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RESPITE BARRACKS - MORNING
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Louma occupies her office as usual on such a sunny morning, though she doesn't mind so much as the current stack of paperwork is helping keep her mind off the bath house mystery. She had sent a messenger out for a certain lizard guard to meet her some time ago, hoping he hadn't already set up at his post. She pores over a set of papers now, shaking her head as the end of her tail thumps a slow rhythm on the floor.
Nesseth arrives at the barracks a short while later, having run into the messenger just as he was getting set for a morning patrol of the western walls. He knocks on the door frame as he steps into Louma office. "Morning, Louma. You needed to see me for something?"
Louma nods, finishing her coffee as Nesseth walks in. "Mhmorning, yes, close the door please." She pushes the visitor chair to a centered spot in front of her desk, tail retracting back to her coil after as she shuffles a handful of papers back together. "An interesting request for help has come up, and I think it might need a bit of priority."
Nesseth takes a moment to shut the door as requested, then moves to take the offered seat. "A request for help? What kind of request?"
Louma nods, laying her arms on top of the desk. "A theft. At sea, according to the woman who came forward. She seemed convinced that the thief came here, and that they stole an experimental firearm with magitech enhancements." She sighs, muttering, "Gunpowder was a mistake."
Nesseth tilts his head. "A theft at sea, and the thief might have come this way...? I mean... we've had a few new arrivals as of late, but does the report have any more detail to work off of?" He shrugs, "I can't imagine all the new arrivals would be happy being suspects just for showing up."
Louma nods, shifting slightly. "She wasn't shy with her information, thankfully. According to her, it happened at night, so she didn't see the thief themselves, but knew they had the weapon because of the way it's power source glowed. They were able to board and flee the ship without another ship nearby." Louma's gaze levels a bit. "She also says she knows her shots landed, they found blood on the deck in the morning."
Nesseth hums thoughtfully, ticking off the details in his head. "So... probably aquatic, or at least really, really clever to raid a ship without another ship in sight, glowing power source... and wounded by gunfire?" He furrows his brow a little as he recalls a certain new arrival, "The only person I can think of that fits would be this stingray lady that showed up not too long ago. The one that said she'd been attacked by bandits?"
Nesseth shakes his head. "But I can't say much about her injuries. She'd already bandaged herself up by the time she got here."
Louma nods, sighing quietly as she leans back on her coils. "Yes, Lianne. I visited with her after we went out searching for those bandits. We never found any, by the way. Not a soul on the East road."
Nesseth shrugs. "We could probably verify it really easily by asking Plume about her injuries. Patient confidentiality shouldn't really get in the way of finding out, especially if you're considering Lianne a suspect."
Louma nods, grunting quietly. "We could make the request, yes. I'll get a letter drafted and sent over after we're done here. She seemed to be dodging some of my questions but... Well, half the folks that come to Respite dodge some questions." She hums. "It seems almost too obvious, though. Did she have anything with her on arrival?"
Nesseth rubs his chin for a moment as he tries to recall the details of his meeting with Lianne. "She... had a suitcase with her, I think. Pretty sturdy-looking one, but I didn't think much of it since she was traveling alone. Not like she had anywhere else to put all of her belongings while traveling."
Louma nods, leaning forward and shifting a clean sheet of paper to the center of her desk, beginning to write many of the discussed details down, a sign that she was serious about pursuing the lead. "I'm a little hesitant to drop an accusation lately, might have briefly offended a certain bounty hunter."
Nesseth hums softly. "Wouldn't hurt to be a little cautious, sure... If you need any help gathering information, just tell me what leads you need me to follow, Louma. Best you have as much info as possible before leveling an accusation, this time around, even if it looks incriminating already."
Louma chuckles quietly. "I'll count on your skills, in that case. It would be nice if a couple trained investigators would opt to turn their lives upside down and move out here." She sighs, looking back to the papers on her desk as she leans over them. "Perhaps you could get a bit farther with her than I, she did say you were quite the gentleman."
