The gang gets poisoned

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ChrisDDickey
Posts:1011
Joined:Sun Nov 27, 2016 10:02 pm
The gang gets poisoned

Post by ChrisDDickey » Sun Nov 22, 2020 11:28 pm

Old Cusa continues his story from Doctor Bouchet I presume.

Rowen and I continued to help our poisoned colleges while the others who were well enough to move gave chase to the waiter. After stabilizing everybody, we demanded of the manager the name of the waiter and how long he had been working there. The manager said that the schedule (prepared on an engine, and printed) said that the waiter was Mr Brown, but that he had not hired anybody of that name. Examining the schedule closely we saw that a name (Miss Lacy) had been painted over, and "Mr Brown" written over it! The forgery was most excellent. We then helped oversee Lord Carnivon's transport to the local army infirmary (which doubles as the civilian hospital as well). 

In the meantime, the rest split up to look for "Mr Brown", Bernhard checked the warehouse district and was told to talk to Big Teddy. Alvin Baker checked with some low-life characters he was familiar with. He got the name of the "pocket clock gang" (hang out at the rosetta tavern). Mr Vance and Lady Littleton were at the restaurant and were very helpful. Sh'kem Raas  recovered, and was able to do Evidence Analysis upon the table, the food, and the kitchen. In Miss Lacy's locker they found a cartoon drawing of a heart drawn around an Ankh. We talked to Miss Lacy and her friend Janet, but they did not know anything, they simply had seen the changed schedule and so Miss Lacy did not go into work.   

At the Rosetta tavern, Big Teddy has a novelty clockwork device that holds his mug of beer and another that twitches his mustache comically. He is high up in the underground, but does not cop to knowing anything about any poisoners. The bartender suggests talking to Oscar White...  A guy who connects people with people.  He is in Staying, in the White Paper Emporium. His niece Judith Blain was involved with the SoT organization after being addicted to splithee. She kicked the addiction and got away from the organization, They ruined her career (as a professor of archeology with notable reputation in mathematics as well) she is now working as a clerk at Ryan and Sons. He sold the ink and paint to Quick Eyed Sam (nondescript man). He has a PO box. 

We wrote a message to Quick Eyed Sam's PO box saying we wanted to hire him on bright paper and put it in a bright envelope and doused the paper and envelope with a perfume I bought and posted it. I found a stray dog which I fed steak and bones to, and got it to agree to wait outside the PO and follow anybody who had the scent I dosed the letter with. I promised to keep feeding it steak and bones so long as it kept watch for the man. 

350 + 100
Last edited by ChrisDDickey on Sun Feb 14, 2021 9:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.

supermooboo
Posts:38
Joined:Wed Aug 19, 2020 6:06 am

Re: The gang gets poisoned

Post by supermooboo » Sun Dec 06, 2020 6:02 pm

Daily Gruv Newspaper: Page 7, bottom left corner

Read all about it!
The Gang Thwarted by Poison!


'The Gang' (name tentative) was found to be poisoned at a local eatery (name redacted here at the request of the establishment). Among them were a long list of individuals whose names we have included below. It is quite a shame as many upcoming stars of the Gruv were among the poisoned. One can only imagine what this means to the status of these individuals. We at the Daily believe that 'The Gang' is one to be avoided in polite company. Careful inviting this lot as there moniker is closer to reality than you know.

Among this gang is the so called 'One Armed Baker' (name pending). Granted this is the name Alvin Baker gave to himself and I cannot say much for his name choice. Look folks he is not exactly a wordsmith and you can tell it in the uncouth letters of complaint we get from him regarding our articles about him. You the readers might remember this character as the Daily recently put out an article regarding this character (written by myself) about his recently fall from grace (or right-handedness). It would seem Alvin is on his backfoot (and left hand) when it comes to propriety as we find once again returning to his name in our Scandal column.

Poison left Alvin Baker sweating like a pig as he found himself once again the wrong side of the gentleman's code. Once again this is the second scandal he is currently dealing with and at this point one has to wonder if Alvin can sink only lower. The opinion of this paper is that where only time will tell we personally think he will. Alvin was spotted hanging out with some unsavory Snarks according to an anonymous source here at the Daily Gruv. It seems he doesn't exactly keep the company of those who comport himself well. I can only imagine that he is like his company and we at the Daily suggest you avoid him when possible.

