Aard

[corly]

Two weeks ago the Sunward Corporation's Emerald Mine in Damhold, Hallcroft made front page news in most of the world when a bomb of unknown origin was detonated, killing three and badly wounding one. Four days ago a letter arrived from one of the police officers in the lower district of the city, Wade. You have worked with him before on a basic hired muscle job, and he got along well with the group. His letter reads as follows:

“I assume you all have heard about the bombing here in Damhold. I can’t write a whole lot in a letter but your help would be appreciated here right now. You can stay with my family if you want, and the City will pay for your time whether or not you are able to help us. You can find me at the station and I will explain everything.

-Wade Slatechild”

It took some navigating to get to Damhold in a hurry, but you are now about a block from the station. The streets are full of thousands of protesters and strikers. Signs around you read ‘STRIKERS NOT BOMBERS’ and ‘WE DON’T KILL OUR OWN’.

[RFLS]

Rita
Rory
Renley
Quinn
Mary
Lynix


The group stops briefly at a corner, looking across the sea of angry protesters between themselves and the station.

The young dwarf trailing along behind the group pipes up "They look a bit angry, huh? You guys sure you wanna be helping the cops right now?"

A mildly worried look crosses Mary's face"Of course we do! We like Wade, he's nice. Right...?"

Rita and Rory give each other mildly aggravated looks; they're both more than familiar with Quinn's tendency to mess with Mary when given half a chance.

"Yes, Mary, he's nice, and yes, we're helping him because he's a friend." The last word is said with a pointed look at Quinn, who manages to look almost, but not quite suitably chastened.

She starts moving forward, gesturing to Lynix to join her as she crosses the street. The half-orc's massive frame breaks through the crowd easily as they approach the police station.

[corly]

Most of the crowd parts easily for you. Some protesters give you strange looks but most are content to ignore you. As you pass through you see a table set up on the side of the road where a halfling boy no older than 12 offers strikers a glass of water and homemade signs that read: NO STONE IS WORTH OUR LIVES. Another booth is set up across the street with banners displaying the glowing eye of Lorand. Healers stand around the booth, holding signs proclaiming support for the strikers on behalf of their God.

On the steps of the station there are guards creating a barrier between the crowd and the entrance, mostly dwarves with a few half-orcs and humans. In their hands are clubs and most carry ranged weapons at their waist. As you get closer you notice they are not wearing Damhold City Police uniforms, but instead are dressed in leather armor bearing the setting sun logo of Sunward Corp. A short, muscular dwarf steps forward as you reach the bottom step, her fist tightening around her club.

"Rioters must stay off the steps. Any violators will be arrested and charged to the full measure of the law." She eyes you with undisguised distain.

[RFLS]

Lynix opens her mouth, probably to say something about the heritage of the dwarf standing in front of her.

"You - "

"are absolutely right! It's a good thing we're not rioters "

" - protestors - "

"rioters - we're just here to see Officer Slatechild! Surely he said something about us...?"


Diplomacy roll from Quinn: [roll0]

[corly]

Unnamed Head Guard
Unnamed Male Guard

She squints down at Quinn. "You're going to have to go in the back way. I can't have the rabble"-she gestures to the people behind you- "thinking they can use any old excuse to get in and interfere." She motions to one of the guards behind her and speaks to him quietly for a moment. He nods and steps forward. "Follow me." He says gruffly as he pushes through the crowd with his club outstretched.

He leads you around the building, exchanging a few words with the two guards stationed at the back doors. He unlocks and opens the door for you and follows behind as you enter the building. Inside the station itself is just like it was last time you were here, polished stone floors and bland paintings that scream bureaucracy. Unlike last time though, it is full of angry looking people in expensive clothing. You can see from the doorway at least three heated conversations and at the far end of the hall you can just make out Wade being shouted at by a dwarf man in a hideous orange tunic.

[RFLS]

The group follows along obediently, Quinn changing her hair color from brown to black while the guard isn't watching. Reactions from the group are varied as the door opens - Rita and Lynix narrow their eyes, Rory rolls his, Quinn is completely unfazed, while Mary and Renley almost visibly shrink back from the chaos within.

"Well, I guess we should go over there."

Rita crosses the floor, followed by the group in varying amounts of willingness.

She pauses for a moment before greeting her friend - Quinn had gotten onto her the other day for not being "appropriate" when in official situations. "Hey, Wade. Whaddaya want?"

Quinn rolls her eyes in the background while Rory visibly smirks.

[corly]

Wade
Mr Jaal

Wade looks grateful for your interruption. "Hello, I was wondering how soon you would get here. I was just explaining to Mr Jaal here that the City had already found a detective team who wouldn't be -um- hindered by conflict of interest."

Mr Jaal looks you over, his face red in anger. "I'm sure the Provinceer doesn't know you've hired a bunch of ignorant foreigners. A case this sensitive requires local expertise. Something I will remind her of in our meeting this afternoon."

