Ethalion sat in his high backed chair, a golden phoenix upon the top with its wings running down the sides. He stared out the window of the high tower, taking in the beautiful white marble of the city of Ulthwan.
“There has been a murder.” He stated, breaking his gaze from the window to look at the two before him.
“Not of the usual sort though… our boarders are constantly under siege by the Witch King’s forces, this would be no surprise if it happened there. This one though, this took place behind the lines, deep in our territory.”
He stared back out at the city again collecting his thoughts, Ethalion was always clam, collected, and always spoke softly, he never said anything he didn’t mean to or without thought beforehand.
“The garrison near the town of Holden, it’s behind our boarders by at least 20 miles and no more than 30. The garrison commander had been found in the gutters of an ally, his throat slit or torn out, too much damage to really tell.”
He stood from the chair, silently and grabbed a sealed parchment and handing it to Quintus.
“This bears the seal of the Phoenix King and will grant you access to any room within the garrison as well as any resources available, be it personnel or material.”
He circled back around and sat behind his desk again.
“This situation is very alarming mind you, I’m sure you understand what this would mean if our enemies are able to get this deep into our territory.” He stared back out at the city once more, waving his hand and ending the conversation.
“Write to me once every week detailing your findings.”
The journey to Holden was relatively uneventful, as part of a caravan the journey took up to near 3 weeks time stopping at outposts an inns.
It came to a halt in front of the gates of the 'town' of Holden.
A squat 8 foot wall ran around the city, Dwarven in design by the looks of it, but the buildings inside were obviously of human make. The town had started to grow quickly with refugees from the war trying to get as far from the front as possible. Tents littered outside the walls and shanty towns had started to spring up, with a great amount of comings and goings at the west gate alone..
Arannis disembarked and stood by the gate, he stared at his boots as they sunk ankle deep into the thick mud. Sighing heavily, he moved along to find Quintus his companion to discuss a plan of action and how to start this investigation..
He was already analyzing each passerby with the trained eyes only an inquisitor would have..
Quintus raises his eyebrows at the sight of Arannis as a silent greeting. Quintus is already dressed modestly to match the rest of the caravan and refugees- a common tactic anytime he wants to appear less regal. "There are two places to begin our search; Quintus begins as he adjusts his pack, the slum outside the city, or the garrison. Given the Siege, We must assume the Commander was a military target. We should consider that the assassin made contact with a soldier inside the garrison who would know when and where the Commander would be, and when he would be alone. No doubt the slum holds any number of nefarious underlings who would be happy to cutthroat anyone for a quick coin, but the commander wasn't helpless. The assassin is likely skilled and may not be hiding amongst the weeping mothers in the mud. My bet is our assassin has a contact or contacts inside the garrison. I say we start there. I can pose as a soldier newly-stationed at the garrison. Still, the acting commander will be expecting an investigation from the Phoenix and you can fill that role as the crown's official inquisitor. Weeks have passed already, and I doubt any physical evidence is left. We'll need a confession.
Quintus pauses to look out into the sea of tents outside the gates considering his small role in this huge war and then waits for his companion's answer. What do you think, Arranis?
Arranis takes a deep breath, the mix smells of the tent city and town itself filling his nostrils. It all was overbearing.
"Agreed, the garrison will most likely be our best starting point. At least there we can determine how they felt about those in charge and what kind of man the Commander-"
Arranis checks the notes again
" Damir. Commander Damir."
He quickly shuts his small ledger and places it back in his chest pocket.
"Having you in the lower ranks and me in the uppers should serve us well. Try and find out if anyone was disgruntled with Damir, his enemies, his attitude. Anything. After you go in, I'll report in later in the day to not seem too obvious."
Quintus grunts and nods with approval. See you there. After a quick handshake with Arranis, Quintus stops at a dumpy pub, has a shot and brew, changes into something more respectable then heads to the Garrison to check in.
You make your way through the winding streets of the town and eventually through the thick mud pathways of the shanty town, finally arriving before the Garrison. A low 5 foot wooden wall surrounds the square encampment, inside resides a barracks, a stable with quartermaster above it and a main building, typically utilized for more administrative purposes. The Garrison appears to be a mix of races, mostly numbering in Humans as this was a Human town originally. The guards at the entrance step out before you. "Greetings, what is it you're looking for?.." they ask, they don't seem to be aggressive, but are obviously tense with the recent murder of Commander Damir...
Deception "Good morning Gentlemen," Quintus says before smartly snaps his heels together, Private First Class Benningson reporting for duty!
Using the Phoenix's letter as an example, and having plenty of time to prepare and study during the long caravan from the Throne, Quintus produces Private Benningson's reassignment papers from his satchel. After stopping and the pub, and between drinks, Quintus changed-over into his modified officer's uniform into a humble private's garb. The rest of Quintus's possessions lay hidden in his satchel, his studded leather under the uniform with rapier and daggers sheathed to his belt in a military manner. With a military service background, creating his costume came all too naturally...
I've been reassignment to Holden's garrison, my orders are here...
Quintus offers his forged orders to the nearest gate guard for entry.
CHARLATAN FEATURE: FALSE IDENTITY
You have created a second identity that includes
documentation, established acquaintances, and
disguises that allow you to assume that persona.
Additionally, you can forge documents including official
papers and personal letters.
The guards study the papers closely and hand them back, nodding. "Everything seems in order..you'll need to report to Sergeant Gorinson, he's the dwarf roaring in the Barracks most likely.." the other guard nudges him raising his eyebrows. "Erh...keep that between us Milk..."