----

The Inquirer

ChrisDDickey
Posts:1011
Joined:Sun Nov 27, 2016 10:02 pm

Re: The gang gets poisoned

Post by ChrisDDickey » Sun Dec 06, 2020 10:18 pm

Old Cusa's story continues. 

The dog indicated that a ten year old boy had the letter, we followed the kid and he slid the letter under the back door of a building that held a chemist shop. We watched the door most of the afternoon, then She'kem picked the lock on the door and found that it did not connect to the chemist shop, but gave access to the 2nd floor. The letter was still waiting on the landing. Upstairs were doors. While checking the doors a gas trap went off. The trap was made from a weird science bladder. Other than the trap, nothing much was found up there.

I adopted the dog, I named him "good boy". 

In the meantime Burnheard talked to professor Judith Blain. He did not learn much, except she told him that there had been a disturbance at the Fairaday law firm offices. Mr Vern was murdered. The barkeep at the Josesaure said the body was found by workmen returning from lunch.  A heavy sword, muscles and heft.  Whoever did it took his wallet, watch and other valuables, but nobody thinks the primary motive was theft. The killer did not bother to steal a small difference engine.

I summon a spirit and ask it about the bloody murder. An air spirit appears and says that the murder was done by a troll person (maybe a woman, but he was not sure, seemed to be in a cream and gold dress with green bows). She came in, pulled a sword, said "Surprise" and cut him up. The spirit gave a very good description of a troll woman (lady littleton) who had almost dear-like horns, she was dining with Mr Vance (a geologist whom had invited us to a club) when we were poisoned.

Telegram to Fairaday office in London. Mr Vern murdered. Investigating. Cusa & co. 
400 + 400 + 200 + 75 = 1075 + 100 Journal
Last edited by ChrisDDickey on Sun Dec 20, 2020 7:07 pm, edited 2 times in total.

supermooboo
Posts:38
Joined:Wed Aug 19, 2020 6:06 am

Re: The gang gets poisoned

Post by supermooboo » Sun Dec 20, 2020 6:17 pm

Dear Paula Nancy Milestone, Lady Jennings, FRS:

Alvin Baker pioneer extraordinaire with his regular field report. This time I have several points of interest. I will get right to the point. I Alvin Baker, alongside my compatriots whose full names and titles I have written below, have returned with information on a new form of animal. Reports currently name the beast as “Escargruv” and as you may guess from the name the creature is a Gruv sized snail.

When my party encountered this creature it was inside a well up near Mt. Sommerville. They appear to prefer dark environs with ready access to water. They are a stealthy lot and can quickly sneak up on the unsuspecting who do not possess a Boojums blessing. Watch out for these snails have suckers that launch out and latch onto victims. Nasty business that is, let me tell you, the paralytic poison contained in that sucker was enough to immobilize my troll friend! Now it want nothin’ to a Dwarf of my caliber but ya what I mean, be careful. They also weigh a ton. Nothing a big strong dwarf like Alvin can’t lift of course. In fact I managed to toss one right into the water where it sank righ’ to the bottom. They can swim it seems however. As for removing the suckers, be careful not to rip one off carelessly as the splines will take the skin (and possibly bone) right with it. Cusa, our group physician, was able to remove and do basic treatment for the poison. I have attached his notes with attribution alongside his name and title below.

The other bit of discovery is sure one you may have heard of. The tale of the great One-Armed Baker is one no Man, Women, or Child ‘as heard of in this here Gruv I’m sure! And what a fight with the Thorny Molecrab that was! I have included as additional pages my field journal regarding that time. The basic information I have gleaned regards their toughness to bullets and force of arms and movement.By comparing the speed of my unfortunate friend Cusa (brave fellow for sure) to that of the Crab I was able to discern the speed one might except of the crab in terms of the Imperial system. This is not to overshadow the location of a new crab and most interestingly eggs! I was unfortunately unable to retrieve any of the eggs but I can confirm that the lair of the crab did contain a few. Quite the find I would say.

I will take payment through my new bank account at the Gruv Bank.

Sincerely and Truly,

The One-Armed Baker
Alvin Baker

P.S.

