One Foot in the Grave - RPLOG
From Rusted Promises
Participants
Date
7/2/478
Log
A smile adorns Katrina's lips, the masked feline making her way into the area with a rumble and a tap of her staff against the stones of the streets. Through some research, she's managed to discern the location of her goal, which should be somewhere within the academy district... Now the main question is... Where?
Fenris saunters along behind Katrina in his guise as Ash Dustcloak. "Nice of you to send the fan club away," he drawls in his foreign accent, "Was gettin' tired of em following me around all the time." He swaggers to a stop, looking around the academy district. "Thought we were looking for a grave," he says, "Didn't think there were any around here."
"Ain't looking for a grave," Katrina rumbles with a flick of her tail. "least, not a marked one. Might be a grave regardless," the she-cat rumbles, her tail swaying behind her. "Now then... Are you aware of the history of the academy-district?" the she-cat rumbles softly, her tail continuing to sway as she moves along the streets. "Quite an interesting bit of history here. The details are... Rather foggy, but..."
"Dunno," Ash says, looking around, "Been here forever, hasn't it?" The lynx squints at the lights of the academy. "Never had much use for all that book stuff, you know?" he says, "And they don't let ya smoke in the library."
"Only about seventy to one-hundred years, actually. It's a long time ago already, but it's hardly forever," the black-furred she-cat rumbles with a smile on her lips. "Right, so, the academy was founded somewhere in the late 300s, early 400s. Firmament hasn't been a big player on the academic scene for a long time, really. It only marginally predates both the Longtail coup, and the arrival of the shadows," the feline continues with a shake of her head, a flick of her tail. "Regardless, for a little over a hundred years before that, what is now known as the academy district was a rather prosperous area of the city. Rich merchants, several nobles who made their residence here... Couldn't find any names in the records I found, and everything's hazy, but it's been a prosperous area for nearly two-hundred years now."
"Huh," the lynx grunts, stroking his mustache, "From the way those egg heads talk, you would think they were the first school on Promise." Fenris knew very well that they weren't having attended several other schools much older than this one. "So," Ash drawls, "What are we looking for then? I'm guessing there won't be a sign sayin' Longtails lived here!"
"Indeed we won't. Considering the fact that during the fifty years before that, this place was basically worse off than shanty town is now. Ebon-trade, extortion, murder. You name it. But therein lies a great mystery, doesn't it?" the she-cat rumbles with a flick of her tails, a smile on her lips. "Do you remember the date on Alessa's will?" the she-cat rumbles, still striding through the streets with an uncanny amount of confidence, seemingly knowing exactly where she's supposed to be.
"Yeah," Ash says, "What's that got to do with anything?" The lynx is interested to note that his usual shadows seem to have vanished since Katrina met him. She must have her own security detail that he had not seen before.
A smile adorns the feline's muzzle, a flick of her tail. "In the, say, forty to fifty years Alessa lived, this particular district... Changed. Rapidly. Now, I don't know about you, but so far, I haven't seen a lot of nobles or lordships actively working to turn Shanty Town into a more... Pleasant area. No, most people are quite fine with leaving it well outside the city walls. Much like this district used to be. Do you see where this is going?"
Ash stares at Katrina for a moment, then shrugs. "Nope," he says, "No idea. Why don't you enlighten me, Kitten. All I can think is that maybe this lady of yours was sentimental about her shack sweet shack." The lynx glances around as they walk, suspicious of the lack of guards or watchers. Maybe they were better than the shadows she had put on him.
"Precisely. Best theory I could come up with, at least. You can imagine, they ain't doing any censuses out in the bad part of town. I'd imagine she grew up here, rose to power, and then used her newfound power to take out the gangs one by one," Katrina continues with a smile on her lips, a flick of her tail. "Either case. We're almost here," she continues, gesturing at a small homestead a little while to the north. "Small family of rabbits. One child, about ready to serve her time in the military. "You'll be digging up their back yard."
Ash rolls his eyes at that statement. "And the family?" he asks, "I'm guessing I'm supposed to dig this place up without waking anyone?" The lynx frowns. "At least tell me you've got a shovel," he drawls, indicating his shovel-less-ness, "Or am I supposed to do this with my hands?"
"I'm sure they've got something you can work with, eh?" the cat questions for a moment, before flicking her tail lightly behind her. "And if you do wake them up, I'm sure you can... Handle the problem," the cat rumbles with an almost malicious smile on her lips, tail sweeping along the ground...
Ash grumbles under his breath as he follows the wicked panthress along the darkened alleyways, swapping out a pair of soul gems from his carefully concealed soul gem as he walks. Might as well get what advantages he could get.
A smile on the cat's lips, a soft rumble. "Do well, and I might just have a few more jobs for you... Oh, and as usual... I won our little game from last time," she rumbles, tossing a coinpurse towards Ash, flicking her tail lightly. "You owe me another dinner, dear," she concludes with a sway of her form. "Now, I don't know exactly where you'll find what I'm looking for... So I suppose you're best off picking a spot and going for it.
Ash growls as he catches the coin pouch from the air and stuffs it into his pocket as he storms into the darkened back garden. The lynx scans around looking for some sort of tool to dig with, applying a discreet bit of earth magic to sound out the ground beneath him, searching for empty cavities that might indicate a grave.
Fenris manages to find several underground cavities. A sizable cavity right underneath the nearby oak-tree. One being-sized cavity close to the house, and several tunnels of various lengths running underneath the garden. In addition, he can sense there's a surprisingly large basement underneath the field, and two more being-sized holes are a little way away from the house as well...
Ash sighs as he finds a heavy garden shovel and looks around. "Any hints?" he asks quietly, staring at the large expanse. He waits a moment for an answer, the trudges over to the oak tree and starts to dig as quietly as he can, using a bit of earth magic to ease the way. It would be so much easier just to do the job with magic, but the less Katrina knows about his abilities, the better.
