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When the elf had spoken her piece, a long silence reigned. Maria's expression had become icy again, a certain aristocratic hauteur creeping into her posture that made Raffy and Lothar think twice about intervening.
"You will give me a chance," she said, slowly. "How magnanimous of you."
She returned Illiiya's gaze as unblinkingly as the elf. With the threat of the Templars gone, her composure had returned.
"You ask my permission to spy on me, to suspend my liberty until your suspicions can be relieved. Tell me, will you be extending the same privilege to every citizen of Delberz? Or just the ones who you take a dislike to?"
She shook her head, breaking the staring contest.
"I didn't think you were one of the mob, Illiiya. But it seems I was wrong." The lady sounded almost disappointed, beneath the sharp edge of stung pride. "You would make a good Hound."
"I'll hold my peace about today. I want your friends to succeed as much as you do - to pre-empt Kemperbad's Templar. Why else do you think I stay here, with people dropping like flies all around? Why do you think I came back, to this old house, to this little town?" She was breathing slightly heavier than before, surprising reserves of tightly-controlled anger colouring her face. "I could have stayed in Nuln, I could have gone to Altdorf, to Marienburg, anywhere - but I came back here. Because I love Delberz, and I will not see it burn." She was breathing slightly heavier than before. "Not at any cost. But if you come back here, if you threaten me again, I will ask Marius to have you dismissed from his employment."
She paused to catch her breath.
"I think we have nothing more to say to each other. Goodbye."
With a magnificent sweep of her dress, she turned to go back inside the house.
She's guilty. We both know it. The whore must die.
Illiiya's face turned to a cold sneer, as she watched the haughty noblewoman leave. Arrogant and defiant to the last... she only seemed more guilty.
N-no. She said to Raffy in a low, cold tone, I am staying right here. If she will not let me stay in her home and watch her... I will do it from out here.
She looked to Lothar, giving Raffy the cold shoulder.
Please tell Ith where I am, L-lothar. You and he are the only people I still feel I can trust.
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Lothat looked from Raffy to Illiiya. "Personally, I think Maria's not our problem right now- she's got guards herself, could get ya shoved away, Ill. M'self, I'm starting to have suspicions about young Pieter." He paused, looking between the two again.
"Anyway, Illiiya, better to watch the place at night, aye? That's when she's goin' to be getting up to horrid mischief..."
__________________ Games:
[WFRP] The Lord of Lost Heart, reprising Lothar Fischer, Nordlander deserter.
"Both of you." The soldier frowned, and pulled out his pipe and 'baccy. "Pieter. He turns up out've nowhere, offering to help. He's involved with Maria and the other... folk who want change- an' he keeps ravin' about how the Hammer's men are corrupt. A lot more than seems natural, y'know?"
He finished packing his pipe and lit it. "He's the only one that saw the slaves, which got us inta that rat-trap- and then he curled inna ball rather than bein' 'elpful." Puff, puff, puff. "And now he's wandered off again. Something just innit addin' up here."
__________________ Games:
[WFRP] The Lord of Lost Heart, reprising Lothar Fischer, Nordlander deserter.
Stop cowing, you wretch! They are NOT your friends! You know better than they do. You are better than them! Stop listening to these filthy, worthless humans and grow a damned spine!
Illiiya flinched, seemingly from nothing, and then took her gaze away from Maria's home. She stared down at the earth for a moment, her body shaking.
I.... I d-don't have anyone else.
The wretched little Asur thief will still try to help you. He thinks you are his kin. You can use him.
Wh-what? Ith? I d-don't want to do that to him. He's always been... so nice t-to me...
You're as worthless as they are! Until you stop fighting me, you'll stay just as you are... a sniveling, broken coward!
The first few tears fell, as the elven woman shook quietly... her hands clenched into tight balls in front of her chest as quiet sobs ran through her.
I d-don't... don't want t-to be... you anymore... She muttered softly under her sobs, speaking to no one that could be heard.