I find myself adding this in haste as the circumstances I believe call for it. Do forgive my sloppy writing. I am writing this to inform you of recent activities of one Son’s of Thoth. If you are unaware you should know that this is a cult of individuals who identify with an Ankh. They have a habit of collecting well to do scientists in the Gruv by force. Please keep yourself safe. They also have been known to use the Splithe plant in a manner which is most unsavory. They are also involved, to speak lightly, in murder of the worst variety. This, ignoring their long list of other crimes, has resulted in the death of my most recent employer Mr. Vern of the Faraday Law Firm. As such I am currently open to new employment. I felt this information was of the most relevance to you and thought it prudent to include it in my regular reports.

Slimcreeper
Posts:1061
Joined:Mon Nov 28, 2016 11:44 pm

Re: The gang gets poisoned

Post by Slimcreeper » Sun Dec 20, 2020 7:01 pm

100 AP!

Also, it's weird, and Alvin might not even be aware of this, but the letter was delivered sans post script. The recipients do not get that information.

ChrisDDickey
Posts:1011
Joined:Sun Nov 27, 2016 10:02 pm

Re: The gang gets poisoned

Post by ChrisDDickey » Wed Dec 23, 2020 4:28 pm

The next morning and early afternoon was full of mostly unfruitful investigation. We left two of our investigating team observing the Quick Eyed Sam letter drop without results. The rest of us talked to newspaper people, the restaurant, and checked in with the police. We had the names of a suspect or two, but we knew almost nothing about them, so we were mostly trying to find out basic background information. 

At the New Gruv Times we talked to Mr Howard and Francine ( a tall human female - no last name supplied).  We told Mr Howard (police and city beat) about what the air spirit had said, but warned him that it was uncolborated and from a non-human source. In recompense, Howard got Francine (Society and Spots beats) to tell us what she knows about Lady Littleton and Mr Vance. Mr Vance worked for the British Museum in the Grove. He is a Geologist. Among his museum duties are organizing expeditions into the outback.  He seems to be independently well to do. He dines well and his annual Christmas parties are notable on the Ft Alice social scene. Lady Littleton is from the old and respected Lettleton family of England. She seems to have been shuffled off to the Gruv when she goblinized to keep her out of sight, however she was given a good allowance and encouraged to make something of herself in the Gruv. Up until this point she had been living a very respectable quiet life. A small apartment in a good neighborhood, Tea times, charity balls, good causes (cripples - fund raiser and founding patron of Society for relief of distress). Attends Cricket games, Book club. No known unsavory associates or  penchant for slicing people up with swords. 

We stopped by the offices of the Society for relief of distress and spoke to their receptionist Chastity Hyatt. The charity seemed genuine and apparently did good work providing prosthesis to people who lost limbs in the Gruv.

Our visit with Mr Borthwell, the New Gruv Dinner Club house manager did not yield anything worthwhile. We wanted to know if Mr Vance and Lady Littleton had arrived before or after we had, and if they had requested seats near ours. The manager proved very evasive. Note that we were not looking for any information on his customers themselves, just whether they had requested being seated near us. His refusal to answer that question based upon customer confidentiality makes me suspect that he has something to hide. 

We received a telegram from the Fairiday home offices: "We were afraid something like this might happen, Gruv too dangerous to expand in now". It went on to say that they would provide our tickets to return to London upon request and asked us to inform them of our intentions. We replied that we wished to continue investigating Mr Vern's murder and we would make longer term plans after that was concluded. 

We checked in with Constable Millicent Hislop, the Police Constable assisting the detective on the case, who was friendly, and reported that the police had located a door to door cabbage salesman who witnessed Lady Littleton go into Verns office, and shortly thereafter heard an altercation. He said that the PC had been told not to pursue it. We decided that this salesman was due to soon turn up dead, and rushed over to protect him and apprehend his soon to be assailants. 


