Session Four, Part Five: The Missing Girl
"It's a bad idea," said Di'Fier for the fourth time, as he leaned against the table in the empty building they had commandeered to use as a temporary headquarters. "We don't have the manpower to enforce it, and it's putting the Watch in danger."
Katya nodded, as she'd done the three times before. "But it's our duty. Until that changes..."
"I know. It's just...hm." The mage looked out the window. "Looks like T'saagrah and Antone have caught one." The girl that struggled in their grasp was young and filthy - probably a beggar moonlighting as a sneak thief. As he watched, she twisted, somehow slipping free of the half-orc's massive paws and whirling to drive her knee into the juncture of Antone's legs. The half-elf dropped like a poleaxed steer, and the girl took off at top speed, feet sliding on the muddy cobbles. "She's free," he reported. "But she's coming this way."
With T'saagrah in hot pursuit, the girl dashed for the supposed safety of an alley - but her path took her directly past the door Di'Fier was standing in. He glanced ahead, judging her rate of approach, and then stepped out into the street.
It was too late for her to stop or turn, and she slammed into him with the full force of her ninety-pound body. The impact rocked Di'Fier only slightly, but the girl bounced from him like a rubber ball from a wall. As she scrambled to her feet, a knife appeared in her hand, and she spun, trying to face both Di'Fier and T'saagrah both. "You're not taking me like you did the others!" she spat.
Strange, Di'Fier thought. That's not a Drac's End accent...
"I beg to differ," murmured Katya, gently touching the golden wheel of sheaves that hung around her neck. With a single upraised hand, she indicated the girl. "Stand fast and face your fate."
The girl's eyes widened as her muscles stiffened into immobility.
"That's good. Thought she was goin' t'get away this time, too," laughed the big half-orc, as Antone limped up behind him.
Di'Fier tipped her back, and lifted her immobile form. "Did you try to get her earlier today?"
"Nah, 'bout three days 'go. We nabbed her three friends, but she got away."
"Four girls...three days ago?" Di'Fier asked sharply. "Who told you to grab them?"
"Guy from the Council said they was wanted..." The half-orc scowled, as if he were struggling to remember something not entirely pleasant.
"From the Council...did he show you any identification?"
They propped the girl against a chair, and Katya began to slowly work the knife out of her hand.
"Nah...but we was all sure he was from the council." T'saagrah looked over to Antone for support, and the half-elf nodded.
Di'Fier looked over at the girl, who silently struggled against the magical bonds holding her. He pushed the door closed and motioned the enormous half-orc to stand in front of it. "We'll let you go if you answer our questions," he told her, and then nodded towards T'saagrah and Antone. "And I won't let them take you."
The struggles subsided, but the glare did not. Katya stroked her amulet again, and the girl collapsed into the chair, suddenly released. She seemed to shrink into it, as if it could hide her from the two investigators.
"Who are you?" Di'Fier asked.
"Vikki Tarjay." Even as she shrank into the chair, her voice spat defiance. She's not using it to hide, Di'Fier realized. She's using it like a wall...to protect her back. But...Arlan Tarjay's daughter? What's she doing like this?
Now that he took a better look at her, he could see that the filthy clothes she was dressed in were the remnants of a far finer ensemble - men's clothes, but those of a wealthy young man. As gently as he could, he continued. "And these two tried to arrest you three days ago?"
"They tried to kidnap us. They got my friends, but I got away."
"Who were you with?"
"Gwenned Lornyk...Kishia Ames..."
That makes sense, Di'Fier thought to himself. The daughters of two powerful members of the Merchant's Guild...
"...and Nifur Roberts."