Ch. 31 – Mercantus (II) (Patreon)

G.H.W. stood up and rummaged inside a drawer before producing two badges, “I expect these back, but this will mark you as under our employment for now.” He frowned slightly, “I know you have weapons – I’m going to ask you to not resort to using them. Weapons are strictly forbidden on Mercantus. We aren’t going to take them from you but using them on civilians is prohibited.”

“And if they use weapons first?” Tinuriel asked.

“Try not to kill them.”

Felix took the badges and gave one to Tinuriel, and they pinned them on their chests. “Will do. Has the crime scene been touched?”

“Yes, here are the reports from our preliminary investigation. It went nowhere.” He handed Felix a stack of paper sandwiched between two thin wooden sheets bound together with a cord. “The room is still sealed off, but it has been over six months since the crime was committed.”

“We’re on it.” Felix stood up and Tinuriel followed him out. They went across the street back to the hotel and sat in the bar, ordering some food and drink as Felix pored over the reports. Tinuriel leaned over as well.

In summary, Billiam III was found strangled to death on his bed. A physician who inspected the body before it was transported back to Ethdellin for burial confirmed that was the cause of death. It was some type of cord. Probably a garrote wire, based on the description of a thin, almost-drawing-blood line across the underside of the jaw. Probably a professional. Cowler had hired assassins on his behalf though.

Why do you know how to strangle someone with that? Lucifer asked.

I read a lot. It’s cheap entertainment with a library card. He paused for a moment in his paper examination. Cowler had been the one to set up a contract with assassins on Invictus. Maybe it was a different group. Felix continued to pore through the records, sorting them into different piles until he had a good idea of the series of events.

The noble got into town in the evening, checked into the hotel, ate at the restaurant downstairs, and then went up to his room. He had four guards stationed outside the main door, and there was a balcony that had two guards. All of the guards were interviewed and vouched for one another. So how would they have gotten in?

Crazy idea.

Go for it.

What if the killer was hidden in the room already?

Possible. But wouldn’t the guards have checked? He rifled through the reports. None of the interviews even asked the question if someone had cleared the room before. That doesn’t make sense. Billiam III was the ruler of Ethdellin. His guards should have been on point and checked the room beforehand.

Inside job?

Maybe.

“What are you thinking about?” Tinuriel asked as she drained a mug of beer.

Felix looked up at her, “Sorry, talking to Lucifer in my head. I think I have a good idea of where to start.” He wrapped the papers back up in the wooden container and put it into his inventory. “Finish up, we’re going to this Goldenwine Estate.”

They paid another street kid to guide them to the hotel, and upon flashing their badges and explaining why they were there, an employee led them upstairs. There was an elevator that they stepped into with a cord running down the center. The employee heaved on it and with the assistance of some hidden device, they ascended to the topmost floor. The room was sealed, and a bored-looking Watchman was sitting in a chair, reading some type of newspaper. He looked up as the two approached and pulled out his baton, preparing to say something. But, he spotted the badges and quickly saluted.

“At ease,” Felix said.

“Yessir.” The man sat back down, “You don’t look like Investigators.”

“We’re helping,” Tinuriel said. She walked to the door and the Watchman shrugged, going back to his newspaper. She led the way inside and Felix followed her. The room's interior was ornate. The bed was a mess – with pillows and blankets strewn about, but everything else seemed neat and orderly. There was a caked layer of dust on the surfaces. “They weren’t lying. This room hasn’t been touched.”

Felix pulled out the sheaf of papers and flipped through them until he found a well-sketched top-down map view of the room. “The body was found here,” he pointed to the left side of the bed, where the blankets were the most shifted and moved. “The only time guards were in the room before that was when they went through to get onto the balcony.”

Tinuriel went over to the balcony and slid open the door. She walked to the ledge and glanced all the way around. “No way to get up here. The walls are smooth and slanted downward. Unless they had a grappling hook and rope.”

