Vox of Shanty Town - RPLOG
Participants
Date
2/3/477
Log
A small crowd watches in the streets distance as a group of city guard stand about a vicious crime scene, where three bodies and two injured are scattered amongst them. A small canine form is pinned to a wall with a heavy crossbow bolt with a chunk missing where their stomach and entrails should be, a flayed goose lays down over-top of a trail of blood, and a mantis folk lays belly up, missing his tongue. The guards are lowly talking to a hamster, and a downed and injured guard, both of whom are patched up.
Sveta arrives on the scene after receiving the general summons, her face straight as always. One would imagine that a couple more dead beings around these parts would be par for the course and that folk would have gotten used to it by now, but there's that sense of self-preservation for you.
In any case, she looks back and forth between both bodies like a maid sizing up a particularly vicious stain, then decides to wait a moment to see if anyone's going to volunteer information before going to get it herself.
Fenris arrives on the scene and looks around with a frown. He would much rather be dealing with the evening crowd at the inn, but this was his job too. The tiger draws a sharp intake of breath when what he is looking at registers. Sure it was the shanties, but this was hideous. Fenris regrets inviting little Asher along, especially seeing the brutalized canine staked to the wall. “What happened here?” he breathes.
Siyu walks in, all silk and finery. Shanty town is a rough area, but he feels safe enough. Making sure his coat isn't of course tucked in, or caught on anything. The rodent will walk with a swish of his hips upon the scene. Blood, violence, death. He tries to recall the ebon trade here and what else might be going on, but soon enough he's just standing there.
With his clothes and fur nice and dry, Dio needed something to help burn off the midnight oil. And what better way than to solve a murder. He's heard of the various misdoings of Shanty Town, but upon seeing body, he didn't quite expect this. "Somethin' awfully brutal," he comments under his breath as he walks up behind the others. "Someone must've 'ad a serious grudge. I'd 'ate to bother ya all in such an awful circumstance, but we need all the information we can get 'bout this attack."
Following close behind Fenris, Asher was expecting to see a confrontation like he had witnessed a couple of nights ago. A little suspense, maybe an exciting chase. Not bodies. The little corgi’s eyes water at the smell of offal, and though he tries to hold it back, he is forced to take a stop to heave into the gutter. “I’ll be fine,” he says, though he doubts anyone is really listening.
Heavy plate mail of a dark hue encased the form of the pale tigress and an assortment of weapons were close at hand as Kaelli arrived in answer to the summons. Lips pursing and a faint, nearly inaudible tsk is given as she surveys the scene. Mismatched eyes take in the details and gauge the amount of brutality displayed upon the victims. An equally sharp gaze trails across the crowd in the next few moments, taking in the visage of friend and stranger alike and adding them all to a mental catalog before the feline bowed her head, lips moving in silent, if brief, prayer for the deceased.
One of the guard turns to the new arrivals, the others continue talking amongst themselves, watching their surroundings, or talking to the hamster. "Hello there, thank you for responding so quickly... what happened? Well we arrived here, with three dead bodies and an injured fourth. After we thought we had the area secure we aided the hamster over there, Greg his name is, and we proceeded to take an account from him regarding the attack. Seems they were all good will messengers, the clothes and goods they had are gone, and they were attacked by three cloaked figures by surprise. We were pushing more questions and then out of nowhere Limmons got shot with an arrow, right through his knee he did. We're in the process of picking up where we left off now that everyone is patched up."
"I take it that's the end of Limmons' career," Sveta remarks dryly. "Well, then. A goodwill trip to shanty town by a couple of loners is not the most intelligent thing I've heard folk come up with, but it's their lives to do with as they see fit. But tell me...what would the details of this goodwill mission be?"
Fenris looks over the grizzly scene. "This does not seem like a grab and run," he says, "If the culprits were just after food and clothing from a goodwill group," he eyes the hamster getting bandaged up off the the side, "it hardly seems that they would have to KILL for it." Especially like this. "The attackers took trophies," he says, pointing out the goose's missing tongue and the chunk missing from the canine's entrails, "This does not add up." The tiger saunters over to where the hamster is sitting. "Mind if I ask you a few questions, sir?" he asks politely, looking the being up and down.
