User blog comment:Stormwell/Thresh Street Runners/@comment-3525200-20140901222722

Of Hats And Chamber Pots

Session Eleven, Death of a Draper Part I

Had bit an extended break due to summer and some belated/mis-communication, we've also gained a new player in the form of Gareth. Hopefully will get a full house again in the next month or so.

Lucian Gilmore (Adam) Agnew Uptil (Tori) Irwin Gareth (Gareth)

A few days have passed since the events of the Brotherhood case, things for Thresh Street have been fairly quieted and involved either catching up on some paperwork or undertaking the herculean task of organising the archives. Agnew and Lucian get called into the Magistrate's office where the Magistrate has a task for them, namely taking his nephew (Irwin) under their wing and 'humbling' him.

The trio head out on patrol, pass by the local street market where Chud's reputation has deterred most pickpockets from trying their luck. They pass by the Old Mosley Canal and go on a 'scenic tour' of Rudshore, the older hands saying about past cases to the sprog. Passing by a tenant block they hear a window open and the cry of "watch out below!" before the contents of a chamber pot end up going splat on the rich brat turned Runner Irwin. On arrival back at Thresh Street they get told the Magistrate wants them, though it is suggested that Irwin scrubs up first.

Magistrate Cathmore effectively says that they've been summoned by the City Watch to Drapers Ward, a district of high-end retail shops that cater to the upper crust of Dunwall society. Upon arrival they only find City Watch officers in attendance and not a single lowly grunt anywhere, though admittedly the City Watch is a bit thin on the ground. The Runners get taken into a nearby tailors where there is the body of the shop's owner in the back with his throat slit and the back door had been forced by a crowbar. A Captain Wilson of the Watch explains that the man had been found by his apprentice who'd turned up for work that morning only to find his master now dead.

Looking round they find a lantern that'd been dropped, signs that whoever the murderer was that they came in over the back wall behind the shop. Agnew sketched the crime scene as Lucian went upstairs to check the ledgers, finding a number of payments for textiles and 'services rendered' to a Mortimer Hat. Lucian also finds a rapidly unlocked drawer containing some letters between the late tailor and 'H', referring to a group of men dubbed the RCG going around asking questions and a request for H's fellows to keep an eye on the RCG men. Speaking with the apprentice Harry the Runners find that the RCG men had been round a few times, asking about crime in the district (non-existent) and also about Mortimer Hat. The tailor didn't take too kindly to the men or their questions, though the men had visited some of the other shopkeepers in the district. Irwin popped into one of the other shops to see if he could find out anything else, got told about the RCG men again and that before they appeared that was a scuffle in the night and next morning a man was found in the nearby canal.

The Runners decide to try and pay a visit to Mortimer Hat, though they were warned by Captain Wilson to keep things low key and that Mortimer Hat wasn't a man to be trifled with. So Agnew writes a letter that invited Mr Hat to Thresh Street, then popped into the shop and spoke with the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper mentioned about the RCG men but stated that they hadn't darkened Mr Hat's door, also mentioned about the man who'd ended up in the canal and referred to him as a ne'er-do-well. In the end the shopkeeper said he'll pass the letter onto Mr Hat and told the Runners to expect a reply in a day or so, though they did learn that RCG was the Responsible Citizens Group who were a sort of neighbourhood watch group.

With nothing else to do until they'd heard from Mr Hat, the Runners headed back to Thresh Street to make a report. Magistrate Cathmore stated that the Responsible Citizens Group were also the Royal Spymaster's informants, citing the few times they'd been in court as witnesses. The Magistrate suggested get the City Watch's log book for the Drapers Ward area, which they received through Captain Wilson and found it to contain only a few entries and one that had been scribbled out. The entries were for criminals who'd been arrested for minor crimes such as petty thief but had been soundly beatenBEFORE the City Watch had gotten to them. The scribbled out entry was about an attempted break-in at Mortimer's Hat shop and the body in the canal shortly afterwards.

An interesting picture of things in Drapers Ward started to form as we called it there for the night.