City of Broken Dreams: Life's Bazaar

[Rei_Jin]

Gretchen nods her head.

This key doesn't leave me, except with people that I can trust. I've had to give it to Jenya when I was ill so she could look after the children, and now to you, but other than that I've not had to give it to anyone else. Keygan Ghelve made all the locks, he's the only locksmith in town that's still in business. He wouldn't have a key, but if anyone COULD make a key, it would be him. But he's made the locks for most, if not all of the town. He wouldn't have anything to do with the break in, not unless he wants to be run out of town...

[Toxic Avenger]

Katherine nods. "Hmm... Yes, that would be professional suicide, wouldn't it?"

She turns toward her fellow hunters. "I'm thinking we should talk to him anyway, though, just to make sure we haven't left any stone unturned. Agreed?"

[Dhavaer]

"Lady Ydresse of Mournevale." Her Ladyship introduces herself with a nod. She looks around at the orphanage. "When was this building constructed?"

[Amotis]

Sodi raises an eyebrow at Gretchen. Her pokes at humans. He smiles to himself. That's funny. Clearing his throat, Sodi beings to walk around slowly, looking about studiously.

"Let's not walk that path quite yet. There are dozens...if not more, faces we can trace and accuse. Too many. So let's start simple. Here. Did the children see anything?"

[Baerdog7]

Angelo Rinaldi

My name is Angelo Rinaldi, cleric of Pelor, as I'm sure you can see, he explains as he accepts the key.

He takes a step back, listening to what the others have to say before speaking his own piece.

[PhoeKun]

"I'm Erica Shaareth. It's very nice to meet you. I'm sorry it isn't under better circumstances, though. But don't you worry about a thing. We'll take a look around here, ask some questions, and be on the trail. We'll find them. That's a promise."

Erica's ever-constant smile is reassuring, but belies the confidence in her eyes. They'd find everyone within the week, or she'd eat her favorite dress. She turns to Katherine, nodding.

"I think it'd be a great idea to see Mr. Ghelve after this. At the very least, it has to help to know how he made the locks. Maybe he had a second key that got stolen?"

[Rei_Jin]

Gretchen furrows her brow in thought for a moment.

Hmmm... it was built 42 years ago, give or take a few months. And none of the children saw anything as far as they've told us, although there is one boy who swears he saw something in a dream...

[PhoeKun]

"A dream? Would it be all right if I talked to him?"

Erica runs a hand through her hair as she thinks. It's a long shot, but sometimes these turn out to be more than mere dreams...

[Rei_Jin]

Gretchen nods.

Of course. His name is Andro, he's about 8, human, and has short cropped brown hair. He's a little hyperactive, but a good boy most of the time. Did you have any more questions for me before we go and find him?

[Toxic Avenger]

Kate glances at Sodi with a feigned look of confusion, and raises an eyebrow. "Did I say 'accuse'? I don't think I did..."

She nods back to Erica. "Right. He could be involved indirectly, and not even know it. If that's the case, I'm sure he would appreciate us letting him know."

Replying to Gretchen's last question, Kate says, "No more from me right now, Gretchen. I may think of a few more before we leave, if that's all right."

[Dhavaer]

"Was is it built to be an orphanage?"

[Rei_Jin]

Yes, our building was built specifically to be an orphanage. It was constructed by the Church of St Cuthbert and the City, with labour donated by various nobles.

[Dhavaer]

Lady Ydresse's mouth twitches. "I just had a wonderful mental image of people in ermine robes working stone..."

[Rei_Jin]

Gretchen blinks, then laughs

No no, nothing like that. They donated gold to be used to pay for labourers, although I'd love to see some of those stuffy nobles come down from their thrones and do some real work. Not all nobles are like that, but a lot of the ones around here are. Just drop by the Cusp of Sunrise if you want to know what I mean.

[Dhavaer]

"I'm aware of my peers work ethic, or lack thereof. But I'll drop by the Cusp if I get the chance, I could use a laugh. Even Mournevale was never as depressing as Cauldron."

[Amotis]

Sodi shakes his head at Kate, seemingly oblivious that the question was nothing more then a question.