Siyu earperks at the word of goods "What exactly were they transporting that they would be hit with such violence." is his first though. Looking at the pinned being. Heavy for the heavy crossbow, to go through all the flesh and bone and right through to pin to a wall. That must have been a large, powerful crossbow.
"Good will trip?" Dio questions, looking away from the dead body and instead observing everyone's injuries. What a curious crime and an even more curious mission. "Shanty Town's known fer their various crimes an' such, but murder an' assault fer some beings doin' a goodwill trip seems a bit out o' character in my opinion. Surely ya must know some group that 'as it out fer ya."
Asher returns from his brief communion with the gutter, covering his nose with a handkerchief. He had planned to spend the evening with a cup of tea and a treatise on the Shralestan Theocracy. No better way to fall asleep fast. Instead here he was staring at the scene of a brutal murder. The corgi blinks for a moment, then tilts his head to one side. "It doesn't look like an ambush," he blurts out, though he knows he is hardly the right person to be speaking about this. "I m-m-m-mean, look at the bodies! This was an execution!"
"Yes, flaying..takes time. Or complicated math.." the tigress commented in a thoughtful tone, agreeing with Corgi's assessment and offering a sympathetic glance to the poor guy's upset stomach. Seeing others amongst the group going to question the survivor, Kaelli turned her attention to the wounded guard. "Question please," she began, leaning down slightly to ask. "Where, exactly, where you standing when injured? And which direction?" An apologetic expression graced the feline's features at having to question a being who had just been injured in such a manner.
The guard nods to Sveta and gives a quiet "Yeah but I'd rather not break it to him yet, he's being rather optimistic." The hamster looks to Fenris, then nods. "Sure thing... and we were carrying clothes, food, and a few odds and ends to help folks out. The only group that has it out for me is that gang of rats, I stepped on one of their shoes... not on purpose of course." One of the guards helps answer the tigress's question, Limmons being a bit nit picky about the exact spot as he directs them. "Right there. Facing that way down the street." Limmons says as the guard gets just the right spot.
Sveta nods. "I take it you've searched the area already for those rats, then. In the meantime, I'd like to take a look at the area where our poor fellow received an arrow to the knee. Do you know which direction it came from?" She taps over to the spot that was pointed out and begins looking anyway while waiting for her answer.
Fenris listens, keeping a look of sympathetic concern on his face. Oops! There it is! Fenris spots a a familiar scar peeking above the hamster's bandages. "Thank you sir," he says. "Keep an eye on him gentlemen," he says to the guards minding the hamster's wounds, "Keep him comfortable." The tiger ambles back to the others. "He's no goodwill anything," he says under his breath, maintaining his look of sympathetic interest, "He's Vox, a local street gang known for this kind of violence. You may want to check the other bodies for marks like this one." Fenris draws a quick sketch of the symbol in his little notebook and discreetly shows the others.
Siyu givew a faint little hm. Nothing much to add, the rodent will keep walking, keep walking, untill he wanders down the street and away from the scene.
Dio peers closely at the hamster and his body languauge. Something doesn't quite match up. Looking at Fenris' drawing, the lion nods and rubs his chin. "Now that's quite the mystery we got. Can't say I've 'eard o' 'em before. They just start growin' a name fer themselves? Doin' nasty deeds gets ya known on the streets faster than petty crimes after all. I'd 'ave to wonder if they're just in it fer the thrills. Nasty bunch."
Asher pales a little at Fenris's announcement, and shakes his head a little. "Don't bother searching the corpses," he says, "If they had marks, it would explain the missing. . .hurk. . . pieces." The corgi was becoming more and more certain that the tea would have been a much better way to spend the evening.
Whether or not the goshawk would take note of the action, the tigress extended one hand to indicate the most likely direction the arrow would have come from - assuming it was fired without any sort of augmentation and that the finiky guard's stance accounting was accurate. Head tilting, her gaze cut over to the sketch that Fenris offered and she filed that information away for later study. She had heard mention of them in passing, certainly, but now found herself curious to learn more. "Could be so, items removed? But..ah.. perhaps still time to move bodies?" Her hands were cupped, left above right and then flipped over to emphasize her meaning. "See if there is anything else there?"