Nesseth blinks, then blushes slightly at that. "Oh, uh... heh... maybe. I suppose I could ask her a bit more here and there. Anything in particular you want me to try and dig into?"
Louma /me glances up at Nesseth, grinning for a moment. "Well, don't approach her with intent, wouldn't want to spook her. If you can get a line on where she's from, even a hint or two at who she interacted with in Bairnell's Folly, if she indeed came through that way."
Nesseth hums. "Good point... I could see if she happened to run into Bracvar around that way, since he did show up a little while later with another new arrival on one of the smaller caravans."
Louma sighs, a little less quietly this time. "The crab is back, hm? Did you see who was travelling with him?"
Nesseth shakes his head. "Afraid not. I wasn't on gate duty at the time. Didn't the two on gate duty log the caravan's arrival?"
Louma nods, shifting the papers in the large stack while Nesseth responds, pulling the manifests for that day. "I'm sure they did, let's see if I can read it. Bracvar, manifest attached... And a woman named... For the Gods I swear we are enrolling everyone in some sort of penmanship course. 'Phask'. That can't be right. Rhask?"
Nesseth raises an eyebrow and scoots closer to the desk to try and read the report. "That's an unusual name... Sounds... like a Lizard name, but not Orelan."
Louma nods, setting the page down so he can try to decipher it. "That would say lizard, then." She taps a word that looks more like 'hissert'. "And the lady that the weapon was stolen from is Orelan snake... I am pretty sure I already said snakes are bad omens last time one showed up, right?"
Nesseth picks the paper up and tries to decipher the writing. He squints and pulls the paper closer to his face as he tries to read the scribble. "...I mean... for a certain definition of writing... it might be Lizard..." He blinks and looks back up at Louma, "Another Snake is in town, and she's the one that put forward the thievery report?"
Louma nods, resting back on her coil and crossing her arms. "Yes, that's the short of it. She claims to be ex navy, and was working on it as a weapon for navies to adopt for fending off pirates. If it hadn't been stolen from her already, I'd give it a year at most before some crews raid navy ships and have such weapons for themselves."
Nesseth sighs. "The seas just got a bit more dangerous, haven't they? Great..."
Louma shakes her head. "I know, it seems bleak. If we can get the weapon back before the thief has a chance to get it somewhere for it to be replicated, maybe we can push back the threat."
Nesseth shakes his head in turn. "Well, I guess there's only one real lead to go off of to start. If I run into Lianne around town, I'll see what kind of info I can get out of her without tipping our hand. You could probably chat with Plume as well, to see what sorts of injuries she'd been treated for."
Louma nods, uncrossing her arms and straightening up again. "Seems like the best we can do at the moment. I'll have some others keeping an eye out for anything suspicious, though I'd rather nobody tries to make a move on their own." She offers a smile, visibly relieved to have hashed this out with him. "Thank you for your feedback, Nesseth. Sorry to interrupt your patrol schedule."
Nesseth smiles as he passes the report back to Louma and nods. "No worries, Louma, things around the exterior of the town have been pretty quiet for a long time, now. I really doubt I've missed much other than watching the wind. We'll get this stuff figured out."
Louma takes the paper, slipping it back into it's place among the others, grimacing as she sees the next below it, even worse in penmanship. "You never know, Lianne's ghost bandits might have strolled right by your empty post."
Nesseth chuckles. "Maybe, but if they were ghosts then I doubt I'd have seen them in the sunlight." He takes a moment to stretch as he stands back up, "But I'll get back to my post so we won't have a sudden influx of ghosts sneaking into town."
Louma chuckles, setting her new set of notes aside as she prepares to return to her own duties, first straightening up to give Nesseth a salute. "Good, it's all we would need. Have a good patrol. Maybe I'll swing by the training grounds later."
