Case #176 Dead Erudite, Stonestair apt. 1. [Archive]

Zennaros

04-12-2009, 08:35 PM

[East Freeport; night; raining]A hooded, robed figure hails a Kerran traveller who just entered the city gates and beckons him over. The traveller approaches in modest equipment, dark leather armor and a small sword, watching himself on the wet stone cobble on his way – cautiously at first -- keeping one hand over his head to shield himself from the rain, and the other over his squinting eyes as he tries to make out who it is. The hooded figure says something he can’t make out – too downtrodden to understand – still too far away. The traveller comes close.“Ge-get out of the rain,” he grumbles in an old, scratchy voice as he ushers him under a wooden awning, “Read this, quickly.” A cascade of rain water is pelting the meager roof and running down it’s crevices as the traveller brushes off and looks at the man thinking how this may be one of the only places to stand in this city and not get soaked on a dreary day like this."What's your name?" the figure asks. "Arturos" the traveller replies, "what is yours?" "That... matters not, right now. I need your help, so read these. Tell me what you know." Arturos looks at him first; in the face, but the sun has receded too far – it’s too dark. His dark red hood shadows his face regardless of the dim lantern he holds to the parsel in front of you. What’s he want? Arturos looks down and begins reading. He's seen these before, but never out of the hands of a militiaman. It’s a crime report tied to a black book. Undoing the simple knot, he glances over the top document.*((Areas marked [------] are illegible and wet where rain drops obscurred the ink.))<blockquote>Freeport Militia Urgent Field Report CN#202, SSBW APT1DATE: [Inked out]FMUFR #: 37ID #: 9-2-667-[Inked out]-176NAME, RANK: Argosian, LieutenantFMUFR Descrip: death in byway apartment{Scrawled routinely and hastily} Unidentifiable flesh… pile in [----]ment. Blood everywhere and entrails hang from overhead to flo[--]; smell is foul. Probably AOAS [--]ated. Send men here quickly. Will question Academy as well. Possible triple murder and burglary. Two dead Kerra also. The robbery is no surprise a mess of this magnitude is surprising, even for the byway.[The bottom half has been ripped off… probably insignificant]</blockquote> ----------------------Arturos moves the page to the bottom of the stack and looks at the next one-----------------<blockquote>Freeport Militia Scene Investigative Followup Report CN#202, SSBW APT1DATE: [Inked out]FMSIFR#: 44ID #: 3-4-293-[Inked out]-102NAME, RANK: Darius, LieuitenantTranscription of Scene:Argosian looked annoyed with the situation. He kept telling us he never saw anything like that, what he saw in that room, before in Freeport. He went on mumbling about the [Removed for Content] arcane academy and about how we shouldn’t let them trapse around decimating people… even if it is erudian scum. They’re encroaching more and more every [Removed for Content] day, sir. No confirmation if the academy is responsible... but this is definitely a work of magic.The inn’s owner was eagerly explaining details of entrails – obvious details I could see from just looking at the mess. The only useful information he had was that the tenent was “a nameless, sullen erudite with no family.” Useless, mostly. There was a Kerran witness nearby -- filthy. He's the one who called Argosian over this morning while he was on his way to his post. He saw someone, or something (as he claims -- it wasn't a person but a "thing." He's hysterical. They all are here.), leave the apartment last night carrying things out. He explained in a hurry that he didn't notice anyone going IN, but I'm sure he just hadn't been paying attention till he noticed someone leave. After seeing the person leave, he "ducked down hoping the thing leaving didn't notice him looking" and went back to sleep. It looks like a robbery.The door looked like it might have been a wreck to open at first, but the marks on the floor where the door scraped entrails out of the way marked what had already been done by Argosian. The floor, ceiling walls; [Removed for Content] near everything was caked with half dry blood and… pieces... of flesh and organs. Two dead Kerra lay int he corner, throats slit, thoroughly drained of blood. Bugs were already swarming the place. The man had to have exploded – there’s no other way to fathom it. Pretty [Removed for Content] weird also, was that there were no bones to be found; aside from a few fragments half embedded into the walls and in the corpses. Some soaked candles lay around, but there were dry areas in places seemingly untouched by the gore as if shielded by (now missing) furniture/objects in the house. Some spots on the wall, the floor and near the door where it looked like items were removed afterward. I can’t decide if this is a robbery and murder, looting by an outsider after the mess, or something… else. No leads and frankly I don’t care. The byway is just a slum filled with alley cats if you know what I mean… we should just wreck the place and remove it from the city in my opinion. I doubt you’ll disagree. I'll be the first to blame the academy for something like this so I stepped foot in those wretched walls. All were uneasy. One jumped at the chance to claim the crime as his own, though admitted he didn't actually have any part in it. I think those freaks found the situation amusing... as if it's a win for their cause or something.My conclusion? The erudite that arrived on boat a couple weeks ago was obviously hiding from someone. He took the cheapest apartment he could find, was found and obliterated. Standard in these slums, though not normally this extraordinary. The murderer took his belongings. The byway is worthless. What the kerra were doing in there, I can not tell. Maybe they were killed by the Erudite earlier, maybe they were caught in the crossfire. Again, I don't know, and I don't want to. The Kerra in this area are getting up in arms though about the deaths in the Apartment calling it a crime against all Kerra... Station more guards in here if you plan on keeping the byway around much longer. They all need kicked down into place.Will investigate further if you require.</blockquote> “Are you finished?” he asks in an emphatic tone as the Kerra finishes skimming the documents. Despite not being able to see his eyes, he knows they're glued on his every reaction.Arturos let him know that he finished skimming over them but the figure sees from his face that he's still confused.“What does this have to do with you, you’re thinking.” He says. “I need to know if you know the person described! It’s imperitive I find him. I've been looking all day. No one can help... and the longer I stand around here with stolen documents, the less likely I am to live. I need to find the person who was seen leaving the building."“What do you mean ‘find him’? Who are you talking about? And what’s in this book -- Who are you? When did this happen?” Arturos asks.The figure shakes his head while Arturos is halfway through his questioning: "I'll explain everything shortly. The person seen leaving the building is who I'm interested in. Do you know anything of him?"“I… might,” the Kerra said relunctantly. Shaking his head he lets out a sigh. “Follow me home. We’ll talk about this book, but we have to be quick – He’ll certainly come back for it.”The hooded figure moved, and the Kerra did as well, in tail.-=+=-More to come-=+=-::EDIT:: Drastic revision in both story and format. It needed it... this is a work in progress.