We were summoned to the Citadel, the headquarters for the city guard, in the mid-morning. We were to see Field Marshal Cressida Croft herself to receive our first assignment. Field Marshal Croft is a soft looking woman, but she carries herself in a way which reveals her true nature. She’s a leader, a strong one, and she won’t be taking any shit. With that in mind, I intend to give her as much as I can get away with.
Croft explained that one outcome of the riots has been a number of deserters from the ranks of the guard, a troubling prospect given the current crisis. One such deserter was Verik Venkason, a rather low profile Sergeant who for some unexplainable reason had a lot of pull in the rank and file. He was holed up in a butchers shop in North Point and had managed to convince a number of men to join him in forsaking his duties. It was our job to bring him back, dead or alive.
We left for North Point immediately, taking the main thoroughfares through the city. The price of the riots were already becoming clear, the city is definitely starving and it’s hard to go 50 feet without being pestered by the unruly thugs or poor unfortunate souls they’ve already preyed upon. When we made it to the butchers, we came across a large crowd, it seemed that every peasant in the district seemed to want inside the shop. Turns out our boy Verik had been handing out free meat to anyone who came in.
It was clear to the group that going in the front entrance wouldn’t be a good plan, it would make too much of a scene and it was impossible to tell what side the crowd would pick. Instead we decided to go round the back and we found a way in through a small paddock. We devised a distraction and freed the animals in the paddock, luring out one of the men Verik had managed to bring to his cause but were too loud in dealing with him. They knew we were here.
We pushed inside and met immediate resistance, Veriks men were armed with crossbows and let loose a volley of bolts towards Kjell and Do Quynne as they pushed inside. The fighting was fast, blades flashed, bolts fired and bodies fell. It was a good thing we only had to bring Verik back alive, none of these men were getting up again.
It wasn’t long until we found Verik in the upstairs office of the Butchers, after cutting a bloody swathe through his men, we were ready to try and take him quietly. We convinced the rest of his followers to lay down their arms, they didn’t want to lose their lives today. After, we took Verik into custody, he wasn’t about to fight by himself, and we had a bigger pay check waiting if he was still breathing.
Back at the citadel Croft had Verik interrogated, turns out he was pressured into all this by some girl he was with. A girl who apparently doesn’t exist. Theres something sinister going on here, the rot runs deep in this city after all.
For now, we wait for the next assignment, the puppeteers behind all this will begin showing themselves soon no doubt.
Charlotte Manse
Consulting Detective
Lawson & Manse Investigative Agency
Baker’s Street
AshleyNova 