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"Feinmesser and his lads'll be round here this evenin', just afore it gets dark," he said. "If you're willin' to turn up and hear 'em out, they'd be ready to go this very night."
He examined Ithelus' face shrewdly.
"O' course, if it turns out you're not... well, we'll have to find some other work for you. We've all got to earn our way, and you still have one week to go, Mister Ithelus."
The man's tone of voice made what he meant by "other work" rather sinisterly ambiguous.
[hr]
Pieter
Spoiler
Moving sideways around the wall of the house, Pieter turned the corner and slipped into the busy bustle of Hounds, heading quickly inside the house.
The tunnel entrance wasn't difficult to spot: behind the stairs, in the same cluttered room that the front door opened into, a large trapdoor stood open, apparently leading down into some sort of cellar. As he watched, a Hound rose up out of it, dusting down his britches and heading out into the yard.
"Then we'll see you tonight," said Kleiner. "Pleasure to see you, Mister Ithelus."
It wasn't far from Kleiner's lair to the seediest tavern in town - probably no coincidence. Making his way there, Ithelus stepped inside - there were relatively few people in the Crow at this time of day, only a handful drunks and regulars (and shades in between) sheltering from the cold.
When Maria embraces him, Raffy hugs her back and holds her tight against him. "It's okay," he says softly.
He helps her to a chair and sits next to her, holding her hand for reassurance as she speaks about the Lector. He looks aside with a distance in his eyes and says, "The Lector's sins are many. I know how he has treated... other women. I intend to stop all this legally, but if the law fails, I will save you by force."
He looks back at her and they have the conversation where she answers the questions. He keeps his hand on hers and speaks in a soft voice, making sure she knows he's asking out of concern.
When she asks about Felix he says, "Yes, I've spoken to him. We've been thorough. I agree, he wouldn't harm anyone. But I think his habit brought him in contact with some bad people. We had hoped he could lead us to them."
He leans in slightly and changes the subject. "Maria, you're not going to leave town, are you?"
((assuming that's correct))
He grins. "That's why I.. admire you. You're brave and true, milady." The grin cracks into a smile, and then he looks away and says a little more seriously, "I'm going to impose on you. It's not proper, but, well, let me spend the night here." His eyes widen. "On a pallet! I mean the floor of the cellar or wheverer..."
He shakes his head and hurries onto the point. "You need someone to guard this place. Murders in the night... Maria, I'll be up all night worrying about you if I'm anywhere else, so I may as well be standing watch here. If you'll have me."
__________________
In real life I quit my job and left my home to become a professional adventurer. The Great Adventure
Raffy gives a grateful smile. "You'll live to see many more mornings, milady. Thousands. I promise."
He stands up - perhaps abruptly. "For now I have more investigating to do. I'll send Vanya by. He may not be a brave man but the more people you can have here watching for anything unusual, the better." He grins again. "You might want to watch your brandy supply."
And just as quickly, a frown. "I'll keep an eye on Illiiya. There are two people inside of her, and one of them is very good-natured. Still, I wouldn't let her in again if I were you."
He scoops 10 crowns out of the drawer and gives a formal bow. "Good morning, milady."
With that he heads down the hallway that he thinks leads to the front door, assuming that his better clothing and his invitation to stay here will make him worthy of not sneaking out the back.
((I was already planning on leaving by the front door before I read BA's OOC post--really, I swear!--but now it should make for an even better scene.))
__________________
In real life I quit my job and left my home to become a professional adventurer. The Great Adventure
As he turned to approach the front door, Raffy heard a knock from the other side - peering past him, Maria looked puzzled, the sound of Alfons' trudging feet starting up from somewhere in the vasty house at the noise.
Maria nodded to Raffy: opening the door himself, he found himself looking back at Illiiya and Lothar, the elf standing to the fore - she had evidently been the one who knocked.
Puffing, Alfons appeared behind them - seeing the door already open, he shuffled away again, muttering to himself as always. Maria's expression had chilled decidedly when she saw Illiiya waiting - understandable, perhaps, after the names the elf had called her.
"Illiiya," she said. "Rafale has already explained."
The trapdoor led down into a small cellar, full of a jumble of barrels and preserved food - evidently its disordered state had been increased by the attentions of the Hounds.
Two Hounds were standing at the other end of the cramped chamber, both having to crouch under the low ceiling: they were looking down into a hole in the floor, where a single large flagstone had been levered up to reveal a dark pit beneath. As Pieter descended, they both looked round at him, then looked back at the hole.
Although everything seems civil so far, Raffy keep his body in the open door to prevent Illiiya from entering as they await her response. He raises his eyebrows to Lothar like, "What the heck?"
