In the streets of Crawlinghome...
Viri follows the dwarves down the streets of the village and over into the militia building, which amounts to a relatively short walk to one of the larger pyramids in town. The rather uneven streets of the village provide something akin to an advantage for Martingold, who seems to be getting a bit restless. Managing to mask his own movements as part of the bumpy ride to his destination, he manages to turn a knife on the long-haired dwarf's belt into gold, all without anyone noticing.
At any rate the group manages to find their way into the building, which seems to have a considerably large entry hall, next to which is a barracks. The entry hall features a tall dwarf standing about despondently and glancing at four other dwarves in the barracks, one of which is watching three others play dice.
"Hey! Got us a corpse here!" the older dwarf shouts, causing all five dwarves to look their way with a surprised expression. "Two strangers, one dead, one sorceress," she then adds once she has their attention. The long-haired dwarf lays Martingold down carefully on the wooden floor, brushing his hands against one another at a job well done.
The taller dwarf, being the only one near enough to ask an audible question, does not wait to approach. "What kind of sorceress?" he asks with a raised eyebrow.
"Healer, says she," the older dwarf replies. "Was a short distance away in the opposite direction from us, said she didn't see anything," she shoots a suspicious glance at Viri, "you prolly wanna question her."
"Yes, yes, we'll take it from here," the taller dwarf says, approaching Viri for a moment, but then stopping suddenly with a contemplative look on her face, probably wondering about what the procedure is for this.
"I'm sure you will," says the older dwarf. "Captain! Get over here already!"
"I'm coming, I'm coming!" one of the formerly dice-playing dwarves probably at the older end of middle age says, walking slightly uncomfortably toward the group after a long period of being seated. The militiadwarves all stand near the corpse and Viri, regarding both with equal curiosity. "Good work bringing them in," he says, nodding appreciatively.
"I also sent Harold off to get the doctor to see what's going on with the dead guy," the older dwarf adds. "So we can maybe tell what got him, yeah?"
"Hrm, yes," the captain grunts. "Good, good. He'll want to see this," he then says, ducking by the corpse. "Clawed, not bleeding. A bit waxy. You found him where?"
"Out by my farm. He was screaming for help before me and the boys got to him. It's how we knew he was there," the older dwarf explains.
"Really? Hm," the captain says, poking at the corpse for a moment, his mustache quivering inquisitively, then looking at Viri. "What've you got to say for yourself, then?"
In the corridors of Crawlinghome's militia building...
Rev, already having scoped out worthwhile information in his short stay here, goes on to investigate where the carefree dwarf might have gone, strolling down the corridor, only to be passed by the very same dwarf on his way back. Since the corridor doesn't quite branch, it's pretty easy to see where he went - there's an armory on one side with a heavily sleeping dwarf woman "guarding" it, a smallish dining hall on the other side.
At the end of it is what is clearly the local jail, with four cells and a guard post, where another, still awake yet also very much distracted dwarf woman seems to be examining the carefree dwarf's small basket with a smile on her face. This seems to be diverting her attention from the hard-to-ignore fact that the single dwarf prisoner in the furthest cell from Rev's position appears to be mooning her and alternately howling and enunciating highly bastardized versions of old dwarf curses. The racket made by the prisoner almost makes Rev miss a different shout coming from the front of the building.
"Hey! Got us a corpse here!" goes a voice Rev recognizes as likely that of a dwarf woman. The shout appears to snap the woman out of her examination, and she looks first at Rev curiously, almost smiling at him, then suddenly notices the prisoner. "Tom!" she shouts. "You better stop that, or I swear you'll get a new crack to show off!"
The prisoner seems unintimidated, but then the woman pulls out her sword and starts walking in his direction, which is successful at getting him to disappear within the rather spacious cell. The dwarf puts away her sword, then looks at the jail's exit, then at the basket. After a moment's thought she sits down at her post with a jangle of some keys on what Rev supposes is some kind of chain necklace she's wearing. Probably safer than keeping them at her side, all things considered.
Outside an alerted logging camp...
Faer, not quite abandoning his approach, starts to move again, hopefully in a stealthier fashion this time. Circling around the logging camp in a doubly quick fashion, he takes up a watching spot diametrically opposite his previous one, and surprisingly gets a very good view of the camp this way.
What he also notices is that several of the dwarves, about four or so including the ones that first spotted him, appear to have chosen to investigate his previous hiding spot, the rest halting their work for the moment to observe what they're doing or even half-following them just in case. Must be eager to catch sight of something as exotic as him. Right now he could probably sneak into camp from this direction without much trouble if he wished. Almost makes one wonder if this sort of misdirection couldn't be done deliberately, actually, incredibly effective as it seems.
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Topic: Outfoxed - Chapter 1: A Sense of Direction (Read 14718 times)