“Which guards would have noticed.” Felix frowned, “I hope that these Investigators did their homework on the guards. If one of them was in on it, that makes this infinitely harder.” Felix looked around the large restroom, seeing the same amount of caked dust on the surfaces. “Nothing in here, either.”

The two rejoined in the main room. “He was strangled in the bed.” Felix got behind Tinuriel, “Stand still.” He pulled the small length of cord from the sheath of papers and threw it over Tinuriel’s neck, very gently pulling up and back. “He would have to be behind and above the man to pull with that type of leverage or angle.”

Tinuriel nodded and pulled the string away, “If he was strangled in the bed…” She walked over to the bed and laid down, moving herself up and down, until her feet were dangling over the edge, and her head was just below the headboard. “This low?”

Felix walked next to her and looked at the headboard, running his finger along the wood looking for any type of seam. “Wait a second,” he muttered. His fingers came across a small gap in the wood – almost impossible to see – but he spotted the tiny golden spindle in his vision that showed him trap locations. “Get up.” Tinuriel did so, and Felix gently applied some pressure to the backboard, as if someone was leaning up against it to read.

The wooden panel slid open, and a metal garrote cord was flung outward before retracting swiftly. “Bingo!” Felix said excitedly. “They trapped the room. Clever. No witnesses, no perpetrator to infiltrate.” He used his rogue skills and his thieves’ tools to disable and remove the trapped portion of the backboard. “Now, we just find whoever made this.” Felix pulled out the papers and flipped to an empty sheet, scrawling with a pen.

[Experience Awarded = 15]

“What are you doing? We already found the trap.” Tinuriel said as she sat on the bed next to him.

“This Tier operates differently than yours or Invictus. Their society is more on par with the Renaissance or early Industrial era than your more late-medieval.” He gestured to the paper. “I’m documenting what we did. If we are going after the acting monarch of a whole Tier – the most powerful one at that – we better come with an ironclad case with plenty of evidence.”

Tinuriel shook her head, “Too complex. But you know better with these things.”

Felix smirked, “Yeah. Years of reading mystery novels is finally paying off.” He finished noting down the information and put the trap and the paperwork back into his inventory. “Alright. We have to find out who does this type of trap-making. I’m guessing a tinkerer of some type.” He went out of the room and tapped the now-sleeping Watchman on the shoulder. “Hey, where would a person go if they wanted to get a trap made?”

The man blinked his eyes in confusion before shaking his head, “No idea.”

“Tinkerers? Craftsmen? Engineers?”

“Oh! Those blokes with their cogs and wheel things. D’you have a map?”

Felix shook his head and the man grumbled, “Well, ask anyone where the Cog district is.”

The two left the sleepy Watchman and descended the stairs instead of waiting for an attendant to bring the elevator up to them. They got to the street and paid another street kid to guide them to the Cog district. They would have to travel the entire width of the Tier, which took them just past lunchtime. Felix had them stop at a café and bought sandwiches for all three.

The child’s eyes went wide as Felix handed him a sandwich, “Thank you, sir.” The little girl was thrilled as she consumed the food.

Tinuriel squatted next to her, “When do you normally eat?”

“Mmm…Not since yesterday,” she muttered. “Mummy is working, and Daddy went on a trip. We just eat dinner when Mummy gets home.”

Tinuriel looked up and Felix before standing up and leaning to his ear, “This isn’t a way to live.”

“I agree,” he whispered back. Felix had lived in poverty for most of his life. These people did not seem happy with their situation but consigned to their fate instead of trying to improve the circumstances they found themselves in. Felix knew that bringing one's self up through sheer effort was not always enough to make a difference.

Felix could feel Lucifer’s anger in his own mind. Want to share?

I…Humans have free will here. Creatures have free will. And instead of lifting each other up and creating a better world for everyone…they split themselves into groups and some suffer because of it.

The anger in the back of Felix’s mind was white-hot and made him angry as well. This was a screwed-up situation for these people. And yet, they seemed okay with it. When we get Melanie on the throne, we can offer all the people who want a nice, easy life in the VBV.

This caused Lucifer’s rage to go back to a simmer instead of a boil. Mmm.

