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Message: <blockquote data-quote="drnuncheon" data-source="post: 330640" data-attributes="member: 96">Session Four, Part Three: ...how did I get into this again?The girl was dressed in ragged finery - the remnants of a man's shirt and breeches, and a cloth bundle slung over her shoulder. The clothes were hardly more than rags, soaked through from the constant rain, mud-stained and torn - with not a few patches of blood.  The clothes looked as though they might once have belonged to the part of the city that she crept through, but no longer.  Indeed, the girl herself looked much the same - in the condition she was in, it would have been difficult to recognize her as the daughter of one of the wealthier members of the Freeport Merchant's Guild: Vikki Tarjay.Unless, of course, one knew what one was looking for.  The two pairs of invisible eyes that tracked her progress through the streets most definitely did.The girl crept along the alley, freezing in place as footsteps sounded from around the corner. She huddled back into a doorway as a squat dwarf stumped around the corner, glancing down the alley and then proceeding towards the main street - walking in a circle around the Tarjay House.Cautiously, she started forward once more, peering with exaggerated caution around the corner.  Another man stood in the street - huge and muscular, in ill-fitting clothes. As he scanned back and forth along the street, she could hear a strange noise.  It sounded as if he were...sniffing.The big man took a couple of steps, and sniffed again, then began to walk with purpose towards the alley.  The girl, frozen, stood and watched him approach."We bin lookin' all over fer you," he said, and smiled.  His teeth were yellowed, and very sharp."What have you got there, Gorshk?" The girl spun and ran, but the big man was deceptively fast. His hand closed on her upper arm, and a puzzled expression crossed his face. He yanked her forward and sniffed again. "It's a trick!"Di'Fier yanked his arm free of the big man's grasp and stepped backward, reaching over his shoulder to free the disguised blade.  Pulling it from it's sheath, he struck the huge man and backed away in one smooth motion.The man shook his head to clear it, and his hands reached under his poncho to emerge with two of the largest axes the Watchman had ever seen.  With a toothy grin, the man moved forward.Di'Fier raised his blade. How do I get myself into these things? he thought.  It had started when they found the girl.  No, it was before that.  It was when he had met with the rest of the team to tell them of Dru's decision...<img src="http://www.io.com/~jeffj/b2sep.gif" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Di'Fier looked around at the faces of his team. Quooral's brow was furrowed in deep thought.  Jemis looked as if he'd been stabbed.  Even the normally loquacious Glunnyn was silent. "This...shouldn't change anything," he told them.  Nobody believed it - not even him.  "We're still going to be investigating the murders...and this underworld war."A knock on the door, and it opened.  Watch-Sergeant T'saagrah, the Watch's sole half-orc, shoved his face into the room. "Captain's back from his meeting with the Council.  Says he nees to talk to everyone."Donnach was waiting, as were most of the day shift.  The Captain looked out over the assembled Watchmen and rubbed his forehead."I'll make this quick.  I'm sure the rumor mill has already been active, but to make sure all of us are starting from the same dock - the Watch-Captains were called to an emergency meeting of the Captain's Council early this morning.  We have been given instructions 'for the good of the city'."  His tone left little doubt what he thought of those instructions."The Watch is to devote all efforts to ending the current violence as quickly as possible.  What this means in practical terms is: arrest first, ask questions later.  We'll be making a sweep through the city today to pick up known criminals.  This isn't going to be easy on any of us, and it's going to be dangerous work, so I want everyone in double teams, not just partners.""Watch Lieutenant Di'Fier, I'll need your team to help coordinate this effort - in the areas of the city that aren't Naïlo territory."Compiler's Note: The first portion of this update (the "framing sequence") was actually from Session Five.  The events were played out in chronological order, but I decided to do a little playing around with the structure of the story to make things more interesting.</blockquote>

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