The thread which needs a title...

I was the agent of TEA.My superiors have sent me to search for clues anout Dugant's murder.I walked around Tarant all night long but couldn't find anything...till now.
I saw A WELL DRESSED HALF-ORC lied on the ground with his brain flowing around his head.Also a human was lied unconcious on the ground, two more beggars tried to awake him.I ran up to them and put some fluid which had a strong aroma by the unconcious human's nose.He awoke.
"What happened here?!"

 

[ooc]come on, jar, at least go with 'the eagle has landed' if you're gonna go with corny[/ooc]

ugh, a uniform. there's just something about the way law enforcement smells, ya know? all upper-crusty and better-than-thou. Lu saw him before i did, but that's cuz Lu keeps his eyes open. heh. instead of eyes and ears, we're eyes and a really big mouth.

he put some kind of vial under Diggs' nose, it smelled worse than i do. woke his ass up, though. didn't even give Diggs' a chance to sit up before he starts in with the questions. all 'who are you, what did you see, why are you here?'

"wonderful day for a stroll, ain't it govn'r?" i say, jumping to my feet. "now, i don't recall seeing nothing, if you know what i mean, but then, i'm blind!" i clap a hand over my eyes, stumble towards him, and grab hold of his shirt in a mock fall. "alms for the poor, govn'r, alms for the poor!"

Lu laughed so hard, he fell over. i let go of the uniform, blew him a kiss, and rolled head over heels back to L'terzi. he leaned over and whispered in my ear, making me grin.

"why, Lu, i believe you're right! this isn't just any old uniform! this is a gentleman of intellect! and as such, i imagine he understands the value of a good piece of knowledge. what do you say, govn'r, how much shiny stuff you got on you?" i grinned, from one 10 yr old ear to the other.

 

As the smell hit my nose, my eyes shot open and I grabbed the hand of the one holding the foul smelling substance, dragging them to the ground, and about to send my elbow flying into their face when I realized it wasn't one of the ones who had originally put me down.

"Oh, sorry..."

I stood up, dusting myself off, though a lot of dirt had still clung to the tattered clothes, encrusted on after many years.

"Guess I was in the wrong place at the wrong time...."

He juts muttered to himself, wondering how he could be so stupid.

 

[OOC]
I think T.E.A. is a secret agency so I shouldn't be wearing an uniform.
I am wearing a black coat.I am a human.
[OOC]

"So you didn't see anything?"I asked and pulled out a few gold coins.

 

i snatched the coins out of his hand and quickly bit them.

"there was a gnome in a carriage without a horse, he had a ogre. he talked to this other guy who had an ogre too. they left. this dwarf popped outta the ground, then that ooglie threatened him. then this other guy with the evil eye popped up and made the ooglie's head inta a fountain. that's about it."

i turned to Diggs, wishing i had picked his pockets while he was out.

"hey, Diggs. the guy with the evil eye was with the guy who smacked you, and he gave me an address. ya want it?"

 

[OOC]
Heh, Well. I'm no lawyer or anything. So I might be a bit wrong when it comes to all the fine print about patent laws. But then again, who knows how this works in the law of Arcanum, right? :smile: Now, what am I doing at the patent office? Well, Using my high ranking contact, I was able to simply transfer the patented automobile to my name after Dugants death. This is illegal of course. But with enough money, law goes out the window, as you probably know :smile:
[/OOC]

As I got in to my carrage I ordered Leopold to take me back to the hotel. I had originally planned to be on a train back to Caladon by now. But since the police didn't suspect a thing I could just as well carry my plans out from here. It would be much easier to set up the production of the new automobile at my Tarant factory if I was there personally to supervice.
The Boothby Elecktrics plant in Tarant was originally a light-bulb factory, one of the largest in all of Arcanum I might add. But I had already bought all the necessary machinery and equipment needed to convert it in to a fully operational automobile production facility within a week. Sure, it was risky. But one has to gamble on occation in order to haul in the really big jackpots.

I was also to meet with my henchmen, to pay them and discuss future buisness. I had heard something about a new invention called a telephone invented by some dwarf in Ashbury.
I just hoped threatening him would be enough to make him give up his patent. If to many inventors turn up dead people might start getting suspicious...

As we arived back at my hotel, the clerk seemed somewhat surprised. Never the less, He greeted me as an old friend. Probably because he remebered all the money I had pumped in to his establishment during my short stay.

