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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Seravin" data-source="post: 2814141" data-attributes="member: 6783">Talking to the Man...er LadyWatch-Herald Ladea let loose a great sigh and closed her eyes. Rubbing the bridge of her nose between thumb and forefinger, she leaned back in her chair and wondered if she would have to see an apothecary for the coming headache. Sudden weddings, strange cultists, sick wizards, and now…this. So far she and the Watch were managing to keep things under control, but this latest warrant, direct from the Duke, promised to drop the wheels off the cart as it were. At three-plus decades it was a wonder her black hair wasn’t gray.She opened her ebony black eyes and looked about her small office. Lighting was provided by a small magical globe in which an enchanted, cold flame danced. She had expended part of her first year’s budget on it, figuring in the long run that she would end up saving money on candles and eye-strain. The cheery, yellow light illuminated what otherwise should have been a dark, windowless room. Against one wall was an armoire where she kept her spare uniform and some more discreet clothes and props. The other walls were covered with bright hangings. Her heavy battered desk dominated the room, and was made of some light-colored, local wood; amazingly her chairs matched the desk. Behind her were three, large iron-bound chests; all of them locked and holding various bits of evidence or private correspondence.All in all she had a pretty good office. Watch-Commander’s Jessup’s was larger, but he had larger problems. This one fit her comfortably enough. It looked like today she would have to earn it.Approaching steps caught her attention and Ladea wondered who it was. Her office was down a little-used corridor, sharing the hall with the armory, a couple storage closets, and an evidence room. Ladea had personally chosen it when offered space in the Watch House, because only those with a reason came down the hall; allowing her a bit of peace as well as privacy.The steps stopped at her door and there was a brief pause. Then there was a firm double-knock. Ladea’s left eyebrow raised slightly. It sounded like a woman's knock. She wondered for a moment if it was…no that was wishful thinking.“Enter.” Invited the Watch-Herald.The door opened and Ladea almost sputtered. A woman of medium height with long brown hair and hazel eyes stood there. She was dressed in neat, comfortable traveling clothes and was looking at the Watch-Herald with some askance. Apparently it wasn’t wishful thinking after all. Her day was about to get even more complicated.Recovering, she greeted her guest. “I didn’t expect to see you here.” She waved towards the two chairs in front of her desk. “Have a seat, Kestral. We have a lot to talk about.”Kestral Thendry grimaced and walked into the room, closing the door silently behind her. She had been afraid of Ladea getting involved on the official side of things, and it looks like she had been right. She sat down and gave her friendliest, most sincere smile. “Good morning, Ladea. I hope things are going well.”“Well enough. What brings you here? Just arrive in town?”Kestral caught the probing behind the question. “No. I’ve been in Corlean for awhile. I’ve come to you about a problem.” Ladea raised her eyebrow, letting Kestral continue. “It seems there’s a mis-understanding between us and the Duke.” Admitted the young woman.Ladea snorted. “That is an understatement. In point of fact your friends are listed on two separate warrants. One is for assault, murder, vandalism, and kidnapping. The other is for tax evasion. A woman who may be known as Kestral or Semina is also listed on the second warrant as a possible accessory.” Ladea favored her probationary-Herald with a long look. “Is there a reason why I shouldn’t just arrest you now?”“Because it doesn’t conclusively name me? Because it’s all a mis-understanding?” Offered the young woman.Ladea chewed her lower lip for a second. “What kind of mis-understanding?” She asked finally.Kestral’s hazel eyes looked levelly into Ladea’s. “We’ve only ever been asked about taxes once when entering the city. We truthfully answered the guard’s question.” She shrugged. “We didn’t know that we owed taxes. We got the bulk of our gear from the last few trips and every time we came back into town Jallarzi teleported us.“Really?” It sounded plausible, and more it was consistent with Kestral’s earlier reporting. Of course tax evasion, while serious, was the least of her worries. “And the first warrant? As a known friend of the assailants you make one hell of a material witness.”“Did you hear about yesterday morning?” Asked Kestral.“The assault on the Blue Gorgon. Yes.”Kestral shook her head. “I was referring to my friends giving themselves up and then being released because of an obvious frame-up.”“No. I can’t say I heard that story.”Kestral nodded, suspecting as much. Briefly she described her adventure with Captain Zed and his folks, admitting to her Semina identity but leaving out her own magical disguises. She also spoke of her friend’s conversation with the captain. Ladea’s interest peaked at the shape-changing guard who took on Jallarzi’s appearance.Ladea picked up and played with the quill on her desk, thinking. “So Captain Zed relased your friends?” Kestral nodded and Ladea smiled grimly. “His paperwork on the capture, much less the release, seems to be a little tardy. I suspect it will be several days before the paperwork routes properly given how short-staffed everyone is.” Ladea tapped the quill on her desk a few times and came to a decision. “Who am I to argue with the captain? I think I agree with his reasoning too.”“Thank you.” Said Kestral. “We’ll do anything we can to help you, but I came here to get some information too and was hoping you could help.”“Information is what I’m supposed to be good at.” Said Ladea, somewhat sardonically. “Though lately it feels like none of it makes sense.” She shook her head. “Ask away.” She invited.Kestral gathered her thoughts. She had a lot of things to ask that she felt were connected, but not logically apparent. “On the matter of tax evasion. We didn’t know. How did the Duke find out?”