You can't hide from me forever.
I... I w-want to go. She said suddenly, her voice strained, C-can we... Can we go? Please...
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The boy feels less moved by Illiiya's tears than he thought possible. He just watches her bawl and then steps away from the closed and locked door.
"Lothar, I'll meet up with you all at the Crow later, I need to straighten some things out. I wouldn't let her come back here... Maria'll call the guards."
The boy heads off down the street on his own.
Raffy on his own:
Spoiler
Places Raffy goes in order:
1. Closest place to buy powder from. What is the price to get powder & shot for 10 blunderbuss shots?
2. The theater. It's been about an hour (?) since we left, and Vanya probably isn't expecting us back. Raffy knocks at his door and tells him to go to Maria's:
Spoiler
"Mr. Vanya, I'm sorry about before. We never know who to suspect and we have to try to scare them to get the truth. Please... accept my apologies. Maria is in danger, and that is what I care about most. I need you to spend today and this evening at her house.
"It's no danger. The murderer only strikes at night, and never when there are witnesses present. That's why I want you there as a witness for as long as I'm not. I'll be there tonight, armed, and can protect you both.
"Please, go right away. I'm sure she'll make you comfortable with some good brandy and a meal. It's got to be a better place to do your writing than here with that boss yelling at you."
**Note** if Raffy sees Lenkster and has a chance to tail him, that my pre-empt the rest of this list. Otherwise...
3. The man he borrowed the pry bar from. He will apologise for the delay and ask if he can buy it from him outright for 1 crown. (Yep, that much.)
4. The clothier, and buy his hat. Was that 1 more crown?
5. The nearest new murder site from the clothier (you choose) where he will look for possible trap doors or tunnel exits.
If any of these require roleplay before #5 just let me know. Also if it gets close to sunset let me know, though I suspect this will only take me up to early afternoon.
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In real life I quit my job and left my home to become a professional adventurer. The Great Adventure
His replenished funds jingling at his belt, Raffy restocked his supplies of powder and shot before doubling back towards Wishbone Street, finding his way back to the theatre at a brisk walk. He found Vanya rather distractedly trying to work on his script, the playwright looking distinctly nervous at the Sparrowhawk’s reappearance.
Quote:
"Mr. Vanya, I'm sorry about before. We never know who to suspect and we have to try to scare them to get the truth. Please... accept my apologies. Maria is in danger, and that is what I care about most. I need you to spend today and this evening at her house.
"It's no danger. The murderer only strikes at night, and never when there are witnesses present. That's why I want you there as a witness for as long as I'm not. I'll be there tonight, armed, and can protect you both.
"Please, go right away. I'm sure she'll make you comfortable with some good brandy and a meal. It's got to be a better place to do your writing than here with that boss yelling at you."
The Kislevite’s expression seemed to suggest he found something almost amusing about Raffy’s suggestion – nevertheless, he assented, shovelling his papers messily into a rather moth-eaten bag.
“It’s true – this Ziegeberger is a slave-driver,” he said, with a peculiar chuckle. “I shall do as you say, Mister... uh... Sparrowhawk.”
With the playwright heading on his way, Raffy headed in the opposite direction, seeking out the craftsman near Helstrum’s Ward from whom he had borrowed the crowbar. The man was not exactly pleased to see him, but his glowering demeanour melted quickly at the offer of a crown, the crowbar turning out not to mean so much to him after all.
As he headed out onto the muddy streets again, Raffy became aware of a commotion coming from the direction of the yard in which the tainted well - an orderly commotion, but a commotion nonetheless. Men’s voices drifted between the houses, the noise of busy feet and the occasional clunk or thump audible over the sounds of the city all around...
OOC: Just a pause in your list to see if Raffy checks it out or continues on his way.
"No 'mister,'" he says, smiling, to Vanya, "Just the Sparrowhawk."
