Shi is hesitant of the spirit when it arrives again. She thinks for a moment of her homeland and wonders if some raised doorsteps would keep this specter at bay, but as the ghost or whatever it was starts explaining things she eases up.
When Shi has an opportunity she will ask "If you have all these powers, maybe you can tell us what is going on in the city and if there is anything we can do to fix it? Is the king really dead? With Kennan avenged I don't... I can help, that's what he would want. Just from what we saw last night it seems like the city is going to eat itself alive from the chaos. What can we do?"
Krovax considered asking the illusionist what it knew of how the Queen’s brooch came into the possession of Gaedren Lamm, but decided it may be best to keep that information under wraps unless they already knew about it. Instead, he simply folds his arms and says ”We deal with the ones who seek to cause violence for no reason than their own personal gain. There are those who are likely in true need who have no other option in this situation, and they should be spared and helped. But the rest should be punished and stopped. Then we need to get those drugs to the Guard. I still know some people there who, if they are still alive and able, we could reliably turn it in to. Whichever opportunity presents itself first. But splitting up is foolish. At least until some order is restored.”
Vera seems to not say anything, though in reality she is asking her own questions her own way.
Why did Gaedren keep your head? That's a really strange thing to keep . . . should I bury it?
”So you were a head in Lamm's bedroom for, what was it, eight years ago... did you hear him say where he got some of us? So we can find their homes?.
She cocks her head, ”my head didn’t hear Gaedren, though I did have limited awareness of what happened in his room. I will say that given how filthy it was, few other people would enter the room to speak with him.” She pauses, ”But... he did write in his ledger frequently. Perhaps there is some information there? I believe Vera has deciphered the code he wrote the ledger in.”
”If you have all these powers, maybe you can tell us what is going on in the city and if there is anything we can do to fix it? Is the king really dead? With Kennan avenged I don't... I can help, that's what he would want. Just from what we saw last night it seems like the city is going to eat itself alive from the chaos. What can we do?"
”A good question. What I divined for your future, earlier, was the extent of my power. This should grant you a measure of fortune, should you choose to draw upon it. That said, I can take this power away, should you sufficiently displease me.” She gestures towards Krovax, ”It is not easy to displease me, but it is possible... As for what you can do, as I mentioned, my senses have been limited. I stretched the limits of them to find you all, I do not believe such a thing would be possible again. Only my anger allowed me to do that, and justice has been served. She pauses, ”As for what you should do - help the city, and the people. Rescuing the orphans was a good first step. Find them somewhere safe to live, and perhaps find a way to work together to further help others. There may be other people who need it. Or do not. You will determine your fortune at this point. I have found my daughter and found a measure of justice, I am at peace.”
”We deal with the ones who seek to cause violence for no reason than their own personal gain. There are those who are likely in true need who have no other option in this situation, and they should be spared and helped. But the rest should be punished and stopped. Then we need to get those drugs to the Guard. I still know some people there who, if they are still alive and able, we could reliably turn it in to. Whichever opportunity presents itself first. But splitting up is foolish. At least until some order is restored.”
Zellara cocks her head, ”violence to fill a void of loss would be ‘personal gain’ would it not? No matter, your words otherwise ring true. Not just the shiver, but perhaps the ledger should go to the guard. And regarding the shiver, you may have noticed that some of the shiver you found is missing...” She shrugs. ”It is not my place to get involved.” She looks tired, ”I grow wearing holding this form, do you have any other questions? I believe I have told you all I know.”
Whatever form this illusion is taking, to all observing, it appears to be honest.
Zellara’s voice echoes in your head, ”A burial would be lovely, but my remains mean nothing, I am bound to the deck. Burning or burying them is enough, you are not required or carry my head in a hatbox until the end of days.”
