t noticed, Doctor,” the man called back, still walking, “there are quite a few people looking for accommodation in Delberz at the moment. Supply and demand, you know?”

He stopped, looking round.

“Oh, and doctor? If they are dying, could you be a good man and hurry them along? While they’re paying your bills, they find it a little difficult to pay mine.”

He touched his hat with a sharp, swift gesture.

“Good day to you, sir!”

With that, he stormed out of the square, a big, black shape disappearing swiftly out of view.

[Another_Poet]

Raffy the Sparrowhawk

The lad explains to Pieter that an anoymous note told them to seek the Mandrake Man, but that other than the mandrake roots in the cart, they had no leads on who that might be. "But this F.L. seems like a good bet."

Raffy keeps his arm around Illiiya as they walk toward the crowd around the poster. He looks over an notices a... jealous? look from Ithelus, and he gives his most innocent shrug along with a look that says, "I don't know!"

Once they get to the poster and Pieter reads it aloud, Raffy visibly slumps. "This is bad," he says. "Anyone know this... Martin whatzit?"