He ponders for a minute. Now that he's back in Delberz, and after the treatment he's gotten from Pieter and some of the others, he almost feels foolish introducing his moniker. But he knew that he had a big destiny in front of him and he had to think big and talk big. Would the Scarlet Vagabond* have gotten anywhere if he was shy?
With a chuckle, he adds, "Might make a good name for a character in one of your plays." He holds the door as Vanya exits the back of the theater.
Later, hearing a commotion from Helstrum's Ward, he figures it's just the Hounds retracing yesterday's steps. Or some over-excited ratcatching, if Marius got the word out.
He pushes on with his errands.
*Random folk hero I made up for Raffy's childhood.
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In real life I quit my job and left my home to become a professional adventurer. The Great Adventure
Heading north in the direction of the clothier's shop, Raffy picked up his hat and had the final adjustments made to his new attire, the diminutive Mr Speld seeming rather happy to see him back with the money. Be-hatted and looking uncommonly smart, he set out again - surprisingly, for such a bitterly cold day, he was feeling uncomfortably hot in his new clothes.
Recalling Marius' map, he knew he would have to head south again to find the sites of last night's killings. Taking his bearings from the castle mound, he headed in their general direction - hopefully they would not be too difficult to find.
OOC: Are you looking for one of the more numerous murders (the grisly ones), or the new one with the chaos symbol?
His new staff in one hand and his white ribbon around his arm, Pieter first went to that house of Manor Street, where guards had been carrying a body away an hour ago. The guards were most likely gone to another grisly murder scene by now, leaving him free to investigate at his leisure.
Pieter did not like to disturb a bereaved family, but he swallowed his guilt, knocked at the door and put on his best Hound face.
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Ponytar of myself by MeanMrsMustard.
-Whichever murder site I can find quickly/ easily. If it's swarming with Hounds I'll move to the next. I don't mind dealing with town guards but I do mind Hounds.
-By "uncomfortably hot" do you mean feverish? Does Raffy feel the other symptoms of a fever - a little lightheaded, tired, etc.? Occasional stints of chills? When he touches his forehead does it seem to be burning up, even to him?
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In real life I quit my job and left my home to become a professional adventurer. The Great Adventure
Turning south-east in the shadow of the Cathedral, Raffy headed to where he remembered the nearest of the points on the Captain's map - the second purple cross, the murder that had been unlike the others.
He found it in a side-street between a set of well-appointed houses that faced the Morrgarten wall - or rather, he found the Hound that was standing over it, continuing on his way with only a subtle glance so as to not let the militiaman notice him paying undue attention. The body had been taken away by now - only a small, dark stain remained on the cobbles of the alleway, just visible behind the Hound's legs as he leaned against the wall.
Pressing on, Raffy headed in the direction of the others: the next nearest was close to Maria's, on a connecting alleyway between Manor Street and the castle mound. Like the other, this one appeared to have occurred outdoors: a guard stood watch, his long woolen cloak having been used to cover the body. He was evidently waiting for others to return to help him move it. As with the other, there were traces of blood here - but this was no inconspicuous blotch on the cobbles. Specks and traces of darkened red were everywhere, the scrubbed-away remains of what looked horribly like a hand-print lingering on the wall behind him. By the sallow set of the guard's face, it looked like he had been the one who had had to do the cleaning.
OOC: I'm only describing what immediately leaps to your attention. If you want to look for anything specific, please say.
Quote:
By "uncomfortably hot" do you mean feverish? Does Raffy feel the other symptoms of a fever - a little lightheaded, tired, etc.? Occasional stints of chills? When he touches his forehead does it seem to be burning up, even to him?
He does feel rather unexpectedly tired.
[hr]
Pieter
Spoiler
The house on the corner of Manor Street looked well-appointed, if not a great stone edifice like Samtzunge House: when Pieter knocked on the door, footsteps approached rapidly from within.