Nesseth gives Louma a salute in turn. "Thanks, Louma. If anything, I might see you at the grounds later this afternoon, assuming I don't run into Lianne early. I might need to practice my marksmanship again soon."
Nesseth waves as he turns to head out, leaving Louma to tend to the mountain of paperwork on her desk while he goes to make sure no ghosts sneak by his post on the wall. He chuckles to himself as he goes, though he's starting to try and figure out ways to approach Lianne for information.
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THE THIRSTY MINNOW - MORNING
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Fiora sits at the bar drinking some juice. Still not quite up to jogging, she's just finished her long morning walk instead, definitely still healing from the bruised rib, but not letting it stop her (just slow her down.).
Gareth comes down from the second floor, rubbing his face a bit as he yawns and stretches rather luxuriously. He seems to have gotten a pretty good night's sleep for some reason, good enough that he's a little sloppily dressed this morning. He makes his way over to the bar and climbs into a seat near Fiora, then orders himself some coffee. "Mornin', Fiora."
Fiora raises an eyebrow at her partner and snorts, holding back a laugh. "Heh. Lookin' a bit tired there, eh?"
Gareth hums curiously as he looks over at Fiora. "Hm? Tired? What makes ye say that?"
Fiora points at Gareth's untucked shirt and messy clothes, "You look like you were out late, that's all. Wonder what that could be about, hm~?"
Gareth blinks and looks down at his clothing, noting that they're rather unkempt. He shrugs and goes about straightening them up after he's had his first sip of coffee. "So I got a little lazy this mornin' while gettin' out o' bed. Had a rough time o' things at the trainin' grounds yesterday."
Fiora snickers, "Oh, 'rough', eh? For sure!" She sips at her juice, unable to keep the completely stupid grin off her face. "Well, you've had a few of those since I've known you, for sure. Guess it was all pretty inevitable considerin'."
Gareth catches sight of Fiora's grin while taking another sip of his coffee. "Inevitable? Not sure I'm gettin' yer meanin', lass."
Fiora shrugs, "Well, it's a bit out of character for ya, but you've been putting yourself out there pretty intensely here~."
Gareth shrugs in turn. "Well, o' course. I can't be gettin' lazy just doin' nothin', ye know? I can't be a good huntin' partner if I can't hold me own in a fight."
Fiora snorts again, blushing, "Well, uh, if that's what you do to practice... well, whatever! I mean, you've got, what, three 'training partners' now?" She raises a hand to emphasize with finger quotes.
Gareth furrows his brow a bit, frowning in confusion. "Uh... why do I get the feelin' we're talkin' about two entirely different things, right now?"
Fiora giggles, "I dunno! I know you were 'sparring' with that big cat guard. Then you started asking advice all over town about 'sparring' with the weird girl from the ocean." She leans her head down to whisper, "Honestly not even sure what she is, but it gives me a weird chill down my spine, but hey, I'm not here to judge." She raises her voice back to normal, "And now I hear you spent all day 'sparring' with some other sea lady."
Fiora smirks, "And 'sparring' all night too, it seems~."
Gareth leans in a little as Fiora whispers, only to facepalm as she finishes up. "Yer serious, lass...? Fer the last time, Victoria and I just have a game between us that keeps our senses sharp." He shakes his head, "And as fer Sammi, I took her to the ice cream shop because she wanted somethin' to eat after sleepin' fer a while."
Fiora nods, "Hey, like I said, not here to judge. Ice cream date sounds like a pretty good time to me, honestly. And I told you it'd be worthwhile knowing where the ice cream vendor is, eh? Good to know you were paying attention."
Gareth snorts a bit. "Course I pay attention, Fiora. I keep all the details in me head, even if it seems pointless." He pauses, then squints a bit at the giraffe, "...And what did ye mean... 'sparrin' all night'?"
Fiora giggles, "What, like you don't know? I mean, you were the one doing it! 'Sparring'? Eh? Heh get it? I thought it was clever at least."
