The Man in Charge

[Rattrap]

Captain Thomas Daniels read the reports carefully. The Sergeant who had investigated the Broken Dagger yesterday had been pleasantly thorough, noted by the great length of his sweeping cursive that filled a good roll of parchment. There were many details; many problems. Myrken Wood was become more hostile and Thomas was saddened to see that some of their own were a part of the source, driven to extremes by their unemployment.

There was the death of Quincy Randall. The who was imcomplete, though as far as the Sergeant could tell after questioning Biske, Tempestro Starr, and Doctor D'Rael, it was either Mikhail or Mikhail and Elil. From the Doctor, Mikhail had claimed self-defense; the Captain would need to find witnesses of the night specifically to know where to go on that.

There was the next night; a party, it would seem. Ariane Carnath, Mikhail, a fleeting Elil, Tempestro Starr - perhaps dangerously coming close to overstepping his welcome by attempting to kill a Myrken citizen - and others, including Doc D'Rael, Suede Roschen and Jirai. Thomas looked at the last two, making note that it wouldn't be all that hard to catch them in the Dagger. They still go there, even wanted.

The fight had ended evidentially without further death; Starr had not to be found, except the next day, relatively unharmed. According to the Doctor, Mikhail would be fine after his paralysis, and Ariane was unbroken, as well. The curious aspect had been the ceiling cave-in, which after some investigation, turned out not to be attributable to any party. Termites, the Sergeant had said. It looked like g'damned termites.

That was curious; termites. Thomas already discounted the possibility of benign termites. Such things - such destructive acts that may be coincidence - didn't exist in Myrken Wood. There had been other unusual insects a good while ago, though those had a different feel to them. Still...

The sword outside of town still lingered. There was still a flesh-eaten girl whose killer had not even been seen, let alone captured and killed. They had not found the individual or individuals - creatures, perhaps - that were responsible for the mind-insanity placed on Straka soldiers during that trial, long ago. Going even farther back, not even the Baie had been eliminated, whereabouts unknown. The old golem-caster who had aided the skeletal demon's escape from the Broken Dagger had not been seen since.

...any of these could be responsible. Perhaps none of them were. Maybe it was something new altogether. It was a difficult position to be in, to react to; the Captain didn't know. And even as Myrken Wood became a darker, more violent place, its protection was being stripped away.

For now, there was some action Captain Thomas Daniels could take.

"Sergeant, I want a couple catapults prepared. Heavy ammunition; we're smashing a lot of metal."

[Rattrap]

Captain Thomas Daniels had not slept well in the past few nights. It didn't have anything to do with nightmares, though his dreams of late had been bizzare, fever-driven; the man was sick, and he knew it. Thomas earned worried glances from his fellow guardsfolk at his heavier bouts of coughing and he often spent half the night doing so. The Captain had only been sick for a week, though; Thomas wasn't worried.

If he couldn't get a night's rest soon, however, the Captain would certainly be paying a visit to the Edificium.