Evidence

(Back to the present)

The original reason for Cothmore City to be so far from the labyrinth was to lessen the damage should the labyrinth monsters stampede, or overflow in the event of a dungeon. It stayed that way once the current Cothmore family were granted the county, with most expansion away from the direction of the labyrinth; the current Cothmore family did not want the city growing too close, encouraging casual and unwanted visitors to wander the woods or the caverns. Adventurers were always a risk, but necessary to keep up appearances. It wasn't strange, though, for the bodies of adventurers to never be found if they met misadventure underground.

On the second level, one of the labyrinth's hidden Cothmore rooms contained a collection of cards from the various guilds, carefully gathered by Cothmore agents and concealed. The cards were designed with harsh conditions in mind, almost impossible to destroy, but as long as they weren't found, no one could prove those adventurers had died in the Cothmore labyrinth. Especially if they'd been foolish enough to go there without checking in with the guild first -something Lisko encouraged, and one of the ways he was infuriating Anol.

The room was also used for the storage of records best not kept at the Cothmore's estate, such as those of their illegal dealings and slaves.

Lisko had specifically ordered Falchan to not tell anyone about it. Falchan in his turn, furious about Drysia becoming Diamond without him, had shown her the room and threatened that her guild card would join the others if she didn't conduct herself properly.

Drysia had spilled the beans to Rammeld as part of her confession. 

Which was why Elis, some royal mages, and a squad of royal troops were now going through the room, documenting everything and packing it into specialized item bags used for evidence collection. The keys for the bags were held at the royal court under strict guard, and special bags where really important evidence was placed would teleport themselves to that office if they were out of their designated box for more than twenty minutes. This on top of tracking, durability, and other protection and retrieval spells. Crooks could get inventive.

The duty was, unsurprisingly, really boring. Or expected to be.

Elis heard one of his guards making a choking noise. Looking over, he saw the man on his knees. As he rushed over to him, Elis found him clutching an adventurer guild card, his eyes streaming. He looked up at Elis with an expression of intense pain.

"M-my sister," the guard choked, clenching the card. "My…"

Keeping his own thoughts to himself, Elis coaxed the man into releasing the card and grimly looked at the information on it, name, guild affiliation, rank… and the guard's name in the optional next-of-kin slot. Since they weren't at a guild, a mage would have to run magic through it to see the full information.

The man's nearby comrades offered sympathy, trying to help the weeping man even a little. "I- It's been five years since she's been home." The guard wiped at his eyes. "Before that, she came home at least once a year… We wondered why…" He trailed off as he tried not to sob.

"We'll get justice for her, and everyone else," Elis said firmly. "Go, take a break. As much time as you need."

As the man walked away with a couple of his friends, a mage quietly took the card from Elis and marked it for evidence, placing it in a bag. "Sir Elis?"

"Yes, Magister Lowthazar?" Elis looked back at him.

"Judging from the dates on some of the cards, this has been going on since at least the days of Lisko's father and grandfather." The mage's expression was grim. "I thought Lord Firnen was just angling for Lord Falchan or Count Lisko's position, but this is far beyond that. No wonder he's been pushing so hard for an investigation."

Elis turned around, controlled anger on his face. "As things stand, Count Lisko and Lord Falchan are likely going to lose their positions. Maybe Firnen will get the seat, or maybe the county'll be reassigned." He considered. "From everything I've heard, Lord Falchan probably didn't know about the Bolat crystal and the Golrin troops. He's too much of a gloryhound to not try to turn that into a way to boost his own standing at the guild. Although from what I've heard, he did support the idea of dungeonization, which is bad enough.

He did have the bottles of Lustvine potion on him, similar to what were brought back by the Diamonds." Elis shook his head in disgust. "So easy to prod him into ranting about the Lustvines before the priests sobered him up. Can't even call it questioning."

Lowthazar smiled in amusement. Technically a court mage, he preferred field work, though it usually wasn't this heartbreaking. "Thankfully Guildmaster Anol has been quite helpful. I think it's because he's the type of man who has a line he won't cross, and Count Lisko has been crossing it with a ten-horse-wide bridge." He paused to mark and bag some more cards brought to him. "I was a bit surprised he openly confessed to what he's done -the other guild masters are not going to be happy."

Looking around, Elis marked that no one seemed to be listening to their conversation. "I heard in Korech Chief Priest Doscel is going to be replaced by someone chosen by the High Priests of Idalin and Vikesh."

The mage whistled softly. "Forcibly replacing a sitting chief priest is a big deal. Usually it's only done when they've been rendered incompetent. This is serious."

"Mmm-hmm." Elis' eyes flicked over Lowthazar's shoulder for a moment.

The priest silently cast a Track spell in the direction of Elis' quick gaze. He felt it hit and snuggle in.

As the soldier moved out of hearing range, Lowthazar asked quietly, "Who do you think she's working for?"

"I don't know yet. But she's the only one who volunteered for this, and anyone who volunteers to do something this boring has something going on."

*******

People in this chapter:

Elis

Lowthazar: Mage serving in the royal court of Korech, Korrum. Much prefers fieldwork and dealing with investigations and problems to moldering around royalty and nobility. Knows Elemental, Non-Elemental, and Undifferentiated Magics. All his Skills are at least Level 6.

Unnamed guard