Shadows from the Sewers

[Toast]

“Hmmm, yes, the mastermind behind this would most likely not associate with the rats on a regular basis. So base of operations only but no real hint as to who is behind it, unless we find the rats’ hideout and observe it for a while. And you’re right, the ones with a close-by sewer entrance seem the most likely.” Considering the map for a while longer, Toast nodded a couple of times without really coming to a definite conclusion. “The ones used by us will probably be out of question since they are being used after all. Then again, it never hurts to check, just in case. It might be the perfect strategy to use a house people would not consider for various reasons. Hiding right underneath the nose of the investigators, or some such theory.”

The gnome frowned as he said this and looked at Darrik. “Actually…,” he muttered, mulling it over once again before continuing. “Are there any houses in the area or store rooms or similar housings which were used by the Guard for some time and have been abandoned? Or may still be used but very infrequently?”

Following suit as Darrik got up to leave, Toast cleared away the map, neatly folding it up and stuffing it into his bag. “Fish.. well.. I guess there’s no way around it, is there?” Toast grinned half-heartedly. Not that he didn’t like fish but the stench of fish can be quite off-putting, especially when it was stuck to fishnets.
“Maybe we should take along a few provisions, a loaf of bread or a piece of cheese. You know, in case it will make him more cooperative if he’s rewarded for what he is telling us. Though I’m not sure how the Guard would handle this, but I think it might not be a bad idea to give him a bit of an incentive. It might also prevent him from giving false information just to get rid of us, or from overly exaggerating.” In all honesty, Toast had no idea. He only hoped that they would get valuable information, if only to confirm that Tomas was a complete lunatic. Or the contrary.

It didn’t take the two all too long to find Tomas’ father and along with the elderly man, his son. Neither of the two looked to be in very good shape, attesting to the hardships life kept throwing at them but there was a wary gleam in Tomas’ eyes that gave away that he may not be quite as stupid as his appearance seemed to hint at. Or maybe Toast was just imagining this.

Of course though, as soon as Toast and Darrik approached them, everyone in the vicinity stopped in the middle of what they were doing to see what was about to happen. The apprehension was palpable and more than one person had already retreated into the shadows or quite simply run off at the sight of the Guard’s armour. It was the one thing that would make it harder for them to talk to certain witnesses, or so Toast assumed; the fact that the dwarf was in his Guard uniform, whereas he himself was dressed as casually as he always was. After all, he wasn’t really a Guard.

The closer they got to the pair, the edgier Tomas got and Toast had the distinct feeling that he wasn’t going to be around for much longer. Why was that though? They didn’t look threatening, did they? Well maybe Darrik was a bit imposing but nothing to be so scared of to run away from? It wasn’t as though they wanted to arrest the guy. They merely wanted to ask a few questions about what he had witnessed. “You’d think he’d like to see us help figure out what happened to his friend,” Toast muttered between his teeth so only Darrik could hear him in the suddenly eerie silence.

And that was when Tomas bolted, dropping the tools in his hands onto the floor with a loud clutter and leaving his father jumping at the sudden noise.

[Darrik]

Darrik didn't know of any abandoned guard warehouses, and said as much, the dwarf presently resigned to an unpleasant future spent trawling the sewer tunnels ankle-deep in shit. It was the perfect metaphor for many occasions, and Darrik didn't altogether mind having it in his repertoir when swapping tall tales at the tavern. Still, the dwarf hoped somebody saw something which would narrow down their options. "Just keep that mental map of the sewers to hand. Who knows, maybe fortune will smile on us."

On the topic of provisions, Darrik was of a similar opinion to Toast "Agreed. But mostly to avoid having to eat the mystery meat they sell down in old city." The dwarf guard chuckled "Now, don't get me wrong, just because I earned my chit as a master butcher doesn't mean I'll turn up my nose at lesser men's fare... I just don't like it when they try and tell me rat is rabbit. Especially when I can tell by the smell it has been marinaded in sewage."

Darrik tromped alongside the lighter, and likely faster, gnome. The guard tended to stick out like a sore thumb on account of his armour and his obvious dwarven heritage. The big black beard might as well have been a sign saying "Look at me, I am a blimmin' dwarf, I am." But even so, it wasn't all a disadvantage. Being smaller, he was less intimidating. While the odd person might decide to avoid the dwarf's approach on account of the armour, the fact is that human nature tends to view those shorter than themselves as less of a threat. On the way, Darrik cautioned Toast "When it comes time t'talk to the lad, let me ask the questions t'start with, t'make it official. However, if all goes well we can all sit down an' have a little chat about what happened."

The dwarf guard should have known better by now. Phrases like 'if all goes well' were guaranteed to cause misfortune to take an interest in one's affairs.

Darrik had been expecting the usual caution and unwillingness to communicate. He had not expected Tomas, the damnably selfish long-legged son of a jackrabbit, to scarper the moment he saw them. Now the dwarf had a choice to make, though truth be told it wasn't much of one. Hurl his warhammer and risk damaging the youth, or worse? Oh sure, that would make Sergeant Iron's day come report time. Run after the lanky bastard? Yeah, right. Even if he wasn't in full armour, Tomas had the advantage in speed and knowledge of terrain. Do nothing? Bugger that. The dwarf harrumphed and said quietly "I am not running. Toast, it's nap-time for naughty boys. Dart the brat, so I don't have t'break his leg on account of disorderly conduct and obstruction of me doing my damn job." Delegation. That glorious art known to lords, civic officials, sergeants, and now Darrik.

On the assumption that Toast knew how to handle his own equipment, Darrik turned to Tomas' father and paid the fleeing lad no more mind for now, instead laying the groundwork for some citizen co-operation "Alright Tanred, I'm Darrik, and your son ain't in trouble yet. That is, so long as I don't have to go looking for him." Darrik had, in his years as a butcher, cultivated the art of speaking casually at loud volumes to discourage those larrikins who could not help but purchase some 'short cut' bacon, ask for the price, then say 'I couldn't quite hear you from down there'.

But Darrik wasn't a butcher now, he was a guard, and his gruff voice stomped confidently through the air around the netmenders' shanties in a way that said 'Listen to me, because I am loud and reasonable, and this is not what you normally hear from an armoured dwarf'. And what Darrik had to say next was for the benefit of all curious ears, both seen and unseen - not just Tomas' father Tanred

"Y'see, Tomas' mate Caleb got dragged off by some nasty critters what could potentially take off with any one of you. That is unless the City Guard, and me in particular, don't find the damn things and kill them before they kill someone else." Darrik's tone made it quite clear that 'someone else' could be 'anyone in the ruins' "Now, Tomas saw something that night, and what he saw may help me find the damn things and stop them from killing again"

Darrik smiled a big old 'I'm just a tradesman at his job' smile and added "You could say I drew the short straw on this job." The dwarf, an old hand at tavern humour, pauses a beat to allow a couple of nervous chuckles to break the silence "But monster hunting comes later, when we've figured out where they are lairing. For now I just want to have a friendly chat with the lad in the presence of his father. Even if we have to wait for the lad." Only then did Darrik shift position slightly to see how Toast was faring with Tomas.

With the cessation of Darrik's speech, Tanred said in a wheezing voice "Please don't punish him for running, Guard Darrik. He was just scared, is all. He can't ask questions of who he runs errands for, see, and some of them may not be upright citizens like yourself, sir."

[Toast]

What? No, wait! What was going on?
Toast frowned as the youth started running, not sure whether he should run after him or not. This was exactly the kind of situation he despised. Not that his brain stopped working completely when he had to be spontaneous but it worked slower, because it couldn’t cope with having to discard precaution and planning. Spontaneous meant doing something on a whim and that was not Toast’s style.
Really not.

If it hadn’t been for Darrik deciding that this was not the time for a manhunt, and telling him to use one of his darts, the gnome would probably still be staring idly after Tomas as he disappeared around the corner.
However, seeing that the guard was a bit on the quicker side when it came down to spontaneity, Toast instantly did what he was told. He grabbed for the gun fastened to his backpack – it was in a small pouch close to his back so that not just everybody could push past him and steal the gun – and made to follow the youth. He wasn’t really up for running much either but seeing that he was a bit nervous now, he wanted to be a bit closer to Tomas before firing off the gun. Plus, he wanted to make sure that he wasn’t going to accidentally hit someone else.

