Session 65 (June 12, 2014)
4 Tar-Skard
Kit meets with the Guildmaster in the same room in the palace with the screen and voice altering magic to interrogate Jerrit the Ferret. They bring in Jerrit, by a group of bruisers.
“So, Ferret. I hear you’ve taken some interesting jobs lately.”
“Yes… I always have interesting jobs.”
“Do you know the one I’m thinking of?”
“They came in the middle of the night. They didn’t ask me—they told me. Group of three of them. Biggest one was a wererat, I think. One faceless man—he creeped me out. I’ve dealt with wererats before. Just smooth skin on his face where there should have been features. The third one was just muscle—he used to sell his service, before the Archduke came. I said it was stupid—no one would believe it without the seal—but they said to just write it, and that everyone would believe it when they were done. Master told me to learn the hand—he used to work in the palace. He was Gavin—to us he was Gavin the Fox, don’t know what his name was here. He was a scribe here—no one knew he did other business. Or maybe she did.
"They said they could make it work, but they knew how, but that I knew the hand.”
“Who else knew you could do this hand?”
“No one alive. Just Gavin, but he’s been dead for a while.”
“Afterwards, what did you do?”
“Nothing—but they let my sister go. She lived in the flat above me…. They had the real paper, the right paper even. I couldn’t remember the name after I finished—like they had erased it from my mind. You don’t think somehow… Gavin’s alive? I went to his funeral.”
“When did he die?”
“Not long before the Archduchess. But dead’s dead!”
“So they tell me,” Kit says wryly.
“The muscle, if he’s local, we’ll find him.”
“I can tell you his haunts.”
“You’ll do that. And then we’ll keep your sister safe. The muscle, you tell us where to find him, and we’ll find him.”
“I thought they’d wiped out all of the wererats, but he were one, sure as I’m telling you. They have a certain stink to them. But he was a big one, bigger than most of them, 6’3” or 6’4”, carried a big hand and a half sword over his shoulder, a big sword, and I think he had chain on, though he had leather over it. But they both yielded all the time to that faceless one. And you could feel when he was looking at you, even though he had no eyes to look. It was like he could look into your mind, but no one can do that.”
“Did the wererat seem local?”
“No, he had a southerly accent. Most of my work has been for people coming from the south. But this? This could be thought of as treason. At the time, I had more focus than I’ve ever had in my life. I could only think of one letter at a time. It was only afterwards that I thought about it.”
Kit sends him out of the room, and sends the guards to secure the sister.
“There have been some rumors among the gutterrunners, the lowest thieves, of someone moving through the passages and not being there. A few weeks—I marked it up to getting a new crop and them being shaky.”
"What about the other that Jerrit mentioned?"
"I’m pretty sure I know who the muscle is. We’ll bring him in.”
“Thank you, Guildmaster. I know you want to keep a clean city as much as I do.”
“I know this Gavin. Best damn forger I’d ever seen. He worked for the Mouth. I can’t imagine him grooming the Ferret. Although if he weren’t a drunk…”
[cont'd]
4 Tar-Skard
Kit meets with the Guildmaster in the same room in the palace with the screen and voice altering magic to interrogate Jerrit the Ferret. They bring in Jerrit, by a group of bruisers.
“So, Ferret. I hear you’ve taken some interesting jobs lately.”
“Yes… I always have interesting jobs.”
“Do you know the one I’m thinking of?”
“They came in the middle of the night. They didn’t ask me—they told me. Group of three of them. Biggest one was a wererat, I think. One faceless man—he creeped me out. I’ve dealt with wererats before. Just smooth skin on his face where there should have been features. The third one was just muscle—he used to sell his service, before the Archduke came. I said it was stupid—no one would believe it without the seal—but they said to just write it, and that everyone would believe it when they were done. Master told me to learn the hand—he used to work in the palace. He was Gavin—to us he was Gavin the Fox, don’t know what his name was here. He was a scribe here—no one knew he did other business. Or maybe she did.
"They said they could make it work, but they knew how, but that I knew the hand.”
“Who else knew you could do this hand?”
“No one alive. Just Gavin, but he’s been dead for a while.”
“Afterwards, what did you do?”
“Nothing—but they let my sister go. She lived in the flat above me…. They had the real paper, the right paper even. I couldn’t remember the name after I finished—like they had erased it from my mind. You don’t think somehow… Gavin’s alive? I went to his funeral.”
“When did he die?”
“Not long before the Archduchess. But dead’s dead!”
“So they tell me,” Kit says wryly.
“The muscle, if he’s local, we’ll find him.”
“I can tell you his haunts.”
“You’ll do that. And then we’ll keep your sister safe. The muscle, you tell us where to find him, and we’ll find him.”
“I thought they’d wiped out all of the wererats, but he were one, sure as I’m telling you. They have a certain stink to them. But he was a big one, bigger than most of them, 6’3” or 6’4”, carried a big hand and a half sword over his shoulder, a big sword, and I think he had chain on, though he had leather over it. But they both yielded all the time to that faceless one. And you could feel when he was looking at you, even though he had no eyes to look. It was like he could look into your mind, but no one can do that.”
“Did the wererat seem local?”
“No, he had a southerly accent. Most of my work has been for people coming from the south. But this? This could be thought of as treason. At the time, I had more focus than I’ve ever had in my life. I could only think of one letter at a time. It was only afterwards that I thought about it.”
Kit sends him out of the room, and sends the guards to secure the sister.
“There have been some rumors among the gutterrunners, the lowest thieves, of someone moving through the passages and not being there. A few weeks—I marked it up to getting a new crop and them being shaky.”
"What about the other that Jerrit mentioned?"
"I’m pretty sure I know who the muscle is. We’ll bring him in.”
“Thank you, Guildmaster. I know you want to keep a clean city as much as I do.”
“I know this Gavin. Best damn forger I’d ever seen. He worked for the Mouth. I can’t imagine him grooming the Ferret. Although if he weren’t a drunk…”
[cont'd]