The direction pointed to by the tigress is accurate, leading towards a small dark alley. A few of the guards look to Fenris curiously, but all but a few resume watch. They make no effort to stop Siyu from traveling along his way, more concerned with their work. The hamster is asked to list off the good and he produces a crudely written list, which is looked over. "Well that's not that much of a loss really..." says a hedgehog under his armor.
Responding to a nod from Sveta, Fenris tosses a tight, controlled, but dazzlingly bright ball of flame into the darkened alley, keeping far from the sides and ground to provide light, but hopefully not raze shanty town to the ground. "Keep an eye out," he says, "This is the second time this week we have found someone trying to pin crimes on Johnny the Rat and his gang. Looks like something big is up."
"Johnny the rat?" Well, she's been out of the loop for a while. Instead of taking cover, Sveta unslings her tower shield off her back and crouches behind it, positioning herself to intercept anything that might come running out of the alley after Fenris' little light show. It probably won't burn shanty town to the ground...and even if it did, it's not as if it hasn't happened before.
"Indeed lass," Dio comments, taking out his own shield while the fire goes out and everyone prepares. "Just got outta prison the lad did, an' people 're just waitin' fer an opportunity to throw 'em back in. O' perhaps use 'em as a scapegoat." With his sword and shield at the ready, the lion whips up some air magic and starts a small hover. "I'll follow 'long on the roofs an' watch ya. Looks like ya got the ground covered." With another burst, he hovers his way to the roof and waits for the group to advance.
Asher puts a hand on his small, but sharp saber, ready to fight if necessary. Who knows? All this terror might help burn off some of that embarrassing belly he had started to develop. Only trouble is, he isn't sure who he should be preparing to fight. "What about the hamster?" he whispered, "Shouldn't we be taking him away somewhere to interrogate or something?"
The comment on gang warfare was lost on the tigress, the meaning was taken but the specifics beyond her. Even so, her own shield was held at the ready while a wickedly curved axe was brought up in her free hand. Tail twitching as the fireball arced into the alleyway, the feline stood at the ready for whatever may be down that way, even if it ended up being nothing at all. "Would you like to?" Kaelli asked in reply to the Corgi's question, there was no malice in the query, just simple curiosity.
As the fire lights the alley way a sound can be heard, and any who look down it can see a tail flick around a corner as junk is knocked around, small bits of rotten waterlogged wood. A clank in the distance can be heard as something drops to the ground in whoever's hurry to get away.
The guard look to the display, one of them joining the group to peer down the alley for them.
Perhaps it's a long-ingrained remnant of Sveta's lineage, or perhaps she just wants to run. Seeing that any likely ambush from within the alley has been broken, the goshawk gives chase to whoever is trying to get away, covering herself from the front with her shield.
Now that that is taken care of, Fenris turns and saunters back to the 'survivor' and looks him over. The tiger sits down, then casually reaches over and grips the hamster's injured arm in a hammer lock. "Now," he says, "I do not much like being lied to." He tightens his grip a little, to show that this arm lock can hurt quite a bit, even if it starts out as merely uncomfortable. "Tell me why the vox is trying to pin three mutilated corpses on Johnny the Rat."
Dio looks down as one of the guards breaks away from the post. "Keep with the hamster, lad. Gotta make sure the lad's nice and protected," he shouts down before seeing a sliver of a tail appear in the corner of his eye. With a heavy burst of air magic, Dio makes chase much like Sveta, but taking the rooftop path and nowhere near as fast. If anything, he should be able to help protect the goshawk's flanks if need be.
Asher has no idea what to do with himself. But he knows that there is no way he will be any use in a chase, so he swaps out his soul gem for something a little more accute and joins Fenris, a little unnerved by this side of his friend. . .
