With their plans in hand, the Violet Order assembled a team to continue the investigation. Unfortunately at the last minute, Edik Reinolt was called away to attend to other guard business and thus brought the investigation group down by one man. Nevertheless, they remained emboldened with their plan!... Except they promptly fell into arguing over who should do what as they actually yet hadn’t figured that part out yet. Aldwyn Howlester was unable to successfully shout over an Orc, an Eriunin and several others all seeking and feeling certain assignments would be the way to track down the killer and wanting to be in those groups. Eventually, they did decide on who should go where but the sun was already low in the sky by the time they finalized their methods of approach. Because of their success last time they had been paired and what area they had been assigned to, Ernesta von Rahm and Sibyllad Lykke set out to investigate the words of little Thomas concerning “Shadow Elves” and “Them being here for the war.” First, they went to talk to his parents, interrupting them at their dinner time as night began to fall. The man and woman promptly left the home and spoke to the guards on the street while their son, inquisitive as he was, did not stay at the table and instead peeked outside from a window. They were indeed the one who “told” him such things, but it had mainly been conversations between themselves that their son had overheard through the thin walls and floors. Pressured by the imposing presence of the Orc but also the seriousness of the whole situation, they unleashed a tirade of anti-Elven sentiments. For these people, all Elves were evil, from the pointy-eared ice ones to the squat tanned ones with all their weird plants and animals. However, they made an angry comment as they gestured down the road, mentioning that some vile horned knife ears had set up shop in a house nearby. They told the guards about weird rituals these creatures did, using candles and hoods over their faces with their vile horns pointing up and out as they did so. The two guards thanked the two individuals and moved toward the aforementioned house. It was an older place and had a bit of a creep factor to it, wooden blinds closed and blocking any attempt to peer through the windows. Rather than slam through the door though, Ernesta had her Orc companion gave a very firm knock on the closed door. A mild rustling stirred on the other side before a black-clothed figure eventually answered the knock. He threw back the hood low on his face to reveal that he was… a Sihndar. One that lacked horns, to boot. In the following dialogue that ensued, he explained how the locals did not like him or his companions, who were here to fight in the war against the Kathar but also to make sure no Kathar in the city did anything to harm the Regalian Empire. But their dark skin and occasional unique features prompted by the Taint Archons still made them social pariahs to their xenophobic neighbors. Still, the Sihndar soldiered on, fully believing that evil like the Kathar could thrive in such a hateful area. When asked to explain the hood, he stated he used it to meditate and thus gain the energy of a good night’s sleep. He also discussed the murders with the two guardsmen, stating that eliminating the strong in the way that was happening had to be some sort of dark plot. However, he and his group had no evidence from this and the man conceded he himself just thought it was some deranged Ailor. Having reached the end of their talk with the Sihndar, the two guards moved off, effectively tying off this part of the investigation. Meanwhile across the city, several guards peered in the holding cells where they’d thrown around two-thirds of the tournament organizers who had denied them access to their files. The remaining ones had either left their offices for home by the time the guards reached them or had begged off the whole affair for some other time; it was late, they had plans with family, they had to do important work, etc. The guards therefore, also only had two-thirds of the total files they wanted but unfortunately few told them anything of worth. The fighters were across the spectrum, with multiple styles of combat listed across the board from massive Beorlists to slim and agile Mariposas. Attendees were various, with a few names showing up multiple times but these were ignored on the conclusion that they must be simply tourney fans, since the real meat was in the “sensitive clientele.” They were various people, some legitimate lower nobility who had merely paid extra for a seperate area to sit and enjoy the festivities while some of the shadier ones used aliases. Fortunately, it seems some of them used the same alias: “Le Loup”, “The Sapphire” and “The Archon” all showed up several times across the various tournaments, with “Le Loup” appearing the most, at six of the eight laid out on the table. Then began the interviews, one at a time. Time in the cells had certainly rattled a few nerves and the guards found the various Tournament Masters overall to be much more cooperative than last they had spoken to the guards. Leonardo Oliveira and Cieli Levilja proved to be the most helpful, the Daen’s knowledge of the underworld paired with