Wade clenches his fists in an attempt to keep the anger out of his voice. "If you want a local team so badly I don't see why my officers are considered unacceptable. Surely no one knows this city so well as them?"

"I'm sure you are aware that we cannot have police officers investigating on a case when half of them have family in that mob outside! For all you know one of them planted the bomb!"

[RFLS]

"You know, I think both of you might have a point. We definitely don't know the area, but that also means the area doesn't know us. We could assist Sunward's investigation in a sort of third party, deniable assets sort of way." Quinn's face remains completely blank.

A look of surprise flashes over Rory's face; he'd been almost certain Quinn wasn't a fan of this job. "Yeah, I actually agree with Quinn on this one. There's no reason not to have two sets of eyes looking. Maybe even three...?"

[corly]

Wade
Mr Jaal

"Hmm."He looks over your group more carefully this time.

"Perhaps. I'll want to meet with you of course, to make sure Sunward can trust this with a group outside the company." He shuffles around Rita to hand a small card to Quinn.

"I'll be at this address all day. Come see me as soon as you can." With that he swishes past you and heads out the back door, flicking his fingers in some signal to the guard that was escorting you. Said guard nods at Wade once and rushes off to follow Mr. Jaal.

Once he is out of the building, Wade turns to you and pulls a handkerchief from his breast pocket, wiping a sheen of sweat from his forehead. He is a short, dark skinned man with very curly hair tightly held in a single braid. As usual, he is wearing the stone grey uniform of the Damhold Police. He takes a deep breath before speaking.

"I'm sorry you guys had to come in on that. Though I'm mighty grateful you somehow managed to get him to leave. He's been yelling at me off and on since the morning after the explosion. I can't get anything done."

He folds his now damp kerchief and stuffs it back into his pocket, turning slightly to motion to an officer across the hall before looking back.

"You guys need coffee or anything? I know you've come a way."

[RFLS]

At the mention of coffee, the gang sounds off in, if not rapid, some sort of succession

Black and sweet, thanks.
Black. Whiskey? Nevermind, I've got some here
Black, sweet, and whiskey from you, Rory, thanks.
Two sugars and milk, please.
No, thank you.
Can I help you pour them...?

At last, when they're all settled, Quinn pipes up from over her cup of coffee. "So what actually happened?"

[corly]

"That's the problem, really." Wade sighs as he pulls you into his office.
"We have spent every waking moment being screamed at by Sunward buffoons and they are here so much the strikers think we are in cahoots so now they're mad at us too." He flops down into his chair, rubbing his temples.
"That Jaal bastard has been going over my head every time I try to do any investigating. He goes crying to Provinceer Kydem and she sends me an angry note and the whole cycle starts again." You can see now how tired he looks. Even his usually pristine uniform is rumpled and judging by the distinct wrinkling on the sides he may have slept in it last night.
"I gotta beg you guys not to let him pay you for anything. I know he can probably afford more than the City can for your effort but he isn't interested in getting justice or finding the bomber. He just wants to blame everything on the strikers so his company can play the victim. I know I look biased. Hell, my husband took part in one of the protests a week ago and Jaal won't stop throwing that in my face." He takes a long sip of his coffee (he didn't tell the officer what he wanted but by the color it looks like he's drinking mostly cream).
"I can't even tell you much about what we've found, since I've spent most of my time placating orange suits. I'll let you guys talk to Santiago. She's lead on this since she doesn't have any known friends or family who worked in the mines and that is a rare thing in this town." He reaches over without looking and taps a switch that seems attached to one of the many wires running up the wall and into the ceiling.
"Got to warn you, she's sort of... enthusiastic."

[RFLS]

"Oh, good. I love enthusiasm."

"Shut it, Rory. I'm sure she'll be helpful.

Erm.

How enthusiastic?"

Rory snickers into his drink as Santiago walks in.

[corly]

"You rang Sir?" She takes a moment to notice anyone else in the room. When she does see you, her eyes light up.
"Are these them? They are so much more... interesting than I thought they would be." Her attention is only held for a moment before she seems to remember the files she has grasped too tightly in her hands. She looks around as if making sure no one else is in the room before shutting the door behind her.
"I know you aren't supposed to see our reports on the b-o-m-b-i-n-g, but I accidentally copied these ones out and I'm going to accidentally throw the extras away in your office trash instead of mine." She winks badly, slipping her files into the bin beside Wade's desk. He sighs again, closing his eyes tightly and chugging the rest of his coffeecream.
"Ms. Santiago, you know I can't look at those. You effectively wasted an hour of copying them over just to dump them."
"Uh-huh" She winks again.

[RFLS]

"Good to meet you, Santiago. So, what can you tell us?" Quinn keeps her eyes firmly locked on Santiago, even though she's aware of Rory covertly reaching for the files in the wastebin.


[roll0]

[corly]

"I knew you were coming so I got everything prepared. My presentation takes up the whole break room." Her eyes flick to Rory's hand in the wastebin. "Uhhh... I have copies for you that are color coded. You don't need those."

