Part the Very Sixth
In which: someone finally gets somewhere
(as recorded by Fajitas)
Anvil arises at dawn and goes about his morning routine. However, he is interrupted by a knock at his door. He opens it to reveal Tenacious the Just, a large, barrel-chested man, a 6th Order Justicar and the head of the Universal Law Caucus in Dar Pykos.
Tenacious speaks in a booming voice. "Ah, good morning Anvil" he says.
"Good morning," Anvil replies. "How may I be of service this day?"
"I understand you’re involved in a cross-jurisdictional case?"
"Yes."
"I understand that you haven’t quite been handling it in a fully diplomatic manner."
Anvil pauses to carefully phrase his response, as his superior watches. "I have done as Justice demands," he says carefully. "If some have chosen to take offense at that, that is their business. I, for one, do not see how any righteous man could object to the demands of Kettenek."
"Uh-huh," Tenacious says. He has that look that he often has when talking to Anvil: the look of a man who knows that a tremendous headache is on its way. "Look, Anvil, I applaud your zeal in this case. But Count Missola’s people have been making an issue of this at very high levels. Now I’ve spoken to a specialist in Aegosian law, who assures me that Missola is in the right here. By law, these prisoners should be enslaved to his custody. I don’t much like it either, but we have little choice but to comply."
"Sir," Anvil replies, "I do not believe that the prisoners are truly guilty of the crime, despite the evidence against them. To let them be taken would be a dreadful miscarriage of Justice in Kettenek’s name."
"Can you prove it?"
"Alas, not yet."
Tenacious sighs and strokes his well-trimmed beard. "All right. I’ll stall them for twenty-four hours, but that’s all the time I can give you. If you can’t prove these people are innocent in that time, they’re going to be turned over to the Count."
"Thank you," Anvil responds. "I have faith that the true miscreants will be rooted out in that time, as Kettenek’s Justice demands."
"Uh-huh," Tenacious says, and takes his leave.
*********
Anvil wastes no further time. He checks with the temple acolytes, who inform him that word has come from Nichols. Amos was staying at a boarding house in the city, run by a Mrs. Blackburn. An address is provided.
Anvil immediately goes to the cells that have been provided for Thatch and Reyu and pounds on the doors. "Wake up! Our duty calls." Reyu is already awake, though surprised to find Anvil up. Thatch takes some rousing, as he is still quite asleep and slightly hung-over from the night before.
But a few minutes of Anvil’s inexhaustible determination and a quick breakfast are all it takes to get Thatch moving, and the three head out into the city towards Mrs. Blackburn’s boarding house.
The boarding house seems reputable. The outside is in good repair. Anvil knocks on the door, which is opened by a plump woman in an apron, presumably Mrs. Blackburn. She eyes the heroes suspiciously. "Well?" she asks. "What’s all this, then?"
Anvil responds. "We are in search of a man named Amos. We understand he takes his lodgings in this establishment."
Mrs. Blackburn’s eyes narrow ever further. "Don’t know what business that is of yours."
"It is not my business. It is Kettenek’s business." Anvil shifts so that the holy symbol on his robes of office is clearly visible. The woman’s eyes open wide, and she instantly begins talking a mile a minute. "I knew it!" she exclaims. "I knew it, I did. Always thought he was up to no good, that one. I says to myself, ‘he’s a bad egg, he is’. Going to come to a rotten end, mark my words."
"He has been engaged in suspicious activities, then?" Anvil asks sharply.
"Well… no," Mrs. Blackburn replies, thinking. "No, not sos I’ve noticed. But there’s a… a look about him. I can always tell, I can."
Anvil and the others exchange a look. "Kettenek’s Justice demands that we speak to him."
"He ain’t here. Ain’t seen him in a few days. He’s like that, coming and going at all hours, misses breakfast more often than not. That’s not respectable behavior, that ain—"
"How long has he been missing?" Anvil interrupts.
"Not sure. I’d say since the day before yesterday."
Anvil and the others exchange another look. That’s the day Amos met with the scarred man.
"It is imperative that we search Amos’s room," Anvil says. Mrs. Blackburn is surprised at his abrupt tone. "Immediately," Anvil adds.
Mrs. Blackburn escorts them upstairs, chattering away non-stop about what a "bad sort" Amos is, "mark my words". It’s not at all clear that she actually had a poor opinion of Amos before a Justicar came looking for him. But now she is more than willing to inform them how every flip of his overly long hair "set my spine a-tingling". Reyu is tempted to ask why she let him board there if she had such a negative impression of him, but decides not to stir up trouble.
Mrs. Blackburn leads them to a door on a second floor landing. She opens it with a key and leads them inside, her running narrative continuing. Anvil, Reyu and Thatch ignore it as they search the room.
It is a reasonably sized boarding room, small bed, small table, small dresser. The bed is unmade, and the room disorganized. Signs of an untidy person, though Mrs. Blackburn has already pointed that out. They find only a few coins, no weapons beyond an eating knife, and no sign of spell components or mystical texts. In short, Amos appears to be a perfectly ordinary young man, who probably hasn’t been in the city long.
It is Thatch who first spots something interesting: a small pile of letters discarded in a corner. They are love letters, from someone named Kashan. The first several are fairly ordinary, but the last few indicate some kind of problem with the relationship. Amos has clearly stopped returning her correspondence, and her requests to see him become more urgent. The last is dated nearly two weeks ago.
"I admit I am… unfamiliar with your mating habits," Reyu says, "but this seems a… troubled courtship."
"Um, well, yes and no," Thatch answers. "It’s actually kinda typical," he adds, at the puzzled look Reyu gives him.
"Is it possible his recent… disappearance… is connected to these letters?" Reyu asks.
"Anything is possible when criminal minds seek to have their way," Anvil responds.
"Um. I don’t get it," Thatch says. "I mean, what’s the connection? Amos meets with the scarred man, only with an eye-patch, not a scar, then he disappears. Did the scarred man do something to him?"
"Perhaps this… Kashan… hired the scarred man to harm Amos," Reyu suggests.
"Or perhaps they are both miscreants, working together in some nefarious purpose," Anvil adds.
"And why would they want to make us slaves?" Thatch asks. He crosses his arms in frustration, trying to put the pieces together.
"These are all excellent questions," Anvil says, "but I do not believe there are further answers to be found here. We must seek out this woman, Kashan. Perhaps she can tell us more of this man Amos’s character, that we might know if he is honest or deceitful."
"Humph! I can tell you that," Mrs. Blackburn chimes in from the hallway.
They ignore her.
"‘Kashan,’" Anvil says, thoughtfully. "That sounds like a Thanean name."
"Thanean?" Reyu inquires.
"Dar Thane is one of the city-states within the Confederacy, far to the north of here at the tip of the peninsula. They are primarily a military state. There are many Thaneans living in Dar Pykos, though they live in few neighborhoods. It should not be hard to find this woman…"
To be continued…
