Revision as of 00:55, 21 September 2016

Participants

• Cassidy
• Fenris

Date

20/9/479

Log

The tiger is cut off as they draw level with the gates. "HALT!" Calls a large hippo in a Royal Guard uniform, his chest a display of medals, "State your names and business! The Royal Plaza is off limits today!"

"Yes," The Corgi says, nodding at Fenris. "He doesn't like nobles. If we corner him, he may seek to claim even a small victory by attempting to get -me-. It's better if he has no idea of my position or rank. And if we somehow fail, well. Then he cannot use it to claim that the nobility failed to protect the city."

Stepping up to the guard, the canine offers a salute. "I am Rashka Featherfoot, responding to the call for arms by order of Lady Cassidy Solacious. I am here to offer my hands in bringing and end to this madman." And if anyone questioned Cassidy later, well. She could certainly support her own claim.

"Well, LIEUTENANT Featherfoot," the hippo says, "I am CAPTAIN Widebody-Good and we have this situation under control. I don't know who it was that called you in, but you can let Lady Solacious know that you have quit yourself admirably and we are grateful for her interest."

Fenris, standing behind Rashka, interrupts, squinting up at the floating head. "You're sure they are all watching me right now?" he says, "The morons are all just standing around at the gates, still! I can't believe it was so easy to keep them all busy."

"I'm afraid I cannot, sir. The command comes from higher up. If you wish to dispute it, you may take it up with Captain Cassidy and Major Sally." The Corgi glances towards Fenris for a moment, then at the floating head, ears perked. "We are trained in specifically dealing with threats of this kind, sir. In the handling and confrontation of threats using Creator technology. Please, allow us to assist."

The uniformed hippos turns purple with appopleptic rage, his jaw sagging open as he looks between Fenris and the floating head. "What!?" he roars, "What are you saying!?"

Fenris continues to watch the apparition. "They honestly think we would go after that overstuffed hippo in the palace?" he says, "What a bunch of morons. Is everything almost set up?

The tiger blinks and looks at the enraged hippo. "Sorry," he says, pointing at the head, "Don't you have anyone who reads lips?"

Cassidy studies the image for a moment before shaking her head. "The threat is elsewhere. Fenris, we must go. We cannot let him get away this time." She looks up towards the hippo and frowns. Even without her disguise she wasn't in a position to give him orders. "This man has run rampant in our city for far too long. But we will find him. With your help. If they're not targeting the palace they're after something or someone else."

The hippo at the gate blusters and fumbles, but eventually recovers himself. "Do as you like, Leutenant," he says, "My men will stay here and guard the palace."

Meanwhile, Fenris is watching the talking head. "Sorry Ca- er, Leutenant," he says, "I'm not getting anything else. He's started talking about someone screwing things up last time, but I am not getting anything on a current location." He looks around and points to a pair of distant steeples. "They could be sending the image from either the Courthouse or from that house in the noble district," he says, "At least, those are the only places I see that I THINK they could be using."

"Courthouse," Rashka says definitively. "And of course. As you are, Captain," she says, saluting again before starting off towards the building. "I doubt that he would go after a house. But the courthouse... A center of Firmament law and justice; The very thing he's trying to bring down. I'd bet that's his target. I just hope I'm right on that bet."

Fenris turns and follows Rashka, his long coat fluttering after him. "I'm with you," he says.

The old courthouse is huge and old and very well maintained, with great statues of past kings and heroes serving as pillars over the open basilica that makes up the outside, open air part of the building. Courtrooms and meeting rooms are indoors behind closed doors. The main courtroom is currently open and a general session of the King's council is in session. Minus the king, of course. And any of the High Lords or Ladies. It looks like everyone got the memo and are playing it safe today.

Rashka looks around the courthouse, nodding. No panic yet. Let's keep it that way. "Let's go about our business quietly. I don't want to upset anyone. And we shall work swiftly. We'll sweep the place from room to room. We'll leave nothing unchecked. Unless you've a better plan, then let's get to it?" She suggests, adjusting her armour. As a corgi she was a bit stockier than she usually was, and the armour didn't fit quite as well. Nothing bad enough to compromise protection, though.

Fenris nods. "Whatever you say, boss," the tiger says, "You want up or down?" He points toward the stairwell leading up toward the upper level and the cupola and steeple.

"Don't start with the boss thing," Rashka says, shaking her head. "You know I value your opinion as an equal, Fenris. I'll take the bottom, you go up top. And remember, let's bring him down if we can. Alive or dead. But the number one priority is securing the safety of the people. If we have to choose between them and him... Well. I trust you'll make the right decision," she says, nodding and taking off at a brisk jog.

Fenris nods and sprints off toward the stairwell, his long coat fluttering behind him and leaving Rashka to scout out the courts on the ground floor.

There are three main courtrooms, but only the main court is open, whith beings of all shapes and sizes roaming around, both couriers and courtiers and hangers on watching the long, dull proceedings of day to day government.

The main court didn't seem like a first suspect to her. If he were projecting from there he'd have been noticed. Instead, the fennec-turned-corgi takes to the second and third rooms, looking for any signs of captivity, inhabitation, or prior staging. In the past he almost always had one being held captive to make an example of. She expected this time to be little different.

The second courtroom is unlocked, but empty. Well, almost empty. It looks like a pair of couriers decided to make use of the abandoned space for a bit of a personal moment. "Oh! Creators!" cries a young fox, scrambling to pull up his trousers while a snowy white female snatches up a disorganized stack of files to try and protect her own modesty, "Nobody was supposed to be in here today!"