Carefully, he took aim and squeezed the trigger. Cursing as he saw the dart smash into one of the many boxes stacked along the wall leading to the corner Tomas was trying to disappear around, Toast picked up his feet and hurried after the youngster. But just as he was afraid of losing the boy around the bend, the latter fell to the ground like a dead weight.
Toast practically wanted to clap himself on the shoulder for managing to scratch Tomas after all with what could only be described as a fail shot.

Muttering under his breath, he put back his gun and slipped a small box from out of one of his pant pockets. Carefully, he extracted the dart from the wooden box, trying not to get any of the liquid onto himself, before placing it inside the box, hastily sliding it back into its spot.

Now to the fun part however. How was he going to get Tomas back to Darrik? It wasn’t really far but.. the boy may be tall and lanky but Toast had the distinct feeling that he was not going to be a lightweight, especially not in his unconscious condition. He would have to work quickly however. The dart had only scratched the boy and it would wear off quickly enough. It was a wonder as it was that Tomas had even reacted to the small shot at all. Unhealthy and a bad immune system were his best bet.

Without further ado but with much grumbling, Toast proceeded to hook his hands under the youth’s arms and quite simply dragged the boy back to where Tanred was staring up at Darrik with huge pleading eyes. The dwarf himself was looking at Toast and the gnome briefly wondered how much of this lousy action he had seen. Not that it mattered in the end, the boy was still here. That’s what counted, right?

“That isn’t what we’re here about anyways,” Toast commented as he arrived next to the two just in time to hear Tanred’s pleading statement. Looking at Darrik, he added: “Or do you think his errands may have something to do with this? Anyway, he will wake up shortly, I assume, and then you can question him.” Maybe Caleb had helped him with an errand and that had gone wrong? Though what that exactly meant or could mean, Toast wasn’t so sure. He didn’t even know if it was true or not.

As if on cue, Tomas began stirring and his eyes blinked a couple of times before he mentioned to roll onto his side with a groan. “Bastards!” he hissed as he remembered what had happened and where he was now. “Well you ran away before we could talk to you. Drastic behaviour requires drastic measures.” Toast shrugged as he positioned himself slightly behind Tomas to ascertain that the boy wouldn’t tr any more tricks with Toast at his back and Darrik in front of him.

[Darrik]

When Toast returned with the unconscious boy and his comments, Darrik coughed and said "Now then Fitzgerald, let's not be harrying these folk with questions right away. Please see to young Tomas' health, there. Get the boy comfortable. How long will he be out?" It was a subtle reminder to the gnome of their recent conversation enroute to the ruins, especially the part where Darrik wanted to start the process of questioning citizens in his own way when armoured and on official guard business.

Tomas saved Toast from having to answer by awakening then and there with his baseless accusations of illegitimate ancestry. Darrik shot Toast a stern glance and raised his hand to forestall the gnome from saying anything else which might foul up the dwarf's typical approach "Now then lad, we took no pleasure in knocking you out. Thanks to this brand new trial initiative of using gnomish technology on the ranged application of sedatives, I didn't have to break your leg. We are very happy in the Guard to be able to protect its citizens health to the very best of our ability. Admittedly, we may need to increase the strength and duration of the sedatives, if they're going to be viable for assisting in the peaceful apprehension of larger and more aggressive individuals. In a way, Tomas, today you have already assisted the Guard in improving our processes."

When Tomas spat on the ground in response, Darrik shot Toast another no-nonsense 'please be quiet until I give you a damn cue' look before hunkering down beside the lad "Now, Tomas, while I am finding it very suspicious that you would run away rather than help me find the bastard critters what dragged your friend Caleb away, I'm going to put that aside for now. That is, if you can calm down and think properly for a moment - just like the kind of smart young man who can handle running errands in the rougher side of town would."

With the dwarf's face only a couple of feet away from his own, Tomas would be able to see in fine detail the slightly squashed and askew nature of Darrik's nose, broken many times over the previous seven decades. Then there was the slightly swollen cauliflower look to ears which had received a strong impact or twenty. All in all, Darrik's face had the rough edges to it of a dwarf who'd been in a lot of scraps. But equally genuine were the laughter lines around the dwarf's eyes. It wasn't a pretty face, but it was a face which gave straight answers about the dwarf who was wearing it. Tomas held back on the next choice insult he'd planned and gave a slight nod. Darrik smiled slightly "That's the spirit. No harm, no foul, and the insult to me mother is forgiven. Now, I'm going to talk at you for a little bit. And while I do, you think. And when I'm done talking, I'm going to ask you a question." Darrik looked up at Tanred "And while I talk, and you listen, your father and my partner will put together some food and drink for you." Might as well have those provisions serve the purpose Toast had originally suggested, the dwarf mused.

Darrik continued talking to Tomas, his tone the one he'd used back when his own son Henrik had started in on his rebellious phase. Darrik could remember his own such phase, and he'd been much worse. His parents had been happy to offload him to an apprenticeship. "Now I don't care right now if you've had to commit the odd little misdemeanour here and there to help support yourself and your father. Nobody has come forth with complaint about theft, or any such thing. So if you've got a guilty conscience over something like that, learn the lesson now, without a city guard needing to assist you in learning it later." Darrik gave the youth an easy smile, then continued "What I do care about, Tomas, very much so, is that a young lad of your age can be dragged off the streets and into the sewers by wretched abominations. And I care to find those things, and I care very much to rip out their guts with a butchers knife, carve off their twisted mutant heads, and bring them back as a warning to any bastard thing that thinks killing off children in Marn is alright." Darrik's tone was casual and even, as if he were discussing the necessity of buying some bread that evening because the last loaf was getting a little mouldy. Despite the tone there was a subtle intensity to the dwarf's words, a hint of ice in the green of Darrik's eyes when he said 'wretched abominations'. Darrik's posture remained open and non-threatening. Tomas, however, was growing slightly pale beneath Darrik's unrelenting words and gaze.

"You see, Tomas, I'm not here to arrest you. And if you've done something which might warrant an arrest, I suggest you don't do it a second time. I'm here to find out everything you know about what happened to Caleb. I want to know why you were man enough to report it as a witness so soon after it happened, but now see a Guard's uniform and assume the worse. But most of all, What I want to know is..." Darrik interrupted himself "No, before I ask, I want you to think about the question when I ask it. Think long and hard about who you are, and what kind of man you want to grow into. And then answer the question. Do you get what I'm saying, Tomas?" Tomas tried to moisten his lips and tongue some more, but chose to respond with a simple nod instead of words. "Good lad."

Darrik looked at the boy a moment longer then said "Now you know why I'm here, and keeping in mind your mate Caleb has been taken from being among Marn's living by foul abominations, I want you to consider carefully then answer this question: Are you the kind of friend who will honour a friendship even after the death of a friend, or are you the kind of friend who will ditch a person the moment the friendship becomes inconvenient." The dwarf paused "Think on that, and don't say a word yet. You have something to eat, Tomas, something to drink. Make your decision on a full stomach. Then, after you've made your decision, you talk to me. I'll know by what you say which decision you made."

Darrik took a moment to turn his head and towards Toast "Fitzgerald, if you could assist me by seeing if any of these other fine and upstanding citizens have heard anything at all via the rumour mill, I would be greatly appreciative. Doesn't matter how strange or outlandish, if it's a rumour to do with missing people, the sewers, or large rats, I am all ears. If the grub for Tomas isn't ready yet, I'll take over that side of things with Tanred" The dwarf guard then returned his focus to Tomas. "It's all on you now, Tomas. On what you want for Caleb. And on what kind of man you want to be, deep down."