Kali stays silent during the ceremony, extremely glad she made it before it ended. When her name gets skipped, a pang of panic washes over her as she fears she isn't going to be called at all. After Kristoff ZZizzx gets called and she still hasn't been called, she bites her lip in nervous anticipation and considers speaking out of turn. When the flightmaster finally calls her name, her posture slouches and she breathes out a sigh of relief.
She salutes the flightmaster back, not extremely worried with her opinion in the matter of Kali's performance. "Thank you Flightmaster. I am proud to serve."
Once she departs, she grabs an extra bucket of goodies for her new friend and skips over to him, barely able to contain herself. She jumps and spins in a circle as she slides the bucket across the floor to him. "Special treats for you!"
Turning towards the hippogriff, smiling. "We did it!" she announces with glee, throwing her arms around his neck and nuzzling his feathered mane. "Can you believe it, Falcor?! I'm so excited and proud of you. Hopefully I won't disappoint you like I do with everyone else? Hmmm? What do you say we get out of here?"
Looking out into the open air, she peers down at the ground and mutters "Uhm. I don't think I feel comfortable flying down there with you. How about you meet me down there, hmmm?"
Heading down to the duty assignment area, Kali receives her patrol orders for the day and gathers up a new, cleaner uniform and goes outside to meet Falcor. Kali grabs a hold of his mane and pulls herself up, climbing on top of him and says "Now then! Where do you want to go first? Maybe I should go show you off?" she chuckles to herself as the thoughts of the previous day come flooding back.
Images of Krovax torturing the gnome suddenly fill her mind and she struggles to put it out of her mind, groaning in protest. Trying to distract herself, she starts talking to Falcor telling them all about her new "companions". Certainly not friends, she thinks. "Maybe Mags. She's pretty bad ass. Vera's alright too, no qualms there. Krovax has lost his f~~@ing mind and Marcus is an a!#~$#$."
"Oh. And there's a fox. What's that? Can you eat her? I'll think about it if you're good."
Rubbing his head, they quickly move towards the last known location Kali saw everyone.
She gets about twenty feet before she remembers that Atterax needs to speak with her. "S*+*!" she exclaims. "Stop! Wait! Hold on, stay here ok? I'll be right back!" she says before sliding off his right side and running back inside in search of the verbal lashing she was sure to receive.
Marcus steps back, seeming satisfied as he gives her the room to take the floor.
He snorts loudly at the mention of the guards being unhelpful. "What a f!#!ing surprise."
Once all is said, Marcus exhales sharply from his nose and shakes his head. "I was just here to find Lamm because he framed me, I'm not here to save the city or anything so grandiose. Not the kind of man you'd want with you for that anyways."
Shi crinkles her nose and purses her lips when the spirit doesn't provide anything all the useful. She shrugs and asks one last question "What about the house you had us meet at to begin with? Is that place safe can we use it?"
No matter the spirits answer, once the ghost is gone she turns to the others. "Well... we need to figure out what to do with these kids to keep them safe. They need food and it sounds like some want to retrieve whatever amount of belongings they had. After we make sure they are settled somewhere safe we should see about turning in those drugs and the journals and gathering some information on what exactly has happened."
Krovax looks to Marcus and nods. ”I’m sure you want your cut of the drug bounty at least. Let’s move together to meet with the guard and turn it in. With all the madness going on, it will be safer to move as a group anyway.”
"Agreed. I'll see the bounty split and the kids safe, then I'm..." He stops, trailing off.
Marcus swears explosively, then starts tearing his armor off. He looks down at his stained undershirt, and on the left side is a large hole, neatly cut in the side. From it he pulls the drugs that were concealed within...but they are noticeably lighter.
Marcus roars, kicking his armor spinning across the ground. "F~$#! I should have given it back, that way she didn't know who had it.
When Marcus explodes about the missing drugs Shi gives him a questioning look. While that kind of thing never interested her she didn't understand why the two men were so upset about Kali using the drugs "What's the big deal? Just take it from her cut."
