(Quick Note!! I will almost always overlap my posts by 1 paragraph, so if you are reading them all at once you can usually skip that since I just copy and paste the last paragraph of the previous post as my starting point so it all flows well. Unless it's the end of a chapter that is. )
It had all started a few weeks ago early one morning when a couple was out for a walk near one of the few openings in the boardwalk that allowed citizens to look into the world below like some kind of zoo. They discovered two bodies hanging from the rafters, upon bringing the bodies in, a steel shackle used to mark one of the protected prisoners was discovered on one of the corpses. The dead man was later identified as the son of one of the prominent families who had disgraced his family name and was thrown below as a scare tactic, he was buried in the cemetery later that week. The other body was a girl who no one had ever seen before and must have been one of the children of the inmates and had spent her whole life below; she was thrown back down into the darkness after an hour.
Daelin continued down the boardwalk until reaching the inquisitor headquarters. The large wood and stone building loomed over him in an almost tired fashion he thought. It was made of mainly dark wood, like everything else in the city. And just like everything else the cold and the rain and snow had weathered the features of the structure making it seem old, tired, and foreboding. Definitely a change from the slabs of sandy clay and red bricks of his home town. Here everything seemed run-down and soggy, everything was dark and created a feeling of danger lurking around every corner. Of course in Desert Gate things weren't all that much different, everything was worn out and dangerous but it was dry there and much brighter. He remembered walking through the crowded streets as a boy, shops with merchants speaking rapidly in many tongues lined the crowded bazaar and brightly colored sheets of various hues were draped between rooftops turning the floor into a kaleidoscope of colors. Incense usually burned in many of the shops creating a smoky atmosphere that was often cut through by jovial laughter and chatter.
.
In Dagorath everything felt different. Maybe that was just because he was an outsider and didn't understand the culture of the city. Regardless however, he could not deny that many people here had a strange air about him that he could not quite figure out. In Desert Gate there were plenty of criminals and pompous aristocrats mixed in with the common folk and Daelin could easily pick them apart and seperate them from a glance. In Dagorath however he could not; everyone seemed to be a criminal, and an aristocrat, and common at the same time. It merely depended on where you happened to meet them. And it was this phoniness that kept Daelin on alert at all times, to the point he started to wonder if he would suffer some kind of break down and go mad.
Upon entering the Inquisitors Headquarters he was hit with a rush of heat and tobacco smoke. The walls inside were a dark red with large glass windows all around, the red was offset by more dark wood only this was much less worn and still had some shine to it in places where the finish hadn't been worn through completely. The floor was wood with tough rugs scattered around near the sitting area in the lobby. A group of men lounged in the lobby, smoking pipes and cigarettes while they spoke of the latest news in the city as well as their most recent noctournal outings. Daelin moved past them and quickly ascended the stairs to the third floor where the building was really showing it's age. The red walls were faded and stained here and there seemed to be less of an attention to detail as there was in the lobby, he had found this odd having come from a city where their architecture is considered an art form and many of the public and work buildings were painstakingly crafted with great attention to detail throughout the entire structure.
He pulled off his long coat and draped it over his chair before sitting down and going through the notes on his desk that had been left for him. Most of it was just a few smaller cases to look into, domestic issues and petty theft. A few caught his attention but only briefly so because from across the room a voice shouted "Hey sandman, get over here, Cheif wants to see us." It was his partner Vlad. Vlad was a somewhat stringy looking man, although his looks betrayed his immense strength. Vlad had won many fights against larger men over the course of his career and most people knew not to mess around with him, although there was always someone who thought they would be the one to finally best him. Vlad had taken to calling Daelin "Sandman" almost immediately after they had met. This was partly because he could tell just by looking at him that he was a westerner, but also because Daelin still had sand lining the pockets of his clothes. This was normal of course having come from Desert Gate, but Vlad still thought himself clever for coming up with the nickname.
"What's he want?" Daelin asked as he crossed the room. "Something about the murders down in the lower level a few weeks ago I guess." The two Inquisitors entered the Cheifs small office at the end of the room, inside was a large Oak desk and two heavy looking bookcases along with various trophies along the wall from past cases. A large window looked out over the city and the bay from behind the desk. The Cheif was seated behind the desk reading over various papers and scrolls. When they entered he looked up at them with his beady eyes, he was a very large man and took up most of the space between the desk and the window. He wore a yellow shirt with dark trousers held up by suspenders and a thick brown vest over the top. "Good," his voice was deep and throaty from smoking for most of his life. Daelin also noticed there was a build up of phlem behind the Cheifs voice that must have been from a cold as winter set in. "You're here. I assume you've heard about the new syndicate that is supposedly comeing to power in the lower level?" The pair of inquisitors nodded. "Well it seem that whoever this new group is they don't like us very much. Not that this is a surprise of course, every one down there hates us, but rumor has it these guys are preparing for some sort of big escape."
"So you want us to look into it?" Vlad asked, his arms folded across his chest.
"Yes. But more than that these murders, something's not right about them. We've looked over the bodies and it doesn't appear that they had any sort of altercation prior to their deaths."
"You mean it was suicide?" It was Daelin who asked this time.
"Well we haven't ruled it out yet but it seems like there's something more here and I don't like it. You see, aside from whispers in the taverns and anounomus messages this syndicate doesn't exist. They don't even have a name and no one has actually seen any of the members who wasn't drunk on ale."
"So it's a ghost story then. Why are we even looking into this?"
"Orders from the top, apparently these rumors along with the murders are really spooking the public." The Cheif said leaning back in his chair. "That's why I want to send the two of you down below to see what you can find."
Vlad cut in "Wait a minute there's no chance of me heading down there with those people. This is the worst of society we are talking about, and if we go down there we will have no back up and I plan on living a full life."
"Well it's not like I can send the new kid in on his own, besides you don't have a say in the matter. I have orders to send you there one way or another so I suggest you take the option that guarentees you get out of there if you aren't dumb enough to get yourself killed down there."
Daelin simply stood there quietly, he had heard stories of what it was like down there from the moment he had arrived in Dagorath and none of them were very pleasant. Apparently the worst the city had to offer was down there in the dark. The fact that he was an inquisitor going there meant he was basically just a walking target for anyone who was unhappy about their incarceration there. So Daelin assumed that meant everybody.
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