[Toast]

He may not be completely pleased with the tone but Toast also knew that Darrik was talking like this because they had face to lose. Either way, he was absolutely not disinclined to let the dwarf handle the more official side of this business and stick to the background, observe and listen. It was quieter, it was less spontaneous hassle, and it wouldn’t compromise their investigation seeing that Toast wasn’t actually a proper guard, only a contractor. He completely ignored the stern look Darrik shot him. He knew all too well that the tranquilliser had worn off far too quickly, but fortunately, he knew that this was not due to a malfunctioning of the gun or the dart itself but rather due to Toast’s bad aiming skills. Though of course those were only due to the stress he had suddenly felt pressuring down on him. Otherwise, all would have been just fine and the youth would have been out for at least fifteen more minutes. Then again, maybe this was just as well. It kept them from having to wait around for too much longer.

Toast definitely had to hand it to Darrik though. The dwarf knew his way around the words and even managed to make this little miss-shooting appear as a good thing, lulling the lad into a sort of safe haven. Not that they were going to harm him anyway but Toast got the feeling that Darrik could have sold a malfunctioning toaster to her mother and she would have believed it to be working fine despite the bread coming out all mushy.

Briefly letting a corner of his mouth slip up into a grin in response to Darrik’s no-nonsense look, Toast tried to convey that he wasn’t going to interfere anymore with the questioning. When he got his cue to prepare a few little niblings with the boy’s father, Toast instantly went to work, turning towards Tanred with a friendly smile. Rubbing his hands together in anticipation, he grinned at Tanred before opening the bag with the provisions they had brought along with them. “Would you fancy a bit of bread and cheese? We also brought a few very lovely tea leaves if that is of any interest to you?”

By the time they had cut up a few slices of bread and cheese and somewhere produced a sort of wooden plank that could be used as a serving dish, Darrik was already calling for Toast’s assistance again. Gladly leaving the two rather confusing looking men to the food, he turned towards the dwarf. “The food is ready. And I’m very sure the rumour mill will have produced quite a few interesting stories by now. Let’s go find out what they are.” He winked at the dwarf to show his amusement at the mission awaiting them now. It was most likely going to be horribly misconstrued stories of things that probably have never happened, but it was most certainly going to be very interesting. And who knew? With a bit of luck they might be able to uncover something helpful. After all, there was a grain of truth to every rumour. It was just a matter of finding the right grain.

The first few people the gnome talked to were reluctant at first but as soon as they realised that they weren’t going to get into any kind of trouble and that they weren’t asked questions about their personal life, they began talking freely. As predicted however, nothing much came of it. They had seen people ‘disappear’ but for the most part, it had really only been youngster running off from home and returning after a while, or drunkards finding a spot to sleep off their inebriation. Nothing pertaining to their mission at hand.

That was until Toast spoke to the fifth person. Or rather Rose, the daughter. “I’m not sure what I’ve seen, really. It was just all so blurry, and it happened so quickly. I just remember it being a huge animal with a head as big as a house!” The accompanying arm gestures were supposed to illustrate just how big the head of the rat had been. “It had sharp, pointy and very large teeth with furious bloodred eyes. It looked like the spawn of the devil himself!”
“Is there anything else you remember?” Toast inquired carefully as the little girl was staring off into space, slightly trembling from time to time at the memory of this terrible beast she had happened upon.
Shaking her head quickly, Rose looked away from Toast. “No, nothing.”
Certain that this was meaning the opposite, the gnome wondered how he should tickle the rest of the information out of the girl. He wasn’t really good with the delicacy. He was used to arguing with his sisters and in the worst case threaten one of their precious possessions into spilling it. That would not work on Rose however.
“Listen, I know it must have been awful. And the only reason I’m asking you to remember more details about this horrible incident is because more than one person have gone missing. We-” he briefly pointed towards Darrik, “-want to find those people, or at least punish the culprits responsible for this. You see, we need your help if we ever want to find those people again.”

Of course, it had sounded incredibly smooth when the dwarf had spoken along similar lines in order to coax Tomas into talking but Toast didn’t have the ability to achieve the same tone of voice. Nevertheless, it seemed to have done the trick.
“It could talk. The beast could talk! That ugly piece of shit of a rat was actually talking like a human being. This should not be possible. Should it? It cannot have been possible? I was dreaming this, was I not?”
The girl was clearly starting to panic and Toast looked at her mother in alarm, wondering if the woman was even going to do something but apart from a few soothing pats, she left the girl to her own devices, leaving the matter to Toast. He was the one who had brought this upon Rose, thus he was the one who was going to remedy the situation.
“I’m so sorry, Rose. I really am! I didn’t mean to make you scared. I thank you so much for your help. You have been a great help, you know? The information you have given me, I did not have before. You have been very valuable and you have done a very good deed today.” Frantically he wished, he had some sort of candy stashed away in his pockets to reward the girl for being so brave, but that was something he rarely ever carried. Candy was sticky and it got into things where it shouldn’t and he couldn’t have anything compromise his knick-knacks.
“They came from there,” Rose sniffed but she had calmed her breathing again as she had swallowed every word Toast had offered her. When the gnome followed the way she was pointing, his eyes narrowed briefly. It was exactly the same location from where Caleb had apparently been abducted. Children rarely lied, did they? This could be valuable information indeed then. After having been thrown through the child filter of exaggeration. But it was for damn certain that Rose had seen something.

Toast stuck with the girl for a while longer, trying to lighten her mood and steer her thoughts into a different direction before he finally joined up with Darrik again, giving him a meaningful glance but not saying anything. This was not something he was willing to discuss in front of Tomas and Tanred. Nor would Darrik want them to know too much, he figured.

[Darrik]

Darrik left Tomas in peace while the lad ate his bread and cheese. Instead, when Toast went off to gather some gossip from the locals, the dwarf chatted with Tanred on diverse matters from the net-mending business to the state of the Ofriyu and how the fishermen were doing. The dwarf's peripheral vision kept tabs on his witness, though, so as to know when Tomas had finished his meal. He also kept tabs on Toast where possible, and the body language of the folks he was talking to.

Truth was, Darrik was still a bit worried about this whole 'New Partner' scenario. Darrik hadn't done a lot of business with gnomes, so didn't really know how they thought or acted as a general rule. Dwarves he knew, of course. Humans too were pretty easy to gauge. Elves and gnomes, though, not so much. From early observation Darrik was getting the impression that gnomes, or Toast at least, seemed a little awkward in the personal communication department. Of course, to be fair, from what Darrik now knew of Toast's background, the gnome's career hadn't exactly been the kind of thing warranting much in the way of communication skills. Just a damn good memory and a bit of nerve in the tunnels. The dwarf would have given a month's wage to have had a month to get used to his new partner before being given a task like this.

Even worse, Darrik wasn't sure exactly what was specifically bothering him. Was it just 'new partner nerves'? The old saying that 'Gnomish Technology isn't broken until they fix it'? The dwarf was definitely bothered by the fact that the tranquilliser had only left the boy unconscious for a few minutes: nowhere near long enough to haul something larger through the sewers and out to where it could be properly dealt with by other Guards. The dwarven guard was beginning to think Sergeant Iron or his superiors might have pinned Toast on him in the hopes the gnome would get killed in the line of duty, discrediting both Darrik and whatever initiative the Gnomes had going. Darrik was glad when his darkening thoughts were suddenly interrupted by Tomas. The lad's tone was subdued, but still rebellious in attitude "Alright. I'll answer you 'bout Caleb. But nuffin' else."

Darrik very carefully did not smile. Henrik had been like that when younger: fractious and defiant in defeat. He too had matured after ...well, no use thinking about that right now. "It's alright, Tomas. It's only Caleb and what happened to the poor lad I'm interested in. You just talk at yer own pace, right? I'll simply sit here and listen, and maybe ask the odd question to clarify. We got a deal?" Tomas nodded, somehow finding himself annoyed that the dwarf was refusing to adhere to the stereotypical 'Mace-Up-His-Arse Dictator Guard' role with which Tomas was more familiar. It made his own stance seem somehow childish, and Tomas did not like that sensation at all. Taking a deep breath, the lad began his recounting.

At first, Tomas' story came out like a flood, "So, me an' Caleb, we run errands-like, little packages and bits for traders and businessfolks and the like, right? And we's pretty good too, timely and don't get distracted or mess with the goods. Good at runnin', too, which y'have to be cos there's sometimes folks what don't want a package delivered and when that happens you got to get the package where its goin' damn quick to get the job done and your reward before it all turns to shit, right?" Darrik nodded, encouraging the lad to fill the silence with more detail.