For her part, Kaelli kept to the middle ground. As the more fleet and familiar give chase and the more knowledgeable begin the questioning, the tigress proceeds down the alley to investigate what that sound was. Considering it unlikely that the goshawk would stop to retrieve whatever was dropped in their chase, the feline went to see to that instead.
Sveta chases the being, easily catching up to the cloaked being. They panic and turn down another alley yelling "Aw c'mon guys, help me out!". Dio moves along behind the speeding Goshawk, after dismissing the guard who just nods and moves back to the now assaulted hamster. One of the guards moves to pull Fenris off of him as the tiger's grasp is given a sample of Greg's blood. He cries out and pulls away, scowling at him. "STOP IT WHATS WRONG WITH YOU?!" Kaelli, proceeding down the alley and stooping over, finds a little plate, it looks almost like a disk, made of metal. It bears a miniature message, painstakingly carved.
Not much breath to waste on words. Having caught up to the cloaked being, Sveta seeks to tackle the fellow from behind, flinging her shield aside and grappling for purchase on the fellow as the both of them go down. Spotting Dio above her, she gives him a quick tilt of her head, clearly asking for assistance in pinning down her quarry.
Fenris casually pulls down the hamster's bandage, revealing the telltale scar. "Our goodwill courier, has not been especially honest," he says calmly, stepping back from the hamster and letting the upset guards see for themselves. "This kind of ritualistic scarring is a trademark of the vox, a local street gang known for their taste for brutal murder."
Dio nods at Sveta's signal and prepares to get himself into position. While Sveta was going in for the tackle, she'd be quite a bit more vulnerable. With some air magic, he hovers down to a position quite close and holds up his shield, ready to prevent any more movement from their newly found 'friend' and defend the goshawk if need be.
Asher nods and steps up to defend Fenris's actions. "He's right," the little corgi squeeks, feeling a little more confident, "that symbol is the vox gang. Also, look at the corpses," he says, "These weren't muggings, they were ceremonial executions!" He points out the mutilated mantis, "That one probably spoke out against the gang," he says, "hence the cut out tongue." Ironic, really, The Voice, silencing the opposing voice.
Eyeing the alley way cautiously, just in case.. The tigress kept her shield at a protective angle and stayed close to one wall as she retrieved the disc and read the engraving. Nodding once to herself, she made her way back towards the guard clot, ears perking slightly at the sound of commotion that rose up. Running her thumb over the surface of the disc, Kaelli examined it for any other details or clues as to its origin..or the cryptic meaning of the inscription itself. Regardless of any other information that item may or may not have to offer, the tigress would politely step up to Fenris' side before softly clearing her throat and extend her cupped hand, the disc cradled away from casual view by the plate-covered extremity but left plain for the other tiger's inspection. "Landmark?" she murmured in an undertone, the question meant for Fenris alone at this point.
Sveta's tackle winds the figure who doesn't react immediately to being grabbed afterwards, the being struggling for a moment as they breathe. On the ground they fight weakly, saying "What! What do you want? I didn't do nothing to you." Dio, while vigilant, has nothing to fear for the moment as it appears no one is coming to help the downed runner. The hamster gives Asher a look. "Shut up." he says as his cover is blown. "You wanna know some stuff? The mantis was a smug self rightious jerk, the little wolf was obnoxious and the goose was a dunce. They all were. You can have me, let's go, this is done, I lured them all out here, end of story." The guards are busy taking notes and listening to the hamster blather.
"You ran. I chased," Sveta replies flatly. "If you're up to no good dressed like this, then I'd have chased. If you weren't up to no good, then someone was willing to sic us on you, and better me chase you than someone else. Tell me, do you know of a certain hamster back out there? We can always bring you to see the fellow...but don't try anything funny."
Fenris casually takes the disk from Kaelli, turning away to examine it under the pretense of nodding a thank you to Asher. "I'm sure you would love us to take you away from here, friend," says the tiger, "Seeing as you have just fingered the Vox for a triple murder. Out loud. In shanty town." He raises an eyebrow at the talkative hamster. "What's the beef with Johnny?" he asks, "If I like your answer, I will tell these gentleman to take you and put you in a nice, safe cell."