"I gave my word, that's the big deal!" He roars, turning towards Shi. He jabs a finger towards Krovax. "I told him that that junkie wouldn't get her hands on the drugs!" He swears again. "No wonder she was in such a damn hurry to leave this morning."
Marcus walks over to Krovax with a sad frown, his brows furrowed. "We never set terms, so you can do so now. I draw the line at death or disfiguring, but scars are fine as long as they don't impair me." He stares at Krovax, waiting for a reply.
Shi just scratches her head in confusion, she looks to the other woman and gives them a shrug then let's the men sort out their macho BS while they figure out other more important matters.
Shi crinkles her nose and purses her lips when the spirit doesn't provide anything all the useful. She shrugs and asks one last question "What about the house you had us meet at to begin with? Is that place safe can we use it?"
"I can answer that question. Zellara's house is safe. Actually, I guess it's now my house, although I don't know how I'm going to prove that. It's probably a little better than this warehouse for all these kids until we figure out something better. Magpie, I can go with you to the fishery to get supplies, and then we can go to my house and make a proper living space."
”You aren’t at fault,” Krovax growls in frustration. Not at him, but at his damned sister-in-law. ”She’s always been a bad egg. She’s stolen from me and...her sister on more than one occasion to feed her accursed need. She is responsible for her own actions. If she wants to die from taking too much of that s$@@ due to her own foolishness, then so be it.”
He claps Marcus on the arm appreciatively, adding ”Thanks for not letting her be able to take it all. Even that may have saved her life.”
He looks to Vera and others and says ”We’re going to go get the children to the house, then the adults are going to head to the Guard post. Understood?” he asks, looking to Marcus, Shi, Vera and Magda to indicate they are the ones he feels mature enough to join in reporting to the Guard and warrant a cut of the reward.
Marcus hands over the drugs. "Well I obviously can't keep them safe, and if she thinks I still have the rest than they're safer with you."
Marcus nods to Krovax's plan, retrieving his armor and donning it.
Krovax takes the remaining Shiv and tucks it away beneath his armor. He then turns to the others and waits as patiently as he can for the large number of children to get ready, and then leads the way out of the warehouse and heads for the Citadel.
Magpie had been herding, tickling, clucking away at the kids while the others talked. The only thing that she reacted much to was the inclusion of her as an Adult. Which was surprise, and stifling a grin.
But other than that she gets them all moving until Krovax starts in the wrong direction. "Fishery first, correct? The kids need whatever they've managed to stash away. Then house, thank you Vera, then post."
Zellara nods at Vera, ”my home is deserted, and I have managed to keep away prospective ‘buyers’ over the years. Do not worry children; it is not haunted, but it is in poor repair. It is really Vera’s now, but as she said, it may be hard to prove it. You may wish to squat there for a bit until you can get the papers in order. It would be difficult for me to attest to anything, having been disappeared for so long. I am no expert on such things.” She sighs and claps her hands together lightly as she grows insubstantial, smiling at everyone, ”thank you all for coming together for this. If you have more questions, please ask Vera. I will rest now.” And with that, Zellara walks to door, opens it, and leaves.
—————————-
You all gather yourselves and the kids and head back to the old fishery, collecting the sentimental belongings of the kids. Vera looks through the ledger and finds that ten of the kids might be able to be recovered, as they had last names when Gaedren Lamm kidnapped them. The others seemed to be too young or were homeless when he found them. Unfortunately, Magda’s parents are not identifiable.
They gather all of their things and head south along the river coast to Zellara’s house. On the way back south, they see a broken carriage with a corpse inside, stripped of valuables. There’s no sign of the perpetrators. With nothing to do, the party shields the death from the kids and continues south.
No sign of the food, the wall hangings, the rugs, or Zellara herself can be found—the furniture is in pieces, scattered throughout the room under a thick layer of dust disturbed only by the footprints and evidence the party left themselves on their prior visit. The doors are locked, but with a little effort, Shi is able to pop them and let everyone upstairs into the upper living space. While there is some water damage here and there, and evidence of vermin, it is in better condition than the old warehouse, and with a bit of work, could be livable.