"So we was runnin' a lot of errands of late, y'know? Business has been real good, and Caleb was saying he'd met someone who was offerin' real good barter on results, right? I mean, it was always Caleb gettin' those offers because he's thinkin' and runnin' were just as fast as the other, if you get me?' Darrik nodded again. He was getting the impression that Caleb had filled in the position of 'Older Brother' for this youth. Still, a boom in the message running business? In this side of town? That would bear later consideration. Not wanting to interrupt Tomas' flow of information, the dwarf held off on questions "So we'd been running longer errands, right? Like, sometimes as far as the industrial area, and I can tell you the toffs think their shit don't stink, but they are right up themselves. It's all blimmin luck o'birth Caleb said. Anyways we'd just finished one job, and Caleb had said to the bloke he was ready for harder work if it was needed. I mean, that job alone got me a bolt o'nice cloth me old man was able t'trade at market for new tools and several meals worth of food. But Caleb, he was always thinkin' big, you know, and it was when we was coming back from that job that Caleb was tellin' me to go home an' get some rest. An' I was goin' to, and had headed off, but then I remembered I wanted t'ask him somethin' and I went back t'find him." Tomas stopped. He'd planned to jump this hurdle by means of shear momentum, but his memory balked, his vocal chords tightened up, and suddenly speech was seeming impossible.

Darrik slid into the gap immediately "It's alright lad, take your time. It aint easy, t'lose someone. Right now, it's a raw and open wound, and I know these questions of mine are pouring salt right in there. And I am sorry to do this to you, Tomas. Truly I am. Yet, with each day that passes it could mean another death, and I want that even less than to cause you pain. Now take a deep breath lad, gather yourself. When you have, describe for me at first not -what- happened, but -where- it happened." Darrik watched the youth take a ragged breath. In a moment, Tomas nodded, and continued his recollection.

"I could hear him enough t'follow him, you see, an' when I caught up with him it was, it was in..." Tomas paused, trying to regain a sense of his memory "A kind of alley, made by a row of collapsed shanty huts, like they'd had a fire go through them or somethin' and hadn't been rebuilt. It weren't one of our usual runnin' routes. You see, t'be a good runner, it helps t'have routes y'know as well as the inside of ya nostril, right? To slip off a chase, an' all. An' don't bother askin' what me routes are." Tomas once more showed a flash of defiance. In truth, Darrik was relieved by that, as it showed the lad was resilient enough to get past this. The dwarven guard responded "Wouldn't dream of it, Tomas. Not that you'd need a special route to outrun me. Stumpy legs like mine couldn't catch you on a straight, let alone home turf. Do you remember what you saw when you caught up with him?"

Tomas caught himself almost laughing at the dwarf's quip. He didn't, though. Runners don't laugh at a Guard's joke, the lad reminded himself, and they don't drop their own guard neither. "He was standin' there, shocked like, not movin'. There was this really large white rat-thing, size of a bloody big dog, surrounded by others like it with darker fur. Kind o'hard to tell exact colour of them at night, but the stink o'sewage carried down t'me with the breeze off the Ofriyu. I was about t'say somethin', you know? Call out, like, but it was like I suddenly realised how scared I was, an' for a moment I couldn't move too. It was like the white one was lookin' right through me. Then..." Tomas squared his shoulders "Then they mobbed Caleb, an' one started towards me. Well, I ain't a coward, but I ain't a hero what can deal with somethin' like that. I ran as fast as me legs would carry me, and only stopped when I saw a guard, who I blabbed the entire story to like a goddamn idiot. Now I've been seen talkin' t'guards twice, I'll be lucky to get any work at all." Tomas sagged, shoulders hunched.

Darrik tugged at his beard and finally realised that Toast had been trying to catch his attention. The dwarf caught the gnome's gaze and nodded his acknowledgement in return. Really, there was only one or two more things to wrap up. "Tomas, it ain't always a bad thing to let guards know about these things. And you have plenty of witnesses here today what can attest to the fact you haven't even dropped a hint as to who any of your employers are." Although, at this stage, Darrik definitely wanted to know who those recent employers were. However, the dwarf knew that would be a dead end with Tomas, short of hard interrogation, and the boy didn't need any extra grief. Especially not that kind of grief. There'd be other ways to find out who the lad had been running errands for. "I appreciate your co-operation in this, and you've shown yerself to be a proper citizen of Marn by helpin' me out. There's only one thing more I'd need to know, and that's the exact location of where this alley was. Then, you can head off and spend the next few days bitching about nosy guards to your associates, right?"

Tomas' relief was palpable. The lad described in detail, with guiding landmarks, how to reach the spot. It was a very close match to the information he'd given the first guard, but now Darrik and Toast should be able to find the exact location of the attack. Darrik glanced up at Toast, hoping the gnome's remarkable memory and eye for detail with regards to maps would be coming into play here as well, and said in his 'for the public voice' "Well Fitzgerald, I think we have taken up enough of these fine citizen's time. Let's be off to find where those damn abominations are laired." As the dwarf came to stand alongside Toast he whispered out of the corner of his mouth "We'll walk a few minutes, Toast, then we should be in the clear." Again, for the benefit of all present, Darrik added "Thank you all for assisting the City Guard today. Your time was appreciated! We'll be off now."

Darrik began strolling, and soon enough the pair would find themselves in a spot where they could carry on a quiet conversation without being overheard. Darrik started off with a recap of Tomas' story, and added "There's something not right about this, Toast. I feel it in me beard. Tomas ran and got away, even after bein' seen. Yet that Caleb stood still and got mobbed. And what's with all these new and profitable errands the lads were recently running? And why is it that the most capable and ambitious one o'the pair gets taken, and the offsider isn't? Something isn't adding up here, but damn me if I can see the full picture." Darrik tugged at his beard again "What did you learn, Toast, and what are your thoughts?" If there was one thing Darrik -wasn't- worried about, it was his new partner's ability to think about information critically.

[Toast]

When Darrik acknowledged his presence, Toast was satisfied. He hadn’t wanted more than for the dwarf to realise that he was back but wasn’t planning on interrupting anything. It didn’t take him all too long to follow the conversation either, fairly easily making the connection between what they knew and what Tomas was telling Darrik without having heard the whole prelude. What mattered was that the boy was actually revealing what he knew, and quite in a bit more detail than the gnome had dared to hope. All things considered, the youth could even be considered talkative.

Nodding, Toast followed Darrik’s lead and bid the two men goodbye. There really was more than just a little they had to talk about when the end of Tomas’ narration was anything to go by. He hadn’t had the intention of instantly starting to discuss it anyways, but he didn’t make that mention to the guard. It wasn’t necessary. Darrik was the guard and Toast trusted his partner to make the right kind of decisions and he would also soon enough learn that he wouldn’t have to worry about Toast interfering.

And just as before when they were pondering over the maps, Toast realised just how similar their thoughts seemed to be angled and he was pleased about this fact. It made working together so much easier and the gnome got more and more comfortable with this partner situation, or at least with the partner. It was a completely new situation but he grew accustomed to it quickly enough.

“Yeah, I don’t believe that there wasn’t something else entirely involved as well. This just seems too odd and too much of a handy coincidence for the boy to have been abducted at that particular moment in time and without even being hurt or seeming overly scared. All the other witnesses seem to have been accidental witnesses to the kidnappings, but Tomas.. No, it doesn’t fit. I think your beard is right about that.” Toast grinned at Darrik before continuing.
“What do you think this business is that Caleb seemed to have gotten in to? Smuggling? Blackmarket? Worse? Sounds to me though that the ambitious one might have been removed for higher purposes while the other one, who in the end was nothing but a mere pawn, was spared because he was useless. To them at least,” the gnome added as an afterthought because he didn’t want to appear as though he was considering Tomas to be a sort of lowlife, which he wasn’t.