The door opened - a man in servant's livery appeared, looking Pieter up and down. For a moment, he looked affronted at Pieter's having knocked on the front door, rather than taking the servant's entrance - noticing the white ribbon on his arm, he seemed to think better of it.
"Yes?" he said, frostily.
[hr]
Lothar & Illiiya
Spoiler
Heading back towards the lower town, Lothar and Illiiya made their progress in somewhat awkward silence. Crossing the Altdorf Road, when they reached the other side of the steady stream of rattling carts they noticed a gaggle of people gathered around something pinned to the wall of one of the adjoining houses...
The people gathered around to read it were a motley assortment of all stripes - they were murmuring among themselves, speculating on the document's author and contents both.
"...'s right, they've been no good for this town..."
"...want to be careful what you say, what with this Templar and all..."
"...yeah, I heard the Sergeant had some bastard kid come lookin' for him, too..."
The initiate puffed his chest and held the servant's gaze.
"I'm going to have a quick look at your house," he said in a cool, professional tone. "I'm sorry for your loss, but this won't be long. Five, maybe ten minutes. I won't bother anyone."
Like the Hounds care about bothering people.
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Ponytar of myself by MeanMrsMustard.
"Not the body, sir," he said with a not-entirely-feigned edge of impatience. "I've already seen it and plenty of others in the Temple of Morr. Now I need to have a quick look inside the house. Either you let me in or you fetch your employer."
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Ponytar of myself by MeanMrsMustard.
"I'll get Mr Horst," said the servant, seemingly relieved to be able to offload the responsibility.
Scurrying back into the house, he re-emerged behind a portly man with thinning hair and rich clothes: a wealthy burgher or guildsman, from the looks of him.
"What's this?" he said, his voice surprisingly deep. "What's this about, eh? You, sir, Stefan says you want to search the house. What's wrong with the Guard? They've already been here, done their job. Why can't you leave me in peace, eh?"
"It's not my problem if the guards have been here already," said Pieter icily. "Go complain to sergeant Halbermann if you have to. This won't be long, I'm not searching the whole house. I'll just have a look at your cellar and, um, the place where it happened."
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Ponytar of myself by MeanMrsMustard.
((You had an asterisk after Morrgarten in your last post, but no corresponding footnote. I understand that Morrgarten = cemetery; anything else I should know?
Second, I'm not sure what I'm looming at in the second murder scene. The first was in an alley, the second also looked to have happened outside - but where? Another alley? A walled garden of a manor house? The front wall? Is there a house connected with the murder, a door I can knock at? Or just a street with bloodstains and a lone guard?))
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In real life I quit my job and left my home to become a professional adventurer. The Great Adventure
“If you must,” grumbled Horst – he didn’t seemed particularly fearful, but he had clearly thought better of making trouble. “Stefan will show you the way,” he said, turning and stumping ill-temperedly away.
The servant looked rather alarmed to be left alone with the Hound again – hurrying to do his master’s bidding, he looked to Pieter.
“Right. Um, this way.”
Following Stefan towards the back of the house, Pieter found himself in what must have been the below-stairs section of the guildsman’s home: a large, functional kitchen sprawled before him. It had clearly been recently cleaned, every surface gleaming and spotless: a rather tubby serving-woman looked up at Pieter as he entered, before noticing his armband and going back to pale-facedly scrubbing the table.
“This is where it, um, happened,” said Stefan. “We’ve spent the whole morning getting it clean. There was a terrible mess – I mean, he knocked over a lot of things, as well as the um, the blood.”
The servant’s voice trailed off. The woman started scrubbing twice as hard.
“We think he went down to the pantry, to, um... well, to steal some food, not to put too fine a point on it... and whatever it was was waiting for him.” Stefan swallowed. “When Helga found him, though... there was no sign of it.”
OOC: Just giving you the things that spring to your attention here: if you want to examine the scene more thoroughly, tell me what you’re looking for and I’ll add in more detail.