As you have travelled around Korvosa, it becomes apparent that the death of King Eodred II has brought doomsayers and end-of-the-world lunatics out of the woodwork. The majority of them are relatively harmless prognosticators content to lurk on their street corners and preach about the end of the world. A few are more sinister, shouting, “The Eye of Groetus has turned from the Boneyard to look upon Korvosa!” and similar strange, obscure threats.
One wild-haired and sick-looking lunatic fixates on one of the Madga, convinced that the character appeared to him in a dream. He screams At her, ”you will near death during a time of great sickness and peril during Korvosa’s darkest hour, this event will usher in a new age of writhing doom.” The man is approaching Magda, rambling and staring at her. He’s coming from the alley to the side, and he’s about 30 feet from Magda.
Krovax steps between the young one and the madman, raising his shield and drawing his sword and holding it up in a very defensive and highly trained manner. ”Back off, doomsayer. Take your prophecies elsewhere and leave us alone! Come any closer and you leave me no choice but to assume you intend violence!”
The madman looks at Krovax in confusion, ”It must be you, then. Flee! Before you kill the whole city!” He is unarmed l, but he approaches you in confusion and tries to grab you.
But he swipes wildly, scrambling forward with filthy abandon.
earlier:
"Jessie and Ollie will you both be in charge while we're gone? We'll get more food while we're out, hopefully. Until then, if nothing else, our time with Lamm taught us how to suffer through hunger." it was a lame attempt, and they all knew it.
---
"What's a Groetus? Sounds like something growing between your toes." she is speaking to the city as she normally does, but at the moment no one knows that. She's listening to the response, when the man rushes out of the alleyway, surprising her.
"great sickness" she whispers in memory. Her parents, the cart... all muddling up her brain, dulling her whip as she tries to wrap it around the ankle of the man trying to hug the big guy.
Kaliyah rushes back to Atterax's office. He is working at a desk, poring over a report on some new recruits. When Kali rushes in, he puts the report down, and rubs his neck. "Tough business out there, can't say I agree with the Hellknight's methods, but they get results. Shouldn't be long before it calms down." He speaks with her, while she is still standing, "So, you have bonded with Falcor, and it seems you have made progress in your training. Well done. You have made a significant recovery from your earlier, miserable state."
Atterax looks at Kali closely, "Your methods are a little unorthodox, but Field Marshal Kroft has put a call out for any people who have shown similar unorthodox methods, while still meeting our requirements. Such an assignment means that you'll eventually answer to her, and the Sable Company. I believe she and Commandant Endrin are trying to see if they can have their organizations work together more directly. They don't believe existing staff will 'play nice', but you are new, so you are more able to work with a diverse group" He cocks his head, "Does this seem like something you would do? I know you've been training alone and with other Sable Company recruits for the last few months. Whoever Kroft finds will have different ideas than a typical recruit, so you on my orders, you'll have to make due. You may also find that you come across more unusual things than a typical marine - can you handle whatever strange oddities Kroft throws at you? You cannot return to your addiction, no matter how stressful it gets." He folds his hands.
As the obviously insane man attempts to grapple Krovax Shi moves around to the other side of him as she pulls out her blade and tries to bash him on the back of the head with the pummel of her sword, he had no weapons and wasn't a real threat so she didn't see the need in trying to kill the man.
Kali stands at attention, ramrod straight with her hands by her sides as she's being addressed by Atterax. "Yes sir. Thank you sir. I would be so honored to be given the opportunity sir."
She thinks about how to best answer his question. "Thank you Captain for all you have done for me. You have helped me get my life literally out of the fire and back on track. I owe you everything and if you think that this is something that needs done and it is important, I will gladly undertake this task."