In response to Darrik’s question, Toast related his own story briefly. It wasn’t much but it confirmed what they had read in some of the reports as far as the beasts were concerned. “Of course, it has to go through the overdramatic young girl filter but I think all in all, she was saying the truth and she was terrified of the things as well, so I don’t believe she was making it up. I think we should look into the whore abduction next. Wasn’t that the one with the description almost like Rose’s? It would help us figure out possible similarities, it would also reveal whether or not the appearance is actually what they say it is. Plus, it shouldn’t be all too far away from here. Or do you want to talk to Gladrags first?”

[Darrik]

Darrik tugged at his beard again. It was good to have a sounding board, there was no question about it. "Y'could have a point there, Toast. The question which is goin' t'send me grey ahead of my time though, is 'What kind of higher purpose?'" The dwarf grimaced "Teodinus bloody knows you don't need to pull a mummer's act like that to promote a bloke, even down any of the dodgy paths you mentioned. I mean, what bloody criminal purpose would be achieved if, assumin' we are correct, the lad Caleb's capture was faked? Who benefits in havin' someone who's on th'records as dead?" The dwarf shook his head "That's the kind of twisty thinkin' that just ain't natural to me, Toast. So if you come up with anything as we muddle along, you let me know." Despite that admission, the dwarf smiled and added "But as to what the little bugger has been up to, well, that may not be as hard t'find out as their employers might like t'think, if they haven't covered their tracks properlike. Gossips will gossip, with the right drinking partner. And I may not be the right drinking partner myself, but I pay the tab of a couple who are on the sly. You'd be amazed who you get to know when you supply an area with quality cuts o'meat for a few decades."

Darrik paid close attention to what Toast had to say about the townsfolk's gossip and rumours, and the gnome would be witness to an unusual transformation. The moment Toast explained that Rose had seen something, had even heard the thing speak, Darrik's entire body language changed seasons from summer to winter. It was a grim voice which grated a single word between the dwarf's clenched teeth: "Shifter." There was pure ice and menace in the Guard's statement. But a moment later it was gone but for a hint of tenson to the dwarf's posture. "Seems y'were right, Toast. That ain't the kind o'story a girl makes up and gets angry about. No, that's the kind of story a child gets angry at not being believed about. Well spotted." If Darrik had've had any kind of idea where the damn abomination was right then, he'd have been down the sewers faster than he could say 'gut the bastard', without a bloody moment's hesitation. But he didn't. And that galled the dwarf more than a hundred veiled slights ever could. Nonetheless, the urge to change plans from investigation to trawling through the entire sewer system was strong. But even Darrik had to acknowledge that would be stupid and counterproductive. With the practice of years, Darrik put the ice-cold knot of fury back in its special shrine deep within himself. The time would come, and he'd know soon enough if -this- one was the one.

With his mind on personal vendetta, the dwarf almost missed what Toast was saying, but managed to pick up the gist of it. "Right, yes. The prostitute's circumstance reeks of somethin' amiss... but I think we need t'find out more of what's goin' on hereabouts before we go pokin' our nose in that particular nest of scum. 'Specially if we want t'catch the sly guttersnipes out on their more clever lies. We'll go see Gladrags, get the lush trawling for information instead of rubbish. Then..." It took every bit of effort not to say 'we hunt the shifter.' The right time would come, Darrik knew, when they were better prepared to cut off its escape routes. "...well, to be honest, at that point I think we'd be well advised to stop for a bite to eat, a drop t'drink, and some time to think." Darrik tugged at his beard again. Some days, he wasn't sure what he'd prefer better: breaking up a ruckus of armed bruisers, or this Changer-blighted tangle of intriguing and unsettling murders an' disappearances. Still, the former wouldn't give him this kind of unhindered shot at a shifter. "For now, though, let's go find Gladrags."

Darrik led the way, happy to converse enroute if Toast had the inclination or any questions. The dwarf took a meandering path roughly parallel to the Ofriyu, heading for the nastiest parts of the ruin's shanty town. If the dwarf was at all bothered by some of the hate-filled eyes glaring their way from poverty-stricken men of puradyne persuasion, he didn't show a twitch of it. Darrik might as well have been walking through his own house for all the attention he paid the inhabitants who so overtly resented both his heritage and his uniform. Dozens of bitter minds shared the thought "If it weren't for that armour..."

Darrik's course led them to what could have been a sewer entrance, if based on smell alone. Instead, a small community of foul-reeking ragpickers and sewer scavengers looked up at the dwarf's loud approach, and rapidly made themselves scarce. All that was left was one particularly grotesque member of the profession. Gladrags, by any other name, would have to wash a million times to have a chance of smelling sweet. It was hard to tell race or gender under the layer of filth encrusting the motley figure before them. The hoarse, cackling style of speech, interspersed with the occasional fit of coughs, didn't really help with identification either. "Eheeeeeh, it's the dwarf come visiting again and again and again to gladden the rags with bags of beer." One grimy fist wipes away some of the Settlers-knew-what from an eyesocket, revealing a piercing grey eye locked onto Darrik "And has the dwarf beer? Ale for what ails? Lager to make larger men drop? Something hoppy enough to make a lady jump?" Gladrags' natterings were cut short with a sequence of hacking coughs, which Darrik used as his cue to speak in casual and noncommital tones. "Y'know how it goes, Gladrags. Quality in exchange for quality, talk for talks, and new deals born of old. Wasn't that what y'said the first time?" Gladrags glared in response, and rummaged in an ear for wax with a little finger. The dwarf's memory and ability to throw Gladrags' words back at the ragpicker were a damn nuisance. If the bearded bastard wasn't a stickler for keeping to his word, and Gladrags didn't have such a sweet longing for that potent dwarven beverage, the strange acquaintanceship might never have worked out. But Darrik had, time and again, proven to be a dwarf of his word, and had good taste in brews to boot. Thus did Gladrags justify doing business with the Guard.

When Gladrags finally gouged out a heroic lump of earwax, the ragpicker glowered at Darrik and Toast "Whaddaya want, and who is this? Who is this is this is this the proof the guards are running short on funds haha? They say the wasteland is a gnome-mans land haha and here we are gnome or-or less." Another hacking cough, and while Gladrags tried to catch breath Darrik grinned and said in a quiet aside "Well Toast, this is Gladrags. My eye in the sty." More loudly, the dwarf said "Information on ugly rats. You know the ones. And why the runner lads are so busy." There was a cold glint in the dwarf's eyes as he added "And if you can find me where the albino rat shifter lairs, I'll buy you a small damn barrel of the stuff." In a more businesslike tone the dwarf said "Standard fare on the rest: food for interesting and true, beer for things I can use straight away." Gladrags rubbed filthy hands together with a grin displaying rotting teeth "Yes yes yes, I will seek and I will find in the garbage of mice and men haha but what of you!" Gladrags turned one grey eye in Toast's direction. Which was significant only in that the other eye remained very much locked onto Darrik. If one overlooked the intensity of each eye's focus, one could almost pretend it was just a lazy-eyed stare. Darrik, taking a moment to be an utter bastard, does nothing to bail Toast out of answering. Any appeal would be met with an amused pair of raised eyebrows perched mischievously on an equally amused dwarven face.

[Toast]

Upon hearing Darrik’s reaction to his possible theory, Toast lifted a questioning eyebrow but he didn’t ask the flow of questions suddenly spreading in his mind. No, he wasn’t going to pry into Darrik’s privacy. At least not yet. They may be getting along fine and thinking along the same lines, but after all, they had only met that day, and Toast didn’t want to have personal questions turned onto him. He wasn’t much for speaking about himself. There wasn’t much to say. Unless he could talk about his inventions. Now that was a topic he could go on and on and on about, but that was an entirely different matter.

“Shifter, you say,” he muttered, ignoring the tone and the slight change within his partner before Darrik got a handle on himself again. “Hmm.. that opens a world of possibilities again.” And it would most of all mean that the normal precautions he took for the sewers might not be enough. After all, a rat was not the same as a shifter rat. Then again, what did he know? He wasn’t a genius when it came to magic, at least not that kind of magic. For him magic was technology and engineering, but once again, that was a whole other thing.