Notes:
Mr Vern of Fairiday.   Miss Kipling. 
Lady Littleton and Paris Vance. 
Mr White's Sister, Prof of Archaeology - now working as a secretary. 
4 one bedroom flats. 200 + 200 +50 + 100 Journal. 
Last edited by ChrisDDickey on Sun Jan 03, 2021 7:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.

supermooboo
Posts:38
Joined:Wed Aug 19, 2020 6:06 am

Re: The gang gets poisoned

Post by supermooboo » Sun Jan 03, 2021 5:47 pm

Alvin Baker,

We made our way through the city trying to turn up any leads on Lady Littleton. I think at the end of the day we ended up in more trouble than it was worth. So first we find our way to this paper office. The gang felt we could trade the dirt we had for more information from one of the more opinionated papers the Daily Gruv. Bad idea that was. The information we gave them was more interesting than what they gave us. Mr Howard (crime beat) and Francine (society and lifestyle) informed us of the Ladies good natured activities in the community. Imagine a cold blooded murder with a well to do charity! They also told us we will probably be killed either socially or in the other manner if we continue this investigation.

“Ya know, I couldn’ help but think. O’ Really? I thought we were gonna be invited for lunch!”

The gang decided to follow up on Lady Littleton’s charity activities. Apparently they have an office in the Palisade about a jumps away. There we met someone I think no one expected to. One Chastity Hyatt. She seemed like a genuinely good person! That or see is some kind of master of disguise. I’d give it a 50-50. Having lost an arm recently I used that as a cover story to investigate the place deeper. It did not work. I did end up getting a cheap arm replacement promised. I gave them my address. I fully expect this “good person” to hand it off to their bosses and I end up in the middle of the night with a troll sized butcher knife bisecting my back. “Not that any assassin would be a match for Alvin Baker!”

“An here we are investigating the head office of a murderer and we meet her! I’m not too sure how I feel about a good person workin’ for some staby staby lot. So taken was I by the energy of her that I ended up signing up for some relief and donating my time. Maybe she wasn’ so good at the end of the day afterall.”

The rest of research turned up mostly squat. We went here and there but the most interesting thing to turn out of the day happened around the end of the day. First we got a telegram from the Faraday law firm back in The Smoke. Something about the Gruv being too dangerous at this time for business. Well “danger: is my middle name. Actually I don’t have one but that’s not the point. We did manage to reconnect with the constable who was investigating the case. She had some interesting information on a traveling cabbage salesman who reportedly was an eyewitness to Lady Littleton entering the law firm around the time Mr. Vern was murdered. We resolved to check it out, hopefully he isn’t already dead.

“What’s a traveling cabbage salesman you ask? Didn’t ask. I got the feeling that’s the kind of extra information that gets you killed. Best to keep the stranger side of things on a need to know. Never know when you might stumble on the toes of something ancient or old.”

ChrisDDickey
Posts:1011
Joined:Sun Nov 27, 2016 10:02 pm

An Arresting Development

Post by ChrisDDickey » Mon Jan 04, 2021 11:59 am

We arrived at the abode of Jimmy Duncan, vegetable hawker to find two horses tied up out front. Alvin Baker, assuming the horses belonged to assassins, climbed up on one. (and thus accidentally stole a police constables horse). Reverend Rowen and myself went to the front door and listened, while Sh'Kem tried to sneak in the back. We heard a commotion inside and Sh'Kem was almost trampled by somebody running out the back door. 

Sh'Kem and Alvin (on his stolen horse) chased the guy fleeing out the back who hid himself in another building. Rowen and I went around to the back door, where we were confronted by a very upset military police constable. The MP (Constable Copper) seemed confused and upset and said that Jimmy Duncan (the owner of the apartment) was foaming at the mouth and seemed dieing. Both Rowan and I immediately pushed past him and found Mr Duncan foaming at the mouth from the same poison that had almost killed us. It was touch and go, but working together we managed to save his life. We strongly suspected that the poison was in Duncan's flask of Whiskey which was lying nearby.

Meanwhile, Sh'Kem and Alvin had a very hairy time of it cornering the fleeing suspect whom we later determined was both the same non-descript man who had been bedeviling us, plus he was also Quick Eyed Sam whose name we had been hearing so much the last few days. The man hid in the other building, and used an "invisible hand" spell to shoot at them with a pistol. However they eventually discovered where he was hiding, and when they called out for his surrender, the man took poison he had secreted in a ring. They carried the suspect, foaming at the mouth, back to Duncan's apartment, and we neutralized the poison for him as well. In addition to a ring with a secret compartment full of poison, he also had a ballistic jacket (improved by a mystical means known as forging, and with a silver Ankh sown into the seams), a 2nd pistol, and a Mysterious Bladder that looked like a fleshy pouch. I later identified that as a promithian dispel magic charm (+4). 