She let's her posture slack and turns to address the Captain less formally. Of all of the marines, it was he that she was closest to.
"While I am a marine first, I understand that I may need to adapt and work with others. I will do my best to accomplish the tasks that are set out before me. I believe that Falcor and I will make a very formidable force that cannot be taken lightly. Together, he and I will help restore order, keep the peace and protect the city from all manner of threats. Tell me where you need me and what it is I am to do and I will give it my all."
She straightens to attention again and salutes. Sir"
Marcus steps over and throws his shoulder into the man.
Vera focuses on the crazed man's aura, trying to pacify him as the others subdue him.
He shakes off the effect of the magic, staring vacantly at Vera.
The prophet appears injured, and a little scared, but it is hard to be certain.
Atterax salutes in return. ”Very well, you shall be contacted in a few days once she gets her organization done. Where are you staying, so I can send the message? Field Marshall Kroft is very meticulous. You will have to meet her at Citadel Volyashek at the appointed hour. You are released on your own recognizance until then, but check in with a report once you’re done. You will be mine and the Commandant’s eyes and ears on this mission. If anyone in the guard asks if you doing these reports, you may tell them the truth, but we’d prefer you keep it to yourself unless it comes up. Honest appraisals are more valuable than ones that occur when people feel they are being monitored.” He nods at her.
”In the meantime, keep the peace where you can. The guard can’t be everywhere, and the hellknights can be vicious. Try to follow your training and our principles. You are dismissed.”
He thinks for a moment, and adds, his face softening, ”I hope this work will find you a measure of peace. You seem to be handling this better than Krovax now, at least. My poor cousin. Don’t go down his path, whatever you do...” He stands up and shakes her hand.
Kali lets her eyes betray her and she falters, looking at the ground. "Yes sir. I won't sir. Thank you for this opportunity Captain. I won't let you down."
She dodges the question of where she's staying party because she has no idea herself. "I'll check in every day sir."
She salutes, waiting to be dismissed.
Krovax thrusts his blade at the man, hoping he gains some sense at the threat of his days of false prophecy telling coming to an abrupt and violent end.
Shi manages to bludgeon the mad prophet successfully, and Marcus runs over him. He's still standing.
The man babbles at Krovax, "the dark lady's servants are coming! The veil will never be lifted!"
He collapses onto the ground, crying and holding his head.
Krovax glares down at the man, making sure he is done with his threats on the group, before sheathing his blade and saying ”Let’s go.”
He then resumes leading the band to the Citadel.
"He talks crazy, but who doesn't now and again." Magpie wonders aloud, . "How far?" she's lived in the city all her life, but visiting the guard's place sounds insane, so she's a bit nervous.
It takes another twenty minutes, avoiding chaos and keeping your heads down, for five people to get to Citadel Volshyenek, located on the western shore of the Jeggare. This imposing, defensive looking building seems to be running on a skeleton crew. Two nervous-looking guards stand at attention at the entrance to the yard, and cross halbards at the entrance as they watch you approach. One glances at his companion, "the citadel is closed, except for pressing matters. Go about your business, citizens."
Atterax returns the salute, and says "dismissed."
Magpie does not like the guard, nope one bit. So she eyes him from over---- from around Krovax's shoulder. Wisely she also decides she is not the best to convince them of anything, so shuts it.
”Former Lieutenant Draverian, here to speak with the Commander. Here to turn in sensitive items of note to the Guard,” Krovax says as he steps forward.
"Beggin yer pardon, sir, but what do you mean, Former? Were you kicked out?" One looks confused, and the other sighs, holds up an armored hand and says "wait here, please." He jogs across the yard, to the citadel, and returns in a few minutes. "Okay, but you have to leave your weapons at the inner door." Assuming you agree, he leads you to the entrance, where you see a few cubbies where people may deposit items for safe-keeping, as well as a guard sitting at a nearby desk. He gives you slips of paper and ties corresponding slips to your weapons.