“Now you’re talking! ‘A bite to eat and a drop to drink’ – that is like music to my ears,” Toast smiled. As they walked on, Toast couldn’t help but admire the way Darrik was ignoring practically everyone on their way, whilst most certainly keeping an eye on everyone nevertheless. Had it been him in the dwarf’s shoes, he wasn’t sure he would have been so confident about himself. Then again, it wasn’t as though gnomes were the most loved species to have ever walked the earth but in comparison to the glares Darrik was getting, he was a perfectly normal human in comparison. Generally, he didn’t pay much attention to that kind of thing himself though that was also mostly due to not taking routes where he encountered quite so many people, but seeing that he wasn’t the center of their attention at all, it made him realise just how hostile some people really could be.

The gnome looked at Darrik from the side, cocking his head slightly when the dwarf wasn’t paying attention and wondered whether the guard’s hatred towards shifters was comparable to the animosity he was being shown just at that moment. It would be worth considering at a later time but definitely not now. Pushing any such thoughts from his mind, Toast simply continued the light banter without investigating further either into why people were so openly almost aggressive or into the reasons behind Darrik’s dislike for shifters. He would learn details soon enough, he was sure. One way or another.

As much as Toast was used to being in the sewers, encountering a man like Gladrags made even him almost screw up his nose but he kept a straight face. He had to admit that it wasn’t very easy, but he did. He wasn’t sure what he had expected from someone who accepted payment from the hated guards in exchange for some information but this seemed to not quite fit the bill, then again he shouldn’t have been quite so surprised. The coughing was putting him off however. Horrible. And the man could probably not even afford any kind of medicine, although he didn’t strike Toast as particularly interested in his health if it didn’t involve drowning himself in beer. The earwax was particularly disturbing though. The gnome still did not quite comprehend however how it could put him off so much after many, many years in the sewers.

When the informant tried to mock him though, he raised an eyebrow, but following the same procedure he had adopted with Tomas and Tanred, he kept quiet, following Darrik’s lead. The dwarf knew how to handle the man and Toast didn’t want to mess this up. They needed all the information they could get after all. He had not expected the man to look towards him though. And Darrik, the bastard remained quiet. Now of course, he didn’t say anything and expected Toast to reply, when every other time when the gnome had actually wanted to say something, he had made clear that he was handling the situation. Alright then. A test? Fine.

“What of me, good Sir?” Toast returned the man’s incredibly odd stare – what on earth was wrong with his eyes – successfully suppressing the shiver that wanted to sneak down his spine. “If you want to know what I am seeking, then you already have your answer as my partner has already told you what we would like from you. If you want to receive more payment, you have your deal. Take it or leave it, we won’t mind drinking some of that ale ourselves. If there is anything else you would like to enquire or begrudge, please, do not hesitate. We may or may not take it into consideration.” What the heck was he supposed to say? He just hoped he hadn’t made a complete fool of himself and he certainly was glad whenever they were finally going to turn their backs onto this man. Toast really was not one for communicating. He hadn’t even understood what the guy wanted from him. Oh well. No harm, no foul, or so he hoped. He turned towards Darrik briefly and raised a questioning eyebrow at his guard friend, wondering why on earth the dwarf found this so terribly amusing. Not that he himself was really annoyed, he was just very uncomfortable in his own skin at that moment and would gladly have disappeared down a hole. He didn’t like spontaneous and he didn’t like these sorts of questions or situations or people even. It all made him nervous.

Taking a deep breath, he tried to keep his outwardly calm demeanour upright and levelled his gaze back at Gladrags, who was mostly already laughing his butt off, if not necessarily openly. What a way to embarrass myself, Toast thought.

[Darrik]

Darrik's prank confirmed his earlier observations. Toast was definitely a little stiff and pompous when it came to conversing with strangers. Well, better to find out now than to make the error of setting his new partner to a task which required casual chatter to winkle out information from a wary person. A smile tugged at the Dwarf's lips as the gnome floundered in response to Gladrags. Darrik did cut in though, before things got too out of hand or awkward for Toast "Now there Gladrags, not everyone's the kind o'bloke to see your value and come to our kind of arrangement. I'm afraid you've got a dwarf's chance at winning a sprint against elves when it comes to getting free samples of gnomish brew out of my partner here." Gladrags responded with a hacking cough and a muttered "wharf door, door wharf, only good dwarf's a wharf door when elfs is bad for healths", then swivelled their second eye off Toast and back onto the dwarf. Darrik's eyes maintained their mischievous glint, but the dwarf readily changed the topic.

"Tell your friends to be careful down there, Gladrags, right? It's better to run away if they catch sight of these things than t'hang around and become dinner. And one last deal for you: if you find any corpses down there which look like they've been mauled by a large animal, you get word to me first and there's two bottles in it for you." Darrik went on to briefly explain whereabouts people had been taken from the streets, to give Gladrags some guidance in possible starting points. The dwarf didn't expect them to come up with anything, but there was no way of finding out without making the offer. Y'just never knew what someone could achieve under the right incentive.

The ragpicker responded vaguely "Bodies and beer and rats and cellars haha scurrying with the scurriest" Gladrags had nothing else to say on the matter, but Darrik could tell by the sudden loss of focus in the flotsam sifter's eyes that Gladrags felt the rendezvous was done with. Darrik, for one, would be right glad to get out of there. The dwarf gives Toast a friendly clap on the shoulder "Time for us to take that next step in our plans." Which, given the only next step agreed on had involved food and drink, was likely welcome news. "Lead on partner, your choice of location."

[Toast]

Gnomish brew… really now, he could have thought of that himself. Especially since Darrik made it quite clear that Gladrags was a fan of the dwarven ale. Then again, Toast had no idea how he could even have set up a deal like that. Plus, they were here on a guard mission, let Darrik use his usual ways with his usual informants. It was better that way. Toast was not the informant kind of person. He was an engineer, he did deals with machines, but he didn’t do deals with people, unless they involved praise and the like for his magnificent inventions.

It was still bugging him that Darrik thought his gun wasn’t working properly only because he hadn’t shot Tomas properly. But there was no reason to dwell over that. Maybe there really had been a malfunction somewhere along the line? No, it couldn’t have been. His gun worked. End of story. He had taken a miserable shot. That was all.

When they went on their way, Toast was only too glad to get out of there and only gave a brief nod to Gladrags before swiftly slipping out of the door again. He was relieved to be out of there again. Not that the sewer stench was wonderful air, but he would take that any day over the uncomfortable atmosphere and the smell in that dwelling.

“My choice of location? Well, then there’s only once place to go!” Toast grinned and set a quick but still comfortable pace as he made his way to the best gnomish tavern there was; in his opinion at least. “It may not look like much from the outside,” he explained as they finally reached their destination and walked up to a rundown house, “but it is definitely better on the inside and the food is worth it.” Toast opened the door and held it open for Darrik before slipping in after his partner. On the inside, it really was much better than from the outside, to say the least. It was polished and shiny with gnomish gadgets strewn all over the place by means of decoration or for whatever other purposes the owner kept all those objects lying around.

About half the tables were occupied, and not only by gnomes, though those composed the greater part of the clientele, but by quite a few others too. With a sudden lurch of his stomach, Toast hoped there were no obvious shifters around since Darrik wasn’t at all fond of them – the impression thereof had been more than clear without the dwarf saying it out loud. Sometimes they did have shifters in here as they were people just like anyone else but the gnome was nonetheless glad to see that there seemed to be none of the more regular ones at least. Well, here’s hoping they won’t turn up while we’re here, he thought before gesturing towards a slightly more isolated table. “I think this would be best, if we want to talk business for a bit.”

They had only just sat down when already the waitress, a quirky, pink-haired girl, came striding over with a friendly smile on her face. “Greetings Toast! You just missed your sisters actually, what a shame.” She looked at him with an amused grin before greeting Darrik in much the same manner but without the obvious hint towards the family. It was safe to say that Toast ate here really often, and so did the rest of his family, so the waitress who was only ever known by her nickname, Pink, - the hair gave her away, didn't it? - knew exactly how much he liked to avoid his sisters. “Would you two like to order some drinks already? As for the menu,” she handed them both a small card, “the house special for today is the ‘Rusty Wheel’.”