Cassidy flinches and brings an arm up to cover her eyes. "Oh for the love of... Couldn't pick a better place? No matter, I'm not here to reprimand you. I don't care what you do with your time. Have you seen anything suspicious today? A Hyena, perhaps? Possibly with an entourage of Beings in black?"

The pair of foxes scramble to clothe themselves. "No, nobody has been in here but us," the male says, hurriedly dragging his tunic back over his head. The female shakes her head, still trying to find her own bits and pieces of clothing. "Noone has been here since that bunch of cleaners moved their scaffolding," she says with a bit of a northern accent, "They were in here early this morning." She points over toward a small cart in the corner draped with white canvas. "They forgot some of their things," she says, "So maybe they will be back." She hurries to gather up the rest of her things, then scurries after her amorous partner.

"Cleaners..." Rashka uncovers her eyes and looks towards the cart. She steps into the room and swiftly bustles over to it to peek under the canvas. "Where was the scaffolding?" She asks, rather unconcerned for their state of undress at the moment. "And you should get out of here. The building, I mean. Go get a proper room or something."

The vixen, still trying to arrange her clothing stops by the door. "By the judge's stand," she says, then hurries away.

Under the canvas is a simple cart holding a number of cleaning supplies. There are some brushes, dust pans, rags, buckets, and a plain, black box with a padlock on it.

Rashka nods and waves over her shoulder. "Thanks," she says, producing a pair of tools from within her coat pocket and setting to work on that padlock. Trying to get that open would be the first order. With luck it would be a payment box, but she could leave nothing unchecked.

The erstwhile corgi has no trouble springing the simple padlock with her tools, but as she starts to lift the lid, a gentle tug of resistance warns her that there is some kind of wire attached to the underside of the lid!

Rashka bites her lip, eyeing the box. Tempted to try to cut the wire, she instead stands to take it with her as she moves towards the podium, instead, looking over the area that had been indicated to have once been the site of the scaffolding. Maybe she could find other clues before tampering with the box.

The box is bulky and heavy, and takes two hands to move, though nothing seems to shift much inside.

Behind the podium, there is not much to see. Just a comfortable looking chair for whichever judge happens to be presiding at court proceedings. The podium itself is made of fine wood, polished a deep, walnut brown. In fact, the varnish is just a little tacky still. The cleaners must have refinished it this morning. That would explain the need for a bit of scaffolding. This thing is a bit high for most beings from the front.

The Corgi frowns again. Nothing of note, and the weight of the box dismisses her original concern, so she sets it down once more and withdraws a small pair of special scissors from her little supply of Breaking and Entering tools, a pair generally used for cutting tripwires on doors, but they should fit well enough inside the box, as well. Time to see what was in it!

The thin wire inside the box is easily severed and opening the box reveals a tightly packed mechanism of some kind. The loose end of the wire dangles at the top of the mechanism. There is no indication of what it is supposed to do.

Rashka may not know what it is, and for that reason alone she knows it's nothing good. She slips the box back onto the cart and uses it for transport, taking the whole thing with her as she makes her way swiftly out of the court room and off towards the third, intent on seeing if there are any more hidden surprises.

The cart is easy to roll around. But the third courtroom is not so easy to enter. It seems that the large, double doors are locked. The cleaners must not have been in here today.

Another lock! An annoyance, for sure, but not enough to stop the Corgi from at least trying. Tools still in hand, she sets to work on the door, trying to get it open, as well. She didn't know if the hyena had keys enough to unlock and relock the court room, but she couldn't just pass it over.

These doors really are far too easy to open. It says something about the security around this place and makes it an ideal target for someone like Wildcard.

Inside, the room is almost identical to the other courtroom, but without the cleaning cart or smell of new varnish. Or amorous foxes, but that is neither here nor there.

All the same, empty or not, Rashka sets to work busily sweeping the blade. No bench left unchecked, no podiums left uninspected. It's brief, but hopefully enough to catch anything amiss. She doesn't spend too long leaving that Mystery Box behind, though, before she quickly makes to return to the cart. She needed to get it out of the building, and she knew just where to take it.

The room is empty, aside from the normal debris of use. Some dust, a few loose scraps of forgotten paper under pews and a pair of discarded sweet wrappers under the judge's podium. One thing of note is the fine walnut finish on the judge's stand. It is new, but not THAT new. Maybe a month old. Why would they refinish the two stands so far apart?

Cassidy Corgi rubs her chin, humming softly. Something was certainly out of place, but... She could come back and investigate it shortly. Her first priority was getting the Thing outside of the courthouse, just in case. And so she returns to the cart, bustling off with it as best as she can. She could take the whole cart and the Thing outside and to an out of the way area where it'd not be disturbed. THEN she could go back and re-examine the first room. Hopefully.

No one impedes Cassidy's progress as she wheels her cart and its contents from the building. There is a sound of raised voices from the main courtroom, but that is hardly uncommon. There is no sign of Fenris out in the huge foyer, just a few couriers and aides, hurrying about their business. At the entryway, Rahska runs into her first big obstacle. The stairs. There is no way to roll the cleaning cart down the stairs without seriously jostling the black box.

Cassidy was perfectly fine with stairs. It just meant she'd have to put a little more effort into it. She could lift the box fine, even it if slowed her a little with how cumbersome it was. She was short, not weak. With a huff of exertion she hefts the box and carries it the rest of the way on foot. Maybe she could throw it in the canal. Or in an off-the-streets shrubbery area where it'd likely not cause anyone any harm.

The box is certainly manageable as the corgi hauls it down the stairs. There seem to be a few places to stash it. Some shrubberies away from the road, an ornamental river that has been made to run near the courthouse and a collection of bins that must have been left behind by the cleaning crew.