You leave your weapons with the guard, and the outdoor guard leads you to a small office, off to the side, away from the main thoroughfare. He opens the door to the office, and there is a small room, where you see an attractive chelaxian woman in her early thirties with a scar on her cheek, and close-cropped blond hair, wearing a fine set of dress armor, and a holy symbol of Shelyn hanging around her chest.
She stands up, and smiles at you all when you file in, and when you close the door, she sits down and leans back. "Well, look what the house drake's dragged in." She smiles at Krovax. It's Sonya, formerly a sergeant and now a lieutenant.
When they enter the office, Krovax stands at attention and says in a formal tone ”Lieutenant Miran. Congratulations on your promotion.”
She bows her head, "there was a vacancy. What can I do for you, Krovax? You and ..." she gestures, "these new friends?" She folds her fingers, a mischevious glint in her eyes.
Krovax turns to Marcus and nods, signaling to him to feel free to explain things as he wished.
Marcus acquiesces to the dropping of weapons; although the guard were largely incompetent and frustrating in his eyes, they weren't dangerous or malicious. He takes off his entire arsenal; greatsword, morningstar, dagger, crossbow, two daggers, and six throwing chakrams.
Once in the room with Lieutenant Miran, he is sneering, although it may be hard to tell since he always seems to look this unhappy. "We lead a ragtag group to raid Gaedran Lamm's hideout. When we kicked down his door he admitted to framing me for that murder, as well as various other crimes. Since the watch has been too busy trying to pull their heads out of their ass we did your job for you." He pauses, as if the only point they came in here was for Marcus to be a royal dick to her. "Oh, and we recovered a bunch of drugs, figured we'd be good citizens and turn it in."
Shi rolls her eyes at Marcus's lack of tact and adds on to the end "You'll have to excuse my... him..., as I'm sure you are well aware the last several hours have been pressing. In addition to the drugs, we found a ledger detailing Lamm's crimnal dealings and various wrong doings. Perhaps it will help you to close some cold cases or get answers to those who have been harmed by the vile man."
She pauses and looks back toward Magda then continues "We also liberated some children who were being used by Lamm. Some, we think still have families they could be returned to while the others need a new, safe home. Do you have any suggestions?"
Orders received, Kali decides she's not going to wait to be summoned by ield Marshall Kroft and head to Citadel Volshyenek now. Climbing up on Falcor, she hastily makes her way in that direction.
Sonya is briefly taken aback by Marcus’ invective. She rises, and shouts for the other guardsman to come in, ”please escort this person to the yard and return their things. Thank you for your service, citizen.” Her expression has hardened, considerably.
"Hey Wait!" Magda yells quickly, drawing some unwanted attention "He might be an ass, well he is an ass, but he also went out of his way to save a LOT of kids that Lamm was beating, starving, torturing, and just plain using for whatever he wanted. Me included. If just a bit of lip makes you forget that, well... you're an ass too." Magda will leave without resistance is lumped in with Marcus.
”Young lady, you folks asked to see me. I was recently badly injured, so have been doing desk duty, which you might think is easier, but it requires an enormous amount of paperwork and time. I have been working for the last thirty hours. Why? Few of my guardsmen can even read, and one of the other lieutenants was killed by a mob. The city is falling apart and we don’t have enough money to hire enough replacement guardsmen, so I’ve been trying to send diplomatic missives to those outside of the city, requesting help, trying to find ways to scrounge up hazard pay, whatever I can do. Speaking to you folks takes me away from this.” She gestures towards Marcus, ”This man clearly has no interest in speaking to me, so he can wait outside. You can as well, if you’d like. As I said, your service is appreciated.” You notice when she stood up that her leg is obviously wounded and wrapped in a bandage.