[Darrik]

Darrik followed Toast with a nod at the gnome's statement, happy to have the strolling time to start gathering his thoughts on what had already been learned during the day. It always helped the former butcher to inventorise things and tasks. Doing so had kept his business nice and orderly, which still helped now that the dwarf was a guard. He'd start with the most strange, down to the seemingly normal but slightly off-kilter details. At the top of the damn list were the orcrats. Unusual rats, of unusual size, with the possibility of a recent appearance within the sewers of Marn. Certainly, it seemed they were unfamiliar to Toast, whose expertise on the subject of sewers and their denizens spanned generations - at least it did from what Darrik understood.

The dwarf mentally worked his way down the list. An albino shifter, the wretched abomination taking the same form as the rats. Caleb's inexplicable failure to run. Tomas' successful escape. Hyacinth, the whore, being taken from an unusual location. Shantytown urchins being used more frequently for errands and messages. No bodies found thus far. Darrik tugged at his beard. It wasn't enough, yet, nowhere near enough. Take what they had to HQ right now, and they'd be laughed back out into Marn to continue the investigation. Darrik felt it in his facial hair that Toast's description of what the child Rose had said held truth to it: but try telling that to someone like Craig Staleheart or Jack Iron. The former would probably shout Darrik back out of his office, and Jack would amuse himself with a statement along the lines of "I see, Darrik, I see. I'll get right on that then, shall I? Clerks, have someone inform the Judges that a little girl in the shantytown sees talking rats. We'll need a battalion of battlemages, pronto." Yes, Darrik could see Jack getting downright comedic at him if that was all the dwarf could report.

Darrik's brooding was interrupted by Toast's ersatz introduction to the gnomish tavern. Darrik eyed the ramshackle appearance of the establishment from the outside with considerable doubt, until Toast reassured him the inside would be different. Fortunately, Toast's assessment was correct, and Darrik was again reminded how glad he was that dwarves were designed to fit in pretty much any kind of tavern a sentient biped could construct. As they entered, Darrik removed his helm and tucked it under his left arm, casting a glance around the tavern's interior with curiosity. In what had become a new habit since taking on the role of a guard, Darrik noted potential exits, as well as the locations of various internal obstacles, objects, and potential adhoc barricades. It was like inspecting a goat for the best cuts, in some ways. A new form of professional diligence that the dwarf had turned his mind to in his new career. Use of a tavern's internal terrain had come in handy for the dwarven guard a few times, given that the dwarf couldn't outrun humans or elves over short or medium distances. The dwarven guard also made a brief mental note of which tables were currently occupied.

When Toast selected a table, Darrik chose a seat which gave him a clear view of the main entrance, and responded to Toast by saying "Not bad. Never even knew it was here." Anything else the dwarf might have said was cut short by the appearance of a pink-haired waitress. No doubt she turned the heads of young gnomish men. Darrik responded to her cheerful greeting with an easy smile "Why, you have read my mind, and that there's a talent. A drink is just what this day calls for, and if your tavern has a specialty brew of its own, I'll be right glad to try a pint of it: otherwise, set me up with a pint of your strongest dark stout." On the topic of food Darrik stated "The Rusty Wheel it is. Nothing like a pleasant surprise. And if you could add a heel of bread and hunk of cheese, packaged so that I can take with me for later on, I'd be very grateful." Certainly, a pleasant surprise would be a nice change of pace from the unpleasant ones the dwarf had been afflicted with all morning. Though Darrik did hope the name 'Rusty Wheel' was a nickname for something nice and edible, and not a literal description of what would turn up on his plate. The dwarf would wait until the pink-haired waitress had left before asking Toast "So what's this place called, Toast? And how are you finding your first half day of Guard work?"

[Toast]

Toast grinned at Darrik’s choice of food and nodded. “Alright, I’ll take the same. But make my drink something easier on the stomach, if you please, Pink.” The waitress in question had a large smile plastered on her face and swept the menus away from them again. “Your drinks will be up in a bit. The Rusty Wheel will take a while, but shouldn’t be too long.”

Pink darted back off towards the bar and in no time came back with a couple of pints for the two of them. Darrik’s, as per his request was the special house brand, which was a fairly dark stout as far as gnome brews were concerned with a distinct taste of special ingredients that would never be divulged. Toast’s was the lightest beer they had lying around – another gnomish brew and Toast wasn’t about to tell Darrik that it had initially been created for women. He wasn’t much of a drinker, so when it was a long day or night, he preferred something lighter so he could hold out a little longer, but generally he just tried to avoid binge drinking.

“Incidentally, the name of the tavern is ‘Rusty Wheel’,” Toast replied. “It’s a specialty of the tavern, but since you want it to be a surprise, I’m not going to spoil that. You’ll see soon enough, ad I’m sure you’ll like it too.”
Darrik’s other question, he had to mull over for a little while though before answering, taking a sip of the drink after clinking mugs with Darrik before he finally replied. “I’m not quite sure to be honest. Guard work seems a little exhausting for my taste, mainly due to the fact that there is so much communication required. I mean, this,” Toast gestured at Darrik and extended the movement to encompass Pink who was shouting at the cook, “this I can handle. It’s either familiar or not so very official. Everything else… I’m afraid, I’m really not much of a skilled people person. I guess it is an acquired skill, but I’m not sure it’s something for me. And to be quite frank, I didn’t think this job would include so much talking and questioning. But I can see of course where that is necessary. Where else would we start? Without a hint of where to begin the quest, apart from the few sightings we know about, the sewers are too spread out and they could easily move around and avoid detection without us ever knowing about it.”

Realising he had just made quite the speech after saying he was not a talking person, Toast almost blushed and hid it behind his mug by taking another sip. “What is your impression so far then? The information we gathered could be useful enough and we definitely have a lead on something much larger scale her than merely a few kidnappings. Though I can’t help but wonder what a prostitute would have in common with an errand guy like Caleb – if there is a connection of course.”

Before he could add anything else, Pink already came over with two plates of steaming food. “Beware, this is quite hot,” she warned as she put them down. The plates themselves were actually designed to look like wheels and the food heaped upon it was grilled with special spices that looked as though there were rust upon the steak. Reddish vegetables were placed all around the plate to emphasize the rusty theme and even the potatoes had been grilled with lots of red spices to give them the proper look. “Enjoy!” And off she was again.

Toast decided that he wasn’t going to further elaborate on what he had just said, leaving it up to Darrik to pick it up whenever he was ready after he had taken his first taste of the meal. The gnome knew the dish well enough, eating it on a regular basis, and he was wondering how the dwarf was going to react to the slightly spicier taste, since quite a bit of the reddish spices used consisted of paprika and chilli.

[Darrik]

Darrik chuckled at Toast's response "Aye that it is. And I'd kind of figured out over the course o'the day that talkin' to new folk may not exactly be your specialty." The dwarf took the potential edge off those words with a friendly grin "Still, it's not like either of us was given much a chance to gauge each other's strengths before having this workload dumped on us, so a bit of trial and error is to be expected." Darrik diverted the topic away from the investigation for a bit, feeling a true need to unwind some of his slowly-tightening nerves. "But it's fine if having a natter with folks all official-like isn't your thing. Truth be told, that's the light stuff for me, even takin' the odd dash o'prejudice into account." The dwarf guard paused as Pink returned and smiled at the colour of the ale set before him "Well dear, that looks like paradise in a tankard."

Darrik enjoyed a large mouthful of the flavoursome ale. Lighter than dwarven brews, perhaps, but definitely had an interesting twist to the flavour. Idly, the dwarf wondered what kind of barrel they used. Swallowing the mouthful with relish, Darrik continued "Talkin' to folks is something I was doing for decades in Holsted's butchery, even before it became my own. Not so much so now I've given it to young Henrik t'manage." Darrik gestured with his tankard "Henrik, of course, being my son. Bright lad, he is, and dedicated. Made Journeyman in no time. No father has been prouder of his son than I am of Henrik, and I'll flatten the nose of any man or dwarf who disputes it" The latter was again said with a grin and without vehemence. It was something of a medical remedy for Darrik, talking about his son. It was the most reliable way for Darrik to relax and ease his mental tension. Teodinus knew the dwarf had to force some of the day's tension from the back of his mind for at least a few minutes. Thank the settlers for good sons to talk about.