"Implied, miss. Now Andro, you said? Good strong name. Let's meet him."

[Rei_Jin]

Gretchen nods.

Okay then. Come with me.

She motions for the hunters to leave the room, and closes the door behind her as she joins them. She leads them down the corridor to a door that has a window in the top half of it. Those that look through the window can see a classroom full of children, sitting attentively on the floor listening to the words and watching the writing of a slim female half-elf. Gretchen knocks on the door, opens it, and walks in.

Excuse me children, Miss Willow, but I need to have a word with Andro. It's about the missing children. Andro, can you come out with me for a few minutes? There are some people here who'd like to ask you about your dream.

A tall thin lad stands up nervously, looking to the half-elf and Gretchen with concern. The half-elf nods, and he scurries over to Gretchen, his classmates watching as if mesmerised by the whole event. Gretchen motions for him to leave the room, and follows him out, shutting the door.

As the door closes, fervoured whispering can be heard from inside the room, followed by a stern cough.

Gretchen, these people are here looking for Deakon, Lucinda, Evelyn, and Terrem. Jenya sent them here to help us. I told them about your dream, and they wanted to hear it from you, they think it might help. Can you tell them?

Andro nods and coughs nervously, then starts to talk, looking down.

Well Miss, I was in bed like I was told to be, and something woke me up, like someone creeping around, yanno? Then the shadows started moving, and this creepy gnome jumped on my bed! He had crooked teeth and a tattered cloak, and this weird bottle that he was holding towards me. He had one of his fingers on his lips, like he was telling me to be quiet, and he was giggling! I screamed and screamed and screamed, but no sound came out, only this weird mist, and it went into the bottle! I was real scared Miss, and when he shook the bottle, it made a quiet little scream, and it sounded just like me Miss! He then put his hand over my mouth and nose with a cloth, and my head went all woozy, and I passed out. I thought it was real, but the other kids, they said that they didn't see or hear anything, and there was no cloth, and my voice worked fine when I woked up! I screamed and screamed and screamed until you came in Miss, and that's when we found the others gone! I reckon the gnome took them Miss!

Whilst he's been relaying this, tears have been running down his face. Seems the whole thing was quite traumatic for him.

[PhoeKun]

Erica nods in all the right places as Andro tells his story, squatting down to eye-level with him as he finishes his story in tears, ready with a comforting smile and soothing voice.

"Thank you, Andro. That was very helpful. Thanks to you, we'll be able to stop that gnome, and bring everyone back here. You be sure to brag about that to them when we do, ok?"

[Taren]

Rilian sighed at the boy's story, keeping any doubts he had from showing on his face. He didn't know much about magic. Nor did he know much about kidnapping children at night. But he did know how people acted when they were scared, and the tricks that fear played on the mind. Andro's story sounded like a load of hogwash to him... too insubstantial to hold any truth to it. The work of a boy's imagination. If there had been any truth to it at all, why would the kidnappers have left the child behind? But he chose not to say that in front of everyone else. This was his fresh start; to call a crying child a liar would be nothing but cruel.

Except there was one bit... one tiny little detail of the story that stuck in his mind. Something that seemed strange to him. If there was even the slightest grain of truth in the dream... He cleared his throat and spoke up after Erica had finished comforting the boy. "A-Andro. When the bad g-gnome put cloth o-over your nose, d-did it smell s-strange to you at all? Could you s-smell anything at all that night?"

Before the child could reply, he took a few steps back, letting Erica and the others stay in the forefront. He shouldn't have spoken up... it was a stupid question to ask a child. It's just that... street criminals didn't choke someone to knock them out. It took too long, and gave them the chance to fight back. But covering the face with cloth didn't necessarily mean choaking... He sighed. It was still foolish of him to speak up.

[Baerdog7]

Angelo Rinaldi

Angelo listens attentively as the child relates his story. While many of the details could have been dream-like halluciations, the idea of a gnome kidnapper might have substance.

Huh, that's a really good point Rilian. The idea of having some type of chemical on the cloth seems pretty plausible to me. It could explain why none of the other children saw or heard anything, if we assume that the gnome had knocked them out with it as well.