The guards let you into the compound which seems to be working normally except a few of them seem quite on edge.You pass by Annaris, he is garbed in his Inquisitorial half robes, a chained necklace hanging out from it bearing a Phoenix to show his status. Most avoid his gaze. To keep up your act you will need to report to the Sergeant, otherwise you will need some creative lies..
Milk is a term commonly used in this region by humans, it refers to someone who is greatly inexperienced, as if they were a baby first from the womb.
Quintus makes his way to barracks, careful not to draw attention to himself or to appear interested in Annaris.
Good morning Sergeant, Quintus says, smartly bringing his heels together once more as a greeting to his new superior. This Dwarf isn't some fresh muff stuck on gate-guard...if our ruse is snuffed out, it'll be by a crusty ol' Sergeant like him not a couple of whelps at the gate... I've been assigned to Holden's Garrison. Private First Class Benningson checking in for duty and awaiting your orders Sergeant.
As with the gate guards, Quintus hands his orders to the Dwarf and awaits his response.
[i] Quintus befriended a young enlisted soldier assigned to guard the college while he attended. Having never worked as much of a foot soldier himself, Quintus draws on his old friendship for inspiration of mannerisms and speech.
Deception
Advantage Deception
ACTOR FEAT:
Skilled at mimicry and dramatics. you gain the
following benefits:
• Increase your Charisma score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
• You have advantage on Charisma (Deception) and
Charisma (Performance) checks when trying to pass
yourself off as a different person.
• You can mimic the speech of another person or the
sounds made by other creatures. You must have
heard the person speaking, or heard the creature
make the sound, for at least 1 minute. A successful
Wisdom (Insight) check contested by your Charisma
(Deception) check allows a listener to determine that
the effect is faked.
dat nat 20 on the advantage check lol
Sergeant Gorinson pulls away from pouring over paperwork and stares at Quintus, looking him up and down, his stance, and the way he carries himself."Glad to see, they aren't sending us completely untrained bafoons. Just because we're not at the front doesn't mean we don't need good trained soldiers. Especially with the recent case with the Captain I'm sure you've no doubt heard by now..". Gorinson runs a hand down his long Dwarven beard, deep in thought."You have the look of a soldier and like you're not a complete idiot. Considering everyone is still a suspect it-..". He trails off again thinking on the subject more. "Look. We need a fresh set of eyes on this and since your new here you're the least likely to of done this. Your first orders are to work on this and resolve it. I want it done internally...that Elf from the Phoenix Court is bad news if he is what I think he is.".
Understood, sergeant. I will report back to you once I have something solid. I snap my heels together, smartly face-about and head out on my new task.
Briskly striding away from the sergeant, my head spins with where to begin, They must not have any leads, or any idea who might have done this. If they did, the sergeant may have at least pointed me in the right direction...
I decide to head over to the barracks, find my bunk and hopefully introduce myself to a few of the off-duty soldiers. A few of them may be lounging at their bunks between shifts. I really want to get my eyes on the murder scene, but I'll leave that part of the investigation to Arannis. I need to find a suspect and interrogate them.
I make my way to the barracks, eager to find a soldier begging to talk about the murder and get him to spill; squeeze out every rumor he's heard, every ounce of gossip and try place him at the time of the murder. I'll keep this assignment quiet, for now. No one needs to know about the sergeant's special assignment just yet.
Quintus enters the barracks. Bunks line the way, one stacked on another and it looks to sleep 20, half the Garrison probably stays here during the day and rotates with the night shift. Chests line the front of the bunks and open lockers are jammed along the wall where there is space. It smells like damp wood, and stale linens.
At the back Quintus spots 2 other Privates lounging at a side table, the cards spread across implies he had probably just interrupted their game. They are both Human and don't seem to have an distinguishing features between the two.
One stands up from the table "Hullo" the man says giving a smile that would suggest he's a simple man. "M'name's Gerret. This here's Braddock." he says, jabbing a thumb over his shoulder, Braddock looks up from the game giving a flick of his head upwards. Both look to be stock farmers, but military life pays fine and promises at least one warm meal a day..
"Who're ye?.."
Quintus puts on a warm smile, he may have just found easy street.
Heyo boys, Bernard Benningson, good to meet you Quintus says before walking over for a quick hand shake from each of them, but at my last station most of the boys wound-up calling be Burns. Didn't mean to interrupt your game Quinuts quickly breaks off to say apologetically ...bit of downtime is probably welcome considering the news 'round here lately...boys at the gate seemed on edge, especially Milk...
Deception Check
Gerret and Braddock both shake Quintus' hand firmly. They do not see through his deception at all.
Gerret lets out a low dropping whistle "It's the whole talk of the Gods damn't garrison at this point...even starting to filter out into town now." He sits down, scooping up his cards and shooting a glare at Braddock, ever suspicious of him cheating.
"People talk, so can't blame 'em I guess." He looks through his cards and back at Braddock, grinning and playing his hand.
"Although the biggest talker is Gret, the Quartermaster. You'd think the man is almost happy that the Captain died si-" with a bang, Gerret winces and glares at Braddock, who raises his eye brows and stares at him, obviously cutting him off.
Trying to avoid the obvious awkwardness of the situation, Quintus quickly changes the subject, "Well, like I said I don't mean to interrupt your game. I'd ask you to deal me in, but Gorinson has me on post in a few minutes so I'll unpack and be off. Good to me ya, see you 'round."
Quintus claims an empty bunk, goes through the motions of unpacking and sets off to find his next target; Gret the Quartmaster.
Quintus asks around for the Quartermaster, careful not to run into Gorinson.