the eloquence of the more widely learned Nelfin together a tour de force in getting what was needed. By the time the interviews were done for the day, the guards would know many things… though some among them might regret just how broad their investigation had suddenly gotten. A male Ka-Maraya was confirmed to be “The Sapphire” and had paid extra in order to quote one of the Masters who quoted him, “Not be disturbed in his studies of the Human combat forms.” “The Archon” was a Sihndar who just paid extra to keep people away from him due to Ailor racism as he watched the combat. “Le Loup” was a total mystery, as the men who had dealt with him dealt through a simple male Ailor intermediary messenger-type who never gave his name, simply the message for a private area to watch and an added bit of regals if “Le Loup” could meet with a fighter of his choice after the matches. The men added “Le Loup”’s choice was always male, and always the best of the aggressive fighters, winner or not and well over half of those picked agreed to meet with him. Some then admitted a few of such people had been the ultimate victims, but they swore they themselves didn’t move bodies, keep tabs, anything like that and knew nothing more on that front. In addition, they didn’t have any names for the three figures, only their aliases. The topic of weapon use was almost pointless as each man rattled off a list of virtually every non-illegal weapon used by the competitors, though when asked to narrow it down to say, just the top two fighters or the winner, it was still diverse. All eight Masters gave weapons ranged from bare hands to Beorl Axe to Atraves Stave as those used since most of their tourneys were themed around a certain class of fighter or form of spectacle. On the final question, that of rogue-like fighters, narrowing that down would be very tough. Mariposas along with others were fairly common, and few had done repeat performances across the various tournaments. The only one they noted to be present the most, a female fighter nicknamed “Papillon”. Aldwyn Howlester, in combing through their paperwork, almost missed her name and her alias but found it at the last minute. Her name was Núria González and she was a resident of the city. The assembled group made a note to pick her up tomorrow as by this hour, the moon was high in the sky and everyone had to call it quits. The following day, Ernesta von Rahm and Sibyllad Lykke were sent off again on interview duty to see if any local doctors and facilities had treated any battle wounds around the tourneys and if any injuries were deemed out of the ordinary. None of the doctors could help; tournament days were a blur and the visits to their facilities could be very spaced out sometimes days after the fight when the tough ones finally cracked and went to go get some help for “just a sprain” that was actually a broken bone. They all noted one thing though: A beautiful man had been buying up Springblossom, the male attendants who used the word flushing with embarrassment at using this term. But indeed, the man was beautiful when they described him, with tanned skin and clothing befitting a Daen man but with such a sparkling, beautiful face… but what he was buying them for, who could say, as the interviewed individuals had all gotten different answers from a sick mother to a sick sister to a sick uncle. They added that he didn’t seem to have any injuries himself. By noon, Ernesta and Sibyl called it a day. Back at Greygate, Núria González was not budging. Angrily decrying this “cultural profiling”, she refused to speak to anyone for almost an hour. But again, Leonardo Oliveira came through for the group and she cracked to them all asking her questions. She said she knew of literally nothing they spoke about, that she just liked to fight and if all the people at the top couldn’t defend themselves from one person, then the killer must be one hell of an amazing fighter… Either that or they somehow were cheating. When asked if she had seen anything at these tourneys, she noted that yes, the Ka-Maraya had been to several of her appearances, his stoic gaze creeped her out as he always followed the fight with a deep focus. She did note something else though, a figure she’d seen after she’d just barely been knocked out, ending up third. They had been wearing all black and had seemed to be waiting around near the fighter’s exit, muttering to themselves with their back turned as she left for home. When she’d started to approach and told them to leave, thinking they were some weird beggar, they had rapidly moved, suddenly pulling themselves up onto nearby rooftops and striding off into the just arriving twilight. So, with all of this information, what was the guard’s next move. Old leads had been ended only for whole new ones to burst up. A Ka-Maraya, Sihndar and mysterious “Loup” attended many of the tournaments, while the victim list remained diverse. At this point, it was clear, the killer was targeting the people at the top or who fought the best, but why? And still, why had the poor simple chimney sweep died, a massive anomaly in all of this. And then, there was the weird figure who fled via the rooftops. Once more, shadows on the rooftops. How would the guards tackle the case next?