"Well, Good morning again Mr. Boothby. Did you forget something?"

"No, my good man. I'm checking in. I changed my mind. I think I'll stay a few more days after all. I have some buisness to take care of..."
I said as I signed the register.

"Ah, Very good. People of you're standing are always welcome."
Said the clerk, as he quickly grabbed the register to check which rooms where avalable.

"You're old room is still free, would you like to use it again, sir?"

"Yes, that'll be fine."

I muttred as I grabbed the key, I was getting tired. I had been up all night reading.
I ignored the rest of the clerks ramblings and walked up to my room, followed closely by my gigantic bodyguard.

I orderd Leopold to stand guard outside my room as I went in. Now it was time for this gnome to rest, I had great plans that needed to be executed tonight, and for that I needed my wit to be sharp...

 

"Nope. Didn't see nothing. At least nothing I fully comprehend yet...."

I turned back to the other one, the guy that knew me. Seems I was getting kinda famous.

"Hey, if you're offering for free, sure, otherwise, sorry Charlie..."

I wanted to get to the bottom of this, whatever this was. More importantly, I wanted to know how I could profit from it.

Now, If I could only figure out who they were. I saw one guy's face clearly, but the other, the one I had seen from the getgo, still had the mud rubbed across his face. Maybe if I could just put names to those faces....

 

Jobriath seemed to take it quite well, but I had more to ask.

"If I'm going to have to spend the night sorting through Dugant's office, you have to go back to where you met me. I was staking out a gunsmith there," I described the place and the smith in detail. "With luck, he'll have holed up for a while after all that trouble. If you follow him when he comes out, he may lead you to whoever he sold the gun to originally. I don't expect it to be the killer, but it'll be one step nearer. Tracking down that killer will help us, regardless of anything else."

"I may have trouble getting away from Dugant's. There is a very good chance they'll be trying to round up our guards and send them back for re-assignment. If that happens, I may need to cause a diversion to slip away. Try not to be taken in by all the police that turn up - I should be okay if I do it right."

Without waiting for his agreement, I stood and left. If he didn't want to stake-out the gunsmith, there was no way I could make him.

 

As Blaggs left I wondered just how much he wasn’t telling me. No matter, I would find out soon enough.

I made my way back to where I had found him, stopping on the way at a local fence to pick up some of the less law-abiding supplies that I thought I might need. I was almost out of money now.

Blaggs had been hiding behind some crates in an alley near the gunsmith’s shop. I decided to get a “birds-eye� view. I found a building nearby that had a fire escape that went to the roof. I scrambled up the ladder to the roof and made my way over to the edge where I could see the shop. I looked down at the street and saw the body of the orc I saw earlier. I guess he bit off more than he could chew. I could also see a couple of homeless children milling around a bum and a man that was obviously a cop. Either TEA or NSA, judging from the suit. This investigation was starting to get crowded!

I could just barely hear one of the children speaking to the bum. “Diggs…address…Lu….� Ah, so this bum is Diggs. I committed his face to memory. I had plans to speak to him as well.

After a while they all left. The city morgue came and collected the body of the orc and the street was quiet.

Around lunchtime I saw the side door of the gunsmith’s shop open. An older gentleman carrying a large bag came out. He turned and locked the door behind him. He matched the description Blaggs had given me. I waited until he turned the corner and I sprang to the steps and vaulted down them. I got to the alley and walked nonchalantly to the street that the gunsmith had turned down. He was about a half-block in front of me.

I followed him to the subway station, where he took the #4 to the warehouse district. From there he went to a large warehouse with a small office attached to it. He knocked on the door of the office and was admitted.

I had to find a way into that building.

 

Judging from the description that gnome was Boothby.I sent a message to my colegues to keep an eye on the gnome.I went to Dugant's office.
"What you need?"a half-ogre guard askem me.
"TEA.Let me in"I showed him my badge
"What be TEA???"damn
"Call your employer"
"Im-plo-er?"not a bright fellow he was.
"Your boss"
"Akey"a young gnome came.He was probably Dugant's relative.
"Yes mister...?"
"Hempton.Richard Hempton.I am from the TEA and I'd like to see Mr.Dugant's documents and other stuff"
"Oh but of course! Come in. Sorry for the behaviour of my bodyguard.He is not too bright"
"Yeah.I realised that."we walked past tarantian guard officers.There was a whole lot of them.We came into a room.
"Here it is.My uncle's work room"
"Thank you."
"Would you like some coffee?"
"That would be nice"he went off, I picked up a pile of documents, took off my coat, sat down and started looking for clues.A servant brought me the coffee after a few minutes.
"Thank you"
"Call me if you want anything else mister"
I sipped some coffee and took another project book.Bingo!Probably.Dugant was planning to mass produce a thing called automobile.It should have brought him riches.I have found the murder motive.I satrted reading hoping to find clues about any suspects.

