Amaranthine Oblivion (IC)

[Stubbazubba]

Halad scans the board, stopping on the name Earl Frasanz deGrey. That name faintly rung a bell, and a job here in Amaranth would be beneficial in many ways. He still needed to meet up with Lord Amblecrown without arousing suspicion, after all.

He returns to Miri and asks, "Earl deGrey, I've heard that name before. Do you know if anyone here has worked for him before?"

[Nettlekid]

Miri looks at the request that Halad points out, and thinks to herself for a moment.
"Nothing immediately stands out. But sometimes government stuff blurs together. Oh, wait, I remember one thing. It wasn't with us, but I heard from Jeston that he or someone working for him was asking Professor Whiteschist at Paracelsus about shifting a lot of earth. Part of the canal project they keep talking about and never actually working on. Maybe this is about that? Eh, I doubt it though...I remember when he came in to submit the request. He looked a little shaken up and was kind of jittery? It does say he wants discretion, and it's kind of weird he didn't go into more detail in the actual submission. For most people we wouldn't have accepted a mission request like that, but you don't want to go around making enemies out of nobles for something petty like paperwork."

[Ajadea]

"Yes, that's me. Pleasure to meet you both." Kurche nods at each of them. She's heard of Kutrul occasionally, but she hadn't expected both captains of the Watch to be so visibly non-human. Too many years in Amaranth getting into her head. She wipes her hand on her skirt to remove a smudge of charcoal, then holds her hand out to shake.

"Short version of what happened: Thieves' Guild people crashed into us about half a day out from Amaranth. They dumped a box filled with herring and a troll head onto our cart, gate guards confiscated it when we arrived, the head grew into a troll, and the troll went and ate some people. The cart was coming from the direction of Amaranth, so you're looking for someone in the area. The head went from crate-sized to box-sized in a night, so this someone had to have been maintaining it, probably cutting off the growth every few hours. The thieves mentioned someone, Marden or something, but I don't know who that is. I don't know where you get troll heads around here either, but I'm hoping that's where you come in." She ticks off each item on her fingers as she talks. "Oh, and you should probably have someone look at wherever you keep the contraband, since a troll went crashing through it."

[Nettlekid]

"Well, it seems like you put together much of what the guards found last night," Caliburn remarks. He looks over some sheaves of paper and then casts a concerned glance to Kutrul, who continues staring at Kurche. "One smashed crate after the head reawakened, ate as much of the fish surrounding it as it could, then regrew a body and broke out. We lost a few bodies who had been guarding that area, taken by surprise at an attack from within. There's no evidence of anyone having tampered with the boxes once they were in the room - I don't think the Troll needed to have been kept small, it's more like it was...'asleep' as a decapitated head, and started regrowing after it awakened and had a plentiful food source nearby. But it's a good thought, and we'll do some double checking. Obviously we investigated the other crates, but there was nothing amiss in those. We even broke them down to make sure they weren't Mimics, or hiding something in the planks. A Troll would have been a great distraction to smuggle something more subtle in, but so far it doesn't look like anything else slipped through. What we can't pin down yet is the motive behind this. It's just raw chaos; I can't figure out how it benefits anyone."

Kutrul keeps his cold eyes on Kurche, jaw clenched. Finally, he speaks.
"I'm gonna guess the name you heard was 'Mardel,' girl. What exactly did they say about him? I didn't expect the Thieves' Guild to be a part of this. Until now they've been delicate, hard to trace." A jagged smile starts to form along his fangs. "We might be able to use this to our advantage. If the Thieves' Guild is going to start endangering lives instead of just working with dirty money, it gives us justification to start cracking down harder. Taking preemptive steps, striking first, cutting them off at the source. This is the perfect chance to get Mardel Dint out of our hair for good."

[Ajadea]

"One of the thieves was capable of magic - enough to fix their cart, at least," Kurche says. "That could have helped keep it dormant. If all it needs is to eat, you don't want it waking up off schedule. Are you certain there was nothing missing from the contraband holding area?"

Kutrul speaking makes her start - he'd been so quiet, it was easy to forget he was there. But she meets his cold stare without blinking. "They made some idle threat about the Thieves' Guild having eyes and hands everywhere. That this Mardel person had plans for busybodies, presumably because they didn't like us actually noticing them switching the crates around. And something about dropping scarves. I'd been hit by a cart about five minutes before, so you'll forgive me for not taking notes."

[Stubbazubba]

"Indeed," Halad said. "Do you know where one might find him?"

[Nettlekid]

"Quite certain; there's not a lot of contraband in there at any one time," Caliburn remarks. "And everything matches our papers. Doesn't look like anything's been taken or added."

"No? You look like the note-taking type." Kutrul snorts. "The Thieves' Guild has eyes everywhere? Heh, I don't doubt it. But someone's not going to be happy that these goons were mouthing off so much," he smirks. "We got some descriptions from the Dwarves, so we'll keep an eye out if they're seen on the streets or floating in the waterways."
Kutrul looks back to Caliburn.
"Well if there's nothing else you need, I'm done here. I don't think she's good for much else, and we're either waiting for the Guild to make another move or else we're taking the fight to them."

Caliburn turns to Kurche.
"On behalf of our wise and honorable Magistrate the City Watch appreciates your effort, and the time you've taken to help us in our pursuits. With any luck whatever scheme the Thieves' Guild has had will blow up in their faces and we'll catch them with their trousers down! I think we've everything we need here, and hope not to have to bother you again."

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Miri tilts her hand back and forth in a universal "kinda" motion.
"He left an address we can send a letter to if someone takes the job. So maybe he's there? I couldn't tell you how to get ahold of him normally - nobles are usually pretty busy people. If this is the one you want then I could send word, but I wouldn't feel comfortable with that for anything nonprofessional."

[Ajadea]

Kurche shrugs. One hypothesis down. "The only other thing I can think of then is if your guards responded to the attack, they would have been pulled away for something. But the troll got pretty far, so I guess there wasn't much of a response. And that's a hell of a gamble to take when all you really need for a distraction is someone with a rock and a good arm."

She rolls her eyes at Kutrul's blunt dismissal, but manages a smile for Caliburn. At least he had some manners. "Pleasure to be of assistance, Captain. If you do need help in the future, I'm sure you can figure out how to find me." She hefts her sack and heads back to Wander Inn.

Once there, she waves hello to the others and starts looking for a table with enough space for her to sit down and set up.