[RFLS]

Rory locks eyes briefly, and then lets go without moving his arm.

"Fair enough."

Looking mildly bemused, Mary chimes while Rita rolls her eyes in the background. in "So uh....color coded! That's fun. Let's go find out about that."

[corly]

With a nod from Wade she leads you into another, larger room. There are packets placed at seven of the seats with your names on them. The seventh is at the head of the table and bears her name in the same neat, all-caps handwriting.

"Let's begin if you are ready. I have copied out for you everything we have on the case. Or rather, I had Vincette copy them over, but don't worry. I went through and checked for spelling errors. They are usually good about that but I didn't want to make a bad impression." She picks up her packet, tearing open the seal and pulling out the bundle of papers. "I have here in order of when I got the information, the transcript of my meeting with the Crime Division Alchemist and her findings in purple; then the orange labelled analysis of the damage done to the mine by Sunward, though I would take that with a ton of salt because they are very angry and very interested in blaming this whole thing on the protesters. Not that I am biased. I just don't like their disregard for the lives lost. Its sort of callus." She shifts through the papers. "Ah, then the red labelled papers are the coroners report on the deceased and all the information we have about the status of the survivor. They haven't woken up yet but we have their information from their family. That can be found on the green page right after the red ones." She smiles brightly and then seems to remember what she is talking about and her smile fades. "I kind of hope for their sake they never wake up."

[RFLS]

"Anything in particular stand out on the reports?"

[corly]

"Well, according to preliminary reports the bomber planted over 100 pounds of black powder around the area. Not only would I be very surprised if one person could move all that on their own without being noticed, but at market value that is somewhere around 1000 gold pieces. I seriously doubt anyone in this part of town could scrape together that much for a bomb. I'd like to say Sunward could do it but there is no motive for them besides vilification of the strikers. They have more to lose than they have to gain here."

[RFLS]

Quinn, ever practical, pipes up. "If no one has the cash on hand to buy that much, then no one can afford to stock that much, either. Where'd it come from, if not here?"

[corly]

"That's what we've been trying to figure out." She says. "There are some shops uptown that carry enough to be potential suppliers but thanks to Sunward launching a witch-hunt, so-to-speak, it has been difficult getting any of them to talk to law enforcement. It would seem they are afraid even being spoke to could give them bad press. I guess getting a reputation for selling bomb supplies could probably ruin a business uptown." She directs you to the list of shops in the purple section of your packets. " I was hoping until we can get a testimony from the survivor you could go ahead and see about finding our bomber's supplier. That is if you are amenable?"

[RFLS]

"Absolutely." Quinn leans forward, glint in her eyes. "Let's talk price."

Behind her, the group lets out a collective groan and eyeroll. "Come on, Quinn. We're going." Rita practically drags Quinn out of the room by her collar.

"We'll...be in touch. I guess."

[corly]

The hike uptown takes an hour. It probably would have been significantly faster if the in-town train were operating at the moment, but a sign at the stop reports that "Until the City can ensure the safety of passengers the East-West line is suspended indefinitely." Judging by the fact that the sign was clearly put up very recently, you can assume it is a result of the bombing. But while slower, a walk up the cobbled streets is not unpleasant. The weather is fair, if a bit nippy in the shade. The tall shops and residential buildings block much of the windchill, and the bustle of people in the street is calming, in a way.
There are three shops in the file, and thankfully all have an address listed next to them. The closest is Delma's Alchemical Equipment and Supplies (Established Red Year 224). A brightly colored sign announcing the name and age of the business takes up most of the outside, and instead of windows displaying goods there are carefully painted illustrations of happy looking dwarves holding vials and stirring cauldrons.
As you enter, a bell tinkles above you and you see in the corner a small pouf of colored smoke go up from a flask, faintly adding the smell of lavender and vanilla to the air. The front of the store is small, with a few comfortable looking chairs in the corners and a long counter with a door to the back room behind it. Along the wall around the door there are dozens of small drawers with neat labels describing the contents. As you take in the room a bump can be heard from the back room and muffled cursing. Then the door opens quickly and a gangly young dwarf emerges.
"Welcome to Delma's Alchemical Equiptment and Supplies! What can I help you with?" he says a little too loudly in the cadence of one who has repeated the greeting many times.

[RFLS]

Quinn, now a tall, slim elf, greets him with a warm, unblinking smile. "Well, we're looking for some supplies. Our employer is clearing ground at the site of a new mine, and, well, it's tough going. He was hoping you had some sort of alchemical trick to help us...?"


Bluff: [roll0]

[RFLS]

Mary, apparently deciding that now was the time to contribute, nods enthusiastically. "Yup! Like acid or bombs or maybe some sort of digging robot! Or...something like that?"


Bluff: [roll0]

Take it as an Aid Another or a separate Bluff roll, whichever. Aid Another is a flat DC 15, and grants a +2 to the initial roll.