__________________
In real life I quit my job and left my home to become a professional adventurer. The Great Adventure
Pieter put on a sour, bored face and leaned against the opposite wall, occasionally pretending to take a swig from his bottle of spirits. Patiently, he waited to see whether any Hounds went in or came out.
__________________
Ponytar of myself by MeanMrsMustard.
After a while, another militiaman's head emerged from the hole in the ground, dark and grimy with smeared earth.
"Yep - 's all blocked up, just like the boss said," he reported to his two companions, not seeming to have noticed Pieter yet. "Checked it every which way. Only way that don't hit the cave-in just comes out in the well."
So, apparently, the Hounds had not yet gotten anywhere... That was all Pieter really needed to know. Of course, it did not hurt to try and fish for more details.
"Do we still hear that strange sound of machinery down here?" he asked, keeping his voice lazy and only semi-interested.
__________________
Ponytar of myself by MeanMrsMustard.
"East bank, night shift. Mostly." He glanced at the hole in the ground. "Weird place. Been there last night with the boss. Who could dig those caves in secret, I wonder..."
His voice trailed off and he pretended to take another swig from his bottle, waiting to hear anything else the Hound reported.
__________________
Ponytar of myself by MeanMrsMustard.
"Mutants, I heard," said the tunnel-delver, disinterestedly. "That crab-clawed bastard they caught down Faulkes Street was makin' diggings there, and this is his old stalkin'-grounds." He shrugged. "Maybe that's how they got the powder into the old Temple. All of 'em dead now, just leavin' their burrows to rot and collapse."
Pulling himself fully up out of the hole, he dusted off his clothes, for all the good it would do.
"I've got to report to the chief. Maybe the lad down the well will have found something more interestin'."
A soldier, a witch, a noblewoman and a bounty hunter all meet at a front door...
Spoiler
Lothar shrugged at Rafale, his expression clearly uncomfortable with the whole situation. He carefully avoided looking at either Maria or Illiiya. He scratched at the powder scars on his right cheek uncomfortably, and twitched his head to one side at Raffy. Either the soldier was developing a nervous tic or he wanted a private word.
__________________ Games:
[WFRP] The Lord of Lost Heart, reprising Lothar Fischer, Nordlander deserter.
The initiate frowned. Mutants? Could mutants truly get organized enough to dig such an elaborate network of tunnels? This was either the work of dozens, or it had taken several years.
The slaves must have dug most of it. But even in that case, there must have been a lot of slavers. Slave owners don't let their slaves outnumber them three to one.
"I'll take another look down there," said Pieter decisively, readying one of his torches. "In case I missed anything last night."
OOC:
Spoiler
If none of my "colleagues" objects, I'll go into the tunnels and take a look at the cave-in to see how bad it is. I'll also try to keep a general sense of direction to figure out where the thumping comes from.
__________________
Ponytar of myself by MeanMrsMustard.
"You were with the sarge yesterday?" said one of the others. The one who had emerged from the tunnel shrugged.
"We already checked it, but it's your funeral," he said. "Like I said, I got to report."
Making for the ladder, he made his way out: Pieter took his place, lowering himself down into the hole in the floor. The two sentries watched him, not seeming to have anything better to do.
"You want t' watch out down there," grinned one of them. "There could be all kindsa things down there in the dark."
"Yeah," chuckled the other one. "Monsters and such." He made a stupid scary face.
Dropping down to the floor, Pieter found himself in a tunnel much more cramped and narrow than the one which led off from the well: it wound downwards into the dark like a corkscrew, quickly descending into utter darkness. To fit down it he would have to crawl.
"I have a sword," Pieter replied, the Hounds' sardonic tone lost on him.
The initiate did not mind the darkness. Usually he found it almost reassuring. But the tunnel was much too narrow to his tastes, and his experience with the rats was still fresh in his mind. Still, he got on all four and crawled forward, his ears pricked up for the thumping sound... or any other sound.
__________________
Ponytar of myself by MeanMrsMustard.
It was dank and muddy in the dark tunnel, Pieter's head-first method of descent causing him to slip and slide occasionally in the damp earth.
After what seemed far too long crawling down through the tortuous twists of the tunnel, Pieter slithered out into a broader passage more like those beneath the well. By feel, his immediate surroundings seemed to have a slight downward slope to them, leading off in almost a straight line in one direction - however, the utter darkness of the tunnel masked the way ahead, the initiate unable to even make out his hand in front of his face.
The torch crackling merrily in his hand, Pieter advanced slowly down the tunnel. The shadows cast by the torchlight leapt and danced as he moved, seeming to twist themselves mockingly into the shapes of rats. More than once, he thought he heard something scuttle behind him, only to see nothing there when he turned to look - at least, nothing within the torch's light. Then again, the noises could easily have been earth drizzling from the tunnel roof, or dripping water.