When Magda and Shi mention the orphans, she nods, ”that is good news, his orphans did all manner of petty crimes, and the poor things were regularly abused. We caught them when we could and set them up in other orphanages, but they were quite clever, and often escaped us.” She responds to Shi, ”we have a five state-run orphanages that I’m sure will have space, though after this I expect the numbers will swell. They are well maintained and safe, and regularly expected by clergy of Sarenrae and Abadar.” She hands you a slip of paper with the location of the closest orphanages in High Bridge and Pillar Hill, about a half mile to the south and west, respectively.
”As for the rest of you, thank you. Lamm was able to get away with crimes for so long using shell companies and expendable minions. He rarely got his hands dirty himself. I assume he’s dead, if you found the ledger?” She looks at the ledger, ”this is in some sort of code? We will have to break the code, I suspect, and we don’t have the resources right now... Did you find a code book?” She doesn’t wait for a response. ”And this is... 17 doses of shiver. Well done. We will pay you for it and see that it is destroyed.” She appears to have the authority to write out a writ if reward, and fills one out for the shiver in the amount of 425 gold. She has another writ, for the ledger that she hasn’t filled out an amount for yet as she waits for a response.
You get the impression that the lieutenant is tired, frustrated, and busy. It seems like she’s annoyed that Krovax didn’t speak with her.
Krovax nods to Sonya and says ”Thank you. The Guards generosity in this crazy time is impressive.”
He turns to the others, namely at Marcus, and says ”Would you all give us a moment to talk privately?”
.
"But we haven't explained how the ledger works yet! I know you're busy, so I'll make the explanation quick." Clearly wanting to show off how she figured it out, Vera goes over the intricacies of the book at a rapid pace, assuming without really checking that the Lieutenant can keep up.
"Okay, I'm done," she concludes, not too long after. "Thanks, officer!" And catches up to those who are outside.
* * *
"If it was really so easy to be in an orphanage, Lamm wouldn't have gotten to all these kids in the first place," says Vera. Certainly she never got sent to an orphanage when everything fell apart. Though maybe it was just because nobody cared enough to take her to one.
Marcus snorts, almost smiling when she orders him out. "What a surprise, even when I go out of my way to help the guard they still want to throw me out. If you broke both your legs you couldn't be any more useless."
Marcus snorts, spitting onto the ground at her feet, then turns to leave. As the other guards come to escort he raises a hand in warning. "Touch me and you'll never see that arm again." He continues out, grabbing his things and content to wait for the others.
A look of disgust on her face, she motions ”looks like the dog went off-leash. Would one of you mind cleaning up after him? I am not in the mood.” She gestures at the phlegm at her feet. She overhears his threat to the other guard, and laughs. ”Of course, he didn’t threaten me, maybe he didn’t like how it’d go.” For the first time you all notice that she appears to move with strength and grace that you would not expect from a ‘desk jockey.’ ”Shelyn says ‘beauty comes from within’ - but sometimes...”
She sits back down wearily and runs her fingers through her hair. She responds to Vera, ”Yes, thank you. This is very helpful, it will save me a lot of time.” She holds up a finger before Vera leaves, and thumbs through the book, comparing it to the cypher. Nodding in satisfaction, she compares this to another book she pulls out of her desk, and starts checking off items on a list, adding sums, then writes the total on the second writ, 953 gold. ”This is the reward for solving... 22 major crimes, and bringing the perpetrators to justice.” She shakes the ledger, ”Would’ve been half as much if you hadn’t given me the cypher. Thank you, young lady. May Shelyn’s grace make your world more beautiful.” When Krovax asks does the others to leave, she leans back in her chair and nods. ”Sincerely, we appreciate what you’ve done. I believe Krovax would like to speak to me about personal matters, so I will bid the rest of you good day.” She smiles kindly and waits for the others to depart.
When the others leave, she folds her arms. Cooley, she says, ”I’m guessing this,” she gestures at Krovax, ”means you got your man? It was Lamm then?” She watches his face, not unkindly. She appears to be possessed with a grace and a formidable nature that did not exist before.