Chapter 1 - Summer

Aloys tips his head towards the man, rising from the bar and joining Elaine as they walked. The corner of the tavern was exactly where he would've picked as well, settling into the dim corner and leaning in towards her as she relays the information. It seemed that diversifying the Gold Cloaks was a brilliant move on the Queen's part, the Baron's heftiness be damned. The mention of a tavern raises an eyebrow from him as he nods softly.

"That is a good starting place. We'll need to decide whether we go in loudly or quietly. I doubt that they'll be willing to share information with us freely without coin or leverage. More coin than what our driver was paid." Aloys adds, a grin spreading on his face. There was a certain joy in using his "talents" for the betterment of the crown and with the law mostly on his side. Had to be carefully with the aristocracy. "Does your noble have a good motive for wanting to cause disruption in the land? Or perhaps humiliating the Queen in her lands?"

The common room of the inn begins to fill with some of the folk who were in the crowd outside--now that the body is being loaded onto a cart and the "excitement" has died down a bit.

The spacious room gains the usually tavern sounds; low chatting, chairs scrapping, mugs hitting tabletops, and gentle laughter.

"From what I know, he shouldn't have. But I didn't waste a lot of effort staying in contact with high society during my years as a muskeeter, and things might have changed since I knew him," Elaine sighs and brushes her hair out of her eye. "Considering that the baron is a diplomat from Strif, perhaps there is a deeper political reason than simply disruption. When it comes to aristocracy, I wouldn't be surprised... But it is also possible that I'm mistaken, or the description is wrong altogether. The man who gave it to us is a half-drunk culprit accomplice; speaking of which, maybe we should have Queen's Guard supervise him."

She looks around as the tavern fills out with the common folk. "And we should reconvene with Isaac and Sans." She frowns slightly. "I wonder what's keeping them outside..."

He nods to his comrade and follows Issac inside the inn, to regroup with their fellow Musketeers.

He once again wraps his Cape around the lower part of his face, before entering.

The party finds themselves at the corner table Elaine has chosen. Smells of the tavern's lunchtime fare begin to waft round the room--some roasting meat, some stewing vegetables. Dishes appear at a small cutout in the wall to the kitchen--the terminus of the inn's gearwork conveyance system--and the serving girl grabs 'em and sets them on tables for patrons.

The room starts to get stuff, despite being airy and large.

What do you all do, discuss or communicate? What's the mood now?

Sans catches his comrades up on his and Issac's finding outside the inn, keeping his tone hushed.
"A woman in the crowd thinks she saw the assailants this morning near an orchard. We got directions to it. They were hiding in the trees there."
After a tankard of ale is in front of him, he sips from it and continues, "and you'll never guess who made a passing appearance... Fellow Gold Coats Capitaine Adelie Alaire and Mathis Baumé... The Capitaine was in a bad mood too... She sent Musketeer Jonathan Jullien on a mission, and heard word he is nowhere to be found."

He looks around the table, "Do any of you know more of Julien's mission?"

Elaine listens to Sans relaying the story, then summarizes what she and Aloys discovered. "The carriage driver is a local who was hired to drive the carriage, not ask question and let everything happen as it did. The one who hired him was a noble I suspect to be Count Dimont, of the Queen's duchy - his lands are north-east from here, beyond Witherwood. The local met him near Witchop Crossroads, and got paid a hefty sum for this situation."

She pauses, thinking over her companion's earlier words. "You say the assailants were noticed nearby? The innkeeper told me that there is a tavern down the river named The Fox and the Hound, where less moral and law-abiding folks gather. Perhaps they stayed there before today's morning."

At the news of other Golden Coats passing by, Elaine only hums noncommittally. She tries not to interact with the musketeers outside her usual circle too much, for the fear of someone discovering her secret, so she haven't heard a lot about the mission.

Issac half listens as his companions bring each other up to speed. He takes out the leather bound appointment book found on Regi's person and starts rifling through it.

A flash of sun as the inn's door swings briefly open. In steps Mathis. He removes his hat, squints in to the dim, sees the party and makes his way over to the table. "Oi! Server," he calls over his should. "Ale!"

Issac ~ The contents of the appointment book don't seem to be very helpful. Perhaps the method by which they're written is too particular to valets to make much sense to those not in the position?

A chair creaks as Mathis plops down. He grins and looks at each member of the party. "So; what'd I miss?"

