"Chapter 3: Urendox Finds Cause for Concern" by Ian Plumb

Chapter 3: Urendox Finds Cause for Concern

A Non-descript Pipe, Ille de la Citie, Macon:

Urendox stamped his feet. Snow mixed with human excrement was as sticky as dough and damnably difficult to get off your boots. He stamped again and blew into his gloved hand. At last there was the sound of muffled movement mixed with some suitably earthy Dwarven epithets. Urendox leaned out over the canal and stuck his head near the sewer pipe.

"Rollo! Did you find anything?!", asked Urendox.

"Sod off and get out the way!", yelled Rollo. "There isn't room to scratch yourself in here let alone turn around."

As Urendox leapt aside Rollo's generously proportioned butt exited the pipe. "Grab my leg 'dox!" he cried, hanging over the edge of the pipe. Urendox dutifully if reluctantly grabbed Rollo's leg and guided his foot towards the edge of the jetty. Rollo swung himself free of the pipe and onto the jetty safely. He wiped his hand on his trousers and then reached into a pocket.

"This is what I found 'dox!", he said as he showed Urendox a small, dirty button. As Urendox went to take it from his outstretched palm Rollo closed his fist. "It's yours 'dox -- for two crowns."

"Two crowns! You've had your head up that pipe for too long if you think I'm paying two crowns for a lousy button!", exclaimed Urendox.

Rollo smiled like he knew a big secret. "I'll let you look at it -- but if you want it, it'll cost you two crowns..." Rollo opened his fist and Urendox took the button.

"Oh, this can't be good for any of us.", muttered Urendox without even looking at the button. For he knew just by the weight of it that it was made of gold.

Earlier that day Urendox had examined the body Celedur had spoken about at the Golden Trout Club. As Celedur had mentioned the man was well dressed. A tailored outfit, current fashion -- had to have been made this season, at most three months old more likely two or less. Sadly for those sartorially-inclined the body had spent some time in the sewers before the big freeze struck -- and the rats had been feasting. The face wasn't recogniseable and the outfit was worthless.

Nevertheless Urendox had noticed that the buttons were all missing from the waistcoat. While it was possible that the rats were to blame for this as well there was always the chance that they had scraped off when the body was dumped. Therefore he'd sought out Rollo, who had an intimate knowledge of the sewer network and had been responsible for retrieving the body. Rollo hadn't noticed any buttons where the body was found but he could be bribed to go and look. A tankard of ale later -- and the promise of a partner to follow on conclusion of the search -- and Rollo had agreed to Urendox's plan.

Urendox rubbed the button against his trouser leg. It gleamed. "Where did you find it Rollo?", he asked quietly.

"Nowhere near where the body was found. I backtracked to four possible entry points before I spotted it. I'd say your body was rolled in to the sewer from the guild district, near Rue St Catherine."

Urendox thought to himself for a moment. The Ille de la Cite, the central island of Macon, was divided between the Old Quarter, the Noble Quarter, and the Guild Quarter. The Old Quarter was an overcrowded cesspit, a place in which he felt completely at home. The Noble Quarter contained the Royal Palace, the ducal palaces, the main churches, and the homes of whichever nobility could afford to live their. The Guild Quarter was home to the richest of the middle class -- the lawyers and notaries, the richer guildsman and those that serviced the needs of the nobility. Naturally there was no industry on the Ille de la Cite. It simply made no sense that a Guildsman could be murdered, dumped, and his absence not be noticed. In the days that followed things got decidedly worse. With the body removed from its icy abode it swiftly began to putrefy. The attendants at the Temple of Maw had it cremated, fearing contagion. That a body could putrefy so swiftly was not natural. Then another two bodies showed up in swift succession. The first was a bargeman, one of the folk who ran small canal boats around the city and to neaby villages on the river. His body was found in the river amongst the reeds. It was clear that the fellow had been affected by contagion. The third body though had caused great consternation -- a young acolyte of Charlia, stationed at one of the many riverside chapels to assist travelers, had been slain in a manner that indicated an assault from a worshiper of a proscribed god. Her body had virtually burst with contagion.

How could it be that one of Charlia's servants could be attacked in such a manner within her chapel?

The bodies were swiftly dealt with lest the contagion spread. The smoke had barely escaped the crematorium chimney before rumours began to surface that it was Capitaine Rana's battle-sister Breila who was responsible for the slayings...

Note: For explanations regarding the world in which this story is set, it's peoples and language please take a look at The Encyclopaedia of Everything located in my library.