Gareth glares a little more at Fiora. "How in the...? Ugh..." He shakes his head a bit, "Were ye eavesdroppin' at me door or somethin' last night?"
Fiora shrugs, "It was honestly just a guess, I swear!"
Gareth blinks, realizing he might have just put his foot in his mouth. "One o' yer usual wild shots in the dark? Damn it, lass..." He sighs, "Fine. Aye, the stingray lady I'd been sparrin' with at the trainin' grounds yesterday went on a date with me, and we ended up in the bedroom afterwards."
Fiora perks up, "So it was a date! I heard from some of the folks at the sparring post that you'd been there, and left with some lady. And it wasn't the cat, or the squid-thing. Stingray eh?"
Gareth nods. "Aye, stingray lady by the name o' Lianne. Sammi doesn't seem to be the sort to really fight or anythin', so I doubt she'd ever wind up at the sparrin' grounds lookin' fer matches."
Fiora hums. "So, Sammi and Victoria and Lianne, now, eh? And you've gone out on ice cream dates and sparring dates and... more sparring dates."
Gareth nods again. "In a manner o' speakin', aye." He pauses, fiddling with his mug of coffee for a second or two, "In fact, I'd been meanin' to talk to ye about Lianne earlier, but, uh... I guess there's nothin' fer me to worry about, since... I'm not dead right now, after spendin' the night with her."
Fiora giggles, "Ha! Yep. Uh, wait, what? Not dead?"
Gareth flashes Fiora a quick little smile, glad he'd at least managed to nudge her off-balance with that little detail. "Aye, not dead."
Fiora stares, raising an eyebrow. "Listen... if that's a concern... I uh... I think you're doing it wrong."
Gareth laughs quietly. "Well, no, there's more to it than that. Ye see, lass, I know Lianne. We'd met a long time ago." He pauses, then lifts a hand to point at his blinded eye, "She's the one that gave me this."
Fiora stares. "Wow, 'rough night'... you weren't kidding. Didn't know you were into that kinda stuff."
Gareth can't help but laugh even harder, taking a moment to slap a hand against his thigh. "Hah! No, no, it wasn't like that. She tried to sink the ship I was a crew member on at the time. We gave each other a couple o' good wounds, and she retreated." He smiles, "She thought I'd died from this back then."
Fiora gives out a bit of a sigh in relief as she puts those pieces together, "Oh! So like... rivals? Guess it's safe to say you've uh, made up."
Gareth shrugs. "Somethin' like, I guess. Meetin' up here in town was the first time I'd seen her face-to-face again since then." He shakes his head, "I wasn't completely sure if she was here to finish the job or somethin', but, uh... aye, I guess we've made up?"
Fiora giggles, sipping her drink, "And she didn't kill you, so yeah~. Successful, uh, re-union. Heh."
Gareth scratches his neck a bit. "Successful, I guess. Unexpected, to say the least." He sighs a bit, "But I guess I'll just warn ye anyway, lass. I'm not writin' out the possibility o' her tryin' to pull somethin'. She's a privateer like I used to be, after all."
Fiora shrugs, "Well if you need my help to uh..." She sits back and crosses her arms. "I was going to say team up on her... but that sounds gross now. But if you need me to help fight or whatever... err... scratch the whatever. Listen. I've got your back. But not like, 'your back', you get me?"
Gareth rolls his eyes and sighs. "Don't worry, I'm not askin' ye to be present fer everythin' we end up doin'. Just be on yer guard, is all." He pauses for a long moment, "And, uh... if she does decide to finish what she started back then, and manages to kill me, stay out o' her way. I'm not havin' me partner join me in Davy Jones' Locker due to me own stupidity."
Fiora gives an evil looking smile, "Hey, if she kills you, she's definitely worth me challenging to a fight. And I'm not one to back down from that kind of a challenge. I'll fucking murder her. No worries about that." She shifts back quickly to her usual jovial self, "In the meantime, enjoy yourself!"