Dio scans the alleyways and walls around him, alert and ready for anyone thinking they're brave enough to try his shield. "Looks like the rest o' yer friends left ya too. 'ow's that fer loyality, eh?" The lion chuckles, continuing to cover Sveta and the downed figure. "So out with it, lad. Awfully suspicious bein' so close to a scene like that in a dark alley."
Asher watches intently as Fenris poses his thoughts to the criminal hamster. "Then the one in the alleyway shot the guard?" he asks, "but why?"
Kaelli turns her body at an angle now, intent on listening to the conversation on one side while scanning the alley and the streets to either side for sign of the rest of their group. She was certain that if anything was amiss, she would have heard Dio's dulcet tones. All the same, the tigress remained on alert. And what time was it, anyway? Lightly flicking her tail, she would swat at Fenris' flank in indication of what seemed to be a time-sensitive matter.
"I can't really say that I know him... but I might." the figure says as they attempt to free their hand, shaking about. "Friends I'm not sure what you mean... more like aquaintances... maybe we can talk somewhere else, please..." Back at the scene of the murders, Asher is given an answer by the hamster, a rather snarky "It must have been Johnny." He shakes his head to Dio. "I dunno what you mean about that either, maybe the guys just too much of a pretty boy, everyone talking about him, what of it?" He certainly doesn't seem phased by the remark about fingering.
"We'll see about that." Sveta leads the figure back to the guards - she doesn't feel like doing any interrogation herself. "if you really have nothing to do with this, then being in the custody of the guard is probably the safest place to be. Enjoy being questioned."
Fenris shakes his head. "Then I'm guessing that Hammock at 11 means nothing to you?" he says, holding up the disk that Kaelli had slipped to him. "Then I think we have no further use for you here," he says, "Guards, have him locked up somewhere nice. The cell with the Bone Queen's caller would be nice, if it available."
"Right then, up to the guards then. Ain't much fer interrogation really. Strange 'ow this is all turnin' out. I wonder if this is somehow related to on' o' the Old Ones, but I'm doubtin' it. Probably just another ruthless gang, but is it fer fun o' perhaps somethin' more?" Seeing Sveta lead the captured figure, he starts to walk backwards along with Sveta. "I'll keep ya covered, lass."
Asher does not understand the criminal mindset. This being was willing to be locked away and probably hanged for murder because he and his gang had not liked these three poor corpses? "Probably ought to wait a minute," he yips, "Until the others get back. Maybe they caught the runner?"
"Mhm," the feline agreed once more with the Corgi's assessment. "Good to have company in close corners, hmm? Compare stories about how very helpful our friend here was." The comment was light, conversational even. A brief smile tugged at one corner of the tigress' mouth as she listened to the interrogation and continued to keep watch over the streets. When the rest of their little group came into line of sight, Kaelli would lift her axe in salute.
One of the guards nods and says "C'mon you." as he agrees he's heard enough. Two of the guards move to help Limmons with his stunted movement as Sveta and Dio arrive with their quarry. The hamster goes rather quietly asides from announcing "Have your fun, I'm dead you know.", the cloaked figure goes a bit more begrudgingly. They're taken to Firmament to be questioned and processed, and the bodies are retrieved by a cleanup crew.
Tragic. Fenris shakes his head, and looks over the scene one last time. "I need a bath," he says with a snort, and leaves it at that. He hands off the metal disk to the commanding officer, in hopes that it will be of more help to them in their investigation.
Finally free from the alley, Dio relaxes his posture and puts away his shield. "Good luck to ya, lads. Seems like ya got a lot o' work investigatin' and interogatin'. I'll leave ya to it." The lion nods his head and returns Kaelli's salute with a friendly wave and a smile before starting to walk off. "Quite a long day it's been. Good workin' with ya, lads."
Asher looks around uneasily and patters off after Fenris and the guards. He is REALLY looking forward to that tea and a boring book.
Kaelli gives a similar salute to the guards and a brief bow to Limmons as if in thanks for the injury he sustained in the line of duty. A smile was given to Dio as well before the tigress secured her weapon and headed back towards town.