When his ale arrives he slurps at it in a thirsty fashion.

Elaine simply nods at Mathis in greeting, hiding her slight irritation at the man's intrusion. Maybe it's her past speaking, but trusting anyone besides her current companions does not come easy. And Mathis, whichever relationships he holds with the other three, is an outsider to her. So Elaine lets others fill the man in, instead focusing on watching Isaac examine the leather-bound book. Maybe she can take a look at it afterwards too... More handwriting samples are always useful.

Sans glances at Elaine, noticing the shift in her demeanour at the arrival of Mathis. Then he looks at the latter, saying "Question is, what did we miss, Mathis? The Capitaine was in quite a state. Do you know what was Jullien's mission up North? Quite unusual to send a solitary Gold Coat, is it not? "

Issac is confounded by the almost cryptic nature of the book. The writing itself looks as if scratched by the most ill-tempered of chickens, sure, but beyond that, it's just a series of random numbers, dates, and notes. There's no beginning , middle, or end. He pushes the book away in disgust, "Here, you all give it a go. I'm going to order a pint and some grub.".

Issac's almost relieved when Mathis walks in, giving him a chance to focus on something else. He doesn't know the man well, but he seems like a jovial sort who doesn't take this job too seriously at all times. He nods his head as Sans speaks, curious what the Gold Coat will have to say.

Mathis shrugs at Sans. "I thought it strange as well, sending one musketeer out on his own. But the Captain did not seem to want to be pressed on it. I've ridden with her going on half a year now and thought she'd be more forth coming with such a trusted companion--but she chewed me out for asking!"

Mathis leans in across the table and speaks lower. "But I looked into it myself. Asked around the capital. It seems Jullien had busted up some smuggling ring. That led him to suspect conspiracy, against the crown perhaps."


The young man leans back in his chair again, and chugs from his mug--ale dribbling down his chin.

*Belch* "The interesting bit was this was all centered on Clothiers Row. Something to do with a now disbanded dyers guild. The ring was operating out of their old warehouse. When I asked around I was told the guild had been headquartered up north somewhere. A village or some such."

He finishes off his drink. "But I ain't a historian."

"Perhaps the Captain thought sending one man out on his own was the smart move--furtive. But now that he's not reported in... I think perhaps she feels ill about it."

"Not that'd she say that of course. I just know her well. Like I said, she dragged me out of bed this morn, eager and angry to be on the road before the sun was up, all so we could ride north. She seemed annoyed to see you lot here--likely as she knew I'd slow us down by insisting on having a drink with ya Sans!"

"Well the Captain knows you well," he says clunking his tankard against Mathis's one.
After sipping the cheap and cheerful brew, he adds
"I must say, there's nothing furtive about our uniform. Jullien must have stood out wherever he went, even if alone..."

He looks at Mathis, "We'd offer to help and ride north with you and the Captain... But it sounds like she'd resent the intrusion. We'd better keep looking into the Baron's kidnapping for now. "

He is struck by an afterthought. "Say, Mathis, these folks from the dyers guild... Did they wear a mask, in their trade?"

As Isaac pushes away the appointment book, Elaine doesn't miss a beat and pulls it towards herself, her usual dislike of being forward overshadowed by her curiosity about its contents. She carefully picks it up and slowly peruses the pages, marvelling at the handwriting - which is only slightly more legible than her own natural one - and at the well-organized rows of numbers which she presumes to be dates. She never had to do organizing like this; their family had servants to do menial tasks, and as a musketeer there weren't as many things to keep track of to require lists upon lists of records. It is intriguing to Elaine in a way a tool of an unfamiliar profession is.

She tries to keep track of the conversation between Sans and Mathias as well, her eye even tearing away from the book as the former mentions the masks. If Mathias confirms the guess, perhaps this whole case is a more vast conspiracy than a simple noble squabble... It might explain why Count Dimont is involved, at least.

Mathis rubs his chin, mulling Sans' question. "I can't say for certain, but I'd guess you'd wanna wear one if you were working with those dyes--some smell horrid."

"When I was askin' round about this particular guild, folks said they used to have an exclusive, royal contract. They made some brilliant color or something--maybe from a flower that grows near their village; something like that."

"In any event, after the Duchy War, I guess the queen no longer kept the contract with the guild. So their operations in the capital dried up."