While Rowen and I were preventing the suicide of One Eyed Sam, Alvin and Sh'Ken noticed that the constible was quietly slipping away. They trailed him back to his boarding house, where they confronted him and got him to confess that One Eyed Sam had paid him 15 shillings to accompany him to visit Duncan. He claimed that he did not know in advance that OeS was going to attempt to kill anybody, nor did he see OeS administer the poison. We strongly suspect that he was brought along specifically because OeS wanted a witness who did not see him use an Invisible Hand spell to slip poison into Duncan's flask. 

We gathered up the evidence (including bile samples that should show the poison) and went to the Fort and arranged with the night duty officer (Captain Tony Powlett) for all of us to remain together in the drunk tank where we could (fairly safely and in front of witnesses) keep an eye on both the victims and the suspect. In the morning the day shift man gave us a copy of the New Gruv Times with the sarcastic comment that we were famous! The headlines of the Society Page read "Nosey Fortune-Hunters are trying to blame their recent misfortunes on respectable folk! Moderate Scandal for everyone! Byline - Ms. Francine".

400 + 400 + 400 + 75 =1275 +100 

Slimcreeper
Posts:1061
Joined:Mon Nov 28, 2016 11:44 pm

Re: The gang gets poisoned

Post by Slimcreeper » Mon Jan 04, 2021 2:18 pm

The gang is making a name for themselves!

supermooboo
Posts:38
Joined:Wed Aug 19, 2020 6:06 am

Re: The gang gets poisoned

Post by supermooboo » Sun Jan 17, 2021 6:16 pm

Alviin Baker,

They call him Quick-Eyed Sam, yet even he was too slow for Alvin Baker. “Quick, they call him? Ha! These stubby dwarf legs were more than a match for him. All bark, no bite once he couldn’t hide behind his fancy poisons or magics or whatever ever the hell else his trick was. Maybe I should change my name to the Quick-Footed Baker?”

So here we were following this lead to a traveling cabbage salesman who had allegedly seen Lady Littleton enter the Faraday Law Firms right before Mr. Vern’s grisly murder. When we arrived we found more than cabbage. A corrupt Constable and another unsuspecting and sluggish individual who we later discovered to be the infamous Quick-Eyed Sam being of most interest. The salesman was also there foaming at the mouth when we found him. Cusa and Rowan managed to stabilize him however. Almost as soon as we found our way into the cabbage salesman house Sam fled and a chase ensued.

“Foresight some might call it. I call it common sense! No sooner had Sam fled did he realize his foolishness in that I was hot on ‘em with my new horse. Good horse this one is. Think I’ll keep ‘er. Perhaps I’ll name her Buttersnatch.” Sam’s futile attempt at escape found him in a windowless storage facility of shoddy construction. Inside were crates filled with building materials and no sign of Quick-Eyed Sam. Shi’kem quickly joined me and in our search of the building we ran into a floating gun that was none too happy with us. I threw some pitch from a nearby crate to try and cover the assailant to no avail. My Saurid companion similarly found his efforts missing mark. Eventually I just smiled and took it. We struggled with the gun for a bit but after repeatedly attempting to wrestle the individual holding the gun we determined that there was in fact no individual holding the gun. “Not much without your bullets are ye Mr. Floating Gun! How about you come out and fight me like a man!” No such manly brawl ensued.

Sam, seeing his end in sight, decided to poison himself. With the help of Shi’kem, I rushed Sam back to Cusa and Rowan who managed to stabilize him. “I couldn’t control my laughter. A poisoner who can’t even poison ‘imself! Ha! Talk about a joke. But enough about Sam. I’ll have to poke at him later." Joining up once again with Shi’kem we decided to chase after the constable who had mysteriously vanished.

Tracking him to his apartment we decided to be gentlemen (and gentle-uh-Saurid) and knock. Alvin entered and was greeted by the blast of a shotgun. “Not that any gun could ever deal with the One-Armed Baker! Certainly not one from some mook.” We quickly apprehended the Constable and found out his role in the conspiracy. Returning with our new friend in tow we decided to go with them (and the cabbage salesman mind you, I suppose that was our original purpose in all this) to meet up with our contact in the local military police. We were told to wait till morning and were given a cell or two to throw our new friends in. Morning will surely be busy for us all.

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