The Cog district was aptly named – the streets became much narrower as many more mechanical inventions – running on some type of clockpunk technology – were displayed in windows doing minor tasks. One such device on display would pick up a plate, put it into water, and then scrub it before dropping it into a basket. Not practical as it stands, but a great proof of concept. The girl left them once they arrived, and Felix gave her some extra VC as a thank-you. “Make sure you get lunch for tomorrow.” She nodded and skipped off the way they had come.

Felix went into a shop and almost immediately slipped on some type of fluid that was on the floor. He grabbed onto the door frame to steady himself, and Tinuriel put a hand on his back. A young man, probably in his late teens, with a slim build and wearing glasses ran over with a rag, “I’m so, so sorry!” he muttered. Throwing the rag down, he rapidly tried to clean the spill.

“It’s okay. Are you the owner?”

“No sir, just an apprentice.” The teenager pointed to the back counter of the shop, where an older man with a head of white hair and a bushy beard was standing, “That’s the owner. Tinkersmith Feldoh.”

“Thanks,” Felix replied as he stepped past/over the young man and into the shop proper. There were several shelves, lined with odd automatons that were designed as toys. He approached the desk, “I need to inquire about some of your colleagues.”

The old man adjusted his ponce and nodded, “Well,” his voice was raspy and faint. “Depends on what you need.”

Felix pulled out the trapped headboard piece, “I need to find who made this.” He made sure to also push his badge out towards the man. “Official business.”

The man nodded and pulled out a headband with some telescoping lenses that he slid over his glasses as he began to take apart the contraption. Felix jotted notes as he did so, documenting the process in case he would have to somehow put it back together. The old man was at it for some time, and Tinuriel went back to the doorway, chatting with the teen apprentice who was quite nervous speaking to the enormous woman.

“Ah…yes,” Feldoh muttered as he pulled a small cog out. “I recognize this design. It’s from a few months ago. There’s a locksmith down the road who used this type of gear in some of her trapped lockboxes. Tinkersmith Julia.”

Felix jotted down her name, “Can you put this back together?”

The man raised an eyebrow as he pulled off the magnifying glasses, “That’ll cost you.”

Felix pulled 10 VC out of his inventory and slid it across the counter, “Is this enough?”

The man took the money and nodded, “Have it done in a jiffy!” He put the magnifying glasses back on and within a minute had reassembled the trap. Felix put it into his inventory and got Feldoh to sign off that he had done the identification. When he asked why, Felix smiled, “Just protocol.”

As he turned to leave the apprentice ran by him. Tinuriel just smiled and stepped outside, Felix joining her shortly after. “It turns out large women scare these little men.”

“They don’t know what they’re missing out on,” Felix replied. The two went down the boulevard until they came across a shop with an image of a lock on the door. This building had no exterior windows and was almost a blink-and-you-miss-it hole-in-the-wall building that seemed sandwiched in between two existing buildings. He tried the door, but it was locked tight. “Tinuriel, mind standing in front?”

She nodded and used her mass to block off view of Felix. He activated Ghostwalk, picked the lock, and disabled a small alarm-style trap. The door swung inward, and he tapped Tinuriel as they both went inside, closing the door behind. The room was full of safes and lockboxes, all neatly arranged in orderly rows along the floor and the walls. There was no light, and Felix’s eyes shifted to the red dark vision hue of Lucifer’s vision. The shop was narrow and ended at a counter with a door behind it and a small ladder going up to another door.

He eased his way forward, stopping as he saw a faint, golden line cross the floor. But Tinuriel bumped into him due to the small space, and he fell forward, catching himself right before his chest would have activated the tiny wire. “That was close,” he muttered. Tinuriel grabbed the back of his armor and pulled him upright, “Thanks.” He stepped over the tripwire trap and kept going deeper, Tinuriel right behind. There was rustling up the ladder, and he motioned for Tinuriel to stay down on the ground floor as he ascended the ladder.

He got up top and pulled his Channeling Dagger out, holding it as he stood next to the door. He held his breath as it opened.

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