Gareth treats Fiora to a sincere smile, before he sighs and shakes his head again. "Much as I appreciate the sentiment, lass... good luck hittin' her. She's nimble and knows her trade well."
Fiora: "See, you keep saying it like that and it just gets me excited for a good fight."
Gareth falls silent for a moment, then chuckles and nods. "Then... if it all happens, and ye can bet yer armor I'd be fightin' hard to stop it, give it everythin' ye've got." He starts to smile, "And if ye end up joinin' me wherever it is we go, drinks are on me."
Fiora shrugs, "Hey, I'm not gonna go pickin' a fight with her, if that's what you mean. I'll let you two continue to get uh, reacquianted or whatever. Just break it to your other girlfriends gentle."
Gareth scoffs. "Victoria's not me girlfriend, Fiora. She couldn't care less what I'm doin' with me free time." He pauses, then gets a thoughtful expression, "...As fer Sammi... it was already confusin' before, but I really don't want to break her heart if she actually does see me that way."
Fiora chuckles, "Well, 'a lass's heart be a fickle thing' or whatever your old crew would say." She lifts her glass towards Gareth's. "But at the very least, you can count on me as a friend. And I'll hold you to that drink offer, some day, when we meet in whatever hell we're destined for."
Gareth sighs. "Maybe, I just hope I can figure out how to keep things from gettin' even more tangled. I should probably talk with Sammi again, maybe figure all this stuff out together." He hitches a smile up again and nods, "And as fer that drink, ye've got me word, lass. But I think we've got a lot o' life left before we make good on it."
Fiora smirks. "That's my plan. And you can guarantee no one's dragging me down without a fight. And I expecte the same from you."
Gareth laughs and taps his mug against the counter for a moment, then holds it up to Fiora. "Then ye can be sure I'll fight to me last breath, lass." He pauses, then smirks, "To a great partner, and a lastin' partnership."
Fiora clinks her juice glass against Gareth's mug, chuckling, "I'll drink to that, Gareth."
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RESPITE LIBRARY - AFTERNOON
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Cavro pulls his cart up the cobble street, a shiver starting from the base of his back and travelling up as he wanders the narrow road, searching for a library he only vaguely remembers. The noon sun barely touches the foundations of the North side, leaving the poor heat-accustomed badger a bit chilled without his wool jacket. He steps astride the stoop of the loremaster's haunt, catching it's sign out of the corner of his eye and forcing his weighed down cart to a halt.
Aurelius: The library was very modestly signed with..well "Library". It was open currently, with a small sign at the door requesting quiet inside. The inside of the building was equally modest, with simple shelves for all the books, and a few scattered comfortable looking chairs, along with some more 'studious' looking seating next to a table. There was two or three people there, and in the back room, the avian could be seen, sorting books.
Cavro nods to himself on re-reading the sign, his memory of the place seeming to have the building a bit less inviting. He steps around his cart and trots up the stoop, poking his head inside to look around as if confirming yet again this is the right place. "Of course it it is... Only one in all of of Respite..." he mutters to nobody before stepping inside and beginning a search for a certain Loremaster. He nods politely to the people studying as he walks by, a bit self conscious about the soot-stained cotton shirt he's wearing compared to their slightly more upclassed garb, but he thinks little more on it as he nears the study door.
Aurelius: "Ah, Cavro. Please to meet you" If Aurelius had any issue with his attire, it wasn't showing "I am going to make an educated guess that this is not just a social call?" He nods outside to the cart "Have you completed my order?"
Cavro starts a little at Aurelius' voice, turning to see the loremaster. "Yes, hello Loremaster! Everything on the list, from from what I recall, and a few more things as well... Apparently." He scratches the back of his head for a moment, seeming slightly lost before nodding. "Yes, I I think so! Are you well?"
Aurelius: "I am of good health" He nods "I am eager to see what you have constructed for me" He motions outside "Shall we go?"