After some length of tunnel, he came to a junction in the passageway - splitting off in three directions, he recognised it as the one beneath the well, approached from the other direction. The fork he had neglected the first time must lead to the cellar, then - which meant the branch up ahead led back to the hole in the wall of the well, while the one on his right was the one that led down to the wooden door and the slaves' pen.
The familiar thumping was just audible here, permeating the wet earth with its faint rhythm: from the end of the branch ahead, he thought he could hear voices too, the conversation of the Hounds who had been lowered into the well.
The initiate turned right, the way he had gone yesterday. This time he advanced at a brisk pace, unwilling to stumble upon the other Hounds and have to answer questions.
OOC: Have I managed to keep a general sense of direction?
__________________
Ponytar of myself by MeanMrsMustard.
Just as he remembered, the passage spiralled down into the earth, its irregular, corkscrewing progress turning his descent into something halfway to a climb rather than a walk.
Unlike his memories, however, the tunnel terminated in a dead end. Just as it began to level out, before the point at which Pieter remembered the door, a wall of fallen earth blocked his way, the splintered end of a broken strut protruding from the great mass of soil. Sunk into the mud of the tunnel floor immediately before the cave-in were recent boot-prints - at least one Hound had come this way, and by the looks of things, turned back.
OOC: By 'general sense of direction', do you mean with respect to the alignment of the buildings on the surface, or something else?
The initiate stared at the cave-in for two long minutes, thoughtful. It was, or so he estimated, the general direction of the part of Delberz where the murders took place. Yet another clue suggesting that the killers used the tunnels.
Pieter was no miner, but he could see at a glance that digging through the cave-in would take at best a day or two for several men. Perhaps, if this cave-in was voluntary as he suspected, there would be more of them along the way: whoever dwelled here was obviously cautious. He had to find another entrance, one the Hounds had not found yet. Where to begin?
Near the murder scenes, of course. He doubted he was the first one to think about it, but he had to get started if he wanted to get anywhere.
Turning his back to the cave-in, he walked back the way he had come. He realized by the frenzied thumping of his heart that he could not get out of this place fast enough.
__________________
Ponytar of myself by MeanMrsMustard.
Heading back up through the winding passages of mud and earth, Pieter clambered and crawled his way back to the cellar opening. The two Hounds were still waiting there, looking down at their muddied 'colleague' with expressions of lazy amusement.
"Find anything excitin'?" asked one of them, laconically.
"Darkness, mostly," the initiate smiled back. "Lots and lots of it. But it's nothing I haven't seen before."
Moving like he had something important to do elsewhere (as a matter of fact, he did), Pieter went up the stairs and walked out of the house. Next step: find somewhere in the city a tunnel that did not end in a cave-in. Far from easy, but that's why he had to get started.
OOC:
Spoiler
Going shopping now. I need two things. First off, a quarter staff, wooden pole or walking stick with a heavy butt, the kind you can strike the floor with to hear if the tiles sound hollow. Second, a crowbar to lift the aforementioned hollow-sounding tiles.
I think I'll now take a short break from the game, lest I single-handedly solve the mystery while the other characters are still at Maria's house.
__________________
Ponytar of myself by MeanMrsMustard.
Illiiya Jaelrae, Raffy, Lothar and a slaaneshi who... er, Maria
Spoiler
Illiiya bowed her head, her voice quiet as she stood beside Lothar.
I would like to... apologise.... for the things I have said. I... I had... bad advice. Illiiya said softly, seeming ashamed, My friends trust you... but I cannot seem to bring myself to. I... I do not know why. But... you did n-not deserve those things I said, and I am sorry.
The slender elven girl looked up, catching lady maria's gaze in a way her meek, timid self would normally not bear to do.
I... played a cruel trick upon you. I am sorry. I was j-just so convinced that you were guilty... That you are involved. I... I am jealous of you, and all you have. She admitted, I am treated so poorly for... for being what I am. And you have so many, many people who will leap to defend you. I just got so.... angry.
Her last word was dark in tone, and very, very sincere... As she turned her gaze directly at Raffy. Then for a moment, she held her tongue, and looked down again, before finally continuing.
In any case. I would like to trust... m-my friends. So... I will give you a chance to show me... you are innocent. And if such is th-the case... I will beg forgiveness on my knees... for what I have said. She told Maria, looking to her again with an unwaivering gaze,
Allow me to stay with you, by your side... until this mess is complete. I will cast no spells, and stay out of your way all I can. Once I have seen for myself that you are w-who you seem... it will put my heart at ease.
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Re: [WFRP] The Hour After Midnight (II)