Raffy approaches the guard. He assumes the man knows by now that he's one of Marius'. If not he introduces himself shortly; either way he dives right into some questions.
"Where exactly was the body?"
"What did it look like? Any symbols carved in this one?"
((If yes)) "Draw the symbol for me. In the dirt here is fine. Draw it as best you can."
"Who was the victim? Any connexion to the house here?"
"Which way was the body lying, and where on the body were most of the wounds?" ((Wants to deduce which direction the murderer struck from. If the body was torn up then....)) "Think man. Did you see any marks that are more like flesh wounds, like knives or a claw swipe? Those would've hit firs tto knock him down, before... tearing him up. Which side of the body were those on?"
"Was there any mud tracked around here, or muddy prints? Besides the blood stains?"
Once he is done with those and any followup questions he takes a tour of the alley performing the following steps:
1. Move any crates, barrels or other obstructions; look behind and beneath them.
2. Make a circuit of the alley, tapping every foot or so on the walls, both high and low, with the pry bar; and often using the hefty wooden butt of his 'bluss as well - listening for hollow sounds.
3. Inspect for signs of stone fragments, gravel, dust, mortar fragments, or other tiny pieces that might result from moving a stone that covers a tunnel entrance.
4. With the perimeter searched, perform the same tapping routine and visual search on the alley floor itself, carefully covering all of it.
5. Climb up the manor house wall and look over into the yard beyond ((if I am understanding the layout correctly)). Use a barrel or crate, or recruit the guard to help, if needed.
6. Note any high windows from any buildings on either side, even if shuttered; as well as chimneys in the wall against the alley. I intend to knock on those houses' doors next.
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In real life I quit my job and left my home to become a professional adventurer. The Great Adventure
Looking up at Raffy, the guard looked surprised at the youth's first questions - however, it didn't take him too long to realise he was being spoken to by one of the captain's men. Grudgingly, he answered.
Quote:
"Where exactly was the body?"
"Jus' lyin' here, by the wall." He gestured to the shrouded thing that he had covered with his cloak. "I ain't moved it far. Just outta people's way." He looked around. "Frankl was s'posed to be comin' back to help me move it."
Quote:
"What did it look like? Any symbols carved in this one?"
"Not that you could make out," said the man, with an involuntary shudder. "Y'can take a look if you want, and if you keep these dawdlin' passers-by from taking a gawp at it too. I wouldn't advise it, though, not 'less you have a strong stomach."
Quote:
"Who was the victim? Any connexion to the house here?"
"Dunno yet. Not enough left o' the face for any what found him to recognise the poor bugger."
Quote:
"Which way was the body lying, and where on the body were most of the wounds?" ((Wants to deduce which direction the murderer struck from. If the body was torn up then....)) "Think man. Did you see any marks that are more like flesh wounds, like knives or a claw swipe? Those would've hit first to knock him down, before... tearing him up. Which side of the body were those on?"
The man shook his head.
"You ain't seen one o' these before, have you?" he asked, glumly. "All over. Like he was... ate alive. It ain't natural. I seen blade-work, and I seen beast-bites too, and this ain't like them - no proper cuts, no big tooth-marks. Jus' ragged ruin, and the skin what ain't gone, all covered in little scratches. He were jus'... consumed."
Quote:
"Was there any mud tracked around here, or muddy prints? Besides the blood stains?"
"There's mud all aroun' this town, ain't there? Din't see no prints, but the blood had been carried a fair way all around - maybe scavengers getting at him before he was found. Cleaned it up, like the captain told us."
Once his questions had been answered, Raffy commenced his search of the alley - the guard watched him with an air of slight trepidation, as if the fearsome murderer might still be lurking somewhere close by.