 

"hey! i'm not Charlie! i'm R'mani!"

Diggs ignored me. talk about your illbehavior. and he didn't even want to know about the guy who brained him. but maybe if i kept pestering him, i could get a coin just to leave...

"come on Diggs, i'll even give you a hint. it was a dwarf that hit you, but i ain't telling you what he looked like yet. you gotta guess. come on! give me something shiny!"

 

I stopped, and grabbed the neck of R'mani's shirt, pulling him face to face.

"Look, I saw the guy that brained me myself. I saw more than you think I did. But he didn't know what kinda man I was. Not like you. So I played along. All part of the act..."

I let him go, and walked on some more.

"Now, unless you got a name for me. A FULL name.... Get lost, and go practice some more. Maybe some day you could be as good as me."

With a slight chuckle, I waited to see if he could provide what I wanted.

 

There was a knock at the door, and I woke almost instantly, rolling out of bed and pulling my knives and some muscles. Ouch, that really wasn't good. I hobbled to the door.

"Who is it?"

"Um, you wanted to be woken didn't you sir?" It was a voice of one of the girls who worked here.

"Yes, thank you."

I sheathed my knives, opened the door and crack and handed her a coin. She thanked me and left. I went to find the bathhouse. Hopefully this time I wouldn't be interrupted.

[OOC]Seriously, no one interrupt me in the bathhouse. My character wants to get clean :grin:.[/OOC]

 

dammit. count on him wanting to know stuff i didn't pay attention to. Lu nudged me and whispered in my ear.

"are you sure?"he looked at me doubtfully, then shrugged. i hoped Lu was right. somehow i just didn't want to piss off someone twice my size with misinformation.

"ummm, Lu says that when we came back he heard the lord of darkness call the dwarf Gorin..." Lu nudged me again, and whispered.
"really?" he nods and rolls his eyes.
"don't give me that look! maybe if you spoke up--okay, okay..." i turned back to Diggs. "not Gorin, Orin. no G. and you can't expect me to know his full name, 'cuz people don't just go around calling peoples by two names! and while we're on the subject of expectations, how can i ever get good when no one will ever take the time to teach me?" another nudge.
"oh, alright, us."

i crossed my arms and pouted up at Diggs.
"see if i'm your biggest fan ever again."

 

I couldn't help but chuckle a bit.

"Yeah, you are getting there. But ya know what? No one taught me. Ya know, the biggest secret.. is to use this.."

And he pointed to his head as he said that.

"Not with this..."

And with that, he tossed the guy a coin.

Heading off, he went towards the Hall of Records, to see if he could find anything on a Dwarf named Orin. When he came into the city. Where he came from, that sorta stuff. May have been a long shot, he wasn't sure, but he had to try.

And suddenly, on the other side of town, a bathhouse blew up, depriving a poor assassin of a bath. No clean for you!. (Just Kidding! )

 

i was rich! three payments in one day, and i didn't even have to steal! Diggs walked away without a backward glance, which kinda made me blue. ever since i saw him this morning i've been rolling in cash... maybe he's my good luck charm! Lu raised an eyebrow as Diggs turned a corner.

"alright, we'll follow him. thank the gods you don't talk much. i think my brains have leaked out my mouth."

we trotted after Diggs.

 

