Session Thirteen, Part One
Below the streets of Freeport, there is only silence and the dark...under normal circumstances, that is. Of late, the sewers had seen much more use of a less conventional nature. Those poor unfortunates whose job it is to travel below the streets - for whatever reason - had begin to hear strange things, see signs of tracks not their own...tracks not human.
Had any of these souls been present at this time - instead of above, in the noisy streets and crowds of Swagfest - they might have seen and heard such things: a shimmering blue glow passing along a tunnel, the scrape of boot on stone, a pause, and then the silence broken by a single word:
"
Sh-t."
Di'Fier looked down at the body at his feet. "Ampiel, go and fetch backup." The great black bird croaked once, and lifted off into the night.
The Watchmen knelt. There, in the light, nearly obliterated by the spreding blood - runes, again. He wracked his brain for the meaning of the one most intact.
Transfer? Taking? Something like that... The rest were unreadable.
He straightened, turned.
What went on here? He walked slowly around the alley, his eyes searching for any signs. There...on the wall. He touched the brick-work, and his fingertips came away black.
Scorch marks...but there's no sign of where the killer went.
Something made him look upward. There, at the edge of the light, barely glistening...
...a single handprint...
...at the top of a twelve-foot wall.
"Ye bleedin'
idiot! What d'ye
mean he got away? Ye'd better find me another rat or it'll be
ye they're chasin'!"
Deep in the heart of the Warehouse district, an iron grate gave voice to a rusty complaint as it swung open, and an elven woman's head emerged. The head looked around, swore once. "How in the hells did we get over
here? We're almost at the Hammocks..." The grate settled back into place as the elf vanished.
Below the streets, Dru looked at her rodent companion. "I guess I took a wrong turn. I'm Dru, by the way." Touching her chest, she repeated loudly: "Dru."
"Sathok."
"Uh-huh. Well, listen, Sathok, I can't exactly take you home with me, so I'm going to take you to the Temple of Knowledge." Even as she spoke she was walking down the tunnels, peering into the gloom. "If I can ever find the right way." She paused. "What are you looking at?"
The rat-man might not understand the words, but the tone was clear. He extended a finger to point at the dagger in Dru's boot.
"Oh, you want a weapon. All right." She passed the short blade to him, hilt first, and he promptly flipped it around into a comfortable reverse grip. Dru peered down another passage. "I recognize this. Someone tried to kill me here." She began down the corridor, paused a moment.
Behind her, the rat-man tensed, shifting his grip on the blade...