Cavro smiles, nodding as he turns to lead the way back out and to his cart, where he begins to slide the cover boards off of one smaller crate on top of the pile. "Of course, I I am glad to hear. How has your start in our our little town been so far?"
Aurelius: "It has been well enough. I am learning much about the town and its events, and the people here seem to welcome the addition of a full library" He looks on at the crates with proffessional interest..but in truth he's quite clueless about such things! He's rather relying on Cavro to make sure this works out.
Cavro nods, setting the board down and looking over the contents of the box. "That's good to to hear, too! I guess that the the interest in learning might grow as fast as the the population." He chuckles dryly. "But as the population grows, so do the shadows. So here is a full set of heavy deadbolts and hasps for the doors and windows!"
Aurelius: "Indeed" He nods "An unfortunate requirement. I've not had any trouble so far, but that is no reason to be complacent"
Cavro nods knowingly, thinking as he uncovers a second small crate, the brackets and other small fittings inside more or less self explanatory. His eyes narrow for a moment, before he suddenly nods. "Oh, that that's right, I was robbed a a few months ago! Took everything they they could carry, set back the work by a lot." He looks toward Aurelius. "Even stole the the chain for for my bellows."
Aurelius: "Oh, that is quite unfortunate" He attempts to be sympathetic, but actually emoting is difficult for him, everything is such so professional! "These other parts seem to be of excellent quality" He takes out a bracket "I just need to take a quick test" He reaches into his pocket, and pulls out something similar to a small knitting needle, to lightly score the metal.
Cavro nods, confident that the work is good, recalling the somewhat springy alloy he preferred for shelving since it was easier to bend into shapes that didn't need to move much otherwise. The bracket resists scoring fairly well, a narrow scratch showing through the black surface. "It it suits you, I hope?"
Aurelius: "Ah, this is excellent" He nods "Strong, but able to take an etching" He finishes what he was doing, leaving behind a simple runic symbol "It will be quite a bit of my time to etch everything" He returns the needle to a pocket in his coat "Do you know a work crew that can install these?"
Cavro hums, scratching his chin for a moment. "Perhaps? I I would have to ask around, but I think I can can find someone for you." He looks down at the last crate, much larger, underneath the others. "There is one one more thing, I meant it as a gift for... Your arrival, I believe..." He shakes his head again, smiling as he draws a board away from the crate and revealing the semi-ornate iron framework, meant to hold any wood board true and sturdy. The designs are simple, but mimic Sarn architecture as best as Cavro could manage from artist renditions.
Aurelius considers them a moment "Interesting. Very interesting. I believe I could use this on the North Wall. The design is eye catching, and could be used to separate a shelf to be more noteworthy. Perhaps for new acquisitions, or currently relevant material" He nods "This will be a fine addition to the library. My thanks"
Cavro nods into a slight bow, smiling. "Happy to to help, and I think I learned a new technique or two while making them." He turns to the crate of brackets and parts, lifting it with a small grunt and starting toward the doorway. "Where would you you like these stored?"
Aurelius: "Hmm" He considers "I believe we can put them around the back for the moment. I can secure them with a rune, just for the moment" He chuckles and adds in an undertone "In truth, it is a simple light rune, but it does glow quite the menacing colour"
Cavro chuckles in turn, nodding as he hauls the crates to where Aurelius directs. He has to get the largest of the decently-dressed patrons to give him a hand with the gift crate, but it all sits together in a nice stack at the end of the task. Though he couldn't move all the weight on his own, the badger doesn't seem terribly winded by the work. "I do look forward to working for you again, Loremaster."
Aurelius holds out a hand "Excellent. I hope to work with you again, should I need the aid"
Cavro takes Aurelius' hand and gives a firm, but friendly shake, and a nod. "Good day, Aurelius." The badger gives another polite nod, beginning to head for the door, briefly sidetracked as he glances along the nearest shelf for anything that catches his eye before heading on his way.