I wait for Lendark to finish his bath. Damn he is taking a long time what is going on in there. Finally he finishes his primping and it is time to go and meet Mr. Katzenberg. We walk out of the Inn and wait at the same cafe we were at that morning. Dispite a dirty look from Lendark I enjoy a cool mug of ale. After about fifteen minutes Katzenberg exits the patent office. We follow at a safe distance for six blocks when he steps into a tavern for a after work belt. I motion for Lendark to follow him into the tavern while I proceede to window shop the stores across from the tavern. I did not want Katzenberg to recognize me from the office. Coincidents like that can ruin a perfectly good plan.
An hour later Katzenberg leaves the tavern with a happy look on his face. I have no doubt it was a profitable day for him. By now the streets are begining to empty as people head home for dinner. I begin to get nervous there is no place to have a private talk with him. Finally he reaches his home and begins to unlock the door. In despiration I call out to him, "Mr. Katzenberg, how fourtunate that I ran into you."
He looks at me in puzzelment for a moment before remembering my face. "Ah yes the secretive inventor from this morning."
"I don't mean to trouble you sir but those formws are quite confusing. Perhaps I could have just a moment of your time?" I hold out a gold coin.
"Well I normally don't work past five and when I leave the office I am done with work for the day. However, today was a very good day and I am always willing to help invetors. Especially those with interesting ideas. What is your question?"
I quickly look around and see no one so I pull out one of the form and walk up to him. My fist slams into his soft belly and as he doubles over I push him through the door. After a moment Lendark also come throught the door.
"What is the meaming of this!" Katzenberg blusters. I can see he is terrified. He see Lendark enter and begins to sweat. I have noticed that my partner has that effect on people. "I have money, please take it and leave."
"You were visited by a certain Mr. Boothby this morning. What did you do for him."
"I don't know who you...ughh." I slam my fist into his belly again and punch him in the jaw. He falls over and I start to kick him in the ribs and once in the vitals. After a couple of minutes he is lying on the floor sobbing and spitting up blood.
"Tell me."
"He will ki..ki...kill me," Katzenberg sobbs.
I kick him again, "why?"
"An invention he stole from Dugant, He wanted the patent."
"What is the patent for?"
"It's a horseless carrage he calls it an automobile."
I turn to Lendark, "now we know." Two bullets from my silenced pistol into the back of Katzenbergs head and he lies dead. I reach down and remove his bribe from Boothby. We quickley leave the house. A few blocks away when I am sure there is no pursuit I turn to Lendark, "What next?"


_________________
"It is as you think, you do not need to look, your leg is gone."

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: ThreeDogs on 2002-03-06 12:33 ]</font>

 

I looked back at Katzenberg's house. A case of being in the right job at the wrong time if I ever saw one.

"Well, for starters, I need to go meet with someone. After that, I'm going to get Boothby. I need you to find him though. I'll meet you two blocks from here in two hours." The look on Orin's face clearly said he didn't know which direction I meant, so I pointed towards general direction of the Boil. "Thatta-way" I sai, and began walking quickly.

After traversing through much of the city, and it's garbage, I arrived at my suppliers. I knocked twice, waited the space of five, then knocked 3 times. He opened the door and I walked into the darkened room. I had a nice fat sack of gold from Boothby's job, and I wasn't going to skimp on the weapons. Ironic isn't it, using my fee to kill my employer.

"So, how's business?" asked the man whose face I had never seen, but always done business with.

"Oh, the usual ups and downs. The market is being flooded with rank amateurs. Luckily, people still know a quality workman when they see one, otherwise I'd be out of business with all those flashy upstarts."

The man grunted non-commitedly. "Stuff's all there on the table. Take your time."

I browsed his selection, before coming across some old favourites. He squinted when I held them up. "Look a little different this time," I said.

"Oh, yeah, new model. There's a man in Caladon, weird name, begins with an 'H' or something like that. Genius with that sort of stuff though. Much better than the last model, and more reliable as well. Nothing better."

"I'll take four," I said, "along with holsters for each of them."

He produced the holsters, and I produced some money. I went to the end of the table, and picked up several boxes, leaving some coins in their place.

"Anything else," he said. I thought about it - I had comfortable clothing, well-suited for the job. I had four of the best revolvers around, and enough ammunition to take out every half-ogre in the city. What more did I need, apart from...

"Yes, one high-quality rifle please. With scope."

"Ah, now, that I don't have. I'm expecting a delivery of one later tonight though."

"How much later?"

"No more than an hour."

"I'll wait then." I went to a corner, and sat in a chair, fiddling with my new toys...

[OOC]Fatman, Vlad, why don't you trail that gunsmith to here, and then we can work out an agreement of some kind?[/OOC]

 

[ooc] I might decide to come back to this thread only. I did not real any of it after I left but I can see it is getting somewhere.

 

[OOC]Please, Quethim, READ EVERYTHING, before thinking about coming back. You'll look pretty stupid if you come in and make a contribution without knowing what's going on.

Also, no more Super-Undead-Characters-of-Deathâ„¢ please.