There was none of the urban litter of crates and boxes one might find around the Neumarket in this part of town - satisfying himself that there were no portable hiding-places he needed to examine, Raffy began tapping on the walls, the guard's expression turning to mild bewilderment as the young man went up and down the sides of the narrow lane. The walls seemed thick and solid on both sides - what you'd expect, from the homes of the nobility. If there was a secret entrance somewhere here, Raffy wasn't seeing it.
Turning his attention instead to the cobbled surface of the street itself, Raffy repeated his routine, diligently searching across the ground for any sign of a hidden hatch. There was none - however, near where the gutters of the large house against whose walls the poor wretch had died emptied down onto the street, a narrow storm-drain stood to channel the water away into the sewers. Perhaps a little under a foot square, it was covered with a grid of rusted but sturdy iron bars, driven directly into the stone. There seemed no way to remove the coverings, still less for anyone to squeeze through the narrow opening if they could - but just below the level of the top of the drain, Raffy could see thick traces of blood that had been smeared against the sides of its interior, unnoticed by the guard in his clean-up.
It seemed improbable that the man's blood could have run this far in the quantities needed to paint the sides of the drain so vividly... and even if it had, the traces he could see were rough and scratchy, more like the work of an old paintbrush or stiff furs a than any fluid flow.
Caught in the pinch between two of the iron bars that covered the hole, he caught sight of something thin and black - pulling it free, he held it up to his eyes. It was a spiny black hair, clearly animal rather than human. It smelt of blood, and something else: before his return to Delberz, Raffy might have been hard put to place it, but after their desperate flight through the sewers, there was no mistaking the sharp musk of the city's rats.
Straightening up, Raffy noted four large houses with windows overlooking the short alleyway - they had remained shuttered, the inhabitants perhaps choosing not to see the slumped shape under the guard's cloak. Nevertheless, it would be easy enough to knock on their doors...
OOC: Sorry, I probably didn't make it clear: the walls here are walls of the actual houses themselves, there is no yard. While these are posh houses, Samtzunge House is one of the very nicest, and space being at a premium, stableyards are uncommon elsewhere.
"Thank you." He glanced at the serving woman. "Don't mind me, this will take only a few minutes."
He began systematically pounding on the tiles with the butt of his staff, starting near the walls and working his way toward the middle. He expected to find one that did not sound like the others.
OOC: This is the lowest level, right? If not, then there's no point doing this.
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Ponytar of myself by MeanMrsMustard.
Stefan and the other servant watched in bewildered curiosity as Pieter began to strike the tiles with the staff, working his way around the room. None of them seemed to sound particularly different. However, as he struck the tiles nearest the pantry door, he heard another sound - a rattle of wood vibrating with each thump.
Looking down, he realised the skirting-board by the edge of the door was loose, looking perhaps as if mice or rats had gnawed through its fixings at that end - every time he thumped the floor, it was shuddering against the wall.
The wood groaned as Pieter pulled back on the loose end - peering behind it, Pieter found himself staring into a dark, dusty interior space in the wall, no more than a foot high and about as wide. Removing his hand to wipe off the thick dust that had clung to his fingertips when they passed behind the board, he noticed something else - traces of dried blood, brushed off on his palm from where they lingered on the rough edge of the loose end.
Bracing himself to try and pull the whole board free, he heard Stefan cry out behind him - the servant ran forwards, hands fluttering frantically to forestall him.
"What do you think you're doing? You can't rip up Mr Horst's walls!"
"The rats were already doing a good job of it," Pieter replied. "Take it up to sergeant Halbermann, he'll pay for the damage."
He frowned at the dried blood on his hand. There was no way to tell it was human blood, but somehow he was almost sure of it. He no longer thought Raffy's theory was so ludicrous after all: perhaps the rats were the enemy. But how could a rat pull the loose board away from the wall to leave the room?
Tentatively, Pieter plunged his hand into the hole as deep as he could, not knowing what to expect.
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Ponytar of myself by MeanMrsMustard.
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Re: [WFRP] The Hour After Midnight (II)