The dwarf kept up a casual patter about how the butchery was faring under Henrik's management, occasionally adding snippets of 'topic relevant' details "...of course, hauling carts of dead livestock does wonders for your strength and endurance, as you can well imagine, which is how I managed to get in the Guard to begin with. I kept at the training longer than they could keep on saying 'you're not ready'. Guard work is all about stamina, just like a butcher's is..." and then Darrik would segue back into aspects of Henrik's apprenticeship right up until lunch came. Which was exactly what the dwarf had intended. It was perhaps a bit unfair on Toast, being newly acquainted to the dwarf, but Darrik new of no other way to unwind in a short period of time.

When Pink set the plate down, Darrik beamed "Thank you kindly. Just what the doctor ordered!" When Pink left, Darrik added "Now, on the topic of the day's findings, let's discuss that with a full belly!" With that arbitrarily settled, and the plate in front of him, Darrik made the error that newcomers to spicy dishes often make: underestimating the dish. Completely misunderstanding Pink's words and assuming it was hot in temperature, not in flavour, Darrik carved off a large chunk of steak from the wheel-like plate With his typical gusto. Blowing on it a moment, Darrik had a large mouthful.

It would take a man of iron will and poker face not to find the various facial expressions, worn by Darrik over the space of several long seconds, highly amusing. Looking like he'd just chewed on a scorpion, only to have it bite back, Darrik was momentarily lost for both words and composure. With delicate dignity, Darrik made the second beginner's error: and tried to wash the spice away with a mouthful of beer. The sudden and rapid blinking might hint at the failure of such a tactic, and the dwarf's face developed that slightly reddish and warm look which comes from exposure to a higher level of chilli than a person's personal tolerance. Darrik coughed slightly, and said in a hoarse voice "Right. -That- kind of hot. That's that I get for not paying attention."

Darrik coughed again, and regained his composure. Hylde had always complained that he never gave spicy foods a try, and would frequently tease him over the bland foods he normally preferred. Well, he could start now, Darrik supposed. A bit too late, though, if he thought about it. But he didn't want to think about it, so suddenly and without warning, and now was not the time in any case. He had work to do, couldn't afford the time to get maudlin. It was fortunate that any sign of discomfort he showed now would be attributed to the chilli, and not a sudden and unexpected memory. Darrik took another bite, and then a third as he accustomed himself to the heat of the dish.


As Darrik's palate recovered from the shock and adjusted, the flavours of the spices started to come through. "Well, it may feel like I've just shared a passionate kiss with a volcano, Toast, but the taste is wonderful. I might just add this place to my regular watering holes." Darrik was also impressed by the presentation. The dwarf casually pondered whether attention to detail was a gnomish trait, or just a sign of the kind of preferences enjoyed by his partner. Not that the two possibilities were mutually exclusive. The dwarf took more time over the rest of the meal, trying not to regret the fact he hadn't taken Hylde's advice when she could have been the one to witness such a show. She'd have loved that. He wouldn't have lived it down for months, if at all. Once again, Darrik was glad that he could have the chilli bring him an alibi. But thinking Hylde inevitably led to thinking about shifters. But Darrik was not caught unawares by that, at least, and showed no surface sign. With the meal giving his throat and belly a strange but not unpleasant warm feeling, Darrik got back on topic.

"You asked earlier what my impressions were Toast, and I dodged the question, but my thoughts are pretty straightforward on the matter: we aren't seeing the full picture. Teodinus smack me upside my dense skull, but I cannot even tell what kind of picture we're actually looking at." Darrik tugged his beard, a bit sharper than usual, to help him keep focus. "I mean, I'll start with what I do know, which is why you and I got the job: It involves a kind of rat I'd previously reported seeing in the sewers. That's all there is to it. I mean, truth be told, I have no doubt that my superiors are thinking of this as a simple 'find the bodies and kill the rats' kind of task." The dwarf furrowed his brow. "At face value, I couldn't fault 'em for it. But, now that we're looking at it all up close and personal, it isn't making a whole lot of sense. There's somethin' uncanny about the whole damn affair, and it's still all speculation and conjecture on our parts."

Darrik lifted his tankard to his lips for a thoughtful draft before pursuing his line of reasoning "We don't have any bodies, though I hope Gladrags' lot will save me some grief in that regards, though it might take a couple of days or more. We've got the testimony of a little girl which won't stand up to the scrutiny of my superiors, though I'm damned certain the kid wouldn't make up a story like that, not in that context. We've got suspicions that the abductions might not be as straightforward as we thought, from what Tomas let out. We've got a whore taken where she wouldn't be whoring, and kids earning a livelier living than they ought to in the wrong part of town"

Darrik expelled a burst of air in irritation. "The impression I've got, Toast, is a bunch of smoke and mirrors, and nothing solid to grasp a hold of yet. I'm almost tempted to go storming through the damn sewers just to see if I can goad the bastards into attacking me, and it's only been half a blimmin' day." The dwarf guard shook his head ruefully "Why couldn't it just be a standard murder, eh? Some bloke killing some bloke over money owed. I could conk him over the head with me hammer, drag him back to HQ, and we'd be done and drinking." And, speaking of drinking, Darrik created some silence for Toast to fill by performing that very action with the lively little stout he'd been served.

[Toast]

Toast listened intently to Darrik’s narrative, a lot of the questions he had about the dwarf answered without him having to prod around for answers. It was an easy way of detention not only for Darrik but also for the gnome. It was easy conversation and curiosity being stilled was always a good way to relax and let more serious topics slip from the mind. Some day, he was going to pay a visit to Darrik’s butchershop, or rather the family business since his son had now taken over.

Yet it was not quite as strong a resolution than serving Darrik a few more dishes or drinks that were a little out of the ordinary, if only so he could witness another fantastic display of expressions within the briefest amounts of time on the dwarf’s face. His first taste of the rusty wheel had been hilarious to say the least but Toast was not so evil as to burst out laughing loudly, but of course, the grin was growing larger and larger across his face. Shooting a quick glance at Pink, he realised the waitress had been waiting for this too, already coming over with a small basket of bread so Darrik could relieve the burning sensation in his mouth and throat a little. It was typical that a newcomer would think liquids of any kind would do the trick, but most enforced the sense of being burned from the inside out. Bread or milk were generally the best solution but he couldn’t quite see Darrik downing a pint of milk, nor would it go well with the ale.

“I’m sure the volcano enjoyed the passion just as much as you did,” Toast returned as he finally began to dig into his own plate. The cook really hadn’t gone easy on the spices this time around but he couldn’t say that he minded. He was used to this kind of food since he came to the Rusty Wheel at least once a week but of course not all the food he ate was this spicy. “I’m glad to hear though that you like the food and the place. I was a little worried that you might not be too happy about the choice, but all’s well.”

Musing over Darrik’s words, Toast suddenly put down his mug again after it had been half-way to his lips. “Have you ever considered the possibility that maybe we got the job because they thought it would be futile and we would never find anything useful?” Realising what the implications of such a statement were, he immediately added: “Not that I’m saying the Guard is involved unless someone were corrupt. I wouldn’t put it past the Guard, they are human after all – well, you know what I mean.” Toast waved his hand about to wave off the fact that this could have been taken the wrong way. “But what if somebody with a lot of money actually had paid someone off for there to be no useful evidence, and for one or two people to be assigned to the job, knowing that nothing would thus ever come of it? Am I making sense?”

Toast shook his head in confusion, not quite sure he had expressed that quite the right way. He couldn’t believe himself that the Guard was somehow involved in this, but they had to consider every possibility, had they not? “You are right though, this is going to be a long day. A long week from the looks of it.” If their morning was anything to go by, solving this mystery was going to take a lot of time and effort. It wasn’t that Toast wasn’t willing to put in effort, on the contrary, but he was slowly starting to wonder if they were going in the right direction or if everything they had done up to now and were planning on doing that afternoon wasn’t a little futile. Maybe though, it was quite simply still too early to tell. After all, it had only been half a day, if a long one.