[Rei_Jin]

Andro looks up, sniffing, his eyes red and watery.


Ummm... it smelt funny, kinda like the stuff that Miss uses to clean the toilets. But it wasn't just in the cloth, it was all through the room!

But the smell wasn't there when I woke up! I don't know where it went... it was such a strong smell too!

[Taren]

Rilian mumbles something about how it wasn't really that clever an idea, and turns away from the group... he had forgotten his original purpose here.

He approached the door of the room they were standing in and sat down, so that he was eye level with the doorknob. It was time to examine the locks.

[Rei_Jin]

Rilian takes a look at the locks, first examining the one to the classroom, then the others throughout the building. They all seem to be the same, keyed to the same lock and constructed with precision and quality in mind. It's not the kind of lock that just anyone could pick, indeed, without the time to properly examine the lock he doubts that he could pick it himself, and maybe not even then.

None of the locks on the childrens rooms show any signs of tampering, and when they are tested with the key they work smoothly and efficiently. Obviously these locks are well looked after.

[Toxic Avenger]

Kate kneels down next to Andro and smiles at him reassuringly as she produces a bright blue handkerchief from one of her pockets. After offering the handkerchief to the young boy, she asks, "Andro...could you see anything else in the room besides that nasty gnome, or just the moving shadows you mentioned before?"

[Taren]

Rilian heaves a deep sigh and stands back up. As far as he could tell, the locks of this place were superior to anything he'd gotten used to seeing. If the locks "were the key", then it was a well hidden key.

He'd been hoping for some sort of mechanical defect. Or something...something that he could show to everyone. But unfortunately, there was nothing.

[Rei_Jin]

Andro gratefully takes the hankerchief, and blows his nose.

I'm sorry Miss, I just miss Terrem and the others, and that gnome was really scary, I'm afeard that he's going to come back for me...

He takes a few moments to calm his nerves, and closes his eyes.

Okay, let's see... in the room, I could see the other beds and the kids, but it was hard to see cos it was dark Miss. Ummm... the moving shadows were real scary, they were "ford-boating"? Is that the word? When something's scary but it leads to something scarier? Yeah, I think that's the word.

And that bottle...

He shudders at the memory and looks down again.

[PhoeKun]

Erica quickly glances around to all her teammates, with a silent look that says not to press the matter anymore. The poor kid wasn't going to hold up under much more questioning and reliving of that night. She gently puts a hand on the boy's shoulder.

"It's ok. You don't have to say anything more. Don't you worry - like I said, we'll take care of that gnome before you know it, and then Terrem and all the others will be back here with you. No shadows are going to stop us; we're the good guys!"

She grins, and after making sure he's ok and sent along on his way, she turns her attention to Rilian. One look at him is enough to know he didn't find what he was hoping for. Still, she walks over to him.

"Say, do you think there might be more than one key, after all?"

[Rei_Jin]

Gretchen nods at Erica's words, and gives Andro a hug.

You'll be okay Andro. Go see Neva, she'll get you a drink and something to eat. You don't need to go back to class until after lunch if you need some time. Maybe Patch would play a game with you?

He looks up and smiles.

I'd like that, he's fun to play with.

Go on then, off to the kitchen with you.

He nods and scampers down the hallway, turning left into the kitchen.

Is there anything else I can help with?

[Taren]

"M-maybe." Rilian closed his eyes and thought back to his days at Dad's shop. "You'd just need a mold of the key.. even a wax one. Or the person who made the key or the l-lock, or both. But...um... i-it could also just be a s-skeleton key of some s-sort. I can already t-tell these locks probably haven't been p-picked..." He paused for a moment, taking a breath. "L-lockpicks aren't the gentlest thing you can d-do with a lock. They w-wear down tumblers and things. These look a-almost new."

He looked down at the floor. "S-sorry I couldn't help more. Maybe when you guys go talk t-to the lockmaker h-he can help you."

[Toxic Avenger]

Katherine notes Erica's silent look and nods in agreement. Once Andro is finished with the handkerchief, she puts it back in her pocket.

{OOC: Short post...the Mrs. is bugging me again...}