“That came out of the investigation. All the witnesses agreed that your friends had dropped over seventy-five thousand lions at the table. Apparently the Duke, or more likely his new advisor, was keeping tabs on the investigation. It was mentioned to his Grace that that was an awful lot of gold for mercenaries to be spending. It didn’t take long to verify that none of that gold was reported to anyone. Further there was mention that you and your friends have been selling quite of bit of merchandise. We’ve been directed to meet with various merchants to see if we can verify that.”She frowned. “I heard this came up while Colonel Megara was meeting with his Grace. She apparently said something wrong and was arrested as part of a conspiracy to defraud the duchy of its rightful income.”Kestral nodded unhappily. “We’re pretty certain that we’re being setup by Father Dark.” She went on to explain the letter they had received about Ashimar’s soul.“I agree.” Said Ladea. “He certainly sounds like he has the means and motive. The only problem I see is that if your suspicions are correct and if he is Grandal Deverex...” She trailed off.“Unless that was also staged.”“Granted.”“Whoever it is has been able to get a lot of information on us. Who has that kind of ability?”“Besides the Heralds?” Laedea pasued to think, then continued. “There would be Master Asuras of the Library, Grandal Deverex, any of the bigger merchant houses, and of course Father Dark.Kestral couldn’t think of any more questions on that topic so shifted. “What happened to Erica? I thought she was left in the Herald’s care.”Ladea’s voice went flat. “She was. Herald Kaytryn was killed a few weeks ago in an accident.” It was obvious what Ladea thought about the Herald’s death. Erica was adopted by Kaytryn’s newest neighbors. We’re stretched so thin we decided to let it be and keep an eye on her. The last report was that Erica is healthy and doing well.”Kestral disagreed but let it pass for now. “Do you think Father Dark has any informants in the government; capable of influencing the Duke?”“Maybe. I’m certain he has some influence. We’ve had a few investigations, not many, that were derailed. It was always for the best of reasons, but it was always just a bit too convenient for the suspect. I doubt he has anyone with the Duke’s ear though. His Grace is an honorable man and faithful to Latina.”Kestral ignored that. “You said you're stretched thin. What’s going on?”Ladea snorted. “Lady Gabrella is marrying Baron Toruk Roth. While it’s wonderful that her Ladyship has found her true love, it’s damned inconvenient that her father allowed them to get married so quickly.” She shook her head. “I thought spring wedding were the in-thing, but Lady Gabrella couldn’t wait. Rumor says she must be pregnant for such a fast wedding, but as far as I can tell, that’s not the case.”“How does that affect you.”“Heralds traditionally peform herald duties at these sorts of things. We also help organize security; you can bet everyone in the city is going to want to attend. We and the Watch are being tapped in setting up the Square and Latina’s Cathedral as well as figuring out the security issues."Kestral thought it all over. In the back of her head it all fit together; somehow. It was just so…familiar. “You know about Master Asuras falling sick as well as the rest of the Library; and now Colonel Megara has been arrested on the flimsiest of excuses. Grandal has disappeared and it seems like someone is trying to neutralize Kellron, Jared, and Jallarzi. Do you know of anything that’s happened recently where a city's important people were systematically taken out?”Ladea looked curiously at Kestral and then paled slightly. If this was a similar case... “I think I may have mentioned Blasingdale to you earlier.” Kestral nodded, not really sure if Ladea had or not, but letting her continue. “Some sort of sorcerous creature appeared there this summer and came within a hairs-breadth of actually taking over the town. He…It methodically destroyed every possible bastion of restistance before it made itself known. By Hyla’s luck, a group of mercenaries happened to be in town and took it upon themselves to deal with the problem. Apparently it managed to drive off the Library there, killed the Watch Commander, organized riots in the streets, and arranged for the Temple of Latina to be outlawed and desecrated.”The Watch Herald tried to remember more details, but she was going to have to look over the report again. “His Grace decided to keep it as quiet as possible, so it was blamed on a rogue wizard; but I do know the creature was described as human-like but not human.”“So just how is the temple of Latina?” Asked Kestral conversationally.“So far, just fine. You’re not making me feel better about this.”“Sorry.”“Don't be. I'm suppose to be paranoid. I'll add that to the list of things to look into. So what now?Kestral shrugged. “I thought I would poke about town some more. I’d like to meet with those same merchants and see if anyone has been…pressured into making false statements.” She thought of something. “I don’t suppose you’d give me a couple days to investigate this myself before you start?”Ladea stared at her nominal charge for a moment. “You want me to give you, a material witness and possibly a defendant in a serious case, two days to meet with witnesses before I or the Watch interviews them.”“Uh-huh.” Kestral's radiated an almost beatific sincerity.Ladea closed her eyes momentarily. The girl had to be a witch. She sounded so reasonable and trustworthy. Ladea wanted to help her. Instead she heaved a great sigh. “I think there might be a slight conflict of interest there.” She pointed out. “However, like I said, we’re stretched thin. It’s entirely possible I won’t be able to start this until later today.”Kestral smiled her thanks.“Anything else?” Sighed Ladea.“I don’t…Oh wait. There is one thing. I heard rumors about a strange group of people in the North Quarter. Have you heard of them?”“North Quarter? Oh. Them.” Ladea waved a dismissive hand. “We heard about them a couple weeks ago. I had an agent checking on them for about three days. They’re a small cult of Braenites, worshippers of the Great Wind. My agent says their harmless, if somewhat annoying.”Kestral stood. “Well, thank you. I think I might check back later today.”Ladea nodded. “Please keep in regular contact. Obviously something strange is happening. Hopefully working together we can stop it before it disrupts the wedding.”</blockquote>

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